Pythia Daughter to the Queen of Epirus whilst his Wife who was Sister to Antiochus was yet alive so fatal hath the Adultery of Princes always been to Kings and Kingdoms In his 30th Book we have the Instance of Ptolemy King of Egypt who having murdered his own Wife Eurydice that was also his Sister he became so enamour'd on Agathocla the Strumpet that he minded nothing but Revelling and Dancing and thus says Justin the King became not only a Spectator but a Master of Villany and committing Sodomy also with Agathocles a handsome fellow and Brother to the Strumpet above mentioned they and their Mother Evanthe govern'd the King and Kingdom and disposed of all offices In the mean-time Ptolemy died which those vile Women concealed a long time and so shar'd the Royal Treasure and Government with Villains But the matter coming at last to be known the multitude assembled cut off Agathocles and hang'd his Mother and Sister such was the Tragical Exit they brought upon themselves by their uncleanness In his 37th Book we have the instance of Mithridates the great King of Pontus who married his own Sister Laodâ—…ce in which match he was Justly unhappy for during his long absence a viewing the chief places of Asia she had admitted strangers to his Bed and tho' she feigned a mighty Joy at his return yet she endeavoured to poyson him in order to cover her Unchastity whereof Mithridates being advertised by a Maid he punish'd his Wife by death for her Treachery and tho' he himself became Great and Glorious afterwards by his Vâ—…ctories over the Asiaticks and his Wars with the Romans yet Divine Justice pursued him so that he killed himself in his old Age when he heard that his Son by that Unnatural Marriage had usurp'd the Kingdom In his 38th Book we have the horrid instance of Ptolemy Physcon who after the death of Ptolemy King of Egypt Married his Widow Cleopatra who was his own Sister kill'd her Son by her first Husband the very day of his Marriage and afterwards Divorc'd her self and Ravish'd her Daughter whom he afterwards Married This made him so hatefull to the people that they deserted the City where he dwelt so that finding himself a King without Subjects he was forc'd to invite strangers to reside there And at last became so odious that he fled with the Son that he had begot on his Sister taking her Daughter along with him and with a Mercenary Army made War upon his Sister and his Country and sent for his eldest Son and killed him to prevent the peoples chusing him in his stead The Subjects were so much enraged with these proceedings that they threw down his Statues and Pictures every where which he conceiving to be done by his Sister's advice he cut the Son that he had by her in pieces put them up in a Box and sent them to his Mother on his Birth-day Thus were they mutually plagued and punished for their Incest and a destructive War was kindled betwixt them which took its first rise from their enflamed Lusts and proved fatal to their Subjects as well as to themselves Ptolemy Physcon or the Debauch'd dying a little time after and having been some time before reconciled to his Wife and Sister Cleopatra he left her the Kingdom of Egypt she being compelled by the people to chuse her eldest Son to Govern that Kingdom before she would resign the same she compelled him to Divorce his Beloved Wife and Sister Cleopatra and she being afterwards married to Cyricaenus in Syria those Incestuous matches were punished by a mutual War betwixt the Brethren Gryphus and Cyricaenus and the latter being overcome Gryphina Wife to Gryphus would not be content till his Sister and Wife Cleopatra whom his Mother had made him to Divorce was murdered and Cyricaenus obtaining a Victory over Gryphus in his Turn put Gryphina to death in Revenge Cleopatra the Mother being weary of her Son Ptolemy's Reigning with her jointly in Egypt she stir'd up the people against him took his Wife Seleuce from him after she had born him two Sons sent him into Exile call'd his younger Brother Alexander to Reign in his stead but he being afraid of her cruelty abandon'd her then the Wicked Woman being afraid that her eldest Son would make War upon her to recover the Kingdom she sent great assistance to Gryphus and likewise gave him Seleuce to Wife Having at the same time recall'd her Son Alexander he understood that she laid snares for his Life and therefore seiz'd and cut her off and he himself was banisht by the people for this parricide Thus were their raging Lusts punished by a mutual War and Raging cruelty against one another And as if Heaven would have Syria and Egypt to read their sin in their punishment they were invaded and plagued by Hierotimus King of Arabia and his Six hundred Sons whom he had beg t on Concubines and who attack'd the Syrians and Egyptians with separate Armies and parties We come next to the Roman History where in the very threshold we are presented with an Account that that City and Monarchy was founded by Whoredom The story of Remus and Romulus being born of a Vestal Virgin for whom it was not Lawfull to Marry and that they were the Founders of that City demonstrates the truth of Rome's being Deriv'd from a spurious Original and the City being once Founded Romulus made it a Sanctuary for Vagabonds and a disorderly Rabble who were so much contemned by their Neighbours that they scorn'd to give them their Daughters in Marriage which occasion'd their Ravishing the Sabine Virgins and that brought forth a War which endangered the overthrow of this new Government in its Infancy as Livy gives an Account at large in his first Book Dec. 1. so fatal hath Whordom and Uncleanness always proved to Societies Livy in that same Book and Decad gives us an Acccount that Kingly Government was overturned at Rome because of a Rape in the manner following The Kings Sons and Kinsmen did often spend their time in Feasting and Treating one another and in their Cups at supper there happened a Discourse concerning their Wives upon which each man launched out in the praises of his own and thence a Quarrel arising Collatinus said it was in vain to talk since it might easily and speedily be known how much his Wife Lucretia excelled the rest adding for they were then in the Camp before Ardea Let us mount our Horses and go see with our own Eyes what kind of Women our Wives are and that shall be the Test which occurs to each man upon this unexpected Visit so that Galloping to Rome they went thence to Collatia where they found Lucretia not imployed like the rest of the Kings Daughters-in-Law viz. spending their time in Banquetting and Luxury but sitting amongst her Maids a Spinning Whereupon it was agreed that her Husband Collatinus came off Conquerer in that dispute and he being pleas'd with it did
acceptable to the Persians and in their place brought in as many young Men in Womens Habit with orders to punish the Ambassadors for their lasciviousness and accordingly when they begun to handle them as they had done the Women the young men kill'd every one of the Ambassadors with Swords which they had concealed under their Garments In that same Book we have an instance of an abominable Incestuous Intrigue of Eurydice Wife to another Amyntas King of Macedonia and Nephew to the former who falling in Love with her Son-in-Law upon promise of Marriage undertook to murder her Husband and advance her Gallant to the Throne but was prevented by her Daughter who discovered her Mothers Incest and bloody design yet Amyntas for the Love which he bare to the Children that he had by this wicked Woman spar'd her and the Unnatural Beast after his Death murdered her own Sons Alexander and Perdiccas by him tho'for their sakes he had spared her Life and all this mischief she committed that she might wallow without Interruption in her Impure Lusts. In his 9th Book he gives us an account of the death of Philip of Macedon Rather to Alexander the Great which was occasioned partly by his having Divorc'd Olympias on suspicion of Adultery or with an Adulterous design to marry Cleopatra and partly because he had not executed Judstice upon Attalus for having Committed Sodomy upon Pausanias who freâ—…uently complained of it but was always dismiss'd with scorn and therefore watching his Opportunity he stabb'd Philip on the day that he was married to Cleopatra as walking betwixt his own Sons afterwards Alexander the Great and Alexander his Son-in-Law Thus this Great Prince who had Conquer'd many Nations and Countries became a Conquest and Victim to his own Lusts and the Lusts of others and occasioned likewise the death of his Paramour Cleopatra Olympias having first murdered her Daughter and then forc'd Cleopatra to hang her self His â—…th Book furnishes us with a very remarkable instance of Artaxerxes King of Persia who had 115 some say 160 Sons by Concubines and three only by Lawfull Marriage for which Incontinence he was punish'd in the following manner his Son Darius being by the Indulgence of Artaxerxes admitted to the Throne while he himself was alive contrary to the Custom of the Persians he ungratefully Conspired against his Father's Life and engaged 49 of his Brethren in the Conspiracy The occasion of this Unnatural Plot was yet more vile than the Plot it self which Justin relates thus Artaxerxes having defeated and killed his Brother Cyrus in the War betwixt them he married Aspasia Cyrus his Concubine and her Darius wou'd have his Father to resign to him as well as his Throne which the Indulgent Father promised to do at first but repenting of it afterwards he made her priestess to the Sun that he might have a fair pretence of denying her to Darius because according to the Persian superstition those of that Office must observe perpetual Chastity Darius taking this as a great affront entred into the Conspiracy as abovementioned which being discovered the Incestuous and Unnatural Traitor with all his Associates their Wires and Children was cut off that there might be no memorial left of such a horrid piece of Villainy Thus was Uncleanness justly punish'd both in Father and Children and this Instance is so much the more remarkable that it fell out but a few years before the overthrow of the Persian Monarchy by Alexander the Great which the Lasciviousness and Effeminacy of the Persians made easy to be effected Our next instance is Alexander the Great who tho in the height of his Youth and Conquests he obtain'd so much Glory by abstaining from Darius his Beautiful Queen and Daughters who were his Captives yet giving himself afterwards up to Impure Pleasures he hath thereby rendred his Infamy as Immortal as his Fame It 's observed of him by his Historian Curtius that he was always more Famous in War than after Victory and that having broke the Power of the Persian Empire he degenerated into those very Manners or rather Vices which made the Persians such an easie Conquest to him That same Author in his 5th Book gives us an Account that Alexander having staid much longer at Babylon than he did at any other place the Corrupt Manners of the Citizens did more prejudice to the Discipline of his Army than any thing they had met with before that time and indeed the Description that Curtius gives us of the abominable Luxury and Impurity which reign'd in that City is sufficient to convince us that the Empire of which that was the Metropolis or at least the most Renowned and Greatest City was ripe for ruin The words of the Historian are as follow There was nothing more corrupt than the manners of that City and nothing more Accommodated to incite and provoke Voluptuousness and Lust. The Parents and Husbands permitted their Wives and Daughters to lie with their Guests provided they gave them a Reward Banquets Revells and Plays were the Chief delights of the Kings and Princes of Persia. The Babylonians were wholly giv'n up to Wine Drunkenness and the Consequences of it Their Women when they first came in to their Feasts and Banquets were apparelied modestly enough but in a little time after they threw off their upper Garments and in the last place with modesty be it spoken vncover'd their Nakedness nor was this only the practise of the Common prostitutes but of their Matrons and married Women who esteem'd such promiscuous dalliance a Great piece of Complaisance and Good breeding with which Dehauches says our Author that Army which Conquer'd Asia being glutted for 34 days they had doubtless been rendred very unfit for what they undertook afterwards if they had not been Reinforc'd by fresh supplies of uncorrupted men from Macedonia c. Our Author gives us another Instance of the Idleness and Luxury of the Persian Women viz. That when Alexander the Great had received Purple and Macedonian Apparel made by his own Sisters in a Present from home he ordered the same to be Presented to Sysigambis the Mother of Darius with this Complement that if she lik'd them he would furnish her with those who shou'd teach her Grand Daughters to make such which presently drew Tears from the Persian Princess there being nothing reckon'd more dishonourable amongst the Persian Women than to Card and Spin which I take to be the meaning of our Author's words to touch Wool How much this differs from Solomon's Character of a good Houswife and whether the handling of Wool had not been more commendable than such Dissolute Revels as we just now mentioned let the World Judge But to return to Alexander the Great After he had with great difficulty and danger past the straits of Susis and taken Persepolis the Royal Residence of the Kings of Persia the Lascivious Inhabitants became Executioners of Divine Justice upon themselves and their Impure City for putting on their
