Inscription WE FLY FROM THE FACE OF JOSHUA THE SON OF NAVE THE ROBBER By this it appears that in those daies the Phoenicians began to frequent those Parts And although the Greeks do attribute these Voyages to their Hercules yet the Temple upon the Streights dedicated to that God manifestly proves him to have been a Phoenician for he was worshipt according to the Rites and Ceremonies of the Phoenicians and not Graecians The Temple is said to be built by the Tyrians and magnificent Sacrifices performed to him after the manner of that Nation Strabo is particular upon what ground it was built and the occasion which moved the Tyrians to the Work all which may be read in that Author But to return to HERCULES Leaving his own Country and being attended with a multitude who were forced to the same necessity he coasted about Spain and Africa and by the care and diligence of his Followers he built many Towns and Cities conquering all Iberia and those Western Tracts is said at last to come into Gaul and there built Alesia and Nemausus In a Battle against the Ligurians and their two Leaders Bergion and Albion or as others say Alebion and Dercynus when he had no other Weapons left him they feign'd it rained Stones from Heaven in his favour and that all the fields were covered with them The occasion of this Fable is the multitude of Stones lying scatter'd between Arelate and Massilia which to this day is called La Crau He is said also to have passed the Alpes but this is looked upon by Livy as a Fable also for the truth is it is not probable that his occasions would permit him to make too great Inroads into the Continent but by far likelyer that he contented himself with possessing the Sea-coasts the Ports and Havens of those Countries to which he arrived In Liguria there is a Haven that bore his Name at this day it is known by the name of Monaco and was anciently called Herculis Monaeci Portus the Haven of Hercules Monaecus At his first Landing the Ligurians opposed him and of this Fight not only the Poets and Historians make mention but the Astronomers also and they do not only mention it but add that the Remembrance of it is placed in the Heavens in the Sign which Firmicus calls Ingeniculum or the bending of the Knee for by weariness in the fight Hercules it seems was reduced to that posture and so placed in the Heavens Hitherto I have attended HERCULES in his Voyages within the Streights I shall now follow him into the Western Sea and that upon the Authority of Marcellinus who recites Timagines for his Author viz. That the Dorienses followed the Ancient Hercules to inhabit the Sea-coasts of Gaul lying upon the Ocean Let us see now by what Circumstances Marcellinus writes this Voyage of Hercules that the truth of it may more evidently appear First He complains of all former Writers Timagines only excepted namely that in their Histories of Gaul they had delivered down things by halves only and so had given the World a very slender or little or no account of the Original of that Country Secondly He applauds Timagines for his diligence in searching out those things which were unknown to other Authors and that he did it out of many Records Thirdly and lastly He promises out of Timagines to report the truth clearly and distinctly Now these Records that this Timagines searcht into were in all probability Phoenician or Syrian and for that very reason unknown to the Greeks and Latins for this Timagines as Bochartus proves was a Syrian and so understood their Language and Plutarch reports that he wrote a History of Gaul By the Authority therefore of this Timagines we find that this Hercules with his Dorienses ' possest the Sea-coast of that Nation that lies upon this Western Ocean That this Hercules was the Phoenician no doubt is to be made seeing he is called the Ancient and that the Dorienses his Attendants received their name from him as I have in another place evidenced viz. from Dora a City in Phoenicia and not from the Graecians Seeing that Hercules arrived into those Seas why may he not be supposed to be in Britain also Pliny writes that Midacritus first brought Tynn into Greece now it is certain as before has been shewn that Mettal was carried from the Cassiterides long before any Greek had entered the Western Sea This very thing induces Bochartus to think that for Midacritus Melicarthus should be read and that this Hercules first of all shewed the Phoenicians those Mines which afterwards proved so profitable to that Nation As upon the Sea-coast of Belgium there was an Altar inscribed to Hercules so in Devonshire a Country abounding in Tynn there was a Promontory called by his Name which to this day retains something in two little Towns Hartlow or Hertland alias Herton as also in the Promontory it self called Herty-point Add to this the Opinion the Ancients had concerning the Elysian Fields how they were supposed as I have writ in another place to be upon the Coast of Britain or at least in the Western Ocean as likewise the story of Isacius Tzetzes an Author of no