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A68221	Antisixtus An oration of Pope Sixtus the fift, vppon the death of the late French King, Henrie the third. With a confutation vpon the sayd oration, wherein all the treacherous practises of the house of Lorraine, are largely described and layde open vnto the view of the world, with a briefe declaration of the kings death, and of many other things worthy the noting, which neuer yet came to light before. Translated out of Latin by A.P.	Hurault, Michel, d. 1592.; Sixtus V, Pope, 1520-1590. De Henrici Tertii morte sermo. English.	1590 (1590)	STC 14002; ESTC S114241	39,544	58

ANTISIXTVS An oration of Pope Sixtus the fift vppon the death of the late French King Henrie the third WITH A Confutation vpon the sayd Oration wherein all the treacherous practises of the house of Lorraine are largely described and layde open vnto the view of the world with a briefe declaration of the Kings death and of many other things worthy the noting which neuer yet came to light before Translated out of Latin by A. P. LONDON Printed by Iohn Wolfe 1590. An Oration of Pope Sixtus the fift vpon the death of King Henry the third in Rome in the full assemblie of the Cardinalles COnsidering oftentimes with my selfe and applying my whole vnderstanding vnto these things which now of late by a iust iudgement of God are come to passe I thinke I may with right vse the words of the Prophet Abacuck saying I haue wrought a worke in your daies and none will beleeue it though it be told them The French King is slaine by the hands of a Friar for vnto this it may fitly be compared although the Prophet spake of an other thing namely of the incarnation of our Lord which excéedeth and surmounteth all other wonders and miracles whatsoeuer as also the Apostle S. Paul referreth the same wordes vnto the resurrection of Christ When the Prophet sayde a worke his minde was not to signifie by it some common or ordinarie thing but a rare and notable matter and a déede worthie to be remembred as that of the creation of the worlde The heauens are the workes of thine handes And againe He rested the seauenth day of all the workes which he had made When he sayth I haue wrought with these wordes the holy Scripture is wont to expresse thinges not come to passe by casualtie fortune or accident but things befallen by the determined prouidence will and ordinance of God as our Sauiour sayde The workes which I doe yée shall doe also and yet greater and many more such like wherewith the holy Scriptures are replenished And that he saith that it is done in times past herein hee followeth the vse and order of the other Prophets who for the certentie of the euent are wont to prophesie of things to come as if they were past alreadie For the Philosophers say that things past are of necessitie things present of being and thinges to come only of possibilitie For which certaintie the Prophet Isaie long before prophisying of the death of Christ hath thus spoken He was led as a shéepe to the slaughter and like a dumme lambe before his shearer so opened hée not his mouth c. And this whereof we speake at this present and which is come to passe in these our dayes is a famous notable and an vncredible thing not done or atcheiued without the particular prouidence and disposition of the Almightie A Friar hath kilde a King not a painted one or drawen vpon a péece of paper or pictured vpon a wall but the King of France in the midest of his armie compassed and enuiconed round about with his Guard and Souldiers which truely is such an act and donne in such a manner that none will beléeue it when it shall be tolde them and perhaps our posteritie and the age to come will account and estéeme it but a fable That the king is dead or else slaine it is easily to be beléeued but that he is kild and taken away in this sort is hardly to be credited euen as we presently agrée vnto this that Christ is borne of a woman but if we adde vnto it of a woman virgine then following naturall reason we can in no wise assent vnto it Euen so we lightly beléeue that Christ died but that he is risen vp againe from death to life it falleth harde vnto mans vnderstanding and therefore not lightly digested That one is wakened againe out of a sléepe extasie or a sound because it is not against nature we naturally beléeue it but to be risen againe from death it séemeth so vncredible vnto the flesh that S. Paule desputing in Athens of this point was nushked greatly and accused to be a setter soorth of new Gods so that many as S. Luke witnesseth did mocke him and many for the strangenesse of the doctrine saide We will heare thée againe of this thing Of such things therefore which befall not according to the lawes of nature and the ordinarie course thereof speaketh the Prophet That none shall beléeue it when it shall be tolde them But wee giue credite vnto it by consideration of the omnipotencie of