in the execution of Justice they went out one by one which was as much as if they had made an open Confession of their Hypocrisie and Villainy before all the Spectators which was partly evident before in that they did not bring the Man as well as the Woman which to be sure they might have done seeing the Criminals were taken in the Act and they ought to have done it seeing by the Law of God he was equally guilty and therefore upon the whole to form such an Argument from this saying and practise of our Saviour as that Adultery is not punishable under the New Testament is every whit as absurd as to say that because he declined being a Judge betwixt two Brethren about the division of their Father's Inheritance therefore there ought to be no such thing as a division of Parents Estates amongst their Children under the New Testament Besides 't is apparent that the design of our Saviour's coming into the World was to save peoples Souls and not to destroy their Bodies as is evident from his mercy to Mary Magdalen out of whom he cast Seven unclean Devils his Converse with the Woman of Samaria whom he convinced of the Evil of her Way and his permitting a Woman who was a sinner which in the New Testament Phrase is as much as a Common Prostitute to wipe his Feet whither Hair and to wash them with her Tears of Repentance These are all the Historical passages which we find relating to our Subject in the New Testament during Christ's abode upon Earth and therefore we come next to a passage or two in Josephus suited to our purpose The first is in his Antiquities lib. 18. Chap. 4. concerning Paulina a Roman Lady Wife to Saturninus a Nobleman of Rome upon whom Decius Mundus another Roman of Quality became so enamoured that he tempted her by Bribes and all other methods imaginable to comply with his lustful design offering her no less than 100000 Drachma's which is computed at 6000 l. Sterlin but she would by no means consent to him whereupon he was so burnt up by his Lust that he pined and wither'd away daily which being observed by Ida his Father's Servant Maid she learned his distemper and undertook his Cure for 25000 Drachma's which she effected thus she understood that the Lady was particularly addicted to the worship of the Heathen God Isis who had a Temple at Rome and thereupon applying her self to the Priests she promis'd them 25000 Drachma's if they could so contrive it that Decius should enjoy the Lady in the Temple the one half in hand and the other upon the performance of the Bargain the Priests undertook it and laid the Plot in the following manner The Eldest of them when the Lady came to the Temple accosted her and pretended that the God Anubis who frequented that Temple had conceiv'd a mighty passion for her and earnestly desired her Company there one night the Lady being charm'd with this extraordinary sort of Amour being no less than a Divine Courtship as she thought acquainted her Husband with it who was as fond of being a Cukcold by an imaginary Deity as some of the Indians are at present by their Brachmans And the rest of the Roman Ladys began to grudge at Paulina's good Luck and to long for the like The appointed time being come Paulina makes hast to the Temple where the Roguish Priests had Decius ready who assoon as the Lamps were removed approach'd to his beloved Paulina and under the notion of the God Anubis debauch'd her without any resistance The deluded Lady returned in the Morning highly honoured as she thought but Decius meeting her a little after renewed his former suit which she rejected as usual whereupon he told her in an upbraiding manner that she was not so coy the other night in the Temple of Isis where he enjoy'd her for one fourth of the Sum that he had formerly proffered her The poor Lady being surprized to find that she had entertained a lewd Adulterer instead of a supposed Divinity tore her hair rent her cloaths and discovered the Cheat to her Husband who complaining thereof to the Emperor Titerius he condemn'd the Priests and Ida to be hang'd ordered the Temple to be pull'd down the Statue of Anubis to be thrown into the Tiber and Decius Mundus to be banish'd and thus this Famous Temple was demolish'd and the Convent of Priests destroyed for being Pimps to the insatiable Lust of a Noble Roman he himself banish'd from his Country which he had polluted and Ida his Bawd punish'd as all others of the Trade ought to be That same Author in the 18th Book in his Antiquities and the 12th Chapter gives us another account of a Tragedy brought upon a great number of his Countrymen by an unlawful Amour as follows Anilaeus and Asinaeus two Jews of mean Condition upon a disgust retired into an Island of the Euphrates where joyning with other dissolute persons and â—…agabond Jews they became formidable to the adjacent Countries which they ravaged at their pleasure and so increasing in number were a Terror to the Princes of those Countries and obliged them to court their friendship but having once relax'd the discipline that they observ'd when they first form'd themselves into a Society they lost ground and Anilaeus lusting after a Parthian Lady made War against her Husband upon her account and was so bewitch'd with her Amours that he countenanc'd Idolatry for her sake which bred discontent amongst his Followers most of which were Jews who complaining thereof to Asinaeus his Brother he reprov'd him for it upon which the Parthian Lady poyson'd Asinaeus but the judgement of God soon overtook them for Mithridates taking Arms against Anilaeus and his dissolute Companions he defeated them in Battle and afterwards the Greeks and Syrians who liv'd in Seleucia kill'd 50000 of the Jews such was the fatal Consequence of Whoredom and Idolatry which did first mutually produce one another and then both together issued in the destruction of their followers The last instance that we meet with in Josephus for our purpose is that in the 5th Book of his Wars and 9th Chapter where he gives us an account that during the Siege of Jerusalem by Titus the Son of Vespasian the Faction called the Zealots became Lustful Effeminate Lascivious Curl'd their Hair wore Womens Apparel anointed themselves that their Beautymight be pleasing thirsted after Unnatural pleasures and made Jerusalem a Stews and not long after followed the utter destruction of their City Temple and Commonwealth with the slaughter of 1100000 of their people since which they have been Vagabonds a Curse and a Reproach upon the face of Earth and are noted for a Lustfull and Unclean People where ever they are God having in his Just Judgment giv'n them up to work all manner of Uncleanness with greediness seeing their Love to their Lusts made them first reject the Pure and Holy Doctrine of our Saviour and afterwards
Persons did upon their Accusation cut off his best Friends and became so hatefull to his own Greeks that they talk'd divers times of Revolting and at last Poyson'd him in Babylon amidst his Feasts and Revels which was very Remarkable that he should be Poyson'd there where he had suffered himself and his Army to be first Poysoned by the Vicious Manners of the Persians and thus by his Luxury and Uncleanness he occasioned the Division of that vast Empire which he had rais'd his Great Captains after his Death having each of them erected Monarchies for themselves in those Places where they Govern'd which occasioned the speedier dissolution of the Graecian Monarchy and that it was less taken notice of as not being cemented together under one head so true is it which the Wiseman tells us in the Proverbs That many strong men have been slain and cast down by strange Women nay we may add that Empires and Monarchies have been over-turned by Uncleanness The next remarkable instance we meet with in Justin is that of Dionysius junior the Tyrant of Sicily who was as infamous for Uncleanness as for Cruelty and being expelled by the Inhabitants of Syracusa he was received by those of Locris where having surprizâ—…d the Castle he Tyranniz'd also over them Ravish'd the Wives of the Great Men and the young Women before Marriage and would then send them back to their Sweet-hearts The Locrenses being at that time in War with Leophron they vow'd if they came off Conquerers to prostitute their Virgins on the Festival of Veâ—…us which having neglected to do Dionysius Circumvented the Citizens thus he advised them in order to perform their Vow to send all their Women with their Richest Apparel to the Temple of Venus and chuse out a hundred of their handsomest Virgins and send them Richly adorn'd to stay a Month in a Brothell-House but beforehand to oblige all their Men by Oath not to touch one of them and likewise to take an Oath that none should be Married 'till all those Virgins were first dispos'd in Marriage The Citizens thinking this a good Contrivance both to absolve themselves from their Oaths and to preserve the Chastity of their Virgins did accordingly Whereupon Dionysius sent his Soldiers who dispoiled the Women both of their Honour and Ornaments which so incens'd the Loâ—…enses against him that they likewise drove him out of their City and being received again by the Syracusans he Tyrannized over them in his usual Manner so that they Besieged him and forcing him to lay down the Government he liv'd in Exile at Corinth where he spent his time in Taverns and Bawdy-Houses went in a sordid Habit kept the Meanest and most Rascally Company Jangl'd with Scoundrels and Bawds became a laughing stock to every Body and would walk about in the Shambles to gaze upon the Meat that he was not able to buy and was reduced so low that partly to maintain himself and partly to satisfy his Tyrannical humour he taught a Trivial School and so concluded his Life as Ingloriously as he led it In his 22d book he gives us an Instance of Agathocles another Tyrant of Sicily Son to a Potter who during his youth was a Catamite and as soon as he was of Age became a Common Stallion and a Highwayman but being Valiant and Eloquent he was advanced to Great Commands in the Army and having Committed Adultery with Damasco the Generals Lady he succeeded in his Post after his death and twice attempted the Soveraignty