which were written many things concerning the lawe of nature and the influence and motions of the starres that if the bricke pillar were destroyed by water the stone pillar should reserue and keepe safe their lawes theyr seruice and sacrifice to God which the Patriarkes vsed as instructions to their posteritie after the floud which continued vntill Iosephus time which as Iosephus himself writes he sawe in Syria Moses at his death deliuered to the Hebrewes the booke of the lawe and he commaunded them to lay vp those lawes in the Arke within the Tabernacle where it was lawfull for none to come to them but the high Priest which continued from Moses time vntill Ierusalem was destroyed by Nabuchodonozer at what time Ieremie tooke the Tabernacle the Arke and the Aultar of Incense and brought them to Mount Nebo where Moses dyed where he found a hollow caue wherein he layed the Tabernacle the Arke the Aultar of Incense and so closed and stopped the caue Among the Egiptians their lawes were so reuerenced and honoured that none but onely the Priests of Memphis had the keeping thereof in the Temple of Vulcan The Lacedemonians in like sort so reuerenced and kept their lawes that their kings and the magistrates called Ephori came once a moneth to the Temple which they dedicated to the goddesse Feare and there in the porch of the temple the Senators of Lacedemonia which were 28. in number did minister an oath both to the King and the Ephori before the people to serue keep Licurgus lawes in the which Temple their lawes were lockt vp and kept with great care The Romaines made so much of the lawes of their Sybils that they were so kept and so strongly lockt with such care and diligence in a stony Arke in the Capitoll vnder the ground where none might come to them see nor read them but the officers called Duumuiri who had the charge ouer them neither they vntill the Consuls and the Senate had occasions to conferre with the lawes which continued from Torquinius Priscus time vntill Lu. Syllas time at what time the Capitoll was burnt and withall the lawes of the Sybils and if any of these officers would reueale any secrets out of the lawes of the Sybils hee was punished like a murtherer sowed aliue in a sheete and throwne into Tiber. So the Athenians very carefull of their lawes written first by Draco and after by Solon in Tables of wood called Syrbes that they were set vp to bee kept in theyr chiefe court place which the Athenians named Prytanion where Magistrates should sit and iudge causes of lawes The lawe of the Turkes is that the Priests after some ceremonies done should haue a sword and a speare which is set by him in the Pulpit and to shewe the same to the people saying see that you haue these weapons in a readinesse to defend the lawes and religion of Mahomet the penaltie of the Turkes lawe is that if any man speake against their law his tongue should be cut out in so much that the booke called Muzaph wherein their lawe is written is so reuerenced and honoured among the Turkes that no man may touch it with bare hands Thus were lawes in all countries reuerenced and with great care and diligence obserued After lawes decrees and statutes were made in euery Countrey with such circumstances as agreed with the time with the place and with the people for without law no Common-wealth nor Kingdome can be gouerned as Aristotle saith In legibus salus ciuitatis si ta est Iudges were appointed to execute the same in all countries and magistrates in euery citie as among the Hebrewes the Elders called Synadrion Iudges and yet in euery citie of Iudah was a seuerall Iudge Among the Egiptians they had 30. Iudges which they elected from Eliopolis Memphis Thaebes Alexandria and other citties of Egipt of the which 30. they elected one to be chiefe Among the Aethiopians the sage Philosophers the Gymnosophists executed theyr lawes among the Indians likewise the Brachmaines called also Sacerdotes solis Among the Grecians the generall Iudges called Amphictions which sate twise in the yeare once at Trozaena in the spring time and in the Autumne in the Temple of Neptune in Isthmos In many countries women for their wisedome and knowledge were admitted to sit in counsell as among the Persians with King Xerxes who in any great cause of counsell would sende for Artemisia Queene of Caria whose counsell he found so wise that chiefly among all the Princes of Persia in many causes he allowed and followed her counsell So the Queenes in Egipt altogether ruled and gouerned the whole estate of the kingdome to whom greater honour and homage was giuen rather then to the kings of Egipt for that the whole state of their kingdome was rather gouerned by the Queenes then by the Kings Women among the Lacedemonians were not only admitted in publike counsell to sit and determine in courts but also sent for to cōsult in secret matters of state with the Senators The old Gaules in the time of Haniball in any contention betweene them and the Carthagineans if the breach of the lawes or any league broken were committed by the Gaules the women should determine a satisfaction to the Carthagineans if any offence grew by the Carthagineans the Senators of Carthage should satisfie the Gaules It is as well saith Aristotle if men gouerne like women that women should gouerne Quid inter est vtrùm faeminae an qui gubernant gubernentur à faeminis The Romaines though they had a lawe that no woman nor young man should bee admitted to counsell yet suffered they such graue and wise women as Agrippina Meza Cornelia and others to sit in some secrete place where they might see and not bee seene Solon therfore forbad by law that young men should neither giue counsell nor be magistrates in a common-wealth So Plato saith Concilium eius est qui rei cunisque peritus est Yet Deberah and Hebrew woman was a Iudge in Israel gouerned and ruled the Hebrews for fortie yeares To this woman came all the children of Israel for iudgement and she gouerned them wisely and discreetly ministred vnto them in all points the lawes of Moses and deliuered them out of the hand of Iabin King of Canaan who had sore oppressed Israel for the space of twentie yeares But among the Athenians it was not lawfull that women should sit and determine in matters of state in Athens as the women in Sparta did or as the women of Persia. The Athenians sent to Delphos to know what lawe and religion were best to bee obserued among the people It was answered the auntient lawes and religion of their Elders The second time they sent againe saying that the lawes of the Elders were often chaunged It was by the Oracle answered that they should take the best lawes of diuers
fellowe and companion of Senators to whom he was scarce worthie to be a seruant For the wise prudent Emperors of Rome were wont to haue learned graue men with thē as well in warres in their camp as also for counsell at home For Augustus would not allow in Rome that libertie which the Indian Philosophers allowed to the Indians for they thought it fond and foolish sith the lawes were equall to all but that euery man should be equally gouerned by the law sith the lawe made all men free that there should be no seruants in that part of India Farre from the Athenians who made so much of their freedome for Pericles lawe was that none might be free in Athens vnlesse they were borne and their parents before them in the citie of Athens And it was the lawe of Solon that no stranger borne should haue Ius ciuitatis vnlesse hee with his house and houshold goods were for euer banished out of his country or had comen to Athens alicuius artis causa But among the Lacedemonians the maner was that they that should be made free should be crowned with greene branches made of boughes of trees and should goe round about the Temples of that citie where they were made free The ceremonies and manners of making free men among the auncient Romanes was that the seruants or bondmen should come with their heads shaued before the Romane Praetor and there the Serieant at the commaundement of the Praetor should strike them on the head three times with a little rodde or wande called Virgula vindictae and they that were so made free were called Manumissi vindicta But if they were souldiers taken by the enemie and had lost the libertie