bycaufe they haue nothing : And fo euery man in
thougnt and mifene : Yet it is a cmill medicine, where-
with a prince maye from the bodye of his commune
wealth, put of that daunger whiche maye faule: or
elles recouer agayne, whatfoeuer it hath loft. And
therfore as Ifocrates doth faye, a prince
mufl be a warriour in two thinges, in con- * 1CO'

ninge and knowledge of all ileyghtes and feates of
warre, and in hauing al neceffarye habihmentes be-
longyng to the fame. Whiche matter to entreate at
large, were ouerlonge at this tyme to declare, and ouer-
moche for my learning to perfourme.

After the wifdome of the prince, are valiaunt capi-
taynes mooft neceffary in wane, whofe office and
dut^e is to knowe all fleightes and pollicies for all
kyndes of warre, which they maye learne. ii. wayes,
either in daylye folowing and haunting the warres or
els bicaufe wifdome bought with ftrypes, is many
tymes ouercofllye : they maye beftowe fometyme in
Vegetius, which entreateth fuche matters in Latin
metelye well, or rather in Polyenus, and Leo the
Emperour, which fetteth out al pollicies and duties
of capitaynes in the Greke tunge very excellentlye.
But chefelye I wolde wifihe (and if I were of authe-
ntic) I wolde counfel al the yong gentlemen of this
realme, neuer to lay out of theyr handes. ii. authors
Xenophon in Greke, and Caefar in Latyn, where in
they ihulde folowe noble Scipio Africanus,
as Tullie doeth faye: In whiche. ii. authours
befydes eloquence a thinge mofle neceffary of all other,
for a capt3,yne, they fhulde learn e the hole courfe
of warre, whiche thofe. ii. noble menne dyd not more
wyfelye wryte for other men to learne, than they dyd
manfully exercife in the fyelde, for other men to followe.

The Hrengthe of war lyeth in the fouldier, whofe
chyefe prayfe and vertue, is obedience towarde his
captayne, fayth Plato. And Xenophon obedience,
being a gentyle authour, mofte chriftianlye piat. ieg J3.
doeth. faye, euen by thefe woordes, that Xen.Aget