and that is thought discontented in his own particular: which kind of persons are either to be won and reconciled to the state, and that in a fast and true manner; or to be fronted with some other of the same party, that may oppose them, and so divide the reputation. Generally, the dividing and breaking of all factions and combinations that are adverse to the state, and setting them at distance,[1] or at least distrust, amongst themselves, is not one of the worst remedies. For it is a desperate case, if those that hold with the proceeding of the state be full of discord and faction, and those that are against it be entire and united.
I have noted that some witty and sharp speeches which have fallen from princes have given fire to seditions. Cæsar did himself infinite hurt in that speech, Sylla nescivit literas, non potuit dictare:[2] for it did utterly cut off that hope which men had entertained, that he would at one time or other give over his dictatorship. Galba undid himself by that speech, legi a se militem, non emi;[3] for it put the soldiers out
- ↑ Distance. Discord, dissension, enmity. The meaning is derived from fencing.
"So is he mine; and in such bloody distance,
That every minute of his being thrusts
Against my near'st of life."
Shakspere. Macbeth. iii. 1. - ↑ Sulla knew not letters, he could not dictate. C. Suetoni Tranquilli De XII Caesaribus Liber I. Divus Julius Caesar. Caput 77, where the pun is "Sullam nescisse litteras, qui dictaturam deposuerit." "Caesar would say of Sylla, for that he did resign his dictatorship; That he was ignorant of letters, he could not dictate." Bacon. Apophthegmes New and Old. 135 (116). The pun is also quoted in the Advancement of Learning, I. vii. 29, where Bacon is speaking of Caesar's "perfection in learning."
- ↑ He levied his soldiers, he did not buy them. Tacitus. Historiarum Liber I. 5.
