together with those ceremonies of theirs such as they were they had Religion also in singular reuerence and estimation insomuch that they would rather doe against their lawes than falsifie their oth because they deemed it a hainouser matter to offend God than to offend man So deeply had they Religion that is to say The loue and feare of God imprinted in their hearts without which a prince or a common-weale can neuer prosper For as Machiauel saith in the first booke of his discourse a little better than he speaks in his booke of a Prince whēsoeuer the fear of God once faileth needs must the kingdom decay Paul cōmandeth vs to honor the king because he hath his power of God Now if we ought to honor the king in respect of the power which he hath from God what ought the king himselfe to doe to whom God is so gratious as to place him in that dignitie and to make so many men obedient vnto him Certes seeing he is the image of God the least that he can doe is to lift vp the eies of his mind to behold him whom he representeth to worship that heauenly mirror wherin by looking on himselfe he must needs behold the goodnesse and maiestie of God S. Iohn Chrisostome writing vpon these words of Genesis God made man after his owne image and likenesse saith it is meant of the image of soueraigntie For like as God commaundeth all men so man commaundeth all the liuing things that God hath put into this world A prince commaundeth all inferior persons and God commaundeth the prince Which thing Dauid acknowledging in the 118 Psalm saith that he praised the Lord seuen times a day He had good store of businesse to doe but yet could they not turne him from the seruing of God As proud and high minded a prince as great Alexander was yet the first thing that he did euerie day after he was vp was to doe sacrifice to the gods There haue bin few princes which haue not at least wise pretended to be religious or bin religious indeed But there is as much difference betweene the one and the other as there is betweeene truth and vntruth or betweene the soule and the body Yet notwithstanding seeing that they which haue not any zeale of religion cannot forbeare the pretence therof it declareth vnto vs that religion is a thing most requisit for the maintenance of a state because men are of opinion that the prince which is religious is so guided by Gods hand that he cānot do amisse which causeth them to reuerence him obay him the more easily And to say truth we see not only that kings haue bin maintained vpheld by religion but also that princes haue obtained kingdomes and empires by religion As for example Numa the second king of Romanes being a Sabine borne was sought and sent for by the citie of Rome to be made king of Romans because they saw him wholly giuen to religion persuading thēselues that they could not speed amis if they were gouerned by a deuout and religious prince And in very deed it fell out according to their hope For he did so much that that people being then barbarous altogither giuen to the wars without law without religion attained to that greatnesse of state which we haue seen since wheras it had bin vnpossible for a warlik nation as that was to haue escaped frō vndoing thēselues had they not bin bridled by religiō the only means to hold the cruellest people of the world in peace and in obedience to the Magistrate That was the cause which moued Alexander to name himselfe the sonne of Iupiter For as Plutarch saith he was not so presumptuous to imagine that he was begotten of a god but he serued his owne turne with it to hold men vnder the yoke of obedience by the opinion of such diuine nature which hee by that means imprinted in them like as in his ceremonies also he had the feat to reuiue the foretellings of his soothsaiers which thing he shewed specialle at the siege of Tyre For wheras his soothsaier had assured him that he should take the citie before the end of that present month and euery man laughed at it because it was the last day of the month and the citie was impregnable he putting all his forces in a readines for the assault made proclamation that that day should be reckoned but for the 28 day of the moneth yet notwithstanding gaue present assault to the citie and wan it out of hand contrarie to his hope The emperor Charles the fift vsed the like feat whē he arriued at S. Lawrencis in Prouince For he considered that it was the 25 of Iuly which is S. Iames day and because he had landed in Affrike the same day twelue-month the yeare before he made great vaunt of his fortunat and happy lucke and handsell in arriuing the same day in France saying that his voiage was miraculously guided and directed by the will of God the disposer and orderer of humane affairs and that as on the like day he had put the Turke to flight at Argier so hee hoped to doe as much to the French king through the direction and fauor of God seeing they were arriued in France on the same day and vnder the same head Constantine made himselfe great by