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
much Prudentia non vult falli nec fallere potest that a wise man neither can nor will be deceiued In like sort Thou shalt not commit adultery and therefore the lawe commandeth men to be chast sober and temperate both in bodie and minde for the lawe requireth inward and outward obedience as well in Angels as in men for outward euil springs from inward corruption Murther proceeds from hatred and malice of the heart Adultery commeth from wicked and filthie lust of the heart Theft is falshood and fraude in the heart to steale other mens goods therefore to do or to wish any thing against the lawe is sinne for the lawe is spirituall and he that is not subiect to the lawe saith Paul is subiect to the wrath of the Lorde for by the lawe we know our sinnes and in the lawe consisteth the knowledge of our life for the Lord hath decreed a necessiti◅ of obedience to the lawes of ciuil Magistrates for it is said Inuictae leges necessitatis and though the law doth accuse all men yet the lawe doth freely promise with a condition of obedience as the Gospell promiseth with a conditiō of faith for as by the lawe we see as in a glasse the corruption of nature and deformitie of sinne so by the lawe we are taught what is to be done and by the Gospell how things ought to be done Among the Romaines for the space of 300. yearer welnigh after the building of Rome they had no lawes written but Ius regis before they sent for the lawe of the 12. Tables from Athens which law was so obscure that they brought Hermadorus from Greece to Rome to interpret the lawes of the 12. Tables which lawe against theft was so seuerely executed that it was lawfull to kill a theefe that would not yeld especially in the night time for the lawe was Sifurtum sit factum nocte si eum aliquis occidit iure caesus esto if a theefe be found breaking any mans house in the night time be smitten to death no bloud must be shead for him which is also Moses law except the sunne be vp when he is found but if a theefe were taken in the day time with his theft with him hee was by the lawe of the 12. Tables to become his slaue and bondman of whom he stole it to be vsed as pleased the partie all his life time after An other lawe of the twelue Tables against other iniuries was that if any mans seruant had stolne any thing or his beast had done harme or endamaged his neighbour or a straunger he was to yeeld his seruant or his beast that so offended to the party grieued and so by the lawe of the 12. Tables the maister of the seruant was free for a theefe that cannot make restitution for his theft must be solde according to Moses lawe The seuerest lawe among the Romanes was Lex Iulia which appointed iust punishment for treason adulterie and theft by Lex Iulia in Rome theft was as seuerely punished as adulterie and adulterie punished as treason for the lawe saith a man must not robbe for theeues are accursed men must haue no conuersation with theeues Also there was a lawe in Lycia that if a free man should steale any thing he should loose his freedome and become a bond-seruant to him of whome hee stole it and by the lawe of Lycia neuer after to recouer his libertie but to liue as a bondman all his life time Bocchoris lawe in Egipt was that if any wayfaring man finde a man in daunger of his life and so to be slain by theeues and robbers and not helpe him eyther by his sloathfulnesse or negligence if he could hee was by the lawe of Bocchoris guiltie of death because hee did not ayde and helpe him with all meanes possible hee could Againe if a man were robd by theeues on the way though he were not killed and not rescued of any that could and neglecting to follow after the theeues hee or they by the lawe of Bocchoris were punished and beaten with a certaine number of stripes and kept without victualls three daies Licurgus made no lawes in Sparta against theft for it was lawfull by Licurgus lawe among the Lacedemonians to vse theft vnlesse the partie were taken with the theft which if he were he should be seuerely punished following the maner and custome of the Egiptians and the old Germanes which had no lawe written against theft but left vnpunished and therfore there is no transgression where there is no lawe There was then and is now a greater kinde of theft then stealing among diuers nations which is vsurie forbidden by the lawes of God as well as theft for before Bocchoris lawe which banished vsurie the lawe was in Egipt that the creditors might arrest the bodies of the dead for debts and that they should be vnburied till the depts were paid Pecunia est enim anima sanguis mortalibus which lawe was abrogated by Bocchoris that debts onely should be paid of the goods of the debters and not their bodies to be imprisoned for that they should be alwaies readie for defence of their countrey and not imprisoned either for debt or vsurie Solon brought this lawe from Egipt vnto Athens and called it Sysacthia against vsurers This lawe was after executed in the market place of Athens by Agis who extreamely hated vsurie where hee burnt all the vsurers writing tables of which fire Agesilaus was wont to say that he neuer lawe a better fire in Egipt Persia nor in Greece then when Agis burnt all the writing tables