imperia acciperent, numeroque et robore et visu inter se fiducia ipsis, in ceteros metus cresceret.' Tacitus, Ann. iv. cap. 2. The expected result followed, but not with the advantage which Sejanus looked for to himself. Conf. e. g. ‘Armatos pro concione jurare in nomen suum passus est: promisitque singulis quina dena sestertia, primus Caesarum fidem militis etiam praemio pigneratus.' Suetonius, Claudius, cap. 10. 'Illatusque castris Nero, et congruentia tempori praefatus, promisso donativo ad exemplum paternae largitionis, Imperator consalutatur.' Tacitus, Ann. xii. 69.

Galba's refusal to comply with this custom was a chief cause of his ruin; vide note on Essay 15, p. 110. Gibbon, in the fifth chapter of his Decline and Fall, gives the history of the Prætorians from their establishment under Augustus to their murder of the Emperor Pertinax and offer of the Empire by auction to the highest bidder.

1. 17. Princes are like to heavenly bodies &c.] Conf. 'Ex quo se Caesar orbi terrarum dedicavit, sibi eripuit: et siderum modo, quae irrequieta semper cursus suos explicant, nunquam illi licet nec subsistere, nec quicquam suum facere.' Seneca, Consol. ad Polybium, cap. 26 (p. 95, B). And, 'The Persian magic, which was the secret literature of their kings, was an observation of the contemplations of nature, and an application thereof to a sense politic... After this manner the aforesaid instructors set before their princes the example of the celestial bodies, the sun, the moon and the rest, which have great glory and veneration, but no rest or intermission: being in a perpetual office of motion for the cherishing, in turn and in course, of inferior bodies.' Letters and Life, iii. 90.

The Encyclopédie Dictionnaire, sub voce 'Perses,' gives what purports to be a translation of the will of Khosroës the Great, addressed to his son. The following is an extract from it :

'Lorsqu'il aura fermé mes yeux, qui déjà ne peuvent pas soutenir la lumière du soleil, qu'il monte sur mon trône, et que delà il jette sur mes sujets une splendeur égale à celle de cet astre. Il doit se ressouvenir que les rois sont revêtus du pouvoir souverain, et qu'ils ne sont à l'égard du reste des hommes que comme le ciel est à l'égard de la terre. La terre produira-t-elle des fruits si le ciel ne l'arrose?... Voyez ce soleil; il part d'un bout du monde pour aller à l'autre ; il se cache et se remontre ensuite; et s'il change de route tous les jours ce n'est que pour faire bien à tous... Il est toujours dans le ciel; soutenez la majesté royale; il marche toujours; soyez sans cesse occupé du soin du gouvernement.'

So in Plutarch, Life of Themistocles. Artabanus says, 'Amongst all the goodly lawes and customs we have, we esteeme this above the rest, to reverence and honour our king as the image of the God of nature who keepeth all things in their perfect life and state.' North's trans. p. 110.

XX.

OF COUNSEL.

THE greatest trust between man and man is the trust of giving counsel; for in other confidences men commit the parts of life; their lands, their goods, their children, their credit, some particular affair; but to such as they make their counsellors they commit the whole: by how much the more they are obliged to all faith and integrity. The wisest princes need not think it any diminution to their greatness, or derogation to their sufficiency, to rely upon counsel. God himself is not without, but hath made it one of the great names of his blessed Son, The Counsellor. 10 Salomon hath pronounced that in counsel is stability. Things will have their first or second agitation: if they be not tossed upon the arguments of counsel, they will be tossed upon the waves of fortune, and be full of inconstancy, doing and undoing, like the reeling of a drunken man. Salomon's son found the force of counsel, as his father saw the necessity of it: for the beloved kingdom of God was first rent and broken by ill counsel; upon which counsel there are set for our instruction the two marks whereby bad counsel is for ever best discerned, that it 20 was young counsel for the persons, and violent counsel for the matter.