of the Island which at last he obtained yet tho' he was prosperous for a long time and rendered himself Famous by his Victories over the Carthaginians Judgment pursued him at last that he was forc'd to flee from Africk where his two Sons were put to death by the fury of his Enemies and being himself taken with a grievous Disease his Son and Grandson made War upon one another for the Crown wherein the latter succeeded so that Agathocles was forc'd on his Death-Bed to send his Wife and two young Children to Egypt lest they should be cut off by his Grandson and in this Afflicted and Disconsolate Condition he ended his days so true has it always been found that Whoremongers and Adulterers God will Judge In his 24th Book he gives us the History of the Incestuous Amour of Ptolemy Ceraunus King of Macedonia with his Sister and the fatal Consequence of it to them both Ptolemy having a mind to Usurp the Kingdom from her two Sons and to possess himself of her fine City of Cassandria pretended Love to her and that he had no other design in desiring her to Wife but to make her a Queen and that her Children should succeed him and because she her self and her Son Ptolemy suspected him he swore to the Sincerity of his Intentions upon the Altar in Jupiter's Temple whereupon that Incestuous Marriage was contracted and his Sister now his Wife Arsinoe being overjoy'd at her new Title of Queen invited the King her Husband to her City of Cassandria where all things were prepar'd to receive him with the utmost Magnificence and she order'd her Sons to meet him with Crowns on their Heads He Received and Embrac'd them with much seeming Affection but as soon as he came to the Gate of the City he ordered them both to be kill'd and the Castle to be seiz'd their Mother endeavouring in vain to cover them in her Arms and preserve them After this Tragedy as a Just punishment for her consenting to such an Incestuous Mà rriage she went in Exile to Samothracia and Ptolemy in a little time after fell by the Sword of the Gauls who cut off his Head and fix'd it upon a Lance. In his 26th Book we have the Story of Aristotimus Tyrant of Epirus who having kill'd and banish'd many of the Nobility The Aetolians who entertained the Exiles sent Ambassadors to demand the Wives and Children of the banished which Aristotimus pretended to grane and as the Matrons had assembled together to go to their Husbands he sent and spoiled them of their Apparrel threw them in Prison kill'd the Infants in the Arms of their Mothers and Ravish'd the Virgins which so incens'd the people against him that under the Conduct of Helematus an old man they Conspir'd against him and cut him off In the Close of that Book he gives us an Account of the Incest of Demetrius King of Macedonia with his Mother-in-Law Arsinoe Queen of Cyrene who had sent for him on purpose to Marry her Daughter and enjoy that Crown but being her self taken with his Beauty she entertained an Incestuous Commerce with him which did so much provoke her Daughter and the people that by her Daughters order he was slain in her Mothers Bed the Incestuous and Impudent Woman endeavouring to preserve him by covering him with her own Body In the 28th Book he likewise gives an Account of a War betwixt Antiochus King of Syria and Demetrius King of Macedonia because the latter Married
Pythia Daughter to the Queen of Epirus whilst his Wife who was Sister to Antiochus was yet alive so fatal hath the Adultery of Princes always been to Kings and Kingdoms In his 30th Book we have the Instance of Ptolemy King of Egypt who having murdered his own Wife Eurydice that was also his Sister he became so enamour'd on Agathocla the Strumpet that he minded nothing but Revelling and Dancing and thus says Justin the King became not only a Spectator but a Master of Villany and committing Sodomy also with Agathocles a handsome fellow and Brother to the Strumpet above mentioned they and their Mother Evanthe govern'd the King and Kingdom and disposed of all offices In the mean-time Ptolemy died which those vile Women concealed a long time and so shar'd the Royal Treasure and Government with Villains But the matter coming at last to be known the multitude assembled cut off Agathocles and hang'd his Mother and Sister such was the Tragical Exit they brought upon themselves by their uncleanness In his 37th Book we have the instance of Mithridates the great King of Pontus who married his own Sister Laodâ—…ce in which match he was Justly unhappy for during his long absence a viewing the chief places of Asia she had admitted strangers to his Bed and tho' she feigned a mighty Joy at his return yet she endeavoured to poyson him in order to cover her Unchastity whereof Mithridates being advertised by a Maid he punish'd his Wife by death for her Treachery and tho' he himself became Great and Glorious afterwards by his Vâ—…ctories over the Asiaticks and his Wars with the Romans yet Divine Justice pursued him so that he killed himself in his old Age when he heard that his Son by that Unnatural Marriage had usurp'd the Kingdom In his 38th Book we have the horrid instance of Ptolemy Physcon who after the death of Ptolemy King of Egypt Married his Widow Cleopatra who was his own Sister kill'd her Son by her first Husband the very day of his Marriage and afterwards Divorc'd her self and Ravish'd her Daughter whom he afterwards Married This made him so hatefull to the people that they deserted the City where he dwelt so that finding himself a King without Subjects he was forc'd to invite strangers to reside there And at last became so odious that he fled with the Son that he had begot on his Sister taking her Daughter along with him and with a Mercenary Army made War upon his Sister and his Country and sent for his eldest Son and killed him to prevent the peoples chusing him in his stead The Subjects were so much enraged with these proceedings that they threw down his Statues and Pictures every where which he conceiving to be done by his Sister's advice he cut the Son that he had by her in pieces put them up in a Box and sent them to his Mother on his Birth-day Thus were they mutually plagued and punished for their Incest and a destructive War was kindled betwixt them which took its first rise from their enflamed Lusts and proved fatal to their Subjects as well as to themselves Ptolemy Physcon or the Debauch'd dying a little time after and having been some time before reconciled to his Wife and Sister Cleopatra he left her the Kingdom of Egypt she being compelled by the people to chuse her eldest Son to Govern that Kingdom before she would resign the same she compelled him to Divorce his Beloved Wife and Sister Cleopatra and she being afterwards married to Cyricaenus in Syria those Incestuous matches were punished by a mutual War betwixt the Brethren Gryphus and Cyricaenus and the latter being overcome Gryphina Wife to Gryphus would not be content till his Sister and Wife Cleopatra whom his Mother had made him to Divorce was murdered and Cyricaenus obtaining a Victory over Gryphus in his Turn put Gryphina to death in Revenge Cleopatra the Mother being weary of her Son Ptolemy's Reigning with her jointly in Egypt she stir'd up the people against him took his Wife Seleuce from him after she had born him two Sons sent him into Exile call'd his younger Brother Alexander to Reign in his stead but he being afraid of her cruelty abandon'd her then the Wicked Woman being afraid that her eldest Son would make War upon her to recover the Kingdom she sent great assistance to Gryphus and likewise gave him Seleuce to Wife Having at the same time recall'd her Son Alexander he understood that she laid snares for his Life and therefore seiz'd and cut her off and he himself was banisht by the people for this parricide Thus were their raging Lusts punished by a mutual War and Raging cruelty against one another And as if Heaven would have Syria and Egypt to read their sin in their punishment they were invaded and plagued by Hierotimus King of Arabia and his Six hundred Sons whom he had beg t on Concubines and who attack'd the Syrians and Egyptians with separate Armies and parties We come next to the Roman History where in the very threshold we are presented with an Account that that City and Monarchy was founded by Whoredom The story of Remus and Romulus being born of a Vestal Virgin for whom it was not Lawfull to Marry and that they were the Founders of that City demonstrates the truth of Rome's being Deriv'd from a spurious Original and the City being once Founded Romulus made it a Sanctuary for Vagabonds and a disorderly Rabble who were so much contemned by their Neighbours that they scorn'd to give them their Daughters in Marriage which occasion'd their Ravishing the Sabine Virgins and that brought forth a War which endangered the overthrow of this new Government in its Infancy as Livy gives an Account at large in his first Book Dec. 1. so fatal hath Whordom and Uncleanness always proved to Societies Livy in that same Book and Decad gives us an Acccount that Kingly Government was overturned at Rome because of a Rape in the manner following The Kings Sons and Kinsmen did often spend their time in Feasting and Treating one another and in their Cups at supper there happened a Discourse concerning their Wives upon which each man launched out in the praises of his own and thence a Quarrel arising Collatinus said it was in vain to talk since it might easily and speedily be known how much his Wife Lucretia excelled the rest adding for they were then in the Camp before Ardea Let us mount our Horses and go see with our own Eyes what kind of Women our Wives are and that shall be the Test which occurs to each man upon this unexpected Visit so that Galloping to Rome they went thence to Collatia where they found Lucretia not imployed like the rest of the Kings Daughters-in-Law viz. spending their time in Banquetting and Luxury but sitting amongst her Maids a Spinning Whereupon it was agreed that her Husband Collatinus came off Conquerer in that dispute and he being pleas'd with it did
