virtues and revive its ancient Worship Religion and Justice which were superannuated and decayed as appears very plain by the description of their preparation against the French in which it is declared by Titus Livius that upon the marching out of their Army and investing their Tribunes with Consular power they observed no religious ceremony at the same time they not only refused to correct the three Fabii who contra jus gentium had fought against the French but created them Tribunes And it is easily to be presum'd that they made less account of the good Laws and Constitutions ordained by Romulus and other wise Princes than was reasonable and perhaps necessary to preserve the liberty of their State This foreign invasion hapned to them therefore that all the obsolete Laws of that City might be revived and that the people might be taught that it was necessary not only to maintain Religion and Justice but to respect their good Citizens and esteem their vertue above the advantages which they seemed to want for want of their assistance And it fell out exactly for Rome was no sooner taken but they began to renew the Orders of their old Religion they punished the Fabii who had fought against the Law of Nations and conceived so great a value for Camillus that the Senate and People both laid aside their old animosity and plac'd the whole burden of the Commonwealth upon his single shoulders 'T is necessary therefore as was said before that men which live together under a Government be often reminded by these exterior or interior accidents The interior way is when there is a Law which takes an account of all people in that Corporation or else when there is some excellent person among them who by his virtuous example does the same thing so that this happiness results to a Commonwealth either by the virtue of some great person or the authority of some Law And as to this last the Orders which reduc'd the Commonwealth towards its first principles were the Tribunes of the people the Censors and all the other Laws against the ambition and insolence of man which Laws have need to be revived and quickned by the virtue of some Citizen who with great courage and generosity shall put them in execution in despight of all the power of the delinquents The most remarkable executions before the taking of Rome by the French were the death of Brutus his Sons the punishment of the Decem-viri the execution of Sp. Melius after the City was sack'd by the French the most considerable were the death of Manlius Captolinus the death of the Son of Manlius Torquatus the prosecution of Papirius Cursor against Fabius the Master of his Horse and the accusation against Scipio which things being extraordinary were the more remarkable and when ever any of them hapned they reminded the people of their beginning and that they were to live according to Law But when these examples began to be more rare men took occasion to grow worse and their exorbitancies were with more danger and tumult for if in ten years space no examples be made nor no execution done people begin to forget and despise the Laws and unless something happens that may remember them of the punishments and infuse something of fear into them the Delinquents will grow so numerous that it will be dangerous to punish them To this purpose they who governed the State of Florence from the year 1434 to the year 1494 were wont to say that it was necessary every five years to review the State for otherwise it would be very hard to maintain it They call'd reviewing the State reducing the people to the same terror and awe as they had upon them of old when every man was punished according to his crime let his quality be what it would But when the memory of these punishments are lost and suffered to go to decay men take the confidence to attempt any thing and speak ill of whom they please against which no remedy is so proper as reducing them towards their first principles which is to be done by the example of some excellent person inciting you to such executions without dependance upon any Law and they are many times of so great reputation that good men desire to imitate them and bad men are ashamed to live contrary to them Those who in Rome liv'd after this manner were Horatius Cocles Scaevola Fabritius the two Decii Regulus Attilius and some others whose rare and virtuous example had the same effect in Rome that good Laws and good Customs would have had and if every ten years some of those examples or executions aforesaid had hapned in that City the minds and manners of the people could never have been so corrupted but as those virtuous examples and heroick punishments grew seldom and scarce so corruption began to multiply for after Regulus his time there was not any such example to be seen and though the two Cato's succeeded yet there was such great distance betwixt them that their examples could do but little good especially the last of the Cato's who finding the greatest part of the City debauched could not work any considerable reformation upon them And so much for Civil Governments as to the conservation of Sects the same renovation is necessary as may appear by the example of the Roman Religion which would doubtless have been lost before this had it not been reduced towards its first principle by St. Francis and St. Dominick who by their poverty and Christian-like examples revived it in the minds of men where it was almost effaced and prevailed that