City that such peccadillio's as these were recounted for flagitious crimes and the least failures in them at first were reputed infamous and fit to be branded and marked with shame in the History of those times Now the Laws which Lycurgus ordained either in relation to Virgins or married Women were different for he esteeming procreation of Children to be the principal end of Marriage would fix no set term of age when Men or Women should be esteemed capable of giving their consents to each other in Marriage for he thought that nature being the principal guide in that matter should not be restrained with violence which produces hatred and fear but rather being gently indulged when youth and love and kindness move the coition might be more satisfactory and consequently the Children become more robust strong and healthfull But the Romans designing in the first place to deliver the Bodies of their Daughters pure and undefiled into the embraces and possession of the Husband made it lawfull for Fathers to marry their Daughters at twelve years of age or under which first way of Lycurgus seems more agreeable to the desires of Nature which onely respects the procreation of Children but the other is better adapted to make a conjugal life comfortable and calculated for the rules of moral living Howsoever those general rules which Lycurgus prescribed for education of Children for their meetings together and visits as also those regulations he made in their Feasts or Compotations Exercises and Sports do argue that Numa was in some manner inferiour to him in the art and mystery of giving Laws For as to education Lycurgus was of opinion That Parents were rather obliged to follow the inclinations and genius of their Children than to adhere to any fixt or formal rule of Discipline as for example if a Father designing to make his Son a Husbandman or a Carpenter a Brasier or a Musician will he not first consult his genius or inclinations before he oblige him to a Profession whereunto he hath no delight and for which he hath no Talent or capacity For as passengers who embark together on the same Ship though they have diverse designs and apply themselves to different interests yet when Storms arise whereby the whole Cargason is endangered they forsake the thoughts of their private concernments that they may unite their hands and heads for the common conservation in like manner the Legislatours or Law-makers whose business is the publick good are not required to give or prescribe standing rules for every particular action or private affair but such onely as respect the common use and benefit And since we may blame the common sort of Legislatours who either for want of power or knowledge take false measures in the Maxims they lay down for fundamental Laws how much rather may we except against the conduct of Numa who for the reputation of his wisedom onely being called and invited by the general consent of a new and unsettled people to be their King did not in the first place provide and constitute rules for the education of Children and the discipline of Youth for want of which men become seditious and turbulent and live not quiet in their Families or parishes but when they are inured from their Cradles to good Principles and instructed from their Infancy in the rules of Morality they receive such impressions of Vertue as make them sensible of that benefit and ease which peace and mutual agreement brings to a Commonwealth This with many others was one of the Politicks of Lycurgus and was of great use in the confirmation and establishment of his Laws An instance we have in the practice of Swearing and making Oaths a part of Religion which had proved very insignificant unless that by good discipline a principle had been at first instilled of the sacredness of such a Function and this was the cause that the Lacedemonians having sucked in these principles with their milk were possessed with a most reverend esteem of all his Institutions so that the main points and fundamentals of his Law continued for above 500 years in force with strict observance and without any violation But Numa whose whole design and aim was peace and to conserve his people in such a sense of Religion and Divine worship as might conduce to the present tranquillity did never make provisions for a future condition or for the time of War and therefore no sooner did he expire his last breath than peace vanished with it and immediately after his decease the Gates of Janus Temple flew wide open and as if War had been long pent up within those Walls it rush'd forth like a mighty Storm infesting all Italy with bloud and slaughter and thus that excellent Fabrick and composition of Equity and Justice was dissolved for want of early principles instilled by good education into youth which are the foundation to support it and the necessary cement which unites all together in a fixed and immutable habit What then may some say hath Rome been prejudiced by her Wars I answer that this question which men make who take their measures from the advance of Riches and Power exalted with Luxury rather than from that Innocence and moderation of Mind which is always accompanied with tranquillity and peace is not to be resolved by a sudden answer but by a long and philosophical discourse Howsoever it makes much for Lycurgus that so soon as the Romans deserted the Doctrine and Discipline of Numa their Empire grew and their power encreased whenas on the contrary so soon as the Lacedemonians fell from the Institutions of Lycurgus the Fabrick of their Government dissolved with their Laws and the Grecian Empire being lost they also were reduced to the utmost point of desolation and ruine And yet there is something peculiarly signal and almost Divine in the circumstances of Numa for he was an Alien and yet courted against his own inclinations to accept a Kingdom the frame of which though he entirely altered yet he performed it without force or coaction and with such lenity that nothing was acted but with the assent and concurrence of the people Lycurgus on the other side favoured the Nobility and made them the Lords and Rulers over the Commons and yet that Government was well tempered also and duly poised by Wisedom and Justice SOLON Ὠ Σόλον Ὠ Σόλον Sturt sc THE LIFE OF SOLON Translated from the Greek By Thomas Creech of Wadh. Coll. Oxon. DYdymus the Grammarian in his answer to Asclepiades concerning Solon's Tables mentions a passage of one Philocles who delivers that Solon's Father's name was Euphorion contrary to the opinion of all those who have written concerning him for they generally agree that he was the Son of Exestides a man of moderate wealth and power in the City but of a noble Stock being descended from Codrus his Mother as Heraclides Ponticus affirms was Cousin to Pisistratus his Mother and those two at
