Book I, Chapter LVII

The people as a body are courageous, but individually they are cowardly and feeble.

After the ruin of their country by the invasion of the Gauls, many Romans had gone to live at Veii, contrary to the constitution and the orders of the Senate. To remedy this evil the Senate published an edict commanding every one to return within a given time to inhabit Rome, on pain of certain penalties. At first those against whom this edict was aimed made light of it and derided it, but when the prescribed time approached they all hastened to obey. Titus Livius says on this point, “From being brave and insolent as a body, fear made them individually obedient.” And truly nothing can better illustrate the character of a multitude than this example; for they are often audacious and loud in their denunciations of the decisions of their rulers, but when punishment stares them in the face, then, distrustful of each other, they rush to obey. Thus we see that whatever may be said of the good or evil disposition of the people is of little consequence, if you are well prepared to assert and maintain your authority should they be well disposed, and to defend yourself if their disposition be otherwise. This has reference specially to such evil dispositions as arise in the minds of the people from causes other than the loss of liberty, or that of a prince to whom they are much attached and who is still living; in such cases the most powerful remedies are required to restrain them, as these causes are more formidable than any others.

But indispositions arising from other causes are easily controlled, especially if the multitude have no chief to whom they can look for support; for whilst on the one hand a loose mob without any leader is most formidable, yet on the other hand it is also most cowardly and feeble; and even if they are armed they will be easily subdued, if you can only shelter yourself against their first fury; for when their spirits are cooled down a little, and they see that they have all to return to their homes, they begin to mistrust themselves, and to think of their individual safety either by flight or submission. An excited multitude, therefore, that wishes to avoid such a result will have promptly to create a chief for itself, who shall direct and keep them united, and provide for their defence; as the Roman people did when, after the death of Virginia, they left Rome and appointed from amongst themselves twenty Tribunes for their protection. And unless they do this they will experience what Titus Livius has said in the above-quoted words, that united in one body they are brave and insolent, but when afterwards each begins to think of his own danger, they become cowardly and feeble.

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THE BOOK OF WILD GRASSES is first book of Shin Heike Monogatari, the epic tale of the Heike.

The first book of the epic opens in the crumbling mansion of a minor Taira warrior, where the young Kiyomori grows up listening to his parents quarrel, with his noble Fujiwara mother raging against the indignity of poverty, his father Tadamori sitting in stony silence. From this unpromising beginning, Yoshikawa traces Kiyomori’s passage from adolescence to early manhood against the backdrop of a capital alive with ambition, pleasure, and violence. The mystery of Kiyomori’s true parentage — he may be the secret son of the Cloistered Emperor Shirakawa — hangs over the narrative, shaping both his self-doubt and his uncanny rise.

Around him, a generation of young warriors comes of age: Norikiyo, the gifted poet who will renounce the world to become the monk Saigyō; Minamoto no Yoshitomo, the Genji heir who will one day be Kiyomori’s mortal enemy; and Endō Moritō, whose obsessive desire for the beautiful Lady Kesa ends in a murder that shocks the capital and reveals the savage undercurrents beneath courtly refinement.

Woven through these coming-of-age stories is Yoshikawa’s portrait of late Heian society in all its contradictions, a world of moonlit poetry gatherings and ox-cart processions where political power flows through pillow-talk and adoption, and where the warrior clans the court despises are the only force capable of keeping order. Kiyomori courts and marries Tokiko, finds his footing in the capital’s treacherous politics, and by the final chapter has moved into a grand new mansion at Rokuhara, the stronghold that will become synonymous with Taira power. Yet even as Kiyomori marvels at his own good fortune, the Minamoto are adding to their strength with eastern warriors. The stage is set, and both clans are moving toward a collision neither has foreseen.

While only the first two books have been previously translated, only Castalia House has completed the translation of the 24 books of the Yoshikawa’s million-word epic, which will be available in its entirety when Castalia Unlimited launches in two weeks. You can already sign up for Castalia Unlimited pre-launch if you wish to be alerted when it goes live.

An ebook of The Book of Wild Grasses, has already been sent to all of the paid subscribers. It is also available on Amazon.

Excerpt

Heita Kiyomori was born in the first year of Gen’ei. His father, Taira no Tadamori, was twenty-three.

Of late, Tadamori had become a byword for the lowborn — “Lord Squint-Eyes,” they called him, and “the beggarly Taira” — scorned even by his own clansmen and kin. But it had not always been so.

Kiyomori’s grandfather, Taira no Masamori, had served three reigns: Shirakawa, Horikawa, and Toba. He enjoyed deep imperial trust as “a warrior who knows his place and proves himself useful.” His son Tadamori likewise grew up amid the luster of that reputation, and it was precisely in the span of these two generations, father and son, that the Taira fortunes turned. As the Minamoto warriors who had once been prominent, Minamoto no Yoshiie foremost among them, receded from favor, Taira men from the provinces were gradually called to serve at the capital.

Cloistered Emperor Shirakawa had employed Masamori and his son as instruments for removing the Minamoto figures who displeased him. He set them against the military power of the great monasteries, and used them within the court to hold the Fujiwara in check. Even after his abdication, Shirakawa kept firm hold of the reins of government, inaugurating what came to be known as “cloistered rule.”

But this deformed new system, and Shirakawa’s autocratic hand in the appointment of men, quickly bred conflict between the reigning court and the cloister. From that double root, a greater division was already taking hold:

Genji against Heike.

The rivalry spread even among the provincial warriors. The conviction was forming that a man must ally himself with one house or the other or be left behind by the tide of the age. Edicts forbidding such partisan allegiance were issued, declaring that none should rally to the Genji or rush to the Heike without cause, nor wield military force at will. They had almost no effect.

When Masamori died, Tadamori succeeded him. Cloistered Emperor Shirakawa found the son even more congenial than the father and valued him accordingly.

There is, for instance, this one episode.

The Cloistered Emperor’s residence stood at Sanjō Nishi-no-Tōin. From there, always at night, he would from time to time cross the Kamo River and steal away to Gion. His escort was invariably the same two men: Tadamori of the Warriors’ Bureau, and Tadamori’s retainer, Iesada.

The visits were, of course, to a woman. The Cloistered Emperor was nearing sixty, yet his appetite in that quarter was, by all accounts, extraordinary. The vigor that age could not diminish showed equally in his boundless political energy.

Nor, by the customs of the age, was there anything scandalous in it. For a man of such station to keep a lover in a separate dwelling and visit her from time to time was nothing anyone found remarkable. That a man should call at a woman’s bedchamber was an ancient practice, observed by the courtiers of Nara and Heian alike. Prince, regent, minister: none considered such discreet liaisons beneath their dignity, or a matter touching their honor.

Yet there was a further reason, kept from the world, why the Cloistered Emperor’s visits demanded such secrecy. The woman, it appeared, was of low birth.

The term shirabyōshi had only recently come into currency, and she was one of them. Entertainers invited to the great mansions to grace gatherings with music and dance had existed since antiquity. But of late it had become fashionable for these women to don tall eboshi caps and white suikan robes, to wear sheathed swords at their sides, and to perform men’s dances while chanting verse. With this fashion, a new class called shirabyōshi had emerged among the ranks of courtesans.

Where the Cloistered Emperor first became intimate with her was unclear. To the world it was given out that she was a daughter of the Nakamikado house. An elegant dwelling was built near Yasaka, surrounded by a fence of cypress bark, and a certain beauty of shirabyōshi origins was quietly installed there. Only four or five men in the Cloistered Emperor’s inner circle knew the truth from the start.

Among themselves, they called her the Lady of Gion. Since titles like “Consort” and “Lady of the Chamber” belonged properly to the palace, they deliberately attached a place name, maintaining to the world the fiction that she was merely some retired courtier’s favorite.

The Lady of Gion. This woman was Kiyomori’s mother. She bore him; that much is beyond dispute.

But the father? Who was the father?

On that question, the secret becomes a riddle that no one but she herself could have solved. Why should so simple a matter have to be thought a riddle at all? Why should it drive her child to anguish a full twenty years after his birth? That in itself was perhaps the deeper mystery.

Yet the ground that bred such misfortune belonged to the age. It was one of the molds that grew naturally in the “beauty of shadows,” that aristocratic life swathed in the supreme elegance and refinement of Heian art. For those whose customs and morality had been shaped across centuries of such living, perhaps none of this was extraordinary at all.

As 20 percent of the voting subscribers indicated that they would prefer not to be automatically enrolled in a second email list devoted to Castalia Unlimited, we will initiate a new opt-in policy for that. To explain what sort of updates we will be sending out to those who opt-in but are not paid subscribers of Unlimited, here are the ten most recent additions to CU, all of which were added this weekend.

