CHAP. 25. By the fayth of this mistery might the ancient Saints of God also bee iustified together with godly life not only before the law was giuen the hebrewes for they wanted not Gods instructions nor the Angels but also in the very 〈◊〉 of the law though they seemed to haue carnall promises in the types of spyrâ—…al thinges it being therefore called the old Testament For there were Propâ—…s then that taught the promise as wel as the Angels and one of them was he â—…se sacred opinion of mans good I related before It is good for me to adhere vnâ—… In which Psalme the two Testaments are distinguished For first hee â—…ng those earthly promises abound so to the vngodly saith his b feete slippâ—… and that he was almost downe as if hee had serued God in vayne seeing that â—…ty that hee hoped of God was bestowed vppon the impious and that hee laboured sore to know the reason of this and was much troubled vntill hee entred into the sanctuary of God and there beheld their endes whome hee in errour thought happy But then c as hee saith hee saw them east downe in their exâ—…on and destroyed for their iniquity and that all their pompe of temporall 〈◊〉 was become as a dreame leauing a man when hee is awake frustrate of â—…ed ioyes hee dreamed off And because they shewed great here vpon 〈◊〉 saith hee In thy Citty thou shalt make their Image bee held as nothing 〈◊〉 good it was for him to seek those temporalties at none but Gods hands â—…weth â—…aying I was as a beast before thee yet was I alwaies with thee as a beast â—…erstanding For I should haue desired such goodes as the wicked could not 〈◊〉 with mee but seeing them abound with goods I thought I had serued thee 〈◊〉 end when as they that hated thee inioyed such felicity Yet was I alwaies with 〈◊〉 fought no other goddes to begge these thinges vppon And then it followâ—… Thou hast holden me by my right hand thou hast guided me by thy will and hast asâ—… into glory As if all that which he saw the wicked inioy were belonging 〈◊〉 left hand though seeing it he had almost falne What haue I in heauen but 〈◊〉 sayth he And would I haue vpon earth but thee Then hee doth checke himâ—… iustly for hauing so great a good in Heauen as afterwards hee vnderstood 〈◊〉 yet begging so transitory frayle and earthen a thing of God here below d 〈◊〉 heart faileth and my flesh but God is the God of mine heart A good fayling to 〈◊〉 the lower and elect the loftyer So that in another Psalme he sayth My soule â—…geth and fainteth for the Courtes of the Lord. And in another My heart fainteth 〈◊〉 thy sauing health But hauing sayd both heart and flesh fainteth hee reioyned not The God of mine heart and flesh but the God of my heart for it is by the heart that 〈◊〉 â—…sh is cleansed as the Lord sayth Cleanse that which is within and then that 〈◊〉 is without shall be cleane Then he calleth God his portion not any thing of 〈◊〉 but him-selfe God is the God of my heart and my portion for euer Because 〈◊〉 mens manifold choyces he chose him only For e behold saith he they 〈◊〉 â—…thdraw them-selues from them shall perish f thou destroyest al them that go 〈◊〉 from thee that is that make them-selues prostitute vnto many gods and then â—…owes that which is the cause I haue spoken al this of the Psalme As for me it is good for mee to adhere vnto GOD not to withdraw my selfe nor to goe a whoring And then is our adherence to God perfect when all is freed that should bee freed But as wee are now the hold is I put my trust in the Lord God for hope that is seene is no hope how can a man hope for that which he seeth savth the Apostle But when we see not our hope then we expect with patience wherein lette vs do that which followeth each one according to his talent becomming an Angell a messenger of God to declare his will and praise his gratious glory That I may declare all thy workes saith hee in the gates of the daughter of Sion This is that gloryous Citty of God knowing and honouring him alone This the Angells declared inuiting vs to inhabite it and become their fellow Cittizens in it They like not that wee should worship them as our elected Gods but with them him that is God to vs both Nor to sacrifice to them but with them be a sacrifice to him Doubtlesse then if malice giue men leaue to see the doubt cleared al the blessed immortalls that enuy vs not and if they did they were not blessed but rather loue vs to haue vs partners in their happinesse are farre more fauourable and beneficiall to vs when wee ioyne with them in sacrificing our selues to the adoration of the Father the Sonne and the holy Spirit L. VIVES WHich a Psal. 73. diuinely soluing of this question of the Phylosophers Why one God ruling all haue the good so often hurt and the bad so much good Or Epicurus his Dilemma If there be a God whence is euill If none whence is good Augustine recites some verses and we wil breefely interpose here and there a word b Feete slipped or moued by the vnworthy euent to take another way it seeming to him to haue done so little good in this c Them All things saith the wise man are secret vntil the end but then the good life helps and the bad hurts the one rewarded and the other plagued for then all appeareth in truth d My heart A sanctified man in all his troubles and faintings of strength and counsell still keepes heart-hold of God making him his portion for euer loose he all thinges God he will neuer loose Augustine me thinks applyeth this to the defect of spirit through the vehement desire of celestiall comfortes For the soule will languish into much loue and lose all the selfe in entyre speculation of that it affecteth Or he may meane that although all bodily meanes of strength or state do faile a good man yet his minde will stil sticke firmely vnto God and entertaine a contempt of all worldly wealth and all guifts of wit or fortune in respect of this God this onely ritches and heritage e Behold Therefore is it good to adhere to him from whom who-soeuer departeth perisheth f Thou destroyest Wee ought to keepe our soule chaste as the spouse of God which if it go a whoring after the desires and lusts of the world neglecting God hee casteth it off as a man doth his dishonest wife and diuorceth it from him And this is the death of the soule to leaue the true life thereof Of Porphyry his wauering betweene confessing of the true God and adoration of the diuels CHAP. 26. Me thinkes Porphrry I know not how is ashamed of his Thevrgicall acquaintance Hee had some knowledge of good
rest should be intirely hers now let vs looke in to the reasons why that God that can giue those earthly goods aswel to the good as the euill and consequently to such as are not happy should vouchsafe the Romaine empire so large a dilatation and so long a contiunance for we haue already partly proued and hereafter in conuenient place will proue more fully that it was not their rable of false gods that kept it in the state it was in wherefore the cause of this was neither a Fortune nor Fate as they call them holding Fortune to be an euent of things beyond al reason and cause and Fate an euent from some necessity of order excluding the will of god and man But the god of Heauen by his onely prouidence disposeth of the kingdomes of Earth which if any man will say is swayd by fate and meane by that fate b the will of God he may hold his opinion still but yet he must amend his phrase of speach for why did hee not learne this of him that taught him what fate was The ordinary custome of this hath made men imagine fate to bee c a power of the starres so or so placed in natiuities or conceptions which d some do seperate from the determination of God and other some do affirme to depend wholy therevpon But those that hold that the starres do manage our actions or our passions good or ill without gods appointment are to be silenced and not to be heard be they of the true religion or bee they bondslaues to Idolatry of what sort soeuer for what doth this opinion but flattly exclude alll deity Against this error we professe not any disputation but onely against those that calumniat Christian religion in defence of their imaginary goddes As for those that make these operations of the starres in good or bad to depend vpon Gods will if they say that they haue this power giuen them from him to vse according to their owne wills they do Heauen much wronge in imagining that any wicked acts or iniuries are decreed in so glorious a senate and such as if any earthly city had but instituted the whole generation of man would haue conspired the subuersion of it And what part hath GOD left him in this disposing of humaine affaires if they be swayed by a necessity from the starres whereas he is Lord both of starres and men If they do not say that the starres are causes of these wicked arts through a power that god hath giuen them but that they effect them by his expresse commaund is this fit to be imagined for true of God that is vnworthy to be held true of the starres e But if the starres bee said to portend this onely And not to procure it and that their positions be but signes not causes of such effects for so hold many great schollers though the Astrologians vse not to say f Mars in such an house signifieth this or that no but maketh the child-borne an homicide to g grant them this error of speech which they must learâ—…e to reforme of the Philosophers in all their presages deriued from the starres positions how commeth it to passe that they could neuer shew the reason of that diuersity of life actions fortune profession arte honour and such humaine accidentes that hath befallne two twinnes nor of such a great difference both in those afore-said courses and in their death that in this case many strangers haue come nearer them in their courses of life then the one hath done the other beeing notwithstanding borne both within a little space of time the one of the other and conceiued both in one instant and from one acte of generation L. VIVES FOrtune a Nor fate Seeing Augustine disputeth at large in this place concerning fate will diue a littlle deeper into the diuersity of olde opinions herein to make the â—…est more plaine Plato affirmed there was one GOD the Prince and Father of all the rest at whose becke all the gods and the whole world were obedient that al the other gods celestial vertues were but ministers to this Creator of the vniuerse and that they gouerned the whole world in places and orders by his appointment that the lawes of this great God were vnalterable and ineuitable and called by the name of Necessities No force arte or reason can stoppe oâ—… hinder any of their effectes whereof the prouerbe ariseth The gods themselues must serue necessity But for the starres some of their effects may be auoided by wisdome labour or industry wherein fortune consisteth which if they followed certaine causes and were vnchangeable should bee called fate and yet inferre no necessity of election For it is in our powre to choose beginne or wish what wee will but hauing begunne fate manageth the rest that followeth It was free for Laius saith Euripides to haue begotten a sonne or not but hauing begotten him then Apollo's Oracle must haue the euents prooue true which it presaged Thâ—… and much more doth Plato dispute obscurely vpon in his last de repub For there hee puttes the three fatall sisters Necessities daughters in heauen and saith that Lachesis telleth the soules that are to come to liue on earth that the deuill shall not possesse them but they shal rather possesse the deuill But the blame lieth wholy vpon the choise if the choise bee naught GOD is acquit of all blame and then Lachesis casteth the lottes Epicurus derideth all this and affirmes all to bee casuall without any cause at all why it should bee thus or thus or if there bee any causes they are as easie to bee auoided as a mothe is to bee swept by The Platonists place Fortune in things ambiguous and such as may fall out diuersely also in obscure things whose true causes why they are so oâ—… otherwise are vnknowne so that Fortune dealeth not in things that follow their efficient cause but either such as may bee changed or are vndiscouered Now Aristotle Phys. 2. and all the Peripatetikes after him Alex. Aphrodisiensis beeing one is more plaine Those things saith hee are casuall whose acte is not premeditated by any agent as if any man digge his ground vppe to make it fatte finde a deale of treasure hidden this is Fortune for hee came not to digge for that treasure but to fatten his earth and in this the casuall euent followed the not casuáll intent So in things of fortune the agent intendeth not the end that they obtaine but it falleth out beyond expectation The vulgar call fortune blinde rash vncertaine madde and brutish as Pacuuius saith and ioyne Fate and Necessity together holding it to haue 〈◊〉 powre both ouer all the other gods and Ioue their King himselfe Which is verified by the Poet that said What must bee passeth Ioue to hold from beeing Quod fore paratum 〈◊〉 id summum exuperat Iouem For in Homer Ioue lamenteth that hee could not saue his sonne