visibly to rise and swell increasing to the feet of the Mountains and by degrees reaching to the very tops of them and all this without any violent tossing or agitation of its Waves At first it was the wonder of Shepherds and Herdmen but when the Earth which like a great Dam held up the Lake from falling into the lower grounds through the quantity and weight of Water was broken down and that in a violent stream it ran through the plow'd Fields and Plantations to discharge it self in the Sea it did not onely strike terrour in the Romans but was thought by all the inhabitants of Italy to portend some extraordinary events But the greatest talk of it was in the Camp that besieged Veii when once this accident of the Lake came to be known among them and as in long Sieges it is usual for parties of both sides to meet and converse with one another it happened that a Roman had gained much confidence and familiarity with one of the besieged a man well versed in ancient learning and had the reputation of more than ordinary skill in divination The Roman observing him to be overjoy'd at the story of the Lake and to mock at the Siege told him that this was not the onely prodigy that of late had happened to the Romans but that others more wonderfull than this had befallen them which he was willing to communicate to him that he might the better provide for his private affairs in these publick distempers The man greedily embraced the motion expecting to hear some wonderfull secrets but when by little and little he had drill'd him on in discourse and insensibly drawn him a good way from the Gates of the City he snatched him up by the middle being stronger than he and by the assistence of others that came running from the Camp seized and delivered him to the Commanders The man reduced to this necessity and knowing that destiny is not to be avoided discover'd to them the secret counsels of his Country That it was not possible the City should be taken untill the Alban Lake which now broke forth and had found out new passages was drawn back from that course and so diverted that it could not mingle with the Sea The Senate having heard and deliberated of the matter decreed to send to Delphos to ask counsel of that God the Messengers were persons of the greatest quality Cossus Licinius Valerius Potitus and Fabius Ambustus who having made their voiage by Sea and consulted the God returned with other answers particularly that there had been a neglect of some of their Country Rites relating to the Latine Feasts As for the Alban Water the Oracle commanded that if it was possible they should draw it from the Sea and shut it up in its ancient bounds but if that was not to be done then they should bring it down into Ditches and Trenches into the lower grounds and so dry it up which message being delivered the Priests performed what related to the Sacrifices and the People went to work and turned the Water And now the Senate in the tenth year of the War taking away all other Commands created Camillus Dictatour who chose Cornelius Scipio for his General of Horse and in the first place he made Vows unto the Gods that if they would grant a happy conclusion of that War he would celebrate to their Honour the great Sports and dedicate a Temple to the Goddess whom the Romans call Matuta the Mother but from the Ceremonies which are used one would verily think she was Leucothea for leading a Servant-maid into the secret part of the Temple they there buffet her and then drive her out again and they embrace their Brothers Children more than their own and in the matter of Sacrifices use the same ceremonies as to Bacchus his Nurses and what is customary in the sad case of Ino in remembrance of the Concubine Camillus having made these Vows marched into the Country of the Falisces and in a great Battel overthrew them and the Capenates their Confederates afterwards he turned to the Siege of Veii and finding that to take it by assault would prove a difficult and hazardous attempt he cut Mines under ground the Earth about the City being easy to break up and allowing as much depth as would carry on the Works without being discovered by the Enemy This design going on in a hopefull way he without gave assaults to the Enemy to divert them about the Walls whilst they that worked under-ground in the Mines were insensibly without being perceived got within the Castle under the Temple of Juno which was the greatest and most celebrated in all the City It is reported that the Prince of the Tuscans was at that very time at his Devotions and that the Priest after he had looked into the Entrails of the Beast should cry out with a loud voice That the Gods would give the victory to those that should finish those Sacrifices and that the Romans who were in the mines hearing the words immediately pull'd down the Floor and ascending with noise and clashing of Weapons frighted away the Enemy and snatching up the Entrails carried them to Camillus But this may look like a Fable The City being taken by storm and the Souldiers busied in pillaging and gathering an infinite quantity of Riches and Spoil Camillus from the high Tower viewing what was done at first wept for pity and when they that were by congratulated his good success he lift up his hands to Heaven and broke out into this Prayer O most mighty Jupiter and ye Gods that are Judges of good and evil actions Ye know that not without just cause but constrained by necessity we have been forced to revenge our selves on the City of our unrighteous and implacable Enemies But if in the vicissitude of things there be any calamity due to countervail this great felicity I beg that it may be diverted from the City and Army of the Romans and with as little hurt as may be fall upon my own Head Having said these words and just turning about as the custom of the Romans is to turn to the right when they worship or pray he fell flat to the ground to the astonishment of all that were present But recovering himself presently from the fall he told them that it had succeeded to his wish a small mischance in recompence of the greatest good fortune Having sacked the City he resolved according as he had vowed to carry Juno's Image unto Rome and the Workmen being ready for that purpose he sacrificed to the Goddess and made his supplications that she would be pleased to accept of their devotion toward her and graciously vouchsafe to accept of a place among the Gods that precided at Rome They say that the Statue answered in a low voice that she was ready and willing to go Livy writes that in praying Camillus touched the Goddess and invited her and that some of the standers
at what time of his age he came thither how long he dwelt there how often he was there and in what year he return'd to his own Country are all uncertain This we know that when Nero was in Greece which was in his eleventh and twelfth years our Author was at Delphos under Ammonius his Master as appears by the disputation then manag'd concerning the Inscription of the two letters E. I. Nero not living long afterwards 't is almost indisputable that he came not to Rome in all his Reign 'T is improbable that he wou'd undertake the Voyage during the troublesome times of Galba Otho and Vitellius and we are not certain that he liv'd in Rome in the Empire of Vespatian Yet we may guess that the mildness of this Emperours Dominion his fame and the vertues of his Son Titus assum'd into the Empire afterwards by his Father might induce Plutarch amongst other considerations to take this Journy in his time T is argu'd from the following story related by himself that he was at Rome either in the joynt Reign of the two Vespatians or at least in that of the survivour Titus He says then in his last Book concerning Curiosity Reasoning or rather reading once at Rome Arulenus Rusticus the same Man whom afterwards Domitian put to death out of envy to his Glory stood hearkning to me amongst my Auditors It so happen'd that a Souldier having Letters for him from the Emperour who was either Titus or his Father Vespatian as Rualdus thinks broke through the crowd to deliver him those Letters from the Emperour Observing this I made a pause in my dissertation