could bee as though he were their true and lawfull king but being brought to Rome before Caesar who found by the hardnesse of his hands and rudenesse of his behauiour that hee was not brought vp like a Kings sonne and therefore Caesar hauing found his falshood bound him all his life time as a galley slaue and commaunded all his counsellors and conspirators to bee killed with the sword This house continued vntill the last destruction of Ierusalem So that the Iewes after Christ his death beeing euery where afflicted and oppressed from Babilon were forced to flie to Zeleucia the chiefe Citie in all Syria which Zeleucus Nicanor builded a Towne where Greekes Macedonians and Syrians dwelt together there also the Greekes and the Syrians conspired together against the Iewes that there dwelt and slew trecherously of them to the number of 50000. So sedition also began between the Iewes in Alexandria and the Aegiptians in Samaria betweene the Samaritans and the Iewes and all the Iewes which dwelt in Rome in Sardinia other places of the Romaine Empire were from thence banished These Iewes had not so much as a place to rest vpon the earth but were scattered like rogues vagabounds euery where without credit or loue without Prince Priest law or religion the iust iudgement of the Lord for their blasphemy against the sonne of God saying his bloud be vpon vs and our children Thus the Iewes whom Moses Aaron brought out of Egipt to the number of six hundred thousand died all in the wildernesse for their rebellious mutinie Moses and Eleazer after Aarons death numbred the people in the wildernesse where all the other died and they found sixe hundred thousand seuenteen hundred and thirtie able and sufficient men for the warres and yet not one of them which Moses Aaron numbred in the desart of Sinai after they came out of Egipt sauing Ioshua Caleb but died in the wildernesse for disobedience and stubbernesse euer preferring the cucumbers melons oynions garlicks of Egipt before Māna quailes and sweete water which they had from euery rocke in the wildernesse where neither their cloathes were worne nor their shooes spent for fortie yeares yet Egipt which should be a hel to them was their paradice The tenne Tribes of Israel raigned in Samaria 240. yeares seuen moneths and seuen daies during which time they neither obeyed the lawes of the Lord nor heard the Prophets that forewarned them of these calamities which were to come and therfore the Lord gaue them ouer they were taken prisoners their last king Osea brought captiues by Salmanasser vnto Niniuie So the kingdome of Iudah and the house of Dauid was likewise taken by Nabuchodonozer in the eleuenth yeare of Zedechiah the last king of Iudah who was taken captiue his noble men his children slaine in his sight before his eyes were pluckt out and after led in a chaine vnto Babilon where he died in prison 133. yeares after the kingdome of Israel was destroyed by Salmanasser that was the cause of his miserable end for the contempt he had to the Prophet Ieremy disdaining either to hear him or to read his booke for before any king raigned in Israel Iudges by the Lord appointed ruled 370. yeares the kings of Iudah after Solomons death raigned 395. yeares which agreeth well with Iosephus account And so of the continuance of the Bishops or high Priests euen from the building of the temple of Solomon Sadoc being their first high Priest or Bishop were seuēteene high Priests or Bishops in Ierusalem by succession of the children after their fathers The end of the second booke The third Booke of the Stratagems of Ierusalem CHAP. I. Of the care and diligence which Kingdomes and Countries tooke in military discipline to exercise their souldiers THe Romanes most carefull in all military discipline in no wise trusted strangers but euery Romaine souldier should take a military oath by the Colonell The Persiās also were in this point like the Romains for not admitting of mercenary souldiers seldome is found any constancie or soundnesse in mercenary souldiers as by too many examples the Romanes and others found Iugurth by trechery of fewe Thracians that serued the Romanes in Affrike in the night time betraied the Romanes to Iugurth and made a great slaughter of them In like sort the Thessalians were trecherous to the Athenians whom they trusted but they forsooke the Athenians at the battel of Tanagra wherby through their falsehood and trecherie to the Athenians the victorie fell to the Lacedemonians therefore neither the Romanes nor the Persians trusted any mercenary souldiers for mercenary souldiers and strangers are not to be trusted for they doo not onely forsake their friends in any danger but ioyne with the enemy for any aduantage So did the Gaules in the warres of Carthage slew the watch of the Romanes and fled to Haniball The lawe of armes in euery countrey should holde and maintain the crowne dignity of the prince by the sword so most necessary it is that subiects should be looked vnto with great care and prouision to maintain the willing forward and good souldiers due punishmēts and sharpe corrections for euill leaud wicked disposed men carelesse of their countries good How carefull euery common-wealth hath bene of this you shall read first of euery kingdome country seueral punishments by law appointed after of the rewards honor dignities of good souldiers of which Plato saith Omnis respub paena Praemio continetur Agesilaus therefore appointed gifts and rewards to draw and encourage his souldiers to shoote to throwe the dart the sling to ride to runne and with diligence and care to keepe them seuerely from faults offences and to exercise them in martiall feates which kinde of exercise among the Greekes was most commonly vsed called Pentatlon in the games of Olympia Isthmia to honor Hercules and Thesius two protectors and principall