the loosness and depravity of the Prelates and Cardinals did not ruine it for men seeing them live in that indigence and poverty by confessing their sins to them and hearing them preach they began to learn meekness and charity and obedience not to upbraid people by their vices but to leave them to God whereas their lives must necessarily be bad who neither see nor feel what punishment is So then it is this renovation and reduction to its first principles that has and does still maintain our Religion And as to Kingdoms they as well as Commonwealths have occasion to reform and reduce as the other which course has been of no small advantage to the Kingdom of France for that Kingdom living under Laws and Customs more than any other the said Laws and Customs are preserved and executed by Parliaments and especially by that of Paris which revives them every time it makes out process against any great Person or opposes the King in its arrests and hitherto it has preserv'd it self by its severity against Delinquents without regard to the greatness of their quality whereas should they pass unpunished they would multiply so fast that they would become incorrigible in a short time and not to be reform'd but with the disorder if not the dissolution of the whole Government We may conclude therefore that there is no safer
retir'd and sought out other Countreys for their Establishment and Plantation In those days the ancient Empire of Rome was reduc'd under these Princes Zeno Governing in Constantinople Commanded the whole Empire of the East The Ostrogoti Commanded Mesia The Visigoti Pannonia The Suevi and Alani Gascoigne and Spain The Vandali Africa The Franchi and Burgundi France The Eruli and Turingi Italy The Kingdom of the Ostrogoti was devolv'd upon a Nephew of Velamir's call'd Theodorick who retaining an Amity with Zeno Emperour of the East writ him word That his Ostrogoti being in Valour superiour to other Nations they thought it injust and unreasonable to be inferiour in Territory and Command and that it would be impossible for him to confine them within the Limits of Pannonia That being therefore necessitated to comply and suffer them to take up Arms in quest of New Countreys he could do no less than give him timely advertisment that he might provide against the worst and if he pleas'd assign them some other Countrey which by his Grace and Favour they might inhabit with more Latitude and Convenience Whereupon Zeno partly out of fear and partly desirous to drive Odoacres out of Italy directed Theodorick against him and gave him that Countrey for his pains when it was his fortune to catch it Theodorick accepts the Proposition removes from Pannonia where he left the Zepidi his Friends and marching into Italy slew Odoacres and his Sâ—n call'd himself King of Rome by his Example and made Ravenna his Residence upon the same Reasons as had prevail'd before with Valentinian Theodorick was an excellent person both in War and Peace In the first he was always Victor in the last a continual Benefactor as that City and that Nation experimented often He divided his Ostrogoti into several Countreys appointing Governours over them that might Command in time of Wars and Correct in time of Peace He inlarged Ravenna and repair'd Rome and restor'd all its Priviledges except its Military Discipline Without any noise or tumult of War by his own single Wisdom and Authority he kept all the Barbarian Princes who had Cantonized the Empire in their just bounds He built several Towns and Castles between the Adriatick-Sea and the Alps to obstruct any new Incursion by the Barbarians and had not his many Virtues been sulli'd and eclipsed towards his latter end by some Cruelties he committed upon a jealousie of being depos'd as the deaths of Symmachus and Boetius both of them virtuous men do sufficiently declare his Memory would have been this day as honourable as his Person was then for by his Vertue and Bounty not only Rome and Italy but all the rest of the Western Empire was freed from the continual Conflicts which for so many years it indur'd by the frequent irruption of the Barbarians and reduc'd into good Order and Condition And certainly if any times were ever miserable in Italy and those Provinces which were over-run by the Barbarians they were the times betwixt the Reigns of Aâ—cadius and Honorius and his for if it be consider'd what inconveniences and damage do generally result to a Common-wealth or Kingdom upon alteration of Prince or Government especially if effected not by forreign force but civil dissention If it be observed how fatal the least Changes prove to Common-wealth or Kingdom how potent soever it may easily be imagin'd how much Italy and other Provinces of the Roman Empire suffer'd in those days losing not only their Government but their Laws Customs Conversations Religions Language Habits and even their Names The thoughts of any one of which things without so great an accumulation would make the stoutest heart to ake much more the seeing and feeling of them And as this was the destruction so it was the foundation and augmentation of many Cities In the number of those which were ruin'd was Aquileia Luni Chiusi Popolonia Fiesole and many others Among those which were new built were Venice Siena Ferrara l' Aquila and several other both Towns and Castles which for brevity sake I omit Those which from small beginnings became great and considerable were Florence Genoa Pisa Milan