that Rusticus might have the leisure to read the Mandate which was sent him but he absolutly refus'd to do it neither wou'd he be intreated to break the Seals till I had wholly made an end of my Speech and dismiss'd the Company Now I suppose the stress of the Argument to prove that this Emperour was not Domitian lies only in this clause whom Domitian afterwards put to death but I think it rather leaves it doubtful for they might be Domitians Letters which he then receiv'd and consequently he might not come to Rome till the Reign of that Emperour This Rusticus was not only a learned but a good Man He had been Tribune of the people under Nero was Praetor in the time of Vitellius and sent Ambassadour to the Forces rais'd under the Name of Vespatian to perswade them to a peace What Offices he bore afterwards we know not but the cause of his death besides the envy of Domitian to his fame was a certain Book or some Commentaries of his wherein he had prais'd too much the Sanctity of Thrasea Paetus whom Nero had Murther'd And the praise of a good Citizen was insupportable to the Tyrant being I suppose exasperated farther by some reflections of Rusticus who could not commend Thrasea but at the same time he must inveigh against the oppressour of the Roman Liberty That Plutarch was Married in his own Country and that before he came to Rome is probable that the fame of him was come before him by reason of some part of his works already publish'd is also credible because he had so great resort of the Roman Nobility to hear him read immediately as we believe upon his coming That he was invited thither by the correspondence he had with Sossius Senecio might be one reason of his undertaking that Journey is almost undeniable It likewise appears he was divers times at Rome and perhaps before he came to inhabit there might make acquaintance with this worthy Man Senecio to whom he Dedicated almost all these Lives of Greeks and Romans I say almost all because one of them namely that of Aratus is inscrib'd in most express words to Polycrates the Sicyonian the great Grand-Son of the said Aratus This worthy Patron and friend of Plutarch Senecio was four times Consul the first time in the short Reign of Cocceius Nerva a vertuous and a learned Emperour which opinion I rather follow than that of Aurelius Cassicdorus who puts back his Consulship into the last of Domitian because it is not probable that vitious Tyrant should exalt to that Dignity a Man of Vertue This year falls in with the year of Christninty nine But the great inducement of our Authour to this journy was certainly the desire he had to lay in materials for his Roman Lives that was the design which he had form'd early and on which he had resolv'd to build his fame Accordingly we have observ'd that he had travell'd over Greece to peruse the Archives of every City that he might be able to write properly not only the Lives of his Grecian Worthyes but the Laws the Customs the Rites and Ceremonies of every place Which that he might treat with the same Mastery of skill when he came to draw his Parallels of the Romans he took the invitation of his friends and particularly of our Sossius Senecio to visit this Mistress of the World this imperial City of Rome and by the favour of many great and learned men then living to search the Records of the Capitol and the Libraries which might furnish him with instruments for so noble an undertaking But that this may not seem to be my own bare opinion or that of any modern Author whom I follow Plutarch himself has deliver'd it as his motive in the life of Demosthenes The words are these Whosoever designs to write an History which t is impossible to form to any excellency from thofe materials that are ready at hand or to take from common report while he sits lazily at home in his own Study but must of necessity be gather'd from Forreign observations and the scatter'd writings of various Authours it concerns him to take up his Habitation in some renoun'd and populous City where he may Command all sorts of Books and be acquainted also with such particulars as have escap'd the pens of Writers and are only extant in the memories of Men. Let him inquire diligently and weigh judiciously what he hears and reads lest he publish a lame Work and be destitute of those helps which are requir'd to its perfection T is then most probable that he pass'd his days at Rome either in reading Philosophy of all kinds to the Roman Nobility who frequented his House and heard him as if there were somewhat more than humane in his words and his nights which were his only hours of private Study in searching and examining Records concerning Rome Not but that he was intrusted also with the management of publick affairs in the Empire during his residence in the Metropolis Which may be made out by what Suidas relates of him Plutarch says he liv'd in the time of Trajan and also before his Reign That Emperour bestow'd on him the Dignity of Consul tho the Greek I suppose will bear that he made him Consul with himself at least transferr'd that honour on him An Edict was also made in
the same time he made an agreement with the Corinthians that they should allow them that came from Athens to the celebration of the Isthmian Games as much space to behold the Spectacle in as the Sayl of the Ship that brought them thither stretcht to its full extent could cover and that in the first and most honourable Place Concerning the Voyage that he made in the Euxine Sea there are different Relations for Philochorus and some others write that he undertook this Expedition with Hercules offering him his Service in the War against the Amazons and had Antiope given him for the reward of his Valour but others as Pherecydes Hellanicus and Herodorus write that he made this Voyage many years after Hercules with a Navy under his own Command and took the Amazon Prisoner and indeed this seems to come nearest the truth for we do not read that any other of all those that accompani'd him in this Action took any Amazon Prisoner Different from the former Bion writes that he stole her away by deceit and fled for the Amazons he says being naturally Lovers of Men were so far from flying from Theseus when he touch'd upon their Coasts that they entertain'd him with great civility and sent him Presents to his Ship but he having invited Antiope who brought them to come aboard immediately set Sayl and carri'd her away Menecrates that wrote the History of Nicaea in Bithynia adds that Theseus having Antiope aboard his Vessel cruised for some time about those Coasts and that there were in the same Ship three young Noblemen of Athens that accompani'd him in this Voyage all Brothers whose Names were Euneus Thoas and Soloon The last of these fell desperately in Love with Antiope but conceal'd it with all possible care only to one of his most intimate acquaintance he reveal'd the Secret and employ'd him to break his passion to Antiope she rejected his pretences with a very sharp denial yet carri'd her self to him with all outward appearances of Civility and very prudently made no complaint to Theseus of any thing that had happen'd but Soloon urg'd by despair leap'd into a River near the Sea-side and drowned himself As soon as Theseus was acquainted with his Death and his unhappy Love that was the cause of it he was extreamly concern'd and in the heighth of his grief an Oracle which he had formerly receiv'd at Delphos came into his mind for he had been commanded by the Priestess of Apollo Pythius that