m 
 
 
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 GLENN NEGLEY 
 
 " Mary 
 
 Uh 
 
 DUKE UNIVERSITY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 The Glenn Negley Collection 
 of Utopian Literature 
 
 %raph. 
 
 Y. 
 
 inM( 
 
 ich. 
 
 READY ON THE i$ih OF EACH MONTH 
 
lORLEY'S UNIVERSAL LIBRARY. 
 
 i. SHERIDAN'S PLAYS. 
 
 2. PLAYS FROM MOLIERE. By English Dramatists. 
 
 3. MARLOWE'S FAUSTUS& GOETHE'S FAUST. 
 
 4. CHRONICLE OF THE CID. 
 
 5. RABELAIS' GARGANTUA AND THE HEROIC 
 
 DEEDS OF PANTAGRUEL. 
 
 6. THE PRINCE. By Machiavelli. 
 
 7. BACON'S ESSAYS. 
 
 8. DE FOE'S JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE YEAR. 
 
 9. LOCKE ON TOLERATION AND ON CIVIL 
 
 GOVERNMENT; WITH SIR ROBERT FILMER'S 
 PATRIARCHA. 
 
 10. BUTLER'S ANALOGY OF RELIGION. 
 
 11. DRYDEN'S VIRGIL. 
 
 12. SIR WALTER SCOTT'S DEMONOLOGY AND 
 
 WITCHCRAFT. 
 
 13. HERRICK'S HESPERIDES. 
 
 14. COLERIDGE'S TABLE TALK: WITH THE 
 
 ANCIENT MARINER AND CHRISTABEL. 
 
 15. BOCCACCIO'S DECAMERON. 
 
 16. STERNE'S TRISTRAM SHANDY. 
 
 17. HOMER'S ILIA.D, Translated by George Chapman. 
 
 18. MEDIAEVAL TALES. 
 
 19. JOHNSON'S RASSELAS; AND VOLTAIRE'S 
 
 CaNDIDE. 
 
 20. PLAYS AND POEMS BY BEN JONSON. 
 
 21. HOBBES'S LEVIATHAN. 
 
 22. BUTLER'S HUDIBRAS. 
 
 23. IDEAL COMMONWEALTHS: MORE'S 
 
 UTOPIA ; BACON'S NEW ATLANTIS ; AND CAM- 
 PANELLA'S CITY OF THE SUN. 
 
 24. CAVENDISH'S LIFE OF WOLSEY. 
 25 and 26. DON QUIXOTE (Two Volumes). 
 
 GEORGE ROUT LEDGE AND SONS, 
 LONDON, GLASGOW, AND NEW YORK. 
 
MORLEY'S UNIVERSAL LIBRARY. 
 
 27. BURLESQUE PLAYS AND POEMS. 
 
 28. DANTE'S DIVINE COMEDY. Longfellow's Trans- 
 
 lation. 
 
 29. GOLDSMITH'S VICAR OF WAKEFIELD, 
 
 PLAYS AND POEMS. 
 
 30. FABLES and PROVERBS from the SANSKRIT. 
 
 31. CHARLES LAMB'S ESSAYS OF ELIA. 
 
 32. THE HISTORY OF THOMAS ELLWOOD, 
 
 Written by Himself. 
 
 33. EMERSON'S ESSAYS, REPRESENTATIVE 
 
 MEN, AND SOCIETY AND SOLITUDE. 
 
 34- SOUTHEY'S LIFE OF NELSON. 
 
 35- DE QUINCEY'S OPIUM EATER, SHAKS- 
 
 PEARE, GOETHE. 
 
 36. STORIES OF IRELAND. By Maria Edgeworth. 
 
 37- THE PLAYS OF ARISTOPHANES, Translated by 
 
 Frere. 
 
 38. SPEECHES AND LETTERS. , By Edmund Burke. 
 
 39. THOMAS A KEMPIS' IMITATION OF CHRIST. 
 
 40. POPULAR SONGS OF IRELAND, Collected by 
 
 Thomas Crofton Crokcr. 
 
 41. THE PLAYS Of iESCHYLUS, Translated by R.Potter. 
 
 42. GOETHE'S FAUST, the Second Part. 
 
 43- FAMOUS PAMPHLETS. 
 
 44- SOPHOCLES, Translated by Faucklin. 
 
 45. TALES OF TERROR AND WONDER. 
 
 46. VESTIGES OF THE NATURAL HISTORY OF 
 
 CREATION. 
 
 47- THE BARONS' WARS, &c. By Michael Drayton. 
 
 48. COBBETT'S ADVICE TO YOUNG MEN, 
 
 49. THE BANQUET OF DANTE. Translated by Eliza- 
 
 beth Price Sayer. 
 
 GEORGE ROUTLEDGE AND SONS, 
 LONDON, GLASGOW, AND NEW YORK. 
 
'Sattanhme -press 
 
 BALLANTYNE, HANSON AND CO. 
 
 EDINBURGH AND LONDON 
 
THE COMMONWEALTH 
 
 OCEANA 
 
 BY 
 
 JAMES HARRINGTON 
 
 WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY HENRY MORLEY 
 
 LL.D., PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH LITERATURE AT 
 UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, LONDON 
 
 LONDON 
 GEORGE ROUTLEDGE AND SONS 
 
 BROADWAY, LUDGATE HILL 
 
 GLASGOW AND NEW YORK 
 
 1887 
 
MORLEY'S UNIVERSAL LIBRARY. 
 
 1. Sheridan's Plays. 
 
 2. Plays from Moliere. By 
 
 English Dramatists. 
 
 3. Marlowe's Faustus and 
 
 Goe tile's Faust. 
 
 4. Chronicle of the Cid. 
 
 5. Fabelais'Gargantuaa.ndthe 
 
 Heroic Deeds of Pantagruel. 
 
 6. Mackiavelli's Prince. 
 
 7. Bacon's Essays. 
 
 8. Defoe's Journal of the 
 ' Plague Year. 
 
 9. Locke on Civil Government 
 
 and Filmers "Patriarcha." 
 
 10. Butler 's Analogy of .Religion. 
 
 11. Dry den's Virgil. 
 
 12. Scott's Demonology and 
 
 Witchcraft. 
 
 13. Her rick's Hesperidcs. 
 
 14. Coleridge's Table- Talk. 
 
 15. Boccaccio's Decameron. 
 
 16. Sterne's Tristram Shandy. 
 
 17. Chapman' s Homer's Iliad. 
 
 18. Mediaeval Tales. 
 
 19. Voltaire's Candide, and 
 
 Johnson's Passelas. 
 
 20. fonson's Plays and Poems. 
 
 21. Hobbcs's Leviathan. 
 
 22. Samuel Butler's Hud/bras. 
 
 23. Ideal Commomveallhs. 
 
 24. Cavendish's Life of Wolsey. 
 25 & 26. Z>(?« Owjole. 
 
 27. Burlesque Plays and Poems. 
 
 28. Dante's Divine Comedy. 
 
 Longfellow's Translation. 
 
 29. Goldsmith's Vicar of Wake- X 
 
 field, Plays, and Poems. 
 
 " Marvels of clear type and general neatness.'— Daily Telegraph. 
 
 30. 
 
 3i- 
 32. 
 
 33- 
 34- 
 .35- 
 36. 
 
 37- 
 
 38. 
 39- 
 40. 
 41. 
 42. 
 
 43- 
 44. 
 
 45- 
 46. 
 
 47- 
 
 Fables and Proverbs from 
 tlie Sanskrit. (Hilo/adesa.) 
 Lamb's Essays of Eha. 
 The History of Thomas 
 Ellwood. 
 
 Emerson's Essays, 6r'c. 
 Southey's Life of Nelson. 
 De Quincey's Confessions 
 of an Opium-Eater, b*c. 
 Stories of Ireland. By Miss 
 Edgeworth. 
 Frere's Aristophanes: 
 
 Acharnians, Knights, Birds. 
 Burke's Speeches and Letters. 
 Thomas a Kempis. 
 Popular Songs of Ireland. 
 Potter's sEschylus. 
 Goethe's Faust: Part II. 
 
 Anster's Translation. 
 Famous Pamphlets. 
 Fraucklin's Sophocles. 
 M. G. Le^cis's Tales of 
 
 Terror and Wonder. 
 Vestiges of the Natural 
 
 History of Creation. 
 Drayton's Barons' Wars, 
 
 Xymphidia, &>c. 
 
 Cobbell's Advice to Young 
 
 Men. 
 
 The Banquet of Dante. 
 Walker's Original. 
 ScJiillcrs Poems and 
 
 Ballads. 
 Peek's Plays and Poems. 
 Harrinetorfs Oceana. 
 

 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 James Harrington, eldest son of Sir Sapcotes Harrington of Exton, in 
 Rutlandshire, was born in the reign of James the First, in January 1611, five 
 years before the death of Shakespeare. He was two or three years younger 
 than John Milton. His great-grandfather was Sir James Harrington, who 
 married Lucy, daughter of Sir William Sidney, lived with her to their golden 
 wedding-day, and had eighteen children, through whom he counted himself, be- 
 fore his death, patriarch in a family that in his own time produced eight Dukes, 
 three Marquises, seventy Earls, twenty-seven Viscounts, and thirty-six Barons, 
 sixteen of them all being Knights of the Garter. James Harrington's ideal of a 
 Commonwealth was the design, therefore, of a man in many ways connected 
 with the chief nobility of England. 
 
 Sir Sapcotes Harrington married twice, and had by each of his wives two sons 
 and two daughters. James Harrington was eldest son by the first marriage, 
 which was to Jane, daughter of Sir William Samuel of Upton, in Northampton- 
 shire. James Harrington's brother became a merchant ; of his half-brothers, 
 one went to sea, the other became ft captain in the army. 
 
 As a child, James Harrington was studious, and so sedate that it was said 
 playfully of him, he rather kept his parents and teachers in awe than needed 
 correction; but in after-life his quick wit made him full of playfulness in con- 
 versation. In 1629 he entered Trinity College, Oxford, as a Gentleman Com- 
 moner. There he had for tutor William Chillingworth, a Fellow of the College, 
 who after conversion to the Church of Rome had reasoned his way back into 
 Protestant opinions. Chillingworth became a famous champion of Protestantism 
 in the question between the Churches, although many Protestants atl 
 him as unsound because he would not accept the Athanasian Creed and had 
 some other reservations. 
 
 Harrington prepared himself for foreign travel by study of modern languages, 
 but before he went abroad, and while he was still under age, his father died and 
 he succeeded to his patrimony. The socage tenure of his estate gave him free 
 choice of his own guardian, and he chose his mother's mother, Lady Samuel. 
 
 He then began the season of travel which usually followed studies at the 
 University, a part of his training to which he had looked forward with especial 
 interest. He went first to Holland, which had been in Queen Elizabeth's time 
 the battle-ground of civil and religious liberty. Before he left England lie used 
 to say that he knew of Monarchy, Anarchy, Aristocracy, Democracy, Oligarchy, 
 only as hard words to be looked for in a Dictionary. But his interest in problems 
 of Government began to be awakened while he was among the Dutch. He 
 served in the regiment of Lord Craven, and afterwards in that cf Sir ' 
 Stone ; was much at the Hague ; became familiar with the Court of the Prince 
 of Orange, and with King James's daughter, the Queen of Bohem 
 her husband the Prince Elector, was then a fugitive to Holland. Lon 
 rington, who had once acted as governor to the Princess, and won her affec- 
 as James Harrington's uncle, and she now core omed the 
 
6 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 young' student of life, for his uncle's sake and for his own pleasantness of 
 outward ivit and inward gravity of thought. Harrington was taken with him 
 by the exiled and plundered Prince Elector, when he paid a visit to the Court of 
 Denmark, and he was entrusted afterwards with the chief care of the Prince "s 
 affairs in England. 
 
 From Holland, James Harrington passed through Flanders into France, and 
 thence to Italy. When he came back to England, some courtiers who were with 
 him in Rome told Charles the First that Harrington had been too squeamish at 
 the Pope's consecration of wax lights, in refusing to obtain a light, as others did, 
 by kissing His Holiness's toe. The king told Harrington that he might have 
 complied with a custom which only signified respect to a temporal prince. 1 1 il 
 His Majesty was satisfied with the reply, that having had the honour to kiss 
 His Majesty's hand, he thought it beneath him to kiss any other Prince's foot. 
 
 Of all places in Italy, Venice pleased Harrington best. He was deeply 
 interested in the Venetian form of government, and his observations bore fruit 
 in many suggestions for the administration of the Commonwealth of Oceana. 
 
 After his return to England, being of age, James Harrington cared actively 
 for the interests of his younger brothers and sisters. It was he who made his 
 brother William a merchant. William Harrington throve, and for his ingenuity 
 in matters of construction he was afterwards made one of the Fellows of the 
 newly formed Royal Society. He took pains over the training of his sisters, 
 making no difference between sisters and half-sisters, and treating his step- 
 mother as a mother. He filled his home with loving-kindness, and was most 
 liberal in giving help to friends. When he was told that he often threw away 
 his bounty on ungrateful persons, he playfully told his advisers they were 
 mercenary and that he saw they sold their gifts, since they expected so great a 
 return as gratitude. 
 
 James Harrington's bent was for the study of life, and lie made no active 
 suit for Court employment. But he went to Court, where Charles the First 
 liked him, and admitted him as one of his Privy Chamber Extraordinary, in 
 which character he went with the king in his first expedition against the -Scots. 
 
 Because Charles the First knew him and liked him, and because he had 
 shown himself no partisan of either side in the Civil War, though he was known 
 to be inclined, in the way of abstract opinion, towards a form of government 
 that was not Monarchy, the Commissioners appointed in 1646 tc» bring Charles 
 from Newcastle named Harrington as one of the king's attendants. The king 
 was pleased, and Harrington was appointed a groom of the bedchamber 
 at Holmby. He followed faithfully the fortunes of the fallen king, never saying 
 even to the king himself a word in contradiction of his own principles of liberty, 
 and finding nothing in his principles or in his temper that should prevent him 
 from paying honour to his sovereign, and seeking to secure for him a happy 
 issue out of his afflictions. Antony a Wood says that "His Majesty loved 
 Harrington's company, and finding. him to be an ingenious man, chose rather 
 to converse with him than with others of his chamber : they had often dis- 
 courses concerning Government ; but when they happened to talk of a Com- 
 monwealth the king seemed not to endure it. " 
 
 Harrington used all the influence he had with those in whose power the 
 king was, to prevent the urging of avoidable questions that would stand in the 
 way of such a treaty as they professed to seek during the king's imprisonment 
 at t arisbrooke. Harrington's friendly interventions on the king's behalf before 
 the Parliament Commissioners at Newport caused him, indeed, to be suspected ; 
 and when the king was removed from Carisbrooke to Hurst Castle, Harrington 
 was not allowed to remain in his service. But afterwards, when King Charles 
 was being taken to Windsor, Harrington got leave to bid him farewell at the 
 door of his carriage. As he was about to kneel, the king took him by the hand 
 and pulled him in. For a few days he was left with the king, but an oath was 
 required of him that he would not assist in, or conceal knowledge of any 
 attempt to procure, the king's escape. He would not take the oath ; and was 
 this time not only dismissed from the king's service but himself imprisoned, until 
 
INTRODUCTION. 7 
 
 Ireton obtained his release. Before the king's death, Harrington found his 
 way to him again, and he was among those who were with Charles the First 
 •upon the scaffold. 
 
 After the king's execution, Harrington was for some time secluded in his 
 study. Monarchy was gone ; some form of Commonwealth was to be estab- 
 lished ; and he set to work upon the writing of Oceana, calmly to show what 
 form of Government, since men were free to choose, to him seemed best. 
 
 He based his work on an opinion he had formed that the troubles of the 
 time were not due wholly to the intemperance of faction, the misgovernment 
 of a king, or the stubbornness of a people, but to change in the balance of 
 property ; and he laid the foundations of his Commonwealth in the opinion 
 that Empire follows the Balance of Property. Then he showed the Common- 
 wealth of Oceana in action, with safeguards against future shiftings of that 
 balance, and with a popular government in which all offices were filled by men 
 chosen by ballot, who should hold office for a limited term. Thus there was 
 to be a constant flow of new blood through the political system, and the re- 
 presentative was to be kept true as a reflection of the public mind. 
 
 The Commonwealth of Oceana was England. Harrington called Scotland 
 Marpesia ; and Ireland, Panopasa. London he called Emporium ; the Thames, 
 Halcionia ; Westminster, Hiera ; Westminster Hall, Pantheon. The Palace 
 of St. James was Alma ; Hampton Court, Convallium ; Windsor, Mount Celia. 
 By Hemisua, Harrington meant the river Trent. Past sovereigns of England 
 he renamed for Oceana. William the Conqueror became Turbo ; King John, 
 Adoxus; Richard II., Dicotome ; Henry VII., Panurgus ; Henry VIII, Co- 
 raunus ; Elizabeth, Parthenia ; James I., Morpheus. He referred to Hobbes 
 as Leviathan ; and to Francis Bacon as Verulamius. Oliver Cromwell he re- 
 named Olphaus Megaletor. 
 
 Harrington's book was seized while printing, and carried to Whitehall. 
 Harrington went to Cromwell's daughter, Lady Claypole, played with her 
 three-year-old child while waiting for her, and said to her, when she came and 
 found him with her little girl upon his lap, " Madam, you have come in the 
 nick of time, for I was just about to steal this pretty lady." ''Why should 
 you? 1 ' " Why shouldn't I, unless you cause yc-ur father to restore a child 
 of mine that he has stolen? " It was only, he said, a kind of political romance ; 
 so far from any treason against her father that he hoped she would let him 
 know it was to be dedicated to him. So the book was restored ; and it was 
 published in the time of Ciomwell's Commonwealth, in the year 1656. 
 
 This treatise, which had its origin in the most direct pressure of the problem 
 of Government upon the minds of men, continues the course of thought on 
 which Machiavelli's " Prince" had formed one famous station ; and Hobbes's 
 " Leviathan," published only five years before "Oceana," had been another. 
 " The Prince" and " Leviathan," as well as the later writings upon Civil Govern- 
 ment, by Filmer and Locke, are already contained in this Library. 
 
 " Oceana," when published, was widely read and actively attacked. One 
 opponent of its doctrines was Dr. Henry Feme, afterwards Bishop of Chester. 
 Another was Matthew Wren, eldest son to the Bishop of Ely. He was one 
 of those who met for scientific research at the house of Dr. Wilkins, and had, 
 said Harrington, " an excellent faculty of magnifying a louse, and diminishing 
 a Commonwealth." 
 
 In 1659, Harrington published an abridgment of his Oceana as "The 
 Art of Lawgiving, " in three books. Other pieces followed, in which he de- 
 fended or developed his opinions. He again urged them when Cromwell's 
 Commonwealth was in its death-throes. Then he fell back upon argument at 
 nightly meetings of a Rota Club which met in the New Palace Yard, West- 
 minster. Milton's old pupil, Cyriac Skinner, was one of its members ; and its 
 elections were by ballot, with rotation in the tenure of all offices. The club was 
 put an end to at the Restoration, when Harrington retired to his study and 
 amused himself by putting his System of Politics into the form of Aphorisms. 
 
 On the 28th of December 1661 James Harrington, then fifty years old, was 
 
8 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 arrested and carried to the lower as a traitor. His Aphorisms were on his 
 desk, and as they also were to be carried off, he asked only that they might 
 first be stitched together in their proper order. Why he was arrested, he was 
 not told. One of his sisters pleaded in vain to the king. He was falsely 
 accused of complicity in an imaginary plot, of which nothing could be made 
 by its investigators. No heed was paid to the frank denials of a man of the 
 sincerest nature, who never had concealed his thoughts or actions. " Why," 
 he was asked, at his first examination by Lord Lauderdale, who was one of his 
 kinsmen, " Why did he, as a private man, meddle with politics? What had a 
 private man to do with Government?" His answer was, " My lord, there is' 
 not any public person, nor any magistrate, that has written on Politics, worth 
 a button. All they that have been excellent in this way have been private men, 
 as private men, my lord, as myself. There is Plato, there is Aristotle, there is 
 Livy, there is Machiavel. My lord, I can sum up Aristotle's Politics in a very 
 few words : he says, there is the Barbarous Monarchy — such a one where the 
 people have no votes in making the laws ; he says, there is the Heroic 
 Monarchy — such a one where the people have their votes in making the laws ; 
 and then, he says, there is Democracy ; and affirms that a man cannot be said 
 to have liberty but in a Democracy only.'' Lord Lauderdale here showing im- 
 patience, Harrington added: "I say Aristotle says so. I have not said so 
 much. And under what prince was it ? Was it not under Alexander, the greatest 
 prince then in the world? I beseech you, my lord, did Alexander hang up 
 Aristotle ; did he molest him ? Livy, for a Commonwealth, is one of the fullest 
 authors ; did not he write under Augustus Cicsar? Did Ccesar hang up Livy ; 
 did he molest him ? Machiavel, what a Commonwealthsman was he ? but he 
 wrote under the Medici when they were princes in Florence : did they hang up 
 Machiavel ; or did they molest him ? I have done no otherwise than as the 
 greatest politicians : the king will do no otherwise than as the greatest princes. " 
 That was too much to hope, even in a dream, of the low-minded Charles 
 the Second. Harrington could not obtain even the show of justice in a public 
 trial. He was kept five months an untried prisoner in the Tower, only sheltered 
 from daily brutalities by bribe to the lieutenant. When his Habeas Corpus had 
 been moved for, it was at first flatly refused ; and when it had been granted, 
 Harrington was smuggled away from the Tower between one and two o'clock 
 in the morning, and carried on board a ship that took him to closer imprison- 
 ment on St. Nicholas Island, opposite Plymouth. There his health suffered 
 seriously, and his family obtained his removal to imprisonment in Plymouth by 
 giving a bond of £5000 as sureties against his escape. In Plymouth, Har- 
 rington suffered from scurvy, and at last he became insane. 
 
 When he had been made a complete wreck in body and in mind, his 
 gracious Majesty restored Harrington to his family. He never recovered 
 health, but still occupied himself much with his pen ; writing, among other 
 things, a serious argument to prove that they were themselves mad who thought 
 him so. 
 
 In those last days of his shattered life James Harrington married an old 
 friend of the family, a witty lady, daughter of Sir Marmaduke Dorrell, of 
 Buckinghamshire. Gout was added to his troubles ; then he was palsied ; and 
 he died at Westminster, at the age of sixty-six, on the nth of September 1677. 
 He was buried in St. Margaret's Church, by the grave of Sir Walter Raleigh, 
 Dn the south side of the altar. 
 
 H. M. 
 
 August 1887. 
 
THE 
 
 COMMONWEALTH OF OCEANA. 
 
 TO HIS HIGHNESS 
 
 THE LORD PROTECTOR 
 
 OF THE 
 
 COMMONWEALTH OF ENGLAND, SCOTLAND, 
 AND IRELAND. 
 
 .... Quid rides? mutato nomine, de te 
 Fabula narratur.— Horat. 
 
THE ORDER OF THE WORK. 
 
 OCEANA is saluted by the panegyrist after this manner : " O the 
 most blest and fortunate of all countries, Oceana ! how deservedly 
 has Nature with the bounties of heaven and earth endued thee ! 
 Thy ever fruitful womb not closed with ice, nor dissolved by the 
 raging star ; where Ceres and Bacchus are perpetual twins : thy 
 woods are not the harbour of devouring beasts, nor thy continual 
 verdure the ambush of serpents, but the food of innumerable herds 
 and flocks presenting thee, their shepherdess, with distended 
 dugs or golden fleeces. The wings of thy night involve thee 
 not in the horror of darkness, but have still some white feather ; 
 and thy day is (that for which we esteem life) the longest." But 
 this ecstasy of Pliny, as is observed by Bertius, seems to allude 
 as well to Marpesia and Panopea, now provinces of this com- 
 monwealth, as to Oceana itself. 
 
 To speak of the people in each of these countries. This of 
 Oceana, for so soft a one, is the most martial in the whole world. 
 •' Let States that aim at greatness," says Verulamius, " take heed 
 how their nobility and gentlemen multiply too fast, for that 
 makes the common subject grow to be a peasant and base swain 
 driven out of heart, and in effect but a gentleman's labourer ; 
 just as you may see in coppice woods, if you leave the staddels 
 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 at last, that 
 not the hundreth poll will be fit for a helmet, specially as to the 
 infantry, which is the nerve of an army, and so there will be 
 great population and little strength. This of which I speak has 
 
12 OCEANA. 
 
 been nowhere better seen than by comparing of Oceana and' 
 Fiance, whereof Oceana, though far less in territory and popula- 
 tion, has been nevertheless an overmatch, in regard the middle 
 people of Oceana make good soldiers, which the peasants in 
 France do not." In which words Verulamius, as Machiavel 
 has done before him, harps much upon a string which he has 
 not perfectly tuned, and that is, the balance of dominion or 
 property : as it follows more plainly; in his praise " of the pro- 
 found and admirable device of Panurgus, king of Oceana, in 
 making farms and houses of husbandry of a standard ; that is, 
 maintained with such a proportion of land to them, as may breed 
 a subject to live in convenient plenty, and no servile condition, 
 and to keep the plough in the hand of the owners, and not mere 
 hirelings. And thus indeed," says he, " you shall attain to Virgil's 
 character which he gives of ancient Italy." 
 
 But the tillage bringing up a good soldiery, brings up a good 
 commonwealth ; which the author in the praise of Panurgus did 
 not mind, nor Panurgus in deserving that praise ; for where the 
 owner of the plough comes to have the sword too, he will use it in 
 defence of his own ; whence it has happened that the people of 
 Oceana, in proportion to their property, have been always free. 
 And the genius of this nation has ever had some resemblance 
 with that of ancient Italy, which was wholly addicted to common- 
 wealths, and where Rome came to make the greatest account of 
 her rustic tribes, and to call her consuls from the plough ; for in 
 the way of parliaments, which was the government of this realm, 
 men of country lives have been still entrusted with the greatest 
 affairs, and the people have constantly had an aversion to the ways 
 of the court. Ambition, loving to be gay, and to fawn, has been 
 a gallantry looked upon as having something in it of the livery ; 
 and husbandry, or the country way of life, though of a grosser 
 spinning, as the best stuff of a commonwealth, according to 
 Aristotle, such a one being the most obstinate assertress of her 
 liberty, and the least subject to innovation or turbulency. 
 Wherefore till the foundations, as will be hereafter shown, were 
 removed, this people was observed to be the least subject to 
 shakings and turbulency of any; whereas commonwealths, upon 
 which the city life has had the stronger influence, as Athens, 
 have seldom or never been quiet, but at the best are found to 
 have injured their own business by overdoing it. Whence the 
 
OCEANA. 13 
 
 urban tribes of Rome, consisting of the Turba forensis, and 
 libertines that had received their freedom by manumission, were 
 of no reputation in comparison of the rustics. It is true, that 
 with Venice it may seem to be otherwise, in regard the gentlemen 
 (for so are all such called as have a right to that government), are 
 wholly addicted to the city life; but then the Turba forensis, the 
 secretaries, Cittadini, with the rest of the populace, are wholly 
 excluded. Otherwise a commonwealth consisting but of one 
 city would doubtless be stormy, in regard that ambition would 
 be every man's trade ; but where it consists of a country, the 
 plough in the hands of the owner finds him a better calling, and 
 produces the most innocent and steady genius of a common- 
 wealth, such as is that of Oceana. 
 
 Marpesia, being the northern part of the same island, is the 
 dry nurse of a populous and hardy nation, but where the staddels 
 have been formerly too thick ; whence their courage answered 
 not their hardiness, except in the nobility, who governed that 
 country much after the manner of Poland, but that the king 
 was not elective till the people received their liberty ; the yoke 
 of the nobility being broken by the commonwealth of Oceana, 
 which in grateful return is thereby provided with an inexhaus- 
 tible magazine of auxiliaries. 
 
 Panopea, the soft mother of a slothful and pusillanimous 
 people, is a neighbour island, anciently subjected by the arms of 
 Oceana; since almost depopulated for shaking the yoke, and at 
 length replanted with a new race. But, through what virtues of 
 the soil, or vice of the air soever it be, they come still to 
 degenerate. Wherefore seeing it is neither likely to yield men 
 fit for arms, nor necessary it should, it had been the interest of 
 Oceana so to have disposed of this province, being both rich in 
 the nature of the soil, and full of commodious ports for trade, 
 that it might have been ordered for the best in relation to her 
 purse, which in my opinion, if it had been thought upon in time,, 
 might have been best done by planting it with Jews, allowing . 
 them their own rites and laws ; for that would have brought 
 them suddenly from all parts of the world, and in sufficient 
 numbers. And though the Jews be now altogether for mer- 
 chandise, yet in the land of Canaan (except since their exile 
 from whence they have not been landlords) they were altogether 
 for agriculture ; and there is no cause why a man should doubt, 
 
i 4 OCEANA. 
 
 but having a fruitful country, and excellent ports too, they 
 would be good at both. Panopea, well peopled, would be worth 
 a matter of four millions dry rents ; that is, besides the advan- 
 tage of the agriculture and trade, which, with a nation of that 
 industry, comes at least to as much more. Wherefore Panopea, 
 being farmed out to the Jews and their heirs for ever, for the 
 pay of a provincial army to protect them during the term of 
 seven years, and for two millions annual revenue from that 
 time forward, besides the customs, which would pay the 
 provincial army, would have been a bargain of such advantage, 
 both to them and this commonwealth, as is not to be found 
 otherwise by either. To receive the Jews after any other 
 manner into a commonwealth were to maim it ; for they of all 
 nations never incorporate, but taking up the room of a limb, 
 are of no use or office to the body, while they suck the nourish- 
 ment which would sustain a natural and useful member. 
 
 If Panopea had been so disposed of, that knapsack, with the 
 Marpesian auxiliary, had been an inestimable treasure ; the 
 situation of these countries being islands (as appears by Venice 
 how advantageous such a one is to the like government) seems 
 to have been designed by God for a commonwealth. And yet 
 that, through the straitness of the place and defect of proper 
 arms, can be no more than a commonwealth for preservation ; 
 whereas this, reduced to the like government, is a common- 
 wealth for increase, and upon the mightiest foundation that 
 any has been laid from the beginning of the world to this day. 
 
 " Mam arcta capier.^ Neptunus compede stringit : 
 Hanc autem glaucis captus complectitur ulnis. " 
 
 The sea gives law to the growth of Venice, but the growth of 
 .Oceana gives law to the sea. 
 
 These countries, having been anciently distinct and hostile 
 kingdoms, came by Morpheus the Marpesian, who succeeded 
 by hereditary right to the crown of Oceana, not only to be 
 joined under one head, but to be cast, as it were by a charm, 
 into that profound sleep, which, broken at length by the trumpet 
 of civil war, has produced those effects that have given occasion 
 to the ensuing discourse, divided into four parts. 
 
o 
 
 C E A N A. 
 
 I. The Preliminaries, showing the Principles of Government 1 . 
 
 II. The Council of Legislators, showing the Art of Making 
 a Commonwealth. 
 
 Ill The Model of the Commonwealth of Oceana, showing 
 the Effect cf such an Art. 
 
 IV. The Corollary, showing some Consequences of such a 
 Government. 
 
 I. THE PRELIMINARIES. 
 
 SHOWING THE PRINCIPLES OF GOVERNMENT. 
 
 Janotti, the most excellent describer of the commonwealth 
 of Venice, divides the whole series of government into two times 
 or periods : the one ending with the liberty of Rome, which was 
 the course or empire, as I may call it, of ancient prudence, first 
 discovered to mankind by God Himself in the fabric of the 
 commonwealth of Israel, and afterwards picked out of His foot- 
 steps in Nature, and unanimously followed by the Greeks and 
 Romans ; the other beginning with the arms of Caesar, which, 
 extinguishing liberty, were the transition of ancient into modern 
 prudence, introduced by those inundations of Huns, Goths, 
 Vandals, Lombards, Saxons, which, breaking the Roman empire, 
 deformed the whole face of the world with those ill features of 
 government, which at this time are become far worse in these 
 Western parts, except Venice, which, escaping the hands of the 
 Barbarians by virtue of its impregnable situation, has had its 
 
1 6 OCEANA. 
 
 eye fixed upon ancient prudence, and is attained to a perfection 
 even beyond the copy. 
 
 Relation being had to these two times, government (to define 
 it dc jure, or according to ancient prudence) is an art whereby a 
 civil society of men is instituted and preserved upon the founda- 
 tion of common right or interest ; or, to follow Aristotle and 
 Livy, it is the empire of laws, and not of men. 
 
 And government (to define it dc facto, or according to modern 
 prudence) is an art whereby some man, or some few men, subject 
 a city or a nation, and rule it according to his or their private 
 interest ; which, because the laws in such cases are made 
 according to the interest of a man, or of some few families, n.ay 
 be said to be the empire of men, and not of laws. 
 
 The former kind is that which Machiavel (whose books tie 
 neglected) is the only politician that has gone about to retrieve ; 
 and that Leviathan (who would have his book imposed upon the 
 universities) goes about to destroy. For " it is," says he, 
 " another error of Aristotle's politics that in a well-orderei 
 commonwealth not men should govern, but the laws. What 
 man that has his natural senses, though he can neither write 
 nor read, does not find himself governed by them he fears, and 
 believes can kill or hurt him when he obeys not ? Or, who 
 believes that the law can hurt him, which is but words and 
 paper, without the hands and swords of men?" I confess that 
 the magistrate upon his bench is that to the law which a gunner 
 upon his platform is to his cannon. Nevertheless, I should not 
 dare to argue with a man of any ingenuity after this manner. 
 A whole army, though they can neither write nor read, are not 
 afraid of a platform, which they know is but earth or stone ; 
 nor of a cannon, which, without a hand to give fire to it, is but 
 cold iron ; therefore a whole army is afraid of one man. But of 
 this kind is the ratiocination of Leviathan, as I shall show in 
 divers places that come in my way, throughout his whole 
 politics, or worse ; as where he says, " Of Aristotle and of Cicero, 
 of the Greeks, and of the Romans, who lived under popular 
 States, that they derived those rights not from the principles of 
 Nature, but transcribed them into their books out of the practice 
 of their own commonwealths, as grammarians describe the rules 
 of language out of poets.'' Which is as if a man should tell 
 famous Harvey that he transcribed his circulation of the blood 
 
OCEANA. 17 
 
 not out of the principles of Nature, but out of the anatomy of 
 this or that body. 
 
 To go on therefore with his preliminary discourse, I shall 
 divide it, according to the two definitions of government relating 
 to Janotti's two times, in two parts. The first, treating of the 
 principles of government in general, and according to the 
 ancients ; the second, treating of the late governments of Oceana 
 in particular, and in that of modern prudence. 
 
 Government, according to the ancients, and their learned 
 disciple Machiavel, the only politician of later ages, is of three 
 kinds : the government of one man, or of the better sort, or of 
 the whole people ; which, by their more learned names, are 
 called monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy. These they 
 hold, through their proneness to degenerate, to be all evil. For 
 whereas they that govern should govern according to reason, if 
 they govern according to passion they do that which they 
 should not do. Wherefore, as reason and passion are two things, 
 so government by reason is one thing, and the corruption of 
 government by passion is another thing, but not always another 
 government : as a body that is alive is one thing, and a body 
 that is dead is another thing, but not always another creature, 
 though the corruption of one comes at length to be the genera- 
 tion of another. The corruption then of monarchy is called 
 tyranny ; that of aristocracy, oligarchy ; and that of democracy, 
 anarchy. But legislators, having found these three governments 
 at the best to be naught, have invented another, consisting of a 
 mixture of them all, which only is good. This is the doctrine 
 of the ancients. 
 
 But Leviathan is positive that they are all deceived, and that 
 there is no other government in" Nature than one of the three ; 
 as also that the flesh of them cannot stink, the names of their 
 corruptions being but the names of men's fancies, which will be 
 understood when we are shown which of them was Senates 
 Popuhtsque Romanus. 
 
 To go my own way, and yet to follow the ancients , the 
 principles of government are twofold : internal, or the goods of 
 the mind ; and external, or the goods of fortune. The goods of 
 the mind are natural or acquired virtues, as wisdom, prudence, 
 and courage, &c. The goods of fortune are riches. There be 
 goods also of the body, as health, beauty, strength; but these 
 
1 8 OCEANA. 
 
 are not to be brought into account upon this score, because if a 
 man or an army acquires victory or empire, it is more from 
 their discipline, arms, and courage than from their natural 
 health, beauty, or strength, in regard that a people conquered 
 may have more of natural strength, beauty and health, and yet 
 find little remedy. The principles of government then are in 
 the goods of the mind, or in the goods of fortune. To the goods 
 of the mind answers authority ; to the goods of fortune, power 
 or empire. Wherefore Leviathan, though he be right where he 
 says that "riches are power," is mistaken where he says that 
 "prudence, or the reputation of prudence, is power;" for the 
 learning or prudence of a man is no more power than the 
 learning or prudence of a book or author, which is properly 
 authority. A learned writer may have authority though he has 
 no power ; and a foolish magistrate may have power, though he 
 has otherwise no esteem or authority. The difference of these 
 two is observed by.Livy in Evander, of whom he says that he 
 governed rather by the authority of others than by his own 
 power. 
 
 To begin with riches, in regard that men are hung upon these, 
 not of choice as upon the other, but of necessity and by the 
 teeth ; forasmuch as he who wants bread is his servant that 
 will feed him, if a man thus feeds a whole people, they are 
 under his empire. 
 
 Empire is of two kinds, domestic and national, or foreign and 
 provincial. 
 
 Domestic empire is founded upon dominion. 
 
 Dominion is property, real or personal ; that is to say, in lands, 
 or in money and goods. 
 
 Lands, or the parts and parcels of a territory, are held by the 
 proprietor or proprietors, lord or lords of it, in some proportion ; 
 and such (except it be in a city that has little or no land, and 
 whose revenue is in trade) as is the proportion or balance of 
 dominion or property in land, such is the nature of the empire. 
 
 If one man be sole landlord of a territory, or overbalance the 
 people, for example, three parts in four, he is Grand Seignior ; for 
 so the Turk is called from his property, and his empire is 
 absolute monarchy. 
 
 If the few or a nobility, or a nobility with the clergy, be land- 
 lords, or overbalance the people to the like proportion, it makes 
 
OCEANA. 19 
 
 the Gothic balance (to be shown at large in the second part of 
 this discourse), and the empire is mixed monarchy, as that of 
 Spain, Poland, and late of Oceana. 
 
 And if the whole people be landlords, or hold the lands so 
 divided among them that no one man, or number of men, 
 within the compass of the few or aristocracy, overbalance them, 
 the empire (without the interposition of force) is a common- 
 wealth. 
 
 If force be interposed in any of these three cases, it must 
 either frame the government to the foundation, or the foundation 
 to the government ; or holding the government not according to 
 the balance, it is not natural, but violent ; and therefore if it be 
 at the devotion of a prince, it is tyranny ; if at the devotion of 
 the few, oligarchy ; or if in the power of the people, anarchy. 
 Each of which confusions, the balance standing otherwise, is 
 but of short continuance, because against the nature of the 
 balance, which, not destroyed, destroys that which opposes it. 
 
 But there be certain other confusions, which, being rooted in 
 the balance, are of longer continuance, and of worse conse- 
 quence ; as, first, where a nobility holds half the property, or 
 about that proportion, and the people the other half; in which 
 case, without altering the balance there is no remedy but the 
 one must eat out the ether, as the people did the nobility in 
 Athens, and the nobility the people in Rome. Secondly, when 
 a prince holds about half the dominion, and the people the 
 other half (which was the case of the Roman emperors, planted 
 partly upon their military colonies, and partly upon the senate 
 and the people), the government becomes a very shambles, both 
 of the princes and the people. Somewhat of this nature are 
 certain governments at this day. which are said to subsist by 
 confusion. In this case, to fix the balance, is to entail misery; 
 but in the three former, not to fix it, is to lose the government. 
 Wherefore it being unlawful in Turkey that any should possess 
 land but the Grand Seignior, the balance is fixed by the law, and 
 that empire firm. Nor, though the kings often sell, was the 
 throne of Oceana known to shake, until the statute of aliena- 
 tions broke the pillars, by giving way to the nobility to sell their 
 estates. While Lacedemon held to the division of land made 
 by Lycurgus, it was immovable ; but, breaking that, could stand 
 no longer. This kind of law fixing the balance in lands is called 
 
2o OCEANA. 
 
 Agrarian, and was first introduced by God himself, who' divided 
 the land of Canaan to His people by lots, and is of such virtue, 
 that wherever it has held that government has not altered, 
 except by consent ; as in that unparalleled example of the 
 people of Israel, when being in liberty they would needs choose 
 a king. But without an Agrarian law, government, whether 
 monarchical, aristocratical, or popular, has no long lease. 
 
 As for dominion, personal or in money, it may now and then 
 stir up a Melius or a Manlius, which, if the commonwealth be 
 not provided with some kind of dictatorian power, may be 
 dangerous, though it has been seldom or never successful ; 
 because to property producing empire, it is required that it 
 should have some certain root or foothold, which, except in 
 land, it cannot have, being otherwise as it were upon the 
 wing. 
 
 Nevertheless, in such cities as subsist mostly by trade, and 
 have little or no land, as Holland and Genoa, the balance of 
 treasure may be equal to that of land in the cases men- 
 tioned. 
 
 But Leviathan, though he seems to skew at antiquity, follow- 
 ing his furious master Carneades, has caught hold of the public 
 sword, to which he reduces all manner and matter of govern- 
 ment ; as, where he affirms this opinion [that any monarch 
 receives his power by covenant, that is to say, upon conditions] 
 "to proceed from the not understanding this easy truth, that 
 covenants being but words and breath, have no power to oblige, 
 contain, constrain, or protect any man, but what they have from 
 the public sword." But as he said of the law, that without this 
 sword it is but paper, so he might have thought of this sword, 
 that without a hand it is but cold iron. The hand which holds 
 this sword is the militia of a nation ; and the militia of a nation 
 is either an army in the field, or ready for the field upon 
 occasion. But an army is a beast that has a great belly, and 
 must be fed : wherefore this will come to what pastures you 
 have, and what pastures you have will come to the balance of 
 property, without which the public sword is but a name or mere 
 spitfrog. Wherefore, to set that which Leviathan says of arms 
 and of contracts a little straighter, he that can graze this beast 
 with the great belly, as the Turk does his Timariots, may well 
 deride him that imagines he received his power by covenant, or 
 
OCEANA. 21 
 
 is obliged to any such toy : it being in this case only that 
 covenants are but words and breath. But if the property of the 
 nobility, stocked with their tenants and retainers, be the pasture 
 of that beast, the ox knows his master's crib ; and rt is im- 
 possible for a king in such a constitution to reign otherwise 
 than by covenant ; or if he break it, it is words that come to 
 blows. 
 
 " But," says he, "when an assembly of men is made sovereign, 
 then no man imagines any such covenant to have part in the 
 institution." But what was that by Publicola of appeal to the 
 people, or that whereby the people had their tribunes ? '' Fie," 
 says he, " nobody is so dull as to say that the people of Rome 
 made a covenant with the Romans, to hold the sovereignty on 
 such or such conditions, which, not performed, the Romans 
 might depose the Roman people." In which there be several 
 remarkable things ; for he holds the commonwealth of Rome to 
 have consisted of one assembly, whereas it consisted of the 
 senate and the people ; that they were not upon covenant, 
 whereas every law enacted by them was a covenant between 
 them ; that the one assembly was made sovereign, whereas the 
 people, who only were sovereign, were such from the beginning i 
 as appears by the ancient style of their covenants or laws — " The 
 senate has resolved, the people have decreed ; " that a council 
 being made sovereign, cannot be made such upon conditions,- 
 whereas the Decemvirs being a council that was made sovereign, 
 was made such upon conditions ; that all conditions or cove- 
 nants making a sovereign, the sovereign being made, are void ; 
 whence it must follow that, the Decemviri being made, were 
 ever after the lawful government of Rome, and that it was 
 unlawful for the commonwealth of Rome to depose the 
 Decemvirs ; as also that Cicero, if he wrote otherwise out of his 
 commonwealth, did not write out of nature. But to come to 
 others that see more of this balance. 
 
 You have Aristotle full of it in divers places, especially where 
 he says, that " immoderate wealth, as where one man or the few 
 have greater possessions than the equality or the frame of the 
 commonwealth will bear, is an occasion of sedition, which ends 
 for the greater part in monarchy ; and that for this cause the 
 ostracism has been received in divers places, as in Argos and 
 Athens. But that it were better to prevent the growth in the 
 
22 OCEANA. 
 
 beginning, than, when it has got head, to seek the remedy of 
 such an evil." 
 
 Machiavel has missed it very narrowly and more dangerously ; 
 for, not fully perceiving that if a commonwealth be galled by the 
 gentry it is by their overbalance, he speaks of the gentry as 
 hostile to popular governments, and of popular governments as 
 hostile to the gentry ; and makes us believe that the people in 
 such are so enraged against them, that where they meet a gentle- 
 man they kill him : which can never be proved by any one 
 ■example, unless in civil war, seeing that even in Switzerland 
 the gentry are not only safe, but in honour. But the balance, as 
 I have laid it down, though unseen by Machiavel, is that which 
 interprets him, and that which he confirms by his judgment 
 in many others as well as in this place, where he concludes 
 " That he who will go about to make a commonwealth where 
 there be many gentlemen, unless he first destroys them, under- 
 takes an impossibility. And that he who goes about to introduce 
 monarchy where the condition of the people is equal, shall 
 never bring it to pass, unless he cull out such of them as are 
 the most turbulent and ambitious, and make them gentlemen or 
 noblemen, not in name but in effect ; that is, by enriching them 
 with lands, castles and treasures, that may gain them power 
 among the rest, and bring in the rest to dependence upon them- 
 selves, to the end that, they maintaining their ambition by the 
 prince, the prince may maintain his power by them." 
 
 Wherefore, as in this place I agree with Machiavel, that a 
 nobility or gentry, overbalancing a popular government, is the 
 utter bane and destruction of it ; so I shall show in another, 
 that a nobility or gentry, in a popular government, not over- 
 balancing it, is the very life and soul of it. 
 
 By what has been said, it should seem that we may lay aside 
 further disputes of the public sword, or of the right of the 
 militia ; which, be the government what it will, or let it change 
 how it can, is inseparable from the overbalance in dominion : 
 nor, if otherwise stated by the law or custom (as in the com- 
 monwealth of Rome, where the people having the sword, the 
 nobility came to have the overbalance), avails it to any other end 
 than destruction. For as a building swaying from the founda- 
 tion must fall, so it fares with the law swaying from reason j 
 and the militia from the balance of dominion. And thus much 
 
OCEANA. 23. 
 
 for the balance of national or domestic empire, which is in 
 dominion. 
 
 The balance of foreign or provincial empire is of a contrary 
 nature. A man may as well say that it is unlawful for him who 
 has made a fair and honest purchase to have tenants, as for a 
 government that has made a just progress and enlargement of 
 itself to have provinces. But how a province may be justly 
 acquired appertains to another place. In this I am to show no 
 more than how or upon what kind of balance it is to be held ; 
 in order whereto I shall first show upon what kind of balance it 
 is not to be held. It has been said, that national or independent 
 empire, of what kind soever, is to be exercised by them that 
 have the proper balance of dominion in the nation ; wherefore 
 provincial or dependent empire is not to be exercised by them 
 that have the balance of dominion in the province, because that 
 would bring the government from provincial and dependent to 
 national and independent. Absolute monarchy, as that of the 
 Turks, neither plants its people at home nor abroad, otherwise 
 than as tenants for life or at will ; wherefore its national and 
 provincial government is all one. But in governments that 
 admit the citizen or subject to dominion in lands, the richest 
 are they that share most of the power at home ; whereas the 
 richest among the provincials, though native subjects, or citizens 
 that have been transplanted, are least admitted to the govern- 
 ment abroad ; for men, like flowers or roots being transplanted,, 
 take after the soil wherein they grow. Wherefore the common- 
 wealth of Rome, by planting colonies of its citizens within the 
 bounds of Italy, took the best way of propagating itself, and. 
 naturalizing the country ; whereas if it had planted such colonies 
 without the bounds of Italy, it would have alienated the citizens, 
 and given a root to liberty abroad, that might have sprung up 
 foreign or savage, and hostile to her : wherefore it never made 
 any such dispersion of itself and its strength, till it was under 
 the yoke of the Emperors, who, disburdening themselves of the 
 people, as having less apprehension of what they could do 
 abroad than at home, took a contrary course. 
 
 The Mamalukes (which, till any man show me the contrary, I 
 shall presume to have been a commonwealth consisting of an 
 army, whereof the common soldier was the people, the com- 
 mission officer the senate, and the general the prince) were 
 
24 OCEANA. 
 
 foreigners, and by nation Circassians, that governed Egypt, 
 wherefore these never durst plant themselves upon dominion, 
 which growing naturally up into the national interest, must have 
 dissolved the foreign yoke in that province. 
 
 The like in some sort may be said of Venice, the government 
 whereof is usually mistaken ; for Venice, though it does not take 
 in the people, never excluded them. This commonwealth, the 
 orders whereof are the most democratical or popular of all 
 others, in regard of the exquisite rotation of the senate, at the 
 first institution took in the whole people ; they that now live 
 under the government witho.ut participation of it, are such as 
 have since either voluntarily chosen so to do, or were subdued 
 by arms. Wherefore the subject of Venice is governed by 
 provinces, and the balance of dominion not standing, as has 
 been said, with provincial government ; as the Mamalukes durst 
 not cast their government upon this balance in their provinces, 
 lest the national interest should have rooted out the foreign, so 
 neither dare the Venetians take in their subjects upon this 
 balance, lest the foreign interest should root out the national 
 (which is that of the three thousand now governing), and by 
 diffusing the commonwealth throughout her territories, lose the 
 advantage of her situation, by which in great part it subsists. 
 And such also is the government of the Spaniard in the Indies, 
 to which he deputes natives of his own country, not admitting 
 the Creoles to the government of those provinces, though 
 descended from Spaniards. 
 
 But if a prince or a commonwealth may hold a territory that 
 is foreign in this, it may be asked why he may not hold one 
 that is native in the like manner ? To which I answer, because 
 he can hold a foreign by a native territory, but not a native by 
 a foreign ; and as hitherto I have shown what is not the 
 provincial balance, so by this answer it may appear what it is, 
 namely, the overbalance of a native territory to a foreign ; for 
 as one country balances itself by the distribution of property 
 according to the proportion of the same, so one country over- 
 balances another by advantage of divers kinds. For example, 
 the commonwealth of Rome overbalanced her provinces by the 
 vigour of a more excellent government opposed to a crazier ; or 
 by a more exquisite militia opposed to one inferior in courage or 
 discipline. The like was that of the Mamalukes, being a hardy 
 
OCEANA. 25 
 
 people, to the Egyptians that were a soft one. And the balance 
 of situation is in this kind of wonderful effect ; seeing the king 
 of Denmark, being none of the most potent princes, is able at 
 the Sound to take toll of the greatest ; and as this king, by the 
 advantage of the land, can make the sea tributary, so Venice, 
 by the advantage of the sea, in whose arms she is impregnable, 
 can make the land to feed her Gulf. For the colonies in the 
 Indies, they are yet babes that cannot live without sucking the 
 breasts of their mother cities, but such as I mistake if when they 
 come of age they do not wean themselves ; which causes me to 
 wonder at princes that delight to be exhausted in that way. And 
 so much for the principles of power, whether national or 
 provincial, domestic or foreign ; being such as are external, and 
 founded in the goods of fortune. 
 
 I come to the principles of authority, which are internal, and 
 founded upon the goods of the mind. These the legislator that 
 can unite in his government with those of fortune, comes nearest 
 to the work of God, whose government consists of heaven and 
 earth ; which was said by Plato, though in different words, as, 
 when princes should be philosophers, or philosophers princes, 
 the world would be happy. And says Solomon : " There is an 
 evil which I have seen under the sun, which proceeds from the 
 ruler [eilimvero neque nobilem, neque ingenuum, nee libertinum 
 quidem armis praeponere, regia utilitas est]. Folly is set in great 
 dignity, and the rich [either in virtue and wisdom, in the goods 
 of the mind, or those of fortune upon that balance which gives 
 them a sense of the national interest] sit in low places. I have 
 seen servants upon horses, and princes walking as servants 
 upon the earth." Sad complaints, that the principles of power 
 and of authority, the goods of the mind and of fortune, do not 
 meet and twine in the wreath or crown of empire ! Wherefore, if 
 we have anything of piety or of prudence, let us raise ourselves 
 out of the mire of private interest to the contemplation of virtue, 
 and put a hand to the removal of " this evil from under the 
 sun ;" this evil against which no government that is not secured 
 can be good ; this evil from which the government that is secure 
 must be perfect. Solomon tells us, that the cause of it is from 
 the ruler, from those principles of power, which, balanced upon 
 earthly trash, exclude the heavenly treasures of virtue, and that 
 influence of it upon government which is authority. We have 
 
26 OCEANA. 
 
 wandered the earth to find out the balance of power; but to 
 find out that of authority we must ascend, as I said, nearer 
 heaven, or to the image of God, which is the soul of man. 
 
 The soul of man (whose life or motion is perpetual con- 
 templation or thought) is the mistress of two potent rivals, 
 the one reason, the other passion, that are in continual suit ; 
 and, according as she gives up her will to these or either of 
 them, is the felicity or misery which man partakes in this 
 mortal life. 
 
 For, as whatever was passion in the contemplation of a man, 
 being brought forth by his will into action, is vice and the 
 bondage of sin ; so whatever was reason in the contemplation 
 of a man, being brought forth by his will into action, is virtue 
 and the freedom of soul. 
 
 Again, as those actions of a man that were sin acquire to 
 himself repentance or shame, and affect others with scorn or 
 pity, so those actions of a man that are virtue acquire to him- 
 self honour, and upon others authority. 
 
 Now government is no other than the soul of a nation or city : 
 wherefore that which was reason in the debate of a common- 
 wealth being brought forth by the result, must be virtue ; and 
 forasmuch as the soul of a city or nation is the sovereign power, 
 her virtue must be law. But the government whose law is virtue, 
 and whose virtue is law, is the same whose empire is authority, 
 and whose authority is empire. 
 
 Again, if the liberty of a man consists in the empire of his 
 reason, the absence whereof would betray him to the bondage 
 of his passions, then the liberty of a commonwealth consists in 
 the empire of her laws, the absence whereof would betray her to 
 the lust of tyrants. And these I conceive to be the principles 
 upon which Aristotle and Livy (injuriously accused by Leviathan 
 for not writing out of Nature) have grounded their assertion, 
 "that a commonwealth is an empire of laws and not of men." 
 But they must not carry it so. " For," says he, " the liberty, 
 whereof there is so frequent and honourable mention in the 
 histories and philosophy of the ancient Greeks and Romans, 
 and the writings and discourses of those that from them have 
 received all their learning in the politics, is not the liberty of 
 particular men, but the liberty of the commonwealth." He 
 might as well have said that the estates of particular men in a 
 
OCEANA. 27 
 
 commonwealth are not the riches of particular men, but the 
 riches of the commonwealth ; for equality of estates causes 
 equality of power, and equality of power is the liberty, not only 
 of the commonwealth, but of every man. But sure a man 
 would never be thus irreverent with the greatest authors, and 
 positive against all antiquity, without some certain demonstration 
 of truth — and what is it ? Why, "there is written on the turrets 
 of the city of Lucca in great characters at this day the word 
 LlBERTAS ; yet no man can thence infer that a particular man 
 has more liberty or immunity from the service of the common- 
 wealth there than in Constantinople. Whether a commonwealth 
 be monarchical or popular, the freedom is the same. 1 ' The 
 mountain has brought forth, and we have a little equivocation ! 
 For to say that a Lucchese has no more liberty or immunity 
 from the laws of Lucca than a Turk has from those of 
 Constantinople ; and to say that a Lucchese has no more 
 liberty or immunity by the laws of Lucca, than a Turk has by 
 those of Constantinople, are pretty different speeches. The first 
 may be said of all governments alike ; the second scarce of any 
 two ; much less of these, seeing it is known that, whereas the 
 greatest Bashaw is a tenant, as well of his head as of his estate, 
 at the will of his lord, the meanest Lucchese that has land is a 
 freeholder of both, and not to be controlled but by the law, and 
 that framed by every private man to no other end (or they may 
 thank themselves) than to protect the liberty of every private 
 man, which by that means comes to be the liberty of the 
 commonwealth. 
 
 But seeing they that make the laws in commonwealths are 
 but men, the main question seems to be, how a commonwealth 
 comes to be an empire of laws, and not of men ? Or how the 
 debate or result of a commonwealth is so sure to be according 
 to reason ; seeing they who debate, and they who resolve, be 
 but men ? "And as often as reason is against a man, so often 
 will a man be against reason.'' 
 
 This is thought to be a shrewd saying, but will do no harm ; 
 for be it so that reason is nothing but interest, there be divers 
 interests, and so divers reasons. 
 
 As first, There is private reason, which is the interest of a 
 private man. 
 
 Secondly, There is reason of Stute, which is the interest (or 
 
28 OCEANA. 
 
 error, as was said by Solomon) of the ruler or rulers, that is to 
 say, of the prince, of the nobility, or of the people. 
 
 Thirdly, There is that reason, which is the interest of man- 
 kind, or of the whole. "Now if we see even in those natural 
 agents that want sense, that as in themselves they have a law 
 which directs them in the means whereby they tend to their 
 own perfection, so likewise that another law there, is, which 
 touches them as they are sociable parts united into one body, a 
 law which binds them each to serve to others' good, and all to 
 prefer the good of the whole, before whatsoever their own par- 
 ticular ; as when stones, or heavy things, forsake their ordinary 
 wont or centre, and fly upwards, as if they heard themselves 
 commanded to let go the good they privately wish, and to 
 relieve the present distress of Nature in common." There is a 
 common right, law of Nature, or interest of the whole, which is 
 more excellent, and so acknowledged to be by the agents them- 
 selves, than the right or interest of the parts only. " Wherefore, 
 though it may be truly said that the creatures are naturally 
 carried forth to their proper utility or profit, that ought not to 
 be taken in too general a sense ; seeing divers of them abstain 
 from their own profit, either in regard of those of the same 
 kind, or at least of their young." 
 
 Mankind then must either be less just than the creature, or 
 acknowledge also his common interest to be common right. 
 And if reason be nothing else but interest, and the interest of 
 mankind be the right interest, then the reason of mankind must 
 be right reason. Now compute well ; for if the interest of 
 popular government come the nearest to the interest of man- 
 kind, then the reason of popular government must come the 
 nearest to right reason. 
 
 But it may be said that the difficulty remains yet ; for be the 
 interest of popular government right reason, a man does not 
 look upon reason as it is right or wrong in itself, but as it makes 
 for him or against him. Wherefore, unless you can show such 
 orders of a government as, like those of God in Nature, shall 
 be able to constrain this or that creature to shake oft' that 
 inclination which is more peculiar to it, and take up that which 
 regards the common good or interest, all this is to no more 
 end than to persuade every man in a popular government not 
 to carve himself of that which he desires most, but to be 
 
OCEANA. 29 
 
 mannerly at the public table, and give the best from himself to 
 decency and the common interest. But that such orders may 
 be established as may, nay must, give the upper hand in all 
 cases to common right or interest, notwithstanding the nearness 
 of that which sticks to every man in private, and this in a way 
 of equal certainty and facility, is known even to girls, being no 
 other than those that are of common practice with them in 
 divers cases. For example, two of them have a cake yet 
 undivided, which was given between them : that each of them 
 therefore might have that which is due, " divide," says one to the 
 other, "and I will choose; or let me divide, and you shall 
 choose." If this be but once agreed upon, it is enough ; for the 
 divident, dividing unequally, loses, in regard that the other 
 takes the better half; wherefore she divides equally, and so 
 both have right. '" Q the depth of the wisdom of God ! " and yet 
 " by the mouths of babes and sucklings has He set forth His 
 strength ; " that which great philosophers are disputing upon 
 in vain, is brought to light by two harmless girls, even the 
 whole mystery of a commonwealth, which lies only in dividing 
 and choosing. Nor has God (if His works in Nature be under- 
 stood) left so much to mankind to dispute upon as who shall 
 divide and who choose, but distributed them for ever into two 
 orders, whereof the one has the natural right of dividing, and the 
 other of choosing. For example : 
 
 A commonwealth is but a civil society of men : let us take any 
 number of men (as twenty) and immediately make a common- 
 wealth. Twenty men (if they be not all idiots, perhaps if they be) 
 can never come so together but there will be such a difference 
 in them, that about a third will be wiser, or at least less foolish 
 than all the rest; these upon acquaintance, though it be but 
 small, will be discovered, and, as stags that have the largest 
 heads, lead the herd ; for while the six, discoursing and arguing 
 one with another, show the eminence of their parts, the fourteen 
 discover things that they never thought on ; or are cleared in 
 divers truths which had formerly perplexed them. Wherefore, 
 in matter of common concernment, difficulty, or danger, they 
 hang upon their lips, as children upon their fathers ; and the 
 influence thus acquired by the six, the eminence of whose parts 
 are found to be a stay and comfort to the fourteen, is the 
 authority of the fathers. \\ herefore this can be no other than a 
 
3 o OCEANA. 
 
 natural aristocracy diffused by God throughout the whole body 
 of mankind to this end and purpose ; and therefore such as the 
 people have not only a natural but a positive obligation to 
 make use of as their guides ; as where the people of Israel are 
 commanded to " take wise men, and understanding, and known 
 among their tribes, to be made rulers over them." The six then 
 approved of, as in the present case, are the senate, not by 
 hereditary right, or in regard of the greatness of their estates 
 only, which would tend to such power as might force or draw 
 the people, but by election for their excellent parts, which tends 
 to the advancement of the influence of their virtue or authority 
 that leads the people. Wherefore the office of the senate is not 
 to be commanders, but counsellors of the people ; and that 
 which is proper to counsellors is first to debate, and afterward 
 to give advice in the business whereupon, they have debated, 
 whence the degrees of the senate are never laws, nor so called ; 
 and these being maturely framed, it is their duty to propose in 
 the case to the people. Wherefore the senate is no more than 
 the debate of the commonwealth. But to debate, is to discern 
 or put a difference between things that, being alike, are not the 
 same ; or it is separating and weighing this reason against that, 
 and that reason against this, which is dividing. 
 
 The senate then having divided, who shall choose ? Ask the 
 girls : for if she that divided must have chosen also, it had been 
 little worse for the other in case she had not divided at all, but kept 
 the whole cake to herself, in regard that being to choose too she 
 divided accordingly. Wherefore if the senate have any farther 
 power than to divide, the commonwealth can never be" equal. 
 But in a commonwealth consisting of a single council, there is 
 no other to choose than that which divided ; whence it is, that 
 such a council fails not to scramble — that is, to be factious, there 
 being no other dividing of the cake in that case but among 
 themselves. 
 
 Nor is there any remedy but to have another council to choose. 
 The wisdom of the few may be the light of mankind; but the 
 interest of the few is not the profit of mankind, nor of a common- 
 wealth. Wherefore, seeing we have granted interest to be reason, 
 they must not choose lest it put out their light. But as the 
 council dividing consists .of the wisdom of the commonwealth, so 
 the assembly or council choosinsc should consist of the interest 
 
OCEANA. 3 i 
 
 of the commonwealth : as the wisdom of the commonwealth is 
 in the aristocracy, so the interest of the commonwealth is in the 
 whole body of the people. And whereas this, in case the 
 commonwealth consist of a whole nation, is too unwieldy a body 
 to be assembled, this council is to consist of such a representa- 
 tive as may be equal, and so constituted, as can never contract 
 any other interest than that of the whole people ; the maimer 
 whereof, being such as is best shown by exemplification, I remit 
 to the model. But in the present case, the six dividing, and the 
 fourteen choosing, must of necessity take in the whole interest of 
 the twenty. 
 
 Dividing and choosing in the language of a commonwealth is 
 debating and resolving; and whatsoever, upon debate of the 
 senate, is proposed to the people, and resolved by them, is enacted 
 by the authority of the fathers, and by the power of the people, 
 which concurring, make a law. 
 
 But the law being made, says Leviathan, " is but words and 
 paper without the hands and swords of men ;" wherefore as 
 these two orders of a commonwealth, namely, the senate and the 
 people, are legislative, so of necessity there must be a third to be 
 executive of the laws made, and this is the magistracy ; in which 
 order, with the rest being wrought up by art, the commonwealth 
 consists of "the senate proposing, the people resolving, and the 
 magistracy executing;" whereby partaking of the aristocracy as in 
 the senate, of the democracy as in the people, and of monarchy as 
 in the magistracy, it is complete. Now there being no other com- 
 monwealth but this in art or Nature, it is no wonder if Machiavel 
 has shown us that the ancients held this only to be good ; but it 
 seems strange to me that they should hold that there could be 
 any other : for if there be such a thing as pure monarchy, yet 
 that there should be such a one as pure aristocracy, or pure 
 democracy, is not in my understanding. But the magistracy, both 
 in number and function, is different in different commonwealths. 
 Nevertheless there is one condition of it that must be the same 
 in every one, or it dissolves the commonwealth where it is 
 wanting. And this is no less than that, as the hand of the 
 magistrate is the executive power of the law, so the head of the 
 magistrate is answerable to the people, that his execution be 
 according to the law ; by which Leviathan may see that the hand 
 or sword that executes the law is in it and not above it. 
 
32 OCEANA. 
 
 Now whether I have rightly transcribed these principles of a 
 commonwealth out of Nature, I shall appeal to God and to the 
 world. To God in the fabric of the commonwealth of Israel, 
 and to the world in the universal series of ancient prudence. 
 But in regard the same commonwealths will be opened at large 
 in the Council of Legislators, I shall touch them for the present 
 but slightly, beginning with that of Israel. 
 
 The commonwealth of Israel consisted of the senate, the 
 people, and the magistracy. 
 
 The people by their first division, which was genealogical, 
 were contained under their thirteen tribes, houses, or families ; 
 whereof the firstborn in each was prince of his tribe, and had the 
 leading of it : the tribe of Levi only being set apart to serve at 
 the altar, had no other prince but the high-priest. In their 
 second division they were divided locally by their Agrarian, or 
 the distribution of the land of Canaan to them by lot, the tithe of 
 all remaining to Levi ; whence, according to their local division, 
 ihe tribes are reckoned but twelve. 
 
 The assemblies of the people thus divided were methodically 
 gathered by trumpets to the congegation ; which was, it should 
 seem, of two sorts. P'or if it were called with one trumpet only, 
 the princes of the tribes and the elders only assembled ; but if it 
 were called with two, the whole people gathered themselves to 
 the congregation, for so it is rendered by the English; but in the 
 Greek it is called E-cclesia, or the Church of God, and by the 
 Talmudist, the great Synagogue. The word Ecclesia was also 
 anciently and properly used for the civil congregations, or 
 assemblies of the people in Athens, Lacedemon, and Ephesus, 
 where it is so called in Scripture, though it be otherwise rendered 
 by the translators, not much as I conceive to their commenda- 
 tion, seeing by that means -they have lost us a good lesson, the 
 Apostles borrowing that name for their spiritual congregations, 
 to the end that we might see they intended the government. of 
 the church to be democratical or popular, as is also plain in the 
 rest of their constitutions. 
 
 The church or congregation of the people of Israel assembled 
 in a military manner, and had the result of the commonwealth, 
 or the power of confirming all their laws, though proposed even 
 by God himself; as where they make Him king, and where 
 they reject or depose Him as civil magistrate and elect Saul. It 
 
OCEANA. 33 
 
 is manifest, that He gives no such example to a legislator in a 
 popular government as to deny or evade the power of the people, 
 which were a contradiction ; but though He deservedly blames 
 the ingratitude of the people in that action, He commands 
 Samuel, being next under himself supreme magistrate, " to 
 hearken to their voice" (for where the suffrage of the people goes 
 for nothing, it is no commonwealth), and comforts him, saying, 
 " They have not rejected thee, but they have rejected Me that I 
 should not reign over them." But to reject Him that He should 
 not reign over them, was as civil magistrate to depose Him. 
 The power therefore which the people had to depose even God 
 himself as He was civil magistrate, leaves little doubt but that 
 they had power to have rejected any of those laws confirmed by 
 them throughout the Scripture, which, to omit the several parcels, 
 are generally contained under two heads : those that were made 
 by covenant with the people in the land of Moab, and those which 
 were made by covenant with the people in Horeb ; which two, 
 I think, amount to the whole body of the Israelitish laws. But 
 if all and every one of the laws of Israel being proposed by God, 
 were no otherwise enacted than by. covenant with the people, 
 then that only which was resolved by the people of Israel was 
 their law ; and so the result of that commonwealth was in the 
 people. Nor had the people the result only in matter of law, 
 but the power in some cases of judicature ; as also the right of 
 levying war, cognizance in matter of religion, and the election 
 of their magistrates, as the judge or dictator, the king, the prince : 
 which functions were exercised by the Synagoga magna, or 
 congregation of Israel, not always in one manner, for sometimes 
 they were performed by the suffrage of the people, viva voce, 
 sometimes by the lot only, and at others by the ballot, or by a 
 mixture of the lot with the suffrage, as in the case of Eldad and 
 Medad, which I shall open with the senate. 
 
 The senate of Israel, called in the Old Testament the seventy 
 elders, and in the New the Sanhedrim (which word is usually 
 translated the council), was appointed by God, and consisted of 
 seventy elders besides Moses, which were at first elected by the 
 people, but in what manner is rather intimated than shown. 
 Nevertheless, because I cannot otherwise understand the pas- 
 sage concerning Eldad and Medad, of whom it is said "that 
 they were of them that were written, but went not up to the 
 
 B 
 
34 OCEANA. 
 
 tabernacle,'' then with the Talmudists I conceive that Eldad and 
 Medad had the suffrage of the tribes, and so were written as 
 competitors for magistracy ; but coming afterwards to the lot, 
 failed of it, and therefore went not up to the tabernacle, or place 
 of confirmation by God, or to the session-house of the senate, with 
 the seventy upon whom the lot fell to be senators ; for the session- 
 'house of the Sanhedrim was first in the court of the tabernacle* 
 and afterwards in that of the Temple, where it came to be called 
 the stone chamber or pavement. If this were the ballot of 
 Israel, that of Venice is the same transposed ; for in Venice the 
 competitor is chosen as it were by the lot, in regard that the 
 electors are so made, and the magistrate is chosen by the 
 " suffrage of the great council or assembly of the people." But 
 the Sanhedrim of Israel being thus constituted, Moses, for his 
 time, and after him his successor, sat in the midst of it as prince or 
 archon, and at his left hand the orator or father of the senate;^ 
 the rest, or the bench, coming round with either horn like a 
 crescent, had a scribe attending upon the tip of it. 
 
 This senate, in regard the legislator of Israel was infallible, 
 and the laws given by God such as were not fit to be altered by 
 men, is much different in the exercise of their power from all 
 other senates, except that of the Areopagists in Athens, which 
 also was little more than a supreme judicatory ; for it will 
 hardly, as I conceive, be found that the Sanhedrim proposed to 
 the people till the return of the children of Israel out of captivity 
 under Esdras,at which time there was a new law made — namely, 
 for a kind of excommunication, or rather banishment, which 
 had never been before in Israel. Nevertheless it is not to be 
 thought that the Sanhedrim had not always that right, which 
 from the time of Esdras is more frequently exercised, of pro- 
 posing to the people, but that they forebore it in regard of the 
 fulness and infallibility of the law already made, whereby it was 
 needless. Wherefore the function of this council, which is very 
 rare in a senate, was executive, and consisted in the administra- 
 tion of the law made ; and whereas the council itself is often 
 understood in Scripture by the priest and the Levite, there is no 
 more in that save only that the priests and the Levites, who 
 otherwise had no power at all, being in the younger years of this 
 commonwealth, those that were best studied in the laws were 
 the most frequently elected into the Sanhedrim. For the courts, 
 
OCEANA. 35 
 
 consisting of three-ahd-twenty elders sitting in the gates of 
 every city, and the triumvirates of judges constituted almost in 
 every village, which were parts of the executive magistracy 
 subordinate to the Sanhedrim, I shall take them at better 
 leisure, and in the larger discourse ; but these being that part of 
 this commo'nwealth which was instituted by Moses upon the 
 advice of Jethro the priest of Midian (as I conceive a heathen), 
 are to me a sufficient warrant even from God himself who 
 confirmed them, to make further use of human prudence, 
 wherever I find it bearing a testimony to itself, whether in 
 heathen commonwealths or others ; and the rather, because so 
 it is, that we who have the holy Scriptures, and in them the 
 original of a commonwealth, made by the same hand that made 
 the world, are either altogether blind or negligent of it; while 
 the heathens have all written theirs, as if they had had no 
 other copy ; as, to be more brief in the present account of that 
 which you shall have more at large hereafter : 
 
 Athens consisted of the senate of the Bean proposing, of the 
 church or assembly of the people resolving, and too often 
 debating, which was the ruin of it ; as also of the senate of the 
 Areopagists, the nine archons, with divers other magistrate?, 
 executing. 
 
