Franco-Gallia Part 3

_Ma.s.silia_, _Ma.r.s.eilles_.

_Marsua_, _non liquet_.

_Nervii_, P. of _Hainault_ and _Cambray_.

_Nitiobriges_, P. of _Agenois_.

_Novemopulonia_, _Gascony_.

_Noviomagum_, _Nimeguen_.

_Pannonia_, _Hungary_.

_Pleumosii_, P. of _Tornay_ and _Lisle_.

_Rhatia_, _Swisserland_.

_Rhemi_, P. of _Rheims_.

_Senones_, P. of _Sens_ and _Auxerre_.

_Sequani_, P. of _Franche Comte_.

_Sequana_, the River _Seine_.

_Suessiones_, P. of _Soissons_.

_Treca.s.sini_, P. of _Trica.s.ses_ in _Champagne_.

_Treviri_, P. of _Triers_, and Part of _Luxemburg_.

_Toxandri_, P. of _Zealand_.

_Tolbiac.u.m_, _non liquet_.

_Vencti_, P. of _Vannes_.

_Vesontini_, P. of _Besancon_.

_Ulbanesses_, _non liquet_.

_Witmarium_, _non liquet_.

The Author's Preface.

To the most Ill.u.s.trious and Potent Prince _FREDERICK_, Count Palatine of the _Rhine_, Duke of _Bavaria_, &c.

First Elector of the _Roman_ Empire, His most Gracious Lord, _Francis Hotoman_, wishes all Health and Prosperity.

_'Tis an old Saying, of which_ Teucer _the Son of_ Telamon _is the supposed Author, and which has been approved of these many Ages_, A Man's Country is, where-ever he lives at Ease. [Footnote: _Patria est ubicunq; est bene._] _For to bear even Banishment it self with an unconcern'd Temper of Mind like other Misfortunes and Inconveniences, and to despise the Injuries of an ungrateful Country, which uses one more like a Stepmother than a true Mother, seems to be the Indication of a great Soul. But I am of a quite different Opinion: For if it be a great Crime, and almost an Impiety not to live under and suffer patiently the Humours and harsh Usage of our Natural Parents; 'tis sure a much greater, not to endure those of our Country, which wise Men have unanimously preferr'd to their_ Parents. _'Tis indeed the Property of a wary self-interested Man, to measure his Kindness for his Country by his own particular Advantages: But such a sort of Carelesness and Indifferency seems a Part of that Barbarity which was attributed to the_ Cynicks _and_ Epicureans; _whence that detestable Saying proceeded_, When I am dead, let the whole World be a Fire. _Which is not unlike the Old Tyrannical Axiom_; Let my Friends perish, so my Enemies fall along with them. [Footnote: _Me mortuo terra misceatur incendio. Pereant amici dum una inimici intercidant._] _But in gentle Dispositions, there is a certain inbred Love of their Country, which they can no more divest themselves of, than of Humanity it self. Such a Love as_ Homer _describes in_ Ulysses, _who preferred_ Ithaca, _tho' no better than a Bird's Nest fix'd to a craggy Rock in the Sea, to all the Delights of the Kingdom which_ Calypso _offer'd him_.

Nescio qua natale Solum dulcedine cunctos Ducit, & immemores non finit esse sui:

_Was very truly said by the Ancient Poet; When we think of that Air we first suck'd in, that Earth we first trod on, those Relations, Neighbours and Acquaintance to whose Conversation we have been accustomed._

_But a Man may sometimes say, My_ Country _is grown_ mad _or_ foolish, _(as_ Plato _said of his) sometimes that it rages and cruelly tears out its own Bowels.--We are to take care in the first Place, that we do not ascribe_ other Folks _Faults to our innocent_ Country. _There have been may cruel_ Tyrants _in_ Rome _and in other Places; these not only tormented innocent good Men, but even the best deserving Citizens, with all manner of Severities: Does it therefore follow, that the Madness of these Tyrants must be imputed to their Country? The Cruelty of the Emperor_ Macrinus _is particularly memorable; who as_ Julius Capitolinus _writes, was nicknamed_ Macellinus, _because his House was stained with the Blood of Men, as a Shambles is with that of Beasts. Many such others are mention'd by Historians, who for the like Cruelty (as the same_ Capitolinus _tells us) were stil'd, one_ Cyclops, _another_ Busiris, _a 3d_ Sciron, _a 4th_ Tryphon, _a 5th_ Gyges. _These were firmly persuaded, that Kingdoms and Empires cou'd not be secur'd without Cruelty: Wou'd it be therefore reasonable, that good Patriots shou'd lay aside all Care and Solicitude for their Country? Certainly they ought rather to succour her, when like a miserable oppressed Mother, she implores her Childrens Help, and to seek all proper Remedies for the Mischiefs that afflict her._

_But how fortunate are those Countries that have good and mild Princes!

how happy are those Subjects, who, thro' the Benignity of their Rulers may quietly grow old on their Paternal Seats, in the sweet Society of their Wives and Children! For very often it happens, that the Remedies which are made use of prove worse than the Evils themselves. 'Tis now, most Ill.u.s.trious Prince, about Sixteen Years since G.o.d Almighty has committed to your Rule and Government a considerable Part of_ Germany _situate on the_ Rhine. _During which time, 'tis scarce conceivable what a general Tranquility, what a Calm (as in a smooth Sea) has reigned in the whole_ Palatinate; _how peaceable and quiet all things have continued: How piously and religiously they have been governed: Go on most Gracious Prince in the same Meekness of Spirit, which I to the utmost of my Power must always extol. Proceed in the same Course of gentle and peaceable Virtue_; Macte Virtute; _not in the Sense which_ Seneca _tells us the_ Romans _used this Exclamation in, to salute their Generals when they return'd all stain'd with Gore Blood from the Field of Battel, who were rather true_ Macellinus's: _But do you proceed in that Moderation of Mind, Clemency, Piety, Justice, Affability, which have occasion'd the Tranquility of your Territories. And because the present Condition of your_ Germany _is such as we see it, Men now-a-days run away from Countries infested with Plunderers and Oppressors, to take Sanctuary in those that are quiet and peaceable; as Mariners, who undertake a Voyage, forecast to avoid Streights, &c. and Rocky Seas, and chase to sail a calm and open Course._

