either the Emperours of Rome which persecuted them or the kings of Syria which tyrannized ouer them could inuēt saying that they wold onely obey the lawes which the Lorde gaue vnto them by Moses and not the commaundement of the king then were the other brethren one after another put to death with the like tortures as their elder brother was in the sight of their mother who spake to her children these words My sonnes I neither gaue you breath nor soule nor life and as you regard not your selues to die for the law es of the Lord so shall the Lord restore vnto you your soules your liues to liue for euer And thus were theyto rtured to death one brother after another and the mother after her sonnes And now I wil returne to Pharao CHAP. VI. Of the seuenth and eight plagues of the Egiptians compared with the seuenth and eight persecutions of the Christians AMd Moses was sent with his seuenth message to Pharao saying How long will it be before thou submit thy self to me saith the Lord But Pharao being marked with Cains marke who could not die though he would faine die or like Esau who would repent could not though he sought it with teares So Pharao though he yeelded victorie to Moses yet could not hee yeeld his heart vnto the Lord but refused the offers of the Lord and despised his mercy and therefore Moses was commaunded to vex Pharao with the seuenth plague which he executed vpon Pharao with thunders haile lightnings fiery soldiers of the Lord this smote the hearbs brake the trees of the field this smote al the land of Egipt both man beast the thunder the raine the haile and the fire mingled together so hurtfull and so greeuous as there was not the like in Egipt since it was a natiō and yet the land of Gosen where the Hebrues dwelt neither hard thunders nor saw fire lightnings nor rain But Pharao stil against his promise staied the Hebrues in extreame bondage in Egipt and yet with terrour and feare of the punishments requested Moses and Aaron to cease the horrible thunders and fierie lightnings which being ceased Pharao ceased not to sinne vpon sin neither gaue he himselfe to seeke the Lord for all the terrors of so many plagues past The Macedonians at any Eclipse of the Moone wold be so frighted and terrified though the naturall cause were opened vnto them of the defects thereof by many of their Captaines yet would they not but against their will at the Eclipse time enter into battell So the old Romanes were so amazed that they tooke the ebbing flowing of the sea to be wrought by some diuine power of the gods So Scipio confessed at the besieging of Carthage and said to his souldier Ducem sequimini Neptunum Though the Romanes and the Macedonians confessed the Eclipse of the Sunne Moone and the ebbing and flowing of the Seas to be the works of God yet Pharao confessed not the wonders which Moses did in Egipt This cruell marching of Pharao against the Hebrues in Egipt resembleth much the cruell persecution vnder Decius Emperour of Rome vnder whom raigned stil persecutiōs of the Christians as vnder others his predecessors But the Lord so plagued the Empire at this time euen from the East vnto the West with plagues and diuers suche sicknesses as not onely the earth was infected but the ayre corrupted with such slaughter of man and beast by sicknesse that there wanted in many places of the Empire men aliue to burie the dead iustly plagued and punished so that betweene the cruell persecutions of Christians in Antioch Caesaria and Alexandria and the multitude of the Romanes that died made the ground of Rome and Italy to stink as Egipt stunk with their bloudie water and dead frogs and as in Pharaos dayes the Hebrewes so multiplied in Egipt for all Pharaos tirany so likewise the Christians encreased in Rome and euery where in the Romane Empire in spite of the Romane Emperours though they sought euery way to deuour them with sword and fire Moses is sent againe to Pharao and to say let my people goe behold to morrowe will I bring grassehoppers into thy land and they shall couer the face of the earth in euery place and quarter of Egipt that the earth cannot be seene and they shall eate the residue which remaineth vnto you and escaped the haile they shall eate all your greene trees vpon the fielde and shall fill your houses and all your seruants houses and these threatnings and cominations of Moses could nothing moue Pharao and yet dissembled like an hypocrite to Moses saying I haue sinned against the Lord and against you forgiue me therefore and pray for me it is to be wondred that Pharao and all Egipt wold suffer such horrible plagues for the Hebrews to them a straunge nation whom they mortally hated and yet stopt and stayed them in Egipt against the lawe of Mena and Bocoris and custome of Egipt and against the custome of all countries The Lacedemonians by Lycurgus lawe would not admit any straunger to stay in Lacedemon In Athens Pericles made a decree that no straunger might dwell in Athens but such as were banished for euer from their Countrey those onely might stay in Athens bringing their gods and their goods with them Likewise the Carthagineans could not abide strangers for those that sailed into Sardinia or to Hercules pillers escaped hardly the Carthagineans handes for that they would suffer no straunger to dwell in their territories So also in India no stranger might stay among them past three daies so straight were strangers looked vnto in all Countries that the Romanes would not admit any mercenarie souldier being a stranger in their warres The Hebrewes suffered no stranger to dwel among them to vse forraine religion therfore it was not lawfull for the Samaritans to come to Ierusalem nor for the Samaritans to conuerse themselues with the Iewes Yet Pharao against the lawes and customes of all countries and against the lawe of his owne country admitted strangers his owne enemies to dwell in Egipt Pharao as I said before had Esaus mark could not yeeld and let these strange Hebrewes goe How fitly this eight Egiptian plague resembleth the eight Romane persecution vnder the Emperor Valerianus who like as Antiochus compelled the Iewes to forsake the Lord their lawes and religion so Valerianus cōstrained the Christians to Idolatrie and forced them to forsake the religion of Christ commanding by his Letters sent to his lieftenants and generalls euery where to burne to kil and to murther all the Christians that professed the name of Christ so odious was the name of the Christians among the Romanes as the name of the Hebrewes among the Egiptians And like as the grasse-hoppers in Egipt did waste spoile and eate all that was left vntouched and vnspoyled by the plague of haile-stones and lightnings before so
this bloudie Emperour Valerianus left no place vnsought to persecute the remnant of the Christians which his predecessors could not find with sword and fire vntil he himself was taken his army ouerthrown by Sapor King of Persia who tooke him and kept him in prison all his life time in bondage and slauery vsing him as a blocke to mount on horsebacke things hard and straunge to the Romanes to haue their Emperour in such slauish seruice to become a vassal and a blocke for Sapor King of Persia to lay his foote vpon his necke to goe on horse And was not the great Turke Pazaites ouerthrown and his Army slaine at Mount Stella by Tamberlane a rude and barbarous Scithian and himselfe taken and kept in a cage vnder his table and carried him in that cage in all his warres during Tamberlanes life so that the great Emperour of Rome died as a blocke for King Sapor in Persia and Pazaites the great Turke died in Tamberlanes cage as a captiue in Scythia So Pharao in diuers battels was ouerthrowne by Moses and vsed as a blocke and at last drawne as it were by a corde like a dogge by Moses from Egipt into the redde sea and there to dye as you shall read in the two next plagues that followe CHAP. Of the ninth and tenth plagues of the Egiptians compared with the ninth and tenth persecutions of the Christians MOses is sent from the Lord to Pharao and commanded to hold out his hand vnto heauen that there was darknesse vpon all the land of Egipt such palpable darknesse that neither fire candle torch or any light might giue thē light it was such palpable darknesse that the Egiptians might feele it and this darknesse continued three daies long that one might not see an other Yet