Of the art both of writing & judging of history with reflections upon ancient as well as modern historians, shewing through what defects there are so few good, and that it is impossible there should be many so much as tolerable / by the Jesuit Father Le-Moyne.

CHAP. V. Wit is the first Quality of an Histo∣rian. Wit is an Universal Dispo∣sition. With Wit every Man may be a Statesman. The Error of Car∣dinal Bentivoglio.

BEing a Soldier then is as little necessary for an Historian as for a Poet; but to be either, 'tis necessary to be a Man of Wit. Wit is an Universal Disposition to all Forms; to Philosophy, Poetry, to Civil and Military Science; makes a Statesman, and makes a Warrior, a Man of his Pen and a Man of his Sword. With this Lucullus, after he had laid aside the long Robe, became a great Captain. With Wit, Homer, Virgil and Tasso have represented feign'd Wars and Heroes, that have serv'd as Models and Spurs to the True.

An Historian must then have Wit, but not a Wit of no larger Extension than a Song or Elegy. I say an unbounded Spirit, that raises it self above Crowns and Crown'd Heads; that comprehends States and Empires; that is Popu∣lar in a Republick, Monarchick in a Monarchy; that has receiv'd of Nature, at least in Disposition and unpolish'd, all the Forms of Poli∣ticks. With one Ray of this Spirit, without having steer'd the Helm, he is able to represent the Good and Evil Forms of Government; the Faults and Vertues of Ministers, without having had part with them; and without being call'd to the Councils of Princes, without being found amongst their Troops, al∣though of a Profession estranged from Courts and Armies, he is able to instruct Princes and Generals for the time to come, by the Examples of times past.

All this is said with Submission to Cardinal Bentivoglio, and with respect to his Purple and Merit.

He finds Objections against the Re∣flections and Politicks in the History of Father Strada, and maintains, That a Man brought up a Stranger to the Court, and as it were out of the world, cannot with good Judgment make so publick a Profession of the Science of both. Some think it not strange the Cardinal Historian meeting the Jesuit in the same Carreer, Emula∣tion should draw from his Pen some strokes, not altogether so Advan∣tageous for his Competitor. But I am not of their Opinion, as think∣ing it enough to look for Jealousie amongst Artisans and Shop-keepers, without a Supposition of finding it in the Cabinets of Learned Men. However it was, to say nothing of Plato and Aristotle who had nothing to do with Government, and yet have writ so well of a Commonwealth; according to this new Maxim of the Cardinal's, the Institution of a Prince composed by St. Thomas, so estrang'd from a Court both by his Profession and manner of Life, must be then a kind of Madness: And Justus

Lipsius that lived in the World with∣out having to do with it, yet in his Learned Works has abridg'd all that appertains to the Knowledge of it, has left us only a lasting Ab∣surdity. Let us know then that a good Wit and good Judgment, aided by Reading and Meditation, without a Bishoprick or Office in the Court of Rome, of a simple Re∣ligious, may make an excellent Poli∣tician: And why not after having made of Cardinal Bentivoglio a Warring Historian, notwithstanding his long Robe and Priesthood. The distance is not greater between a Religious and a Politick, than a Car∣dinal and a Captain. And 'tis not to be believ'd, that the Pen of a Sacred Hand can commit an Irre∣gularity in expressing the Thoughts and Dogmes of Policy, and be free from it in rehearsing of Battles and Murders.