God and by submission of our vnderstanding vnder the obedience of faith and seruice which we owe vnto our Sauiour Christ And by these meanes this that was incredible by nature commeth credible by faith therefore we that beléeue not after the flesh that Christ is borne of a virgine yet when there is added vnto it that this was doone supernaturally by operation of the holy Ghost then truely we agree vnto it and faithfully beléeue it So likewise when it is saide that Christ is risen againe from the dead as wee are flesh onely we beléeue it not but when it is affirmed that this was done by the power of the diuine nature which in him was then without any doubting we beléeue it In the same manner when it shall be tolde vs that such a mightie King was kilde by a poore simple and a weake Friar euen in the middest of his arnne and enuironed with his Guardo and Souldiers to our naturall reason and fleshly capacitie it will séeme vncredible yet considering on the other side the great and grieuous sinnes of this King and the speciall prouidence of the almightie herein and by what accustomed and wonderfull meanes he hath accomplished his most iust will and iudgement against him then most firmely we will beléeue it Therefore this great miraculous worke I may but onely ascribe it vnto the particular prouidence of God not as those that referre all things amisse vnto some ordinarie causes or vnto fortune or such like accidentarie euentes but as those who more néere obseruing and looking in the course of the whole matter easely sée that here in this befell many things which could in no wise haue béene brought to passe and dispatched without the speciall helpe of God And truely the state of Kings and kingdoms and all other such rare and weightie affaires should not be thought to be gouerned of God rashly and vnaduisedly In the holy Scripture some are of this kind and none of them can be referred vnto any other thing but vnto God the only author therof yet there are none wherein the celestiall operation more appeareth then in this whereof we speake at this present We read in the first booke of the Machab. the 6. chap. how Eleazar offered himselfe vnto a certaine death to kill the king that was an enemie and persecutor of the people and children of God For in the battell espying an Eliphant more excellent then any

without punishment to destroy not a citizen but a magistrate not a magistrate but a king but doost also most impudently defend the déed and teachest this to be the readiest and spéediest way to heauen with poison sword fraude and treason to kill Kings that are the maiestie of mankinde the true patterne of Celestiall power and the liuelie Images of the King of Kings And this is it I thinke Quod vix credat quisquam cum narrabitur That none will beléeue it though it shall bée tolde them because the like was neuer heard amongest the Turkes And the Tartarians and barbarous nations when they come to heare it wil for the straungenes thereof presently shake and tremble Is not this then great cruell and execrable great truelye it should be if yet greater did not follow after Why doest thou quake Sixtus can there be saide any thing more haynouser I truly we are fallen in those daies in the which the aboundance of wickednesse maketh vs destitute of wordes and in the which it is scarse counted trespas which in times past hat béene most iustly executed as hie treason So it is I say that the destinies of our age haue brought forth a villanous déede not the like redde or hearde before No time euer hath séene a king slaine by like treason yet in the murther is something that will rather frette thee then make thée to maruaile Why should not the casuall hande of this inraged murtherer accomplish the like that the premeditated and forecast counsel of the traitour hath performed There haue béene some whom the wild boare hath slaine some whom the stagge bring intangled in the nettes some died by the vnskilfull cutting of a vaine some with the stroke of a horse héele and finally if we looke narrowly vnto it we shall finde almost so many kindes and sundry deaths of kinges as there haue béene princes And therfore I tremble not so much at the strangenes of this as at the example thereof I will not say that thou the father of kinges in Christ for so thou louest to be tearmed hast béene grieued mourned wept and called vpon God the strong reuenger of all iniquity for this moste heauy chaunce and misfortune of thy first begotten sonne but setting aside all piety and naturall affection to haue vndertaken voluntarily and without compulsion the defence of the murtherer maintayned with thy authority arguments and lawes the nocent innocency of this accursed cut-throate and in remembrance of thy sonne to haue most cruelly inueighed against his dead body and this it is Sixtus which I cannot heare reade or remember with a quiet and vntroubled minde Good God I sée in one crime two