was equally Venerable as are most of the Princes of the Royal Blood of Habessinia in the most flourishing years of pleasing Youth and through his Experience of Adversity and Prosperity worthy of the high degree to which he had arriv'd and which was more than all mild and ready to Forgive For among all the crow'd of so many Enemies he never punish'd any as by Law he might have done but without any disgrace suffer'd them to continue in their several Offices and in the same degrees of Honour even the Queen her self so mild and gentle even to a fault is the Disposition of those Kings saith Tellezius Moreover he behav'd himself with an undaunted Courage in all sorts of Danger For he had hardly grasp'd the Helm of Government in his hands when the Gallans understanding the Divisions at Court fell into Habessinia with three Armies and overthrew the Governor of Gojam who presum'd to fight against the King's Command whereupon the King arriving soon after leading an Army tir'd by a long March with a greater Courage than Force he assail'd the Enemy who pufft up with Victory bore down the Habessines with so much Violence that the Captains finding their Battalions recoil perswaded the King to betake himself to an early flight When he disdaining the motion as arguing Effeminacy leapt from his Horse and advancing with his Sword and Buckler cry'd out Here will I die you if you please may flye perhaps you may escape the fury of the Gallans but never the Infamy of deserting your King The Habessines mov'd with such a Speech and the Countenance of their Prince cast themselves into a Globe and with a Prodigious fury like Men prepar'd to dye broke in among the Gallans and constrain'd them to give back which the Fugitives perceiving presently return'd and renewing the Fight gain'd a glorious Victory with such a Slaughter of the Enemy that a greater had not been made among them at any other time The King believing that the Advantages of such a Victory were not to be let slip did not indulge himself to be as soon overcome with Banquets and Luxury under pretence of Refreshment but with a swift March led his Army over Mountains and Rocks against the other Body of the Enemy which with the same success he put to Flight The third Army not daring to withstand the force of the Habessine retreated into the Fastnesses of their Country Of these Four hundred thought themselves secure with their Prey in a steep and almost inaccessible Mountain But the Habessines now contemning their Enemies already terrify'd with the Slaughter of their own People couragiously drave them from their Holds and slew them every Mothers Son About the same time Peter Pays a Jesuit arriving in Habessinia at the Request of the King went to Court and so oblig'd him with several Discourses concerning Matters as well Ecclesiastical as Civil that at first privately then publickly he embrac'd the Latin Religion which he testify'd by Letters as well to the Pope as to the King of Spain then Philip the Third and preferr'd the Portugueses before his own Habessinians But this same Kindness of his to Strangers and a Foreign Religion begat him the Hatred of his People and caus'd his own Destruction For the Nobility of the Kingdom took it in great disdain to see their Ancient Religion chang'd and that the Patriarch of Alexandria should be deserted And they were the more enflam'd out of their Envy to the Portugals and the Rancour which they bore to Laeca-Marjam the King 's principal Friend Therefore they Conspire against him among themselves The Head of the Faction was one Saslac born of mean Parentage but of great fame for his Experience in War and for that reason proud He was exil'd by Jacob but recall'd by Za-Denghel and made Governor of Dembea consequently ungrateful and out of an inbred Stubborness frowardly disdaining Obedience Ras-Athanasius was drawn into this Society a famous Captain and a Man of great Conduct and being first in Dignity frown'd to see that he was but Second in the King's Favour and therefore he proves a Traitor to a most excellent King as one that had forgot who set the Crown upon his Head But the Cause of Religion was the main pretence the most prevalent to put the Minds of People into disorder for they were not ignorant what Preparations were making at Court for the introducing of the Latin Religion Frequent Complaints were therefore divulg'd abroad That the King was Revolted from the Church of Alexandria the Common Mother Church and that there was nothing intended by his frequent Discourses and familiarity with the Jesuits but the Abrogation of the Institutions of their Ancestors and the Introduction of new Ceremonies and Foreign Priests into the Kingdom That the Portugals would come in and establish their Religion by force of Arms and when they had done that would endeavour also to take the Kingdom from them That it behov'd them to succour their Distressed Countrey and that such a King was not to be endur'd who had first deserted the True Worship of God These things were easily inculcated into those that were of the same mind before But there was nothing which alienated so