says That under the name of Sacrifices Cerinthus hid his Lusts that he might make a shew of Honesty and Decency Cap. 29 he gives us an account of the Nicolaitans who took their denomination from Nicholas one of the Deacons concerning whom they say That having a beautiful Wife and being accus'd of Jealousie by the Apostles he brought his Wife forth and permitted her to marry whom she had a mind to and that his Followers pretending to imitate him gave themselves up to all manner of Fornication but that those Hereticks were on a sudden wholly extinct Book 14 Cap. 7 he gives us an account of the Gnosticks who boasted of their amorous Potions and of certain Spirits and Familiars maintain'd that they who would arrive to Perfection in their Mysteries must act all things that were most filthy and unclean being no other ways able to avoid the Rulers of the World as they call them unless they distributed to all of them their Dues by most filthy and detestable Acts of Obscenity which brought a Scandal on the Christians of those Times as if they had indulg'd themselves in promiscuous Uncleanness with their Mothers and Sisters but the Truth and Purity of their Doctrin and Practice did quickly vindicate it self from those Calumnies Book 6 Cap. 8 he gives us an account of Origen's emasculating himself upon his understanding those words of our Saviour in a literal sense viz. Some there are who have made themselves Eunuchs for the Kingdom of Heavens sake This shews how much Fornication and Uncleanness was condem'd by the Christians in his time and how careful he was to avoid giving any occasion of Slander to the Enemies of the Christian Religion tho' this Act in it self was no way justifiable Book 7 Cap. 30 he gives us an Account that Paulus Samosatenus who spoke against the Godhead of Jesus Christ and became a Founder of that Heresie was a sensual Man countenanc'd those call'd Subintroduc'd Women who were neither Wives nor Concubines but a third sort whom they kept as they pretended not to gratifie their Lusts but out of a pious design And they take particular notice that this Paul glutted himself with all Sensual Delights as Feasting Drinking and the like which are the common Incentives of Lust and that he carried two beautiful Women constantly along with him And thus he is accus'd by an Assembly of Bishops in their Letter to the Bishop of Rome and Alexandria which confirms the Observation we have had sometimes occasion to make that a Love to Sensual Pleasures seems to be a great Motive to the Deists and Socinians of our Times to embrace those damnable Heresies In his 8th Book we have an Account That a Gentlewoman at Antioch and two beautiful Virgins her Daughters threw themselves into a River where they were drown'd rather than they would submit to the Brutish Lusts of their Heathen Persecuters And in Cap. 14 of that same Book we have a Relation how Maxentius and other Persecuters of the Christians omitted no manner of Action that was impure and libidinous they committed Adulteries and Rapes of all sorts he parted Husbands by Divorce from their lawful Wives and when he had defil'd them he most dishonourably sent them back again to their Husbands And thus he treated Persons of all Qualities He passed through no City in his Journey without ravishing Women and Virgins and these his vile Practises succeeded according to his desire against all Persons the Christians only excepted who having contemn'd Death despis'd his outragious Tyranny And thus one of the most noted Women of Alexandria being a beautiful Person and sollicited to commit Adultery with him chose rather to expose her Life to Danger and so was sent into Exile And a Roman Lady whose Husband was Prefect of Rome being sent for by Maxentius in order to be defil'd by him and finding that her Husband had for fear permitted the Souldiers to carry her away she kill'd her self rather than she would be defil'd by the lustful Tyrant So that to the shame of many who call themselves Christians now-adays their abominable Lecheries were formerly the Character of their Persecuters and nothing could be more odious to the Primitive Christians than such vile Practises as many who bear that Name do now indulge themselves in But to return to this Monster of Tyranny Maxentius the Divine Vengeance pursu'd him for his Army being defeated by Constantine he himself and a great part of them were drown'd in the Tiber after which his Corps were dragg'd out and his Head being cut off it was carried about on a Launce as a joyful Spectacle to the People Eusebius also takes notice that the Heathens were at that time punish'd with intestine Wars Famine and Pestilence on the account of their Persecution and those impure Practises and that Galerius Maximianus who to his Persecution of the Christians had also added Impurity of Life died of a most dreadful Distemper in his Genitals and a Fistula in Ano to the Horrour and Amazement of all that were about him the stink of his Body being so intolerable that it kill'd divers of his Physicians In his â—…oth Book he gives us an Account of the wicked Emperor Licinius who to his hatred of the Christian Religion and Learning of all sorts join'd abominable Uncleanness forcing Wives from their Husbands and giving them to be defiâ—…'d by his Slaves Nay his own Lustful Rage was so great that his decrepit Years could not asswage the same but even then he abus'd married Women and Virgins towards the fulfilling of his insatiable Lust at last Judgment pâ—…rsu'd him for being overcome by Constantine the Great and continuing unreclaimable notwithstanding the Clemency us'd towards him by that gracious Christian Emperor he order'd him to be strangl'd And thus was his Exit suitable to his inglorious Life Socrates lib. 5 cap 18 gives us an Account That the Heathen Romans had Victualling-houses under Ground wherein they prostituted Whores by which Devices they trepann'd many persons some going in thither to supply themselves with Food others to satisfie their libidinous and filthy Desires for by a certain Engine purposely made for that end they were convey'd from the Victualling-house down into the Bakehouse where they were forc'd to work and continued there till they were grown old and being never suffer'd to go out their Relations took it for granted that they were dead This Trick was chiefly put upon Strangers and was discover'd by one of the Emperor Thcodosius's Souldiers who being trappan'd in this manner kill'd some of those with his Dagger that would have detain'd him and escaping by this means acquainted the Emperor with it who order'd those Houses to be pull'd down and the Masters of them to be punish'd Another aâ—…ominable Custom they had which was abolish'd also by this Emperor of which he gives the following Account If a Woman were taken in Adultery they shut her up in a narrow Brothel-house and forc'd her to play
time but the solution is eaise by the Total destruction may be meant that of the Generality or some of them might escape to the Neighbouring Nations and return again with Foreign Colonies to re inhabit their desolate Country which the Israelites were not to stay in but press'd forward towards the Land of Canaan and so the new Inhabitants assuming the Name of the Country might invade the Israelites in the days of Gideon We have seen the destruction of Midian occasioned by their Uncleanness but that of the Moabites was respited for a while because they were the off-spring of Lot Of such advantage is it to be descended of Godly Parents tho' in an illegal manner We have already considered Incestuous and Unlawfull Marriages as they were forbidden to the Israelites whom God would have distinguish'd from other Nations not only in respect of the purity of their Morals but even in their Apparel Hair and laudable Customs as Maimonides and others think And we come now to consider those Incestuous Marriages and Promiscuous Copulations as the Causes of the destruction of the Egyptians amongst whom they had dwelt and of the Canaanites in whose Land they were to dwell as it is particularly expressed in the 18th Chapter of Leviticus It 's true that all along in the Book of Exodus the Chief Crime of the Egyptians taken notice of is Oppression and Persecution but as we have said before Persecution and Uncleanness are Generally Companions and we find that the multiplication of the Hebrews was one great Cause of the Envy and Hatred of the Egyptians towards them which being the usual Blessing and Reward of Chastity was a severe Reproof to the Lascivious Egyptians which no doubt did heighten their Enmity to the Children of Israel And by the Prophet's Reproof in the 20. and 23. Chapters of Ezekiâ—…l That Israel had plaid the Harlot in the days of her Youth when she was in the Land of Egypt there 's reason to think that too too many of the Israelites were infected with the corrupt Example of the Egyptians who for their Promiscvous Venery are Compared to Asses and Horses by the Prophet in these words Whose Members are as the Members of Asses and whose Issue is as the Issue of Horses Historians tell us That it was usual amongst the Egyptians for Brothers and Sisters to Marry together and that they made a Statute for the Lawfulness of it because Isis their Goddess was Married to her Brother Osiris Then seeing the Israelites had convers'd amongst them 200 Years and had not only seen but learned their Corrupt manners and been witnesses to all the plagues inflicted upon them on that Account there could not be a more proper Caution given them than to beware of their Practices It is also to be observed that the Arabians amongst whom the Israelites wandered married none but their own Kindred That the Persians held it Lawfull for the Fathers to marry with their Daughters and the Parthians accounted it no Crime for the Mothers to marry with their Sons so much were those Eastern Countries drowned in Uncleanness whence it is plain that Whoredom was one of the principal Causes of their destruction It 's true that in Abraham's time it would seem that such Incestuous Marriages were not Common amongst the Egyptians otherwise his advice to Sara to say that she was his Sister would have been no Argument to make the Egyptians conclude that she was not his Wife But it is plain from Historians that afterwards