CHAP. I ¶ What the principall end is of a well ordered Commonweale .

A Commonweale is a lawfull gouernment of many families , The definition of a Commonweale . and of that which vnto them in common belongeth , with a puissant soueraigntie . This definition omitted by them which haue written of a Commonweale , wee haue placed in the first place : for that in all arts and actions , it behoueth vs first to behold the end , and afterward the meanes to attaine therunto . For a definition is nothing else than the very end and scope of the matter propounded , which if it be not well and surely grounded , whatsoeuer you build thereupon must together and in a moment fall . And yet oftentimes it falleth out with many , that hauing propounded vnto themselues certaine ends , yet can they not attaine vnto the end by them desired ; no more than the vnskilfull archer who shooteth farre and wide from the marke he aimed at , whereas he which shooteth markeman like , although he misse somewhat the marke , yet shall he shoot neerer than he , neither shall he want the commendation of a good archer , hauing performed what a skilfull archer should haue done . But he which knoweth not the end of the matter he hath in hand , is as farre from the hope of attaining thereunto , as he is from hitting the marke , which shooteth at randon , not knowing whereat . Wherefore let vs well examine the end , and euery part of the definition by vs before propounded . First we said that a Commonweale ought to be a lawfull or rightfull gouernment : for that the name of a Commonweale is holy , as also to put a difference betwixt the same , and the great assemblies of robbers and pirats , with whome we ought not to haue any part , commercement , societie , or alliance , but vtter enmitie . And therefore in all wise and well ordered Commonweales , That a common weale ought to be a lawfull gouernment . whether question be of the publike faith for the more safetie to bee giuen ; of leagues offensiue or defensiue to bee made ; of warre to bee denounced , or vndertaken , either for the defending of the frontiers of the kingdom , or for the composing of the controuersies and differences of Princes amongst themselues ; robbers and pirats are still excluded from all the benefit of the law of Armes . For why ? Princes which gouerne their States by their owne lawes , and the lawes of nations , haue alwayes diuided their iust and lawfull enemies , from these disordered , which seeke for nothing but the vtter ruine and subuertion of Commonweales , and of all ciuill societie . For which cause , if ransome promised vnto robbers for a mans redemption , bee not vnto them accordingly payed , there is no wrong done : for that the lawes of Armes ought neither to be communicated vnto them , neither are they to enioy the benefit of those lawes , which lawfull enemies being taken prisoners , or free men enioy . Yea the lawes do permit him that is taken of robbers , not therby to loose his libertie ; but that he may neuerthelesse make his will , and do all other lawfull actes : which for all that was not in former time lawfull for them to doe , which were taken by their iust enemies . For that he which was fallen into the hands of his lawfull enemies , by the law of nations did together with his libertie loose also all such power as he had ouer his owne things . Now if a man should say , that the law commaundeth to restore vnto the robber his pawne , his things committed vnto thee vpon trust , or what thou hast of him borrowed ; or to repossesse him , beeing by force thrust out of a possession , neuer so vniustly by him obtained ; there is thereof a double reason : the one , for that the robber in submitting himselfe vnto the Magistrat , and shewing his obedience vnto the lawes , in demaunding justice , deserueth to be therein regarded : the other , for that this is not so much done in fauour of the theefe or robber , as in hatred of him which would vnconscionably detaine the sacred thing left to his trust , or by way of force proceed to the gaining of that which he might by course of justice haue otherwise obtained . Of the first whereof we A notable example of fauour , extended vnto an offender , submitting himself vnto his Prince . haue examples enow , but none more memorable than that of Augustus the Emperour , who caused it to be proclaimed by the sound of the Trumpet , that he would giue ten Sestertiees vnto him which should bring vnto him Coracotas , the ring leader of the theeues and outlawes in Spaine : which thing Coracotas vnderstanding , of his owne accord presented himselfe vnto the Emperour , and demaunded of him the promised reward : which Augustus caused to be paid vnto him , and so receiued him into his fauour , to the intent that men should not thinke , that hee would take from him his life , to deceiue him of the reward promised ; or yet violate the publike faith and securitie with him , who of himselfe offered himselfe vnto the triall of justice : albeit hee might haue justly proceeded against the fellon , and so haue executed him . But he that should vse such common right towards pirats & robbers , as is to be vsed against just enemies , Pirats and rob bers are not to haue the fauour of iust enemies . should open a dangerous gap to all vagabonds , to ioyne themselues vnto robbers and theeues ; and assure their capitall actions and confederacie , vnder the vaile of justice . Not for that it is impossible to make a good Prince of a robber , or a good King of a rouer : yea , such a pirat there hath beene , who hath better deserued to be called a King , than many of them which haue carried the regall scepters and diadems , who haue no true or probable excuse of the robberies and cruelties which they cause their subiects to endure . As Demetrius the pirat by way of reproach said to Alexander the great , The notable answere of Demetrius ●…pirat , vnto Alexander the great . That he had learned of his father no other occupation than piracie , neither from him receiued any other inheritance than two small frigots ▪ whereas he which blamed him of piracie , roamed about neuerthelesse , and with two great armies robbed the world without controlment , albeit that he had left him by his father the great and flourishing kingdome of Macedon . Which frank speech so moued Alexander , not to the reuenge of the iust reproach giuen him , but vnto commiseration , with a certaine remorse of conscience : in so much that he pardoned Demetrius , & made him general ouer one of his legions . And not to go further for examples , in our age Solyman the great Sultan of the Turks , with great rewards allured vnto him Hariadenus Aenobarbus , Dragut Reis , & Occhial , three of the most famous pirats of our memory ; whom he made his Admirals , and great commaunders at Sea ; by their strength to confirme his owne power , and to keepe vnder the other pirats , then roaming all about the seas , and so to assure his traffique . How arch pirats may in some sort be fauoured . Truly by such allurements to draw arch pirats into good order , is , and shal be alwaies commendable : not onely to the end , not to make such people through dispaire to inuade the State of other princes , but also by their meanes to ruinate and bring to naught other pirats , as enemies to mankind : who although they seeme to liue in neuer so much amitie and friendship together , and with great equalitie to diuide the spoile , ( as it is reported of Bargulus and Vitriatus , the arch pirats ) yet for al that they ought not to be of right called societies and amities , or partnerships ; but conspiracies , robberies , & pillages : neither is that their equal parting of the spoile , to be tearmed a lawful diuision , but a meere robberie : for that the principall point wherein consisteth the true marke and cognisance of amitie in them wanteth , that is to wit , right gouernment , according to the lawes of nature . And that is it , for which the auncient writers haue called Common weals , Societies of men assembled to liue well and happily together . Which as it may serue for a description of a Citie , so can it not stand for a true definition The auncient definition of a Commonweal●… defectiue . of a Commonweale , as hauing in the one part thereof too much , and in the other too little : three principall things especially to bee required in euery Common-wealth , wanting in this description , that is to say , the family , the soueraigntie , and those things which are common to a Citie , or commonweale : joyning hereunto also , that this word , Happily , as they vnderstand it , is not necessarie : for otherwise vertue should haue no prize , if the fauourable wind of prosperitie still blew not in the poope thereof , which a good man will neuer consent vnto . For a Commonweale may be right well gouerned , and yet neuerthelesse afflicted with pouertie , forsaken of friends , besieged by enemies , and ouerwhelmed with many calamities : vnto which estate Cicero himselfe confesseth him to haue seene the Commonweale of Marseils in Prouince to haue fallen , at such time as it was by Caius Caesar triumphed vpon : which he saith to haue bene the best ordered and most accomplished that euer was in the world , without exception . And so contrariwise it should come to passe , that a Citie , or Commonweale , fruitfull by situation , abounding in riches , flourishing , and well stored with people , reuerenced of friends , feared of enemies , inuincible in arms , strong in fortification , prowd in buildings , triumphant in glorie , should therefore be rightly gouerned , albeit , that it were surcharged with all villanies , and grounded in all maner of vices . And yet neuerthelesse most certaine it is , that vertue hath not a more capitall enemie , than such a perpetual successe as they cal most happy ; which to ioine together with honesty , is no lesse difficultie , than to combine things by nature most contrarie . Wherfore sith that we may without reproach want other things ; as also without praise abound therein : but that vertues we cannot without great imputation want ; or be with vices polluted without infamie : it must needs follow , that those things which are thought to make the life of man more blessed , that is to say , riches , wealth , large territories and possessions , not to be of necessitie required vnto well ordered Cities , and commonweals : so that he which will looke further into the matter , must as little as hee may decline from the best or most perfect state of a Commonweale . For as much as by the goodnes of the end we measure the worth and excellencie , as well of Cities and Commonweals , as of all other things : so that by how much the end of euery Citie ▪ or Commonweale is better or more heauen-like , so much is it to be deemed worthily to excell the rest . Yet is it not our intent or purpose to figure out the onely imaginary forme and Idea of a Commonweale , without effect , or substance , as haue Plato , and Sir Thomas More ●… Chauncelor of England , vainely imagined : but so neere as we possibly can precisely to follow the best lawes and rules of the most flourishing cities and Commonweals . In which doing , a man is not bee iustly blamed , although hee fully attaine not vnto the end hee aimeth at , no more than the good Pilot , by force of tempest driuen out of his course ; or the skilfull Physitian ouercome with the force of the maladie , are the lesse esteemed : prouided , that the one hath yet in the cure well gouerned his sicke patient ; and the other in his course , his ship .

Now if the greatest felicitie and happinesse of one citisen , and of a whole Citie , The chief fellcitie of one citisen ▪ and of a Citie or common weale all one ; and wherein it consisteth . be all one and the selfe same , and the chiefe good of both consisteth in those vertues which are proper vnto the mind , and are onely conuersant in contemplation ( as they which in wisedome are said to haue farre excelled the rest , haue with great agreement affirmed ) it must needs follow also , those citisens and people to enioy true felicitie , which exercising themselues in the sweet knowledge of things naturall , humane , and diuine , referre all the fruits of their contemplation vnto the almightie God , and great Prince of nature . If we then confesse this to be the principall end of the most blessed and happy life of euery one in particular , we conclude , that this is the felicitie and end also of a Commonweale . But for as much as men of affaires , and Princes , are not in this point agreed , euery man measuring his good by the foot of his pleasures and contentments ; and that those which haue had the same opinion of the chiefe felicitie of a man in particular , haue not alwayes agreed , That a good man and a good citisen are not all one ; neither that the felicitie of one man , and of a whole Common weale are both alike : this hath made that we haue alwaies had varietie of lawes , customs , and decrees , according to the diuers humors and passions of Princes and gouernours . Most men thinking the life of man to be but base , if his endeuours should bee onely directed vnto necessitie , and not also vnto pleasure , and ornament : they would ( I say ) account it a miserable thing to dwell in poore cottages couered with turfe , or in strait cabins and lodges to shrowd themselues from the iniury of the weather . But for as much as the wise man is in a sort the measure of right and wrong , of truth and falshood ; or as it were an inflexible rule : and they which are thought to excell all others in iustice and wisdom , with one consent affirme the chiefe good of euery one in particular , and of all in common , to be but one , and the same ; we also putting no difference betwixt a good man , and a good citisen , measure the chiefe felicitie and happinesse of euery particular man , and of all men in general , by