in his Life written by Plutarch tho' he was continually attended by that excellent person Socrates whose wholsome Instructions had much Influence upon him yet all his Philosophy was not able to reform him We find him accus'd when a Boy of a Suspicion of being a Catamite his Wife Hipparete a virtuous Lady and one that lov'd him entirely abandon'd him at last because of his multitude of Whores and su'd for a Divorce from him but when she pâ—…esented her self before the Magistrate for that end Alcibiades retook her again by Force He is accus'd of being Luxurious in his Eating Drinking and Amours and was much despis'd by the Athenians because instead of their usual Ensigns upon his Shield he had a Cupid painted upon it with a Thunderbolt in his Hand Aristophon the Painter drew him sitting in the Curtesan Nemea's Arms which much displeas'd the graver Athenians While he was an Exile at Sparta he debauch'd the Wife of Agis King of Lacedemon and had a Son by her And 't is observable that the cause of his being banish'd from his own Country and condemn'd to Death was his having perform'd the debauch'd Mysteries of the Eleusina Sacra by way of Mockery The Injury he did to Agis King of Lacedemon made him unsafe there so that he fled for Security to Tisaphernes the Persian General In a word his whole Life was a continued Series of remarkable Ups and Downs And his Death was no less remarkable the Historian giving us an Account of it in this manner viz. That having retir'd to a small Village in Phrygia with one Timandra a Mistress of his he was at the instance of the Lacedemonians attack'd in his House by some Barbarians who setting it on fire he with much ado escap'd thro' the Flames and was at last slain by their Darts his Mistress Timandra having buried him with as much Decency as her Circumstances would allow Thus did Alcibiades fall ingloriously by his Lusts who had done so many Great and Glorious Actions in the World We have already touch'd upon the Judgments which pursued Dionysius the Lustful Tyrant of Sicily for his Uncleanness but meeting with a further Instance of it in the Life of Timoleon it is thought proper to take notice of it here in the words of Plutarch viz. That all the Mischiefs and Vexations of his former Reign were abundantly repaid and outdone by those Evils and Calamities which he then suffer'd for he liv'd to see the Funerals of his Sons in the prime of their Age the Rapes of his Daughters in the Flower of their Virginity and the Prostitution of his own Sister that became his Wife who being first villanously treated and her Person expos'd to all the Lust and Lewdness of the common Souldiery she was afterwards murder'd together with her Children and their Bodies cast into the Sea Thus was Dionysius punish'd as we may say in Specie for his Lust and Cruelty In the Life of Pelopidas we find this remarkable Passage concerning Archias the Tyrant of Thebes who having render'd himself odious to the People by his Oppression and sent many of them into Exile some of the Chief of those Exiles contriv'd his Ruine under the Conduct of Pelopidas thus Philidas who was Secretary to Archias having invited him and some others to an Entertainment to drink freely and accompany some married Whores he was so much taken up with his Cups and the Expectation of his Female Guests that tho' he had a Letter sent him discovering the Plot against his Life and deliver'd with this Message That it contain'd Matters of Concern and therefore 't was necessary he should read it he answer'd Matters of Concern to morrow And as he was carrousing thus Charon and Molon two of the Conspirators having put on Womens Apparel over their Armour and thick Garlands of Firr and Pine to shade their Faces in this manner came to the Door upon which Archion and his Guests gave an Huzza thinking they had been the lewd Women that they expected but were quickly undeceiv'd and had their Hearts pierced by the Conspirators Swords at the same time when they were pierced with the Darts of raging Lust. And thus Thebes was deliver'd from Tyranny In that same Life we have an Account how Divine Justice pursued Alexander the Tyrannical King of Pherea for his Brutish Lust. His Wife Thebe Daughter to Jason being enrag'd at him for his Debaucheries and particularly for abusing her younger Brother to his Lust she contriv'd his Death thus She hid her three Brothers in a Room near to his Bedchamber all the other Apartments being full of the Tyrant's Night-guards before his Chamber there lay a fierce Dog chain'd which would flye at all but the Tyrant's Wife and a Servant that fed him When Night came Thebe went in alone to his Chamber according to the usual Custom and finding him asleep came out again commanded the Servant to lead away the Dog for the King would take some Rest and then covering the Stairs with Wool brought up her Brothers into his Chamber where they kill'd him and throwing out his Carcass it was trod under foot in great Contempt by the Phereans In the Life of Marcus Cato the Censor we find that the grave Romans thought that not so much as a Marriage or a Night's Lodging for the Procreation of Children nay not a Feast or Drinking-bout ought to be permitted according to every one's Fancy without being censur'd and enquir'd into and therefore they chose two Persons one out of the Patricians the other out of the Commons who were to watch correct and punish if any one ran too much after Voluptuousness and therefore Cato tho' he met with much Opposition because of his Severity was prefer'd to that Imployment and the first remarkable thing which we find perform'd by him in that Office was the Expulsion of Lucius Quintus from the Senate because he had to please a Boy whom he kept as a Catamite order'd a condemn'd Person to be executed before him at a Feast He did also throw Manilius out of the Senate because in the presence of his Daughter and in open Day he was a little too sweet upon his own Wife The People were so well pleased with his Behaviour in his Imployment that they erected a Statue for him in the Temple of the Goddess of Health with the following Inscription That this was Cato the Censor who by his good Discipline and Ordinances reclaim'd the Roman Commonwealth when 't was declining and supinely tumbling into Vice Yet we find that this very Man so famous for the Severity and Uprightness of his Manners not improving that Knowledg which God had given him was overcome by his Lusts even in his Old-age for Plutarch says that in his old days when he was past a Lover's Years he made use of Women and particularly of a young Wench who came privately to him which being discover'd by his Son who took Offence thereat the old Man in revenge married a
with great difficulty he escap'd by the swiftness of his Horse And thus he had well nigh made a surrender of his Liberty and Design to the Charms of a lascivious Woman It is also observ'd of this Demetrius that he had many Wives at the same time and notwithstanding his multiplicity of Wives became so enamour'd upon Lamia a beautiful Lady but infamous for her looseness of Conversation that 't was said all other Ladies were amorous of Demetrius but Demetrius was only amorous of Lamia This Lustful Prince was not however satisfied with his variety of Women but did also pollute himself with the unnatural Crime of Sodomy and it 's sloried of him that having been lost several days in a Debauch among his Companions and pretending to keep his Chamber afterwards by reason of Indisposition his Father Antigonus came to see him upon his approach to Demetrius's Chamber out bolts a sprightly young Fellow and Antigonus going to his Bed-side and feeling his Pulse Demetrius not knowing well how to excuse himself pretended that he had been ill of a Fever but that he hoped it had now left him Yes reply'd the King I believe it for I just now met it at your Chamber Door alluding to the young Catamite that sprung out of his Chamber His Victories and the Benefits which he bestow'd upon the Athenians put their Invention upon the rack to conferr new-devised Honours and Flatteries upon him and therefore they order'd him a Lodging behind Minervas Temple in the Apartment of the Virgins the vow'd Votaries of that Goddess which occasion'd the Wits of the Time to say That Minerva had got a dangerous Inmate and That it was not much to the Reputation of her Virgins Chaestity to keep company with Demetrius And as for Demetrius himself he was so far from shewing any Reverence to the Goddess with whom he had taken up his Quarters that he gave himself up to the most infamous Liberties and debauch'd the young Women and Matrons of Athens to that degree as 't is a shame for a modest Pen to relate This brutish Youth was so much enrag'd with unnatural Lust that he tempted a beautiful young Man call'd Damocles to that degree as made him to decline all manner of publick Conversation on purpose to avoid his design'd Passion but Damocles going to a private Bath the villainous Demetrius having Information of it surpriz'd him there so that the poor Youth seeing no other way to avoid him leap'd into a boiling Vessel and so became a Martyr to his Virtue Demetrius was not only lustful but profuse and prodigal in his Expences as all lustful Persons are so that having commanded the Athenians to raise 250 Talents for his Service and when they to satisfie his demands had levied it upon the People by distress he gave it as a trifling Sum to Lamia and the rest of his lewd Women to buy them perfum'd Washballs for their Baths And thus were the Athenians punish'd for giving way to the lustful Excesses of this young Prince to whom they were so slavishly obsequious that contrary to their Laws when he desir'd to be enroll'd in the Fraternity of the Priests of Ceres without attending the time commonly allotted which injoyns that the lesser Mysteries should be celebrated in November and the great Solemnity in August following they made an Edict that the Month of March then currant should be accounted November that Demetrius might be then admitted to the lesser Ceremonies and as soon as that was done by another Edict they turn'd that same Month into August which occasion'd Philipedes the Comedian to exercise his Wit upon Stratocles the Inventer of this Trick in the following Couplet thus Prodigious Skill how strangely flattering Fear Into one Month hath crowded all the Year And upon the same Stratocles's proposing that Demetrius should lodge in the Temple of Minerva within the Castle he made the following Lines Stratocles thinks it is no Sin To turn a Temple to an Inn Or with lewd wanton Company To bless Minerva's Chastity We come now to treat of the Punishments which Divine Justice inflicted upon this Lecher which were very sharp and severe his Father and he both being dispoil'd of that large Empire which they had erected for themselves out of the Ruins of that of Alexander the Great His Mother and Children and divers of his Wives were made Prisoners and he himself forsaken by the Athenians who had formerly â—…o much ador'd him but now made it a capital Crime for any body so much as to propose a Treaty or Accommodation with him and Alexander King of Macedon miss'd little of having cut him off treacherously It is also remarkable that this lustful Prince was punish'd observably in his Daughter Stratonice who follow'd her Father's pernicious Example The Story is well known to be as followeth Demetrius having married this his beautiful Daughter to Seleucus King of Syria to whom she brought forth a little Son Antiochus Son to Seleuchus by a former Marriage fell so passionately