offences two hainous murtherers him first who most treacheroslic hath assaulted his naturall Prince then him who reuengeth not the destroyer of his sonne but excuseth him and is not contented to excuse him but defendeth him and doth not onely defende him but praiseth him yea by a most exquisite and singular comparison canonizeth him amongst his Saintes of Heauen Auoid auoide therefore hence all naturall affection Sixtus hath banished thés out of the Romaine Empire As long as hée raigneth goe visite the Tartarians and Muskouites and other more barbarous nations if there be any here are none that will intertaine thée no not receaue thée without thy perill But O yée Frenchmen it were not manfully done to leaue vnreuenged the death of your most Christian King who will suffer them to triumphe with proude orations ouer the treacherous murthering of your prince Let mée bée nothing estéemed off if I reuenge it not and requite this vnto thee Sixtus giue eare onely vnto mee and that our posterity may know thee and thy vile and bloudy excutioner and al those that were of this conspiracy first hear in short and true words the chaunce of this mighty Potentate that by the greatnes of the murther all our succession may iudge him guiltie hereof that did defend it The Historiographers haue written diuers causes of the originall of the ciuill wars in the time of Charles the ninth according as they were ledde with loue and hate which they did beare vnto the Potentates and Nobility of Fraunce yet it is knowen to euery man that after the departure of Henrie the thirde into Polonia the house of Guise chiefely the two brethren Frauncis and Charles Cardinalls through a desire of raigning haue corrupted first their owne and then all the counsell of the Realme For Empires first of all must be troubled and shaken before they can bée ouerthrowne and subuerted And from thence all these ciuill warres haue taken their beginning At that present the Kinges house was yet mighty and strong with diuers brethren and kinsemen vnto whome the Crowne without contradicttion after the decease of the King belongeth And vnlesse they were all dispatched the Guises knew verie wel that their hope was but vaine Amongst the Kinges kindred Lodowick prince of Condy was most feared as one indewed with singular graces and alone sufficient to sustaine all their attemptes and to breake and bring to naught all their desperate enterprises Who whether he now long since hath lefte this worlde to the good or bad fortune of this Realme through the popes authority and ancient Romane religion hauing followed as they say the better for at that time there was a great talke ouer all christendome of a reformation of all hereticall errors and opinions I know not But first they set vpon him accusing him of heresie and corrupting of religion which then was a difficult and hainous crime hauing him first sued in law as an enemy of the apostolike Sea presently after persecuted him with sword and fire He on the other side not disprouided destitute of corage frends and helpe the new religion now being spred in al citties of France and euerie day the number of his increasing being likewise aided by the counsell of the chiefest and best of the Realme who detested and hated the Guises great ambitiō and suspected their power did valiantly withstand them And here out is first come the vnhappy distinction of the names of Catholiks and protestants and the deadly mortall diuision of this Realme which I feare me can neuer be agréede againe vnlesse by a long peace and great loue all causes of ambition hee remoued and quite taken away broils now being raised euery wher which thē might haue béen easely repressed vnles the fatal destinies of France had letted it the Guises proclaime open war ayainst the prince of Conde and al heretikes and easely perswaded thervnto the king himselfe and his mother a very desperat and an audacious woman And now séeing that they could bring his M. to consent vnto al whereunto the thought good themselues for the small experience which he dad caused presently all those whom they thought were aduersaries vnto their subtil dealings partly through feare and accusation of the like offence of heresie to voide the court by al means sought

