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Vaskaran Sarcar

Java Design Patterns

A Hands-On Experience with Real-World Examples
3rd ed.
Vaskaran Sarcar
Garia, Kolkata, India

ISBN 978-1-4842-7970-0 e-ISBN 978-1-4842-7971-7

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4842-7971-7

© Vaskaran Sarcar 2022

This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively
licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is
concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of
illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in
any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and
retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or
dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed.

The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks,

service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the
absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the
relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general
use.

The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the
advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate
at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the
editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the
material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have
been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional
claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

This Apress imprint is published by the registered company APress

Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.
The registered company address is: 1 New York Plaza, New York, NY
10004, U.S.A.
First, I dedicate this book to Almighty GOD and the Gang of Four. Then I
dedicate this work to all who have great potential to produce top-quality
software but could not flourish for to various reasons. My message for
them: “Dear reader, I want to hold your hands and help you express your
hidden talents to the outside world.”
Introduction
It is my absolute pleasure to write the third edition of Java Design
Patterns for you. You can surely guess that I got this opportunity
because you liked the previous edition of the book and shared your nice
reviews from across the globe. So, once again I’m excited to join your
design patterns journey. This time I present a further simplified, better
organized, and content-rich edition to you.
You probably know that the concept of design patterns became
extremely popular with the Gang of Four’s famous book Design
Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software (Addison-
Wesley, 1994). The book came out at the end of 1994, and it primarily
focused on C++. But it is useful to know that these concepts still apply
in today’s programming world. Sun Microsystem released its first
public implementation of Java 1.0 in 1995. So, in 1995, Java was new to
the programming world. Since then, it has become rich with new
features and is now a popular programming language. On the other
hand, the concepts of design patterns are universal. So, when you
exercise these fundamental concepts of design patterns with Java, you
open new opportunities for yourself.
My end goal is simple: I want you to develop your programming
skills to the next level using design patterns in your code.
Unfortunately, this skill set cannot be acquired simply by reading. This
is why I made this guide to the design patterns that you want to use in
Java.
I have been writing books on design patterns since 2015 in different
languages such as Java and C#. These books were further enhanced,
and multiple editions of them were published and well received. In the
initial version, my core intention was to implement each of the 23 Gang
of Four (GoF) design patterns using simple examples. One thing was
always in my mind when writing: I wanted to use the most basic
constructs of Java so that the code would be compatible with both the
upcoming version and the legacy version of Java. I have found this
method helpful in the world of programming.
In the last few years, I have received many constructive suggestions
from my readers. The second edition of this book was created with that
feedback in mind. I also updated the formatting and corrected some
typos from the previous version of the book and added new content to
this edition. In the second edition of the book, I focused on another
important area. I call it the “doubt-clearing sessions.” I knew that if I
could add some more information such as alternative ways to write
these implementations, the pros and cons of these patterns, and when
to choose one approach over another, readers would find this book
even more helpful. So, in the second edition of the book, “Q&A Session”
sections were added in each chapter to help you learn each pattern in
more depth. I know you liked it very much.
So, what is new in the third edition? Well, the first thing I want to
tell you is that since the second edition of the book is already big, this
time I made the examples shorter and simpler. Also, I place the related
chapters close to each other. This is why you’ll see the Chain of
Responsibility pattern after the Observer pattern. The same is true for
Simple Factory and Factory Method patterns, Strategy and State
patterns, and Command and Memento patterns. In addition, at the
beginning of the book, you’ll read a detailed discussion on SOLID design
principles, which are used heavily across these patterns. Apart from
these changes, I add more code explanations for your easy
understanding.
Malcolm Gladwell in his book Outliers (Little, Brown and Company,
2008) talked about the 10,000-hour rule. This rule says that the key to
achieve world-class expertise in any skill is, to a large extent, a matter
of practicing the correct way for a total of around 10,000 hours. I
acknowledge the fact that it is impossible to consider all experiences
before you write a program. Sometimes, it is also ok to bend the rules if
the return on investment (ROI) is nice. So, I remind you about the
Pareto principle or the 80-20 rule. This rule simply states that 80% of
outcomes come from 20% of all causes. This is useful in programming,
too. When you identify the most important and commonly used design
patterns and use them in your applications properly, you can make top-
quality programs. In this book, I discuss the programming patterns that
can help you write better programs. You may know some of them
already, but when you see them in action and go through the Q&A
sessions, you’ll understand their importance.
How the Book Is Organized
The book has four major parts:
Part 1 consists of the first two chapters, in which you will explore the
SOLID principles and learn to use the Simple Factory pattern.
Part 2 consists of the next 23 chapters, in which you learn and
implement all of the Gang of Four design patterns.
In the world of programming, there is no shortage of patterns, and
each has its own significance. So, in addition to the SOLID principles
and design patterns covered in Part 1 and Part 2, I discuss two
additional design patterns (Null Object and MVC) in Part 3. They are
equally important, commonly used, and well-known patterns in
today’s world of programming.
Finally, in Part 4 of the book, I discuss the criticism of design patterns
and give you an overview of anti-patterns, which are also important
when you implement the concepts of design patterns in your
applications. I also include a FAQ on design patterns.
Starting from Chapter 2, each chapter is divided into six major parts:
a definition (which is termed as “intent” in the GoF book), a core
concept, a real-life example, a computer/coding world example, at
least one sample program with various outputs, and the “Q&A
Session” section. These “Q&A Session” sections can help you learn
about each pattern in more depth.
You can download the source code of the book from the publisher’s
website. I have a plan to maintain the errata and, if required, I can
also make updates/announcements there. So, I suggest that you visit
those pages to receive any important corrections or updates.

Prerequisite Knowledge
The target readers for this book are those who are familiar with the
basic language constructs in Java and have an idea about the pure
object-oriented concepts like polymorphism, inheritance, abstraction,
encapsulation, and most importantly, how to compile or run a Java
application in the Eclipse IDE. This book does not invest time in easily
available topics, such as how to install Eclipse on your system, how to
write a “Hello World” program in Java, or how to use an if-else
statement or a while loop. I mentioned that this book was written
using the most basic features so that for most of the programs in this
book, you do not need to be familiar with advanced topics in Java. These
examples are simple and straightforward. I believe that these examples
are written in such a way that even if you are familiar with another
popular language such as C# or C++, you can still easily grasp the
concepts in this book.
Who Is This Book For?
In short, you should read this book if the answer is “yes” to the
following questions:
Are you familiar with basic constructs in Java and object-oriented
concepts like polymorphism, inheritance, abstraction, and
encapsulation?
Do you know how to set up your coding environment?
Do you want to explore the design patterns in Java step by step?
Do you want to explore the GoF design patterns? Are you further
interested in learning about Simple Factory, Null Object, and MVC
patterns?
Do you want to examine how the core constructs of Java work behind
these patterns?
Probably you shouldn’t read this book if the answer is “yes” to
any of the following questions:
Are you absolutely new to Java?
Are you looking for advanced concepts in Java excluding the topics
mentioned previously?
Do you dislike a book that has an emphasis on Q&A sessions?
“I do not like the Windows operating system and Eclipse. I want to
learn and use Java without them.” Is this statement true for you?
“I am already confident about GoF design patterns and other patterns
that you mentioned earlier. I am searching for other patterns.” Is this
statement true for you?