Pharaos heart was so hardned that now in his furie and rage he commaunds Moses and Aaron to goe out of his sight threatning them with death if they came any more before him though in the last plague he requested Moses and Aaron to pray for him and to forgiue him his sinnes but then were his words full of dissimulation and his repentance full of hypocrisie hee could say I haue sinned but he could not say I haue repented and beforie for his sinnes The ninth persecution vnder Aurelianus in Rome may throughly bee likened to the ninth plague vnder Pharao in Egipt The like threatnings of speech and the like words that Pharao vsed to Moses and Aaron in Egipt the like vsed Aurelianus against the Christians in Rome but it contiued not long for he was slaine as others his predecessors were And as for the great palpable darknesse in Egipt so was it in Rome when their minde was more darke then darknesse it selfe The Egiptians hated not the Hebrews so much as the Romanes hated the Christians For Pilate the Romane presidēt in Ierusalem which gaue sentence on Christ to die and sawe many myracles done by him sent Letters to his maister Tiberius the Emperor and to the Senators recyting the myracles that Christ had done before he died saying hee was worthy to bee canonized placed among the Romane goddes which all the Senators with one consent denied though Caesar requested them first and threatned them after yet Christ was not allowed to be a Romane God Tiberius without effect of his good motion died so did that wicked Emperor Aurelianus in the midst of his cruel persecutions After whō succeeded a good valiant Emperor Flam. Claudius so valiāt that he vanquished the Gothes the Illyrians and Macedonians whereby in Rome he was so honoured that the Senators sent to him a goldē Target which afterward was set vp in the shew-place and a golden statue to stand in the Capitoll but he died too timely of a sicknesse at Sirmium After him succeeded his brother Aurel. Quintilius a good moderate Emperour equall or rather to be preferred before his brother but he was slaine within 18. daies after hee was elected Emperour by the souldiers These good Emperors onely I name for that persecutions were euer executed by cruel Kings and Emperors But these cruell Emperours as they cruelly destroyed others so cruelly were they destroyed after as some of them were killed by theyr owne handes as Nero some murthered by their owne seruants as Domitianus some suddenly slaine riding by the high way as Decius some banished died in straunge Countreys as Seuerus others died captiues in bondage and slauerie as Valerianus did in Persia others eaten with cankers wormes as Maximinius others murthered one after an other as Aurel. Tacit. and Florianus Thus were those Emperours slaine and murthered that cruelly persecuted the Christians The Lorde beeing determined now to finish his plague in Egipt and to bring his people away willed euery man and euery woman to borrow of their neighbours Iewels of gold and siluer for Moses was verie great in the land of Egipt with Pharao and with the people for before this Pharao had appointed Moses Generall of the Egiptians against the king of Aethiopia which I wrote in the Historie of Moses Yet said the Lord I will bring one plague more vpon Pharao and vpon Egipt and after that he will let you goe hence for all the first borne of the land of Egipt shall die euen from the first borne of Pharao that sitteth on his seate vntill the first borne of the maide seruant that sitteth in the mill The Lord knew at that time how to saue the Hebrewes in Gosen from all the plagues in Egipt and to saue Noah from the geneall deluge in the Arke to saue Lot from fire and brimstone in Zodome and to saue the Christians from the destruction of Ierusalem in Pella As this tenth plague was the greatest and the heauiest so the tenth persecution was the greatest and the longest vnder Dioclesian in the East parts and vnder Maximianus in the West either of them persecuting and afflicting with such slaughters of martyred Christians that for the space of tenne yeares for so long continued the tenth persecution there was nothing but the wonted bloudie persecution sword and fire by the commaundements of both these Emperours with most extremitie to bee executed and as vnder Nero the first persecution began so vnder Dioclesian it ended For the Church of God so flourished the Christians so encreased and the godly martyrs so multiplyed that these tyrants were wearie to persecute them any longer At that very time when persecution ended vnder Dioclesian then heresie began to spring vnder Sathan for when one stratagem of Sathan faileth he practiseth an other Now Arius marcheth with his Antitrinitary crew and set themselues in battell against the Lord with horrible and blasphemous weapons and as the Poets faine the Gyants set themselues in battell against the Sun the Moone and the Stars so this crew of heretikes set themselues to fight against God the Father the Sonne and the holy
and famine an hundred thousand solde publikely as slaues and sixteene thousand were sent to Rome to beautifie his fathers triumph as Iosephus an eye-witnesse doth report The Iewes looked not for their destruction so nigh at hand they obserued by tradition of some of their Rabines that their Messias should come about the time of Augustus as a magnificent mighty king not as a poore man the sonne of a Carpenter whom the Iewes whipt and scourged for that he tooke vpō him to be the sonne of God made himself Messias the Iewes litle thought that he was the Messas when they cryed to Pilate to haue him crucified in Golgotha saying his bloud be vpon vs and vpon our children The greedie desire and expectation of the people was such that many tooke vpon them to call themselues the Messias as Iudas Galileus and an other called Atonges a shepheard but aboue them all one Barcozba had diuers followers was receiued for their Messas thirtie yeares but when they saw that he could not defend them from the Romanes they would no longer accept him for their Messias but slew him Titus proceedeth forward to destroy the Iewes but especially the Priests the Scribes Pharisies on whom he had no mercie saying that they chiefly ought to dye with the sword sithence the temple was burnt with fire they onely being rebellious and seditious and the cause of the destruction of the citie Titus spared none of the stocke of Herod In this warres of Titus were ten of the learned Rabbines slaine whose names I thought good to write as I found them written in Genebrardus Chronicles Rabbi Simeon ben Gamaliel Rabbi Ismael ben Elizei Rabbi Hanina ben Tedarion Rabbi Husiphith Rabbi Eleazer ben Samaa Rabbi Iuda ben Dama Rabbi Isbak Scribam Rabbi Iuda ben Hachinas Rabbi Iuda ben Baba Rabbi Askiba These tenne Rabbines were slaine by Titus which the Iewes record in theyr latter Talmud for tenne martyrs and after Ierusalem was thus destroied Titus appointed Rabbi Iohanan ben Zachai gouernour ouer the remnant of the Iewes in Ahua Byther Oza other pla◅es as Nabuchodonozer did appoint Godoliah gouernor of the rest of the Iewes when he destroyed Ierusalem in the time of Zedechia the king Titus also left Bonia a younger brother of Fla. Iosephus to gouerne other places in Iudah and he returned with his prisoners and captiues which he brought with him to Rome to beautifie his fathers triumphes and his This was the fift and last ouerthrow of the Iewes destruction of Ierusalem First by Shesac King of Egipt in the time of Rehoboam secondly by Nabuchodonozer in the time of Zedechias the last King of Iudah thirdly by Antiochus fourthly by Pompey the great and fiftly and last by Titus and Vespasian Thus the Iewes that subdued all natiōs before them and conquered all the Kings about them that in the time of Ioshua Dauid all the earth trembled at the naming of the Iewes whose gouernment continued from Abraham to Vespasian two thousand yeares and more though for a time while they were in Egipt 430. yeares litle spoken of vntil the Lord raised them so strengthned thē vnder Moses and Ioshua that first they ouerthrew Pharao and his kingdome after subdued the Canaanites Edomites Moabites Ammonites Philistines and the Syrians which of the Hebrewes were called Aromites the strongest nation vpon the earth at that time which were subdued notwithstanding by Dauid Thus the Iewes which were as famous and