otherwise they should bee guilty of offring iniury either to all their gods if they all loue plaies or which is worse to those whom they account as the good ones if they onely affect them L. VIVES THey a durst not exempt Sisitheus presenting a Commedy wherein he scoffed at Cleanthes the Stoicke whereas others were offended at it they say the Philosopher himselfe replied that it were a shame for a man to fret at such things seeing that Hercules and Dionysius being gods are dayly mocked thus and yet are not displeased b Labeo There were three Labeo's all of great skill in the ciuill law But the most learned of them all was Antistius Labeo who liued in Augustus his time he was scholler to Trebatius Testa and was cunning not onely in the law but in all antiquity and knowledge being as Gellius reports an exact historian But Augustus did not much affect him by reason of his great freedome of speech and largenesse of wit This opinion of his hee seemes to deriue from Platonisme and Stoicisme though with some alteration For the Platonists held that all the gods were good but that amongst the Daemones and Heroes some were good and some were badde Porphiry in his booke of sacrifices saith that a true worshipper must neuer sacrifice any liuing creature vnto the gods but onely vnto those Daemones And the same author in his booke De via intelligibilium explaines more fully which are good Daemones and which are euill But of this in another place c the bad ones The worse that these gods are and the more infernall the sadder kind of inuocations doe they desire to be vsed to them so doe the Hell-gods Pluto Proserpine and others Lucane brings in Erichtho inuocating the infernall Deities thus Sivos satis ore nefando Polluâ—…óque voco si nunquam haec carmina fibris humanis ieiuna â—…ano si pectora plâ—…na Saepe deâ—…i laui calido prosecta cerebro si quis qui vestris caput extáque lancibus infant Imposuit victurus crat If â—…uer I â—…uok'd In well black't phrase if ere my charmes lackt guilt of mangling humane brests if I haue spilt Bloud in such plenty brought your quarters vvasht in their ovvne braynes if â—…re the members gasht I seru'd you in vvere to reuiue d. reuelling vpon beds Hereof in the third booke That the Romaines in abridging that liberty with the Poets would haue vsed vpon men and in allowing them to vse it vpon their gods did herein shew that they prized themselues aboue their gods CHAP. 12. BVt the Romaines as Scipio glorieth in that booke of the common wealth would by no meanes haue the good names and manners of their cittizens liable to the quippes and censures of the Poets but inflicted a capitall punishment vpon all such as durst offend in that kind which indeed in respect of themselues was honestly and well instituted but in respect of their gods most proudly and irreligiously for though they knew that their gods were not onely pacient but euen well pleased at the representing of their reproaches and exorbitances yet would they hold them-selues more vnworthy to suffer such iniuries then their gods thrusting such things into their sollemnities as they auoyded from themselues by all rigor of lawes Yea Scipio dost thou commend the restraint of this poeticall liberty in taxing your persons when thou seest it hath beene euer free to callumniate your gods Dost thou value the a Court alone so much more then the Capitoll then all Rome nay then all heauen that the Poets must be curbed by an expresse law from flowring at the Citizens and yet without all controll of Senator Censor Prince or Priest haue free leaue to throw what slander they please vpon the gods what was it so vnseemely for Plautus or Naeuius to traduce P. or Cneius Scipio or for Caecilius to ieast vpon M. Cato and was it seemely for b your Terence to animate a youth to vncleannesse by the example of the deed of high and mighty Iupiter L. VIVES YOur a Court The Court was the place where the senate sat here it is vsed for the Senators the Capitoll for the gods themselues b your Terence for indeed he was very familiar with Scipio and Laelius and many thinke that they helped him in writing of his commedies which he himselfe glanceth at in his prologue to his Adelphy Memmius thinkes he meanes of Scipio in that Oration which he made for himselfe Quintilian lib 10. Institut Of Laelius Cornelius Nepos maketh mention and Tully also in one of his epistles vnto Atticus but from other mens reports That the Romaines might haue obserued their gods vnworthynesse by their desires of such obscaene solemnities CHAP. 13. IT might be Scipio were he aliue againe would answer mee thus How can we possibly set any penalty vpon such things as our gods them-selues do make sacred by their owne expresse induction of those playes into our customes and by annexing them to the celebration of their sacrifices and honors wherein such things are euer to be acted and celebrated But why then say I againe doe not you discerne them by this impurity to be no true gods nor worthy of any diuine honors at all for if it bee altogether vnmeete for you to honor such men as loue to see and set forth Playes that are stuffed with the reproche of the Romaines how then can you iudge them to bee gods how then can you but hold them for vncleane spirits that through desire to deceiue others require it as part of their greatest honors to be cast in the teeth with their owne filthinesses Indeed the Romaines though they were lockt in those chaines of hurtfull superstition and serued such gods as they saw required such dishonest spectacles at their hands yet had they such a care of their owne honestie and dignitie that they would neuer voutchsafe the actors of such vile things any honor in their common-wealth as the Greekes did but according to Scipio his words in Cicero Seeing that a they held the art of stage-playing as base and vnmanly therefore they did not onely detaine all the honours of the Cittie from such kinde of men but appointed the b Censors in their views to remooue them from being part of any tribe and would not voutchsafe them to be counted as members of the Cittie A worthy decree and well beseeming the Romaine wisdome yet this wisdome would I haue to imitate and follow it selfe Rightly hath the councell of the cittie in this well desiring and deseruing commendations shewing it selfe to be in this c truly Romaine appointed that whosoeuer will choose of a Cittizen of Rome to become a Player he should not onely liue secluded from all honors but by the Censors censure should bee made vtterly vncapable of liuing as a member of his proper tribe But now tell mee but this why the Players should be branded with inhability to beare honors and yet the Playes they acte inserted into
Augustine Bishop of Hippo vnto Marcellinus Of the Contents of the first Booke CHAP. 1. AT my first entrance vpon this Discourse of the Citty of God I held it conuenient first of all to stop their mouthes who in their extreame desire of onely temporall blisse and greedinesse after wordly vanities doe make their exclaime vpon Christianity the true and onely meane of saluation whensoeuer it pleases God in his mercy to correct and admonish them rather then in his iustice to punish or afflict them with any temporall inconuenience And because the vnlearned and vulgar sort of those persons are incited against vs the more by the endeuours and examples of those whom they holde learned thinking vpon their assertions that such calamities as haue befallen them of late neuer befell in times past and being confirmed in this error by such as know it for an error and yet dissemble their knowledge wee thought it fi◅e to shew how farre this their opinion swarued from the truth out of such bookes as their owne authors haue left vnto posterity for the better vnderstanding of the estates of precedent ages and to make it plaine apparant that those imaginary gods which they either did worship as then in publick or as now in secret are nothing but most foule vncleane spirits and most deceitfull and malignant deuils so that their onely delight was to haue most bestiall abhominable practises either published as their true exploits or faigned of them by poe◅icall muentions these they cōmanded to be publikely presented in playes at solemne feastes to the end that mans infirmitie presuming vpon these patternes as vpon diuine authorities might neuer be with-drawne from acting the like wickednesse This we confirmed not by meere coniectures but partly by what of late times our selfe hath beheld in the celebration exhibited vnto such gods and partly by their owne writings that left those reports recorded not as in disgrace but as in the honour of the gods So that Varro a man of the greatest learning and authoritie amongst them of any writing of diuinity and humanitie and giuing each obiect his proper attribute according to the worth due respect thereof sticketh not to affirme that those stage playes are not matters of humaine inuention but meerely diuine things whereas if the cittie were quit of all but honest men stage-plaiers should haue no roome in meere humanity Nor did Varro affirme this of himselfe but set it downe as he had seene the vse of these playes in Rome being there borne and brought vp L. VIVES NOw must we passe from the historicall acts of the Romaines vnto their religion sacrifices ceremonies In the first bookes we asked no pardon because for the Romaine acts though they could not be fully gathered out of one author a great part of them being lost with the writings of eloquent Liuie yet out of many they might But in the foure bookes following we must needes intreate pardon if the reader finde vs weake either in diligence or abilitie For there is no author now extant that wrote of this theame Varro's Antiquities are lost with a many more if wee had but them we might haue satisfied Saint Augustine that had his assertions thence But now we must pick y◠vp frō seuerall places which we here produce least comming without any thing we should seeme both to want ornaments bare necessaries If it haue not that grace that is expected we are content in that our want is not wholy to bee shamed at and our endeuours are to bee pardoned in this respect that many learned and great Schollers to omitte the vulgar sort haue beene willingly ignorant in a matter of such intricate study and so little benefite which