place and amended it The second day the Shoomaker came again and found fault in the hose then Apelles answered and said that a Shoemaker ought not to judge of any thing but of the shoe Every man that thinketh himself eloquent for that he hath his tongue at will and can shift matters skilfully in his own judgement is not that eloquent man which Cicero speaketh of nor hath those parts of Rhetorick wherewith hee can perswade to good and disswade from evil The eloquent man doth comfort the afflicted he expelleth fear and terrour from men he stoppeth again the stout and insolent This man is able faith Cicero to win towns countreys castles and kingdomes this eloquence in adversity is solace in prosperity an ornament in youth laudable in age delectable in all men profitable Wherefore not without cause did M. Antonius use to say that oftentimes he saw and heard fine tongued men but he never saw nor heard any eloquent man For though saith Cicero we follow Nature as a Captain unless Art be coupled and united to it we follow a rude and barbarous Captain What Captain was Paulus Aemilius being in wars with King Perseus In a certain clear night when the Moon upon the sudden shifted her self from sight and the night became very dark all the souldiers of Paulus yea Paulus himself being their General and Captain were dismaid and quite discouraged thinking it had béen some prodigious show to pregnosticate mishap to come and being ready to yéeld in heart and courage until Sulpitius began to perswade the rude Souldiers with reason opening the causes unto the Souldiers and declaring the effects of the superiour bodies so eloquently that being before dismaid they were by the eloquence of Sulpitius perswaded to fight valiantly and where through fear of that sudden sight and change of the Moon they were ready to yeeld as captives to King Perseus they were moved and stirred by the eloquence of Sulpitius to become Conquerors and Victors over King Perseus in the self same night The like did Pericles sometimes amongst his souldiers of Athens at what time the sun so darkned that great terrour and fear came upon the souldiers he eloquently perswaded his souldiers and told them as he heard of his master Anaxagoras the cause thereof and quite expelled fear from the souldiers by reason and made them bold again through eloquence In Affrick there was in the time of Anascarimis a Philosopher named Afranio who being demanded what he did hear all the days of his life answered to speak well the second time being asked what he taught unto others answered likewise to speak well at the last he was demanded what he knew in any science he said I know nothing but to speak well so that this old Philosopher Afranio learned nothing taught nothing nor knew any thing but to speak well and most certain it is that he that consumeth all the days of his life to learn to speak well and knoweth nothing else but to speak well spendeth his time very well CHAP. X. Of those Kings and Princes and others who had their Pictures and Images for a shew of their deserved Fame erected THe greatest honour that both Gréeks and Gentiles used toward those that deserved well in the Commonwealth was to advance them by pictures painted and images gloriously graven thinking thereby either to inflame thē further to do good or else to discourage thē again from doing evil by banishing and neglecting their pictures which when Favoritus the Philosopher heard that the City of Athens had rejected his picture because Adrian the Emperour was angry with him said I am right glad thereof for better said he had it béen for Socrates to have had his brazen picture broken and thrown away for some shew of displeasure by the Athenians then to be deprived of his life for nothing by the Athenians for the surest estate of all is not to be known Agesilaus therefore King of the Lacedemonians understanding that the inhabitants of every country in all Gréece had decréed to put up the picture of Agesilaus for a memorial of his vertuous and noble acts to be as monuments of his life after death returning then from Egypt unto Gréece being very sick a little before he died he wrote letters unto Gréece that they should make no pictures no images no painted shews no graven work of his person nor yet of his life saying If I have done well in life the vertue thereof is a sufficient monument when I am dead Cato Senior was of that opinion that he had rather that men should ask why hath not Cato his Picture set up then to asks why hath Cato his picture set up A number of sage Philosophers and wise Princes have lothed and utterly neglected this kind of flattery which then was thought to be the greatest fame and commendation of all things to have their pictures in places set up to make mention of honour and dignity which thereby is meant either for restoring of liberty lost or in defending from tyranny or in saving of Cities or for such things done pictures were erected to advance their fame thereby Thus Aristogiton and Armodius because they delivered Athens from the tyranny of Pysistratus had their pictures with great estimation set up of the people of Athens Likewise Marcellus because he subdued Syracusa vanquished the French men at Padua and gave the repulse unto Hannibal at Nola had his picture set up in the Temple of Pallas with an Epigram written in letters of gold unto his great praise and commendation Eutropius saith that Claudius Emperour of Rome had his picture made with a golden Target in his hand because he vanquished the Goths which were about to spoil the county of Macedonia Numa Pomp. the second King of Rome and Servius Tullius the sixth King had their pictures a long time amongst the Romans in great honour and fame Selostris King of Egypt for his martial feats and vertuous acts was honoured in his country with divers pictures Polydamas that strong Champion in the games of Olympia for that he being without weapons and naked slew a terrible Lyon and held fast by the foot a huge great Bull and with the other hand stayed a running Chariot had his picture therefore erected and set up in Olympia In Athens how many pictures were set up of noble men and learned Philosophers as Conon Euogoras Phocion Isocrates and others which were now up and now down as mutable fortune favoured or frowned the state and life of men being uncertain and changeable As Demosthenes having his picture in Athens had this Epigram written round about the picture If Demosthenes had had courage and strength as he had wit and eloquence neither Philip nor his son Alexander nor all Macedonia had ever vanquished Gréece yet this Demosthenes was exiled and banished Athens divers times So hard was it to please the people then which had the chief government in Athens and Rome that for a small
