The six books of a common-weale

A Royal Monarch or king, is he which placed in soueraignty yeeldeth [*](A royall Monarque.) himselfe as obedient unto the lawes of nature as he desireth his subiects to be towards himselfe, leauing unto every man his naturall libertie, and the proprietie of his owne goods. I have put to these last words for the difference of a Lordly Monarch, who may be a iust and vertuous prince, and equally gouerne his subiects, being himselfe yet neuerthelesse lord both of their persons[*](The difference betwixt a royall and a lordly Monarque.) and goods. And if it so chaunce the Lordly Monarch hauing iustly conquered his enemies countrey, to set them againe at libertie, with the proprietie of their goods: of a lord he becommeth a king, and chaungeth the Lordly Monarchie, into a Monarchie Royall. And that is it for which Plinie the younger saith vnto Traian the emperour, Principis sedem obtines, ne sit Domino locus, Thou holdest the seate of a prince, Lord it not. This difference (betwixt a Royall Monarch and a Lordly) was well noted by the auntient Persians, calling Cyrus the elder (which ouerthrew the Monarchie of the Medes) by the name of a king: but tearming Cambyses a lord, and Darius a marchant; for that Cyrus was a gentle and courteous prince towards his subiects, but Cam byses his sonne was haughtie and proud, and Darius too great an exactor and couetous. So it is also reported Alexander the Great to have bene aduised by Aristotle, to beare himselfe towards the Greekes as a father; but towards the Barbarians as a

lord: which his councell Alexander neuerthelesse reiected, willing that the Greekes should be reckoned of according to their vertue, and the Barbarians according to their vices; saying, that the whole earth was but one citie, and his campe the Castle thereof.

We have moreover said in our definition, that the subiects ought to be obedient unto the Royall Monarch, to show that in him alone lyeth the soueraigne maiestie; & that the king ought to obey the lawes of nature: that is to say, to gouerne his subiects, and to guide his actions atcording unto naturall iustice, whose luster was brighter than the light of the sunne it selfe. It is then the true marke of a Royall Monarchie, when the[*](The true markes of a royall Monarque.) prince sheweth himselfe as obedient vnto the lawes of nature, as he wisheth his subiects to be unto himselfe. Which it is not hard for him looking into the dutie of a good prince to obtaine; as fearing God aboue all; if he be also pitifull unto the afflicted, wise in his enterprises, hardie in his exploits, modest in prosperitie, constant in aduersitie, aduised in his speech, wise in his councell, careful of his subiects, comfortable to his friends, terrible to his enemies, courteous to the good, dreadfull towards the euill, and iust towards all. Which royall soueraigntie so set downe, as that the subiects stand obedient unto the lawes of their prince, and the prince likewise unto the lawes of nature: the law being on both sides a mistresse, or as saith Pindarus, a queene raigning over both, it shall in the same bonds vnite the subiects among themselves, and together with their prince: whereof shall grow a most sweet harmony, which may with wonderfull pleasure and felicitie blesse them both. This is that regall and lawfull Monarchie of one, which we seeke after, whether the kingdome descend by succession, as it most commonly doth; or by the law, as this of ours, or by election, as in many kingdomes towards the North; or by gift, as the kingdome of Numidia (which by Caesar brought into the forme of a prouince, was by Augustus the emperour giuen to young Iuba, who so of a slaue became a king) or as the kingdome of Naples, and Sicilie, giuen to Charles of Fraunce, and after to Lewes, first duke of Aniou, or left by testament, as in former times the kingdomes of Tunes, Fez, and Marocco, and was also of late put in practise by Henrie the eight king of England, who by his will left that kingdome unto his son Edward the sixt, to whom hee substituted his sister Marie, and unto her Elizabeth, who was afterward queene: or that the kingdome bee got by fraud and deceir, so that he raigne iustly, as Cecrops, Hieron, Gelon, and Pisistratus, who right wisely used their power, as saith Plutarch: and in our time Cosmus de Medices: or by chaunce, as the kingdome of Persia, by the neying of an horse fel to Darius Histaspis one of the seuen Persian lords, it being so before agreed, after they had slaine the Mages, who had vsurped the kingdome, that he whose horse first neyed, should have the kingdome: or be it that the prince by force of