,,oceana ,by ,james ,harrington ,,introduction ,,to ,,oceana ,,james ,,harrington1 eldest son of ,sir ,sapcotes ,harrington of ,exton1 in ,rutlandshire1 was born in the reign of ,james ,i1 in ,january1 #afaa1 five years before the death of ,shakespeare4 ,he was two or three years younger than ,john ,milton4 ,his great-grandfather was ,sir ,james ,harrington1 who married ,lucy1 daughter of ,sir ,william ,sidney1 lived with her to their golden wedding-day1 and had eighteen children1 through whom he counted himself1 before his death1 patriarch in a family that in his own time produced eight dukes1 three marquises1 seventy earls1 twenty-seven viscounts1 and thirty-six barons1 sixteen of them all being ,knights of the ,garter4 ,james ,harrington's ideal of a commonwealth was the design1 therefore1 of a man in many ways connected with the chief nobility of ,england4 ,sir ,sapcotes ,harrington married twice1 and had by each of his wives two sons and two daughters4 ,james ,harrington was eldest son by the first marriage1 which was to ,jane1 daughter of ,sir ,william ,samuel of ,upton1 in ,northamptonshire4 ,james ,harrington's brother became a merchant2 of his half-brothers1 one went to sea1 the other became a captain in the army4 ,as a child1 ,james ,harrington was studious1 and so sedate that it was said playfully of him he rather kept his parents and teachers in awe than needed correction2 but in after-life his quick wit made him full of playfulness in conversation4 ,in #afbi he entered ,trinity ,college1 ,oxford1 as a gentleman commoner4 ,there he had for tutor ,william ,chillingworth1 a ,fellow of the college1 who after conversion to the ,church of ,rome had reasoned his way back into ,protestant opinions4 ,chillingworth became a famous champion of ,protestantism in the question between the ,churches1 although many ,protestants attacked him as unsound because he would not accept the ,athanasian ,creed and had some other reservations4 ,harrington prepared himself for foreign travel by study of modern languages1 but before he went abroad1 and while he was still under age1 his father died and he succeeded to his patrimony4 ,the socage tenure of his estate gave him free choice of his own guardian1 and he chose his mother's mother1 ,lady ,samuel4 ,he then began the season of travel which usually followed studies at the university1 a part of his training to which he had looked forward with especial interest4 ,he went first to ,holland1 which had been in ,queen ,elizabeth's time the battle-ground of civil and religious liberty4 ,before he left ,england he used to say he knew of monarchy1 anarchy1 aristocracy1 democracy1 oligarchy1 only as hard words to be looked for in a dictionary4 ,but his interest in problems of government began to be awakened while he was among the ,dutch4 ,he served in the regiment of ,lord ,craven1 and afterward in that of ,sir ,robert ,stone2 was much at ,the ,hague2 became familiar with the ,court of the ,prince of ,orange1 and with ,king ,james's daughter1 the ,queen of ,bohemia1 who1 with her husband the ,prince ,elector1 was then a fugitive to ,holland4 ,lord ,harrington1 who had once acted as governor to the princess1 and won her affection1 was ,james ,harrington's uncle1 and she now cordially welcomed the young student of life for his uncle's sake1 and for his own pleasantness of outward wit and inward gravity of thought4 ,harrington was taken with him by the exiled and plundered ,prince ,elector1 when he paid a visit to the ,court of ,denmark1 and he was intrusted afterward with the chief care of the prince's affairs in ,england4 ,from ,holland1 ,james ,harrington passed through ,flanders into ,france1 and thence to ,italy4 ,when he came back to ,england1 some courtiers who were with him in ,rome told ,charles ,i that ,harrington had been too squeamish at the ,pope's consecration of wax lights1 in refusing to obtain a light1 as others did1 by kissing his ,holiness's toe4 ,the ,king told ,harrington that he might have complied with a custom which only signified respect to a temporal prince4 ,but his ,majesty was satisfied with the reply1 that having had the honor to kiss his ,majesty's hand1 he thought it beneath him to kiss any other prince's foot4 ,of all places in ,italy1 ,venice pleased ,harrington best4 ,he was deeply interested in the ,venetian form of government1 and his observations bore fruit in many suggestions for the administration of the ,commonwealth of ,oceana4 ,after his return to ,england1 being of age1 ,james ,harrington cared actively for the interests of his younger brothers and sisters4 ,it was he who made his brother ,william a merchant4 ,william ,harrington throve1 and for his ingenuity in matters of construction he was afterward made one of the ,fellows of the newly formed ,royal ,society4 ,he took pains over the training of his sisters1 making no difference between sisters and half-sisters1 and treating his step-mother as a mother4 ,he filled his home with loving-kindness1 and was most liberal in giving help to friends4 ,when he was told that he often threw away his bounty on ungrateful persons1 he playfully told his advisers they were mercenary and that he saw they sold their gifts1 since they expected so great a return as gratitude4 ,james ,harrington's bent was for the study of life1 and he made no active suit for court employment4 ,but he went to court1 where ,charles ,i liked him1 and admitted him as one of his privy chamber extraordinary1 in which character he went with the ,king in his first expedition against the ,scots4 ,because ,charles ,i knew him and liked him1 and because he had shown himself no partisan of either side in the civil war1 though he was known to be inclined1 in the way of abstract opinion1 toward a form of government that was not monarchy1 the commissioners appointed in #afdf to bring ,charles from ,newcastle named ,harrington as one of the ,king's attendants4 ,the ,king was pleased1 and ,harrington was appointed a groom of the bedchamber at ,holmby4 ,he followed faithfully the fortunes of the fallen ,king1 never saying even to the ,king himself a word in contradiction of his own principles of liberty1 and finding nothing in his principles or in his temper that should prevent him from paying honor to his sovereign1 and seeking to secure for him a happy issue out of his afflictions4 ,antony ,wood says that1 8,his ,majesty loved ,harrington's company1 and1 finding him to be an ingenious man1 chose rather to converse with him than with others of his chamber3 they had often discourses concerning government2 but when they happened to talk of a commonwealth the ,king seemed not to endure it40 ,harrington used all the influence he had with those in whose power the ,king was1 to prevent the urging of avoidable questions that would stand in the way of such a treaty as they professed to seek during the ,king's imprisonment at ,carisbrooke4 ,harrington's friendly interventions on the ,king's behalf before the ,parliament commissioners at ,newport caused him1 indeed1 to be suspected2 and when the ,king was removed from ,carisbrooke to ,hurst ,castle1 ,harrington was not allowed to remain in his service4 ,but afterward1 when ,king ,charles was being taken to ,windsor1 ,harrington got leave to bid him farewell at the door of his carriage4 ,as he was about to kneel1 the ,king took him by the hand and pulled him in4 ,for a few days he was left with the ,king1 but an oath was required of him that he would not assist in1 or conceal knowledge of any attempt to procure1 the ,king's escape4 ,he would not take the oath2 and was this time not only dismissed from the ,king's service but himself imprisoned1 until ,ireton obtained his release4 ,before the ,king's death1 ,harrington found his way to him again1 and he was among those who were with ,charles ,i upon the scaffold4 ,after the ,king's execution1 ,harrington was for some time secluded in his study4 ,monarchy was gone2 some form of commonwealth was to be established2 and he set to work upon the writing of 8,oceana10 calmly to show what form of government1 since men were free to choose1 to him seemed best4 ,he based his work on an opinion he had formed that the troubles of the time were not due wholly to the intemperance of faction1 the misgovernment of a king1 or the stubbornness of a people1 but to change in the balance of property2 and he laid the foundations of his commonwealth in the opinion that empire follows the balance of property4 ,then he showed the commonwealth of ,oceana in action1 with safeguards against future shiftings of that balance1 and with a popular government in which all offices were filled by men chosen by ballot1 who should hold office for a limited term4 ,thus there was to be a constant flow of new blood through the political system1 and the representative was to be kept true as a reflection of the public mind4 ,the ,commonwealth of ,oceana was ,england4 ,harrington called ,scotland ,marpesia2 and ,ireland1 ,panopea4 ,london he called ,emporium2 the ,thames1 ,halcionia2 ,westminster1 ,hiera2 ,westminster ,hall1 ,pantheon4 ,the ,palace of ,st4 ,james was ,alma2 ,hampton ,court1 ,convallium2 ,windsor1 ,mount ,celia4 ,by ,hemisna1 ,harrington meant the river ,trent4 ,past sovereigns of ,england he renamed for ,oceana3 ,william the ,conqueror became ,turbo2 ,king ,john1 ,adoxus2 ,richard ,,ii1 ,dicotome2 ,henry ,,vii1 ,panurgus2 ,henry ,,viii1 ,coraunus2 ,elizabeth1 ,parthenia2 ,james ,i1 ,morpheus4 ,he referred to ,hobbes as ,leviathan2 and to ,francis ,bacon1 as ,verulamius4 ,oliver ,cromwell he renamed ,olphaus ,megaletor4 ,harrington's book was seized while printing1 and carried to ,whitehall4 ,harrington went to ,cromwell's daughter1 ,lady ,claypole1 played with her three-year-old child while waiting for her1 and said to her1 when she came and found him with her little girl upon his lap1 8,madam1 you have come in the nick of time1 for ,i was just about to steal this pretty lady40 8,why should you80 8,why shouldn't ,i1 unless you cause your father to restore a child of mine that he has stolen80 ,it was only1 he said1 a kind of political romance2 so far from any treason against her father that he hoped she would let him know it was to be dedicated to him4 ,so the book was restored2 and it was published in the time of ,cromwell's ,commonwealth1 in the year #afef4 ,this treatise1 which had its origin in the most direct pressure of the problem of government upon the minds of men continues the course of thought on which ,machiavelli's 8,prince0 had formed one famous station1 and ,hobbes's 8,leviathan10 another4 8,oceana10 when published1 was widely read and actively attacked4 ,one opponent of its doctrines was ,dr4 ,henry ,ferne1 afterward ,bishop of ,chester4 ,another was ,matthew ,wren1 eldest son to the ,bishop of ,ely4 ,he was one of those who met for scientific research at the house of ,dr4 ,wilkins1 and had1 said ,harrington1 8an excellent faculty of magnifying a louse and diminishing a commonwealth40 ,in #afei1 ,harrington published an abridgment of his ,oceana as 8,the ,art of ,lawgiving10 in three books4 ,other pieces followed1 in which he defended or developed his opinions4 ,he again urged them when ,cromwell's ,commonwealth was in its death-throes4 ,then he fell back upon argument at nightly meetings of a ,rota ,club which met in the ,new ,palace ,yard1 ,westminster4 ,milton's old pupil1 ,cyriac ,skinner1 was one of its members2 and its elections were by ballot1 with rotation in the tenure of all offices4 ,the club was put an end to at the ,restoration1 when ,harrington retired to his study and amused himself by putting his 8,system of ,politics0 into the form of 8,aphorisms40 ,on ,december #bh1 #affa1 ,james ,harrington1 then fifty years old1 was arrested and carried to the ,tower as a traitor4 ,his ,aphorisms were on his desk1 and as they also were to be carried off1 he asked only that they might first be stitched together in their proper order4 ,why he was arrested1 he was not told4 ,one of his sisters pleaded in vain to the ,king4 ,he was falsely accused of complicity in an imaginary plot1 of which nothing could be made by its investigators4 ,no heed was paid to the frank denials of a man of the sincerest nature1 who never had concealed his thoughts or actions4 8,why10 he was asked1 at his first examination by ,lord ,lauderdale1 who was one of his kinsmen1 8why did he1 as a private man1 meddle with politics8 ,what had a private man to do with government80 ,his answer was3 8,my lord1 there is not any public person1 nor any magistrate1 that has written on politics1 worth a button4 ,all they that have been excellent in this way have been private men1 as private men1 my lord1 as myself4 ,there is ,plato1 there is ,aristotle1 there is ,livy1 there is ,machiavel4 ,my lord1 ,i can sum up ,aristotle's #8,politics' in a very few words3 he says1 there is the ,barbarous ,monarchy--such a one where the people have no votes in making the laws2 he says1 there is the ,heroic ,monarchy--such a one where the people have their votes in making the laws2 and then1 he says1 there is ,democracy1 and affirms that a man cannot be said to have liberty but in a democracy only40 ,lord ,lauderdale here showing impatience1 ,harrington added3 8,i say ,aristotle says so4 ,i have not said so much4 ,and under what prince was it8 ,was it not under ,alexander1 the greatest prince then in the world8 ,i beseech you1 my lord1 did ,alexander hang up ,aristotle8 did he molest him8 ,livy1 for a commonwealth1 is one of the fullest authors2 did not he write under ,augustus ,caesar8 ,did ,caesar hang up ,livy8 did he molest him8 ,machiavel1 what a commonwealthsman was he6 but he wrote under the ,medici when they were princes in ,florence3 did they hang up ,machiavel1 or did they molest him8 ,i have done no otherwise than as the greatest politicians3 the ,king will do no otherwise than as the greatest princes40 ,that was too much to hope1 even in a dream1 of the low-minded ,charles ,,ii4 ,harrington could not obtain even the show of justice in a public trial4 ,he was kept five months an untried prisoner in the ,tower1 only sheltered from daily brutalities by bribe to the lieutenant4 ,when his habeas corpus had been moved for1 it was at first flatly refused2 and when it had been granted1 ,harrington was smuggled away from the ,tower between one and two o'clock in the morning1 and carried on board a ship that took him to closer imprisonment on ,st4 ,nicholas ,island1 opposite ,plymouth4 ,there his health suffered seriously1 and his family obtained his removal to imprisonment in ,plymouth by giving a bond of #e1jjj as sureties against his escape4 ,in ,plymouth1 ,harrington suffered from scurvy1 and at last he became insane4 ,when he had been made a complete wreck in body and in mind1 his gracious ,majesty restored ,harrington to his family4 ,he never recovered health1 but still occupied himself much with his pen1 writing1 among other things1 a serious argument to prove that they were themselves mad who thought him so4 ,in those last days of his shattered life ,james ,harrington married an old friend of the family1 a witty lady1 daughter of ,sir ,marmaduke ,dorrell1 of ,buckinghamshire4 ,gout was added to his troubles2 then he was palsied2 and he died at ,westminster1 at the age of sixty-six1 on ,september #aa1 #afgg4 ,he was buried in ,st4 ,margaret's ,church1 by the grave of ,sir ,walter ,raleigh1 on the south side of the altar4 ,h4 ,m4 ,,oceana ,,part ,i4 ,,the ,,preliminaries ,showing the ,principles of ,government ,,janotti1 the most excellent describer of the ,commonwealth of ,venice1 divides the whole series of government into two times or periods3 the one ending with the liberty of ,rome1 which was the course or empire1 as ,i may call it1 of ancient prudence1 first discovered to mankind by ,god himself in the fabric of the commonwealth of ,israel1 and afterward picked out of his footsteps in nature1 and unanimously followed by the ,greeks and ,romans2 the other beginning with the arms of ,caesar1 which1 extinguishing liberty1 were the transition of ancient into modern prudence1 introduced by those inundations of ,huns1 ,goths1 ,vandals1 ,lombards1 ,saxons1 which1 breaking the ,roman ,empire1 deformed the whole face of the world with those ill-features of government1 which at this time are become far worse in these western parts1 except ,venice1 which1 escaping the hands of the barbarians by virtue of its impregnable situation1 has had its eye fixed upon ancient prudence1 and is attained to a perfection even beyond the copy4 ,relation being had to these two times1 government 7to define it de jure1 or according to ancient prudence7 is an art whereby a civil society of men is instituted and preserved upon the foundation of common right or interest2 or1 to follow ,aristotle and ,livy1 it is the empire of laws1 and not of men4 ,and government 7to define it de facto1 or according to modern prudence7 is an art whereby some man1 or some few men1 subject a city or a nation1 and rule it according to his or their private interest2 which1 because the laws in such cases are made according to the interest of a man1 or of some few families1 may be said to be the empire of men1 and not of laws4 ,the former kind is that which ,machiavel 7whose books are neglected7 is the only politician that has gone about to retrieve2 and that ,leviathan 7who would have his book imposed upon the universities7 goes about to destroy4 ,for 8it is10 says he1 8another error of ,aristotle's politics that in a well-ordered commonwealth1 not men should govern1 but the laws4 ,what man that has his natural senses1 though he can neither write nor read1 does not find himself governed by them he fears1 and believes can kill or hurt him when he obeys not8 or1 who believes that the law can hurt him1 which is but words and paper1 without the hands and swords of men80 ,i confess that the magistrate upon his bench is that to the law which a gunner upon his platform is to his cannon4 ,nevertheless1 ,i should not dare to argue with a man of any ingenuity after this manner4 ,a whole army1 though they can neither write nor read1 are not afraid of a platform1 which they know is but earth or stone2 nor of a cannon1 which1 without a hand to give fire to it1 is but cold iron2 therefore a whole army is afraid of one man4 ,but of this kind is the ratiocination of ,leviathan1 as ,i shall show in divers places that come in my way1 throughout his whole politics1 or worse2 as where he says1 8of ,aristotle and of ,cicero1 of the ,greeks1 and of the ,romans1 who lived under popular ,states1 that they derived those rights1 not from the principles of nature1 but transcribed them into their books out of the practice of their own commonwealths1 as grammarians describe the rules of language out of poets40 ,which is as if a man should tell famous ,harvey that he transcribed his circulation of the blood1 not out of the principles of nature1 but out of the anatomy of this or that body4 ,to go on therefore with his preliminary discourse1 ,i shall divide it1 according to the two definitions of government relating to ,janotti's two times1 in two parts3 the first1 treating of the principles of government in general1 and according to the ancients2 the second1 treating of the late governments of ,oceana in particular1 and in that of modern prudence4 ,government1 according to the ancients1 and their learned disciple ,machiavel1 the only politician of later ages1 is of three kinds3 the government of one man1 or of the better sort1 or of the whole people2 which1 by their more learned names1 are called monarchy1 aristocracy1 and democracy4 ,these they hold1 through their proneness to degenerate1 to be all evil4 ,for whereas they that govern should govern according to reason1 if they govern according to passion they do that which they should not do4 ,wherefore1 as reason and passion are two things1 so government by reason is one thing1 and the corruption of government by passion is another thing1 but not always another government3 as a body that is alive is one thing1 and a body that is dead is another thing1 but not always another creature1 though the corruption of one comes at length to be the generation of another4 ,the corruption then of monarchy is called tyranny2 that of aristocracy1 oligarchy and that of democracy1 anarchy4 ,but legislators1 having found these three governments at the best to be naught1 have invented another1 consisting of a mixture of them all1 which only is good4 ,this is the doctrine of the ancients4 ,but ,leviathan is positive that they are all deceived1 and that there is no other government in nature than one of the three2 as also that the flesh of them cannot stink1 the names of their corruptions being but the names of men's fancies1 which will be understood when we are shown which of them was ,senatus ,populusque ,romanus4 ,to go my own way1 and yet to follow the ancients1 the principles of government are twofold3 internal1 or the goods of the mind2 and external1 or the goods of fortune4 ,the goods of the mind are natural or acquired virtues1 as wisdom1 prudence1 and courage1 etc4 ,the goods of fortune are riches4 ,there be goods also of the body1 as health1 beauty1 strength2 but these are not to be brought into account upon this score1 because if a man or an army acquires victory or empire1 it is more from their discipline1 arms1 and courage than from their natural health1 beauty1 or strength1 in regard that a people conquered may have more of natural strength1 beauty1 and health1 and yet find little remedy4 ,the principles of government then are in the goods of the mind1 or in the goods of fortune4 ,to the goods of the mind answers authority2 to the goods of fortune1 power or empire4 ,wherefore ,leviathan1 though he be right where he says that 8riches are power10 is mistaken where he says that 8prudence1 or the reputation of prudence1 is power20 for the learning or prudence of a man is no more power than the learning or prudence of a book or author1 which is properly authority4 ,a learned writer may have authority though he has no power2 and a foolish magistrate may have power1 though he has otherwise no esteem or authority4 ,the difference of these two is observed by ,livy in ,evander1 of whom he says that he governed rather by the authority of others than by his own power4 ,to begin with riches1 in regard that men are hung upon these1 not of choice as upon the other1 but of necessity and by the teeth2 forasmuch as he who wants bread is his servant that will feed him1 if a man thus feeds a whole people1 they are under his empire4 ,empire is of two kinds1 domestic and national1 or foreign and provincial4 ,domestic empire is founded upon dominion4 ,dominion is property1 real or personal2 that is to say1 in lands1 or in money and goods4 ,lands1 or the parts and parcels of a territory1 are held by the proprietor or proprietors1 lord or lords of it1 in some proportion2 and such 7except it be in a city that has little or no land1 and whose revenue is in trade7 as is the proportion or balance of dominion or property in land1 such is the nature of the empire4 ,if one man be sole landlord of a territory1 or overbalance the people1 for example1 three parts in four1 he is grand seignior2 for so the ,turk is called from his property1 and his empire is absolute monarchy4 ,if the few or a nobility1 or a nobility with the clergy1 be landlords1 or overbalance the people to the like proportion1 it makes the ,gothic balance 7to be shown at large in the second part of this discourse71 and the empire is mixed monarchy1 as that of ,spain1 ,poland1 and late of ,oceana4 ,and if the whole people be landlords1 or hold the lands so divided among them that no one man1 or number of men1 within the compass of the few or aristocracy1 overbalance them1 the empire 7without the interposition of force7 is a commonwealth4 ,if force be interposed in any of these three cases1 it must either frame the government to the foundation1 or the foundation to the government2 or holding the government not according to the balance1 it is not natural1 but violent2 and therefore if it be at the devotion of a prince1 it is tyranny2 if at the devotion of the few1 oligarchy2 or if in the power of the people1 anarchy3 ,each of which confusions1 the balance standing otherwise1 is but of short continuance1 because against the nature of the balance1 which1 not destroyed1 destroys that which opposes it4 ,but there be certain other confusions1 which1 being rooted in the balance1 are of longer continuance1 and of worse consequence2 as1 first1 where a nobility holds half the property1 or about that proportion1 and the people the other half2 in which case1 without altering the balance there is no remedy but the one must eat out the other1 as the people did the nobility in ,athens1 and the nobility the people in ,rome4 ,secondly1 when a prince holds about half the dominion1 and the people the other half 7which was the case of the ,roman emperors1 planted partly upon their military colonies and partly upon the ,senate and the people71 the government becomes a very shambles1 both of the princes and the people4 ,somewhat of this nature are certain governments at this day1 which are said to subsist by confusion4 ,in this case1 to fix the balance is to entail misery2 but in the three former1 not to fix it is to lose the government4 ,wherefore it being unlawful in ,turkey that any should possess land but the ,grand ,seignior1 the balance is fixed by the law1 and that empire firm4 ,nor1 though the kings often sell was the throne of ,oceana known to shake1 until the statute of alienations broke the pillars1 by giving way to the nobility to sell their estates4 ,while ,lacedaemon held to the division of land made by ,lycurgus1 it was immovable2 but1 breaking that1 could stand no longer4 ,this kind of law fixing the balance in lands is called agrarian1 and was first introduced by ,god himself1 who divided the land of ,canaan to his people by lots1 and is of such virtue that wherever it has held1 that government has not altered1 except by consent2 as in that unparalleled example of the people of ,israel1 when being in liberty they would needs choose a king4 ,but without an agrarian law1 government1 whether monarchical1 aristocratical1 or popular1 has no long lease4 ,as for dominion1 personal or in money1 it may now and then stir up a ,melius or a ,manlius1 which1 if the ,commonwealth be not provided with some kind of dictatorian power1 may be dangerous1 though it has been seldom or never successful2 because to property producing empire1 it is required that it should have some certain root or foothold1 which1 except in land1 it cannot have1 being otherwise as it were upon the wing4 ,nevertheless1 in such cities as subsist mostly by trade1 and have little or no land1 as ,holland and ,genoa1 the balance of treasure may be equal to that of land in the cases mentioned4 ,but ,leviathan1 though he seems to skew at antiquity1 following his furious master ,carneades1 has caught hold of the public sword1 to which he reduces all manner and matter of government2 as1 where he affirms this opinion 7that any monarch receives his power by covenant2 that is to say1 upon conditions7 8to proceed from the not understanding this easy truth1 that covenants being but words and breath1 have no power to oblige1 contain1 constrain1 or protect any man1 but what they have from the public sword40 ,but as he said of the law1 that without this sword it is but paper1 so he might have thought of this sword1 that without a hand it is but cold iron4 ,the hand which holds this sword is the militia of a nation2 and the militia of a nation is either an army in the field1 or ready for the field upon occasion4 ,but an army is a beast that has a great belly1 and must be fed3 wherefore this will come to what pastures you have1 and what pastures you have will come to the balance of property1 without which the public sword is but a name or mere spitfrog4 ,wherefore1 to set that which ,leviathan says of arms and of contracts a little straighter1 he that can graze this beast with the great belly1 as the ,turk does his ,timariots1 may well deride him that imagines he received his power by covenant1 or is obliged to any such toy4 ,it being in this case only that covenants are but words and breath4 ,but if the property of the nobility1 stocked with their tenants and retainers1 be the pasture of that beast1 the ox knows his master's crib2 and it is impossible for a king in such a constitution to reign otherwise than by covenant2 or if he break it1 it is words that come to blows4 8,but10 says he1 8when an assembly of men is made sovereign1 then no man imagines any such covenant to have part in the institution40 ,but what was that by ,publicola of appeal to the people1 or that whereby the people had their tribunes8 8,fie10 says he1 8nobody is so dull as to say that the people of ,rome made a covenant with the ,romans1 to hold the sovereignty on such or such conditions1 which1 not performed1 the ,romans might depose the ,roman people40 ,in which there be several remarkable things2 for he holds the ,commonwealth of ,rome to have consisted of one assembly1 whereas it consisted of the ,senate and the people2 that they were not upon covenant1 whereas every law enacted by them was a covenant between them2 that the one assembly was made sovereign1 whereas the people1 who only were sovereign1 were such from the beginning1 as appears by the ancient style of their covenants or laws--8,the ,senate has resolved1 the people have decreed10 that a council being made sovereign1 cannot be made such upon conditions1 whereas the ,decemvirs being a council that was made sovereign1 was made such upon conditions2 that all conditions or covenants making a sovereign being made1 are void2 whence it must follow that1 the ,decemviri being made1 were ever after the lawful government of ,rome1 and that it was unlawful for the ,commonwealth of ,rome to depose the ,decemvirs2 as also that ,cicero1 if he wrote otherwise out of his commonwealth1 did not write out of nature4 ,but to come to others that see more of this balance4 ,you have ,aristotle full of it in divers places1 especially where he says1 that 8immoderate wealth1 as where one man or the few have greater possessions than the equality or the frame of the commonwealth will bear1 is an occasion of sedition1 which ends for the greater part in monarchy and that for this cause the ostracism has been received in divers places1 as in ,argos and ,athens4 ,but that it were better to prevent the growth in the beginning1 than1 when it has got head1 to seek the remedy of such an evil40 ,machiavel has missed it very narrowly and more dangerously for not fully perceiving that if a commonwealth be galled by the gentry it is by their overbalance1 he speaks of the gentry as hostile to popular governments1 and of popular governments as hostile to the gentry2 and makes us believe that the people in such are so enraged against them1 that where they meet a gentleman they kill him3 which can never be proved by any one example1 unless in civil war1 seeing that even in ,switzerland the gentry are not only safe1 but in honor4 ,but the balance1 as ,i have laid it down1 though unseen by ,machiavel1 is that which interprets him1 and that which he confirms by his judgment in many others as well as in this place1 where he concludes1 8,that he who will go about to make a commonwealth where there be many gentlemen1 unless he first destroys them1 undertakes an impossibility4 ,and that he who goes about to introduce monarchy where the condition of the people is equal1 shall never bring it to pass1 unless he cull out such of them as are the most turbulent and ambitious1 and make them gentlemen or noblemen1 not in name but in effect2 that is1 by enriching them with lands1 castles1 and treasures1 that may gain them power among the rest1 and bring in the rest to dependence upon themselves1 to the end that1 they maintaining their ambition by the prince1 the prince may maintain his power by them40 ,wherefore1 as in this place ,i agree with ,machiavel1 that a nobility or gentry1 overbalancing a popular government1 is the utter bane and destruction of it2 so ,i shall show in another1 that a nobility or gentry1 in a popular government1 not overbalancing it1 is the very life and soul of it4 ,by what has been said1 it should seem that we may lay aside further disputes of the public sword1 or of the right of the militia2 which1 be the government what it will1 or let it change how it can1 is inseparable from the overbalance in dominion3 nor1 if otherwise stated by the law or custom 7as in the ,commonwealth of ,rome1 where the people having the sword1 the nobility came to have the overbalance71 avails it to any other end than destruction4 ,for as a building swaying from the foundation must fall1 so it fares with the law swaying from reason1 and the militia from the balance of dominion4 ,and thus much for the balance of national or domestic empire1 which is in dominion4 ,the balance of foreign or provincial empire is of a contrary nature4 ,a man may as well say that it is unlawful for him who has made a fair and honest purchase to have tenants1 as for a government that has made a just progress and enlargement of itself to have provinces4 ,but how a province may be justly acquired appertains to another place4 ,in this ,i am to show no more than how or upon what kind of balance it is to be held2 in order whereto ,i shall first show upon what kind of balance it is not to be held4 ,it has been said1 that national or independent empire1 of what kind soever1 is to be exercised by them that have the proper balance of dominion in the nation2 wherefore provincial or dependent empire is not to be exercised by them that have the balance of dominion in the province1 because that would bring the government from provincial and dependent1 to national and independent4 ,absolute monarchy1 as that of the ,turks1 neither plants its people at home nor abroad1 otherwise than as tenants for life or at will2 wherefore its national and provincial government is all one4 ,but in governments that admit the citizen or subject to dominion in lands1 the richest are they that share most of the power at home2 whereas the richest among the provincials1 though native subjects1 or citizens that have been transplanted1 are least admitted to the government abroad2 for men1 like flowers or roots being transplanted1 take after the soil wherein they grow4 ,wherefore the ,commonwealth of ,rome1 by planting colonies of its citizens within the bounds of ,italy1 took the best way of propagating itself1 and naturalizing the country2 whereas if it had planted such colonies without the bounds of ,italy it would have alienated the citizens1 and given a root to liberty abroad1 that might have sprung up foreign or savage1 and hostile to her3 wherefore it never made any such dispersion of itself and its strength1 till it was under the yoke of the ,emperors1 who1 disburdening themselves of the people1 as having less apprehension of what they could do abroad than at home1 took a contrary course4 ,the ,mamelukes 7which1 till any man show me the contrary1 ,i shall presume to have been a commonwealth consisting of an army1 whereof the common soldier was the people1 the commissioned officer the ,senate1 and the general the prince7 were foreigners1 and by nation ,circassians1 that governed ,egypt2 wherefore these never durst plant themselves upon dominion1 which growing naturally up into the national interest1 must have dissolved the foreign yoke in that province4 ,the like in some sort may be said of ,venice1 the government whereof is usually mistaken2 for ,venice1 though it does not take in the people1 never excluded them4 ,this commonwealth1 the orders whereof are the most democratical or popular of all others1 in regard of the exquisite rotation of the ,senate1 at the first institution took in the whole people2 they that now live under the government without participation of it1 are such as have since either voluntarily chosen so to do1 or were subdued by arms4 ,wherefore the subject of ,venice is governed by provinces1 and the balance of dominion not standing1 as has been said1 with provincial government2 as the ,mamelukes durst not cast their government upon this balance in their provinces1 lest the national interest should have rooted out the foreign1 so neither dare the ,venetians take in their subjects upon this balance1 lest the foreign interest should root out the national 7which is that of the #c1jjj now governing71 and by diffusing the commonwealth throughout her territories1 lose the advantage of her situation1 by which in great part it subsists4 ,and such also is the government of the ,spaniard in the ,indies1 to which he deputes natives of his own country1 not admitting the creoles to the government of those provinces1 though descended from ,spaniards4 ,but if a prince or a commonwealth may hold a territory that is foreign in this1 it may be asked why he may not hold one that is native in the like manner8 ,to which ,i answer1 because he can hold a foreign by a native territory1 but not a native by a foreign2 and as hitherto ,i have shown what is not the provincial balance1 so by this answer it may appear what it is1 namely1 the overbalance of a native territory to a foreign2 for as one country balances itself by the distribution of property according to the proportion of the same1 so one country overbalances another by advantage of divers kinds4 ,for example1 the ,commonwealth of ,rome overbalanced her provinces by the vigor of a more excellent government opposed to a crazier4 ,or by a more exquisite militia opposed to one inferior in courage or discipline4 ,the like was that of the ,mamelukes1 being a hardy people1 to the ,egyptians1 that were a soft one4 ,and the balance of situation is in this kind of wonderful effect2 seeing the ,king of ,denmark1 being none of the most potent princes1 is able at the ,sound to take toll of the greatest2 and as this ,king1 by the advantage of the land1 can make the sea tributary1 so ,venice1 by the advantage of the sea1 in whose arms she is impregnable1 can make the land to feed her gulf4 ,for the colonies in the ,indies1 they are yet babes that cannot live without sucking the breasts of their mother cities1 but such as ,i mistake if when they come of age they do not wean themselves2 which causes me to wonder at princes that delight to be exhausted in that way4 ,and so much for the principles of power1 whether national or provincial1 domestic or foreign2 being such as are external1 and founded in the goods of fortune4 ,i come to the principles of authority1 which are internal1 and founded upon the goods of the mind4 ,these the legislator that can unite in his government with those of fortune1 comes nearest to the work of ,god1 whose government consists of heaven and earth2 which was said by ,plato1 though in different words1 as1 when princes should be philosophers1 or philosophers princes1 the world would be happy4 ,and says ,solomon3 8,there is an evil which ,i have seen under the sun1 which proceeds from the ruler 7enimvero neque nobilem1 neque ingenuum1 nec libertinum quidem armis praeponere1 regia utilitas est74 ,folly is set in great dignity1 and the rich 7either in virtue and wisdom1 in the goods of the mind1 or those of fortune upon that balance which gives them a sense of the national interest7 sit in low places4 ,i have seen servants upon horses1 and princes walking as servants upon the earth40 ,sad complaints1 that the principles of power and of authority1 the goods of the mind and of fortune1 do not meet and twine in the wreath or crown of empire6 ,wherefore1 if we have anything of piety or of prudence1 let us raise ourselves out of the mire of private interest to the contemplation of virtue1 and put a hand to the removal of 8this evil from under the sun20 this evil against which no government that is not secured can be good2 this evil from which the government that is secure must be perfect4 ,solomon tells us that the cause of it is from the ruler1 from those principles of power1 which1 balanced upon earthly trash1 exclude the heavenly treasures of virtue1 and that influence of it upon government which is authority4 ,we have wandered the earth to find out the balance of power2 but to find out that of authority we must ascend1 as ,i said1 nearer heaven1 or to the image of ,god1 which is the soul of man4 ,the soul of man 7whose life or motion is perpetual contemplation or thought7 is the mistress of two potent rivals1 the one reason1 the other passion1 that are in continual suit2 and1 according as she gives up her will to these or either of them1 is the felicity or misery which man partakes in this mortal life4 ,for1 as whatever was passion in the contemplation of a man1 being brought forth by his will into action1 is vice and the bondage of sin2 so whatever was reason in the contemplation of a man1 being brought forth by his will into action1 is virtue and the freedom of soul4 ,again1 as those actions of a man that were sin acquire to himself repentance or shame1 and affect others with scorn or pity1 so those actions of a man that are virtue acquire to himself honor1 and upon others authority4 ,now government is no other than the soul of a nation or city3 wherefore that which was reason in the debate of a commonwealth being brought forth by the result1 must be virtue2 and forasmuch as the soul of a city or nation is the sovereign power1 her virtue must be law4 ,but the government whose law is virtue1 and whose virtue is law1 is the same whose empire is authority1 and whose authority is empire4 ,again1 if the liberty of a man consists in the empire of his reason1 the absence whereof would betray him to the bondage of his passions1 then the liberty of a commonwealth consists in the empire of her laws1 the absence whereof would betray her to the lust of tyrants4 ,and these ,i conceive to be the principles upon which ,aristotle and ,livy 7injuriously accused by ,leviathan for not writing out of nature7 have grounded their assertion1 8that a commonwealth is an empire of laws and not of men40 ,but they must not carry it so4 8,for10 says he1 8the liberty whereof there is so frequent and honorable mention in the histories and philosophy of the ancient ,greeks and ,romans1 and the writings and discourses of those that from them have received all their learning in the politics1 is not the liberty of particular men1 but the liberty of the commonwealth40 ,he might as well have said that the estates of particular men in a commonwealth are not the riches of particular men1 but the riches of the commonwealth2 for equality of estates causes equality of power1 and equality of power is the liberty1 not only of the commonwealth1 but of every man4 ,but sure a man would never be thus irreverent with the greatest authors1 and positive against all antiquity without some certain demonstration of truth--and what is it8 ,why1 8there is written on the turrets of the city of ,lucca in great characters at this day the word ,,libertas2 yet no man can thence infer that a particular man has more liberty or immunity from the service of the commonwealth there than in ,constantinople4 ,whether a commonwealth be monarchical or popular the freedom is the same40 ,the mountain has brought forth1 and we have a little equivocation6 ,for to say that a ,lucchese has no more liberty or immunity from the laws of ,lucca than a ,turk has from those of ,constantinople2 and to say that a ,lucchese has no more liberty or immunity by the laws of ,lucca1 than a ,turk has by those of ,constantinople1 are pretty different speeches4 ,the first may be said of all governments alike2 the second scarce of any two2 much less of these1 seeing it is known that1 whereas the greatest ,bashaw is a tenant1 as well of his head as of his estate1 at the will of his lord1 the meanest ,lucchese that has land is a freeholder of both1 and not to be controlled but by the law1 and that framed by every private man to no other end 7or they may thank themselves7 than to protect the liberty of every private man1 which by that means comes to be the liberty of the commonwealth4 ,but seeing they that make the laws in commonwealths are but men1 the main question seems to be1 how a commonwealth comes to be an empire of laws1 and not of men8 or how the debate or result of a commonwealth is so sure to be according to reason2 seeing they who debate1 and they who resolve1 be but men8 8,and as often as reason is against a man1 so often will a man be against reason40 ,this is thought to be a shrewd saying1 but will do no harm2 for be it so that reason is nothing but interest1 there be divers interests1 and so divers reasons4 ,as first1 there is private reason1 which is the interest of a private man4 ,secondly1 there is reason of state1 which is the interest 7or error1 as was said by ,solomon7 of the ruler or rulers1 that is to say1 of the prince1 of the nobility1 or of the people4 ,thirdly there is that reason1 which is the interest of mankind1 or of the whole4 8,now if we see even in those natural agents that want sense1 that as in themselves they have a law which directs them in the means whereby they tend to their own perfection1 so likewise that another law there is1 which touches them as they are sociable parts united into one body1 a law which binds them each to serve to others' good1 and all to prefer the good of the whole1 before whatsoever their own particular2 as when stones1 or heavy things1 forsake their ordinary wont or centre1 and fly upward1 as if they heard themselves commanded to let go the good they privately wish1 and to relieve the present distress of nature in common40 ,there is a common right1 law of nature1 or interest of the whole1 which is more excellent1 and so acknowledged to be by the agents themselves1 than the right or interest of the parts only4 8,wherefore1 though it may be truly said that the creatures are naturally carried forth to their proper utility or profit1 that ought not to be taken in too general a sense2 seeing divers of them abstain from their own profit1 either in regard of those of the same kind1 or at least of their young40 ,mankind then must either be less just than the creature1 or acknowledge also his common interest to be common right4 ,and if reason be nothing else but interest1 and the interest of mankind be the right interest1 then the reason of mankind must be right reason4 ,now compute well2 for if the interest of popular government come the nearest to the interest of mankind1 then the reason of popular government must come the nearest to right reason4 ,but it may be said that the difficulty remains yet2 for be the interest of popular government right reason1 a man does not look upon reason as it is right or wrong in itself1 but as it makes for him or against him4 ,wherefore1 unless you can show such orders of a government as1 like those of ,god in nature1 shall be able to constrain this or that creature to shake off that inclination which is more peculiar to it1 and take up that which regards the common good or interest1 all this is to no more end than to persuade every man in a popular government not to carve himself of that which he desires most1 but to be mannerly at the public table1 and give the best from himself to decency and the common interest4 ,but that such orders may be established as may1 nay must1 give the upper hand in all cases to common right or interest1 notwithstanding the nearness of that which sticks to every man in private1 and this in a way of equal certainty and facility1 is known even to girls1 being no other than those that are of common practice with them in divers cases4 ,for example1 two of them have a cake yet undivided1 which was given between them3 that each of them therefore might have that which is due1 8,divide10 says one to the other1 8and ,i will choose2 or let me divide1 and you shall choose40 ,if this be but once agreed upon1 it is enough2 for the divident1 dividing unequally1 loses1 in regard that the other takes the better half4 ,wherefore she divides equally1 and so both have right4 8,oh1 the depth of the wisdom of ,god40 ,and yet 8by the mouths of babes and sucklings has ,he set forth ,his strength20 that which great philosophers are disputing upon in vain is brought to light by two harmless girls1 even the whole mystery of a commonwealth1 which lies only in dividing and choosing4 ,nor has ,god 7if his works in nature be understood7 left so much to mankind to dispute upon as who shall divide and who choose1 but distributed them forever into two orders1 whereof the one has the natural right of dividing1 and the other of choosing4 ,for example3 ,a commonwealth is but a civil society of men3 let us take any number of men 7as twenty7 and immediately make a commonwealth4 ,twenty men 7if they be not all idiots1 perhaps if they be7 can never come so together but there will be such a difference in them that about a third will be wiser1 or at least less foolish than all the rest2 these upon acquaintance1 though it be but small1 will be discovered1 and1 as stags that have the largest heads1 lead the herd2 for while the six1 discoursing and arguing one with another1 show the eminence of their parts1 the fourteen discover things that they never thought on2 or are cleared in divers truths which had formerly perplexed them4 ,wherefore1 in matter of common concernment1 difficulty1 or danger1 they hang upon their lips1 as children upon their fathers2 and the influence thus acquired by the six1 the eminence of whose parts are found to be a stay and comfort to the fourteen1 is the authority of the fathers4 ,wherefore this can be no other than a natural aristocracy diffused by ,god throughout the whole body of mankind to this end and purpose2 and therefore such as the people have not only a natural but a positive obligation to make use of as their guides2 as where the people of ,israel are commanded to 8take wise men1 and understanding1 and known among their tribes1 to be made rulers over them40 ,the six then approved of1 as in the present case1 are the senate1 not by hereditary right1 or in regard of the greatness of their estates only1 which would tend to such power as might force or draw the people1 but by election for their excellent parts1 which tends to the advancement of the influence of their virtue or authority that leads the people4 ,wherefore the office of the senate is not to be commanders1 but counsellors1 of the people2 and that which is proper to counsellors is first to debate1 and afterward to give advice in the business whereupon they have debated1 whence the decrees of the senate are never laws1 nor so called2 and these being maturely framed1 it is their duty to propose in the case to the people4 ,wherefore the senate is no more than the debate of the commonwealth4 ,but to debate is to discern or put a difference between things that1 being alike1 are not the same2 or it is separating and weighing this reason against that1 and that reason against this1 which is dividing4 ,the senate then having divided1 who shall choose8 ,ask the girls3 for if she that divided must have chosen also1 it had been little worse for the other in case she had not divided at all1 but kept the whole cake to herself1 in regard that being to choose1 too1 she divided accordingly4 ,wherefore if the senate have any further power than to divide1 the commonwealth can never be equal4 ,but in a commonwealth consisting of a single council1 there is no other to choose than that which divided2 whence it is1 that such a council fails not to scramble--that is1 to be factious1 there being no other dividing of the cake in that case but among themselves4 ,nor is there any remedy but to have another council to choose4 ,the wisdom of the few may be the light of mankind2 but the interest of the few is not the profit of mankind nor of a commonwealth4 ,wherefore1 seeing we have granted interest to be reason1 they must not choose lest it put out their light4 ,but as the council dividing consists of the wisdom of the commonwealth1 so the assembly or council choosing should consist of the interest of the commonwealth3 as the wisdom of the commonwealth is in the aristocracy1 so the interest of the commonwealth is in the whole body of the people4 ,and whereas this1 in case the commonwealth consist of a whole nation1 is too unwieldy a body to be assembled1 this council is to consist of such a representative as may be equal1 and so constituted1 as can never contract any other interest than that of the whole people2 the manner whereof1 being such as is best shown by exemplification1 ,i remit to the model4 ,but in the present case1 the six dividing1 and the fourteen choosing1 must of necessity take in the whole interest of the twenty4 ,dividing and choosing1 in the language of a commonwealth1 is debating and resolving2 and whatsoever1 upon debate of the senate1 is proposed to the people1 and resolved by them1 is enacted by the authority of the fathers1 and by the power of the people1 which concurring1 make a law4 ,but the law being made1 says ,leviathan1 8is but words and paper without the hands and swords of men20 wherefore as these two orders of a commonwealth1 namely1 the senate and the people1 are legislative1 so of necessity there must be a third to be executive of the laws made1 and this is the magistracy4 ,in which order1 with the rest being wrought up by art1 the commonwealth consists of 8the senate proposing1 the people resolving1 and the magistracy executing10 whereby partaking of the aristocracy as in the senate1 of the democracy as in the people1 and of monarchy as in the magistracy1 it is complete4 ,now there being no other commonwealth but this in art or nature1 it is no wonder if ,machiavel has shown us that the ancients held this only to be good2 but it seems strange to me that they should hold that there could be any other1 for if there be such a thing as pure monarchy1 yet that there should be such a one as pure aristocracy or pure democracy is not in my understanding4 ,but the magistracy1 both in number and function1 is different in different commonwealths4 ,nevertheless there is one condition of it that must be the same in every one1 or it dissolves the commonwealth where it is wanting4 ,and this is no less than that1 as the hand of the magistrate is the executive power of the law1 so the head of the magistrate is answerable to the people1 that his execution be according to the law2 by which ,leviathan may see that the hand or sword that executes the law is in it and not above it4 ,now whether ,i have rightly transcribed these principles of a commonwealth out of nature1 ,i shall appeal to ,god and to the world--to ,god in the fabric of the ,commonwealth of ,israel1 and to the world in the universal series of ancient prudence4 ,but in regard the same commonwealths will be opened at large in the ,council of legislators1 ,i shall touch them for the present but slightly1 beginning with that of ,israel4 ,the ,commonwealth of ,israel consisted of the ,senate1 the people1 and the magistracy4 ,the people by their first division1 which was genealogical1 were contained under their thirteen tribes1 houses1 or families2 whereof the first-born in each was prince of his tribe1 and had the leading of it3 the tribe of ,levi only1 being set apart to serve at the altar1 had no other prince but the high-priest4 ,in their second division they were divided locally by their agrarian1 or the distribution of the land of ,canaan to them by lot1 the tithe of all remaining to ,levi2 whence1 according to their local division1 the tribes are reckoned but twelve4 ,the assemblies of the people thus divided were methodically gathered by trumpets to the congregation3 which was1 it should seem1 of two sorts4 ,for if it were called with one trumpet only1 the princes of the tribes and the elders only assembled2 but if it were called with two1 the whole people gathered themselves to the congregation1 for so it is rendered by the ,english2 but in the ,greek it is called ,ecclesia1 or the ,church of ,god1 and by the ,talmudist the great 8,synagogue40 ,the word ,ecclesia was also anciently and properly used for the civil congregations1 or assemblies of the people in ,athens1 ,lacedaemon1 and ,ephesus1 where it is so called in ,scripture1 though it be otherwise rendered by the translators1 not much as ,i conceive to their commendation1 seeing by that means they have lost us a good lesson1 the apostles borrowing that name for their spiritual congregations1 to the end that we might see they intended the government of the church to be democratical or popular1 as is also plain in the rest of their constitutions4 ,the church or congregation of the people of ,israel assembled in a military manner1 and had the result of the commonwealth1 or the power of confirming all their laws1 though proposed even by ,god himself2 as where they make him king1 and where they reject or depose him as civil magistrate1 and elect ,saul4 ,it is manifest that he gives no such example to a legislator in a popular government as to deny or evade the power of the people1 which were a contradiction2 but though he deservedly blames the ingratitude of the people in that action1 he commands ,samuel1 being next under himself supreme magistrate1 8to hearken to their voice0 7for where the suffrage of the people goes for nothing1 it is no commonwealth71 and comforts him1 saying1 8,they have not rejected thee1 but they have rejected me that ,i should not reign over them40 ,but to reject him that he should not reign over them1 was as civil magistrate to depose him4 ,the power therefore which the people had to depose even ,god himself as he was civil magistrate1 leaves little doubt but that they had power to have rejected any of those laws confirmed by them throughout the ,scripture1 which1 to omit the several parcels1 are generally contained under two heads3 those that were made by covenant with the people in the land of ,moab1 and those which were made by covenant with the people in ,horeb2 which two1 ,i think1 amount to the whole body of the ,israelitish laws4 ,but if all and every one of the laws of ,israel being proposed by ,god1 were no otherwise enacted than by covenant with the people1 then that only which was resolved by the people of ,israel was their law2 and so the result of that commonwealth was in the people4 ,nor had the people the result only in matter of law1 but the power in some cases of judicature2 as also the right of levying war1 cognizance in matter of religion1 and the election of their magistrates1 as the judge or dictator1 the king1 the prince3 which functions were exercised by the ,synagoga magna1 or ,congregation of ,israel1 not always in one manner1 for sometimes they were performed by the suffrage of the people1 viva voce1 sometimes by the lot only1 and at others by the ballot1 or by a mixture of the lot with the suffrage1 as in the case of ,eldad and ,medad1 which ,i shall open with the ,senate4 ,the ,senate of ,israel1 called in the old ,testament the ,seventy ,elders1 and in the ,new the ,sanhedrim 7which word is usually translated 8the ,council071 was appointed by ,god1 and consisted of seventy elders besides ,moses1 which were at first elected by the people1 but in what manner is rather intimated than shown4 ,nevertheless1 because ,i cannot otherwise understand the passage concerning ,eldad and ,medad1 of whom it is said 8that they were of them that were written1 but went not up to the tabernacle10 then with the ,talmudists ,i conceive that ,eldad and ,medad had the suffrage of the tribes1 and so were written as competitors for magistracy2 but coming afterward to the lot1 failed of it1 and therefore went not up to the tabernacle1 or place of confirmation by ,god1 or to the session-house of the ,senate1 with the ,seventy upon whom the lot fell to be senators2 for the session-house of the ,sanhedrim was first in the court of the tabernacle1 and afterward in that of the ,temple1 where it came to be called the stone chamber or pavement4 ,if this were the ballot of ,israel1 that of ,venice is the same transposed2 for in ,venice the competitor is chosen as it were by the lot1 in regard that the electors are so made1 and the magistrate is chosen by the 8suffrage of the great ,council or assembly of the people40 ,but the ,sanhedrim of ,israel being thus constituted1 ,moses1 for his time1 and after him his successor sat in the midst of it as prince or archon1 and at his left hand the orator or father of the ,senate2 the rest1 or the bench1 coming round with either horn like a crescent1 had a scribe attending upon the tip of it4 ,this ,senate1 in regard the legislator of ,israel was infallible1 and the laws given by ,god such as were not fit to be altered by men1 is much different in the exercise of their power from all other senates1 except that of the ,areopagus in ,athens1 which also was little more than a supreme judicatory1 for it will hardly1 as ,i conceive1 be found that the ,sanhedrim proposed to the people till the return of the children of ,israel out of captivity under ,esdras1 at which time there was a new law made--namely1 for a kind of excommunication1 or rather banishment1 which had never been before in ,israel4 ,nevertheless it is not to be thought that the ,sanhedrim had not always that right1 which from the time of ,esdras is more frequently exercised1 of proposing to the people1 but that they forebore it in regard of the fulness and infallibility of the law already made1 whereby it was needless4 ,wherefore the function of this ,council1 which is very rare in a senate1 was executive1 and consisted in the administration of the law made2 and whereas the ,council itself is often understood in ,scripture by the priest and the ,levite1 there is no more in that save only that the priests and the ,levites1 who otherwise had no power at all1 being in the younger years of this commonwealth1 those that were best studied in the laws were the most frequently elected into the ,sanhedrim4 ,for the courts1 consisting of three-and-twenty elders sitting in the gates of every city1 and the triumvirates of judges constituted almost in every village1 which were parts of the executive magistracy subordinate to the ,sanhedrim1 ,i shall take them at better leisure1 and in the larger discourse2 but these being that part of this commonwealth which was instituted by ,moses upon the advice of ,jethro the priest of ,midian 7as ,i conceive a heathen71 are to me a sufficient warrant even from ,god himself1 who confirmed them1 to make further use of human prudence1 wherever ,i find it bearing a testimony to itself1 whether in heathen commonwealths or others2 and the rather1 because so it is1 that we who have the holy ,scriptures1 and in them the original of a commonwealth1 made by the same hand that made the world1 are either altogether blind or negligent of it2 while the heathens have all written theirs1 as if they had had no other copy2 as1 to be more brief in the present account of that which you shall have more at large hereafter3 ,athens consisted of the ,senate of the ,bean proposing1 of the ,church or ,assembly of the people resolving1 and too often debating1 which was the ruin of it2 as also of the ,senate of the ,areopagus1 the nine archons1 with divers other magistrates1 executing4 ,lacedaemon consisted of the ,senate proposing1 of the ,church or congregation of the people resolving only1 and never debating1 which was the long life of it2 and of the two kings1 the court of the ephors1 with divers other magistrates1 executing4 ,carthage consisted of the ,senate proposing and sometimes resolving too1 of the people resolving and sometimes debating too1 for which fault she was reprehended by ,aristotle2 and she had her suffetes1 and her hundred men1 with other magistrates1 executing4 ,rome consisted of the ,senate proposing1 the concio or people resolving1 and too often debating1 which caused her storms2 as also of the consuls1 censors1 aediles1 tribunes1 praetors1 quaestors1 and other magistrates1 executing4 ,venice consists of the ,senate1 or pregati1 proposing1 and sometimes resolving too1 of the great ,council or ,assembly of the people1 in whom the result is constitutively2 as also of the doge1 the signory1 the censors1 the dieci1 the quazancies1 and other magistrates1 executing4 ,the proceeding of the ,commonwealths of ,switzerland and ,holland is of a like nature1 though after a more obscure manner2 for the sovereignties1 whether cantons1 provinces1 or cities1 which are the people1 send their deputies1 commissioned and instructed by themselves 7wherein they reserve the result in their own power71 to the provincial or general convention1 or ,senate1 where the deputies debate1 but have no other power of result than what was conferred upon them by the people1 or is further conferred by the same upon further occasion4 ,and for the executive part they have magistrates or judges in every canton1 province1 or city1 besides those which are more public1 and relate to the league1 as for adjusting controversies between one canton1 province1 or city and another1 or the like between such persons as are not of the same canton1 province1 or city4 ,but that we may observe a little further how the heathen politicians have written1 not only out of nature1 but as it were out of ,scripture3 as in the ,commonwealth of ,israel1 ,god is said to have been king1 so the commonwealth where the law is king1 is said by ,aristotle to be 8the kingdom of ,god40 ,and where by the lusts or passions of men a power is set above that of the law deriving from reason1 which is the dictate of ,god1 ,god in that sense is rejected or deposed that he should not reign over them1 as he was in ,israel4 ,and yet ,leviathan will have it that 8by reading of these ,greek and ,latin he might as well in this sense have said ,hebrew authors1 young men1 and all others that are unprovided of the antidote of solid reason1 receiving a strong and delightful impression of the great exploits of war achieved by the conductors of their armies1 receive withal a pleasing idea of all they have done besides1 and imagine their great prosperity not to have proceeded from the emulation of particular men1 but from the virtue of their popular form of government1 not considering the frequent seditions and civil wars produced by the imperfection of their polity40 ,where1 first1 the blame he lays to the heathen authors1 is in his sense laid to the ,scripture2 and whereas he holds them to be young men1 or men of no antidote that are of like opinions1 it should seem that ,machiavel1 the sole retriever of this ancient prudence1 is to his solid reason a beardless boy that has newly read ,livy4 ,and how solid his reason is1 may appear where he grants the great prosperity of ancient commonwealths1 which is to give up the controversy4 ,for such an effect must have some adequate cause1 which to evade he insinuates that it was nothing else but the emulation of particular men1 as if so great an emulation could have been generated without as great virtue1 so great virtue without the best education1 and best education without the best law1 or the best laws any otherwise than by the excellency of their polity4 ,but if some of these commonwealths1 as being less perfect in their polity than others1 have been more seditious1 it is not more an argument of the infirmity of this or that commonwealth in particular1 than of the excellency of that kind of polity in general1 which if they1 that have not altogether reached1 have nevertheless had greater prosperity1 what would befall them that should reach8 ,in answer to which question let me invite ,leviathan1 who of all other governments gives the advantage to monarchy for perfection1 to a better disquisition of it by these three assertions4 ,the first1 that the perfection of government lies upon such a libration in the frame of it1 that no man or men in or under it can have the interest1 or1 having the interest1 can have the power to disturb it with sedition4 ,the second1 that monarchy1 reaching the perfection of the kind1 reaches not to the perfection of government1 but must have some dangerous flaw in it4 ,the third1 that popular government1 reaching the perfection of the kind1 reaches the perfection of government1 and has no flaw in it4 ,the first assertion requires no proof4 ,for the proof of the second1 monarchy1 as has been shown1 is of two kinds3 the one by arms1 the other by a nobility and there is no other kind in art or nature2 for if there have #8been anciently some governments called kingdoms1 as one of the ,goths in ,spain1 and another of the ,vandals in ,africa1 where the ,king ruled without a nobility and by a council of the people only it is expressly said by the authors that mention them that the1 kings were but the captains1 and that the people not only gave them laws1 but deposed them as often as they pleased4 ,nor is it possible in reason that it should be otherwise in like cases2 wherefore these were either no monarchies1 or had greater flaws in them than any other4 ,but for a monarchy by arms1 as that of the ,turk 7which1 of all models that ever were1 comes up to the perfection of the kind71 it is not in the wit or power of man to cure it of this dangerous flaw1 that the ,janizaries have frequent interest and perpetual power to raise sedition1 and to tear the magistrate1 even the prince himself1 in pieces4 ,therefore the monarchy of ,turkey is no perfect government4 ,and for a monarchy by nobility1 as of late in ,oceana 7which of all other models1 before the declination of it1 came up to the perfection in that kind71 it was not in the power or wit of man to cure it of that dangerous flaw2 that the nobility had frequent interest and perpetual power by their retainers and tenants to raise sedition2 and 7whereas the ,janizaries occasion this kind of calamity no sooner than they make an end of it7 to levy a lasting war1 to the vast effusion of blood1 and that even upon occasions wherein the people1 but for their dependence upon their lords1 had no concernment1 as in the feud of the ,red and ,white4 ,the like has been frequent in ,spain1 ,france1 ,germany1 and other monarchies of this kind2 wherefore monarchy by a nobility is no perfect government4 ,for the proof of the third assertion3 ,leviathan yields it to me1 that there is no other commonwealth but monarchical or popular2 wherefore if no monarchy be a perfect government1 then either there is no perfect government1 or it must be popular1 for which kind of constitution ,i have something more to say than ,leviathan has said or ever will be able to say for monarchy4 ,as1 ,first1 that it is the government that was never conquered by any monarch1 from the beginning of the world to this day1 for if the commonwealths of ,greece came under the yoke of the ,kings of ,macedon1 they were first broken by themselves4 ,secondly1 that it is the government that has frequently led mighty monarchs in triumph4 ,thirdly1 that it is the government1 which1 if it has been seditious1 it has not been so from any imperfection in the kind1 but in the particular constitution2 which1 wherever the like has happened1 must have been unequal4 ,fourthly1 that it is the government1 which1 if it has been anything near equal1 was never seditious2 or let him show me what sedition has happened in ,lacedaemon or ,venice4 ,fifthly1 that it is the government1 which1 attaining to perfect equality1 has such a libration in the frame of it1 that no man living can show which way any man or men1 in or under it1 can contract any such interest or power as should be able to disturb the commonwealth with sedition1 wherefore an equal commonwealth is that only which is without flaw and contains in it the full perfection of government4 ,but to return4 ,by what has been shown in reason and experience1 it may appear1 that though commonwealths in general be governments of the senate proposing1 the people resolving1 and the magistracy executing1 yet some are not so good at these orders as others1 through some impediment or defect in the frame1 balance1 or capacity of them1 according to which they are of divers kinds4 ,the first division of them is into such as are single1 as ,israel1 ,athens1 ,lacedaemon1 etc42 and such as are by leagues1 as those of the ,achaeans1 ,a,etolians1 ,lycians1 ,switz1 and ,hollanders4 ,the second 7being ,machiavel's7 is into such as are for preservation1 as ,lacedaemon and ,venice1 and such as are for increase1 as ,athens and ,rome2 in which ,i can see no more than that the former takes in no more citizens than are necessary for defence1 and the latter so many as are capable of increase4 ,the third division 7unseen hitherto7 is into equal and ,unequal1 and this is the main point1 especially as to domestic peace and tranquillity2 for to make a commonwealth unequal1 is to divide it into parties1 which sets them at perpetual variance1 the one party endeavoring to preserve their eminence and inequality and the other to attain to equality2 whence the people of ,rome derived their perpetual strife with the nobility and ,senate4 ,but in an equal commonwealth there can be no more strife than there can be overbalance in equal weights2 wherefore the ,commonwealth of ,venice1 being that which of all others is the most equal in the constitution1 is that wherein there never happened any strife between the ,senate and the people4 ,an equal commonwealth is such a one as is equal both in the balance or foundation1 and in the superstructure2 that is to say1 in her agrarian law and in her rotation4 ,an equal agrarian is a perpetual law1 establishing and preserving the balance of dominion by such a distribution1 that no one man or number of men1 within the compass of the few or aristocracy1 can come to overpower the whole people by their possessions in lands4 ,as the agrarian answers to the foundation1 so does rotation to the superstructures4 ,equal rotation is equal vicissitude in government1 or succession to magistracy conferred for such convenient terms1 enjoying equal vacations1 as take in the whole body by parts1 succeeding others1 through the free election or suffrage of the people4 ,the contrary1 whereunto is prolongation of magistracy1 which1 trashing the wheel of rotation1 destroys the life or natural motion of a commonwealth4 ,the election or suffrage of the people is most free1 where it is made or given in such a manner that it can neither oblige nor disoblige another1 nor through fear of an enemy1 or bashfulness toward a friend1 impair a man's liberty4 ,wherefore1 says ,cicero1 the tablet or ballot of the people of ,rome 7who gave their votes by throwing tablets or little pieces of wood secretly into urns marked for the negative or affirmative7 was a welcome constitution to the people1 as that which1 not impairing the assurance of their brows1 increased the freedom of their judgment4 ,i have not stood upon a more particular description of this ballot1 because that of ,venice exemplified in the model is of all others the most perfect4 ,an equal commonwealth 7by that which has been said7 is a government established upon an equal agrarian1 arising into the superstructures or three orders1 the ,senate debating and proposing1 the people resolving1 and the magistracy executing1 by an equal rotation through the suffrage of the people given by the ballot4 ,for though rotation may be without the ballot1 and the ballot without rotation1 yet the ballot not only as to the ensuing model includes both1 but is by far the most equal way2 for which cause under the name of the ballot ,i shall hereafter understand both that and rotation too4 ,now having reasoned the principles of an equal commonwealth1 ,i should come to give an instance of such a one in experience1 if ,i could find it2 but if this work be of any value1 it lies in that it is the first example of a commonwealth that is perfectly equal4 ,for ,venice1 though it comes the nearest1 yet is a commonwealth for preservation2 and such a one1 considering the paucity of citizens taken in1 and the number not taken in1 is externally unequal2 and though every commonwealth that holds provinces must in that regard be such1 yet not to that degree4 ,nevertheless1 ,venice internally1 and for her capacity1 is by far the most equal1 though it has not1 in my judgment1 arrived at the full perfection of equality2 both because her laws supplying the defect of an agrarian are not so clear nor effectual at the foundation1 nor her superstructures1 by the virtue of her ballot or rotation1 exactly librated2 in regard that through the paucity of her citizens her greater magistracies are continually wheeled through a few hands1 as is confessed by ,janotti1 where he says1 that if a gentleman comes once to be ,savio di terra ferma1 it seldom happens that he fails from thenceforward to be adorned with some one of the greater magistracies1 as ,savi di mare1 ,savi di terra ferma1 ,savi ,grandi1 counsellors1 those of the decemvirate or dictatorian council1 the aurogatori1 or censors1 which require no vacation or interval4 ,wherefore if this in ,venice1 or that in ,lacedaemon1 where the kings were hereditary1 and the ,senators 7though elected by the people7 for life1 cause no inequality 7which is hard to be conceived7 in a commonwealth for preservation1 or such a one as consists of a few citizens2 yet is it manifest that it would cause a very great one in a commonwealth for increase1 or consisting of the many1 which1 by engrossing the magistracies in a few hands1 would be obstructed in their rotation4 ,but there be who say 7and think it a strong objection7 that1 let a commonwealth be as equal as you can imagine1 two or three men when all is done will govern it2 and there is that in it which1 notwithstanding the pretended sufficiency of a popular ,state1 amounts to a plain confession of the imbecility of that policy1 and of the prerogative of monarchy2 forasmuch as popular governments in difficult cases have had recourse to dictatorian power1 as in ,rome4 ,to which ,i answer1 that as truth is a spark to which objections are like bellows1 so in this respect our commonwealth shines2 for the eminence acquired by suffrage of the people in a commonwealth1 especially if it be popular and equal1 can be ascended by no other steps than the universal acknowledgment of virtue3 and where men excel in virtue1 the commonwealth is stupid and unjust1 if accordingly they do not excel in authority4 ,wherefore this is both the advantage of virtue1 which has her due encouragement1 and of the commonwealth1 which has her due services4 ,these are the philosophers which ,plato would have to be princes1 the princes which ,solomon would have to be mounted1 and their steeds are those of authority1 not empire2 or1 if they be buckled to the chariot of empire1 as that of the dictatorian power1 like the chariot of the sun1 it is glorious for terms and vacations or intervals4 ,and as a commonwealth is a government of laws and not of men1 so is this the principality of virtue1 and not of man2 if that fail or set in one1 it rises in another who is created his immediate successor4 ,and this takes away that vanity from under the sun1 which is an error proceeding more or less from all other rulers under heaven but an equal commonwealth4 ,these things considered1 it will be convenient in this place to speak a word to such as go about to insinuate to the nobility or gentry a fear of the people1 or to the people a fear of the nobility or gentry2 as if their interests were destructive to each other4 ,when indeed an army may as well consist of soldiers without officers1 or of officers without soldiers1 as a commonwealth1 especially such a one as is capable of greatness1 of a people without a gentry1 or of a gentry without a people4 ,wherefore this1 though not always so intended1 as may appear by ,machiavel1 who else would be guilty1 is a pernicious error4 ,there is something first in the making of a commonwealth1 then in the governing of it1 and last of all in the leading of