paper in one hand he with his dagger in the other hand slue himself upon the grave holding the paper fast in it being deâ—d where this sentence he wrote Thou that knewest the faithfull friendship betwixt Volumnius and Lucullus join our bodies together being dead as our minds were alwaies one being alive The like history is written of Nisus who when his faithfull friend Eurialus was slain in the wars betwixt Turnus Aeneas he having understood thereof weÌ„t up down the field tumbling and tossing the dead carcasses til he found out Eurialus body which having long looked on and embraced he drew out his sword held it in his hand a little while saying As my body shal never depart from thy body so shall I never fear to follow thy ghost and laying the pummel of his sword upon the ground he fell upon it having the body of his friend Euâ—ialus betwixt his arms This love was great betwixt Princes who did live honourably and died willingly A strange thing for men so to love their friends as to weigh their deaâ—hs more then their own lives Orestes faith and friendship towards Pylades was such that being come unto a strange Region named Taurica to asswage his grief and to mitigate his furious flames because he slew his mother Clitemnestra and being suspected that he came onely to take away the image of Pallas their Goddesse in that country the King understanding the matter made Orestes to be sent for and to be brought before him to have judgement of death For Pylades was not mentioned nor spoken off but onely Orestes he it was that should steal their Goddesse away and carry it into Gréece Orestes therefore being brought and his fellow Pylades with him the King demanded which of them was Orestes Pylades that knew his friend Orestes should die suddenly stept forth and said I am he Orestes denied it and said he was Orestes Pylades again denied it and said that it was even he that was accused unto the King thus the one denying and the other affirming either of them most willing to die for the other the King dismaied at their great â—mity and love pardoned their faults and greatly honoured their natural love and faith So many like histories to this there be that then Princes would die for their friends even that great Conquerour Alexander would have died presently with his friend Hephestion had not his counsel letted him he loved him alive so well that he was called of all men another Alexander he so much estéemed his friend that when Sisigambis King Darius mother had saluted Hephestion instead of Alexander and being ashamed at her errour he said forbear not to honour Hephestion for he is Alexander also What was it that Anaxagoras wanted that Prince Pericles could get for him whither went Aeneas at any time without Achates with him there was nothing that Pomponiuâ— had but Cicero had part of it the friendship of Scipio never wanted towards Cloeâ—ius Though Rome could alter state though fortune could change honour yet could neither Rome nor fortune alter faith or change friends After the Senatours had judged Tiberius Gracchus for divers seditions in the City to die his friend Blosius having knowledge thereof came and kneeled before the Senators besought Laeâ—us whose counsel the Senators in all things followed to be his friend saying unto the rest after this sort O sacred Senate and noble Counsellours if there remains in the City of Rome any sparkle of Iustice if there be regard unto equity let me crave that sentence by law which you injuriously award unto another and since I have committed the offence of Gracchus whose commandement I never resisted whose will I will during life obey let me die for Gracchus worthily who am most willing so to do and let him live who justly ought so to do Thus with vehement invectives against himself he made the Senatours astonied with his rare desire of death saying the Capitol had béen burned by Blosius if Gracchus had so commanded but I know that Gracchus thought nothing in heart but that which he spake to Blosius and that which he spake to Blosius Blosius never doubted but to do and therefore I rather deserve death then he The faith and love betwixt Damon and Pythias was so wondred at by King Dionisius that though he was a cruel Tyrant in appointing Damon to die yet was he so amazed to sée the desire of Pythias his constant faith and his love and friendship prosessed in Damons behalf striving one with another to die that he was inforced in spight of tyranny to pardon Damon for Pythias sake Thelcus and Perithous became such faithfull friends that they made several oaths one unto another never during life to be parted neither in affliction plague punishment pain toil or travel to be dissevered insomuch that the Poets fain that they went unto the Kingdome and region of Pluto together I will not speak of the great love of that noble Greek Achilles toward King Patroclus Neither will I recite the history of that worthy Roman Titus toward Gisippus nor report the love of Palemon and Arceir nor of Alexander and Lodwick whose end and conclusion in love were such as is worthy of everlasting memory CHAP. XLII Of Envy and Malice and the tyranny of Princes AS Malice drinketh for the most part her own poison so Envy saith Aristotle hurteth more the envious it self then the thing that it envieth Like as the sloathfull in war or Darnel amongst Wheat so is the envious in a City not so sad for his own miseries and calamities as he lamenteth the hap and and felicity of others Wherefore the Philosopher Socrates calleth the enemy serrom anima the sow of the soul for that it cutteth the heart of the envious to sée the prosperity of others For as it is a grief to good and vertuous men to sée evill men rule so contraily to the evill most harm it is to sée good men live Therefore the first disturber of Commonwealths and last destroyer of good states the beginning of all sorrows the end of all joys the cause of all evil and the onely let of all goodnesse is envy How prospered Greece Had flourished Rome How quiet was the whole world before envy began to practise with malice two daughters of tyranny never séen but hidden in the hearts of flatterers Then I say Gréece was glorious Rome was famous their names were honoured their prowesse feared their policy commended their knowledge extolled their fame spread over the whole world but when envy began to sojourn in Gréece and malice to build her Bower in Rome these sisters like two monsters or two grim Gorgons oppressed Castles destroied countries subdued Kingdoms depopulated Cities in fine triumphed over all Gréece and Italy Hannibal chief General of the Carthaginians Jugurth King of Numidia Pyrrhus of Epirus most valiant puissant mighty Princes with long wars and mighty slaughter could not with all their force and
repeat the fable of grashoppers and the ants to exhort men to travel and to labour with little ants Plato that divine and noble Philosopher in his second book de Rep. doth use the like fables Aristotle in his Rhetorick doth use fables Mark how fables ease the Philosopher in his study help the Orator in his perswasioÌ„s garnish the Divine in his sermons and in fine they bring pleasure in any thing Thus I thought good to write in the commendations of Painting and Poetrie of which for the secret friendship and for the affinity of one with another much more might be spoken I meane not those fonde foolish and fantasticall fables fostered by women and old men sitting at the fire where often the idle braine is occupyed but those wise and prudent fables of Poets which containe wisedom in sense though they séeme light in words which durst not be opened plainely in those dayes for the Tyranny of Princes which then would not have their faults touched by any yet were they covertly reprooved in fables Poeticall As the fable of Sphinx of Circes of Tantalus of Acteon and of others CHAP. IX Of Eloquence the Delight and defence of Princes in their pilgrimage PYrthus King of the Epycotes the defender a long time of the Tarentines was woont to say of Cineas his Oratour that he wan more victories through the eloquence of Cineas theÌ„ through the force and puissance of all his Epirâ—tes besides for through eloquence Cineas would make the stout enemies to yéeld and by eloquence would Cineas move the cowardly souldiers to victory Valerius a noble and eloquent Romane at