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We are rapidly approaching the launch of Castalia Unlimited. More than 100 titles are already available in the system, many of which are exclusive to Unlimited and have never been available in English before. Below is a preview of the Historical Fiction catalogue shown in alphabetical order. We expect to launch sometime in mid-November with more than 150 titles available.

Since we don’t wish to set up and manage a separate site, we’ve added an Unlimited section to this substack. There are two ways we can handle the existing subscriptions. One is to simply send out both Library and Unlimited posts to all of the existing subscribers. The other is to launch Unlimited on an opt-in basis.

It makes absolutely no difference to us, but just as we don’t want to send unwanted emails to anyone, we also don’t want to make everyone have to opt-in if most people are planning to do so anyhow. Hence, this reader’s poll. If over 90 percent want us to do it by default, we’ll do it that way. Otherwise, we’ll go opt-in.

If you have any questions about Unlimited, feel free to ask them in the comments. Some of the works in the library you will be anticipating, some of the others are downright beyond anything you could have imagined. For example, this is the first of the 13 military histories of the most famous battles of feudal Japan compiled by the General Staff of the Meiji-era Imperial Japanese Army.

We’re also very pleased to say that two excellent authors have graciously given us permission to include a large number of their works in the Unlimited library. If you haven’t signed up for the Unlimited mailing list yet, you can do so here.

Book I, Chapter LVI

The occurrence of important events in any city or country is generally preceded by signs and portents, or by men who predict them.

Whence it comes I know not, but both ancient and modern instances prove that no great events ever occur in any city or country that have not been predicted by soothsayers, revelations, or by portents and other celestial signs. And not to go from home in proof of this, everybody knows how the descent into Italy of Charles VIII, king of France, was predicted by Brother Girolamo Savonarola; and how, besides this, it was said throughout Italy that at Arezzo there had been seen and heard in the air armed men fighting together. Moreover everybody remembers how, before the death of Lorenzo de’ Medici the elder, the highest pinnacle of the dome of Florence was struck by a bolt from heaven, doing great damage to that building. It is also well known how, before Pietro Soderini, who had been made Gonfaloniere for life, was expelled and deprived of his rank by the people of Florence, the palace itself was struck by lightning.

Many more examples might be adduced, which I leave, however, lest I should become tedious. I will relate merely what, according to Titus Livius, happened before the coming of the Gauls to Rome. One Marcius Caedicius, a plebeian, reported to the Senate that, passing through the Via Nuova at midnight, he had heard a voice louder than that of any man which commanded him to notify the Senate that the Gauls were coming to Rome. To explain these things a man should have knowledge of things natural and supernatural, which I have not. It may be, however, as certain philosophers maintain, that the air is peopled with spirits, who by their superior intelligence foresee future events, and out of pity for mankind warn them by such signs, so that they may prepare against the coming evils. Be this as it may, however, the truth of the fact exists, that these portents are invariably followed by the most remarkable events.

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The Torimono-chō (銭形平次捕物控, Zenigata Heiji Torimono Hikae) is one of the longest-running and most beloved detective fiction series in Japanese literary history. Set in Edo-period Japan, it follows Zenigata Heiji, a fictional okappiki, an unofficial assistant to the town magistrate’s police force, who solves crimes across the city of Edo with sharp wit, physical courage, and his trademark weapon: thrown coins, specifically the Kan’ei Tsūhō copper coins from which he takes his name. Assisted by his loyal but somewhat hapless subordinate Hachigoro, Heiji investigates murders, thefts, and conspiracies among all levels of Edo society, from the pleasure quarters to the samurai estates. The series comprises 383 stories in total, written between 1931 and 1957.

The series became a cultural phenomenon in Japan, achieving a level of popular recognition comparable to Sherlock Holmes in the English-speaking world. It was adapted repeatedly across media: the long-running film series starring Hasshō Ōkawa produced over a dozen entries through the 1950s and 1960s, while the television adaptation that began in 1966 ran for an extraordinary 888 episodes over nearly two decades, making Zenigata Heiji one of the most familiar characters in Japanese popular culture. The character’s influence extends even to manga and anime; Lupin III’s perpetual pursuer, Inspector Zenigata, is a direct homage. The torimono-chō genre itself, Edo-period detective fiction, owes much of its mainstream popularity to this series.

The author, Nomura Kodō (野村胡堂, 1882–1963), was born in Iwate Prefecture and worked for decades as a journalist at the Hōchi Shimbun newspaper before and alongside his fiction career. A man of wide-ranging intellectual interests, he was also a noted music critic who wrote extensively about classical music under his real name, Nomura Nagaichi. He began the Zenigata Heiji series at age forty-nine, relatively late in life, and continued writing it for over twenty-five years. Kodō received the Kikuchi Kan Prize in 1958 in recognition of his contributions to popular literature, and he remains one of the most widely read authors of genre fiction in twentieth-century Japan.

While only eight of the stories had been previously translated into English in an obscure paperback edition, Castalia House has already translated most of the 383 stories and will release them in a series estimated to be around 35 volumes.

An ebook of Volume One: The Seven Brides, has already been sent to all of the paid subscribers.

Excerpt

“I’ve been at this trade a long time, but I never get used to looking at the dead.”

Zenigata Heiji, the master thief-catcher, said this so often it might as well have been his motto. His nerves were a shade too fine for a man who made his living picking through blood-soaked corpses.

Which made it all the worse when he found himself standing over the most gruesome body of his career.

“Hachi, you dragged me into a hell of a spot.”

“I know it’s off our turf, oyabun, but the master of Hoteiya says he can’t trust Ishihara’s man. Wants you to take a look.”

“What a pointless errand.”

He clicked his tongue, but there was no shaking free now. He parted the reed blind of the pleasure boat moored at Yanagibashi and stepped inside. Blood everywhere.

By the uncertain light of the lantern Hachigoro held out, he could make out a young geisha lying on her back, a silver hairpin driven deep into her right eye.

Heiji turned away before he could stop himself. Young and beautiful, or she had been. The right half of her face was soaked in blood, and the sight was beyond anything.

“This is ugly.”

After a moment his professional instincts returned, and he moved closer. He straightened her legs where the scarlet hem had been kicked apart, and the first thing that caught his eye was her hand.

“She’s holding something,” Hachigoro said.

He didn’t need telling. He was already bending over the body. Clenched in the woman’s left fist was a man’s haori cord: thick, short silk braid of the kind in fashion then. She must have torn it loose in the struggle. The loop still carried a scrap of fabric where it had ripped from the jacket.

“Now there’s a lead.”

Hachigoro picked up the sheer summer haori tossed in the corner, the jacket the cord had come from, and held it up looking rather pleased with himself.

The woman’s hair had been grabbed and wrenched apart, her coiffure wrecked beyond saving, but there were no other wounds on her body.

The hairpin was a sturdy flat-headed piece with a shallow hawk-feather design engraved in the silver. Too plain and old-fashioned for a young geisha. The forked prong had been driven a good three inches into the eye socket. Unless someone had used a mallet, that took terrifying strength. How had the killer managed it? The question lodged in Heiji’s mind and stayed.

“Oyabun, the master of Hoteiya says he’d like a word with you.”

The man bending down from the bank to peer timidly into the boat was Kinbei, one of the jesters from the evening’s party.

“Tell him I’ll see him right here, if he doesn’t mind the scenery.”

“Yes, sir.”

Heiji tilted his head and studied the dead woman’s ruined coiffure. Through all the violence, a tortoiseshell comb and a second hairpin, coral-headed with a slender gold prong, had somehow stayed in place.

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Book I, Chapter LV

Public affairs are easily managed in a city where the body of the people is not corrupt; and where equality exists, there no principality can be established; nor can a republic be established where there is no equality.

Having sufficiently discussed the subject as to what is to be hoped and feared for states that are corrupt, it seems to me not amiss now to examine a resolution of the Senate of Rome in relation to the vow which Camillus had made, to give the tenth part of the booty taken from the Veienti to Apollo. These spoils having fallen into the hands of the Roman people, and there being no other way of having a correct account of it, the Roman Senate issued an edict that every one should bring to the public treasury one tenth part of the booty he had received. And although this decree was not carried into effect, the Senate having devised other ways and means for satisfying Apollo and the people, nevertheless we can see from that resolution how entirely the Senate trusted in the honesty of the people; and how confident they were that no one would fail to return exactly what had been ordered by that edict. And on the other hand we see how the people never for a moment thought of evading it in any way by giving less than what they ought to give, and how they preferred rather to relieve themselves of this imposition by open demonstrations of indignation. This example, together with the many others heretofore cited, proves how much probity and religion these people had, and how much good there was to be hoped for from them. And truly, where this probity does not exist, no good is to be expected, as in fact it is vain to look for anything good from those countries which we see nowadays so corrupt, as is the case above all others with Italy. France and Spain also have their share of corruption, and if we do not see so many disorders and troubles in those countries as is the case daily in Italy, it is not so much owing to the goodness of their people, in which they are greatly deficient, as to the fact that they have each a king who keeps them united not only by his virtue, but also by the institutions of those kingdoms, which are as yet preserved pure.