they grew more licentious And thus Ptolemy Pihladelphus married his Sister Arsinoe and Soter and Philopater Egyptian Kings did also marry their own Sisters And it 's a known Story of the Persians that when Cambyses King of Persia had a mind to his youngest Sister and ask'd his Judges whether there were any Law against it they answered him That they knew none but that there was a Law that the King 's of Persia might do what they would Then 't is also known that the Messagates Troglodites Brachmans and other Eastern People allowed a Community of Wives their Philosophers taught it and Crates and Cabades Kings of Persia made L aws for it Another of the Crimes forbidden to the Israelites and which the Canaanites and those Eastern People were guilty of was causing their Seed to pass through the fire to Moloch by which some understand that in a most filthy manner they consecrated their Sperm or Seed to their Idol Priapus as Baal's Priest offered their Blood to their Idol 1. Kings 18. and as the Manichees and Gnosticks mixed the Eucharist with humane Seed tho' the Current of Interpreters carry it for making their Children pass through betwixt two fires and sometimes offering them as a burnt-Sacrifice in Honour of their Idol They are also charged with Sodomy or the Unnatural Lust of Men towards Men to which they were given up by the Just Judgment of God as a due punishment for their Idolatry And at the dissolution of the Monasteries here in England our Anti-Christian Idolaters were found to have polluted themselves in this manner which Crime as it brought Hell upon the Sodomites before their time that is brought Fire and Brimstone upon them before they went off the Earth so this horrid Uncleanness of the Monks procur'd the dissolution of the Monasteries by Henry VIII before their Religion was discharged out of the Nation The Egyptians and Canaanites are also charged with Bestiality their Men and Women having committed Confusion with Beasts and thus Pasiphae is accused of having accompanied with a Bull Polyphantes with a Bear Semiramis with an Horse and the Women of Mendis in Egypt with Goats Nay if we may believe the Fables of the Jews the false Prophet Balaam who was slain amongst the Midianites was guilty of Bestiality with his Ass which they foolishly collect from those Words of the Beast viz. Am not I thine Ass which thou hast ridden upon It is also observable that those brutal Commixtions were punish'd by the Infamy of the Criminals as well as by their destruction for we read that the Monstrous Births have many times discovered those Unnatural Crimes and that sometimes they have been betrayed by Heterogeneous tho perfect Births And thus Plutarch tells us of a Boy begotten betwixt a Man and a Mare and of a Girl betwixt a Man and an Ass And Olaus Magnus mentions a Man begotten of a Woman by a Bear who was thereupon called Ursus and of whom many Great Danish Princes did afterwards descend It 's true that Galen denies that there can be any such Generation of Mankind but others maintain it upon this reason That the Partial Cause being more Noble prevails over the less Noble as it is many times seen that a fair Woman hath brought forth a Black-a-moor In fine the Land of Canaan being polluted by those abominations Vomited out her Inhabitants the Posterity of Cham who did so impudently behold and revile his Fathers Nakedness and is thought to have
Marriage and to avoid as much as may be the Exhausting of their Men by Wars Colonies or Conquests which do naturally occasion the want of a sufficient number of Males to supply the Females whence proceeds Whoredom Uncleanness and Luxury which infallibly issues in Contempt of Marriage an Obstruction of Propagation and the ruin of a people Before we come to give an Account how the Persian Monarchy was overturn'd by Luxury and Lasciviousness we shall have occasion to touch upon some Remarkable Revolutions occasioned amongst the Greeks by Uncleanness The first that we meet with in Justin is that of Diocles King or Governour of Athens who having forced a young Woman he was in Revenge thereof killed by her Brother whereupon Hippias Brother to Diocles ordered the youngman to be apprehended and putting him upon the Rack examined him concerning those that were privy to his design the young man in further Revenge for this new Injury Nam'd all the Tyrant's Friends who being put to Death upon his Accusation Hippias ask'd if he knew of any more that were Conscious to his Crime To this the young man answered That there were no more at whose Death he could gladly rejoyce but the Tyrant himself which the Citizens took as a Signal to recover their lost Liberty and drove Hippias into Exile who thereupon joining with the Persians against his own Country was slain in Battle And here it 's proper to add that the Effeminacy and Luxury of the Persians under the Reign Xerxes was the chief cause of the shamefull overthrows which they received by the Grecians The next Remarkable instance which we find for our purpose in Justin is that in his 3d. Book of the War betwixt the Messenians and Lacedemoonians occasioned by the former's having Ravished the Virgins belonging to the latter whilst they were at Sacrifice upon which the Lacedomineans bound themselves by a solemn Oath never to return into their Country till they had taken in Messenia which laid the Foundation of Intestine Discord and Civil War in Grecia The Siege of this Town continued 10 years during which time the Lacedemonian Women being not able to brook the want of their Husbands Company they sent heavy complaints to them upon that head but the Lacedemonians being unwilling to violate their Oaths and at the same time sensible that their people must needs decrease they fell upon this Medium to send home all the young men who had come as Recruits to their Camp after the taking of the said Oath and allowing them the Liberty to Accompany with the Women the Children begot by this promiscuous Copulation were as a Brand of their Mothers Infamy called Parthenii and arriving at the Age of 30 they were so much afraid of coming to Want because they knew not whom to call Father nor which way to have any Patrimony that under the Conduct of Phalantus Son to Aratus who was the Author of the Advice to send the young men from the Camp abovesaid they resolved to seek new Habitations for themselves and so without so much as saluting or taking leave of their Mothers from whom they deriv'd the Infamy of being Bastards they arriv'd at last in Italy subdued the Tarentines and settled in their Country But to return to the Messenians they were at last overcome by the Lacedemonians in two Wars the 1st of 20 and the 2. of 14 years continuance and reduced to a miserable slavery which was originally occasion'd as we have just now heard by their Uncleanness Our next Instance is in Justin Lib. 5 concerning Timea Queen to Agis King of Lacedemon who being guilty of Adultery with Alcibiades the Athenian while an Exile from his Country at her Husbands Court â—…e discovered to him the design which the Lacedemonians had against his Life because they envied his Conduct and Glory upon which Alcibiades fled to the Persians and having by his cunning prevail with the Athenians to recall him he afterwards defeated the Lacedemonians by Sea and Land and brought them to sue for Peace so destructive to her Country was the Unlawfull Amours of this Whorish Queen and so ruinous to the whole East and particularly to Athens was the Vitious Lustfull Temper of Alcibiades the occasion of whose Exile as abovementioned was his discovery of something of the Mystery of Ceres's Worship or the Profane Eleusina Sacra which we have already described at large The fatal Exit of this Great Man is also Remarkable viz. That he was by the order of the 30 Tyrants burnt in his Chamber when asleep a suitable punishment from the hand of Divine Justice for one that had burnt in impure Lust however he deserved better Treatment at the hands of his Country That same Author in his sixth Book acquaints us that after the death of Epaminondas the great Theban General the Athenians having no Enemy to whet their Emulation or Exercise their Martial Courage grew Luxurious and Debauch'd spent their Time and Revenues in publick Festivals and Plays frequented the Stage and Play-Houses more than the Camp and did more extoll their Poets and Orators than their Captains and Generals by which means they lost their Glory and rendred themselves and all Greece and Asia a prey to the Macedonians formerly an obscure people Before we go any further in the History of the Unlawful Amours of Greece it may not be improper to take notice of the ruine of Troy by the Graecians after ten years War upon the account of the Rape of fair Helena from Menelaus a Graecian Prince by Paris Son to Priamus King of Troy This story being known to every School-Boy its needless to insist upon it but we shall only observe that the Lust of Paris occasioned the ruin of that Kingdom and City about the year of the World 2870. after it had stood near 296 years The ruins of that Famous Town are still to be seen near the Mountain Ida about 32 German Miles South of Constantinople upon the Asian side of the Hellespont or strait of the Dardanelles as a Monument of Divine Justice against Whoredom Justin in his 7th Book gives us this Remarkable instance of punishment inflicted upon the Persian Ambassadors for their Lechery viz. That being sent by Magabazus the Persian General to demand Hostages from Amyntas King of Macedonia that Prince received them kindly and the Ambassadors having drank largely in the time of the Feast so as their Lust was inflamed they demanded that they might have the Company of the Kings Wives and Daughters at their entertainment which they said was a Pledge of Hospitality among the Persians The King thinking fit to grant it the Persians began to handle the Women immodestly upon which Alexander Son to King Amyntas desir'd his Father to withdraw from the Banquet because of his Age and Gravity the Prince having done so Alexander a little while after called out the Women pretending that he would bring them back in a better dress that so they might be the more
