might choose whether he would be acquainted with his father or no or giue him a meals meat in his house or a cup of drinke at his doore for that he was the cause of his ignominious and infamous birth Among the Israelites if a man marry a young virgin and after proue her not to be a virgin when hee married her the lawe is that she should be brought to the doore of her fathers house and the men of that citie should stone her with stones to death but if her husband falsly accused her then the Elders of that citie should chastise him and mearce him in an hundred sickles of siluer and giue them to the father of the damzell and she to continue with him as his wife But in Israel there was an other lawe that if a man be taken committing fornication with a virgin after the matter come before a Iudge he shall be caused to marrie the woman and to liue with her during his life and to pay 50. sickles of siluer to the maides father for his offence A woman with childe condemned to death might challenge the time of her childbirth by the lawe of Bocchoris which lawe was brought by Solon from Egipt vnto Greece for the law thought it not fit that the guiltlesse should die for the fault of the guiltie An other lawe was made that if a man hurt a woman with childe so that her child depart from her and she die not hee shall be punished according as the womans husband shall appoint or pay as arbiters will determine Againe in Israel there was an other lawe that the wife of the dead shall not be giuen vnto a straunger but her brother in lawe shall take her to wife and marrie her and the eldest sonne which shee beareth shal be the child of the brother that was dead and not of him that begat him but if the brother refuseth to marrie his brothers wife the Elders of the citie shall call vnto him and commune with him before whom if hee denie to take her to wife then the sister in lawe should go in presence of the Elders and loose his shooe of his foote spit in his face and say so shall his name be called in Israel of the vnshod house The lawe of Moses was that an adulteresse should be brought by her husband vnto the Priest and the Priest to bring her and set her before the Lord shall vncouer her head haue bitter cursed water in his hand and say if thou be not an adulteresse and defiled not thy selfe vnknowne to thy husband then haue thou no harme of this bitter and cursed water but if thou be defiled by an other man besides thy husband the Lord make thee accurst and make thy thigh rot and thy belly swell and this cursed water goe into thy bowels and the woman his wife so accused shall say Amen The lawe which the Lorde punished his people for committing adulterie was with such seueritie that they should die the death either by stoning or burning which was the lawe among the Israelites The people called Cortini had a law in their country that an adulterer should bee crowned with wooll and should sit in the market place in open sight of the people to be laught at and to be noted as an infamous adulterer all his life long in his countrey The people called Pisidae had a law made that the adulterer should be bound vpon an asse and be carried from towne to towne for the space of three dayes with his face backwards holding the taile of the asse in his hand for a bridle They had in Athens by the law of Solon a place called Casaluion the women were called Casaluides to whom any Athenian might resort to auoyd adultery with the Matrons and Virgins of Athens The like place they had in Rome called Summaenium for the like purpose and the like are tollerated in many countries to auoyd great offences but rather a nurserie of whoredome then a prohibition These vsed the like words as Iulia did in Rome Licet si libet like Anaxarchus being demanded by Cambises Is it lawfull for the kings of Persia to marry their sisters we finde not such lawes said Anaxarchus Non fas potentes posse fieri quod nefas but wee finde an other lawe that the kings of Persia may do what they list What vice can be greater in man then incontinencie for it doth sin against the body it selfe doth weary and languish all the parts thereof for as fish saith Plato are taken with hookes so men are taken and deceiued with pleasures in so much that Xerxes the great king of Persia decreed by lawe a reward to any man that could inuent andfind out new kinds of pleasures but he was slain and lost the kingdom of Persia by his pleasures And therfore well said Solon Cōsule non quae suauissima sed quae optima Hanibal hauing welnigh subdued the Romane Empire yet being taken with the baites and pleasures of Campania in company of wine and women and all delicacies and pleasures that could be inuented of which Seneca saith Conuiuiorum luxuria vestium aegrae ciuitatis indicia sunt that by meanes of his incontinency in Campania he was driuen out of Italy and after out of his own country of Affrike by him that was one of the chiefest and chastest Captaines of all the Romaines Scypio Affrican who made a lawe to bannish all women out of his camp to whom in his Affrican wars was brought a passing faire young Gentlewoman of singular beautie and of a noble house whom Scypio vsed so honourably with great care and diligence for her good name credite vntill Allucius a young Gentleman that should be married to the virgine brought a great raunsome from her parents to redeeme her to whom Scypio deliuered both the young virgin into his hands and bestowed the gold which her father sent vnto him for her raunsome vpon Allucius for her dowry by this honourable dealing of Scypio the whole Prouince which stood out in armes against Scypio yeelded vnto him sought peace at Scypios hand for his courteous modestitie temperancie where Hanibal lost all Italy and Campania by his incontinencie and vnchaste life If Darius king of Persia had escaped from his last ouerthrow at Arbela by Alexander no doubt in respect of the honourable vsage which Alexander shewed to Darius wife and his daughters he would haue yeelded all the whole Empire of Persia vnto Alexander Narseus king of Persia being ouerthrowne and his armie slaine by Dioclesian the Emperor of Rome and the King himselfe constrained to flight his wife and his daughters were taken by the Romanes and were vsed so honourably that the Persians confessed that the Romanes did not only exceed all Nations in armes valour but in modestie and temperancie the honourable vsage of his
which were written many things concerning the lawe of nature and the influence and motions of the starres that if the bricke pillar were destroyed by water the stone pillar should reserue and keepe safe their lawes theyr seruice and sacrifice to God which the Patriarkes vsed as instructions to their posteritie after the floud which continued vntill Iosephus time which as Iosephus himself writes he sawe in Syria Moses at his death deliuered to the Hebrewes the booke of the lawe and he commaunded them to lay vp those lawes in the Arke within the Tabernacle where it was lawfull for none to come to them but the high Priest which continued from Moses time vntill Ierusalem was destroyed by Nabuchodonozer at what time Ieremie tooke the Tabernacle the Arke and the Aultar of Incense and brought them to Mount Nebo where Moses dyed where he found a hollow caue wherein he layed the Tabernacle the Arke the Aultar of Incense and so closed and stopped the caue Among the Egiptians their lawes were so reuerenced and honoured that none but onely the Priests of Memphis had the keeping thereof in the Temple of Vulcan The Lacedemonians in like sort so reuerenced and kept their lawes that their kings and the magistrates called Ephori came once a moneth to the Temple which they dedicated to the goddesse Feare and there in the porch of the temple the Senators of Lacedemonia which were 28. in number did minister an oath both to the King and the Ephori before the people to serue keep Licurgus lawes in the which Temple their lawes were lockt vp and kept with great care The Romaines made so much of the lawes of their Sybils that they were so kept and so strongly lockt with such care and diligence in a stony Arke in the Capitoll vnder the ground where none might come to them see nor read them but the officers called Duumuiri who had the charge ouer them neither they vntill the Consuls and the Senate had occasions to conferre with the lawes which continued from Torquinius Priscus time vntill Lu. Syllas time at what time the Capitoll was burnt and withall the lawes of the Sybils and if any of these officers would reueale any secrets out of the lawes of the Sybils hee was punished like a murtherer sowed aliue in a sheete and throwne into Tiber. So the Athenians very carefull of their lawes written first by Draco and after by Solon in Tables of wood called Syrbes that they were set vp to bee kept in theyr chiefe court place which the Athenians named Prytanion where Magistrates should sit and iudge causes of lawes The lawe of the Turkes is that the Priests after some ceremonies done should haue a sword and a speare which is set by him in the Pulpit and to shewe the same to the people saying see that you haue these weapons in a readinesse to defend the lawes and religion of Mahomet the penaltie of the Turkes lawe is that if any man speake against their law his tongue should be cut out in so much that the booke called Muzaph wherein their lawe is written is so reuerenced and honoured among the Turkes that no man may touch it with bare hands Thus were lawes in all countries reuerenced and with great care and diligence obserued After lawes decrees and statutes were made in euery Countrey with such circumstances as agreed with the time with the place and with the people for without law no Common-wealth nor Kingdome can be gouerned as Aristotle saith In legibus salus ciuitatis si ta est Iudges were appointed to execute the same in all countries and magistrates in euery citie as among the Hebrewes