much the minds of the People as that the Portugueses had been heard to say That the Reduction so they call'd the Conversion of Ethiopia was but vainly attempted if it could not be upheld by force of Arms. The King having detected the Conspiracy calls the Portugueses together confiding in them as Foreigners and Men of the Latin Religion then marching with all speed toward Gojam he was deserted by the way first by Ras-Athanasius whom tho he suspected he durst not apprehend then by Jonael one of his Principal Captains Their example many others following forsake the King The King seeing himself left with a slender Guard applying himself to Peter Pays spoke these words This therefore befalls me because I am desirous to shew them the way of Truth and to set free the Weak from the Oppression of the more Powerful Thereupon Peter and the Commander of the Portugueses John Gabriel advis'd him to Protract the War till the heat of the Rebels fury waxed cool that his Friends with his Innocent Subjects would repair to his Assistance that the rest would in time come to themselves and repent their folly That Sedition was like a Torrent violent at first but that it abated by degrees But the King impatient of delay look'd upon Protraction as a Diminution of his Honour and being too full of Courage and in his boyling Youth resolv'd to try the Fortune of War that rarely accompanies rashness before the Rebels should encrease their Numbers So he Marches with a small Army of scarce Twelve thousand Men thinking to fall upon them e're they were aware of his coming This over-hastiness had but ill success For most of his Adversaries were Men experienc'd in War who did not follow their business negligently and besides they were as
and that there is no great difference made between the Legitimate and he Illegitimate However the most assured Safety of Kingdoms consists in a Constant and Establish'd Settlement of Succession But if in Hereditary Kingdoms it may be lawful either for the King to choose one of his Sons or if it may be lawful for the Nobility not so much to regard the order of birth as the disposition and conditions of him that is to govern or to respect the favour of the People War and Sedition must of necessity follow They that are set aside will never be quiet nor shall they want Factious Abettors and Associates The Grand Pretence more Especially in Elective Kingdoms is this That Conditions cannot be distinguish'd by Nativities but the best may be taken by Election and Judgment A specious pretence in words but vain in Reality while the Imbecility of human Nature prevails which is guided by the affections and obeys rather Favour and Hatred than Virtue which usually happens in great Assemblies But there are two Pillars which sustain the Safety of great Monarchies Reverence and Authority which they that Govern never can reconcile to themselves either by Wisdom or Probity alone For there are many who will esteem themselves if not their Superiors yet their Equals and men very unwillingly obey their Equals much less their Inferiours so that it is altogether vain and pedantic what Plato writes concerning the Felicity of Kingdoms That they should be Govern'd by Philosophers while other Aids are wanting A Philosopher how wise soever would hardly find a Subject that would obey him three days together for his Philosophies sake There ought to be something External and Visible which as well the vulgar and ordinary sort as the prudent Equally acknowledg which is not subjected to the fluctuating and inconstant determination of Men. For this reason in the Election of Kings and Princes Nobility and Power are preferr'd before Wisdom and Sanctity of disposition Yet the one requires the assistance of the other The one is the cause that the Subject willingly and freely obeys the other compels the refractory to submit And therefore because Election does not bring much more advantage to a Kingdom than the chance of birth but is rather liable to Tumults and Seditions many People have (m) The Swedes in the last Century The Danes in our memory The Chineses of old Joh. Newhoft Descript Chin. c. 18. abandon'd it of their own accord However it approaches nearest to Liberty because the Electors may prescribe Laws and Conditions of Government to the Person that is to be Elected tho that same wariness proves many times ineffectual Because the Prince upon refusal either positively cannot or else will be very unwilling to be brought to an accompt So impossible it is that there should be a compleat happiness in this World And therefore it is the part of a good and prudent Statesman to prefer that form of Government which he finds (n) That the Wise call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to preserve the present state of the Republic Isoc against Collimalh Established But I return to the Habessines among whom there is this most prudent Constitution That only the Male Issue shall govern or the Male kindred nearest in blood But because the Determination of the Fathers and Mothers and the chief Nobility happens frequently to be intermix'd and that the natural Issue is