were within that compass To which purpose those Rivers and Fortifications might be of great disadvantage by hindering succours that might come from the North to their Aide being all equally concerned at the Bondage now putting on them Upon this they Arm and oppose their Fortifying exciting several of their Neighbours to joyn with them and choose a place to Incamp in Behind there was a rude defence and a strait passage was before it But Ostorius with those Cohorts only the benefit of his Allies and his Horse fell in on their fortified side which being made in hast and without good direction they easily pluck't down Here the Britains also fought valiantly but with ill success and this their loss confirmed such to the Roman Peace which before stood doubtful From these he brings his Army to the Cangi I guess they were a People that lived within the Line and like enough were the Inhabitants betwixt the Iceni and the Humber these he plunders and wasts their Fields It is likely they had been assisting to the Iceni or had made former Inroads upon the Roman Quarters and their Allies Meeting no considerable opposition from them he turns upon the back of the Severne toward the Silures a People that Inhabited about South Wales with whom he would fain have had a Peace using all gentle and cruel means to that purpose but they partly trusting to the conduct of Caractacus a Prince grown famous for his skill in martial affairs and partly to their own courage refused it In his Marches there appeared against him no considerable opposition sometimes in small Parties the Britains would charge the Body or some Wing of his Army where loss was on both sides but chiefly to the Britains He had not passed far but the Brigantes a People about Lancashire and the North of Trent took Arms upon which suspecting what Inconvenience might be in leaving an Enemy behind him in Arms to disturb him or his new Conquests he turns and before they could become considerable some few that were up being slain the rest upon his willingness to remit the Commotion laid down their Arms and went to their Homes Whereupon he prosecutes again his Journey to the Silures sending in the mean time to the Colony at Camalodunum to come to him whom he planted amongst the lately Conquered to the intent to restrain the attempts of those and of such as were confederated with him whom he had reason notwithstanding to suspect Caractacus finding himself weak in the number of his Forces compared to those of the Romans and knowing he was in his own Country bounded on many sides by the Sea and Severne and so consequently less apt to be relieved if he should be straitned while time served takes his March into North Wales called then the Country of the Ordovices a Place less subject to these Inconveniencies in respect it had more spacious Room of retreat or flight in adverse fortune and more capacious as the Roman Conquests then were of joyning his Arms with thosE of his Confederates which accordingly afterwards he effected Ostorius follows him and when he overtook him found him resolved and prepared for Battail having to that purpose chosen a spacious piece of Ground of advantage The scite of the Place was a declining Hill upon the Skirts thereof were Rocks and unpassable places with some open at the bottom a River cross't it within this he drew his Army up in Battalia stopping the Avennes on the sides with Stones in the nature of a Rampart and drawing a Line before it of the same Materials and in like fashion suspecting the Foard of the River Before his main Battail he places a Body of choice Men in this Order expecting the Enemy In the mean time the chief Commanders of the several Nations pass't up and down amongst their Forces setting before them the advantages of a Victory the miseries of a Battail lost lessening the causes of fear and encreasing those of hopes beyond a just measure to the intent their minds might be fortified against the apprehension of danger and with other Arts that Generals in the like cases use And Caractacus especially passing with quick motion up and down the Army did excellently perform that part of a General being brief but very eloquent in his Language and of undaunted resolutions This he told them was the day and this the Battail that must either recover or determine their Liberties calling frequently upon the names of their noble Progenitors who had driven Caesar their Dictator out of their Country thereby delivering them in their Lives their Estates Wives and Children from the violence of the Roman servitude With these Speeches the Army was much encouraged and to testifie and encrease their resolutions they make solemn Vows and Oaths not to yield to wounds or Darts On the other side the Roman General by the report of Tacitus was somewhat apprehensive of the Scite of the place to him of great disadvantage but the Souldiery and chief Officers knowing the difficulty was greatest in coming to the naked Britains and that inconsiderable despised their rude fortifications and a River fordable in many places and thereupon quicking the General they pass the River by his Command approaching to the fortification at which place the Britains had the advantage in the Fight at a distance for the Romans throwing heavy Piles up the Hill and those lighter down it might follow that these had the greater slaughter though their Bodies were exceeding well armed especially such doubtless who made the first assault But the Romans making a Testudo which was a defence of Tarquets hanging over one another like Tiles on a House toward the Enemy under the protection thereof they approacht the works and pluckt down the ill-built Wall and so entred And now the Britains coming to fight hand to hand having neither Helmet nor Arms on