this strange adventure that had befaln their General and therefore had not the Courage to make head against them Whatever be the Circumstances of this story that may justly occasion the truth of it to be called in Question its plain from other passages which we shall have occasion to touch in the pursuance of this History that the dissoluteness of a General hath oftener than once occasioned the ruin of Armies We come now to the story of Susanna and the Elders of Israel This Woman says the Author was Wife to Joacim the Chief of the Jews then Captives in Babylon a Woman of Incomparable Beauty and Admirable Chastity This Lady using to walk in her Husbands Garden in the afternoons two of the Elders of Israel who attended at Joacim's House to execute Judgment became inflam'd with Lust towards her and tho' at first they were asham'd to declare it to one another yet afterwards being hardened in their Wickedness they plotted together against this Vertuous Woman and watching an opportunity till they found her alone in the Garden when she had sent her Maids out for Oil and Wash-balls in order to bath her self they surpriz'd her tempted her to Lewdness and upon her refusal accus'd her falsly as if they had taken her in Adultery with a young man upon which she was by the Authority of their Evidence Convicted and Condemned to die but Just as she was going to be put to death the Lord raised up Daniel says the Author to deliver her who obtaining that her Cause should be reheard he examined the Elders afresh and accusing them of that Villainous and Lustfull design against Susanna Convicted them of Perjury by their own Testimony the one of them saying they took her under a Mastich and the other saying that they took her under an Holm-Tree so that they themselves fell into the Pit which they had Digged for this Vertuous Woman and suffered the punishment which they design'd should have been inflicted upon her Whether this story be true or not is not material to our purpose but in the prosecution of this design we shall meet with several parallell Instances which discover the thing not to be impossible in it self however improbable in regard of its Circumstances We come now to the New Testamen times and find it observable that our Saviour in his first Sermon upon the Mount Matth. 5. inveighed against the impurity of the Jews who for light and frivolous Causes such as if they did not like their Wives c. Divorced them which was the occasion of Uncleanness in themselves and in the Women so Divorced who our Saviour says they caused to commit Adultery if they put them away upon any other account than that of Fornication so that 't is plain that the Woman whom they took into their Bed in the room of her that was Divorced was no other than a Concubine and that if the Woman so Divorced Married with another Man she thereby became an Adultress as our Saviour declares more at large in the 19th of Matthew where we have an Account of the malice and subtlety of the Pharisees in propounding that Question Whether it was Lawful for a Man to put away his Wife for every Cause For if our Saviour had answered in the Affirmative then they would have proclaimed him a Friend to Uncleanness and if In the Negative then they would have opposed him with the Authority of Moses but our Lord knowing their design referred them to the Creation when God made them Male and Female not Females or diverse Women for one Man and to the first institution of Marriage which was only betwixt one and one and therefore it was said they two not they three four or five shall be one Flesh which clearly subverted all that could be alledged for Polygamy or Concubinage and being the Commentary of the Lawgiver upon his own Law makes it of equal Authority with the Text and ought for ever to shut the Mouths of such as plead for a plurality of Wives Then to their Argument from the Authority of Moses he answers them that Moses indeed permitted Divorces because of the hardness of their Hearts and to prevent a greater evil as is Customary in all Political and Civil Constitutions as if Moses had said It 's better that you put away your Wives when you grow weary of them than Murder them and at the same time they were obliged to give them a Bill of Divorce which was a Testimony of the Womans Innocence and of the Husbands Levity and Impurity But our Saviour tells them that from the beginning it was not so and that what God had joined no man could put asunder which was as much as to say that common Laws allow more than is allowed by the Laws of Religion as is clear from this Instance that in all Christian Kingdoms there are Judges Constituted for deciding differences betwixt Man and Man of what nature soever they may be for preventing Oppression and Injustice so that the Bench is open to Trivial and Frivolous suits as well as to those that are Weighty and Material yet the practice of such as go to Law upon every occasion is contrary to the Apostles Command and Christian Charity as may be seen 1 Cor. 1. 6. It is also observable that our Saviour taught those Pharisaical Zealots who valued themselves upon their external sanctity a more refin'd and higher degree of Chastity than they had formerly been acquainted with viz. That the Law which forbad them to commit Adultery did not only reach the outward practice but the inward motions and thoughts of the heart and therefore he tells them Matth 5. 28. That whosoever lookt on a Woman to Lust after her hath committed Adultery with her already in his heart a Doctrine which does so much Gall our Modern Gallants That we have great reason to presume it is one of the Chief Latent Causes why so many of 'em denâ—… the Author of it to be God We come next to the Historical passages of the new Testament relating to our Subject The first we meet with is that in Mat. 14. concerning the Tetrarch Herod and Herodias his Brother Philip's Wife with whom that Prince committed Incest for which he was reproved by John the Baptist and this did so incense the wicked Woman that nothing less could expiate this supposed Crime of the Prophet than the loss of his life but she durst not attempt that rashly for fear of the people who as they knew her to be a Vicious Strumpet did also know that John was a Good Man and esteem'd him as a Prophet his Vertues being as conspicuous as her Vices and therefore she watch'd a convenient opportunity which she found on her Gallant Herod's Birth-day when he was feasting and revelling with his Nobles at which time she sent in her Daughter the unworthy off-spring of such an Ungodly Mother to Dance before them where with Herod and his Company were so extreamly well pleas'd
Marriage and to avoid as much as may be the Exhausting of their Men by Wars Colonies or Conquests which do naturally occasion the want of a sufficient number of Males to supply the Females whence proceeds Whoredom Uncleanness and Luxury which infallibly issues in Contempt of Marriage an Obstruction of Propagation and the ruin of a people Before we come to give an Account how the Persian Monarchy was overturn'd by Luxury and Lasciviousness we shall have occasion to touch upon some Remarkable Revolutions occasioned amongst the Greeks by Uncleanness The first that we meet with in Justin is that of Diocles King or Governour of Athens who having forced a young Woman he was in Revenge thereof killed by her Brother whereupon Hippias Brother to Diocles ordered the youngman to be apprehended and putting him upon the Rack examined him concerning those that were privy to his design the young man in further Revenge for this new Injury Nam'd all the Tyrant's Friends who being put to Death upon his Accusation Hippias ask'd if he knew of any more that were Conscious to his Crime To this the young man answered That there were no more at whose Death he could gladly rejoyce but the Tyrant himself which the Citizens took as a Signal to recover their lost Liberty and drove Hippias into Exile who thereupon joining with the Persians against his own Country was slain in Battle And here it 's proper to add that the Effeminacy and Luxury of the Persians under the Reign Xerxes was the chief cause of the shamefull overthrows which they received by the Grecians The next Remarkable instance which we find for our purpose in Justin is that in his 3d. Book of the War betwixt the Messenians and Lacedemoonians occasioned by the former's having Ravished the Virgins belonging to the latter whilst they were at Sacrifice upon which the Lacedomineans bound themselves by a solemn Oath never to return into their Country till they had taken in Messenia which laid the Foundation of Intestine Discord and Civil War in Grecia The Siege of this Town continued 10 years during which time the Lacedemonian Women being not able to brook the want of their Husbands Company they sent heavy complaints to them upon that head but the Lacedemonians being unwilling to violate their Oaths and at the same time sensible that their people must needs decrease they fell upon this Medium to send home all the young men who had come as Recruits to their Camp after the taking of the said Oath and allowing them the Liberty to Accompany with the Women the Children begot by this promiscuous Copulation were as a Brand of their Mothers Infamy called Parthenii and arriving at the Age of 30 they were so much afraid of coming to Want because they knew not whom to call Father nor which way to have any Patrimony that under the Conduct of Phalantus Son to Aratus who was the Author of the Advice to send the young men from the Camp abovesaid they resolved to seek new Habitations for themselves and so without so much as saluting or taking leave of their Mothers from whom they deriv'd the Infamy of being Bastards they arriv'd at last in Italy subdued the Tarentines and settled in their Country But to return to the Messenians they were at last overcome by the Lacedemonians in two Wars the 1st of 20 and the 2. of 14 years continuance and reduced to a miserable slavery which was originally occasion'd as we have just now heard by their Uncleanness Our next Instance is in Justin Lib. 5 concerning Timea Queen to Agis King of Lacedemon who being guilty of Adultery with Alcibiades the Athenian while an Exile from his Country at her Husbands Court â—…e discovered to him the design which the Lacedemonians had against his Life because they envied his Conduct and Glory upon which Alcibiades fled to the Persians and having by his cunning prevail with the Athenians to recall him he afterwards defeated the Lacedemonians by Sea and Land and brought them to sue for Peace so destructive to her Country was the Unlawfull Amours of this Whorish Queen and so ruinous to the whole East and particularly to Athens was the Vitious Lustfull Temper of Alcibiades the occasion of whose Exile as abovementioned was his discovery of something of the Mystery of Ceres's Worship or the Profane Eleusina Sacra which we have already described at large The fatal Exit of this Great Man is also Remarkable viz. That he was by the order of the 30 Tyrants burnt in his Chamber when asleep a suitable punishment from the hand of Divine Justice for one that had burnt in impure Lust however he deserved better Treatment at the hands of his Country That same Author in his sixth Book acquaints us that after the death of Epaminondas the great Theban General the Athenians having no Enemy to whet their Emulation or Exercise their Martial Courage grew Luxurious and Debauch'd spent their Time and Revenues in publick Festivals and Plays frequented the Stage and Play-Houses more than the Camp and did more extoll their Poets and Orators than their Captains and Generals by which means they lost their Glory and rendred themselves and all Greece and Asia a prey to the Macedonians formerly an obscure people Before we go any further in the History of the Unlawful Amours of Greece it may not be improper to take notice of the ruine of Troy by the Graecians after ten years War upon the account of the Rape of fair Helena from Menelaus a Graecian Prince by Paris Son to Priamus King of Troy This story being known to every School-Boy its needless to insist upon it but we shall only observe that the Lust of Paris occasioned the ruin of that Kingdom and City about the year of the World 2870. after it had stood near 296 years The ruins of that Famous Town are still to be seen near the Mountain Ida about 32 German Miles South of Constantinople upon the Asian side of the Hellespont or strait of the Dardanelles as a Monument of Divine Justice against Whoredom Justin in his 7th Book gives us this Remarkable instance of punishment inflicted upon the Persian Ambassadors for their Lechery viz. That being sent by Magabazus the Persian General to demand Hostages from Amyntas King of Macedonia that Prince received them kindly and the Ambassadors having drank largely in the time of the Feast so as their Lust was inflamed they demanded that they might have the Company of the Kings Wives and Daughters at their entertainment which they said was a Pledge of Hospitality among the Persians The King thinking fit to grant it the Persians began to handle the Women immodestly upon which Alexander Son to King Amyntas desir'd his Father to withdraw from the Banquet because of his Age and Gravity the Prince having done so Alexander a little while after called out the Women pretending that he would bring them back in a better dress that so they might be the more