likewise if male allow'd the same Priviledge for want of Legitimate Off-spring hence it comes to pass that their Successions are most unhappy and turbulent the chief cause of all their Calamities We have already declar'd how Helena with the consent of Marc the Metropolitan preferr'd David the second Son before Naod the Elder Brother as having nothing else to advance him but a meer brutish strength The Civil Wars between Menas and Tazcar his Brothers Eldest Son between the Illegitimate Son of Malec-Saghed and Zadenghel his Legitimate Kinsman and lastly between Jacob and Susneus and all about the doubtful right of Succession are sufficient Arguments to prove what we assert Tellezius indeed declares That according to the Lawes of Ethiopia the natural Sons do not succeed But in another place he so discourses concerning their Law alledging the Example of John the First King of Portugal that the Reader may perceive that he varies in this from his other Relation But the chiefest Inconvenience which uses to arise in hereditary Kingdoms where the Succession is ty'd to a certain Family proceeds either from the sence of Rivalship and a jealousie which they that rule have of them that are nearly related in blood or from their Ambition which always animates the Factious Dismal are the Examples among the Barbarians where there are no Laws or Rules for Succession but all things are at the Will of them that bear sway or else of Fortune her self What ruin'd the Family of the Caesars What the Roman Empire but onely that the Creation of the Emperors was inconstant and unfix'd and at the Will of the Souldiery Certainly it was a great Oversight in Augustus Caesar after he had vanquish'd all his Rivals and had all the Power in his own hands that he ordain'd no certain Settlement of Succession The Emperours of the Turks to prevent the Crimes of their Brothers more impiously put them to death and punish that Disloyalty which perhaps was never intended The Ancient Kings of Abessinia to rid themselves of these Fears were wont to shut up their Brothers under safe Custody where they might abide unknown to turbulent Spirits and so be uncapable of attempting any thing against the raigning Prince and yet be ready to supply the want of Successors The Rocks of Geshen and Ambasel were set apart to this end The whole Story from the Relations of Antonie d' Almeyda runs thus The Emperour Icon Imlac had five Sons others say nine which he lov'd all alike Out of which affection he most imprudently advis'd them to raign all with Equal Power or which was worse to govern by turns The Youngest impatient of the delay of so many Years design'd with himself not to part with the Scepter when once he had got it into his hands but to send away his Brothers to some distant Rock and so continue the Kingdom to his own Posterity But being betrayd by one of his peculiar Friends who rather chose to accept of a reward from the raigning Prince than to expect a guerdon from him that was to raign he was taken in the same snare which he had laid for his Brothers and sent to the Rock Geshen But lest the King might seem to have consulted more for his own than the Security of the Kingdom he also shut up all his own Sons which he then had in the same place After which this Custom continu'd as a Fundamental Law in Ethiopia for above Two hundred and thirty Years by which means the raigning Kings were secur'd from danger of Civil Wars among Brethren till in the Year
retain never pester'd with confusion either marching or sitting still The constant disposal and largeness of the Camp may be understood from hence that the same Dialect and the same words continue in the same Streets and Quarters in other Quarters another sort of words and a different Dialect as for Dala a word used in the Front of the Camp which signifies to put in the Vulgar in the Rear Quarter say Tshammara Of old before the Gallans conquer'd it the Camp was pitch'd in Shewa a fertile and most plentiful Countrey But for the most part in December and that for three or four years together in one place In the beginning of Susneus's Reign in the year 1607 they pitch'd at Coga Thence they remov'd to Gorgora in the year 1612 from thence to Dancaza and lastly to Guendra which place Bernier because he had heard perhaps that it was the Residence of the King calls the Metropolis of Ethiopia of which perhaps in a few years there will be nothing to be seen These Camps take up a vast deal of room as well in the Summer as in the Winter for they do not onely contain the Souldiers but their Wives and their Children whose work it is to bake their Bread and make their Hydromel So that the weak and helpless multitude far exceeds the number of the Souldiery Nor are they without Merchants and Tradesmen of all sorts besides Slaves and Lackeys necessary for such a Multitude So that the Camp looks more like an Ambulatory City and moving Houses then a Martial Camp So many Tents and Pavilions seeming a far off to represent the Prospect of some great Town But less wonderful is that which is reported out of India That near the Island of Sumatra there are certain