two Iosephs to distinguish them the one Barsabas and the other Barnabas two names that are not farre asunder in sound and utterance yet are they in sense and in the Apostles intention if they named the one as they did the other Barnabas is interpreted by the Evangelist himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rendred generally the sonne of consolation but the Greeke may as well beare the sonne of exhortation for so it is knowne well enough the word familiarly signifieth The Syriack useth indeed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for consolation Luke 6.24 Phil. 2.1 Rom. 12.8 2 Cor. 1.4 5. and in the place in hand and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the place last cited before it but whether Barnabas may not equally bee deduced from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to prophecy or instruct I referre to the Reader Bee it whether it will certaine it is the Etymologie and notation doth very farre recede from that of Barsabas Some conceive that this signifieth the sonne of an Oath others the sonne of fulnesse but the notation to mee seemeth to bee the sonne of wisdome 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And if wee would bee Criticall wee might observe the various qualifications of a Pastor and Teacher from these two surnames the one a sonne of wisdome and the other of exhortation but our intention only is to shew that the two Iosephs in mention differed in person for they differed in name Sect. And Matthias Who or whence this man was wee cannot determine certaine it is the sense of his name is the same with Nathaneel though not the sound and I should as soone fix upon him for the man as any other and some probabilities might bee tendered for such a surmisall but wee will not spend time upon such conjectures CHAP. II. Vers. 1. And when the day of Pentecost was fully come they were all together with one accord in one place Sect. 1. The time and nature of the Feast of Pentecost THE expression of the Evangelist hath bred some scruple how it can be said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the day to bee compleated or fulfilled when it was now but newly begun and the sight of this scruple it is like hath moved the Syrian Translater and the Vulgar Latine to read it in the plurall number When the dayes of Pentecost were fulfilled Calvin saith compleri is taken for advenire to bee fulfilled for to bee now come Beza accounts the fulnesse of it to be for that the night which is to bee reckoned for some part of it was now past and some part of the day also In which exposition he saith something toward the explanation of the scruple but not enough Luke therefore in relating a story of the feast of Pentecost useth an expression agreeable to that of Moses in relating the institution of it Lev. 23.13 And yee shall count unto you from the morrow after the Sabbath from the day that yee brought the sheafe of the wave-offering seven Sabbaths shall bee compleate Even unto the morrow after the seventh Sabbath shall ye number fifty dayes It will not bee amisse to open thâ—se words a little for the better understanding and fixing the time of Pentecost First the Sabbath that is first mentioned in the Text in these words Ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the Sabbath is to bee understood of the first day of the Passeover week or the fifteenth day of the moneth Nisan the Passeover having been slaine on the day before And so is it well interpreted by the Chaldee Paraphrast that goeth under the name of Ionathan and by Rabbi Solomon upon this Chapter at the 11 verse And hee shall wave the sheafe before the Lord after the holy day the first day of the Passeover And it was called a Sabbath bee it on what day of the weeke it would as it was on the Friday at our Saviours death because no servile work was to bee done in it but an holy convocation to be held unto the Lord vers 7. and the Passeover Bullocke Deut. 16.2 7. 2 Chron. 30.24 35.8 to be eaten on it Iohn 18.28 as the Lambe had been eaten the night before and this Bullock was also called a Passeover and the day the preparation of the Passeover Ioh. 19.14 as well as the Lambe and the day before had been This helpeth to understand that difficult phrase Mat. 28.1 about which there is such difference and difficulty of expounding 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In the evening of the Sabbath saith the Syriack and the Vulgar And ô utinam for then would the Lords day bee clearly called the Sabbath the Sabbath of the Jews being ended before the evening or night of which hee speaketh did begin In the end of the Sabbath saith Beza and our English but the Sabbath was ended at Sun-setting before It is therefore to bee rendred after the Sabbaths for so signifieth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 after in Greek Writers as wel as the Evening and the plurall number of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is to have its due interpretation Sabbaths Now there were two Sabbaths that fell together in that Passeover week in which our Saviour suffered this Convocationall or Festivall Sabbath the first day of the Passeover week and the ordinary weekly Sabbath which was the very next day after the former was a Friday and on that our Saviour suffered the latter a Saturday or the Jewish Sabbath and on that hee rested in the grave and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 after these Sabbaths early in the morning on the first day of the week he rose again Secondly the morrow after this Sabbath of which wee have spoken or the sixteenth day of the moneth Nisan was the solemne day of waving the sheafe of the first-fruits before the Lord and the day from which they began to count their seven weeks to Pentecost Lev. 23.11 Deut. 16.9 This day then being the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or second day in the Passeover week and being the date from whence they counted to Pentecost all the Sabbaths from hence thither were named in relation to this day as the first Sabbath after it is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luke 6.1 Not as it is rendred the second Sabbath after the first but the first Sabbath after this second day the next Sabbath after was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the third 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and so the rest accordingly Thirdly now in their counting from this morrow after the Sabbath or this day of their first-fruit sheafe to Pentecost seven Sabbaths or Weeks were to bee compleat whereupon R. Solomon doth very well observe that the count must then begin at an evening and so this day after the Sabbath was none of the fifty but they were begun to bee counted at Even when that day was done so that from the time of waving the first-fruit sheafe Pentecost was indeed the one and fiftyeth day but counting seven weekes compleate when an evening must begin the account it
linkes of that chaine will make it apparent From the Creation to the Flood 1656. Gen. 5.6 7. c. From the Flood to the promise to Abraham Gen. 12. 427. Gen. 11. 12. From the promise to the delivery from Egypt 430. Exo. 12.40 Gal. 3.17 From the comming out of Egypt to the founding of Solomons Temple 480. 1 Kings 6.1 From the founding to the finishing of the Temple 7. 1 King 6.38 From finishing the Temple to the revolt of the ten Tribes 30. 1 Kin. 6.38 11.42 compa From the revolt of the ten Tribes to the burning of the Temple 390. Ezek. 4.5 6. From the burning of the Temple to the return from Babel 50. Ier. 25.11 12. 2 Chron. 36.6 From the return from Babel to the death of Christ. 9 10. 