of deflowring several other Women but the Judges being brib'd he was acquitted It appears also plainly enough by Plutarch that Cicero himself was not altogether without Blame as to his Chastity for he put away his Wife Terentia to marry a young Virgin as she alledg'd for the sake of her Beauty or as his own emancipated Slave said for her Riches to satisfie his Debts Not long after this Marriage his Daughter Tullia died for which he prov'd unconsolable and put away his new-married Wife for seeming to rejoyce at her Death but a further Judgment pursu'd him for Antony bearing him an irreconcilable Hatred sent Assassins after him when he fled from Rome and murder'd him in the 64th Year of his age his Hands and Head being cut off and publickly affix'd to the Rostra at Rome In the Life of Artaxerxes King of Persia our Author informs us That that Prince being desperately in love with Atossa one of his own Daughters but concealing his Criminal Passion for fear of his Mother Parysatis the wicked Woman to further some of her own mischievous Designs perswaded him to marry her contrary to the Determinations of the Grecian Sages alledging That he was determin'd by Providence to be a Law to the Persians and he is also accus'd by Heraclides the Cumean and other Historians of having likewise married his second Daughter Amestris The Judgments which pursu'd this lascivious Prince were that he was defeated in his War with the Egyptians and became contemptible in the Eyes of his Subjects upon the account of his unsuccessful Expedition against the Cadusians He was also punish'd by the Controversies amongst his Sons about the Succession and by the unnatural and villainous Amours of his Son Ochus with his Wife Atossa therefore to dash the Hopes of his Son Ochus he proclaim'd Darius the elder Brother his Successor who soon after begg'd of the King that he would give him Aspasia who was formerly Cyrus's beloved Miss but then Concubine to Artaxerxes who tho' he had Three hundred and Sixty most exquisite Beauties in his Seraglio could not endure to part with Aspasia to Darius but being constrain'd to it by the Law he afterwards took her from him and created her Priestess to Diana which bound her to perpetual Chastity upon which account the unnatural Son conspir'd against his Father at the Instance of Tiribazus who bore a mortal Grudge to Artaxerxes for having married his own Daughter Amestris whom he haâ—… promis'd him to Wife but the Plot being discover'd Darius was put to death as a just Recompence for his unnatural Lust and Treason After this Ochus by his Interest with Arossa was strengthen'd in his Hopes of Succession found Means to cut off his other two Brothers Ariaspes and Arsames the Grief of which kill'd Artaxerxes And thus was he justly punish'd by and in his own Children because of his horrid Uncleanness leaving his Son Ochus behind who being the wicked Son of a wicked Parent prov'd a Monster of Cruelty Thus we have finish'd Plutarch's select Lives and dare referr it to the Judgment of the Ingenuous Reader whether many of his Heroes have not been foully culpable as to the point of Chastity and as remarkably punish'd for the same We come in the next place to search among the Roman Emperors where we find many remarkable Instances for our purpose and as remarkable Judgments pursuing ' em The first is Julius Caesar who tho' he triumph'd over most part of the then known World yet was himself triumph'd over by his Lusts. When he was High-Priest of Jupiter he divorc'd Cossutia a Lady of an Equestrian Family and of a very great Fortune to whom he had been contracted during his Minority and married Cornelia the Daughter of Cinna Nor could all the Arguments of Sylla the Dictator prevail upon him to part with her Whereupon he was suspended his Sacerdotal Dignity and had his Estate sequestred which forc'd him to abscond and shift his Quarters almost every Night tho' sick of a Quartan Ague and with much ado obtain'd his Pardon at last Being thus unfaithful to the Marriage-bed he was punish'd in the same Coin for having afterwards married Pompeia she was accus'd of Uncleanness with Clodius as has been already mention'd who had access to her during publick Worship whereupon he divorc'd her The Lasciviousness of his Mind may be also guessed at by his Dream that he had ravish'd his own Mother which tho' those who pretended to interpret such things told him That it was a Presage that he should arrive at the Universal Monarchy yet is a plain Indication of the predominancy of his Lust. Suetonius also acquaints us That he divorc'd his Daughter Julia from Servilius Coepio her former Husband one who had stuck the fastest to him of all Men living in his Dispute with Bibulus his Fellow-Consul and married her to Pompey which made him guilty of his Daughter's Adultery and was a horrid piece of Ingratitude at the same time And tho' it 's true he had great Success in his War against the Gauls Germans and Britains yet he was not without Checks from Divine Justice having lost a whole Legion by the Gauls had two of his Lieutenants defeated on the Frontiers of Germany and lost the greatest part of his Fleet upon the Coasts of Britain And in his own Family he was punish'd by the Death of his Mother his Daughter Julia and his Grand-daughter Nor was he without danger of being indicted and try'd for his Life for his Male-administration during his Consulship and of being utterly ruin'd by Pompey tho' he had the good Fortune to overcome him at last in that decisive Battel on the Pharsalian Plains Suetonius gives us a particular Enumeration of his Amours which have spread his Infamy as far as ever his Fame reach'd His being a Catamite and guilty of Sodomy with Nicomedes King of Bythinia occasion'd many Railleries upon him and expos'd him to the Contempt of his Enemies as when he swagger'd one day in the Senate and said He would run down his Adversaries they reply'd that He would find that an hard Task for a Woman alluding to his being prostituted by Nicomedes They call'd him also The Queen of Bythinia 's Cuckoldmaker the Bawdyhouse of Bythinia and Nicomedes 's Stable His Adversary Bibulus said of him when he proscrib'd him That formerly he affected a King but now a Kingdom Octavius a prating Fellow whose Tongue usually got the start of his Wit did one day before a great company when he saluted Pompey by the Name of King give Caesar the Title of Queen Cicero upbraided him with those things in his Epistles and when Caesar in his Plea before the Senate for Nisa Daughter to the said Nicomedes insisted upon the good Offices that King had done him Cicero cut him shoâ—…t saying No more of that let me beg you Sir we all know very well what has passed betwixt you two Nay the very Souldiers who attended his Chariot in his Gallic
Adultery and Punishment and Remarks on it 64 65 David 's Concubines their uncleanness and punishment 75 Darius 's Incest and Punishment 148 225 Decemviri their Government overturn'd at Rome by the Lust of Appius Claudius 172 Decius Mundus 113 Demetrius Poliorcetes 's lust and punishment 209 to 214. The Honours done him by the Athenians 213. They desert him at last 213. His prodigality to his Harlots 211. His vile passion to Damocles ibid. Demetrius of Macedon 's lust and punishm 161 Dimacus betray'd by his Catamite 153 Diocles K. of Athens his lust and punishm 143 Dionysius 's lust and punishment 157 197 Divorces of Jews our Saviour's opinion of ' em 104 Domitian 's lust and punishment 255 Drunkards promoted for their Drunkenness 274 Drunkenness of the Romans 267 268 273 274 E Eastern Nations their Uncleanness 50 51 Fating Excess as to quantity 284 Ecclesiastical History Instances from thence 3â—…0 Egyptians their uncleanness and punishm 49 50 Elders of Israel attempt to debauch Susanna 103 Eleusina Sacra describ'd 119 Eli 's Sons their uncleanness and punishment 61 Esau why he married three Wives his sin and punishment 20 Eurydice 's Incest and Cruelty 147 F Firmus drank two Buckets of Wine at once 273 Fishes the luxury and niceness of the Romans in them mourn'd for when dead deck'd with Jewels Otavius 's Expence about ' em 282 283. Fore-skin why circumcis'd 13 Fornication why so called 307 Schoolmens Opinion of it 315 Fowl the nicenâ—…ss and luxury of the Romans about ' em 283 Furniture of Houses excessive 292 294 G Galba 's uncleanness and punishment 249 Galerius the Emperor's Whoredom eat up alive by Worms 260 Galerius Maximianus his uncleanness and punishment 305 Gallienus 's uncleanness and death 259 Games and Plays in the Theatres the expence and folly of ' em 286 Giants the first of them how and what 6 Glaphyra her uncleanness and punishment 99 Gluttony of the Romans 276 279 280 281 Gnosticks their Impurities 302 Great Cities occasions of lewdness many times 2 Grecian 〈◊〉 her Revenge upon a Centurion that debauch'd her 181 Groves chosen by Idolaters to worship in because of being accommodated to their lustful designs 82 Gryphus Gryphina Cyricaenus and Cleopatra their lust and punishment 164 H Hagarens their Original and Offspring 12 Hair plaited and anointed 296 Ham 's seeing his Father's nakedness what 8 Hannibal 's Army debauch'd at Capua 175 Heliogabalus a Catamite 307 his lust gluttony and tragical end 258 Herod the Great 100 Herod and Herodias their lust and punishm 106 Hispala a Curtesan discovers the Bacchanalian Rites and more afraid of Men than Gods 184 Holofernes 101 Houses of Domitian and Nero described 293 Houses excessive large 291 I Jacob 's Poligamy and Punishment 21 Idols of the Moabites and Zidonians what 80 Idolatry and Uncleanness produce each other 117 Jewels Lollia Paulina 's excess in them 297 and of other Roman Ladies 298 Jews 50000 destroy'd by the lust of Anilaeus 115 Jezebel her uncleanness and punishment 83 Joseph 's Chastity Remarks on it 29 Jsraelites their whoredom and punishment 42 their Luxury the cause of the Plague that swept away 70000. 83 Judah 's Incontinence and Punishment 27 Julius Caesar his Uncleanness Sodomy and Punishment 226 to 231 K Kingly Government abolish'd at Rome by Whoredom 166 Kitchins excessive large 291 L Lacedemonian Women impregnated by their young Men sent home on purpose from the Camp 142 Laodice her Incest Adultery and Punishm 162 Latins defeated by their Whoredom 193 Laws slavishly dispens'd with and the order of time inverted to please a Prince 212 Levite 's Concubine her uncleanness and punishm 58 Locrians complain of Pleminius Debauches 176 Looking-glasses excessive dear 299 Lot 's Wife why turn'd into a Pillar of Salt according to the Rabbins 15 Lot and his Daughters their sin and punishment 14 15 16 17 Lucretia ravish'd her Speech to her Husband kills her self 167 Lucullus 's Luxury and Punishment 203 Ludi Florales what 263 Salvianus 's opinion of ' em 264 Luxury of the Romans 265 266 Lycurgus 's filthy Laws and Reasons for ' em 189 His Reasons confuted 190 Lydians order'd by Cyrus to be debauch'd why 138 M Manasses 's Uncleanness occasion'd the building of the Temple of Samaria and the Hatrea betwixt the Jews and Samaritans 85 86 Mandrakes found by Reuben what 24 Manichees their Impurity 51 Their Opinion of the Poligamy of the Patriarchs confuted by St. Austin 22 Manilius turn'd out of the Senate because too sweet upon his Wife in presence of his Daughter 199 Manners how generally corrupted at first 4 5 Marriage why forbidden by Papists and other Sects 130 The Opinion of the Primitive Christians concerning it 314 A second time the Severity of some of the Ancient Christians and Councils against it 316 Massinissa 's Cruelty to his Paramour Sophonisba 178 Maxentius 's Whoredom 304 Maximinus 's Drunkenness 273 Maximus the Emperor's Adultery and Death 261 Messalina 240 Messenians ruin'd by Uncleanness 144 Midianites their uncleanness and punishment 42 Minutia a Vestal Virgin put to death for Whoredom 172 Mithridates K. of Pontus his Incest and Punishment 162 N Nero 's lusts and punishment from 242 to 249 Nexus a barbarous Custom among the Romans what and how abolish'd 173 Nicolaitans whence so call'd their uncleaness 301 Ninus 's effeminacy and lust 135 Nivellius Torquatus knighted for Drinking 270 Nonae Capraticae why so call'd 193 the manner of that Feast ibid. Numa Pompilius allow'd Men to lend their Wives 191 O Ochus 's lust and punishment 225 Oppian Law made to restrain the Luxury of the Roman Women Speeches for and against it 179 Orator sued for displacing a Fold in another's Shoulder 296 Origen why he emasculated himself 302 Oropastes destroy'd by his Concubine 139 Otho 's uncleanness and punishment 250 251 P Parthenii their Origin 142 Paulina 113 Paulus Samosatenus his Uncleanness 303 Pausanias murders his Paramour stain 202 203 Penitentiary Presbyter why abrogated at Constantinople 308 Pericles 's Lust and Punishment 194 Persepolis an unclean City burnt at the perswasion of an Harlot 152 Persian Ambassadors kill'd for their Lust. 146 Persian Womens Idleness and Immodesty 151 137 Persian Empire ruin'd by Luxury 143 Pharaoh 's Plague for taking Sarah what 10 Phea call'd Sow for her Lust her punishment 188 Philip of Macedon 's uncleanness and punishm 147 Philistins their uncleanness and punishment Pictures excessive dear 295 Platters excessive large and costly 277 Pleminius 's lust and punishment 176 Poligamy our Saviour's Opinion of it 104 Pompey the Great 's lusts and punishments 203 His fondness of Julia promotes his ruin 205 His Revels with Cornelia and fondness of her compleated his ruin 206 Priapus 's beastly Worship what 218 262 Priests of Isis. 113 Primitive Christians hatred of uncleanness 304 Prizes of great value given in the Theatres 288 Ptolomy Ceraunus 's lust and punishment 159 Ptolomy 's Incest and Adultery 162 Ptolomy Phiscon 's Incest and Cruelty 163 Pyrrhus
