present Age to be set as spies upon their Actions and must expect when they are dead to be exposed without fear or flattery to the Impartial censure of the living For who is there that would so much value the pleasure of a glasse of Wine as not to abstain from drinking it if he knew it had been all night steep'd in Antimony These besides many others are the benefits which accrue to us by the knowlege of History in general but that I may inform the World how much it is acknowleging to the worthy Author of this Institution in particular and wherein those excellencies of his consist which distinguish him from the ordinary crowd of Historians Ut possit digito monstrari dicier hic est I must take leave to insist upon these ensuing heads wherein I shall plainly make appear to the equal and candid Reader that History is reduced by him in this work to such order and exact Method as never yet in any Language For first you have here all the Empires in distinct Chapters by themselves with the Contemporaries of them distinguished in the same manner from each other and from the Empire to which they were Coaetaneous Whereas both in Systems and in larger Volumes of General History they are mingled together with a strange confusion like the several ingredients of an Olio in the same Dish where the variety of the Meats destroy the taste of one another and he that would read any History by it self finds it immediately embroyl'd and interwoven with the affairs of other Nations so that he will not easily form a perfect Idea in his mind of that which is given him but in parcels In the next place this Author has furnished you with a general Description of Greece its antient Kingdoms and Commonwealths from their first Originals the successions of Kings changes of Government and forms of the several Republicks with the power and nature of their respective Magistrates and Officers not omitting the most considerable Customs Laws and Antiquities of each of them deduced from the best Historians whom you still find quoted in the Margent this as it hath never been intirely performed by any Author heretofore so ought it to set a peculiar mark of Honor upon ours who hath been carefull to give us an exact account of that Countrey which was the Mother of Arts and Sciences After this if we will turn our eyes upon the Macedonian Empire and the several parts and branches of it as the Kingdoms of Syria of Macedon and Egypt we shall still have greater occasion to admire the learn'd diligence of the Author The Graecian Monarchy after the decease of Alexander not being more dismembred and rent in pieces by his Successors than by those Writers who have transmitted the memory of it to posterity particularly the Asian and Egyptian Kingdoms under the Seleucidae and Ptolomies have never been compiled in one History and I have often wondred in my perusal of this Institution by what means the Author of it could arive at so clear a knowledge of those perplex'd successions it was certainly a work of great labour to compare Historians and to weave these several Arguments and loose pieces into one entire Loom which I the rather mind the Reader of because it is not easily perceiv'd by every ordinary capacity for the uniformity of the style and the unbroken order of the whole is such that they onely who are conversant in Antiquities are able to judge what travel and study were required to it The Roman History next invites our observation wherein the successe of this Author hath sufficiently recompenced his worthy pains I dare confidently affirm No modern Pen hath yet carried it on with so great light from the Original of the Citie to the time of Constantine For from the banishment of Tarquin to the new modeling of the Government by Augustus you have all the Intermediate Changes Alterations and Seditions of it while yet a State as the contests of the Patricians and Commons with the several motives of them The displacing and restoring of Annual Magistrates the Description of their Offices the Rites and Ceremonies of their Religion all collected with great diligence from the Fathers of Roman History but never given us in one body by antient Authors or by any of later dayes I confesse I have read a French Historian who from the reign of Augustus almost to that of Justinian hath given me the greatest satisfaction of any man Yet he often amuseth himself as some of our bad Chroniclers at home have done with passages of small concernment below the Dignity of an Historian to relate and from the Foundation of the Citie to Augustus pays his Readers with a bare Translation of Florus Sr. Walter Rawleigh never to be mentioned without honour concludes his History with the end of the Macedonian War and the conversion of that Kingdom into a Roman Province much about the same time we are forsaken by our best Guide Livy whose Decads from the Captivity of Perseus to the time of Octavius Caesar whose Contemporary he was are wholly lost for in the conclusion of his 45th Book the last which is left us he introduces King Prusias speaking to the Romans whom he came to visit in these words Deos qui urbem Romam incolerent Senatumque Populum Romanum salutatum se venisse gratulatum quod Persea Gentiumque Reges vicissent Macedonibusque Illyriis in Ditionem redactis auxissent Imperium But as this Author hath supplied the Defects of Livy and continued the Roman History five hundred years beyond Sir W. Rawleigh so in the alteration of the Government from a Commonwealth to a Monarchy by Augustus the reasons which induced the Emperour to make that change the manner how and the form of it are delivered with so great care and describ'd with so much life That I could not but take a particular notice of it and with the civility of those that carve to others where themselves best like invite the Reader to a more exact observation of that which hath given me so great contentment Neither hath he deserved lesse of Christian than prophane History for from the Primitive times till Constantine the Great he hath deduced the Successions of Bishops in the principal Sees with the practice of the Christians and a faithfull relation of their sufferings in all the persecutions For what concerns our own Island I think he hath perform'd the part of a true English-man and a lover of his Countrey for he hath vindicated the Antiquity of its first Discovery by the Phoenicians and that not onely by the probable reasons alleged by that great person Bochartus for the Etymology of the word Britannia but by other indeniable and convincing circumstances which as it redounds to the honour of our Nation so reflects a part of that glory to our Author One particular of no slight consequence I had almost omitted That as the Reader may without any
of Peloponnesus by Archias the Corinthian in the eleventh Olympiad Romulus then reigning at Rome and the Messâ—nian War being very hot in Peloponnesus This new Colony because of Archias and for that many followed him from Corinth owned that Citie for its Metropolis which at that time was most powerfull at Sea But many afterwards flocked out of other parts of Peloponnesus and by little and little the Citie of Syracuse so increased as it became not onely the greatest and most beautifull of all in Sicily but of Greek Cities whatsoever as Cicero affirmeth It contained as he writeth four great Cities the Island Acradina Tycha and Neapolis It s compasse was 180 furlongs having besides Suburbs two Ports very commodious for shipping being separated by the Island and grounds about it very fertile in some places rising into little Hills but compassed about with Fennes The first Inhabitants dwelt in the Island antiently called Ortygia then as the Citie increased the other parts were added whereof the latest was Neapolis As for the state of the Citie after it received a new beginning from Archias the form of the Commonwealth was without doubt the same that then was in the Metropolis under the Government of the Bâ—chiadae viz. Oligarchical bordering upon Aristocracie Afterwards the common people waxing heady outed the better sort of the possession of the grounds and seizing on the Government made bad to be worse as the sad changes and desolations will shew The Exiles by Herodotus called Gamori betook themselves to Gelon the Tyrannus of Gela who coming to restore them with an Army the people resisted not but