Part 14

IX. These ambitious spirits bring on their subjects another injury, which is sufficiently serious, though less noticed than the former; and that is, that being totally occupied with the idea of aggrandizing their power by all possible ways and means, they do not only endeavour to augment it externally, and among strangers, but also internally, and among their own subjects. They are not only desirous of ruling over the most vassals they can, but are also anxious to domineer the most they can over their own subjects. It is not so easy to satisfy ambition in this second way, as in the first; for by adopting it, without an addition of subjects, he, who will disembarrass himself of the restriction of laws, may form an empire without limits; and an empire reduced to despotism, if, instead of estimating it by the number of those who are to obey, you make the computation according to the number of things that may be commanded, is an infinite one.

X. Finally, conquering Princes are evils to themselves; for as the dropsical thirst of accumulating new subjects is never satiated, the anxieties of their hearts are never quieted: _Plusque cupit, quo plura suam demittit in alvum._ Their backs are turned on all they have acquired, and they turn their eyes on what remains for them to acquire. From hence it follows, that this last being always in their view, has more power to inquiet their minds by irritating their appetite, than the other has to calm their souls by insinuating the happiness of possession, and the pleasure of enjoyment; and we may add to this anxiety, the dread of poison or the knife, which are the ordinary finishers of the lives of conquerors.

XI. There only remains to them, as the fruit of all their labours and toils, a single good, which they cannot enjoy, and therefore should not be reckoned to them as a benefit; that is, their names being celebrated in future ages; a tribute, which is paid to their ashes by the folly of mankind, and than which no tribute is more unjust. If the remembrance of conquerors was to be recorded in phrases dictated by the understanding, they would be described in terms of execration, not applause. Whoever sets about celebrating a Nimrod, an Alexander, or a Romulus, may with equal reason, employ himself in celebrating a tiger, a dragon, or a basilisk. I find the same qualities in the three eminent heroes, as in the three furious wild beasts, to wit, a great strength and power to commit mischief, and a great inclination to do it.

XII. I can’t refrain from laughter, when I reflect on the Romans, who were masters of the world, being vain of fixing the origin of their empire in Romulus. There was nothing in the deeds or character of this man, which could reflect lustre on his descendants. If you look to his birth, you will find that his mother was nothing better than a common prostitute. If you consider his life and profession, you will find that he was a daring and enterprising robber, who, being made captain of others like himself, erected his infamous gang into a republic. The rape of the Sabines, if the story is true, proves that Romulus, and all his followers, were looked upon as despicable and vile, and as a nuisance, by all Italy, because no other people chose to give them wives, or to intermarry with them; and it was necessary, in order to have women, that they should steal, and take them by violence. The life of Romulus was taken away by the same ministers he himself had raised, they not being able to bear with, or endure him. But such is the blindness of the world, that the same person who was deemed unworthy to live among men, and who was put to death on that account, is presently afterwards placed among the deities.

XIII. Other great conquerors met with the same lot; they were abhorred while living, and worshipped when dead. Nimrod was the first object of idolatry. They changed the name Nimrod, which signified rebel, into that of Bel, Baal, or Baalim, which signifies Lord. This is the Jupiter Belus of antiquity. Alexander fell a victim to poison, from the resentment of Antipater, and presently there were victims sacrificed on the altars to Alexander. They had scarce murdered Cæsar in the capital, as an enemy to his country, when they venerated him in Heaven, as the tutelar deity of the republic. The raising men to the rank of deities, was a great error in the Gentiles; but the raising those to that rank, who on account of their vices should have been degraded from the rank of men, was a much greater.

SECT. III.

XIV. Those who have a just idea of the Deity, cannot fall into so gross an error; but we don’t on that account cease to err. It is true, we do not worship conquerors as deities, but we celebrate them as heroes. What is this, but debasing so noble an epithet? True heroes are wrought and fashioned by virtue, and therefore we should reject all those as spurious and ill-made, which are fabricated in the workshops of ambition. A great and a bad man are contradictions in terms. Agesilaus answered wisely, to one who was extolling the greatness of the King of Persia, and at the same time took occasion to insinuate a remark on the smallness of the kingdom of Sparta, compared to the Persian empire. His reply was: _He only can be greater than me, who is better than me._ He could not have spoke more to the purpose, if he had read the celebrated saying of St. Austin, in the following words: _In his, quæ non mole, sed virtute, præstant, idem est majus esse, quod melius esse. With regard to those things, which are estimated, not by the bulk, but by the virtue or excellence of them, that is greatest, which is best._

XV. Let a Theodosius, a Charles the Great, a Godfrey of Bulloign, a George Castriotus, be celebrated as heroes; and, in fine, all those in whom Fortune assisted Valour, and Valour Justice; those, who only drew their swords in the cause of Heaven, or for the good of the public; those, who in wars take to themselves the toil and the danger only, and leave untouched as the property of others, the fruits and acquisitions; those, who are pacific by inclination, and warriors through necessity; finally, all those, who, as an example to posterity, have by their actions, impressed an idea on the minds of men, that they were just, clement, wise, and animated Princes, in whose sceptres justice reigned, and whose swords never wounded their own consciences.