Cities if they may be so call'd which are always swimming and yet great Markets and Fairs are kept therein and many People live there who have no other Country or Habitation Now for the Camp masters whom the Ethiopians call Sebea Catine they carry a great sway in managing the Succession of the Kings and affairs of greatest moment The Kings also themselves are guided by them in making and abrogating Laws and generally they are the first springs of Faction and Sedition And as formerly the Pretorean Bands gave Laws to Prince and People so among the Habessines the effect of all Consultations good or bad derive themselves from the Camp CHAP. XIV Of the Military Affairs of the Habessines Continual war The Winter causes a Truce The Habessines good Soldiers Strong and active They serve without pay They plunder the Countries as they march The Gallans secur'd by their Poverty The Habessines ignorant in Fire-Arms Few Muskets and fewer Musketeteers Their Armies consist most of Foot Light Armour Drumms us'd by the Horse Their Weapons Bad Discipline because they count it no shame to flie Their Onsets furious Their Rocks are their Fortresses The King Commands in chief Theives unpunish'd THat the Habessines are a Warlike People and continually exercis'd in War we have already declar'd neither is there any respit but what is caus'd by the Winter at what time by reason of the Inundations of the Rivers they are forc'd to be quiet For they have neither Ships nor Boats neither do they know how to make Bridges to command a passage over their violent Streams Concerning which Gregory wrote to me in these words There is no making War in Ethiopia in the Winter time neither does the Enemy attack us nor we them by reason of the great falls of Rain and the Inundations of the Rivers Tellezius also further testifies That the Habessines are good Souldiers They ride and manage a Horse well and readily take Arms as well in obedience to their Soveraign as for other causes already mention'd They are strong They endure hunger and thrist beyond belief and with little sustenance can brook any unseasonable sort of weather They serve without pay contented with honour and applause and such Lands as the King after the Roman Custom bestows upon the well deserving Therefore they must certainly be thought to sight much more generously and faithfully in the defence of their Countrey then Hirelings They expect no part of the Enemies Booty nor no redemption and therefore never serve them in the Field and because they know not the art of protracting a War therefore they never are sparing of themselves to return home rich However the Poverty of the Souldiers impoverishes the Countries through which they march For in regard it is a difficult thing to carry Provisions over such steep and rugged Mountains and long wayes they take by force what is not freely given them and by that means lay wast their own Countries no less then their Enemies whereby the poor Countrey people are constrain'd to turn Souldiers and so taught to deal by others as they were dealt with themselves For which reason they neither can vanquish nor make any long pursuit after the Gallans who being retir'd with their Droves the Pursuers find nothing left behind but Lands untill'd and empty Cottages So invincible a Fortress is Poverty to withstand the stoutest Enemy But as we have said already Those Gallans might easily be vanquish'd did but the Habessines know the use of Muskets Tellezius writes that they have among them about fifteen hundred Musquets but not above four Musqueteers and they but very bad Fire-men neither neither do the Commanders know how to place and order them to the best advantage and therefore after they have once discharg'd the Enemy rushes on so furiously before they can charge again that they they are forc'd to to throw their Musquets away and then another thing is they have but very little Powder The biggest Army which the King brings now into the Field hardly amounts to Forty thousand Men among which he has not above Four or Five thousand Horse the rest are all Foot Their horses are couragious and mettlesome but they never get upon their backs till they are ready to charge the Enemy at other times they ride their Mules and lead their Horses They are slightly arm'd after the manner of the antient Velites and tho their Stirrups are no bigger then onely to thrust in their great Toes least if the Horse should fall their feet should be hung in the Stirup yet they sit very fast Their Weapons are Swords and Darts as also Launces and short Javelins with which they fight at a distance after which they dispute it hand to hand with their Swords or Launces and Bucklers Their War like Musick for the Horse are Drums much bigger then ours and the King 's which are the biggest go by the name of the Bear and the Lyon Besides which several Hornes and Fifes march before Him They for the most part are arm'd with two Spears of which they dart away the one at a distance and maintain a close fight with the other defending themselves with their Bucklers The Horse never fight a foot nor the Foot a