did read the destiny of his Sons in the Stars where they will have the prognostication of all humane Events to be writ down as in a Book but the Event hath verified that he was acted by a more infallible Author The next thing that offers it self to our Consideration is the Sentence pronounc'd against Simeon and Levi who were Brethren to Reuben by Leah joyned to Jacob as hath been formerly observed by Unlawfull Wedlock And that which makes the Curse inflicted upon them fit for our Remark is this viz. That it was occasioned by their Cruelty against the Schechemites of which the Rape committed upon their Sister Dinah was the procuring Cause so that it comes naturally to be taken notice of as one of the Judgments which was the Consequence of Lust. The purport of their Sentence was That they should be divided in Jacob and dispersed in Israel A very proper punishment for those who commit Crimes against the being of humane Society to be scattered up and down upon the face of the Earth And if we may give Credit to the Conjectures of the Learned their Posterity inherited their Fathers Cruelty for the Leviâ—…es that is to say the order of Priesthood and descendants of Levi condemned Jesus Christ and Judas who betray'd him being as they say of the Tâ—…ibe of Simeon both those Tribes had a hand in that Condemnation which was the most cruel and unjust Sentence that ever was pronounced in the World The next thing which we find in the Sacred Records relating to our Subject is That God to Testify his abhorrence of this sin of Uncleanness gives it as the 7 th precept to his peculiar People Israel that they should not commit Adultery under which Term Uncleanness of every sort is forbidden and being the 7 th in order it would seem that the Divine Law-giver did thereby intimate that they should be as frequent and particular in the Remembrance of this precept as they were to be of sanctifying every Seventh Day which tho it were appointed for a rest yet they were hereby given to understand that they were not to spend this Day in Chambering and Wantonness nor make it the principal Day of their impure Assignations as our Modern Debauchees do and tho' this precept was promulgated from Mount Sinai with the same solemnity of Thunder and Lightning as the rest of the Law was yet God would have his people so punctual in the observation of it that he added a further sanction to it by appointing particular punishments for the various manners of breaking it as he that enticed and defil'd Virgin should certainly take her to Wife but if her Father would not consent to it the Person that defiled her should pay her Doury but if the Virgin were betrothed and defiled in any place where she might have help upon crying out then both Parties were to be put to death but if the betrothed Virgin were surprized in the field or where she could not have help upon crying out then the Man was only to suffer death Exod. 22. 16. Deut. 22. from 14 to the end but in case any Man were found lying with another Mans Wife then both the offending Parties were to be stoned to Death and if any Husband could prove that his Wife had plaid the Whore with another Man before his Marriage to her she was likewise to be stoned to death And as a further Evidence of God's detestation of Whoredom it was appointed Deut. 23. 2. That no Bastard should enter into the Congregation of the Lord even to his tenth Generation Nay so great was the care of the Divine Law-giver to have his select People strictly Chalte and Continent that he orders them to provide against all occasions of Lasciviousness or Incontinence in their very Apparel and particularly in the 22. of Deut. and 12. he commands them to make Fringes upon the four Corners of their Garments which some Commentators understand to be Points or Laces to fasten them so that their Nakedness might not be discovered on any occasion Breeches not being then in use In that same Chapter Men are forbid to wear Womens Apparel or Women Mens lest thereby there should be an opportunity given to promiscuous Lusts. By this Effeminate Fops and Masculine Virago's are also rebuk'd Nay Common Reason teaches us to despise and abhor such Unnatural Monsters A Poor Heathen Poet could say Quem praestare potest mulier gale at a pudorem Quae fugit à sexu What Modesty can we expect to see In Women Armed like Soldiers Cap-a pee The Almighty is very particular in Exedus Leviticus and Deuteronomy in enumerating the different sorts of Uncleanness which he would have his People to avoid and after having forbid under severe Penalties those more usual methods of Transgressing the Seventh Commandment he forbids Marriage within such and such degrees of Consanguinity lays restrictions upon the use of the Marriage-Bed it self and because our nature is so deprav'd that when Lust has the Reins laid on its Neck it puts Mankind upon the search of Unnatural Methods to satisfy it the Divine Goodness consults our Welfare so much as to make those things plainly appear to be sinful to us by his prohibition which Nature it self at first Glance would have taught us to be so if we did but make use of Common Reason And therefore the approaching to a Woman in her Uncleanness and Bestiality or Unnatural Comixtion with Creatures of another kind Crimes which ought to have been Buried in perpetual Oblivion whose very Names strike Nature with fear and horrour are expresly forbid and the very Brutes as well as the Man or Woman were ordered to be cut off for having suffered such a transgression of the Law of Nature and that the People might take the more care to observe both those positive and Negative precepts he tells them that for such Abominations the Canaanites were to be driven out before them and cut off It is also worth our Notice that the Explanation of this Seventh Commandment is more at large set down in the Sacred Scriptures than that of any other of the Commandments and that the Law-giver knowing the Frailty of humane Nature hath been particularly Carefull and Indulgent in the methods appointed for Preservation of Chastity as well as Just in the methods for discovering and punishing Incontinence The Liberty allow'd the Israelites in their divorces and the privilege that a new Married Man had of not being obliged to go to War the first year are sufficient proofs of the â—…enity of the Law-giver and that no Person could pretend any Justifiable reason for their Incontinence A years time for a Man and a Woman to cohabit was sufficient to establish their mutual Love and to prevent that Lubricity of the flesh which is discoverable upon first Marriage and might endanger the Womans Chastity if too soon deprived of her Husband and the Man 's also if all of a sudden taken from his Wife especially to
and Spear be Cruel and shew no Mercy May God avert fuch Judgments from England which does so well deserve it because of the pollutions of her Inhabitants In the 23d Chap. the Prophet Complains that the Land is full of Adulterers and because of swearing the Land mourneth the breach of the 3d. and 7th Commandment go usually together as is to be seen in the Dammees and Debauchees of our days In the 14th Verse of that same Chapter he says I have seen also in the Prophets of Jerusalem an horrible thing they commit Adultery and walk in lyes they strengthen also the hands of evil doers that none doth return from his wickedness They are all of 'em unto me as Sodom and the Inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah And afterwards he adds For from the Prophets of Jerusalem is Profaneness gone forth into all the Land And would to God that none of our Clergy did pollute themselves with the reigning sins of the times nor encourage the wickedness of others by their Licentious Doctrine and loose Lives but certainly when profanity is arriv'd to that heighth we have reason to fear that such Judgments as destroyed the Nation of the Jews lie in wait for us It remains that we take notice of the Accomplishment of those dreadfull threatnings which were exactly fullfilled by the carrying away of King Zedekiah and the People into Captivity the slaying of his Sons before his Eyes and putting all the Nobles to Death after which the City was burnt with fire the People dispers'd and such of them as endeavoured to resetle themselves were broke in pieces by Intestine divisions And Zedekiah and Ahab two lying Prophets who endeavoured to perswade the people that what Jeremiah Prophesied against them should not come to pass and hardened the people by their profligate Example of committing Adultery with their Neighbours Wives were thro' the Just Judgment of God burnt in the fire by Nebuchadnezzar and the Memory of their Crime and Punishment was perpetuated to Posterity by this Curse among the Jews The Lord make thee like Zedekiah and like Ahab whom the K. of Babylon roasted in the fire So that the fire of their Impure Lust was punished by a more severe punishment than that of a fiery Ordeal for as St. Jerome thinks they were fried and so burnt to death by degrees as they had from time to time burnt in their Uncleanness Thus we have another Instance of a Great and Mighty People ruined by Whoredom and how great their Ruin and Calamity was will speedily appear to any one that reads the Lamentations It likewise deserves our observation that the Babylonians the Instruments in the hands of God for punishing Israel were brought to ruin themselves and one of the principal Causes assigned for the same is That they grew fat as the Heifer at Grass and bellow'd as Bulls Jer. 50. which Calvin and other Interpreters understand to be a parallel phrase to that of Neighing after their Neighbours Wives The Judgments threatned upon Babylon in this Chapter we find to be exactly fullfilled and at a time too as Daniel gives us an account when their King Belshazzar was rioting and feasting with his Princes his Wives and his Concubines and profanely drinking out of the holy Vessels which were brought from the House of God at Jerusalem It has been formerly observed that Nimrod the Tyrant laid the Foundation of this Monarchy when the World began to degenerate again after the flood and to immerse themselves in all manner of sensualities and therefore the Greeks according to Bochart in his Canaan Lib. 1. Cap. 2. Confound Nimrod with Bacchus The Story of Semiramis Queen of Babylon and the dissolute Manners of that People during her Reign is well enough known She was a Warlike Princess and during her Regency in the Minority of her â—…on she Enlarged her Husbands Conquests on the one hand as far as Aethiopia and on the other as far as India having first subdued Media Libya and Egypt she likewise built a Magnificent Tomb to the Memory of Ninus her Husband finished the City of Babyloâ—… surrounded it with those Walls and caused those Gardens to be made on the Top of her Palaces which made them the wonder of the World But she Tarnished all her Glory by her Brutish Lust it being recorded of her that she tempted the handsomest of her Soldiers to lie with her and having satisfyed her Lust caused them to be murdered and to make them amends raised Stately Tombs over theirGraves at last she was so far transported by her raging Lust that she became enamoured of her own Son who as a Just Judgment from God slew her as she tempted him to commit Incest with her as is related by Justin Diodorus Siculus and Others All Historians who write of the Ba'ylonians agree that they were a very Luxurious People and it is not at all to be doubted but their Luxury and Lasciviousness as it drew down the Judgments of God upon them so it rendred them Effeminate and made them an easie Conquest to others after they had Conquer'd so many Nations themselves The Extent of this City was prodigious being as Heylin says 46 English Miles in Compass Aristotle says That it was rather a Country than a City and that when it was surprized by the Medes and Persians it was three days before the Inhabitants of the furthiest parts were aware of it It 's Walls were of Brick cemented with Bitumen 32 Foot thick 50 Cubits high and defended by Towers 10 Foot higher The River Euphrates run thro' the middle of it and the Walls were encompassed by deep Ditches It had a Castle 20 Furlongs in Circuit environ'd with Towers 30 Foot in the Ground and 80 above it yet all this strength could not secure it against those Judgments which pursued the people for their Luxury and Uncleanness for the Persians having drained the Channel of Euphrates by cutting many deep Channels on the Banks of it march'd into the City and surpriz'd it while Belshazzar and his Lords who should have taken care of the defence of it were profanely Carousing with their Wives and Concubines And to make the Judgment so much the more Remarkable they were terrified by the prodigy of a hand writing upon the Wall which made Belshazzar's knees smite together for fear and foretold the impending Fate of himself and his Guests and the destruction of his Kingdom It is worth our observation that this Famous City the wonder and the Metropolis of the World so Beautiful and Commodiously situated should for the Luxury and other Crimes of the Inhabitants be turned into a Wilderness by the just Judgment of God when according to the ordinary Methods of Men it might be supposed that the Conquerors would have taken all imaginable care to preserve such an Important City for their own Glory and Profit but it decay'd Gradually till at last it came to be turned into a Park for Hunting by the Kings of Persia so that in
that very place where the Impure Babylonians had been so much guilty of Whore-Hunting their Conquerors took their pleasure to Hunt Beasts of a far more harmless Nature We have seen that Uncleanness had a great influence in occasioning the Captivity of Israel and also in bringing down those Judgments upon Babylon which ended in the total destruction of that Famous City and Empire In the lesser Prophets we have also an Account of the destruction of Ninive a Great and Mighty City and sometimes Capital of the Assyrian Empire because of the multitude of her Whoredoms Nahum 3. 