of the vsurers in the market place at Athens for before Solon brought this law from Egipt vnto Athens dead mens bodies might be arrested and an actiō might be had before the magistrate called Zeteta for satisfaction of debts in Athens Therefore Solons lawe was that no man should credit the sonne while the father liued to auoyd further daungers least the sonne should practise against the father which children do vse against their parents the law was that he which would c◅dit the sonne during the life of the father should haue no action against the son after the fathers death So hatefull was vsurie among welnigh all nations that where punishment of theft was but double punishment of vsurie was quadruple and therfore Lu. Genutius Tribune of the people in Rome abrogated former lawes of vsurie in Rome Lucullus in his victorie ouer Asia among other Romanie lawes which hee gaue them set all Asia free and at libertie from vsurie So Cato made a lawe that no vsurer should dwell within the prouince of Cicilia So also Licurgus made a lawe to bannish vsurie so farre from Sparta that it should neuer be named nor spoken of within Sparta The lawe of Moses among the Hebrewes was Thou shalt not giue to vsurie to thy brother as vsurie of
of 20. of the best learned Ciuilians with the aduise and consent of 50. of the grauest and wifest councellors that were within his Empire to examine whether the lawes were iust profitable for the people before they should be published but being once published as a lawe extreame punishment was appointed for the breach thereof as is before spoken without any appeale frō the lawe without some great extraordinary cause of appeale As among the Hebrewes in any citie of Iudah that if they could not rightly iudge nor discerne throughly the cause according to iustice by the Magistrates of the citie they might appeale to the Iudges named Sinadrion in Ierusalem from whence no appeale could be had So among the Grecians they might appeale from the Areopagites in Athens from the Ephories in Sparta and all other cities of Greece to the Amphictions at Trozaena which were appointed general Iudges for the vniuersall state of Greece in martiall and military causes and there to sit and determine twise a yeare of the whole state of Greece and further to heare and to iudge of some other great causes and capitall crimes from whose sentence no other appeale was to be had for out of euery citie in Greece in the Spring and in the Autumne to the Amphictions at Trozaena they sent Embassadors whom the Greekes called Pytagorae So among the Romanes a lawfull appeale might be had from the Consuls to the Senators from the Senators to the Tribune of the people and from the people to the Dictator which continued vntill the time of the Iudges called Centum viri for Sententia Dictatoris iudicia centum viralia were both lawes of life and death from whose iudgement and sentences there were no greater Iudges to appeale vnto of the like authoritie were the Decem viri from whom also there was no appeale during their gouernment So in diuine causes we may appeale to mount Sion from Mount Sinai from the lawe to the Gospell from Moses to Christ our perpetuall Dictator from whom we haue no place to appeale vnto for our eternall saluation In the fift Regiment is declared the choice of wise Gouernours to gouerne the people and to execute the lawes among all Nations and also the education and obedience of theyr children to their Parents and Magistrates ALl Nations made their choise of the wisest and chiefest men to rule and gouerne their countrey imitating Moses who was by the Lord commanded to choose seuentie wise graue men to be Iudges among the Israelites called Synadrion which continued from Moses time who first appointed these Magistrates vntill Herods time who last destroyed them for in euery citie of Iudah seuen Magistrates were appointed to gouerne and to iudge according to the law of Moses and for their further instructions in the lawe they had of the Tribes of the Leuites two in euery citie to instruct and assist the Magistrates in all actions according to the lawe The Egiptians being next neighbours to the Hebrewes though they mortally hated the Hebrewes yet theyr gouernment of Dinastia vnder thirtie Gouernours elected and chosen out of Eliopolis Memphis Pellusium Thaebes and other chiefe cities of Egipt seemed to imitate Moyses lawe vnder Aristocratia So Solon appointed in Athens certaine wise men called Areopagitae as Iudges to determine of life and death and of other criminall causes Among the old Gaules the Druydes sage and wise religious men had authoritie both in warre and peace to make lawes and to determine of the state of theyr countrey The lawes of all Nations against disobedient children to theyr parents are manifest not onely the lawe of nature among all Nations vnwritten but also the diuine lawe of the Lorde written commaundes children to bee obedient to theyr parents as the lawe sayeth Whosoeuer curseth his father or mother shall dye and his bloud bee on his owne head for that hee curseth his father or mother If a man hath a sonne that is stubborne or disobedient let his parentes bring him vnto the Elders of the Cittie and there accuse him of his faultes saying my sonne is a Ryotour a