the King himself Tellez reports That it was stufft with places of Scripture but nothing to the purpose The King more incens'd by this Writing renew'd the Edict about the Sabbath and commanded the Husbandmen to Plough and Sow upon that Day adding as a Penalty upon the Offenders for the first Fault the Forfeiture of a weav'd Vestment to the value of a Portugal Patack for the second Confiscation of Goods and that the said Offence should not be prescribed to Seven years a certain form usually inserted in their more severe Decrees Certainly it must of necessity be true what Tellez reports of the Natural Piety of the Habessines since they were thus to be compell'd to the Neglect of the Sabbath by such Severe Laws when we can hardly be induc'd by stricter Penalties to observe the Lord's-Day Among the rest one Bucus a stout and famous Soldier felt the utmost rigour of this Decree for being accus'd to have observ'd the Sabbath he was made a most severe Example that others of less consequence might not think to expect any Mercy From thence Jonael Viceroy of Bagemdra took an occasion to Revolt alluring all to his Party who were displeased with the Edicts Upon which News many of the chiefest of the Court both Men and Women of which several were near allyed to the King with Tears in their Eyes besought him once more not to expose himself and the Kingdom to Calamity but to take Pity upon so many poor afflicted People offending out of meer Simplicity and Ignorance and not to disturb the Minds of his People with such unseasonable Changes The King far from being mov'd with their Tears but rather the more displeas'd to see so many all of one Mind that at once he might answer all confirm the wavering and terrifie the Headstrong having summon'd together the Chief Nobles and Commanders of his Army that attended the Court in a short but grave Oration put them in mind of past Transactions upbraiding them among the rest For that they had depriv'd Zadenghel both of his Life and Kingdom because he had forsaken the Alexandrian Religion to embrace the Roman Faith That for his part after his Victory obtain'd against Jacob he had bin severe to none but rather had pardon'd all nevertheless he was disturb'd with daily Seditions and Rebellions under pretence of changing his Religion when he only reform'd it For that he acknowledg'd as much and the same that others did That Christ was true God and true Man but because he could not be Perfect God unless he had the Perfect Divine Nature nor perfect Man without perfect Humane Nature it follow'd that there were two Natures in Christ united in one Substance of the Eternal Word Which was not to abandon but explain his Religion In the next place he had abrogated the Observation of the Sabbath Day because it became not Christians to observe the Jews Sabboth These things he did not believe in favour of the Portugueses but because it was the Truth it self determin'd in the Council of Chalcedon founded upon Scripture and ever since the time of the Apostles deliver'd as it were from hand to hand and if there were occasion he would lay down his life in defence of this Doctrine but they who deny'd it should first examine the Truth of it Having finished his Oration a Letter was brought him from Jonael containing many haughty Demands and among the rest the Expulsion of the Jesuits The King believing there would be no better way than to answer him in the Field Commanded the nimblest of his Armed Bands to March of which the Rebel having Intelligence and not willing to abide his Fury fled for shelter among those inaccessible Rocks whither it was in vain to pursue him Thereupon Susneus well-knowing that the Revolters would not be able long to endure the Inconveniencies and Famine that lodg'd among those inaccessible places blockt him up at a Distance So that Jonael at length weaken'd by daily desertions fled to the Gallans who being at variance among themselves kept their promis'd Faith but a short time for being underhand tempted with Rewards by the King they at length turn'd their Protection into Treachery and slew the Unfortunate Implorer of their Security This Bad Success however did not terrifie the Inhabitants of Damota inhabiting the Southern parts of Gojam who upon the News of the Prophanation of the Sabbath as they called it with their Hermites that sculk'd in the Deserts of that Province ran to their Arms. Ras-Seelax otherwise their Lord and Patron in vain Exhorting them to continue their Obedience whose kind Messages of Peace and Pardon they refus'd unless he would burn the Books Translated out of Latin into the Habessine Language by the Fathers and deliver up the Fathers themselves to be Hang'd upon the highest Trees they could find Thus despairing of Peace Ras-Seelax set forward tho deserted by the greatest part of his Forces who favoured the Cause of their Countrymen so that he had hardly Seven Thousand Men that stook close to him while the Enemies Body daily encreas'd However he resolv'd to Fight them knowing his Soldiers to be more Experienc'd and better Arm'd besides that he had about Forty Portuguese Musquetiers in his Camp