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A88696 VindiciƦ contra tyrannos: a defence of liberty against tyrants. Or, of the lawfull power of the prince over the people, and of the people over the prince. Being a treatise written in Latin and French by Junius Brutus, and translated out of both into English. Questions discussed in this treatise. I. Whether subjects are bound, and ought to obey princes, if they command that which is against the law of God. II. Whether it be lawfull to resist a prince which doth infringe the law of God, or ruine the Church, by whom, how, and how farre it is lawfull. III. Whether it be lawfull to resist a prince which doth oppresse or ruine a publique state, and how farre such resistance may be extended, by whome, how, and by what right, or law it is permitted. IV. Whether neighbour princes or states may be, or are bound by law, to give succours to the subjects of other princes, afflicted to the cause of true religion, or oppressed by manifest tyranny.; Vindiciae contra tyrannos. English Languet, Hubert, 1518-1581.; Walker, William, 17th cent. 1648 (1648) Wing L415; Thomason E430_2; ESTC R34504 141,416 156

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in this that our Saviour Christ during all the time that he conversed in this world tooke not on him the Office of a Judge or King but rather of a private person and a Delinquent by imputation of our transgressions so that it is an allegation besides the purpose to say that he hath not managed Armes But I would willingly demand of such exceptionists whether they think that by the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh that Magistrates have lost their right in the sword of Authority If they say so Saint Paul contradicts them who saies that the Magistates carries not the sword in vaine and did not refuse their assistance Rom. 13 4. Acts 23. 17. and power against the violence of those which had conspired his death And if they consent to the saying of the Apostle to what purpose should the Magestrates beate the sword if it be not to serve God who hath committed it to them to defend the good and punish the bad Can they doe better service then to preserve the Church from the violence of the wicked to deliver the flock of Christ from the swords of murtherers I would demaund of them yet whether they think that all use of Arms is forbiden to Christians If this be their opinion then would I know of them wherefore Christ did graunt to the Centurian his request Wherefore did he give Matt. 8. 9. 13. Luc. 3. 14. Act. 10. 47. so excelent a testimony of him wherefore doth St. Iohn Baptist command the men at Armes to content themselves with their pay and not to use any extortion and doth not rather perswade them to leave their ●●●ing Wherefore did Saint Peter Baptize Cornellus the Centurian who was the first fruits of the Gentiles From whence comes it that he did not in any sort whatsoever councell him to leave his charge Now if to bear arms to make war be a thing lawfull can there possibly be found any war more just then that which is taken in hand by the command of the superiour for the defence of the Church and the preservation of the faithfull Is there any greater tirany then that which is excercised over the soul Can there be imagined a war more commendable then that which suppresseth such a tyrany For the last point I would willingly know of these men whether it be absolutely prohibited Christians to make war upon any occasion whatsoever If they say that it is forbidden them from whence comes it then that the men at Armes Captains and Centurions which had no other imployment but the managing of Armes were alwayes received into the Church wherefore do the ancient Fathers and Christian Historians make so horrible mention of certain legions composed wholly of Christian Souldiers and amongst others of that of Malta so renowned for the victory which they obteyned and of that of Thebes of the which St. Mauricious was Generall who suffered martirdom together with all his Troopes for the confessing of the name of Jesus Christ And if it be permitted to make warre as it may be they will confesse to keepe the limmits and Townes of a Countrie and to repulse an invading enemy Is it not yet a thing much more reasonable to take Armes to preserve and defend honest men to suppresse the wicked and to keepe and defend the limmits and bounds of the Church which is the Kingdom of Jesus Christ if it were otherwayes to what purpose should St. Iohn have foretold that the whore of Babylon shall be finally ruined by Apoc. 27. 