of hope of the donative. Probus[1] likewise, by that speech, si vixero, non opus erit amplius Romano imperio militibus;[2] a speech of great despair for the soldiers. And many the like. Surely princes had need, in tender matters and ticklish times, to beware what they say; especially in these short speeches, which fly abroad like darts, and are thought to be shot out of their secret intentions. For as for large discourses, they are flat things, and not so much noted.
Lastly, let princes, against all events, not be without some great person, one or rather more, of military valour, near unto them, for the repressing of seditions in their beginnings. For without that, there useth to be more trepidation in court upon the first breaking out of troubles than were fit. And the state runneth the danger of that which Tacitus saith; Atque is habitus animorum fuit, ut pessimum facinus auderent pauci, plures vellent, omnes paterentur.[3] But let such military persons be assured,[4] and well reputed of, rather than factious and popular; holding also good correspondence with the other great men in the state; or else the remedy is worse than the disease.
- ↑ Marcus Aurelius Probus, Roman Emperor, 276–282 A.D.
- ↑ If I live, the Roman Empire will need no more soldiers. Flavius Vopiscus. Probus. 20, in Augustae Historiae Scriptores.
- ↑ And that was the state of their minds that a few dared the worst villainy, more willed it, all tolerated it. Tacitus. Historiarum Liber I. 28.
- ↑ Assured. Trustworthy.