2 Kin. 25 2 3 presly comp 490. Dan. 9.24 c. Totall 3960. And hereupon it doth appeare that as the Temple was finished by Solomon just Anno Mundi 3000. So that it was fired by Titus just Anno Mundi 4000. Ierusalem being destroyed exactly 40 yeares after Christs death as was shewed even now Verse XII Olivet which is from Jerusalem a Sabbath dayes journey Sect. 1. Why the Evangelist doth measure this distance at this time This is the first matter of scruple in these words and it is materiall to take notice of it the rather because that this same Evangelist hath made mention of the Mount of Olives in his other booke and yet never taketh notice of the distance of it from Jerusalem before as Luk. 19.29.37 22.39 Sect. 2. Why the Evangelist doth measure this distance by a Sabbath dayes journey rather then any other measure This also is not impertinent to take notice of because neither the present time nor the present action had any reference to the Sabbath day at all For had it been either the Jews Sabbath or the Christian Sabbath when this thing was done it were easie to see why the measure of the distance betwixt these two places is by such a standard but since it was in the middle of the week when our Saviour ascended and neare neither the one sabbath nor the other it cannot but breed some just scruple why the Evangelist should mention a Sabbath dayes journey here But before we can give satisfaction to these two scruples it is in a kind necessary to resolve one or two more which are of no lesse if not of a greater difficulty and those are Sect. 3. Whether the Evangelist intend to measure the distance from the Mount Olivet to Ierusalem or from the place where our Saviour ascended on mount Olivet to Jerusalem Sect. 4. What space a Sabbath dayes journey was This last must first fall under determination and it is not of small obscurity in regard of the different measures that are made of it and in regard of the different glosses that are made upon this Text. The Syriack readeth it thus Which was from Jerusalem seven furlongs And this hath bred some difficulty more then was in the next before for that Iosephus saith Mount Olivet was but five furlongs from Ierusalem Antiq. lib. 20. cap. 6. And Iohn the Evangelist saith Bethany was 15 furlongs from Jerusalem Ioh. 11.18 And certaine it is that Luke in this place speaketh of the distance from Olivet or from Bethany or from both and yet the Syriack glosse upon him hath found out a measure that agrees neither with Iosephus nor with Iohn There is a like difference between their opinions that come to measure this space not by furlongs but by another measure some holding it to be two thousand paces or two miles others two thousand cubits or but one mile This latter to have been the measure of a Sabbath dayes journey namely two thousand cubits is apparent in the Talmud and it may be confirmed out of other Writers of the same Nation for this position is in the Tractate of Erubbin Chap. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a journey of two thousand middle paces is the bound of the sabbath And the Scholiast there saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A middle pace in the way of a mans walke namely a cubit And so the Chaldee paraphrast on the first of Ruth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We are commanded to keep the Sabbaths and the holy dayes so as to goe not above two thousand cubits And this tradition or custome seemeth to be fetched from that place in Iosh. 3.4 where because the people in their march after and on either side the Arke were to keep twenty Cubits distance off it it is thereupon concluded that they pitched at that distance when the Arke they were encamped and so that that was the space that they went from their Tents to the Tabernacle on the Sabbath day it is not worth the labour to examine the truth of this opinion in this place because wee have not here so much to deale with it as with a custome built upon it and it is not so materiall whether that was the distance betwixt their Tents and the Tabernacle in their encampings in the wildernesse for some of them were double treble that distance as certain it is that a custome was grown from this opinion of travelling no further then two thousand Cubits on the Sabbath day and to this custome the Evangelist speaketh and that is it that wee must look after Now if wee count these two thousand Cubits for whole yards then was the space a mile and above halfe a quarter or somewhat above nine furlongs in all but if for half yards which was the common Cubit then was it but half so much and neither of these summes agree with the Syriacks seven furlongs nor with Iohns fifteene But the latter agreeth very well with Iosephus his five and so doe I understand the measure to be For first it were easie to prove that the Cubit by which the Tabernacle was measured at the building of it both for its own body and for the ground it stood upon and its Court and all things about it was but the common Cubit of half a yard and it is most likely that those two thousand Cubits that did distance the people from it in the wildernesse and that measured out a Sabbath dayes journey now were Cubits of the same size Secondly the Text of Luke exactly measures the distance from the Mount of Olives to Ierusalem and it is very questionable whether hee intend the space from that place upon the Mount where our Saviour ascended or no. Hee saith in the last Chapter of his Gospel that Iesus led the Disciples out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vers. 50. not towards Bethany but as far as unto it as our English and the Syriack the Vulgar Beza and others doe truly render it now Bethany was about fifteene furlongs from Jerusalem Ioh. 11.16 and let us take the two thousand Cubits how we will either common or holy Cubit either half yard or yard or Ezekiels Cubit of a Cubit and hand breadth
is but the fiftyeth Fourthly to this therefore it is that the phrase of the Evangelist speaketh 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which our English hath very well uttered the day of Pentecost was fully come thereby giving an exact notice how to fix the day that is now spoken of from our Saviours death and to observe that he speaketh of the time of the day indeed and not of the night which was now over and the day fully come The dependance of Pentecost upon this day of waving the first-fruit sheafe was upon this reason because on this second day of the Passeover barley harvest began and from thence forward they might eat parched corne or corne in the eare but by Pentecost their corne was inned and seasoned and ready to make bread and now they offered the first of their bread This relation had this feastivall in the common practise but something more did it beare in it as a memoriall for it recorded the delivering of the Law at mount Sinai which was given at the very same time And thus the giving of the Law at Sinai for the bringing of the Jews into a Church and the gift of the holy Ghost at Sion for the like of the Gentiles did so nearely agree in the manner of their giving both in fire and in the time both at Pentecost Onely as the Christian Sabbath was one day in the week beyond the Jewish Sabbath so this Pentecost when the holy Ghost was given was one in the moneth beyond the Pentecost at the giving of the Law that being on the sixth day of the moneth Sivan and this on the seventh Sect. 2. The Pentecost on which the holy Ghost was given was the first day of the weeke namely Sunday or the Lords day As our Saviour by rising on the first day of the weeke had honoured and sealed that day for the Christian Sabbath instead of the Jewish which was the day before and as is said by the Psalmist that was the day which the Lord had made when the stone refused was become the head of the corner so did he againe augment the honour and set home the authority and dignity of that day in pouring out the holy Ghost upon the Disciples and performing the great promise of the Father on it Which that it may bee the more clearely seene it will not be amisse to lay down the time from our Saviours passion to this time in manner of a Calendar that the readers eye may bee his Judge in this matter And let it not be tedious to take in the account of five or six dayes before his passion which though it may bee a little Parergon or besides this purpose yet may it not be uselesse or unprofitable nay in some respect it is almost necessary since we cannot in reason but begin our Kalendar from the beginning of the moneth Nisan though our Saviour suffered not till the fifteenth day of it Nisan or Abib the first moneth of the year stilo novo Exod. 12.2 I  II  III  IV  V  VI  VII  VIII  IX This night our Saviour suppeth at Bethany where Mary anointeth his feet and Judas repineth at the expence of the ointment Joh. 12.1 X The next day he rideth into Jerusalem c. Joh. 12.12 Mat. 21.1 to vers 17. Mark 11.1 to vers 11. Luke 19 29. to vers 45. At night he goeth again into Bethany Mat. 21.17 Mar. 11.11 Nisan or Abib XI The next pay he goeth to Ierusalem again and curseth the Fig-tree Matth. 