Drunkarde and disobedient vnto his parentes the lawe is that all the men of that Cittie shall stone him with stones to death This commaundement was esteemed among all Nations euen among wicked men as Esau beeing a reprobate so the Lorde saide Esau haue I hated and Iacob haue I loued yet Esau hating his brother Iacob in heart saying that the dayes of his fathers sorrowes were at hande for I will kill my brother and most like it is that he would haue done so had not the Lorde which appeared to Laban the Syrian in a dreame by night for that hee followed Iacob from Mesopotamia said to Laban Take heed to thy selfe that thou doo or speake to Iacob nothing but good as the Lorde kept Iacob from Laban so he kept him from his brother Esau. Notwithstanding Esau came to his father and said hast thou any blessing for me see that obedience and feare was in Esau towards his father Isaac though hee was a wicked man he determined not to kill his brother before his father died least Isaac his father should curse him The sonnes of Samuel the Prophet Ioel and Abiath which were made Iudges in Bersabe by rheyr father Samuel beeing olde they turned from theyr fathers wayes tooke rewards and peruerted the right the people complained to Samuel that his sonnes followed not his steppes and therefore they would haue a King to gouerne them as other nations had See the ende of Iudges in Israel by the wicked Iudges Ioel and Abiath two wicked sonnes of a good and godly father and the cause of the ouerthrowe of the Iudges in Israel The two sonnes of Eli their offences were such that their father being an olde man was rebuked of the Lord for suffering their vnthriftinesse and wickednesse which was the cause that the Priesthood was taken from the house of Eli for euer so that the gouernment of Iudges in Iudah and also of the Priesthood were taken away by the corruption and disobedience of wicked and vngodly children Obserue likewise the end of kings and kingdomes by wicked kings by Ahaz who offered his sonnes in fire to Moloch by Ioachim and his sonne wicked fathers which brought vp wicked sonnes The kings which were 21. in number continued fiue hundred and odde yeares Who would haue iudged that three such good Kings of Iudah should haue three such wicked children As Dauid had Absolon who sought most trecherously to dispossesse his father of his kingdome As Ezechias had Manasses who offered his sonne in fire to Moloch and filled Ierusalem with bloud Or as Iosias had Ioachim whose wickednesse together with Zedechiah was so disobedient to the Lord and his Prophets that he lost the kingdome of Iudah Who would haue iudged that Salomon the onely wise king of the world hauing
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
might choose whether he would be acquainted with his father or no or giue him a meals meat in his house or a cup of drinke at his doore for that he was the cause of his ignominious and infamous birth Among the Israelites if a man marry a young virgin and after proue her not to be a virgin when hee married her the lawe is that she should be brought to the doore of her fathers house and the men of that citie should stone her with stones to death but if her husband falsly accused her then the Elders of that citie should chastise him and mearce him in an hundred sickles of siluer and giue them to the father of the damzell and she to continue with him as his wife But in Israel there was an other lawe that if a man be taken committing fornication with a virgin after the matter come before a Iudge he shall be caused to marrie the woman and to liue with her during his life and to pay 50. sickles of siluer to the maides father for his offence A woman with childe condemned to death might challenge the time of her childbirth by the lawe of Bocchoris which lawe was brought by Solon from Egipt vnto Greece for the law thought it not fit that the guiltlesse should die for the fault of the guiltie An other lawe was made that if a man hurt a woman with childe so that her child depart from her and she die not hee shall be punished according as the womans husband shall appoint or pay as arbiters will determine Againe in Israel there was an other lawe that the wife of the dead shall not be giuen vnto a straunger but her brother in lawe shall take her to wife and marrie her and the eldest sonne which shee beareth shal be the child of the brother that was dead and not of him that begat him but if the brother refuseth to marrie his brothers wife the Elders of the citie shall call vnto him and commune with him before whom if hee denie to take her to wife then the sister in lawe should go in presence of the Elders and loose his shooe of his foote spit in his face and say so shall his name be called in Israel of the vnshod house The lawe of Moses was that an adulteresse should be brought by her husband vnto the Priest and the Priest to bring her and set her before the Lord shall vncouer her head haue bitter cursed water in his hand and say if thou be not an adulteresse and defiled not thy selfe vnknowne to thy husband then haue thou no harme of this bitter and cursed water but if thou be defiled by an other man besides thy husband the Lord make thee accurst and make thy thigh rot and thy belly swell and this cursed water