him not that he might not die but that he might not die that unheard of and cruel death Caesar astonish'd at the form of this unusual cruelty commanded forthwith that the boy should be dismissed his service and be at liberty all the Glasses of that curious workmanship to be broken in his presence and the Fish-pond to be filled up For said he I will take from Pollio all future occasion of falling into such precipitant eversions of the mind or of destroying his servant hereafter in so cruel a manner who how base of birth soever yet being a man is of more value than all the Glasses and Vessels of the world 17. Lysimachus being displeased with his Friend Telesphorus the Rhodian caused his ears and nose to be cut off and then having enclosed him in a Cage he fed him there as a strange and unusual creature his maimed face having made him lose all humane resemblance hunger and filth which his body had contracted being there left in its own dung his exulcerated sides by reason of the straitness of his inclosure these made him appear a foul and frightful spectacle to all that look'd upon him and being thus made a monster by his punishment he was also depriv'd of all pity 18. Attilius Regulus being prisoner at Carthage was by them shut up into a Dungeon whereinto not so much as a glimpse of light entred a long time after he was hastily brought into the Forum or Market place and laid right against the Beams of the scorching Sun his eye-lids both the upper and the nether being turn'd and tied so fast that he could not close them but held his eyes staring against the Sun The tormenters keeping him in that case and never suffering him to sleep till he had ended his days in that miserable torture The news of his death being brought to Rome the Gentlemen of Carthage that were prisoners there were by the commandment of the Senate delivered into the hands of the Sons of Regulus who shut them into a press set all over with long and sharp pointed nails where they were never suffered to sleep but standing and watching were forc'd to recompense the loss of his life with that of their own 19. An Irish Friar of the order of the Carmelites in the Reign of King Richard the Second charged the Duke of Lancaster with heynous crimes as that he intended to destroy the King and usurp the Crown shewing the time the place and other circumstances of the whole plot but the Duke call'd to his answer so clear'd himself at least gave such colours of clearing that the accuser was committed to the custody of Iohn Holland the King 's half Brother till a day appointed for further trial The night before which day the said Lord Holland and Sir Henry Green are said to have come to this Friar and putting a cord about his neck tied the other end about his privy members and after hanging him up from the ground laid a stone upon his Belly with the weight whereof his back bone burst asunder therâ—by putting him to a most tormenting death An act not more inhumane than unadvised for though it took away the accuser yet it made the accusation more suspicious 20. Bâ—ssus was the Prefect of Bactria under Darius King of Persia who when his Master had fought three Battels unfortunately with Alexander finding him in his flight bound him and having mortally wounded him left him to the mercy of his enemy then in pursuit The Traytor afterwards fell into the hands of Alexander who to make him an example to late posterity caused the tops of two trees growing over against each other to be bent down together with a mighty force and his limbs to be tied fast to them both which done the trees upon the sudden were left at liberty and thus the body of the miserable wretch upon their parting was rent in sunder this kind of punishment the Greeks call Disphondonem 21. Francis Ravillac born in Angoulesme by profession a Lawyer was that infamous Villain who stabbed to the heart the most illustrious Henry the Fourth King of France for which he was put upon the Rack the twenty fifth of May and had sentence of death passed upon him the twenty seventh day and his execution according to it which was on this manner He was brought out of prison in his shirt with a torch of two pound weight lighted in one hand and the knife wherewith he had murdered the King chain'd to the other and then he was set upright in a Tumbrel or Dungcart in this mâ—nner he was carried to the Greve where there was a strong Scaffold built At his coming up to the Scaffold he crossed himself a sign that he died a Papist then he was bound unto an Engine of Wood made like unto S. Andrew's Cross which done his hand with the knife chain'd unto it was put into a Furnace then flaming with fire and brimstone wherein it was in a most terrible manner consumed at which he cast forth horrible cries like one tormented in Hell yet would he not confess any thing After which the Executioners having made pincers red hot in the same Furnace they did pinch his paps the brawns of his Arms and Thighs the calves of his Legs with other fleshy parts of his body pulling out collops of flesh and burning them before his face then they poured into those wounds scalding Oyl Rosin Pitch and Brimstone molten together after which they did set a hard roundel of clay upon his Navel having a hole in the midst into which they poured molten lead he roared out most horribly yet he revealed nothing But to make the last act of his Tragedy equal in torments to the rest they caused four strong Horses to be brought to tear his body in pieces where being ready to suffer his last torment he was again questioned but would not reveal any thing and so died without speaking one word of God But his Flesh and Joynts were so strongly knit together as those four Horses could not in a long time dismember him but one of them fainting a Gentleman who was present mounted upon a mighty strong Horse alighted and tied him to one of this Wretches members yet for all this they were constrain'd to cut the flesh under his arms and thighs with a sharp Razour by which means his body was the easier torn in pieces which done the fury of the people was so great that they pulled his dismembered carcase out of the Executioners hands which they dragged up and down through the dirt and cutting off the flesh with their knives the bones which remain'd were brought to the place of execution and there burnt the ashes were scattered in the wind being held unworthy of earths burial By the same sentence all his Goods were declared forfeit to the King It was also ordain'd that the House where he had been born should be beaten down a recompense given to the
Theatre he gave order to his Soldiers and they kill'd no less than seven thousand of the Citizens Upon which St. Ambrose the Bishop of Milain would not suffer him to enter the Church till he had shewed the manifest signs of an unfeigned repentance 7. The Emperour Nerva who was otherwise of a weak stomach and often cast up his meat which he had newly eaten fell into a huge passion with one whose name was Regulus and while he was in a high tone thundring against him was taken with sweats fell into a fever and so dyed in the sixty eighth year of his age 7. The Sarmatian Embassadors cast themselves at the feet of the Emperour Valentinian the First imploring peace he observing the meanness of their apparel demanded if all their Nation were such as they who reply'd It was their custom to send to him such as were the most noble and best accoutred amongst them When he in a rage cry'd out It was his misfortune that while he Reign'd such a sordid Nation as theirs could not be content with their own limits and then as one struck with a dart he lost both his voice and strength and in a deadly sweat fell down to the Earth he was taken up and carryed into his Chamber where seis'd with a violent Hick-up and gnashing of Teeth he dyed December anno 375. in the fifty fifth year of his age and the twelfth of his Empire 9. Victor Pisanus the Venetian Admiral famous for his exploits understanding that his Vice-Admiral through cowardise had suffered ten Ships of the Genoeses to escape out of the Sipontine Haven fell into such a passion as put him immediatly into a Fever whereof he dyed 10. Clitus was a person whom Alexander held very dear as being the Son of his Nurse and one who had been educated together with himself He had sav'd the life of Alexander at the battle near the River Granicus and was by him made the Prefect of a Province but he could not flatter and detesting the effeminacy of the Persians at a Feast with the King he spake with the liberty of a Macedonian Alexander transported with anger slew him with his own hands though when the heat was over he was difficultly restrain'd from killing himself for that fault which his sudden fury had incited him to commit 11. Caelius the Orator was certainly the most passionate person of all other Mortals for having ask'd his Client divers questions and he agreeing with him in all things he questioned about in a great heat he cry'd out in open Court Say something contrary to me that so we may be two A man of a harsh temper how could he possibly endure an injury who was not able to bear obsequiousness it self 12. The Emperour Commodus in a heat of passion caus'd the Keeper of his Bath to be thrown into a burning Furnace â—or no other reason but that entring into the Bath he found it somewhat too warm for him 13. Matthias Corvinus King of Hungary being spent with the pains of the Gout and taken with a Palsey in both his Legs lay at Vienna and one Palm Sunday enquiring for some fresh Figs of Italy for the second course finding that they were already eaten up by the Courtiers he fell into such a rage as brought him into an Apoplexy whereof he died the day following in the forty seventh year oâ— his age and the year of our Lord 1490. 14. Anno 1418 Wâ—nceslaus King of Bohemia being highly incensed against his Cup-bearer for that knowing of a tumult raised by the Hussites in Prague under Zisâ—a their Leader he had concealed it drew his Dagger with intention to stab him The Nobles attending laid hold on the King took away his Dagger that he might not pollute his Royal Hands with the blood of his servant While he was thus in their hands the King through extreme anger fell into an Apoplexy whereof he died in a â—ew days 15. Muccius Fortia had from his birth an impediment in his speech such as that not without great diâ—â—iculty he could deliver his mind till one time being in an extreme passion he was so mov'd and laboured with that earnestness to speak that fâ—om thenceforth he spake with far greater freedom 16. In that War which the Goths waged with Belisarius there was one of the Soldiers in the Regiment of Constantine a military Tribune who had forcibly taken a Sword of great value from a Roman Youth Belisarius sharply reprov'd Constantine that he suffered things to be done with that insolence by the Soldiers under his command threatening him withal in case the Sword was not speedily found out and restored Constantine resented this in so heynous a manner that in the greatness of his rage not considering either the Dignity of his General or the hazard of his own life he drew out his Dagger intending to sheath it in the Breast of Belisarius but he was immediately laid hold upon and presently hanged 17. It is the custom in Rome that upon Ashwednesday the Pope sprinkle ashes upon the heads of the Prelates saying Remember thou art but Ashes and into Ashes thou shalt return Pope Boniface the Eighth who was an utter enemy to the Gibelline Faction being to do this and coming to Porchetus Spinola the Archbishop of Genoa who was supposed to be of that party instead of casting the Ashes upon his head in great anger he threw them into his eyes and thus inverted the usual words Remember that thou art a Gibelline and that with the Gibellines thou shalt return to Ashes 18. Valerius Publicola upon the expulsion of the Tarquines from Rome expected that he should have been elected Colleague with Brutus in the Consulship but when he found that Lucretius Collatinus was preferred before him he conceived such an indignation thereat that he made resignation of all the honours which he had before that time receiv'd he quitted the dignity of a Senator gave over patronizing any causes and renounced all sorts of Clients nor thenceforth would he exercise any publick office in the Common-wealth 19. This one strange thing is reported of Scanderbeg the King of Epirus that whensoever he he was upon the point ready to charge the Enemy and likewise in the heat and â—ury of the Fight besides other unusual changes and appearances of change and alteration in his countenance his neather lip would commonly cleave asunder and yield forth great abundance of blood A thing oftentimes marked and observed of him not only in his Martial Actions and Exploits but even in his civil Aâ—â—airs whensoever his choler did abound and that his anger did exceed its ordinary bounds 20. Carolus de Gontault Duke of Byron a Peer and Marshal of France and Governour of Burgundy was found the Chief of those that had conspired the death of the King Henry the Fourth and thereupon anno 1602 had sentence of death passed upon him to have
in a schedule that by the instigation of Satan mov'd with false suspicions he had murdered his innocent Wife and having tied this Note to his Left Arm he threw himself headlong from the top of his House into the Street by which â—all he died 8. Ionuses a great Bassa of the Turks upon an overthrow of the Christians beheld amongst other Captives then taken the Lady Manto a most beautiful Greek as much surpassing all other the companions of her misfortune in loveliness as the Sun doth the lesser Stars Ionuses with this one view was himself taken prisoner and finding her outward perfections no less graced with inward virtues and her honourable mind answerable to her rare â—eatures he took her to his Wife honouring her far above all the rest of his Wives and Concubines and she again in all dutiful Loyalty seeking to please him for a space she lived in all worldly felicity and bliss not much inferiour to one of the great Sultanesses But not long after the Bassa more amorous of her person than secured in her virtues and aster the manner of sensual men still fearing lest that which so much pleased himself gave no less contentment to others also began to have her in distrust although he saw no great cause more than his own conceit not grounded upon any her evil demeanour but upon the excess of his own liking which mad humour of it self still more and more encreasing in him he became so froward and imperious that nothing she could say or do could now so please to content him but he still thought some one or other to be partakers with him Thus he tormented himself and her with his own passionate distrust until at length the fair Lady grieved to see her self thus without cause suspected and wearied with the insolent pride of her peevish Husband determined secretly to depart from him and so return again into her own Country Her purpose she discovered to one of her Eunuchs to whom she had also delivered certain Letters to be by him conveyed unto such of her Friends whose help she was to use in her intended slight These Letters the false Eunuch opened and so for the more clear manifestration of the matter delivered them unto the Bassa his Master who therewith enraged and calling her unto him forthwith in his fury with a Dagger stabbed her to the heart and slew her and so together with the death of his love cured himself of so tormenting a jealousie 9. Leontius an Athenian Philosopher had a Daughter called Athenais of admirable beauty and a singular wit the Father with a secret presage of her good fortune had left his whole estate and at his death only bequeathed to her an hundred Crowns saying that her fortune would be sufficient for her Upon this occasion she falls out with them and was thereupon by them forced to Constantinople Then it was that she insinuated her self and commended her cause to Pulcheria the Emperour's Sister whom she so much pleased that hearing she was a Virgin she caused her to be baptized nam'd her Eudoxia and married her to her Brother Theodosius the Emperour with whom she could do all things This was her ascent now hear her fall Upon the day of Epiphany as the Emperour return'd from Church with great pomp and magnificence a certain Countryman a Stranger brake through the press accosteth Theodosius who was of most easie access and presented him with an Apple of an extraordinary size esteem'd at that time a rare fruit the Emperour receiveth it gratefully and commanded to give the good man presently to the value of an hundred and fifty Crowns As soon as he was return'd to the Palace he goes to visit the Empress and full of joy gave her the fair present for a great rarity The good Empress having understood that Paulinus a great Favourite of Theodosius kept his Bed sick of the Gout to please and comfort him had sent him the Apple not mentioning from whom she had received it Paulinus was seised with so great a joy at such a favour from a person so eminent that the contentment he received charm'd at that time the pain of his Gout He so admired this goodly fruit that he judged it worthy of Imperial Hands and forthwith he sent it to the Emperour excusing himself through his indisposition that he was not himself the messenger Theodosius knew the Apple which he had very lately put into the Empress's hands whereupon a furious jealousie began to lay hold on his gentle spirit he instantly sends for Eudoxia and to sound her heart demanded what was become of the â—air Apple he had given her The poor Princess was overtaken something appeared on the brow of her Husband whereby she perceived thaâ— his â—air Soul was not in its ordinary situation she therefore declin'd entreaty and thinking to underprop her innocenâ—y with a lie said she had eaten the Apple The Emperour urged her upon this answer she who already was involv'd tumbled her self further into the snare and that she might not seem a Liar sware by the life and health of her Husband she had eaten it He to convince her of this impudence drew the fatal Fruit out of his Cabinet The Empress at the sight of it turn'd pale and was so confounded she had not courage eâ—ough to speak one only word Theodosius retireth in an instant with his heart drenched in Gall and Bitterness the poor Eudoxia on the other side poureth her self into tears without comfort The Prince Paulinus who knew nothing of that which passed was that night put to death without any form of process When the Empress understood of his sudden and unexpected death she then well saw that the Emperour was tainted with the venom of most cruel jealousie Eudoxia was remov'd from councel and manage of affairs deprived of the Imperial Bed and so went a voyage to Palestine to satisfie her Devotion 10. Theodebert King of France married Deutera she was a Widow before and had by her former Husband a most beautiful Daughter which she took along with her It was not long ere the Queen suspected that her Daughter had stollen the heart of her Husband from her and although there was no such thing yet so strong was her jealousie that her maternal affection gave place to it and without admitting of any leisure wherein a discovery of the truth might be made she caused the young Lady to be slain 11. Hippocrates the Physician had a smack of this disease for when he was to go from home as far as Abdera and some other remote Cities of Greece he wrote to his Friend Dionysius to oversee his Wife in his absence although she lived in his House with her Father and Mother who he knew would have a care of her yet that would not satisfie his jâ—alousie he would have his especial Friend Dionysius to dwell in his House with her all the time of his peregrination and to observe her