21.18 19. Mark 11.12 13 14. and comming to the Temple casteth out buyers and sellers Mar. 11.15 16 17 18. Luk. 19.45 46 47. c. At Even he goeth to Bethany again Mar. 11.19 XII Hee goeth to Ierusalem againe Mar. 11.20 Peter and the rest of the Disciples note the withered Fig-tree Mar. 11.20 21. c. Mat. 21 20. c. They come to the Temple and the Scribes and Pharisees question his authority Mar. 11.27 c. Mat. 21.23 Luke 20.1 which hee answereth with a question about the Baptist Mat. 21.24 c. Mar. 11.29 c. Luke 20.3 Propoundeth the Parable of the Vineyard Matth. 21.28 to the end Mark 12.1 c. Luke 20.9 c. And hee speaketh all contained in Matthew 22 and 23 Chapters and Mark 12. from verse 13 to the end and Luke 20. from verse 20 to verse 5 of chap. 21. At night hee goeth towards Bethany againe and on Mount Olivet looketh on the Temple and uttereth all contained in Matth. 24 and 25. and Mark 13. and Luke 21. from verse 5 to the end This night he suppeth in Bethany with Simon the Leper Matth. 26.1 2 6. Mark 14.1 2 3. and hath ointment powred on his head after Supper hee riseth from the Table and washeth his Disciples feet and giveth Iudas the sop Ioh. 13.2.26 c. With the sop the Devill entereth into him and hee goeth in the dark from Bethany to Ierusalem and bargaineth for the betraying of Jesus XIII Christ is still at Bethany Iudas having done his hellish work with the Chief Priests is returned to Bethany again XIV The Passeover Christ eateth it this day as well as the Jews Mark 14.12 Luk. 22.7 After the Passeover hee ordaineth the Sacrament Mar. 14.22 Iudas received the Sacrament Luke 22.14.21 Upon our Saviours hinting of his treacherousnesse a question ariseth among the Disciples about it and that breedeth another question among them which of them should be the greatest Vers. 23 24. That debate Christ appeaseth telleth Peter again of his denyall maketh that divine speech contained in the fifteenth sixteenth seventeenth Chapters of Iohn singeth the 113 or the 114 Psalme goeth into the Mount of Olives is apprehended brought to Annas the head or chief Judge in the Sanhedrin by him bound and sent to Caiaphas Ioh. 18.13 14. c. and there is in examination and derision all the night XV. The forenoon of this day was the preparation of the Passeover Bullock Ioh. 19.14 the afternoone is the preparation of the Sabbath Luk. 23.54 Mar. 15.42 Early in the morning Christ is brought to Piâ—ate the Roman-Deputy Mar. 15.1 At nine a clock hee is delivered to the Souldiers and common Rabble Mar. 14.25 and brought out to the Jews Ioh. 19.1 to 13. At twelve a clock or high none hee is condemned and presently nailed to his Crosse Iohn 19.13 14. the time of the day that our first Parents ate and fell Now began the darknesse Luke 23.44 and lasted three houres the very space that Adam was under the darknesse of sin without the promise At three a clock in the afternoone Christ yeeldeth up the Ghost Mar. 15.34 the very time when Adam had received the promise of this his passion for his redemption At Even he is buried Mat. 27 57. This day being the first in the Passeover week was called a Sabbath Lev. 23.11 a very solemn day it should have
ludibrium as Egesippus calleth it or villanous abuse of Paulina a noble chast and vertuous wife and Lady of Rome by Mundus a Knight under pretext of the god Anubis in the Temple of Isis for this hath hee mentioned the very next thing after the mention of our Saviours death and with this linke of connexion About the very same time another grievance troubled the Iewes and shamefull things happened about the Temple of Isis at Rome c. But since the storie concerning the troubles of the Jewes that hee relateth after seemeth to have some neare dependence and consequence to this of the Lady and that Tacitus hath laid that occurrence of the Jewes expulsion out of Rome thirteene years before this under the consulship of Iunius Silanus and Norbanus Flaccus wee will omit to meddle with them and will take in another story of the Jewes which though Iosephus hath placed a little before Christs death yet Eusebius hath set it after and upon his word shall it bee commended to the reader for its time and upon the others and Philoes for its truth Pilate as saith Iosephus having secretly brought into Ierusalem by night certaine Images of Caesar and set them up the people when the matter was knowne repaired to him to Caesarea begging that they might bee taken downe which when hee denied as a thing prejudiciall to Caesar they fell flat upon the ground and there lay five dayes and five nights and stirred not thence On the sixth day hee pretending to give them an answer from the judgement seat doth suddenly inviron them with armed men threatning their death if they cease not their importunitie But they falling upon the ground againe and laying their necks bare returne him this answer That they would gladly imbrace death rather then transgresse the wisedome of their Lawes Whose resolution when Pilate saw hee caused the Images to bee fetched away from Ierusalem to Caesarea To this purpose Iosephus but Philo far differently thus Pilate saith hee dedicated golden shields in the Palace of Herod in the holy Citie not so much for the honour of Tiberius as to vex the people of the Jewes upon them there was neither picture nor any thing that was forbidden but onely the inscription shewed who had dedicated them and to whom Yet when the multitude had understanding of the thing and the matter was divulged they chose certaine of the highest ranke among them for their advocates who besought him that the innovation might bee taken away and that their Lawes might not When hee roughly denyed for hee was naturally inflexible and selfe-wilfully sturdy they make faire before him as if they would petition to Tiberius Now that fretted him worst of all for hee was afraid lest they should doe so indeed and accuse him for his other crimes his bribery wrongs rapines injuries oppressions murders and horrid cruelties and yet durst hee not take down againe what hee had dedicated nor had hee any mind to pleasure the people Which when they perceived they sent a most humble petition to Tiberius who understanding what Pilate had done and what hee had threatned rebuked and checked him for his innovating boldnesse and commanded him speedily to take the shields away and so they were removed from Ierusalem to Caesarea Thus Philo and thus differently these two countrey men and that in a matter which so neerely concerned their owne countrey and which also befell so neare unto their owne times For Philo was now alive and in his prime and so was Iosephus lesse then thirty yeares after Bee it referred to the readers choise which of these relations hee will take and when hee hath made his choise another difference falleth under his arbitration concerning the time betwixt Eusebius which placeth this occurrence after our Saviours passion and Baronius that hath set it three years before his baptisme The Cardinall certainly too forward in bringing it in in the first yeare of Pilate for it appeareth by Philo that hee had done a great multitude of villanies among the Jewes before hee did this and the Father if any whit too backward in ranking it after our Saviours death yet excusable for a thing of so pregnant application as to shew how soone the Jewes that had chosen Caesar before Christ have now their belly full of their Caesar in his Images Sect. II. Of Iames his being Bishop of Ierusalem The two last cited Authors though they differ about the time of the story forenamed yet have they agreed unanimously and many others with them about this in hand namely that Iames was made this year the Bishop of that Ierusalem For thus Eusebius Ecelesiae Hierosolymorii primus Episcopus ab Apostolis ordinatur Iacobus frater Domini But Baronius far larger that he was ordained Bishop by Peter that his chaire was preserved and reverenced to posteritie that hee wore a plate of gold upon his head like the high Priest in the Law from whence hee would derive the Miter that hee alone might goe into the Sanctum Sanctorum that hee refrained from wine and flesh that hee was a Nazarite that his knees were hardned with continuall praying till they were unsensible and such like stuffe for which hee citeth his severall Authors that if common sense were not a better informer