 Lacedemon consisted of the senate proposing, of the church 
 or congregation of the people resolving only, and never debating, 
 which was the long life of it ; and of the two kings, the court of 
 the ephors, with divers other magistrates, executing. 
 
 Carthage consisted of the senate proposing and sometimes 
 resolving too, of the people resolving and sometimes debating 
 too, for which fault she was reprehended by Aristotle ; and she- 
 had her suffetes, and her hundred men, with other magistrates, 
 executing. 
 
 Rome consisted of the senate proposing, the concio or people 
 resolving, and too often debating, which caused her storms; as 
 also of the consuls, censors, aediles, tribunes, praetors, quaestors 
 and other magistrates, executing. 
 
 A'enice consists of the senate or pregati proposing, and some- 
 times resolving too, of the great council or assembly of the 
 people, in whom the result is constitutively; as also of the doge, 
 the signory, the censors, the died, the quazancies, and other 
 magistrates, executing. 
 
36 OCEANA. 
 
 The proceeding of the commonwealths of Switzerland and 
 Holland is of alike nature, though after a more obscure manner; 
 for the sovereignties, whether cantons, provinces, or cities, 
 which are the "people, send their deputies, commissioned and 
 instructed by themselves (wherein they reserve the result in 
 their own power), to the provincial or general convention, or 
 senate, where the deputies debate, but have no other power of 
 result than what was conferred upon them by the people, or is 
 further conferred by the same upon further occasion. And for 
 the executive part they have magistrates or judges in every 
 canton, province or city, besides those which are more public, 
 and relate to the league, as for adjusting controversies between 
 one canton, province or city, and another, or the like between 
 such persons as are not'of the same canton, province or city. 
 
 But that we may observe a little further how the heathen 
 politicians have written, not only out of Nature, but as it were 
 out of Scripture : as in the commonwealth of Israel, God is said 
 to have been king, so the commonwealth where the law is king, 
 is said by Aristotle to be " the kingdom of God." And where by 
 the lusts or passions of men a power is set above that of the law 
 deriving from reason, which is the dictate of God, God in that 
 sense is rejected or deposed that He should not reign over them, 
 as He was in Israel. And yet Leviathan will have it, that "by 
 reading of these Greek and Latin (he might as well in this 
 sense have said Hebrew) authors, young men, and all others 
 that are unprovided of the antidote of solid reason, receiving a 
 strong and delightful impression of the great exploits of war 
 achieved by the conductors of their armies, receive withal a 
 pleasing idea of all they have done besides, and imagine their 
 great prosperity not to have proceeded from the emulation of 
 particular men, but from the virtue of their popular form of 
 government, not considering the frequent seditions and civil 
 wars produced by the imperfection of their polity." Where, 
 first, the blame he lays to the heathen authors, is in his sense 
 laid to the Scripture ; and whereas he holds them to be young 
 men, or men of no antidote that are of like opinions, it should 
 seem that Machiavel, the sole retriever of this ancient prudence, 
 is to his solid reason a beardless boy that has newly read Livy. 
 And how solid his reason is, may appear where he grants the 
 great prosperity of ancient commonwealths, which is to give up 
 
OCEANA. 37 
 
 the controversy. For such an effect must have some adequate 
 cause, which to evade he insinuates that it was nothing else 
 but the emulation of particular men, as if so great an emula- 
 tion could have been generated without as great virtue, so great 
 virtue without the best education, and best education without 
 the best law, or the best laws any otherwise than by the excel- 
 lency of their polity. 
 
 But if some of these commonwealths, as being less perfect in 
 their polity than others, have been more seditious, it is not more 
 an argument of the infirmity of this or that commonwealth in 
 particular, than of the excellency of that kind of polity in 
 general, which if they, that have not altogether reached, have 
 nevertheless had greater prosperity, what would befall them that 
 should reach ? 
 
 In answer to which question let me invite Leviathan, who of 
 all other .governments gives the advantage to monarchy for per- 
 fection, to a better disquisition of it by these three assertions. 
 
 The first, That the perfection of government lies upon such a 
 libration in the frame of it, that no man or men in or under it 
 can have the interest, or having the interest, can have the 
 power to disturb it with sedition. 
 
 The second, That monarchy, reaching the perfection of the 
 kind, reaches not to the perfection of government, but must have 
 some dangerous flaw in it. 
 
 The third, That popular government, reaching the perfection 
 of the kind, reaches the perfection of government, and has no 
 flaw in it. 
 
 The first assertion requires no proof. 
 
 For the proof of the second, monarchy, as has been shown, is 
 of two kinds : the one by arms, the other by a nobility, and there 
 is no other kind in art or Nature ; for if there have been 
 anciently some governments called kingdoms, as one of the 
 Goths in Spain, and another of the Vandals in Africa, where the 
 king ruled without a nobility, and by a council of the people 
 only, it is expressly said by the authors that mention them that 
 the kings were but the captains, and that the people not only 
 gave them laws, but deposed them as often as they pleased. 
 Nor is it possible in reason that it. should be otherwise in like 
 cases ; wherefore these were either no monarchies, or had 
 greater flaws in them than any other. 
 
38 OCEANA. 
 
 But for a monarchy by arms, as that of the Turk (which, ot 
 all models that ever were, comes up to the perfection of the 
 kind), it is not in the wit or power of man to cure it of this 
 dangerous flaw, that the Janizaries have frequent interest and 
 perpetual power to raise sedition, and to tear the magistrate, 
 even the prince himself, in pieces. Therefore the monarchy of 
 Turkey is no perfect government. 
 
 And for a monarchy by nobility, as of late in Oceana (which 
 of all other models before the declination of it came up to the 
 perfection in that kind), it was not in the power or wit of man to 
 cure it of that dangerous flaw ; that the nobility had frequent 
 interest and perpetual power by their retainers and tenants to 
 raise sedition ; and (whereas the Janizaries occasion this kind 
 of calamity no sooner than they make an end of it) to levy a 
 lasting war, to the vast effusion of blood, and that even upon 
 occasions wherein the people, but for their dependence upon 
 their lords, had no concernment, as in the feud of the Red and 
 White. The like has been frequent in Spain, France, Germany, 
 and other monarchies of this kind ; wherefore monarchy by a 
 nobility is no perfect government. 
 
 For the proof of the third assertion : Leviathan yields it to 
 me, that there is no other commonwealth but monarchical or 
 popular ; wherefore if no monarchy be a perfect government, 
 then either there is no perfect government, or it must be popular, 
 for which kind of constitution I have something more to say 
 than Leviathan has said or ever will be able to say for 
 monarchy. As, 
 
 First, That it is the government that was never conquered by 
 any monarch, from the beginning of the world to this day ; for 
 if the commonwealths of Greece came under the yoke of the 
 kings of Macedon, they were first broken by themselves. 
 
 Secondly, That it is the government that has frequently led 
 mighty monarchs in triumph. 
 
 Thirdly, That it is the government, which, if it has been 
 seditious, it has not been so from any imperfection in the kind, 
 but in the particular constitution ; which, wherever the like has 
 happened, must have been unequal. 
 
 Fourthly, That it is the government, which, if it has been 
 anything near equal, was never seditious ; or let him show me 
 what sedition has happened in Lacedemon or Venice. 
 
OCEANA 39 
 
 Fifthly, That it is the government, which, attaining io perfect 
 equality, has such a libration in the frame of it, that no man 
 Jiving can show which way any man or men, in or under it, can 
 contract any such interest or power as should be able to disturb 
 the commonwealth with sedition, wherefore an equal common- 
 wealth is that only which is without flaw, and contains in it the 
 full perfection of government. But to return. 
 
 By what has been shown in reason and experience, it may 
 appear, that though commonwealths in general be governments 
 of the senate proposing, the people resolving, and the magistracy 
 executing, yet some are not so good at these orders as others, 
 through some impediment or defect in the frame, balance, or 
 capacity of them, according to which they are of divers kinds. 
 
 The first division of them is into such as are single, as Israel, 
 Athens, Lacedemon, &c. ; and such as are by leagues, as those 
 of the Acheans, Etolians, Lycians, Switz, and Hollanders. 
 
 The second (being Machiavel's) is into such as are for pre- 
 servation, as Lacedemon and Venice, and such as are for 
 increase, as Athens and Rome ; in which I can see no more 
 than that the former takes in no more citizens than are 
 necessary for defence, and the latter so many as are capable of 
 increase. 
 
 The third division (unseen hitherto) is into equal and unequal, 
 and this is the main point, especially as to domestic peace and 
 tranquillity ; for to make a commonwealth unequal, is to divide 
 it into parties, which sets them at perpetual variance, the one 
 party endeavouring to preserve their eminence and inequality, 
 and the other to attain to equality ; whence the people of 
 Rome derived their perpetual strife with the nobility and senate. 
 But in an equal commonwealth there can be no more strife than 
 there can be overbalance in equal weights ; wherefore the com- 
 monwealth of Venice, being that which of all others is the 
 most equal in the constitution, is that wherein there never 
 happened any strife between the senate and the people. 
 
 An equal commonwealth is such a one as is equal both in the 
 balance or foundation, and in the superstructure ; that is to say, 
 in her Agrarian law, and in her rotation. 
 
 An equal Agrarian is a perpetual law, establishing and pre- 
 serving the balance of dominion by such a distribution, that no 
 one man or number of men, within the compass of the few or 
 
40 OCEANA. 
 
 aristocracy, can come to overpower the whole people by their 
 possessions in lands. 
 
 As the Agrarian answers to the foundation, so dees rotation 
 to the superstructures. 
 
 Equal rotation is equal vicissitude in government, or succes- 
 sion to magistracy conferred for such convenient terms, enjoying 
 equal vacations, as take in the whole body by parts, succeeding 
 others, through the free election or suffrage of the people. 
 
 The contrary, whereunto is prolongation of magistracy, which, 
 trashing the wheel of rotation, destroys the life or natural 
 motion of a commonwealth. 
 
 The election or suffrage of the people is most free, where it is 
 made or given in such a manner that it can neither oblige nor 
 disoblige another, nor through fear of an enemy, or bashfulness 
 towards a friend, impair a man's liberty. 
 
 Wherefore, says Cicero, the tablet or ballot of the people of 
 Rome (who gave their votes by throwing tablets or little pieces 
 of wood secretly into urns marked for the negative or affirma- 
 tive) was a welcome constitution to the people, as that which, 
 not impairing the assurance of their brows, increased the free- 
 dom of their judgment. I have not stood upon a more particu- 
 lar description of this ballot, because that of Venice exemplified 
 in the model is of all others the most perfect. 
 
 An equal commonwealth (by that which has been said) is a 
 government established upon an equal Agrarian, arising into 
 the superstructures or three orders, the senate debating and 
 proposing, the people resolving, and the magistracy executing, 
 by an equal rotation through the suffrage of the people given by 
 the ballot. For though rotation may be without the ballot, and 
 the ballot without rotation, yet the ballot not only as to the 
 ensuing model includes both, but is by far the most equal way ; 
 for which cause under the name of the ballot I shall hereafter 
 understand both that and rotation too. 
 
 Now having reasoned the principles of an equal common- 
 wealth, I should come to give an instance of such a one in 
 experience, if I could find it ; but if this work be of any value, 
 it lies in that it is the first example of a commonwealth that is 
 perfectly equal. For Venice, though it comes the nearest, yet is 
 a commonwealth for preservation ; and such a one, considering 
 the paucity of citizens taken in, and the number not taken in, is 
 
OCEANA. 41 
 
 externally unequal ; and though every commonwealth that holds 
 provinces must in that regard be such, yet not to that degree. 
 Nevertheless, Venice internally, and for her capacity, is by far the 
 most equal, though it has not, in my judgment, arrived at the 
 full perfection of equality; both because her laws supplying the 
 defect of an Agrarian, are not so clear nor effectual at the founda- 
 tion, nor her superstructures, by the virtue of her ballot or rotation, 
 exactly librated ; in regard that through the paucity of her citizens 
 her greater magistracies are continually wheeled through a few 
 hands, as is confessed by Janotti, where he says, that if a 
 gentleman comes once to be Savio di terra ferma, it seldom 
 happens that he fails from thenceforward to be adorned with 
 some one of the greater magistracies, as Savi di mare, Savi di 
 terra ferma, Savi Grandi, counsellors, those of the decemvirate 
 or dictatorial! council, the aarogatori, or censors, which require 
 no vacation or interval. Wherefore if this in Venice, or that in 
 Lacedemon, where the kings were hereditary, and the senators 
 (though elected by the people) for life, cause no inequality (which 
 is hard to be conceived) in a commonwealth for preservation, or 
 such a one as consists of a few citizens ; yet is it manifest that it 
 would cause a very great one in a commonwealth for increase, 
 or consisting of the many, which, by engrossing the magistracies 
 in a few hands, would be obstructed in their rotation. 
 
 But there be who say (and think it a strong objection) that, let 
 a commonwealth be as equal as you can imagine, two or three 
 men when all is done will govern it; and there is that in it 
 which, notwithstanding the pretended sufficiency of a popular 
 State, amounts to a plain confession of the imbecility of that 
 policy, and of the prerogative of monarchy ; forasmuch as 
 popular governments in difficult cases have had recourse to 
 dictatorian power, as in Rome. 
 
 To which I answer, that as truth is a spark to which objec- 
 tions are like bellows, so in this respect our commonwealth 
 shines ; for the eminence acquired by suffrage of the people 
 in a commonwealth, especially if it be popular and equal, can Lc 
 ascended by no other steps than the universal acknowledgment 
 of virtue : and where men excel in virtue, the commonwealth is 
 stupid and unjust, if accordingly they do not excel in authority. 
 Wherefore this is both the advantage of virtue, which has her 
 due encouragement, and of the commonwealth, which has her due 
 
42 OCEANA. 
 
 services. These are the philosophers which Plato would have 
 to be princes, the princes which Solomon would have to be 
 mounted, and their steeds are those of authority, not empire ; 
 or, if they be buckled to the chariot of empire, as that of the 
 dictatorian power, like the chariot of the sun, it is glorious for 
 terms and vacations or intervals. And as a commonwealth is a 
 government of laws and not of men, so is this the principality of 
 virtue, and not of man ; if that fail or set in one, it rises in 
 another who is created his immediate successor. And this 
 takes away that vanity from under the sun, which is an error 
 proceeding more or less from all other rulers under heaven but 
 an equal commonwealth. 
 
 These things considered, it will be convenient in this place to 
 speak a word to such as go about to insinuate to the nobility or 
 gentry a fear of the people, or to the people a fear of the 
 nobility or gentry, as if their interests were destructive to each 
 other ; when indeed an army may as well consist of soldiers 
 without officers, or of officers without soldiers, as a common- 
 wealth, especially such a one as is capable of greatness, of a 
 people without a gentry, or of a gentry without a people. 
 Wherefore this, though not always so intended, as may appear 
 by Machiavel, who else would be guilty, is a pernicious error. 
 There is something first in the making of a commonwealth, then 
 in the governing of it, and last of all in the leading of its armies, 
 which, though there be great divines, great lawyers, great men in 
 all professions, seems to be peculiar only to the genius of a 
 gentleman. For so it is in the universal series of story, that if 
 any man has founded a commonwealth, he was first a gentleman. 
 Moses had his education by the daughter of Pharaoh ; Theseus 
 and Solon, of noble birth, were held by the Athenians worthy to 
 be kings ; Lycurgus was of the royal blood ; Romulus and 
 Numa princes ; Brutus and Publicola patricians ; the Gracchi, 
 that lost their lives for the people of Rome and the restitution 
 of that commonwealth, were the sons of a father adorned with 
 two triumphs ; and of Cornelia the daughter of Scipio, who 
 being demanded in marriage by King Ptolemy, disdained to 
 become the Queen of Egypt. And the most renowned Olphaus 
 Megaletor, sole legislator, as you will see anon, of the common- 
 wealth of Oceana, was derived from a noble family; nor will it 
 be any occasion of scruple in this case, that Leviathan affirms 
 
OCEANA. 43 
 
 the politics to be no ancienter than his book " De Cive.' 5 Such 
 also as have got any fame in the civil government of a 
 commonwealth, or by the leading of its armies, have been 
 gentlemen; for so in all other respects were those plebeian 
 magistrates elected by the people of Rome, being of known 
 descents and of equal virtues, except only that they were 
 excluded from the name by the usurpation of the patricians. 
 Holland, through this defect at home, has borrowed princes for 
 generals, and gentlemen of divers nations for commanders : 
 and the Switzers, if they have any defect in this kind, rather 
 lend their people to the colours of other princes, than make that 
 noble use of them at home which should assert the liberty 
 of mankind. For where there is not a nobility to hearten the 
 people, they are slothful, regardless of the world, and of the 
 public interest of liberty, as even those of Rome had been with- 
 out their gentry : wherefore let the people embrace the gentry 
 in peace, as the light of their eyes; and in war, as the trophy 
 of their arms ; and if Cornelia disdained to be Queen of Egypt, 
 if a Roman consul looked down from his tribunal upon the 
 greatest king, let the nobility love and cherish the people that 
 afford them a throne so much higher in a commonwealth, in the 
 acknowledgment of their virtue, than the crowns of monarchs. 
 
 But if the equality of a commonwealth consist in the equality 
 first of the Agrarian, and next of the rotation, then the inequality 
 of a commonwealth must consist in the absence or inequality of 
 the Agrarian, or of the rotation, or of both. 
 
 Israel and Lacedemon, which commonwealths (as the people 
 of this, in Josephus, claims kindred of that) have great resem- 
 blance, were each of them equal in their Agrarian, and unequal 
 in their rotation, especially Israel, where the .Sanhedrim or 
 senate, first elected by the people, as appears by the words of 
 Moses, took upon them ever after, without any precept of God, to 
 substitute their successors by ordination ; which having been 
 there of civil use, as excommunication, community of goods, and 
 other customs of the Essenes, who were many of them converted, 
 came afterward to be introduced into the Christian church. 
 And the election of the judge, suffes, or dictator, was irregular, 
 both for the occasion, the term, and the vacation of that 
 magistracy ; as you find in the book of Judges, where it is often 
 repeated, that in those days there was no king in Israel — that 
 
44 OCEANA. 
 
 is, no judge ; and in the first of Samuel, where Eli judged Israel 
 forty years, and Samuel, all his life. In Lacedemon the election 
 of the senate being by suffrage of the people, though for life, was 
 not altogether so unequal, yet the hereditary right of kings, were 
 it not for the Agrarian, had ruined her. 
 
 Athens and Rome were unequal as to their Agrarian, that of 
 Athens being infirm, and this of Rome none at all ; for if it 
 were more anciently carried it was never observed. Whence, 
 by the time of Tiberius Gracchus, the nobility had almost eaten 
 the people quite out of their lands, which they held in the 
 occupation of tenants and servants, whereupon the remedy 
 being too late, and too vehemently applied, that commonwealth 
 was ruined. 
 
 These also were unequal in their rotation, but in a contrary 
 manner. Athens, in regard that the senate (chosen at once by 
 lot, not by suffrage, and changed every year, not in part, but in 
 the whole) consisted not of the natural aristocracy, nor sitting 
 long enough to understand or to be perfect in their office, had 
 no sufficient authority to restrain the people from that per- 
 petual turbulence in the end, which was their ruin, notwith- 
 standing the efforts of Nicias, who did all a man could do to 
 help it. But as Athens, by the headiness of the people, so Rome 
 fell by the ambition of the nobility, through the want of an 
 equal rotation ; which, if the people had got into the senate, and 
 timely into the magistracies (whereof the former was always 
 usurped by the patricians, and the latter for the most part) they 
 had both carried and held their Agrarian, and that had 
 rendered that commonwealth immovable. 
 
 But let a commonwealth be equal or unequal, it must consist, 
 as has been shown by reason and all experience, of the three 
 general orders ; that is to say, of the senate debating and pro- 
 posing, of the people resolving, and of the magistracy executing. 
 Wherefore I can never wonder enough at Leviathan, who, 
 without any reason or example, will have it that a common- 
 wealth consists of a single person, or of a single assembly ; nor 
 can I sufficiently pity those "thousand gentlemen, whose minds, 
 which otherwise would have wavered, he has framed [as is 
 affirmed by himselfj into a conscientious obedience [for so he 
 is pleased to call it] of such a government." 
 
 But to finish this part of the discourse, which I intend for as 
 
OCEANA. 45 
 
 complete an epitome of ancient prudence, and in that of the 
 whole art of politics, as I am able to frame in so short a time : 
 
 The two first orders, that is to say, the senate and the people, 
 are legislative, whereunto answers that part of this science 
 which by politicians is entitled " of laws ; " and the third order is 
 executive, to which answers that part of the same science which 
 is styled " of the frame and course of courts or judicatories." 
 A word to each of these will be necessary. 
 
 And first for laws : they are either ecclesiastical or civil, such 
 as concern religion or government. 
 
 Laws, ecclesiastical, or such as concern religion, according to 
 the universal course of ancient prudence, are in the power 
 of the magistrate ; but, according to the common practice of 
 modern prudence, since the Papacy, torn out of his hands. 
 
 But, as a government pretending to liberty, and yet sup- 
 pressing liberty of conscience (which, because religion not ac- 
 cording to a man's conscience can to him be none at all, is the 
 main), must be a contradiction, so a man that, pleading for the 
 liberty of private conscience, refuses liberty to the national con- 
 science, must be absurd. 
 
 A commonwealth is nothing else but the national conscience. 
 And if the conviction of a man's private conscience produces 
 his private religion, the conviction of the national conscience 
 must produce a national religion. Whether this be well 
 reasoned, as also whether these two may stand together, will 
 best be shown by the examples of the ancient commonwealths 
 taken in their order. 
 
 In that of Israel the government of the national religion 
 appertained not to the Priests and Levites, otherwise than as 
 they happened to be of the Sanhedrim or senate, to which they 
 had no right at all but by election. It is in this capacity therefore 
 that the people are commanded, under pain of death, " to hearken 
 to them, and to do according to the sentence of the law which 
 they should teach ; " but in Israel the law ecclesiastical and civil 
 was the same, therefore the Sanhedrim, having the power of one, 
 had the power of both. But as the national religion appertained 
 to the jurisdiction of the Sanhedrim, so the liberty of conscience 
 appertained, from the same date, and by the same right, to the 
 prophets and their disciples ; as where it is said, " I will raise up 
 a prophet, . . . , and whoever will not hearken to My words which 
 
46 OCEANA^ 
 
 he shall speak in My name, I will require it of him." The words 
 relate to prophetic right, which was above all the orders of this 
 commonwealth ; whence Elijah not only refused to obey the 
 king, but destroyed his messengers with fire. And whereas it 
 was not lawful by the national religion to sacrifice in any other 
 place than the Temple, a prophet was his own temple, and might 
 sacrifice where he would, as Elijah did in Mount Carmel. By 
 this right John the Baptist and our Saviour, to whom it more 
 particularly related, had their disciples, and taught the people, 
 whence is derived our present right of gathered congregations ; 
 wherefore the Christian religion grew up according to the orders 
 of the commonwealth of Israel, and not against them. Nor 
 was liberty of conscience infringed by this government, till the 
 civil liberty of the same was lost, as under Herod, Pilate, and 
 Tiberius, a three-piled tyranny. 
 
 To proceed, Athens preserved her religion, by the testimony 
 of Paul, with great superstition : if Alcibiades, that atheistical 
 fellow, had not showed them a pair of heels, they had shaven off 
 his head for shaving their Mercuries, and making their gods 
 look ridiculously upon them without beards. Nevertheless, if 
 Paul reasoned with them, they loved news, for which he was 
 the more welcome; and if he converted Dionysius the 
 Areopagite, that is, one of the senators, there followed neither 
 any hurt to him, nor loss of honour to Dionysius. And -for 
 Rome, if Cicero, in his most excellent book " De Natura Deorum," 
 overthrew the national religion of that commonwealth, he was 
 never the farther from being consul. But there is a meanness 
 and p3orness in modern prudence, not only to the damage of 
 civil government, but of religion itself; for to make a man in 
 matter of religion, which admits not of sensible demonstration 
 {jurare in verba magistrt), engage to believe no otherwise than 
 is believed by my Lord Bishop, or Goodman Presbyter, is a 
 pedantism that has made the sword to be a rod in the hands of 
 schoolmasters ; by which means, whereas the Christian religion 
 is the farthest of any from countenancing war, there never was 
 a war of religion but since Christianity, for which we are be- 
 holden to the Pope ; for the Pope not giving liberty of con- 
 science to princes and commonwealths, they cannot give that to 
 their subjects which they have not themselves, whence both 
 princes and subjects, either through his instigation or their 
 
OCEANA. -47 
 
 own disputes, have introduced that execrable custom, never 
 known in the world before, of fighting for religion, and denying 
 the magistrate to have any jurisdiction concerning it, whereas 
 the magistrate's losing the power of religion loses the liberty of 
 conscience, which in that case has nothing to protect it. But if 
 the people be otherwise taught, it concerns them to look about 
 them, and to distinguish between the shrieking of the lapwing 
 and the voice of the turtle. 
 
 To come to civil laws : if they stand one way and the balance 
 another, it is the case of a government which of necessity must 
 be new modelled ; wherefore your lawyers, advising you upon the 
 like occasions to fit your government to their laws, are no more 
 to be regarded than your tailor if he should desire you to fit 
 your body to his doublet. There is also danger in the plausible 
 pretence of reforming the law, except the government be first 
 good, in which case it is a good tree, and (trouble not yourselves 
 overmuch) brings not forth evil fruit ; otherwise, if the tree be 
 evil, you can never reform the fruit, or if a root that is naught 
 bring forth fruit of this kind that seems to be good, take the 
 more heed, for it is the ranker poison. It was nowise probable, 
 if Augustus had not made excellent laws, that the bowels of 
 Rome could have come to be so miserably eaten out by the 
 tyranny of Tiberius and his successors. The best rule as to 
 your laws in general is, that they be few. Rome, by the testi- 
 mony of Cicero, was best governed under those of the twelve 
 tables; and by that of Tacitus, Plurimce leges, corruptissima 
 respublica. You will be told, that where the laws be few, they 
 leave much to arbitrary power; but where they be many, they 
 leave more, the laws in this case, according to Justinian and 
 the best lawyers, being as litigious as the suitors. Solon made 
 few, Lycurgus fewer laws ; and commonwealths have the 
 fewest at this day of all other governments. 
 
 Now to conclude this part with a word do judiciis, or of the 
 constitution or course of courts : it is a discourse not otherwise 
 capable of being well managed but by particular examples, both 
 the constitution and course of courts being divers in different 
 governments, but best beyond compare in Venice, where they 
 regard not so much the arbitrary power of their courts as the 
 constitution of them, whereby that arbitrary power being alto- 
 gether unable to retard or do hurt to business, produces and 
 
4 S OCEANA. 
 
 must produce the quickest despatch, and the most righteous 
 dictates of justice that are perhaps in human nature. The 
 manner I shall not stand in this place to describe, because it is 
 exemplified at large in the judicature of the people of Oceana. 
 And thus much of ancient prudence, and the first branch of this 
 preliminary discourse. 
 
 THE SECOND PART OF THE PRELIMINARIES. 
 
 In the second part I shall endeavour to show the rise, progress, 
 and declination of modern prudence. 
 
 The date of this kind of policy is to be computed, as was 
 shown, from those inundations of Goths, Vandals, Huns, and 
 Lombards that overwhelmed the Roman empire. But as there 
 is no appearance in the bulk or constitution of modern prudence, 
 that it should ever have been able to come up and grapple 
 with the ancient, so something of necessity must have interposed 
 whereby this came to be enervated, and that to receive strength 
 and encouragement. And this was the execrable reign of the 
 Roman emperors taking rise from {thaXfelix scelus) the arms of 
 Caesar, in which storm the ship of the Roman commonwealth was 
 forced to disburden itself of that precious freight, which never 
 since could emerge or raise its head but in the Gulf of Venice. 
 
 It is said in Scripture, "Thy evil is of thyself, O Israel !" To 
 which answers that of the moralists, " None is hurt but by 
 himself," as also the whole matter of the politics; at present this 
 example of the Romans, who, through a negligence committed in 
 their Agrarian laws, let in the sink of luxury, and forfeited the in- 
 estimable treasure of liberty for themselves and their posterity. 
 
 Their Agrarian laws were such whereby their lands ought 
 to have been divided among the people, either without mention 
 of a colony, in which case they were not obliged to change their 
 abode; or with mention and upon condition of a colony, 
 in which case they were to change their abode, and leav- 
 ing the city, to plant themselves upon the lands so assigned. 
 The lands assigned, or that ought to have been assigned, 
 in either of these ways, were of three kinds : such as were 
 taken from the enemy and distributed to the people ; or 
 
OCEANA. - 49 
 
 such as were taken from the enemy, and under colour of being 
 reserved to the public use, were through stealth possessed by the 
 nobility ; or such as were bought with the public money to be 
 distributed. Of the laws offered in these cases, those which 
 divided the lands taken from the enemy, or purchased with the 
 public money, never occasioned any dispute ; but such as drove 
 at dispossessing the nobility of their usurpations, and dividing 
 the common purchase of the sword among the people, were 
 never touched but they caused earthquakes, nor could they ever 
 be obtained by the people ; or being obtained, be observed by 
 the nobility, who not only preserved their prey, but growing 
 vastly rich upon it, bought the people by degrees quite out of 
 those shares that had been conferred upon them. This the 
 Gracchi coming too late to perceive, found the balance of the 
 commonwealth to be lost; but putting the people (when they 
 had least force) by forcible means upon the recovery of it, did ill, 
 seeing it neither could nor did tend to any more than to show 
 them by worse effects that what the wisdom of their leaders had 
 discovered was true. For, quite contrary to what has happened 
 in Oceana, where, the balance falling to the people, they have 
 overthrown the nobility, that nobility of Rome, under the 
 conduct of Sylla, overthrew the people and the commonwealth ; 
 seeing Sylla first introduced that new balance, which was the 
 foundation of the succeeding monarchy, in the plantation of 
 military colonies, instituted by his distribution of the conquered 
 lands, not now of enemies, but of citizens, to forty-seven 
 legions of his soldiers ; so that how he came to be perpetual 
 dictator, or other magistrates to succeed him in like power, is 
 no miracle. 
 
 These military colonies (in which manner succeeding em- 
 perors continued, as Augustus by the distribution of the 
 veterans, whereby he had overcome Brutus and Cassius to 
 plant their soldiery) consisted of such as I conceive were they 
 that are called milites beneficiarii ; in regard that the tenure of 
 their lands was by way of benefices, that is, for life, and upon 
 condition of duty or service in the war upon their own charge. 
 These benefices Alexander Severus granted to the heirs of 
 the incumbents, but upon the same conditions. And such was 
 the dominion by which the Roman emperors gave their balance. 
 But to the beneficiaries, as was no less than necessary for the 
 
50 OCEANA. 
 
 safety of the prince, a matter of eight thousand by the example 
 of Augustus were added, which departed not from his sides, but 
 were his perpetual guard, called Pretorian bands ; though these, 
 according to the incurable flaw already observed in this kind 
 of government, became the most frequent butchers of their lords 
 thai are to be found in story. Thus far the Roman monarchy 
 is much the same with that at this day in Turkey, consisting of 
 a camp and a horse-quarter ; a camp in regard of the Spahis 
 and Janizaries, the perpetual guard of the prince, except they 
 also chance to be liquorish after his blood; and a horse-quarter 
 in regard of the distribution of his whole land to tenants for 
 life, upon condition of continual service, or as often as they 
 shall be commanded at their own charge by timars, being a 
 word which they say signifies benefices, that it shall save me a 
 labour of opening the government. 
 
 But the fame of Mahomet and his prudence is especially 
 founded in this, that whereas the Roman monarchy, except that 
 of Israel, was the most imperfect, the Turkish is the most 
 perfect that ever was. Which happened in that the Roman 
 (as the Israelitish of the Sanhedrim and the congregation) had 
 a mixture of the senate and the people ; and the Turkish is pure. 
 And that this was pure, and the other mixed, happened not 
 through the wisdom of the legislators, but the different genius 
 of the nations ; the people of the Eastern parts, except the 
 Israelites, which is to be attributed to their Agrarian, having 
 been such as scarce ever knew any other condition than that of 
 slavery ; and these of the Western having ever had such a relish 
 of liberty, as through what despair soever could never be 
 brought to stand still while the yoke was putting on their necks, 
 but by being fed with some hopes of reserving to themselves 
 some part of their freedom. 
 
 Wherefore Julius Caesar (saith Suetonius) contented himself 
 in naming half the magistrates, to leave the rest to the suffrage 
 of the people. And Maecenas, though he would not have 
 Augustus to give the people their liberty, would not have him 
 take it quite away. Whence this empire, being neither hawk 
 nor buzzard, made a flight accordingly ; and the prince being 
 perpetually tossed (having the avarice of the soldiery on this 
 hand to satisfy upon the people, and the senate and the people 
 on the other to be defended from the soldiery), seldom died an)- 
 
OCEANA. 51 
 
 cither death than by one horn of this dilemma, as is noted more 
 at large by Machiavel. But the Pretorian bands, those bestial 
 executioners of their captain's tyranny upon others, and of their 
 own upon him, having continued from the time of Augustus, 
 were by Constantine the Great (incensed against them for taking 
 part with his adversary Maxentius) removed from their strong 
 garrison which they held in Rome, and distributed into divers 
 provinces. The benefices of the soldiers that were hitherto 
 held for life and upon duty, were by this prince made hereditary, 
 so that the whole foundation whereupon this empire was first 
 built being now removed, shows plainly that the emperors 
 must long before this have found out some other way of 
 support ; and this was by stipendiating the Goths, a people 
 that, deriving their roots from the northern parts of Germany, 
 or out of Sweden, had, through their victories obtained against 
 Domitian, long since spread their branches to so near a neigh- 
 bourhood with the Roman territories that they began to over- 
 shadow them. For the emperors making use of them in their 
 armies, as the French do at this day of the Switz, gave them 
 that under the notion of a stipend, which they received as 
 tribute, coming, if there were any default in the payment, so 
 often to distrain for it, that in the time of Honorius they 
 sacked Rome, and possessed themselves of Italy. And such 
 was the transition of ancient into modern prudence, or that 
 breach, which being followed in every part of the Roman 
 empire with inundations of Vandal?, Huns, Lombards, Franks, 
 Saxons, overwhelmed ancient languages, learning, prudence, 
 manners, cities, changing the names of rivers, countries, seas, 
 mountains, and men ; Camillus, Caesar, and Pompey, being 
 come to Edmund, Richard, and Geoffrey. 
 
 To open the groundwork or balance of these new politicians : 
 " FeudunV says Calvin the lawyer, " is a Gothic word of divers 
 significations ; for it is taken either for war, or for a possession 
 of conquered lands, distributed by the victor to such of his 
 captains and soldiers as had merited in his wars, upon condition 
 to acknowledge him to be their perpetual lord, and themselves 
 to be his subjects/' 
 
 Of these there were three kinds or orders : the first of nobility 
 distinguished by the titles of dukes, marquises, earls, and these 
 being gratified with the cities, castles, and villages of the con- 
 
52 OCEANA. 
 
 qucred Italians, their feuds participated of royal dignity, and 
 were called regalia, by which they had right to coin money, create 
 magistrates, take toll, customs, confiscations, and the like. 
 
 Feuds of the second order were such as, with the consent of 
 the king, were bestowed by these feudatory princes upon men of 
 inferior quality, called their barons, on condition that next to the 
 king they should defend the dignities and fortunes of their lords 
 in arms. 
 
 The lowest order of feuds were such, as being conferred by 
 those of the second order upon private men, whether noble or 
 not noble, obliged them in the like duty to their superiors ; 
 these were called vavasors. And this is the Gothic balance, by 
 which all the kingdoms this day in Christendom were at first 
 erected ; for which cause, if I had time, I should open in this 
 place the empire of Germany, and the kingdoms of France, 
 Spain, and Poland ; but so much as has been said being 
 sufficient for the discovery of the principles of modern prudence 
 in general, I shall divide the remainder of my discourse, which 
 is more particular, into three parts. 
 
 The first, showing the constitution of the late monarchy of 
 Oceana. 
 
 The second, the dissolution of the same. And 
 
 The third, the generation of the present commonwealth. 
 
 The constitution of the late monarchy of Oceana is to be 
 considered in relation to the different nations by whom it has 
 been successively subdued and governed. The first of these 
 were the Romans, the second the Teutons, the third the 
 Scandians, and the fourth the Neustrians. 
 
 The government of the Romans, who held it as a province, 
 I shall omit, because I am to speak of their provincial govern- 
 ment in another place, only it is to be remembered here, that if 
 we have given over running up and down naked, and with 
 dappled hides, learned to write and read, and to be instructed 
 with good arts, for all these we are beholden to the Romans, 
 either immediately or mediately by the Teutons; for that the 
 Teutons had the arts from no other hand is plain enough by 
 their language, which has yet no word to signify either writing 
 or reading, but what is derived from the Latin. Furthermore, 
 by the help of these arts so learned, we have been capable of 
 
OCEANA. 53 
 
 that religion which we have long since received ; wherefore it 
 seems to me that we ought not to detract from the memory of 
 the Romans, by whose means we are, as it were, of beasts 
 become men, and by whose means we might yet of obscure and 
 ignorant men (if we thought not too well of ourselves) become 
 a wise and a great people. 
 
 The Romans having governed Oceana provincially, the 
 Teutons were the first that introduced the form of the late 
 monarchy. To these succeeded the Scandians, of whom 
 (because their reign was short, as also because they made little 
 alteration in the government as to the form) I shall take no 
 notice. But the Teutons going to work upon the Gothic 
 balance, divided the whole nation into three sorts of feuds, that 
 of ealdorman, that of king's thane, and that of middle thane. 
 
 When the kingdom was first divided into precincts will be as 
 hard to show as when it began first to be governed ; it being 
 impossible that there should be any government without some 
 division. The division that was in use with the Teutons was 
 by counties, and every county had either its ealdorman, or high 
 reeve. The title of ealdorman came in time to eorl, or erl, and 
 that of high reeve to high sheriff. 
 
 Earl of the shire or county denoted the king's thane, or tenant 
 by grand sergeantry or knight's service, in chief or in cafiite; 
 his possessions were sometimes the whole territory from whence 
 he had his denomination, that is, the whole county ; sometimes 
 more than one county, and sometimes less, the remaining part 
 being in the crown. He had also sometimes a third, or some 
 other customary part of the profits of certain cities, boroughs, or 
 other places within his earldom. For an example of the 
 possessions of earls in ancient times, Ethelred had to him and 
 his heirs the whole kingdom of Mercia, containing three or four 
 counties ; and there were others that had little less. 
 
 King's thane was also an honorary title, to which he was 
 qualified that had five hides of land held immediately of the king 
 by service of personal attendance ; insomuch that if a churl or 
 countryman had thriven to this proportion, having a church, a 
 kitchen, a bellhouse (that is, a hall with a bell in it to call his 
 family to dinner), a boroughgate with a seat (that is, a porch) of 
 his own, and any distinct office in the king's court, then was he 
 the king's thane. But the proportion of a hide land, otherwise 
 
54 OCEANA. 
 
 ( ailed carttca, or a plough land, is difficult to be understood, 
 
 because it was not certain ; nevertheless it is generally conceived 
 to be so much as may be managed with one plough, and would 
 yield the maintenance of the same, with the appurtenances in 
 all kinds. 
 
 The middle thane was feudal, but not honorary ; he was also 
 called a vavasor, and his lands a vavasory, which held of some 
 mesne lord, and not immediately of the king. 
 
 Possessions and their tenures, being of this nature, show the 
 balance of the Teuton monarchy ; wherein the riches of earls 
 were so vast, that to arise from the balance of their dominion to 
 their power, they were not only called regidi, or little kings, but 
 were such indeed; their jurisdiction being of two sorts, cither 
 that which was exercised by them in the court of their countries, 
 or in the high court of the kingdom. 
 
 In the territory denominating an earl, if it were all his own, 
 the courts held, and the profits of that jurisdiction were to his 
 own use and benefit. But if he had but some part of his 
 county, then his jurisdiction and courts, saving perhaps in those 
 possessions that were his own, were held by him to the king's 
 use and benefit ; that is, he commonly supplied the office which 
 the sheriffs regularly executed in counties that had no earls, and 
 whence they carne to be called viscounts. The court of the 
 county that had an earl was held by the earl and the bishop of 
 the diocese, after the manner of the sheriffs' turns to this day ; 
 by which means both the ecclesiastical and temporal laws were 
 given in charge together to the country. The causes of vava- 
 sors or vavasories appertained to the cognizance of this court, 
 where wills were proved, judgment and execution given, cases 
 criminal and civil determined. 
 
 The king's thanes had the like jurisdiction in their thane 
 lands as lords in their manors, where they also kept courts. 
 
 Besides these in particular, both the earls and king's thanes, 
 together with the bishops, abbots, and vavasors, or middle 
 thanes, had in the high court or parliament in the kingdom a 
 more public jurisdiction, consisting first of deliberative power 
 for advising upon and assenting to new laws ; secondly, of 
 giving counsel in matters of state ; and thirdly, of judicature 
 upon suits and complaints. I shall not omit to enlighten the 
 obscurity of these times, in which there is little to be found of a 
 
OCEANA. 55 
 
 methodical constitution of this high court, by the addition of an 
 argument, which 'I conceive to bear a strong testimony to itself, 
 though taken out of a late writing that conceals the author. 
 " It is well known," says he, "that in every quarter of the realm 
 a great many boroughs do yet send burgesses to the parliament 
 which nevertheless be so anciently and so long since decayed 
 and gone to nought, that they cannot be showed to have been of 
 any reputation since the Conquest, much les£ to have obtained 
 any such privilege by the grant of any succeeding king : where- 
 fore these must have had this right by more ancient usage, and 
 before the Conquest, they being unable now to show whence 
 they derived it." 
 
 This argument, though there be more, I shall pitch upon as 
 sufficient to prove : first, that the lower sort of the people 
 had right to session in parliament during the time of the 
 Teutons. Secondly, that they were qualified to the same by 
 election in their boroughs, and, if knights of the shire, as no 
 doubt they are, be as ancient in the countries. Thirdly, if it be 
 a good argument to say, that the commons during the reign of 
 the Teutons were elected into parliament because they are so 
 now, and no man can show when this custom began ; I see not 
 which way it should be an ill one to say that the commons 
 during the reign of the Teutons constituted also a distinct 
 house because they do so now, unless any man can show that 
 they did ever sit in the same house with the lords. Wherefore 
 to conclude this part, I conceive for these, and other reasons to 
 be mentioned hereafter, that the parliament of the Teutons 
 consisted of the king, the lords spiritual and temporal, and the 
 commons of the nation, notwithstanding the style of divers acts 
 of parliament, which runs, as that of Magna Charta, in the king"s 
 name only, seeing the same was neverthelesss enacted by the 
 king, peers, and commons of the land, as is testified in those 
 words by a subsequent act. 
 
 The monarchy of the Teutons had stood in this posture about 
 two hundred and twenty years ; when Turbo, duke of Neustria, 
 making his claim to the crown of one of their kings that died 
 childless, followed it with successful arms ; and being possessed 
 of the kingdom, used it as conquered, distributing the earldoms, 
 thane lands, bishoprics and prelacies of the whole realm among 
 his Neustrians. From this time the carl came to be called 
 
56 OCEANA. 
 
 comes, consul, and dux, though consul and dux grew afterward 
 out of use ; the king's thanes came to be called barons, and 
 their lands baronies ; the middle thane holding still of a mesne 
 lord, retained tlie name of vavasor. 
 
 The earl or comes continued to have the third part of the 
 pleas of the county paid to him by the sheriff or vice-comes, 
 now a distinct officer in every county depending upon the king ; 
 saving that such earls as had their counties to their own use 
 were now counts palatin, and had under the king regal jurisdic- 
 tion ; insomuch that they constituted their own sheriffs, granted 
 pardons, and issued writs in their own names ; nor did the 
 king's writ of ordinary justice run in their dominions till a late 
 statute, whereby much of this privilege was taken away. 
 
 For barons they came from henceforth to be in different 
 times of three kinds : barons by their estates and tenures, 
 barons by writ, and barons created by letters patent. From 
 Turbo the first to Adoxus the seventh king from the Conquest, 
 barons had their denomination from their possessions and 
 tenures. And these were either spiritual or temporal ; for not 
 only the thane lands, but the possessions of bishops, as also of 
 some twenty-six abbots, and two priors, were now erected into 
 baronies, whence the lords spiritual that had suffrage in the 
 Teuton parliament as spiritual lords came to have it in the 
 Neustrian parliament as barons, and were made subject, which 
 they had not formerly been, to knights' service in chief. Barony 
 coming henceforth to signify all honorary possessions as well of 
 earls as barons, and baronage to denote all kinds of lords as 
 well spiritual as temporal having right to sit in parliament, the 
 baronies in this sense were sometimes more, and sometimes 
 fewer, but commonly about two hundred or two hundred and 
 fifty, containing in them a matter of sixty thousand feuda 
 militum, or knights' fees, whereof some twenty-eight thousand 
 were in the clergy. It is ill luck that no man can tell what the 
 land of a knight's fee, reckoned in some writs at ^40 a year, 
 and in others at ten, was certainly worth, for by such a help 
 we might have exactly demonstrated the balance of this govern- 
 ment. But, says Coke, it contained twelve plough lands, and 
 that was thought to be the most certain account. But this 
 again is extremely uncertain ; for one plough out of some land 
 that was fruitful might work more than ten out of some other 
 
OCEANA. 57 
 
 that was barren. Nevertheless, seeing it appears by Bracton, 
 that of earldoms and baronies it was wont to be said that the 
 whole kingdom was composed, as also that these, consisting of 
 sixty thousand knights' fees, furnished sixty thousand men for 
 the king's service, being the whole militia of this monarchy, it 
 cannot be imagined that the vavasories or freeholds in the 
 people amounted to any considerable proportion. Wherefore 
 the balance and foundation of this government was in the 
 sixty thousand knights' fees, and these being possessed by the 
 two hundred and fifty lords, it was a government of the few, or 
 of the nobility, wherein the people might also assemble, but 
 could have no more than a mere name. And the clergy, holding 
 a third of the whole nation, as is plain by the parliament roll, 
 it is an absurdity (seeing the clergy of France came first 
 through their riches to be a state of that kingdom) to acknow- 
 ledge the people to have been a state of this realm, and not to 
 allow it to the clergy, who were so much more weighty in 
 the balance, which is that of all other whence a state or order in 
 a government is denominated. Wherefore this monarchy con- 
 sisted of the king, and of the three ordines regiu, or estates, the 
 lords spiritual and temporal, and the commons ; it consisted of 
 these I say as to the balance, though, during the reign of some 
 of these kings, not as to the administration. 
 
 For the ambition of Turbo, and some of those that more 
 immediately succeeded him, to be absolute princes, strove 
 against the nature of their foundation, and, inasmuch as he had 
 divided almost the whole realm among his Neustrians, with 
 some encouragement for a while. But the Neustrians, while 
 they were but foreign plants, having no security against the 
 natives, but in growing up by their princes' sides, were no sooner 
 well rooted in their vast dominions than they came up according 
 to the infallible consequence of the balance domestic, and, 
 contracting the national interest of the baronage, grew as fierce 
 in the vindication of the ancient rights and liberties of the same, 
 as if they had been always natives : whence, the kings being as 
 obstinate on the one side for their absolute power, as these on 
 the other for their immunities, grew certain wars, which took 
 their denomination from the barons. 
 
 This fire about the middle of the reign of Adoxus began to 
 break out. And whereas the predecessors of this king had divers 
 
OCEANA. 
 
 times been forced to summon councils resembling those of the 
 Teutons, to which the lords only that were barons by dominion 
 and tenure had hitherto repaired, Adoxus, seeing the effects of 
 such dominion, began first not to call such as were barons by- 
 writ (for that was according to the practice of ancient times), but 
 to call such by writs as were otherwise no barons ; by which 
 means, striving to avoid the consequence of the balance, in 
 coming unwillingly to set the government straight, he was the first 
 that set it awry. For the barons in his reign, and his successors, 
 having vindicated their ancient authority, restored the parlia- 
 ment with all the rights and privileges of the same, saving that 
 from thenceforth the kings had found out a way whereby to help 
 themselves against the mighty by creatures of their own, and 
 such as had no other support but by their favour. By which 
 means this government, being indeed the masterpiece of modern 
 prudence, has been cried up to the skies, as the only invention 
 whereby at once to maintain the sovereignty of a prince and the 
 liberty of the people. Whereas, indeed, it has been no other 
 than a wrestling match, wherein the nobility, as they have been 
 stronger, have thrown the king, or the king, if he has been 
 stronger, have thrown the nobility ; or the king, where he has 
 had a nobility, and could bring them to his party, has thrown 
 the people, as in France and Spain ; or the people, where they 
 have had no nobility, or could get them to be of their party, have 
 thrown the king, as in Holland, and of later times in Oceana. 
 But they came not to this strength but by such approaches 
 and degrees, as remain to be further opened. For whereas the 
 baron's by writ, as the sixty-four abbots and thirty-six priors 
 that were so called, were hut pro tempore, Dicotome, being the 
 twelfth king from the Conquest, began to make barons by letters 
 patent, with the addition of honorary pensions for the mainte- 
 nance of their dignities to them and their heirs ; so that they were 
 hands in the kind's purse and had no shoulders for his throne. 
 Of these, when the house of peers came once to be full, as will 
 be seen hereafter, there was nothing more empty. But for the 
 present, the throne having other supports, they did not hurt that 
 so much as they did the king ; for the old barons, taking 
 Dicotome's prodigality to such creatures so ill that they deposed 
 him, got the trick of it, and never gave over setting up and 
 pulling down their kings according to their various interests, and 
 
OCEANA. 59 
 
 that faction of the White and Red, into which they have been 
 thenceforth divided, till Panurgus, the eighteenth king from the 
 Conquest, was more by their favour than his right advanced to the 
 crown. This king, through his natural subtlety, reflecting at once 
 upon the greatness of their power, and the inconstancy of their 
 favour, began to find another flaw in this kind of government, 
 which is also noted by Machiavel — namely, that a throne sup- 
 ported by a nobility is not so hard to be ascended as kept warm. 
 Wherefore his secret jealousy, lest the dissension of the nobility, 
 as it brought him in might throw him out, made him tjravel in 
 ways undiscovered by them, to ends as little foreseen by him- 
 self, while to establish his own safety, he, by mixing water with 
 their wine, first began to open those sluices that have since over- 
 whelmed not the king only but the throne. For whereas a 
 nobility strikes not at the throne, without which they cannot 
 subsist, but at some king that they do not like, popular power 
 strikes through the king at the throne, as that which is incom- 
 patible with it. Now that Panurgus, in abating the power of the 
 nobility, was the cause whence it came to fall into the hands of 
 the people, appears by those several statutes that were made in 
 his reign, as that for population, those against retainers, and 
 that for alienations. 
 
 •By the statute of population, all houses of husbandry that 
 were used with twenty acres of ground and upwards, were to be 
 maintained and kept up for ever with a competent proportion of 
 land laid to them, and in nowise, as appears by a subsequent 
 statute, to be severed. By which means the houses being kept 
 up, did of necessity enforce dwellers ; and the proportion of land 
 to be tilled being kept up, did of necessity enforce the dweller 
 not to be a beggar or cottager, but a man of some substance, 
 that might keep hinds and servants and set the plough a-going. 
 This did mightily concern, says the historian of that prince, the 
 might and manhood of the kingdom, and in effect amortize a 
 great part of the lands to the hold and possession of the 
 yeomanry or middle people, who living not in a servile or 
 indigent fashion, were much unlinked from dependence upon 
 their lords, and living in a free and plentiful manner, became a 
 more excellent infantry, but such a one upon which the lords 
 had so little power, that from henceforth they may be computed 
 to have been disarmed. 
 
6o OCEANA. 
 
 And as they lost their infantry after this manner, so their 
 cavalry and commanders were cut off by the statute of retainers ; 
 for whereas it was the custom of the nobility to have younger 
 brothers of good houses, mettled fellows, and such as were 
 knowing in the feats of arms about them, they who were longer 
 followed with so dangerous a train, escaped not such punish- 
 ments as made them take up. 
 
 Henceforth the country lives and great tables of the nobility, 
 which no longer nourished veins that would blee*d for them, were 
 fruitless and loathsome till they changed the air, and of princes 
 became courtiers ; where their revenues, never to have been 
 exhausted by beef and mutton, were found narrow, whence 
 followed racking of rents, and at length sale of lands, the 
 riddance through the statute of alienations being rendered far 
 more quick and facile than formerly it had been through the 
 new invention of entails. 
 
 To this it happened that Coraunus, the successor of that king, 
 dissolving the abbeys, brought, with the declining state of the 
 nobility, so vast a prey to the industry of the people, that the 
 balance of the commonwealth was too apparently in the popular 
 party to be unseen by the wise council of Queen Parthenia, 
 who, converting her reign through the perpetual love tricks that 
 passed between her and her people into a kind of romance, 
 wholly neglected the nobility. And by these degrees came the 
 house of commons to raise that head, which since has been so 
 high and formidable to their princes that they have looked pale 
 upon those assemblies. Nor was there anything now wanting 
 to the destruction of the throne, but that the people, not apt to 
 see their own strength, should be put to feel it ; when a prince, 
 as stiff in disputes as the nerve of monarchy was grown slack, 
 received that unhappy encouragement from his clergy which 
 became his utter ruin, while trusting more to their logic than the 
 rough philosophy of his parliament, it came to an irreparable 
 breach ; for the house of peers, which alone had stood in this 
 gap, now sinking down between the king and the commons, 
 showed that Crassus was dead and the isthmus broken. But 
 a monarchy, divested of its nobility, has no refuge under heaven 
 but an army. Wherefore the dissolution of this government 
 caused the war, not the war the dissolution of this govern- 
 ment. 
 
OCEANA. 61 
 
 Of the king's success with his arms it is not necessary to give 
 any further account, than that they proved as ineffectual as his 
 nobility ; but without a nobility or an army (as has been 
 shown) there can be no monarchy. Wherefore what is there 
 in Nature that can arise out of these ashes but a popular 
 government, or a new monarchy to be erected by the victorious 
 army ? 
 
 To erect a monarchy, be it never so new, unless like Levia- 
 than you can hang it, as the country-fellow speaks, by geo- 
 _ metry (for what else is it to say, that every other man must 
 give up his will to the will of this one man without any other 
 ' foundation ?), it must stand upon old principles — that is, upon a 
 nobility or an army planted on a due balance of dominion. 
 Aid vz'am invent am ant faciam, was an adage of Caesar ; and • 
 there is no standing for a monarchy unless it finds this balance, 
 or makes it. If it finds it, the work is done to its hand ; for, 
 where there is inequality of estates, there must be inequality of 
 power ; and where there is inequality of power, there can be no 
 commonwealth. To make it, the sword must extirpate out of 
 dominion all other roots of power, and plant an army upon that 
 ground. An army may be planted nationally or provincially. 
 To plant it nationally, it must be in one of the four ways men- 
 tioned, that is, either monarchically in part, as the Roman 
 beneficiarii ; or monarchically, in the whole, as the Turkish 
 Timariots ; aristocratically, that is, by earls and barons, as the 
 Neustrians were planted by Turbo ; or democratically, that is, 
 by equal lots, as the Israelitish army jn the land of Canaan by 
 Joshua. In every one of these ways there must not only be 
 confiscations, but confiscations to such a proportion as may 
 answer to the work intended. 
 
 Confiscation of a people that never fought against you, but 
 whose arms you have borne, and in which you have been 
 victorious, and this upon premeditation and in cold blood, I 
 should have thought to be against any example in human 
 nature, but for those alleged by Machiavel of Agathocles, and 
 Oliveretto di Fermo ; the former whereof being captain- 
 general of the Syracusans, upon a day assembled the senate 
 and the people, as if he had something to communicate with 
 them, when at a sign given he cut the senators in pieces to a 
 man, and all the richest of the people, by which means he came 
 
62 OCE. INA. 
 
 to be king. The proceedings of Oliveretto, in making himself 
 Prince of Fermo, were somewhat different in circumstances, but 
 of the same nature. Nevertheless Catiline, who had a spirit 
 equal to any of these in his intended mischief, could never 
 bring the like to pass in Rome. The head of a small common- 
 wealth, such a one as was that of Syracuse or Fermo, is easily 
 brought to the block ; but that a populous nation, such as 
 Rome, had not such a one, was the grief of Nero. If Sylvia or 
 Caesar attained to be princes, it was by civil war, and such civil 
 war as yielded rich spoils, there being a vast nobility to be- 
 confiscated ; which also was the case in Oceana, when it 
 yielded earth by earldoms and baronies to the Neustrian for the 
 plantation of his new potentates. Where a conqueror finds the 
 riches of a land in the hands of the few, the forfeitures are easy, 
 and amount to vast advantage ; but where the people have, 
 equal shares, the confiscation of many comes to little, and is not 
 only dangerous but fruitless. 
 
 The Romans, in one of their defeats of the Volsci, found 
 among the captives certain Tusculans, who, upon examination, 
 confessed that the arms they bore were by command of their 
 State ; whereupon information being given to the senate by the 
 general Camillus, he was forthwith commanded to march against 
 Tusculum ; which doing accordingly, he found the Tusculan 
 fields full of husbandmen, that stirred not otherwise from the 
 plough than to furnish his army with all kinds of accommoda- 
 tions and victuals. Drawing near to the city, he saw the gates 
 wide open, the magistrates coming out in their gowns to salute 
 and bid him welcome : entering, the shops were all at work, 
 and open, the streets sounded with the noise of schoolboys at 
 their books ; there was no face of war. Whereupon Camillus, 
 causing the senate to assemble, told them, that though the art 
 was understood, yet had they at length found out the true arms 
 whereby the Romans were most undoubtedly to be conquered, 
 for which cause he would not anticipate the senate, to which he 
 desired them forthwith to send, which they did accordingly; 
 "and their dictator with the rest of their ambassadors being 
 found by the Roman senators as they went into the house 
 standing sadly at the door, were sent for in as friends, and not as 
 enemies ; where the dictator having said, " If we have offended, 
 the fault was not so great as is our penitence and your virtue," the 
 
OCEANA. 63 
 
 senate gave them peace forthwith, and soon after made the 
 Tusculans citizens of Rome. 
 
 I>ut putting the case, of which the world is not able to show an 
 example, that the forfeiture of a populous nation, not conquered, 
 but friends, and in cool blood, might be taken, your army must 
 be planted in one of the ways mentioned. To plant it in the 
 way of absolute monarchy, that is, upon feuds for life, such as 
 the Timars, a country as large and fruitful as that of Greece, 
 would afford you but sixteen thousand Timariots, for that is 
 the most the Turk (being the best husband that ever was of 
 this kind) makes of it at this day : and if Oceana, which is less 
 in fruitfulness by one-half, and in extent by three parts, should 
 have no greater a force, whoever breaks her in one battle, may 
 be sure she shall never rise ; for such (as was noted by 
 Machiavel) is the nature of the Turkish monarchy, if you break 
 it in two battles, you have destroyed its whole militia, and the 
 rest being ail slaves, you hold it without any further resistance. 
 Wherefore the erection of an absolute monarchy in Oceana, or 
 in any other country that is no larger, without making it a 
 certain prey to the first invader, is altogether impossible. 
 
 To plant by halves, as the Roman emperors did their bene- 
 ficiaries, or military colonies, it must be either for life ; and this 
 an army of Oceaners in their own country, especially having 
 estates of inheritance, will never bear ; because such an army so 
 planted is as well confiscated as the people ; nor had the 
 Mamalukes been contented with such usage in Egypt, but that 
 they Mere foreigners, and daring not to mix with the natives, it 
 was of absolute necessity to their being. 
 
 Or planting them upon inheritance, whether aristocratically 
 as the Neustrians, or democratically as the Israelites, they .grow 
 up by certain consequence into the national interest, and this, 
 if they be planted popularly, comes to a commonwealth; if by 
 way of nobility, to a mixed monarchy, which of all other will be 
 found to be the only kind of monarchy whereof this nation, or 
 any other that is of no greater extent, has been or can be capa- 
 ble ; for if. the Israelites, though their democratical balance, 
 being fixed by their Agrarian, stood firm, be yet found to have 
 elected kings, it was because, their territory lying open, they 
 were perpetually invaded, and being perpetually invaded, turned 
 themselves to anything which, through the want of experience, 
 
64 OCEANA. 
 
 they thought might be a remedy ; whence their mistake in elec- 
 tion of their kings, under whom they gained nothing, but, on the 
 contrary, lost all they had acquired by their commonwealth, both 
 estates and liberties, is not only apparent, but without parallel. 
 And if there have been, as was shown, a kingdom of the Goths 
 in Spain, and of the Vandals in Asia, consisting of a single 
 person and a parliament (taking a parliament to be a council of 
 the people only, without a nobility), it is expressly said of those 
 councils that they deposed their kings as often as they pleased ; 
 nor can there be any other consequence of such a government, 
 seeing where there is a council of the people they do never 
 receive laws, but give them ; and a council giving laws to a 
 single person, he has no means in the world whereby to be any 
 more than a subordinate magistrate but force : in which case 
 he is not a single person and a parliament, but a single person 
 and an army, which army again must be planted as has been 
 shown, or can be of no long continuance. 
 
 It is true, that the provincial balance being in nature quite 
 contrary to the national, you are no way to plant a provincial 
 army upon dominion. But then you must have a native terri- 
 tory in strength, situation, or government, able to overbalance 
 the foreign, or you can never hold it. That an army should in 
 any other case be long supported by a mere tax, is a mere fancy 
 as void of all reason and experience as if a man should think to 
 maintain such a one by robbing of orchards ; for a mere tax is 
 but pulling of plum-trees, the roots whereof are in other men's 
 grounds, who* suffering perpetual violence, come to. hate the 
 author of it ; and it is a maxim, that no prince that is hated by 
 his people can be safe. Arms planted upon dominion extirpate 
 enemies and make friends ; but maintained by _ a mere tax, 
 have enemies that have roots, and friends that have none. 
 
 To conclude, Oceana, or any other nation Qf no greater 
 extent, must have a competent nobility, or is altogether incapable 
 of monarchy ; for where there is equality of estates, there must 
 be equality of power, and where there is equality of power, 
 there can be no monarchy. 
 
 To come then to the generation of the commonwealth. It has 
 been shown how, through the ways and means used by Panurgus 
 to abase the nobility, and so to mend that flaw which we have 
 asserted to be incurable in this kind of constitution, he suffered 
 
OCEANA. ■ 6s 
 
 the balance to fall into the power of the people, and so broke 
 the government ; but the balance being in the people, the com- 
 monwealth (though they do not see it) is already in the nature of 
 them. There wants nothing else but time, which is slow ami 
 dangerous, or art, which would be more quick and secure, for the 
 bringing those native arms, wherewithal they are found already, 
 to resist, they know not how, everything that opposes them, to 
 such maturity as may fix them upon their own strength and 
 bottom. 
 
 But whereas this art is prudence, and that part of prudence 
 which regards the present work is nothing else but the skill of 
 raising such superstructures of government as are natural to 
 the known foundations, they never mind the foundation, but 
 through certain animosities, wherewith by striving one against 
 another they are infected, or through freaks, by which, not 
 regarding the course of things, nor how they conduce to their 
 purpose, they are given to building in the air, come to be divided 
 and subdivided into endless -parties and factions, both civil and 
 ecclesiastical, which, briefly to open, I shall first speak of the 
 people" in general, and then of their divisions. 
 
 A people, says Machiavel, that is corrupt, is not capable of a 
 commonwealth. But in showing what a corrupt people is, he 
 has either involved himself, or me ; nor can I otherwise come 
 out of the labyrinth, than by saying, the balance altering a 
 people, as to the foregoing government, must of necessity be' 
 corrupt; but corruption in this sense signifies no more than 
 that the corruption of one government, as in natural bodies, is 
 the generation of another. Wherefore if the balance alters 
 from monarchy, the corruption of the people in this case is that 
 which makes them capable of a commonwealth. But whereas 
 I am not ignorant that the corruption which he means is in 
 manners, this also is from the balance. For the balance leading 
 from monarchical into popular, abates the luxury of the nobility 
 and, enriching the people, brings the government from a more 
 private to a more public interest ; which coming nearer, as has 
 been shown, to justice and right reason, the people upon a like 
 alteration is so far from such a corruption of manners as should 
 render them incapable of a commonwealth, that of necessity 
 they must thereby contract such a reformation of manners as 
 will bear no other kind of government. On the other side, 
 
 c 
 
66 OCEAN A. 
 
 where the balance changes from popular to oligarchical or 
 monarchical, the public interest, with the reason and justice 
 included in the same, becomes more private ; luxury is intro- 
 duced in the room of temperance, and servitude in that of 
 freedom, which causes such a corruption of manners both in 
 the nobility and people, as, by the example of Rome in the time 
 of the Triumvirs, is more at large discovered by the author to 
 have been altogether incapable of a commonwealth. 
 
 But the balance of Oceana changing quite contrary to that of 
 Rome, the manners of the people were not thereby corrupted, 
 but, on the contrary, adapted to a commonwealth. For differ- 
 ences of opinion in a people not rightly informed of their 
 balance, or a division into parties (while there is not any common 
 ligament of power sufficient to reconcile or hold them) is no 
 sufficient proof of corruption. Nevertheless, seeing this must 
 needs be matter of scandal and danger, it will not be amiss, in 
 showing what were the parties, to show what were their errors. 
 
 The parties into which this nation was divided, were temporal, 
 or spiritual ; and the temporal parties were especially two, the 
 one royalists, the other republicans, each of which asserted 
 their different causes, either out of prudence or ignorance, out 
 of interest or conscience. 
 
 For prudence, either that of the ancients is inferior to the 
 modern, which we have hitherto been setting face to face, that 
 any one may judge, or that of the royalist must be inferior to 
 that of the commonwealthsman. And for interest, taking the 
 commonwealthsman to have really intended the public, for 
 otherwise he is a hypocrite and the worst of men, that of the 
 royalist must of necessity have been more private. Wherefore, 
 the whole dispute will come upon matter of conscience, and this, 
 whether it be urged by the right of kings, the obligation of 
 former laws, or of the oath of allegiance, is absolved by the 
 balance. 
 
 For if the right of kings were as immediately derived from the 
 breath of God as the life of man, yet this excludes not death 
 and dissolution. But, that the dissolution of the late monarchy 
 was as natural as the death of a man, has been already shown. 
 Wherefore it remains with the royalists to discover by what 
 reason or experience it is possible for a monarchy to stand upon 
 a popular balance ; or, the balance being popular, as well the 
 
OCEANA. 67 
 
 oath of allegiance, as all other monarchical laws, imply an 
 impossibility, and are therefore void. 
 
 To the commonwealthsman I have no more to say, but that 
 if he excludes any party, he is not truly such ; nor shall ever 
 found a commonwealth upon the natural principle of the same, 
 which is justice. And the royalist for having not opposed a 
 commonwealth in Oceana, where the laws were so ambiguous 
 that they might be eternally disputed and never reconciled, can 
 neither be justly for that cause excluded from his full and equal 
 share in the government ; nor prudently for this reason, that a 
 commonwealth consisting of a party will be in perpetual labour 
 of her own destruction : whence it was that the Romans, having 
 conquered the Albans, incorporated them with equal right into 
 the commonwealth. And if the royalists be " flesh of your 
 flesh," and nearer of blood than were the Albans to the Romans, 
 you being also both Christians, the argument is the stronger. 
 Nevertheless there is no reason that a commonwealth should any 
 more favour a party remaining in fixed opposition against it, 
 than Brutus did his own sons. But if it fixes them upon that 
 opposition, it is. its own fault, not theirs ; and this is done by 
 excluding them. Men that have equal possessions and the 
 same security for their estates and their liberties that you have, 
 have the same cause with you to defend both ; but if you will be 
 trampling, they fight for liberty, though for monarchy ; and you 
 for tyranny, though under the name of a commonwealth : the 
 nature of orders in a government rightly instituted being void 
 of all jealousy, because, let the parties which it embraces be 
 what they will, its orders are such as they neither would resist 
 if they could, nor could if they would, as has been partly 
 already shown, and will appear more at large by the following 
 model. 
 
 The parties that are spiritual are of more kinds than I need 
 mention ; some for a national religion, and others for liberty of 
 conscience, with such animosity on both sides, as if these two 
 could not consist together, and of which I have already 
 sufficiently spoken, to show that indeed the one cannot well 
 subsist without the other. But they of all the rest are the most 
 dangerous, who, holding that the saints must govern, go about 
 to reduce the commonwealth to a party, as well for the reasons 
 already shown, as that their pretences are against Scripture, 
 
 c 2 
 
6S OCEANA. ' 
 
 where the saints are commanded to submit to the higher 
 powers, and to be subject to the ordinance of man. And that 
 men, pretending under the notion of saints or religion to civil 
 power, have hitherto never failed to dishonour that profession, 
 the world is full of examples, whereof I shall confine myself 
 at present only to a couple, the one of old, the other of new 
 Rome. 
 
 In old Rome, the patricians or nobility pretending to be the 
 godly party, were questioned by the people for engrossing all 
 the magistracies of that commonwealth, and had nothing to say 
 why they did so, but that magistracy required a kind of holiness 
 which was not in the people; at which the people were filled 
 with such indignation as had come to cutting of throats, if the 
 nobility had not immediately laid by the insolency of that plea ; 
 which nevertheless when they had done, the people for a long 
 time after continued to elect no other but patrician magistrates. 
 
 The example. of new Rome in the rise and practice of the 
 hierarchy (too well known to require any further illustration) is 
 far more immodest. 
 
 This has been the course of Nature ; and when it has pleased 
 ■or shall please God to introduce anything that is above the 
 course of Nature, He will, as He has always done, confirm it by 
 miracle ; for so in His prophecy of the reign of Christ upon earth 
 He expressly promises, -seeing that "the souls of them that 
 were beheaded for Jesus, shall be seen to live and reign with 
 Him ; " which will be an object of sense, the rather, because the 
 rest of the dead are not to live again till the thousand years be 
 finished. And it is not lawful for men to persuade us that a 
 thing already is, though there be no such object of our sense, 
 which God has told us shall not be till it be an object of our 
 sense. 
 
 The saintship of a people as to government, consists in the 
 election of magistrates fearing God, and hating covetousness, 
 and not in their confining themselves, or being confined to men 
 of this or that party or profession. It consists in making the most 
 prudent and religious choice they can ; yet not in trusting to 
 men, but, next God, to their own orders. "Give us good men, 
 and they will make us good laws," is the maxim of a demagogue, 
 and is (through the alteration which is commonly perceivable 
 in men, when they have power to work their own wills) exceeding 
 
OCEANA. 69 
 
 fallible. But ''give us good orders, and they will make us 
 good men," is the maxim of a legislator, and the most infallible 
 in the politics. 
 
 But these divisions (however there be some good men that 
 look sadly on them) are trivial things ; first as to the civil con- 
 cern, because the government, whereof this nation is capable, 
 being once seen, takes in all interests. And, secondly, as to the 
 spiritual ; because as the pretence of religion has always been 
 turbulent in broken governments, so where the government has 
 been sound and steady, religion has never shown itself with 
 any other face than that of the natural sweetness and tran- 
 quillity ; nor is there any reason why it should, wherefore the 
 errors of the people are occasioned by their governors. If they 
 be doubtful of the way, or wander from it, it is because their 
 guides misled them ; and the guides of the people are never so 
 well qualified for leading by any virtue of their own, as by that 
 of the government. 
 
 The government of Oceana (as it stood at the time whereof 
 we discourse, consisting of one single council of the people, ex- 
 clusively of the king and the lords) was called a parliament : 
 nevertheless the parliaments of the Teutons and. of the 
 Neustrians consisted, as has been shown, of the king, lords and 
 commons ; wherefore this, under an old name, was a new . 
 ■thing : a 'parliament consisting of a single assembly elected by 
 the people, and invested with the whole power of the govern- 
 ment, without any covenants, conditions, or orders whatsoever. 
 So new a thing, that neither ancient nor modern prudence can 
 show'any avowed example of the like. And there is scarce any- 
 thing that seems to me so strange as that (whereas there was 
 nothing more familiar with these councillors than to bring the 
 Scripture to the house) there should not be a man of them that 
 so much as offered to bring the house to the Scripture, wherein, 
 as has been shown, is contained that original, whereof, all the 
 rest of the commonwealths seem to be copies. Certainly if 
 Leviathan (who is surer of nothing than that a popular common- 
 wealth consists but of one council) transcribed his doctrine out of 
 this. assembly, for him to except against Aristotle and Cicero for 
 writing out of their own commonwealths was not so fair play ; 
 or if the parliament transcribed out of him, it had been an 
 honour better due to Moses. But where one of them should 
 
70 OCEANA. 
 
 have an example but from the other, I cannot imagine, there 
 being nothing of this kind that I can find in story, but the 
 oligarchy of Athens, the thirty tyrants of the same, and the 
 Roman decemvirs. 
 