4. It 's true that some tare of opinion that by the Whoredoms here mentioned are chiefly meant their Political Tricks to engage people to submit to their Yoke and Worship their Idols yet it was well known that all those Eastern Nations were very much addicted to bodily Uncleanness and as we have observed before the Assyrians became very Effeminate under the Reign of Semiramis c. And it 's plain from most of the Instances we have already given that Adultery and Idolatry went usually hand in hand it 's also to be observed that this destruction of Ninive is by Chronologers agreed to have preceeded that of Babylon for though Nahum in order of the Bible be placed among the last of the Prophets yet according to Josephus Antio Lib. 9 Cap. 11. he Prophesied in the days of Jotham King of the Jews and the Accomplishment of this Prophesie upon Ninive happened about 115 years after We have done with the old Testament History of the Jews so that we must come next to Josephus who is favourable enough to his Countrymen in respect of their Uncleanness as particularly in the Instance of the Midianitish Women with whom he alledges they contracted Marriages and says expresly That Zimri and Cosbi were Married whereas the Scripture accuses them of down-right Impetuous Lust neither does this Historian Tax the Patriarchs for their Polygamy which perhaps might be occasioned by his being a Pharisee who as it appears by our Saviours Arguments with some of that Sect upon the subject of Divorce had no Just Notions of those things And therefore it is not to be wondered at that Josephus takes so little notice of the failings of his Countrymen as to this matter Yet some such Instances he has transmitted to Posterity and the first that we meet with for our purpose is that of Archelaus King of the Jews Herod the Great 's Son who Married Glaphyra that had been his Brother Alexander's Wife concerning which he tells us this Remarkable Story That Archelaus upon the sight of this Glaphyra who was Daughter to Archelaus King of Cappadocia was so inflamed with love to her that he presently Divorced his Wife Mariamne and Married her but soon after she came to Judea she dreamt that she saw Alexander her first Husband standing before and accosting her in this manner viz. It had been enough for thee to have Married the King of Libya but not contented therewith thou comest again to mine House Greedy of a third Husband and which is worst of all art now Married to my own Brother I will not conceal nor dissemb'e this Injury that thou doest me but I will recover thee against thy will and she scarcely liv'd two days after she had related this dream to her Friends so much for her punishment Then as to Archelaus who had been guilty of this Adultery and Incest he himself was sent for to Rome upon an Accusation of the Samaritans who sent Ambassadors against him to Caesar and thereupon the Emperor banisht him to Vienne in France and confiscated all his Goods of which punishments he was also forewarned by a Dream and five days after the Interpretation of it was sent for by Caesar as above It is also observable and not at all Foreign to our purpose that though Josephus does not accuse Herod the Great of Whoredom but seems rather to commend his Chastity in that he held out against the Charms and Sollicitations of that Infamous Wanton Cleopatra yet he tells us that Herod had nine Wives at a time and doted so Impotently upon his Wife Mariamne that when he was sent for to Rome and had some reasons to think that he shou'd never return thence alive he gave orders to his Brother-in-Law Joseph to put Mariamne to Death as soon as he should hear that he was dead being unwilling that any Man should enjoy her after his death and because Joseph discovered this Secret to Mariamne Herod became Jealous of an Unlawful Intimacy betwixt his Brother-in-Law and her especially being influenced to believe some such thing by the Insinuations of his Sister Salome Joseph's Wife who accused her Husband of being too Familiar with Mariamne Whether there was any truth in the accusation or not or whether it was meer malice yet this is certain that Mariamne was at last put to death by her Husband and by her own Mother charged with Disloyalty to him and after her death Herod had so little Government of his passion for her that he would frequently call for her as if she had been alive Then as to his own punishment Josephus tells us that he was cut off by a most loathsome disease Worms having bred in his private Parts which caused insupportable pains an Into lerable Stench and a Troublesome Priapism which was a very suitable punishment for his Incontinence in having nine Wives at a time tho' it should be granted that he was chargeable with no other Acts of Unchastity We come now to the Apocryphal stories of Judeth and Susanna which tho' we believe they are such as may properly be called apocryphal seeing Josephus the Jewish Historian takes no notice of either yet allowing them to be Fables the Moral is good and therefore we shall allow them a place here The first is that of Judith who according to the Author of her Book was a Rich and a Pious Widow of a Comely Personage and Beautiful Countenance and finding her City of Bethulia closely Besieged by the Assyrians and their Water cut off which made the Governours to promise a surrender in five days if relief did not come in that time she deckt her self with her Richest and finest Ornaments and pretending to be fled from Bethulia because she knew it would fall into the hands of the Assyrians and likewise to put Olosernes in a way to make an easie Conquest of the Jews she Charmed him by her Beauty insomuch that becoming enamoured of her which was her design he was so far besotted that having drunk to excess because of her presence and with an intention to defile her he fell asleep in his Tent where being left alone with her according to his own Command in order to the Accomplishing of his Lustful design she had the opportunity of cutting off his head and carrying it in Triumph to her City of Bethulia upon which the Garrison making a Sally discomfited the Assyrians who were surprized at
who walk after their Ungodly Lusts to be mockers which is as Visible in our modern Beaus and Gallants as ever it was in any there being none who do more mock and despise Religion then such and now 't is become Familiar to them to run down Revelation and the Divine Authority of the Holy Scriptures In the 14th of the Revelations and 4th The 144000 who are there said to be singing a new song in Heaven in the Company of the Lamb are describ'd to be such as had not defiled themselves with Women That is such as had not polluted themselves with Unlawfull Lusts but had possessed their Vessels in Sanctification and Honour as Christians are advised to do 1 Thess. 4. 4. Not that they had abstain'd from Marriage for that is Honourable and such a state as tends to the preservation of Chastity but they had escaped the pollution which was in the World thro' Lust its true that the Sense of the place is not wholly restricted to a bodily Chastity but includes also a Spiritual Purity Freedom from Idolatry and Communication with false Religions but that it does also relate to bodily Chastistity is unanimously agreed upon by Interpreters It is also observable that the Holy Ghost to testify his hatred of Uncleanness hath represented Antichrist the Anti-christian Church and the Idolatry of that Society under the name of a Whore the Mother of Harlots and Abominations of the Earth those that are poyson'd with her Idolatrous Doctrine here presents as having committed Fornication with her and drunk of her Golden Cup full of Abominations and Filthiness of her Fornication Rev. 17. And indeed to any that have read the wicked Lives of many of the Popes and consider the impurity of their Monks and Nuns their contempt of Marriage their Unlawfull Divorces and Dispensations for Unlawfull Marriages It will appear that there 's great reason to call the Church of Rome a Whore in a Literal Sense In the 21st of the Revelations we are told that Whoremongers shall have their part in the Lake which Burneth with Fire and Brimstone and in the 23d we are told That Whoremogers are excluded from the new Jerusalem in Company of Murders Idolaters and Sorcerers So much for the History of Whoredom as far as it is touched in the Old and New Testament either as to the Instances thereof the Judgments inflicted upon the practioners of it the Laws concerning it and the punishments threatned against the Breakers of those Laws both in this World and that which is to come Having finished that part of our History for which the Scripture hath furnished us with materials We come in the next place to profane History for Instances relating to our Subject We have already made use of some Instances from Josephus and other Historians Obiter as they had a Relation to the Scripture passages that we were upon but come now to make use of them intirely for our Collections and think it fit to acquaint the Reader that we must look back again in order of time because 't was thought best to have the Scripture Instances altogether We have formerly made mention of Semiramis in the Account which we gave of the destruction of Babylon all that we have now to add is that Justin. Lib. 1. gives this Account of her that after her Husband Ninus's Death she puts on Mans apparrell and feigned her self to be Ninus her own Son who was but a Youth and therefore she was affraid that he would not be able to manage the Scepter Semiramis being a Woman of low Stature and small Voice was easily mistaken for her Son and the better to conceal the fraud she covered her Arms and Legs put a Tiara or round Ornament resembling a Bonnet upon her head and the better to prevent suspicion of a disguise Ordered her Subjects to apparell themselves in that same manner under the Notion of a new fashion so that she pass'd for her Son without any doubt or hesitation and having under this disguise enlarged her Husband's Conquests as was formerly said she conceived that the Greatness of her Actions had put her beyond the reach of Envy and therefore discovered her self which was so far from lessening her that it mightily advanced her Reputation but giving her self up afterwards to Brutish Lusts as was formerly mentioned she became enamoured on her own Son who thereupon killed her and thus she tarnish'd all her former Glory and brought her self to an untimely death by her unnatural Lust after she Reign'd 42 years in Great Honour Her Son Ninus tho' he abhorred his Mothers Incestuous Amours yet being Heir to her Vices as well as her Throne as if he had really changed Sexes as well as Habit with his Mother he became Effeminate and Lustful and spending his time Ingloriously among Women was rarely seen of any men and so concluded his days with Ignominy leaving that unmanly pattern to his successors that they seldom were seen of any of their Subjects and thus the Assyrian Empire which continued near 1300 years was extinguished by the Effeminacy and Lusts of their Princes and People and came to a Conclusion in the Inglorious Reign of Sardanapalus who Reigned as some Authors think when Jonah was sent to Preach Repentance to Ninive but this cannot be relied upon the Learned do so much differ as to the point of Chronology However this is agreed upon by all hands that he was a Lustfull and Effeminate Prince and gave himself so much up to Voluptuousness that he would sit and Spin in a Womans Habit amongst his Concubines And seeing it is commonly found by Experience that people imitate the bad example of their Princes there 's no great reason to doubt but that the Ninivites amongst whom he resided were tainted with his Vices and became dissolute so that they very well deserved those Judgments denounc'd against them by Jonah and Historians as Justin Peâ—…au and Scaliger acquaint us That the wiser part of his Subjects loathing to be Govern'd by such an unmanly Debauchee Rebell'd against him under the Conduct of Arsaces Governor of Media who coming to see him and being admitted to his presence with Great difficulty found him in Womans Habit Spinning purple upon a Distaff amongst a Company of his Whores to whom he divided their several Tasks of Wool c. And perceiving him to be more Effeminate and Lascivious in his looks than any of the Women he conceiv'd great Indignation that so many Warlike Men should be Governed by a Person who disown'd his Sex and handled a Distaff instead of a Sword so that having acquainted his Companions with what he had seen they conspired against him Besieged him in Ninive for two years and reduced him to such straits that in a desperate humor he retired into his Palace where having Erected a Funeral Pile and laid all his most precious Moveables upon it he burnt himself with his Wives Children and Pallace which was the only thing wherein he discovered a
Persons did upon their Accusation cut off his best Friends and became so hatefull to his own Greeks that they talk'd divers times of Revolting and at last Poyson'd him in Babylon amidst his Feasts and Revels which was very Remarkable that he should be Poyson'd there where he had suffered himself and his Army to be first Poysoned by the Vicious Manners of the Persians and thus by his Luxury and Uncleanness he occasioned the Division of that vast Empire which he had rais'd his Great Captains after his Death having each of them erected Monarchies for themselves in those Places where they Govern'd which occasioned the speedier dissolution of the Graecian Monarchy and that it was less taken notice of as not being cemented together under one head so true is it which the Wiseman tells us in the Proverbs That many strong men have been slain and cast down by strange Women nay we may add that Empires and Monarchies have been over-turned by Uncleanness The next remarkable instance we meet with in Justin is that of Dionysius junior the Tyrant of Sicily who was as infamous for Uncleanness as for Cruelty and being expelled by the Inhabitants of Syracusa he was received by those of Locris where having surprizâ—…d the Castle he Tyranniz'd also over them Ravish'd the Wives of the Great Men and the young Women before Marriage and would then send them back to their Sweet-hearts The Locrenses being at that time in War with Leophron they vow'd if they came off Conquerers to prostitute their Virgins on the Festival of Veâ—…us which having neglected to do Dionysius Circumvented the Citizens thus he advised them in order to perform their Vow to send all their Women with their Richest Apparel to the Temple of Venus and chuse out a hundred of their handsomest Virgins and send them Richly adorn'd to stay a Month in a Brothell-House but beforehand to oblige all their Men by Oath not to touch one of them and likewise to take an Oath that none should be Married 'till all those Virgins were first dispos'd in Marriage The Citizens thinking this a good Contrivance both to absolve themselves from their Oaths and to preserve the Chastity of their Virgins did accordingly Whereupon Dionysius sent his Soldiers who dispoiled the Women both of their Honour and Ornaments which so incens'd the Loâ—…enses against him that they likewise drove him out of their City and being received again by the Syracusans he Tyrannized over them in his usual Manner so that they Besieged him and forcing him to lay down the Government he liv'd in Exile at Corinth where he spent his time in Taverns and Bawdy-Houses went in a sordid Habit kept the Meanest and most Rascally Company Jangl'd with Scoundrels and Bawds became a laughing stock to every Body and would walk about in the Shambles to gaze upon the Meat that he was not able to buy and was reduced so low that partly to maintain himself and partly to satisfy his Tyrannical humour he taught a Trivial School and so concluded his Life as Ingloriously as he led it In his 22d book he gives us an Instance of Agathocles another Tyrant of Sicily Son to a Potter who during his youth was a Catamite and as soon as he was of Age became