of their freedome if afterwards they returned to Rome they should againe receiue their freedome Iure Postliminij But both those which were made free Cum virga vindictae the rod of reuenge and they which were taken by the enemies should goe vnto the Temple of Feronea and there they should receiue Libertorum munia After that the Romaines became Lords of Italy they graunted Ius latij vnto the Italians which was the lawe then vsed within the citie of Rome and after they had conquered the most part of Asia and Affrike both Affrike and Asia had Ius latinitatis which was the auntient law among the old Italians to be ruled gouerned by for the Romans would haue their Romaine lawes and Romaine magistrates to gouern those prouinces which they got with the sword Among the Romains during the time of their kings they had no law but the sentence and iudgement of the king in any great cause and this lawe was called Lex curiata by Romulus and by the rest of his successors continued during the time of kings this lawe was without the consent of the people but with the counsell consent of the king and of the Senators and for that Papirianus a learned Romane gathered these lawes together and recorded them into one volume they were called Ius Papirianum But when the name of Kings was banished out of Rome and Consuls created to be chiefe gouernours in Rome then the lawe was betweene the Consuls and the Senators called Senatus Consultus then came in the authoritie of the people and no lawe was allowed and ratified but by consent of the people but when the people had voices to make lawes so many lawes were made in Rome as one lawe confounded an other against Platoes rule who euer preferred fewe lawes before many lawes for said Plato Corruptissima Respub vbi plurimae leges That lawe which was made by the Senators and Consuls in Rome was not accepted vnlesse it were allowed by the people for whatsoeuer the Consuls and Senators had determined the people should be Iudge thereof So Plyni with Plato saide that multiude of lawes were hurtfull Videat princeps nè ciuitas legibus fundata legibus euertatur So it was among the Lacedemonians by Licurgus law that the people had authoritie and power to iudge of that which the Kings and Senators did determine Of these thus saith Homer Popliuorus princeps populoiudice cuipecuniam eripere idem quod vitam There was a lawe decreed in Aegina that hee that went about to inuent and bring in new lawes by abrogating the former should die for it for oftentimes Specie aliqua legum leges euertunt It is not so among the Achaians as it was among the Romaines and the Grecians for in Achaia there was no other lawe but what Aratus set downe and in Syracusa no other lawe but what Timoleon said Yet the Senators of Rome might without the consent of the people call a Senate and make election of Senators they might also gouerne and rule the Romane prouinces abroad they might dispense and distribute the money of the cōmon treasurie but for making of lawes creating of magistrates to make warres or to conclude peace the Senators had no authoritie to do it without the consent of the people So that in time lawes were rather authorized in Rome by force weapons in the market place then in the Senate house by the Senators for Populus Comitiorom Princeps bare sway euer in Rome So Pompey by force of armes authorized Caesars law to please the people with diuision of lands and distribution of corne though Cato spake bitterly against it yet could hee not bee heard but was by Caesar beeing then Consul commanded to prison They pleaded Ius in armis as Pompey and Lysander said Non cessabitis nobis gladio accinctis leges praedicare Lex agraria was the most dangerous lawe among the Romaines for that the Tribune of the people sought euer to please the people by lands by corne or by any meanes to become strong by the people which had the chiefest voyce in Rome that the Tribune would often cōtroll the Consuls resist the Senators as Tiberius and Cai. Gracchus Marius and Fuluius with others preferred alwaies this lawe to please the people but Gracchus and Fuluius lost their heads for it were carried vpon a pole to Opimius the Consul who was then commaunded by the Senators to resist the Tribunes and people-pleasers for at that commaundement were slaine three thousand at Rome whose bodies were throwne into Tiber. No Common-wealth can bee without armes no armes without stipend no stipend without tribute and therefore saith Plato Quemque opes suas in censum deferre ad multa vtillia Neither were the magistrates called Ephori opposed against the kings in Sparta without cause by Theopompus neither were they remoued afterwards without cause by king Cleomenes Plena enim periculi aula Neither were the Tribunes of the people in Rome without cause appointed to resist the Consuls and Senators though sometimes they were reiected and suppressed sometimes slaine for so was the old law of the twelue tables Salus populi suprema lex esto The
Lacedemonians had also their Senate of eight and twentie graue and auncient wise men which by Licurgus lawe should be 60. yeares old before they should be chosen and accepted to be of councell The Carthagineans in like manner made choice of 30. of their principall and chiefe men of Carthage called Conipodes to sit and determine in secret councell of the state of their citie for the Carthagineans though they followed Charondas lawe yet they imitated the Lacedemonians in all other gouernment as well in warreas in peace So wearie were many nations of kings that when the Hebrewes sought to alter the gouernment of Iudges to haue Kings the Lord commaunded Samuel to set downe to the Hebrewes the lawes of Kings that they will take their sonnes their daughters the best of their fields of their vineards and of their Oliue trees giue them to their seruaunts and they shall take the best of their men-seruants and their maid-seruants their yong men and their asses to do their worke withall So the Vine the Figge tree and the Oliue answered the trees which would haue a king Shall we loose our fatnesse and sweetnesse to become a king Notwithstanding the bramble would be a king ouer the trees The Storke also would accept to be king ouer the the Frogges though all nations desire generally rather to be ruled by one then by many yet many that were elected kings would faine haue forsaken it Q. Cincinnatus being taken from the plough to be a Dictator in Rome to weare Togam praetextam assoone as sixe moneths were expired so long the office of the Dictatorship endured he returned again to his plough according to Salomons speech better is a morsel of bread in a poore mans house peaceably then to bee a Consul or a Dictator in Rome among vnruly people And therefore the Ephori of Sparta grew so ambitious that they began to enuie their kings and therefore deuised this lawe to expell their kings to obserue the starres euery ninth yeare in a cleare bright night which if they sawe any starre eyther shooting sliding or any way remouing from their place they with the consent of the whole colledge of soothsayers accused their kings that they had offended their gods and therefore deposed their kings so were king Agis and king Pausanias deposed from their kingdome by Lysander This was against the lawe of the Lord who said vnto Iob Where wast thou when I placed Hyades in theyr places and Plyades in their course canst thou know the course and orders of Septentriones and of other starres and of the reason thereof Nunquid Nosti rationem caeli saith the Lord Against these starre-gazers Plato writeth men should not bee too curious to seeke causes supernaturall and saith Nequè inquiri oportere nec fas esse curiosè satagere causas scrutantes That was the cause why Andronicus the Emperour hearing two learned men reasoning of the like to say if they would not leaue their curious and friuolous disputations the riuer Rindacus should be Iudge betweene them and end the controuersie for Non sapit qui nimis sapit So were the Priests called Mantes in Athens of such authoritie that nothing could be done in any publike councell concerning religion and matters of state vnlesse they were in place present The like lawe the Romaines vsed euery fiftyeare being taught and commaunded to bee obserued out