their Bodies were forc'd to retire which they did upwards to the top of the Hill but the Romans following had also the better there several flying away and others being taken amongst which was the Wife and Daughter of Caractacus and his Brethren also yielded themselves but Caractacus himself escaped and fled to Cartismandua Queen of the Brigantes who afterwards betrayed him unworthily to the Romans who frequently made use of such treacherous dealings and Tacitus himself though in advantageous language to the Roman glory does acknowledge by this kinde of means and by exasperating and provoking one Prince against another they had no small advantage of these Nations Whereas if they had been unanimous in their Councels had chosen the right way of managing this War under a prudent General which was that which the famous Cassibelan intended on his experience with a flying Army to which their way of living on Cattle was advantageous they might have rendered the Roman Conquests vain But it fell out other ways as it might reasonably be expected from distracted Counsels for trusting to the nature of the ground
THE FIRST PART OF THE HISTORY OF ENGLAND EXTENDING To the Conquest of so much of Britain as was Subjected by the Romans With an Introductory Preface to the whole Written in the YEAR 1666. LONDON Printed for J. C. and are to be sold by William Grantham in Westminster-Hall Henry Brome at the Starr in Little Britain Thomas Basset under St. Dunstans Church in Fleetstreet Robert Horne at the Angel and Horn in the first Court in Gresham Colledge out of Bishopsgate-Street 1668. AN INTRODUCTION to the READER HAving had opportunity and leisure for some time during the late Revolutions to observe several remarkable passages and the consequences thereof which have been fatal amongst us here in England such perhaps as the World cannot overmatch if equal for variety and value And taking notice further that the root from which they sprang was double pointed the one part whereof consisting in mistakes the other in designs I thought I might not do an unacceptable Work to my Country in endeavouring an Explanation of the one and to lay open the other and in committing Errors hope to be the rather pardoned since what is here set down is not founded on any other bottom than that of a sincere meaning Hereupon I thought it good to write of the Actions of men and confine the subject to those of this Nation wherein notwithstanding having a large Field we might as we pass along take full liberty to observe and report what is conducible to the second purpose and in the beginning by way of Introduction discuss certain Principles of great notice in the World and not of different nature with the chief subject which may tend to unfold some misapprehensions and also produce a general and beneficial Influence in our passage through the larger Work The beginning must be low of some necessity even upon the very first rudiments of Nature though it seem at present distant and foreign to the purpose in hand Neither can it well be otherwayes than somewhat large but this is our confidence though the proportion of the entrance to the following Edifice is not very just and suitable especially at this first impression when a very small part only discovers it self yet they may hereafter or it will at least render the Fabrique more stable and capacious Some Philosophers hold that the Universe is an entire Mass infinite in respect of extent and divisibility that is as much as to say without termination or bounds and may be divided into parts alwayes divisible and but of one nature or disposition seeing then that there is motion in it consequentially it may follow either that such moving is ab aeterno for it is a contradiction to say that some other thing moves it or that the Universe has power of it self to cause it 's own motion if the first were true does it not follow likewise that there is no God in the World which is against the light of reason and the impressions in all mankind and if the second that he is of the same nature with the other parts of the Mass as Earth or Water and so of further consequence that every chip of Wood or Stone is part of the Godhead which is absurd It may seem also inferreable of like necessity that the faculties or powers of the Soul of Man or other Animals to know to move to be in pain or to be pleased are but the effects of the frame of those bodies wherein they are and arise from the figure and composition of part of the world and unavoidably that Religion is but a craft whereby men are kept in awe all which in some parts appear insensible in others contrary to the light of nature and of reason to common sense the universal apprehension of sober and wise men in all Ages and would bring in with it a train of unspeakable mischiefs to a Commonwealth and all Mankind were it generally believed and admitted and thereupon contrary even to the nature of Truth the fruits whereof are alwayes good Other Philosophers think that the universe is compounded of a certain number of beings indivisible in themselves though in respect of their quantity they may be Mathematically and Imaginarily divided and that they are all of one nature that their motion is not from any power within them but either ab aeterno or from the composition of some or all of them the consequences are much alike with those of the foregoing Doctrine and for the reasons then mentioned are to be rejected A third there are who suppose several of divers nature some whereof have a power to resist penetration within the Sphere of their own beings which is also a cause of their capacity to be moved and are or may be called simple beings others have withall further a faculty to know to be in pain to be pleased to move c. and are