goe into thy bowels and the woman his wife so accused shall say Amen The lawe which the Lorde punished his people for committing adulterie was with such seueritie that they should die the death either by stoning or burning which was the lawe among the Israelites The people called Cortini had a law in their country that an adulterer should bee crowned with wooll and should sit in the market place in open sight of the people to be laught at and to be noted as an infamous adulterer all his life long in his countrey The people called Pisidae had a law made that the adulterer should be bound vpon an asse and be carried from towne to towne for the space of three dayes with his face backwards holding the taile of the asse in his hand for a bridle They had in Athens by the law of Solon a place called Casaluion the women were called Casaluides to whom any Athenian might resort to auoyd adultery with the Matrons and Virgins of Athens The like place they had in Rome called Summaenium for the like purpose and the like are tollerated in many countries to auoyd great offences but rather a nurserie of whoredome then a prohibition These vsed the like words as Iulia did in Rome Licet si libet like Anaxarchus being demanded by Cambises Is it lawfull for the kings of Persia to marry their sisters we finde not such lawes said Anaxarchus Non fas potentes posse fieri quod nefas but wee finde an other lawe that the kings of Persia may do what they list What vice can be greater in man then incontinencie for it doth sin against the body it selfe doth weary and languish all the parts thereof for as fish saith Plato are taken with hookes so men are taken and deceiued with pleasures in so much that Xerxes the great king of Persia decreed by lawe a reward to any man that could inuent andfind out new kinds of pleasures but he was slain and lost the kingdom of Persia by his pleasures And therfore well said Solon Cōsule non quae suauissima sed quae optima Hanibal hauing welnigh subdued the Romane Empire yet being taken with the baites and pleasures of Campania in company of wine and women and all delicacies and pleasures that could be inuented of which Seneca saith Conuiuiorum luxuria vestium aegrae ciuitatis indicia sunt that by meanes of his incontinency in Campania he was driuen out of Italy and after out of his own country of Affrike by him that was one of the chiefest and chastest Captaines of all the Romaines Scypio Affrican who made a lawe to bannish all women out of his camp to whom in his Affrican wars was brought a passing faire young Gentlewoman of singular beautie and of a noble house whom Scypio vsed so honourably with great care and diligence for her good name credite vntill Allucius a young Gentleman that should be married to the virgine brought a great raunsome from her parents to redeeme her to whom Scypio deliuered both the young virgin into his hands and bestowed the gold which her father sent vnto him for her raunsome vpon Allucius for her dowry by this honourable dealing of Scypio the whole Prouince which stood out in armes against Scypio yeelded vnto him sought peace at Scypios hand for his courteous modestitie temperancie where Hanibal lost all Italy and Campania by his incontinencie and vnchaste life If Darius king of Persia had escaped from his last ouerthrow at Arbela by Alexander no doubt in respect of the honourable vsage which Alexander shewed to Darius wife and his daughters he would haue yeelded all the whole Empire of Persia vnto Alexander Narseus king of Persia being ouerthrowne and his armie slaine by Dioclesian the Emperor of Rome and the King himselfe constrained to flight his wife and his daughters were taken by the Romanes and were vsed so honourably that the Persians confessed that the Romanes did not only exceed all Nations in armes valour but in modestie and temperancie the honourable vsage of his
most ambitiously sought Naboths vineyard but hee did not long enioy it and some seeke with Nimrod to build towers in the ayre like to the King of Mexico when hee is sworne at the first comming to the kingdome who among other oathes must sweare that the sunne must keepe his course shyning alwaies in sight that the cloudes must let raine fall downe that the riuers must runne their course and that the earth must bring forth all kinde of fruites These kinde of men search those things that be vnder the earth and those things that be aboue the heauens Satagunt inquirentes saith Plato quae subter terram quae super caelum sunt We read of Antiochus after hee had taken Ierusalem after such slaughter of men women virgins children and Infants that within three daies there was slain foure score thousand and as many solde as were slaine and 4000. taken prisoners after he had taken a thousand and eight hundred talents out of the Temple he went with such a haughtie proude minde from Ierusalem to Antioch as Xerxes went from Persia into Greece thinking in his pride to make men saile vpon drie lande and to walke vpon the seas but as they liued both so they dyed the one miserably murthered in his owne country the other most miserably dyed out of his countrey These and such ambitious men in seeking to build their great name and fame on earth as Xerxes and Antiochus they become so odious and