makes our diligence the lesse faultie This Varro testifies Iuuenall seemes to bee ignorant whether Money were worshipped in Rome for a goddesse or no. Satyra 1. Et si funesta pecunia templo Nondum habitas nullas nummorum ereximus aras Though fatall money doth not sit Ador'd in shrine nor hath an altar yet Notwithstanding Varro reckoneth vp her with God Gold and God Siluer amongst the deities Who wonders then if we be not so exact in a thing that the goodnesse of Christ hath already abolished out of humaine businesses as some of those idolators were or as Varro himselfe was who not-with-standing did truly obiect vnto the Priests that there was much in their deities which they vnderstood not hee being the best read of all that age Besides humaine learning should sustaine no losse if the memory as well as the vse of those fooleries were vtterly exterminate For what is one the better scholler for knowing Ioues tricks of lust or Uenus hers what their sacrifices are what prodigies they send which God owes this ceremonie and which that I my selfe know as much of these dotages as another yet will I maintaine that the ignorance of these things is more profitable then in any other kinde and therefore I haue had the lesse care to particularize of the deities kindes temples altars feasts and ceremonies of euery God and Goddesse though I would not send the reader empty away that desireth to haue some instruction herein The contents of the second and third booke CHAP. 2. AND hauing propounded a methode of our discourse in the end of the first booke whereof we haue prosecuted some parcels in the bookes following now we know that we are to proceed in these things which our order obligeth vs to relate We promised therefore to say some-what against those that impute the Romaines calamities vnto Christianitie and to make a peculiar relation of the euills that wee should finde their cittie or the prouinces thereof to haue endured ere their sacrifices were prohibited all which questionlesse they would haue blamed vs for had they befallen them in the times of our religious lustre and authoritie This we performed sufficiently I thinke in the two last bookes in the former of them reciting the euills which were either the onely ones or the sorest and most extreame I meane those corruptions of manners In this last of those which these fooles haue so maine a feare to suffer as afflictions a of body and goods which the best men often-times pertake of as well as the worst But for the things that make them euill and depraue their soules those they detaine with more then patience with extremitie of desire Then I toucht a little at the citty and so came downe speedily to Augustus But if I would haue dilated not vpon these reciprocall hurts that one man doth to another as was desolations c. but vpon the things that befall them by the very elements and from nature which b Apuleius briefly speakes of in one place of his booke De Mundo saying that all earthly things haue their changes c reuolutions and dissolutions for he saith that by an exceeding earth-quake the ground opened at a certaine time and swallowed vp whole
not This I say is the way that will free all beleeuers wherein Abraham trusting receiued that diuine promise In thy seede shall all the nations bee blessed Abrahamâ—… as a Chaldaean but for to receiue this promise that the seede which was disposed by the Angells in the mediators power to giue this vniuersall way of the soules freedome vnto all nations he was commanded to leaue his owne land and kinred and his fathers house And then was hee first freed from the Chaldaean superstitions and serued the true God to whose promise he firmely trusted This is the way recorded in the Prophet God bee mercifull vnto vs and blesse vs and shew vs the light of his countenance and bee mercifull vnto vs. That thy way may be knowne vpon earth thy sauing health among all nations And long aftâ—…r Abrahams seede beeing incarnate Christ sayth of himselfe I am the way the truth and the life This is the vniuersall way mentioned so long before by the Prophets It shal be in the last daies that the g mountaine of the house of the Lord shal be prepared in the toppe of the mountaines and shal be exalted aboue the hills and all nations shall flie vnto it And many people shall goe and say come let vs goe vppe to the mountaine of the Lord to the house of the God of Iacob and hee will teach vs his way and wee will walke therein For the lawe shall goe forth of Syon and the word of the LORD from Ierusalem This way therefore is not peculiar to some one nation but common to all Nor did the law and word of God stay in Ierusalem or Syon but come from thence to ouerspread all the world Therevpon the mediator being risen from death sayd vnto his amazed and amated disciples Al things must be fulfilled which are written of mee in the law the Prophets and the Psalmes Then opened hee their vnderstanding that they might vnderstand the scriptures saying thus it behooued CHRIST to suffer and to rise againe from the dead the third day and that repentance and remission of sinnes should be preached in his name amongst all nations beginning at Ierusalem This then is the vniuersall way of the soules freedome which the Saints and Prophets beeing at first but a fewe as God gaue grace and those all Hebrewes for that estate was in a h manner consecrated did both adumbrate in their temple sacrifice and Priest-hood and fore-told also in their prophecy often mistically and some-times plainely And the Mediator himselfe and his Apostles reuealing the grace of the new testament made plaine all those significations that successe of precedent times had retained as it pleased God the miracls which I spoke of before euermore giuing confirmation to them For they had not onely angelicall visions and saw the ministers of heauen but euen these simple men relying wholy vpon Gods word cast out deuills cured diseases i commanded wild-beasts waters birds trees elements and starres raised the dead I except the miracles peculiar to our Sauiour chiefly in his birth and resurrection shewing in the first the mistery of k maternall virginity and in the other the example of our renouation This way cleanseth euery soule and prepareth a mortall man in euery part of his for immortality For least that which Prophyry calls the intellect should haue one purgation the spirital another and the body another therefore did our true and powerfull Sauiour take all vpon him Besides this way which hath neuer failed man-kinde either l in prophecies or in their m performances no man hath euer had freedome or euer hath or euer shall haue And wheras Porphyry saith he neuer had any historicall notice of this way what history can be more famous then this that lookes from such a towring authority downe vpon all the world or more faithfull since it so relateth things past as it prophecyeth things to come a great part whereof wee see already performed which giueth vs assured hope of the fulfilling of the rest Porphyry nor euer a Platonist in the world can contemne the predictions of this way albee they concerne but temporall affaires as they doe all other prophecies and diuinations of what sort soeuer for them they say they neither are spoken by worthy men nor to any worthy purpose true for they are either drawne from inferiour causes as 〈◊〉 can presage much n concerning health vpon such or such signes or cls the vncleane spirits fore-tell the artes that they haue already disposed of o confirming the mindes of the guilty and wicked with deedes fitting their words or words fitting their deedes to get themselues a domination in mans infirmity But the holy men of this vniuersall way of ours neuer respect the prophecying of those things holding them iustly trifles yet doe they both know them and often fore-tell them to confirme the faith in things beyond sence and hard to present vnto plainnesse But they were other and greater matters which they as God inspired them did prophecy namely the incarnation of Christ and all things thereto belonging and fulfilled in his name repentance and conuersion of the will vnto God remission of sinnes the grace of iustice faith and increase of beleeuers throughout all the world destinction of Idolatry temptation for triall mundifying of the proficients freedom from euill the day of iudgement resurrection damnation of the wicked and glorification of the City of GOD in 〈◊〉 eternall Kingdome These are the prophecies of them of this way many are fullfilled and the rest assuredly are to come That this streight way leading to the knowledge and coherence of GOD lieth plaine in the holy scriptures vpon whose truth it is grounded they that beleeue not and therefore know not may oppose this but can neuer ouerthrow it And therefore in these ten bookes I 〈◊〉 spoken by the good assistance of GOD sufficient in sound iudgements though some expected more against the impious contradictors that preferre 〈◊〉 gods before the founder of the holy citty whereof wee are to dispute The 〈◊〉 fiue of the ten opposed them that adored their gods for temporall respects 〈◊〉 fiue later against those that adored them for the life to come It remaines now according as wee promised in the first booke to proceede in our discourse of the two citties that are confused together in this world and distinct in the other of whose originall progresse and consummation I now enter to dispute eâ—…â—…oking the assistance of the almighty L. VIVES KInges a high or road the Kinges the Prâ—…tors and the Soldiors way the lawes held holy b Indian The Gymnosophists and the Brachmans much recorded for admirable deeds and doctrine c All the world Therfore is our fayth called Catholike because it was not taught to any peculiar nation as the Iewes was but to all mankind excluding none all may be saued by it and none can without it nor hath euery nation herein as they haue in Paganisme a seuerall religion But
The knowledge De genes ad lit lib. 4. Where hee calleth it morning when the Angells by contemplating of the creation in themselues where is deepe darkenesse lift vp themselues to the knowledge of God and if that in him they learne all things which is more certaine then all habituall knowledge then is it day It growes towards euening when the Angels turne from God to contemplate of the creatures in themselues but this euening neuer becommeth night for the Angells neuer preferre the worke before the worke man that were most deepe darke night Thus much out of Augustine the first mentioner of mornings euenings knowledges What wee must thinke of Gods resting the seauenth day after his sixe daies worke CHAP. 8. BVt whereas God rested the seauenth day froÌ„ al his workes sanctified it this is not to be childishly vnderstood as if God had taken paines he but spake the word and a by that iâ—…telligible and eternal one not vocall nor temporal were all things created But Gods rest signifieth theirs that rest in God as the gladnesse of the house signifies those yâ— are glad in the house though some-thing else and not the house bee the cause thereof How much more then if the beauty of the house make the inhabitants glad so that wee may not onely call it glad vsing the continent for the contained as the whole Theaâ—…er applauded when it was the men the whole medowes bellowed for the Oxen but also vsing the efficient for the effect as a merry epistle that is making the readers merry Theâ—…fore the scripture affirming that God rested meaneth the rest of all things in God whom he by himself maketh to rest for this the Prophet hath promised to all such as he speaketh vnto and for whom he wrote that after their good workes which God doth in them or by them if they first