then common fame we should be made to beleeve any thing whatsoever The question indeed whether Iames were ever Bishop of Ierusalem at all or no is very well worth taking into some consideration but that will bee most proper to handle when wee come to those places in the Acts of the Apostles where a singular mention of Iames hath given occasion of this opinion But as for his prototype of Miters the peoples woodden devotion to his chaire and the rest of that legendary invention hee is little acquainted with the officiousnesse of superstition that knoweth not out of what mint that commeth and hee hath little to doe that should goe about to examine the truth of it but hee hath the least of all to doe that should beleeve it THE CHRISTIAN IEWISH AND ROMAN HISTORY OF THE YEARE OF CHRIST XXXIIII And of the Emperour Tiberius XIX Being the yeare of the World 3961. Consuls Sergius Sulpitius Galba L. Cornelius Sulla LONDON Printed by R. C. for Andrew Crooke 1645. Sect. An account of the Chronologie ALthough the proper reckoning of every yeare of our Saviour bee from September to September for at that time of the yeare hee was borne and so his three and thirtieth yeare should have beene ended by us within foure moneths or little more after the giving of the holy Ghost yet because it will not bee possible to date the times of things in any of the three stories that wee have in hand from such a beginning and because both the Roman Historians doe reckon the yeares of their Citie as also the Christian histories the yeares of Christ from Ianuary to Ianuary I have chosen to follow that computation and
bee doubted of and which may justly hinder the entertainment of it is what is added in the common relation of the story That Tiberius referring this matter to the Senate with his vote that Christ should bee numbred among the Gods and Christianity among their holy things the Senate crossed him in it with flat contrariety because Pilate had written of it to him and not to them Now in the Stories that have been related before concerning the state and affaires of Rome and by other stories that might bee produced in other yeares it is but too miserably evident that the Senate was in too great a feare and slavery to the Tyrant then to dare to affront him so palpably and plainly Pilate after this as Eusebius alledgeth out of the Roman Historians falling into many miseries ended himself with his own hand the common and desperate Roman remedy against distresse Cassiodorus hath placed his death under the Consulship of Publicola and Nerva And the common report hath given it in that the place was Vienna Sect. 2. Agrippa his journey to Rome This Agrippa was the sonne of Aristobulus who dyed by the cruelty of his father Herod and hee was a man that had sufficiently tryed the vicissitudes of fortune heretofore but never so much as hee is about to doe now A good while agoe hee had lived in Rome and in the familiarity of Drusus the son of Tiberius That great acquaintance caused great expences partly in his own port and pompe and partly in gifts and beneficence bestowed upon others When Drusus dyed then Agrippaes estate is not onely dead but his hopes also so that hee is forced to flee from Rome into Iudea for debt and poverty and thence into a certaine Tower in Idumea for shame and discontent His wife Cyprus by sollicitation and suing to Herodias obtaineth Herods favour so farre that hee was removed to Tiberias made a chiefe Governour or Officer of the City and allowance given him for his Diet. But this lasted not long ere Herod and hee fell out whereupon hee removed away and betooke himself to Flaccus the then Governour of Syria who had been his old acquaintance at Rome Long he had not continu'd there neither but Aristobulus his brother wrought him out of his favour and abode there From thence hee went to Ptolomais intending to have set from thence for Italy but was forced to stay till hee had borrowed some moneys before Being now furnished and shipped hee was againe stopped by Herennius Capito the Governour of Iamnia for some money that hee ought to the Treasury of Tiberius And what must he doe now Hee must not goe till hee have paid the summe and when hee hath paid it then hee cannot goe for want of more He taketh on him to obey the arrest while it was day but at night hee cut cables and set away for Alexandria There hee reneweth his borrowing againe of Alexander Alabarcha and obtaineth of him five talents for his viaticum and now this yeare namely as Iosephus noteth it the yeare before Tiberius his death hee setteth away for Italy againe This Alabarcha is not the proper name of any man but the title of men that bare Rule over the Jews in Alexandria For I observe that as Iosephus in one place calleth it Alabarcha and Alabarchus so in another hee calleth it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fixing it thereby as a title rather to any man that bare such an Office then as a proper name to any man at all And if conjecture may read its denotation Etymology it seemeth to bee compounded of the Arabick Article Al which they fix before all their nownes and the Egyptian word Abrecâ— which in that language importeth dignity and honour as we have observed elsewhere as may be collected from the proclamation before Ioseph Gen. 41.43 Agrippa being arrived at Puteoli sendeth to the Emperour to Capreâ— to certifie him of his comming and of his desire to wait upon him there Tiberius giveth him admiâ—sion and entertainment according to his mind till Letters from Herennius Capiâ—o spoiled that cheare For the Emperour understanding by them how he had slipped the collar at Iamnia from his Officer and from his owne debt hee doth flatly forbid him any more accesse unto him till the money bee paid Now is Agrippa in a worse case then ever for there is no paltering with Tiberius though there were with Capito and no shifting from Capreae though hee had found such an opportunity at Iamnia Nor is there any such thought to bee entertained For now his life and fortunes and all lay in the hand of Tiberius and when hee findeth him inclinable to use him kindly there is no loosing that favour for want of paying such a summe Of Antonia the mother of Germanicus and the old friend and favourer of Bernice the mother of Agrippa he borroweth the money and getting out of the Emperours debt he getteth into his favour againe Insomuch that hee commendeth him to the converse acquaintance and attendance of Caius his Grandchild that was to succeed him Sect. 3. His Imprisonment Happy might now Agrippa thinke himselfe if hee can but hold so For he hath obtained the inward friendship of Caius and with it retained the outward favour of Tiberius Antonia and Claudius a future Emperour and all favour him but hee becomes an enemy to himselfe Whether it were in love or flattery to Caius or to himselfe and his owne hopes hee casteth himselfe into a present danger upon a future expectation For Caius and hee being very intimate and private together whether more affectionately or undiscreetly hee himselfe best felt hee brake out into this dangerous wish That Tiberius might soon die and Caius as soon come to rule in his stead These words were heard by Eutychus his servant and a while concealed but when Agrippa prosecuted him for stealing some of his cloaths which hee had stoln indeed hee then brake forth and revealed all for fleeing for his theft and caught and brought before Piso the Sheriffe of the City and demanded the reason of his flight hee answered that he had a great secret to impart to Cesar which concerned his life Piso therefore sent him bound to Tiberius who also kept him bound and unexamined a certain season Now began Agrippa to hasten and spurre on his owne misery and vexation Whether having forgotten the words that he had spoken or not remembring the presence of his servant at the speech or not suspecting that his tale to Cesar would bee against himself or which was likelyest thinking to make his cause the better by his confidence he solliciteth his old friend Antonia to urge the Emperour for a tryall of his servant Tiberius declineth it though he suspected the matter not so much belike for Agrippaes sake as for Caius sake whom the familiarity that was betwixt them made him suspect to be accessary if any thing should prove otherwise then well But being