26. the 10. Kings whom she hath bewitched furthermore if we h●ld a contrary opinion what shall we say of the wares of Constantine against Maxentius and Licinius celebrated by so many publick orations and approved by the Testimony of an infinite number of learned men what opinion should we hold of the many voyages made by Christian Princes against the Turkes and Sarazins to conquer the holy Land who had not or at the least ought not to have had any other end in their designes but to binder the enemy from ruining the Temple of the Land and to restore the integrity of his service into those Countries Although then that the Church be not increased by Armes notwithstanding it may be justly preserved by the meanes of Armes I say further that those that dye in so holy a war are no less● the Martyrs of Jesus Christ then their brethren which were put to death for Religion nay they which dye in that war seeme to have this inadvantage that with a free will knowing sufficiently hazard into which they cast themselves notwithstanding do couragiously expose their lives to death and danger whereas other do only not refuse death when it behoveth them to suffer The Turkes strive to advance their opinion by the meanes of Armes and if they do subdue a Country they presently bringin by force the impieties of Mahomet who in his Alcoran hath so recommended Armes as they are not ashamed to say it is the ready way to Heaven yet do the Turkes constrain no man in matter of conscierce But he which is a much greater adversary to Christ and true Religion with all those Kings whom he hath inchanted opposeth fire and fagots to the light of the Gospel to●tures the word of God compelling by wracking and torments as much as in him lieth all men to become Idolaters and finally is not ashamed to advance and maintain their faith and law by perfideous disloyalty and their traditions by continuall traysons Now on the contrary those good Princes and Magistrates are said properly to defend themselves which invirone and fortifie by all their meanes and industry the vine of Christ already planted ●o be planted in places where it hath not yet been least the wild boore of the Forrest should sp●yl● or devoure it They do this I say in covering with their Buckler and defending with their sword those which by the preaching of the Gospel have been converted to true Religion and in fortifying with their best ability by ●avelin● ditches and rampers the Temple of God built with lively stones untill it Have attained the full height in despite of all the furious assaul●s of the enemies thereof we have lengthened out this discourse thus far to the end we might take away all scruple concerning this question Set then the Estates and all the Officers of a Kingdom or the greatest part of them every one established in authority by the people know that if they containe not within his bounds or at the least imploy not the utmost of their endeavours thereto a King that seekes to corrupt the Law of God or hinders the reestablishment thereof that they offend grievously against the Lord with whom they have contracted Covenants upon those conditions Those of a Town or of a Province making a portion of a Kingdom let them know also that they draw upon themselves the judgement of God if they drive not impiety out of their walls and
Kings and in whose right the King assumes to himself that priviledge for otherwise wherefore is the Prince only administrator and the people true proprietor of the publique Exchequer as we will prove here presently after Furthermore it is not a thing resolved on by all that no tyrannous intrusion or usurpation and continuance in the same course can by any length of time prescribe against lawfull liberty If it be objected that Kings were enthronized and received their authority from the people that lived five hundred yeers ago and not by those now living I answer that the Common-wealth never dyes although Kings be taken out of this life one after another for as the continuall running of the water gives the River a perpetuall being so the alternative revolution of birth and death renders the people quoad hunc mundum immortall And further as wee have at this day the same Seine and Tiber as was 1000. yeers agoe in like manner also is there the same people of Germany France and Italy excepting intermixing of Colonies or such like neither can the lapse of time nor changing of individuals alter in any sort the right of those people Furthermore if they say the King receives his kingdom from his Father and not from the people and hee from his Grandsa her and to one from another upward I ask could the Grandfather or Ancestor transfer a greater right to his Successor then he had himself If he could not as without doubt Vlpian de reg juris l. 54. it must need be so is it not plainly perspi●uous that what the Successor further arrogates to himself he may usurp with as sare a conscience as what a Thiefe g●●s by the high-way side The people on the contrary have their right of eviction intire and whole although then that the officers of the Crown have for a time lost or left their rankes this cannot in any true right prejudice the people but rather cleer otherwise as one would not grant audience or show favour to a slave which had long time held his master prisoner and did not only vant himself to be free