what time the Kings of Rome were expelled and their names quite banished and the popular state having such liberty therby that the whole City through sedition and late sprung liberty was like to come to ciâ—ill ware amongst themselves had not Valerius appeased the fury of the people being ready in hearts to become enemies unto their countrey finding them triumphing much and rejoycing within themselvs and devided one from another to maintains discord he reduced them not onely through his eloquence unto peace and quietnesse but also brought them unto such state that where Rome was like to fall over to greatest ruine Rome at that time began most to flourish and prosper Great was the force of eloquence in Marcus Antonius who with his sugred and sweet perswasions turned the furious rage and tyranny of the souldiers of Marius and Cinna being sent by these two cruel Captains to kill him unto such lenity and mercy that having their swords naked drawne and ready to kill him having heard Antonius his eloquence as men convicted with words would not perform the execution though they had great rewards appointed nor could they of themselves though enemies they were unto Antonius finde in their hearts to kill him Pericles wanne such renown in Athens by his eloquence who sometime was a scholler unto Anaxagoras that he had the government and rule of Athens committed to him as to one in whose words the people reposed more credit and trust then they did in the force strength of al Athens beside Insomuch that when he would speak any thing unto the people such mellifluous words and sugred sentences procéeded out of his mouth that they were amazed or astonied to hear him being alwayes never weary of his counsel Wee read that their eyes did water to sée him their eares were allured to hear him their hearts were convicted to yéeld unto him Cowards are made couragious and stout tyrants are made gentle and merciful Cities preserved victories gotten and all by eloquence What is it but man is able through comely gesture and apt pronountiation to bring to passe What could escape Cicero in Rome What might have avoyded Demosthenes in Athens Whose knowne eloquence whose learned perswasions whose swéet and sugred words could not aswel move emnity in Athens toward King Philip as it could kindle love in Rome toward Pompeius Such is the excellency of eloquence that it moveth as well men to behold for the gesture countenance and pronunciation as it doth inforce men to hear for the Majesty and sweetnesse of words For Hortensius was not so eloquent in words but he was as comely in gesture and so excellent in either of them that when he spake before the people Senators and Citizens of Rome they were no less enamoured with his sight then they were allured and enticed with his words for he laboured no lesse outwardly to please the times then he studied inwardly to please men Therefore Demosthenes the Well and source of flowing eloquence being demanded what was the chief part of eloquence answered that it was pronunciation again being demanded what was the second part of eloquence he said pronunciation And so the third time being likewise demanded said as before pronunciation Insomuch that he travelled and studied oftentimes to have this pronunciation being somewhat by nature letted to speak putting stones in the roof of his mouth and wrastling with nature until he had the perfection of pronunciation When Aeschines had forsaken Athens for certain causes and was come unto Rhodes whose fame for his eloquence was spread not onely in Rhodes but well known in all Greece after he was desired by the Citizens to recite some Oration or other of his own making whereby the Rhodians might sée and hear that which long before of all men they heard praised He to satisfie the request of the City repeated an Oration that he made against Ctesiphon wherein the people of Rhodes mused much at his eloquence And when he had ended his own Oration that he inveighed against Ctesiphon to put the people in a greater admiration of eloquence he recited another Oration that Demosthenes made in the defence of Ctesiphon against Aeschines wherein the people were amazed at the eloquence of Demosthenes more then at the first Which when Aeschines saw that his enemy Demosthenes was so praised for they were one envious of another he was enforced to speak that if the Rhodians might but hear Demosthenes himself then would they rightly praise him since they praised Demosthenes Oration in Aeschines mouth for no man hath so great a delight to tell another mans story and especially his enemies as he hath pleasure to set forth his own Plato therefore that famous Gréek attributing unto every man due honour when certain men skilfull in Geometry came to ask Plato's counsel concerning the measure quantity and longitude of things he counselled them to go unto Euclides where they should be sufficed and fully satisfied of their demands for that Euclides might more aptly speak in Geometry for it was his profession For every man saith Aristotle may boldly speak in that which he professeth and therefore Apelles that noble and cunning Painter when a Shoomaker came unto his schoole and féeding his fight with the worthy works of Apelles he found fault with a latchet of a shoe Apelles because he was a Shomaker gave him
overcome in Pharsalia and enforced to flie unto Egypt his treasures substance wealth being brought unto Caesar in a great chest Coesar found divers sealed letters and great counsels which he never opened for silence sake but took them altogether and threw theÌ„ into the fire for that all men might learne how much he esteemed silence this done unto Pompeius at Pharsalia he said unto his souldiers that it behoved a Prince to finde out friends rather then search out foes The noble Emperor knew well by reading of Pompeius letters he might be moved to divers injuries and by opening of secrets he might accuse divers wrongfully therefore he had rather purchase by silence friends then by breaking of counsell enmity How sure and safe is the reward of silence histories of Greek and Latine can well report Had Calisthenes followed the counsel of his master Aristotle either merrily or never to speak unto a Prince he had never found fault with Alexander by speaking to anger Alexander and to harm himself Had not learned Seneca so reproved the Emperour Nero the tyrant of Rome with words he had not béen rewarded with death If the Poet Nevius had not written his mind unto Metellus If Chius had not béen familiar in talk with King Antigonus they had saved life by silence where they purchased death by talking Therefore Phocion that Gréek whom sugred Demosthenes called the rasor of Athens was alwaies afraid as Plutarchus saith lest any sudden sillable or foolish word might escape his tongue imprudently So that silence gaineth life and words causeth death as Miles the ancient Muâ—â—tian at what time with Hercules he found fault for that he was Linus scholler and taught by him on instruments for words speaking of Linus unto Hercules he was slain of his own scheller so that silence unto Princes is most necessary O noble silence O rare vertue O most worthy jewell thou hurtest no man thou betrayest no body Philippides a noble man of Athens who for his singular learning and dexterity of wit King Lisimachus made most account of and was most desirous to please him most ready to advance him unto honour willed him to ask what he would and he should have it Philippides most humbly knéeing upon his knees besought Lisimachus the King in any