imbracing the Christian religion as the Ecclesiasticall historie witnesseth vnto vs. The thing that serued Pepins turne most was that he was reported to be religious and beloued of religious men because he had caused the churches to be reedified which had bin beaten down by the Sarzins and had restalled the bishops of Reines Orleans in their sees frō which they had bin put by his father and had restored the tenths to the clergie that Charls Martel had takē away giuen to his men of warre And to compasse his enterprise with the more ease he helped himselfe at his need with Religion that is to say by the Pope without whom he had come short of his purpose For the Pope dispensed with the Frenchmen for their oth which they had made to Childerik comming himselfe personably into France did put the realme into Pepins hand Which thing the Frenchmen had neuer agreed vnto as our histories beare witnesse if it had not bin vnder the cloke of Religion and by authoritie of the partie whom they deemed to haue power to dispence with mens consciences The same Religion made Charlemaine emperour and diuers persons kings of Naples and Sicilie by deposing the true heirs Religion gaue the kingdome of Ierusalem to Godfrey of Bulleine and made the Christians to trauell ouer seas and lands to conquer the holy land vnderzeale of Religion Vnder pretence of Religion and of an excommunication the kingdome of Nauarre was wrongfullie seazed by the Spaniards The kings of Persia lost their kingdome through disagreement in Religion and the Sophy because he was found deuout
POLITICKE MORAL AND MARTIAL Discourses Written in French by M. Iaques Hurault lord of Vieul and of Marais and one of the French kings priuie Councell Dedicated by the Author to the French-kings Maiestie And translated into English by Arthur Golding LONDON Printed by Adam Islip 1595. TO THE RIGHT HONOrable his singular good Lord William Lord Cobham L. warden of the Cinque ports knight of the most noble order of the Garter and one of her Maiesties most honourable priuie counsell long continuance of health with much increase of honour and prosperitie FOrasmuch as being vnknowne to your good Lordship otherwise than by report yet notwithstanding I haue tasted of your goodnes and fauour to my great comfort in my troubles of the which vvhen God vvil I hope I shall be vvell discharged I acknowledge my selfe more bound vnto your honour than any seruice or abilitie of mine can extend vnto And therefore to testifie my thankfull and dutifull mind towards you I haue presumed to dedicate this my labour to your Lordship And because it is a thing ingreffed by nature specially in those that are of best and noblest disposition to take delight in the hearing and reading of such things as are most proper and incident to their owne callings as whereof they haue best skill wherein they most excel therfore may most iustly chalenge to themselues the censure and iudgement of them I persuade myself that this my presumption wil not be vnacceptable or at leastwise will not seeme vntollerable in the sight of your good Lordship and of the residue of your most honorable sort calling both for the matter for the author therof For the matter in substāce is the due administration of state and chiefly of a kingdom both in peace war at home and abrode on the one side through the politike and vertuous gouernment of the partie that holds the scepter of soueraigntie with the loiall linking in of his magistrates and officers vnder him and on the otherside through the seruiceable willing and faithfull obedience of those whom God hath put in subiection to him a matter as of verie great importance and behoofe so also greatlie beseeming those whom GOD hath set in authoritie For of all the states and degrees which GOD hath ordeined for the well maintaining of this mortall life like as in highnesse of dignitie and honour and woorthinesse of preheminence none is comparable to the state of gouernment specially which is well and orderlie disposed so of all the formes of gouernment that haue beene in the world the Monarchie or Kingdome hath euer as well by common and continuall experience as also by the grounded iudgement of the best practised politicians and by the graue censure of the wisest men yea and euen by the ordinance approbation of God bin alwaies deemed and found to be most antient and sufficient most beneficial and behoofful most magnificent and honourable most stable and durable and consequently most happie and commendable as vvhich besides many other most excellent prerogatiues which I omit here doth most resemble the highest soueraigntie of God the onely one vniversall Monarch of the whole world and is most agreeable to the first originall patterne of souereigntie on earth I meane Adam whom God created but one to haue the dominion and lordship of all creatures vnder the cope of heauē The which being iustly forgone by that first mans disobedience God thought good in his wisdom to repair and set vp againe much