captaines that loued souldiers Alexander the great was so seuere in martiall lawes towards his souldiers that if any souldier or captain shuld lye or be any way proued a lyer hee should be depriued frō his office and place of seruice banished from his camp for so was Antigenes though a valiant captaine otherwise yet was both casseerd banished for making of a lye Alexander after he had banished all bakers cookes brewers and such like frō his campe said that marching in their armour in the night they should prouide them a dinner a stomacke to eate theyr dinner against the next morning as for a supper he said they should not looke for wine nor flesh to sleepe after it but for bread and hee would prouide for water which is the onely foode of a souldier and the most necessary care of a generall Hereby his souldiers being brought vp by Philip king of Macedonia his father were hardned with continuall paine
of Israel In these kinde of combats the Prophets Martyrs of the Lorde win many victories of Sathan and his souldiers as Esay that was sawed in peeces by Manasses in Ierusalem Ieremy that was stoned to death at Taphnis in Egipt by the people Ezechiel whose brains were beaten out in Babilon and infinite numbers of the Martyrs of the Lord which fought in these battels of the Lord with legions of diuels and armies of spirits and got glorious victories and were crowned not with the Oliue of Olimpia nor with the Lawrell of the Romanes but with Crownes and Garlandes made of the tree of knowledge and of the tree of life crownes of immortalitie and garlands of eternitie These might say with Paul We haue runne a good race and fought good combattes farre greater combattes then Romulus had with Acron and yet it was for two kingdoms greater then the combat that Artaxerxes had with his brother Cyrus for the great kingdome and Empire of Persia or the combattes betweene Hector and Aiax where many Kings and kingdomes were ouerthrowne but the only combat which makes euery souldier stout and valiant was by the seede of the woman who rescued Adam from the bondes of Sathan and restored him to libertie and wanne a greater victory to Adam then Adam had lost to Sathan this is the strong armed man that is spoken of in the Gospell of Saint Luke that did binde Sathan and tooke his rich spoyle out of his clawes restored to Adam his life and libertie with a condition to stand out and resist Sathan and to fight stoutly against Sathan in these combattes and battailes of the Lorde for Adam was first a murtherer of his children before he had children and Adam was the cause that Christ was slaine for him thereby to saue him and his children Vnder this strong armed Captaine all men must march armed to fight the Lordes battaile as Elias did who marched himselfe against 450. false Prophets of Baal in combat of life death whom hee ouercame and slue for theyr Idolatry at the brooke Kyson In like sort marched Elizeus and led the whole Army of Benhadad from Dothan to Samaria blinde among their enemies for Benhadad king of Syria had sent to bring Elizeus from Dothan to Damascus as Achab sent Captaines with 50. souldiers to take Elias in mount Carmel but Elias commaunded fire from heauen to destroy them as he destroyed Baals Prophets thus the Prophets of God are for theyr victories ouer Kings crowned for the Lord raised among all Nations some faithfull seruants of his to fight in these combats as Ioseph in Egipt Daniel in Babilon Iob in the land of Huz and many such were crowned victors and triumphed ouer Sathan for none shall bee crowned saith Bernard but hee that obtaineth victorie none obtaineth victory but he that fighteth no man fighteth but with him that is his is enemie so the Lord reserued as he said to Elias 7000. in Israel that neuer bowed nor bended knee to Baal for the Lord hath marked his people in all Countreys with the letter Tau in their foreheads So hee marked the Hebrewes in the land of Gosen to be saued from the plagues in Egipt the Angell also was commaunded of the Lord to marke the doore postes of the houses in Egipt with the sprinkling of the bloud of a lambe as a mark to spare his people So the Lord commaunded his Angels to goe through the whole Cittie of Ierusalem that those that wept and lamented for Ierusalem should bee marked in theyr foreheads with the letter Tau The Lord also charged those Angels that had power to hurt the earth and the sea not to hurt the earth vntill the seruants of the Lord were sealed and marked in their foreheads Paul as himself said bare the markes of the Lord Iesus in his body opposing the markes of those stripes which hee bare for his maister Christ as a mark of his Apostleship against the outward circumcision of the Iewes these were externall markes by the Prophets set downe in the olde Testament but in the new Testament the seruants of the Lord were marked with the bloud of the Lambe Christ Iesus a true marke of our saluation There is a Nation in the East Countrey dwelling in some part of Armenia called Iacobites both circumcised and baptised that are marked both in their forehead and in their breast with the character or likenesse of the crosse The wicked also haue their inward and outward markes Cain had his marke not outwardly seene by men but inwardly so felt of Cain that hee oft did wish to die and could not for that was his marke that whosoeuer kild Cain should bee seuen folde punished Esau had also his marke and such a marke that all the Edomites that came of him had also Esaus mark whose marke was that hee could not repent though he sought it with teares So had the false Prophets their markes as the messengers of Sathan to speake lies to the people and so Heretiques had their marks for blaspheming the name of the Lord denying one article or other of our faith I leaue these inward marks to such as be marked in cōscience with