received him into the Citie whereby obtaining the whole power he restored it not to the Nobility but made himself master of Syracuse This hapned at the time aforesaid and about 244 years after the Plantation of Archias 3. Gelon so used his power as he was loved by all and feared by none He every way much inlarged The acts and power of Gelon adorned and inriched the Citie out of all Conquered Towns he took the Noblest and worst disposed Citizens and brought them to Syracuse He procured the affections of almost all that dwelt in Sicily and so greatly strengthen'd himself that he was able with a Navy of 200 Triremes and as great an Army as all Greece could set forth against Xerxes to help the Graecians in the Median War and had gone to their assistance if they would either have granted him the Command of the Land Army or the Fleet. When he could obtain neither of those he imployed his forces against the Carthaginians who had been called into Sicily by the Egestans and on the same day wherein the Greeks obtained their victory at Salamine got so great an one over them at Himera a Maritime Town that his glory is thought to have equalled His successe against the Carthaginians if not exceeded the other of Themistocles At this time the Carthaginians were very powerfull and become Eminent whose affairs being by necessity to be joyned with such matters as relate to this Island of Sicily a more convenient place cannot be had to speak something as this work requireth of the Original and progresse of their Common-wealth The Original of Carthage 4. Carthage was a Colony of Tyre and Tyre of Sidon the most antient Metropolis of Phoenicia mentioned by Homer with commendation for ingenious industry who hath not one word concerning Tyre and built by Sidon the eldest son of Canaan Tyre was built about the 2747 year of the World and 240 years before Solomons Temple as (a) Antiquit. l. 8. c. 2. Josephus hath observed The Greeks thought it received its name from Tyrus the Founder and (b) Stephanus Byzantius Pollux lib. 1. some invented a fable of a Nymph called Tyros beloved by Hercules But Tsor in the Phoenician language signifying a Rock the situation it self sufficiently declareth the Original of the name which upon this account was communicated to three other places besides this eminent Citie viz. (c) Scylax in descriptione Phoenices vide Bocharti Canaan lib. 2. cap. 17. two in the Continent and another in the same Island Near the Island of this famous City stood Palaetyrus or Old Tyre mentioned by Joshua and called a strong Citie even at the division of the Land of Canaan which hapned about 200 years before the building of that whereof we speak Now (d) Antiquit. lib. 8. cap. 2. Contra Apionem lib. 1. Josephus maketh the Temple of Jerusalem to have been founded in the eleventh year of the reign of Hiram King of Tyre who was son to Abebaal by Josephus called Abibalus and by Eusebius Abelbalus Hiram or Huram according to the Hebrews by the Greeks called Irom and Syron for Horom by Eupolemus was a great friend to David and supplied Salomon his son with materials and work-men for building the Temple He also proposed hard questions to Solomon to be unfolded as Menander testified who translated the Tyrian Annals into the Greek language He strengthned and inlarged the Citie of Tyre as Dius also wrote and reigned 34 years After him his son Beleastartus reigned 7. and Abdastartus 9. who being slain by the four sons of his Nurse the eldest of them reigned twelve years Then Astartus the son of Baleastartus 12. his brother Astarimus 9. who was slain by his brother Phelles Phelles reigned but eight moneths being killed by Ithobalus the Priest of Astarta who reigned 32 years after him Badezorus his son 6. then Mettinus his son 9. and lastly Pygmalion 40. in the seventh of whose reign his sister Dido built the Citie of Carthage in Africk Therefore from the beginning of Hirams reign to the building of Carthage intervened 155 years and eight moneths and whereas the Temple was founded at Jerusalem in the twelfth of his reign from the building of the Temple to that of Carthage passed 143 years and eight moneths as Josephus collecteth from the Testimony of Menander the Ephesian in his first book against Apion The several opinions concerning the building of Carthage 5. But Appian in his History of the Punick Wars writeth that Carthage was built by the Tyrians 50 years before the destruction of Troy which precedeth the former date 360 years He nameth as founders Zorus and Carchedon according to the opinion of the Greeks who thought them the Captains of the Colony whereas Tsor or Zor was the name of the Metropolis and Carchedon of the new Citie Carthada signifying a New Citie in the Phoenician language as Solinus witnesseth Lib. 1. p. 48. Strabo again will have the Phoenicians to have led out Colonies as far as the Pillars of Hercules and planted some a little after the Trojan War upon the Maritime Coasts of Africk with which Virgil closing feigneth Dido to have reigned at Carthage at that time whereas she was 300 years later according to the Testimony of the Phoenician Annals so as Servius upon the Poet affirmeth the whole
amongst the rest with swords hid under their Cloaths who killing Eleazar and many of his faction seized also on that part of the Temple Idem ibid. Tacitus Hist l. 5. c. 12. and thereby the number of the factions was reduced to that of two That under John consisted of 8400. and the other under Simon of 10000 fighting men besides 5000 Idumaeans Notwithstanding the Enemy was at the Walls and to oppose him they a little joyned together yet did they break out the one upon the other and the poor people miserably suffered under both 16. The Citie being fortified with three Walls on every side Josephus de bello l. 6. c. 7 8 9 10 11. but where it was fenced with deep Valleys Titus having with much opposition placed his Engines battered the uttermost of them and breaking on the third of May into the Citie Breaking into it possessed all the North part as far as the Tower of Antonius and the Valley of Cedron Five dayes after he brake within the second Wall though the besieged made divers sallies They beat him out again but the fourth day after he recovered the place and prepared for the battery of the third Wall Yet he sent Joseph the Historian to them who exhorting them with many words to yield was entertained onely with scoffs and reproaches The people thinking to escape out of the Citie John and Simon stopped up all passages yet the famine increasing many came out whom being taken Titus caused to be Crucified to such a vast number that room was wanting for Crosses and Crosses for persons On the 12th of May he began four Mounts whereon to place his battering rams two near to the Castle Antonia where he hoped he might take the Temple and other two near the Monument of John the High-Priest where he thought he should with most ease break into the upper part of the Citie But John whose part it was to oppose the Romans in the former place cast down and burnt them two and two dayes after Simon did as much by the other though seventeen dayes had been spent in making them all He destroyed also many rams and engines and brake into the very Camp of the Romans but was repelled by Titus from Antonia who in a Council of Officers resolved now to compasse the whole City with a trench which with incredible diligence and celerity was finished in three dayes with thirteen forts to hinder the flight of the besieged and hinder the conveyance of relief into the City 17. The seditious were nothing herewith moved though the famine not only raged amongst the common sort but themselves also were pressed by it A certain Noble woman sod her child to eat it and such a mortality ensued that from the fourteenth of April to the first of July were caried out to be buried at the publick charge 115080 carkeises of the poorer sort Famine rageth as Titus was told by one Mannaeus who was appointed to pay the money Divers Noble men that fled to him certified him also that 600000 of the ordinary sort were cast dead out of the gates and others that were dead besides were innumerable for because they could not cary all out they laid them up in houses A bushel of corn was sold for a talent sinks and holes were raked to find old dung of Oxen to eat which much moved the Romans to compassion but