more large and magnificent than afore in the person of one other man namely of our Lord Iesus Christ whom he hath made heir of all things giuing vnto him all power both in heauen and earth to reigne in glory euerlastingly world without end Who whē he was to come into the world in the last temporall Monarchie of the world did thus much further beautifie and commend the state of Monarchie by his comming in that he vouchsafed not to come afore such time as the state of Rome was brought into a Monarchie and setled in the gouernment of one sole soueraigne Such and so excellent is the matter whereof this booke doth treat The which was written in French by one Iaques Hurault lord of Vieul and Marrais an honourable personage and as may wel appeare by his handling of the matters here treated of of great learning iudgement experience and policie Who for his prudence grauitie and loialtie was admitted to be of the priuie counsell to his soueraigne lord and master the French king Wherby he had fit occasion and meanes to see into the states and forms of gouernmēt as well of forrein countries as of his owne and therefore might be the better able to discerne the truth of things and to deliuer his censure the more soundlie concerning the managing of publike affaires and matters of state But now to come home out of Fraunce into England and to applie the case more particularlie to our selues I am fullie resolued that if wee list to looke vpon things with right iudging eyes and to consider them with well aduised minds we shall plainlie see there was neuer anie nation vnder the sunne more bound to yeeld immortall thanks vnto God for their state Prince and soueraigne than we be for ours or to magnifie him more for the innumerable benefits receyued by that means than we be For first our state is that state which is most iustly deemed the best and most excellent namely a Monarchie or kingdome wherein one sole souereigne assisted with a most graue Senat of prudent and sage counsailors reigneth by wisedome and not by will by law and not by lust by loue and not by lordlinesse And vnlesse we will denie the thing which the world seeth and gladly honoureth and which we our selues haue continually found and felt in experience now by the space of xxxvi years and vpward to our inestimable good and comfort we must needs confesse that God hath giuen vs a prince in whose sacred person to speake the truth in as few words as so great a matter may permit there wanteth not anie heroicall vertue or gift of grace that may beseeme or adorne the maiestie of a kingdome the which thing is so much the more glorious and beautifull in her highnesse being both a woman and a virgin By whose means God hath also restored vnto vs the bright shining beames of his most holie Gospell late afore eclipsed with the foggie clouds of superstitious ignorāce and humane traditions and the true ancient and catholike religion borne down and in maner ouerwhelmed with the terrible stormes of cruell persecutions a benefit wherunto none other can be comparable in this world Of the which religion her Maiestie hath continually shewed her self not a bare professor but a most earnest and zealous follower and a most lightsome example to her subiects directing al her studies counsels and proceedings to the setting forth of Gods glorie as well by aduauncing and maintaining the same religiō
time as Charles the fift was regent of France the same king of Nauar being vnderpropped by certain seditious persons of Paris forbare not to make warre vpon the said Charles for all his wisdome puissance and good gouernment In the time of Charles the sixt no such distresses aduersities had befaln in France but for the iarres that were betweene the houses of Burgundie and Orleans And therefore we must not impute the misfortune so much to the vnskilfulnesse of the king as to priuat quarrels and to the troublesomnesse of the time wherein he raigned which was such that if they had had neuer so sage a prince he should haue found himselfe very sore cumbred After that Charles the seuenth had recouered all France he was not so greatly redouted nor so setled in peace but there remained vnto him some small ciuill warres Lewis the eleuenth was a prince of sufficient wisdome forecast and age to guide himselfe and yet he could not turne away the warres from the common weale which had not hapned vnder princes of vnripe years For the gouernors of a yoong prince durst not to haue despised the greatmen openly nor to haue defeated the antient officers as he did whereof insued euill vnto him What would haue been said of the war in Germanie if it had happened vnder a simple witted Emperour seing it befell vnder a prince of gouernment fortunat puissant and well aduised Men haue imputed our warres to the minoritie of the late king But had he been much elder than he was he could not haue preuented them seing that to the discontentment of most men the case stood vpon the state of religion a matter sufficient being so