wise not to open his secret and counsel unto him the king demanded the cause thereof because said he I know not whether I am able to kéep counsel or no. How much it repugneth the nature of man to kéep silence Cicero in his book of Offices doth manifest the same for were it possible saith he unto man to ascend the skies to see the order of the bodies superiours and to view the beauty of the heavens unswéet were the admiration thereof unle he might shew it unto others And again he saith there is no such ease unto men as to have a friend unto whom a man may speak unto as himself giving thereby to understand the grief of silence that nature loves nothing which is solitary It may séem that sileÌ„ce one way is not so beneficial as it is another way most grievous as is proved by the history of Secundus the Philosopher who having company with his own mother in the night time either of them most ignorant of the other his mother in processe of time having knowledge thereof for very grief and sorrow slue her self The Philosopher likewise having understood of his mothers death knowing the cause thereof knew not what to do for that he was ashamed of the filthy act one way and most sorrowfull for the sudden death of his mother another way to die to burn to hang to drown himself he thought it too short a torment for so hainous a fact and knowing his mother being a woman stayed not nor feared not to kill her self to ease her sorrowfull heart he conceived that he being a Philosopher it stood him upon to find out the painfullest torment in all the world to plague himself justly for his grievous offence he therefore vowed unto God never to speak one word ouring life such torment he thought was most painfull unto nature and thus by silence he consumed away his life Since therefore silence is suco a burning disease so heavy in the heart of man so hard to kéep in so dangerous to utter how worthy are they of commendations how do they merit fame and praise that can rule their tongues and keep silence Therefore a noble Senatour of Rome sometime brought his eldest son named Papâ—â—ius unto the Senate house to hear the councel pleading charging him whatsoever he should hear in the house amongst the wise Senatours to keep it in silence for the order was in Rome that a young man should say nothing unlesse he were a Consul a Tribune a Censor or such like Officer wherby he had authority to speak This young Papirius on a time being importuned by his mother and charged on her blessing to tell her the cause and businesse that the Senatours had so often to come together the young man being threatned weighing his fathers charge to avoid words one way said since you are so importunate mother to know the secret of the Senate you must keep counsell for I am charged therewith There is a long debate in the Senate house to agree on this conclusion whether it be more expedient for one man to have two wives in the City of Rome or one woman to have two husbands and most like it is that it will go on the mens side Straightways she went into the City and certified the matrons and women of Rome what the Senatours were about to conclude and appointed certain of them to accompany her the next morning unto the Senate where when she came as one dismaied she began to declaim against the purpose and decrées of the Senatours proving what inconvenience might arise for a man to have two wives laying before them the dissention that should be in that house where two women should be married to one man and what comfort and consolation it were for a woman to have two husbands the one to be at home in Rome to see his children brought up and to sée the city defended when the other should be far from home at the wars in other countries The Senatours being amazed at her talk not knowing to what it tended young Papirius demanded licence to speak which being granted he declared the cause of her comming how and after what sort as is before mentioned The Senatours commended much Papiâ—ius wit as well for his obedience to his mother as for silence toward the Senate recompensed his wisedom with the Consulship of Rome Silence was so observed in Rome and honoured of Romans that Demetrius the Phylosopher would often say that the birds can flie where they will and the grashoppers sing where they wil but in the city we may neither do nor speak Euripides a learned Gréek it being objected to him that his breath did stink
delighted in Barbers and next to him was Augustus Caesar successor of Julius Caesar Besides these countries and famous kingdomes divers others there were that so made of their hair that to observe orders and to avoid the dangers in the wars they did shave divers parts of their head much against their will yet for custome sake the Maxiâ—s a people in Affrica do use to shave the right side and let the hairs grow on the left Again the people which Strabo called Anases do shave their hair upon their foreheads and yet they make much of the hinder part of the head where they suffer their hair to grow very long The Maceans shave little hair upon the crowns of their heads and yet suffer all their hair to hang down in order about their faces Herodotus in his fourth book doth name a people who are called Machleis and Abantes which for that they be warriours and always in the field face to face with their enemies they shave their hair before and suffer it to grow behind The Euboians likewise did let their hair grow behind upon their backs very long and yet were enforced of necessity to cut it before for fear of the enemies It seemed that either Barbers were scant or not known in those days or else long hair was much set by and esteemed of all men For Sueronius that writ the lives of the Emperors doth report that the Emperor Caligula was wont for envy to those he met to shave their hair off behind knowing well that nothing might molest them so much as to have their hair off for he was so envious that if he saw any that had fair golden hair he would have it off straight with his own hand Beards were so much set by and so estéemed was hair in those days that women were forbidden by the Law of the twelve fables to shave any part of the face to prove whether hair might grow or no. Occasions were ministred to them said they by their long hair and beards to know themselves and the state of their bodies For an old man in the City of Sparta being asked why he did wear his beard so long he answered That in beholding the gray hairs in my beard I may do nothing unséemly nor unworthy of such gray hairs for a good man is always admonished to live vertuously Demonax was known by his beard to be some grave Philosopher by him that demanded of him what kind of philosophy he professed not knowing him otherwise then by his beard The tyrant Dionisius to spight the Citizens of Epidaurus took the golden beard of Aesculapius away out of the temple to move them to greater displeasure At what time Aristippus was brought to Simus house the Phrigian which was so dressed with cloth of Arras and precious hangings that the very floors so gorgeously shined that he could not find in the house a place to spit without some offence he spit in his handkercher and threw it into Simus face who was all bearded he being angry therewith demanded the cause why he so little esteemed him Because said Aristippus I saw not in all the house so fâ—ul a place as that which should have béen most clean meaning his beard And though it was merrily done of Aristippus yet it was not so merrily thought of Simus who more estéemed his beard then