hot Irons come to the external marke of the Romans who marked men cōdemned to die with two letters Cappa Thita as marks of death and those that should be saued with T. and a. as markes to liue this letter Tau was vsed in many Countries for a marke to liue so souldiers that escaped the daungers of warres were likewise marked with this letter Tau As among the Romanes by the decrees of Honorius and Arcadius both Emperours of Rome the souldiers were marked vpō their armes The Thracians were marked in their foreheades whereof they were so proud and reioyced so much of these markes to terrifie their enemies like the old Britaines who painted themselues that they might seeme terrible in their warres Of these markes of souldiers I shall haue occasion to speake of when I entreat of military discipline to souldiers omitting now further to speake of letters written in seruaunts foreheads of rings on bondmens feete and haires of the head halfe shaued Of which Appulius writes Frontes literati Pedes annulati c. So that among diuers nations they were marked on the breast foreheads hands and armes As the Syracusans burned their seruants in the forehead with the print of a horse to be knowne as bondmen so the Sameans burned the Athenian souldiers taken captiue in the warres in the forhead with the print of an Owle And in like sort the Athenians burned the captiue souldiers of Samana in the forehead with the likenesse of a ship Among the Lacedemonians and in most part of Greece it was not lawfull for bondmen to weare haire neither on head nor face Among the Romains for 454. yeares there was no Barbers seene nor knowne Pub. Tycinius was the first that brought Barbers f◅om
Mambre where he feasted them and intreated them on the behalfe of Zodome that if ten godly men might be found in it the citie might be saued but none was found there but iust Lot at this verie time vnder the oake of Mambre Isaac was promised to Abraham for so the Lorde named him at that time Sarah his mother being 90. yeares old So Samuel was borne of Anna his mother so Iacob and so Ioseph his sonne were borne of barren women as Isaac was foure also were named before they were borne Ismael the sonne of Abraham by Agar Isaac Solomon and Iosias Now againe to Abraham after Lot was rescued by him Lot dwelt againe in Zodom among reprobates and wicked vngodly men being named iust Lot hard it was for Lot to liue honest or iust among such wicked Zodomites and yet in Zodom Lot saued himself but in Zoar Lot was ouerthrowne Abraham could rescue Lot at the battell at Dan from 4. kings the Angels could saue Lot from the fire brimstone in Zodom yet could not Lot saue himself from drunkennesse in Zoar so fowle a fact by so iust a man may not be much spoken off Hence grew the first beginning of the Moabites and Ammonites enemies vnto God so much may be spoken of Ismael Abrahams sonne by Agar who grew so great so mighty on earth that they would not be called Agareni from Agar the bond-woman their mother from whence they tooke their beginning but they would be called Saraceni as borne of Sarah the true wife of Abrahā as the Ammonites and Moabites were left to plague the Hebrewes as pricks in their sides and needles in their eyes so the Saracens Turkes are now left to plague the Christians with sword and fire Before the battell at Siddim no battels in a manner haue bene fought but what was by Nimrod don who liued within a hundred thirtie yeares of the flood at what time people liued not knowing the name of a king vntill Nimrod grew so mightie and so great that hee brought the people vnder subiection in such feare and awe of him that they rather worshipped him as a God then obeyed him as a king whereof Nimrod waxed so proud that it grew to a prouerbe that if any Monarke or King should waxe too insolent or proud he should be noted named hic alter Nimrod for now Nimrod hauing obtained the Monarchy into his hands without resistance he called the people together to make a Tower frō the earth vnto heauē to reuenge the iniuries of his predecessors and to defend himselfe his Empire and to resist the violence of any further deludge He for want of men to fight withal on earth made a Tower that he might ascend vp to goe fight with the host of heauen So Cyrus imitating Nimrod hauing subdued all nations and kingdomes about him went for want of men to fight against him to fight against women into Scythia Alexander also imitating Cyrus after he had subdued all men and that no king would fight against him he went vnto India to fight with Elephants Leauing Nimrod to build his Towers in the aire Cyrus to fight with women in Scythia and Alexander the great to fight with Elephants in India we come to Ninus who tooke vpon him to be the first Monarch ouer the Assirians 150. yeares after Nimrod who after hee had ioyned his force with Aricus king of Arabia hee went with his army against Babilon subdued it and brought it into Assyria led his army vnto Armenia gaue battell to the Armenians subdued them also tooke their king Barsanes and went conquering all the kingdomes about vntill he came vnto Medea where the king fought with Ninus and the battell was equally fought of both parts but after that in another battell Ninus ouerthrewe the Meades and tooke their King in the battell and hangd him his wife and his seuen children in his owne kingdome So that within seuenteene yeares Ninus subdued all Asia and became so great that if the authors write truth hee had such an armie as none is read to haue the like especially at that time when the world was not populous within 50. yeares after the flood Before Ninus the Greeke nor the Romane writers make no mention of any warre or battell who proceeded forward and marched after he had conquered Arabia Medea and Babilon vnto the Bactrians and fought with Zoroastes their king who is said to haue first