a Common Stallion and a Highwayman but being Valiant and Eloquent he was advanced to Great Commands in the Army and having Committed Adultery with Damasco the Generals Lady he succeeded in his Post after his death and twice attempted the Soveraignty of the Island which at last he obtained yet tho' he was prosperous for a long time and rendered himself Famous by his Victories over the Carthaginians Judgment pursued him at last that he was forc'd to flee from Africk where his two Sons were put to death by the fury of his Enemies and being himself taken with a grievous Disease his Son and Grandson made War upon one another for the Crown wherein the latter succeeded so that Agathocles was forc'd on his Death-Bed to send his Wife and two young Children to Egypt lest they should be cut off by his Grandson and in this Afflicted and Disconsolate Condition he ended his days so true has it always been found that Whoremongers and Adulterers God will Judge In his 24th Book he gives us the History of the Incestuous Amour of Ptolemy Ceraunus King of Macedonia with his Sister and the fatal Consequence of it to them both Ptolemy having a mind to Usurp the Kingdom from her two Sons and to possess himself of her fine City of Cassandria pretended Love to her and that he had no other design in desiring her to Wife but to make her a Queen and that her Children should succeed him and because she her self and her Son Ptolemy suspected him he swore to the Sincerity of his Intentions upon the Altar in Jupiter's Temple whereupon that Incestuous Marriage was contracted and his Sister now his Wife Arsinoe being overjoy'd at her new Title of Queen invited the King her Husband to her City of Cassandria where all things were prepar'd to receive him with the utmost Magnificence and she order'd her Sons to meet him with Crowns on their Heads He Received and Embrac'd them with much seeming Affection but as soon as he came to the Gate of the City he ordered them both to be kill'd and the Castle to be seiz'd their Mother endeavouring in vain to cover them in her Arms and preserve them After this Tragedy as a Just punishment for her consenting to such an Incestuous Mà rriage she went in Exile to Samothracia and Ptolemy in a little time after fell by the Sword of the Gauls who cut off his Head and fix'd it upon a Lance. In his 26th Book we have the Story of Aristotimus Tyrant of Epirus who having kill'd and banish'd many of the Nobility The Aetolians who entertained the Exiles sent Ambassadors to demand the Wives and Children of the banished which Aristotimus pretended to grane and as the Matrons had assembled together to go to their Husbands he sent and spoiled them of their Apparrel threw them in Prison kill'd the Infants in the Arms of their Mothers and Ravish'd the Virgins which so incens'd the people against him that under the Conduct of Helematus an old man they Conspir'd against him and cut him off In the Close of that Book he gives us an Account of the Incest of Demetrius King of Macedonia with his Mother-in-Law Arsinoe Queen of Cyrene who had sent for him on purpose to Marry her Daughter and enjoy that Crown but being her self taken with his Beauty she entertained an Incestuous Commerce with him which did so much provoke her Daughter and the people that by her Daughters order he was slain in her Mothers Bed the Incestuous and Impudent Woman endeavouring to preserve him by covering him with her own Body In the 28th Book he likewise gives an Account of a War betwixt Antiochus King of Syria and Demetrius King of Macedonia because the latter Married
Pythia Daughter to the Queen of Epirus whilst his Wife who was Sister to Antiochus was yet alive so fatal hath the Adultery of Princes always been to Kings and Kingdoms In his 30th Book we have the Instance of Ptolemy King of Egypt who having murdered his own Wife Eurydice that was also his Sister he became so enamour'd on Agathocla the Strumpet that he minded nothing but Revelling and Dancing and thus says Justin the King became not only a Spectator but a Master of Villany and committing Sodomy also with Agathocles a handsome fellow and Brother to the Strumpet above mentioned they and their Mother Evanthe govern'd the King and Kingdom and disposed of all offices In the mean-time Ptolemy died which those vile Women concealed a long time and so shar'd the Royal Treasure and Government with Villains But the matter coming at last to be known the multitude assembled cut off Agathocles and hang'd his Mother and Sister such was the Tragical Exit they brought upon themselves by their uncleanness In his 37th Book we have the instance of Mithridates the great King of Pontus who married his own Sister Laodâ—…ce in which match he was Justly unhappy for during his long absence a viewing the chief places of Asia she had admitted strangers to his Bed and tho' she feigned a mighty Joy at his return yet she endeavoured to poyson him in order to cover her Unchastity whereof Mithridates being advertised by a Maid he punish'd his Wife by death for her Treachery and tho' he himself became Great and Glorious afterwards by his Vâ—…ctories over the Asiaticks and his Wars with the Romans yet Divine Justice pursued him so that he killed himself in his old Age when he heard that his Son by that Unnatural Marriage had usurp'd the Kingdom In his 38th Book we have the horrid instance of Ptolemy Physcon who after the death of Ptolemy King of Egypt Married his Widow Cleopatra who was his own Sister kill'd her Son by her first Husband the very day of his Marriage and afterwards Divorc'd her self and Ravish'd her Daughter whom he afterwards Married This made him so hatefull to the people that they deserted the City where he dwelt so that finding himself a King without Subjects he was forc'd to invite strangers to reside there And at last became so odious that he fled with the Son that he had begot on his Sister taking her Daughter along with him and with a Mercenary Army made War upon his Sister and his Country and sent for his eldest Son and killed him to prevent the peoples chusing him in his stead The Subjects were so much enraged with these proceedings that they threw down his Statues and Pictures every where which he conceiving to be done by his Sister's advice he cut the Son that he had by her in pieces put them up in a Box and sent them to his Mother on his Birth-day Thus were they mutually plagued and punished for their Incest and a destructive War was kindled betwixt them which took its first rise from their enflamed Lusts and proved fatal to their Subjects as well as to themselves Ptolemy Physcon or the Debauch'd dying a little time after and having been some time before reconciled to his Wife and Sister Cleopatra he left her the Kingdom of Egypt she being compelled by the people to chuse her eldest Son to Govern that Kingdom before she would resign the same she compelled him to Divorce his Beloved Wife and Sister Cleopatra and she being afterwards married to Cyricaenus in Syria those Incestuous matches were punished by a mutual War betwixt the Brethren Gryphus and Cyricaenus and the latter being overcome Gryphina Wife to Gryphus would not be content till his Sister and Wife Cleopatra whom his Mother had made him to Divorce was murdered and Cyricaenus obtaining a Victory over Gryphus in his Turn put Gryphina to death in Revenge Cleopatra the Mother being weary of her Son Ptolemy's Reigning with her jointly in Egypt she stir'd up the people against him took his Wife Seleuce from him after she had born him two Sons sent him into Exile call'd his younger Brother Alexander to Reign in his stead but he being afraid of her cruelty abandon'd her then the Wicked Woman being afraid that her eldest Son would make War upon her to recover the Kingdom she sent great assistance to Gryphus and likewise gave him Seleuce to Wife Having at the same time recall'd her Son Alexander he understood that she laid snares for his Life and therefore seiz'd and cut her off and he himself was banisht by the people for this parricide Thus were their raging Lusts punished by a mutual War and Raging cruelty against one another And as if Heaven would have Syria and Egypt to read their sin in their punishment they were invaded and plagued by Hierotimus King of Arabia and his Six hundred Sons whom he had beg t on Concubines and who attack'd the Syrians and Egyptians with separate Armies and parties We come next to the Roman History where in the very threshold we are presented with an Account that that City and Monarchy was founded by Whoredom The story of Remus and Romulus being born of a Vestal Virgin for whom it was not Lawfull to Marry and that they were the Founders of that City demonstrates the truth of Rome's being Deriv'd from a spurious Original and the City being once Founded Romulus made it a Sanctuary for Vagabonds and a disorderly Rabble who were so much contemned by their Neighbours that they scorn'd to give them their Daughters in Marriage which occasion'd their Ravishing the Sabine Virgins and that brought forth a War which endangered the overthrow of this new Government in its Infancy as Livy gives an Account at large in his first Book Dec. 1. so fatal hath Whordom and Uncleanness always proved to Societies Livy in that same Book and Decad gives us an Acccount that Kingly Government was overturned at Rome because of a Rape in the manner following The Kings Sons and Kinsmen did often spend their time in Feasting and Treating one another and in their Cups at supper there happened a Discourse concerning their Wives upon which each man launched out in the praises of his own and thence a Quarrel arising Collatinus said it was in vain to talk since it might easily and speedily be known how much his Wife Lucretia excelled the rest adding for they were then in the Camp before Ardea Let us mount our Horses and go see with our own Eyes what kind of Women our Wives are and that shall be the Test which occurs to each man upon this unexpected Visit so that Galloping to Rome they went thence to Collatia where they found Lucretia not imployed like the rest of the Kings Daughters-in-Law viz. spending their time in Banquetting and Luxury but sitting amongst her Maids a Spinning Whereupon it was agreed that her Husband Collatinus came off Conquerer in that dispute and he being pleas'd with it did
had now no temptation in his House That he would vindicate his own body from any other violence which he could offer with the same courage that he did that of his Daughter Let other men look to themselves and their Children As Virginius spoke thus the multitude answered with shouts That they would neither be wanting to revenge his Grief nor to vindicate their own Liberty Upon which being encouraged by the Citizens that accompanied Virginius they marched in Arms to the City sat down upon the Aventine exhorted the people to retrieve their Liberty and to make new Tribunes of the people Icilius Virginia's Sweet-heart had the same influence upon the Army that was in the Sabines Country so that they came and joyned those on the Aventine and at last overturn'd the Government of the Decemviri whom they threatned to burn alive and Appius Claudius the Lustful Tyrant being degraded kill'd himself before the day of his Trial and his Collegue Coppius did the like such was the Issue of his unclean design upon the Government and himself This is the second time that Whoredom overturned the form of the Roman Government Livy in the 8th Book of his first Decad gives us a Remarkable Instance of the punishment of Minutia a Vestal Virgin for breaking herVow of Chastity by commiting Incest She became first suspected of wantonness because of her Garb and Dress which was thought too fine and curious for one of her profession and at last she was positively accused before the High-priests by one of her Bondmen that turn'd Informer against her whereupon she was first enjoyned to abstain from her Office and then being brought to her Trial was after Conviction sentenc'd to be bury'd alive which was executed accordingly at the Gate Collina on the pav'd Causeway which for her Crime was called Campus Sceleratus By this and the Instance immediately preceeding we may sufficiently see how hateful Whoredom was amongst the Romans at that time when a Father chus'd rather to murder his only Child than to have her made a Whore and that they conceiv'd the breach of a Vow of Chastity could not be expiated any otherwise than by burying the Criminal alive In the 28th Chapter of that same Book he gives us a Relation of the Ignominy and shame that L. Papirius an Usurer brought upon himself by his unnatural Lust and of the benefit which accrewed to the people by a Villanous Outrage that he committed upon the Body of C. Puâ—…s a Comely Youth the occasion of which was thus There was a barbarous Custom then in use amongst the Romans called Nexus being a kind of obligation whereby persons that ow'd Money were bound to their Creditors to be their Slaves and to work wholly for them till their Debts were paid By virtue of which Custom C. Publius was forc'd to bind himself for a Debt of his Fathers to Papirius Who being a lustful Wretch endeavoured first to debauch the Youth by filthy Speeches and flatteries but finding him proof against those tentations he endeavoured to terrifie him with threats and ever and anon put him in mind of his Fortune viz. that he was a Slave but the Honest Youth not being to be prevailed upon this way neither the Savage Usurer converting his Lust into Rage caus'd the poor youth to be strip'd naked and cruelly whip'd by which his body was desperately torn and mangled the oppressed youth being not able to endure that Dilgrace and Torment ran out into the Street in that condition and cried out upon the Usurer for his Cruelty and Lust. This occasioned a Great Concourse of people who being mov'd with Compassion towards the young-man and with abhorrence at the Indignity of the thing as that which might perhaps befall themselves or their Children they crowded into the Forum and from thence went in a full Body to the Council Chamber which obliged the Consuls to call a Senate and as the Fathers entred the House the people falling at their feet shewed them the young mans mangled and Bloody Back whereupon a Law was passed that from thence-forward the Estate and Goods and not the