Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	adultery_n	commit_v	wife_n	2,548	5	8.1753	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A51725	Discourses upon Cornelius Tacitus written in Italian by the learned Marquesse Virgilio Malvezzi ; dedicated to the Serenissimo Ferdinand the Second, Great Duke of Thuscany ; and translated into English by Sir Richard Baker, Knight.; Discorsi sopra Cornelio Tacito. English	Malvezzi, Virgilio, marchese, 1595-1653.; Baker, Richard, Sir, 1568-1645.	1642 (1642)	Wing M359; ESTC R13322	256,112	410

in the Monarchy of Cain in so many other places that we must needs beleeve this number to beare a great sway in changes generally as by others before me hath been observed yet considering it as to my purpose it hath not perhaps by any been observed but now by my selfe that to the foresaid causes of the change of government in Rome this of the number of seven may also be added seeing after seven Kings as every one knowes it came to be a free state yet I meane not that numbers can enforce but onely incline as instruments of that Almighty God who Omnia posuit innumero pondere Mensura A Parallell between the conspiracy of Marcus Brutus against Caesar and that of Lucius Brutus against Tarquin whereby we may see why the one brought in libertie the other tyranny The third Discourse HAving shewed Rome at last came to be a free state by meanes of the conspiracy of Lucius Brutus against the Tarquines I conceive it necessary to examine why the conspiracy of Marcus Brutus against Caesar having been moved with the same intention yet wrought not the same effect and no better way to come to know it then by comparing them together Many things are wont to concurre in favour of an action whereof some are antecedents and give it as it were birth other are concomitant and give it nourishment others againe are subsequent and procure it strength The action of Brutus in killing Tarquin was aided by the three foresaid things to make Rome a free state First the ordinances of Romulus which tended rather to bring in liberty then to preserve a Monarchy then the aptnesse of the Cittizens who now grown fit of themselves to governe could no longer endure to be governed by others and lastly the insolency and proud tyranny of Tarquin so extreamely distastfull to all the Citizens Thus Romulus set them in a way the perfection of the Cittizens made them fit and the insolency of the Tarquines made them desirous Now if we looke upon the action of Marcus Brutus in killing Caesar we shall finde there were all the three causes too but because they were contrary they therefore brought forth a contrary effect The first was the domination of Cinna of Sylla of Pompey and of Marcus Crassus who set the City in a way and made it plyant to tolerate Monarchy The second was the imperfection of the Citizens which was growne so great that where Rome had sometimes been a City much honoured for vertue it was now become through evill custome most abhominable Thirdly there concurred the great clemency and goodnesse of Caesar with which he had gotten and tied unto him the hearts of the people so as instead of the ordinances of Romulus to set them in a way of liberty there praeceded here the waies of Marius and others to lead them into servitude In stead of perfection of the Citizens which made them fit to live a free people there concurred here imperfection which made them good for nothing but to live in bondage and where in the one there concurred the cruelty and Pride of the Tarquines to make them desire liberty in the other there concurred the affability and clemency of Caesar to make them content with servitude Now againe if we come to speake of the causes concomitant there were three things concurred in ayd of the conspiracy against the Tarquins First the ravishing of Lucretia sufficient of it selfe as a publique injury to cause a publique insurrection And therefore Virginius speaking against Appius Claudius who would have ravished his daughter said to the people with a purpose to set them in commotion Illis enim quoque filias sorores conjuges esse sed quo impunitior sit eo effraenatiorem fore aliena calamitate documentum datum illis cavendae similis injuriae Secondly the just indignation of Lucius Brutus against Tarquinius Thirdly his acquainting the people with his intention letting them know the causes that moved him and so they having a part in the conspiracy could not choose but approve it and having a part in the danger not choose but maintaine it Thus the adultery committed with Lucretia gave a color to the conspiracy the just indignation of Lucius Brutus set a glosse upon the Authour the communicating it to the people made them a party in the cause and facilitated the action Now in the fact of Marcus Brutus against Caesar there concurred the many favours and graces which the Prince had alwaies shewed to all the many benefits which Marcus Brutus had received the murder committed in the Senate without the peoples knowledge and where the ravishing of Lucretia gave a colour to the banishing of the Tarquins the favours of Caesar discovered