found the Art of Astronomy and Magique but this Zoroastes was slain in the field by Ninus and Ninus himselfe slaine with an arrow as Orosius saith others say that hee was slaine by his wife Semyramis It is written of this Zoroastes that when all other Infants weepe at their birth he laught In Ninus time we reade of the first Idolatry in scripture and that by Ninus himselfe who set vp the Image of Belus his father in a Temple which Ninus made dedicated to his father Belus after his death in Niniuie where all the countries and people came to worship and reuerence the name of Belus which grew in such credit in Asia and the East kingdomes that there was no lawe nor religion but what by Baals Priests and Baals Prophets were allowed And at that time that Nabuchodonozer raigned in Babilon a thousand yeares after Ninus Baal was so reuerenced and honored in Babilon that if any man should speake words against Baal or not kneele to him or worship him should die for it So was Sydrach and his fellowes throwne into a hot fierie fornace to be burned So was Daniel throwne into a denne to be deuoured of Lyons but neither Lyons nor fire had power to hurt the seruants of the Lord. This Baal was the onely Idoll in the East countrey vntill Elias found out the shifts of the false Prophets of Baal in the time of Achab King of Israel who first nourished Baals prophets in Israel After Elias Daniel found out in Babilon the falshood of Baals priestes how they cousoned Nabuchodonozer for his great allowance of bread wine and meate Leauing Belus to be the first Idoll and Ninus the first Idolater after whom little mention is made of the most part of the kings of Assyria sauing a catologue of their names though the Greekes as theyr manner is speake more then needs of them for the which Berosus the Chaldean writer doth much reprehend them for it and Plato their owne countrey man called them children for that they are addicted vnto fables and not giuen to learne antiquities but letting the Assirians to sleepe in silence I will returne to the marching of the Hebrewes vnder Moses out of Egipt CHAP. III. Of the calling of Moses and Aaron to lead the children of Israel out of Egipt THe Hebrewes which were 430. years bōdmē slaues vnto Pharao in Egipt vntil they multiplied to be such in number as Pharao doubted either to let them goe
this bloudie Emperour Valerianus left no place vnsought to persecute the remnant of the Christians which his predecessors could not find with sword and fire vntil he himself was taken his army ouerthrown by Sapor King of Persia who tooke him and kept him in prison all his life time in bondage and slauery vsing him as a blocke to mount on horsebacke things hard and straunge to the Romanes to haue their Emperour in such slauish seruice to become a vassal and a blocke for Sapor King of Persia to lay his foote vpon his necke to goe on horse And was not the great Turke Pazaites ouerthrown and his Army slaine at Mount Stella by Tamberlane a rude and barbarous Scithian and himselfe taken and kept in a cage vnder his table and carried him in that cage in all his warres during Tamberlanes life so that the great Emperour of Rome died as a blocke for King Sapor in Persia and Pazaites the great Turke died in Tamberlanes cage as a captiue in Scythia So Pharao in diuers battels was ouerthrowne by Moses and vsed as a blocke and at last drawne as it were by a corde like a dogge by Moses from Egipt into the redde sea and there to dye as you shall read in the two next plagues that followe CHAP. Of the ninth and tenth plagues of the Egiptians compared with the ninth and tenth persecutions of the Christians MOses is sent from the Lord to Pharao and commanded to hold out his hand vnto heauen that there was darknesse vpon all the land of Egipt such palpable darknesse that neither fire candle torch or any light might giue thē light it was such palpable darknesse that the Egiptians might feele it and this darknesse continued three daies long that one might not see an other Yet Pharaos heart was so hardned that now in his furie and rage he commaunds Moses and Aaron to goe out of his sight threatning them with death if they came any more before him though in the last plague he requested Moses and Aaron to pray for him and to forgiue him his sinnes but then were his words full of dissimulation and his repentance full of hypocrisie hee could say I haue sinned but he could not say I haue repented and beforie for his sinnes The ninth persecution vnder Aurelianus in Rome may throughly bee likened to the ninth plague vnder Pharao in Egipt The like threatnings of speech and the like words that Pharao vsed to Moses and Aaron in Egipt the like vsed Aurelianus against the Christians in Rome but it contiued not long for he was slaine as others his predecessors were And as for the great palpable darknesse in Egipt so was it in Rome when their minde was more darke then darknesse it selfe The Egiptians hated not the Hebrews so much as the Romanes hated the Christians For Pilate the Romane presidēt in Ierusalem which gaue sentence on Christ to die and sawe many myracles done by him sent Letters to his maister Tiberius the Emperor and to the Senators recyting the myracles that Christ had done before he died saying hee was worthy to bee canonized placed among the Romane goddes which all the Senators with one consent denied though Caesar requested them first and threatned them after yet Christ was not allowed to be a Romane God Tiberius without effect of his good motion died so did that wicked Emperor Aurelianus in the midst of his cruel persecutions After whō succeeded a good valiant Emperor Flam. Claudius so valiāt that he vanquished the Gothes the Illyrians and Macedonians whereby in Rome he was so honoured that the Senators sent to him a goldē Target which afterward was set vp in the shew-place