the Elders called Synadrion Iudges and yet in euery citie of Iudah was a seuerall Iudge Among the Egiptians they had 30. Iudges which they elected from Eliopolis Memphis Thaebes Alexandria and other citties of Egipt of the which 30. they elected one to be chiefe Among the Aethiopians the sage Philosophers the Gymnosophists executed theyr lawes among the Indians likewise the Brachmaines called also Sacerdotes solis Among the Grecians the generall Iudges called Amphictions which sate twise in the yeare once at Trozaena in the spring time and in the Autumne in the Temple of Neptune in Isthmos In many countries women for their wisedome and knowledge were admitted to sit in counsell as among the Persians with King Xerxes who in any great cause of counsell would sende for Artemisia Queene of Caria whose counsell he found so wise that chiefly among all the Princes of Persia in many causes he allowed and followed her counsell So the Queenes in Egipt altogether ruled and gouerned the whole estate of the kingdome to whom greater honour and homage was giuen rather then to the kings of Egipt for that the whole state of their kingdome was rather gouerned by the Queenes then by the Kings Women among the Lacedemonians were not only admitted in publike counsell to sit and determine in courts but also sent for to cōsult in secret matters of state with the Senators The old Gaules in the time of Haniball in any contention betweene them and the Carthagineans if the breach of the lawes or any league broken were committed by the Gaules the women should determine a satisfaction to the Carthagineans if any offence grew by the Carthagineans the Senators of Carthage should satisfie the Gaules It is as well saith Aristotle if men gouerne like women that women should gouerne Quid inter est vtrùm faeminae an qui gubernant gubernentur à faeminis The Romaines though they had a lawe that no woman nor young man should bee admitted to counsell yet suffered they such graue and wise women as Agrippina Meza Cornelia and others to sit in some secrete place where they might see and not bee seene Solon therfore forbad by law that young men should neither giue counsell nor be magistrates in a common-wealth So Plato saith Concilium eius est qui rei cunisque peritus est Yet Deberah and Hebrew woman was a Iudge in Israel gouerned and ruled the Hebrews for fortie yeares To this woman came all the children of Israel for iudgement and she gouerned them wisely and discreetly ministred vnto them in all points the lawes of Moses and deliuered them out of the hand of Iabin King of Canaan who had sore oppressed Israel for the space of twentie yeares But among the Athenians it was not lawfull that women should sit and determine in matters of state in Athens as the women in Sparta did or as the women of Persia. The Athenians sent to Delphos to know what lawe and religion were best to bee obserued among the people It was answered the auntient lawes and religion of their Elders The second time they sent againe saying that the lawes of the Elders were often chaunged It was by the Oracle answered that they should take the best lawes of diuers
that hee doubted in his opinion of the gods of Athens they so sought him that had he not fled betimes hee had died for it The like hapned to a Romane captaine in Egipt for killing of a Catte one of the Gods of Egipt which was against his will he hardly escaped with his life whom the people so followed and pursued to Alexandria that Ptolomeu the king and all his princes had their hands full to saue him and others from death The Athenians also were so zealous and religious towards their gods that they decreed 600. crownes to any man that would kill Diagoras for that hee was charged that hee scoft and laughed at their gods and doubted whether any gods were if there were what maner of gods they were Too many examples might be brought for the proofe of this in all ages and in all countries The lawes of Moses by the Lord set downe was to serue him in the Temple of Salomon and that onely in Ierusalem yet Salomon in his old age forsooke the Temple which he made to serue the Lord and was the first himselfe that serued straunge gods in groues and vnder euery green tree that from Salomons time Idolatry grew so in Iudah that the Israelites had as many lawes as they had gods and as many gods as they had cities and although they had not so many Temples builded to their gods as the Gentiles had yet they had as many aultars in groues vnder euery green tree for among the Israelites in euery groue was a temple vnder euery greene tree an aultar yet they spared not to defile the temple of the Lord in Ierusalem among the Gentiles they were so carefull of their gods that euery god had his temple for among them two gods might not be in one temple So the Romanes could endure nothing worse then to suffer strange gods to be among them for Lu. Aemilius the Consul was by the Senators commaunded to pull downe the temples of Isis Serapis 〈◊〉 â—…at they were Egiptian gods for there was a lawe among the Senators of Rome that Dij Peregrini e ciuitate â—…ijciantur And therfore the Romanes so esteemed their gods that when Pilate wrote vnto his Lord and maisâ—…r Tiberius Caesar to haue one Iesus allowed to be one of the gods in Rome who did many miracles and great wonders in Iudah Ierusalem and yet of malice by the Iewes was put to death though Caesar would allow it and would haue the Senate also to allow 〈◊〉 yet the Senators thought it not fit that a strange god should be accepted in Rome among the Romane gods so that the Romains the Grecians could serue many gods but Israel could not allow nor accept their Lord God for the Samaritans draue him out of their cities the Gergesites banished him out of their country and in Ierusalem his owne citie the Iewes crucified him preferring Barabas the murtherer before Iesus their Sauiour Yet Cyrus king of Persia caused it to be proclaimed by writing throughout all his Empire that the Lorde God of heauen had commaunded him to build him a house at Ierusalem in Iudah confessing that he onely is the god that is at Ierusalem and therfore Cyrus commanded the Israelites to build their Temple againe Artaxerxes surnamed long hand made the like lawe for repairing of the Temple of Ierusalem Nabuchodonozer published a lawe that he should be torne in peeces and his house made a Iakes that blasphemed the God of Israel but before he said what God can take you out of my hand at what time Holofernes said there was no other God but Nabuchodonozer Darius Medus made a streight lawe that all dominions and people should feare the God of Daniel but before he proclaimed an edict that whosoeuer desired any petition either of any god or man within 30. dayes but of himselfe should be cast into a Lions den so that Daniel was found against the statute praying to his god and was cast into the Lions denne King Agrippa all in cloth of siluer glistring garments making an Oration to the people vpon the Theaters at Caesaria because hee suffered the people to flatter him and to say it is the voice of God not of man which as Thucidides saith is one of the three most dangerous enemies to ouerthrow a common-wealth this king in the very face of these his flatterers was presently so tormented with such pangues of death that dying hee spake to the people See whom you called a god a little before dieth now like a most wretched man like Bel the god of Nabuchodonozer who after that Daniel tooke pitch fat and haire and did seethe them together and put it in Bels mouth god Bel burst in sunder of whoÌ„ Daniel said Behold your god Bel whom you worship for the greatest king is like an earthen vessell soone broken a spider is able to poyson him a gnat is able to choake him and a little pinne able to kill him this is the greatest glory that man can bragge of himselfe In the third regiment is set downe the Idolatry and superstitiousnesse of the Israelites compared by application with the customes and lawes of the Gentiles IN Egipt the mother of all Idolatry from whence the Grecians the Romanes and all the world were instructed to serue straunge gods they had most sumptuous Temples of Marble and of Iuory bedect with gold siluer most richly but such ridiculous gods were in Egipt as apes dogges crocodiles calues oxen serpents and cattes that euery seuerall citie in Egipt had a seuerall beast for their god in Memphis a bull in Heliopilis an oxe in Medeta a bucke goate in the citie of Elephantina a crocodile and so of the rest And therefore the greekes scoffed the Egiptians for that there was no beast so vile but they would make him a god in Egipt and none but beasts were gods in Egipt the Grecians gods were carued made like men The Romains made themselues gods as Domitianus after he decreed to be called sonne vnto Pallas was not contented therwith but would be called Dominus Deus Domitianus So Caius and other some of the later Caesars would bee called sonne vnto Iupiter others brothers to the Sunne and Moone which both Augustus Caesar and Tiberius refused to be honored with those names though they were offered others would haue their Image set vp in the Temple at Ierusalem but woe be vnto him that saith vnto a peece of wood arise and to a dumbe stone stand vp And therefore the Prophet saith Confundantur omnes qui adorant sculptilia gloriantur in simulachris suis. Wee are forbidden to bring rubbers and napkins and to holde a looking glasse to Iuno for it is not Pauls napkin Peters shadow Elizeus staffe Moses rodde nor Elias mantle but the Lord God of Elias as Elizeus said When Pilate the Romane President was commanded by Tiberius