In Germany alone do we see that probity and religion still exist largely amongst the people, in consequence of which many republics exist there in the full enjoyment of liberty, observing their laws in such manner that no one from within or without could venture upon an attempt to master them. And in proof that the ancient virtue still prevails there in great part, I will cite an example similar to that given above of the Senate and people of Rome. When these republics have occasion to spend any considerable amount of money for public account, their magistrates or councils, who have authority in these matters, impose upon all the inhabitants a tax of one or two per cent of their possessions. When such a resolution has been passed according to the laws of the country, every citizen presents himself before the collectors of this impost, and, after having taken an oath to pay the just amount, deposits in a strong-box provided for the purpose the sum which according to his conscience he ought to pay, without any one’s witnessing what he pays. From this we may judge of the extent of the probity and religion that still exist amongst those people. And we must presume that every one pays the true amount, for if this were not the case the impost would not yield the amount intended according to the estimates based upon former impositions; the fraud would thus be discovered, and other means would be employed to collect the amount required.

This honesty is the more to be admired as it is so very rare that it is found only in that country; and this results from two causes. The one is, that the Germans have no great commerce with their neighbors, few strangers coming amongst them, and they rarely visiting foreign countries, but being content to remain at home and to live on what their country produces, and to clothe themselves with the wool from their own flocks, which takes away all occasion for intimate intercourse with strangers and all opportunity of corruption. Thus they have been prevented from adopting either French, Spanish, or Italian customs, and these nations are the great corrupters of the world. The other cause is, that those republics which have thus preserved their political existence uncorrupted do not permit any of their citizens to be or to live in the manner of gentlemen, but rather maintain amongst them a perfect equality, and are the most decided enemies of the lords and gentlemen that exist in the country; so that, if by chance any of them fall into their hands, they kill them, as being the chief promoters of all corruption and troubles.

And to explain more clearly what is meant by the term gentlemen, I say that those are called gentlemen who live idly upon the proceeds of their extensive possessions, without devoting themselves to agriculture or any other useful pursuit to gain a living. Such men are pernicious to any country or republic; but more pernicious even than these are such as have, besides their other possessions, castles which they command, and subjects who obey them. This class of men abound in the kingdom of Naples, in the Roman territory, in the Romagna, and in Lombardy; whence it is that no republic has ever been able to exist in those countries, nor have they been able to preserve any regular political existence, for that class of men are everywhere enemies of all civil government. And to attempt the establishment of a republic in a country so constituted would be impossible. The only way to establish any kind of order there is to found a monarchical government; for where the body of the people is so thoroughly corrupt that the laws are powerless for restraint, it becomes necessary to establish some superior power which, with a royal hand, and with full and absolute powers, may put a curb upon the excessive ambition and corruption of the powerful.

This is verified by the example of Tuscany, where in a comparatively small extent of territory there have for a long time existed three republics, Florence, Sienna, and Lucca; and although the other cities of this territory are in a measure subject to these, yet we see that in spirit and by their institutions they maintain, or attempt to maintain their liberty; all of which is due to the fact that there are in that country no lords possessing castles, and exceedingly few or no gentlemen. On the contrary, there is such a general equality that it would be easy for any man of sagacity, well versed in the ancient forms of civil government, to introduce a republic there; but the misfortunes of that country have been so great that up to the present time no man has arisen who has had the power and ability to do so.

We may then draw the following conclusion from what has been said: that if any one should wish to establish a republic in a country where there are many gentlemen, he will not succeed until he has destroyed them all; and whoever desires to establish a kingdom or principality where liberty and equality prevail, will equally fail, unless he withdraws from that general equality a number of the boldest and most ambitious spirits, and makes gentlemen of them, not merely in name but in fact, by giving to them castles and possessions, as well as money and subjects; so that surrounded by these he may be able to maintain his power, and that by his support they may satisfy their ambition, and the others may be constrained to submit to that yoke to which force alone has been able to subject them. And as in this way definite relations will be established between the ruler and his subjects, each will be maintained in their respective ranks. But to establish a republic in a country better adapted to a monarchy, or a monarchy where a republic would be more suitable, requires a man of rare genius and power, and therefore out of the many that have attempted it but few have succeeded; for the greatness of the enterprise frightens men so that they fail even in the very beginning. Perhaps the opinion which I have expressed, that a republic cannot be established where there are gentlemen may seem to be contradicted by the experience of the Venetian republic, in which none but gentlemen could attain to any rank or public employment.

And yet this example is in no way opposed to my theory, for the gentlemen of Venice are so more in name than in fact; for they have no great revenues from estates, their riches being founded upon commerce and movable property, and moreover none of them have castles or jurisdiction over subjects, but the name of gentleman is only a title of dignity and respect, and is in no way based upon the things that gentlemen enjoy in other countries. And as all other republics have different classes under different names, so Venice is divided into gentlemen and commonalty, and the former have all the offices and honors, from which the latter are entirely excluded; and this distribution causes no disorders in that republic, for the reasons elsewhere given. Let republics, then, be established where equality exists, and, on the contrary, principalities where great inequality prevails; otherwise the governments will lack proper proportions and have but little durability.

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Book I, Chapter LIV

How much influence a great man has in restraining an excited multitude.

The second thing to note in connection with the subject of the preceding chapter is, that nothing is so apt to restrain an excited multitude as the reverence inspired by some grave and dignified man of authority who opposes them; and therefore it is not without reason that Virgil says:

And when they saw a man of grave aspect
And full of virtue and of years,
At once they all were hushed,
And, listening, stood with eager ears.

Therefore whoever is at the head of an army, or whoever happens to be a magistrate in a city where sedition has broken out, should present himself before the multitude with all possible grace and dignity, and attired with all the insignia of his rank, so as to inspire the more respect. A few years since Florence was divided into two factions, who called themselves the Frateschi and the Arrabiati (madmen). On coming to arms, the Frateschi were beaten; amongst these was Paolantonio Soderini, a citizen then in high repute. During these disturbances the people went armed to his house with the intent of sacking it. Messer Francesco, his brother, then Bishop of Volterra, and now Cardinal, happened by chance to be in the house; and so soon as he heard the noise and saw the crowd, he dressed himself in his best garments, and over them he put his episcopal chasuble, and then went to meet the armed mob, and by the influence of his person and his words he stopped their further violence, which was much talked about and praised in the city for many days.

I conclude, then, that there is no better or safer way of appeasing an excited mob than the presence of some man of imposing appearance and highly respected. And to come back to the preceding text, we see with what obstinacy the Roman people had taken up the plan of going to Veii, because they deemed it advantageous and did not perceive the danger it involved; and how the discontent of the people, which had been excited by the opposition of the Senate to this project, would have led to violence, had not their fury been restrained by the most grave and reverend Senators.

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Book I, Chapter LIII

How by the delusions of seeming good the people are often misled to desire their own ruin; and how they are frequently influenced by great hopes and brave promises.

After the capture of the city of the Veienti, the Roman people became possessed of the idea that it would be advantageous for the city of Rome if one half of its inhabitants were to go and settle at Veii; arguing that, inasmuch as that city was rich in lands and houses and near to Rome, one half of the Roman citizens might thus enrich themselves without in any way disturbing by their proximity the public affairs of Rome. This project seemed to the Senate and the most sagacious men of Rome useless, and fraught with danger, so much so that they declared openly that they would rather suffer death than give their consent. When the subject came to be discussed, the people became so much excited against the Senate that it would have led to violence and bloodshed, had not the Senate sheltered itself behind some of the oldest and most esteemed citizens, the reverence for whom restrained the people from carrying their insolence farther. Here we have to note two things; first, that the people often, deceived by an illusive good, desire their own ruin, and, unless they are made sensible of the evil of the one and the benefit of the other course by some one in whom they have confidence, they will expose the republic to infinite peril and damage. And if it happens that the people have no confidence in any one, as sometimes will be the case when they have been deceived before by events or men, then it will inevitably lead to the ruin of the state. Dante says upon this point in his discourse “On Monarchy,” that the people often shout, “Life to our death, and death to our life!” It is this want of confidence on the part of the people that causes good measures to be often rejected in republics, as we have related above of the Venetians, who when attacked by so many enemies could not make up their minds to conciliate some of them by giving to them what they had taken from others; it was this that brought the war upon them, and caused the other powers to form a league against them before their final ruin.