intermedled both with matters of state and with priuat quarrels to maintaine the tragedies that we haue seene Therefore it behoueth vs to yeeld vnto custome and to say with S. Paul That the power of a king commeth of God and likewise with Salomon in his Prouerbs That the heart of a king is in the hand of God as is the course of waters and that he inclineth them which way he listeth Some men like well of the kingdome that goes by Election and othersome mislike not of the kingdome that goes by Inheritance Both in the one and in the other there be diuers inconueniences and reasons enow both to commend them and to discommend them CHAP. VI. Of the Education or bringing vp of a Prince LYcurgus the Law-maker of Lacedemon being desirous to make his countriemen to loue vertue and intending to shew them to the eye as it were with his finger that nature and custome be the means to atteine therto vpon a time when they were assembled altogether in a place to consult of the affaires of the citie brought foorth before all the companie a couple of dogges of one litter of one dam and of one syre the which he had kept vp so diuersly that the one of thē being altogether giuen to hunting was extreamly sharp set vpon the prey and the other being accustomed to the kitchin and to licke the dishes had no desire at all to hunt For proofe wherof when he had set before thē a platter of porrage and a quicke Hare by and by the one of them ran after the Hare and the other stept to the porrage Whereupon he said Ye see here O ye Lacedemonians how these two dogges being both of one dam yet diuersly brought vp do resemble their bringing vp euen so trainment and custome are means of great importance to engender vertue in mens hearts Which thing we cannot but rightly say of the education of princes which ought to be better learned than other men and to beleeue that they cannot be vertuous if they be not learned but are like to a peece of ground which being neuer so good becommeth barren if it be not husbandred and contrariwise doth bring forth good fruit being well tilled and composted though of it selfe it be very bad The bodie that is strong forgoeth his strength for want of exercise and contrariwise the man that is feeble and of weake complexion becommeth strong by continuance of exercise and trauell Plutarke in his booke of the bringing vp of children saith That to make a man perfect in vertue there behoueth three things to concurre namely Nature Reason that is to say instruction or teaching and Custome or Excercise It is no wonder therfore though such as haue treated of the qualities that are requisit in Princes hauing begun at their very cradle trained them vp from their first infancie For the time most fit and conuenient for the doing thereof is while they be yet tender easie to bend of that first Education of theirs wil they haue a tast euer after For as Horace saith The bottle that hath licour of good sent put into it at the first wil keepe the tang therof a long time Among the authors of our time Francis Petrarch hath written very largely therof teaching of the nursing of a prince of his keeping of company of his tutors and teachers of the maner how to make him a god horseman and consequently of good horses of running of wrestling and of other exercises of the body of shooting of hunting of hawking and consequently of the nature of hawkes of playing at tennis and other pastimes of husbandry of Geographie and of Cosmographie But my intent is not to traine vp a prince from his cradle to his tombe but to gather such doings of theirs as may serue them for good example to the well gouerning of their people Therefore as touching their bringing vp I referre me to the things which are written by the said Petrarke and afore him by Zenophon Isocrates Plutarch and many others Only thus much I say That the prince which hath children ought to be carefull to bring them vp well in lerning and vertue For as Plutarch affirmeth in the comparison of Agis and Gracchus good Education moderateth and stayeth a mans mind not only in things of pleasure by keeping him from passing the bounds of honesty and honor in word or deede but also in matters of anger and in the greatest heats of ambition and of desire of honor Philip king of Macedon vowed his sonne vnto Aristotle as soon as he was borne and afterward did put him happily into his hands and he trained him vp in Philosophie For good Education not only fashioneth a man but also altereth his nature as we read of Socrates whom a professor of Phisnomie deemed to be full of all vices and when the man was blamed for his misdeeming Socrates answered that he had not failed in his Art for by nature he said he was such a one as he reported him to be but diligent heed and good Education had made him altogether another man The schoolemaister of Themistocles beholding his ready and quicke wit told him aforehand that he should one day doe either some great good or some great harme to his
