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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	woman_n	word_n	wretched_a	22	3	8.1666	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A72222	The familiar epistles of Sir Anthony of Gueuara, preacher, chronicler, and counceller to the Emperour Charles the fifth. Translated out of the Spanish toung, by Edward Hellowes, Groome of the Leashe, and now newly imprinted, corrected, [and] enlarged with other epistles of the same author. VVherein are contained very notable letters ...; Epistolas familiares. English	Guevara, Antonio de, Bp., d. 1545?; Hellowes, Edward.	1575 (1575)	STC 12433; ESTC S122612	330,168	423

stilled water Although Doctor Soto tolde me this tale in iest I did firmly beléeue it bicause you Master Doctor did once saye vnto mée in Madrid that in all the days of your life you neuer receiued compound purgation either proued the fast of stilled water Ther is no arte in this world that makes me lose the stirops or to say better my wits but the maner that Physitions do vse to cure For wée sée them desirous to cure and enimies to be cured And bicause Master Doctor you write vnto me also you sweare and coniure me by the desire I wishe to the welfare of my father that I write vnto you what is my iudgement of Physike and what I haue read of the inuenters birth and first rising thereof I will performe your request although it be more than others would wish for it is a matter that the wise Physitions will delight in but wherefore the foolish will giue both you and me to the diuell Of the moste auncient inuenters of Physike and medicine IF Plinie doe not deceyue vs there is no arte of the seuen liberall Artes wherein there is practised lesse trouth and whiche hath passed more mutabilitie than the Arte of Medicine Bicause there hath not bin kingdom people either notable natiō in this world wher she hath not bin receiued and after entertaynment againe throwne out of the same For if as she is a medicine she were a man immesurable wer the trauels that she wold report that she had suffred and many and very many are the kingdoms that she hath traueled and prouinces that she hath wandred not bycause they neglected to be cured but for that they helde Phisitions suspitious to be doubted The first that amongst the Greekes found the art of curing was the Philosopher Apollo and hys Sonne Aesculapius which for being so famous in Phisicke they concurred vnto him as vnto an Oracle throughout all Grecia but the chaunce was thus This Aesculapius was but a yong man and by greate mischaunce was slayne with lightning And as he left no disciple that knew his secretes neither that could make his medcines the master and the Art of medcine ioyntly did perish Four hundred and forty yeres was the Art of Phisicke lost in suche wise that in all the worlde there was not a man founde that did cure publikely or was called Phisition for so many yeares passed from the time that Esculupius died vntill the birth of Arthaxerxes the second in whose time Ipochras was borne Strabo Diodoro also Plini maketh mention of a woman of Grecia that in those most aunciente times did florish in the art of Phisicke of whome they recite so many mōstrous things and so incredible that to my iudgemēt they be al or the more part of thē fayned for if they shuld be true it séemed rather that she raysed the dead than cured the sicke In these days there did rise in the prouince of Achaia an other womā that began to cure with psalmes and words without applying any medcine simple or compound whyche being knowne in Athens was condemned by decrée of the Senate to be stoned to death saying that the Gods neyther nature had giuen remedies for sicknesse in words but in herbes and stones In the dayes that they had no phisitions in Asia the Gréekes held for custome when any man had made experiēce of a medcine and did heale with the same he was bound to write it in a table and to hang it vp in the temple of Diana that was at Ephesus for that in the like case any other might vse the same remedy Trogos Laertios and also Lactantius saith that the cause whereby the Gréekes did sustayne themselues so long time without Phisitions was that in May they dyd gather swéete herbes whiche they kept in their houses they were let bloud once in the yeare did bath once euery monthe and also they did eate but once a day Conformable to this Plutarch doth say that Plato being demaunded by the philosophers of Athens if he had seene any notable thing in Tinacria which is now called Sicilia made aunswer vidi monstrum in natura bominem bis saturum in die whiche is to say I did see a monster in mās nature which did fill or féede himselfe twice in one day he sayde thus by Dionysius the tyrant which was the first that inuented to eate at noone and afterwards to suppe at night for in the olde worlds they