contemptible in their own country as Ammon was in Persia among the Iewes whose name when the Iewes heard of they beate and stampt on the ground with theyr feete because they would not heare his name for the like ambition the name of Hercules might not be mentioned among the Dardanians nor the name of Achilles among the Taenedians for that they destroyed both these countreys To forget these great iniuries Thrasibulus made a lawe in Athens called Amnestia because the crueltie of the thirtie tyrants which caused the children to daunce in their fathers bloud in Athens might no further bee remembred least by reuenging of the same more bloud should be lost much like the Dictators in Rome who might put to death any free Cittizen at theyr pleasure So did Opimius vsurping the office of a Dictator beeing but Consul caused Gracchus Fuluius and diuers other Cittizens to bee slaine But after Iulius Caesar became the first Emperour and Perpetuus Dictator the other Emperours that succeeded him claiming the like authoritie made such lawes in Rome as pleased themselues Sit fortitudo nostra lex iniusticiae for when the honour of the Senators were abrogated and past by Hortensius lawe vnder the Emperour Caesar and his successors that they onely made such lawes as were called Placita Principum without authoritie of the Senators or counsel of the people which were accepted as lawes among the Romaines during the time of the Emperors as Iusregis was in Rome during the raigne of the Kings The law called Plebiscita made by the Tribune of the people could not be allowed vnlesse it were confirmed by the Senators neither could the law made by Senators called Senatus Consultus be allowed without the voyce of the people In like sort Responsa Prudētū for that they had authoritie to enterpret the law in matters of controuersies their sentence iudgement was accepted as lawes so that the body and whole summe welnigh of the ciuill lawe consisted in these lawes before named None might in auntient time among the Romanes be elected Dictator Consul Praetor or Censor vnlesse he were one of the Patritians but in time it grew that the Patricians and the Plebeians were ioyned together that one Consul should be chosen by the Patritians the other by the people This lawe called Amnestia was afterwards brought to Rome from Athens and renewed by Cicero that they should forget the murthering of Caesar least a greater harme should come by reuenging of Caesars death by ciuill warres Omni enim populo inest malignum quiddam querulum in imperautes This lawe was put in practise by the Iewes in Mazphah for the trecherous murthering of Godoliah by ambitious Ismael for they thought it best to put vp iniuries by forgetting of iniuries But the lawe of Draco in Athens was not to forget iniuries as Thrasibulus lawe was neither to please the people as the lawe of Gracchus was in Rome but seuerely to punish the people and that with such seueritie that it was called according to his name Lex Draconis the lawe of a Dragon for the least fault in Athens by the lawe of Draco during the time of his raigne was punished with death who for his lawes was strangled in Aegina vppon the Theaters by the people So that in Rome for the lawes which Gracchus made to please the people he himselfe and diuers others were slaine So in Athens and in diuers other places by offending the people too much by cruell lawes they were strangled killed and slaine of the people for their lawes as Draco was in Aegina and Perillus in Agregutum who found out the brazen bull to please the tyrant Phalaris who decreed by lawe a reward to those that would find out new kindes of torments and tortures to punish offenders So Xerxes promised great gifts and rewards to any that would finde out diuers straunge kinds of pleasures to feed his humour as an Epicure Of these kinde of fellowes Aristotle saith Subtilia illa ignea ingenia in assiduo motu nouandis quam rebus gerendis aptiora and therefore rash young men must not bee magistrates or officers by Aristotles rule In the fourteenth Regiment is set downe the change and alteration of diuers lawes of the libertie and tyrannie of some lawes of the authoritie of soothsayers both among the Romaines and the Grecians HEliogabalus a monster and not an Emperour maintained rather women as Senators to sit with him in councell in Mount Quirinal to make lawes to feed his filthy humours then the Senators which haue beene Iudges equall with Kings in councell after Kings with Consuls after Consuls with good Emperours for Heliogabalus called the Senators Togatos seruos to whom Augustus Caesar gaue great reuerence in any publike assembly or meeting and with whom in the Senate house he sate in councell Facilius est errare naturam quà m sui dissimilem possit princeps formare Rempub. So Tiberius Caesar and Traiane that whatsoeuer was done in Rome was then done by the Senators with the consent of good Emperours which with the Senators made lawes and obeyed those lawes which they made for Vnum imperij corpus vnius animoregendum in so much that Adrian the Emperour when hee sawe a proud citizen of Rome walking in the market place betweene two Senators hee commaunded an officer to giue him first a buffet and after to bring him to prison for that hee made himsefe a