and deintie meats and giuing them in charge that if the Vandales happened to vnhallow any church of the Christians that they should doe the contrarie and make them cleane againe For he told them that if Christ was the God of the Christians as he was reported to be he would punish those that did him wrong and helpe those that did him seruice Whervpon this Cabaon sent certaine of his men to follow the Vandales in post who whensoeuer they found any church where the Vandales had stabled their horses made it cleane againe as soone as they were gone out of it If any were poore or diseased they gaue them alms and as ye would say did worship the priests whom the Vandales had misused To be short all the men of old time haue so greatly honored priest-hood that it had chiefe preheminence next vnto kings and sometimes kings haue bin priests and priests haue bin kings and gouernors of people And at Rome the priests of Iupiter had a Mace-bearer and a chaire of estate as who would say they deemed the dignitie of priesthood to be equall with the authoritie of a king And they durst not demaund an oth of them when they were to beare witnesse as who would say it were no reason to discredit these in small things which had the ordering of the greatest things and the things that concerned God Which thing is obserued towards our kings of France when they be heard vpon an inquest for they depose without making any oth Numa king of Romanes would needs be of the colledge of Bishops which he had ordained for the ceremonies And the name of King abode with their high priest whom they called the sacrifising King or the king for the Sacrifices After which maner the Athenians also chose yearly one by the name of King who was created but onelie for sacrifising and to punish irreligious dealings Octauian the emperour had the priestly dignitie iointly togither with his empire and so had all they that were emperors after him For as soone as they were chosen there was giuen vnto them the priestly attire and they tooke vpon them the title of High priests Which custome was kept vnto the time of Gratian who refused the attire when the priests offered it vnto him because he thought it vnmeet for a Christian to take such an habit vpon him as Zosimus reporteth in the fourth booke of his historie Neuerthelesse we see by the letter which Varia Mesa wrat vnto the Senat vpon the election of Heliogabalus that the emperorship and priesthood were alwaies diuided asunder For thus saith he Now shall ye see that which your predecessors neuer saw namely that the emperor shall be the high priest and the high priest be emperor so as he shall by sacrifice reconcile vs to the gods and by force of arms defend vs from our enemies But this saying is not contrarie to that of Zosimus For there is great difference between being of the colledge of the priests and the taking of the dignitie or title of priesthood in way of honour and betweene dealing with the ceremonies themselues as the priests of Iupiter and Quirinus whome they called Flamines and the rest of the peculiar priests of the other gods did for these later sort could not beare any office or be magistrats Iulius Caesar had the high priesthood for honours sake and chiefly for profits sake but yet for all that he intended not to the administration of the ceremonies but contrariwise was continually occupied in the warres and absent from the citie Howbeit that Titus Vespasian would needs expresly haue it to the intent hee might not kill any man because it was not lawfull for their high priest to shead mans blood no more than our churchmen may now which point the rest of the emperours that came after him obserued not Therefore wheras the emperors tooke the priests stole vpon them it was in way of honour and not to doe the office in administring the ceremonies Among the Iewes Aaron the high priest was of equall authoritie with Moses and after the Iudges and Kings the greatest dignitie belonged to the high priest Among vs Christiās also the time hath bene that men haue yeelded souereigne authoritie to the Pope as to the Primat of the church princes haue submitted themselues to him and not only haue honoured him as the cheefe minister of our religion but also haue receiued seuere correction at his hand not refusing to do open pennance at the Bishops commaundement as did the emperors Philip and Theodosius vnder Fabian and Ambrose bishops the one of Millan the other of Rome and Frederik the emperour and king of Naples howbeit that the Pope proceeded not with like zeale as the other did but vsed more choller than religion in his doings as he shewed by his treading of the emperor vnder his feet coating his vncomely dealing with this verse of Dauid Vpon the Aspworm and the Cockatrice shalt thou goe and tread the Lion and Dragon vnder foot a thing so il-beseeming the place that he held that Frederik was to be commended for his patient suffering of that disgrace in the honor of God and S. Peter But such was the Religion of those daies that euerie man