children to straunge Nations as the Phrygians and others did for to relieue theyr parents for necessitie sake and yet farre better then to burne kill and sacrifice theyr children to Images and Idols as Ahaz Manasses and others did Bocchoris made a lawe against idlenesse for all idle men in Egipt were compelled to write theyr names and to giue account how they liued This lawe was brought by Solon from Egipt vnto Athens where they gaue the like account in Athens as they did in Egipt before the Areopagites for we read that the figge tree because it was barren and bare no fruite was spoyled of his leaues and therefore the well exercised man is compared to the Bee that gathereth honye of euery weede and the euil sloathful man to the Spider which gathereth poison of euery flower Bocchoris made an other lawe against those that clipt any coine diminished the waight changed the form or altered the letters about the coine that both their hands should be cut off for Bocchoris lawe was that those members should be punished that committed the offence So carefull were the Hebrew women for their children that their fathers should not name them but the mothers should giue them such names as should signifie some goodnesse or holinesse to come as a memoriall to the parents to thinke vpon their children besides giuing them their names their naturall mothers should be Nurses to their childrē as Sarah was a Nurse to Isaac her son Zephorah a Nurse to her son Moses the blessed Virgin Mary a Nurse to her sonne Christ Iesus our Sauiour so the two wiues of Iacob Leah and Rachel gaue names to all their children the twelue Patriarkes the sonnes of Iacob So Iacob corrected his children kept them vnder and blessed them at his death so Iob prayed for his children and offered for his children vnto the Lord euery day a burnt offering and so was Dauid for his sonne Salomon so carefull that he committed him to the Prophet Nathan to be brought vp in wisedome and in the law of the Lord this care had the Hebrewes to bring vp theyr children in the lawe and feare of the Lord. The very Heathens euen Phillip king of Macedonia was glad to haue his sonne Alexander borne in Aristotles daies because he might be brought vp in his house with him and instructed with so great a Philosopher Agamemnon was in his youth brought vp with wise Nestor of whom Agamemnon was wont to say that if he had but ten such wise Consuls as Nestor was he doubted not but soone to subdue Troy And so was Antigonus brought vp with Zeno chiefe of the Stoik Philosophers where hee could heare see nothing but what he sawe and heard from his maister Zeno. There bee many parents in the world that weigh not how they liue themselues neither esteeme how to bring vp their children like the Troglodites whose children were named after the names of the beastes of their countrey as horse ramme oxe sheepe lambe and such alledging that the beasts were their best parents in feeding in cloathing and in all other necessary helpes and therefore they would rather bee named after these beasts that maintained them in life and liuing then after their parents who gaue them but bare birth against the lawe of nature and therfore they and such are to be called Antinomi I doubt too many of these in many places may bee called Antinomi which degenerate from their parents both in name and in nature yea from all lawes rather to be beasts then to haue the name of beasts like people in Affrica called Atlantes whose children haue no names at all but as the Troglodites were named after theyr beasts and therefore well called Antinomi so these people leaue their children like themselues without names not like beasts but beasts indeed and therefore well and truly to be called Anomi for many haue the names of beasts that be neither beasts nor like beasts for as the Troglodites that before their parents preferre beastes against the lawe of nature are called Antinomi so these Atlantes in Affrica worse then beasts are called Anomi which is without any name It is much therefore in parents to shewe good examples before their children for what children see in the parents or heare from theyr parents that lightly will they imitate for the tree is bended when it is tender the horse is broken when he is a colte and the dogge taught when hee is a whelpe so children must be instructed and brought vp when they are young for that seede which is sowed in youth appeareth in age for Vertue must haue a time to growe to ripenesse Therfore Marc Cato the Censor made meanes to remoue Manlius from the Senat house because he wantonly imbraced and kist his wife before his daughter saying that his wife durst neyther imbrace nor kisse him before his children but for very feare when it lightned and thundered Hieron King of Cicilia sharpely punished Epicarmus the Poet for that he made and read certaine light verses before his daughter So was Ouid for the like offence bannished from Rome and so was Archiloccus from Sparta for saying it was better for a souldier to loose his shield then to loose his life The children of Bethel had they bene well brought vp they would not haue mocked flouted Elizeus the Prophet they might as well haue said Ozanna in excelsis with the children of Ierusalem as to say Ascende calue vp balde fellowe But true it is as Isocrates faieth that rude and barbarous men not brought vp in Vertue from theyr youthes should neuer or seldome prooue iust or honest And so it is written that Equus indomitus euadet durus filius remissus euadet praeceps And therefore both the Romaines and the Grecians were carefull to haue graue wise vertuous and learned men to bring vp theyr children in the feare of God Among the Lacedemonians Licurgus lawe was that expert and iudiciall men should bee founde out which were named Paedonomi to instruct and teach the youth of Laced◅mon for in three things especially the Grecians brought theyr children vp in Learning in Painting and in Musicke and especially great mens children in dauncing and in singing as Epaminondas and Cimon and for that Themistocles Alcibiades found great fault for that great Captains should become dancers they were therefore reprehended and answered that Epaminondas and Cimon were as great Captaines as they The Egiptians were wont to bring vp theyr children in Arithmeticke and Geometry and the Kings children in Magicke People of Creete brought theyr children vp in three things first to learne the lawes of theyr countrey secondly to learne Hymnes and Psalmes to praise theyr gods and thirdly to learne to sing the praise and fame of their great Captaines Among the Indians theyr wise men called Brachmanes made a Lawe that theyr Children should be brought after two
poisons being throwne into the seas by Claudius the Emperour his successor so infected the seas that it killed an infinite number of fish which fish being dead the seas cast off to the next shores so by the death of one murtherer most part of the Senators and Knights of Rome escaped from murther and poyson In the time that Clau. Marcellus was Consull in Rome there were found 370. olde auntient women supposed matrons accused and condemned for poysoning so many in Rome that it was thought by the citizens and Senators of Rome that it was a common plague eyther by corruption of the ayre or otherwise that so destroyed the people such rewards haue tyrants For he that killed Saul in Mount Gilboa brought his crowne to Dauid supposing to haue some great reward had the reward of a murtherer commaunded by Dauid to be slaine The like reward had Rechab Banah which brought Isbosheths head to Dauid their reward was to haue their heads and their hands cut off and to be hanged vp ouer the poole in Haebron murther neuer wants his due deserts nor iust rewards Charondas lawe was that he that pulled a mans eye out should loose an other of his owne for it but if a man had but one eye and that were pluckt out Charondas thought the lawe were satisfied if one eye of the offender were lost for it yet the one eyed man by loosing of his eye was depriued of all his sight and therfore sought by the lawe to haue the offender as blinde as he for though hee lost but one eye yet lost hee all his sight and thereby would haue the penaltie of the lawe for his sight and not for the eye and claimed therefore iustice of the lawe against the offender But the lawe of Moses is otherwise that if a man strike his seruant in the eye that his eye perish hee shall let his seruant go free for that he lost his eye also if a man smite out his seruants tooth the lawe is that he shall likewise let his seruant goe free Yet in matters of death Moses lawe is eye for eye member for member life for life bloud for bloud so is the lawe of the twelue Tables Siquis membrum rupit in eum Talio esto So Samuel spake to king Agag the Amalekite as thy sword made many women without children so without children shal be thy mother and cut him in peeces according to Talions lawe Was not Andronicus stript out of his purple cloathing by King Antiochus commaundement for his murther and caused to bee killed in the same very place where he caused the high priest Onias to be slaine the Lordes iust iudgement euer reuengeth innocent bloud Zimri through ambition which is the roote of all mischiefe conspired against his maister Elam and killed him as he was drinking in Samaria How long raigned he seuen dayes after hee was besieged in his owne pallace where he was forced to burne himselfe and his house Zellum through ambition conspired against his maister Zachariah flew him and raigned in his stead but a moneth in Samaria If men looke to the end of kings gouernors and generals more are found betraied slaine by friends seruants in their chambers theÌ„ by the enemies in the field For these be called Cubiculares consiliarij à quibus bâ—…nus cautus imperator venditur Thus is murther euer committed either by couetousnes pride malice enuie or ambition which is chief the very ringleader of murther and treason Was not Saul ambitious when Samuel tolde him that the Lorde had reicted him for his disobedience to say to Samuel yet honour me before the people The Idoll Appollo in Delphos could say no more to Augustus Caesar when he came to know what should