the seditious were hereby nothing changed For Simon not obstaining from murders and rapines notwithstanding this lamentable condition killed Matthias the High-Priest by whom he had been let into the City with his three sons and sixteen others pretending that they purposed to flie to the Enemy Judas one of his own Officers hereupon weary of his cruelty attempted to betray a certain Tower whereof he had the charge to the Romans but being discovered was put to death with ten others of his complices John also being driven by necessity converted the Golden Vessels of the Temple with the sacred Money to prophane uses and was constrained to divide the Wine and Oil ordained for Sacrifices to his Soldiers 18. Titus cut down all the groves within a great distance of the City Idem l. 7. c. 1 c. and causing more mounts or scaffolds to be erected within 21 dayes on the first of July began to batter the wall of Antonia John that opposed him being beaten back and on the fift day broke into the Castle At this time many false Prophets suborned by the seditious told the multitude they must expect assistance from God and therefore though Titus often exhorted them to yield â—et the deluded defendants refuse to yield they flatly refused boasting that they would rather endure all miseries The contest was earnest about the Temple The wall of the inward part thereof was too strong for the battering rams and the defendants valiantly resisted at the top the foundation of the gates could not be undermined and therefore Titus was constrained to set them on fire Yet was it his intention to save the Temple but on the tenth of August a certain soldier without any command nay against the command of his General moved as by an instinct from above cast fire into the buildings on the North side which catching the flame imparted it to the Temple it self notwithstanding all that Titus could do to quench it The Temple burnt on the same day of the same moneth that it was formerly set on fire by the command of Nebuchadnezar The Temple thus burning Titus was saluted Imperator by his Soldiers and the Tyrants with their companions fled into the City They now desired a parly with the General himself who checked them much for their obstinacy but promised them life if they would yield But refusing to commit themselves to his fidelity they required to depart the City with their wives and children wherewith being greatly angred he commanded to be proclaimed by a Crier that They should not look any longer for mercy 19. He permitted his Soldiers to plunder and burn the City Idem ibid. c. 14 15 16 17 18. but the seditious wretches got to the King's house where many had deposited their wealth and thence repelled the Romans They also killed of their own Country People to the number of 6400 and rifling the money got them into the upper and strongest part of the City called Sion where for all this danger they still most cruelly tyrannized Titus having considered the strength of the place provided engines to batter the walls and began so to do it on the seventh day of September Part of the wall being broken down the Tyrants were seized with great fear and amazement not knowing what to do Some said the East part of it was broken down others that the Romans were entred and that they saw them out of the Towers so that the power of God appeared in the overthrow of these wretches for they forsook the Towers which were their onely strength and
Lord as he slept in his Chamber and brought his head unto David Ishbosheth slain after seven years He rewarded them with death 1 Chron. 12. and was by the Captains and all the Elders of the Tribes anointed the third time King at Hebron over all Israel which government he held 33 years 2 Sam. 5.6 7. c. A little after this installment he took Jerusalem from the Jebusites and made it the seat of his Kingdom himself building and fortifying the Citie of Sion and Joab repairing the rest Then twice he overthrew the Philistins in Rephidim who came up against him after they heard he was made King 1 Chron. 12. c. The Ark of God he removed from Kiriath-Jearim to the house of Obed Edom the Gittite and thence after three moneths into Sion He purposed to build God an house but was forbidden because a man of bloud that work which was to be reserved for Solomon For besides his Wars in his younger time all the space betwixt this and the birth of Solomon seemeth imployed in Wars wherein he overcame the Philistins Amalekites Moabites Ammonites Idumaeans and Syrians The Borders of his Empire he very much inlarged not onely from Shihor of Egypt to the entring in of Hamath but also as far as Euphrates the utmost limits promised by God unto Abraham and onely possessed by him and his son and Successor Salomon David's adultery and murder 39. Salomon was the second son begotten on Bathsheba 1 Sam. 11.12 13. the wife of Uriah the Hittite with which woman David first committed Adultery and then for a cover added to it the Murder of her husband After he had been reproved by Nathan the Prophet he repented and wrote the 51 Psalm upon this occasion Punished Yet the Infant conceived in Adultery died as soon as it was born and though Salomon was born the next year at it's thought A. M. 2957. yet this sin escaped not without a further punishment For within awhile Davidis 14. his eldest son Amnon ravished his half-sister Tamar Amnon ravisheth Tamar and for that was killed by Absalom Some years after Chap. 15.16 17 18. Absalom by the advice and policy of Achitophel seized upon the Kingdom Absolom rebelleth David hereupon fled to God as his Rock of refuge and composed the 3d. and the 55th Psalms then opposing force to force overthrew Absolom in the Wood of Ephraim by Joab his General who thrust the young man through with a Dart as he hung in an Oak contrary to David's order who had charged all the Captains to deal gently with him for his sake This Rebellion was followed by a new sedition raised amongst the Israelites by one Sheba upon this occasion Chap. 19.20 because they had not the chief hand above the Tribe of Judah The conspiracy of Sheba in bringing back the King to his house but this was happily suppressed after Joab had procured the inhabitants of Abel to cut off Sheba's head 40. After these things several battels insued with the Philistins 2 Sam. 21. 1 Chron. 20. in one of which the last wherein he was present David hardly escaped the hands of Ishbi-benob one of the sons of the Gyant being rescued by Abishai his Nephew who slew the Philistin Not (c) 2 Sam. 24. long after tempted by Satan and his own ambition he numbred the people for which God being angry proposed to him three sorts of punishments David numbreth the people viz. Famine Sword 1 Chron. 20.7 or Pestilence as to which he chose rather to fall into the hands of God then of man Then God sent a Plague whereby perished in one day 70000 men but as the Angel was also about to destroy Jerusalem he was commanded to desist David at length having arrived at seventy years of Age was so decayed and spent by his many labours and troubles 1 Kings 1. that he could not receive any heat from Cloaths and therefore a young maid one Abisag 1 Chron. 28.29 a Shunamite was chosen out to lye in his bosom Adoniah his son taking advantage at this infirmity by the assistance of Joab the General and Abiathar the Priest seized upon the Kingdom Maketh Solomon King When he had notice thereof according to the prediction of God and his promise unto Bathsheba he established Solomon in his Throne and having given him a charge Dieth died about six moneths after when he had reigned over Judah alone in Hebron seven years and six moneths and in Jerusalem over all Israel and Judah 33 years in the year of the World according to the vulgar way of reckoning without taking in the 100 years formerly mentioned in the History of the Judges 2985. A. M. 2985. 