where-ever in his Travels he was most sorrowful and under the greatest affliction he should build a City there and leave some of his Followers to be Governours of the Place For this cause he there founded a City which he call'd from the Name of Apollo Pythopolis and in honour of the unfortunate Youth he nam'd the River that runs by it Soloon and left the two surviving Brothers entrusted with the care of the Government and Laws joyning with them Hermus one of the Nobility of Athens from whom a certain Place in the City is call'd The House of Hermus tho' by an error in the accent of the word it has been falsly taken for the House of Hermes or Mercury and the Honour that was design'd to the Heroe transferr'd to the God And this was the rise and ground of the Amazonian War a War of no small consequence or in which the Athenians might think they had to do with Cowards or Women For it is impossible that they should have plac'd their Camp in the very City and joyn'd Battel in the middle of it near the Temple of the Muses unless having first conquer'd the Country round about they had without any delay or fear mov'd boldly on to Athens That they made so long a Journey by Land and passed an Arm of the Cimmerian Bosphorus that was frozen as Hellanicus writes is difficult to be believ'd This is certain that they encamp'd in the City and may be sufficiently confirm'd by the Names that the Places thereabout yet retain and the Graves and Monuments of those that fell in the Battel Both Armies now being in sight there was a long pause and doubt on each side which should give the first Onset At last Theseus having sacrific'd to Fear in obedience to the Command of an Oracle he had receiv'd gave them Battel and this happen'd in the Month of August in which to this very day the Athenians celebrate the Feast that is nam'd from that Month wherein this Battel was fought But Clidemus desirous to be very nice in each particular of this Affair writes that the left Wing of the Amazons mov'd towards the Place which is yet call'd Amazonium and the right to a Place call'd Pnyx near Chrysa upon which the Athenians issuing from behind the Muses Temple fell upon them and that this is true the Graves of those that were slain to be seen in the Street that leads to the Gate call'd Piraica by the Temple of the Hero Chalcodus are a sufficient proof And here it was that the Athenians were routed and shamefully turn'd their backs to Women as far as to the Temple of the Furies But fresh supplies coming in from Palladium Ardettus and Lyceum charg'd their right Wing and beat them back into their very Tents in which Action a great number of the Amazons were slain At length after four months a Peace was concluded between 'em by the mediation of Hippolyta for so this Historian calls the Amazon which Theseus marri'd and not Antiope tho' others write that she was slain with a Dart by Molpadia fighting by Theseus side and that the Pillar which stands by the Temple at the entring into the Olympian ground was erected to her Honour Nor is it to be wonder'd that the History of things so very ancient should be so various and uncertain It is farther said that those of the Amazons that were wounded were privately sent away by Antiope to Chalcis where many by her care recover'd but those that dy'd were buri'd in the Place that is to this time call'd Amazonium That this War was ended by a mutual League and Agreement is evident both from the Name of the Place adjoyning to the Temple of Theseus call'd from the solemn Oath there taken Horcomosium and also from the ancient Sacrifice which is celebrated to the Amazons the day before the Feast of Theseus The Megarians pretend also that some of the Amazons were buried in their City and shew for one of their Monuments a Tomb in the figure of a Lozenge in the passage from the Market-place to a Place call'd Rhus It is said likewise that others of 'em were slain near Chaeronea and buried near a little Rivulet formerly call'd Thermodon but now Haemon of which I have formerly wrote in the Life of Demosthenes It appears further that the Passage of the Amazons through Thessaly was not without opposition for there are yet to be seen many of their Sepulchres near Scotussaea and Cynocephalae And
out A Lad being offered some Cocks of the Game so hardy that they would dye upon the place said that he car'd not for Cocks that would dye hardy but for such that would live and kill others Another would by no means be carried home in a Chair as he saw some others were because said he I cannot conveniently rise in it to pay respect to my betters In short their answers were so sententious and pertinent that one said well that to be a Philosopher or a Lacedemonian signified the same thing And though they were a very active people they exercised their Minds much more than their Bodies Nor were they less carefull to sing and compose well than to express themselves in proper terms and to speak to the point And their very Songs had such a life and spirit in them that they enflam'd and ravish'd mens minds with a desire to doe great and good Actions the style of them was plain and without affectation the subject always serious and moral most usually it was in praise of such men as had dy'd in the bed of honour for defence of their Country or in derision of those who would not venture their lives willingly in so good a cause the former they declared happy and almost Gods and the latter they describ'd as most miserable and below the condition of men In these Verses too they talk'd high of what feats they would doe or had done and vaunted of themselves as the bravest and most valiant people in the world The expression was different and sutable to their several ages for you must understand that they had three Choirs of them in their solemn Festivals the first of the old Men the second of the young Men and the last of the Children to give a taste of them the old Men began thus We have been though now spent and old Hardy in Field in Battel Bold The young men answered them singing We are so now let who dares try We 'll conquer or in combat dye The Children came last and said What ever ye can doe or tell We one day will you both excell Indeed if we will take the pains to consider their Compositions and the Airs on the Flute to which they were set when they march'd on to Battel we shall find that Terpander and Pindar had reason to say that Musick was not incompatible with but rather an help and incentive to Valour The first says thus of them Justice goes in procession through their Streets And Mars the Muses in sweet consort meets And Pindar Blest Sparta in whose State we find Things almost inconsistent join'd In quiet times your Martial toils not cease And Wars adorn'd with the soft arts of Peace Gray-headed Wisedom reigns in your Debates And well-bred Youth with equal Fire Handle their Arms or touch their Lyre Ye Gods the Musick of well ordered States So that these two Poets describe the Spartans as being no less musical than warlike and the Spartan Poet himself confirms it Our Sports prelude to War and Musicks charms Inspire deliberate Valour to our Arms. And even before they engag'd in Battel the King did first sacrifice to the Muses in all likelihood to put them in mind of the manner of their education and of the severe judgment that would be pass'd upon their actions and thereby to animate them to the performance of some gallant Exploit sometimes too the Lacedemonians abated a little the severity of their manners in favour of their