When they came to blows the Victory fell to the King's Party tho it cost dear in regard that about Four hundred Monks that had as it were devoted themselves to die for their Religion fought most desperately of which a Hundred and fourscore were Slain Hitherto the King had not made Publick Profession of the Roman Religion partly out of fear of stirring up Popular Tumults against him partly being loath to dismiss his Supernumerary Wives and Concubines but at length encourag'd by so many Victories he lay'd all fear aside and publickly renounc'd the Alexandrian Worship and confessing his Sins after the Roman manner to Peter Pays dismiss'd all his Wives and Concubines only the first of those to which he had bin lawfully Marry'd His Example convinc'd many others who were not asham'd to keep many Mistresses but Adultresses also Not long after the King signify'd his Conversion to the Roman Religion to his whole Empire by a Publick Instrument not without the Severe reproof of the Alexandrian Patriarch The sum of his Manifesto was That having deserted the Alexandrinian he now reverenced only the Roman See and had yielded his Obedience to the Roman Pope as the Successor of Peter the Prince of the Apostles for that that See could never err either in Faith or good Manners and then he exhorted his Subjects to do as he had done He also discoursed at large concerning the two Natures in Christ and tax'd the Ethiopian Primates as guilty of many Errors But neither the King's Example nor his Exhortation wrought upon many For at the same time his Son Gabriel began to study new Contrivances tho with no better Success than they who had taught him the way For when he had intelligence that Ras-Seelax was marching
all Occasions of new Disturbances Some there were that openly resisted and would not permit any Priest under Roman Ordination to officiate in their Churches nay some of them they kill'd out-right As for the Countrey People tho they were passively Obedient to the King's Commands yet they lik'd their own old way best Among the rest there was one who having receiv'd the Cuff of Confirmation as their manner is and being ask'd by his Neighbour how he did Never worse said He than I have bin since I receiv'd the Patriarch's Box o' th' ear More than all this there was a Seminary set up for the Education as well of the Habessine as Portuguese Children for the Encouragement of whom and to invite others they caus'd some of the young Lads to Act a Comedy after the European manner But when they brought in Devils upon the Stage as the Scene requir'd some of the ignorant People believing them real Hobgoblins were so terrify'd that they flung out of the School crying out Wajelan Wajelan Sajetanet ametzea O Dear O Dear they have brought us Devils But the ensuing Tragedies more terrify'd the wiser sort For Tecla-George another of the King's Sons in Law for his Wives sake at difference with his Father having drawn into the same Conspiracy with him two Noblemen Gebra-Marjam and John Acayo revolted openly and by a Cryer solemnly proclaim'd That he renounc'd the Roman Worship and would Protect the Alexandrian by force of Arms. And that the world might believe he was in Earnest he caus'd all the Crucifixes Rosaries and other Ornaments of Popish Superstition to be burnt in a publick fire and to the end there might be no hopes of Reconciliation left for the Expectation of Confederates he took his Chaplain Abba Jacob who officiated after the Roman manner and after he had dispoyl'd him of his Stole and Hood put him to Death The King could not brook so great an Indignity and therefore sent Kebax Viceroy of Tigra with an Army against him who us'd such extraordinary Diligence that he soon surpriz'd the secure and unprovided Rebel overthrew his Army and took him and his Sister Adera Prisoners who because they had so furiously and contemptuously acted against the Roman Religion were both hang'd upon a high Tree Nor could all the Intercessions of the Queen nor of all the Noble Ladies could prevail tho they pleaded hard the disgrace done to their Sex and that it was never before known in Ethiopia that a Noblewoman was Hang'd especially being call'd by the King to behold so sad and infamous a Spectacle For they did not pity her because they thought her Innocent but for the Ignominy of her Punishment After this follow'd several other Accidents which as they brought a very great Odium upon the Patriarch and the Fathers so were they reckn'd to be the Causes of the general aversness of the People to the Roman Religion The Patriarch that he might exercise all his Authority in one single Act and shew the full extent of his Power having taken a pett against the Captain of the King's Guards for some frivolous Business that nothing belong'd to his Jurisdiction publickly in the Church in the presence of the whole Court thunders out an Anathema against him and sent him Post to the Devil It seems he had taken Possession of certain Farms which the Monks lay'd claim to and refus'd to restore them notwithstanding all the Admonitions of the Patriarch The Nobleman tho a Soldier hearing such a most