Useful Software
These are the important software/tools I used for this book:
I executed and started testing my programs using Java version 16.0.1
and the Eclipse IDE (version 2021-03 (4.19.0)) in a Windows 10
environment. When I started writing this book, they were the latest
versions. It is a big book and when I finished the initial draft, Eclipse
2021-09 was the latest edition and I kept updating the software.
Before I submitted the final version of the book, I tested the code in
 Java 17 (version 17.0.1). We can surely predict that version updates
will come continuously, but these version details should not matter
much to you because I have used the fundamental constructs of Java.
So, I believe that this code should execute smoothly in the upcoming
versions of Java/Eclipse as well.
Anything that is the latest today will be old (or outdated) tomorrow.
But the core constructs (or features) are evergreen. All new features
are built on top of these universal features. So, I like to write code
that is compatible with a wide range of versions using the basic
language constructs. I understand that you may have a different
thought, but I like this approach for various reasons. If you know the
latest features, changing the code to them is easy. But the reverse is
not necessarily true. Take another common example: when you
provide support to your clients and fix code defects in an application,
you cannot use the latest language constructs in almost every case,
because the original product was created with a software version
that is old now.
You can download the Eclipse IDE from
www.eclipse.org/downloads/. You’ll see the page shown in
Figure FM-1.

Figure FM-1 Download link for Eclipse

 Before I start coding, I use pen/pencils and paper. Sometimes, I use
markers and a whiteboard. But when I show my programs in a book,
I understand that I need to present these diagrams in a better shape.
So, I use some tools to draw the class diagrams from my code. In the
second edition of the book, I used ObjectAid Uml Explorer in the
Eclipse editor. It is a lightweight tool for Eclipse. But it did not work
for me with the updated versions of Eclipse. So, this time I used
another nice tool, Papyrus. It is an open-source UML 2 tool based on
Eclipse and licensed under the EPL. I was able to generate class
diagrams easily using this tool. In some cases, to make them better, I
added notes or edited a few things in the diagram so that you can
understand it easily. For example, consider Figure FM-2 (taken from
Chapter 14, when I discuss the Bridge pattern). You can understand
easily that the Papyrus tool will not show you the markers for
Hierarchy-1, Hierarchy-2, or BRIDGE inside the dashed rectangle. I
edited the original diagram to help you understand the components
better.

Figure FM-2 A class diagram that is taken from Chapter 14

In short, these diagrams help you understand the code, but to learn
design patterns, neither Papyrus nor Eclipse are mandatory. If you
 want to learn more about this reverse engineering process, you can
refer to the following link:
https://wiki.eclipse.org/Java_reverse_engineering
.

Note At the time of writing, all links in this book work and the
information is correct. But these links and policies may change in the
future.

Guidelines for Using This Book

Here are some suggestions so you can use the book more effectively:
I assume that you have some idea about the GoF design patterns. If
you are absolutely new to design patterns, I suggest you quickly go
through Appendix A. This appendix will help you to become familiar
with the basic concepts of design patterns.
If you are confident with the coverage of Appendix A, you can start
with any part of the book. But I suggest you go through the chapters
sequentially. The reason is that some fundamental design techniques
may be discussed in the Q&A Sessions of a previous chapter, and I do
not repeat those techniques in later chapters.
I believe that the output of the programs in this book should not vary
in other environments, but you know the nature of software: it is
naughty. So, I recommend that if you want to see the exact same
output, it’s best if you can mimic the same environment.

Conventions Used in This Book

Here I mention only two points. In a very few places, to avoid more
typing, I have used the word “he” only. Please treat it as “he” or “she”,
whichever applies to you.
To execute a program, I put all parts in the same folder/package. So,
in most cases, I chose the package-private visibility. But if you want, you
can increase the respective visibilities to public to reuse those parts. I
used separate packages for separate programs to help you find all parts
of a program at the same place.
 Finally, all the output and code of the book follow the same font and
structure. To draw your attention, in some places, I have made them
bold. For example, consider the following output fragment (taken from
Chapter 15, when I discuss the Template Method pattern) and the line
in bold:
***Template Method Pattern with a hook method.***
Computer Science course structure:
1. Mathematics

2. Soft skills

3. Object-Oriented Programming

4. Compiler construction.

Electronics course structure:

1. Mathematics

2. Soft skills

3. Digital Logic and Circuit Theory

Final Words
I must say that you are an intelligent person. You have chosen a subject
that can assist you throughout your career. If you are a
developer/programmer, you need these concepts. If you are an
architect of a software organization, you need these concepts. If you are
a college student, you need these concepts, not only to score high on
exams but to enter the corporate world. Even if you are a tester who
needs to take care of white-box testing or simply needs to know about
the code paths of a product, these concepts will help you a lot.
This book is designed for you in such a way that upon its
completion, you will have developed an adequate knowledge of the
topic, and most importantly, you’ll know how to proceed further.
Remember that this is just the beginning. As you learn about these
concepts, I suggest you write your own code; only then will you master
this area. There is no shortcut for this. Do you remember Euclid’s reply
to the ruler? If not, let me remind you of his reply: There is no royal
road to geometry. So, study and code. Understand a new concept and
code again. Do not give up when you face challenges. These are the
indicators that you are growing better.
Lastly, I hope that this book can help you and you will value the
effort.
Other documents randomly have
different content
 from a king committed to one than many; or on the other
who is a side, to many than to some few. For
child.
government is the power, the administration of
it is the act. Now the power in all kinds of government is equal;
the acts only differ, that is to say, the actions and motions of a
commonweal, as they flow from the deliberations of many or
few, of skilful or impertinent men. Whence we understand, that
the conveniences or inconveniences of any government depend
not on him in whom the authority resides, but on his officers;
and therefore nothing hinders but that the commonweal may be
well governed, although the monarch be a woman, or youth, or
infant, provided that they be fit for affairs who are endued with
the public offices and charges. And that which is said, woe to the
land whose king is a child, doth not signify the condition of a
monarchy to be inferior to a popular state; but contrariwise, that
by accident it is the grievance of a kingdom, that the king being
a child, it often happens, that many by ambition and power
intruding themselves into public councils, the government comes
to be administered in a democratical manner; and that thence
arise those infelicities, which for the most part accompany the
dominion of the people.
The power of 17. But it is a manifest sign that the most
generals is an absolute monarchy is the best state of
argument of government, that not only kings, but even those
the
excellency of cities which are subject to the people or to
monarchy. nobles, give the whole command of war to one
only; and that so absolute, as nothing can be
more. Wherein, by the way, this must be noted also; that no king
can give a general greater authority over his army, than he
himself by right may exercise over all his subjects. Monarchy
therefore is the best of all governments in the camps. But what
else are many commonwealths, than so many camps
strengthened with arms and men against each other; whose
state, because not restrained by any common power, howsoever
an uncertain peace, like a short truce, may pass between them,
is to be accounted for the state of nature; which is the state of
war.
The best 18. Lastly, since it was necessary for the
state of a preservation of ourselves to be subject to some
commonweal man or council, we cannot on better condition
, is that
where the be subject to any, than one whose interest
subjects are depends upon our safety and welfare; and this
the ruler’s then comes to pass, when we are the
inheritance. inheritance of the ruler. For every man of his
own accord endeavours the preservation of his inheritance. But
the lands and monies of the subjects are not only the prince’s
treasure, but their bodies and wildy minds. Which will be easily
granted by those, who consider at how great rates the dominion
of lesser countries is valued; and how much easier it is for men
to procure money, than money men. Nor do we readily meet
with any example that shows us when any subject, without any
default of his own, hath by his prince been despoiled of his life
or goods, through the sole licentiousness of his authority.
Aristocracy is 19. Hitherto we have compared a monarchical
so much with a popular state; we have said nothing of
better, by aristocracy. We may conclude of this, by what
how much it
approaches hath been said of those, that that which is
nearer to hereditary, and content with the election of
monarchy; magistrates; which transmits its deliberations to
the worse, by some few, and those most able; which simply
how much it imitates the government of monarchs most, and
is more
distant from the people least of all; is for the subjects both
it. better and more lasting than the rest.