The ancient times do set forth in figure both the incorporation and inseparable conjunction of counsel with Kings, and the wise and politic use of counsel by Kings: the one, in that they say Jupiter did marry Metis, which signifieth counsel; whereby they intend that sovereignty is married to counsel; the other, in that which followeth, which was thus: they say, after Jupiter was married to Metis, she conceived by him and was with child; but 30 Jupiter suffered her not to stay till she brought forth, but eat her up whereby he became himself with child, and

was delivered of Pallas armed, out of his head. Which monstrous fable containeth a secret of empire, how Kings are to make use of their council of state: that first, they ought to refer matters unto them, which is the first begetting or impregnation; but when they are elaborate, moulded, and shaped in the womb of their council, and grow ripe and ready to be brought forth, that then they suffer not their council to go through with the resolution and direction, as if it depended on them; but 10 take the matter back into their own hands, and make it appear to the world, that the decrees and final directions (which, because they come forth with prudence and power, are resembled to Pallas armed), proceeded from themselves; and not only from their authority, but (the more to add reputation to themselves) from their head and device.

Let us now speak of the inconveniences of counsel, and of the remedies. The inconveniences that have been noted in calling and using counsel, are three: first, the revealing 20 of affairs, whereby they become less secret; secondly, the weakening of the authority of princes, as if they were less of themselves; thirdly, the danger of being unfaithfully counselled, and more for the good of them that counsel than of him that is counselled; for which inconveniences, the doctrine of Italy, and practice of France in some Kings' times, hath introduced cabinet councils"; a remedy worse than the disease.

As to secrecy; princes are not bound to communicate all matters with all counsellors, but may extract and select; 30 neither is it necessary that he that consulteth what he

cabinet councils] The sense in which these words are used is clear from the MS. of 1607-12, where after 'worse than the disease,' there follows (omitted in all the printed editions) 'which hath tourned Metis the wife, to Metis the

Mistresse, that is the councelles of State to which Princes are solemnly marryed, to councells of gracious persons recommended cheifly by flattery and affection.' Arber's English Reprints, Harmony of the Essays, p. 318.

should do, should declare what he will do; but let princes beware that the unsecreting of their affairs comes not from themselves: and, as for cabinet councils, it may be their motto, Plenus rimarum sum: one futile person", that maketh it his glory to tell, will do more hurt than many, that know it their duty to conceal. It is true there be some affairs, which require extreme secrecy, which will hardly go beyond one or two persons besides the King: neither are those counsels unprosperous; for, besides the secrecy, they commonly go on constantly in one spirit of 10 direction without distraction: but then it must be a prudent King, such as is able to grind with a hand-mill; and those inward counsellors had need also be wise men, and especially true and trusty to the King's ends; as it was with King Henry the Seventh of England, who in his greatest business imparted himself to none, except it were to Morton and Fox.

For weakening of authority; the fable showeth the remedy: nay, the majesty of Kings is rather exalted than diminished when they are in the chair of counsel; neither 2> was there ever prince bereaved of his dependencies by his council, except where there hath been either an overgreatness in one counsellor, or an over strict combination in divers, which are things soon found and holpen 1. For the last inconvenience, that men will counsel with

b one futile person] i. e. talkative. Vide Note on Essay 6. The Italian, which does not translate Essay 6, gives here un cicalone.

• which will hardly go &c.] The Latin-qualis (sc. occultatio) non facile ultra notitiam unius aut duorum, praeter ipsum regem, excedet-implies that the sense is which (secrecy) will hardly be observed (if the affairs are known) by more than one or two, etc. A more obvious sense would be--which (affairs) can hardly with safety be made known to more than one or two, &c.

an eye to themselves; certainly, non inveniet fidem super terram is meant of the nature of times, and not of all particular persons. There be that are in nature faithful and sincere, and plain and direct, not crafty and involved: let princes, above all, draw to themselves such natures. Besides, counsellors are not commonly so united, but that one counsellor keepeth sentinel over another; so that if any do counsel out of faction or private ends, it commonly comes to the King's ear: but the best remedy is, if princes 10 know their counsellors as well as their counsellors know them:

i

Principis est virtus maxima nosse suos.

And on the other side, counsellors should not be too speculative into their sovereign's person. The true composition of a counsellor is, rather to be skilful in their master's business than in his nature; for then he is like to advise him, and not to feed his humour. It is of singular use to princes if they take the opinions of their council both separately and together; for private opinion is more 20 free, but opinion before others is more reverend. In private, men are more bold in their own humours; and in consort, men are more obnoxious to1 others' humours; therefore it is good to take both; and of the inferior sort rather in private, to preserve freedom; of the greater rather in consort, to preserve respect. It is in vain for