that most beautifull and and sweet contemplation of high matters , which we before spoke of . Albeit that Aristotle sometimes following Aristotle blamed the vulgar opinion , seemeth doubtfull in setting downe the chiefe good thing , and not well to agree in opinion with himselfe ; as thinking it necessarie vnto vertuous actions to ioyne also wealth and power : yet when he reasoneth more subtilly thereof , placing the chiefe good and felicitie of man , in Contemplation . Which seemeth to haue giuen occasion vnto Marcus Varro to say , That the felicitie of man consisteth in a mixture of action and contemplation together : whereof this may seeme to haue bene the reason , For that as of one simple thing , the felicitie is simple ; so of things double or compound , the felicitie is also double and compound . For the goodnesse of the bodie consisteth in the health , strength , agilitie , comlinesse , and beautie thereof : but the goodnesse of the mind , that is to say , of that facultie or power which is the true bond of the bodie and vnderstanding together , consisteth in the due obedience of our desires vnto reason , that is to say , in the action of morall vertues : whereas the chiefe goodnes and felicitie of the vnderstanding and mind it selfe , consisteth in the intellectuall vertues , that is to say , Wisedom , Knowledge , and true Religion : Wisedome , concerning worldly affairs ; Knowledge , concerning the searching out of the secrets of nature ; and Religion , the knowledge of things diuine . Of which three vertues , the first seeth the difference betwixt good and euill , the second betwixt truth and falshood , and the third betwixt true holinesse and impietie : and so altogether containe what is to be desired , or to be fled from . In which three vertues , true wisedome consisteth , better than which God hath not giuen any thing vnto man : For that it cannot be taken from vs by theft , consumed by fire , or lost by shipwrack ; but is of it selfe sufficient to make men , otherwise destitute and bare of all other things , happie ; and that not euery one in particular onely , but euen altogether also . Yet for all that shall a citie be much more blessed and fortunate , which encreased by these vertues , shal haue also sufficient territorie , and place capable for the inhabitants ; a fertill soyle to plant in , with beasts and cattell sufficient to feed and cloath the people with ; and for the maintenance of their health , the sweet disposition of the heauens , temperate and fresh ayre , plentifull and wholsome water , also matter fit for building and fortification , if the countrey of it selfe bee not safe and strong enough against the iniuries both of the weather and the enemy . These are the first beginnings of a growing commonweale , viz. That those things be first prouided Things requisit for the first beginning of a growing commonweale . for , without which people can in no wise liue ; and then after that , such other things as wherewith men liue the more commodiously and better , as medicines to cure diseases , mettals wherwith conuenient tools may be made for workmen , & armes for souldiers , not onely to repulse , but also to take reuenge vpon the enemie and robber . And for as much as the desires of men are insatiable , after that those things are prouided for which are necessarie , as also those which are profitable ; it lusteth vs also to seeke after , and to abound with vaine delights and pleasures , that so we may more sweetly & pleasantly liue . And as we haue no care of nurturing our children , before that they by convenient education being growne , become capable both of speech and reason ; no more regard haue cities also for the conforming of manners , or searching after the knowledge of naturall and diuine things , before they haue gotten such things as must needs be had to feed and defend their citisens ; but are with meane wisedome content to repulse their enemies , and defend their people from iniurie . But the man that hath got all things needfull for him to lead a safe and happy life withall , if he be well by nature , A notable discourse of the course that men hold for the attaining of felicitie . and better by education instructed , abhorreth the companie of loose and wicked men , sorteth himselfe with the good , and seeketh after their friendship : and afterwards when he feeleth himself cleane & free from those perturbations and passions which trouble and molest the mind ; and hath not set his whole hope vpon his vaine pelfe , hee at great ease beholdeth the chaunges and chances of the world , the vnstaidnesse and diuersitie of mens maners , their diuers ages , and conditions ; some in the height of power and soueraigntie ; others in the bottome of calamitie and woe : he then studiously beholdeth the mutations , risings , and downfals of Commonweals ; and wisely ioyneth things forepast , vnto those that are to come . After that , turning himselfe from mens affaires vnto the beautie of nature , he delighteth himselfe in beholding the varietie of natures worke in plants , liuing creatures , and minerals , hee considereth of euery one of them , their forme , their strength , and excellencie : yea he seeth the successiue transmutations of the elements themselues one into another , the singular Antipathie and contagiousnesse of things , the wonderfull order and consent of causes ; whereby the things lowest , are ioyned vnto the highest , they in the middle vnto both , and so in briefe all to all : as also whereof euery thing tooke beginning , whether it returneth againe , when and how it shall take end ; what in things is mortall and transitory , what immortall and eternall : and so by little and little , as it were with the swift wings of contemplation carried vp into heauen , wondreth at the brightnesse of the notable starres ; the power , placing , distance , and vnequall course of the heauenly bodies ; and so the good agreement and as it were most sweet harmonie of the whole world , and of euery part thereof : so rauished with a wonderfull pleasure , accompanied with a perpetuall desire to see the causes of all things , he is still caried on , vntill hee bee brought vnto God , the first cause , and gouernour of all this most faire and beautifull worke : whither when hee is once come , he sta●…eth to search further , seeing that he is of an infinite and incomprehensible essence , greatnesse , power , wisedome , and beautie , such as cannot either by tongue be expressed , or by any mind of man conceiued : yet so much as in him is hee prayseth , extolleth , and with great deuotion honoureth , that so great brightnes of the diuine Maiestie , which by such heauenly contemplation draweth him vnto the true glorie , and chiefe end of all goodnesse . For by these meanes men seeme in a manner to haue obtained the most goodly knowledge of things naturall , ciuill , and diuine , and the very summe of humane felicitie and blisse .