15. Compacted by the artifice of men, &c.] It seems the

ancients who made that same fable of Prometheus, pointed at
this. They say that Prometheus, having stolen fire from the sun,
formed a man out of clay, and that for this deed he was tortured
by Jupiter with a perpetual gnawing in his liver. Which is, that by
human invention, which is signified by Prometheus, laws and
justice were by imitation taken from monarchy; by virtue
whereof, as by fire removed from its natural orb, the multitude,
as the dirt and dregs of men, was as it were quickened and
formed into a civil person; which is termed aristocracy or
democracy. But the author and abettors being found, who might
securely and quietly have lived under the natural jurisdiction of
kings, do thus smart for it; that being exposed still to alteration,
they are tormented with perpetual cares, suspicions, and
dissensions.
 CHAPTER XI.

PLACES AND EXAMPLES OF SCRIPTURE OF THE

RIGHTS
OF GOVERNMENT, AGREEABLE TO WHAT HATH
BEEN SAID BEFORE.
1. The beginning of institutive government from the consent of the people. 2.
Judicature and wars depend on the will of supreme commanders. 3. That
they who have the chief authority, are by right unpunishable. 4. That
without a supreme power there is no government, but anarchy. 5. That
from servants and sons there is a simple obedience due to their lords and
parents. 6. Absolute authority proved by most evident places, as well of
the New as the Old Testament.
The 1. We have, in the sixth chapter and the
beginning of second article, so derived the original of
institutive institutive or political government from the
government
from the consent of the multitude, that it appears they
consent of must either all consent, or be esteemed as
the people. enemies. Such was the beginning of God’s
government over the Jews instituted by Moses,
(Exod. xix. 5-8): If ye will obey my voice indeed, &c. Ye shall be
unto me a kingdom of priests, &c. And Moses came and called
the elders of the people, &c. And all the people answered, and
said: All that the Lord hath spoken we will do. Such also was the
beginning of Moses’s power under God, or his vicegerency,
(Exod. xx. 18-19): And all the people saw the thunderings and
lightenings, and the noise of the trumpet, &c. And they said unto
Moses, speak thou unto us, and we will hear. The like beginning
also had Saul’s kingdom, (1 Sam. xii. 12, 13): When ye saw that
Nahash king of the children of Ammon came out against you, ye
said unto me, nay, but a king shall reign over us, when the Lord
your God was your king. Now therefore behold the king whom
ye have chosen, and whom ye have desired. But the major part
only consenting, and not all; for there were certain sons of
Belial, who said, (1 Sam. x. 27), How shall this man save us?
And they despised him; those who did not consent, were put to
death as enemies. And the people said unto Samuel (1 Sam. xi.
12): Who is he that said, shall Saul reign over us? Bring the
men, that we may put them to death.
The power of 2. In the same sixth chapter, the sixth and
judicature, seventh articles, I have showed that all
and judgment and wars depend upon the will and
determinatio
n of wars, pleasure of him who bears the supreme
depend on authority; that is to say, in a monarchy, on a
the will of the monarch or king; and this is confirmed by the
supreme people’s own judgment. 1 Sam. viii. 20; We also
officer. will be like all the nations, and our king shall
judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles. And what
pertains to judgments, and all other matters whereof there is
any controversy, whether they be good or evil, is confirmed by
the testimony of King Solomon, (1 Kings iii. 9): Give therefore
thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I
may discern between good and evil. And that of Absolom, (2
Sam. xv. 3): There is no man deputed of the king to hear thee.
They who 3. That kings may not be punished by their
have the subjects, as hath been showed above in the
supreme sixth chapter and the twelfth article, King David
authority are
by right also confirms; who, though Saul sought to slay
unpunishable him, did notwithstanding refrain his hand from
. killing him, and forbade Abishai, saying, (1 Sam.
xxvi. 9): Destroy him not; for who can stretch
forth his hand against the Lords anointed, and be innocent? And
when he had cut off the skirt of his garment, (1 Sam. xxiv. 6):
The Lord forbid, saith he, that I should do this thing unto my
master the Lord’s anointed, to stretch forth mine hand against
him. And (2 Sam. i. 15) commanded the Amalekite, who for his
sake had slain Saul, to be put to death.
 That without 4. That which is said in the seventeenth
a supreme chapter of Judges, at the sixth verse: In those
power there days there was no king in Israel, but every man
is no
government, did that which was right in his own eyes: as
but though where there were not a monarchy, there
confusion. were an anarchy or confusion of all things: may
be brought as a testimony to prove the
excellency of monarchy above all other forms of government;
unless that by the word king may perhaps be understood not
one man only, but also a court; provided that in it there reside a
supreme power. Which if it be taken in this sense, yet hence it
may follow, that without a supreme and absolute power (which
we have endeavoured to prove in the sixth chapter) there will be
a liberty for every man to do what he hath a mind, or
whatsoever shall seem right to himself; which cannot stand with
the preservation of mankind. And therefore in all government
whatsoever, there is ever a supreme power understood to be
somewhere existent.
That servants 5. We have, in chap. VIII. art. 7 and 8, said
and sons owe that servants must yield a simple obedience to
their lords their lords, and in chap IX. art. 7, that sons owe
and parents
simple the same obedience to their parents. Saint Paul
obedience. says the same thing concerning servants
(Coloss. iii. 22): Servants obey in all things your
masters according to the flesh, not with eye-service, as men-
pleasers, but in singleness of heart, fearing God. Concerning
sons (Colos. iii. 20): Children obey your parents in all things, for
this is well-pleasing unto the Lord. Now as we by simple
obedience understand all things which are not contrary to the
laws of God; so in those cited places of St. Paul, after the word
all things, we must suppose, excepting those which are contrary
to the laws of God.
The absolute 6. But that I may not thus by piecemeal prove
power of the right of princes, I will now instance those
princes testimonies which altogether establish the whole
proved by
power; namely, that there is an absolute and
 most evident simple obedience due to them from their
testimonies subjects. And first out of the New Testament:
of the
Scripture, as
Matth. xxiii. 2, 3: The Scribes and Pharisees sit
well New as in Moses’ seat; all therefore, whatsoever they
Old. bid you observe, that observe and do.
Whatsoever they bid you (says Christ) observe,
that is to say, obey simply. Why? Because they sit in Moses’
seat; namely, the civil magistrate’s, not Aaron, the priest’s. Rom.
xiii. 1, 2: Let every soul be subject to the higher powers; for
there is no power but of God; the powers that be are ordained of
God; whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the
ordinance of God; and they that resist, shall receive to
themselves damnation. Now because the powers that were in St.
Paul’s time, were ordained of God, and all kings did at that time
require an absolute entire obedience from their subjects, it
follows that such a power was ordained of God. 1 Peter ii. 13-15:
Submit yourselves unto every ordinance of man for the Lord’s
sake, whether it be to the king as supreme, or unto governors as
unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of wicked
doers, and for the praise of them that do well; for so is the will
of God. Again St. Paul to Titus, (chap. iii. 1): Put them in mind to
be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, &c.
What principalities? Was it not to the principalities of those
times, which required an absolute obedience? Furthermore, that
we may come to the example of Christ himself, to whom the
kingdom of the Jews belonged by hereditary right derived from
David himself; he, when he lived in the manner of a subject,
both paid tribute unto Cæsar, and pronounced it to be due to
him, Matth. xxii. 21: Give unto Cæsar (saith he) the things which
are Cæsar’s, and unto God the things which are God’s. When it
pleased him to show himself a king, he required entire
obedience, Matth. xxi. 2, 3: Go (said he) into the village over
against you, and straight-way ye shall find an ass tied, and a colt
with her; loose them, and bring them unto me; and if any man
say aught unto you, ye shall say the Lord hath need of them.
This he did therefore by the right of being lord, or a king of the
Jews. But to take away a subject’s goods on this pretence only,
because the Lord hath need of them, is an absolute power. The
most evident places in the Old Testament are these: Deut. v. 27:
Go thou near, and hear all that the Lord our God shall say; and
speak thou unto us all that the Lord our God shall speak unto
thee, and we will hear it, and do it. But under the word all, is
contained absolute obedience. Again to Joshua (Joshua i. 16-
18): And they answered Joshua, saying, all that thou
commandest us, we will do; and whithersoever thou sendest us,
we will go; according as we hearkened unto Moses in all things,
so will we hearken unto thee; only the Lord thy God be with
thee, as he was with Moses; whosoever he be that doth rebel
against thy commandment, and will not hearken unto thy words
in all that thou commandest him, he shall be put to death. And
the parable of the bramble (Judges ix. 14, 15): Then said all the
trees unto the bramble, Come thou and reign over us. And the
bramble said unto the trees, If in truth ye anoint me king over
you, then come and put your trust in my shadow; and if not, let
fire come out of the bramble, and devour the cedars of Lebanon.
The sense of which words is, that we must acquiesce to their
sayings, whom we have truly constituted to be kings over us,
unless we would choose rather to be consumed by the fire of a
civil war. But the regal authority is more particularly described by
God himself, in 1 Sam. viii. 9, &c.: Show them the right of the
king that shall reign over them, &c. This shall be the right of the
king that shall reign over you; he will take your sons, and
appoint them for himself, for his chariots, and to be his
horsemen, and some shall run before his chariots, &c. And he
will take your daughters to be confectionaries, &c. And he will
take your vineyards, and give them to his servants, &c. Is not
this power absolute? And yet it is by God himself styled the
king’s right. Neither was any man among the Jews, no not the
high-priest himself, exempted from this obedience. For when the
king, namely, Solomon, said to Abiathar the priest (1 Kings ii. 26,
27): Get thee to Anathoth unto thine own fields; for thou art
worthy of death; but I will not at this time put thee to death,
because thou barest the ark of the Lord God before David my
father, and because thou hast been afflicted in all wherein my
father was afflicted. So Solomon thrust out Abiathar from being
priest unto the Lord; it cannot by any argument be proved, that
this act of his displeased the Lord; neither read we, that either
Solomon was reproved, or that his person at that time was any
whit less acceptable to God.
 CHAPTER XII.