its armies1 which1 though there be great divines1 great lawyers1 great men in all professions1 seems to be peculiar only to the genius of a gentleman4 ,for so it is in the universal series of story1 that if any man has founded a commonwealth1 he was first a gentleman4 ,moses had his education by the daughter of ,pharaoh2 ,theseus and ,solon1 of noble birth1 were held by the ,athenians worthy to be kings2 ,lycurgus was of the royal blood2 ,romulus and ,numa princes2 ,brutus and ,publicola patricians2 the ,gracchi1 that lost their lives for the people of ,rome and the restitution of that commonwealth1 were the sons of a father adored with two triumphs1 and of ,cornelia the daughter of ,scipio1 who being demanded in marriage by ,king ,ptolemy1 disdained to become the ,queen of ,egypt4 ,and the most renowned ,olphaus ,megaletor1 sole legislator1 as you will see anon1 of the ,commonwealth of ,oceana1 was derived from a noble family2 nor will it be any occasion of scruple in this case1 that ,leviathan affirms the politics to be no ancienter than his book 8,de ,cive40 ,such also as have got any fame in the civil government of a commonwealth1 or by the leading of its armies1 have been gentlemen2 for so in all other respects were those plebeian magistrates elected by the people of ,rome1 being of known descents and of equal virtues1 except only that they were excluded from the name by the usurpation of the patricians4 ,holland1 through this defect at home1 has borrowed princes for generals1 and gentlemen of divers nations for commanders3 and the ,switzers1 if they have any defect in this kind1 rather lend their people to the colors of other princes1 than make that noble use of them at home which should assert the liberty of mankind4 ,for where there is not a nobility to hearten the people1 they are slothful1 regardless of the world1 and of the public interest of liberty1 as even those of ,rome had been without their gentry3 wherefore let the people embrace the gentry in peace1 as the light of their eyes2 and in war1 as the trophy of their arms2 and if ,cornelia disdained to be ,queen of ,egypt1 if a ,roman consul looked down from his tribunal upon the greatest king1 let the nobility love and cherish the people that afford them a throne so much higher in a commonwealth1 in the acknowledgment of their virtue1 than the crowns of monarchs4 ,but if the equality of a commonwealth consist in the equality first of the agrarian1 and next of the rotation1 then the inequality of a commonwealth must consist in the absence or inequality of the agrarian1 or of the rotation1 or of both4 ,israel and ,lacedaemon1 which commonwealths 7as the people of this1 in ,josephus1 claims kindred of that7 have great resemblance1 were each of them equal in their agrarian1 and unequal in their rotation1 especially ,israel1 where the ,sanhedrim1 or ,senate1 first elected by the people1 as appears by the words of ,moses1 took upon them ever after1 without any precept of ,god1 to substitute their successors by ordination2 which having been there of civil use1 as excommunication1 community of goods1 and other customs of the ,essenes1 who were many of them converted1 came afterward to be introduced into the ,christian ,church4 ,and the election of the judge1 suffes1 or dictator1 was irregular1 both for the occasion1 the term1 and the vacation of that magistracy4 ,as you find in the book of ,judges1 where it is often repeated1 that in those days there was no king in ,israel--that is1 no judge2 and in the first of ,samuel1 where ,eli judged ,israel forty years1 and ,samuel1 all his life4 ,in ,lacedaemon the election of the ,senate being by suffrage of the people1 though for life1 was not altogether so unequal1 yet the hereditary right of kings1 were it not for the agrarian1 had ruined her4 ,athens and ,rome were unequal as to their agrarian1 that of ,athens being infirm1 and this of ,rome none at all2 for if it were more anciently carried it was never observed4 ,whence1 by the time of ,tiberius ,gracchus1 the nobility had almost eaten the people quite out of their lands1 which they held in the occupation of tenants and servants1 whereupon the remedy being too late1 and too vehemently applied1 that commonwealth was ruined4 ,these also were unequal in their rotation1 but in a contrary manner4 ,athens1 in regard that the ,senate 7chosen at once by lot1 not by suffrage1 and changed every year1 not in part1 but in the whole7 consisted not of the natural aristocracy1 nor sitting long enough to understand or to be perfect in their office1 had no sufficient authority to restrain the people from that perpetual turbulence in the end1 which was their ruin1 notwithstanding the efforts of ,nicias1 who did all a man could do to help it4 ,but as ,athens1 by the headiness of the people1 so ,rome fell by the ambition of the nobility1 through the want of an equal rotation2 which1 if the people had got into the ,senate1 and timely into the magistracies 7whereof the former was always usurped by the patricians1 and the latter for the most part7 they had both carried and held their agrarian1 and that had rendered that commonwealth immovable4 ,but let a commonwealth be equal or unequal1 it must consist1 as has been shown by reason and all experience1 of the three general orders2 that is to say1 of the ,senate debating and proposing1 of the people resolving1 and of the magistracy executing4 ,wherefore ,i can never wonder enough at ,leviathan1 who1 without any reason or example1 will have it that a commonwealth consists of a single person1 or of a single assembly2 nor can ,i sufficiently pity those 8thousand gentlemen1 whose minds1 which otherwise would have wavered1 he has framed 7as is affirmed by himself7 in to a conscientious obedience 7for so he is pleased to call it7 of such a government40 ,but to finish this part of the discourse1 which ,i intend for as complete an epitome of ancient prudence1 and in that of the whole art of politics1 as ,i am able to frame in so short a time3 ,the two first orders1 that is to say1 the ,senate and the people1 are legislative1 whereunto answers that part of this science which by politicians is entitled 8of laws20 and the third order is executive1 to which answers that part of the same science which is styled 8of the frame and course of courts or judicatories40 ,a word to each of these will be necessary4 ,and first for laws3 they are either ecclesiastical or civil1 such as concern religion or government4 ,laws1 ecclesiastical1 or such as concern religion1 according to the universal course of ancient prudence1 are in the power of the magistrate2 but1 according to the common practice of modern prudence1 since the papacy1 torn out of his hands4 ,but1 as a government pretending to liberty1 and yet suppressing liberty of conscience 7which1 because religion not according to a man's conscience can to him be none at all1 is the main7 must be a contradiction1 so a man that1 pleading for the liberty of private conscience1 refuses liberty to the national conscience1 must be absurd4 ,a commonwealth is nothing else but the national conscience4 ,and if the conviction of a man's private conscience produces his private religion1 the conviction of the national conscience must produce a national religion4 ,whether this be well reasoned1 as also whether these two may stand together1 will best be shown by the examples of the ancient commonwealths taken in their order4 ,in that of ,israel the government of the national religion appertained not to the priests and ,levites1 otherwise than as they happened to be of the ,sanhedrim1 or ,senate1 to which they had no right at all but by election4 ,it is in this capacity therefore that the people are commanded1 under pain of death1 8to hearken to them1 and to do according to the sentence of the law which they should teach20 but in ,israel the law ecclesiastical and civil was the same1 therefore the ,sanhedrim1 having the power of one1 had the power of both4 ,but as the national religion appertained to the jurisdiction of the ,sanhedrim1 so the liberty of conscience appertained1 from the same date1 and by the same right1 to the prophets and their disciples2 as where it is said1 8,i will raise up a prophet2 and whoever will not hearken to my words which he shall speak in my name1 ,i will require it of him40 ,the words relate to prophetic right1 which was above all the orders of this commonwealth2 whence ,elijah not only refused to obey the ,king1 but destroyed his messengers with fire4 ,and whereas it was not lawful by the national religion to sacrifice in any other place than the ,temple1 a prophet was his own temple1 and might sacrifice where he would1 as ,elijah did in ,mount ,carmel4 ,by this right ,john the ,baptist and our ,saviour1 to whom it more particularly related1 had their disciples1 and taught the people1 whence is derived our present right of gathered congregations2 wherefore the ,christian religion grew up according to the orders of the ,commonwealth of ,israel1 and not against them4 ,nor was liberty of conscience infringed by this government1 till the civil liberty of the same was lost1 as under ,herod1 ,pilate1 and ,tiberius1 a three-piled tyranny4 ,to proceed1 ,athens preserved her religion1 by the testimony of ,paul1 with great superstition3 if ,alcibiades1 that atheistical fellow had not showed them a pair of heels1 they had shaven off his head for shaving their ,mercuries1 and making their gods look ridiculously upon them without beards4 ,nevertheless1 if ,paul reasoned with them1 they loved news1 for which he was the more welcome2 and if he converted ,dionysius the ,areopagite1 that is1 one of the senators1 there followed neither any hurt to him1 nor loss of honor to ,dionysius4 ,and for ,rome1 if ,cicero1 in his most excellent book 8,de ,natura ,deorum10 overthrew the national religion of that commonwealth1 he was never the further from being consul4 ,but there is a meanness and poorness in modern prudence1 not only to the damage of civil government1 but of religion itself2 for to make a man in matter of religion1 which admits not of sensible demonstration 7jurare in verba magistri71 engage to believe no otherwise than is believed by my lord bishop1 or ,goodman ,presbyter is a pedantism that has made the sword to be a rod in the hands of schoolmasters2 by which means1 whereas the ,christian religion is the furthest of any from countenancing war1 there never was a war of religion but since ,christianity1 for which we are beholden to the ,pope2 for the ,pope not giving liberty of conscience to princes and commonwealths1 they cannot give that to their subjects which they have not themselves1 whence both princes and subjects1 either through his instigation or their own disputes1 have introduced that execrable custom1 never known in the world before1 of fighting for religion1 and denying the magistrate to have any jurisdiction concerning it1 whereas the magistrate's losing the power of religion loses the liberty of conscience1 which in that case has nothing to protect it4 ,but if the people be otherwise taught1 it concerns them to look about them1 and to distinguish between the shrieking of the lapwing and the voice of the turtle4 ,to come to civil laws4 ,if they stand one way and the balance another1 it is the case of a government which of necessity must be new modelled2 wherefore your lawyers1 advising you upon the like occasions to fit your government to their laws1 are no more to be regarded than your tailor if he should desire you to fit your body to his doublet4 ,there is also danger in the plausible pretence of reforming the law1 except the government be first good1 in which case it is a good tree1 and 7trouble not yourselves overmuch7 brings not forth evil fruit2 otherwise1 if the tree be evil1 you can never reform the fruit1 or if a root that is naught bring forth fruit of this kind that seems to be good1 take the more heed1 for it is the ranker poison4 ,it was nowise probable1 if ,augustus had not made excellent laws1 that the bowels of ,rome could have come to be so miserably eaten out by the tyranny of ,tiberius and his successors4 ,the best rule as to your laws in general is that they be few4 ,rome1 by the testimony of ,cicero1 ,was best governed under those of the twelve tables2 and by that of ,tacitus1 ,plurimoe leges1 corruptissima respublica4 ,you will be told that where the laws be few they leave much to arbitrary power2 but where they be many1 they leave more1 the laws in this case1 according to ,justinian and the best lawyers1 being as litigious as the suitors4 ,solon made few1 ,lycurgus fewer1 laws2 and commonwealths have the fewest at this day of all other governments4 ,now to conclude this part with a word de judiciis1 or of the constitution or course of courts2 it is a discourse not otherwise capable of being well managed but by particular examples1 both the constitution and course of courts being divers in different governments1 but best beyond compare in ,venice1 where they regard not so much the arbitrary power of their courts as the constitution of them1 whereby that arbitrary power being altogether unable to retard or do hurt to business1 produces and must produce the quickest despatch1 and the most righteous dictates of justice that are perhaps in human nature4 ,the manner ,i shall not stand in this place to describe1 because it is exemplified at large in the judicature of the people of ,oceana4 ,and thus much of ancient prudence1 and the first branch of this preliminary discourse4 ,,the ,,second ,,part ,,of ,,the ,,preliminaries ,in the second part ,i shall endeavor to show the rise1 progress1 and declination of modern prudence4 ,the date of this kind of policy is to be computed1 as was shown1 from those inundations of ,goths1 ,vandals1 ,huns1 and ,lombards that overwhelmed the ,roman ,empire4 ,but as there is no appearance in the bulk or constitution of modern prudence1 that it should ever have been able to come up and grapple with the ancient1 so something of necessity must have interposed whereby this came to be enervated1 and that to receive strength and encouragement4 ,and this was the execrable reign of the ,roman emperors taking rise from 7that felix scelus7 the arms of ,caesar1 in which storm the ship of the ,roman ,commonwealth was forced to disburden itself of that precious freight1 which never since could emerge or raise its head but in the ,gulf of ,venice4 ,it is said in ,scripture1 8,thy evil is of thyself1 ,o ,israel60 to which answers that of the moralists1 8,none is hurt but by himself10 as also the whole matter of the politics2 at present this example of the ,romans1 who1 through a negligence committed in their agrarian laws1 let in the sink of luxury1 and forfeited the inestimable treasure of liberty for themselves and their posterity4 ,their agrarian laws were such whereby their lands ought to have been divided among the people1 either without mention of a colony1 in which case they were not obliged to change their abode2 or with mention and upon condition of a colony1 in which case they were to change their abode1 and leaving the city1 to plant themselves upon the lands so assigned4 ,the lands assigned1 or that ought to have been assigned1 in either of these ways1 were of three kinds3 such as were taken from the enemy and distributed to the people2 or such as were taken from the enemy1 and1 under color of being reserved to the public use1 were through stealth possessed by the nobility2 or such as were bought with the public money to be distributed4 ,of the laws offered in these cases1 those which divided the lands taken from the enemy1 or purchased with the public money1 never occasioned any dispute2 but such as drove at dispossessing the nobility of their usurpations1 and dividing the common purchase of the sword among the people1 were never touched but they caused earthquakes1 nor could they ever be obtained by the people2 or being obtained1 be observed by the nobility1 who not only preserved their prey1 but growing vastly rich upon it1 bought the people by degrees quite out of those shares that had been conferred upon them4 ,this the ,gracchi coming too late to perceive found the balance of the commonwealth to be lost2 but putting the people 7when they had least force7 by forcible means upon the recovery of it1 did ill1 seeing it neither could nor did tend to any more than to show them by worse effects that what the wisdom of their leaders had discovered was true4 ,for quite contrary to what has happened in ,oceana1 where1 the balance falling to the people1 they have overthrown the nobility1 that nobility of ,rome1 under the conduct of ,sylla1 overthrew the people and the commonwealth2 seeing ,sylla first introduced that new balance which was the foundation of the succeeding monarchy1 in the plantation of military colonies1 instituted by his distribution of the conquered lands1 not now of enemies1 but of citizens1 to forty-seven legions of his soldiers2 so that how he came to be perpetual dictator1 or other magistrates to succeed him in like power1 is no miracle4 ,these military colonies 7in which manner succeeding emperors continued1 as ,augustus by the distribution of the veterans1 whereby he had overcome ,brutus and ,cassius to plant their soldiery7 consisted of such as ,i conceive were they that are called milites beneficiarii2 in regard that the tenure of their lands was by way of benefices1 that is1 for life1 and upon condition of duty or service in the war upon their own charge4 ,these benefices ,alexander ,severus granted to the heirs of the incumbents1 but upon the same conditions4 ,and such was the dominion by which the ,roman emperors gave their balance4 ,but to the beneficiaries1 as was no less than necessary for the safety of the prince1 a matter of #h1jjj by the example of ,augustus were added1 which departed not from his sides1 but were his perpetual guard1 called ,pretorian bands2 though these1 according to the incurable flaw already observed in this kind of government1 became the most frequent butchers of their lords that are to be found in story4 ,thus far the ,roman monarchy is much the same with that at this day in ,turkey1 consisting of a camp and a horse-quarter2 a camp in regard of the ,spahis and ,janizaries1 the perpetual guard of the prince1 except they also chance to be liquorish after his blood2 and a horse-quarter in regard of the distribution of his whole land to tenants for life1 upon condition of continual service1 or as often as they shall be commanded at their own charge by timars1 being a word which they say signifies benefices1 that it shall save me a labor of opening the government4 ,but the fame of ,mahomet and his prudence is especially founded in this1 that whereas the ,roman monarchy1 except that of ,israel1 was the most imperfect1 the ,turkish is the most perfect that ever was4 ,which happened in that the ,roman 7as the ,israelitish of the ,sanhedrim and the congregation7 had a mixture of the ,senate and the people2 and the ,turkish is pure4 ,and that this was pure1 and the other mixed1 happened not through the wisdom of the legislators1 but the different genius of the nations2 the people of the ,eastern parts1 except the ,israelites1 which is to be attributed to their agrarian1 having been such as scarce ever knew any other condition than that of slavery2 and these of the ,wester having ever had such a relish of liberty1 as through what despair soever could never be brought to stand still while the yoke was putting on their necks1 but by being fed with some hopes of reserving to themselves some part of their freedom4 ,wherefore ,julius ,caesar 7saith ,suetonius7 contented himself in naming half the magistrates1 to leave the rest to the suffrage of the people4 ,and ,maecenas1 though he would not have ,augustus to give the people their liberty1 would not have him take it quite away4 ,whence this empire1 being neither hawk nor buzzard1 made a flight accordingly2 and the prince being perpetually tossed 7having the avarice of the soldiery on this hand to satisfy upon the people1 and the ,senate and the people on the other to be defended from the soldiery71 seldom died any other death than by one horn of this dilemma1 as is noted more at large by ,machiavel4 ,but the ,pretorian bands1 those bestial executioners of their captain's tyranny upon others1 and of their own upon him1 having continued from the time of ,augustus1 were by ,constantine the ,great 7incensed against them for taking part with his adversary ,maxentius7 removed from their strong garrison which they held in ,rome1 and distributed into divers provinces4 ,the benefices of the soldiers that were hitherto held for life and upon duty1 were by this prince made hereditary1 so that the whole foundation whereupon this empire was first built being now removed1 shows plainly that the emperors must long before this have found out some other way of support2 and this was by stipendiating the ,goths1 a people that1 deriving their roots from the northern parts of ,germany1 or out of ,sweden1 had1 through their victories obtained against ,domitian1 long since spread their branches to so near a neighborhood with the ,roman territories that they began to overshadow them4 ,for the emperors making use of them in their armies1 as the ,french do at this day of the ,switz1 gave them that under the notion of a stipend1 which they received as tribute1 coming1 if there were any default in the payment1 so often to distrain for it1 that in the time of ,honorius they sacked ,rome1 and possessed themselves of ,italy4 ,and such was the transition of ancient into modern prudence1 or that breach1 which being followed in every part of the ,roman ,empire with inundations of ,vandals1 ,huns1 ,lombards1 ,franks1 ,saxons1 overwhelmed ancient languages1 learning1 prudence1 manners1 cities1 changing the names of rivers1 countries1 seas1 mountains1 and men2 ,camillus1 ,caesar1 and ,pompey1 being come to ,edmund1 ,richard1 and ,geoffrey4 ,to open the groundwork or balance of these new politicians3 8,feudum10 says ,calvin the lawyer1 8is a ,gothic word of divers significations2 for it is taken either for war1 or for a possession of conquered lands1 distributed by the victor to such of his captains and soldiers as had merited in his wars1 upon condition to acknowledge him to be their perpetual lord1 and themselves to be his subjects40 ,of these there were three kinds or orders3 the first of nobility distinguished by the titles of dukes1 marquises1 earls1 and these being gratified with the cities1 castles1 and villages of the conquered ,italians1 their feuds participated of royal dignity1 and were called regalia1 by which they had right to coin money1 create magistrates1 take toll1 customs1 confiscations1 and the like4 ,feuds of the second order were such as1 with the consent of the ,king1 were bestowed by these feudatory princes upon men of inferior quality1 called their barons1 on condition that next to the ,king they should defend the dignities and fortunes of their lords in arms4 ,the lowest order of feuds were such1 as being conferred by those of the second order upon private men1 whether noble not noble1 obliged them in the like duty to their superiors2 the were called vavasors4 ,and this is the ,gothic balance1 by which all the kingdoms this day in ,christendom were at first erected2 for which cause1 if ,i had time1 ,i should open in this place the ,empire of ,germany1 and the ,kingdoms of ,france1 ,spain1 and ,poland2 but so much as has been said being sufficient for the discovery of the principles of modern prudence in general1 ,i shall divide the remainder of my discourse1 which is more particular1 into three parts3 ,the first1 showing the constitution of the late monarchy of ,oceana2 ,the second1 the dissolution of the same2 and ,the third1 the generation of the present commonwealth4 ,the constitution of the late monarchy of ,oceana is to be considered in relation to the different nations by whom it has been successively subdued and governed4 ,the first of these were the ,romans1 the second the ,teutons1 the third the ,scandians1 and the fourth the ,neustrians4 ,the government of the ,romans1 who held it as a province1 ,i shall omit1 because ,i am to speak of their provincial government in another place1 only it is to be remembered here1 that if we have given over running up and down naked1 and with dappled hides1 learned to write and read1 and to be instructed with good arts1 for all these we are beholden to the ,romans1 either immediately or mediately by the ,teutons2 for that the ,teutons had the arts from no other hand is plain enough by their language1 which has yet no word to signify either writing or reading1 but what is derived from the ,latin4 ,furthermore1 by the help of these arts so learned1 we have been capable of that religion which we have long since received2 wherefore it seems to me that we ought not to detract from the memory of the ,romans1 by whose means we are1 as it were1 of beasts become men1 and by whose means we might yet of obscure and ignorant men 7if we thought not too well of ourselves7 become a wise and a great people4 ,the ,romans having governed ,oceana provincially1 the ,teutons were the first that introduced the form of the late monarchy4 ,to these succeeded the ,scandians1 of whom 7because their reign was short1 as also because they made little alteration in the government as to the form7 ,i shall take no notice4 ,but the ,teutons going to work upon the ,gothic balance1 divided the whole nation into three sorts of feuds1 that of ealdorman1 that of king's thane1 and that of middle thane4 ,when the kingdom was first divided into precincts will be as hard to show as when it began first to be governed4 ,it being impossible that there should be any government without some division4 ,the division that was in use with the ,teutons was by counties1 and every county had either its ealdorman or high reeve4 ,the title of ealdorman came in time to eorl1 or erl1 and that of high reeve to high sheriff4 ,earl of the shire or county denoted the king's thane1 or tenant by grand sergeantry or knight's service1 in chief or in capite2 his possessions were sometimes the whole territory from whence he had his denomination1 that is1 the whole county2 sometimes more than one county1 and sometimes less1 the remaining part being in the crown4 ,he had also sometimes a third1 or some other customary part of the profits of certain cities1 boroughs1 or other places within his earldom4 ,for an example of the possessions of earls in ancient times1 ,ethelred had to him and his heirs the whole ,kingdom of ,mercia1 containing three or four counties2 and there were others that had little less4 ,king's thane was also an honorary title1 to which he was qualified that had five hides of land held immediately of the ,king by service of personal attendance2 insomuch that if a churl or countryman had thriven to this proportion1 having a church1 a kitchen1 a bell-house 7that is1 a hall with a bell in it to call his family to dinner71 a borough-gate with a seat 7that is1 a porch7 of his own1 and any distinct office in the ,king's court1 then was he the ,king's thane4 ,but the proportion of a hide-land1 otherwise called caruca1 or a plough-land1 is difficult to be understood1 because it was not certain2 nevertheless it is generally conceived to be so much as may be managed with one plough1 and would yield the maintenance of the same1 with the appurtenances in all kinds4 ,the middle thane was feudal1 but not honorary2 he was also called a vavasor1 and his lands a vavasory1 which held of some mesne lord1 and not immediately of the ,king4 ,possessions and their tenures1 being of this nature1 show the balance of the ,teuton monarchy1 wherein the riches of earls were so vast that to arise from the balance of their dominion to their power1 they were not only called reguli1 or little kings1 but were such indeed2 their jurisdiction being of two sorts1 either that which was exercised by them in the court of their countries1 or in the high court of the kingdom4 ,in the territory denominating an earl1 if it were all his own1 the courts held1 and the profits of that jurisdiction were to his own use and benefit4 ,but if he had but some part of his county1 then his jurisdiction and courts1 saving perhaps in those possessions that were his own1 were held by him to the ,king's use and benefit2 that is1 he commonly supplied the office which the sheriffs regularly executed in counties that had no earls1 and whence they came to be called viscounts4 ,the court of the county that had an earl was held by the earl and the bishop of the diocese1 after the manner of the sheriffs' turns to this day2 by which means both the ecclesiastical and temporal laws were given in charge together to the country4 ,the causes of vavasors or vavasories appertained to the cognizance of this court1 where wills were proved1 judgment and execution given1 cases criminal and civil determined4 ,the ,king's thanes had the like jurisdiction in their thane lands as lords in their manors1 where they also kept courts4 ,besides these in particular1 both the earls and ,king's thanes1 together with the bishops1 abbots1 and vavasors1 or middle thanes1 had in the high court or parliament in the kingdom a more public jurisdiction1 consisting first of deliberative power for advising upon and assenting to new laws2 secondly1 giving counsel in matters of state and thirdly1 of judicature upon suits and complaints4 ,i shall not omit to enlighten the obscurity of these times1 in which there is little to be found of a methodical constitution of this high court1 by the addition of an argument1 which ,i conceive to bear a strong testimony to itself1 though taken out of a late writing that conceals the author4 8,it is well known10 says he1 8that in every quarter of the realm a great many boroughs do yet send burgesses to the parliament which nevertheless be so anciently and so long since decayed and gone to naught1 that they cannot be showed to have been of any reputation since the ,conquest1 much less to have obtained any such privilege by the grant of any succeeding king3 wherefore these must have had this right by more ancient usage1 and before the ,conquest1 they being unable now to show whence they derived it40 ,this argument1 though there be more1 ,i shall pitch upon as sufficient to prove3 ,first1 that the lower sort of the people had right to session in ,parliament during the time of the ,teutons4 ,secondly1 that they were qualified to the same by election in their boroughs1 and if knights of the shire1 as no doubt they are1 be as ancient in the counties4 ,thirdly if it be a good argument to say that the commons during the reign of the ,teutons were elected into ,parliament because they are so now1 and no man can show when this custom began1 ,i see not which way it should be an ill one to say that the commons during the reign of the ,teutons constituted also a distinct house because they do so now1 unless any man can show that they did ever sit in the same house with the lords4 ,wherefore to conclude this part1 ,i conceive for these1 and other reasons to be mentioned hereafter1 that the ,parliament of the ,teutons consisted of the ,king1 the lords spiritual and temporal1 and the commons of the nation1 notwithstanding the style of divers acts of ,parliament1 which runs1 as that of ,magna ,charta1 in the ,king's name only1 seeing the same was nevertheless enacted by the ,king1 peers1 and commons of the land1 as is testified in those words by a subsequent act4 ,the monarchy of the ,teutons had stood in this posture about #bbj years2 when ,turbo1 ,duke of ,neustria1 making his claim to the crown of one of their kings that died childless1 followed it with successful arms1 and1 being possessed of the kingdom1 used it as conquered1 distributing the earldoms1 thane-lands1 bishoprics1 and prelacies of the whole realm among his ,neustrians4 ,from this time the earl came to be called comes1 consul1 and dux1 though consul and dux grew afterward out of use2 the ,king's thanes came to be called barons1 and their lands baronies2 the middle thane holding still of a mesne lord1 retained the name of vavasor4 ,the earl or comes continued to have the third part of the pleas of the county paid to him by the sheriff or vice--comes1 now a distinct officer in every county depending upon the ,king2 saving that such earls as had their counties to their own use were now counts-palatine1 and had under the ,king regal jurisdiction2 insomuch that they constituted their own sheriffs1 granted pardons1 and issued writs in their own names2 nor did the ,king's writ of ordinary justice run in their dominions till a late statute1 whereby much of this privilege was taken away4 ,for barons they came from henceforth to be in different times of three kinds3 barons by their estates and tenures1 barons by writ1 and barons created by letters-patent4 ,from ,turbo the first to ,adoxus the seventh king from the ,conquest1 barons had their denomination from their possessions and tenures4 ,and these were either spiritual or temporal2 for not only the thanelands1 but the possessions of bishops1 as also of some twenty six abbots1 and two priors1 were now erected into baronies1 whence the lords spiritual that had suffrage in the ,teuton ,parliament as spiritual lords came to have it in the ,neustrian ,parliament as barons1 and were made subject1 which they had not formerly been1 to knights' service in chief4 ,barony coming henceforth to signify all honorary possessions as well of earls as barons1 and baronage to denote all kinds of lords as well spiritual as temporal having right to sit in ,parliament1 the baronies in this sense were sometimes more1 and sometimes fewer1 but commonly about #bjj or #bej1 containing in them a matter of #fj1jjj feuda militum1 or knights' fees1 whereof some #bh1jjj were in the clergy4 ,it is ill-luck that no man can tell what the land of a knight's fee1 reckoned in some writs at #dj a year1 and in others at #aj1 was certainly worth1 for by such a help we might have exactly demonstrated the balance of this government4 ,but1 says ,coke1 it contained twelve plough-lands1 and that was thought to be the most certain account4 ,but this again is extremely uncertain2 for one plough out of some land that was fruitful might work more than ten out of some other that was barren4 ,nevertheless1 seeing it appears by ,bracton1 that of earldoms and baronies it was wont to be said that the whole kingdom was composed1 as also that these1 consisting of #fj1jjj knights' fees1 furnished #fj1jjj men for the ,king's service1 being the whole militia of this monarchy1 it cannot be imagined that the vavasories or freeholds in the people amounted to any considerable proportion4 ,wherefore the balance and foundation of this government were in the #fj1jjj knights' fees1 and these being possessed by the #bej lords1 it was a government of the few1 or of the nobility1 wherein the people might also assemble1 but could have no more than a mere name4 ,and the clergy1 holding a third of the whole nation1 as is plain by the ,parliament-roll1 it is an absurdity 7seeing the clergy of ,france came first through their riches to be a state of that kingdom7 to acknowledge the people to have been a state of this realm1 and not to allow it to the clergy1 who were so much more weighty in the balance1 which is that of all other whence a state or order in a government is denominated4 ,wherefore this monarchy consisted of the ,king1 and of the three ordines regni1 or estates1 the lords spiritual and temporal1 and the commons2 it consisted of these1 ,i say1 as to the balance1 though1 during the reign of some of these kings1 not as to the administration4 ,for the ambition of ,turbo1 and some of those that more immediately succeeded him1 to be absolute princes1 strove against the nature of their foundation1 and1 inasmuch as he had divided almost the whole realm among his ,neustrians1 with some encouragement for a while4 ,but the ,neustrians1 while they were but foreign plants1 having no security against the natives1 but in growing up by their princes' sides1 were no sooner well rooted in their vast dominions than they came up according to the infallible consequence of the balance domestic1 and1 contracting the national interest of the baronage1 grew as fierce in the vindication of the ancient rights and liberties of the same1 as if they had been always natives3 whence1 the kings being as obstinate on the one side for their absolute power1 as these on the other for their immunities1 grew certain wars1 which took their denomination from the barons4 ,this fire about the middle of the reign of ,adoxus began to break out4 ,and whereas the predecessors of this ,king had divers times been forced to summon councils resembling those of the ,teutons1 to which the lords only that were barons by dominion and tenure had hitherto repaired1 ,adoxus1 seeing the effects of such dominion1 began first not to call such as were barons by writ 7for that was according to the practice of ancient times71 but to call such by writs as were otherwise no barons2 by which means1 striving to avoid the consequence of the balance1 in coming unwillingly to set the government straight1 he was the first that set it awry4 ,for the barons in his reign1 and his successors1 having vindicated their ancient authority1 restored the ,parliament with all the rights and privileges of the same1 saving that from thenceforth the kings had found out a way whereby to help themselves against the mighty by creatures of their own1 and such as had no other support but by their favor44 ,by which means this government1 being indeed the masterpiece of modern prudence1 has been cried up to the skies1 as the only invention whereby at once to maintain the sovereignty of a prince and the liberty of the people4 ,whereas1 indeed1 it has been no other than a wrestling-match1 wherein the nobility1 as they have been stronger1 have thrown the ,king1 or the ,king1 if he has been stronger1 has thrown the nobility2 or the ,king1 where he has had a nobility1 and could bring them to his party has thrown the people1 as in ,france and ,spain2 or the people1 where they have had no nobility1 or could get them to be of their party1 have thrown the ,king1 as in ,holland1 and of later times in ,oceana4 ,but they came not to this strength1 but by such approaches and degrees as remain to be further opened4 ,for whereas the barons by writ1 as the sixty-four abbots and thirty-six priors that were so called1 were but pro temp ore1 ,dicotome1 being the twelfth king from the ,conquest1 began to make barons by letters-patent1 with the addition of honorary pensions for the maintenance of their dignities to them and their heirs2 so that they were hands in the ,king's purse and had no shoulders for his throne4 ,of these1 when the house of peers came once to be full1 as will be seen hereafter1 there was nothing more empty4 ,but for the present1 the throne having other supports1 they did not hurt that so much as they did the ,king2 for the old barons1 taking ,dicotome's prodigality to such creatures so ill that they deposed him1 got the trick of it1 and never gave over setting up and pulling down their kings according to their various interests1 and that faction of the ,white and ,red1 into which they have been thenceforth divided1 till ,panurgus1 the eighteenth king from the ,conquest1 was more by their favor than his right advanced to the crown4 ,this ,king1 through his natural subtlety1 reflecting at once upon the greatness of their power1 and the inconstancy of their favor1 began to find another flaw in this kind of government1 which is also noted by ,machiavel namely1 that a throne supported by a nobility is not so hard to be ascended as kept warm4 ,wherefore his secret jealousy1 lest the dissension of the nobility1 as it brought him in might throw him out1 made him travel in ways undiscovered by them1 to ends as little foreseen by himself1 while to establish his own safety1 he1 by mixing water with their wine1 first began to open those sluices that have since overwhelmed not the ,king only1 but the throne4 ,for whereas a nobility strikes not at the throne1 without which they cannot subsist1 but at some king that they do not like1 popular power strikes through the ,king at the throne1 as that which is incompatible with it4 ,now that ,panurgus1 in abating the power of the nobility1 was the cause whence it came to fall into the hands of the people1 appears by those several statutes that were made in his reign1 as that for population1 those against retainers1 and that for alienations4 ,by the statute of population1 all houses of husbandry that were used with twenty acres of ground and upward1 were to be maintained and kept up forever with a competent proportion of land laid to them1 and in no wise1 as appears by a subsequent statute1 to be severed4 ,by which means the houses being kept up1 did of necessity enforce dwellers2 and the proportion of land to be tilled being kept up1 did of necessity enforce the dweller not to be a beggar or cottager1 but a man of some substance1 that might keep hinds and servants and set the plough a-going4 ,this did mightily concern1 says the historian of that prince1 the might and manhood of the kingdom1 and in effect amortize a great part of the lands to the hold and possession of the yeomanry or middle people1 who living not in a servile or indigent fashion1 were much unlinked from dependence upon their lords1 and living in a free and plentiful manner1 became a more excellent infantry1 but such a one upon which the lords had so little power1 that from henceforth they may be computed to have been disarmed4 ,and as they had lost their infantry after this manner1 so their cavalry and commanders were cut off by the statute of retainers2 for whereas it was the custom of the nobility to have younger brothers of good houses1 mettled fellows1 and such as were knowing in the feats of arms about them1 they who were longer followed with so dangerous a train1 escaped not such punishments as made them take up4 ,henceforth the country lives and great tables of the nobility1 which no longer nourished veins that would bleed for them1 were fruitless and loathsome till they changed the air1 and of princes became courtiers2 where their revenues1 never to have been exhausted by beef and mutton1 were found narrow1 whence followed racking of rents1 and at length sale of lands1 the riddance through the statute of alienations being rendered far more quick and facile than formerly it had been through the new invention of entails4 ,to this it happened that ,coraunus1 the successor of that ,king1 dissolving the abbeys1 brought1 with the declining state of the nobility1 so vast a prey to the industry of the people1 that the balance of the commonwealth was too apparently in the popular party to be unseen by the wise ,council of ,queen ,parthenia1 who1 converting her reign through the perpetual love tricks that passed between her and her people into a kind of romance1 wholly neglected the nobility4 ,and by these degrees came the ,house of ,commons to raise that head1 which since has been so high and formidable to their princes that they have looked pale upon those assemblies4 ,nor was there anything now wanting to the destruction of the throne1 but that the people1 not apt to see their own strength1 should be put to feel it2 when a prince1 as stiff in disputes as the nerve of monarchy was grown slack1 received that unhappy encouragement from his clergy which became his utter ruin1 while trusting more to their logic than the rough philosophy of his ,parliament1 it came to an irreparable breach2 for the house of peers1 which alone had stood in this gap1 now sinking down between the ,king and the commons1 showed that ,crassus was dead and the isthmus broken4 ,but a monarchy1 divested of its nobility1 has no refuge under heaven but an army4 ,wherefore the dissolution of this government caused the war1 not the war the dissolution of this government4 ,of the ,king's success with his arms it is not necessary to give any further account than that they proved as ineffectual as his nobility2 but without a nobility or an army 7as has been shown7 there can be no monarchy4 ,wherefore what is there in nature that can arise out of these ashes but a popular government1 or a new monarchy to be erected by the victorious army8 ,to erect a monarchy1 be it never so new1 unless like ,leviathan you can hang it1 as the country-fellow speaks1 by geometry 7for what else is it to say1 that every other man must give up his will to the will of this one man without any other foundation871 it must stand upon old principles--that is1 upon a nobility or an army planted on a due balance of dominion4 ,aut viam inveniam aut faciam1 was an adage of ,caesar1 and there is no standing for a monarchy unless it finds this balance1 or makes it4 ,if it finds it1 the work is done to its hand2 for1 where there is inequality of estates1 there must be inequality of power2 and where there is inequality of power1 there can be no commonwealth4 ,to make it1 the sword must extirpate out of dominion all other roots of power1 and plant an army upon that ground4 ,an army may be planted nationally or provincially4 ,to plant it nationally1 it must be in one of the four ways mentioned1 that is1 either monarchically in part1 as the ,roman beneficiarii2 or monarchically1 in the whole1 as the ,turkish ,timariots2 aristocratically that is1 by earls and barons1 as the ,neustrians were planted by ,turbo2 or democratically1 that is1 by equal lots1 as the ,israelitish army in the land of ,canaan by ,joshua4 ,in every one of these ways there must not only be confiscations1 but confiscations to such a proportion as may answer to the work intended4 ,confiscation of a people that never fought against you1 but whose arms you have borne1 and in which you have been victorious1 and this upon premeditation and in cold blood1 ,i should have thought to be against any example in human nature1 but for those alleged by ,machiavel of ,agathocles1 and ,oliveretto di ,fermo1 the former whereof being captain-general of the ,syracusans1 upon a day assembled the ,senate and the people1 as if he had something to communicate with them1 when at a sign given he cut the senators in pieces to a man1 and all the richest of the people1 by which means he came to be king4 ,the proceedings of ,oliveretto1 in making himself ,prince of ,fermo1 were somewhat different in circumstances1 but of the same nature4 ,nevertheless ,catiline1 who had a spirit equal to any of these in his intended mischief1 could never bring the like to pass in ,rome4 ,the head of a small commonwealth1 such a one as was that of ,syracuse or ,fermo1 is easily brought to the block2 but that a populous nation1 such as ,rome1 had not such a one1 was the grief of ,nero4 ,if ,sylvia or ,caesar attained to be princes1 it was by civil war1 and such civil war as yielded rich spoils1 there being a vast nobility to be confiscated2 which also was the case in ,oceana1 when it yielded earth by earldoms1 and baronies to the ,neustrian for the plantation of his new potentates4 ,where a conqueror finds the riches of a land in the hands of the few1 the forfeitures are easy1 and amount to vast advantage2 but where the people have equal shares1 the confiscation of many comes to little1 and is not only dangerous but fruitless4 ,the ,romans1 in one of their defeats of the ,volsci1 found among the captives certain ,tusculans1 who1 upon examination1 confessed that the arms they bore were by command of their ,state2 whereupon information being given to the ,senate by the general ,camillus1 he was forthwith commanded to march against ,tusculum which doing accordingly1 he found the ,tusculan fields full of husbandmen1 that stirred not otherwise from the plough than to furnish his army with all kinds of accommodations and victuals4 ,drawing near to the city1 he saw the gates wide open1 the magistrates coming out in their gowns to salute and bid him welcome2 entering1 the shops were all at work1 and open1 the streets sounded with the noise of schoolboys at their books2 there was no face of war4 ,whereupon ,camillus1 causing the ,senate to assemble1 told them1 that though the art was understood1 yet had they at length found out the true arms whereby the ,romans were most undoubtedly to be conquered1 for which cause he would not anticipate the ,senate1 to which he desired them forthwith to send1 which they did accordingly2 and their dictator with the rest of their ambassadors being found by the ,roman senators as they went into the house standing sadly at the door were sent for in as friends1 and not as enemies2 where the dictator having said1 8,if we have offended1 the fault was not so great as is our penitence and your virtue10 the ,senate gave them peace forthwith1 and soon after made the ,tusculans citizens of ,rome4 ,but putting the case1 of which the world is not able to show an example1 that the forfeiture of a populous nation1 not conquered1 but friends1 and in cool blood1 might be taken1 your army must be planted in one of the ways mentioned4 ,to plant it in the way of absolute monarchy1 that is1 upon feuds for life1 such as the ,timars1 a country as large and fruitful as that of ,greece1 would afford you but #af1jjj ,timariots1 for that is the most the ,turk 7being the best husband that ever was of this kind7 makes of it at this day3 and if ,oceana1 which is less in fruitfulness by one-half1 and in extent by three parts1 should have no greater a force1 whoever breaks her in one battle1 may be sure she shall never rise2 for such 7as was noted by ,machiavel7 is the nature of the ,turkish monarchy1 if you break it in two battles1 you have destroyed its whole militia1 and the rest being all slaves1 you hold it without any further resistance4 ,wherefore the erection of an absolute monarchy in ,oceana1 or in any other country that is no larger1 without making it a certain prey to the first invader is altogether impossible4 ,to plant by halves1 as the ,roman emperors did their beneficiaries1 or military colonies1 it must be either for life2 and this an army of ,oceaners in their own country1 especially having estates of inheritance1 will never bear because such an army so planted is as well confiscated as the people2 nor had the ,mamelukes been contented with such usage in ,egypt1 but that they were foreigners1 and daring not to mix with the natives1 it was of absolute necessity to their being4 ,or planting them upon inheritance1 whether aristocratically as the ,neustrians1 or democratically as the ,israelites1 they grow up by certain consequences into the national interest1 and this1 if they be planted popularly1 comes to a commonwealth2 if by way of nobility1 to a mixed monarchy1 which of all other will be found to be the only kind of monarchy whereof this nation1 or any other that is of no greater extent1 has been or can be capable2 for if the ,israelites1 though their democratical balance1 being fixed by their agrarian1 stood firm1 be yet found to have elected kings1 it was because1 their territory lying open1 they were perpetually invaded1 and being perpetually invaded1 turned themselves to anything which1 through the want of experience1 they thought might be a remedy2 whence their mistake in election of their kings1 under whom they gained nothing1 but1 on the contrary1 lost all they had acquired by their commonwealth1 both estates and liberties1 is not only apparent1 but without parallel4 ,and if there have been1 as was shown1 a kingdom of the ,goths in ,spain1 and of the ,vandals in ,asia1 consisting of a single person and a ,parliament 7taking a parliament to be a council of the people only1 without a nobility71 it is expressly said of those councils that they deposed their kings as often as they pleased2 nor can there be any other consequence of such a government1 seeing where there is a council of the people they do never receive laws1 but give them2 and a council giving laws to a single person1 he has no means in the world whereby to be any more than a subordinate magistrate but force3 in which case he is not a single person and a parliament1 but a single person and an army1 which army again must be planted as has been shown1 or can be of no long continuance4 ,it is true1 that the provincial balance bring in nature quite contrary to the national1 you are no way to plant a provincial army upon dominion4 ,but then you must have a native territory in strength1 situation1 or government1 able to overbalance the foreign1 or you can never hold it4 ,that an army should in any other case be long supported by a mere tax1 is a mere fancy as void of all reason and experience as if a man should think to maintain such a one by robbing of orchards2 for a mere tax is but pulling of plum-trees1 the roots whereof are in other men's grounds1 who1 suffering perpetual violence1 come to hate the author of it2 and it is a maxim1 that no prince that is hated by his people can be safe4 ,arms planted upon dominion extirpate enemies and make friends2 but maintained by a mere tax1 have enemies that have roots1 and friends that have none4 ,to conclude1 ,oceana1 or any other nation of no greater extent1 must have a competent nobility1 or is altogether incapable of monarchy2 for where there is equality of estates1 there must be equality of power1 and where there is equality of power1 there can be no monarchy4 ,to come then to the generation of the commonwealth4 ,it has been shown how1 through the ways and means used by ,panurgus to abase the nobility1 and so to mend that flaw which we have asserted to be incurable in this kind of constitution1 he suffered the balance to fall into the power of the people1 and so broke the government2 but the balance being in the people1 the commonwealth 7though they do not see it7 is already in the nature of them4 ,there wants nothing else but time1 which is slow and dangerous1 or art1 which would be more quick and secure1 for the bringing those native arms1 wherewithal they are found already1 to resist1 they know not how1 everything that opposes them1 to such maturity as may fix them upon their own strength and bottom4 ,but whereas this art is prudence1 and that part of prudence which regards the present work is nothing else but the skill of raising such superstructures of government as are natural to the known foundations1 they never mind the foundation1 but through certain animosities1 wherewith by striving one against another they are infected1 or through freaks1 by which1 not regarding the course of things1 nor how they conduce to their purpose1 they are given to building in the air1 come to be divided and subdivided into endless parties and factions1 both civil and ecclesiastical1 which1 briefly to open1 ,i shall first speak of the people in general1 and then of their divisions4 ,a people1 says ,machiavel1 that is corrupt1 is not capable of a commonwealth4 ,but in showing what a corrupt people is1 he has either involved himself1 or me2 nor can ,i otherwise come out of the labyrinth1 than by saying1 the balance altering a people1 as to the foregoing government1 must of necessity be corrupt2 but corruption in this sense signifies no more than that the corruption of one government1 as in natural bodies1 is the generation of another4 ,wherefore if the balance alters from monarchy1 the corruption of the people in this case is that which makes them capable of a commonwealth4 ,but whereas ,i am not ignorant that the corruption which he means is in manners1 this also is from the balance4 ,for the balance leading from monarchical into popular abates the luxury of the nobility1 and1 enriching the people1 brings the government from a more private to a more public interest which coming nearer1 as has been shown1 to justice and right reason1 the people upon a like alteration is so far from such a corruption of manners as should render them incapable of a commonwealth1 that of necessity they must thereby contract such a reformation of manners as will bear no other kind of government4 ,on the other side1 where the balance changes from popular to oligarchical or monarchical1 the public interest1 with the reason and justice included in the sane1 becomes more private2 luxury is introduced in the room of temperance1 and servitude in that of freedom1 which causes such a corruption of manners both in the nobility and people1 as1 by the example of ,rome in the time of the ,triumvirs1 is more at large discovered by the author to have been altogether incapable of a commonwealth4 ,but the balance of ,oceana changing quite contrary to that of ,rome1 the manners of the people were not thereby corrupted1 but1 on the contrary1 adapted to a commonwealth4 ,for differences of opinion in a people not rightly informed of their balance1 or a division into parties 7while there is not any common ligament of power sufficient to reconcile or hold them7 is no sufficient proof of corruption4 ,nevertheless1 seeing this must needs be matter of scandal and danger1 it will not be amiss1 in showing what were the parties1 to show what were their errors4 ,the parties into which this nation was divided1 were temporal or spiritual2 and the temporal parties were especially two1 the one royalists1 the other republicans1 each of which asserted their different causes1 either out of prudence or ignorance1 out of interest or conscience4 ,for prudence1 either that of the ancients is inferior to the modern1 which we have hitherto been setting face to face1 that anyone may judge1 or that of the royalist must be inferior to that of the commonwealths man4 ,and for interest1 taking the commonwealths man to have really intended the public1 for otherwise he is a hypocrite and the worst of men1 that of the royalist must of necessity have been more private4 ,wherefore1 the whole dispute will come upon matter of conscience1 and this1 whether it be urged by the right of kings1 the obligation of former laws1 or of the oath of allegiance1 is absolved by the balance4 ,for if the right of kings were as immediately derived from the breath of ,god as the life of man1 yet this excludes not death and dissolution4 ,but1 that the dissolution of the late monarchy was as natural as the death of man1 has been already shown4 ,wherefore it remains with the royalists to discover by what reason or experience it is possible for a monarchy to stand upon a popular balance2 or1 the balance being popular1 as well the oath of allegiance1 as all other monarchical laws1 imply an impossibility1 and are therefore void4 ,to the commonwealths man ,i have no more to say1 but that if he excludes any party1 he is not truly such1 nor shall ever found a commonwealth upon the natural principle of the same1 which is justice4 ,and the royalist for having not opposed a commonwealth in ,oceana1 where the laws were so ambiguous that they might be eternally disputed and never reconciled1 can neither be justly for that cause excluded from his full and equal share in the government2 nor prudently for this reason1 that a commonwealth consisting of a party will be in perpetual labor for her own destruction3 whence it was that the ,romans1 having conquered the ,albans1 incorporated them with equal right into the commonwealth4 ,and if the royalists be 8flesh of your flesh10 and nearer of blood than were the ,albans to the ,romans1 you being also both ,christians1 the argument is the stronger4 ,nevertheless there is no reason that a commonwealth should any more favor a party remaining in fixed opposition against it1 than ,brutus did his own sons4 ,but if it fixes them upon that opposition1 it is its own fault1 not theirs2 and this is done by excluding them4 ,men that have equal possessions and the same security for their estates and their liberties that you have1 have the same cause with you to defend both2 but if you will liberty1 though for monarchy2 and be trampling1 they fight for you for tyranny1 though under the name of a commonwealth3 the nature of orders in a government rightly instituted being void of all jealousy1 because1 let the parties which it embraces be what they will1 its orders are such as they neither would resist if they could1 nor could if they would1 as has been partly already shown1 and will appear more at large by the following model4 ,the parties that are spiritual are of more kinds than ,i need mention2 some for a national religion1 and others for liberty of conscience1 with such animosity on both sides1 as if these two could not consist together1 and of which ,i have already sufficiently spoken1 to show that indeed the one cannot well subsist without the other ,but they of all the rest are the most dangerous1 who1 holding that the saints must govern1 go about to reduce the commonwealth to a party1 as well for the reasons already shown1 as that their pretences are against ,scripture1 where the saints are commanded to submit to the higher powers1 and to be subject to the ordinance of man4 ,and that men1 pretending under the notion of saints or religion to civil power1 have hitherto never failed to dishonor that profession1 the world is full of examples1 whereof ,i shall confine myself at present only to a couple1 the one of old1 the other of new ,rome4 ,in old ,rome1 the patricians or nobility pretending to be the godly party1 were questioned by the people for engrossing all the magistracies of that commonwealth1 and had nothing to say why they did so1 but that magistracy required a kind of holiness which was not in the people2 at which the people were filled with such indignation as had come to cutting of throats1 if the nobility had not immediately laid by the insolency of that plea2 which nevertheless when they had done1 the people for a long time after continued to elect no other but patrician magistrates4 ,the example of new ,rome in the rise and practice of the hierarchy 7too well known to require any further illustration7 is far more immodest4 ,this has been the course of nature2 and when it has pleased or shall please ,god to introduce anything that is above the course of nature1 he will1 as he has always done1 confirm it by miracle2 for so in his prophecy of the reign of ,christ upon earth he expressly promises1 seeing that 8the souls of them that were beheaded for ,jesus1 shall be seen to live and reign with him20 which will be an object of sense1 the rather1 because the rest of the dead are not to live again till the thousand years be finished4 ,and it is not lawful for men to persuade us that a thing already is1 though there be no such object of our sense1 which ,god has told us shall not be till it be an object of our sense4 ,the saintship of a people as to government1 consists in the election of magistrates fearing ,god1 and hating covetousness1 and not in their confining themselves1 or being confined1 to men of this or that party or profession4 ,it consists in making the most prudent and religious choice they can2 yet not in trusting to men1 but1 next ,god1 to their own orders4 8,give us good men1 and they will make us good laws10 is the maxim of a demagogue1 and is 7through the alteration which is commonly perceivable in men1 when they have power to work their own wills7 exceeding fallible4 ,but 8give us good orders1 and they will make us good men10 is the maxim of a legislator1 and the most infallible in the politics4 ,but these divisions 7however there be some good men that look sadly on them7 are trivial things2 first as to the civil concern1 because the government1 whereof this nation is capable1 being once seen1 takes in all interests4 ,and1 secondly1 as to the spiritual2 because as the pretence of religion has always been turbulent in broken governments1 so where the government has been sound and steady1 religion has never shown itself with any other face than that of its natural sweetness and tranquillity1 nor is there any reason why it should1 wherefore the errors of the people are occasioned by their governors4 ,if they be doubtful of the way1 or wander from it1 it is because their guides misled them2 and the guides of the people are never so well qualified for leading by any virtue of their own1 as by that of the government4 ,the government of ,oceana 7as it stood at the time whereof we discourse1 consisting of one single ,council of the people1 exclusively of the ,king and the ,lords7 was called a ,parliament3 nevertheless the parliaments of the ,teutons and of the ,neustrians consisted1 as has been shown1 of the ,king1 lords1 and commons2 wherefore this1 under an old name1 was a new thing a parliament consisting of a single assembly elected by the people1 and invested with the whole power of the government1 without any covenants1 conditions1 or orders whatsoever4 ,so new a thing1 that neither ancient nor modern prudence can show any avowed example of the like4 ,and there is scarce anything that seems to me so strange as that 7whereas there was nothing more familiar with these councillors than to bring the ,scripture to the house7 there should not be a man of them that so much as offered to bring the house to the ,scripture1 wherein1 as has been shown1 is contained that original1 whereof all the rest of the commonwealths seem to be copies4 ,certainly if ,leviathan 7who is surer of nothing than that a popular commonwealth consists but of one council7 transcribed his doctrine out of this assembly1 for him to except against ,aristotle and ,cicero for writing out of their own commonwealths was not so fair play2 or if the ,parliament transcribed out of him1 it had been an honor better due to ,moses4 ,but where one of them should have an example but from the other1 ,i cannot imagine1 there being nothing of this kind that ,i can find in story1 but the oligarchy of ,athens1 the ,thirty ,tyrants of the same1 and the ,roman ,decemvirs4 ,for the oligarchy1 ,thucydides tells us1 that it was a ,senate or council of #djj1 pretending to a balancing council of the people consisting of #e1jjj1 but not producing them2 wherein you have the definition of an oligarchy1 which is a single council both debating and resolving1 dividing and choosing1 and what that must come to was shown by the example of the girls1 and is apparent by the experience of all times2 wherefore the thirty set up by the ,lacedaemonians 7when they had conquered ,athens7 are called tyrants by all authors1 ,leviathan only excepted1 who will have them against all the world to have been an aristocracy1 but for what reason ,i cannot imagine2 these also1 as void of any balance1 having been void of that which is essential to every commonwealth1 whether aristocratical or popular1 except he be pleased with them1 because that1 according to the testimony of ,xenophon1 they killed more men in eight months than the ,lacedaemonians had done in ten years2 8oppressing the people 7to use ,sir ,walter ,raleigh's words7 with all base and intolerable slavery40 ,the usurped government of the ,decemvirs in ,rome was of the same kind4 ,wherefore in the fear of ,god let ,christian legislators 7setting the pattern given in the ,mount on the one side1 and these execrable examples on the other7 know the right hand from the left2 and so much the rather1 because those things which do not conduce to the good of the governed are fallacious1 if they appear to be good for the governors4 ,god1 in chastising a people1 is accustomed to burn his rod4 ,the empire of these oligarchies was not so violent as short1 nor did they fall upon the people1 but in their own immediate ruin4 ,a council without a balance is not a commonwealth1 but an oligarchy2 and every oligarchy1 except it be put to the defence of its wickedness or power against some outward danger1 is factious4 ,wherefore the errors of the people being from their governors 7which maxim in the politics bearing a sufficient testimony to itself1 is also proved by ,machiavel71 if the people of ,oceana have been factious1 the cause is apparent1 but what remedy8 ,in answer to this question1 ,i come now to the army1 of which the most victorious captain and incomparable patriot1 ,olphaus ,megaletor1 was now general1 who being a much greater master of that art whereof ,i have made a rough draught in these preliminaries1 had such sad reflections upon the ways and proceedings of the ,parliament as cast him upon books and all other means of diversion1 among which he happened on this place of ,machiavel3 8,thrice happy is that people which chances to have a man able to give them such a government at once1 as without alteration may secure them of their liberties2 seeing it was certain that ,lacedaemon1 in observing the laws of ,lycurgus1 continued about #hjj years without any dangerous tumult or corruption40 ,my lord general 7as it is said of ,themistocles1 that he could not sleep for the glory obtained by ,miltiades at the battle of ,marathon7 took so new and deep an impression at these words of the much greater glory of ,lycurgus1 that1 being on this side assaulted with the emulation of his illustrious object1 and on the other with the misery of the nation1 which seemed 7as it were ruined by his victory7 to cast itself at his feet1 he was almost wholly deprived of his natural rest1 till the debate he had within himself came to a firm resolution1 that the greatest advantages of a commonwealth are1 first1 that the legislator should be one man2 and1 secondly1 that the government should be made all together1 or at once4 ,for the first1 it is certain1 says ,machiavel1 that a commonwealth is seldom or never well turned or constituted1 except it has been the work of one man2 for which cause a wise legislator1 and one whose mind is firmly set1 not upon private but the public interest1 not upon his posterity but upon his country1 may justly endeavor to get the sovereign power into his own hands1 nor shall any man that is master of reason blame such extraordinary means as in that case will be necessary1 the end proving no other than the constitution of a well-ordered commonwealth4 ,the reason of this is demonstrable2 for the ordinary means not failing1 the commonwealth has no need of a legislator1 but the ordinary means failing1 there is no recourse to be had but to such as are extraordinary4 ,and1 whereas a book or a building has not been known to attain to its perfection if it has not had a sole author or architect1 a commonwealth1 as to the fabric of it1 is of the like nature4 ,and thus it may be made at once2 in which there be great advantages2 for a commonwealth made at once1 takes security at the same time it lends money2 and trusts not itself to the faith of men1 but launches immediately forth into the empire of laws1 and1 being set straight1 brings the manners of its citizens to its rule1 whence followed that uprightness which was in ,lacedaemon4 ,but manners that are rooted in men1 bow the tenderness of a commonwealth coming up by twigs to their bent1 whence followed the obliquity that was in ,rome1 and those perpetual repairs by the consuls' axes1 and tribunes' hammers1 which could never finish that commonwealth but in destruction4 ,my lord general being clear in these points1 and of the necessity of some other course than would be thought upon by the ,parliament1 appointed a meeting of the army1 where he spoke his sense agreeable to these preliminaries with such success to the soldiery1 that the ,parliament was soon after deposed2 had he himself1 in the great hall of the ,pantheon or palace of justice1 situated in ,emporium1 the capital city1 was created by the universal suffrage of the army1 ,lord ,archon1 or sole legislator of ,oceana1 upon which theatre you have1 to conclude this piece1 a person introduced1 whose fame shall never draw its curtain4 ,the ,lord ,archon being created1 fifty select persons to assist him1 by laboring in the mines of ancient prudence1 and bringing its hidden treasures to new light1 were added1 with the style also of legislators1 and sat as a council1 whereof he was the sole director and president4 ,,part ,,ii4 ,,the ,,council ,,of ,,legislators ,,of this piece1 being the greater half of the whole work1 ,i shall be able at this time to give no further account1 than very briefly to show at what it aims4 ,my ,lord ,archon1 in opening the ,council of legislators1 made it appear how unsafe a thing it is to follow fancy in the fabric of a commonwealth2 and how necessary that the archives of ancient prudence should be ransacked before any councillor should presume to offer any other matter in order to the work in hand1 or toward the consideration to be had by the ,council upon a model of government4 ,wherefore he caused an urn to be brought1 and every one of the councillors to draw a lot4 ,by the lots as they were drawn1 ,the ,commonwealth of ,fell to ,israel444444 ,phosphorus de ,auge ,athens44444 ,navarchus de ,paralo ,lacedaemon44444 ,laco de ,scytale ,carthage44 ,mago de ,syrtibus ,the ,achaeans1 ,a,etolians1 and ,lycians4444,aratus de ,isthmo ,the ,switz ,alpester de ,fulmine ,holland and the ,united ,provinces ,glaucus de ,ulna ,rome444444 ,dolabella de ,enyo ,venice44444 ,lynceus de ,stella ,these contained in them all those excellencies whereof a commonwealth is capable2 so that to have added more had been to no purpose4 ,upon time given to the councillors1 by their own studies and those of their friends1 to prepare themselves1 they were opened in the order1 and by the persons mentioned at the ,council of legislators1 and afterward by order of the same were repeated at the council of the prytans to the people2 for in drawing of the lots1 there were about a dozen of them inscribed with the letter ,p1 whereby the councillors that drew them became prytans4 ,the prytans were a committee or council sitting in the great hall of ,pantheon1 to whom it was lawful for any man to offer anything in order to the fabric of the commonwealth2 for which cause1 that they might not be oppressed by the throng1 there was a rail about the table where they sat1 and on each side of the same a pulpit2 that on the right hand for any man that would propose anything1 and that on the left for any other that would oppose him4 ,and all parties 7being indemnified by proclamation of the ,archon7 were invited to dispute their own interests1 or propose whatever they thought fit 7in order to the future government7 to the council of the prytans1 who1 having a guard of about two or three hundred men1 lest the heat of dispute might break the peace1 had the right of moderators1 and were to report from time to time such propositions or occurrences as they thought fit1 to the ,council of legislators sitting more privately in the palace called ,alma4 ,this was that which made the people 7who were neither safely to be admitted1 nor conveniently to be excluded in the framing of the commonwealth7 verily believe1 when it came forth1 that it was no other than that whereof they themselves had been the makers4 ,moreover1 this ,council sat divers months after the publishing and during the promulgation of the model to the people2 by which means there is scarce anything was said or written for or against the said model but you shall have it with the next impression of this work1 by way of oration addressed to and moderated by the prytans4 ,by this means the ,council of legislators had their necessary solitude and due aim in their greater work1 as being acquainted from time to time with the pulse of the people1 and yet without any manner of interruption or disturbance4 ,wherefore every commonwealth in its place having been opened by due method--that is1 first1 by the people2 secondly1 by the ,senate2 and1 thirdly1 by the magistracy-the ,council upon mature debate took such results or orders out of each1 and out of every part of each of them1 as upon opening the same they thought fit2 which being put from time to time in writing by the clerk or secretary1 there remained no more in the conclusion1 than putting the orders so taken together1 to view and examine them with a diligent eye1 that it might be clearly discovered whether they did interfere1 or could anywise come to interfere or jostle one with the other4 ,for as such orders jostling or coming to jostle one another are the certain dissolution of the commonwealth1 so1 taken upon the proof of like experience1 and neither jostling nor showing which way they can possibly come to jostle one another1 they make a perfect and 7for aught that in human prudence can be foreseen7 an immortal commonwealth4 ,and such was the art whereby my ,lord ,archon 7taking council of the ,commonwealth of ,israel1 as of ,moses2 and of the rest of the commonwealths1 as of ,jethro7 framed the model of the ,commonwealth of ,oceana4 ,,part ,,iii4 ,,the ,,model ,,of ,,the ,,commonwealth ,,of ,,oceana ,,whereas my ,lord ,archon1 being from ,moses and ,lycurgus the first legislator that hitherto is found in history to have introduced or erected an entire commonwealth at once1 happened1 like them also1 to be more intent upon putting the same into execution or action1 than into writing2 by which means the model came to be promulgated or published with more brevity and less illustration than are necessary for their understanding who have not been acquainted with the whole proceedings of the ,council of legislators1 and of the prytans1 where it was asserted and cleared from all objections and doubts3 to the end that ,i may supply what was wanting in the promulgated epitome to a more full and perfect narrative of the whole1 ,i shall rather take the commonwealth practically2 and as it has now given an account of itself in some years' revolutions 7as ,dicearchus is said to have done that of ,lacedaemon1 first transcribed by his hand some three or four hundred years after the institution71 yet not omitting to add for proof to every order such debates and speeches of the legislators in their ,council1 or at least such parts of them as may best discover the reason of the government2 nor such ways and means as were used in the institution or rise of the building1 not to be so well conceived1 without some knowledge given of the engines wherewithal the mighty weight was moved4 ,but through the entire omission of the ,council of legislators or workmen that squared every stone to this structure in the quarries of ancient prudence1 the proof of the first part of this discourse will be lame1 except ,i insert1 as well for illustration as to avoid frequent repetition1 three remarkable testimonies in this place4 ,the first is taken out of the ,commonwealth of ,israel3 8,so ,moses hearkened to the voice of ,jethro1 his father-in-law1 and did all that he had said4 ,and ,moses chose able men out of all ,israel1 and made them heads over the people20 tribunes1 as it is in the vulgar ,latin2 or phylarchs1 that is1 princes of the tribes1 sitting upon twelve thrones1 and judging the twelve tribes of ,israel2 and next to these he chose rulers of thousands1 rulers of hundreds1 rulers of fifties1 and rulers of tens1 which were the steps and rise of this commonwealth from its foundation or root to its proper elevation or accomplishment in the ,sanhedrim1 and the congregation1 already opened in the preliminaries4 ,the second is taken out of ,lacedaemon1 as ,lycurgus 7for the greater impression of his institutions upon the minds of his citizens7 pretended to have received the model of that commonwealth from the oracle of ,apollo at ,delphos1 the words whereof are thus recorded by ,plutarch in the life of that famous legislator3 8,when thou shalt have divided the people into tribes 7which were six7 and oboe 7which were five in every tribe71 thou shalt constitute the ,senate1 consisting1 with the two ,kings1 of thirty councillors1 who1 according as occasion requires1 shall cause the congregation to be assembled between the bridge and the river ,gnacion1 where the ,senate shall propose to the people1 and dismiss them without suffering them to debate40 ,the oboe were lineages into which every tribe was divided1 and in each tribe there was another division containing all those of the same that were of military age1 which being called