Ogier Ghislain de Busbecq

“ What poor Man hath ever desired his help in vain? Who is there that hath not experienced his Liberality? He thinks that Day lost wherein he hath not done Good to somebody. He is beneficient to all, and in a singular Manner kind to his Domesticks; not a Man of them can say, that ever he was neglected by them. He knows their way of Life, the Deserts, yea, and the very Names even of the meanest of them. Tho’ he is so great a Prince, yet he thinks it not below himself, at convenient Opportunities to warn the negligent, and put them in mind of their Duty ”

“ All men’s Necks cannot bear the Burthen of a high Estate, to which if they are advanced, they forget themselves: ’Tis a hard Thing to be able to compass all that a Man desires; and yet ’tis as hard to desire nothing but that which is good.
As for our Prince, his Eyes are not dazzled by Greatness; no Man retains Vertue more steadily he, nor takes greater heed that his pure Mind be not defiled by the Taint of his Fortune. He was always of this Opinion, That, as Majestic Robes attract the Eyes of Spectators, the Sanctity of Manners should much more incline their Minds. ”

“ Liberty, without an Estate to maintain it, is none of the best Counsellors. All Men cannot bear Poverty and Freedom; Mankind, in general, is not so form’d by Nature, as to rightly to govern himself. No, he stands in need of a better and wiser Conduct than his own; otherwise, there will be no end of his Transgressing; for so some Beasts will always be terrible to Men, unless their Fierceness be restrain’d by Manacles and Bonds. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Honest Henry, Prithee be not so Passionate; ’tis no Time nor Place to shew thy Valour here; we must bear Affronts patiently, without any just Imputation of Cowardice, whether we will or no; we are in their Power: This unreasonable Passion may bring great Mischief to us; perhaps it may occasion us to be brought back to Constantinople, and there our whole Negotiation may be reversed, or at least become very dubious. ”

“ And therefore Sir, if you prevent the Ruin of your House, your Empire and your Religion, you must use all manner of means; nay, you must not stick at Parricide itself; if homebred Disagreement and Feud may be thereby prevented; for the safety of Religion will over-ballance the Loss, even of a Man’s own Children. As for Mustapha’s Son, you have the less Reason to spare him, because his Father’s Crime hath already infected him, and there is do doubt, but, if he be suffered to Live, he will soon endeavour to Head a Party, to revenge his Father’s Death. ”

“ The Memory of which Affronts made such a deep Impression on all those that succeeded Bajazet in the Empire, that, to this very Day, none of them will marry a Wife, that so, whatever Chance should happen, they might never fall into the like Indignity; so that, ever since, they beget Children on Women of a servile Condition, in whose Misfortunes they may be less concerned, than if they were their lawful Wives. And yet the Children begot on such Concubines, are as much esteemed by the Turks, as if they were born in lawful Wedlock, and they have as much right to their Fathers Estates. ”

“ I owe my Life to my Father’s Mistake, who killed another Man instead of me; so that I plainly see, what Fate attends me, if ever I come into his Power. The miserable old Man is imposed on by the enchanting Passions of a Step-mother, whom he doats upon, and by the Ministry of Rustan, to whatsoever Attempt they please. But, thanks be to God, said he, I have got some Friends left to revenge my Wrongs, and to punish my Enemies. And, besides, I am not quite daunted, but have a great stock yet of Courage left; for I know that the Janizaries, and most of all my Father’s Court are on my side ”

“ The Truth is, unless I had been told before, they were Janizaries, I should have thought them to have been a kind of Turkish Monks, or Fellows of some College or other amongst them. Yet these are the Janizaries that carry such a Terror with them wheresoever they come.
Some Turks supp’d with me often at Buda, and were mightily taken with the delicious sweetness of my Wine: It is a Liquor that they have but little of in Turkey, and therefore, they more greedily desire it, and drink it more profusely, when once they come where it is. ”

“ Thus the Turks surmount huge Difficulties in War, with a great deal of Patience, Sobriety and Parsimony, reserving themselves for more favourable Circumstances. But our Christian Soldiers carry it otherwise; they scorn homely Fare in their Camps; they must have dainty bits, forsooth, such as Thrushes, Black-birds, and banquetting Stuff. If they have not these they are ready to mutiny, as if they were famished; and if they have them, they are undone: Their own Intemperance kills them, if their Enemy spare their Lives. ”