and a golden statue to stand in the Capitoll but he died too timely of a sicknesse at Sirmium After him succeeded his brother Aurel. Quintilius a good moderate Emperour equall or rather to be preferred before his brother but he was slaine within 18. daies after hee was elected Emperour by the souldiers These good Emperors onely I name for that persecutions were euer executed by cruel Kings and Emperors But these cruell Emperours as they cruelly destroyed others so cruelly were they destroyed after as some of them were killed by theyr owne handes as Nero some murthered by their owne seruants as Domitianus some suddenly slaine riding by the high way as Decius some banished died in straunge Countreys as Seuerus others died captiues in bondage and slauerie as Valerianus did in Persia others eaten with cankers wormes as Maximinius others murthered one after an other as Aurel. Tacit. and Florianus Thus were those Emperours slaine and murthered that cruelly persecuted the Christians The Lorde beeing determined now to finish his plague in Egipt and to bring his people away willed euery man and euery woman to borrow of their neighbours Iewels of gold and siluer for Moses was verie great in the land of Egipt with Pharao and with the people for before this Pharao had appointed Moses Generall of the Egiptians against the king of Aethiopia which I wrote in the Historie of Moses Yet said the Lord I will bring one plague more vpon Pharao and vpon Egipt and after that he will let you goe hence for all the first borne of the land of Egipt shall die euen from the first borne of Pharao that sitteth on his seate vntill the first borne of the maide seruant that sitteth in the mill The Lord knew at that time how to saue the Hebrewes in Gosen from all the plagues in Egipt and to saue Noah from the geneall deluge in the Arke to saue Lot from fire and brimstone in Zodome and to saue the Christians from the destruction of Ierusalem in Pella As this tenth plague was the greatest and the heauiest so the tenth persecution was the greatest and the longest vnder Dioclesian in the East parts and vnder Maximianus in the West either of them persecuting and afflicting with such slaughters of martyred Christians that for the space of tenne yeares for so long continued the tenth persecution there was nothing but the wonted bloudie persecution sword and fire by the commaundements of both these Emperours with most extremitie to bee executed and as vnder Nero the first persecution began so vnder Dioclesian it ended For the Church of God so flourished the Christians so encreased and the godly martyrs so multiplyed that these tyrants were wearie to persecute them any longer At that very time when persecution ended vnder Dioclesian then heresie began to spring vnder Sathan for when one stratagem of Sathan faileth he practiseth an other Now Arius marcheth with his Antitrinitary crew and set themselues in battell against the Lord with horrible and blasphemous weapons and as the Poets faine the Gyants set themselues in battell against the Sun the Moone and the Stars so this crew of heretikes set themselues to fight against God the Father the Sonne and the holy
and famine an hundred thousand solde publikely as slaues and sixteene thousand were sent to Rome to beautifie his fathers triumph as Iosephus an eye-witnesse doth report The Iewes looked not for their destruction so nigh at hand they obserued by tradition of some of their Rabines that their Messias should come about the time of Augustus as a magnificent mighty king not as a poore man the sonne of a Carpenter whom the Iewes whipt and scourged for that he tooke vpō him to be the sonne of God made himself Messias the Iewes litle thought that he was the Messas when they cryed to Pilate to haue him crucified in Golgotha saying his bloud be vpon vs and vpon our children The greedie desire and expectation of the people was such that many tooke vpon them to call themselues the Messias as Iudas Galileus and an other called Atonges a shepheard but aboue them all one Barcozba had diuers followers was receiued for their Messas thirtie yeares but when they saw that he could not defend them from the Romanes they would no longer accept him for their Messias but slew him Titus proceedeth forward to destroy the Iewes but especially the Priests the Scribes Pharisies on whom he had no mercie saying that they chiefly ought to dye with the sword sithence the temple was burnt with fire they onely being rebellious and seditious and the cause of the destruction of the citie Titus spared none of the stocke of Herod In this warres of Titus were ten of the learned Rabbines slaine whose names I thought good to write as I found them written in Genebrardus Chronicles Rabbi Simeon ben Gamaliel Rabbi Ismael ben Elizei Rabbi Hanina ben Tedarion Rabbi Husiphith Rabbi Eleazer ben Samaa Rabbi Iuda ben Dama Rabbi Isbak Scribam Rabbi Iuda ben Hachinas Rabbi Iuda ben Baba Rabbi Askiba These tenne Rabbines were slaine by Titus which the Iewes record in theyr latter Talmud for tenne martyrs and after Ierusalem was thus destroied Titus appointed Rabbi Iohanan ben Zachai gouernour ouer the remnant of the Iewes in Ahua Byther Oza other pla◅es as Nabuchodonozer did appoint Godoliah gouernor of the rest of the Iewes when he destroyed Ierusalem in the time of Zedechia the king Titus also left Bonia a younger brother of Fla. Iosephus to gouerne other places in Iudah and he returned with his prisoners and captiues which he brought with him to Rome to beautifie his fathers triumphes and his This was the fift and last ouerthrow of the Iewes destruction of Ierusalem First by Shesac King of Egipt in the time of Rehoboam secondly by Nabuchodonozer in the time of Zedechias the last King of Iudah thirdly by Antiochus fourthly by Pompey the great and fiftly and last by Titus and