Indies seems, in great part, but an accessary to the com- 295 mand of the seas.

.

The wars of latter ages seem to be made in the dark, in respect of the glory and honour which reflected upon men from the wars in ancient time. There be now, for martial encouragement, some degrees and orders of 300 chivalry (which, nevertheless, are conferred promiscuously upon soldiers and no soldiers); and some remembrance perhaps upon the escutcheon; and some hospitals for maimed soldiers; and such like things. But in ancient times, the Trophies erected upon the place of the victory; 305 the funeral laudatives and monuments for those that died in the wars; the crowns and garlands personal; the style of Emperor, which the great kings of the world after borrowed; the Triumphs of the generals upon their return; the great donatives and largesses, upon the dis- 310 banding of the armies, were things able to inflame all men's courages. But above all, that of the Triumph amongst the Romans was not pageants, or gaudery, but one of the wisest and noblest institutions that ever was. For it contained three things, honour to the general, 115 riches to the treasury out of the spoils, and donatives to the army. But that honour, perhaps, were not fit for monarchies; except it be in the person of the monarch himself, or his sons as it came to pass in the times of the Roman emperors, who did impropriate the actual 320 triumphs to themselves and their sons, for such wars as they did achieve in person; and left only for wars achieved by subjects some triumphal garments and ensigns to the general.

To conclude. No man can by care-taking (as the 325 Scripture saith) add a cubit to his stature, in this little model of a man's body; but in the great frame of kingdoms and commonwealths, it is in the power of princes,

112 Of Greatness of Kingdoms, etc. [Essay 29

or estates, to add amplitude and greatness to their king330 doms. For by introducing such ordinances, constitutions, and customs, as we have now touched, they may sow greatness to their posterity and succession. But these things are commonly not observed, but left to take their chance.