or may be named Souls some whereof and not others have also a power to reason and are called rational Souls risibilitie seems to flow from the faculty of reasoning and not to be one in it self they are likewise of opinion there may be other beings such as we call Spirits or Angels and some past stories make mention of their appearances and actions but of their nature faculties and business they presume that we have scarce any knowledge unless by revelation but strongly conclude their employment is not to frighten and sport with Women and Children and the weaker sort of melancholick men but rather that such kind of institutions were first promoted by certain Silver-Smiths who making Shrines for the Temple of Diana did thereby bring no small gain unto the Crafts-men They doubt not of a fifth being different from the other four who fram'd the World and all things therein and does still govern it Which Opinions are agreeable to those of Wise men in all Ages to the impressions in our Nature the light of Reason the benefit universally of Mankind and upon which neither inconvenience nor absurdity appears to follow I forbear to make a more particular entry into the first principles or use other arguments to my intended purpose because this part would too much increase and I choose rather for confirmation to any that shall doubt to refer him to the searches of his own reason and the body of this Introductory Discourse from the congruity whereof to the light of Nature and of Reason and the consent within it self may some arguments perhaps flowe 2. Of those beings before-mentioned in this place we shall chiefly consider Man under which word is comprehended Male and Female and either consist of Soul and Body The first is a single being the second compound also because the one is not divisible as we think and the other may be actually divided Whether the parts of the Body or the Soul it self had not a being ab aeterno it may be is not penetrable by reason and then we must have recourse to revelation and out of Holy Writ
almost constantly with success but was not without violencies of lust and ambition in the prosecuting his designs not shewing at all times that due reverence to the Power above or respect to man-kinde as became a Person of his endowments from nature After great contendings amongst his Country-men not without a large effusion of blood and slaughter being arrived at a high pitch of Power and fame in the glory of the Roman state the Senate House in the close of all his labours and toiles when he expected to have received some fruits of his sweat and pains he was murdered at the foot of his Son-in-Law Pompey's Image whom not long before he had ruined with above twenty wounds his neer relation Brutus whom once he intended a great share of his estate being a principal contriver and that Brutus the Son of Servilia supposed to be his base Childe giving him a mortal stab in the bottome of his belly The State of Britain during the time of Augustus Tiberius and Caligula UPon the return of Caesar as was before mentioned to the Continent the civil Wars of Rome hapned the principal of their Common-wealth falling out about dividing the plunder and riches which in several Ages their Country-men had been acquiring during which time the Britains had respite from their Invasions Upon the death of Caesar Augustus after he had contended with M. Anthony and became Superior not only to him but all of a contrary faction in Rome did affect a quiet and peaceable life supposing it not convenient as he gave out to enlarge the Romane Empire big enough for management already and thereupon the Britains had stil the greater security But the tribute set down by Julius Caesar being neglected to be paid twice or thrice he intended an Invasion disdaining to be baffled by a Country of little note in those days but being on his march in Person was diverted by revolts on some other remote borders of his Dominions and withall pacified by some British Embassadors who renewed their conditions Tiberius who succeeded him had the same resolutions but was on different reasons moved to it choosing rather to attend his lust and cruelties at home than look abroad into forreign Countrys Him followed Caligula in the supream Authority a Prince dissolute and abounding in vain conceits as do witness his solemn message to the Senate of Rome of the Conquest of Britain when neither he or any of his Officers ever set foot thereon The colour was the receiving of Adminius a fugitive Britain the Son of Cunobeline a Prince in this Island who fled from his Fathers angel and submitted himself to Caligula In his Raign nothing fell out worthy to be reported in the British History unless one should remember his frivolous attempt upon the Ocean at such time as all Men did generally presume he intended to imbarque for Britain the Story whereof take from Suetonius in his own words thus translated Last of all as if he were undertaking a War marching with his Army on the Sea shoar and placing his Engines of battery no Man knowing or imagining what he was about to do on a sudden commands them to fill their Helmets and their Laps with Shells calling them the Spoils of the Ocean of right a due to the Capitol and Palace and as a Trophy of his Victory erects a most high Tower out of which as from a Pharus Fires might every night shine to direct the course of Sea-men and having declared a donative of a hundred donaries to every Man as if he had exceeded all examples of liberality bids them depart now joyfull depart with plenty Vnder Claudius by the conduct of A. Plautius ALI this while it appears not to the contrary but that the Britains who paid their tribute enjoyed aswell as the rest of their Country-men their Laws Customes and