If we consider now what is easy and what difficult to persuade a people to, we may make this distinction: either what you wish to persuade them to represents at first sight gain or loss, or it seems brave or cowardly. And if you propose to them anything that upon its face seems profitable and courageous, though there be really a loss concealed under it which may involve the ruin of the republic, the multitude will ever be most easily persuaded to it. But if the measure proposed seems doubtful and likely to cause loss, then it will be difficult to persuade the people to it, even though the benefit and welfare of the republic were concealed under it. All this is supported by numerous examples amongst the Romans as well as strangers, and both in modern and in ancient times.

It was this that produced the unfavorable opinion in Rome of Fabius Maximus, who could not persuade the people of Rome that it would be advantageous for that republic to proceed slowly with the war, and to bear the assaults of Hannibal without engaging in battle with him; because the Roman people considered this course as cowardly, and did not see the advantages that would be gained by it, and Fabius had not the faculty of demonstrating these to them. The people are apt to be so blinded upon questions of courage that, although the Roman people had committed the great error of giving authority to the commander of the cavalry of the army of Fabius to engage in battle contrary to the will of Fabius, so that the Roman camp would have been broken up but for the prudence of Fabius, which remedied the error; yet this experience did not suffice them, for they subsequently made Varro Consul, for no other reason than because he had proclaimed in all the streets and public places of Rome that, if only authority were given to him, he would cut Hannibal to pieces. This occasioned the battle and defeat of Cannae, and almost caused the ruin of Rome.

I will adduce another striking example upon this point. Hannibal had been eight or ten years in Italy, and had drenched the soil of the whole country with the blood of the Romans, when there presented himself before the Senate one M. Centenius Penula, a man of the vilest character, (although he had held some command in the militia,) and offered, if they would give him authority to collect an army of volunteers in whatever place in Italy he pleased, he would in the least possible time deliver Hannibal dead or alive into their hands. This proposition seemed most foolhardy to the Senate; nevertheless, fearing that, if they refused him and the proposition should afterwards become known to the people, it might give rise to disturbances or jealousy and ill feeling against the senatorial order, they acceded to the request of Penula, preferring to expose all who might follow him to the greatest danger, rather than run the risk of causing fresh discontents amongst the people; well knowing how readily they would accept such a proposition, and how difficult it would be to dissuade them from it. Centenius Penula therefore went with an unorganized and undisciplined crowd to find Hannibal, and no sooner did he meet him than himself and all his followers were routed and cut to pieces.

In the city of Athens in Greece, Nicias, one of the most wise and prudent of men, could not persuade the people that it would not be well for them to make war upon Sicily; and the Athenians resolved upon it, contrary to the advice of their wisest men, and the ruin of Athens was the consequence. When Scipio was made Consul, and wished to have the province of Africa, he promised to all the destruction of Carthage; and when the Senate declined to accord him that province, because of the adverse opinion of Fabius Maximus, he threatened to bring the matter before the people, well knowing that similar propositions always find favor with the people.

We may also cite on this point some examples drawn from the history of our own city of Florence. Messer Ercole Bentivogli, commander of the Florentine troops, and Antonio Giacomini, after having defeated Bartolommeo d’Alviano at San Vincenti, went to lay siege to Pisa, which enterprise was resolved upon by the people in consequence of the brave promises made by Messer Ercole, although many of the most prudent citizens objected, but could not prevent it, being carried away by the general will of the people, who relied upon the commander’s brilliant promises.

I say then that there is no easier way to ruin a republic, where the people have power, than to involve them in daring enterprises; for where the people have influence they will always be ready to engage in them, and no contrary opinion will prevent them. But if such enterprises cause the ruin of states, they still more frequently cause the ruin of the particular citizens who are placed at the head to conduct them. For when defeat comes, instead of the successes which the people expected, they charge it neither upon the ill fortune or incompetence of their leaders, but upon their wickedness and ignorance; and generally either kill, imprison, or exile them, as happened to many Carthaginian and Athenian generals. Their previous victories are of no advantage to them, for they are all cancelled by present defeat, as was the case with our Giacomini, who, in consequence of his failure to take Pisa, which the people expected, as he had promised it, fell into such disgrace with the people that, notwithstanding his previous good services, his life was saved only through the humanity of the authorities, who protected him against the people.

Castalia Library makes the world’s most beautiful leather books at its own bindery in Switzerland. Castalia House is the world’s premier translator of never-before translated works from Japanese, Spanish, French, Italian, and German into English. To support Castalia House’s historic translation efforts and receive a new translated ebook every week, support the Alexandria project, and get future access to Castalia Unlimited, become a paid subscriber to this substack. And to receive a premium deluxe leatherbound history book every four months, subscribe to Castalia History.

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THE SECRET SCROLLS OF NARUTO, Vol. I by Eiji Yoshikawa will be the 39th book in the Castalia Library subscription. It will be a limited edition of 650/75 (Oct-Dec 2026) and contains the first three books: The Kamigata Scroll, The Edo Scroll, and The Kiso Scroll. It will be followed in the subscription by the second volume, which will contain the final three scrolls. This is the first English translation of one of the most popular novels ever published in Japan, where it is so famous that it has been made into 7 different films and 4 different television series and also inspired the manga series that sold more than 150 million copies.

Serialized in 1926–27, Eiji Yoshikawa, who is considered to be the Japanese Dumas, created the modern Japanese adventure novel with his publication of Naruto Hichō. Set in the 1760s, it follows the swordsman-monk Norizuki Gennojō as he crosses into the sealed domain of Awa to uncover a conspiracy against the Tokugawa shogunate, armed with nothing but his blade and the memory of a spy who vanished on a mission to the hidden province ten years before. At his side are two women, a pickpocket with a genius for survival, and the spy’s daughter in love with a man who is forbidden to love her back.

KAMIGATA - EDO - KISO

The Kamigata Scroll opens the tale in the canals of Osaka, where two men on a secret mission check into a canal-side guardhouse unaware that a woman is listening from the shadows. The Edo Scroll shifts the action to Tokugawa-era Tokyo and a midnight ambush at Sensō-ji temple. The Kiso Scroll follows the pursuit into the mountain roads of central Japan, where the distance between hunter and hunted narrows to the width of a sword.

As you can see from the image above, we have also made the two volumes of THE SECRET SCROLLS OF NARUTO in hardcover editions available on Amazon, but the leatherbound Library and Libraria editions will be a spectacular set that will make for a genuinely historic collector’s edition.

And since we’re on the subject of translations, this is as good a time as any to announce that all Library, Libraria, History, Cathedra, and Chateau leather book subscribers will receive a free basic subscription to Castalia Unlimited when it launches next month, which will entitle them to a number of free ebook downloads every month. Those subscribers who were also paying subscribers to this site prior to this announcement will have their subscriptions promoted to the premium level if they maintain them.

EXCERPT

Along the dusty highway, a procession of such color and splendor as to leave the eye nowhere to rest came sweeping from the Sanjō gate toward Ōtsu. Pink parasols and iris-painted parasols, held aloft against the sun by twenty-two or twenty-three beauties whose bright-patterned sleeves and wisteria hems, scarlet petticoats and flower-blue leggings, lacquered clogs and red-corded sandals fluttered and glinted beneath the silk. In their midst rode a single palanquin, and in the palanquin a woman of remarkable beauty.

One might have mistaken the company for the household of some great lord’s pleasure outing, but the chatter that never ceased among the attendants, the scraps of song and mouth-shamisen they scattered along the road without the slightest restraint, made clear enough that these were not persons of gentle birth. And yet the travelers, the muleteers, the porters on the highway stood rooted and staring, struck dumb by the sheer extravagance of the cavalcade.

“What on earth is that?”

The speculation ran wild. Some rich patron, surely, taking a party of Kyoto geisha to cool themselves at Lake Biwa. No, no, rich patrons since time immemorial had been men, and the figure in the palanquin was plainly a woman. A woman indeed, and a stunning beauty at that. A wealthy merchant’s wife, then? Don’t be ridiculous, no sheltered daughter of a good house would parade herself this way in broad daylight. Quite so, quite so. Then what was it? Nobody had the faintest idea.