to stirre vp the rest to ciuill iarres with a hope of spoile and such like nouelties Call moreouer Philip King of Spaine and thy predecessor Sixtus vnto their ayde Promise vnto the king then occupied in the Lowe Countries that France should nothing hinder or molest him and vnto the Bishop of Rome an euerlasting warre against the enemies of the holy Sea For they perswaded vnto themselues that their intent could neuer or hardly at the least be brought to passe as long as the common wealth flourished with peace and quietnesse but it being once troubled and with seditions disquieted should make it easie and this their thought was not amisse For the Princes of the Royall bloud being all dispatched the strongest and mightiest of whom was now assaulted with open warre they hoped that the rest should eyther die in warre or for the affinitie which they had with the Prince of Conde in hope of the Crowne would soone depart from the Court and finally that then Charles and his brethren but children might be without labour conuayed away and murthered And to that effect they began warre and with these torches haue kindled first the fire of ciuill discorde in France but the last destinies and extreme calamities of the Realme were not yet come for as in our bodies a dangerous disease is oftentimes long felt before and with diuers paines and grieues the forces thereof are assaulted and wearied before they are broken and ouercome euen so the like befalleth with Empires and kingdomes But both the brethren departed first out of this world before they could accomplish and make an end of their long practised enterprises Francis died at the siedge of Orleans at the thréescore and thrée yeares of his age hauing left behind him thrée sonnes Henry Duke of Guise Charles Duke de Mayne and Lodouick a Cardinall not yet come out of their childhoods But in whom as there appeared sparkes of domesticall prowesse so in them séemed to be no feare of vice Vnto whom he left not onely good store of treasure and great reuenewes but also a hope of a large Empire his damnable practises and sparkles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 warre But in the meane while the king his brethren grew in age before the Lions whelpes were capable of their fathers ferocitie and so France turning her former mind began to worship honor obay her Princes now come to full age and full of courage magnanimitie whom she neuer before had séene but children But chiefly respected Henry whom comlines of body perfect age valure in armes commended aduanced to the gouernment of outlandish Nations And thus by little and litle their vaine ambition hath béene repressed but in tract of time other occasions of euill were presented Charles dieth whether by destime or poyson it is vncertaine And I haue no leasure at large to discourse vpon this point to rehearse from the beginning this tragidie but yet this is most true a litle before his departure out of this worlde séeing his estate greatly weakned by the tediousnes of war cruel murthers massacres euery day cōmitted vpon his subiects the treasure of this Reamle consumed spent Italy Spain laughing at it inuaighed with sharpe threatning words against the authors hereof and this was peraduenture the occasion of his vntimely death Henry the third succéeded him whom whether Polonia hath suffred with greater griefe to depart from thence or France receiued him with more ioy it is doubtfull He warned by his brothers example as soone as he had set established the affaires of his realme in good order gaue his mind wholly to the studie of peace knowing very well that riuill broyles are alwaies good for them that affect crownes and kingdoms but naught to them the raigne weare thē From hence is come the first originall of this mischief for thou thine Sixtus would neuer commend the kings most wholsom counsell thy drifts tending to nothing els but by sword fire to confirme thine own sauegard litle regarding by what law or with what condition one rained so the those perished together with their crowns whom thou didst hate couldst not abide And so by litle litle the remēbrance of so many victories and so many bloud-sheds committed for the Sea of Romes sake grew stale presently after enuie began to swel in the peoples minds dasly corrupted by the seditious fermons of Friars not delaying only the most godly vow of their Prince but infecting it And so it was easie to make an entrie for mischiefe to follow The Duke of Guise in the meane time with his two brethren increased in age power and fauor by the Catholikes as their father was before at the first cōmended thēselues sundrie wayes vnto them and hauing prospered reasonably vnder Henry being not yet come to the crowne saluted courteously euery one that met thē although one of the simplest amongst the cōmon people spake to them left nothing vndoone to steale away the hearts of the commontie all true signes tokens of an ambitious mind practising attempting some nouelties Spread abroad false reports to rayse priuie grudges displeasures amongst the Nobilitie and finally Francis the kings youngest brother being now departed out of this life either by sicknes or fraud ietted to fro through all cities beraied yet with the bloud of those of the reformed religion fearing for their massacres a iust reuenge Lamented the cōmon miserie vnlesse there should be looked vnto in time affirmed that after the death of the king which too true they sayde should be ere long they all should become subiects againe of an Heretike endure all bondage miserie flauery whatsoeuer But that they would display