the ill intention of the conspirators and where in the one the offence done to Lucius Brutus set a glosse of praise upon the authour in the other the benefits bestowed by Caesar set a blot of ignominy upon Marcus Brutus and made him hatefull to all the people and where the Commons being made partakers of the conspiracy against the Tarquins conceived it was done for the publicke good here the Commons knowing nothing of the matter conceaved it was done for private profit Lastly if we looke to the things subsequent we shall also in them finde great contrariety For after the death of the Tarquins first there followed an easing the people of taxations and a maintaining them in plenty to the end they might tast the benefit of liberty secondly they put to death those Noblemen that had been adherents to the Tarquines to the end they might be made sure for making innovation Thirdly they extinguished the whole race of the Tarquins to the end they might be out of feare of the States ever comming to any of them againe And thus they secured themselves from the people from the Nobility and from the blood Royall Now after the death of Caesar all things were cleane contrary First where in that case the benefit of liberty was made appeare to the people Here Antonius with a most eloquent Oration reading Caesars Will wherein he had given a great Donative to the people made them sensible how much more it would be for their profit to have a Prince Secondly where in that case the partakers were all put to death here they were all left living Thirdly where in that case there were Armies levied against the line of the Tarquines to the end they might never be able to recover the government here Armies were levied in ayd of Augustus to the end he might more easily make himselfe Prince Let no man therefore marvell if where the intention was equall yet the successe was not equall by reason of the difference and inequa lity of the accidents I have omitted in this discourse some other differences that were between these two conspiracies meaning to speake of them in another place Pompeii Crassique Potentia cito in Caesarem Lepidi atque Antonii arma in Augustum cessere

Lucretia Now if this injury onely had beene the motive to Brutus certainly then as the injury came from a particular person so the revenge should rather have been taken upon that particular person then upon the power Regall and yet we see the contrary happened for Brutus in the oath which he caused his confederates to take made this one part not to suffer any to reigne not onely not the Tarquines but not any other person whatsoever Nec illos nec alium quemquam regnare Romae passurum A manifest argument that he had more desire to abrogate the regall Power then to vindicate the adultery So much more as the conspirators addressed themselves against the dignity rather then against the life of the offender The cause then of this alteration in the state of Rome was the Citizens spirits being grown to such perfection that they could no longer tolerate Kings and this no sooner then they were arrived at such perfection In signe whereof I consider amongst so many Kings as Rome had how onely Tully Ostillus the predecessor of Tarquinius superbus had the intention to make it a free state which certainly had taken effect if his death had not prevented it Ac tam moderatum Imperium tamen quia Vnius esset deponere eum in animo habuisse ni scelus liberandae patriae consilia agitanti interemisset Which because we cannot ascribe to the onely goodnesse of Tullus seeing Numa Pompilius a better man perhaps then he never had any such thought we must needs say that Numa seeing the Citizens unfit for a republicke set them in a way to that perfection to which arrived under Tullus It should be an easie matter for such Citizens to conserve that liberty which under a good Prince they had received And here experience shewes that which Aristotle speaking naturally knew well in matters politicke for assigning the cause why Power regall changeth oftentimes to a free State he alledgeth no other reason but the passing from imperfection to perfection saying thus Sed cum postea contingeret ut plures pari virtute reperirentur non amplius tolerarunt Regem sed commune quiddam quaerentes respublicas constituêre Moreover that the ordinances of Romulus had not been sufficient if with it there had not concurred a perfection in the Citizens will be easily conceived if we consider the case of Moses who was blamed by Jethro for ruling himselfe alone I doe not beleeve it was for that he did not judge well or for that he tooke too great paines but rather for that he shewed not to be more intentive to strengthen his owne power then to prepare for others the goodway of which this was the chiefe and first foundation Vt non aliter ratio constet quam si uni reddatur And therefore he appointed them a Senate which by their authority might serve to set the people in a way to know their owne good shewing them the way with which being once acquainted he might leave them afterward to walk in it of themselves in such sort that Moses no lesse then Romulus