feared as much in those dayes as the Romanes were in the time of their Consuls are now so destroyed and their country subdued like wandring banished mē without king lawe or countrey The cause wherof was the sinne of Ierusalem which would neuer acknowledge the goodnesse of God towards them nor his myracles and his mercy wrought amongst them they refused his grace offered and persecuted him most violently to death Yet Dionisius Areopagita and his fellow Appollonius in the citie of Eliopolis in Egipt they both obserued by the Eclipse of the Sun at the verie houre the sonne of God suffered more then the rebellious Iewes did for all the blessings and mercies which they had receiued they cried out still vnto Pilate crucifie him his blood be vpon vs and vpon our children These learned Heathens openly confessed in Egipt that either the sonne of God did suffer death or else the frame of the whole worlde should be dissolued these two Heathens confessed and named him to bee the sonne of God but the vngratefull Iewes called and named him the sonne of Ioseph the Carpenter in contempt of him and therefore it is conuenient to set forth the great goodnesse of the Lorde in a briefe and a short catalogue what the Lord hath done to Israel since he brought them out of the furnace of Egipt where they were bond-slaues vnder Pharao 430. yeares euen from the first comming of Abraham into Egipt vntill Moses brought them out of Egipt For after Esau Iacob had diuided their fathers possession Esau went to dwell in Edumea and Iacob tooke for his part Canaan where he dwelt and his childrē vntil Iacob went to Egipt with all his family to his sonne Ioseph which was 215. yeares after the being of Abraham in Egipt and 215. yeares before Moses brought the childrē of Israel out of Egipt into the land of Canaan at what time the law was written giuen to Moses in mount Sinai to gouern the people and after the lawe was giuen the Tabernacle was commaunded by Moses to be made in the wildernesse which should stand to them for a Temple to serue the Lord and after the Tabernacle the Arke was made where the tables of the lawe were commaunded by Moses at his death to be kept where Moses gouerned the whole army of the Hebrues fortie yeares before they went ouer Iorden And Moyses before he died he deliuered the army of the Hebrewes into the hands of Ioshua with a charge from the Lord vnder whom they passed into the lande of Canaan after whose death they began to be rebellious seditious Yet the Lord fauoured thē sent thē stout and wise gouernors as Iudah Ehud Barac Iephtha Gedeō and Sampson yet stil rebelled they like Idolatrous people against the Lord that they were weary of that gouernment and reiected Samuel his gouernmēt and would haue a king the Lord denied them nothing and they had kings to rule them during which time of kings Idolatry presently crept in that the lord his lawes were forsaken and Baal with his prophets priests accepted Hence grew ciuil warres between the 12. Tribes ten against two that of one kingdom they made two so that there was nothing but slaughter and blood betweene the house of Israel the house of Iudah and that straight after Solomons death 500. thousand were slain in mount Zemaraim of the king of Israels side by the king of Iudah Againe such a slaughter of
could bee as though he were their true and lawfull king but being brought to Rome before Caesar who found by the hardnesse of his hands and rudenesse of his behauiour that hee was not brought vp like a Kings sonne and therefore Caesar hauing found his falshood bound him all his life time as a galley slaue and commaunded all his counsellors and conspirators to bee killed with the sword This house continued vntill the last destruction of Ierusalem So that the Iewes after Christ his death beeing euery where afflicted and oppressed from Babilon were forced to flie to Zeleucia the chiefe Citie in all Syria which Zeleucus Nicanor builded a Towne where Greekes Macedonians and Syrians dwelt together there also the Greekes and the Syrians conspired together against the Iewes that there dwelt and slew trecherously of them to the number of 50000. So sedition also began between the Iewes in Alexandria and the Aegiptians in Samaria betweene the Samaritans and the Iewes and all the Iewes which dwelt in Rome in Sardinia other places of the Romaine Empire were from thence banished These Iewes had not so much as a place to rest vpon the earth but were scattered like rogues vagabounds euery where without credit or loue without Prince Priest law or religion the iust iudgement of the Lord for their blasphemy against the sonne of God saying his bloud be vpon vs and our children Thus the Iewes whom Moses Aaron brought out of Egipt to the number of six hundred thousand died all in the wildernesse for their rebellious mutinie Moses and Eleazer after Aarons death numbred the people in the wildernesse where all the other died and they found sixe hundred thousand seuenteen hundred and thirtie able and sufficient men for the warres and yet not one of them which Moses Aaron numbred in the desart of Sinai after they came out of Egipt sauing Ioshua Caleb but died in the wildernesse for disobedience and stubbernesse euer preferring the cucumbers melons oynions garlicks of Egipt before Māna quailes and sweete water which they had from euery rocke in the wildernesse where neither their cloathes were worne nor their shooes spent for fortie yeares yet Egipt which should be a hel to them was their paradice The tenne Tribes of Israel raigned in Samaria 240. yeares seuen moneths and seuen daies during which time they neither obeyed the lawes of the Lord nor heard the Prophets that forewarned them of these calamities which were to come and therfore the Lord gaue them ouer they were taken prisoners their last king Osea brought captiues by Salmanasser vnto Niniuie So the kingdome of Iudah and the house of Dauid was likewise taken by Nabuchodonozer in the eleuenth yeare of Zedechiah the last king of Iudah who was taken captiue his noble men his children slaine in his sight before his eyes were pluckt out and after led in a chaine vnto Babilon where he died in prison 133. yeares after the kingdome of Israel was destroyed by Salmanasser that was the cause of his miserable end for the contempt he had to the Prophet Ieremy disdaining either to hear him or to read his booke for before any king raigned in Israel Iudges by the Lord appointed ruled 370. yeares the kings of Iudah after Solomons death raigned 395. yeares which agreeth well with Iosephus account And so of the continuance of the Bishops or high Priests euen from the building of the temple of Solomon Sadoc being their first high Priest or Bishop were seuēteene high Priests or Bishops in Ierusalem by succession of the children after their fathers The end of the second booke The third Booke of the Stratagems of Ierusalem CHAP. I. Of the care and diligence which Kingdomes and Countries tooke in military discipline to exercise their souldiers THe Romanes most carefull in all military discipline in no wise trusted strangers but euery Romaine souldier should take a military oath by the Colonell The Persiās also were in this point like the Romains for not admitting of mercenary souldiers seldome is found any constancie or soundnesse in mercenary souldiers as by too many examples the Romanes and others found Iugurth by trechery of fewe Thracians that serued the Romanes in Affrike in the night time betraied the Romanes to Iugurth and made a great slaughter of them In like sort the Thessalians were trecherous to the Athenians whom they trusted but they forsooke the Athenians at the battel of Tanagra wherby through their falsehood and trecherie to the Athenians the victorie fell to the Lacedemonians therefore neither the Romanes nor the Persians trusted any mercenary souldiers for mercenary souldiers and strangers are not to be trusted for they doo not onely forsake their friends in any danger but ioyne with the enemy for any aduantage So did the Gaules in the warres of Carthage slew the watch of the Romanes and fled to Haniball The lawe of armes in euery countrey should holde and maintain the crowne dignity of the prince by the sword so most necessary it is that subiects should be looked vnto with great care and prouision to maintain the willing forward and good souldiers due punishmēts and sharpe