Aristippus esteemed all his precious cloaths and golden hangings The like did Jeronimus sirnamed Rhetris make of his beard for when I sée said he my beard then I know right well that I am a man and nor a woman and then knowing my self to be a man I am ashamed to do any thing like a woman either in word or déed Much more might be here alledged for the authority of beards and for estéeming of long hair for there is no countrey be if ever so civil but it is addicted to some peculiar qualities neither is there any man be he ever so wise but doth glory in one thing more then in another As the wise man in his wisedome the learned man in his knowledge the ignorant man in his folly the proud man in his person the self-lover in some part of his body more then in other either in his face body leg middle foot hand or hair and specially many do make much account of their beard combing decking handling and setting it in order always But because people are mutable and full of change and that time altereth all things we will no further procéed in this though men may mis-judge of others concerning their long hair and beards yet I say judgement is not safe in this point for it may be that they prefer the country Poet Hesiodus before the warlike and eloquent Homer as Panis King of Calcides or as Mydas did judge Pan the Piper before Apollo the God of Musick Hard it is to judge of men whether the bearded man or the beardless man is to be preferred whether the long hair or the short hair most to be esteemed for under strange habits are concealed hidden qualities and under a ragged cloak as the Greek proverb is lyeth wisdome as secretly as under a Velvet gown CHAP. XXIIII Of divers and sundry fashions of burial amongst the Gentiles THe ancient Egyptians weighing the shortnesse of mans life little esteeming the time did provide such sepulchres against they died that they accounted their graves an everlasting habitation Wherefore in life time they studied how to make such gorgeous graves as should be perpetual monuments after death Insomuch that thrée hundred and thréescore thousand workmen were twenty years in building a huge and stupendious work to bury their bodies which for the bignesse thereof was counted one of the seven wonders named at this day the Pyramides of Egypt Pliny saith that thrée Pyramides were made in Egypt betwixt the City of Memphis and Delta And King Ceopes as Herodotus affirmeth began to make the first and as Diodorus saith his brother Cephus began the second and the third King Mycerinus as both Herodotus and Diodorus do affirm Some say that Rhodope a harlot being married to King Psamneticus and left a widdow did make third Pyramide but to this effect they were made as common sepulchres to receive dead men as guests to dwell always therein with such ceremonies first that being dead they filled the scull of his head with swéet odours and then they opened his body with a sharp stone of Aethiopia which the Egyptians have for the purpose and purged it and then having embalmed it with fragrant odours and sweet spices they sow up the body which being done they did put it in fine sindon cloth having the likenesse thereof made upon a hollow work wherein they put the body with many other such ceremonies onely to save the body from any putrefaction For they think as the Stoicks so long say they shall the soul flourish and live as the body is unputrified and as the bodies perish so doth the Egyptians beléeve that the souls
did mourn after this sort they rent their cloathes and did shut their temples they did eat no meat and besmearing their faces with dirt they abstained from washing their faces thréescore and twelve days all which time they lamented and bewailed the death of their Kings and friends the Carthaginians at their funerals did cut their hair of mangle their faces and did beat their breasts The Macedonians likewise did shave their hair bewailing the death of their friends as we read of Archelaus King of Macedonia who shaved his hair at the burial of his friend Euripides the Argives and the Siracusans did accompany the dead to the grave in white cloaths discoloured with water and clay the Matrons of Rome threw off their fine apparel their rings and chains and did wear black garments at the burial of their friends but I burn candle in the day time to write of such infinit ceremonies that the Gentiles had at their burials therefore better to end with a few examples then to weary the reader with too many histories for all men know that all people have their several manners as well in living as in dying which they alter according to the vital circumstances of person place and time CHAP. XXV Of Spirits and Visions SUndry and many things happen by course of nature which timerous and fearfull men for want of perfection in their senses suppose to be spirits Some are so feeble of sight that they judgd shadows beasts and bushes and such like to be spirits Some so fearfull that they think any sound any noise or whistlings of the winds to be some bugs or devils Hereby first were spread so many fables of spirits of goblins of bugs of hags and of so many monstrâ—us visions that old women and aged men told their children who judged it sufficient authority to alledge the old tales told by their parents in their aged years The Gentiles because they were given much to idolatry and superstition did credit vain and foolish visions which oftentimes by suggestion of devils and by fond fantasies being conceived did lead them by perswasion of spirits either in attempting or in avoiding any thing for Suetonius doth write that when Julius Caesar stayed in a maze at the river Rubicon in Italy with a wavering mind musing what were best whether to passe the water or no there appeared a comely tall man piping on a réed to whom the souldiers flocked to hear him and specially the trumpetters when he suddenly snatched one of their trumpets and leaping forthwith into the river Rubicon he straightways sounded an alarm wherewith Caesar was moved and said Good luck my fellow souldiers let us go where the Gods do invite us It is written in Plutarch when Brutus was determined to transport his army out of Asia into Europe being in his tent about midnight he saw a terrible monster standing fast by him without any words wherewith he being sore affraid ventered boldly and demanded of him what he was to whom he answered and said I am thy evil Genius which at Phillippi thou shalt sée again Where when Brutus came being vanquished by Augustus Caesar remembring the words of his foreséen visions to avoid the hands of his enemies he slew himself to verifie the same The like happened to C. Cassius who by the like apparition was enforced to kil himself for he was warned that the murther of Caesar should be revenged by Augustus his Nephew These sights were so séen amongst the Gentiles and so feared and esteemed that all the actions of their lives were thereby ordered Tacitus as Fla. Vapiscus reporteth when it was told him that his fathers grave opened of it self and seeing as he thought his mother appearing to him as though she had been alive did know full well that he should shortly after die and made himself ready thereunto There appeared to one Pertinax as I. Capitolinus reporteth three days before he was slain a certain shadow in one of his fish-ponds with a naked sword in his hand ready to kill him Neither may we so little esteem the authority of grave and learned men in divers of their assertions concerning sights and visions though divers fables be alledged and avouched for