Liberties During this long intermission from disturbance being divided into many petty Kingdomes and Nations they were frequently among themselves at War in one place or another one Interest prevailing sometimes and at another a different and upon Victory many of the adverse party either were banished or fled of themselves And so it fell out that Glaudius succeeding Caligula one Berieus being a British fugitive instigated him to make an attempt on the Island which Glaudius did well like of and thereupon sent Orders to A. Plautius to transport those Souldiers which he then commanded in Gallia into this Country the Souldiery were very unwilling to go and trifled away their time in a kinde of mutiny insomuch that Caesar hearing thereof sent Narcissus his freed man to hasten their imbarquing which he accordingly did but not without disdain in them and a contempt of him in respect of his former condition having been once a Slave The Army was divided into three bodies intending thereby that if they were obstructed in one place by the difficulty thereof or the strength of the Enemy they might some of them land in another Having put to Sea they met with cross Winds and foul weather which was the cause of great disturbance but a light darting toward the Island from the place whence they put to Sea certain who had good wishes for the journey interpreted it as a direction from some God that favoured their enterprize and so encouraged the Fleet which strugling with the violence of the Tempest they at last landed on the British Coasts The Britains not suspecting their arrival because of the disorder they heard was among the Roman Army in Gallia which was before mentioned did not oppose their landing moreover their civil contentions being lately sharp they could not suddenly make such a confederacy as might probably encounter with a good expectation the force of the Romans at peace and marvelously strong in all parts So they retired into places that were woody and full of bogs expecting as Dion says to weary out the Romans as Cassibelan their former General had done heretofore with Julius Caesar Plautius bestows great labour in finding out their scattered Forces and meets with some to wit with Cataratacus and Togodumnus the two Sons of Cunobeline lately dead whom he easily dissipates and withall practises to head some of their factions against the other following the example of Julius Caesar a thing not difficult in a Country divided into such a multitude of Nations as Britany then was And he finds one proper for his purpose amongst the Boduni or Dobuni seated about Oxford and Glocester shires whom he receives into his protection having been before subject to the Catuellani a Nation about Buckingham and the Country of Hartford Leaving a Garrison among them he marches to a River intending a passage over to finde out certain other Britains who lay in security beyond it suspecting likewise nothing because they thought the Romans could not get to the other side being the Water was deep and that there was no Bridge but Plautius having Germans with him who were accustomed to Swim through Rivers in Arms
with great confidence but without good Discipline such was their vanity also that many of their Wives were brought and plac'd in a kind of Coaches on the Skirts of the Battail in confidence to see the Slaughter of the Romans The Queen her self passing up and down with her Daughters in a Chariot amongst the Forces discoursing to them to this purpose that now she did not contend for a Kingdome and Wealth but as one of the meanest to recover and defend their Liberties to revenge the barbarous Injuries committed upon her Body and the chastity of her Daughters That the Roman Lust was grown to such a pitch that they neither spared Virgins nor Matrons that the Gods who were Revengers of such horrible Impieties were present the Legion that durst give Battail was slain the others are either hid or secure themselves in Fortifications she puts them in mind also of their number and of the cause of the War and concludes with an Exhortation to die with honour rather than live in Slavery for her own part this was the Resolution of a Woman the Men might live if they pleased in the condition of Slaves On the other hand Suetonius uses all Art and mixes Exhortations with his good Conduct he puts them in mind that the Victory in most Battails takes its rise from a very few and therefore they should not be daunted at the apprehension of the smallness of their number compared to that of the Britains their glory would be the greater in a Victory by the mention of that odds but indeed many of the great number were Women and above all puts them in mind how well they were Armed how naked the Britains were and what their success had been heretofore upon such advantage desiring them first to throw their Piles which was a kind of heavy Dart peculiar to the Romans and carryed by the Legionaries and then to follow their work with their Swords and their Pikes in their Shields not regarding the Spoyl till the danger was over for where it falls there it will be found by them after the Victory The Britains could not forbear but must charge them rashly in this place of disadvantage which the Enemy received without motion while they were spending their missive Weapons but immediatly after they Sallied out and coming to a close Fight easily made the naked People give way and fly Their Battail was surrounded with Waggons so that they had great hinderance in the Flight whereby the Slaughter was encreast the insolent and barbarous among the Romans spared neither Sex nor Age Man nor Beast destroying neer eighty thousand People Boadicia upon the fight hereof with a courage mixt with the sense of a Calamity already come and to be