undertaken against Parus and wherein he had been unfortunate was condemn'd by the Athenians in a fine of fifty Talents which mighty sum when he was not able to pay and was dead in Prison of a wound in his Thigh received in that â—oyage and therefore was denyed Burial his Son Cimon doubted not to resign himself voluntarily into Prison till himself had made payment of the debt But Cimon himself being not able to make satisfaction it happened that Callias one of the richest men in the City married Elpenice his Sister who paid the fine of Miltiades now become Cimons by which means Cimon being set free received at once the great glory and reward of his piety to his Father 21. Darius invaded Scythia with all the forces of his Empire the Scythians retreated by little and little till they came to the uttermost desarts of Asia Darius sent his Ambassadors to them to demand what end they intended to make of their flying and where it was that they would begin to fight They returned him for answer that they had no Cities nor cultivated fields for which they should give him battle but when once he was come to the place of their fathers monuments he should then understand after what manner the Scythians did use to fight so great a reverence had even that barbarous Nation to their dead Ancestors 22. When Scipio the Consul fought unprosperously with Hannibal at the River Ticinum and was sore wounded his Son Scipio afterwards called Affricanus the Elder though he was scarce out of the years of his Childhood yet did he deliver his father by his seasonable valorous interposition Neither did the infirmity of his Age nor his want of experience in military affairs nor the unhappy event of an infortunate Battle so appal him enough to do it to an old Soldier but that he deserved a double and illustrious Crown for having at once sav'd a Father and a General 23. No man saw a guilded Statue neither in the City of Rome nor throughout all Italy before such time as M. Acilius Glabrio a Knight placed one in the Temple of Piety to the honour of his Father The Son himself dedicated that Temple in the Consulship of P. Cornelius Lentulus and M. Bebius Tamphilus for that his father had obtained his desire and had overcome Antiochus at the straits of Thermopolae 24. When Edward the First heard of the death of his only Son he took it grievously as a Father but patiently as a wise man but when he under stood shortly after of the death of King Henry the Third his Father he was wholly dejected and comfortless Whereat when Charles King of Sicily with whom he then sojourned in his return from the holy Land greatly marvelled he satisfied him with this God may send me more Sons but the death of a father is irrecoverable 25. In the time of Pedro the cruel there was a Citizen of eâ—ghty years old condemned by him to death a Son of his of eighteen years age offered willingly to be put to death to excuse the old man his Father which the cruel Tyrant instead of pardoning him for his rare piety accepted of and put him to death accordingly 26. When the City of Troy was taken the Greeks did as became gallant men for pitying the misfortune of their Captives they caused it to be proclaim'd that every free Citizen had liberty to take away along with him any one thing that he desired Aeneas therefore neglecting all other things carried out with him his houshold Gods The Grecians delighted with the piety of the man gave him a further permission to carry out with him any one other thing from his House whereupon he took upon his Shoulders his Father who was grown old and decrepit and carried him forth The Grecians were not lightly affected with this sight and deed of his and thereupon gave him all that was his confessing that nature it selâ— would not suffer them to be enemies but friends to such as preserved so great piety towards the Gods and so great a Reverence to their Parents 27. Sertorius that Gallant Roman was a great lover of his Mother in so much that being General in Spain he desired that he might have liberty to come home from so noble and gainful an employment that he might enjoy her company and when afterwards he heard of her death he was so smitten to the heart with that unwelcome tydings that little wanted but that he had dyed by reason of his excessive sorrow For he lay seven days altogether upon the ground in all which time he never gave his Soldiers the watchword nor would suffer himself to be seen by any of his most familiar friends 28. â—The Emperour Decimus had a purpose and â—arnest desire to set the Crown upon the head of his Son Decius but he utterly refused it saying I fear lest being made an Emperour I should forget that I am a Son I had rather be no Emperour and a dutiful Son than an Emperour and such a Son as hath forsaken his due obedience Let then my Father bear the Rule and let this be my Empire to obey with all humility whatsoever he shall command me By this means the solemnity was put off and the young man was not crowned unless you will say that his signal piety towards his Parent was a more glorious Crown to him than that which consisted of Gold and Jewels CHAP. XI Of the singular Love of some Brethren to each other IT is not only a rare thing to see Brethren to live together in a mutual love and agreement with each other but withal it is observed that when they have fallen out they have managed their enmities and Animosities with greater rancour and bitterness than if they had been the greatest strangers to each other in the world On the other side where this fraternal Love has rightly seated it self in the Soul it hath used to shew it self in as great a reality and fervency as any other sort of Love whatsoever 1. Lucius Lucullus a Senator of Rome though he was elder than his Brother Marcus yet had so great a Love to him that though the Roman custom was otherwise he could never be perswaded to stand for any place of Magistracy till his Brother was at a lawful age to enter upon one also This was understood by the people who therefore created them both Aediles in their absence 2. There was a report though a false one that Eumenes King of Asia was slain by the fraud of Perseus his Brother Attalus upon the news seiz'd upon the Diadem and married the Wife of his Brother but being informed of Eumenes his return he went forth to meet him not withouâ— apprehensions of fear in regard of what he had done in his absence Eumenes made no shew of his displeasure only whispered him in the ear that before he married another mans wife he should be sure her
annuity of twenty two pound will amount to two thousand three hundred twenty pound or thereabout All this she did though at her death she had twenty two Children and Childrens Children amongst their parts finding a portion for Christ's poor Members 24. To all this as a most exemplary Charity may be added that Act of Parliament held Anno 39. of the Queen Chapter the third for the relief of the Poor in every Parish and setting of them to work by vertue of which Act there cannot be less gathered yearly for the aforesaid charitable uses throughout the Land then thirty or forty thousand pounds yearly a National and perpetual Charity the like whereof perhaps there is no Nation under Heaven that hath yet and possibly may not hereafter perform CHAP. XXIX Of such as were Lovers of Iustice and Impartial Administrators of it THose people in India that are called Pedalii when they make their solemn sacrifices to their gods use to crave nothing at their hands but that they may have Justice continued and preserved amongst them as supposing in the enjoyment of that they should have little reason to complain of the want of any other thing And it was the saying of Maximilian the Emperour fiat Iustitia ruat coelum let us have Iustice whatsoever befalls us The Persons hereafter mentioned were great Lovers and observers of this excellent virtue which is of so great advantage to Mankind 1. The Chronicle of Alexandria relateth an admirable passage of Theodorick King of the Romans Iuvenalis a Widow made her complaint that a suit of hers in Court was drawn out for the space of three years which might have been dispatch'd in few days The King demanded who were her Judges she named them they were sent unto and commanded to give all the speedy expedition that was possible to this Womans cause which they did and in two days determined it to her good liking Which done Theodorick called them again they supposing it had been to applaud their excellent Justice now done hastned thither full of joy Being come the King asked of them how cometh it to pass you have performed that in two days which had not been done in three years They answered The recommendation of your Majesty made us finish it How replieth the King when I put you into Office did I not consign all Pleas and proceedings to you and particularly those of widows you deserve death so to have spun out a business in length three years space which required but two days dispatch and at that instant commanded their heads to be struck off 2. The Emperor Trajan had done many brave and eminent Acts but none of his Atcheivements were so resplendent as the Justice he readily afforded to a vertuous Widow Her son had been slain and she not being able to obtain â—ustice had the courage to accost the Emperor in the midst of the City of Rome amongst an infinite number of people and flourishing legions which followed him to the Wars he was then going to make War in Valachia At her request Trajan notwithstanding he was much pressed with the affairs of a most urgent War alighted from his horse heard her comforted her and did her Justice This Act of his was afterwards represented on Trajan's pillars as one of his greatest wonders 3. When Sisamnes one of the chiefest of the Persian Judges had given an unjust judgment Cambyses the King caused him to be â—â—ey'd alive and his skin to be hung over the Judgment-feat and having bestowed the Office of the dead Father upon Otanes the Son he willed him to remember that the same partiality and injustice would deserve the same punishment 4. It is reported of the Emperor Maximilian the first that when he passed by the places of Execution belonging to Cities and Signiories where the bodies of Maleâ—actors are hung up as Spectacles of terror he would vail his Bonnet and say aloud Salve Iustitia as who should say God maintain Justice 5. In the fourth year of Queen Mary exemplary Justice was done upon a great Person For the Lord Sturton a man much in favour with the Queen as being an earnest Papist was for a murder committed by him arraign'd and condemn'd carry'd to Salisbury and there in the Market-place was hang'd having this only favor to be hang'd in a Silken halter Four of his servants were also executed in places near adjoyning to that where the murder was committed 6. In the Reign of King Iames Ann. 1612. Iune 25. the Lord Sanquer a Nobleman of Scotland having in a private revenge suborned Robert Carlile to murther Iohn Turner a Master of Fence thought by his greatness to have born it out But the King respecting nothing so much as Justice would not suffer Nobility to be a shelter for villany but according to the Law the 29th of Iune the said Lord Sanquer having been arraign'd and condemn'd by the name of Iohn Creighton Esq was executed before Westminster-hall-gate where he died very penitent 7. Artaxerxes Longimanus King of Persia had of his Bed-chamber one Satybarsanes whom he much favour'd this man earnestly importuned the King in an affair which the King himself knew to be unjust and having understood that Satybarsanes was to receive 30000 Daricks to bring the business to a desirable conclusion he caused his Treasurer openly to pay that sum to him as his gift adding withal that by the gift of that sum he should be never the poorer but should he grant what he desired he should deservedly be accounted the less just 8. Henry the second commanded that an Italian Lackey should he laid in Prison without telling why The Judges set him at liberty having first delivered their opinion to the King who again commanded that he should be put to death having as he said taken him tardy in a foul and heinous offence which he would not have to be divulged the Judges for all that would not condemn him but set open the prison doors to let him forth It is true that the King caused him to be taken afterwards and thrown into the River Seine without any form of Law to avoid tumult but the Judges would not condemn a Person where no proof was made that he was guilty 9. King Lewis the Eleventh minding to Cajole the Court Parliament of Paris if it should refuse to publish certain new Ordinances by him made The Masters of that Court understanding the drifâ— went all to the King in their Robes The King asked them what they would Sir Answers the President La Vaquery We are come with a full purpose to loose our lives every one of us rather than we will suffer that by our connivance any unjust Ordinance should take place The King amazed at this answer of La Vaquery and at the constancy of the Parliament gave them gracious entertainment and Commanded that the Edicts which he would have had published should be cancelled in his presence swearing
she was by him well beaten with Myrtle Rods. And for that reason the women when they dress up and adorn the Chapel or Shrine of their goddess Bona they never bring home for that purpose any branches of the Myrtle Tree and yet otherwise take pleasure to make use of all sorts of branches and flowers in that solemnity 3. At Argos there were two of the principal Citizens who were the heads of opposite Factions one to another in the Government oâ— the City the one was named Nicostratus and the other Phaulius Now when King Philip came to the City it was generally thought that Phaulius plotted and practised to attained unto some absolute principality and soveraignty in the City by the means of his wife who was a young and beautiful Lady in case he could once bring her to the Kings bed and that she might lie with him Nicostratus was aware of as much and smelling his design walked before Phaulius his door and about his house on purpose to discover his intentions and what he would do therein He soon found that the base Phaulius had furnished his wife with a pair of high Shooes had cast about her a mantle and set upon her head a Chaplet after the Macedonian fashion Having thus accoutred her after the manner of the Kings Pages he sent her secretly in that habit and attire unto the Kings lodging as a Sacrifice to his lust and an agrument of an unparallel'd villany in himself who could endure to be the Pander in the prostitution of his own Wife 4. Periander the Corinthian in a high sit of passion trod his Wife under-foot and although she was at that time with child of a boy yet he never desisted from his injurious treatment of her till such time as he had killed her upon the place Afterwards when he was come to himself and was sensible that what he had done was through the calumniating instigation of his Concubines he caused them all to be burnt alive and banished his son Lycophron as far as Corcyra upon no other occasion than that he lamented the death of his Mother with tears and outcryes 5. Nero the Emperour being once incensed against his Wife Poppaea Sabina gave her such a kick with his foot upon the belly that she thereupon departed this life But though he was a man that seemed to be born to cruelty and blood yet he afterwards so repented himself of this act that he would not suffer her body to be burnt after the Roman manner but built the funeral pile for her of odours and perfumes and so ordered her to be brought into the Iulian monument 6. Herod the Sophist being offended with his Wife Rhegilâ—a for some slight fault of hers commanded his freed man Alcimedon to beat her She was at that time eight months gone with Child or near upon so that by the imprudence of him who was imployed to chastise her She received some blows upon her belly which occasioned first her miscarriage and soon after her death Her Brother Bradeas a person of great nobility cited her Husband Herodes to answer the death of his Sister before the Senate of Rome where if he had not it is pity but he should have received a condign punishment 7. When M. Antonius was overcome at Actium Herod King of Iudaea believing that he was in danger to lose his Kingdom because he had been a fast friend to Antonius determined to meet Caesar Augustus at Rhodes and there endeavour to assure his favour to him Having resolved upon his journey he committed the care and custody of his Wiâ—e to Sohemus his friendâ— giving him withall thus much in command That in case he should hear of his death by the way or at the place wither he was intended that then he should not fail forthwith to kill Mariamne his Wife yielding this only reason of his injunction that it might not be in the power of any man to enjoy so great a beauty after his decease Mariamne had extorted this secret from Sohemus and at Herod's return twitted him with it Herod caused Sohemus unheard to be immediately put to death and not long after he also beheaded Mariamne his beloved Queen and Wife 8. Amalasuenta had raised Theodahitus at once to be her Husband and King of the Goths but upon this proviso that he should make oath that he would rest contented with the title of a King and leave all matters of Government to her sole dispose But no sooner was he accepted as King but he forgat his Wife and benefactress recalled her enemies from banishment put her friends and relations many of them to death banished her self unto an Island in the Vulsiner lake and there set a strong guard upon her At last he thought himself not sufficiently safe so long as Amalasumha was alive and thereupon he dispatched certain of his instruments to the place of her exile with order to put her to death who â—inding her in a bath gave her no further time but strangled her there CHAP. VIII Of such Wives as were unnatural to their Husbands or evil deported towards them IN Italy there grows an herb they call it the Basilisco it is sweet scented enough but withal it hath this strange property that being laid under a stone in a moist place in a few dayes it produces a scorpion Thus though the Woman in her first creation was intended as a meet help for man the partner of his joyes and cares the sweet perfume and relish of his dayes throughout his whole pilgrimage yet there are some so far degenerated from their primitive institution though otherwise of exteriour beauty and perfection enough that they have proved more intolerable than Scorpions not only tormenting the life but hastning the death of their too indulgent Husbands 1. Ioan Gandchild to Robert King of Naples by Charles his son succeeded her Grandfather in the Kingdom of Naples and Sicily Anno 1343. a woman of a beautiful body and rare endowments of nature She was first married to her Cousin Andrew a prince of Royal extraction and of a sweet and loving disposition but he being not able to satisfie her wantonness She kept company with lewd persons at last she grew weary of him complaining of his insufficiency and caused him in the City of Aversa to be hung upon a beam and strangled in the night time and then threw out his Corpse into a Garden where it lay some dayes unburied It is said that this Andrew on a day coming into the Queens chamber and finding her twisting a thick string of silk and silver demanded of her for what purpose she made it she answered to hang you in which he then little believed the rather because those who intend such mischief use not to speak of it before-hand but it seems she was as good as her word 2. Cicero put away his wife Terentia for divers reasons as because she had made small