corrections for euill leaud wicked disposed men carelesse of their countries good How carefull euery common-wealth hath bene of this you shall read first of euery kingdome country seueral punishments by law appointed after of the rewards honor dignities of good souldiers of which Plato saith Omnis respub paena Praemio continetur Agesilaus therefore appointed gifts and rewards to draw and encourage his souldiers to shoote to throwe the dart the sling to ride to runne and with diligence and care to keepe them seuerely from faults offences and to exercise them in martiall feates which kinde of exercise among the Greekes was most commonly vsed called Pentatlon in the games of Olympia Isthmia to honor Hercules and Thesius two protectors and principall captaines that loued souldiers Alexander the great was so seuere in martiall lawes towards his souldiers that if any souldier or captain shuld lye or be any way proued a lyer hee should be depriued frō his office and place of seruice banished from his camp for so was Antigenes though a valiant captaine otherwise yet was both casseerd banished for making of a lye Alexander after he had banished all bakers cookes brewers and such like frō his campe said that marching in their armour in the night they should prouide them a dinner a stomacke to eate theyr dinner against the next morning as for a supper he said they should not looke for wine nor flesh to sleepe after it but for bread and hee would prouide for water which is the onely foode of a souldier and the most necessary care of a generall Hereby his souldiers being brought vp by Philip king of Macedonia his father were hardned with continuall paine
Philip king of Macedonia at the spoile thereof had as great a pray as Alexander his sonne had of Babilon or Nabuchodonozer of Ierusalem CHAP. VIII Of sanctuaries allowed to the Hebrewes and of the multitude of sanctuaries among the Gentiles SAnctuaries were priuiledged among all Nations not onely for souldiers that fled from the warres and seruants that fled from their maisters but also for those that by chance kild any man or had committed such capitall crimes without proofe these might bee succoured in sanctuaries vntill the truth were knowne and proued and therefore the Hebrewes had sixe citties of refuge by the lawe of Moses where if any man had slaine vnwittingly or vnwillingly a man he might flee to any of these sixe Cities as to a sanctuary of refuge but they that had killed a man willingly and had committed any capitall crime purposely should not onely be taken away from the sanctuarie but bee pluckt away from the aultar as Ioab was for killing of Abner and Adonias though hee pretended treason before against Salomon yet had hee the priuiledge of the sanctuarie for that fault by Salomon but when hee sought to haue Abizaig to his wife he was pluckt from the Aultar as Ioab was Those that were lawfully succoured by Moses lawe in the sanctuary it was not lawfull for them that fled thither to returne home vnlesse it were at the death of the high Priest which was a shadow of the death of Christ by whose death the regenerate turne to their eternall home The Gentiles imitating the Hebrewes had too many licentious sanctuaries with the like libertie and priuiledge in so much that in continuance of time it grew that Temples Aultars Images of Emperours and Kings and graues of dead men were allowed for sanctuaries as if any that would flye vnto the Temple of Diana at Ephesus and claimed by the right of a sanctuarie to be defended hee was made free and had his libertie graunted vnto him and that continued a sanctuarie from the time of Alexander the great who amplyfied the Temple of Diana the quantitie of a furlong which temple was burnt before by Herostratus vpon the very day that Alexander was borne vntill the time of Augustus Caesar three hundred yeares after Alexander by whom the wickednesse of that sanctuary was was abrogated and quite taken away Cadmus as some write at the building of Thaebes was the first in Greece that gaue any priuiledge to sanctuaries Others thinke that some of the posteritie of Hercules erected vp in Athens the temple of mercie where euery man might flee for succour fearing least they should be punished and plagued for the iniuries that Hercules their predecessor did to others and the Athenians made a decree that none that fled to the aultar of mercie should be pulled away Romulus imitating Cadmus at the building of Rome for the encrease of his citie graunted impunitie to all such wicked men that came to Rome whose example all other Gentiles followed after in so much that kings and kings sonnes fled vnto sanctuaries so great was the priuiledge of sanctuaries that king Pausanias fled to the Temple of Minerua in Sparta and king Cleombrotus fled to the Temple of Neptune in Taenero and Adonias King Dauids sonne fled to the Temple in Ierusalem Likewise a souldier taken in the warre if he had fled from thence to the statue of any King Emperour or great captaine he was to haue his libertie The liberties and abuse of sanctuaries grew so great among all nations that where sanctuaries were allowed chiefly first for those that slew any man by chaunce against their will for captiue souldiers that fled from prison for poore distressed seruants that were abused by their maisters in time it became dens for theeues stewes for wicked men and leawd women that whatsoeuer was done if they came to the Temple of Osiris in Egipt or to the Temple of Diana in Thracia or to the Temple of Venus in Pâ—…hos they were freed might there take their libertie but poore Demosthenes was taken from the Temple of Neptune by the tyrant Archyas and brought to Athens before his onely enemy Antipater Sanctuaries grew so common that not onely souldiers but also any offenders might fleee from theyr liberties especially in Greece to the graues of Achilles Thesius and Aiax in other places to the graue of Hercules In other places the offender if he had fallen downe at the feete of Iupiters Priest of Mars or of Vulcan at the gates of their temples he should goe free Though the old auntient Romanes could not abide a souldier taken in the wars they would neither redeem him nor allow him sanctuarie yet Agesilaus king of the Lacedemonians allowed any temple of their gods to be a sanctuary for souldiers that fled for succour So did Cyrus proclaime sanctuaries for all banished bond men in Greece in all Asia leuied therby a huge army to fight against his brother Artaxerxes So did Sertorius one of Marius sect proclaime sanctuaries to all the Romaine fugitiues in Hispaine in Affrike that he as much harmed Rome being a Romaine borne and now out of his countrey as eyther Sylla or Marius did in their countrey Hauing sufficiently spoken of these kinde of sanctuaries of theyr too much libertie that grew thereby in all kingdomes as among the Hebrewes by Ieroboam in the battell at Mount Zemaraim among the Persians by Cyrus at the battell at Conauxa among the Romanes by Cinna and among the Affricans by Scotorius who all proclaimed sanctuaries and liberties to all fugitiue and banished souldiers we leaue sanctuaries which were appointed as a refuge for those that fled thither for succour and helpe vntill the truth were knowne and speake not of those that abused sanctuaries as a cloake of their tirannie and wickednesse You heard before how Adonias and Ioab were taken from the Aultar for they had abused the sanctuary for the Lord commaunded that his lawes should be seuerely kept and that no part thereof should be broken for King Oza vsurping the Leuites office against the lawe was striken with sudden death for the vnreuerent handling of the Arke which was the Leuites office Ozias the King was striken with leprosie for burning incense against the lawe which was the Priestes office Abihu and Nadab Aarons sonnes for that they both tooke Censors in their hands put fire therevpon and incense therein offered straunge fire before the Lord contrarie to the Lords commaundement fire from heauen destroyed them for the priests were commaunded to take no fire but from the aultar neither might they offer vncleane bread vpon the Lords table nor sowe cockles for corne in the Lords fields for the Lord will be more sanctified in his ministers then others and therfore he spared not Oza for handling the Arke nor Ozias for burning incense though they were both kings for transgressing one iot of his lawes