in love with his Step-mother Stratonice that he sicken'd upon it and was in danger and not daring to discover the Cause of his Distemper he saw no other Remedy for his hopeless Misfortune but what was to be expected from Despair and Death which he therefore resolv'd upon by abstaining from Diet. Erasistratus the King's Physician quickly discover'd that Love was his Distemper but could not at first discover the Object he therefore diligently waited in his Chamber and when any of the Beauties of the Court came to visit the sick Prince he curiously observ'd the Emotions and Alterations in the Countenance of Antiochus and by that means discover'd Stratonice to be the Object of his Flames for when she came in either with the King or alone Antiochus became mute his Passion smothering his Words a fiery Blush would mount into his Face he would fix his Eyes upon Stratonice and then presently withdraw his stoln guilty Looks his Pulse would be disorder'd a cold Sweat would seize upon him and unable to support the violent Passion he would become sensless and pale Erasistratus having made this Discovery acquainted Seleucus that his Son's Distemper was Love but incurable because it is impossible for him to enjoy the Object of his Passion and as impossible for him to live without it The King demanding why he could not enjoy the Object Erasistratus answer'd Sir because he is in love with my Wife Upon this the King expostulated with the Physician saying How my dear Erasistratus will you not do me the Kindness as to bestow your Wife upon my Son and Successor when there is no other way to save his Life Nay then Sir replied the Physician the Object of the Prince's Love is your own Stratonice Ah my dear Friend answer'd Seleucus may some kind God or Man put the Safety of the Prince upon that Issue I would part not only with Stratonice but my Empire upon condition that I might preserve Antiochus And thereupon
Triumph amongst other Lampoons us'd upon such occasions had this noted Lampoon Gallias Caesar subegit Nicomedes Caesarem Ecce Caesar nunc Triumphat qui subegit Gallias Nicomedes non triumphat qui subegit Caesarem Which may be English'd thus For conqu'ring Gaul Caesar doth Lawrels wear But Nicomedes doth no Trophies bear Tho' he made Conquest of the Conquerer He is generally said to have been much inclin'd also to lust after Women and to have been very prodigal in his Amours He debauch'd several Ladies of good Quality as Posthumia the Wife of Servius Sulpitius Lossia the Wife of Gabinius Tertulla the Wife of Crassus and Mucia Pompey's Lady insomuch that the Curio's upbraided Pompey that the Extravagancy of his Ambition should ever induce him to marry the Daughter of that Man for whose Intimacy with his Wife he was oblig'd to divorce her after he had three Children by her and frequently to own himself a Cuckold Caesar had a mighty Passion for Servilia the Mother of Brutus whom he presented with a Jewel that cost him 6000000 Sesterces besides other considerable Boons and the cheap Purchase of many noble Farms expos'd to publick sale and People being surpriz'd at her good Bargain Cicero quibbl'd upon it saying They would reckon it a better Bargain if they knew that Tertia was deducta meaning that she had prostituted her Daughter Terti as well as her self to Caesar. He likewise debauch'd several Provincial Ladies for which his Souldiers in his Gallick Triumph lampoon'd him in this manner Cits now be sure to keep your Wives at home For here 's a bald triumphant Stallion come In Gaul they made thee pay for Whoring dear But thou of Cits mak'st Cuckolds gratis here He is also accus'd of Unlawful Amours with several Queens as Eunoe Wife to Bogud King of Morocco to whom he gave many magnificent Presents but his Darling-Mistress was Cleopatra whom he often treated all Night long and had certainly accompanied her in her Pleasure-boat as far as Aethiopia had not his Army refus'd to comply with the Frolick and upon her he begat a Son who was call'd Caesario Nay he was so infamous both for Active and Passive Uncleanness that Curio the Father in an Oration call'd him Every Woman's Man and every Man's Woman He was so insatiable in his Lust that Helvius Cinna Tribune of the People acknowledg'd that he had a Bill ready prepar'd by him which Caesar commanded him to get pass'd into a Law whereby he might be authoriz'd to marry what Wives and in what Number he pleas'd to secure him Issue Yet Infinite Justice order'd it so that he left no Lawful Issue behind him We come now to take notice of the Judgments that pursu'd him some of 'em did represent his Crime in legible Characters as that of his Wife Pompeia's Intrigue with Clodius which was so publick that Clodius was prosecuted for the same as has been already mention'd It is also very well known to what Dangers his Contests and Wars with Pompey expos'd him and how at last he was murther'd in the Senate notwithstanding all the Warnings he had giv'n him of the Design And it deserves a particular Remark that Brutus whom many suspected to he his own Son his infamous Familiarity with his Mother being notorious was one of those that stabb'd him whereupon he cried out What and are you one of them also you my Son Brutus This is certainly one of the most remarkable Instances of God's punishing Whoremongers and Adulterers that is to be found in History when he who thought himself secure from all Attempts as being above them and was so much doted on and ador'd by the People that of their own accord they ran in quest of the Murderers up and down the City and burnt their Houses and afterwards worship'd him as a God when this Man could not avoid the just Hand of God which did so remarkably find him out at last and punish him for his Uncleanness and other Crimes The next is Augustus Caesar of whom Suetonius gives us this following Account That having divorc'd his Wife Scribonia because of her froward and peevish Humour he fell in love with Livia Drusilla the Wife of Tiberius Nero from whom he took her by force tho' at the same time she was big with Child and tho he lov'd her passionately yet he never had any Children by her for she miscarried of the only Child that ever she conceiv'd by him which was a very just and remarkable Judgment He married his Daughter Julia to M. Agrippa who was at that very time married to Marcella and had several Children by her and after his death he married her to Tiberius whom he forc'd to put away his Wife then big with Child and who had born him diverse Children Judgment pursu'd him for those Unjust and Tyrannical Proceedings for both the Julia's his Daughter and Grand-daughter were notoriously infamous his Grandsons Caius and Lucius he lost in Two and twenty months one after another his third Grandson Agrippa prov'd so unruly and brutish that he transported him into an Island under a Guard and obtain'd a Decree of the Senate to have him kept in the same place as long as he liv'd and every time mention was made of the two Julia's with Tears in his Eyes and fetching a deep Sigh he would utter a Verse of Homer to this purpose O that I ne'er the Name of Wife had known And without Children to my Grave had gone Nor did he use to call them by any other Name but those of his three Excrescencies or Imposthumes It is further observ'd that he was effeminate in his Youth Marc. Antony upbraided him with being his Uncle Julius Caesar's Catamite that he had also been guilty of prostituting himself to the unnatural brutish Lust of A. Hortius in Spain for 300000 pieces of Mony The whole Body of the People being also assembled one day to behold a certain Interlude they unanimously expounded and applauded a Verse pronounced upon the Stage to his dishonour viz. Videsne ut Cinaedus Orbem digito temperet In English thus Behold that Catamite how he the Orb Of spacious Earth can with his Finger curb His Friends own'd that he was addicted to the Crime of Adultery but alledge in excuse of it That it was by the familiarity with the Wives to discover the Secrets of their Husbands Marc. Antony charges him with taking a Lady out of the Room in her Husbands presence and bringing her back again with her Ears glowing and her Locks in disorder He accuses him of putting away Scribonia because she complain'd too freely of the Pride and Imperiousness of one of his Concubines and that moreover he us'd to imploy Thoranius to find out Women for him who after the Bargain was made were to be strip'd and expos'd to their View as if they had been to be sold in open Market There was also a Story flew about of him of a private Supper which he made vulgarly call'd The
by the Pollutions that besmear'd his Clothes His own Chastity he prostituted in such a manner that there was hardly a Member of his Body undefil'd insomuch that at length he invented a new sort of Lechery which was to cover himself all over with the Skin of some wild Beast and so to be let out of a Cage that he might fly upon the Secrets of Men and Women that were tied to a Stake and after he had that way gratified his monstrous Lust he prostrated his own Body to his enfranchis'd Bondman Doryphorus who had married him as he himself had wedded Sporus and in that passive posture counterfeited the soft Cries and Complaints of a new-bedded Virgin He was so very vile himself that he believ'd every-body to be so only that they dissembl'd their Vices and were private in their Debauches and if any Man would but confess their Obscenities to him he pardon'd all the rest of their Crimes His impious Mother was remarkably pursued by the Divine Vengeance which gave her up to the unnatural Fury of the Monster her Son to whom she had so unnaturally prostituted her Body for after he had divers ways attempted to rid himself of her but in vain he at last commanded her to be kill'd as having conspir'd against his Life which being effected he ran with eager Curiosity to view the naked Body of his Mother as she lay weltring in her Blood and handled all her Limbs of which he commended some for their Beauty and Shape and disprais'd others and happening to be thirsty in the midst of his unnatural Survey he was so little concern'd that he quench'd his Thirst over his murder'd Parent who left the World with that severe Reproof to him when his Murderers approach'd her viz. That they should strike her Belly first which had brought forth such a Monster into the World as Nero. After this barbarous and unnatural Murther the wicked Monster never enjoy'd Quiet but was constantly pursu'd with Horrour of Conscience and cry'd out That he was haunted by his Mother's Ghost Nero had also a plurality of Wives viz. Octavia Poppaea Sabina and Statilia Messalina having kill'd Atticus Vestinus the Husband of the latter that he might enjoy her His Wife Octavia he endeavour'd several times to have strangled and divorc'd her under pretence of Barrenness but perceiving the People took her Part he put her to death upon a false Accusation of Adulteries He had an entire Love to his Wife Poppaea yet kill d her with a kick upon the Guts when she was big with Child because she reprov'd him for staying too late at his Chariot driving Exercises He put Antonia the Daughter of Claudius to death for refusing to marry him after the death of Poppaea He also murder d Aulus Plantius a young Gentleman whose Body he had forcibly defil'd before-hand and after he had kill'd him used this taunting Expression Now let my Mother go and kiss my Successor giving it out That he was his Mother's Gallant and by her spurr'd on to lay Claim to the Empire This villainous Monster having wallow'd a long time in unnatural Lusts and cruel Murders became hateful to every one He set Rome on fire with his own Hands which was a just Judgment of God upon that City for suffering it self to be set on fire by his raging Lusts After that they were visited with a Pestilence which cut off many thousands of ' em His Souldiers in two of the chief Brittish Garrisons were massacred and many of the Romans and their Allies were slaughter'd in other places of that Island His Legions in the East had the Ignominy of being put under the Yoke and all Syria was like to be lost so closely did Vengeance pursue him Then France and Spain revolted under the Conduct of Galba and Vindex which so struck him tho' he seem'd little concern'd at his former Disasters that he sank down and for a long time lay Speechless like one that had neither Life nor Soul and when he came to himself he fell a tearing his Clothes thump'd himself about the Head and at length cried out that he was undone But being at last convinc'd of the necessity of making head against his Enemies his first Care was