did vse to suppe but not to dine I haue curiously considered and in great varietie of bookes I haue sought and that whiche I found in this case is that all the nations of this world did eate at night and onely the Hebrewes did féede at none but following our intent it is to vnderstand that the temple most estéemed in all Asia was the Temple of Diana the one cause was for that it was stately of buildings another for that it was serued with many Priests but the most principall cause was for that the tables of Medicines were hanged there to cure the diseased Strabo sayeth that eleuen yeares after the battells of the Peloponenses the great Philosopher Ipochras was borne in a little Iland named Coe in whiche also were borne those glorious personages Licurgus and Brias the one Captayne of the Athenians and the other Prince of the Lacedemonians Of this Ipochras it is written that he was of small stature somewhat poare blind with a great head of much silēce paynefull in study and aboue all of a high and delicate iudgement From xviij yeares vnto thirtie fiue Ipochras continued in the scholes of Athenes studying Philosophie and reading and notwithstanding that in his time many Philosophers did flourish he was more famouse renoumed and estéemed than all the rest After that Ipochras departed from the studies of Athenes he wandred throughout diuers kingdomes and prouinces inquiring and searching of all men and women what they did knowe of the properties and vertues of herbes and planets and what experience they had seene of them At which things he did write and incommend vnto his memorie Also Ipochras did search with most great diligence for other bookes of Phisick written by any other auncient Philosophers and it is sayd that he found some written bookes in whyche theyr authours had written no medcine that they had made but such as they had séene made Of the Kingdomes and Prouinces where Phisitions were banished TWelue yeares Ipochras did trauell in this peregrination after which time he retired vnto the temple of Diana that was in Ephesus and translated al the tables of medcines and experiments that were there preserued many yeares he put in order all that was before confused and added many things that he had founde out and other things that he had experimented This Philosopher Ipochras is Prince of all Phisitions in the world for he was the first that tooke penne to write and to put Phisicke in order Also it is

that Numantine warre Caius Crispus Trebellius Pindarus Rufus Venustus Eskaurus Paulus Pilos Cincinatus and Drusius nine Consuls that were very famous and Captaines of much experience These nine Consuls being slaine with an infinite number of Romanes it happened in the twelfth yere of the siege of Numantia that a Romane Captaine named Cneius Fabricius did ordaine and capitulate with the Numantins that they and the Romanes for euermore should be friendes and in perpetual confederation And in the meane time while they sent aduertisement therof to Rome they confirmed a long truce But the Romanes vnderstāding the whole order to be greatly to the honour of the Numantins and to the perpetuall infamie of the Romanes they commaunded the Consulles throte to bée cut and to prosecute the warres Then in the yere following which was the thirtenth of the siege the Romans did sende the Consull Scipio with a newe armie to Numantia the whiche being come the first thing he did was to deliuer the Campe from all maner men that were vnprofitable and women that were leude of disposition saying that in greate armies more hurte is done with prepared vices than with determined enimies A yere and seuen monethes was Scipio at the siege of Numantia all which time he neuer gaue battaile or skirmish but only gaue order that no succour might come at them or vitayles might enter to them When a certain Captaine demaunded of Scipio why he did not skirmish with those that came foorth neither fight with them within He made answer Numantia is so fortunate the Numantins so luckie that we must rather think their fortune to come to an end than hope to ouercome them Many times the Numantins did sallie to fight wyth the new Romaines and it hapned one daye that there passed betwixt them so bloudie a skirmishe that in an other place it might be counted for a battaile And in the end the Romanes receyued suche foyle that if the fortune of Scipio had not holpen that day the name of Rome had ended in Spaine Scipio considering the Numantins to encrease in pride and the Romaines to discourage aduised to retire his campe more than a myle from the citie bicause they should giue no attempt vpon the sodaine and to auoyde by the néernesse of the place the hurts that might happen But in the end the Numantins wāting vitayles and hauing lost many of their men did ordeyn amongst themselues and did make a vowe vnto their gods no