ran vpon him that was in the Popes disfauor When Clement the sixt had excommunicated the Flemings for taking part with England contrarie to their promise and oth there was not so much as one priest to be found in all the whole countrie that durst say masse or say seruice Iohn king of England seeing himselfe excommunicated for the tenths that he had taken into his hand and perceiuing that the world went worse and worse with him was faine to cast himselfe downe at the feet of the Popes legat at whose hand after much intreatance he receiued the crowne as a great benefit a six daies after with charge to restore the tenths which he withheld and the church-fruits Which charge he put in execution with perill of the losse of his kingdome For the poor commons which were compelled to beare that losse fel to rebelling against him The like submissions haue bin made not only among vs but also among the Infidels For it is reported that when Hercules had killed his own childrē his host he was purged assoiled therof by the priests mysteries of the goddesse Ceres And Adrastus who had killed his own brother vnawares was purged assoiled by Cresus king of Lydia who took vpon him to deale in such recōciliations because he was religious and addicted to the fond ceremonies of those times Also we read that a priest commaunded Lisander king of Lacedemon to tell and declare vnto him the greatest sin that euer he had committed But Lisander being more subtill than spice-conscienst desired the priest to tell him whether he required it of him by the commaundement of the gods or of his owne-authoritie When the priest had answered him that it was at the
commaundement of the gods Withdraw your selfe then quoth he a while out of the temple and I wil tell it them if they aske it Zosimus reporteth in his historie that while Constantine the great was yet no Christian he would haue bin purged by the high-priests of the Painims for his murthering of his wife and his sonne and that when they refused to doe it he became a Christian vpon report of a Spaniard who gaue him to vnderstand that the Christian Religion wiped away all sorts of sin But this Zosimus speaketh like a clerke of arms and like an enemie to our Religion not knowing with how great discretion penitents are receiued into the bosome of the church as we may see in many treatises of S. Ciprian Nicephorus in his seuenth booke disproueth those that so report vnto whom I referre my selfe concerning the cause that moued Constantine to take vpon him the Christian religion because it is a thing notably knowne to all men For inasmuch as Religion bringeth with it humilitie and lowlinesse of heart pride and ouer-weening doe vtterlie defeat it as we read of king Osias who was punished with a leaprosie for presuming to offer sacrifice to God and likewise of Dathan Choree and Abiron whom the earth swallowed vp aliue Concerning the touching of the things dedicated to the temple we see what befell to Manasses and Amon kings of Ierusalem and to Nabugodonozer king of Babilon and diuers others And as touching the forsaking of the true Religion wee know the euill end that befell to Achab Ochosias and Oseas kings of Samaria Now seeing that true Religion is a goodly thing needs ' must Hipocrisie and false Religion be very dangerous as which displeaseth God and man when a countenance of the feare of God is pretended to deceiue folke vnder shew of holinesse For as Cicero saith in his Duties There is not so great a wickednesse as the cloking of a mans selfe vnder the mantle of Religion to do euill Such guiles or cosenages are misliked both of God and man specially when they be faced with the countenance of holinesse I meane wicked guiles as the Lawyers tearme them and not such guiles as serue for baits to draw folke to that which is good and behooffull of which sort Plato speaking in his Laws saith It is not against the grauitie of a law-giuer to vse such kind of vntruths because it is inough for him to persuade folk to that which is for their welfare profit For it is not vnlawfull to beguile men to a good end as saith S. Paul to apply a mans selfe to all sorts of men to the intent to win them as he himselfe did in Ierusalem by the counsell of S. Iames when he made his foure companions to be shauen and purified himselfe with them in the temple according to the custome of law notwithstanding that he allowed not that ceremonie Therefore men are not forbidden to beguile vntractable folke and such as are otherwise vnweeldie and hard to be ruled or els which are grosse superstitious fearfull and shiwitted or to induce them to some kind of Superstition for the compassing of some commendable matter or to bridle those with the snaffle of Religion which can not be compassed by loue nor by force which is the strongest mean that we haue to restraine euen them that are most fierce and vntamable For as Sabellicus saith there is not any thing that doth more easily retaine the common people than Superstition or is of more