_There was indeed a Time, when young Gentlemen, desirous of Improvement, flock'd from all Parts to the Schools and Academies of our_ Francogallia, _as to the publick Marts of good Literature. Now they dread them as Men do Seas infested with Pyrates, and detest their Tyrannous Barbarity. The Remembrance of this wounds me to the very Soul; when I consider my unfortunate miserable Country has been for almost twelve Years, burning in the Flames of Civil War. But much more am I griev'd, when I reflect that so many have not only been idle Spectators of these dreadful Fires (as_ Nero _was of flaming_ Rome_) but have endeavour'd by their wicked Speeches and Libels to blow the Bellows, whilst few or none have contributed their a.s.sistance towards the extinguishing them._

_I am not ignorant how mean and inconsiderable a Man I am; nevertheless as in a general Conflagration every Man's Help is acceptable, who is able to fling on but a Bucket of Water, so I hope the Endeavours of any Person that offers at a Remedy will be well taken by every Lover of his Country. Being very intent for several Months past on the Thoughts of these great Calamities, I have perused all the old_ French _and_ German _Historians that treat of our_ Francogallia, _and collected out of their Works a true State of our_ Commonwealth; _in the Condition (wherein they agree) it flourished for above a Thousand Years. And indeed the great Wisdom of our Ancestors in the first framing of our Const.i.tution, is almost incredible; so that I no longer doubted, that the most certain Remedy for so great Evils must be deduced from their Maxims._

_For as I more attentively enquired into the Source of these Calamities, it seemed to me, that even as human Bodies decay and perish, either by some outward Violence, or some inward Corruption of Humours, or lastly, thro' Old Age: So Commonwealths are brought to their Period, sometimes by Foreign Force, sometimes by Civil Dissentions, at other Times by being worn out and neglected. Now tho' the Misfortunes that have befallen our Commonwealth are commonly attributed to our Civil Dissentions, I found, upon Enquiry, these are not so properly to be called the_ Cause _as the_ Beginning _of our Mischiefs. And_ Polybius, _that grave judicious Historian, teaches us, in the first place, to distinguish the_ Beginning _from the_ Cause _of any Accident. Now I affirm the_ Cause _to have been that great Blow which our Const.i.tution received about 100 Years ago from that_ [Footnote: Lewis _the_ XI.]

_Prince, who ('tis manifest) first of all broke in upon the n.o.ble and solid Inst.i.tutions of our Ancestors. And as our natural Bodies when put out of joint by Violence, can never be recover'd but by replacing and restoring every Member to its true Position; so neither can we reasonably hope our Commonwealth shou'd be restor'd to Health, till through Divine a.s.sistance it shall be put into its true and natural State again._

_And because your Highness has always approv'd your self a true Friend to our Country; I though it my Duty to inscribe, or, as it were, to consecrate this Abstract of our History to your Patronage. That being guarded by so powerful a Protection, it might with greater Authority and Safety come abroad in the World. Farewel, most ill.u.s.trious_ Prince; _May the great G.o.d Almighty for ever bless and prosper your most n.o.ble Family._

Your Highness's most Obedient,

_Francis Hotoman_.

12 Kal. Sep. 1574.

Francogallia.

CHAP. I.

_The State of_ Gaul, _before it was reduced into a_ Province _by the_ Romans.

My Design being to give an Account of the Laws and Ordinances of our _Francogallia_, as far as it may tend to the Service of our _Commonwealth_, in its present Circ.u.mstances; I think it proper, in the first place, to set forth the State of _Gaul_, before it was reduced into the Form of a _Province_ by the _Romans_: For what _Caesar, Polybius, Strabo, Ammia.n.u.s_, and other Writers have told us concerning the _Origin, Antiquity_ and _Valour_ of that People, the Nature and Situation of their Country, and their private Customs, is sufficiently known to all Men, tho' but indifferently learned.

We are therefore to understand, that the State of _Gaul_ was such at that time, that neither was the _whole_ under the Government of a _single Person_: Nor were the particular [Footnote: _Civitas_, a Commonwealth.] _Commonwealths_ under the Dominion of the _Populace_, or the _n.o.bles_ only; but all _Gaul_ was so divided into _Commonwealths_, that the most Part were govern'd by the _Advice_ of the _n.o.bles_; and these were called _Free_; the rest had _Kings_. But every one of them agreed in this _Inst.i.tute_, that at a certain Time of the Year a _publick Council_ of the whole Nation should be held; in which _Council_, whatever seem'd to relate to the whole _Body_ of the _Commonwealth_ was appointed and establish'd. _Cornelius Tacitus_, in his 3d Book, reckons Sixty-four _Croitates_; by which is meant (as _Caesar_ explains it) so many Regions or Districts; in each of which, not only the same _Language, Manners_ and _Laws_, but also the same _Magistrates_ were made use of. Such, in many Places of his History, he princ.i.p.ally mentions the Cities of the _aedui_, the _Rhemi_ and _Arverni_ to have been. And therefore _Dumnorix_ the _aeduan_, when _Caesar_ sent to have him slain, began to resist, and to defend himself, and to implore the a.s.sistance of his _Fellow Citizens_; often crying out, That he was a _Freeman_, and Member of a _Free Commonwealth_, lib. 5. cap. 3.