OF THE INTERNAL CAUSES TENDING TO THE

DISSOLUTION
OF ANY GOVERNMENT.
1. That the judging of good and evil belongs to private persons is a seditious
opinion. 2. That subjects do sin by obeying their princes is a seditious
opinion. 3. That tyrannicide is lawful is a seditious opinion. 4. That those
who have the supreme power are subject to the civil laws is a seditious
opinion. 5. That the supreme power may be divided is a seditious
opinion. 6. That faith and sanctity are not acquired by study and reason,
but always supernaturally infused and inspired, is a seditious opinion. 7.
That each subject hath a propriety or absolute dominion of his own
goods is a seditious opinion. 8. Not to understand the difference between
the people and the multitude, prepares toward sedition. 9. Too great a
tax of money, though never so just and necessary, prepares toward
sedition. 10. Ambition disposeth us to sedition. 11. So doth the hope of
success. 12. Eloquence alone without wisdom, is the only faculty needful
to raise seditions. 13. How the folly of the common people, and the
elocution of ambitious men, concur to the destruction of a common-weal.

That the 1. Hitherto hath been spoken, by what causes

judgment of and pacts commonweals are constituted, and
good and evil what the rights of princes are over their
belongs to
private subjects. Now we will briefly say somewhat
persons, is a concerning the causes which dissolve them, or
seditious the reasons of seditions. Now as in the motion
opinion. of natural bodies three things are to be
considered, namely, internal disposition, that they be susceptible
of the motion to be produced; the external agent, whereby a
certain and determined motion may in act be produced; and the
action itself: so also in a commonweal where the subjects begin
to raise tumults, three things present themselves to our regard;
first, the doctrines and the passions contrary to peace,
wherewith the minds of men are fitted and disposed; next, their
quality and condition who solicit, assemble, and direct them,
already thus disposed, to take up arms and quit their allegiance;
lastly, the manner how this is done, or the faction itself. But one
and the first which disposeth them to sedition, is this, that the
knowledge of good and evil belongs to each single man. In the
state of nature indeed, where every man lives by equal right,
and has not by any mutual pacts submitted to the command of
others, we have granted this to be true; nay, proved it in chap. I.
art. 9. But in the civil state it is false. For it was shown (chap. VI.
art. 9) that the civil laws were the rules of good and evil, just
and unjust, honest and dishonest; that therefore what the
legislator commands, must be held for good, and what he
forbids for evil. And the legislator is ever that person who hath
the supreme power in the commonweal, that is to say, the
monarch in a monarchy. We have confirmed the same truth in
chap. XI. art. 2, out of the words of Solomon. For if private men
may pursue that as good and shun that as evil, which appears to
them to be so, to what end serve those words of his: Give
therefore unto thy servant an understanding heart, to judge thy
people, that I may discern between good and evil? Since
therefore it belongs to kings to discern between good and evil,
wicked are those, though usual, sayings, that he only is a king
who does righteously, and that kings must not be obeyed unless
they command us just things; and many other such like. Before
there was any government, just and unjust had no being, their
nature only being relative to some command: and every action in
its own nature is indifferent; that it becomes just or unjust,
proceeds from the right of the magistrate. Legitimate kings
therefore make the things they command just, by commanding
them, and those which they forbid, unjust, by forbidding them.
But private men, while they assume to themselves the
knowledge of good and evil, desire to be even as kings; which
cannot be with the safety of the commonweal. The most ancient
of all God’s commands is, (Gen. ii. 17): Thou shalt not eat of the
tree of knowledge of good and evil: and the most ancient of all
diabolical temptations, (Gen. iii. 5): Ye shall be as gods, knowing
good and evil; and God’s expostulation with man, (verse 11):
Who told thee that thou wert naked? Hast thou eaten of the
tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldst not eat? As
if he had said, how comest thou to judge that nakedness,
wherein it seemed good to me to create thee, to be shameful,
except thou have arrogated to thyself the knowledge of good
and evil.
That subjects 2. Whatsoever any man doth against his
do sin in conscience, is a sin; for he who doth so,
obeying their contemns the law. But we must distinguish. That
princes, is a
seditious is my sin indeed, which committing I do believe
opinion. to be my sin; but what I believe to be another
man’s sin, I may sometimes do that without any
sin of mine. For if I be commanded to do that which is a sin in
him who commands me, if I do it, and he that commands me be
by right lord over me, I sin not. For if I wage war at the
commandment of my prince, conceiving the war to be unjustly
undertaken, I do not therefore do unjustly; but rather if I refuse
to do it, arrogating to myself the knowledge of what is just and
unjust, which pertains only to my prince. They who observe not
this distinction, will fall into a necessity of sinning, as oft as
anything is commanded them which either is, or seems to be
unlawful to them: for if they obey, they sin against their
conscience; and if they obey not, against right. If they sin
against their conscience, they declare that they fear not the
pains of the world to come; if they sin against right, they do, as
much as in them lies, abolish human society and the civil life of
the present world. Their opinion therefore who teach, that
subjects sin when they obey their prince’s commands which to
them seem unjust, is both erroneous, and to be reckoned among
those which are contrary to civil obedience; and it depends upon
that original error which we have observed above, in the
foregoing article. For by our taking upon us to judge of good and
evil, we are the occasion that as well our obedience, as
disobedience, becomes sin unto us.
That 3. The third seditious doctrine springs from
tyrannicide is the same root, that tyrannicide is lawful; nay, at
lawful, is a this day it is by many divines, and of old it was
seditious
opinion. by all the philosophers, Plato, Aristotle, Cicero,
Seneca, Plutarch, and the rest of the
maintainers of the Greek and Roman anarchies, held not only
lawful, but even worthy of the greatest praise. And under the
title of tyrants, they mean not only monarchs, but all those who
bear the chief rule in any government whatsoever; for not
Pisistratus only at Athens, but those Thirty also who succeeded
him, and ruled together, were all called tyrants. But he whom
men require to be put to death as being a tyrant, commands
either by right or without right. If without right, he is an enemy,
and by right to be put to death; but then this must not be called
the killing a tyrant, but an enemy. If by right, then the divine
interrogation takes place: Who hath told thee that he was a
tyrant? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee
that thou shouldst not eat? For why dost thou call him a tyrant,
whom God hath made a king, except that thou, being a private
person, usurpest to thyself the knowledge of good and evil? But
how pernicious this opinion is to all governments, but especially
to that which is monarchical, we may hence discern; namely,
that by it every king, whether good or ill, stands exposed to be
condemned by the judgment, and slain by the hand of every
murderous villain.
That even 4. The fourth opinion adversary to civil
they who society, is their’s who hold, that they who bear
have the rule are subject also to the civil laws. Which
supreme
power are hath been sufficiently proved before not to be
subject to the true, in chap VI. art. 14, from this argument:
civil laws, is a that a city can neither be bound to itself, nor to
seditious any subject; not to itself, because no man can
opinion. be obliged except it be to another; not to any
subject, because the single wills of the subjects are contained in
the will of the city; insomuch that if the city will be free from all
such obligation, the subjects will so too; and by consequence
she is so. But that which holds true in a city, that must be
supposed to be true in a man, or an assembly of men who have
the supreme authority; for they make a city, which hath no being
but by their supreme power. Now that this opinion cannot consist
with the very being of government, is evident from hence; that