the mora1 was subdivided into troops and companies that were kept in perpetual discipline under the command of a magistrate called the polemarch4 ,the third is taken out of the ,commonwealth of ,rome1 or those parts of it which are comprised in the first and second books of ,livy1 where the people1 according to the institution by ,romulus1 are first divided into thirty curias or parishes1 whereof he elected1 by three out of each curia1 the ,senate1 which1 from his reign to that or ,servius ,tullius1 proposed to the parishes or parochial congregations2 and these being called the ,comitia curiata1 had the election of the kings1 the confirmation of their laws1 and the last appeal in matters of judicature1 as appears in the case of ,horatius that killed his sister2 till1 in the reign of ,servius 7for the other kings kept not to the institution of ,romulus71 the people being grown somewhat1 the power of the ,curiata was for the greater part translated to the ,centuriata comitia instituted by this ,king1 which distributed the people1 according to the sense of valuation of their estates1 into six classes1 every one containing about forty centuries1 divided into youth and elders2 the youth for field-service1 the elders for the defence of their territory1 all armed and under continual discipline1 in which they assembled both upon military and civil occasions4 ,but when the ,senate proposed to the people1 the horse only1 whereof there were twelve centuries1 consisting of the richest sort over and above those of the foot enumerated1 were called with the first classes of the foot to the suffrage2 or if these accorded not1 then the second classes were called to them1 but seldom or never any of the rest4 ,wherefore the people1 after the expulsion of the kings1 growing impatient of this inequality1 rested not till they had reduced the suffrage as it had been in the ,comitia curiato to the whole people again2 but in another way1 that is to say1 by the ,comitia tributa1 which thereupon were instituted1 being a council where the people in exigencies made laws without the ,senate1 which laws were called plebiscita4 ,this ,council is that in regard whereof ,cicero and other great wits so frequently inveigh against the people1 and sometimes even ,livy as at the first institution of it4 ,to say the truth1 it was a kind of anarchy1 whereof the people could not be excusable1 if there had not1 through the courses taken by the ,senate1 been otherwise a necessity that they must have seen the commonwealth run into oligarchy4 ,the manner how the ,comitia curiata1 centuriata or tributa were called1 during the time of the commonwealth1 to the suffrage1 was by lot3 the curia1 century1 or tribe1 whereon the first lot fell1 being styled principium1 or the prerogative2 and the other curioe1 centuries or tribes1 whereon the second1 third1 and fourth lots1 etc41 fell1 the jure vocatoe4 ,from henceforth not the first classes1 as in the times of ,servius1 but the prerogative1 whether curia1 century1 or tribe1 came first to the suffrage1 whose vote was called omen proerogativum1 and seldom failed to be leading to the rest of the tribes4 ,the jure vocatoe1 in the order of their lots1 came next3 the manner of giving suffrage was1 by casting wooden tablets1 marked for the affirmative or the negative1 into certain urns standing upon a scaffold1 as they marched over it in files1 which for the resemblance it bore was called the bridge4 ,the candidate1 or competitor1 who had most suffrages in a curia1 century1 or tribe1 was said to have that curia1 century1 or tribe2 and he who had most of the curioe1 centuries1 or tribes1 carried the magistracy4 ,these three places being premised1 as such upon which there will be frequent reflection1 ,i come to the narrative1 divided into two parts1 the first containing the institution1 the second the constitution of the commonwealth1 in each whereof ,i shall distinguish the orders1 as those which contain the whole model1 from the rest of the discourse1 which tends only to the explanation or proof of them4 ,in the institution or building of a commonwealth1 the first work1 as that of builders1 can be no other than fitting and distributing the materials4 ,the materials of a commonwealth are the people1 and the people of ,oceana were distributed by casting them into certain divisions1 regarding their quality1 their age1 their wealth1 and the places of their residence or habitation1 which was done by the ensuing orders4 ,the first order 8distributes the people into freemen or citizens and servants1 while such2 for if they attain to liberty1 that is1 to live of themselves1 they are freemen or citizens40 ,this order needs no proof1 in regard of the nature of servitude1 which is inconsistent with freedom1 or participation of government in a commonwealth4 ,the second order 8distributes citizens into youth and elders 7such as are from eighteen years of age to thirty1 being accounted youth2 and such as are of thirty and upward1 elders71 and establishes that the youth shall be the marching armies1 and the elders the standing garrisons of this nation40 ,a commonwealth1 whose arms are in the hands of her servants1 had need be situated1 as is elegantly said of ,venice by ,contarini1 out of the reach of their clutches2 witness the danger run by that of ,carthage in the rebellion of ,spendius and ,matho4 ,but though a city1 if one swallow makes a summer1 may thus chance to be safe1 yet shall it never be great2 for if ,carthage or ,venice acquired any fame in their arms1 it is known to have happened through the mere virtue of their captains1 and not of their orders2 wherefore ,israel1 ,lacedaemon1 and ,rome entailed their arms upon the prime of their citizens1 divided1 at least in ,lacedaemon and ,rome1 into youth and elders3 the youth for the field1 and the elders for defence of the territory4 ,the third order 8distributes the citizens into horse and foot1 by the sense or valuation of their estates2 they who have above #ajj a year in lands1 goods1 or moneys1 being obliged to be of the horse1 and they who have under that sum to be of the foot4 ,but if a man has prodigally wasted and spent his patrimony1 he is neither capable of magistracy1 office1 or suffrage in the commonwealth40 ,citizens are not only to defend the commonwealth1 but according to their abilities1 as the ,romans under ,servius ,tullius 7regard had to their estates71 were some enrolled in the horse centuries1 and others of the foot1 with arms enjoined accordingly1 nor could it be otherwise in the rest of the commonwealths1 though out of historical remains1 that are so much darker1 it be not so clearly probable4 ,and the necessary prerogative to be given by a commonwealth to estates1 is in some measure in the nature of industry1 and the use of it to the public4 8,the ,roman people10 says ,julius ,exuperantius1 8were divided into classes1 and taxed according to the value of their estates4 ,all that were worth the sums appointed were employed in the wars2 for they most eagerly contend for the victory2 who fight for liberty in defence of their country and possessions4 ,but the poorer sort were polled only for their heads 7which was all they had7 and kept in garrison at home in time of war2 for these might betray the armies for bread1 by reason of their poverty1 which is the reason that ,marius1 to whom the care of the government ought not to have been committed1 was the first that led them into the field20 and his success was accordingly4 ,there is a mean in things2 as exorbitant riches overthrow the balance of a commonwealth1 so extreme poverty cannot hold it1 nor is by any means to be trusted with it4 ,the clause in the order concerning the prodigal is ,athenian1 and a very laudable one2 for he that could not live upon his patrimony1 if he comes to touch the public money1 makes a commonwealth bankrupt4 ,the fourth order 8distributes the people according to the places of their habitation1 into parishes1 hundreds1 and tribes40 ,for except the people be methodically distributed1 they cannot be methodically collected2 but the being of a commonwealth consists in the methodical collection of the people3 wherefore you have the ,israelitish divisions into rulers of thousands1 of hundreds1 of fifties1 and of tens2 and of the whole commonwealth into tribes3 the ,laconic into oboe1 moras1 and tribes2 the ,roman into tribes1 centuries1 and classes2 and something there must of necessity be in every government of the like nature1 as that in the late monarchy--by counties4 ,but this being the only institution in ,oceana1 except that of the agrarian1 which required any charge or included any difficulty1 engages me to a more particular description of the manner how it was performed1 as follows3 ,a thousand surveyors1 commissioned and instructed by the ,lord ,archon and the ,council1 being divided into two equal numbers1 each under the inspection of two surveyors-general1 were distributed into the northern and southern parts of the territory1 divided by the river ,hemisua1 the whole whereof contains about #aj1jjj parishes1 some ten of those being assigned to each surveyor2 for as to this matter there needed no great exactness1 it tending only by showing whither everyone was to1 begin1 to the more orderly carrying repair and whereabout to on of the work2 the nature of their instructions otherwise regarding rather the number of the inhabitants than of the parishes4 ,the surveyors1 therefore1 being every one furnished with a convenient proportion of urns1 balls1 and balloting-boxes--in the use whereof they had been formerly exercised--and now arriving each at his respective parish1 being with the people by teaching them their first lesson1 which was the ballot2 and though they found them in the beginning somewhat froward1 as at toys1 with which1 while they were in expectation of greater matters from a ,council of legislators1 they conceived themselves to be abused1 they came within a little while to think them pretty sport1 and at length such as might very soberly be used in good earnest2 whereupon the surveyors began the institution included in-- ,the first order1 requiring 8,that upon the first ,monday next ensuing the last of ,december the bigger bell in every parish throughout the nation be rung at eight of the clock in the morning1 and continue ringing for the space of one hour2 and that all the elders of the parish respectively repair to the church before the bell has done ringing1 where1 dividing themselves into two equal numbers1 or as near equal as may be1 they shall take their places according to their dignities1 if they be of divers qualities1 and according to their seniority1 if they be of the same1 the one half on the one side1 and the other half on the other1 in the body of the church1 which done1 they shall make oath to the overseers of the parish for the time being 7instead of these the surveyors were to officiate at the institution1 or first assembly7 by holding up their hands1 to make a fair election according to the laws of the ballot1 as they are hereafter explained1 of such persons1 amounting to a fifth part of their whole number1 to be their deputies1 and to exercise their power in manner hereafter explained1 as they shall think in their consciences to be fittest for that trust1 and will acquit themselves of it to the best advantage of the commonwealth4 ,and oath being thus made1 they shall proceed to election1 if the elders of the parish amount to #a1jjj by the ballot of the tribe1 as it is in due place explained1 and if the elders of the parish amount to fifty or upward1 but within the number of #a1jjj1 by the ballot of the hundred1 as it is in due place explained4 ,but1 if the elders amount not to fifty1 then they shall proceed to the ballot of the parish1 as it is in this place and after this manner explained4 8,the two overseers for the time being shall seat themselves at the upper end of the middle alley1 with a table before them1 their faces being toward the congregation1 and the constable for the time being shall set an urn before the table1 into which he shall put so many balls as there be elders present1 whereof there shall be one that is gilded1 the rest being white2 and when the constable has shaken the urn1 sufficiently to mix the balls1 the overseers shall call the elders to the urn1 who from each side of the church shall come up the middle alley in two files1 every man passing by the urn1 and drawing out one ball2 which1 if it be silver1 he shall cast into a bowl standing at the foot of the urn1 and return by the outward alley on his side to his place4 ,but he who draws the golden ball is the proposer1 and shall be seated between the overseers1 where he shall begin in what order he pleases1 and name such as1 upon his oath already taken1 he conceives fittest to be chosen1 one by one1 to the elders2 and the party named shall withdraw while the congregation is balloting his name by the double box or boxes appointed and marked on the outward part1 to show which side is affirmative and which negative1 being carried by a boy or boys appointed by the overseers1 to every one of the elders1 who shall hold up a pellet made of linen rags between his finger and his thumb1 and put it after such a manner into the box1 as though no man can see into which side he puts it1 yet any man may see that he puts in but one pellet or suffrage4 ,and the suffrage of the congregation being thus1 given1 shall be returned with the box or boxes to the overseers1 who opening the same1 shall pour the affirmative balls into a white bowl standing upon the table on the right hand1 to be numbered by the first overseer2 and the negative into a green bowl standing on the left hand1 to be numbered by the second overseer2 and the suffrages being numbered1 he who has the major part in the affirmative is one of the deputies of the parish1 and when so many deputies are chosen as amount to a full fifth part of the whole number of the elders1 the ballot for that time shall cease4 ,the deputies being chosen are to be listed by the overseers in order as they were chosen1 except only that such as are horse must be listed in the first place with the rest1 proportionable to the number of the congregation1 after this manner40 ,anno ,domini ,,the ,,list ,,of ,,the ,,first ,,mover ,a4,a4 ,equestrian ,order1 ,first ,deputy ,b4,b4 ,second ,deputy1 ,c4,c4 ,third ,deputy1 ,d4,d4 ,fourth ,deputy1 ,e4,e4 ,fifty ,deputy1 ,of the parish of in the hundred of and the tribe of1 which parish at the present election contains twenty elders1 whereof one is of the horse or equestrian order4 8,the first and second in the list are overseers by consequence2 the third is the constable1 and the fourth and fifth are churchwardens2 the persons so chosen are deputies of the parish for the space of one year from their election1 and no longer1 nor may they be elected two years together4 ,this list1 being the primum mobile1 or first mover of the commonwealth1 is to be registered in a book diligently kept and preserved by the overseers1 who are responsible in their places1 for these and other duties to be hereafter mentioned1 to the censors of the tribe2 and the congregation is to observe the present order1 as they will answer the contrary to the phylarch1 or prerogative troop of the tribe1 which1 in case of failure in the whole or any part of it1 have power to fine them or any of them at discretion1 but under an appeal to the ,parliament40 ,for proof of this order1 first1 in reason1 it is with all politicians past dispute that paternal power is in the right of nature2 and this is no other than the derivation of power from fathers of families as the natural root of a commonwealth4 ,and for experience1 if it be otherwise in that of ,holland1 ,i know no other example of the like kind4 ,in ,israel1 the sovereign power came clearly from the natural root1 the elders of the whole people2 and ,rome was born1 ,comitiis curiatis1 in her parochial congregations1 out of which ,romulus first raised her ,senate1 then all the rest of the orders of that commonwealth1 which rose so high3 for the depth of a commonwealth is the just height of it-- 8,she raises up her head unto the skies1 ,near as her root unto the centre lies40 ,and if the ,commonwealth of ,rome was born of thirty parishes1 this of ,oceana was born of #aj1jjj4 ,but whereas mention in the birth of this is made of an equestrian order1 it may startle such as know that the division of the people of ,rome1 at the institution of that commonwealth into orders1 was the occasion of its ruin4 ,the distinction of the patrician as a hereditary order from the very institution1 engrossing all the magistracies1 was indeed the destruction of ,rome2 but to a knight or one of the equestrian order1 says ,horace1 8,si quadringentis sex septem millia desunt1 ,plebs eris40 ,by which it should seem that this order was not otherwise hereditary than a man's estate1 nor did it give any claim to magistracy2 wherefore you shall never find that it disquieted the commonwealth1 nor does the name denote any more in ,oceana than the duty of such a man's estate to the public4 ,but the surveyors1 both in this place and in others1 forasmuch as they could not observe all the circumstances of this order1 especially that of the time of election1 did for the first as well as they could2 and1 the elections being made and registered1 took each of them copies of those lists which were within their allotments1 which done they produced-- ,the sixth order1 directing 8in case a parson or vicar of a parish comes to be removed by death or by the censors1 that the congregation of the parish assemble and depute one or two elders by the ballot1 who upon the charge of the parish shall repair to one of the universities of this nation with a certificate signed by the overseers1 and addressed to the vice-chancellor1 which certificate1 giving notice of the death or removal of the parson or vicar1 of the value of the parsonage or vicarage1 and of the desire of the congregation to receive a probationer from that university1 the vice-chancellor1 upon the receipt thereof1 shall call a convocation1 and having made choice of a fit person1 shall return him in due time to the parish1 where the person so returned shall return the full fruits of the benefice or vicarage1 and do the duty of the parson or vicar1 for the space of one year1 as probationer2 and that being expired1 the congregation of the elders shall put their probationer to the ballot1 and if he attains not to two parts in three of the suffrage affirmative1 he shall take his leave of the parish1 and they shall send in like manner as before for another probationer2 but if their probationer obtains two parts in three of the suffrage affirmative1 he is then pastor of that parish4 ,and the pastor of the parish shall pray with the congregation1 preach the ,word1 and administer the sacraments to the same1 according to the directory to be hereafter appointed by the ,parliament4 ,nevertheless such as are of gathered congregations1 or from time to time shall join with any of them1 are in no wise obliged to this way of electing their teachers1 or to give their votes in this case1 but wholly left to the liberty of their own consciences1 and to that way of worship which they shall choose1 being not popish1 ,jewish1 or idolatrous4 ,and to the end they may be the better protected by the ,state in the exercise of the same1 they are desired to make choice1 and such manner as they best like1 of certain magistrates in every one of their congregations1 which we could wish might be four in each of them1 to be auditors in cases of differences or distaste1 if any through variety of opinions1 that may be grievous or injurious to them1 shall fall out4 ,and such auditors or magistrates shall have power to examine the matter1 and inform themselves1 to the end that if they think it of sufficient weight1 they may acquaint the phylarch with it1 or introduce it into the ,council of ,religion2 where all such causes as those magistrates introduce shall from time to time be heard and determined according to such laws as are or shall hereafter be provided by the ,parliament for the just defence of the liberty of conscience40 ,this order consists of three parts1 the first restoring the power of ordination to the people1 which1 that it originally belongs to them1 is clear1 though not in ,english yet in ,scripture1 where the apostles ordained elders by the holding up of hands in every congregation1 that is1 by the suffrage of the people1 which was also given in some of those cities by the ballot4 ,and though it may be shown that the apostles ordained some by the laying on of hands1 it will not be shown that they did so in every congregation4 ,excommunication1 as not clearly provable out of the ,scripture1 being omitted1 the second part of the order implies and establishes a national religion2 for there be degrees of knowledge in divine things2 true religion is not to be learned without searching the ,scripture2 the ,scriptures cannot be searched by us unless we have them to search2 and if we have nothing else1 or 7which is all one7 understand nothing else but a translation1 we may be 7as in the place alleged we have been7 beguiled or misled by the translation1 while we should be searching the true sense of the ,scripture1 which cannot be attained in a natural way 7and a commonwealth is not to presume upon that which is supernatural7 but by the knowledge of the original and of antiquity1 acquired by our own studies1 or those of some others1 for even faith comes by hearing4 ,wherefore a commonwealth not making provision of men from time to time1 knowing in the original languages wherein the ,scriptures were written1 and versed in those antiquities to which they so frequently relate1 that the true sense of them depends in great part upon that knowledge1 can never be secure that she shall not lose the ,scripture1 and by consequence her religion2 which to preserve she must institute some method of this knowledge1 and some use of such as have acquired it1 which amounts to a national religion4 ,the commonwealth having thus performed her duty toward ,god1 as a rational creature1 by the best application of her reason to ,scripture1 and for the preservation of religion in the purity of the same1 yet pretends not to infallibility1 but comes in the third part of the order1 establishing liberty of conscience according to the instructions given to her ,council of ,religion1 to raise up her hands to heaven for further light2 in which proceeding she follows that 7as was shown in the preliminaries7 of ,israel1 who1 though her national religion was always a part of her civil law1 gave to her prophets the upper hand of all her orders4 ,but the surveyors having now done with the parishes1 took their leave2 so a parish is the first division of land occasioned by the first collection of the people of ,oceana1 whose function proper to that place is comprised in the six preceding orders4 ,the next step in the progress of the surveyors was to a meeting of the nearest of them1 as their work lay1 by twenties2 where conferring their lists1 and computing the deputies contained therein1 as the number of them in parishes1 being nearest neighbors1 amounted to #ajj1 or as even as might conveniently be brought with that account1 they cast them and those parishes into the precinct which 7be the deputies ever since more or fewer7 is still called the hundred2 and to every one of these precincts they appointed a certain place1 being the most convenient town within the same1 for the annual rendezvous2 which done1 each surveyor1 returning to his hundred1 and summoning the deputies contained in his lists to the rendezvous1 they appeared and received-- ,the seventh order1 requiring1 8,that upon the first ,monday next ensuing the last of ,january1 the deputies of every parish annually assemble in arms at the rendezvous of the hundred1 and there elect out of their number one justice of the peace1 one juryman1 one captain1 one ensign of their troop or century1 each of these out of the horse2 and one juryman1 one coroner1 one high constable1 out of the foot4 ,the election to be made by the ballot in this manner4 ,the jurymen for the time being are to be overseers of the ballot 7instead of these1 the surveyors are to officiate at the first assembly71 and to look to the performance of the same according to what was directed in the ballot of the parishes1 saving that the high constable setting forth the urn shall have five several suits of gold balls1 and one dozen of every suit2 whereof the first shall be marked with the letter ,a1 the second with the letter ,b1 the third with ,c1 the fourth with ,d1 and the fifth with ,e3 and of each of these suits he shall cast one ball into his hat1 or into a little urn1 and shaking the balls together1 present them to the first overseer1 who shall draw one1 and the suit which is so drawn by the overseer shall be of use for that day1 and no other2 for example1 if the overseer drew an ,a1 the high constable shall put seven gold balls marked with the letter ,a into the urn1 with so many silver ones as shall bring them even with the number of the deputies1 who being sworn1 as before1 at the ballot of the parish to make a fair election1 shall be called to the urn2 and every man coming in manner as was there shown1 shall draw one ball1 which1 if it be silver1 he shall cast it into a bowl standing at the foot of the urn1 and return to his place3 but the first that draws a gold ball 7showing it to the overseers1 who if it has not the letter of the present ballot1 have power to apprehend and punish him7 is the first elector1 the second the second elector1 and so to the seventh2 which order they are to observe in their function4 8,the electors as they are drawn shall be placed upon the bench by the overseers1 till the whole number be complete1 and then be conducted1 with the list of the officers to be chosen1 into a place apart1 where1 being private1 the first elector shall name a person to the first office in the list2 and if the person so named1 being balloted by the rest of the electors1 attains not to the better half of the suffrages in the affirmative1 the first elector shall continue nominating others1 till one of them so nominated by him attains to the plurality of the suffrages in the affirmative1 and be written first competitor to the first office4 ,this done1 the second elector shall observe in his turn the like order2 and so the rest of the electors1 naming competitors each to his respective office in the list1 till one competitor be chosen to every office3 and when one competitor is chosen to every office1 the first elector shall begin again to name a second competitor to the first office1 and the rest successively shall name to the rest of the offices till two competitors be chosen to every office2 the like shall be repeated till three competitors be chosen to every office4 ,and when three competitors are chosen to every office1 the list shall be returned to the overseers1 or such as the overseers1 in case they or either of them happened to be electors1 have substituted in his or their place or places2 and the overseers or substitutes having caused the list to be read to the congregation1 shall put the competitors1 in order as they are written1 to the ballot of the congregation2 and the rest of the proceedings being carried on in the manner directed in the fifth order1 that competitor1 of the three written to each office1 who has most of the suffrages above half in the affirmative1 is the officer4 ,the list being after this manner completed1 shall be entered into a register1 to be kept at the rendezvous of the hundred1 under inspection of the magistrates of the same1 after the manner following3 ,anno ,domini ,,the ,,list ,,of ,,the ,,nebulosa ,a4,a4 ,equestrian ,order1 ,justice of the ,peace1 ,b4,b4 ,equestrian ,order1 ,first ,juryman1 ,c4,c4 ,equestrian ,order1 ,captain of the ,hundred1 ,d4,d4 ,equestrian ,order1 ,ensign1 ,e4,e4 ,second ,juryman1 ,f4,f4 ,high ,constable1 ,g4,g4 ,coroner1 ,of the hundred of in the tribe of1 which hundred consists at this election of #aje deputies4 8,the list being entered1 the high constable shall take three copies of the same1 whereof he shall presently return one to the lord high sheriff of the tribe1 a second to the lord custos rotulorum1 and a third to the censors2 or these1 through the want of such magistrates at the first muster1 may be returned to the orator1 to be appointed for that tribe4 ,to the observation of all and every part of this order1 the officers and deputies of the hundred are all and every of them obliged1 as they will answer it to the phylarch1 who has power1 in case of failure in the whole or any part1 to fine all or any of them so failing at discretion1 or according to such laws as shall hereafter be provided in that case1 but under an appeal to the ,parliament40 ,there is little in this order worthy of any further account1 but that it answers to the rulers of hundreds in ,israel1 to the mora or military part of the tribe in ,lacedaemon1 and to the century in ,rome4 ,the jurymen1 being two in a hundred1 and so forty in a tribe1 give the latitude allowed by the law for exceptions4 ,and whereas the golden balls at this ballot begin to be marked with letters1 whereof one is to be drawn immediately before it begins1 this is to the end that the letter being unknown1 men may be frustrated of tricks or foul play1 whereas otherwise a man may bring a golden ball with him1 and make as if he had drawn it out of the urn4 ,the surveyors1 when they had taken copies of these lists1 had accomplished their work in the hundreds4 ,so a hundred is the second division of land occasioned by the second collection of the people1 whose civil and military functions proper to this place are comprised in the foregoing order4 ,having stated the hundreds1 they met once again by twenties1 where there was nothing more easy than to cast every twenty hundreds1 as they lay most conveniently together1 into one tribe2 so the whole territory of ,oceana1 consisting of about #aj1jjj parishes1 came to be cast into #a1jjj hundreds1 and into fifty tribes4 ,in every tribe at the place appointed for the annual rendezvous of the same1 were then1 or soon after begun those buildings which are now called pavilions2 each of them standing with one open side upon fair columns1 like the porch of some ancient temple1 and looking into a field capable of the muster of some #d1jjj men2 before each pavilion stand three pillars sustaining urns for the ballot1 that on the right hand equal in height to the brow of a horseman1 being called the horse urn1 that on the left hand1 with bridges on either side to bring it equal in height with the brow of a footman1 being called the foot urn1 and the middle urn1 with a bridge on the side toward the foot urn1 the other side1 as left for the horse1 being without one2 and here ended the whole work of the surveyors1 who returned to the ,lord ,archon with this-- ,,account ,,of ,,the ,,charge ,imprimis3 ,urns1 balls1 and balloting-boxes for #aj1jjj parishes1 the same being wooden-ware1 #bj1jjj ,item3 ,provision of the like kind for a thousand hundreds #c1jjj ,item3 ,urns and balls of metal1 with balloting-boxes for fifty tribes1 #b1jjj ,item3 ,for erecting of fifty pavilions1 #fj1jjj ,item3 ,wages for four surveyors-general at #a1jjj a man #d1jjj ,item3 ,wages for the rest of the surveyors1 being #a1jjj at #bej a man #bej1jjj ,sum ,total #cci1jjj ,this is no great matter of charge for the building of a commonwealth1 in regard that it has cost 7which was pleaded by the surveyors7 as much to rig a few ships4 ,nevertheless that proves not them to be honest1 nor their account to be just2 but they had their money for once1 though their reckoning be plainly guilty of a crime1 to cost him his neck that commits it another time1 it being impossible for a commonwealth 7without an exact provision that it be not abused in this kind7 to subsist2 for if no regard should be had of the charge 7though that may go deep71 yet the debauchery and corruption whereto1 by negligence in accounts1 it infallibly exposes its citizens1 and thereby lessens the public faith1 which is the nerve and ligament of government1 ought to be prevented4 ,but the surveyors being despatched1 the ,lord ,archon was very curious in giving names to his tribes1 which having caused to be written in scrolls cast into an urn1 and presented to the councillors1 each of them drew one1 and was accordingly sent to the tribe in his lot1 as orators of the same1 a magistracy no otherwise instituted1 than for once and pro tempore1 to the end that the council upon so great an occasion might both congratulate with the tribes1 and assist at the first muster in some things of necessity to be differently carried from the established administration and future course of the commonwealth4 ,the orators being arrived1 every one as soon as might be1 at the rendezvous of his tribe1 gave notice to the hundreds1 and summoned the muster which appeared for the most part upon good horses1 and already indifferently well armed2 as to instance in one for all1 the tribe of ,nubia1 where ,hermes de ,caduceo1 lord orator of the same1 after a short salutation and a hearty welcome1 applied himself to his business1 which began with-- ,the eighth order requiring 8,that the lord high sheriff as commander-in-chief1 and the lord custos rotulorum as muster-master of the tribe 7or the orator for the first muster71 upon reception of the lists of their hundreds1 returned to them by the high constables of the same1 presently cause them to be cast up1 dividing the horse from the foot1 and listing the horse by their names in troops1 each troop containing about #ajj in number1 to be inscribed ,first1 ,second1 or ,third troop1 etc41 according to the order agreed upon by the said magistrates2 which done1 they shall list the foot in like manner1 and inscribe the companies in like order4 ,these lists upon the eve of the muster shall be delivered to certain trumpeters and drummers1 whereof there shall be fifteen of each sort 7as well for the present as otherwise to be hereafter mentioned7 stipendiated by the tribe4 ,and the trumpeters and drummers shall be in the field before the pavilion1 upon the day of the muster1 so soon as it is light1 where they shall stand every one with his list in his hand1 at a due distance1 placed according to the order of the list1 the trumpeters with the lists of the horse on the right hand1 and the drummers with the lists of the foot on the left hand2 where having sounded awhile1 each of them shall begin to call and continue calling the names of the deputies1 as they come into the field1 till both the horse and foot be gathered by that means into their due order4 ,the horse and foot being in order1 the lord lieutenant of the tribe shall cast so many gold balls marked with the figures #a1 #b1 #c1 #d1 etc41 as there be troops of horse in the field1 together with so many silver balls as there be companies1 marked in the same manner1 into a little urn1 to which he shall call the captains2 and the captains drawing the gold balls shall command the horse1 and those that draw the silver the foot1 each in the order of his lot4 ,the like shall be done by the conductor at the same time for the ensigns at another urn2 and they that draw the gold balls shall be cornets1 the left ensigns40 ,this order may puzzle the reader1 but tends to a wonderful speed of the muster1 to which it would be a great matter to lose a day in ranging and marshalling1 whereas by virtue of this the tribe is no sooner in the field than in battalia1 nor sooner in battalia than called to the urns or the ballot by virtue of-- ,the ninth order1 8,whereby the censors 7or the orator for the first muster7 upon reception of the lists of the hundreds from the high constables1 according as is directed by the seventh order are to make their notes for the urns beforehand1 with regard had to the lists of the magistrates1 to be elected by the ensuing orders1 that is to say1 by the first list called the prime magnitude1 six2 and by the second called the galaxy1 nine4 ,wherefore the censors are to put into the middle urn for the election of the first list twenty-four gold balls1 with twenty-six blanks or silver balls1 in all sixty2 and into the side urns sixty gold balls1 divided into each according to the different number of the horse and foot2 that is to say1 if the horse and the foot be equal1 equally1 and if the horse and the foot be unequal1 unequally1 by an arithmetical proportion4 ,the like shall be done the second day of the muster for the second list1 except that the censors shall put into the middle urn thirty-six gold balls with twenty-four blanks1 in all sixty2 and sixty gold balls into the side urns1 divided respectively into the number of the horse and the foot2 and the gold balls in the side urns at either ballot are by the addition of blanks to be brought even with the number of the ballotants at either urn respectively4 ,the censors having prepared their notes1 as has been shown1 and being come at the day appointed into the field1 shall present a little urn to the lord high sheriff1 who is to draw twice for the letters to be used that day1 the one at the side urns1 and the other at the middle4 ,and the censors having fitted the urns accordingly1 shall place themselves in certain movable seats or pulpits 7to be kept for that use in the pavilion7 the first censor before the horse urn1 the second before the foot urn1 the lord lieutenant doing the office of censor pro tempore at the middle urn2 where all and every one of them shall cause the laws of the ballot to be diligently observed1 taking a special care that no man be suffered to come above once to the urn 7whereof it more particularly concerns the sub-censors1 that is to say1 the overseers of every parish1 to be careful1 they being each in this regard responsible for their respective parishes7 or to draw above one ball1 which if it be gold1 he is to present to the censor1 who shall look upon the letter2 and if it be not that of the day1 and of the respective urn1 apprehend the party1 who for this or any other like disorder is obnoxious to the phylarch40 ,this order being observed by the censors1 it is not possible for the people1 if they can but draw the balls1 though they understand nothing at all of the ballot1 to be out4 ,to philosophize further upon this art1 though there be nothing more rational1 were not worth the while1 because in writing it will be perplexed1 and the first practice of it gives the demonstration2 whence it came to pass that the orator1 after some needless pains in the explanation of the two foregoing orders1 betaking himself to exemplify the same1 found the work done to his hand1 for the tribe1 as eager upon a business of this nature1 had retained one of the surveyors1 out of whom 7before the orator arrived7 they had got the whole mystery by a stolen muster1 at which in order to the ballot they had made certain magistrates pro tempore4 ,wherefore he found not only the pavilion 7for this time a tent7 erected with three posts1 supplying the place of pillars to the urns1 but the urns being prepared with a just number of balls for the first ballot1 to become the field1 and the occasion very gallantly with their covers made in the manner of helmets1 open at either ear to give passage to the hands of the ballotants1 and slanting with noble plumes to direct the march of the people4 ,wherefore he proceeded to-- ,the tenth order1 8,requiring of the deputies of the parishes1 that upon every ,monday next ensuing the last of ,february1 they make their personal appearance1 horse and foot in arms accordingly1 at the rendezvous of the tribe1 where1 being in discipline1 the horse upon the right1 and the foot upon the left1 before the pavilion1 and having made oath by holding up their hands1 upon the tender of it by the lord high sheriff1 to make election without favor1 and of such only as they shall judge fittest for the commonwealth1 the conductor shill take three balls1 the one inscribed with these words 7outward files71 another with these words 7inward files71 and the third with these 7middle files71 which balls he shall cast into a little urn1 and present it to the lord high sheriff1 who1 drawing one1 shall give the words of command1 as they are thereupon inscribed1 and the ballot shall begin accordingly4 ,for example1 if the ball be inscribed #8,middle files1' the ballot shall begin by the middle2 that is1 the two files that are middle to the horse shall draw out first to the horse urn1 and the two files that are middle to the foot shall draw out first to the foot urn1 and be followed by all the rest of the files as they are next to them in order4 ,the like shall be done by the inward1 or by the outward files in case they be first called4 ,and the files1 as every man has drawn his ball1 if it be silver1 shall behind at the urn to countermarch to their places1 but he that has drawn a gold ball at a side urn shall proceed to the middle urn1 where if the balls he draws be silver he shall also countermarch1 but if it be gold he shall take his place upon a form set across the pavilion1 with his face toward the lord high sheriff1 who shall be seated in the middle of the pavilion1 with certain clerks by him1 one of which shall write down the names of every elector1 that is1 of every one that drew a gold ball at the middle urn1 and in the order his ball was drawn1 till the electors amount to six in number4 ,and the first six electors1 horse and foot promiscuously1 are the first order of electors2 the second six 7still accounting them as they are drawn7 the second order1 the third six the third order1 and the fourth six the fourth order of electors2 every elector having place in his order1 according to the order wherein he was drawn4 ,but so soon as the first order of electors is complete1 the lord high sheriff shall send them with a copy of the following list1 and a clerk that understands the ballot1 immediately to a little tent standing before the pavilion in his eye1 to which no other person but themselves1 during the election1 shall approach4 ,the list shall be written in this manner30 ,anno ,domini ,,the ,,list ,,of ,,the ,,prime ,,magnitude1 ,,or ,,first ,,day',s ,,election ,,of ,,magistrates #a4 ,the ,lord ,high ,sheriff1 ,commander-in-,chief1 #b4 ,lord ,lieutenant1 #c4 ,lord ,custos ,rotulorum1 ,muster-,master-,general1 #d4 ,the ,conductor1 being ,quarter-master ,general1 #e4 ,the ,first ,censor1 #f4 ,the ,second ,censor1 ,of the tribe of ,nubia1 containing at the present muster #gjj horse and #a1ejj foot1 in all #bb1jjj deputies4 8,and the electors of the first band or order1 being six1 shall each of them name to his respective magistracy in the left such as are not already elected in the hundreds1 till one competitor be chosen to every magistracy in the list by the ballot of the electors of the first order1 which done1 the list with the competitors thereunto annexed shall be returned to the lord high sheriff by the clerk attending that order1 but the electors shall keep their places2 for they have already given their suffrage1 and may not enter into the ballot of the tribe4 ,if there arises any dispute in an order of electors1 one of the censors or sub-censors appointed by them in case they be electors1 shall enter into the tent of that order1 and that order shall stand to his judgment in the decision of the controversy4 ,the like shall be done exactly by each other order of electors1 being sent as they are drawn1 each with another copy of the same list1 into a distinct tent1 till there be returned to the lord high sheriff four competitors to every magistracy in the list2 that is to say1 one competitor elected to every office in every one of the four orders1 which competitors the lord high sheriff shall cause to be pronounced or read by a crier to the congregation1 and the congregation having heard the whole lists repeated1 the names shall be put by the lord high sheriff to the tribe1 one by one1 beginning with the first competitor in the first order1 thence proceeding to the first competitor in the second order1 and so to the first in the third and fourth orders4 ,and the suffrages being taken in boxes by boys 7as has been already shown7 shall be poured into the bowls standing before the censors1 who shall be seated at each end of the table in the pavilion1 the one numbering the affirmatives and the other the negatives1 and he of the four competitors to the first magistracy that has most above half the suffrages of the tribe in the affirmative1 is the first magistrate4 ,the like is to be done successively by the rest of the competitors in their order4 ,but because soon after the boxes are sent out for the first name1 there be others sent out for the second1 and so for the third1 etc41 by which means divers names are successively at one and the same time in balloting2 the boy that carries a box shall sing or repeat continually the name of the competitor for whom that box is carrying1 with that also of the magistracy to which he is proposed4 ,a magistrate of the tribe happening to be an elector1 may substitute any one of his own order to execute his other function4 ,the magistrates of the prime magnitude being thus elected1 shall receive the present charge of the tribe40 ,if it be objected against this order that the magistrates to be elected by it will be men of more inferior rank than those of the hundreds1 in regard that those are chosen first1 it may be remembered that so were the burgesses in the former government1 nevertheless the knights of the shire were men of greater quality2 and the election at the hundred is made by a council of electors1 of whom less cannot be expected than the discretion of naming persons fittest for those capacities1 with an eye upon these to be elected at the tribe4 ,as for what may be objected in point of difficulty1 it is demonstrable by the foregoing orders1 that a man might bring #aj1jjj men1 if there were occasion1 with as much ease1 and as suddenly to perform the ballot1 as he can make #e1jjj men1 drawing them out by double files1 to march a quarter of a mile4 ,but because at this ballot1 to go up and down the field1 distributing the linen pellets to every man1 with which he is to ballot or give suffrage1 would lose a great deal of time1 therefore a man's wife1 his daughters1 or others1 make him his provision of pellets before the ballot1 and he comes into the field with a matter of a score of them in his pocket4 ,and now ,i have as good as done with the sport4 ,the next is-- ,the eleventh order1 8,explaining the duties and functions of the magistrates contained in the list of the prime magnitude1 and those of the hundreds1 beginning with the lord high sheriff1 who1 over and above his more ancient offices1 and those added by the former order1 is the first magistrate of the phylarch1 or prerogative troop4 ,the lord lieutenant1 over and above his duty mentioned1 is commander-in-chief of the musters of the youth1 and second magistrate of the phylarch4 ,the custos rotulorum is to return the yearly muster-rolls of the tribe1 as well that of the youth as of the elders1 to the rolls in emporium1 and is the third magistrate of the phylarch4 ,the censors by themselves and their sub-censors1 that is1 the overseers of the parishes1 are to see that the respective laws of the ballot be observed in all the popular assemblies of the tribe4 ,they have power also to put such national ministers1 as in preaching shall intermeddle with matters of government1 out of their livings1 except the party appeals to the phylarch1 or to the ,council of ,religion1 where in that case the censors shall prosecute4 ,all and every one of these magistrates1 together with the justices of peace1 and the jurymen of the hundreds1 amounting in the whole number to threescore and six1 are the prerogative troop or phylarch of the tribe4 8,the function of the phylarch or prerogative troop is fivefold3 8,first1 they are the council of the tribe1 and as such to govern the musters of the same according to the foregoing orders1 having cognizance of what has passed in the congregation or elections made in the parishes or the hundreds1 with power to punish any undue practices1 or variation from their respective rules and orders1 under an appeal to the ,parliament4 ,a marriage legitimately is to be pronounced by the parochial congregation1 the muster of the hundred1 or the phylarch4 ,and if a tribe have a desire 7which they are to express at the muster by their captains1 every troop by his own7 to petition the ,parliament the phylarch1 as the council1 shall frame the petition in the pavilion1 and propose it by clauses to the ballot of the whole tribe2 and the clauses that shall be affirmed by the ballot of the tribe1 and signed by the hands of the six magistrates of the prime magnitude1 shall be received and esteemed by the ,parliament as the petition of the tribe1 and no other4 8,secondly1 the phylarch has power to call to their assistance what other troops of the tribe they please 7he they elders or youth1 whose discipline will be hereafter directed71 and with these to receive the judges itinerant in their circuits1 whom the magistrates of the phylarch shall assist upon the bench1 and the juries elsewhere in their proper functions according to the more ancient laws and customs of this nation4 8,thirdly1 the phylarch shall hold the court called the quartersessions according to the ancient custom1 and therein shall also hear causes in order to the protection of liberty of conscience1 by such rules as are or shall hereafter be appointed by the ,parliament4 8,fourthly1 all commissions issued into the tribes by the ,parliament1 or by the chancery1 are to be directed to the phylarch1 or some of that troop1 and executed by the same respectively4 8,fifthly1 in the case of levies of money the ,parliament shall tax the phylarchs1 the phylarchs shall tax the hundreds1 the hundreds the parishes1 and the parishes shall levy it upon themselves4 ,the parishes having levied the tax-money accordingly1 shall return it to the officers of the hundreds1 the hundred to the phylarchs1 and the phylarchs to the ,exchequer4 ,but if a man has ten children living1 he shall pay no taxes2 if he has five living1 he shall pay but half taxes2 if he has been married three years1 or be above twenty-five years of age1 and has no child or children lawfully begotten1 he shall pay double taxes4 ,and if there happen to grow any dispute upon these or such other orders as shall or may hereto be added hereafter1 the phylarchs shall judge the tribes1 and the ,parliament shall judge the phylarchs4 ,for the rest1 if any man shall go about to introduce the right or power of debate into any popular council or congregation of this nation1 the phylarch or any magistrate of the hundred1 or of the tribe1 shall cause him presently to be sent in custody to the ,council of ,war40 ,the part of the order relating to the rolls in ,emporium being of singular use1 is not unworthy to be somewhat better opened4 ,in what manner the lists of the parishes1 hundreds1 and tribes are made1 has been shown in their respective orders1 where1 after the parties are elected1 they give an account of the whole number of the elders or deputies in their respective assemblies or musters2 the like for this part exactly is done by the youth in their discipline 7to be hereafter shown7 wherefore the lists of the parishes1 youth and elders1 being summed up1 give the whole number of the people able to bear arms1 and the lists of the tribes1 youth and elders1 being summed up1 give the whole number of the people bearing arms4 ,this account1 being annually recorded by the master of the rolls1 is called the 8,pillar of ,nilus10 because the people1 being the riches of the commonwealth1 as they are found to rise or fall by the degrees of this pillar1 like that river1 give an account of the public harvest4 ,thus much for the description of the first day's work at the muster1 which happened 7as has been shown7 to be done as soon as said2 for as in practice it is of small difficulty1 so requires it not much time1 seeing the great ,council of ,venice1 consisting of a like number1 begins at twelve of the clock1 and elects nine magistrates in one afternoon4 ,but the tribe being dismissed for this night1 repaired to their quarters1 under the conduct of their new magistrates4 ,the next morning returning to the field very early1 the orator proceeded to-- ,the twelfth order1 8,directing the muster of the tribe in the second day's election1 being that of the list called the galaxy2 in which the censors shall prepare the urns according to the directions given in the ninth order for the second ballot2 that is to say1 with thirty-six gold balls in the middle urn1 making four orders1 and nine electors in every order1 according to the number of the magistrates in the list of the galaxy1 which is as follows3 #a4 ,knight #b4 ,knight ,to be chosen out of the horse4 #c4 ,deputy #d4 ,deputy #e4 ,deputy ,to be chosen out of the horse4 #f4 ,deputy #g4 ,deputy #h4 ,deputy #i4 ,deputy ,to be chosen out of the foot4 8,the rest of the ballot shall proceed exactly according to that of the first day4 ,but1 forasmuch as the commonwealth demands as well the fruits of a man's body as of his mind1 he that has not been married shall not be capable of these magistracies till he be married4 ,if a deputy already chosen to be an officer in the parish1 in the hundred1 or in the tribe1 be afterward chosen of the galaxy1 it shall be lawful for him to delegate his office in the parish1 in the hundred1 or in the tribe1 to any one of his own order being not already chosen into office4 ,the knights and deputies being chosen1 shall be brought to the head of the tribe by the lord high sheriff1 who shall administer to them this oath3 #8,ye shall well and truly observe and keep the orders and customs of this commonwealth which the people have chosen4' ,and if any of them shall refuse the oath1 he shall be rejected1 and that competitor which had the most voices next shall be called in his place1 who1 if he takes the oath1 shall be entered in the list2 but if he also refuses the oath1 he who had most voices next shall be called1 and so till the number of nine out of those competitors which had most voices be sworn knights and deputies of the galaxy4 7,this clause1 in regard to the late divisions1 and to the end that no violence be offered to any man's conscience1 to be of force but for the first three years only47 ,the knights of the galaxy being elected and sworn1 are to repair1 by the ,monday next ensuing to the last of ,march1 to the ,pantheon or palace of justice1 situated in the metropolis of this commonwealth 7except the ,parliament1 by reason of a contagious sickness1 or some other occasion1 has adjourned to another part of the nation71 where they are to take their places in the ,senate1 and continue in full power and commission as senators for the full term of three years next ensuing the date of their election4 ,the deputies of the galaxy are to repair by the same day 7except as before excepted7 to the halo situated in ,emporium1 where they are to be listed of the prerogative tribe1 or equal representative of the people2 and to continue in full power and commission as their deputies for the full term of three years next ensuing their election4 ,but1 forasmuch as the term of every magistracy or office in this commonwealth requires an equal vacation1 a knight or deputy of the galaxy1 having fulfilled his term of three years1 shall not be re-elected into the same galaxy or any other1 till he has also fulfilled his three years' vacation40 ,whoever shall rightly consider the foregoing orders1 will be as little able to find how it is possible that a worshipful knight should declare himself in ale and beef worthy to serve his country1 as how my lord high sheriff's honor1 in case he were protected from the law1 could play the knave4 ,but though the foregoing orders1 so far as they regard the constitution of the ,senate and the people1 requiring no more as to an ordinary election than is therein explained1 that is but one-third part of their knights and deputies1 are perfect2 yet must we in this place1 and as to the institution1 of necessity erect a scaffold4 ,for the commonwealth to the first creation of her councils in full number1 required thrice as many as are eligible by the foregoing orders4 ,wherefore the orator whose aid in this place was most necessary1 rightly informing the people of the reason1 stayed them two days longer at the muster1 and took this course4 ,one list1 containing two knights and seven deputies1 he caused to be chosen upon the second day2 which list being called the first galaxy1 qualified the parties elected of it with power for the term of one year1 and no longer3 another list1 containing two knights and seven deputies more1 he caused to be chosen the third day1 which list being called the second galaxy1 qualified the parties elected of it with power for the term of two years1 and no longer4 ,and upon the fourth day he chose the third galaxy1 according as it is directed by the order1 empowered for three years2 which lists successively falling 7like the signs or constellations of one hemisphere1 which setting1 cause those of the other to rise7 cast the great orbs of this commonwealth into an annual1 triennial1 and perpetual revolution4 ,the business of the muster being thus happily finished1 ,hermes de ,caduceo1 lord orator of the tribe of ,nubia1 being now put into her first rapture1 caused one of the censor's pulpits to be planted in front of the squadron1 and ascending into the same1 spake after this manner3 8,,my ,,lords1 ,,the ,,magistrates ,,and ,,the ,,people ,,of ,,the ,,tribe ,,of ,,nubia3 8,we have this day solemnized the happy nuptials of the two greatest princes that are upon the earth or in nature1 arms and councils1 in the mutual embraces whereof consists your whole commonwealth2 whose councils upon their perpetual wheelings1 marches1 and countermarches1 create her armies1 and whose armies with the golden volleys of the ballot at once create and salute her councils4 ,there be those 7such is the world at present7 that think it ridiculous to see a nation exercising its civil functions in military discipline2 while they1 committing their buff to their servants1 come themselves to hold trenchards4 ,for what avails it such as are unarmed1 or 7which is all one7 whose education acquaints them not with the proper use of their swords1 to be called citizens8 ,what were #b1jjj or #c1jjj of you1 though never so well affected to your country1 but naked1 to one troop of mercenary soldiers8 ,if they should come upon the field and say1 #8,gentlemen1 it is thought fit that such and such men should be chosen by you1' where were your liberty8 or1 #8,gentlemen1 parliaments are exceeding good1 but you are to have a little patience2 these times are not so fit for them1' where were your commonwealth8 ,what causes the monarchy of the ,turks but servants in arms8 ,what was it that begot the glorious ,commonwealth of ,rome but the sword in the hands of her citizens8 ,wherefore my glad eyes salute the serenity and brightness of this day with a shower that shall not cloud it4 8,behold the army of ,israel become a commonwealth1 and the ,commonwealth of ,israel remaining an army1 with her rulers of tens and of fifties1 her rulers of hundreds and thousands1 drawing near 7as this day throughout our happy fields7 to the lot by her tribes1 increased above threefold1 and led up by her phylarchs or princes1 to sit upon fifty thrones1 judging the fifty tribes of ,oceana6 ,or1 is it ,athens1 breaking from her iron sepulchre1 where she has been so long trampled by hosts of ,janizaries8 ,for certainly that is the voice of ,theseus1 having gathered his scattered ,athenians into one city4 ,this freeborn nation lives not upon the dole or bounty of one man1 but distributing her annual magistracies and honors with her own hand1 is herself ,king ,people--7,at which the orator was awhile interrupted with shouts1 but at length proceeded47 is it grave ,lacedaemon in her armed tribe1 divided by her oboe and her mora1 which appears to chide me that ,i teach the people to talk1 or conceive such language as is dressed like a woman1 to be a fit usher of the joys of liberty into the hearts of men8 is it ,rome in her victorious arms 7for so she held her concio or congregation7 that congratulates with us1 for finding out that which she could not hit on1 and binding up her ,comitia curiata1 centuriata1 and tributa1 in one inviolable league of union8 ,or is it the great council of incomparable ,venice1 bowling forth by the selfsame ballot her immortal commonwealth8 ,for1 neither by reason nor by experience is it impossible that a commonwealth should be immortal2 seeing the people being the materials1 never die2 and the form1 which is motion1 must1 without opposition1 be endless4 ,the bowl which is thrown from your hand1 if there be no rub1 no impediment1 shall never cease3 for which cause the glorious luminaries that are the bowls of ,god1 were once thrown forever2 and next these1 those of ,venice4 ,but certainly1 my lords1 whatever these great examples may have shown us1 we are the first that have shown to the world a commonwealth established in her rise upon fifty such towers1 and so garrisoned as are the tribes of ,oceana1 containing #ajj1jjj elders upon the annual list1 and yet but an outguard2 besides her marching armies to be equal in the discipline1 and in the number of her youth4 8,and forasmuch as sovereign power is a necessary but a formidable creature1 not unlike the powder which 7as you are soldiers7 is at once your safety and your danger1 being subject to take fire against you as well as for you1 how well and securely is she1 by your galaxies so collected as to be in full force and vigor and yet so distributed that it is impossible you should be blown up by your own magazine8 ,let them who will have it1 that power if it be confined cannot be sovereign1 tell us1 whether our rivers do not enjoy a more secure and fruitful reign within their proper banks1 than if it were lawful for them1 in ravaging our harvests1 to spill themselves8 whether souls1 not confined to their peculiar bodies1 do govern them any more than those of witches in their trances8 whether power1 not confined to the bounds of reason and virtue1 has any other bounds than those of vice and passion8 or if vice and passion be boundless1 and reason and virtue have certain limits1 on which of these thrones holy men should anoint their sovereign8 ,but to blow away this dust1 the sovereign power of a commonwealth is no more bounded1 that is to say straitened1 than that of a monarch2 but is balanced4 ,the eagle mounts not to her proper pitch1 if she be bounded1 nor is free if she be not balanced4 ,and lest a monarch should think he can reach further with his sceptre1 the ,roman eagle upon such a balance spread her wings from the ocean to ,euphrates4 ,receive the sovereign power2 you have received it1 hold it fast1 embrace it forever in your shining arms4 ,the virtue of the loadstone is not impaired or limited1 but receives strength and nourishment1 by being bound in iron4 ,and so giving your lordships much joy1 ,i take my leave of this tribe40 ,the orator descending1 had the period of his speech made with a vast applause and exultation of the whole tribe1 attending him for that night to his quarter1 as the phylarch with some commanded troops did the next day to the frontiers of the tribe1 where leave was taken on both sides with more tears than grief4 ,so a tribe is the third division of land occasioned by the third collection of the people1 whose functions proper to that place are contained in the five foregoing orders4 ,the institution of the commonwealth was such as needed those props and scaffolds which may have troubled the reader2 but ,i shall here take them away1 and come to the constitution which stands by itself1 and yields a clearer prospect4 ,the motions1 by what has been already shown1 are spherical2 and spherical motions have their proper centre1 for which cause 7ere ,i proceed further7 it will be necessary1 for the better understanding of the whole1 that ,i discover the centre whereupon the motions of this commonwealth are formed4 ,the centre1 or basis of every government1 is no other than the fundamental laws of the same4 ,fundamental laws are such as state what it is that a man1 and what the means may call his own1 that is to say1 property2 be whereby a man may enjoy his own1 that is to say1 protection4 ,the first is also called dominion1 and the second empire or sovereign power1 whereof this 7as has been shown7 is the natural product of the former1 for such as is the balance of dominion in a nation1 such is the nature of its empire4 ,wherefore the fundamental laws of ,oceana1 or the centre of this commonwealth1 are the agrarian and the ballot3 the agrarian by the balance of dominion preserving equality in the root2 and the ballot by an equal rotation conveying it into the branch1 or exercise of sovereign power1 as1 to begin with the former1 appears by-- ,the thirteenth order1 8,constituting the agrarian laws of ,oceana1 ,marpesia1 and ,panopea1 whereby it is ordained1 first1 for all such lands as are lying and being within the proper territories of ,oceana1 that every man who is at present possessed1 or shall hereafter be possessed1 of an estate in land exceeding the revenue of #b1jjj a year1 and having more than one son1 shall leave his lands either equally divided among them1 in case the lands amount to above #b1jjj a year to each1 or so near equally1 in case they come under1 that the greater part or portion of the same remaining to the eldest exceed not the value of #b1jjj revenue4 ,and no man1 not in present possession of lands above the value of #b1jjj by the year1 shall receive1 enjoy 7except by lawful inheritance7 acquire1 or1 purchase to himself lands within the said territories1 amounting1 with those already in his possession1 above the said revenue4 ,and if a man has a daughter or daughters1 except she be an heiress or they be heiresses1 he shall not leave or give to any4 ,one of them in marriage1 or otherwise1 for her portion1 above the value of #a1ejj in lands1 goods1 and moneys4 ,nor shall any friend1 kinsman1 or kinswoman add to her or their portion or portions that are so provided for1 to make any one of them greater4 ,nor shall any man demand or have more in marriage with any woman4 ,nevertheless an heiress shall enjoy her lawful inheritance1 and a widow1 whatsoever the bounty or affection of her husband shall bequeath to her1 to be divided in the first generation1 wherein it is divisible according as has been shown4 8,secondly1 for lands lying and being within the territories of ,marpesia1 the agrarian shall hold in all parts as it is established in ,oceana1 except only in the standard or proportion of estates in land1 which shall be set for ,marpesia1 at #ejj4 ,and1 8,thirdly1 for ,panopea1 the agrarian shall hold in all parts1 as in ,oceana4 ,and whosoever possessing above the proportion allowed by these laws1 shall be lawfully convicted of the same1 shall forfeit the overplus to the use of the ,state40 ,agrarian laws of all others have ever been the greatest bugbears1 and so in the institution were these1 at which time it was ridiculous to see how strange a fear appeared in everybody of that which1 being good for all1 could hurt nobody4 ,but instead of the proof of this order1 ,i shall out of those many debates that happened ere it could be passed1 insert two speeches that were made at the ,council of legislators1 the first by the ,right ,honorable ,philautus de ,garbo1 a young man1 being heir-apparent to a very noble family1 and one of the councillors1 who expressed himself as follows3 8,may it please your ,highness1 my ,lord ,archon of ,oceana4 8,if ,i did not1 to my capacity1 know from how profound a councillor ,i dissent1 it would certainly be no hard task to make it as light as the day4 ,first1 that an agrarian is altogether unnecessary2 secondly1 that it is dangerous to a commonwealth2 thirdly1 that it is insufficient to keep out monarchy2 fourthly1 that it ruins families2 fifthly1 that it destroys industry2 and last of all1 that though it were indeed of any good use1 it will be a matter of such difficulty to introduce in this nation1 and so to settle that it may be lasting1 as is altogether invincible4 8,first1 that an agrarian is unnecessary to a commonwealth1 what clearer testimony can there be than that the commonwealths which are our contemporaries 7,venice1 to which your ,highness gives the upper hand of all antiquity1 being one7 have no such thing8 ,and there can be no reason why they have it not1 seeing it is in the sovereign power at any time to establish such an order1 but that they need it not2 wherefore no wonder if ,aristotle1 who pretends to be a good commonwealths man1 has long since derided ,phaleas1 to whom it was attributed by the ,greeks1 for his invention4 8,secondly1 that an agrarian is dangerous to a commonwealth is affirmed upon no slight authority seeing ,machiavel is positive that it was the dissension which happened about the agrarian that caused the destruction of ,rome2 nor do ,i think that it did much better in ,lacedaemon1 as ,i shall show anon4 8,thirdly1 that it is insufficient to keep out monarchy cannot without impiety be denied1 the holy ,scriptures bearing witness that the ,commonwealth of ,israel1 notwithstanding her agrarian1 submitted her neck to the arbitrary yoke of her princes4 8,fourthly1 therefore1 to come to my next assertion1 that it is destructive to families3 this also is so apparent1 that it needs pity rather than proof4 ,why alas1 do you bind a nobility 7which no generation shall deny to have been the first that freely sacrificed their blood to the ancient liberties of this people7 on an unholy altar8 ,why are the people taught that their liberty1 which1 except our noble ancestors had been born1 must have long since been buried1 cannot now be born except we be buried8 ,a commonwealth should have the innocence of the dove4 ,let us leave this purchase of her birth to the serpent1 which eats itself out of the womb of its mother4 8,fifthly but it may be said1 perhaps1 that we are fallen from our first love1 become proud and idle4 ,it is certain1 my lords1 that the hand of ,god is not upon us for nothing4 ,but take heed how you admit of such assaults and sallies upon men's estates1 as may slacken the nerve of labor1 and give others also reason to believe that their sweat is vain2 or else1 whatsoever be pretended1 your agrarian 7which is my fifth assertion7 must indeed destroy industry4 ,for1 that so it did in ,lacedaemon is most apparent1 as also that it could do no otherwise1 where every man having his forty quarters of barley1 with wine proportionable1 supplied him out of his own lot by his laborer or helot2 and being confined in that to the scantling above which he might not live1 there was not any such thing as a trade1 or other art1 except that of war1 in exercise4 ,wherefore a ,spartan1 if he were not in arms1 must sit and play with his ,angers1 whence ensued perpetual war1 and1 the estate of the city being as little capable of increase as that of the citizens1 her inevitable ruin4 ,now what better ends you can propose to yourselves in the like ways1 ,i do not so well see as ,i perceive that there may be worse2 for ,lacedaemon yet was free from civil war3 but if you employ your citizens no better than she did1 ,i cannot promise you that you shall fare so well1 because they are still desirous of war that hope that it may be profitable to them2 and the strongest security you can give of peace1 is to make it gainful4 ,otherwise men will rather choose that whereby they may break your laws1 than that whereby your laws may break them4 ,which ,i speak not so much in relation to the nobility or such as would be holding1 as to the people or them that would be getting2 the passion in these being so much the stronger1 as a man's felicity is weaker in the fruition of things1 than in their prosecution and increase4 8,truly1 my lords1 it is my fear1 that by taking of more hands1 and the best from industry1 you will farther endamage it1 than can be repaired by laying on a few1 and the worst2 while the nobility must be forced to send their sons to the plough1 and1 as if this were not enough1 to marry their daughters also to farmers4 8,sixthly1 but ,i do not see 7to come to the last point7 how it is possible that this thing should be brought about1 to your good ,i mean1 though it may to the destruction of many4 ,for that the agrarian of ,israel1 or that of ,lacedaemon1 might stand1 is no such miracle2 the lands1 without any consideration of the former proprietor1 being surveyed and cast into equal lots1 which could neither be bought1 nor sold1 nor multiplied3 so that they knew whereabout to have a man4 ,but in this nation no such division can be introduced1 the lands being already in the hands of proprietors1 and such whose estates lie very rarely together1 but mixed one with another being also of tenures in nature so different1 that as there is no experience that an agrarian was ever introduced in such a case1 so there is no appearance how or reason why it should3 but that which is against reason and experience is impossible40 ,the case of my ,lord ,philautus was the most concerned in the whole nation2 for he had four younger brothers1 his father being yet living1 to whom he was heir of #aj1jjj a year4 ,wherefore being a man both of good parts and esteem1 his words wrought both upon men's reason and passions1 and had borne a stroke at the head of the business1 if my ,lord ,archon had not interposed the buckler in this oration3 8,,my ,,lords1 ,,the ,,legislators ,,of ,,oceana3 8,my ,lord ,philautus has made a thing which is easy to seem hard2 if the thanks were due to his eloquence1 it would be worthy of less praise than that he owes it to his merit1 and the love he has most deservedly purchased of all men3 nor is it rationally to be feared that he who is so much beforehand in his private1 should be in arrear in his public1 capacity4 ,wherefore1 my lord's tenderness throughout his speech arising from no other principle than his solicitude lest the agrarian should be hurtful to his country1 it is no less than my duty to give the best satisfaction ,i am able to so good a patriot1 taking every one of his doubts in the order proposed4 ,and1 8,first1 whereas my lord1 upon observation of the modern commonwealths1 is of opinion that an agrarian is not necessary3 it must be confessed that at the first sight of them there is some appearance favoring his assertion1 but upon accidents of no precedent to us4 ,for the commonwealths of ,switzerland and ,holland1 ,i mean of those leagues1 being situated in countries not alluring the inhabitants to wantonness1 but obliging them to universal industry1 have an implicit agrarian in the nature of them3 and being not obnoxious to a growing nobility 7which1 as long as their former monarchies had spread the wing over them1 could either not at all be hatched1 or was soon broken7 are of no example to us1 whose experience in this point has been to the contrary4 ,but what if even in these governments there be indeed an explicit agrarian8 ,for when the law commands an equal or near equal distribution of a man's estate in land among his children1 as it is done in those countries1 a nobility cannot grow2 and so there needs no agrarian1 or rather there is one4 ,and for the growth of the nobility in ,venice 7if so it be1 for ,machiavel observes in that republic1 as a cause of it1 a great mediocrity of estates7 it is not a point that she is to fear1 but might study1 seeing she consists of nothing else but nobility1 by which1 whatever their estates suck from the people1 especially if it comes equally1 is digested into the better blood of that commonwealth1 which is all1 or the greatest1 benefit they can have by accumulation4 ,for how unequal soever you will have them to be in their incomes1 they have officers of the pomp1 to bring them equal in expenses1 or at least in the ostentation or show of them4 ,and so unless the advantage of an estate consists more in the measure than in the use of it1 the authority of ,venice does but enforce our agrarian2 nor shall a man evade or elude the prudence of it1 by the authority of any other commonwealth4 8,for if a commonwealth has been introduced at once1 as those of ,israel and ,lacedaemon1 you are certain to find her underlaid with this as the main foundation2 nor1 if she is obliged more to fortune than prudence1 has she raised her head without musing upon this matter1 as appears by that of ,athens1 which through her defect in this point1 says ,aristotle1 introduced her ostracism1 as most of the democracies of ,greece4 ,but1 not to restrain a fundamental of such latitude to any one kind of government1 do we not yet see that if there be a sole landlord of a vast territory1 he is the ,turk8 that if a few landlords overbalance a populous country1 they have store of servants8 that if a people be in an equal balance1 they can have no lords8 that no government can otherwise be erected1 than upon some one of these foundations8 that no one of these foundations 7each being else apt to change into some other7 can give any security to the government1 unless it be fixed8 that through the want of this fixation1 potent monarchy and commonwealths have fallen upon the heads of the people1 and accompanied their own sad ruins with vast effusions of innocent blood8 ,let the fame1 as was the merit of the ancient nobility of this nation1 be equal to or above what has been already said1 or can be spoken1 yet have we seen not only their glory but that of a throne1 the most indulgent to and least invasive for so many ages upon the liberty of a people that the world has known1 through the mere want of fixing her foot by a proportionable agrarian upon her proper foundation1 to have fallen with such horror as has been a spectacle of astonishment to the whole earth4 ,and were it well argued from one calamity1 that we ought not to prevent another8 ,nor is ,aristotle so good a commonwealths man for deriding the invention of ,phaleas as in recollecting himself1 where he says that democracies1 when a less part of their citizens overtop the rest in wealth1 degenerate into oligarchies and principalities2 and1 which comes nearer to the present purpose1 that the greater part of the nobility of ,tarentum coming accidentally to be ruined1 the government of the few came by consequence to be changed into that of the many4 8,these things considered1 ,i cannot see how an agrarian1 as to the fixation or security of a government1 can be less than necessary4 ,and if a cure be necessary1 it excuses not the patient1 his disease being otherwise desperate1 that it is dangerous2 which was the case of ,rome1 not so stated by ,machiavel1 where he says1 that the strife about the agrarian caused the destruction of that commonwealth4 ,as if when a senator was not rich 7as ,crassus held7 except he could pay an army1 that commonwealth could expect nothing but ruin whether in strife about the agrarian1 or without it4 #8,of late1' says ,livy1 #8riches have introduced avarice1 and voluptuous pleasures abounding have through lust and luxury begot a desire of lasting and destroying all good orders4' if the greatest security of a commonwealth consists in being provided with the proper antidote against this poison1 her greatest danger1 must be from the absence of an agrarian1 which is the whole truth of the ,roman example4 ,for the ,laconic1 ,i shall reserve the further explication of it1 as my lord also did1 to another place2 and first see whether an agrarian proportioned to a popular government be sufficient to keep out monarchy4 ,my lord is for the negative1 and fortified by the people of ,israel electing a king4 ,to