monethes olde before the Magistrates and there to iudge by the sight of the children that if they were fit for warres they should be brought vp in military discipline if otherwise they should be appointed to Mechanicall occupations The Aethiopian Philosophers made a lawe that all Magistrates and Parentes should examine theyr children and the youthes of theyr Countries what labour and exercise they had done euery day before they should take meate and if it were founde that they had not exercised either Mechanicall or Militarie exercise they should goe away vndined for that day Among the Grecians all the Orators and Poets came from all parts of Greece sometimes to Thesius graue sometimes to Helicon and there the Poets to contend in verses and the Orators in Oratory with diuers kindes of crownes and garlands which exercise was vsed to draw and intice the youthes of Greece to vertue and learning and as the Romane youths had a garment like the Dictators garment called Toga praetexta in honor of armes to exercise military discipline in Martius field so the Grecians had for those youthes that excelled in learning the garment called Palladium The sixt Regiment intreateth of murther and reuenge of blood amongst all Nations against the which the Gentiles had diuers lawe-makers which made lawes to punish the same AS the Gentiles in all Countries had their lawes made to rule and gouerne them as among the Egiptians by Bocchoris among the Persians and Baetrians by Zoroastes among the Carthagineans by Charondas among the Magnesians and Cicilians by Plato among the Athenians by Solon and among the Lacedemonians by Licurgus so had they certaine Magistrates to execute the same lawe after them as the thirtie Senators in Egipt the Areopagites in Athens the Ephori in Sparta and so of the rest This is the lawe of nature written first in tables of flesh and after in tables of stone Cain the first-man born and the first murtherer he slue his brother Abel and had sentence of the Lord with a perpetual marke of torture that no man should kill Cain but to liue as a vagabound and a rogue cursed vpon the earth the witnesse that accused him was his brother Abels blood so the Lorde spake Vox sanguinis fratris tui edit clamorem ad caelum blood therefore was the first witnesse on earth against murther and called in scripture the Iudge of blood Cain for disobedience to his father and murthering of his brother became a cursed vagabound vpon the earth and all his wicked posteritie were drowned in the deludge So scoffing Cham was cursed of his father Noah and in him all his posteritie likewise accursed for the Canaanites which were of the stocke of Cham were slaine by the Israelites and the Gibionites which came from the Canaanites were made slaues to the Israelites and so the Egiptians and Aethiopians the ofspring of Cham were taken captiue by the Assyrians so that Cham was cursed in himselfe and cursed in his posteritie for the scorning of the nakednesse of his father so the parents of the Idolaters and blasphemers brought the first stone to presse their owne sonnes The second murtherer in Scripture was Lamech which killed Cain against whome the Lorde made a lawe that whosoeuer should slea Cain should be punished seuen folde for so Lamech confessed himselfe that Cain should be auenged seuen-folde but Lamech seuentie times seuen fold there shall want no witnesses against murtherers and oppressers of Orphants and widowes The witnesse against the filthie lust of the Sodomites was the verie crie of Sodome before the Lorde for so is the lawe that the Iustice of blood shall slea the murtherer Iacobs children consented all sauing Ruben and Iudah to kill Ioseph their younger brother which made Ruben speake to his brethren in Egipt that the blood of Ioseph was the cause that they were thus imprisoned and charged with theft and robberies There are foure witnesses which the Lord stirreth vp against murtherers oppressors of Orphants Infants and Widowes first the Lorde himselfe is a witnesse the seconde the witnesse of blood the thirde the witnesse of stones in the streets and the fourth the witnesse of fowles in the aire The like murther was in Esaus heart against Iacob his brother for Esau saide that the dayes of his fathers sorrowes were at hand for I will slea my brother Iacob but Iacob fled to Aran to his vncle Laban by his mothers counsell Rebecca for feare of his brother Naboth was stoned to death by false and wicked witnesse for his Vineard of Achab by his wife Iezabels counsell The like murther was in Sauls heart against Dauid practising by all meanes possible to kill Dauid first by himselfe then by his sonne Ionathan by his daughter Michol Dauids wife and by his seruants for there is three kindes of murther the first in the heart against the Lorde as in Cains heart against Abel in Esaus heart against Iacob and in Sauls heart against Dauid the seconde by the tongue either by false witnesse as Iezabel with false witnesse against Naboth