318 OP THE TRUE f.KI. MM OK imiTAlN. 



solid, and in the solid figure is strength. But what 

 speak we of mathematical principles ? The reason of 

 state is eudent, that if the parts of an estate be 

 disjoined and remote, and so be interrupted with the 

 provinces of another sovereignty ; they cannot ]&amp;gt;.- 

 il&amp;gt;ly \\:\\c ready succours in case of invasion, nor 

 ppression in case of rebellion, nor ready re- 

 \ in case of loss or alienation by either of both 

 means. And therefore we see what an endless work 

 the king of Spain hath had to recover the Low 

 Countries, although it were to him patrimony and 

 not purchase ; and that chiefly in regard of the great 

 distance. So we see that our nation kept Calais a 

 hundred years space after it lost the rest of France, 

 in regard of the near situation ; and yet in the end 

 they that were nearer carried it by surprise, and 

 over- ran succour. 



Therefore Titus Quintius made a good compari 

 son of the state of the Achaians to a tortoise, whu-h 

 is safe when it is retired within the shell, but if any 

 part be put forth, then the part exposed endangereth 

 all the rest. For so it is with states that have pro 

 vinces dispersed, the defence whereof doth commonly 

 consume and decay, and sometimes ruin the rest of 

 the estate. And so likev MI ay observe, tli 



the great monarchies, the Persians, the Romans, and 

 the like of the Turks, they had not any provim 

 the which they needed to demand access through the 

 country of another : neither had they any long races 

 or narrow angles of territory, which were environed 

 or clasped in with foreign states ; but their domi- 