XVI. But discard from the stock of heroes, those crowned Tigers called conquering Princes, and let them be numbered with the delinquents. Throw down their statues, and translate their images, from the Palace to the dens of wild beasts, that the copies at least may be placed among company, and in such a situation, as suited the characters of the originals. I will in this place give a general trait or description of all conquering Princes, which I find delineated in very lively colours, in the words of a Prince on his death-bed, to whom they gave this epithet, which was William the First of England.

XVII. This prince, in that last stage of life, in which a man finding himself on the verge of eternity, begins to see things in their true light; and at the period of time, when the eyes of the soul open, with the same pace with which those of the body proceed to shut; and when the thoughts of his past victories gnawed his conscience, without feeding his ambition. At this crisis, either from motives of repentance, despair, or from a desire to unburthen himself, after reflecting with horror on the sum of his past actions, in the presence of many nobles who surrounded his bed--He made this confession: _I have hated the English, I have dishonoured their Nobility, I have mortified and oppressed the people, and have been the cause of the death of infinite numbers, by famine and the sword; and to sum up the whole, I have desolated this fine and illustrious kingdom, by the murder and destruction of thousands and tens of thousands of its inhabitants._ In these few lines, are painted, in their true colours, the exploits of that conqueror; and the same tints, would serve to delineate those of most others who have been dignified with that epithet.

XVIII. I had almost said all; for as I observed before, the dropsical thirst of rule and dominion, which is a disease common to all conquerors, inclines them to aggrandise and extend their empire with respect to foreigners; and also, to enlarge and increase their power among their own subjects. The ambition that agitates them, not only makes them pant to beat down the boundaries of the crown, but those of justice also. Not content to govern by law, they aspire at despotism. They look upon equity as an impediment to, and a restriction of their grandeur, and can only find enlargements proportioned to the views of their souls, in tyranny. That kingdom is in an unhappy state, where he who rules and presides over it, has his head filled with this caprice. The misfortune is, that many are poisoned with these notions and dispositions, who are no conquerors, nor entertain the least thoughts of being such, unless it is in the subjugation of their own subjects.

XIX. This is a species of conquest, the most odious, and the most cheap; for it is not acquired by valour, but by craft and cunning; not by the fatigues of the field, but by the cabals of the cabinet. But notwithstanding they conquer their own subjects, and render them more submissive, and by binding liberty with stronger and heavier chains, convert vassalage to slavery; they should remember, that dominion is only hereditary, for so long as it is conducted with justice; but that when it comes to be exercised with violence, it is usurpation. But that is an unhappy harvest, which ambition reaps by such means. How is a Prince benefited, if, by putting the bodies of his subjects under a hard state of servitude, he loses their souls, and alienates their affections? He loses the best part of his subjects, which is their love, and gets in return for it a small portion more of fear; and he estranges from him their hearts, by oppressing their breasts. He deprives himself of the greatest sweet or pleasure of reigning, which consists in seeing his legal commands obeyed with chearfulness and inclination. What delight can the prospect of a government afford, where you contemplate every vassal, as a fierce animal, who supports with indignation the chain that confines him? What security can a Prince have against the invasions of foreign powers, who has made his subjects disaffected to him? Or what security against the intrigues and resentment of his own people, whom, by his absurd conduct, he has made angry, and weaned of their affections for him? The monarchs of the east can best answer these queries, and tell, how by affecting to be so much the arbiters of the lives of their subjects, the subjects frequently have erected themselves into being the arbiters of the lives of their Princes.

SECT. IV.

XX. The blame of this abuse, whenever it happens, lies at the doors of ill-intentioned ministers and vile flatterers. These are interested in extending the acts of government beyond their bounds, because they expect to be partakers in the sway and emoluments resulting from a stretch of power; and they endeavour to gain the favour of the Prince, by insinuating to him, that government being all force or seduction, the most easy and eligible method of ruling, is by the King’s pleasure, and that this at the same time, would be the most likely means of raising the King’s authority to the highest pitch of elevation and perfection. With this view, they also are continually representing to him, that total independance is essential to a crown, and that laws and customs are unworthy restrictions upon sovereigns; that a monarch is the more respectable, the more absolute he reigns; and that the just medium of the King’s authority, is the King’s will. That the dignity of the crown is by so much the more exalted, by so much the more the people are depressed and kept under. And to sum up the whole: that a King is a deity upon earth, which maxim they enforce so strongly, that as far as it is in their power, they would make him forget there is another superior in Heaven.