their power against it the promised and ready succor of Spaine Italy to defend protect by it their liberties and the Catholike religion these things are knowen vnto euery man the king himself hath bin aduertised of thē by diuers spyes since the yeare 77. yet for lacke of punishment as it is often seene grew maruellous strong Let therefore the posteritie iudge whether this is come to passe through too great a clemency or by some fatall negligence of all French men In the yeere 1585. Ianus temple being shut vp in France a happy peace flourishing in all the realme no external or domesticall enemy once knowne the Duke of Guise withall the house of Lorraine hauing conspired together take the weapons in haude the only cause therof was a crowne their cloake and probable occasion pietie religion a care for the realme now ill gouerned a pitte to see the commontie with exactions pould and oppressed and an intent to reduce all things in good order They hauing put this vizard vpon their rebellion by their first writinges published in theyr names complayned of the publicke calamities of the weakenesse of the kings friendes of the Realmes treasure wasted and spent notwithstanding the

therewith to inuade the Realme againe and moreouer vnto some of them all their goods By these deuises hatered and enuy being procured and prouoked the ill aduised Prince but to late acknowledging his errour in vaine began to wishe for this most fitte and neglected opportunity of reuengement yet being come to Paris spendeth the rest of the winter in repayring and renewing of his forces publishing an expedition against those of the reformed religion which he himselfe prepared the next Sommer following either by these meanes to drawe againe vnto him the heartes of the commonalty altogether affectionated vnder the coullour of religion vnto the Guyse or that hée had determined to doe it importunated thereunto by the Iesuites continuall outcries assuring him daily of certaine argumentes of Gods wrath against the Heretikes and in briefe a happye end and issue of all his warres against them In the year eightie eight which was feared should haue béene fatall vnto all the Worlde the Guise taketh new aduise and counsaile howe to come to a happie end of his long continued hope and to enioy the fruites thereof Complaineth that so oftentimes ciuill warres haue béene moued in daine against the king of Nauarre whereof the issue was doubtfull the profite vncertaine or to late at the leaste That his Maiesty could not bee deceiued but coulde be oppressed and the one of two ennemies once being dispatched that with lesse labour the other was to be ouerthrown and vanquished That he had al thinges ready to suppliant the first and then afterwarde would fall vppon him who was yet remayning That it was to bee hastened and not to bee slepte vppon Beginneth therefore now no lesse to hate and enuy the King then before he had done the Heretickes That Fortune had offered him this good opportunity which if hee shoulde let it slippe by hee might wishe afterward for it when it was past recouery Moreouer the Germaines nowe repulsed that nothing was remaining that might cause him to feare That al hope of out landishe aide and assistance was cut off vnto the King of Nauarre by whose faulte all Germany and England did crie out that so great an army so many Nobles and such number of valiaunt Captaines and souldiers were discomfited and slaine And that the king himselfe was sore wearied and broken with long during warres and although Conquerour of many battailes yet had lost notwithstanding all the chiefest of his souldiers and those that were escaped either for want and néede or for a desire of quietnesse wished onely for peace And that with them therefore hee shoulde haue but litle to doe hereupon thinking most expedient not to make any further delayes furiously taketh now the thirde time the weapons in hand message is brought vnto his M. and reports euery where spred abroad not as before that Citties are surprised that the people rise in armes that musters are taken and such like signes of mischiefe yet far off and to be preuented diuers waies but that the Duke commueth in person himselfe And no sooner was it spoken but he was séene in déede arriueth in Paris very troublesomely where the king was at that time where hee had laid long before ready and trusty ambushes partly for the mutinous mindes of that common people as also for the great number of conspirators in that Citty as it is most certaine that no where kinges and princes can be more easier oppressed then in their imperiall Citties But the first night of his arriuall he was quiet wearied God hauing so disposed it for the Prince his safegard yet altogether vnprouided that all thinges were not yet currant and ready But next day morning soundeth alarme putteth the kings garrisons to the sword and marcheth directly to the Louure his Maiesties pallace