of the bookes of the Sybils that vpon any appearances or sights of two Sunnes together or of three Moones or any other great causes the soothsayers might remoue either Consul or Praetor from their place The like ambition began in Persia after Cambises dyed that it was not lawfull for the kings of Persia to make any lawes otherwise then they were instructed by theyr Magi neither was there any lawe made among the auntient Romaines without the counsell of their soothsayers who were called interpretes Iouis Nuntijdeorum for these lawes were called among the Romains and the Persians Leges Augurales but of these Augural lawes I haue toucht them in my booke of Stratagems which were as much esteemed and feared of captaines and souldiers as their military lawes for both the Persians Grecians and Romains followed the counsell of soothsayers in their warres contrary to Moses lawe which forbad dreames and soothsaying to be vsed as the Gentiles did for saith the lawe Non declinetis ad magos The superstitious error of the Gentiles in their soothsayers grew to be so great that if the soothsaiers said that Esculapius beeing dead could sooner restore health and minister medicine to the sicke by dreames then Galen could do by his art aliue some would beleeue it and therefore the Pythagorians abstained from beanes when they went to sleepe because it filleth rather the minde with vaine dreames then the belley with good meate If any soothsayers would say that Serapis and Minerua through diuination could minister medicine and restore the sicke vnto health without the helpe of Phisitions sooner then the Phisitions themselues these flatterers would be as they are accepted in court countrey TanquaÌ„ Syrenes aulae the Gentiles would beleeue it which as Thucydides saith are two most noysome things in a common-wealth for nothing could be spoken so absurd but some Philosopher or other will maintaine it and defend it The Philosophers among the Indians which would either prognosticate or defend falsehood or seeme to affirme that to be true which was false they were by law for euer after commaunded to perpetuall silence The lawe of diuination was such in all kingdomes and countries eyther by fleeting of starres flying of fowles by intrailes of beasts or by dreames that whatsoeuer the soothsayers spake among the Persians Grecians and the Romaines it was taken for Maximum praestantissimum ius Reipub for the words of the lawe were Auspicia seruanto for example therof Cicero reciteth many histories and Crisippus gathered many Oracles together But if the lawe of the Gospell were so kept among Christians as the law of Augurers was among the Gentiles and the words of the Preacher were so obserued as the words of the Soothsayers among Pagans if mens affections were set on a heauenlycommon-wealth Vbi Rex est veritas lex charitas modus aeternitas as worldlings are set on an earthly habitation Vbi Rex est vanitas lex infidelitas modus breuitas As it hath bene seene in the Greeks which first florished before the Affricans in the Affricans which florished before the Romains and in the Romains which flourished before the Scythians and therefore In rebus cunctis est morum temporum imperiorum vices So that all commoâ—… wealths all kingdomes and all countries were ruled are and shall be gouerned by diuine prouidence from the beginning to the worlds ende FINIS A Table containing a briefe summe of the whole booke THe old Patriarkes liued vnder the lawe of nature
of 20. of the best learned Ciuilians with the aduise and consent of 50. of the grauest and wifest councellors that were within his Empire to examine whether the lawes were iust profitable for the people before they should be published but being once published as a lawe extreame punishment was appointed for the breach thereof as is before spoken without any appeale frō the lawe without some great extraordinary cause of appeale As among the Hebrewes in any citie of Iudah that if they could not rightly iudge nor discerne throughly the cause according to iustice by the Magistrates of the citie they might appeale to the Iudges named Sinadrion in Ierusalem from whence no appeale could be had So among the Grecians they might appeale from the Areopagites in Athens from the Ephories in Sparta and all other cities of Greece to the Amphictions at Trozaena which were appointed general Iudges for the vniuersall state of Greece in martiall and military causes and there to sit and determine twise a yeare of the whole state of Greece and further to heare and to iudge of some other great causes and capitall crimes from whose sentence no other appeale was to be had for out of euery citie in Greece in the Spring and in the Autumne to the Amphictions at Trozaena they sent Embassadors whom the Greekes called Pytagorae So among the Romanes a lawfull appeale might be had from the Consuls to the Senators from the Senators to the Tribune of the people and from the people to the Dictator which continued vntill the time of the Iudges called Centum viri for Sententia Dictatoris iudicia centum viralia were both lawes of life and death from whose iudgement and sentences there were no greater Iudges to appeale vnto of the like authoritie were the Decem viri from whom also there was no appeale during their gouernment So in diuine causes we may appeale to mount Sion from Mount Sinai from the lawe to the Gospell from Moses to Christ our perpetuall Dictator from whom we haue no place to appeale vnto for our eternall saluation In the fift Regiment is declared the choice of wise Gouernours to gouerne the people and to execute the lawes among all Nations and also the education and obedience of theyr children to their Parents and Magistrates ALl Nations made their choise of the wisest and chiefest men to rule and gouerne their countrey imitating Moses who was by the Lord commanded to choose seuentie wise graue men to be Iudges among the Israelites called Synadrion which continued from Moses time who first appointed these Magistrates vntill Herods time who last destroyed them for in euery citie of Iudah seuen Magistrates were appointed to gouerne and to iudge according to the law of Moses and for their further instructions in the lawe they had of the Tribes of the Leuites two in euery citie to instruct and assist the Magistrates in all actions according to the lawe The Egiptians being next neighbours to the Hebrewes though they mortally hated the Hebrewes yet theyr gouernment of Dinastia vnder thirtie Gouernours elected and chosen out of Eliopolis Memphis Pellusium Thaebes and other chiefe cities of Egipt seemed to imitate Moyses lawe vnder Aristocratia So Solon appointed in Athens certaine wise men called Areopagitae as Iudges to determine of life and death and of other criminall causes Among the old Gaules the Druydes sage and wise religious men had authoritie both in warre and peace to make lawes and to determine of the state of theyr countrey The lawes of all Nations against disobedient children to theyr parents are manifest not onely the lawe of nature among all Nations vnwritten but also the diuine lawe of the Lorde written commaundes children to bee obedient to theyr parents as the lawe sayeth Whosoeuer curseth his father or mother shall dye and his bloud bee on his owne head for that hee curseth his father or mother If a man hath a sonne that is stubborne or disobedient let his parentes bring him vnto the Elders of the Cittie and there accuse him of his faultes saying my sonne is a Ryotour a Drunkarde and disobedient vnto his parentes the lawe is that all the men of that Cittie shall stone him with stones to death This commaundement was esteemed among all Nations euen among wicked men as Esau beeing a reprobate so the Lorde saide Esau haue I hated and Iacob haue I loued yet Esau hating his brother Iacob in heart saying that the dayes of his fathers sorrowes were at hande for I will kill my brother and most like it is that he would haue done so had not the Lorde which appeared to Laban the Syrian in a dreame by night for that hee followed Iacob from Mesopotamia said to Laban Take heed to thy selfe that thou doo or speake to Iacob nothing but good as the Lorde kept Iacob from Laban so he kept him from his brother Esau. Notwithstanding Esau came to his father