to provide Waggons to carry his Scenical Machines and Musical Instruments and to have his Concubines which he design'd to carry with him trim'd with their Hair cut like Men and arm'd with Battel-axes and small round Targets after the manner of Amazons so far was he judicially given up to his Lusts. In the mean time he was terrified with frightful Dreams and dreadful Omens such as that he was dragg'd into hideous Darkness by his Wife Octavia and that his Body was cover'd with a multitude of winged Emmets the Doors of the Mausoleum flew open of their own accord and a Voice was heard from thence summoning him distinctly by his Name It was also observ'd that the last Tragedy which he acted in publick was Oedipus exil'd which concluded in these Words that were very applicable to him viz. Thus Wife thus Mother and thus Father call For merited Revenge and I must fall Then upon fresh Intelligence that the Armies were revolted he tore the Letters as he sate at Dinner overturn'd the Table call'd for a Dose of Poison and retir'd into the Servilian Gardens where he tormented himself with perplexing Thoughts what to do in this Distress sometimes he thought of throwing himself at the Feet of Galba or to implore the Assistance of the Parthians and sometimes he thought of putting himself in Mourning humbling himself to the People and begging their Pardon before the Rostra but from that was deterr'd fearing he should be torn in pieces before he got to the Forum so waving the matter till next day he wak'd about Midnight and then finding his Guards drawn off he leap'd out of his Bed and sent up and down for his Friends but none of them coming to him he went himself with some few Attendants to their Houses where meeting with no admittance he return'd to his Chamber from whence by that time the few of his Guards that remain'd had also march'd off having first rifled his Apartments and carried off amongst other things his Gold Box with the Dose of Poison in it which put him into that Despair that he sent for any of the publick Executioners to dispatch him and none of them being to be found he cried out What have I neither Friends nor Enemies and ran away as if he would have thrown himself into the Tiber but upon second Thoughts he began to think of some private lurking place where he might consider what to do and for that end mounted on Horseback barefoot and in sordid Apparel with a thin Handkerchief before his Face to have retir'd to a Country House belonging to one of his enfranchis'd Bondmen having only four Persons with him of whom his Catamite Sporus was one but being terrified with a violent Earthquake and the Lightning that
's uncleanness slain by a Woman 200 R Reveal'd Religion why devided by the Beâ—… 123 Reuben 's Incest and Punishment 32 Rings excess in them 297 Roman Women immodest in their Apparel ibid. Rome its Church why call'd in Scripture Whore and Mother of Harlots 132 Rome founded by Whoredom endanger'd at first by Rape 165 Roofs of Houses movable and chang'd at every course 292 S Sampson 's Whoredom and Punishment 53 c. The Rabbins think the Philistins debauch'd his Wife 53 Objections against the number of Foxes taken by him answer'd 55 Saracens their original 12 Sardanapalus 's uncleanness and remarkable death 135 137 Schechem 's Whoredom and Punishment 25 Scythian Women their Message to their Husbands in Asia 139 Married their Servants in their Husbands absence 140 Scipio rebukes Massinissa for his lust 176 Seed flux of it in Man and Menstrua in Women why it render'd 'em unfit for publick Worship 41 Seed passing thro' the Fire to Molech what 51 Seleucus King of Assyria parts with his wife to his Son 213 Servants excess in their number 300 Sextus Tarquinius his Rape and Punishment 168 169 Ships sailing in Wine 287 Simon Magus the Uncleanness of himself and Followers 300 Sodomites why they lusted after Strangers and particularly after the Angels 13 Solomon 's unclednness and punishment 79 whether sav'd or not 81 Solon 's Uncleanness and impure Laws 192 Sophonisba Daughter to Asdrubal her scandalous Marriage to Massinissa 176 her last Message to her Paramour Massinissa 178 Spinctriae what 235 Spitamenes and his Wife their punishment for Lust. 153 Statues the Excess of the Romans in them 290 Suppers excessive for cost 279 282 Scylla 's lustfulness eat up by Lice 201 Syphax 's Marriage with Sophonisba caused his War with the Romans 177 Syria and Egypt remarkably punish'd for their Uncleanness 165 T Tables the Excess and Expensivcness of them 276 Tarentum betray'd by an Harlot 195 Theatres Excess of the Romans therein 284 their Furniture costly 286 Theatre of Scaurus of Titus 284 285 Thehe Daughter to Jason how she aveng'd herself of her Husband for his Adultery 198 Theseus 's Lust and Punishment 188 189 Tiberius Caesar 's unnatural Lust filthy Inventions and Death 235 to 237 Titus 's Uncleanness 254 Trajan 's Sodomy c. 259 Troy ruin'd by Lust. 145 Tutula her filthy stratagem to defeat the Latins 193 U Unclean Women made use of to ensnare the People of God fatal to the Contrivers 57 Uncleanness the cause of the Jews Captivity 91 Uncleanness People judicially given up to it and why 117 Uncleanness the sorts of it the Trial and Punishment of it under the Law from 35 to 40 Unnatural Lust discover'd by heterogeneous Births 52 Valentinian the Emperor murder'd for Adultery 260 Vespasian 's uncleanness and reformation 254 255 Vestal Nuns their Whoredoms how expiated 175 Victualling houses at Rome under Ground what 306 Virginia kill'd by her Father to save her Chastity his Speech to the Roman Army 170 171 Vitellius 's Lust and Punishment Luxury Gluttony c. 252 c. W War occasion'd at Sparta by the Lust of Chelidonis 200 Wenches naked wait at Table 277 Whores and Whoremongers their Character by Solomon 87 Whoredom the cause of Apostacy and of the Deluge 6 7 the Judgments denounc'd against it in the New Testament 122 c. its Original 1 2 3 Wild Beasts vast numbers of 'em in the Theatres 287 Women that kill'd themselves to avoid being desil'd 304 Woman taken in Adultery the reason of our Saviour's acquitting her what he wrote upon the Ground at that time 109 World Peopled a first and second time by lawful Marriages 7 Y Young man ravish'd his Mother and kill'd his Father and Sisters 316 Z Zealots in Jerusalem their lustfulness 116 Zeno the Emperor's lust and punishment buried alive 308 309 ERRATA PAGE 15 l. 14 read touched p. 16 l. 31 r. a necessity p. 28 l. 8 r. murther p. 29 l. 19 r. Juvenile p. 29 l. 33 r. greater p. 30 l. 26 for but r. that p. 31 l. 18 dele he p. 35 l. 10 r. a Virgin p. 60 l. 3 r. to propagate p. 83 l. 8 r. as to p. 84 l. 34 r. Canaanites p. 112 l. 33 r. with her Hair p. 130 l. 28 r. Marcionites and l. 34 r. to ward p. 132 l. 29 r. he represents p. 134 l. 4 r. Justin p. 137 l. 4 r. which with and l. 6 r. my Desires and l. 27 r. Effeminacy p. 142 l. 2 r. of Xerxes p. 144 l. 3 r. as abovesaid and l. 26 r. prevail'd p. 147 l. 31 r. Justice p. 165 l. 14 r. begot p. 171 l. 1 r. upon which p. 178 l. 33 r. Disloyalty p. 192 l. 11 r. and another p. 194 l. 14 r. Bawd p. 252 l. ult r. Day p. 253 l. ult r. Streets AN ESSAY TOWARDS A General History OF WHORING c. THE Original of the Crime which is the Subject of the following Sheets must necessarily be deduced from the Sin of our first Parents for there is no doubt that Lust or the inordinate motions of the Flesh did invade their Souls at the same time when their other Faculties were corrupted And it appears plain that Idleness the lust of the Eye and intemperance of Appetite which ever since have been the forerunners and ushers of bodily uncleanness did precede the Eating of the forbidden Fruit and that as the Natural Consequence of such Antecedents the first thing taken notice of by our Parents after the Fall was their Nakedness whereof they were immediately asham'd and endeavoured to cover it This Nakeness say Commentators that they were so speedily made sensible of was not only that they felt their need of a Cover to their Bodies both for Ornament and Defence against the Injuries of the Air c. but that they were also sensible of the Rebellion of the flesh which doth not only war against the Soul but hath a natural tendency to the dissolution of the Body there being nothing which sooner extinguishes the flame of Life than an immoderate consumption of that Oyl which nature hath provided for its nourishment This impurity of the affections did no doubt exert it self quickly in actions which in our first Parents could not fall under the notion of Whoredom they being married by God himself in the State of Innocence yet there 's little doubt to be made of its having vented it self in an immoderate use of the Marriage bed and thus these impure desires were communicated to their Posterity who were thereby polluted and conceiv'd and brought forth in Iniquity The first direct breach of the Divine Institution of Marriage betwixt one Man and one Woman which we find Recorded was in the person of Lamch one of Cain's Posterity whose two Wives we find mentioned in the fourth of Genesis by which it appears plain that Murder and Whoredom are near a kin had both of 'em their rise from one and the same Family And according to the opinion of
of Genesis we have a very Extraordinary Testimony against Adultery from an Heathen Prince Abimelech King of Gerar upon the occasion of Isaac's having from that same principle of slavish fear with his Father called his Beautifull Wife his Sister to avoid being killed for her sake but the King perceiving him sporting more familiarly with her than 't was decent for a Sister and Brother to do he reproved him sharply for his having dissembled her being his Wife whereby he not only endangered her Chastity but might have brought wrath upon the People for defiling another Man's Wife and therefore to prevent any such thing he forbad any of the People to meddle with Isaac or his Wife on pain of death Certainly this Heathen Prince will rise in Judgment against those pretended Christians who pollute themselves with promiscuous Lusts and neither Account Fornication nor Adultery a Crime The next Instance offer'd us is that of Esau who married two Wives and those too the Daughters of Canaan which were a Grief of Soul unto his Father and his Mother that he Married two Wives at once considering his Grand-Father Abraham's Example and the Custom of those dark and ignorant times seems not so Criminal and yet his Father's praâ—…ice who had but one ought to have had more influence upon him but his marrying Canaanites Profane Women and Heathens contrary to the Command of his Grand-Father Abraham and not only without the Consent but against the Inclination of his Father and Mother was altogether unexcusable The Impulsive cause which mov'd him to do so we have no reason to doubt was his Ungovernable Lust for that he was a Man of intemperate Appetite and by Consequence Libidinous is plain from his having profanely bartered away his Birth-Right for a Mess of Red Pottage when to be sure he might have had other Food in his Fathers House or if he had rejected Jacob's proposal there 's no great reason to think that Jacob would have been so unnatural as to have insisted upon his demand and denied necessary Refreshment to his Brother but he did so much idolize his own Palate and Appetite that he preferred the satisfaction of them to every thing else and we have the same reason to think that his Concupiscence was as Ungovernable as his Stomach and therefore he married two Canaanitish Women at once to satisfy his raging Lust the fulfilling of which he prefer'd to his Father and Mother's good will and this no doubt had no small influence in moving the latter to suborn Jacob to deprive Esau of his Blessing as well as of his Birth-right and it 's Remarkable that as he made a Cursed choise of his Wives he was also accursed in his Posterity who as it appears by the Sacred History became irreconcilable Enemies to the people of God and were always their most Barbarous and Cruel Persecutors Esau's Marrying a third Wife of Ishmael's race while the other two were alive is another Argument of his Unbridled Lust and Enmity to true Religion It ' true that Interpreters disagree in this matter some thinking that Esau Married this Third Wife of his Father 's own kindred to please him because the Daughters of Canaan were hatefull to him but others seem to have more Reason who think that he did it out of Contempt with a design to provoke his Parents more by contracting a new Alliance with another wicked people who were as much Enemies to the Church and as much or more irreconcilable to his Father as the