XXI. A story related by John Reynaldo de Segrais in his anecdotes, is very applicable to the present purpose. When Louis the XIVth of France was but fifteen years old, some flatterers were one day entertaining him at court, with a recital of, and endeavouring to instill into him, such maxims of tyrannic policy as we have been just mentioning, though I believe if he had been five or six years older, the least punishment he would have inflicted on them for it, would have been banishing them from his presence and court for ever; but the want of experience, joined to his judgment not being then matured, and the ardour of his lively spirit, occasioned him to listen to them with pleasure, as their relations were suited to the grandeur of his heart, and his ideas of unlimited power. Marechal d’Etré, an antient man, of great wisdom and experience, was at the same time standing at a little distance from the King, and listening with the highest indignation, to the language of those flatterers. In the course of their conversation, they came to talk of the Ottoman Emperors, and spoke with great approbation of those monarchs being the despotic masters of the lives and fortunes of their vassals. This is reigning in the true sense of the word, said Louis; they must certainly be happy Princes; and he spoke this in a manner, which indicated his good liking of that mode of government. His words pierced through the heart of the good Marechal, who, reflecting on the pernicious consequences that would result from his adopting such principles, advanced quickly up to the King, and intrepidly said to him: _But, Sir, I must inform your Majesty, that within my remembrance, two or three of these Emperors have been strangled by the hands of their own subjects._ Marechal Villeroi, the worthy guardian and governor of the young King, who was at some distance, but had overheard all that passed; in a transport of joy, broke through the crowd to get at d’Etré, whom he publicly embraced, and gave him the most cordial thanks for so opportune and useful a caution. Would to God that there was always ready at the side of Princes, some man of such generous and liberal sentiments, to apply the antidote, when flattery in the alluring gilded cup of grandeur presents to them the poison of tyranny!

SECT. V.

XXII. The tender age of Princes is the most susceptible of imbibing salutary or pernicious maxims, and the impressions of childhood take deep root in the soul, which, according to the cultivation it receives then, produces fruit in future; and it very seldom happens, that this rule is known to fail; for the good or bad images which are impressed at that time, are scarce ever effaced.

XXIII. Therefore the election of guardians, who are to direct and regulate the management of Princes in their infancy, is a matter of the utmost importance to kingdoms; and the choice of proper maxims, wherewith to inspire their pupils, demands the most serious attention of the guardians.

SECT. VI.

XXIV. The soul then, in the state of nonage, receiving impressions like wax, and retaining them like brass; I repeat once more, that the inspiring young people with wholesome maxims in their tender years, is a thing of the utmost importance. The method of education should be thus laid out: to begin with religion, to proceed next to ethics or morality, and to finish with politics. In these three parts, there is an admirable connection. Religion (which we don’t speak of here as a special virtue, but only with relation to the firm faith contained in it, and the truths it persuades) informs the understanding of the greatness and goodness of God, and disposes the heart to love him. Ethics, or moral instruction, directs all our actions, and causes them to conspire unanimously to promote this end, serving at the same time, as a vehicle to convey, and as an ultimate disposer to the practice of the most sound policy; or, to speak more properly, the morality of a King, with relation to his kingly office, is no other thing but policy itself, taken in general and comprehensive sense; because that consists, in a combination or assemblage of all those virtues, which conduce or lead to the exercise of good government.

XXV. The reading of good books is very useful, to instruct Princes in the maxims of sound policy. But which are the good books? I believe very few. Those which contain sound doctrine are infinite; but what signifies their informing, if they don’t stimulate or move? The most difficult part of morality, does not so much consist in coming at a knowledge of what is right, as in exciting and moving an effectual inclination to practise it. There are books of short sentences, and abounding with affectation, (in the stile of Seneca, which a certain Emperor called sand without lime) which tingle in the ear, but their echo never reaches the heart. There are others, filled with texts and pulpit conceits, which, instead of illustrating, confound, and instead of moving, become tiresome and surfeiting. There are others again, which abound with the sentences of Thucydides, Polybius, Tacitus, Livy, and Sallust, intermixed with a number of historical passages. I shall say of all these, as Apelles said of a pupil of his, who had painted Helen with very little beauty, but in a very costly dress stuck full of jewels: _Cum non posses facere pulchram, fecisti divitem. As you was unable to make her handsome, you have made her rich._ These forced and unnatural ornaments, with which erudition in the books that treat of it, dress virtue, do not conduce to fire the minds of those who read them, with the love of her. He only will accomplish this end, who has the art of painting in lively colours her native beauty; and who has the address and genius, to impress on the understanding, a clear and agreeable idea, of the magnificence of her charms.