for his Vineard or else by slaunder as the two Elders in Babilon slaundered Susanna the third performed by the hand of the which there are two many examples but all murthers by the hande and by the tongue proceed from the heart the enuie of Cain in his heart towardes his brother Abel was the cause that he slew his brother The murther of Naboth was the couetousnesse of Achab in his heart to haue his vineyard The murthering of Vriah came from Dauids heart by lust to Berseba Vriahs wife There be other kinde of murtherers that rise early in the morning to kill in the day and rob in the night So Iob saith Manè surgit homicida interficit egenum Pauperem Againe there bee other kinde of murtherers as the Prophet saieth Qui viduam Aduenam interficiunt So may it be said of ambition in the heart for by ambition Herod caused all the childrē in Bethelem and about Bethelem to be slain seeking to destroy him which could not be destroyed which was Christ. Against such kings tyrants the more wicked crueltie they vse the more iust punishment they shall receiue Iudicium enim durissimum ijs qui presunt fiet and the more wrong and iniurie they do to honest and iust men the greater torments they shall suffer Fortioribus fortior instat cruciatio By ambition in the heart Abimelech slew three score and eight of Gedeons sonnes his bretheren And so by the selfesame ambition Thalia caused all that were of the kings bloud to be put to death so is hee that enuieth hateth wisheth ill to his brother a man-slaughterer The punishment of murther in Cain and in Lamech was giuen by the lawe of nature of the Lorde before the written lawe was giuen to Moses as Thamar the daughter in lawe of Iudah for whoredome and
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
as murther and whoredome were punished first by the lawe of nature before the lawe written so all other offences contained in the Decalogue were by the same lawe punished long before the lawe was written and giuen to Moses in mount Tabor The murthering of the Prophets of the Apostles and of the martirs of God euen frō the bloud of righteous Abel vnto the bloud of Zacharias the Priest crye and call for iustice and iudgement saying How long Lord will it be before vengeance be taken vpon wicked murtherers and tyrants Of these the Prophet saith Dederunt cadauera seru◅rum tuorum in cibum anibus caeli carnes piorum bestijs terrae But when the Lord is readie to be reuenged vpon these cruell murtherers and ambitious murmurers who can quench the fire in the stubble when it beginneth to burne who can turne againe the arrow shot of a strong archer or driue away a hungry Lyon in the wood who can resist the Lord in his purpose and decree Murtherers haue their markes as Cain had such a marke that hee could not dye though hee wisht to dye Esau had such a marke that though he sought with teares to repent yet he could not repent Pharao had such a marke that he could not confesse the Lord to be God though he sought Moses to pray for him but no doubt markes of murther for Cain kild his brother Abel Esau sought and said he would kill his brother Iacob and Pharao in his heart threatned death to Moses and Aaron and to all the Hebrewes These signes and markes which these reprobates had were not outward markes seene but inward burned with hotte Irons in their consciences but the Hebrewes in the land of Gosen were marked with the letter Tau in their foreheads as signes to be saued from the plagues in Egipt they that lamented and wept for Ierusalem were marked in theyr foreheads with the letter Tau of the Angell so all Christians are saued by this letter Tau made like a crosse which we must beare in our harts and not in our foreheads The punishment of Paracides among the olde Romanes was such that the murtherer should bee put in a sacke aliue bound hand and foote together with an ape a cocke and a viper which should so byte and torment him vntill he were almost dead and then to bee throwne into Tiber with his three companions with him so was Marc. Malleolus for killing of his mother iudged so to die by the Senators The second Paracide in Rome was Histius after the second Romane warres with the Affricans with the like iudgement giuen as before this kind of punishment for Paracides continued a long time among the Romaines for in former time while yet the Romaines were poore not acquainted with money long before they knew Affrike or Asia their punishment for murther was but a ramme which the Romanes slew and sacrificed to their gods The Grecians like the Romains in auntient time punished a murtherer with a certaine set number of cattell yet in other countries they punished murther most seuerely and cruelly As in Egipt they would thrust long needles made sharpe of steele vnder the nailes of their hands of their toes and after cut the flesh of the murtherer in small peeces and throwe it by gobbets into the fire burne it in his sight while yet he had life in him A lawe was made among the said Egiptians