So by these meanes Dauid and Ioshua before him brought the Moabites the Edomites and the Philistines and all theyr enemies round about to be vnder their gouernment So after Dauid all nations did the like a principall point in all good Generalls to strengthen themselues with garrison in strong places Herein the Remanes excelled all nations that whersoeuer or whosoeuer they subdued there they placed Romane Magistrates to gouerne As Scypio and Pompey the great did in Asia Titus and Sylla in Greece this made the Romanes to be feared and dreaded among all nations of the worde For after the Romaines had subdued the Carthagineans they made Carthage a prouince to bee gouerned vnder a Proconsull of Rome After they had subdued Numidia and Lybia they were made prouinces and gouerned vnder a Consul of Rome So Egipt and Mauritania were in like sort gouerned vnder Romane Presidents So Sardinia Cicilia Achaia and many others were made Praetorian prouinces and gouerned vnder the Romanes But wee will proceede forward with the warres of Dauid euery where vnder his Generall Abishai Ioabs brother who slue eighteene thousand of the Edomites in the salt valley and he put garrion in Edom and all the Edomites became Dauids seruants so that Dauids enterprises and his battels which hee fought against the enemies of the Lord had wheresoeuer he went good successe Dauid euer vsed martiall lawes vpon the Lords enemies when Rabbah was taken by Ioab he was presently commaunded by Dauid the king to put all the people to cruell death and for that they were malicious enemies vnto the Lord he put them to such tortures as vnder sawes Iron harrowes Iron axes and cast them into the tylekilne so cruell and greeuous were the punishments of the Lord vpon the cities of the Ammonites The fame of Dauid grew so great that all the kings about him enuied him much that Hamnon king of the Ammonites prepared an army against Dauid vnderstanding that Dauid would reuenge the iniury hee did vnto his Embassadors whome Dauid sent to Hamnon of meere kindnesse and courtesie the cause was that Dauids Embassadours by the King of Ammon and the counsell of his Princes and Lords had the halfe of their beards shaued and their garments cut off in the middle euen vnto their buttockes and so sent them away which among the Israelites was the greatest reproach that might be Thus the Embassadors of Dauid against the law of armes were disfigured to make them odious vnto others but they were commaunded by Dauid to stay in Iericho to auoid the obloquy of so fowle a fact vntill they were prouided for Alcibiades Generall ouer the Athenians laying siege to the chiefe citie of the Aggregentines which was so strongly euery way defended with forts and trenches that Alcibiades deuised a new stratageme and thereby sought meanes to haue a conuenient place of parley to talk with them before he would lay siege to the towne which being graunted Alcibiades appointed certaine captaines while hee held the Aggrentines in parley of peace to take the citie Ionathan after that Iud. Machabaeus his brother was slaine in the field by Bacchides and after that the children of Amri tooke Iohn Ionathans brother he vsed this pollicie to reuenge his brother vpon the mariage day of a daughter of one of the noblest Princes of Canaan Ionathan his men hid themselues and laie in ambush vnder the couert of a mountain that when the children of Amri came out of Medeba with tymbrels Instrumēts of musicke and great pompe Ionathan set vpon them slue the most part and the rest fled so that their mariage was turned into mourning and the noyse of their melodie to lamentation thus Ionathan reuenged his brother at Medeba Cymon the sonne of Milciades a noble Greeke Captaine at the besieging of a citie in Caria vsed this stratagem to burne the temple of Diana which goddesse the Carians most religiously worshipped the temple being builded without the walles of the towne all the citie ranne to defend Dianaes temple from burning Cymon with his Athenian armie entered and obtained the citie while they were busie about the temple The like policie vsed Demetrius to deceiue Ionathan who hearing that Ionathan came in the night time with his men armed Demetrius and all his armie feared and trembled in their hearts and kindled great fires in theyr Tents and fled away which Ionathan suspected not that they fled because they saw the fire burning in the tents and so Demetrius by this strageme of fire passed ouer the flood Eleutherus and escaped from Ionathan Many such stratagems haue bene vsed by fire to deceiue the enemie as Hannibal by fire tyed to Oxens hornes in the night time against the Romaines Sampson by tying of firebrands to Foxes tayles to burne the corne of the Philistines So Absolon vsed the like stratagem against Ioab with many such Now hauing heard that Ioabs chiefe captains came in that Dauid was comē ouer the riuer Iorden fiue kings came against Ioab and pitched their tents before Medeba a citie of the Tribe of Ruben but when the battell ioyned together the Ammonites and the Aramites fled and fell before Israel so that the victorie was Ioabs and yet had they two and thirtie thousand chariottes and fiue kings set in battell-raie to fight against Dauid but it was the Lords battell and therefore too fewe if they had had tenne times as many And therefore the Aramites the Ammonites were sore greeued at the good successe of Dauid that they gathered their whole force and power together and sent messengers beyond Iorden to draw all the enemies of Israel to fight another battell against Dauid and Dauid hearing of their great armies came ouer Iorden to Hel◅ and fought with them and the Aramites fled before him and Dauid destroyed of the Aramites seuen hundred chariots fortie thousand footemen and killed Sophach Generall of the hoste Dauid at length made a generall conquest of the Philistines destroyed the Ammonites and theyr chiefe citie Rabbah slue their King and Princes and cut the people in peeces with sawes with harrowes of Iron and with axes and Dauid requited fully the spitefull malicious wrong they did vnto his Embassadors And as Ioshua brought them ouer Iorden and placed them in Canaan and destroyed their enemies before them and gaue the Hebrewes the possession of Canaan so Dauid rooted these nations out and made a full conquest of them and left Israel in peace and quiet to his sonne Solomon and Salomon to his sonne Rehoboam so that the Edomites Moabites and Ammonites became Dauids seruants and paied tribute vnto Solomon during his whole life CHAP. II. Of tributes paide to the kings of Egipt And what manner of tributes the old Romanes and Persians receiued The rewards of adultery SO Ioseph made a lawe in Egipt that the first part of all the land of Egipt should be as a yearely
which stratagem he entised Tysaphernes to follow after him Agesilaus in the meane season entred into Lydia sackt cities slew many and caried much of the Kings treasure and of the wealth of Lydia into Greece Many the like stratagems vsed Agesilaus against the Persians Antigonus king of Macedonia compelling the Aetolians into a narrow straight siege readie to famish and beeing aduised that the Aetolians would come out desperately to fight and valiantly to die before they would either yeeld or be famished commanded certaine of his captaines to draw backe and to hide themselues to giue them an open passage to flie and in their flight to set vpon them Epaminondas with his Thaeban Army being ready to strike a battell with the Lacedemonians vsed this stratagem to make his souldiers beleeue that the Lacedemonians if they should haue victorie had decreed to kill and to make an end of all the Thaebans and to bring their wiues and children into seruitude and bondage to Sparta to make his Thaeban souldiers to fight more valiantly for their countrey for their wiues and for theyr children So Christ Iesus doth instruct vs to fight the battels of our saluation against Satan with all our hearts minds least he should bring vs in perpetuall seruitude not to Sparta but vnto Gehenna Marcellus vsed those souldiers that began to flye from the battell and for feare forsooke their standart Marcellus brought those at the next time and placed them in the forefront of the battell either there to die like men in the battell or else to recouer the shame and ignomie that they had