 For the oligarchy, Thucydides tells us, that it was a senate or 
 council of four hundred, pretending to a balancing council of 
 the people consisting of five thousand, but not producing them ; 
 wherein you have the definition of an oligarchy, which is a 
 single council both debating and resolving, dividing and 
 choosing, and what that must come to was shown by the 
 example of the girls, and is apparent by the experience of all 
 times ; wherefore the thirty set up by the Lacedemonians (when 
 they had conquered Athens) are called tyrants by all authors, 
 Leviathan only excepted, who will have them against all the 
 world to have been an aristocracy, but for what reason I cannot 
 imagine ; these also, as void of any balance, having been void of 
 that which is essential to every commonwealth, whether aristo- 
 cratical or popular ; except he be pleased with them, because 
 that, according to the testimony of Xenophon, they killed more 
 men in eight months than the Lacedemonians had done in ten 
 years: ''oppressing the people [to use Sir Walter Raleigh's 
 words] with all base and intolerable slavery." 
 
 The usurped government of the decemvirs in Rome was of 
 the same kind. Wherefore in the fear of God let Christian 
 legislators (setting the pattern given in the Mount on the one 
 side, and these execrable examples on the other) know the 
 right hand from the left ; and so much the rather, because those 
 things which do not conduce to the good of the governed are 
 fallacious, if they appear to be good for the governors. God, in 
 chastising a people, is accustomed to burn his rod. The empire 
 of these oligarchies was not so violent as short, nor did. they 
 fall upon the people, but in their own immediate ruin. A 
 council- without a balance is not a commonwealth, but an 
 oligarchy ; and every oligarchy, except it be put to the defence 
 of its wickedness or power against some outward danger, is 
 factious. Wherefore the errors of the people being from their 
 governors (which maxim in the politics bearing a sufficient 
 testimony to itself, is also proved by Machiavel), if the people of 
 Oceana have been factious, the cause is apparent, but what 
 remedy ? 
 
OCEANA. 71 
 
 In answer to this question, I come now to the army, of 
 which the most victorious captain and incomparable patriot, 
 Olphaus Megaletor, was now general, who being a much greater 
 master of that art whereof I have made a rough draft in 
 these preliminaries, had such sad reflections upon the ways and 
 proceedings of the parliament, as cast him upon books, and all 
 other means of diversion, among which he happened on this 
 place of Machiavel : " Thrice happy is that people which 
 chances to have a man able to give them such a government at 
 once, as without alteration may secure them of their liberties ; 
 seeing it was certain that Lacedemon, in observing the laws of 
 Lycurgus, continued about eight hundred years without any 
 dangerous tumult or corruption." My Lord General (as it is 
 said of Themistocles, that he could not sleep for the glory 
 obtained by Miltiades at the battle of Marathon) took so new and 
 deep an impression at these words of the much greater glory of 
 Lycurgus, that, being on this side assaulted with the emulation 
 of his illustrious object, and on the other with the misery of the 
 nation, which seemed (as it were ruined by his victory) to cast 
 itself at his feet, he was almost wholly deprived of his natural 
 rest, till the debate he had within himself came to a firm 
 resolution, that the greatest advantages of a commonwealth are, 
 first, that the legislator should be one man ; and, secondly, that 
 the government should be made all together, or at once. For 
 the first, it is certain, says Machiavel, that a commonwealth is 
 seldom or never well turned or constituted, except it has been 
 the work of one man ; for which cause a wise legislator, and 
 one whose mind is firmly set, not upon private but the public in- 
 terest, not upon his posterity but upon his country, may justly 
 endeavour to get the sovereign power into his own hands, nor 
 shall any man that is master of reason blame such extraordinary 
 means as in that case will be necessary, the end proving no 
 other than the constitution of a well-ordered commonwealth. 
 The reason of this is demonstrable ; for the ordinary means not 
 failing, the commonwealth has no need of a legislator, but the 
 ordinary means failing, there is no recourse to be had but to such 
 as are extraordinary. And, whereas a book or a building has not 
 been known to attain to its perfection if it has not had a sole 
 author or architect, a commonwealth, as to the fabric of it, is 
 of the like nature. And thus it may be made at once ; in which 
 
72 OCEANA. 
 
 there be great advantages ; for a commonwealth made at once, 
 takes security at the same time it lends money ; and trusts not 
 itself to the faith of men, but launches immediately forth into 
 the empire of laws, and, being set straight, brings the manners . 
 of its citizens to its rule, whence followed that uprightness 
 which was in Lacedemon. But manners that are rooted in men, 
 bow the tenderness of a commonwealth coming up by twigs to 
 their bent; whence followed the obliquity that was in Rome, 
 and those perpetual repairs by the consuls' axes, and tribunes' 
 hammers, which could never finish that commonwealth but in 
 destruction. 
 
 My Lord General being clear in these points, and of the 
 necessity of some other course than would be thought upon by 
 the parliament, appointed a meeting of the army, where he 
 spoke his sense, agreeable to these preliminaries with such 
 success to the soldiery, that the parliament was soon after 
 deposed ; and he himself, in the great hall of the pantheon or 
 palace of justice, situated in Emporium, the capital city, was 
 created by the universal suffrage of the army, Lord Archon, or 
 sole legislator of Oceana, upon which theatre you have, to 
 conclude this piece, a person introduced, whose fame shall 
 never draw its curtain. 
 
 The Lord Archon being created, fifty select persons to assist 
 him, by labouring in the mines of ancient prudence, and bring- 
 ing its hidden treasures to new light, were added, with the style 
 also of legislators, and sat as a council, whereof he was the sole 
 director and president. 
 
 II. THE COUNCIL OF LEGISLATORS. 
 
 Of this piece, being the greater half of the whole work, I shall 
 be able at this time to give no farther account, than very briefly 
 to show at what it aims. 
 
 My Lord Archon, in opening the council of legislators, made 
 it appear how unsafe a thing it is to follow fancy in the fabric 
 of a commonwealth ; and how necessary that the archives of 
 ancient prudence should be ransacked before any councillor 
 
OCEANA. i2> 
 
 should presume to offer any other matter in order to the work in 
 hand, or towards the consideration to be had by the council 
 upon a model of government. Wherefore he caused an urn to 
 be brought, and every one of the councillors to draw a lot. By 
 the lots as they were drawn, 
 
 The Commonwealth of Fell to 
 
 Israel Phosphorus de Auge. 
 
 Athens Xavarchus de Paralo. 
 
 Lacedemox Laco de Scytale. 
 
 Carthage Mago de Syrtibus. 
 
 The Ach-eans, /Etolians, and 
 
 LYCIANS Aratus de Isthmo. 
 
 The Switz Alpester de Fulmine. 
 
 Holland and the United 
 
 Provinces .... Glaucus de Ulna. 
 
 Rome Dolabella de Enyo. 
 
 Venice Lynceus de Stella. 
 
 These contained in them all those excellencies whereof a 
 ' commonwealth is capable ; so that to have added more had 
 been to no purpose. Upon time given to the councillors, by 
 their own studies and those of their friends, to prepare them- 
 selves, they were opened in the order, and by the persons 
 mentioned at the council of legislators, and afterwards by order 
 of the same were repeated at the council of the prytans to the 
 people ; for in drawing of the lots, there were about a dozen of 
 them inscribed with the letter P, whereby the councillors that 
 drew them became prytans. 
 
 The prytans were a committee or council sitting in the great 
 hall of Pantheon, to whom it was lawful for any man to offer 
 anything in order to the fabric of the commonwealth ; for which 
 cause, that they might not be oppressed by the throng, there 
 was a rail about the table where they sat, and on each side of 
 the same a pulpit ; that on the right hand for any man that 
 would propose anything, and that on the left for any other that 
 would oppose him. And all parties (being indemnified by 
 proclamation of the Archon) were invited to dispute their own 
 interests, or propose whatever they thought fit (in order to tire 
 future government) to the council of the prytans, who, having a 
 guard of about two or three hundred men, lest the heat of 
 dispute might break the peace, had the right of moderators, and 
 
74 OCEANA. 
 
 were to report from time to time such propositions or occur- 
 rences as they thought fit, to the council of legislators sitting 
 more privately in the palace called Alma. 
 
 This was that which made the people (who were neither 
 safely to be admitted, nor conveniently to be excluded in the 
 framing of the commonwealth) verily believe, when it came 
 forth, that it was no other than that whereof they themselves 
 had been the makers. • 
 
 Moreover, this council sat divers months after the publishing^ 
 and during the promulgation of the model to the people ; by 
 which means there is scarce anything was said or written for 
 or against the said model but you shall have it with the next 
 impression of this work, by way of oration addressed to and 
 moderated by the prytans. 
 
 By this means the council of legislators had their necessary 
 solitude and due aim in their greater work, as being acquainted 
 from time to time with the pulse of the people, and yet without 
 any manner of interruption or disturbance. 
 
 Wherefore every commonwealth in its place having been 
 opened by due method, that is, first, by the people ; secondly, 
 by the senate ; and, thirdly, by the magistracy ; the council 
 upon mature debate took such results or orders out of each, and 
 out of every part of each of them, as upon opening the same 
 they thought fit ; which being put from time to time in writing 
 by the clerk or secretary, there remained no more in the con- 
 clusion, than putting the orders so taken together, to view and 
 examine them with a diligent eye, that it might be clearly 
 discovered whether they did interfere, or could anywise come 
 to interfere or jostle one with the other. For as such orders 
 jostling, or coming to jostle one another, are the certain dissolu- 
 tion of the commonwealth, so, taken upon the proof of like 
 experience, and neither jostling, nor showing which way they 
 can possibly come to jostle one another, they make a perfect, 
 and (for aught that in human prudence can be foreseen) an 
 immortal commonwealth. 
 
 And such was the art whereby my Lord Archon (taking 
 council of the commonwealth of Israel, as of Moses ; and of the 
 rest of the commonwealths, as of Jethro) framed the model ol 
 the commonwealth of Oceana. 
 
OCEANA. 75 
 
 III. THE MODEL OF THE COMMONWEALTH 
 OF OCEANA. 
 
 Whereas my Lord Archon, being from Moses and Lycurgus 
 the first legislator that hitherto is found in history to have intro- 
 duced or erected an entire commonwealth at once, happened, 
 like them also, to be more intent upon putting the same into 
 execution or action, than into writing ; by which means the 
 model came to be promulgated or published with more brevity 
 and less illustration than is necessary for their understanding 
 who have not been acquainted with the whole proceedings of the 
 council of legislators, and of the prytans, where it was asserted 
 and cleared from all objections and doubts : to the end that I 
 may supply what was wanting in the promulgated epitome to a 
 more full and perfect narrative of the whole, I shall rather take 
 the commonwealth practically ; and as it has now given an 
 account of itself in some years' revolutions (as Dicearchus is said 
 to have done that of Lacedemon, first transcribed by his hand 
 some three or four hundred years after the institution), yet not 
 omitting to add for proof to every order such debates and 
 speeches of the legislators in their council, or at least such parts 
 of them as may best discover the reason of the government ; nor 
 such ways and means as were used in the institution or rise of 
 the building, not to be soAvell conceived, without some knowledge 
 given of the engines wherewithal the mighty weight was moved. 
 But through the entire omission of the council of legislators or 
 workmen that squared every stone to this structure in the quarries 
 of ancient prudence, the proof of the first part of this discourse 
 will be lame, except I insert, as well for illustration as to 
 avoid frequent repetition, three remarkable testimonies in this 
 place. 
 
 The first is taken out of the commonwealth of Israel : "So 
 Moses hearkened to the voice of Jethro, his father-in-law, and did 
 all that he had said. And Moses chose able men out of all Israel, 
 and made them heads over the people ;" tribunes, as it is in the 
 vulgar Latin; or phylarchs, that is, princes'of the tribes, sitting 
 upon twelve thrones, and judging the twelve tribes of Israel; 
 and next to these he chose rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, 
 
76 OCEANA. 
 
 rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens, which were the steps and rise 
 of this commonwealth from its foundation or root to its proper 
 elevation or accomplishment in the Sanhedrim, and the congre- 
 gation, already opened in the preliminaries. 
 
 The second is taken out of Lacedemon, as Lycurgus (for the 
 greater impression of his institutions upon the minds of his 
 citizens) pretended to have received the model of that common- 
 wealth from the oracle of Apollo at Delphos, the words whereof 
 are thus recorded by Plutarch in the life of that famous legislator : 
 " When thou shalt have divided the people into tribes [which 
 were six] and obas [which were five in every tribe], thou shalt 
 constitute the senate, consisting, with the two kings, of thirty 
 councillors, who, according as occasion requires, shall cause the 
 congregation to be assembled between the bridge and the river 
 Gnacion, where the senate shall propose to the people, and 
 dismiss them without suffering them to debate." The ob<x were 
 lineages into which every tribe was divided, and in each tribe 
 there was another division containing all those of the same that 
 were of military age ; which being called the mora, was sub- 
 divided into troops and companies that were kept in perpetual 
 discipline under the command of a magistrate called the 
 polemarch. 
 
 The third is taken out of the commonwealth of Rome, or those 
 parts of it which are comprised in the first and second books of 
 Livy, where the people, according tolhe institution by Romulus, 
 are first divided into thirty curias or parishes, whereof he elected, 
 by three out of each curia, the senate, which, from his reign to that 
 of Servius Tullus, proposed to the parishes or parochial congrega^ 
 tions ; and these being called iheco/uifia curiata, had the election 
 of the kings, the confirmation of their laws, and the last appeal 
 iri matters of judicature, as appears in the case of Horatius that 
 killed his sister; till, in the reign of Servius (Tor the other kings 
 kept not to the institution of Romulus), the people being grown 
 somewhat, the power of the curiata was for the greater part 
 translated to the centuriata comitia instituted by this king, which 
 distributed the people, according to the sense or valuation of 
 their estates, into six classes, every one containing about forty 
 centuries, divided into youth and elders ; the youth for field- 
 service, 'the elders for the defence of their territory, all armed 
 and under continual discipline, in which they assembled both 
 
OCEANA. 77 
 
 upon military and civil occasions. But when the senate pro- 
 posed to the people, the horse only, whereof there were twelve 
 centuries, consisting of the richest sort over and above those of 
 the foot enumerated, were called with the first classes of the foot 
 to the suffrage ; or if these accorded not, then the second classes 
 were called to them, but seldom or never any of the rest. 
 Wherefore the people, after the expulsion of the kings, growing 
 impatient of this inequality, rested not till they had reduced the 
 suffrage as it had been in the comitia curiata to the whole people 
 again ; but in another way, that is to say, by the comitia tribute, 
 which thereupon were instituted, being a council where the 
 people in exigencies made laws without the senate, which laws 
 were called plebiscites. This council is that in regard whereof 
 Cicero and other great wits so frequently inveigh against the . 
 people, and sometimes even Livy, as at the first institution of it. 
 To say the truth, it was a kind of anarchy, whereof the people 
 could not be excusable, if there had not, through the courses 
 taken by the senate, been otherwise a necessity that they must 
 have seen the commonwealth run into oligarchy. 
 
 The manner how the comitia curiata, centuriata or tributa 
 were called, during the time of the commonwealth, to the 
 su ft rage, was by lot : the atria, century, or tribe, whereon the 
 first lot fell, being styled principium, or the prerogative ; and 
 the other curia', centuries or tribes, whereon the second, third, 
 and fourth lots, &c, fell, the jure vocatce. From henceforth not 
 the first classes, as in the times of Servius, but the prerogative, 
 whether curia, century, or tribe, came first to the suffrage, whose 
 vote was called omen preerogativuin, and seldom failed to be 
 leading to therest of the tribes. The jure vocatce, in the order 
 of their lots, came next : the manner of giving suffrage was, by 
 casting wooden tablets, marked for the affirmative or the nega- 
 tive, into certain urns standing upon a scaffold, as they marched 
 over it in files, which for the resemblance it bore was called 
 the bridge. The candidate, or competitor, who had most 
 suffrages in a curia, century, or tribe, was said to have that 
 curia, century, or tribe ; and he who had most of the curiw, 
 centuries, or tribes, carried the magistracy. 
 
 These three places being premised, as such upon which there 
 will be frequent reflection, I come to the narrative, divided into 
 two parts, the first containing the institution, the second the 
 
7 8 OCEANA. 
 
 constitution of the commonwealth, in each whereof I shall 
 distinguish the orders, as those which contain the whole model, 
 from the rest of the discourse, which tends only to the explana- 
 tion or proof of them. 
 
 In the institution or building of a commonwealth, the first 
 work, as that of builders, can be no other than fitting and 
 distributing the materials. 
 
 The materials of a commonwealth are the people, and the 
 people of Oceana were distributed by casting them into certain 
 divisions, regarding their quality, their age, their wealth, and the 
 places of their residence or habitation, which was done by the 
 ensuing orders. 
 
 The first order " distributes the people into freemen or citizens 
 and servants, while such ; for if they attain to liberty, that is, to 
 live of themselves, they are freemen or citizens." 
 
 This order needs no proof, in regard of the nature of servitude, 
 which is inconsistent with freedom, or participation of govern- 
 ment in a commonwealth. 
 
 The second order " distributes citizens into youth and elders 
 (such as are from eighteen years of age to thirty, being accounted 
 youth ; and such as are of thirty and upwards, elders), and estab- 
 lishes that the youth shall be the marching armies, and the elders 
 the standing garrisons of this nation." 
 
 A commonwealth, whose arms are in the hands of her 
 servants, had need be situated, as is elegantly said of Venice by 
 Contarini, out of the reach of their clutches ; witness the clanger 
 run by that of Carthage in the rebellion of Spendius and 
 Matho. But though a city, if one swallow makes a summer, 
 may thus chance to be safe, yet shall it never be great ; for if 
 Carthage or Venice acquired any fame in their arms, it is known 
 to have happened through the mere virtue of their captains, and 
 not of their orders ; wherefore Israel, Lacedemon, and Rome 
 entailed their arms upon the prime of their citizens, divided, at 
 least in Lacedemon and Rome, into youth and elders : the youth 
 for the field, and the elders for defence of the territory. 
 
 The third order "distributes the citizens into horse and foot 
 by the sense or valuation of their estates ; they who have above 
 one hundred pounds a year in lands, goods, or monies, being 
 obliged to be of the horse, and they who have under that sum, 
 to be of the foot. But if a man has prodigally wasted and spent 
 
OCEANA. 79 
 
 his patrimony, he is neither capable of magistracy, office, or 
 suffrage in the commonwealth." 
 
 Citizens are not only to defend the commonwealth, but 
 according to their abilities, as the Romans under Servius Tullus 
 (regard had to their estates), were some enrolled in the horse 
 centuries, and others of the foot, with arms enjoined accordingly; 
 nor could it be otherwise in the rest of the commonwealths, 
 though out of historical remains, that are so much darker, it be 
 not so clearly probable. And the necessary prerogative to be 
 given by a commonwealth to estates, is in some measure in the 
 nature of industry, and the use of it to the public. " The Roman 
 people," says Julius Exuperantius, " were divided into classes, 
 and taxed according to the value of their estates. All that were 
 worth the sums appointed were employed in the wars ; for they 
 most eagerly contend for the victory, who fight for liberty in 
 defence of their country and possessions. But the poorer sort 
 were polled only for their heads (which was all they had), and 
 kept in garrison at home in time of war ; for these might betray 
 the armies for bread, by reason of their poverty, which is the 
 reason that Marius, to whom the care of the government ought 
 not to have been committed, was the first that led them into the 
 field ;" and his success was accordingly. There is a mean in 
 things ; as exorbitant riches overthrow the balance of a common- 
 wealth, so extreme poverty cannot hold it, nor is by any means 
 to be trusted with it. The clause in the order concerning the 
 prodigal is Athenian, and a very laudable one ; for he that could 
 not live upon his patrimony, if he comes to touch the public 
 money, makes a commonwealth bankrupt. 
 
 The fourth order " distributes the people according to the 
 places of their habitation, into parishes, hundreds, and tribes." 
 
 For except the people be methodically distributed, they cannot 
 be methodically collected ; but the being of a commonwealth 
 consists in the methodical collection of the people : wherefore 
 you have the Israelitish divisions into rulers of thousands, of 
 hundreds, of fifties, and of tens ; and of the whole common- 
 wealth into tribes : the Laconic into obas, moras, and tribes ; 
 the Roman into tribes, centuries, and classes ; and something 
 there must of necessity be in every government of the like 
 nature, as that in the late monarchy — by counties. But this 
 being the only institution in Oceana, except that of the Agrarian, 
 
So OCEANA. 
 
 which required any charge or included any difficulty, engages 
 me to a more particular description of the manner how it was 
 performed, as follows. 
 
 A thousand surveyors, commissioned and instructed by the 
 Lord Archon and the council, being divided into two equal 
 numbers, each under the inspection of two surveyors-general, 
 were distributed into the northern and southern parts of the 
 territory, divided by the river Hemisua, the whole whereof 
 contains about ten thousand parishes, some ten of those being 
 assigned to each surveyor ; for as to this matter there needed 
 no great exactness, it tending only, by showing whither every 
 one was to repair and whereabout to begin, to the more 
 orderly carrying on of the work ; the nature of their instructions 
 otherwise regarding rather the number of the inhabitants than 
 of the parishes. The surveyors, therefore, being every one 
 furnished with a convenient proportion of urns, balls, and 
 balloting-boxes — in the use whereof they had been formerly 
 exercised — and now arriving each at his respective parishes, 
 began with the people by teaching them their first lesson, which 
 was the ballot ; and though they found them in the beginning 
 .somewhat froward, as at toys, with which, while they were in 
 expectation of greater matters from a council of legislators, 
 they conceived themselves to be abused, they came within a 
 little while to think them pretty sport, and at length such as 
 might very soberly be used in good earnest ; whereupon the 
 surveyors began the institution included in 
 
 The first order, requiring, " That upon the first Monday next 
 ensuing the last of December the bigger bell in every parish 
 throughout the nation be rung at eight of the clock in the 
 morning, and continue ringing for the space of one hour ; and 
 that all the elders of the parish respectively repair to the 
 church before the bell has done ringing, where, dividing them- 
 selves into two equal numbers, or as near equal as may be, they 
 shall take their places according to their dignities, if they be 
 of divers qualities, and according to their seniority, if they be 
 of the same, the one half on the one side, and the other half on 
 the other, in the body of the church, which done, they shall 
 make oath to the overseers of the parish for the time being 
 [instead of these the surveyors were to officiate at the institution 
 or first assembly] by holding up their hands, to make a fair 
 
OCEANA. Si 
 
 election according to the laws of the ballot, as they are 
 hereafter explained, of such persons, amounting to a fifth part 
 of their whole number, to be their deputies, and to exercise their 
 power in manner hereafter explained, as they shall think in 
 their consciences to be fittest for that trust, and will acquit 
 themselves of it to the best advantage of the commonwealth. 
 And oath being thus made, they shall proceed to election, if the 
 elders of the parish amount to one thousand by the ballot of the 
 tribe, as it is in due place explained, and if the elders of the parish 
 amount to fifty or upwards, but within the number of one thou- 
 sand, by the ballot of the hundred, as it is in due place explained. 
 But, if the elders amount not to fifty, then they shall proceed to 
 the ballot of the parish, as it is in this place and after this manner 
 explained. The two overseers for the time being shall seat 
 themselves at the upper end of the middle alley, with a table 
 before them, their faces being towards the congregation, and 
 the constable for the time being shall set an urn before the 
 table, into which he shall put so many balls as there be elders 
 present, whereof there shall be one that is gilded, the rest being 
 white ; and when the constable has shaken the urn, sufficiently 
 to mix the balls, the overseers shall call the elders to the urn, 
 who from each side of the church shall come up the middle 
 alley in two files, every man passing by the urn, and drawing out 
 one ball ; which, if it be silver, he shall cast into a bowl 
 standing at the foot of the urn, and return by the outward alley 
 on his side to his place. But he who draws the golden ball is 
 the proposer, and shall be seated between the overseers, where 
 he shall begin in what order he pleases, and name such as, 
 upon his oath already taken, he conceives fittest to be chosen, 
 one by one, to the elders ; and the party named shall withdraw 
 while the congregation is balloting his name by the double box 
 or boxes appointed and marked on the outward part, to show 
 which side is affirmative and which negative, being carried by 
 a boy or boys appointed by the overseers, to every one of the 
 elders, who shall hold up a pellet made of linen rags between 
 his finger and his thumb, and put it after such a manner into 
 the box, as though no man can see into which side he puts i», 
 yet any man may see that he puts in but one pellet or suffrage. 
 And the suffrage of the congregation being thus given, shall be 
 returned with the box or boxes to the overseers, who opening 
 
82 OCEANA. 
 
 the same, shall pour the affirmative balls into a white bowl 
 standing upon the table on the right hand, to be numbered by 
 the first overseer ; and the negative into a green bowl standing 
 on the left hand, to be numbered by the second overseer ; and 
 the suffrages being numbered, he who has the major part in the 
 affirmative is one of the deputies of the parish, and when so 
 many deputies are chosen as amount to a full fifth part of the 
 whole number of the elders, the ballot for that time shall cease. 
 The deputies being chosen are to be listed by the overseers in 
 order as they were chosen, except only that such as are horse 
 must be listed in the first place with the rest, proportionable to 
 the number of the congregation, after this manner : 
 
 Anno Domini. 
 The List of the First Mover. 
 
 A. A., Equestrian Order, \ of ihe parish of in the hun- 
 
 ist Deputy. I died of and the tribe of 
 
 B. B. , 2nd Deputy. which parish at the present 
 
 C. C, 3rd Deputy. f election contains twenty elders, 
 
 D. D , 4th Deputy. whereof one is of the horse or 
 
 E. E., 5th Deputy. J equestrian order. 
 
 " The first and second in the list are overseers by consequence ; 
 the third is the constable, and the fourth and fifth are church- 
 wardens ; the persons so chosen are deputies of the parish for 
 the space of one year from their election, and no longer, nor 
 may they be elected two years together. This list, being the 
 firitmtm mobile, or first mover of the commonwealth, is to 
 be registered in a book diligently kept and preserved by the 
 overseers, who are responsible in their places, for these and 
 other duties to be hereafter mentioned, to the censors of the 
 tribe ; and the congregation is to observe the present order, as 
 they will answer the contrary to the phylarch, or prerogative 
 troop of the tribe, which, in case of failure in the whole or any 
 part of it, have power to fine them or any of them at discretion, 
 but under an appeal to the parliament." 
 
 For proof of this order ; first, in reason : it is with all poli- 
 ticians past dispute that paternal power is in the right of Nature ; 
 and this is no other than the derivation of power from fathers 
 of families as the natural root of a commonwealth. And for 
 
OCEANA. 83 
 
 experience, if it be otherwise in that of Holland, I know no other 
 example of the like kind. In Israel, the sovereign power came 
 clearly from the natural root, the elders of the whole people ; 
 and Rome was born, comitiiscuriatis, in her parochial congrega- 
 tions, out of which Romulus first raised her senate, then all the 
 rest of the orders of that commonwealth, which rose so high : 
 for the depth of a commonwealth is the just height of it. 
 
 She raises up her head unto the skies, 
 Near as her root unto the centre lies. 
 
 And if the commonwealth of Rome was born of thirty parishes, 
 this of Oceana was born of ten thousand. But whereas men- 
 tion in the birth of this is made of an equestrian order, it may 
 startle such as know that the division of the people of Rome, at 
 the institution of that commonwealth into orders, was the occasion 
 of its ruin. The distinction of the patrician as an hereditary 
 order from the very institution, engrossing all the magistracies, 
 was indeed the destruction of Rome ; but to a knight or one of 
 the equestrian order, says Horace, 
 
 Si quadringentis sex septem millia desunt, 
 Plebs eris. 
 
 By which it should seem that this order was not otherwise 
 hereditary than a man's estate, nor did it give any claim to 
 magistracy ; wherefore you shall never find that it disquieted 
 the commonwealth, nor does the name denote any more in 
 Oceana than the duty of such a man's estate to the public. 
 
 But the surveyors, both in this place and in others, forasmuch 
 as they could not observe all the circumstances of this order, 
 especially that of the time of election, did for the first as well 
 as they could; and, the elections being made and registered, 
 took each of them copies of those lists which were within their 
 allotments, which done they produced 
 
 The sixth order, directing, '' In case a parson or vicar of a 
 parish comes to be removed by death or by the censors, that the 
 congregation of the parish assemble and depute one or two 
 elders by the ballot, who upon the charge of the parish shall 
 repair to one of the universities of this nation with a certificate 
 signed by the overseers, and addressed to the Vice-Chancellor, 
 which certificate, giving notice of the death or removal of the 
 
84 OCEANA. 
 
 parson or vicar, of the value of the parsonage or vicarage, and 
 of the desire of the congregation to receive a probationer from 
 that university, the Vice Chancellor, upon the receipt thereof, 
 shall call a convocation, and having made choice of a fit person, 
 shall return him in due time to the parish, where the person so 
 returned shall return the full fruits of the benefice or vicarage, 
 and do the duty of the parson or vicar, for the space of one 
 year, as probationer ; and that being expired, the congregation 
 of the elders shall put their probationer to the ballot, and if he 
 attains not to two parts in three of the suffrage affirmative, he 
 shall take his leave of the parish, and they shall send in like 
 manner as before for another probationer ; but if their proba- 
 tioner obtains two parts in three of the suffrage affirmative, he 
 is then pastor of that parish. And the pastor of the parish 
 shall pray with the congregation, preach the Word, and ad- 
 minister the sacraments to the same, according to the directory 
 to be hereafter appointed by the parliament. Nevertheless such 
 as are of gathered congregations, or from time to time shall join 
 with any of them, are in nowise obliged to this way of electing 
 their teachers, or to give their votes in this case, but wholly left 
 to the liberty of their own consciences, and to that way of 
 worship which they shall choose, being not Popish, Jewish, or 
 idolatrous. And to the end they may be the better protected by 
 the State in the exercise of the same, they are desired to make 
 choice, and such manner as they best like, of certain magistrates 
 in every one of their congregations, which we could wish might 
 be four in each of them, to be auditors in cases of differences 
 or distaste, if any through variety of opinions, that may be griev- 
 ous or injurious to them, shall fall out. And such auditors or 
 magistrates shall have power to examine the matter, and inform 
 themselves, to the end that if they think it of sufficient weight, 
 they may acquaint the phylarch with it, or introduce it into the 
 council of religion ; where all such causes as those magistrates 
 introduce shall from time be heard and determined according 
 to such laws as are or shall hereafter be provided by the 
 parliament for the just defence of the liberty of conscience." 
 
 This order consists of three parts, the first restoring the 
 power of ordination to the people, which, that it originally 
 belongs to them, is clear, though not in English yet in Scripture, 
 where the Apostles ordained elders by the holding up of hands 
 
OCEANA. 85 
 
 in every congregation, that is, by the suffrage of the people, 
 which was also given in some of those cities by the ballot. 
 And though it may be shown that the Apostles ordained some 
 by the laying on of hands, it will not be shown that they did so 
 in every congregation. 
 
 Excommunication, as not clearly provable out of the Scripture, 
 being omitted, the second part of the order implies and estab- 
 lishes a national religion ; for there be degrees of knowledge 
 in divine things ; true religion is not to be learnt without 
 searching the Scripture ; the Scriptures cannot be searched by 
 us unless we have them to search ; and if we have nothing else, 
 or (which is all one) understand nothing else but a translation, 
 we may be (as in the place alleged we have been) beguiled or 
 misled by the translation, while we should be searching the true 
 sense of the Scripture, which cannot be attained in a natural 
 way (and a commonwealth is not to presume upon that which is 
 supernatural) but by the knowledge of the original and of anti- 
 quity, acquired by our own studies, or those of some others, for 
 even faith comes by hearing. Wherefore a commonwealth 'not 
 making provision of men from time to time, knowing in the 
 original languages wherein the Scriptures were written, and 
 versed in those antiquities to which they so frequently relate, 
 that the true sense of them depends in great part upon that know- 
 ledge, can never be secure that she shall not lose the Scripture, 
 and by consequence her religion ; which to preserve she must 
 institute some method of this knowledge, and some use of such 
 as have acquired it, which amounts to a national religion. 
 
 The commonwealth having thus performed her duty towards 
 God, as. a rational creature, by the best application of her reason 
 to Scripture, and for the preservation of religion in the purity of 
 the same, yet pretends not to infallibilty, but comes in the third 
 part of the order, establishing liberty of conscience according to 
 the instructions given to her council of religion, to raise up her 
 hands to heaven for further light; in which proceeding she 
 follows that (as was shown in the preliminaries) of Israel, who, 
 though her national religion was always a part of her civil law, 
 gave to her prophets the upper hand of all her orders. 
 
 But the surveyors having now done with the parishes, took 
 their leaves ; so a parish is the first division of land occasioned 
 by the first collection of the people of Oceana, whose fiinc- 
 
86- OCEANA. 
 
 tion proper to that place is comprised in the six preceding 
 orders. 
 
 The next step in the progress of the surveyors was to a 
 meeting of the nearest of them, as their work lay, by twenties ; 
 where conferring their lists, and computing the deputies 
 contained therein, as the number of them in parishes, being 
 nearest neighbours, amounted to one hundred, or as even as 
 might conveniently be brought with that account, they cast 
 them and those parishes into the precinct which (be the deputies 
 ever since more or fewer) is still called the hundred ; and to 
 every one of these precincts they appointed a certain place, being 
 the most convenient town within the same, for the annual ren- 
 dezvous ; which done, each surveyor, returning to his hundred, 
 and summoning the deputies contained in his lists to the 
 rendezvous, they appeared and received 
 
 The seventh order, requiring, " That upon the first Monday 
 next ensuing the last of January, the deputies of every parish 
 annually assemble in arms at the rendezvous of the hundred, 
 and there elect out of their number one justice of the peace, one 
 juryman, one captain, one ensign of their troop or century, each 
 of these out of the horse ; and one juryman, one coroner, one 
 high constable, out of the foot ; the election to be made by the 
 ballot in this manner. The jurymen for the time being are to 
 be overseers of the ballot (instead of these, the surveyors are to 
 officiate at the first assembly), and to look to the performance of 
 the same according to what was directed in the ballot of the 
 parishes, saving that the high constable setting forth the. urn, 
 shall have five several suits of gold balls, and one dozen of 
 every suit ; whereof the first shall be marked with the letter A, 
 the second with the letter B, the third with C, the fourth with D, 
 and the fifth with E : and of each of these suits he shall cast 
 one ball into his hat, or into a little urn, and shaking the balls 
 together, present them to the first overseer, who shall draw one, 
 and the suit which is so drawn by the overseer shall be of use 
 for that day, and no other; for example, if the overseer drew 
 an A, the high constable shall put seven gold balls marked 
 with the letter A into the urn, with so many silver ones as shall 
 bring them even with the number of the deputies, who being 
 sworn, as before, at the ballot of the parish to make a fair 
 election, shall be called to the urn ; and every man coming in 
 
OCEANA. 87 
 
 manner as was there shown, shall draw one ball, which if it be 
 silver, he shall cast it into a bowl standing at the foot of the 
 urn, and return to his place : but the first that draws a gold ball 
 (showing it to the overseers, who if it has not the letter of the 
 present ballot, have power to apprehend and punish him) is 
 the first elector, the second the second elector, and so to the 
 seventh ; which order they are to observe in their function. 
 The electors as they are drawn shall be placed upon the bench 
 by the overseers, till the whole number be complete, and then 
 be conducted, with the list of the officers to be chosen, into 
 a place apart, where, being private, the first elector shall name 
 a person to the first office in the list ; and if the person so 
 named, being balloted by the rest of the electors, attains not to 
 the better half of the suffrages in the affirmative, the first 
 elector shall continue nominating others, till one of them so 
 nominated by him attains to the plurality of the suffrages 
 in the affirmative, and be written first competitor to the first 
 office. This done, the second elector shall observe in his turn 
 the like order ; and so the rest of the electors, naming 
 competitors each to his respective office in the list, till one 
 competitor be chosen to every office : and when one com- 
 petitor is chosen to every office, the first elector shall begin 
 again to name a second competitor to the first office, and the 
 rest successively shall name to the rest of the offices till two 
 competitors be chosen to every office ; the like shall be repeated 
 till three competitors be chosen to every office. And when three 
 competitors are chosen to every office, the list shall be returned 
 to the overseers, or such as the overseers, in case they or either 
 of them happened to be electors, have substituted in his or 
 their place or places ; and the overseers or substitutes having 
 caused the list to be read to the congregation, shall put the 
 competitors, in order as they are written, to the ballot of the 
 congregation ; and the rest of the proceedings being carried on 
 in the manner directed in the fifth order, that competitor, of the 
 three written to each office, who has most of the suffrages 
 above half in the affirmative, is the officer. The list being 
 after this manner completed, shall be entered into a register, to 
 be kept at the rendezvous of the hundred, under inspection of 
 the magistrates of the same, after the manner following : 
 
OCEANA. 
 
 A into Domini. 
 The List of the Nebulosa. 
 
 A. A., Equestrian Order, 
 
 Justice of the Peace. 
 
 13. B., Equestrian Order, 
 First Juryman. 
 
 C. C, Equestrian Order 
 
 of the hundred of 
 
 the tribe of which 
 
 Captain of the Hundred. ) , , , 
 
 . ^ , f hundred consists at this 
 
 D. D., Equestrian Order, 
 
 Ensign. 
 
 E. E„ Second Juryman 
 
 F. F., High Constable. 
 
 G. G., Coroner. / 
 
 election of 105 Deputies. 
 
 " The list being entered, the high constable shall take three 
 copies of the same, whereof he shall presently return one to the 
 lord high sheriff of the tribe, a second to the lord custos 
 rotulorum, and a third to the censors ; or these, through the 
 want of such magistrates at the - first muster, may be returned to 
 the orator, to be appointed for that tribe. To the observation 
 of all and every part of this order, the officers and deputies of 
 the hundred are all and every of them obliged, as they will 
 answer it to the phylarch, who has power, in case of failure in 
 the whole or any part, to fine all or any of them so failing at 
 discretion, or according to such laws as shall hereafter be 
 provided in that case, but under an appeal to the parliament." 
 
 There is little in this order worthy of any further account, but 
 that it answers to the rulers of hundreds in Israel, to the mora or 
 military part of the tribe in Lacedemon, and to the century in 
 Rome. The jurymen, being two in a hundred, and so forty in 
 a tribe, give the latitude allowed by the law for exceptions. 
 And whereas the golden balls at this ballot begin to be marked 
 with letters, whereof one is to be drawn immediately before it 
 begins, this is to the end that the letter being unknown, men 
 may be frustrated of tricks or foul play, whereas otherwise a 
 man may bring a golden ball with him, and make as if he had 
 drawn it out of the urn. The surveyors, when they had taken 
 copies of these lists, had accomplished their work in the 
 hundreds. 
 
OCEANA. So 
 
 So a hundred is the second division of land occasioned by 
 the second collection of the people, whose civil and military- 
 functions proper to this place are comprised in the foregoing 
 order. 
 
 Having stated the. hundreds, they met once again by twenties, 
 where there was nothing more easy than to cast every twenty 
 hundreds, as they lay most conveniently together, into one 
 tribe ; so the whole territory of Oceana, consisting of about ten 
 thousand parishes, came to be cast into one thousand hundreds, 
 and into fifty tribes. In every tribe at the place appointed for 
 the annual rendezvous of the same, were then, or soon after, 
 begun those buildings which are now called pavilions; each of 
 of them standing with one open side upon fair columns, like the 
 porch of some ancient temple, and looking into a field capable 
 of the muster of some four thousand men ; before each pavilion 
 stand three pillars sustaining urns for the ballot, that on the 
 right hand equal in height to the brow of a horseman, being 
 called .the horse urn, that on the left hand, with bridges on 
 either side to bring it equal in height with the brow of a 
 footman, being called the foot urn, and the middle urn, with a 
 bridge on the side towards the foot urn, the other side, as left 
 for the horse, being without one ; and here ended the whole 
 work of the surveyors, who returned to the Lord Archon with 
 this 
 
 Account of the Charge. 
 
 Imprimis, Urns, balls, and balloting-boxes 
 for ten thousand parishes, the same being 
 wooden ware . . . . • £20,000 
 
 Item, Provisions of the like kind for a thousand 
 hundreds 3,000 
 
 Item, Urns and balls of metal, with balloting- 
 boxes for fifty tribes 2,000 
 
 Item, For erecting of fifty pavilions . . 60,000 
 
 Item, Wages for four surveyors -general at 
 
 j£iooo a man ...... 4,000 
 
 Item, Wages for the rest of the surveyors, 
 
 being 1000, at £250 a man .... 250,000 
 
 Sum total . . .£339,000 
 
 This is no great matter of charge for the building of a com- 
 monwealth, in regard that it has cost (which was pleaded by the 
 
9 o OCEANA. 
 
 surveyors) as much to rig a few ships. Nevertheless that 
 proves not them to be honest, nor their account to be just ; but 
 they had their money for once, though their reckoning be 
 plainly guilty of a crime, to cost him his neck that commits it 
 another time, it being impossible for a commonwealth (without 
 an exact provision that it be not abused in this kind) to subsist ; 
 for if no regard should be had of the charge (though that may 
 go deep), yet the debauchery and corruption whereto, by 
 negligence in accounts, it infallibly exposes its citizens, and 
 thereby lessens the public faith, which is the nerve and 
 ligament of government, ought to be prevented. But the sur- 
 veyors being despatched, the Lord Archon was very curious in 
 giving names to his tribes, which having caused to be written in 
 scrolls cast into an urn, and presented to the councillors, each of 
 them drew one, and was accordingly sent to the tribe in his lot, 
 as orators of the same, a magistracy no otherwise instituted, 
 than for once and pro tempore, to the end that the council upon 
 so great an occasion might both congratulate with the tribes, 
 and assist at the first muster in some things of necessity to be 
 differently carried from the established administration and 
 future course of the commonwealth. 
 
 The orators being arrived, every one as soon as might be, at 
 the rendezvous of his tribe, gave notice to the hundreds, and 
 summoned the muster, which appeared for the most part upon 
 good horses, and already indifferently well armed ; as to instance 
 in one for all, the tribe of Nubia, where Hermes de Caduceo, 
 lord orator of the same, after a short salutation and a hearty 
 welcome, applied himself to his business, which began with 
 
 The eighth order, requiring, " That the lord high sheriff as 
 commander-in-chief, and the lord custos rotulorum as muster- 
 master of- the tribe (or the orator for the first muster), upon re- 
 ception of the lists of their hundreds, returned to them by the 
 high constables of the same, presently cause them to be cast up, 
 dividing the horse from the foot, and listing the horse by their 
 names in troops, each troop containing about a hundred in 
 number, to be inscribed, first, second or third troop, &c, accord- 
 ing to the order agreed upon by the said magistrates ; which 
 done, they shall list the foot in like manner, and inscribe the 
 companies in like order. These lists upon the eve of the 
 muster shall be delivered to certain trumpeters and drummers, 
 
OCEANA. 91 
 
 whereof there shall be fifteen of each sort (as well for the 
 present as otherwise to be hereafter mentioned) stipendiated by 
 the tribe. And the trumpeters and drummers shall be in the 
 field before the pavilion, upon the day of the muster, so soon as 
 it is light, where they shall stand every one with his list in his 
 hand, at a due distance, placed according to the order of the 
 list, the trumpeters with the lists of the horse on the right hand, 
 and the drummers with the lists of the foot on the left hand ; 
 where having sounded a while, each of them shall begin to call 
 and continue calling the names of the deputies, as they come into 
 the field, till both the horse and foot be gathered by that means 
 into their due order. The horse and foot being in order, the lord 
 lieutenant of the tribe shall cast so many gold balls marked 
 with the figures, 1, 2, 3, 4, &c, as there be troops of horse in the 
 field, together with so many silver balls as there be companies, 
 marked in the same manner, into a little urn, to which he shall 
 call the captains ; and the captains drawing the gold balls shall 
 command the horse, and those that draw' the silver the foot, 
 each in the order of his lot. The like shall be done by the con- 
 ductor at the same time for the ensigns at another urn ; and 
 they that draw the gold balls shall be cornets, the left ensigns." 
 
 This order may puzzle the reader, but tends to a wonderful 
 speed of the muster, to which it would be a great matter to lose 
 a day in ranging and marshalling, whereas by virtue of this the 
 tribe is no sooner in the field than in battalia, nor sooner in 
 battalia than called to the urns or the ballot by virtue of 
 
 The ninth order, " Whereby the censors (or the orator for the 
 first muster) upon reception of the lists of the hundreds from the 
 high constables, according as is directed by the seventh order, 
 are to make their notes for the urns beforehand, with regard had 
 to the lists of the magistrates, to be elected by the ensuing 
 orders, that is to say, by the first list called the prime 'magnitude, 
 six ; and by the second called the galaxy, nine. Wherefore the 
 censors are to put into the middle urn for the election of the first 
 list twenty-four gold balls, with twenty-six blanks or silver balls, 
 in all sixty ; and into the side urns sixty gold balls, divided into 
 each according to the different number of the horse and foot ; 
 that is to say, if the horse and the foot be equal, equally ; and if 
 the horse and the foot be unequal, unequally, by an arithmetical 
 proportion. The like shall be done'the second day of the 
 
92 OCEANA. 
 
 muster for the second list, except that the censors shall put into 
 the middle urn thirty-six gold balls with twenty-four blanks, in 
 all sixty ; and sixty gold balls into the side urns, divided 
 respectively into the number of the horse and the foot ; and the 
 gold balls in the side urns at either ballot are by the addition 
 of blanks to be brought even with the number of the ballotants 
 at either urn respectively. The censors having prepared their 
 notes, as has-been shown, and being come at the day appointed 
 into the field, shall present a little urn to the lord high sheriff, 
 who is to draw twice for the letters to be used that day, the one 
 .at the side urns, and the other at the middle. And the censors 
 having fitted the urns accordingly, shall place themselves in 
 certain movable seats or pulpits (to be kept for that use in the 
 pavilion), the first censor before the horse urn, the second before 
 the foot urn, the lord lieutenant doing the office of censor 
 p)-o tempore at the middle urn ; where all and every one of them 
 shall cause the laws of the ballot to be diligently observed, 
 taking a special care that no man be suffered to come above 
 once to the urn (whereof it more particularly concerns the 
 sub-censors, that is to say, the overseers of every parish, to be 
 careful, they being each in this regard responsible for their 
 respective parishes) or to draw above one ball, which if it -be 
 gold, he is to present to the censor, who shall look upon the 
 letter ; and if it be not that of the day, and of the respective urn, 
 apprehend the party, who for this or any other like disorder is 
 obnoxious to the phylarch." 
 
 This order being observed by the censors, it is not possible 
 for the people, if they can but draw the balls, though they 
 understand nothing at all of the ballot, to be out. To philo- 
 sophize further upon this art, though there be nothing more 
 rational, were not worth the while, because in writing it will be 
 perplexed, and the first practice of it gives the demonstration ; 
 whence it came to pass that the orator, after some needless 
 pains in the explanation of the two foregoing orders, betaking 
 himself to exemplify the same, found the work done to his 
 hand, for the tribe, as eager upon a business of this nature, had 
 retained one of the surveyors, out of whom (before the orator 
 arrived) they had got the whole mystery by a stolen muster, at 
 which in order to the ballot they had made certain magistrates 
 pro tempore. Wherefore he found not only the pavilion (for 
 
OCEANA. 93 
 
 this time a tent) erected with three posts, supplying the place 
 of pillars to the urns, but the urns being prepared with a just 
 number of balls for the first ballot, to become the field, and the 
 occasion very gallantly, with their covers made in the manner 
 of helmets, open at either ear to give passage to the hands of 
 the ballotants, and slanting with noble plumes to direct the 
 march of the people. Wherefore he proceeded to 
 
 The tenth order, " Requiring of the deputies of the parishes, 
 that upon every Monday next ensuing the last of February, 
 they make their personal appearance, horse and foot in arms 
 accordingly, at the rendezvous of the tribe, where, being in 
 discipline, the horse upon the right, and the foot upon the left, 
 before the pavilion, and having made oath by holding up their 
 hands, upon the tender of it by the lord high sheriff, to make 
 election without favour, and of such only as they shall judge 
 fittest for the commonwealth, the conductor shall take three 
 balls, the one inscribed with these words [outward files], 
 another with these words [inward files], and the third with 
 these [middle files], which balls he shall cast into a little urn, 
 and present it to the lord high sheriff, who drawing one, shall 
 give the words of command, as they are thereupon inscribed,. 
 and the ballot shall begin accordingly. For example, if the ball 
 be inscribed middle files, the ballot shall begin by the middle, 
 that is, the two files that are middle to the horse shall draw out 
 first to the horse urn, and the two files that are middle to the 
 foot shall draw out first to the foot urn, and be followed by all 
 the rest of the files as they are next to them in order. The 
 like shall be done by the inward, or by the outward files, in case 
 they be .first called. And the files, as every man has drawn his 
 ball, if it be silver, shall begin at the urn to countermarch to 
 their places, but he that has drawn a gold ball at a side urn, 
 shall proceed to the middle urn, where if the balls he draws be 
 silver he shall also countermarch, but if it be gold he shall 
 take his place upon a form set cross the pavilion, with his face 
 towards the lord high sheriff, who shall be seated in the 
 middle of the pavilion, with certain clerks by him, one of which 
 shall write, down the names of every elector, that is, of every 
 one that drew a gold ball at the middle urn, and in the order 
 his ball was drawn,' till the electors amount to six in number. 
 And the first six electors, horse and foot promiscuously, are the 
 
94 OCEANA. 
 
 first order of electors ; the second six (still accounting them as 
 they are drawn) the second order, the third six, the third order, 
 and the fourth six, the fourth order of electors ; every elector 
 having place in his order, according to the order wherein he 
 was drawn. But so soon as the first order of electors is 
 complete, the lord high sheriff shall send them with a copy of 
 the following list, and a clerk that understands the ballot, 
 immediately to a little tent standing before the pavilion in his 
 eye, to which no other person but themselves, during the 
 election, shall approach. The list shall be written in this 
 manner : — 
 
 Anno Domini. 
 
 The List of the Prime Magnitude ; or, First Day's Election 
 of Magistrates. 
 
 i. The Lord High Sheriff, ' 
 commander-in-chief 
 
 2. Lord Lieutenant 
 
 3. Lord C'ustos Rotulorum, 
 
 of the tribe of Nubia, con- 
 taining at this present 
 
 mustermaster-general muster 700 horse, and 
 
 4. The Conductor, being 
 
 quartermaster-general 
 
 5. The First Censor 
 
 6. The Second Censor 
 
 1500 foot, in all 22,000 
 deputies. 
 
 " And the electors of the first band or order, being six, shall 
 each of them name to his respective magistracy in the left such 
 as are not already elected in the' hundreds, till one competitor 
 be chosen to every magistracy in the list by the ballot of the 
 electors of the first order, which done, the list with the com* 
 petitors thereunto annexed shall be returned to the lord high 
 sheriff by the clerk attending that order, but the electors shall 
 keep their places ; for ' they have already given their suffrage, 
 and may not enter into the ballot of the tribe. If there arises 
 any dispute in an order of electors, one of the censors or sub- 
 censors appointed by them in case they be electors, shall enter 
 into the tent of that order, and that order shall stand to his 
 judgment in the decision of the controversy. The like shall be 
 done exactly by each other order of electors, being'sent as they 
 are drawn, each with another copy of the same list, into a 
 distinct tent, till there be returned to the lord high sheriff 
 four competitors to every magistracy in the list, that is to say, 
 
OCEANA. 95 
 
 one competitor elected to every office in every one of the four 
 orders, which competitors the lord high sheriff shall cause to 
 be pronounced or read by a crier to the congregation, and the 
 congregation having heard the whole lists repeated, the names 
 shall be put by the lord high sheriff to the tribe, one by one, 
 beginning with the first competitor in the first order, thence 
 proceeding to the first competitor in the second order, and so to 
 the first in the third and fourth orders. And the suffrages 
 being taken in boxes by boys (as has been already shown) shall 
 be poured into the bowls standing before the censors, who shall 
 be seated at each end of the table in the pavilion, the one 
 numbering the affirmatives and the other the negatives, and he 
 of the four competitors to the first magistracy that has most 
 above half the suffrages of the tribe in the affirmative, is the 
 first magistrate. The like is to be done successively by the rest 
 of the competitors in their order. But because soon after the 
 boxes are sent out for the first name, there be others sent out 
 for the second, and so for the third, &c, by which means divers 
 names are successively at one and the same time in balloting ; 
 the boy that carries a box shall sing or repeat continually the 
 name of the competitor for whom that box is carrying, with that 
 also of the magistracy to which he is proposed. A magistrate 
 of the tribe happening to be an elector, may substitute any one 
 of hfs own order to execute his other function. The magistrates 
 of the prime magnitude being thus elected, shall receive the 
 present charge of the tribe." 
 
 If it be objected against this order that the magistrates to be 
 elected by it will be men of more inferior rank than those of 
 the hundreds, in regard that those are chosen first, it may be 
 remembered that so were the burgesses in the former govern- 
 ment, nevertheless the knights of the shire were men of greater 
 quality ; and the election at the hundred is made by a council 
 of electors, of whom less cannot be expected than the discretion 
 of naming persons fittest for those capacities, with an eye upon 
 these to be elected at the tribe. As for what may be objected 
 in point of difficulty, it is demonstrable by the foregoing orders, 
 that a man might bring ten thousand men, if there were occasion, 
 with as much ease, and as suddenly to perform the ballot, as he 
 can make five thousand men, drawing them out by double files, 
 to march a quarter of a mile. But because at this ballot, to go 
 
96 OCEANA. 
 
 up and down the field, distributing the linen pellets to every 
 man, with which he is to ballot or give suffrage, would lose a 
 great deal of time, therefore a man's wife, his daughters, or 
 others, make him his provision of pellets before the ballot, and 
 he comes into the field with a matter of a score of them in his 
 pocket. And now I have as good as done with the sport. 
 The next is 
 
 The eleventh order, " Explaining the duties and functions of 
 the magistrates contained in the list of the prime magnitude, 
 and those of the hundreds, beginning with the lord high sheriff, 
 who, over and above his more ancient offices, and those added 
 by the former order, is the first magistrate of the phylarch, or 
 prerogative troop. The lord lieutenant, over and above his duty 
 mentioned, is commander-in-chief of the musters of the youth, 
 and second magistrate of the phylarch. The custos rotulorum 
 is to return the yearly muster-rolls of the tribe, as well that of 
 the youth as of the elders, to the rolls in emporium, and is the 
 third magistrate of the phylarch. The censors by themselves 
 and their sub-censors, that is, the overseers of the parishes, are 
 to see that the respective laws of the ballot be observed in all 
 the popular assemblies of the tribe. They have power also to 
 put such national ministers, as in preaching shall intermeddle 
 with matters of government, out of their livings, except the 
 party appeals to the phylarch, or to. the council of religion, 
 where in that case the censors shall prosecute. All and every 
 one of these magistrates, together with the justices of peace, and 
 the jurymen of the hundreds, amounting in the whole number to 
 threescore and six, are the prerogative troop or phylarch of the 
 tribe. 
 
 " The function of the phylarch or prerogative troop is fivefold. 
 
 " First, they are the council of the tribe, and as such to govern 
 the musters of the same according to the foregoing orders, 
 having cognizance of what has passed in the congregation or 
 elections made in the parishes or the hundreds, with power to 
 punish any undue practices, or variation from their respective 
 rules and orders, under an appeal to the parliament. A 
 marriage legitimately is to be pronounced by the parochial con- 
 gregation, the muster of the hundred, or the phylarch. And if 
 a tribe have a desire (which they are to express at the muster by 
 their captains, every troop by his own) to petition the parliament 
 
OCEANA. ■ 97 
 
 the phylarch, as the council, shall frame the petition in the 
 pavilion, and propose it by clauses to the ballot of the whole 
 tribe; and the clauses that shall be affirmed by the ballot of the 
 tribe, and signed by the hands of the six magistrates of the 
 prime magnitude, shall be received and esteemed by the parlia- 
 ment as the petition of the tribe, and no other. 
 
 " Secondly, The phylarch has power to call to their assistance 
 what other troops of the tribe they please (be they elders or 
 youth, whose discipline will be hereafter directed), and with 
 these to receive the judges itinerant in their circuits, whom the 
 magistrates of the phylarch shall assist upon the bench, and the 
 juries elsewhere in their proper functions according to the more 
 ancient laws and customs of this nation. 
 
 " Thirdly, The phylarch shall hold the court called the quarter 
 sessions according to the ancient custom, and therein shall also 
 hear causes in order to the protection of liberty of conscience, 
 by such rules as are or shall hereafter be appointed by the 
 parliament. 
 
 " Fourthly, All commissions issued into the tribes by the 
 parliament, or by the chancery, are to be directed to the 
 phylarch, or some of that troop, and executed by the same 
 respectively. 
 
 " Fifthly, In the case of levies of money the parliament shall 
 tax the phylarchs, the phylarchs shall tax the hundreds, the 
 hundreds the parishes, and the parishes shall levy it upon them- 
 selves. The parishes having levied the tax-money accordingly, 
 shall return it to the officers of the hundreds, the hundreds to 
 the phylarchs, and the phylarchs to the Exchequer. But if a 
 man has ten children living, he shall pay no taxes ; if he has 
 five living, he shall pay but half taxes ; if he has been married 
 three years, or be above twenty-five years of age, and has no 
 child or children lawfully begotten, he shall pay double taxes. 
 And if there happen to grow any dispute upon these or such 
 other orders as shall or may hereto be added hereafter, the 
 phylarchs shall judge the tribes, and the parliament shall judge 
 the phylarchs. For the rest, if any man shall go about to 
 introduce the right or power of debate into any popular council 
 or congregation of this nation, the phylarch or any magistrate 
 of the hundred, or of the tribe, shall cause him presently to be 
 sent in custody to the council of war." 
 
 D 
 
98 OCEANA. 
 
 The part of the order relating to the rolls in Emporium being 
 of singular use, is not unworthy to be somewhat better opened. 
 In what manner the lists of the parishes, hundreds, and tribes 
 are made, has been shown in their respective orders, where, after 
 the parties are elected, they give an account of the whole 
 number of the elders or deputies in their respective assemblies 
 or musters ; the like for this part exactly is done by the youth 
 in their discipline (to be hereafter shown) wherefore the lists of 
 the parishes, youth and elders, being summed up, give the whole 
 number of the people able to bear arms, and the lists of the 
 tribes, youth and elders, being summed up, give the whole 
 number of the people bearing arms. This account, being 
 annually recorded by the master of the rolls, is called the 
 " Pillar of Nilus." because the people, being the riches of the 
 commonwealth, as they are found to rise or fall by the degrees 
 of this pillar, like that river, give an account of the public 
 harvest. 
 
 Thus much for the description of the first day's work at the 
 muster, which happened (as has been shown) to be done as soon 
 as said ; for as in practice it is of small difficulty, so requires it 
 not much time, seeing the great council of Venice, consisting of 
 a like number, begins at twelve of the clock, and elects nine 
 magistrates in one afternoon. But the tribe being dismissed 
 for this night, repaired to their quarters, under the conduct of 
 their new magistrates. The next morning returning to the field 
 very early, the orator proceeded to 
 
 The twelfth order, " Directing the muster of the tribe in the 
 second day's election, being that of the list called the galaxy ; in 
 which the censors shall prepare the urns according to the direc- 
 tions given in the ninth order for the second ballot ; that is to 
 say, with thirty-six gold balls in the middle urn, making four 
 orders, and nine electors in every order, according to the 
 number of the magistrates in the list of the galaxy, which is as 
 follows : 
 
OCEANA. 99 
 
 ° [ to be chosen out of the horse. 
 
 2. Knight ) 
 
 3. Deputy \ 
 
 4. Deputy [ to be chosen out of the horse. 
 
 5. Deputy ) 
 
 6. Deputy \ 
 
 _ „ y I to be chosen out of the foot. 
 
 8. Deputy 
 
 9. Deputy / 
 
 " The rest of the ballot shall proceed exactly according to that 
 of the first day. But, forasmuch as the commonwealth demands 
 as well the fruits of a man's body as of his mind, he that has not 
 been married shall not be capable of these magistracies till he 
 be married. If a deputy, already chosen to be an officer in the 
 parish, in the hundred, or in the tribe, be afterwards chosen of 
 the galaxy, it shall be lawful for him to delegate his office in the 
 parish, in the hundred, or in the tribe, to any one of his own order 
 being not already chosen into office. The knights and deputies 
 being chosen, shall be brought to the head of the tribe by the lord 
 high sheriff, who shall administer to them this oath : ' Ye shall 
 well and truly observe and keep the orders and customs of this 
 commonwealth which the people have chosen.' And if any of 
 them shall refuse the oath, he shall be rejected, and that com- 
 petitor which had the most voices next shall be called in his 
 place, who, if he takes the oath, shall be entered in the list ; but 
 if he also refuses the oath, he who had most voices next shall be 
 called, and so till the number of nine out of those competitors 
 which had most voices be sworn knights and deputies of the 
 galaxy. [This clause, in regard of the late divisions, and to the 
 end that no violence be offered to any man's conscience, to be of 
 force but for the first three years only.] The knights of the 
 galaxy being elected and sworn, are to repair, by the Monday 
 next ensuing to the last of March, to the pantheon or palace of 
 justice, situated in the metropolis of this commonwealth (except 
 the parliament, by reason of a contagious sickness, or some 
 other occasion, has adjourned to another part of the nation), 
 where they are to take their places in the senate, and continue in 
 full power and commission as senators for the full term of three 
 
 d 2 
 
ioo OCEANA. 
 
 years next ensuing the date of their election. The deputies 
 of the galaxy are to repair by the same day (except as before 
 excepted) to the halo situated in Emporium, where they are to 
 be listed of the prerogative tribe, or equal representative of the 
 people ; and to continue in full power and commission as their 
 deputies for the full term of three years next ensuing their 
 election. But, forasmuch as the term of every magistracy or 
 office in this commonwealth requires an equal vacation, a knight 
 or deputy of the galaxy, having fulfilled his term of three years, 
 shall not be re-elected into the same galaxy, or any other, till he 
 has also fulfilled his three years' vacation.' - 
 
 Whoever shall rightly consider the foregoing orders, will be as 
 little able to find how it is possible that a worshipful knight 
 should declare himself in ale and beef worthy to serve his 
 country, as how my lord high sheriff's honour, in case he were 
 protected from the law, could play the knave. But though' the 
 foregoing orders, so far as they regard the constitution of the 
 senate and the people, requiring no more as to an ordinary 
 election than is therein explained, that is but one third part of 
 their knights and deputies, are perfect ; yet must we in this 
 place, and as to the institution, of necessity erect a scaffold- 
 For the commonwealth to the first creation of her councils in 
 full number, required thrice as many as are eligible by the 
 foregoing orders. Wherefore the orator, whose aid in this place 
 was most necessary, rightly informing the people of the reason, 
 stayed them two days longer at the muster, and took this course. 
 One list, containing two knights and seven deputies, he caused 
 to be chosen upon the second day ; which list being called the 
 first galaxy, qualified the parties elected of it with power for the 
 term of one year and no longer : another list, containing two 
 knights and seven deputies more, he caused to be chosen the 
 third day, which list being called the second galaxy, qualified 
 the parties elected of it with power for the term of two years and 
 no longer. And upon the fourth day he chose the third galaxy, 
 according as it is directed by the order, empowered for three 
 years ; which lists successively falling (like the signs or constella- 
 tions of one hemisphere, which setting, cause those of the other 
 to rise) cast the great orbs of this commonwealth into an annual, 
 triennal, and perpetual revolution. 
 
 The business of the muster being thus happily finished, 
 
OCEANA. io i 
 
 Hermes de Caduceo, lord orator of the tribe of Nubia, being now 
 put into her first rapture, caused one of the censor's pulpits to be 
 planted in front of the squadron, and ascending into the same, 
 spake after this manner : — 
 
 " My Lords, the Magistrates and the People of the Tribe of 
 Nubia. 
 
 " We have this day solemnized the happy nuptials of the 
 two greatest princes that are upon the earth or in Nature, arms 
 and councils, in the mutual embraces whereof consists your whole 
 commonwealth ; whose councils upon their perpetual wheelings, 
 marches, and countermarches, create her armies, and whose 
 armies with the golden volleys of the ballot at once create and 
 salute her councils. There be those (such is the world at 
 present) that think it ridiculous to see a nation exercising its 
 civil functions in military discipline ; while they, committing 
 their buff to their servants, come themselves to hold trenchards. 
 For what avails it such as are unarmed, or (which is all one) 
 whose education acquaints them not with the proper use of their 
 swords, to be called citizens ? What were two or three thousand 
 of you, though never so well affected to your country, but naked, 
 to one troop of mercenary soldiers? If they should come upon 
 the field and say, ' Gentlemen, it is thought fit that such and 
 such men should be chosen by you,' where were your liberty ? 
 or, ' Gentlemen, parliaments are exceeding good, but you are to 
 have a little patience, these times are not so fit for them,' where 
 were your commonwealth? What causes the monarchy of the 
 Turks but servants in arms ? What was it that begot the glorious 
 commonwealth of Rome but the sword in the hands of her citizens ? 
 Wherefore my glad eyes salute the serenity and brightness of this 
 day with a shower that shall not cloud it. Behold the army of 
 Israel become a commonwealth, and the commomvealth of Israel 
 remaining an army, with her rulers of tens and of fifties, her 
 rulers of hundreds and thousands, drawing near (as this day 
 throughout our happy fields) to the lot by her tribes, increased 
 above threefold, and led up by her phylarchs or princes, to sit 
 upon fifty thrones, judging the fifty tribes of Oceana ! Or, is it 
 Athens, breaking from her iron sepulchre, where she has been so 
 long trampled by hosts of Janizaries ? For certainly that is the 
 voice of Theseus, having gathered his scattered Athenians into 
 
io2 OCEANA. 
 
 one city, This freeborn nation lives not upon the dole or bounty 
 of one man, but distributing her annual magistracies and 
 honours with her own hand, is herself King People [at which the 
 orator was a while interrupted with shouts, but at length 
 proceeded] — Is it grave Lacedemon in her armed tribe, divided 
 by her obce and her mora, which appears to chide me that I 
 teach the people to talk, or conceive such language as is dressed 
 like a woman, to be a fit usher of the joys of liberty into the 
 hearts of men ? Is it Rome in her victorious arms (for so she 
 held her concio or congregation) that congratulates with us, for 
 finding out that which she could not hit on, and binding up her 
 comitia curiata, centuriata, and tributa, in one inviolable league 
 of union ? Or is it the great council of incomparable Venice, 
 bowling forth by the self-same ballot her immortal common- 
 wealth ? For, neither by reason nor by experience is it impossible 
 that a commonwealth should be immortal : seeing the people 
 being the materials, never die ; and the form, which is motion, 
 must, without opposition, be endless. The bowl which is thrown 
 from your hand, if there be no rub, no impediment, shall never 
 cease : for which cause the glorious luminaries that are the 
 bowls of God, were once thrown for ever ; and next these, those 
 of Venice. But certainly, my lords, whatever these great 
 examples may have shown us, we are the first that have shown 
 to the world a commonwealth established in her rise upon fifty 
 such towers, and so garrisoned as are the tribes of Oceana, 
 containing a hundred thousand elders upon the annual list, and 
 yet but an outguard ; besides her marching armies to be equal 
 in the discipline, and in the number of her youth. 
 
 " And forasmuch as sovereign power is a necessary but a 
 formidable creature, not unlike the powder which (as you are 
 soldiers) is at once your safety and your danger, being subject to 
 take fire against you as well as for you, how well and securely 
 is she by your galaxies so collected as to be in full force and 
 vigour, and yet so distributed that it is impossible you should be 
 blown up by your own magazine ? Let them who will have it, 
 that power if it be confined cannot be sovereign, tell us, whether 
 our rivers do not enjoy a more secure and fruitful reign within 
 their proper banks, than if it were lawful for them, in ravaging 
 our harvests, to spill themselves ? whether souls, not confined to 
 their peculiar bodies, do govern them any more than those of 
 
OCEANA. 103 
 
 witches in their trances ? whether power, not confined to the 
 bounds of reason and virtue, has any other bounds than those of 
 vice and passion ? or if vice and passion be boundless, and 
 reason and virtue have certain limits, on which of these thrones 
 holy men should anoint their sovereign ? But to blow away this 
 dust, the sovereign power of a commonwealth is no more 
 bounded, that is to say straitened, than that of a monarch ; but is 
 balanced. The eagle mounts not to her proper pitch, if she be 
 bounded, nor is free, if she be not balanced. And lest a monarch 
 should think he can reach further with his sceptre, the Roman 
 eagle upon such a balance spread her wings from the ocean to 
 Euphrates. Receive the sovereign power ; you have received 
 it, hold it fast, embrace it for ever in your shining arms. The 
 virtue of the loadstone is not impaired or limited, but receives 
 strength and nourishment, by being bound in iron. And so 
 giving your lordships much joy, I take my leave of this tribe." 
 
 The orator descending, had the period of his speech made 
 with a vast applause and exultation of the whole tribe, attending 
 him for that night to his quarter, as the phylarch with some com- 
 manded troops did the next day to the frontiers of the tribe, 
 where leave was taken on both sides with more tears than 
 grief. 
 
 So a tribe is the third division of land occasioned by the 
 third collection of the people, whose functions proper to that 
 place are contained in the five foregoing orders. 
 
 The institution of the commonwealth was such as needed 
 those props and scaffolds which may have troubled the reader ; 
 but I shall here take them away, and come to the constitu- 
 tion which stands by itself, and yields a clearer prospect. 
 
 The motions, by what has been already shown, are spherical ; 
 and spherical motions have their proper centre, for which cause 
 (ere I proceed further) it will be necessary, for the better 
 understanding of the whole, that I discover the centre where- 
 upon the motions of this commonwealth are formed. 
 
 The centre, or basis of every government, is no other than the 
 fundamental laws of the same. 
 
 Fundamental laws are such as state what it is that a man may 
 call his own, that is to say, property ; and what the means be 
 whereby a man may enjoy his own, that is to say, protection. 
 
104 OCEANA. 
 
 The first is also called dominion, and the second empire or 
 sovereign power, whereof this (as has been shown) is the natural 
 product of the former : for such as is the balance of dominion 
 in a nation, such is the nature of its empire. 
 
 Wherefore the fundamental laws of Oceana, or the centre of 
 this commonwealth, are the Agrarian and the ballot : the Agra- 
 rian by the balance of dominion preserving equality in the root ; 
 and the ballot by an equal rotation conveying it into the branch, 
 or exercise of sovereign power, as, to begin with the former, 
 appears by 
 
 The thirteenth order, "Constituting the Agrarian laws of 
 Oceana, Marpesia, and Panopea, whereby it is ordained, first, 
 for all such lands as are lying and being within the proper 
 territories of Oceana, that every man who is at present possessed, 
 or shall hereafter be possessed, of an estate in land exceeding the 
 revenue of ,£2000 a year, and having more than one son, shall 
 leave his lands either equally divided among them, in case the 
 lands amount to above ,£2000 a year to each, or so near equally 
 in case they come under, that the greater part or portion of the 
 same remaining to the eldest exceed not the value of ^2000 
 revenue. "And no man, not in present possession of lands 
 above the value of ^2000 by the year, shall receive, enjoy 
 (except by lawful inheritance), acquire, or purchase to himself 
 lands within the said territories, amounting, with those already 
 in his possession, above the said revenue. And if a man has a 
 daughter, or daughters, except she be an heiress, or they be 
 heiresses, he shall not leave or give to any one of them in 
 marriage, or othenvise. for her portion, above the value of 
 ^1500 in lands, goods, and moneys. Nor shall any friend, 
 kinsman, or kinswoman, add to her or their portion or 
 portions that are' so provided for, to make any one of them 
 greater. Nor shall any man demand or have more in marriage 
 with any woman. Nevertheless an heiress shall enjoy her 
 lawful inheritance, and a widow, whatsoever the bounty or 
 affection of her husband shall bequeath to her, to be divided in 
 the first generation, wherein it is divisible according as has been 
 shown. 
 
 " Secondly, For lands lying and being within the territories 
 of Marpesia, the Agrarian shall hold in all parts as it is estab- 
 lished in Oceana, except only in the standard or proportion of 
 
OCEANA. 105 
 
 estates in land, which shall be set for Marpesia, at five hundred 
 pounds. And, 
 
 " Thirdly, For Panopea, the Agrarian shall hold in all parts, as 
 in Oceana. And whosoever possessing above the proportion 
 allowed by these laws, shall be lawfully convicted of the same, 
 shall forfeit the overplus to the use of the State." 
 
 Agrarian laws of all others have ever been the greatest bug- 
 bears, and so in the institution were these, at which time it was 
 ridiculous to see how strange a fear appeared in everybody of 
 that which, being good for all, could hurt nobody. But instead 
 of the proof of this order, I shall out of those many debates that 
 happened ere it could be passed, insert two speeches that were 
 made at the council of legislators, the first by the right honour- 
 able Philautus de Garbo, a young man, being heir- apparent to a 
 very noble family, and one of the councillors, who expressed 
 himself as follows : — 
 
 " May it please your Highness, my Lord Archon of Oceana. 
 " If I did not, to my capacity, know from how profound a 
 councillor I dissent, it would certainly be no hard task to make 
 it as light as the day : first, That an Agrarian is altogether 
 unnecessary. Secondly, That it is dangerous to a common- 
 wealth. Thirdly, That it is insufficient to keep out monarchy. 
 Fourthly, That it ruins families. Fifthly, That it destroys 
 industry. And last of all, That though it were indeed of any 
 good use, it will be a matter of such difficulty to introduce in 
 this nation, and so to settle that it may be lasting, as is 
 altogether invincible. 
 
