Likewise those who have charge and command, must sometimes with patience or sufferance overcome their fury and misconceits, according to occasions; for it is a great poynt of wisedome, especially in a generall murmuring, where the cause is just, or that, as often times it happeneth, any probable accident may divert the minds of the discontented, and give hope of remedie, or future event may produce repentance, to turne, as they say, the deafe eare, and to winke at that a man seeth. As it is sayde of Charles the fifth, emperour of Germany, and king of Spaine; who rounding his campe, one night, disguised, heard some souldiers rayle and speake evil of him: those which accompanied him were of opinion, that he should use some exemplary punishment upon them; not so, sayth he, for these, now vexed with the miseries they suffer, ease their hearts with their tongues; but if occasion present it selfe, they will not sticke to sacrifice their lives for my safetie. A resolution worthy so prudent a commander, and so magnanimous a prince.
The like is written of Fabius Maximus, the famous Romayne, who endured the attribute of coward, with many other infamies, rather then he would hazard the safetie of his countrie by rash and incertaine provocations.
[The patience of the Earle of Nottingham.]
No lesse worthy of perpetuall memory was the prudent pollicie and government of our English navie, in anno 1588, by the worthy Earle of Nottingham,[172] lord high admirall of England; who, in like case, with mature and experimented knowledge, patiently withstood the instigations of many couragious and noble captaines, who would have perswaded him to have laid them aboord; but well he foresaw that the enemy had an armie aboord, he none; that they exceeded him in number of shipping, and those greater in bulke, stronger built, and higher molded, so that they who with such advantage fought from above, might easily distresse all opposition below; the slaughter, peradventure, prooving more fatall then the victory profitable: by being overthrowne, he might have hazzarded the kingdome; whereas by the conquest, at most, he could have boasted of nothing but glorie, and an enemie defeated. But by sufferance, he alwayes advantaged himselfe of winde and tide; which was the freedome of our countrey, and securitie of our navie, with the destruction of theirs, which in the eye of the ignorant, who judge all things by the externall appearance, seemed invincible; but truely considered, was much inferior to ours in all things of substance, as the event prooved; for we sunke, spoyled, and tooke of them many, and they diminished of ours but one small pynace, nor any man of name, save onely captaine Cocke, who dyed with honour amidst his company. The greatest dammage, that, as I remember, they caused to any of our shippes, was to the _Swallow_ of her majestie, which I had in that action under my charge, with an arrow of fire shott into her beake-head, which we saw not, because of the sayle, till it had burned a hole in the nose as bigge as a mans head; the arrow falling out, and driving alongst by the shippes side, made us doubt of it, which after we discovered.