What I have said of him, all Men living know to be true; but, perhaps, some may think it a Defect, that he is not enough given to Arms, and Atchievements worthy of the Laurel: For, say they, the _Turks_ carry all in _Hungary_, and we do not help nor relieve them, as we ought; we should have join’d Armies in the Field, that it might be known whom Providence would have to bear Rule. I confess this Objection savours of Bravery, more than of Prudence, and therefore, let me trace the Matter a little higher. I am of his Opinion, That the _Genius_ of Emperors are to be judged of rather by their Councils, than by their Fortunes or Events; and that, by those Councils, the Times, our own Strength, the Nature and Power of our Enemies are to be regulated. If a common Enemy, well known to us, and famous for no Victory, should invade our Borders, ’twere Cowardice not to oppose him, if we have Forces enough. But if the Enemy be such as seem to be sent as a Scourge from God (such was _Atila_ of old, _Tamerlane_ in the Days of our Forefathers, and the _Ottoman Princes_ in our Age) whom nothing can withstand, who lays all waste before him; to oppose such an Enemy with small and new-levied Forces, would not only be rash, but even Madness itself. _Solyman_ comes terrible, by his own and his Ancestor’s Successes: He invades _Hungary_ with 200,000 Horse, he draws near to _Austria_, and threatens the rest of _Germany_; his Troops are fetched from the very Confines of _Persia_; his Army is furnished from many Nations; each of the Three known Parts of the World conspire therein for our Destruction: He, like Lightning, strikes down all before him with his battering Army, and fills all Places with the Terror of his Name; he roars and Hovers round our Borders, striving to break in sometimes here, sometimes there. Many Nations of old, when they have been threatned with such Potent Enemies, have left their Native Country, and sought out other Habitations. To be unmoved in small Dangers, is but a mean kind of Praise; but not to be terrify’d by the coming of so great an Enemy, who has laid waste so many bordering Kingdoms, seems to me an _Herculean_ kind of Constancy. Amidst these Dangers, _Ferdinand_ heroically keeps his Station, and being of an unconquered Spirit, will not quit that, or his State. He could wish his Forces were sufficient to put all to the Hazard of a Battel, and that nothing of Madness were imputable to him upon that Account; but Prudence restrains his generous Efforts: He sees with what great Hazard his faithful Subjects, and the Ruin of all Christendom, _an unsuccessful Battel would prove_, and is very unwilling that the Public should pay for his Rashness. He considers how great the Odds would be, between 25 or 30,000 Foot, with a small Number of Horse, and 200,000 Horse, supported by a Veteran Body of Foot. What Hopes there may be of Success in that Case, the Example of former Times, and the Blood-shed at _Nicopolis_, and at _Varna_, and the Fields of _Mohac_, as yet white with the Bones of _Christians_ slain there, sufficiently inform us. ’Tis the Part of a foolish Commander, without duly weighing his own and the Enemy’s Strength, to rush into Battel, where his Loss can find no wiser an Excuse than, _I had not thought_. ’Tis all in all, what the Enemy is with whom we are to cope; this is an infallible Rule, laid down by all the gravest Authors that ever wrote of Military Affairs: such was _Cæsar_; he counted it a Happiness to _Lucullus_ and to _Pompey_, that they had to do with a slothful Enemy, over whom they got Victories without Dust or Sweat; and when he had obtained such an easy Victory over _Pharnaces_, he jestingly said, _I came, I saw, I overcame_: But were to make War with the People of those Countries (then effeminated by Luxury, but now harden’d by Want, Frugality, Hunger, Cold, Heat, continual Fatigue, and Severity of Discipline, to do and suffer any thing) he would tell us another Story. Hence it is, that _Livy_ reasons upon good Grounds, that _Alexander_ the _Macedonian_ would not have had the same Success against the _Roman Enemy_, as against the _Persian_, or the Womanish _Indian_: There is a good deal of Difference between a Warlike, and a Luxurious People, unaccustomed to Arms. ’Tis true, the Multitude of _Persians_ made it an Admiration, _That there was more Toil in Killing, than in Overcoming them_. In my Judgment, _Hannibal_’s three Victories at _Trebia_, at _Thrasymene_, and at _Cannæ_, did far exceed all the Exploits of _Alexander_: For why? the one overcame valiant Warriors, the other had to do with the slothful People of _Asia_.