and said hast thou any blessing for me see that obedience and feare was in Esau towards his father Isaac though hee was a wicked man he determined not to kill his brother before his father died least Isaac his father should curse him The sonnes of Samuel the Prophet Ioel and Abiath which were made Iudges in Bersabe by rheyr father Samuel beeing olde they turned from theyr fathers wayes tooke rewards and peruerted the right the people complained to Samuel that his sonnes followed not his steppes and therefore they would haue a King to gouerne them as other nations had See the ende of Iudges in Israel by the wicked Iudges Ioel and Abiath two wicked sonnes of a good and godly father and the cause of the ouerthrowe of the Iudges in Israel The two sonnes of Eli their offences were such that their father being an olde man was rebuked of the Lord for suffering their vnthriftinesse and wickednesse which was the cause that the Priesthood was taken from the house of Eli for euer so that the gouernment of Iudges in Iudah and also of the Priesthood were taken away by the corruption and disobedience of wicked and vngodly children Obserue likewise the end of kings and kingdomes by wicked kings by Ahaz who offered his sonnes in fire to Moloch by Ioachim and his sonne wicked fathers which brought vp wicked sonnes The kings which were 21. in number continued fiue hundred and odde yeares Who would haue iudged that three such good Kings of Iudah should haue three such wicked children As Dauid had Absolon who sought most trecherously to dispossesse his father of his kingdome As Ezechias had Manasses who offered his sonne in fire to Moloch and filled Ierusalem with bloud Or as Iosias had Ioachim whose wickednesse together with Zedechiah was so disobedient to the Lord and his Prophets that he lost the kingdome of Iudah Who would haue iudged that Salomon the onely wise king of the world hauing
should bee the Temple of God where the Lord might dwell and raigne within him and that the Lord should be our aultar vpoÌ„ the which we should offer our selues vnto him in sacrifice both in body and â—…ule Among the Heathens the Sabboth of the Lorde was not knowne for that they knew not the Lord of the Sabboth this commandement pertained onely to the children of the Lord the Israelites to whom the law was giuen in hope of eternall rest The restoring to their libertie their victories their triumphes theyr feastes and the dayes of their birth these were the Sabboths of the Gentiles to serue to giue thankes and to sacrifice to their gods as before 〈◊〉 written but the Lord spake to Israel you shall not obserue time to make some dayes luckie and others vnluckie as the Gentiles did but only obserue your Sabboths and to come to the Temple to heare the lawes of the Lord read When Hanibal departed out of Italy the Temples were set opeÌ„ according to the custome of the Romanâ—… that they might goe and giue thanks to the gods for the vanquishing of such an enemie Archidamus began first with seruice and sacrifice to the gods before he would attempt any great battel with the enemie Xenophon before hee had gotten his whole Armie reconciled and willing to craue the fauour of the gods in any distresse hee would take no iourney in hand The Gentiles obserued times dayes and moneths as the kings of Macedonia commenced nowarre during the whole moneth of Iune The Romans likewise obserued the Nones of euery moneth as vnluckie and religious dayes and refrained that time to take any great thing in hand The Germaines also had a lawe not to fight any battell in the wane of the Moone much like the Lacedemonians who were forbidden by Licurgus lawe that they should take no warre or battell in hand before the full of the Moone they were therein so religious that they absented from the battell at Marathon foure dayes The Romans also would enter into no field neither wage any battell vpon their religious dayes Cai. Caesar in his warres against Ariouistus King of the Germaines knowing that the Germaines hadde a lawe set downe that it was not lawfull for them to commence any battell in the wane of the Moone Caesar obseruing the Germaines to bee so religious gaue them a battell vnexspected and ouerthrew them So Titus Vespasian vpon a satterday the Sabboth of the Iewes subdued the Iewes destroyed the Temple and tooke Ierusalem as Pompey the great did before Before the Temple was builded in Ierusalem by Salomon the Israelites came to Siloh where the Taberâ—…cle rested to offer to the Lord as after they did to Ieâ—…salem In this Temple at Ierusalem the Lord promised to Salomon that he would present himselfe and appeare at the prayer of Salomon as hee promised to Moses in the wildernesse to appeare at the doore of the Tabernacle to comfort them and to further them in all theyr lawes The Angels that brake the lawes of the Lord in heauen were condemned and had iudgement giuen to bee prisoners in perpetuall darkenesse and man that brake the lawe in Paradise had sentence of death pronounced against him by the Lorde himselfe in Paradise And therefore Licurgus to haue his lawes continue among the Lacedemonians to performe the Oracle of Appollo which was so long should the Lacedemonians keep Licurgus lawes vndefiled as long as Licurgus should keepe himselfe absent from the Lacedemonians and therefore most willingly banished himselfe out of his countrey to dye in Delos that by his absence the lawes which he established amoÌ„g the Lacedemonians should continue his lawes therefore continued 500. yeares and more after his death The contempt breach of lawes in all countries were seuerely punished in so much that Charondas made a law to the Carthaginians Archadians others that they that found fault with paenall lawes should be crowned with Tamarisk and be carried round about the towne and so thence to be banished according to the lawe of the 12. tables Violati iuris paena este And therefore Antalcidas accused Agesilaus for the breach of Licurgus lawe for that he taught the Persians by often warres to become men from women Non diù in hos bellaadum ne ipsi bellicosi euaderint Charondas made an other lawe that if any that were coÌ„uicted thought his lawe to be too seuere they might vpon condition make meanes to the people for abrogating of the lawe the condition was they should come with halters about their neckes before all the people in one place assembled which if they by complaining of the seuerities of the lawe should goe free the former law should be abrogated or mitigated but if they falsly accused and slaundered the integritie of the lawe they should be strangled with the same halters which they ware about their necks to accuse the law for the words of the lawes of the twelue tables which agree with Charondas lawe are these Legum iusta imperia sunto hisque ciues modestè sine recusatione Parento And yet it is necessary vpon occasions that lawes should be altered for saith Hypocrates Tempus est in quo occasio occasio in qua tempus though he applied this to Phisicke yet in the selfe same reason it serueth for the lawe Cicero thinketh the life and manners of good men often changed to be the cause of changing of the lawes and states of cities and Plato whom Cicero calleth Deum Philosophorum said that the least lawe made may not be chaunged nor abrogated without doing hurt or harme to the publique state of a common-wealth and therefore in Aegina he was euer accounted accurst that went about to make new lawes by abrogating the former For when Lysander went about to alter and change Licurgus lawes among the Lacedemonians hee was resisted by the Senators and the people though Lysander was the onely chiefe man in Sparta Likewise the whole summe of Aristotles Aeconomicall and Politicall lawes are but instructions teaching the rule and gouernment of a Common wealth iubendo parendo how men should know to doo good and auoyd to do euil to gouern and to be gouerned that the people should be defended from wrong so is the law of the twelue Tables Vis in populo abesto causas populi tencto And therefore positiue lawes in all countries were and are made from the beginning to maintaine ciuill orders and to determine of such orders and circumstances as are necessary and requisite for the keeping of the people in obedience of the same Of these and such lawes Plato wrote his booke de Repub tending to the administration and gouernment of the people according to the lawe The morall lawe commaundeth a iust and vpright ordering of iudgements contracts and punishments in a common-wealth Alexander Seuerus the Emperour therefore would make no lawes without the iudgement