force to moue and persuade people to the intent and opinion that a man will rule them and lead them too This maner of dealing haue the greatest and best aduised law-makers and the best experienced captaines of the world vsed And among others Numa Pompilius of whom I haue spoken afore vsed it wisely towards the Romanes holding the people whom he gouerned in awe by a Religion such as it was and specially by the ceremonies which were in vse at that time He saw well he had to doe with theeues robbers and murtherers and that his estate could not bee sure among people that had their hands alreadie stained with the blood of their king whom they had killed late afore and that it was no need to whet them being a people too much giuen to war but rather to procure them rest to the intent that during the time of peace they might receiue some good lawes for the gouerning of their citie and haue their crueltie assuaged by means of religion And to the intent that the thing which he did might be of the more authoritie he feined that all proceeded frō the counsel of the Muses and of the nymph or goddesse Aegeria that haunted the forrest Arecine vnto whose company he often withdrew himselfe alone not suffering any body to go in thither with him Minos the law-giuer of Candie had vsed the like feat afore to giue force and authoritie to his lawes For he went ordinarily into a certaine caue of the earth the which he termed Iupiters caue and after he had bin there a long time he brought his lawes with him all written saying he had receiued them of Iupiter to the end to compell his countrimen to keepe them both by the power and authoritie which he had ouer them and also by religion the which he esteemed to bee of more force than all his commandements No lesse did Pithagoras for the ratifieng of his doctrine for he had so reclaimed an eagle that at a certaine call she would come and lie houering ouer his head in the aire After that Lycurgus had made his lawes he caused them to be ratified by the oracle of Apollo who answered that they were good and fit to make men liue well and blessedly And as the superstition of people hath well serued the turn of lawmakers so hath it no lesse serued to make captains obeied and to giue thē the reputation which they deserued when they could skill to vse it cunningly as Agesilaus did who seeing his men dismaied because they were far fewer in number than their enimies fell to making sacrifice afore hee prepared himselfe to the battell and writing this word Victorie in his left hand tooke the liuer of the beast at the priests hand without making any countenance and holding it a long time in his owne hand as in a muse that the liuer might take the print of the letters went anon after to his men of warre there present and shewed them the liuer telling them that those letters behighted a sure signe of victorie thereby to make them the more couragious and resolute Sertorius one of the best experienced captains of Rome being brought into a little country of Spaine where it behooued him to haue the helpe of the Spaniards who were but smally accustomed to obey and to submit themselues to warlike discipline to the intent he might beare some sway among them and be beleeued and followed of them in
effect and who dissembling his purpose intended to take the place of Dennis and to do as much as he sent messengers to Timoleon desiring him not to passe his men into Sicilie because the warre began to draw to an end and the Carthagenenses with whom he had secret intelligence would not that his men should passe into Sicilie but that he himselfe should come alone to aid them with his counsell in such affairs as should be offered to deale in And because he doubted least Temoleon would not consent to his request he had desired the Carthaginenses who lay neare vnto the hauen of Rhegium with twentie gallies to stop his passage ouer and to fight with him if he attempted to enter by force Timâ—leon seemed to like well of the saying of the messengers neuerthelesse he said it behoued him for his discharge to haue the same decreed in the assemblie of the Rhegians and in their presence as of them that were friends to them both The which thing he did of set purpose to hide his owne intent the better by making the Rhegians priuie to the matter The next day all the parties met in the Mootehall where the whole day was purposely spent in talke that Timoleons gallies might haue leysure to prepare themselues vnsuspected of the Carthaginenses forasmuch as they saw Timoleon present with them Who assoon as he vnderstood that his gallies were departed all sauing one that staid behind for him went his way secretly through the prease by the Rhegians who being secretly made priuie to the matter by him had staid him from speaking any more And so embarking himselfe without any disturbance he arriued within lesse than an houre at Tauromenion where Andromachus waited for him Sylla in the ciuill warres seeing his enemies to be many in number