directed the Israelites the way to liberty but they never attaining to know the way as never comming I speake not in matters of Religion to that perfection to which the Romans attained as these could not endure Kings so those had no will to live in liberty for although they met with the same cause extrinsecall yet they had not the same cause intrinsecall which Moses well knew when perceiving his death to approach he made his prayer to God that he would provide them a leader to the end that as sheep not knowing the way if it be not shewed them by a shepheard they might be by him directed Provideat Dominus Deus spirituum omnis carnis hominem qui sit super multitudinem hanc ut possit exire intrare ante ●…os vel introducere ne sint sicut oves sine ductore And he that will more plainly see their imperfection let him confider that in the long absence of Moyses they never demanded any other leader there being none amongst them sit to governe them but onely desired that Aaron would make some Gods Facnobis Deos qui nos pracedant Whereupon for all the many beginnings the Israelites had from which they might have taken occasion to erect a Commonwealth yet they never did it because as causes be not sufficient if with them there concurre not beginnings so beginnings a●…e of no force if they come not accompanied with causes and causes availenot neither if they be not good The death of Caesar was a beginning from which a Common wealth might have been erected but because it was grounded upon a cause that was not politicall proceeding rather from the hatred and spleene against the Prince then upon any mature judgement or judicious counsaile it was not therefore sit to bring them to a be free State So when the Senatours killed Romulus they had by that a beginning of liberty but it hapning upon the same occasion as that of Caesar they hardly had so much braine to agree among themselves to choose a King So as when there concurre not causes beginnings oftentimes are left unpursued that I cannot but say if Lucretia had been ●…avished by Romulus yet Rome for all that had never gotten liberty It behooves therefore to take great heed when there be occasions first not to give the least cause of a beginning and therefore the Ifra●… being moved to demand a King upon a very great occasion namely their unfitnesse to suffer liberty they tooke for a beginning a most weake cause namely the old age of Samuel and yet for all he could doe in shewing them the burtheus of tyranny telling them as a Prophet that instead of a King they should have a tyrant he could never perswade them to leave demanding a King And therefore David after his great sinne knowing he had given the people great cause to rebell avoyded all occasions from which they might take never so weake a beginning and for this cause forbare to punish Joab though provoked to it by just indignation and left the revenge of it to his successor Whereupon we may beleeve that Tarquinius Superbus and his sonne shewed little discretion seeing so many worthy men desirous of liberty that they would give them occasion of beginning it The one by taking away all authority from the Senat and other and that more hainously by ravishing Lucretia considering that the insolency of the sonnes makes alwaies the Prince himselfe odious as Guicciardine relates of John Bentivoglio And hereof we have a like example in the holy Scripture of Hemor Hevaeus Prince of the Sichemites who lost his Kingdome thorough the ravishment his sonne Sichem committed upon Dyna the daughter of Jacob and Lea whereof the holy text in Genesis saith Egressa est autem Dyna filia Leae ut videret mulieres regionis illius quam cum vidisset Sichem filius Hemor Hevaei Princeps

thousand impertinencies to free himselfe but being forced at last to give her to him the Scripture relates that he then began to fea re David exceedingly whereupon it is said Deditque ei Saul Micholl filiam suam and it followes Michol autem diligebat eum Saul caepit timere David The most wise Salomon who also knew this danger when Bersabee unadvisedly asked Abisac the Shunamite for Adoniah answered Quare postulas Abisac Shunamite Adoniae Postula ei Regnum and as he denyed to Adoniah his wife So Tiberius denied to Agrippina her husband whereof Tacitus speaking saith Caesar non ignarus quantum ex Repubitca peteretur ne tamen offensionis aut metus manifestus foret sine reponso quanquam Instantem reliquit Likewise the same Tiberius knew that when Seianus demanded Livia who had beene the wife of Drusus it was as much as to demand the Kingdome and therfore denyed her to him saying Falleris enim Seiane si te mansurum in 〈◊〉 Ordine putas Liviam quae Caio Caesari mox Druso nupta fuerat ea mente acturam ut cum equite Romano senes●…at It is no marvell also if ●…itellius shewed to be afraid of Dolobella as being in the same case Tiberius was with Asinius Gallus having taken her to wife who had beene his wife before Vitellius metu odio saith Tacitus quod Petroniam uxorem ejus mox Dolobella in matrintonium accepisset vocatum per epistolas vitata Flaminiae viae celebritate divertere Interamnam