that they hadde not slaine the Madianite women And therefore Phineas the sonne of Eleazer for his zeale against adulterie slew Coshi the Madianite harlot and Zimri the Israelite thrust them through both theyr bellies in the act for the which the Lord was so pleased that the plague ceased in the campe and the Priesthood was giuen for euer to Phineas his stocke for the Lord would not haue a whore to liue in Israel The zeale of Iehu was such that hee caused seuentie sonnes of Achab to bee slaine and caused Iezabal his wife to bee cast headlong downe out of a windowe to be eaten of dogges hee slew 42. of Achabs bretheren and destroyed all the Priests of Baal and left not one of Achabs house aliue The zeale of Iehu so pleased the Lord that his children raigned foure generations after him The zeale and faith of Abraham was such that he was readie to offer sacrifice his onely sonne Isaac to obey the Lords commandement The zeale and loue of Ioseph in Egipt was such that he preferred the lawes and loue of the Lord before the loue of his mistresse Putiphars wife Such also was the loue and zeale of Moses to Israel that hee requested to be put out of the booke of life before Israel should be destroyed of the Lorde in his anger Salomon was so zealous in the lawes of the Lord that he sought nothing but wisedome to rule his people and to know his lawes So Iob loued the Lord and his lawes that for all the losse of his goods and children and for diuers plagues and punishments of body yet he still stood constant in the lawes of the Lord. Adulterers are cryed out vpon in the scripture and often mentioned in the olde and newe Testament compared by the Prophet to stoned horses neying vpon other mens wiues Women so corrupted Salomon that hee forsooke the Lorde and worshipped straunge goddes and lost thereby tenne of the twelue Tribes of Israel Dauid his father was so punished for his offences with one woman against the Lord that he welnigh lost his kingdome by it If Dauid if Moses and Paul were buffeted by Sathan who can think himselfe free from Sathan we must therfore watch if we will not be deceiued we must fight if we thinke to haue victorie not against flesh and bloud onely but against armies of spirits infernall powers against spirituall enemies and against Sathan the prince and ruler of darknesse For many are the stratagems of Sathan with whom wee must wrestle as Iacob did with the Angell with such weapons as is taught in Paul or as Dauid did with Goliah or as Iob did with Sathan himselfe The euill counsell of Achitophel to Absolon to lye with his fathers concubines brought both Absolon and Achitophel to hanging Pharao for lusting on Sarah Abrahams wife both hee and all his house were scourged and plagued with Angels and visions The Beniamites for their abhominable abuse of the Leuites wife was the cause that three score fiue thousand died in Israel Sychem all the Sychemites for the rauishment of Dina Iacobs daughter were slain the towne ouerthrown by Simeon and Leui Iacobs sonnes The lawes of all countries and nations appointed such due seuere punishments for adulterie as in Rome Lex Iulia was as sharpely executed against adulterers as against traitors and still renewed by many of the Emperours after Iulius Caesar who made this lawe as Tiberius Seuerus and others who with great seueritie punished adulterie Lawes were made in many Countries to suppresse adulterie for concupiscence and euill affections were condemned by the lawes among the Gentiles to be the roote of all mischiefe for euill thoughts breed delectation delectation bredeth consent consent action action custome and custome necessitie for custome is as another nature Adultery was punished in Egipt by the lawe of Bocchoris in this sort the man should be beaten with rods to a thousand stripes and the womans nose should be cut off to deforme her face as a perpetuall marke of her adultery but if she were a free woman the man should haue his priuie members cut off for that member which offended the law should be punished by the law which law sometime was executed among the Romaines for so was Carbo gelded by Bibienus the Consul for his adultery the Romanes had rather make lawes then keepe the lawes which they made Therefore Charondas made a lawe to keep the good from the bad for to flie from vice is vertue that by taking away the cause the effect might also be remoued for vertue is soone corrupted with vice and a litle leauen infecteth the whole doughe and therefore an action might be had by the lawe of Charondas not onely against honest women that vsed the company of leaude men but also against men that should be often found in the societie of wicked men for Charondas saide good men become better by obedience of the lawe and become wicked by wicked company which obey no lawes for that lawe said Charondas is euer best by the which men become more honest then rich Par est eos esse meliores qui ex melioribus Lysander being demaunded what maner of gouernment he best liked said where good men are rewarded for their weldoing and euil men punished for their wickednesse as Plato said Omnis Respub paena Praemio continetur So Demosthenes euer thought that law best which prouided for good men aduancement and for euill men punishment To the like effect Zaleucus made a lawe that no honest or modest woman should goe in the street but with one maide with her and if shee had two the lawe was she should be noted for a drunkarde Neither might knowne honest women goe out of the Towne in the night time vnlesse they would be noted to goe in the company of adulterers Neither might any modest woman or sober matron be attired with braue apparell imbrodered or wrought with gold siluer bugles and such vnlesse shee would be noted by the lawe of Zaleucus that shee went abroad to play the strumpet for among the Locreans an adulterous nation people much giuen to lust and lecherie Zaleucus made a lawe that by their comely and modest apparell they should be knowne from harlots and light women which vsed to weare light garrish and all kinde of glistering garments to be looked at Aurelianus the Emperour punished a souldier found in the campe in adultery in this sort to tye both his legs to two toppes of trees bended to the earth and so his bodie by the swinge of the trees to cleaue in the midst through that the one halfe hangd on the one tree and the other halfe vpon the other tree The like or rather more horrible punishment vsed Macrinus the Emperour against two souldiers in the campe that deflowred a maide in their lodging he caused two oxen to be opened and sowed aliue one
might choose whether he would be acquainted with his father or no or giue him a meals meat in his house or a cup of drinke at his doore for that he was the cause of his ignominious and infamous birth Among the Israelites if a man marry a young virgin and after proue her not to be a virgin when hee married her the lawe is that she should be brought to the doore of her fathers house and the men of that citie should stone her with stones to death but if her husband falsly accused her then the Elders of that citie should chastise him and mearce him in an hundred sickles of siluer and giue them to the father of the damzell and she to continue with him as his wife But in Israel there was an other lawe that if a man be taken committing fornication with a virgin after the matter come before a Iudge he shall be caused to marrie the woman and to liue with her during his life and to pay 50. sickles of siluer to the maides father for his offence A woman with childe condemned to death might challenge the time of her childbirth by the lawe of Bocchoris which lawe was brought by Solon from Egipt vnto Greece for the law thought it not fit that the guiltlesse should die for the fault of the guiltie An other lawe was made that if a man hurt a woman with childe so that her child depart from her and she die not hee shall be punished