by it the knowledge of what is good and evil, that is to say, the
definition of what is, and what is not against the laws, would
return to each single person. Obedience therefore will cease, as
oft as anything seems to be commanded contrary to the civil
laws, and together with it all coercive jurisdiction; which cannot
possibly be without the destruction of the very essence of
government. Yet this error hath great props, Aristotle and
others; who, by reason of human infirmity, suppose the supreme
power to be committed with most security to the laws only. But
they seem to have looked very shallowly into the nature of
government, who thought that the constraining power, the
interpretation of laws, and the making of laws, all which are
powers necessarily belonging to government, should be left
wholly to the laws themselves. Now although particular subjects
may sometimes contend in judgment, and go to law with the
supreme magistrate; yet this is only then, when the question is
not what the magistrate may, but what by a certain rule he hath
declared he would do. As, when by any law the judges sit upon
the life of a subject, the question is not whether the magistrate
could by his absolute right deprive him of his life; but whether by
that law his will was that he should be deprived of it. But his will
was, he should, if he brake the law; else his will was, he should
not. This therefore, that a subject may have an action of law
against his supreme magistrate, is not strength of argument
sufficient to prove, that he is tied to his own laws. On the
contrary, it is evident that he is not tied to his own laws; because
no man is bound to himself. Laws therefore are set for Titius and
Caius, not for the ruler. However, by the ambition of lawyers it is
so ordered, that the laws to unskilful men seem not to depend
on the authority of the magistrate, but their prudence.
That the 5. In the fifth place, that the supreme
supreme authority may be divided, is a most fatal opinion
power may to all commonweals. But diverse men divide it
be divided, is
a seditious diverse ways. For some divide it, so as to grant
opinion. a supremacy to the civil power in matters
pertaining to peace and the benefits of this life;
but in things concerning the salvation of the soul they transfer it
on others. Now, because justice is of all things most necessary
to salvation, it happens that subjects measuring justice, not as
they ought, by the civil laws, but by the precepts and doctrines
of them who, in regard of the magistrate, are either private men
or strangers, through a superstitious fear dare not perform the
obedience due to their princes; through fear falling into that
which they most feared. Now what can be more pernicious to
any state, than that men should, by the apprehension of
everlasting torments, be deterred from obeying their princes,
that is to say, the laws; or from being just? There are also some,
who divide the supreme authority so as to allow the power of
war and peace unto one whom they call a monarch; but the
right of raising money they give to some others, and not to him.
But because monies are the sinews of war and peace, they who
thus divide the authority, do either really not divide it at all, but
place it wholly in them in whose power the money is, but give
the name of it to another: or if they do really divide it, they
dissolve the government. For neither upon necessity can war be
waged, nor can the public peace be preserved without money.
That faith 6. It is a common doctrine, that faith and
and holiness holiness are not acquired by study and natural
are not reason, but are always supernaturally infused
acquired by
study and and inspired into men. Which, if it were true, I
reason, but understand not why we should be commanded
are ever to give an account of our faith; or why any man,
supernaturall who is truly a Christian, should not be a
y infused and prophet; or lastly, why every man should not
 inspired, is a judge what is fit for him to do, what to avoid,
seditious rather out of his own inspiration, than by the
opinion.
precepts of his superiors or right reason. A
return therefore must be made to the private knowledge of good
and evil; which cannot be granted without the ruin of all
governments. This opinion hath spread itself so largely through
the whole Christian world, that the number of apostates from
natural reason is almost become infinite. And it sprang from sick-
brained men, who having gotten good store of holy words by
frequent reading of the Scriptures, made such a connexion of
them usually in their preaching, that their sermons, signifying
just nothing, yet to unlearned men seemed most divine. For he
whose nonsense appears to be a divine speech, must necessarily
seem to be inspired from above.
That single 7. The seventh doctrine opposite to
subjects have government, is this; that each subject hath an
any propriety absolute dominion over the goods he is in
or absolute
dominion possession of: that is to say, such a propriety as
over their excludes not only the right of all the rest of his
own goods, is fellow-subjects to the same goods, but also of
a seditious the magistrate himself. Which is not true; for
opinion. they who have a lord over them, have
themselves no lordship, as hath been proved chap. viii. art. 5.
Now the magistrate is lord of all his subjects, by the constitution
of government. Before the yoke of civil society was undertaken,
no man had any proper right; all things were common to all
men. Tell me therefore, how gottest thou this propriety but from
the magistrate? How got the magistrate it, but that every man
transferred his right on him? And thou therefore hast also given
up thy right to him. Thy dominion therefore, and propriety, is
just so much as he will, and shall last so long as he pleases;
even as in a family, each son hath such proper goods, and so
long lasting, as seems good to the father. But the greatest part
of men who profess civil prudence, reason otherwise. We are
equal, say they, by nature; there is no reason why any man
should by better right take my goods from me, than I his from
him. We know that money sometimes is needful for the defence
and maintenance of the public; but let them who require it, show
us the present necessity, and they shall receive it. They who talk
thus know not, that what they would have, is already done from
the beginning, in the very constitution of government; and
therefore speaking as in a dissolute multitude and yet not
fashioned government, they destroy the frame.
Not to know 8. In the last place, it is a great hindrance to
the civil government, especially monarchical, that
difference men distinguish not enough between a people
between a
people and a and a multitude. The people is somewhat that is
multitude, one, having one will, and to whom one action
prepares to may be attributed; none of these can properly
sedition. be said of a multitude. The people rules in all
governments. For even in monarchies the people commands; for
the people wills by the will of one man; but the multitude are
citizens, that is to say, subjects. In a democracy and aristocracy,
the citizens are the multitude, but the court is the people. And in
a monarchy, the subjects are the multitude, and (however it
seem a paradox) the king is the people. The common sort of
men, and others who little consider these truths, do always
speak of a great number of men as of the people, that is to say,
the city. They say, that the city hath rebelled against the king
(which is impossible), and that the people will and nill what
murmuring and discontented subjects would have or would not
have; under pretence of the people stirring up the citizens
against the city, that is to say, the multitude against the people.
And these are almost all the opinions, wherewith subjects being
tainted do easily tumult. And forasmuch as in all manner of
government majesty is to be preserved by him or them, who
have the supreme authority; the crimen læsæ majestatis
naturally cleaves to these opinions.
Too great a 9. There is nothing more afflicts the mind of
tax of money, man than poverty, or the want of those things
though never which are necessary for the preservation of life
so just and
and honour. And though there be no man but
 necessary, knows, that riches are gotten with industry, and
disposeth kept by frugality, yet all the poor commonly lay
men to
sedition.
the blame on the evil government, excusing
their own sloth and luxury; as if their private
goods forsooth were wasted by public exactions. But men must
consider, that they who have no patrimony, must not only labour
that they may live, but fight too that they may labour. Every one
of the Jews, who in Esdras’ time built the walls of Jerusalem, did