acceptable to the Persians and in their place brought in as many young Men in Womens Habit with orders to punish the Ambassadors for their lasciviousness and accordingly when they begun to handle them as they had done the Women the young men kill'd every one of the Ambassadors with Swords which they had concealed under their Garments In that same Book we have an instance of an abominable Incestuous Intrigue of Eurydice Wife to another Amyntas King of Macedonia and Nephew to the former who falling in Love with her Son-in-Law upon promise of Marriage undertook to murder her Husband and advance her Gallant to the Throne but was prevented by her Daughter who discovered her Mothers Incest and bloody design yet Amyntas for the Love which he bare to the Children that he had by this wicked Woman spar'd her and the Unnatural Beast after his Death murdered her own Sons Alexander and Perdiccas by him tho'for their sakes he had spared her Life and all this mischief she committed that she might wallow without Interruption in her Impure Lusts. In his 9th Book he gives us an account of the death of Philip of Macedon Rather to Alexander the Great which was occasioned partly by his having Divorc'd Olympias on suspicion of Adultery or with an Adulterous design to marry Cleopatra and partly because he had not executed Judstice upon Attalus for having Committed Sodomy upon Pausanias who freâ—…uently complained of it but was always dismiss'd with scorn and therefore watching his Opportunity he stabb'd Philip on the day that he was married to Cleopatra as walking betwixt his own Sons afterwards Alexander the Great and Alexander his Son-in-Law Thus this Great Prince who had Conquer'd many Nations and Countries became a Conquest and Victim to his own Lusts and the Lusts of others and occasioned likewise the death of his Paramour Cleopatra Olympias having first murdered her Daughter and then forc'd Cleopatra to hang her self His â—…th Book furnishes us with a very remarkable instance of Artaxerxes King of Persia who had 115 some say 160 Sons by Concubines and three only by Lawfull Marriage for which Incontinence he was punish'd in the following manner his Son Darius being by the Indulgence of Artaxerxes admitted to the Throne while he himself was alive contrary to the Custom of the Persians he ungratefully Conspired against his Father's Life and engaged 49 of his Brethren in the Conspiracy The occasion of this Unnatural Plot was yet more vile than the Plot it self which Justin relates thus Artaxerxes having defeated and killed his Brother Cyrus in the War betwixt them he married Aspasia Cyrus his Concubine and her Darius wou'd have his Father to resign to him as well as his Throne which the Indulgent Father promised to do at first but repenting of it afterwards he made her priestess to the Sun that he might have a fair pretence of denying her to Darius because according to the Persian superstition those of that Office must observe perpetual Chastity Darius taking this as a great affront entred into the Conspiracy as abovementioned which being discovered the Incestuous and Unnatural Traitor with all his Associates their Wires and Children was cut off that there might be no memorial left of such a horrid piece of Villainy Thus was Uncleanness justly punish'd both in Father and Children and this Instance is so much the more remarkable that it fell out but a few years before the overthrow of the Persian Monarchy by Alexander the Great which the Lasciviousness and Effeminacy of the Persians made easy to be effected Our next instance is Alexander the Great who tho in the height of his Youth and Conquests he obtain'd so much Glory by abstaining from Darius his Beautiful Queen and Daughters who were his Captives yet giving himself afterwards up to Impure Pleasures he hath thereby rendred his Infamy as Immortal as his Fame It 's observed of him by his Historian Curtius that he was always more Famous in War than after Victory and that having broke the Power of the Persian Empire he degenerated into those very Manners or rather Vices which made the Persians such an easie Conquest to him That same Author in his 5th Book gives us an Account that Alexander having staid much longer at Babylon than he did at any other place the Corrupt Manners of the Citizens did more prejudice to the Discipline of his Army than any thing they had met with before that time and indeed the Description that Curtius gives us of the abominable Luxury and Impurity which reign'd in that City is sufficient to convince us that the Empire of which that was the Metropolis or at least the most Renowned and Greatest City was ripe for ruin The words of the Historian are as follow There was nothing more corrupt than the manners of that City and nothing more Accommodated to incite and provoke Voluptuousness and Lust. The Parents and Husbands permitted their Wives and Daughters to lie with their Guests provided they gave them a Reward Banquets Revells and Plays were the Chief delights of the Kings and Princes of Persia. The Babylonians were wholly giv'n up to Wine Drunkenness and the Consequences of it Their Women when they first came in to their Feasts and Banquets were apparelied modestly enough but in a little time after they threw off their upper Garments and in the last place with modesty be it spoken vncover'd their Nakedness nor was this only the practise of the Common prostitutes but of their Matrons and married Women who esteem'd such promiscuous dalliance a Great piece of Complaisance and Good breeding with which Dehauches says our Author that Army which Conquer'd Asia being glutted for 34 days they had doubtless been rendred very unfit for what they undertook afterwards if they had not been Reinforc'd by fresh supplies of uncorrupted men from Macedonia c. Our Author gives us another Instance of the Idleness and Luxury of the Persian Women viz. That when Alexander the Great had received Purple and Macedonian Apparel made by his own Sisters in a Present from home he ordered the same to be Presented to Sysigambis the Mother of Darius with this Complement that if she lik'd them he would furnish her with those who shou'd teach her Grand Daughters to make such which presently drew Tears from the Persian Princess there being nothing reckon'd more dishonourable amongst the Persian Women than to Card and Spin which I take to be the meaning of our Author's words to touch Wool How much this differs from Solomon's Character of a good Houswife and whether the handling of Wool had not been more commendable than such Dissolute Revels as we just now mentioned let the World Judge But to return to Alexander the Great After he had with great difficulty and danger past the straits of Susis and taken Persepolis the Royal Residence of the Kings of Persia the Lascivious Inhabitants became Executioners of Divine Justice upon themselves and their Impure City for putting on their
chieâ—… Ornaments of which their Luxury had made them provide a great Number they threw themselves their Wives and Children headlong from the Walls and Precipices and set fire to their own Houses But that which is particularly remarkable as to Alexander is that in a Drunken fit at the perswasion of Thais a Drunken Whore says Curtius he ordered the Famous Royal Palace of the Persian Kings to be burnt which he had hitherto saved and he himself threw the first firebrand into it to his perpetual Ignominy and Disgrace However we may plainly see by this passage that the sin of the Persians was legible in their punishment when this Famous Palace that had been polluted with such Herds of Strumpets as the Persian Kings did usually Entertain was burnt to Ashes at the instigation of an Infamous Strumpet and not long after Darius himself fell by the hands of his Treacherous Subjects which put an end to the Persian Empire Curtius in his 6th Book gives us an Account how Alexander became hatefull to the Graver sort of his Captains and Generals by his degenerating into the Vices of the Persians as Immoderate drinking and spending his time in Plays and amongst Herds of Strumpets which occasioned frequent Conspiracies against him Mutinies amongst his Souldiers and other Commotions He became likewise guilty of Sodomy with Bagoas Darius's Eunuch affected the Persian Habit and Customs and entertained 360 Concubines as Darius had done before him which occasioned the Macedonians to grumble and say That he was more like to those that he had Conquer'd than a Conqueror so that he was forc'd to prevent their sedition to engage them in a fresh War after he had for thirteen days satiated his Lust with Thalestris Queen of the Amazons at her own desire While he was preparing for his Expedition against Bessus Philotas and others of his Great Officers conspired against his Life but Nicomachus a Catamite having discovered it by means of Dimachus who was his Companion in that Unnatural Amour revealed it so as 't was prevented but it cost his Villainous Paramour Dimachus and others their Lives such was the fatal Consequence of Dimachus's unnatural Lust to himself and others The next Instance which Curtius affords fit for our purpose is that of Spitamenes who being Prince or Governor of the People called Dahee he revolted from Alexander and doting upon his Beautifull Wife carried her with him where-ever he went she being weary of that kind of Life advised him to submit himself to Alexander which he took so ill that he upbraided her with a lustfull design thinking that her Beauty would make her acceptable to Alexander and therefore would have killed her if he had not been hindred by those about him whereupon he forbad her to come any more into his presence and that he might wean him self from her he pass'd his time amongst his Concubines but finding that he could not Conquer his passion towards her he sent for her again and she pretending to have forgot her former Injury watch'd her opportunity when he was fast asleep and cutting off his Head took one Servant along with her and carried it to Alexander which proves that her Husband's suspicion of her was not ill-founded but Alexander tho' he was glad to be rid of such a troublesome Enemy as Spitamenes did so