that if any man had killed his sonne the father should be lockt together with the sonne slaine by him in one chamber without meate or drinke for three dayes beholding still before his face the dead body of his sonne by himselfe slaine with a watch that none should come to him thinking that by looking theron there could be no greater torture or punishment to the father then to see his sonne so slaine by himselfe which was his father Among the Persians a lawe was made that he that killed his father was thought that he neuer had a father for they thought it against the lawe of nature a thing vnnaturall yea and vnpossible that the sonne should kill his father and therefore he should be euer after called a bastard a greater reproach among the Persians could not be and therefore Romulus in Rome and Solon in Athens being demaunded why they made no lawes against Paracides answered that they thought none so wicked or so cruell as to thinke on such wickednesse and therefore they thought it fit that no lawe should be mentioned for so wicked a fact though by Dracoes lawe Solons predecessor the least fault in Athens was punished with death and therefore called in ieast Lex Draconis In Lusitania a Paracide should be stoned to death not within their country least the murtherers bloud should defile their countrie but they should be banished to the next confines and there to die Dauid was forbidden to build the Temple in Ierusalem for that he was a man of bloud so the Lord said Thou art a man of bloud and therefore thy sonne Salomon shall build me a Temple In the citie Elephantina in Aethiopia a murtherer should bee forced by the lawe to eate the hearbe called Ophiusa which being eaten the murtherer should be so tormented with such terrible visions and dreames that he could neuer take rest or sleepe before he had kild himselfe The Macedonians in like sort stoned them not onely to death that committed any murther or treason against their Prince and their countrey but also such as were consenting therevnto and therfore Plato in Athens made a law that the hand that slew himselfe should not be buried with the body but should either be throwne away to be eaten of dogges or else to be nailed in some publike place to be eaten of fowles of the ayre as actor of the murther In many places murther was lesse esteemed of men then of birds or of beasts as in Egipt to kill an Egiptian cat was more dangerous then to kill a Romane captain The history is written in Diod. sic at large So to kill the bird called Ibis in Egipt there was by the lawe capitall punishment for it In Thessalia none might kill a stoike neither in Athens by the lawe of Solon none might sacrifice an oxe Cai. Caligula after he had murthered so many much complained because he could not murther more oftentimes wished that all Rome had but one necke that he might with one stroake cut it off There was found in this Emperours studie after he was murthered like a sword and a dagger the one written on and named Gladius the other Pugio in the which were written the most part of the names of the chief Senators appointed by Caligula to bee slaine and in the same studie was found a chest full of cups filled vp with diuers kindes of poysons which likewise he appointed to poyson the most part of the Romane knights as well of the Senate as of the Citie which
of the souldiers in the one oxe and the other souldier in the other oxe and left their heads out of the oxen that thereby they might speake one to an other as long as they liued Was not Abraham called from the Chaldeans because they were wicked Idolaters Did not Iacob long in Mesopotamia for the land of Canaan Did not Dauid wish to be in Iudah from among the Amalekites wicked Infidels Were not the captiue Israelites most desirous from Babilon to come to Ierusalem yet not before the time that God had appointed and determined for Elizeus could not prophesie before Elias threw his mantle vpon him neither could Dauid appeale the furie of Saul before hee played on his harpe neither could Aaron become a high Priest before his rod blossomd in the Arke The very Heathens forsooke the company countrey of wicked people as Hermadorus forsooke his countrey Ephesus for the iniquitie of the people Anacharsis left Scythia his barbarous countrey and came to Greece to learne wisedome and Philosophie in Athens Plato left Athens and went from Greece to Egipt to be taught in the religion ceremonies and lawes of the Egiptians Paul left Tharsis to goe to Ierusalem to learne the lawes of the Iewes at Gamaliel Queene Saba came from Aethiope to heare Salomons wisedome in Ierusalem It was lawfull by the lawe of Solon in Athens to kill an adulterer beeing taken in the act as among the olde Romanes the husband might kill his wife if hee found her an adulteresse but this lawe of Solon in Athens was after mitigated by Solon with a lesse punishment The Parthians supposed no offence greater then adultery neither thought they any punishment to be equall