truth with simple and ignorant men We read in the sacred scriptures divers sights seen divers visions appearing and sundry voices heard We read that King Balthasar being in his princely banquets saw a hand writing upon the wall over against where he sat at table what his end should be It is read in the third chapter of the second of the Macchabees that a horse appeared unto Heliodorus who was servant to Seleucus King of Syria as he was about to destroy the temple at Ierusalem and upon the horse seemed to be a terrible man which made towards him to overcome him and on each side of him were two young men of excellent beauty who with whips scourged Heliodorus There also appeared to Machabeus a horseman in shining armor all of gold shaking his spear to signifie the famous victory that Machabeus should obtain Many such like visions we read of in Scripture but let us return to the Athenians who presaged that when Miltiades joyned in battel against the Persians hearing a terrible noise and beholding certain spirits before the battel to have victory over the Persians judging those sights and visions to be the shadow of Pan. Likewise the Lacedemonians before they were vanquished in the battel at Leuctris their armor clashed together and made an excéeding great noise in the temple of Hercules so that at that time the doors of the temple of Hercules being fast shut with iron bars opened suddenly of their own accord and the armor which hung before fastened on the wall was found lying upon the ground Pliny writeth in the wars of the Danes and Appianus affirmeth in the wars at Rome what signs and wonders what miserable cryes of men clashing of armor and running of horses were heard insomuch that the same day that Caesar fought his battel with Cn. Pompeius the cry of an army and the sound of trumpets were heard at Antioch in Syria But I will omit to speak of such things and take in hand to intreat of spirits which were both seen and heard of learned men and of visions supposed of the wisest to be the souls of dead men for Plutarch writeth in the life of Theseus that sundry men who were in the battel of Marathonia against the Medians affirmed that they saw the soul of Theseus armed before the host of Greeks as chief General and Captain running and setting on the barbarous Medians whom the Athenians afterward for that cause onely honoured as a God It is reported by Historiographers that Castor and Pollux have been seen often in battels after their deaths riding on white horses and fighting against their enemies in camp insomuch that Plutarch testifieth that they were seen of many in the battel against Tarquinius Hector besought Achilles after he was slain by
Whereby straight he was informed that he was not onely delivered from all dangers but also should be sought for by all Greece to the encrease of his fame and augmentation of his honour Brutus clean contrary after much good successe and prosperous fortune after he murthered Caesar at length he was in his sleep by a vision warned to make himself ready to die at Philippi where he was enforced in the wars between Augustus Caesar and him to kill himself Thus were they allured and entised to uncertain dreams to order and rule all their doings For as the Poet Ennius saith what they studied and pondered in the day time the same dreamed they in the night time Dreams moved the Heathen to tyranny for L. Sylla the Firebrand of Italy was warned in his sleep by Bellona the Goddesse of wars to murther kill and destroy all that ever he might find in his way giving him in his hand fire in token he should overcome Rome and Italy Likewise Eumenes King of the Lacedemonians having wars with Antipater King of Macedonia was fully perswaded by a dream to obtain victory for he dreamed that two Alexanders were with great hosts and armies of men ready in the field to fight the one having the Goddesse Minerva as a leader the other having the Goddesse Ceres as their Captain and after long conflicts and much slaughter on both parties he thought that the souldiers of Ceres had the victory and that they were crowned with ears of corn in the honour of Ceres which is the Goddess of corn And because the country of Lacedemonia was more fertil then Macedonia the wise Sages declared the dream said that Eumenes should have the victory over Macedonia Besides these dreams they had a kind of credit in fowls of the ayr in beasts of the field in wind and weather and in divers other things where Soothsaying Oracles and consultations were had When Xerxes the great King of Persia with so many Myriades of men had purposed and decreed with himself to destroy all Greece a Mare being a stout and a proud beast brought forth a Hare a most fearfull and timerous creature whereby the flight of Xerxes from Greece with shame and reproach was presaged And afterward before he would lay siege to Athens resolving with himself to destroy Sparta all the country of Lacedemonia a strange warning happened to this Prince at supper for his Wine before his face was converted into Bloud as it was filled in the cups not once but twice or thrice whereat he being amazed consulted with Wise men of whom he was then admonished to forsake his first intent and to give over the enterprize which he took in hand against the Greeks Midas being yet in his cradle the Ants were séen to carry grains and victuals to féed him withal whose parents being desirous to know the effect thereof were certified by the Soothsayers that he should be the wealthiest and richest man in the world and the most monied Prince that over should reign in India Plato that noble and divine philosopher while he was an infant in like sort in his cradle the Bees with honey fed his sugred and swéet lips signifying his eloquence and learning in time to come They were not Bees of mount Himettum but rather of Helicon where the Muses and Ladies of learning delighted to dwell This was that Plato of whom his master Socrates before he knew him dreamed that he held fast in his hand a young Swan which fled from him away and mounted the skies whose sweet voice and songs as a wonderfull melody and harmony replenished the whole skies They thought it a sufficient admonition to see any thing happen between birds or beasts as a sure and certain shew of their own fortune to come M. Brutus when he was in Camp against Caesar and Antonius and saw two Eagles fighting together the one comming from Caesars Tent the other from his own he knew well when the Eagle that came from his side took flight and was vanquished that he should lose the victory Cicero understood well enough his death to be at hand when the Raven held him fast by the hem of his Gown and made a noise and ever plucked at him till the souldiers of M. Antonius came to the very place where he at that time vvas beheaded by Herennius and Popilius For in the night before Cicero dreamed that he vvas not onely banished from Rome but that he vvandred divers strange countries vvhere Caâ—us Marius a noble Roman as he thought met him demanding of Cicero vvhy and vvhat vvas the cause of his sad countenance and vvherefore he travelled such strange countreys the cause being knovvn to Marius he took him fast by the right hand and brought him to the next Officer vvhere he thought in his sléep that he should have died Thus you sée that Xerxes by a Hare had warning King Mydas was by Ants admonished Plaro by Bées Brutus by an Eagle Cicero by a Raven Themistocles by an Owl of death Pericles by the head of a Ram was fully perswaded and taught by the soothsayers that he should