The puzzlement and the staring only raised the procession’s spirits higher. Before long they reached the foot of the Ōsaka slope, and at the shop front of the Hashirii teahouse the party set down the palanquin. The company scattered like a cloud of butterflies into and around the establishment.

“Here we are, my lady, here we are.”

The women who bent to peer into the palanquin were Gion-district waitresses by the look of them, women of a certain age who knew how to dress without a false note.

“This is the last stop before the Oiwake junction, the famous Hashirii teahouse where the spring water comes bubbling up. Much as we hate to part, the escort ends here.”

“Already? It feels as though we have barely set out.”

“If it were possible, we would follow you all the way to Edo. But that would only be a burden on you, my lady.”

“It would, wouldn’t it. If you were all Kyoto dolls I could pack you in my trunk, but since you are rice-eating creatures with appetites to match…”

“Oh! What a wicked thing to say.”

“Well then, let us sit for a moment.”

“Yes, yes. Please take your time with your preparations.”

The young male entertainers and waitresses bustled to take down her footwear from the palanquin roof and set it in place; from the other side came cries of “Your fan, my lady, you’ve dropped your fan!” and “Your hem, your hem, the dust!” and they ushered her into the parlor beneath the wisteria trellis with a solicitude that would not let her touch the ground.

There the dancing girls crowded about her, fanning, wringing out hand-towels cooled in the spring water, women attending upon a woman with a devotion that was really quite considerable.

“Enough, enough. However much breeze you give me, I cannot carry it to Edo as a souvenir. Go on, all of you, and rest a while yourselves.”

“Very well then, we shall take a moment here too.”

“Good. Now here is your reward for escorting me this far. Share it out and enjoy yourselves.” She drew a fistful of gold and silver from her sash and scattered it among the dancing girls. The entertainers and waitresses scrambled for the coins with shrieks of delight. No wonder this woman commanded such devotion, even from her own sex.

And yet this “young lady” had no pretensions of playing the female Kibun. There was nothing forced or vulgar in her generosity. She simply found it amusing, it seemed, to be wrapped in an atmosphere of color and gaiety for no particular reason at all.

Then, as if something had occurred to her, she beckoned to one of the teahouse girls. “Miss. I believe I see Nada barrels over there. Would you bring me a flask? No, I don’t need anything special to eat. Edamame, or a bit of fresh ginger if you have it.”

Meanwhile the dancing girls had dragged stools under the wisteria trellis, and with their silver hairpins and flower-combs glinting they settled into a game of Dutch cards.

The mysterious young lady was Otsuna. Otsuna of the Backward Glance, on her way home to Edo. The three hundred ryō she had lifted at Tennōji and the winnings she had taken unexpectedly at Dutch cards, some seven hundred ryō in all, she had squandered across Fushimi and Kyoto in a style of amusement that would have done credit to any man. She had seen the Kamigata. She had shed the weight of all that gold. And now, refreshed and lightened, she was heading home.

Production update: we’re currently binding METAPHYSICS. Once that’s done, it and the three other books we’ve finished since the last shipment will be shipped to the warehouse and then out to the subscribers. Below is an actual photo of the most recently finished book: QUO VADIS.

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There was a time when law cowered before banditry. When the corrupt preyed upon the innocent, and courageous men stood idle.

Until the Ghost came.

GHOST OF THE BADLANDS 2: THE GHOST DANCE is a sequel to the very popular Ghost of the Badlands graphic novel and continues the story of the legendary Ghost introduced in BRIMSTONE.

RAZÖRFIST is the writer of Ghost of the Badlands. In addition to running a YouTube channel with 384,000 subscribers, Razör has also published two pulp adventure novels: Deathmask and The Long Moonlight.

RYAN GUTIERREZ is the illustrator of The Ghost Dance. He previously illustrated the Western Blackmarrow.

Arkhaven Comics has launched a crowdfund for The Ghost Dance. It has also made leatherbound editions of Brimstone available for the first time. The regular edition is silver foil-stamped pigskin.

While the elite Ghost edition features exquisite black-on-black blind-embossed Italian goatskin.

Book I, Chapter LII

There is no surer and less objectionable mode of repressing the insolence of an individual ambitious of power, who arises in a republic, than to forestall him in the ways by which he expects to arrive at that power.

We have seen in the preceding chapter how much credit the patricians gained with the people of Rome by the apparent benefit bestowed upon them, both by the pay granted to the soldiers as well as by the manner of distributing the imposts. If the nobility had understood how to maintain this feeling, all causes for further disturbances would have been removed, and the Tribunes would have lost the influence which they had over the people of Rome. For in truth there is no better nor easier mode in republics, and especially in such as are corrupt, for successfully opposing the ambition of any citizen, than to occupy in advance of him those ways by which he expects to attain the rank he aims at. If this mode had been employed by the adversaries of Cosimo de’ Medici, it would have been much better than to expel him from Florence; for if they had adopted his plan of favoring the people, they would have succeeded without any disturbances or violence in depriving him of the weapons which he himself employed with so much skill.

Pietro Soderini had obtained great influence in the city of Florence by no other means than by gaining the good will of the people, which gave him the reputation of being a great friend of liberty; it would have been a much easier and more honest way for those who envied his reputation and influence, as well as less hazardous for themselves and less injurious to the city, to have forestalled him in the ways by which he gained his power, rather than to oppose him in such manner as to involve in his destruction also the ruin of the whole republic. For if they had taken from his hands the weapon that gave him his strength, (which might easily have been done,) they could have opposed him boldly and without suspicion in all the councils and public assemblies. It may be said, perhaps, that if those citizens who hated Pietro committed an error in leaving him the means of gaining such influence with the people, Pietro himself erred in turn in not seizing in advance the means which his adversaries employed to make him feared as a dangerous man; which was excusable, however, in Soderini, as it would have been difficult for him to have done so, nor would it have been honest in him, for the means employed against him consisted merely in favoring the Medici.

It was in that way that his enemies attacked and finally ruined him. Pietro could not therefore in honesty have adopted a course by which through his influence he would have destroyed that liberty of which he was considered the especial guardian. Such a change to the side of the Medici on the part of Soderini could not have been made suddenly, nor could it have been kept secret. And the very moment that it should have been discovered that he had become friendly to the Medici, he would have become suspect and odious to the people, and would thus have afforded his enemies much better opportunity for destroying him than they had had previously.

Before deciding upon any course, therefore, men should well consider the objections and dangers which it presents; and if its perils exceed its advantages, they should avoid it, even though it had been in accordance with their previous determination; for to do otherwise would expose them to a similar experience as that of Cicero, who, wishing to destroy the credit and power of Mark Antony, only increased it. For Antony, having been declared an enemy of the Senate, had collected a large army, composed in great part of soldiers who had served under Caesar; Cicero wishing to withdraw these soldiers from him, advised the Senate to employ Octavian, and to send him with the army and the Consuls against Antony, alleging that so soon as the soldiers of Antony should hear the name of Octavian, the nephew of Caesar, and who had himself called Caesar, they would leave the former and join Octavian; and that Antony, thus bereft of support, would easily be crushed.

But it resulted just the other way, for Antony managed to win Octavian over to himself, who, abandoning Cicero and the Senate, allied himself with the former, which brought about the complete ruin of the party of the patricians. This might easily have been foreseen, and therefore they should not have followed the advice of Cicero, but should have borne in mind the name and character of him who had vanquished his enemies with so much glory, and seized for himself the sovereignty of Rome; and then they might have known that they could not expect from his adherents anything favorable to liberty.

Castalia Library makes the world’s most beautiful leather books at its own bindery in Switzerland. Castalia House is the world’s premier translator of never-before translated works from Japanese, Spanish, French, Italian, and German into English. To support Castalia House’s historic translation efforts and receive a new translated ebook every week, support the Alexandria project, and get future access to Castalia Unlimited, become a paid subscriber to this substack. And to receive a premium deluxe leatherbound history book every four months, subscribe to Castalia History.

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NEW RELEASES

• Alberte: The Little Duchess 2 by Zénaïde Fleuriot

The little duchess is now the most sought-after young woman in Paris

Alberte de la Rochefaucon is twenty now: beautiful, high-spirited, and the ward of an old ducal name. The wild child of The Little Duchess has become one of the most admired young women in the capital, and the fashionable world has decided her future for her. Her sister Madeleine. the marchioness de Valroux, is determined to see her make a brilliant match, and a dazzling candidate has appeared: David Louzéma, a fabulously rich friend from her Cannes childhood, who sweeps back into her life amid charity bazaars, skating parties, and masked balls, resplendent one evening in the pearls and emeralds of a rajah’s costume.