according as the womans husband shall appoint or pay as arbiters will determine Againe in Israel there was an other lawe that the wife of the dead shall not be giuen vnto a straunger but her brother in lawe shall take her to wife and marrie her and the eldest sonne which shee beareth shal be the child of the brother that was dead and not of him that begat him but if the brother refuseth to marrie his brothers wife the Elders of the citie shall call vnto him and commune with him before whom if hee denie to take her to wife then the sister in lawe should go in presence of the Elders and loose his shooe of his foote spit in his face and say so shall his name be called in Israel of the vnshod house The lawe of Moses was that an adulteresse should be brought by her husband vnto the Priest and the Priest to bring her and set her before the Lord shall vncouer her head haue bitter cursed water in his hand and say if thou be not an adulteresse and defiled not thy selfe vnknowne to thy husband then haue thou no harme of this bitter and cursed water but if thou be defiled by an other man besides thy husband the Lord make thee accurst and make thy thigh rot and thy belly swell and this cursed water goe into thy bowels and the woman his wife so accused shall say Amen The lawe which the Lorde punished his people for committing adulterie was with such seueritie that they should die the death either by stoning or burning which was the lawe among the Israelites The people called Cortini had a law in their country that an adulterer should bee crowned with wooll and should sit in the market place in open sight of the people to be laught at and to be noted as an infamous adulterer all his life long in his countrey The people called Pisidae had a law made that the adulterer should be bound vpon an asse and be carried from towne to towne for the space of three dayes with his face backwards holding the taile of the asse in his hand for a bridle They had in Athens by the law of Solon a place called Casaluion the women were called Casaluides to whom any Athenian might resort to auoyd adultery with the Matrons and Virgins of Athens The like place they had in Rome called Summaenium for the like purpose and the like are tollerated in many countries to auoyd great offences but rather a nurserie of whoredome then a prohibition These vsed the like words as Iulia did in Rome Licet si libet like Anaxarchus being demanded by Cambises Is it lawfull for the kings of Persia to marry their sisters we finde not such lawes said Anaxarchus Non fas potentes posse fieri quod nefas but wee finde an other lawe that the kings of Persia may do what they list What vice can be greater in man then incontinencie for it doth sin against the body it selfe doth weary and languish all the parts thereof for as fish saith Plato are taken with hookes so men are taken and deceiued with pleasures in so much that Xerxes the great king of Persia decreed by lawe a reward to any man that could inuent andfind out new kinds of pleasures but he was slain and lost the kingdom of Persia by his pleasures And therfore well said Solon Cōsule non quae suauissima sed quae optima Hanibal hauing welnigh subdued the Romane Empire yet being taken with the baites and pleasures of Campania in company of wine and women and all delicacies and pleasures that could be inuented of which Seneca saith Conuiuiorum luxuria vestium aegrae ciuitatis indicia sunt that by meanes of his incontinency in Campania he was driuen out of Italy and after out of his own country of Affrike by him that was one of the chiefest and chastest Captaines of all the Romaines Scypio Affrican who made a lawe to bannish all women out of his camp to whom in his Affrican wars was brought a passing faire young Gentlewoman of singular beautie and of a noble house whom Scypio vsed so honourably with great care and diligence for her good name credite vntill Allucius a young Gentleman that should be married to the virgine brought a great raunsome from her parents to redeeme her to whom Scypio deliuered both the young virgin into his hands and bestowed the gold which her father sent vnto him for her raunsome vpon Allucius for her dowry by this honourable dealing of Scypio the whole Prouince which stood out in armes against Scypio yeelded vnto him sought peace at Scypios hand for his courteous modestitie temperancie where Hanibal lost all Italy and Campania by his incontinencie and vnchaste life If Darius king of Persia had escaped from his last ouerthrow at Arbela by Alexander no doubt in respect of the honourable vsage which Alexander shewed to Darius wife and his daughters he would haue yeelded all the whole Empire of Persia vnto Alexander Narseus king of Persia being ouerthrowne and his armie slaine by Dioclesian the Emperor of Rome and the King himselfe constrained to flight his wife and his daughters were taken by the Romanes and were vsed so honourably that the Persians confessed that the Romanes did not only exceed all Nations in armes valour but in modestie and temperancie the honourable vsage of his
lawes for it was the manner as well among the Grecians as among the Romaines euer to make lawes and neuer to keepe them And though the authoritie of the kings were taken away and derogated in many countries yet the force and power of the law stood in effect though the change thereof were dangerous For the lawe sayth Thou shalt not steale nor deale falsely heerein is included vnder the name of stealing all kinde of sacriledge falshood fraud lying one to an other and all other crimes pertaining to stealing Achan for his cunning stealing of a cursed Babylonian garmēt two hundred sickles of siluer and a toong of gold against the lawe at the spoile of Iericho was deliuered by the Lord to Ioshuahs hand who brought him with his sonnes his daughters all his cattells his Tent and all that hee had vnto the valley of Achor and there stoned Achan to death and burned them with fire the Lord euer preferreth obedience before sacrifice for the disobedience in Achan for breaking the lawe was the cause of his stoning The disobedience of Saul against the commaundement of the Lord was such that he lost both his kingdome and his life A Prophet that went from Iudah with the word of the Lord to Bethel for that he did eat bread in that place being forbidden he was killed of a Lion as he returned The man that gathered stickes vpon the Sabboth day against the commaundement the Lord commaunded he should be stoned to death We might thinke that the gathering of stickes and the eating of a peece of bread were but small faults that thereby the one should be stoned and the other killed of a Lyon had it not bene forbidden by the lawe So such men suppose Adams fault to be but little that for earing of an Apple in Paradise not onely he but his posteritie after him should loose Paradise but as the Angels in heauen by their disobedience lost heauen so Adam by his disobedience lost Paradise The Lorde spared not Kings for breach of the law as Oza and Ozias both kings the one for vnreuerent handling of the Arke vsurping the Leuites Office against the lawe was strooken with sudden death and the other for burning incense against the lawe which was the Priestes Office was strooken with leprosie The Lord spared not his owne Priest Aaron that for his incredulitie before the people he died for it in mount Hor. Neither spared the Lord his owne seruant Moses for his disobedience so that hee also died in mount Nebo that neither of them both came to the land of Canaan for their disobedience and diffidence in the Lord. So seuere the lawe of the Lord was that 50000. Bethsamites died for looking into the Arke Aarons sonnes Nadab and Abihu for offering strange fire before the Lord against the lawe were destroyed by fire from heauen Hence grew the ceremoniall lawes of the Gentiles touching their religion and sacrifices to their Gods So the women that attended the fire on the aultar of Apollo in Delphos were seuerely punished if by any negligence it happened to be extinguished neither might that fire being so extinguished be kindled again by any other then by the said women and by no other fire thē by the beames of the sunne The Vestall virgins in Rome if the sacred fire of Vesta weare out by any negligence