young men suffering them to curle and perfume their Hair and to have costly Arms and fine Clothes and as well pleas'd they were to see them marching out full of metal and spirit to an Engagement as the other Graecians were to see their trim'd Horses neighing and pressing for the course And therefore when they came to be well-grown Lads they took a great deal of care of their Hair to have it parted and trim'd especially against a day of Battel pursuant to a saying of their Law-giver that a large head of Hair set off a good Face to more advantage and those that were ugly it made more ugly and dreadfull When they were in the Field their Exercises were generally more moderate their Fare not so hard nor so strict a hand held over them by their Officers so that they were the onely people in the world to whom War gave repose When their Army was drawn up in Battel array and the Enemy near the King sacrific'd a Goat commanded the Souldiers to set their Garlands upon their heads and the Pipers to play the Tune of the Hymn to Castor and himself advancing forwards began the Paean which serv'd for a signal to fall on It was at once a delightfull and terrible sight to see them march on to the Tune of their Flutes without ever troubling their Order or confounding their Ranks no disorder in their minds or change in their countenance but on they went to the hazard of their lives as unconcernedly and cheerfully as if it had been to lead up a Dance or to hear a consort of Musick Men in this temper were not likely to be possessed with fear or transported with fury but they proceeded with a deliberate Valour full of hope and good assurance as if some Divinity had sensibly assisted them The King had always about his person some one who had been crown'd in the Olympick Games and upon this account a Lacedemonian refus'd a considerable present which was offered to him upon condition that he would not come into the Lists and having with much to doe thrown his Antagonist some of the Spectatours said to him And now Sir Lacedemonian what are you the better for your Victory he answered smiling O a great deal Sir for I shall have the honour to fight by the side of my Prince After they had routed an Enemy they pursu'd him till they were well assured of the Victory and then they sounded a retreat thinking it base and unworthy of a Graecian people to cut men in pieces who durst not look them in the face or lift up their hands against them This manner of dealing with their Enemies did not onely shew their magnanimity but had a politick end in it too for knowing that they kill'd onely those who made resistance and gave quarter to the rest they generally thought it their best way to consult their safety by flight Hippias the Sophister says that Lycurgus himself was a very valiant and experienced Commander Philostephanus attributes to him the first division of the Cavalry into Troops of fifties in a square Body but Demetrius the Phalerian says quite the contrary and that he made all his Laws in a continued Peace And indeed the cessation of Arms procured by his means and management inclines me to think him a good-natur'd man and one that lov'd quietness and peace Notwithstanding all this Hermippus tells us that he had no hand in the Ordinance that Iphitus made it and
where a little mount of Earth is raised called in Latin Agger under it is a narrow Room to which a descent is made by Stairs here they prepare a Bed and light up a Lamp and provide a small quantity of Victuals such as Bread Water in a Bottle Milk and Oil that so that Body which had been consecrated and devoted to the most divine and mysterious service might not be said to perish by a death so detestable as that of Famine The party thus condemned is carried to execution through the Market-place in a Litter wherein she is covered and bound with Cords so that the voice of her cries and laments cannot be heard all people with silence go out of the way as she passes and such as follow accompany the Bier with solemn and tacite sorrow and indeed such is the sadness which the City puts on on this occasion that there is no spectacle of grief which appears of more common and general concernment than this When they come to the place of Execution the Officers loose the Cords and then the High Priest lifting his hands to Heaven murmures some certain prayers to himself then the Prisoner being still covered is brought forth and led down by the steps unto her House of darkness which being done the Priests retire and the Stairs being drawn up the Earth is pressed and crouded in untill the Vault is filled And this was the punishment of those who broke their Vow of Virginity It is said also that Numa built the Temple of Vesta which was intended for a conservatory of the Holy Fire in an orbicular form to represent perhaps the Frame of the Universe in the centre of which the Pythagoreans place the element of Fire and give it the name of Vesta and Unity and yet they do not hold that the Earth is immovable or that it is situated in the middle region of the Globe but keeps a circular motion about the seat of Fire nor do they account the Earth amongst the chief or primary Elements following the opinion of Plato who they say in his mature and philosophical age held that the Earth had a lateral position for that the middle or centre was reserved for some more noble and refined Body There was yet a farther use of the High Priest and that was to order the Procession at funeral Rites according to the method prescribed by Numa who taught that there was no uncleanness in the contact of dead Corpses but a part of the service owing to the subterranean Gods amongst which they worshipped the Goddess Libitina as the chief of those who presided over the Ceremonies performed at Burials whether they meant hereby Persephone or as some of the learned Romans will have it Venus for they not without good reason attributed the beginning and end of Man's lise to the same original cause and virtue of a Deity Numa also prescribed Rules for regulating the days of Mourning according to certain times and ages As for example a Child of three years and so upwards to ten was to be mourned for for so many months as it was years old and the longest time of mourning for any person whatsoever was not to exceed the term of ten months which also was the time appointed unto Widows to lament the loss of their deceased Husbands before which they could not without great indecency pass unto second Marriages but in case their incontinence was such as could not admit so long an abstinence from the Marriage-bed they were then to sacrifice a Cow with Calf for expiation of their fault Numa also was Founder of several other Orders of Priests two of which are worthy to be here mentioned namely the Salii and the Feciales which with other instances are clear proofs of the great devotion and sanctity of this Person These Feciales whose name in my opinion is derived from their Office were the Arbitratours to whom all Controversies were referred relating to War and Peace for it was not allowable to take up Arms untill they had declared all hopes and expedients rejected which tended to an accommodation by the word Peace we mean a determination of matters in dispute by Law and not by Violence or Force The Romans commonly dispatched the Feciales who were properly Heralds to those who had offered them injury requiring satisfaction and in case they made not restitution or just returns they then called the Gods to witness against them and their