THE OBSERVATION.

IN this relation, there are diuers points worthily recommended to the discretion of such, as are willing to be directed by other mens misaduentures. As first into what extremities ambition doth driue her thirstie fauourites, by suppressing the better faculties of the soule, & setting such vnbrideled motions on foot, as carrie men headlong into most desperate attempts: for as it had deserued commendation in either faction so to haue carried their emulation, that by their owne meanes and strength appli∣ed Page  34 to the rule of good gouernment, their authority might wholy haue swaied the inclinations of the weaker states; so was it most odious in the Sequani, to call in forraine forces to satisfie the appetite of their vntempered humor, and in the ende were accordingly rewarded. Secondly, it appeareth how dangerous a thing it is, to make a stranger a stickler in a quarrell which ciuill dissention hath bro∣ched, when the partie that called him in, shall not be as able to refuse his assi∣stance vpon occasion, as he was willing to entertaine it for aduantage. Lastlie, the often discontents of these states shew the force of a present euill, which pos∣sesseth so vehemently the powers of the soule, that any other calamity either al∣ready past or yet to come, how great soeuer, seemeth tollerable and easie in re∣gard of that smart which the present griefe inflicteth. So the Sequani chose ra∣ther to captiuate their libertie to the Barbarisme of a sauage nation, then to in∣dure the Hedui to take the hand of them: and againe, to make themselues vas∣sals to the Romans, rather then indure the vsurping cruelty of the Germans: and finally (as the sequell of the historie will discouer) to hazard the losse of life and country, then to suffer the taxes and impositions of the Romans: So predomi∣nant is the present euill in mens affections, and so it preuaileth at the seate of our iudgment.