the work with one hand, and held the sword in the other. In all
government, we must conceive that the hand which holds the
sword, is the king or supreme council, which is no less to be
sustained and nourished by the subjects’ care and industry, than
that wherewith each man procures himself a private fortune; and
that customs and tributes are nothing else but their reward who
watch in arms for us, that the labours and endeavours of single
men may not be molested by the incursion of enemies; and that
their complaint, who impute their poverty to public persons, is
not more just, than if they should say that they are become in
want by paying of their debts. But the most part of men consider
nothing of these things. For they suffer the same thing with
them who have a disease they call an incubus; which springing
from gluttony, it makes men believe they are invaded,
oppressed, and stifled with a great weight. Now it is a thing
manifest of itself, that they who seem to themselves to be
burthened with the whole load of the commonweal, are prone to
be seditious; and that they are affected with change, who are
distasted at the present state of things.
Ambition 10. Another noxious disease of the mind is
disposeth theirs, who having little employment, want
men to honour and dignity. All men naturally strive for
sedition:
honour and preferment; but chiefly they, who
are least troubled with caring for necessary things. For these
men are invited by their vacancy, sometimes to disputation
among themselves concerning the commonweal, sometimes to
an easy reading of histories, politics, orations, poems, and other
pleasant books; and it happens that hence they think themselves
sufficiently furnished both with wit and learning, to administer
matters of the greatest consequence. Now because all men are
not what they appear to themselves; and if they were, yet all (by
reason of the multitude) could not be received to public offices;
it is necessary that many must be passed by. These therefore
conceiving themselves affronted, can desire nothing more, partly
out of envy to those who were preferred before them, partly out
of hope to overwhelm them, than ill-success to the public
consultations. And therefore it is no marvel, if with greedy
appetites they seek for occasions of innovations.
So doth hope 11. The hope of overcoming is also to be
of success. numbered among other seditious inclinations.
For let there be as many men as you will, infected with opinions
repugnant to peace and civil government; let there be as many
as there can, never so much wounded and torn with affronts and
calumnies by them who are in authority; yet if there be no hope
of having the better of them, or it appear not sufficient, there
will no sedition follow; every man will dissemble his thoughts,
and rather content himself with the present burthen than hazard
a heavier weight. There are four things necessarily requisite to
this hope. Numbers, instruments, mutual trust, and
commanders. To resist public magistrates without a great
number, is not sedition, but desperation. By instruments of war, I
mean all manner of arms, munition, and other necessary
provision: without which number can do nothing. Nor arms
neither, without mutual trust. Nor all these, without union under
some commander, whom of their own accord they are content to
obey; not as being engaged by their submission to his
command; (for we have already in this very chapter, supposed
these kind of men not to understand being obliged beyond that
which seems right and good in their own eyes); but for some
opinion they have of his virtue, or military skill, or resemblance
of humours. If these four be near at hand to men grieved with
the present state, and measuring the justice of their actions by
their own judgments; there will be nothing wanting to sedition
and confusion of the realm, but one to stir up and quicken them.
 Eloquence 12. Sallust’s character of Cataline, than whom
alone without there never was a greater artist in raising
wisdom is the seditions, is this: that he had great eloquence,
only faculty
needful to and little wisdom. He separates wisdom from
raise eloquence; attributing this as necessary to a
seditions. man born for commotions; adjudging that as an
instructress of peace and quietness. Now
eloquence is twofold. The one is an elegant and clear expression
of the conceptions of the mind; and riseth partly from the
contemplation of the things themselves, partly from an
understanding of words taken in their own proper and definite
signification. The other is a commotion of the passions of the
mind, such as are hope, fear, anger, pity; and derives from a
metaphorical use of words fitted to the passions. That forms a
speech from true principles; this from opinions already received,
what nature soever they are of. The art of that is logic, of this
rhetoric; the end of that is truth, of this victory. Each hath its
use; that in deliberations, this in exhortations; for that is never
disjoined from wisdom, but this almost ever. But that this kind of
powerful eloquence, separated from the true knowledge of
things, that is to say, from wisdom, is the true character of them
who solicit and stir up the people to innovations, may easily be
gathered out of the work itself which they have to do. For they
could not poison the people with those absurd opinions contrary
to peace and civil society, unless they held them themselves;
which sure is an ignorance greater than can well befall any wise
man. For he that knows not whence the laws derive their power,
which are the rules of just and unjust, honest and dishonest,
good and evil; what makes and preserves peace among men,
what destroys it; what is his, and what another’s; lastly, what he
would have done to himself, that he may do the like to others: is
surely to be accounted but meanly wise. But that they can turn
their auditors out of fools into madmen; that they can make
things to them who are ill-affected, seem worse, to them who
are well-affected, seem evil; that they can enlarge their hopes,
lessen their dangers beyond reason: this they have from that
sort of eloquence, not which explains things as they are, but
from that other, which by moving their minds, makes all things
to appear to be such as they in their minds, prepared before,
had already conceived them.
How the folly 13. Many men, who are themselves very well
of the affected to civil society, do through want of
common knowledge co-operate to the disposing of
people, and
the subjects’ minds to sedition, whilst they teach
eloquence of young men a doctrine conformable to the said
ambitious opinions in their schools, and all the people in
men, concur their pulpits. Now they who desire to bring this
to the disposition into act, place their whole endeavour
dissolution of
a in this: first, that they may join the ill-affected
commonweal together into faction and conspiracy; next, that
. themselves may have the greatest stroke in the
faction. They gather them into faction, while
they make themselves the relators and interpreters of the
counsels and actions of single men, and nominate the persons
and places to assemble and deliberate of such things whereby
the present government may be reformed, according as it shall
seem best to their interests. Now to the end that they
themselves may have the chief rule in the faction, the faction
must be kept in a faction; that is to say, they must have their
secret meetings apart with a few, where they may order what
shall afterward be propounded in a general meeting, and by
whom, and on what subject, and in what order each of them
shall speak, and how they may draw the powerfullest and most
popular men of the faction to their side. And thus when they
have gotten a faction big enough, in which they may rule by
their eloquence, they move it to take upon it the managing of
affairs. And thus they sometimes oppress the commonwealth,
namely, where there is no other faction to oppose them; but for
the most part they rend it, and introduce a civil war. For folly and
eloquence concur in the subversion of government, in the same
manner (as the fable hath it) as heretofore the daughters of
Pelias, king of Thessaly, conspired with Medea against their
father. They going to restore the decrepit old man to his youth
again, by the counsel of Medea they cut him into pieces, and set
him in the fire to boil; in vain expecting when he would live
again. So the common people, through their folly, like the
daughters of Pelias, desiring to renew the ancient government,
being drawn away by the eloquence of ambitious men, as it were
by the witchcraft of Medea; divided into faction they consume it
rather by those flames, than they reform it.
 CHAPTER XIII.