But Alberte measures men by a different standard. She will give her heart only to someone in whom she can find “a God, a country, and a heart” which draws her not to the glittering foreigner but to Roger de Châteaugrand, a plain young officer of dragoons with little to offerher but faith, honor, and steadiness. Against her stands a formidable alliance: her scheming sister, a severe great-aunt, and a false friend of doubtful reputation, all determined to steer her toward fortune and away from love. What follows is a season-long contest between worldly ambition and quiet conviction, fought out in Second Empire drawing rooms with wit, feeling, and no small amount of intrigue.

The sequel to The Little Duchess, Alberte carries Zénaïde Fleuriot’s most charming heroine into womanhood and the marriage market, and sets her sincerity against the vanities of fashionable Paris. One of the most widely read French novelists of the nineteenth century, Fleuriot wrote the domestic moral novel with a sharp social eye and a deep tenderness for characters who choose substance over show.

This is the first-ever English translation, by Summer Charrette. An ebook has already been sent to all of the paid subscribers.

Excerpt

“Who are you writing to, Alberte?”

“To my aunt de Châteaugrand, Madeleine.”

Mme de Valroux, who had come to pay her sister a morning call in her dressing-gown and whose face bore the marks of the previous evening’s fatigue, assumed a look of displeasure.

“Is it the letter Roger gave you last night that you are answering?” she said.

“Yes.”

“You are not hard to please. Was there ever such a thing — delivering letters in the middle of a fête? He might at least have disguised himself as a postman.”

“Roger is going to see his mother, who is waiting for my reply.”

“He would do well to go and recover himself a little in the country. The chanoinesse found him horribly changed. For my part, I barely saw him, and it seems he did not dance. But there is nothing astonishing in that — the Châteaugrands have such a character!”

She paused and resumed: “Will you join us later?”

“Good heavens, where are you going later?”

“To visit Chantilly. Your friends the Louzémas don’t know Chantilly — it is a disgrace; and so much has been said to them about it that they have decided on the excursion at once.”

“They will make it without me,” said Alberte.

“What! You won’t come and show them Chantilly?”

“No indeed, the ball lasted until two o’clock, and this evening we have the duchesse de Craonville’s fête.”

“What does that signify? On carnival days one arranges to enjoy oneself twice over.”

“Not I,” said Alberte; “I have not the constitution to bear so many late nights and so many fêtes.”

“You!” cried Mme de Valroux. “It is all very well for you to complain of fatigue, when I put up with it.”

Alberte looked at her sister and replied with a faint irony: “Ah, Madeleine, you have a constitution all your own. You are positively unwell only during Lent and in the country, where you are, in a word, bored.”

“Why, certainly, and I am astonished to hear you complain, you who are never bored anywhere.”

“I have no wish to do anything excessive.”

“And I — it is the excessive that amuses me.”

“Go to Chantilly, then; I shall rest.”

“It is absurd. The Louzémas will be offended.”

“Let them be offended.”

Mme de Valroux looked steadily at her sister.

“Are you speaking sincerely?” she asked.

“You know, Madeleine, that it is my habit.”

“You don’t love your friend more than that?”

It was Alberte’s turn to look at Madeleine.

“Does affection consist in wearing oneself out over frivolities for those one loves?”

“It consists in following them, not in separating from them. I find you shockingly ungrateful toward Luna and her brother.”

“Her brother?” Alberte replied, with a touch of pride. “What obligations have I contracted toward her brother?”

“What! Why, he is at your feet! At a sign from you, carriages, servants are at my disposal. You know you have something to do with their installing themselves on the Avenue des Champs-Élysées. You had only to say you could not understand living at a hotel for him to leave the Continental.”

“Enough,” said Alberte; “I know he commits enough follies of that kind, but I am sometimes more put out than charmed by them.”

“Why?”

“Because it has the air of binding me. And I make it a point of honour to tell you, I still see a difference between Roger de Châteaugrand and David Louzéma.”

“A difference there is, only not in the sense you would like to believe. No one thinks as you do. Good heavens! how can one compare these two men as matches? With Roger, you will be, for all your birth, nothing but a common officer’s wife, following him from garrison to garrison, obliged to see and to visit people you would never have dreamed of associating with, who will be your superiors, and who may subject you to a thousand slights without your being able to complain. With an army composed as ours is, there is no longer any possibility of our marrying officers on active duty — servants of the most ridiculous of governments.”

Alberte raised her head sharply.

“Roger serves only France,” she said; “and it will always be a very noble thing to serve France.”

Castalia Library makes the world’s most beautiful leather books at its own bindery in Switzerland. Castalia House is the premier translator of never-before translated works from Japanese, Spanish, French, Italian, and German into English. To support Castalia House’s historic translation efforts and receive a new translated ebook every week, support the Alexandria project, and get future access to Castalia Unlimited, become a paid subscriber to this substack. And to receive a premium deluxe leatherbound book every three months, subscribe to Castalia Library.

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Book I, Chapter LI

A republic or a prince must feign to do of their own liberality that to which necessity compels them.

Prudent men make the best of circumstances in their actions, and, although constrained by necessity to a certain course, make it appear as if done from their own liberality. This discretion was wisely used by the Roman Senate when they resolved to pay the soldiery out of the public treasury, who before had been obliged to maintain themselves. But as the Senate perceived that war could not be carried on for a length of time in this manner, as they could neither lay siege to places nor move armies to a distance, and judging it necessary to be able to do both, they resolved to pay them from the public funds; yet they did it in such a manner as to gain credit for that to which necessity compelled them; and this favor was so acceptable to the populace that Rome was wild with joy, thinking it a great benefit, which they had never expected and would not have sought themselves. And although the Tribunes endeavored to expose this delusion, showing that it made the burden of the people heavier instead of easier, still they could not prevent its acceptance by the people. This burden was further increased by the manner in which the Senate levied the taxes, imposing the heaviest and largest upon the nobility, and requiring them to pay first of all.

Castalia Library makes the world’s most beautiful leather books at its own bindery in Switzerland. Castalia House is the world’s premier translator of never-before translated works from Japanese, Spanish, French, Italian, and German into English. To support Castalia House’s historic translation efforts and receive a new translated ebook every week, support the Alexandria project, and get future access to Castalia Unlimited, become a paid subscriber to this substack. And to receive a premium deluxe leatherbound history book every four months, subscribe to Castalia History.

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Evil is rarely at a loss for ingress.

Whispers circulate among the San Francisco peaks, of mad roving Navajo, robbing and murdering ranchers and settlers, faces emblazoned with a shock of ethereal facepaint, answering to none save their nameless “Prophet”.

Unstoppable. Insatiable.

Striking from ambush and brooking no quarter, they can neither be reasoned with nor placated.

Defiant of white man’s labels, they cultivate a heathen eponym all their own:

Ch’į́įdii áłchíní.

“The Children of the Ghost”

You might well be wondering, what does this have to do with Castalia Library? I am a collector, nay, a veritable connoisseur of fine leatherbound books. My library is redolent of deluxe pigskin, elite goatskin, red wine, and tobacco smoke. What does this have to do with me?

Well, just in case you also happen to enjoy the occasional illustrated work, the bindery does also happen to produce leatherbound graphic novels. The crowdfund for the sequel to Razorfist’s smash hit, GHOST OF THE BADLANDS, will launch on Monday.

There is also a special black-on-black blind-embossed Ghost edition available.

Book I, Chapter L

No council or magistrate should have it in their power to stop the public business of a city.

When Quintius Cincinnatus and Julius Mentus were Consuls of Rome, a disagreement arose between them, which caused an interruption of all the public business of the state. When this came to the knowledge of the Senate, they advised the creation of a Dictator, who might do what the discord between the Consuls had prevented them from doing. But the Consuls, disagreeing upon every other matter, agreed only in this one thing—not to appoint a Dictator. So that the Senate, having no alternative, had recourse to the assistance of the Tribunes, who together with the Senate forced the Consuls to obedience. Whence we should note, in the first instance, the usefulness of the tribunate, which served not only to restrain the violence of the nobles against the people, but also against each other; and, secondly, that the institutions of a city never should place it in the power of a few to interrupt all the important business of the republic. For instance, if you give to a council authority to distribute honors and offices, or devolve upon any magistracy the administration of a certain business, it is proper to impose upon them either the necessity of doing it under all circumstances, or to provide that, in case of their not doing it themselves, it can and shall be done by some one else; otherwise, the constitution would be defective upon this point, and likely to involve the state in great dangers, as we have seen would have been the case in Rome, if they could not have opposed the authority of the Tribunes to the obstinacy of the Consuls.