expected put a period to her days by poyson and prevented the future Roman Cruelties And Paenius Posthumus Camp-master of the second Legion hearing of this Victory and being conscious to himself he had not done well in refusing to obey the Generals Order of being here at this Battail with that Legion fell upon his Sword and dyed After this the Army kept the Field and Nero who was now Emperour sent them as a recruit two thousand Legionary Souldiers out of Germany eight Cohorts of Auxiliaries and one thousand Horse The Nations which were either doubtful or Enemies were wasted with Fire and Sword but nothing did more afflict this distressed People than Famine the Romans having secured all that they could get and burnt and destroyed the rest Julius Classicianus was sent to supply the Office of Cato with whom Suctonius had some clashes and that did somewhat obstruct the Intendments of several Nations to submit to a Peace for he gave it out that a new Governor was to be sent who would treat the People with more moderation and sent word to Rome that nothing could be expected of good to the Roman affairs in Britain until a new Lieutenant was sent laying all the fault of ill success on the frowardness of Suetonius and all the good on the Roman fortune thereupon Polycletus a freed Man was sent into Britain from Rome to have an Inspection into affairs hereupon a great expectation from Nero that he would not only reconcile the discords among the Romans but also dispose the Britains to a Peace He came over with a great Army but it seemed very ridiculous to the Britains that a Slave should command those that had made so great a Conquest Not long after Suetonius was recall'd upon an accident of some loss at Sea which he had sustained and Petronius Turpulianus sent in his room a Man of an unactive spirit and in whose time all the care was to continue and encrease that peace which Suetonius had left the Country in Him Trebellius Maximus succeeded unexpert for War and unfit for action it fell out in the time of Peace after the late great Slaughter the Britains having a deep sense of it that the Romans in Britany being without an Enemy whereof they might be afraid began to disagree one with another Roscius Caelius Lieutenant of the Twentyeth Legion quarrelled with the Governor objecting to him his Covetousness and the other to him his Faction and by these Accidents the Legions grew mutinous and siding with Roscius Caelius drove Trebellius out of the Country and for some time the under Officers governed the Army wherein R. Caelius had the chiefest Interest as being of the boldest nature Vectius Bolanus was by Vitellius the Emperor sent some time after to succeed him a Man of whom it might be said that he was not hated for any Crime and being withall good natured he did procure to himself rather Love than Obedience Petilius Cerealis came next a Man of a more warlike disposition who gave a considerable disturbance to the Nation of the Brigantes and made some Conquests upon them Julius Frontinus did something of the like naure upon the Silures and him succeeded Agricola Agricola ' s Vndertakings and Conquests A Gricola past the Seas and came into Britain in the midst of Summer when he was here he found the Ordovices had lately cut almost wholly to peeces a party quartered in their Country Whereupon he summons in many of the Legionaries and some Auxiliaries scattered in their Quarters through the whole Province the Romans not before supposing there would be any Action that Summer the Winter drawing on and with a considerable Body marches into the Country of the Ordovices here he made great spoil revenging the Cruelty lately done upon the Romans with an extraordinary and Brutish severity to the greatest part of the Nation which Tacitus his Son in Law does not positively deny and I fear me not upon the valiant for they were unwilling to descend out of the Woods and Fastnesses into places where they were to Fight the Romans upon so great tearms of disadvantage as they had lately another fresh experiment but upon the Women Children and more tender People Paulinus as was said before was recall'd out of
probitas laudatur alget plain dealing is good but he that useth it shall die a Beggar And for want of distinction Proverbial Sayings of this nature are sometimes the occasion of staggering in the progresses of virtue If the propensity be weak and the rational faculty indifferent such are the honest and good men of the world in a general report But if the provocations of nature are slow and the judgement exceeding good which is very rare for God Almighty for the most part puts a quick reason where there are strong passions then those are the best men some whereof have been called the Heroes of the World and others by the old Heathens Canonized for Gods And of this sort in later times was Epaminondas among the Thebans and Scipio Africanus among the Romans before whom the World would not have been able to stand had they been Soveraign Princes of any considerable Country In adverse fortune and in prosperity they are of equal temper content and glory The sorting of these people make diversities of factions and Religions of whom one which is the last is only safe for any Government to espouse But we must not conclude these observations without an exception where aeducation has been as it was in Alexander under Aristotle a great Philosopher which had great influence on him for during the strength thereof he lived virtuously and with great renown but after that began to wear out and the force of Nature to return and prevail the glory of his former life was shaded by his looseness and debauchery And the saying of another great Philosopher to his Scholers laughing at a Phisiognomer who declared him by the