 " First, That an Agrarian is unnecessary to a commonwealth, 
 what clearer testimony can there be than that the common- 
 wealths which are our contemporaries (Venice, to which your 
 highness gives the upperhand of all antiquity, being one) have 
 no such thing? And there can be no reason why they have 
 it not, seeing it is in the sovereign power at any time to establish 
 such an order, but that they need it not ; wherefore no wonder 
 if Aristotle, who pretends to be a good commonwealthsman, has 
 long since derided Phaleas, to whom it was attributed by the 
 Greeks, for his invention. 
 
 " Secondly, That an Agrarian is dangerous to a commonwealth 
 is affirmed upon no slight authority, seeing Machiavel is positive 
 
106 OCEANA. 
 
 that it was the dissension which happened about the Agrarian 
 that caused the destruction of Rome ; nor do I think that it did 
 much better in Lacedemon, as I shall show anon. 
 
 " Thirdly, That it is insufficient to keep out monarchy 
 cannot without impiety be denied, the holy Scriptures bearing 
 witness that the commonwealth of Israel, notwithstanding her 
 Agrarian, submitted her neck to the arbitrary yoke of her 
 princes. 
 
 " Fourthly, therefore, to come to my next assertion, That it is 
 destructive to families : this also is so apparent, that it needs 
 pity rather than proof. Why, alas, do you bind a nobility 
 (which no generation shall deny to have been the first that 
 freely sacrificed their blood to the ancient liberties of this 
 people) on an unholy altar ? Why are the people taught that 
 their liberty, which, except our noble ancestors had been born, 
 must have long since been buried, cannot now be born except 
 we be buried ? A commonwealth should have the innocence of 
 the dove. Let us leave this purchase of her birth to the 
 serpent, which eats itself out of the womb of its mother. 
 
 " Fifthly, but it may be said, perhaps, That we are fallen from 
 our first love, become proud and idle. It is certain, my lords, 
 that the hand of God is not upon us for nothing. But take 
 heed how you admit of such assaults and sallies upon men's 
 estates, as may slacken the nerve of labour, and give others also 
 reason to believe that their sweat is vain ; or else, whatsoever 
 be pretended, your Agrarian (which is my fifth assertion) must 
 indeed destroy industry. For, that so it did in Lacedemon is 
 most apparent, as also that it could do no otherwise, where 
 every man having his forty quarters of barley, with wine propor- 
 tionable, supplied him out of his own lot by his labourer or 
 helot ; and being confined in that to the scantling above which 
 he might not live, there was not any such thing as a trade, or 
 other art, except that of war, in exercise. Wherefore a Spartan, 
 if he were not in arms, must sit and play with his fingers, whence 
 ensued perpetual war, and, the estate of the city being as little 
 capable of increase as that of the citizens, her inevitable ruin. 
 Now what better ends you can propose to yourselves in the like 
 ways, I do not so well see as I perceive that there may be worse ; 
 for Lacedemon yet was free from civil war : but if you employ 
 your citizens no better than she did, I cannot promise you that 
 
OCEANA. 107 
 
 you shall fare so well, because they are still desirous of war 
 that hope that it may be profitable to them ; and the strongest 
 security you can give of peace, is to make it gainful. Otherwise 
 men will rather choose that whereby they may break your laws, 
 than that whereby your laws may break them. Which I speak 
 not so much in relation to the nobility or such as would be 
 holding, as to the people or them that would be getting ; the 
 passion in these being so much the stronger, as a man's felicity 
 is weaker in the fruition of things, than in their prosecution and 
 increase. 
 
 " Truly, my lords, it is my fear, that by taking of more hands, 
 and the best from industry, you will farther endamage it, than 
 can be repaired by laying on a few, and the worst ; while the 
 nobility must be forced to send their sons to- the plough, and, 
 as if this were not enough, to marry their daughters also to 
 farmers. 
 
 " Sixthly, but I do not see (to come to the last point) how it 
 is possible that this thing should be brought about, to your 
 good I mean, though it may to the destruction of many. For 
 that the Agrarian of Israel, or that of Lacedemon, might stand, 
 is no such miracle ; the lands, without any consideration of the 
 former proprietor, being surveyed and cast into equal lots, which 
 could neither be bought, nor sold, nor multiplied : so that they 
 knew whereabout to have a man. But in this nation no such 
 division can be introduced, the lands being already in the hands 
 of proprietors, and such whose estates lie very rarely together, 
 but mixed one with another ; being also of tenures in nature so 
 different, that as there is no experience that an Agrarian was 
 ever introduced in such a case, so there is no appearance how 
 or reason why it should : but that which is against reason and 
 experience is impossible." 
 
 The case of my Lord Philautus was the most concerned in the 
 whole nation ; for he had four younger brothers, his father being 
 yet living, to whom he was heir of ten thousand pounds a year. 
 Wherefore being a man both of good parts and esteem, his 
 words wrought both upon men's reason and passions, and had 
 borne a stroke at the head of the business, if my Lord Aixhon 
 had not interposed the buckler in this oration ; — 
 
108 OCEANA. 
 
 u My Lords, the Legislators of Oceana. 
 • " My Lord Philautus has made a thing which is easy to seem 
 hard ; if the thanks were due to his eloquence, it would be 
 worthy of less praise than that he owes it to his merit, and the 
 love he has most deservedly purchased of all men : nor is it 
 rationally to be feared that he who is so much beforehand in 
 his private, should be in arrear in his public, capacity. 
 Wherefore, my lord's tenderness throughout his speech arising 
 from no other principle than his solicitude lest the Agrarian 
 should be hurtful to his country, it is no less than my duty to 
 give the best satisfaction I am able to so good a patriot, taking 
 every one of his doubts in the order proposed. And, 
 
 " First, Whereas my lord, upon observation of the modern 
 commonwealths, is of opinion that an Agrarian is not necessary : 
 it must be confessed that at the first sight of them there is some 
 appearance favouring his assertion, but upon accidents of no 
 precedent to us. For the commonwealths of Switzerland and 
 Holland, I mean of those leagues, being situated in countries 
 not alluring the inhabitants to wantonness, but obliging them to 
 universal industry, have an implicit Agrarian in the nature of 
 them : and being not obnoxious to a growing nobility (which, 
 as long as their former monarchies had spread the wing over 
 them, could either not at all be hatched, or was soon broken) 
 are of no example to us, whose experience in this point has been 
 to the contrary. But what if even in these governments there 
 be indeed an explicit Agrarian ? For when the law commands an 
 equal or near equal distribution of a man's estate in land among 
 his children, as it is done in those countries, a nobility cannot 
 grow ; and so there needs no Agrarian, or rather there is one. 
 And for the growth of the nobility in Venice (if so it be, for 
 Machiavel observes in that republic, as a cause of it, a great 
 mediocrity of estates) it is not a point that she is to fear, but 
 might study, seeing she consists of nothing else but nobility ; by 
 which, whatever their estates suck from the people, especially 
 if it comes equally, is digested into the better blood of that 
 commonwealth, which is all, or the greatest, benefit they can 
 have by accumulation. For how unequal soever you will have 
 them to be in their incomes, they have officers of the pomp, to 
 bring them equal in expenses, or at least in the ostentation or 
 show of them. And so unless the advantage of an estate 
 
OCEANA. 109 
 
 consists more in the measure than in the use of it, the authority 
 of Venice does but enforce our Agrarian ; nor shall a man evade 
 or elude the prudence of it, by the authority of any other 
 commonwealth. For if a commonwealth has been introduced 
 at once, as those of Israel and Lacedemon, you are certain to 
 find her underlaid with this as the main foundation ; nor, if she 
 is obliged more to fortune than prudence, has she raised her 
 head without musing upon this matter, as appears by that of 
 Athens, which through her defect in this point, says Aristotle, 
 introduced her ostracism, as most of the democracies of Greece. 
 But, not to restrain a fundamental of such latitude to any one 
 kind of government, do we not yet see that if there be a sole 
 landlord of a vast territory, he is the Turk ? that if a few landlords 
 overbalance a populous country, they have store of servants ? 
 that if a. people be in an equal balance, they can have no lords ? 
 that no government can otherwise be erected, than upon some 
 one of these foundations ? that no one of these foundations (each 
 being else apt to change into some other) can give any security 
 to the government, unless it be fixed? that through the want of 
 this fixation, potent monarchy and commonwealths have fallen 
 upon the heads of the people, and accompanied their own sad 
 ruins with vast effusions of innocent blood ? Let the fame, as 
 was the merit of the ancient nobility of this nation, be equal 
 to or above what has been already said, or can be spoken, yet 
 have we seen not only their glory, but that of a throne, the 
 most indulgent to and least invasive for so many ages upon 
 the liberty of a people that the world has known, through the 
 mere want of fixing her foot by a proportionable Agrarian upon 
 her proper foundation, to have fallen with such horror as has 
 been a spectacle of astonishment to the whole earth. And 
 were it well argued from one calamity, that we ought not to 
 prevent another? Nor is Aristotle so good a commonwealths- 
 man for deriding the invention of Phaleas as in recollecting 
 himself, where he says that democracies, when a less part 
 of their citizens overtop the rest in wealth, degenerate into 
 oligarchies and principalities ; and, which comes nearer to 
 the present purpose, that the greater part of the nobility of 
 Tarentum coming accidentally to be ruined, the government 
 of the few came by consequence to be changed into that of the 
 many. 
 
no OCEANA. 
 
 "These things considered, I cannot see how an Agrarian, as 
 to the fixation or security of a government, can be less than 
 necessary. And if a cure be necessary, it excuses not the 
 patient, his disease being otherwise desperate, that it is danger- 
 ous ; which was the case of Rome, not so stated by Machiavel, 
 where he says, that the strife about the Agrarian caused the 
 destruction of that commonwealth. As if when a senator was 
 not rich (as Crassus held) except he could pay an army, that com- 
 monwealth could expect nothing but ruin whether in strife about 
 the Agrarian, or without it. " Of late," says Livy, " riches have 
 introduced avarice, and voluptuous pleasures abounding, have 
 through lust and luxury begot a desire of blasting and destroying 
 all good orders." If the greatest security of a commonwealth 
 consists in being provided with the proper antidote against this 
 poison, her greatest danger must be from the absence of an Agra- 
 rian, which is the whole truth of the Roman example. For the 
 Laconic, I shall reserve the farther explication of it, as my lord 
 also did, to another place; and first see whether an Agrarian 
 proportioned to a popular government be sufficient to keep out 
 monarchy. My lord is for the negative, and fortified by the 
 people of Israel electing a king. To which I say, that the 
 action of the people therein expressed is a full answer to the 
 objection of that example ; for the monarchy neither grew upon 
 them, nor could, by reason of the Agrarian, possibly have 
 invaded them, if they had not pulled it upon themselves by the 
 election of a king. Which being an accident, the like whereof 
 is not to be found in any other people so planted, nor in this 
 till, as it is manifest, they were given up by God to infatuation 
 (for says He to Samuel, ' They have not rejected thee, but they 
 have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them'), has 
 something in it which is apparent, by what went before, to have 
 been besides the course of Nature, and by what followed. For 
 the king having no other foundation than the calamities of the 
 people, so often beaten by their enemies, that despairing of 
 themselves they were contented with any change, if he had 
 peace as in the days of Solomon, left but a slippery throne to 
 his successor, as appeared by Rehoboam. And the Agrarian, 
 notwithstanding the monarchy thus introduced, so faithfully 
 preserved the root of that commonwealth, that it shot forth 
 oftener, and by intervals continued longer than any other 
 
OCEANA. in 
 
 government, as may be computed from the institution of the 
 same by Joshua, 1465 years before Christ, to the total dissolu- 
 tion of it, which happened in the reign of the Emperor Adrian, 
 135 years after the Incarnation. A people planted upon an 
 equal Agrarian, and holding to it, if they part with their liberty, 
 must do it upon goodwill, and make but a bad title of their 
 bounty. As to instance yet further in that which is proposed by 
 the present order to this nation, the standard whereof is at 
 ,£2000 a year ; the whole territory of Oceana being divided by 
 this proportion, amounts to five thousand lots. So the lands of 
 Oceana being thus distributed, and bound to this distribution, 
 can never fall to fewer than five thousand proprietors. But five 
 thousand proprietors so seised will not agree to break the 
 Agrarian, for that were to agree to rob one another ; nor to 
 bring in a king, because they must maintain him, and can have 
 no benefit by him ; nor to exclude the people, because they can 
 have as little by that, and must spoil their militia. So the 
 commonwealth continuing upon the balance proposed, though it 
 should come into five thousand hands, can never alter, and that 
 it should ever come into five thousand hands, is as improbable 
 as anything in the world that is not altogether impossible. 
 
 " My lord's other considerations are more private ; as that 
 this order destroys families ; which is as if one should lay the 
 ruin of some ancient castle to the herbs which usually grow out 
 of them, the destruction of those families being that indeed 
 which naturally produced this order. For we do not now argue 
 for that which we would have, but for that which we are 
 already possessed of, as would appear if a note were but 
 taken of all such as have at this day above ^2000 a year in 
 Oceana. If my lord should grant (and I will put it with the 
 most) that they who are proprietors in land, exceeding this 
 proportion, exceed not three hundred, with what brow can the 
 interest of so few be balanced with that of the whole nation ? or 
 rather, what interest have they to put in such a balance ? they 
 would live as they had been accustomed to do ; who hinders 
 them ? they would enjoy their estates; who touches them ? they 
 would dispose of what they have according to the interest of 
 their families ; it is that which we desire. A man has one son, 
 let him be called ; would he enjoy his father's estate ? it is his, 
 his son's, and his son's son's after him. A man has five sons, 
 
112 OCEANA. 
 
 let them be called; would they enjoy their father's estate ? It is 
 divided among them ; for we have four votes for one in the 
 same family, and therefore this must be the interest of the 
 family, or the family knows not its own interest. If a man shall 
 dispute otherwise, he must draw his arguments from custom 
 and from greatness, which was the interest of the monarchy, not 
 of the family ; and we are now a commonwealth. If the 
 monarchy could not bear with such divisions because they 
 tended to a commonwealth, neither can a commonwealth con- 
 nive at such accumulations because they tend to a monarchy. 
 If the monarchy might make bold with so many for the good of 
 one, we may make bold with one for the good of so many, nay, 
 for the good of all. My lords, it comes into my mind, that 
 which upon occasion of the variety of parties enumerated in our 
 late civil wars, was said by a friend of mine coming home from 
 his travels, about the latter end of these troubles ; that he 
 admired how it came to pass, that younger brothers, especially 
 being so many more in number than their elder, did not unite 
 as one man against a tyranny, the like whereof has not been 
 exercised in any other nation. And truly, when I consider that 
 our countrymen are none of the worst natured, I must confess I 
 marvel much how it comes to pass that we should use our 
 children as we do our puppies— take one, lay it in the lap, feed 
 it with every good bit, and drown five ; nay, yet worse, 
 forasmuch as the puppies are once drowned, whereas the 
 children are left perpetually drowning. Really, my lords, it is a 
 flinty custom ! and all this for his cruel ambition, that would 
 raise himself a pillar, a golden pillar for his monument, Lhough 
 he has children, his own reviving flesh, and a kind of immor- 
 tality. And this is that interest of a family, for which we are to 
 think ill of a government that will not endure it. But quiet 
 ourselves ; the land through which the river Nilus wanders in 
 one stream, is barren ; but where it parts into seven, it multiplies 
 its fertile shores by distributing, yet keeping and improving, 
 such a propriety and nutrition, as is a prudent Agrarian to a 
 well-ordered commonwealth. 
 
 " Nor (to come to the fifth assertion) is a political body 
 rendered any fitter for industry by having one gouty and 
 another withered leg, than a natural. It tends not to the 
 improvement of merchandise that there be some who have no 
 
OCEANA. 113 
 
 need of their trading, and others that are not able to follow it. 
 If confinement discourages industry, an estate in money is not 
 confined, and lest industry should want whereupon to work, 
 land is not engrossed or entailed upon any man, but remains at 
 its devotion. I wonder whence the computation can arise, that 
 this should discourage industry. Two thousand pounds a year 
 a man may enjoy in Oceana, as much in Panopea, .£500 
 in Marpesia ; there be other plantations, and the common- 
 wealth will have more. Who knows how far the arms of our 
 Agrarian may extend themselves ? and whether he that might 
 have left a pillar, may not leave a temple of many pillars to his 
 more pious memory? Where there is some measure in riches, 
 a man may be rich, but if you will have them to be infinite, 
 there will be no end of starving himself, and wanting what he 
 has : and what pains does such a one take to be poor ! Further- 
 more, if a man shall think that there may be an industry less 
 greasy or more noble, and so cast his thoughts upon the 
 commonwealth, he will have leisure for her, and she riches 
 and honours for him ; his sweat shall smell like Alexander's. 
 My Lord Philautus is a young man who, enjoying his ,£10,000 
 a year, may keep a noble house in the old way, and have 
 homely guests ; and having but two, by the means proposed, 
 may take the upper hand of his great ancestors' ; with rever- 
 ence to whom, I may say, there has not been one of them 
 would have disputed his place with a Roman consul. My lord, 
 do not break my heart ; the nobility shall go to no other ploughs 
 than those which we call our consuls. But, says he, it having 
 been so with Lacedemon, that neither the city nor the citizens 
 were capable of increase, a blow was given by that Agrarian, 
 which ruined both. And what are we concerned with that 
 Agrarian, or that blow, while our citizens and our city (and that 
 by our Agrarian) are both capable of increase ? The Spartan, 
 if he made a conquest, had no citizens to hold it ; the Oceaner 
 will have enow. The Spartan could have no trade; the Oceaner 
 may have all. The Agrarian in Laconia, that it might bind on 
 knapsacks, forbidding all other arts but that of war, could net 
 make an army of above thirty thousand citizens. The Agrarian 
 in Oceana, without interruption of traffic, provides us in the 
 fifth part of the youth an annual source or fresh spring of one 
 hundred thousand, besides our provincial auxiliaries, out of 
 
n 4 OCEANA. 
 
 which to draw marching armies ; and as many elders,, not feeble, 
 but men most of them in the flower of their age, and in arms 
 for the defence of our territories. The Agrarian in Laconia 
 banished money, this multiplies it ; that allowed a matter of 
 twenty or thirty acres to a man, this two or three thousand ; 
 there is no comparison between them. And yet I differ so 
 much from my lord, or his opinion that the Agrarian was the 
 ruin of Lacedemon, that I hold it no less than demonstrable 
 to have been her main support. For if, banishing all other 
 diversions, it could not make an army of above thirty thousand, 
 then, letting in all other diversions, it must have broken that 
 army. Wherefore Lysander, bringing in the golden spoils of 
 Athens, irrecoverably ruined that commonwealth ; and is a 
 warning to us, that in giving encouragement to industry, we 
 also remember that covetousness is the root of all evil. And 
 our Agrarian can never be the cause of those seditions threat- 
 ened by my lord, but is the proper cure of them, as Lucan 
 notes well in the state of Rome before the civil wars, which 
 happened through the w'ant of such an antidote. 
 
 " Why then are we mistaken, as if we intended not equal 
 advantages in our commonwealth to either sex, because we 
 would not have women's fortunes consist in that metal which 
 exposes them to cutpurses ? If a man cuts my purse I may 
 have him by the heels or by the neck for it ; whereas a man 
 may cut a woman's purse, and have her for his pains in fetters. 
 How brutish, and much more than brutish, is that common- 
 wealth which prefers the earth before the fruits of the womb ? 
 If the people be her treasure, the staff by which she is sustained 
 and comforted, with what justice can she suffer them, by whom 
 she is most enriched, to be for that cause the most impoverished ? 
 And yet we see the gifts of God, and the bounties of Heaven 
 in fruitful families, through this wretched custom of marrying 
 for money, become their insupportable grief and poverty. 
 Nor falls this so heavy upon the lower sort, being better able 
 to shift for themselves, as upon the nobility or gentry. For 
 what avails it in this case, from whence their veins have derived 
 their blood ; while they shall see the tallow of a chandler 
 sooner converted into that beauty which is required in a bride ? 
 I appeal, whether my Lord Philautus or myself be the advocate 
 of nobility ; against which, in the case proposed by me, there 
 
OCEANA. T15 
 
 would be nothing to hold the balance. And why is a woman, 
 if she may have but ^1500, undone? If she be unmarried, 
 what nobleman allows his daughter in that case a greater 
 revenue than so much money may command ? And if she 
 marry, no nobleman can give his daughter a greater portion 
 than she has. Who is hurt in this case?— nay, who is not 
 benefited? If the Agrarian gives us the sweat of our brows 
 without diminution ; if it prepares our table ; if it makes our 
 cup to overflow ; and above all this, in providing for our children, 
 anoints our heads with that oil which takes away the greatest of 
 worldly cares ; what man, that is not besotted with a covetous- 
 ness as vain as endless, can imagine such a constitution to be 
 his poverty? Seeing where no woman can be considerable for 
 her portion, no portion will be considerable with a woman ; and 
 so his children will not only find better preferments without his 
 brokage, but . more freedom of their own affections. We are 
 wonderful severe in laws, that they shall not marry without 
 our consent, as if it were care and tenderness over them ; but 
 is it not lest we should not have the other ,£1000 with 
 this son, or the other ^100 a year more in jointure for that 
 daughter? These, when we are crossed in them, are the sins 
 for which we water our couch with tears, but not of penitence. 
 Seeing whereas it is a mischief beyond any that we can do to 
 our enemies, we persist to make nothing of breaking the affec- 
 tion of our children. But there is in this Agrarian a homage to 
 pure and spotless love, the consequence whereof I will not give 
 for all your romances. An alderman makes not his daughter a 
 countess till he has given her ,£20,000, nor a romance a con- 
 siderable mistress till she be a princess ; these are characters 
 of bastard love. But if our Agrarian excludes ambition and 
 covetousness, we shall at length have the care of our own breed, 
 in which we have been curious as to our dogs and horses. The 
 marriage-bed will be truly legitimate, and the race of the 
 commonwealth not spurious. 
 
 " But {impar magnanimis dusts, imparque dolori) I am 
 hurled from all my hopes by my lord's last assertion of 
 impossibility, that the root from whence we imagine these 
 fruits should be planted or thrive in this soil. And why? 
 Because of the mixture of estates and variety of tenures. 
 Nevertheless, there is yet extant in the Exchequer an old 
 
n6 OCEANA. 
 
 survey of the whole nation ; wherefore such a thing is not 
 impossible. Now if a new survey were taken at the present 
 rates, and the law made that no man should hold hereafter 
 above so much land as is valued therein at ^2000 a year, it 
 would amount to a good and sufficient Agrarian. It is true 
 that there would remain some difficulty in the different kind of 
 rents, and that it is a matter requiring not only more leisure 
 than we have, but an authority which may be better able to 
 bow men to a more general consent than is to be wrought out 
 of them by such as are in our capacity. Wherefore, as to the 
 manner, it is necessary that we refer it to the parliament ; but 
 as to the matter, they cannot otherwise fix their government 
 upon the right balance. 
 
 " I shall conclude with a few words to some parts of the order, 
 which my lord has omitted. As first to the consequences of the 
 Agrarian to be settled in Marpesia, which irreparably breaks the 
 aristocracy of that nation ; being of such a nature, as standing, 
 it is not possible that you should govern. For while the people 
 of that country are little better than the cattle of the nobility, 
 you must not wonder if, according as these can make their 
 markets with foreign princes, you find those to be driven upon 
 your grounds. And if you be so tender, now you have it in 
 your power, as not to hold a hand upon them that may prevent 
 the slaughter which must otherwise ensue in like cases, the 
 blood will lie at your door. But in holding such a hand upon 
 them, you may settle the Agrarian ; and in settling the Agrarian, 
 you give that people not only liberty, but lands ; which makes 
 your protection necessary to their security ; and their con- 
 tribution due to your protection, as to their own safety. 
 
 " For the Agrarian of Panopea, it allowing such proportions of 
 so good land, men that conceive themselves straitened by 
 this in Oceana, will begin there to let themselves forth, where 
 every citizen will in time have his villa. And there is no 
 question, but the improvement of that country by this means 
 must be far greater than it has been in the best of former 
 times. 
 
 " I have no more to say, but that in those ancient and heroic 
 ages (when men thought that to be necessary which was 
 virtuous) the nobility of Athens, having the people so much 
 engaged in their debt that there remained no other question 
 
OCEANA. 117 
 
 among these than which of those should be king, no sooner 
 heard Solon speak than they quitted their debts, and restored 
 the commonwealth ; which ever after held a solemn and annual 
 feast called the Sisacthia, or Recision, in memory of that action. 
 Nor is this example the phcenix; for at the institution by 
 Lycurgus, the nobility having estates (as ours here) in the lands 
 of Laconia, upon no other valuable consideration than the 
 commonwealth proposed by him, threw them up to be parcelled 
 by his Agrarian. But now when no man is desired to throw up 
 a farthing of his money, or a shovelful of his earth, and that all 
 we can do is but to make a virtue of necessity, we are dis- 
 puting Whether we should have peace or war : for peace you 
 cannot have without some government, nor any government 
 without the proper balance. Wherefore if you will not fix this 
 which you have, the rest is blood, for without blood you can 
 bring in no other." 
 
 By these speeches made at the institution of the Agrarian 
 you may perceive what were the grounds of it. The next is 
 
 The fourteenth order, " Constituting the ballot of Venice, as 
 it is fitted by several alterations, and appointed to every assem- 
 bly, to be the constant and only way of giving suffrage in 
 this commonwealth, according to the following scheme." 
 (Seep. 118.) 
 
 I shall endeavour by the following figure to demonstrate the 
 manner of the Venetian ballot (a thing as difficult in discourse 
 or writing, as facile in practice) according to the use of it in 
 Oceana. The whole figure represents the senate, containing, 
 as to the house or form of sitting, a square and a half; the 
 tribunal at the upper end being ascended by four steps. On 
 the uppermost of these sit the magistrates that constitute the 
 signory of the commonwealth, that is to say, A the strategus ; 
 B the orator ; C the three commissioners of the great seal ; D 
 the three commissioners of the treasury, whereof one, E, 
 exercises for the present the office of a censor at the middle 
 urn F. 
 
 To the two upper steps of the tribunal answer GG GG, the 
 two long benches next the wall on each side of the house ; the 
 outwardmost of which are equal in height to the uppermost step, 
 and the innermost equal in height to the next. Of these four 
 
nS 
 
 OCEANA. 
 
 The Manner and Use of the Ballot. 
 
 
 c 
 
 A 
 
 B 
 
 D 
 
 
 
 
 
 M 
 
 N e e 
 
 e d N 
 
 M 
 
 
 
 
 H 
 
 H 
 
 
 c 
 
 H 
 
 H 
 
 K E 
 W 
 
 K 
 
 G 
 
 G 
 
 S 
 
 S 
 
 T L T 
 
 F 
 
 V I. T 
 
 S 
 
 s 
 
 G 
 
 ('. 
 
 
 
 S 
 
 s 
 
 v b 
 
 Y 
 
 s 
 
 s 
 
 
 
 
 
 S 
 
 s 
 
 s 
 s 
 
 a 
 X 
 
 X 
 
 O 
 X 
 
 X 
 
 s 
 s 
 
 s 
 s 
 
 
 
 I 
 
 
 
 
 X X 
 
 as 
 
 X 
 
 5a 
 X 
 
 X ^ 
 
 X * 
 
 
 
 
 I 
 
 
 
 * 
 
 X 
 
 * X 
 
 X » 
 
 x 
 
 X 
 
 
 
 
 
 X 
 
 X 
 
 X 
 
 X 
 
 X 
 
 X 
 
 
 
 
 
 X 
 
 X 
 
 
 
 X 
 
 X 
 
 
 
 
 
 x 
 
 x 
 
 X 
 
 X 
 
 X 
 
 X 
 
 
 
 
 
 x 
 
 X 
 
 X 
 
 X 
 X 
 
 
 X 
 
 
 
 / 
 
 
 
 / 
 
 h 
 
 
 
 t 
 
 K S k 
 
 
 
 k 
 
OCEANA. 119 
 
 benches consists the first seat ; as the second seat consists in 
 like manner of those four benches HH HH, which being next 
 the floor, are equal in height to the two nethermost steps of the 
 throne. So the whole house is distributed into two seats, each 
 consisting of four benches. 
 
 This distribution causes not only the greater conveniency, as 
 will be shown, to the senators in the exercise of their function 
 at the ballot, but a greater grace to the aspect of the senate. In 
 the middle of the outward benches stand I.I, the chairs of the 
 censors, those being their ordinary places, though upon occasion 
 of the ballot they descend, and sit where they are shown by 
 K K at each of the outward urns L L. Those M M that sit 
 with their tables, and the bowls N N before them, upon the 
 half-space or second step of the tribunal from the floor, are the 
 clerks or secretaries of the house. Upon the short seats O O 
 on the floor (which should have been represented by woolsacks) 
 sit P, the two tribunes of the horse ; Q, the two tribunes of the 
 foot ; and RR RR the judges, all which magistrates are 
 assistants, but have no suffrage. This posture of the senate 
 considered, the ballot is performed as follows : 
 
 First, whereas the gold balls are of several suits, and accord- 
 ingly marked with several letters of the alphabet, a secretary 
 presents a little urn (wherein there is one ball of every suit or 
 mark) to the strategus and the orator ; and look what letter the 
 strategus draws, the same and no other is to be used for that 
 time in the middle urn F ; the like for the letter drawn by the 
 orator is to be observed for the side urns L L, that is to say, if 
 the stategus drew a ball with an A, all the gold balls in the 
 middle urn for that day are marked with the letter A ; and if the 
 orator drew a B, all the gold balls in the side urn for that day 
 are marked with the letter B, which done immediately before 
 the ballot, and so the letter unknown to the ballotants, they can 
 use no fraud or juggling ; otherwise a man might carry a gold 
 ball in his hand, and seem to have drawn it out of an urn. He 
 that draws a gold ball at any urn, delivers it to the censor or 
 assessor of that urn, who views the character, and allows accord- 
 ingly of his lot. 
 
 The strategus and the orator having drawn for the letters, the 
 urns are prepared accordingly by one of the commissioners and 
 the two censors. The preparation of the urns is after this 
 
i2o OCEANA. 
 
 manner. If the senate be to elect, for example, the list called 
 the tropic of magistrates, which is this : 
 
 1. The Lord Strategus ; 
 
 2. The Lord Orator ; 
 
 3. The third Commissioner of the Great Seal ; 
 
 4. The third Commissioner of the Treasury ; 
 
 5. The first Censor; 
 
 6. The second Censor ; 
 
 This list or schedule consists of six magistracies, and to every 
 magistracy there are to be four competitors, that is, in all four- 
 and- twenty competitors proposed to the house. They that are 
 to propose, the competitors are called electors, and no elector 
 can propose above one competitor : wherefore for the proposing 
 of four-and-twenty competitors you must have four-and-twenty 
 electors ; and whereas the ballot consists of a lot and of a 
 suffrage, the lot is for no other use than for the designation of 
 electors ; and he that draws a gold ball at the middle urn is an 
 elector. Now, as to have four-and-twenty competitors proposed, 
 you must have four-and-twenty electors made, so to have four- 
 and-twenty electors made by lot, you must have four-and-twenty 
 gold balls in the middle urn ; and these (because otherwise it 
 would be no lot) mixed with a competent number of blanks, or 
 silver balls. Wherefore to the four-and-twenty gold balls cast 
 six-and twenty silver ones, and those (reckoning the blanks with 
 the prizes) make fifty balls in the middle urn. This done 
 (because no man can come to the middle urn that has not first 
 drawn a gold ball at one of the side urns) and to be sure that 
 the prizes or gold balls in this urn be all drawn, there must come 
 to it fifty persons ; therefore there must be in each of the side 
 urns five-and-twenty gold balls, which in both come to fifty ; 
 and to the end that every senator may have his lot, the gold 
 balls in the side urns are to be made up with blanks equal to 
 the number of the ballotants at either urn ; for example, the 
 house consisting of three hundred senators, there must be in each 
 of the side urns one hundred and twenty-five blank and twenty- 
 five prizes, which come in both the side urns to three hundred 
 balls. This is the whole mystery of preparing the urns, which the 
 censors having skill to do accordingly, the rest of the ballot, 
 whether the parties balloting understand it or no, must of 
 
OCEANA. 121 
 
 necessary consequence come right ; and they can neither be out, 
 nor fall into any confusion in the exercise of this art. 
 
 But the ballot, as I said, is of two parts, lot and suffrage, 
 or the proposition and result. The lot determines who shall 
 propose the competitors ; and the result of the senate, which of 
 the competitors shall be the magistrates. The whole, to begin 
 with the lot, proceeds in this manner : — 
 
 The first secretary with an audible voice reads first the list 
 of the magistrates to be chosen for the day, then the oath for 
 fair election, at which the senators hold up their hands ; which 
 done, another secretary presents a little urn to the strategus, in 
 which are four balls, each of them having one of these four 
 inscriptions : " First seat at the upper end." " First seat at the 
 lower end." " Second seat at the upper end." " Second seat 
 at the lower end." And look which of them the strategus 
 draws, the secretary pronouncing the inscription with a loud 
 voice, the. seat so called comes accordingly to the urns : this in 
 the figure is the second seat at the upper end. The manner 
 of their coming to the side urns is in double files, there being 
 two holes in the cover of each side urn, by which means two 
 may draw at once. The senators therefore SS SS are coming 
 from the upper end of their seats HH HH to the side urns 
 LL. The senators TT T are drawing. The senator V has 
 drawn a gold ball at his side urn, and is going to the middle 
 urn F, where the senator W, having done the like at the other 
 side urn, is already drawing. But the senators XX XX having 
 drawn blanks at their side urns, and thrown them into the bowls 
 YY standing at the feet of the urns, are marching by the lower 
 end into their seats again ; the senator a having done the like 
 at the middle urn, is also throwing his blank into the bowl b, 
 and marching to his seat again : for a man by a prize at a side 
 urn gains no more than right to come to the middle urn, where, 
 if he draws a blank, his fortune at the side urn comes to nothing 
 at all ; wherefore he also returns to his place. But the senator 
 c has had a prize at the middle urn, where the commissioner, 
 having viewed his ball, and found the mark to be right, he 
 marches up the steps to the seat of the electors, which is 
 the form d set across the tribunal, where he places himself, 
 according as he was drawn, with the other electors e e e drawn 
 before him. These are not to look back, but sit with their faces 
 
122 OCEANA. 
 
 towards the signory or state, till their number amount to that of 
 the magistrates to be that day chosen, which for the present, as 
 was shown, are six : wherefore six electors being made, they are 
 reckoned according as they were drawn : first, second, third, 
 fourth, fifth, sixth, in their order ; and the first six that are 
 chosen are the first order of electors. 
 
 The first order of electors being made, are conducted by a 
 secretary, with a copy of the list to be chosen, out of the senate, 
 and into a commitee or council-chamber, being neither suffered 
 by the way, nor in their room (till the ballot be ended), to have 
 conference with any but themselves ; wherefore the secretary, 
 having given them their oath that they shall make election 
 according to the law and their conscience, delivers them the 
 list, and seats himself at the lower end of the table with his pen 
 and paper, while another secretary keeps the door. 
 
 By such time as the first order of electors are thus seated, the 
 second order of electors is drawn, who, with a second copy of 
 the same list, are conducted into another committee-chamber, 
 by other secretaries performing the same office with the former. 
 
 The like exactly is done by the third and by the fourth orders 
 (or hands, as the Venetians call them) of electors, by which 
 means you have the four-and-twenty electors divided according 
 to the four copies of the same list, by six, into four hands or 
 orders ; and every one of these orders names one competitor to 
 every magistracy in the list ; that is to say, the first elector 
 names to the first magistracy, the second elector to the second 
 magistracy, and so forth. But though the electors, as has been 
 shown, are chosen by mere lot, yet the competitors by them 
 named are not chosen by any lot, but by the suffrage of the 
 whole order — for example, the first elector in the first order 
 proposes a name to be Strategus, which name is balloted by 
 himself and the other five electors ; and if the name so balloted 
 attain not to above half the suffrages, it is laid aside, and the 
 first elector names another to the same magistracy ; and so in 
 case this also fails, another, till one he has named, whether it be 
 himself, or some other, has attained to above half the suffrages 
 in the affirmative ; and the name so attaining to above half the 
 suffrages in the affirmative is written to the first magistracy in the 
 list by the secretary ; which being done, the second elector of the 
 first order, names to the second magistracy till one of his nomina- 
 
OCEANA. 123 
 
 tion be chosen to the same. The like is done by the rest of the 
 electors of the first order, till one competitor be chosen, and 
 written to every magistracy in their list. Now the second, third, 
 and fourth orders of electors doing exactly after the same manner, 
 it comes to pass that one competitor to every magistracy being 
 chosen in each order, there be in all four competitors chosen to 
 every magistracy. 
 
 If any controversy arises in an order of electors, one of the 
 censors (these being at this game the groom-porters) is advertised 
 by the secretary, who brings him in, and the electors disputing 
 are bound to acquiesce in his sentence. For which cause it is 
 that the censors do not ballot at the urns ; the signory also 
 abstains, lest it should deform the house : wherefore the blanks 
 in the side urns are by so many the fewer. And so much for the 
 lot, which is of the greater art but less consequence, because it 
 concerns proposition only : but all (except the tribunes and the 
 judges, which being but assistants have no suffrage) are to ballot 
 at the result, to which I now come. 
 
 The four orders of electors having perfected their lists, the 
 face of the house is changed : for the urns are taken away, and 
 every senator and magistrate is seated in his proper place, saving 
 the electors,, who, having given their suffrages already, may not 
 stir out of their chambers till the house have given theirs, 
 and the rest of the ballot be performed ; which follows in this 
 manner : — 
 
 The four lists being presented by the secretaries of each 
 council of electors to the signory, are first read, according to 
 their order, to the house with an audible voice ; and then the 
 competitors are put to the ballot or suffrage of the whole senate 
 in this manner : A A named to be strategus in the first order ; 
 whereupon eight ballotins or pages, such as are expressed by 
 the figures f f, take eight of the boxes represented, though 
 rudely, by the figures g g, and go four on the one, and four 
 on the other side of the house, that is, one to every bench, 
 signifying '■' A A named to be the strategus in the first order :" 
 and every magistrate or senator (beginning by the strategus 
 and the orator first) holds up a little pellet of linen, as the 
 box passes, between his finger and his thumb, that men may 
 see he has but one, and then puts it into the same. The box 
 consisting in the inner part of two boxes, being painted on the 
 
124 OCEANA. 
 
 outside white and green, to distinguish the affirmative from the 
 negative side, is so made that when your hand is in it, no man can 
 see to which of the sides you put the suffrage, nor hear to which 
 it foils, because the pellet being linen, makes no noise. The 
 strategus and the orator having begun, all the rest do the like. 
 
 The ballotins having thus gathered the suffrage-, bring them 
 before the signory, in whose presence the outward boxes being 
 opened, they take out the inner boxes, whereof the affirmative is 
 white, and the negative green, and pour the white in the bowl 
 N on the right hand, which is white also, and the green into the 
 bowl N on the left, which is also green. These bowls or basins 
 (better represented at the lower end of the figure by h i) being 
 upon this occasion set before the tables of the secretaries at the. 
 upper end N N, the white on the right hand, and the green on 
 the left, the secretaries on each side number the balls, by which, 
 if they find that the affirmatives amount not to above one half, 
 they write not the name that was balloted, but if they amount to 
 above one half, they write it, adding the number of above half the 
 suffrages to which it attained. The first name being written, or 
 laid aside, the next that is put is.B B named to be strategus in the 
 second order ; the third C C, named to be strategus in the third 
 order ; the fourth D D, named to be strategus in the fourth order, 
 and he of these four competitors that has most above half in the 
 affirmative, is the magistrate ; or if none of them attain to above 
 half, the nomination for that magistracy is to be repeated by 
 such new electors as shall be chosen at the next ballot. And so, 
 as is exemplified in the first magistracy, proceeds the ballot of 
 the rest ; first in the first, then in the second, and so in the third 
 and fourth orders. 
 
 Now whereas it may happen that A A, for example, being 
 named strategus in the first order, may also be named to the 
 same or some one or more other magistracies in one or more of 
 the other orders ; his name is first balloted where it is first 
 written, that is to the more worthy magistracy, whereof if he 
 misses, he is balloted as it comes in course for the next, and so 
 for the rest, if he misses of that, as often as he is named. 
 
 And because to be named twice, or oftener, whether to the 
 same or some other magistracy, is the stronger recommenda- 
 tion, the note must not fail to be given upon the name, at the 
 proposition in this manner : A A named to be strategus in the 
 
OCEANA. 125 
 
 first, and in the second order, or A A named to be stratcgus in 
 the first and the third, in the first and the fourth, &c. But if 
 he be named to the same magistracy in the first, second, third, 
 and fourth orders, he can have no competitor ; wherefore at- 
 taining to above half the suffrages, he is the magistrate. Or 
 thus : A A named to be strategus in the first, to be censor in the 
 second, to be orator in the third, and to be commissioner of the 
 seal in the fourth order, or the like in more or fewer orders, in 
 which cases if he misses of the first magistracy, he is balloted 
 to the second; if he misses of the second, to the third; and if 
 he misses of the third, to the fourth. 
 
 The ballot not finished before sunset, though the election of 
 the magistrates already chosen be good, voids the election of 
 such competitors as being chosen are not yet furnished with 
 magistracies, as if they had never been named (for this is no 
 juggling-box, but an art that must see the sun), and the ballot 
 for the remaining magistracies is to be repeated the next day 
 by new orders of electors, and such competitors as by them 
 shall be elected. And so in the like manner, if of all the names 
 proposed to the same magistracy, no one of them attains to 
 above half the sufferages in the affirmative. 
 
 The senatorian ballot of Oceana being thus described, those 
 of the parish, of the hundred, and of the tribe, being so little 
 different, that in this they are all contained, and by this may be 
 easily understood, are yet fully described, and made plain enough 
 before in the 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th orders. 
 
 This, therefore, is the general order, whence those branches of 
 the ballot, some whereof you have already seen, are derived; 
 which, with those that follow, were all read and debated in this 
 place at the institution. When my Lord Epimonus de Garrula, 
 being one of the councillors, and having no further patience 
 (though the rulers were composed by the agent of this common- 
 wealth, residing for that purpose at Venice) than to hear the 
 direction for the parishes, stood up and made way for himself in 
 this manner : — 
 
 " May it please your Highness, my Lord Archon, — 
 " Under correction of Mr. Peregrin Spy, our very learned 
 agent and intelligencer, I have seen the world a little, Venice, 
 and (as gentlemen are permitted to do) the great council balloting. 
 
126 OCEANA. 
 
 And truly I must needs say, that it is for a dumb show 
 the goodliest that I ever beheld with my eyes. You should 
 have some would take it ill, as if the noble Venetians thought 
 themselves too good to speak to strangers, but they observed 
 them not so narrowly. The truth is, they have nothing to say 
 to their acquaintance ; or men that are in council sure would 
 have tongues : for a council, and not a word spoken in it, is a 
 contradiction. But there is such a pudder with their marching 
 and countermarching, as, though never a one of them draw a 
 sword, you would think they were training ; which till I found 
 that they did it only to entertain strangers, I came from among 
 them as wise as I went thither. But in the parliament of 
 Oceana you had no balls nor dancing, but sober conversation ; 
 a man might know and be known, show his parts, and improve 
 them. And now if you take the advice of this same fellow, you 
 will spoil all with his whimsies. Mr. Speaker — cry you mercy, 
 my Lord Archon, I mean — set the wisest man of your house 
 in the great council of Venice, and you will not know him 
 from a fool. Whereas nothing is more certain than that flat 
 and dull fellows in the judgment of all such as used to keep 
 company with them before, upon election into our house, have 
 immediately chitted like barley in the vat, where it acquires a 
 new spirit, and flowed forth into language, that I am as con- 
 fident as I am here, if there were not such as delight to abuse 
 us, is far better than Tully's ; or, let anybody but translate one 
 of his orations, and speak it in the house, and see if everybody 
 do not laugh at him. This is a great matter, Mr. Speaker; 
 they do not cant it with your book-learning, your orbs, your 
 centres, your prime magnitudes, and your nebulones, things I 
 profess that would make a sober man run stark mad to hear 
 them ; while we, who should be considering the honour of our 
 country, and that it goes now or never upon our hand, whether 
 it shall be ridiculous to all the world, are going to nine-holes or 
 trow madam for our business, like your dumb Venetian, whom 
 this same Sir Politic your resident, that never saw him do any 
 thing but make faces, would insinuate into you, at this distance, 
 to have the only knack of state. Whereas if you should take 
 the pains, as I have done, to look a little nearer, you would find 
 these same wonderful things to be nothing else but mere natural 
 fopperies, or aiprua'os, as they call them in Italian, even of the 
 
OCEANA. 127 
 
 meanest, of that nation. For, put the case you be travelling in 
 Italy, ask your contaditw, that is, the next country-fellow you 
 meet, some question, and presently he ballots you an answer 
 with a nod, which is affirmative ; or a shake with his head, 
 which is the negative box ; or a shrug with his shoulder, which 
 is the bossolo di non sinceri. Good ! You will admire Sandys 
 for telling you, that grotta di cane is a miracle : and I shall be 
 laughed at, for assuring you, that it is nothing else but such a 
 damp (continued by the neighbourhood of certain sulphur 
 mines) as through accidental heat does sometimes happen in 
 our coalpits. But ingratitude must not discourage an honest 
 man from doing good. There is not , I say, such a tongue-tied 
 generation under heaven as your Italian, that you should not 
 wonder if he make signs. But our people must have something 
 in their diurnals ; we must ever and anon be telling them our 
 minds ; or if we be at it when we raise taxes, like those gentle- 
 men with the finger and the thumb, they will swear that we are 
 cutpurses. Come, I know what I have heard them say, when 
 some men had money that wrought hard enough for it ; and 
 do you conceive they will be better pleased when they shall 
 be told that upon like occasions you are at mumchance or 
 stool-ball ? I do not speak for myself ; for though I shall 
 always acknowledge that I got more by one year's sitting in the 
 house than by my three years' travels, it was not of that kind. 
 But I hate that this same Spy, for pretending to have played 
 at billiards with the most serene commonwealth of Venice, 
 should make such fools of us here, when I know that he must 
 have had his intelligence from some corncutter upon the Rialto; 
 for a noble Venetian would be hanged if he should keep such a 
 fellow company. And yet if I do not think he has made you all 
 dote, never trust me, my Lord Archon is sometimes in such 
 strange raptures. Why, good my lord, let me be heard as well 
 as your apple squire. Venice has fresh blood in her cheeks, I 
 must confess, yet she is but an old lady. Nor has he picked 
 her cabinet ; these he sends you are none of her receipts, I can 
 assure you ; he bought them for a Julio at St. Mark's of a 
 mountebank. She has no other wash, upon my knowledge, for 
 that same envied complexion of hers but her marshes, being a 
 little better scented, saving your presence, than a chamber-pot. 
 My lords. I know what I say, but you will never have done with 
 
128 OCEANA. 
 
 it, that neither the great Turk, nor any of those little Turks her 
 neighbours, have been able to spoil her ! Why you may as well 
 wonder that weasels do not suck eggs in swans'-nests. Do you 
 think that it has lain in the devotion of her beads ; which you 
 that have puked so much at Popery, are now at length resolved 
 shall consecrate M. Parson, and be dropped by every one of his 
 congregation, while those same whimsical intelligences your 
 surveyors (you will break my heart) give the turn to your primum 
 mobile / And so I think they will ; for you will find that money 
 is the primum mobile, and they will turn you thus out of some 
 three or four hundred thousand pounds : a pretty sum for urns and 
 balls, for boxes and pills, which these same quacksalvers are to 
 administer to the parishes ; and for what disease I marvel ! 
 Or how does it work ? Out comes a constable, an overseer, and 
 a churchwarden ! Air Speaker, I am amazed ! " 
 
 Never was there goose so stuck with lard as my Lord 
 Epimonus's speech with laughter, the Archon having much 
 ado to recover himself in such manner as might enable him to 
 return these thanks : — 
 
 " In your whole lives, my lords, were you never entertained 
 with so much ingenuity, my Lord Epimonus having at once 
 mended all the faults of travellers. For, first, whereas they are 
 abominable liars, he has not told you (except some malicious 
 body has misinformed him concerning poor Spy) one syllable of 
 falsehood. And, secondly, whereas they never fail to give the 
 upper hand in all their discourses to foreign nations, still jostling 
 their own into the kennel, he bears an honour to his country 
 that will not dissolve in Cephalonia, nor be corrupted with figs 
 and melons, which I can assure you is no ordinary obligation ; 
 and therefore hold it a matter of public concern, that we be no 
 occasion of quenching my lord's affections, nor is there any 
 such great matter between us, but, in my opinion, might be 
 easily reconciled, for though that which my lord gained by 
 sitting in the house, I steadfastly believe, as he can affirm, 
 was got fairly, yet dare I not, nor do I think, that upon 
 consideration he will promise so much for other gamesters, 
 especially when they were at it so high, as he intimates not 
 only to have been in use, but to be like enough to come about 
 
OCEANA. 129 
 
 again. Wherefore say I, let them throw with boxes, for unless 
 we will be below the politics of an ordinary, there is no such bar 
 to cogging. It is known to his lordship that our game is most 
 at a throw, and that every cast of our dice is in our suffrages, 
 nor will he deny that partiality in a suffrage is downright 
 cogging. Now if the Venetian boxes be the most sovereign of 
 all remedies against this same cogging, is it not a strange thing 
 that they should be thrown first into the fire by a fair gamester ? 
 Men are naturally subject to all kinds of passions ; some you 
 have that are not able to withstand the brow of an enemy, and 
 others that make nothing of this, are less proof against that of 
 a friend. So that if your suffrage be barefaced, I dare say you 
 shall not have one fair cast in twenty. But whatever a man's 
 fortune be at the box, he neither knows whom to thank, nor 
 whom to challenge. Wherefore (that my lord may have a 
 charitable opinion of the choice affection which I confess to 
 have, above all other beauties, for that of incomparable Venice) 
 there is in this way of suffrage no less than a demonstration 
 that it is the most pure, and the purity of the suffrage in a 
 popular government is the health, if not the life of it, seeing the 
 soul is no otherwise breathed into the sovereign power than by 
 the suffrage of the people. Wherefore no wonder if Postellus 
 be of opinion that this use of the ball is the very same with 
 that of the bean in Athens, or that others, by the text con- 
 cerning Eldad and Medad, derive it from the commonwealth 
 of Israel. There is another thing, though not so material to us, 
 that my lord will excuse me if I be not willing to yield, which is, 
 that Venice subsists only by her situation. It is true that a 
 man in time of war may be more secure from his enemies by 
 being in a citadel, but not from his diseases; wherefore the 
 first cause, if he lives long, is his good, constitution, without 
 which his citadel were to little purpose, and it is not otherwise 
 with Venice." 
 
 With this speech of the Archon I conclude the proof of the 
 Agrarian and the ballot, being the fundamental laws of this 
 commonwealth, and come now from the centre to the circum- 
 ferences or orbs, whereof some have been already shown; as 
 how the parishes annually pour themselves into the hundreds, 
 the hundreds into the tribes, and the tribes into the galaxies ; the 
 
 £ 
 
i 3 o OCEANA. 
 
 annual galaxy of every tribe consisting of two knights and seven 
 deputies, whereof the knights constitute the senate ; the deputies, 
 the prerogative tribe, commonly called the people ; and the senate 
 and people constitute the sovereign power or parliament of 
 Oceana. Whereof to show what the parliament is, I must first 
 open the senate, and then the prerogative tribe. 
 
 To begin with the senate, of which (as a man is differently 
 represented by a picture drawer and by an anatomist) I shall 
 first discover the face or aspect, and then the parts, with the use 
 of them. Every Monday morning in the summer at seven, and 
 in the winter at eight, the great bell in the clock-house at the 
 pantheon begins, and continues ringing for the space of one 
 hour ; in which time the magistrates of the senate, being 
 attended according to their quality, with a respective number of 
 the ballotins, doorkeepers and messengers, and having the 
 ensigns of their magistracies borne before them, as the sword 
 before the strategus, the mace before the orator, a mace with 
 the seal before the commissioners of the chancery, the like with 
 the purse before the commissioners of the treasury, and a silver 
 wand, like those in use with the universities, before each of the 
 censors, being chancellors of the same. These, with the 
 knights, in all three hundred, assemble in the house or hall of 
 the senate. 
 
 The house or hall of the senate being situated in the 
 pantheon or palace of justice, is a room consisting of a square 
 and a half. In the middle of the lower end is the door, at the 
 upper end hangs a rich state overshadowing the greater part of 
 a large throne, or half pace of two stages ; the first ascended by 
 two steps from the floor, and the second about the middle rising 
 two steps higher. Upon this stand two chairs, in that on the 
 right hand sits the strategus, in the other the orator,- adorned 
 with scarlet robes, after the fashion that was used by the dukes 
 in the aristocracy. At the right end of the upper stage stand 
 three chairs, in which the three commissioners of the seal are 
 placed ; and at the other end sit the three commissioners of the 
 treasury, every one in a robe or habit like that of the earls. Of 
 these magistrates of this upper stage consists the signory. At 
 either end of the lower stage stands a little table, to which the 
 secretaries of the senate are set with their tufted sleeves in the 
 
OCEANA. 131 
 
 habit of civil lawyers. To the four steps, whereby the two 
 stages of the throne are ascended, answer four long benches, 
 which successively deriving from every one of the steps, 
 continue their respective height, and extend themselves by 
 the side walls towards the lower end of the house, every 
 bench being divided by numeral characters into the thirty-seven 
 parts or places. Upon the upper benches sit the censors in the 
 robes of barons ; the first in the middle of the right hand bench, 
 and the second directly opposite to him on the other side. 
 Upon the rest of the benches sit the knights, who, if they be 
 called to the urns, distributing themselves by the figures, come 
 in equal files, either by the first seat, which consists of the two 
 upper benches on either side ; or by the second seat, consisting 
 of the two lower benches on either side, beginning also at the 
 upper or at the lower ends of the same, according to the lot 
 whereby they are called ; for which end the benches are open, and 
 ascended at either end with easy stairs and large passages. 
 The rest of the ballot is conformable to that of the tribe; the 
 censors of the house sitting at the side urn, and the youngest 
 magistrate of the signory at the middle, the urns being placed 
 before the throne, and prepared according to the number of the 
 magistrates to be at that time chosen by the rules already given 
 to the censors of the tribes. But before the benches of the 
 knights on either side stands one being shorter, and at the 
 upper end of this sit the two tribunes of the horse. At the 
 upper end of the other, the two tribunes of the foot in their 
 arms, the rest of the benches being covered by the judges of 
 the land in their robes. But these magistrates have no suffrage, 
 nor the tribunes, though they derive their presence in the senate 
 from the Romans, nor the judges, though they derive theirs 
 from the ancient senate of Oceana. Every Monday this 
 assembly sits of course ; at other times, if there be occasion, 
 any magistrate of the house, by giving order for the bell, or by 
 his lictor or ensign-bearer, calls a senate. And every magis- 
 trate or knight during his session has the title, place and honour 
 of a duke, earl, baron, or knight respectively. And every one 
 that has borne the same magistracy by his third session, has his 
 respective place and title during the term of his life, which 
 is all the honour conferred by this commonwealth, except upon 
 
 E2 
 
1 32 OCEANA. 
 
 the master of the ceremonies, the master of the horse, and the 
 king of the heralds, who are knights by their places. And thus 
 you have the face of the senate, in which there is scarce any 
 feature that is not Roman or Venetian ; nor do the horns of the 
 crescent extend themselves much unlike those of the Sanhedrim, 
 on either hand of the prince, and of the father of that senate. 
 But upon beauty, in which every man has his fancy, we will not 
 otherwise philosophize than to remember that there is some- 
 thing more than decency in the robe of a judge, that would not 
 be well spared from the bench ; and that the gravest magistrate, 
 to whom you on commit the sword of justice, will find a quick- 
 ness in the spurs of honour, which, if they be not laid to virtue, 
 will la)' themselves to that which may rout a commonwealth. 
 
 To come from the face of the senate to the constitution and 
 use of the parts : it is contained in the peculiar orders. And 
 the orders which are peculiar to the senate, are either of election 
 or instruction. 
 
 Elections in the senate are of three sorts : annual, biennial, 
 and extraordinary. 
 
 Annual elections are performed by the schedule called the 
 tropic ; and the tropic consists of two parts : the one containing 
 the magistrates, and the other the councils to be yearly elected. 
 The schedule or tropic of the magistrates is as follows in 
 
 The fifteenth order, requiring, " That upon every Monday next 
 ensuing the last of March, the knights of the annual galaxies 
 taking their places in the senate, be called the third region of 
 the same ; and that the house having dismissed the first region, 
 and received the third, proceed to election of the magistrates 
 contained in the first part of the tropic, by the ensuing 
 schedule : 
 
 The Lord Strategus, \ 
 
 The Lord Orator, I Annua] Magistrates . 
 
 The first Censor, 
 
 The second Censor, / 
 
 The third Commissioner of the\ 
 
 Seal, 
 r-. ... j /-. • ■ t ., i Triennial Magistrates. 
 
 The third Commissioner of the I & 
 
 Treasury, .' 
 
 "The annual magistrates (provided that no one man bears 
 
OCEANA. 133 
 
 above one of those honours during the term of one session) may- 
 be elected out of any region. But the triennial magistrates may 
 not be elected out of any other than the third region only, lest 
 the term of their session expire before that of their honour ; and 
 (it being unlawful for a man to bear magistracy any longer than 
 he is thereto qualified by the election of the people) cause 
 a fraction in the rotation of this commonwealth. 
 
 " The strategus is first president of the senate, and general of 
 the army, if it be commanded to march ; in which case there 
 shall be a second strategus elected to be first president of the 
 senate, and general of the second army ; and if this also be 
 commanded to march, a third strategus shall be chosen, and 
 so on, as long as the commonwealth sends forth armies. 
 
 " The lord orator is the second and more peculiar president 
 of the senate to whom it appertains to keep the house to orders. 
 
 " The censors, whereof the first, by consequence of his election, 
 is chancellor of the university of Clio, and the second of that of 
 Calliope, are presidents of the council for religion and magis- 
 trates, to whom it belongs to keep the house to the order of the 
 ballot. They are also inquisitors into the ways and means of 
 acquiring magistracy, and have power to punish indirect pro- 
 ceedings in the same, by removing a knight or magistrate out of 
 the house, under appeal to the senate. 
 
 "The commissioners of the seal being three, whereof the third 
 is annually chosen out of the third region, are judges in 
 chancery. 
 
 '' The commissioners of the treasury being three, whereof the 
 third is annually chosen out of the third region, are judges in 
 the exchequer ; and every magistrate of this schedule has right 
 to propose to the senate. 
 
 " But the strategus with the six commissioners are the signory 
 of this commonwealth, having riLjht of session and suffrage 
 in every council of the senate, and power either jointly or 
 severally to propose in all or any of them." 
 
 I have little in this order to observe and prove but that the 
 strategus is the same honour both in name and thing that was 
 borne, among others, by Philopemen and Aratus in the common- 
 wealth of the Achaeans ; the like having been in use also with 
 the /Etolians. The orator, called otherwise the speaker, is, with 
 
134 OCEANA. 
 
 small alteration, the same that had been of former use in this 
 nation. These two, if you will, may be compared to the consuls 
 in Rome, or the suffetes in Carthage, for their magistracy is 
 scarce different. 
 
 The censors derive their power of removing a senator from 
 those of Rome, the government of the ballot from those of 
 Venice, and that of animadversion upon the ambitus, or canvass 
 for magistracy, from both. 
 
 The signory, with the whole right and use of that magistracy 
 to be hereafter more fully explained, is almost purely Venetian. 
 
 The second part of the tropic is directed by 
 
 The sixteenth order, "Whereby the constitution of the 
 councils being four; that is to say, the council of state, the 
 council of war, the council of religion, and the council of trade, 
 is rendered conformable in their revolutions to that of the 
 senate. As, first, by the annual election of five knights out of 
 the first region of the senate into the council of state, consisting 
 of fifteen knights, five in every region. Secondly, by the annual 
 election of three knights out of the third region of the council 
 of state, to be proposed by the provosts, and elected by that 
 council, into the council of war, consisting of nine knights, three 
 in every region, not excluded by this election from remaining 
 members also of the council of state. The four tribunes of the 
 people have right of session and suffrage in the council of war. 
 Thirdly, by the annual election of four knights out of the third 
 region of the senate into the council of religion, consisting of 
 twelve knights, four in every region. Of this council the censors 
 are presidents. Fourthly, by the annual election of four knights 
 out of the third region of the senate into the council of trade, 
 consisting of twelve knights, four in every region. And each 
 region, in every one of these councils thus constituted, shall 
 weekly and interchangeably elect one provost whose magistracy 
 shall continue for one week ; nor shall he be re-elected into the 
 same till every knight of that region in the same council has once 
 borne the same magistracy. And the provosts being one in every 
 region, three in every council, and twelve in all, beside their other 
 capacities, shall assemble and be a council, or rather an academy 
 apart, to certain ends and purposes to be hereafter further ex- 
 plained with those of the rest of the councils." 
 
OCEANA. 135 
 
 This order is of no other use than the frame and turn of the 
 councils, and yet of no small one ; for in motion consists life, 
 and the motion of a commonwealth will never be current unless 
 it be circular. Men that, like my Lord Epimonus, not enduring 
 the resemblance of this kind of government to orbs and spheres, 
 fall on physicking and purging it, do no more than is necessary; 
 for if it be not in rotation both as to persons and things, it will 
 be very sick. The people of Rome, as to persons, if they had 
 not been taken up by the wheel of magistracy, had overturned 
 the chariot of the senate. And those of Lacedemon, as to things, 
 had not been so quiet when the senate trashed their business, 
 by encroaching upon the result, if by the institution of the ephors 
 they had not brought it about again. So that if you allow not 
 a commonwealth her rotation, in which consists her equality, 
 you reduce her to a party, and then it is necessary that you be 
 physicians indeed, or rather farriers ; for you will have strong 
 patients, and such as must be haltered and cast, or yourselves 
 may need bone-setters. Wherefore the councils of this common- 
 wealth, both in regard of their elections, and, as will be shown, 
 of their affairs, are uniform with the senate in their revolutions ; 
 not as whirlpits to swallow, but to bite, and with the screws of 
 their rotation to hold and turn a business (like the vice of a 
 smith) to the hand of the workman. Without engines of which 
 nature it is not possible for the senate, much less for the people, 
 to be perfect artificers in a political capacity. But I shall not 
 hold you longer from 
 
 The seventeenth order, "Directing biennial elections, or the 
 constitution of the orb of ambassadors in ordinary, consisting of 
 four residences, the revolution whereof is performed in eight 
 years, and preserved through the election of one ambassador in 
 two years by the ballot of the senate to repair to the court of 
 France, and reside there for the term cf two years ; and the 
 term of two years being expired, to remove from thence to the 
 court of Spain, there to continue for the space of two years, and 
 thence to remove to the State of Venice, and after two years' 
 residence in. that city, to conclude with his residence at 
 Constantinople for a like term of time, and so to return. A 
 knight of the senate, or a deputy of the prerogative, may not be 
 elected ambassador in ordinary, because a knight or deputy so 
 
136 OCEANA. 
 
 chosen must either lose his session, which would cause an 
 unevenness in the motion of this commonwealth, or accumulate 
 magistracy, which agrees not with equality of the same. Nor 
 may any man be elected into this capacity that is above five-and- 
 thirty years of age, lest the commonwealth lose the charge of 
 his education, by being deprived at his return of the fruit of it, 
 or else enjoy it not long through the defects of nature." 
 
 This order is the perspective of the commonwealth, whereby 
 she foresees ; danger or the traffic, whereby she receives every 
 two years the return of a statesman enriched with eight years' 
 experience from the prime marts of negotiation in Europe. 
 And so much for the elections in the senate that are ordinary ; 
 such as are extraordinary follow in 
 
 The eighteenth order, "Appointing all elections upon emer- 
 gent occasions, except that of the dictator, to be made by the 
 scrutiny, or that kind of election whereby a council comes to 
 be a fifth order of electors. For example, if there be occasion 
 of an ambassador extraordinary, the provosts of the council of 
 state, or any two of them, shall propose to the same, till one 
 competitor be chosen by that council; and the council having 
 chosen a competitor, shall bring his name into the senate, 
 which in the usual way shall choose four more competitors to 
 the same magistracy ; and put them, with the competitor of the 
 council, to the ballot of the house, by which he of the five that 
 is chosen is said to be elected by the scrutiny of the council of 
 state. A vice-admiral, a polemarch, or field officer, shall be 
 elected after the same manner, by the scrutiny of the council of 
 war. A judge or sergeant-at-law, by the scrutiny of the com- 
 missioners of the seal. A baron, or considerable officer of the 
 exchequer, by the scrutiny of the commissioners of the treasury. 
 Men in magistracy, or out of it, are equally capable of election 
 by the scrutiny ; but a magistrate or officer elected by the 
 scrutiny to a military employment, if he be neither a knight of 
 the senate, nor a deputy of the prerogative, ought to have his 
 office confirmed by the prerogative, because the militia in a 
 commonwealth, where the people are sovereign, is not lawful to 
 to be touched injussu populi. 
 
 The R.omans were so curious that, though their consuls were 
 elected in the centuriate assemblies, they might not touch the 
 
OCEANA. 137 
 
 militia, except they were confirmed in the parochial assemblies ; 
 for a magistrate not receiving his power from the people, takes 
 it from thern, and to take away their power, is to take away 
 their liberty. As to the election by the scrutiny, it is easily 
 perceived to be Venetian, there being no such way to take in the 
 knowledge, which in all reason must be best in every council of 
 such men as are most fit for their turns, and yet to keep them 
 from the bias of particular affection or interest under that 
 pretence ; for the cause why the great council in Venice scarce 
 ever elects any other than the name that is brought in by the 
 
 scrutiny, is very probable to be, that they may This 
 
 election is the last of those appertaining to the senate. The 
 councils being chosen by the orders already shown, it remains 
 that we come to those whereby they are instructed ; and the 
 orders of instruction to the councils are two : the first for the 
 matter whereupon they are to proceed, and the second for the 
 manner of their proceeding. The matter of the councils is 
 distributed to them by 
 
 The nineteenth order, " Distributing to every council such 
 businesses as are properly to belong to their cognizance, whereof 
 some they shall receive and determine, and others they shall 
 receive, prepare, and introduce into the house : as, first, 
 
 " The council of state is to receive all addresses, intelligences, 
 and letters of negotiation ; to give audience to ambassadors sent 
 to, and to draw up instructions for such as shall be sent by, this 
 commonwealth ; to receive propositions from, and hold intelli- 
 gence with, the provincial councils; to consider upon all laws 
 to be enacted, amended, or repealed, and upon all levies of men 
 or money, war or peace, leagues or associations to be made by 
 this commonwealth, so far forth as is conducible to the orderly 
 preparation of the same to be introduced by them into the 
 senate. Provided that all such affairs, as otherwise appertaining 
 to the council of state, are, for the good of the commonwealth, 
 to be carried with greater secrecy, be managed by the council 
 of war, with power to receive and send forth agents, spies, 
 emissaries, intelligencers, frigots ; and to manage affairs of that 
 nature, if it be necessary, without communication to the senate, 
 till such time as it may be had without detriment to the 
 business. But they shall have no power to engage the common- 
 
1 3 8 OCEANA. 
 
 wealth in a war without the consent of the senate and the 
 people. It appertains also to this council to take charge of the 
 fleet as admiral, and of all storehouses, armouries, arsenals, 
 and magazines appertaining to this commonwealth. They shall 
 keep a diligent record of the military expeditions from time to 
 time reported by him that was strategus or general, or one of 
 the polemarchs in that action ; or at least so far as the 
 experience of such commanders may tend to the improvement 
 of the military discipline, which they shall digest and introduce 
 into the senate ; and if the senate shall thereupon frame any 
 article, they shall see that it be observed in the musters or 
 education of the youth. And whereas the council of war is the 
 sentinel or scout of this commonwealth, if any person or persons 
 shall go about to introduce debate into any popular assembly of 
 the same, or otherwise to alter the present government, or 
 strike at the root of it, they shall apprehend, or cause to be 
 apprehended, seized, imprisoned, and examine, arraign, acquit, 
 or condemn, and cause to be executed any such person, or 
 persons, by their proper power and authority, and without 
 appeal. 
 
 " The council of religion, as the arbiter of this commonwealth 
 in cases of conscience more peculiarly appertaining to religion, 
 Christian charity, and a pious life, shall have the care of the 
 national religion, and the protection of the liberty of conscience, 
 with the cognizance of all causes relating to either of them. 
 And first as to the national religion : they shall cause all places 
 or preferments of the best revenue in either of the universities to 
 be conferred upon no other than such of the most learned and 
 pious men as have dedicated themselves to the study of 
 theology. They shall also take a special care that, by such 
 augmentations as be or shall hereafter be appointed by the 
 senate, every benefice in this nation be improved at least to the 
 value of ^ioo a year. And to the end that there be no interest 
 at all, whereby the divines or teachers of the national religion 
 may be corrupted, or corrupt religion, they shall be capable of 
 no other kind of employment or preferment in this common- 
 wealth. And whereas a directory for the administration of the 
 national religion is to be prepared by this council, they shall in 
 this and other debates of this nature proceed in manner 
 
OCEANA. 139 
 
 following : a question arising in matter of religion shall be put 
 and stated by the council in writing, which writing the censors 
 shall send by their beadles (being proctors chosen to attend 
 them) each to the university whereof he is chancellor, and the 
 vice-chancellor of the same receiving the writing, shall call a 
 convocation of all the divines of that university, being above 
 forty years of age. And the universities upon a point so 
 proposed, shall have no manner of intelligence or correspond- 
 ence one with another, till their debates be ended, and they have 
 made return of their answers to the council of religion by 
 two or three of their own members, that they may clear their 
 sense, if any doubt should arise, to the council, which done, they 
 shall return, and the council having received such information, 
 shall proceed according to their own judgments, in the 
 preparation of the whole matter for the senate : that so the 
 interest of the learned being removed, there may be a right 
 application of reason to Scripture, which is the foundation of 
 the national religion. 
 
 " Secondly, This council, as to the protection of the liberty 
 of conscience, shall suffer no coercive power in the matter of 
 religion to be exercised in this nation ; the teachers of the 
 natural religion being no other than such as voluntarily under- 
 take that calling, and their auditors or hearers, no other than 
 are also voluntary. Nor shall any gathered congregation be 
 molested or interrupted in their way of worship (being neither 
 Jewish nor idolatrous), but vigilantly and vigorously protected and 
 defended in the enjoyment, practice, and profession of the same. 
 And if there be officers or auditors appointed by any such 
 congregation for the introduction of causes into the council of 
 religion, all such causes so introduced shall be received, heard, 
 and determined by the same, with recourse had, if need be, to 
 the senate. 
 
 " Thirdly, Every petition addressed to the senate, except that 
 of a tribe, shall be received, examined, and debated by this 
 council j and such only as they, upon such examination and 
 debate had, shall think fit, may be introduced into the 
 senate. 
 
 "The council of trade being the vena porta of this nation, 
 shall hereafter receive instructions more at large. For the 
 
140 OCEANA. 
 
 present, their experience, attaining to a right understanding of 
 those trades and mysteries that feed the veins of this common- 
 wealth, and a true distinction of them from those that suck or 
 exhaust the same, they shall acquaint the senate with the con- 
 veniences and inconveniences, to the end that encouragement 
 may be applied to the one, and remedy to the other. 
 
 " The academy of the provosts, being the affability of the 
 commonwealth, shall assemble every day towards the evening 
 in a fair room, having certain withdrawing rooms thereto 
 belonging. And all sorts of company that will repair thither 
 for conversation or discourse, so it be upon matters of govern- 
 ment, news, or intelligence, or to propose anything to the 
 councils, shall be freely and affably received in the outer 
 chamber, and heard in the way of civil conversation, which is 
 to be managed without any other awe or ceremony than is 
 thereto usually appertaining, to the end that every man may 
 be free, and that what is proposed by one, may be argued or 
 discoursed by the rest, except the matter be of secrecy ; in 
 which case the provosts, or some of them, shall take such a3 
 desire audience into one of the withdrawing rooms. And the 
 provosts are to give their minds that this academy be so 
 governed, adorned, and preserved, as may be most attractive to 
 men of parts and good affections to the commonwealth, for the 
 excellency of the conversation. 
 