day to breake their faste but with the fleshe of Romaines neither to drinke water or wyne before they had tasted and dronken the bloud of some enimie they had slayne A monstrous thyng then to sée as it is nowe to heare that euen so the Numantins euery daye went in chase of Romanes as hunters doe in hunting Coneys and with as great apetite they did eate and drinke the flesh and bloud of enimies as if it had bin shoulders and loynes of mutton Verie greate were the hurtes that euery day the Consul Scipio receiued in the stege bicause the Numantins like most fierce beastes with Romanes bloud imbrued did not fighte as enimies but as men desperate Among the Numantines hée was holden excused that tooke any Romane alyue and muche lesse to giue him a buriall For at the houre that anye were slaine they did take hym slay him quarter him and in the shambles did waigh him In suche wise that a Romane was more being dead than alyue and raunsomed Verie manie tymes Scipio was perswaded prayed and importunated of his captaines to raise his siege and to ●…urue to Rome but hée would neuer doe it neyther could in any wise abide to heare of it for at his comming out of Rome a Nigromantik priest did aduertise him that he should not dismay neither retyre from that conquest although in the same he shoulde passe immeasurable perilles bicause the goddes had determined that ende of the fortunate Numantia shoulde be the beginning of all his glorie Howe Scipio dyd take Numantia SCipio perceiuyng the Numantins not to be ouercome by prayers neyther by armes he caused to be made in compasse of the citie a stately ditche the which was in depth seuē fadoms and in bredth fiue in such sorte that to the discomfortable Numantins neither mighte there any vitayles enter that they mighte eate neither they come out with the enimies to fighte Many times did the Consull Scipio requeste the Numantines to commende themselues to the clemencie of Rome and that they shoulde credit and giue faithe vnto his words to which thyngs they made answere that since they had liued thrée hundred and thirtie eight yeres free they would not now die slaues Great cryes did the women giue within the citie greate clamoures did the Priestes make vnto their Gods with great and loude voyces did the men exclame vpon Scipio that he should lette them out to fight as men of worthynesse and not to kill them with hunger like wretches And said more thou oh Scpio being a yong man of Rome valiant and bolde considerest not what thou dost neyther do they counsel thée what thou oughtest to doe For to kéepe vs in as thou doest is but a pollicie of warre but if thou shouldest ouercome vs in battel it shold be for thée an immorall glorie But in the ende the Numantins séeing them selues so infamously and miserably inclosed and that now their vitayles fayled them the moste strongest did ioyne themselues together and killed al the old men children and women and did take all the riches of the Citie and of the temples and heaped them vp in the market place and gaue fire to all partes of the Citie and poysoned themselues in suche wise that the Temples the houses the riches and the persons of Numātia ended all in one day A monstrous thing it was to sée that which the Numantins did while they were aliue and a thing no lesse fearefull whiche they dydde when they were a dying Bicause they left to Scipio neyther goods to spoile neyther man or woman of whom to triumph During the tyme that Numantia was besieged no Numantin entred into prison or to any Romane was prisoner but suffered death before he consented to yelde When the Consul Scipio did sée the Citie burne and entred the same founde all the Citizens dead and burned there came ouer his heart great heauines and out of his eyes he poured out many teares and sayde O righte happie Numantia whyche the goddes willed to haue an ende but not to bée ouercome Foure hundreth threescore and syxe yeares endured the prosperitie of the Citie of Nmantia For so manye yeares had passed since the foundation thereof by Numa Pompilius vntill it was destroyed by Scipio the Affricane In those old tymes there were thrée Cities verie enemies and rebelles to Rome that is to wit Helia in Asia Carthage in Africa and Numantia in Europa the whiche thrée were vtterly destroyed but by the