it more and more Hee was used by Tiberius as an instrument to bring down Seianus the one bad and the other worse and after hee had done that none must stand by his good will that was likely to stand in his way Hee was made master of the Praetorian Souldiers in Seianus his stead and as hee possessed his place so did hee his favour with the Emperour and the crookednesse of his conditions as if all the honours fortune and wickednesse of Seianus had been intailed upon Macro An agent as fit for Tiberius as could bee required and a successor as fit for Seianus A man as bloody as the Tyrant could desire him and sometimes more then hee set him on worke Hee was the continuall Alguazil and Inquisitor for the friends and complices of the late ruined Favorite and under colour of that pursuite hee tooke out of the way whosoever would not friend and comply with him Of that number were Cn. Domitius and Vibius Marsus accused with Albucilla the wife of Satrius secundus for Adultery but all three together for conspiracy against the Emperour yet was there no hand of the Emperours shewed for the prosecution of the matter which shewed the onely spleene and machination of the Blood-hound Macro Albucilla whether guilty indeed or knowing that his malice and power would make her so stabbed her selfe thinking to have died by her owne hand but the wound not being deadly shee was taken away to prison Grasidius and Fregellanus the pretended Pandars of her adulteries were punished the one with banishment and the other with degradation and the same penaltie was inflicted upon Laelius Balbus A man but justly paid in his owne coyne to the rejoycing and content of divers for hee had been a strong and violent accuser of many innocents Domitius and Marsus it may bee as guilty as the woman but more discreet traversed the indictment and saved their owne lives partly by the shortnesse of the Emperours life and partly by the feigned prediction of Thrasyllus that promised that it should bee long But too sullen was the indignation of L. Arruntius against Macro and too desperate his ill conceit of Caius who was to succeed in the Empire for when hee was inwrapt in the same accusation with the two last named and might have escaped the same escape that they did yet despised hee so to outlive the cruelty of Tiberius and Macro as to come under the greater cruelty of Macro and Caius No saith hee I have lived long enough and to my sorrow too long Nor doth any thing repent me more then that thus I have endured an old age under the scornes dangers and hate first of Selanus now of Macro and alwayes of one great one or another and that for no other fault then for detesting their flagitiousnesse It is true indeed that I may survive the old age and weaknesse of Tiberius but what hopes to doe so by the youth of Caius and wickednesse of Macro Can Caius a youth do well being led by Macro who so corrupted Tiberius in his age No I see more tyranny like to come then hath been yet And therefore will I deliver my selfe from the present misery and that to come And with these words and resolution hee cut his owne veines and so bled to death and spent a blood and a spirit what pitie it was that they should have been so lost As Macro thus divided his paines in crueltie betwixt the satisfying of Tiberius his mind and his owne malice so also did hee his affections shall I say or flattery rather and own-end observances betwixt Tiberius and Caius For as hee sought to please the one that now ruled for his owne present security so did hee to indear the other that was to succeed for his future safety Hereupon he omitted not any opportunitie nor occasion that he might skrew Caius further and further into Tiberius his favour and to keepe him there that he might doe as much for himselfe into the favour of Caius One raritie and non-parallel of obsequiousnesse hee shewed to the young Prince worth recording to his shame for hee caused his owne wife Ennia Thrasylla to intangle the youthfulnesse of Caius into her love and adultery and then parted hee with her and gave her to him in marriage The old Emperour could not but observe this monster of pretended friendship nor were his old eyes so blind but hee perceived his flattery plaine in other carriages in so much that hee brake out to him in these plaine words Well thou forsakest the setting Sun and onely lookest upon the rising Sect. II. A wicked woman With the wife of Macro that made her owne prostitution to become her husbands promotion may not unfitly bee yoaked the mother of Sex Papinius that made her owne lust her sonnes overthrow Whether this were the Papinius that was the last yeers Consull or his sonne or some other of the same name and family it is no great matter worth inquiring but whosoever hee was infortunate hee was in his mother for shee caused his end as shee had given him his beginning Shee being lately divorced from her husband betooke herselfe unto her sonne whom with flattery and loosenesse shee brought to perpetrate such a thing that hee could find no remedy for it when it was done but his owne death The consequent argueth that the fault was incest for when hee had cast himselfe from an high place and so ended his life his mother being accused for the occasion was banished the Citie for ten yeers till the danger of the slipperinesse of her other sons youth was past and over Part II. The Iewish Story Sect. I. Preparations of warre against Aretas THe terrible and bitter message of the Emperour to Vitellius against King Aretas must bee obeyed though more of necessity then of any zeale of Vitellius in Herods quarrell He therefore raising what forces he accounted fitting for his owne safety in the Emperours favour and for his safety with the enemy marcheth toward the seate of the warre intending to lead his Army through Iudea But hee was diverted from this intention by the humble supplication of the Jewes to the contrary who tooke on how contrary it was to their ancient Laws and customes to have any Images and pictures brought into their Country whereof there was great store in the Romans Armes and Banners The gentlenesse of the Generall was easily overtreated and commanding his Army another way hee himselfe with Herod and his friends went up to Ierusalem where hee offered sacrifice and removed Ionathan from the High-priesthood and placed Thâ—ophilus his brother in his stead This was saith Iosephus at a feast of the Jewes but hee named not which and Vitellius having stayed there three dayes on the fourth receiveth letters concerning Tiberius his death I leave it to bee weighed by the reader whether this festivall were the Passeover or Pentecost For on the one hand since Tiberius died about the middle of March as the Roman
that had used so much dissimulation all his life dissembled even in his dying For fainting and swooning so very sore that all conceived hee was departed and Caius and all his favorites were gone forth to take possession of his new Empire suddenly the tune is turned and newes comes forth that Tiberius is revived and calleth for meat Macro that had often been his instrument of cruelty upon others 〈◊〉 the facultie now upon himselfe and in stead of meate stopt his mouth with a pillow or with heaping cloaths upon his face and so hee died There are indeed diversities of opinion about the manner of his death some saying it was thus as is mentioned others that it was by poyson others that it was by being denied meat in the intermission of his fits others that hee rose out of his bed and fell on the floore nobody being neere him all which are mentioned by Suetonius It is not much materiall what his end was that that is first named is most intertained and certainly it suiteth very well with his deservings and it is some wonder that he came to such an end no sooner Hee died the seventeenth of the Calends of Aprill or the sixteenth of March or if Dion may have his will the seventh and so the rest of that yeer is accounted the first of Caius SECT IIII. CAIUS AN evill Emperour is gone but a worse is to succeed him Caius the sonne of Germanicus a bad child of a good father inheriting the love and favour of the people for his fathers sake till hee forfeited it by his reserving the qualities of Tiberius Hee was surnamed Caligula from a garbe that hee wore in the Campe in which hee was bred and educated from whence hee had the love of the Souldiers till his barbarous nature