become of the Empire of Rome but that an Hebrew childe was borne that commaunded vs to silence yet as Saul spake to Samuel so the Idollspake to Augustus yet depart thou with reuerence from our aultar before the people These wicked mens liues are compared in the booke of Wisedome to a shadowe or to a poste riding in haste on the way or to a ship in the sea whose path cannot be seene or to a fowle flying in the ayre whose steppes cannot be found whose wicked hope is compared to an arrow that is shot and falleth quickly to the ground Was not Absolon ambitious to say I wish that there were some by the king appointed to heare the iust complaint of the people Thus by ambitious meanes he practised secret trecherie against the king his father for the kingdome In the seuenth Regiment is manifested the great zeale of good men where whoredome is punished in many countries and lest vnpunished in other countries with the praise and commendation of chastitie AS you read before in the first fourth regimeÌ„ts how the Egiptians the Lacedemonians the Locreans the Getes affirmed to haue their lawes from Oracles and Diuine powers So Numa Pomp. made the old Romaines beleeue that all the lawes and Religion which he gaue to thepeople were deliuered vnto him by the Nymph Egeria yea euen the verie barbarous Scythians brag that they haue their lawes from their god Zamolxis And as the Turkes at this day confesse that they haue their lawes from Mahomet so many other lawmakers in diuers countries made their people beleeue that they consulted with some diuine powers and were instructed to make their lawes Such therefore is the strength and authoritie of the lawe that Paul calleth the lawe the minister vnto death and yet a schoole maister to know Christ. Plato called lawes the sinewes of a common-wealth Demosthenes a diuine gift Cicero the bands of cities Plutarch the very life of a common-wealth The lawes are as keyes to opeÌ„ vnto vs the way vnto obedience and to know sinne for if the lawe had not commanded me Thou shalt not defile thy neighbours wife I had not knowne adultery to be a sinne There is no offence so grieuously punished by Gods lawe neither by mans lawe as adulterie was euen from the creation in so much that all men defiled themselues with that sinne all flesh corrupted his way Hence grew the Lords anger so great that hee punished the whole worlde with an vniuersall Deluge sauing eight persons after the Deluge for the selfe same sinne the Lorde destroyed the fiue Cities of Palestine with fire and brimstone the Lorde would not haue so filthy a sinne to raigne among his people How was Israel plagued for theyr adulterie with the Moabites with whom the Lorde commaunded that they should not ioyne in marriage and therefore the Lorde commaunded Moses to hang their Princes vp against the Sunne for theyr filthy lust with the Moabites and the women that had lien with men were commaunded by Moses to bee slaine and the Virgines to bee reserued in the warres against the Madianites and Moses was angrie with the Captaines for
money vsurie of meate or vsurie of any thing that is put to vsurie thou shalt take no vsurie or aduantage of him but thou shalt feare thy God that thy brother may liue with thee if thou take thy neighbours rayment to pledge thou shalt restore it vnto him before the sunne goe downe ye shall not oppresse the poore with vsurie An example therof in the Gospell a seruant ought to his maister ten thousand talents and vpon intreatie his maister loosed him and forgaue him the debt but that seruant went out and found one of his fellowes that ought him an hundred pence laid hands on him tooke him by the throate and cast him into prison without compassion vntill the debts were payd There is an other kinde of theft which is not the least to steale the good name and fame of any man by scandalous tongues and therefore it was not lawfull in Athens not so much as to reach the longest finger towards any man for it was a note of infamie as though he should call him Catapygos a dog or a beast Likewise if any would call a man Hodidocos or Sycophant in Athens he might haue an action by the lawe of Solon before the Iudges called Areopagitae So to call a man in Egipt an asse an action might bee had by the lawe of Bocchoris against the partie The like lawe was in Persia against those that would call a man a coward The lawe of Christ set downe in the Gospell is that whosoeuer calleth his brother Racha or a foole is in danger of iudgement so it is commaunded by the lawe of Moses that none shall goe vp and downe with slaunderous tongues to tell tales among the people for the punishment of this fault is stripes or amerciaments by the same lawe And therefore he that will see good dayes must refraine his tongue from euil and his lips that they speake no guile saith the Prophet Liber a animaÌ„ meam à labijs iniquis lingua dolosae The tongue is fire yea a world of wickednesse it defileth the whole body it setteth on fire the curse of nature wee put bittes into the horses mouthes that they should obey vs and we turne them about as we list And therfore saith Xenophon Omnibus animalibus facilius est quà m hominibus imperitare all creatures are more obedient to the lawe then man Shippes which though they bee so great yet are they turned about with a very small rudder our of one mouth proceedeth blessings cursings with the which we blesse God and curse men which are made after the similitude of God all things are tamed by man but the tongue can no man tame for it is an vnruly euill full of deadly poison Thou shalt not slaunder thy neighbour neither shalt thou hate thy brother in thy heart These and many such iudiciall lawes are set downe in the lawe of Moses Therefore said Salomon he that keepeth his mouth keepeth his life but the wicked mans tongue is full of slaunder and shame Futiles in vtiles and therefore it is great wisedome not to beleeue any thing rashly for it was euer good counsel Caue cui credas neruus sapientiae est and therefore the punishment of the tongue was in diuers countries diuersly punished And therefore Alexander the great reading certaine secret Letters suffered his onely friend Ephestion to read the same Letters and after Ephestion had read them Alexander tooke his signet laide it on Ephestions mouth as a seale to keep silence and said Anima consilij secretum And therefore the punishment of the tongue was in diuers countries diuersly punished In Persia the tongue should be cut off and nailed to a post or to a pillar in the market place In Egipt the tongue should be cut off and sowed vpon the souldiers helmet in offending the lawe of armes or for offending the state hangd vpon their hats or caps In other places for their blasphemy itshould be hangd vpoÌ„ pinnacles of temples or on walles of cities to be eaten of fowles of the aire The like lawe made Plato for the hand that kild it selfe that it should not be buried Yet Augustus Caesar being perswaded by his friends that one Aelianus that spake hard of the Emperor should be punished for his ill tongue answered No more but Aelianus shal know that Caesar Augustus hath also a toong The like answere gaue Phillip of Macedon to an ill tongued man whom when his Councell would haue him banished out of Macedonia God forbid said Philip he will speake worse of me in a straunge country then in his owne But Ramyrus king of Spaine being so soft and so gentle of nature that many of his Nobles had him in contempt for his softnesse but he at length in the midst of their contempt and of his softnesse caused eleuen of them to be beheaded in the citie of Osca saying Nescit vulpecula caÌ„ quo ludat for it is an old saying It is dangerous to plaie with Lyons LeoneÌ„ vellicare periculosum est Yet many slaunderous tongues with wicked counsell euer practised mischiefe as Doigs counsell to Saul against Abimelich Achitophels counselto Absâ—…on against Dauid his father But the counsell of Daniel to Nabuchodonozer was to hate sinne by righteousnes and his iniquitie by mercy towards the poore such was the counsell of Ioseph to Pharao in Egipt in prouiding against the famin to come Many with the false prophet Balaam haue theyr tongues with Israel but their hearts with Balaac Multi malum sub lingua non in lingua habent Many there be like Laban that deceiued Iacob for his wife and gaue Leah for Rachel too many there be like the Samaritans that seemed in publique shewe to helpe the Israelites to build the Temple and yet secretly in what they could hindred them Many such say with Sigismundus the Emperour that he which cannot dissemble cannot liue like Tiberius who onely preferred and commended his dissimulation before all other his vertues for it was euer Tiberius saying Nullam ex suis virtutibus magis quam dissimulationem diligebat Vlixes dissembling to be beside himselfe least hee should go out of Greece with Agamemnon to the warres Palamides tried him with this stratagem laid Vlixes child before the plough share whereby Vlixes dissimulation was found out by Palamides So Gedeon found out the Ephraimites not to be true Giliadites by pronouncing the letter Schiboleth who slaundered the Gileadites to be runnagates of Ephraim and therefore Gedeon commaunded that none should passe ouer Iorden vnlesse he could pronounce Schiboleth The Gibionites very cunningly dissembled how farre they came what paine and trauell they tooke to feeke the fauour of Ioshua and the Israelites Yet Plato allowed dissimulations in Princes and Gouernours to effect some purpose for said he Mendatie fraude vti imperantes debere ad comodum subditorum There is nothing so necessary in a