If therefore we iudge such a man wise and happie , as hath not gotten store of common wealth and pelfe , but the knowledge and vnderstanding of most excellent things , and remote from the rude capacitie of the vulgar people : how much more happie ought we to iudge a commonweale , abounding with a multitude of such citisens , although A small commonweale may yet be happie . it contented with strait bounds , contemne the proud wealth and pleasures of the greatest cities , which measure their greatest felicitie , by their greatest delights , or by their aboundant wealth and store , or by the vanitie of their glory ? Neither yet for all that doe we make that chiefe good of a man , or of a common weale , to be a thing confused , or mixt : For albeit that man be composed of a bodie which is fraile and mortall , and of a soule which is eternall and immortall ; yet must it needs be confessed the cheiefe goodnesse of man to rest and be in that part which is more excellent than the rest , that is to say , the Mind . For if it be true ( as true it is ) that this our bodie is compact and framed of flesh and bones , to serue the soule ; and our desires to obey reason : who can doubt the chiefe felicitie of man wholy to depend of the most excellent vertue thereof , which men call the action of the mind ? For although Aristotle , according to the opinion of the Stoiks , had placed the chiefe goodnes of man in the action of vertue ; yet he the same man was of opinion , that the same action was still to bee referred vnto the end of contemplation : otherwise ( saith hee ) the life of man should bee more blessed than that of the Gods , who not troubled with any actions or businesse , enioy the sweet fruit of eternall contemplation , with a most assured repose and rest . And yet not willing to follow the doctrine of his maister Plato , and also accounting it Aristotle blamed . a shame to depart from the opinion by himselfe once receiued and set downe ; for as much as he at the first had put the blessed life in action ; he afterward with great ambiguitie of words , hath placed the chiefe felicitie of man , in the action of the mind , which is nothing else but contemplation : to the intent he might not seeme to haue put the chief good , both of men and commonweals , in things most contrary vnto themselues ; motion ( I say ) and rest , action and contemplation . And yet hee neuerthelesse seeing men and commonweals to be still subiect vnto motion , and troubled with their necessary affaires , would not plainly put that chiefe good or happinesse which we seeke after , in contemplation onely ; which for all that he must of necessitie confesse . For all beit that the actions whereby mans life is maintained , as to eat , to drinke , to sleepe , and such like , are so necessarie , as that a man cannot long want them : yet is no man so simple , as in them to put mans chiefe good or felicitie . The moral vertues also are of much more worth and dignitie than they : for that the mind by them ( or by the vertue diuine ) purged from all perturbations , and affections , may bee filled with the most sweet fruit and cleare light of contemplation . Whereby it is to be vnderstood , the morall vertues to be referred vnto the intellectuall , as vnto their end . Now that can in no wise be called the chiefe good or happinesse , which is referred vnto a farther thing , better and more excellent than it selfe : as the bodie vnto the soule , appetite vnto reason , motion vnto quiet rest , action vnto contemplation . And therefore I suppose that Marcus Varro , who deemed man his chiefe good to bee mixt , of action and contemplation ; might ( in mine opinion ) haue more aptly and better said mans life to haue need of both ; yet the chiefe good and felicitie thereof to consist in contemplation : which the Academicks called the sweet , and the Hebrews the pretious death ; for that it doth in a sort rauish the mind of man from out of this fraile and vile bodie , and carrieth the same vp into heauen . Yet neuertheles true it is , that a commonweale cannot long stand if it be quite or long time destitute of those ordinary actions which concerne the preseruation of the peoples welfare , as the administration and execution of iustice , the prouiding of victuals , and such other things necessary for the life of man ; no more than can a man long liue whose mind is so strongly rauished with the contemplation of high things , that he forgetteth to eate or drinke , and so suffereth the bodie with hunger and thirst to perish , or for lacke of rest to die .

But as in this fabrick of the world ( which we may cal the true image of a perfect and A notable comparison . most absolute commonweale ) the Moone , as the soule of the world , comming neerer vnto the Sunne , seemeth to forsake this perspirall and elementarie region ; and yet afterwards by the coniunction of the Sunne , filled with a diuine vertue , wonderfully imparteth the same vnto these inferiour bodies : so also the soule of this little world , by the A man is called the little world . force of contemplation rauished out of the bodie , and in some sort as it were vnited vnto the great * * GOD. Sun of vnderstanding , the life of the whole world , wonderfully lightned with diuine vertue , with that celestiall force maruelously strengtheneth the bodie , with all the naturall powers thereof . Yet if the same , become too carefull of the bodie , or too much drowned in the sensuall pleasures thereof , shall forsake this diuine Sunne ; it shall befall it euen as it doth vnto the Moone , which shunning the sight of the Sun , and masked with the the shadow of the earth , looseth her brightnesse and light , by which defect many fowle monsters are engendred , and the whole course of nature troubled : and yet if the Moone should neuer be seperated from the coniunction of the Sunne , it is most certaine that the whole frame of this elementarie world should in right short time be dissolued and perish . The same iudgement we are to haue of a well ordered commonweale ; the chiefe end and felicitie wherof consisteth in the contemplatiue vertues : albeit that publick and politicall actions of lesse worth , be first and the fore-runners of the same , as the prouision of things necessarie for the maintenance and preseruation of the state and people ; all which for all that we account farre inferiour vnto the morall vertues , as are also they vnto the vertues intellectuall ; the end of which , is the diuine contemplation of the fairest and most excellent obiect that can possibly be thought of or imagined . And therefore we see that Almightie God who with great wisdome disposed all things , but that especially , for that he appointed only six dayes for vs to trauell and to do our businesse in , but the seuenth day he consecrated vnto contemplation and most holy rest , which onely day of all others hee blessed Gen. cap. 2. Deut. Exod. cap. 20. as the holy day of repose and rest , to the intent we should imploy the same in contemplation of his works , in meditation of his law , and giuing of him praises . And thus much concerning the principall end and chiefe good of euery man in particular , as also of all men in generall , and of euery well ordered commonweale : the neerer vnto which end they approach , by so much they are the more happie . For as we see in particuler A fit comparison . men , many degrees of worldly calamitie or blisse , according to the diuers ends of good or bad that they haue vnto themselues propounded ; so haue also common-weals in a sort their degrees of felicitie and miserie , some more , some lesse , according to the diuers ends they haue in their gouernment aimed at .