haue apprehended him in this life by faith they shal in him haue rest eternal This was prefigured in the sanctification of the Saboath by Gods command in the old law whereof more at large in due season L. VIVES BY a that intelligible Basil saith that this word is a moment of the will by which wee conceiue better of things What is to be thought of the qualities of Angels according to scripture CHAP. 9. NOw hauing resolued to relate this holy Cities originall first of the angels who make a great part thereof so much the happier in that they neuer a were pilgrims let vs see what testimonies of holy wriâ—…t concerne this point The scriptures speaking of the worlds creation speake not plainly of the Angels when or in what order they were created but that they were created the word heauen includeth In the beginning God created heauen and earth or rather in the world Light whereof I speake now are there signified that they were omitted I cannot thinke holy writ saying that God rested in the seauenth day from all his workes the same booke beginning with In the beginning God created heauen and earth to shew that nothing was made ere then Beginning therefore with heauen earth and earth the first thing created being as the scripture plainely saith with-out forme and voide light being yet vn made and darknesse being vpon the deepe that is vpon a certaine confusion of earth and waters for where light is not darknesse must needes be then the creation proceeding and all being accomplished in sixe dayes how should the angels bee omitted as though they were none of Gods workes from which hee rested the seuenth day This though it be not omitted yet here is it not plaine but else-where it is most euident The three chilâ—… sung in their himne O all yee workes of the Lord blesse yee the Lord amongst which they recken the angels And the Psalmist saith O praise God in the heauens 〈◊〉 him in the heights praise him all yee his angells praise him all his hoasts praise 〈◊〉 sâ—…e and Moone praise him staâ—…res and light Praise him yee heauens of heauens 〈◊〉 the waters that be aboue the heauens praise the name of the Lord for hee spake the 〈◊〉 and they were made he commanded they were created here diuinity calls the â—…ls Gods creatures most plainly inserting them with the rest saying of all He spâ—…ke the word and they were made who dares thinke that the Angels were made after the sixe daies If any one bee so fond hearken this place of scripture confounds him vtterly e When the starres were made all mine angels praised mee with a loude voice Therefore they were made before the starres and the stars were made the fourth day what they were made the third day may wee say so God forbid That dayes worke is fully knowne the earth was parted from the waters and two â—…nts tooke formes distinct and earth produced all her plants In the second day then neither Then was the firmament made betweene the waters aboue and below and was called Heauen in which firmament the starres were created the fourth day c Wherefore if the angels belong vnto Gods sixe dayes worke they are that light called day to commend whose vnity it was called one day not the first day nor differs the second or third from this all are but this one doubled vâ—…to 6. or 7. sixe of Gods workes the 7. of his rest For when God said Let there be light there was light if we vnderstand the angels creation aright herein they are made partakers of that eternall light the vnchangeable wisdome of God all-creating namely the onely be gotten sonne of God with whose light they in their creation were illuminate and made light called day in the participation of the vnchangeable light day that Word of God by which they all things else were created For the true light that lightneth euery man that coÌ„meth into this world this also lightneth euery pure angell making it light not in it selfe but in God from whom if an Angell fall it becommeth impure as all the vncleane spirits are being no more a light in God but a darknesse in it selfe depriued of all perticipation of the eternall light for Euill hath no nature but the losse of good that is euill L. VIVES NEuer were a pilgrims But alwayes in their country seeing alwayes the face of the father b When the starres Iob. 38 7. So the Septuagints doe translate it as it is in the teâ—…t c Wherefore if The Greeke diuine put the creation of spirituals before that of things corporall making God vse them as ministers in the corporall worke and so held Plato Hierome following Gregorie and his other Greeke Maisters held so also But of the Greekes Basil and Dionysius and almost all the Latines Ambrose Bede Cassiodorus and Augustine in this place holds that God made althings together which agreeth with that place of Ecclesiasticus chap. 18. vers 1. He that liueth for euer made althings together Of the vncompounded vnchangeable Trinity the Father the Sonne
ones sorrow is an opinion of a present euill and feare of a future and of these affects come all the rest Enuy Emulation Detraction Pitty Vexation Mourning Sadnesse Lamentation Care Doubt Troublesomnesse Affliction Desperation all these come of sorrow and Sloath Shame Error Timorousnesse Amazement Disturbance and Anxiety from feare And then Exultation Delight and Boasting of Ioy with Wrath Fury Hatred Emnity Discorde Need and Affectation all of Desire Cic. Tusc. quest lib. 4. c Cannot call him Of this hereafter What it is to liue according to Man and to liue according to God CHAP. 4. THerefore a man liuing according to man and not according to God is like the deuill because an Angell indeed should not liue according to an Angel but according to God to remaine in the truth and speake truth from him and not lies from himselfe For the Apostle speakes thus of man If the truth of GOD hath abounded through my lying calling lying his the truth of God Therefore he that liues according to the truth liues according vnto God not according to himself For God said I am the truth But he yâ— liueth not so but according to himself liueth according to lying not that man whom God that neuer createdlie did create is the author of lying but because man was created vpright to liue according to his creator and not himselfe that is to doe his will rather then his owne But not to liue as hee was made to liue this is a lie For hee a would bee blessed and yet will not liue in a course possible to attaine it b What can there bee more lying then such a will And therefore it is not vnfitly sayd euery sinne is a lie For wee neuer sinne but with a will to doe our selues good or noâ—… to doe our selues hurt Therefore is it a lie when as that we thinke shall doe vs good turnes vnto our hurt or that which we thinke to better our selues by makes vs worse whence is this but because that man can haue his good but onely from God whome hee forsaketh in sinning and none from himselfe in liuing according to whom hee sinneth Whereas therefore wee sayd that the contrariety of the two citties arose herevpon because some liued according to the flesh and others according to the spirit we may likewise say it is because some liue according vnto Man and other some vnto God For Paul saith plainely to the Corinthians Seeing there is emulation and contention amongst you are you not carnall and walke accordâ—…ng to man To walke therefore according to man is carnall man beeing vnderstood in his inferior part flesh For those which hee calles carnall here he calleth naturall before saying c What man knoweth the things of a man but the spirit of a man which is in him euen so no man knoweth the things of God but the Spirit of God Now we haue not receiued the spirit of the Word but the Spirit which is of God that wee might know the things that God hath giuen vs which things also we speake not in the words which mans wisdome teacheth but d being taught by the spirit comparing spiriâ—…ll things with spirituall things But the naturall man perceiueth not the things of the spirit of God e for they are foolishnesse vnto him Vnto those naturall men hee spake this a little afterwards I could not speake vnto you brethren as vnto spirituall men but as vnto carnall And here is that figure in speech that vseth the part for the whole to bee vnderstood for the whole man may either bee ment by the soule or by the flesh both which are his parts and so a naturall man and a carnall man are not seuerall but all one namely one that liueth according to man according as those places afore-cited doe intend By the workes of the lavv f shall no flesh bee iustified and that where it is said that g Seuenty fiue soules vâ—…ent dovvne vvith Iacob into Egipt in the former by flesh is ment man and in the later by 75. soules are meant 75. persons And in this not in the words which mans wisdome teacheth he might haue sayd which carnall wisdome teacheth as also according to the flesh for according vnto man if hee had pleased And it was more apparant in the subsequence for when one saith I am Pauls and another I am Apollo's are you not men That which he had called naturall and carnall before he now more expressly calleth man meaning you liue according to Man and not according to God whom if you followed in your liues you should bee made gods of men L. VIVES HEE a would No man liueth so wickedly but hee desireth beatitude though his course lead him quite another way directly vnto misery b What can There is nothing more deceiptfull then the wicked For it deludeth him extreamely in whom it ruleth c What man This place is cited otherwise more expresly in the latine text of the first booke d Taught by the spâ—…it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. But some reade by the Doctrine of the spirit e For they are The spirituall things of GOD seeme fooleries vnto carnall and vnsettled men as the Pagans â—…dome and vertues were scorned of the ritch gnoffes that held shades for substances and vertues for meere vanities Thence hath Plato his caue wherein men were vsed to shapes â—…d appearing shadowes that they thought their had beene no other bodies Derep. lib. 7. f shall no flesh Some read it in the present tense but erroneously the greeke is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 abitur g Seuenty fiue soules Soule for man is an Hebraicall phrase for life a greeke phrase vsed also by the latine Nonius Marcellus saith Uirgil vseth it for bodies there where he saith Intereasocios inhumataque corpora terrae Mandemus qui solus honos Acheronte sub imo est Ite ait egregias animas quae sanguine nobis Hanc patriam peperere suo Meane while th' vnburied bodies of our mates Giue we to Graue sole honor after Fates Goe honor those braue soules with their last dues Who with their blood purchas'd this land for vs. Whether it be so or no let him looke to it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 indeed in the Greeke is sometimes vsed for the whole creature That the Platonists teach the natures of soule and body better then the Manichees yet they erre in ascribing sinne vnto the nature of the flesh CHAP. 5. WE should not therfore iniure our creator in imputing our vices to our flesh the flesh is good but to leaue the creator and liue according to this created good is the mischiefe whether a man do choose to liue according to the body or the soule or both which make full man who therfore may be called by either of them For he that maketh the soules nature the greatest good and the bodies the greatest euill doth both carnally affect the soule and carnally auoid the flesh conceiuing of