Martialis one of his Centurions with the Execution by whom the Emperour was slain at Edessa as he was going to make water 3. Natholicus King of Scotland sent a great favorite of his to enquire of a famous Witch what should be the success of a War which he had in hand and other things concerning his person and estate to whom she answered That Natholicus should not live long and that he should be killed by one of his own servants and being further urged to tell by whom She said that the Messenger himself should kill him who though he departed from her with great disdain and reviled her protesting that first he woâ—ld suffer ten thousand deaths yet thinking better upon the matter in his return and imagining that the King might come to know of the Witches answer by some means or other and hold him ever after suspected or perhaps make him away resolved to kill him which he presently after performed Thus was that Prince punished for his wicked curiosity in seeking by such unlawful means to know the secret determinations of God 4. Such was the fatally venturous curiosity of the elder Pliny that as the younger relates he could not be deterred by the formidableness of the destructive flames vomited by Vâ—suvius from endeavouring by their light to read the nature of such Vulcanian Hills but in spight of all the disswasions of his friends and the affrighting eruptions of that hideous place he resolved that flaming wonder should rather kill him than escape him and thereupon approached so near that he lost his life to satisfie his curiosity and fell if I may so speak a Martyr to Physiologie 5. Alipius the intimate friend of St. Augustine went to Rome to improve himself in the study of the Law and one day was unwillingly drawn to accompany them to a sword-Play Though saith he you may compel my body yet my eyes and mind you can lay no force upon And therefore when he came to the Theatre he sat with his eyes closed but hearing a mighty shout of the people overcome with curiosity and trusting to himself that he was able both to see and despise whatsoever it should be he opened his eyes and saw the blood that was drawn drinking up with the sight the same immanity wherewith it was shed and beheld by others so that falling into a present delight and approbation of that bloody pleasure he not only returned thither often himself but drew others to the same place upon the like occasion 6. Nero the Emperour about the sixty sixth year of Christ possessed at once with a mad spirit of cruelty and I know not what kind of foolish curiosity that he might have the lively representation of the burning of Troy caused a great part of the City of Rome to be set on fire and afterwards to conceal himself from being thought the author of so great a villany by an unparalleled slander he cast the guilt of so horrid a fact upon the Christians whereupon an innumerable company of those Innocents were accused and put to death with variety of most cruel tortures 7. In the Land of Transiane there was a Prince tributary to the King of Pegu and his near Kinsman named Alfonge who married a sister of the Prince of Tazatay her name was Abelara one of the greatest beauties in the Eastern parts they lived a sweet and happy life with intire affection and for their greater felicity they had two Twin sons who in their under-growth discovered something of great and lofty and appeared singularly hopeful for the future These Infants having attained their ten years loved so cordially they could not live asunder and the ones desire still met with the others consent in all things but the Devil the enemy of concord inspires a curiosity into the minds of the father and mother to know their fates and to their grief they were told the time should come when these two Brothers that now loved so fondly should cut one anothers throats which much astonished the poor Princes and filled them with fearful apprehensions The two Princes being come to their fifteen years one said to the other Brother it must needs be you that must murther me for I will sooner die a hundred deaths than do you the least imaginable harm The other replied Believe it not good brother I desire you for you are as dear and dearer to me than my self But the father to prevent the misfortune resolved to separate them whereupon they grew so troubled and melancholy that he was constrained to protract his design till an occasion happened that invited all three the father and two sons to a War betwixt the Kings of Narsinga and Pegu upon title of Territories but by the mediation of Bramins a peace was concluded upon condition these two young Princes should espouse the two daughters of the King of Narsinga and that the King of Pegu on him that married the elder should confer all the Countries he took in the last War with the Kingdom of Martaban and the other brother besides the Kingdom of Tazatay should have that of Verma the Nuptials consummated each departed to his Territory Lands spaciously divided Now it fell out that the King of Tazatay was engaged in a sharp War with the King of Mandranella and sent to the two brother Princes for aid who both hastened unknown to each other with great strength to his assistance He from Verma came secretly to Town to visit a Lady once their ancient Mistress and the other brother being on the same design they met at the Ladies gate by night not knowing one another where furious with jealousie after some words they drew and killed each other One of them dying gave humble thanks to God that he had prevented the direful Destiny of his Horoscope not being the Assasine of his brother as 't was prejudicated hereupon the other â—inding him by his voice and discourse drawing near his end himself crept to him and embraced him with tears and lamentations and so both dolefully ended their daies together The father being advertised of it seeing his white hairs led by his own fault to so hard fortune over-born with grief and despair came and slew himself upon the bodies of his sons and with the grief and tears of all the people were buried all three in one Monument which shews us the danger of too great curiosity CHAP. XXII Of the Ignorance of the Ancients and others THere never was nor is there ever like to be in this World a beauty of that absolute compleatness and perfection but there was some Mole to be discerned upon it â—r at least some such thing as might have been wished away It is not therefore the design of this Chapter to uncover the nakedness of our Fathers so as to expose it to the petulancy of any but rather to congratulate those further accessions of light and improvements in knowledge which these latter Ages have attained unto
the same time I should behold the funerals of two men the dearest unto me of all other I had rather part with the dead than slaughter the living and having said this she commands the body of her dead Husband to be taken out of his Coffin cuts off his nose to disfigure his face and delivers him to be fastned to the Cross that was empty The Souldier made use of the wit of the wise woman and the next day it was the wonder of the people which way the dead Thief was again got upon his Cross. 12. Portius Latro an excellent Oratour of whom Seneca says that he was too much in every thing and constant in nothing for he neither knew how to leave his studies nor when he had how to get to them again when he once set himself to writing he remained at it night and day and followed it without any intermission till such time as he fainted and on the other side when he was risen from it he yielded up himself as intirely to pastime jesting and merriment When he was got into the Mountains and Woods he contended with the best and hardiest of all them that were born in those places for patience in Labour and Pains and diligence in Hunting and fell into such desires of living in that manner that he had much ado to perswade himself back to his former course of life But being once returned he gave up himself with such eagerness to his studies as if he had never departed from them This man afterwards fell into the disease of a double Quartan which was so tedious to him that not able to endure it he laid violent hands upon himself and so dyed CHAP. XXXI Of the Covetous and Greedy disposition of some Men. THe great and learned Hippocrates wished a consultation of all the Physicians in the World that they might advise together upon the means how to cure Covetousness â—t is now above two thousand years ago since he had this desire after him a thousand and a thousand Philosopâ—ers have employed their endeavour to cure this insatiable Dropsy All of them have lost their labour therein the evil rather encreases than decâ—â—â—es under the multitude of remedies Theâ— have been a number in former ages sick oâ— it and this wide Hospital of the World is still as full of such Patients as ever it was We read of 1. Herod the Ascalonite after his vast expences that he grew to such a Covetous humour that having heard how Hirâ—anus his predecessor had opened the Monument of King David and carried thence three thousand talents of Silver he taking along with him a party of his choicer friends lest the design should take air went in the night time opened and entred the same Monument and though he found nothing of Silver as Hircanus had before done yet he found there much furniture and several utensils of Gold all which he caused to be carried away which done he passed on to the more inward Cells and Repositories where the bodies of the two Kings David and Solomon lay embalmed endeavouring to enter there two of his Courtiers were struck dead and as it is constantly affirmed he himself frighted with the eruption of fire and flame from those apartments went his way After this deed of his it was observed that his affairs succeeded not with his wonted prosperity and in his family there was a kind of continual Civil War which after did not end without the blood of more persons than one 2. Marcus Crassus the Româ—n at the beginning had not much more than three hundred talents left him yet by his covetous practises got such a vast estate that when he was Consul he made a great sacrifice to Hercules and kept an open feast for all Rome upon a thousand Tables and gave to every Citizen Corn to find him three months and yâ—t before his Parthian expedition being desirous to know what all he had was worth found that it amounted to seven thousand and one hundred talents but even this would not content him but thirsting after the Parthian Gold he led an Army against them by whom he was overthrown his head was chopt off by Surinas the Parthian General who also caused molten Gold to be poured down his throat upbraiding by that action his unquenchable avarice 3. Cardinal Angelot was so basely covetous that by a private way he used to go into the Stable and steal the Oats from his own Horses on a time the Master of his Horse going into the Stable in the dark and â—inding him there taking him for a Thief beat him soundly he was also so hard to his Servants that his Chamberlain watching his opportunity slew him 4. Nitocris Queen of Babylon built her Sepulchre over the most eminent Gate in that City and caused to be ingraven upon her Tomb What King soever that comes after me and shall want mony let him open this Sepulchre and take thence so much as he pleases but let him not open it unless he want for he shall not find it for his advantage Darius long after finding this inscription brake open the Sepulchre but instead of Treasure he only found this Inscription within Unless thou wert a wicked man and basely covetous thou wouldst never have violated the Dormitories of the dead 5. Arthur Bulkley the covetous Bishop of Bangor in the reign of King Henry the eighth had sacrilegiously sold the five fair Bells of his Cathedral to be transported beyond the Seas and went down himself to see them shipped they suddenly sunk down with the Vessel in the Haven and the Bishop fell instantly blind and so continued to the day of his death 6. One reports this Pasquin of Bancroft Archbishop of Canterbury for his covetousness Here lies his Grace in cold clay clad Who dy'd for want of whai he had 7. Anno 712. Rodericus was the last King of the Goths there was a Palace in Toledo that was shut up and made fast with strong Iron bars the Universal Tradition concerning which was That the opening of it should be the destruction of Spain Rodericus laugh'd at it and supposing that Treasure was hid in it caused it to be broke open no Treasure was found but there was a great Chest and in it a linnen cloath wherein was depainted several strange â—aces and uncouth habits in a Military posture also there was an Inscription in Latin to this purpose That Spain should be destroyed by such a Nation as that and the Prediction was in some sort verified for Count Iulianus having his daughter ravished by the King in Revenge thereof he called in the Moors from Africa who slew the King and ruinated the Country 8. Perses the last King of Macedon a little before he was taken was deserted by all his Souldiers saving only a few Câ—â—ans whom he retained with the hope of mighty promises having before-hand put into their hands some Vessels of Gold as
Lord Thomas Seymour Admiral of England the other was the Dutchess of Sommerset Wife to the Lord Protector of England Brother to the Admiral These two Ladies falling at variance for precedence which either of them challenged the one as Queen Dowager the other as Wife to the Protector who then governed the King and all the Realme drew their Husbands into the quarrel and so incensed the one of them against the other that the Protector procured the death of the Admiral his Brother Whereupon also followed his own destruction shortly after For being deprived of the assistance and support of his Brother he was easily overthrown by the Duke of Northumberland who caused him to be convicted of Felony and beheaded 9. A famous and pernicious faction in Italy began by the occasion of a quarrel betwixt two Boys whereof the one gave the other a box on the Ear in revenge whereof the Father of the Boy that was stricken cut off the hand of the other that gave the blow whose Father making thereupon the quarrel his own sought the revenge of the injury done to his Son and began the Faction of the Neri and Bianchi that is to say Black and White which presently spread it self through Italy and was the occasion of spilling much Christian blood 10. A poor distressed wretch upon some business bestowed a long and tedious Pilgrimage from Cabul in India to Asharaff in Hircania where e're he knew how the success would be he rested his weary limbs upon a Field Carpet choosing to refresh himself rather upon the cool Grass than be tormented by those merciless vermine of Gnats and Muskettos within the Town but poor man he fell à malo in pejus from ill to worse for lying asleep upon the way at such time as Sha Abbas the Persian Monarch set forth to hunt and many Nobles with him his pampered Jade winded and startled at him the King examines not the cause but sent an eternal Arrow of sleep into the poor mans heart jesting as Iphicrates did when he slew his sleepy Sentinel I did the man no wrong I found him sleeping and asleep I left him The Courtiers also to applaud his Justice made the poor man their common mark killing him an hundred times over if so many lives could have been forfeiâ—ed 11. Anno 1568. the King of Sian had a white Elephant which when the King of Pegu understood he had an opinion of I know not what holiness that was in the Elephant and accordingly prayed unto it He sent his Ambassadors to the King of Sian offering him whatsoever he would desire if he would send the Elephant unto him but the King of Sian would not part with him either for love mony or any other consideration Whereupon he of Pegu was so moved to wrath that with all the power he could make he invaded the other of Sian Many hundred thousand men were brought into the field and a bloody Battle was fought wherein the King of Sian was overthrown his white Elephant taken and he himself made tributary to the Monarch of Pegu. 12. A needy Souldier under Abbas King of Persia draws up a Catalogue of his good services and closing it in his pressing wants humbly intreats the favour and some stipend from his god of war for such and such his exploits The poor man for his sawciness with many terrible bastinadoes on the soles of his feet was almost drubbed to death Besides Abbas enquires who it was that wrote it the Clerk made his apology but the King quarrelled at his scurvy writing and that he should never write worse makes his hand to be cut off CHAP. XLIII Of such as have been too fearful of death and over desirous of Life A Weak mind complains before it is overtaken with evil and as Birds are affrighted with the noise of the Sling so the infirm soul anticipates its troubles by its own fearful apprehensions and falls under them before they are yet arrived But what greater madness is there than to be tormented with futurities and not so much to reserve our selves to miseries against they come as to invite and hasten them towards us of our own accord The best remedy against this tottering state of the soul is a good and clear Conscience which if a man want he will tremble in the midst of all his armed guards 1. What a miserable life Tyrants have by reason of their continual fears of death we have exemplified in Dionysius the Syracusan who finished his thirty eight years Rule on this manner Removing his Friends he gave the custody of his body to some strangers and Barbarians and being in fear of Barbers he taught his Daughters to shave him and when they were grown up he durst not trust them with a Rasor but taught them how they should burn off his hair and Beard with the white filmes of Wallnut kernels Whereas he had two Wives Aristomache and Doris he came not to them in the night before the place was throughly searched and though he had drawn a large and deep Moat about the Room and had made a passage by a wooden Bridge himself drew it up after him when he went in Not daring to speak to the people out of the common Rostrum or Pulpit for that purpose he used to make Orations to them from the top of a Tower When he played at Ball he used to give his Sword and Cloak to a Boy whom he loved and when one of his familiar Friends had jestingly said You now put your life into his hands and that the Boy smiled he commanded them both to be slain one for shewing the way how he might be killed and the other for approving it with a smile At last overcome in Battle by the Carthaginians he perished by the treason of his own Subjects 2. Heraclides Ponticus writes of one Artemon a very skilful Engineer but withal saith of him that he was of a very timerous disposition and foolishly afraid of his own shadow so that for the most part of his time he never stirred out of his House That he had always two of his men by him that held a Brazen Target over his head for fear lest any thing should fall upon him and if upon any occasion he was forced to go from home he would be carryed in a Litter hanging near to the ground for fear of falling 3. The Cardinal of Winchester Henry Beaufort commonly called the Rich Cardinal who procured the death of the good Duke of Gloucester in the reign of King Henry the sixth was soon after struck with an incurable disease and understanding by his Physicians that he could not live murmuring and repining thereat as Doctor Iohn Baker his Chaplain and Privy-councellor writes he fell into such speeches as these Fye will not death be hired Will mony do nothing Must I dye that have so great Riches If the whole Realm of England would save my life I am able either