Naples and Bolonia to which may be added the ruine and reparation of Rome and several other Cities which were demolish'd and rebuilt Among these devastations and inroads of new people there sprang forth new Languages as is visible by what is us'd both in France Spain and Italy which being mixt with the Language of their Invaders and the ancient Roman is become new and clear another thing to what it was before Besides not only the Provinces lost their Names but particular places Rivers Seas and Men France Italy and Spain being full of new Appellatives quite contrary to what they were of old as the Po Garda and Archipelago for Rivers and Seas and for Men in stead of Cesar and Pompey they began to be call'd Peter Iohn Matthew c. But among all these Variations the changing of their Religions was of no less imporâ—ance for the Custome and Prescription of the ancient Faith being in combat and competition with the Miracles of the New many tumults and dissentions were created which had the Christian Church been unanimous and entire would never have happen'd but the Greek the Roman the Church at Ravenna being in contention and the Heretick with the Catholick as furiously zealous they brought great misery upon the World as Africa can witness which suffer'd more by their Arrianism which was the Doctrine of the Vandals than by all their avarice and cruelty Whilst men lived expos'd to so many persecutions the terrour and sadness of their hearts was legible in their faces for besides the multitude of Calamities they endured otherwise great part of them had not power to betake themselves to the protection of God Almighty who is the surest refuge of all that are in distress for being uncertain whither their devotions were to be directed they died miserably without any Theodorick therefore deserved no small praise who was the first which gave them respite from the multitude of their Evils and restored Italy to such a degree of Grandeur in the thirty eight years which he raigned there that there was scarce any thing to be seen of its former desolation but when he died and the Government devolv'd upon Atalaricus the Son of Amalasciunta his Sister in a short time the malice of their Fortune being not exhausted as yet they relaps'd and fell over head and ears into their old troubles again For Atalaricus dying not long after him the Kingdom fell into the hands of his Mother who was betray'd by Theodate a person she had call'd in to assist her in the Government She being remov'd and he made King to the great dissatisfaction of the Ostrogoths to whom that Usurpation had made him insufferably odious Iustinian the Emperour took courage began to think of driving him out of Italy and deputed Bellisarius his General for that Expedition who before
Troubles in Tuscany ib. A conspiracy against the Duke of Milan takes effect and the Duke slain 155 156 Book VIII A Nimosity between the Parri and the Medici in Florence 〈…〉 A conspiracy to destroy Lorenzo and 〈◊〉 de Medici ib. Rinati del Pazzi disswades from the enterprize but in vain 159 The conspiracy miscarries 161 The Pope and King of Naples make war upon the Florentines 162 Lorenza de Medici's Speech to the Florentines ib. The Pope and King invades their Territories 164 Genoa rebels against the State of Milan ib. The gratitude of the Florentines 165 The Pope's Army defeated 166 Lodovico Sforza Governor of Milan 167 Lorenzo de Medici arrives at Naples 168 The Isle of Rhodes assaulted by the Turks 169 The Duke of Calabria defeated 171 A new League ib. Castello besieged by the Army of the Pope 172 The Coloni provoke the Pope and are 〈◊〉 in Rome 〈◊〉 The company of S. Giorgio 〈◊〉 Aquila rebels against the King of â—â—â—ples 〈◊〉 Is protected by the Pope 〈…〉 The Genoeâ—es 〈…〉 The Venetians defeated 〈◊〉 Count Girolamo 〈…〉 His death revenged by his 〈…〉 Galeotto Lord of Faenza 〈…〉 Wife 〈◊〉 The character of Lorenzo de 〈…〉 His death 〈◊〉 A TABLE Of the several Chapters in the PRINCE CHap. I. The several sorts of Governments and how they are obtained 199 Chap. II. Of Hereditary Principalities ib. Chap. III. Of mix'd Principalities 200 Chap. IV. Why the Kingdom of Darius usurp'd by Alexander did not rebel against his successors after Alexander was dead 203 Chap. V. How such Cities and Principalities are to be govern'd who before they were subdued lived under their own Laws and Constitutions 204 Chap. VI. Of Principalities acquir'd by ones own proper conduct and arms 205 Chap. VII Of new Principalities acquir'd by accident and supplies from other people 206 Chap. VIII Of such as have arrived at their dominion by wicked and unjustifiable means 209 Chap. IX Of Civil Principalities 211 Chap. X. How the strength of all Principalities is to be computed 212 Chap. XI Of Ecclesiastical Principalities 213 Chap. XII The several forms of Military discipline and of those Souldiers which are called mercinary 214 Chap. XIII Of Auxiliaries mix'd Souldiers and Natives 217 Chap. XIV The duty of a Prince in relation to his Militia 218 Chap. XV. Of such things as render men especially Princes worthy of blame or approbation 219 Chap. XVI Of Liberality and Parsimony 220 Chap. XVII Of cruelty and clemency and whether it is better for a Prince to be loved or feared 221 Chap. XVIII How far a Prince is obliged by his promise 222 Chap. XIX Princes are to be cautious of making themselves either odious or contemptible 223 Chap. XX. Whether the building of Citadels and other things that