armes, by right or wrong conquer his kingdome, prouided that he uprightly gouerne the same so by him conquered; as Titus Liuius saith of king Seruius, Neque enim praeter vim quicquam adius regnt habebat. Neither had he any thing but force unto the right of the kingdome; and yet he was a good king, as it oftentimes hath bene seene of a robber and a theefe, to have proued a vertuous prince; and of a violent tyranny, to have growne a iust royaltie. Or be it that the king bee chosen for his nobilitie, as was Campson chosen Sultan of Aegypt by the Mamalukes: or for his iustice and deuotion, as Numa in Rome: or for his age, as the antient Arabians made choice of the eldest amongst them for their king, as saith Diodorus, and they of Taprobana, as saith Pliny: or for his strength and force, as Maximinus the Roman emperor, being of such stature and strength, as that he seemed to have come of the race of Giants: or for his feature and beautie, as was Heliogabalus, therefore chosen emperour of the same Roman empire: or for his height and stature, as in Aethiopia the kingdomes

were still giuen to the tallest: or for that he could drinke most, as in Scythia, as Aristotle saith; who defineth a king to be him, who chosen by the people, raigneth according to the desire of them his subiects: from whose will (as hee in another place saith)[*](* Polit lib. 3.) if he neuer so little depart, he becommeth a tyrant. Which his description is not only[*](Aristotle blamed.) without reason, but also daungerous: for that soucraigne power which he said to bee most proper unto a king, must so needs fall, if the king could nothing command against the liking and good will of his subiects; but must to the contrarie be constrained to receiue lawes of them In briefe it should be lawfull for the people to do all things; and the most iust and best kings should so be accounted for tyrants: neither were a king to be reputed of any thing else, than as of a meane magistrat, unto whome power were to bee giuen, and againe taken away at the peoples pleasure. Which are all things impossible, and no lesse absurd also, than is that which the same Aristotle saith, That they are barbarous people, where their kings come by succession. When as yet his owne king and scholler Alexander the Great, was one of them which descended in right line from the blood of Hercules, and by right of succession came to the kingdom of Macedon. The Lacedemonians should be also barbarous, who from the same stocke of the Heraclides, had had their kings about a thousand yeares. The people of Asia also, the Persians, and Aegyptians, should so all bee barbarous: in whome not onely rested, but from whome all humanitie, courtesie, learning, knowledge, and the whole source and fountaine of good lawes and Commonweales have sprung: and so at last none but Aristotle with some handfull of Greekes should bee free from barbarisme. Whereas indeed nothing can be deuised more daungerous unto the state of[*](The opinion of Aristotle concerning kings impugned. Arist. Polit. 3) a Commonweale, than to commit the election of kings unto the suffrages of the people; as shall in due place be hereafter declared. Although Aristotle be in that also deceiued, where he saith, That there be three sorts of kings; & yet hauing in his discourse reckoned up foure, in casting up of the account he findeth out a fift. The first hee calleth Voluntarie kings, as raigning by the will and good liking of the people, such as were the kings of Heroique times, whome he supposeth to have bene Captains, Iudges, and Priests. The second he saith, are proper unto the barbarous nations, where kings come by succession. The third are made by election. The fourth was proper to the Lacedemonians, whome he saith to have bene perpetuall generals in their warres; the sonne still succeeding his father. The fift and last kind, is of them which hauing themselves got the Lordly soueraigntie, vse their subiects, as doth the maister of the house his slaues. As for the first sort of kings, we find, that they indeed executed the offices of judges, captaines, and priests, yet none of them are found to have ruled at the will and pleasure of the people, either to have receiued their authoritie from the people, before Pitacus king of Corinth, and Timondas king of Nigropont: but to the contrarie* Plutarch writeth, That the first princes had no other honour before their eyes,[*](Plutar i These.) than to force men, and to keepe them in subiection as slaues: whereof the holy scripture also certifieth vs of the first Lordly Monarch Nemrod; leauing the soueraigntie to their children, in right of succession; as saith