much abhor the Barbarous and Treacherous Woman that he Commanded her to depart the Camp lest the Graecian Women should be infected by her cursed Example Thus was Spitamenes and she both justly punished for their Uncleanness Curtius in his 8th Book gives us another Instance of Alexander's being Conquered by his Lusts which was thus Cohortanes the Governor of a certain Country having submitted himself to Alexander he did likewise entertain him with a Feast and for his better diversion ordered 30 Noble Virgins to be brought in amongst whom was his own Daughter Roxane a Lady of Incomparable Beauty with whom Alexander who had abstain'd from Darius's fair Wife and two Daughters all Ladies of much Greater Beauty and Quality was so much taken that in the heat of his Lust he Contracted a Marriage with this Comparatively Ignoble Lady to the Great disgust of his Friends In the same Book he gives us a lively Description of the Effeminacy and Luxury of the Indians who Inhabited about the Ganges and Dyardenes that were some of the last of Alexander's Conquests and indeed Ripe for such Judgments as a Conquest Generally brings upon a Nation Curtius Expresses himself Elegantly concerning them thus viz. That the Luxury of their Kings which they call Magnificence exceeds the Vices of all other Nations they never come abroad but their Servants carry Silver Censers and Perfume all the way that the Prince is to go He is carried in a Golden Couch hung about with Jewels This Chair or Couch is followed by his Guards who carry Branches of Trees with Singing-Birds and Parrots upon them his Palace is supported by Gildâ—…d Columns and they adorn'd with Vines inlaid with Gold and the Effigies of such Birds upon them in Silver as they do most delight in When the King Combs and Dresses his Hair then he gives Audience to Ambassadors and does Justice to his people and his Shooes or Sandals being taken off his Feet are Anointed and Perfum'd with precious Ointments and Perfumes his greatest Labour is Hunting and that is to shoot Darts at Birds and Beasts penn'd up in a Park or Cage his Concubines in the mean time Singing about him and making vows for his success his short Journies he performs on Horse-Back and the longer on Elephants covered over with Gold and a long Train of Concubines follow him in Golden Couches or Chairs And equal to this is the Luxury of the Queen and her Attendants so that we may readily conclude that Alexander found no great difficulty in subduing such Debaucht and Effeminate Nations who were full Ripe for Divine Vengeance We come now to the winding up of the Story of Alexander the Great who did so far degenerate into the Manners and Vices of those People he had Conquer'd that he gave Crowns to some and took away Lives from others at the will and pleasure of his Whores and particularly of Bagoas the Eunuch who was his Catamite Curtius gives us an Instance of this in his 10th Book where he Relates how Orsines a Great Persian Prince of Cyrus's off-spring was falsely Accused and Executed because he despis'd that Villainous Eunuch and said that it was not Whores and Catamites that he had any regard for but only to the King's Friends and when this Revengefull Catamite had got Alexander to Condemn this great Man who had at all times been very Friendly and Bountifull to the King and his Retinue he could not forbear to assist at the Execution himself upon which Orsines told him Satyrically That he had heard that Women had sometimes Govern'd Asia but it was never Govern'd by a Guelding before Thus Alexander being Govern'd by those Vile
but by Leave first obtain'd from the Senate The basest of those Statues were made of Marble the rest of Ivory and Silver and Gold and those also solid and massy Domitian would suffer no Statues to be erected for himself in the Capitol but of massy Gold and weighing no less than an hundred pound And Commodus had one of a thousand pound weight They were also at great charge in guarding those Statues and to this purpose maintain'd an Officer of great Honour who had the Title of Comes Romanus his province was to walk through the Streets of the City in the Night time with his Souldiers chiefly to take care that no Wrong should be offer'd to the Statues so prodigally careful were the Romans of their own Shadows and at the same time prodigally careless of the Lives of others We come next to take notice of their prodigality and sumptuousness in their private Buildings The elegant Poet Claudian speaking of them in general says Qua nil in terris complectitur altius Aether c. Blondus in his Book de Roma Triumphante says That Cicero alone had eighteen great Houses in the Country fit to be Palaces for Kings Their Houses were so excessive large that a Man would wonder what use they could be of and therefore Valerius upbraids one of them who thought he was straiten'd in his Dwelling thus whose House is no larger than were all Cincinnatus 's Grounds Some of Nero's Slaves had Kitchins which took up above two Acres of Ground and the Lands of those who laid the Foundation of the Empire were of less extent than the Cellars of some that came after Salust says Their Houses and Farms were built in the manner of Cities Nay Seneca de Benef. 7. 10 says that private Mens Houses exceeded the largeness of great Cities And Juvenal Sat. 14 says some of them exceeded their chiefest Temples and the Capitol it self in heighth and upon the tops of those high Houses they planted Gardens Orchards and Groves Their Riches and Ornament were suitable to their Greatness for they brought the most skilful Architects from all the known parts of the World whose Wit and Boldness was such that they attempted to effect what Nature seem'd to deny Lucullus caus'd Mountains to be cut to let the Sea into a Pleasure-house of his near Naples for the conveniency of keeping his Fish and for that same purpose built Rooms in the Sea Amongst other Ornaments for their Houses they delighted chiefly in Pillars or Columns of great heighth and sometimes two hundred in number in one Gallery or Entry They guilded the very Beams Roofs and Walls of their Chambers with Pictures and precious Stones intermingled and they so fram'd the movable Roofs of their Dining-rooms that they could change them upon the bringing in of every new Course to the Table And sometimes they represented Groves with Birds singing in them And answerable to these Roofs were their Pavements whereupon Martial reprehends them for treading upon Onyx-stones We shall conclude this point with a short Account of the Houses of Domitian Nero and Heliogabalus As to Domitian's Plutarch says thus of it If any Man wonder at the Magnificence of the Capitol were he in Domitian's Palace and saw but one Gallery Hall Path or Parlour for his Concubines he would presently cry out with Epicharmus That all the Glory of the Capitol is but a Trifle in comparison of Domitian's own House As to Nero's Suetonius describes it thus In the Porch there was a Colossus shap'd like himself One hundred and twenty foot high the House had three Galleries in it each of them a Mile long a standing Pool like a Sea surrounded with Buildings in manner of a City Fields in which were Arable Grounds Pastures Vineyards and Woods with a multitude of tame and wild Beasts of all kinds In the other parts thereof all was cover'd with Gold and shining with precious Stones or Mother of Pearl The Dining-rooms were Roofed with Ivory Planks that were movable for the casting down of Flowers and had Pipes in them for the sprinkling of Oyntments The Roof of the principal Dining-room was round and wheel'd about Day and Night according to the Motion of the Heavens And when he had thus finish'd this House he said He began to dwell like a Man Then as to Heliogabalus the same Authoâ—… gives an Account That he built of Cedar many Barges whose Sterns were set with Pearls and precious Stones they carried Sails of diverse colours and had in them Baths Galleries and Parlours of great largeness with variety of Vines and Trees bearing Fruit and lying along in those in the midst of his Musick he was carried up and down the Coast of Campania In the building of his Country-houses he set aside all Reason and desir'd nothing so much as that which was told him could not be done so that he would order huge Piles to be laid in the Sea to stop the course of it cut through Rocks of the hardest Flint raise the Plains as high as the Mountains and level the Mountains with the Plains The next thing we take notice of is their Excess in Houshold-stuff Their Bedsteads by degrees came to be of Silver then guilded and at last of massy Gold Nay Heliogabalus had his Closestools and Chamberpots of the same and 't was ordinary for them to have their Beds perfum'd with rich and precious Odours Then for the Ornament of their Houses they bought them Pictures at excessive rates Lucius Lucullus gave for the Copy of Glycera with a Chappelet of Flowers in her Hand two Talents or Three hundred and eighty Pounds Sterling Hortensius the Orator gave for a Picture of the Argonauts One hundred forty four thousand Sesterces or Twelve hundred pounds Sterling of which Seneca says wittily thus What difference is there herein betwixt us and Children who value counterfeit Rings and Jewels and Bracelets at high prices save that we dote about Statues and Pictures playing the fool at a dearer rate Then the Workmanship of those Pictures was many times lascivious and beastly and full of obscene postures enough to corrupt the chaste Minds of the beholders Their Luxury in Apparel Dressing c. was equal to their Luxury in all other things Concerning their Effeminacy in general Seneca says What is yet left of Good manners or Fashions we extinguish by trimming and decking our Bodies We have exceeded the Niceness of the Women and wear light and whorish Colours not becoming Matrons We fashion our Gate to a wanton and mincing pace and do not walk but creep It is now held the accomplish'd Gallantry of our Youth to frizzle their Hair like Women to speak with an affected smallness of Voice in tenderness of Body to match them and to bedeck themselves with most undecent Trimming In his Book De brevitate Vitae he says How do they chafe if the Barber be never so little negligent How do they take on if any thing be lopp'd off of their
