The estates, empires, & principallities of the world Represented by ye description of countries, maners of inhabitants, riches of prouinces, forces, gouernment, religion; and the princes that haue gouerned in euery estate. With the begin[n]ing of all militarie and religious orders. Translated out of French by Edw: Grimstone, sargeant at armes.

¶ The Forces.

HAuing set downe what the riches of this prince may be, we must come vnto his for∣ces, and hauing consideration in like manner of Badurius armie, which did consist of [ XII] a•• infinit number of souldiers; for that they number one hundred and fiftie thousand ho••se, whereof there were thirtie fiue thousand barbed, and withall he had fiue hundred thousand foot: Moreouer, there was so great an equipage, and so much munition, as the report of Maffeus seemes incredible, if we shall conferre those forces with those of the [ F] kings of Europe. He had withall two thousand peeces of brasse ordnance, among which there were foure great basiliskes, euerie one of which were drawne by a hundred paire 〈◊〉〈◊〉 oxen, fiue hundred carts with poulder and shot, and two hundred Elephants armed: 〈◊〉〈◊〉 making the like conclusion as we haue done in regard of the riches, we must con∣••••sse, that seeing the great Mogor is lord of so many other countries, besides that of Ba∣durius,

he may leuie armies whose number alone were able to strike terrour into all his [ A] neighbours, if they were not furnished with many men as well as himselfe, proportio∣nable to the lands which they hold. And without doubt it is no difficult thing for them to draw many men to field, hauing need of so little, be it either to feed them, or to arme them; and in like manner they may supplie themselues with infinit store of muni∣tion and engins for the warre; for that they carrie no other thing with them but what is necessarie for the warres. Aboundance of wine, diuersitie of meats, and such like, which cannot be carried without great charge, and much trouble, is not respected among them: they haue no care but for that which concernes warre, as copper, yron, steele, and tinne, to make peeces, and other instruments of warre; yron and lead to make bulle••s; and [ B] yron and steele for swords, with oxen and elephants to draw their ordnance. All these princes are tyrans, so as to assure and increase their Estates, they oppresse the people, and put all into the hands of their souldiers, to the end they may be more faithful vnto them. But the Mahometan princes doe not commit their townes of strength, nor enterprises of importance, but to their slaues, who many times reuoult and seaze vpon their maisters Estates, and to maintaine themselues in possession, they abandon the people to spoyle: for the power of a prince must of necessitie be supported either by the loue of his sub∣iects, or by some others; for that he that is feared of all men, cannot long subsist. And for that tyrans cannot promise vnto themselues the loue of the people, whom they in∣treat, not as subiects, but as slaues; they must of force put all confidence in their souldi∣ers, and win them by faire promises: so the Turke relies vpon his Ianisaries, who know no [ C] other maister, no nor father; and to purchase their loue, and to be supported by them, he giues them libertie to doe any thing. Euen so, many princes of Malabar hold the people as beasts, and ground their power vpon the Naires. The kings of Ormus, Cambaye, De∣can, and Acen, make account of slaues; & for that they lay the foundation of their great∣nesse in their souldiers, be they free, or slaues, naturall borne, or strangers, of necessitie among them warre must be the end of all things, and they must not spare their treasure to furnish themselues with souldiers and munition.

[ XIII] But to returne to our great Mogor, they say, that he may draw to field almost in an in∣stant three hundred thousand horse, fiftie thousand elephants, and almost an infinit num∣ber [ D] of foot.

[ XIIII] But some one will obiect, seeing this prince is so powerfull, why doth he not make himselfe maister of the rest of the Indies, and of the East? To whom I answer, that there are many things which hinder him: the one is, that as the spirit and art of man cannot produce a perpetuall motion, an effect proper to God and Nature; so can they not giue a continuall course to humane enterprises: for although that great empires be not in∣fested with forraine forces, yet they sinke vnder their owne weight, and ruine themselues. Moreouer, whenas power increaseth, there wants agilitie, and although the forces be greater, yet are they not verie fit, I will not say to make incursions, but to moue. These forces moue but slowly, and it is well knowne how much celeritie and speed doth im∣port [ E] in warre. Great conquests bring with them a care to keepe and assure them, the which will require time. In the meane time, the neighbours fortifie themselues, and prouide for their safeties, and the facilitie of vanquishing flies away with the occasion.