lost it It may seeme incredible that a worse disposition should ever bee found then that of Tiberius but the old Politician saw that this was so much beyond it that it would doe him credit some impute the fault to his bloody Nurse one Pressilla a Campanian the custome of which country it was that the women when they were to give their children suck they first anointed the Nipple with the blood of an Hedg-hog to the end their children might bee the more fierce and cruell This woman was as savage above the rest of the nation as they were above other women for her brests were all hairy over like the beards of men and her activitie and strength in martiall exercises inferiour to few of the infantry of Rome One day as shee was giving Caligula the Pap being angry at a young child that stood by her shee tooke it and tore it in peeces and with the blood thereof anointed her breasts so set her nursling Caius to suck both blood and milke But had not his infancy been educated in such a butchery the schoole of his youth had beene enough to have habituated him to mischief For being brought up in the sight and at the elbow of Tiberius it would have served to have corrupted the best nature that could bee but this of his was either never good or at least was spoiled long before Yet had he reasonably well learned his Tutors art of dissimulation so that he hid those Serpentine conditions not onely before Tiberius his death but also a while after hee had obtained the Empire Onely he that had taught him to weave this mantle of dissembling could spie through it insomuch that he would professe That Caius lived for the destruction of him and all others And that hee hatched up a snake for the Roman Empire and a Phaeton for all the world And it proved so both to him and them For when Tiberius lay a gasping stifled with a pillow prest upon him he also throtled him with his hand and crucified one of his servants that cryed out upon the hideousnesse of the fact And as for his demeanor toward the State a little time will give too lamentable witnesse Sect. V. Tiberius in a manner cruell being dead How welcome news the tydings of Tiberius death were at Rome may bee easily conjectured by any that hath observed his cruelties before Some cryed out Tiberius into Tiber some to the hurdle and Tyburne some to one thing some to another using the more liberty of their tongues against the tyrant now by how much they had been tyed up the straiter whilst he lived Nor did the remembrance of his former cruelties onely cause them to rejoice for his death but a present cruelty as if he were bloudy being dead made him the more odious to them then alive For certain men that were but lately condemned their execution day falling upon the very day when tydings of his death came to the City for the Senate did ever allow ten dayes for the condemned persons after their sentence before their end the poore men emplored the aide and comfort of every one they met because Caius to whom they should have sued was not in the City but they were haled away by the Executioners and strangled Sect. VI. Agrippa in a perplexity and inlarged Agrippa was partaker of the common joy but withall of some mixture of misery for such variety of fortune had hee tasted ever and now must hee have a farewell to such vicissitudes Marsyâ—â— his freeman hearing the rumour in the City runneth with all speed to certifie his master and finding him with some company in the wayes toward the Bath he beckeneth to him with this speech in the Hebrew tongue The Lion is dead With which tydings Agrippa was so transported with joy that the Centurion his Keeper perceived it and enquiring the reason and being told it by Agrippa hee rejoyced with him for the newes and loseth him from his Bonds But as they were at Supper there commeth a contrary report that Tiberius was alive and would ere long bee in the City What now thinke you is become of the heart and mettle of Agrippa and his Centurion Both had done enough by this their present joy to procure their endlesse sorrow and his Keeper the worse of the two but Agrippa must smart for all for the present Hee therefore casts him into irons againe and committeth him to a surer Guard then before And thus as his too much eagernesse of Tiberius his death had imprisoned him before even so doth it now but the next morning puts him into life again for the rumour of the old Emperours death is confirmed by Letters from the neâ—â— and a speciall Warrant commeth from him for the inlarging of Agrippa out of Prison to the house where hee had used to live before Sect. VII Caius commeth to Rome The Corpse of the dead Tyrant is carryed by the Souldiers into the City Caius himselfe in mourning apparell following the Hearse and there he maketh his Funeral Oration performeth his Obsequies with great pomp solemnity And on the very day of his comming to town he had enlarged Agrippa but
knowne before but onely her brother and shee troubled them as much in her heaven as hee did on the earth For now was it impossible for any man so to behave himselfe but hee was intrapped on the one hand or the other about this new found Goddesse To mourne for her death it was criminall because shee was a Deity and to rejoyce for her Deity was capitall because shee was dead so that betwixt this Dilemma of pietie teares and devotion that man was very wary indeed that suffered not inhumanity and violence For to laugh feast bath sing or dance was mortall because the Emperours sister and darling was dead and yet to mourne or sorrow for her death was as deadly because shee was immortall This last stale did hee make of this his deceased sister when shee would now serve him for no other use that both sorrow for her mortalitie and joy for her being immortall did alike bring in money to his treasures which were now almost drained of his many millions either by bribes for the saving of the life of some or by confiscation upon the Death of others But how must hee doe now for another Paramour after his deare Drusilla Why that needeth not to breed any great difficultie when his unbridled lust is not very curious of his choice and his as unbridled power might choose as it list Hee first married Lollia Paullina the wife of C. Memmius sending for her from another country where her husband was Generall of the Army and all the reason of this his choice was because hee was told that her grandmother was an exceeding great beauty but hee soone put her away againe and forbad that any should touch her for ever after him Next came Caesoâ—ia into his affections and there continued a mother of three children and of more age then beauty but of a lasciviousnesse and beastiality so well befitting his that now hee had met with his match and it was pitie they should have missed meeting Hee would sometimes shew her to the Souldiers in armor and sometimes to his friends starke naked transforming her by these vicissitudes into two extreames equally unbefitting her sex to a man and to a beast By her hee had a daughter whom hee named Iulia Drusilla and whom hee brought to the shrines of all the Goddesses in Rome and at last committed to the lap of Minerva for her tutorage and education But this his behaviour is nothing in comparison of that which followed Hee slew divers of the Senate and yet afterward cited them to appeare as if they had been alive and in the end pretended that they had died by their owne hands others came off with a scourging and so they escaped with life but hee caused the Souldiers to tread on them as they lay and as they whipped them that they might have them at the more command And thus hee used some of all rankes and 〈◊〉 Being disturbed at midnight one night by the noyse of same that were getting places in the Circus against the next day hee fell upon them with Clubs and slew twenty knâ—ghts as many matrons and an infinite company of the 〈◊〉 people Hee threw a great multitude of old men and decrepit housholders to the wild beasts that hee might 〈◊〉 such unserviceable men as hee thought them out of the way and hee caused the granaries to bee often shut up that they that had escaped the wild beasts might perish with famine Hee used to fatten the beasts that hee desired to have fed with the inhumane diet of humane bodies yet alive that thereby hee might save other charges Many men hee first mâ—ngled and maimed and then condemned