In the republic of Venice the Grand Council distributed the honors and the offices; it happened several times that this body, from discontent or some erroneous suggestions, did not appoint successors to the magistrates of the city or of the provinces. This caused the greatest possible disorders, for all of a sudden both the city and its subject provinces lacked their legitimate judges; nor could they obtain anything if the majority of the council was not either satisfied or deceived. And this inconvenience would have led to the worst consequences for the city, if the prudent citizens had not provided against it, by availing of the first convenient occasion to make a law that all the public functionaries in the city and in the provinces should never vacate their offices until their successors had been elected and were ready to fill their places. And thus they deprived the Grand Council of the power to expose the republic to great dangers by arresting all public business.

Castalia Library makes the world’s most beautiful leather books at its own bindery in Switzerland. Castalia House is the world’s premier translator of never-before translated works from Japanese, Spanish, French, Italian, and German into English. To support Castalia House’s historic translation efforts and receive a new translated ebook every week, support the Alexandria project, and get future access to Castalia Unlimited, become a paid subscriber to this substack. And to receive a premium deluxe leatherbound history book every four months, subscribe to Castalia History.

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Book I, Chapter XLIX

If cities which from their beginning have enjoyed liberty, like Rome, have found difficulties in devising laws that would preserve their liberties, those that have had their origin in servitude find it impossible to succeed in making such laws.

The progress of the Roman republic demonstrates how difficult it is in the constitution of a republic to provide necessary laws for the maintenance of liberty; for notwithstanding the many laws established, first by Romulus, and afterwards by Numa, by Tullus Hostilius, and by Servius, and finally by the Decemvirs created for that purpose, yet fresh necessities constantly developed themselves in the management of the affairs of that city, which made it indispensable to enact new laws. This was the case when they instituted the Censorship, which was one of the most important provisions that helped to preserve the liberties of Rome, so long as liberty existed there. For the Censors being the supreme arbiters of the manners and customs of the Romans, they became the most potent instrument in retarding the progress of corruption in Rome. But it was a serious mistake to create these Censors for a term of five years, although it was corrected after a brief time by the prudence of the Dictator Mamercus, who by a new law reduced the term of office of that new magistracy to eighteen months; which so irritated the Censors then in office that they deprived Mamercus of the right of entrance into the Senate, which act was much blamed by the people as well as by the patricians. And as history does not inform us whether Mamercus had any remedy against this, we must assume either that history is defective upon this point, or that the Roman laws in that respect were not good; for it is not well that a republic should be constituted in such fashion that a citizen can be oppressed without recourse for having promulgated a law for the benefit of liberty.

But to return to our subject, I say that the institution of this new magistracy gives rise to the reflection, that if a city, which from its origin has enjoyed liberty but has of itself become corrupt, has great difficulties in devising good laws for the maintenance of liberty, it is not to be wondered at if a city that had its origin in servitude finds it, not only difficult, but actually impossible, ever to organize a government that will secure its liberty and tranquillity. This, as will be seen, was the case with the city of Florence, which from her first beginning had been subjected to the Roman Empire, and, having always existed under a foreign government, remained for a long time in this subject condition without ever attempting to free herself. And when afterwards the opportunity occurred for her to gain her liberty in a measure, she began by making a constitution that was a mixture of her old and bad institutions with new ones, and consequently could not be good. And thus she has gone on for the two hundred years of which we have any reliable account, without ever having a government that could really be called a republic.

The difficulties which Florence experienced have ever been the same in those cities whose origin was similar to hers. And although Florence repeatedly gave ample authority, by public and free suffrage, to a few of her citizens to reform the government, yet these never organized it for the general good, but always with the view of benefiting their own party, which, instead of establishing order in the city, only tended to increase the disorders. And to illustrate my argument by some particular instance, I will observe that one of the most important points to be considered by him who wishes to establish a republic is the question in whose hands he shall place the power over the life and death of its citizens. The constitution of Rome was excellent upon this point, for there an appeal to the people was the ordinary practice, and when an important case occurred, where it would have been perilous to delay execution by such an appeal, they had recourse to the Dictator, who had the right of immediate execution; this, however, was resorted to only in cases of extreme necessity. But in Florence, and in other cities who like her had their origin in servitude, the power of life and death was lodged in the hands of a stranger, sent by the prince to exercise that power. When these cities afterwards became free, they left that power in the hands of a foreigner, whom they called “the Captain.” But the facility with which he could be corrupted by the powerful citizens made this a most pernicious system; and in the course of the mutations of their governments that system was changed, and a council of eight citizens was appointed to perform the functions of the Captain; which only made matters worse, for the reason which we have given elsewhere, that a tribunal of a few is always under the control of a few powerful citizens.

Venice knew well how to guard against such an abuse. There the Council of Ten had power to punish any citizen without appeal; but as this number would have been insufficient to punish the powerful, although they had the authority, they established the Council of Forty. Moreover the Council of the Pregadi (which is the highest council) had the power of capital punishment. So that where there was an occasion there was also not wanting a tribunal capable of keeping the most powerful in check. It is no wonder, then—seeing that even in Rome, where the laws had been made by herself with the aid of her most sagacious citizens, every day fresh occasions arose that made it necessary to have new laws for the protection of liberty—that in other cities whose beginnings were vicious such difficulties should present themselves as made a proper organization impossible.

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Book I, Chapter XLVIII

One of the means of preventing an important magistracy from being conferred upon a vile and wicked individual is to have it applied for by one still more vile and wicked, or by the most noble and deserving in the state.

When the Roman Senate apprehended lest the Tribunes with consular powers should be taken from amongst the plebeians, they adopted one of the two following methods: either they caused the most distinguished and influential men of Rome to become candidates, or by suitable means they bribed some of the most sordid and ignoble to come forward as candidates at the same time with the better quality of plebeians, who usually asked for these offices. This latter course caused the people to be ashamed of bestowing them upon such candidates, and the former course made them ashamed to refuse them to such honorable citizens. All of which corroborates what I have maintained in the preceding chapter, that in general matters the people are apt to deceive themselves, but rarely in particulars.

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Book I, Chapter XLVII

Although men are apt to deceive themselves in general matters, yet they rarely do so in particulars.

The people of Rome, as has been related above, having become disgusted with the name of Consul, wanted either to have the Consuls chosen from amongst the plebeians, or that their powers should be limited. The nobility, unwilling to discredit the consular dignity by either of such changes, took a middle course, and consented that four Tribunes should be created, with consular powers, who might be taken either from the nobles or the plebeians. This satisfied the people, as it seemed to destroy the consulate, and to give them a share in the highest magistracy. This gave rise to a remarkable case; for when the election of these Tribunes came on, and the people might have elected all plebeians, they chose, instead, all from the patricians, whence Titus Livius says: “The result of this election teaches us how different minds are during the contentions for liberty and for honors, from what they are when they have to give an impartial judgment after the contest is over.” In examining whence this difference arises, I believe that it comes from this, that men are apt to deceive themselves upon general matters, but not so much so when they come to particulars.

As a general thing, the Roman people believed themselves entitled to the consulate, being the majority in the city, and having to bear more of the dangers of war, and as it was the vigor of their arms that preserved the liberty of Rome and established its power. And (as I have said) as their desire seemed to them reasonable, they were resolved to obtain it by any means. But when they had to judge of the particular qualifications of their individual candidates, they discovered their unfitness, and therefore decided that not one of them was worthy of that dignity, to which as a body they considered themselves entitled. Thus ashamed of their own candidates, they had recourse to those whom they deemed worthy of the office. Titus Livius, naturally admiring this decision, says: “Where will you find nowadays this modesty and equity, this loftiness of soul, whch in those days pervaded the whole people?”

In corroboration of this example we may adduce another notable one which occurred in Capua, after Hannibal had defeated the Romans at Cannae. Whilst all Italy rose up in consequence of this defeat, Capua still remained in a state of insubordination, because of the hatred that existed between the people and the Senate. Pacovius Calanus being at that time one of the supreme magistrates, and foreseeing the dangers that would result from the disorders in that city, resolved by means of the authority of his office to try and reconcile the people and the Senate; with this purpose he caused the Senate to be assembled, and stated to them the animosity which the people felt towards them, and the danger to which they were exposed of being massacred by them if the city were given up to Hannibal in consequence of the defeat of the Romans. He then added, that, if they would leave it to him to manage the matter, he would find means of restoring harmony between the two orders; but that, for this purpose, he would shut them up in their palace, and by seemingly putting them into the power of the people he would save them. The Senators yielded to his suggestion; whereupon Pacovius shut the Senate up in their palace, and then assembled the people and said to them that “the time had arrived when they might subdue the pride of the nobles and revenge themselves for the injuries received at their hands, and that he held the Senate shut up in their palace for this purpose. But believing that they would be unwilling to allow the city to be without a government, it would be necessary, before killing the old Senators, to choose new ones; and that therefore he had put the names of all the Senators into an urn, and would proceed to draw them in their presence, and that one after another those who were drawn should die, after their successors had been elected.”