outward view a vitious person is not to be forgotten So I am says he by Nature but I have made a Conquest by Philosophy 4. IN the next place place we will consider the actions of Men now Law is the rule by which such or any other beings are governable The Law of Nations is what is generally practised among Neighbour Countries and has chiefly concernment in War and Peace If it be universally used it is said to be the Law of Nations through the whole world as we often call it and ought not to vary from the Law of God which is the Law of Reason If they be made by Man we call them humane Laws from the Author If they concern the constitution of the government of a Nation they are called Fundamental otherways not With us in England those that relate to private Corporations or Places or Persons in some particular considerations are named Privileges because they are private Laws such which have respect to all in general because they are common to all are called the common Law if they be made by Act of Parliament they may concern either Privileg'd men or Places in particular or the Community in general having an extensive power over all and goe by the name of Statutes The Laws of Nature I take it though some think otherwise is that Rule whereby all things in the World which have not reason or want the use of it have their actions governed and is solely managed by the Providence of God and may be said a necessity so the motion of the Stars the actions of Birds and Beasts and other Brute Animals are directed By the Law of Nature all Animals follow and observe their Appetites and to the preservation of themselves eat what is proper food for them where they can get it and take from and feed on one another as Birds and Beasts of prey and this by necessity for without that many could not live and God has design'd it for a good end for other wise some kinds would increase to an unfitting proportion for the Earth to sustain and what is done by this Law is no sin in respect of the necessity Among the old and some new Philosophers there are those who being too intent hereon have held a fate in all things and certain Christians a too strict praedestination Were it not indeed for the special Providence of God Almighty that rational Souls have some freedom of will and that the whole World will not be found in the same state it now is at such time as the position of the Heavens will be thus again hereafter perhaps it might not be absurd to think of Platonick years but those things will alter the Scene By the special Providence of God I understand his extraordinary works which are rare and do therefore argue the excellency of the Artist who has made a noble Engine with so much various curiosity as the World is and yet for many thousands of years it needs no correction or amendment that we can discover But we cannot otherways suppose then that some men draw absurd consequences of Atheism herefrom supposing there is no Deity because we have not converse therewith in special manner The Law of Reason which is sometimes called the Law Moral I understand that by which animate things rational ought to be governed and is also the Law of God because God directs it We call it the Law of reason because we find it out by reasoning and consists chiefly of two parts in respect of a double relation the one toward God the other Man That Law likewise which is revealed in Scripture is called the Law of God for the above mentioned cause and of the Law of reason is rather an explanation than any wayes different and seems ill interpreted where it dissents The Will is an Inclination of the Soul to do a thing It is sometimes disposed by the body from it's passions and at other times by the results of reason and very rarely is a Will without a Motion from the one or an Inclination from the other As either predominates so the Soul does generally Will unless the special direction of Almighty God or a spontaneous Motion does vary it Some likewise will urge a fatal necessity having their minds chiefly intent upon the last result of reason as others taking notice both of that and the impulse of nature but the Will though it is rarely known to act freely yet one would think it might by this Instance Put the case the Appetite do dispose a man to a vitious house his Reasoning to more sober and convenient affairs yet it seems not improbable he may Will and in some cases do an act distinct from and not mov'd by either Many disputes concerning the freedome of the Will have been the subject of great controversie in Philosophy and Professors of Religion have brought it into question in Divinity delighting rather in such vain altercations than to observe and promote the substance of Gods worship in which the world does generally agree Without reason it seems there could be no Sin as there is not in irrational Animals nor likewise virtue for they both proceed from the comparing or reasoning faculty of the Soul of man Hereupon it follows that to be chast by a disposition of body or