Vespasian Thus the Iewes that subdued all natiōs before them and conquered all the Kings about them that in the time of Ioshua Dauid all the earth trembled at the naming of the Iewes whose gouernment continued from Abraham to Vespasian two thousand yeares and more though for a time while they were in Egipt 430. yeares litle spoken of vntil the Lord raised them so strengthned thē vnder Moses and Ioshua that first they ouerthrew Pharao and his kingdome after subdued the Canaanites Edomites Moabites Ammonites Philistines and the Syrians which of the Hebrewes were called Aromites the strongest nation vpon the earth at that time which were subdued notwithstanding by Dauid Thus the Iewes which were as famous and feared as much in those dayes as the Romanes were in the time of their Consuls are now so destroyed and their country subdued like wandring banished mē without king lawe or countrey The cause wherof was the sinne of Ierusalem which would neuer acknowledge the goodnesse of God towards them nor his myracles and his mercy wrought amongst them they refused his grace offered and persecuted him most violently to death Yet Dionisius Areopagita and his fellow Appollonius in the citie of Eliopolis in Egipt they both obserued by the Eclipse of the Sun at the verie houre the sonne of God suffered more then the rebellious Iewes did for all the blessings and mercies which they had receiued they cried out still vnto Pilate crucifie him his blood be vpon vs and vpon our children These learned Heathens openly confessed in Egipt that either the sonne of God did suffer death or else the frame of the whole worlde should be dissolued these two Heathens confessed and named him to bee the sonne of God but the vngratefull Iewes called and named him the sonne of Ioseph the Carpenter in contempt of him and therefore it is conuenient to set forth the great goodnesse of the Lorde in a briefe and a short catalogue what the Lord hath done to Israel since he brought them out of the furnace of Egipt where they were bond-slaues vnder Pharao 430. yeares euen from the first comming of Abraham into Egipt vntill Moses brought them out of Egipt For after Esau Iacob had diuided their fathers possession Esau went to dwell in Edumea and Iacob tooke for his part Canaan where he dwelt and his childrē vntil Iacob went to Egipt with all his family to his sonne Ioseph which was 215. yeares after the being of Abraham in Egipt and 215. yeares before Moses brought the childrē of Israel out of Egipt into the land of Canaan at what time the law was written giuen to Moses in mount Sinai to gouern the people and after the lawe was giuen the Tabernacle was commaunded by Moses to be made in the wildernesse which should stand to them for a Temple to serue the Lord and after the Tabernacle the Arke was made where the tables of the lawe were commaunded by Moses at his death to be kept where Moses gouerned the whole army of the Hebrues fortie yeares before they went ouer Iorden And Moyses before he died he deliuered the army of the Hebrewes into the hands of Ioshua with a charge from the Lord vnder whom they passed into the lande of Canaan after whose death they began to be rebellious seditious Yet the Lord fauoured thē sent thē stout and wise gouernors as Iudah Ehud Barac Iephtha Gedeō and Sampson yet stil rebelled they like Idolatrous people against the Lord that they were weary of that gouernment and reiected Samuel his gouernmēt and would haue a king the Lord denied them nothing and they had kings to rule them during which time of kings Idolatry presently crept in that the lord his lawes were forsaken and Baal with his prophets priests accepted Hence grew ciuil warres between the 12. Tribes ten against two that of one kingdom they made two so that there was nothing but slaughter and blood betweene the house of Israel the house of Iudah and that straight after Solomons death 500. thousand were slain in mount Zemaraim of the king of Israels side by the king of Iudah Againe such a slaughter of
the king of Iudahs side by the king of Israel that two hundred thousand of womē and children were taken prisoners in Samaria so that they wasted and spoyled one another in such sort that frō a happy populous people by forsaking their Lord and God they became a most miserable Idolatrous people to serue strange gods For during the time of Dauid which was 40. yeares the kingdome of Israel was the most famous renowned kingdome of the world For so the Lord spake I will make the Princes of Iudah like coales of fire among the wood and like a fire-brand in the sheafe and they shal deuour all people round about them So Dauid brought all the kings nations about subiect tributary vnto Israel whose happie whole gouernment was such that at his death hee left a hundred thousand talents to his sonne Solomon to build a temple to the Lord which he himself had determined to build but that the Prophet Nathā warned him from the Lord that he should not for that he was a man of blood but that Solomon his sonne should build him a house This kingdom of Israel being so happy as you heard in king Dauids time and in Solomons time so glorious a temple builded and so richly furnished vnto the Lord that in Solomons time such plentie was in Ierusalē mony was no more esteemed thē stones in the streets yet presently vpō Solomons death in the time of Rehoboham his sonne the state of Ierusalem was so obscured altered that the citie was sackt and the temple robd with great slaughter of people by Shesac king of Egipt so that the wealth and treasure of Ierusalem and of the temple was carried by Shesac into Egipt Againe the kings of Israel became so Idolatrous that there were no gods among the Heathens but they were as gods worshipped in Israel so that they were far worse then the Grecians or the Romans who would allow no strange gods to raigne