all L. VIVES THe a rulers Into how excellent a breuiat hath he drawne the great discourses of a good commonweale namely that the ruler thereof doe not compell nor command but standing 〈◊〉 loâ—…t like centinells onely giue warnings and counsells thence were Romes old Magistrates called Confulls and that the subiects doe not repine nor resist but obey with alacrity b They were Some of the Poets and Philosophers drew the people into great errors and some followed them with the people c There is no No Philosophy Rethorike or other arte the onely art here is to know and worship God the other are left to the world to be admired by wâ—…ldings Finis lib. 14. THE CONTENTS OF THE fifteenth booke of the City of God 1. Of the two contrary courses taken by mans progeny from the beginning 2. Of the Sonnes of the flesh and the sonnes of promise 3. Of Saras barrennesse which God turned into fruitfullnesse 4. Of the coÌ„flicts peace of the earthly city 5. Of that murtherer of his brother that was the first founder of the earthly Citty whose act the builder of Rome paralell'd in murdering his brother also 6. Of the languors that Gods cittizens endure on earth as the punishments of sinne during their pilgrimage and of the grace of God curing them 7. Of the cause obstinacy of Caines wickednesse which was not repressed by Gods owne words 8. The reason why Cayne was the first of man-kinde that ouer built a Citty 9. Of the length of life and bignesse of body that â—…en had before the deluge 10. Of the difference that seemes to bee betweene the Hebrews computation â—…nd ours 11. Of Mathusalems yeares who seemeth to haue liued 14. yeares after the Deluge 12. Of such as beleeue not that men of olde Time liued so long as is recorded 13. Whether wee ought to follow the Hebrew computation or the Septuagints 14. Of the parity of yeares measured by the same spaces of old and of late 15. Whether the men of old abstained from women vntill that time that the scriptures say they begot children 16. Of the lawes of marriage which the first women might haue different from the succeeding 17. Of the two heads and Princes of the two Citties borne both of one Father 18. That the significations of Abel Seth and Enos are all pertinent vnto Christ and his body the Church 19. What the translation of Enoch signified 20. Concerning Caines succession being but eight from Adam whereas Noah is the tenth 21. Why the generation of Caine is continewed downe along from the naming of his son Enoch whereas the scripture hauing named Enos Seths sonne goeth back againe to beginne Seths generation at Adam 22. Of the fall of the sonnes of God by louing strange women whereby all but eight perished 23. Whether it bee credible that the Angells being of an incorporeall nature should lust after the women of earth and marrying them beget Gyants of them 24. How the wordes that God spake of those that were to perish in the deluge And their daies shal be an hundred and twenty yeares are to be vnderstood 25. Of Gods vnpassionate and vnaltering anger 26. That Noah his Arke signifieth Christ and his Church in all things 27. Of the Arke and the Deluge that the meaning thereof is neither meerly historicall nor meerely allegoricall FINIS THE FIFTEENTH BOOKE OF THE CITTIE OF GOD Written by Saint Augustine Bishop of Hippo vnto Marcellinus Of the two contrary courses taken by mans progeny from the beginning CHAP. 1. OF the place and felicity of the locall Paradise togither with mans life and fall therein there are many opinions many assertions and many bookes as seuerall men thought spake and wrote What we held hereof or could gather out of holy scriptures correspondent vnto their truth and authority we related in some of our precedent bookes If they be farther looked into they will giue birth to more questions and longer dispuâ—… then this place can permit vs to proceed in our time is not so large as to 〈◊〉 vs to sticke scrupulously vpon euery question that may bee asked by buâ—…s that are more curious of inquiry then capable of vnderstanding I think 〈◊〉 sufficiently discussed the doubts concerning the beginning of the world 〈◊〉 and man-kinde which last is diuided into two sorts such as liue accorâ—… Man and such as liue according to God These we mistically call Citâ—…â—…cieties â—…cieties the one predestinate to reigne eternally with GOD the other â—…ed to perpetuall torment with the deuill This is their end of which 〈◊〉 Now seeing we haue sayd sufficient concerning their originall both 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—…ngells whose number wee know not and in the two first Parents of manâ—… thinke it fit to passe on to their progression from mans first ofspring vnâ—…â—…cease to beget any more Betweene which two points all the time inâ—… wherein the liuers euer succeed the diers is the progression of these two 〈◊〉 Caine therefore was the first begotten of those two that were man-kinds Pâ—…s and hee belongs to the Citty of man Abell was the later and hee beâ—… to the Citty of GOD. For as we see that in that one man as the Apostle 〈◊〉 that which is spirituall was not first but that which is naturall first and 〈◊〉 â—…he spiritual wherevpon all that commeth of Adams corrupted nature must 〈◊〉 be euill and carnall at first and then if he be regenerate by Christ becomâ—… good and spirituall afterward so in the first propagation of man and proâ—… of the two Citties of which we dispute the carnall cittizen was borne first 〈◊〉 the Pilgrim on earth or heauenly cittizen afterwards being by grace preâ—… and by grace elected by grace a pilgrim vpon earth and by grace a 〈◊〉 in heauen For as for his birth it was out of the same corrupted masse 〈◊〉 â—…as condemned from the beginning but God like a potter for this simyly thâ—…â—…ostle himselfe vseth out of the same lumpe made one vessell to honor and 〈◊〉 to reproach The vessell of reproach was made first and the vessell of honor â—…ards For in that one man as I sayd first was reprobation whence wee 〈◊〉 â—…eeds begin and wherein we need not remaine and afterwards goodnesse 〈◊〉 which we come by profiting and comming thether therin making our abode Wherevpon it followes that none can bee good that hath not first beene euill though all that be euill became not good but the sooner a man betters himselfe the quicker doth this name follow him abolishing the memory of the other Therefore it is recorded of Caine that he built a Citty but Abell was a pilgrim and built none For the Citty of the Saints is aboue though it haue cittizens here vpon earth wherein it liueth as a pilgrim vntill the time of the Kingdome come and then it gathereth all the cittizens together in the resurrection of the body and giueth them a Kingdome to reigne in with their King for euer and euer
vnder the 〈◊〉 of the b Apostles and m Prophets which were all afterward examined 〈◊〉 â—…ust from canonicall authority But according to the Hebrew canonicall â—…res there is no doubt but that there were Gyants vpon the earth before 〈◊〉 â—…ge and that they were the sonnes of the men of earth and Cittizens of â—…all Citty vnto which the sonnes of God being Seths in the flesh forsakâ—…â—…ice adioyned them-selues Nor is it strange if they begot Gyants They 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all Giants but there were farre more before the deluge then haue 〈◊〉 â—…ce whome it pleased the creator to make that wee might learne that a 〈◊〉 should neither respect hugenesse of body nor fairenesse of face but 〈◊〉 his beatitude out of the vndecaying spirituall and eternall goods that 〈◊〉 â—…iar to the good and not that he shareth with the bad which another 〈◊〉 â—…eth to vs saying There were the Gyants famous from the beginning that 〈◊〉 so great stature and so expert in war These did not the Lord choose neither 〈◊〉 the way of knowledge vnto them but they were destroyed because they 〈◊〉 wisdome and perished through there owne foolishnesse L. VIVES 〈◊〉 a is those That Augustine held that the Angells and Deuills had bodies he that 〈◊〉 â—…th this worke and his bookes de natura daemon de genesi ad literam shall see plainâ—…â—…eld it himselfe and spake it not as an other mans opinion as Peter Lumbard saith 〈◊〉 â—…ke It was his owne nor followed hee any meane authors herein hauing the 〈◊〉 and then Origen Lactantius Basil and almost all the writers of that time on his 〈◊〉 neede saith Michael Psellus de dâ—…monib that the spirits that are made messengers 〈◊〉 â—…ue bodies too as Saint Paul sayth whereby to mooue to stay and to appeare viâ—…â—…nd whereas the Scripture may in 〈◊〉 place call â—…hem incorporeall I answer that is 〈◊〉 of our grosser and more solid bodies in comparison of which the transparent inâ—… bodies are ordinarly called incorporeall Augustine giues the Angels most subtiliatâ—… 〈◊〉 â—…visible actiue and not paâ—…ue and such the Deuills had ere they fell but then 〈◊〉 were condensate and passiue as Psellus holds also b 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is Nâ—…ius 〈◊〉 a messenger 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is Mitto to send and therefore the Angell saith Hierom is 〈◊〉 â—…f nature but of ministery And hereof comes Euangelium called the good message Homer and Tully vnto Atticus vse it often c Angels Turning 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into n and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into 〈◊〉 d And seeing Psellus affirmeth out of one Marke a great Daemonist that the deuills câ—…st forth sperme producing diuerse little creatures and that they haue genitories but not like mens from whence the excrement passeth but all deuills haue not such but onely the waâ—…y and the earthly who are also nourished like spunges with attraction of humor e Incubâ—… Oâ—… 〈◊〉 to lye vpon They are diuels that commix with women those that put them-selues vnder men as women are called succubi There are a people at this day that glory that their descent is from the deuills who accompanied with women in mens shapes and with men in womens This in my conceite is viler then to draw a mans pedegree from Pyrates theeues or famous hacksters as many doâ—… The Egiptians say that the Diuells can onely accompanie carnally with women and not with men Yet the Greekes talke of many men that the 〈◊〉 haue loued as Hiacinthus Phorbas and Hippolitus of Sicione by Apollo and Cyparissus by Sylâ—…nus f Yet doe I firmely Lactantius lib. 2. cap. 15. saith that the Angels whome God had appointed to preserue and garde man-kinde being commanded by God to beware of loosing their celestiall and substantiall dignity by earthly pollution not-with-standing were allured by their dayly conuersation with the women to haue carnall action with them and so sinning were kept out of heauen and cast downe to earth and those the deuill tooke vp to bee his agents and officers But those whom they begot being neither pure Angels nor pure men but in a meane betweene both were not cast downe to hell as their parents were not taken vp into heauen and thus became there two kindes of deuills one celestiall and another earthly And these are the authors of all mischiese whose chiefetaine the great Dragon is Thuâ—… saith Eusebius also lib. 5. And Plutarch confirmeth it saying That the fables of the Gods signified some-things that the deuills had done in the old times and that the fables of the Giants and Titans were all acts of the deuills This maketh mee some-times to doubt whether these were those that were done before the deluge of which the scripture saith And when the Angels of God saw the daughters of men c. For some may suspect that those Giants their spirits are they whome ancient Paganisme tooke for their Gods and that their warres were the subiect of those fables of the Gods g For the scriptures Because 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is both good and faire Terence Phorm Eâ—…ch h Aquila In Adrians time hee turned the Scriptures out of