The Lacedemonians are reported to haue alwayes bene valiant and couragious Plato , Plutarch in the liues of Lysander , Agesilaus , and Lycurgus . men ; but in the rest of their actions iniust and perfidious , if question once were of the common good : for that their education , their lawes , customs , and manners , had no other scope or end than to make their people couragious to vndertake all dangers , and painfull to endure all manner of labour and toyle ; contemning all such pleasures and delights , as commonly effeminate the minds of men , and weaken their strength , referring all their thoughts & deeds , to the encreasing of their state . But the Romane commonweale hauing flourished in iustice , farre passed the Lacedemonians ; for that the Romans , besides that they were passing couragious , had propounded also vnto themselues Dionis Halicar . li. pri. true iustice , whereunto , as to a marke they addressed all their actions . Wherefore we must so much as in vs lyeth endeuour our selues to find the meanes to attaine or at least wise to come so neere as we possibly can , vnto that felicitie wee haue before spoken of , and to that definition of a Commonweale by vs before set downe . Wherfore prosecuting euery part of the said definition , let vs first speake of a Familie .

CHAP. II. ¶ Of a Familie , and what difference there is betweene a Familie and a Commonweale .

A Familie is the right gouernment of many subiects or persons The definition of a familie . vnder the obedience of one and the same head of the family ; and of such things as are vnto them proper . The second part of the definition of a Commonweale by vs set downe , concerneth a Familie , which is the true seminarie and beginning of euery Commonweale , as also a principall member thereof . So that Aristotle following Xenophon , seemeth to me without any probable cause , to haue diuided the Oeconomicall gouernment from the Politicall , and a Citie from a Familie : which can no otherwise be done , than if wee should pull the members from the bodie ; or go about to build a Citie without houses . Or by the same reason he should haue set downe by it selfe a treatise of Colleges , and Corporations ; which being neither families nor cities , are yet parts of a Commonweal . Wheras we see the Lawyers , and law makers ( whome we ought as guides to follow in reasoning of a Commonweale ) to haue in the same treatise comprehended the lawes and ordinances of a commonweale , corporations , colleges , and families ; howbeit that they haue otherwise taken the Oeconomicall gouernment than did Aristotle ; who defineth it to be a knowledge for the getting of goods : a thing common vnto corporations and Colleges , as vnto Cities also . Whereas we vnder the name of a Familie , do comprehend the right gouernment of an house or familie ; as also the power and authoritie the maister of the house hath ouer his people , and the obedience to him due : things not touched in the treatise of Aristotle and Xenophon . Wherefore as a familie well and wisely ordered , is the true image of a Citie , and the domesticall gouernment , The good gouernment of a familie the true modell for the gouernment of a Common weale . in sort like vnto the soueraigntie in a Commonweale : so also is the manner of the gouernment of an house or familie , the true modell for the gouernment of a Common-weale . And as whilest euery particular member of the bodie doth his dutie , wee liue in good and perfect health ; so also where euery family is kept in order , the whole citie shall be well and peaceably gouerned . But if a man shall be crosse and froward vnto his wife , if the wife shall be about to take vpon her the office of her husband , and not shew her selfe obedient vnto him ; if both of them shall account of their children as of seruants , and of their seruants as of beasts , and so tyrannise ouer them ; if children shall refuse the commands of their parents , and the seruants of their maisters ; who seeth not no concord to be in that house , no agreement of minds and wils , but all full of strife , brawling and contention ? Seeing therfore the way to order wel a citie , leaneth & resteth in the good gouernment of families , as it were vpon certain proper foundations : it behoueth vs first to haue an especiall regard and care for the good ordering and gouernment of families .

Wee said a Commonweale to bee a lawfull gouernment of many families , and of such things as vnto them in common belongeth , with a puissant soueraigntie . By the word , Many , you may not in this case vnderstand two , as for most part we do ; for seeing that the law requireth at the least three persons to make a College , we according to the Lawyers opinion account three persons also , besides the maister of the house , necessary to make a familie ; be they children , or slaues , or men enfranchised , or free borne men which haue voluntarily submitted themselues vnto the maister of the house or family , who maketh vp the fourth , and is yet neuerthelesse a member of the family . But for as much as ●…milies , Colleges , Companies , Cities , and Commonweals , yea , and mankind it selfe would perish and come to end , were it not by martiages ( as by certaine Seminaries , or nurseries ) preserued and continued , it followeth well that a family cannot be in all points perfect and accomplished without a wife . So that by this account No perfect familie without a wife . it commeth to passe , there must be fiue persons at least to make vp an whole and entire familie . If therefore there must needs bee three persons , and no fewer , to make a How many persons be requisite to make vp an whole and entire familie , and how many families make a Citie . College , and as many to make a familie , beside the maister of the houshold and his wife ; wee for the same reason say three families and no fewer to bee necessarie for the making of a Citie , or Commonweale , which should be three times fiue , for three perfect families . Whereupon ( in mine opinion ) the auncient writers haue called fifteene a people , as saith Appuleius , referring the number of fifteene vnto three entire families . For albeit that the maister of the family haue three hundred wiues , as had Salomon King of the Hebrews ; and sixe hundred children , as had Hermotimus king of the Iustin. lib. 4. Parthians by his multitude of wiues ; or fiue hundred slaues , as had Crassus ; if they bee all vnder the commaund of one and the same head of the familie , they are neither to be called a people nor a citie , but by the name of a family onely : Yea although hee haue many children , or seruants maried , hauing themselues children also ; prouided alwaies , that they be vnder the authoritie of one head , whome the law calleth father of the family , although he yet crie in his cradle . And for this cause the Hebrews , who alwayes show the proprietie of things by their names , haue called a family 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , not for that a family containeth a thousand persons , as saith one Rabbin , but of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , which signifieth an head , a Prince , or Lord , naming the familie by the chief therof : better as I suppose than did the Greeks , of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , or the Latines of Famulis . But what should let ( may some man say ) three Colleges , or many other particular assemblies without a familie to make a Citie , or Common weale , if they be gouerned by one soueraigne commaund ? Truly it maketh a good show , and yet for all that is it no Commonweale : for that no Colledge , nor bodie politique can long stand without a familie , but must of it selfe perish and come to nought .