they shoulde bée caried to the Church of Oiendo to be kept and gaue great rewards vnto such as had hid them This good King Alonso was the firsts that commaunded that all the greate writers and singers should resort to Leon to the end they should write great singing bookes and litle breuiaries to pray on the which he gaue and deuided amongst all the Monasteries and Churches that he had founded for the cursed Moores had not left a Church in Spaine that they did not ouerthrow either booke that they did not burne This good king Alonso was the first that did begin to make all the Bishops houses ioyning to the Cathedrall Churches bycause the heate in the Sōmer either the colde in Winter should not let them to be resident in the Quier and to sée how they worshipped God. This good king Alonso the first died in the age of .lxiiij. yeres in the Citie of Leon in the yeare of our Lord. 793. And hys death of the Castilians and Nauarrois was as much bewayled as of all men his life was desired How acceptable his life was vnto God it appeared most cleare in that the Lord shewed by him at his death whiche is to wit that at the point of his last breath they heard ouer his chamber Angelike voices sing and say Beholde how the iust dieth and no man maketh account thereof his dayes be ended and his soule shall bée in rest The lamentation was so great that was made through out Spaine for the deathe of this good King Alonso that from thence forward euery time that any named his name if hée were a man he put off his cap and if a woman she made a reuerence Not thrée months after the death of the good King Alonso all the mightie of the Kingdome ioyned in parliament wherein they did ordeyne and commaund by a publique Edict that from thence forward and for euermore none should presume to say coldly or driely the king Alonso but for his excellencie they should cal him the king Alonso the Catholique for that he had bin a prince so glorious and of the diuine seruice so zelouse This good king was sonne in law of sir Pelaius he was the third King of Castile after the destruction thereof he was the first king of this name Alonso he was the firste that founded Churches in Spaine he was the first King at whose death such Angelike voyces were heard he was the first king that was intituled Catholike by whose deseruings and vertues all the kings of Spaine his successors be called to thys day Catholike Kings My Lorde it séemeth to me that since the kings of Spaine presume to inherit the name they should also presume to follow his life which is to wit to make warre vpon the Moores and to be fathers and defendours of the Church And for that in the beginning of this letter I did vse the spéech of a friend and in this I haue accomplished what you craued as a seruāt I say no more but that our Lord be your protector and gyue vs all his grace From Segouia the xij of May. 1523. A letter vnto Mosen Rubin of Valentia beeing enamoured wherein is touched the displeasures that the amorous dames giue vnto their louers MAgnificent and old enamored being in Madrid the fourth of August where I receyued a letter of youres and for that it was torne and the firme somewhat blotted I sweare vnto you by the law of an honest mā I could not find meanes to read it or imagine or cal to remembrance who should write it For notwithstanding we were acquainted when I was Inquisitor in Valencia it is almost a thousand yeares since we saw eche other after I awakened and called my selfe to remembrance and did read and read againe your letter I fell in the reckoning that it was of Mosen Rubin my neighbour I say Mosen Rubin the enamored I remēber that sometimes we were wont to play at the chesse in my lodging and cannot aduise me that you gaue me the dame but I do certainly remember that you did not suffer me to sée your enamored I remember that at the rock of Espadon at the encounter we had with the Moores I escaped wounded and you with a broken head where wée could neyther finde Chirurgion to cure vs or as muche as a clout to bind vs I remember that in reward for that I caused your bill to be firmed by the Quéene you sent me a Mule which I did gratifie and not receyue I remember that when we went to accompany the French King to Requena whē we came to the seuen waters I complayned for want of meate and you for lacke of lodging and in the ende I receyued you into my lodging and you went foorth to prouide victualles I remember when Caesar commaunded me to repaire vnto Toledo you gaue me a letter to be deliuered vnto the Secretarie Vrias vppon a certaine businesse of yours to whome I dyd not only speake but also obtained your sute I remember that chiding with a Chaplayne of youre wiues in my presence when he said vnto you that it were not conuenient you shuld deale fowly with him for that he had charge of soules was a Curat you made answer that he was not a Curat of soules but of fooles I remember that I counselled you and also perswaded you being in Xatina that you shoulde giue to the Diuell the loue that you wot of and I also doe knowe bycause they were tedious perillous and costly I remember that after in Algezira you reported wéeping and sighing that you had no power to chase them from your minde either roote them from your hart and ther I returned to say and sweare that it was no loue eyther pleasant to your persone or too your estate conuenient I remember that after we mette at Torres where I