to the mines or to the wild beasts or to little-ease-prisonâ— and some he caused to bee sawed in sunder Hee forced parents to bee present at the execution of their children and for one that could not come to such a miserable spectacle hee sent a letter and another hee invited to a feast after hee had caused him to bee a spectator of the execution of his owne sonne One of the masters of his games that had offended him he kept in chaines and caused him to bee beaten every day before his face till the offensivenesse and stench of his wounded braine obtained his death A Roman Knight being cast by him to the wild beasts and crying out of the injustice done to him hee caused to bee taken out againe and his tongue to bee cut out and then hee cast him to them againe Hee caused all the banished men that were in the Ilands about Italy to bee slaine at once because having asked one that was banished in the time of Tiberius what hee did all the time of his exile and hee answered that hee prayed continually for the death of Tiberius and the succession of Caius hee thought that all the present exiles prayed for his death likewise Every tenth day hee caused an execution to bee had of those that were condemned boasting and vaunting that hee scoured the prisons And ever as any one came to suffer hee commanded the executioners to end him with such deliberate tortures as that hee should bee sure to feele himselfe to die involving many deaths in one and causing men that were to die to live even in death that they might die with the more paine THE CHRISTIAN HISTORY THE JEWISH and the ROMAN FOR The Yeare of Christ 40. And of Caius Caligula 3. Being the Yeare of the World 3967. And of the City of Rome 792. Consuls Caius Caesar II. L. Apronius Celianus or Cestianus London Printed by R. C. for Andrew Crooke 1645. ACTS Chap. 9. Vers. 32. And it came to passe as Peter passed through all quarters THe occasion of Peters travaile at this time may bee well apprehended to bee for the setling and confirming of those Churches that were now begun by the Ministery of the dispersed Preachers One thing was most necessary for these new founded Churches which the Preachers themselves could not provide for them and that was Ministers or Pastors unlesse they would have stayed there themselves which in all places they could not doe and in many places they did not if in any place at all they did longer then for a little space the necessitie of dispersing the Gospell calling them from place to place Therefore it was needfull that the Apostles themselves should goe after them to ordaine Ministers by the imposition of their hands with which they did not onely install or institute into the office of the ministery but also bestowed the holy Ghost for the inabling of those that they did ordaine for the performance of that office which gift the other Disciples could not bestow and this may bee conceived one reason why ten of the twelve Apostles were absent from Ierusalem at Pauls comming there as was observed before namely because they were dispersed abroad over the new planted Churches for this purpose And this was one cause why Peter travailes thus at this time the
Rhoda upon his knocking and speech averred constantly it was Peter the whole company there assembled conclude that it was his Angel Here is some ambiguitie about their thus concluding Some understand it of his tutelar Angel and from hence would strongly plead the opinion that every man hath his proper and allotted Angell to attend him But first wee sometimes read of one Angel attending many men Secondly sometimes of many Angels attending one man But thirdly if the matter may bee agitated by reason if a singular Angell bee destined to the attendance of every singular man what doth that Angell doe till his man bee borne especially what did all the Angels but Adams and Eves and a few more for many hundreds of yeers till the world was full Others therefore understand it of a messenger which the Disciples supposed Peter had sent to them upon some errand But this opinion is easily confuted by Rhoda's owning of Peters voyce There is yet a third opinion as much unwarrantable as either of these That the Disciples concluded that an Angell by this knocking and voyce came to give them notice of Peters death to bee neer at hand and that therefore they call him his Angell and that it was sometimes so used that one Saint should know of anothers death by such revelations The Jewes indeed in their writings make frequent mention of Samael the Angell of death but they call him so for inflicting it and not for foretelling it And wee have some examples indeed in the Ecclesiasticall history of one man knowing of anothers death by such revelations and apparitions as these but because those stories are very dubitable in themselves and that the Scripture is utterly without any such precedent this interpretation is but utterly groundlesse and unwarrantable The most proper and most easie meaning therefore of those words of the Disciples It is his Angel seemeth to bee that they tooke it for some Angell that had assumed Peters shape or stood at the gate in his resemblance Vers. 17. Hee departed and went to another place The place whither hee went is not to bee knowne because not revealed by Scripture As for his going to Rome which is the glosse that Papists see upon this place it is a thing senselesse and ridiculous as was touched before and might bee shewed at large were it worth the labour I should as soone nominate Antioch for the place whither hee went at this time as any other place at a far distance For I cannot imagine any time when hee and Paul should meet at Antioch and Paul reprove him Gal. 2.11 so likely as this time for it is most probable that Peter being put to flee for his life would get out of the territories of Herod for his safetie now there was no place more likely for his safetie then in Antioch where not onely the distance of place might preserve him but the new borne Church would seeke to secure him Vers. 21. And upon a day Herod arraied in royall apparell The acts of this Herod Agrippa after his comming from Rome to Ierusalem and the manner of his death are largely described by Iosephus and therefore wee will trace them in him in our Jewish Story PART II. The Roman Story Sect. I. Some Acts of Claudius this yeer THe Roman yeer was now taken almost wholly up with sacrifices and holy dayes even as it is at this day to the great hinderance of the people in their imployments and occasions therefore Claudius being now Consull abrogated abundance of these dayes and solemnities and contracted those that hee let remaine into as narrow compasse as was possible Many things that Caius had foolishly given away hee remanded and many againe that hee had wickedly wronged hee repaired Hee brought Lycia under servitude because in a tumult they had slaine some Romans and hee joyned it to Pamphylia and disfranchised a Lyciam Ambassadour that came to treat about the businesse because hee could not speake Latine saying that it was not fit that hee should bee a Roman that understood not the Roman tongue and many others hee disfranchased for other causes yet on the contrary was hee most lavish he Messallina and his and her favorites in conferring the Roman freedome and other offices for money insomuch that hee was glad to give an account of it in an oration in Campus Martius Hee exhibited some sword playes this yeer in the Campe. Sect. II. The abominable whoredomes and actions of Messallina the Empresse Shee lived in continuall lust and uncleannesse and was not content to doe so her selfe but shee forced divers other women to the same course Nay shee caused some women to commit adultery even in the very sight of their owne husbands And those that consented to her villany shee honored and rewarded and those that did not shee hated and sought to destroy These her detestable carriages shee kept long unknown from Claudius providing him lasses for his bed while shee tooke whom shee thought good to hers and killing and taking out of the way whomsoever she suspected likely to tell Claudius So slew shee Catonius Iustus to prevent his telling of tales and the two Iulia's upon other occasions A Roman Knight was also this yeere executed as for some conspiracy against the Emperour Sect. III. An expedition into England This yeer did Aulus Plautius