41. David being dead and Solomon established in the Kingdom 1 Kings 2. Adonijah asked Abisag the Shunamite to wife and for that was put to death Solomon putteth Adoniah and others to death as affecting the Soveraignty Abiathar was removed from the Priesthood and Zadok of the Posterity of Phinehaz placed in his room as had been foretold by God against the house of Eli from which the Priesthood now returned Joab for fear fled to the horns of the Altar and there was slain by Benaiah who was made Generall in his stead Simei who had cursed David when he fled from Absalon was commanded to build him an house in Jerusalem and not to stir thence beyond the Brook Kidron upon pain of death which he after two years suffered having broken the order Chap. 3. Solomon within a year after his Father's death married the Daughter of Pharaoh after which offering 1000 burnt-offerings at Gibeon where the Tabernacle then rested God appeared to him in a dream and offered him whatsoever he would ask He asked onely wisdom to govern his people and neither riches nor honour with which God was so well pleased that he made him to excell therein all meer men and accumulated also the other upon himâ— 42. Having all things in a readinesse for building an house to the Lord Chap. 6. Clemens Stromat lib. 4. for which David his Father had made large provisions Vaphres King of Aegypt supplying him with 80000 Men and Hiram King of Tyre with as many besides an Architect named Hypero whose Mother was an Israelitish Woman of the Tribe of Judah he laid the foundation of the Temple in the 4th year of his reign and the second day of the second moneth Zif The Structure being in building 7 years The building of the Temple the work began according to their computation who by reckoning the years of the Judges and the oppressions severally add 100 years to the Aera of the World in the 3089th year from the Creation entering was dedicated in the 3095th ending and in the 587th year after the departure out of Aegypt also ending from which if we substract those 40 they lived in the Wildernesse then 547 years will be
succeeded him From Assaâ—acus descended Aeneas Ganymedes for his beauty was stollen by Tantalus King of Phrygia and Father to Pelops whence arose a War in which many lost their lives and Tantalus though the son of Jupiter by the Nymph Plota was beaten out of Paphlagonia Ilus built the chief City in the Plain which though the Latins called it Troja and we Troy which names most properly belong to the Country yet the Greeks constantly Ilium from him Against him and it Pelops made an Expedition Diod. ut susprà Vide Strabon l. 13. p. 587. C. and miscaried in the successe Laomedon as was said before Laomedon his Son succeeded him who seeking to defraud Hercules of his wages for killing the Whale which should have devoured his Daughter Hesione was outed of his Kingdom and life and Priamus his Son for his love to Justice was placed in his Throne Priamus 27. Podarces Sirnamed Priamus as Apollodorus writeth was exceeding rich and had a large dominion extending from Lesbus and Tenedos to the upper Phrygia containing (Å¿) Consulas omaâ—â—o Strabon l. 13. p. 184. nine divisions and many Towns besides He had Fifty Sons (t) Cicero Tuscul quaest l. 1. whereof seventeen were lawfully begotten His first wife was Arisba the Daughter of Merops on which he begat Aesachus Dismissing her he married Hecuba the Daughter of Dymas Cisseus or Sangarius all which are mentioned and by her he had Hector Paris Helenus Deiphobus and others Before she was brought to bed of Paris she dreamed that she was delivered of a firebrand which should consume to ashes the whole City (u) Apollod Priamus hereupon caused the child to be exposed on the Mountain Ida but by the procurement of his Mother he was educated amongst the Shepherds whom because he assissted against robbers and shewed himself very couragious The rape of Helena he obtained the name of Alexander He whether out of design or no is uncertain came to Sparta to the house of Menelaus the King and thence stole his wife Helena which some (x) Herod l. 1. c. 3. report he took away by force and that after the taking of the City but (y) Servius in Virgil. l. 10. others affirm of her as of all others thus taken away that it was not without her own liking Fearing he might be persued he carried her first to Sidon in Phoenicia where he married her and thence to Troy at which City they were scarce arrived before all Greece was in an uproare as if the whole Country had been overrun Agamemnon who was much concerned for his Brother possessing almost all Peloponnesus by his authority easily perswaded other Princes to engage in the quarrell He first assembled them at (z) Pausan in Achaicis A. M. 2812. Aegium a City of Achaia to consult about the management of the War where being chosen General they afterwards met at Aulis a Sea-town of Boeotia with their Ships and there sware never to return home till Troy should bee taken The names of the chief amongst the Greek Wariours 28. The chiefest of these renowned Warriours were (a) Vide Simsonium in Chron. Cathol ad A.M. 2812. c. Nestor who reigned in Messenia Ajax the Son of Telamon Prince of the Island Salamine Ajax the younger or the son of Oileus King of Locri over against Euboea Achilles the Son of Peleus by the goddesse Thetis whose principality was Pthiotis part of that Country afterwards called Thessalie Ulysses the son of Laertes King of Cephalenia Thoas the Aetolian Podalirius and Machaon Sons of the third Aesculapius and Nepolemus the Son of Hercules who now inhabited the Island Rhodes They made up amongst them a Navy of about 1000 ships and therein transported an Army of 120000 men From Aulis they failed to Lemnos and thence missing of Troy into Mysia which mistaking for their Enemies Country they began to make encursions into it and were beaten back by Telephes Prince thereof all but Achilles and Patroclus the former whereof sore wounded him and Thersander (b) Pausanias in Boeoticis General of the Boeotians here lost his life into whose room because his Son Tisamenus was but young they elected Peneleus A conflict presently ensued their arrival at Troy wherein Protesilaus was slain by a Dardanian as Homer calleth him either Hector or Aeneas and then the Greeks sent Menelaus and Ulysses Ambassadors to demand Helena Priamus calling a Council to deliberate about the matter Antenor was for delivering her up and so were the rest of the grave and antient Men though they attributed much to the beauty of the Woman but Antimachus being corrupted by the gold of Paris urged the contrary and not onely moved to have the message rejected but the messengers killed 29. Priamus though otherwise prudent enough rejected the counsel of the old men and out of indulgence to his son sent away the Ambassadors without any satisfaction Then both parties prepared for the War and another ingagement followed wherein the Greeks had the better who then dividing their forces left part to continue the siege and with the other Achilles who took with him Palamedes was sent to harraze the Countrey and cut off provisions from the Citie This he so well performed as he took 23 Towns vius and therein got much booty which was divided Whil'st Palamedes was with him carrying on the War in the Island Lesbos Ulysses envying him for his great wisdom wherein he seemed to overtop him circumvented him by treachery and by false suggestions procured him to be sent for to the Camp and stoned as a Traytor though he had exceedingly well deserved of the Army being a person of great courage which he also expressed at his death and yet so moderate and wise that he thereby allayed the too much heat of Achilles To him (a) Tacitus lib. 11. some attribute the invention of 16 Letters in the Greek Alphabet (b) Plin. l. 7. c. 56. others onely 4. but withall the ordering and ranking of an Army the watch word Guards and Dice to divert the Souldiers His death was grievously taken by Ajax the son of Telamon who for some time absented himself but especially by Achilles who took it so heinously that for a great while he would not be reconciled nor brought to fight having much more cause to be offended for this thing than the detaining of a woman from him by Agamemnon as the Poet sings who industriously omitteth whatsoever reflecteth upon Ulysses 30. Achilles determined not to fight till the Trojans should peirce as far as his own ships which at length happening Lege Simsonium in Chronico Cathol ad A.M. 2820. c. he first sent out Patroclus in his Armour who had desired it Patroclus with the Myrmidones Achilles his subjects put the Trojans to flight who now had begun to cast fire into the ships slew Pyraechmes with his own hand pursued Hector and smote Sarpedon King of Lycia about the