And when the first was drawn and his name proclaimed the people raised a great noise, calling him proud, arrogant, and cruel; but when Pacovius asked them to choose another in his place, the whole assembly became quiet, and after a little time one was named by the people; but at the mention of his name some began to whistle, some to laugh, some to speak ill of him in one way, and some in another; and thus, one after another, those that were named were pronounced by them unworthy of the senatorial dignity, so that Pacovius took occasion to speak to them as follows: “Since you are of the opinion that the city would fare ill without a Senate, and as you cannot agree upon the successors of the old Senators, it seems to me it would be well for you to become reconciled with the present Senate, for the fear to which they have been subjected has in great measure humbled them, and you will now find in them that humanity which you in vain look for elsewhere.” This suggestion prevailed, and a reconciliation between the two orders followed, and the people, when they came to act upon particulars, discovered the error into which they had fallen in looking at the subject in general.

After the expulsion in 1414 of the principal citizens from Florence, there being no regular government, but rather a certain ambitious license, so that things were going from worse to worse, many of the popular party, seeing the ruin of the city, and not comprehending the cause of it, attributed it to a few powerful citizens, who fomented these disorders so as to enable them to make a government to suit themselves, and to deprive them of their liberty. They went through the Loggia and public places speaking against those prominent citizens, and threatening that, if ever they should themselves become members of the Signoria, they would unveil their deceitful practices, and would punish them for it. It happened in several instances that these citizens did attain to the highest magistracy, and when they had risen to that place, and were enabled to see matters more closely, they discovered the real causes of the disorders, and the dangers that threatened the state, as well as the difficulty of remedying them. And seeing that the times, and not the men, caused the disorders, they promptly changed their opinions and actions, because the knowledge of things in particular had removed from their minds that delusion into which they had fallen by looking at things in general. So that those who at first had heard them speak whilst they were still private citizens, and afterwards saw them remain inactive when they had risen to the supreme magistracy, believed that this was caused, not by the real knowledge of things, but by their having been perverted and corrupted by the great.

And as this happened with many, and repeatedly, it gave rise to a saying, “That these people have one mind in the public places, and another mind in the palace.” Reflecting now upon all that has been said, we see that the quickest way of opening the eyes of the people is to find the means of making them descend to particulars, seeing that to look at things only in a general way deceives them; as Pacovius did with regard to Capua and the Roman Senate. I believe also that we may conclude from it that no wise man should ever disregard the popular judgment upon particular matters, such as the distribution of honors and dignities; for in these things the people never deceive themselves, or, if they do, it is much less frequently than a small body would do, who had been especially charged with such distributions. Nor does it seem to me superfluous to show in the following chapter the course which the Senate took to deceive the people in the distributions that devolved upon them.

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Book I, Chapter XLVI

Men rise from one ambition to another: first, they seek to secure themselves against attack, and then they attack others.

The people of Rome, having recovered their liberty, resumed their original rank in the state, and obtained even more influence than before by means of a number of laws that confirmed their power. It seemed reasonable, therefore, that Rome should now enjoy a period of quiet. But experience proved the contrary, for every day there were new dissensions and disorders. As Titus Livius has most judiciously given the causes that produced these, it seems to me proper to quote his own words, where he says: “The pride of the people or of the nobles always increased as the opposite party was humbled; when the people kept within proper bounds, the young nobles began to insult them, and the Tribunes could do little to prevent it, being themselves outraged.

The nobles, on the other hand, although they felt that their young men were too insolent, yet, seeing that the restraints imposed by law could not be observed, preferred that they should be transgressed by their own party rather than by the people. And thus the desire of liberty caused one party to raise themselves in proportion as they oppressed the other. And it is the course of such movements that men, in attempting to avoid fear themselves, give others cause for fear; and the injuries which they ward off from themselves they inflict upon others, as though there were a necessity either to oppress or to be oppressed.”

In this we see one of the modes in which republics are brought to ruin, and how men rise from one ambition to another; and we recognize the truth of the sentence which Sallust puts into the mouth of Caesar, “that all evil examples have their origin in good beginnings.” The ambitious citizens of a republic seek in the first instance (as we have said above) to make themselves sure against the attacks, not only of individuals, but even of the magistrates. To enable them to do this, they seek to gain friends, either by apparently honest ways, or by assisting men with money, or by defending them against the powerful; and as this seems virtuous, almost everybody is readily deceived by it, and therefore no one opposes it, until the ambitious individual has, without hindrance, grown so powerful that private citzens fear him and the magistrates treat him with consideration. And when he has risen to that point, no one at the beginning having interfered with his greatness, it becomes in the end most dangerous to attempt to put him down, for the reasons I have given above when speaking of the danger of trying to abate an evil that has already attained a considerable growth in a city; so that in the end the matter is reduced to this, that you must endeavor to destroy the evil at the risk of sudden ruin, or, by allowing it to go on, submit to manifest servitude, unless the death of the individual or some other accident intervenes to rid the state of him.

For when it has once come to that point that the citizens and the magistrates are afraid to offend him and his adherents, it will afterwards not require much effort on his part to make them render judgments and attack persons according to his will. For this reason republics should make it one of their aims to watch that none of their citizens should be allowed to do harm on pretence of doing good, and that no one should acquire an influence that would injure instead of promoting liberty; of which we shall speak more at length in another place.

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Book I, Chapter XLV

It is a bad example not to observe the laws, especially on the part of those who have made them; and it is dangerous for those who govern cities to harass the people with constant wrongs.

The agreement between the Senate and the people having been carried into effect, and Rome restored to her ancient form of government, Virginius cited Appius before the people to defend his cause. He appeared accompanied by many nobles. Virginius insisted upon his being imprisoned, whereupon Appius loudly demanded to appeal to the people. Virginius maintained that he was unworthy of the privilege of that appeal, which he had himself destroyed, and not entitled to have for his defenders the very people whom he had offended. Appius replied that the people had no right to violate that appeal which they themselves had instituted with so much jealousy. But he was nevertheless incarcerated, and before the day of judgment came he committed suicide. And although the crimes of Appius merited the highest degree of punishment, yet it was inconsistent with a proper regard for liberty to violate the law, and especially one so recently made. For I think that there can be no worse example in a republic than to make a law and not to observe it; the more so when it is disregarded by the very parties who made it.

In the year 1494 Florence had reformed its government with the aid of Brother Girolamo Savonarola (whose writings exhibit so much learning, prudence, and courage); and amongst other provisions for the security of the citizens a law had been made which permitted an appeal to the people from the decisions which the Council of Eight and the Signoria might render in cases affecting the state, which had involved great discussions and difficulties in its passage. It happened that shortly after its confirmation five citizens were condemned to death by the Signoria on account of crimes against the state; and when these men wished to appeal to the people, they were not allowed to do so, in manifest disregard of the law. This occurrence did more than anything else to diminish the influence of Savonarola; for if the appeal was useful, then the law should have been observed, and if it was not useful, then it should never have been made. And this circumstance was the more remarked, as Brother Girolamo in his many subsequent preachings never condemned those who had broken the law, and rather excused the act in the manner of one unwilling to condemn what suited his purposes, yet unable to excuse it wholly. Having thus manifested his ambitious and partial spirit, it cost him his reputation and much trouble.

A government also does great wrong constantly to excite the resentment of its subjects by fresh injuries to this or that individual amongst them. This was the case after the Decemvirate, for all the Ten and many other citizens were at different times accused and condemned, so as to create the greatest alarm amongst the nobles, for it seemed as though these condemnations would never cease until the entire nobility should have been destroyed. All this would have produced the worst effects if the Tribune Marcus Duellius had not prevented it by issuing an edict that for the period of one year no one should be allowed to cite or accuse a Roman citizen, and this reassured the whole nobility. These examples show how dangerous it is for a republic or a prince to keep the minds of their subjects in a state of apprehension by pains and penalties constantly suspended over their heads. And certainly no more pernicious course could be pursued; for men who are kept in doubt and uncertainty as to their lives will resort to every kind of measure to secure themselves against danger, and will necessarily become more audacious and inclined to violent changes. It is important, therefore, either never to attack any one, or to inflict punishment by a single act of rigor, and afterwards to reassure the public mind by such acts as will restore calmness and confidence.

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