but also presumptuously assumed power over the life and death of his master neither would any man allow the excuses of a those because he had continued in that grade 30. yeers or for that he had beene bred in that course of life by his Father if hee presumed by his long continuance in that function to prescribe for the lawfulnesse but rather the longer he had continued in his wickednesse the more grievous should be his punishment in like manner the Prince is altogether unsupportable which because he succeeds a Tyrant or hath kept the people by whose suffrages he holds the Crown in a long slavery or hath suppressed the Officers of the kingdom who should be protectors of the publike liberty that therefore presumes that what he affects is lawfull for him to effect and that his will is not to be restrained or corrected by any positive Law whatsoever For prescription in tyranny detracts nothing from the right of the people nay it rather much aggravates the Princes on rages But what if the Peers and principal officers of the Kingdom makes themselves parts with the King Wha● if betraying the Publique cause the yoak of tyranny upon the peoples neck shall it follow that by this prevatication and treason the authority is devolved into the King Does this detract any thing from the aight of the peoples liberty or does it adde any licencious power to the King Let the people thank themselves say you who relyed on the distoyall loyalty of such men But I answer that these officers are indeed those Protectors whose principall care and study should be that the people be maintained in the free and absolute fruition of their goods and liberty And therefore in the same manner as if a treacherous Advoca●e for a sum of money should agree to betray the cause of his Client into the hands of his Adversary which he ought to have defended hath not power for all that to alter the course of justice nor of a bad cause to make a good one although perhaps for a time he give some colour of it In like manner this conspiracy of the great ones combined to ruine the inferiours cannot disanull the right of the people in the meane season those great ones incur the punishment that the same asors against Prevaricators and for the people the same Law allowes them to chuse another Advocate and afresh to pursue their cause as if it were then only to begin For if the people of Rome condemned their Captains and Generals of their Armies because they capitulated with their Enemies to their disadvantage although they were drawn to it by necessity being on the point to be all overthrown and would not be bound to performe the Souldiers capitulation much lesse shall a free People be tyed to bear the yoak of thraldome which is cast on them by those who should and might have prevented it but being neither forced nor compelled did for their own particular gain willingly betray those that had committed their liberty to their custody Wherefore Kings were created Now seeing that Kings have been ever established by the people and that they have had Associates joyned with them to contain them within the limits of their duties the which Associates considered in particular one by one are under the King and altogether in one intire Body are above him We must consequently see wherefore first Kings were established and what is principally their duty We usually esteem a thing just and good when it attains to the proper end for which it is ordained In the first place every one consents That men by nature loving liberty and having servitude born rather to command then obey have not willingly admitted to be governed by another and renounced as it were the priviledge of nature by submitting themselves to the commands of others but for some speciall and great profit that they expected from it For as Esope sayes That the horse being before accustomed to wander as his pleasure would never have received the bit into his mouth nor the Rider on his back but that he hoped by that means to overmatch the Bull neither let us imagine that Kings were chosen to apply to their own proper use the goods that are gotten by the sweat of their Subjects for every man loves and cherisheth his owne They have not received the power and authority of the People to make it serve as a Pandar to their pleasures for ordinarily the inferiours hate or at least envietheir superiours Let us then conclude that they are established in this place to maintain by justice and to defend by force of Armes both the publike State and perticular persons from all dammages and outrages wherefore Saint Augustine saith Those are properly called Lords and Masters A●ig lib. 16 de civit dei c. 15. which provide for the good and profit of