Thucidides. Which hath also beene well confirmed by the succession of a great number of kings of the Asirians, Medes, Persians, Indians, Aegyptians, Hebrewes, Lacedemonians, Macedonians, Sicyonians, Epirots, Athenians: and their lines failing, the people in part proceeded to make choice of their kings by way of election, some others inuaded the state by force, other some maintained themselves in Aristocratike and popular seigneurie; as witnesseth Herodotus, Thucidides, Iosephus, Berosus, Plutarch, Xenophon, and other most auntient historiographers of the Hebrewes, Greeks, and Latines, sufficient to conuince the opinion of Aristotle of vntruth in those things that he hath writ concerning kings. Whereas also he comprehendeth the Lacedemonian generals, under the name of kings: he is therein deceiued, seeing it is before declared, that he cannot be a king, which hath not the rights of soueraigntie. And that the Lacedemonian kings, after the conuersion of that Commonweale, were nothing but Senators, and subiect to the magistrats commaund, wee have also before shewed. Yea the generals power was not alwaies giuen unto them, as Aristotle supposeth, who calleth them the perpetuall generals of the warres: for asmuch as that power and authoritie was communicated to their citisens also, as to Lysander, Leonidas, Callicratides, Gilippus, whome the Lacedemonians oppressed with warres preferred before their kings. And albeit that Agesilaus was one of their kings, yet so it was, that he durst not take upon him the charge of a generall, vntill the Seigneurie had so commanded; as Plutarch in his lives reporteth. And when they were chiefe captaines and generals, they gaue them yet no royall power, no more than had the generals of the Acheans, which were made by election, considering that they were subiect unto the slate of the Acheans, who if they so deserued punished them, as they did Democritus their generall, whome they fined at thirtie thousand crownes, as wee read in Pausanias. So the Ephori punished their kings with banishment, imprisonment, and fines, yea and sometime wi---h death, as we have before said. We must not therefore put these in the ranke of kings, no more than him which is a Lordly Monarch, lord of the persons and goods of his subiects, who hath his proper difference seperated from a Monarch Royall.

As for the third sort of kings, which he said was made by election, that can make no difference of kings, no more than can the second, which he said was by succession, for otherwise he should by the same meanes make also a sixt kind of kings, made by chaunce; as was Darius the first: and so a seuenth by donation, an eight by testament,[*](The difference of Monarques hw it is to be gathered.) and a ninth by finnes and deceit, and a tenth by force: which were nought else, but to make an infinit sort of kings, who all neuerthelesse are comprehended under one kind. For the difference of Monarches is not to be gathered by the meanes of the comming to the state, but by the meanes of gouerning of the estate. Which as we said is comprised in three kinds or sorts, viz. the Lordly Monarchie, the Royall Monarchie, and the Tirannicall Monarchie. But whereas Aristotle under the name of kings comprehendeth them also which were woont for a short time to be chosen, to establish or reforme the Commonweale, and that done, to giue up their charge, are quite different from the regall power. Neither hath it any apparance to call them kings, which are nothing els but simple commissioners, such as were the dictators in the Roman Commonweale, whome Dionysius Halicarnasseus writeth, to have bene in power and office like unto them whom the Thessalians called Archos, the Lacedemonians Cosmos, the Mitylenians Aesymnetes, hauing like charge that the baily of Florence had at such time as that Commonweale was gouerned by a popular government; that is to wit, the Grand Councell of the people made choyce of eight or ten persons, best seene in their affaires, to reestablish the state, and to put againe in order that which by processe of time was fallen into disorder, either in their lawes, or in their customes, in their reuenewes, or in creating of their officers: which done they discharged themselves of their offices: like as the Decemuiri, or ten commissioners, which were chosen in Rome, to reforme that was amisse in the state, whome wee should by this meanes, according to the opinion of Aristotle call also kings; which should be a thing verie absurd; for asmuch as the qualitie of a magistrat, and much lesse of a commissioner hath nothing agreeing or common with the soueraigne maiestie of a king. And albeit that Caesar in his Commentaries saith, the inhabitants of Autun to have euerie yeare chosen them a magistrat with royall power; that is of them but improperly spoken: for why, it is manifest,