other seeing it 's apparent that Ishmael mock'd or as the Apostle Interprets it persecuted Isaac from his very Infancy And thus far we see raging incontinency and hatred at Religion go hand in hand The next Instance that occurs to us is that of Jacob who well may be charged with Polygamy as having four Wives at a time instead of one The first occasion of this good Patriarch's transgression in this matter was the Wicked Craft and Deceit of Laban his Father-in-Law who instead of Rachel whom Jacob Married brought Leah to his Bed and so was the cause of Jacob's Digamy and Incest and tho' it 's true that Jacob is no where Condemned in Scripture for this yet it 's plain that he acted contrary to Divine institution and he is reproved for it by our Saviour amongst others when he told the Pharisees That from the beginning it was not so There were some and particularly the Manichees of old who inveighed against this Polygamy of the Patriarchs and in very gross and foul Language accuse them as Whore-Masters and their Wives as Whores but their scurrilous Arguments are well answered by Augustine against Faustus and others There are some who think that this Polygamy of the Patriarchs was by a peculiar instinct and particular Dispensation and therefore as in that case it could not be blamable neither can it now be ordinarily imitable the chief Reasons they assign for their opinions are that it was permitted for the Increasing of the Promised Seed that Jacobs Wives c. were acted by more than a Natural principle and much self-denial in recommending their Maids to their Husband's Bed which in ordinary Cases must be supposed to alienate his Affection from themselves In the next place they observe that they pray'd for off-spring by their Maids and brought up their Children upon their own knees It must be own'd that those things were Extraordinary and Contrary to the Practice and Principle of the generality of Women yet it 's strongly presumable that there was something of Custom as well as of instinct in this matter and that the people of God were polluted with the bad Example of those amongst whom they lived But however these things were this is certain that all the Persons concerned were one way or other punish'd for their Concurrence in this Affair Laban had not only the mortifiâ—…ation to see his two Daughters Jarr and Disagree and Envy one another but also to find his Riches and Substance decrease and to be conveighed to another hand Leah she was severely punish'd by finding that she had less of her Husbands Love than her Sister whose Bed she had unjustly defiled Rachel was punish'd with barrenness for some time for consenting to live with Jacob as his Wife when she knew that her Father had given her eldest Sister into his Bed Jacob's life was very uneasy betwixt his Jarring Wives who did each of them Envy the others Enjoyment of him Nay he was perfectly Subject to the Command of his Imperious and Beautiful Rachel and obliged to take a third Wife to beget Children for her and this laid him under a necessity of obliging Leah in the like manner which as it must needs Consume his Body he being now above 80 years of age there was no doubt but it increased his care how to provide for so many Wives and Children at the same time he was also plagued with a Covetous Oppressing Father-in-Law and discontented Brethren who envied his growing
follow a Military Employment which generally abounds with Tentations to Incontinence and many other Crimes And answerable to this is the Command of the Apostle That the Husband should pay all due benevolence to the Wife and that they should not defraud one another but with Consent for a time lest Satan tempt them for their Incontinence Chastity was so strictly enjoyned unto this select people of God that they were not only forbid to suffer any of their Daughters to be Whores or any of their Sons to be Whore-Masters as some think the word which in our Translation Deut 23. 17. is Sodomites ought to be rendered but all manner of immodesty was strictly forbid and therefore if any Woman seeing her Husband and another Man a Quarrelling should be so impudent in her Fury or Passion as to take the other Man by the Secret ' Parts to oblige him to forbear Quarrelling with her Husband her hand was to be cut off without any pity tho' every Man knows that a Pressure or Gripe in those parts would quickly Force her Husband's Antagonist to quit the Fray And by much more reason would those Judges have Condemned Women who put their hands to those parts upon a Lustful Account The Trials appointed in the Levitical Law to find out whether the Jealousie of the Husband was well founded was likewise admirably Accommodated for the Clearing of the Innocent and condemning the Guilty The Tokens of Viâ—…ginity which the Learned tell us never failed in that Climate were a Convincing proof of the Brides being a Maid or otherwise and therefore the Linen in which the Bridegroom and she lay the first night was carefully kept by the Parents of the Bride and taken from the Fed before proper Witnesses as a security for their Daughters Honour If the accusation were found false the Husband was to be Chastis'd and Fin'd in an Hundred Shekels of Silver to the Father of the Damsel and if it was found to be true she was to be stoned to Death for having wrought folly in Israel so that there 's no doubt but this Custom had a mighty influence upon Parents to watch carefully over their Daughters and on the Virgins themselves to preserve their Chastity The Trial to find out whether a Woman had committed Adultery after Marriage was yet more solemn and terrible as may be seen in the 5th of Numbers from the 11th to the 31st Verse And seeing the effect of the bitter Water which the Woman was to drink on that occasion was altogether Supernatural viz. to make her fruitful if Innocent and her Belly to swell and Thigh to rot if guilty it plainly demonstrated that God himself was the Patron of Chastity and Revenger of Adultery and the Person found guilty upon this occasion becoming a curse among the people it shews how odious and abominable that Crime then was in the Eyes of Man as well as in the Eyes of God and there 's no doubt but this had a very great influence upon Women to be Loyal to their Husbands and careful to avoid giving 'em any occasion of Jealousie It 's probable that the Trial of Adultery by the Fiery ordeal or laying so many hot Bars of Iron upon the ground covering the Woman's Eyes and making her go over them with her bare Feet which she burnt if Guilty and came off without any hurt if Innocent was an Apish Imitation of this solemn and severe Jewish Trial as many other of the Popish Superstitions are foolish and unwarrantable Imitations of the Jewish Ceremonies but as they have not the Divine Institution for their Warrant they come always short of the desired effect and turn to the disgrace of the Inventers and Practitioners It also deserves our observation that the flux of the Natural Seed in Man the menstrua in Women and their ordinary purgations after Child-bearing rendred them unfit for publick worship and were accounted unclean Nay even the very Lawful Act betwixt Man and Wife went under that denomination because as it is well observed by Divines the Corruption of Nature is more apt to discover it self in that Lawfull act than perhaps in any other and because Original Corruption is Conveyed unto us in our first Conception by that very substance whereof we are made The next scriptural Instance that Occurs is in the 25th of Numbers where we have an account that the Moabites and Midianites being afraid of the Children of Israel the King of the Moabites sent for Balaam a false Prophet and Enchanter to Curse them that he might the more easily prevail over them but Balaam finding that it was not in his power to Curse those whom God had Blessed gave them advice to send out their Beautiful Women among the Israelites to tempt them to Uncleanness which if they could he knew that it would render them odious in the sight of their Holy God and bring down Judgments upon them from the Almighty hand of Jehovah who had given them such Laws for the preservation of their Chastity as distinguished them from the polluted Nations of the Earth We must take notice by the way that the Moabites were the Descendants of Lot's Incestuous Brood by one of his Daughters and 't is very probable that they lookt upon promiscuous Copulations to be sufficiently Authoriz'd by the unhappy slip of that Good man which together with their zeal to save their Country made them ready enough to prostitute themselves to the Israelites And they notwithstanding the prohibition and Laws of that God who had chosen them for his peculiar people called them his first born destroyed the Egyptians and Amorites for their sakes and as he told them himself because of such pollutions yet they whom Balaam's Magick could not Enchant were so much bewitched with Lust towards the Daughters of Moab that they first committed Whoredom with them and then committed Idolatry to please them so easie and natural is the transition from a wicked Life to a false Religion This Lewd and Ungratefull Practice did quickly kindle the Anger of the Lord against them which was no other way to be expiated but by the Death of those who had been Ring-Leaders of this Uncleanness and Idolatry and therefore God Commanded the Judges and Magistrates by the Mouth of his Servant Moses every one to slay those Ring-Leaders and Heads of the people in their own Juridiction who had polluted themselves and to hang them up against the Sun in the face of which they had committed these Abominations so that a Thousand of those profane Great men were hanged as the Learned do compute and Twenty Three Thousand of the Common people were consumed by the Plague for their Whoredom In this General Instance of Uncleanness there is one more particularly taken notice of by the Scripture viz. That of Zimri a Prince of the Tribe of Simeon with Cozbi the Daughter of a Prince of Midian By the reading it would seem that this man was so far besotted with his Lustfull
Courteously invite the Royal Youths to Supper at which time Sextus Tarquinius was seiz'd with a Lustfull passion for Lucrâ—…tia a Lady of extraordinary Beauty and Chastity but for that night they returned again to the Camp Some days after Sextus Tarquinius in order to accomplish his Lustfull design went privily from the Camp to Collatia attended only with one Companion where he was kindly Entertained by Collatinus's Family who knew nothing of his Villainous intent and Conducted to his Chamber after Supper but being enflamed with Lust when he thought every body was asleep he came with his Sword drawn to Lucretia's Bed-side and laying his left hand upon her Preast told her who he was and threatned her with present death if she spoke one word The poor Lady being surpriz'd and afrighted he began to mix intreaties with his threats and to express himself in such Terms as his passion suggested but finding that neither his soft expressions nor Barbarous threats could prevail with her he told her that he would stab a Slave lay him naked by her when she was dead and raise a report that they were killed in the very Act of Adultery by this means Tarquinius overcame her and having satisfied his Lust went to Rome Lucretia being thus dishonoured sent immediately for her Husband and Father desiring them to come to her speedily with each of them a trusty Friend for a Grievous Accident had befallen her and coming accordingly they found her very Pensive her Husband having askt her the Cause and whether she was not well She burst out into Tears and answered No how can a Woman be well that has lost her Chastity there are yet the signs of another Man Collatinus in thy Bed but my Body only is violated and my mind Guiltless of which my death shall be a Witness but give me your hands and promises that the Adulterer shall not escape unpunished Sextus Tarquinius is the Man who like an Enemy rather than a Guest came Armed to my Bed last night and thence forced pleasures which if you are Men will prove fatal to him as well as to me They endeavoured to comfort her telling her that where there was no consent there could be no fault Upon which she answered Do you consider what he deserves tho' I absolve my self from the Crime I will not be free from the punishment Nor shall any Unchaste Woman live to say Lucretia was her Example and with that she stab'd her self to the heart with a Knife which she had hid under herGarment upon which her Father and Husband set up a loud cry Whilst they were overwhelm'd with Grief Brutus who came along with them pulling the Knife out of her Wound said I swear by this Blood which was so Chaste before the King Stain'd it and I take the Gods to Witness it that I will cut off Sextus Tarquinius Superbus his wicked Wife and Children with Sword Fire or any other violent means I can nor will I suffer them or any other from this time forward to be King of Rome The afflicted Father and Husband joined with him in this Oath and carrying Lucretia's Body into the Market-Place stir'd up the people and marching in Arms to Rome did the like there and inveighing against the Lust and Violence of Sextus Tarquinius he also provoked the Army to join with him against the King who had the Gates of Rome shut against him was Proclaimed an Exile and he and his Children expell'd the Government and the Country The Adulterer Sextus Tarquinius was murdered by the Gabii The King's Family was Plundered and Kingly Government Abolished after it had continued 244 years And thus the Government was over-turned by the Lustfulness of a Prince who thereby brought ruin and disgrace upon his Family a fatal Exit upon himself and entail'd a War upon his Country who join'd in the Oath with Brutus to suffer none of the Tarquins to Reign at Rome The next passage we find for our purpose is that in Livy Decad. 