with much adoe lead an Army into Britaine For one Bericus who had been expelled thence for sedition had perswaded Claudius to send an Army over But hardly would the Souldiers bee gotten out of Gaul over thither they being incensed and taking it ill that they should goe fight even out of the world Narcissus being sent by Claudius to the Army made a speech to them which exasperated them the more in so much that they made the outcry of Io Saturnalia or All masters and were ready to make head but at last they willingly followed Plautius Hee parted his army into three parts because that if they were repelled and opposed in one place they might land in another They had some trouble in their passage through crosse winds but they tooke heart and bare it out and the rather because a bright light or flame ran from the east toward the west even that way that they were to goe they entred the Iland without opposition for the Britains suspected not their comming but when they were now entred and they not ready to withstand them they ran into the woods and bogs hoping to weary out the Romans with following and seeking them and so to cause them to returne without doing any more It cost Plautius a great deale of toile accordingly to find them out which at last hee did and overcame first Cataratacus and then Togodumnus the two sons of Cynobellinus who himselfe was but lately dead These fleeing hee tooke into homage part of the Boduni who were subject to the Catuellani for the Britains were now subject to divers Kings Hee leaving a Garrison theâ—e
that the advice of Antonia perswaded him to hold a while lest the people should suspect that hee was glad of the death of Tiberius if hee should so sodainly set free one that hee had committed for an enemy But within a few dayes hee is inlarged and sent for home unto him And there is hee trimmed his garments changed and hee crowned King of the Tetrarchies of Philip and Lysanias and his chain of iron and of his bondage changed for a chaine of Gold of the same weight This is that King Agrippa that slew Iames and imprisoned Peter and is called Herod Acts 2. Sect. VIII Caius his dissembling Caius his beginnings were plausible and popular dissembling his cursed dispositions under such crafty colours that the people were transported with so happy a change as they supposed and 160000 Sacrifices were slaine for gratulation in his three first moneths His teares for Tiberius his piety to his dead mother and brother his respect to his living Sisters his faire words to the Senate and as faire carriage to the people his paying of Legacies his inlarging of Prisoners his remitting of offences his reviving of good Lawes c. made the people to forget either in what schoole of dissimulation he had been brought up or how soone so great advancement corrupteth men of little education and it made them vainely to hope that they had a Germanicus because they had his sonne and that a good Prince could be bequeathed to them by Tiberius Yet could hee not hide the ilnesse of his disposition under all these cloakes and coverts of dissembling for presently upon his comming to the City hee disanulled the will of Tiberius that hee might nullifie the authority of his partner of the same name in the rule and Empire And yet did hee pay all the Legacies of old Tiberius with bountifull additions of his owne which shewed thaâ— hee disliked the will onely because of partnership of Tiberius the younger Having thus the whole sway and dominion devolved upon himselfe by the outing of his poore Cousin for the Senate was made and packed by Macro for such a purpose hee was received with as much joy and applause as was possible to expresse upon the old memory of his father and the present expectation of himselfe Nor was this jocundnesse confined in the narrow bonds of Rome and Italy but dilated it selfe through all the Empire in every corner where the hoped benefit and happy fruit of so great an expectation would have come had it proved right Every Country City and Town was poured forth into exultation and festivity with a common joy in this common hope Now could you have seen nothing but Altars Offerings Sacrifices Feasts Revels Bankets Playes Dancings merry Faces crowned Heads singing Tongues and joyfull Hearts that the World seemed to bee ravished besides it selfe all misery to bee banished out of it and all the thoughts of a changing fortune utterly forgot Had Tiberius but spyed this worke out of his Coffin how would hee have laughed for company to behold this deludednesse of the people and dissimulation of the Prince And thus lasted this musicke and masking for his first seven moneths in which the new Emperour behaved himselfe with that moderation and bravery as if vertue it selfe had been come among them In the eighth moneth a grievous sicknesse seized upon him and then was all this mirth and melody turned to mourning and lamentation each man sorrowfull and women bemoaning as if all the world had been sicke as well as hee Now were their songs turned into teares their revelling into prayers and their festivalls to Vows for his recovery Nay so far did some straine the expression of their affections that they vowed their heads and lives for his restoring Nor could the people bee so much blamed for this their sorrow as pityed for being thus deceived nor could it so much bee wondred at that they were deceived as it was wonderfull that hee could so deceive For who could have chose but have erred their errour that had seen what they beheld and wâ—o could have brought them into such an error but such a one as hee who was both a Caius and a scholar of Tiberius When hee paid the Legacies of Tiberius hee also discharged those of Iulia which Tiberius had stopped and added a considerable summe of his own bounty Hee gathered the ashes of his mother and brother and committed them to their Urne with his owne hands choosing a tempestuous season purposely when hee travailed about that businesse that his piety might bee blowne about the more and hee instituted annuall festivalls for them Nor must his father Germanicus be forgotten nor indeed could he nor did hee deserve it for his memory therefore would hee have the moneth September to bee called by his name placing him in the Calendar next Augustus His Grandmother Antonia hee also dignified and deified equally with Livia and that by the consent and decree of the Senate His Uncle Claudius hee honoured with partnership with him in the Consulship and his brother and partner Tiberius with adoption to put him in future hopes now hee had lost his present ones and hee titled him The Prince of the Youth to stop his mouth belike when hee had put him beside his being the Prince of Men. But as for his Sisters the sequel shewed that it was more doting and lust then pure brotherly affection that caused him to shew these expressions that in all oaths that were administred to any this must bee one clause to which they must sweare That they neither accounted themselves nor their children dearer then Caius and his Sisters and this in all the Records of the Consuls Which bee for the happinesse of Caius and his Sisters c. The like popularity used hee likewise to the people releasing the condemned and recalling the banished condemning on the contrary all enormities in Judicature and banishing all incentives to evill manners Forgiving his own private grievances and satisfying for injuries done by his Predecessors that it was no marvaile if the whole State were sick in the sicknesse of such a Prince Sect. IX Caius beginning to shew himselfe in his own colours Not to insist longer upon the vizor of this dissembler but to take him as he was and not as hee seemed his nature began more evidently to shew it self after his recovery of his sicknesse mentioned and then the State began by degrees to bee sick indeed His beginnings were in lightnesse sports and lavishing of money but his proceedings were in bestiality cruelty and effusion of bloud His Banquets Plays Sword-fights Fightings of Beasts as 400 Beares and as many other African wild Beasts at one time his Musick Shews strictnesse that none should bee absent from them and expensivenesse in all insomuch that he spent above twenty millions in such vanities in lesse then three yeares may bee thought as vertues in him in comparison of that that followed and of the mischiefes that hee