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Essay XXIX: Of The True Greatness Of Kingdoms And Estates
Essay XXIX: Of The True Greatness Of Kingdoms And Estates
The speech of Themistocles the Athenian, which was haughty and arrogant
in taking so much to himself, had been a grave and wise observation and
censure, applied at large to others. Desired at a feast to touch a lute, he
said, He could not fiddle, but yet he could make a small town a great city.
These words (holpen a little with a metaphor) may express two differing
abilities in those that deal in business of estate. For if a true survey be
taken of counsellors and statesmen, there may be found (though rarely) those
which can make a small state great, and yet cannot fiddle; as on the other
side, there will be found a great many that can fiddle very cunningly, but
yet are so far from being able to make a small state great, as their gift
lieth the other way; to bring a great and flourishing estate to ruin and
decay. And certainly those degenerate arts and shifts, whereby many
counsellors and governors gain both favor with their masters and estimation
with the vulgar, deserve no better name than fiddling; being things rather
pleasing for the time, and graceful to themselves only, than tending to the
weal and advancement of the state which they serve. There are also (no doubt)
counsellors and governors which may be held sufficient (negotiis pares [equals
in business]), able to manage affairs, and to keep them from precipices and
manifest inconveniences; which nevertheless are far from the ability to
raise and amplify an estate in power, means, and fortune. But be the workmen
what they may be, let us speak of the work; that is, the true greatness of
kingdoms and estates, and the means thereof. An argument fit for great and
mighty princes to have in their hand; to the end that neither by
over-measuring their forces, they leese ^1 themselves in vain enterprises; nor
on the other side, by undervaluing them, they descend to fearful and
pusillanimous counsels.
[Footnote 1: Lose.]
The greatness of an estate in bulk and territory doth fall under measure;
and the greatness of finances and revenue doth fall under computation. The
population may appear by musters; and the number and greatness of cities and
towns by cards ^2 and maps. But yet there is not any thing amongst civil
affairs more subject to error than the right valuation and true judgment
concerning the power and forces of an estate. The kingdom of heaven is
compared, not to any great kernel or nut, but to a grain of mustard-seed:
which is one of the least grains, but hath in it a property and spirit hastily
to get up and spread. So are there states great in territory, and yet not apt
to enlarge or command; and some that have but a small dimension of stem, and
yet apt to be the foundations of great monarchies.
[Footnote 2: Charts.]
Walled towns, stored arsenals and armories, goodly races of horse,
chariots of war, elephants, ordnance, artillery, and the like; all this is
but a sheep in a lion`s skin, except the breed and disposition of the people
be stout and warlike. Nay, number (itself) in armies importeth not much,
where the people is of weak courage; for (as Virgil saith) It never troubles
a wolf how many the sheep be. The army of the Persians in the plains of
Arbela was such a vast sea of people, as it did somewhat astonish the
commanders in Alexander`s army; who came to him therefore, and wished him to
set upon them by night; but he answered, He would not pilfer the victory.
And the defeat was easy. When Tigranes the Armenian, being encamped upon a
hill with four hundred thousand men, discovered the army of the Romans, being
not above fourteen thousand, marching towards him, he made himself merry with
it, and said, Yonder men are too many for an embassage, and too few for
a fight. But before the sun set, he found them enow to give him the chase
with infinite slaughter. Many are the examples of the great odds between
number and courage; so that a man may truly make a judgment, that the
principal point of greatness in any state is to have a race of military men.
Neither is money the sinews of war (as it is trivially ^3 said), where the
sinews of men`s arms, in base and effeminate people, are failing. For Solon
said well to Croesus (when in ostentation he showed him his gold), Sir, if
any other come that hath better iron than you, he will be master of all this
gold. Therefore let any prince or state think soberly of his forces, except
his militia of natives be of good and valiant soldiers. And let princes, on
the other side, that have subjects of martial disposition, know their own
strength; unless they be otherwise wanting unto themselves. As for mercenary
forces (which is the help in this case), all examples show that whatsoever
estate or prince doth rest upon them, he may spread his feathers for a time,
but he will mew them soon after.
