The Modern Statesman, Chapter 22
CHAP. XXII.
Of the Prudence of the Romans.
THis victorious and fortunate Common-wealth was ſo ſenſible of the neceſſity of this vertue to the wel-being of a State, that they took the greateſt care to provide that able and prudent perſons ſhould only be admitted to the mannagement of affairs: as for example, they had their Lex annalis, the Law that provided, that none ſhould bear office before ſuch and ſuch an age, becauſe they would not have unexperienced, raſh and imprudent young men truſted at the helm of State. Thus Latinus Pacatus in Laudat. Theodoſii. Annorum, inquit, ita cura fuit majoribus, ut non ſolum in ampliſſimis Magiſtratibus adipiſcendis, ſed in Praeturis quo que aut Aedilitatibus capeſſendis aetas ſit ſpectanda petitorum; neque quiſquam tantum valuerit nobilitate, vel gratia, qui annos comitiali lege praeſcriptos, feſtinatis honoribus occuparit. Thus Cicero Philip. 5. Legibus annalibus cum grandiorem aetatem ad Conſulatam conſtituebant, temeritatem adoleſcentiae verebantur.
Thus Ovid 5. Faſt.
—Finitaque certis Legibus est aetas, unde petatur honos.
And we find that thoſe that ſet the feweſt will have 25 years of age the time wherin the firſt office to wit of Quaeſtor could be born; for that of Aedilis, and Tribune 27 or 28. for Praetor 35. for Conſul 42, or 43. as Cicero plainly tells us in Phil. 5. Quid Alexander Macedo, qui cum ab ineunte aetate res maximas gerère caepiſſet, trigeſimo tertio anno mortem obiit? quae aetas nostris legibus decem annis minor quam Conſularis. And though this Law might now and then be diſpenſed with in ſome extraordinary danger, and for ſome more than ordinary worth and vertue in ſome ſingle perſon, as Scipio Africanus, Scipio Aemilianus, and Pompeius Magnus: as there can be no general rule but may admit of ſome exception, eſpecially where the reaſon of the Law pleads againſt the Letter, which taken ſtrictly would deprive the State of the ſervice of ſuch eminent Citizens when her dangers would admit of no delay: yet for the general it was inviolably obſerved until the unruly and tyrannous Monarchs turned this topſie turvy, together with all other their moſt ſacred Laws and Liberties. Thus alſo we ſhall find Lycurgus that wiſe Lawgiver among the Spartans, (who ſo long as they obſerved his rules were the moſt eminent State among the Greeks) would admit none into the Senate, unleſs he were ſixty years of age.
But we ſhall conclude this with ſome few examples which may convince us throughly of the benefit of Prudence. Cato the elder being Conſul, had Spain alotted for his Province, which was then near to a total revolt; coming thither the Celtiberians, a warlike and populous nation, offered to aid him for 2000 talents; this propoſition was generally diſliked by the Romans, as a thing unworthy the Roman magnaminity, by money to buy aid or friendſhip, until the Conſul convinc'd them how ſmall a thing the Celtiberians demanded, without whoſe aid there was no hopes of victory; For ſhould we overcome by their aſſistance, we will pay them out of the enemies ſpoils, ſaid he, but ſhould we and they be beaten, neither will they be alive to demand, nor ſhall we be left to pay. Scipio Africanus, being about to invade Afrike, and carry the war to the gates of Carthage, prudently ſeeing that a State which warred by Mercinaries, would be weakeſt at home, ſelected 300 able and reſolute young men out of the Roman Legions, whom he kept about him, none knowing to what end, and being arrived in Sicily, he commanded 300 of the nobleſt and wealthieſt Sicilian young Gentlemen to appear ſuch a day with their horſe and arms. The time being come, he demanded whether they were willing to go with him, or no? for he had rather they ſhould now tell the truth, than afterwards be unprofitable, and unactive, as ſuch would be. Wherupon one of them anſwered, that if he were put to his choice he ſhould rather ſtay at home; Scipio commending him for his ingenuity, and calling one of the 300 hundred Roman young men, this youth, ſaith he, ſhall ſerve in your ſtead upon condition you will furniſh him with horſe and arms, and take him home, and exerciſe and teach him; which he joyfully conſenting to, all the reſt preſently deſired a diſmiſſion upon the ſame terms: Thus raiſed he a gallant Troop, which did him great ſervice, without charge to the Common-wealth, whose treaſury was emptyed by a long and chargeable war: and obliged the Sicilians and their friends, by diſmiſſing their perſons from a dangerous war upon ſo ſmall and inconſiderable a condition as that ſeemed to them, who would have given far more had they been put to their own choice. And indeed it is not ſo much the tax, as the manner of laying and levying it, that begets diſtaſtes, tumults, inſurrections, and revolts. Had Scipio laid this charge of providing horſe and arms, &c. upon theſe Sicilian Gentlemen, without any other circumſtance, what mutterings would there have been? why ſhould we above all others be thus uſed? and what hatred would it have procured him? whereas doing as he did, firſt he ſeem'd to have a great confidence in their worth and valour, to chooſe them out of the thouſands of Sicily; then a great regard of and civility to their perſons, by enquiring whether they were willing to ſerve or no; Laſtly a greater reſpect to their contentment than his own, by ſo gentle and eaſie a diſmiſſion of them whom he had honoured above others, and who by refuſing to engage with him, diſappointed his hopes, & made void the great expectations he had of them: and ſo by this means impoſed an obligation upon them, who in another way would have looked on it as a great diſcourteſie. And as we find the benefit of Prudence in theſe, ſo may we ſee the miſchiefs which improvident raſhneſs wrought in other examples. As in Coriolanus, who by his ſtubborn and harſh carriage brought baniſhment on himſelf, a miſerable war and diſgrace upon his Countrey, which at laſt cauſed his death. Thus Terentius Varro by raſhneſs and imprudency had almoſt ruined his Country in that fatal and bloody battail at Cannae. And multitudes of other examples we ſhall meet with in all Hiſtories, yea and in our own dayly experience and obſervation.