that he which was a magistrat could be no king. And that more is, the gouernours of the countries and prouinces conquered by Alexander the Great, although that after his death euerie one of them tooke upon him the soueraigntie in the country or prouince that he gouerned; yet it was a long time before they durst stile themselves by the name of kings. The first that began was Antigonus, after the victorie by him[*](Antigonus the first of the successours of Alexander that stiled himselfe king.) obtained against Ptolomeus Lagus: after which he set a crowne upon his head, and used in his titles the name of ---, or king. And immediatly after, the Aegyptians called Ptolomee king; as to their imitation did the Assyrians Seleucus, and the Thracians Lysimachus also. And not to go further, the auntient kings of Loraine and Burgundie, after that they had yeelded fealtie and homage unto the German emperour, lost the name and soueraigntie of kings, and called themselves but dukes: for that now they were no more kings, according to that fit saying of Martial, Quirex est, regem Maxime non habeat. For why, the name of a king is alwaies maiesticall, and the most honourable that a soueraigne prince can haue: and for that cause the habit, the markes, the signes of kings, have bene alwaies particular, and proper unto themselves; as the royal armes, the golden robes, the crowne and scepter, not to be communicated unto other men. And there was nothing that made the maiestie of the Roman kings so venerable, as the royall ornaments which Tarquinius Priscus brought from the antient kings of Hetruria, as we read in the histories. And the Romans themselves, after they had driuen out the proud Tarquin their king, although they abhorred the verie name of a king, and much more the government, hauing chaunged the royall state into a popular: yet so it was, that the Roman Senat used to send unto kings, their allies and confederats, the royall marks of kings; namely a diadem or crowne of gold, a cup of gold, the iuorie scepter; and sometime the popular robe embroidered with gold, & a chaire of iuorie, as the histories declare. And in the Commentaries of pope Gregory the seuenth,[*](* Tacit lib 2. Appianu, Liuius Val. Max. ) we read that Demetrius was by the scepter, crowne, and ensigne established king of Croatia and Sclauonia: of which things the bishops of Rome have oftentimes bene liberall (should I say) or prodigall? aswell as the emperours: yet had they no more so to do, then had the Greeke emperour Anastasius, who sent the Consulatie ornament and titles of Augustus unto Clodoueus king of Fraunce, who (as Aymon saith) receiued them in the citie of Tours: or than Iustinian, who gaue unto king Childebert the title of a Senator: by which things it is certaine, to be derogated from the soueraignty of anothers maiestie, which is it selfe the chiefest, except they bee receiued from them that are in their confederation their superiours. But as for the Frenchmen they had not made any league with the Greeke emperours, but by their valour had thrust the Romans out of the possession of their kingdome. True it is, that betwixt confederats of equall power, ornaments of honour, as girdles, rings, and such like, may both bee giuen and receiued, without any emparement to their maiestie: but to receiue the honor of a Consull, or of a Senator, is as much as to acknowledge the maiestie of a superiour. Frederike the emperour (first of that name) sent unto Peter prince of Denmarke, a sword and a crowne, with the title of a king, which was a title contrarie to the effect, considering that he yeelded himselfe vassall unto the empire, and did fealtie and homage unto the emperour, for the realme of Denmarke, promising and binding aswell himselfe as his successours, to hold that kingdome of the empire, in this forme, [*](Tritemi cap. 17.) Rex Danorum Magnus se in potestatem Imperatoris tradidit, obsidesdedit, iuramentum fecit, se successoresque suos, non nisi imperatoris & successorum eius permissu regnum adepturos, The great king of the Danes hath delivered himselfe into the power of the emperour, hath giuen hostages, taken his oath, that he and his successours shall not but by the sufferance of the emperour and his successours, take upon them that kingdome. Wherein he two wayes offended, first, for that allured with the ornaments sent him by the emperour, hee diminished his owne maiestie: and then for that he bound unto perpetuall seruitude, not himselfe