most ambitiously sought Naboths vineyard but hee did not long enioy it and some seeke with Nimrod to build towers in the ayre like to the King of Mexico when hee is sworne at the first comming to the kingdome who among other oathes must sweare that the sunne must keepe his course shyning alwaies in sight that the cloudes must let raine fall downe that the riuers must runne their course and that the earth must bring forth all kinde of fruites These kinde of men search those things that be vnder the earth and those things that be aboue the heauens Satagunt inquirentes saith Plato quae subter terram quae super caelum sunt We read of Antiochus after hee had taken Ierusalem after such slaughter of men women virgins children and Infants that within three daies there was slain foure score thousand and as many solde as were slaine and 4000. taken prisoners after he had taken a thousand and eight hundred talents out of the Temple he went with such a haughtie proude minde from Ierusalem to Antioch as Xerxes went from Persia into Greece thinking in his pride to make men saile vpon drie lande and to walke vpon the seas but as they liued both so they dyed the one miserably murthered in his owne country the other most miserably dyed out of his countrey These and such ambitious men in seeking to build their great name and fame on earth as Xerxes and Antiochus they become so odious and contemptible in their own country as Ammon was in Persia among the Iewes whose name when the Iewes heard of they beate and stampt on the ground with theyr feete because they would not heare his name for the like ambition the name of Hercules might not be mentioned among the Dardanians nor the name of Achilles among the Taenedians for that they destroyed both these countreys To forget these great iniuries Thrasibulus made a lawe in Athens called Amnestia because the crueltie of the thirtie tyrants which caused the children to daunce in their fathers bloud in Athens might no further bee remembred least by reuenging of the same more bloud should be lost much like the Dictators in Rome who might put to death any free Cittizen at theyr pleasure So did Opimius vsurping the office of a Dictator beeing but Consul caused Gracchus Fuluius and diuers other Cittizens to bee slaine But after Iulius Caesar became the first Emperour and Perpetuus Dictator the other Emperours that succeeded him claiming the like authoritie made such lawes in Rome as pleased themselues Sit fortitudo nostra lex iniusticiae for when the honour of the Senators were abrogated and past by Hortensius lawe vnder the Emperour Caesar and his successors that they onely made such lawes as were called Placita Principum without authoritie of the Senators or counsel of the people which were accepted as lawes among the Romaines during the time of the Emperors as Iusregis was in Rome during the raigne of the Kings The law called Plebiscita made by the Tribune of the people could not be allowed vnlesse it were confirmed by the Senators neither could the law made by Senators called Senatus Consultus be allowed without the voyce of the people In like sort Responsa Prudētū for that they had authoritie to enterpret the law in matters of controuersies their sentence iudgement was accepted as lawes so that the body and whole summe welnigh of the ciuill lawe consisted in these lawes before named None might in auntient time among the Romanes be elected Dictator Consul Praetor or Censor vnlesse he were one of the Patritians but in time it grew that the Patricians and the Plebeians were ioyned together that one Consul should be chosen by the Patritians the other by the people This lawe called Amnestia was afterwards brought to Rome from Athens and renewed by Cicero that they should forget the murthering of Caesar least a greater harme should come by reuenging of Caesars death by ciuill warres Omni enim populo inest malignum quiddam querulum in imperautes This lawe was put in practise by the Iewes in Mazphah for the trecherous murthering of Godoliah by ambitious Ismael for they thought it best to put vp iniuries by forgetting of iniuries But the lawe of Draco in Athens was not to forget iniuries as Thrasibulus lawe was neither to please the people as the lawe of Gracchus was in Rome but seuerely to punish the people and that with such seueritie that it was called according to his name Lex Draconis the lawe of a Dragon for the least fault in Athens by the lawe of Draco during the time of his raigne was punished with death who for his lawes was strangled in Aegina vppon the Theaters by the people So that in Rome for the lawes which Gracchus made to please the people he himselfe and diuers others were slaine So in Athens and in diuers other places by offending the people too much by cruell lawes they were strangled killed and slaine of the people for their lawes as Draco was in Aegina and Perillus in Agregutum who found out the brazen bull to please the tyrant Phalaris who decreed by lawe a reward to those that would find out new kindes of torments and tortures to punish offenders So Xerxes promised great gifts and rewards to any that would finde out diuers straunge kinds of pleasures to feed his humour as an Epicure Of these kinde of fellowes Aristotle saith Subtilia illa ignea ingenia in assiduo motu nouandis quam rebus gerendis aptiora and therefore rash young men must not bee magistrates or officers by Aristotles rule In the fourteenth Regiment is set downe the change and alteration of diuers lawes of the libertie and tyrannie of some lawes of the authoritie of soothsayers both among the Romaines and the Grecians HEliogabalus a monster and not an Emperour maintained rather women as Senators to sit with him in councell in Mount Quirinal to make lawes to feed his filthy humours then the Senators which haue beene Iudges equall with Kings in councell after Kings with Consuls after Consuls with good Emperours for Heliogabalus called the Senators Togatos seruos to whom Augustus Caesar gaue great reuerence in any publike assembly or meeting and with whom in the Senate house he sate in councell Facilius est errare naturam quà m sui dissimilem possit princeps formare Rempub. So Tiberius Caesar and Traiane that whatsoeuer was done in Rome was then done by the Senators with the consent of good Emperours which with the Senators made lawes and obeyed those lawes which they made for Vnum imperij corpus vnius animoregendum in so much that Adrian the Emperour when hee sawe a proud citizen of Rome walking in the market place betweene two Senators hee commaunded an officer to giue him first a buffet and after to bring him to prison for that hee made himsefe a
page 2 The lawe of nature is a short repetition of the lawe written pa. 3 The lawe writtten giuen to Moses pa. ead The credit and confirmation of lawes pa. 4 Chiefe magistrates and gouernors in diuers countries pa. 5 The Lord commaunded an aultar to be made pa. 6 Diuers aultars before the lawe written pa. ead How they vsed to write in auntitient time pa. 7 The first Image brought by Rachel Iacobs wife pa. 8 The Image of Belus in Niniuie pa. ead Ieroboam made two golden calues pa. ead Israel committed Idolatry while Moses was in the Mount pa. 9 Socrates poysoned in Athens for religion pa. 11 Platoes opinion of Poets and painters pa. ead Alcibiades banished from Athens pa. 12 Clodius slaine in Rome pa. ead Anacharsis slaine in Scythia pa. ead The vowes and supplications of the Gentiles pa. 13 Xerxes burnt the Temples in Greece pa. 14 The Rechabites lawes pa. ead The Prophet Ahiahs speech to Ieroboam pa. 15 Zaleucus lawes of religion to the Locreans pa. 16 Licurgus lawe against straungers in Sparta pa. ead Anaxagoras put to death pa. 17 The zeale of the Gentiles in theyr religion pa. ead Cyrus confessed the God of Israel pa. 18 Darius made a lawe that all dominions should feare the God of Daniel pa. 19 Egipt the mother of all Idolatrie pa. 20 The Iewes obserued straightly the lawes of Moses pa. 21 Diuers tooke vpon them to be the Messias pa. 22 Idolatrous sacrifice of the Gentiles pa. 23. No bloud offered in sacrifice by Licurgus lawe pa. ead Paul called in Athens Spermologos of the Philosophers pa. 24 Molochs reaching hand and seuen chambers pa. 25 Punishment of corrupt Iudges in Persia pa. 26 The lawe of the Lord set downe by Esay the Prophet pa. ead Of diuers kings blaspheming the name of the Lord pa. 27. Lysander and Pompeys taunt to a Lawyer pa. 28 Ceremoniall lawes of the Gentiles pa. 29 The Gentiles builded diuers temples to their Gods pa. ead The manner of the dedication of the Temples of the Heathens pa. 30 The consecratiō of Aaron by Moses pa. 31 By what authoritie all Nations confirme their lawes pa. 32 The straight obseruation of the Sabboth by the Iewes pa. 33 The second building of the Temple by the appointment of Cyrus pa. ead Diuers kindes of Sabboths among the Heathens pa. 34 The blasphemie of Nicanor pa. 35 How dearely the Iewes esteemed their lawes pa. 36 Certaine Romaines slaine by the Iewes pa. 37 The lawe of Iud. Machabaeus pa. ead Among the Heathens the Sabboth of the Lord was not knowne pa. 38 Licurgus lawe for time to goe to battell pa. 39 Before the Temple was made the Israelites came to Sitoh pa. 40 The continuance of Licurgus lawes pa. ead Charondas lawes against contemners of lawes pa. ead Licurgus lawe called Rhetra pa. 41 The lawe of the 12. Tables touching obedience pa. ead The summe of lawes set downe by Plato pa. 42 The forme and manner of diuers appeales among the Heathens pa. 43 The wise and graue Iudges in diuers countries pa. 44 Lawes of all nations against disobedient children pa. 45 Corruption of Iudges pa. 46 Good parents had ill children pa. ead Markes of monuments and couenants pa. 48. The lawes and care of the kings of Persia to bring vp their children pa. 49 Charondas lawe for education of children pa. ead Plato and Anacharsis lawe for the education of the youth in Greece pa. 50 The Romanes care for their children pa. ead Bocchoris lawes against idlenesse and clippers of coyne pa. 51 The care of the Hebrew women in naming and nursing theyr children pa. 52 The carelesse nature of the people called Troglodites Atlantes for their children pa. 53 Manlius remoued from