Hebrew into Greeke Hierom calles him a curious and diligent translator and he was the first â—…ter the seauentie that came out in Greeke Euseâ—…ius liketh him not but to our purpose hee râ—…deth it the sonnes of the Gods meaning the holy Gods or Angels for God standing in the congregation of the people and he will iudge the Gods in the midst of it And Symachus following this sence said And when the sonnes of the mighties beheld the daughters of men c. i Apochrypha Sâ—…reta of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to hide They were such bookes as the Church vsed not openly but had them in priuate to read at pleasure as the Reuelation of the Apostle Peter the booke of his Actes c. k Epistle Hierom vpon the first Chapter of Paul to â—…itus â—…aith that Iudâ—… citeth an Apocryphall booke of Henochs Iudes words are these But Michael the Arcâ—…gell when hee stroâ—…e against the deuill and disputed about the body of Moyses durst 〈◊〉 blâ—… him with cursed speaking but said onely The Lord rebuke thee Which Enochâ—…yd â—…yd these words is vncertaine for they doe not seeme to bee his that was the seuenth from Adam For he was long before Moses vnlesse hee spake prophetically of things to come And therefore Hiâ—…rome intimateth that the booke onely whence this was was entitled Enoch l Prophets As the Nâ—…rites counterfeited a worke vnder Hieremiâ—…s name Aug. in Matt. â—…ap 27. m Aâ—… As Thomas his Gospel Peters reuelation and Barnabas his Gospell which was brought 〈◊〉 Alexandria signed with his owne hand in the time of the Emperor Zeno. How the words that God spake of those that were to perish in the deluge and their dayes shall be an hundred and twenty yeares are to bee vnderstood CHAP. 24. BVt whereas God said Their dayes shall be a hundred
India the Easterne sea Taproban and the Iles thereabouts all found out by the power of Alexanders nauy and those you shall find Antipodes to vs if you marke the posture of the Globe diligently for they haue the same eleuation of their South pole and bee in the same distance from the occidentall point that some of the countries in our climat haue of our North poynt b Their feete As Tully saith in Scipios dreame c Coniecture For the temperature of the Southerne Zone is iust like to ours d Each part The world is round and Heauen is euery where a like aboue it Of the generation of Sem in which the Citty of God lyeth downe vnto Abraham CHAP. 10. SEMS generation it is then that wee must follow to find the Citty of God after the deulge as Seth deriued it along before Therefore the Scripture hauing shewen the Earthly Citty to bee in Babilon that is in confusion returnes to the Patriarch Sem and carieth his generation downe vntill Abraham counting euery mans yeares when he had his sonne and how long hee liued where by the way I thinke of my promise of explayning why one of Hebers sonns was called Phalech because in his dayes the earth was diuided how was it diuided by the confusion of tongues So then the sonnes of Sem that concerne not this purpose being letten passe the Scripture reciteth those that conuey his seed downe vnto Abraham as it did with those that conueyed Seths seede before the deluge downe vnto Noah It beginneth therefore thus These are the generations of Sem Sem was an hundred yeares old and begat a Arphaxad two yeares after the floud And Sem liued after hee begat Arphaxad fiue hundred yeares and begat sonnes and daughters and dyed And thus of the rest shewing when euery one begot his sonne that belonged to this generation that descendeth to Abraham and how long euery one liued after hee had begotten his sonne and begot more sonnes and daughters to shew vs 〈◊〉 a great multitude might come of one least wee should make any childish 〈◊〉 at the few that it nameth Sems seede beeing sufficient to replenish so 〈◊〉 kingdomes chiefly for the Assyrian Monarchie where Ninus the subduer 〈◊〉 the East raigned in maiesty and left a mighty Empire to bee possessed 〈◊〉 yeares after by his posterity But let vs not stand vpon trifles longer then 〈◊〉 must wee will not reckon the number of euery mans yeares till he dyed â—…ely vntill hee begat the sonne who is enranked in this genealogicall rolle 〈◊〉 gathering these from the deluge to Abraham we will briefly touch at other â—…ents as occasion shall necessarily import In the second yeare therefore 〈◊〉 the deluge Sem being two hundred yeares old begat Arphaxat Arphaxat 〈◊〉 a hundred thirty fiue yeares old begat Canaan hee beeing a hundred and 〈◊〉 yeares old begat Sala and so old was Sala when hee begot Heber Heber 〈◊〉 hundred thirty and foure yeares old when he begat Phalec Phalec a hundâ—… and thirty and begat Ragau hee one hundred thirty and two and begat Seâ—…ruch one hundred and thirty and begot Nachor Nachor seauenty and nine 〈◊〉 got Thara b Thara seauenty and begot Abram whom God afterward 〈◊〉 Abraham So then from the deluge to Abraham are one thousand seauenty 〈◊〉 yeares according to the vulgar translation that is the Septuagints But 〈◊〉 Hebrew the yeares are farre fewer whereof wee can heare little or no 〈◊〉 shewen 〈◊〉 therefore in this quest of the Citty of God wee cannot say in this time 〈◊〉 those men were not all of one language those seauenty and two naâ—… meane wherein wee seeke it that all man-kinde was fallen from GODS 〈◊〉 â—…uice but that it remained onely in Sems generation descending to 〈◊〉 by Arphaxad But the earthly Citty was visible enough in that preâ—…ion of building the tower vp to heauen the true type of deuillish exalâ—… therein was it apparant and euer after that But whether this other 〈◊〉 â—…ot before or lay hid or rather both remained in Noahs sonnes the godly 〈◊〉 two blessed ones and the wicked in that one accursed from whom that 〈◊〉 giant-hunter against the Lord descended it is hard to discerne for it may 〈◊〉 that most likely that before the building of Babilon GOD might haue 〈◊〉 of some of Chams children and the deulil of some of Sems and Iaphets 〈◊〉 may not beleeue that the earth wanted of eyther sort For that saying 〈◊〉 all gone out of the way they are all corrupt there is not one that doth good no 〈◊〉 euen in both the Psalmes that haue this saying this followeth Doe not 〈◊〉 worke iniquity know that they eate vp my people as it vvere bread so that 〈◊〉 his people then And therefore that same No not one is meant restricâ—… 〈◊〉 the sonnes of men and not the sonnes of GOD for hee sayd before 〈◊〉 looked downe from heauen vpon the sonnes of men to see if there were any 〈◊〉 â—…ld vnderstand and seeke GOD and then the addition that followeth 〈◊〉 that it was those that liued after the lawe of the flesh and not of the 〈◊〉 â—…ome hee speaketh of L. VIVES ARphaxad a From him saith Hierome the Chaldaeans descended b Thara The 70. call him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Hebrew Terah Tha the Hebrew tongue so called afterward of Heber was the first language vpon the earth and remained in his family when that great confusion was CHAP. 11. VVHerefore euen as sinne wanted not sonnes when they had all but one language for so it was before the deluge and yet all deserued to perish therein but Noah and his family so when mans presumption was punished with his languages confusion whence the Citty Babilon their proud worke had the name Hebers a house failed not but kept the old language still Where-vpon as I said Heber was reckoned the first of all the sonnes of Sem who begot each of them an whole nation yet was hee the fift from Seth in descent So then because this language remained in his house that was confounded in all the rest being credibly held the onely language vpon earth before this hence it had the name of the Hebrew tongue for then it was to bee nominally distinct from the other tongues as other tongues had their proper names But when it was the tongue of all it had no name but the tongue or language of man-kinde wherein all men spake Some may say if that the earth was diuided by the languages in Phalechs time Hebers sonne it should rather haue beene called his name then Hebers O but wee must vnderstand that b Heber did therefore giue his sonne Phalec such a name that is diuision because hee was borne vnto him iust at the time when the earth was diuided so meanes the Scripture when it saith in his dayes the earth was deuided For if Heber were not liuing when the confusion befell the tongue that was to remaine in his family should not haue
like a parcells of some poâ—…â—…hose â—…hose intent concerneth a theame far different Now to shew this testimoâ—… one in euery Psalme of the booke wee must expound the Psalme 〈◊〉 to do how great a worke it is both others and our volumes wherein wee 〈◊〉 done it do expressly declare let him that can and list read those and there â—…ll see how abundant the prophecies of Dauid concerning Christ and of his Church were namely concerning that celestiall King and the Citty which hee builded L. VIVES LIke e parcells Centones are peeces of cloath of diuerse colours vsed any way on the back or on the bedde Cic. Cato Maior Sisenna C. Caesar. Metaphorically it is a poeme patched out of other poems by ends of verses as Homero-centon and Uirgilio-centon diuerse made by Proba and by Ausonius b Retrograde poeme Sotadicall verses that is verses backward and forwards as Musa mihi causas memora quo numine laesa Laeso numine quo memora causas mihi Musa Sotadicall verses may bee turned backwards into others also as this Iambick Pio precare thure caelestum numina turne it Numina caelestum thure precare piâ—… it is a Pâ—…ntameter They are a kinde of wanton verse as Quintilian saith inuented saith Strabo or rather vsed saith Diomedes by Sotades whome Martiall calleth Gnidus some of Augustines copies read it a great poeme and it is the fitter as if one should pick verses out of some greater workes concerning another purpose and apply them vnto his owne as some Centonists did turning Uirgils and Homers words of the Greekes and Troyan warres vnto Christ and diuine matters And Ausonius turneth them vnto an Epithalamion Of the fortie fiue Psalme the tropes and truths therein concerning Christ and the Church CHAP. 16. FOr although there be some manifest prophecies yet are they mixed with figures putting the learned vnto a great deale of labour in making the ignorant vnderstand them yet some shew Christ and his Church at first sight though we must at leisure expound the difficulties that we finde therein as for example Psal. 45. Mine heart hath giuen out a good word I dedicate my workes to the King My tongue is the pen of a ready writer Thou fairer then the children of men grâ—… is powred in thy lippes for GOD hath blessed thee for euer Girde thy sworde vpon thy â—…high thou most mighty Proceede in thy beauty and glory and reigne prosperouly because of thy truth thy iustice and thy gentlenesse thy right hand shall guide thee wondrously Thine arrowes are sharpe most mighty against the hearts of the Kings enemies the people shall fall vnder thee Thy throne O GOD is euer-lasting and the scepter of thy kingdome a scepter of direction Thou louest iustice and hatest iniquitie therefore GOD euen thy GOD hath annoynted thee with oyle of gladnesse aboue thy fellowes All thy garments smell of Myrrhe Alloes and Cassia from the Iâ—…ry palaces wherein the Kings daughters had made thee glâ—…d in their honour Who is so dull that he discerneth not Christ our God in whome we beleeue by this place hearing him called GOD whose throne is for euer and annoynâ—…d by GOD not with visible but with spirituall Chrisme who is so barbarously ignorant in this immortall and vniuersall religion that hee heareth not that Christs name commeth of Chrisma vnction Heere wee know CHRIST let vs see then vnto the types How