“ Why (said they, reasoning among themselves) should his Father abdicate a Son that is his express Image? Why should he prefer his slothful, pot-bellied Brother, that has nothing of his Father’s Disposition in him? As for Bajazet’s taking Arms, Necessity forces him to it, and therefore, he is not to be blamed; for did not Selimus, his Grandfather, do the same? ”

“ Among us Christians, many who have never come in sight of a public Enemy, draw their Swords upon one another, and think it a brave and honourable Thing. What shall a Man do in such a Case, when Vice usurps the seat of Virtue, and that which deserves Punishment, is counted noble and glorious? But to return, I know you are inquisitive, and therefore give me leave to acquaint you with the public Entrance, which the King of Cholchos made into this City. His Kingdom is by the River Phasis, in a Creek or Bay of the Euxine Sea, not far from Mount Caucasus. ”

“ 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 [282] 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. ”

“ I have seen a Man come to Court with a thousand Attendants, whom his Prince’s Displeasure has sent away with scarce one in his Company. A Court does not know what is truly good, till too late; it is altogether led by Shews, Shadows, Fallacies, and popular Mistakes. ”

“ The Germans, said I, are a free People, and used to serve other Nations in their War; and perhaps some of them had taken Pay under Foreigners: But, in my Judgment, the cause of these Commotions arises from the Hungarian Nobles of that Neighbourhood, who being provoked by the daily Injuries of the Turks, resolve to be even with them. And, to speak the Truth, I think they are not much to be blamed, if upon so great Provocations, they labour to revenge themselves. Do not your Soldiers take the same Liberties on the Borders of Hungary? ”

“ However, I will not cease to press Cæsar to redeem so famous an Author from that Bondage: ’tis very much injur’d by Time, and so eaten with Worms on the out-side, that a Man would hardly take it up, if it lay in the Streets.
But to conclude, you may expect me in a very short Time. I shall reserve what remains, till we meet: In the mean Time, do you take Care to provide some good and learned Men, by whose Conversation I may drive away the dull Thoughts remaining in my Mind, from my long Aboad among the Turks. ”

“ I may now spend the rest of the Day for the Health of my Body. Thus he returns late at Night from the Death of a Boar, Stag, or Bear, and betakes his wearied Limbs to rest, without Eating or Drinking. Let no Man then upbraid us with the want of Trajans, Varus’s, and Theodosius’s; those Miracles of the Ancients in our Days: I dare take my Oath, that there is more true Vertue in our Emperor, than there was in all of them put together. But the Admiration of so great a Man transports me: ’Tis not my Design to speak of his Merits, they would make up a Volume rather than an Epistle ”

“ If one have overmuch of a Commodity, he brings it to Market, and receives what he wants in Exchange; so that there is no need of Money, their Commerce is by bartering of Commodities.
They pay also their Tribute to their King in the Products of the Earth; they supply him with all Necessaries largely, both for Meat, Drink, and Apparel, for maintaining of his Houshold, and is reward the Deserving. And, indeed, he hath an unexhausted Revenue, not only from Tenths, and settled Customs, but from those Gifts which are daily bellowed upon him ”

“ These Fellows are not always in the same Humour; they have their lucid Intervals, in which they are more tractable than at other times. When ’tis fair Weather with them, the Ragustæans, the Florentines, the Venetians, and sometimes the Greeks, with other Nations, come to visit me, on one Account or another; sometimes, also, I converse with Men of more remote Countries, that come hither, whose Conversation much delights me. ”

“ You do not know the Force of Love, and God grant you never may. At this absurd Reply, the Governor could scarce forbear Laughter, but commanded her, presently, to be pack’d away and drown’d in the Deep; such was the unfortunate Issue of her wild Amours. For you must know, that the Turks make no noise when secret Offences are committed by them, that they may not open the Mouths of Scandal and Reproach; but open and manifest ones they punish most severely. ”