that Vestall virgine that then attended should be brought Per Regem sacrorum to the Bishop to be whipt neither might any fire be kindeled againe to the goddesse Vesta but by the heate of the Sunne neither might they sweare by any other then by the name of Vesta the like ceremonies they vsed to Minerua in Athens So among the Persians Assyrians and Chaldeans they worship their sacred fire Vt Deorum maximum on their aultars seeming to follow Moses lawe Zaleucus an auncient Lawe-maker among the Locreans brought vp with Pythagoras the Phylosopher made a lawe against adulterers that both the eyes of the adulterer should be pulled out which being broken by his eldest sonne though all the Locreans ioyntly en treated for Zaleucus sonne yet said he the lawe must nobe broken and to satisfie the lawe Zaleucus pulled one of his sonnes eyes out and an other of his owne shewing himselfe a natural father to his sonne a iust Iudge to performe the lawes which hee made to the Locreans so seuerely were they punished that brake the lawes or sought to breake the lawes among the Gentiles Those people said Alcibiades do better which keepe the lawes they haue though they be worse then often changed for better Obseruatio legum morum tutissima that plant cannot take roote which is often remoued So Augustus Caesar wrote to the Senators that what lawes soeuer they had decreed and set downe should not be chaunged nor altered for better were it not to make lawes then to make so many lawes and not to keepe them Positas semel leges constanter seruate nec vllam earum immutate si deteriores sint tamem vtiliores sunt Reipub. Lu. Papirius Cursor the Dictator for that Fabius Rutilius brake the decree of the Dictator though hee had good successe and wonne a great victorie yet the lawe was that Fabius should dye neither could the captaines entreate him for his pardon that Fabius was constrained secretly to flye to Rome and to appeale to the Tribune of the people and to the Senators the Dictator followed Fabius to Rome saying that there was no lawe that any appeale should be made from the Dictator vntill Fabius and his father fell vpon their knees with the Senators and Tribune of the people to entreat for him and that for breach of the lawe though hee was Magister equitum the greatest and next in authoritie to the Dictator for the lawe-makers themselues that brake their owne lawes were punished as Zaleucus spared not his owne eye nor Diocles his owne life for breach of the lawe The like we find in Plato comparing the lawe to medicines mingled with poyson to that ende the patient might recouer his health by the medicine so that saith Plato the law is profitable to correct and amend the offender Vt medicamentis venena miscemus salutarifine instar pharmaci haec talia vtilia esse Diocles among other of his lawes in Syracusa made a lawe that if any should come armed with weapons into any Senate Court of Councell or before any Magistrate or assembly of people sitting in lawe causes he should die for it by the lawe of Diocles. This lawe of Diocles was the cause of his own death for as he was riding into the Towne being met sent for to mitigate some contention and debates among the people he making hast forgetting his sword on his side came to the Court and opened to them the lawe made to the people to be gouerned by willed them to obey the same but hee was tolde by some
seditious men that he made lawes and brake them himselfe to come with his sword on his side against his owne lawe to the Court Diocles forgetting that he had his sword on his side answered I will streight satisfie the lawe drew his sword out and slue himselfe in presence of all the multitude I am not ignorant that some say that Charondas was he that made this lawe and not Diocles. So Licurgus willingly banished himselfe to die out of his countrey that the lawes which he made in his countrey might continue according to the Oracle Pythagoras disciples thought whatsoeuer their maister said was sound and sure they would haue no other proofe but what Pythagoras said Ipse dixit Likewise Aristoles schollers they would seeke no other proofe whether it were right or wrong but what they found in Aristotles booke est Aristotelis Vilescit princeps qui quae iusserat vetat quae vetuerat iubet For the which fault Cato reprehended Pompey for that hee brake the lawe which hee made before when hee was Consull The Israelites had not such trust and confidence in their Lord and God as eyther the schollers of Pythygoras or of Aristotle had in their maisters but said wee will obey the Queene of heauen wee will sacrifice to the calfe in Bethel and offer our children to Moloch in the valley of Hinnon See the diffidence which the Israelites had of their Lord and God of whom the Prophet said Ipse dixit facta sunt ipse mandauit creata sunt for by his word heauen and earth were made and by his commaundement all things created and yet not so much obeyed as Pythagoras was of his disciples or Aristotle of his schollers nor so much worshipped of his people Israel as the two calues made by Ieroboam in Dan and Bethel Old customes once rooted in long time confirmed are taken for lawes also whatsoeuer is done by example it is supposed that it may bee done by lawe so Cicero saith Quod exemplo fit id etiam iure fieri putant when in truth wicked customes are named Vetustas erroris non veritas legis though corrupt and leaud manners of men were first the cause that lawes were made yet euill examples may not bee allowed as lawes The auntient fathers and Patriarkes were Poliga◅ but not thereby to make good lawes by ill examples for it is said Praua consetudo magnus tyr annus In the tenth Regiment is shewed the disobedience of man against the Lord with the seuere punishments of all nations against theft THe Lord commaunded rauens to feed Elias and they did obey him he commaunded the Sunne to stay ouer Gibeon and the Moone ouer Aialō a whole day and they obeyed him the Lord commaunded the winds the seas fire haile snowe Ise and tempests and they obeyed his commaundement all creatures obey the Lord but man the chiefe creature which the Lord created according to his owne Image And therefore said Cicero Legi obediunt maria terraeque hominum vitaiussis supraemaelegis obtemperat the heauens the earth the sea and all men liuing obey the supreme lawe which is the lawe of God which Cicero calleth the lawe of nature Lex est illa circaea virga qua taetaeferae hominesque mitescunt Lawe is the rod apointed to tame man and beast The fraud of Giezi Elizeus seruant because he went secretly like a theese after Naman the Syrian and made a large lye that Elizeus his maister sent for a Tallent of siluer and two garments the Prophet beeing his maister gaue sentence on him that the leprosie of Naman shoulde cleaue and sticke to him for euer Giezi heere stole nothing but onely for his falsehood and lyes which with sacriledge and robberies stealing of cattell fraud deceit and the like are included within the precept of stealing for the law is Thou shalt not steale nor deale falsly neither lie one to another thou shalt not do thy neighbour wrong neither robbe him The vision of the flying booke signified the curse of theeues and such as abuse the name of the Lorde with oathes for all theeues and swearers shall be iudged by this booke for this booke shall remaine in theeues houses and in the houses of them that sweare falsly by my name saith the Lord and shall consume them with the timber and stones thereof Many poore theeues are fettered chained in prisons but great and publike theeues are cloathed in gold and purple Such was Heliodorus that came to robbe the Temple of Ierusalem from king Zaleucus who was so scourged and whipt that for golde and siluer he had stripes and stroakes that scarse thence he escaped aliue So should Shesac king of Egipt Antiochus king of Syria Pompey the great and Mar. Crassus the Romain Consul these foure great mightie theeues had bene as wel plagued and punished as Heliodorus was when they robd the Temple had it not bene for the great sinnes of Iudah and Ierusalem Many like Dyonisius after he spoyled the temple of Proserpina in Locris and sailing with a good gale of wind from Locris to Syracusa see said he to his mates fellowes how prosperously we