Now although some Citizens say that by decree of Senate the Emperour Augustus was declared to be exempt from obedience to Lawes yet notwithstanding Theodosius and all the other good and reasonable Emperours have professed that they were bound to the Lawes lest what had been extorted by violence might be ●cknowledged and received instead of Law And for Augustus Caesar in so much as the Roman Common wealth was en thralled by his power and violence she could ●ay nothing freely but that she had lost her freedome And because they durst not call Augustus a tyrant the senate said he was exempt from ●ll obedience to the lawes which was in effect as much as if they plainely should have said ●he Emperour was an outl●w The same right ●●●h ever beene of force in all well governed states and Kingd●mes of Chr●st●ndome For neither the Emperour the King of France nor the Kings of Spain England Polander Hungarie and all other lawfull Princes as the Areh Dukes of Austriae Dukes of Brabante Earles of Flanders and Holland nor other Princes are not recreated to the government of their estates before they have promised to the Electours Peeres Pala●ins Lords Barons and Governours that they will render to every one right according to the lawes of the Country yea so strictly that they cannot alter or innovate any thing contrary to the priviledges of the countries without the consent of the ●ownes and provinces If they do it they are no lesse guilty of rebellion against the lawes then ●he people is in their kind if they refuse obedience when they command according to law briefly lawfull princes receive the lawes from the people as well as the crown in lieu of honour and the scepter in liue of power which they are bound to keep and maintain and therein repose their chiefest glory If the Prince may make new lawes What then shall it not be lawfull for a Prince to make new lawes and abrogate the old seeing it belongs to the King not onely to advise that nothing be done neither against nor to defraud the lawes but also that nothing be wan●ing to them or any thing to much in them briefly that neither age nor lapse of time do abolish or entombe them i● there be any thing to abridge added or taken away from them ●t is his duty to assemble the estates and to demand their advise and resolution without presuming to publish any things be●ore the whole have beene first du●y examined and approved by them after the l●w is once ennacted and published there is no more dispute to be made above it all men owe obedience to it and the prince in the first place to teach other men their duty and for that all men are ca●i●ier led by example then by precep●s the prince must necessarily expresse his willingnesse to observe the lawes or else by what equity can he require obedience in his subjects to that which he himselfe con●●mnes For the disterence which is betwixt Kings and subjects ought not to consist in impurity but in equity and justice And there●ore although Augustus was esteemed to be exempt by the d●cree of the S●nate notwithstanding reproving of a young man that had broken the Iulian law concerning adultery he boldly replyed to Augustus that he himself had transgressed the same laws which condemnes adul●eries the Emperour acknowledged his fault and for grief forbore to late So convenient a ●hing it is in nature to practise by example Demoth in oratio con Timocrat that which we would teach by precipt The Lawgicer Solon was wont to compare laws to mony for they m●●n●ain human societies as many preserves traffick neither improperly then if they Kings may not law●ully or at the least heretofore could not mannace or imbase good mony without the consent of the Common wealth much more ●ei●e can he have power to make and Innocen 3. ad regem Fam. in ca. quado d●●ure juando unmake lawes without the which no● Kings nor subjects can coha bite in security bu● must befor●● to live brut●shly in caves and deserts like wild beast wherefore also the Emperour of Germany esteeme it needful to make some law for the good of the empire first he demands the advise of the estates if it be there approved the Princes Barons Deputies of the towns signei● and then the law is ratified for he solemnly swears to keep the laws already made and to introduce no new ones without a generall consent There is a Law in Poloniae which hath beene renewed in the yeere 1454. and also in the yeere 1538. and by those it is decreed that no new Lawes shall be made but by a common consent nor no where else but in the Generall Assembly of the Estates For the Kingdome of France where the Kings are thought to have greater authority then in o●her places anciently all Lawes were onely made in the Assembly of the Estates or in the ambulatory Parliament But since this Parliament hath been Sedentary the Kings ed●cts are not received as authentically before the Parliament hath approved them Whereas on the contrary the decrees of this Parliament where the Law is defective have commonly the power and effect of Law In the Kingdomes of England Spain Hungary and others they yet enjoy in some sort their ancient priviledges For if the welfare of the Kingdom depends of the observation of the Laws and the Lawes are enthralled to the