Body of any Debtor should be Chargeable for Debts Thus was Papirius justly punished for his Lust and Savage Cruelty in losing his Money being deprived of the Object of his Lust and branded with perpetual Infamy That same Author Decad 3. lib. 2. Chap 57. tells us that Opimia and Floronia two Vestal Nuns being convicted of Whoredom were buried alive and Lucius Cantilius Secretary to the Pontiffs that committed Incest with Floâ—…onia was whipt to death by the Arch-Pontiff in the Common-hall That this villany of the Nuns was lookt upon as a Publick and Ominous disaster whereupon they sent to the Oracle of Delphos to enquire how it might be expiated and had this Answer returned that they must bury two Couples alive in the Beast Market viz. a French-man and a French-woman and a Greekman and a Greekwoman which was accordingly performed In the third Book of that Decad we have an account that Hannibal's Army which had not long before obtained a Glorious Victory over the Romans at Cannae became so debaucht by wintering in Capua a Lascivious City that they spent their time in Sleep Drunkenness delicate Fare Stews Hot-houses c. which so weakned their Bodies and debauched their Minds that his wintering at Capua was reckoned no less an oversight in Hannibal than was his not marching straightway to Rome upon a defeat which he gave the Romans at Cannae for when he marched out of Capua his Army was entangled with Harlots and his Men were rendred so effeminate with their Luxury that they could not endure fatigues as formerly but fled from their Colours in great numbers and from that very time the decay of the Carthaginian Glory and Reputation and the fall of their Government may take its date such have always been the fatal consequences of Luxury or Uncleanness to People and Nations It may not be improper here to take notice of the fatal disaster of that Luxurious City of Capua which being taken by Q. Eulvius and Appius Claudius the Chief men of the City hastened their own deaths by Poyson and the Senators were put to death by Q. Fulvius tho the Senate of Rome had granted them pardon for their Lives and then Capua was reduced to a Village tho the Buildings were spared but they were not allowed the privileges of a Corporation nor the benefit of Magistrates In the 3d. Decad Lib. 9. Chap. 17. We have an account of the brutish Lust of Pleminius the Roman Lieutenant at Locri against whom the Locrians sent Ambassadors to the Senate at Rome where they charged him and his Officers with Ravishing their Matrons Virgins and Ingenuous Youths That there was not one House nor one Person in Locri but what had been injured and that all parts of their City sounded with Cries of Women and Children that were ravished which the Senate resented so much that Pleminius and
that come out of such an obscene Brothel-house Will such Fellows as these that are cover'd all over with Buggeries of their own and other men fight for the Chastity of their Wives and Children And setting forth at large the Danger that might accrue to the State by those Nightly Meetings the Bacchanalian Rites were prohibited by Order of the Senate all the Priests of the Order were commanded to be shut up and the Frequenters of those Nightly Meetings enquir'd after such of them as they found to have been only initiated and had said Prayers according to the Sacred Form which the Priests repeated before them in which was contain'd a cursed Obligation to commit all Acts of Villany and Lechery but had not committed them them they imprison'd â—…ut those whom they found to have been defil'd by Lust or Murder false Testimonies false Tokens forging of Wills or other Frauds they put to Death after which the Bacchanalia were pull'd down at Rome and all over Italy We shall conclude our Instances from Livy with this Passage which is the last that fam'd Historian affords us that any way relates to our Subject It is proper however to observe here that the Bacchanalia which we have now describ'd may justly be reckon'd a-Kin to if not the Off-spring of the Eleusina Sacra formerly mention'd both of them had their Original from Greece and were solemniz'd with much the like Secrecy and Outrage and both of them serve to let us see how far Humane Nature may be deprav'd by raging Lust when a Person or People are justly given up to it of God We think it proper before we come to the Instances of the Roman Emperors c. which are but too too numerous to take a view of those persons whom Plutarch has honour'd to be their Biographer and to excerpt from thence what suits with our purpose We have taken notice that Rome was founded by a spurious Brood and in the Life of Theseus which is the first in Plutarch We shall find that Athens had much the same sort of Original which is the more observable because from those two Cities the Christian Religion met with the greatest Opposition viz. from the vain Philosophy of the former and the more bloody and cruel Persecution of the latter Our Author tells us That Theseus seems to resemble Romulus in many particulars and in his Birth especially both of 'em being born out of Wedlock and of uncertain Parentage Ageus however is reckon'd to be Father to Theseus by Athia Daughter to Plitheus whom having got with Child he left a Sword and a pair of Shoes hiding them under a great Stone and making her only privy to it commanding her that if she brought forth a Son who when he came to Man's estate should be able to lift up the Stone and take away what he had left there she should send him away to him with those things with all Secrecy Which she having accordingly observ'd her Son Theseus after he had slain Sinnis who from his way of murthering Men was call'd The Bender of Pines committed Fornication with his Daughter Perigune begot Menalippus upon her and afterwards married her to another The next Feat Theseus did was the killing of Phea a Beast of great fierceness according to some or a cruel and lustful Woman according to others who had the Name of a Sow given her from the beastliness of her Life which if true she was remarkably enough punish'd by one that was as guilty of Incontinence as her self The next thing we have of his Amours is that with Ariadne by whose Advice and Assistance he overcame the Miâ—…aur but having serv'd his Ends he deserted her for another viz. Aegle with whom he fell in Love and thereupon Ariadne died of Grief as some say tho' others contradict it and alledge She died in Childbed Our Author gives us also an Account of his Rape of Antiope Princess of the Amazons and in short sums up his unlawful Amours and the fatal Consequence of them in a few words thus That the Marriages of Theseus were neither honourable in their beginning nor fortunate in their Events and recounts them thus viz. that he forc'd Anaxo the Traxenian ravish'd the Daughters of Sinnis and Cercyon married Peribaea the Mother of Ajax and then Pheribaea and then Iope the Daughter of â—…phicles Further he is accus'd for deserting Ariadne as is before related being in love with Aegle the Daughter of Panopeus an Action neither just nor honourable and lastly for the Rape of Helen when he was fifty Years old which fill'd all Attica with War and Blood and occasion'd his Banishment and Death Lycomedes having thrown him headlong from a Rock as he had hurried himself headlong into Lustful Passion Such was the fatal Exit of this Ethnick Hero occasion'd by his Uncleanness In the Life of Lycurgus that great Lacedemonian Philosopher and Law-giver we have an eminent Instance of the truth of that of the Apostle concerning the Heathens that because when they knew God they glorified him not as God he gave them up to work all Uncleanness with greediness for what less than a Judicial Blindness could so much infatuate such a wise man as Lycurgus to allow a Communitv of Wives and the promiscuous Dancings of young Men and Women together naked that must necessarily inflame their Lusts Which is own'd by Plutarch himself tho' cover'd under the handsom Expressions of alluring them to Marriage not upon Interest and Equality of Fortune and Birth but from the sweet Constraint and unsophisticated Dictates of Nature The Reasons of this Community of Women he enforc'd by these Arguments following viz. That Children are not so much the Propriety of their Parents as of the Commonwealth and therefore he would not have 'em begot by the first Comers but by the best Men that could be found That the Laws of other Nations seem'd to him very defective and incongruous who were very sollicitous for the Bread of their Dogs and Horses and sent a great way to get the best Stallions and yet kept their Wives under Lock and Key for fear of other Men whereas themselves were craz'd old or infirm and more fit to propagate Diseases than their Species Certainly any man at first sight must needs see that those Dictates of our Philosopher are contrary to the Dictates of Nature and naturally Introductive of all manner of Villany and Disorders Reason as well as Revelation teaches us that Jealousie is the Rage of a Man and that there is nothing more unsupportable to Humane Nature All Histories are full of Tragical Instances of it and Experience teaches us that those Nations where such promiscuous Copulations are allow'd differ but very little from Brutes whose Example Lycurgus proposes and they follow If it be objected What we find in the Life of our Author that so long as these Ordinances were observ'd the Women were so far from that Scandalous Liberty which hath since been objected to them
Antony which did so much prevail upon him that he abandon'd his Design against Media and return'd to Alexandria This injurious Treatment of Octavia did highly incense her Brother Caesar so that he commanded her from her Husband's House into his own which she refus'd to obey but like a dutiful Wife took care not only of Antony's Children by her self but of those also that he had by Fulvia which honourable Deportment of hers did very much heighten the Resentments of the Romans against Antony who spent his time at Alexandria in the height of Luxury and Insolence assembling the People in the publick place where Thrones of Gold placed in a State of Silver were erected for him and Cleopatra their Children were stiled Kings of Kings and she was dress'd in the Habit of the Goddess Isis and gave Audience to the People under that Name These things being related to the Senate at Rome by Caesar did mightily alienate the Hearts of the People from Antony and so matters came to an open Rupture betwixt him and Caesar by means of his unlawful Amours with Cleopatra Great Military Preparations being made on both sides Cleopatra was resolv'd to accompany her Paramour dreading otherwise that a Peace might be contriv'd by the Mediation of Octavia and the better to prevail with him she furnish'd near a Million of Money towards carrying on the War And so far was Antony transported with Rage against his Lawful Wife Octavia that he sent Orders to Rome that she should remove out of his House with all her Children And he behav'd himself so insolently to many Noble Romans by Cleopatra's means that they deserted him daily and went over to Caesar who did so much despise Antony because of his Effeminacy that he would talk publickly That Antony had drank Potions that bereft him of his Senses and that his chief Counsellors were an Eunuch and Cleopatra 's Waiting-women The Event verified that Caesar made a true Judgment of Things for tho' Antony had a prodigious Force viz. no less than Five hundred Galleys most of them of eight and ten Banks of Oars so very rich that they seem'd design'd for a Triumph and besides these he had One hundred thousand Foot and Twelve thousand Horse and six Vassal-Kings attending him yet he had no Conduct to manage this mighty Force but contrary to the Mind of his best Generals he would venture all on a Sea-battel because Cleopatra desir'd it And this Luxurious Woman when Fortune had not as yet determin'd it against him did perfectly lose him the Battel by running away with sixty Sail in the heat of the Fight and he was so far besotted with Love to her that he immediately follow'd her leaving his Fleet engag'd and his Army without a Commander that as Cleopatra had begun his Ruin she might be sure to accomplish it In a little time Antony was deserted by all his Forces and Friends and Cleopatra and he both forc'd to sue to Caesar for his Favour who would not grant her any except she put Antony to death And thus being reduc'd to Despair and pursu'd to Alexandria it self the Naval and Land-Force that was left deserted to Caesar which made Antony think that Cleopatra had betray'd him and she being afraid that he might do her a Mischief in his Rage retir'd to a Monument which she had prepar'd for her self and sent him word that she was dead upon which he ran himself into the Belly but before he dy'd Cleopatra had sent to have him brought to her in the Monument wherein she had enclos'd her self with two Women only When he was brought thither she durst not open the Door for fear of being taken alive and carried to Caesar but let down Cords to which Antony was fasten'd and she and her two Women dragg'd up her dying Paramour than which a more sad and tragical Spectacle could not be seen When she got him up she laid him on her Bed tore her Hair and her Clothes and the sense of her own Misfortunes was wholly swallow'd up in the thoughts of his She express'd the greatest Passion and Tenderness for him imaginable calling him her Lord her Husband and her Emperor but in a little time he died Caesar being inform'd of this sent Proculaeius to endeavour to take Cleopatra alive if possible being afraid that she would otherwise destroy all her vast Treasures Proculaeius having sent one to treat with her at the Door did in the mean time get in at the Window where she drew up Antony by the help of a Scaling-ladder and surpriz'd her upon which she drew a Dagger to have stabb'd her self but being prevented at that time her Life was prolong'd for some days and having obtain'd Leave of Caesar to pay her last Oblations at the Tomb of the deceased Antony she lamented him in most pathetical and passionate Expressions and retiring again to her Monument writ a Letter to Caesar desiring that she might be buried in the same Tomb with Antony and straitway poison'd her self by the bite of an Asp which she had order'd to be brought her in a Basket of Figs and so disappointed Caesar's design of leading her in Triumph Thus did Justice pursue Antony and Cleopatra and thus by their unlawful Amours they occasion'd the death of many thousands of Men and at last brought themselves to that Tragical Exit as signal an Instance as any we shall meet with of the truth of that Threatning that Whoremongers and Adulterers God will punish In the Life of Marcus Tulâ—…ius Cicero Plutarch informs us That Catiline the Conspirator amongst other heinous Crimes was accus'd of having deflower'd his own Daughter and furnishing his wicked fellow-Conspirators with Women and Drink which shews how dangerous such fellows are in any Government and how easily they may be engag'd in Conspiracies against those who would curb them in their Excesses In that same Life we have an Account that Clodius a noble Roman being in the vigor of his Youth and in love with Pompeia Caesar's Wife he gets privately into Caesar's House in the Habit of a Minstrel the Women being then offering Sacrifice there which it was not lawful for Men either to hear or see Clodius being a Youth and Beardless hoped to get to Pompeia among the Women unknown but losing himself in the Passage of that large House by Night Aurelia one of Caesar's Mothers Women ' spying him wandring up and down enquir'd his Name and thus being necessitated to speak he was known by his Voice which being noised abroad Caesar put away his Wife Pompeia and Clodius was prosecuted for prophaning the Holy Rites Cicero tho' his Friend yet to preserve his Quiet with Terentia his Wife was forc'd to accuse him The cause of Terentia's Spite against Clodius was upon the account of his Sister Clodia who had a mind to marry Cicero by whom she was frequently visited and this gave Terentia Ground of Jealousie Clodius was also accus'd of Incest with his own Sisters and