Now the law saith , that the people neuer dieth , but a thousand yeare hence to be the same that it was before ▪ although the vse and profit of any thing granted vnto a common weale be after an hundred yeare extinguished , and againe reunited vnto the proprietie , which proprietie should otherwise be vnto the Lord thereof vaine and vnprofitable : for it is to be presumed , that all they which now liue wil in the course of an hundred yeares be dead , albeit that by successiue propagation they be immortal ; no otherwise than Theseus his ship , which although it were an hundred times changed , by putting in of new plancks , yet still retained the old name . But as a ship , if the keele ( which strongly beareth vp the prow , the poup , the ribs , and tacklings ) be taken away , is no longer a ship , but an euil fauoured houp of wood : euen so a Commonweale without a soueraintie of power , which vniteth in one body all the members and families of the same is no more a common weale , neither can by any meanes long endure . And not It is not the greatnes of the number that maketh the Commonweale , but the vnion of the people vnder one soueraigne commaund . to depart from our similitude : as a ship may be quite broken vp , or altogether consumed with fire ; so may also the people be into diuers places dispersed , or els be vtterly destroyed , the Citie or state yet standing whole ; for it is neither the wals , neither the persons , that maketh the citie , but the vnion of the people vnder the same soueraigntie of gouernment , albeit that there be in all but three families . For as an Emot is as well to be called a liuing creature , as an Elephant : so the lawfull gouernment of three families , with a soueraigntie of power maketh as well a common weale , as a great signiorie . So Rhaguse one of the least signeuries in all Europe , is no lesse a common weale , than are those of the Turkes , the Tartars , or Spanyards , whose Empires are bounded with the same bounds that the course of the Sun is . And as a little familie shut vp in a small cottage , is no lesse to be accounted a familie , than that which dwelleth in the greatest and richest house in the citie ▪ so a little king is as well a Soueraigne as the greatest Monarch in the world . So Vlisses , whose kingdome was contained within the rock of Ithaca , is of Homer as well called a King , as Agamemnon : for a great kingdome ( as saith Cassiodorus ) is no other thing than a great Commonweale , vnder the gouernment of one chiefe soueraigne : wherefore if of three families , one of the chiefe of the families hath soueraigne power ouer the other two , or two of them together ouer the third , or all three ioyntly and at once exercise power and authoritie ouer the people of the three families ; it shall as well be called a Commonweale , as if it in it selfe comprehended an infinite multitude of citisens . And by this meanes it may chaunce , that one familie Sometimes one ▪ familie may be greater than some Common weale . may sometimes be greater and better peopled then a common weale : as was wel said of the familie of Aemilius Tubero , who was head of a family of sixteene of his owne children , all maried , whome he had all vnder his power , together with their children and seruants , dwelling in the same house with him . And on the contrary part , the greatest Plut. in Emili. The greatest & best peopled citie no more a common weale than the least . Citie or Monarchie , and the best peopled that is vpon the face of the earth , is no more a common weale or citie , than the least . Albeit that Aristotle saith , the citie of Babylon ( whose circuit in a square forme was so great , that it could scarce on foot bee gone about in three dayes ) was to bee called rather a nation , than a common weale , which ought not , as he saith , to haue more than ten thousand citisens in it at the most : as if it were any absurditie to call an infinite number of nations , and dwelling in diuers places , gouerned by one soueraigne commaund , by the name of a Commonweale . By which meanes the citie of Rome ( more famous than which was neuer any ) should not The multitude of people no binderance to the vnitie of a common weale ▪ so that they be vnder one soueraigne command . deserue the name of a Commonweale , which at the foundation thereof had not aboue 3000 citisens ; but in the time of Tiberius the Emperor , had cessed in it fifteene millions , besides an hundred and ten thousand others dispersed almost throughout the world : not accounting the slaues , the number of whom was ten times greater : and yet in this number were not comprised they of the Prouinces subiect vnto the Empire of Rome , neither the confederat cities , or free nations , who had their Commonweals in soueraigntie diuided from the Roman Empire . Which soueraigntie of gouernment is the true foundation and hinge whereupon the state of a citie turneth : whereof all the magistrats , lawes , and ordinances dependeth ; and by whose force and power , all colleges , corporations , families , and citisens are brought as it were into one perfect bodie of a Commonweale : albeit that all the subiects thereof be enclosed in one little towne , or in some strait territorie , as the commonweale of Schwitz , one of the least of the confederat Cantons of Suisers ; not so large as many farms of this * * Fraunce . kingdom , nor of greater reuenue : or els that the Commonweale hath many large prouinces and countries , as * * Ester . cap. 1 had the Persians , which * * Herodotus , 〈◊〉 . in Arta●… . is reported to haue had an hundred twentie seuen prouinces from the vttermost part of India , vnto the sea of Hellespontus : or as is now also the commonweale of the Aethiopians , wherein are fiftie prouinces , which Pau. Iouius without reason calleth kingdomes ; albeit that they haue not but one king , one kingdome , one Monarch , one Commonweale , vnder the puissant soueraigntie of one and the same Prince whome they call Negus .

