Jure Belli & Pacis, ought to be the chief study of sovereign Princes, their Ministers, and generally of all such as have any share in the Government of the People.
Nay, even the knowledge of that Law which descends to the affairs of private Men, ought not to be slighted. But this is left to the care of the Gentlemen of the Gown, and denied to Princes as a thing below them; tho every moment of their Reign, they give Decrees, or issue out Warrants that extend to the Fortunes, Liberties, and Lives of their Subjects. They are only entertain'd with harangues about Valour, which is only an instrument of Destruction; and Discourses of Liberality, which is but a more regular method of squandering, unless they be bounded by Justice. 'Tis true, the Doctrine of every Virtue ought to be suited to the necessities of every one's temper: to infuse liberality into the Covetous, to excite the Unactive with the thirst of Glory, and curb, as much as is possible, the Ambitious with the reins of Justice. But amongst all the diversity of tempers, Justice is still most requisite; for it keeps up order as well in him that does it, as in them to whom it is done. Nor is this a constraint that limits the Power of a Prince; for in doing it to others, he learns to do it to himself; and so it is in him a voluntary act, tho we necessarily receive it from his Power.
I read not an History of any Prince better educated than Cyrus the Great. They were not contented exactly to inform him what Justice was in all respects, but they made him put their Instructions in practice, as often as occasion offer'd; so that they did, at the same time, imprint the notions of Justice on his mind, and establish an habit of being just in his Soul. The education of Alexander was of somewhat too large an ex-