pleasore of one man is it not most certain that there can be no permanent stability in that government Must it not then necessarily come to passe that if the King as some have been be infected with Lunacie either continually or by intervales that the whole State fall inevitably to ruine But if th● Laws be superiour to the King as we have already proved and that the King be tyed in the same respect of obedience to the Lawes as the Servant is to his Master who will be so senslesse that will not rather obey the Law then the King or will not readily yeeld his best assistance against those that seek to violate or infringe them Now seeing that the King is not Lord over the Lawes let us examine how far his power may be justly extended in other things Whether the Prince have power of life and death over his Subjects The Minnions of the Court hold it for an undeniable Maxime That Princes have the same power of life and death over their Subjects as anciently Masters had over their slaves and with these false imaginations have so bewitched Princes that many although they put not in ure with much rigour this imaginary right yet they imagine that they may lawfully do it and in how much they defist from the practise thereof insomuch that they quit and relinquisite of their right and due But we affirme on the contrary that the Prince is but as the Minister and Executor of the Law and may only unsheath the Sword against those whom the Law hath
condemned and if he do otherwise he is no more a King but a Tyrant no longer a Judge but a Malefactor and instead of that honourable Title of Conservatour he shal be justly branded with that foule terme of Violator of the Law and Equity We must here first of all take into our consideration the foundation on which this our disputation is built which we have resolved into this head That Kings are ordained for the benefit and profit of the publike State this being granted the question is soon discust For who will believe that men sought and desired a King who upon any sudden motion might at his pleasure cut their throats or which in colour or revenge might when he would take their heads from their shoulders Briefly who as the wise man sayes carryes death at his tongues end we must not think so idely There is no man so vain which would willingly that his welfare should depend of anothers pleasure Nay with much difficulty will any man trust his life in the hands of a friend ●r a brother much lesse of a stranger be he never so worthy Seeing that Envie Hare and Rage did so far transport Athanas and Ajax beyond the bounds of reason that the one killed his children the other fayling to effect his desire in the same kind against his friends and companions turned his sury and murtherous intent and acted the same revenge upon himself Now it being naturall to every man to love himselfe and to seek the preservation of his own life In what assurance I pray you would any man rest to have a Sword continually hanging over his head by a small threed with the point towards him Would any mirth or jollity relish in such a continuall affright Can you possible make choyce of a more slender threed then to expose your life and welfare into the hands and power of a man so mutable that changes with every puft of wind Briefly which almost a thousand times a day shakes off the restraint of reason and discretion and yeelds himself slave to his own unruly and disordered passions Can there be hoped or imagined any profit or advantage so great or so worthy which mig●t equalize or counterpose this feare or this danger Let us conclude then that it is against Delinquents onely whom the mouth of the Law hath condemned that Kings may draw forth the Sword of Authority If the King may pardon those whom the Law condemnes But because life is a thing precious and to be favoured peradventure it will be demanded whether the King may not pardon and absolve those whom the Law hath condemned I answer no Otherwise this cruell pitty would maintain Theeves Robbers Murtherers Ravisters Poysoners Sorcerers other plagues of Mankind as we may reade Tyrants have done here afore in many places and to our wofull experience wee may yet see at this present time And therefore the Beast of Law in this kind will by impurity much encreise the number of offendors So that he which received the Sword of Authority from the Law to promise offence will arme offenders therewith against the Lawes and put himselfe the Woolfe into the Fold which hee ought to have warran●ed from their ravenous outrages But for so much that it may chance in some occasions that the Law being mute may have need of a speaking Law and that the King being in some cases the aptest Expositor a king for the Rule of his actions Equity and Reason which as the soule of the Soule may so cleere the intention thereof as where the offence is rather commited against the words then the intendment of the Law hee may free the innocent Offendor from the guilt