Dreadful Excommunication by vertue whereof he was sent packing to Hell laden with all the Curses of Dathan and Abiram like one Thunder-strook fell into a Sound and lay for Dead But the Storm did not continue long For presently the King stept in to his relief by whose interposition and the Mediation of several of the Nobility he was re-admitted into the state of Grace However it was an Act which the Nobility took most heinously to heart among whom there were some that frown'd and chaf'd out of meer Indignation to see that their Church should be brought to such a degree of Servitude that a Foreign Priest should take upon him with so much Arrogance to Excommunicate and Bequeath to Eternal Damnation one of the Chief Counsellors of their Kingdom an Ancient and Famous Personage for the sake of a Litigious Farm which the King might take when he pleas'd from the Monks themselves if they were the Owners This Flame was fed by the addition of more fuel For the Icegue or Chief Abbot of the Monks being at that time lately Deceas'd who as we have already said is the next in Dignity and Authority to the Abuna he was Buried in a certain Church consecrated after the Roman manner tho he had bin an obstinate Zealot for the Alexandrian Religion Thereupon the Patriarch after he had soundly reprov'd the Rector of the Church Pronounc'd the Church profan'd by the Burial of a Heretic and therefore that Mass could not be said in it The Rector dreading the fatal stroak of the same dismal Dathan and Abiram Thunderbolt that lay'd the Great Commander sprawling without expecting any new Command causes the Carkass to be digg'd up again and thrown by This the Habessines heavily exclaim'd against crying out That the Franks exercised more cruel Severities upon them then their most exasperated Enemies ever practis'd among them to deprive their Dead of decent Burial now they might all see what the Living were to expect Tellez adds That a certain old Woman was cast into Prison upon Suspition of being a Witch but was presently set at liberty because it gave distaste For that the most Learned of the Habessines are of Opinion That there are now no more Magicians or Witches in the World and therefore that the Woman was unjustly wrong'd who was thrown into Prison by the Command of the Patriarch Thus the Minds of the People being generally incens'd the King himself began to look upon these acts of separate Jurisdiction in the Patriarch as Diminutions of his Prerogative the ancient Metropolitans never daring to attempt such things and consequently to alienate his Affections both from him and from the Fathers so that at length he gave ear to their Adversaries Who to bring down and curb the Excessive Power of the Patriarch which seem'd so intolerable to them more especially because they found him still inexorable in Matrimonial Causes prohibited by Divine and Canon-Law but chiefly in cases of Polygamy and Divorce they began their Addresses to him for those things which they knew he could not deny without bringing great mischief upon himself First That they might have liberty to say Mass after the ancient Ethiopian manner for that the Patriarch might mend the ancient forms where Necessity requir'd without abrogating the whole That the People hearing their ancient Services would be the more quiet in regard they would not so much mind the difference between the New and the Ancient form of Worship The Patriarch gave way to their
desires only mending the Ethiopic Mass but with apparent Detriment to his Authority For now the ancient Liturgies were every day read again without Contradiction the Report running abroad that the Emperor was return'd to the Old Religion The Patriarch's Power thus shaken the Courtiers still whisper'd in the King's Ears That the Roman Religion was become odious to all the People and that his Person would be in great Danger unless he also forsook it himself These Insinuations were back't by an Accident which tho ridiculous in it self gave a being to several Rumors and Reports For one day an Enthusiast came into the Palace and cry'd out That he was sent from God and the most Holy Virgin to declare in their own words to the King that unless he forthwith return'd to the antient Religion he should within a Fortnight undergo most severe Chastisements The King made answer That he would live and die in the Roman Religion and that the Messenger might the more speedily return his answer Commanded him to be Hang'd But at the Intercession of several who asserted the poor Fellow to be Frantick he only receiv'd a severe drubbing for the reward of his sawcy Prophesie Howevet tho he were laugh'd at by the Courtiers yet he so strangely stirr'd the minds of the Vulgar that they publickly reported That an Angel had bin sent from Heaven and that he had admonish'd the King to return to the ancient Alexandrian Faith In the mean while the inbred hatred against the Fathers daily increasing was greatly augmented by the envy of the Courtiers For they incens'd the King and his Eldest Son against Ras-Seelax the Fathers chief Friend and Patron of the Portugueses under pretence of