the Senate house pa. 54 Licurgus appointed schoolemaisters in Sparta called Paedonomi pa. ead The lawe of the Brachmaines in India pa. 55 Orators and Poets contended in Greece 56 Of lawe-makers and magistrates in diuers countries pa. ead Bloud the first witnesse against murther pa. 57 Foure witnesses against murther pa. 58 The enuie of Saul towards Dauid pa. ead Punishment of murther by the law of nature before the lawe written pa. 59 Murtherers haue their markes pa 60 How Paracides were punished in Rome pa. 61 Bocchoris lawe in Egipt against murther pa. ead No lawe against Paracides neither by Romulus nor Solō pa. 62 Platos lawe against him that kild himselfe pa. 63 The punishment of murther in diuers countries pa. 64 Charondas lawe for pulling out ones eyes pa. ead The law of the 12. Tables imitated Moses law pa. 65 The Gentiles both allow confirme their lawes by Oracles pa. 67 Pentapolis destroyed for Sodomiticall sinne pa. 68 The Israelites punished for theyr sinne with the Moabite pa. ead Commendation of godly zeale pa. 69 Adultery punished in diuers countries pa. 70 Bocchoris lawe against adulterie pa. 71 Charondas lawe against adultery pa. ead Zaleucus lawes against adultery pa. 72 Punishment of adulterie by Aurelianus Macrinus both Emperors of Rome pa. ead The law of Solon called Paratilmus against adulterie pa. 73 The opinion of diuers Philosophers cōcerning adultery pa. 74 Moses law against bastards pa. 75 Lawes of diuers nations against bastards pa 76 Bocchoris lawe in Egipt for a woman with childe pa. 77 The lawe of the Unshod house pa. 78 Moses lawe against an adulteresse pa. ead Xerxes reward to inuent pleasures pa. 79 Commendation of chastitie pa 80 Leges conuiuales pa. 81 Platos lawe called Bellaris Platonis pa. ead Good lawes sent for frō one countrey to an other pa. 82. 83 Meanes made by the Gentiles to become chaste pa. 84 Examples of chastitie in good women pa. ead The harme that hapneth by too much libertie pa. 85 The offence of the eye pa. 86 The chastitie of the people named Animphi and Abij pa. 87 The lawe of the twelue Tables for chastitie pa. ead Continuance of lawes in all countries pa. 88 The Tabernacle hidden by leremie pa. 89 The care and diligence of a◅ nations in keeping theyr lawes pa. 90 Iudges appointed in all countreys to execute lawes pa. 91 Of counsell and gouernment of women pa. 92 The Athenians sent to Delphos pa. 93 Achan stoned to death for theft pa. 94 The punishment of the Lorde for breach of his lawes pa. ead The lawe of Zaleucus for breach of his lawe pa. 95 The seueritie of Lu. Papirius for breach of the lawe page 96 Diocles slew himselfe to satisfie the offenee hee did to his owne lawe pa. 97 Licurgus banished himselfe for continuance of his lawes pa. ead The credit of Aristotle and Pythagoras with their schollers pa. 98 The Israelites sacrificed theyr children to Moloch pa. ead All creatures obey the Lorde more then man the chiefe creature pa. 99 The fraude of Giezi plaine theft pa. ead The vision of the flying booke pa. 100 Foure great men that robd the Temple in Ierusalem pa. ead The lawe Plagium pa. 101 The lawe of the Phrigians against theft pa.
which are read euery Sabboth day in the Temple After the destruction of the Temple first builded by Salomon the Lord stirred vp Cyrus for the second building of the Temple and to deliuer all the vesselles of golde and siluer which Nabuchodonozer had taken out of the Temple of Ierusalem to be placed againe in the house of the Lord at Ierusalem according to the propâ—… sie of Esay two hundred yeares before Cyrus time After Cyrus Darius and Artaxerxes kings of Persâ—… commaunded in like manner that the Temple which was hindred for a time by meanes of the Samaritans to Cambises and others should be with great diligence bâ—…ded and all the vessels wich king Nabuchodonozer tooâ—… away should be according to Cyrus Darius and Aâ—… erxes three mightie kings of Persia againe restored to Ierusalem Among the Grecians the first day of euery moneth was their Sabboth called among them as among the Iewes Neomenia which they kept most solemnly serued most religiously their gods Among the Romanes the Nones and Ides of euâ—… moneth were their Sabboths and obserued as religious daies on which daies they would commence no batâ—… but as a Sabboth to serue their gods for on the Ides of euery moneth throughout the yeare the Romanes 〈◊〉 great solemnities with diuers sacrifices and religious ceremonies Among the Parthians they obserued the very day that Arsaces ouerthrew Zaleucus to bee theyr Sabboth for that they were restored on that day to theyr libertie by Arsaces which daye they keepe as a religious day and vse great solemnitie in memorie of their libertie The day that Cyrus ouercame the Scythians was one of the Sabboths of the Persians which they call Sacas And an other Sabboth day of the Persians had on the very day that their rebellious Magi were slain that would haue vsurped the kingdome in memory whereof they consecrated a feast called Magophâ—…niah the which day was so solemne a Sabboth among the Persians that it was not lawfull for any of the Magi that day to goe out of his house The victories at Marathon and at Micala ouer the Persians was the Sabboth of the Athenians for among the Heathens the dayes of their victories and triumphs the dayes of their liberties restored and of their feasts were their Sabboths for as it was not lawfull among the Iewes to fight vpoÌ„ the Sabboth day so among the Heathens they straightly obserued their religious dayes as their Sabboth Phillip king of Macedonia vpon the very day that his sonne Alexander was borne got two victories the one was with his Mares in the games of Olympia and the other with his men of armes in Thracia for memorie whereof hee decreed an annuall feast to bee made which was obserued for a Sabboth among the Macedonians The Iewes so obeyed and reuerenced their lawes that they would not breake theyr Sabboth daye in so much that they suffered theyr enemins to kill and ouerthrow them because they would not fight vpon the Sabboth day so did they when they began to build the temple before they would build houses to dwell in or walles to defend them but euery man readie with weapon in one hand for their enemies working with the other hand Nicanor going to strike a fielde with Iud. Machabaeus vppon the Sabboth daye was willed to hallowe the Sabboth who said is there a God mightie in heauen that commands to keepe the Sabboth day and I am mightie on earth that commaund the conâ—…ry but Nicanor lost the battell and his life in the battell and his head his hands and his blasphemous tongue were cut off and hangd on the Pinnacles of the Temple at Ierusalem Nehemias finding some Israelites prophaning the Sabboth day in carrying burthens he tooke them and rebuked them sharply for prophaning of the Sabboth day So straightly the Iewes obserued their lawes that he that gathered but a fewe stickes vpon the Sabboth day was taken and brought to Moses and Moses brought him before the Lorde and sentence of death was giuen vpon him by the Lord for breaking of the Sabboath saying Let him bee stoned to death by the people Such reuerence obedience the Iewes had to Moses lawe that when Alexander the great commaunded the high Priest to aske him whatsoeuer he would haue him to do whereas he might haue had Territories and Countries giuen him hee requested but the liberties and lawes of his Countrey to the poore Iewes that did inhabite within Asia and all the dominions of Alexander So did the Iewes that dwelt in Greece in Asia and in Antioch requested of Zaleucus and Antiochus the great nothing but that they might liue and enioy the benefites of the lawes of their countrey which is the lawe of Moses Neither could the Iewes endure any that would despise theyr lawes for a souldier vnder Cumanus the Romane President for tearing of Moyses bookes in contempt mooued suche sedition that they came armed to Cumanus and claimed to haue iustice executed vpon the souldiers that so despised their law for the tearing of one leafe The like sedition moued an other Romane souldier vpon the feast day of the Iewes by shewing his genitall parts scoffiing and flowting theyr lawes and religion so that Cumanus to satisfie the Iewes put both the Romaines to death to the losse of twentie thousande Iewes by the Romaine Armyes afterwards The Iewes suffered many ouerthrowes most willingly vpon the Sabboth day saying Moriamur omnes because they would resist neither Pompey the great nor Antiochus King of Syria vpon the Sabboth aâ—… the Romaines and the Syrians euer found meaâ—… to fight with the Iewes vppon the Sabboth daye on the which daye Pompey the great tooke Ierusalem Therefore Iud. Machabaeus made a lawe that to fight vppon the Sabboth day in defence of theyr lawes of theyr countreys and of theyr liues was no seruile worke but thought it lawfull to fight vppon the Sabboth daye with Nicanor a blasphemer and an enemie of the Lorde and his Armye and so ouerthrew Nicanor and slew nine thousand of his host so that vpon the Sabboth day any man may do good So Christ aunswered the Israelites for his Disciples beeing accused that they brake the lawe in eating the eares of corne haue you not read what Dauid did when hee was a hungrye to eate the shewe bread which was not lawfull but onely for the Priests So he also answered for himselfe beeing accused of the Israelites that he brake the lawe in healing the 〈◊〉 vpon the Sabboth day Which of you said Christ will not loose his Oxe or his Asse from his cribbe vpon the Sabboth day to water them The Sabboth day is the schoole of the Lord in the which he would haue his people taught and instructed not onely to heare the lawes read vnto them but to learne the lawes and to liue according as the lawe commaundeth them to that ende was man created that hee