and was buried in the Abbey Church there 21. Titus Fullonius of Bononia in the Censorship of Claudius the Emperour the years being exactly reckoned on purpose to prevent all fraud was found to have liv'd above one hundred and fifty years And L. Tertulla of Arminium in the Censorship of Vespasian was found to have liv'd one hundred thirty seven years 22 Franciscus Alvarez saith that he saw Albuna Marc. chief Bishop of Aethiopia being then of the age of one hundred and fifty years 23. There came a man of Bengala to the Portugals in the East Indies who was three hundred thirty five years old the aged men of the Country testified that they had heard their Ancestors speak of his great age Though he was not Book learn'd yet was he a speaking Chronicle of the forepassed times his teeth had sometimes fallen out yet others came up in their rooms For this his miraculous age the Sultan of Cambaia had allowed him a pension to live on which whas continued by the Portugal Governour there when they had dispossessed the Sultan aforesaid 24. Iohannes de temporibus or Iohn of times so called because of the sundry ages he lived in he was Armour-bearer to the Emperour Charles the Great by whom he was also made Knight Being a man of great temperance sobriety and contentment of mind in his condition of life residing partly in Germany where he was born and partly in France liv'd unto the ninth year of the Emperour Conrade and died at the age of three hundred and threescore and one year anno 1128 1146 saith Fulgosus and may well be reckoned as a miracle of nature 25. That which is written by Monsieur Besanneera a French Gentleman in the relation of Captain Laudonneireis second voyage to Florida is very strange and not unworthy to be set down at large Our men saith he regarding the age of their Paracoussy or Lord of the Country began to question with him thereabout whereunto he made answer that he was the first living original from whence five Generations were descended shewing them withal another old man which far exceeded him in age and this man was his Father who seemed rather an Anatomy than a living body for his Sinews his Veins and Arteries his Bones and other parts appeared so clearly through his skin that a man might easily tell them and discern them one from another Also his age was so great that the good man had lost his sight and could not speak one only word without exceeding great pain Monsieur d' Ottigny having seen so strange a sight turn'd to the younger of these two old men praying him to vouchsafe to answer to that which he demanded touching his age then called he a company of Indians and striking twice upon his thigh and laying his hands upon two of them he shewed by signs that these two were his Sons again striking upon their thighs he shewed him others not so old which were the children of the two first and thus continued he in the same manner to the fifth Generation But though this old man had his Father alive more old than himself and that both their hairs was as white as was possible yet it was told them that they might yet live thirty or forty years more by the course of nature though the younger of them both was not less than two hundred and fifty years old 26. Guido Bonatus an Astronomer and a man of great Learning saith he saw a man whose name was Richard in the year 1223 who told him that he was a Soldier under Charlemain and had now lived to the four hundreth year of his age 27. That is a rarity which is recited by Thuanus that Emanuel Demetrius a man of obscure birth and breeding liv'd one hundred and three years his wife was aged ninety and nine she had been married to him seventy five years the one superviv'd the other but three hours and were both buried together at Delph 103. 28. In the Kingdom of Casubi the men are of good stature something tawny the people in these parts live long sometimes above an hundred and fifty years and they who retire behind the Mountains live yet longer CHAP. XXXI Of the memorable old age of some and such as have not found such sensible decays therein as others THe Philosopher Cleanthes being one time reproach'd with his old age I would fain be gone said he but when I consider that I am every way in health and well disposed either for reading or writing then again I am contented to stay This man was so free from the common infirmities of Age that he had nothing whereof to accuse his the like vegeteness and sufficiency both in body and mind as to all sorts of Affairs by a rare indulgence of Nature is sometimes granted to extremity of Age. 1. Sir Walter Raleigh in his discovery of Guiana reports that the King of Aromaia being an hundred and ten years old came in a morning on foot to him from his House which was fourteen English miles and returned on foot the same day 2. Buchanan in his Scottish History towards the latter end of his first Book speaking of the Orcades names one Lawrence who dwelling in one of those Islands marry'd a Wife after he was one hundred years of age and more and that when he was sevenscore years old he doubted not to go a fishing alone in his little Boat though in a rough and Tempestuous Sea 3. Sigismundus Polcastrus a Physician and Philosopher at Padua read there fifty years in his old age he bury'd four Sons in a short time at seventy years age he marry'd again and by this second Wife had three Sons the Eldest of which called Antonius he saw dignifi'd with a Degree in both Laws Ierome another of his Sons had his Cap set on his Head by the hand of his aged Father who trembled and wept for joy not long after which the old man dy'd aged ninety four years 4. To speak nothing faith Platerus but what is yet fresh in memory and whereof there are many witnesses My father Thomas Platerus upon the death of my mother his first wife Anno 1572. and the 73d year of his age marrying a second time within the compass of ten years he had six children by her two sons and four daughters the youngest of the daughters was born in the 81st year of his age two years before he died who if he was now alive in this year 1614 would be aged 115 years and would have a Grand-daughter of one year old by Thomas his son And which is memorable betwixt two of his sons I Foelix was born Anno 1536. and Thomas 1574. the distance betwixt us being thirty eight years and yet this brother of mine to whom I might have been Grandfather is all gray and seems elder than my self possibly because he was gotten when my father was stricken in years 5. M. Valerius
than accustomed vigor his grey hairs whereof he had many falling all from his head and so continuing for seven years after CHAP. XXXIII Of such Persons as have changed their Sex NAture seems to be so in love with change that she will have nothing here in this World to rest in a continued and constant state Hence it is that Rivers seek out new Channels for themselves new Cities arise out of the ruines and rubbish of the old the tops of Olympus Aetna and Parnassus do not appear so high to us as they did to our Fore-fathers and the very Heavens themselves look almost daily upon us with different Faces But whether there have been such changes in Humane Bodies as those whereof this Chapter treats that I must rest upon the credit of such Authors as have been the Relators of the following Histories 1. It is no Lye or Fable that Females may be turned into Males for we have found it recorded in the Annals that in the year when Publius Licinius Crassus and Caius Cussius Longinus were Consuls of Rome there was in Cassinum a Maid-child under the hand and tuition of her Parents who became a boy and by the appointment of the Aruspices was consin'd to a certain Desert Island and thither convey'd 2. Licinius Mutianus reports that himself saw at Angos one named Arescon who before time had to name Arescusa and was a Maid but afterwards in process of time came to have a Beard as also the parts testifying a man and thereupon marryed a Wife 3. There was in Smyrna a Virgin call'd Philotis but in the same night wherein she was marry'd to a young man those parts which were inverted and conceal'd began to appear and she rose in the Morning of a contrary Sex 4. A marvelous thing also happened in our age saith Fulgosus when Ferdinand the First was King of Naples Ludovicus Guarna a Citizen of Salerne had five Daughters of which the two Eldest were call Francisca and Carola both which at fifteen years of age found such alteration in themselves that they chang'd their Feminine Habits and Names also the one being call'd Franciscus and the other Carolus 5. In the Town of Erguira distant some nine miles from Conimbra there liv'd a Nobleman who had a Daughter named Maria Pachecha who by a like accident with the former proving to be a young man changed her habit and call'd her self Manuel Pachecha who after made a voyage into the Indies became a valiant Soldier attain'd to much wealth and honour and returning marryed a Lady of a Noble Family but never attain'd to have Issue and his countenance continued effeminate to the day of his death saith Amatus Lusitanus Consult Medic. Cent. 2. curat 39. 6. Strange is that which is related by Antonius Torquemada not far from the City of Beneventum in Spain a Country-man of a mean fortune marry'd a Wife who because she was barren us'd her very roughly insomuch that she lead with him a very discontented life Whereupon one day putting on one of her Husbands Suits to disguise her self from knowledge she stole out of the House to seek out a more peaceable fortune elsewhere And having been in divers services whether the conceit of her mans habit or whether Nature strangely wrought in her but she found a notable alteration in her self insomuch that she who had been a Wife desired to perform the office of a Husband She marry'd a Woman in that place where she had retired her self Long she kept these things close till in the end one of her familiar acquaintance travelling by chance that way and seeing her to be so like that Woman he before knew he demanded if she were not Brother to such a man's Wiâ—e who had forsaken her Husbands House so many years since to whom upon promise of secrecy she revealed all that you have heard with the circumstances before rehearsed 7. I my self am an eye-witness saith Pliny that in Aâ—frick one Cossicius a Citizen of Tisdriâ—â— turned from a woman to be a man upon her very wedding day and was alive at that time that I wrote this Book 8. At Laodicea in Syria there was a woman called Aeteta who living with her Husband was turned into a man and her name thereupon altered into that of Aetetus Marinus was then President at Athens and Lucius Lamias and Aelianus Vetus Consuls at Rome Phlegon Trallianus the freed man of Adrian the Emperour saith he saw her 9. Q. Fabius Maximus and M. Claudius Marcellus being Consuls a woman of Spoletum became a man 10. It is manifest saith S. Augustine that in part of Campania during the Reign of Constantine the Emperour a Maid became a Man and was carried to Rome 11. At Rome in the time of Alexander a Maid upon her wedding day became a Man A woman of Cajeta that was married to a Fisherman as Antonius Panormitâ— related it to us saith Pontanus after â—ourteen years acquaintance with her Husband's Bed was changed from a woman to a man Upon which being ashamed of her self as one exposed to the derisions of men and women she altered also her course of life and entred into a Monastery in which he was known to us the rest of his life He was buried in the Church of S. Mary 13. There was a woman called Aemilia married to Antonius Spentas a Citizen of Ebulum who after twelve years marriage became a Male married a wife and when a controversie arose about the restoring of her Dowry by her Husband Masius Aquosa by the command of King Ferdinand ended the Suit adjudging her Dowry to be repayed unto her 14. Antonius Loquâ—neus affirmed unto me saith Pareus that he saw a man at Rhemes in an Inn which had a Swan â—or the sign of it Anno Dom. 1560 who was ever reputed a Female to the fourteenth year of her age at which time it fell out that wantoning in bed with a Maid that lay with her the signs of a man brake out of her which when her Parents were informed of by the interposition of Eâ—clesiastical Authority her name was chang'd from Ioan to Iohn and from thenceforth she wore the habit of a man 16. Some years since saith the same Paraeus when I was in the rotinue of Charles the Ninth at Vitriac in France there was shew'd me a man call'd Germanus Garuiâ—rus by some Germanus Maria who before having been a Woman was call'd Maria he was of an indifferent Stature a square habit of Body with a thick and red Beard He was taken for a Virgin unto the fifteenth year of his age at which time â—running after the Hogs he kept which had gotteâ— into the corn and leaping over a Ditch with great violence it came to pass that the membranâ— being broke the hidden evidences of a man suddenly descended and discovered themselves not without pain Returning to their Cottage with tears she complained to her Mother
divorce he had remarried and brought home his wife he was not ashamed to say openly That she was called to his Pulvinar a bed whereon the Statues of the gods are laid during the solemn Games exhibited to them And upon the day when he made a great Feast unto the people he was well pleased to hear their acclamations throughout the Amphitheatre in these words All happiness to our Lord and Lady When in the name of his Procurators he endited any formal Letters thus he began Our Lord and God thus commandeth Whereupon afterwards this custom was taken up that neither in the writing nor speech of any man he should be otherwise called 9. After Diocletian had settled the affairs of the East when he had subdued the Scythians Sarmatians the Alani and Basternae and had brought the necks of divers other Nations under the Roman yoke he then grown proud and puffed up with the glory of his Victories commanded that divine honours should be given to the Roman Emperours And therefore in the first place he himself would be adored as if there was in him some Celestial Majesty And whereas the Emperours before him were wont to give their hands to the Nobility to kiss and then raised them with their own hands to kiss them on the mouth and that the manner of the vulgar was to kiss the knees of their Emperour Diocletian sent forth his Edict that all men without distinction should prostrate kiss his feet in the mean time his Shooes or Sandals were set with pretious Stones and Pearls and enrich'd with Gold In like manner his garments yea his very Chariot was adorned that he might seem more august and be look'd upon by all men as a god 10. Lysander the Lacedemonian General having taken Athens as he had arrived to a greater power than any Grecian had hitherto obtained so his pride was greater than the power he had gotten For of the Athenian spoils he caused a brazen Statue of himself to be made which he erected at Delphos He was the first amongst all the Greeks that had Altars built to him by the Cities as a God and Sacrifices that were appointed in honour of him He was also the first of the Greeks who had Paeana's sung to him the Samians changed the name of their Temple of Iuno and called it Lysandria One of the Paeana's that were sung to him had this beginning Nos Graeciae inclytae ducem Lacedaemone ampla natum Celebremus Io Paean 11. C. Iulius Caesar had the honours of a continued Consulship the perpetual Dictatorship the Censor of manners had the titles of Emperour and father of his Country his Statue was erected amongst those of Kings his Seat in the Senate-house was of Gold and yet not content with these he suffered such further honours to be decreed to him as were beyond the condition of a man such as Temples and Altars a Priest a Couch and other Ensigns of Divinity 12. Empedocles the Philosopher had cured Panthias of Agrigentum of a deplorable disease and perceiving that thereupon he was reverenced in a manner as if he had been a god he became so enâ—lamed with a desire of immortality and glory and that he might be supposed to have been translated into the number of the gods that he cast himself head-long into the midst of the flames of Mount Aetna CHAP. VII Of unnatural Husbands to their Wives IT is reported of the cruel Beast called the Hyâ—na that by his exact imitation of a humane voice he trains the unwary Shepherds out of their Cottages till he hath brought them within the compass of his danger and then he falls upon them with all his fierceness and devours them Thus there are some bruitish and evil natured men who by pretences of Generosity Love and Vertue inveagle the hearts of poor innocent Virgins till they are become the masters of their Fortunes and Honour which done death it self is more desirable than that bitterness and indignity they are wont to treat them with 1. Anno Dom. 1652. in the Isle of Thanet in Kent lived one Adam Sprackling Esquire who about twenty years before had marryed Katherine the daughter of Sir Robert Leukner of Kent This Sprackling had a fair Estate but had exhausted it by drinking gaming c. At last Executions were out against him and he forced to keep home and make his house his Prison this filled him full of rage so that his Wife was constrained many times to lock her self â—rom him But upon Saturday night Dec. 11. 