Albericus Gentilis, on Embassies. 90. We find next in order of chronology a treatise by Albericus Gentilis De Legationibus, published in 1583. Gentilis was an Italian Protestant who, through the Earl of Leicester, obtained the chair of civil law at Oxford in 1582. His writings on Roman jurisprudence are numerous, but not very highly esteemed. This work, on the law of Embassy, is dedicated to Sir Philip Sydney, the patron of so many distinguished strangers. The first book contains an explanation of the different kinds of embassies, and of the ceremonies anciently connected with them. His aim, as he professes, is to elevate the importance and sanctity of ambassadors, by showing the practice of former times. In the second book he enters more on their peculiar rights. The envoys of rebels and pirates are not protected. But difference of religion does not take away the right of sending ambassadors. He thinks that civil suits against public ministers may be brought before the ordinary tribunals. On the delicate problem as to the criminal jurisdiction of these tribunals over ambassadors conspiring against the life of the sovereign, Gentilis holds, that they can only be sent out of the country, as the Spanish ambassador was by Elizabeth. The civil law, he maintains, is no conclusive authority in the case of ambassadors, who depend on that of nations, which in many respects is different from the other. This second book is the most interesting, for the third chiefly relates to the qualifications required in a good ambassador. His instances are more frequently taken from ancient than modern history.
His treatise on the Rights of War. 91. A more remarkable work by Albericus Gentilis is his treatise, De Jure Belli, first published at Lyons, 1589. Grotius acknowledges his obligations to Gentilis, as well as to Ayala, but in a greater degree to the former. And that this comparatively obscure writer was of some use to the eminent founder, as he has been deemed, of international jurisprudence, were it only for mapping his subject, will be evident from the titles of his chapters, which run almost parallel to those of the first and third books of Grotius.[1140] They embrace, as the reader will perceive, the whole field of public faith, and of the rights both of war and victory. But I doubt whether the obligation has been so extensive as has sometimes been insinuated. Grotius does not, as far as I have compared them, borrow many quotations from Gentilis, though he cannot but sometimes allege the same historical examples. It will also be found in almost every chapter, that he goes deeper into the subject, reasons much more from ethical principles, relies less on the authority of precedent, and is in fact a philosopher where the other is a compiler.
[1140] Lib. i.
c. 1. De Jure Gentium Bellico.
2. Belli Definitio.
3. Principes Bellum gerunt.
4. Latrones Bellum non gerunt.
5. Bella juste geruntur.
6. Bellum juste geri utrinque.
7. De Caussis Bellorum.
8. De Caussis Divinis Belli Faciendi.
9. An Bellum Justum sit pro Religione.
10. Si Princeps Religionem Bello apud suos juste tuetur.
11. An Subditi bellent contra Principem ex Caussa Religionis.
12. Utrum sint Caussæ Naturales Belli Faciendi.
13. De Necessaria Defensione.
14. De Utili Defensione.
15. De Honesta Defensione.
16. De Subditis Alienis contra Dominum Defendendis.
17. Qui Bellum necessarie inferunt.
18. Qui utiliter Bellum inferunt.
19. De Naturalibus Caussis Belli inferendi.
20. De Humanis Caussis Belli inferendi.
21. De Malefactis Privatorum.
22. De Vetustis Caussis non Excitandis.
23. De Regnorum Eversionibus.
24. Si in Posteros movetur Bellum.
25. De Honesta Caussa Belli inferendi.
Lib. ii.
c. 1. De Bello Indicendo.
2. Si quando Bellum non indicitur.
3. De Dolo et Stratagematis.
4. De Dolo Verborum.
5. De Mendaciis.
6. De Veneficiis.
7. De Armis et Mentitis Armis.
8. De Scævola, Juditha, et Similibus.
9. De Zopiro et Aliis Transfugis.
10. De Pactis Ducum.
11. De Pactis Militum.
12. De Induciis.
13. Quando contra Inducias fiat.
14. De Salvo Conductu.
15. De Permutationibus et Liberationibus.
16. De Captivis, et non necandis.
17. De His qui se Hosti tradunt.
18. In Deditos, et Captos sæviri.
19. De Obsidibus.
20. De Supplicibus.
21. De Pueris et Fœminis.
22. De Agricolis, Mercatoribus, Peregrinis, Aliis Similibus.
23. De Vastitate et Incendiis.
24. De Cæsis sepeliendis.
Lib. iii.
c. 1. De Belli Fine et Pace.
2. De Ultione Victoris.
3. De Sumptibus et Damnis Belli.
4. Tributis et Agris multari Victos.
5. Victoris Acquisitio Universalis.
6. Victos Ornamentis Spoliari.
7. Urbes diripi, dirui.
8. De Ducibus Hostium Captis.
9. De Servis.
10. De Statu Mutando.
11. De Religionis Aliarumque Rerum Mutatione.
12. Si Utile cum Honesto Pugnet.
13. De Pace Futura Constituenda.
14. De Jure Conveniendi.
15. De Quibus cavetur in Fœderibus et in Duello.
16. De Legibus et Libertate.
17. De Agris et Postliminio.
18. De Amicitia et Societate.
19. Si Fœdus recte contrahitur cum Diversæ Religionis Hominibus.
20. De Armis et Classibus.
21. De Arcibus et Præsidiis.
22. Si Successores Fœderatorum tenentur.
23. De Ratihabitione, Privatis, Piratis, Exulibus, Adhærentibus.
24. Quando Fœdus violatur.
92. Much that bears on the subject of international law may probably be latent in the writings of the jurists, Baldus, Covarruvias, Vasquez, especially the two latter, who seem to have combined the science of casuistry with that of the civil law. Gentilis, and even Grotius, refer much to them; and the former, who is no great philosopher, appears to have borrowed from that source some of his general principles. It is honourable to these men, as we have already seen in Soto, Victoria, and Ayala, that they strenuously defended the maxims of political justice.
CHAPTER XIV.
HISTORY OF POETRY FROM 1550 TO 1600.
Sect. I.—On Italian Poetry.
Character of the Italian Poets of this Age—Some of the best enumerated—Bernardino Rota—Gaspara Stampa—Bernardo Tasso—Gierusalemme Liberata of Torquato Tasso.