 " Furthermore, if any man, not being able or willing to come 
 in person, has any advice to give which he judges may be for 
 the good of the commonwealth, he may write his mind to the 
 academy of the provosts, in a letter signed or not signed, which 
 letter shall be left with the doorkeeper of the academy. Nor 
 shall any person delivering such a letter be seized, molested, 
 or detained, though it should prove to be a libel. But the 
 letters so delivered shall be presented to the provosts ; and in 
 case they be so many that they cannot well be perused by the 
 provosts themselves, they shall distribute them as they please 
 to be read by the gentlemen of the academy, who, finding any- 
 thing in them material, will find matter of discourse ; or if they 
 happen upon a business that requires privacy, return it with a note 
 upon it to a provost. And the provosts by the secretaries attend- 
 ing shall cause such notes out of discourses or letters to betaken 
 
OCEANA. 141 
 
 as they please, to the end that they may propose, as occasion 
 serves, what any two of them shall think fit out of their notes 
 so taken to their respective councils ; to the end that not only 
 the ear of the commonwealth be open to all, but that men of 
 such education being in her eye, she may upon emergent 
 elections or occasions be always provided of her choice of fit 
 persons. 
 
 " Every council being adorned with a state for the signory, 
 shall be attended by two secretaries, two doorkeepers, and two 
 messengers-in-ordinary, and have power to command more 
 upon emergencies, as occasion requires. And the academy 
 shall be attended with two secretaries, two messengers, and two 
 doorkeepers ; this with the other councils being provided with 
 their further conveniences at the charge of the State. 
 
 " But whereas it is incident to commonwealths, upon emer- 
 gencies requiring extraordinary speed or secrecy, either through 
 their natural delays or unnatural haste, to incur equal danger, 
 while holding to the slow pace of their orders, they come not in 
 time to defend themselves from some sudden blow; or breaking 
 them for the greater speed, they but haste to their own destruc- 
 tion ; if the senate shall at any time make election of nine 
 knights extraordinary, to be added to the council of war, as a 
 juncta for the term of three months, the council of war, with 
 the juncta so added, is for the term of the same dictator of 
 Oceana, having power to levy men and money, to make war 
 and peace, as also to enact laws, which shall be good for the 
 space of one year (if they be not sooner repealed by the senate 
 and the people) and for no longer time, except they be con- 
 firmed by the senate and the people. And the whole adminis- 
 tration of the commonwealth for the term of the said three 
 months shall be in the dictator, provided that the dictator shall 
 have no power to do anything that tends not to his proper end 
 and institution, but all to the preservation of the commonwealth 
 as it is established, and for the sudden restitution of the same 
 to the natural channel and common course of government. 
 And all acts, orders, decrees, or laws of the council of war with 
 the juncta, being thus created, shall be signed, 
 
 "Dictator Oceans." 
 
142 OCEANA. 
 
 This order of instructions to the councils being (as in a 
 matter of that nature is requisite) very large, I have used my 
 best skill to abbreviate it in such manner as might show no 
 more of it than is necessary to the understanding of the whole, 
 though as to the parts, or further duties of the councils, I have 
 omitted many things of singular use in a commonwealth. But 
 it was discoursed at the council by the Archon in this 
 manner : — 
 
 " My Lords, the Legislators, — 
 " Your councils, except the dictator only, are proper and 
 native springs and sources, you see, which (hanging a few sticks 
 and straws, that, as less considerable, would otherwise be more 
 troublesome, upon the banks of their peculiar channels) derive 
 the full stream of business into the senate, so pure, and so far 
 from the possibility of being troubled or stained (as will 
 undeniably appear by the course contained in the ensuing order) 
 with any kind of private interest or partiality, that it shall never 
 be possible for any assembly hearkening to the advice or 
 information of this or that worthy member (either instructed 
 upon his pillow, or while he was making himself ready, or by 
 the petition or ticket which he received at the door) to have half 
 the security in his faith, or advantage by his wisdom ; such a 
 senate or council being, through the uncertainty of the winds, 
 like a wave of the sea. Nor shall it otherwise mend the matter 
 by flowing up into dry ditches, or referring businesses to be better 
 examined by committees, than to go farther about with it to less 
 purpose ; if it does not ebb back again with the more mud in 
 it. For in a case referred to an occasional committee, of which 
 any member that is desirous may get himself named, and to 
 which nobody will come, but either for the sake of his friend, or 
 his own interest ; it fares little better as to the information of 
 the senate, than if it had been referred to the parties. Where- 
 fore the Athenians being distributed into four tribes, out of 
 which by equal numbers they annually chose four hundred men, 
 called the Senate of the Bean, because the ballot at their 
 election was performed by the use of beans, divided them by 
 fifties into eight parts. And every fifty in their turn, for one 
 eighth part of the year, was a council apart called the Prytans. 
 
OCEANA. 143 
 
 The Prytans in their distinct council receiving all comers, and 
 giving ear to every man that had anything to propose 
 concerning the commonwealth, had power to debate and 
 prepare all the businesses that were to be introduced into the 
 senate. The Achaeans had ten selected magistrates called the 
 demiurgs, constituting a council apart called the synarchy, 
 which, with the strategus, prepared all the business that was 
 introduced into their senate. But both the senate of the 
 Athenians, and that of the Achaeans, would have wondered if a 
 man had told them that they were to receive all comers and 
 discourses, to the end that they might refer them afterwards to 
 the Prytans or the synarchy, much less to an occasional 
 committee, exposed to the catch that catch may of the parties 
 interested. And yet Venice in this, as in most of her orders, 
 excels them all by the constitution of her councils, that of the 
 college, and the other of the died, or council of ten. The 
 course of the college is exactly described in the ensuing order : 
 and for that of the died, it so little differs from what it has 
 bestowed upon our dictator, that I need not make any- 
 particular description of it. But to dictatorian power in 
 general, and the use of it, because it must needs be of difficult 
 digestion to such as, puking still at ancient prudence, show 
 themselves to be in the nursery of mother-wit, it is no less than 
 necessary to say something. And, first, in a commonwealth 
 that is not wrought up, or perfected, this power will be of very 
 frequent, if not continual use ; wherefore it is said more than 
 once, upon defects of the government, in the book of Judges, 
 'that in those days there was no king in Israel.' Nor has the 
 translator, though for no king he should have said no judge, 
 abused you so much ; seeing that the dictator (and such was the 
 judge of Israel) or the dictatorian power being in a single 
 person, so little differs from monarchy, which followed in that, 
 that from the same cause there has been no other effect in any 
 commonwealth : as in Rome was manifest by Sylla and Caesar, 
 who to make themselves absolute or sovereign, had no more to 
 do than to prolong their magistracy ; for the dictatorian power 
 was reputed divine, and therefore irresistible. Nevertheless, 
 so it is, that without this power, which is so dangerous, and 
 subject to introduce monarchy, a commonwealth cannot be safe 
 
i 4 4 OCEANA. 
 
 from falling into the like dissolution ; unless you have an 
 expedient in this case of your own, and bound up by your 
 providence from recoiling. Expedients in some cases you must 
 not only have, but be beholden for them to such whom you 
 must trust at a pinch, when you have not leisure to stand with 
 them for security ; which will be a thousand times more danger- 
 ous. And there can never be a commonwealth otherwise than by 
 the order in debate wrought up to that perfection ; but this 
 necessity must sometimes happen in regard of her natural 
 slowness and openness, and the suddenness of assaults that 
 may be made upon her, as also the secrecy which in some cases 
 may be of absolute necessity to her affairs. Whence Machiavel 
 concludes it positively, that a commonwealth unprovided of 
 such a refuge, must fall to ruin : for her course is either 
 broken by the blow in one of those cases, or by herself, while it 
 startles her out of her orders. And indeed a commonwealth is 
 like a greyhound, which having once coasted, will never after 
 run fair, but grow slothful ; and when it comes to make a 
 common practice of taking nearer ways than its orders, it is 
 dissolved : for the being of a commonwealth consists in its 
 orders. Wherefore at this list you will be exposed to danger, if 
 you have not provided beforehand for the safety of your resort 
 in the like cases : nor is it sufficient that your resort be safe, 
 unless it be as secret and quick ; for if it be slow or open, your 
 former inconveniences are not remedied. Now for our imita- 
 tion in this part, there is nothing in experience like that of the 
 council of ten in Venice ; the benefit whereof would be too long 
 to be shown in the whole piece, and therefore I shall take but a 
 pattern out of Janotti. In the war, says he, which the Vene- 
 tians had with Florence in Casentin, the Florentines, finding a 
 necessity in their affairs far from any other inclination in them- 
 selves to ask their peace, sent ambassadors about it to Venice, 
 where they were no sooner heard, than the bargain was struck 
 up by the council of ten : and everybody admiring (seeing this 
 commonwealth stood upon the higher ground) what should be 
 the reason of such haste ; the council upon the return of the 
 ambassadors imparted letters to the senate, whereby it appeared 
 that the Turks had newly launched a formidable fleet against 
 their State ; which had it been understood by the Florentines, it 
 
OCEANA. 145 
 
 was well enough known they would have made no peace. 
 Wherefore the service of the ten was highly applauded by the 
 senate, and celebrated by the Venetians. Whereby may appear 
 not only in part what use there is of dictatorian power in that 
 government, but that it is assumed at the discretion of that 
 council ; whereas in this of Oceana it is not otherwise entrusted 
 than when the Senate, in the election of nine knights extra- 
 ordinary, gives at once the commission, and takes security in a 
 balance, added to the council of war, though securer before by 
 the tribunes of the people than that of Venice, which yet never 
 incurred jealousy ; for if the younger nobility have been often 
 girding at it, that happened not so much through the apprehen- 
 sion of danger in it to the commonwealth, as through the awe of 
 it upon themselves. Wherefore the graver have doubtlessly 
 shown their prudence in the law ; whereby the magistracy of 
 these councillors being to last till their successors be created, the 
 council is established." 
 
 The instructions of the councils for their matter being shown, 
 it remains that I show the instructions for the manner of their 
 proceeding, as they follow in 
 
 The twentieth order, " Containing the method of debates to be 
 observed by the magistrates and the councils successively in 
 order to a decree of the senate. 
 
 " The magistrates of the signory, as councillors of this com- 
 monwealth, shall take into their consideration all matters of state 
 or of government ; and, having right to propose in any council, 
 may, any one or more of them, propose what business he or they 
 please in that council to which it most properly belongs. And, 
 that the councils may be held to their duty, the said magistrates 
 are superintendents and inspectors of the same, with right to 
 propose to the senate. 
 
 '• The censors have equal power with these magistrates, but in 
 relation to the council of religion only. 
 
 " Any two of the three provosts in every council may propose 
 to, and are the more peculiar proposers of, the same council ; tc 
 the end that there be not only an inspection and superintendency 
 of business in general, but that every work be also committed to 
 a peculiar hand. 
 
i 4 6 OCEANA. 
 
 " Any one or more of the magistrates, or any two of the pro- 
 vosts respectively having proposed, the council shall debate the 
 business so proposed, to which they of the third region that are 
 willing shall speak first in their order ; they of the second, next ; 
 and they of the first, last ; and the opinions of those that 
 proposed or spoke, as they shall be thought the most consider- 
 able by the council, shall be taken by the secretary of the same 
 in writing, and each of them signed with the name of the 
 author. 
 
 " The opinions being thus prepared, any magistrate of the 
 signory, the censors, or any two of the provosts of that council, 
 upon this occasion may assemble the senate. 
 
 "The senate being assembled, the opinions (for example, if they 
 be four) shall be read in their order, that is, according to the 
 order or dignity of the magistrates or councillors by which they 
 were signed. And being read, if any of the council introducing 
 them will speak, they, as best acquainted with the business, 
 shall have precedence ; and after them the senators shall speak 
 according to their regions, beginning by the third first, and so 
 continuing till every man that will has spoken ; and when the 
 opinions have been sufficiently debated, they shall be put all 
 together to the ballot after this manner : 
 
 " Four secretaries, carrying each of them one of the opinions in 
 one hand, with a white box in the other, and each following the 
 other, according to the order of the opinions, shall present his 
 box, naming the author of his opinion to every senator ; and 
 one secretary or ballotin with a green box shall follow the four 
 white ones ; and one secretary or ballotin with a red box shall 
 follow the green one ; and every senator shall put one ball into 
 some one of these six boxes. The suffrage being gathered and 
 opened before the signory, if the red box or non-sincere had 
 above half the suffrages, the opinions shall be all cast out, for 
 the major part of the house is not clear in the business. If no 
 one of the four opinions had above half the suffrages in the 
 affirmative, that which had fewest shall be cast out, and the 
 other three shall be balloted again. If no one of the three had 
 above half, that which had fewest shall be cast out, and the 
 other two shall ballot again. If neither of the two had above 
 half, that which had fewest shall be cast out, and the remaining 
 
OCEANA. i47 
 
 opinion shall be balloted again. And if the remaining opinion 
 has not above half, it shall also be cast out. But the first of the 
 opinions that arrives at most above half in the affirmative, is the 
 decree of the senate. The opinions being all of them cast out 
 by the non-sincere, may be reviewed, if occasion permits, by 
 the council, and brought in again. If they be cast out by the 
 negative, the case being of advice only, the house approves not, 
 and there is an end of it : the case being necessary, and 
 admitting delay, the council is to think again upon the business, 
 and to bring in new opinions ; but the case being necessary, 
 rnd not admitting delay, the senate immediately electing the 
 jwicta shall create the dictator. ' And let the dictator,' as the 
 Roman saying is, ' take care that the commonwealth receives 
 no harm.' 
 
 " This in case the debate concludes not in a decree. But if a 
 decree be passed, it is either in matter of state or government 
 according to law enacted already, and then it is good without 
 going any further : or it is in matter of law to be enacted, 
 repealed or amended ; and then the decree of the senate, 
 especially if it be for a war, or for a levy of men or money, is 
 invalid, without the result of the commonwealth, which is in the 
 prerogative tribe, or representative of the people. 
 
 " The senate having prepared a decree to be proposed to the 
 people, shall appoint their proposers ; and no other may pro- 
 pose for the senate to the people but the magistrates of the house ; 
 that is to say, the three commissioners of the seal, or any two 
 of them ; the three of the treasury, or any two of them ; or the 
 two censors. 
 
 " The senate having appointed their proposers, shall require of 
 the tribunes a muster of the people at a set time and place : and 
 the tribunes or any two of them having mustered the people 
 accordingly, the proposers shall propose the sense or decree of 
 the senate by clauses to the people. And that which is proposed 
 by the authority of the senate, and resolved by the command of 
 the people, is the law of Oceana." 
 
 To this order, implicitly containing the sum very near of the 
 whole civil part of the commonwealth, my Lord Archon spoke 
 thus in council : — 
 
1 43 OCEANA. 
 
 " My dear Lords, — 
 " There is a saying, that a man must cut his coat according 
 to his cloth. When I consider what God has allowed or 
 furnished to our present work, I am amazed. You would have 
 a popular government ; He has weighed it to you in the present 
 balance, as I may say, to a drachm ; you have no more to do but 
 to fix it. For the superstructures of such a government they 
 require a good aristocracy : and you have, or have had a 
 nobility or gentry the best studied, and the best writers, at least 
 next that of Italy, in the whole world ; nor have they been in- 
 ferior, when so exercised, in the leading of armies. But the 
 people are the main body of a commonwealth ; show me from 
 the treasuries of the snow (as it is in Job) to the burning zone 
 a people whose shoulder so universally and so exactly fit the 
 corselet. Nevertheless, it were convenient to be well provided 
 with auxiliaries. There is Marpesia, through her fruitfulness, 
 inexhaustible of men, and men through her barrenness not only 
 enured to hardship, but in your arms. It may be said that 
 Venice, excepting only that she takes not in the people, is the 
 most incomparable situation of a commonwealth. You are 
 Venice, taking in your people and your auxiliaries too. My lords, 
 the children of Israel were makers of brick before they were 
 builders of a commonwealth; but our brick is made, our 
 mortar tempered, the cedars of Lebanon are hewed and squared 
 to our hands. Has this been the work of man? Or is it in 
 man to withstand this work ? ' Shall he that contends with the 
 Almighty, instruct Him ? He that reproves God, let him 
 answer it.' For our parts, everything is so laid, that when we 
 come to have use cf it, it is the next at hand ; and unless we 
 can conceive that God and Nature do anything in vain, there is 
 no more for us to do but to despatch. The piece which we 
 have reached to us in the foregoing orders, is the aristocracy. 
 Athens, as has been shown, was plainly lost through the want 
 of a good aristocracy. But the sufficiency of an aristocracy 
 goes demonstrably upon the hand of the nobility or gentry ; for 
 that the politics can be mastered without study, or that the 
 people can have leisure to study, is a vain imagination ; and 
 what kind of aristocracy divines and lawyers would make, let 
 their incurable running upon their own narrow bias and their 
 
OCEANA. 149 
 
 perpetual invectives against Machiavel (though in some places 
 justly reprovable, yet the only politician, and incomparable 
 patron of the people) serve for instruction. I will stand no 
 more to the judgment of lawyers and divines in this work, than 
 to that of so many other tradesmen; but if this model chances 
 to wander abroad, I recommend it to the Roman speciilativi 
 (the most complete gentlemen of this age) for their censure ; or 
 with my Lord Epimonus his leave, send three or four hundred 
 copies to your agent at Venice to be presented to the magistrates 
 there ; and when they have considered them, to be proposed to 
 the debate of the senate, the most competent judges under 
 heaven, who, though they have great affairs, will not refuse to 
 return you the oracle of their ballot. The councillors of princes 
 I will not trust ; they are but journeymen. The wisdom of 
 these later times in princes' affairs (says Verulamius) is rather 
 fine deliveries and shiftings of dangers when they be near, 
 than solid and grounded courses to keep them off. Their 
 councillors do not derive their proceedings from any sound root 
 of government that may contain the demonstration, and assure 
 the success of them, but are expedient-mongers, givers of them- 
 selves to help a lame dog over a stile ; else how comes it to 
 pass that the fame of Cardinal Richelieu has been like thunder, 
 whereof we hear the noise, but can make no demonstration of 
 the reason ? But to return : if neither the people, nor divines 
 and lawyers, can be the aristocracy of a nation, there remains 
 only the nobility ; in which style, to avoid farther repetition, I 
 shall understand the gentry also, as the French do by the word 
 noblesse. 
 
 " Now to treat of the nobility in such sort as may be less 
 obnoxious to mistake, it will be convenient, and answerable to 
 the present occasion, that I divide my discourse into four 
 parts. 
 
 " The first treating of nobility, and the kinds of it. 
 " The second, of their capacity of the senate. 
 t; The third, of the divers kinds of senates. 
 " The fourth, of the senate, according to the foregoing 
 orders. 
 
 " Nobility may be defined divers ways ; for it is either ancient 
 
150 OCEANA. 
 
 riches, or ancient virtue, or a title conferred by a prince or a 
 commonwealth. 
 
 " Nobility of the first kind may be subdivided into two others, 
 such as hold an overbalance in dominion or property to the 
 whole people, or such as hold not an overbalance. In the 
 former case, a nobility (such was the Gothic, of which sufficient 
 has been spoken) is incompatible with popular government ; for 
 to popular government it is essential that power should be in 
 the people, but the overbalance of a nobility in dominion draws 
 the power to themselves. Wherefore in this sense it is that 
 Machiavel is to be understood, where he says, that these are 
 pernicious in a commonwealth ; and of France, Spain, and Italy, 
 that they are nations which for this cause are the corruption of 
 the world : for otherwise nobility may, according to his definition 
 (which is, ' that they are such as live upon their own revenues 
 in plenty, without engagement either to the tilling of their lands, 
 or other work for their livelihood '), hold an underbalance to the 
 people ; in which case they are not only safe, but necessary to 
 the natural mixture of a well-ordered commonwealth. For how 
 else can you have a commonwealth that is not altogether 
 mechanic ? or what comparison is there of such commonwealths 
 as are, or come nearest to mechanic — for example, Athens, 
 Switzerland, Holland, to Lacedemon, Rome, and Venice, plumed 
 with their aristocracies ? Your mechanics, till they have first 
 feathered their nests, like the fowls of the air, whose whole 
 employment is to seek their food, are so busied in their private 
 concernments that they have neither leisure to study the public, 
 nor are safely to be trusted with it, because a man is not faithfully 
 embarked in this kind of ship, if he has no share in the freight. 
 But if his share be such as gives him leisure by his private 
 advantage to reflect upon that of the public, what other name is 
 there for this sort of men, being d leur aise, but (as Machiavel 
 you see calls them) nobility ? Especially when their families 
 come to be such as are noted for their services done to the 
 commonwealth, and so take into their ancient riches ancient 
 virtue, which is the second definition of nobility, but such a one 
 as is scarce possible in Nature without the former. ' For as the 
 baggage,' says Verulamius, ' is to an army, so are riches to virtue ; 
 they cannot be spared nor left behind, though they be impedi- 
 
OCEANA. 151 
 
 merits, such as not only hinder the march, but sometimes 
 through the care of them lose or disturb the victory.' Of this 
 latter sort is the nobility of Oceana ; the best of all others 
 because they, having no stamp whence to derive their price, can 
 have it no otherwise than by their intrinsic value. The third 
 definition of nobility, is a title, honour, or distinction from the 
 people, conferred or allowed by the prince or the commonwealth. 
 And this may be two ways, either without any stamp or privilege, 
 as in Oceana ; or with such privileges as are inconsiderable, as 
 in Athens after the battle of Platasa, whence the nobility had no 
 right, as such, but to religious offices, or inspection of the public 
 games, to which they were also to be elected by the people ; or 
 with privileges, and those considerable ones, as the nobility in 
 Athens before the battle of Platasa, and the patricians in Rome 
 each of which had right, or claimed it, to the senate and all the 
 magistracies ; wherein for some time they only by their stamp 
 were current. 
 
 " But to begin higher, and to speak more at large of nobility 
 in their several capacities of the senate. The phylarchs, or 
 princes of the tribes of Israel, were the most renowned, or, as 
 the Latin, the most noble of the congregation, whereof by 
 hereditary right they had the leading and judging. The 
 patriarchs, or princes of families, according as they declared 
 their pedigrees, had the like right as to their families ; but 
 neither in these nor the former was there any hereditary right 
 to the Sanhedrim : though there be little question but the wise 
 men and understanding, and known among their tribes, which 
 the people took or elected into those or other magistracies, and 
 whom Moses made rulers over them, must have been of these 
 seeing they could not choose but be the most known among 
 the tribes, and were likeliest by the advantages of education to 
 be the most wise and understanding. 
 
 "Solon having found the Athenians neither locally nor 
 genealogically, but by their different ways of life, divided into 
 four tribes — that is, into the soldiery, the tradesmen, the 
 husbandmen, and the goatherds— instituted a new distribution 
 of them, according to the sense or valuation of their estates, into 
 four classes : the first, second, and third, consisting of such as 
 were proprietors in land, distinguished by the rate of their 
 
152 OCEANA. 
 
 freeholds, with that stamp upon them, which making them 
 capable of adding honour to their riches, that is to say, of the 
 senate, and all the magistracies, excluded the fourth, being the 
 body of the people, and far greater in number than the former 
 three, from all other right, as to those capacities, except the 
 election of these, who by this means became an hereditary 
 aristocracy or senatorian order of nobility. This was that 
 course which came afterwards to be the destruction of Rome, 
 and had now ruined Athens. The nobility, according to the 
 inevitable nature of such a one, having laid the plot how to 
 divest the people of the result, and so to draw the whole power 
 of the commonwealth to themselves ; which in all likelihood 
 they had done, if the people, coming by mere chance to be 
 victorious in the battle of Plataea, and famous for defending 
 Greece against the Persians, had not returned with such courage 
 as irresistibly broke the classes, to which of old they had borne 
 a white tooth, brought the nobility to equal terms, and the 
 senate with the magistracies to be common to both ; the 
 magistracies by suffrage, and the senate (which was the mischief 
 of it, as I shall show anon in that constitution) by lot only. 
 
 "The Lacedemonians were in the manner, and for the same 
 cause with the Venetians at this day, no other than a nobility, 
 even according to the definition given of nobility by Machiavel ; 
 for they neither exercised any trade, nor laboured their lands or 
 lots, which was done by their helots : wherefore some nobility 
 may be far from pernicious in a commonwealth by MachiavePs 
 own testimony, who is an admirer of this, though the servants 
 thereof were more in number than the citizens. To these 
 servants I hold the answer of Lycurgus, when he bade him who 
 asked why he did not admit the people to the government of 
 his commonwealth, to go home and admit his servants to the 
 government of his family, to relate : for neither were the 
 Lacedemonians servants, nor further capable of the government, 
 unless, whereas the congregation had the result, he should have 
 given them the debate also ; every one of these that attained to 
 sixty years of age, and the major vote of the congregation, being 
 equally capable of the senate. 
 
 " The nobility of Rome, and their capacity of the senate, I 
 have already described by that of Athens before the battle of 
 
OCEANA. 153 
 
 Platoea, saving only that the Athenian was never eligible into 
 the senate without the suffrage of the people till the introduction 
 of the lot, but the Roman nobility ever : for the patricians were 
 elected into the senate by the kings, by the consuls, or the 
 censors, or if a plebeian happened to be conscribed, he and 
 his posterity became patricians. Nor, though the people had 
 many disputes with the nobility, did this ever come in con- 
 troversy, which, if there had been nothing else, might in my 
 judgment have been enough to overturn that commonwealth. 
 
 " The Venetian nobility, but that they are richer, and not 
 military, resemble at all other points the Lacedemonian, as I 
 have already shown. These Machiavel excepts from his rule, 
 by saying that their estates are rather personal than real, or of 
 any great revenue in land, which comes to our account, and 
 shows that a nobility or party of the nobility, not overbalancing 
 in dominion, is not dangerous, but of necessary use in every 
 commonwealth, provided it be rightly ordered ; for if it be so 
 ordered as was that of Rome, though they do not overbalance 
 at the beginning, as they did not there, it will not be long ere 
 they do, as is clear both in reason and experience towards the 
 latter end. That the nobility only be capable of the senate is 
 there only not dangerous, where there be no other citizens, as in 
 this government and that of Lacedemon. 
 
 "The nobility of Holland and Switzerland, though but few, 
 have privileges not only distinct from the people, but so great, 
 that in some sovereignties they have a negative voice ; an 
 example which I am far from commending, being such as (if 
 those governments were not cantonized, divided, and subdivided 
 into many petty sovereignties that balance one another, and in 
 which the nobility, except they had a prince at the head of them, 
 can never join to make work) would be the most dangerous 
 that ever was but the Gothic, of which it favours. For in 
 ancient commonwealths you shall never find a nobility to have 
 had a negative but by the poll, which, the people being far more 
 in number, came to nothing ; whereas these have it, be they 
 never so few, by their stamp or order. 
 
 " Ours of Oceana have nothing else but their education and 
 their leisure for the public, furnished by their ease and compe- 
 tent riches : and their intrinsic value, which, according as it 
 
154 OCEANA. 
 
 comes to hold weight in the judgment or suffrage of the people, 
 is their only way to honour and preferment. Wherefore I would 
 have your lordships to look upon your children as such, who, if 
 they come to shake off some part of their baggage, shall make 
 the more quick and glorious march ; for it was nothing else but 
 the baggage, sordidly plundered by the nobility of Rome, that 
 lost the victory of the whole world in the midst of her triumph. 
 
 " Having followed the nobility thus close, they bring us, 
 according to their natural course and divers kinds, to the divers 
 constitutions of the senate. 
 
 "That of Israel (as was shown by my right noble Lord 
 Phosphorus de Auge, in the opening of the commonwealth) 
 consisted of seventy elders, elected at first by the people. But 
 whereas they were for life, they ever after (though without any 
 divine precept for it) substituted their successors by ordination, 
 which ceremony was most usually performed by imposition of 
 hands ; and by this means a commonwealth of as popular 
 institution as can be found became, as it is accounted by 
 Josephus, aristocratical. From this ordination derives that 
 which was introduced by the Apostles into the Christian Church ; 
 for which cause I think it is that the Presbyterians would have 
 the government of the Church to be aristocratical, though the 
 Apostles, to the end, as I conceive, that they might give no 
 occasion to such a mistake, but show that they intended the 
 government of the Church to be popular, ordained elders, as has 
 been shown, by the holding up of hands (or free suffrage of the 
 people) in every congregation or ccclesia : for that is the word 
 in the original, being borrowed from the civil congregations of 
 the people in Athens and Lacedemon, which were so called ; 
 and the word for holding up of hands in the text is also the 
 very same, which signified the suffrage of the people in Athens, 
 XtipoTovr)(javTes ; for the suffrage of the Athenians was given 
 per chirotonian, says Emmius. 
 
 " The council of the bean (as was shown by my Lord Navarchus 
 de Paralo in his full discourse), being the proposing senate of 
 Alliens (for that of the Areopagites was a judicatory), consisted of 
 four, some say five hundred senators, elected annually, all at 
 once, and by a mere lot without suffrage. Wherefore though 
 the senate, to correct the temerity of the lot, had power to cast 
 
OCEANA. 155 
 
 out such as they should judge unworthy of that honour, this 
 related to manners only, and was not sufficient to repair the 
 commonwealth, which by such means became impotent ; and 
 forasmuch as her senate consisted not of the natural aristocracy, 
 which in a commonwealth is the only spur and rein of the 
 people, it was cast headlong by the rashness of her demagogues 
 or grandees into ruin ; while her senate, like the Roman tribunes 
 (who almost always, instead of governing, were rather governed 
 by the multitude), proposed not to the result only, but to the 
 debate also of the people, who were therefore called to the 
 pulpits, where some vomited, and others drank, poison. 
 
 " The senate of Lacedemon, most truly discovered by my 
 Lord Laco de Scytale, consisted but of thirty for life, whereof the 
 two kings, having but single votes, were hereditary, the rest 
 elected by the free suffrage of the people, but out of such as 
 were sixty years of age. These had the whole debate of the com- 
 monwealth in themselves, and proposed to the result only of the 
 people. And now the riddle which I have heretofore found 
 troublesome to unfold, is out ; that is to say, why Athens and 
 Lacedemon, consisting each of the senate and the people, the 
 one should be held a democracy, and the other an aristocracy, 
 or laudable oligarchy, as it is termed by Isocrates ; for that word 
 is not, wherever you meet it, to be branded, seeing it is used 
 also by Aristotle, Plutarch, and others, sometimes in a good 
 sense. The main difference was, that the people in this had the 
 result only, and in that the debate and result too. But for my 
 part, where the people have the election of the senate, not 
 bound to a distinct order, and the result, which is the sovereign 
 power, I hold them to have that share in the government (the 
 senate being not for life) whereof, with the safety of the common- 
 wealth, they are capable in nature, and such a government, for 
 that cause, to be democracy ; though I do not deny but in 
 Lacedemon, the paucity of the senators considered, it might be 
 called oligarchy, in comparison of Athens ; or, if we look on 
 their continuance for life, though they had been more, aristo- 
 cracy. 
 
 " The senate of Rome (whose fame has been heard to thunder 
 in the eloquence of my Lord Dolabella d'Enyo) consisting of 
 three hundred, was, in regard of the number, less oligarchical 
 
156 OCEANA. 
 
 than that of Lacedemon ; but more in regard of the patrician, who, 
 having an hereditary capacity of the same, were not elected to that 
 honour by the people; but, being conscribed by the censors, 
 enjoyed it for life. Wherefore these, if they had their wills, 
 would have resolved as well as debated ; which set the people 
 at such variance with them as dissolved the commonwealth ; 
 whereas if the people had enjoyed the result, that about the 
 Agrarian, as well as all other strife, must of necessity have 
 ceased. 
 
 "The senates of Switzerland and Holland (as I have learnt of 
 my Lords Alpester and Glaucus), being bound up (like the sheaf 
 of arrows which the latter gives) by leagues, lie like those in 
 their quivers ; but arrows, when they come to be drawn, fly from 
 this way and from that ; and I am contented that these con- 
 cerned us not. 
 
 " That of Venice (by the faithful testimony of my most 
 excellent Lord Linceus de Stella) has obliged a world, sufficiently 
 punished by its own blindness and ingratitude, to repent and 
 be wiser : for whereas a commonwealth in which there is no 
 senate, or where the senate is corrupt, cannot stand, the great 
 council of Venice, like the statue of Nilus, leans upon an urn 
 or waterpot, which pours forth the senate in so pure and per- 
 petual a stream, as being unable to stagnate, is for ever inca- 
 pable of corruption. The fuller description of this senate is 
 contained in that of Oceana ; and that of Oceana in the fore- 
 going orders. To every one of which, because something has 
 been already said, I shall not speak in particular. But in 
 general, your senate, and the other assembly, or the prerogative, 
 as I shall show in due place, are perpetual, not as lakes or 
 puddles, but as the rivers of Eden ; and are beds made, as you 
 have seen, to receive the whole people, by a due and faithful 
 vicissitude, into their current. They are not, as in the late way, 
 alternate. Alternate life in government is the alternate death 
 of it. 
 
 " This was the Gothic work, whereby the former government 
 (which was not only a ship, but a gust too) could never open her 
 sails, but in danger to overset herself : neither could make any 
 voyage nor lie safe in her own harbour. The wars of later ages, 
 says Verulamius, seem to be made in the dark, in respect of the 
 
OCEANA. T57 
 
 glory and honour which reflected on men from the wars in 
 ancient times. Their shipping of this sort was for voyages ; 
 ours dare not launch, nor lies it safe at home. Your Gothic 
 politicians seem to me rather to have invented some new 
 ammunition or gunpowder, in their king and parliament, than 
 government. For what is become of the princes (a kind of 
 people) in Germany ? — blown up. Where are the estates, or the 
 power of the people in France? — blown up. Where is that of 
 the people in Arragon, and the rest of the Spanish kingdoms ? 
 — blown up. On the other side, where is the king of Spain's 
 power in Holland? — blown up. Where is that of the Austrian 
 princes in Switzerland ? — blown up. This perpetual peevishness 
 and jealousy, under the alternate empire of the prince and of 
 the people, is obnoxious to every spark. Nor shall any man 
 show a reason that will be holding in prudence, why the people 
 of Oceana have blown up their king, but that their kings did 
 not first blow up them. The rest is discourse for ladies. 
 Wherefore your parliaments are not henceforth to come out of 
 the bag of yEolus, but by your galaxies, to be the perpetual food 
 of the fire of Vesta. 
 
 " Your galaxies, which divide the house into so many regions, 
 are three ; one of which constituting the third region is annually 
 chosen, but for the term of three years ; which causes the house 
 (having at once blossoms, fruit half ripe, and others dropping 
 off in full maturity) to resemble an orange-tree, such as is at the 
 same time an education or spring, and a harvest too; for the 
 people have made a very ill choice in the man, who is not easily 
 capable of the perfect knowledge in one year of the senatorial 
 orders ; which knowledge, allowing him for the first to have 
 been a novice, brings him the second year to practice, and time 
 enough. For at this rate you must always have two hundred 
 knowing men in the government. And thus the vicissitude of 
 your senators is not perceivable in the steadiness and perpetuity 
 of your senate ; which, like that of Venice, being always 
 changing, is for ever the same. And though other politicians 
 have not so well imitated their pattern, there is nothing more 
 obvious in Nature, seeing a man who wears the same flesh but a 
 short time, is nevertheless the same man, and of the same 
 genius ; and whence is this but from the constancy of Nature, 
 
158 OCEANA. 
 
 in holding a man to her orders ? Wherefore keep also to your 
 orders. But this is a mean request ; your orders will be worth 
 little if they do not hold you to them, wherefore embark. 
 They are like a ship, if you be once aboard, you do not carry 
 them, but they you ; and see how Venice stands to her 
 tackling : you will no more forsake them than you will leap 
 into the sea. 
 
 " But they are very many and difficult. O, my Lords, what 
 seaman casts away his card because it has four-and-twenty 
 points of the compass? and yet those are very near as many 
 and as difficult as the orders in the whole circumference of your 
 commonwealth. Consider, how have we been tossed with 
 every wind of doctrine, lost by the glib tongues of your 
 demagogues and grandees in our own havens ? A company of 
 fiddlers that have disturbed your rest for your groat ; ^2000 to 
 one, ^,3000 a year to another, has been nothing. And for what ? 
 Is there one of them that yet knows what a commonwealth is ? 
 And are you yet afraid of such a government in which these 
 shall not dare to scrape for fear of the statute ? Themistocles 
 could not fiddle, but could make of a small city a great com- 
 monwealth : these have fiddled, and for your money, till they 
 have brought a great commonwealth to a small city. 
 
 " It grieves me, while I consider how, and from what causes, 
 imaginary difficulties will be aggravated, that the foregoing 
 orders are not capable of any greater clearness in discourse 
 or writing ; but if a man should make a book, describing every 
 trick and passage, it would fare no otherwise with a game at 
 cards ; and this is no more, if a man plays upon the square. 
 ' There is a great difference,' says Verulamius, ' between a 
 cunning man and a wise man (between a demagogue and a 
 legislator) not only in point of honesty, but in point of ability, 
 as there be that can pack the cards, and yet cannot play well ; 
 so there be some that are good in canvasses and factions, that 
 are otherwise weak men.' Allow me but these orders, and let 
 them come with their cards in their sleeves, or pack if they can. 
 'Again,' says he, 'it is one thing to understand persons, and 
 another to understand matters ; for many are perfect in men's 
 humours that are not greatly capable of the real part of 
 business, which ( is the constitution of one that has studied men 
 
OCEANA. 159 
 
 more than books. But there is nothing more hurtful in a state 
 than that cunning men should pass for wise.' His words are 
 an oracle. As Dionysius, when he could no longer exercise his 
 tyranny among men, turned schoolmaster, that he might exercise 
 it among boys. Allow me but these orders, and your grandees, 
 so well skilled in the baits and palates of men, shall turn rat- 
 catchers. 
 
 " And whereas ' councils (as is discreetly observed by the same 
 author in his time) are at this day, in most places, but familiar 
 meetings (somewhat like the academy of our provosts), where 
 matters are rather talked on than debated, and run too swift to 
 order an act of council ; ' give me my orders, and see if I have 
 not puzzled your demagogues. 
 
 " It is not so much my desire to return upon haunts, as theirs 
 that will not be satisfied ; wherefore if, notwithstanding what was 
 said of dividing and choosing in our preliminary discourses, 
 men will yet be returning to the question, Why the senate must 
 be a council apart (though even in Athens, where it was of no 
 other constitution than the popular assembly, the distinction of 
 it from the other was never held less than necessary) this may 
 be added to the former reasons, that if the aristocracy be not for 
 the debate, it is for nothing ; but if it be for debate, it must 
 have convenience for it ; and what convenience is there for 
 debate in a crowd, where there is nothing but jostling, treading 
 upon one another, and stirring of blood, than which in this case 
 there is nothing more dangerous ? Truly, it was not ill said of 
 my Lord Epimonus, that Venice plays her game, as it were, at 
 billiards or nine-holes ; and so may your lordships, unless your 
 ribs be so strong that you think better of football : for such 
 sport is debate in a popular assembly, as, notwithstanding the 
 distinction of the senate, was the destruction of Athens." 
 
 This speech concluded the debate which happened at the in- 
 stitution of the senate. The next assembly is that of the people 
 or prerogative tribe. 
 
 The face, or mien, of the prerogative tribe for the arms, the 
 horses, and the discipline, but more especially for the select 
 men, is that of a very noble regiment, or rather of two ; the one 
 of horse, divided into three troops (besides that of the provinces, 
 
160 OCEANA. 
 
 which will be shown hereafter), with their captains, cornets, and 
 two tribunes of the horse at the head of them ; the other of foot 
 in three companies (besides that of the provinces), with their 
 captains, ensigns, and two tribunes of the foot at the head of 
 them. The first troop is called the Phoenix, the second the 
 Pelican, and the third the Swallow. The first company the 
 Cypress, the second the Myrtle, and the third the Spray. Of 
 these again (not without a near resemblance of the Roman 
 division of a tribe) the Phcenix and the Cypress constitute the 
 first class, the Pelican and the Myrtle the second, and the 
 Swallow with the Spray the third, renewed eveiy spring by 
 
 The one-and-twentieth order, " Directing, that upon every 
 Monday next ensuing the last of March, the deputies of the 
 annual galaxy arriving at the pavilion in the halo, and electing 
 one captain and one cornet of the Swallow (triennial officers) by 
 and out of the cavalry at the horse urn, according to the rules 
 contained in the ballot of the hundred ; and one c; ptain with 
 one ensign of the Spray (triennial officers) by and out of the i 1- 
 fantry at the foot urn, after the same way of balloting, constitute 
 and become the third classes of the prerogative tribe/' 
 
 Seven deputies are annually returned by every tribe, whereof 
 three are horse, aud four are foot ; and there be fifty tribes : so 
 the Swallow must consist of one hundred and fifty horse, the 
 Spray of two hundred foot. And the rest of the classes being 
 two, each of them in number equal, the whole prerogative 
 (besides the provinces, that is, the knights and deputies of 
 Marpesia and Panopea) must consist of 1050 deputies. And these 
 troops and companies may as well be called centuries as those 
 of the Romans ; for the Romans related not, in so naming theirs, 
 to the number. And whereas they were distributed according 
 to the valuation of their estates, so are these ; which, by virtue 
 of the last order, are now accommodated with their triennial 
 officers. But there be others appertaining to this tribe whose 
 election, being of far greater importance, is annual, as follows 
 in 
 
 The twenty-second order, " Whereby the first class having 
 elected their triennial officers, and made oath to the old tribunes, 
 that they will neither introduce, cause, nor to their power suffer 
 debate to be introduced into any popular assembly of this 
 
OCEANA. 161 
 
 government, but to their utmost be aiding and assisting to seize 
 and deliver any person or persons in that way offending, and 
 striking at the root of this commonwealth, to the council of war, 
 are to proceed with the other two classes of the prerogative tribe 
 to election of the new tribunes, being four annual magistrates, 
 whereof two are to be elected out of the cavalry at the horse 
 urn, and two out of the infantry at the foot urn, according to the 
 common ballot of the tribes. And they may be promiscuously 
 chosen out of any classes, provided that the same person shall 
 not be capable of bearing the tribunitian honour twice in the term 
 of one galaxy. The tribunes thus chosen shall receive the tribe (in 
 reference to the power of mustering and disciplining the same) 
 as commanders-in-chief, and for the rest as magistrates, whose 
 proper function is prescribed by the next order. The tribunes 
 may give leave to any number of the prerogative, not exceeding 
 one hundred at a time, to be absent, so they be not magistrates 
 nor officers, and return within three months. If a magistrate 
 or officer has a necessary occasion, he may also be absent for 
 the space of one month, provided that there be not above three 
 cornets or ensigns, two captains, or one tribune so absent at one 
 time." 
 
 To this the Archon spoke at the institution after this manner: — 
 
 " My Lords, — 
 " It is affirmed by Cicero, in his oration for Flaccus, that the 
 commonwealths of Greece were all shaken or ruined by the in- 
 temperance of their comitia, or assemblies of the people. The 
 truth is, if good heed in this point be not taken, a commonwealth 
 will have bad legs. But all the world knows he should have 
 excepted Lacedemon, where the people, as has been shown by 
 the oracle, had no power at all of debate, nor (till after Lysander, 
 whose avarice opened a gulf that was not long ere it swallowed 
 up his country) came it ever to be exercised by them. Whence 
 that commonwealth stood longest and firmest of any other but 
 this, in our days, of Venice ; which, having underlaid herself 
 with the like institution, owes a great, if not the greatest, part of 
 her steadiness to the same principle ; the great council, which is 
 with her the people, by the authority of my Lord Epimonus, 
 never speaking a word. Nor shall any commonwealth, where 
 
 F 
 
1 62 OCEANA. 
 
 the people in their political capacity is talkative, ever see half 
 the days of one of these, but, being carried away by vain- 
 glorious men (that, as Overbury says, void more than they 
 drink), swim down the stream, as did Athens, the most 
 prating of these dames, when that same ranting fellow 
 Alcibiades fell a-demagoging for the Silician war. But whereas 
 debate, by the authority and experience of Lacedemon and 
 Venice, is not to be committed to the people in a well-ordered 
 government, it may be said that the order specified is but a 
 slight bar in a matter of like danger ; for so much as an oath, 
 if there be no recourse upon the breach of it, is a weak tie for 
 such hands as have the sword in them, wherefore what 
 should hinder the people of Oceana, if they happen not to regard 
 an oath from assuming debate, and making themselves as much 
 an anarchy as those of Athens. To which I answer, Take the 
 common sort in a private capacity, and, except they be injured, 
 you shall find them to have a bashfulness in the presence of the 
 better sort, or wiser men, acknowledging their abilities by 
 attention, and accounting it no mean honour to receive respect 
 from them ; but if they be injured by them, they hate them, and 
 the more for being wise or great, because that makes it the 
 greater injury. Nor refrain they in this case from any kind of 
 intemperance of speech, if of action. It is no otherwise with a 
 people in their political capacity ; you shall never find that 
 they have assumed debate for itself, but for something else. 
 Wherefore in Lacedemon where there was, and in Venice where 
 there is, nothing else for which they should assume it, they have 
 never shown so much as an inclination to it. Nor was there 
 any appearance of such a desire in the people of Rome (who 
 from the time of Romulus had been very well contented with 
 the power of result either in the parochial assemblies, as it was 
 settled upon them by him, or in the meetings of the hundreds, 
 as it was altered in their regard for the worse by Servius Tullius) 
 till news was brought, some fifteen years after the exile of 
 Tarquin, their late king (during which time the senate had 
 governed pretty well), that he was dead at the court of Aristo- 
 demus the tyrant of Cuma;. Whereupon the patricians, or 
 nobility, began to let out the hitherto dissembled venom which 
 is inherent in the root of oligarchy, and fell immediately upon 
 
OCEANA, 163 
 
 injuring the people beyond all moderation. For whereas the 
 people had served both gallantly and contentedly in arms upon 
 their own charges, and, though joint purchasers by their swords 
 of the conquered lands, had not participated in the same to 
 above two acres a man (the rest being secretly usurped by the 
 patricians), they, through the meanness of their support and the 
 greatness of their expense, being generally indebted, no sooner 
 returned home with victory to lay down their arms, than they 
 were snatched up by their creditors, the nobility, to cram gaols. 
 Whereupon, but with the greatest modesty that was ever known 
 in the like case, they first fell upon debate, affirming, 'That they 
 were oppressed and captivated at home, while abroad they 
 fought for liberty and empire, and that the freedom of the 
 common people was safer in time of war than peace, among 
 their enemies than their fellow-citizens.' It is true that when 
 they could not get the senate, through fear, as was pretended by 
 the patricians, to assemble and take their grievances into con- 
 sideration, they grew so much the warmer, that it was glad to 
 meet; where Appius Claudius, a fierce spirit, was of opinion 
 that recourse should be had to consular power, whereby some 
 of the brands of sedition being taken off, the flame might be 
 extinguished. Servilius, being of another temper, thought it 
 better and safer to try if the people might be bowed than 
 broken. But this debate was interrupted by tumultuous news 
 of the near approach of the Volsci, a case in which the senate 
 had no recourse but to the people, who, contrary to their former 
 custom upon the like occasions, would not stir a foot, but fell 
 a-laughing, and saying, ' Let them fight that have something to 
 fight for.' The senate that had purses, and could not sing so 
 well before the thief, being in a great perplexity, found no 
 possible way out of it but to beseech Servilius, one of a genius 
 well known to be popular, that he would accept of the consul- 
 ship, and make some such use of it as might be helpful to the 
 patrician interest. Servilius, accepting of the offer, and making 
 use of his interest with the people, persuaded them to hope well 
 of the good intention of the fathers, whom it would little beseem 
 to be forced to those things which would lose their grace, and 
 that in view of the enemy, if they came not freely ; and withal 
 published an edict, that no man should withhold a citizen of 
 
 F 2 
 
164 OCEANA. 
 
 Rome by imprisonment from giving his name (for that was the 
 way, as I shall have opportunity hereafter to show more at 
 large, whereby they drew out their armies), nor to seize or sell 
 any man's goods or children that was in the camp. Whereupon 
 the people with a mighty concourse immediately took arms, 
 marched forth, and (which to them was as easy as to be put into 
 the humour, and that, as appears in this place, was not hard) 
 totally defeated the Volsci first, then the Sabines (for the 
 neighbouring nations, hoping to have had a good bargain of the 
 discord in Rome, were up in arms on all sides), and after the 
 Sabines the Aurunci. Whence returning victorious in three 
 battles, they expected no less than that the senate would have 
 made good their words, when Appius Claudius, the other consul, 
 of his innate pride, and that he might frustrate the faith of his 
 colleague, caused the soldiers (who being set at liberty, had 
 behaved themselves with such valour) to be restored at their 
 return to their creditors and their gaols. Great resort upon this 
 was made by the people to Servilius, showing him their wounds, 
 calling him to witness how they had behaved themselves, and 
 minding him of his promise. Poor Servilius was sorry, but so 
 overawed with the headiness of his colleague, and the obstinacy 
 of the whole faction of the nobility, that, not daring to do any- 
 thing either way, he lost both parties, the fathers conceiving 
 that he was ambitious, and the people that he was false ; while 
 the consul Claudius, continuing to countenance such as daily 
 seized and imprisoned some of the indebted people, had still 
 new and dangerous controversies with them, insomuch that the 
 commonwealth was torn with horrid division, and the people 
 (because they found it not so safe or so effectual in public) 
 minded nothing but laying their heads together in private con- 
 venticles. For this Aulus Virginius and Titus Vetusius, the 
 new consuls, were reproved by the senate as slothful, and 
 upbraided with the virtue of Appius Claudius. Whereupon the 
 consuls having desired the senate that they might know their 
 pleasure, showed afterwards their readiness to obey it, by 
 summoning the people according to command, and requiring 
 names whereby to draw forth an army for diversion, but no 
 man would answer. Report hereof being made to the senate, 
 the younger sort of the fathers grew so hot with the consuls 
 
OCEANA. 165 
 
 that they desired them to abdicate the magistracy, which they 
 had not the courage to defend. 
 
 "The consuls, though they conceived themselves to be 
 roughly handled, «made this soft answer: 'Fathers conscript, that 
 you may please to take notice it was foretold some horrid sedi- 
 tion is at hand, we shall only desire that they whose valour in 
 this place is so great, may stand by us to see how we behave 
 ourselves, and then be as resolute in your commands as you 
 will ; your fatherhoods may know if we be wanting in the 
 performance. 
 
 "At this some of the hot young noblemen returned with the 
 consuls to the tribunal, before which the people were yet 
 standing ; and the consuls having generally required names in 
 vain, to put it to something, required the name of one that was 
 in their eye particularly ; on whom, when he moved not, they 
 commanded a lictor to lay hands ; but the people, throngingabout 
 the party summoned, forbade the lictor, who durst not touch him ; 
 at 'which the hotspurs that came with the consuls, enraged by 
 the affront, descended from the throne to the aid of the lictor ; 
 from whom in so doing they turned the indignation of the 
 people upon themselves with such heat, that the consuls inter- 
 posing, thought fit, by remitting the assembly, to appease the 
 tumult ; in which, nevertheless, there had been nothing but 
 noise. Nor was there less in the senate, being suddenly rallied 
 upon this occasion, where they that received the repulse, with 
 others whose heads were as addle as their own, fell upon the 
 business as if it had been to be determined by clamour, till the 
 consuls, upbraiding the senate that it differed not from the 
 market-place, reduced the house to orders. And the fathers, 
 having been consulted accordingly, there were three opinions : 
 Publius Virginius conceived that the consideration to be had 
 upon the matter in question, or aid of the indebted and 
 imprisoned people, was not to be further extended than to such 
 as had engaged upon the promise made by Servilius ; Titus 
 Largius, that it was no time to think it enough, if men's merits 
 were acknowledged, while the whole people, sunk under the 
 weight of their debts, could not emerge without some common 
 aid, which to restrain, by putting some into a better condition 
 than others, would rather more inflame the discord than 
 
1 66 OCEANA. 
 
 extinguish it ; Appius Claudius (still upon the old haunt) would 
 have it that the people were rather wanton than fierce ; it was 
 not oppression that necessitated, but their power that invited 
 them to these freaks ; the empire of the consuls since the appeal 
 to the people (whereby a plebeian might ask his fellows if he 
 were a thief) being but a mere scarecrow. ' Go to,' says he, 'let us 
 create the dictator, from whom there is no appeal, and then let 
 me see more of this work, or him that shall forbid my lictor.' 
 The advice of Appius was abhorred by many ; and to introduce 
 a general recision of debts with Largius, was to violate all 
 faith ; that of Virginius, as the most moderate, would have 
 passed best, but that there were private interests, that constant 
 bane of the public, which withstood it. So they concluded with 
 Appius, who also had been dictator, if the consuls and some of 
 the graver sort had not thought it altogether unseasonable, at a 
 time when the Volsci and the Sabines were up again, to venture 
 so far upon alienation of the people : for which cause Valerius, 
 being descended from the Publicolas, the most popular family, 
 as also in his own person of a mild nature, was rather trusted 
 with so rigid a magistracy. Whence it happened that the 
 people, though they knew well enough against whom the 
 dictator was created, feared nothing from Valerius ; but upon a 
 new promise made to the same effect with that of Servilius, 
 hoped better another time, and throwing away all disputes, 
 gave their names roundly, went out, and, to be brief, came home 
 again as victorious as in the former action, the dictator entering 
 the city in triumph. Nevertheless, when he came to press the 
 senate to make good his promise, and do something for the ease 
 of the people, they regarded him no more as to that point than 
 they had done Servilius. Whereupon the dictator, in disdain to 
 be made a stale, abdicated his magistracy, and went home. 
 Here, then, was a victorious army without a captain, and a senate 
 pulling it by the beard in their gowns. What is it (if you have read 
 the story, for there is not such another) that must follow ? Can 
 any man imagine that such only should be the opportunity 
 upon which this people could run away ? Alas, poor men, the 
 ^qui and the Volsci and the Sabines were nothing, but the 
 fathers invincible ! There they sat some three hundred of them 
 armed all in robes, and thundering with their tongues, without 
 
OCEANA. 167 
 
 any hopes in the earth to reduce them to any tolerable conditions. 
 Wherefore, not thinking it convenient to abide long so near 
 them, away marches the army, and encamps in the fields. This 
 retreat of the people is called the secession of Mount Aventin, 
 where they lodged, very sad at their condition, but not letting 
 fall so much as a word of murmur against the fathers. The 
 senate by this time were great lords, had the whole city to 
 themselves ; but certain neighbours were upon the way that 
 might come to speak with them, not asking leave of the porter. 
 Wherefore their minds became troubled, and an orator was 
 posted to the people to make as good conditions with them as 
 he could ; but, whatever the terms were, to bring them home, 
 and with all speed. And here it was covenanted between the 
 senate and the people, that these should have magistrates 
 of their own election, called the tribunes, upon which they 
 returned. 
 
 " To hold you no longer, the senate having done this upon 
 necessity, made frequent attempts to retract it again, while 
 the tribunes, on the other side, to defend what they had got, 
 instituted their tribute comitia, or council of the people ; where 
 they came in time, and, as disputes increased, to make laws 
 without the authority of the senate, called plebiscila. Now to 
 conclude in the point at which I drive : such were the steps 
 whereby the people of Rome came to assume debate, nor is it 
 in art or nature to debar a people of the like effect, where there 
 is the like cause. For Romulus, having in the election of his 
 senate squared out a nobility for the support of a throne, by 
 making that of the patricians a distinct and hereditary order, 
 planted the commonwealth upon two contrary interests or roots, 
 which, shooting forth, in time produced two commonwealths, the 
 one oligarchical in the nobility, the other a mere anarchy of the 
 people, and ever after caused a perpetual feud and enmity 
 between the senate and the people, even to death. 
 
 " There is not a more noble or useful question in the politics 
 than that which is started by Machiavel, whether means were 
 to be found whereby the enmity that was between the senate 
 and the people of Rome could have been removed ? Nor is there 
 any other in which we, on the present occasion, are so much 
 concerned, particularly in relation to this author ; forasmuch as 
 
168 OCEANA. 
 
 his judgment in the determination of the question standing, our 
 commonwealth falls. And he that will erect a commonwealth 
 against the judgment of Machiavel, is obliged to give such 
 reasons for his enterprise as must not go a-begging. Wherefore 
 to repeat the politician very honestly, but somewhat more 
 briefly, he disputes thus : 
 
 "'There be two sorts of commonwealths, the one for pre- 
 servation, as Lacedemon and Venice ; the other for increase, as 
 Rome. 
 
 '"Lacedemon, being governed by a king and a small senate, 
 could maintain itself a long time in that condition, because the 
 inhabitants, being few, having put a bar upon the reception of 
 strangers, and living in a strict observation of the laws of 
 Lycurgus, which now had got reputation, and taken away all 
 occasion of tumults, might well continue long in tranquillity. 
 For the laws of Lycurgus introduced a greater equality in 
 estates, and a less equality in honours, whence there was equal 
 poverty ; and the plebeians were less ambitious, because the 
 honours or magistracies of the city could extend but to a few 
 and were not communicable to the people, nor did the 
 nobility by using them ill ever give them a desire to partici- 
 pate of the same. This proceeded from the kings, whose 
 principality, being placed in the midst of the nobility, had no 
 greater means whereby to support itself than to shield the 
 people from all injury ; whence the people, not fearing empire, 
 desired it not ; and so all occasion of enmity between the 
 senate and the people was taken away. But this union 
 happened especially from two causes : the one that the inhabi- 
 tants of Lacedemon being few, could be governed by the few ; 
 the other, that, not receiving strangers into their commonwealth, 
 they did not corrupt it, nor increase it to such a proportion as 
 was not governable by the few. 
 
 '"Venice has not divided with her plebeians, but all are called 
 gentlemen that be in administration of the government ; for 
 which government she is more beholden to chance than the 
 wisdom of her law-makers ; for many retiring to those islands, 
 where that city is now built, from the inundations of barbarians 
 that overwhelmed the Roman empire, when they were increased 
 to such a number that to live together it was necessary to have 
 
 / 
 
OCEANA. 169 
 
 laws, they ordained a form of government, whereby assembling 
 often in council upon affairs, and finding their number sufficient 
 for government, they put a bar upon all such as repairing after- 
 wards to their city should become inhabitants, excluding them 
 from participation of power. Whence they that were included 
 in the administration had right, and they that were excluded, 
 coming afterwards, and being received upon no other conditions 
 to be inhabitants, had no wrong ; and therefore had no occasion, 
 nor (being never trusted with arms) any means to be tumultuous. 
 Wherefore this commonwealth might very well maintain itself 
 in tranquillity. 
 
 " ' These things considered, it is plain that the Roman legis- 
 lators, to have introduced a quiet state, must have done one of 
 these two things : either shut out strangers, as the Lacede- 
 monians ; or, as the Venetians, not allowed the people to bear 
 arms. But they did neither. By which means the people, 
 having power and increase, were in perpetual tumult. Nor is 
 this to be helped in a commonwealth for increase, seeing if 
 Rome had cut off the occasion of her tumults, she must have cut 
 off the means of her increase, and by consequence of her 
 greatness. 
 
 " ' Wherefore let a legislator consider with himself whether he 
 would make his commonwealth for preservation, in which case 
 she maybe free from tumults; or for increase, in which case 
 she must be infested with them. 
 
 " ' If he makes her for preservation, she may be quiet at home, 
 but will be in danger abroad. First, because her foundation 
 must be narrow, and therefore weak, as that of Lacedemon, 
 which lay but upon 30,000 citizens ; or that of Venice, which 
 lies but upon 3000. Secondly, such a commonwealth must 
 either be in peace, or war; if she be in peace, the few are 
 soonest effeminated and corrupted, and so obnoxious also to 
 faction. If in war, succeeding ill, she is an easy prey ; or 
 succeeding well, ruined by increase : a weight which her foun- 
 dation is not able to bear. For Lacedemon, when she had 
 made herself mistress upon the matter of all Greece, through a 
 slight accident, the rebellion of Thebes, occasioned by the 
 conspiracy of Pelopidas discovering this infirmity of her nature, 
 the rest of her conquered cities immediately fell off, and in the 
 
i 7 o -OCEANA. 
 
 turn as it were of a hand reduced her from the fullest tide to the 
 lowest ebb of her fortune. And Venice having possessed her- 
 self of a great part of Italy by her purse, was no sooner in 
 defence of it put to the trial of arms than she lost all in 
 one battle. 
 
 "'Whence I conclude, that in the ordination of a common- 
 wealth a legislator is to think upon that which is most honour- 
 able ; and, laying aside models for preservation, to follow the 
 example of Rome conniving at, and temporizing with, the enmity 
 between the senate and the people, as a necessary step to the 
 Roman greatness. For that any man should find out a balance 
 that may take in the conveniences and shut out the in- 
 conveniences of both, I do not think it possible.' These are 
 the words of the author, though the method be somewhat 
 altered, to the end that I may the better turn them to my 
 purpose. 
 
 " My Lords, I do not know how you hearken to this sound ; 
 but to hear the greatest artist in the modern world giving 
 sentence against our commonwealth is that with which I am 
 nearly concerned. Wherefore, with all honour due to the 
 prince of politicians, let us examine his reasoning with the 
 same liberty which he has asserted to be the right of a free 
 people. But we shall never come up to him, except by taking 
 the business a little lower, we descend from effects to their 
 causes. The causes of commotion in a commonwealth are 
 either external or internal. External are from enemies, from 
 subjects, or from servants. To dispute then what was the cause 
 why Rome was infested by the Italian, or by the servile wars ; 
 why the slaves took the capitol ; why the Lacedemonians were 
 near as frequently troubled with their helots as Rome with all 
 those; or why Venice, whose situation is not trusted to the faith 
 of men, has as good or better quarter with them whom she 
 governs, than Rome had with the Latins ; were to dispute upon 
 external causes. The question put by Machiavel is of internal 
 causes ; whether the enmity that was between the senate and 
 the people of Rome might have been removed. And to deter- 
 mine otherwise of this question than he does, I must lay down 
 other principles than he has done. To which end I affirm that 
 a commonwealth, internally considered, is either equal or un- 
 
OCEANA. lyi 
 
 equal. A commonwealth that is internally equal, has no in- 
 ternaj cause of commotion, and therefore can have no such 
 effect- but from without. A commonwealth internally unequal 
 has no internal cause of quiet, and therefore can have no such 
 effect but by diversion. 
 
 " To prove my assertions, I shall at this time make use of no 
 other than his examples. Lacedemon was externally unquiet, 
 because she was externally unequal, that is as to her helots; 
 and she was internally at rest, because she was equal in her- 
 self, both in root and branch ; in the root by her Agrarian, and 
 in branch by the senate, inasmuch as no man was thereto 
 qualified but by election of the people. Which institution of 
 Lycurgus is mentioned by Aristotle, where he says that render- 
 ing his citizens emulous (not careless) of that honour, he 
 assigned to the people the election of the senate. Wherefore 
 Machiavel in this, as in other places, having his eye upon the 
 division of patrician and plebeian families as they were in 
 Rome, has quite mistaken the orders of this commonwealth, 
 where there was no such thing. Nor did the quiet of it derive 
 from the power of the kings, who were so far from shielding the 
 people from the injury of the nobility, of which there was none 
 in his sense but the senate, that one declared end of the senate 
 at the institution was to shield the people from the kings, who 
 from that time had but single votes. Neither did it proceed 
 from the straitness of the senate, or their keeping the people 
 excluded from the government, that they were quiet, but from 
 the equality of their administration, seeing the senate (as is 
 plain by the oracle, their fundamental law) had no more than 
 the debate, and the result of the commonwealth belonged to the 
 people. Wherefore when Theopompus and Polydorus, kings of 
 Lacedemon, would . have kept the people excluded from the 
 government by adding to the ancient law this clause, ' If the 
 determination of the people be faulty, it shall be lawful for the 
 senate to resume the debate,' the people immediately became 
 unquiet, and resumed that debate, which ended not till they had 
 set up their ephors, and caused that magistracy to be confirmed 
 by their kings. ' For when Theopompus first ordained that the 
 ephori or overseers should be created at Lacedemon, to be such 
 a restraint upon the kings there as the tribunes were upon the 
 
172 OCEANA. 
 
 consuls at Rome, the queen complained to him, that by this 
 means he transmitted the royal authority greatly diminished to his 
 children : " I leave indeed less," answered he, " but more lasting." 
 And this was excellently said ; for that power only is safe which 
 is limited from doing hurt. Theopompus therefore, by confining 
 the kingly power within the bounds of the laws, did recommend 
 it by so much to the people's affection as he removed it from 
 being arbitrary.' By which it may appear that a commonwealth 
 for preservation, if she comes to be unequal, is as obnoxious to 
 enmity between the senate and the people as a commonwealth 
 for increase ; and that the tranquillity of Lacedemon was derived 
 from no other cause than her equality. 
 
 " For Venice, to say that she is quiet because she disarms her 
 subjects, is to forget that Lacedemon disarmed her helots, and 
 yet could not in their regard be quiet ; wherefore if Venice be 
 defended from external causes of commotion, it is first through 
 her situation, in which respect her subjects have no hope (and 
 this indeed may be attributed to her fortune) ; and, secondly, 
 through her exquisite justice, whence they have no will to 
 invade her. But this can be attributed to no other cause than 
 her prudence, which will appear to be greater, as we look 
 nearer ; for the effects that proceed from fortune, if there be any 
 such thing, are like their cause, inconstant. But there never 
 happened to any other commonwealth so undisturbed and 
 constant a tranquillity and peace in herself as is in that of 
 Venice ; wherefore this must proceed from some other cause 
 than chance. And we see that as she is of all others the most 
 quiet, so the most equal commonwealth. Her body consists of 
 one order, and her senate is like a rolling stone, as was said, 
 which never did, nor, while it continues upon that rotation, 
 never shall gather the moss of a divided or ambitious interest, 
 much less such a one as that which grasped the people of Rome 
 in the talons of their own eagles. And if Machiavel, averse 
 from doing this commonwealth right, had considered her orders, 
 as his reader shall easily perceive he never did, he must have 
 been so far from attributing the prudence of them to chance, that 
 he would have touched up his admirable work to that perfection 
 which, as to the civil part, has no pattern in the universal world 
 but this of Venice. 
 
OCEANA. 173 
 
 " Rome, secure by her potent and victorious arms from all 
 external causes of commotion, was either beholden for her peace 
 at home to her enemies abroad, or could never rest her head. 
 My Lords, you that are parents of a commonwealth, and so 
 freer agents than such as are merely natural, have a care. For, 
 as no man shall show me a commonwealth born straight that 
 ever became crooked, so no man shall show me a common- 
 wealth born crooked that ever became straight. Rome was 
 crooked in her birth, or rather prodigious. Her twins, the 
 patrician and plebeian orders, came, as was shown by the 
 foregoing story, into the world, one body but two heads, or 
 rather two bellies ; for, notwithstanding the fable out of yEsop, 
 whereby Menenius Agrippa, the orator that was sent from the 
 senate to the people at Mount A ventin, showed the fathers to be 
 the belly, and the people to be the arms and the legs (which 
 except that, how slothful soever it might seem, they were 
 nourished, not these only, but the whole body must languish 
 and be dissolved), it is plain that the fathers were a distinct 
 belly ; such a one as took the meat indeed out of the people's 
 mouths, but abhorring the Agrarian, returned it not in the due 
 and necessary nutrition of a commonwealth. Nevertheless, as 
 the people that live about the cataracts of Nilus are said not to 
 hear the noise, so neither the Roman writers, nor Machiavel the 
 most conversant with them, seem among so many of the tribuni- 
 tian storms to hear their natural voice ; for though they could 
 not miss of it so far as to attribute them to the strife of the 
 people for participation in magistracy, or, in which Machiavel 
 more particularly joins, to that about the Agrarian, this was 
 to take the business short, and the remedy for the disease. 
 
 "A people, when they are reduced to misery and despair, 
 become their own politicians, as certain beasts, when they are 
 sick, become their own physicians, and are carried by a natural 
 instinct to the desire of such herbs as are their proper cure ; but 
 the people, for the greater part, are beneath the beasts in the 
 use of them. Thus the people of Rome, though in their misery 
 they had recourse by instinct, as it were, to the two main funda- 
 mentals of a commonwealth, participation of magistracy and 
 the Agrarian, did but taste and spit at them, not (which is 
 necessary in physic) drink down the potion, and in that their 
 
1 74 OCEANA. 
 
 healths. For when they had obtained participation of magis- 
 tracy it was but lamely, not to a full and equal rotation 
 in all elections ; nor did they greatly regard it in what they 
 had got. And when they had attained to the Agrarian, they 
 neglected it so far as to suffer the law to grow obsolete ; but if 
 you do not take the due dose of your medicines (as there be 
 slight tastes which a man may have of philosophy that incline 
 to atheism) it may chance to be poison, there being a like taste 
 of the politics that inclines to confusion ; as appears in the 
 institution of the Roman tribunes, by which magistracy and no 
 more the people were so far from attaining to peace, that they 
 in getting but so much, got but heads for an eternal feud ; 
 whereas if they had attained in perfection either to the Agrarian, 
 they had introduced the equality and calm of Lacedemon, or to 
 rotation, and they had introduced that of Venice : and so there 
 could have been no more enmity between the senate and the 
 people of Rome than there was between those orders in Lace- 
 demon, or is now in Venice. Wherefore Machiavel seems to 
 me, in attributing the peace of Venice more to her luck than her 
 prudence, of the whole stable to have saddled the wrong horse ; 
 for though Rome in her military part could beat it better, beyond 
 all comparison, upon the sounding hoof, Venice for the civil 
 part has plainly had the wings of Pegasus. 
 
 " The whole question then will come upon this point, whether 
 the people of Rome could have obtained these orders ? And 
 first, to say that they could not have obtained them without 
 altering the commonwealth, is no argument ; seeing neither 
 could they, without altering the commonwealth, have obtained 
 their tribunes, which nevertheless were obtained. And if a man 
 considers the posture that the people where in when they 
 obtained their tribunes, they might as well, and with as great 
 ease (forasmuch as the reason why the nobility yielded to the 
 tribunes was no other than that there was no remedy) have 
 obtained anything else. And for experience, it was in the like 
 case that the Lacedemonians did set up their ephors, and the 
 Athenians, after the battle of Platrca, bowed the senate (so hard 
 a thing it is for a commonwealth that was born crooked to 
 become straight) as much the other way. Nor, if it be objected 
 that this must have ruined the nobility (and in that deprived 
 
OCEANA. 175 
 
 the commonwealth of the greatness which she acquired by them), 
 is this opinion holding, but confuted by the sequel of the story, 
 showing plainly that the nobility, through the defect of such 
 orders, that is to say, of rotation and the Agrarian, came to eat 
 up the people ; and battening themselves in luxury, to be, as 
 Sallust speaks of them, ' a most sluggish and lazy nobility, in 
 whom, besides the name, there was no more than in a statue ; ' 
 and to bring so mighty a commonwealth, and of so huge a 
 glory, to so deplorable an end, Wherefore means might have 
 been found to remove the enmity that was between the senate 
 and the people of Rome. 
 
 " My Lords, if I have argued well, I have given you the comfort 
 and assurance that, notwithstanding the judgment of Machiavel, 
 your commonwealth is both safe and sound ; but if I have not 
 argued well, then take the comfort and assurance which he 
 gives you while he is firm, that a legislator is to lay aside all 
 other examples, and follow that of Rome only, conniving and 
 temporizing with the enmity between the senate and the people, 
 as a necessary step to the Roman greatness. Whence it 
 follows that your commonwealth, at the worst, is that which he 
 has given you his word is the best. 
 
 " I have held your lordships long, but upon an account of no 
 small importance, which I can now sum up in these few words : 
 where there is a liquorishness in a popular assembly to debate, 
 it proceeds not from the constitution of the people, but of the 
 commonwealth. Now that your commonwealth is of such a 
 constitution as is naturally free from this kind of intemperance, 
 is that which, to make good, I must divide the remainder of my 
 discourse into two parts : 
 
 "The first, showing the several constitutions of the 
 assemblies of the people in other commonwealths. 
 
 " The second, comparing our assembly of the people with 
 theirs ; and showing how it excludes the inconveniences 
 and embraces the conveniences of them all. 
 
 " In the beginning of the first part I must take notice, that 
 among the popular errors of our days it is no small one that 
 men imagine the ancient governments of this kind to have 
 consisted for the most part of one city, that is, of one town ; 
 
176 OCEANA. 
 
 whereas by what we have learnt of my lords that opened them, 
 it appears that there was not any considerable one of such a 
 constitution but Carthage, till this in our days of Venice. 
 
 " For to begin with Israel, it consisted of the twelve tribes, 
 locally spread or quartered throughout the whole territory ; 
 and these being called together by trumpets, constituted the 
 church or assembly of the people The vastness of this weight, 
 as also the slowness thence unavoidable, became a great cause 
 (as has been shown at large by my Lord Phosphorus) of the 
 breaking that commonwealth ; notwithstanding that the Temple, 
 and those religious ceremonies for which the people were at 
 least annually obliged to repair thither, were no small ligament 
 of the tribes, otherwise but slightly tacked together. 
 