1652. as it seems he resolved to mischief her and being at ten a Clock at night in his Kitchin he sent for one Martin a poor old man out of his bed to him so that there were in the Kitchin Sprackling and his wife one Ewell and this Martin Sprackling commanded Martin to bind Ewells legs which the one did and the other suffered thinking it had only been a ranting humour of their Master Then began he to rage against his wife who sat quietly by and though she gave him none but loving and sweet words yet he drew his Dagger and struck her over the face with it which she bore patiently though she was hurt in the Jaw He still continuing to rage at her she weary and in great fear rose up and went to the door her Husband followed her with a Chopping-knife in his hand with which he struck at her wrist and cut the bone in sunder so that her hand hung down only by the sinews and skin no help was near Ewell was bound and Martin being old and weak durst not interpose fearing his own life only prayed his Mistress to stay and be quiet hoping all should be well and so getting a Napkin bound up her hand with it After this towards morning still railing and raging at his wife he dashed her on the forehead with the Iron Cleaver whereupon she fell down bleeding but recovering her self on her knees she cried and prayed unto God for the pardon of her own and her husbands sins praying God to forgive him as she did but as she was thus praying her bloody husband chopt her head into the midst of the very brains so that she fell down and died immediately Then did he kill six Dogs four of which he threw by his wife and after she was dead chopping her twice into the leggs compelled Martin to wash Ewells face with her blood himself also dipping linnen in her blood washed Martin's face and bloodied his own face with it For all which being apprehended and carried to Sandwich layle at the Sessions following which were April 22. 1653. he was arraigned condemned and hanged on the 27 day dying very desperately and not suffering any either Ministers or Gentlemen to speak with him after his condemnation 2. Elavius or Phaulius a Sooth-sayer had a wife who used secretly to drink wine and as oft as she was therein surprized and taken in the manner by her husband
and oyl and though they run sixty miles together yet they no way incorporate but the Danow is clear and pure as a well while the Sava that runs along with it is as troubled as a street channel After the manner of these Rivers it is with some brethren though bred up together and near enough each other in respect of their bodies yet their minds have been as distant from each other as the Poles are which when opportunity hath served they have shewed in the effects of an implacable hatred 1. Sir George Sonds of Kent had lately two Sons grown up to that age wherein he might have expected most comfort from them but in the year 1655. the younger of them named Freeman Sonds having no apparent cause or provocation either from his Father or Brother did in a most inhumane and butcherly manner murder the elder as he lay sleeping by him in his bed he clave his head and brains with a Cleaver and although this was his mortal wound yet perceiving him to groan and sigh as one approaching unto death he stabbed him with a Stilletto seven or eight times in and about the heart as the sorrowful Father witnesseth in his Printed narrative of the whole and when he had finished this black and bloody tragedy he went to his aged Father then in bed and told him of it rather glorying in it than expressing any repentance for it Being apprehended he was presently after condemned at Maydstone Assizes and accordingly executed 2. Eteocles was the Son of Oedipus by his own Mother Iocasta their Father the King of Thebes had ordered it that Eteocles and his other Son Polynices after his departure should reign yearly by course But Eteocles after his year was expired would not suffer his Brother to succeed whereupon Polynices being aided by Tydeus and Adrastus made war upon his Brother they meeting together with their forces in the field were slain by each other in the battle their dead bodies were also burned together when the flame parted it self as if it seemed to declare such a deadly hatred betwixt them that as their minds being alive so neither could their bodies being dead agree This their antipathy was propagated to their posterity breaking out into many outragious and bloody wars Unto such ends doth the providence of God often bring an incestuous brood that others may be instructed thereby 3. Upon the death of Selymus the second which happened Anno 1582. Amurath the third succeeded in the Turkish Empire at his entrance upon which he caused his five Brothers Mustapha Solyman Abdala Osman and Sianger without all pity or commiseration to be strangled in his presence and gave order that they should be buried with his dead Father an ordinary thing with Mahometan Princes who to secure to themselves the Empire without rivalship doubt not to pollute their hands with the blood of their nearest relations It is said of this Amurath when he saw the fatal bow-string put about the neck of his younger Brother that he was seen to weep but it seems they were Crocodiles tears for he held firm to his bloody purpose 4. Petrus King of Spain having reigned some time with great cruelty purpling his hands in the blood of his Nobles At last his Brother Henry took up arms against him Anno Dom. 1369. He had hired auxiliary forces out of France against Petrus and having met him in the field a bloody battle was fought agreeable to the pertinacious hatred of the two Brethren The victory resting on the side of Henry and his Brother made prisoner being brought before him Petrus with a Dagger wounded Henry in the face the other endeavouring to repay it with interest both grapled together having thrown each other to the ground But others coming in to the help of Henry he quickly became the superiour and having slain his Brother with many wounds he succeeded in his Kingdom 5. Extream was the hatred that was betwixt Bassianus and Geta the two sons of Severus the Emperour which soon betrayed it self upon the death of their Father they could not agree about the partage of the Empire nor did they omit any means whereby they might supplant each other they endeavoured to bribe each others Cooks and Butlers to poyson their Masters but when both were too watchful to be thus circumvented at last Bassianus grew impatient and burning with ambition to enjoy the Rule alone he set upon his Brother Geta gave him a deadly wound and shed his blood in the lap of Iulia their Mother and having executed this villany threw himself amongst the souldiers told them that he had with difficulty saved his life from the malice of his Brother and having parted amongst them all that Severus his Father had been eighteen years heaping up he was by them confirmed in the Empire 6. Anno 1080. Boleslaus King of Poland having slain his Brother S. Stanislaus Bishop of Cracovia at the very Altar as he was in the celebration of the Mass he suddenly fell into a frenzy and such a degree of madness that he laid violent hands upon himself It is said of this King that he grew into a vehement hatred of the Bishop his Brother upon the account of that freedom he took in reproving him for those horrible crimes he frequently committed 7. Tosto and Harold the sons of Earl Godwin falling out Tosto secretly hyed himself into the Marches of Wales and near the City of Hereford at Portaslith where Harold had a house then in preparation to entertain the King he slew all his Brothers servants and cutting them piece-meal into gobbets some of their limbs he salted and cast the rest into the vessels of Meath and Wine sending his Brother word that he had furnished him with powdred meats against the Kings coming thither 8. Robert Duke of Normandy was chosen King of Ierusalem but refused that in hopes to have England but it is observed that he never prospered after his Brother Rufus got the Crown and when he was dead Henry Beauclerke his youngest Brother ascended the throne and conquered Normandy on the Vigil of St. Michael he also put out the eyes of Robert his Brother and kept him prisoner in Cardiff Castle twenty six years where for grief conceived at the putting on of a new Robe too little for the King and therefore sent to the Duke to wear he grew weary of his life as disdaining to be mocked with his Brothers cast Cloaths and cursing the time of his unfortunate nativity refused thenceforth to take any sustenance and so pined himself to death 9. Alphonsus Diazius a Popish Spaniard hearing that Iohn Diazius his Brother had renounced Popery and was become a professor of the Reformed Religion fell into so deep a hatred of him that like another Cain he slew his Brother with his own hands for which he was not only not punished but highly applauded by the Romanists for his heroical atchievement but he
according to his sentence 7. Cicero flying for his life was pursued by Herennius and Popilius Lena this latter at the request of M. Caelius he defended with equal care and eloquence and from a hazardous and doubtful cause sent him home in safety This Popilius afterwards not provoked by Cicero in word or deed of his own accord asked Antonius to be sent after Cicero then proscribed to kill him Having obtained licence for this detestable employment with great joy he speeded to Cajeta and there commands that person to stretch out his throat who was not to mention his dignity the Author of his safety and in private to be entertained by him with little less than veneration There did he with great unconcernedness cut off the head of the Roman Eloquence and the renowned right-hand of peace With that burden he returned to the City nor while he was laden with that execrable portage did it ever come into his thoughts that he carried in his Arms that head which had heretofore pleaded for the safety of his 8. Parmenio had served with great fidelity Philip the father of Alexander as well as himself for whom he had first opened the way into Asia He had depressed Attalus the Kings enenemy he had alwaies and in all hazards the leading of the Kings Vanguard he was no less prudent in counsel than fortunate in all attempts a man beloved of the men of War and to say the truth that had made the purchase for the King of the Empire of the East and of all the glory and fame he had After he had lost two of his sons in the Kings Wars Hector and Nicanor and the other lost in torments upon a suspicion of Treason This great Parmenio Alexander resolved to deprive of life by the hands of murderers without so much as acquainting him with the cause and would choose out no other to expedite this unworthy business but the greatest of Parmenio's friends which was Polydamus whom he trusted most and loved best and would alwaies have to stand at his side in every fight He and Cleander dispatched this great man as he was reading the Kings Letter in his Garden in Media So fell Parmenio who had performed many notable things without the King but the King without him did never effect any thing worthy of praise 9. Philip King of Macedon had sent one of his Court to Sea to dispatch something he had given him in command but a storm came and he was shipwrack'd but saved by one that lived there about the Shore in a little Boat wherein he was taken up He was brought to his Farm and there entertained with all civility and humanity and at thirty daies end dismissed by him and furnished with somewhat to bear his charges At his return he tells the King of his Wrack and dangers but nothing of the benefits he had received The King told him he would not be unmindful of his fidelity and dangers undergone in his behalf He taking the occasion told the King he had observed a little Farm on the Snore and besought him he would bestow that on him as a monument of his escape and reward of his Service The King orders Pausanias the Governour to assign him the Farm to be possessed by him The poor man being thus turned out applied himself to the King told him what humanity he had treated the Courtier with and what ungrateful injury he had returned him in lieu of it The King upon hearing of the Cause in great anger commanded the Courtier presently to be seised and to be branded in the sorehead with these Letters Hospes ingratus The ungrateful Guest restoring the Farm to its proper owner 10. When the Enmity brake out betwixt Caesar and Pompey Marcellinus a Senatour and one of them whom Pompey had raised estranged himself so far from his party unto that of Caesars that he spake many things in Senate against Pompey who thus took him up Art thou not ashamed Marcellinus to speak evil of him through whose bounty of a mute thou art become eloquent and of one half starved art brought to such a plenty as that thou art not able to â—orbear vomiting Notably taxing his ingratitude who had attained to all his Dignity Authority and Eloquence through his favour and yet abused them all against him 11. Henry Keeble Lord Major of London 1511. besides other Benefactions in his life-time rebuilded Aldermary Church run to very ruines and bequeathed at his death one thousand pounds for the finishing of it yet within sixty years after his bones were unkindly yea inhumanely cast out of the Vault wherein they were buried his Monument plucked down for some wealthy Person of the present times to be buried therein Upon which occasion saith Dr. Fuller I could not but rub up my old Poetry which is this Fuller to the Church Vngrateful Church o'rerun with rust Lately bury'd in the Dust Vtterly thou hadst been lost If not preserv'd by Keeble's cost A thousand pounds might it not buy Six foot in length for him to lye But outed of his quiet Tomb For later Corpse he must make room Tell me where his dust is cast Though 't be late yet now at last All his bones with scorn ejected I will see them recollected Who fain my self would Kinsman prove To all that did Gods Temples love The Churches Answer Alas my innocence excuse My Wardens they did me abuse Whose Avarice his Ashes sold That goodness might give place to gold As for his Reliques all the Town They are scatt'red up and down Seest a Church repaired well There a sprinkling of them sell. Seest a new Church lately built Thicker there his Ashes spilt Oh that all the Land throughout Keeble's dust wâ—re thrown about Places scatt'red with that sâ—ed Would a crop of Churches breed 12. Anno 1565. upon the fifth of February one Paulus Sutor of the Village of Breswâ—il near the City of Basil came into the house of Andreas Hager a Bookseller he was then old and sick and had been the others Godfather at the Font and performed to him all the good offices that could be expected from a father Being entred his house he told him he was come to visit him as one that esteemed him as his father But as soon as the Maid was gone out of the Parlor that attended upon the sick man he caught up a hammer gave him some blows and then thrust him through with his knife As soon as the Maid returned with the same fury he did the like to her and then sâ—ising the Keys he searched for the prey intended he found eight pieces of plate which afterwards in want of money he pawned to a Priest of St. Blasms who suspecting the man sent the plate to the Senate at Basil by which means the Author of the detestable murder was known he was searched after taken at the Village of Hagenstall brought prisoner to Basil where he had his legs and arms broken