CONCERNING THE DUTIES OF THEM WHO BEAR

RULE.
1. The right of supreme authority is distinguished from its exercise. 2. The
safety of the people is the supreme law. 3. It behoves princes to regard
the common benefit of many, not the peculiar interest of this or that
man. 4. That by safety is understood all manner of conveniences. 5. A
query, whether it be the duty of kings to provide for the salvation of their
subjects’ souls, as they shall judge best according to their own
consciences. 6. Wherein the safety of the people consists. 7. That
discoverers are necessary for the defence of the people. 8. That to have
soldiers, arms, garrisons, and moneys in readiness, in time of peace, is
also necessary for the defence of the people. 9. A right instruction of
subjects in civil doctrines, is necessary for the preserving of peace. 10.
Equal distributions of public offices conduces much to the preservation of
peace. 11. It is natural equity, that monies be taxed according to what
every man spends, not what he possesses. 12. It conduceth to the
preservation of peace, to keep down ambitious men. 13. And to break
factions. 14. Laws whereby thriving arts are cherished and great costs
restrained, conduce to the enriching of the subject. 15. That more ought
not to be defined by the laws, than the benefit of the prince and his
subjects requires. 16. That greater punishments must not be inflicted,
than are prescribed by the laws. 13. Subjects must have right done them
against corrupt judges.