Princes many times do be profitable or dangerous 227 Chap. XXI How a Prince is to demean himself to gain reputation 229 Chap. XXII Of the Princes Secretaries 230 Chap. XXIII How flatterers are to be avoided 231 Chap. XXIV How it came to pass that most of the Princes of Italy have lost their dominions 232 Chap. XXV How far in human affairs fortune may avail and in what manner she may be resisted 233 Chap. XXVI An exhortation for the delivery of Italy from the Barbarians 234 The original of the words Guelf and Ghibilin 236 The life of Castruccio 239 The Relation of the murder committed upon Vitellozzo Vitelli Oliveretto da Fermo Pogolo and the Duke de Gravina all of the house of the Ursini by the machination and management of Duke Valentine 253 The State of France in an Abridgment 256 The State of Germany in an Abridgment 265 A TABLE OF THE DISCOURSES Book I. CHap. I. What have been generally the Principles of all Cities and particularly of Rome 268 Chap. II. The several kinds of Common-wealths and under which kind the Roman is comprehended 270 Chap. III. Upon what accidents and tumults in Rome the Tribune of the people was created by which that Commonwealth became more perfect 272 Chap. IV. The dissentions betwixt the Senate and the People of Rome were the occasion that Commonwealth became so powerful and free 273 Chap. V. Where the Guardianship of liberty may be most securely deposited whether among the People or Nobility and which has greater occasion to tumultuate he that would acquire more or he that would defend and keep what he has 274 Chap. VI. Whether in Rome such a form of Government could be established as should take away the animosities betwixt the Senate and the People 275 Chap. VII How necessary it is for the conservation of a State that any Citizen be securely accused 277 Chap. VIII Unjust calumnies are no less pernitious to a Commonwealth than legal accusations are profitable and good 278 Chap. IX How much a single person is necessary for the establishment of a new Common-wealth or the reformation of an old 279 Chap. X. As they are to be praised who lay the foundations of any Republick or Kingdom so they are to be condemned who set up a Tyranny 281 Chap. XI Of the Religion and Ceremonies of the Romans 282 Chap. XII How necessary for the preservation of a State it is that Religion be in esteem and how much Italy has suffered for want of it by means of the Church of Rome 284 Chap. XIII How the Romans pretended Religion many times to regulate their City to prosecute their Wars and to pacify their tumults 285 Chap. 14. The Romans were wont to interpret their Auspices with accommodation to their own pleasures and designs and when at any time they were forced to transgress they managed it wisely and pretended to be very precise and if any body rashly despised them he was sure to be punished 286 Chap. 15. How the Samnites in the extremity of their affairs as their last refuge had recourse to Religion 287 Chap. 16. A people accustomed to the dominion of a Prince though by accident they may acquire their liberty yet it is with great difficulty if they maintain it 288 Chap. 17. A people wholly corrupted in their manners may possibly recover their liberty but they will find insuperable difficulty to maintain it 289 Chap. 18. A corrupt City having made it self free how its liberty may be maintained and not having made it self free how its liberty may be procured 290 Chap. 19. Though a weak Prince succeeds an excellent the Government may stand but if one weak Prince succeeds another 't is impossible 292 Chap. 20. Two good Princes immediately succeeding may do great things and well-grounded Commonwealths having always a virtuous succession their Conquests and Acquisitions must of necessity be according 293 Chap. 21. How much that Prince or Common-wealth is to be condemned which neglects to train up Souldiers of its own ib. Chap. 22. What is to be observed from the Combat betwixt the three Roman Horatii and the three Alban Curiaâ—ii 294 Chap. 23. That our whole fortune is not to be ventured upon part of
to be praised who lay the foundations of any Republick or Kingdom so they are to be condemn'd who set up a Tyranny AMong all Excellent and Illustrious men they are most praise worthy who have been the chief establishers of Religion and Divine Worship In the second place are they who have laid the foundations of any Kingdom or Commonwealth In the third those who having the Command of great Armies have enlarged their own or the Dominion of their Country In the next Learned Men of all Sciences according to their several studies and degrees and last of all as being infinitely the greatest number come the Artificers and Mechanicks all to be commended as they are ingenious or skilful in their Professions On the other side they are infamous and detestable who are contemners of Religion subverters of Governments Enemies of Virtue of Learning of Art and in short of every thing that is useful and honourable to mankind and of this sort are the prophane the seditious the ignorant the idle the debauched and the vile And although Nature has so ordered it that their is neither wise man nor fool nor good man nor bad who if it were proposed to him which he would choose of these two sorts of people would not prefer that which was to be preferred and condemn the other yet the generality of Mankind deluded by a false impression of good and a vain notion of glory leaving those ways