Consular Degree and General of the Army upon hearing that her Grandmother was one of the most beautiful Ladies of her Time he became so enamour'd of the Grandchild that he sent for her out of the Province where she was forc'd her from her Husband took her to himself and in a short time likewise turn'd her off forbidding her for ever after the knowledge of any other Man Cesonia tho' neither handsom nor young and the Mother of three Daughters by another Man he lov'd so passionately that he would often shew her to his Souldiers riding by his side with her Horseman's Coat embroider'd and frequently stark naked to his Familiars Being brought to want Money by those his extravagant Courses he invented new and unheard-of Imposts one was that he exacted from common Prostitutes the Gratuity for one Nights Familiarity and oblig'd married People also to pay a certain Rate for the use of the Marriage bed He built also a Brothel-house in his own Palace with Apartments suited to the Dignity of the place for Ladies and Gentlemen to enjoy their clandestine Amours and to force a Trade he sent his Officers about to invite both young and old to bring their Mistresses to his Conveniencies of whom when they came he receiv'd his ignominious Toll which there were Persons ready to receive and set down the Names of every Man in a Book as Benefactors to Caesar's Revenue We come now to take notice of the Punishments which befel him It is natural to conceive that those Debauches impair'd his Health so that he never had any either in Body or Mind It was believ'd that his Wife Cesonia had drench'd him with a Philter or Love-potion which depriv'd him of his Senses and almost made him mad so that he never slept above three hours in a Night and then also was disturb'd with trouble some Dreams and Visions at last becoming hateful and intolerable by his Lusts and Cruelty he was cut off by Cassius Cheraea and Cornelius Sabinus Tribunes and other Conspirators as he was going to see the Pyrrhick Dances the one giving him a mortal Wound in the Neck with his Hanger and the other running him quite through the Body This vicious Monster had render'd the Name of the Caesars so odious that the Romans had a mind after his Death to have abolish'd their Memory and lay their Temples in Ashes The next Instance is Claudius Drusus Caesar whose Father Drusus being unlawfully begot the lustful Contagion was it seems by that same means convey'd to the Grandson who in his Youth kept company with none but loose debauch'd Fellows and follow'd their bad Example Livia Medullina died on the very day appointed for her being married to him His Wife Urgulanilla he divorc'd for notorious Prostitution and every-body knows how unfaithful the infamous Messalina his Cousin-German was to him upon which he solemnly declar'd that he would for the future keep himself a Widower and that he would freely forgive them tho' they should kill him if not Yet soon after he fell in Treaty with Pelina whom he had put away before and then with Lollia Paulina at length he engag'd in an incestuous Amour with Agrippina Daughter to his Brother Germannicus and suborn'd certain persons to move that he might be constrain'd to marry Agrippina as being the only means conducible to perpetuate the Publick Tranquility and that there might be a Toleration also for others to contract Marriages in the same degree which till that time had always been accounted incestuous He was so impatient that he could not stay till the next day to prepare for his Wedding There was none however that follow'd his incestuous Example but a certain Libertine and a chief Centurion of a Legion to both which Weddings he invited himself and his Wife Agrippina for the encouragement of others His Uncleanness was punish'd amongst other things by the loss of his Son Drusus who having toss'd a Pear up into the Air and gaping to catch it again it fell so exactly into his Throat that it choaked him He was so much besotted he sign'd Writings for the settlement of a Dowry upon the Contract of Marriage between his Wife Messalina and her Adulterer Silius being made believe that 't was only a Contrivance found out to delude the Fates themselves and to transfer upon the Head of another Man those Disasters which the Predictions of the Soothsayers and several Prodigies had fix'd upon his Person and at last he was poison'd by a Mushroom which Agrippina gave him The next Instance is Nero the Son of Domitius and the wicked Agrippina above mention'd whose future Mischievous Temper his Father predicted when the Nobility came to compliment him upon Nero's Birth viz. That there could nothing proceed from him and Agrippina but what was detestable and would prove pernicious to the Commonwealth Which every man who is acquainted with History knows to have been exactly fulfill'd Suetonius gives this following Account of him viz. That his Petulancy Lust Luxury Avarice and Cruelty he practis'd by degrees and at first conceal'd 'em under the Excuses of Indiscretion and Heat of Youth but yet he could not carry it so but that every-body saw they were rather the Vices of Nature than Age. So soon as it grew duskish away he flew in disguse to Tippling-houses Cooks-shops c. frolicking and scouring about the Streets beating-such as were going home late from Supper some little Shops he would also break open and rifle and afterwards sell the Spoils In those Quarrels he several times ran the hazard of his Life being once almost bruis'd to death by a Senator whose Wife he would have taken from him in the Street Besides a great number of Pages whom he made use of in his unlawful Pleasures and his Contaminations of married Women he deflower'd Rubria one of the Vestal Virgins and would very fain have married Acte a Slave suborning several Persons of Consular degree to swear that she was of Royal Extraction Sporus a young Boy after he had caus'd him to be gelt he endeavour'd to have altogether transform'd into a Woman and after he had veil'd him married him and settl'd a Dowry upon him with all the Ceremonies of a sumptuous Wedding he kept him at home as his Wife upon which the Wits of those times said It had been well for the World if Domitius his Father had had such a Wife This Sporus he carried about with him in a pompous and costly Habit as if he had been the Empress her self under the Title of Augusta to all the trading Towns of Greece and soon after shew'd him openly at Rome in the Sigillarian Street and would frequently kiss him as they sate together in the same Litter He sent for a Harlot who was very like his Mother Agrippina and entertain'd her among the rest of his Concubines and he was accus'd of abominable Incest with his own Mother as often as he rode in the same Litter with her which was discover'd
by the Pollutions that besmear'd his Clothes His own Chastity he prostituted in such a manner that there was hardly a Member of his Body undefil'd insomuch that at length he invented a new sort of Lechery which was to cover himself all over with the Skin of some wild Beast and so to be let out of a Cage that he might fly upon the Secrets of Men and Women that were tied to a Stake and after he had that way gratified his monstrous Lust he prostrated his own Body to his enfranchis'd Bondman Doryphorus who had married him as he himself had wedded Sporus and in that passive posture counterfeited the soft Cries and Complaints of a new-bedded Virgin He was so very vile himself that he believ'd every-body to be so only that they dissembl'd their Vices and were private in their Debauches and if any Man would but confess their Obscenities to him he pardon'd all the rest of their Crimes His impious Mother was remarkably pursued by the Divine Vengeance which gave her up to the unnatural Fury of the Monster her Son to whom she had so unnaturally prostituted her Body for after he had divers ways attempted to rid himself of her but in vain he at last commanded her to be kill'd as having conspir'd against his Life which being effected he ran with eager Curiosity to view the naked Body of his Mother as she lay weltring in her Blood and handled all her Limbs of which he commended some for their Beauty and Shape and disprais'd others and happening to be thirsty in the midst of his unnatural Survey he was so little concern'd that he quench'd his Thirst over his murder'd Parent who left the World with that severe Reproof to him when his Murderers approach'd her viz. That they should strike her Belly first which had brought forth such a Monster into the World as Nero. After this barbarous and unnatural Murther the wicked Monster never enjoy'd Quiet but was constantly pursu'd with Horrour of Conscience and cry'd out That he was haunted by his Mother's Ghost Nero had also a plurality of Wives viz. Octavia Poppaea Sabina and Statilia Messalina having kill'd Atticus Vestinus the Husband of the latter that he might enjoy her His Wife Octavia he endeavour'd several times to have strangled and divorc'd her under pretence of Barrenness but perceiving the People took her Part he put her to death upon a false Accusation of Adulteries He had an entire Love to his Wife Poppaea yet kill d her with a kick upon the Guts when she was big with Child because she reprov'd him for staying too late at his Chariot driving Exercises He put Antonia the Daughter of Claudius to death for refusing to marry him after the death of Poppaea He also murder d Aulus Plantius a young Gentleman whose Body he had forcibly defil'd before-hand and after he had kill'd him used this taunting Expression Now let my Mother go and kiss my Successor giving it out That he was his Mother's Gallant and by her spurr'd on to lay Claim to the Empire This villainous Monster having wallow'd a long time in unnatural Lusts and cruel Murders became hateful to every one He set Rome on fire with his own Hands which was a just Judgment of God upon that City for suffering it self to be set on fire by his raging Lusts After that they were visited with a Pestilence which cut off many thousands of ' em His Souldiers in two of the chief Brittish Garrisons were massacred and many of the Romans and their Allies were slaughter'd in other places of that Island His Legions in the East had the Ignominy of being put under the Yoke and all Syria was like to be lost so closely did Vengeance pursue him Then France and Spain revolted under the Conduct of Galba and Vindex which so struck him tho' he seem'd little concern'd at his former Disasters that he sank down and for a long time lay Speechless like one that had neither Life nor Soul and when he came to himself he fell a tearing his Clothes thump'd himself about the Head and at length cried out that he was undone But being at last convinc'd of the necessity of making head against his Enemies his first Care was to provide Waggons to carry his Scenical Machines and Musical Instruments and to have his Concubines which he design'd to carry with him trim'd with their Hair cut like Men and arm'd with Battel-axes and small round Targets after the manner of Amazons so far was he judicially given up to his Lusts. In the mean time he was terrified with frightful Dreams and dreadful Omens such as that he was dragg'd into hideous Darkness by his Wife Octavia and that his Body was cover'd with a multitude of winged Emmets the Doors of the Mausoleum flew open of their own accord and a Voice was heard from thence summoning him distinctly by his Name It was also observ'd that the last Tragedy which he acted in publick was Oedipus exil'd which concluded in these Words that were very applicable to him viz. Thus Wife thus Mother and thus Father call For merited Revenge and I must fall Then upon fresh Intelligence that the Armies were revolted he tore the Letters as he sate at Dinner overturn'd the Table call'd for a Dose of Poison and retir'd into the Servilian Gardens where he tormented himself with perplexing Thoughts what to do in this Distress sometimes he thought of throwing himself at the Feet of Galba or to implore the Assistance of the Parthians and sometimes he thought of putting himself in Mourning humbling himself to the People and begging their Pardon before the Rostra but from that was deterr'd fearing he should be torn in pieces before he got to the Forum so waving the matter till next day he wak'd about Midnight and then finding his Guards drawn off he leap'd out of his Bed and sent up and down for his Friends but none of them coming to him he went himself with some few Attendants to their Houses where meeting with no admittance he return'd to his Chamber from whence by that time the few of his Guards that remain'd had also march'd off having first rifled his Apartments and carried off amongst other things his Gold Box with the Dose of Poison in it which put him into that Despair that he sent for any of the publick Executioners to dispatch him and none of them being to be found he cried out What have I neither Friends nor Enemies and ran away as if he would have thrown himself into the Tiber but upon second Thoughts he began to think of some private lurking place where he might consider what to do and for that end mounted on Horseback barefoot and in sordid Apparel with a thin Handkerchief before his Face to have retir'd to a Country House belonging to one of his enfranchis'd Bondmen having only four Persons with him of whom his Catamite Sporus was one but being terrified with a violent Earthquake and the Lightning that