The right of 1. By what hath hitherto been said, the duties

supreme of citizens and subjects in any kind of
authority is government whatsoever, and the power of the
distinguished
from its supreme ruler over them are apparent. But we
exercise. have as yet said nothing of the duties of rulers,
and how they ought to behave themselves
towards their subjects. We must then distinguish between the
right and the exercise of supreme authority; for they can be
divided. As for example, when he who hath the right, either
cannot or will not be present in judging trespasses, or
deliberating of affairs. For kings sometimes by reason of their
age cannot order their affairs; sometimes also, though they can
do it themselves, yet they judge it fitter, being satisfied in the
choice of their officers and counsellors, to exercise their power
by them. Now where the right and exercise are severed, there
the government of the commonweal is like the ordinary
government of the world; in which God, the mover of all things,
produceth natural effects by the means of secondary causes. But
where he to whom the right of ruling doth belong, is himself
present in all judicatures, consultations, and public actions, there
the administration is such, as if God, beyond the ordinary course
of nature, should immediately apply himself unto all matters. We
will therefore in this chapter summarily and briefly speak
somewhat concerning their duties, who exercise authority,
whether by their own or other’s right. Nor is it my purpose to
descend into those things, which being diverse from others,
some princes may do, for this is to be left to the political
practices of each commonweal.
The safety of 2. Now all the duties of rulers are contained in
the people is this one sentence, the safety of the people is
the supreme the supreme law. For although they who among
law.
men obtain the chiefest dominion, cannot be
subject to laws properly so called, that is to say, to the will of
men, because to be chief and subject, are contradictories; yet is
it their duty in all things, as much as possibly they can, to yield
obedience unto right reason, which is the natural, moral, and
divine law. But because dominions were constituted for peace’s
sake, and peace was sought after for safety’s sake; he, who
being placed in authority, shall use his power otherwise than to
the safety of the people, will act against the reasons of peace,
that is to say, against the laws of nature. Now as the safety of
the people dictates a law by which princes know their duty, so
doth it also teach them an art how to procure themselves a
benefit; for the power of the citizens is the power of the city,
that is to say, his that bears the chief rule in any state.
It is the duty 3. By the people in this place we understand,
of princes to not one civil person, namely, the city itself which
respect the governs, but the multitude of subjects which are
common
benefit of governed. For the city was not instituted for its
many, not the own, but for the subjects’ sake: and yet a
peculiar particular care is not required of this or that
interest of man. For the ruler (as such) provides no
this or that otherwise for the safety of his people, than by
man.
his laws, which are universal; and therefore he
hath fully discharged himself, if he have thoroughly endeavoured
by wholesome constitutions to establish the welfare of the most
part, and made it as lasting as may be; and that no man suffer
ill, but by his own default, or by some chance which could not be
prevented. But it sometimes conduces to the safety of the most
part, that wicked men do suffer.
By safety is 4. But by safety must be understood, not the
understood sole preservation of life in what condition soever,
all manner of but in order to its happiness. For to this end did
benefits.
men freely assemble themselves and institute a
government, that they might, as much as their human condition
would afford, live delightfully. They therefore who had
undertaken the administration of power in such a kind of
government, would sin against the law of nature, (because
against their trust, who had committed that power unto them), if
they should not study, as much as by good laws could be
effected, to furnish their subjects abundantly, not only with the
good things belonging to life, but also with those which advance
to delectation. They who have acquired dominion by arms, do all
desire that their subjects may be strong in body and mind, that
they may serve them the better. Wherefore if they should not
endeavour to provide them, not only with such things whereby
they may live, but also with such whereby they may grow strong
and lusty, they would act against their own scope and end.
 Query, 5. And first of all, princes do believe that it
whether it be mainly concerns eternal salvation, what opinions
the duty of are held of the Deity, and what manner of
kings to
provide for worship he is to be adored with. Which being
the salvation supposed, it may be demanded whether chief
of their rulers, and whosoever they be, whether one or
subjects’ more, who exercise supreme authority, sin not
souls, as they against the law of nature, if they cause not such
shall judge
best in their a doctrine and worship to be taught and
own practised, or permit a contrary to be taught and
consciences. practised, as they believe necessarily conduceth
to the eternal salvation of their subjects. It is
manifest that they act against their conscience; and that they
will, as much as in them lies, the eternal perdition of their
subjects. For if they willed it not, I see no reason why they
should suffer (when being supreme they cannot be compelled)
such things to be taught and done, for which they believe them
to be in a damnable state. But we will leave this difficulty in
suspense.
Wherein the 6. The benefits of subjects, respecting this life
safety of the only, may be distributed into four kinds. 1. That
people they be defended against foreign enemies. 2.
consists.
That peace be preserved at home. 3. That they
be enriched, as much as may consist with public security. 4. That
they enjoy a harmless liberty. For supreme commanders can
confer no more to their civil happiness, than that being
preserved from foreign and civil wars, they may quietly enjoy
that wealth which they have purchased by their own industry.
That 7. There are two things necessary for the
discoverers people’s defence; to be warned and to be
are necessary forearmed. For the state of commonwealths
for the
defence of considered in themselves, is natural, that is to
the people. say, hostile. Neither if they cease from fighting,
is it therefore to be called peace; but rather a
breathing time, in which one enemy observing the motion and
countenance of the other, values his security not according to
the pacts, but the forces and counsels of his adversary. And this
by natural right, as hath been showed in chap. II. art. 11, from
this, that contracts are invalid in the state of nature, as oft as
any just fear doth intervene. It is therefore necessary to the
defence of the city, first, that there be some who may, as near as
may be, search into and discover the counsels and motions of all
those who may prejudice it. For discoverers to ministers of state,
are like the beams of the sun to the human soul. And we may
more truly say in vision political, than natural, that the sensible
and intelligible species of outward things, not well considered by
others, are by the air transported to the soul; that is to say, to
them who have the supreme authority: and therefore are they
no less necessary to the preservation of the state, than the rays
of the light are to the conservation of man. Or if they be
compared to spider’s webs, which, extended on all sides by the
finest threads, do warn them, keeping in their small holes, of all
outward motions; they who bear rule, can no more know what is
necessary to be commanded for the defence of their subjects
without spies, than those spiders can, when they shall go forth,
and whither they shall repair, without the motion of those
threads.
To have 8. Furthermore, it is necessarily requisite to
soldiers, the people’s defence, that they be forearmed.
arms, Now to be forearmed is to be furnished with
garrisons,
and money in soldiers, arms, ships, forts, and monies, before
readiness in the danger be instant; for the lifting of soldiers
time of and taking up of arms after a blow is given, is
peace, is too late at least, if not impossible. In like
necessary for manner, not to raise forts and appoint garrisons
the people’s
defence. in convenient places before the frontiers are
invaded, is to be like those country swains, (as
Demosthenes said), who ignorant of the art of fencing, with their
bucklers guarded those parts of the body where they first felt
the smart of the strokes. But they who think it then seasonable
enough to raise monies for the maintenance of soldiers and
other charges of war, when the danger begins to show itself,
they consider not, surely, how difficult a matter it is to wring
suddenly out of close-fisted men so vast a proportion of monies.
For almost all men, what they once reckon in the number of
their goods, do judge themselves to have such a right and
propriety in it, as they conceive themselves to be injured
whensoever they are forced to employ but the least part of it for
the public good. Now a sufficient stock of monies to defend the
country with arms, will not soon be raised out of the treasure of
imposts and customs. We must therefore, for fear of war, in time
of peace hoard up good sums, if we intend the safety of the
commonweal. Since therefore it necessarily belongs to rulers, for
the subjects’ safety to discover the enemy’s counsel, to keep
garrisons, and to have money in continual readiness; and that
princes are, by the law of nature, bound to use their whole
endeavour in procuring the welfare of their subjects: it follows,
that it is not only lawful for them to send out spies, to maintain
soldiers, to build forts, and to require monies for these purposes;
but also not to do thus is unlawful. To which also may be added,
whatsoever shall seem to conduce to the lessening of the power
of foreigners whom they suspect, whether by slight or force. For
rulers are bound according to their power to prevent the evils
they suspect; lest peradventure they may happen through their
negligence.
A right 9. But many things are required to the
instruction of conservation of inward peace; because many
subjects in things concur (as hath been showed in the
civil
doctrines, is foregoing chapter) to its perturbation. We have
necessary for there showed, that some things there are, which
the dispose the minds of men to sedition, others
preserving of which move and quicken them so disposed.
peace. Among those which dispose them, we have
reckoned in the first place certain perverse doctrines. It is
therefore the duty of those who have the chief authority, to root
those out of the minds of men, not by commanding, but by
teaching; not by the terror of penalties, but by the perspicuity of
reasons. The laws whereby this evil may be withstood, are not to
be made against the persons erring, but against the errors
themselves. Those errors which, in the foregoing chapter, we
affirmed were inconsistent with the quiet of the commonweal,
have crept into the minds of ignorant men, partly from the
pulpit, partly from the daily discourses of men, who, by reason
of little employment otherwise, do find leisure enough to study;
and they got into these men’s minds by the teachers of their
youth in public schools. Wherefore also, on the other side, if any
man would introduce sound doctrine, he must begin from the
academies. There the true and truly demonstrated foundations
of civil doctrine are to be laid; wherewith young men, being once
endued, they may afterward, both in private and public, instruct
the vulgar. And this they will do so much the more cheerfully and
powerfully, by how much themselves shall be more certainly
convinced of the truth of those things they profess and teach.
For seeing at this day men receive propositions, though false,
and no more intelligible than if a man should join together a
company of terms drawn by chance out of an urn, by reason of
the frequent use of hearing them; how much more would they
for the same reason entertain true doctrines, suitable to their
own understandings and the nature of things? I therefore
conceive it to be the duty of supreme officers, to cause the true
elements of civil doctrine to be written, and to command them to
be taught in all the colleges of their several dominions.
Equal 10. In the next place we showed, that grief of
distribution mind arising from want did dispose the subjects
of public to sedition; which want, although derived from
burthens
conduceth their own luxury and sloth, yet they impute it to
much to the those who govern the realm, as though they
preservation were drained and oppressed by public pensions.
of peace. Notwithstanding, it may sometimes happen that
this complaint may be just; namely, when the burthens of the
realm are unequally imposed on the subjects; for that which to
all together is but a light weight, if many withdraw themselves it
will be very heavy, nay, even intolerable to the rest: neither are
men wont so much to grieve at the burthen itself, as at the
inequality. With much earnestness therefore men strive to be
freed from taxes; and in this conflict the less happy, as being
overcome, do envy the more fortunate. To remove therefore all
just complaint, it is the interest of the public quiet, and by
consequence it concerns the duty of the magistrate, to see that
the public burthens be equally borne. Furthermore, since what is
brought by the subjects to public use, is nothing else but the
price of their bought peace, it is good reason that they who
equally share in the peace, should also pay an equal part, either
by contributing their monies or their labours to the commonweal.
Now it is the law of nature, (by art. 15, chap. III), that every
man in distributing right to others, do carry himself equal to all.
Wherefore rulers are, by the natural law, obliged to lay the
burthens of the commonweal equally on their subjects.
It is natural 11. Now in this place we understand an
equity, that equality, not of money, but of burthen; that is to
monies be say, an equality of reason between the burthens
taxed
according to and the benefits. For although all equally enjoy
what every peace, yet the benefits springing from thence
man spends, are not equal to all; for some get greater
not to what possessions, others less; and again, some
he consume less, others more. It may therefore be
possesseth.
demanded, whether subjects ought to
contribute to the public according to the rate of what they gain,
or of what they spend: that is to say, whether the persons must
be taxed, so as to pay contribution according to their wealth; or
the goods themselves, that every man contribute according to
what he spends. But if we consider, where monies are raised
according to wealth, there they who have made equal gain, have
not equal possessions, because that one preserves what he hath
got by frugality, another wastes it by luxury, and therefore
equally rejoicing in the benefit of peace, they do not equally
sustain the burthens of the commonweal: and on the other side,
where the goods themselves are taxed, there every man, while
he spends his private goods, in the very act of consuming them
he undiscernably pays part due to the commonweal, according