Country and so denounced War the sense of the Feciales in this case was of absolute necessity for without their consent it was neither lawfull for the Roman King nor yet for the people to take up Arms and from them the General took his rules concerning the justice of his cause which being adjudged and the War determined the next business was to deliberate of the manner and ways to manage and carry it on It is believed that the slaughter and destruction which the Gauls made of the Romans was a just judgment on the City for neglect of this religious proceeding for that when a foreign Nation besieged the Clusinians Fabius Ambustus was dispatched to their Camp with Propositions of Peace but they returning a rude and peremptory Answer thereunto Fabius imagined that his Treaty was at an end and that he had fully complied with the duty of his Embassie and therefore rashly engaging in a War challenged the stoutest and bravest of the enemy to a single Combat It was the fortune of Fabius to kill his adversary and to take his spoils which when the Gauls understood they sent a Herald to Rome to complain against Fabius who before a War was published had against the Law of Nations made a breach of the Peace The matter being debated in the Senate the Feciales were of opinion that Fabius ought to be consigned into the hands of the Gauls but he being pre-advised of this judgment fled to the people by whose protection and favour he was secured on this occasion the Gauls marched with their Army to Rome where having taken the Capitol they sacked the City The particulars of all which are at large related in the History of Camillus Now the original of the Salii is this In the eighth year of the reign of Numa that terrible Pestilence which was spread over all Italy did likewise miserably infest the City of Rome at which the Citizens being greatly affrighted and despairing of health were again comforted by the report of a brazen Target which they say fell from Heaven into the hands of Numa and of which they relate strange effects operated by the virtue of this miraculous Buckler and that Numa having had conference with the Nymph Egeria and some of the Muses he was assured that that Target was sent from Heaven for the cure and safety of the City and that because on the conservation thereof the common health and benefit depended he was ordered by them to make eleven others so like in all dimensions and form to
these and dissolve or continue any of the present Constitutions according to his pleasure First then he repeal'd all Draco's Laws except those concerning Murther because they were too severe and their punishments too great for Death was appointed for almost all offences insomuch that those that were convicted of Idleness were to dye and those that stole a Cabbage or an Apple to suffer as the Villains that committed Sacrilege or Murther And therefore Demades is famous for saying that Draco's Laws were not writ with Ink but Bloud and he himself being once ask'd Why he made Death the punishment of most offences reply'd Small ones deserve that and I have no higher for the greater Crimes Next Solon being willing to continue the Magistracy in the hands of the rich Men and yet receive the People into the other part of the Government he took an account of the Citizens Estates and those that were worth five hundred Measures of Wet and Dry he plac'd in the first rank calling them Pentacosiomedimnoi those that could keep an Horse or were worth three hundred Measures were nam'd Hippada telountes and made the second Class the Zeugitae that had two hundred Measures were in the third and all the others were call'd Thetes who were not admitted to any Office but could come to the Assembly and give their Voices which at first seem'd nothing but afterwards appear'd a considerable privilege for most of the Controversies came to their hearing because in all matters that were under the cognizance of the other Magistrates there lay an appeal to that Assembly Beside 't is said that he was obscure and ambiguous in the wording of his Laws on purpose to encrease the honour of his Courts for since their differences could not be adjusted by the Letter they were to bring all their Causes to the Judges who were as Masters and interpreters of the Laws and of this Equality he himself makes mention in this manner What power was fit I did on all bestow Not rais'd the Poor too high nor prest too low The Rich that rul'd and every Office bore Confin'd by Laws they could not press the Poor Both parties I secur'd from lawless might So none prevail'd upon another's right And for the greater security of the weak Commons he gave all liberty to enter an Action against another for an injury so that if one was beaten maim'd or suffer'd any violence any man that would and was able might prosecute the injurious intending by this to accustom the Citizens like members of the same Body to resent and be sensible of one anothers injuries and there is a saying of his agreeable to this Law for being ask'd what City was best modell'd That says he where those that are not injur'd equally prosecute the unjust with those that are when he had constituted the Areopagus of the yearly Magistrates of which he himself being Archon was a member still observing that the People now free from their Debts grew proud and imperious he settled another Court of four hundred a hundred out of each of the four Tribes which were to inspect all matters before they were to be propounded to the People and to take care that nothing but what had been diligently examin'd should be brought before the general Assembly The upper Council he made inspectours and keepers of the Laws supposing that the Commonwealth held by these two Councils as by firm Anchors would be less liable to be tost by tumults and the People be more at quiet Thus most deliver that Solon instituted the Areopagus which seems to be confirm'd because Draco makes no mention of the Areopagites but in all capital Causes applies himself to the Ephetae Yet Solon's thirteenth Table contains the eighth Law set down in these words Whoever before Solon's Archonship were disgrac'd let them be restor'd except those that being condemn'd by the Areopagites Ephetae or the Kings for Murther or designs against the Government had fled their Country when this Law was made and these words seem to shew that the Areopagus was before Solon's Laws for who could be condemn'd by that Council before his time if he was the first that instituted the Court unless which is probable there is some defect and obscurity in this Table and it should run thus Those that are convicted of such offences as belong to the cognizance of the Areopagites Ephetae or the Prytanes when this Law was made should remain still in disgrace whilst others are restor'd and this was his meaning Amongst his other Laws that is very peculiar and surprising which makes all those infamous who stand Neuters in a Sedition for it seems he would not have any one insensible and regardless of the Publick and securing his private affairs glory that he had no feeling of the distempers of his Country but presently joyn with the good party and those that had the right upon their side assist and venture with them rather than shift out of harms way and watch who would get the better But that seems an absurd and foolish Law which permits an Hieress if her lawfull Husband prove impotent to lye with his nearest Kinsman yet some say this Law was well contriv'd against those who conscious of their own