1. Lib. 3. concerning the Lustfull design of Appius Claudius one of the Decemvirs upon the Daughter of Virginius a Beautiful Virgin whom he endeavour'd to win with Money and fair Promises but finding her Chastity inviolable he suborn'd a Client of his to Challenge her for his slave and adjudg'd her to be such in order to have brought her into his own Lustfull Embraces All the intreaties and Arguments of her Father Virginius and her Lover Icilius join'd with the Complaints and Murmurs of the People could not influence Appius to abandon his Lustfull Design so that Virginius finding he had no Force to stand by him sufficient to grapple with the Decemvirs he snatcht a Knife from a Butcher's Stall and cried out thus Daughter seeing I can do it no other way do I vindicate thy Liberty and immediately stabb'd her after which looking back to the Tribunal he said to the Lustful Tyrant Appius with this Blood I destine thee to death The Decemvirs order'd him to be laid hold on but making way thro the Crowd with his Sword he went straight to the Camp whither a great number of Citizens followed him while in the mean time her Lover Icilius and Numitorius took up Virginia's Corps bewailing the Injustice of Appius the unhappy Beauty of the young Woman and the necessity of her Father's doing what he did and the Matrons at the same time cried out was that the Consequence of bringing forth Children was that the reward of Chastity and other expostulations of the like nature Virginius being arrived in the Camp all over besprinkled with his Daughters blood and the fatal Instrument of her Death in his hand the whole Army was amazed especially seeing him followed by so many Roman Citizens in their Gowns and having commanded Silence they askt him what was the matter to which assoon as Grief would permit him he held up his hands and begg'd of his fellow Soldiers that they would not impute that to him which was Appius Claudius 's Crime nor hate him as a murderer of his own Children that his Daughter was more dear to him than his Life if she could have lived to enjoy her Liberty and preserve her Chastity But when he saw her dragged like a Slave to be made a Whore on he thought it better for him to lose his Child by Death than Disgrace that he through his Mercy to her was fallen into a shew of Cruelty nor would he have survived his Daughter unless he had been in hopes by the help of his fellow Soldiers to revenge her Death They also he knew had Daughters and Wives nor was the Lust of Appius Claudius extinguished by his Daughters Death but that the more he escaped punishment the more extravagant he would be That by another Mans Calamity they were taught to provide against the like injury As for his part his Wife was Dead his Daughter because she could live no longer in Chastity died a miserable but an honest death Wherefore Appius 's Lust
that come out of such an obscene Brothel-house Will such Fellows as these that are cover'd all over with Buggeries of their own and other men fight for the Chastity of their Wives and Children And setting forth at large the Danger that might accrue to the State by those Nightly Meetings the Bacchanalian Rites were prohibited by Order of the Senate all the Priests of the Order were commanded to be shut up and the Frequenters of those Nightly Meetings enquir'd after such of them as they found to have been only initiated and had said Prayers according to the Sacred Form which the Priests repeated before them in which was contain'd a cursed Obligation to commit all Acts of Villany and Lechery but had not committed them them they imprison'd â—…ut those whom they found to have been defil'd by Lust or Murder false Testimonies false Tokens forging of Wills or other Frauds they put to Death after which the Bacchanalia were pull'd down at Rome and all over Italy We shall conclude our Instances from Livy with this Passage which is the last that fam'd Historian affords us that any way relates to our Subject It is proper however to observe here that the Bacchanalia which we have now describ'd may justly be reckon'd a-Kin to if not the Off-spring of the Eleusina Sacra formerly mention'd both of them had their Original from Greece and were solemniz'd with much the like Secrecy and Outrage and both of them serve to let us see how far Humane Nature may be deprav'd by raging Lust when a Person or People are justly given up to it of God We think it proper before we come to the Instances of the Roman Emperors c. which are but too too numerous to take a view of those persons whom Plutarch has honour'd to be their Biographer and to excerpt from thence what suits with our purpose We have taken notice that Rome was founded by a spurious Brood and in the Life of Theseus which is the first in Plutarch We shall find that Athens had much the same sort of Original which is the more observable because from those two Cities the Christian Religion met with the greatest Opposition viz. from the vain Philosophy of the former and the more bloody and cruel Persecution of the latter Our Author tells us That Theseus seems to resemble Romulus in many particulars and in his Birth especially both of 'em being born out of Wedlock and of uncertain Parentage Ageus however is reckon'd to be Father to Theseus by Athia Daughter to Plitheus whom having got with Child he left a Sword and a pair of Shoes hiding them under a great Stone and making her only privy to it commanding her that if she brought forth a Son who when he came to Man's estate should be able to lift up the Stone and take away what he had left there she should send him away to him with those things with all Secrecy Which she having accordingly observ'd her Son Theseus after he had slain Sinnis who from his way of murthering Men was call'd The Bender of Pines committed Fornication with his Daughter Perigune begot Menalippus upon her and afterwards married her to another The next Feat Theseus did was the killing of Phea a Beast of great fierceness according to some or a cruel and lustful Woman according to others who had the Name of a Sow given her from the beastliness of her Life which if true she was remarkably enough punish'd by one that was as guilty of Incontinence as her self The next thing we have of his Amours is that with Ariadne by whose Advice and Assistance he overcame the Miâ—…aur but having serv'd his Ends he deserted her for another viz. Aegle with whom he fell in Love and thereupon Ariadne died of Grief as some say tho' others contradict it and alledge She died in Childbed Our Author gives us also an Account of his Rape of Antiope Princess of the Amazons and in short sums up his unlawful Amours and the fatal Consequence of them in a few words thus That the Marriages of Theseus were neither honourable in their beginning nor fortunate in their Events and recounts them thus viz. that he forc'd Anaxo the Traxenian ravish'd the Daughters of Sinnis and Cercyon married Peribaea the Mother of Ajax and then Pheribaea and then Iope the Daughter of â—…phicles Further he is accus'd for deserting Ariadne as is before related being in love with Aegle the Daughter of Panopeus an Action neither just nor honourable and lastly for the Rape of Helen when he was fifty Years old which fill'd all Attica with War and Blood and occasion'd his Banishment and Death Lycomedes having thrown him headlong from a Rock as he had hurried himself headlong into Lustful Passion Such was the fatal Exit of this Ethnick Hero occasion'd by his Uncleanness In the Life of Lycurgus that great Lacedemonian Philosopher and Law-giver we have an eminent Instance of the truth of that of the Apostle concerning the Heathens that because when they knew God they glorified him not as God he gave them up to work all Uncleanness with greediness for what less than a Judicial Blindness could so much infatuate such a wise man as Lycurgus to allow a Communitv of Wives and the promiscuous Dancings of young Men and Women together naked that must necessarily inflame their Lusts Which is own'd by Plutarch himself tho' cover'd under the handsom Expressions of alluring them to Marriage not upon Interest and Equality of Fortune and Birth but from the sweet Constraint and unsophisticated Dictates of Nature The Reasons of this Community of Women he enforc'd by these Arguments following viz. That Children are not so much the Propriety of their Parents as of the Commonwealth and therefore he would not have 'em begot by the first Comers but by the best Men that could be found That the Laws of other Nations seem'd to him very defective and incongruous who were very sollicitous for the Bread of their Dogs and Horses and sent a great way to get the best Stallions and yet kept their Wives under Lock and Key for fear of other Men whereas themselves were craz'd old or infirm and more fit to propagate Diseases than their Species Certainly any man at first sight must needs see that those Dictates of our Philosopher are contrary to the Dictates of Nature and naturally Introductive of all manner of Villany and Disorders Reason as well as Revelation teaches us that Jealousie is the Rage of a Man and that there is nothing more unsupportable to Humane Nature All Histories are full of Tragical Instances of it and Experience teaches us that those Nations where such promiscuous Copulations are allow'd differ but very little from Brutes whose Example Lycurgus proposes and they follow If it be objected What we find in the Life of our Author that so long as these Ordinances were observ'd the Women were so far from that Scandalous Liberty which hath since been objected to them