demaunded to what conclusion you had framed your loue you answered in a thousand sorrowes and trauelles for that you had escaped from thence wounded abhorred beflouted infamed and also be pilled Of many other things I remember I haue both séene and hard you speake and do in that time that we were neighbours and couersant in Valentia whereof although we may talke they are not too be written In this present letter you aduertise me that now you are enamored and taken with other new loues and that since I sayd the troth in the first you pray me to write my opinion in the second holding it for certaine that my skil serueth to let bloud in the right vayne and also to bind vp the wound Sir Mosen Rubin I woulde you had written or demaunded some other matter for speaking the very troth in this matter of loue you are not in the age to follow it eyther may it be contained with my ingrauitie to write it of my habit of my profession and of my authoritie and grauitie you shoulde haue demaunded cases of counsell and not remedies of loue

by the feare of death The couetous wretched niggard that he goeth seeking is carefulnesse for himselfe enuie for his neighbours spurres vnto his enemies a pray for théeues perill for his person damnation for his soule malediction for his heires and law for his children All these thinges Sir I thought good to write thereby to giue you to vnderstande the grosse office you haue taken in hande and the euill opinion they do couceyue of you the which to vs your friends is great shame and to you a most great infamie Sir amende youre fault and take some other order in your life for in the house of any honest manne any lacke of goodes is tollerable but no want in honour If you shall alwayes continue to be a miser a niggard and shall giue your selfe to kéepe and hoord money from henceforward I take my leaue of your friendship and also to call you my acquainted For I neuer delighted to hold acquaintance with the man that woulde presume to lie and giue himselfe to kéepe This letter I send you without head or foote which is to wit without date or firme for going with such choler and so vnsauorie it is not reason he shoulde bée knowen that did write it neither to whome it was written No more A letter vnto the Lady Mary of Padilia wife to Don Iohn of Padilia wherein the Authour doth perswade that she tourne to the seruice of the king and giue no occasion of the losse of Castile MAgnificent and vnaduised Lady in the dayes that the good Emperour Iustinian did raigne in the East a certaine Captaine of his dyd gouerne the kingdomes in the West that was named Narsetes a man of greate capacitie to gouerne and of great valiantnes in fighting and giuing battell of this Narsetes the Romanes did saye that in him only was the force of Hercules the boldnesse of Hector the noblenesse of Alexander the wisdome of Pirrhus the valiantnesse of Antheus and the fortune of Scipio After that thys glorious captain had ouercome and slaine Atholia King of the Gothes Vncelino king of the French men Sindual king of the Brittons and also pacified and triumphed ouer all the kingdomes of the West the Romanes sought meanes to disgrace him with his Lorde and maister Iustinian saying and giuing him to vnderstand that he sought meanes to obtaine the Empire wherefore Narsetes was constrayned to departe from Rome and to passe into Asia to appeare before the Emperour Iustinian and the Empresse Sophia his wife to declare his innocencie and to make proofe that enuie had raised that sclaunder certaine dayes were then past that the Empresse Sophia had conceyued disdaine against Narsetes some say it was for his great wealth others for that he commaunded in the Empire with too much authoritie and others bycause he was a gelded man and when she sawe time to vtter hir hatred she said vnto him in Court on a certaine day since thou Narsetes art lesse than a man and halfe a woman being an Eunuche I commaunde thée to leaue the gouernment of the Empire and that thou get thée vp to weaue where my maydes doe weaue and knit caules and that there thou help them what they commaund thée Although Narsetes were a man of great authoritie and of no lesse grauitie these words did so deepely pearce him to the quicke that he chaunged countenance the teares brake from his eyes and so chafed with teares he said Serene Princes I woulde right gladly that you shoulde chastise me as a Lady but not to defame me like a woman it gréeueth me not so much of that you haue said as the occasion which you giue me how to make you answer and said more I presently depart vnto Italy to weaue knit and frame such a toyle that neyther thou maist comprehend nor yet thy husband able to vnweaue Comming now to the purpose my Lord Abbot of Compludo gaue me here in Medina a letter frō your Ladiship which contained such ouerthwarts such want of measure and