win the people of Athens from Thucidides with whom then he was in controversie And was not Agamemnon and his brother Menelaus with all the Princes of Gréece certified by the Dragon that climbed a trée where he slew a she Sparrow and eight young ones beside that they should be nine years in wars with the Troyans and that in the tenth they should destroy and quite vanquish Ilium Was not Julius Caesar admonished by his wife Calphurnia in a dream that if he would go to the Senate that day he should die And was not that mighty Monarch Alexander warned by a vision to take more regard to his life then he did and to take héed of Antipater who afterward poysoned him Was not Alcibiades that noble Greek certified by a dream of his miserable death by which he and his Concubine Timandra might divers times see before hand what followed after had they had but so great a desire in following of good things as they were bent and prone to seek after evil such prodigious sights such strange miracles were seen that might well allure them to a more perfect and upright life The Sun the Moon the Stars and all the host of Heaven wrought great miracles to reduce Princes from evil enterprizes and to give warning unto others to avoid the tyranny of wicked Princes For the Heavens appeared bloudâ— at that time when Philip King of Macedonia with tyranny invaded Greece At what time Augustus Caesar after his uncle Julius was murthered came to Rome as the second Emperor there were seen stars wandering about the circle of the sun great lightnings and strange impressions like men fighting in the skies yea and birds fell down dead in the City of Rome and Livi writeth that an Ox spake under the plough these words to the ploughman that not onely corn should be dear but also men should
Athens Lentulus the defendour of Italy exiled from Rome Dion of Siracusa hunted out of his country by Dionisius even that renowned Hannibal that long protector of Carthage was compelled after long service for his country to range about like a pilgrim every where to séek some safe-guard for his life Too many examples might be brought from Gréek and Latine histories for the proof hereof The chiefest bulwark of a Common-wealth saith Demosthenes is assured faith without flattery and good will tried in the Commons and plainnesse without deceit boldnesse and trust in the Nobility Flattery is the onely snare that wise men are deceived withall and this the pharisées knew well who when they would take our Saviour Christ tardy in his talk they began to flatter him with fair words saying Master we know that thou art just and true and that thou camest from God Even so Herod willing to please the Iews in killing James the brother of John and in imprisoning Peter he so pleased the people with flattery that they cried out this is the voice of God and not the voice of men so sweet was flattery amongst the Iews The flattering friends of Ammon knowing the wickednesse of his mind and his perverse dealing toward Mardocheus did not perswade Ammon from his tyranny but flattered him with fair words and made him prepare a high gallows for Mardocheus where Ammon and his children were hanged But the young man that came to flatter king David saying Saul and his children are dead was by David for his flattery commanded to die CHAP. XLIIII Of the Pilgrimages of Princes and Misery of Mortality THere is neither beast on the earth nor fowl in the ayr nor fish in the sea that séeks his own decay but man onely as by experience we sée all things to have a care of their own lives The Lion when he féeleth himself sick he never ceaseth till he féedeth upon an Ape whereby he may recover his former health The Goats of Créet féeding on high upon the mountains when any of them is shot through with an arrow as the people of that Countrey are most excellent archers they seek out an herb called Dictamum and assoon as they eat any part of it the arrow falleth down and the wound waxeth whole incontinently There are certain kinds of Frogs in Egypt about the floud of Nilus that have this perceiverance that when by chance they happen to come where a fish called Varus is which is great a murtherer and spoiler of Frogs they use to bear in their mouths overthwart a long reed which groweth about the banks of Nile and as this fish doth gape thinking to feed upon the Frog the reed is so long that by no means he can swallow the Frog and so they save their lives If the Goats of Creet if the Frogs of Egypt have this understanding to avoid their enemies how much more ought man to be circumspect of his life who hath millions of enemies neither seen nor known We read in the first book of Aelian that the rude swine if at any time by chance they eat of that herb called Hiosciamus which so contracteth draweth their veins together that they can hardly stir they will strive for remedy to go under the water where they feed upon young Crabs to recover health In the same book you may read of a sea Snail which from the water doth come to land to breed and after she hath egged she diggeth the earth and hideth her egs and returneth to the sea again and there continueth fourty days and after fourty days she commeth to the self same place where she hid her egs and perceiving that they are ready to come out of the shell she openeth the shell and taketh her young ones with her into the sea And thus have they a care not onely of their own states and lives but also of others and by some shew of sence they help that which is most dangerous and hurtfull The little Mice have this kind of fore-knowledge that when any house waxeth old and ruinous they forsake their old dwelling and creeping holes and flee and seek refuge in some other place The little Ants have such fore-sight that when penury and want of relief draweth near they wax painfull and laborious to gather victuals as may serve them during the time of famine If these small creeping worms and simple beasts provide for themselves what shall we say of man the King and ruler over all beasts who hath not onely a body to provide for but also a soul to save More happy are these worms and beasts in their kind then a number of Princes are for that they by nature onely are taught to avoid their foes we neither by nature neither by God the cause of all goodnesse can love our friends Therefore very well it is said of the wise man that either not to be born or else being born straight to die is the happiest state that can chance to man For living in this vale of misery we see the Pilgrimage and travel of life to be such that better far it were to be a poor quiet man then a proud ambitious Prince And since death is the last line of life as well appointed for Princes as for poor men who in reading of the lives of Emperors Kings and Princes and the Nobles of the world seeth not their unhappy states which come into the world naked and depart from the same naked yet like proud Pilgrims are busie one to destroy another not content with countreys and Kingdomes they go from place to place like Pilgrims to be more acquainted with misery and to seek death Alexander the great conquerourâ— taking his voyage from his Kingdome of Macedonia unto India in a desire to destroy all the world he was in the City of Babylon prevented by Antipater and Iola with poyson and there he died Philopomenes a great Emperor sometime in Gréece being taken prisoner in the wars of Messena was so cruelly handled that he besought Dinocrates who then was Prince of that countrey and conquerour over him one drâ—ught of poyson to end his life Thus he that could not be content to be Emperor and ruler of Gréece was moved to seek death in a strange Countrey amongst his foes Ladislaus King of Apulia endeavouring to subdue the Florentines and séeking to be King over the Florentines lost the Kingdome of Apulia and by them was at length poysoned and so bereft both of Kingdome and life With this unhappy kind of death many Princes have been prevented and no lesse threatned are these Princes by their own houshold friends then by forraign foes No lesse do their children their wives brethren and kinsmen study to destroy them Thus Claudius Caesar an Emperor of Rome was poysoned by his own wife Agrippina Antiochus King of Syria was poysoned by his Quéen Laodice so that he was in love with Berenices King Ptolomy's sisterr Constantine the Emperor the son of Heraclius being