 "Athens consisted of four tribes, taking in the whole people, 
 both of the city and of the territory ; not so gathered by 
 Theseus into one town, as to exclude the country, but to the end 
 that there might be some capital of the commonwealth : though 
 true it be, that the congregation, consisting of the inhabitants 
 within the walls, was sufficient to all intents and purposes, 
 without those of the country. These also being exceeding 
 numerous, became burdensome to themselves and dangerous 
 to the commonwealth ; the more for their ill education, as is 
 observed by Xenophon and Polybius, who compare them to 
 mnriners that in a calm are perpetually disputing and swagger- 
 ing one with another, and never lay their hands to the common 
 tackling or safety till they be all endangered by some storm. 
 Which caused Thucydides, when he saw this people through 
 the purchase of their misery become so much wiser as to reduce 
 their comitia or assemblies to five thousand, to say in his eighth 
 book : ' And now, at least in my time, the Athenians seem to 
 have ordered their State aright, consisting of a moderate temper 
 both of the few [by which he means the Senate of the Bean] and 
 of the many,' or the five thousand. And he does not only give 
 you his judgment, but the best proof of it ; for ' this,' says he, ' was 
 the first thing that, after so many misfortunes past, made the 
 city again to raise her head.' The place I would desire your 
 lordships to note, as the first example that I find, or think is to be 
 found, of a popular assembly by way of representative. 
 
 " Lacedemon consisted of thirty thousand citizens dispersed 
 
OCEANA. 177 
 
 throughout Laconia, one of the greatest provinces in all Greece, 
 and divided, as by some authors is probable, into six tribes. 
 Of the whole body of these, being gathered, consisted the great 
 church or assembly, which had the legislative power ; the little 
 church, gathered sometimes for matters of concern within the 
 city, consisted of the Spartans only. These happened, like that 
 of Venice, to be good constitutions of a congregation, but from 
 an ill cause the infirmity of a commonwealth, which through 
 her paucity was oligarchical. 
 
 " Wherefore, go which way you will, it should seem that 
 without a representative of the people, your commonwealth, 
 consisting of a whole nation, can never avoid falling either into 
 oligarchy or confusion. 
 
 " This was seen by the Romans, whose rustic tribes, extending 
 themselves from the river Arno to the Vulturnus, that is, from 
 Fesulae or Florence to Capua, invented a way of represen- 
 tative by lots : the tribe upon which the first fell being the 
 prerogative, and some two or three more that had the rest, the 
 jure zwcatce. These gave the suffrage of the commonwealth in 
 two meetings ; the prerogative at the first assembly, and the 
 jure vocata: at a second. 
 
 " Now to make the parallel : all the inconveniences that you 
 have observed in these assemblies are shut out, and all the 
 conveniences taken into your prerogative. For first, it is that 
 for which Athens, shaking off the blame of Xenophon and 
 Polybius, came to deserve the praise of Thucydides, a repre- 
 sentative. And, secondly, not, as I suspect in that of Athens, 
 and is past suspicion in this of Rome, by lot, but by suffrage, as 
 was also the late House of Commons, by which means in your 
 prerogatives all the tribes of Oceana are jure vocata ; and if a 
 man shall except against the paucity of the standing number, it 
 is a wheel, which in the revolution of a few years turns every 
 hand that is fit, or fits every hand that it turns to the public 
 work. Moreover, I am deceived if, upon due consideration, it 
 does not fetch your tribes, with greater equality and ease to 
 themselves and to the government, from the frontiers of 
 Marpesia, than Rome ever brought any one of hers out of her 
 fiomceria, or the nearest parts of her adjoining territories. To 
 this you may add, that whereas a commonwealth, which in 
 
1 7 3 OCEANA. 
 
 regard of the people is not of facility in execution, were sure 
 enough in this nation to be cast off through impatience ; your 
 musters and galaxies are given to the people, as milk to babes, 
 whereby when they are brought up through four days' election 
 in a whole year (one at the parish, one at the hundred, and two 
 at the tribe) to their strongest meat, it is of no harder digestion 
 than to give their negative or affirmative as they see cause. 
 There be gallant men among us that laugh at such an appeal 
 or umpire ; but I refer it whether you be more inclining to 
 pardon them or me, who I confess have been this day laughing 
 at a sober man, but without meaning him any harm, and that is 
 Petrus Cunasus, where speaking of the nature of the people, he 
 says, ' that taking them apart, they are very simple, but yet in 
 their assemblies they see and know something:' and so runs 
 away without troubling himself with what that something is. 
 Whereas the people, taken apart, are but so many private 
 interests ; but if you take them together, they are the public 
 interest. The public interest of a commonwealth, as has been 
 shown, is nearest that of mankind, and that of mankind is right 
 reason ; but with aristocracy (whose reason or interest, when 
 they are all together, as appeared by the patricians, is but that 
 of a party) it is quite contrary : for as, taken apart, they are far 
 wiser than the people considered in that manner, so, being put 
 together, they are such fools, who by deposing the people, as 
 did those of Rome, will saw off the branch whereupon they sit, 
 or rather destroy the root of their own greatness. Wherefore 
 Machiavel, following Aristotle, and yet going before him, may 
 well assert, 'that the people are wiser and more constant in 
 their resolutions than a prince : ' which is the prerogative of 
 popular government for wisdom. And hence it is that the 
 prerogative of your commonwealth, as for wisdom so for power, 
 is in the people, which (though I am not ignorant that the 
 Roman prerogative was so called a prcerogando, because their 
 suffrage was first asked) gives the denomination to your 
 prerogative tribe." 
 
 The elections, whether annual or triennial, being shown by 
 the twenty-second, that which comes in the next place to 
 be considered is 
 
OCEANA. 179 
 
 The twenty-third order, " Showing the power, function, and 
 manner of proceeding of the prerogative tribe. 
 
 " The power or function of the prerogative is of two parts : the 
 one of result, in which it is the legislative power ; the other of 
 judicature, in which regard it is the highest court, and the last 
 appeal in this commonwealth. 
 
 " For the former part (the people by this constitution being 
 not obliged by any law that is not of their own making or con- 
 firmation, by the result of the prerogative, their equal 
 representative) it shall not be lawful for the senate to require 
 obedience from the people, nor for the people to give obedience 
 to the senate in or by any law that has not been promulgated, 
 or printed and published for the space of six weeks, and 
 afterwards proposed by the authority of the senate to the 
 prerogative tribe, and resolved by the major vote of the same in 
 the affirmative. Nor shall the senate have any power to levy 
 war, men, or money, otherwise than by the consent of the 
 people so given, or by a law so enacted, except in cases of 
 exigence, in which it is agreed that the power, both of the 
 senate and the people, shall be in the dictator, so qualified, and 
 for such a term of time, as is according to that constitution 
 already prescribed. While a law is in promulgation, the 
 censors shall animadvert upon the senate, and the tribunes 
 upon the people, that there be no laying of heads together, no 
 conventicles or canvassing to carry on or oppose anything ; 
 but that all may be done in a free and open way. 
 
 " For the latter part of the power of the prerogative, or that 
 whereby they are the supreme judicatory of this nation, and of 
 the provinces of the same, the cognizances of crimes against the 
 majesty of the people, such as high treason, as also of peculation, 
 that is, robbery of the treasury, or defraudation of the common- 
 wealth, appertains to this tribe. And if any person or persons, 
 provincials or citizens, shall appeal to the people, it belongs to 
 the prerogative to judge and determine the case ; provided that 
 if the appeal be from any court of justice in this nation or the 
 provinces, the appellant shall first deposit ,£100 in the court 
 from which he appeals, to be forfeited to the same if he be cast 
 in his suit by the people. But the power of the council of war 
 being the expedition of this commonwealth, and the martial law 
 
1S0 OCEANA. 
 
 of the strategus in the field, are those only from which there 
 shall lie no appeal to the people. 
 
 "The proceeding of the prerogative in case of a proposition 
 is to be thus ordered : The magistrates, proposing by authority 
 of the senate, shall rehearse the whole matter, and expound it 
 to the people ; which done, they shall put the whole together to 
 the suffrage, with three boxes, the negative, the affirmative, and 
 the n^n-sincere; and the suffrage being returned to the tribunes, 
 and numbered i-n the presence of the proposers. If the major 
 vote be in the non-sincere, the proposer shall desist, and the 
 senate shall resume the debate. If the major vote be in the 
 negative, the proposers shall desist, and the senate too. But if 
 the major vote be in the affirmative, then the tribe is clear, and 
 the proposers shall begin and put the whole matter, with the 
 negative and the affirmative (leaving out the non-sincere) by 
 clauses ; and the suffrages being taken and numbered by the 
 tribunes in the presence of the proposers, shall be written and 
 reported by the tribunes to the senate. And that which is 
 proposed by the authority of the senate, and confirmed by the 
 command of the people, is the law of Oceana. 
 
 "The proceeding of the prerogative in a case of judicature is 
 to be thus ordered : The tribunes being auditors of all causes 
 appertaining to the cognizance of the people, shall have notice 
 of the suit or trial, whether of appeal or otherwise, that is to be 
 commenced ; and if any one of them shall accept of the same, 
 it appertains to him to introduce it. A cause being introduced, 
 and the people mustered or assembled for the decision of the 
 same, the tribunes are presidents of the court, having power to 
 keep it to orders, and shall be seated upon a scaffold erected in 
 the middle of the tribe. Upon the right hand shall stand a 
 seat or large pulpit assigned to the plaintiff or the accuser ; 
 and, upon the left, another for the defendant, each if they 
 please with his counsel. And the tribunes (being attended 
 upon such occasions with so many ballotins, secretaries, door- 
 keepers, and messengers of the senate as shall be requisite) one 
 of them shall turn up a glass of the nature of .an hour-glass, but 
 such a one as is to be of an hour and a half's running ; which 
 being turned up, the party or counsel on the right hand may 
 begin to speak to the people. If there be papers to be read, or 
 
OCEANA. 181 
 
 witnesses to be examined, the officer shall lay the glass side- 
 ways till the papers be read and the witnesses examined, and 
 then turn it up again ; and so long as the glass is running, 
 the party on the right hand has liberty to speak, and no 
 longer. The party on the right hand having had his time, the 
 like shall be done in every respect for the party on the left. 
 And the cause being thus heard, the tribunes shall put the 
 question to the tribe with a white, a black, and a red box (or 
 non-sincere), whether guilty or not guilty. And if the suffrage 
 being taken, the major vote be in the non-sincere, the cause 
 shall be reheard upon the next juridical day following, and 
 put to the question in the same manner. If the major vote 
 comes the second time in the non-sincere, the cause shall 
 be heard again upon the third day ; but at the third hearing 
 the question shall be put without the non-sincere. Upon the 
 first of the three days in which the major vote comes in the 
 white box, the party accused is absolved ; and upon the first of 
 them in which it comes in the black box, the party accused is 
 condemned. The party accused being condemned, the tribunes 
 (if the case be criminal) shall put with the white and the black 
 box these questions, or such of them as, regard had to the case, 
 they shall conceive most proper : 
 
 i. Whether he shall have a writ of ease. 
 
 2. Whether he shall be fined so much or so much. 
 
 3. Whether he shall be confiscated. 
 
 4. Whether he shall be rendered incapable of magistracy. 
 
 5. Whether he shall be banished. 
 
 6. Whether he shall be put to death. 
 
 "These, or any three of these questions, whether simple or 
 such as shall be thought fitly mixed, being put by the tribunes, 
 that which has most above half the votes in the black box is 
 the sentence of the people, which the troop of the third classes 
 is to see executed accordingly. 
 
 " But whereas by the constitution of this commonwealth it 
 may appear that neither the propositions of the senate, nor the 
 judicature of the people, will be so frequent as to hold the 
 prerogative in continual employment, the senate, a main part 
 of whose office it is to teach and instruct the people, shall duly 
 
1 82 OCEANA. 
 
 (it they have no greater affairs to divert them) cause an oration 
 to be made to the prerogative by some knight or magistrate of 
 the senate, to be chosen out of the ablest men, and from time 
 to time appointed by the orator of the house, in the great hall 
 of the pantheon, while the parliament resides in the town, or in 
 some grove or sweet place in the field, while the parliament for 
 the heat of the year shall reside in the country, upon every 
 Tuesday, morning or afternoon. 
 
 "And the orator appointed for the time to this office shall 
 first repeat the orders of the commonwealth with all possible 
 brevity ; and then, making choice of one or some part of it, 
 discourse thereof to the people. An oration or discourse of this 
 nature, being afterwards perused by the council of state, may 
 as they see cause be printed and published." 
 
 The Archon's comment upon the order I find to have been 
 of this sense : 
 
 " My Lords,— 
 ''To crave pardon for a word or two in farther explanation of 
 what was read, I shall briefly show how the constitution of this 
 tribe or assembly answers to their function ; and how their func- 
 tion, which is of two parts, the former in the result or legislative 
 power, the latter in the supreme judicature of the common- 
 wealth, answers to their constitution. Machiavel has a discourse, 
 where he puts the question, 'Whether the guard of liberty 
 may with more security be committed to the nobility or to 
 the people ? ' Which doubt of his arises through the want of 
 explaining his terms ; for the guard of liberty can signify 
 nothing else but the result of the commonwealth : so that to 
 say that the guard of liberty may be committed to the nobility, 
 is to say that the result may be committed to the senate, in 
 which case the people signify nothing. Now to show it was a 
 mistake to affirm it to have been thus in Lacedemon, sufficient 
 has been spoken; and whereas he will have it to be so in Venice 
 also : 'They,' says Contarini, 'in whom resides the supreme power 
 of the whole commonwealth, and of the laws, and upon whose 
 orders depends the authority as well of the senate as of all the 
 other magistrates, is the Great Council.' It is institutively in 
 the great council, by the judgment of all that know that 
 
OCEANA, 183 
 
 commonwealth ; though, for the reasons shown, it be some- 
 times exercised by the senate. Nor need I run over the com- 
 monwealths in this place for the proof of a thing so doubtless, 
 and such as has been already made so apparent, as that the 
 result of each was in the popular part of it. The popular part 
 of yours, or the prerogative tribe, consists of seven deputies 
 (whereof three are of the horse) annually elected out of every 
 tribe of Oceana ; which being fifty, amounts to one hundred and 
 fifty horse and two hundred foot. And the prerogative con- 
 sisting of three of these lists, consists of four hundred and 
 fifty horse and six hundred foot, besides those of the provinces 
 to be hereafter mentioned ; by which means the overbalance in 
 the suffrage remaining to the foot by one hundred and fifty 
 votes, you have to the support of a true and natural aristocracy 
 the deepest root of a democracy that has been ever planted. 
 Wherefore there is nothing in art or nature better qualified for 
 the result than this assembly. It is noted out of Cicero by 
 Machiavel, ' That the people, though they are not so prone to 
 find out truth of themselves as to follow custom or run into 
 error, yet if they be shown truth, they not only acknowledge 
 and embrace it very suddenly, but are the most constant and 
 faithful guardians and conservators of it.' It is your duty and 
 office, whereto you are also qualified by the orders of this 
 commonwealth, to have the people as you have your hawks and 
 greyhounds, in leashes and slips, to range the fields and beat the 
 bushes for them ; for they are of a nature that is never good at 
 this sport, but when you spring or start their proper quarry. 
 Think not that they will stand to ask you what it is, or less 
 know it than your hawks and greyhounds do theirs ; but 
 presently make such a flight or course, that a huntsman may 
 as well undertake to run with his dogs, or a falconer to fly with 
 his hawk, as an aristocracy at this game to compare with the 
 people. The people of Rome were possessed of no less a prey 
 than the empire of the world, when the nobility turned tails, and 
 perched among daws upon the tower of monarchy. For though 
 they did not all of them intend the thing, they would none of 
 them endure the remedy, which was the Agrarian. 
 
 " But the prerogative tribe has not only the result, but is the 
 supreme judicature, and the ultimate appeal in this common- 
 
184 OCEANA. 
 
 wealth. For the popular government that makes account to be 
 of any standing, must make sure in the first place of the appeal 
 to the people. As an estate in trust becomes a man's own 
 if he be not answerable for it, so the power of a magistracy not 
 accountable to the people, from whom it was received, becoming 
 of private use, the commonwealth loses her liberty. Wherefore 
 the right of supreme judicature in the people (without which 
 there can be no such thing as popular government) is confirmed 
 by the constant practice of all commonwealths ; as that of 
 Israel in the cases of Achan, and of the tribe of Benjamin, 
 adjudged by the congregation. The dicasterian, or court called 
 the heliaia in Athens, which (the comitia of that commonwealth 
 consisting of the whole people, and so being too numerous to 
 be a judicatory) was constituted sometimes of five hundred, at 
 others of one thousand, or, according to the greatness of the 
 cause, of fifteen hundred, elected by the lot out of the whole 
 body of the people, had with the nine Archons that were 
 presidents, the cognizance of such causes as were of highest 
 importance in that State. The five ephors in Lacedemon, 
 which were popular magistrates, might question their kings, as 
 appears by the cases of Pausanias, and of Agis, who being upon 
 his trial in this court, was cried to by his mother to appeal to 
 the people, as Plutarch has it in his Life. The tribunes of the 
 people of Rome (like, in the nature of their magistracy, and for 
 some time in number, to the ephors, as being, according to 
 Halicarnassus and Plutarch, instituted in imitation of them) 
 had power to summon any man, his magistracy at least being 
 expired (for from the dictator there lay no appeal) to answer for 
 himself to the people. As in the case of Coriolanus, who was 
 going about to force the people, by withholding corn from them 
 in a famine, to relinquish the magistracy of the tribune?, in 
 that of Spurius Cassius for affecting tyranny, of Marcus Sergius 
 for running away at Veii, of Caius Lucretius for spoiling his 
 province, of Junius Silanus for making war without a command 
 from the people against the Cimbri, with divers others. And the 
 crimes of this nature were called Icestz majestatis, or high 
 treason. Examples of such as were arraigned or tried for 
 peculation, or defraudation of the commonwealth, were Marcus 
 Curius for intercepting the money of the Samnites, Salinator for 
 
OCEANA.i 185 
 
 the unequal division of spoils to his soldiers, Marcus Posthumius 
 for cheating the commonwealth by a feigned shipwreck. 
 Causes of these two kinds were of a more public nature ; but 
 the like power upon appeals was also exercised by the people in 
 private matters, even during the time of the kings, as in the 
 case of Horatius. Nor is it otherwise with Venice, where the 
 Doge Loredano was sentenced by the great council, and 
 Antonio Grimani, afterwards doge, questioned, for that he, 
 being admiral, had suffered the Turk to take Lepanto in view of 
 his fleet. 
 
 " Nevertheless, there lay no appeal from the Roman dictator 
 to the people ; which, if there had, might have cost the 
 commonwealth dear, when Spurius Melius, affecting empire, 
 circumvented and debauched the tribunes : whereupon Titus 
 Quintus Cincinnatus was created dictator, who having chosen 
 Servilius Ahala to be his lieutenant, or magister equitum, sent 
 him to apprehend Melius, whom, while he disputed the 
 commands of the dictator and implored the aid of the people, 
 Ahala cut off upon the place. By which example you may see 
 in what cases the dictator may prevent the blow which is ready 
 sometimes to fall ere the people be aware of the danger. 
 Wherefore there lies no appeal from the died, or the council 
 of ten, in Venice, to the great council, nor from our council of 
 war to the people. For the way of proceeding of this tribe, or 
 the ballot, it is, as was once said for all, Venetian. 
 
 " This discourse of judicatories whereupon we are fallen, brings 
 us rather naturally than of design from the two general orders 
 of every commonwealth, that is to say, from the debating part 
 or the senate, and the resolving part or the people, to the third, 
 which is the executive part or the magistracy, whereupon I 
 shall have no need to dwell, for the executive magistrates of 
 this commonwealth are the strategus in arms ; the signory in 
 their several courts, as the chancery, the exchequer ; as also the 
 councils in divers cases within their instructions ; the censors 
 as well in their proper magistracy, as in the council of religion ; 
 the tribunes in the government of the prerogative, and that 
 judicatory ; and the judges with their courts ; of all which so 
 much is already said or known as may suffice. 
 
 "The Tuesday lectures or orations to the people will be of 
 
1 86 OCEANA. 
 
 great benefit to the senate, the prerogative, and the whole nation. 
 To the senate, because they will not only teach your senators 
 elocution, but keep the system of the government in their 
 memories. Elocution is of great use to your senators, for if 
 they do not understand rhetoric (giving it at this time for 
 granted that the art were not otherwise good) and come to 
 treat with, or vindicate the cause of the commonwealth against 
 some other nation that is good at it, the advantage will be 
 subject to remain upon the merit of the art, and not upon the 
 merit of the cause. Furthermore, the genius or soul of this 
 government being in the whole and in every part, they will 
 never be of ability in determination upon any particular, unless 
 at the same time they have an idea of the whole. That this 
 therefore must be, in that regard, of equal benefit to the pre- 
 rogative, is plain ; though these have a greater concernment in 
 it. For this commonwealth is the estate of the people ; and a 
 man, you know, though he be virtuous, yet if he does not 
 understand his estate, may run out or be cheated of it. Last 
 of all, the treasures of the politics will by this means be so 
 opened, rifled, and dispersed, that this nation will as soon dote, 
 like the Indians, upon glass beads, as disturb your government 
 with whimsies and freaks of mother-wit, or suffer themselves to 
 be stuttered out of their liberties. There is not any reason why 
 your grandees, your wise men of this age, that laugh out and 
 openly at a commonwealth as the most ridiculous thing, do not 
 appear to be, as in this regard they are, mere idiots, but that 
 the people have not eyes." 
 
 There remains no more relating to the senate and the people 
 than 
 
 The twenty-fourth order, " Whereby it is lawful for the 
 province of Marpesia to have thirty knights of their own election 
 continually present in the senate of Oceana, together with sixty 
 duputies of horse, and one hundred and twenty of foot in the 
 prerogative tribe, endued with equal power (respect had to 
 their quality and number) in the debate and result of this 
 commonwealth, provided that they observe the course or rotation 
 of the same by the annual return of ten knights, twenty deputies 
 of the horse, and forty of the foot. The like in all respects is 
 lawful for Panopea; and the horse of both the provinces 
 
OCEANA. 187 
 
 amounting to one troop, and the foot to one company, one 
 captain and one cornet of the horse shall be annually chosen by 
 Marpesia, and one captain and one ensign of the foot shall be 
 annually chosen by Panopea." 
 
 The orb of the prerogative being thus complete, is not un- 
 naturally compared to that of the moon, either in consideration 
 of the light borrowed from the senate, as from the sun ; or of 
 the ebbs and floods of the people, which are marked by the 
 negative or affirmative of this tribe. And the constitution of 
 the senate and the people being shown, you have that of the 
 parliament of Oceana, consisting of the senate proposing, and 
 of the people resolving, which amounts to an act of parliament. 
 So the parliament is the heart, which, consisting of two 
 ventricles, the one greater and replenished with a grosser 
 matter, the other less and full of a purer, sucks in and spouts 
 forth the vital blood of Oceana by a perpetual circulation. 
 Wherefore the life of this government is no more unnatural or 
 obnoxious upon this score to dissolution than that of a man ; 
 nor to giddiness than the world ; seeing the earth, whether it 
 be itself or the heavens that are in rotation, is so far from being 
 giddy, that it could not subsist without motion. But why 
 should not this government be much rather capable of duration 
 and steadiness by motion ? Than which God has ordained no 
 other to the universal commonwealth of mankind : seeing one 
 generation comes and another goes, but the earth remains firm 
 for ever ; that is, in her proper situation or place, whether she 
 be moved or not moved upon her proper centre. The senate, 
 the people, and the magistracy, or the parliament so constituted, 
 as you have seen, is the guardian of this commonwealth, and 
 the husband of such a wife as is elegantly described by Solomon : 
 " She is like the merchant's ships ; she brings her food from far. 
 She considers a field, and buys it : with' the fruit of her hands 
 she plants a vineyard. She perceives that her merchandise is 
 good. She stretches forth her hands to the poor. She is not 
 afraid of the snow for her household ; for all her household are 
 clothed with scarlet. She makes herself coverings of tapestry ; 
 her clothing is silk and purple. Her husband is known [by his 
 robes] in the gates, when he sits among the senators of the land." 
 The gates, or inferior courts, were branches, as it were, of the 
 Sanhedrim or senate of Israel. Nor is our commonwealth a 
 
OCEANA. 
 
 worse housewife, or she has less regard to her magistrates ; as 
 may appear by 
 
 The twenty-fifth order, " That, whereas the public revenue is 
 through the late civil wars dilapidated, the excise, being 
 improved or improvable to the revenue of ^1,000,000, be applied, 
 for the space of eleven years to come, to the reparation of the 
 same, and for the present maintenance of the magistrates, 
 knights, duputies, and other officers, who, according to their 
 several dignities arid functions, shall annually receive towards 
 the support of the same, as follows : 
 
 " The lord strategus marching, is, upon another account, to 
 have field pay as general. 
 
 The Lord Strategus sitting 
 
 The Lord Orator 
 
 The 3 Commissioners of the Seal 
 
 The 3 Commissioners of the Treasury 
 
 The 2 Censors ...... 
 
 The 290 Knights, at ,£500 a man 
 
 The 4 Ambassadors in Ordinary 
 
 The Council of War for Intelligence 
 
 The Master of the Ceremonies . 
 
 The Master of the Horse .... 
 
 His substitute ...... 
 
 The 12 ballotins for their winter liveries . 
 For their summer liveries . 
 For their board-wages 
 
 For the keeping of 3 coaches of state, 24 coach-horses, 
 with coachmen and postillions .... 
 
 For the grooms, and keeping of 16 great horses for 
 the Master of the Horse, and for the ballotins 
 whom he is to gosern and instruct in the art of 
 riding 
 
 The 20 Secretaries of the Parliament 
 
 The 20 doorkeepers, who are to attend with pol 
 for their coats ..... 
 For their board-wages 
 
 The 20 messengers, which are trumpeters, for 
 coats ....... 
 
 For their board-wages . . . 
 
 For ornament of the musters of the youth 
 
 axes, 
 
 their 
 
 Per annum. 
 
 j£2,000 
 
 2,000 
 
 4,500 
 
 4,500 
 
 3,000 
 
 145,000 
 
 12,000 
 
 3,000 
 
 500 
 
 500 
 
 I50 
 240 
 120 
 
 480 
 
 1,500 
 
 480 
 2,000 
 
 200 
 1,000 
 
 200 
 I.OOO 
 5,000 
 
 Sum 
 
 189,370 
 
OCEANA. x % 9 
 
 " Out of the personal estates of every man, who at his death 
 bequeaths not above forty shillings to the muster of that 
 hundred wherein it lies, shall be levied one per cent, till the 
 solid revenue of the muster of the hundred amounts to ,£50 per 
 annum for the prizes of the youth. 
 
 " The twelve ballotins are to be divided into three regions, 
 according to the course of the senate ; the four of the first 
 region to be elected at the tropic out of such children as' the 
 knights of the same shall offer, not being under eleven years of 
 age, nor above thirteen. And their election shall be made by 
 the lot at an urn set by the sergeant of the house for that 
 purpose in the hall of the pantheon. The livery of the common- 
 wealth for the fashion or the colour may be changed at the 
 election of the strategus according to his fancy. But every 
 knight during his session shall be bound to give to his footman, 
 or some one of his footmen, the livery of the common- 
 wealth. 
 
 " The prerogative tribe shall receive as follows :— 
 
 The 2 Tribunes of the Horse . 
 
 The 2 Tribunes of the Foot . 
 
 The 3 Captains of the Horse . 
 
 The 3 Cornets 
 
 The 3 Captains of Foot . . . 
 
 The 3 Ensigns 
 
 The 442 horse, at £2 a man . 
 
 The 592 foot, at £1 10s. a man 
 
 The 6 trumpeters . 
 
 The 3 drummers 
 
 By the 
 
 week 
 
 £*4 
 
 
 
 12 
 
 
 
 15 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 
 
 7 10 
 2 5 
 
 Sum by the week 
 
 Sum by the year 
 
 ^"1.850 IS 
 
 ^96,239 o 
 
 The total of the senate, the people, and the 
 ma gistracy ,£287,459 J 5 
 
 " The dignity of the commonwealth, and aids of the several 
 magistracies and offices thereto belonging, being provided for as 
 aforesaid, the overplus of the excise, with the product of the 
 sum rising, shall be carefully managed by the senate and the 
 
i 9 o OCEANA. 
 
 people through the diligence of the officers of the exchequer, till 
 it amount to ,£8,000,000, or to the purchase of about 
 ,£400,000 solid revenue. At which time, the term of eleven 
 years being expired, the excise, except it be otherwise ordered 
 by the senate and the people, shall be totally remitted and 
 abolished for ever." 
 
 At this institution the taxes, as will better appear in the 
 Corollary, were abated about one half, which made the order, 
 when it came to be tasted, to be of good relish with the people 
 in the very beginning ; though the advantages then were no 
 ways comparable to the consequences to be hereafter shown. 
 Nevertheless, my Lord Epimonus, who with much ado had 
 been held till now, found it midsummer moon, and broke out of 
 bedlam in this manner : 
 
 " My Lord Archon, — 
 
 " I have a singing in my head like that of a cartwheel, my 
 brains are upon a rotation ; and some are so merry, that a man 
 cannot speak his griefs, but if your highshod prerogative, and 
 those same slouching fellows your tribunes, do not take my lord 
 strategus's and my lord orator's heads, and jole them together 
 under the canopy, then let me be ridiculous to all posterity. 
 For here is a commonwealth, to which if a man should take 
 that of the 'prentices in their ancient administration of justice 
 at Shrovetide, it were an aristocracy. You have set the very 
 rabble with truncheons in their hands, and the gentry of this 
 nation, like cocks with scarlet gills, and the golden combs of 
 their salaries to boot, lest they should not be thrown at. 
 
 " Not a night can I sleep for some horrid apparition or other ; 
 one while these myrmidons are measuring silks by their quarter- 
 staves, another stuffing their greasy pouches with my lord high 
 treasurer's jacobusses. For they are above a thousand in arms 
 to three hundred, which, their gowns being pulled over their 
 ears, are but in their doublets and hose. But what do I speak 
 of a thousand ? There be two thousand in every tribe, that is, 
 a hundred thousand in the whole nation, not only in the posture 
 of an army, but in a civil capacity sufficient to give us what laws 
 they please. Now everybody knows that the lower sort of 
 people regard nothing but money ; and you say it is the duty 
 
OCEANA. 191 
 
 of a legislator to presume all men to be wicked : wherefore they 
 must fall upon the richer, as they are an army ; or, lest their minds 
 should misgive them in such a villany, you have given them 
 encouragement that they have a nearer way, seeing it may be 
 done every whit as well as by the overbalancing power which 
 they have in elections. There is a fair which is annually kept 
 in the centre of these territories at Kiberton, a town famous for 
 ale, and frequented by good fellows ; where there is a solemnity 
 of the pipers and fiddlers of this nation (I know not whether 
 Lacedemon, where the senate kept account of the stops of the 
 flutes and of the fiddle-strings of that commonwealth, had any 
 such custom) called the bull-running ; and he that catches and 
 holds the bull, is the annual and supreme magistrate of that 
 comitia or congregation, called king piper, without whose 
 license it is not lawful for any of those citizens to enjoy the 
 liberty of his calling ; nor is he otherwise legitimately qualified 
 (or civitate donatiis) to lead apes or bears in any perambulation 
 of the same. Mine host of the Bear, in Kiberton, the father of 
 ale, and patron of good football and cudgel players, has any 
 time since I can remember been grand chancellor of this order. 
 Now, say I, seeing great things arise from small beginnings, 
 what should hinder the people, prone to their own advantage 
 and loving money, from having intelligence conveyed to them 
 by this same king piper and his chancellor, with their loyal 
 subjects the minstrels and bearwards, masters of ceremonies, to 
 which there is great recourse in their respective perambulations, 
 and which they will commission and instruct, with directions to 
 all the tribes, willing and commanding them, that as they wish 
 their own good, they choose no other into the next primum 
 mobile but of the ablest cudgel and football players ? Which 
 done as soon as said, your primum mobile, consisting of no 
 other stuff, must of necessity be drawn forth into your nebulones 
 and your galimofries ; and so the silken purses of your senate 
 and prerogative being made of sows' ears, most of them black- 
 smiths, they will strike while the iron is hot, and beat your 
 estates into hobnails, mine host of the Bear being strategus, 
 and king piper lord orator. Well, my Lords, it might have been 
 otherwise expressed, but this is well enough a-conscience. In 
 your way, the wit of man shall not prevent this or the like 
 
192 OCEANA. 
 
 inconvenience ; but if this (for I have conferred with artists) be 
 a mathematical demonstration, I could kneel to you, that ere it 
 be too late we might return to some kind of sobriety. 
 
 "If we empty our purses with these pomps, salaries, coaches, 
 lackeys, and pages, what can the people say less than that we 
 have dressed a senate and a prerogative for nothing but to go to 
 the park with the ladies ? " 
 
 My Lord Archon, whose meekness resembled that of Moses, 
 vouchsafed this answer : 
 
 " My Lords,— 
 " For all this, I can see my Lord Epimonus every night in 
 the park, and with ladies ; nor do I blame this in a young man, 
 or the respect which is and ought to be given to a sex that is 
 one half of the commonwealth of mankind, and without which 
 the other would be none : but our magistrates, I doubt, may be 
 somewhat of the oldest to perform this part with much accepta- 
 tion; and, as the Italian proverb says, Servire e noil gradire c 
 cosa da far morire. Wherefore we will lay no certain obligation 
 upon them in this point, but leave them, if it please you, to their 
 own fate or discretion. But this (for I know my Lord Epimonus 
 loves me. though I can never get his esteem) I will say, if he 
 had a mistress should use him so, he would find it a sad life ; 
 or I appeal to your lordships, how I can resent it from such a 
 friend, that he puts king piper's politics in the balance with 
 mine. King piper, I deny not, may teach his bears to dance, 
 but they have the worst ear of all creatures. Now how he 
 should make them keep time in fifty several tribes, and that 
 two years together, for else it will be to no purpose, may be a 
 small matter with my lord to promise ; but it seems to me of 
 impossible performance. First, through the nature of the bean ; 
 and, secondly, through that of the ballot ; or how what he has 
 hitherto thought so hard, is now come to be easy ; but he may 
 think that for expedition they will eat up these balls like apples. 
 However, there is so much more in their way by the constitution 
 of this, than is to be found in that of any other commonwealth, 
 that I am reconciled, it now appearing plainly that the points 
 of my lord's arrows are directed at no other white than to show 
 the excellency of our government above others ; which, as he 
 
OCEANA. 193 
 
 proceeds further, is yet plainer ; while he makes it appear that 
 there can be no other elected by the people but smiths : 
 
 Rrontesque Steropesque et nudus membra Pyracmon : 
 
 Othoniel, Aod, Gideon, Jephtha, Samson, as in Israel ; Miltiades, 
 Aristides, Themistocles, Cimon, Pericles, as in Athens ; 
 Papyrius, Cincinnatus, Camillus, Fabius Scipio, as in Rome : 
 smiths of the fortune of the commonwealth ; not such as forged 
 hobnails, but thunderbolts. Popular elections are of that kind, 
 that all the rest of the world is not able, either in number 
 or glory, to equal those of these three commonwealths. These 
 indeed were the ablest cudgel and football players; bright 
 arms were their cudgels, and the world was the ball that 
 lay at their feet. Wherefore we are not so to understand the 
 maxim of legislators, which holds all men to be wicked, as if it 
 related to mankind or a commonwealth, the interests whereof 
 are the only straight lines they have whereby to reform the 
 crooked ; but as it relates to every man or party, under what 
 colour soever he or they pretend to be trusted apart, with or by 
 the whole. Hence then it is derived, which is made good in all 
 experience, that the aristocracy is ravenous, and not the people. 
 Your highwaymen are not such as have trades, or have been 
 brought up to industry ; but such commonly whose education 
 has pretended to that of gentlemen. My lord is so honest, he 
 does not know the maxims that are of absolute necessity to the 
 arts of wickedness ; for it is most certain, if there be not more 
 purses than thieves, that the thieves themselves must be forced 
 to turn honest, because they cannot thrive by their trade ; but 
 now if the people should turn thieves, who sees not that there 
 would be more thieves than purses ? wherefore that a whole 
 people should turn robbers or levellers, is as impossible in the 
 end as in the means. But that I do not think your artist which 
 you mentioned, whether astronomer or arithmetician, can tell 
 me how many barleycorns would reach to the sun, 1 could be 
 content he were called to the account, with which I shall 
 conclude this point : when by the way I have chid my lords the 
 legislators, who, as if they doubted my tackling could not hold, 
 would leave me to flag in a perpetual calm, but for my Lord 
 Epimonus, who breathes now and then into my sails and stirs 
 
 G 
 
i 94 ' OCEANA. 
 
 the waters. A ship makes not her way so briskly as when she 
 is handsomely brushed by the waves, and tumbles over those 
 that seem to tumble against her ; in which case I have perceived 
 in the dark that light has been struck even out of the sea, as in 
 this place, where my Lord Epimonus feigning to give us a 
 demonstration of one thing, has given it of another, and of a 
 better. For the people of this nation, if they amount in each 
 -tribe to two thousand elders and two thousand youths upon the 
 annual roll, holding a fifth to the whole tribe, then the whole of 
 a tribe, not accounting women and children, must amount to 
 twenty thousand ; and so the whole of all the tribes, being fifty, 
 to one million. Now you have ten thousand parishes, and 
 reckoning these one with another, each at ^iooo a year dry 
 rent, the rent or revenue of the nation, as it is or might be let 
 to farm, amounts to ^10,000,000; and ,£10,000,000 in revenue 
 divided equally to one million of men, comes but to ^10 
 pounds a year to each wherewith to maintain himself, his 
 wife and children. But he that has a cow upon the common, 
 and earns his shilling by the day at his labour, has twice as 
 much already as this would come to for his share ; because if 
 the land were thus divided, there would be nobody to set him on 
 work. So my Lord Epimonus's footman, who costs him thrice 
 as much as one of these could thus get, would certainly lose by 
 his bargain. What should we speak of those innumerable 
 trades whereupon men live, not only better than others upon 
 good shares of lands, but become also purchasers of greater 
 estates? Is not this the demonstration which my lord meant, 
 that the revenue of industry in a nation, at least in this, is three 
 or four- fold greater than that of the mere rent ? If the people 
 then obstruct industry, they obstruct their own livelihood ; but if 
 they make a war, they obstruct industry. Take the bread out 
 of the people's mouths, as did the Roman patricians, and you 
 are sure enough of a war, in which case they may be levellers ; 
 but our Agrarian causes their industry to flow with milk and 
 honey. It will be owned that this is true, if the people were 
 given to understand their own happiness ; but where is it they do 
 that? Let me reply with the like question, where do they not ? 
 They do not know their happiness it should seem in France, 
 Spain and Italy ; but teach them what it is, and try whose sense 
 
OCEANA. 195 
 
 is the truer. As to the late wars in Germany, it has been 
 affirmed to me there, that the princes could never make the 
 people to take arms while they had bread, and have therefore 
 suffered countries now and then to be wasted that they might 
 get soldiers. This you will find to be the certain pulse and 
 temper of the people ; and if they have been already proved to 
 be the most wise and constant order of a government, why 
 should we think (when no man can produce one example of the 
 common soldiery in an army mutinying because they had not 
 captains' pay) that the prerogative should jole the heads of the 
 senate together because these have the better salaries, when it 
 must be as evident to the people in a nation, as to the soldiery 
 in an army, that it is no more possible their emoluments of this 
 kind should be afforded by any commonwealth in the world to 
 be made equal with those of the senate, than that the common 
 soldiers should be equal with the captains ? It is enough for the 
 common soldier that his virtue may bring him to be a captain, 
 and more to the prerogative, that each of them js nearer to be a 
 senator. 
 
 " If my lord thinks our salaries too great, and that the com- 
 monwealth is not housewife enough, whether is it better house- 
 wifery that she should keep her family from the snow, or suffer 
 them to burn her house that they may warm themselves ? for 
 one of these must be. Do you think that she came off at 
 a cheaper rate when men had their rewards by /iooo or 
 ^2000 a year in land of inheritance ? If you say that they 
 will be more godly than they have been, it may be ill taken ; 
 and if you cannot promise that, it is time we find out some 
 way of stinting at least, if not curing them of that same 
 sacra fames. On the other side, if a poor, man (as such a one 
 may save a city) gives his sweat to the public, with what con- 
 science can you suffer his family in the meantime to starve ? 
 but he that lays his hand to this plough shall not lose by taking 
 it off from his own, and a commonwealth that will mend this 
 shall be penny wise. The Sanhedrim of Israel, being the 
 supreme, and a constant court of judicature, could not choose 
 but be exceeding gainful. The senate of the bean in Athens, 
 because it was but annual, was moderately salaried ; but that of 
 the Areop gites being for life, bountifully ; and what advantages 
 
 G 2 
 
196 OCEANA. 
 
 the senators of Lacedemon had, where there was little money or 
 use of it, were in honours for life. The patricians having no 
 profit, took all. Venice being a situation where a man goes but 
 to the door for his employment, the honour is great and the 
 reward very little ; but in Holland a councillor of state has 
 fifteen hundred Flemish pounds a year, besides other accom- 
 modations. The States- General have more. And that com- 
 monwealth looks nearer her penny than ours needs to do. 
 
 " For the revenue of this nation, besides that of her 
 industry, it amounts, as has been shown, to .£10,000,000; and 
 the salaries in the whole come not to ,£300,000 a year. The 
 beauty they will add to the commonwealth will be exceed- 
 ing great, and the people will delight in this beauty of 
 their commonwealth ; the encouragement they will give to the 
 study of the public being very profitable, the accommodation 
 they will afford to your magistrates very honourable and easy. 
 And the sum, when it or twice as much was spent in hunting 
 and housekeeping, was never any grievance to the people. I 
 am ashamed to* stand huckling upon this point; it is sordid. 
 Your magistrates are rather to be provided with further 
 accommodations. For what if there should be sickness? 
 whither will you have them to remove ? And this city in the 
 soundest times, for the heat of the year, is no wholesome abode : 
 have a care of their healths to whom you commit your own. 
 I would have the senate and the people, except they see cause 
 to the contrary, every first of June to remove into the country air 
 for the space of three months. You are better fitted with 
 summer-houses for them than if you had built them to that 
 purpose. There is some twelve miles distant the convaUiidii 
 upon the river Halcionia, for the tribunes and the prerogative, 
 a palace capable of a thousand men ; and twenty miles distant 
 you have mount Celia, reverend as well for the antiquity as 
 state of a castle completely capable of the senate, the proposers 
 having lodgings in the convallium, and the tribunes in Celia, it 
 holds the correspondency between the senate and the people 
 exactly. And it is a small matter for the proposers, being 
 attended with the coaches and officers of state, besides other 
 conveniences of their own, to go a matter of five or ten miles 
 (those seats are not much farther distant) to meet the people 
 
OCEANA. 197 
 
 upon any heath or field that shall be appointed : where, having 
 despatched their business, they may hunt their own venison 
 (for I would have the great walled park upon the Halcionia to 
 belong to the signory, and those about the convallium to the 
 tribunes) and so go to supper. Pray, my Lords, see that they do 
 not pull down these houses to sell the lead of them ; for when 
 you have considered on it, they cannot be spared. The 
 founders of the school in Hiera provided that the boys should 
 have a summer seat. You should have as much care of these 
 magistrates. But there is such a selling, such a Jewish humour 
 in our republicans, that I cannot tell what to say to it ; only 
 this, any man that knows what belongs to a commonwealth, or 
 how diligent every nation in that case has been to preserve her 
 ornaments, and shall see the waste lately made (the woods ad- 
 joining to this city, which served for the delight and health of it, 
 being cut down to be sold for three pence), will tell you that they 
 who did such things would never have made a commonwealth. 
 The like may be said of the ruin or damage done upon our 
 cathedrals, ornaments in which this nation excels all others. 
 Nor shall this ever be excused upon the score of religion ; for 
 though it be true that God dwells not in houses made with 
 hands, yet you cannot hold your assemblies but in such houses, 
 and these are of the best that have been made with hands. 
 Nor is it well argued that they are pompous, and therefore 
 profane, or less proper for divine service, seeing the Christians 
 in the primitive Church chose to meet with one accord in the 
 Temple, so far were they from any inclination to pull it down." 
 
 The orders of this commonwealth, so far, or near so far as 
 they concern the elders, together with the several speeches at 
 the institution, which may serve for the better understanding of 
 them as so many commentaries, being shown, I should now 
 come from the elders to the youth, or from the civil constitution 
 of this government to the military, but that I judge this the 
 fittest place whereinto, by the way, to insert the government of 
 the city, though for the present but perfunctorily : — 
 
 " The metropolis or capital city of Oceana is commonly called 
 Emporium, though it consists of two cities distinct, as well in 
 name as in government, whereof the other is called Hiera, for 
 
198 OCEANA. 
 
 which cause I shall treat of each apart, beginning with Em- 
 porium. 
 
 " Emporium with the liberties is under a twofold division, the 
 one regarding the national, and the other the urban or city 
 government. It is divided, in regard of the national govern- 
 ment, into three tribes, and in respect of the urban into twenty- 
 six, which for distinction sake are called wards, being contained 
 under three tribes but unequally; wherefore the first tribe 
 containing ten wards is called season, the second containing 
 eight metoche, and the third containing as many teliconta, the 
 bearing of which names in mind concerns the better understand- 
 ing of the government. 
 
 " Every ward has her wardmote, court, or inquest, consisting 
 of all that are of the clothing or liveries of companies residing 
 within the same. 
 
 " Such are of the livery or clothing as have attained to the 
 dignity to wear gowns and parti-coloured hoods or tippets, 
 according to the rules and ancient customs of their respective 
 companies. 
 
 " A company is a brotherhood of tradesmen professing the 
 same art, governed according to their charter by a master and 
 wardens. Of these there be about sixty, whereof twelve are 
 of greater dignity than the rest, that is to say, the mercers, 
 grocers, drapers, fishmongers, goldsmiths, skinners, merchant- 
 taylors, haberdashers, salters, ironmongers, vintners, cloth- 
 workers, which, with most of the rest, have common halls, 
 divers of them being of ancient and magnificent structure, 
 wherein they have frequent meetings, at the summons of their 
 master or wardens, for the managing and regulation of their 
 respective trades and mysteries. These companies, as I shall 
 show, are the roots of the whole government of the city. For 
 the liveries that reside in the same ward, meeting at the 
 wardmote inquest (to which it belongs to take cognizance of all 
 sorts of nuisances and violations of the customs and orders of 
 the city, and to present them to the court of aldermen), have also 
 power to make election of two sorts of magistrates or officers ; 
 the first of elders or aldermen of the ward, the second of 
 deputies of the same, otherwise called common councilmen. 
 
 " The wards in these elections, because they do not elect all at 
 
OCEANA. 
 
 199 
 
 once, but some one year and some another, observe the dis- 
 tinction of the three tribes ; for example, the season, consisting 
 often wards, makes election the first year of ten aldermen, one 
 in each ward, and of one hundred and fifty deputies, fifteen 
 in each ward, all which are triennial magistrates or officers, 
 that is to say, are to bear their dignity for the space of three 
 years. 
 
 "The second year the metoche, consisting of eight wards, 
 elects eight aldermen, one in each ward, and a hundred and 
 twenty deputies, fifteen in each ward, being also triennial 
 magistrates. 
 
 "The third year telicouta, consisting of a like number of 
 wards, elects an equal number of like magistrates for a like 
 term. So that the whole number of the aldermen, according 
 to that of the wards, amounts to twenty-six ; and the whole 
 number of the deputies, to three hundred and ninety. 
 
 "The aldermen thus elected have divers capacities : for, first, 
 they are justices of the peace for the term, and in consequence 
 of their election. Secondly, they are presidents of the ward- 
 mote, and governors each of that ward whereby he was elected. 
 And last of all, these magistrates being assembled together, 
 constitute the senate of the city, otherwise called the court of 
 aldermen ; but no man is capable of this election that is not 
 worth ;£ 10,000. This court upon every new election makes 
 choice of nine censors out of their own number. 
 
 " The deputies in like manner being assembled together, 
 constitute the prerogative tribe of the city, otherwise called the 
 common council, by which means the senate and the people of 
 the city were comprehended, as it were, by the motion of the 
 national government, into the same wheel of annual, triennial 
 and perpetual revolution. 
 
 " But the liveries, over and above the right of these elections 
 by their divisions mentioned, being assembled all together at the 
 guild of the city, constitute another assembly called the common 
 hall. 
 
 " The common hall has the right of two other elections : the 
 one of the lord mayor, and the other of the two sheriffs, being 
 annual magistrates. The lord mayor can be elected out of no 
 other than one of the twelve companies of the first ranks ; and 
 
200 OCEANA. 
 
 the common hall agrees by the plurality of suffrages upon two 
 names, which, being presented to the lord mayor for the time 
 being, and the court of aldermen, they elect one by their 
 scrutiny; for so they call it, though it differs from that of the 
 commonwealth. The orator or assistant to the lord mayor in 
 holding of his courts, is some able lawyer elected by the court of 
 aldermen, and called the recorder of Emporium. 
 
 The lord mayor being thus elected, has two capacities : one 
 regarding the nation, and the other the city. In that which 
 regards the city, he is president of the court of aldermen, 
 having power to assemble the same, or any other council of the 
 city, as the common council or common hall, at his will and 
 pleasure ; and in that which regards the nation, he is com- 
 mander-in-chief of the three tribes whereinto the city is divided ; 
 one of which he is to bring up in person at the national muster 
 to the ballot, as his vice-comites, or high sheriffs, are to do by 
 the other two, each at their distinct pavilion, where the nine 
 aldermen, elected censors, are to officate by three in each tribe, 
 according to the rules and orders already given to the censors 
 of the rustic tribes. And the tribes of the city have no other 
 than one common phylarch, which is the court of aldermen and 
 the common council, for which cause they elect not at their 
 muster the first list called the prime magnitude. 
 
 " The conveniences of this alteration of the city government, 
 besides the bent of it to a conformity with that of the nation, 
 were many, whereof I shall mention but a few : as first, whereas 
 men under the former administration, when the burden of some 
 of these magistracies lay for life, were oftentimes chosen not 
 for their fitness, but rather unfitness, or at least unwilling- 
 ness to undergo such a weight, whereby they were put at 
 great rates to fine for their ease ; a man might now take his 
 share in magistracy with that equity which is due to the public, 
 and without any inconvenience to his private affairs. Secondly, 
 whereas the city (inasmuch as the acts of the aristocracy, or 
 court of aldermen, in their former way of proceeding, were 
 rather impositions than propositions) was frequently disquieted 
 with the inevitable consequence of disorder in the power of 
 debate exercised by the popular part, or common council ; the 
 right of debate being henceforth established in the court of 
 
OCEANA. 201 
 
 aldermen, and that of result in the common council, killed the 
 branches of division in the root. Which for the present may 
 suffice to have been said of the city of Emporium. 
 
 "That of Hiera consists as to the national government of two 
 tribes, the first called agorcea, the second propola; but as to 
 the peculiar policy of twelve vianipuls, or wards divided into 
 three cohorts, each cohort containing four wards, whereof the 
 wards of the first cohort elect for the first year four burgesses, 
 one in each ward, the wards of the second cohort for the second 
 year four burgesses, one in each ward, and the wards of the 
 third cohort for the third year four burgesses, one in each ward, 
 all triennial magistrates ; by which the twelve burgesses, 
 making one court for the government of this city, according to 
 their instructions by act of parliament, fall likewise into an 
 annual, triennial, and perpetual revolution. 
 
 "This court being thus constituted, makes election of divers 
 magistrates ; as first, of a high steward, who is commonly some 
 person of quality, and this magistracy is elected in the senate by 
 the scrutiny of this court ; with him they choose some able 
 lawyer to be ins deputy, and to hold the court ; and last of all 
 they elect out of their own number six censors. 
 
 "The high steward is commander-in-chief of the two tribes, 
 whereof he in person brings up the one at the national muster to 
 the ballot, and his deputy the other at a distinct pavilion ; the six 
 censors chosen by the court officiating by three in each tribe at 
 the urns; and these tribes have no other phylarch but this court. 
 
 " As for the manner of elections and suffrage, both in Emporium 
 and Hiera, it may be said, once for all, that they are performed 
 by ballot, and according to the respective rules already given. 
 
 "There be other cities and corporations throughout the terri- 
 tory, whose policy being much of this kind, would be tedious 
 and not worth the labour to insert, nor dare I stay. Juvenum 
 mantis cmicat ardens" 
 
 I return, according to the method of the commonwealth, to 
 the remaining parts of her orbs, which are military and pro- 
 vincial ; the military, except the strategus, and the polemarchs 
 or field officers, consisting of the youth only, and the provin- 
 cial consisting of a mixture both of elders and of the youth. 
 
 To begin with the youth, or the military orbs, they are circles 
 
202 OCEANA. 
 
 to which the commonwealth must have a care to keep close. 
 A man is a spirit raised by the magic of Nature ; if she doers not 
 stand safe, and so that she may set him to some good and useful 
 work, he spits fire, and blows up castles ; for where there is life, 
 there must be motion or work ; and the work of idleness is mis- 
 chief, but the work of industry is health. To set men to this, the 
 commonwealth must begin betimes with them, or it will be too 
 late ; and the means whereby she sets them to it is education, 
 the plastic art of government. But it is as frequent as sad in 
 experience (whether through negligence, or, which in the conse- 
 quence is all one or worse, over-fondness in the domestic perform- 
 ance of this duty) that innumerable children come to owe their 
 utter perdition to their own parents, in each of which the common- 
 wealth loses a citizen. Wherefore the laws of a government, 
 how wholesome soever in themselves, are such as, if men by a 
 congruity in their education be not bred to find a relish in them, 
 they will be sure to loathe and detest. The education therefore 
 of a man's own children is not wholly to be committed or 
 trusted to himself. You find in Livy the children of Brutus, 
 having been bred under monarchy, and used to a court life, 
 making faces at the commonwealth of Rome: "A king [say 
 they] is a man with whom you may prevail when you have 
 need there should be law, or when you have need there should 
 be no law ; he has favours in the right, and he frowns not in 
 the wrong place ; he knows his friends from his enemies. But 
 laws are deaf, inexorable things, such as make no difference 
 between a gentleman and an ordinary fellow ; a man can never 
 be merry for them, for to trust altogether to his own innocence 
 is a sad life.'" ; Unhappy wantons ! Scipio, on the other side, 
 when he was but a boy (about two or three and twenty), being 
 informed that certain patricians of Roman gentlemen, through 
 a qualm upon the defeat which Hannibal had given them at 
 Cannae, were laying their heads together and contriving their 
 flight with the transportation of their goods out of Rome, drew 
 his sword, and setting himself at the door of the chamber where 
 they were at council, protested "that who did not immediately 
 swear not to desert the commonwealth, he would make his soul 
 to desert his body." Let men argue as they please for monarchy, 
 or against a commonwealth, the world shall never see any man 
 
OCEANA. 203 
 
 so sottish or wicked as in cool blood to prefer the education of 
 the sons of Brutus before that of Scipio ; and of this mould, 
 except a Melius or a Manlius, was the whole youth of that 
 commonwealth, though not ordinarily so well cast. Now the 
 health of a government and the education of the youth being 
 of the same pulse, no wonder if it has been the constant 
 practice of well-ordered commonwealths to commit the care 
 and feeling of it to public magistrates. A duty that was 
 performed in such a manner by the Areopagites, as is elegantly 
 praised by Isocrates. "The Athenians [says he] write not their 
 laws upon dead walls, nor content themselves with having 
 ordained punishments for crimes, but provide in such a way, by 
 the education of their youth, that there be no crimes for 
 punishment." He speaks of those laws which regarded manners, 
 not of those orders which concerned the administration of the 
 commonwealth, lest you should think he contradicts Xenophon 
 and Polybius. The children of Lacedemon, at the seventh year 
 of their age, were delivered to the pcedonomi, or schoolmasters, 
 not mercenary, but magistrates of the commonwealth, to which 
 they were accountable for their charge ; and by these at the 
 age of fourteen they were presented to other magistrates called 
 the beidi&i, having the inspection of the games and exercises, 
 among which that of the ftlatanista was famous, a kind of fight 
 in squadrons, but somewhat too fierce. When they came to be 
 of military age they were listed of the mora, and so continued 
 in readiness for public service under the discipline of the 
 polemarchs. But the Roman education and discipline by the 
 centuries and classes is that to which the commonwealth of 
 Oceana has had a more particular regard in her three essays, 
 being certain degrees by which the youth commence as it were 
 in arms for magistracy, as appears by 
 
 The twenty-sixth order, instituting, " That if a parent has but 
 one son, the education of that one son shall be wholly at the 
 disposition of that parent. But whereas there be free schools 
 erected and endowed, or to be erected and endowed in every 
 tribe of this nation, to a sufficient proportion for the education 
 of the children of the same (which schools, to the end there be no 
 detriment or hindrance to the scholars upon case of removing 
 from one to another, are every of them to be governed by the 
 
204 OCEANA. 
 
 strict inspection of the censors of the tribes, both upon the 
 schoolmaster's manner of life and teaching, and the proficiency 
 of the children, after the rules and method of that in Hiera), if a 
 parent has more sons than one, the censors of the tribes shall 
 animadvert upon and punish him that sends not his sons within 
 the ninth year of their. age to some one of the schools of a tribe, 
 there to be kept and taught, if he be able, at his own charges ; 
 and if he be not able, gratis, till they arrive at the age of fifteen 
 years. And a parent may expect of his sons at the fifteenth 
 year of their age, according to his choice or ability, whether it 
 be to service in the way of apprentices to some trade or other- 
 wise, or to further study, as by sending them to the inns of 
 court, of chancery, or to one of the universities of this nation. 
 But he that takes not upon him one of the professions proper to 
 some of those places, shall not continue longer in any of them 
 than till he has attained to the age of eighteen years ; and every 
 man having not at the age of eighteen years taken upon him, 
 or addicted himself to the profession of the law, theology, or 
 physic, and being no servant, shall be capable of the essays of 
 the youth, and no other person whatsoever, except a man, 
 having taken upon him such a profession, happens to lay it by 
 ere he arrives at three or four and twenty years of age, and be 
 admitted to this capacity by the respective phylarch, being 
 satisfied that he kept not out so long with any design to evade 
 the service of the commonwealth ; but, that being no sooner at 
 his own disposal, it was no sooner in his choice to come in. 
 And if any youth or other person of this nation have a desire to 
 travel into foreign countries upon occasion of business, delight, 
 or further improvement of his education, the same shall be 
 lawful for him upon a pass obtained from the censors in parlia- 
 ment, putting a convenient limit to the time, and recommending 
 him to the ambassadors by whom he shall be assisted, and to 
 whom he shall yield honour and obedience in their respective 
 residences. Every youth at his return from his travel is to 
 present the censors with a paper of his own writing, containing 
 the interest of state or form of government of the countries, or 
 some one of the countries, where he has been ; and if it be good, 
 the censors shall cause it to be printed and published, prefixing a 
 line in commendation of the author. 
 
OCEANA. 205 
 
 "Every Wednesday next ensuing the last of December, the 
 whole youth of every parish, that is to say every man (not 
 excepted by the foregoing part of the order), being from eighteen 
 years of age to thirty, shall repair at the sound of the bell to 
 their respective church, and being there assembled in presence 
 of the overseers, who are to govern the ballot, and the constable 
 who is to officiate at the urn, shall, after the manner of the 
 elders, elect every fifth man of their whole number (provided 
 that they choose not above one of two brothers at one election, 
 nor above half if they be four or upward) to be a stratiot or 
 deputy of the youth ; and the list of the stratiots so elected 
 being taken by the overseers, shall be entered in the parish 
 book, and diligently preserved as a record, called the first essay. 
 They whose estates by the law are able, or whose friends are 
 willing, to mount them, shall be of the horse, the rest are of the 
 foot. And he who has been one year of this list, is not capable 
 of being re-elected till after another year's interval. 
 
 "Every Wednesday next ensuing the last of January, the 
 stratiots being mustered at the rendezvous of their respective 
 hundred, shall, in the presence of the jurymen, who are over- 
 seers of that ballot, and of the high constable who is to officiate 
 at the urn, elect out of the horse of their troop or company one 
 captain, and one ensign or cornet, to the command of the same. 
 And the jurymen having entered the list of the hundred into a 
 record to be diligently kept at the rendezvous of the same, the 
 first public game of this commonwealth shall begin and be per- 
 formed in this manner. Whereas there is to be at every 
 rendezvous of a hundred one cannon, culverin, or saker, the 
 prize arms being forged by sworn armourers of this common- 
 wealth, and for their proof, besides their beauty, viewed and 
 tried at the tower of Emporium, shall be exposed by the justice 
 of peace appertaining to that hundred (the said justice with the 
 jurymen being judges of the game), and the judges shall deliver 
 to the horseman that gains the prize at the career, one suit of 
 arms being of the value of ^20, to the pikeman that gains the 
 prize at throwing the bullet, one suit of arms of the value of 
 £\o, to the musketeer that gains the prize at the mark with his 
 musket, one suit of arms of the value of £\o, and to the 
 cannoneer that gains the prize at the mark with the cannon, 
 
206 OCEAN J. 
 
 culverin, or saker, a chain of silver being the value of ^10, 
 provided that no one man at the same muster plays above 
 one of the prizes. Whosoever gains a prize is bound to wear it 
 (if it be his lot) upon service ; and no man shall sell or give 
 away any armour thus won, except he has lawfully attained to 
 two or more of them at the games. 
 
 " The games being ended, and the muster dismissed, the cap- 
 tain of the troop or company shall repair with a copy of the list to 
 the lord lieutenant of the tribe, and the high constable with a 
 duplicate of the same to the cusfos rotuloriem, or muster- 
 master-general, to be also communicated to the censors ; in 
 each of which the jurymen, giving a note upon every name of 
 an only son, shall certify that the list is without subterfuge or 
 evasion ; or, if it be not, an account of those upon whom the 
 evasion or subterfuge lies, to the end that the phylarch or the 
 censors may animadvert accordingly. 
 
 "And every Wednesday next ensuing the last of February, the 
 lord lieutenant, custos rotulorum, the censors, and the con- 
 ductor, shall receive the whole muster of the youth of that tribe 
 at the rendezvous of the same, distributing the horse and foot 
 with their officers, according to the directions given in the like 
 case for the distribution of the elders ; and the whole squadron 
 being put by that means in battalia, the second game of this 
 commonwealth shall begin by the exercise of the youth in all 
 the parts of their military discipline according to the orders of 
 parliament, or direction of the council of war in that case. 
 And. the ,£100 allowed by the parliament for the ornament of 
 the muster in every tribe, shall be expended by the phylarch 
 upon such artificial castles, citadels, or the like devices, as 
 may make the best and most profitable sport for the youth 
 and their spectators. Which being ended, the censors having 
 prepared the urns by putting into the horse-urn two hundred 
 and twenty gold balls, whereof ten are to be marked with the 
 letter M, and other ten with the letter P; into the foot-urn 
 seven hundred gold balls, whereof fifty are to be marked 
 with the letter M, and fifty with the letter P ; and after they have 
 made the gold balls in each urn, by the addition of silver balls 
 to the same, in number equal with the horse and foot of the 
 stratiots, the lord lieutenant shall call the stratiots to the urns, 
 
OCEANA. 207 
 
 where they that draw the silver balls shall return to their places, 
 and they that draw the gold balls shall fall off to the pavilion, 
 where, for the space of one hour, they may chop and change 
 their balls according as one can agree with another, whose lot he 
 likes better. But the hour being out, the conductor separating 
 them whose gold balls have no letter from those whose balls are 
 marked, shall cause the crier to call the alphabet, as first A ; 
 whereupon all they whose gold balls are not marked, and 
 whose surnames begin with the letter A, shall repair to a clerk 
 appertaining to the atstos rotulorwn, who shall first take the 
 names of that letter { then those of B, and so on, till all the 
 names be alphabetically enrolled. And the youth of this list 
 being six hundred foot in a tribe, that is thirty thousand foot in 
 all the tribes ; and two hundred horse in a tribe,, that is, ten 
 thousand horse in all the tribes, are the second essay of the 
 stratiots, and the standing army of this commonwealth to be 
 always ready upon command to march. They whose balls are 
 marked with M, amounting, by twenty horse and fifty foot in a 
 tribe, to two thousand five hundred foot, and five hundred horse 
 in all the tribes, and they whose balls are marked with P, in 
 every point correspondent, are parts of the third essay ; they in 
 M being straight to march for Marpesia, and they of P for 
 Panopea, to the ends and according to the further directions 
 following in the order for the provincial orbs. 
 
 " If the polemarchs or field officers be elected by the scrutiny 
 of the council of war, and the strategus commanded by the 
 parliament or the dictator to march, the lord lieutenants (who 
 have power to muster and discipline the youth so often as they 
 receive orders for the same from the council of war) are to 
 deliver the second essay, or so many of them as shall be com- 
 manded, to the conductors, who shall present them to the lord 
 strategus at the time and place appointed by his excellency to be 
 the general rendezvous of Oceana, where the council of war shall 
 have the accommodation of horses and arms for his men in 
 readiness ; and the lord strategus having armed, mounted and 
 distributed them, whether according to the recommendation of 
 their prize arms, or otherwise, shall lead them away to his 
 .shipping, being also ready and provided with victuals, am- 
 munition, artillery and all other necessaries ; commanding 
 
2o8 OCEANA. 
 
 them, and disposing of the whole conduct of the war by his sole 
 power and authority. And this is the third essay of the 
 stratiots, which being shipped, or marched out of their tribes, 
 the lord lieutenants shall re-elect the second essay out of the 
 remaining part of the first, and the senate another strategus. 
 
 " If any veteran or veterans of this nation, the term of whose 
 youth or militia is expired, having a desire to be entertained in 
 the further service of the commonwealth, shall present him 
 or themselves at the rendezvous of Oceana to the strategus, it 
 is in his power to take on such and so many of them as shall be 
 agreed by the polemarchs, and to send back an equal number of 
 the stratiots. 
 
 " And for the better managing of the proper forces of this 
 nation, the lord strategus, by appointment of the council of war, 
 and out of such levies as they shall have made in either or both 
 of the provinces to that end, shall receive auxiliaries by sea or 
 elsewhere at some certain place, not exceeding his proper arms 
 in number. 
 
 "And whosoever shall refuse any one of his three essays, 
 except upon cause shown, he be dispensed withal by the phy- 
 larch, or, if the phylarch be not assembled, by the censors of 
 his tribe, shall be deemed a helot or public servant, shall pay a 
 fifth part of his yearly revenue, besides all other taxes, to the 
 commonwealth for his protection, and be incapable of bearing 
 any magistracy except such as is proper to the law. Neverthe- 
 less if a man has but two sons, the lord lieutenant shall not 
 suffer above one of them to come to the urn at one election of 
 the second essay, and though he has above two sons, there 
 shall not come above half the brothers at one election ; and if 
 a man has but one son, he shall not come to the urn at all 
 without the consent of his parents, or his guardians, nor shall 
 it be any reproach to him or impediment to his bearing of 
 magistracy." 
 
 This order, with relation to foreign expeditions, will be proved 
 and explained together with 
 
 The twenty-seventh order, " Providing, in case of invasion 
 apprehended, that the lords high sheriffs of the tribes, upon 
 commands received from the parliament, or the dictator, dis- 
 tribute the bands of the elders into divisions, after the nature of 
 
OCEANA. 209 
 
 the essays of the youth ; and that the second division or essay 
 of the elders, being made and consisting of thirty thousand 
 foot and ten thousand horse, be ready to march with the second 
 essay of the youth, and be brought also by the conductors to the 
 strategus. 
 
 " The second essay of the elders and youth being marched 
 out of their tribes, the lords high sheriffs and lieutenants shall 
 have the remaining part of the annual bands both of elders and 
 youth in readiness, which, if the beacons be fired, shall march 
 to the rendezvous to be in that case appointed by the parliament, 
 or the dictator. And the beacons being fired, the curiata 
 comitia, or parochial congregations, shall elect a fourth both of 
 elders and youth to be immediately upon the guard of the 
 tribes, and dividing themselves as aforesaid, to march also in 
 their divisions according to orders, which method in case of 
 extremity shall proceed to the election of a third, or the levy of 
 a second, or of the last man in the nation, by the power of the 
 lords high sheriffs, to the end that the commonwealth in her 
 utmost pressure'may show her trust that God in His justice will 
 remember mercy, by humbling herself, and yet preserving her 
 courage, discipline, and constancy, even to the last drop of her 
 blood and the utmost farthing. 
 
 "The services performed by the youth, or by the elders, in 
 case of invasion, and according to this order, shall be at their 
 proper cost and charges that are any ways able to endure 
 it ; but if there be such as are known in their parishes to 
 be so indigent that they cannot march out of their tribes, nor 
 undergo the burden in this case incumbent, then the congrega- 
 tions of their parishes shall furnish them with sufficient sums of 
 money to be repaid upon the certificate of the same by the 
 parliament when the action shall be over. And of that which is 
 respectively enjoined by this order, any tribe, parish, magistrate, 
 or person that shall fail, is to answer for it, at the council of war, 
 as a deserter of his country." 
 
 The Archon, being the greatest captain of his own, if not of 
 any age, added much to the glory of this commonwealth, by 
 interweaving the militia with more art and lustre than any 
 legislator from or before the time of Servius Tullius, who con- 
 
2io OCEANA. 
 
 stituted the Roman militia. But as the bones or skeleton of a 
 man, though the greatest part of his beauty be contained in their 
 proportion or symmetry, yet shown without flesh are a spectacle 
 that is rather horrid than entertaining, so without discourses 
 are the orders of a commonwealth ; which, if she goes forth in 
 that manner, may complain of her friends that they stand mute 
 and staring upon her. Wherefore this order was thus fleshed by 
 the Lord Archon : 
 
 " My Lords,— 
 
 "Diogenes seeing a young fellow drunk, told him that his 
 father was drunk when he begot him. For this, in natural 
 generation, I must confess I see no reason ; but in the political 
 it is right. The vices of the people are from their governors ; 
 those of their governors from their laws or orders ; and those of 
 their laws or orders from their legislators. Whatever was in the 
 womb imperfect, as to her proper work, comes very rarely, or 
 never at all to perfection afterwards ; and the formation of a 
 citizen in the womb of the commonwealth is his education. 
 
 " Education by the first of the foregoing orders is of six kinds : 
 at the school, in the mechanics, at the universities, at the inns of 
 court or chancery, in travels, and in military discipline, some of 
 which I shall but touch, and some I shall handle more at large. 
 
 " That which is proposed for the erecting and endowing of 
 schools throughout the tribes, capable of all the children of the 
 same, and able to give to the poor the education of theirs gratis, 
 is only matter of direction in case of very great charity, as 
 easing the needy of the charge of their children from the ninth 
 to the fifteenth year of their age, during which time their work 
 cannot be profitable ; and restoring them when they may be of 
 use, furnished with tools whereof there are advantages to be 
 made in every work, seeing he that can read and use his pen 
 has some convenience by it in the meanest vocation. And it 
 cannot be conceived but that which comes, though in small 
 parcels, to the advantage of every man in his vocation, must 
 amount to the advantage of every vocation, and so to that of 
 the whole commonwealth. Wherefore this is commended to 
 the charity of every wise-hearted and well-minded man, to be 
 done in time, and as God shall stir him up or enable him ; 
 
OCEANA. 211 
 
 there being such provision already in the case as may give us 
 leave to proceed without obstruction. 
 
 " Parents, under animadversion of the censors, are to dispose 
 of their children at the fifteenth year of their age to something ; 
 but what, is left, according to their abilities or inclination, at 
 their own choice. This, with the multitude, must be to the 
 mechanics, that is to say, to agriculture or husbandry, to manu- 
 factures, or to merchandise. 
 
 " Agriculture is the bread of the nation ; we are hung upon it 
 by the teeth ; it is a mighty nursery of strength, the best army, 
 and the most assured knapsack ; it is managed with the least 
 turbulent or ambitious, and the most innocent hands of all 
 other arts. Wherefore I am of Aristotle's opinion, that a com- 
 monwealth of husbandmen, and such is ours, must be the best 
 of all others. Certainly, my Lords, you have no measure of what 
 ought to be, but what can be done for the encouragement of this 
 profession. I could wish I were husband good enough to direct 
 something to this end ; but racking of rents is a vile thing in the 
 richer sort, an uncharitable one to the poorer, a perfect mark of 
 slavery, and nips your commonwealth in the fairest blossom. 
 On the other side, if there should be too much ease given in this 
 kind, it would occasion sloth, and so destroy industry, the 
 principal nerve of a commonwealth. But if aught might be 
 done to hold the balance even between these two, it would be a 
 work in this nation equal to that for which Fabius was sur- 
 named Maximus by the Romans. 
 