[Footnote 3: Commonly.]
The blessing of Judah and Issachar will never meet; that the same people
or nation should be both the lion`s whelp and the ass between burthens;
neither will it be, that a people overlaid with taxes should ever become
valiant and martial. It is true that taxes levied by consent of the estate do
abate men`s courage less: as it hath been seen notably in the excises of the
Low Countries; and, in some degree, in the subsidies of England. For you
must note that we speak now of the heart and not of the purse. So that
although the same tribute and tax, laid by consent or by imposing, be all one
to the purse, yet it works diversely upon the courage. So that you may
conclude, that no people overcharged with tribute is fit for empire.
Let states that aim at greatness take heed how their nobility and
gentlemen do multiply too fast. For that maketh the common subject grow to be
a peasant and base swain, driven out of heart, and in effect but the
gentleman`s laborer. Even as you may see in coppice woods; if you leave your
staddles ^4 too thick, you shall never have clean underwood, but shrubs and
bushes. So in countries, if the gentlemen be too many, the commons will be
base; and you will bring it to that, that not the hundred poll ^5 will be fit
for an helmet; especially as to the infantry, which is the nerve ^6 of an
army; and so there will be great population and little strength. This which I
speak of hath been nowhere better seen than by comparing of England and
France; whereof England, though far less in territory and population, hath
been (nevertheless) an over-match; in regard the middle people of England make
good soldiers, which the peasants of France do not. And herein the device of
king Henry the Seventh (whereof I have spoken largely in the History of his
Life) was profound and admirable; in making farms and houses of husbandry of a
standard; that is, maintained with such a proportion of land unto them, as may
breed a subject to live in convenient plenty and no servile condition; and to
keep the plough in the hands of the owners, and not mere hirelings. And thus
indeed you shall attain to Virgil`s character which he gives to ancient Italy:
[Footnote 4: Young trees left standing.]
[Footnote 5: Hundredth head.]
[Footnote 6: Sinew.]
Terra potens armis atque ubere glebae.
[A land powerful in arms and in productiveness of soil.] Neither is that
state (which, for any thing I know, is almost peculiar to England, and hardly
to be found anywhere else, except it be perhaps in Poland) to be passed over;
I mean the state of free servants and attendants upon noblemen and gentlemen;
which are no ways inferior unto the yeomanry for arms. And therefore out of
all question, the splendor and magnificence and great retinues and hospitality
of noblemen and gentlemen, received into custom, doth much conduce unto
martial greatness. Whereas, contrariwise, the close and reserved living of
noblemen and gentlemen causeth a penury of military forces.
By all means it is to be procured, that the trunk of Nebuchadnezzar`s
tree ^7 of monarchy be great enough to bear the branches and the boughs; that
is, that the natural subjects of the crown or state bear a sufficient
proportion to the stranger subjects that they govern. Therefore all states
that are liberal of naturalization towards strangers are fit for empire. For
to think that an handful of people can, with the greatest courage and policy
in the world, embrace too large extent of dominion, it may hold for a time,
but it will fail suddenly. The Spartans were a nice ^8 people in point of
naturalization; whereby, while they kept their compass, they stood firm; but
when they did spread, and their boughs were becomen too great for their stem,
they became a windfall upon the sudden. Never any state was in this point so
open to receive strangers into their body as were the Romans. Therefore it
sorted with them accordingly; for they grew to the greatest monarchy. Their
manner was to grant naturalization (which they called jus civitatis [the right
of citizenship]), and to grant it in the highest degree; that is, not only
jus commercii [the right to commercial trade], jus connubii [the right to
intermarry], jus haereditatis [the right of inheritance]; but also jus
suffragii [the right of suffrage], and jus honorum [the right of holding
office]. And this not to singular persons alone, but likewise to whole
families; yea to cities, and sometimes to nations. Add to this their custom
of plantation of colonies; whereby the Roman plant was removed into the soil
of other nations. And putting both constitutions together, you will say that
it was not the Romans that spread upon the world, but it was the world that
spread upon the Romans; and that was the sure way of greatness. I have
marvelled sometimes at Spain, how they clasp and contain so large dominions
with so few natural Spaniards; but sure the whole compass of Spain is a very
great body of a tree; far above Rome and Sparta at the first. And besides,
though they have not had that usage to naturalize liberally, yet they have
that which is next to it; that is, to employ almost indifferently all nations
in their militia of ordinary soldiers; yea and sometimes in their highest
commands. Nay it seemeth at this instant they are sensible of this want of
natives; as by the Pragmatical Sanction, ^9 now published, appeareth.