sustained in the last battell before Appuis Clau. appointed those fugitiue souldiers that would first flye and turne their backs to the enemy to be brought bound before the whole army and to number them and after to take euery tenth souldier by Decimation to kill them with clubs in the open sight of the army Many Romane generals vsed this punishment according to the auntient law of Decimation Alexander the great caused two captaines that kept a castle committed to their charge by Alexander for that they fought not in their place the one was slaine with the other being bound to a poste and shot to death by captaines with arrowes Yet Alexander was of that gentle and milde nature that when he sawe one of the souldiers shaking and readie to dye for colde in the winter time and colde weather Alexander sitting in his chaire at the fire made him sit in his seat and warm him well saying If thou were borne in Persia and hadst sate in king Cyrus chaire thou shouldest die for it but not so in Macedonia to sit in Alexanders chaire The like humanitie was in Xenophon being on horsebacke who commaunded certaine of his souldiers to take a hill hard by one of the company murmured and said it is easie to command on horsebacke Xenophon presently lighted and made that base murmuring souldier to ride in his place and hee marched on foote vp the hill before his souldiers vntill the Armie was ashamed and forced him to take his horse againe from the souldier whom the souldiers reuiled and railed on beating and buffeting him Bochoris decreed a military lawe against offensiue souldiers in Egipt that would not obey theyr Captain or forsake their standart or any way were seditious they should bee remoued from the place where they serued and become againe as base souldiers as they beganne Also if there were any souldier that would betray any secrets of the Campe to the enemies hee should haue his tongue cut out of his head by the lawe of Bochoris Iuba King of Mauritania for the like offence for that certaine souldiers of his Army fied from their company to their tents caused them to be hanged vp on a gybbet in the midst of the campe The Persians thought it no greater infamy to theyr souldiers then to breake the lawe of their countrey the penaltie whereof was that the idle sloathfull and cowardly souldiers should beare on their backs a knowna strumpet or a cōmon woman through the whole camp in the sight of all the Army open faced and bareheaded because hee might bee knowne for euer after to be a defamed ignominious souldier and therfore Scypio in his warres against the Affricans and Artaxerxes in his warres in Persia forbad by the lawes made that no woman should follow the campe least souldiers should be among women out of the way when they should be in the way to fight in the field amongst men Yet Alexander the great and Alexander Seuerus the Romane Emperour allowed women to follow the campe Among the Lacedemonians the onely skilfull souldiers of Greece the Iudges called Ephori made a lawe in Sparta as the Ariopagites made in Athens or as the officers Censores did in Rome against vagabounds runnagates and idle souldiers Among the Macedonians it was not lawfull for any man that was not Miles adscriptus and had not taken a military oath to be a souldier in any warre that the Macedonians tooke in hand neither might a souldier vnsworne bee admitted to fight or draw his sword against the enemie so carefull then was olde age to keepe the order of military discipline and martiall lawes The lawe among the Syracusans was that the Generall of the horsemen did write the names of those souldiers in tables that disordered themselues or troubled others of the Army that they might be punished after the battell with such punishments as was appointed for them by the lawes of Syracusa The people called Daci had a lawe writren in theyr country that when their souldiers had not fought stoutly or manfully they should lie with their heads downward towards the beds feete without pillow or boulster and be at their wiues commaundement and theyr heads to lye at their feete if they should breake this lawe their wiues might haue an action against them in lawe Aurelianus the Emperour so seuerely charged the Tribunes Colonels that in any case they wold punish those souldiers that would either steale a lamb or pullet eyther grapes frō the vine or plucke eares frō the corne Obserue among all nations the punishments and seuerities of offences and that by the rudest nation of the world As among the barbarous Scythians Tamberlanes seueritie was such that a poore woman complained of one of his souldiers that hee tooke a peece of cheese and a little milke and after refused to pay Tamberlane caused the army to stay at the complaint of the woman and to march before the womans face vntill she found that souldier hee caused his body to bee ript and opened in the sight of all the Army and when hee saw milk and cheese in his mawe he said to the woman behold I haue made this souldier to pay well for thy cheese and milke so wil I make others that so offend An other example in Tamberlane being
the soundest and surest testimony of peace and friendship that could be The Armenians vsed to draw bloud euery man out of his thumbe that euery man should licke an others bloud in witnesse that all should liue in peace and loue therafter so did Radamistus king of Hiberia with Mitrates king of Armenia But in the place where the Scythians concluded peace they had a great bowle of wine before them and there euery man letting a vaine to bleed into the bowle of wine then dipping a sword and an arrow into this bowle dranke one to another this mingled wine and bloud in token of peace and friendship between them In like maner the Carmanes people in Persia when they met together at a banquet they would strike a vain in their forehead to draw bloud to mingle their bloud with wine to drinke that one to an other which was among them the greatest oath the surest bond of loue that could be The ceremonies of the Arabians whē they were to be agreed with their enemies they would drawbloud with a sharp flintstone out of their fingers into a dish therin dip white wooll certain small thin stones with the which stones wooll they would rub and die their garments to continue as a perpetuall league of peace betweene them The old and auntient manner of the Persians was to bring their wiues their children their dearest friends and at their banquets calling their hospitall gods to bee their witnesses and their friends then present to bee as pawnes and pledges of their faith peace by drinking one to an other The Thracians and the Egiptians also had their ceremonies in contracting conditiōs of peace which was to drink wine out of an oxe horn one to an other being an old ceremoniall custome among them of great antiquitie for without drinking out of that oxe horne no composition of peace could be taken in Egipt or in Thracia for the horne was an auntient monument reserued for that purpose Clearchus generall of the Lacedemonians at what time the Persians and the Greekes were at composition of peace Clearchus sacrificed a bull a wolfe a boare and a ramme and in the bloud of these sacrified beasts the Greekes dipt their swords the Persians their launces as a full record before the gods of peace and amitie Aristides labouring much for vniuersall peace among the Greekes after long ciuill warres at the concluding of the peace hee threw hotte fierie Iron bowles into the sea praying vnto the gods that as those fiery bowels were extinguished by water euen so they that would breake this league of peace and liue in Greece with all their friends and confederates should be rooted out of Greece or quite destroyed in Greece Had Agesilaus bene so willing as Aristides was with Epaminondas when all Greece came to Lacedemon to make a generall peace Sparta had not bene so plagued at the battell of Leuctres where King Cleombrotus was slaine and a thousand of the best souldiers and citizens of Sparta Fabius Max. being sent by the Romanes as an Embassador to the Carthagineans vsed these words I bring you here in the lap of my gowne warre or peace wherof you must make present choise The like embassage the Romane Popilius carried frō Rome to Antiochus Epiphanis opening the whole cause of his embassage Antiochus seeming to cast off time with delayes Popilius made a circuite with