to be temperate in Meat Drink or Venery on the the same cause is not a virtue To be valiant upon the warmth of wine or by the natural heat of the brain a wearisomeness of the world upon greater skill in a weapon than another upon strength of body a bruitish nature or an absurd fear of being accounted Cowards if they refuse to put their lives upon the chance of a Die as many do with unmanly weapons is not true Valour nor oft accompanied with the courage of Nature nor practised in well govern'd Commonwealths or amongst the truly Valiant and Victorious sort of people and is at this day in greater esteem no where than amongst the most effeminate Men and Nations Neither is it a virtue to be just and temperate when the design is to purposes of ambition but then are men said to do an act of virtue when they have respect alone to the command of Almighty God either revealed or found out by reason Hereupon likewise we do count Children Fools Madmen and such as are of non sane memory by Sickness or Age exempt from the Law of God which is of reason and generally through the whole world in humane Laws they are not punished no more than Beasts when they do mischief because for the time they are deprived of their reason they are in like condition with other Animals If a man in a capacity to reason do not reason aright this seems no sin in him nor if he acts according to his reason for no man can be expected but that he should do according as he judges But if a man shall reason aright and not do accordingly to him it is sin and again to reason aright and act from thence is a virtue to reason wrong and from thence do wrong may be called a good meaning or to reason wrong and do differently may be said an ill meaning but enquire whether they be virtuous or sinful actions It follows further that to punish men barely for their opinions is unjust and unreasonable but if they endeavour to divulge them though they are conceited that so they ought to do if that may prove mischievous to a Commonwealth they are to be restrained notwithstanding as one ought to take a sword out of a Madmans hand or as he that is infected with the Plague ought not to be punish'd for having a Disease yet if he will go abroad to endanger others the Laws of this Land do reasonably justifie the punishing of him even in some cases to death upon this ground chiefly to prevent danger in others and they that pretend an opinion but are not thereof perswaded designing under that colour to disturb a Nation and raise advantages to themselves ought to have inflicted on them heavy penalties Furthermore seeing by reason we find out that there is a God by the like reason we are taught we ought not to speak or act irreverently concerning him or to set up any seigned Godhead against or equal with him seeing he made the world and continues it in a wonderful order in case of evil or mischief happened or impending he is we may conclude most able to relieve us Hereupon it follows that we ought to desire help of him reason tells us he will succour us the rather for so doing and that we ought to be humbly thankfull for what mercies he shews which is our duty toward God Come we then to what we owe toward Man By the Law of Nature we do suppose that every man may have a right to every thing but by the Law of reason no more than an equal right to all things in the first case man may have what he can get which is the state common to other Animals and in the second there ought to be an equal division in convenient proportions which is peculiar to rational creatures and having been made we ought to be content with our parts and not either by strong hand or cunning circumventions take from our Neighbours their shares In some sort also we have a duty toward other Animate Creatures for by the Law of Nature we may make use of them but to afflict them especially when we have no benefit thereby as it is not agreeing with reason but against it so is it abominable even to the nature of man 5. ANother faculty of the Soul is to be delighted and pained if they be not divers The things which cause the first are called good and on the contrary those that occasion the other evill and in the abstract good and evill and according to their degrees are they said to be more or less so Now if the question be asked what is the chiefest good before we answer we must distinguish and say if it be meant of the Original cause doubtless God Almighty if it be spoken to the means as to our own furtherance we may reply a virtuous life if to the thing it self the greatest pleasure is that which is largest in extent duration and freedome from evil and is the center of our designs and end of our labours But let our endeavours be never so capacious without a special providence of Almighty God Virtue can rarely if at all make a happy man in this world when fortune is wanting which is the state of a thing without design and of all contingencies that is most conducible when one lives amongst a happy people for an unfortunate Nation like the rapid motion of the eighth Sphere spoken of by some Philosophers forceth against their proper motion all Inferiour Orbes to a confusion of them and a necessary yeilding to that first great Circle And a happy Country does much improve the Fruits of a virtuous life to all that live therein 6. THat then in the concerns of a mans life having so great a share in the next place let us enquire thereof The strength and happiness of a Nation seems chiefly to consist in these things that they have a good Government that the people be many in number and that they be conveniently provided of all necessaries The Graecians having their eye especially upon the chief men that governed the several Commonwealths in their Country which was divided into many and observing some were directed by one man principally others by many of better sort that is to say by the richer and some by the people generally did call the first kind a Monarchy the second an Aristocrasie the third a Democrasie for the reasons expressed particularly in the derivation of their several names and those denominations have been brought through the Romane Conquests to us at this day But this seeming to be too general there are them who do say that there be also mixt Governments The way of division we will chuse shall be this All Governments are either of an absolute Monarchy an absolute Republique where the Authority is divided or mixt By an absolute Monarchical Government I mean and as I take it it is the general acception of the word