neither in Athens nor in Rome and therefore for that they forsooke the Lord the Lord forsooke them and gaue them ouer and their kingdome to the Assirians by the hand of Salmanasser and so Samaria and other townes in Israel were inhabited by strangers So the kings of Iudah after Israel within 133. yeares after were carried captiues into Babilon by Nabuchodonozer yet the Lord gaue them not ouer but brought them within 70. yeares after againe to Ierusalem stirred vp Cyrus Darius and Artaxerxes three great kings of Persia to fauour and to aide them with license to returne to their countrey to inhabit Ierusalem with money and much treasure to build vp the Temple redeliuering vnto them all the rich vessels of gold and siluer which Salomon left in the Temple at his death and which Nabuchodonozer tooke away from the Temple and brought to Babilon After Cyrus and these kings of Persia the Lord stirred vp a great Heathen Prince Alexander the great who when he came to Ierusalem lighted off his horse and came to meet the high Priest and reuerenced him with great obeysance where were read vnto him the prophesies of Daniel where it was found that a Grecian Prince should subdue the Persian kingdome which Alexander acknowledged to be himselfe and therefore went into the temple sacrificed to the God of Israel and not only freely granted to the high Priest whatsoeuer he would aske but commaunded him to aske what he would haue him do the high Priest asked nothing but that the Iewes that dwelt in Babilon in Medea and in other countreys about vnder his gouernment might enioy and liue according to the lawes of their countrey which Alexander graunted besides his great and liberall gifts which he bestowed vpon the Priest the temple Nabuchodonozer vsed himselfe otherwise then Alexander did against Iudah for he commanded Holofernus to spare no people no kingdome saying Non Parcet oculus tuus vlliregno The terror of Holofernus army therby was such that they came out of euery citie crowned with crownes on their heads and lamps in their hands to receiue him with all kind of musicke and with dauncing songs to please him yet could they not mittigate the fiercenesse of his fury After Alexander the Lord stirred vp Pthol Philadelphus so to fauour the Israelits to loue their lawes that he had the lawes of Israel written in the Greeke tongue in Alexandria and released many prisoners and captiues of the Iews to the number of 120000. which Ptol. Lagus his precessor had brought from Iudah to Egipt with as great bountifull rewards gifts as Alexander did So Zeleucus shewed such fauour to the Iewes dwelling in Antioch in Ionia in Ephesus that he graunted to them the liberties lawes of their countrey After Zeleucus the Lord stirred vp Antiochus the great being before a great enemy of the Iewes after Antiochus many of the kings of Asia so to fauour them that all the cities of Asia where the Iewes dwelt should suffer them to liue according to the laws of their country and to enioy the benefites of the same and though many of the Assirian kings troubled and molested them with great warres which ioyned themselues with the Samaritans to subdue the kingdome of Iudah Yet the Lord raised vp the house of Assamonias Mattathias to resist the violence of the Assyrians and after him his sonne Iu. Machabaeus who slew of the enemies Edumeans and Assyrians that sought the ouerthrowe of his countrey two hundred thirtie sixe thousand and seuen hundred in the defence of Ierusalem and after him his other foure bretheren forsooke not the lawes of the Lord for all the tyrannie of the Romane Emperors and the Assyrian Kings But the Iewes from time to time so reuoulted from the Lord that Aristobulus the sonne of Hircanus made himselfe a King 481. yeares after the returne of the captiuitie of the Iewes from Babilon but hee enioyed his kingdome but one yeare after he famished his mother and killed his brother for in Iudah their kings had no better succession then the kings of Rome had though in both the kingdomes they made great meanes to become kings After this Aristobulus there was no king among the Iewes vntill Herod who was made by the Senators of Rome with the consent of Augustus Caesar and Mar. Antonius both Emperours of Rome vnder whom Iudah was a Prouince Yet one false Alexander a Iew most subtilly adopted himselfe being very like to Herod to be of the stock and family of Herod and brother to Aristobulus and thereby claimed to bee king of Iudah saying that he was Herods sonne as false Philip faigned himselfe in Macedonia to be Persius sonne king Philips brother and as the common people there reuerenced false Philippe in Macedonia so likewise in all parts of Iurie was this false Alexander carried in coach from Cittie to Cittie with all the reuerence and honour that
battels his watch-word was Venus genitrix These were his vsuall watch-words in 52. set battels which he had The Romaine Consul Sylla in all the warres which he had in Asia and in Greece his watch-word was to his souldiers Appollo Cn. Pompeius in all his warres which hee had vnder Sylla in Affrica against Sertorius his watchword was among the Romanes Pietas while yet he was a young man but when his victories and his triumphes grew great ouer Affrica Europe and Asia and that hee was called Pompey the great hee gaue his watch-word to his souldiers according to his greatnesse Inuictus Hercules King Demetrius in diuers warres which he had with many kings and princes after his father king Antigonus dyed hee still vsed one watch-word in all his warres against Zeleucus Pirrhus Lysimachus and Cassander Iupiter Victoria Antiochus surnamed Soter leading a great Armie against the people Galatae his watch-word was Beneualere C. Caligula a beast and not an Emperour gaue accordingly a beastly watch-word to his souldiers Priapus Venus Other Emperours of Rome as