his rod round about him saying you must answere the Senators of Rome before you goe out of this round circuite whether you will haue warre or peace so valiant and stout the Romanes euer were that they offered peace and warre together and the enemies to make the choise Now hauing opened the maner order of denouneing warres and concluding of peace before I proceed forward to military discipline taught in all countreys and among all nations I will set downe the maner and order how diuers nations were wont in olde time to yeeld and to seeke peace at their enemies being in the enemies hands without hope of life and readie to be ouerthrowne CHAP. XIIII The manner of yeelding among all nations Of diuers battels and victories and how the Romanes and the Greekes esteemed their weapons THe maner of yeelding of diuers nations in old time was either in the field to their enemies or else by entreaty of peace they should come in base and simple apparell to offer theyr lands their waters their liuings their cattels their Temples and their Citties So the Egiptians came with poore simple garments without weapons to seeke peace at the enemies and to yeeld themselues their Priests carrying their gods before them with sacrifice So the cittizens of Alexandria came to yeeld themselues to Caesar. So the Iewes came out of Ierusalem with theyr high Priest to meete Alexander the great yeelding vnto him all dignitie and honour submitting themselues vnto him So the Gibeonites came to Ioshua faigned themselues Embassadors tooke olde sackes vpon their asses and olde clowted shooes vpon their feete and said vnto Ioshua we be thy seruants we be come from a far countrey so Ioshua consented vnto peace made a league with them and suffered them to liue So the Sabine Embassadors when they came to yeeld themselues to the old Roman kings were demanded by Torquin Do you your people come to yeeld your selues to me my people at Rome your lands your waters your cities your temples your wealth your liberties and all that you haue the Embassadors answered wee do and I king Torquine accept and receiue your yeelding The Greekes likewise came as the Egiptians did in sad mourning apparell and offered boughes of Oliues and branches of Lawrell to the enemies as signes and tokens of submission in yeelding and in seeking of peace The Persians maner was to offer land and water to the conquerour as a signe of yeelding for so the Persians sought of others when they tooke warres in hand before they conquered which was their pride brag But the Athenians according to the lawe of armes put the Persian Embassadors to death for that they sought land water before any warre was denounced or battell giuen The Assirians also according to their wonted manner when they come to yeeld themselues their Priests come with their labels miters and holy ornaments to seeke peace at the enemy The Syrians came to yeeld themselues with halters about their necks to Achab to entreat for peace for Benhadad their king who said a litle before that the dust of Samaria was too little for euery one of his souldiers to haue a handfull With the Frenchmen and Spaniards it was their custome and maner to yeeld to their enemies in shewing their hands and armes naked to the enemy The Lacedemonians when they sought peace and yeeded to the enemies they threw their shields away from them and tooke the
I will spare to put them in English because they are in English mentioned before If any be desirous of more military punishments let him read Vegetius the third booke and fourth chapter where hee setteth downe that if a souldier beeing punished for any offence by him committed should contrary his Captaine or the Collonell by resisting or staying his captaines hands or by breaking the staffe or the sticke wherwith he is punished he is by martiall law displaced from the place he serueth in and quite remoued from the campe If any souldier resist correction lay violent hands on his Captaine or Collonell when he is corrected he is to suffer capitall punishment which is death by martiall law appointed Augustus Caesar commaunded those souldiers that offended in the campe with sloathfulnesse and idlenesse which framed not thēselues like souldiers to carry vpon their backes Decempedam a pearch or pole of ten foote long sometimes to carrie turffes in their shirts bare-legd and barefooted to be flowted and scoffed of their company Sertorius for that he saw a number of souldiers negligently omit military discipline he caused them to bee whipt and scourged in the midst of the Campe threatning death for the least fault the next time they offended For said Sertorius In bello bis peccare non licet Genutius the Consull disauthorised and purged his campe of foure thousand souldiers whom hee found sloathfull and negligent in the army and brought them to open publique punishment Cyrus therfore after he had conquered the Lydians knowing them to be soft and effeminate souldiers suffered none of them to be in his campe Among the Carthaginians the Lacedemonians and they of Creete a lawe was made confirmed by Plato in Greece that no souldier might drinke wine during the time of theyr warres which made Marius to speake to his Armye perceiuing them to bee verie thyrstie we must breake our thirst in yonder Riuer after the battell Pittacus a singular wise man made the like lawe in Mittelena as Plato made in Greece that the souldiers that would drinke wine might receiue double punishment without pay Among the Romanes seuere lawes were made against wine drinkers and executed not onely vpon souldiers by the Generall but also vpon the women in Rome by their husbands as Egnat Metellus punished his owne wife If any souldier should go any where out of their camp and be found without sword and weapons about him he should be accused of a capital crime hardly escape death vnlesse it were the first offence of a yong soldier Those souldiers that cast vp bankes made trenches and diches might not be without weapons about them though they were but agrarij milites So vsed Marius and after him Caesar they made their souldiers to worke with their swords on their sides and mattockes in their hands So did the Iewes for feare of the Samaritans and others build vp Ierusalem and the temple hauing theyr weapons in one hand and working with the other Scipio Aemilianus at the warres of Numantia perceiuing that his vnder captaines and his officers forgat the military discipline of the old Romaines which was that women should not follow the warres and many other abuses and enormities which were suffered in the camp without looking vnto and therefore Scipio purged all his army of all idle leaud company with whip scourge that might hinder seruice infect the army So did Cyrus the great king of Persia with the like care keepe his souldiers from slothfull idlenesse commaunding his Generalls Captaines to exercise theyr souldiers with paine trauell to suffer hunger colde without meate or drinke before they woulde certifie their captaine what military exercise either on foote or on horse they had done And after that Cyrus had conquered the Lydians knowing them to be false and treacherous fellowes very cowards timerous soldiers he dismissed them from his campe and suffred them not to stay among his souldiers because they should not infect souldiers nor corrupt military discipline For that the martiall disciplines of the Romaines were such as I thought good to make a catalogue as I found them in the Commentary vpon Vegetius virgis caedi vite verberari linguae abscissio this kinde of punishment vsed the Egiptians by a lawe confirmed in Egipt to cut off the souldiers tongue that betrayed any counsell to the enemie the fourth punishment among the Romanes was Manuū amputatio to cut off the hands of those souldiers that were founde stealing or filching in the campe The fift punishment was Crurum exectio the breaking of the legges of those souldiers that forsooke theyr standart and so to leaue them without legs to staie behinde because when he had legges he would not follow his standart Another punishment they had called Decimation for offences among the souldiers vnknowne the tenth man by lot as it fel vpon him should die throughout the whole company this punishment Decimation was inuented first by Appius Claudius which long endured among the Romanes and most frequented The seuenth punishment was for them