which ,i say that the action of the people therein expressed is a full answer to the objection of that example2 for the monarchy neither grew upon them1 nor could2 by reason of the agrarian1 possibly have invaded them1 if they had not pulled it upon themselves by the election of a king4 ,which being an accident1 the like whereof is not to be found in any other people so planted1 nor in this till1 as it is manifest1 they were given up by ,god to infatuation 7for says he to ,samuel1 #8,they have not rejected thee1 but they have rejected me1 that ,i should not reign over them171 has something in it which is apparent1 by what went before1 to have been besides the course of nature1 and by what followed4 8,for the ,king having no other foundation than the calamities of the people1 so often beaten by their enemies1 that despairing of themselves they were contented with any change1 if he had peace as in the days of ,solomon1 left but a slippery throne to his successor1 as appeared by ,rehoboam4 ,and the agrarian1 notwithstanding the monarchy thus introduced1 so faithfully preserved the root of that commonwealth1 that it shot forth oftener and by intervals continued longer than any other government1 as may be computed from the institution of the same by ,joshua1 #a1dfe years before ,christ1 to the total dissolution of it1 which happened in the reign of the emperor ,adrian1 #ace years after the incarnation4 ,a people planted upon an equal agrarian1 and holding to it1 if they part with their liberty1 must do it upon good-will1 and make but a bad title of their bounty4 ,as to instance yet further in that which is proposed by the present order to this nation1 the standard whereof is at #b1jjj a year2 the whole territory of ,oceana being divided by this proportion1 amounts to #e1jjj lots4 ,so the lands of ,oceana being thus distributed1 and bound to this distribution1 can never fall to fewer than #e1jjj proprietors4 ,but #e1jjj proprietors so seized will not agree to break the agrarian1 for that were to agree to rob one another2 nor to bring in a king1 because they must maintain him1 and can have no benefit by him2 nor to exclude the people1 because they can have as little by that1 and must spoil their militia4 ,so the commonwealth continuing upon the balance proposed1 though it should come into #e1jjj hands1 can never alter1 and that it should ever come into #e1jjj hands is as improbable as anything in the world that is not altogether impossible4 8,my lord's other considerations are more private1 as that1 this order destroys families2 which is as if one should lay the ruin of some ancient castle to the herbs which usually grow out of them1 the destruction of those families being that indeed which naturally produced this order4 ,for we do not now argue for that which we would have1 but for that which we are already possessed of1 as would appear if a note were but taken of all such as have at this day above #b1jjj a year in ,oceana4 ,if my lord should grant 7and ,i will put it with the most7 that they who are proprietors in land1 exceeding this proportion1 exceed not #cjj1 with what brow can the interest of so few be balanced with that of the whole nation8 or rather1 what interest have they to put in such a balance8 they would live as they had been accustomed to do2 who hinders them8 they would enjoy their estates2 who touches them8 they would dispose of what they have according to the interest of their families2 it is that which we desire4 ,a man has one son1 let him be called2 would he enjoy his father's estate8 it is his1 his son's1 and his son's son's after him4 ,a man has five sons1 let them be called2 would they enjoy their father's estate8 ,it is divided among them2 for we have four votes for one in the same family1 and therefore this must be the interest of the family1 or the family knows not its own interest4 ,if a man shall dispute otherwise1 he must draw his arguments from custom and from greatness1 which was the interest of the monarchy1 not of the family2 and we are now a commonwealth4 ,if the monarchy could not bear with such divisions because they tendered to a commonwealth1 neither can a commonwealth connive at such accumulations because they tend to a monarchy4 ,if the monarchy might make bold with so many for the good of one1 we may make bold with one for the good of so many1 nay1 for the good of all4 8,my lords1 it comes into my mind1 that which upon occasion of the variety of parties enumerated in our late civil wars1 was said by a friend of mine coming home from his travels1 about the latter end of these troubles2 that he admired how it came to pass1 that younger brothers1 especially being so many more in number than their elder did not unite as one man against a tyranny1 the like whereof has not been exercised in any other nation4 ,and truly1 when ,i consider that our countrymen are none of the worst-natured1 ,i must confess ,i marvel much how it comes to pass that we should use our children as we do our puppies--take one1 lay it in the lap1 feed it with every good bit1 and drown five2 nay1 yet worse1 forasmuch as the puppies are once drowned1 whereas the children are left perpetually drowning4 ,really1 my lords1 it is a flinty custom6 and all this for his cruel ambition1 that would raise himself a pillar a golden pillar for his monument1 though he has children1 his own reviving flesh1 and a kind of immortality4 ,and this is that interest of a family1 for which we are to think ill of a government that will not endure it4 ,but quiet ourselves2 the land through which the river ,nilus wanders in one stream1 is barren2 but where it parts into seven1 it multiplies its fertile shores by distributing1 yet keeping and improving1 such a propriety and nutrition1 as is a prudent agrarian to a well-ordered commonwealth4 8,nor 7to come to the fifth assertion7 is a political body rendered any fitter for industry by having one gouty and another withered leg1 than a natural4 ,it tends not to the improvement of merchandise that there be some who have no need of their trading1 and others that are not able to follow it4 ,if confinement discourages industry1 an estate in money is not confined1 and lest industry should want whereupon to work1 land is not engrossed or entailed upon any man1 but remains at its devotion4 ,i wonder whence the computation can arise1 that this should discourage industry4 ,two thousand pounds a year a man may enjoy in ,oceana1 as much in ,panopea1 #ejj in ,marpesia2 there be other plantations1 and the commonwealth will have more4 ,who knows how far the arms of our agrarian may extend themselves8 and whether he that might have left a pillar1 may not leave a temple of many pillars to his more pious memory8 ,where there is some measure in riches1 a man may be rich1 but if you will have them to be infinite1 there will be no end of starving himself1 and wanting what he has3 and what pains does such a one take to be poor ,furthermore1 if a man shall think that there may be an industry less greasy or more noble1 and so cast his thoughts upon the commonwealth1 he will have leisure for her and she riches and honors for him2 his sweat shall smell like ,alexander's4 ,my ,lord ,philautus is a young man who1 enjoying his #aj1jjj a year1 may keep a noble house in the old way1 and have homely guests2 and having but two1 by the means proposed1 may take the upper hand of his great ancestors2 with reverence to whom1 ,i may say1 there has not been one of them would have disputed his place with a ,roman consul4 8,my lord1 do not break my heart2 the nobility shall go to no other ploughs than those which we call our consuls4 ,but1 says he1 it having been so with ,lacedaemon1 that neither the city nor the citizens were capable of increase1 a blow was given by that agrarian1 which ruined both4 ,and what are we concerned with that agrarian1 or that blow while our citizens and our city 7and that by our agrarian7 are both capable of increase8 ,the ,spartan1 if he made a conquest1 had no citizens to hold it2 the ,oceaner will have enow4 ,the ,spartan could have no trade2 the ,oceaner may have all4 ,the agrarian in ,laconia1 that it might bind on knapsacks1 forbidding all other arts but that of war1 could not make an army of above #cj1jjj citizens4 ,the agrarian in ,oceana1 without interruption of traffic1 provides us in the fifth part of the youth an annual source or fresh spring of #ajj1jjj1 besides our provincial auxiliaries1 out of which to draw marching armies2 and as many elders1 not feeble1 but men most of them in the flower of their age1 and in arms for the defence of our territories4 ,the agrarian in ,laconia banished money1 this multiplies it2 that allowed a matter of twenty or thirty acres to a man1 this #b1jjj or #c1jjj2 there is no comparison between them4 ,and yet ,i differ so much from my lord1 or his opinion that the agrarian was the ruin of ,lacedaemon1 that ,i hold it no less than demonstrable to have been her main support4 ,for if1 banishing all other diversions1 it could not make an army of above #cj1jjj1 then1 letting in all other diversions1 it must have broken that army4 ,wherefore ,lysander1 bringing in the golden spoils of ,athens1 irrevocably ruined that commonwealth2 and is a warning to us1 that in giving encouragement to industry1 we also remember that covetousness is the root of all evil4 ,and our agrarian can never be the cause of those seditions threatened by my lord1 but is the proper cure of them1 as ,lucan notes well in the state of ,rome before the civil wars1 which happened through the want of such an antidote4 8,why then are we mistaken1 as if we intended not equal advantages in our commonwealth to either sex1 because we would not have women's fortunes consist in that metal which exposes them to cutpurses8 ,if a man cuts my purse ,i may have him by the heels or by the neck for it2 whereas a man may cut a woman's purse1 and have her for his pains in fetters4 ,how brutish1 and much more than brutish1 is that commonwealth which prefers the earth before the fruits of the womb8 ,if the people be her treasure1 the staff by which she is sustained and comforted1 with what justice can she suffer them1 by whom she is most enriched1 to be for that cause the most impoverished8 ,and yet we see the gifts of ,god1 and the bounties of heaven in fruitful families1 through this wretched custom of marrying for money1 become their insupportable grief and poverty4 ,nor falls this so heavy upon the lower sort1 being better able to shift for themselves1 as upon the nobility or gentry4 ,for what avails it in this case1 from whence their veins have derived their blood2 while they shall see the tallow of a chandler sooner converted into that beauty which is required in a bride8 ,i appeal1 whether my ,lord ,philautus or myself be the advocate of nobility2 against which1 in the case proposed by me1 there would be nothing to hold the balance4 ,and why is a woman1 if she may have but #a1ejj1 undone8 ,if she be unmarried1 what nobleman allows his daughter in that case a greater revenue than so much money may command8 ,and if she marry1 no nobleman can give his daughter a greater portion than she has4 ,who is hurt in this case8--nay1 who is not benefited8 ,if the agrarian gives us the sweat of our brows without diminution2 if it prepares our table2 if it makes our cup to overflow1 and above all this1 in providing for our children1 anoints our heads with that oil which takes away the greatest of worldly cares2 what man1 that is not besotted with a covetousness as vain as endless1 can imagine such a constitution to be his poverty8 ,seeing where no woman can be considerable for her portion1 no portion will be considerable with a woman2 and so his children will not only find better preferments without his brokage1 but more freedom of their own affections4 8,we are wonderful severe in laws1 that they shall not marry without our consent1 as if it were care and tenderness over them2 but is it not lest we should not have the other #a1jjj with this son1 or the other #ajj a year more in jointure for that daughter8 ,these1 when we are crossed in them1 are the sins for which we water our couch with tears1 but not of penitence4 ,seeing whereas it is a mischief beyond any that we can do to our enemies1 we persist to make nothing of breaking the affection of our children4 ,but there is in this agrarian a homage to pure and spotless love1 the consequence whereof ,i will not give for all your romances4 ,an alderman makes not his daughter a countess till he has given her #bj1jjj1 nor a romance a considerable mistress till she be a princess2 these are characters of bastard love4 ,but if our agrarian excludes ambition and covetousness1 we shall at length have the care of our own breed1 in which we have been curious as to our dogs and horses4 ,the marriage-bed will be truly legitimate1 and the race of the commonwealth not spurious4 ,but 7impar magnanimis ausis1 imparque dolori7 ,i am hurled from all my hopes by my lord's last assertion of impossibility1 that the root from whence we imagine these fruits should be planted or thrive in this soil4 ,and why8 ,because of the mixture of estates and variety of tenures4 ,nevertheless1 there is yet extant in the ,exchequer an old survey of the whole nation2 wherefore such a thing is not impossible4 ,now if a new survey were taken at the present rates1 and the law made that no man should hold hereafter above so much land as is valued therein at #b1jjj a year1 it would amount to a good and sufficient agrarian4 ,it is true that there would remain some difficulty in the different kind of rents1 and that it is a matter requiring not only more leisure than we have1 but an authority which may be better able to bow men to a more general consent than is to be wrought out of them by such as are in our capacity4 ,wherefore as to the manner1 it is necessary that we refer it to the ,parliament2 but as to the matter1 they cannot otherwise fix their government upon the right balance4 8,i shall conclude with a few words to some parts of the order1 which my lord has omitted4 ,as first to the consequences of the agrarian to be settled in ,marpesia1 which irreparably breaks the aristocracy of that nation2 being of such a nature1 as standing1 it is not possible that you should govern4 ,for while the people of that country are little better than the cattle of the nobility1 you must not wonder if1 according as these can make their markets with foreign princes1 you find those to be driven upon your grounds4 ,and if you be so tender1 now you have it in your power1 as not to hold a hand upon them that may prevent the slaughter which must otherwise ensue in like cases1 the blood will lie at your door4 ,but in holding such a hand upon them1 you may settle the agrarian2 and in settling the agrarian1 you give that people not only liberty1 but lands2 which makes your protection necessary to their security2 and their contribution due to your protection1 as to their own safety4 8,for the agrarian of ,panopea1 it allowing such proportions of so good land1 men that conceive themselves straitened by this in ,oceana1 will begin there to let themselves forth1 where every citizen will in time have his villa4 ,and there is no question1 but the improvement of that country by this means must be far greater than it has been in the best of former times4 ,i have no more to say1 but that in those ancient and heroic ages 7when men thought that to be necessary which was virtuous7 the nobility of ,athens1 having the people so much engaged in their debt that there remained no other question among these than which of those should be king1 no sooner heard ,solon speak than they quitted their debts1 and restored the commonwealth2 which ever after held a solemn and annual feast called the ,sisacthia1 or ,recision1 in memory of that action4 ,nor is this example the phoenix2 for at the institution by ,lycurgus1 the nobility having estates 7as ours here7 in the lands of ,laconia1 upon no other valuable consideration than the commonwealth proposed by him1 threw them up to be parcelled by his agrarian4 ,but now when no man is desired to throw up a farthing of his money1 or a shovelful of his earth1 and that all we can do is but to make a virtue of necessity1 we are disputing whether we should have peace or war4 ,for peace you cannot have without some government1 nor any government without the proper balance4 ,wherefore if you will not fix this which you have1 the rest is blood1 for without blood you can bring in no other40 ,by these speeches made at the institution of the agrarian you may perceive what were the grounds of it4 ,the next is-- ,the fourteenth order1 8,constituting the ballot of ,venice1 as it is fitted by several alterations1 and appointed to every assembly1 to be the constant and only way of giving suffrage in this commonwealth1 according to the following scheme40 ,i shall endeavor by the following figure to demonstrate the manner of the ,venetian ballot 7a thing as difficult in discourse or writing1 as facile in practice7 according to the use of it in ,oceana4 ,the whole figure represents the ,senate1 containing1 as to the house or form of sitting1 a square and a half2 the tribunal at the upper end being ascended by four steps4 ,on the uppermost of these sit the magistrates that constitute the signory of the commonwealth1 that is to say1 ,a the strategus2 ,b the orator2 ,c the three commissioners of the great seal2 ,d the three commissioners of the ,treasury1 whereof one1 ,e1 exercises for the present the office of a censor at the middle urn1 ,f ,to the two upper steps of the tribunal answer ,g1 ,g-,g1 ,g1 the two long benches next the wall on each side of the house2 the outwardmost of which are equal in height to the uppermost step1 and the innermost equal in height to the next4 ,of these four benches consists the first seal2 as the second seat consists in like manner of those four benches ,h1 ,h-,h1 ,h1 which being next the floor1 are equal in height to the two nethermost steps of the throne4 ,so the whole house is distributed into two seats1 each consisting of four benches4 ,this distribution causes not only the greater conveniency2 as will be shown1 to the senators in the exercise of their function at the ballot1 but a greater grace to the aspect of the ,senate4 ,in the middle of the outward benches stand ,i1 #ab the chairs of the censors1 those being their ordinary places1 though upon occasion of the ballot they descend1 and sit where they are shown by ,k1 ,k at each of the outward urns ,l1 ,l4 ,those ,m1 ,m that sit with their tables1 and the bowls ,n1 ,n before them1 upon the halfspace or second step of the tribunal from the floor1 are the clerks or secretaries of the house4 ,upon the short seats ,o1 ,o on the floor 7which should have been represented by woolsacks7 sit3 ,p1 the two tribunes of the horse4 ,q1 the two tribunes of the foot2 and ,r1 ,r-,r1 ,r the judges1 all which magistrates are assistants1 but have no suffrage4 ,this posture of the ,senate considered1 the ballot is performed as follows3 ,first1 whereas the gold balls are of several suits1 and accordingly marked with several letters of the alphabet1 a secretary presents a little urn 7wherein there is one ball of every suit or mark7 to the strategus and the orator2 and look what letter the strategus draws1 the same and no other is to be used for that time in the middle urn ,f2 the like for the letter drawn by the orator is to be observed for the side urns ,l1 ,l1 that is to say if the strategus drew a ball with an ,a1 all the gold balls in the middle urn for that day are marked with the letter ,a2 and if the orator drew a ,b1 all the gold balls in the side urn for that day are marked with the letter ,b1 which done immediately before the ballot1 and so the letter unknown to the ballotants1 they can use no fraud or juggling2 otherwise a man might carry a gold ball in his hand1 and seem to have drawn it out of an urn4 ,he that draws a gold ball at any urn1 delivers it to the censor or assessor of that urn1 who views the character1 and allows accordingly of his lot4 ,the strategus and the orator having drawn for the letters1 the urns are prepared accordingly by one of the commissioners and the two censors4 ,the preparation of the urns is ,after this manner4 ,if the ,senate be to elect1 for example1 the list called the tropic of magistrates1 which is this3 #a4 ,the ,lord ,strategus2 #b4 ,the ,lord ,orator2 #c4 ,the ,third ,commissioner of the ,great ,seal2 #d4 ,the ,third ,commissioner of the ,treasury2 #e4 ,the ,first ,censor2 #f4 ,the ,second ,censor2 this list or schedule consists of six magistracies1 and to every magistracy there are to be four competitors2 that is1 in all four-and-twenty competitors proposed to the house4 ,they that are to propose the competitors are called electors1 and no elector can propose above one competitor3 wherefore for the proposing of four-and-twenty competitors you must have four-and-twenty electors2 and whereas the ballot consists of a lot and of a suffrage1 the lot is for no other use than for the designation of electors2 and he that draws a gold ball at the middle urn is an elector4 ,now1 as to have four-and-twenty competitors proposed1 you must have four-and-twenty electors made1 so to have four-and-twenty electors made by lot1 you must have four-and-twenty gold balls in the middle urn2 and these 7because otherwise it would be no lot7 mixed with a competent number of blanks1 or silver balls4 ,wherefore to the four-and-twenty gold balls cast six-and-twenty silver ones1 and those 7reckoning the blanks with the prizes7 make fifty balls in the middle urn4 ,this done 7because no man can come to the middle urn that has not first drawn a gold ball at one of the side urns7 and to be sure that the prizes or gold balls in this urn be all drawn1 there must come to it fifty persons2 therefore there must be in each of the side urns five-and-twenty gold balls1 which in both come to fifty2 and to the end that every senator may have his lot1 the gold balls in the side urns are to be made up with blanks equal to the number of the ballotants at either urn2 for example1 the house consisting of #cjj senators1 there must be in each of the side urns #abe blanks and twenty-five prizes1 which come in both the side urns to #cjj balls4 ,this is the whole mystery of preparing the urns1 which the censors having skill to do accordingly1 the rest of the ballot1 whether the parties balloting understand it or not must of necessary consequence come right2 and they can neither be out1 nor fall into any confusion in the exercise of this art4 ,but the ballot1 as ,i said1 is of two parts1 lot and suffrage1 or the proposition and result4 ,the lot determines who shall propose the competitors2 and the result of the ,senate1 which of the competitors shall be the magistrates4 ,the whole1 to begin with the lot1 proceeds in this manner3 ,the first secretary with an audible voice reads first the list of the magistrates to be chosen for the day1 then the oath for fair election1 at which the senators hold up their hands2 which done1 another secretary presents a little urn to the strategus1 in which are four balls1 each of them having one of these four inscriptions3 8,first seat at the upper end10 8,first seat at the lower end10 8,second seat at the upper end10 8,second seat at the lower end40 ,and look which of them the strategus draws1 the secretary pronouncing the inscription with a loud voice1 the seat so called comes accordingly to the urns3 this in the figure is the second seat at the upper end4 ,the manner of their coming to the side urns is in double files1 that being two holes in the cover of each side urn1 by which means two may draw at once4 ,the senators therefore ,s1 ,s-,s1 ,s are coming from the upper end of their seats ,h1 ,h-,h1 ,h to the side urns ,l1 ,l4 ,the senators ,t ,t-,t are drawing4 ,the senator ,v has drawn a gold ball at his side urn1 and is going to the middle urn ,f1 where the senator ,w1 having done the like at the other side urn1 is already drawing4 ,but the senators ,x1 ,x-,x1 ,x having drawn blanks at their side urns1 and thrown them into the bowls ,y ,y standing at the feet of the urns1 are marching by the lower end into their seats again2 the senator a having done the like at the middle urn1 is also throwing his blank into the bowl b and marching to his seat again3 for a man by a prize at a side urn gains no more than right to come to the middle urn1 where1 if he draws a blank1 his fortune at the side urn comes to nothing at all2 wherefore he also returns to his place4 ,but the senator ,c has had a prize at the middle urn1 where the commissioner1 having viewed his ball1 and found the mark to be right1 he marches up the steps to the seat of the electors1 which is the form d set across the tribunal1 where he places himself1 according as he was drawn1 with the other electors e1 e1 e drawn before him4 ,these are not to look back1 but sit with their faces toward the signory or state1 till their number amount to that of the magistrates to be that day chosen1 which for the present1 as was shown1 are six3 wherefore six electors being made1 they are reckoned according as they were drawn3 first1 second1 third1 fourth1 fifth1 sixth1 in their order1 and the first six that are chosen are the first order of electors4 ,the first order of electors being made1 are conducted by a secretary1 with a copy of the list to be chosen1 out of the ,senate1 and into a committee or council-chamber1 being neither suffered by the way1 nor in their room 7till the ballot be ended71 to have conference with any but themselves2 wherefore the secretary1 having given them their oath that they shall make election according to the law and their conscience1 delivers them the list1 and seats himself at the lower end of the table with his pen and paper1 while another secretary keeps the door4 ,by such time as the first order of electors are thus seated1 the second order of electors is drawn1 who1 with a second copy of the same list1 are conducted into another committee-chamber1 by other secretaries performing the same office with the former4 ,the like exactly is done by the third and by the fourth orders 7or hands1 as the ,venetians call them7 of electors1 by which means you have the four-and-twenty electors divided according to the four copies of the same list1 by six1 into four hands or orders2 and every one of these orders names one competitor to every magistracy in the list2 that is to say1 the first elector names to the first magistracy1 the second elector to the second magistracy1 and so forth4 ,but though the electors1 as has been shown1 are chosen by mere lot1 yet the competitors by them named are not chosen by any lot1 but by the suffrage of the whole order for example1 the first elector in the first order proposes a name to be strategus1 which name is balloted by himself and the other five electors1 and if the name so balloted attain not to above half the suffrages1 it is laid aside1 and the first elector names another to the same magistracy and so in case this also fails1 another1 till one he has named1 whether it be himself1 or some other1 has attained to above half the suffrages in the affirmative2 and the name so attaining to above half the suffrages in the affirmative is written to the first magistracy in the list by the secretary which being done1 the second elector of the first order1 names to #8the second magistracy till one of his nomination be chosen to the same4 ,the like is done by the rest of the electors of the first order1 till one competitor be chosen1 and written to every magistracy in their list4 ,now the second1 third1 and fourth orders of electors doing exactly after the same manner1 it comes to pass that one competitor to every magistracy being chosen in each order1 there be in all four competitors chosen to every magistracy4 ,if any controversy arises in an order of electors1 one of the censors 7these being at this game the groom-porters7 is advertised by the secretary who brings him in1 and the electors disputing are bound to acquiesce in his sentence4 ,for which cause it is that the censors do not ballot at the urns2 the signory also abstains1 lest it should deform the house3 wherefore the blanks in the side urns are by so many the fewer4 ,and so much for the lot1 which is of the greater art but less consequence1 because it concerns proposition only3 but all 7except the tribunes and the judges1 which being but assistants have no suffrage7 are to ballot at the result1 to which ,i now come4 ,the four orders of electors having perfected their lists1 the face of the house is changed3 for the urns are taken away1 and every senator and magistrate is seated in his proper place1 saving the electors1 who1 having given their suffrages already1 may not stir out of their chambers till the house have given theirs1 and the rest of the ballot be performed2 which follows in this manner3 ,the four lists being presented by the secretaries of each council of electors to the signory1 are first read1 according to their order1 to the house1 with an audible voice2 and then the competitors are put to the ballot or suffrage of the whole ,senate in this manner3 ,a1 ,a named to be strategus in the first order1 whereupon eight ballotins1 or pages1 such as are expressed by the figures f1 f1 take eight of the boxes represented1 though rudely1 by the figures g1 g1 and go four on the one and four on the other side of the house1 that is1 one to every bench1 signifying 8,a1 ,a named to be the strategus in the first order440 and every magistrate or senator 7beginning by the strategus and the orator first7 holds up a little pellet of linen1 as the box passes1 between his finger and his thumb1 that men may see he has but one1 and then puts it into the same4 ,the box consisting in the inner part of two boxes1 being painted on the outside white and green1 to distinguish the affirmative from the negative side1 is so made that when your hand is in it1 no man can see to which of the sides you put the suffrage1 nor hear to which it falls1 because the pellet being linen1 makes no noise4 ,the strategus and the orator having begun1 all the rest do the like4 ,the ballotins having thus gathered the suffrages1 bring them before the signory1 in whose presence the outward boxes being opened1 they take out the inner boxes1 whereof the affirmative is white1 and the negative green1 and pour the white in the bowl ,n on the right hand1 which is white also1 and the green into the bowl ,n on the left1 which is also green4 ,these bowls or basins 7better represented at the lower end of the figure by h1 i7 being upon this occasion set before the tables of the secretaries at the upper end ,n1 ,n1 the white on the right hand1 and the green on the left1 the secretaries on each side number the balls1 by which1 if they find that the affirmatives amount not to above one-half1 they write not the name that was balloted1 but if they amount to above one-half1 they write it1 adding the number of above half the suffrages to which it attained4 ,the first name being written1 or laid aside1 the next that is put is ,,bb named to be strategus in the second order2 the third ,,cc1 named to be strategus in the third order2 the fourth ,,dd1 named to be strategus in the fourth order and he of these four competitors that has most above half in the affirmative1 is the magistrate2 or if none of them attain to above half1 the nomination for that magistracy is to be repeated by such new electors as shall be chosen at the next ballot4 ,and so1 as is exemplified in the first magistracy1 proceeds the ballot of the rest2 first in the first1 then in the second1 and so in the third and fourth orders4 ,now whereas it may happen that ,,aa1 for example1 being named strategus in the first order1 may also be named to the same or some one or more other magistracies in one or more of the other orders2 his name is first balloted where it is first written1 that is to the more worthy magistracy1 whereof if he misses1 he is balloted as it comes in course for the next1 and so for the rest1 if he misses of that1 as often as he is named4 ,and because to be named twice1 or oftener1 whether to the same or some other magistracy1 is the stronger recommendation1 the note must not fail to be given upon the name1 at the proposition in this manner3 ,,aa named to be strategus in the first1 and in the second order1 or ,,aa named to be strategus in the first and the third1 in the first and the fourth1 etc4 ,but if he be named to the same magistracy in the first1 second1 third1 and fourth orders1 he can have no competitor2 wherefore attaining to above half the suffrages1 he is the magistrate4 ,or thus3 ,,aa named to be strategus in the first1 to be censor in the second1 to be orator in the third1 and to be commissioner of the seal in the fourth order1 or the like in more or fewer orders1 in which cases if he misses of the first magistracy1 he is balloted to the second2 if he misses of the second1 to the third2 and if he misses of the third1 to the fourth4 ,the ballot not finished before sunset1 though the election of the magistrates already chosen be good1 voids the election of such competitors as being chosen are not yet furnished with magistracies1 as if they had never been named 7for this is no juggling-box1 but an art that must see the sun71 and the ballot for the remaining magistracies is to be repeated the next day by new orders of electors1 and such competitors as by them shall be elected4 ,and so in the like manner1 if of all the names proposed to the same magistracy1 no one of them attains to above half the suffrages in the affirmative4 ,the senatorian ballot of ,oceana being thus described1 those of the parish1 of the hundred1 and of the tribe1 being so little different1 that in this they are all contained1 and by this may be easily understood1 are yet fully described1 and made plain enough before in the fifth1 sixth1 seventh1 eighth1 ninth1 and tenth orders4 ,this1 therefore1 is the general order1 whence those branches of the ballot1 some whereof you have already seen1 are derived2 which1 with those that follow1 were all read and debated in this place at the institution4 ,when my ,lord ,epimonus de ,garrula1 being one of the councillors1 and having no further patience 7though the rulers were composed by the agent of this commonwealth1 residing for that purpose at ,venice7 than to hear the direction for the parishes1 stood up and made way for himself in this manner3 8,,may ,,it ,,please ,,your ,,highness1 ,,my ,,lord ,,archon3 8,under correction of ,mr4 ,peregrin1 ,spy1 our very learned agent and intelligencer1 ,i have seen the world a little1 ,venice1 and 7as gentlemen are permitted to do7 the great ,council balloting4 ,and truly ,i must needs say1 that it is for a dumb show the goodliest that ,i ever beheld with my eyes4 ,you should have some would take it ill1 as if the noble ,venetians thought themselves too good to speak to strangers1 but they observed them not so narrowly4 ,the truth is1 they have nothing to say to their acquaintance2 or men that are in council sure would have tongues3 for a council1 and not a word spoken in it1 is a contradiction4 ,but there is such a pudder with their marching and countermarching1 as1 though never a one of them draw a sword1 you would think they were training2 which till ,i found that they did it only to entertain strangers1 ,i came from among them as wise as ,i went thither ,but in the ,parliament of ,oceana you had no balls nor dancing1 but sober conversation2 a man might know and be known1 show his parts1 and improve them4 ,and now if you take the advice of this same fellow1 you will spoil all with his whimsies4 ,mr4 ,speaker--cry you mercy1 my ,lord ,archon1 ,i mean--set the wisest man of your house in the great ,council of ,venice1 and you will not know him from a fool4 ,whereas nothing is more certain than that flat and dull fellows in the judgment of all such as used to keep company with them before1 upon election into our house1 have immediately chitted like barley in the vat1 where it acquires a new spirit1 and flowed forth into language1 that ,i am as confident as ,i am here1 if there were not such as delight to abuse us1 is far better than ,tully's2 or1 let anybody but translate one of his orations1 and speak it in the house1 and see if everybody do not laugh at him4 8,this is a great matter1 ,mr4 ,speaker2 they do not cant it with your book-learning1 your orbs1 your centres1 your prime magnitudes1 and your nebulones1 things ,i profess that would make a sober man run stark mad to hear them2 while we1 who should be considering the honor of our country and that it goes now or never upon our hand1 whether it shall be ridiculous to all the world1 are going to nine-holes or trow madam for our business1 like your dumb ,venetian1 whom this same ,sir ,politic your resident1 that never saw him do anything but make faces1 would insinuate to you1 at this distance1 to have the only knack of state4 ,whereas if you should take the pains1 as ,i have done1 to look a little nearer1 you would find these same wonderful things to be nothing else but mere natural fopperies1 or capriccios as they call them in ,italian1 even of the meanest1 of that nation4 ,for1 put the case you be travelling in ,italy1 ask your contadino1 that is1 the next country-fellow you meet1 some question1 and presently he ballots you an answer with a nod1 which is affirmative2 or a shake with his head1 which is the negative box2 or a shrug with his shoulder1 which is the bossolo di non sinceri4 ,good6 ,you will admire ,sandys for telling you1 that grotta di cane is a miracle3 and ,i shall be laughed at1 for assuring you1 that it is nothing else but such a damp 7continued by the neighborhood of certain sulphur mines7 as through accidental heat does sometimes happen in our coalpits4 ,but ingratitude must not discourage an honest man from doing good4 ,there is not1 ,i say1 such a tongue-tied generation under heaven as your ,italian1 that you should not wonder if he makes signs4 ,but our people must have something in their diurnals2 we must ever and anon be telling them our minds2 or if we be at it when we raise taxes1 like those gentlemen with the finger and the thumb1 they will swear that we are cutpurses4 ,come1 ,i know what ,i have heard them say1 when some men had money that wrought hard enough for it2 and do you conceive they will be better pleased when they shall be told that upon like occasions you are at mumchance or stool-ball8 8,i do not speak for myself2 for though ,i shall always acknowledge that ,i got more by one year's sitting in the house than by my three years' travels1 it was not of that kind4 ,but ,i hate that this same ,spy1 for pretending to have played at billiards with the most serene ,commonwealth of ,venice1 should make such fools of us here1 when ,i know that he must have had his intelligence from some corn-cutter upon the ,rialto2 for a noble ,venetian would be hanged if he should keep such a fellow company4 ,and yet if ,i do not think he has made you all dote1 never trust me1 my ,lord ,archon is sometimes in such strange raptures4 ,well1 good my lord1 let me be heard as well as your apple squire4 ,venice has fresh blood in her cheeks1 ,i must confess1 yet she is but an old lady4 ,n or has he picked her cabinet2 these he sends you are none of her receipts1 ,i can assure you2 he bought them for a ,julio at ,st4 ,mark's of a mountebank4 ,she has no other wash1 upon my knowledge1 for that same envied complexion of hers but her marshes1 being a little better scented1 saving your presence1 than a chamber-pot4 ,my lords1 ,i know what ,i say1 but you will never have done with it1 that neither the great ,turk1 nor any of those little ,turks her neighbors1 have been able to spoil her6 ,why you may as well wonder that weasels do not suck eggs in swans' nests4 ,do you think that it has lain in the devotion of her beads2 which you that have puked so much at popery1 are now at length resolved shall consecrate ,m4 ,parson1 and be dropped by every one of his congregation1 while those same whimsical intelligences your surveyors 7you will break my heart7 give the turn to your primum mobile6 ,and so ,i think they will2 7for you will find that money is the primum mobile7 and they will turn you thus out of some #cjj1jjj or #djj1jjj3 a pretty sum for urns and balls1 for boxes and pills1 which these same quacksalvers are to administer to the parishes2 and for what disease ,i marvel6 ,or how does it work8 ,out comes a constable1 an overseer1 and a churchwarden6 ,mr4 ,speaker1 ,i am amazed60 ,never was there goose so stuck with lard as my ,lord ,epimonus's speech with laughter1 the ,archon having much ado to recover himself in such a manner as might enable him to return these thanks3 8,in your whole lives1 my lords1 were you never entertained with so much ingenuity1 my ,lord ,epimonus having at once mended all the faults of travellers4 ,for1 first1 whereas they are abominable liars1 he has not told you 7except some malicious body has misinformed him concerning poor ,spy7 one syllable of falsehood4 ,and1 secondly1 whereas they never fail to give the upper hand in all their discourses to foreign nations1 still jostling their own into the kennel1 he bears an honor to his country that will not dissolve in ,cephalonia1 nor be corrupted with figs and melons1 which ,i can assure you is an ordinary obligation2 and therefore hold it a matter of public concern that we be to no occasion of quenching my lord's affections1 nor is there any such great matter between us1 but1 in my opinion1 might be easily reconciled1 for though that which my lord gained by sitting in the house1 ,i steadfastly believe1 as he can affirm1 was got fairly yet dare ,i not1 nor do ,i think1 that upon consideration he will promise for other gamesters1 especially when they were at it so high1 as he intimates not only to have been in use1 but to be like enough to come about again4 ,wherefore say ,i1 let them throw with boxes1 for unless we will be below the politics of an ordinary1 there is no such bar to cogging1 it is known to his lordship that our game is most at a throw1 and that every cast of our dice is in our suffrages1 nor will he deny that partiality in a suffrage is downright cogging4 8,if the ,venetian boxes be the most sovereign of all remedies against this same cogging1 is it not a strange thing that they should be thrown first into the fire by a fair gamester8 ,men are naturally subject to all kinds of passions2 some you have that are not able to withstand the brow of an enemy1 and others that make nothing of this1 are less proof against that of a friend4 ,so that if your suffrage be barefaced1 ,i dare say you shall not have one fair cast in twenty4 ,but whatever a man's fortune be at the box1 he neither knows whom to thank1 nor whom to challenge4 ,wherefore 7that my lord may have a charitable opinion of the choice affection which ,i confess to have1 above all other beauties1 for that of incomparable ,venice7 there is in this way of suffrage no less than a demonstration that it is the most pure1 and the purity of the suffrage in a popular government is the health1 if not the life of it1 seeing the soul is not otherwise breathed into the sovereign power than by the suffrage of the people4 ,wherefore no wonder if ,postellus be of opinion that this use of the ball is the very same with that of the bean in ,athens1 or that others1 by the text concerning ,eldad and ,medad1 derive it from the ,commonwealth of ,israel4 ,there is another thing1 though not so material to us1 that my lord will excuse me if ,i be not willing to yield1 which is1 that ,venice subsists only by her situation4 ,it is true that a man in time of war may be more secure from his enemies by being in a citadel1 but not from his diseases2 wherefore the first cause1 if he lives long1 is his good constitution1 without which his citadel were to little purpose1 and it is not otherwise with ,venice40 ,with this speech of the ,archon ,i conclude the proof of the agrarian and the ballot1 being the fundamental laws of this commonwealth1 and come now from the centre to the circumferences or orbs1 whereof some have been already shown2 as how the parishes annually pour themselves into the hundreds1 the hundreds into the tribes1 and the tribes into the galaxies2 the annual galaxy of every tribe consisting of two knights and seven deputies1 whereof the knights constitute the ,senate2 the deputies1 the prerogative tribe1 commonly called the people2 and the ,senate and people constitute the sovereign power or ,parliament of ,oceana4 ,whereof to show what the ,parliament is1 ,i must first open the ,senate1 and then the prerogative tribe4 ,to begin with the ,senate1 of which 7as a man is differently represented by a picture drawer and by an anatomist7 ,i shall first discover the face or aspect1 and then the parts1 with the use of them4 ,every ,monday morning in the summer at seven1 and in the winter at eight1 the great bell in the clock-house at the ,pantheon begins1 and continues ringing for the space of one hour2 in which time the magistrates of the ,senate1 being attended according to their quality1 with a respective number of the ballotins1 doorkeepers1 and messengers1 and having the ensigns of their magistracies borne before them1 as the sword before the strategus1 the mace before the orator1 a mace with the seal before the commissioners of the chancery1 the like with the purse before the commissioners of the treasury1 and a silver wand1 like those in use with the universities1 before each of the censors1 being chancellors of the same4 ,these1 with the knights1 in all #cjj1 assemble in the house or hall of the ,senate4 ,the house or hall of the ,senate being situated in the ,pantheon or palace of justice1 is a room consisting of a square and a half4 ,in the middle of the lower end is the door1 at the upper end hangs a rich state overshadowing the greater part of a large throne1 or half-pace of two stages2 the first ascended by two steps from the floor1 and the second about the middle rising two steps higher4 ,upon this stand two chairs1 in that on the right hand sits the strategus1 in the other the orator adorned with scarlet robes1 after the fashion that was used by the dukes in the aristocracy4 ,at the right end of the upper stage stand three chairs1 in which the three commissioners of the seal are placed2 and at the other end sit the three commissioners of the treasury1 every one in a robe or habit like that of the earls4 ,of these magistrates of this upper stage consists the signory4 ,at either end of the lower stage stands a little table1 to which the secretaries of the ,senate are set with their tufted sleeves in the habit of civil lawyers4 ,to the four steps1 whereby the two stages of the throne are ascended1 answer four long benches1 which successively deriving from every one of the steps1 continue their respective height1 and extend themselves by the side walls toward the lower end of the house1 every bench being divided by numeral characters into the thirty-seven parts or places4 ,upon the upper benches sit the censors in the robes of barons2 the first in the middle of the right hand bench1 and the second directly opposite to him on the other side4 ,upon the rest of the benches sit the knights1 who1 if they be called to the urns1 distributing themselves by the figures1 come in equal files1 either by the first seat1 which consists of the two upper benches on either side2 or by the second seat1 consisting of the two lower benches on either side1 beginning also at the upper or at the lower ends of the same1 according to the lot whereby they are called2 for which end the benches are open1 and ascended at either end with easy stairs and large passages4 ,the rest of the ballot is conformable to that of the tribe2 the censors of the house sitting at the side urn1 and the youngest magistrate of the signory at the middle1 the urns being placed before the throne1 and prepared according to the number of the magistrates to be at that time chosen by the rules already given to the censors of the tribes4 ,but before the benches of the knights on either side stands one being shorter1 and at the upper end of this sit the two tribunes of the horse4 ,at the upper end of the other the two tribunes of the foot in their arms1 the rest of the benches being covered by the judges of the land in their robes4 ,but these magistrates have no suffrage1 nor the tribunes1 though they derive their presence in the ,senate from the ,romans1 nor the judges1 though they derive theirs from the ancient ,senate of ,oceana4 ,every ,monday this assembly sits of course2 at other times1 if there be occasion1 any magistrate of the house1 by giving order for the bell1 or by his lictor or ensign-bearer1 calls a senate4 ,and every magistrate or knight during his session has the title1 place1 and honor of a duke1 earl1 baron1 or knight respectively ,and every one that has borne the same magistracy by his third session1 has his respective place and title during the term of his life1 which is all the honor conferred by this commonwealth1 except upon the master of the ceremonies1 the master of the horse1 and the king of the heralds1 who are knights by their places4 ,and thus you have the face of the ,senate1 in which there is scarce any feature that is not ,roman or ,venetian2 nor do the horns of the crescent extend themselves much unlike those of the ,sanhedrim1 on either hand of the prince1 and of the father of that ,senate4 ,but upon beauty1 in which every man has his fancy1 we will not otherwise philosophize than to remember that there is something more than decency in the robe of a judge1 that would not be well spared from the bench2 and that the gravest magistrate to whom you can commit the sword of justice1 will find a quickness in the spurs of honor1 which1 if they be not laid to virtue1 will lay themselves to that which may rout a commonwealth4 ,to come from the face of the ,senate to the constitution and use of the parts3 it is contained in the peculiar orders4 ,and the orders which are peculiar to the ,senate1 are either of election or instruction4 ,elections in the ,senate are of three sorts3 annual1 biennial1 and extraordinary4 ,annual elections are performed by the schedule called the tropic2 and the tropic consists of two parts3 the one containing the magistrates1 and the other the councils to be yearly elected4 ,the schedule or tropic of the magistrates is as follows in-- ,the fifteenth order requiring1 8,that upon every ,monday next ensuing the last of ,march1 the knights of the annual galaxies taking their places in the ,senate1 be called the third region of the same2 and that the house having dismissed the first region1 and received the third1 proceed to election of the magistrates contained in the first part of the tropic1 by the ensuing schedule3 ,the lord strategus1 ,the lord orator1 the first censor1 ,the second censor1 ,annual magistrates1 ,the third commissioner of the seal1 ,the third commissioner of the ,treasury1 ,triennal magistrates4 8,the annual magistrates 7provided that no one man bears above one of those honors during the term of one session7 may be elected out of any region4 ,but the triennial magistrates may not be elected out of any other than the third region only1 lest the term of their session expire before that of their honor2 and 7it being unlawful for a man to bear magistracy any longer than he is thereto qualified by the election of the people7 cause a fraction in the rotation of this commonwealth4 8,the strategus is first president of the ,senate1 and general of the army1 if it be commanded to march2 in which case there shall be a second strategus elected to be first president of the ,senate1 and general of the second army1 and if this also be commanded to march1 a third strategus shill be chosen1 and so on1 as long as the commonwealth sends forth armies4 8,the lord orator is the second and more peculiar president of the ,senate to whom it appertains to keep the house to orders4 8,the censors1 whereof the first1 by consequence of his election1 is chancellor of the ,university of ,clio1 and the second of that of ,calliope1 are presidents of the ,council for ,religion and magistrates1 to whom it belongs to keep the house to the order of the ballot4 ,they are also inquisitors into the ways and means of acquiring magistracy1 and have power to punish indirect proceedings in the same1 by removing a knight or magistrate out of the house1 under appeal to the ,senate4 8,the commissioners of the seal being three1 whereof the third is annually chosen out of the third region1 are judges in chancery4 8,the commissioners of the ,treasury being three1 whereof the third is annually chosen out of the third region1 are judges in the exchequer1 and every magistrate of this schedule has right to propose to the ,senate4 8,but the strategus with the six commissioners is the signory of this commonwealth1 having right of session and suffrage in every council of the ,senate1 and power either jointly or severally to propose in all or any of them40 ,i have little in this order to observe and prove but that the strategus is the same honor both in name and thing that was borne1 among others1 by ,philopemen and ,aratus in the ,commonwealth of the ,achaeans2 the like having been in use also with the ,a,etolians4 ,the orator1 called otherwise the speaker1 is1 with small alteration1 the same that had been of former use in this nation4 ,these two1 if you will1 may be compared to the consuls in ,rome1 or the suffetes in ,carthage1 for their magistracy is scarce different4 ,the censors derive their power of removing a senator from those of ,rome1 the government of the ballot from those of ,venice1 and that of animadversion upon the ambitious1 or canvass for magistracy1 from both4 ,the signory1 with the whole right and use of that magistracy to be hereafter more fully explained1 is almost purely ,venetian4 ,the second part of the tropic is directed by-- ,the sixteenth order0 ,whereby the constitution of the councils being four2 that is to say1 the ,council of ,state1 the ,council of ,war1 the ,council of ,religion1 and the ,council of ,trade1 is rendered conformable in their revolutions to that of the ,senate4 ,as3 ,first1 by the annual election of five knights out of the first region of the ,senate into the ,council of ,state1 consisting of fifteen knights1 five in every region4 ,secondly1 by the annual election of three knights out of the third region of the ,council of ,state1 to be proposed by the provosts1 and elected by that council1 into the ,council of ,war1 consisting of nine knights1 three in every region1 not excluded by this election from remaining members also of the ,council of ,state4 ,the four tribunes of the people have right of session and suffrage in the ,council of ,war4 ,thirdly1 by the annual election of four knights out of the third region of the ,senate into the ,council of ,religion1 consisting of twelve knights1 four in every region2 of this council the censors are presidents4 ,fourthly1 by the annual election of four knights out of the third region of the ,senate into the ,council of ,trade1 consisting of twelve knights1 four in every region4 ,and each region1 in every one of these councils thus constituted1 shall weekly and interchangeably elect one provost whose magistracy shall continue for one week2 nor shall he be re-elected into the same till every knight of that region in the same council has once borne the same magistracy4 ,and the provosts being one in every region1 three in every council1 and twelve in all1 beside their other capacities1 shall assemble and be a council1 or rather an ,academy apart1 to certain ends and purposes to be hereafter further explained with those of the rest of the councils40 ,this order is of no other use than the frame and turn of the councils1 and yet of no small one2 for in motion consists life1 and the motion of a commonwealth will never be current unless it be circular4 ,men that1 like my ,lord ,epimonus1 not enduring the resemblance of this kind of government to orbs and spheres1 fall on physicking and purging it1 do no more than is necessary2 for if it be not in rotation both as to persons and things1 it will be very sick4 ,the people of ,rome1 as to persons1 if they had not been taken up by the wheel of magistracy1 had overturned the chariot of the ,senate4 ,and those of ,lacedaemon1 as to things1 had not been so quiet when the ,senate trashed their business1 by encroaching upon the result1 if by the institution of the ephors they had not brought it about again4 ,so that if you allow not a commonwealth her rotation1 in which consists her equality1 you reduce her to a party1 and then it is necessary that you be physicians indeed1 or rather farriers2 for you will have strong patients1 and such as must be haltered and cast1 or yourselves may need bone-setters4 ,wherefore the councils of this commonwealth1 both in regard of their elections1 and1 as will be shown1 of their affairs1 are uniform with the ,senate in their revolutions2 not as whirlpits to swallow1 but to bite1 and with the screws of their rotation to hold and turn a business 7like the vice of a smith7 to the hand of the workman4 ,without engines of which nature it is not possible for the ,senate1 much less for the people1 to be perfect artificers in a political capacity4 ,but ,i shall not hold you longer from-- ,the seventeenth order1 8,directing biennial elections1 or the constitution of the orb of ambassador-in-ordinary1 consisting of four residences1 the revolution whereof is performed in eight years1 and preserved through the election of one ambassador in two years by the ballot of the ,senate to repair to the ,court of ,france1 and reside there for the term of two years2 and the term of two years being expired1 to remove from thence to the ,court of ,spain1 there to continue for the space of two years1 and thence to remove to the ,state of ,venice1 and after two years' residence in that city to conclude with his residence at ,constantinople for a like term of time1 and so to return4 ,a knight of the ,senate1 or a deputy of the prerogative1 may not be elected ambassador-in-ordinary1 because a knight or deputy so chosen must either lose his session1 which would cause an unevenness in the motion of this commonwealth1 or accumulate magistracy1 which agrees not with equality of the same4 ,nor may any man be elected into this capacity that is above five-and-thirty years of age1 lest the commonwealth lose the charge of his education1 by being deprived at his return of the fruit of it1 or else enjoy it not long through the defects of nature40 ,this order is the perspective of the commonwealth1 whereby she foresees danger2 or the traffic1 whereby she receives every two years the return of a statesman enriched with eight years' experience from the prime marts of negotiation in ,europe4 ,and so much for the elections in the ,senate that are ordinary2 such as are extraordinary follow in-- ,the eighteenth order1 8,appointing all elections upon emergent occasions1 except that of the dictator1 to be made by the scrutiny1 or that kind of election whereby a council comes to be a fifth order of electors4 ,for example1 if there be occasion of an ambassador-extraordinary1 the provosts of the ,council of ,state1 or any two of them1 shall propose to the same1 till one competitor be chosen by that council2 and the council having chosen a competitor1 shall bring his name into the ,senate1 which in the usual way shall choose four more competitors to the same magistracy2 and put them1 with the competitor of the council1 to the ballot of the house1 by which he of the five that is chosen is said to be elected by the scrutiny of the ,council of ,state4 ,a vice-admiral1 a polemarch1 or field officer1 shall be elected after the same manner1 by the scrutiny of the ,council of ,war4 ,a judge or sergeant-at-law1 by the scrutiny of the commissioners of the seal4 ,a baron1 or considerable officer of the ,exchequer1 by the scrutiny of the commissioners of the ,treasury3 ,men in magistracy1 or out of it1 are equally capable of election by the scrutiny2 but a magistrate or officer elected by the scrutiny to a military employment1 if he be neither a knight of the ,senate nor a deputy of the prerogative1 ought to have his office confirmed by the prerogative1 because the militia in a commonwealth1 where the people are sovereign1 is not lawful to be touched injussu populi4 ,the ,romans were so curious that1 though their consuls were elected in the centuriate assemblies1 they might not touch the militia1 except they were confirmed in the parochial assemblies2 for a magistrate not receiving his power from the people1 takes it from them1 and to take away their power is to take away their liberty4 ,as to the election by the scrutiny1 it is easily perceived to be ,venetian1 there being no such way to take in the knowledge2 which in all reason must be best in every council of such men as are most fit for their turns1 and yet to keep them from the bias of particular affection or interest under that pretence2 for the cause why the great ,council in ,venice scarce ever elects any other than the name that is brought in by the scrutiny1 is very probable to be1 that they may444 ,this election is the last of those appertaining to the ,senate4 ,the councils being chosen by the orders already shown1 it remains that we come to those whereby they are instructed and the orders of instruction to the councils are two3 the first for the matter whereupon they are to proceed1 and the second for the manner of their proceeding4 ,the matter of the councils is distributed to them by-- ,the nineteenth order 8,distributing to every council such businesses as are properly to belong to their cognizance1 whereof some they shall receive and determine1 and others they shall receive1 prepare1 and introduce into the house3 as1 first1 8,the ,council of ,state is to receive all addresses1 intelligences1 and letters of negotiation2 to give audience to ambassadors sent to1 and to draw up instructions for such as shall be sent by1 this commonwealth2 to receive propositions from1 and hold intelligence with1 the provincial councils2 to consider upon all laws to be enacted1 amended1 or repealed1 and upon all levies of men or money1 war or peace1 leagues or associations to be made by this commonwealth1 so far forth as is conducible to the orderly preparation of the same to be introduced by them into the ,senate2 provided1 that all such affairs1 as otherwise appertaining to the ,council of ,state1 are1 for the good of the commonwealth1 to be carried with greater secrecy1 be managed by the ,council of ,war1 with power to receive and send forth agents1 spies1 emissaries1 intelligencers1 frigots1 and to manage affairs of that nature1 if it be necessary without communication to the ,senate1 till such time as it may be had without detriment to the business4 ,but they shall have no power to engage the commonwealth in a war without the consent of the ,senate and the people4 ,it appertains also to this council to take charge of the fleet as admiral1 and of all storehouses1 armories1 arsenals1 and magazines appertaining to this commonwealth4 ,they shall keep a diligent record of the military expeditions from time to time reported by him that was strategus or general1 or one of the polemarchs in that action2 or at least so far as the experience of such commanders may tend to the improvement of the military discipline1 which they shall digest and introduce into the ,senate2 and if the ,senate shall thereupon frame any article1 they shall see that it be observed1 in the musters or education of the youth4 ,and whereas the ,council of ,war is the sentinel or scout of this commonwealth1 if any person or persons shall go about to introduce debate into any popular assembly of the same1 or otherwise to alter the present government1 or strike at the root of it1 they shall apprehend1 or cause to be apprehended1 seized1 imprisoned1 and examine1 arraign1 acquit1 or condemn1 and cause to be executed any such person or persons1 by their proper power and authority and without appeal4 8,the ,council of ,religion1 as the arbiter of this commonwealth in cases of conscience more peculiarly appertaining to religion1 ,christian charity1 and a pious life1 shall have the care of the national religion1 and the protection of the liberty of conscience with the cognizance of all causes relating to either of them4 ,and first as to the national religion3 they shall cause all places or preferments of the best revenue in either of the universities to be conferred upon no other than such of the most learned and pious men as have dedicated themselves to the study of theology4 ,they shall also take a special care that1 by such augmentations as be or shall hereafter be appointed by the ,senate1 every benefice in this nation be improved at least to the value of #ajj a year4 ,and to the end that there be no interest at all1 whereby the divines or teachers of the national religion may be corrupted1 or corrupt religion1 they shall be capable of no other kind of employment or preferment in this commonwealth4 ,and whereas a directory for the administration of the national religion is to be prepared by this council1 they shall in this and other debates of this nature proceed in manner following3 a question arising in matter of religion shall be put and stated by the council in writing1 which writing the censors shall send by their beadles 7being proctors chosen to attend them7 each to the university whereof he is chancellor1 and the vice-chancellor of the same receiving the writing1 shall call a convocation of all the divines of that university being above forty years of age4 ,and the universities1 upon a point so proposed1 shall have no manner of intelligence or correspondence one with another1 till their debates be ended1 and they have made return of their answers to the ,council of ,religion by two or three of their own members1 that they may clear their sense1 if any doubt should arise1 to the council1 which done1 they shall return1 and the council1 having received such information1 shall proceed according to their own judgments1 in the preparation of the whole matter for the ,senate3 that so the interest of the learned being removed1 there may be a right application of reason to ,scripture1 which is the foundation of the national religion4 8,secondly1 this council1 as to the protection of the liberty of conscience1 shall suffer no coercive power in the matter of religion to be exercised in this nation2 the teachers of the natural religion being no other than such as voluntarily undertake that calling1 and their auditors or hearers no other than are also voluntary4 ,nor shall any gathered congregation be molested or interrupted in their way of worship 7being neither ,jewish nor idolatrous71 but vigilantly and vigorously protected and defended in the enjoyment1 practice1 and profession of the same4 ,and if there be officers or auditors appointed by any such congregation for the introduction of causes into the ,council of ,religion1 all such causes so introduced shall be received1 heard1 and determined by the same1 with recourse had1 if need be1 to the ,senate4 8,thirdly1 every petition addressed to the ,senate1 except that of a tribe1 shall be received1 examined1 and debated by this council2 and such only as they1 upon such examination and debate had1 shall think fit1 may be introduced into the ,senate4 8,the ,council of ,trade being the vena porta of this nation1 shall hereafter receive instructions more at large4 ,for the present1 their experience1 attaining to a right understanding of those trades and mysteries that feed the veins of this commonwealth1 and a true distinction of them from those that suck or exhaust the same1 they shall acquaint the ,senate with the conveniences and inconveniences1 to the end that encouragement may be applied to the one1 and remedy to the other4 8,the ,academy of the provosts1 being the affability of the commonwealth1 shall assemble every day toward the evening in a fair room1 having certain withdrawing-rooms thereto belonging2 and all sorts of company that will repair thither for conversation or discourse1 so it be upon matters of government1 news1 or intelligence1 or to propose anything to the councils1 shall be freely and affably received in the outer chamber1 and heard in the way of civil conversation1 which is to be managed without any other awe or ceremony than is thereto usually appertaining1 to the end that every man may be free1 and that what is proposed by one1 may be argued or discoursed by the rest1 except the matter be of secrecy2 in which case the provosts1 or some of them1 shall take such as desire audience into one of the withdrawing-rooms4 ,and the provosts are to give their minds that this academy be so governed1 adorned1 and preserved1 as may be most attractive to men of parts and good affections to the commonwealth1 for the excellency of the conversation4 8,furthermore1 if any man1 not being able or willing to come in person1 has any advice to give which he judges may be for the good of the commonwealth1 he may write his mind to the ,academy of the provosts1 in a letter signed or not signed1 which letter shall be left with the doorkeeper of the ,academy4 ,nor shall any person delivering such a letter be seized1 molested1 or detained1 though it should prove to be a libel4 ,but the letters so delivered shall be presented to the provosts2 and in case they be so many that they cannot well be perused by the provosts themselves1 they shall distribute them as they please to be read by the gentlemen of the ,academy1 who1 finding anything in them material1 will find matter of discourse2 or if they happen upon a business that requires privacy1 return it with a note upon it to a provost4 ,and the provosts by the secretaries attending shall cause such notes out of discourses or letters to be taken as they please1 to the end that they may propose1 as occasion serves1 what any two of them shall think fit out of their notes so taken to their respective councils2 to the end that not only the ear of the commonwealth be open to all1 but that men of such education being in her eve1 she may upon emergent elections or occasions be always provided of her choice of fit persons4 8,every council being adorned with a state for the signory1 shall be attended by two secretaries1 two doorkeepers1 and two messengers-in-ordinary1 and have power to command more upon emergencies1 as occasion requires4 ,and the ,academy shall be attended with two secretaries1 two messengers1 and two doorkeepers2 this with the other councils being provided with their further conveniences at the charge of the ,state4 8,but whereas it is incident to commonwealths1 upon emergencies requiring extraordinary speed or secrecy1 either through their natural delays or unnatural haste1 to incur equal danger1 while holding to the slow pace of their orders1 they come not in time to defend themselves from some sudden blow2 or breaking them for the greater speed1 they but haste to their own destruction2 if the ,senate shall at any time make election of nine knights-extraordinary1 to be added to the ,council of ,war1 as a juncta for the term of three months1 the ,council of ,war with the juncta so added1 is for the term of the same ,dictator of ,oceana1 having power to levy men and money1 to make war and peace1 as also to enact laws1 which shall be good for the space of one year 7if they be not sooner repealed by the ,senate and the people7 and for no longer time1 except they be confirmed by the ,senate and the people4 ,and the whole administration of the commonwealth for the term of the said three months shall be in the ,dictator1 provided that the ,dictator shall have no power to do anything that tends not to his proper end and institution1 but all to the preservation of the commonwealth as it is established1 and for the sudden restitution of the same to the natural channel and common course of government4 ,and all acts1 orders1 decrees1 or laws of the ,council of ,war with the junota being thus created1 shall be signed1 8,,dictator ,,oceanae40 ,this order of instructions to the councils being 7as in a matter of that nature is requisite7 very large1 ,i have used my best skill to abbreviate it in such manner as might show no more of it than is necessary to the understanding of the whole1 though as to the parts1 or further duties of the councils1 ,i have omitted many things of singular use in a commonwealth4 ,but it was discoursed at the council by the ,archon in this manner3 8,,my ,,lords1 ,,the ,,legislators3 8,your councils1 except the ,dictator only1 are proper and native springs and sources1 you see1 which 7hanging a few sticks and straws1 that1 as less considerable1 would otherwise be more troublesome1 upon the banks of their peculiar channels7 derive the full stream of business into the ,senate1 so pure1 and so far from the possibility of being troubled or stained 7as will ,undeniably appear by the course contained in the ensuing order7 with any kind of private interest or partiality1 that it shall never be possible for any assembly hearkening to the advice or information of this or that worthy member 7either instructed upon his pillow1 or while he was making himself ready1 or by the petition or ticket which he received at the door7 to have half the security in his faith1 or advantage by his wisdom2 such a ,senate or council being1 through the uncertainty of the winds1 like a wave of the sea4 ,nor shall it otherwise mend the matter by flowing up into dry ditches1 or referring businesses to be better examined by committees1 than to go further about with it to less purpose2 if it does not ebb back again with the more mud in it4 ,for in a case referred to an occasional committee1 of which any member that is desirous may get himself named1 and to which nobody will come but either for the sake of his friend or his own interest2 it fares little better as to the information of the ,senate1 than if it had been referred to the parties4 ,wherefore the ,athenians being distributed into four tribes1 out of which by equal numbers they annually chose #djj men1 called the ,senate of the ,bean1 because the ballot at their election was performed by the use of beans1 divided them by fifties into eight parts4 ,and every fifty in their turn1 for one-eighth part of the year1 was a council apart called the ,prytans4 8,the ,prytans in their distinct council receiving all comers1 and giving ear to every man that had anything to propose concerning the commonwealth1 had power to debate and prepare all the businesses that were to be introduced into the ,senate4 ,the ,achaeans had ten selected magistrates called the demiurgs1 constituting a council apart called the synarchy1 which1 with the strategus1 prepared all the business that was introduced into their ,senate4 ,but both the ,senate of the ,athenians1 and that of the ,achaeans1 would have wondered if a man had told them that they were to receive all comers and discourses1 to the end that they might refer them afterward to the ,prytans or the synarchy1 much less to an occasional committee1 exposed to the catch that catch may of the parties interested4 ,and yet ,venice in this1 as in most of her orders1 excels them all by the constitution of her councils1 that of the ,college1 and the other of the ,dieci1 or ,council of ,ten4 ,the course of the ,college is exactly described in the ensuing order3 and for that of the ,dieci1 it so little differs from what it has bestowed upon ,our ,dictator1 that ,i need not make any particular description of it4 ,but to dictatorian power in general1 and the use of it 7because it must needs be of difficult digestion to such as1 puking still at ancient prudence1 show themselves to be in the nursery of mother-wit72 it is no less than necessary to say something4 ,and1 first1 in a commonwealth that is not wrought up1 or perfected1 this power will be of very frequent1 if not continual1 use2 wherefore it is said more than once1 upon defects of the government1 in the book of ,judges1 #8that in those days there was no king in ,israel4' ,nor has the translator1 though for #8no king1 he should have said #8no judge1' abused you so much2 seeing that the ,dictator 7and such was the ,judge of ,israel7 or the dictatorian power being in a single person1 so little differs from monarchy1 which followed in that1 that from the same cause there has been no other effect in any commonwealth3 as in ,rome was manifest by ,sylla and ,caesar1 who to make themselves absolute or sovereign1 had no more to do than to prolong their magistracy1 for the dictatorian power was reputed divine1 and therefore irresistible4 8,nevertheless1 so it is1 that without this power1 which is so dangerous1 and subject to introduce monarchy1 a commonwealth cannot be safe from falling into the like dissolution2 unless you have an expedient in this case of your own1 and bound up by your providence from recoiling4 ,expedients in some cases you must not only have1 but be beholden for them to such whom you must trust at a pinch1 when you have not leisure to stand with them for security2 which will be a thousand times more dangerous4 ,and there can never be a commonwealth otherwise than by the order in debate wrought up to that perfection2 but this necessity must sometimes happen in regard of her natural slowness and openness1 and the suddenness of assaults that may be made upon her1 as also the secrecy which in some cases may be of absolute necessity to her affairs4 ,whence ,machiavel concludes it positively1 that a commonwealth unprovided of such a refuge1 must fall to ruin2 for her course is either broken by the blow in one of those cases1 or by herself1 while it startles her out of her orders4 ,and indeed a commonwealth is like a greyhound1 which1 having once coasted1 will never after run fair1 but grow slothful2 and when it comes to make a common practice of taking nearer ways than its orders1 it is dissolved3 for the being of a commonwealth consists in its orders4 ,wherefore at this list you will be exposed to danger1 if you have not provided beforehand for the safety of your resort in the like cases3 nor is it sufficient that your resort be safe1 unless it be as secret and quick2 for if it be slow or open1 your former inconveniences are not remedied4 8,now for our imitation in this part1 there is nothing in experience like that of the ,council of ,ten in ,venice2 the benefit whereof would be too long to be shown in the whole piece1 and therefore ,i shall take but a pattern out of ,janotti4 ,in the war1 says he1 which the ,venetians had with ,florence in ,casentin1 the ,florentines1 finding a necessity in their affairs far from any other inclination in themselves to ask their peace1 sent ambassadors about it to ,venice1 where they were no sooner heard1 than the bargain was struck up by the ,council of ,ten3 and everybody admiring 7seeing this commonwealth stood upon the higher ground7 what should be the reason of such haste1 the council upon the return of the ambassadors imparted letters to the ,senate1 whereby it appeared that the ,turks had newly launched a formidable fleet against their ,state1 which1 had it been understood by the ,florentines1 it was well enough known they would have made no peace4 ,wherefore the service of the ,ten was highly applauded by the ,senate1 and celebrated by the ,venetians4 ,whereby may appear not only in part what use there is of dictatorian power in that government1 but that it is assumed at the discretion of that ,council2 whereas in this of ,oceana it is not otherwise intrusted than when the ,senate1 in the election of nine knights-extraordinary1 gives at once the commission1 and takes security in a balance1 added to the ,council of ,war1 though securer before by the tribunes of the people than that of ,venice1 which yet never incurred jealousy2 for if the younger nobility have been often