 " In manufactures and merchandise the Hollander has gotten 
 the start of us ; but at the long run it will be found that a 
 people working upon a foreign commodity does but farm the 
 manufacture, and that it is really entailed upon them only 
 where the growth of it is native ; as also that it is one thing to 
 have the carriage of other men's goods, and another for a man to 
 bring his own to the best market. Wherefore (Nature having 
 provided encouragement for these arts in this nation above all 
 others, where, the people growing, they of necessity must also 
 increase) it cannot but establish them upon a far more sure and 
 effectual foundation than that of the Hollanders. But these 
 educations are in order to the first things or necessities of 
 Nature; as husbandry to the food, manufacture to the 
 
212 OCEANA. 
 
 clothing, and merchandise to the purse of the common- 
 wealth. 
 
 " There be other things in Nature, which being second as to 
 their order, for their dignity and value are first, and such to 
 which the other are but accommodations ; of this sort are 
 especially these, religion, justice, courage, and wisdom. 
 
 " The education that answers to religion in our government is 
 that of the universities. Moses, the divine legislator, was not 
 only skilful in all the learning of the Egyptians, but took 
 also into the fabric of his commonwealth the learning of the 
 Midianites in the advice of Jethro ; and his foundation of a 
 university laid in the tabernacle, and finished in the Temple, 
 became that pinnacle from whence (according to many Jewish 
 and Christian authors) all the learning in the world has taken 
 wing ; as the philosophy of the Stoics from the Pharisees ; that 
 of the Epicureans from the Sadducees ; and from the learning of 
 the Jews, so often quoted by our Saviour, and fulfilled in Him, 
 the Christian religion. Athens was the most famous university 
 in her days ; and her senators, that is to say, the Areopagites, 
 were all philosophers. Lacedemon, to speak truth, though she 
 could write and read, was not very bookish. But he that dis- 
 putes hence against universities, disputes by the same argument 
 against agriculture, manufacture, and merchandise ; every one 
 of these having been equally forbid by Lycurgus, not for itself 
 (for if he had not been learned in all the learning of Crete, and 
 well travelled in the knowledge of other governments, he had 
 never made his commonwealth), but for the diversion which they 
 must have given his citizens from their arms, who, being but 
 few, if they had minded anything else, must have deserted the 
 commonwealth. For Rome, she had ingenium par ingenio, 
 was as learned as great, and held her College of Augurs in much 
 reverence. Venice has taken her religion upon trust. Holland 
 cannot attend it to be very studious. Nor does Switzerland 
 mind it much ; yet are they all addicted to their universities. 
 We cut down trees to build houses ; but I would have somebody 
 show me, by what reason or experience the cutting down of a 
 university should tend to the setting up of a commonwealth. 
 Of this I am sure, that the perfection of a commonwealth is not 
 to be attained without the knowledge of ancient prudence, nor 
 
OCEANA. 213 
 
 the knowledge of ancient prudence without learning, nor learn- 
 ing without schools of good literature, and these are such as we 
 call universites. Now though mere university learning of itself 
 be that which (to speak the words of Verulamius) ' crafty men 
 contemn, and simple men only admire, yet is it such as wise 
 men have use of ; for studies do not teach their own use, but 
 that is a wisdom without and above them, won by observation. 
 Expert men may execute, and perhaps judge, of particulars one 
 by one ; but the general councils and the plots, and the 
 marshalling of affairs, come best from those that are learned.' 
 Wherefore if you would have your children to be statesmen, let 
 them drink by all means of these fountains, where perhaps there 
 were never any. But what though the water a man drinks be 
 not nourishment, it is the vehicle without which he cannot be 
 nourished. Nor is religion less concerned in this point than 
 government : for take away your universities, and in a few 
 years you lose it. 
 
 " The Holy Scriptures are written in Hebrew and Greek : 
 they that have neither of these languages may think light of 
 both ; but find me a man that has one in perfection, the study 
 of whose whole life it has not been. Again, this is apparent to 
 us in daily conversation, that if four or five persons that have 
 lived together be talking, another speaking the same language 
 may come in, and yet understand very little of their discourse, 
 in that it relates to circumstances, persons, things, times and 
 places which he knows not. It is no otherwise with a man, 
 having no insight of the times in which they were written, and 
 the circumstances to which they relate, in the reading of ancient 
 books, whether they be divine or human. For example, when 
 we fall upon the discourse about baptism and regeneration that 
 was between our Saviour and Nicodemus, where Christ re- 
 proaches him with his ignorance in this matter : ' Art thou a 
 doctor in Israel, and understandest not these things?' What 
 shall we think of it ? or wherefore should a doctor in Israel have 
 understood these things more than another, but that both 
 baptism and regeneration, as was showed at large by my Lord 
 Phosphorus, were doctrines held in Israel ? I instance in one 
 place of a hundred, which he, that has not mastered the 
 circumstances to which they relate, cannot understand. Where- 
 
214 OCEANA. 
 
 fore to the understanding of the Scripture, it is necessary to 
 have ancient languages, and the knowledge of ancient times, or 
 the aid of them who have such knowledge ; and to have such 
 as may be always able and ready to give such aid (unless you 
 would borrow it of another nation, which would not only be 
 base, but deceitful) it is necessary to a commonwealth that she 
 have schools of good literature, or universities of her own. We 
 are commanded, as has been said more than once, to search 
 the Scriptures ; and which of them search the Scriptures, they 
 that take this pains in ancient languages and learning, or they 
 that will not, but trust to translations only, and to words as they 
 sound to present circumstances ? than which nothing is more 
 fallible, or certain to lose the true sense of Scriptures, pretended 
 to be above human understanding, for no other cause than that 
 they are below it. But in searching the Scriptures by the 
 proper use of our universities, we have been heretofore blest 
 with greater victories and trophies against the purple hosts and 
 golden standards of the Romish hierarchy than any nation ; and 
 therefore why we should relinquish this upon the presumption 
 of some, that because there is a greater light which they have, I 
 do not know. There is a greater light than the sun, but it does 
 not extinguish the sun, nor does any light of God's giving 
 extinguish that of Nature, but increase and sanctify it. 
 Wherefore, neither the honour borne by the Israelitish, Roman, 
 or any other commonwealth that I have shown, to their 
 ecclesiastics, consisted in being governed by them, but in 
 consulting them in matters of religion, upon whose responses 
 or oracles they did afterwards as they thought fit. Nor would 
 I be here mistaken, as if, by affirming the universities to be, in 
 order both to religion and government, of absolute necessity, I 
 declared them or the ministry in anywise fit to be trusted, so 
 far as to exercise any power not derived from the civil 
 magistrate in the administration of either. If the Jewish 
 religion were directed and established by Moses, it was directed 
 and established by the civil magistrate; or if Moses exercised 
 this administration as a prophet, the same prophet did invest 
 with the same administration the Sanhedrim, and not the 
 priests ; and so does our commonwealth the senate, and not the 
 clergy. They who had the supreme administration or govern- 
 
OCEANA. 215 
 
 ment of the national religion in Athens, were the first Archon, 
 the rex sacrificus, or high priest, and a polemarch, which 
 magistrates were ordained or elected by the holding up of 
 hands in the church, congregation or comilia of the people. 
 The religion of Lacedemon was governed by the kings, who 
 were also high priests, and officiated at the sacrifice ; these had 
 power to substitute their ftythii, ambassadors, or nuncios, by 
 which, not without concurrence of the senate, they held 
 intelligence with the oracle of Apollo at Delphos. And the 
 ecclesiastical part of the commonwealth of Rome was governed 
 by the pontifex maxim us, the 1'ex sacrificulus, and the Flaminsr 
 all ordained or elected by the people, the pontifex by the 
 tribes, the king by the centuries, and the Flamins by the 
 parishes. I do not mind you of these things, as if, for the 
 matter, there were any parallel to be drawn out of their super- 
 stitions to our religion ; but to show that for the manner, ancient 
 prudence is as well a rule in divine as human things ; nay, and 
 such a one as the Apostles themselves, ordaining elders by the 
 holding up of hands in every congregation, have exactly followed ; 
 for some of the congregations where they thus ordained elders 
 were those of Antioch, Iconium, Lystra, Derbe, the countries of 
 Lycaonia, Pisidia, Pamphilia, Perga, with Attalia. Now that 
 these cities and countries, when the Romans propagated their 
 empire into Asia, were found most of them commonwealths, and 
 that many of the rest were endued with like power, so that the 
 people living under the protection of the Roman emperors con- 
 tinued to elect their own magistrates, is so known a thing, that 
 I wonder whence it is that men, quite contrary to the universal 
 proof of these examples, will have ecclesiastical government to 
 be necessarily distinct from civil power, when the right of the 
 elders ordained by the holding up of hands in every congrega- 
 tion to teach the people, was plainly derived from the same civil 
 power by which they ordained the rest of their magistrates. 
 And it is not otherwise in our commonwealth, where the 
 parochial congregation elects or ordains its pastor. To object 
 the commonwealth of Venice in this place, were to show us that 
 it has been no otherwise but where the civil power has lost the 
 liberty of her conscience by embracing Popery ; as also that to 
 take away the liberty of conscience in this administration from 
 
2i6 OCEANA. 
 
 the civil power, were a proceeding which has no other precedent 
 than such as is Popish. Wherefore your religion is settled after 
 the following manner: the universities are the seminaries of that 
 part which is national, by which means others with all safety 
 may be permitted to follow the liberty of their own consciences, 
 in regard that, however they behave themselves, the ignorance 
 of the unlearned in this case cannot lose your religion nor dis- 
 turb your government, which otherwise it would most certainly 
 do ; and the universities with their emoluments, as also the 
 benefices of the whole nation, are to be improved by such aug- 
 mentations as may make a very decent and comfortable sub- 
 sistence for the ministry, which is neither to be allowed synods 
 nor assemblies, except upon the occasion shown in the 
 universities, when they are consulted by the council of state, 
 and suffered to meddle with affairs of religion, nor to be capable 
 of any other public preferment whatsoever ; by which means 
 the interest of the learned can never come to corrupt your 
 religion, nor disturb your government, which otherwise it would 
 most certainly do. Venice, though she does not see, or cannot 
 help the corruption of her religion, is yet so circumspect to 
 avoid disturbance of her government in this kind, that her 
 council proceeds not to election of magistrates till it be 
 proclaimed fora papalini, by which words such as have 
 consanguinity with red hats, or relation to the court of Rome, 
 are warned to withdraw. If a minister in Holland meddles 
 with matter of state, the magistrate sends him -a pair of shoes ; 
 whereupon, if he does not go, he is driven away from his 
 charge. I wonder why ministers, of all men, should be 
 perpetually tampering with government ; first because they, as 
 well as others, have it in express charge to submit themselves 
 to the ordinances of men ; and secondly, because these 
 ordinances of men must go upon such political principles as 
 they of all others, by anything that can be found in their 
 writings or actions, least understand : whence you have the 
 suffrage of all nations to this sense, that an ounce of wisdom is 
 worth a pound of clergy. Your greatest clerks are not your 
 wisest men : and when some foul absurdity in state is 
 committed, it is common with the French, and even the Italians, 
 to call it pas de clerc, or governo de prete. They may bear 
 
OCEANA. 217 
 
 with men that will be preaching without study, while they will 
 be governing without prudence. My Lords, if you know not 
 how to rule your clergy, you will most certainly, like a man 
 that cannot rule his wife, have neither quiet at home nor 
 honour abroad. Their honest vocation is to teach your children 
 at the schools and the universities, and the people in the 
 parishes, and yours is concerned to see that they do not play 
 the shrews, of which parts does consist the education of your 
 commonwealth, so far as it regards religion. 
 
 " To justice, or that part of it which is commonly executive, 
 answers the education of the inns of court and chancery. 
 Upon which to philosophise, requires a public kind of learning 
 that I have not. But they who take upon them any profession 
 proper to the educations mentioned — that is, theology, physic, 
 or law — are not at leisure for the essays. Wherefore the essays, 
 being degrees whereby the youth commence for all magistracies, 
 offices, and honours in the parish, hundred, tribe, senate, or 
 prerogative ; divines, physicians, and lawyers, not taking these 
 degrees, exclude themselves from all such magistracies, offices, 
 and honours. And whereas lawyers are likest to exact further 
 reason for this, they (growing up from the most gainful art at 
 the bar to those magistracies upon the bench which are con- 
 tinually appropriated to themselves, and not only endowed 
 with the greatest reveuues, but also held for life) have the least 
 reason of all the rest to pretend to any other ; especially in an 
 equal commonwealth, where accumulation of magistracy, or to 
 take a person engaged by his profit to the laws, as they stand, 
 into the power, which is legislative, and which should keep 
 them to what they were, or ought to be, were a solecism in 
 prudence. It is true that the legislative power may have need 
 of advice and assistance from the executive magistracy, or such 
 as are learned in the law ; for which cause the judges are, as 
 they have heretofore been, assistants in the senate. Nor, how- 
 ever it came about, can I see any reason why a judge, being 
 but an assistant or lawyer, should be member of a legislative 
 council. 
 
 " I deny not that the Roman patricians were all patrons, 
 and that the whole people were clients, some to one family 
 and some to another, by which means they had their causes 
 
2i8 OCEANA. 
 
 pleaded and defended in some appearance gratis ; for the 
 patron took no money, though if he had a daughter to marry, 
 his clients were to pay her portion, nor was this so great a 
 grievance. But if the client accused his patron, gave testimony 
 or suffrage against him, it was a crime of such a nature that 
 any man might lawfully kill him as a traitor ; and this, as 
 being the nerve of the optimacy, was a great' cause of ruin to 
 that commonwealth ; for when the people would carry anything 
 that pleased not the senate, the senators were ill provided if 
 they could not intercede — that' is, oppose it by their clients ; 
 with whom, to vote otherwise than they pleased, was the 
 highest crime. The observation of this bond till the time of 
 the Gracchi — that is to say, till it was too late, or to no 
 purpose to break it, was the cause why, in all the former heats 
 and disputes that had happened between the senate and the 
 people, it never came to blows, which indeed was good ; but 
 withal, the people could have no remedy, which was certainly 
 evil. Wherefore I am of opinion that a senator ought not to be 
 a patron or advocate, nor a patron or advocate to be a senator; 
 for if his practice be gratis, it debauches the people, and if it 
 be mercenary, it debauches himself : take it which way you 
 will, when he should be making of laws, he will be knitting of 
 nets. 
 
 " Lycurgus, as I said, by being a traveller became a legislator, 
 but in times when prudence was another thing. Nevertheless 
 we may not shut out this part of education in a commonwealth, 
 which will be herself a traveller ; for those of this make have 
 seen the world, especially because this is certain (though it be 
 not regarded in our times, when things being left to take their 
 chance, it fares with us accordingly) that no man can be a 
 politician except he be first a historian or a traveller ; for 
 except he can see what must be, or what may be, he is no 
 politician. Now if he has no knowledge in history, he cannot 
 tell what has been, and if he has not been a traveller, he 
 cannot tell what is ; but he that neither knows what has been, 
 nor what is, can never tell what must be, or what may be". 
 Furthermore, the embassies-in-ordinary by our constitution 
 are the prizes of young men, more especially such as have been 
 travellers. Wherefore they of these inclinations, having leave 
 
OCEANA. 219 
 
 of the censors, owe them an account of their time, and cannot 
 choose but lay it out with some ambition of praise or 
 reward, where both are open, whence you will have eyes abroad, 
 and better choice of public ministers, your gallants showing 
 themselves not more to the ladies at their balls than to your 
 commonwealth at her academy when they return from their 
 travels. 
 
 " But this commonwealth being constituted more especially 
 of two elements, arms and councils, drives by a natural instinct 
 at courage and wisdom ; which he who has attained is arrived 
 at the perfection of human nature. It is true that these virtues 
 must have some natural root in him that is capable of them ; 
 but this amounts not to so great a matter as some will have it. 
 For if poverty makes an industrious, a moderate estate a 
 temperate, and a lavish fortune a wanton man, and this be the 
 common course of things, wisdom then is rather of necessity 
 than inclination. And that an army which was meditating 
 upon flight, has been brought by despair to win the field, is so 
 far from being strange, that like causes will evermore produce 
 like effects. Wherefore this commonwealth drives her citizens 
 like wedges ; there is no way with them but thorough, nor 
 end but that glory whereof man is capable by art or nature. 
 That the genius of the Roman families commonly preserved 
 itself throughout the line (as to instance in some, the Manlii 
 were still severe, the Publicolse lovers, and the Appii haters of 
 the people) is attributed by Machiavel to their education; nor, 
 if interest might add to the reason why the genius of a patrician 
 was one thing, and that of a plebeian another, is the like so 
 apparent between different nations, who, according to their 
 different educations, have yet as different manners. It was 
 anciently noted, and long confirmed by the actions of the 
 French, that in their first assaults their courage was more than 
 that of men, and for the rest less than that of women, which 
 nevertheless, through the amendment of their discipline, we see 
 now to be otherwise. I will not say but that some man or 
 nation upon an equal improvement of this kind may be lighter 
 than some other ; but certainly education is the scale without 
 which no man or nation can truly know his or her own weight 
 of value. By our histories we can tell when one Marpesian 
 
22o OCEANA. 
 
 would have beaten ten Oceaner.-, and when one Oceaner would 
 have beaten ten Marpesians. Marc Antony was a Roman, 
 but how did that appear in the embraces of Cleopatra ? You 
 must have some other education for your youth, or they, like 
 that passage, will show better in romance than true story. 
 
 '•'The custom of the commonwealth of Rome in distributing 
 her magistracies without respect of age, happened to do 
 well in Corvinus and Scipio ; for which cause Machiavel (with 
 whom that which was done by Rome, and that which is well 
 done, is for the most part all one) commends this course. Yet 
 how much it did worse at other times, is obvious in Pompey 
 and Caesar ; examples by which Boccalini illustrates the pru- 
 dence of Venice in her contrary practice, affirming it to have 
 been no small step to the ruin of the Roman liberty, that these 
 (having tasted in their youth of the supreme honours) had no 
 greater in their age to hope for, but by perpetuating of the same 
 in themselves ; which came to blood and ended in tyranny. 
 The opinion of Verulamius is safe: 'The errors,' says he, 'of 
 young men are the ruin of business ; whereas the errors of old 
 men amount but to this, that more might have been done, or 
 sooner.' But though their wisdom be little, their courage is 
 great ; wherefore (to come to the main education of this com- 
 monwealth) the militia of Oceana is the province of youth. 
 
 "The distribution of this province by the essays is so fully 
 described in the order, that 1 need repeat nothing; the order itself 
 being but a repetition or copy of that original, which in ancient 
 prudence is of all others the fairest, as that from whence the 
 commonwealth of Rome more particularly derived the empire 
 of the world. And there is much more reason in this age, when 
 governments are universally broken, or swerved from their 
 foundation?, and the people groan under tyranny, that the same 
 causes (which could not be withstood when the world was full 
 of popular governments) should have the like effects. 
 
 '• The causes in the commonwealth of Rome, whereof the 
 empire of the world was not any miraculous, but a natural (nay, 
 1 may safely say a necessary) consequence, are contained in 
 that part of her discipline which was domestic, and in that which 
 she exercised in her provinces or conquest. Of the latter I shall 
 have better occasion to speak when we come to our provincial 
 
OCEANA. 221 
 
 orbs; the former divided the whole people by tribes, amounting, 
 as Livy and Cicero show, at their full growth to thirty-five, and 
 every tribe by the sense or valuation of estates into five classes : 
 for the sixth being proletary, that is the nursery, or such as 
 through their poverty contributed nothing to the commonwealth 
 but children, was not reckoned nor used in arms. And this is 
 the first point of the militia, in which modern prudence is quite 
 contrary to the ancient; for whereas we, excusing the rich and 
 arming the poor, become the vassals of our servants, they, by 
 excusing the poor and arming such as were rich enough to be 
 freemen, became lords of the earth. The nobility and gentry of 
 this nation, who understand so little what it is to be the lords of 
 the earth that they have not been able to keep their own lands, 
 will think it a strange education for their children to be common 
 soldiers, and obliged to all the duties of arms ; nevertheless it is 
 not for 4.y. a week, but to be capable of being the best man in 
 the field or in the city, the latter part of which consideration 
 makes the common soldier herein a better man than the general 
 of any monarchical army. And whereas it may be thought that 
 this would drink deep of noble blood, I dare boldly say, take 
 the Roman nobility in the heat of their fiercest wars, and you 
 shall not find such a shambles of them as lias been made of ours 
 by mere luxury and slothfulness ; which, killing the body, kill 
 the soul also : Animasque in valnere ftomtnt. Whereas common 
 right is that which he who stands in the vindication of, has used 
 that sword of justice for which he receives the purple of magis- 
 tracy. The glory of a man on earth can go no higher, and if 
 he falls he rises again, and comes sooner to that reward which 
 is so much higher as heaven is above the earth. To return to 
 the Roman example : every class was divided, as has been 
 more than once shown, into centuries, and every century 
 was equally divided into youth and elders; the youth for 
 foreign service, and the elders for the guard of the territory. 
 In the first class were about eighteen centuries of horse, being 
 those which, by the institution of Servius, were first called 
 to the suffrage in the centurial assemblies. But the delectus, 
 or levy of an army, which is the present business, proceeded, 
 according to Polybius, in this manner : 
 " Upon a war decreed, the consuls elected four-and-twenty 
 
222 OCEANA. 
 
 military tribunes or colonels, whereof ten, being such as had 
 merited their tenth stipend, were younger officers. The 
 tribunes being chosen, the consuls appointed a day to the 
 tribes, when those in them of military age were to appear at 
 the capitol. The day being come, and the youth assembled 
 accordingly, the consuls ascended their tribunal, and the 
 younger tribunes were straight divided into four parts after 
 this manner : four were assigned to the first legion (a legion 
 at the most consisted of six thousand foot and three hundred 
 horse), three to the second, four to the third, and three to the 
 fourth. The younger tribunes being thus distributed, two of the 
 elder were assigned to the first legion, three to the second, two to 
 the third, and three to the fourth. And the officers of each legion 
 thus assigned, having drawn the tribes by lot, and being seated 
 according to their divisions at a convenient distance from each 
 other, the tribe of the first lot was called, whereupon they that 
 were of it knowing the business, and being prepared, presently 
 bolted out four of their number, in the choice whereof such 
 care was taken that they offered none that was not a citizen,, 
 no citizen that was not of the youth, no youth that was not of 
 some one of the five classes, nor any one of the five classes 
 that was not expert at his exercises. Moreover, they used such 
 diligence in matching them for age and stature, that the officers 
 of the legion, except they happened to be acquainted with the 
 youth so bolted, were forced to put themselves upon fortune, 
 while they of the first legion chose one, they of the second the 
 next, they of the third another, and the fourth youth fell to 
 the last legion ; and thus was the election (the legions and the 
 tribes varying according to their lots) carried on till the foot 
 were complete. The like course with little alteration was taken 
 by the horse officers till the horse also were complete. This 
 was called giving of names, which the children of Israel did 
 also by lot ; and if any man refused to give his name, he was 
 sold for a slave, or his estate confiscated to the commonwealth. 
 'When Marcus Curius the consul was forced to make a sudden 
 levy, and none of the youth would give in their names, all the 
 tribes being put to the lot, he commanded the first name drawn 
 out of the urn of the Pollian tribe (which happened to come 
 first) to be called ; but the youth not answering, he ordered his 
 
OCEANA. 223 
 
 goods to be sold :' which was conformable to the law in Israel, 
 according to which Saul took a yoke of oxen, and hewed them 
 in pieces, and sent them throughout the tribes, saying, 'Who- 
 soever comes not forth to battle after Saul and Samuel, so 
 shall it be done to his oxen.' By which you may observe also' 
 that they who had no cattle were not of the militia in Israel. 
 But the age of the Roman youth by the Tullian law determined 
 at thirty ; and by the law (though it should seem by Machiavel 
 and others that this was not well observed) a man could not 
 stand for magistracy till he was miles emeritus, or had fulfilled 
 the full term of his militia, which was complete in his tenth 
 stipend or service, nor was he afterwards obliged under any 
 penalty to give his name, except the commonwealth were 
 invaded, in which case the elders were as well obliged as the 
 youth. The consul might also levy milites evocatos, or soldiers, 
 commanded men out of such as had served their turn, and this 
 at his discretion. The legions being thus complete, were 
 divided by two to each consul, and in these no man had right 
 to serve but a Roman citizen ; now because two legions made 
 but a small army, the Romans added to every one of their arms 
 an equal number of foot, and a double number of horse levied 
 among their Latin or Italian associates ; so a consular army, 
 with the legions and auxiliaries, amounted to about thirty thou- 
 sand, and whereas they commonly levied two such armies 
 together, these being joined made about sixty thousand. 
 
 " The steps whereby our militia follows the greatest captain, 
 are the three essays ; the first, elected by a fifth man in the 
 parishes, and amounting in the whole to one hundred thousand, 
 choose their officers at the hundreds, where they fall also to 
 their games or exercises, invited by handsome prizes, such as 
 for themselves and the honour of them will be coveted, such as 
 will render the hundred a place of sports, and exercise of arms 
 all the year long, such as in the space of ten years will equip 
 thirty thousand men horse and foot, with such arms for their 
 forge, proof, and beauty, as (notwithstanding the argyraspides, 
 or silver shields of Alexander's guards) were never worn by so 
 many, such as will present marks of virtue and direction to 
 your general or strategus in the distribution of his army, which 
 doubles the value of them to the proprietors, who are bound to 
 
224 OCEANA. 
 
 wear them, and eases the commonwealth of so much charge, so 
 many being armed already. 
 
 " But here will be the objection now. How shall such a 
 revenue be compassed ? Fifty pounds a year in every hundred is 
 a great deal, not so easily raised ; men will not part with their 
 money, nor would the sum, as it is proposed by the order of 
 Pompey, rise in many years. These are difficulties that fit our 
 genius exactly, and yet a thousand pounds in each hundred, 
 once levied, establishes the revenue for ever. Now the hundreds 
 one with another are worth ten thousand pounds a year dry 
 rent, over and above personal estates, which bring it to twice 
 the value, so that a twentieth part of one year's revenue of the 
 hundred does it. If you cannot afford this while you pay taxes, 
 though from henceforth they will be but small ones, do it when 
 you pay none. If it be then too much for one year, do it in 
 two, if it be too much for two years, do it in four. What 
 husbands have we hitherto been ? what is become of greater 
 sums ? My Lords, if you should thus cast your bread upon the 
 waters, after many days you shall find it ; stand not huckling 
 when you are offered corn and your money again in the mouth 
 of the sack. 
 
 " But to proceed : the first essay being officered at the hun- 
 dreds, and mustered at the tribes (where they are entertained 
 with other sports, which will be very fine ones), proceeds to the 
 election of the second essay, or standing army of this nation, 
 consisting of thirty thousand foot and ten thousand horse ; and 
 these, upon a war decreed, being delivered at the rendezvous of 
 Oceana to the strategus, are the third essay, which answers to 
 the Roman legions. But you may observe, that whereas the 
 consuls elected the military tribunes, and raised commanded 
 men out of the veterans at their own discretion, our polemarchs, 
 or field officers, are elected by the scrutiny of the council of war, 
 and our veterans not otherwise taken on than as volunteers, and 
 with the consent of the polemarchs, which may serve for the 
 removal of certain scruples which might otherwise be incident 
 in this place, though without encouragement by the Roman way 
 of proceeding, much less by that which is proposed. But 
 whereas the Roman legions in all amounted not in one army to 
 above thirty thousand men, or little more, you have here forty 
 
OCEANA. 225 
 
 thousand ; and whereas they added auxiliaries, it is in this 
 regard that Marpesia will be a greater revenue to you than if 
 you had the Indies ; for whereas heretofore she has yielded you 
 nothing but her native thistles, in ploughing out the rankness of 
 her aristocracy by your Agrarian, you will find her an inex- 
 haustible magazine of men, and to her own advantage, who will 
 make a far better account by the arms than by the pins of 
 Poland. Wherefore as a consular army consisted of about an 
 equal number of auxiliaries added to their legions by their Latin 
 or Italian associates, you may add to a parliamentary army 
 an equal number of Marpesians or Panopeans, as that colony 
 shall hereafter be able to supply you, by which means the 
 commonwealth will be able to go forth to battle with fourscore 
 thousand men. To make wars with small forces is no hus- 
 bandry, but a waste, a disease, a lingering and painful con- 
 sumption of men and money, the Romans making theirs thick, 
 made them short, and had little regard to money, as that which 
 they who have men enough can command where it is fittest that 
 it should be levied. All the ancient monarchies by this means 
 got on wing, and attained to vast riches. Whereas your 
 modern princes being dear purchasers of small parcels, have 
 but empty pockets. But it may be some will accuse the order 
 of rashness, in that it commits the sole conduct of the war to 
 the general ; and the custom of Venice by her proveditori, 
 or checks upon her commanders-in-chief, may seem to be of 
 greater prudence ; but in this part of our government neither 
 Venice nor any nation that makes use of mercenary forces is 
 for our instruction. A mercenary army, with a standing general, 
 is like the fatal sister that spins ; but proper forces, with an 
 annual magistrate, are like her that cuts the thread. Their 
 interests are quite contrary, and yet you have a better prove- 
 ditor than the Venetian, another strategus sitting with an army 
 standing by him ; whereupon that which is marching, if there 
 were any probability it should, would find as little possibility 
 that it could recoil, as a foreign enemy to invade you. These 
 things considered, a war will appear to be of a contrary nature 
 to that of all other reckonings, inasmuch as of this you must 
 never look to have a good account if you be strict in imposing 
 checks. Let a council of huntsmen, assembled beforehand, tell 
 
 H 
 
22 j OCEANA. 
 
 you which way the stag shall run, where you shall cast about at 
 the fault, and how you shall ride to be in at the chase all the 
 day ; but these may as well do that, as a council of war direct 
 a general. The hours that have painted wings, and of different 
 colours, are his council ; he must be like the eye that makes not 
 the scene, but has it so soon as it changes. That in many 
 counsellors there is strength, is spoken of civil administrations ; 
 as to those that are military, there is nothing more certain than 
 that in many counsellors there is weakness. Joint commissions 
 in military affairs, are like hunting your hounds in their couples. 
 In the Attic war Cleomenes and Demaratus, kings of Lace- 
 demon, being thus coupled, tugged one against another; and 
 while they should have joined against the Persian, were the 
 cause of the common calamity, whereupon that commonwealth 
 took better counsel, and made a law whereby from henceforth 
 there went at once but one of her kings to battle. 
 
 ' : ' The Fidenati being in rebellion/and having slain the colony 
 of the Romans, four tribunes with consular power were created 
 by the people of Rome, whereof one being left for the guard of 
 the city, the other three were sent against the Fidenati, who, 
 through the division that happened among them, brought 
 nothing home but dishonour : whereupon the Romans created 
 the dictator, and Livy gives his judgment in these words : " The 
 three tribunes with consular power were a lesson how useless in 
 war is the joint command of several generals; for each following 
 his own counsels, while they all differed in their opinion", gave 
 by this opportunity an advantage to the enemy." When the 
 consuls, Quintius and Agrippa, were sent againt the yEqui, 
 Agrippa for this reason refused to go with his colleague, saying : 
 "That in the administration of great actions it was most safe 
 that the chief command should be lodged in one person." And 
 if the ruin of modern armies were well considered, most of it 
 would be found to have fallen upon this point, it being in this 
 case far safer to trust to any one man of common prudence, than 
 to any two or more together of the greatest parts.' The consuls 
 indeed, being equal in power, while one was present with the 
 senate, and the other in the field with the army, made a good 
 balance ; and this with us is exactly followed by the election of 
 a new strategus upon the march of the old one. 
 
OCEANA. 2:7 
 
 "The seven-and-twentieth order, whereby the elders in case 
 of invasion are obliged to equal duty with the youth, and each 
 upon their own charge, is suitable to reason (for every man 
 defends his own estate) and to our copy, as in the war with the 
 Samnites and Tuscans. ' The senate ordered a vacation to be 
 proclaimed, and a levy to be made of all sorts of persons, and 
 not only the freemen and youths were listed, but cohorts of the 
 old men were likewise formed.' This nation of all others is the 
 least obnoxious to invasion. Oceana, says a French politician, 
 is a beast that cannot be devoured but by herself; nevertheless, 
 that government is not perfect which is not provided at all 
 points ; and in this (ad triarios res rediit) the elders being such 
 as in a martial state must be veterans, the commonwealth 
 invaded gathers strength like Antieus by her -fall, while the 
 whole number of the elders, consisting of five hundred thousand, 
 and the youth of as- many, being brought up according to the 
 order, give twelve successive battles, each battle consisting of 
 eighty thousand men, half elders and half youth. And the 
 commonwealth, whose constitution can be no stranger to any of 
 those virtues which are to be acquired in human life, grows 
 familiar with death ere she dies. If the hand of God be upon 
 her for her transgressions, she shall mourn for her sins, and lie 
 in the dust for her iniquities, without losing her manhood. 
 
 Si frnctus illabatur orbis, 
 Impavidam ferient ruinae." 
 
 The remaining part, being the constitution of the provincial 
 orb, is partly civil, or consisting of the elders ; and partly 
 military, or consisting of the youth. The civil part of the pro- 
 vincial orb is directed by 
 
 The twenty-eighth order, " Whereby the council of a province 
 being constituted of twelve knights, divided by four into three 
 regions (for their term and revolution conformable to the 
 parliament), is perpetuated by the annual election at the tropic 
 of four knights (being triennial magistrates) out of the region of 
 the senate whose term expires; and of one"knight out of the 
 same region to b: strategus or general of the province, which 
 .magistracy is annual. The strategus or magistrate thus chosen, 
 shall be as well presid ;• of 1 1 ial council with power to 
 
 u 7 
 
228 OCEANA, 
 
 propose to the same, as general of the army. The council for 
 the rest shall elect weekly provosts, having any two of them 
 also right to propose after the manner of the senatorian councils 
 of Oceana. And whereas all provincial councils are members 
 of the council of state, they may and ought to keep diligent 
 correspondence with the same, which is to be done after this 
 manner : any opinion or opinions legitimately proposed and 
 debated at a provincial council, being thereupon signed by the 
 strategus, or any two of the provosts, may be transmitted to the 
 council of state in Oceana ; and the council of state proceeding 
 upon the same in their natural course (whether by their own 
 power, if it be a matter within their instructions, or by authority 
 of the senate thereupon consulted, if it be a matter of state 
 which is not in their instructions ; or by authority of the senate 
 and command of the people, if it be a matter of law, as for the 
 levies of men or money upon common use and safety) shall 
 return such answers, advice, or orders, as in any of the ways 
 mentioned shall be determined upon the case. The provincial 
 councils of Maipesia and Panopea respectively shall take special 
 care that the Agrarian laws, as also all other laws that be or 
 shall from time to time be enacted by the parliament of Oceana, 
 for either of them, be duly put in execution ; they shall manage 
 and receive the customs of either nation for the shipping of 
 Oceana, being the common guard ; they shall have a care that 
 moderate and sufficient pay upon the respective province be 
 duly raised for the support and maintenance of the officers and 
 soldiers, or army of the same, in the most effectual, constant 
 and convenient way ; they shall receive the regalia, or public 
 revenues of those nations, out of which every councillor 
 shall have for his term, and to his proper use, the sum 
 of /500 per annum, and the strategus /500 as president, 
 besides his pay as general, .which shall be .£1000, the 
 remainder to go to the use of the knights and deputies of 
 the respective provinces, to be paid, if it will reach, according to 
 the rates of Oceana ; if not, by an equal distribution, re- 
 spectively, or the overplus, if there be any, to be returned to 
 the treasury of Oceana. They shall manage the lands (if there 
 be any such held in either of the provinces by the common- 
 wealth of Oceana, in dominion) and return the rents into the 
 
OCEANA, 229 
 
 exchequer. If the commonwealth comes to be possessed of 
 richer provinces, the pay of the general or strategus, and of the 
 councils, may be respectively increased. The people for the 
 rest shall elect their own magistrates, and be governed by their 
 own laws, having power also to appeal from their native or 
 provincial magistrates, if they please, to the people of Oceana. 
 And whereas there may be such as receiving injury, are not able 
 to prosecute their appeals at so great a distance, eight sergeants- 
 at-law, being sworn by the commissioners of the seal, shall be 
 sent by four into each province once in two years ; who, 
 dividing the same by circuits, shall hear such causes, and 
 having gathered and introduced them, shall return to the 
 several appellants, gratis, the determinations and decrees of the 
 people in their several cases. 
 
 " The term of a knight in a provincial orb, as to domestic 
 magistracies, shall be esteemed a vacation, and no bar to 
 present election to any other honour, his provincial magistracy 
 being expired. 
 
 "The quorum of a provincial council, as also of every other 
 council or assembly in Oceana, shall in time of health consist of 
 two parts in three of the whole number proper to that council or 
 assembly ; and in a time of sickness, of one part in three ; but 
 of the senate there can be no quorum without three of the 
 signory, nor of a council without two of the provosts." 
 
 The civil part of the provincial orb being declared by the 
 foregoing order, the military part of the same is constituted by 
 
 The twenty-ninth order, " Whereby the stratiots of the third 
 essay having drawn the gold balls marked with the letter M, 
 and being ten horse and fifty foot in a tribe, that is to say, five 
 hundred horse and two thousand five hundred foot in all, the 
 tribes shall be delivered by the respective conductors to the 
 provincial strategus or general, at such a time and place, or 
 rendezvous, as he shall appoint by order and certificate of 
 his election, and the strategus having received the horse and 
 foot mentioned, which are the third classes of his provincial 
 guard or army, shall forthwith lead them away to Marpesia, 
 where the army consists of three classes, each class, contain- 
 ing three thousand men, whereof five hundred are horse ; and 
 receiving the new strategus with the third class, the old 
 
230 OCEANA. 
 
 strategus with the first clnss shall be dismissed by the 
 provincial council. The same method with the stratiots of the 
 letter P, is to be observed for the provincial orb of Panopea ; 
 and the commonwealth coming to acquire new provinces, the 
 senate and the people may erect new orbs in like manner, 
 consisting of greater or less numbers, according as is required 
 by the respective occasion. If a stratiot has once served his 
 term in a provincial orb, and happens afterwards to draw the 
 letter of a province at the election of the second essay, he 
 may refuse his lot; and if he refuses it, the censor of that 
 urn shall cause the files balloting at the same to make a halt ; 
 and if the stratiot produces the certificate of his strategus or 
 general, that he has served his time accordingly, the censor 
 throwing the ball that he drew into the urn again, and taking 
 out a blank, shall dismiss the youth, and cause the ballot to 
 proceed." 
 
 To perfect the whole structure of this commonwealth, some 
 directions are given to the third essay, or army marching, in 
 
 The thirtieth order. ".'When thou goest to battle against thy 
 enemies, and seest horses and chariots, and a people more than 
 thou, be not afraid of them, for the Lord thy God is he that 
 goes with thee to fight for thee against thy enemies. And when 
 thou dividest the spoil, it shall be as a statute and an ordinance 
 to thee, that as his part is that goes down to the battle, so shall 
 his part be that tarries by the stuff : ' that is (as to the common- 
 wealth of Oceana) the spoil taken of the enemy (except clothes, 
 arms, horses, ammunition and victuals, to be divided to the 
 soldiery by the strategus and the polemarchs upon the place 
 according to their discretion) shall be delivered to four commis- 
 saries of the spoils elected and sworn by the council of war ; 
 which commissaries shall be allowed shipping by the state, and 
 convoys according as occasion shall require by the strategus, 
 .to the end that having a bill of lading signed by three or more 
 of the polemarchs, they may ship and bring, or cause such 
 spoils to be brought to the prize-office in Oceana, where they 
 shall be sold ; and the profit arising by such spoils shall be 
 divided into three parts, whereof one shall go to the treasury, 
 another shall be paid to the soldiery of this nation, and a third 
 to the auxiliaries at their return from their service, provided 
 
OCEANA. 231 
 
 that the said auxiliaries be equal in number to the proper forces 
 of this nation, otherwise their share shall be so much less as 
 they themselves are fewer in number: the rest of the two-thirds 
 to go to the officers and soldiers of the proper forces. And the 
 spoils so divided to the proper forces, shall be subdivided into 
 three equal parts, whereof one shall go to the officers, and two 
 to the common soldiers, the like for the auxiliaries. And the 
 share allotted to the officers shall be divided into four equal 
 parts, whereof one shall go to the strategus, another to the 
 polemarchs, a third to the colonels, and a fourth to the 
 captains, cornets, ensigns, and under officers, receiving their 
 share of the spoil as common soldiers, the like for the 
 auxiliaries. And this upon pain, in the case of failure, of what 
 the people of Oceana (to whom the cognizance of peculation or 
 crimes of this nature is properly appertaining) shall adjudge or 
 decree." 
 
 Upon these three last orders the Archon seemed to be 
 haranguing at the head of his army in this manner : 
 
 '•' My dear Lords and excellent Patriots, — 
 " A government of this make is a commonwealth for increase. 
 Of those for preservation, the inconveniences and frailties have 
 been shown ; their roots are narrow, such as do not run, have 
 no fibres, their tops weak and dangerously exposed to the 
 weather, except you chance to find one, as Venice, planted in 
 a flower-pot, and if she grows, she grows top-heavy, and falls 
 too. But you cannot plant an oak in a flower-pot ; she must 
 have earth for her root, and heaven for her branches. 
 Imperium Oceano, (amain quae terminet astris. 
 " Rome was said to be broken by her own weight, but 
 poetically ; for that weight by which she was pretended to be 
 ruined, was supported in her emperors by a far slighter founda- 
 tion. And in the common experience of good architecture, there 
 is nothing more known than that buildings stand the firmer and 
 the longer for their own weight, nor ever swerve through any 
 other internal cause than that their materials are corrup- 
 tible ; but the people never die, nor, as a political body, 
 are subject to any other corruption than that which derives 
 
232 OCEANA. 
 
 from their government. Unless a man will deny the chain 
 of causes, in which he denies God, he must also acknowledge 
 the chain of effects ; wherefore there can be no effect in 
 Nature that is not from the first cause, and those successive 
 links of the chain without which it could not have been. 
 Now except a man can show the contrary in a common- 
 wealth, if there be no cause of corruption in the first make of 
 it, there can never be any such effect. Let no man's superstition 
 impose profaneness upon this assertion ; for as man is sinful, 
 but yet the universe is perfect, so may the citizen be sinful, and 
 yet the commonwealth be perfect. And as man, seeing the 
 world is perfect, can never commit any such sin as shall render 
 it imperfect, or bring it to a natural dissolution, so the citizen, 
 where the commonwealth is perfect, can never commit any such 
 crime as will render it imperfect, or bring it to a natura 
 dissolution. To come to experience : Venice, notwithstanding 
 we have found some flaws in it, is the only commonwealth in 
 the make whereof no man can find a cause of dissolution ; for 
 which reason we behold her (though she consists of men that 
 are not without sin) at this day with one thousand years upon 
 her back, yet for any internal cause, as young, as fresh, and free 
 from decay, or any appearance of it, as she was born ; but 
 whatever in Nature is not sensible of decay by the course of a 
 thousand years, is capable of the whole age of Nature; by 
 which calculation, for any check that I am able to give myself, 
 a commonwealth, rightly ordered, may for any internal causes 
 be as immortal or long-lived as the world. But if this be true, 
 those commonwealths that are naturally fallen, must have 
 derived their ruin from the rise of them. Israel and Athens 
 died not natural but violent deaths, in which manner the world 
 itself is to die. We are speaking of those causes of dissolution 
 which are natural to government ; and they are but two, either 
 contradiction or inequality. If a commonwealth be a contra- 
 diction, she must needs destroy herself; and if she be unequal, 
 it tends to strife, and strife to ruin. By the former of these fell 
 Lacedemon, by the latter Rome. Lacedemon being made alto- 
 gether for war, and yet not for increase, her natural progress 
 became her natural dissolution, ar.d the building of her own 
 victorious hand too heavy for her foundation, so that she fell 
 
OCEANA. 233 
 
 indeed by her own weight. But Rome perished through her 
 native inequality, which how it inveterated the bosoms of the 
 senate and the people each against other, and even to death, has 
 been shown at large. 
 
 _ "Look well to it, my Lords, for if there be a contradiction or 
 inequality in your commonwealth, it must fall ; but if it has 
 neither of these, it has no principle of mortality. Do not think 
 me impudent; if this be truth, I shall commit a gross indiscre- 
 tion in concealing it. Sure I am that Machiavel is for the 
 immortality of a commonwealth upon far weaker principles 
 If a commonwealth,' says he, ' were so happy as to be provided 
 often with men, that, when she is swerving from her principles 
 should reduce her to her institution, she would be immortal' 
 But a commonwealth, as we have demonstrated, swerves not 
 from her principles, but by and through her institution ; if she 
 brought no bias into the world with her, her course for any 
 internal cause must be straightforward, as we see is that of 
 Venice. She cannot turn to the right hand, nor to the left, but 
 by some rub, which is not an internal but external cause ■ 
 against such she can be no way fortified, but through her situa 
 tion as is Venice, or through her militia, as was Rome by 
 which examples a commonwealth may be secure of those also. 
 Think me not vain, for I cannot conceal mv opinion here • a 
 commonwealth that is rightly instituted can never swerve nor 
 one that is not rightly instituted be secured from swerving by 
 reduction to her first principles; wherefore it is no less ap- 
 parent in this place that Machiavel understood not a common- 
 wealth as to the whole piece, than where having told you that 
 a tribune, or any other citizen of Rome, might propose a law 
 to the people, and debate it with them, he adds, < this order was 
 good, while the people were good ; but when the people became 
 evil it became most pernicious.' As if this order (through 
 which, with the like, the people most apparently became enl) 
 could ever have been good, or that the people or the common- 
 wealth could ever have become good, by being reduced to such 
 principles as were the original of their evil. The disease of 
 Rome was, as has been shown, from the native inequality of her 
 balance and no otherwise from the empire of the world, than 
 as, this falling into one scale, that of the nobility Can evil in 
 
234 OCEANA. 
 
 such a fabric inevitable) kicked out the people. Wherefore a 
 man that could have made her to throw away the empire of the 
 world, might in that have reduced her to her principles, and yet 
 have been so far from rendering her immortal that, going no 
 further, he should never have cured her. But your common- 
 wealth is founded upon an equal Agrarian ; and if the earth be 
 given to the sons of men, this balance is the balance of justice, 
 such a one as in having due regard to the different industry of 
 different men-, yet faithfully judges the'poor. ' And the king that 
 faithfully judges the poor, his throne shall be established for 
 ever ;' much more the commonwealth, seeing that equality, 
 which is the necessary dissolution of monarchy, is the genera- 
 tion, the very life and soul of a commonwealth. And now, if 
 ever, I may be excusable, seeing my assertion, that the throne 
 of a commonwealth may be established for ever, is consonant 
 to the Holy Scriptures. 
 
 " The balance of a commonwealth that is equal, is of such a 
 nature, that whatever falls into her empire, must fall equally ; 
 and if the whole earth falls into your scales, it must fall equally, 
 and so you may be a greater people, and yet not swerve from 
 your principles one hair. Nay, you will be so far from that, 
 that you must bring the world in such a case to your balance, 
 even to the balance of justice. But hearken, my Lords ; are we on 
 earth, do we see the sun, or are we visiting those shady places 
 which are feigned by the poets ? 
 
 Continue auditas voces, vagitus et ingens. 
 
 These Gothic empires that are yet in the world, were at the 
 first, though they had legs of their own, but a heavy and 
 unwieldy burden ; but their foundations being now broken, the 
 iron of them enters even into the souls of the oppressed; and 
 hear the voice ef their comforters : 'My father hath chastised 
 you with whips, but 1 will chastise you with scorpions.' 
 Hearken, I say, if thy brother cries to thee in affliction, wilt 
 thou not hear him ? This is a commonwealth of the fabric that 
 has an open ear and a public concern ; she is not made for 
 herself only, but given as a magistrate of God to mankind, for 
 the vindication of common right and the law of Nature. 
 Wherefore says Cicero of the like, that of the Romans, 'We 
 
OCEANA. 235 
 
 have' rather undertaken the patronage than the empire of the 
 world.' If you, not regarding this example, like some other 
 nations that are upon the point to smart for it, shall, having 
 attained to your own liberty, bear the sword of your common 
 magistracy in vain, sit still, and fold your arms, or which is 
 worse, let out the blood of your people to tyrants, to be shed in 
 the defence of their yokes like water, and so not only turn the 
 grace of God into wantonness, but His justice into wormwood : 
 I say if you do thus, you are not now making a commonwealth, 
 but heaping coals of fire upon your own heads. A common- 
 wealth of this make is a minister of God upon earth, to the end 
 that the world may be governed with righteousness. For which 
 cause (that I may come at length to our present business) the 
 orders last rehearsed are buds of empire, such as with the 
 blessing of God may spread the arms of your' commonwealth, 
 like a holy asylum, to the distressed world, and give the earth 
 her sabbath of years, or rest from her labour?, under the shadow 
 of your wings. It is upon this point where the writings of 
 Machiayel, having for the rest excelled all other authors, come 
 as far to excel themselves. 
 
 " Commonwealths, says he, have had three ways of propaga- 
 ting themselves, one after the manner of monarchies, by imposing 
 the yoke, which was the way of Athens, and, towards the latter 
 times, of Lacedemon ; another by equal leagues, which is the 
 way of Switzerland (I shall add of Holland, though since his 
 time) ; a third by unequal leagues, which, to the shame of the 
 world, was never practised, nay, nor so much as seen or minded, 
 by any other commonwealth but that only of Rome. They will 
 each of them, either for caution or imitation, be worthy to be 
 well weighed, which is the proper work of this place. Athens 
 and Lacedemon have been the occasion of great scandal 
 to the world, in two, or at least one of two regards : the first, 
 their emulation, which involved Greece in perpetual wars ; 
 the second, their way of propagation, which by imposing 
 yokes upon others, was plainly contradictory to their own 
 principles. 
 
 "For the first : governments, be they of what kind soever, if 
 they be planted too close, are like trees, that impatient in their 
 growth to have it hindered, eat out one another. It was not 
 
=36 OCEANA. 
 
 unknown to these in speculation, or, if you read the story of 
 Agesilaus, in action, that either of them with thirty thousand 
 men might have mastered the East ; and certainly, if the one 
 had not stood in the other's light, Alexander had come too late 
 to that end, which was the means (and would be if they were to 
 live again) of ruin, at least to one of them ; wherefore with any 
 man that understands the nature of government this is excus- 
 able. So it was between Oceana and Marpesia ; so it is 
 between France and Spain, though less excusable ; and so it 
 ever will be in the like cases. But to come to the second 
 occasion of scandal by them given, which was in the way of their 
 propagation, it is not excusable ; for they brought their con- 
 federates under bondage, by which means Athens gave occa- 
 sion of the Peloponnesian war, the wound of which she died 
 stinking, when Lacedemon, taking the same infection from her 
 carcase, soon followed. 
 
 " Wherefore, my Lords, let these be warnings to you not to 
 make that liberty which God has given you a snare to others in 
 practising this kind of enlargement to yourselves. 
 
 " The second way of propagation or enlargement used by 
 commonwealths, is that of Switzerland and Holland, equal 
 leagues; this, though it be not otherwise mischievous, is useless 
 to the world, and dangerous to themselves : useless to the 
 world, for as the former governments were storks, these are 
 blocks, have no sense of honour, or concern in the sufferings of 
 others. But as the /Etolians, a state of the like fabric, were 
 reproached by Philip of Macedon to prostitute themselves, by 
 letting out their arms to the lusts of others, while they leave 
 their own liberty barren and without legitimate issue ; so I do 
 not defame these people ; the Switzer for valour has no superior, 
 the Hollander for industry no equal ; but themselves in the 
 meantime shall so much the less excuse their governments, 
 seeing that to the Switz it is well enough known that the ensigns 
 bf his commonwealth have no other motto than in tc converte 
 manus; and that of the Hollander, though he sweats more gold 
 than the Spaniard digs, lets him languish in debt ; for she 
 herself lives upon charity, These are dangerous to themselves, 
 precarious governments, such as do not command, but beg their 
 bread from province to province, in coats that being patched up 
 
OCEANA. 237 
 
 of all colours are in effect of none. That their cantons and 
 provinces are so many arrows, is good ; but they are so many 
 bows too, which is naught. 
 
 " Like to these was the commonwealth of the ancient Tuscans, 
 hung together like bobbins, without a hand to weave with them ; 
 therefore easily overcome by the Romans, though at that time, 
 for number, a far less considerable people. If your liberty 
 be not a root that grows, it will be a branch that withers, which 
 consideration brings me to the paragon, the commonwealth of 
 Rome. 
 
 " The ways and means whereby the Romans acquired the 
 patronage, and in that the empire of the world, were different, 
 according to the different condition of their commonwealth in 
 her rise and in her growth : in her rise she proceeded rather by 
 colonies, in her growth by unequal leagues. Colonies without 
 the bounds of Italy she planted none (such dispersion of the 
 Roman citizen as to plant him in foreign parts, till the contrary 
 interest of the emperors brought in that practice, was unlawful), 
 nor did she ever demolish any city within that compass, or 
 divest it of liberty ; but whereas the most of them were com- 
 monwealths, stirred up by emulation of her great felicity to war 
 against her, if she overcame any, she confiscated some part of 
 their lands that were the greatest incendiaries, or causes of the 
 trouble, upon which she planted colonies of her own people, 
 preserving the rest of their lands and liberties for the natives or 
 inhabitants. By this way of proceeding, that I may be as brief 
 as possible, she did many and great things. For in confirming 
 of liberty, she propagated her empire ; in holding the inhabitants 
 from rebellion, she put a curb upon the incursion of enemies ; in 
 exonerating herself of the poorer sort, she multiplied her 
 citizens ; in rewarding her veterans, she rendered the rest less 
 seditious ; and in acquiring to herself the reverence of a 
 common parent, she from time to time became the mother of 
 new-born cities. 
 
 '• In her farther growth the way of her propagation went more 
 upon leagues, which for the first division were of two kinds, 
 social and provincial. 
 
 "Again, social leagues, or leagues of society, were of two 
 kinds ; 
 
23S 6C£ANA. 
 
 '•The first called Latinity or Latin, the second Italian right. 
 
 " The league between the Romans and the Latins, or Latin 
 right, approached nearest to jus qitiritium, or the right of a 
 native Roman. The man or the city that was honoured with this 
 right, was civitaie donatus cum suffragio, adopted a citizen of 
 Rome, with the right of giving suffrage with the people in some 
 cases, as those of conformation of law, or determination in 
 judicature, if both the consuls were agreed, not otherwise ; 
 wherefore that coming to little, the greatest and most peculiar 
 part of this privilege was, that who had borne magistracy (at 
 east that of cedile or qucestor) in any Latin city, was by 
 consequence of the same a citizen of Rome at all points. 
 
 •■ Italian right was also a donation of the city, but without 
 suffrage: they who were in either of these leagues, were 
 governed by their own laws and magistrates, having all the 
 rights, as to liberty, of citizens of Rome, yielding and praying 
 to the commonwealth as head of the league, and having in the 
 conduct of all affairs appertaining to the common cause, such 
 aid of men and money as was particularly agreed to upon the 
 merit of the cause, and specified in their respective leagues, 
 whence such leagues came to be called equal or unequal 
 accordingly. 
 
 •• Provincial leagues were of different extension, according to 
 the merit and capacity of a conquered people ; but they were 
 all of one kind, for every province was governed by Roman 
 magistrates, as a praetor or a proconsul, according to the dignity 
 of the province, for the civil administration and conduct of the 
 provincial army, and a quaestor for the gathering'of the public 
 revenue, from which magistrates a province might appeal to 
 Rome. 
 
 '• For the better understanding of these particulars, I shall 
 exemplify in as many of them as is needful, and first in 
 Macedon : 
 
 "The Macedonians were thrice conquered by the Romans, 
 first under the conduct of Titus Quintus Flaminius ; secondly, 
 under that of Lucius /Emilius Paulus ; and, thirdly, under that 
 of Quintus Cascilius Metellus, thence called Macedonicus. 
 
 " For the first time Philip of Macedon, who (possessed of 
 Acrocorintims) boasted no less than was true, that he had 
 
OCEANA. 239 
 
 Greece in fetters, being overcome by Flaminius, had his king- 
 dom restored to him, upon condition that he should immediately- 
 set all the cities which he held in Greece and in Asia at liberty; 
 and that he should not make war out of Macedon but by leave 
 of the senate of Rome ; which Philip (having no other way to 
 save anything) agreed should be done accordingly. 
 
 " The Grecians being at this time assembled at the Isthmian 
 games, where the concourse was mighty great, a crier, appointed 
 to the office by Flaminius, was heard among them proclaiming 
 all Greece to be free ; to which the people being amazed at so 
 hopeless a thing, gave little credit, till they received such 
 testimony of the truth as put it past all doubt, whereupon they 
 fell immediately on running to the proconsul with flowers and 
 garlands, and such violent expressions of their admiration and 
 joy, as, if Flaminius, a young man, about thirty-three, had not 
 also been very strong, he must have died of no other death 
 than their kindness, while every one striving to touch his hand, 
 they bore him up and down the field with an unruly throng, full 
 of such ejaculations as these : How ! Is there a people in the 
 world, that at their own charge, at their own peril, will fight for 
 the liberty of another ? Did they live at the next door to the 
 fire ? Or what kind of men are these, whose business it is to 
 pass the seas, that the world may be governed with righteous- 
 ness ? The cities of Greece and of Asia shake off their iron 
 fetters at the voice of a crier ! Was it madness to imagine such 
 a thing, and is it done ? O virtue ! O felicity ! O fame ! 
 
 " In this example your lordships have a donation of liberty, 
 or of Italian right to a people, by restitution to what they had 
 formerly enjoyed ; and some particular men, families or cities, 
 according to their merit of the Romans, if not upon this, yet 
 upon the like occasions, were gratified with Latinity. 
 
 " But Philip's share by this means did not please him, 
 wherefore the league was broken by his son Perseus ; and the 
 Macedonians thereupon for the second time conquered by 
 yEmilius Paulus, their king taken, and they some time after the 
 victory summoned to the tribunal of the general ; where, 
 remembering how little hope they ought to have of pardon, 
 they expected some dreadful sentence : when yEmilius, in the 
 first place, declared the Macedonians to be free, in the full 
 
24a OCEANA. 
 
 possession of their lands, goods, and laws, with right to elect 
 annual magistrates, yielding and paying to the people of Rome 
 one half of the tribute which they were accustomed to pay to 
 their own kings. This done he went on, making so skilful a 
 division of the country in order to the methodizing of the 
 people, and casting them into the form of popular government, 
 that the Macedonians, being first surprised with the virtue of 
 the Romans, began now to alter the scene of their admiration, 
 that a stranger should do such things for them in their own 
 country, and with such facility as they had never so much as 
 once imagined to be possible. Nor was this all ; for /Emilius, 
 as if not dictating to conquered enemies, but to some well- 
 deserving friends, gave them in the last place laws so suitable, 
 and contrived with such care and prudence, that long use and 
 experience (the only correctress of works of this nature) could 
 never find a fault in them. 
 
 " In this example you have a donation of liberty, or of Italian 
 right, to a people that had not tasted of it before, but were now 
 taught how to use it. 
 
 " My Lords, the royalists should compare what we are doing, 
 and we what hitherto we have done for them, with this 
 example. It is a shame that while we are boasting up ourselves 
 above all others, we should yet be so far from imitating such 
 examples as these, that we do not so much as understand that 
 it' government be the parent of manners, where there are no 
 heroic virtues, thee is no heroic government. 
 
 " But the Macedonians rebelling, at the name of a false 
 Philip, the third time against the Romans were by them 
 judged incapable of liberty, and reduced by Mctcllus to a 
 province. 
 
 " Now whereas it remains that I explain the nature of a 
 province, I shall rather choose that of Sicily, because having 
 been the first which the Romans made, the descriptions of the 
 rest relate to it. 
 
 " ' We have so received the Sicilian cities into amity r ,' says 
 Cicero, ' that they enjoy their ancient laws ; and upon no other 
 condition than of the same obedience to the people of Rome, 
 which they formerly yielded to their own princes or superiors.' 
 So the Sicilians, whereas they had been parcelled out to divers 
 
OCEANA. 241 
 
 princes, and into divers states (the cause of perpetual wars, 
 whereby, hewing one another down, they became sacrifices to 
 the ambition of their neighbours, or of some invader), were now 
 received at the old rate into a new protection which could hold 
 them, and in which no enemy durst touch them ; nor was it 
 possible, as the case then stood, for the Sicilians to receive, or 
 for the Romans to give more. 
 
 "A Roman province is defined by Sigonius, a region having 
 provincial right. Provincial right in general was to be governed 
 by a Roman prajtor, or consul, in matters at least of state, and 
 of the militia ; and by a quaestor, whose office it was to receive 
 the public revenue. Provincial right in particular was different, 
 according to the different leagues or agreements between the 
 commonwealth, and the people reduced into a province. ' Siculi 
 hoc jure sunt, ut quod civis cum cive agat, domi certet suis legi- 
 bus ; quod siculus cum siculo non ejusdem civitatis, ut de eo 
 praetor judices, ex P. Rupilii decreto, sortiatur. Ouod privatus 
 a populo petit, a'ut populus a privato, senatus ex aliqua civitate, 
 qui judicet, datur, cui alternre civitates rejecta? sunt. Ouod 
 vivis Romanus a siculo petit, siculus judex datur ; quod siculus a 
 cive Romano, civis Romanus datur. Caeterarum rerum selecti 
 judices ex civium Romanorum conventu proponi solent. Inter 
 aratorcs et decumanos lege frumentaria, quam Hieronicam 
 appellant, judicia fiunt.' Because the rest would oblige me to a 
 discourse too large for this place, it shall suffice that I have 
 showed you how it was in Sicily. 
 
 " My Lords, upon the fabric of your provincial orb I shall 
 not hold you ; because it is sufficiently described in the order, 
 and I cannot believe that you think it inferior to the way of a 
 praetor and a quaestor. Put whereas the provincial way of the 
 Roman commonwealth was that whereby it held the empire of 
 the world, and your orbs are intended to be capable at least of 
 the like use, there may arise many controversies, as whether 
 such a course be lawful, whether it be feasible ; and, seeing that 
 the Romans were ruined upon that point, whether it would not 
 be to the destruction of the commonwealth. 
 
 "For the first : if the empire of a commonwealth be an 
 occasion to ask whether it be lawful for a commonwealth to 
 aspire to the empire of the world, it is to ask whether it be 
 
2 4 2 OCEANA. 
 
 lawful for it to do its duty, or to put the world into a better con- 
 dition than it was before. 
 
 "And to ask whether this be feasible, is to ask why the 
 Oceaner, being under the like administration of government, may 
 not do as much with two hundred men as the Roman did with 
 one hundred ; for comparing their commonwealths in their rise, 
 the difference is yet greater : now that Rome (sen's avaritia 
 liixuriaqite), through the natural thirst of her constitution, came 
 at length with the fulness of her provinces to burst herself, this 
 is no otherwise to be understood than as when a man that from 
 his own evil constitution had contracted the dropsy, dies with 
 drinking, it being apparent that in case her Agrarian had held, 
 she could never have been thus ruined, and I have already 
 demonstrated that your Agrarian being once poised, can never 
 break or swerve. 
 
 " Wherefore to draw towards some conclusion of this dis- 
 course, let me inculcate the use, by selecting a few considera- 
 tions out of many. The regard had in this place to the empire 
 of the world appertains to a well-ordered commonwealth, more 
 especially for two reasons : 
 
 " i. The facility of this great enterprise, by a government of 
 the model proposed. 
 
 " 2. The danger that you would run in the omission of such a 
 government. 
 
 " The facility of this enterprise, upon the grounds already 
 laid, must needs be great, forasmuch as the empire of the 
 world has been, both in reason and experience, the necessary 
 consequence of a commonwealth of this nature only ; for though 
 it has been given to all kinds to drive at it, since that of Athens 
 or Lacedemon, if the one had not hung in the other's light 
 might have gained it, yet could neither of them have held it ; 
 not Athens, through the manner of her propagation, which, 
 being by downright tyranny, could not preserve what she had, 
 nor Lacedemon, because she was overthrown by the weight of a 
 less concpiest. The facility then of this great enterprise being 
 peculiar to popular government, I shall consider it, hrst, in 
 gaining; and secondly, in holding. 
 
 "For the former, volenti non Jit injuria. It is said of the 
 people under Eumcncs, that they would not have changed their 
 
OCEANA. H3 
 
 Subjection for liberty; wherefore the Romans gave them no 
 disturbance. If a people be contented with their government, 
 it is a certain sign that it is good, and much good do them with 
 it. The sword of your magistracy is for a terror to them that 
 do evil. Eumenes had the fear of God, or of the Romans, 
 before his eyes ; concerning such he has given you no com- 
 mission. 
 
 " But till we can say, here are the Romans, where is Eumenes ? 
 Do not think that the late appearances of God to you have been 
 altogether for yourselves ; ' He has surely seen the affliction of 
 your brethren, and heard their cry by reason of their task- 
 masters.' For to believe otherwise, is not only to be mindless 
 of His ways, but altogether deaf. If you have ears to hear, this 
 is the way in which you will certainly be called upon ; for it, 
 while there is no stock of liberty, no sanctuary of the afflicted, it 
 be a common object to behold a people casting themselves out 
 of the pan of one prince into the fire of another ; what can you 
 think, but if the world should see the Roman eagle again, she 
 would renew her age and her flight ? Nor did ever she spread 
 her wings with better omen than will be read in your ensigns ; 
 which if, called in by an oppressed people they interpose 
 between them and their yoke, the people themselves must either 
 do nothing in the meantime, or have no more pains to take for 
 their wished fruit than to gather it, if that be not likewise done 
 for them. Wherefore this must needs be easy, and yet you have 
 a greater facility than is in the arm of flesh ; for if the cause of 
 mankind be the cause of God, the Lord of Hosts will be your 
 captain, and you shall be a praise to the whole earth. 
 
 '"The facility of holding is in the way of your propagation ; 
 if you take that of Athens and Licedemon, you shall rain snares ; 
 but either catch or hold nothing. Lying lips are an abomina- 
 tion to the Lord : if setting up for liberty you impose yokes, He 
 will infallibly destroy you. On the other side, to go about a 
 work of this nature by a league without a head, is to abdicate 
 that magistracy wherewith He has not only endued you, but 
 whereof He will require an account of you; for, 'cursed is he 
 that does the work of the Lord negligently.' Wherefore you 
 are to take the course of Rome : if you have subdued a nation 
 that is capable of liberty, you shall make them a present of it, 
 
2U OCEANA. 
 
 as did Flaminius to Greece, and /Emilius to Macedon, reserving 
 to yourselves some part of that revenue which was legally paid 
 to the former government, together with the right of being head 
 of the league, which includes such levies of men and money as 
 shall be necessary for the carrying on of the public work. P'or 
 if a people have by your means attained to freedom, they owe 
 both to the cause and you such aid as may propagate the like 
 fruit to the rest of the world. But whereas every nation is not 
 capable of her liberty to this degree, lest you be put to doing 
 and undoing of things, as the Romans were in Macedon, you 
 shall diligently observe what nation is fit for her liberty to this 
 degree, and what not ; which is to be done by two marks, the 
 first if she be willing to 'help the Lord against the mighty ;' for 
 if she has no care of the liberty of mankind she deserves not 
 her own. But because in this you may be deceived by pre- 
 tences, which, continuing for a while specious, may afterwards 
 vanish ; the other is more certain, and that is if she be capable 
 of an equal Agrarian ; which that it was not observed by 
 excellent /Emilius in his donation of liberty, and introduction of 
 a popular state among the Macedonians, I am more than 
 moved to believe for two reasons ; the first, because at the 
 same time the Agrarian was odious to the Roman patricians ; 
 the second, that the pseudo-Philip could afterwards so easily 
 recover Macedon, which could not have happened but by the 
 nobility, and their impatience, having great estates, to be 
 equalled with the people ; for that the people should otherwise, 
 at the mere sound of a name, have thrown away their liberty, 
 is incredible. Wherefore be assured that the nation where you 
 cannot establish an equal Agrarian, is incapable of its liberty as 
 to this kind of donation. For example, except the aristocracy 
 in Marpesia be dissolved, neither can that people have their 
 liberty there, nor you govern at home ; for they continuing 
 still liable to be sold by their lords to foreign princes, there 
 will never (especially in a country of which there is no other 
 profit to be made) be want of such merchants and drovers, 
 whilst you must be the market where they are to receive their 
 second payment. 
 
 fi- " Nor can the aristocracy there be dissolved but by your 
 means, in relation whereto you are provided with your pro- 
 
OCEANA. 245 
 
 vincial orb ; which, being proportioned to the measure of the 
 nation that you have vindicated or conquered, will easily hold it : 
 for there is not a people in the world more difficult to be held 
 than the Marpesians, which, though by themselves it be ascribed 
 to their own nature, is truly to be attributed to that of their 
 country. Nevertheless, you having nine thousand men upon the 
 continual guard of it, that, threatened by any sudden insurrection, 
 have places of retreat, and an army of forty thousand men upon 
 a day's warning ready to march to their rescue, it is not to be 
 rationally shown which way they can possibly slip out of your 
 hands. And if a man should think that upon a province more 
 remote and divided by the sea, you have not the like hold, he 
 has not so well considered your wings as your talons, your ship- 
 ping being of such a nature as makes the descent of your armies 
 almost of equal facility in any country, so that what you take 
 you hold, both because your militia, being already populous, will 
 be of great growth in itself, and also through your confederates, 
 by whom in taking and holding you are still more enabled to do 
 both. 
 
 " Nor shall you easier hold than the people under your empire 
 or patronage may be held. My Lords, I would not go to the 
 door to see whether it be close shut ; this is no underhand 
 dealing, nor a game at which he shall have any advantage 
 against you who sees your cards, but, on the contrary, the 
 advantage shall be your own : for with eighteen thousand men 
 (which number I put, because it circulates your orb by the 
 annual change of six thousand), having established your matters 
 in the order shown, you will be able to hold the greatest 
 province ; and eighteen thousand men, allowing them greater 
 pay than any prince ever gave, will not stand the province in one 
 million revenue ; in consideration whereof, they shall have their 
 own estates free to themselves, and be governed by their own 
 laws and magistrates ; which, if the revenue of the province be 
 in dry rent (as there may be some that are four times as big as 
 Oceana) forty millions, will bring it with that of industry, to 
 speak with the least, to twice the value : so that the people 
 there, who at this day are so oppressed that they have nothing 
 at all whereon to live, shall for one million paid to you, receive 
 at least seventy-nine to their proper use ; in which place I appeal 
 
246 OCEANA. 
 
 to any man, whether the empire described can be other than the 
 patronage of the world. 
 
 "Now if you add to the propagation of civil liberty (so 
 natural to this commonwealth that it cannot be omitted) the 
 propagation of the liberty of conscience, this empire, this 
 patronage of the world, is the kingdom of Christ : fur as the 
 kingdom of God the Father was a commonwealth, so shall the 
 kingdom of God the Son ; ' the people shall be willing in the day 
 of His power.' 
 
 " Having showed you in this and other places some of those 
 inestimable benefits of this kind of government, together with 
 the natural and facile emanation of them from their fountain, 1 
 come (lest God who has appeared to you, for He is the God of 
 Nature, in the glorious constellation of these subordinate causes, 
 whereof we have hitherto been taking the true elevation, should 
 shake oft" the dust of His feet against you) to warn you of the 
 dangers which you, not taking the opportunity, will incur by 
 omission. 
 
 " Machiavel, speaking of the defect of Venice, through her 
 want of proper arms, cries out, ' This cut her wings, and spoiled 
 her mount to heaven.' If you lay your commonwealth upon any 
 other foundation than the people, you frustrate yourself of 
 proper arms, and so lose the empire of the world ; nor is this 
 all, but some other nation will have it. 
 
 " Columbus offered gold to one of your kings, through whose 
 happy incredulity another prince has drunk the poison, even to 
 the consumption of his people ; but I do not offer you a nerve 
 of war that is made of purse-strings, such a one as has drawn 
 the face of the earth into convulsions, but such as is natural to 
 her health and beauty. Look you to it, where there is tumbling 
 and tossing upon the bed of sickness, it must end in death or 
 recovery. Though the people of the world, in the dregs of the 
 Gothic empire, be yet tumbling and tossing upon the bed of 
 sickness, they cannot die ; nor is there any means of recovery for 
 them but by ancient prudence, whence of necessity it must come 
 to pass that this drug be better known. If France, Italy, and 
 Spain were not all sick, all corrupted together, there would be 
 none of them so ; for the sick would not be able to withstand 
 the sound, nor the sound to preserve their health, without curing 
 
OCEANA. 247 
 
 of the sick. The first of these nations (which if you stay her 
 leisure, will in my mind be France) that recovers the health of 
 ancient prudence, shall certainly govern the world ; for what did 
 Italy when she had it? and as you were in that, so shall you in 
 the like case be reduced to a province ; I do not speak at 
 random. Italy, in the consulship of Lucius yEmilius Papus and 
 Caius Atilius Regulus, armed, upon the Gallic tumult that then 
 happened of herself, and without the aid of foreign auxiliaries, 
 seventy thousand horse and seven hundred thousand foot ; but 
 as Italy is the least of those three countries in extent, so is 
 France now the most populous. 
 