but Statius to his horse for which irreverent answer he was registred amongst the Aerarii according to the custom Now Statius was a servile name given by the antients to most Slaves whence Caecilius the famous Writer of Tragedies was called Statius though it was afterwards as it were turned into a sirname and he called Caecilius Statius They were wont also to take away horses from very big and corpulent men as unfit for service but (b) Lib. 7. c. 22. Gellius observeth that this was no punishment as some thought but a taking away of the employment without ignominy This Census was managed in the Campus Martius and it being compleated the Lustrum was made with prayers for the publick safety and a sacrifice of the Suovetaurilia formerly mentioned Besides these imployments the Censors (c) Liv. lib. 39. Cicero de Legib. l. 3. let to farm the customes and sent (d) Idem ad Attic. Ep. 1. Joti passim out their constitutions throughout the Provinces called Leges Censoriae They erected (e) Liv. lib. 42. Festus in voce Produit ubi meminit Legis censoriae vid. publick buildings made other publick works and took care for their repair as also of the high-wayes in and about the Citie more early and in other places afterward they also provided for the expence of publick sacrifices But not onely were there Censors at Rome as the Graecians also used the Census but the Colonies also had their Subcensors who gave account to the other what numbers of men and what wealth they found in the several places which upon information was registred in the publick Tables 24. The power of the Censorship remained untouched although the power of the Censors was weakned by restraining their time to a year and an half though they were named every fifth year untill the Tribuneship of P. Clodiâ—s who by a Law which he preferred (a) Asconius Pedianus in Orat. Ciceronis cont L. Pisonem forbad any Senator to be passed by or any of the other Ranks to be noted with ignominy except lawfully accused and condemned by sentence of both the Censors He took an advantage as it seemeth from (b) Iâ— Divinat Pedianus at the hatred which had possessed the multitude against the severity of the Office which procured it to be intermitted for certain years But afterwards whether by reason of the corruption that was crept amongst Judges or for other reasons Metelluâ— Scipio the Consul procured Clodius his Law to be abrogated and so the antient Vigour of this office returned The various fortune of the Censorship Lipsius writeth that under the Emperours it was diminished and lay for dead till the time of Decius But C. Caesar the Dictator that he might better execute the Census went to every ones house and because the principal part of the Office consisted in forming of manners Diod. lib. 54. pag. 527. he called himself Magister Morum not Censor Then the form of the State being changed after the victory of Actium Augustus having the care of manners committed to him by the Senate looked to nothing more diligently than the Census for thrice he performed it not onely in reference to Roman Citizens but all Subjects of the Empire with such care and diligence as none ever before him Under Tiberius and Caligula the Census was not observed Sueton. in Augusto but under Claudius the 74th Lustrum was celebrated Being intermitted during the reign of Nero Vespasian renewed it and celebrated the 75 Census Domitian named himself amongst his other titles Perpetual Censor Idem in Domitiano but made no Lustrum so that for 160 years the Census was intermitted till Decius the Emp. created Valerian Censor with unlimited power Trebellius After this the Censorship was utterly omitted to the great detriment of the Roman Empire which being at length broken into Eastern and Western Consule Bodinum de Repub. lib. 6. cap. 1. the Emperours of the former Greekish Emperours made use of it as others also of later times and it appeareth that in the intermission thereof in the dayes of Trajan particular Provinces and Towns had their Censors who made choice of their Senators Lastly the Censors during the popular Gouernment were of Consular dignity ever after the second Punick War though it was otherwise sometimes before The same persons were never created twice And in case one of them died in his Office his Collegue continued not therein neither was any put into the place of the dead because in that year wherein Rome was taken by the Galls it had so hapned Liv. l. 5. whereupon it was counted ominous and a Law made against it for the time to come Their dignity was exceeding great they being therein though not in power above the Consuls and having all other Ensigns the same with them except Lictors 25. The Fathers rejoyced they had got these Officers Created out of their own body and the Tribunes counting that power inconsiderable Lege Liv. l. 4. Val. Max. lib. 5. cap. 3. Exemp 2. Lib. 6. c. 3. Exemp 1. Florum lib. 1. cap. ult Ciceron pro domo sua pro Milone which at first was pretended to gave way unto it But the Commons egged on by the continual complaints of the later proceeded in their grudge against the Patritians taking it in ill part that marriage was forbidden betwixt the two orders and breathing after no lesse than equal power in the State This animated Sp. Maelius Sp. Maelius his attempt for the Soverainty blasted a rich Knight by his large bounty towards the poorer sort in time of a great dearth to hunt after popularity and through it to aspire to the Soverainty He was hereof accused by L. Minucius to whom the care of provisions was committed and the Senate afrighted with the strangenesse of the matter by the advice of T. Quinctius the Consul commanded a Dictator to be named Quinctius Cincinnatus now 80 years old was the man who chose C. Servilius Ahala for his Master of hors-men The Dictator summoning Maelius to appear when he would not obey Ahala killed him in the Forum and was justified for so doing by Quintius who commanded his goods to be sold and his house razed It should seem from Livy that Ahala escaped without punishment But Cicero and Valerius on the contrary affirm that he was banished by the incensed multitude This hapned in the 315th year of the Citie after Varro's account Valerius and Livy say that the Area of his house for a memorial of his punishment had the name of Aequi-Melium 26. The Tribunes inraged about the death of Maelius procured for the year following Tribunes Military with Consular power to be created now six years after their Institution The Tribunes seek to revenge his death by bringing in Tribunes Military again The second Opima Spolia hoping that into the number of six some Plebeian might creep which thing would give them an
Curules What their Office was hath been shewn before As for this Chair Gellius writeth Lib. 3. cap. 18. that antiently such Senators as had born a Curule Office were for honour's sake wont to be drawn to the house in a Chariot wherein was a Chair in which they sate and which thence from the Chariot or Currus was called Curulis But others think that both the Orthography of the word and the dismension of the thing crossed this derivation What the Curule Chair was and that it was called Curulis from Cures a Town of the Sabines The form of it upon old Coins represents that of Spanish Chairs used by Princes as Chairs of State It had also crooked feet as Plutarch in the life of Marius describeth it several ascents there were to it it was covered with Ivory as several Authors shew and carved or ingraven according to Ovid. What the Praetorship 40. But as for the Praetor there were two causes of the Creation of this Officer Aemulation and Use The former was wrought in the Patritians by the Commons who now had wrested into their own hands the Consulship The later was brought about by reason that the Consuls were for the most part imployed abroad in Wars and therefore there was a necessity of a Magistrate whose peculiar work it should be to administer Justice in the Citie The Praetor was so called a praeeund as write both (a) Praetor dictus qui praeiret jure exercitu A quo Lucilius Ergo Praetorum est praeire De Ling. Lat. lib. 4. p. 22. Varro and (b) Vide Cap. hujus Sect. 1. Paragr 1. Cice o and agreeably with this Etymology it was once the name of (c) Veteres enim omnem Magistratum cui pareret exercitus Praetorem appellaverunt unde Pretorium tabernaculum ejus dicitur in castris porta Praetoria hodie quoque praefectus pratorio Asconius Pedianus in Verrem