Foretops if any thing lie out of order if every thing fall not even into their Rings and Curls which of these would not chuse that the State whereof he is a Member should be in Combustion rather than his Hair should be displaited It was common for them to have their Hair plaited behind and besmear'd with Oyntments and Perfumes and for their Faces they us'd so much Slibber-sauce such daubing and painting that they look'd like Ulcers Their Garments were artificially press'd to make them shine brighter and so curiously plaited that Hortensius the Orator commenced a Suit against his fellow in Office for that meeting him by chance in a narrow way he had disorder'd the Plaits of his Robe he held it a capital matter that a Fold upon his Shoulder was displac'd And so excessive they were in the multitude of their Apparel that when any of them went to the publick Baths they had as much Apparel carried after them as might well suffice a dozen of Men. Lucullus says Horace Ep. 6. had Five thousand short Cloaks and at their publick Feasts they chang'd Suits at the coming in of every Course meerly for Ostentation as we have shew'd already It was also usual with them to have Rings on every Finger and sometimes one for every Joynt Nay 't is recorded of Charinus that he wore six upon every Finger and they arriv'd to that heighth of Luxury in this point that they had Summer-rings and Winter-rings Then as to their Women If the Men were so nice we may well suppose that their Women exceeded concerning whom Seneca de Benef. 7. 9 says ' I see their Silken Apparel if it may be call'd Apparel wherewith they can neither cover their Bodies nor their Shame which when a Woman wears she cannot safely swear that she is not naked Yet these things are brought from Nations with whom we have no Traffick that our Women may expose no less to the publick view when they come abroad than they do to their Paramours in Bed Lollia Paulina a Wife and afterwards Widow to Caligula the Emperor when she went to any ordinary Feast us'd to have so many Jewels about her that she shone again as she went and offer'd to prove that those Ornaments alone stood her in Four hundred thousand Sesterces St. Jerome in Vita Pauli Eremitae and Tertullian de habitu Muliebri complain of the Prodigality of their Times saying That upon one Necklace hung the price of diverse Lopps and that upon one Twine there were threaded up Ten hundred thousand Sesterces Nay one Pearl bought by Julius Caesar for his Paramour Servilia the Mother of Brutus cost him Sixty hundred thousand Sesterces or near Forty-five thousand pounds Sterling Nay saith Seneca the Women had not sufficiently brought the Men into subjection if they did not hang two or three Patrimonies at each Ear. Propertius accuses the Roman Matrons of jetting it about with the Estates of their Heirs upon them Yet all this had been more tolerable had they not worn them upon their Feet of which Pliny can hardly speak with Patience Lib. 33. 3 Let our Women saith he wear their Pearl and precious Stones upon every Finger about their Necks in their Ears upon their Chappelets and Tresses but must they also wear them upon their Feet And Book 9. 35 he says Nay they garnish their Feet with them and not only the higher but the lower part of their Slippers so that it is not held sufficient to wear Pearl unless we tread and walk upon it Lampridius tells us of Heliogabalus that he wore Jewels curiously engraven on his Feet as if the Gravings of famous Workmen could be discern'd there Their Women did not blush to own that they painted their Eyebrows and Faces and dy'd their Hair and had such infinite numbers of little Boxes full of Trash for hiding their Deformities that Ovid as great an Admirer of the fair Sex as he was says Non semel hic stomacho nausea facta meo i. e. They had oftentimes turn'd his Stomach Their Looking-glasses were in heighth and breadth answerable to their Bodies engraven in their Borders with Gold and Silver and emboss'd with precious Stone Some of those says Seneca Nat. Quaest. lib. 1. 17 cost more than the Ancients gave in Dowry with their Daughters nay than that which by publick allowâ—… ance was given the Daughters of the poorer Emperors And a little further he says Now a days says he that Dowry which the People of Rome gave with Scipio's Daughter will not suffice to buy a Glass for a Manumited Slave's Daughter and that was Eleven thousand Asses which was upwards of Forty pound Sterling so that by this we may guess what Luxury reign'd among Persons of Quality Then as to the number of their Servants they were so numerous that Athenaeus says some of them had above Twenty thousand Marcellinus describes their Order of ranging their Servants when they went abroad as if it had been an Army insomuch that they were under a necessity of having Comptrollers or Nomenclators to tell them the Names of their Servants And that their Women did also exceed in this kind may be gather'd from St. Jerome's Epistle to Furia wherein he forbids her to go abroad with an Army of Eunuchs marching before her after the manner of licentious Widows Thus we have finish'd our Collections from the Roman History which are sufficient to demonstrate that that great Empire was ruin'd by Luxury and Uncleanness and will serve to convince any judicious Reader what Monsters particular Men and whole Nations become when judicially given up of God to work all manner of Uncleanness with Greediness We come in the next place to search into Ecclesiastical History to see what we can find for our purpose there In the 2d Book of Eusebius we find that Simon Magus that great Enemy to the Christian Religion is accus'd of keeping company with one Helena who had formerly been a common Prostitute in the Stews of Tyre a City of Phoenicia whom his Followers call'd the prime Notion or first Conception from him and us'd to prostrate themselves before the Images and Pictures of this Simon and his Strumpet Helena And suitable to this was their Practise viz. so impure that 't was impossible for Men of Modesty to utter them by reason of their excessive Obscenity there being nothing to be invented so impure which their lewd Sect did not far surpass deluding silly Women laden with all manner of Iniquity a pregnant and strong Instance that Impurity of Life and Principle leads Men naturally to a hatred of true Religion The next Instance is in Book 3 Cap. 28 of the Heretick Cerinthus of whom he says That being a Lover of his Body and altogether carnally minded he earnestly lusted after those things wherein he dreamt the Kingdom of Christ consisted viz. in the satiety of the Belly and of those parts beneath the Belly that is Meats Drinks and Marriages And Nicephorus lib. 3 cap. 14
to heart that he thereupon became a deliberate Felo de se and after having set his House in order became the Executioner of a punishment upon himself which ought to have been inflicted by the hands of others as a Just reward for his having advised to the Commission of Capital Crimes And thus fell Achitophcl as a true Type of Judas As to Absalom his punishment was very remarkable His Father David against whom he had committed those Capital offences was so strangely indulgent that he gave his Captains particular Charge to deal kindly with him for his sake but behold the Event that Unnatural Monster whom the Indulgence of a Father would have spared the Justice of Heav'n would not suffer to go unpunish'd but armed the Trees of the Forest against him so that his Hair being caught by the branch of an Oak that in which he so much Gloried became the means of his Ruin and serv'd instead of a Rope to hang him up betwixt Heav'n and Earth as a Monument of Divine Justice and to shew that he was accursed but that was not all Divine Justice did so much Incense Joab against him that taking three Darts in his hand he soon dispatch'd him so that he died more sorts of Deaths than one as a Just reward for his Complicated Crimes R. Kimchi's Observations upon Absalom's Tragical Exit are neither improper nor Unpleasant Absalom says he was thrust thro' the Heart with 3 Darts 1. Because he stole the Kiâ—…g his Fathers heart 2. Because he stole the heart of the Sanhedrim that is of the 200 Senators who went with him out of the simplicity of their hearts and 3. Because he stole the Hearts of all Israel He might have added a 4th that as his heart was struck thro' with raging Lust when he went in to his Fathers Concubines in the sight of the Sun so his Heart was now struck thro' with Darts while he hung upon the Tree betwixt Heav'n and Earth The Rabbi has also another Remark which is pertinent enough viz. That as he incestuously polluted his Fathers ten Concubines he was encompassed and slain by 10 of Joab's Attendants who threw him into a Pit and raised a Great heap of Stones over him so that as he liv'd he died and was Buried in an Ignominious manner notwithstanding his having erected a Pillar which Interpreters think was a Funeral Monument resembling the Egyptian Pyramids that out of his Ambition he had prepar'd for himself in the Kings dale or Vallev where the Kings usâ—…d to solemnize publick Plays and Horse-Races Thus did Absalom die and thus was David punish'd for his Murder and Adultery The opinion of the Rabbins that Absalom was sent to Hell as soon as he died for his notorious Crimes is also Remarkable as discovering their thoughts of what such a Villainous Course of Life deserved but their fabulous conceit that David by his having seven times Ingeminated the Name of his Son delivered him from the Seven-Fold Bars of Hell and that by his repeating it the Eighth time he occasioned his being brought into Paradise is altogether Ridiculous The next thing that occurs to our Observation is the punishment inflicted by David upon his Incestuous Concubines their lives were spared because they were under a sort of Constraint yet seeing they were not altogether without fault inasmuch as there 's no mention made of their having resisted or cried out he condemned them to perpetual Widow-hood and neither came near them himself nor suffered them