which are excellent and commendable either wilfully or ignorantly wander into those paths which will lead them to dishonour and whereas to their immortal honour they might establish a Commonwealth or Kingdom as they please they run head-long into a Tyranny not considering what fame what glory what affection what security what quiet and satisfaction of mind they part with nor what reproach scandal hatred danger and disquiet they incur It is impossible but all people whether of private condition in the Commonwealth or such as by their Fortune or Virtue have arrived to be Princes if they have any knowledge in History and the passages of old would rather choose if private persons to be Scipio's than Caesar's and if Princes to be Agesilaus Timolion and Dion than Nabis Phalaris or Dionysius because they must find the one highly celebrated and admired and the other as much abhor'd and condemn'd they must find Timoleon and the rest to have as much interest and authority in their Countries as Dionysius or Phalaris had in theirs and much more security Nor let any man deceive himself with Caesar's reputation finding him so exceedingly eminent in History for those who have cryed him up were either corrupted by his fortune or terrified by his power for whil'st the Empire continued it was never permitted that any man should speak any thing against him and doubtless had Writers had their liberty they could have said as much of him as of Cataline and Caesar is so much the worst of the two by how much it is worse to effect and perpetrate an ill thing than to designe it and this they might judge by what is said of his adversary Brutus for not daring to speak downright of Caesar by reason of his power by kind of reverse they magnified his Enemy After Rome also was grown to be an Empire and the Government in the hands of a single person it may be observed how much more happy and secure those Emperors were who lived like good Princes according to the dictate of the Laws than those who lived otherwise for Titus Nerva Trajanus Adrianus Antoninus and Marcus had no need of Praetorian bands nor multitude of Legions to defend them their own excellent deportment the benevolence of the people and the affection of the Senate saved them that charge It will appear likewise how to Caligula Nero Vitellius and several other Tyrannical Emperors their Eastern and Western Armies were not sufficient to secure them against the Enemies which their irregularity and ill manners had contracted The History of which persons if well considered would enable any Prince to distinguish betwixt the ways of Honour and Infamy of Security and Fear For of XXVI Emperors betwixt Caesar and Maximinus XVI were murdered and but X died in their beds and though some of those who were slain might possibly be good as Pertinax and Galba yet they were murdered by reason of the corruption and ill discipline which their Predecessors had left in the Army and if among those who died naturally there were any Tyrannical as Severus it is to be imputed to his great Courage and Fortune which are two things very seldom Concomitant in one man it is legible likewise in the same History upon what Basis and foundation a Monarchy must be built to make it solid and permanent for all those Emperors who succeeded by hereditary right were ill men except Titus only and those who came in by Election were good as Nerva and the four which succeeded him but when the Empire became wholly Hereditary it ran furiously to destruction Let the times therefore from Nerva to Marcus be displayed before your Prince and let him compare them which went before with those which came after and then make his choice when they would have been born or when he would have been Soveraign He will find when good men were at the Helm the Prince safe in the security of his Subjects Peace and Justice flourishing in the world The Senate in Authority The Magistrates in Esteem Rich men enjoying their Estates Nobility and Virtue Exalted and all things quiet and well No rancour No licentiousness No corruption No ambition to be found the times were golden Every man enjoyed his opinion and defended it as he pleased In a word He will find the world triumphing in felicity The Prince happy in the reverence and affection of the people and the people safe in the generosity of their Prince If then the Reigns of the other Emperors be contemplated they will appear full of commotion discord and sedition assassinations in Peace Cruelty in War Many Princes murther'd many Foreign many domestick embroilments All Italy afflicted and all its Cities destroyed Rome burnt The Capitol by its own Inhabitants demolished The ancient Temples desolate Religious Ceremonies prophaned and the whole Citie full of Adulteries The Sea covered with Exiles and the Rocks with blood Infinite Cruelties and Barbarisâ—â—s committed daily in the City And Nobility Riches Honour and especially Virtue grown to be Capital offences Informers and Calumniators will be found to be rewarded Servants instigated against their Masters Children against their Parents and those few who were so unhappy as to have no Enemies to be destroyed by their Friends Then it will appear what mighty obligations Rome and Italy and the whole world had to Caesar and doubtless if the Prince be endued with the lest spark of humanity or good nature he will detest the imitation of the bad and be inflamed with an ardent propensity to the good All which things