girding at it1 that happened not so much through the apprehension of danger in it to the commonwealth1 as through the awe of it upon themselves4 ,wherefore the graver have doubtlessly shown their prudence in the law whereby the magistracy of these councillors being to last till' their successors be created1 the council is established40 ,the instructions of the councils for their matter being shown1 it remains that ,i show the instructions for the manner of their proceeding1 as they follow in-- ,the twentieth order1 8,containing the method of debates to be observed by the magistrates and the councils successively in order to a decree of the ,senate4 8,the magistrates of the signory1 as councillors of this commonwealth1 shall take into their consideration all matters of state or of government2 and1 having right to propose in any council1 may1 any one or more of them1 propose what business he or they please in that council to which it most properly belongs4 ,and1 that the councils may be held to their duty1 the said magistrates are superintendents and inspectors of the same1 with right to propose to the ,senate4 8,the censors have equal power with these magistrates1 but in relation to the ,council of ,religion only4 8,any two of the three provosts in every council may propose to1 and are the more peculiar proposers of1 the same council2 to the end that there be not only an inspection and superintendency of business in general1 but that every work be also committed to a peculiar hand4 8,any one or more of the magistrates1 or any two of the provosts respectively having proposed1 the council shall debate the business so proposed1 to which they of the third region that are willing shall speak first in their order2 they of the second1 next2 and they of the first1 last2 and the opinions of those that proposed or spoke1 as they shall be thought the most considerable by the council1 shall be taken by the secretary of the same in writing1 and each of them signed with the name of the author4 8,the opinions being thus prepared1 any magistrate of the signory1 the censors1 or any two of the provosts of that council1 upon this occasion may assemble the ,senate4 8,the ,senate being assembled1 the opinions 7for example1 if they be four7 shall be read in their order1 that is1 according to the order or dignity of the magistrates or councillors by which they were signed4 ,and being read1 if any of the council introducing them will speak1 they1 as best acquainted with the business1 shall have precedence2 and after them the senators shall speak according to their regions1 beginning by the third first1 and so continuing till every man that will has spoken2 and when the opinions have been sufficiently debated1 they shall be put all together to the ballot after this manner3 8,four secretaries1 carrying each of them one of the opinions in one hand1 with a white box in the other1 and each following the other1 according to the order of the opinions1 shall present his box1 naming the author of his opinion to every senator2 and one secretary or ballotin with a green box shall follow the four white ones2 and one secretary or ballotin with a red box shall follow the green one2 and every senator shall put one ball into some one of these six boxes4 ,the suffrage being gathered and opened before the signory1 if the red box or non-sincere had above half the suffrages1 the opinions shall be all cast out1 for the major part of the house is not clear in the business4 ,if no one of the four opinions had above half the suffrages in the affirmative1 that which had fewest shall be cast out1 and the other three shall be balloted again4 ,if no one of the three had above half1 that which had fewest shall be cast out1 and the other two shall ballot again4 ,if neither of the two had above half1 that which had fewest shall be cast out1 and the remaining opinion shall be balloted again4 ,and if the remaining opinion has not above half1 it shall also be cast out4 ,but the first of the opinions that arrives at most above half in the affirmative1 is the decree of the ,senate4 ,the opinions being all of them cast out by the non-sincere1 may be reviewed1 if occasion permits1 by the council1 and brought in again4 ,if they be cast out by the negative1 the case being of advice only2 the house approves not1 and there is an end of it3 the case being necessary1 and admitting delay1 the council is to think again upon the business1 and to bring in new opinions2 but the case being necessary1 and not admitting delay1 the ,senate immediately electing the juncta shall create the ,dictator4 #8,and let the ,dictator1' as the ,roman saying is1 #8take care that the commonwealth receives no harm4'0 ,this in case the debate concludes not in a decree4 ,but if a decree be passed1 it is either in matter of state or government according to law enacted already1 and then it is good without going any further1 or it is in matter of law to be enacted1 repealed1 or amended2 and then the decree of the ,senate1 especially if it be for a war1 or for a levy of men or money1 is invalid1 without the result of the commonwealth1 which is in the prerogative tribe1 or representative of the people4 8,the ,senate having prepared a decree to be proposed to the people1 shall appoint their proposers2 and no other may propose for the ,senate to the people but the magistrates of the house2 that is to say1 the three commissioners of the seal1 or any two of them2 the three of the ,treasury1 or any two of them2 or the two censors4 8,the ,senate having appointed their proposers1 shall require of the tribunes a muster of the people at a set time and place3 and the tribunes or any two of them having mustered the people accordingly1 the proposers shall propose the sense or decree of the ,senate by clauses to the people4 ,and that which is proposed by the authority of the ,senate1 and resolved by the command of the people1 is the law of ,oceana40 ,to this order1 implicitly containing the sum very near of the whole civil part of the commonwealth1 my ,lord ,archon spoke thus in council3 8,,my ,,dear ,,lords3 8,there is a saying1 that a man must cut his coat according to his cloth4 ,when ,i consider what ,god has allowed or furnished to our present work1 ,i am amazed4 ,you would have a popular government2 he has weighed it to you in the present balance1 as ,i may say1 to a drachm2 you have no more to do but to fix it4 ,for the superstructures of such a government they require a good aristocracy3 and you have1 or have had a nobility or gentry the best studied1 and the best writers1 at least next that of ,italy1 in the whole world2 nor have they been inferior1 when so exercised1 in the leading of armies4 ,but the people are the main body of a commonwealth2 show me from the treasuries of the snow 7as it is in ,job7 to the burning zone a people whose shoulder so universally and so exactly fits the corselet4 ,nevertheless1 it were convenient to be well provided with auxiliaries4 ,there is ,marpesia1 through her fruitfulness1 inexhaustible of men1 and men through her barrenness not only enured to hardship1 but in your arms4 ,it may be said that ,venice1 excepting only that she takes not in the people1 is the most incomparable situation of a commonwealth4 ,you are ,venice1 taking in your people and your auxiliaries too4 ,my lords1 the children of ,israel were makers of brick before they were builders of a commonwealth2 but our brick is made1 our mortar tempered1 the cedars of ,lebanon are hewed and squared to our hands4 ,has this been the work of man8 ,or is it in man to withstand this work8 #8,shall he that contends with the ,almighty instruct him8 ,he that reproves ,god1 let him answer it4' ,for our parts1 everything is so laid that when we come to have use of it1 it is the next at hand2 and unless we can conceive that ,god and nature do anything in vain1 there is no more for us to do but to despatch4 ,the piece which we have reached to us in the foregoing orders1 is the aristocracy4 ,athens1 as has been shown1 was plainly lost through the want of a good aristocracy4 8,but the sufficiency of an aristocracy goes demonstrably upon the hand of the nobility or gentry2 for that the politics can be mastered without study1 or that the people can have leisure to study1 is a vain imagination2 and what kind of aristocracy divines and lawyers would make1 let their incurable running upon their own narrow bias and their perpetual invectives against ,machiavel 7though in some places justly reprovable1 yet the only politician1 and incomparable patron of the people7 serve for instruction4 ,i will stand no more to the judgment of lawyers and divines in this work1 than to that of so many other tradesmen2 but if this model chances to wander abroad1 ,i recommend it to the ,roman speculativi 7the most complete gentlemen of this age7 for their censure2 or with my ,lord ,epimonus his leave1 send #cjj or #djj copies to your agent at ,venice to be presented to the magistrates there2 and when they have considered them1 to be proposed to the debate of the ,senate1 the most competent judges under heaven1 who1 though they have great affairs1 will not refuse to return you the oracle of their ballot4 ,the councillors of princes ,i will not trust2 they are but journeymen4 ,the wisdom of these later times in princes' affairs 7says ,verulamius7 is rather fine deliveries and shiftings of dangers when they be near1 than solid and grounded courses to keep them off4 ,their councillors do not derive their proceedings from any sound root of government that may contain the demonstration1 and assure the success of them1 but are expedient-mongers1 givers of themselves to help a lame dog over a stile2 else how comes it to pass that the fame of ,cardinal ,richelieu has been like thunder1 whereof we hear the noise1 but can make no demonstration of the reason8 ,but to return3 if neither the people1 nor divines and lawyers1 can be the aristocracy of a nation1 there remains only the nobility2 in which style1 to avoid further repetition1 ,i shall understand the gentry also1 as the ,french do by the word noblesse4 8,now to treat of the nobility in such sort as may be less obnoxious to mistake1 it will be convenient1 and answerable to the present occasion1 that ,i divide my discourse into four parts3 8,the first1 treating of nobility1 and the kinds of it2 8,the second1 of their capacity of the ,senate2 8,the third1 of the divers kinds of senates2 8,the fourth1 of the ,senate1 according to the foregoing orders4 8,nobility may be defined divers ways2 for it is either ancient riches1 or ancient virtue1 or a title conferred by a prince or a commonwealth4 8,nobility of the first kind may be subdivided into two others1 such as hold an overbalance in dominion or property to the whole people1 or such as hold not an overbalance1 in the former case1 a nobility 7such was the ,gothic1 of which sufficient has been spoken7 is incompatible with popular government2 for to popular government it is essential that power should be in the people1 but the overbalance of a nobility in dominion draws the power to themselves4 ,wherefore in this sense it is that ,machiavel is to be understood1 where he says1 that these are pernicious in a commonwealth2 and of ,france1 ,spain1 and ,italy1 that they are nations which for this cause are the corruption of the world3 for otherwise nobility may1 according to his definition 7which is1 #8that they are such as live upon their own revenues in plenty1 without engagement either to the tilling of their lands1 or other work for their livelihood #871 hold an underbalance to the people2 in which case they are not only safe1 but necessary to the natural mixture of a well-ordered commonwealth4 8,for how else can you have a commonwealth that is not altogether mechanic8 or what comparison is there of such commonwealths as are1 or come nearest to mechanic--for example1 ,athens1 ,switzerland1 ,holland1 to ,lacedaemon1 ,rome1 and ,venice1 plumed with their aristocracies8 ,your mechanics1 till they have first feathered their nests1 like the fowls of the air whose whole employment is to seek their food1 are so busied in their private concernments that they have neither leisure to study the public1 nor are safely to be trusted with it1 because a man is not faithfully embarked in this kind of ship1 if he has no share in the freight4 ,but if his share be such as gives him leisure by his private advantage to reflect upon that of the public1 what other name is there for this sort of men1 being a leur aise1 but 7as ,machiavel you see calls them7 nobility8 ,especially when their families come to be such as are noted for their services done to the commonwealth1 and so take into their ancient riches ancient virtue1 which is the second definition of nobility1 but such a one as is scarce possible in nature without the former4 #8,for as the baggage1' says ,verulamius1 #8is to an army1 so are riches to virtue2 they cannot be spared nor left behind1 though they be impediments1 such as not only hinder the march1 but sometimes through the care of them lose or disturb the victory4' ,of this latter sort is the nobility of ,oceana2 the best of all others because they1 having no stamp whence to derive their price1 can have it no otherwise than by their intrinsic value4 ,the third definition of nobility1 is a title1 honor1 or distinction from the people1 conferred or allowed by the prince or the commonwealth4 ,and this may be two ways1 either without any stamp or privilege1 as in ,oceana2 or with such privileges as are inconsiderable1 as in ,athens after the battle of ,plataea1 whence the nobility had no right1 as such1 but to religious offices1 or inspection of the public games1 to which they were also to be elected by the people2 or with privileges1 and those considerable ones1 as the nobility in ,athens before the battle of ,plataea1 and the patricians in ,rome each of which had right1 or claimed it1 to the ,senate and all the magistracies2 wherein for some time they only by their stamp were current4 8,but to begin higher1 and to speak more at large of nobility in their several capacities of the ,senate4 ,the phylarchs1 or princes of the tribes of ,israel1 were the most renowned1 or1 as the ,latin1 the most noble of the congregation1 whereof by hereditary right they had the leading and judging4 ,the patriarchs1 or princes of families1 according as they declared their pedigrees1 had the like right as to their families2 but neither in these nor the former was there any hereditary right to the ,sanhedrim3 though there be little question but the wise men and understanding1 and known among their tribes1 which the people took or elected into those or other magistracies1 and whom ,moses made rulers over them1 must have been of these1 seeing they could not choose but be the most known among the tribes1 and were likeliest by the advantages of education to be the most wise and understanding4 8,solon having found the ,athenians neither locally nor genealogically1 but by their different ways of life1 divided into four tribes--that is1 into the soldiery1 the tradesmen1 the husbandmen1 and the goatherds--instituted a new distribution of them1 according to the sense or valuation of their estates1 into four classes3 the first1 second1 and third consisting of such as were proprietors in land1 distinguished by the rate of their freeholds1 with that stamp upon them1 which making them capable of adding honor to their riches1 that is to say1 of the ,senate1 and all the magistracies1 excluded the fourth1 being the body of the people1 and far greater in number than the former three1 from all other right1 as to those capacities1 except the election of these1 who by this means became an hereditary aristocracy or senatorian order of nobility4 ,this was that course which came afterward to be the destruction of ,rome1 and had now ruined ,athens4 ,the nobility1 according to the inevitable nature of such a one1 having laid the plot how to divest the people of the result1 and so to draw the whole power of the commonwealth to themselves2 which in all likelihood they had done1 if the people1 coming by mere chance to be victorious in the battle of ,plataea1 and famous for defending ,greece against the ,persians1 had not returned with such courage as irresistibly broke the classes1 to which of old they had borne a white tooth1 brought the nobility to equal terms1 and the ,senate with the magistracies to be common to both2 the magistracies by suffrage1 and the ,senate 7which was the mischief of it1 as ,i shall show anon in that constitution7 by lot only40 ,the ,lacedaemonians were in the manner1 and for the same cause with the ,venetians at this day1 no other than a nobility even according to the definition given of nobility by ,machiavel2 for they neither exercised any trade1 nor labored their lands or lots1 which was done by their helots3 wherefore some nobility may be far from pernicious in a commonwealth by ,machiavel's own testimony1 who is an admirer of this1 though the servants thereof were more in number than the citizens4 ,to these servants ,i hold the answer of ,lycurgus--when he bade him who asked why he did not admit the people to the government of his commonwealth1 to go home and admit his servants to the government of his family-to relate3 for neither were the ,lacedaemonians servants1 nor1 further1 capable of the government1 unless1 whereas the congregation had the result1 he should have given them the debate also2 every one of these that attained to sixty years of age1 and the major vote of the congregation1 being equally capable of the ,senate4 8,the nobility of ,rome1 and their capacity of the ,senate1 ,i have already described by that of ,athens before the battle of ,plataea1 saving only that the ,athenian was never eligible into the ,senate without the suffrage of the people till the introduction of the lot1 but the ,roman nobility ever3 for the patricians were elected into the ,senate by the kings2 by the consuls1 or the censors1 or if a plebeian happened to be conscribed1 he and his posterity became patricians4 ,nor1 though the people had many disputes with the nobility1 did this ever come in controversy1 which1 if there had been nothing else1 might in my judgment have been enough to overturn that commonwealth4 8,the ,venetian nobility1 but that they are richer1 and not military1 resemble at all other points the ,lacedaemonian1 as ,i have already shown4 ,these ,machiavel excepts from his rule1 by saying that their estates are rather personal than real1 or of any great revenue in land1 which comes to our account1 and shows that a nobility or party of the nobility1 not overbalancing in dominion1 is not dangerous1 but of necessary use in every commonwealth1 provided it be rightly ordered2 for if it be so ordered as was that of ,rome1 though they do not overbalance at the beginning1 as they did not there1 it will not be long ere they do1 as is clear both in reason and experience toward the latter end4 ,that the nobility only be capable of the ,senate is there only not dangerous1 where there be no other citizens1 as in this government and that of ,lacedaemon4 8,the nobility of ,holland and ,switzerland1 though but few1 have privileges not only distinct from the people1 but so great that in some sovereignties they have a negative voice2 an example which ,i am far from commending1 being such as 7if those governments were not cantonized1 divided1 and subdivided into many petty sovereignties that balance one another1 and in which the nobility1 except they had a prince at the head of them1 can never join to make work7 would be the most dangerous that ever was1 but the ,gothic1 of which it favors4 ,for in ancient commonwealths you shall never find a nobility to have had a negative but by the poll1 which1 the people being far more in number1 came to nothing2 whereas these have it1 be they never so few by their stamp or order4 8,ours of ,oceana have nothing else but their education and their leisure for the public1 furnished by their ease and competent riches3 and their intrinsic value1 which1 according as it comes to hold weight in the judgment or suffrage of the people1 is their only way to honor and preferment4 ,wherefore ,i would have your lordships to look upon your children as such1 who1 if they come to shake off some part of their baggage1 shall make the more quick and glorious march2 for it was nothing else but the baggage1 sordidly plundered by the nobility of ,rome1 that lost the victory of the whole world in the midst of her triumph4 8,having followed the nobility thus close1 they bring us1 according to their natural course and divers kinds1 to the divers constitutions of the ,senate4 8,that of ,israel 7as was shown by my right noble ,lord ,phosphorus de ,auge1 in the opening of the commonwealth7 consisted of seventy elders1 elected at first by the people4 ,but whereas they were for life1 they ever after 7though without any divine precept for it7 substituted their successors by ordination1 which ceremony was most usually performed by imposition of hands2 and by this means a commonwealth of as popular institution as can be found became1 as it is accounted by ,josephus1 aristocratical4 ,from this ordination derives that which was introduced by the ,apostles into the ,christian ,church2 for which cause ,i think it is that the ,presbyterians would have the government of the ,church to be aristocratical1 though the ,apostles1 to the end1 as ,i conceive1 that they might give no occasion to such a mistake1 but show that they intended the government of the ,church to be popular1 ordained elders1 as has been shown1 by the holding up of hands 7or free suffrage of the people7 in every congregation or ecclesia3 for that is the word in the original1 being borrowed from the civil congregations of the people in ,athens and ,lacedaemon1 which were so called2 and the word for holding up of hands in the text is also the very same1 which signified the suffrage of the people in ,athens1 chirotonante2 for the suffrage of the ,athenians was given per chirotonian1 says ,emmius4 8,the ,council of the ,bean 7as was shown by my ,lord ,navarchus de ,paralo in his full discourse71 being the proposing ,senate of ,athens 7for that of the ,areopagites was a judicatory71 consisted of #djj1 some say #ejj senators1 elected annually1 all at once1 and by a mere lot without suffrage4 ,wherefore though the ,senate1 to correct the temerity of the lot1 had power to cast out such as they should judge unworthy of that honor1 this related to manners only1 and was not sufficient to repair the commonwealth1 which by such means became impotent2 and forasmuch as her ,senate consisted not of the natural aristocracy1 which in a commonwealth is the only spur and rein of the people1 it was cast headlong by the rashness of her demagogues or grandees into ruin2 while her ,senate1 like the ,roman tribunes 7who almost always1 instead of governing1 were rather governed by the multitude71 proposed not to the result only1 but to the debate also of the people1 who were therefore called to the pulpits1 where some vomited1 and others drank1 poison4 8,the ,senate of ,lacedaemon1 most truly discovered by my ,lord ,laco de ,scytale1 consisted but of thirty for life1 whereof the two kings1 having but single votes1 were hereditary1 the rest elected by the free suffrage of the people1 but out of such as were sixty years of age4 ,these had the whole debate of the commonwealth in themselves1 and proposed to the result only of the people4 ,and now the riddle which ,i have heretofore found troublesome to unfold1 is out2 that is to say1 why ,athens and ,lacedaemon1 consisting each of the ,senate and the people1 the one should be held a democracy1 and the other an aristocracy1 or laudable oligarchy1 as it is termed by ,isocrates2 for that word is not1 wherever you meet it1 to be branded1 ,seeing it is used also by ,aristotle1 ,plutarch1 and others1 sometimes in a good sense4 ,the main difference was that the people in this had the result only1 and in that the debate and result1 too4 ,but for my part1 where the people have the election of the ,senate1 not bound to a distinct order1 and the result1 which is the sovereign power1 ,i hold them to have that share in the government 7the ,senate being not for life7 whereof1 with the safety of the commonwealth1 they are capable in nature1 and such a government1 for that cause1 to be democracy2 though ,i do not deny but in ,lacedaemon1 the paucity of the senators considered1 it might be called oligarchy1 in comparison of ,athens2 or1 if we look on their continuance for life1 though they had been more1 aristocracy4 8,the ,senate of ,rome 7whose fame has been heard to thunder in the eloquence of my ,lord ,dolabella d',enyo7 consisting of #cjj1 was1 in regard of the number1 less oligarchical than that of ,lacedaemon2 but more in regard of the patricians1 who1 having an hereditary capacity of the same1 were not elected to that honor by the people2 but1 being conscribed by the censors1 enjoyed it for life4 ,wherefore these1 if they had their wills1 would have resolved as well as debated2 which set the people at such variance with them as dissolved the commonwealth2 whereas if the people had enjoyed the result1 that about the agrarian1 as well as all other strife1 must of necessity have ceased4 8,the ,senates of ,switzerland and ,holland 7as ,i have learnt of my ,lords ,alpester and ,glaucus71 being bound up 7like the sheaf of arrows which the latter gives7 by leagues1 lie like those in their quivers2 but arrows1 when they come to be drawn1 fly from this way and from that2 and ,i am contented that these concerned us not4 8,that of ,venice 7by the faithful testimony of my most excellent ,lord ,linceus de ,stella7 has obliged a world1 sufficiently punished by its own blindness and ingratitude1 to repent and be wiser3 for whereas a commonwealth in which there is no senate1 or where the senate is corrupt1 cannot stand1 the great ,council of ,venice1 like the statue of ,nilus1 leans upon an urn or waterpot1 which pours forth the ,senate in so pure and perpetual a stream1 as being unable to stagnate1 is forever incapable of corruption4 ,the fuller description of this ,senate is contained in that of ,oceana2 and that of ,oceana in the foregoing orders4 ,to every one of which1 because something has been already said1 ,i shall not speak in particular4 ,but in general1 your ,senate1 and the other assembly1 or the prerogative1 as ,i shall show in due place1 are perpetual1 not as lakes or puddles1 but as the rivers of ,eden2 and are beds made1 as you have seen1 to receive the whole people1 by a due and faithful vicissitude1 into their current4 ,they are not1 as in the late way1 alternate4 ,alternate life in government is the alternate death of it4 8,this was the ,gothic work1 whereby the former government 7which was not only a ship1 but a gust1 too7 could never open her sails1 but in danger to overset herself1 neither could make any voyage nor lie safe in her own harbor4 ,the wars of later ages1 says ,verulamius1 seem to be made in the dark1 in respect of the glory and honor which reflected on men from the wars in ancient times4 ,their shipping of this sort ,was for voyages2 ours dare not launch1 nor lies it safe at home4 ,your ,gothic politicians seem to me rather to have invented some new ammunition or gunpowder1 in their ,king and ,parliament1 than government4 ,for what is become of the princes 7a kind of people7 in ,germany8--blown up4 ,where are the estates1 or the power of the people in ,france8--blown up4 ,where is that of the people in ,arragon1 and the rest of the ,spanish kingdoms8--blown up4 ,on the other side1 where is the ,king of ,spain's power in ,holland8--blown up4 ,where is that of the ,austrian princes in ,switzerland8--blown up4 ,this perpetual peevishness and jealousy1 under the alternate empire of the prince and of the people1 are obnoxious to every spark4 ,nor shall any man show a reason that will be holding in prudence1 why the people of ,oceana have blown up their ,king1 but that their kings did not first blow up them4 ,the rest is discourse for ladies4 ,wherefore your parliaments are not henceforth to come out of the bag of ,a,eolus1 but by your galaxies1 to be the perpetual food of the fire of ,vesta4 8,your galaxies1 which divide the house into so many regions1 are three2 one of which constituting the third region is annually chosen1 but for the term of three years2 which causes the house 7having at once blossoms1 fruit half ripe1 and others dropping off in full maturity7 to resemble an orange tree1 such as is at the same time an education or spring1 and a harvest1 too2 for the people have made a very ill-choice in the man1 who is not easily capable of the perfect knowledge in one year of the senatorian orders2 which knowledge1 allowing him for the first to have been a novice1 brings him the second year to practise1 and time enough4 ,for at this rate you must always have #bjj knowing men in the government4 ,and thus the vicissitude of your senators is not perceivable in the steadiness and perpetuity of your ,senate2 which1 like that of ,venice1 being always changing1 is forever the same4 ,and though other politicians have not so well imitated their patter1 there is nothing more obvious in nature1 seeing a man who wears the same flesh but a short time1 is nevertheless the same man1 and of the same genius2 and whence is this but from the constancy of nature1 in holding a man to her orders8 ,wherefore keep also to your orders4 ,but this is a mean request2 your orders will be worth little if they do not hold you to them1 wherefore embark4 ,they are like a ship1 if you be once aboard1 you do not carry them1 but they you2 and see how ,venice stands to her tackling3 you will no more forsake them than you will leap into the sea4 8,but they are very many and difficult4 ,o my ,lords1 what seaman casts away his card because it has four-and-twenty points of the compass8 and yet those are very near as many and as difficult as the orders in the whole circumference of your commonwealth4 ,consider1 how have we been tossed with every wind of doctrine1 lost by the glib tongues of your demagogues and grandees in our own havens8 ,a company of fiddlers that have disturbed your rest for your groat2 #b1jjj to one1 #c1jjj a year to another1 has been nothing4 ,and for what8 ,is there one of them that yet knows what a commonwealth is8 ,and are you yet afraid of such a government in which these shall not dare to scrape for fear of the statute8 ,themistocles could not fiddle1 but could make of a small city a great commonwealth3 these have fiddled1 and for your money1 till they have brought a great commonwealth to a small city4 8,it grieves me1 while ,i consider how1 and from what causes1 imaginary difficulties will be aggravated1 that the foregoing orders are not capable of any greater clearness in discourse or writing2 but if a man should make a book1 describing every trick and passage1 it would fare no otherwise with a game at cards2 and this is no more1 if a man plays upon the square4 #8,there is a great difference1' says ,verulamius1 #8between a cunning man and a wise man 7between a demagogue and a legislator71 not only in point of honesty1 but in point of ability as there be that can pack the cards1 and yet cannot play well2 so there be some that are good in canvasses and fractions1 that are otherwise weak men4' ,allow me but these orders1 and let them come with their cards in their sleeves1 or pack if they can4 #8,again1' says he1 #8it is one thing to understand persons1 and another to understand matters2 for many are perfect in men's humors that are not greatly capable of the real part of business1 which is the constitution of one that has studied men more than books4 ,but there is nothing more hurtful in a ,state than that cunning men should pass for wise4' ,his words are an oracle4 ,as ,dionysius1 when he could no longer exercise his tyranny among men1 turned schoolmaster1 that he might exercise it among boys4 ,allow me but these orders1 and your grandees1 so well skilled in the baits and palates of men1 shall turn rat-catchers4 8,and whereas #8councils 7as is discreetly observed by the same author in his time7 are at this day1 in most places1 but familiar meetings 7somewhat like the ,academy of our provosts71 where matters are rather talked on than debated1 and run too swift to order an act of council1' give me my orders1 and see if ,i have not puzzled your demagogues4 8,it is not so much my desire to return upon haunts1 as theirs that will not be satisfied2 wherefore if1 notwithstanding what was said of dividing and choosing in our preliminary discourses1 men will yet be returning to the question1 ,why the ,senate must be a council apart 7though even in ,athens1 where it was of no other constitution than the popular assembly1 the distinction of it from the other was never held less than necessary7 this may be added to the former reasons1 that if the aristocracy be not for the debate1 it is for nothing2 but if it be for debate1 it must have convenience for it2 and what convenience is there for debate in a crowd1 where there is nothing but jostling1 treading upon one another1 and stirring of blood1 than which in this case there is nothing more dangerous8 ,truly1 it was not ill said of my ,lord ,epimonus1 that ,venice plays her game1 as it were1 at billiards or nine-holes2 and so may your lordships1 unless your ribs be so strong that you think better of football3 for such sport is debate in a popular assembly as1 notwithstanding the distinction of the ,senate1 was the destruction of ,athens40 ,this speech concluded the debate which happened at the institution of the ,senate4 ,the next assembly is that of the people or prerogative tribe4 ,the face1 or mien1 of the prerogative tribe for the arms1 the horses1 and the discipline1 but more especially for the select men1 is that of a very noble regiment1 or rather of two2 the one of horse1 divided into three troops 7besides that of the provinces1 which will be shown hereafter71 with their captains1 cornets1 and two tribunes of the horse at the head of them2 the other of foot in three companies 7beside that of the provinces71 with their captains1 ensigns1 and two tribunes of the foot at the head of them4 ,the first troop is called the ,phoenix1 the second the ,pelican1 and the third the ,swallow4 ,the first company the ,cypress1 the second the ,myrtle1 and the third the ,spray4 ,of these again 7not without a near resemblance of the ,roman division of a tribe7 the ,phoenix and the ,cypress constitute the first class1 the ,pelican and the ,myrtle the second1 and the ,swallow with the ,spray the third1 renewed every spring by-- ,the one-and-twentieth order1 8,directing1 that upon every ,monday next ensuing the last of ,march1 the deputies of the annual galaxy arriving at the pavilion in the halo1 and electing one captain and one cornet of the ,swallow 7triennial officers7 by and out of the cavalry at the horse urn1 according to the rules contained in the ballot of the hundred2 and one captain with one ensign of the ,spray 7triennial officers7 by and out of the infantry at the foot urn1 after the same way of balloting1 constitute and become the third classes of the prerogative tribe40 ,seven deputies are annually returned by every tribe1 whereof three are horse and four are foot2 and there be fifty tribes3 so the ,swallow must consist of #aej horse1 the ,spray of #bjj foot4 ,and the rest of the classes being two1 each of them in number equal1 the whole prerogative 7beside the provinces1 that is1 the knights and deputies of ,marpesia and ,panopea7 must consist of #a1jej deputies4 ,and these troops and companies may as well be called centuries as those of the ,romans2 for the ,romans related not1 in so naming theirs1 to the number4 ,and whereas they were distributed according to the valuation of their estates1 so are these2 which1 by virtue of the last order1 are now accommodated with their triennial officers4 ,but there be others appertaining to this tribe whose election1 being of far greater importance1 is annual1 as follows in ,the twenty-second order1 8,whereby the first class having elected their triennial officers1 and made oath to the old tribunes1 that they will neither introduce1 cause1 nor to their power suffer debate to be introduced into any popular assembly of this government1 but to their utmost be aiding and assisting to seize and deliver any person or persons in that way offending1 and striking at the root of this commonwealth1 to the ,council of ,war1 are to proceed with the other two classes of the prerogative tribe to election of the new tribunes1 being four annual magistrates1 whereof two are to be elected out of the cavalry at the horse urn1 and two out of the infantry at the foot urn1 according to the common ballot of the tribes4 ,and they may be promiscuously chosen out of any classes1 provided that the same person shall not be capable of bearing the tribunitian honor twice in the term of one galaxy4 ,the tribunes thus chosen shall receive the tribe 7in reference to the power of mustering and disciplining the same7 as commanders-in-chief1 and for the rest as magistrates1 whose proper function is prescribed by the next order4 ,the tribunes may give leave to any number of the prerogative1 not exceeding #ajj at a time1 to be absent1 so they be not magistrates nor officers1 and return within three months4 ,if a magistrate or officer has a necessary occasion1 he may also be absent for the space of one month1 provided that there be not above three cornets or ensigns1 two captains1 or one tribune so absent at one time40 ,to this the ,archon spoke at the institution after this manner3 8,,my ,,lords3 8,it is affirmed by ,cicero1 in his oration for ,flaccus1 that the commonwealths of ,greece were all shaken or ruined by the intemperance of their ,comitia1 or assemblies of the people4 ,the truth is1 if good heed in this point be not taken1 a commonwealth will have bad legs4 ,but all the world knows he should have excepted ,lacedaemon1 where the people1 as has been shown by the oracle1 had no power at all of debate1 nor 7till after ,lysander1 whose avarice opened a gulf that was not long ere it swallowed up his country7 came it ever to be exercised by them4 ,whence that commonwealth stood longest and firmest of any other but this1 in our days1 of ,venice2 which1 having underlaid herself with the like institution1 owes a great1 if not the greater1 part of her steadiness to the same principle2 the great ,council1 which is with her the people1 by the authority of my ,lord ,epimonus1 never speaking a word4 ,nor shall any commonwealth1 where the people in their political capacity is talkative1 ever see half the days of one of these1 but1 being carried away by vainglorious men 7that1 as ,overbury says1 void more than they drink71 swim down the stream1 as did ,athens1 the most prating of these dames1 when that same ranting fellow ,alcibiades fell a-demagoguing for the ,silician ,war4 8,but whereas debate1 by the authority and experience of ,lacedaemon and ,venice1 is not to be committed to the people in a well-ordered government1 it may be said that the order specified is but a slight bar in a matter of like danger2 for so much as an oath1 if there be no recourse upon the breach of it1 is a weak tie for such hands as have the sword in them1 wherefore what should hinder the people of ,oceana1 if they happen not to regard an oath from assuming debate1 and making themselves as much an anarchy as those of ,athens8 ,to which ,i answer1 ,take the common sort in a private capacity1 and1 except they be injured1 you shall find them to have a bashfulness in the presence of the better sort1 or wiser men1 acknowledging their abilities by attention1 and accounting it no mean honor to receive respect from them2 but if they be injured by them1 they hate them1 and the more for being wise or great1 because that makes it the greater injury4 ,nor refrain they in this case from any kind of intemperance of speech1 if of action4 ,it is no otherwise with a people in their political capacity2 you shall never find that they have assumed debate for itself1 but for something else4 ,wherefore in ,lacedaemon where there was1 and in ,venice where there is1 nothing else for which they should assume it1 they have never shown so much as an inclination to it4 8,nor was there any appearance of such a desire in the people of ,rome 7who from the time of ,romulus had been very well contented with the power of result either in the parochial assemblies1 as it was settled upon them by him1 or in the meetings of the hundreds1 as it was altered in their regard for the worse by ,servius ,tullius7 till news was brought1 some fifteen years after the exile of ,tarquin1 their late ,king 7during which time the ,senate had governed pretty well71 that he was dead at the ,court of ,aristodemus the tyrant of ,cumae4 ,whereupon the patricians1 or nobility1 began to let out the hitherto dissembled venom which is inherent in the root of oligarchy and fell immediately upon injuring the people beyond all moderation4 ,for whereas the people had served both gallantly and contentedly in arms upon their own charges1 and1 though joint purchasers by their swords of the conquered lands1 had not participated in the same to above two acres a man 7the rest being secretly usurped by the patricians71 they1 through the meanness of their support and the greatness of their expense1 being generally indebted1 no sooner returned home with victory to lay down their arms1 than they were snatched up by their creditors1 the nobility1 to cram jails4 ,whereupon1 but with the greatest modesty that was ever known in the like case1 they first fell upon debate1 affirming #8,that they were oppressed and captivated at home1 while abroad they fought for liberty and empire1 and that the freedom of the common people was safer in time of war than peace1 among their enemies than their fellow-citizens4' ,it is true that when they could not get the ,senate1 through fear1 as was pretended by the patricians1 to assemble and take their grievances into consideration1 they grew so much the warmer1 that it was glad to meet2 where ,appius ,claudius1 a fierce spirit1 was of opinion that recourse should be had to consular power1 whereby some of the brands of sedition being taken off1 the flame might be extinguished4 ,servilius1 being of another temper1 thought it better and safer to try if the people might be bowed than broken4 8,but this debate was interrupted by tumultuous news of the near approach of the ,volsci1 a case in which the ,senate had no recourse but to the people1 who1 contrary to their former custom upon the like occasions1 would not stir a foot1 but fell a-laughing1 and saying1 #8,let them fight that have something to fight for4' ,the ,senate that had purses1 and could not sing so well before the thief1 being in a great perplexity1 found no possible way out of it but to beseech ,servilius1 one of a genius well known to be popular1 that he would accept of the consulship1 and make some such use of it as might be helpful to the patrician interest4 ,servilius1 accepting of the offer1 and making use of his interest with the people1 persuaded them to hope well of the good intention of the fathers1 whom it would little beseem to be forced to those things which would lose their grace1 and that in view of the enemy1 if they came not freely2 and withal published an edict1 that no man should withhold a citizen of ,rome by imprisonment from giving his name 7for that was the way1 as ,i shall have opportunity hereafter to show more at large1 whereby they drew out their armies71 nor to seize or sell any man's goods or children that were in the camp4 ,whereupon the people with a mighty concourse immediately took arms1 marched forth1 and 7which to them was as easy as to be put into the humor1 and that1 as appears in this place1 was not hard7 totally defeated the ,volsci first1 then the ,sabines 7for the neighboring nations1 hoping to have had a good bargain of the discord in ,rome1 were up in arms on all sides71 and after the ,sabines the ,aurunci4 ,whence returning1 victorious in three battles they expected no less than that the ,senate would have made good their words1 when ,appius ,claudius1 the other ,consul1 of his innate pride1 and that he might frustrate the faith of his colleague1 caused the soldiers 7who being set at liberty1 had behaved themselves with such valor7 to be restored at their return to their creditors and their jails4 8,great resort upon this was made by the people to ,servilius1 showing him their wounds1 calling him to witness how they had behaved themselves1 and minding him of his promise4 ,poor ,servilius was sorry1 but so overawed with the headiness of his colleague1 and the obstinacy of the whole faction of the nobility1 that1 not daring to do anything either way1 he lost both parties1 the fathers conceiving that he was ambitious1 and the people that he was false2 while the ,consul ,claudius1 continuing to countenance such as daily seized and imprisoned some of the indebted people1 had still new and dangerous controversies with them1 insomuch that the commonwealth was torn with horrid division1 and the people 7because they found it not so safe or so effectual in public7 minded nothing but laying their heads together in private conventicles4 ,for this ,aulus ,virginius and ,titus ,vetusius1 the new ,consuls1 were reproved by the ,senate as slothful1 and upbraided with the virtue of ,appius ,claudius4 ,whereupon the ,consuls having desired the ,senate that they might know their pleasure1 showed afterward their readiness to obey it1 by summoning the people according to command1 and requiring names whereby to draw forth an army for diversion1 but no man would answer4 ,report hereof being made to the ,senate1 the younger sort of the fathers grew so hot with the ,consuls that they desired them to abdicate the magistracy1 which they had not the courage to defend4 8,the ,consuls1 though they conceived themselves to be roughly handled1 made this soft answer4 #8,fathers conscript1 that you may please to take notice it was foretold some horrid sedition is at hand1 we shall only desire that they whose valor in this place is so great1 may stand by us to see how we behave ourselves1 and then be as resolute in your commands as you will2 your fatherhoods may know if we be wanting in the performance4' 8,at this some of the hot young noblemen returned with the ,consuls to the tribunal1 before which the people were yet standing2 and the ,consuls having generally required names in vain1 to put it to something1 required the name of one that was in their eye particularly2 on whom1 when he moved not1 they commanded a lictor to lay hands1 but the people1 thronging about the party summoned1 forbade the lictor1 who durst not touch him2 at which the hotspurs that came with the consuls1 enraged by the affront1 descended from the throne to the aid of the lictor2 from whom in so doing they turned the indignation of the people upon themselves with such heat that the ,consuls interposing1 thought fit1 by remitting the assembly1 to appease the tumult2 in which1 nevertheless1 there had been nothing but noise4 ,nor was there less in the ,senate1 being suddenly rallied upon this occasion1 where they that received the repulse1 with others whose heads were as addled as their own1 fell upon the business as if it had been to be determined by clamor till the ,consuls1 upbraiding the ,senate that it differed not from the market-place1 reduced the house to orders4 8,and the fathers1 having been consulted accordingly1 there were three opinions3 ,publius ,virginius conceived that the consideration to be had upon the matter in question1 or aid of the indebted and imprisoned people1 was not to be further extended than to such as had engaged upon the promise made by ,servilius2 ,titus ,largius1 that it was no time to think it enough1 if men's merits were acknowledged1 while the whole people1 sunk under the weight of their debts1 could not emerge without some common aid1 which to restrain1 by putting some into a better condition than others1 would rather more inflame the discord than extinguish it2 ,appius ,claudius 7still upon the old haunt7 would have it that the people were rather wanton than fierce2 it was not oppression that necessitated1 but their power that invited them to these freaks2 the empire of the ,consuls since the appeal to the people 7whereby a plebeian might ask his fellows if he were a thief7 being but a mere scarecrow4 #8,go to1' says he1 #8let us create the dictator1 from whom there is no appeal1 and then let me see more of this work1 or him that shall forbid my lictor4' 8,the advice of ,appius was abhorred by many2 and to introduce a general recision of debts with ,largius1 was to violate all faith2 that of ,virginius1 as the most moderate1 would have passed best1 but that there were private interests1 that constant bane of the public1 which withstood it4 ,so they concluded with ,appius1 who also had been dictator1 if the ,consuls and some of the graver sort had not thought it altogether unseasonable1 at a time when the ,volsci and the ,sabines were up again1 to venture so far upon alienation of the people3 for which cause ,valerius1 being descended from the ,publicolas1 the most popular family1 as also in his own person of a mild nature1 was rather trusted with so rigid a magistracy4 ,whence it happened that the people1 though they knew well enough against whom the ,dictator was created1 feared nothing from ,valerius2 but upon a new promise made to the same effect with that of ,servilius1 hoped better another time1 and throwing away all disputes1 gave their names roundly1 went out1 and1 to be brief1 came home again as victorious as in the former action1 the ,dictator entering the city in triumph4 ,nevertheless1 when he came to press the ,senate to make good his promise1 and do something for the ease of the people1 they regarded him no more as to that point than they had done ,servilius4 ,whereupon the ,dictator1 in disdain to be made a stale1 abdicated his magistracy1 and went home4 ,here1 then1 was a victorious army without a captain1 and a ,senate pulling it by the beard in their gowns4 ,what is it 7if you have read the story1 for there is not such another7 that must follow8 ,can any man imagine that such only should be the opportunity upon which this people could run away8 8,alas1 poor men1 the ,a,equi and the ,volsci and the ,sabines were nothing1 but the fathers invincible6 ,there they sat1 some #cjj of them armed all in robes1 and thundering with their tongues1 without any hopes in the earth to reduce them to any tolerable conditions4 ,wherefore1 not thinking it convenient to abide long so near them1 away marches the army1 and encamps in the fields4 ,this retreat of the people is called the secession of ,mount ,aventin1 where they lodged1 very sad at their condition1 but not letting fall so much as a word of murmur against the fathers4 ,the ,senate by this time were great lords1 had the whole city to themselves2 but certain neighbors were upon the way that might come to speak with them1 not asking leave of the porter4 ,wherefore their minds became troubled1 and an orator was posted to the people to make as good conditions with them as he could2 but1 whatever the terms were1 to bring them home1 and with all speed4 ,and here it was covenanted between the ,senate and the people1 that these should have magistrates of their own election1 called the tribunes1 upon which they returned4 8,to hold you no longer1 the ,senate having done this upon necessity1 made frequent attempts to retract it again1 while the tribunes1 on the other side1 to defend what they had got1 instituted their ,tributa ,comitia1 or council of the people2 where they came in time1 and1 as disputes increased1 to make laws without the authority of the ,senate1 called plebiscita4 ,now to conclude in the point at which ,i drive3 such were the steps whereby the people of ,rome came to assume debate1 nor is it in art or nature to debar a people of the like effect1 where there is the like cause4 ,for ,romulus1 having in the election of his ,senate squared out a nobility for the support of a throne1 by making that of the patricians a distinct and hereditary order1 planted the commonwealth upon two contrary interests or roots1 which1 shooting forth1 in time produced two commonwealths1 the one oligarchical in the nobility1 the other a mere anarchy of the people1 and ever after caused a perpetual feud and enmity between the ,senate and the people1 even to death4 8,there is not a more noble or useful question in the politics than that which is started by ,machiavel1 whether means were to be found whereby the enmity that was between the ,senate and the people of ,rome could have been removed8 ,nor is there any other in which we1 on the present occasion1 are so much concerned1 particularly in relation to this author2 forasmuch as his judgment in the determination of the question standing1 our commonwealth falls4 ,and he that will erect a commonwealth against the judgment of ,machiavel1 is obliged to give such reasons for his enterprise as must not go a-begging4 ,wherefore to repeat the politician very honestly1 but somewhat more briefly1 he disputes thus3 8#8,there be two sorts of commonwealths1 the one for preservation1 as ,lacedaemon and ,venice2 the other for increase1 as ,rome4 8#8,lacedaemon1 being governed by a ,king and a small ,senate1 could maintain itself a long time in that condition1 because the inhabitants1 being few1 having put a bar upon the reception of strangers1 and living in a strict observation of the laws of ,lycurgus1 which now had got reputation1 and taken away all occasion of tumults1 might well continue long in tranquillity4 ,for the laws of ,lycurgus introduced a greater equality in estates1 and a less equality in honors1 whence there was equal poverty2 and the plebeians were less ambitious1 because the honors or magistracies of the city could extend but to a few and were not communicable to the people1 nor did the nobility by using them ill ever give them a desire to participate of the same4 ,this proceeded from the kings1 whose principality1 being placed in the midst of the nobility1 had no greater means whereby to support itself than to shield the people from all injury2 whence the people1 not fearing empire1 desired it not2 and so all occasion of enmity between the ,senate and the people was taken away4 ,but this union happened especially from two causes3 the one that the inhabitants of ,lacedaemon being few1 could be governed by the few2 the other1 that1 not receiving strangers into their commonwealth1 they did not corrupt it1 nor increase it to such a proportion as was not governable by the few4 8#8,venice has not divided with her plebeians1 but all are called gentlemen that be in administration of the government2 for which government she is more beholden to chance than the wisdom of her law-makers2 for many retiring to those islands1 where that city is now built1 from the inundations of barbarians that overwhelmed the ,roman ,empire1 when they were increased to such a number that to live together it was necessary to have laws1 they ordained a form of government1 whereby assembling often in council upon affairs1 and finding their number sufficient for government1 they put a bar upon all such as repairing afterward to their city should become inhabitants1 excluding them from participation of power4 ,whence they that were included in the administration had right1 and they that were excluded1 coming afterward1 and being received upon no other conditions to be inhabitants1 had no wrong1 and therefore had no occasion1 nor 7being never trusted with arms7 any means to be tumultuous4 ,wherefore this commonwealth might very well maintain itself in tranquillity4 8#8,these things considered1 it is plain that the ,roman legislators1 to have introduced a quiet state1 must have done one of these two things3 either shut out strangers1 as the ,lacedemonians2 or1 as the ,venetians1 not allowed the people to bear arms4 ,but they did neither4 ,by which means the people1 having power and increase1 were in perpetual tumult4 ,nor is this to be helped in a commonwealth for increase1 seeing if ,rome had cut off the occasion of her tumults1 she must have cut off the means of her increase1 and by consequence of her greatness4 8#8,wherefore let a legislator consider with himself whether he would make his commonwealth for preservation1 in which case she may be free from tumults2 or for increase1 in which case she must be infested with them4 8#8,if he makes her for preservation1 she may be quiet at home1 but will be in danger abroad4 ,first1 because her foundation must be narrow1 and therefore weak1 as that of ,lacedaemon1 which lay but upon #cj1jjj citizens2 or that of ,venice1 which lies but upon #c1jjj4 ,secondly1 such a commonwealth must either be in peace1 or war2 if she be in peace1 the few are soonest effeminated and corrupted and so obnoxious also to faction4 ,if in war1 succeeding ill1 she is an easy prey2 or succeeding well1 ruined by increase3 a weight which her foundation is not able to bear4 ,for ,lacedaemon1 when she had made herself mistress upon the matter of all ,greece1 through a slight accident1 the rebellion of ,thebes1 occasioned by the conspiracy of ,pelopidas discovering this infirmity of her nature1 the rest of her conquered cities immediately fell off1 and in the turn as it were of a hand reduced her from the fullest tide to the lowest ebb of her fortune4 ,and ,venice having possessed herself of a great part of ,italy by her purse1 was no sooner in defence of it put to the trial of arms than she lost all in one battle4 8#8,whence ,i conclude that in the ordination of a commonwealth a legislator is to think upon that which is most honorable1 and1 laying aside models for preservation1 to follow the example of ,rome conniving at1 and temporizing with1 the enmity between the ,senate and the people1 as a necessary step to the ,roman greatness4 ,for that any man should find out a balance that may take in the conveniences and shut out the inconveniences of both1 ,i do not think it possible4' ,these are the words of the author1 though the method be somewhat altered1 to the end that ,i may the better turn them to my purpose4 8,my lords1 ,i do not know how you hearken to this sound2 but to hear the greatest artist in the modern world giving sentence against our commonwealth is that with which ,i am nearly concerned4 ,wherefore1 with all honor due to the prince of politicians1 let us examine his reasoning with the same liberty which he has asserted to be the right of a free people4 ,but we shall never come up to him1 except by taking the business a little lower1 we descend from effects to their causes4 ,the causes of commotion in a commonwealth are either external or internal4 ,external are from enemies1 from subjects1 or from servants4 ,to dispute then what was the cause why ,rome was infested by the ,italian1 or by the servile wars2 why the slaves took the capitol2 why the ,lacedaemonians were near as frequently troubled with their helots as ,rome with all those2 or why ,venice1 whose situation is not trusted to the faith of men1 has as good or better quarter with them whom she governs1 than ,rome had with the ,latins2 were to dispute upon external causes4 ,the question put by ,machiavel is of internal causes2 whether the enmity that ,was between the ,senate and the people of ,rome might have been removed4 ,and to determine otherwise of this question than he does1 ,i must lay down other principles than he has done4 ,to which end ,i affirm that a commonwealth1 internally considered1 is either equal or unequal4 ,a commonwealth that is internally equal1 has no internal cause of commotion1 and therefore can have no such effect but from without4 ,a commonwealth internally unequal has no internal cause of quiet1 and therefore can have no such effect but by diversion4 8,to prove my assertions1 ,i shall at this time make use of no other than his examples4 ,lacedaemon was externally unquiet1 because she was externally unequal1 that is as to her helots2 and she was internally at rest1 because she was equal in herself1 both in root and branch2 in the root by her agrarian1 and in branch by the ,senate1 inasmuch as no man was thereto qualified but by election of the people4 ,which institution of ,lycurgus is mentioned by ,aristotle1 where he says that rendering his citizens emulous 7not careless7 of that honor1 he assigned to the people the election of the ,senate4 ,wherefore ,machiavel in this1 as in other places1 having his eye upon the division of patrician and plebeian families as they were in ,rome1 has quite mistaken the orders of this commonwealth1 where there was no such thing4 ,nor did the quiet of it derive from the power of the kings1 who were so far from shielding the people from the injury of the nobility1 of which there was none in his sense but the ,senate1 that one declared end of the ,senate at the institution was to shield the people from the kings1 who from that time had but single votes4 ,neither did it proceed from the straitness of the ,senate1 or their keeping the people excluded from the government1 that they were quiet1 but from the equality of their administration1 seeing the ,senate 7as is plain by the oracle1 their fundamental law7 had no more than the debate1 and the result of the commonwealth belonged to the people4 8,wherefore when ,theopompus and ,polydorus1 ,kings of ,lacedaemon1 would have kept the people excluded from the government by adding to the ancient law this clause1 #8,if the determination of the people be faulty1 it shall be lawful for the ,senate to resume the debate1' the people immediately became unquiet1 and resumed that debate1 which ended not till they had set up their ephors1 and caused that magistracy to be confirmed by their kings40 ,for when ,theopompus first ordained that the ephori or overseers should be created at ,lacedaemon1 to be such a restraint upon the kings there as the tribunes were upon the consuls at ,rome1 the ,queen complained to him1 that by this means he transmitted the royal authority greatly diminished to his children3 8,i leave indeed less10 answered he1 8but more lasting40 ,and this was excellently said2 for that power only is safe which is limited from doing hurt4 ,theopompus therefore1 by confining the kingly power within the bounds of the laws1 did recommend it by so much to the people's affection as he removed it from being arbitrary4' ,by which it may appear that a commonwealth for preservation1 if she comes to be unequal1 is as obnoxious to enmity between the ,senate and the people as a commonwealth for increase2 and that the tranquillity of ,lacedaemon was derived from no other cause than her equality4 8,for ,venice1 to say that she is quiet because she disarms her subjects1 is to forget that ,lacedaemon disarmed her helots1 and yet could not in their regard be quiet2 wherefore if ,venice be defended from external causes of commotion1 it is first through her situation1 in which respect her subjects have no hope 7and this indeed may be attributed to her fortune72 and1 secondly1 through her exquisite justice1 whence they have no will to invade her4 ,but this can be attributed to no other cause than her prudence1 which will appear to be greater1 as we look nearer2 for the effects that proceed from fortune1 if there be any such thing1 are like their cause1 inconstant4 ,but there never happened to any other commonwealth so undisturbed and constant a tranquillity and peace in herself as are in that of ,venice2 wherefore this must proceed from some other cause than chance4 ,and we see that as she is of all others the most quiet1 so the most equal commonwealth4 ,her body consists of one order1 and her ,senate is like a rolling stone1 as was said1 which never did1 nor1 while it continues upon that rotation1 never shall gather the moss of a divided or ambitious interest1 much less such a one as that which grasped the people of ,rome in the talons of their own eagles4 ,and if ,machiavel1 averse from doing this commonwealth right1 had considered her orders1 as his reader shall easily perceive he never did1 he must have been so far from attributing the prudence of them to chance1 that he would have touched up his admirable work to that perfection which1 as to the civil part1 has no pattern in the universal world but this of ,venice4 8,rome1 secure by her potent and victorious arms from all external causes of commotion1 was either beholden for her peace at home to her enemies abroad1 or could never rest her head4 ,my lords1 you that are parents of a commonwealth1 and so freer agents than such as are merely natural1 have a care4 ,for1 as no man shall show me a commonwealth born straight that ever became crooked1 so no man shall show me a commonwealth born crooked that ever became straight4 ,rome was crooked in her birth1 or rather prodigious4 ,her twins1 the patrician and plebeian orders1 came1 as was shown by the foregoing story1 into the world1 one body but two heads1 or rather two bellies2 for1 notwithstanding the fable out of ,a,esop1 whereby ,menenius ,agrippa1 the orator that was sent from the ,senate to the people at ,mount ,aventin1 showed the fathers to be the belly1 and the people to be the arms and the legs 7which except that1 how slothful soever it might seem1 they were nourished1 not these only1 but the whole body must languish and be dissolved71 it is plain that the fathers were a distinct belly1 such a one as took the meat indeed out of the people's mouths1 but abhorring the agrarian1 returned it not in the due and necessary nutrition of a commonwealth4 ,nevertheless1 as the people that live about the cataracts of ,nilus are said not to hear the noise1 so neither the ,roman writers1 nor ,machiavel the most conversant with them1 seem among so many of the tribunitian storms to hear their natural voice2 for though they could not miss of it so far as to attribute them to the strife of the people for participation in magistracy1 or1 in which ,machiavel more particularly joins1 to that about the agrarian1 this was to take the business short1 and the remedy for the disease4 8,a people1 when they are reduced to misery and despair1 become their own politicians1 as certain beasts1 when they are sick1 become their own physicians1 and are carried by a natural instinct to the desire of such herbs as are their proper cure2 but the people1 for the greater part1 are beneath the beasts in the use of them4 ,thus the people of ,rome1 though in their misery they had recourse by instinct1 as it were1 to the two main fundamentals of a commonwealth1 participation of magistracy and the agrarian1 did but taste and spit at them1 not 7which is necessary in physic7 drink down the potion1 and in that their healths4 ,for when they had obtained participation of magistracy it was but lamely1 not to a full and equal rotation in all elections2 nor did they greatly regard it in what they had got4 ,and when they had attained to the agrarian1 they neglected it so far as to suffer the law to grow obsolete2 but if you do not take the due dose of your medicines 7as there be slight tastes which a man may have of philosophy that incline to atheism7 it may chance to be poison1 there being a like taste of the politics that inclines to confusion1 as appears in the institution of the ,roman tribunes1 by which magistracy and no more the people were so far from attaining to peace1 that they in getting but so much1 got but heads for an eternal feud2 whereas if they had attained in perfection either to the agrarian1 they had introduced the equality and calm of ,lacedaemon1 or to rotation1 and they had introduced that of ,venice3 and so there could have been no more enmity between the ,senate and the people of ,rome than there was between those orders in ,lacedaemon1 or is now in ,venice4 ,wherefore ,machiavel seems to me1 in attributing the peace of ,venice more to her luck than her prudence1 of the whole stable to have saddled the wrong horse2 for though ,rome in her military part could beat it better1 beyond all comparison1 upon the sounding hoof1 ,venice for the civil part has plainly had the wings of ,pegasus4 8,the whole question then will come upon this point1 whether the people of ,rome could have obtained these orders8 ,and first1 to say that they could not have obtained them without altering the commonwealth1 is no argument2 seeing neither could they1 without altering the commonwealth1 have obtained their tribunes1 which nevertheless were obtained4 ,and if a man considers the posture that the people were in when they obtained their tribunes1 they might as well1 and with as great ease 7forasmuch as the reason why the nobility yielded to the tribunes was no other than that there was no remedy7 have obtained anything else4 ,and for experience1 it was in the like case that the ,lacedaemonians did set up their ephors1 and the ,athenians1 after the battle of ,plataea1 bowed the ,senate 7so hard a thing it is for a commonwealth that was born crooked to become straight7 as much the other way4 ,nor1 if it be objected that this must have ruined the nobility 7and in that deprived the commonwealth of the greatness which she acquired by them71 is this opinion holding1 but confuted by the sequel of the story1 showing plainly that the nobility1 through the defect of such orders 7that is to say1 of rotation and the agrarian71 came to eat up the people2 and battening themselves in luxury1 to be1 as ,sallust speaks of them1 #8a most sluggish and lazy nobility1 in whom1 besides the name1 there was no more than in a statue2' and to bring so mighty a commonwealth1 and of so huge a glory1 to so deplorable an end4 ,wherefore means might have been found to remove the enmity that was between the ,senate and the people of ,rome4 8,my lords1 if ,i have argued well1 ,i have given you the comfort and assurance that1 notwithstanding the judgment of ,machiavel1 your commonwealth is both safe and sound2 but if ,i have not argued well1 then take the comfort and assurance which he gives you while he is firm1 that a legislator is to lay aside all other examples1 and follow that of ,rome only1 conniving and temporizing with the enmity between the ,senate and the people as a necessary step to the ,roman greatness4 ,whence it follows that your commonwealth1 at the worst1 is that which he has given you his word is the best4 8,i have held your lordships long1 but upon an account of no small importance1 which ,i can now sum up in these few words3 where there is a liquorishness in a popular assembly to debate1 it proceeds not from the constitution of the people1 but of the commonwealth4 ,now that your commonwealth is of such a constitution as is naturally free from this kind of intemperance1 is that which1 to make good1 ,i must divide the remainder of my discourse into two parts3 8,the first1 showing the several constitutions of the assemblies of the people in other commonwealths2 8,the second1 comparing our assembly of the people with theirs2 and showing how it excludes the inconveniences and embraces the conveniences of them all4 8,in the beginning of the first part ,i must take notice1 that among the popular errors of our days it is no small one that men imagine the ancient governments of this kind to have consisted for the most part of one city that is1 of one town2 whereas by what we have learned of my #8lords that owned them1 it appears that there was not any considerable one of such a ,constitution but ,carthage1 till this in our days of ,venice4 8,for to begin with ,israel1 it consisted of the twelve tribes1 locally spread or quartered throughout the whole territory1 and these being called together by trumpets1 constituted the ,church or assembly of the people4 ,the vastness of this weight1 as also the slowness thence unavoidable1 became a great cause 7as has been shown at large by my ,lord ,phosphorus7 of the breaking that commonwealth2 notwithstanding that the ,temple1 and those religious ceremonies for which the people were at least annually obliged to repair thither1 were no small ligament of the tribes1 otherwise but slightly tacked together4 8,athens consisted of four tribes1 taking in the whole people1 both of the city and of the territory2 not so gathered by ,theseus into one town1 as to exclude the country1 but to the end that there might be some capital of the commonwealth3 though true it be1 that the congregation1 consisting of the inhabitants within the walls1 was sufficient to all intents and purposes1 without those of the country4 ,these also being exceeding numerous1 became burdensome to themselves and dangerous to the commonwealth2 the more for their ill-education1 as is observed by ,xenophon and ,polybius1 who compare them to mariners that in a calm are perpetually disputing and swaggering one with another1 and never lay their hands to the common tackling or safety till they be all endangered by some storm4 ,which caused ,thucydides1 when he saw this people through the purchase of their misery become so much wiser as to reduce their ,comitia or assemblies to #e1jjj1 to say in his eighth book3 #8,and now1 at least in my time1 the ,athenians seem to have ordered their ,state aright1 consisting of a moderate tempor both of the few 7by which he means the ,senate of the ,bean7 and of the many1' or the #e1jjj4 ,and he does not only give you his judgment1 but the best proof of it2 for #8this1' says he1 #8was the first thing that1 after so many misfortunes past1 made the city again to raise her head4' ,the place ,i would desire your lordships to note1 as the first example that ,i find1 or think is to be found1 of a popular assembly by way of representative4 8,lacedaemon consisted of #cj1jjj citizens dispersed throughout ,laconia1 one of the greatest provinces in all ,greece1 and divided1 as by some authors is probable1 into six tribes4 ,of the whole body of these1 being gathered1 consisted the great ,church or assembly1 which had the legislative power2 the little church1 gathered sometimes for matters of concern within the city1 consisted of the ,spartans only4 ,these happened1 like that of ,venice1 to be good constitutions of a congregation1 but from an ill-cause the infirmity of a commonwealth1 which through her paucity was oligarchical4 8,wherefore1 go which way you will1 it should seem that without a representative of the people1 your commonwealth1 consisting of a whole nation1 can never avoid falling either into oligarchy or confusion4 8,this was seen by the ,romans1 whose rustic tribes1 extending themselves from the river ,arno to the ,vulturnus1 that is1 from ,fesulae or ,florence to ,capua1 invented a way of representative by lots3 the tribe upon which the first fell being the prerogative1 and some two or three more that had the rest1 the jure vocatoe4 ,these gave the suffrage of the commonwealth in two meetings2 the prerogative at the first assembly1 and the jure vocatoe at a second4 8,now to make the parallel3 all the inconveniences that you have observed in these assemblies are shut out1 and all the conveniences taken into your prerogative4 ,for first1 it is that for which ,athens1 shaking off the blame of ,xenophon and ,polybius1 came to deserve the praise of ,thucydides1 a representative4 ,and1 secondly1 not1 as ,i suspect in that of ,athens1 and is past suspicion in this of ,rome1 by lot1 but by suffrage1 as was also the late ,house of ,commons1 by which means in your prerogatives all the tribes of ,oceana are jure vocatoe2 and if a man shall except against the paucity of the standing number1 it is a wheel1 which in the revolution of a few years turns every hand that is fit1 or fits every hand that it turns to the public work4 ,moreover1 ,i am deceived if1 upon due consideration1 it does not fetch your tribes1 with greater equality and ease to themselves and to the government1 from the frontiers of ,marpesia1 than ,rome ever brought any one of hers out of her pomoeria1 or the nearest parts of her adjoining territories4 ,to this you may add1 that whereas a commonwealth1 which in regard of the people is not of facility in execution1 were sure enough in this nation to be cast off through impatience2 your musters and galaxies are given to the people1 as milk to babes1 whereby when they are brought up through four days' election in a whole year 7one at the parish1 one at the hundred1 and two at the tribe7 to their strongest meat1 it is of no harder digestion than to give their negative or affirmative as they see cause4 ,there be gallant men among us that laugh at such an appeal or umpire2 but ,i refer it whether you be more inclining to pardon them or me1 who ,i confess have been this day laughing at a sober man1 but without meaning him any harm1 and that is ,petrus ,cunaeus1 where speaking of the nature of the people1 he says1 #8that taking them apart1 they are very simple1 but yet in their assemblies they see and know something1 and so runs away without troubling himself with what that something is4 ,whereas the people1 taken apart1 are but so many private interests2 but if you take them together1 they are the public interest4 8,the public interest of a commonwealth1 as has been shown1 is nearest that of mankind1 and that of mankind is right reason2 but with aristocracy 7whose reason or interest1 when they are all together1 as appeared by the patricians1 is but that of a party7 it is quite contrary3 for as1 taken apart1 they are far wiser than the people considered in that manner1 so1 being put together1 they are such fools1 who by deposing the people1 as did those of ,rome1 will saw off the branch whereupon they sit1 or rather destroy the root of their own greatness4 ,wherefore ,machiavel1 following ,aristotle1 and yet going before him1 may well assert1 #8that the people are wiser and more constant in their resolutions than a prince3' which is the prerogative of popular government for wisdom4 ,and hence it is that the prerogative of your commonwealth1 as for wisdom so for power1 is in the people1 which 7though ,i am not ignorant that the ,roman prerogative was so called a proerogando1 because their suffrage was first asked7 gives the denomination to your prerogative tribe40 ,the elections1 whether annual or triennial1 being shown by the twenty-second1 that which comes in the next place to be considered is-- ,the twenty-third order1 8,showing the power1 function1 and manner of proceeding of the prerogative tribe4 8,the power or function of the prerogative is of two parts3 the one of result1 in which it is the legislative1 power1 the other of judicature1 in which regard it is the highest court1 and the last appeal in this commonwealth4 8,for the former part 7the people by this constitution being not obliged by any law that is not of their own making or confirmation1 by the result of the prerogative1 their equal representative7 it shall not be lawful for the ,senate to require obedience from the people1 nor for the people to give obedience to the ,senate in or by any law that has not been promulgated1 or printed and published for the space of six weeks1 and afterward proposed by the authority of the ,senate to the prerogative tribe1 and resolved by the major vote of the same in the affirmative4 ,nor shall the ,senate have any power to levy war1 men1 or money1 otherwise than by the consent of the people so given1 or by a law so enacted1 except in cases of exigence1 in which it is agreed that the power1 both of the ,senate and the people1 shall be in the dictator so qualified1 and for such a term of time1 as is according to that constitution already prescribed4 ,while a law is in promulgation1 the censors shall animadvert upon the ,senate1 and the tribunes upon the people1 that there be no laying of heads together1 no conventicles or canvassing to carry on or oppose anything2 but that all may be done in a free and open way4 8,for the latter part of the power of the