that they hadde not slaine the Madianite women And therefore Phineas the sonne of Eleazer for his zeale against adulterie slew Coshi the Madianite harlot and Zimri the Israelite thrust them through both theyr bellies in the act for the which the Lord was so pleased that the plague ceased in the campe and the Priesthood was giuen for euer to Phineas his stocke for the Lord would not haue a whore to liue in Israel The zeale of Iehu was such that hee caused seuentie sonnes of Achab to bee slaine and caused Iezabal his wife to bee cast headlong downe out of a windowe to be eaten of dogges hee slew 42. of Achabs bretheren and destroyed all the Priests of Baal and left not one of Achabs house aliue The zeale of Iehu so pleased the Lord that his children raigned foure generations after him The zeale and faith of Abraham was such that he was readie to offer sacrifice his onely sonne Isaac to obey the Lords commandement The zeale and loue of Ioseph in Egipt was such that he preferred the lawes and loue of the Lord before the loue of his mistresse Putiphars wife Such also was the loue and zeale of Moses to Israel that hee requested to be put out of the booke of life before Israel should be destroyed of the Lorde in his anger Salomon was so zealous in the lawes of the Lord that he sought nothing but wisedome to rule his people and to know his lawes So Iob loued the Lord and his lawes that for all the losse of his goods and children and for diuers plagues and punishments of body yet he still stood constant in the lawes of the Lord. Adulterers are cryed out vpon in the scripture and often mentioned in the olde and newe Testament compared by the Prophet to stoned horses neying vpon other mens wiues Women so corrupted Salomon that hee forsooke the Lorde and worshipped straunge goddes and lost thereby tenne of the twelue Tribes of Israel Dauid his father was so punished for his offences with one woman against the Lord that he welnigh lost his kingdome by it If Dauid if Moses and Paul were buffeted by Sathan who can think himselfe free from Sathan we must therfore watch if we will not be deceiued we must fight if we thinke to haue victorie not against flesh and bloud onely but against armies of spirits infernall powers against spirituall enemies and against Sathan the prince and ruler of darknesse For many are the stratagems of Sathan with whom wee must wrestle as Iacob did with the Angell with such weapons as is taught in Paul or as Dauid did with Goliah or as Iob did with Sathan himselfe The euill counsell of Achitophel to Absolon to lye with his fathers concubines brought both Absolon and Achitophel to hanging Pharao for lusting on Sarah Abrahams wife both hee and all his house were scourged and plagued with Angels and visions The Beniamites for their abhominable abuse of the Leuites wife was the cause that three score fiue thousand died in Israel Sychem all the Sychemites for the rauishment of Dina Iacobs daughter were slain the towne ouerthrown by Simeon and Leui Iacobs sonnes The lawes of all countries and nations appointed such due seuere punishments for adulterie as in Rome Lex Iulia was as sharpely executed against adulterers as against traitors and still renewed by many of the Emperours after Iulius Caesar who made this lawe as Tiberius Seuerus and others who with great seueritie punished adulterie Lawes were made in many Countries to suppresse adulterie for concupiscence and euill affections were condemned by the lawes among the Gentiles to be the roote of all mischiefe for euill thoughts breed delectation delectation bredeth consent consent action action custome and custome necessitie for custome is as another nature Adultery was punished in Egipt by the lawe of Bocchoris in this sort the man should be beaten with rods to a thousand stripes and the womans nose should be cut off to deforme her face as a perpetuall marke of her adultery but if she were a free woman the man should haue his priuie members cut off for that member which offended the law should be punished by the law which law sometime was executed among the Romaines for so was Carbo gelded by Bibienus the Consul for his adultery the Romanes had rather make lawes then keepe the lawes which they made Therefore Charondas made a lawe to keep the good from the bad for to flie from vice is vertue that by taking away the cause the effect might also be remoued for vertue is soone corrupted with vice and a litle leauen infecteth the whole doughe and therefore an action might be had by the lawe of Charondas not onely against honest women that vsed the company of leaude men but also against men that should be often found in the societie of wicked men for Charondas saide good men become better by obedience of the lawe and become wicked by wicked company which obey no lawes for that lawe said Charondas is euer best by the which men become more honest then rich Par est eos esse meliores qui ex melioribus Lysander being demaunded what maner of gouernment he best liked said where good men are rewarded for their weldoing and euil men punished for their wickednesse as Plato said Omnis Respub paena Praemio continetur So Demosthenes euer thought that law best which prouided for good men aduancement and for euill men punishment To the like effect Zaleucus made a lawe that no honest or modest woman should goe in the street but with one maide with her and if shee had two the lawe was she should be noted for a drunkarde Neither might knowne honest women goe out of the Towne in the night time vnlesse they would be noted to goe in the company of adulterers Neither might any modest woman or sober matron be attired with braue apparell imbrodered or wrought with gold siluer bugles and such vnlesse shee would be noted by the lawe of Zaleucus that shee went abroad to play the strumpet for among the Locreans an adulterous nation people much giuen to lust and lecherie Zaleucus made a lawe that by their comely and modest apparell they should be knowne from harlots and light women which vsed to weare light garrish and all kinde of glistering garments to be looked at Aurelianus the Emperour punished a souldier found in the campe in adultery in this sort to tye both his legs to two toppes of trees bended to the earth and so his bodie by the swinge of the trees to cleaue in the midst through that the one halfe hangd on the one tree and the other halfe vpon the other tree The like or rather more horrible punishment vsed Macrinus the Emperour against two souldiers in the campe that deflowred a maide in their lodging he caused two oxen to be opened and sowed aliue one
very ceremoniall Philosopher he made a law that no man should go about to corrupt iustice or iudgement either by periurie false witnesse or otherwise and the punishment for those that brake Zaleucus lawe was not redeemed with money but performed with shame and infamy paines and tortures And therefore Bocchoris made the like lawe in Egipt against periurers and false witnesses as against those that brake their professed faith and religion towardes God and violated their faith and bond of societie towards man with no lesse punishment then with death Artaxerxes so hated lyes that hee made a decree among the Persians that whosoeuer were found proued a lyar should haue his tongue set vnto a poste or a pillar in the market place fastned with three nailes thervnto The lawes of Moses to the Israelites against any great offence was to stone them to burne them or to run vpon them The lawes of the Indians against false witnesse was to cut off the endes of all his fingers from his hands and the ends of all his toes from his feete The lawes of the Persians as you heard by Cambises and Darius was fleying and hanging against false witnesses and corrupt Iudges as you read of Sandoces and Sinetes The punishment of false witnesse by the Turkes was and is executed in this sort that hee shall bee set on a Mule with his face backwards holding the tayle of the Mule for a bridle in his hand and so to bee carried round about through euery streete of the towne and after burned in the forehead with two letters as a marke of false witnesse By the lawe of the 12. Tables among the Romanes he that was conuicted for a false witnesse should bee throwne headlong downe frō the rocke Tarpeia which lawe was first exercised and executed in Egipt and a long time after brought from Athens to Rome For the law among the Egiptians was that false wie nesses should pe punished with the like death The Indians had the like lawe as the Persians had that if any man were found three times a lyar what state soeuer he were of he should be neither magistrate nor officer during his life but should be depriued of all honour and credit and lead his life priuate in silence and yet among the Egiptians lyes were left without lawes vnpunished The lawes of all countries were sharpe and seuere against rebellious seruants and false witnesses which like seditious serpents seeke secretly to forsake and defraude their maister both in word and deed And therefore the testimonie of the seruant against their maister by the lawe of Romulus among the auntient Romanes was not admitted so that many of the late Emperours of Rome made a decree that those seruants that would accuse their maisters should be slaine as vngratefull and trecherous seruants So did Sylla vse Sulpitius seruant for betraying of his maister though Sulpitius was Syllas enemie This continued vntil punishments were set downe and appointed by lawe for crimes and offences by seruants as carrying a forke made like a gallowes on his shoulders or with Paucicapa or burning markes in the foreheads as the Syracusans vsed to burne their bondseruants in the forehead with the print of a horse to note them as their owne bond-slaues Melius enim est vitiosas partes sancare quà m execare For the lawe doth respect no person otherwise then by iustice lawes then were made how much and how farre the authorities of maisters extended ouer their seruants Among the Lacedemonians the