inability yet for the sake of the portion would match with Hieresses and make use of Law to put a violence upon Nature for now since she can lye with whom she please they must either abstain from such Marriages or continue them with disgrace and suffer for their covetousness and design'd affront besides 't is well done to confine her to her Husband 's nearest Kinsman that the Children may be of the same Family and agreeable to this is the Law that the Bride and Bridegroom shall be shut into a Chamber and eat a Quince together and that her Husband is oblig'd to go in to such an Heiress thrice a Month for though he gets no Children yet 't is an honour and due affection which an Husband ought to pay to a vertuous chaste Wife it takes off all petty differences and will not permit their little quarrels to proceed to a rupture In all other Marriages he forbad Dowries to be given the Wife was to have three suits of Clothes a little inconsiderable Houshold-stuff and that was all for he would not have Marriages contracted for gain or an Estate but for pure Love kind Affection and to get Children Dionysius when his Mother advis'd him to marry one of his Citizens Indeed says he by my Tyranny I have broken my Country's Laws but cannot put a violence upon those of Nature by an unseasonable Marriage Such disorder is never to be suffer'd in a Commonwealth nor such unseasonable and unperforming Marriages which neither attain their due end nor fruit but any provident Governour or Law-giver might say to an old Man that takes a young Wife what is spoken to Philoctetes in the Tragedy Poor Wretch in what a
their case the Sutrians hanging on them resolved not to defer revenge but that very day to lead his Army to Sutrium Conjecturing that the enemy having just taken a rich and plentifull City and not left an Enemy within it nor expecting any from without he should find them wallowing in all riot and luxury open and unguarded Neither did his opinion fail him for he not onely pass'd through their Country without discovery but came up to their very Gates and possessed himself of the Walls there was not a man left to guard them but every one was scattered about from house to house drinking and making merry nay when at last they did perceive that the Enemy had seised the City they were so overcharged with Meat and Wine that few were able so much as to endeavour an escape but in the most shamefull posture either waited for their death within doors or if they were able to carry themselves submitted to the will of the Conquerour Thus the City of the Sutrians was twice taken in one day and it came to pass that they who were in possession lost it and they who had lost their possession gained it again by the means of Camillus for all which actions he received a triumph which brought him no less honour and reputation than both the former for those very Citizens who before most envied and detracted from him ascribing the rest of his successes to a certain hit of fortune rather than steddy virtue were compelled by these last acts of his to allow the whole honour to the great abilities and industry of the man Of all his adversaries and enviers of his glory Marcus Manlius was the most considerable he who gave the first repulse to the Gauls and drove them out that night they set upon the Capitol for which he was sirnamed Capitolinus This man affecting the first place in the Common-wealth and not able by the noblest ways to out-doe Camillus's reputation took the trite and usual methods of Tyranny namely to gain the multitude especially such as were in debt some he would defend against their Creditours and plead their Causes others rescue by force and not suffer the Law to proceed against them insomuch that in a short time he had gotten great numbers of indigent people about him who making tumults and uproars in the Courts struck great terrour into the principal Citizens After that Quintus Capitolinus who was made Dictatour to examine into these disorders had committed Manlius to prison the people immediately changed their apparel a thing never done but in great and publick calamities The Senate fearing some tumult ordered him to be released who set at liberty was never the better but rather more insolent in his practices filling the whole City with his Faction and Sedition Wherefore they chose Camillus again Military Tribune and a day being set for Manlius to answer to his charge the prospect of the place was a great hindrance to his accusers for the very place where Manlius by night fought with the Gauls over-look'd the Court from the Capitol so that stretching forth his hands that way and weeping he called to their remembrance his past actions raising compassion in all that beheld him Insomuch that the Judges were at a loss what to doe and several times forced to adjourn the Trial not willing to acquit him of the crime proved by manifest circumstances and yet unable to execute the Law that noble action of his being always in their eyes by reason of the place Camillus considering this removed the Judgment Seat out of the Gate to the Peteline Grove from whence there is no prospect of the Capitol Here his accuser went on with his charge and the Judges being now at liberty to consider of his late practices he received a just recompense and reward of his wicked actions for being carried to the Capitol he was flung headlong from the Rock having the same place witness of his greatest glory and monument of his most unfortunate end The Romans besides rased his House and built there a Temple to the Goddess they call Moneta ordaining for the future that none of the Patrician Order should ever dwell in the Capitol Mount And now Camillus being called to the sixth Tribuneship desired to be excused as being aged and perhaps not unjealous of the malice of Fortune and those unlucky changes which usually attend great and prosperous actions But the most apparent pretence was the weakness of his Body for he happened at that time to be sick but the people would admit of no excuses but crying that they wanted not his strength for Horse or for Foot service but onely his counsel and conduct they constrained him to undertake the command and with one of his fellow Tribunes to lead the Army immediately against the Enemy These were the Praenestines and Volsces who with great Forces wasted the Countries of the Roman Confederates Having march'd out his Army he sate down and encamped near the Enemy meaning himself to draw out the War in length or if there should be necessity or occasion of fighting in the mean time to strengthen his Body for it But Lucius his Collegue carried away with the desire of glory was not to be held in but impatient to give Battel inflamed with the same eagerness the Captains and Colonels of the Army so that Camillus fearing he might seem out of envy to rob the young men of the glory of a notable exploit gave way though unwillingly that he should draw out the Forces whilst himself by reason of weakness staid behind with a few in the Camp Lucius engaging rashly and headily was soon discomfited when Camillus perceiving the Romans to give ground and fly he could not contain himself but leaping from his Bed with those Servants and retinue he had about him ran to meet them at the Gates of the Camp and making his way through them that fled he drove furiously to oppose the pursuers insomuch that those who were got within the Camp presently turned back and followed him and those that came flying from without made head again and gathered about him exhorting one another not to forsake their General Thus the Enemy for that time was stop'd in his pursuit But the next day Camillus drawing out his Forces and joining Battel with them overthrew them by main force and following close upon them that fled he entred pell mell with them into their Camp and took it slaying the greatest part of them Afterwards having heard that the City Sutrium was taken by the Tuscans and the inhabitants all Romans put to the Sword the main Body of his Forces and heaviest arm'd he sent home to Rome and taking with him the lightest and best appointed Soldiers he set suddenly upon the Tuscans who were in the possession of the City and having master'd them some he drove out others he slew and so returning to Rome with great spoils he gave a signal evidence