But beside that soueraigntie of gouernment thus by vs set downe , as the strong foundation of the whole Commonweale ; many other things besides are of citisens to be had in common among themselues , as their markets , their churches , their walks , Many thing●… common vnto citisens among themselues . wayes , lawes , decrees , iudgements , voyces , customs , theaters , wals , publick buildings , common pastures , lands , and treasure ; and in briefe , rewards , punishments , sutes , and contracts : all which I say are common vnto all the citisens together , or by vse and profit : or publick for euery man to vse , or both together . That is also a great communitie which ariseth of colleges and corporations of companies , as also of benefits both giuen and receiued . For otherwise a Commonweale cannot be so much as imagined , No common-weale where nothing is common which hath in it nothing at all publick or common . Although it may so be , that the greatest part of their lands be common vnto the citisens in generall , and the least part vnto euery one of them in particular : as by the law of Romulus , called Agraria , all the lands of Rome , at that time containing eighteene thousand acres , was diuided * into Dionisius H●…ly carnasseus lib. 2. three equall parts , whereof the first part was assigned for the maintaining of the sacrifices ; the second for the defraying of the necessarie charges of the common weale ; and the third was equally diuided among the citisens ; who being in number but three thousand , had to euerie one of them allotted two acres : which equal partage long time after continued with great indifferencie , for Cincinnatus the Dictator himself 260 yeres after had no more but two acres of land , which hee with his owne hands husbanded . But howsoeuer lands may be diuided , it cannot possibly bee , that all things should bee common amongst citisens ; which vnto Plato seemed so notable a thing , and so much Plato his opinion for the communitie of all things in a commonweale , refuted . to be wished for , as that in his Commonweale he would haue all mens wiues and children common also : for so he deemed it would come to passe that these two words , Mine and Thine , should neuer more be heard amongst his citisens , being in his opinion the cause of all the discord and euils in a Commonweale . But he vnderstood not that by making all things thus common , a Commonweale must needs perish : for nothing can be publike , where nothing is priuat : neither can it be imagined there to bee any thing had in common , if there be nothing to be kept in particular ; no more than if al the citisens were kings , they should at al haue no king ; neither any harmonie , if the diuersitie and dissimilitude of voyces cunningly mixed together , which maketh the sweet harmony , were al brought vnto one and the same tune . Albeit that such a Commonweale should be also against the law of God and nature , which detest not onely incests , adulteries , and ineuitable murders , if all women should bee common ; but also expresly forbids vs to steale , or so much as to desire any thing that another mans is . Whereby it euidently appeareth this opinion for the communitie of all things to bee erroneous , seeing Commonweals to haue bene to that end founded and appointed by God , to giue vnto them that which is common ; and vnto euery man in priuat , that which vnto him in priuat belongeth . Besides that also such a communitie of al things is impossible , and incompassible with the right of families : for if in the familie and the citie , that which is proper , and that which is common , that which is publick , and that which is priuat , be confounded ; we shall haue neither familie nor yet Commonweale . In so much that Plato himselfe ( in all other things most excellent ) after he had seene the notable inconueniences & absurdities which such a confused communitie of all things drew after it , wisely of himselfe departed from that so absurd an opinion , and easily suffered that Commonweale which he had attributed vnto Socrates to be abolished ; that so he might more moderatly defend his owne . But some will say , that the Massagets had all things in common : yet they which so say , confesse also euery one of them to haue had his pot , his sword vnto himselfe , as also must they needs haue their priuat apparell and garments also ; for otherwise the weaker should bee still spoiled of the stronger , hauing his garments still taken from him .

Wherefore as a Commonweale is a lawfull gouernment of many families , and of those things which vnto them in common belongeth , with a puissant soueraigntie : so is a Familie the right gouernment of many subiects or persons , and of such things as are vnto them proper , vnder the rule and commaund of one and the same head of the familie . For in that especially consisteth the difference betwixt a Commonweale and a Familie : The chief difference betwixt a Familie and a Commonweale . for that the maister of a familie hath the gouernment of domesticall things , and so of his whole familie with that which is vnto it proper ; albeit that euery house or family be bound to giue something vnto the Commonweale , whether it be by the name of a subsidie , taxe , tribute , or other extraordinarie imposition . And it may bee that all the subiects of a Commonweale may liue together in common , in manner of Colleges , or companies , as did in auncient time the Lacedemonians , where the men apart from their wiues and families , vsed to eat and sleep together by fifteene and twentie in a company : As also in auntient time in Creet , all the citisens of all sorts men and women , young and old , rich and poore , alwaies eat and dranke together ; and yet for all that , euerie man had his owne proper goods apart , euery one of them still contributing what was thought expedient for the defraying of the common charge . Which thing the Anabaptists in our time began to practise in the towne of Munster , hauing commaunded all things to be * * Sleidan . common , excepting their wiues ( of whom they might haue many ) and their apparell , thinking thereby the better to mainteine mutuall loue and concord among them : in which their account they found themselues farre deceiued . For they which admit this communitie of all things , are so farre from this good agreement of citisens among themselues , which they hope thus to maintaine , as that thereby the mutuall loue betwixt man and wife , the tender care of parents towards their children , and their dutifulnesse againe towards them , and in briefe the mutuall loue of neighbours and kinsmen among themselues , is quite extinquished ; all the kind bond of bloud and kindred ( than which none stronger can be imagined for the friendship and good agreement of citisens ) being by this meanes taken away . For that which thou shouldest dearely loue must be thine owne , and that also all thine : whereas communitie is of the Lawyers iustly called of it selfe , the