of deflowring several other Women but the Judges being brib'd he was acquitted It appears also plainly enough by Plutarch that Cicero himself was not altogether without Blame as to his Chastity for he put away his Wife Terentia to marry a young Virgin as she alledg'd for the sake of her Beauty or as his own emancipated Slave said for her Riches to satisfie his Debts Not long after this Marriage his Daughter Tullia died for which he prov'd unconsolable and put away his new-married Wife for seeming to rejoyce at her Death but a further Judgment pursu'd him for Antony bearing him an irreconcilable Hatred sent Assassins after him when he fled from Rome and murder'd him in the 64th Year of his age his Hands and Head being cut off and publickly affix'd to the Rostra at Rome In the Life of Artaxerxes King of Persia our Author informs us That that Prince being desperately in love with Atossa one of his own Daughters but concealing his Criminal Passion for fear of his Mother Parysatis the wicked Woman to further some of her own mischievous Designs perswaded him to marry her contrary to the Determinations of the Grecian Sages alledging That he was determin'd by Providence to be a Law to the Persians and he is also accus'd by Heraclides the Cumean and other Historians of having likewise married his second Daughter Amestris The Judgments which pursu'd this lascivious Prince were that he was defeated in his War with the Egyptians and became contemptible in the Eyes of his Subjects upon the account of his unsuccessful Expedition against the Cadusians He was also punish'd by the Controversies amongst his Sons about the Succession and by the unnatural and villainous Amours of his Son Ochus with his Wife Atossa therefore to dash the Hopes of his Son Ochus he proclaim'd Darius the elder Brother his Successor who soon after begg'd of the King that he would give him Aspasia who was formerly Cyrus's beloved Miss but then Concubine to Artaxerxes who tho' he had Three hundred and Sixty most exquisite Beauties in his Seraglio could not endure to part with Aspasia to Darius but being constrain'd to it by the Law he afterwards took her from him and created her Priestess to Diana which bound her to perpetual Chastity upon which account the unnatural Son conspir'd against his Father at the Instance of Tiribazus who bore a mortal Grudge to Artaxerxes for having married his own Daughter Amestris whom he haâ—… promis'd him to Wife but the Plot being discover'd Darius was put to death as a just Recompence for his unnatural Lust and Treason After this Ochus by his Interest with Arossa was strengthen'd in his Hopes of Succession found Means to cut off his other two Brothers Ariaspes and Arsames the Grief of which kill'd Artaxerxes And thus was he justly punish'd by and in his own Children because of his horrid Uncleanness leaving his Son Ochus behind who being the wicked Son of a wicked Parent prov'd a Monster of Cruelty Thus we have finish'd Plutarch's select Lives and dare referr it to the Judgment of the Ingenuous Reader whether many of his Heroes have not been foully culpable as to the point of Chastity and as remarkably punish'd for the same We come in the next place to search among the Roman Emperors where we find many remarkable Instances for our purpose and as remarkable Judgments pursuing ' em The first is Julius Caesar who tho' he triumph'd over most part of the then known World yet was himself triumph'd over by his Lusts. When he was High-Priest of Jupiter he divorc'd Cossutia a Lady of an Equestrian Family and of a very great Fortune to whom he had been contracted during his Minority and married Cornelia the Daughter of Cinna Nor could all the Arguments of Sylla the Dictator prevail upon him to part with her Whereupon he was suspended his Sacerdotal Dignity and had his Estate sequestred which forc'd him to abscond and shift his Quarters almost every Night tho' sick of a Quartan Ague and with much ado obtain'd his Pardon at last Being thus unfaithful to the Marriage-bed he was punish'd in the same Coin for having afterwards married Pompeia she was accus'd of Uncleanness with Clodius as has been already mention'd who had access to her during publick Worship whereupon he divorc'd her The Lasciviousness of his Mind may be also guessed at by his Dream that he had ravish'd his own Mother which tho' those who pretended to interpret such things told him That it was a Presage that he should arrive at the Universal Monarchy yet is a plain Indication of the predominancy of his Lust. Suetonius also acquaints us That he divorc'd his Daughter Julia from Servilius Coepio her former Husband one who had stuck the fastest to him of all Men living in his Dispute with Bibulus his Fellow-Consul and married her to Pompey which made him guilty of his Daughter's Adultery and was a horrid piece of Ingratitude at the same time And tho' it 's true he had great Success in his War against the Gauls Germans and Britains yet he was not without Checks from Divine Justice having lost a whole Legion by the Gauls had two of his Lieutenants defeated on the Frontiers of Germany and lost the greatest part of his Fleet upon the Coasts of Britain And in his own Family he was punish'd by the Death of his Mother his Daughter Julia and his Grand-daughter Nor was he without danger of being indicted and try'd for his Life for his Male-administration during his Consulship and of being utterly ruin'd by Pompey tho' he had the good Fortune to overcome him at last in that decisive Battel on the Pharsalian Plains Suetonius gives us a particular Enumeration of his Amours which have spread his Infamy as far as ever his Fame reach'd His being a Catamite and guilty of Sodomy with Nicomedes King of Bythinia occasion'd many Railleries upon him and expos'd him to the Contempt of his Enemies as when he swagger'd one day in the Senate and said He would run down his Adversaries they reply'd that He would find that an hard Task for a Woman alluding to his being prostituted by Nicomedes They call'd him also The Queen of Bythinia 's Cuckoldmaker the Bawdyhouse of Bythinia and Nicomedes 's Stable His Adversary Bibulus said of him when he proscrib'd him That formerly he affected a King but now a Kingdom Octavius a prating Fellow whose Tongue usually got the start of his Wit did one day before a great company when he saluted Pompey by the Name of King give Caesar the Title of Queen Cicero upbraided him with those things in his Epistles and when Caesar in his Plea before the Senate for Nisa Daughter to the said Nicomedes insisted upon the good Offices that King had done him Cicero cut him shoâ—…t saying No more of that let me beg you Sir we all know very well what has passed betwixt you two Nay the very Souldiers who attended his Chariot in his Gallic
Supper of the twelve Gods at what time the Guests sate down in the Habits of Gods and Goddesses he himself representing Apollo upon which the following Verses were made viz. Cum primum istorum conduxit mensa Choragum Sexque Deos vidit Mallia sexque Deas Impia dum Phoebi Caesar mendacia ludit Dum nova divorum caenat Adulteria Omnia se a Terris tunc Numina declinarunt Fugit Auratos Jupiter ipse Thronos In English thus Soon as the Vestments for the Feasts were hir'd Six Gods six Goddesses themselves attir'd In Mallia 's view And impious Caesar nothing would suffice But Phoebus Shape and under that disguise Th' Adu'teries of the Gods to act anew But then the Gods withdrew From Sights on Earth they could not brook And Jove himself their gilded Thrones forsook Thus we see this great and excellent Emperor who was in a manner ador'd and admir'd by all Men could not with all his Magnificence and Bounty and the Fame of his other Actions wipe off that indelible Stain which those Impurities had fix'd upon his Memory so infallibly true is it what Solomon hath said of the Adulterer That a Wound and a Dishonour he shall get and his Reproach shall not be wip'd away The next Instance is that of Tiberius Caesar who to comply with the Emperor Augustus divorc'd his Wife Agrippina who had born him a Son and was then big with Child to marry Julia Daughter to the said Emperor much against his Inclination This Marriage as it was unlawful did justly prove uncomfortable so that some time after the Death of his Son by Julia there arose such a Difference betwixt them that from that minute he forbore the use of her Bed and she being convicted of Adulteries a Divorce was drawn up against her in his Name and sent him by Augustus After this Tiberius retir'd to Capraea where he gave himself up to Drink and Lust insomuch that he was call'd Biberius instead of Tiberius and Mero instead of Nero and was waited on at Meals by Wenches There he invented Alcoves which he furnish'd with Whores and Catamites and lewd Discoverers of unnatural and beastly Postures and Motions and those he call'd Spinctriae the Incendiaries of his Lust He entertain'd himself by seeing them in three several rows abusing each other thereby to excite his decay'd Appetite He provided likewise several Chambers hung about with filthy Pictures and infamous Statues and furnish'd them with the abominable Books of Elephantis that if any one had a mind to be prodigiously wicked he might not want a Pattern to sin by He invented also in the Woods Walks and Grottoes proper for the business of Debauchery where young People of both Sexes prostituted themselves in the Masquerades of Nymphs and Satyrs so that in allusion to the Island and his beastly Lustfulness he was publickly derided by the Name Caprinaeus One incredible piece of Debauchery he was guilty of viz. that he debauch'd young Children yet in ignorance calling them his little Fry teaching them to play between his Thighs while he swam to lick and tongue and suck him like Infants not yet weaned It is also storied of him that when a piece of Parrhasius's Work representing Atalanta offering her Mouth in that manner to Meleager was left him for a Legacy with condition that if he fancied not the Design he should receive in lieu thereof a Million of Sesterces he not only chose the Picture but placed it in his very Bed-chamber And one time when he was performing Sacrifice he was so seiz'd with a Fit of this unnatural Passion towards the Boy that carried the Censor that he could scarce restrain himself till the Sacrifice was over and as soon as that was done he debauch'd both that Boy and his Brother and hearing that they upbraided one another with that Ignominy afterwards he order'd both their Leggs to be broken He was wont to abuse Women and those of Quality too very unnaturally as was evident in the Case of Mallonia who being brought him by his Panders and resolutely withstanding his Brutish Desires was cited before him upon the Depositions of suborn'd Witnesses where he ask'd her openly if she did not yet repent of her coy Refusal and vex'd her so that she at last went out of Court and stabb'd her self having before-hand sufficiently reproach'd the old Goatish Lecher with his nasty and obscene Mouth upon which in the next Farce a severe Reflection was made upon him which took mightily and was in every-body's Mouth the Expression was thus The old He-goat licks the Pudenda of the She-goats Such Practises must necessarily be thought to render him odious and therefore he kept in his Retirement as not daring to venture himself among the People yet Justice found him out our Author gives us an Account that Caius was suppos'd to have given him Poyson which wrought upon him by degrees others say that they starv'd him and some that he was stifled with a Pillow in the 78th year of his age The next that falls under our Consideration is Caligula of whom Suetonius gives us this following Account viz. That during his Youth he spent Nights in haunting Brothel-houses and meeting upon Adulterous Assignations disguis'd in a Perruque and a long Gown and was most passionately addicted to Dancing Singing and all the Alurements of the Stage with every one of his Sisters he was incestuously familiar and at all his Entertainments they were placed next below him by turns while his Wife sate at the upper end of the Table Among the rest he is reported to have debauch'd Drusilla while he was yet but a Youth and was once taken a-Bed with her by his Grandmother Antonia soon after being married to Lucius Cassius Longinus he took her away from him by force and liv'd with her as if she had been his Wife and after her Death it was his usual Oath to swear by Drusilla's Deity As for his other Sisters he did not love them so passionately but did frequently prostitute them to his Ganimedes which afforded him a more easie Opportunity to condemn them in the Case of Aemilius Lepidus of whom he was afraid for Adultery As to his Marriages he contracted and dissolv'd 'em with equal Ignominy Upon the very day that Livia Orestilla was married to C. Piso he being present at the Wedding commanded her to be brought home to his Palace as his own Wife but within a few days turn'd her off again and two years after banish'd her pretending that she had convers'd privately with her Husband in the mean time Others report That being invited to the Nuptial Supper as he sate over against Piso he sent one to whisper in his Ear these words Forbear to lie with my Wife and presently after rising from the Table led her home along with him and next day set forth a Decree declaring That he was married according to the Example of Romulus and Augustus Lollia Paulina being married to a Person of