to enjoy the Company of any other Man as they might probably have done had he given them a Bill of divorce It 's not unreasonable to conjecture that Absalom's Beauty and the Authority which he had then usurp'd might make them the more easily consent to his Lewd Embraces and therefore they are punish'd for their Incontinence by a perpetual deprivation of Man's Society And thus David who violated the Chastity of another Man's Wife is put under a necessity of partting with his own Wives which no doubt was very cutting to him for we must rationally suppose that he who was so indulgent a Father was as tender an Husband Tho' this Holy Mans sin was pardoned both as to the punishment which he ought to have undergone according to the Law and as to eternal Wrath which he deserved yet we find that he had but very little respite from Temporal punishment for Absalom's Rebellion was not quite extinguish'd till another sprung out of its Ashes Sheba a Benjamite and Son of Belial taking the opportunity of the Peoples Tumultuating Spirits which were then in a ferment not only by reason of the late Rebellion but also because the Tribe of Judah pretended to have a greater interest in David than the other Ten Tribes sounded the Trumpet to a new Rebellion disclaiming any Portion in David or Inheritance in the Son of Jesse and straightway the Inconstant Israelites followed him and abandoned their Lawfull King whom God had anointed over them This Sheba is generally supposed to have been one of Saul's Family and a Man of Authority and not only envy'd David upon Saul's account but designed to have usurp'd the Crown for himself That Saul's Relations lookâ—…d upon David as being a bloody Man and guilty of Tyranny and Cruelty towards that Family appears plain from Shimei's railing upon David in his distress and perhaps his unjust Treatment of Mephibosheth upon Ziba s false accusation was improved by them as a New Argument to Incense the People against him but in the mean time the Accomplishment of Nathan's Prophecy That the Sword should never depart from David's House is herein very Remarkable for we find him not only plagu'd with one Rebellion upon the back of another but in the midst of this Commotion which made his Crown to totter we find an Intestine discord in his own Family he is Insulted over by his own Sister's Son Joab a Stern and Gallant General who had the Love of the Soldiery and Great Authority among the People and as Josephus says took him up so sharply for his unseasonable and intemperate passion upon Absalom's Death that he threatned if he did not give over his Mourning to betray his Crown and Dignity And now when the Forces were assembling to suppress Sheba's Rebellion David has this additional affliction added to all the rest that his Kinsman Joab did Treacherously Murder Amasa whom David had appointed to be General in that Expedition and tho' Sheba was quickly punish'd for this Execrable sedition according to his demerit yet the Citizens of Abel-Beth-Maachah with whom there 's no doubt but others concurr'd in their sentiments accus'd David as seeking to swallow up the Inheritance of the Lord for marching his Army so Inconsiderately against the Town and offering to storm it without first summoning them to surrender the Rebel Sheba who had fled thither for Protection We find also in the second Book of Samuel that David according to Nathan's threatning was visited with diverse
ExternaI as well as Internal Wars Here are diverse Battles with the Philistines taken notice of and in one of them David run a great risk of being kill'd had he not been seasonably rescued by Abishai The last thing we meet with in this Book which any way relates to our purpose is That Interpreters think that the General Luxury and Dissolution of manners which reigned amongst the Israelites after so many Victories over their Enemies and that Peace and Plenty was Restored to them was the Cause of God's stirring up David to Number the people which occasioned a Plague amongst them that like a deluge sweept away 70000 of the people so usual is it for General Prophanity to be followed by General Judgments The first Book of Kings begins with an Account of a new Rebellion hatch'd against David by his Son Adonijah Brother to Absalom which was another bitter effect of David's Unlawful Marriage with Maachah and likewise another instance of the Accomplishment of Nathan's threatning that the Sword should not depart from his House so that he was disturb'd as one may say in his last Minutes with an Unnatural Rebellion by an Ungrateful Son whom he had so tenderly Indulged that he had not at any time displeased him Nay nor so much as reproved him This youngman as he was Absalom's Brother did exactly tread in his steps resembled him both in Person and Manners and had the like fatal Exit which tho' he was pardoned for his Rebellion he drew upon himself by his Uncleanness in desiring to Wife Abishag the Shunamite who as Interpreters think was Married to his Father tho' he never knew her because of his Age upon which Account Solomon cut him off This is another Instance of the Tragical Effects of Unnatural Lust. The next that falls under our Notice is Solomon himself of whom we have this Account in the 11th Chap. of I Kings that he loved many strange Women together with the Daughter of Pharaoh Women of the Moabites Ammonites Edomites Sidonians and Hittites of the Nations concerning which the Lord said unto the Children of Israel Ye shall not go in to them neither shall they come in to you for surely they will turn away your hearts after their Gods Solomon clave unto these in Love and he had 700 Wives Princesses and three hundred Concubines and his Wives turned away his heart after other Gods when he was old so that he went after Ashtaroth the Goddess of the Zidonians after Milcom the Abomination of the Ammonites and built an high-place for Chemosh the Abomination of Moab and for Moloch the Abomination of the Children of Ammon This is certainly one of the most surprizing Instances and greatest Evidences of the mischief that Raging Lust brings upon Men that is to be found either in Sacred or Profane History That Solomon the Wisest of men should be so far besotted with Lust or to use a softer Term Amorous Inclinations to as transgress that Royal Law which forbid Kings to Multiply Wives to themselves and that other Law which forbid the Children of Israel to marry with such and such Nations but yet more that he should be so excessive in Number which we find to be no less than 1000 whereof 700 were of Noble Extract or Princesses and 300 of lower degree and that which is still more surprizing that Solomon whom God call'd Jedidiah his beloved and made him a Type ofChrist and to whom he had twice appeared in such a solemn manner should be so far overcome with the Inticements of those Outlandish and Strange Women as to worship their Gods and promote their Idolatry when he was betwixt 50 and 60 years of Age a time as one would think more proper for him to have been preparing for Death and Eternity and Establishing the true worship of God for which he was the first that had built a Temple than to be led away by such youthfull Lusts and to build high places for the abominable Idols of the Moabites Zidonians c. which Interpreters say were Immodest Statues of Priapus and Venus that were worshiped by the Incestuous off-spring of Lot by his own Daughters This is another Confirmation of what has been so often observed that there is no such powerfull attractive to Idolatry and false Religion as an Impure Life The next thing we are to take notice of is the punishment inflicted upon Solomon and his Posterity for their Crimes which we find to be that the Lord was Angry with him threatned to rend the Kingdom from him and to give it to his Servant and stir'd up Enemies against him both at home and abroad as Hadad the Edomite Rezon the Son of Eliada and Jeroboam the Son of Nebat who was made King by the Children of Israel when the Ten Tribes Revolted from Rehoboam Solomon's Son as an accomplishment of this threatning It likewise deserves our Remark that this fouâ—… defection of Solomon occasions a great dispute amongst Interpreters whether ever he recovered or not because the Scripture is silent concerning it Gregory the Great Theodoret Prosper Aquitanus Beda Rabanus Peter Martyr and others think that he was damn'd for it and Jerome Ambrose Isidore Epiphanius Crissus and others think that God gave him Repentance and that he wrote the Ecclesiastes after his Recovery However this is plain that Solomon's Lustfulness occasioned his IdoIatry and both together that Revolt of the Israelites from his Posterity which is not the only Instance that we shall meet with of Thrones being overturned by Uncleanness We shall also observe here once for all that those high Places and Groves which in the time of Jeroboam Rehoboam and other Kings the Israelites are accus'd of worshipping their Idols in were chosen as places fit for their purpose not only upon the Account on which the Heathens chose such places viz. Because they thought them nearer the Heavens and the Heavenly Gods as on the Contrary they worshiped in Dens and Caves to the Infernal Gods but because there they had a greater Conveniency of fullfilling their Brutish Lusts to which they were incited by the fulsome Statues of Venus and Priapus which they had in those places and to whom they thought that was agreeable worship and therefore it is that the Prophets do so often upbraid them with going a Whoring from the true God and being lain with under every Green-Tree and upon every High-Hill c. which was true in a Literal as well as Metaphorical and Spiritual Sense so inseparable are Idolatry and Impurity and here likewise we may observe once for all That in all those Captivities and publick Calamities which befell the People of God Uncleanness and Idolatry concurr'd as procuring Causes of which we have a clear Pròof in the 14th of the 1st Book of Kings 23d and 24th Verses where after they are accused of building them high places Images and Groves under every Green-Tree and upon every high Hill it 's straightway subjoyned that there were also Sodomites in the