is hee father then vnto the sonnes of men in a beauty farre more amiable then that of the body What is his sword his shaftes c. all these are tropicall characters of his power and how they are all so let him that is the subiect to this true iust and gentle King looke to at his leasure And then behold his Church that spirituall spouse of his and that diuine wed-locke of theirs here it is The Queene stood on thy right hand her â—…lothing was of gold embrodered with diuers collours Heaâ—…e Oh daughter and 〈◊〉 attend and forget thy people and thy fathers house For the King taketh pleasure in thy beauty and hee is the Lord thy God The sonnes of Tyre shall adore him 〈◊〉 guifts the ritch men of the people shall â—…ooe him with presents The Kings daughter 〈◊〉 all glorious within her cloathing is of wrought gold The Virgins shal be brought after her vnto the King and her kinsfolkes and companions shal follow her with ioy and gladnesse shal they be brought and shall enter into the Kings chamber Instead of fathers 〈◊〉 shalt haue children to make them Princes through out the earth They shal remember thy name O Lord from a generation to generation therefore shall their people giue â—…ks vnto thee world without end I doe not think any one so besotted as to thinke this to be meant of any personal woman no no she is his spouse to whoÌ„ it is said Thy throne O God is euerlasting and the scepter of thy Kingdome a scepter of direction 〈◊〉 hast loued iustice and hated iniquity therefore the Lord thy God hath annointed 〈◊〉 â—…ith the oyle of gladnesse before thy fellowes Namely Christ before the christiâ—… For they are his fellowes of whose concord out of all nations commeth this Queene as an other psalme saith the Citty of the great King meaning the spirituall Syon Syon is speculation for so it speculateth the future good that it is to receiue and thither directeth it all the intentions This is the spirituall Ierusalem whereof wee haue all this while spoken this is the foe of that deuillish Babilon hight confusion and that the foe of this Yet is this City by regeneration freed from the Babilonian bondage and passeth ouer the worst King for the best that euer was turning from the deuill and comming home to Christ for which it is sayd forget thy people and thy fathers house c. The Israelites were a part of thiâ—… â—…tty in the flesh but not in that faith but became foes both to this great 〈◊〉 Queene Christ was killed by them and came from them to b those 〈◊〉 â—…euer saw in the flesh And therefore our King saith by the mouth of the 〈◊〉 in another place thou hast deliuered me from the contentions of the people 〈◊〉 me the head of the heathen a people whom I haue not knowne hath serued 〈◊〉 assoone as they heard me obeyed me This was the Gentiles who neuer 〈◊〉 â—…rist in the flesh nor hee them yet hearing him preached they beleeued 〈◊〉 â—…astly that he might well say as soone as they heard me they obeyed mee for 〈◊〉 â—…es by hearing This people conioyned with the true Israell both 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and spirit is that Citty of God which when it was onely in Israell brought 〈◊〉 â—…hrist in the flesh for thence was the Virgin Mary from whom Christ 〈◊〉 our man-hood vpon him Of this cittie thus saith another psalme c 〈◊〉 â—…ll call it our Mother Sion he became man therein the most high hath founded 〈◊〉 was this most high but
doe better for the solution of this question to beginne at that time chiefly because then the Holy Spirit descended vpon that society wherein the second law the New Testament was to bee professed according as Christ had promised For the first law the Old Testament was giuen in Sina by Moyses but the later which Christ was to giue was prophecied in these words The law shall goe forth of Zion and the word of the LORD from Ierusalem Therefore hee said himselfe that it was fit that repentance should bee preached in his name throughout all nations yet beginning at Ierusalem There then beganne the beleefe in CHRIST crucified and risen againe There did this faith heate the heartes of diuers thousands already who sold their goods to giue to the poore and came cheerefully to CHRIST and to voluntary pouerty withstanding the assalts of the bloud-thirsty Iewes with a pacience stronger then an armed power If this now were not done by Magike why might not the rest in all the world bee as cleare But if Peters magike had made those men honour Christ who both crucified him and derided him beeing crucified then I aske them when their three hundered three scorce and fiue yeares must haue an end CHRST died in the a two Gemini's consulshippe the eight of the Calends of Aprill and rose againe the third daie as the Apostles saw with their eyes and felt with their hands fortie daies after ascended hee into Heauen and tenne daies after that is fiftie after the resurrection came the Holy Ghost and then three thousand men beleeued in the Apostles preaching of him So that then his name beganne to spread as wee beleeue and it was truely prooued by the operation of the Holy Ghost but as the Infidels feigne by Peters magike And soone after fiue thousand more beleeued through the preaching of Paul and Peters miraculous curing of one that had beene borne lame and lay begging at the porch of the Temple Peter with one word In the name of our LORD IESVS CHRIST set him sound vpon his feete Thus the church gotte vppe by degrees Now reckon the yeares by the Consulls from the descension of the Holie Spirit that was in the Ides of Maie vnto the consulshippe of b Honorius and Eutychian and you shall finde full three hundered three score and fiue yeares expired Now in the next yeare in the consulship of c Theodorus Manlius when christianity should haue beene vtterly gone according to that Oracle of deuills or fiction of fooles what is done in other places wee neede not inquire but for that famous cittie of Carthage wee know that Iouius and Gaudentius two of Honorius his Earles came thether on the tenth of the Calends of Aprill and brake downe all the Idols and pulled downe their Temples It is now thirty yeares agoe since almost and what increase christianity hath had since is apparant inough and partly by a many whom the expectation of the fulfilling of that Oracle kept from beeing reconciled to the truth who since are come into the bosome of the church discouering the ridiculousnesse of that former expectation But wee that are christians re â—…re indeed and name doe not beleeue in Peter but in f him that Peter beleeued in Wee are edifyed by Peters sermons of Christ but not bewitched by his charmes nor deceiued by his magike but furthered by his religion CHRIT that taught Peter the doctrine of eternitie teacheth vs also But now it is time to set an end to this booke wherein as farre as neede was wee haue runne along with the courses of the Two Citties in their confused progresse the one of which the Babilon of the earth hath made her false gods of mortall men seruing them and sacrificing to them as shee thought good but the other the heauenly Ierusalem shee hath stucke to the onely and true GOD and is his true and pure sacrifice her selfe But both of these doe feele one touch of good and euill fortune but not with one faith nor one hope nor one law and at length at the last iudgement they shall bee seuered for euer and either shall receiue the endlesse reward of their workes Oâ—… these two endes wee are now to discourse L. VIVES IN the a two First sure it is Christ suffered vnder Tyberius the Emperor Luke the Euangelist maketh his baptisme to fall in the fifteenth yeare of Tyberius his reigne So then his passion must be in the eighteenth or ninteenth for three yeares hee preached saluation Hier. So â—…ith Eusebius alledging heathen testimonies of that memorable eclips of the Sunne as namely our of Phlegon a writer of the Olympiads who saith that in the fourth yeare of the two hundered and two Olympiade the eighteenth of Tyberius his reigne the greatest eclips befell that euer was It was midnight-darke at noone-day the starres were all visible and an earth-quake shooke downe many houses in Nice a city of Bythinia But the two Gemini Ruâ—… and Fusius were Consulls in the fifteenth yeare of Tyberius as is easily prooued out of Tacitus lib. 5. and out of Lactantius lib. 4. cap. 10. where hee saith that in that yeare did Christ suffer and him doth Augustine follow here But Sergius Galba afterwards Emperor and L. Sylla were Consulls in the eighteenth yeare b Honorius and In the consulship of these two 〈◊〉 draue the Gothes and Vandals into Italy Honorius the Emperor beeing Consull the fourth time Prosper saith this was not vntill the next yeare Stilicon and Aurelian beeing 〈◊〉 c Theodorus Claudian made an exellent Panegyrike for his consulship wherein hee sheweth that hee had beene Consul before Prosper maketh him Consull before Honorius his fourth Consulship but I thinke this is an error in the time as well as in the copie For it must bee read Beeing the second time Consul Eutropius the Eunuch was made Consull with him but soone after hee was put to death Wherevpon it may bee that Eutropius his name was blotted out of the registers and Theodorus Manlius hauing no fellow was taken for two Theodorus and Manlius as Cassiodorus taketh him but mistakes himselfe Yet about that time they began to haue but one Consull d Now 30. yeares Vnto the third yeare of Theodosius Iunior wherein Augustine wrote this e In him that Peter For who is Paul and who is Apollo the ministers by whom you beleeue Finis lib. 18. THE CONTENTS OF THE nineteenth booke of the City of God That Varro obserued 288. sectes of the Philophers in their question of the perfection of goodnesse 2. Varro his reduction of the finall good out of al these differences vnto three heads three definitions one onely of which is the true one 3. Varro his choise amongst the three forenamed sects following therin the opinion of Antiochus author of the old Academicall sect 4. The Christians opinion of the cheefest good and euill which the Philosophers held to bee within themselues 5. Of liuing sociably with our neighbours how