de Praetura urbis Consuls also as we shewed before and of all or most other Magistrates Civil or Military It is probable that this name as the other of Dictator Aedilis and Duumvir might come out of Hetruria there being such Officers there of old as Spartianus seemeth to hint and otherwise may be gathered There being but one created at his time viz. in the 388 year of the Citie afterward about the 500 year another was added who administred Justice unto strangers so that for distinction the one was called Praetor Urbanus and the other Peregrinus the former being in Dignity above the other and his Constitutions called Jus Honorarium as we shewed before out of Pomponius This same Author having shewn that after the bringing in of this Praetor Peregrinus the Decemviri for judging of Causes the Triumviri for coyning of Brasse Silver and Gold the Triumviri Capitales for keeping of Prisoâ— and the Quinqueviri for both sides of Tiber for executing what belonged to Magistrates in the evenings at which time they were not to be abroad were created by degrees writeth further that Sardinia being made a Roman Province after that Sicily then Spain and after Norbonensis so many Praetors were made as there were Provinces who partly governed at home and partly abroad Lipsius more particularly affirmeth that in the 520 year of the Citie Sardinia and Sicily being both made Provinces there were two added who as the former two assisted the Consuls in administring of Justice so these in the government of the Provinces When Spain Hispaniae in the plural number was subdued in the year 557. two more were added So there were in all six Praetors whereof two onely remained in the Citie and the other as soon as declared departed into the Provinces as they fell to them by lot this order continued till the examinations called Quaestiones Perpetuae were appointed at which time the Senate resolved that all the Praetors for the year of their Office should continue in the Citie and judge some controversies either publick or private 41. Pomponius proceedeth saying that Cornelius Sulla appointed other publick Examinations or Inquisitions As for example De falso De Paricidio and de Sicariis for which he added four Praerors more but Lipsius saith he is mistaken in the number proving out of Cicero that he made but two C. Julius Caesar appointed other two as also two Aediles called Cereales and afterward 16 Praetors as appeareth from Dio who also relateth the Triumviri with greater liberty to have made 64. Augustus filled up the number to 16. saith Pomponius though first Lipsius will have him to have confined the number to 12. Claudius added two who where to judge onely concerning Fidei Commissa as the Law term is Titus took one from the number but Nerva restored and appointed him to hear and determine Causes betwixt the Exchecquer and private persons Another was appointed by M. Antonius Philosophus called Praetor Tutelaris So in all there were 18. till as the Empire decreased they decreased also in number and at length were reduced to that of three by a Law of Valentinian and Marcian As for the Office of Praetors the Praetor Urbanus who was also called Praefectus Urbi though the Praefectus was afterward onely chosen for the Latine Feriae in the absence of the Consuls executed their Office in the Senate and Comitia But three things especially belonged to them Games Sacrifices and Judicature The former onely continued to them in a manner when the Empire decayed Their Judicature was either in publick or private matters Private causes concerning meum and tuum two onely handled viz. the Urbanus and Peregrinus Publick or Criminal matters were managed by all the rest who yet had their several and distinct Crimes one or two which they judged and yet sometimes in their Provinces they managed Civil matters also They had the same Ornaments and Ensigns of power as the Consuls onely but six Lictors apiece whereas the other had twelve In respect of their power and honour as also because they were created by the same Auspicia Livy calleth them the Collegues of Consuls 42. The first Consul out of the body of the Commons was L. Sextius Liv. Lib. 7. by whose Law the privilege was obtained the first Praetor Sp. Furius the son of Camillus and the first Aediles Curules were Cn. Quintius Capitolinus and P. Cornelius Scipio To Sextius was given as Collegue from amongst the Patritians L. Aemylius Mamercus and so the Consuls again returned after 23 years The many alterations in the Roman Government these being the 88 pair as they are found in Livy and the Tribunes Military were for ever laid aside after 48 courses of that Office and fifteen changes from the Consulship to it and from it to the Consulship Besides these changes of Government in Rome there were the two Grand ones from Kings to Consuls and from Consuls to the Decemvâ—ri and to this time from the first of these alterations had intervened 20 Dictatorships besides
unto all Greece which so affected the hearers as with admiration of the thing they were scarce themselves 48. During the War between the Romans and Antiochus Livius lib. 30. which shortly after followed Philip behaved himself suitably enough to the expectation of the Conquerours afterwards considering and comparing his present condition with his former he grew something impatient and especially amongst other things this vexed him that power of animadverting upon those Macedonians who had revolted in the War was taken from him for after that Antiochus was overcome and the War with the Aetolians was now in hand Acilius the Consul taking Heraclea and Philip besieging Lamia when he was in a fair way of taking of it he was commanded to depart from it that so it might be surrendred to the other His dissatisfaction after the War Acilius to pacifie him gave him leave to make War upon Athamania and to recover the Cities which the Aetolians had taken from the Thessalians so that he presently drove out Aminander from Athamania recovered divers Cities amongst which was Demetrias and possessed himself of the Countrey of the Magnetes and some Cities in Thrace also This pacified him for the present yet did he not let fall his indignation but in time of peace made all provision possible for another War increasing his Revenues not onely by Customs but by renewing the works of the Mines and digging others as also taking care for increasing the number of his people now exhausted Whilest he thus imployed himself there wanted not an occasion to inflame his mind anew for the Thessalians and Athamanians sent to Rome to complain of him Eumenes also about the Cities of Thrace The Senate not being willing to judge the matter in his absence sent three Commissioners into Greece to hear and determine it who sitting and hearing all parties as Arbitrators were something provoked by some words he uttered affirming that as yet the Sun of all the dayes he had to live was not set and all being heard they Decreed he should withdraw his Guards from all the Greek Cities and that the Kingdom of Macedonia should be terminated by its antient limits As for the Cities of Thrace much being alleged pro and con betwixt him and Eumenes they kept the middle way reserving the decision of that to the Senate and ordered in the mean time that his Garison Soldiers should be drawn out of them The Senate resolved he should quit them and all the Maritime Coasts of Thrace so that now being sufficiently incensed he wanted but convenient Forces to make him revolt 49. Being commanded to quit Aenus and Maronea with all the Sea Coasts of Thrace he procured the principal of the Maronites who were strongly bent against him to be murdred in the night and then the Romans complaining of it as an unworthy deed he denied it and when Onomastus and Cassander the instruments of the fact were required to be sent to Rome the later he gave way for to go but then it's thought procured him to be poysoned in the way lest he should tell tales and as yet his affairs not being ripe for a revolt he sent Demetrius his younger son to Rome to purge himself and deprecate the displeasure of the Senate Underhand he sollicited the inhabitants upon the River Ister to break into Italy Demetrius had got heretofore so much good-will at Rome as coming to have audience in the Senate though he was abashed at that presence and the heavy loads of imputations laid