with the mutinous bloudy people to besiege their sworne Prince The king amased at this sudain accident and vpror vnto whose honor it stood not to fly away not to his safety to expect his enemy w e disaduantage in no indifferent place yet w e the lord chiefe Iustices souldiers and with his gard of Switzers resisteth their assalts for a day or twaine But séeing the people to arm themselues against him al things to go backward w e him and no hope of any helpe or succour escaped safely among the inraged clamours of the desperate multitude crying nothing but sworde and fire and came to Lions The wel-minded and affectionated subiects vnto their King coulde not brooke and beare such an outragious iniury Their hearts turned therfore vppon a suddaine the case now altered doe pitty their Prince The pillers of the Realme the nobility the commons and the better and sounder part of the cleargie came in poste vnto his Maiesty They exclaime all against the house of Lorraines great presumption and said that punishment was to be done which should equal or rather excéede the greatnesse of the offence They pronuse vnto the king all aide and furtherance if it woulde onely please him giuing ouer all other yea rather the heretikes themselues who neuer dared the like to ouergoe this gréefe The king subiect vnto his destiny séemeth to bee tourhed with this readinesse of his affectionated subiectes but yet is nothing moued with it But thanketh euery one very soberly as if he had had no néede at all aunswereth quietly vnto them that hée wanted neither courage nor force to reuenge his priuate iniuries and that it was not néedefull to sustaine two ciuill wars in one realme where one sufficed was rather too much And herwith sent thē al home againe intending againe reconciliation If the posterity wil beleue one telling the truth let it without doubting beléeue this with mée that nothing more touched and moued the hearts of Frenchmen then to see their Kings great patiency not despising but scarce approuing the most ready mindes of his subiects in the reuengement of the publike and common shame and dishonor Let the posterity also vpon my word holdly say that Ouéene Katherine his mother was the only cause of his deadly sound and vnsensiblenes vnto whose faithfull helpe and aide the Guyse tooke his refuge as soone as hée perceaued that his matters wold not forge and that the commō people were altered for this 〈◊〉 done vnto the king and that the Nobility and the chiesest of his beganne to bée discomforted discouraged and drawe backe from him Now this third time Henry giueth place vnto his mothers aduice and hearkeneth vnto her counsell now this third time an agréement is concluded with great ioy of all the conspirators who thought it to be no smal fauor thus easily to haue escaped deserued punishment for their mutinie and rebellion But the wise yet feared in generall that this wound could not be closed vp and healed without a foule searre remayning or that hee who had once presumed to beate his Prince out of his Imperiall Citie should not want audacitie to attempt some further matter All things now pacified a Parleament

sorrowe was seene in al the Campe but greate ioye among the ennemy whose reioysing voices were hearde at that instant demanding one of another whether the Friars knife was sufficiently sharpe or not The King thus wounded was laid in his bed wher he yeelded by his ghost vnto God the next night following hauing before made his will and set al things in good order Here haue you hearde the ende of this mighty Prince and here may you beholde as in a looking glasse the ouerthrowe of a whole Realme I see many thinges in it to bee lamented Wheresoeuer I turne my selfe I can perceaue nothing but a dreadfull horrour a cruell and blouddy spectacle yet nothing more heauily doth present it selfe afore vs then thine Oration Sixtus an ouerplus to the common griefe Farre bee such a shame from vs lette it suffice vs to haue lost a good Prince and that by our owne faulte and negligence as to suffer the name of the dead to bée slandered and defamed and the Monuments of so many worthy acts destroyed Therfore I demand first of thée Sixtus by what lawes that I shall contend with thée With Christian lawes But what hast thou to doe with Christ whose birth and buriall thou ●landerest with a most detestable murtherers comparison With the lawes of nature but by what bandes of nature can bee vpholden the maintainer of willfull murther Howe then with the ciuil lawes The statutes of Princes and the ciuill lawes haue enacted diuers and seuere punishmentes vnto those that offended but by chaunce but vnto those that reuenged their priuate quarrell by their own authoritie fearfull torments What punishments doe they alot then vnto those who violat ouerthrow the welfare af a common wealth truly almost incredible But I see that I am constrained to séeke out new lawes to deale with thée I am