thereof because a just and equitable Exposition of the Law may in all good reason be taken for Law it selfe as neerest concurring with the intention of the Law makers Notwithstanding least passion should preposse the place of reason I. Nomims res S. verbum ex l●ge D. de verb signif Kings should in this fashion themselves to the ordinary practise of the Emperour severns not to determine absolutely any thing before it were maturely discussed by upright and discreet men in that facultie And so the King may rigorously punish the Murtherer and yet notwithstanding pardon him which casually and without any such purpose killeth one He may put to death the Thiefe and yet pardon that man which in ●is own defence killeth him that would have robbed him Briesly in all other occurrences hee may distinguish as being established Aroitrator and Newter Chaunce medly from malice fore-thought a good purpose from the Rigour of the Law without favouring at any time Malice or Treason Neither can the omission of this duty gain to him any true esteeme of mercifull for certainly that Shepherd is much more pitifull which kils the Woolf then he which lets him escape the clemencie of that King is more commendable which commits the malefactor to the hangman then he which delivers him By pu●●ing to death the murtherer many Innocents are delivered from danger whereas by suffering him escape both he and others through hope of the like impunitie are made more audacious to perpetrate farther mischief so that the immediate act of saving one Delinquent arms many hands to murther divers Innocents there is therefore both truly mildnesse in putting to death some and as certainly cruelty in pardoning of others Therefore as it is permitted the King being as it were Custos of the Law in some cases to interpret the words thereof so in all well ordered Kingdoms it is enjoyned the Counsell of State and their duty obligeth them to examine the Kings interpretation and to moderate both his seleritie and facilitle If through the corruption and weaknes of men this have not been so really and throughly observed as it ought yet notwithstanding the right alwayes remains intire and there wants onely integritie and courage in the parties to make it effectuall But not to heap up too many examples in a matter so manifestly clear it hath been in this manner practised in the Realm of France For we have there oftentimes seen those put to death to whom the King had granted his Charter of pardon and those pardoned whom He commanded should be put to death And sometimes offences committed in the Kings presence remitted because there was no other witnesse but himself The which happened in the time of Hen 2. to a certain stranger who was accused by the King himself of a grievous offence If an offendor by the intercession of friends have his pardon granted by the king the Chancellor upon sufficient cause may cancell it if the Chancellor connive yet m●●t the crimined present it before the Judges who ought not onely carefully to consider whether the Pardon were gotten by sur●eptitious or indirect means but also if it be legall and in due form neither can the De inquent that hath obtained his Cha●ter of Pardon make use of it untill first he appeal
in publick Court-bare headed and on his knees plead it submitting himself prisoner untill the Judges have maturely weighed and considered the reasons that induced the King to grant him his pardon If they be found insufficient the offendor must suffer the punishment of the Law as if the King had not granted him any pardon but if his pardon be allowed he ought not so much to thank the King as the equitie of the Law which saved his life The manner of these proceedings was excellently ordained both to contain the King within the limits of equitie lest being armed with publick Authoritie he should seek to revenge his own particular spleen or out of fancie or partialitie remit the wrongs and outrages committed against the publick safetie as partly also to restrain an opinion in the Subject that any thing could be obtained of the King which might prejudice the Laws If these things have been ill observed in our times notwithstanding that which we have formerly said remains alwaies certain that it is the Laws which have power over the lives and deaths of the Inhabitants of a Kingdom and not the King which is but Administrator and Conservator of the Laws Subjects are the Kings Brethren and not his slaves For truly neither are the Subjects as it is commonly said the Kings slaves or bond men being neither prisoners taken in the wars nor bought for money but as considered in one intire body they are Lords as we have formerly proved so each of them in particular ought to be held as the Kings Brothers and kinsmen And to the end that we think not this strange let us hear what God himself saith when he prescribes a law to Kings That they lift Deuc 17. 15. 