look'd upon as natives of the Country or right-bred Athenians but foreigners and strangers inasmuch as one's name was Lacedaemonius another's Thessalus and the third's Elius and they were all three of them as it was thought born of an Arcadian Woman Wherefore Pericles being but ill spoken of upon the account of these ten Galleys as having afforded but a small supply to the poor people that desired it and given a great advantage to those who might call him in question he sent out some more other Ships afterward to Corcyra which arrived after the Fight was over that is as we say came a day after the Fair when it was too late Now when the Corinthians being deadly angry with the Athenians accused them publickly at Lacedaemon the Megarians joined with them complaining that they were contrary to common right and the articles of peace agreed upon oath among the Grecians kept out and driven away from every Market and from all Ports where the Athenians had to doe to the hindrance of Commerce and the decay of their Trade And those of Aegina appearing to have been grievously ill used and treated with violence made their supplications in private to the Lacedemonians for redress as not daring openly to call the Athenians in question In the mean time the City Potidaea being under the dominion of the Athenians then but a Colony formerly of the Corinthians having revolted was beset with a formal Siege which prov'd an occasion of hastning on the War Nay and yet notwithstanding all this there being Embassies sent to Athens and Archidamus the King of the Lacedemonians endeavouring to bring several of those complaints and matters in dispute to a fair determination and decision and to pacifie and allay the heats of the allied parties it is very likely that the War would not upon any other grounds of quarrel have faln from all sides upon the Athenians could they have been prevail'd with to repeal that Ordinance and Decree of theirs against the Megarians and to be reconciled to them Upon which account since Pericles was the man who mainly opposed it and stirr'd up the people continuing in his peevish and stubborn resolution of unkindness and quarrelsomeness against those of Megara he alone bore the blame and was look'd upon as the onely cause and promoter of the War They say moreover that Ambassadours went by order from Lacedaemon to Athens about this very business and that when Pericles pretended a certain Law which forbad the taking down the Tablet wherein the Decree or publick Order was written one of the Ambassadours Polyarces by name should say Well! do not take it down then but turn the Tablet inward for there is no Law I suppose which forbids that This though it were prettily said and might have serv'd for a handsome expedient yet Pericles did not at all relent nor bate an ace of his resolution There was then in all likelihood some secret grudge and private animosity which he had against the Megarians Yet he upon the pretence of a publick and manifest charge against them as that they had cut down a holy Grove dedicated to the Gods or imbezilled a piece of ground consecrated to pious uses writes an Order that a Herald should be sent to them and the same person to the Lacedemonians with an accusation of the Megarians This Order of Pericles truth is shews an equitable and friendly proceeding enough But after that the Herald which was sent by name Anthemocritus died and it was thought that the Megarians had contrived his death and made him away then Charinus writes a Decree against them that there should be an irreconcileable and implacable enmity thenceforward betwixt the two Commonwealths and that if any one of the Megarians should but set his foot upon any part of the Attick Territories he should be put to death and that the Commanders when they take the usual Oath should over and above that swear that they will twice every year make an inroad into the Megarians Country and that Anthemocritus should be buried near the Thriasian Gates which are now called the Dipylon or Double Gate On the other hand the Megarians utterly denying and disowning the Murther of Anthemocritus throw the whole business and the guilt if any upon Aspasia and Pericles to which purpose they make use of those famous and commonly known Verses out of a Play of Aristophanes called the Acharnes Youngsters of Athens went to Megara Mad-fuddle-caps to keep blind Holiday And stole Simaetha the Town-Whore away Nettled at this Megarian Youths did plot Reprisal and to Town by stealth they got Where two Aspasian Harlots went to pot The true rise and occasion of this War what it might be is not so easie to find out But that that Decree we mentioned was not repeal'd and annulled all do alike charge Pericles with being the cause of that However there are some who say that he did out of a great sense and height of spirit stand it out stiffly with a resolution for the best accounting that the Precept and Order of those Embassies was designed for a trial of their compliance and yieldingness and that a concession would be taken for a confession of weakness as if they durst not doe otherwise And other some there are who say that he did rather in an arrogant bravado and a wilfull humour of contention to shew his own gallantry and power slight and set little by the Lacedemonians But that which is the worst cause and charge of all and which is confirmed by most witnesses we have in a manner such an account as this given of it Phidias the Plasterer or Image-maker had as hath before been said undertaken to make the Statue of Minerva Now he being familiarly acquainted with Pericles and a great Favourite of his had many enemies upon his account who envied and maligned him who also to make trial in a case of his what kind of Judges the Commons would prove should there be occasion to bring Pericles himself before them having tampered with Menon one who had wrought with Phidias they place him in the Court with a Petition desiring publick security upon his discovery and impeachment of Phidias for things done by him against the State The people admitting of the man to tell his story and the prosecution being agreed upon in the Assembly there was nothing of theft or cheat charged against him For Phidias had immediately from the very first beginning so wrought and wrapt the Gold that was used in the work about the Statue and that by the advice of Pericles that they might take it all off and make out the just weight of it which Pericles also at that time bade the accusers to doe But the glory and reputation of his Works was that which burthen'd Phidias and crush'd him with envy especially this that where he represents the Fight of the Amazons upon the Goddesses Shield he had express'd