upon his Father by the Ambassadors of his Enemies Yet were his Father's faults passed over at this time for his sake He is displeased at the favour of the Romans towards his younger son Demetrius and so much signified to Philip by Q. Marcius sent into Macedonia to see whether he had done all that was injoyned him Then did he quit all the Cities of Thrace inhabited by the Greeks and performed all other things which the Romans required that he might not give any suspition but get leisure to provide for the intended War With Demetrius his son he was not well pleased for that the Senate making no account of himself had given him the credit of deserving onely favour but especially Perseus his elder son conceived great indignation and malice against him not onely for the credit he had at Rome but being jealous he might deprive him thereby of his Father's Kingdom Indeed the Macedonians looking upon Demetrius as one to whom they were obliged for saving them harmlesse from the Romans designed the succession to him whom also they held legitimate but not Perseus whose mother was no better than his Father's Concubine 50. Perseus growing more and more sensible of the favour his brother was in both with the Romans and Macedonians Which advantage Perseus his eldest son improveth bent his mind to bring him into the jealousie and hatred of his Father and thereby to work his destruction His visit in way of merriment and jollity to him he represents as an opportunity taken to make him away whereby the young man is called for by his angry Father and is forced with tears to make an apology to which credit is hardly enough given suspitions and jeajousies getting ground At length Perseus accuseth him of having dealt with them at Rome underhand about the Kingdom and place of his Father who sends two thither to enquire of it but such as were Perseus his creatures and partners in the plot Philip having a mind to go up to the top of the Mountain Haemus for to have a view and prospect of the Country round about took with him his eldest and sendeth his youngest into Macedonia to look unto it with whom he sent one Didas Governour of Paeonia with a small guard He being also one of Perseus his Complices he gave him in charge to insinuate into him and thereby get out his most inward intentions which he easily did the poor young man being resolved to flie to the Romans for shelter and desirous to use his help therein This is presently made known to Perseus and by him with improvement to Philip who having wearied himself and Soldiers to little purpose and being troubled with this report returneth home casts Herodorus Demetrius his chiefest friend into prison and causeth him also to be narrowly looked to Some moneths remained the King thus exceedingly troubled and anxious in himself till the Ambassadors returning from Rome put an end within a short time to his resolutions 51. These men being returned feigned grievous accusations against Demetrius Livie lib. 40. and amongst the rest brought counterfeited letters as from Quintius And compaseth his brothers death by false accusations wherein he begs pardon of the King if the young man had dealt with him in any kind out of his desire to the Kingdom but promiseth he will do nothing against any one that belongs to him for that he would not be accounted for the time to come the author
1 Maccab. 7. 2 Mac. 14. and now was not received nor owned by the people because that in the dayes of Epiphanes he had defiled himself came to Demetrius with other Apostates and such like as himself and accused his Countrey-men especially the Hasmonaeans i. e. Judas and his brethren that they had cut off and banished his friends Bachides sent by him against the Jews whereupon he sent one Bachides a trusty friend with great forces into Judaea confirming the Priesthood to Alcimus whom he sent back with him All their design being arrived there was to get Judas into their hands divers Scribes going out to them to sollicit for peace being confident because the Priest was of the seed of Aaron he most wickedly and contrary to his Oath given slew sixty of them in one day then Bachides going from Hierusalem sent about and caused divers that had fled from him and many of the people whom being slain he cast into a great pit and so committing the Countrey to Alcimus to the defence of which he left him some forces he returned unto his King Leaveth Alcimus the High-Priest with some forces After his departure Alcimus striving to confirm himself in the Priesthood made great havock of the people to restrain which Judas went throughout the Countrey and compelled his party to shut themselves up within their holds and growing stronger he restrained their invasions so that Alcimus being afraid of him goes once more unto the King carrying along with him a Crown of Gold a Palm and of the boughs which were used solemnly in the Temple and seeing he could not have any more accesse to the holy Altar taking a fit opportunity when he was asked of the affairs of his Countrey accused the Asidaeans and especially Judas as seditious of depriving him of the Priesthood the honour as he said of his Ancestors and plainly affirmed that as long as Maccabaeus lived the Kings affairs could not be secure This being seconded by some ill-willers to the Jews Demetrius was inflamed and sending for Nicanor one of his chiefest Princes Who accusing Judas Nicanor is sent against him and a bitter Enemy to the Israelites made him Captain over Judea and sent him forth with a Command to slay Judas to scatter them that were with him and make Alcimus High Priest of the great Temple 60. When he was come thither and understood the courage and resolution of Judas his brethren and companions for the defence of their Countrey he feared to try the chance of War and sent to make peace with the people who having agreed unto the Covenants the two Captains came together to consult about the League Nicanor was so taken with Judas as he continued with him loved him in his heart and perswaded him to marry and beget Children and so remained constant in his affection to him till Alcimus perceiving it Nicanor at first much loveth Maccabaeus and understanding the Covenants which were made betwixt them took a third journey to the King told him that Nicanor had taken strange matters in hand and appointed Judas a Traitor to the Realm to be his Successor Demetrius being hereat displeased by Letters checked him for these things and commanded him in all haste to send Maccabaeus bound unto Antioch which grievously troubled him that he who had done no hurt should be thus used but conceving it necessary for him to comply with the pleasure of the King he waited for a convenient opportunity to accomplish it Then complained of by Alcimus seeketh his destruction Behaving himself thenceforth more roughly to him the other suspected something by the great change of his carriage and therefore gathering a few of his men withdrew himself from him but he followed him with a strong power to Hierusalem and drawing him out to talk with him had prepared some to seize on him yet he having notice hereof got away and would see him no more Seeing his design to be discovered he went and fought with him near Capharsalama in which he lost about 5000 of his men and the rest fled into the Citie of David After this he came up to Mount Sion and some of the Priests with the Elders of the people went forth of the sanctuary to salute him peaceably and shew him the burnt-offering that was offered for the King but he jeering hereat demanded Judas to be delivered unto him and they affirming with an Oath that they knew not where he was he stretching out his hand against the Temple swore that except Judas and his forces were delivered up he would when he should return in peace set the sanctuary on fire His blasphemous threats demolish the Altar and build there a stately Temple to Bacchus The Priests hearing this went in and standing before the Altar with tears begged of God that he would frustrate the mans intentions and be avenged upon him and his Host for his blasphemous words 61. Hearing that Judas was gone from Jerusalem into Samaria 1 Maccab. 7. 