 I, decus, I, nostrum, melioribus utere fatis. 
 
 " My dear Lords, Oceana is as the rose of Sharon, and the lily 
 of the valley. As the lily among thorns, such is my love among 
 the daughters. She is comely as the tents of Keclar, and terrible 
 as an army with banners. Her neck is as the tower of David, 
 budded for an armoury, whereon there hang a thousand bucklers 
 and shields of mighty men. Let me hear thy voice in the 
 morning, whom my soul loves. The south has dropped, and the 
 west is. breathing upon thy garden of spices. Arise, queen of the 
 earth, arise, holy spouse of Jesus ; for lo, the winter is past, the 
 rain is over and gone; the flowers appear on the earth, the time 
 for the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is 
 heard in our land. Arise, I say, come forth, and do not tarry : 
 ah ! wherefore should my eyes behold thee by the rivers of 
 Babylon, hanging thy harps upon the willows, thou fairest among 
 women ? 
 
 " Excellent patriots, if the people be sovereign, here is that 
 which establishes their prerogative ; if we be sincei'e, here is 
 that which disburdens our souls, and makes good all our engage- 
 ments ; if we be charitable, here is that which embraces all 
 parties ; if we would be settled, here is that which will stand, 
 and last for ever. 
 
 '•' If our religion be anything else but a vain boast, scratching 
 and defacing human nature or reason, which, being the image 
 of God, makes it a kind of murder, here is that empire whence 
 'justice shall run down like a river, and judgment like a mighty 
 stream.' Who is it then that calls us? or, what is in our way ? 
 
248 OCEANA, 
 
 A lion! Is it not the dragon, that old serpent? For what 
 wretched shifts are these ? Here is a great deal ; might we not 
 have some of this at one time, and some at another? 
 " My Lords, permit me to give you the sum, or brief 
 
 EPITOME OF THE WHOLE COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 ''The centre or fundamental laws are, first, the Agrarian, 
 proportioned at .£2000 a year in land, lying and being within 
 the proper territory of Oceana, and stating property in land at 
 such a balance, that the power can never swerve out of the 
 hands of the many. 
 
 " Secondly, the ballot conveying this equal sap from the root, 
 by an equal election or rotation, into the branches of magistracy 
 or sovereign power. 
 
 " The orbs of this commonwealth being civil, military or pro- 
 vincial, are, as it were, cast upon this mould or centre by the 
 divisions of the people ; first, into citizens and servants ; 
 secondly, into youth and elders ; thirdly, into such as have 
 ,£100 a year in lands, goods or moneys, who are of the horse; 
 and such as have under, who are of the foot ; fourthly, they are 
 divided by their usual residence into parishes, hundreds, and 
 tribes. 
 
 " The civil orbs consist of the elders, and are thus created : 
 every Monday next ensuing the last of December, the elders in 
 every parish elect the fifth man to be a deputy, which is but 
 half a day's work ; every Monday next ensuing the last of 
 January, the deputies meet at their respective hundred, and 
 elect out of their number one justice of the peace, one juryman, 
 one coroner, and one high constable of the foot, one day's 
 work. 
 
 "Every Monday next ensuing the last of February, the 
 hundreds meet at their respective tribe, and there elect the 
 lords high sheriff, lieutenant, citstos rotulorum, the conductor, 
 the two censors out of the horse, the magistrates of the tribe 
 and of the hundreds, with the jurymen constituting the phy larch, 
 and who assist in their respective offices at the assizes, hold the 
 quarter-sessions, 8gc. The day following the tribe elects the 
 
OCEANA. ^49 
 
 annual galaxy, consisting of two knights and three deputies out 
 of the horse, with four deputies out of the foot, thereby endued 
 with power, as magistrates of the whole nation, for the term of 
 three years. An officer chosen at the hundred may not be 
 elected a magistrate of the tribe; but a magistrate or officer 
 either of the hundred or of the tribe, being elected into the 
 galaxy, may substitute any one of his own order to his magis- 
 tracy or office in the hundred, or in the tribe. This of the 
 muster is two days' work. So the body of the people is annually, 
 at the charge of three days' work and a half, in their own tribes, 
 for the perpetuation of their power, receiving over and above the 
 magistracies so divided among them. 
 
 " Every Monday next ensuing the last of March, the knights, 
 being a hundred in all the tribes, take their places in the senate. 
 The knights, having taken their places in the senate, make the 
 third region of the same, and the house proceeds to the sena- 
 torian elections. Senatorial! elections are annual, biennial, or 
 emergent. 
 
 " The annual are performed by the tropic. 
 
 " The tropic is a schedule consisting of two parts ; the first 
 by which the senatorial! magistrates are elected ; and the 
 second, by which the senatorian councils are perpetuated. 
 
 " The first part is of this tenor : 
 
 The Lord Strategus, 
 The Lord Orator, 
 The first Censor, 
 The second Censor, 
 
 \ Annual magistrates, and there 
 fore such as maybe elected out 
 . of any region ; the term of 
 every region having at the 
 tropic one year at the least 
 unexpired. 
 
 ,. , „ . . -1 triennial magistrates, and there- 
 
 I he third ( ommissioner Of - , , , 
 
 , _ . tore such as can be chosen out 
 
 the Seal, . , , . , 
 
 „_, ,.,--, r \ of the third region onlv, as that 
 
 Hie third Commissioner of / , , . , ', , ' , 
 
 , _ alone winch has the term of 
 
 the Treasurv, , 
 
 i three years unexpired. 
 
 " The strategus and the orator sitting, are consuls, or presi- 
 dents of the senate. 
 
 "The strategus marching is general of the army, in which 
 case a new strategus is to be elected in his room, 
 
2$o OCEANA. 
 
 " The strategus sitting with six commissioners, being coun- 
 cillors of the nation, are the signory of the commonwealth. 
 
 " The censors are magistrates of the ballot, presidents of the 
 council for religion, and chancellors of the universities. 
 
 " The second part of the tropic perpetuates the council of 
 state, by the election of five knights out of the first region of the 
 senate, to be the first region of that council consisting of fifteen 
 knights, five in every region. 
 
 " The like is done by the election of four into the council of 
 religion, and four into the council of trade, out of the same 
 region in the senate ; each of these councils consisting of twelve 
 knights, four in every region. 
 
 "But the council of war, consisting of nine knights, three in 
 every region, is elected by and out of the council of state, as the 
 other councils are elected by and out of the senate. And if the 
 senate add a juncta of nine knights more, elected out of their 
 own number, for the term of three months, the council of war, 
 by virtue of that addition, is dictator of Oceana for the said 
 term. 
 
 " The signory jointly or severally has right of session and 
 suffrage in every senatorial council, and to propose either to 
 the senate, or any of them. And every region in a council 
 electing one weekly provost, any two of those provosts have 
 power also to propose to their respective council, as the proper 
 and peculiar proposers of the same, for which cause they hold 
 an academy, where any man, either by word of mouth or 
 writing, may propose to the proposers. 
 
 " Next to the elections of the tropic is the biennial election of 
 one nmbassador-in-ordinary, by the ballot of the house, to the 
 residence of France ; at which time the resident of France 
 removes to Spain, he of Spain to Venice, he of Venice to 
 Constantinople, and he of Constantinople returns. So the orb 
 of the residents is wheeled about in eight years, by the biennial 
 election of one ambassador-in-ordinary. 
 
 4i The last kind of election is emergent. Emergent elections 
 are made by the scrutiny. Election by scrutiny is when a 
 competitor, being made by a council, and brought into the 
 senate, the senate chooses four more competitors to him, and 
 putting all five to the ballot, .he who has most above half the 
 
OCEANA. 251 
 
 suffrages, is the magistrate. The polemarchs or field officers 
 are chosen by the scrutiny of the council of war ; an ambas- 
 sador extraordinary by the scrutiny of the council of state ; the 
 judges and sergeants-at-law by tlic scrutiny of the seal ; and the 
 barons and prime officers of the exchequer, by the scrutiny of 
 the treasury. 
 
 "The opinion or opinions that are legitimately proposed to 
 any council must be debated by the same, and so many as are 
 resolved upon the debate are introduced into the senate, where 
 they are debated and resolved, or rejected by the whole house ; 
 that which is resolved by the senate is a decree which is good 
 in matters of state, but no law, except it be proposed to and 
 resolved by the prerogative. 
 
 " The deputies of the galaxy being three horse and four foot 
 in a tribe, amount in all the tribes to one hundred and fifty 
 horse, and two hundred foot ; which, having entered the 
 prerogative, and chosen their captains, cornet and ensign 
 (triennial officers), make the third class, consisting of one 
 troop and one company ; and so, joining with the whole 
 prerogative, elect four annual magistrates, called tribunes, 
 whereof two arc of the horse and two of the foot. These 
 have the command of the prerogative sessions, and suffrage 
 in the council of war, and sessions without suffrage in the 
 senate. 
 
 " The senate having passed a decree which they would pro- 
 pose to the people, cause it to be printed and published, or pro- 
 mulgated for the space of six weeks, which being ordered, they 
 choose their proposers. The proposers must be magistrates, 
 that is, the commissioners of the seal, those of the treasury, or 
 the censors. These being chosen, desire the muster of the 
 tribunes, and appoint the day. The people being assembled at 
 the day appointed, and the decree proposed, that which is pro- 
 posed by authority of the senate, and commanded by the people, 
 is the law of Oceana, or an act of parliament. 
 
 " So the parliament of Oceana consists of the senate pro- 
 posing, and the people resolving. 
 
 "The people or prerogative are also the supreme judicatory 
 of this nation, having power of hearing and determining all 
 causes of appeal from all magistrates, or courts provincial or 
 
252 • OCEANA. 
 
 domestic, as also to question any magistrate, the term of his 
 magistracy being expired, if the case be introduced by the 
 tribunes, or any one of them. 
 
 " The military orbs consist of the youth, that is, such as are 
 from eighteen to thirty years of age ; and are created in the 
 following manner : 
 
 " Every Wednesday next ensuing the last of December, the 
 youth of every parish assembling, elect the fifth of their number 
 to be their deputies ; the deputies of the youth are called 
 stratiots, and this is the first essay. 
 
 " Every Wednesday next ensuing the last of January, the 
 stratiots assembling at the hundred, elect their captain and 
 their ensign, and fall to their games and sports. 
 
 "Every Wednesday next ensuing the last of February, the 
 stratiots are received by the lord lieutenant, their commander-in- 
 chief, with the conductors and the censors ; and, having been 
 disciplined and entertained with other games, are. called to the 
 urns, where they elect the second essay, consisting of two 
 hundred horse and six hundred foot in a tribe; that is, of ten 
 thousand horse and thirty thousand foot in all the tribes, which 
 is the standing army of this nation, to march at any warning. 
 They also elect at the same time a part of the third essay, by 
 the mixture of balls marked with the letter M and the letter P, 
 for Marpesia and Panopea ; they of either mark being ten 
 horse and fifty foot in a tribe, that is, five hundred horse and 
 two thousand five hundred foot in all the tribes, which are 
 forthwith to march to their respective provinces. 
 
 " But the third essay of this nation more properly so called, 
 is when the strategus with the polemarchs (the senate and the 
 people, or the dictator having decreed a war) receive in return 
 of his warrants the second essay from the hands of the con- 
 ductors at the rendezvous of Oceana ; which army, marching 
 with all accommodations provided by the council of war, the 
 senate elects a new strategus, and the lords lieutenants a new 
 second essay. 
 
 "A youth, except he be an only son, refusing any one of his 
 three essays, without sufficient cause shown to the phylarch or 
 the censors, is incapable of magistracy, and is fined a fifth part 
 of his yearly rent, or of his estate, for protection. In case of 
 
OCEANA. . 2$ 3 
 
 invasion the elders are obliged to like duty with the youth, and 
 upon their own charge. 
 
 " The provincial orb consisting in part of the elders, and in 
 part of the youth, is thus created : 
 
 " Four knights out of the first region falling, are elected in 
 the senate to be the first region of the provincial orb of Marpesia ; 
 these, being triennial magistrates, take their places in the pro- 
 vincial council, consisting of twelve knights, four in every 
 region, each region choosing their weekly provosts of the 
 council thus constituted. One knight more, chosen out of the 
 same region in the senate, being an annual magistrate, is pre- 
 sident, with power to propose ; and the opinions proposed by 
 the president, or any two of the provosts, are debated by the 
 council, and, if there be occasion of farther power or instruction 
 than they yet have, transmitted to the council of state, with 
 which the provincial is to hold intelligence. 
 
 "The president of this council is also strategus, or general of 
 the provincial army ; wherefore the conductors, upon notice of 
 his election, and appointment of his rendezvous, deliver to him 
 the stratiots of his letter, which he takes with him into his pro- 
 vince ; and the provincial army having received the new 
 strategus with the third class, the council dismisses the old 
 strategus with the first class. The like is done for Panopea, or 
 any other province. 
 
 " But whereas the term of every other magistracy or election 
 in this commonwealth, whether annual or triennial, requires an 
 equal vacation, the term of a provincial councillor or magistrate 
 requires no vacation at all. The quorum of a provincial, as 
 also that of every other council and assembly, requires two- 
 thirds in a time of health, and one-third in a time of sickness. 
 
 " I think I have omitted nothing but the props and scaffolds, 
 which are not of use but in building. And how much is here? 
 Show me another commonwealth in this compass ? how many 
 things ? Show me another entire government consisting but of 
 thirty orders. If you now go to law with anybody, there lie to 
 some of our courts two hundred original writs : if you stir your 
 hand, there go more nerves and bones to that motion ; if you 
 play, you have more cards in the pack; nay, you cou'd not sit 
 
254 • OCEANA. 
 
 with your ease in that chair, ii" it consisted not of more parts. 
 Will you not then allow to your legislator, what you can afford 
 your upholsterer ; or to the throne, what is necessary to a chair ? 
 " My Lords, if you will have fewer orders in a commonwealth, 
 you will have more; for where she is not perfect at first, every 
 day, every hour will produce a new order, the end whereof is to 
 have no order at all, but to grind with the clack of some 
 demagogue. Is he providing already for his golden thumb ? Lift 
 up your heads ; away with ambition, that fulsome complexion 
 of a statesman, tempered, like Syila's, with blood and muck. 
 'And the Lord give to his senators wisdom; and make our 
 faces to shine, that we may be a light to them that sit in dark- 
 ness and the shadow of death, to guide their feet in the way of 
 peace.' — In the name of God, what's the matter?" 
 
 Philadelphus, the secretary of the council, having performed 
 his task in reading the several orders as you have seen, upon 
 the receipt of a packet from his correspondent Boccalini, 
 secretary of Parnassus, in reading one of the letters, burst forth 
 into such a violent passion of weeping and downright howling, 
 that the legislators, being startled with the apprehension of 
 S"iue horrid news, one of them had no sooner snatched the 
 letter out of his hand, than the rest crying, " Read, read," he 
 obeyed in this manner: 
 
 "The 3rd instant his Phcebean majesty having taken the 
 nature of free states into his royal consideration, and being steadily 
 persuaded that the laws in such governments are incomparably 
 better and more surely directed to the good of mankind than in 
 any other ; that the courage of such a people is the aptcst tinder 
 to noble fire ; that the genius of such a soil is that wherein the 
 roots of good literature are least worm-eaten with pedantism, 
 and where their fruits have ever come to the greatest maturity 
 and highest relish, conceived such a loathing of their ambition 
 and tyranny, who, usurping the liberty of their native countries, 
 become slaves to themselves, inasmuch as (be it never so 
 contrary to their own nature or consciences) they have taken 
 the earnest of sin, and are engaged to persecute all men that are 
 good with the same or greater rigour than is ordained by laws 
 for the wicked, for none ever administered that power by good_ 
 
OCEANA. . 255 
 
 which he purchased by ill arts — Phoebus, 1 say, having con- 
 sidered this, assembled all the senators residing in the learned 
 court at the theatre of Melpomene, where he caused Caesar the 
 dictator to come upon the stage, and his sister Actia, his nephew 
 Augustus, Julia his daughter, with the children which she had 
 by Marcus Agrippa, Lucius and Caius Caesars, Agrippa 
 Posthumus, Julia, and Agrippina, with the numerous progeny 
 which she bore to her renowned husband Germanicus, to enter. 
 A miserable scene in any, but most deplorable in the eyes of 
 Caesar, thus beholding what havoc his prodigious ambition, 
 not satisfied with his own bloody ghost, had -made upon his 
 more innocent remains, even to the total extinction of his family. 
 For it is (seeing where there is any humanity, there must be 
 some compassion) not to be spoken without tears, that of the 
 full branches deriving from Octavia the eldest sister, and Julia 
 the daughter of Augustus, there should not be one fruit or 
 blossom that was not cut off or blasted by the sword, famine, or 
 poison. Now might the great soul of Caesar have been full ; 
 and yet that which poured in as much or more was to behold 
 that execrable race of the Claudii, having hunted aud sucked 
 his blood with the thirst of tigers, to be rewarded with the 
 Roman empire, and remain in full possession of that famous 
 patrimony : a spectacle to pollute the light of heaven ! Never- 
 theless, as if Caesar had not yet enough, his Phcebean majesty 
 caused to be introduced on the other side of the theatre, the 
 most illustrious and happy prince Andrea Doria, with his dear 
 posterity, embraced by the soft and constant arms of the city of 
 Genoa, into whose bosom, ever fruitful in her gratitude, he had 
 dropped her fair liberty. like the dew of heaven, which, when 
 the Roman tyrant beheld, and how much more fresh that laurel 
 Was worn with a firm root in the hearts of the people than that 
 which he had torn off, he fell into such a horrid distortion of 
 limbs and countenance, that the senators, who had thought 
 themselves steel and flint at such an object, having hitherto 
 stood in their reverend snow-like thawing Alps, now covered 
 their faces with their large sleeves." 
 
 '• My Lords," said the Archon rising, "witty Philadelphus has 
 given us grave admonition, in dreadful tragedy. Discite jusii- 
 Ham month) et non temnere divas. Great and glorious Caesar, 
 
256 OCEANA. 
 
 the highest character of flesh, yet could not rule but by that 
 part of man which is the beast ; but a commonwealth is a 
 monarchy ; to her God is king, inasmuch as reason, His dictate, 
 is her sovereign power." 
 
 Which said, he adjourned the council. And the model was 
 seen after promulgated. Quod boiutm, faslix, faustumquc sit 
 hide reipublicce. Agile quirites, censuere paires, jubeat fiopulus : 
 The sea roared, and the floods clapped their hands. 
 
 LIBERTAS. 
 
 The Proclamation of his Highness /he Lord Arehon of Oceana 
 upon Promulgation of the Model. 
 
 "Whereas his highness and the council, in the framing of 
 the model promulgated, have not had any private interest or 
 ambition, but the fear of God and the good of this people 
 before their eyes ; and it remains their desire that this great 
 work may be carried on accordingly : This present greeting is 
 to inform the good people of this land, that as the council of 
 prytans sat during the framing of the model, to receive from 
 time to time such propositions as should be offered by any wise- 
 hearted or public-spirited man, towards the institution of a well- 
 ordered commonwealth, so the said council is to sit as formerly 
 in the great hall of the pantheon during promulgation (which 
 is to continue for the space of three months) to receive, 
 weigh, and, as there shall be occasion, transmit to the council 
 of legislators, all such objections as shall be made against 
 the said model, whether in the whole, or in any part. Where- 
 fore that nothing be done rashly, or without the consent of the 
 people, such, of what party soever, with whom there may remain 
 any doubts or difficulties, are desired with all convenient speed 
 to address themselves to the said prytans ; where, if such 
 objections, doubts, or difficulties receive solution to the satisfac- 
 tion of the auditory, they shall have public thanks, but if the 
 said objections, doubts, or difficulties receive no solution to the 
 satisfaction of the auditory, then the model promulgated shall 
 be reviewed, and the party that was the occasion of the review, 
 shall receive public thanks, together with the best horse in his 
 
OCEANA, 257 
 
 highness's stable, and be one of the council of legislators, And 
 so God have you in his keeping." 
 
 I should now write the same council of the prytans, but fur 
 two reasons : the one, that having had but a small time for that 
 which is already done, I am overlaboured ; the other, that there 
 may be new objections. Wherefore, if my reader has any such 
 as to the model, I entreat him to address himself by way of 
 oration, as it were, to the prytans, that when this rough draft 
 comes to be a work, his speech being faithfully inserted in this 
 place, may give or receive correction to amendment ; for what 
 is written will we weighed. But conversation, in these days, 
 s a game at which they are best provided that have light 
 gold ; it is like the sport of women that make flowers of straws, 
 which, must be stuck up but may not be touched. Nor, which is 
 worse, is this the fault of conversation only : but to the examiner, 
 I say, if to invent method, and teach an art, be all one, let 
 him show that this method is not truly invented, or this art is 
 faithfully taught. 
 
 I cannot conclude a circle (and such is this commonwealth) 
 without turning the end into the beginning. The time of pro- 
 mulgation being expired, the surveyors were sent down, who 
 having in due season made report that their work was perfect, 
 the orators followed, under the administration of which officers 
 and magistrates the commonwealth was ratified and established 
 by the whole body of the people, in their parochial, hundred, 
 and county assemblies. And .the orators being, by virtue of 
 their scrolls or lots, members of their respective tribes, were 
 elected each the first knight of the third list, or galaxy ; where- 
 fore, having at their return assisted the Archon in putting the 
 senate and the people or prerogative into motion, they 
 abdicated the magistracy both of orators and legislators. 
 
258 OCEANA. 
 
 IV. THE COROLLARY. 
 
 FOR the rest (says Plutarch, closing up the story of Lycurgus) 
 when he saw that his government had taken root, and was in 
 the very plantation strong enough to stand by itself, he 
 conceived such a delight within him, as God is described by 
 Plato to have done when He had finished the creation of the 
 world, and saw His own orbs move below Him : for in the art of 
 man (being the imitation of Nature, which is the art of God) 
 there is nothing so like the first call of beautiful order out of 
 chaos and confusion, as the architecture of a well-ordered 
 commonwealth. Wherefore Lycurgus, seeing in effect that his 
 orders were good, fell into deep contemplation how he might 
 render them, so far as could be effected by human providence, 
 unalterable and immortal. To which end he assembled the 
 people, and remonstrated to them : That for aught he could 
 perceive, their policy was already such, and so well established, 
 as was sufficient to entail upon them and theirs all that virtue 
 and felicity whereof human life is capable : nevertheless that 
 there being another thing of greater concern than all the rest, 
 whereof he was not yet provided to give them a perfect account, 
 nor could till he had consulted the oracle of Apollo, he desired 
 that they would observe his laws without any change or 
 alteration whatsoever till his return -from Delphos ; to which all 
 the people cheerfully and unanimously engaged themselves by 
 promise, desiring him that .he would make as much haste as he 
 could. But Lycurgus, before he went, began with the kings 
 and the senators, and thence taking the whole people in order, 
 made them all swear to that which they had promised, and 
 then took his journey. Being arrived at Delphos, he sacrificed 
 to Apollo, and afterwards inquired if the policy which he had 
 established was good and sufficient for a virtuous and happy 
 life ? By the way, it has been a maxim with legislators not to 
 give checks to the present superstition, but to make the hest use 
 of it, as that which is always the most powerful with the 
 people; otherwise, though Plutarch, being a priest, was interested 
 in the cause, there is nothing plainer than Cicero, in his book 
 
OCEANA, 259 
 
 "De Divinatione ' has made it, that there was never any such 
 thing as an oracle, except in the' cunning of the priests. Bat to 
 ■be civil to the author, the god answered to Lycurgus that his 
 policy was exquisite, and that his city, holding to the strict 
 observation of his form of government, should attain to the 
 height of fame and glory. Which oracle Lycurgus causing to 
 be written, failed not of transmitting to his Lacedemon. This 
 done, that his citizens might be for ever inviolably bound by 
 their oath, that they would alter nothing till his return, he took 
 so firm a resolution- to die in the place, that from thenceforward, 
 receiving no manner of food, he soon after* performed it 
 accordingly. Nor was he deceived in the consequence ; for his 
 city became the first in glory and excellency of .government in 
 the whole world. And so much for Lycurgus, according to 
 Plutarch. 
 
 My Lord Archon, when he beheld not only the rapture ot 
 motion, but of joy and harmony, into which his spheres 
 (without any manner of obstruction or interfering, but as if it 
 had been naturally) were cast, conceived not less of exultation 
 in his spirit; but saw no more necessity or reason why he 
 should administer an oath to the senate and the people that 
 they would observe his institutions, than to a man in perfect 
 health nnd felicity of constitution that he would not kill 
 himself. Nevertheless whereas Christianity, though it forbids 
 violent hands, consists no less in self denial than any other 
 religion, he resolved that all unreasonable desires should die 
 upon the spot ; to which end that no manner of food might be 
 eft to ambition, he entered into the senate with a unanimous 
 applause, and having spoken of his government as Lycurgus did 
 when he assembled the people, he abdicated the magistracy of 
 Archon. The senate, as struck with astonishment, continued 
 silent, men upon so sudden an accident being altogether unpro- 
 vided of what to say; till the Archon withdrawing, and bein-r 
 almost at the door, divers of the knights flew from their places, 
 offering as it were to lay violent hands on him, while he 
 escaping, left the senate with the tears, in their eyes, of children 
 that had lost their father; and to rid himself of all farther . 
 importunity, retired to a, country house of his, being remote, and 
 very private, insomuch that no man could tell for some time 
 
 I 2 
 
26o OCEANA. 
 
 what was become of him. Thus the law-maker happened to be 
 the first object and reflection of the law made; -for as liberty of 
 all things is the most welcome to a people, so is there nothing 
 more abhorrent from their nature than ingratitude. We, 
 accusing the Roman people of this crime against some of their 
 greatest benefactors, as Camillus, heap mistake upon mistake ; 
 for being not so competent judges of what belongs to liberty as 
 they were, we take upon us to be more competent judges of 
 virtue. And whereas" virtue, for being a vulgar thing among 
 them, was of no less rate than jewels are with such as wear the 
 most, we are selling this precious stone, which we have igno- 
 raritly raked out of the Roman ruins at such a rate as the Switzers 
 did that which they took in the baggage of Charles of Burgundy. 
 For that Camillus had stood more firm against the ruin of .Rome 
 than her capitol, was acknowledged ; but on the other side, that 
 he stood as firm for the patricians against the liberty of the 
 people, was as plain ; wherefore he never wanted those of the 
 people that would die at his foot in the field, nor that would 
 withstand him to his beard in the city. An example in which 
 they that think Camillus had wrong, neither do themselves 
 right, nor the people of Rome ; who in this signify no less than 
 that they had a scorn of slavery beyond the fear of ruin, which 
 is the height of magnanimity. The like might be shown by 
 other examples objected against this and other popular govern- 
 ments, as in the banishment of Aristides the Just from Athens, 
 by the ostracism, which, first, was no punishment, nor ever 
 understood for so much as a disparagement ; but tended only to 
 the security of the commonwealth, through the removal of a 
 citizen (whose riches or power with a party was suspected) out 
 of harm's way for the space of ten years, neither to the 
 diminution of his estate or honour. And next, though the 
 virtue of Aristides might in itself be unquestioned, yet for him 
 under the name of the Just to become universal umpire of the 
 people in all cases, even to the neglect of the legal ways and 
 orders of the commonwealth, approached so much to the prince, 
 that the Athenians, doing Aristides no wrong, did their govern- 
 ment no more than right in removing him ; which therefore is 
 not so probable to have come to pass, .as Plutarch presumes, 
 through the envy of Themistocles, seeing Aristides was far 
 
OCEANA. 261 
 
 more popular than Themistocles, who soon after took the same 
 walk upon a worse occasion. Wherefore as Machiavel, for any- 
 thing since alleged, has irrefragably proved that popular 
 governments arc of all others the least ungrateful, so the 
 obscurity, I say, into which my Lord Archon had now with- 
 drawn himself, caused a universal sadness and clouds in the 
 minds of men upon the glory of his rising commonwealth. 
 
 Much had been ventilated in private discourse, and the people 
 (for the nation was yet divided into parties that had not lost 
 their animosities) being troubled, bent their eyes upon the 
 senate, when, after sometime spent in devotion, and the solemn 
 action of thanksgiving, his excellency Navarchus de Paralo in 
 the tribe of Dorean, lord strategus of Oceana (though in a new 
 commonwealth a very prudent magistrate), proposed his part or 
 opinion in such a manner to the council of state, that passing 
 the ballot of the same with great unanimity and applause, it 
 was introduced into the senate, where it passed with greater. 
 Wherefore the decree being forthwith printed and published, 
 copies were returned by the secretaries to the phylarchs (which is 
 the manner of promulgation) and the commissioners of the seal, 
 that is to say, the right honourable Phosphorus de Auge in the 
 tribe of Eudia, Dolabclla d'Enyo in the tribe of Turma;, and 
 Linceus de Stella in the tribe of Nubia, being elected proposers 
 pro tempore^ bespoke of the tribunes a muster of the people to 
 be held that day six weeks, which was the time allowed for 
 promulgation at the halo. 
 
 The satisfaction which the people throughout the tribes 
 received upon promulgation of the decree, loaded the carriers 
 with weekly letters between friend and friend, whether magis- 
 trates or private persons. But the day for proposition being 
 come, and the prerogative upon the place appointed in discipline, 
 Sanguine de Ringwood, in the tribe of Saltum, captain of the 
 Phccnix, marched by order of the tribunes with his troop to the 
 piazza -of the pantheon, where his trumpets, entering into the 
 great hall, by their blazon gave notice of his arrival ; at which 
 the sergeant of the house came down, and returning, informed 
 the proposers, who descending, were received at the foot of the 
 .stairs by the captain, and attended to the coaches of state, with 
 which Calcar de Gilvo, in the tribe of Phalera, master of the 
 
262 OCEANA. 
 
 horse, and the ballotins upon their great horses, stood waiting 
 at the gate. 
 
 The proposers being in their coaches, the train for the pomp, 
 the same that is used at the reception of ambassadors, proceeded 
 in this order : In the front marched the troop with the cornet 
 in the van and the captain in the rear; next the troop came the 
 twenty messengers or trumpets, the ballotins upon the curvet 
 with their usher in the van, and the master of the horse in the 
 rear ; next the ballotins, Bronchus de Rauco, in the tribe of 
 Bestia, king of the heralds, with his fraternity in their coats of 
 arms, and next to Sir Bronchus, Boristhenes de Holiwater in 
 the tribe of Ave, master of the ceremonies; the mace and the 
 seal of the chancery went immediately before the coaches, and 
 on either side, the doorkeepers or guard of the senate, with their 
 pole-axes, accompanied with some three or. four hundred foot- 
 men belonging to the knights or senators, the trumpeters, 
 ballotins, guards, postillions, coachmen and footmen, being very 
 gallant in the liveries of the commonwealth, but all, except the 
 ballotins, without hats, in lieu whereof they wore black velvet 
 calot?, being pointed with a little peak at the forehead. After 
 the proposers came a long file of coaches full of such gentle- 
 men as use to grace the commonwealth upon the like occasions. 
 In this posture they moved slowly through the streets (affording, 
 in the gravity of the pomp and the welcomeness of the end, a 
 most reverend and acceptable prospect to the people all the way 
 from the pantheon, being about half a mile) and arrived at the 
 halo, where they found the prerogative in a close body environed 
 with scaffolds that were covered with spectators. The tribunes 
 received the proposers, and conducted them into a seat placed 
 in the front of the tribe, like a pulpit, but that it was of some 
 length, and well adorned by the heralds with all manner of 
 birds and beasts, except that they were ill painted, and never a 
 one of his natural colour. The tribunes were placed at a table 
 that stood below the long seat, those of the horse in the middle, 
 and those of the foot at either end, with each of them a bowl or 
 basin before him, that on the right hand being white, and the 
 other green : in the middle of the table stood a third, which was 
 red. And the housekeepers of the pavilion, who had already 
 delivered a proportion of linen balls or pellets to every one of 
 
OCEANA. 263 
 
 the tribe, now presented boxes to the ballotins. But the pro- 
 posers as they entered the gallery, or long seat, having put off 
 their hats by way of salutation, Were answered by the people 
 with a shout ; whereupon the younger commissioners seated 
 themselves at either end ; and the first standing in the m'iddle, 
 spoke-after this manner : 
 
 " My Lords, the people of Oceana, — 
 " While I find in myself what a felicity it is to salute you by 
 this name, and in every face, anointed as it were with the oil 
 of gladness, a full and sufficient testimony of the like sense, to 
 go about to feast you with words, who are already filled with 
 that food of the mind which, being of pleasing and wholesome 
 digestion, takes in the definition of true joy, were a needless 
 enterprise. I shall rather put you in mind of that thankfulness 
 which is due, than puff you up with anything that might seem 
 vain." - Is it from the arms of flesh that we derive these blessings ? 
 Behold the commonwealth of Rome falling upon her own vic- 
 torious sword. Or is it from our own wisdom, whose counsels 
 had brought it even to that pass, that we began to repent our- 
 selves of victory ? Far be it from us, my Lords, to sacrifice to 
 our own nets, which we ourselves have so narrowly escaped ! 
 Let us rather lay our mouths in the dust, and look up (as was 
 taught the other day when we were better instructed in this 
 lesson) to the hills with our gratitude. Nevertheless, seeing we 
 read how God upon the neglect of His prophets has been 
 provoked to wrath, it must needs follow that He expects honour 
 should be given to them by whom He has chosen to work as His 
 instruments. For which cause, nothing doubting of my warrant, 
 I shall proceed to that which more particularly concerns the 
 present occasion, the discovery of my Lord Archon's virtues 
 and merit, to be ever placed by this nation in their true 
 meridian. 
 
 "My Lords,— 
 
 " I am not upon a subject which persuades me to baulk, but 
 
 necessitates me to seek out the greatest examples. To begin 
 
 • with Alexander, erecting trophies common to his sword and the 
 
 pestilence: to what good of mankind did he infect the air with 
 
264 OCEANA. 
 
 his heap of carcases ? The sword of war, if it be any otherwise 
 used than as the sword of magistracy, for the fear and punish- 
 ment of those that do evil, is as guilty in the sight of God as 
 the sword of a murderer ; nay more, for if the blood of Abel, of 
 one innocent man, cried in the cars of the Lord for vengeance, 
 what shall the blood of an innocent nation ? Of this kind of 
 empire, the throne of ambition, and the quarry of a mighty 
 hunter, it has been truly said that it is but a great robbery. 
 But if Alexander had restored the liberty of Greece, and pro- 
 pagated it to mankind, he had done like my Lord Archon, and 
 might have been truly called the Great. Alexander cared not 
 to steal a victory that would be given ; but my Lord Archon 
 has torn away a victory which had been stolen, while we went 
 tamely yielding up obedience to a nation reaping in our fields, 
 whose fields he has subjected to our empire, and nailed them 
 with his victorious sword to their native Caucasus. 
 
 " Machiavel gives a handsome caution : ' Let no man,' says he, 
 'be circumvented with the glory of Caesar, from the false reflec- 
 tion of their pens, who through the longer continuance of his 
 empire in the name than in the family, changed their freedom 
 for flattery. But if a man would know truly what the Romans 
 thought of Caesar, let them observe what they said of Catiline.' 
 
 " And yet by how much he who has perpetrated some heinous 
 crime is more execrable than he who did but attempt it, by so 
 much is Caesar more execrable than Catiline. ' On the contrary, 
 let him that would know what ancient and heroic times, what 
 the Greeks and Romans would both have thought and said of 
 my Lord Archon, observe what they thought and said of Solon, 
 Lvcurgus, Brutus, and Publicola. And yet by how much his 
 virtue, that is crowned with the perfection of his work, is beyond 
 theirs, who were either inferior in their aim, or in their perform- 
 ance ; by so much is my Lord Archon to be preferred before 
 Solon, Lycurgus, Brutus, and Publicola. 
 
 " Nor will we shun the most illustrious example of Scipio :' 
 this hero, though never so little less, yet was he not the founder 
 of a commonwealth ; and for the rest, allowing his virtue to have 
 been of the most untainted ray, in what did it outshine' this of 
 my Lord Archon ? But if dazzling the eyes of the magis- 
 trates it overawed liberty, Rome might be allowed some excuse 
 
OCEANA. 265 
 
 that she did not like it, and I, if I admit not of this comparison : 
 for where is my Lord Archon ? Is there a genius, how free 
 soever, which in his presence would not find itself to be under 
 power? lie is shrunk into clouds, he seeks obscurity in a 
 nation that sees by his light. He is impatient of his own glory, 
 lest it should stand between you and your liberty. 
 
 '• Liberty ! What is even that, if we may not be grateful ? 
 And if we may, we have none : for who has anything that he 
 does not owe ? My Lords, there be some hard conditions of 
 virtue : if this debt were exacted, it were not due ; whereas 
 being cancelled, we are all entered into bonds. On the other 
 side, if we make such a payment as will not stand with a free 
 people, we do not enrich my Lord Archon, but rob him of his 
 whole estate and his immense glory. 
 
 " These particulars had in due deliberation and mature debate, 
 according to the order of' this commonwealth, it is proposed by 
 authority of the senate, to you my Lords the people of Oceana: 
 " I. That the dignity and office of Archon, or protector of the 
 commonwealth of Oceana, be, and is hereby conferred, by the 
 senate and the people of Oceana, upon the most illustrious prince, 
 and sole legislator of this commonwealth, Olphaus Megaletor 
 paier piiti'iic, whom God preserve, for the term of his natural 
 life. 
 
 " II. That ,£350,000 per annum yet remaining of the ancient 
 revenue, be estated upon the said illustrious prince, or Lord 
 Archon, for the said term, and to the proper and peculiar use 
 of his highness. 
 
 "III. That the Lord Archon have the reception of ail foreign 
 ambassadors, by and with the council of state, according to the 
 orders of this commonwealth. 
 
 '• IV. That the Lord Archon have a standing army of twelve 
 thousand men, defrayed upon a monthly tax, during the term of 
 three years, for the protection of this commonwealth against 
 dissenting parties, to be governed, directed, and commanded 
 by and with the advice of the council of war, according to the 
 orders of this commonwealth. 
 
 " V. That this commonwealth make no distinction of persons 
 or parties, but every man being elected and sworn, according to 
 the orders of the same, be equally capable of magistracy, or not 
 
266 OCEANA. 
 
 elected, be equally capable of liberty, and the enjoyment of his 
 estate free from all other than common taxes. 
 
 " VI. That a man putting a distinction upon himself, refusing 
 the oath upon election, or declaring himself of a party not 
 conformable to the civil government, may within any time of the 
 three years' standing of the army, transport himself and his 
 estate, without molestation or impediment, into any other 
 nation. 
 
 "VII. That in case there remains any distinction of parties 
 not conforming to the civil government of this commonwealth, 
 after the three years of the standing army being expired, and 
 the commonwealth be thereby forced to prolong the term of the 
 said army, the pay from henceforth of the said army be levied 
 upon the estates of such parties so remaining unconformable to 
 the civil government." 
 
 The proposer having ended his oration, the trumpets sounded ; 
 
 and the tribunes of the horse being mounted to view the ballot, 
 
 caused the tribe (which thronging up to the speech, came almost 
 
 round the gallery) to retreat about twenty paces, when Linceus 
 
 de Stella, receiving the propositions, repaired with Bronchus de 
 
 "Rai.co the herald, to a little scaffold erected in the middle of the 
 
 tribe, where he seated himself, the herald standing bare upon 
 
 his right hand. The ballotins, having their boxes ready, stood 
 
 before the gallery, and at the command of the tribunes marched, 
 
 one to every troop on horseback, and one to every company on 
 
 foot, each of them being followed by other children that bore red 
 
 boxes : now this is putting the question whether the question 
 
 should be put. And the suffrage being very suddenly returned 
 
 to the tribunes at the table, and numbered in the view of the 
 
 proposers, the votes were all in the affirmative, whereupon the 
 
 red or doubtful boxes were laid aside, it appearing that the tribe, 
 
 whether for the negative or affirmative, was clear in the "matter. 
 
 Wherefore the herald began from the scaffold in the middle of 
 
 the tribe, to pronounce the first proposition, and the ballotins 
 
 marching with the negative or affirmative only, Bronchus, with 
 
 his voice like thunder, continued to repeat the proposition over 
 
 and over again, so long as it was in balloting. The like was 
 
 done for every clause, till the ballot was finished, and the tribunes 
 
OCEANA. 267 
 
 assembling, had signed the points, that is to say, the number of 
 every suffrage, as it was taken by the secretary upon the tale of 
 the tribunes, and in the sight of the proposers ; for this may 
 not be omitted : it is the pulse of the people. Now whereas it 
 appertains to the tribunes to report the suffrage of the people to 
 the senate, they cast the lot for this office with three silver balls, 
 and one gold one ; and it fell upon the right worshipful Argus 
 de Crookhorn, in the tribe of Pascua, first tribune of the foot. 
 Argus, being a good sufficient man in his own country, was yet 
 of the mind that he should make but a bad spokesman, and 
 therefore became something blank at his luck, till his colleagues 
 persuaded him that it. was no such great matter, if he could but 
 read, having his paper before him. The proposers, taking coach, 
 received a volley upon the field, and returned in the same order, 
 save that, being accompanied with the tribunes, they' were also 
 attended by the whole prerogative to the piazza of the pantheon, 
 where, with another volley, they took their leaves. Argus, who 
 had not thought upon his wife and children all the way, 'went 
 very gravely up : and every one being seated, the senate ' by 
 their silence seemed to call for the report, which Argus, standing 
 up, delivered in this wise : . 
 
 li Right Honourable Lords and Fathers assembled in Par- 
 liament, — 
 
 " So it is, that it has fallen to my lot to report to your ex- 
 cellencies the votes of the people, taken upon the 3rd' instant, 
 in the first year of this commonwealth, at the halo; the ri-ht 
 honourable Phosphorus de Auge in the tribe of Eudia, 
 Dolabella d'Enyo in the tribe of Tunme, and Linceus de Stella 
 in the tribe of Nubia, lords commissioners of the great seal of 
 Oceana, and proposers pro temporibus, together with my 
 brethren the tribunes, and myself being present. Wherefore 
 these are to certify to your fatherhoods, that the said votes of 
 the people were as follows, that is to say : 
 
 To the first proposition, Ne?nine eontradicente. 
 
 To the second, Nemine eontradicente. 
 
 To the third, the like. 
 
 To the fourth 21 r, above half. 
 
 To the fifth 201, above half. 
 
=68 OCEANA, 
 
 To the sixth 150, above half, in the affirmaty 
 To the seventh, nemine again, and so forth. 
 
 " My Lords, it is a language that is out of my prayers, and if I 
 be out at it, no harm— 
 
 " But as concerning my Lord Archon (as I was saying) these 
 are to signify to you the true-heartedness and goodwill which 
 is in the people, seeing by joining with you, as one man, they 
 confess that all they have to give is too little for his highness, 
 For truly, lathers, if he who is able to do harm, and does none, 
 may well be called honest; what shall we say to my Lord 
 Archon's highness, who having had it in his power to have done 
 us the greatest mischief that ever befell a poor nation, so willing 
 to trust such as they thought well of, has done us so much good, 
 as we should never have known how to do ourselves ? Which 
 was so sweetly delivered by my Lord Chancellor Phosphorus to 
 the people, that I dare say there was never a one of them could 
 forbear to do as I do— and, it please your fatherhoods, they be 
 tears of joy. Aye, my Lord Archon shall walk the streets (if it 
 be for his ease I mean) with a switch, while the people run after 
 him and pray for him ; he shall not wet his foot ; they will strew 
 (lowers in his way ; he shall sit higher in their hearts, and in the 
 judgment of all good men, than the kings that go upstairs to 
 their seats; and one of these had as good pull two or three of 
 his fellows out of their great chairs as wrong him or meddle 
 with him; he has two or three hundred thousand men, that 
 when you say the word, shall sell themselves to their shirts for 
 him, ami die at his foot. His pillow is of down, and his grave 
 shall be as soft, over which they that are alive shall wring their 
 hands. And to come to your fatherhoods, most truly so called, 
 as being the loving parents of the people, truly you do not know 
 what a feeling they have of your kindness, seeing you are so 
 bound up, that if there comes any harm, they may thank them- 
 selves. And, alas ! poor souls, they see that they are given to 
 be of so many minds, that though they always mean well, yet if 
 there comes any good, they may thank them that teach them 
 belter. Wherefore there was never such a thing as this 
 invented, they do verily believe that it is no other than the same 
 which they always had in their very heads, if they could have 
 
OCEANA. 269 
 
 but told how to bring it out. As now for a sample: my lords 
 the proposers had no sooner said your minds, than they found 
 it to be that which heart could wish. And your fatherhoods 
 may comfort yourselves, that there is not a people in the world 
 more willing to learn what is for their own good, nor more apt 
 to see it, when you have showed it them. Wherefore they do 
 love you as they do their own selves ; honour you as fathers ; 
 resolve to give you as it were obedience for ever, and so thank- 
 ing you for your most good and excellent laws, they do pray for 
 you as the very worthies of the land, right honourable lords and 
 fathers assembled in parliament." 
 
 Argus came off beyond his own expectation ; for thinking 
 right, and speaking as he thought, it was apparent by the house 
 and the thanks they gave him, that they esteemed him to be 
 absolutely of the best sort of orators ; upon which having a 
 mind that till then misgave him, he became very crounse, and 
 much delighted with that which might go down the next week 
 in print to his wife and neighbours. Livy makes the Roman 
 tribunes to speak in the same style with the consuls, which 
 could not be, and therefore for aught in him to the contrary, 
 Volero and Canuleius might have spoken in no better style than 
 Argus. However, they were not created the first year of the 
 commonwealth ; and the tribunes of Oceana are since become 
 better orators than were needful. But the laws being enacted, 
 had the preamble annexed, and were delivered to Bronchus, who 
 loved nothing in the earth so much as to go staring and bellow- 
 ing up and down the town, like a stag in a forest, as he now did, 
 with his fraternity in their coats of arms, and I know not how 
 many trumpets, proclaiming the act of parliament ; when, mcct- 
 ' ing my Lord Archon, whom from a retreat that was without 
 affectation, as being for devotion only, and to implore a blessing 
 by prayer and fasting upon his labours, now newly arrived in 
 town, the herald of the tribe of Bestia set up his throat, and 
 having chanted out his lesson, passed as haughtily by him as if 
 his own had been the better office, which in this place was very 
 well taken, though Bronchus for his high mind happened after- 
 ward upon some disasters, too long to tell, that spoiled much of 
 his embroidery. 
 
2?3 OCEANA. 
 
 My Lord Archon's arrival being known, the sigriory, accom- 
 panied by the tribunes, repaired to him, with the news he had 
 already heard by the herald, to which my lord strategus added 
 that his highness could not doubt -upon the demonstrations 
 given, but the minds of men were firm in the opinion that he 
 could be no seeker of himself in the way of earthly pomp and 
 glory, and that the gratitude of the senate and the people 
 could not therefore be understood to have' any such reflection 
 upon him. But so it was, that in regard of dangers abroad, 
 and parties at home, they durst not trust themselves without a 
 standing army, nor a standing army in any man's hands but 
 those of his highness. 
 
 The Archon made answer, that he ever expected this would 
 be the sense of the senate and the people ; and this being their 
 sense, he should have been sorry they had made choice of any 
 other than himself for a standing general ; first, because it 
 could not have been more to their own safety, and secondly, 
 because so long as they should have need of a standing army, 
 his work was not done ; that he would not dispute against the 
 judgment of the senate and the people, nor ought that to be. 
 Nevertheless, he made little doubt but experience would show 
 every party their own interest in this government, and that 
 better improved than they could expect from any other ; that 
 men's animosities should overbalance their interest for any 
 time was impossible, that humour could never be lasting, nor 
 through the constitution of the government of any. effect at the 
 first charge. For supposing the worst, and that the people had 
 chosen no other into the senate and the prerogative than 
 royalists, a matter of fourteen hundred men 'must have taken 
 their oaths at their election, with an intention to go quite 
 contrary, not only to their oaths so taken,, but to their own 
 interest; for being estated in the sovereign power, they must 
 have decreed it from themselves (such an example for which 
 there was never any experience, nor can there be any reason), 
 or holding it, it must have done in their hands ns well every 
 wit as in any other. Furthermore, they must have removed the 
 government from a foundation that apparently would hold, to 
 set it upon another which apparently would not hold; which 
 things if they could not come to pass, the senate and the people 
 
OCEANA. ■ 271 
 
 consisting wholly of royalists, much less by a parcel of them 
 elected. Rut if the fear of the senate and of the people derived 
 from a party without, such a one as would not be elected, nor 
 engage themselves to the commonwealth by an oath ; this 
 again must be so large, as would go quite contrary to their own 
 interest, they being as free and as fully estated in their liberty 
 as any other, or so narrow that they could do no hurt, while the 
 people being in arms, and at the beck of the strategus, every 
 tribe would at any time make a better army than such a party ; 
 and there being no parties at home, fears from abroad would 
 vanish. But seeing it was otherwise determined by the senate 
 and the people, the best course was to take that which they 
 held the safest, in which, with his humble thanks for their great 
 bounty, he was resolved to serve them with all duty and 
 obedience. 
 
 A very short time after the royalists, now equal citizens, 
 made good the Archon's judgment, there being no other that 
 found anything near so great a sweet in the government. For 
 he who has not been acquainted with affliction, says Seneca, 
 knows but half the things of this world. 
 
 Moreover they saw plainly, that to restore the ancient 
 government they must cast up their estates into the hands of 
 three hundred men ; wherefore in case the senate and the 
 prerogative, consisting of thirteen hundred men, had been all 
 royalists, there must of necessity have been, and be for ever, 
 one thousand against this or any such vote. But the senate, 
 being informed by the signory that the Archon had accepted of 
 his dignity and office, caused a third chair to be set for his 
 highness, between those of the strategus and the orator in the 
 house, the like at every council ; to which he repaired, not of 
 necessity, but at his pleasure, being the best, and as Argus not 
 vainly said, the greatest prince in the world ; for in the pomp 
 of his court he was not inferior to any, and in the field he was 
 followed with a force that was formidable to all. Nor was 
 there a cause in the nature of this constitution to put him to 
 the charge of guards, to spoil his stomach or his sleep : 
 insomuch, as being handsomely disputed by the wits of the 
 academy, whether my Lord Archon, if he had been ambitious, 
 could have made himself so great, it was carried clear in the 
 
272 OCEAN. I, 
 
 negative ; not only for the reasons drawn from the, present 
 balance, which was popular, but putting the case the balance 
 had been monarchical. For there be some nations, whereof 
 this is one, that will bear, a prince in a commonwealth far 
 higher than it is possible for them to bear a monarch. Spain 
 looked upon the Prince of Orange as her most formidable 
 enemy; but if ever there be a monarch in Holland, he will be 
 the Spaniard's best friend. For whereas a prince in a com- 
 monwealth derives his greatness from the root of the people, a 
 monarch derives his from one of those balances which nip them 
 in the root ; by which means the Low Countries under a monarch 
 were poor and inconsiderable, but in bearing a prince could 
 grow to a miraculous height, and give the glory of his actions 
 by far the upper hand of the greatest king in Christendom. 
 There are kings in Europe, to whom a king of Oceana would 
 be put a petit companion. But the prince of this common- 
 wealth is the terror and judge of them all. 
 
 That which my Lord Archon now minded most was the 
 Agrarian, upon which debate he incessantly thrust the senate 
 and the council of state, to the end it might be planted upon 
 some firm root, as the main point and basis of perpetuity to the 
 commonwealth. 
 
 And these are some of the most remarkable passages that 
 happened in the first year of this government. About the 
 latter end of the second, the army was disbanded, but the taxes 
 continued at ,£30,000 a month, for three years and a half. By 
 which means a piece of artillery was planted, and a portion of 
 land to the value of £50 a year purchased for the main- 
 tenance of the games, and of the prize arms for ever, in each 
 hundred. 
 
 With the eleventh year of the commonwealth, the term of the 
 excise, allotted for the maintenance of the senate and the people 
 and for the raising of a public revenue, expired. By which time 
 the exchequer, over and above the annual salaries, amounting 
 to £300,000 accumulating every year out of £1,000,000 in- 
 come, £700,000 in banco, brought it with a product of the sum, 
 rising to about £8,000,000 in the whole : whereby at several 
 times they had purchased to the senate and the people 
 £400,000 per annum solid revenue ; which, besides the lands 
 
OCEANA. VI 
 
 held in Panopea, together with the perquisites of either province, 
 was held sufficient for a public revenue. Nevertheless, taxes 
 being now wholly taken off, the excise, of no great burden (and 
 many specious advantages not vainly proposed in the heighten- 
 ing of the public revenue), was very cheerfully established by 
 the senate and the people, for the term of ten years longer ; 
 and the same course being taken, the public revenue was found 
 in the one-and-tvventieth of the commonwealth to be worth 
 ,£1,000,000 in good land. Whereupon the excise was so 
 abolished for the present, as withal resolved to be the best, the 
 most fruitful and easy way of raising taxes, according to future 
 exigences. But the revenue being now such as was able to be 
 a yearly purchaser, gave a jealousy that by this means the 
 balance of the commonwealth, consisting in private fortunes, 
 might be eaten out ; whence this year is famous for that law 
 whereby the senate and the people, forbidding any further 
 purchase of lands to the public within the dominions of Oceana 
 and the adjacent provinces, put the Agrarian upon the com- 
 monwealth herself. These increases are things which men 
 addicted to monarchy deride as impossible, whereby they 
 unwarily urge a strong argument against that which they would 
 defend. For having their eyes fixed upon the pomp and 
 expense, by which not only every child of a king, being a prince, 
 exhausts his father's coffers, but favourites and servile spirits, 
 devoted to the ilattery of those princes, grow insolent and 
 profuse, returning a fit gratitude to their masters, whom, while 
 they hold it honourable to deceive, they suck and keep eternally 
 poor : it follows that they do not see how it should be possible 
 for a commonwealth to clothe herself in purple, and thrive so 
 strangely upon that which would make a prince's hair grow 
 through his hood, and not afford him bread. As if it were a 
 miracle that a careless and prodigal man should bring £ 10,000 
 a year to nothing, or that an industrious and frugal man brings 
 a little to ,£10,000 a year. But the fruit of one man's industry 
 and frugality can never be like that of a commonwealth ; first, 
 because the greatness of the increase follows the greatness of 
 the stock or principal ; and, secondly, because a frugal father is 
 for the most part succeeded by a lavish son; whereas a 
 commonwealth is her own heir. 
 
274 OCEANA. 
 
 This year a part was proposed by the right honourable 
 Aureus de Woolsack in the tribe of Pecus, first commissioner 
 of the treasury, to the council of state, which soon after passed 
 the ballot of the senate and the people, by which the lands 
 of the public revenue, amounting to one million, were equally 
 divided into five thousand lots, entered by their names and 
 parcels into a lot-book preserved in the exchequer. And if 
 any orphan, being a maid, should cast her estate into the 
 exchequer for /1400. the treasury was bound by the law to pay 
 her quarterly .£200 a year, free from taxes, for her life, and to 
 assign her a lot for her security ; if she married, her husband was 
 neither to take out the principal without her consent (acknow- 
 ledged by herself to one of the commissioners of the treasury, 
 who, according as he found it to be free, or forced, was to allow 
 or disallow of it), nor any other way engage it than to her 
 proper use. But if the principal were taken out, the treasury, 
 was not bound to repay any more of it than ^1000, nor might 
 that be repaid at any time, sava within the first year of her 
 marriage : the like was to be done by a half or quarter lot 
 respectively. 
 
 This was found to be a great charity to the weaker sex, and as 
 some say, who are more skilful in the like affairs than myself, 
 of good profit to the commonwealth. 
 
 Now began the native spleen of Oceana to be much purged, 
 and men not to affect sullenness andpedantism. The elders could 
 remember that they had been youths. Wit and gallantry were 
 so far from being thought crimes in themselves, that care was 
 taken to preserve their innocence. For which cause it was 
 proposed to the council for religion by the right honourable 
 Cadiscus de Clero, in the tribe of Stamnum, first censor, that 
 such women as, living in gallantry and view about the town, 
 were of evil fame, and could not show that they were maintained 
 by their own estates or industry ; or such as, having estates of 
 their own, were yet wasteful in their way of life, and of ill 
 example to others, should be obnoxious to the animadversion 
 of the council of religion, of of the censors : in which the 
 proceeding should be after this manner. Notice should be first 
 given of the scandal to the party offending, in private : if there 
 were no amendment within the space of six months, she should 
 
OCEAXA. 275 
 
 be summoned and rebuked before the said council or censors ; 
 and, if after other six months it were found that neither this 
 availed, she should be censured not to appear at any public 
 meetings, games, or recreations, upon penalty of being taken 
 up bv the doorkeepers or guards of the senate, and by them to 
 • be detained, till for every such offence £$ were duly paid for 
 her enlargement. 
 
 Furthermore, if any common strumpet should be found or 
 any scurrility or prcf.meness represented at either of the theatres, 
 the prelates for every such offence should be fined ^20 by the 
 said council, and the poet, for every such offence on his part, 
 should be whipped. This law relates to another, which was 
 also enacted the same year upon this occasion. 
 
 The youth and wits of the academy having put the business 
 so home in the defence of comedies that the provosts had 
 nothing but the consequences provided against by the foregoing 
 law to object, prevailed so far that two of the provosts of the 
 council of state joined in a proposition, which after much ado 
 came to a law, whereby ,£100,000 was allotted for the building 
 of two theatres on each side of the piazza of the halo : and two 
 annual magistrates called prelates, chosen out of the knights, 
 were added to the tropic, the one called the prelate of the buskin, 
 for inspection of the tragic scene called Melpomene ; and the 
 other the prelate of the sock, for the comic called Thalia, which 
 magistrates had each ,£500 a year allowed out of the profits of 
 the theatres ; the rest, except ^800 a year to four poets, payable 
 into the exchequer. A poet laureate created in one of thee 
 theatres by the strategus, receives a wreath of ^50oin gold, paid 
 out of the said profit?. But no man is capable of this creation 
 that had not two parts in three of the suffrages at the academy, 
 assembled after six weeks' warning and upon that occasion. 
 
 These things among us are sure enough to be censured, but 
 by such only as do not know the nature of a commonwealth : 
 for to tell men that they are free, and yet to curb the genius of 
 a people in a lawful recreation to which they are naturally 
 inclined, is to tell a tale of a tub. I have heard the Protestant 
 ministers in France, by men that were wise "and of their own 
 profession, much blamed in that they forbade dancing, a recrea- 
 tion to which the genius of that air is so inclining, that they lost 
 
276 
 
 OCEANA. 
 
 many who would not lose that : nor do they less than blame 
 the former determination of rashness, who now gently connive 
 at that which they had so roughly forbidden. These sports in 
 . Oceana are so governed, that they are pleasing for private diver- 
 sion, and profitable to the public : for the theatres soon defrayed 
 their own charge, and now bring in a good revenue. All this is 
 so far from the detriment of virtue, that it is to the improvement 
 of it, seeing women that heretofore made havoc of their 
 honour that they might have their pleasures, are now incapable 
 of their pleasures if they lose their honour. 
 
 About the one-and-fortieth year of the commonwealth, the 
 censors, according to their annual custom, reported the pillar of 
 Nilus, by which it was found that the people were increased 
 very near, one-third. Whereupon the council of war was 
 appointed by the senate to bring in a state of war, and the 
 treasurers the state of the treasury. The state of war, or the 
 pay and charge of an army, was soon after exhibited by the 
 council in this account : 
 
 The Field Pay or a Parliamentary Army. 
 
 The Lord Strategus, marching 
 Polemarchs — ■ 
 
 General of the Morse 
 Lieutenant-general . 
 General of the Artillery 
 Commissary-general . 
 Major-general . 
 Quartermaster-general 
 Two Adjutants to the Major-gei 
 Forty Colonels 
 
 ioo Captains of Horse, at ^500 
 300 Captains of Foot, at ^300 a 
 100 Cornets, at ^100 a man . 
 300 Ensigns, at £50 a man 
 Quartermasters \ 
 Sergeants 
 Trumpeters 
 Drummers 
 
 il 
 
 a man 
 man 
 
 8co 
 
 Per annum. 
 ,£10,000 
 
 2,000 
 
 2,000 
 
 1,000 
 
 1,000 
 
 i.oob 
 
 1,000 
 
 1,000 
 
 40,000 
 
 50, 000 
 
 yo.ooo 
 
 10,000 
 
 15,000 
 
 parried forward . _£ 2 44. OOQ 
 
OCEANA. 277 
 
 Per annum. 
 
 Brought forward . ,£244,000 
 
 10,000 Horse, at 2.r. 61/. per day each . . . 470,000 
 
 30,000 Foot, at is. per day each ..... 500,000 
 
 Chirurgeons . . . . . . . 400 
 
 40,000 Auxiliaries, amounting to within a little as 
 
 much . . . . . . . . . 1,100,000 
 
 The charge of mounting 20,000 horse . ■ . . 300,000 
 The train of Artillery, holding a 3</. to the whole . 900,000 
 
 Sum total . ,£3,514,400 
 
 Arms and ammunition are not reckoned, as those which are 
 furnished out of the store or arsenal of Emporium : nor wastage, 
 as that which goes upon the account of the fleet, maintained by 
 the customs; which customs, through the care of the council 
 for trade and growth of traffic, were long since improved to 
 about a million revenue. The house being thus informed of a 
 state of war, the commissioners brought in 
 
 The State of the Treasury this present year, being the 
 
 One-and-toktikth of the Commonwealth. 
 
 Received from the One-and-twentieth of this Commonwealth : 
 
 By ,£700,000 a year in bank, with the product of the 
 sum rising ....... _£i6,ooo,coo 
 
 Expended from the One-and-twentieth of this Commonwealth : 
 
 Imprimis, For the addition of arms for 100,000 men 
 
 to the arsenal, or tower of Emporium . . £ ^ 1,000, 000 
 For the storing of the same with Artillery . . 300,000 
 
 For the storing of the same with Ammunition . . 200,000 
 For beautifying the cities, parks, gardens, public 
 walks, and places for recreation of Emporium and 
 Hiera, with public buildings, aqueducts, statues, 
 and fountains, &c. ...... 1,500,000 
 
 Extraordinary Embassies ..... i£o,oco 
 
 Sum . £3,150,000 
 
 Remaining in the Treasury, the salaries of the 
 exchequer being defalked .... £12, 000, ceo 
 
278 OCEANA. 
 
 By comparison of which accoxmts if a war with an army of 
 eighty thousand men were to be made by the perm}-, yet was the 
 commonwealth able to maintain such a one above three years 
 without levying a tax. But it is ngainst all experience, sense, 
 and reason that such an army should not be soon broken, or 
 make a great progress ; in either of which cases, the charge 
 ceases ;• or rather if a right course be taken in the latter, profit 
 comes in : for the Romans had no other considerable way but 
 victory whereby to fill their treasury, which nevertheless was 
 seldom empty. Alexander did not consult his purse upon his 
 design for Persia : it is observed by Machiavel, that Livy, 
 arguing what the event in reason must have been had that king 
 invaded Rome, and diligently measuring what on each side was 
 necessary to such a war, never speaks a word of money. No 
 man imagines that the Gauls, Goths, Vandals, Huns, Lombards, 
 Saxons, Normans, made their inroads or conquests by the 
 strength of the purse ; and if it be thought enough, according to 
 the dialect of our age, to say in answer to these things that 
 those times are past and gone : what money did the ' late 
 Gustavus, the most victorious of modern princes, bring out of 
 Sweden with him into Germany ? An army that goes upon a 
 golden Leg will be as lame as if it were a wooden one ; but 
 proper forces have nerves and muscles in them, such for which, 
 having ,£4,000,000 or ,£5,000,000, a sum easy enough, with a 
 revenue like this of Oceana, to be had at any time in readiness, 
 you need never, or very rarely, charge the people with taxes 
 What influence the commonwealth by such arms has had upon 
 the world, I leave to historians, whose custom it has been of old 
 to be as diligent observers of foreign actions as careless of 
 those domestic revolutions which (less pleasant it may be, as 
 not partaking so much of the romance) are to statesmen of far 
 greater profit ; and this fault, if it be not mine, is so much more 
 frequent with modern writers, as has caused me to undertake 
 this work ; on which to give my own judgment, it is performed 
 as much above the .time I have been about it, as below the 
 dignity of the matter. 
 
 But I cannot depart out of this country till I have taken 
 leave of my Lord Archon, a prince of immense felicity, who 
 having built as high with his counsels as he digged deep with his 
 
OCEANA. 279 
 
 sword, had now seen fifty years measured with his own unerring 
 orbs. 
 
 Timoleon (such a hater of tyrants that, not able to persuade 
 his brother Timophanes to relinquish the tyranny of Corinth, 
 he slew hirri) was afterwards elected by the people (the Sicilians 
 groaning to them from under the like burden) to be sent to their 
 relief: whereupon Teleclides, the man at that time of most 
 authority in the commonwealth of Corinth, stood up, and giving 
 an exhortation to Timoleon, how he should behave himself in 
 this expedition, told him that if he restored the Sicilians to 
 liberty, it would be acknowledged that he destroyed a tyrant ; if 
 otherwise, he must expect to hear he hid murdered a king. 
 Timoleon, taking his leave with a very small provision for so 
 great a design, pursued it with a courage not inferior to, and a 
 felicity beyond any that had been known to that day in mortal 
 flesh, having in the space of eight years utterly rooted out of all 
 Sicily those weeds of tyranny, through the detestation whereof 
 men fled in such abundance from their native country that 
 whole cities were left desolate, and brought it to such a pass 
 that others, through the fame of his virtues and the excellency 
 of the soil, flocked as fast from all quarters to it as to the 
 garden of the world : while he, being presented by the people of 
 Syracuse with his town-house and his country retreat, the 
 sweetest places in either, lived with his wife and children a 
 most quiet, happy, and holy life ; for he attributed no part of his 
 success to himself, but all to the blessing and providence of the 
 gods. As he passed his time in this manner, admired and 
 honoured by mankind, Laphistius, an envious demagogue, going 
 to summon him upon some pretence or other to answer for 
 himself before the assembly, the people fell into such a mutiny 
 as could not be appeased but by Timoleon, who, understanding 
 the matter, reproved them, by repeating the pains and travel 
 which he had gone through, to no other end than that every 
 man might have the free use of the laws. Wherefore when 
 Daemenetus, another demagogue, had brought the same design 
 about again, and blamed him impertinently to the people for 
 things which he did when he was general, Timoleon answered 
 nothing, but raising up his hands, gave the gods thanks for 
 their return to his frequent prayers, that he might but live to 
 
28o OCEANA. 
 
 see the Syracusans so free, that they could question whom they 
 pleased. 
 
 Not long after, being old, through some natural imperfection, 
 he fell blind ; but the Syracusans by their perpetual visits held 
 him, though he could not see, their greatest object : if there 
 arrived strangers, they brought him to see this sight. Whatever 
 came in debate at the assembly, if it were of small consequence, 
 they determined it themselves ; but if of importance, they 
 always sent for Timoleon, who, being brought by his servants 
 in a chair, and set in the middle of the theatre, there ever 
 followed a great shout, after which some time was allowed for 
 the benedictions of the people ; and then the matter proposed, 
 when Timoleon had spoken to it, was put to the suffrage ; 
 which given, his servants bore him back in his chair, accom- 
 panied by the people clapping their hands, and rrinking all 
 expressions of joy and applause, till, leaving him at his house, 
 they returned to the despatch of their business. And this was 
 the life of Timoleon, till he died of age, and dropped like a 
 mature fruit, while the eyes of the people were as the showers of 
 autumn. 
 
 The life and death of my Lord Archon (but that he had his 
 senses to the last, and that his character, as not the restorer, 
 but the founder of a commonwealth, was greater) is so exactly 
 the same, that (seeing by men wholly ignorant of antiquity I 
 am accused of writing romance) I shall repeat nothing : but tell 
 you that this year the whole nation of Oceana, even to the 
 women and children, were in mourning, where so great or sad a 
 funeral pomp had never been seen or known. Some time after 
 the performance of the obsequies a Colossus, mounted on a 
 brazen horse of excellent fabric, was erected in the piazza of the 
 pantheon, engraved with this inscription on the eastern side of 
 the pedestal : 
 
 HIS N AM E 
 
 PRECIOUS OINTMENT 
 
OCEANA. 
 And on the western with the following : 
 
 GRATA P ATRIA 
 
 pirc ct iperperua* Stemovise 
 
 D.D. 
 
 OLPHAUS MEGALETOR 
 
 LORD ARCHON, AND SOLE LEGISLATOR 
 OF 
 
 OCEANA 
 
 PATER PATRIvE 
 
 Invincible in the Field. The Greatest of Captains. 
 
 Inviolable in his Faith. The Best of Princes. 
 
 Unfeigned in his Zeal. The Happiest of Legislators. 
 Immortal in his Fame. The Most Sincere of Christians 
 
 Who setting the Kingdoms of Earth at Liberty, 
 Took the Kingdom of the Heavens by Violence, 
 
 . (sE/at, sua" 116. 
 Anno < 
 
 Hujus Reipub. 50. 
 
 PRINTED BY BALLANTYKE, HANSON ANOCO. 
 LONDON AND EDINBURGH 
 

 
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 28 Charles Lamb's Works. 
 
 39 Froissart's Chronicles. [mation. 
 
 30 D'Aubigne's Story of the Refor- 
 
 31 A History of England, by the Rev. 
 
 James White. 
 
 32 Macaulay — Selected Essays, Mis- 
 
 cellaneous Writings. 
 
 33 Carleton's Traits, 1st series. 
 
 34 2nd series. 
 
 35 Essays by Sydney Smith. 
 
 36 Dante. Longfellow's translation. 
 
 51 Prescott's Biographical and Critical 
 
 Essays. 
 
 52 Napier's History of the Peninsular 
 
 War, 1807-10. 53— — 1810-12. 
 
 54 White's Natural History of Sel- 
 
 borne, with many illustrations. 
 
 55 Dean Milman's History of the Jews. 
 
 56 Percy's Reliques of Ancient Poetry. 
 
 57 Chaucer's Poetical Works. 
 
 58 Longfellow's Prose Works 
 
 59 Spenser's Poetical Works. 
 
 60 Asmodeus, by Le Sage. 
 
 61 Book of British Ballads, S. C. Han. 
 6a Plutarch's Lives (Langhorae's ed. ) 
 
 64 Book of Epigrams, W. D. Adams. 
 
 65 Longfellow's Poems (Comp. ed.) 
 
 66 Lempriere's Classical Dictionary. 
 
 67 Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations. 
 
 68 Father P rout's Works, edited by 
 
 C. Kent. 
 
 69 Carleton's Traits and Stories. 
 
 Complete in one volume. 
 
 70 Walker's Rhyming Dictionary. 
 
 71 Macfarlane's Hist, of British India. 
 7a Defoe's Journal of the Plague and 
 
 the Great Fire of London, with 
 Illustrations on steel by George 
 Cruikshank. 
 
 73 Glimpses of the Past, by C. Knight. 
 
 74 Michaud's History of the Crusades, 
 
 voL x. 
 75 vol. 2. 76 vol. 3. 
 
 77 A Thousand and One Gems of 
 
 Song, edited by C. Mackay. 
 
 78 Motley's Rise of the Dutch Re- 
 
 public. [Complete. 
 
 79 Prescott's Ferdinand and Isabella, 
 
 80 
 
 81 
 
 82 
 *3 
 
 84 
 
 -Conquest of Mexico. Comp. 
 
 Conquest of Peru. Comp. 
 
 — — Charles the Fifth. 
 
 Philip the Second. Vols. 
 
 1 and 2 in 1 vol. 
 
 -VoL 3 and Essays in 1 vol 
 
 85 Jeremy Taylor's Life of Christ 
 
 86 Traditions of Lancashire, by John 
 
 Roby, vol. x. 87 voL 2. 
 
 88 "The Breakfast Table Series"— 
 
 The Autocrat— The Professor— 
 The Poet— by Oliver Wendell 
 Holmes, with steel portrait. 
 
 89 Romaine's Life, Walk, and Tri- 
 
 umph of Faith. 
 
 90 Napier's History of the Peninsular 
 
 War, 1812-14. [tion, 
 
 91 Hawker's Poor Man's Daily Por- 
 
 92 Chevreul on Colour, with 8 co- 
 
 loured plates. 
 
 93 Shakspere, edited by C. Knight, 
 
 large type edition- nrfth full-page 
 illustrations, Ti. /. 
 
 94 vol K. 95 vol 3. 
 
 96 The Speoator^rge type ed., vol. x. 
 
 97 voi 2. 98 voL 3. 
 
 99 R.W. Emerson's Complete Works. 
 
 100 Boswell's Life of Johnson and 
 
 Tour to the Hebrides, vol. x. 
 
 101 — voL 2. 102 vol. 3. 
 
 103 S. Knowles' Dramatic Works. 
 
 104 Roscoe's (W.) Lorenzo de Medid. 
 
 105 (W.) Life of Leo X., vol 1. 
 
 106 ■ vol a. 
 
 107 Berington's Literary History at 
 
 the Middle Ages. 
 
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