mother of contention and discord . Neither are they lesse deceiued , which think greater care to bee had of things that bee common , than of things that be priuat ; for wee ordinarily see things in common and publick to be of euery man smally regarded and neglected , except it be to draw some Things common smally regarded priuat and particular profit thereout of . Besides that , the nature of loue and friendship is such , that the more common it is , or vnto moe diuided , the lesse force it is of : not vnlike to great riuers , which carry great vessels , but being diuided into small branches , serueth neither so keep back the enemie , neither for burthen : in which maner loue also diuided vnto many persons or things , looseth his force and vertue . So the lawfull and certaine gouernment of a familie , diuideth euery priuat mans wiues and children , seruants and goods , from all other mens families ; as also that which is vnto euery particular man proper , from that which is to them all common in generall , that is to say , from a Commonweale . And withall in euery well gouerned Commonweale we see the publick magistrat to haue a certaine especiall care and regard of the priuat goods of orphans , of mad men , and of the prodigall : for that it concerneth the Commonweale to haue their goods preserued vnto them to whome they belong , and that they be not embeseled . As in like case the lawes oftentimes forbiddeth a man to procure , to alienat , or to pawne his own goods or things , except vpon certain conditions , as also vnto certaine persons ▪ for that the preseruation of euery priuat mans goods in particular , is the preseruation of the Commonweale in generall . And yet neuerthelesse although Particular families may haue also their particular lawes : and how . lawes be common to al , it is not inconuenient , but that families may haue their certaine particular statutes for themselues and their successors , made by the auntient heads of their families , and confirmed vnto them by their soueraigne Princes . As we haue example in the most honourable nation of the Saxons , amongst whome are many families , which vse certaine their owne priuat lawes , quite differing both from the lawes of the Empire , and from the common lawes and customs of Saxonie . And betwixt the dukes of Bauaria , and the Counties Palatines there are also their particular lawes , as well for the lawfull succession in the inheritance of their houses , as in the right of the Electorship , which is in these two honourable houses , alternatiue , by the auntient decrees of their predecessors : which laws & customs the duke of Bauaria , with great instance required to haue renewed at the diet of the Empire at Auspurge , in the yere 1555 which is not so in the other families of the Electors . Betwixt the houses also of Saxonie and Hess , are their domesticall and proper laws * * Anno 1370. and 1431. confirmed vnto them by the Emperour Charles the fourth , and Sigismund . In like maner it was decreed betwixt the houses of Austria , and Bohemia , that for lack of heirs male , the one of them should succeed into the inheritance of the other , as we see it is now come to passe . And not to go further than this * * Fraunce . Realme , I haue seene a charter of the house of Laual granted by the King , and confirmed by the Parliament of Paris , directly contrarie to the customes of Aniou , Britagne , and Mayne , wherein the most part of their inheritance lie : by which Charter the first inheritor ( able to succeed ) is to enioy all , being not bound to giue any thing vnto his coheirs , more than the moueables ; with charge , that the heire male shall beare the name of Guy de Laual ; or of Guionne , if she bee an inheritrix , and the armes plaine . In like manner in the houses of Baume , Albret , and Rhodez , the daughters by the auntient lawes of their auncestors , were excluded both in direct and collaterall line from inheriting , so long as there were any males in what degree soeuer ; deriuing as it were into their families , the law Salique , vsual vnto the Princes of Sauoy . Such lawes of families , which the Latines had also , and called them Ius familiare , were made by their auncestors and chiefe of their families , for the mutuall preseruation of their inheritance , name , and auntient armes ; which may in some sort well be suffered in some great and honourable families : which priuat lawes and customs by vs thus spoken of , haue oftentimes preserued from destruction , not onely families , but whole common weals ; which was the cause that in the diet at Auspurge in the yeare 1555 , the Princes The great benefit which oftentimes commeth vnto a Common-weale , by certain priuat lawes and customs granted vnto some great and honourable houses & families . of the Empire after long ciuill warre , wisely renewed the auntient lawes of great houses and families , as hauing well perceiued that by that meane the Empire was to be preferued from ruine , and the state of Almaigne from a generall destruction . Which for all that , is not to take place in other obscure and particular base families , to the intent that the publick lawes , so much as is possible , should be vnto all men common and the selfe same . For it is not without great cause to bee suffered , that the lawes of priuat families should derogat from the customes of the countrey , and so , much lesse from the generall lawes and ordinances . Neither are they which come after , by this law of families by their grand-fathers , & great grand-fathers made , contrarie to the common customs and lawes , further bound than they themselues shall thereunto giue their consent . For which cause the successors of the house of Albret , of Laual , and of Montmorency obtained decrees from the Parliament of Paris , contrarie to the auntient charters of their predecessors ; for that they were contrary vnto the customes of those places , when question was of the successions of Laual , of the Countie of Dreux , and of Montmorency , which they would make indiuisible , contrarie to the custom of the Viscomptie of Paris : For it beseemeth that the customes of families should bee subiect vnto the lawes , in like maner as the heads of families are subiect vnto their soueraigne Princes . Much lesse are the lawes of families and kindreds , allowed by the decrees of the Romans , to be be suffered , least for the priuat the publick should be neglected : as Camillus complained with Liuie , * * Liuitie lib. 5 What ( saith he ) if the sacred rites of families may not in time of warre be intermitted , pleaseth it you that the publick sacrifices and Roman gods should euen in time of peace be forsaken ? For it was a law of the twelue tables conceiued in these words , Sacred priuat Rites , firme be they for euer : which M. Tullius translated into his lawes . And thus much in generall , concerning the similitude and difference of a Common weale and Familie : now let vs discourse also of the singular parts of a Familie .