that fled to the enemies and returned to be eaten and deuoured of beasts So Scipio Affrican punished some Romain fugitiues Another punishment among the Romane souldiers was to be stoned to death so was Posthumius stoned in his Tents Another punishment among souldiers was to be shot to death the souldier being tied to a stake This punishment vsed Caesar Alexander the great and many other Generalls in diuers countries To be short Sepultura priuari sub crate necari carpento trahi and many other such you may read in Viget lib. 3. cap. 4. In this the Romaines differed from the Persians hardly would the Romanes trust any mercenary souldier or suffer any straunger as a souldier to be within their campe The Persians imitating the great king Cyrus counsell who euer thought it best to choose a souldier as a a man would make choice of a good horse to trauell far from home and to spare his owne people the Persians vntill extreame necessitie forced warres cleane contrary to the Romanes who neuer vsed but their owne Romane legions though they subdued the Macedonians the Persians and their kings yet the Romanes would not vse their martiall discipline which made the Romanes to vanquish all nations and to rule ouer all countries CHAP. II. Of the prouinciall regiments of the Romanes Of their rule and gouernment ouer the greatest kings of the world THe Romanes euery where most renowned for their fame in a manner Lords of the whole earth after they had conquered all nations kingdomes vnder them to pay tribute to the Empire of Rome and had appointed gouernors and regents to gouerne vnder them in euery country Some vnder Consuls some vnder Proconsuls some vnder Presidents some vnder Praetors and some vnder Knights and after they had diuided these kingdomes countries some into principallities some
nothing These were superstitious orders of Franciscans and not the vowes of Nazarites The Ethnicks likewise suffered their haires to grow because they might dedicate it either to Iupiter to Appollo to Mars or to some of their gods So did Thesius dedicate his haire vnto Appollo vpon his father Aegaeus graue So Achilles dedicated his haire vpō the tombe of his deare friend Patroclus So did Orestes consecrate his haire vpon the tombe of his father in lawe Agamemnon after he had killed him with the consent of his wife Clytemnestra So Euripides was of Archelaus king of Macedonia so honoured that hee lamented Euripides death in mourning apparell and with a shauen head and beard After the vowes of Iacob of Dauid of Asa and such godly men after the vowes of the Nazarites and of the Rechabites which was commanded from Ionadab the father vnto his children and to their posteritie was kept vnuiolated three hundred yeares These vowes were of the Lord accepted but for Heathen vowes which wilfully offer sacrifice their seruants their childrē thēselues to Moloch to satisfie the oracles of diuels speaking in dumbe Idols as vnto Curtius that rode sacrificing of a quick man which made Curtius on horseback in armor to ride into an open wide gulfe in Rome and Codrus king of Athens likewise in beggers apparell to sacrifice themselues to satisfie the oracles Yet Heliodorus was better aduised and more to be commended being sent by Seleucus king of Syria to rob and spoile the Temple of Ierusalem after he was scourged on both sides with many stripes by some diuine power hauing recouered his life by the prayer of Onias the high Priest Heliodorus offered sacrifice vnto God and made his vowes vnto the Lord which had graunted to him his life and thanked Onias confessing the name of the Lord to be great in Ierusalem Antiochus after his flight frō Persepolis in Persia thought to reuenge his wrath vpon Ierusalem aduancing himself that he would make Ierusalem a graue of all the Iewes but he was striken of the Lord that hee promised and vowed that whereas hee had spoiled the holy temple before now to garnish it with gifts to encrease the holy ornaments to become a Iew himselfe and to preach the power of the Lord through euery place of the world So Artaxerxes king of Persia so fauoured the Iewes through the goodnesse of the Lord that hee called Esdras the Priest and reader of the lawe of the Lord and willed him with all the Iewes that would goe with him to goe to Ierusalem allowed them golde and siluer and cattell to sacrifice vnto the Lord and to performe the vowes which they vowed vnto the Lord. So Nabuchodonozer Cyrus and Darius were moued by the Lord to fauour his people Israell And therefore olde Homer said that the sacrifices and oblations with all their vowes and ceremonies which the Troians offered to Iupiter were nothing of him accepted for that Iupiter rather esteemed the vowes and sacrifice of Agamemnon and the oblations of the Greckes before king Priamus and his Troians So the oracle of Ammon answered the Athenians that the gods esteemed more the vowes and prayers of the Lacedemonians with the sacrifice of milke honey frankincense cakes and wine according to Pythagoras rule then the rich spoiles and great gifts of the Athenians with the great sacrifice of Haecatombae So the Prophet answered the Iewes from the mouth of the Lord I abhorre your incense I cannot away with your new moones your sabbothes and solemne dayes I detest your ceremonies and fastings I hate although you make many praiers and offer many oblations yet do I neither heare your prayers nor accept your oblations CHAP. VII Of Oracles and soothsayings as well of the Iewes as of the Gentiles THe Lord commaunded in the lawes of Moses that no soothsaying should be among the Israelites yet things conteining of necessary causes are not forbidden for signes were asked of the Israelites and giuen vnto them of victories by the Lord. Ionathas desired a signe of the Lord and he had by the spirit of the Lord a token that if the Philistins would say vnto Ionathas come ye hither vnto vs Ionathas by that signe knew he should haue victorie The like signe was giuen to Gedeon of his victorie by a fleece of wooll that should be so full with deawe that the deawe therof filled a bowle with water and drie vpon all the earth besides Elizeus bad Ioas shoote eastward in token of his good successe in Aphec And againe hee bad Ioas smite the ground and hee smote the ground thrise so many great victories against the Syrians he had Samuel caught the lap of Sauls coate and rent it saying Thus shall God rent the kingdome out of thy hand and giue it to an other So did Ahiah the Prophet take the garment of Ieroboam and rent it into twelue peeces saying So shall the Lord rent the kingdome out of Salomons hand and giue tenne of the twelue Tribes vnto thee These were signes giuen before hand by the Prophets from the Lord. A prophet of Iudah came to Bethel and cried against the Aultar of Bethel and gaue them a signe that Iosias which was borne three hundred yeares after should offer Priests of the hill altars and burne mens bones vpon the altar and this shall be a signe the altar presently shall rent and the ashes that are in it shall fall out The being of Ionas in the Whales belly three dayes was a signe as Christ himselfe saide that the sonne of man should be three dayes in the belly of the earth It was lawfull for the Israelites to call for the Arke which was the presence of God the figure of Christ they would call for the Ephod they would consult with Vrim and Thummim before they tooke any battell in hand The Iewes required a signe the Grecians sought after wisdome but Christ crucified vnto the Iewes was euen a stumbling blocke and vnto the Grecians foolishnesse For the Greekes Persians went for Oracles to Delphos the Egiptians and Affricans to Ammon but the Hebrewes were taught to come to the doore of the Tabernacle and after the vse of the Tabernacle to consult with Vrim and Thummim to come to the Temple of Salomon or to the Prophets and there to be instructed what to doo The Hebrues tooke no warres in hand vnlesse they ◅ame to the Priest first who would stand with his Ephod◅rment ◅rment before the Arke of the Lorde and there to be ◅ught what to do So Ioshuah Generall of the Israelites vsed to stand b◅re Eleazar the Priest to take his instruction by Vrim and Thummim So Iudah the successor of Ioshua was chosen by Vrim and Thummim to be a Generall of the Hebrue army So did Samuel stand before the high Priest to receiue he Oracle of Vrim and Thummim The Hebrewes