so greate rashnesse that he was ashamed too haue deliuered it and I astonied to sée the contents thereof And as the good Narsetes aunswered the Empresse Sophia it gréeueth me not of that you haue saide but of that whiche I must answer for of necessitie my penne must stand foorthe to make combat with your tong Your Ladiship doth say in your letter that you haue séene the letter that I sent vnto youre husband Iohn of Padilia and that it dothe well appeare in the same that it came from a frier irreguler foule spoken ouerthwart absolute and dissolute and that if I were one of the world not only I would not dare to wright such things neyther yet so much as in corners to speake them Also you do extréemely charge me that I haue suborned Sir Peter Lasso disswaded sir Peter Giron contended with the Bishop of Zamora resorted to Villa Braxima for the Gouernours that I preache publikely againste the commoners and that in my mouth there is no truth nor in my déedes any fidelitie Also you blame me charge condempne and threaten me for the letter I did write vnto your husbande and for the counselles and aduertisementes I gaue him affirming and swearing that since he had conference with me he hathe alwayes bene sorowfull penūue melancholicke and also vnfortunate Also you note blame and charge me that I neuer cease too lye vnto the gouernours deceyue the commoners discourage his men of warre preach against the commonaltie promise that which the King commaundeth not goe and come to Villa Braxima and to leade all Castile in suspence These and such other things are contayned within youre letter vnworthy the writing and scandalous to recount But since youre Ladiship hath first laide hand vpon the sword complaine not if I happen to giue you some wound on the head To that which your Ladiship sayth if I were of the world as I am of religion I durst not wright suche a letter vnto youre husband your Ladiship speaketh greate troth for I being the son of Sir Beltram of Gueuara and cousin to Sir Ladron of Gueuara and to be there in the worlde I shoulde not write vnto him but fighte with him not make pennes but sharpen the launce not gyue counsell or perswade your husbande but defye him bycause the contention betwixt loyaltie and treason ought not to be tried with wordes but with swords I am in profession a Christian in habite religious in doctrine a diuine in linage of Gueuara in office a preacher and in opiniō a gentleman and no commoner for which cause I presume to preach the troth and to impugne the communaltie I holde for sure that those whiche defende the troth be the most noblest knights and gentlemen in your Camp for they rob not vpon high wayes neyther steale out of Churches destroy no corne burne no houses spoyle no people neither do consent to men of vile conditions for they obserue the law

proper sinnes we discharge vpō others And in Iesus Christ charitie is so great That he taketh the sinnes of others vpon him selfe in such maner that he confesseth to haue many sinnes for as much as he is the redéemer of many sinners Behold honorable Rabbis what it is that the Christiās doe vnderstand of his diuinitie and that which we confesse of his humanitie Vnto which faith I extéeme to lyue and protest to dye And for that I haue sayd more then I thought to haue done yea and more then ye would haue heard we wyll remitte for another disputacion both your doubtes and my aunsweres Considering that my Lordes the Prelates And the noble men that be here do staye to goe to dinner and to withdrawe them selues c. ¶ A Letter to Syr Ferdenando of Cordoua wherein is discoursed the eleuen persecutions of the Church when and by whom they were persecuted WOrshipful Syr and Christian Knight Iohn de Cabreta your Steward deliuered me a letter from your worship which was as long as betwéen Madrid Almagro where at this present you do remaine wherby if you thinke to receiue no short answere by writing so long a Letter you do much abuse your selfe for wanting oportunity leasure to studie I maie not imploye my selfe to write such long tedious Epistles especiallye when he to whom they are written is simply but a friend Yet true friends delight not only in reading lōg letters but are grieued if their friends write not euery day al which aboue sayd is not to say that I estéeme not to place you in the chiefestes rankes of my best friends And if you imagine the contrarie you are much deceiued For your friendes mine do wel know that Don Ferdenand de Cordoua and Friar Anthony de Gueuarra Bishop of Mondoneto be twoo bodies ioyned in one wyll linked in a chaine of in dissoluble amitie But omitting this discourse retorning to your letter I assure you it pleased me very much chieflie in that I perceiued your good dispositiō which is no smal matter in the middest of these perillous heates Now touching the persecutions of the myllitant