son to Theseus being falsly accused by his mother in law Quéen Phedra and flying to avoid the fury and rage of his father at the request of the Queen was torn in pieces by wild horses But let us passe further and we shall read that as some were devoured by horses so others were by Serpents stung to death as Laocoon that worthy Troyan was by two Serpents destroyed yea that famous and warlike woman Cleopatra Quéen of Egypt after her lover and friend Marcus Antonius was overcome by Augustus Caesar the Emperour did chuse rather to be overcome with Serpents then subdued by Caesar With this death was Opheltes the son of Licurgus King of Menea vanquished Again some have perished by wild Bores and raging Lions as Anceus King of Samos and Paphages King of Ambracia the one by a Bore the other by a Lion Some have béen devoured by dogs as Linus the son of Apollo Pliny in his seventh book metions a Quéen in Bithinia named Cosinges K. Nâ—comedes wife whom her own dogs flew tare in pieces Euripides that learned Gréek coming in the night time from Archelaus King of Macedonia with whom he had been at supper was incountered by his enemy Promerus who set his dogs on him and did tear him to pieces Even so were Herachtus and Diogenes both Philosophers by dogs likewise killed I may not forget so great a prince as Basilius the Emperour of Macedon who in hunting amongst his Lords and Nobles yea amongst thousands of his Commons he onely meeting a Hart in the chase was hurt by him in the leg whereof he died As for Seleucus King of Syria son to Antiochus surnamed the Great and Bâ—la King of Panonia they were both thrown by their horses and died If these mischance happen unto princes in the midst of their state what is their glory but misery since nothing expelleth fate nor can avoid death Some have been so weary of life some so fearfull of death that they have thrown themselves into the water to be drowned others for all their diligent fear and watching for death have most shamefully notwithstanding been by death prevented Frederick the Emperour marching towards Ierusalem after that he had taken several Cities and Townes in Armenia in passing through a little river was drowned Decius that noble King being enforced to take his flight from the Goths with whom he then was in wars was drowned in the Marish ground Marcus Marcellus after that he had béen a Consul in Rome thrée times before the third wars betwixt the Romans and the Carthaginians was likewise by shipwrack cast away How many noble Princes have béen drowned as Pharaoh King of Egypt in the red sea of whom we read in the sacred scriptures How many have the seas despoyled of life and with their own names christened the names of seas and waters in which they were drowned As by the death of Aegeus King of Athens the sea Aegeum was so called by the death of Tyrrhenus King of Lydia the sea was called The Tyrrhen Sea And so King Tyberinus altered the river called Aelbula by his death to be the river of Tyber Again the sea Hellespont was so called by a woman named Helle drowned in it So by Iâ—arus and Myrtilus the sea of Icarus and the sea Myrton were so called Divers Princes have also perished by famine and have been compelled to eat their own flesh as Erisicthon and Neocles a Tyrant of Scicioma It is written in Curtius that Sysigambis King Darius mother died of hunger Ulysles the Gréek lest any off-spring of Hector should rise in Phrygia to revenge the fall of Troy and his countrey did cast Astianax the son of Hector over the walls alive Lycurgus King of Thrace was by his own subjects thrown headlong into the sea for that he first mingled water with wine How many famous and noble Princes have been stoned to death as valiant Pyrrhus King of the Epyrotes being in wars with Antigonus was slain by an old woman with a a tile-stone at Argos Pyrander at what time the Athenians warred against Eumolpus for that he feared famine hiding the wheat from his souldiers was therefore by them stoned to death Even so was Cinna the Roman in the wars betwixt the Gauls and the Romans for the like offence stoned to death Stout Cebrior King Priaâ—'s son was slain by a stone hurled at him by Patroclus at the siege of Troy so died Cygnus the son of Achilles at the same time O unstedfast fortune that stones should end the many lives of famous princes O imprudent princes that know not how nigh ye are always to death How many hath God punished with sudden death for their offences as Mithridates King of Pontus and Nicanor the son of Parmenio of Macedonia died suddenly Sertorius was slain suddenly at a banquet by Upenna The Emperour Heliâ—gabalus was killed upon his stool at his easement and thrown into Tyber That renowned and famous Conquerour Julius Caesar was in the middest of the City of Rome where he was Emperor yea in the Senate-house murthered and mangled by Brutus and Cassius Divers Consuls in Rome died this death as Fabius Maxâ—mus Gurges the Senator And Manlius Torquatus even at his supper died presently Some with Thunder-bolts did God likewise punish thus Capaneus was slain at the wars of Thebes Tullus Hostilius King of Rome was with a Thunderbolt for his insolency and pride slain Zoroastres King of the Bactrians the first inventer of Magick was likewise by that kind of death encountred Pride in princes was the onely cause of their falls insomuch that the poets feign that the great and monstrous Giant Eâ—câ—ladus for his proud enterprise against Jupiter was thrown by a Thunderbolt into the bottome of Aetna a fiery and flaming mountain The uncertain state of princes is séen and tried by their death Who liveth so short a time as a prince who dieth so strange a death as a prince Who liveth in care who dieth living but a prince Was not Sergius Galba and Commodus the son of Marcus sirnamed Anbilius two Emperors of Rome the one by Otho strangled in the Market place of Rome the other imprisoned by Martia his own concubine Minos King of Creet travelling after Dedalus into Sicily was by his great friend King Cocalus slain by deceit So was Alebas chief governour of Larissa murthered by his own souldiers The desire that men bear unto honour and dignity is commonly accompanied with death as Spurius Cassius and Spurius Melius for their greedinesse of the Empire of Rome were both worthily beheaded God hath shewed just vengeance upon Princes for their iniquity with plagues and pestilences which spoiled the Emperor Constantine and the Empresse Zoae his wife And by this were Marcus Antonius Alphonsus and Domitius justly and worthily punished God hath wonderfully punished the pride of Princes even with shamefull and horrible deaths insomuch that Lice and vermine have consumed their bodies alive As Maximilian the Emperour Arnulphus