cient Noble Family, which hath ftood against the Waves and Weathers of Time. For New Nobility is but the Act of Power; but Ancient No bility is the Act of Time. Those that are first failed to Nobility are commonly more vertuous, but lefs Innocent than their Defcendents; for there is rarely any Rifing, but by a commixture of good and evil Arts. But it is reason the me mory of their Vertues remain to their Posterity; and their faults die with themselves. Nobility of Birth commonly abateth Induftry; and he that is not industrious, envieth him that is. Befides, Noble Perfons cannot go much higher; and he that standeth at a ftay when others rife, can hardly avoid motions of Envy. On the other fide, Nobility extinguifheth the Paffive Envy from others towards them; because they are in poffeffion of Honour. Certainly Kings that have able Men of their Nobility, fhall find ease in employing them, and a better flide into their bufinefs: for People naturally bend to them, as born in fome fort to command.

XV.

Of Seditions and Troubles.

Hepherds of People had need know the Kalenof Tempests in State; which are commonly greateft when things grow to equality's as natural Tempefts are greateft about the Equi

noctia.

noctia. And as there are certain hollow blafts of Wind, and fecret fwellings of Seas before a Tempelt, fo are there in States.

Ille etiam cæcos inftare Tumaltus

Sæpe monet, Fraudefque & operta tumefcere Bella.

Libels and Licentious Difcourfes against the State, when they are frequent and open; and in like fort, falfe News often running up and down to the disadvantage of the State, and haftily embraced, are amongst the Signs of Troubles. Virgil giving the pedigree of Fame, faith, She was Sifter to the Gyants.

Illam Terra Parens ira irritata Deorum,
Extremam (nt perhibent) Ceo Enceladoque
Sororem
Progenuit.

As if Fames were the Reliques of Seditions past; but they are no lefs indeed, the Preludes of Seditions to come. Howfoever he noteth it right, That Seditious Tumults, and Seditious Fames, differ no more but as Brother and Sifter, Masculine and Feminine; especially if it come to that, that the best Actions of a State, and the most plaufible, and which ought to give greatest contentment, are taken in ill sense, and traduced: for that thews the envy great, as Tacitus faith, Conflata magna Invidia, fen benè, feu malè, gefta premunt. Neither doth it follow, that because

thefe

thefe Fames are a sign of Troubles, that the fuppreffing of them with too much Severity, should be a Remedy of Troubles: for the despifing of them many times checks them beft; and the going about to stop them, doth but make a Wonder long-liv❜d.

Alfo that kind of obedience which Tacitus fpeaketh of is to be held fufpected; Erant in officio, fed tamen qui mallent mandata Imperantium interpretari, quam exequi; Difputing, Excufing, Cavilling upon Mandates and Directions, is a kind of thaking off the yoak, and affay of disobedience; efpecially, if in those difputings, they which are for the direction, fpeak fearfully and tenderly; and thofe that are against it audaciously.

Alfo, as Machiavel noteth well; when Princes that ought to be common Parents, make themselves as a Party, and lean to a fide, it is a Boat that is overthrown by uneven weight on the one fide; as was well feen in the time of Henry the third of France: for first himself entred League for the extirpation of the Protestants, and prefently after the fame League was turned upon himself: for, when the Authority of Princes is made but an Acceffary to a Caufe, and that there are other Bands that tie fafter than the Band of Soveraignty, Kings begin to be almost put out of poffeffion.

Alfo, when Difcords, and Quarrels, and Factions are carried openly and audacioufly, it is a fign the Reverence of Government is lot. For

the

the Motions of the greatest Persons in a Government, ought to be as the Motions of the Planets under Primum Mobile (according to the old Opinion) which is, that every of them is carried fwiftly by the Highest Motion, and foftly in their own Motion. And therefore when great Ones in their own particular Motion move violently; and as Tacitus expreffeth it well, Liberius quam ut Imperantium meminiffent, it is a fign the Orbs are out of Frame: for Reverence is that wherewith Princes are girt from God, who threatneth the diffolving thereof; Solvam cingula Regum.

So when any of the four Pillars of Government are mainly fhaken or weakned, (which are Religion, Justice, Counfel and Treafure) Men had need to pray for fair Weather.

But let us pafs from this Part of predictions (concerning which, nevertheless, more light may be taken from that which followeth) and let us fpeak firft of the Materials of Seditions; then of the Motives of them; and thirdly, of the Remedies.

Concerning the Materials of Seditions; It is a thing well to be confidered: For the furelt way to prevent Seditions if the times do bear it ) is to take away the Matter of them. For if there be fuel prepared, it is hard to tell whence the fpark fhall come that (hall fet it on fire. The Matter of Seditions is of two kinds; much Poverty and much Difcontentment. It is certain, fo many 0verthrown Estates, so many votes for Troubles. Lucan noteth well the State of Rome before the Civil War:

E

Hing

Hine Ufura vorax, rapidumque in tempore Fanus, Hinc concuffa Fides, & multis utile Bellum.

This fame multis utile Bellum is an affured and infallible fign of a State difpofed to Seditions and Troubles. And if this Poverty and broken Eftate in the better fort, be joyned with a want and neceffity in the mean people, the danger is imminent and great; for the Rebellions of the Belly are the worft. As for Difcontentments, they are in the Politick Body like to Humors in the Natural, which are apt to gather preter-natural Heat, and to enflame. And let no Prince meafure the Danger of them by this, whether they be juft or unjust for that were to imagine People to be too reasonable, who do often spurn at their own Good: nor yet by this, whether the Griefs whereupon they rife, be in fact great or fmall: for they are the most dangerous Difcontentments, where the fear is greater than the feeling. Dolendi modus, Timendi non item. · Befides, in great Oppreffions, the fame things that provoke the Patience, do withal mate the Courage; but in Fears it is not fo. Neither let any Prince or State be fecure concerning Difcontentments because they have been often, or have been long, and yet no Peril hath enfued; for as it is true, that every Vapour or Fume doth not turn into a Storm: So it is neverthelefs true, that Storms, though they blow over divers times, yet may fall at laft: and as the Spanish Proverb noteth

well;