Consular Degree and General of the Army upon hearing that her Grandmother was one of the most beautiful Ladies of her Time he became so enamour'd of the Grandchild that he sent for her out of the Province where she was forc'd her from her Husband took her to himself and in a short time likewise turn'd her off forbidding her for ever after the knowledge of any other Man Cesonia tho' neither handsom nor young and the Mother of three Daughters by another Man he lov'd so passionately that he would often shew her to his Souldiers riding by his side with her Horseman's Coat embroider'd and frequently stark naked to his Familiars Being brought to want Money by those his extravagant Courses he invented new and unheard-of Imposts one was that he exacted from common Prostitutes the Gratuity for one Nights Familiarity and oblig'd married People also to pay a certain Rate for the use of the Marriage bed He built also a Brothel-house in his own Palace with Apartments suited to the Dignity of the place for Ladies and Gentlemen to enjoy their clandestine Amours and to force a Trade he sent his Officers about to invite both young and old to bring their Mistresses to his Conveniencies of whom when they came he receiv'd his ignominious Toll which there were Persons ready to receive and set down the Names of every Man in a Book as Benefactors to Caesar's Revenue We come now to take notice of the Punishments which befel him It is natural to conceive that those Debauches impair'd his Health so that he never had any either in Body or Mind It was believ'd that his Wife Cesonia had drench'd him with a Philter or Love-potion which depriv'd him of his Senses and almost made him mad so that he never slept above three hours in a Night and then also was disturb'd with trouble some Dreams and Visions at last becoming hateful and intolerable by his Lusts and Cruelty he was cut off by Cassius Cheraea and Cornelius Sabinus Tribunes and other Conspirators as he was going to see the Pyrrhick Dances the one giving him a mortal Wound in the Neck with his Hanger and the other running him quite through the Body This vicious Monster had render'd the Name of the Caesars so odious that the Romans had a mind after his Death to have abolish'd their Memory and lay their Temples in Ashes The next Instance is Claudius Drusus Caesar whose Father Drusus being unlawfully begot the lustful Contagion was it seems by that same means convey'd to the Grandson who in his Youth kept company with none but loose debauch'd Fellows and follow'd their bad Example Livia Medullina died on the very day appointed for her being married to him His Wife Urgulanilla he divorc'd for notorious Prostitution and every-body knows how unfaithful the infamous Messalina his Cousin-German was to him upon which he solemnly declar'd that he would for the future keep himself a Widower and that he would freely forgive them tho' they should kill him if not Yet soon after he fell in Treaty with Pelina whom he had put away before and then with Lollia Paulina at length he engag'd in an incestuous Amour with Agrippina Daughter to his Brother Germannicus and suborn'd certain persons to move that he might be constrain'd to marry Agrippina as being the only means conducible to perpetuate the Publick Tranquility and that there might be a Toleration also for others to contract Marriages in the same degree which till that time had always been accounted incestuous He was so impatient that he could not stay till the next day to prepare for his Wedding There was none however that follow'd his incestuous Example but a certain Libertine and a chief Centurion of a Legion to both which Weddings he invited himself and his Wife Agrippina for the encouragement of others His Uncleanness was punish'd amongst other things by the loss of his Son Drusus who having toss'd a Pear up into the Air and gaping to catch it again it fell so exactly into his Throat that it choaked him He was so much besotted he sign'd Writings for the settlement of a Dowry upon the Contract of Marriage between his Wife Messalina and her Adulterer Silius being made believe that 't was only a Contrivance found out to delude the Fates themselves and to transfer upon the Head of another Man those Disasters which the Predictions of the Soothsayers and several Prodigies had fix'd upon his Person and at last he was poison'd by a Mushroom which Agrippina gave him The next Instance is Nero the Son of Domitius and the wicked Agrippina above mention'd whose future Mischievous Temper his Father predicted when the Nobility came to compliment him upon Nero's Birth viz. That there could nothing proceed from him and Agrippina but what was detestable and would prove pernicious to the Commonwealth Which every man who is acquainted with History knows to have been exactly fulfill'd Suetonius gives this following Account of him viz. That his Petulancy Lust Luxury Avarice and Cruelty he practis'd by degrees and at first conceal'd 'em under the Excuses of Indiscretion and Heat of Youth but yet he could not carry it so but that every-body saw they were rather the Vices of Nature than Age. So soon as it grew duskish away he flew in disguse to Tippling-houses Cooks-shops c. frolicking and scouring about the Streets beating-such as were going home late from Supper some little Shops he would also break open and rifle and afterwards sell the Spoils In those Quarrels he several times ran the hazard of his Life being once almost bruis'd to death by a Senator whose Wife he would have taken from him in the Street Besides a great number of Pages whom he made use of in his unlawful Pleasures and his Contaminations of married Women he deflower'd Rubria one of the Vestal Virgins and would very fain have married Acte a Slave suborning several Persons of Consular degree to swear that she was of Royal Extraction Sporus a young Boy after he had caus'd him to be gelt he endeavour'd to have altogether transform'd into a Woman and after he had veil'd him married him and settl'd a Dowry upon him with all the Ceremonies of a sumptuous Wedding he kept him at home as his Wife upon which the Wits of those times said It had been well for the World if Domitius his Father had had such a Wife This Sporus he carried about with him in a pompous and costly Habit as if he had been the Empress her self under the Title of Augusta to all the trading Towns of Greece and soon after shew'd him openly at Rome in the Sigillarian Street and would frequently kiss him as they sate together in the same Litter He sent for a Harlot who was very like his Mother Agrippina and entertain'd her among the rest of his Concubines and he was accus'd of abominable Incest with his own Mother as often as he rode in the same Litter with her which was discover'd
Martia one of his Strumpets she together with the Captain of his Guards and his Lord Chamberlain against whom he had the like Design mix'd Poison with his Wine which not being quick enough in its operation they had him strangled by a Wrestler with whom he us'd to exercise himself sometimes at that Sport about the 31st year of his age says Lampridius Eutropius and Onuphrius We come next to Heliogabalus the Emperor who succeeded Macrinus and was called the Roman Sardanapalus His Luxury was so boundless that when he was on the Sea-coasts he would eat nothing but Fowl from the remotest Mountains and when farthest from the Sea would eat nothing but Sea-fish he fed his Lamps with Balsam and filled his Fish-ponds with scented Water he married Aquila Severa a Vestal Virgin tho' by the Roman Law accounted Incest saying That he being a Priest their Offspring must be altogether Heavenly His two Coachmen were his chief Companions and fellow-Debauchees He cut off abundance of the Senators because they would not allow of a Senate of Women whereof his Mother was to be President and to determine all Female Controversies Tho' he was but Twenty two Years old at most he was guilty of all manner of Villanies enough to make ' those who read his History to blush He became at last so hateful even to his own Guards that he and his Mother were both sâ—…in in the Camp and their Corps expos'd to all manner of Indignities from the Populace who first threw them into a Privy and then into the Tiber so vile had their Lusts render'd them in the Eyes of the People This happen'd about the Year 222 according to Eutropius Lampridius and Aurelius Victor The Emperor Trajan falls next under consideration who tho' a Prince excellent for Virtue and Valour compar'd with some that went before him yet Dion and others charge him with Cruelty and Incontinence in the unnatural Love of Boys as also with persecuting the Christians and Excess in Wine As to his punishment the same Authors take notice that he had well nigh perish'd by a dreadful Earthquake and escap'd so narrowly that he was forced to be drawn out of a Window and his great Virtue and Valour have not been able to preserve his Memory from the Ignominy of those Sodomitical Impurities he was guilty of The Emperor Caracalla was a Monster of Cruelty and Incontinence being so impudent as to marry Julia his Father's Widow he also conspir'd the Death of his Father and Brother so inseparable are Cruelty and Incontinence and was at last cut off himself by a Conspiracy of his Officers The Emperor Gallienus says Trebellius Pollio was a person altogether given to Sloath and Ease his Pleasures and Lusts which drew upon him the Hatred of all Men. When they brought him News that Egypt was lost and that Gaul had revolted he was so unconcern'd because of his sluggish Temper that he made no other Answer but What can't we live without the Flax of Egypt or the Jippoes of Arras And at last was slain by some of his Captains Aurelius Victor gives us this Account of the Emperor Carinus That he gave himself over to all manner of Vice married nine Wives and put several to death upon bare Suspicion which says Vopiscus made his Father afterwards disown him and he was kill'd in 285 by one of his Captains whose Wife he had debauch'd Eutropius and Croesus say of the Emperor Galerius That he divorced his first Wife and married Valeria the Emperor's Daughter persecuted the Christians in a most cruel and barbarous manner and died of an Ulcer in his Genitals that began to swarm with Worms a just and suitable Punishment for his Incontinence Valentinian the Third became so enamoured on a Roman Lady Wife to Maximus a Senator and afterwards Emperor that he sollicited her continually to debauch her but without effect But having won all Maximus's Money and his Ring likewise at Dice he sent the Ring as a Token from her Husband to come to the Palace and when she came thither violated her Chastity the injur'd Lady complain'd of it to her Husband who in revenge contriv'd the Murder of Maximus about the Year 455. Procopius and Baronius have left it on Record concerning the Emperor Maximus That having caused the Emperor Valentinian the third to be kill'd for having ravish'd his Wife he married the Empress Eudoxa by force created his own Son Caesar and married him to the young Eudoxa the Emperor's Daughter One Night in his Amours with the Empress Eudoxa he told her That he kill'd the Emperor her Husband for love of her which so incens'd her that she sent for Genseric King of the African Vandals to deliver her from the Tyrant who abandoning Rome when Genseric enter'd into it he was kill'd by a Souldier and afterwards pull'd in pieces by the Empress and her Servants and thrown into the Tiber about seventy seven days after he began his Reign Thus we have gone through the several Governments and Governours of Rome from its foundation to the Reign of Augustulus the last of those properly call'd Roman Emperors which have afforded us many remarkable Instances of the Tragical Effects of Lust not only upon particular Persons and Families but upon Kingdoms Empires and other Governments and shall shut up this part of our History with an Account of the abominable Worship of Priapus and Berecynthia and the Ludi Florales celebrated among the Romans with so much Solemnity and Impudence that it afforded Subject-matter of Reflection to their Satyrists and Historians who ascrib'd the Fall of the Roman Empire chiefly to that Cause Tostatus in his 50th Question upon the 20th of Exodus saith concerning the Heathenish Worship of Priapus That it was so obscene that the very mention of it could not but offend chaste Ears They professed in the holding of those Sacrifices that beastly Crime which the most vicious Men will hardly confess upon the Rack The shape says he in which that God was represented was such as Nature hath taught us to â—…ide and the gestures of the Priests in serving him such as I wonder their Matrons and Virgins in whom were any spark of Modesty could behold it with patience and for the People who came to worship the Sacrifice being ended they all stepped aside into a Thicket which was alwaies planted near the Altar of this God and there like Brute Beasts promiscuously satisfied their Lust thereby as they conceived best pleasing their God which was the cause as it seems that the true GOD commanded that no Groves should be planted near the place of his Worship and if any were that they should be cut down Of the same nature was the Worship of Berecynthia the Mother of the Gods as we find described by St. Augustine De Civit. Dei lib. 2 cap. 4 in the following words Ante ejus Lecticam i. e. Such filthy Stuff was by loose prophane Varlets sung before her Chariot on the solemn day