[Footnote 7: Daniel iv. 10.]
[Footnote 8: Particular.]
[Footnote 9: A decree "which gave certain privileges to persons who
married, and further immunities to those who had six children."]
It is certain that sedentary and within-door arts, and delicate
manufactures (that require rather the finger than the arm), have in their
nature a contrariety to a military disposition. And generally, all warlike
people are a little idle and love danger better than travail. Neither must
they be too much broken of it, if they shall be preserved in vigor. Therefore
it was great advantage in the ancient states of Sparta, Athens, Rome, and
others, that they had the use of slaves, which commonly did rid those
manufactures. But that is abolished, in greater part, by the Christian law.
That which cometh nearest to it is to leave those arts chiefly to strangers
(which for that purpose are the more easily to be received), and to contain
the principal bulk of the vulgar natives within those three kinds, - tillers
of the ground; free servants; and handicraftsmen of strong and manly arts, as
smiths, masons, carpenters, etc.; not reckoning professed soldiers.
But above all, for empire and greatness, it importeth most, that a nation
do profess arms as their principal honor, study, and occupation. For the
things which we formerly have spoken of are but habilitations towards arms;
and what is habilitation without intention and act? Romulus, after his death
(as they report or feign), sent a present to the Romans, that above all they
should intend ^10 arms; and then they should prove the greatest empire of the
world. The fabric of the state of Sparta was wholly (though not wisely)
framed and composed to that scope and end. The Persians and Macedonians had
it for a flash. The Gauls, Germans, Goths, Saxons, Normans, and others, had
it for a time. The Turks have it at this day, though in great declination. Of
Christian Europe, they that have it are, in effect, only the Spaniards. But
it is so plain that every man profiteth in that he most intendeth, that it
needeth not be stood upon. It is enough to point at it; that no nation which
doth not to directly profess arms may look to have greatness fall into their
mouths. And on the other side, it is a most certain oracle of time, that
those states that continue long in that profession (as the Romans and Turks
principally have done) do wonders. And those that have professed arms but for
an age, have notwithstanding commonly attained that greatness in that age
which maintained them long after, when their profession and exercise of arms
hath grown to decay.
[Footnote 10: Pay attention to.]
Incident to this point is, for a state to have those laws or customs
which may reach forth unto them just occasions (as may be pretended) of war.
For there is that justice imprinted in the nature of men, that they enter not
upon wars (whereof so many calamities do ensue) but upon some, at the least
specious, grounds and quarrels. The Turk hath at hand, for cause of war, the
propagation of his law or sect; a quarrel that he may always command. The
Romans, though they esteemed the extending the limits of their empire to be
great honor to their generals when it was done, yet they never rested upon
that alone to begin a war. First therefore, let nations that pretend to
greatness have this; that they be sensible of ^11 wrongs, either upon
borderers, merchants, or politic ministers; and that they sit not too long
upon a provocation. Secondly, let them be prest ^12 and ready to give aids and
succors to their confederates; as it ever was with the Romans; insomuch, as
if the confederate had leagues defensive with divers other states, and, upon
invasion offered, did implore their aids severally, yet the Romans would ever
be the foremost, and leave it to none other to have the honor. As for the
wars which were anciently made on the behalf of a kind of party, or tacit
conformity of estate, I do not see how they may be well justified: as when
the Romans made a war for the liberty of Grecia; or when the Lacedaemonians
and Athenians made wars to set up or pull down democracies and oligarchies;
or when wars were made by foreigners, under the pretence of justice or
protection, to deliver the subjects of others from tyranny and oppression;
and the like. Let it suffice, that no estate expect to be great, that is not
awake upon any just occasion of arming.