XXVI. But better than the best books, is good conversation. The instruction which is communicated by means of the voice, is natural, that which is conveyed by writing, is artificial; the one is animated, the other dead; consequently, the first will be efficacious and active, the second languid and faint. The tongue writes on the soul, as the hand on paper. That which we hear, is conveyed to us immediately and in the first instance, from the mind of him from whom the instruction proceeds; that which we read, is the copy of a copy. If princes in their childhood, were daily attended by discreet and good-intentioned people, who under the colour of amusing and entertaining them, were to instruct them; any one might venture to be bound, for their future good behaviour and wise conduct. The learning insinuates itself deepest, which is conveyed under the veil of diversion; and as that nourishes the body best, which we eat with desire and an appetite, so that which we listen to with delight, is most improving to the soul. The word instruction is unpleasing to children, therefore it is necessary as far as we are able, to take away the name, and leave or preserve the substance of the thing; and this is much more necessary to be done in the case of Princes, because from their early time of life, either their own vanity, or the flattery of other people, inspires them with a notion, that persons of their rank and station have no need of learning. The rules of equity and civil jurisprudence, conveyed under the disguise of engaging and entertaining relations of the conduct and management of just Princes, who by acting well, attained the accomplishment of all their wishes with respect to foreign concerns, and acquired the adoration of their own subjects at home, and the admiration of all strangers; I say, if improvement was insinuated into them in this way, by some person whose conversation was pleasing to them, and who had the address to introduce it, not as if he was instructing, but entertaining, them; it would be the best method of ingrafting in their minds, plants of the choicest quality, from whence in time you might expect to gather excellent fruit. For this reason, the wise Bishop of Cambray composed for the education of the Duke of Burgundy, whose preceptor he was, a collection of pleasing fables, in the stile and manner of such tales, with which old women are accustomed to entertain children, and which children for their amusement are used to relate to one another; in these, he in natural and easy language, suited to their capacities and comprehensions, conveyed all the precepts which compose the most Christian policy.

SECT. VII.

XXVII. All the lessons however, which are given to Princes, should be calculated to train them to, and make them enamoured with those virtues, which may be of the most consequence, and the most useful to them, both as Princes and men; above all, regard should be had, as a matter of the utmost importance, to implanting in them, the feelings of humanity and moderation of spirit, which virtues, as being diametrically opposite to, are the best counterpoises to the vice of ambition. Other vices may be prejudicial to themselves, or injurious to particular individuals; but ambition, or the inordinate lust of dominion and controul, are pernicious, and evils to a whole kingdom. There is no doubt, but an unjust or a cruel Prince, is extremely abhorrent, though with all this, if you attend to the mischief these vices produce, you will find, that that occasioned by ambition, far exceeds the other; for on account of its being most generally felt, it is by far the greatest. Injustice and cruelty are exercised on determined individuals, but ambition oppresses all. Or we should express it better, by saying, the unjust and cruel, is cruel and unjust to some particular people; but the ambitious is unjust and cruel to the whole community. These are the ordinary steps and progressions of ambition. It begins by injustice, goes on to rigour, and ends with cruelty. The Prince is unjust to a state, who, by extending his demands beyond the limits of right reason, is desirous of burthening his subjects more than the rules of equity permit. But what follows this oppressive mode of conduct? Why that the subjects, as soon as it is introduced, begin to be dissatisfied and complain; and that the Prince, regarding their complaints and applications for redress, though couched in never so submissive terms, as affronts and injuries, begins to direct chastisements. Measures of rigour are now determined on; and what follows the execution of them? Why, that the clamours and complaints grow louder, and that the cries of the oppressed in the ears of the King, sound like the voice of rebellion. Upon this, the rigour, under the colour of law and justice, is augmented, till it ascends to the degree of cruelty; but in case things do not arrive at this extremity, because fear suffocates in the breasts of the afflicted, the voice of murmur; yet what greater torment can a man undergo, than that of supporting a heavy yoke on his shoulders, and having at the same time a cord drawn so tight round his neck, as to obstruct the relief of a sigh? This then being a great martyrdom, the oppression which is the cause of it, can’t fail of being a great cruelty.

SECT. VIII.