with so great a crime Among the Arabians the lawe was that the adulterer should die such a death as the partie grieued should appoint Diuers Philosophers euer thought adultery worse then periurie and without doubt greater harmes growe by adultery then periurie though the one be in the first Table against the maiestie of God to take his name in vaine and the other in the second Table against thy neighbour whom thou oughtest to loue as thy selfe and yet some of the best Philosophers as Plato Crisippus and Zeno iudged that common-wealth best gouerned where adultery was freely permitted without punishment that libertie they brought from Egipt vnto Greece where the Egiptians might marrie as many wiues as they would like the Persians Among diuers other nations adulterie was left vnpunished for that they had no lawe against adultery Histories make mention that the virgins of Cypria and of Phaenizia get their dowrie with the hire of their bodies vntil they gaue so much for their dowries that they might make choise of their husbands and be married The Troglodites the nights before they be married vnto their husbands must lye and keepe company with the next of their kin and after their marriage they were with most seuere lawes punished if they had offended It should seeme by the lawes of Licurgus in Sparta 300. yeares before the law of Solon in Athens which was 200. yeares before the law of Plato among the Cicilians which made no lawes against adultery that the Grecians tooke their instructions by imitation from the Egiptians For one after an other Solon after Licurgus and Plato after Solon trauelled to Egipt to other farre countries and brought the lawe of Bocchoris out of Egipt the lawe of Mynoes out of Creete and the lawes of the Gymnosophists out of India into Greece As among the Lesbians Garamites Indians Massagets Scythians and such that were more like to sauage beasts then to temperate people for by the lawe wee knowe sinne for I had not knowne what adultery was vnlesse the lawe had commaunded thou shalt not lust And therefore it was not lawfull by Moses lawe that a bastard or the sonne of a commonwoman should come vnto the congregation of the Lord or serue in any place of the Tabernacle or enter into the ministerie vntill the tenth generation so hatefull vnto the Lord was fornication adulterie and vncleannesse of life When Iacob had blessed all his children yet for that Ruben lay with his fathers concubine Bilha his father Iacob prophesied that he should not be the chiefest of his bretheren though hee was the eldest sonne of Iacob and the eldest of his bretheren for that he was as vnstable as water for defiling his fathers bed for among the Israelites it was a great shame and reproach for women to be barren therfore the wiues brought their maides to their husbands for childrens sake as Sarah brought her maide Agar vnto Abraham and Leah and Rachel brought to Iacob their two maides Bilha and Zilpha so Rachel gaue leaue to Iacob to lye with Bilha her maide who bare to Iacob two sonnes whom Rachel though not their mother named them as her owne sonnes Dan and Nepthali So Leah brought her maide Zilpha to Iacob who conceiued and brought him two sonnes of whom Leah was so glad that she named them as her owne sons the one Gad and the other Asar so that foure of Iacobs sonnes were borne by his maides and not by his wiues This was tollerated but not lawfull Though the Hebrewes were tollerated by the lawe of Moses to haue many wiues and concubines and Libels of diuorcement for the hardnesse of the lewes hearts as Christ said yet said our Sauiour Non fuit sic ab initio it was not so from the beginning Euen from the creation men liued vnder the law of nature for in mans heart yet not corrupted before the fall there was perfect knowledge in the lawe of nature as in the first man Adam was seene before his fall vnder the which the olde Patriarkes liued and sinnes were corrected and punished by the same lawe for it was a positiue lawe by nature set foorth and written in the hearts of men thus was the written lawe yet by Moses tollerated When it was tolde Iudah that his daughter in lawe Thamar was with childe hee commaunded that shee should be brought forth and be burnt Here the law of nature before the lawe written commaunded whoredome to be punished with death here Iudah though he detested whoredome in Thamar yet being found that the incest was committed by him found his fault greater then hers If a man be found with a woman that hath a wedded husband let them both die the death so shalt thou put euill away from Israel for the lawe is you shall maintain no harlots in Israel as the Cyprians and Locreans doo It was not lawfull among the old Romaines to call a bastard by the name of his father because he was the son of a common woman and no man knew who should be his father but they vsed for his name to write these two letters S. P. quasi sine patre as though he had neuer a father In Athens by the law of Solon a bastard