onely, but his posteritie also: who perceiuing the errour, reuolted from the empire. for seeing that the kingdome of Denmarke depended of the voices and suffragies of the Senat and the people, hee could not bind, not onely his posteritie, but not so much as himselfe unto that law. The duke of Austria also was by the same emperour, and almost at the same time, honored with the same ornaments and title, yet with condition that hee should still remaine in the perpetuall obeisance of the German Empire, wherein he then was, and euer had beene: but when he breaking his faith, had reuoulted from the empire, he was within twelue yeares after spoyled both of his royall dignitie and title. By like errour Henry the first king of England, sonne to William the Conquerour, whilest he yet lived caused Henry his eldest sonne to bee crowned king: for he straight way after, would needs be equall with his father, and take upon him to mannage the greatest affaires of state; in such sort that great quarrels and contentions arise betwixt the father and the sonne, euen unto parts taking, which had without doubt ruinated the state, had not the sonne beene before by death prevented. So also in this realme, when the familie of the Capets had vsurped the kingdom, the better to confirme their wealth and power, not as yet well grounded; lest the kingdom after the death of their kings should fall into an Anarchie, they still caused▪ their sonnes (whilest they themselves yet lived) to be crowned and proclaimed kings. So Hugh to assure this succession, caused his sonne Robert to be crowned king: Robert, Henry: and he afterwards Philip; which manner of crowning of the sonnes, the fathers yet liuing, after their estate and power better confirmed and established, was againe left. And so to doe, unto mee seemeth a thing[*](Daungerous for soueraign princes to cause their sonnes whilst they themselves yet live to be crowned king with them.) verie daungerous, especially if the new crowned king be sicke with the ambitious desire of rule: for that the subiects more willingly behold the sunne rising then setting: except the king have many kingdomes, with great fluds, most high mountaines, or the deepest seas, one from an other divided, not easily with the wings of aspiring ambition to be passed. So Seleucus king of both Asiaes, graced his sonne Antiochus not onely with the royall dignitie, but also placed him in the government of the kingdome of the higher Asia; which is a thing may well be suffered where kings have used to be created by the voices of the Senat, and the people▪ as are the kings of Denmarke, Sueuia, Polonia, Tartaria, Bohemia, Hungarie, and Tunes: who commonly cause him whom they desire to raigne, to be before hand elected by the suffragies of the people, and to bind the princes by oath unto him, So Changuis first of all the Tartar kings, chosen king by his subiects, caused Hoccata his eldest sonne to be crowned king, himselfe yet liuing. And Gostanus king of Sweden hauing vsurped upon that state against the king of Denmarke, caused his sonne Henry to be also chosen king. And Frederik now king of Denmarke, was chosen king in the yeare 1556, two yeares before the death of his father: who not yet so secured, but doubting least his vncles Iohn and Adolphe after his death should practize a new election, and so raise new stirres, requested the French king by M. Danzai the French ambassadour, and afterward by an embassadour of his owne, (sent directly for that purpose) to stand his friend, and to receiue him into his protection. So have done, and yet also doe the kings of Marocco, Fez, and Tunes. And in our memorie Ferdinand of Austria yet liuing, caused Maximilian his sonne to be chosen and crowned king of Hungarie and Bohemia: as shortly after Maximilian did the like for his sonne Ernestus; and so peoples voices by little and little taken away are at length quite buried in obliuion. The like was also attempted for the nominating of his successour by Sigismundus Augustus king of Polonia, but was letted so to doe by the states of that kingdom, although it seemed for the good of that Common weal, for the auoyding of sedition, which might rise about the election: yet would not the states of that kingdom thereto agree; for feare least the right of their election, should so passe into the force of succession. As we see the Germain Empire to have taken so deepe roote in the most honorable familie of the house of Austria, as that there is but little hope for the pulling of it out thence againe. And thus much concerning a royall Monarchie: now let vs likewise speake of the third kind, which is a Tyrannicall Monarchie.