lawe of Licurgus was so austere that it was lawfull for their maisters to kill those wicked wilfull seruants that would practise either by word or deed any falsehood against their maisters Alexander in his great furie against all lawes slew Calistenes his seruant and Philosopher for some sharpe and quick words yet Calistenes spake but what he ought to speake but not how he ought to speake Quae debebat dicebat sed non quomodo debebat Calistenes though a Philosopher yet hee forgot this lesson Facile prsse loqui cum Rege sed non de Rege Heerein that which was spoken of Hanibal may be spoken of Alexander Armis vicit vitijs victus But better could Anaxarchus flatter Alexander then Calistenes lamenting the dearh of Clitus whom he slew in his furie Art thou ignorant king Alexander said Anaxarchus how auntient wise men caused the Image of Iustice to stand by Iupiter that whatsoeuer Iupiter had decreed it was taken for a lawe for that Iustice was on his side The like speech may bee spoken of Iulia procuring her sonne in lawe to offend with her Doest thou not know thou art an Emperor which makest law to others and makest it not to thy selfe A lawe was made in Athens not onely against seruants but against any trecherous man whatsoeuer were he neuer so great that though hee died in his countrey yet should he not be buried in his countrey but be carried out of the confines of Athens so was Phocion and others that were suspected of any treason An other law among the Grecians was that he which prodigally and wilfully consumed his fathers patrimonie should not be buried within his owne countrey of Greece so those kings of Egipt that neither obeyed nor liued vnder the lawe while they liued should not be buried in their Pyramides so were some of the kings of Iudah and of Israel vnburied for breaking of the lawe There was a lawe made by king Agis in Sparta that the seruants called Hilotae for their rebellious sedition against their maisters were condemned to be in perpetuall seruitude neither might their maisters make them free in Sparta neither might the seruaunts goe out of Sparta but liue there like bondslaues and their posteritie after them which should be called Hilotae Oportes enim supplicia more patrio sumi offenders most be punished as Aristotle saith after the lawes and custome of the country The like law made Salomon against Semeia for that he tooke part with Absalon against the King railed and slaundered Dauid and threw stones at him that if hee should but once goe out of Ierusalem he should die for it by the sentence of Salomon And so in Athens the like lawe was made that those that the Athenians ouercame at the riuer Hister they and theyr posteritie should be as captiues and bondslaues in perpetuall bondage with one name giuen to them and theyr posteritie called Getae as Hilotae were in Sparta Among the Persians their lawe was that the seruant being bought with money that fled afterwards from his maister beeing taken hee should be fettered and bound in chaines and so bound to serue his maister False witnesses are lyars periurers and blasphemers either with periured tongues for a mans life or with slaunderous tongues for his name and good fame calling God to be witnesse of vntruth so the false prophets and priests of Baal did whom Elias
seuere was the Lord in his lawes that he spared not Moses himselfe And therefore Zaleucus made a lawe among the Locreans to suppresse the pride and insolencie of great men who did more harme theyr Countrey through pride and ambition then they did profit theyr countrey by iust and true dealing The like lawe against ambitious men was made in Syracusa which secretly sought through ambition to excell others in singularitie both in wisedome and in wealth and therefore were they banished for fiue yeares out of Syracusa according to the lawe which was made against ambitiō called Petalismus least their greatnesse through ambition should do more harme to their countrey then good In Rome for a time ambition was not knowne vntill the Romaines grew great out of Italy then Cai. Petilius Tribune of the people made a lawe that no man through ambition which then grew in Rome together with the greatnesse of the Empire should make meanes by money or reward to beare office in Rome After Petilius Cincius decreed an other straight lawe against ambitious meanes to become Magistrates that none of the Patricians or any other that were ambitious to become magistrates or officers in Rome should come in a gowne or any long garment into the Senate least they should carrie money secretly in their bosome to corrupt the people for the choosing of Censors Praetors Consuls and other officers were in the election of the people both in Rome and in Athens alike for there was nothing in Rome but Forum Senatus lawes decreed in the Senate by the Senators and weapons in the market place by the Tribune ansd the people to resist the same The lawe of Cass. Longinus Tribune of the people was that euery Tribe by it selfe of the 35. should bring their seuerall Tables where the voyces of the people were secretly prickt to auoyd ambition and quarels which lawe was called Lex Tabellaria An other lawe among the Romanes was to auoyd ambition among the people that the Senators with the consent of the people should elect one Consul and that Consul so chosen should choose one of his own friends to be his fellow Consul for it was not lawfull for both the Consuls at one time to haue Serieants to beare Maces before them but one after an other monethly neyther might a Consul be chosen againe within ten yeares after his Consulship which lawes were made onely to auoyd ambition The like law was among the Thaebans against Merchants that were called Mercurij proles which hunted for priuate profits and gaped for gaine which forbad them that had bene officers within ten yeares after not to be chosen gouernours againe in that office for that Merchants be not fit men to be Magistrates and as Aristotle saieth Parum generosa haec ratio vitae vertuti aduersa Against which Demosthenes exclaimed in his bannishment the three monsters of Athens Populus Noctua and Draco but two of these monsters ruled alwaies in Rome and in Athens Noctua Populus men and money And therefore the lawe Ostracismus was made in A thens against such ambitious men as would secretly seeke to growe into greatnesse to win the fauour of the people that they should be banished out of Athens for tenne yeares as Themistocles Alcibades Demosthenes and others This lawe of Ostracismus was euer readie in A thens so long against the greatnesse of ambitious men that at length it grewe against base men that would practise any sinister meanes among the people For it was a practise among the Athenian least one should growe greater then an other to make this lawe Ostracismus according to Aristotles rule Neminem vnum magnum facere communis custodia principatas The kings of Egipt that did not minister iustice rightly nor obserue the lawe iustly while they liued might not be buried after they dyed for it was lawfull for any man to accuse the kings of Egipt before they were buried of any ambition iniustice or crime before committed against the law for nothing was more ignominious to the kings of Egipt then to bee depriued of their burialls which made them liue more circumspectly vsing iustice and obseruing the lawe But what were the Kings of Egipt better to be buried in sweete odours in their Pyramides or the Heathen Princes of the world to be buried in Suis Mausoleis was not poore Lazarus better in Abrahams bosome then the rich man tormented in hell for hee cannot bee ill buried wheresoeuer he is buried that dyeth well neyther can he dye ill wheresoeuer or howsoeuer he dieth that liueth well and therefore Non potest male mori qui bene vixcrit saith Augustine A people in India called Pedalij among other theyr vowes and prayers they wished nothing to bee graunted vnto them of the Gods but to be iust and to vse iustice Appollonius Thianeus the Philosophers wish was Pa◅a habere Nullius in digere and to knowe good and iust men and to auoyd the company of wicked and vniust men Socrates wish was to haue a sound minde in a sound body In Eliopolis a cittie of Egipt the Image of Iustice was set vp in the market place without a head and on the right side of Iustice the Image of a king was painted blinde without eyes because he should not see his friends nor foes but gouerne without affections and on the left side of Iustice the Image of a Iudge was painted without handes because hee should not receiue bribes and be corrupted in his iudgement Iuditij venenum sua cuique vtilitas and therefore the Iudges called Areopagitae in Athens might not sit on life and death in the day time while the sunne were vp but in the night because they might not see the prisoner in the face to moue affections but to heare theyr causes to do iustice so is the lawe of the Lorde Accept not the face of the poore feare not the face of the mightie So the Philosopher could say Deus enim nusquam nunquam iniurius semper iustissimus A Philosopher after hee had seene these pictures at Eliopolis hee caused the picture of an ambitious magistrate to be painted without legges because hee should not climbe too high saying Agesilaus climbes in Sparta to ouerthrowe Thaebes and Epaminondas climbes in Thaebes to ouercome Sparta This is that ambition euery where Quae frontem aperit mentem tegit But these ambitious men remember not Lots wife who seeking to saue her life by looking back on Sodome she lost both her selfe Sodome and Zegor So that among all nations in all countreys ambitious men are such that some with Absolon seeke to plant and set their names on earth by some monuments of fame but die ignominiously without monuments or fame like Absolon Some with Sebna build them sumptuous Tombes in theyr owne countrey but are buried in an other countrey Some with Achab build them Iuorie houses who