being once all together one of them stole from his Fellows and finding this Staff at the Door accused his Sister to his Father of adultery whereof by discovery of the truth she was cleared 9. Bassianus Caracalla the Emperour after he had slain the Son of Iulia his Mother-in-law did also take her to his Wife upon this occasion Iulia was a most beautiful woman and she one day as if through negligence or accident having discovered a great part of her body naked to the eyes of her Son Bassianus sighing said thereupon I would if I might Iulia replyed If you please you may know you not that you are Emperour and that it is your part to give and not to receive Laws Hearing this he publickly marryed her and kept her as his Wife Not long after being slain by the hand of Martialis Macrinus having burnt his body sent the reliques thereof in an Vrn to Iulia his Wife and Mother then at Antioch in Syria who casting her self upon the Urn slew her self and this was the end of this incestuous copulation 10. Artaxerxes Mnemon King of Persia fell in love with his own Daughter a beautiful Virgin called Atossa which his own Mother Parysatis perceiving perswaded him to marry her and so to take her for his Wife and though the Persian Laws forbad such incestuous Marriages yet by the counsel of his wicked Mother and his own lust he had her for his Wife after which time he never prospered in any thing he took in hand 11. Lucretia the Daughter of Pope Alexander the sixth not only lay with the Pope her Father but also with her Bother the Duke of Candy which Duke was also slain by Caesar Borgia for being his Rival in his Sisters Bed Of this Lucretia is this Epitaph extant Hic jacet in tumulo Lucretia nomine sed re Thais Alexandri Filia Sponsa Nurus Here Lucrece lies a Thais in her life Pope Sixtus Daughter Daughter-in-law and Wife 12. When we came to the Court of the King of Queda we found that with a great deal of Pomp excellent Musick Dancing and largess to the poor he was solemnizing the Funerals of his Father whom he himself had stabbed on purpose to marry his own Mother after he had already gotten her with Child As a remedy in these evils he made proclamation that on pain of a most rigorous death no person whatsoever should be so daring as to speak a word of that which had passed and it was told us how for that cause he had already put to death divers principal personages of his Kingdom and a number of Merchants CHAP. LII Of such as have been warned of their approaching death who yet were not able to avoid it WHen Alexander the Great then in India had been told by an Oracle that he should dye by Poyson at Babylon and that within the compass of the next eight months he was importunate to know further who was the person that should give him that Poyson But he had no other answer than this That the Fates cannot be deceived So it seems for when the appointed time is come 't is easie to observe how some push on themselves by a wilful and presumptuous foolhardiness and to others their very caution and circumspection hath proved as fatal to them as any other thing 1. Advâ—rtisements were come from all parts both within and without the Realm from Spain Rome Lorrain and Savoy to give notice to Henry of Lorrain Duke of Guise in the reign of Henry the third of France that a bloody catastrophe would dissolve that assembly he had then occasioned of the Estates The Almanacks had well observed it it was generally bruited in the Estates that the execution should be on St. Thomas day the very Eve before the Dukes death the Duke himself sitting down to Dinner found a scrole under his Napkin advertising him of a secret ambush of the King and his but he writ underneath with his own hand They dare not and threw it under the Tabâ—e seeing therefore that no warning would abate his confidence nor awake his security his murder was performed on this manner Upon December 23. 1588. the King assembles his Council having before prepared seven of his Gentlemen that were near his person to execute his will The Duke of Guise came and attending the beginning of the Council sends for an Handkerchief Pericart his Secretary not daring to commit this new advertisement to any mans report tyes a note to one of the corners thereof saying Come forth and save your self else you are but a dead man But Larchant the Captain of the Kings Guard staid the Page that carried it and caused another to be given to him by St. Prix the chief Groom of the Kings Chamber The spirit of man doth often prophesie the mischief that doth pursue him the Duke in the Council feels strange alterations and extraordinary distemperatures and amidst his distrust a great fainting of his heart St. Prix presents unto him some Prunes of Brignolles and Raysins of the Sun he eats and thereupon the King calls him into his Cabinet by Revol one of the Secretaries of State as it were to confer with him about some secret of importance the Duke leaves the Council to pass into the Cabinet and as he lift up the Tapestry with one hand to enter they charge him with Swords Daggers and Partisanes and so he was slain 2. Certain it is that some good while before the Duke of Buckinghams death by the Knife of Felton Sir Clement Throckmorton a Gentleman then living advised him to wear a privy Coat whâ—se Council the Duke received very kindly but gave him this answer That against any popular fury a Shirt of Male would be but a silly defence and as for any single mans assault he took hiâ—self to be in no danger so dark is destiny 3. The night before King William the second was killed a certain Monk dreamed that he saw the King gnaw the Image of Christ cruciâ—ied with his teeth and that as he was about to bite away the legs of the same Image Christ with his feet spurned him down to the ground and that as he lay on the earth there came out of his mouth a flame of fire with abundance of smoak this being related to the King by Robert Fitz Mammon he made a jest of it saying This Monk would sain have something for his dream go give him an hundred Shillings but bid him look that he dream more auspicious dreams hereafter Also the same night the King himself dreamed that the veins of his arms were broken and that the blood issued out in great abundance and many other like passages there were by which it seems he had Friends somewhere as well as Iulius Caesar that did all they could to give him warning but that as Caesars to his malus Genius would not suffer him to take it for King William notwithstanding forewarned by many signs
others witnessed the applause they gave him by the sighs that parted from them and others again cried out with the Poet Ingenium coeleste suis velocius annis Surgit ingratae fert malè damna morae A Heav'n-born wit preventing his own years Is rise and loss by base delayes he fears 11. Claudius Rufus hath left in writing that many years agone in those daies when Caius Sulpitius and Licinius Stolo were Consuls there Reigned a great Pestilence at Rome such a mortality as consumed all the Stage-players indifferently one with another Whereupon at their instant prayer and request there repaired out of Tuscany to Rome many excellent and singular Actors in this kind amongst whom he who was of greatest reputation and had carried the name longest in all Theatres for his rare gift and dexterity that way was called Hister of whose name all other afterwards were called Histriones 12. Astydamas the son of Morsymus was a Player so noted in his time that the people decreed he should have a Statue erected in the Theatre in honour of him more especially for that in the acting of Parthenopaeus he had performed it with that dexterity and grace as merited an applause from them all This Player therefore framed a Title and Inscription for his own Statue In which he had not been over-sparing in his own praises this Title he read amongst the people that in case it should be approved by them it might be disposed with his Statue but the people were so offended with the man for being so very lavish in his own praises that by general vote it was decreed That so arrogant a Title as that should not be admitted Suidas saies This Title was to this purpose Would I had liv'd with them or they with me Who for sweet speaking so renowned be I then no doubt had gain'd the chiefest praise This they Envy who can no Envy raise CHAP. XV. Of men notably practised in Swimming and how long some have continued under Water CUstom and long practise of any thing doth seem to divest man of his own nature and to adopt another instead thereof aâ— we may perceive upon divers occasions and particularly in respect of what follows 1. Spunges are gathered from the sides of Rocks fifteen fathom under water about the bottom of the Streights of Gibraltar The people that get them are so trained up in diving from their childhood that they can endure to remain under water such a continuance of time as if it was their own proper element 2. Amongst those remarkables which have been in our time we knew of late a man not of any generous extraction but of the meaner sort who was a Mariner at some times for a stipend and at other times got his living by fishing This man was known in a sharp season of the year and some times in a troubled Sea in one day to have swimmed from Aenaria an Island amongst the Pithecusae over-against Naples as far as to Prochytas which is almost â—ifty Furlongs and at some times to have returned in one and the same day When this seemed unto all men utterly incredible he voluntarily made offer of himself to perform it multitudes came to behold this sight and when at Aenaria he had leaped into the Sea a Boat that followed him on purpose observed him swimming at some distance before them that were in it till such time as he came to shore at Prochyta in safety 3. Historians do much admire the valour and strength of Sertorius his first Warfare was under Scipio against the Cimbrians who had passed over into Gaul in this War when a Party of the Romans had fought unfortunately it happened that Sertorius was grievously wounded and had lost his Horse in this case with his Breast-plate upon him and his Shield and arms in his hand he threw himself into the Rhodamus a swift River and striving against the adverse Waves he swam over it and not without great admiration of the enemy he got over in safety to their own Army on the other side 4. Scaevola a man of admirable valour having alone defended a Rock all the day from the whole Forces of the Britains when night came on threw himself into the Sea and laden with a heavy Shield and two Coats of Mail by swimming he gat safe unto Caesar who having publickly applauded him of a private Souldier made him a Centurion 5. Those few people that dwell in the Islands of Lar and Cailon are almost transformed into the nature of Fishes so excellent swimmers are they that seeing a Vessel on the Seas though stormy and tempestuous they will swim to it though it be distant from them five or six miles and this only to beg an Alms their own food being nothing but Fish and they very poor 6. They fish for Pearl in the South Sea near Panama and in the North Sea in divers places as in the Isle Margareta towards the coast of Paria where the Oysters feed upon Cubuca The Pearls of greater price are called Quilates or Carats For this fishing they choose the best winded men and such as can contain longest under water At Barlovento Cula and Hispaniola I have seen them stay three quarters of an hour under water and I was told they have had some who have continued the whole hour The General of Margaita keeps many of these men who are Slaves to him called Boâ—ze one of these Pearls was brought to the King of Spain as big as a Pidgeons egge valued at 14000. Ducats by some at 100000. and it was called a Peregrina 7. The Grecians did use to breed up their children with liberal education they were well instructed in Wrastling and also were taught to swim well This was the reason that very few of the Greeks perished in the Naval fight with Xerxes at Salamine for being well skilled in swimming when any of their Ships were broken or in danger of sinking they quit them and leaping into the Sea swam safely to Salamine on the otherside the Persians being generally unpractised herein for the most part perished in the Sea 8. Henry the third the Emperour of the Romans in revenge of the death of Peter King of Hungary besieged Pisonium It was here that a certain Hungarian his name was Zothmundus an incomparable swimmer was sent in the dead of the night by the Governour to get by swimming privily under the enemies Ships this he did and with a small Wimble or Piercer he so bored them in the bottom of the Keel that about two and three a clock in the morning divers of them began to sink By this Artifice the Forces of the Germans were so broken and impaired that they were constrained to break up the Siege and to depart 9. Alphonsus King of Sicily and Arragon besieged the City of Bonifacia a Colony of the Genowayes in the Island of Corsica he had there more especially one vast Ship
were sung in honour of Christ and instead thereof ordered some in honour of himself to be sung in Churches by women In the Synod of Antioch he was convicted by Malchion a Presbyter and condemned Anno 273. This Heresie was also embraced by Photinus a Galatian Bishop of Syrmium and propagated by him Anno 323. and thence they took the name of Photinians 10. Manes a Persian by birth and a Servant by condition was father of the Manichaean Sect he was flea'd alive for poysoning the King of Persia's son yet his wicked opinions raged in the World for three hundred and forty years after his death He held two principles or Gods one good one bad condemned eating of flesh eggs and milk held that God had members and was substantially in every thing how base soever but was separate from them by Christs coming and the elect Manichaeans He rejected the Old Testament and curtailed the New by excluding Christs Genealogy He held Christ was the Serpent which deceived our first Parents denied the divinity and humanity of Christ saying That he feigned to die and rise again and that it was really the Devil who truely was Crucified He denied the Resurrection and held Transmigration He affirmed that he was the Comforter whom Christ promised to send they Worshipped the Sun and Moon and other Idols They condemned Marriages and permitted promiscuous copulation they rejected Baptism as needless and all works of Charity they taught that our will to sin is natural and not acquired by the Fall that sin is a substance and not a quality communicated from Parents to Children they say they cannot sin deny the last Judgement and affirm that their souls shall be taken up into the Globe of the Moon 11. Arrius whence sprang the Arrians was a Libyan by birth by profession a Presbyter of Alexandria his Heresie brake out two hundred and ninety years after Christ and over-ran a great part of the Christian World They held Christ to be a Creature that he had a mans body but no humane soul the divinity supplying the room thereof they also held the Holy Ghost a Creature proceeding from a creature that is Christ their Doxology was Glory be to the Father by the Son in the Holy Ghost they re-baptized the Orthodox Christians This Heresie was condemned by the Council of Nice under Constantine And Arrius himself in the midst of his Pomp seised with a Dysentery voided his Guts in the draught and so died 12. Macedonius Bishop of Constantinople gave name to the Macedonians they held that the Holy Ghost was a creature and the servant of God and that by the Holy Spirit was meant only a power created by God and communicated to the creatures This Heresie sprung up or rather was stiffly maintained under Constantius the son of Constantine three hundred and twelve years after Christ and was condemn'd in the second Oecumenical Council at Constantinople under Theodosius the Great The Hereticks were called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Macedonius himself being deprived by the Arrian Bishops died private at Pylas 13. The Aerians so called from Aerius the Presbyter who lived under Valentinian the first three hundred and forty years after Christ he held that there was no difference betwixt a Bishop and a Presbyter that Bishops could not ordain that there should be no set or Anniversary Fasts and they admitted none to their communion but such as were continent and had renounced the World they were also called Syllabici as standing captiously upon words and syllables The occasion of his maintaining his Heresie was his resentment that Eustathius was preferred before him to the Bishoprick 10. Florinus or Florianus a Roman Presbyter lived under Commodus the Roman Emperour one hundred fifty three years after Christ hence came the Floriani they held that God made evil and was the Author of sin whereas Moses tells us that all things which he made were very good They retained also the Jewish manner of keeping Easter and their other Ceremonies 15. Lucifer Bishop of Caralitanum in Sardinia gave name to the Luciferians he lived under Iulian the Apostate three hundred thirty three years after Christ. He taught that this World was made by the Devil that mens souls are corporeal and have their being by propagation or traduction they denied to the Clergy that fell any place for repentance neither did they restore Bishops or inferiour Clarks to their dignities if they fell into Heresie though they afterwards repented 16. Tertullianus that famous Lawyer and Divine was the leader of the Tertullianists he lived under Severus the Emperour about one hundred and seventy years after Christ. Being Excommunicated by the Roman Clergy as a Montanist he fell into these heretical Tenets That God was corporeal but without delineation of members that mens souls were not only corporeal but also distinguish'd into members and have corporeal dimensions and increase and decrease with the body that the original of souls is by traduction that souls of wicked men after death are converted into Devils that the Virgin Mary after Christ's birth did marry once they bragged much of the Paraclete or Spirit which they said was poured on them in greater measure than on the Apostles they condemned War amongst Christians and rejected second Marriages as no better than Adultery 17. Nestorius born in Germany and by fraud made Patriarch of Constantinople was the head of the Nestorians he broached his Heresie under Theodosius the younger four hundred years after Christ he taught that in Christ were two distinct Persons the Son of God and the Son of Mary that the Son of God in Christ's Baptism descended into the son of Mary and dwelt there as a lodger in a House he made the humanity of Christ equal with his divinity and so confounded their properties and operations A great part of the Eastern Bishops were of his perswasion his Heresie was condemned in the Council of Ephesus under Theodosius the younger in which Cyrill Bishop of Alexandria was President and the Author Nestorius deposed and banished into the Thebean Desarts where his blasphemous Tongue was eaten out with Worms Zeno the Emperour razed to the ground the School in Edessa called Persica where the Nestorian Heresie was taught 18. Eutyches Abbot of Constantinople from whence came the Eutychians in the year after Christ 413. set forth his Heresie holding opinions quite contrary to Nestorius to wit That Christ before the Union had two distinct natures but after the Union only one to wit the divinity which swallowed up the humanity so confounding the properties of the two natures affirming That the divine nature suffered and died and that God the Word did not take from the Virgin humane nature This Heresie condemned first in a Provincial Synod at Constantinople was set up again by Dioscurus Bishop of Alexandria at last condemned in the General Council of Chalcedon under Marcian the Emperour 19. Eunomius Bishop of Cyzicum embraced the