[Footnote 11: Sensitive to.]
[Footnote 12: Prepared.]
No body can be healthful without exercise, neither natural body nor
politic; and certainly to a kingdom or estate, a just and honorable war is the
true exercise. A civil war, indeed, is like the heat of a fever; but a foreign
war is like the heat of exercise, and serveth to keep the body in health; for
in a slothful peace, both courages will effeminate and manners corrupt. But
howsoever it be for happiness, without all question, for greatness it maketh,
to be still for the most part in arms; and the strength of a veteran army
(though it be a chargeable business) always on foot is that which commonly
giveth the law, or at least the reputation, amongst all neighbor states; as
may well be seen in Spain, which hath had, in one part or other, a veteran
army almost continually, now by the space of six score years.
To be master of the sea is an abridgment ^13 of a monarchy. Cicero
writing to Atticus of Pompey his preparation against Caesar, saith, Consilium
Pompeii plane Themistocleum est; putat enim, qui mari potitur, eum rerum
potiri [Pompey is going upon the policy of Themistocles; thinking that he who
commands the sea commands all]. And, without doubt, Pompey had tired out
Caesar, if upon vain confidence he had not left that way. We see the great
effects of battles of sea. The battle of Actium decided the empire of the
world. The battle of Lepanto arrested the greatness of the Turk. There be many
examples where sea-fights have been final to the war; but this is when princes
or states have set up their rest upon the battles. But thus much is certain,
that he that commands the sea is at great liberty, and may take as much and as
little of the war as he will. Whereas those that be strongest by land are many
times nevertheless in great straits. Surely, at this day, with us of Europe,
the vantage of strength at sea (which is one of the principal dowries of this
kingdom of Great Britain) is great; both because most of the kingdoms of
Europe are not merely inland, but girt with the sea most part of their
compass; and because the wealth of both Indies seems in great part but an
accessory to the command of the seas.
[Footnote 13: "A monarchy in miniature."]
The wars of latter ages seem to be made in the dark, in respect of the
glory and honor which reflected upon men from the wars in ancient time. There
be now, for martial encouragement, some degrees and orders of chivalry; which
nevertheless are conferred promiscuously upon soldiers and no soldiers; and
some remembrance perhaps upon the scutcheon; and some hospitals for maimed
soldiers; and such like things. But in ancient times, the trophies erected
upon the place of the victory; the funeral laudatives and monuments for those
that died in the wars; the crowns and garlands personal; the style of emperor,
which the great kings of the world after borrowed; the triumphs of the
generals upon their return; the great donatives and largesses upon the
disbanding of the armies; were things able to inflame all men`s courages. But
above all, that of the triumph, amongst the Romans, was not pageants or
gaudery, but one of the wisest and noblest institutions that ever was. For it
contained three things: honor to the general; riches to the treasury out of
the spoils; and donatives to the army. But that honor perhaps were not fit for
monarchies; except it be in the person of the monarch himself, or his sons;
as it came to pass in the times of the Roman emperors, who did impropriate
the actual triumphs to themselves and their sons, for such wars as they did
achieve in person; and left only, for wars achieved by subjects, some
triumphal garments and ensigns to the general.
To conclude: no man can by care taking (as the Scripture saith) add a
cubit to his stature, in this little model of a man`s body; but in the great
frame of kingdoms and commonwealths, it is in the power of princes or estates
to add amplitude and greatness to their kingdoms; for by introducing such
ordinances, constitutions, and customs, as we have now touched, they may sow
greatness to their posterity and succession. But these things are commonly
not observed, but left to take their chance.
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