their great care admonshing the two Princes To take heed that he did not abuse the Renown he had won in War and the favour of the Portugueses to invade the Royal Dignity That which more heighten'd these growing Jealousies was a misinterpreted act of Ras-Seelax who having order'd one Lecanax to be apprehended for Calumnies and Scandalous Reports thrown upon himself caus'd him afterwards to be put to Death tho he had appeal'd to the King This they said was done by Seelax not that the Person was guilty of the Crimes which were lay'd to his Charge but to remove out of the way one that was Privy to the Treasons and Conspiracies of Seelax Whereupon the King depriv'd him instantly of great part of his Lands remov'd him out of Gojam and took from him his Military Commands In the mean time tho Tecla-George had suffer'd and that the Heads of the Rebellion were taken off yet the Rebellion it self continu'd and the strength of it daily increas'd in such manner that it became the Original of Dismal and Diuturnal Commotions For the Agawi that inhabit the Mountains of Bagemdra had not yet lay'd down their Arms but being as they pretended more and more provok'd by-the King kept them in their hands to revenge their Injuries And the better to defend themselves they call'd to their Aid one Melcax a young Man of the Royal Blood who had bin bred among the Gallans and created him their Leader To him therefore as to a Sanctuary flock'd all those that bare any disaffection to the King all that hated the Roman Religion especially the Monks and lastly several of the Villagers and Country People All these thus embody'd were call'd Lasteners from Lasta a most invincible Rock and the chief Seat of the Rebellion And indeed it seem'd a vast Torrent of War ready to break forth to the utter Extirpation of the Fathers and all those of the Roman Religion if it prov'd so kind to spare the Royal Family it self Against these therefore the King having rais'd an Army of Seven and twenty Thousand Men marches himself in Person but with ill success at first For the Country People defended by the Security of the place as the Royalists came on still beat them off by rolling down whole Quarries at a time of ponderous Stones upon their heads which having put the Royalists into great disorder they came down and surrounded all the King 's Left Wing so that had not Kebax come to their relief with 300 fresh Men they had bin all cut to pieces The Soldiers being discourag'd by this overthrow the King who for that reason durst not adventure any further for that time left part of his Army to defend the Borders and hast'ning home was forc'd to recall See-lax lurking like an Exile in Gojam In the mean time the Tutelar Bands whether for fear or finding themselves too weak forsook their Posts so that the Lastaneers ravag'd all the Country as they pleas'd without Opposition till Seelax being got within their reach drave them back into their former Holes While this Rebellion rag'd in Bagemdra another broke out in Amhara being headed by Luca-Marjam near in Blood to the Royal Family but he being prevented and surpriz'd by the swift March of Ras-Seelax ended his Days and his Design together by falling from the Precipice of a Rock But the same good Fortune did not attend Kebax who impatient of delay and observing the Avenues more negligently guarded than they us'd to be the bait that betray'd him conceiv'd no less than that Opportunity it self had now proffer'd him the Victory So in he marches finding all clear before him for the present but no sooner was he in when those Mountaneers accustom'd to clamber their own Rocks and us'd to the By-ways and conceal'd Passages of that Rock were all on a sudden before and behind him so that after a great Slaughter of his Men deserted by the rest he was himself after a matchless defence oppress'd by Multitudes and Slain His and the Fall of Tegur-Egzi which soon after follow'd gave the Fathers no cause of Thanksgivings but afforded their Enemies great Opportunities and great Arguments to press the King to withdraw his Favours from them For observing their time when they perceiv'd him sad and perplex'd at so much ill Success and so many Revolts Oh Sir said they What will be the Issue of all these Combats and pernicious Wars Those illiterate Swains understand not the Mysteries of the Roman Worship nor any other Service of God then what they have bin bred and brought up to They call us Turks and Mahumetans because we have abandon'd our ancient Liturgies for this reason they have taken Arms and chosen to themselves a King For Melcax pufft up with the Success of his Affairs was arriv'd at that height of boldness that nothing now would serve him but the assum'd Title of a King He had distributed his Court-Employments after the manner of the Kings of Ethiopia among his Friends and daily increas'd in Number For all that abominated the Fathers chiefly the Nobility of Tigra privately gave him Encouragements and exhorted him not to desist from what he had so prosperously begun and that then neither the Affections of the People nor the Assistance of his Friends would be