amongst them that was stirred up by vision whose name was Cangius and it was on this manner There appeared to him in a dream a certain person in Armour sitting upon a white Horse who thus spake to him Cangius it is the will of the Eternal God that thou shortly shalt be the King and Ruler of the Tartars that are called Malgotz thou shalt free them from that servitude under which they have long groaned and the neighbour Nations shall be subjected to them Cangius in the morning before the seven Princes and Elders of the Malgotz rehearses what he had dreamed which they all at the first looked upon as ridiculous but the next night all of them in their sleep seemed to behold the same person he had told them of and to hear him commanding them to obey Cangius Whereupon summoning all the people together they commanded them the same and the Princes themselves in the first place took the Oath of Allegiance to him and intituled him the first Emperour in their language Chan which signifies King or Emperour All such as succeeded him were aâ—ter called by the same name of Chan and were of great Fame and Power This Emperour freed his people subdued Georgia and the greater Armenia and afterwards wasted Polonia and Hungary 5. Antigonus dreamed that he had sowed Gold in a large and wide field that the seed sprang up flourished and grew ripe but that streight after he saw all this golden harvest was reaped and nothing left but the worthless stubble and stalks and then he seemed to hear a voice that Mithridates was fled into the Euxine Pontus carrying along with him all the golden harvest This Mithridates was descended of the Persian Magi and was at this time in the Retinue of this Antigonus King of Macedonia his Country of Persia being conquered and his own Fortunes ruined in that of the publick The dream was not obscure neither yet the signification of it The King therefore being awaked and exceedingly terrified resolves to cut off Mithridates and communicates the matter with his own Son Demetrius exacting of him a previous oath for his silence Demetrius was the Friend of Mithridates as being of the same age and by accident he encounters him as he came from the King The young Prince pities his Friend and would willingly assist him but he is restrained by the reverence of his oath Well he takes him aside and with the point of his Spear writes in the sand Fly Mithridates which he looking upon and admonished at once with those words and the countenance of Demetrius he privily flies into Cappadocia and not long after founded the famous and potent Kingdom of Pontus which continued from this man to the eighth descent that other Mithridates being very difficulty overthrown by all the Power and Forces of the Romans 6. The night before the Battel at Philippi Artorius or as others M. Antonius Musa Physician to Octavianus had a dream wherein he thought he saw Minerva who commanded him to tell Octavianus that though he was very sick he should not therefore decline his being present at the Battel which when Caesar understood he commanded himself to be carried in his Litter to the Army where he had not long remained before his Tents were seised upon by Brutus and himself also had been had he not so timely removed 7. Quintus Catulus a noble Roman saw as he thought in his depth of rest Iupiter delivering into the hand of a child the Ensign of the Roman People and the next night after he saw the same child hug'd in the bosome of the same God Whom Catulus offering to pluck from thence Iupiter charged him to lay no violent hands on him who was born for the Weal and preservation of the Roman Empire The very next morning when Q. Catulus espy'd by chance in the street Octavianus then a child afterwards Augustus Caesar and perceiving him to be the same he ran unto him and with a loud acclamation said Yes this is he whom the last night I beheld hug'd in the bosome of Iupiter 8. Iulius Caesar was excited to large hopes this way for he dreamed that he had carnal knowledge of his Mother and being confounded with the uncouthness of it he was told by the Interpreters that the Empire of the World was thereby presaged unto him for the Mother which he beheld subject unto him was no other than that of the Earth which is the common Parent of all men 9. Arlotte the Mother of William the Conquerour being great with him had a dream like that of Mandane the Mother of Cyrus the first Persian Monarch namely that her bowels were extended and dilated over all Normandy and England 10. Whilst I lived at Prague saith an English Gentleman and one night had sate up very late drinking at a Feast early in the morning the Sun-beams glancing on my face as I lay in my bed I dreamed that a shadow passing by told me that father was dead At which awaking all in a sweat and affected with this dream I rose and wrote the day and hour and all circumstances thereof in a Paper-book which Book with many other things I put into a Barrel and sent it from Prague to Stode thence to be conveyed into England And now being at Nuremberg a Merchant of a noble Family well acquainted with me and my Relations arrived there who told me that my father dyed some two months past I list not to write any lies but that which I write is as true as strange when I returned into England some four years after I would not open the Barrel I sent from Prague nor look into the Paper-book in which I had written this dream till I had called my Sisters and some other Friends to be witnesses where my self and they were astonished to see my written dream answer the very day of my fathers death 11. The same Gentleman saith thus also I may lawfully swear that which my Kinsmen have heard witnessed by my Brother Henry whilst he lived that in my youth at Cambridge I had the like dream of my mothers death where my Brother Henry lying with me early in the morning I dreamed that my mother passed by with a sad countenance and told me that she could not come to my Commencement I being within five months to proceed Master of Arts and she having promised at that time to come to Cambridge when I related this dream to my Brother both of us awaking together in a sweat he protested to me that he had dreamed the very same and when we had not the least knowledge of our mothers sickness neither in our youthful affections were any whit affected with the strangeness of this dream yet the next Carrier brought us word of our mothers death 12. Doctor Ioseph Hall then Bishop of Exeter since of Norwich speaking of the good offices which Angels do to Gods servants Of this kind saith he was that
that City and all its Inhabitants and was more exactly obeyed in all his orders and commands than ever Monarch had the glory to be in his own Kingdom This most astonishing revolution in the City of Naples began upon Sunday the seventh of Iuly An. 1647. and ended with the death of Masaniello which was upon Iuly the 16. 1647 the tenth day from its beginning 3. The Lord Cromwel was born at Putney a Village in Surrey near the Thames-side Son to a Smith after whose decease his Mother was married to a Sheer-man This young Cromwel for the pregnancy of his wit was first entertained by Cardinal Wolsey and by him employed in many great Affairs The Cardinal falling the King that was Henry the Eighth took him to his service and finding his great abilities advanced him by degrees to these Dignities Master of the Kings Jewel-house and of the Kings Privy Council Secretary to the King and Master of the Rolls Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal made Lord Cromwel and Vicar General under the King over all the Spirituality created Earl of Essex and at last Lord High Chancellor of England 4. In the Reign of King Henry the Second one Nicholas Breakspear born at St. Albans or as others write at Langley in Hartfordshire being a Bond-man of that Abbey and therefore not allowed to be a Monk there went beyond Sea where he so profited in Learning that the Pope made him first Bishop of Alba and afterwards Cardinal and sent him as his Legate to the Norways where he reduced that Nation from Paganism to Christianity and returning back to Rome was chosen Pope by the name of Adrian the Fourth 5. The War betwixt the Chineses and Tartars began in the year 1206. which lasting 77 years at last the Tartars in the year 1288. having totally subdued all that mighty Empire extinguished the Imperial Family of the Sunga's and erected a new Royal Family which they called Iuena of which Tartarian Race nine Emperours by descent ruled the Kingdom of China for the space of 70 years in peace and quietness In this tract of time the Tartars declining from their ancient vigor and having their warlike Spirits softned by the pleasures and delights of the Country there was a contemptible person called Chu he was Servant to one of those that were deputed to offer Sacrifice to their Idols a Native of China and this man presumed to rebel against them At the first he acted the part of a Thief or High way man and being of a generous nature bold quick of hand and wit he gathered such a multitude in a short time that they made up the body of a great Army then deposing the person of a Thief he became a General set upon the Tartars and fought many Battels with them with such fortune and success that in the year 1368. he drove them quite out of the Empire of China receiving for so illustrious an action the whole Empire of China as a worthy reward of his Heroical Exploits It was he that first erected the Imperial Family of the Taminges and was the first Emperour of that Race stiling himself by the name of Hunguuâ— which is the famous Warriour He placed his Court at Nanking near the great River of Kiang and having speedily ordered and established that Empire he made an irruption into Tartary it self and so followed the course of his Victories that he defeated them several times wasted their Territories and finally brought the Oriental Tartars to such streights as he forced them to lay down their Arms to pay Tribute and to beg an inglorious Peace 6. Sinan that great Bassa in the Court of Selymus the First was born of base Parentage as he being a child was sleeping in the shade he had his Genitals bitten off by a Sow The Turkish Officers which usually provided young Boys for the service of the Grand Signior being in Epirus for that was Sinans Country and hearing of this so extraordinary an Eunuch took him amongst others with them to the Court where under Mahomet the Great Bajazet the Second and his Son Selymus he so exceedingly thrived that he was made the chief Bassa of the Court and so well deserved it that he was accounted Selymus his right hand and was indeed the man to whose Valour especially the Turks owe their Kingdom of Egypt in which Kingdom then not fully setled he was also slain 7. Eumenes being a poor Carriers Son attained to such an ability in the Art of War that after the death of Alexander the Great under whom he served he seised on the Provinces of Cappadoâ—ia and Paphlagonia and siding though a Stranger to Macedon with Olympias and the Blood Royal against the Greek Captains he vanquished and slew Craterus and divers times drove Antigonus afterwards Lord of Asia out of the field but being by his own Souldiers betrayed he was by them delivered to Antigonus and by him slain 8. When Alexander the Great had taken the City of Tyre he permitted Ephestion his chief Favourite to chuse whom he would to be King there Ephestion proffered it to him with whom he had lodged a rich and honourable person but he refused it as not touching the blood of their Kings in any degree Then being asked by Ephestion if he knew any of the Royal Lineage yet living he told him there was a wise and honest man remaining but that he was in extremity of poverty Ephestion went to him forthwith with the Royal Robes and sound him in a Garden lading water out of a pit for a little money and in ragged apparel Ephestion tells him the intent of his coming cloaths him in all the Royal Ornaments and brings him into the Forum where the people were convented and delivers him the Soveraignty over them The people chearfully accepted of a person that was so accidentally and wonderfully found out to rule over them His name was Abdolonymus or as others Ballonymus 9. Licungzus at first a common Thief then a Captain of a Troop of Robbers by degrees arrived to that force and power in China that he took all the Province of Honan subjected the Province of Xensi and gave Sigan the Metropolis of it as a prey to his Souldiers These and many other his fortunate Exploits caused him to take the name of King with the addition of Xungvan which sounds as much as Licungzus the prosperous and at last thinking himself secure of the Empire he took the name of Emperour upon him and stiled the Family wherein he thought to establish this Dignity Thienxunam as much as to say obedient to Heaven By which he endeavoured to perswade the Souldiers and people that it was by the disposition of the Heavens that he should reign He besieged Peking the Metropolis of all China and with his victorious Army he entred and took it An. 1644. and coming into the Palace sate him down in the Imperial Throne though it was observed in this first act
that stood near him This young man will be the occasion that no man hereafter will resign a Dictatorship 7. When Sir Henry Wotton returned from his last Embassie into England at all those houses where he rested or lodged he left his Coat of Arms with this Inscription under them Henricus Wottonius Anglo-cantianus Thomae optimi viri filius natu minimus à Serenissimo Iacobo Primo Mag. Brit. Rege in Equestrem titulum adscitus ejusdemque ter ad Rempubâ—icam Venetam Legatus Ordinarius semel ad Confoederatorum Provinciarum Ordines in Iuliacensi Negotio bis ad Carolum Emanuel Subaudiae Ducem semel ad Vnitos Superiorie Germaniae Principes in Conventu Heilbrunensi postremò ad Archiducem Leopoldum Ducem Wittembergensem Civitates Imperiales Argentinam Vlmamque ipsum Romanorum Imperatorem Ferdinandum Secundum Legatus Extraordinarius tandem hoc didicit Animas fieri sapientiores quiescendo 8. Ramirus lived a Monk in a Monastery from whence upon the death of his Brother he was called by the Nobles and people of Arragon to succeed his Brother in the Kingdom the Pope also dispensed with his Vow and he had his allowance to accept of the Kingdom Ramirus therefore left the Monastery married a Wife of whom he had Daughter called Vrraca after which neither conjugal affection nor the desire of a Kingdom two of the strongest bonds amongst men were able to retain him but that he would return unto that Ecclesiastical humility which he had experienced in the Convent where he formerly had lived 9. The Parthians by civil discords had ejected Artabanus their King who endeavoured his Restauration to his Kingdom by the Arms of Iazates King of the Adiabeni The Parthians not only upon the account of an imminent War but moved also with other reasons repented that they had expelled Artabanus They sent therefore Ambassadors both to him and to Iazates giving them to understand that they would most willingly do what they did require them but that upon the expulsion of Artabanus they had set up Cynamus in his stead and having sworn Allegiance unto him as their King they durst not recede from their Oath Which when Cynamus understood he wrote to Artabanus and Iazates that they should come for he would resign up the Kingdom of Parthia to Artabanus When they were come Cynamus went forth to meet them adorned in Royal Robes and the Diadem upon his head assoon as he drew near to Artabanus dismounting from his Horse he thus spake When the Parthians had driven thee Artabanus from the Kingdom and were resolved to confer it on another at their intreaty I received it but so soon as I knew it was their desire to restore it to thee their true and lawful King and that the only hindrance of it was that they should do it without my consent I not only forbare to oppose them but as thou seest of mine own accord and without any other respect I restore it to thee And having so said he took the Diadem from his own head with his own hands he fitted it to that of Artabanus and freely returned to his former privacy 10. Albertus was a Dominick Fryer and for his great Learning sirnamed Magnus he was made Bishop of Ratisbone by Pope Alexander the Fourth but he freely left his Bishoprick and returned home again to Colen that he might retire himself and enjoy the greater quiet for reading and writing 11. In the year of our Lord 1179. and the Reign of King Henry the Second Richard de Lucy Lord Chief Justice of England resigned his Office and became a Canon in the Abbey of Westwood And in the Reign of King Henry III. upon the 29. of Iune An. 1276. Walter Maleclarke Bishop of Carlisle renounced the Pomp of the World and took upon him the Habit of a preaching Fryer 12. In a preliminary Discourse before the Monasticon Anglicanum we have an account of divers Kings in this our Island who for devotions sake left their Crowns and took upon them the Habit and Profession of Monks Such were Pertocus King of Cambria Constantinus King of Cornwal Sebby King of the East Saxons Offa King of the East Saxons Sigebert King of the East Angles Etheldredus King of the Mercians Kynred King of the Mercians Ceolwulphus King of the North Humbers and Edbricthus King of the North Humbers Whereupon one hath wrote these metrical Verses Nomina Sanctorum rutilant cum laude piorum Stemmate regali cum vestitu Monachali Qui Reges facti spreverunt culmina regni Electi Monachi sunt coeli munere digni 13. Prince Lewis the eldest Son of Charles King of Naples at the age of twenty one years and just when he should have been married to the youthful Princess of Majorica did suddenly at Barcellona put on the rough and severe Habit of the Franciscans The Queens and Princesses there met to solemnize the Marriage of his Sister Blanch with Iames King of Arragon employed their Rhetorick to disswade him from it but to no purpose he loved his Sackcloth more than their Silks and as Monsieur Mathieu alluding to the young Princess speaks of him lâ—â—t Roses to make a Conserve of Thorns 14. King Agrippa took the High Priesthood from Simon Canthara and gave it again to Ionathan the Son of Anani whom he esteemed more worthy than the other But Ionathan declared that he was not worthy of this Dignity and refused it saying O King I most willingly acknowledge the honour you are pleased to bestow upon me and know you offer me this Dignity of your fâ—ee will notwithstanding which God judgeth me unworthy It sufficeth that I have once been invested with the sacred Habit for at that time I wore it with more holiness than I can now receive it at this present yet notwithstanding if it please you to know one that is more worthy of this honour than my self I â—ave a Brother who towards God and you is pure and innocent whom I dare recommend to you for a most fit man for that Dignity The King took great pleasure in these words and leaving Ionathan he bestowed the Priesthood on Mathias his Brother as Ionathan had desired and advised 15. Constantine the Third King of Scotland being wearied with the troubles of a publick life renounced his temporal Dignities and Kingdom and betook himself to a private life amongst the Culdees in St. Andrews with whom he spent his five last years and there dyed about the year 904. 16. Celestine the Fifth an Italian and foâ—merly an Anchorite was chosen Pope was a man of pious simplicity though unskilful in the managâ—mâ—nâ— of Affairs this man was easily perswaded by his Cardinals that the employment he had was too great for his capacity so that he had thoughts of resigning and was furthered therein by the crafty device of Boniface who succeeded him For this man feigning himself to be an Angel spake through a Trunk