atque ibi Jnterfici Iussit And therefore Phalti shewed great Iudgement who when Micholl marryed before to David was given him by Saul yet he never touched her but as Rabbi Salomon saith laid a sword betweene Micholl and himselfe when he was in bed with her to keepe him from touching her and indeed it was well he did so seeing no sooner was Saul dead but that David not thinking himselfe King if his wife were married to another said to Abner Non videbis faciem meam antequam adduxeris Micholl filiam Saul This therfore is a special help for attaining a kingdom our Lord God although he be able of himselfe to accomplish whatsoever he pleaseth yet as willing to make use of second causes he caused David to the end he might more easily attaine the Crowne to which hee was designed Abaeterno and to which Samuel had anointed him to take to wife adaughter of Sauls And Salomon who was all wisedome and prudence shews it us himselfe and finally the most subtile Seianus having an intent to get the Empire knew this way to be if not necessary at least most profitable Thus my intention is proved by Examples but because there is more force in Reasons to move the understanding and therefore Philosophers never speak but they bring their reason I have therefore sought out one which I have found me thinkes in Aristotle in his Books of generation where speaking how Elements are transmuted hesaith In Elementis habentibus Symbolam qualitatem facilior est transitus As the Earth which is cold and dry is more converted into water which is cold and moist then into aire which is hot and moist as agreeing with that in one quality of cold and disagreeing with this in both So in our case the attaining to a Kingdome being in a private person a transmutation more difficult then that of the Elements it will more easily be attained where there is one symbolizing quality then where there is none He therefore is more likely to attaine the Empire who being himselfe a privat man shall have a wife of the blood Royall then he that both himselfe and his wife are of private estates A Second Reason omitting Philosophicall to come to a Politicall is that people bearing affection to their Prince more easily suffer themselves to be governed as long at there remaines in the Kingdome any spark of his blood Darius a man of exceeding great Judgement comming from a private man to be a Prince for confirming him in the Empire tooke to wife a daughter of Cyrus as knowing of how great importance it was to have a wife of that blood which had beene King before where of Iustin saith Principio igitur Regni Cyri Regis filiam Regalibus nuptiis Regnum firmaturus in matrimonium accepit ut non tam in extraneum translatum quam in familiam Cyri reversum videretur The like consideration had the sonnes of Tigranes and if with them it had not good successe this happened upon other occasion and therefore good cause had Tacitus to marvell where he saith Nec Tigrani diuturnum Jmperium neque liberis ejus quanquam sociatis more externo in matrimonium Regnumque This brought Demetrius to be King of Macedon that he had Fila to wife who was daughter to the old King Antipator From this passage now spoken off with good consequence comes in the second that a Prince is in great danger who hath none but daughters seeing if he marry them hee can never be secure that his sonne in law will not take the Kingdome from him for the facility we have shewed to be by this occasion To meet with this danger many have taken divers courses the first hath beene to marry them to meane men and such as may have no thought of comming to the Empire before the time because such a one seemes rather likely to be assistant to the Prince in his affaires seeing he may justly hope for more faithfulnesse from a Sonne in law then from strangers and need not make doubt of a person that is not of any Noble Lynage This conceit was in Augustus and Tacitus expresseth it in the Person of Tiberius At enim Augustus filiam suam Equiti Romano meditatus est Mirum hercule si cum in omnes Curas distraheretur Immensumque attolli provideret quem Conjunctione tali super alios extulisset Cajum Proculeium quosdam in sermonibus habuit Insigni tranquillitate vitae nullis Reipublicae negotiis permixtos This indeed would be no ill course so long as those persons of meane condition be not of a spirit to aspire to the Empire such as those named by Tiberius were in whom those words of Tacitus are to be considered Tranquillitate vitae as though he would say a man free from audacious haughty though●… and such may safely and without danger be advanced to honour Whereupon Aristotle in his Politicks meaning to teach what kind of men may safely be raised made great he saith 〈◊〉 si quē extollere oporteat non 〈◊〉 cum qui sit moribus 〈◊〉 hujusmodi homines aptissimi sunt ad invadondu circa 〈◊〉 And if Augustus gave her afterwards to Agrippa Ignobilem loco bonum Militia victor●… socium this happened because he could not choose but feare Agrippa whereupon he was forced either to put him to death a thing most scandalous not onely in a Christian but even in a Heathen or at least to put