ready for it Thou the autor of new offences shalt bée my lawe and witnesse Europe the court and the Heauens the Iudges and vpon these equall conditions I will pleade against thée Come then and hearken first vnto this It séemeth verie straunge vnto mee and therefore make me somewhat better acquainted with it that thou so oftentimes vsurpest the worde of Gods iudgement Could not this suffice thee to know God to bée the best of all goodnesse but to say that hée willed such a detestable and wicked act In déede wée sée euerie where his wonderful iudgements and we know that Princes the larger their gouernement hath béene the greater accounts they haue to make Besides if kinges had committed any offence that not onely themselues did smart for it but sometimes all their subiects felt the punishment thereof Both is to be séene in the holie Scriptures I will not deny but that this prince hath suffered deserued punishment if thou doest regard God onely in whose eies all thinges are corrupt naught and crooked nothing entire or vndefiled But leaue the iudgement hereof vnto God not vnto thy selfe Sixtus How knowest thou whether this is in stéede of a blessing and benefit which thou thinkest to be a curse and a punishment Did not Iosias also die an vntimely death doth not God most often cal them first vnto him whom he loueth Are tirants not séene oftentimes to raigne and liue longest and good princes seldome come to great age Superfluous nay too curoius it were Sixtus to search examin these things more impious to iudge them But let it be so I grant this vnto thée Shall therfore the excuse and cloake of Gods iudgement protect defend the cause of a murtherer the king of France for his offences hath deserued some heauy punishment at Gods hāds doth it follow therfore the he is to he accounted godly great famous happy and worthy the title of an Emperor whosoeuer of the common people the most abiect and vilest shall haue murthered his Prince Then with thée that sonne shall be accounted innocent that is a reuenger of his fathers offence by his fathers death and the indignation of those children estéemed iust spilling the bloud of their parentes in Gods quarrell What is he worthy any longer to be reuerenced and honored with the title of a father who liketh the example of naturall affection violated and quite extinguished Herewith thou art touched Sixtus but wherfore art thou so soone afeard thou hast no cause yet to tremble these are but toyes and trifles come but néere for to heare that which shall not make thée pale but altogether senselesse Let first the lawes of bloud and nature which are the sacred bandes of humaine societie depart and goe aside for as long as they are present I haue no reason to speake any word at all I grant againe that it is lawfull by thy lawes to kill parents condemned by iudgement and an executioner not to be wanted in the citie as long as the offenders sonne is found present Let thy iudge then pronounce sentence and say That lawfully the sonne may kill the father but let him adde vnto it at the least accused noted and condemned of a notorious offence as an enemie vnto the cōmon wealth that by these meanes the priuate lawes of a familie may be disanulled by those which concerne the publike vtilitie But contrariwise if thou destroyest the publike commoditie by a publicke offence away with thy lawes for they cannot be exogated with the welfare of a common wealth Let vs now sée then Here lyeth wallowing in his bloud not the father of a priuate familie but hée of a great kingdome not the griefe of one household but the heauinesse and sorrow of a whole realme most trecherously procured And yet doest thou commende this and sayest that he is murthered worthely Well let it be so so that he for whom we mourne be too worthy for to die after such a manner But what was the offence in the reuenge whereof the diuine the ciuill the common and priuate lawes did cease and loyter Thou sayst that he hath commanded Lodouick the Cardinall the Guise his brother to be executed whose consecrated head was not to be touched but only by full authoritie from the Bishop of Rome Thou cruell beast dost thou say that it is not lawfull for a King ruling onely by Gods grace and authoritie to punish traytors against his Maiestie and conuicted so oftentimes to haue troubled the publike peace and that it is permitted vnto a gracelesse Friar to stabbe a Prince for to haue iustly executed a Cardinall What say ye to this O ye Princes of Europe vpon whose neckes this cruell and bloudie Lyon treadeth If he were to be punished it was not to be done after that order witnesses were to be produced the offender was to be heard iudges to be chosen no hast was to be made vpon the execution of so great a Potentate As if he wanted witnesses by whose ambition now 3. yeares together France hath béene disquieted with ciuill warres but his execution was to be delayed to what end To the