Martia one of his Strumpets she together with the Captain of his Guards and his Lord Chamberlain against whom he had the like Design mix'd Poison with his Wine which not being quick enough in its operation they had him strangled by a Wrestler with whom he us'd to exercise himself sometimes at that Sport about the 31st year of his age says Lampridius Eutropius and Onuphrius We come next to Heliogabalus the Emperor who succeeded Macrinus and was called the Roman Sardanapalus His Luxury was so boundless that when he was on the Sea-coasts he would eat nothing but Fowl from the remotest Mountains and when farthest from the Sea would eat nothing but Sea-fish he fed his Lamps with Balsam and filled his Fish-ponds with scented Water he married Aquila Severa a Vestal Virgin tho' by the Roman Law accounted Incest saying That he being a Priest their Offspring must be altogether Heavenly His two Coachmen were his chief Companions and fellow-Debauchees He cut off abundance of the Senators because they would not allow of a Senate of Women whereof his Mother was to be President and to determine all Female Controversies Tho' he was but Twenty two Years old at most he was guilty of all manner of Villanies enough to make ' those who read his History to blush He became at last so hateful even to his own Guards that he and his Mother were both sâ—…in in the Camp and their Corps expos'd to all manner of Indignities from the Populace who first threw them into a Privy and then into the Tiber so vile had their Lusts render'd them in the Eyes of the People This happen'd about the Year 222 according to Eutropius Lampridius and Aurelius Victor The Emperor Trajan falls next under consideration who tho' a Prince excellent for Virtue and Valour compar'd with some that went before him yet Dion and others charge him with Cruelty and Incontinence in the unnatural Love of Boys as also with persecuting the Christians and Excess in Wine As to his punishment the same Authors take notice that he had well nigh perish'd by a dreadful Earthquake and escap'd so narrowly that he was forced to be drawn out of a Window and his great Virtue and Valour have not been able to preserve his Memory from the Ignominy of those Sodomitical Impurities he was guilty of The Emperor Caracalla was a Monster of Cruelty and Incontinence being so impudent as to marry Julia his Father's Widow he also conspir'd the Death of his Father and Brother so inseparable are Cruelty and Incontinence and was at last cut off himself by a Conspiracy of his Officers The Emperor Gallienus says Trebellius Pollio was a person altogether given to Sloath and Ease his Pleasures and Lusts which drew upon him the Hatred of all Men. When they brought him News that Egypt was lost and that Gaul had revolted he was so unconcern'd because of his sluggish Temper that he made no other Answer but What can't we live without the Flax of Egypt or the Jippoes of Arras And at last was slain by some of his Captains Aurelius Victor gives us this Account of the Emperor Carinus That he gave himself over to all manner of Vice married nine Wives and put several to death upon bare Suspicion which says Vopiscus made his Father afterwards disown him and he was kill'd in 285 by one of his Captains whose Wife he had debauch'd Eutropius and Croesus say of the Emperor Galerius That he divorced his first Wife and married Valeria the Emperor's Daughter persecuted the Christians in a most cruel and barbarous manner and died of an Ulcer in his Genitals that began to swarm with Worms a just and suitable Punishment for his Incontinence Valentinian the Third became so enamoured on a Roman Lady Wife to Maximus a Senator and afterwards Emperor that he sollicited her continually to debauch her but without effect But having won all Maximus's Money and his Ring likewise at Dice he sent the Ring as a Token from her Husband to come to the Palace and when she came thither violated her Chastity the injur'd Lady complain'd of it to her Husband who in revenge contriv'd the Murder of Maximus about the Year 455. Procopius and Baronius have left it on Record concerning the Emperor Maximus That having caused the Emperor Valentinian the third to be kill'd for having ravish'd his Wife he married the Empress Eudoxa by force created his own Son Caesar and married him to the young Eudoxa the Emperor's Daughter One Night in his Amours with the Empress Eudoxa he told her That he kill'd the Emperor her Husband for love of her which so incens'd her that she sent for Genseric King of the African Vandals to deliver her from the Tyrant who abandoning Rome when Genseric enter'd into it he was kill'd by a Souldier and afterwards pull'd in pieces by the Empress and her Servants and thrown into the Tiber about seventy seven days after he began his Reign Thus we have gone through the several Governments and Governours of Rome from its foundation to the Reign of Augustulus the last of those properly call'd Roman Emperors which have afforded us many remarkable Instances of the Tragical Effects of Lust not only upon particular Persons and Families but upon Kingdoms Empires and other Governments and shall shut up this part of our History with an Account of the abominable Worship of Priapus and Berecynthia and the Ludi Florales celebrated among the Romans with so much Solemnity and Impudence that it afforded Subject-matter of Reflection to their Satyrists and Historians who ascrib'd the Fall of the Roman Empire chiefly to that Cause Tostatus in his 50th Question upon the 20th of Exodus saith concerning the Heathenish Worship of Priapus That it was so obscene that the very mention of it could not but offend chaste Ears They professed in the holding of those Sacrifices that beastly Crime which the most vicious Men will hardly confess upon the Rack The shape says he in which that God was represented was such as Nature hath taught us to â—…ide and the gestures of the Priests in serving him such as I wonder their Matrons and Virgins in whom were any spark of Modesty could behold it with patience and for the People who came to worship the Sacrifice being ended they all stepped aside into a Thicket which was alwaies planted near the Altar of this God and there like Brute Beasts promiscuously satisfied their Lust thereby as they conceived best pleasing their God which was the cause as it seems that the true GOD commanded that no Groves should be planted near the place of his Worship and if any were that they should be cut down Of the same nature was the Worship of Berecynthia the Mother of the Gods as we find described by St. Augustine De Civit. Dei lib. 2 cap. 4 in the following words Ante ejus Lecticam i. e. Such filthy Stuff was by loose prophane Varlets sung before her Chariot on the solemn day
and such-like Stuff which I am asham'd to rehearse and teach those that be ignorant of such Lewdness and yet we see those that be the stoutest Drinkers lye sweating so long in the Baths and Brothel-houses to digest their Surfeit of Wine that ever now and then they are carried forth dead for their labour You shall have some again when they are in the Hot-house that won't stay so long as they may go to their Beds nay nor as they may put on their Shirts but immediately naked as they are and panting and puffing for Breath catch up great Tankards of Wine to shew what valiant Champions of Bacchus they are and pour them down one after another till they vomit twice or thrice what they have drank Then describing their Pots out of which they us'd to quaff They were engraven says he with fair portraitures of Adulteries as if Drunkenness it self were not sufficient to kindle the heat of Lust and to teach them Wantonness Then continues he when they come to be fuddled they cast their wanton Eyes upon Mens Wives then fall they to court fair Dames and Ladies and openly bewray their Folly even before their jealous and stern Husbands And thus many a Man by his lavish Tongue in his Wine hath come by his Death and had his Throat cut But if they escape these Dangers they never live to be old Men but dye in the strength of their Youth Hence cometh it that some of them look pale with flaggy Cheeks others have bleared and sore Eyes and there be of 'em that shake so with their Hands that they cannot hold a full Cup but pour it on the Floor They are generally disturb'd with fearful Dreams which is the very beginning of their Hell in this Life or else have restless Nights and finally if they chance to sleep for a due reward of their Drunkenness they are deluded with the imaginary Conceits of the Delights of Venus defiled with filthy abominable Pollutions and thus sleeping or waking they sin with pleasure Then he proceeds to particular Instances and names Nivellius Torquatus a Milanois who won the Victory from all the Italians in Drinking adding That he had gone thro' all the Degrees of Dignity at Rome had been Pretor and Proconsul and in all these Offices of State he won no great Name but for drinking in the presence of Tiberius three Gallons of Wine at one draught for which he was dubb'd Knight by the Surname of Tricongius or the Three Gallon Knight This Torquatus had the Art of Drinking never was known to falter in his Tongue never eased himself by vomiting always drank without drawing his Breath and never left a drop behind in the Cup. His next Instance is in Mark Antony who strove to win the Victory in Drinking and made a Profession thereof as appearâ—…d by a Book which he publish'd under the title of his own Drunkenness whereby he was not asham'd to justifie his Excesses that way and thereby approved under pretence of his Drunkenness all the Outrages he committed and all those Miseries and Calamities that he brought upon the World This Treatise says Pliny he vomited out a little before his Defeat at Actium That same Author gives us two other memorable Instances of Antony's Drunkenness the first as follows Cleopatra his Paramour perceiving his Jealousie of her insomuch that he would neither eat nor drink without his Taster she design'd to make Sport of his needless Fear and therefore causing a Chappelet or Garland of Flowers to be made for Antony she dipp'd all the edges of the Flowers in strong Poyson and having thus prepar'd it set it upon Antony's Head and having sate at Meat a good while and drank themselves merry she challeng'd Antony for each of them to drink their Chappelets and having first drank off her own Antony minc'd his and putting it into his Cup prepar'd to drink it off but just as he was setting it to his Head she put her Hand between and staid him and then utter'd these Expressions My dear and best-beloved Antony now see what she is whom thou dost so much dread and stand in fear of that for thy security thou must have extraordinary Tasters a Curiosity more nice than needful Lo how I am not to seek of Means and Opportunities to compass thy Death if I could find in my Heart to live without thee And then she sent for a Prisoner out of the Jayl whom she caus'd to drink off the Cup that Antony had prepar'd for himself and the poor Wretch died by that time he had well taken the Cup from his Lips The next Instance is this Cleopatra being possess'd of two Pearls the richest and fairest that were ever known in the World being left to her by descent and accounted Nature's Wonder she began to undervalue the Expence that Antony had been at in treating her from day to day to the utmost of his might and when he demanded of her how it was possible to go beyond the magnificence and cost of his Treat she answer'd That she would spend upon him One hundred thousand Sestertii at one Supper Antony thought that impossible and therefore wager'd with her that she could not do it Next night she made him a Supper royal enough but much short of those that he had before prepar'd for her whereupon he began to laugh her to Scorn and demanded a Bill of the Particulars to which she answer'd That what had been brought in already was meer Overplus and that she would yet in that Supper eat Six hundred thousand Sestertii for her own part Upon which she took one of those Pearls from her Ears and dissolving it in Vinegar drank it off And as she was about to do the like with the other L. Placentius the Judge of that Wager laid fast hold upon it and pronounced That Antony had lost upon which he fell into a mighty Passion There was an end of one Pearl and the fellow thereof being taken from this Queen when she was a Prisoner it was divided in two in memory of that half Supper of theirs and hung in the Ears of Venus at Rome in the Temple of Pantheon And yet saith Pliny as prodigal as they were they shall not go away with the Prize for long before their time Clodius the Son of Aesop the Tragedian practis'd the like in Pearls of great price so that Antony hath to match him in all his Magnificence one little better than a Stageplayer Lest Drunkenness should be thought to be only the Vice of some particular persons among the Romans Lipsius in his Epistles tells us That it was a common Crime among them because the Emperors themselves were deeply infected with it and highly rewarded it in others He names one Firmus who was Deputy of Egypt under Aurelian and drank off two Buckets full of Wine at a time Bonosus the Emperor was wont to say That he was not born to live but to drink and when he was hang'd for