2.15 he went and pitched his Tents in Bethhoron where new supplies from Syria came to him the Enemy being in Hadasa 30 furlongs off with no more than 3000 men He would fain have fought on the Sabbath day which the Jews who were constrained to follow friendly dehorting him from with great blaspemy uttered against God he refused to hear them demanding if there were a living Lord in heaven who commanded that seventh day to be kept and saying he himself was mighty upon earth to command them to Arm themselves and to perform the Kings businesse He is slain in battel But coming to the ingagement he himself was slain first which when his Army saw they cast away their Arms and fled and the Israelites following the chace slew 30000. so that not one of the Army was left remaining Coming to the plunder of the field they cut off Nicanor's head and hands and carried them to Jerusalem where they were hung up before the Temple his tongue being cut in pieces and cast unto the Fouls The end of the second book of Maccabees Then they decreed that the 13th day of the 12th moneth Adar as the Syrians call it the day before Mardocheus his day should be observed every year as the Author of the second book of Maccabees tells us who with this story finisheth his work 1 Maccab. 8. 9. being the Epitome of the five books of Jason a Jew of Cyrene After Nicanor's death Judaea was quiet for some time and then Judas hearing of the power of the Romans and their compassion of the distressed and how much Demetrius stood in awe of them sent Eupolemus the son of John and Jason the son of Eleazer on an Ambassage to the Senate Bachides and Alcimus sent into Judaea against Judas that entring into society with them the People might be freed from the yoke of Demetrius and the Greeks But Demetrius hearing of the mischance of Nicanor and his
Nero disswaded it judging it better to secure them till Cataline were suppressed and the thing better sifted out Of this opinion was C. Julius Caesar something suspected to be privy to the design He would have them dispersed in several Towns in Italy by the Consul's appointment afterwards to be tried and not put to death altogether unheard This seemed very plausible till Cato great Grand-son to M. Porcius Cato the Censor very earnestly pressed the contrary falling foul upon Caesar as a suspicious person Fourth Then the Consul made his fourth Oration wherein he so disputeth of the two contrary opinions as he evidently inclineth to severity as fearing what the guilty party might do the night following out of necessity and desperation Catalines complices put to death Hereby the Senate was induced to put them to death as surprized in the fact which Cicero saw done accordingly ere the house arose After this Cataline was overtaken by C. Antonius the other Consul near the Alps as he was going into Gall to perfect his Levies and there fighting most valiantly was slain And he himself slain His men also fought it out to the last scarcely one of them being taken So was quasht this most dangerous conspiracy by the vigilancy especially of Cicero the Consul who wrote an History thereof which is lost Publick thanks for his great care and pains were given to him and at the instance of Cato with divers acclamations of the People he was first of all others stiled Father of his Countrey C. Julius Caesar beginneth to be eminent 43. Now began C. Julius Caesar to be very eminent two years after these stirs being sent as Praetor into the further Spain Lege Suttonium in Julio He was born in the 654 year of the Citie C. Marius the sixth time and L. Valerius Flaccus being Consuls the same that the Sedition about Saturninus hapned on the 12th day of the moneth Quinctilis afterward from him named July by Antonius his Law His birth His father was C. Julius Caesar who never arose higher than the Praetorship and died suddenly at Pisae as his shooes were drawing on in the morning his mother was Aurelia the daughter of C. Cotta and Julia the wife of Marius was his Aunt In his youth having married Cinna's daughter by which he had Julia refusing to put her away he was in great danger being with much ado spared by Sylla who as it were foretelling what trouble he would bring to the State said that in Caesar were many Marii The foundation of his Military skill he laid in Asia The foundation of his Military skill under M. Thermus the Praetor by whom being sent into Bithynia to fetch away the Navy he stayed with Nicomedes the King to whom it was suspected that he prostituted himself Afterwards in the taking of Mitylene he had deserved well and served under Servilius Isauricus in Cilicia but not long For hearing of Sylla's death and hoping to make his fortune out of the dissentions raised by Lepidus home he came but not finding a convenient oppportunity and having to no purpose accused Dolobella to shun the Envy thereby contracted he went to Rhodes to hear Apollonius whence sayling in Winter he fell into the hands of the Pirates and was forced to purchase his freedom with fifty Talents to revenge which he procured some ships took some of them whom he nailed to Crosses though without leave from the Praetor who would have sold them After this he gave a stop to Mithridates his Lieutenant and saved divers Cities in Asia He assisted Pompey the Consul and others Made Quaestor in restoring the Tribuneship which Sylla had broken Shortly after he was made Quaestor and sent into further Spain where going about to administer Justice he came to Gades and saw Alexanders image in the Temple of Hercules It troubled him exceedingly to consider that he himself had done no memorable thing at that age wherein Alexander had Conquered the World and thereupon he earnestly desired to be recalled that being in the Citie he might catch at some opportunity for his own advancement Joyneth with factious persons 44. Having got leave to return ere his time was out he joyned presently with the Latine Colonies in demanding the freedom of the Citie and had incited them to some desperate design but that the Senate for fear of the worst retained the Legions some time which were raised for Cilicia He was suspected to have been of the party of M. Crassus of P. Sulla also and Autronius who having been designed Consuls were found to have indirectly sought for the Office and so according to Law forfeited their places to the discoverers in the beginning of the year to set upon the Senate and kill whom they pleased Crassus being made Dictator he was to have been Master of the hors-men under him and all things being ordered according to their pleasure the Consulship was to have been restored to the other two â—ome have affirmed whom Suetonius citeth that he also conspired with Cn. Piso that the one in the Citie and the other abroad should rise which was prevented by Piso's death Made Aedilis Being after this Aedilis he so managed the businesse of publick buildings and shews that all was ascribed to him and nothing to his Collegue by which means and others he procured the favour of the People and essayed by the Tribunes to get Egypt assigned to him which now having expelled the King he thought would affoard him an opportunity of an extraordinary command But he was crossed by the great ones whom that he might vex he restored the Trophies erected by Marius over the Cimbri which Sulla had caused to be pulled down and suborned those who accused Rabirius By his means especially the Senate had suppressed Saturninus the seditious Tribune and now being brought before Caesar as his Judge he was so severe against him that nothing so much helped the man in his appeal from him to the People 45. After his repulse as to Egypt he stood for the High-Priesthood and by large sums such corruption were those times arrived at bought so many voices as he carried it from two most powerfull men and his Seniors Getteth by bribery the High Priesthood having more suffrages out of their two Tribes than they had out of all the rest besides Then being Praetor he stood for the complices of Cataline so earnestly as he drew to his party the brother of Cicero the Consul and diverse others After this he assisted Caecilius Metellus the Tribune in preferring turbulent Laws till both of them by a decree of the Senate were displaced and yet then would he sit and execute his Office still till forced to withdraw then out of policy he restrained the multitude which flocked to him Joyneth again with seditious men and offered to restore him by strong hand of which the Senate taking notice gave him thanks with great commendations and re-invested