XXIII. 47-] THE SECOND BOOK. 249 



was meant of particulars: nevertheless even unto the 

 general rules and discourses of policy and government 

 there is due a reverent and reserved handling. 



48. But contrariwise in the governors towards the 

 governed, all things ought as far as the frailty of man 

 permitteth to be manifest and revealed. For so it is 

 expressed in the scriptures touching the government of 

 God, that this globe, which seemcth to us a dark and 

 shady body, is in the view of God as crystal : Et in con- 

 spectu sedis lanquam mare vitreum simile crystallo. So 

 unto princes and states, and specially towards wise senates 

 and councils, the natures and dispositions of the people, 

 their conditions and necessities, their factions and com 

 binations, their animosities and discontents, ought to be, 

 in regard of the variety of their intelligences, the wisdom 

 of their observations, and the height of their station where 

 they keep sentinel, in great part clear and transparent. 

 Wherefore, considering that I write to a king that is a 

 master of this science, and is so well assisted, I think it 

 decent to pass over this part in silence, as willing to 

 obtain trie certificate which one of the ancient philo 

 sophers aspired unto; who being silent, when others 

 contended to make demonstration of their abilities by 

 speech, desired it mought be certified for his part, That 

 there was one that knew how to hold his peace. 



49. Notwithstanding, for the more public part of 

 government, which is laws, I think good to note only one 

 deficience ; which is, that all those which have written of 

 laws, have written either as philosophers or as lawyers, 

 and none as statesmen. As for the philosophers, they 

 make imaginary laws for imaginary commonwealths, and 

 their discourses are as the stars, which give little light 

 because they are so high. For the lawyers, they write 



