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
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
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
monethes olde before the Magistrates and there to iudge by the sight of the children that if they were fit for warres they should be brought vp in military discipline if otherwise they should be appointed to Mechanicall occupations The Aethiopian Philosophers made a lawe that all Magistrates and Parentes should examine theyr children and the youthes of theyr Countries what labour and exercise they had done euery day before they should take meate and if it were founde that they had not exercised either Mechanicall or Militarie exercise they should goe away vndined for that day Among the Grecians all the Orators and Poets came from all parts of Greece sometimes to Thesius graue sometimes to Helicon and there the Poets to contend in verses and the Orators in Oratory with diuers kindes of crownes and garlands which exercise was vsed to draw and intice the youthes of Greece to vertue and learning and as the Romane youths had a garment like the Dictators garment called Toga praetexta in honor of armes to exercise military discipline in Martius field so the Grecians had for those youthes that excelled in learning the garment called Palladium The sixt Regiment intreateth of murther and reuenge of blood amongst all Nations against the which the Gentiles had diuers lawe-makers which made lawes to punish the same AS the Gentiles in all Countries had their lawes made to rule and gouerne them as among the Egiptians by Bocchoris among the Persians and Baetrians by Zoroastes among the Carthagineans by Charondas among the Magnesians and Cicilians by Plato among the Athenians by Solon and among the Lacedemonians by Licurgus so had they certaine Magistrates to execute the same lawe after them as the thirtie Senators in Egipt the Areopagites in Athens the Ephori in Sparta and so of the rest This is the lawe of nature written first in tables of flesh and after in tables of stone Cain the first-man born and the first murtherer he slue his brother Abel and had sentence of the Lord with a perpetual marke of torture that no man should kill Cain but to liue as a vagabound and a rogue cursed vpon the earth the witnesse that accused him was his brother Abels blood so the Lorde spake Vox sanguinis fratris tui edit clamorem ad caelum blood therefore was the first witnesse on earth against murther and called in scripture the Iudge of blood Cain for disobedience to his father and murthering of his brother became a cursed vagabound vpon the earth and all his wicked posteritie were drowned in the deludge So scoffing Cham was cursed of his father Noah and in him all his posteritie likewise accursed for the Canaanites which were of the stocke of Cham were slaine by the Israelites and the Gibionites which came from the Canaanites were made slaues to the Israelites and so the Egiptians and Aethiopians the ofspring of Cham were taken captiue by the Assyrians so that Cham was cursed in himselfe and cursed in his posteritie for the scorning of the nakednesse of his father so the parents of the Idolaters and blasphemers brought the first stone to presse their owne sonnes The second murtherer in Scripture was Lamech which killed Cain against whome the Lorde made a lawe that whosoeuer should slea Cain should be punished seuen folde for so Lamech confessed himselfe that Cain should be auenged seuen-folde but Lamech seuentie times seuen fold there shall want no witnesses against murtherers and oppressers of Orphants and widowes The witnesse against the filthie lust of the Sodomites was the verie crie of Sodome before the Lorde for so is the lawe that the Iustice of blood shall slea the murtherer Iacobs children consented all sauing Ruben and Iudah to kill Ioseph their younger brother which made Ruben speake to his brethren in Egipt that the blood of Ioseph was the cause that they were thus imprisoned and charged with theft and robberies There are foure witnesses which the Lord stirreth vp against murtherers oppressors of Orphants Infants and Widowes first the Lorde himselfe is a witnesse the seconde the witnesse of blood the thirde the witnesse of stones in the streets and the fourth the witnesse of fowles in the aire The like murther was in Esaus heart against Iacob his brother for Esau saide that the dayes of his fathers sorrowes were at hand for I will slea my brother Iacob but Iacob fled to Aran to his vncle Laban by his mothers counsell Rebecca for feare of his brother Naboth was stoned to death by false and wicked witnesse for his Vineard of Achab by his wife Iezabels counsell The like murther was in Sauls heart against Dauid practising by all meanes possible to kill Dauid first by himselfe then by his sonne Ionathan by his daughter Michol Dauids wife and by his seruants for there is three kindes of murther the first in the heart against the Lorde as in Cains heart against Abel in Esaus heart against Iacob and in Sauls heart against Dauid the seconde by the tongue either by false witnesse as Iezabel with false witnesse against Naboth for his Vineard or else by slaunder as the two Elders in Babilon slaundered Susanna the third performed by the hand of the which there are two many examples but all murthers by the hande and by the tongue proceed from the heart the enuie of Cain in his heart towardes his brother Abel was the cause that he slew his brother The murther of Naboth was the couetousnesse of Achab in his heart to haue his vineyard The murthering of Vriah came from Dauids heart by lust to Berseba Vriahs wife There be other kinde of murtherers that rise early in the morning to kill in the day and rob in the night So Iob saith Manè surgit homicida interficit egenum Pauperem Againe there bee other kinde of murtherers as the Prophet saieth Qui viduam Aduenam interficiunt So may it be said of ambition in the heart for by ambition Herod caused all the childrē in Bethelem and about Bethelem to be slain seeking to destroy him which could not be destroyed which was Christ. Against such kings tyrants the more wicked crueltie they vse the more iust punishment they shall receiue Iudicium enim durissimum ijs qui presunt fiet and the more wrong and iniurie they do to honest and iust men the greater torments they shall suffer Fortioribus fortior instat cruciatio By ambition in the heart Abimelech slew three score and eight of Gedeons sonnes his bretheren And so by the selfesame ambition Thalia caused all that were of the kings bloud to be put to death so is hee that enuieth hateth wisheth ill to his brother a man-slaughterer The punishment of murther in Cain and in Lamech was giuen by the lawe of nature of the Lorde before the written lawe was giuen to Moses as Thamar the daughter in lawe of Iudah for whoredome and
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
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