“ For, without doubt, he will one day be the Ruin of us all. These wild Discourses coming to Sagthamas’s Ears, put him upon a Project more necessary than plausible; for Bajazet had not many Forces, but very warlike ones; and there were many valiant Men among them that were ready to attempt any Invasion, and therefore he had reason to fear. He was conscious, also, that he had added new Kingdoms to his own, as being conquer’d on pretence of Religion ”

“ I return, further to acquaint you, how indulgent the Turks are to all irrational Animals. ’Tis true, a Dog is counted an obscene and nasty Creature by them, and therefore they will not harbour him in their Houses; but they nourish a Cat as a chaster and modester Creature, in their Judgments. ”

“ This I can a assure you of, that the Turks, in their way, do make a huge Advantage of Slaves; for if an ordinary Turk bring home one or two Slaves, whom he hath taken Prisoners in War, he accounts he hath made a good Campaign of it, and his Prize is worth his Labour. An ordinary Slave is sold among them for 40 or 50 Crowns; but if he be young, beautiful, and have Skill in some Trade besides, then they rate him at twice as much. By this you may know, how advantageous the Turkish Depredations are to them, when many times, from one Expedition, they bring home five or six thousand Prisoners. ”

“ I had a Mind to go thither my self to be an Eye-witness of it; but, the Turks not giving me leave, I deputed him in my Stead. I have brought back also abundance of old Coins, the chief of which I shall present my Master with. Besides, I have whole Waggon-loads, if not Ship-loads, of Greek Manuscripts, and about 240 Books, which I sent by Sea to Venice, from thence to be carried to Vienna: I design them for Cæsar’s Library; there are many of them common, but some choice; I rummaged every Corner to procure such Kind of Merchandize, as my last gleaning. ”

“ For no Nation scruples to transfer the profitable Inventions of other Nations to themselves, as I might instance in Great Ordnance, and in Muskets, and other things, which, though not our Inventions, yet the Turks borrow their use of from us. ”

“ Thus in that Nation, Dignities, Honours, Offices, &c. are the Rewards of Virtue and Merit; as on the other side, Dishonesty, Sloth, and Idleness, are among them the most despicable things in the whole World. And by this means they flourish, bear sway, and enlarge the Bounds of their Empire every day more and more. ”

“ That’s an Heresy, that some of the Turks have taken up, neither is Rustan thought to be a true Mussulman in all Points. The Turks thinks it a Duty, and a work of Piety in them, to persuade a Christian they have any good Opinion of, to their Religion; for then they think, they shall save a Soul from Destruction, and that they count a great Honour to themselves, and the greatest Charity they can do another Man, to make him a Convert to their Religion. ”

“ The less Assistance he has had in a necessary Time, by so much the more the Valour of his Mind hath eminently appeared. Whosoever doth not put all upon one Event in the height of Success, not considering the Power of the Enemy, and the Seasonableness [286] of assaulting him, must needs conclude, That ’tis next to a PRODIGY, that the open and extensive Kingdom of Hungary, distracted with long Discords, could be defended so long, and that all of it is not already brought under the Yoke of so powerful an Enemy. ’Tis God’s great Mercy, and our Prince’s infinite Care that hath prevented it ”

“ The Emperor confirm’d the Peace, rewarded him amply, and sent him back with large Presents to Solyman.
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I am very willing to leave the Court, as not being pleased with that kind of Life; but some private Affairs as yet detain me. I know the Tediousness of Court-Attendance; much Mischief lies under an Appearance of Splendor; much Disguise, but little of Sincerity is there; all Courts are subject to Envy; faithful Friendship is hard to be found, and a change of Mind may occasion a Man’s sudden Ruin: For Princes themselves are but Men. ”

“ However, Pihal was afraid to come to Constantinople to appear before his angry Master, lest he might be imprisoned there; but he hovered with a few Galleys about several Islands of the Ægæan Sea, pretending divers Excuses for so doing. But at last Solyman, by the persuasion of the chief Eunuch of his Son Selimus gave him his Pardon in these Words: I, for my part, forgive him his great Offence; but God Almighty, the just Revenger of all Wickedness, inflict just Punishment on him in the Life to come! So strongly are the Turks persuaded, that no evil Fact should pass unpunished! ”