prerogative1 or that whereby they are the supreme judicatory of this nation1 and of the provinces of the same1 the cognizances of crimes against the majesty of the people1 such as high treason1 as also of peculation1 that is1 robbery of the treasury1 or defraudation of the commonwealth1 appertains to this tribe4 ,and if any person or persons1 provincials or citizens1 shall appeal to the people1 it belongs to the prerogative to judge and determine the case2 provided that if the appeal be from any court of justice in this nation or the provinces1 the appellant shall first deposit #ajj in the court from which he appeals1 to be forfeited to the same if he be cast in his suit by the people4 ,but the power of the ,council of ,war being the expedition of this commonwealth1 and the martial law of the strategus in the field1 are those only from which there shall lie no appeal to the people4 8,the proceeding of the prerogative in case of a proposition is to be thus ordered3 ,the magistrates1 proposing by authority of the ,senate1 shall rehearse the whole matter1 and expound it to the people2 which done1 they shall put the whole together to the suffrage1 with three boxes1 the negative1 the affirmative1 and the non-sincere2 and the suffrage being returned to the tribunes1 and numbered in the presence of the proposers4 ,if the major vote be in the non-sincere1 the proposer shall desist1 and the ,senate shall resume the debate4 ,if the major vote be in the negative1 the proposers shall desist1 and the ,senate1 too4 ,but if the major vote be in the affirmative1 then the tribe is clear and the proposers shall begin and put the whole matter1 with the negative and the affirmative 7leaving out the non-sincere7 by clauses2 and the suffrages being taken and numbered by the tribunes in the presence of the proposers1 shall be written and reported by the tribunes of the ,senate4 ,and that which is proposed by the authority of the ,senate1 and confirmed by the command of the people1 is the law of ,oceana4 8,the proceeding of the prerogative in a case of judicature is to be thus ordered3 ,the tribunes being auditors of all causes appertaining to the cognizance of the people1 shall have notice of the suit or trial1 whether of appeal or otherwise1 that is to be commenced2 and if any one of them shall accept of the same1 it appertains to him to introduce it4 ,a cause being introduced1 and the people mustered or assembled for the decision of the same1 the tribunes are presidents of the court1 having power to keep it to orders1 and shall be seated upon a scaffold erected in the middle of the tribe4 ,upon the right hand shall stand a seat or large pulpit assigned to the plaintiff or the accuser2 and1 upon the left1 another for the defendant1 each if they please with his counsel4 ,and the tribunes 7being attended upon such occasions with so many ballotins1 secretaries1 doorkeepers1 and messengers of the ,senate as shall be requisite7 one of them shall turn up a glass of the nature of an hour-glass1 but such a one as is to be of an hour and a half's running2 which being turned up1 the party or counsel on the right hand may begin to speak to the people4 ,if there be papers to be read1 or witnesses to be examined1 the officer shall lay the glass sideways till the papers be read and the witnesses examined1 and then turn it up again2 and so long as the glass is running1 the party on the right hand has liberty to speak1 and no longer4 ,the party on the right hand having had his time1 the like shall be done in every respect for the party on the left4 ,and the cause being thus heard1 the tribunes shall put the question to the tribe with a white1 a black1 and a red box 7or non-sincere71 whether guilty or not guilty4 ,and if the suffrage being taken1 the major vote be in the non-sincere1 the cause shall be reheard upon the next juridicial day following1 and put to the question in the same manner4 ,if the major vote comes the second time in the non-sincere1 the cause shall be heard again upon the third day2 but at the third hearing the question shall be put without the non-sincere4 ,upon the first of the three days in which the major vote comes in the white box1 the party accused is absolved2 and upon the first of them in which it comes in the black box1 the party accused is condemned4 ,the party accused being condemned1 the tribunes 7if the case be criminal7 shall put with the white and the black box these questions1 or such of them as1 regard had to the case1 they shall conceive most proper3 #a4 ,whether he shall have a writ of ease2 #b4 ,whether he shall be fined so much or so much2 #c4 ,whether he shall be confiscated2 #d4 ,whether he shall be rendered incapable of magistracy2 #e4 ,whether he shall be banished2 #f4 ,whether he shall be put to death4 8,these1 or any three of these questions1 whether simple or such as shall be thought fitly mixed1 being put by the tribunes1 that which has most above half the votes in the black box is the sentence of the people1 which the troop of the third class is to see executed accordingly4 8,but whereas by the constitution of this commonwealth it may appear that neither the propositions of the ,senate nor the judicature of the people will be so frequent as to hold the prerogative in continual employment1 the ,senate1 a main part of whose office it is to teach and instruct the people1 shall duly 7if they have no greater affairs to divert them7 cause an oration to be made to the prerogative by some knight or magistrate of the ,senate1 to be chosen out of the ablest men1 and from time to time appointed by the orator of the house1 in the great hall of the ,pantheon1 while the ,parliament resides in the town1 or in some grove or sweet place in the field1 while the ,parliament for the heat of the year shall reside in the country1 upon every ,tuesday1 morning or afternoon4 8,and the orator appointed for the time to this office shall first repeat the orders of the commonwealth with all possible brevity2 and then1 making choice of one or some part of it1 discourse thereof to the people4 ,an oration or discourse of this nature1 being afterward perused by the ,council of ,state1 may as they see cause be printed and published40 ,the ,archon's comment upon the order ,i find to have been of this sense3 8,,my ,,lords3 8,to crave pardon for a word or two in further explanation of what was read1 ,i shall briefly show how the constitution of this tribe or assembly answers to their function2 and how their function1 which is of two parts1 the former in the result or legislative power1 the latter in the supreme judicature of the commonwealth1 answers to their constitution4 ,machiavel has a discourse1 where he puts the question1 #8,whether the guard of liberty may with more security be committed to the nobility or to the people8' ,which doubt of his arises through the want of explaining his terms2 for the guard of liberty can signify nothing else but the result of the commonwealth2 so that to say that the guard of liberty may be committed to the nobility1 is to say that the result may be committed to the ,senate1 in which case the people signify nothing4 8,now to show it was a mistake to affirm it to have been thus in ,lacedaemon1 sufficient has been spoken2 and whereas he will have it to be so in ,venice also3 #8,they1' says ,contarini1 #8in whom resides the supreme power of the whole commonwealth1 and of the laws1 and upon whose orders depends the authority as well of the ,senate as of all the other magistrates1 is the ,great ,council4' ,it is institutively in the ,great ,council1 by the judgment of all that know that commonwealth2 though1 for the reasons shown1 it be sometimes exercised by the ,senate4 ,nor need ,i run over the commonwealths in this place for the proof of a thing so doubtless1 and such as has been already made so apparent1 as that the result of each was in the popular part of it4 ,the popular part of yours1 or the prerogative tribe1 consists of seven deputies 7whereof three are of the horse7 annually elected out of every tribe of ,oceana2 which being fifty1 amounts to #aej horse and #bjj foot4 ,and the prerogative consisting of three of these lists1 consists of #dej horse and #fjj foot1 besides those of the provinces to be hereafter mentioned2 by which means the overbalance in the suffrage remaining to the foot by #aej votes1 you have to the support of a true and natural aristocracy the deepest root of a democracy that has been ever planted4 8,wherefore there is nothing in art or nature better qualified for the result than this assembly it is noted out of ,cicero by ,machiavel1 #8,that the people1 though they are not so prone to find out truth of themselves as to follow custom or run into error yet if they be shown truth1 they not only acknowledge and embrace it very suddenly1 but are the most constant and faithful guardians and conservators of it4' it is your duty and office1 whereto you are also qualified by the orders of this commonwealth1 to have the people as you have your hawks and greyhounds1 in leashes and slips1 to range the fields and beat the bushes for them1 for they are of a nature that is never good at this sport1 but when you spring or start their proper quarry4 ,think not that they will stand to ask you what it is1 or less know it than your hawks and greyhounds do theirs2 but presently make such a flight or course1 that a huntsman may as well undertake to run with his dogs1 or a falconer to fly with his hawk1 as an aristocracy at this game to compare with the people4 ,the people of ,rome were possessed of no less a prey than the empire of the world1 when the nobility turned tails1 and perched among daws upon the tower of monarchy4 ,for though they did not all of them intend the thing1 they would none of them endure the remedy1 which was the agrarian4 8,but the prerogative tribe has not only the result1 but is the supreme judicature1 and the ultimate appeal in this commonwealth4 ,for the popular government that makes account to be of any standing1 must make sure in the first place of the appeal to the people4 ,as an estate in trust becomes a man's own if he be not answerable for it1 so the power of a magistracy not accountable to the people1 from whom it was received1 becoming of private use1 the commonwealth loses her liberty ,wherefore the right of supreme judicature in the people 7,without which there can be no such thing as popular government7 is confirmed by the constant practice of all commonwealths2 as that of ,israel in the cases of ,achan1 and of the tribe of ,benjamin1 adjudged by the congregation4 8,the dicasterian1 or court called the heliaia in ,athens1 which 7the comitia of that commonwealth consisting of the whole people1 and so being too numerous to be a judicatory7 was constituted sometimes of #ejj1 at others of #a1jjj1 or1 according to the greatness of the cause1 of #a1ejj1 elected by the lot out of the whole body of the people1 had1 with the nine ,archons that were presidents1 the cognizance of such causes as were of highest importance in that ,state4 ,the five ephors in ,lacedaemon1 which were popular magistrates1 might question their kings1 as appears by the cases of ,pausanias1 and of ,agis1 who being upon his trial in this court1 was cried to by his mother to appeal to the people1 as ,plutarch has it in his life4 ,the tribunes of the people of ,rome 7like1 in the nature of their magistracy1 and for some time in number1 to the ephors1 as being1 according to ,halicarnassus and ,plutarch1 instituted in imitation of them7 had power to summon any man1 his magistracy at least being expired 7for from the ,dictator there lay no appeal7 to answer for himself to the people4 ,as in the case of ,coriolanus1 who was going about to force the people1 by withholding corn from them in a famine1 to relinquish the magistracy of the tribunes1 in that of ,spurius ,cassius for affecting tyranny1 of ,marcus ,sergius for running away at ,veii1 of ,caius ,lucretius for spoiling his province1 of ,junius ,silanus for making war without a command from the people against the ,cimbri1 with divers others4 ,and the crimes of this nature were called loesoe majestatis1 or high treason4 ,examples of such as were arraigned or tried for peculation1 or defraudation of the commonwealth1 were ,marcus ,curius for intercepting the money of the ,samnites1 ,salinator for the unequal division of spoils to his soldiers1 ,marcus ,posthumius for cheating the commonwealth by a feigned shipwreck4 ,causes of these two kinds were of a more public nature2 but the like power upon appeals was also exercised by the people in private matters1 even during the time of the kings1 as in the case of ,horatius4 ,nor is it otherwise with ,venice1 where the ,doge ,loredano was sentenced by the great ,council1 and ,antonio ,grimani1 afterward doge1 questioned1 for that he1 being admiral1 had suffered the ,turk to take ,lepanto in view of his fleet4 8,nevertheless1 there lay no appeal from the ,roman dictator to the people2 which1 if there had1 might have cost the commonwealth dear1 when ,spurius ,melius1 affecting empire1 circumvented and debauched the tribunes3 whereupon ,titus ,quintus ,cincinnatus was created ,dictator1 who having chosen ,servilius ,ahala to be his lieutenant1 or magister equitum1 sent him to apprehend ,melius1 whom1 while he disputed the commands of the ,dictator and implored the aid of the people1 ,ahala cut off upon the place4 ,by which example you may see in what cases the dictator may prevent the blow which is ready sometimes to fall ere the people be aware of the danger4 ,wherefore there lies no appeal from the ,dieci1 or the ,council of ,ten1 in ,venice1 to the ,great ,council1 nor from our ,council of ,war to the people4 ,for the way of proceeding of this tribe1 or the ballot1 it is1 as was once said for all1 ,venetian4 8,this discourse of judicatories whereupon we are fallen1 brings us rather naturally than of design from the two general orders of every commonwealth1 that is to say1 from the debating part1 or the ,senate1 and the resolving part1 or the people1 to the third1 which is the executive part or the magistracy1 whereupon ,i shall have no need to dwell1 for the executive magistrates of this commonwealth are the strategus in arms2 the signory in their several courts1 as the chancery1 the exchequer2 as also the councils in divers cases within their instructions2 the censors as well in their proper magistracy1 as in the ,council of ,religion2 the tribunes in the government of the prerogative1 and that judicatory2 and the judges with their courts2 of all which so much is already said or known as may suffice4 8,the ,tuesday lectures or orations to the people will be of great benefit to the ,senate1 the prerogative1 and the whole nation4 ,to the ,senate1 because they will not only teach your ,senators elocution1 but keep the system of the government in their memories4 ,elocution is of great use to your ,senators1 for if they do not understand rhetoric 7giving it at this time for granted that the art were not otherwise good7 and come to treat with1 or vindicate the cause of the commonwealth against some other nation that is good at it1 the advantage will be subject to remain upon the merit of the art1 and not upon the merit of the cause4 ,furthermore1 the genius or soul of this government being in the whole and in every part1 they will never be of ability in determination upon any particular1 unless at the same time they have an idea of the whole4 ,that this therefore must be1 in that regard1 of equal benefit to the prerogative1 is plain2 though these have a greater concernment in it4 ,for this commonwealth is the estate of the people2 and a man1 you know1 though he be virtuous1 yet if he does not understand his estate1 may run out or be cheated of it4 ,last of all1 the treasures of the politics will by this means be so opened1 rifled1 and dispersed1 that this nation will as soon dote1 like the ,indians1 upon glass beads1 as disturb your government with whimsies and freaks of mother-wit1 or suffer themselves to be stuttered out of their liberties4 ,there is not any reason why your grandees1 your wise men of this age1 that laugh out and openly at a commonwealth as the most ridiculous thing1 do not appear to be1 as in this regard they are1 mere idiots1 but that the people have not eyes40 ,there remains no more relating to the ,senate and the people than-- ,the twenty-fourth order1 8,whereby it is lawful for the province of ,marpesia to have thirty knights of their own election continually present in the ,senate of ,oceana1 together with sixty deputies of horse1 and #abj of foot in the prerogative tribe1 endued with equal power 7respect had to their quality and number7 in the debate and result of this commonwealth1 provided that they observe the course or rotation of the same by the annual return of ten knights1 twenty deputies of the horse1 and forty of the foot4 ,the like in all respects is lawful for ,panopea2 and the horse of both the provinces amounting to one troop1 and the foot to one company1 one captain and one cornet of the horse shall be annually chosen by ,marpesia1 and one captain and one ensign of the foot shall be annually chosen by ,panopea40 ,the orb of the prerogative being thus complete1 is not unnaturally compared to that of the moon1 either in consideration of the light borrowed from the ,senate1 as from the sun2 or of the ebbs and floods of the people1 which are marked by the negative or affirmative of this tribe4 ,and the constitution of the ,senate and the people being shown1 you have that of the ,parliament of ,oceana1 consisting of the ,senate proposing1 and of the people resolving1 which amounts to an act of ,parliament4 ,so the ,parliament is the heart1 which1 consisting of two ventricles1 the one greater and replenished with a grosser matter1 the other less and full of a purer1 sucks in and spouts forth the vital blood of ,oceana by a perpetual circulation4 ,wherefore the life of this government is no more unnatural or obnoxious upon this score to dissolution than that of a man2 nor to giddiness than the world2 seeing the earth1 whether it be itself or the heavens that are in rotation1 is so far from being giddy1 that it could not subsist without motion4 ,but why should not this government be much rather capable of duration and steadiness by motion8 ,than which ,god has ordained no other to the universal commonwealth of mankind3 seeing one generation comes and another goes1 but the earth remains firm forever1 that is1 in her proper situation or place1 whether she be moved or not moved upon her proper centre4 ,the ,senate1 the people1 and the magistracy1 or the ,parliament so constituted1 as you have seen1 is the guardian of this commonwealth1 and the husband of such a wife as is elegantly described by ,solomon3 8,she is like the merchant's ships2 she brings her food from far4 ,she considers a field1 and buys it3 with the fruit of her hands she plants a vineyard4 ,she perceives that her merchandise is good4 ,she stretches forth her hands to the poor4 ,she is not afraid of the snow for her household2 for all her household are clothed with scarlet4 ,she makes herself coverings of tapestry1 her clothing is silk and purple4 ,her husband is known 7by his robes7 in the gates1 when he sits among the senators of the land40 ,the gates1 or inferior courts1 were branches1 as it were1 of the ,sanhedrim1 or ,senate1 of ,israel4 ,nor is our commonwealth a worse housewife1 nor has she less regard to her magistrates2 as may pear by-- ,the twenty-fifth order1 8,that1 whereas the public revenue is through the late civil wars dilapidated1 the excise1 being improved or improvable to the revenue of #a1jjj1jjj1 be applied1 for the space of eleven years to come1 to the reparation of the same1 and for the present maintenance of the magistrates1 knights1 deputies1 and other officers1 who1 according to their several dignities and functions1 shall annually receive toward the support of the same1 as follows3 8,the lord strategus marching1 is1 upon another account1 to have field-pay as general4 ,per ,annum ,the lord strategus sitting444444 #b1jjj ,the lord orator444444 #b1jjj ,the three commissioners of the seal444 #d1ejj ,the three commissioners of the treasury444 #d1ejj ,the two censors4444 #c1jjj ,the #bij knights1 at #ejj a man44444 #ade1jjj ,the four ambassadors-in-ordinary4444 #ab1jjj ,the ,council of ,war for intelligence4444 #c1jjj ,the master of the ceremonies44444 #ejj ,the master of the horse444444 #ejj ,his substitute44444 #aej ,the twelve ballotins for their winter liveries #bdj ,for summer liveries444 #abj ,for their board-wages444444 #dhj ,for the keeping of three coaches of state1 twenty-four coach-horses1 with coachmen and postilions4444444444 #a1ejj ,for the grooms1 and keeping of sixteen great horses for the master of the horse1 and for the ballotins whom he is to govern and instruct in the art of riding4444444444 #dhj ,the twenty secretaries of the ,parliament444 #b1jjj ,the twenty doorkeepers1 who are to attend with pole-axes1 ,for their coats4444444 #bjj ,for their board-wages4444 #a1jjj ,the twenty messengers1 which are trumpeters1 ,for their coats4444 #bjj ,for their board-wages44444 #a1jjj ,for ornament of the masters of the youth444 #e1jjj ,sum #ahi1cgj 8,out of the personal estates of every man1 who at his death bequeaths not above forty shillings to the muster of that hundred wherein it lies1 shall be levied one per cent4 till the solid revenue of the muster of the hundred amounts to #ej per annum for the prizes of the youth4 8,the twelve ballotins are to be divided into three regions1 according to the course of the ,senate2 the four of the first region to be elected at the tropic out of such children as the knights of the same shall offer1 not being under eleven years of age1 nor above thirteen4 ,and their election shall be made by the lot at an urn set by the sergeant of the house for that purpose in the hall of the ,pantheon4 ,the livery of the commonwealth for the fashion or the color may be changed at the election of the strategus according to his fancy4 ,but every knight during his session shall be bound to give to his footman1 or some one of his footmen1 the livery of the commonwealth4 8,the prerogative tribe shall receive as follows3 ,by the week ,the two tribunes of the horse44444 #ad #j ,the two tribunes of the foot44444 #ab #j ,the three captains of the horse44444 #ae #j ,the three cornets44444 #i #j ,the three captains of the foot4444 #ab #j ,the three ensigns44444444 #g #j ,the #ddb horse1 at #b a man44444 #hhd #j ,the #eib foot1 at #a #ajs a man4444 #hhh #j ,the six trumpeters44444 #g #aj ,the three drummers44444444444 #b #e ,sum by the week4444444444444444 #a1hej #ae ,sum by the year4444444444444 #if1bci #j ,the total of the ,senate1 the people1 and the magistracy44444444444444444444 #bhg1dei #ae 8,the dignity of the commonwealth1 and aids of the several magistracies and offices thereto belonging1 bring provided for as aforesaid1 the overplus of the excise1 with the product of the sum rising1 shall be carefully managed by the ,senate and the people through the diligence of the officers of the ,exchequer1 till it amount to #h1jjj1jjj1 or to the purchase of about #djj1jjj solid revenue4 ,at which time1 the term of eleven years being expired1 the excise1 except it be otherwise ordered by the ,senate and the people1 shall be totally remitted and abolished forever40 ,at this institution the taxes1 as will better appear in the ,corollary1 were abated about one-half1 which made the order1 when it came to be tasted1 to be of good relish with the people in the very beginning2 though the advantages then were no ways comparable to the consequences to be hereafter shown4 ,nevertheless1 my ,lord ,epimonus1 who with much ado had been held till now1 found it midsummer moon1 and broke out of bedlam in this manner4 8,,my ,,lord ,,archon3 8,i have a singing in my head like that of a cart-wheel1 my brains are upon a rotation2 and some are so merry1 that a man cannot speak his griefs1 but if your high-shod prerogative1 and those same slouching fellows your tribunes1 do not take my lord strategus's and my lord orator's heads1 and jolt them together under the canopy1 then let me be ridiculous to all posterity4 ,for here is a commonwealth1 to which if a man should take that of the #8prentices in their ancient administration of justice at ,shrovetide1 it were an aristocracy4 ,you have set the very rabble with truncheons in their hands1 and the gentry of this nation1 like cocks with scarlet gills1 and the golden combs of their salaries to boot1 lest they should not be thrown at4 8,not a night can ,i sleep for some horrid apparition or other2 one while these myrmidons are measuring silks by their quarterstaves1 another stuffing their greasy pouches with my lord high treasurer's jacobuses4 ,for they are above #a1jjj in arms to #cjj1 which1 their gowns being pulled over their ears1 are but in their doublets and hose4 ,but what do ,i speak of #a1jjj8 ,there be #b1jjj in every tribe1 that is1 #ajj1jjj in the whole nation1 not only in the posture of an army1 but in a civil capacity sufficient to give us what laws they please4 ,now everybody knows that the lower sort of people regard nothing but money2 and you say it is the duty of a legislator to presume all men to be wicked3 wherefore they must fall upon the richer1 as they are an army2 or1 lest their minds should misgive them in such a villany1 you have given them encouragement that they have a nearer way1 seeing it may be done every whit as well as by the overbalancing power which they have in elections4 ,there is a fair which is annually kept in the centre of these territories at ,kiberton1 a town famous for ale1 and frequented by good fellows2 where there is a solemnity of the pipers and fiddlers of this nation 7,i know not whether ,lacedaemon1 where the ,senate kept account of the stops of the flutes and of the fiddle-strings of that commonwealth1 bad any such custom7 called the bull-running1 and he that catches and holds the bull1 is the annual and supreme magistrate of that comitia or congregation1 called king piper1 without whose license it is not lawful for any of those citizens to enjoy the liberty of his calling2 nor is he otherwise legitimately qualified 7or civitate donatus7 to lead apes or bears in any perambulation of the same4 ,mine host of the ,bear1 in ,kiberton1 the father of ale1 and patron of good football and cudgel players1 has any time since ,i can remember been grand-chancellor of this order4 8,now1 say ,i1 seeing great things arise from small beginnings1 what should hinder the people1 prone to their own advantage and loving money1 from having intelligence conveyed to them by this same king piper and his chancellor1 with their loyal subjects the minstrels and bear-wards1 masters of ceremonies1 to which there is great recourse in their respective perambulations1 and which they will commission and instruct1 with directions to all the tribes1 willing and commanding them1 that as they wish their own good1 they choose no other into the next primum mobile but of the ablest cudgel and football players8 ,which done as soon as said1 your primum mobile1 consisting of no other stuff1 must of necessity be drawn forth into your nebulones and your galimofries2 and so the silken purses of your ,senate and prerogative being made of sows' ears1 most of them blacksmiths1 they will strike while the iron is hot1 and beat your estates into hob-nails1 mine host of the ,bear being strategus1 and king piper lord orator4 ,well1 my lords1 it might have been otherwise expressed1 but this is well enough a-conscience4 ,in your way1 the wit of man shall not prevent this or the like inconvenience2 but if this 7for ,i have conferred with artists7 be a mathematical demonstration1 ,i could kneel to you1 that ere it be too late we might return to some kind of sobriety4 ,if we empty our purses with these pomps1 salaries1 coaches1 lackeys1 and pages1 what can the people say less than that we have dressed a ,senate and a prerogative for nothing but to go to the park with the ladies80 ,my ,lord ,archon1 whose meekness resembled that of ,moses1 vouchsafed this answer3 8,my ,,lords3 8,for all this1 ,i can see my ,lord ,epimonus every night in the park1 and with ladies2 nor do ,i blame this in a young man1 or the respect which is and ought to be given to a sex that is one-half of the commonwealth of mankind1 and without which the other would be none3 but our magistrates1 ,i doubt1 may be somewhat of the oldest to perform this part with much acceptation2 and1 as the ,italian proverb says1 #8,servire e non gradire e cosa da far morire4' ,wherefore we will lay no certain obligation upon them in this point1 but leave them1 if it please you1 to their own fate or discretion4 ,but this 7for ,i know my ,lord ,epimonus loves me1 though ,i can never get his esteem7 ,i will say1 if he had a mistress should use him so1 he would find it a sad life2 or ,i appeal to your lordships1 how ,i can resent it from such a friend1 that he puts king piper's politics in the balance with mine4 ,king piper1 ,i deny not1 may teach his bears to dance1 but they have the worst ear of all creatures4 ,now how he should make them keep time in fifty several tribes1 and that two years together1 for else it will be to no purpose1 may be a small matter with my lord to promise2 but it seems to me of impossible performance4 ,first1 through the nature of the bean2 and1 secondly1 through that of the ballot2 or how what he has hitherto thought so hard1 is now come to be easy2 but he may think that for expedition they will eat up these balls like apples4 8,however1 there is so much more in their way by the constitution of this1 than is to be found in that of any other commonwealth1 that ,i am reconciled1 it now appearing plainly that the points of my lord's arrows are directed at no other white than to show the excellency of our government above others2 which1 as he proceeds further1 is yet plainer2 while he makes it appear that there can be no other elected by the people but smiths3 8#8,brontesque ,steropesque et nudus membra ,pyracmon3' 8,othoniel1 ,aod1 ,gideon1 ,jephtha1 ,samson1 as in ,israel2 ,miltiades1 ,aristides1 ,themistocles1 ,cimon1 ,pericles1 as in ,athens2 ,papyrius1 ,cincinnatus1 ,camillus1 ,fabius ,scipio1 as in ,rome3 smiths of the fortune of the commonwealth2 not such as forged hob-nails1 but thunderbolts4 ,popular elections are of that kind1 that all of the rest of the world is not able1 either in number or glory1 to equal those of these three commonwealths4 ,these indeed were the ablest cudgel and football players2 bright arms were their cudgels1 and the world was the ball that lay at their feet4 ,wherefore we are not so to understand the maxim of legislators1 which holds all men to be wicked1 as if it related to mankind or a commonwealth1 the interests whereof are the only straight lines they have whereby to reform the crooked2 but as it relates to every man or party1 under what color soever he or they pretend to be trusted apart1 with or by the whole4 ,hence then it is derived1 which is made good in all experience1 that the aristocracy is ravenous1 and not the people4 ,your highwaymen are not such as have trades1 or have been brought up to industry2 but such commonly whose education has pretended to that of gentlemen4 ,my lord is so honest1 he does not know the maxims that are of absolute necessity to the arts of wickedness2 for it is most certain1 if there be not more purses than thieves1 that the thieves themselves must be forced to turn honest1 because they cannot thrive by their trade2 but now if the people should turn thieves1 who sees not that there would be more thieves than purses8 wherefore that a whole people should turn robbers or levellers1 is as impossible in the end as in the means4 8,but that ,i do not think your artist which you mentioned1 whether astronomer or arithmetician1 can tell me how many barley-corns would reach to the sun1 ,i could be content he were called to the account1 with which ,i shall conclude this point3 when by the way ,i have chid my lords the legislators1 who1 as if they doubted my tackling could not hold1 would leave me to flag in a perpetual calm1 but for my ,lord ,epimonus1 who breathes now and then into my sails and stirs the waters4 ,a ship makes not her way so briskly as when she is handsomely brushed by the waves1 and tumbles over those that seem to tumble against her2 in which case ,i have perceived in the dark that light has been struck even out of the sea1 as in this place1 where my ,lord ,epimonus feigning to give us a demonstration of one thing1 has given it of another1 and of a better4 ,for the people of this nation1 if they amount in each tribe to #b1jjj elders and #b1jjj youths upon the annual roll1 holding a fifth to the whole tribe1 then the whole of a tribe1 not accounting women and children1 must amount to #bj1jjj2 and so the whole of all the tribes1 being fifty1 to #a1jjj1jjj4 8,now you have #aj1jjj parishes1 and reckoning these one with another1 each at #a1jjj a year dry-rent1 the rent or revenue of the nation1 as it is or might be let to farm1 amounts to #aj1jjj1jjj2 and #aj1jjj1jjj in revenue divided equally to #a1jjj1jjj of men1 comes but to #aj a year to each wherewith to maintain himself1 his wife and children4 ,but he that has a cow upon the common1 and earns his shilling by the day at his labor1 has twice as much already as this would come to for his share2 because if the land were thus divided1 there would be nobody to set him on work4 ,so my ,lord ,epimonus's footman1 who costs him thrice as much as one of these could thus get1 would certainly lose by his bargain4 ,what should we speak of those innumerable trades whereupon men live1 not only better than others upon good shares of lands1 but become also purchasers of greater estates8 ,is not this the demonstration which my lord meant1 that the revenue of industry in a nation1 at least in this1 is three or four-fold greater than that of the mere rent8 ,if the people then obstruct industry1 they obstruct their own livelihood2 but if they make a war1 they obstruct industry4 ,take the bread out of the people's mouths1 as did the ,roman patricians1 and you are sure enough of a war1 in which case they may be levellers2 but our agrarian causes their industry to flow with milk and honey4 ,it will be owned that this is true1 if the people were given to understand their own happiness2 but where is it they do that8 ,let me reply with the like question1 where do they not8 ,they do not know their happiness it should seem in ,france1 ,spain1 and ,italy2 but teach them what it is1 and try whose sense is the truer4 8,as to the late wars in ,germany1 it has been affirmed to me there1 that the princes could never make the people to take arms while they had bread1 and have therefore suffered countries now and then to be wasted that they might get soldiers4 ,this you will find to be the certain pulse and temper of the people2 and if they have been already proved to be the most wise and constant order of a government1 why should we think 7when no man can produce one example of the common soldiery in an army mutinying because they had not captains' pay7 that the prerogative should jolt the heads of the ,senate together because these have the better salaries1 when it must be as evident to the people in a nation1 as to the soldiery in an army1 that it is no more possible their emoluments of this kind should be afforded by any commonwealth in the world to be made equal with those of the ,senate1 than that the common soldiers should be equal with the captains8 ,it is enough for the common soldier that his virtue may bring him to be a captain1 and more to the prerogative1 that each of them is nearer to be a senator4 8,if my lord thinks our salaries too great1 and that the commonwealth is not housewife enough1 whether is it better housewifery that she should keep her family from the snow1 or suffer them to burn her house that they may warm themselves8 for one of these must be4 ,do you think that she came off at a cheaper rate when men had their rewards by #a1jjj or #b1jjj a year in land if inheritance8 if you say that they will be more godly than they have been1 it may be ill taken2 and if you cannot promise that1 it is time we find out some way of stinting at least1 if not curing them of that same sacra fames4 ,on the other side1 if a poor man 7as such a one may save a city7 gives his sweat to the public1 with what conscience can you suffer his family in the meantime to starve8 but he that lays his hand to this plough shall not lose by taking it off from his own1 and a commonwealth that will mend this shall be penny-wise4 ,the ,sanhedrim of ,israel1 being the supreme1 and a constant court of judicature1 could not choose but be exceeding gainful4 ,the ,senate of the ,bean in ,athens1 because it was but annual1 was moderately salaried2 but that of the ,areopagites1 being for life1 bountifully2 and what advantages the senators of ,lacedaemon had1 where there was little money or use of it1 were in honors for life4 ,the patricians having no profit1 took all4 ,venice being a situation where a man goes but to the door for his employment1 the honor is great and the reward very little2 but in ,holland a councillor of state has #a1ejj ,flemish a year1 besides other accommodations4 ,the ,states-,general have more4 ,and that commonwealth looks nearer her penny than ours needs to do4 8,for the revenue of this nation1 besides that of her industry1 it--amounts1 as has been shown1 to #aj1jjj1jjj2 and the salaries in the whole come not to #cjj1jjj a year4 ,the beauty they will add to the commonwealth will be exceeding great1 and the people will delight in this beauty of their commonwealth2 the encouragement they will give to the study of the public being very progitable1 the accommodation they will afford to your magistrates very honorable and easy4 ,and the sum1 when it or twice as much was spent in bunting and housekeeping1 was never any grievance to the people4 ,i am ashamed to stand huckling upon this point2 it is sordid4 ,your magistrates are rather to be provided with further accommodations4 ,for what if there should be sickness8 whither will you have them to remove8 ,and this city in the soundest times1 for the heat of the year1 is no wholesome abode3 have a care of their healths to whom you commit your own4 ,i would have the ,senate and the people1 except they see cause to the contrary1 every first of ,june to remove into the country air for the space of three months4 ,you are better fitted with summer-houses for them than if you had built them to that purpose4 8,there is some twelve miles distant the convallium upon the river ,halcionia1 for the tribunes and the prerogative1 a palace capable of #a1jjj men2 and twenty miles distant you have ,mount ,celia1 reverend as well for the antiquity as state of a castle completely capable of the ,senate1 the proposers having lodgings in the convallium1 and the tribunes in ,celia1 it holds the correspondency between the ,senate and the people exactly ,and it is a small matter for the proposers1 being attended with the coaches and officers of state1 besides other conveniences of their own1 to go a matter of five or ten miles 7those seats are not much farther distant7 to meet the people upon any heath or field that shall be appointed3 where1 having despatched their business1 they may hunt their own venison 7for ,i would have the great walled park upon the ,halcionia to belong to the signory1 and those about the convallium to the tribunes7 and so go to supper4 ,pray1 my lords1 see that they do not pull down these houses to sell the lead of them2 for when--you have considered on it1 they cannot be spared4 ,the founders of the school in ,hiera provided that the boys should have a summer seat4 ,you should have as much care of these magistrates4 ,but there is such a selling1 such a ,jewish humor in our republicans1 that ,i cannot tell what to say to it2 only this1 any man that knows what belongs to a commonwealth1 or how diligent every nation in that case has been to preserve her ornaments1 and shall see the waste lately made 7the woods adjoining to this city1 which served for the delight and health of it1 being cut down to be sold for threepence71 will you tell that they who did such things would never have made a commonwealth4 ,the like may be said of the ruin or damage done upon our cathedrals1 ornaments in which this nation excels all others4 ,nor shall this ever be excused upon the score of religion2 for though it be true that ,god dwells not in houses made with hands1 yet you cannot hold your assemblies but in such houses1 and these are of the best that have been made with hands4 ,nor is it well argued that they are pompous1 and therefore profane1 or less proper for divine service1 seeing the ,christians in the primitive ,church chose to meet with one accord in the ,temple1 so far were they from any inclination to pull it down40 ,the orders of this commonwealth1 so far1 or near so far as they concern the elders1 together with the several speeches at the institution1 which may serve for the better understanding of them as so many commentaries1 being shown1 ,i should now come from the elders to the youth1 or from the civil constitution of this government to the military1 but that ,i judge this the fittest place whereinto1 by the way1 to insert the government of the city though for the present but perfunctorily4 8#8,the metropolis or capital city of ,oceana is commonly called ,emporium1 though it consists of two cities distinct1 as well in name as in government1 whereof the other is called ,hiera1 for which cause ,i shall treat of each apart1 beginning with ,emporium4 8,emporium1 with the liberties1 is under a twofold division1 the one regarding the national1 and the other the urban or city government4 ,it is divided1 in regard of the national government1 into three tribes1 and in respect of the urban into twenty six1 which for distinction's sake are called wards1 being contained under three tribes but unequally2 wherefore the first tribe containing ten wards is called scazon1 the second containing eight metoche1 and the third containing as many telicouta1 the bearing of which names in mind concerns the better understanding of the government4 8,every ward has her wardmote1 court1 or inquest1 consisting of all that are of the clothing or liveries of companies residing within the same4 8,such are of the livery or clothing as have attained to the dignity to wear gowns and parti-colored hoods or tippets1 according to the rules and ancient customs of their respective companies4 8,a company is a brotherhood of tradesmen professing the same art1 governed according to their charter by a master and wardens4 ,of these there be about sixty1 whereof twelve are of greater dignity than the rest1 that is to say1 the mercers1 grocers1 drapers1 fishmongers1 goldsmiths1 skinners1 merchant-tailors1 haberdashers1 salters1 ironmongers1 vintners1 clothworkers1 which1 with most of the rest1 have common halls1 divers of them being of ancient and magnificent structure1 wherein they have frequent meetings1 at the summons of their master or wardens1 for the managing and regulation of their respective trades and mysteries4 ,these companies1 as ,i shall show1 are the roots of the whole government of the city4 ,for the liveries that reside in the same ward1 meeting at the wardmote inquest 7to which it belongs to take cognizance of all sorts of nuisances and violations of the customs and orders of the city1 and to present them to the court of aldermen71 have also power to make election of two sorts of magistrates or officers2 the first of elders or aldermen of the ward1 the second of deputies of the same1 otherwise called common councilmen4 8,the wards in these elections1 because they do not elect all at once1 but some one year and some another1 observe the distinction of the three tribes2 for example1 the scazon1 consisting of ten wards1 makes election the first year of ten aldermen1 one in each ward1 and of #aej deputies1 fifteen in each ward1 all which are triennial magistrates or officers1 that is to say1 are to bear their dignity for the space of three years4 8,the second year the metoche1 consisting of eight wards1 elects eight aldermen1 one in each ward1 and #abj deputies1 fifteen in each ward1 being also triennial magistrates4 8,the third year telicouta1 consisting of a like number of wards1 elects an equal number of like magistrates for a like term4 ,so that the whole number of the aldermen1 according to that of the wards1 amounts to twenty-six2 and the whole number of the deputies1 to #cij4 8,the aldermen thus elected have divers capacities2 for1 first1 they are justices of the peace for the term1 and in consequence of their election4 ,secondly1 they are presidents of the wardmote and governors each of that ward whereby he was elected4 ,and last of all1 these magistrates being assembled together1 constitute the ,senate of the city1 otherwise called the court of aldermen2 but no man is capable of this election that is not worth #aj1jjj4 ,this court upon every new election makes choice of nine censors out of their own number4 8,the deputies in like manner being assembled together1 constitute the prerogative tribe of the city1 otherwise called the common council1 by which means the ,senate and the people of the city were comprehended1 as it were1 by the motion of the national government1 into the same wheel of annual1 triennial1 and perpetual revolution4 8,but the liveries1 over and above the right of these elections by their divisions mentioned1 being assembled all together at the guild of the city1 constitute another assembly called the common hall4 8,the common hall has the right of two other elections2 the one of the lord mayor1 and the other of the two sheriffs1 being annual magistrates4 ,the lord mayor can be elected out of no other than one of the twelve companies of the first ranks2 and the common hall agrees by the plurality of suffrages upon two names1 which1 being presented to the lord mayor for the time being1 and the court of the aldermen1 they elect one by their scrutiny4 ,for so they call it1 though it differs from that of the commonwealth4 ,the orator or assistant to the lord mayor in holding of his courts1 is some able lawyer elected by the court of aldermen1 and called the recorder of ,emporium4 8,the lord mayor being thus elected1 has two capacities3 one regarding the nation1 and the other the city4 ,in that which regards the city1 he is president of the court of aldermen1 having power to assemble the same1 or any other council of the city1 as the common council or common hall1 at his will and pleasure2 and in that which regards the nation1 he is commander-in-chief of the three tribes whereinto the city is divided2 one of which he is to bring up in person at the national muster to the ballot1 as his vice-comites1 or high sheriffs1 are to do by the other two1 each at their distinct pavilion1 where the nine aldermen1 elected censors1 are to officiate by three in each tribe1 according to the rules and orders already given to the censors of the rustic tribes4 ,and the tribes of the city have no other than one common phylarch1 which is the court of aldermen and the common council1 for which cause they elect not at their muster the first list called the prime magnitude4 8,the conveniences of this alteration of the city government1 besides the bent of it to a conformity with that of the nation1 were many1 whereof ,i shall mention but a few3 as first1 whereas men under the former administration1 when the burden of some of these magistracies lay for life1 were oftentimes chosen not for their fitness1 but rather unfitness1 or at least unwillingness to undergo such a weight1 whereby they were put at great rates to fine for their ease2 a man might now take his share in magistracy with that equity which is due to the public1 and without any inconvenience to his private affairs4 ,secondly1 whereas the city 7inasmuch as the acts of the aristocracy1 or court of aldermen1 in their former way of proceeding1 were rather impositions than propositions7 was frequently disquieted with the inevitable consequence of disorder in the power of debate exercised by the popular part1 or common council2 the right of debate being henceforth established in the court of aldermen1 and that of result in the common council1 killed the branches of division in the root4 ,which for the present may suffice to have been said of the city of ,emporium4 8,that of ,hiera consists as to the national government of two tribes1 the first called agoroea1 the second propola2 but as to the peculiar policy of twelve manipuls1 or wards divided into three cohorts1 each cohort containing four wards1 whereof the wards of the first cohort elect for the first year four burgesses1 one in each ward1 the wards of the second cohort for the second year four burgesses1 one in each ward1 and the wards of the third cohort for the third year four burgesses1 one in each ward1 all triennial magistrates2 by which the twelve burgesses1 making one court for the government of this city according to their instructions by act of ,parliament1 fall likewise into an annual1 triennial1 and perpetual revolution4 8,this court being thus constituted1 makes election of divers magistrates2 as first1 of a high steward1 who is commonly some person of quality1 and this magistracy is elected in the ,senate by the scrutiny of this court2 with him they choose some able lawyer to be his deputy1 and to hold the court2 and last of all they elect out of their own number six censors4 8,the high steward is commander-in-chief of the two tribes1 whereof he in person brings up the one at the national muster to the ballot1 and his deputy the other at a distinct pavilion2 the six censors chosen by the court officiating by three in each tribe at the urns2 and these tribes have no other phylarch but this court4 8,as for the manner of elections and suffrage1 both in ,emporium and ,hiera1 it may be said1 once for all1 that they are performed by ballot1 and according to the respective rules already given4 8,there be other cities and corporations throughout the territory1 whose policy being much of this kind1 would be tedious and not worth the labor to insert1 nor dare ,i stay4 ,juvenum manus emicat ardens40 ,i return1 according to the method of the commonwealth1 to the remaining parts of her orbs1 which are military and provincial2 the military1 except the strategus1 and the polemarchs or field-officers1 consisting of the youth only1 and the provincial consisting of a mixture both of elders and of the youth4 ,to begin with the youth1 or the military orbs1 they are circles to which the commonwealth must have a care to keep close4 ,a man is a spirit raised by the magic of nature2 if she does not stand safe1 and so that she may set him to some good and useful work1 he spits fire1 and blows up castles2 for where there is life1 there must be motion or work2 and the work of idleness is mischief1 but the work of industry is health4 ,to set men to this1 the commonwealth must begin betimes with them1 or it will be too late2 and the means whereby she sets them to it is education1 the plastic art of government4 ,but it is as frequent as sad in experience 7whether through negligence1 or1 which in the consequence is all one or worse1 over-fondness in the domestic performance of this duty7 that innumerable children come to owe their utter perdition to their own parents1 in each of which the commonwealth loses a citizen4 ,wherefore the laws of a government1 how wholesome soever in themselves1 are such as1 if men by a congruity in their education be not bred to find a relish in them1 they will be sure to loathe and detest4 ,the education therefore of a man's own children is not wholly to be committed or trusted to himself4 ,you find in ,livy the children of ,brutus1 having been bred under monarchy1 and used to a court life1 making faces at the ,commonwealth of ,rome3 8,a king 7say they7 is a man with whom you may prevail when you have need there should be law1 or when you have need there should be no law2 he has favors in the right1 and he frowns not in the wrong place2 he knows his friends from his enemies4 ,but laws are deaf1 inexorable things1 such as make no difference between a gentleman and an ordinary fellow2 a man can never be merry for them1 for to trust altogether to his own innocence is a sad life40 ,unhappy wantons6 ,scipio1 on the other side1 when he was but a boy 7about two or three and twenty71 being informed that certain patricians of ,roman gentlemen1 through a qualm upon the defeat which ,hannibal had given them at ,cannae1 were laying their heads together and contriving their flight with the transportation of their goods out of ,rome1 drew his sword1 and setting himself at the door of the chamber where they were at council1 protested 8that who did not immediately swear not to desert the commonwealth1 he would make his soul to desert his body40 ,let men argue as they please for monarchy1 or against a commonwealth1 the world shall never see any man so sottish or wicked as in cool blood to prefer the education of the sons of ,brutus before that of ,scipio2 and of this mould1 except a ,melius or a ,manlius1 was the whole youth of that commonwealth1 though not ordinarily so well cast4 ,now the health of a government and the education of the youth being of the same pulse1 no wonder if it has been the constant practice of well-ordered commonwealths to commit the care and feeling of it to public magistrates4 ,a duty that was performed in such a manner by the ,areopagites1 as is elegantly praised by ,isocrates1 8the ,athenians 7says he7 write not their laws upon dead walls1 nor content themselves with having ordained punishments for crimes1 but provide in such a way1 by the education of their youth1 that there be no crimes for punishment40 ,he speaks of those laws which regarded manners1 not of those orders which concerned the administration of the commonwealth1 lest you should think he contradicts ,xenophon and ,polybius4 ,the children of ,lacedaemon1 at the seventh year of their age1 were delivered to the poedonomi1 or schoolmasters1 not mercenary1 but magistrates of the commonwealth1 to which they were accountable for their charge2 and by these at the age of fourteen they were presented to other magistrates called the beidioei1 having the inspection of the games and exercises1 among which that of the platanista was famous1 a kind of fight in squadrons1 but somewhat too fierce4 ,when they came to be of military age they were listed of the mora1 and so continued in readiness for public service under the discipline of the polemarchs4 ,but the ,roman education and discipline by the centuries and classes is that to which the ,commonwealth of ,oceana has had a more particular regard in her three essays1 being certain degrees by which the youth commence as it were in arms for magistracy1 as appears by-- ,the twenty-sixth order1 instituting1 8,that if a parent has but one son1 the education of that one son shall be wholly at the disposition of that parent4 ,but whereas there be free schools erected and endowed1 or to be erected and endowed in every tribe of this nation1 to a sufficient proportion for the education of the children of the same 7which schools1 to the end there be no detriment or hindrance to the scholars upon case of removing from one to another1 are every of them to be governed by the strict inspection of the censors of the tribes1 both upon the schoolmaster's manner of life and teaching1 and the proficiency of the children1 after the rules and method of that in ,hiera7 if a parent has more sons than one1 the censors of the tribes shall animadvert upon and punish him that sends not his sons within the ninth year of their age to some one of the schools of a tribe1 there to be kept and taught1 if he be able1 at his own charges2 and if he be not able1 gratis1 till they arrive at the age of fifteen years4 ,and a parent may expect of his sons at the fifteenth year of their age1 according to his choice or ability1 whether it be to service in the way of apprentices to some trade or otherwise1 or to further study1 as by sending them to the inns of court1 of chancery1 or to one of the universities of this nation4 ,but he that takes not upon him one of the professions proper to some of those places1 shall not continue longer in any of them than till he has attained to the age of eighteen years2 and every man having not at the age of eighteen years taken upon him1 or addicted himself to the profession of the law1 theology1 or physic1 and being no servant1 shall be capable of the essays of the youth1 and no other person whatsoever1 except a man1 having taken upon him such a profession1 happens to lay it by ere he arrives at three or four and twenty years of age1 and be admitted to this capacity by the respective4 ,phylarchs being satisfied that he kept not out so long with any design to evade the service of the commonwealth2 but1 that being no sooner at his own disposal1 it was no sooner in his choice to come in4 ,and if any youth or other person of this nation have a desire to travel into foreign countries upon occasion of business1 delight1 or further improvement of his education1 the same shall be lawful for him upon a pass obtained from the censors in ,parliament1 putting a convenient limit to the time1 and recommending him to the ambassadors by whom he shall be assisted1 and to whom he shall yield honor and obedience in their respective residences4 ,every youth at his return from his travel is to present the censors with a paper of his own writing1 containing the interest of state or form of government of the countries1 or some one of the countries1 where he has been2 and if it be good1 the censors shall cause it to be printed and published1 prefixing a line in commendation of the author4 8,every ,wednesday next ensuing the last of ,december1 the whole youth of every parish1 that is to say1 every man 7not excepted by the foregoing part of the order71 being from eighteen years of age to thirty1 shall repair at the sound of the bell to their respective church1 and being there assembled in presence of the overseers1 who are to govern the ballot1 and the constable who is to officiate at the urn1 shall1 after the manner of the elders1 elect every fifth man of their whole number 7provided that they choose not above one of two brothers at one election1 nor above half if they be four or upward7 to be a stratiot or deputy of the youth2 and the list of the stratiots so elected being taken by the overseers1 shall be entered in the parish book1 and diligently preserved as a record1 called the first essay4 ,they whose estates by the law are able1 or whose friends are willing1 to mount them1 shall be of the horse1 the rest are of the foot4 ,and he who has been one year of this list1 is not capable of being re-elected till after another year's interval4 8,every ,wednesday next ensuing the last of ,january1 the stratiots being mustered at the rendezvous of their respective hundreds1 shall1 in the presence of the jurymen1 who are overseers of that ballot1 and of the high constable who is to officiate at the urn1 elect out of the horse of their troop or company one captain1 and one ensign or cornet1 to the command of the same4 ,and the jurymen having entered the list of the hundred into a record to be diligently kept at the rendezvous of the same1 the first public game of this commonwealth shall begin and be performed in this manner4 ,whereas there is to be at every rendezvous of a hundred1 one cannon1 culverin1 or saker1 the prize arms being forged by sworn armorers of this commonwealth1 and for their proof1 besides their beauty1 viewed and tried at the tower of ,emporium1 shall be exposed by the justice of peace appertaining to that hundred 7the said justice with the jurymen being judges of the game71 and the judges shall deliver to the horseman that gains the prize at the career1 one suit of arms being of the value #bj1 to the pikeman that gains the prize at throwing the bullet1 one suit of arms of the value of #aj1 to the musketeer that gains the prize at the mark with his musket1 one suit of arms of the value of #aj1 and to the cannoneer that gains the prize at the mark with the cannon1 culverin1 or saker1 a chain of silver being the value of #aj1 provided that no one man at the same muster plays above one of the prizes4 ,whosoever gains a prize is bound to wear it 7if it be his lot7 upon service2 and no man shall sell or give away any armor thus won1 except he has lawfully attained to two or more of them at the games4 8,the games being ended1 and the muster dismissed1 the captain of the troop or company shall repair with a copy of the list to the lord lieutenant of the tribe1 and the high constable with a duplicate of the same to the custos rotulorum1 or muster-master general1 to be also communicated to the censors2 in each of which the jurymen1 giving a note upon every name of an only son1 shall certify the list is without subterfuge or evasion2 or1 if it be not1 an account of those upon whom the evasion or subterfuge lies1 to the end that the phylarch or the censors may animadvert accordingly4 8,and every ,wednesday next ensuing the last of ,february1 the lord lieutenant1 custos rotulorum1 the censors1 and the conductor1 shall receive the whole muster of the youth of that tribe at the rendezvous of the same1 distributing the horse and foot with their officers1 according to the directions given in the like case for the distribution of the elders2 and the whole squadron being put by that means in battalia1 the second game of this commonwealth shall begin by the exercise of the youth in all the parts of their military discipline according to the orders of ,parliament1 or direction of the ,council of ,war in that case4 ,and the #ajj allowed by the ,parliament for the ornament of the muster in every tribe1 shall be expended by the phylarch upon such artificial castles1 citadels1 or the like devices1 as may make the best and most profitable sport for the youth and their spectators4 8,which being ended1 the censors having prepared the urns by putting into the horse-urn #bbj gold balls1 whereof ten are to be marked with the letter ,m and other ten with the letter ,p2 into the foot-urn #gjj gold balls1 whereof fifty are to be marked1 with the letter ,m and fifty with the letter ,p2 and after they have made the gold balls in each urn1 by the addition of silver balls to the same1 in number equal with the horse and foot of the stratiots1 the lord lieutenant shall call the stratiots to the urns1 where they that draw the silver balls shall return to their places1 and they that draw the gold balls shall fall off to the pavilion1 where1 for the space of one hour1 they may chop and change their balls according as one can agree with another1 whose lot he likes better4 8,but the hour being out1 the conductor separating them whose gold balls have no letter from those whose balls are marked1 shall cause the crier to call the alphabet1 as first ,a2 whereupon all they whose gold balls are not marked1 and whose surnames begin with the letter ,a1 shall repair to a clerk appertaining to the custos rotulorum1 who shall first take the names of that letter2 then those of ,b1 and so on1 till all the names be alphabetically enrolled4 ,and the youth of this list being #fjj foot in a tribe1 that is1 #cj1jjj foot in all the tribes2 and #bjj horse in a tribe1 that is1 #aj1jjj horse in all the tribes1 are the second essay of the stratiots1 and the standing army of this commonwealth to be always ready upon command to march4 ,they whose balls are marked with ,m1 amounting1 by twenty horse and fifty foot in a tribe1 to #b1ejj foot and #ejj horse in all the tribes1 and they whose balls are marked with ,p1 in every point correspondent1 are parts of the third essay2 they in ,m being straight to march for ,marpesia1 and they of ,p for ,panopea1 to the ends and according to the further directions following in the order for the provincial orbs4 8,if the polemarchs or field officers be elected by the scrutiny of the ,council of ,war1 and the strategus commanded by the ,parliament or the ,dictator to march1 the lord lieutenants 7who have power to muster and discipline the youth so often as they receive orders for the same from the ,council of ,war7 are to deliver the second essay1 or so many of them as shall be commanded1 to the conductors1 who shall present them to the lord strategus at the time and place appointed by his ,excellency to be the general rendezvous of ,oceana1 where the ,council of ,war shall have the accommodation of horses and arms for his men in readiness2 and the lord strategus having armed1 mounted1 and distributed them1 whether according to the recommendation of their prize arms1 or otherwise1 shall lead them away to his shipping1 being also ready and provided with victuals1 ammunition1 artillery1 and all other necessaries2 commanding them1 and disposing of the whole conduct of the war by his sole power and authority4 ,and this is the third essay of the stratiots1 which being shipped1 or marched out of their tribes1 the lord lieutenants shall re-elect the second essay out of the remaining part of the first1 and the ,senate another strategus4 8,if any veteran or veterans of this nation1 the term of whose youth or militia is expired1 having a desire to be entertained in the further service of the commonwealth1 shall present him or themselves at the rendezvous of ,oceana to the strategus1 it is in his power to take on such and so many of them as shall be agreed by the polemarchs1 and to send back an equal number of the stratiots4 8,and for the better managing of the proper forces of this nation1 the lord strategus1 by appointment of the ,council of ,war1 and out of such levies as they shall have made in either or both of the provinces to that end1 shall receive auxiliaries by sea or elsewhere at some certain place1 not exceeding his proper arms in number4 8,and whosoever shall refuse any one of his three essays1 except upon cause shown1 he be dispensed withal by the phylarch1 or1 if the phylarch be not assembled1 by the censors of his tribe1 shall be deemed a helot or public servant1 shall pay a fifth part of his yearly revenue1 besides all other taxes1 to the commonwealth for his protection1 and be incapable of bearing any magistracy except such as is proper to the law4 ,nevertheless if a man has but two sons1 the lord lieutenant shall not suffer above one of them to come to the ,urn at one election of the second essay1 and though he has above two sons1 there shall not come above half the brothers at one election2 and if a man has but one son1 he shall not come to the urn at all without the consent of his parents1 or his guardians1 nor shall it be any reproach to him or impediment to his bearing of magistracy40 ,this order1 with relation to foreign expeditions1 will be proved and explained together with-- ,the twenty-seventh order1 8,providing1 in case of invasion apprehended1 that the lords high sheriffs of the tribes1 upon commands received from the ,parliament or the ,dictator1 distribute the bands of the elders into divisions1 after the nature of the essays of the youth2 and that the second division or essay of the elders1 being made and consisting of #cj1jjj foot and #aj1jjj horse1 be ready to march with the second essay of the youth1 and be brought also by the conductors to the strategus4 8,the second essay of the elders and youth being marched out of their tribes1 the lords high sheriffs and lieutenants shall have the remaining part of the annual bands both of elders and youth in readiness1 which1 if the beacons be fired1 shall march to the rendezvous to be in that case appointed by the ,parliament or the ,dictator3 ,and the beacons being fired1 the curiata comitia1 or parochial congregations1 shall elect a fourth both of elders and youth to be immediately upon the guard of the tribes1 and dividing themselves as aforesaid1 to march also in their divisions according to orders1 which method in case of extremity shall proceed to the election of a third1 or the levy of a second1 or of the last man in the nation1 by the power of the lords high sheriffs1 to the end that the commonwealth in her utmost pressure may show her trust that ,god in his justice will remember mercy1 by humbling herself1 and yet preserving her courage1 discipline1 and constancy1 even to the last drop of her blood and the utmost farthing4 8,the services performed by the youth1 or by the elders1 in case of invasion1 and according to this order1 shall be at their proper cost and charges that are any ways able to endure it2 but if there be such as are known in their parishes to be so indigent that they cannot march out of their tribes1 nor undergo the burden in this case incumbent1 then the congregations of their parishes shall furnish them with sufficient sums of money to be repaid upon the certificate of the same by the ,parliament when the action shall be over4 ,and of that which is respectively enjoined by this order1 any tribe1 parish1 magistrate1 or person that shall fail1 is to answer for it1 at the ,council of ,war1 as a deserter of his country40 ,the ,archon1 being the greatest captain of his own1 if not of any age1 added much to the glory of this commonwealth1 by interweaving the militia with more art and lustre than any legislator from or before the time of ,servius ,tullius1 who constituted the ,roman militia4 ,but as the bones or skeleton of a man1 though the greatest part of his beauty be contained in their proportion or symmetry1 yet shown without flesh are a spectacle that is rather horrid than entertaining1 so without discourses are the orders of a commonwealth2 which1 if she goes forth in that manner1 may complain of her friends that they stand mute and staring upon her4 ,wherefore this order was thus fleshed by the ,lord ,archon3 8,,my ,,lords3 8,diogenes seeing a young fellow drunk1 told him that his father was drunk when he begot him4 ,for this1 in natural generation1 ,i must confess ,i see no reason2 but in the political it is right4 ,the vices of the people are from their governors2 those of their governors from their laws or orders2 and those of their laws or orders from their legislators4 ,whatever was in the womb imperfect1 as to her proper work1 comes very rarely or never at all to perfection afterward2 and the formation of a citizen in the womb of the commonwealth is his education4 8,education by the first of the foregoing orders is of six kinds3 at the school1 in the mechanics1 at the universities1 at the inns of court or chancery1 in travels1 and in military discipline1 some of which ,i shall but touch1 and some ,i shall handle more at large4 8,that which is proposed for the erecting and endowing of schools throughout the tribes1 capable of all the children of the same1 and able to give to the poor the education of theirs gratis1 is only matter of direction in case of very great charity1 as easing the needy of the charge of their children from the ninth to the fifteenth year of their age1 during which time their work cannot be profitable2 and restoring them when they may be of use1 furnished with tools whereof there are advantages to be made in every work1 seeing he that can read and use his pen has some convenience by it in the meanest vocation4 ,and it cannot be conceived but that which comes1 though in small parcels1 to the advantage of every man in his vocation1 must amount to the advantage of every vocation1 and so to that of the whole commonwealth4 ,wherefore this is commended to the charity of every wise-hearted and well-minded man1 to be done in time1 and as ,god shall stir him up or enable him2 there being such provision already in the case as may give us leave to proceed without obstruction4 8,parents1 under animadversion of the censors1 are to dispose of their children at the fifteenth year of their age to something2 but what1 is left1 according to their abilities or inclination1 at their own choice4 ,this1 with the multitude1 must be to the mechanics1 that is to say to agriculture or husbandry1 to manufactures1 or to merchandise4 8,agriculture is the bread of the nation2 we are hung upon it by the teeth2 it is a mighty nursery of strength1 the best army1 and the most assured knapsack2 it is managed with the least turbulent or ambitious1 and the most innocent hands of all other arts4 ,wherefore ,i am of ,aristotle's opinion1 that a commonwealth of husbandmen--and such is ours--must be the best of all others4 ,certainly my lords1 you have no measure of what ought to be1 but what can be1 done for the encouragement of this profession4 ,i could wish ,i were husband good enough to direct something to this end2 but racking of rents is a vile thing in the richer sort1 an uncharitable one to the poorer1 a perfect mark of slavery1 and nips your commonwealth in the fairest blossom4 ,on the other side1 if there should be too much ease given in this kind1 it would occasion sloth1 and so destroy industry1 the principal nerve of a commonwealth4 ,but if aught might be done to hold the balance even between these two1 it would be a work in this nation equal to that for which ,fabius was surnamed ,maximus by the ,romans4 8,in manufactures and merchandise the ,hollander has gotten the start of us2 but at the long run it will be found that a people working upon a foreign commodity does but farm the manufacture1 and that it is really entailed upon them only where the growth of it is native2 as also that it is one thing to have the carriage of other men's goods1 and another for a man to bring his own to the best market4 ,wherefore 7nature having provided encouragement for these arts in this nation above all others1 where1 the people growing1 they of necessity must also increase7 it cannot but establish them upon a far more sure and effectual foundation than that of the ,hollanders4 ,but these educations are in order to the first things or necessities of nature2 as husbandry to the food1 manufacture to the clothing1 and merchandise to the purse of the commonwealth4 8,there be other things in nature1 which being second as to their order1 for their dignity and value are first2 and such to which the other are but accommodations2 of this sort are especially these3 religion1 justice1 courage1 and wisdom4 8,the education that answers to religion in our government is that of the universities4 ,moses1 the divine legislator1 was not only skilful in all the learning of the ,egyptians1 but took also into the fabric of his commonwealth the learning of the ,midianites in the advice of ,jethro2 and his foundation of a university laid in the tabernacle1 and finished in the ,temple1 became that pinnacle from whence 7according to many ,jewish and ,christian authors7 all the learning in the world has taken wing2 as the philosophy of the ,stoics from the ,pharisees2 that of the ,epicureans from the ,sadducees2 and from the learning of the ,jews1 so often quoted by our ,saviour1 and fulfilled in him1 the ,christian religion4 ,athens was the most famous university in her days2 and her senators1 that is to say1 the ,areopagites1 were all philosophers4 ,lacedaemon1 to speak truth1 though she could write and read1 was not very bookish4 ,but he that disputes hence against universities1 disputes by the same argument against agriculture1 manufacture1 and merchandise2 every one of these having been equally forbid by ,lycurgus1 not for itself 7for if he had not been learned in all the learning of ,crete1 and well travelled in the knowledge of other governments1 he had never made his commonwealth71 but for the diversion which they must have given his citizens from their arms1 who1 being but few1 if they had minded anything else1 must have deserted the commonwealth4 ,for ,rome1 she had ingenium par ingenio1 was as learned as great1 and held our ,college of ,augurs in much reverence4 ,venice has taken her religion upon trust4 ,holland cannot attend it to be very studious4 ,nor does ,switzerland mind it much2 yet are they all addicted to their universities4 ,we cut down trees to build houses2 but ,i would have somebody show me1 by what reason or experience the cutting down of a university should tend to the setting up of a commonwealth4 ,of this ,i am sure1 that the perfection of a commonwealth is not to be attained without the knowledge of ancient prudence1 nor the knowledge of ancient prudence without learning1 nor learning without schools of good literature1 and these are such as we call universities4 8,now though mere university learning of itself be that which 7to speak the words of ,verulamius7 #8crafty men contemn1 and simple men only admire1 yet is it such as wise men have use of2 for studies do not teach their own use1 but that is a wisdom without and above them1 won by observation4 ,expert men may execute1 and perhaps judge1 of particulars one by one2 but the general councils and the plots1 and the marshalling of affairs1 come best from those that are learned4' ,wherefore if you would have your children to be statesmen1 let them drink by all means of these fountains1 where perhaps there were never any4 ,but what though the water a man drinks be not nourishment1 it is the vehicle without which he cannot be nourished4 8,nor is religion less concerned in this point than government3 for take away your universities1 and in a few years you lose it4 8,the holy ,scriptures are written in ,hebrew and ,greek2 they that have neither of these languages may think light of both2 but find me a man that has one in perfection1 the study of whose whole life it has not been4 ,again1 this is apparent to us in daily conversation1 that if four or five persons that have lived together be talking1 another speaking the same language may come in1 and yet understand very little of their discourse1 in that it relates to circumstances1 persons1 things1 times and places which he knows not4 ,it is no otherwise with a man1 having no insight of the times in which they were written1 and the circumstances to which they relate1 in the reading of ancient books1 whether they be divine or human4 ,for example1 when we fall upon the discourse about baptism and regeneration that was between our ,saviour and ,nicodemus1 where ,christ reproaches him with his ignorance in this matter4 #8,art thou a doctor in ,israel1 and understandest not these things8' ,what shall we think of it8 or wherefore should a doctor in ,israel have understood these things more than another1 but that both baptism and regeneration1 as was showed at large by my ,lord ,phosphorus1 were doctrines held in ,israel8 ,i instance in one place of a hundred1 which he1 that has not mastered the circumstances to which they relate1 cannot understand4 ,wherefore to the understanding of the ,scripture1 it is necessary to have ancient languages1 and the knowledge of ancient times1 or the aid of them who have such knowledge2 and to have such as may be always able and ready to give such aid 7unless you would borrow it of another nation1 which would not only be base1 but deceitful7 it is necessary to a commonwealth that she have schools of good literature1 or universities of her own4 8,we are commanded1 as has been said more than once1 to search the ,scriptures2 and which of them search the ,scriptures1 they that take this pains in ancient languages and learning1 or they that will not1 but trust to translations only1 and to words as they sound to present circumstances8 than which nothing is more fallible1 or certain to lose the true sense of ,scriptures1 pretended to be above human understanding1 for no other cause than that they are below it4 ,but in searching the ,scriptures by the proper use of our universities1 we have been heretofore blest with greater victories and trophies against the purple hosts and golden standards of the ,romish hierarchy than any nation2 and therefore why we should relinquish