saile after this our sacriledge Many againe robbe in scoffing sort like the same Dyonisius the tyrant who tooke the golden garment from Iupiter Olimpian in Peloponesus saying that it was too heauie for sommer and too colde for winter and therefore he commaunded that Iupiter should be cloathed with a woollen garment light for sommer and warme for winter many such like sacriledges are scoffingly committed in Christian Churches Many make but a ieast of theyr theeuerye and falshood with Dyonisius who when hee had taken the golden beard of Aesculapius away said it was no reason the sonne should weare a beard seeing his father Appollo had none If any man be found stealing any of his brethren the children of Israel and selleth him the thiefe shall die for the same the like is spoken to him that taketh the neather or vpper milstone to pledge The seuere lawes that they had in Phrygia against theft were such that hee that stole but a ploughe share from the fielde or a forke or a rake from a meadowe should by the lawe in Phrygia die In Athens the lawes of Draco were so hard streight against theft that for the least filching or stealing the theefe should die for it If any man in Athens should steale hearbes to make pottage or to take some dung of beasts for to dung his owne ground from another mans ground it was by Dracoes lawe a capitall crime He that borrowed a Horse of his neighbour and would ride further then the place appointed by the lawe of Draco hee might haue an action and therefore Demades saide that Dracoes lawes were Leges sanguine scriptae lawes written with blood the least fault in Athens by the lawe of Draco
seuere was the Lord in his lawes that he spared not Moses himselfe And therefore Zaleucus made a lawe among the Locreans to suppresse the pride and insolencie of great men who did more harme theyr Countrey through pride and ambition then they did profit theyr countrey by iust and true dealing The like lawe against ambitious men was made in Syracusa which secretly sought through ambition to excell others in singularitie both in wisedome and in wealth and therefore were they banished for fiue yeares out of Syracusa according to the lawe which was made against ambitiō called Petalismus least their greatnesse through ambition should do more harme to their countrey then good In Rome for a time ambition was not knowne vntill the Romaines grew great out of Italy then Cai. Petilius Tribune of the people made a lawe that no man through ambition which then grew in Rome together with the greatnesse of the Empire should make meanes by money or reward to beare office in Rome After Petilius Cincius decreed an other straight lawe against ambitious meanes to become Magistrates that none of the Patricians or any other that were ambitious to become magistrates or officers in Rome should come in a gowne or any long garment into the Senate least they should carrie money secretly in their bosome to corrupt the people for the choosing of Censors Praetors Consuls and other officers were in the election of the people both in Rome and in Athens alike for there was nothing in Rome but Forum Senatus lawes decreed in the Senate by the Senators and weapons in the market place by the Tribune ansd the people to resist the same The lawe of Cass. Longinus Tribune of the people was that euery Tribe by it selfe of the 35. should bring their seuerall Tables where the voyces of the people were secretly prickt to auoyd ambition and quarels which lawe was called Lex Tabellaria An other lawe among the Romanes was to auoyd ambition among the people that the Senators with the consent of the people should elect one Consul and that Consul so chosen should choose one of his own friends to be his fellow Consul for it was not lawfull for both the Consuls at one time to haue Serieants to beare Maces before them but one after an other monethly neyther might a Consul be chosen againe within ten yeares after his Consulship which lawes were made onely to auoyd ambition The like law was among the Thaebans against Merchants that were called Mercurij proles which hunted for priuate profits and gaped for gaine which forbad them that had bene officers within ten yeares after not to be chosen gouernours againe in that office for that Merchants be not fit men to be Magistrates and as Aristotle saieth Parum generosa haec ratio vitae vertuti aduersa Against which Demosthenes exclaimed in his bannishment the three monsters of Athens Populus Noctua and Draco but two of these monsters ruled alwaies in Rome and in Athens Noctua Populus men and money And therefore the lawe Ostracismus was made in A thens against such ambitious men as would secretly seeke to growe into greatnesse to win the fauour of the people that they should be banished out of Athens for tenne yeares as Themistocles Alcibades Demosthenes and others This lawe of Ostracismus was euer readie in A thens so long against the greatnesse of ambitious men that at length it grewe against base men that would practise any sinister meanes among the people For it was a practise among the Athenian least one should growe greater then an other to make this lawe Ostracismus according to Aristotles rule Neminem vnum magnum facere communis custodia principatas The kings of Egipt that did not minister iustice rightly nor obserue the lawe iustly while they liued might not be buried after they dyed for it was lawfull for any man to accuse the kings of Egipt before they were buried of any ambition iniustice or crime before committed against the law for nothing was more ignominious to the kings of Egipt then to bee depriued of their burialls which made them liue more circumspectly vsing iustice and obseruing the lawe But what were the Kings of Egipt better to be buried in sweete odours in their Pyramides or the Heathen Princes of the world to be buried in Suis Mausoleis was not poore Lazarus better in Abrahams bosome then the rich man tormented in hell for hee cannot bee ill buried wheresoeuer he is buried that dyeth well neyther can he dye ill wheresoeuer or howsoeuer he dieth that liueth well and therefore Non potest male mori qui bene vixcrit saith Augustine A people in India called Pedalij among other theyr vowes and prayers they wished nothing to bee graunted vnto them of the Gods but to be iust and to vse iustice Appollonius Thianeus the Philosophers wish was Pa◅a habere Nullius in digere and to knowe good and iust men and to auoyd the company of wicked and vniust men Socrates wish was to haue a sound minde in a sound body In Eliopolis a cittie of Egipt the Image of Iustice was set vp in the market place without a head and on the right side of Iustice the Image of a king was painted blinde without eyes because he should not see his friends nor foes but gouerne without affections and on the left side of Iustice the Image of a Iudge was painted without handes because hee should not receiue bribes and be corrupted in his iudgement Iuditij venenum sua cuique vtilitas and therefore the Iudges called Areopagitae in Athens might not sit on life and death in the day time while the sunne were vp but in the night because they might not see the prisoner in the face to moue affections but to heare theyr causes to do iustice so is the lawe of the Lorde Accept not the face of the poore feare not the face of the mightie So the Philosopher could say Deus enim nusquam nunquam iniurius semper iustissimus A Philosopher after hee had seene these pictures at Eliopolis hee caused the picture of an ambitious magistrate to be painted without legges because hee should not climbe too high saying Agesilaus climbes in Sparta to ouerthrowe Thaebes and Epaminondas climbes in Thaebes to ouercome Sparta This is that ambition euery where Quae frontem aperit mentem tegit But these ambitious men remember not Lots wife who seeking to saue her life by looking back on Sodome she lost both her selfe Sodome and Zegor So that among all nations in all countreys ambitious men are such that some with Absolon seeke to plant and set their names on earth by some monuments of fame but die ignominiously without monuments or fame like Absolon Some with Sebna build them sumptuous Tombes in theyr owne countrey but are buried in an other countrey Some with Achab build them Iuorie houses who