For Those Who Are
Cherished And Sustained During The Time Of Peace, Are More Ready To
Come Forward In Times
Of danger, and are more confidently to be
depended upon; and as a nation unsubdued ever meditates plots under
the
Disguise of friendship, let not the prince or his governor
entrust the protection of his camp or capital to their fidelity.
By the examples of many remarkable men, some of whom have been
cruelly put to death, and others deprived of their castles and
dignities, through their own neglect and want of care, we may see,
that the artifices of a crafty and subdued nation are much more to
be dreaded than their open warfare; their good-will than their
anger, their honey than their gall, their malice than their attack,
their treachery than their aggression, and their pretended
friendship more than their open enmity. A prudent and provident
man therefore should contemplate in the misfortune of others what
he ought himself to avoid; correction taught by example is
harmless, as Ennodius (29) says: "The ruin of predecessors
instructs those who succeed; and a former miscarriage becomes a
future caution." If a well-disposed prince should wish these great
designs to be accomplished without the effusion of blood, the
marches, as we before mentioned, must be put into a state of
defence on all sides, and all intercourse by sea and land
interdicted; some of the Welsh may be stirred up to deadly feuds,
by means of stipends, and by transferring the property of one
person to another; and thus worn out with hunger, and a want of the
necessaries of life, and harassed by frequent murders and
implacable enmities, they will at last be compelled to surrender.
There are three things which ruin this nation, and prevent its
enjoying the satisfaction of a fruitful progeny. First, because
both the natural and legitimate sons endeavour to divide the
paternal inheritance amongst themselves; from which cause, as we
have before observed, continual fratricides take place. Secondly,
because the education of their sons is committed to the care of the
high-born people of the country, who, on the death of their
fathers, endeavour by all possible means to exalt their pupil; from
whence arise murders, conflagrations, and almost a total
destruction of the country. And, thirdly, because from the pride
and obstinacy of their disposition, they will not (like other
nations) subject themselves to the dominion of one lord and king.
CHAPTER X
In what manner this nation may resist and revolt
Having hitherto so partially and elaborately spoken in favour of
the English, and being equally connected by birth with each nation,
justice demands that we should argue on both sides; let us
therefore, at the close of our work, turn our attention towards the
Welsh, and briefly, but effectually, instruct them in the art of
resistance. If the Welsh were more commonly accustomed to the
Gallic mode of arming, and depended more on steady fighting than on
their agility; if their princes were unanimous and inseparable in
their defence; or rather, if they had only one prince, and that a
good one; this nation situated in so powerful, strong, and
inaccessible a country, could hardly ever be completely overcome.
If, therefore, they would be inseparable, they would become
insuperable, being assisted by these three circumstances; a country
well defended by nature, a people both contented and accustomed to
live upon little, a community whose nobles as well as privates are
instructed in the use of arms; and especially as the English fight
for power, the Welsh for liberty; the one to procure gain, the
other to avoid loss; the English hirelings for money, the Welsh
patriots for their country.
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