this upon the presumption of some1 that because there is a greater light which they have1 ,i do not know4 ,there is a greater light than the sun1 but it does not extinguish the sun1 nor does any light of ,god's giving extinguish that of nature1 but increase and sanctify it4 ,wherefore1 neither the honor bore by the ,israelitish1 ,roman1 or any other commonwealth that ,i have shown1 to their ecclesiastics1 consisted in being governed by them1 but in consulting them in matters of religion1 upon whose responses or oracles they did afterward as they thought fit4 8,nor would ,i be here mistaken1 as if1 by affirming the universities to be1 in order both to religion and government1 of absolute necessity1 ,i declared them or the ministry in any wise fit to be trusted1 so far as to exercise any power not derived from the civil magistrate in the administration of either1 if the ,jewish religion were directed and established by ,moses1 it was directed and established by the civil magistrate2 or if ,moses exercised this administration as a prophet1 the same prophet did invest with the same administration the ,sanhedrim1 and not the priests2 and so does our commonwealth the ,senate1 and not the clergy4 ,they who had the supreme administration or government of the national religion in ,athens1 were the first ,archon1 the rex sacrificulus1 or high-priest1 and a polemarch1 which magistrates were ordained or elected by the holding up of hands in the church1 congregation1 or comitia of the people4 ,the religion of ,lacedaemon was governed by the kings1 who were also high-priests1 and officiated at the sacrifice2 these had power to substitute their pythii1 ambassadors1 or nuncios1 by which1 not without concurrence of the ,senate1 they held intelligence with the oracle of ,apollo at ,delphos4 ,and the ecclesiastical part of the ,commonwealth of ,rome was governed by the pontifex maximus1 the rex sacrificulus1 and the ,flamens1 all ordained or elected by the people1 the pontifex by the tribes1 the ,king by the centuries1 and the ,flamens by the parishes4 8,i do not mind you of these things1 as if1 for the matter1 there were any parallel to be drawn out of their superstitions to our religion1 but to show that for the manner1 ancient prudence is as well a rule in divine as human things2 nay1 and such a one as the apostles themselves1 ordaining elders by the holding up of hands in every congregation1 have exactly followed2 for some of the congregations where they thus ordained elders were those of ,antioch1 ,iconium1 ,lystra1 ,derbe1 the countries of ,lycaona1 ,pisidia1 ,pamphilia1 ,perga1 with ,attalia4 ,now that these cities and countries1 when the ,romans propagated their empire into ,asia1 were found most of them commonwealths1 and that many of the rest were endued with like power1 so that the people living under the protection of the ,roman emperors continued to elect their own magistrates1 is so known a thing1 that ,i wonder whence it is that men1 quite contrary to the universal proof of these examples1 will have ecclesiastical government to be necessarily distinct from civil power1 when the right of the elders ordained by the holding up of hands in every congregation to teach the people1 was plainly derived from the same civil power by which they ordained the rest of their magistrates4 ,and it is not otherwise in our commonwealth1 where the parochial congregation elects or ordains its pastor4 ,to object the ,commonwealth of ,venice in this place1 were to show us that it has been no otherwise but where the civil power has lost the liberty of her conscience by embracing popery2 as also that to take away the liberty of conscience in this administration from the civil power1 were a proceeding which has no other precedent than such as is popish4 8,wherefore your religion is settled after the following manner3 the universities are the seminaries of that part which is national1 by which means others with all safety may be permitted to follow the liberty of their own consciences1 in regard that1 however they behave themselves1 the ignorance of the unlearned in this case cannot lose your religion nor disturb your government1 which otherwise it would most certainly do2 and the universities with their emoluments1 as also the benefices of the whole nation1 are to be improved by such augmentations as may make a very decent and comfortable subsistence for the ministry1 which is neither to be allowed synods nor assemblies1 except upon the occasion shown in the universities1 when they are consulted by the ,council of ,state1 and suffered to meddle with affairs of religion1 nor to be capable of any other public preferment whatsoever2 by which means the interest of the learned can never come to corrupt your religion1 nor disturb your government1 which otherwise it would most certainly do4 ,venice1 though she does not see1 or cannot help the corruption of her religion1 is yet so circumspect to avoid disturbance of her government in this kind1 that her ,council proceeds not to election of magistrates till it be proclaimed fora papalini1 by which words such as have consanguinity with red hats1 or relation to the ,court of ,rome1 are warned to withdraw4 8,if a minister in ,holland meddles with matter of state1 the magistrate sends him a pair of shoes2 whereupon1 if he does not go1 he is driven away from his charge4 ,i wonder why ministers1 of all men1 should be perpetually tampering with government2 first because they1 as well as others1 have it in express charge to submit themselves to the ordinances of men2 and secondly because these ordinances of men must go upon such political principles as they of all others1 by anything that can be found in their writings or actions1 least understand3 whence you have the suffrage of all nations to this sense1 that an ounce of wisdom is worth a pound of clergy4 ,your greatest clerks are not your wisest men3 and when some foul absurdity in state is committed1 it is common with the ,french1 and even the ,italians1 to call it #8pas de clerc1' or #8governo de prete4' ,they may bear with men that will be preaching without study1 while they will be governing without prudence4 ,my lords1 if you know not how to rule your clergy1 you will most certainly1 like a man that cannot rule his wife1 have neither quiet at home nor honor abroad4 ,their honest vocation is to teach your children at the schools and the universities1 and the people in the parishes1 and yours is concerned to see that they do not play the shrews1 of which parts does consist the education of your commonwealth1 so far as it regards religion4 8,to justice1 or that part of it which is commonly executive1 answers the education of the inns of court and chancery4 ,upon which to philosophize1 requires a public kind of learning that ,i have not4 ,but they who take upon them any profession proper to the educations mentioned--that is1 theology1 physic1 or law--are not at leisure for the essays4 ,wherefore the essays1 being degrees whereby the youth commence for all magistracies1 offices1 and honors in the parish1 hundred1 tribe1 ,senate1 or prerogative2 divines1 physicians1 and lawyers not taking these degrees1 exclude themselves from all such magistracies1 offices1 and honors4 ,and whereas lawyers are likest to exact further reason for this1 they 7growing up from the most gainful art at the bar to those magistracies upon the bench which are continually appropriated to themselves1 and not only endowed with the greatest revenues1 but also held for life7 have the least reason of all the rest to pretend to any other1 especially in an equal commonwealth1 where accumulation of magistracy or to take a person engaged by his profit to the laws1 as they stand1 into the power1 which is legislative1 and which should keep them to what they were1 or ought to he1 were a solecism in prudence4 ,it is true that the legislative power may have need of advice and assistance from the executive magistracy1 or such as are learned in the law2 for which cause the judges are1 as they have heretofore been1 assistants in the ,senate4 ,nor1 however it came about1 can ,i see any reason why a judge1 being but an assistant or lawyer1 should be member of a legislative council4 8,i deny not that the ,roman patricians were all patrons1 and that the whole people were clients1 some to one family and some to another1 by which means they had their causes pleaded and defended in some appearance gratis2 for the patron took no money1 though if he had a daughter to marry1 his clients were to pay her portion1 nor was this so great a grievance4 ,but if the client accused his patron1 gave testimony or suffrage against him1 it was a crime of such a nature that any man might lawfully kill him as a traitor2 and this1 as being the nerve of the optimacy1 was a great cause of ruin to that commonwealth2 for when the people would carry anything that pleased not the ,senate1 the senators were ill provided if they could not intercede-that is1 oppose it by their clients2 with whom1 to vote otherwise than they pleased1 was the highest crime4 ,the observation of this bond till the time of the ,gracchi--that is to say1 till it was too late1 or to no purpose to break it--was the cause why1 in all the former heats and disputes that had happened between the ,senate and the people1 it never came to blows1 which indeed was good2 but withal1 the people could have no remedy1 which was certainly evil4 ,wherefore ,i am of opinion that a senator ought not to be a patron or advocate1 nor a patron or advocate to be a senator2 for if his practice be gratis it debauches the people1 and if it be mercenary it debauches himself3 take it which way you will1 when he should be making of laws1 he will be knitting of nets4 8,lycurgus1 as ,i said1 by being a traveller became a legislator1 but in times when prudence was another thing4 ,nevertheless we may not shut out this part of education in a commonwealth1 which will be herself a traveller2 for those of this make have seen the world1 especially because this is certain 7though it be not regarded in our times1 when things being left to take their chance1 it fares with us accordingly7 that no man can be a politician except he be first a historian or a traveller2 for except he can see what must be1 or what may be1 he is no politician4 ,now if he has no knowledge in history he cannot tell what has been1 and if he has not been a traveller1 he cannot tell what is2 but he that neither knows what has been1 nor what is1 can never tell what must be1 or what may be4 ,furthermore1 the embassies-in-ordinary by our constitution are the prizes of young men1 more especially such as have been travellers4 ,wherefore they of these inclinations1 having leave of the censors1 owe them an account of their time1 and cannot choose but lay it out with some ambition of praise or reward1 where both are open1 whence you will have eyes abroad1 and better choice of public ministers1 your gallants showing themselves not more to the ladies at their balls than to your commonwealth at her ,academy when they return from their travels4 8,but this commonwealth being constituted more especially of two elements1 arms and councils1 drives by a natural instinct at courage and wisdom2 which he who has attained is arrived at the perfection of human nature4 ,it is true that these virtues must have some natural root in him that is capable of them2 but this amounts not to so great a matter as some will have it4 ,for if poverty makes an industrious1 a moderate estate a temperate1 and a lavish fortune a wanton man1 and this be the common course of things1 wisdom then is rather of necessity than inclination4 ,and that an army which was meditating upon flight1 has been brought by despair to win the field1 is so far from being strange1 that like causes will evermore produce like effects4 ,wherefore this commonwealth drives her citizens like wedges2 there is no way with them but thorough1 nor end but that glory whereof man is capable by art or nature4 ,that the genius of the ,roman families commonly preserved itself throughout the line 7as to instance in some1 the ,manlii were still severe1 the ,publicolae lovers1 and the ,appii haters of the people7 is attributed by ,machiavel to their education2 nor1 if interest might add to the reason why the genius of a patrician was one thing1 and that of a plebeian another1 is the like so apparent between different nations1 who1 according to their different educations1 have yet as different manners4 ,it was anciently noted1 and long confirmed by the actions of the ,french1 that in their first assaults their courage was more than that of men1 and for the rest less than that of women1 which nevertheless1 through the amendment of their discipline1 we see now to be otherwise4 ,i will not say but that some man or nation upon an equal improvement of this kind may be lighter than some other2 but certainly education is the scale without which no man or nation can truly know his or her own weight or value4 ,by our histories we can tell when one ,marpesian would have beaten ten ,oceaners1 and when one ,oceaner would have beaten ten ,marpesians4 ,marc ,antony was a ,roman1 but how did that appear in the embraces of ,cleopatra8 ,you must have some other education for your youth1 or they1 like that passage1 will show better in romance than true story4 8,the custom of the ,commonwealth of ,rome in distributing her magistracies without respect of age1 happened to do well in ,corvinus and ,scipio2 for which cause ,machiavel 7with whom that which was done by ,rome1 and that which is well done1 are for the most part all one7 commends this course4 ,yet how much it did worse at other times1 is obvious in ,pompey and ,caesar1 examples by which ,boccalini illustrates the prudence of ,venice in her contrary practice1 affirming it to have been no small step to the ruin of the ,roman liberty1 that these 7having tasted in their youth of the supreme honors7 had no greater in their age to hope for1 but by perpetuating of the same in themselves2 which came to blood and ended in tyranny4 ,the opinion of ,verulamius is safe3 #8,the errors1' says he1 #8of young men are the ruin of business2 whereas the errors of old men amount but to this1 that more might have been done1 or sooner4' ,but though their wisdom be little1 their courage is great2 wherefore 7to come to the main education of this commonwealth7 the militia of ,oceana is the province of youth4 8,the distribution of this province by the essays is so fully described in the order1 that ,i need repeat nothing2 the order itself being but a repetition or copy of that original1 which in ancient prudence is of all others the fairest1 as that from whence the ,commonwealth of ,rome more particularly derived the empire of the world4 ,and there is much more reason in this age1 when governments are universally broken1 or swerved from their foundations1 and the people groan under tyranny1 that the same causes 7which could not be withstood when the world was full of popular governments7 should have the like effects4 8,the causes in the ,commonwealth of ,rome1 whereof the empire of the world was not any miraculous1 but a natural 7nay1 ,i may safely say a necessary7 consequence1 are contained in that part of her discipline which was domestic1 and in that which she exercises in her provinces or conquest4 ,of the latter ,i shall have better occasion to speak when we come to our provincial orbs2 the former divided the whole people by tribes1 amounting1 as ,livy and ,cicero show1 at their full growth to thirty-five1 and every tribe by the sense or valuation of estates into five classes3 for the sixth being proletary1 that is the nursery1 or such as through their poverty contributed nothing to the commonwealth but children1 was not reckoned nor used in arms4 ,and this is the first point of the militia1 in which modern prudence is quite contrary to the ancient2 for whereas we1 excusing the rich and arming the poor1 become the vassals of our servants1 they1 by excusing the poor and arming such as were rich enough to be freemen1 became lords of the earth4 ,the nobility and gentry of this nation1 who understand so little what it is to be the lords of the earth that they have not been able to keep their own lands1 will think it a strange education for their children to be common soldiers1 and obliged to all the duties of arms2 nevertheless it is not for four shillings a week1 but to be capable of being the best man in the field or in the city the latter part of which consideration makes the common soldier herein a better man than the general of any monarchical army4 8,and whereas it may be thought that this would drink deep of noble blood1 ,i dare boldly say1 take the ,roman nobility in the heat of their fiercest wars1 and you shall not find such a shambles of them as has been made of ours by mere luxury and slothfulness2 which1 killing the body1 kill the soul also3 ,animasque in vulnere ponunt4 ,whereas common right is that which he who stands in the vindication of1 has used that sword of justice for which he receives the purple of magistracy4 ,the glory of a man on earth can go no higher1 and if he falls he rises again1 and comes sooner to that reward which is so much higher as heaven is above the earth4 ,to return to the ,roman example3 every class was divided1 as has been more than once shown1 into centuries1 and every century was equally divided into youth and elders2 the youth for foreign service1 and the elders for the guard of the territory4 ,in the first class were about eighteen centuries of horse1 being those which1 by the institution of ,servius1 were first called to the suffrage in the centurial assemblies4 ,but the delectus1 or levy of an army1 which is the present business1 proceeded1 according to ,polybius1 in this manner3 8,upon a war decreed1 the ,consuls elected four-and-twenty military tribunes or colonels1 whereof ten1 being such as had merited their tenth stipend1 were younger officers4 ,the tribunes being chosen1 the ,consuls appointed a day to the tribes1 when those in them of military age were to appear at the capitol4 ,the day being come1 and the youth assembled accordingly1 the ,consuls ascended their tribunal1 and the younger tribunes were straight divided into four parts after this manner3 four were assigned to the first legion 7a legion at the most consisted of #f1jjj foot and #cjj horse71 three to the second1 four to the third1 and three to the fourth4 ,the younger tribunes being thus distributed1 two of the elder were assigned to the first legion1 three to the second1 two to the third1 and three to the fourth2 and the officers of each legion thus assigned1 having drawn the tribes by lot1 and being seated according to their divisions at a convenient distance from each other1 the tribe of the first lot was called1 whereupon they that were of it knowing the business1 and being prepared1 presently bolted out four of their number1 in the choice whereof such care was taken that they offered none that was not a citizen1 no citizen that was not of the youth1 no youth that was not of some one of the five classes1 nor any one of the five classes that was not expert at his exercises4 ,moreover1 they used such diligence in matching them for age and stature1 that the officers of the legion1 except they happened to be acquainted with the youth so bolted1 were forced to put themselves upon fortune1 while they of the first legion chose one1 they of the second the next1 they of the third another and the fourth youth fell to the last legion2 and thus was the election 7the legions and the tribes varying according to their lots7 carried on till the foot were complete4 8,the like course with little alteration was taken by the horse officers till the horse also were complete4 ,this was called giving of names1 which the children of ,israel did also by lot2 and if any man refused to give his name1 he was sold for a slave1 or his estate confiscated to the commonwealth4 #8,when ,marcus ,curius the ,consul was forced to make a sudden levy1 and none of the youth would give in their names1 all the tribes being put to the lot1 he commanded the first name drawn out of the urn of the ,pollian tribe 7which happened to come first7 to be called2 but the youth not answering1 he ordered his goods to be sold2 which was conformable to the law in ,israel1 according to which ,saul took a yoke of oxen1 and hewed them in pieces1 and sent them throughout the tribes1 saying1 #8,whosoever comes not forth to battle after ,saul and ,samuel1 so shall it be done to his oxen4' ,by which you may observe also that they who had no cattle were not of the militia in ,israel4 ,but the age of the ,roman youth by the ,tullian law determined at thirty2 and by the law 7though it should seem by ,machiavel and others that this was not well observed7 a man could not stand for magistracy till he was miles emeritus1 or had fulfilled the full term of his militia1 which was complete in his tenth stipend or service1 nor was he afterward obliged under any penalty to give his name1 except the commonwealth were invaded1 in which case the elders were as well obliged as the youth4 ,the ,consul might also levy milites evocatos1 or soldiers1 commanded men out of such as had served their turn1 and this at his discretion4 ,the legions being thus complete1 were divided by two to each consul1 and in these no man had right to serve but a ,roman citizen2 now because two legions made but a small army1 the ,romans added to every one of their arms an equal number of foot1 and a double number of horse levied among their ,latin or ,italian associates2 so a consular army1 with the legions and auxiliaries1 amounted to about #cj1jjj1 and whereas they commonly levied two such armies together1 these being joined made about #fj1jjj4 8,the steps whereby our militia follows the greatest captain1 are the three essays2 the first1 elected by a fifth man in the parishes1 and amounting in the whole to #ajj1jjj1 choose their officers at the hundreds1 where they fall also to their games or exercises1 invited by handsome prizes1 such as for themselves and the honor of them will be coveted1 such as will render the hundred a place of sports1 and exercise of arms all the year long1 such as in the space of ten years will equip #cj1jjj men horse and foot1 with such arms for their forge1 proof1 and beauty1 as 7notwithstanding the argyraspides1 or silver shields of ,alexander's guards7 were never worn by so many1 such as will present marks of virtue and direction to your general or strategus in the distribution of his army1 which doubles the value of them to the proprietors1 who are bound to wear them1 and eases the commonwealth of so much charge1 so many being armed already4 8,but here will be the objection now4 ,how shall such a revenue be compassed8 ,fifty pounds a year in every hundred is a great deal1 not so easily raised2 men will not part with their money1 nor would the sum1 as it is proposed by the order of ,pompey1 rise in many years4 ,these are difficulties that fit our genius exactly1 and yet #a1jjj in each hundred1 once levied1 establishes the revenue forever4 ,now the hundreds one with another are worth #aj1jjj a year dry-rent1 over and above personal estates1 which bring it to twice the value1 so that a twentieth part of one year's revenue of the hundred does it1 if you cannot afford this while you pay taxes1 though from henceforth they will be but small ones1 do it when you pay none1 if it be then too much for one year1 do it in two2 if it be too much for two years1 do it in four4 ,what husbands have we hitherto been8 what is become of greater sums8 ,my lords1 if you should thus cast your bread upon the waters1 after many days you shall find it2 stand not huckling when you are offered corn and your money again in the mouth of the sack4 8,but to proceed3 the first essay being officered at the hundreds1 and mustered at the tribes 7where they are entertained with other sports1 which will be very fine ones71 proceeds to the election of the second essay1 or standing army of this nation1 consisting of #cj1jjj foot and #aj1jjj horse2 and these1 upon a war decreed1 being delivered at the rendezvous of ,oceana to the strategus1 are the third essay1 which answers to the ,roman legions4 ,but you may observe1 that whereas the consuls elected the military tribunes1 and raised commanded men out of the veterans at their own discretion1 our polemarchs1 or field officers1 are elected by the scrutiny of the ,council of ,war1 and our veterans not otherwise taken on than as volunteers1 and with the consent of the polemarchs1 which may serve for the removal of certain scruples which might otherwise be incident in this place1 though without encouragement by the ,roman way of proceeding1 much less by that which is proposed4 ,but whereas the ,roman legions in all amounted not in one army to above #cj1jjj men1 or little more1 you have here #dj1jjj2 and whereas they added auxiliaries1 it is in this regard that ,marpesia will be a greater revenue to you than if you had the ,indies2 for whereas heretofore she has yielded you nothing but her native thistles1 in ploughing out the rankness of her aristocracy by your agrarian1 you will find her an inexhaustible magazine of men1 and to her own advantage1 who will make a far better account by the arms than by the pins of ,poland4 ,wherefore as a consular army consisted of about an equal number of auxiliaries added to their legions by their ,latin or ,italian associates1 you may add to a parliamentary army an equal number of ,marpesians or ,panopeans1 as that colony shall hereafter be able to supply you1 by which means the commonwealth will be able to go forth to battle with #hj1jjj men4 8,to make wars with small forces is no husbandry1 but a waste1 a disease1 a lingering and painful consumption of men and money the ,romans making theirs thick1 made them short1 and had little regard to money1 as that which they who have men enough can command where it is fittest that it should be levied4 ,all the ancient monarchies by this means got on wing1 and attained to vast riches4 ,whereas your modern princes being dear purchasers of small parcels1 have but empty pockets4 ,but it may be some will accuse the order of rashness1 in that it commits the sole conduct of the war to the general2 and the custom of ,venice by her proveditori1 or checks upon her commanders-in-chief1 may seem to be of greater prudence2 but in this part of our government neither ,venice nor any nation that makes use of mercenary forces is for our instruction4 ,a mercenary army1 with a standing general1 is like the fatal sister that spins2 but proper forces1 with an annual magistrate1 are like her that cuts the thread4 ,their interests are quite contrary1 and yet you have a better proveditor than the ,venetian1 another strategus sitting with an army standing by him2 whereupon that which is marching1 if there were any probability it should1 would find as little possibility that it could recoil1 as a foreign enemy to invade you4 ,these things considered1 a war will appear to be of a contrary nature to that of all other reckonings1 inasmuch as of this you must never look to have a good account if you be strict in imposing checks4 ,let a council of huntsmen1 assembled beforehand1 tell you which way the stag shall run1 where you shall cast about at the fault1 and how you shall ride to be in at the chase all the day2 but these may as well do that1 as a council of war direct a general4 ,the hours that have painted wings1 and of different colors1 are his council2 he must be like the eye that makes not the scene1 but has it so soon as it changes4 ,that in many counsellors there is strength1 is spoken of civil administrations2 as to those that are military1 there is nothing more certain than that in many counsellors there is weakness4 ,joint commissions in military affairs1 are like hunting your hounds in their couples4 ,in the ,attic ,war ,cleomenes and ,demaratus1 ,kings of ,lacedaemon1 being thus coupled1 tugged one against another2 and while they should have joined against the ,persian1 were the cause of the common calamity1 whereupon that commonwealth took better counsel1 and made a law whereby from henceforth there went at once but one of her kings to battle4 8#8,the ,fidenati being in rebellion1 and having slain the colony of the ,romans1 four tribunes with consular power were created by the people of ,rome1 whereof one being left for the guard of the city1 the other three were sent against the ,fidenati1 who1 through the division that happened among them1 brought nothing home but dishonor1 whereupon the ,romans created the ,dictator1 and ,livy gives his judgment in these words3 8,the three tribunes with consular power were a lesson how useless in war is the joint command of several generals2 for each following his own counsels1 while they all differed in their opinions1 gave by this opportunity an advantage to the enemy40 ,when the consuls ,quintus and ,agrippa were sent against the ,a,equi1 ,agrippa for this reason refused to go with his colleague1 saying3 8,that in the administration of great actions it was most safe that the chief command should be lodged in one person40 ,and if the ruin of modern armies were well considered1 most of it would be found to have fallen upon this point1 it being in this case far safer to trust to any one man of common prudence1 than to any two or more together of the greatest parts4' ,the consuls indeed1 being equal in power1 while one was present with the ,senate1 and the other in the field with the army1 made a good balance2 and this with us is exactly followed by the election of a new strategus upon the march of the old one4 8,the seven-and-twentieth order1 whereby the elders in case of invasion are obliged to equal duty with the youth1 and each upon their own charge1 is suitable to reason 7for every man defends his own estate7 and to our copy1 as in the war with the ,samnites and ,tuscans4 #8,the ,senate ordered a vacation to be proclaimed1 and a levy to be made of all sorts of persons1 and not only the freemen and youths were listed1 but cohorts of the old men were likewise formed4' ,this nation of all others is the least obnoxious to invasion4 ,oceana1 says a ,french politician1 is a beast that cannot be devoured but by herself4 ,nevertheless1 that government is not perfect which is not provided at all points2 and in this 7ad triarios res rediit7 the elders being such as in a martial state must be veterans1 the commonwealth invaded gathers strength like ,antaeus by her fall1 while the whole number of the elders1 consisting of #ejj1jjj1 and the youth of as many1 being brought up according to the order1 give twelve successive battles1 each battle consisting of #hj1jjj men1 half elders and half youth4 ,and the commonwealth1 whose constitution can be no stranger to any of those virtues which are to be acquired in human life1 grows familiar with death ere she dies4 ,if the hand of ,god be upon her for her transgressions1 she shall mourn for her sins1 and lie in the dust for her iniquities1 without losing her manhood4 8#8,si fractus illabatur orbis1 ,impavidam ferient ruinoe4'0 ,the remaining part1 being the constitution of the provincial orb1 is partly civil1 or consisting of the elders2 and partly military1 or consisting of the youth4 ,the civil part of the provincial orb is directed by-- ,the twenty-eighth order1 8,whereby the council of a province being constituted of twelve knights1 divided by four into three regions 7for their term and revolution conformable to the ,parliament71 is perpetuated by the annual election at the tropic of four knights 7being triennial magistrates7 out of the region of the ,senate whose term expires2 and of one knight out of the same region to be strategus or general of the province1 which magistracy is annual4 ,the strategus or magistrate thus chosen shall be as well president of the provincial council with power to propose to the same1 as general of the army4 ,the council for the rest shall elect weekly provosts1 having any two of them also right to propose after the manner of the senatorian councils of ,oceana4 ,and whereas all provincial councils are members of the ,council of ,state1 they may and ought to keep diligent correspondence with the same1 which is to be done after this manner3 ,any opinion or opinions legitimately proposed and debated at a provincial council1 being thereupon signed by the strategus or any two of the provosts1 may be transmitted to the ,council of ,state in ,oceana2 and the ,council of ,state proceeding upon the same in their natural course 7whether by their own power1 if it be a matter within their instructions2 or by authority of the ,senate thereupon consulted1 if it be a matter of state which is not in their instructions2 or by authority of the ,senate and command of the people1 if it be a matter of law1 as for the levies of men or money upon common use and safety7 shall return such answers1 advice1 or orders as in any of the ways mentioned shall be determined upon the case4 8,the provincial councils of ,marpesia and ,panopea respectively shall take special care that the agrarian laws1 as also all other laws that be or shall from time to time be enacted by the ,parliament of ,oceana1 for either of them1 be duly put in execution2 they shall manage and receive the customs of either nation for the shipping of ,oceana1 being the common guard2 they shall have a care that moderate and sufficient pay upon the respective province be duly raised for the support and maintenance of the officers and soldiers1 or army of the same1 in the most effectual1 constant1 and convenient way2 they shall receive the regalia1 or public revenues of those nations1 out of which every councillor shall have for his term1 and to his proper use1 the sum of #ejj per annum1 and the strategus #ejj as president1 beside his pay as general1 which shall be #a1jjj1 the reminder to go to the use of the knights and deputies of the respective provinces1 to be paid1 if it will reach1 according to the rates of ,oceana2 if not1 by an equal distribution1 respectively1 or the overplus1 if there be any1 to be returned to the ,treasury of ,oceana4 ,they shall manage the lands 7if there be any such held in either of the provinces by the commonwealth of ,oceana1 in dominion7 and return the rents into the ,exchequer4 ,if the commonwealth comes to be possessed of richer provinces1 the pay of the general or strategus1 and of the councils1 may be respectively increased4 ,the people for the rest shall elect their own magistrates1 and be governed by their own laws1 having power also to appeal from their native or provincial magistrates1 if they please1 to the people of ,oceana4 ,and whereas there may be such as receiving injury1 are not able to prosecute their appeals at so great a distance1 eight sergeants-at-law1 being sworn by the commissioners of the seal1 shall be sent by four into each province once in two years2 who1 dividing the same by circuits1 shall hear such causes1 and having gathered and introduced them1 shall return to the several appellants1 gratis1 the determinations and decrees of the people in their several cases4 8,the term of a knight in a provincial orb1 as to domestic magistracies1 shall be esteemed a vacation1 and no bar to present election to any other honor1 his provincial magistracy being expired4 8,the quorum of a provincial council1 as also of every other council or assembly in ,oceana1 shall in time of health consist of two parts in three of the whole number proper to that council or assembly2 and in a time of sickness1 of one part in three2 but of the ,senate there can be no quorum without three of the signory1 nor of a council without two of the provosts40 ,the civil part of the provincial orb being declared by the foregoing order1 the military part of the same is constituted by-- ,the twenty-ninth order1 8,whereby the stratiots of the third essay having drawn the gold balls marked with the letter ,m1 and being ten horse and fifty foot in a tribe1 that is to say1 #ejj horse and #b1ejj foot in all1 the tribes shall be delivered by the respective conductors to the provincial strategus or general1 at such a time and place1 or rendezvous1 as he shall appoint by order and certificate of his election1 and the strategus having received the horse and foot mentioned1 which are the third classes of his provincial guard or army1 shall forthwith lead them away to ,marpesia1 where the army consists of three classes1 each class containing #c1jjj men1 whereof #ejj are horse2 and receiving the new strategus with the third class1 the old strategus with the first class shall be dismissed by the provincial council4 ,the same method with the stratiots of the letter ,p1 is to be observed for the provincial orb of ,panopea2 and the commonwealth coming to acquire new provinces1 the ,senate and the people may erect new orbs in like manner1 consisting of greater or less numbers1 according as is required by the respective occasion4 ,if a stratiot has once served his term in a provincial orb1 and happens afterward to draw the letter of a province at the election of the second essay1 he may refuse his lot2 and if he refuses it1 the censor of that urn shall cause the files balloting at the same to make a halt2 and if the stratiot produces the certificate of his strategus or general1 that he has served his time accordingly1 the censor throwing the ball that he drew into the urn again1 and taking out a blank1 shall dismiss the youth1 and cause the ballot to proceed40 ,to perfect the whole structure of this commonwealth1 some directions are given to the third essay1 or army marching1 in-- ,the thirtieth order4 8#8,when thou goest to battle against thy enemies1 and seest horses and chariots1 and a people more than thou1 be not afraid of them1 for the ,lord thy ,god is he that goes with thee to fight for thee against thy enemies4 ,and when thou dividest the spoil1 it shall be as a statute and an ordinance to thee1 that as his part is that goes down to the battle1 so shall his part be that tarries by the stuff2 that is 7as to the commonwealth of ,oceana7 the spoil takin of the enemy 7except clothes1 arms1 horses1 ammunition1 and victuals1 to be divided to the soldiery by the strategus and the polemarchs upon the place according to their discretion7 shall be delivered to four commissaries of the spoils elected and sworn by the ,council of ,war1 which commissaries shall be allowed shipping by the ,state1 and convoys according as occasion shall require by the strategus1 to the end that having a bill of lading signed by three or more of the polemarchs1 they may ship and bring1 or cause such spoils to be brought to the prize-office in ,oceana1 where they shall be sold1 and the profit arising by such spoils shall be divided into three parts1 whereof one shall go to the ,treasury1 another shall be paid to the soldiery of this nation1 and a third to the auxiliaries at their return from their service1 provided that the said auxiliaries be equal in number to the proper forces of this nation1 otherwise their share shall be so much less as they themselves are fewer in number2 the rest of the two-thirds to go to the officers and soldiers of the proper forces4 ,and the spoils so divided to the proper forces1 shall be subdivided into three equal parts1 whereof one shall go to the officers1 and two to the common soldiers1 the like for the auxiliaries4 ,and the share allotted the officers shall be divided into four equal parts1 whereof one shall go to the strategus1 another to the polemarchs1 a third to the colonels1 and a fourth to the captains1 cornets1 ensigns1 and under-officers1 receiving their share of the spoil as common soldiers1 the like for the auxiliaries4 ,and this upon pain1 in the case of failure1 of what the people of ,oceana 7to whom the cognizance of peculation or crimes of this nature is properly appertaining7 shall adjudge or decree40 ,upon these three last orders the ,archon seemed to be haranguing at the head of his army in this manner3 8,,my ,,dear ,,lords ,,and ,,excellent ,,patriots3 8,a government of this make is a commonwealth for increase4 ,of those for preservation1 the inconveniences and frailties have been shown3 their roots are narrow1 such as do not run1 have no fibres2 their tops weak and dangerously exposed to the weather1 except you chance to find one1 as ,venice1 planted in a flower-pot1 and if she grows1 she grows topheavy1 and falls1 too4 ,but you cannot plant an oak in a flowerpot2 she must have earth for her root1 and heaven for her branches4 8#8,imperium ,oceano1 famam quoe terminet astris4' 8,rome was said to be broken by her own weight1 but poetically2 for that weight by which she was pretended to be ruined was supported in her emperors by a far slighter foundation4 ,and in the common experience of good architecture1 there is nothing more known than that buildings stand the firmer and the longer for their own weight1 nor ever swerve through any other internal cause than that their materials are corruptible2 but the people never die1 nor1 as a political body1 are subject to any other corruption than that which derives from their government4 ,unless a man will deny the chain of causes1 in which he denies ,god1 he must also acknowledge the chain of effects2 wherefore there can be no effect in nature that is not from the first cause1 and those successive links of the chain without which it could not have been4 ,now except a man can show the contrary in a commonwealth1 if there be no cause of corruption in the first make of it1 there can never be any such effect4 ,let no man's superstition impose profaneness upon this assertion2 for as man is sinful1 but yet the universe is perfect1 so may the citizen be sinful1 and yet the commonwealth be perfect4 ,and as man1 seeing the world is perfect1 can never commit any such sin as shall render it imperfect1 or bring it to a natural dissolution1 so the citizen1 where the commonwealth is perfect1 can never commit any such crime as will render it imperfect1 or bring it to a natural dissolution4 8,to come to experience3 ,venice1 notwithstanding we have found some flaws in it1 is the only commonwealth in the make whereof no man can find a cause of dissolution2 for which reason we behold her 7though she consists of men that are not without sin7 at this day with #a1jjj years upon her back1 yet for any internal cause1 as young1 as fresh1 and free from decay1 or any appearance of it1 as she was born2 but whatever in nature is not sensible of decay by the course of #a1jjj years1 is capable of the whole age of nature2 by which calculation1 for any check that ,i am able to give myself1 a commonwealth1 rightly ordered1 may for any internal causes be as immortal or long-lived as the world4 ,but if this be true1 those commonwealths that are naturally fallen1 must have derived their ruin from the rise of them4 ,israel and ,athens died1 not natural1 but violent deaths1 in which manner the world itself is to die4 ,we are speaking of those causes of dissolution which are natural to government2 and they are but two1 either contradiction or inequality4 ,if a commonwealth be a contradiction1 she must needs destroy herself2 and if she be unequal1 it tends to strife1 and strife to ruin4 ,by the former of these fell ,lacedaemon1 by the latter ,rome4 ,lacedaemon being made altogether for war1 and yet not for increase1 her natural progress became her natural dissolution1 and the building of her own victorious hand too heavy for her foundation1 so that she fell1 indeed1 by her own weight4 ,but ,rome perished through her native inequality1 which how it inveterated the bosoms of the ,senate and the people each against other1 and even to death1 has been shown at large4 8,look well to it1 my lords1 for if there be a contradiction or inequality in your commonwealth1 it must fall2 but if it has neither of these1 it has no principle of mortality4 ,do not think me impudent2 if this be truth1 ,i shall commit a gross indiscretion in concealing it4 ,sure ,i am that ,machiavel is for the immortality of a commonwealth upon far weaker principles4 #8,if a commonwealth1' says he1 #8were so happy as to be provided often with men1 that1 when she is swerving from her principles1 should reduce her to her institution1 she would be immortal4' ,but a commonwealth1 as we have demonstrated1 swerves not from her principles1 but by and through her institution2 if she brought no bias into the world with her1 her course for any internal cause must be straightforward1 as we see is that of ,venice4 ,she cannot turn to the right hand nor to the left1 but by some rub1 which is not an internal1 but external1 cause3 against such she can be no way fortified but through her situation1 as is ,venice1 or through her militia1 as was ,rome1 by which examples a commonwealth may be secure of those also4 ,think me not vain1 for ,i cannot conceal my opinion here2 a commonwealth that is rightly instituted can never swerve1 nor one that is not rightly instituted be secured from swerving by reduction to her first principles2 wherefore it is no less apparent in this place that ,machiavel understood not a commonwealth as to the whole piece1 than where having told you that a tribune1 or any other citizen of ,rome1 might propose a law to the people1 and debate it with them1 he adds1 #8this order was good while the people were good2 but when the people became evil1 it became most pernicious4' ,as if this order 7through which1 with the like1 the people most apparently became evil7 could ever have been good1 or that the people or the commonwealth could ever have become good1 by being reduced to such principles as were the original of their evil4 8,the disease of ,rome was1 as has been shown1 from the native inequality of her balance1 and no otherwise from the empire of the world1 than as1 this falling into one scale1 that of the nobility 7an evil in such a fabric inevitable7 kicked out the people4 ,wherefore a man that could have made her to throw away the empire of the world1 might in that have reduced her to her principles1 and yet have been so far from rendering her immortal that1 going no further1 he should never have cured her4 ,but your commonwealth is founded upon an equal agrarian2 and if the earth be given to the sons of men1 this balance is the balance of justice1 such a one as in having due regard to the different industry of different men1 yet faithfully judges the poor' ,and the king that faithfully judges the poor1 his throne shall be established forever21 much more the commonwealth1 seeing that equality1 which is the necessary dissolution of monarchy1 is the generation1 the very life and soul1 of a commonwealth4 ,and now1 if ever1 ,i may be excusable1 seeing my assertion1 that the throne of a commonwealth may be established forever1 is consonant to the holy ,scriptures4 8,the balance of a commonwealth that is equal is of such a nature that whatever falls into her empire must fall equally2 and if the whole earth falls into your scales1 it must fall equally1 and so you may be a greater people and yet not swerve from your principles one hair4 ,nay1 you will be so far from that that you must bring the world in such a case to your balance1 even to the balance of justice4 ,but hearken1 my lords2 are we on earth1 do we see the sun1 or are we visiting those shady places which are feigned by the poets8 8#8,continuo auditoe voces1 vagitus et ingens4' 8,these ,gothic empires that are yet in the world1 were at the first1 though they had legs of their own1 but a heavy and unwieldy burden2 but their foundations being now broken1 the iron of them enters even into the souls of the oppressed2 and hear the voice of their comforters3 #8,my father hath chastised you with whips1 but ,i will chastise you with scorpions4' ,hearken1 ,i say1 if thy brother cries to thee in affliction1 wilt thou not hear him8 ,this is a commonwealth of the fabric that has an open ear and a public concern2 she is not made for herself only1 but given as a magistrate of ,god to mankind1 for the vindication of common right and the law of nature4 ,wherefore says ,cicero of the like1 that of the ,romans1 #8,we have rather undertaken the patronage than the empire of the world4' ,if you1 not regarding this example1 like some other nations that are upon the point to smart for it1 shall1 having attained to your own liberty1 bear the sword of your common magistracy in vain1 sit still and fold your arms1 or1 which is worse1 let out the blood of your people to tyrants1 to be shed in the defence of their yokes like water1 and so not only turn the grace of ,god into wantonness1 but his justice into wormwood3 ,i say if you do thus1 you are not now making a commonwealth1 but heaping coals of fire upon your own heads4 ,a commonwealth of this make is a minister of ,god upon earth1 to the end that the world may be governed with righteousness4 ,for which cause 7that ,i may come at length to our present business7 the orders last rehearsed are buds of empire1 such as with the blessing of ,god may spread the arms of your commonwealth1 like a holy asylum1 to the distressed world1 and give the earth her sabbath of years1 or rest from her labors1 under the shadow of your wings4 ,it is upon this point where the writings of ,machiavel1 having for the rest excelled all other authors1 come as far to excel themselves4 8,commonwealths1 says he1 have had three ways of propagating themselves3 ,one after the manner of monarchies1 by imposing the yoke1 which was the way of ,athens1 and1 toward the latter times1 of ,lacedaemon2 another by equal leagues1 which is the way of ,switzerland 7,i shall add of ,holland1 though since his time72 a third by unequal leagues1 which1 to the shame of the world1 was never practised1 nay1 nor so much as seen or minded1 by any other commonwealth but that only of ,rome4 ,they will each of them1 either for caution or imitation1 be worthy to be well weighed1 which is the proper work of this place4 ,athens and ,lacedaemon have been the occasion of great scandal to the world1 in two1 or at least one of two regards3 the first1 their emulation1 which involved ,greece in perpetual wars2 the second1 their way of propagation1 which by imposing yokes upon others1 was plainly contradictory to their own principles4 8,for the first3 governments1 be they of what kind soever1 if they be planted too close1 are like trees1 that impatient in their growth to have it hindered1 eat out one another4 ,it was not unknown to these in speculation1 or1 if you read the story of ,agesilaus1 in action1 that either of them with #cj1jjj men might have mastered the ,east2 and certainly1 if the one had not stood in the other's light1 ,alexander had come too late to that end1 which was the means 7and would be if they were to live again7 of ruin1 at least to one of them2 wherefore with any man that understands the nature of government this is excusable4 ,so it was between ,oceana and ,marpesia2 so it is between ,france and ,spain1 though less excusable2 and so it ever will be in the like cases4 ,but to come to the second occasion of scandal by them given1 which was in the way of their propagation1 it is not excusable2 for they brought their confederates under bondage1 by which means ,athens gave occasion of the ,peloponnesian ,war1 the wound of which she died stinking1 when ,lacedaemon1 taking the same infection from her carcass1 soon followed4 8,wherefore1 my lords1 let these be warnings to you not to make that liberty which ,god has given you a snare to others in practising this kind of enlargement to yourselves4 8,the second way of propagation or enlargement used by commonwealths is that of ,switzerland and ,holland1 equal leagues2 this1 though it be not otherwise mischievous1 is useless to the world1 and dangerous to themselves3 useless to the world1 for as the former governments were storks1 these are blocks1 have no sense of honor1 or concern in the sufferings of others4 ,but as the ,a,etolians1 a state of the like fabric1 were reproached by ,philip of ,macedon to prostitute themselves2 by letting out their arms to the lusts of others1 while they leave their own liberty barren and without legitimate issue2 so ,i do not defame these people2 the ,switzer for valor has no superior1 the ,hollander for industry no equal2 but themselves in the meantime shall so much the less excuse their governments1 seeing that to the ,switz it is well enough known that the ensigns of his commonwealth have no other motto than in te converte manus2 and that of the ,hollander1 though he sweats more gold than the ,spaniard digs1 lets him languish in debt2 for she herself lives upon charity4 ,these are dangerous to themselves1 precarious governments1 such as do not command1 but beg their bread from province to province1 in coats that being patched up of all colors are in effect of none4 ,that their cantons and provinces are so many arrows1 is good2 but they are so many bows too1 which is naught4 8,like to these was the commonwealth of the ancient ,tuscans1 hung together like bobbins1 without a hand to weave with them2 therefore easily overcome by the ,romans1 though at that time1 for number1 a far less considerable people4 ,if your liberty be not a root that grows1 it will be a branch that withers1 which consideration brings me to the paragon1 the ,commonwealth of ,rome4 8,the ways and means whereby the ,romans acquired the patronage1 and in that the empire1 of the world were different1 according to the different condition of their commonwealth in her rise and in her growth3 in her rise she proceeded rather by colonies1 in her growth by unequal leagues4 ,colonies without the bounds of ,italy she planted none 7such dispersion of the ,roman citizen as to plant him in foreign parts1 till the contrary interest of the emperors brought in that practice1 was unlawful71 nor did she ever demolish any city within that compass1 or divest it of liberty2 but whereas the most of them were commonwealths1 stirred #8up by emulation of her great felicity to war against her1 if she overcame any1 she confiscated some part of their lands that were the greatest incendiaries1 or causes of the trouble1 upon which she planted colonies of her own people1 preserving the rest of their lands and liberties for the natives or inhabitants4 ,by this way of proceeding1 that ,i may be as brief as possible1 she did many and great things4 ,for in confirming of liberty1 she propagated her empire2 in holding the inhabitants from rebellion1 she put a curb upon the incursion of enemies2 in exonerating herself of the poorer sort1 she multiplied her citizens2 in rewarding her veterans1 she rendered the rest less seditious2 and in acquiring to herself the reverence of a common parent1 she from time to time became the mother of new-born cities4 8,in her further growth the way of her propagation went more upon leagues1 which for the first division were of two kinds1 social and provincial4 8,again1 social leagues1 or leagues of society1 were of two kinds3 8,the first called ,latinity or ,latin1 the second ,italian right40 ,the league between the ,romans and the ,latins1 or ,latin right1 approached nearest to jus quiritium1 or the right of a native ,roman4 ,the man or the city that was honored with this right1 was civitate donatus cum suffragio1 adopted a citizen of ,rome1 with the right of giving suffrage with the people in some cases1 as those of conformation of law1 or determination in judicature1 if both the ,consuls were agreed1 not otherwise2 wherefore that coming to little1 the greatest and most peculiar part of this privilege was1 that who had borne magistracy 7at least that of oedile or quoestor7 in any ,latin city1 was by consequence of the same a citizen of ,rome at all points4 8,italian right was also a donation of the city1 but without suffrage3 they who were in either of these leagues1 were governed by their own laws and magistrates1 having all the rights1 as to liberty1 of citizens of ,rome1 yielding and praying to the commonwealth as head of the league1 and having in the conduct of all affairs appertaining to the common cause1 such aid of men and money as was particularly agreed to upon the merit of the cause1 and specified in their respective leagues1 whence such leagues came to be called equal or unequal accordingly4 8,provincial leagues were of different extension1 according to the merit and capacity of a conquered people2 but they were all of one kind1 for every province was governed by ,roman magistrates1 as a praetor or a proconsul1 according to the dignity of the province1 for the civil administration and conduct of the provincial army1 and a quaestor for the gathering of the public revenue1 from which magistrates a province might appeal to ,rome4 8,for the better understanding of these particulars1 ,i shall exemplify in as many of them as is needful1 and first in ,macedon3 8,the ,macedonians were thrice conquered by the ,romans1 first under the conduct of ,titus ,quintus ,flaminius2 secondly1 under that of ,lucius ,a,emilius ,paulus2 and1 thirdly under that of ,quintus ,caecilius ,metellus1 thence called ,macedonicus4 8,for the first time ,philip of ,macedon1 who 7possessed of ,acrocorinthus7 boasted no less than was true1 that he had ,greece in fetters1 being overcome by ,flaminius1 had his kingdom restored to him1 upon condition that he should immediately set all the cities which he held in ,greece and in ,asia at liberty1 and that he should not make war out of ,macedon but by leave of the ,senate of ,rome2 which ,philip 7having no other way to save anything7 agreed should be done accordingly4 8,the ,grecians being at this time assembled at the isthmian games1 where the concourse was mighty great1 a crier1 appointed to the office by ,flaminius1 was heard among them proclaiming all ,greece to be free2 to which the people being amazed at so hopeless a thing1 gave little credit1 till they received such testimony of the truth as put it past all doubt1 whereupon they fell immediately on running to the proconsul with flowers and garlands1 and such violent expressions of their admiration and joy1 as1 if ,flaminius1 a young man1 about thirty-three1 had not also been very strong1 he must have died of no other death than their kindness1 while everyone striving to touch his hand1 they bore him up and down the field with an unruly throng1 full of such ejaculations as these3 ,how is there a people in the world1 that at their own charge1 at their own peril1 will fight for the liberty of another8 ,did they live at the next door to the fire8 ,or what kind of men are these1 whose business it is to pass the seas1 that the world may be governed with righteousness8 ,the cities of ,greece and of ,asia shake off their iron fetters at the voice of a crier was it madness to imagine such a thing1 and is it done8 ,o virtue6 ,o felicity6 ,o fame6 8,in this example your lordships have a donation of liberty or of ,italian right to a people1 by restitution to what they had formerly enjoyed2 and some particular men1 families or cities1 according to their merit of the ,romans1 if not upon this1 yet upon the like occasions1 were gratified with ,latinity40 ,but ,philip's share by this means did not please him1 wherefore the league was broken by his son ,perseus2 and the ,macedonians thereupon for the second time conquered by ,a,emilius ,paulus1 their ,king taken1 and they some time after the victory summoned to the tribunal of the general2 where1 remembering how little hope they ought to have of pardon1 they expected some dreadful sentence3 when ,a,emilius1 in the first place1 declared the ,macedonians to be free1 in the full possession of their lands1 goods1 and laws1 with right to elect annual magistrates1 yielding and paying to the people of ,rome one-half of the tribute which they were accustomed to pay to their own kings4 ,this done he went on1 making so skilful a division of the country in order to the methodizing of the people1 and casting them into the form of popular government1 that the ,macedonians1 being first surprised with the virtue of the ,romans1 began now to alter the scene of their admiration1 that a stranger should do such things for them in their own country1 and with such facility as they had never so much as once imagined to be possible4 ,nor was this all2 for ,a,emilius1 as if not dictating to conquered enemies1 but to some well-deserving friends1 gave them in the last place laws so suitable1 and contrived with such care and prudence1 that long use and experience 7the only correctness of works of this nature7 could never find a fault in them4 8,in this example you have a donation of liberty1 or of ,italian right1 to a people that had not tasted of it before1 but were now taught how to use it4 8,my lords1 the royalists should compare what we are doing1 and we what hitherto we have done for them1 with this example4 ,it is a shame that while we are boasting up ourselves above all others1 we should yet be so far from imitating such examples as these1 that we do not so much as understand that if government be the parent of manners1 where there are no heroic virtues1 there is no heroic government4 8,but the ,macedonians rebelling1 at the name of a false ,philip1 the third time against the ,romans1 were by them judged incapable of liberty1 and reduced by ,metellus to a province4 8,now whereas it remains that ,i explain the nature of a province1 ,i shall rather choose that of ,sicily1 because1 having been the first which the ,romans made1 the descriptions of the rest relate to it4 8#8,we have so received the ,sicilian cities into amity1' says ,cicero1 #8that they enjoy their ancient laws2 and upon no other condition than of the same obedience to the people of ,rome1 which they formerly yielded to their own princes or superiors4' ,so the ,sicilians1 whereas they had been parcelled out to divers princes1 and into divers states 7the cause of perpetual wars1 whereby1 hewing one another down1 they became sacrifices to the ambition of their neighbors1 or of some invader71 were now received at the old rate into a new protection which could hold them1 and in which no enemy durst touch them2 nor was it possible1 as the case then stood1 for the ,sicilians to receive1 or for the ,romans to give more4 8,a ,roman province is defined by ,sigonius as a region having provincial right4 ,provincial right in general was to be governed by a ,roman praetor1 or consul1 in matters at least of state1 and of the militia2 and by a quae,stor1 whose office it was to receive the public revenue4 ,provincial right in particular was different1 according to the different leagues or agreements between the commonwealth1 and the people reduced into a province4 #8,siculi hoc jure sunt1 ut quod civis cum cive agat1 domi certet suis legibus2 quod siculus cum siculo non ejusdem civitatis1 ut de eo proetor judices1 ex ,p4 ,rupilii decreto1 sortiatur4 ,quod privatus a populo petit1 aut populus a privato1 senatus ex aliqua civitate1 qui judicet1 datur1 cui alternoe civitates rejectoe sunt4 ,quod vivis ,romanus a siculo petit1 siculus judex datur quod siculus a cive ,romano1 civis ,romanus datur4 ,coeterarum rerum selecti judices ex civium ,romanorum conventu proponi solent4 ,inter aratores et decumanos lege frumentaria1 quam ,hieronicam appellant1 judicia fiunt4' ,because the rest would oblige me to a discourse too large for this place1 it shall suffice that ,i have showed you how it was in ,sicily4 8,my lords1 upon the fabric of your provincial orb ,i shall not hold you2 because it is sufficiently described in the order1 and ,i cannot believe that you think it inferior to the way of a praetor and a quaestor4 ,but whereas the provincial way of the ,roman ,commonwealth was that whereby it held the empire of the world1 and your orbs are intended to be capable at least of the like use1 there may arise many controversies1 as whether such a course be lawful1 whether it be feasible2 and1 seeing that the ,romans were ruined upon that point1 whether it would not be to the destruction of the commonwealth4 8,for the first3 if the empire of a commonwealth be an occasion to ask whether it be lawful for a commonwealth to aspire to the empire of the world1 it is to ask whether it be lawful for it to do its duty1 or to put the world into a better condition than it was before4 8,and to ask whether this be feasible1 is to ask why the ,oceaner1 being under the like administration of government1 may not do as much with #bjj men as the ,roman did with #ajj2 for comparing their commonwealths in their rise1 the difference is yet greater3 now that ,rome 7seris avaritia luxuriaque71 through the natural thirst of her constitution1 came at length with the fulness of her provinces to burst herself1 this is no otherwise to be understood than as when a man that from his own evil constitution had contracted the dropsy1 dies with drinking1 it being apparent that in case her agrarian had held1 she could never have been thus ruined1 and ,i have already demonstrated that your agrarian being once poised1 can never break or swerve4 8,wherefore to draw toward some conclusion of this discourse1 let me inculcate the use1 by selecting a few considerations out of many4 ,the regard had in this place to the empire of the world appertains to a well-ordered commonwealth1 more especially for two reasons3 8#a4 ,the facility of this great enterprise1 by a government of the model proposed2 8#b4 ,the danger that you would run in the omission of such a government4 8,the facility of this enterprise1 upon the grounds already laid1 must needs be great1 forasmuch as the empire of the world has been1 both in reason and experience1 the necessary consequence of a commonwealth of this nature only2 for though it has been given to all kinds to drive at it1 since that of ,athens or ,lacedaemon1 if the one had not hung in the other's light1 might have gained it1 yet could neither of them have held it2 not ,athens1 through the manner of her propagation1 which1 being by downright tyranny1 could not preserve what she had1 nor ,lacedaemon1 because she was overthrown by the weight of a less conquest4 ,the facility then of this great enterprise being peculiar to popular government1 ,i shall consider it1 first1 in gaining1 and secondly1 in holding4 8,for the former1 volenti non fit injuria4 ,it is said of the people under ,eumenes1 that they would not have changed them no their subjection for liberty2 wherefore the ,romans gave disturbance4 ,if a people be contented with their government1 it is a certain sign that it is good1 and much good do them with it4 ,the sword of your magistracy is for a terror to them that do evil4 ,eumenes had the fear of ,god1 or of the ,romans1 before his eyes2 concerning such he has given you no commission4 8,but till we can say1 here are the ,romans1 where is ,eumenes8 do not think that the late appearances of ,god to you have been altogether for yourselves2 #8,he has surely seen the affliction of your brethren1 and heard their cry by reason of their task masters4' ,for to believe otherwise is not only to be mindless of his ways1 but altogether deaf4 ,if you have ears to hear1 this is the way in which you will certainly be called upon2 for if1 while there is no stock of liberty no sanctuary of the afflicted1 it be a common object to behold a people casting themselves out of the pan of one prince into the fire of another1 what can you think1 but if the world should see the ,roman #8eagle again1 she would renew her age and her flight8 ,nor did ever she spread her wings with better omen than will be read in your ensigns2 which if1 called in by an oppressed people they interpose between them and their yoke1 the people themselves must either do nothing in the meantime or have no more pains to take for their wished fruit than to gather it1 if that be not likewise done for them4 ,wherefore this must needs be easy1 and yet you have a greater facility than is in the arm of flesh2 for if the cause of mankind be the cause of ,god1 the ,lord of ,hosts will be your captain1 and you shall be a praise to the whole earth4 8,the facility of holding is in the way of your propagation2 if you take that of ,athens and ,lacedemon1 you shall rain snares1 but either catch or hold nothing4 ,lying lips are an abomination to the ,lord3 if setting up for liberty you impose yokes1 he will infallibly destroy you4 ,on the other side1 to go about a work of this nature by a league without a head1 is to abdicate that magistracy wherewith he has not only endued you1 but whereof he will require an account of you2 for1 #8cursed is he that does the work of the ,lord negligently4' ,wherefore you are to take the course of ,rome3 if you have subdued a nation that is capable of liberty1 you shall make them a present of it1 as did ,flaminius to ,greece1 and ,a,emilius to ,macedon1 reserving to yourselves some part of that revenue which was legally paid to the former government1 together with the right of being head of the league1 which includes such levies of men and money as shall be necessary for the carrying on of the public work4 8,for if a people have by your means attained to freedom1 they owe both to the cause and you such aid as may propagate the like fruit to the rest of the world4 ,but whereas every nation is not capable of her liberty to this degree1 lest you be put to doing and undoing of things1 as the ,romans were in ,macedon1 you shall diligently observe what nation is fit for her liberty to this degree1 and what not2 which is to be done by two marks1 the first if she be willing to #8help the ,lord against the mighty2' for if she has no care of the liberty of mankind she deserves not her own4 ,but because in this you may be deceived by pretences1 which1 continuing for a while specious1 may afterward vanish2 the other is more certain1 and that is if she be capable of an equal agrarian2 which that it was not observed by excellent ,a,emilius in his donation of liberty1 and introduction of a popular state among the ,macedonians1 ,i am more than moved to believe for two reasons2 the first1 because at the same time the agrarian was odious to the ,roman patricians2 the second1 that the pseudo-,philip could afterward so easily recover ,macedon1 which could not have happened but by the nobility1 and their impatience1 having great estates1 to be equalled with the people2 for that the people should otherwise1 at the mere sound of a name1 have thrown away their liberty1 is incredible4 ,wherefore be assured that the nation where you cannot establish an equal agrarian1 is incapable of its liberty as to this kind of donation4 ,for example1 except the aristocracy in ,marpesia be dissolved1 neither can that people have their liberty there1 nor you govern at home2 for they continuing still liable to be sold by their lords to foreign princes1 there will never 7especially in a country of which there is no other profit to be made7 be want of such merchants and drovers1 while you must be the market where they are to receive their second payment4 8,nor can the aristocracy there be dissolved but by your means1 in relation whereto you are provided with your provincial orb2 which1 being proportioned to the measure of the nation that you have vindicated or conquered1 will easily hold it3 for there is not a people in the world more difficult to be held than the ,marpesians1 which1 though by themselves it be ascribed to their own nature1 is truly to be attributed to that of their country4 ,nevertheless1 you having #i1jjj men upon the continual guard of it1 that1 threatened by any sudden insurrection1 have places of retreat1 and an army of #dj1jjj men upon a day's warning ready to march to their rescue1 it is not to be rationally shown which way they can possibly slip out of your hands4 ,and if a man should think that upon a province more remote and divided by the sea1 you have not the like hold1 he has not so well considered your wings as your talons1 your shipping being of such a nature as makes the descent of your armies almost of equal facility in any country1 so that what you take you hold1 both because your militia1 being already populous1 will be of great growth in itself1 and also through your confederates1 by whom in taking and holding you are still more enabled to do both4 8,nor shall you easier hold than the people under your empire or patronage may be held4 ,my lords1 ,i would not go to the door to see whether it be close shut2 this is no underhand dealing1 nor a game at which he shall have any advantage against you who sees your cards1 but1 on the contrary the advantage shall be your own3 for with #ah1jjj men 7which number ,i put1 because it circulates your orb by the annual change of #f1jjj7 having established your matters in the order shown1 you will1 be able to hold the greatest province2 and #ah1jjj men1 allowing them greater pay than any prince ever gave1 will not stand the province in #a1jjj1jjj revenue2 in consideration whereof1 they shall have their own estates free to themselves1 and be governed by their own laws and magistrates2 which1 if the revenue of the province be in dry-rent 7as there may be some that are four times as big as ,oceana7 #dj1jjj1jjj1 will bring it with that of industry1 to speak with the least1 to twice the value3 so that the people there1 who at this day are so oppressed that they have nothing at all whereon to live1 shall for #a1jjj1jjj paid to you1 receive at least #gi1jjj1jjj to their proper use3 in which place ,i appeal to any man1 whether the empire described can be other than the patronage of the world4 8,now if you add to the propagation of civil liberty 7so natural to this commonwealth that it cannot be omitted7 the propagation of the liberty of conscience1 this empire1 this patronage of the world1 is the kingdom of ,christ3 for as the kingdom of ,god the ,father was a commonwealth1 so shall the kingdom of ,god the ,son2 #8the people shall be willing in the day of his power4' 8,having showed you in this and other places some of those inestimable benefits of this kind of government1 together with the natural and facile emanation of them from their fountain1 ,i come 7lest ,god who has appeared to you1 for he is the ,god of nature1 in the glorious constellation of these subordinate causes1 whereof we have hitherto been taking the true elevation1 should shake off the dust of his feet against you7 to warn you of the dangers which you1 not taking the opportunity1 will incur by omission4 8,machiavel1 speaking of the defect of ,venice1 through her want of proper arms1 cries out1 #8,this cut her wings1 and spoiled her mount to heaven4' ,if you lay your commonwealth upon any other foundation than the people1 you frustrate yourself of proper arms1 and so lose the empire of the world2 nor is this all1 but some other nation will have it4 8,columbus offered gold to one of your kings1 through whose happy incredulity another prince has drunk the poison1 even to the consumption of his people2 but ,i do not offer you a nerve of war that is made of purse-strings1 such a one as has drawn the face of the earth into convulsions1 but such as is natural to her health and beauty4 ,look you to it1 where there is tumbling and tossing upon the bed of sickness1 it must end in death or recovery4 ,though the people of the world1 in the dregs of the ,gothic empire1 be yet tumbling and tossing upon the bed of sickness1 they cannot die2 nor is there any means of recovery for them but by ancient prudence1 whence of necessity it must come to pass that this drug be better known1 if ,france1 ,italy1 and ,spain were not all sick1 all corrupted together1 there would be none of them so2 for the sick would not be able to withstand the sound1 nor the sound to preserve their health1 without curing of the sick4 ,the first of these nations 7which if you stay her leisure1 will in my mind be ,france7 that recovers the health of ancient prudence1 shall certainly govern the world2 for what did ,italy when she had it8 and as you were in that1 so shall you in the like case be reduced to a province2 ,i do not speak at random4 ,italy1 in the consulship of ,lucius ,a,emilius ,papus and ,caius ,attilius ,regulus1 armed1 upon the ,gallic tumult that then happened of herself1 and without the aid of foreign auxiliaries1 #gj1jjj horse and #gjj1jjj foot2 but as ,italy is the least of those three countries in extent1 so is ,france now the most populous4 8#8,i1 decus1 ,i1 nostrum1 melioribus utere fatis4' 8,my dear lords1 ,oceana is as the rose of ,sharon1 and the lily of the valley4 ,as the lily among thorns1 such is my love among the daughters4 ,she is comely as the tents of ,kedar1 and terrible as an army with banners4 ,her neck is as the tower of ,david1 builded for an armory1 whereon there hang #a1jjj bucklers and shields of mighty men4 ,let me hear thy voice in the morning1 whom my soul loves4 ,the south has dropped1 and the west is breathing upon thy garden of spices4 ,arise1 queen of the earth1 arise1 holy spouse of ,jesus2 for lo1 the winter is past1 the rain is over and gone2 the flowers appear on the earth1 the time for the singing of birds is come1 and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land4 ,arise1 ,i say1 come forth1 and do not tarry3 ah6 wherefore should my eyes behold thee by the rivers of ,babylon1 hanging thy harps upon the willows1 thou fairest among women8 8,excellent patriots1 if the people be sovereign1 here is that which establishes their prerogative2 if we be sincere1 here is that which disburdens our souls1 and makes good all our engagements2 if we be charitable1 here is that which embraces all parties2 if we would be settled1 here is that which will stand1 and last forever4 8,if our religion be anything else but a vain boast1 scratching and defacing human nature or reason1 which1 being the image of ,god1 makes it a kind of murder1 here is that empire whence #8justice shall run down like a river1 and judgment like a mighty stream4' ,who is it then that calls us8 or1 what is in our way8 ,a lion6 ,is it not the dragon1 that old serpent8 ,for what wretched shifts are these8 ,here is a great deal2 might we not have some of this at one time1 and some at another8 8,my lords1 permit me to give you the sum1 or brief3 ,,epitome ,,of ,,the ,,whole ,,commonwealth 8,the centre or fundamental laws are1 first1 the agrarian1 proportioned at #b1jjj a year in land1 lying and being within the proper territory of ,oceana1 and stating property in land at such a balance1 that the power can never swerve out of the hands of the many4 8,secondly1 the ballot conveying this equal sap from the root1 by an equal election or rotation1 into the branches of magistracy or sovereign power4 8,the orbs of this commonwealth being civil1 military1 or provincial1 are1 as it were1 cast upon this mould or centre by the divisions of the people2 first1 into citizens and servants2 secondly1 into youth and elders2 thirdly1 into such as have #ajj a year in lands1 goods1 or moneys1 who are of the horse2 and such as have under1 who are of the foot2 fourthly1 they are divided by their usual residence into parishes1 hundreds1 and tribes4 8,the civil orbs consist of the elders1 and are thus created3 every ,monday next ensuing the last of ,december1 the elders in every parish elect the fifth man to be a deputy1 which is but half a day's work2 every ,monday next ensuing the last of ,january1 the deputies meet at their respective hundred1 and elect out of their number one justice of the peace1 one juryman1 one coroner1 and one high constable of the foot1 one day's work4 8,every ,monday next ensuing the last of ,february1 the hundreds meet at their respective tribe1 and there elect the lords high sheriff1 lieutenant1 custos rotulorum1 the conductor1 the two censors out of the horse1 the magistrates of the tribe and of the hundreds1 with the jurymen constituting the phylarch1 and who assist in their respective offices at the assizes1 hold the quarter-sessions1 etc4 ,the day following the tribe elects the annual galaxy1 consisting of two knights and three deputies out of the horse1 with four deputies out