much latine spoken in their Prouinces in so much that Spaine and France did wholy forget their owne languages and spake all latine Nor might any Embassage bee preferred to the Senate but in latine Their endeauour was most glorious and vsefull herein whatsoeuer their end was c Yea but Here hee disputeth against the Gentiles out of their owne positions That true friendship cannot bee secure amongst the incessant perills of this present life CHAP. 8. BVt admit that a man bee not so grossely deceiued as many in this wretched life are as to take his foe for his friend nor contrariwise his friend for his foe what comfort haue wee then remayning in this vale of mortall miseries but the vnfained faith and affection of sure friends whom the a more they are or the further of vs the more we feare least they bee endamaged by some of these infinite casualties attending on all mens fortunes We stand not onely in feare to see them afflicted by famine warre sicknesse imprisonment or so but our farre greater feare is least they should fal away through treachery malice or deprauation And when this commeth to passe and wee heare of it as they more friends wee haue and the farther off withal the likelier are such newes to be brought vs then who can decypher our sorrowes but he that hath felt the like we had rather heare of their death though that wee could not heare of neither but vnto our griefe For seeing wee enioyed the comfort of their friendships in their life how can wee but bee touched with sorrowes affects at their death hee that forbiddeth vs that may as well forbid all conference of friend and friend all sociall curtesie nay euen all humane affect and thrust them all out of mans conuersation or else prescribe their vses no pleasurable ends But as that is impossible so is it likewise for vs not to bewaile him dead whom wee loued being aliue For the b sorrow thereof is as a wound or vlcer in our heart vnto which bewaylements doe serue in the stead of fomentations and plaisters For though that the sounder ones vnderstanding be the sooner this cure is effected yet it proues not but that there is a malady that requireth one application or other Therefore in al our bewayling more or lesse of the deaths of our dearest friēds or companions wee doe yet reserue this loue to them that wee had rather haue them dead in body then in soule and had rather haue them fall in essence then in manners for the last is the most dangerous infection vpon earth and therfore it was written Is not mans life a b temptation vpon earth Wherevpon our Sauiour said Woe bee to the world because of offences and againe Because iniquity shal be increased the loue of many shal be cold This maketh vs giue thankes for the death of our good friends and though it make vs sad a while yet it giueth vs more assurance of comfort euer after because they haue now escaped all those mischieues which oftentimes seize vpon the best either oppressing or peruerting them endangering them how-soeuer L. VIVES THe a more they are Aristotles argument against the multitude of friends b Temptation The vulgar readeth it Is there not an appointed time to man vpō earth Hierom hath it a warfare for we are in continuall warre with a suttle foxe whom wee must set a continuall watch against least he inuade vs vnprouided The friendship of holy Angells with men vndiscernable in this life by reason of the deuills whom all the Infidells tooke to be good powers and gaue them diuine honours CHAP. 9. NOw the society of Angells with men those whom the Philosophers called the gods guardians Lars and a number more names they set in the fourth place comming as it were from earth to the whole vniuerse and here including heauen Now for those friends the Angels we need not feare to be affected with sorrow for any death or deprauation of theirs they are impassible But this friendship betweene them and vs is not visibly apparant as that of mans is which addes vnto our terrestriall misery and againe the deuill as wee reade often transformes himselfe into an Angell of light to tempt men some for their instruction and some for their ruine and here is need of the great mercy of God least when wee thinke wee haue the loue and fellowship of good Angells they prooue at length pernicious deuills fained friends and suttle foes as great in power as in deceipt And where needeth this great mercy of GOD but in this worldly misery which is so enveloped in ignorance and subiect to be deluded As for the Philosophers of the reprobate citty who sayd they had gods to their friends most sure it was they had deuills indeed whom they tooke for deities all the whole state wherein they liued is the deuills monarchy and shall haue the like reward with his vnto all eternity For their sacrifices or rather sacriledges where-with they were honored and the obscaene plaies which they themselues exacted were manifest testimonies of their diabolicall natures Thereward that the Saints are to receiue after the passing of this worlds afflictions CHAP. 10. YEa the holy and faithfull seruants of the true GOD are in danger of the deuills manifold ambushes for as long as they liue in this fraile and foule browed world they must be so and it is for their good making them more attentiue in the quest of that security where their peace is without end and without want There shall the Creator bestowe all the guifts of nature vpon them and giue them not onely as goods but as eternall goods not onely to the soule by reforming it with wisdome but also to the body by restoring it in the resurrection There the vertues shall not haue any more conflicts with the vices but shall rest with the victory of eternall peace which none shall euer disturbe For it is the finall beatitude hauing now attained a consummation to all eternity Wee are sayd to bee happy here on earth when wee haue that little peace that goodnesse can afford vs but compare this happinesse with that other and this shall be held but plaine misery Therefore if wee liue well vpon earth our vertue vseth the benefits of the transitory peace vnto good ends if we haue it if not yet still our vertue vseth the euills that the want thereof produceth vnto a good end also But then is our vertue in full power and perfection when it referreth it selfe and all the good effects that it can giue being vnto either vpon good or euill causes vnto that onely end wherein our peace shall haue no end nor any thing superior vnto it in goodnesse or perfection The beatitude of eternall peace and that true perfection wherein the Saints are installed CHAP. 11. WEE may therefore say that peace is our finall good as we sayd of life eternall because the psalme saith vnto that citty whereof we write this
laborious worke Prayse thy LORD O Ierusalem praise thy LORD O Zion for hee hath made fast the barres of thy gates and blessed thy children within thee hee hath made peace thy borders When the barres of the gates are fast as none can come in so none can goe out And therefore this peace which wee call finall is the borders and bounds of this citty for the misticall name hereof Ierusalem signifieth A vision of peace but because the name of peace is ordinary in this world where eternity is not resident therefore wee choose rather to call the bound where in the chiefe good of this citty lieth life eternall rather then peace Of which end the Apostle saith Now beeing freed from sinne and made seruants to GOD you haue your fruite in holynesse and the end euerlasting life But on the other-side because such as are ignorant in the scriptures may take this euerlasting life in an ill sence for the life of the wicked which is eternally euill either as some Philosophers held because the soule cannot die or as our faith teacheth because torments cannot cease yet should not the wicked feele them eternally but that they haue also their eternall life therefore the maine end of this citties ayme is either to be called eternity in peace or peace in eternity and thus it is plaine to all For a the good of peace is generally the greatest wish of the world and the most welcome when it comes Whereof I thinke wee may take leaue of our reader to haue a word or two more both because of the citties end whereof we now speake and of the sweetnesse of peace which all men doe loue L. VIVES THe a good of peace Nothing is either more pleasant or more profitable more wished or more welcome Peace is the chiefe good and warre the chiefe euill Xenoph. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And the peace of minde is that which Democritus called the great faelicity The Stoikes make concord one of beatitudes chiefest goods That the bloudiest warres chiefe ayme is peaces they desire which is naturall in man CHAP. 12. VVHich hee that marketh but mans affaires and the a generall forme of nature will confesse with me For ioy and peace are desired a like of all men The warrior would but conquer warres ayme is nothing but glorious peace what is victory but a suppression of resistants which beeing done peace followeth So that peace is warres purpose the scope of all military discipline and the limmite at which all iust contentions leuell All men seeke peace by war but none seekes warre by peace For they that perturbe the peace they liue in do it not forâ—…e of it but to shew their power in alteration of it They would not disanull it but they would haue it as they like and though they breake into seditions from the rest yet must they hold a peace full force with their fellowes that are engaged with them or els they shall neuer effect what they intend Euen the theeues themselues that molest all the world besides them are at peace amongst themselues Admit one be so strong or suttle that he will haue no fellow but plaieth all his parts of roguery alone yet such as hee can neither cut off nor liâ—… to make knowne his facts vnto with those he must needs hold a kinde of peace And at home with his wife and family there must he needs obserue quietnesse and questionlesse delighteth in their obedience vnto him which if they faile in â—…e chafes and chides and strikes setting all in order by force if need bee or by cruelly which he seeth he cannot doe vnlesse all the rest be subiected vnder one head which is himselfe And might hee haue the sway of a citty or prouince in such sort as he hath that of his house he would put off his theeuish forme and put on a Kings albeit his couetousnesse and malice remained vnchanged Thus then you see that all men desire to haue peace with such as they would haue liue according to their liking For those against whom they wage warre they would make their owne if they could and if they conquere them they giue them such lawes as they like b But let vs imagine some such insociable fellow as the poets fable recordeth calling him c Halfe-man for his inhumaine barbarisme Now he although his Kingdome lay in a lightlesse caue and his villanies so rare that they gaue him that great name of d Cacus which is Euill though his wife neuer had good word of him hee neuer plaied with his children nor ruled them in their manlier age neuer spake with friend not so much as with e his father Vulcan then whom he was farre more happy in that he begot no such monster as Vulcan had in begetting him though hee neuer gaue to any but robbed and reaued all that hee could gripe from all manner of persons yea and f the persons themselues yet in that horred dungeon of his whose flore walls were alwaies danke with the bloud of new slaughters hee desired nothing but to rest in peace therein without molestation He desired also to bee at peace with himselfe and what hee had he enioyed he ruled ouer his owne bodie and to satisfie his owne hungry nature that menaced the seperation of soule and body he fell to his robberies with celerity and though he were barbarous and bloudie yet in all that he had a care to prouide for his life and safety and therefore if hee would haue had that peace with others which he had in the caue with himselfe alone hee should neither haue beene called Halfe-man nor Monster But if it were his horrible shape and breathing of fire that made men avoide him than was it not will but necessity that made him liue in that caue and play the thiefe for his liuing But there was no such man or if there were hee was no such as the poets faigne him For vnlesse they had mightily belied Cacus they should not sufficiently haue h commended Hercules But as I sayd it is like that there was no such man no more then is truth in many other of their fictions for the very wild beasts part of whose brutishnesse they place in him doe preserue a peace each with other i in their kinde begetting breeding and liuing together amongst themselues beeing otherwise the insociable births of the deserts I speake not here of Sheepe Deere Pigeons Stares or Bees but of Lions Foxes Eagles and Owles For what Tyger is there that doth not nousle her yong â—…s sawn vpon them in their tendernesse what Kite is there though he fly soâ—…ily about for his prey but wil tread his female build his nest sit his egges seed his young and assist his fellow in her motherly duety all that in him lieth Farre stronger are the bands that binde man vnto society and peace with all that are peaceable the worst men of all doe fight for their fellowes quietnesse and