in the Judge or other circumstances as may lay no great imputation upon such as have not the gift of infallibility But when men that sit in the place of God shall through corruption or malice wilfully prevaricate and knowingly and presumptuously oppress the innocent in such cases the supreme Judge oftentimes reserves the decision of the Cause to be made at his own Bar and thereupon hath inspired the injured persons to give their oppressors a summons of appearance which though at prefixed days they have not been able to avoid 1. In the Reign of Frederick Aenobarbus the Emperour and the year 1154. Henry was Archbishop of Mentz a pious and peaceable man but not able to endure the dissolute manners of the Clergy under him he determined to subject them to some sharp censure but while he thought of this he himself was by them before-hand accused to Pope Eugenius the Fourth The Bishop sent Arnoldus his Chamberlain to Rome to make proof of his innocency but the Traitor deserted his Lord and instead of defending him traduced him there himself The Pope sent two Cardinals as his Legates to Mentz to determine the cause who being bribed by the Canons and Arnoldus deprived Henry of his Seat with great ignominy and substituted Arnoldus in his stead Henry bore all patiently without appealing to the Pope which he knew would be to no purpose but openly declared that from their unjust judgment he made his Appeal to Christ the just Judge there I will put in my Answer and thither I cite you the Cardinals jestingly replied When thou art gone before we will follow thee About a year and half after the Bishop Henry died upon the hearing of his death both the Cardinals said Lo he is gone beforâ— and we shall follow after their jest proved in earnest for both of them died in one and the same day one in a house of office and the other gnawing off his own fingers in his madness Arnoldus was assaulted in a Monastery butcher'd and his carcass cast into the Town-ditch 2. Ferdinand the Fourth King of Spain was a great man both in peace and war but something rash and rigid in pronouncing Judgment so that he seemed to incline to cruelty About the year 1312. he commanded two Brothers Peter and Iohn of the noble Family of the Carvialii to be thrown headlong from an high Tower as suspected guilty of the death of Benavidius a Noble person of the first rank they with great constancy denied they were guilty of any such crime but to small purpose When therefore they perceived that the Kings ears were shut against them they cryed out they died innocent and since they found the King had no regard to their pleadings they did appeal to the divine Tribunal and turning themselves to the King bid him remember to make his appearance there within the space of thirty days at the furthest Ferdinand at that time made no reckoning of their words but upon the thirtieth day his Servants supposing he was asleep found him dead in his bed in the flower of his age for he was but twenty four years and nine months old 3. When by the counsel and perswasion of Philip the fair King of France Pope Clement the Fifth had condemned the whole Order of the Knights Templars and in divers places had put many of them to death at last there was a Neapolitan Knight brought to suffer in like manner who espying the Pope and the King looking out at a window with a loud voice he spake unto them as followeth Clement thou cruel Tyrant seeing there is now none left amongst mortals unto whom I may make my appeal as to that grievous death whereunto thou hast most unjustly condemned me I do therefore appeal unto the just Judge Christ our Redeemer unto whose Tribunal I cite thee together with King Philip that you both make your appearance there within a year and a day where I will open my Cause Pope Clement died within the time and soon after him King Philip this was An. 1214. 4. Rodolphus Duke of Austria being grievously offended with a certain Knight caused him to be apprehended and being bound hand and foot and thrust into a Sack to be thrown into the River the Knight being in the Sack and it not as yet sown up espying the Duke looking out of a window where he stood to behold that spectacle cryed out to him with a loud voice Duke Rodolph I summon thee to appear at the dreadful Tribunal of Almighty God within the compass of one year there to shew cause wherefore thou hast undeservedly put me to this bitter and unworthy death The Duke received this summons with laughter and unappalled made answer Well go thou before and I will then present my self The year being almost spent the Duke fell into a light Feaver and remembring the appeal said to the standers by The time of my death does now approach and I must go to Judgment and so it fell out for he died sooner after 5. Francis Duke of the Armorick Britain cast into prison his Brother Aegidius one of his Council who was falsely accused to him of Treason where when Aegidius was almost famished perceiving that his fatal hour approached he spyed a Franciscan Monk out of the window of the prison and calling him to confer with him he took his promise that he would tell his Brother that within the fourteenth day he should stand before the Judgment-seat of God The Franciscan having found out the Duke in the Confines of Normandy where he then was told him of his Brothers death and of his appeal to the high Tribunal of God The Duke terrified with that message immediately grew ill and his distemper daily increasing he expired upon the very day appointed 6. Severianus by the command of the Emperour Adrianus was to die but before he was slain he called for fire and casting Incense upon it I call you to witness O ye Gods said he that I have attempted nothing against the Emperour and since he thus causelesly pursues me to death I beseech you this only that when he shall have a desire to die he may not be able This his appeal and imprecation did not miss of the event for the Emperour being afflicted with terrible tortures often broke out into these words How miserable is it to desire to die and not to have the power 7. Lambertus Schasnaburgensis an excellent Writer as most in those times tells That Burchardus Bishop of Halberstadht in the year 1059. had an unjust controversie with the Abbot of Helverdense about the Tiths of Saxony these the Bishop would take from the Monks and by strong hand rather than by any course of Law sought to make them his own It was to small purpose to make any resistance against so powerful an Adversary but the injured Abbot some few days before his death sent to Frederick the Count Palatine and intreated him
observable that amongst them that dyed was Henry Earl of Schwartzenburg who carried the presage of his death in a common imprecation of his which was this If I do it not I wish I might sink in a Privy This happened Anno 1184. 5. Mr. Perkins in his Book of the right government of the Tongue tells of certain English Souldiers in the time of King Edward the Sixth who were cast upon the French shore by a storm in which distress they went to prayer that they might be delivered But one Souldier instead of praying cryed out Gallows claim thy due and when he came home he was hanged indeed 6. Mr. Fox in his Book of Acts and Monuments tells of Iohn Peters Keeper of Newgate who was wont at every ordinary thing he spake whether true or false it made with him no great matter to aver it with this imprecation If it be not so I pray God I may rot before I dye and so it came to pass 7. I shall add one more which is fresh in the memory of many yet living of Sir Gervaise Elways who suffered at the Tower-hill about the business of Sir Thomas Overbury who then confessed it was just with God that he should undergo that ignominious death For said he in gaming I have often used this wish I pray God I be hanged if it be not so While I was preaching this a woman who came accidentally into the Congregation did afterwards by writing certifie me that she being convinced in conscience of her sin in wishing evil upon her self thereby to cover a sin which she had committed but denied did feel the sad effects of it according to her wish and therefore begged earnest prayers that it might be forgiven her and that God would be intreated to take off his hand Let them hear and fear that fear not to wish the Devil take them and God damn them lest God should take them at their word 8. I shall here set down that which was related to me by my Brother Ioachim Being saith he of late in the Court of Prince William the Lantgrave of Hesse I saw there a Boy that was both dumb and deaf but yet withal so ingenious that I could never enough admire the dexterity wherewith he apprehended and performed all things The Lantgrave observing my wonder That deaf and dumb Boy said he does presently understand any thing that is done in the Court and City and by notable signs uses to make discovery of it But withal hear an eminent instance of divine Justice the Mother of this Lad being accused of theft and having no other way to clear her self had recourse to imprecations and whereas she was at that time big with child to add greater weight to what she said she wished if she was guilty of that she was accused that the child she went with might be dumb while he lived and never be able to utter one word Which said the Lantgrave is come to pass as you see 9. Charles Burbon desired of the Citizens of Millain that they would furnish him with 30000 Crowns a month for the payment of his Souldiers but they affirming that they were already exhausted by War and frequent Exactions he desired them but this one time to comply with his request adding that if they should receive any further injury from him or his he prayed God that the first Bullet that was shot might take off his head They sent him the money according to his desire but then he forgetting his promise dealt never the more civilly with them suffered his Souldiers and Collectors to exact upon them while they in vain implored that faith he had given them This done he led his Army to Florence and from thence to Rome where he was killed by the first Cannot-bullet from the Walls 10. At Friburg a Town in Misnia are yet the footsteps to be seen of a stubborn Son who could not be removed from the place where he stood all his life long till he dyed of the plague with whose disobedience his father being one time exceedingly provoked had prayed God he might never stir from the place he was then inwhile he lived 11. Alphonso Henriques Son of Henry Duke of Lorrain put his Mother Theresia the Daughter of Alphonsus the Sixth King of Spain into prison for that she had married his Father-in-law She being in bonds thus bitterly cursed her Son Seeing saith she thou hast put my legs into chains and hast taken from me that honour which was left me by thy Father I pray God thou mayst become a Prisoner to thy Enemies as I am and that whereas my legs are tyed thou mayst live to behold thine own broke All this was fulfilled e're long for Alphonsus warring with Ferdinand King of Leon as he went out at the Gate of the City his foot caught at the bar of the Gate and his Horse passing on broke his leg after which marching out he was overthrown by King Ferdinand and made Prisoner 12. In the Court of a neighbour King one was accused of having spoken injurious words who to justifie himself said If he spake them he desired God to send an immediate token of his wrath upon his body and in case he should defer to do it he wished the Devil might Immediately he fell down in an Epileptick fit which he never had before and with horrible howling frighted them that stood by and to this day remains in this ill state of body 13. King Henry the First of England sought to Edgar King of Scotland for his Sister Mathilda in Marriage who had devoted her Virginity to God Edgar fearing to displease him married her to him by force who then prayed to God that none of those children that should be born of her might prosper and it fell out accordingly for Duke William and Mary his Sister with their whole Retinue of an hundred and fifty persons were all miserably cast away at Sea by a storm 14. In our memory such an accident as this fell out at Newburg A certain mother being in a great rage with her son broke into these words Go thy ways God grant thou mayst never return alive again to me the same day the young man going to wash himself was drowned 15. L. Furius Camillus was accused but falsely by L. Apuleius that he had converted the Hetruscan spoils to his own use and was thereupon condemned without having his cause heard and being impatient of this indignity he went without the City-gates lift up his hands to Heaven and prayed If said he I am innocent and thus injured only through the envy of the people then let this action speedily repent the people of Rome and let it be known to all the World that they stand in need of Camillus which accordingly fell out not long after in the invasion of the Gauls CHAP. XXIX Of the Errour and Mistakes of some men and what hath fallen out thereupon HVmanum
confessed that he brought Letters to the Leaders of the Swissers his pardon was granted and he plucking off his hose took out the Letters that were sewed in the sole of it the which were carried to the Emperour immediately When he had read them although he was in great perplexity yet was he not of opinion they should be shewed to the Cardinal of Sâ—n because he would not accuse a Captain of so great authority amongst the Swissers much less would he cause them to be seised upon for fear of putting his affairs into danger but in his heart distrusting the loyalty of the Swissers he repassed the Mountains without making further speech of it and returned back into Germany freeing thereby the Millanois of that fear they had conceived at his coming 14. The Captain of Bilezuga was minded to compass the death of Othoman being therefore to marry the Daughter of the Captain of Iarchizer he invited Othoman to the Wedding as a time convenient to accomplish his design but he having imparted the matter to Michael Cossi this person grieving to see so brave a man treacherously brought to his end acquainted Othoman with it which he received with due thanks And now saith he as to the Captain of Biâ—ezuga request him from me to protect for me one year longer as he hath used to do such goods as I shall send to his Castle and because of the Wars betixt me and the Prince German Ogli I will presently send such things as I make most reckoning of and will also bring with me to the Marriage my Mother-in-law with her Daughter my Wife The Captain was glad of this message looking upon the whole as his own When the Marriage-day drew nigh Othoman instead of precious Houshold stuff sent his Packs in Carriages filled with armed men and had caused some of his best Souldiers to be attired in womens apparel as being his Mother-in-law and her Retinue these he ordered to meet together at the Castle about twilight being admitted the Souldiers leap out of their Packs and the other in womens habit betake themselves to their weapons slew the Warders of the Castle and without more ado possessed the same Othoman having before slain the Captain of it in just â—ight 15. The great City of Nice held out only upon the hope of a thousand Horse-men which the Emperour Andronicus had promised to send them of which aid so promised Orchanes King of the Turks understanding furnished 800 of his Horse-men after the manner of the Christians and fetching a great compass about came at length into the high-way that leadeth from Constantinople to Nice and so trooped directly towards the City as if they had come from Constantinople At the same time he sent 300 of his other Horse-men in the habit of Turks to forrage and spoil the Country as much as they could within the sight of the City which whilâ—t they were a doing the other 800 Horse-men in the attire of Christians following upon them as if it had been by chance charged them and in the sight of the Citizens put them to flight which done these counterfeit Horse-men returned directly again towards Nice The Citizens which with great pleasure had in the mean time from the Walls seen the most part of the Skirmish and how they had put the Turks to flight supposing them to be the promised aid whom they daily expected with great joy opened the Gates of the City to receive them as friends But they being entred the Gates presently set upon the Christians fearing no such matter and being seconded with the other 300 which in dissembling manner had fled before who speedily returned with other Companies of Turks that lay in ambush not far off they won the great and famous City of Nice which they have ever since to this day possessed 16. The Turkish King Amurath had concluded a Peace with the Christians of Thracia during which the Governour of Didymoticum intending to fortifie his City with new and stronger Fortifications entertained all the Masons Carpenters and other Work-men he could by any means get which Amurath understanding secretly caused two hundred lusty Work-men and Labourers to come out of Asia to offer their service unto the Governour who gladly entertained them The wiser sort of Citizens wished the Governour beware of those Asian Work-men as by them suspected but he presuming upon the Peace made with Amurath and considering they were but base Work-men and no Souldiers had the less care of them yet using their work all the day he commanded them to lodge without the Walls of the City every night Amurath understanding these Work-men were thus entertained sent for the valiant Captain Chasis Ilbeg and requested him with thirty other good Souldiers to seek there for woâ—k also and to espy if any advantage might be taken for the surprisal of the City These also were entertained by the Governour and Chasis that awaited with a vigilant eye having found that one of the Gates of the City might be sâ—â—â—enly taken found means to acquaint Amurath therewith who caused a sufficient number of Turks to lye in ambush near the City to further the design Chasis broke the matter to the Asian Work-men and gave full instruction what was to be done According to appointment the Christians being at dinner the Turkish Work-men and Labourers fell at words amongst themselves and from words to feigned blows in which counterfeit brawl and tumult they suddenly ran to one of the Gates of the City and there laying hands upon the Warders weapons as if to defend themselves against their Fellows suddenly set upon those Warders being in number but few and then at dinner also and so presently slew them which done they opened the Gate of the City let in the ambushed Turks took the place and put the chiefest of the Citizens to the Sword 17. Count Philip of Nassau had by Prince Maurice his advice confer'd with a certain Gentleman of Cambray called Charles Heranguieres Captain of a Foot-company about an enterprize upon the Castle and Town of Breda telling him that divers Mariners Vassels to the House of Nassau had offered their service herein they being accustomed to carry turff and wood into the Castle and under that colour fit to make some attempt Herauguieres having well considered all dangers resolved with a certain Fellow called Adrian of Berghen that was wont to carry Turffs into the Castle to undertake the matter giving order to the Shipper to make ready his Boat which was deep and flat and lay in a Dorpe called Leure a mile from Breda that he might convey seventy men into her Round about and on the upper part of the Boat rows of Turff like Bricks were orderly placed of a good height Being thus prepared they resolved to execute their enterprize on the 25. of February but the Frost hindred them certain days not without great danger of being discovered for having entred the Boat on Monday the 26.