Church wherof you haue written wherof the Prior of Calatrana you haue liberally discoursed I aunswere that there haue beene many persecutions of the Church done at sundry times and by seuerall Princes And for that I greatly desire to do you that seruice which lyeth in my power I haue not fayled to sende you the sayde persecutions in order as followeth The first persecution was in the raigne of the Emperour Nero the which possessed with the Deuil in whose bonds his offēces did imprisō him perceiuing the nūber of Christiās daily to increase at Rome by grace of the euangelical worde which Peter Paul preached there where they were martered for such conuersion of the people determined with his power to persecute destroye the Church whereby he murdred many Christiās as wel in Rome as els where which was the first persecution of the Church For albeit the Church since the suffering of Christ hath béen continually persecuted in hir perticuler members yet notwithstanding vntyll the comming of Nero there went forth no commaundement to persecute the Christians Touching the constancy of the Martyrs and the diuersitie of the tormentes which they endured beside the Catholique Historiographers which write therof Cornelius Tacitus a Painim writer and enemie to the Christians yet verye credible in his writing doth report the same who making recitall of the persecutions made by the ordinaunce of the Emperour Nero of whome Sueton maketh also mencion doth say of the slaughter of Christians both men and women that amongest a thousande diuersities of punishmentes and deathes they cast the Christians to be torne in péeces with dogges And to make the dogges more fierce vpon them the men were braced in skinnes of Beares and other sauadge Beastes Which persecution was performed as witnesseth Cornelius Tacitus and Suetonius after the huge fire of Rome In the eleuenth yéere of the Empyre of Nero by whose decrée the glorious Apostles Peter and Paul were martyrred It maye well bée as I also beléeue that this martyrdome continued lytle more then thrée yéeres For though it were done at that time according to the Prior of Calatrana his opinion yet God would preserue his Apostles and deferre their martyrdoms vntyll the foresayde time The second persecution was in the time of the Emperour Domitian This wicked and accursed monster vnderstanding that there should one spring out of the lyne of Dauid which should expell him out of the Empyre he caused search to be made with much diligence for all those whiche descended from the race of Dauid amongst the Iewes and caused them to be put to death onelye raunsoming as Eusebius sayth twoo persons of the same familie who further for the accomplishment of his deuillishe deuices at the motion of the fiende he determined to persecute the Catholique Churche Whereby at his commandement a great slaughter was made of Christians within Rome and without In which persecution multitudes of the Christians were at the first committed to banishment who after were tormented and then murdered by most horrible paines and cruell deaths as affirmed Eusebius Orosius and many other Christian Historiographers This was the second general persecution of the primitiue Church in which S. Iohn the Euangelist was confined or exiled into the Yle of Pathinos where he sawe the visions of the Apocalips It were hard to know how long this persecution endured but as we may gather by Eusebius it continued twoo yéeres a lytle more For he sayth that Domician dyd moderate and cease his execution and yet notwithstanding aswel by reason of the sayd persecution as for his other vices the same Domician hath béene holden to be one of the most wicked and cruell Princes that euer liued The third persecution of the Church was vnder the gouernment of the Emperour Traian who allured by the Deuill his other ministers determined by torments to punishe the Christians and therfore by publique edict ordayned that the Christians should worship the Idol of the Gentiles vpon paine of death Wherevnto the Christians not wylling to obey he made a great slaughter of them This was the third persecution of the Church Catholique whereof Eusebius and diuers other Historiographers Christians do make plentiful mencion that was in the tenth yéere of the Empyre of Traian which afterward also commaunded this persecution to be stayed as doth apeare by some writers especially in the letters of Plyny directed to Traian in the answeres thereto sent by the same Emperor which are at this presēt extant where he prescribed that the christians should be permitted to lyue in their Lawes and vnder theyr liberties If they dyd not commit any other wickednesse therewith The fourth persecution was in the time and vnder the dominion of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius surnamed the Philosopher whose lyfe we haue discribed in