of the foot1 thereby endued with power1 as magistrates of the whole nation1 for the term of three years4 ,an officer chosen at the hundred may not be elected a magistrate of the tribe2 but a magistrate or officer either of the hundred or of the tribe1 being elected into the galaxy1 may substitute any one of his office in the hundred or in own order to his magistracy or office in the hundred or in the tribe4 ,this of the muster is two days' work4 ,so the body of the people is annually1 at the charge of three days' work and a half1 in their own tribes1 for the perpetuation of their power1 receiving over and above the magistracies so divided among them4 8,every ,monday next ensuing the last of ,march1 the knights1 being #ajj in all the tribes1 take their places in the ,senate4 ,the knights1 having taken their places in the ,senate1 make the third region of the same1 and the house proceeds to the senatorian elections4 ,senatorian elections are annual1 biennial1 or emergent4 8,the annual are performed by the tropic4 8,the tropic is a schedule consisting of two parts2 the first by which the senatorian magistrates are elected2 and the second1 by which the senatorian councils are perpetuated4 8,the first part is of this tenor3 ,the lord strategus1 ,the lord orator1 ,the first censor1 ,the second censor1 8,annual magistrates and therefore such as may be elected out of any region2 the term of every region having at the tropic one year at the least unexpired4 ,the third commissioner of the seal1 ,the third commissioner of the ,treasury4 8,triennial magistrates1 and therefore such as can be chosen out of the third region only1 as that alone which has the term of three years unexpired4 8,the strategus and the orator sitting1 are consuls1 or presidents of the ,senate4 8,the strategus marching is general of the army1 in which case a new strategus is to be elected in his room4 8,the strategus sitting with six commissioners1 being councillors of the nation1 are the signory of the commonwealth40 ,the censors are magistrates of the ballot1 presidents of the ,council for ,religion1 and chancellors of the universities4 8,the second part of the tropic perpetuates the ,council of ,state1 by the election of five knights out of the first region of the ,senate1 to be the first region of that council consisting of fifteen knights1 five in every region4 8,the like is done by the election of four into the ,council of ,religion1 and four into the ,council of ,trade1 out of the same region in the ,senate2 each of these councils consisting of twelve knights1 four in every region4 8,but the ,council of ,war1 consisting of nine knights1 three in every region1 is elected by and out of the ,council of ,state1 as the other councils are elected by and out of the ,senate4 ,and if the ,senate add a juncta of nine knights more1 elected out of their own number1 for the term of three months1 the ,council of ,war1 by virtue of that addition1 is ,dictator of ,oceana for the said term4 8,the signory jointly or severally has right of session and suffrage in every senatorial council1 and to propose either to the ,senate1 or any of them4 ,and every region in a council electing one weekly provost1 any two of those provosts have power also to propose to their respective council1 as the proper and peculiar proposers of the same1 for which cause they hold an academy1 where any man1 either by word of mouth or writing1 may propose to the proposers4 8,next to the elections of the tropic is the biennial election of one ambassador-in-ordinary1 by the ballot of the house1 to the residence of ,france2 at which time the resident of ,france removes to ,spain1 he of ,spain to ,venice1 he of ,venice to ,constantinople1 and he of ,constantinople returns4 ,so the orb of the residents is wheeled about in eight years1 by the biennial election of one ambassador-in-ordinary4 8,the last kind of election is emergent4 ,emergent elections are made by the scrutiny4 ,election by scrutiny is when a competitor1 being made by a council1 and brought into the ,senate1 the ,senate chooses four more competitors to him1 and putting all five to the ballot1 he who has most above half the suffrages is the magistrate4 ,the polemarchs or field officers are chosen by the scrutiny of the ,council of ,war2 an ambassador-extraordinary by the scrutiny of the ,council of ,state2 the judges and sergeants-at-law by the scrutiny of the seal2 and the barons and prime officers of the ,exchequer1 by the scrutiny of the ,treasury44 8,the opinion or opinions that are legitimately proposed to any council must be debated by the same1 and so many as are resolved upon the debate are introduced into the ,senate1 where they are debated and resolved1 or rejected by the whole house2 that which is resolved by the ,senate is a decree which is good in matters of state1 but no law1 except it be proposed to and resolved by the prerogative4 8,the deputies of the galaxy being three horse and four foot in a tribe1 amount in all the tribes to #aej horse and #bjj foot2 which1 having entered the prerogative1 and chosen their captains1 cornet1 and ensign 7triennial officers71 make the third class1 consisting of one troop and one company2 and so1 joining with the whole prerogative1 elect four annual magistrates1 called tribunes1 whereof two are of the horse and two of the foot4 ,these have the command of the prerogative sessions1 and suffrage in the ,council of ,war1 and sessions without suffrage in the ,senate4 8,the ,senate having passed a decree which they would propose to the people1 cause it to be printed and published1 or promulgated for the space of six weeks1 which1 being ordered1 they choose their proposers4 ,the proposers must be magistrates1 that is1 the commissioners of the seal1 those of the ,treasury1 or the censors4 ,these being chosen1 desire the muster of the tribunes1 and appoint the day4 ,the people being assembled at the day appointed1 and the decree proposed1 that which is proposed by authority of the ,senate1 and commanded by the people1 is the law of ,oceana1 or an act of ,parliament4 8,so the ,parliament of ,oceana consists of the ,senate proposing1 and the people resolving4 8,the people or prerogative are also the supreme judicatory of this nation1 having power of hearing and determining all causes of appeal from all magistrates1 or courts provincial or domestic1 as also to question any magistrate1 the term of his magistracy being expired1 if the case be introduced by the tribunes1 or any one of them4 8,the military orbs consist of the youth1 that is1 such as are from eighteen to thirty years of age2 and are created in the following manner3 8,every ,wednesday next ensuing the last of ,december1 the youth of every parish1 assembling1 elect the fifth of their number to be their deputies2 the deputies of the youth are called stratiots1 and this is the first essay4 8,every ,wednesday next ensuing the last of ,january1 the stratiots1 assembling at the hundred1 elect their captain and their ensign1 and fall to their games and sports4 8,every ,wednesday next ensuing the last of ,february the stratiots are received by the lord lieutenant1 their commander-in-chief1 with the conductors and the censors2 and1 having been disciplined and entertained with other games1 are called to the urns1 where they elect the second essay1 consisting of #bjj horse and #fjj foot in a tribe2 that is1 of #aj1jjj horse and #cj1jjj foot in all the tribes1 which is the standing army of this nation1 to march at any warning4 ,they also elect at the same time a part of the third essay1 by the mixture of balls marked with the letter ,m and the letter ,p1 for ,marpesia and ,panopea2 they of either mark being ten horse and fifty foot in a tribe1 that is1 #ejj horse and #b1ejj foot in all the tribes1 which are forthwith to march to their respective provinces4 8,but the third essay of this nation more properly so called1 is when the strategus with the polemarchs 7the ,senate and the people or the ,dictator having decreed a war7 receive in return of his warrants the second essay from the hands of the conductors at the rendezvous of ,oceana2 which army1 marching with all accommodations provided by the ,council of ,war1 the ,senate elects a new strategus1 and the lords-lieutenant a new second essay4 8,a youth1 except he be an only son1 refusing any one of his three essays1 without sufficient cause shown to the phylarch or the censors1 is incapable of magistracy1 and is fined a fifth part of his yearly rent1 or of his estate1 for protection4 ,in case of invasion the elders are obliged to like duty with the youth1 and upon their own charge4 8,the provincial orb consisting in part of the elders1 and in part of the youth1 is thus created3 8,four knights out of the first region falling1 are elected in the ,senate to be the first region of the provincial orb of ,marpesia2 these1 being triennial magistrates1 take their places in the provincial council1 consisting of twelve knights1 four in every region1 each region choosing their weekly provosts of the council thus constituted4 ,one knight more1 chosen out of the same region in the ,senate1 being an annual magistrate1 is president1 with power to propose2 and the opinions proposed by the president1 or any two of the provosts1 are debated by the council1 and1 if there be occasion of further power or instruction than they yet have1 transmitted to the ,council of ,state1 with which the provincial is to hold intelligence4 8,the president of this council is also strategus or general of the provincial army2 wherefore the conductors1 upon notice of his election1 and appointment of his rendezvous1 deliver to him the stratiots of his letter1 which he takes with him into his province2 and the provincial army having received the new strategus with the third class1 the council dismisses the old strategus with the first class4 ,the like is done for ,panopea1 or any other province4 8,but whereas the term of every other magistracy or election in this commonwealth1 whether annual or triennial1 requires an equal vacation1 the term of a provincial councillor or magistrate requires no vacation at all4 ,the quorum of a provincial1 as also that of every other council and assembly1 requires two-thirds in a time of health1 and one-third in a time of sickness4 8,i think ,i have omitted nothing but the props and scaffolds1 which are not of use but in building4 ,and how much is here8 ,show me another commonwealth in this compass8 how many things8 ,show me another entire government consisting but of thirty orders4 ,if you now go to law with anybody1 there lie to some of our courts #bjj original writs3 if you stir your hand1 there go more nerves and bones to that motion2 if you play1 you have more cards in the pack2 nay1 you could not sit with your ease in that chair1 if it consisted not of more parts4 ,will you not then allow to your legislator1 what you can afford your upholsterer1 or to the throne1 what is necessary to a chair8 8,my lords1 if you will have fewer orders in a commonwealth1 you will have more2 for where she is not perfect at first1 every day1 every hour will produce a new order1 the end whereof is to have no order at all1 but to grind with the clack of some demagogue4 ,is he providing already for his golden thumb8 ,lift up your heads2 away with ambition1 that fulsome complexion of a statesman1 tempered1 like ,sylla's1 with blood and muck4 #8,and the ,lord give to his senators wisdom2 and make our faces to shine1 that we may be a light to them that sit in darkness and the shadow of death1 to guide their feet in the way of peace4'--,in the name of ,god1 what's the matter80 ,philadelphus1 the secretary of the council1 having performed his task in reading the several orders as you have seen1 upon the receipt of a packet from his correspondent ,boccalini1 secretary of ,parnassus1 in reading one of the letters1 burst forth into such a violent passion of weeping and downright howling1 that the legislators1 being startled with the apprehension of some horrid news1 one of them had no sooner snatched the letter out of his hand1 than the rest crying1 8,read1 read10 he obeyed in this manner3 8,the #c;d instant his ,phoebean majesty having taken the nature of free states into his royal consideration1 and being steadily persuaded that the laws in such governments are incomparably better and more surely directed to the good of mankind than in any other2 that the courage of such a people is the aptest tinder to noble fire2 that the genius of such a soil is that wherein the roots of good literature are least worm-eaten with pedantism1 and where their fruits have ever come to the greatest maturity and highest relish1 conceived such a loathing of their ambition and tyranny1 who1 usurping the liberty of their native countries1 become slaves to themselves1 inasmuch as 7be it never so contrary to their own nature or consciences7 they have taken the earnest of sin1 and are engaged to persecute all men that are good with the same or greater rigor than is ordained by laws for the wicked1 for none ever administered that power by good which he purchased by ill arts--,phoebus1 ,i say1 having considered this1 assembled all the senators residing in the learned court at the theatre of ,melpomene1 where he caused ,caesar the ,dictator to come upon the stage1 and his sister ,actia1 his nephew ,augustus1 ,julia his daughter1 with the children which she had by ,marcus ,agrippa1 ,lucius and ,caius ,caesars1 ,agrippa ,posthumus1 ,julia1 and ,agrippina1 with the numerous progeny which she bore to her renowned husband ,germanicus1 to enter4 ,a miserable scene in any1 but most deplorable in the eyes of ,caesar1 thus beholding what havoc his prodigious ambition1 not satisfied with his own bloody ghost1 had made upon his more innocent remains1 even to the total extinction of his family4 ,for it is 7seeing where there is any humanity1 there must be some compassion7 not to be spoken without tears1 that of the full branches deriving from ,octavia the eldest sister1 and ,julia the daughter of ,augustus1 there should not be one fruit or blossom that was not cut off or blasted by the sword1 famine1 or poison4 8,now might the great soul of ,caesar have been full2 and yet that which poured in as much or more was to behold that execrable race of the ,claudii1 having hunted and sucked his blood1 with the thirst of tigers1 to be rewarded with the ,roman ,empire1 and remain in full possession of that famous patrimony3 a spectacle to pollute the light of heaven6 ,nevertheless1 as if ,caesar had not yet enough1 his ,phoeban majesty caused to be introduced on the other side of the theatre1 the most illustrious and happy prince ,andrea ,doria1 with his dear posterity1 embraced by the soft and constant arms of the city of ,genoa1 into whose bosom1 ever fruitful in her gratitude1 he had dropped her fair liberty like the dew of heaven1 which1 when the ,roman tyrant beheld1 and how much more fresh that laurel was worn with a firm root in the hearts of the people than that which he had torn off1 he fell into such a horrid distortion of limbs and countenance1 that the senators1 who had thought themselves steel and flint at such an object1 having hitherto stood in their reverend snow-like thawing ,alps1 now covered their faces with their large sleeves40 8,my lords10 said the ,archon1 rising1 8witty ,philadelphus has given us grave admonition in dreadful tragedy4 ,discite justitiam moniti1 et non temnere divos4 ,great and glorious ,caesar the highest character of flesh1 yet could not rule but by that part of man which is the beast2 but a commonwealth is a monarchy2 to her ,god is king1 inasmuch as reason1 his dictate1 is her sovereign power40 ,which said1 he adjourned the ,council4 ,and the model was soon after promulgated4 ,quod bonum1 foelix1 faustumque sit huic reipublicoe4 ,agite quirites1 censuere patres1 jubeat populus4 7,the sea roared1 and the floods clapped their hands47 ,,libertas ,the ,proclamation of his ,highness the ,lord ,archon of ,oceana upon ,promulgation of the ,model1 8,whereas his ,highness and the ,council1 in the framing of the model promulgated1 have not had any private interest or ambition but the fear of ,god and the good of this people before their eyes2 and it remains their desire that this great work may be carried on accordingly4 ,this present greeting is to inform the good people of this land1 that as the ,council of ,prytans sat during the framing of the model1 to receive from time to time such propositions as should be offered by any wise-hearted or public-spirited man1 toward the institution of a well-ordered commonwealth1 so the said ,council is to sit as formerly in the great hall of the ,pantheon during promulgation 7which is to continue for the space of three months7 to receive1 weigh1 and1 as there shall be occasion1 transmit to the ,council of ,legislators1 all such objections as shall be made against the said model1 whether in the whole or in any part4 ,wherefore that nothing be done rashly or without the consent of the people1 such1 of what party soever1 with whom there may remain any doubts or difficulties1 are desired with all convenient speed to address themselves to the said prytans2 where1 if such objections1 doubts1 or difficulties receive solution to the satisfaction of the auditory1 they shall have public thanks1 but if the said objections1 doubts1 or difficulties receive no solution to the satisfaction of the auditory1 then the model promulgated shall be reviewed1 and the party that was the occasion of the review1 shall receive public thanks1 together with the best horse in his ,highness's stable1 and be one of the ,council of ,legislators4 ,and so ,god have you in his keeping40 ,i should now write the same ,council of the ,prytans1 but for two reasons3 the one1 that having had but a small time for that which is already done1 ,i am over-labored2 the other1 that there may be new objections4 ,wherefore1 if my reader has any such as to the model1 ,i entreat him to address himself by way of oration1 as it were1 to the prytans1 that when this rough draught comes to be a work1 his speech being faithfully inserted in this place1 may give or receive correction to amendment2 for what is written will be weighed4 ,but conversation1 in these days1 is a game at which they are best provided that have light gold2 it is like the sport of women that make flowers of straws1 which must be stuck up but may not be touched4 ,nor1 which is worse1 is this the fault of conversation only3 but to the examiner ,i say if to invent method and teach an art be all one1 let him show that this method is not truly invented1 or this art is faithfully taught4 ,i cannot conclude a circle 7and such is this commonwealth7 without turning the end into the beginning4 ,the time of promulgation being expired1 the surveyors were sent down1 who having in due season made report that their work was perfect1 the orators followed1 under the administration of which officers and magistrates the commonwealth was ratified and established by the whole body of the people1 in their parochial1 hundred1 and county assemblies4 ,and the orators being1 by virtue of their scrolls or lots1 members of their respective tribes1 were elected each the first knight of the third list1 or galaxy2 wherefore1 having at their return assisted the ,archon in putting the ,senate and the people or prerogative into motion1 they abdicated the magistracy both of orators and legislators4 ,,part ,,iv4 ,,the ,,corollary ,,for the rest 7says ,plutarch1 closing up the story of ,lycurgus7 when he saw that his government had taken root1 and was in the very plantation strong enough to stand by itself1 he conceived such a delight within him1 as ,god is described by ,plato to have done when he had finished the creation of the world1 and saw his own orbs move below him3 for in the art of man 7being the imitation of nature1 which is the art of ,god7 there is nothing so like the first call of beautiful order out of chaos and confusion1 as the architecture of a well-ordered commonwealth4 ,wherefore ,lycurgus1 seeing in effect that his orders were good1 fell into deep contemplation how he might render them1 so far as could be effected by human providence1 unalterable and immortal4 ,to which end he assembled the people1 and remonstrated to them3 ,that for aught he could perceive1 their policy was already such1 and so well established1 as was sufficient to entail upon them and theirs all that virtue and felicity whereof human life is capable3 nevertheless that there being another thing of greater concern than all the rest1 whereof he was not yet provided to give them a perfect account1 nor could till he had consulted the oracle of ,apollo1 he desired that they would observe his laws without any change or alteration whatsoever till his return from ,delphos2 to which all the people cheerfully and unanimously engaged themselves by promise1 desiring him that he would make as much haste as he could4 ,but ,lycurgus1 before he went1 began with the kings and the senators1 and thence taking the whole people in order1 made them all swear to that which they had promised1 and then took his journey4 ,being arrived at ,delphos1 he sacrificed to ,apollo1 and afterward inquired if the policy which he had established was good and sufficient for a virtuous and happy life8 ,by the way1 it has been a maxim with legislators not to give checks to the present superstition1 but to make the best use of it1 as that which is always the most powerful with the people2 otherwise1 though ,plutarch1 being a priest1 was interested in the cause1 there is nothing plainer than ,cicero1 in his book 8,de ,divinatione0 has made it1 that there was never any such thing as an oracle1 except in the cunning of the priests4 ,but to be civil to the author1 the god answered to ,lycurgus that his policy was exquisite1 and that his city1 holding to the strict observation of his form of government1 should attain to the height of fame and glory4 ,which oracle ,lycurgus causing to be written1 failed not of transmitting to his ,lacedaemon4 ,this done1 that his citizens might be forever inviolably bound by their oath1 that they would alter nothing till his return1 he took so firm a resolution to die in the place1 that from thenceforward1 receiving no manner of food1 he soon after performed it accordingly4 ,nor was he deceived in the consequence2 for his city became the first in glory and excellency of government in the whole world4 ,and so much for ,lycurgus1 according to ,plutarch4 ,my ,lord ,archon1 when he beheld not only the rapture of motion1 but of joy and harmony1 into which his spheres 7without any manner of obstruction or interfering1 but as if it had been naturally7 were cast1 conceived not less of exultation in his spirit2 but saw no more necessity or reason why he should administer an oath to the ,senate and the people that they would observe his institutions1 than to a man in perfect health and felicity of constitution that he would not kill himself4 ,nevertheless whereas ,christianity1 though it forbids violent hands1 consists no less in self-denial than any other religion1 he resolved that all unreasonable desires should die upon the spot2 to which end that no manner of food might be left to ambition1 he entered into the ,senate with a unanimous applause1 and having spoken of his government as ,lycurgus did when he assembled the people1 he abdicated the magistracy of ,archon4 ,the ,senate1 as struck with astonishment1 continued silent1 men upon so sudden an accident being altogether unprovided of what to say2 till the ,archon withdrawing1 and being almost at the door1 divers of the knights flew from their places1 offering as it were to lay violent hands on him1 while he escaping1 left the ,senate with the tears in their eyes1 of children that had lost their father and to rid himself of all further importunity1 retired to a country house of his1 being remote1 and very private1 insomuch that no man could tell for some time what was become of him4 ,thus the law-maker happened to be the first object and reflection of the law made2 for as liberty of all things is the most welcome to a people1 so is there nothing more abhorrent from their nature than ingratitude4 ,we1 accusing the ,roman people of this crime against some of their greatest benefactors1 as ,camillus1 heap mistake upon mistake2 for being not so competent judges of what belongs to liberty as they were1 we take upon us to be more competent judges of virtue4 ,and whereas virtue1 for being a vulgar thing among them1 was of no less rate than jewels are with such as wear the most1 we are selling this precious stone1 which we have ignorantly raked out of the ,roman ruins1 at such a rate as the ,switzers did that which they took in the baggage of ,charles of ,burgundy4 ,for that ,camillus had stood more firm against the ruin of ,rome than her capitol1 was acknowledged2 but on the other side1 that he stood as firm for the patricians against the liberty of the people1 was as plain2 wherefore he never wanted those of the people that would die at his foot in the field1 nor that would withstand him to his beard in the city4 ,an example in which they that think ,camillus had wrong1 neither do themselves right1 nor the people of ,rome2 who in this signify no less than that they had a scorn of slavery beyond the fear of ruin1 which is the height of magnanimity4 ,the like might be shown by other examples objected against this and other popular governments1 as in the banishment of ,aristides the ,just from ,athens1 by the ostracism1 which1 first1 was no punishment1 nor ever understood for so much as a disparagement2 but tended only to the security of the commonwealth1 through the removal of a citizen 7whose riches or power with a party was suspected7 out of harm's way for the space of ten years1 neither to the diminution of his estate or honor4 ,and next1 though the virtue of ,aristides might in itself be unquestioned1 yet for him under the name of the ,just to become universal umpire of the people in all cases1 even to the neglect of the legal ways and orders of the commonwealth1 approached so much to the prince1 that the ,athenians1 doing ,aristides no wrong1 did their government no more than right in removing him2 which therefore is not so probable to have come to pass1 as ,plutarch presumes1 through the envy of ,themistocles1 seeing ,aristides was far more popular than ,themistocles1 who soon after took the same walk upon a worse occasion4 ,wherefore as ,machiavel1 for anything since alleged1 has irrefragably proved that popular governments are of all others the least ungrateful1 so the obscurity1 ,i say1 into which my ,lord ,archon had now withdrawn himself caused a universal sadness and clouds in the minds of men upon the glory of his rising commonwealth4 ,much had been ventilated in private discourse1 and the people 7for the nation was yet divided into parties that had not lost their animosities71 being troubled1 bent their eyes upon the ,senate1 when after some time spent in devotion1 and the solemn action of thanksgiving1 his ,excellency ,navarchus de ,paralo in the tribe of ,dorean1 lord strategus of ,oceana 7though in a new commonwealth a very prudent magistrate7 proposed his part or opinion in such a manner to the ,council of ,state1 that1 passing the ballot of the same with great unanimity and applause1 it was introduced into the ,senate1 where it passed with greater4 ,wherefore the decree being forthwith printed and published1 copies were returned by the secretaries to the phylarchs 7which is the manner of promulgation7 and the commissioners of the seal1 that is to say1 the ,right ,honorable ,phosphorus de ,auge in the tribe of ,eudia1 ,dolabella d',enyo in the tribe of ,turmae1 and ,linceus de ,stella in the tribe of ,nubia1 being elected proposers pro tempore1 bespoke of the tribunes a muster of the people to be held that day six weeks1 which was the time allowed for promulgation at the halo4 ,the satisfaction which the people throughout the tribes received upon promulgation of the decree1 loaded the carriers with weekly letters between friend and friend1 whether magistrates or private persons4 ,but the day for proposition being come1 and the prerogative upon the place appointed in discipline1 ,sanguine de ,ringwood in the tribe of ,saltum1 captain of the ,phoenix1 marched by order of the tribunes with his troop to the piazza of the ,pantheon1 where his trumpets1 entering into the great hall1 by their blazon gave notice of his arrival2 at which the sergeant of the house came down1 and returning1 in formed the proposers1 who descending1 were received at the foot of the stairs by the captain1 and attended to the coaches of state1 with which ,calcar de ,gilvo in the tribe of ,phalera1 master of the horse1 and the ballotins upon their great horses1 stood waiting at the gate4 ,the proposers being in their coaches1 the train for the pomp1 the same that is used at the reception of ambassadors1 proceeded in this order4 ,in the front marched the troop with the cornet in the van and the captain in the rear2 next the troop came the twenty messengers or trumpets1 the ballotins upon the curvet with their usher in the van1 and the master of the horse in the rear2 next the ballotins1 ,bronchus de ,rauco1 in the tribe of ,bestia1 king of the heralds1 with his fraternity in their coats-of-arms1 and next to ,sir ,bronchus1 ,boristhenes de ,holiwater in the tribe of ,ave1 master of the ceremonies2 the mace and the seal of the chancery went immediately before the coaches1 and on either side1 the doorkeepers or guard of the ,senate1 with their pole-axes1 accompanied with some #cjj or #djj footmen belonging to the knights or senators1 the trumpeters1 ballotins1 guards1 postilions1 coachmen and footmen1 being very gallant in the liveries of the commonwealth1 but all1 except the ballotins1 without hats1 in lieu whereof they wore black velvet calots1 being pointed with a little peak at the forehead4 ,after the proposers came a long file of coaches full of such gentlemen as use to grace the commonwealth upon the like occasions4 ,in this posture they moved slowly through the streets 7affording1 in the gravity of the pomp and the welcomeness of the end1 a most reverend and acceptable prospect to the people all the way from the ,pantheon1 being about half a mile7 and arrived at the halo1 where they found the prerogative in a close body environed with scaffolds that were covered with spectators4 ,the tribunes received the proposers1 and conducted them into a seat placed in the front of the tribe1 like a pulpit1 but that it was of some length1 and well adorned by the heralds with all manner of birds and beasts1 except that they were ill-painted1 and never a one of his natural color4 ,the tribunes were placed at a table that stood below the long seat1 those of the horse in the middle1 and those of the foot at either end1 with each of them a bowl or basin before him1 that on the right hand being white1 and the other green3 in the middle of the table stood a third1 which was red4 ,and the housekeepers of the pavilion1 who had already delivered a proportion of linen balls or pellets to every one of the tribe1 now presented boxes to the ballotins4 ,but the proposers as they entered the gallery1 or long seat1 having put off their hats by way of salutation1 were answered by the people with a shout2 whereupon the younger commissioners seated themselves at either end2 and the first1 standing in the middle1 spoke after this manner3 8,,my ,,lords1 ,,the ,,people ,,of ,,oceana3 8,while ,i find in myself what a felicity it is to salute you by this name1 and in every face1 anointed as it were with the oil of gladness1 a full and sufficient testimony of the like sense1 to go about to feast you with words1 who are already filled with that food of the mind which1 being of pleasing and wholesome digestion1 takes in the definition of true joy1 were a needless enterprise4 ,i shall rather put you in mind of that thankfulness which is due1 than puff you up with anything that might seem vain4 ,is it from the arms of flesh that we derive these blessings8 ,behold the ,commonwealth of ,rome falling upon her own victorious sword4 ,or is it from our own wisdom1 whose counsels had brought it even to that pass1 that we began to repent ourselves of victory8 ,far be it from us1 my lords1 to sacrifice to our own nets1 which we ourselves have so narrowly escaped6 ,let us rather lay our mouths in the dust1 and look up 7as was taught the other day when we were better instructed in this lesson7 to the hills with our gratitude4 ,nevertheless1 seeing we read how ,god upon the neglect of his prophets has been provoked to wrath1 it must needs follow that he expects honor should be given to them by whom he has chosen to work as his instruments4 ,for which cause1 nothing doubting of my warrant1 ,i shall proceed to that which more particularly concerns the present occasion1 the discovery of my ,lord ,archon's virtues and merit1 to be ever placed by this nation in their true meridian4 8,my lords1 ,i am not upon a subject which persuades me to balk1 but necessitates me to seek out the greatest examples4 ,to begin with ,alexander1 erecting trophies common to his sword and the pestilence3 to what good of mankind did he infect the air with his heap of carcasses8 ,the sword of war1 if it be any otherwise used than as the sword of magistracy1 for the fear and punishment of those that do evil1 is as guilty in the sight of ,god as the sword of a murderer2 nay more1 for if the blood of ,abel1 of one innocent man1 cried in the ears of the ,lord for vengeance1 what shall the blood of an innocent nation8 ,of this kind of empire1 the throne of ambition1 and the quarry of a mighty hunter1 it has been truly said that it is but a great robbery4 ,but if ,alexander had restored the liberty of ,greece1 and propagated it to mankind1 he had done like my ,lord ,archon1 and might have been truly called the ,great4 ,alexander cared not to steal a victory that would be given2 but my ,lord ,archon has torn away a victory which had been stolen1 while we went tamely yielding up obedience to a nation reaping in our fields1 whose fields he has subjected to our empire1 and nailed them with his victorious sword to their native ,caucasus4 8,machiavel gives a handsome caution3 #8,let no man1' says he1 #8be circumvented with the glory of ,caesar1 from the false reflection of their pens1 who through the longer continuance of his empire in the name than in the family1 changed their freedom for flattery4 ,but if a man would know truly what the ,romans thought of ,caesar1 let them observe what they said of ,catiline4'0 ,and yet by how much he who has perpetrated some heinous crime is more execrable than he who did but attempt it1 by so much is ,caesar more execrable than ,catiline4 ,on the contrary1 let him that would know what ancient and heroic times1 what the ,greeks and ,romans would both have thought and said of my ,lord ,archon1 observe what they thought and said of ,solon1 ,lycurgus1 ,brutus1 and ,publicola4 ,and yet by how much his virtue1 that is crowned with the perfection of his work1 is beyond theirs1 who were either inferior in their aim1 or in their performance2 by so much is my ,lord ,archon to be preferred before ,solon1 ,lycurgus1 ,brutus1 and ,publicola4 8,nor will we shun the most illustrious example of ,scipio3 this hero1 though never so little less1 yet was he not the founder of a commonwealth2 and for the rest1 allowing his virtue to have been of the most untainted ray in what did it outshine this of my ,lord ,archon8 ,but if dazzling the eyes of the magistrates it overawed liberty1 ,rome might be allowed some excuse that she did not like it1 and ,i1 if ,i admit not of this comparison3 for where is my ,lord ,archon8 ,is there a genius1 how free soever1 which in his presence would not find itself to be under power8 ,he is shrunk into clouds1 he seeks obscurity in a nation that sees by his light4 ,he is impatient of his own glory1 lest it should stand between you and your liberty40 ,liberty6 ,what is even that1 if we may not be grateful8 ,and if we may1 we have none3 for who has anything that he does not owe8 ,my lords1 there be some hard conditions of virtue3 if this debt were exacted1 it were not due2 whereas being cancelled1 we are all entered into bonds4 ,on the other side1 if we make such a payment as will not stand with a free people1 we do not enrich my ,lord ,archon1 but rob him of his whole estate immense glory4 8,these particulars had in due deliberation and mature debate1 according to the order of this commonwealth1 it is proposed by authority of the ,senate1 to you my lords the people of ,oceana3 8,i4 ,that the dignity and office of ,archon1 or protector of the commonwealth of ,oceana1 be and are hereby conferred1 by the ,senate and the people of ,oceana1 upon the most illustrious ,prince and sole legislator of this commonwealth1 ,olphaus ,megaletor1 pater patrioe1 whom ,god preserve1 for the term of his natural life1 yet remaining of the ancient4 8,,ii4 ,that #cej1jjj per annum revenue1 be estated upon the said illustrious ,prince1 or ,lord ,archon1 for the said term1 and to the proper and peculiar use of his ,highness4 8,,iii4 ,that the ,lord ,archon have the reception of all foreign ambassadors1 by and with the ,council of ,state1 according to the orders of this commonwealth4 8,,iv4 ,that the ,lord ,archon have a standing army of #ab1jjj defrayed upon a monthly tax1 during the term of three years1 for the protection of this commonwealth against dissenting parties1 to be governed1 directed1 and commanded by and with the advice of the ,council of ,war1 according to the orders of this commonwealth4 8,v4 ,that this commonwealth make no distinction of persons or parties1 but every man being elected and sworn1 according to the orders of the same1 be equally capable of magistracy1 or not elected1 be equally capable of liberty1 and the enjoyment of his estate free from all other than common taxes4 8,,vi4 ,that a man putting a distinction upon himself1 refusing oath upon election1 or declaring himself of a party not conformable to the civil government1 may within any time of his the three years' standing of the army transport himself and his estate1 without molestation or impediment1 into any other nation4 8,,vii4 ,that in case there remains any distinction of parties not conforming to the civil government of this commonwealth1 after the three years of the standing army being expired1 and the commonwealth be thereby forced to prolong the term of the said army1 the pay from henceforth of the said army be levied upon the estates of such parties so remaining unconformable to the civil government40 ,the proposer having ended his oration1 the trumpets sounded2 and the tribunes of the horse being mounted to view the ballot1 caused the tribe 7which thronging up to the speech1 came almost round the gallery7 to retreat about twenty paces1 when ,linceus de ,stella1 receiving the propositions1 repaired with ,bronchus de ,rauco the herald1 to a little scaffold erected in the middle of the tribe1 where he seated himself1 the herald standing bare upon his right hand4 ,the ballotins1 having their boxes ready1 stood before the gallery1 and at the command of the tribunes marched1 one to every troop on horseback1 and one to every company on foot1 each of them being followed by other children that bore red boxes3 now this is putting the question whether the question should be put4 ,and the suffrage being very suddenly returned to the tribunes at the table1 and numbered in the view of the proposers1 the votes were all in the affirmative1 whereupon the red or doubtful boxes were laid aside1 it appearing that the tribe1 whether for the negative or affirmative1 ,was clear in the matter4 ,wherefore the herald began from the scaffold in the middle of the tribe1 to pronounce the first proposition1 and the ballotins marching with the negative or affirmative only1 ,bronchus1 with his voice like thunder1 continued to repeat the proposition over and over again1 so long as it was in balloting4 ,the like was done for every clause1 till the ballot was finished1 and the tribunes assembling1 had signed the points1 that is to say1 the number of every suffrage1 as it was taken by the secretary upon the tale of the tribunes1 and in the sight of the proposers2 for this may not be omitted3 it is the pulse of the people4 ,now whereas it appertains to the tribunes to report the suffrage of the people to the ,senate1 they cast the lot for this office with three silver balls and one gold one2 and it fell upon the ,right ,worshipful ,argus de ,crookhorn1 in the tribe of ,pascua1 first tribune of the foot4 ,argus1 being a good sufficient man in his own country1 was yet of the mind that he should make but a bad spokesman1 and therefore became something blank at his luck1 till his colleagues persuaded him that it was no such great matter1 if he could but read1 having his paper before him4 ,the proposers1 taking coach1 received a volley upon the field1 and returned in the same order1 save that1 being accompanied with the tribunes1 they were also attended by the whole prerogative to the piazza of the ,pantheon1 where1 with another volley1 they took their leaves4 ,argus1 who had not thought upon his wife and children all the way1 went very gravely up3 and everyone being seated1 the ,senate by their silence seemed to call for the report1 which ,argus1 standing up1 delivered in this wise3 8,,right ,,honorable ,,lords ,,and ,,fathers ,,assembled ,,in ,,parliament3 8,so it is1 that it has fallen to my lot to report to your excellencies in the votes of the people1 taken upon the #c;d instant1 in the first year of this commonwealth1 at the halo2 the ,right ,honorable ,phosphorus de ,auge in the tribe of ,eudia1 ,dolabella d',enyo in the tribe of ,turmae1 and ,linceus de ,stella in the tribe of ,nubia1 lords commissioners of the great seal of ,oceana1 and proposers pro temporibus1 together with my brethren the tribunes1 and myself being present4 ,wherefore these are to certify to your fatherhoods1 that the said votes of the people were as follows1 that is to say3 ,to the first proposition1 nemine contradicente2 ,to the second1 nemine contradicente2 ,to the third1 the like2 ,to the fourth1 #baa1 above half2 ,to the fifth1 #bja1 above half2 ,to the sixth1 #aej1 above half1 in the affirmative2 ,to the seventh1 nemine contradicente again1 and so forth4 8,my ,lords1 it is a language that is out of my prayers1 and if ,i be out at it1 no harm-- 8,but as concerning my ,lord ,archon 7as ,i was saying7 these are to signify to you the true-heartedness and goodwill which are in the people1 seeing by joining with you1 as one man1 they confess that all they have to give is too little for his highness4 ,for truly fathers1 if he who is able to do harm1 and does none1 may well be called honest2 what shall we say to my ,lord ,archon's highness1 who having had it in his power to have done us the greatest mischief that ever befell a poor nation1 so willing to trust such as they thought well of1 has done us so much good1 as we should never have known how to do ourselves8 ,which was so sweetly delivered by my ,lord ,chancellor ,phosphorus to the people1 that ,i dare say there was never a one of them could forbear to do as ,i do-and1 it please your fatherhoods1 they be tears of joy4 ,aye1 my ,lord ,archon shall walk the streets 7if it be for his ease ,i mean7 with a switch1 while the people run after him and pray for him2 he shall not wet his foot2 they will strew flowers in his way2 he shall sit higher in their hearts1 and in the judgment of all good men1 than the kings that go upstairs to their seats2 and one of these had as good pull two or three of his fellows out of their great chairs as wrong him or meddle with him2 he has two or three hundred thousand men1 that when you say the word1 shall sell themselves to their shirts for him1 and die at his foot4 ,his pillow is of down1 and his grave shall be as soft1 over which they that are alive shall wring their hands4 ,and to come to your fatherhoods1 most truly so called1 as being the loving parents of the people1 truly you do not know what a feeling they have of your kindness1 seeing you are so bound up1 that if there comes any harm1 they may thank themselves4 ,and1 alas6 poor souls1 they see that they are given to be of so many minds1 that though they always mean well1 yet if there comes any good1 they may thank them that teach them better4 ,wherefore there was never such a thing as this invented1 they do verily believe that it is no other than the same which they always had in their very heads1 if they could have but told how to bring it out4 ,as now for a sample3 my lords the proposers had no sooner said your minds1 than they found it to be that which heart could wish4 ,and your fatherhoods may comfort yourselves1 that there is not a people in the world more willing to learn what is for their own good1 nor more apt to see it1 when you have showed it them4 ,wherefore they do love you as they do their own selves2 honor you as fathers2 resolve to give you as it were obedience forever1 and so thanking you for your most good and excellent laws1 they do pray for you as the very worthies of the land1 right honorable lords and fathers assembled in ,parliament40 ,argus came off beyond his own expectation2 for thinking right1 and speaking as he thought1 it was apparent by the house and the thanks they gave him1 that they esteemed him to be absolutely of the best sort of orators2 upon which having a mind that till then misgave him1 he became very crounse1 and much delighted with that which might go down the next week in print to his wife and neighbors4 ,livy makes the ,roman tribunes to speak in the same style with the consuls1 which could not be1 and therefore for aught in him to the contrary1 ,volero and ,canuleius might have spoken in no better style than ,argus4 ,however1 they were not created the first year of the commonwealth2 and the tribunes of ,oceana are since become better orators than were needful4 ,but the laws being enacted1 had the preamble annexed1 and were delivered to ,bronchus1 who loved nothing in the earth so much as to go staring and bellowing up and down the town1 like a stag in a forest1 as he now did1 with his fraternity in their coats-of-arms1 and ,i know not how many trumpets1 proclaiming the act of parliament2 when1 meeting my ,lord ,archon1 whom from a retreat that was without affectation1 as being for devotion only and to implore a blessing by prayer and fasting upon his labors1 now newly arrived in town1 the herald of the tribe of ,bestia set up his throat1 and having chanted out his lesson1 passed as haughtily by him as if his own had been the better office1 which in this place was very well taken1 though ,bronchus for his high mind happened afterward upon some disasters1 too long to tell1 that spoiled much of his embroidery4 ,my ,lord ,archon's arrival being known1 the signory1 accompanied by the tribunes1 repaired to him1 with the news he had already heard by the herald1 to which my lord strategus added that his highness could not doubt upon the demonstrations given1 but the minds of men were firm in the opinion that he could be no seeker of himself in the way of earthly pomp and glory1 and that the gratitude of the ,senate and the people could not therefore be understood to have any such reflection upon him4 ,but so it was1 that in regard of dangers abroad1 and parties at home1 they durst not trust themselves without a standing army1 nor a standing army in any man's hands but those of his highness4 ,the ,archon made answer1 that he ever expected this would be the sense of the ,senate and the people2 and this being their sense1 he should have been sorry they had made choice of any other than himself for a standing general2 first1 because it could not have been more to their own safety1 and secondly because so long as they should have need of a standing army1 #8his work was1 not done1 that he would not dispute against the judgment of the ,senate and the people1 nor ought that to be4 ,nevertheless1 he made little doubt but experience would show every party their own interest in this government1 and that better improved than they could expect from any other2 that men's animosities should overbalance their interest for any time was impossible1 that humor could never be lasting1 nor through the constitution of the government of any effect at the first charge4 ,for supposing the worst1 and that the people had chosen no other into the ,senate and the prerogative than royalists1 a matter of #a1djj men must have taken their oaths at their election1 with an intention to go quite contrary not only to their oaths so taken1 but to their own interest2 for being estated in the sovereign power1 they must have decreed it from themselves 7such an example for which there was never any experience1 nor can there be any reason71 or holding it1 it must have done in their hands as well every wit as in any other4 ,furthermore1 they must have removed the government from a foundation that apparently would hold1 to set it upon another which apparently would not hold2 which things if they could not come to pass1 the ,senate and the people consisting wholly of royalists1 much less by a parcel of them elected4 ,but if the fear of the ,senate and of the people derived from a party without1 such a one as would not be elected1 nor engage themselves to the commonwealth by an oath2 this again must be so large1 as would go quite contrary to their own interest1 they being as free and as fully estated in their liberty as any other1 or so narrow that they could do no hurt1 while the people being in arms1 and at the beck of the strategus1 every tribe would at any time make a better army than such a party2 and there being no parties at home1 fears from abroad would vanish4 ,but seeing it was otherwise determined by the ,senate and the people1 the best course was to take that which they held the safest1 in which1 with his humble thanks for their great bounty1 he was resolved to serve them with all duty and obedience4 ,a very short time after the royalists1 now equal citizens1 made good the ,archon's judgment1 there being no other that found anything near so great a sweet in the government4 ,for he who has not been acquainted with affliction1 says ,seneca1 knows but half the things of this world4 ,moreover they saw plainly1 that to restore the ancient government they must cast up their estates into the hands of #cjj men2 wherefore in case the ,senate and the prerogative1 consisting of #a1cjj men1 had been all royalists1 there must of necessity have been1 and be forever1 #a1jjj against this or any such vote4 ,but the ,senate1 being informed by the signory that the ,archon had accepted of his dignity and office1 caused a third chair to be set for his ,highness1 between those of the strategus and the orator in the house1 the like at every council2 to which he repaired1 not of necessity1 but at his pleasure1 being the best1 and as ,argus not vainly said1 the greatest prince in the world2 for in the pomp of his court he was not inferior to any1 and in the field he was followed with a force that was formidable to all4 ,nor was there a cause in the nature of this constitution to put him to the charge of guards1 to spoil his stomach or his sleep3 insomuch1 as being handsomely disputed by the wits of the academy1 whether my ,lord ,archon1 if he had been ambitious1 could have made himself so great1 it was carried clear in the negative2 not only for the reasons drawn from the present balance1 which was popular1 but putting the case the balance had been monarchical4 ,for there be some nations1 whereof this is one1 that will bear a prince in a commonwealth far higher than it is possible for them to bear a monarch4 ,spain looked upon the ,prince of ,orange as her most formidable enemy2 but if ever there be a monarch in ,holland1 he will be the ,spaniard's best friend4 ,for whereas a prince in a commonwealth derives his greatness from the root of the people1 a monarch derives his from one of those balances which nip them in the root2 by which means the ,low ,countries under a monarch were poor and inconsiderable1 but in bearing a prince could grow to a miraculous height1 and give the glory of his actions by far the upper hand of the greatest king in ,christendom4 ,there are kings in ,europe1 to whom a king of ,oceana would be put a petit companion4 ,but the ,prince of this commonwealth is the terror and judge of them all4 ,that which my ,lord ,archon now minded most was the agrarian1 upon which debate he incessantly thrust the ,senate and the ,council of ,state1 to the end it might be planted upon some firm root1 as the main point and basis of perpetuity to the commonwealth4 ,and these are some of the most remarkable passages that happened in the first year of this government4 ,about the latter end of the second1 the army was disbanded1 but the taxes continued at #cj1jjj a month1 for three years and a half4 ,by which means a piece of artillery was planted1 and a portion of land to the value of #ej a year purchased for the maintenance of the games1 and of the prize arms forever1 in each hundred4 ,with the eleventh year of the commonwealth1 the term of the excise1 allotted for the maintenance of the ,senate and the people and for the raising of a public revenue1 expired4 ,by which time the ,exchequer1 over and above the annual salaries1 amounting to #cjj1jjj accumulating every year out of #a1jjj1jjj income1 #gjj1jjj in banco1 brought it with a product of the sum1 rising to about #h1jjj1jjj in the whole3 whereby at several times they had purchased to the ,senate and the people #djj1jjj per annum solid revenue2 which1 besides the lands held in ,panopea1 together with the perquisites of either province1 was held sufficient for a public revenue4 ,nevertheless1 taxes being now wholly taken off1 the excise1 of no great burden 7and many specious advantages not vainly proposed in the heightening of the public revenue71 was very cheerfully established by the ,senate and the people1 for the term of ten years longer1 and the same course being taken1 the public revenue was found in the one-and-twentieth year of the commonwealth to be worth #a1jjj1jjj in good land4 ,whereupon the excise was so abolished for the present1 as withal resolved to be the best1 the most fruitful and easy way of raising taxes1 according to future exigencies4 ,but the revenue being now such as was able to be a yearly purchaser1 gave a jealousy that by this means the balance of the commonwealth1 consisting in private fortunes1 might be eaten out1 whence this year is famous for that law whereby the ,senate and the people1 forbidding any further purchase of lands to the public within the dominions of ,oceana and the adjacent provinces1 put the agrarian upon the commonwealth herself4 ,these increases are things which men addicted to monarchy deride as impossible1 whereby they unwarily urge a strong argument against that which they would defend4 ,for having their eyes fixed upon the pomp and expense1 by which not only every child of a king1 being a prince1 exhausts his father's coffers1 but favorites and servile spirits1 devoted to the flattery of those princes1 grow insolent and profuse1 returning a fit gratitude to their masters1 whom1 while they hold it honorable to deceive1 they suck and keep eternally poor3 it follows that they do not see how it should be possible for a commonwealth to clothe herself in purple1 and thrive so strangely upon that which would make a prince's hair grow through his hood1 and not afford him bread4 ,as if it were a miracle that a careless and prodigal man should bring #aj1jjj a year to nothing1 or that an industrious and frugal man brings a little to #aj1jjj a year4 ,but the fruit of one man's industry and frugality can never be like that of a commonwealth2 first1 because the greatness of the increase follows the greatness of the stock or principal2 and1 secondly1 because a frugal father is for the most part succeeded by a lavish son2 whereas a commonwealth is her own heir4 ,this year a part was proposed by the ,right ,honorable ,aureus de ,woolsack in the tribe of ,pecus1 first commissioner of the ,treasury1 to the ,council of ,state1 which soon after passed the ballot of the ,senate and the people1 by which the lands of the public revenue1 amounting to #a1jjj1jjj1 were equally divided into #e1jjj lots1 entered by their names and parcels into a lot-book preserved in the ,exchequer4 ,and if any orphan1 being a maid1 should cast her estate into the ,exchequer for #a1djj1 the ,treasury was bound by the law to pay her quarterly #bjj a year1 free from taxes1 for her life1 and to assign her a lot for her security2 if she married1 her husband was neither to take out the principal without her consent 7acknowledged by herself to one of the commissioners of the ,treasury1 who1 according as he found it to be free1 or forced1 was to allow or disallow of it71 nor any other way engage it than to her proper use4 ,but if the principal were taken out1 the ,treasury was not bound to repay any more of it than #a1jjj1 nor might that be repaid at any time1 save within the first year of her marriage3 the like was to be done by a half or quarter lot respectively4 ,this was found to be a great charity to the weaker sex1 and as some say1 who are more skilful in the like affairs than myself1 of good profit to the commonwealth4 ,now began the native spleen of ,oceana to be much purged1 and men not to affect sullenness and pedantism4 ,the elders could remember that they had been youths4 ,wit and gallantry were so far from being thought crimes in themselves1 that care was taken to preserve their innocence4 ,for which cause it was proposed to the ,council for ,religion by the ,right ,honorable ,cadiscus de ,clero1 in the tribe of ,stamnum1 first censor1 that such women as1 living in gallantry and view about the town1 were of evil fame1 and could not show that they were maintained by their own estates or industry1 or such as1 having estates of their own1 were yet wasteful in #8their way of life1 and of ill-example to others1 should be obnoxious to the animadversion of the ,council of ,religion1 or of the censors3 in which the proceeding should be after this manner4 ,notice should be first given of the scandal to the party offending1 in private3 if there were no amendment within the space of six months1 she should be summoned and rebuked before the said ,council or censors2 and1 if after other six months it were found that neither this availed1 she should be censored not to appear at any public meetings1 games1 or recreations1 upon penalty of being taken up by the doorkeepers or guards of the ,senate1 and by them to be detained1 till for every such offence #e were duly paid for her enlargement4 ,furthermore1 if any common strumpet should be found or any scurrility or profaneness represented at either of the theatres1 the prelates for every such offence should be fined #bj by the said ,council1 and the poet1 for every such offence on his part1 should be whipped4 ,this law relates to another1 which was also enacted the same year upon this occasion4 ,the youth and wits of the ,academy having put the business so home in the defence of comedies that the provosts had nothing but the consequences provided against by the foregoing law to object1 prevailed so far that two of the provosts of the ,council of ,state joined in a proposition1 which after much ado came to a law1 whereby #ajj1jjj was allotted for the building of two theatres on each side of the piazza of the halo3 and two annual magistrates called prelates1 chosen out of the knights1 were added to the tropic1 the one called the prelate of the buskin1 for inspection of the tragic scene called ,melpomene2 and the other the prelate of the sock1 for the comic called ,thalia1 which magistrates had each #ejj a year allowed out of the profits of the theatres2 the rest1 except #hjj a year to four poets1 payable into the ,exchequer4 ,a poet laureate created in one of these theatres by the strategus1 receives a wreath of #ejj in gold1 paid out of the said profits4 ,but no man is capable of this creation that had not two parts in three of the suffrages at the ,academy1 assembled after six weeks' warning and upon that occasion4 ,these things among us are sure enough to be censured1 but not know the nature of a commonwealth2 that they are free1 and yet to curb the genius in a lawful recreation to which they are naturally is to tell a tale of a tub4 ,i have heard the ,protestant ministers in ,france1 by men that were wise and of their own profession1 much blamed in that they forbade dancing1 a recreation to which the genius of that air is so inclining that they lost many who would not lose that3 nor do they less than blame the former determination of rashness1 who now gently connive at that which they had so roughly forbidden4 ,these sports in ,oceana are so governed1 that they are pleasing for private diversion1 and profitable to the public3 for the theatres soon defrayed their own charge1 and now bring in a good revenue4 ,all this is so far from the detriment of virtue1 that it is to the improvement of it1 seeing women that heretofore made havoc of their honor that they might have their pleasures are now incapable of their pleasures if they lose their honor4 ,about the one-and-fortieth year of the commonwealth1 the censors1 according to their annual custom1 reported the pillar of ,nilus1 by which it was found that the people were increased very near one-third4 ,whereupon the ,council of ,war was appointed by the ,senate to bring in a state of war1 and the treasurers the state of the ,treasury4 ,the state of war1 or the pay and charge of an army1 was soon after exhibited by the ,council in this account3 ,,the ,,field ,,pay ,,of ,a ,,parliamentary ,,army ,the lord strategus1 marching #aj1jjj ,polemarches-- ,general of the horse444 #b1jjj ,lieutenant-general444 #b1jjj ,general of the artillery4444 #a1jjj ,commissary-general444 #a1jjj ,major-general4444 #a1jjj ,quartermaster-general444 #a1jjj ,two adjutants to the major-general444 #a1jjj ,forty colonels44444 #dj1jjj #ajj captains of horse1 at #ejj a man444 #ej1jjj #cjj captains of foot1 at #cjj a man444 #ij1jjj #ajj cornets1 at #ajj a man4444 #aj1jjj #cjj ensigns1 at #ej a man4444 #ae1jjj #hjj ,quartermasters1 ,sergeants1 ,trumpeters1 ,drummers1 #bj1jjj #aj1jjj horse1 at #bs #f;d per day each444 #dgj1jjj #cj1jjj foot1 at #as per day each4444 #ejj1jjj ,chirurgeons444 #djj #dj1jjj auxiliaries1 amounting to within a little as much444 #a1ajj1jjj ,the charge of mounting #bj1jjj horse44 #cjj1jjj ,the train of artillery1 holding a #c;d to the whole #ijj1jjj ,sum total #c1ead1djj ,arms and ammunition are not reckoned1 as those which are furnished out of the store or arsenal of ,emporium3 nor wastage1 as that which goes upon the account of the fleet1 maintained by the customs2 which customs1 through the care of the ,council for ,trade and growth of traffic1 were long since improved to about #a1jjj1jjj revenue4 ,the house being thus informed of a state of war1 the commissioners brought in-- ,,the ,,state ,,of ,,the ,,treasury ,,this ,,present ,,year1 ,,being ,,the ,,one-,,and-,,fortieth ,,of ,,the ,,commonwealth ,received from the one-and-twentieth of the commonwealth3 ,by #gjj1jjj a year in bank1 with the product of the sum rising44444444444444 #af1jjj1jjj ,expended from the one-and-twentieth of this commonwealth3 ,imprimis1 for the addition of arms for #ajj1jjj men to the arsenal1 or tower of ,emporium444444444 #a1jjj1jjj ,for the storing of the same with artillery444 #cjj1jjj ,for the storing of the same with ammunition444 #bjj1jjj ,for beautifying the cities1 parks1 gardens1 public walks1 and places for recreation of ,emporium and ,hiera1 with public buildings1 aqueducts1 statues1 and fountains1 etc444444 #a1ejj1jjj ,extraordinary embassies444 #aej1jjj ,sum44444444 #c1aej1jjj ,remaining in the ,treasury1 the salaries of the ,exchequer being defalked4444444 #ab1jjj1jjj ,by comparison of which accounts if a war with an army of #hj1jjj men were to be made by the penny1 yet was the commonwealth able to maintain such a one above three years without levying a tax4 ,but it is against all experience1 sense1 and reason that such an army should not be soon broken1 or make a great progress2 in either of which cases1 the charge ceases2 or rather if a right course be taken in the latter1 profit comes in3 for the ,romans had no other considerable way but victory whereby to fill their treasury1 which nevertheless was seldom empty4 ,alexander did not consult his purse upon his design for ,persia3 it is observed by ,machiavel1 that ,livy1 arguing what the event in reason must have been had that ,king invaded ,rome1 and diligently measuring what on each side was necessary to such a war1 never speaks a word of money4 ,no man imagines that the ,gauls1 ,goths1 ,vandals1 ,huns1 ,lombards1 ,saxons1 ,normans1 made their inroads or conquests by the strength of the purse2 and if it be thought enough1 according to the dialect of our age1 to say in answer to these things that those times are past and gone3 what money did the late ,gustavus1 the most victorious of modern princes1 bring out of ,sweden with him into ,germany8 ,an army that goes upon a golden leg will be as lame as if it were a wooden one2 but proper forces have nerves and muscles in them1 such for which1 having #d1jjj1jjj or #e1jjj1jjj1 a sum easy enough1 with a revenue like this of ,oceana1 to be had at any time in readiness1 you need never1 or very rarely1 charge the people with taxes4 ,what influence the commonwealth by such arms has had upon the world1 ,i leave to historians1 whose custom it has been of old to be as diligent observers of foreign actions as careless of those domestic revolutions which 7less pleasant it may be1 as not partaking so much of the romance7 are to statesmen of far greater profit2 and this fault1 if it be not mine1 is so much more frequent with modern writers1 as has caused me to undertake this work2 on which to give my own judgment1 it is performed as much above the time ,i have been about it1 as below the dignity of the matter4 ,but ,i cannot depart out of this country till ,i have taken leave of my ,lord ,archon1 a prince of immense felicity who having built as high with his counsels as he digged deep with his sword1 had now seen fifty years measured with his own unerring orbs4 ,timoleon 7such a hater of tyrants that1 not able to persuade his brother ,timophanes to relinquish the tyranny of ,corinth1 he slew him7 was afterward elected by the people 7the ,sicilians groaning to them from under the like burden7 to be sent to their relief3 whereupon ,teleclides1 the man at that time of most authority in the ,commonwealth of ,corinth1 stood up1 and giving an exhortation to ,timoleon1 how he should behave himself in this expedition1 told him that if he restored the ,sicilians to liberty1 it would be acknowledged that he destroyed a tyrant2 if otherwise1 he must expect to hear he had murdered a king4 ,timoleon1 taking his leave with a very small provision for so great a design1 pursued it with a courage not inferior to1 and a felicity beyond1 any that had been known to that day in mortal flesh1 having in the space of eight years utterly rooted out of all ,sicily those weeds of tyranny1 through the detestation whereof men fled in such abundance from their native country that whole cities were left desolate1 and brought it to such a pass that others1 through the fame of his virtues and the excellency of the soil1 flocked as fast from all quarters to it as to the garden of the world3 while he1 being presented by the people of ,syracuse with his town-house and his country retreat1 the sweetest places in either1 lived with his wife and children a most quiet1 happy1 and holy life2 for he attributed no part of his success to himself1 but all to the blessing and providence of the gods4 ,as he passed his time in this manner1 admired and honored by mankind1 ,laphistius1 an envious demagogue1 going to summon him upon some pretence or other to answer for himself before the assembly1 the people fell into such a mutiny as could not be appeased but by ,timoleon1 who1 understanding the matter1 reproved them1 by repeating the pains and travel which he had gone through1 to no other end than that every man might have the free use of the laws4 ,wherefore when ,daemenetus1 another demagogue1 had brought the same design about again1 and blamed him impertinently to the people for things which he did when he was general1 ,timoleon answered nothing1 but raising up his hands1 gave the gods thanks for their return to his frequent prayers1 that he might but live to see the ,syracusans so free1 that they could question whom they pleased4 ,not long after1 being old1 through some natural imperfection1 he fell blind2 but the ,syracusans by their perpetual visits held him1 though he could not see1 their greatest object3 if there arrived strangers1 they brought him to see this sight4 ,whatever came in debate at the assembly1 if it were of small consequence1 they determined it themselves2 but if of importance1 they always sent for ,timoleon1 who1 being brought by his servants in a chair1 and set in the middle of the theatre1 there ever followed a great shout1 after which some time was allowed for the benedictions of the people2 and then the matter proposed1 when ,timoleon had spoken to it1 was put to the suffrage2 which given1 his servants bore him back in his chair1 accompanied by the people clapping their hands1 and making all expressions of joy and applause1 till1 leaving him at his house1 they returned to the despatch of their business4 ,and this was the life of ,timoleon1 till he died of age1 and dropped like a mature fruit1 while the eyes of the people were as the showers of autumn4 ,the life and death of my ,lord ,archon 7but that he had his senses to the last1 and that his character1 as not the restorer1 but the founder of a commonwealth1 was greater7 are so exactly the same1 that 7seeing by men wholly ignorant of antiquity ,i am accused of writing romance7 ,i shall repeat nothing3 but tell you that this year the whole nation of ,oceana1 even to the women and children1 were in mourning1 where so great or sad a funeral pomp had never been seen or known4 ,some time after the performance of the obsequies a ,colossus1 mounted on a brazen horse of excellent fabric1 was erected in the piazza of the ,pantheon1 engraved with this inscription on the eastern side of the pedestal3 ,,his ,,name ,,is ,,as ,,precious ,,ointment ,and on the wester with the following3 ,,grata ,,patria ,piae et ,perpetuae ,memorie ,d4,d4 ,,olphaus ,,megaletor ,,lord ,,archon1 ,,and ,,sole ,,legislator ,,of ,,oceana ,,pater ,,patriae ,invincible in the ,field ,the ,greatest of ,captains ,inviolable in his ,faith ,the ,best of ,princes ,unfeigned in his ,zeal ,the ,happiest of ,legislators ,immortal in his ,fame ,the ,most ,sincere of ,christians ,who setting the ,kingdoms of ,earth at ,liberty1 ,took the ,kingdom of the ,heavens by ,violence4 ,anno ,a,etat4 suoe #aaf ,hujus ,reipub4 #ej ,,description ,,of ,,oceana ,,oceana is saluted by the panegyrist after this manner3 8,o the most blessed and fortunate of all countries1 ,oceana6 how deservedly has nature with the bounties of heaven and earth endued thee6 ,thy ever fruitful womb not closed with ice nor dissolved by the raging star2 where ,ceres and ,bacchus are perpetual twins3 thy woods are not the harbor of devouring beasts1 nor thy continual verdure the ambush of serpents1 but the food of innumerable herds and flocks presenting thee1 their shepherdess1 with distended dugs or golden fleeces4 ,the wings of thy night involve thee not in the horror of darkness1 but have still some white feather2 and thy day is 7that for which we esteem life7 the longest40 ,but this ecstasy of ,pliny1 as is observed by ,bertius1 seems to allude as well to ,marpesia and ,panopea1 now provinces of this commonwealth1 as to ,oceana itself4 ,to speak of the people in each of these countries4 ,this of ,oceana1 for so soft a one1 is the most martial in the whole world4 8,let ,states that aim at greatness10 says ,verulamius1 8take heed how their nobility and gentlemen multiply too fast1 for that makes the common subject grow to be a peasant and base swain driven out of heart1 and in effect but a gentleman's laborer2 just as you may see in coppice woods1 if you leave the staddels too thick1 you shall never have clean underwood1 but shrubs and bushes2 so in countries1 if the gentlemen be too many1 the commons will be base2 and you will bring it to that at last1 that not the hundreth poll will be fit for a helmet1 specially as to the infantry1 which is the nerve of an army1 and so there will be great population and little strength4 ,this of which ,i speak has been nowhere better seen than by comparing of ,oceana and ,france1 whereof ,oceana1 though far less in territory and population1 has been nevertheless an overmatch1 in regard the middle people of ,oceana make good solders1 which the peasants in ,france do not40 ,in which words ,verulamius1 as ,machiavel has done before him1 harps much upon a string which he has not perfectly tuned1 and that is1 the balance of dominion or property1 as it follows more plainly1 in his praise 8of the profound and admirable device of ,panurgus1 ,king of ,oceana1 in making farms and houses of husbandry of a standard2 that is1 maintained with such a proportion of land to them as may breed a subject to live in convenient plenty1 and no servile condition1 and to keep the plough in the hands of the owners1 and not mere hirelings4 ,and thus1 indeed10 says he1 8you shall attain to ,virgil's character which he gives of ancient ,italy40 ,but the tillage1 bringing up a good soldiery1 brings up a good commonwealth2 which the author in the praise of ,panurgus did not mind1 nor ,panurgus in deserving that praise2 for where the owner of the plough comes to have the sword1 too1 he will use it in defence of his own2 whence it has happened that the people of ,oceana1 in proportion to their property1 have been always free4 ,and the genius of this nation has ever had some resemblance with that of ancient ,italy1 which was wholly addicted to commonwealths1 and where ,rome came to make the greatest account of her rustic tribes1 and to call her consuls from the plough2 for in the way of parliaments1 which was the government of this realm1 men of country lives have been still intrusted with the greatest affairs1 and the people have constantly had an aversion to the ways of the court4 ,ambition1 loving to be gay and to fawn1 has been a gallantry looked upon as having something in it of the livery2 and husbandry1 or the country way of life1 though of a grosser spinning1 as the best stuff of a commonwealth1 according to ,aristotle1 such a one being the most obstinate assertress of her liberty and the least subject to innovation or turbulency4 ,wherefore till the foundations1 as will be hereafter shown1 were removed1 this people was observed to be the least subject to shakings and turbulency of any2 whereas commonwealths1 upon which the city life has had the stronger influence1 as ,athens1 have seldom or never been quiet1 but at the best are found to have injured their own business by overdoing it4 ,whence the urban tribes of ,rome1 consisting of the ,turba forensis1 and libertines that had received their freedom by manumission1 were of no reputation in comparison of the rustics4 ,it is true that with ,venice it may seem to be otherwise1 in regard the gentlemen 7for so are all such called as have a right to that government7 are wholly addicted to the city life2 but then the ,turba forensis1 the secretaries1 ,cittadini1 with the rest of the populace1 are wholly excluded4 ,otherwise a commonwealth consisting but of one city would doubtless be stormy1 in regard that ambition would be every man's trade2 but where it consists of a country1 the plough in the hands of the owner finds him a better calling1 and produces the most innocent and steady genius of a commonwealth1 such as is that of ,oceana4 ,marpesia1 being the northern part of the same island1 is the dry-nurse of a populous and hardy nation1 but where the staddels have been formerly too thick1 whence their courage answered not their hardiness1 except in the nobility1 who govern much after the manner of ,poland1 but that the ,king was not elective till the people received their liberty2 the yoke of the nobility being broken by the commonwealth of ,oceana1 which in grateful return is thereby provided with an inexhaustible magazine of auxiliaries4 ,panopea1 the soft mother of a slothful and pusillanimous people1 is a neighbor island1 anciently subjected by the arms of ,oceana2 since almost depopulated for shaking the yoke1 and at length replanted with a new race4 ,but1 through what virtues of the soil or vice of the air soever it be1 they come still to degenerate4 ,wherefore seeing it is neither likely to yield men fit for arms1 nor necessary it should1 it had been the interest of ,oceana so to have disposed of this province1 being both rich in the nature of the soil1 and full of commodious ports for trade1 that it might have been ordered for the best in relation to her purse1 which in my opinion1 if it had been thought upon in time1 might have been best done by planting it with ,jews1 allowing them their own rites and laws2 for that would have brought them suddenly from all parts of the world1 and in sufficient numbers4 ,and though the ,jews be now altogether for merchandise1 yet in the land of ,canaan 7except since their exile from whence they have not been landlords7 they were altogether for agriculture2 and there is no cause why a man should doubt1 but having a fruitful country and excellent ports1 too1 they would be good at both4 ,panopea1 well peopled1 would be worth a matter of #d1jjj1jjj dry-rents2 that is1 besides the advantage of the agriculture and trade1 which1 with a nation of that industry1 come at least to as much more4 ,wherefore ,panopea1 being farmed out to the ,jews and their heirs forever1 for the pay of a provincial army to protect them during the term of seven years1 and for #b1jjj1jjj annual revenue from that time forward1 besides the customs1 which would pay the provincial army1 would have been a bargain of such advantage1 both to them and this commonwealth1 as is not to be found otherwise by either4 ,to receive the ,jews after any other manner into a commonwealth were to maim it2 for they of all nations never incorporate1 but taking up the room of a limb1 are of no use office to the body1 while they suck the nourishment which would sustain a natural and useful member4 ,if ,panopea had been so disposed of1 that knapsack1 with the ,marpesian auxiliary1 had been an inestimable treasure2 the situation of these countries being islands 7as appears by ,venice how advantageous such a one is to the like government7 seems to have been designed by ,god for a commonwealth4 ,and yet that1 through the straitness of the place and defect of proper arms1 can be no more than a commonwealth for preservation2 whereas this1 reduced to the like government1 is a commonwealth for increase1 and upon the mightiest foundation that any has been laid from the beginning of the world to this day4 8,illam arcta capiens ,neptunus compede stringit3 ,hanc autem glaucis captus complectitur ulnis40 ,the sea gives law to the growth of ,venice1 but the growth of ,oceana gives law to the sea4 ,these countries1 having been anciently distinct and hostile kingdoms1 came by ,morpheus the ,marpesian1 who succeeded by hereditary right to the crown of ,oceana1 not only to be joined under one head1 but to be cast1 as it were by a charm1 into that profound sleep1 which1 broken at length by the trumpet of civil war1 has produced those effects that have given occasion to the preceding discourse1 divided into four parts4