Moreouer, he that hath vanquished his enemies, doth most commonly feare his com∣panions, and they that haue beene sharers in his victorie; who to assure himselfe of them, must breake off his enterprises, and make a retreat sooner than he desired, or ought. And besides, victories make Captaines insolent, and souldiers mutinous and disobedient, and if the one desire to march on, the others will not follow them, as it happened to Alexan∣der and Lucullus. We must not passe ouer with silence, that great enterprises which suc∣ceed enrich priuat men, but most commonly they leaue the prince without treasure, the [ F] which keepes armies well vnited, and makes them more prompt for actions of warre. We must also confesse, that a great armie (like to that of Badurius) by the ruine of those countries through which it doth passe and stay, doth also depriue it selfe of all mainte∣nance: wherefore although the enemie defeat it not, yet it is consumed by famine, the

[ A] which is most commonly accompanied with the plague. And for this reason there can be no better resolution taken against great armies, than to temporise, and to stand vpon de∣fence, being most certaine that they cannot long continue in that estate, but must be dis∣persed either for want of pay, or of victualls, or through the infection of the aire, or by diseases.

And that which doth also hinder the proceedings of the Mogor, is the nature of pla∣ces: for Mount Caucasus runs through these countries with a thousand branches, where∣of some bound in other realmes; and others not content therewith enuiron them round about, and is vnto them as a wall: some stop vp the passages, others make them difficult [ B] and vneasie; and these difficulties are greater vnto the Mogor than they would be to any other, for that his chiefest force consists in horsemen: so that as he is powerfull in a champian countrie, he cannot aduance with any speed where there are mountaines and hills; the which we may easily coniecture by the Resbutes, who hauing fortified them∣selues in the mountaines of Cambaya, haue no feare of the prince. These Resbutes are the remainders of the idolatrous nobilitie of this countrie, who whenas the Mahome∣tans first seised thereon, retired into the mountaines which lie betwixt the townes of Cambaya and Diu, & there maintaine their libertie by armes, making often great spoiles in the plaine. There are moreouer some barren countries, and which want water, as that of Dulcinde vpon the confines of Cambay; so as it is impossible to march thither with [ C] any great armies.

We must add hereunto the great losse of time which potent princes make in their voiages; for that most commonly Sommer is spent before they come to the place ap∣pointed; and when they are there, their horses are halfe dead, and their souldiers decaied both in number and strength: then comes Winter which is opposite to the agressor, and fauourable to him that defends; for he that inuades must of necessitie keepe the field, and endure all the discommodities of the weather, whilest the others lie in houses, and want not any necessaries: wherefore all princes that haue proiected great enterprises, for that the difficulties are great to lead great armies from one countrie vnto another, haue beene forced to transport their men by sea, or vpon riuers, as Germanicus did in the Ger∣man [ D] war.

The Mogor hath no kind of sea forces, both for that he wants ports, and also for that he hath the Portugals to neighbours, who stop vp all the gulfe of Cambaya with two important forts, which be Daman and Diu.

The last reason which staies the Mogor, hath beene the power of them with whom he confines, which keepe him from extending his dominions towards the East: for he hath for neighbour the king of Barme, who yeelds nothing vnto him in power and forces, se∣ing that the enioies so many realmes and estates, and hath vnder him so many warlike nations, and brings such great numbers to field, as he feares not any opposit power. If the Mogor hath extended his Empire betwixt Ganges and Indus, the other hath augmen∣ted [ E] his no lesse betwixt Ganges and the realm of Siam. And to conclude, their fortificati∣o••s are such at this day, as a small place of war is able to weaken and tire the power of a great kingdome; so as by this a••t few men resist many, and consume the forces and trea∣sure of them that assaile them.