thought it stood him on hand to vse policie as well as force Wherupon he solicited Scipio one of the consuls to come to agreement with him the which thing Scipio refused not Hereupon many goings and commings were about the matter because Sylla protracted the conclusion verie long finding still some occasion of delay that in the meane while his souldiers who were made and accustomed to such policies as well as their captaine might practise with Scipios souldiers to forsake him For they going into Scipios campe inueigled some of his men with mony some with promises and other some with necessitie so that in the end when this practising had continued a certaine time Sylla approched to their campe with twentie Antsignes where his souldiers fell to saluting Scipios and they saluting them again turned and yeelded themselues vnto them so as Scipio abode alone in his tent where he was taken and not suffred to go away any more Thus like the fowler with his fine birds made to the stale Sylla with his twentie Antsignes drew fortie Antsignes of his enemies into his net whom he led all into his owne campe Which thing when Carbo saw he said That in Sylla he had to deale with a fox and lion both togither and that the fox did him more harme than the lion The emperour Iulian to keepe himselfe from being disappointed of the number of prisoners that he demaunded vsed such a policie as this to the Almans whom he had vanquished and to whom he had graunted peace vpon condition that they should deliuer him all such prisoners as they had of his For doubting least they would not deliuer him all but keepe some good number of them he demaunded of euerie of them that were escaped and saued out of prison what were the names of them that were prisoners because it could not lightly be but that they were either of kin or of alliance or neighbours or friends vnto them and he wrate their names in a paper In the meane season the ambassadours came with their prisoners of whom Iulian caused the names to be set downe in writing and the secretaries conferring the one paper with the other marked those whom the ambassadours mentioned not and named them secretly to the emperor behind him The emperor began to be angrie with the ambassadours for that they had not brought him all his prisoners telling them that they had kept backe such and such of such a citie or towne naming them all by their names whereat the Almans were sore abashed supposing that it came by reuelation from God Whereupon they failed not to deliuer all Triuulce perceiuing the garrison of Millan and specially the Millaners themselues to be astonished at the comming of Maximilian and the Swissers into Lumbardie bethought himselfe of this policie to put a suspition into the emperours head of some cause of distrust in the Swissers He wrate letters with his owne hand and sealed them with his seale to the chiefe leaders and captains of the Swissers that he might bring them in suspition with the emperour and sent them by a seruant of his owne that spake the Swissers tongue well By these letters he willed them to performe within two daies the thing that he and they were agreed vpon for he should then haue all things readie according to their platfourme The messenger offered himselfe of purpose be taken by the emperours scouts and being examined wherfore he came thither without the watchword he praied pardon promising to tel the truth and therupon confessed that he brought letters to the captains of the Swissers At that word his pardon was graunted him and he plucking off his neatherstocke tooke out the letters which were sowed in the sole of it the which were caried to the emperour immediatly When he had read them although he was in great perplexitie yet was he not of opinion that they should be shewed to the cardinall of Sion because he would not accuse a captaine of so great authoritie among the Swissers and much lesse cause them to be attached for feare of putting his affaires in daunger But in his heart he distrusting the disloyaltie of the Swissers he repassed the mountaines againe without making any further speech of it and returned home into Germanie Cyrus by the counsell of Croesus vsed this policie to saue Sardis from sacking He caused it to be cried by the sound of a trumpet That no man should conuey away the bootie because a tenth part thereof was to be giuen of necessitie to Iupiter And for that cause he set warders at euery gate to see that nothing should be conueyed away He did this to hold them at a bey for feare of som mutinie if he should haue taken it from them by force But when they saw the king did it of religion and deuotion they obeyed him without gainsaying by meanes whereof the greatest part of the goods of the citie was saued Thus haue you a part of the feats of warre of times past the which I thought good to adde vnto the antient quicke sayings and to the principall points of the goodliest hystories to the intent that a prince may find in one place and take out of