20. Barto in tract de regi●n civit not their heart above their brethren from amongst whom they were chosen Whereupon Bartolus a famous Lawyer who lived in an age that bred many Tyrants did yet draw this conclusion from that Law that Subjects were to be held and used in the qualitie and condition of the Kings brethren and not of his slaves Also King David was not ashamed to call his Subjects his brethren 1 Chron 28. 2 The ancient Kings were called Abimelech an Hebrew word which fignifies My father the King The Almighty and all good God of whose great gentlenesse and mercie we are daily partakers and very seldome feel his severitie although we justly deserve it yet is it alwayes mercifully mixed with compassion whereby he teacheth Princes his Lieutenants that Subjects ought rather to be held in obedience by love than by fear But lest they should except against me as if I sought to trench too much upon the Royall Authoritie I verily beleeve it is so much the greater by how much it is likely to be of longer continuance For saith one servile fear is a bad guardian for that Authoritie Cicer. l 2. offic we desire should continue for those in subjection hate them they fear and whom we hate we naturally wish their destruction on the contrary there is nothing more proper to maintain their Authority then the affection of their subjects on whose love they may safeliest and with most securitie lay the foundation of their greatnesse And therefore that Prince which governs his Subjects as brethren may confidently assure himself to live securely in the midst of dangers whereas he that useth them like slaves must needs live in much anxietie and fear and may well be resembled to the condition of that Master which remains alone in some desart in the midst of a great troop of slaves for look how many slaves any hath he must make account of so many Enemies which almost all Tyrants that have been killed by their Subjects have experimented whereas on the contrary the Subjects of good Kings are ever as solicitously carefull of their safetie as of their own welfare To this may have reference that which is read in diverse places Plato lib. 8. de repub Seneca Aliud est servire aliud obedire aliud libertas aliud licentia L. 5. D. de parricid L. 2. ad leg Corneliam de sicar vbi vlp L. 1. c. de parricid of Aristotle and was sayd by Agasicles King of Sparta That Kings command as fathers over their children and Tyrants as masters over their slaves which we must take in the same sence that the civilian Martianus doth to wit that paternall authority consists in piety and not in rigor for that which was practised amongst the men of the accorne age that fathers might sell and put to death their children at their pleasure hath no authority amongst Christians yea the very Pagans which had any humanity would not permit it to be practised on their slaves Therefore then the father hath no power over the sons life before first the Law have determined it otherwaise he offends the Law Cornelius against privie murtherers and by the Law Pompeius against Parricides the father is no lesse guilty which kills the son then the son which murthers the father for the same occasion the Emperor Adrian banished into an Island which was the usuall punishment for notorious offenders a father which had slain his son a hurting of whom he had entertained a jealous opinion for his mother in Law concerning servants or slaves we are admonished in holy writ to use them like brethren and by humane constitutions as hierlings or mercinaries By the Civill Law of the Egyptians and Romans and by the Ecclesiast 33. Cicer. lib. 3. offici Diod. Sic. lib. 2. C. 2. L. 1 D. de his qui sunt sui vel al. juris constitutions of the Antonims the Master is aswell liable to punishment which hath killed his own slave as he which killed another mans In like manner the Law delivers from the power of the Master the slave whom in his sicknesse he hath altogether neglected or hath not afforded convenient food and the infranchilde slave whose condition was somewhat better might for any aparent injurie bring his action against his Patron Now seeing there is so great difference between slaves and lawfull children betwixt Lords and fathers and notwithstanding heretofore it was not permitted amongst the heathen to use their slaves cruelly What shall we say pray you of that father of the people which cries out tragically with Aireus I will devoure my Children In what esteeme shall we hold that Prince which takes such pleasure in the massacring his Subjects condemned without being ever heard that he dispatched many thousand of them in one day yet is not glutted with blood Briefly who after the example of Caligula surnamed the Phaeton of the world wisheth that all his people had but one head that he might cut it off at one blow Shall it not be lawfull to implore the assistance of the Law against such furious madnesse and to pull from such a Tyrant the sword which he received to maintaine the Law and defend the good when it is drawn