Sept. Seuerus a noble captaine gaue his watch-word to his souldiers Laboremus And so Pertinax the Emperour his watchword was Militemus And the good Emperour Antoninus his words was euer to his souldiers Aequanimitas After these comparisons betweene the Romaines and the Greekes in all military discipline it were also fit to compare some of their stratagems As Darius king of Persia to escape the daunger by flight which he was in from the Scythians vsed a stratagem left dogges and asses barking and braying in his tents to deceiue the Scythians which the Scythians supposed by barking braying of dogges and asses to haue found Darius in his tents The like stratagem vsed the Lygurians to escape the hands of the Romanes who bound diuers wilde oxen and buffes to certaine trees to deceiue the Romaines which made such a roaring noise that the Romanes thought therby the Lygurians to be in their campe and in their tents when they escaped secretly away Hannibal being most busie in plaguing Italy Scypio Affrican vsed a stratagem passed with a great Romaine armie to Affricke to drawe Hannibal from Italy who was forced streight to follow after to succour the Carthaginians The like pollicie vsed Themistocles to drawe the armie of Xerxes from the land into a sea battell knowing the Athenians farre vnable to answere Xerxes armie on land sent all the wiues children from Athens to Troxaena and to other cities of Greece and left Athens emptie The Persians hearing that Themistocles left Athens followed hard after him whereby Themistocles by this stratagem got a noble victorie ouer the Persians at Salamina Cities besieged suffered as though they were ready to yeeld and where they found the enemies so carelesse that they expected nothing but yeelding they sodenly issued out with great fury and ouerthrew theyr enemies So did Furius the Consull so did Caesar with the like stratageme so did Labienus So doth Sathan when he findes men without watching and praying liuing slothfull and carelesse and as men suppose in securitie then Sathan vseth this stratagem finding them vnarmed without spirituall weapons ouerthrowes them takes them and brings them as prisoners captiues to his tents CHAP. XI Of two ouerthrowes of the Romanes by the Parthians and by the Cymbrians and their Generall Crassus slaine Of diuers other battels both of the Romanes and the Greekes and of many Libraries destroyed by warres THe Romainas flourished at that time with victories and triumphes ouer all nations yet had some of the best of them many shamefull ouerthrowes as Mar. Crassus a noble Romane equall in force and power to Caesar or to Pompey after many great victories was among the Barbarians and Parthians ouerthrowne by Carres a famous citie in Mesopotamia and the more famous for that Abraham dwelt there at what time many noble captaines slue themselues for verie shame and sorrowe after their Generall Crassus his sonne were slaine by Surena Lieutenant of the Parthians This Surena was the second person next the king in Parthia his greatnesse was such that he had a thousand camels to carry his sumpters a thousand men of arm◅s armed two hundred Coaches of Curtizans that his whole traine made aboue tenne thousand horse Censorius Octauius Petronius and diuers other Romaine Gentlemen slue themselues and Surena after he strake off Pub. Crassus head the sonne and sent him to the king his maister in the very selfe same day was slain also Crassus the father In this battell twentie thousand Romains were slain and ten thousand taken prisoners for he had seuen legions in his army of footemen and after that Surena had bathed Crassus head in blood and had melted golde into his mouth to the great reproach of the Romanes he sent both the heads of Crassus his sonne to Horodes king of Parthia at which time the king of Parthia and his nobles laughed and scorned the other captiue Romanes making rimes verses and enterludes of both Crassus heads This ouerthrow was one of the most ignominious that euer the Romaines had sauing the ouerthrow of Valerianus the Emperour by Pazaites the Turke whose army was quite ouerthrowne and himselfe taken prisoner and vsed as a block for the Turke to goe on horse And another ouerhthrow which the Romaines had by the Cymbrians Teutōs by the riuer of Roan where C. Manilius Q. Scaepio were Generalls of the Romaine armies had such an ouerthrow that of foure score thousand Romanes and of their associats scant ten escaped with their liues away the newes thereof made Rome so to quake and the Senators to feare that they were so amazed so terrified as they were at their ouerthrow at the battel at Canne but Cai. Marius fully reuenged and requited vpon the Cymbrians at the riuer Xextus the ouerthrow of the Romaines with such a victory ouer the Cymbrians that neither man woman nor childe escaped In like sort was M. Crassus reuenged vpon the Parthians by Pub. Ventidius vice-Consull vnder Mar. Antonius hauing done great exployts in subduing the inhabitants about mount Taurus and also hauing wonne diuers victories ouer the Parthians a stout and hardie Nation whom the Romanes plagued sundrie times in reuenge of Mar. Crassus death which was the third man of reputation in Rome Pub. Ventidius was suffered to haue both the triumphes vnder Mar. Antonius who chiefly at that time was Generall of the Romane Army appointed by the Senators and people of Rome But Ventidius better deserued to haue this triumphe then Mar. Antonius who began to esteeme and attend Cleopatra more then his Romane Army Ventidius wonne more victories ouer the Parthians then any Romane Captaine else did and yet the Romaines had eighteene pitcht battells against the Parthians for the Parthians had eighteene kingdomes vnder them These were stout Nations and called theyr king king of kings as the Persians called their kings the great kings and the