small credit with Mr. Cambden concerning Julius Caesar which story though it be a Fable yet it shews the Opinions of the Ancients namely That Caesar was carried by I know not what Spirit from Gaul into a Western Island inhabited by Ghosts only and by the same brought back again We have little reason to doubt but that Hercules his discent into Hell might be grounded upon his Navigation into these parts After his death He was worshipt as a God in all Nations in some places young Youths were sacrificed before him and no Women admitted into his Temple His Bones were preserved in his Temple upon the Streights and Divine Honours performed to them although the main part of his Worship was Phoenician yet the Greeks intruded also hanging up several Trophies of their own inventions He was placed upon a Stone Altar a Hydra on one side and Diomedes his Horse on the other in memory of those two Monsters destroyed by him He was worshipt in Gaul and Britain under the name of OGMIUS and possibly from the Phoenician Og signifying the Compass of the Sea and especially the Western Ocean which Ocean Hercules was the first that discovered it From this Og the Graecians had their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifying the same thing Bochartus is of opinion that he is to be derived from Agemion signifying a Stranger and Forreigner but I scarcely believe the Britains or Gauls would borrow a Phoenician word to revile one of their own Nation This OGMIUS was represented as may be seen in the foregoing Figure An Old and decrepid Man bald Pated his Hair white a wrinckled Skin and Sun-burnt after the manner of Old Sea-men a Globe in one hand with a Compass in
forceably detained by the Romans for in those daies they had a Custome of chayning the Statues of Captive Gods and so forced them to their Protection To this Goddess Nero for a long time was strangly devoted but it seems finding her extreamly dull and stupid upon a sudden humour he made a Pissing-block of her first profaning Her himself and then leaving her to all Passengers to be affronted by his Example The Britains had Her in great veneration they sacrificed to her in Temples and in Groves which were called by her Name the Groves of Andate Here in a most savage and horrid manner they sacrificed Prisoners alive spending the time in Feasts and Banquets To this Astrate some refer the Saxon Goddess Eoaster and there are many Towns in England bearing Her name as High Easter Good Easter and Easter-Ford in the County of Essex but whether so called by the Britains or Saxons I am not able to say But it may not be a wonder that Astarte a Phoenician Goddess was worshipped in Germany seeing that part of the Swedes sacrificed to IRIS a known Idol of the AEgyptians but of this I shall have occasion to speak further in treating of the Saxon Idolatries Hitherto I have treated of the chief and general GODS of the Druids mentioned by Caesar namely Mercury Apollo Mars Jupiter and Minerva to which are added Venus or Adraste Diana or Belisama It is very much to be observed that the Druids attributed the very same Offices to these Gods as had been formerly given him in Greece which will evidently appear if we compare the opinions the Greeks had of them with those of the Druids The Greeks called Apollo Alexiacus because he dispelled Diseases Minerva Talaergos because she was the teacher and performer of curious Works Jupiter Olympius from his governing the Heavens Mars Polemistes by reason he presided in War The very same sentiments had the Druids of them I will put down the words of Caesar. The Druids believe APOLLO the expeller of Diseases that MINERVA taught the first rudiments of Arts and curious Works and although this was attributed to Mercury also yet he had other Employments He was the Guide of Waies and Journies and had great power attributed to him in procuring gain in Mony and Merchandice MARS was their God of War and JUPITER had the Empire of Heaven So that we see all these GODS Belinus Onva Taramis Hesus Teutates though they came into Britain from the Phoenician Original yet the Greek Druids gave them many and particular Titles of their own Invention I will take notice here of what Strabo writes in his fourth Book where Artemidorus affirms That in an Island near Britain CERES and PROSERPINA were worshipped with the same Rites and Ceremonies as in Samothrace Now I have shewn that in the daies of Artemidorus who writ under Ptolemaeus Lathyrus none of the Greeks had entered this Island It remains therefore that Ceres and Proserpina and the Rites and Ceremonies performed to them were brought hither by the Phoenicians from whom the Samothracians themselves had learned them to evidence which I will shew 1. What these Gods were 2. What Ceremonies were used in their Worship and Lastly What Island this might be to which I will add and shew That in all probability they were worshipped in Britain also and that in this sence this Island might be called the Seat of Queen CERES The Worship the Samothracians received from the Phoenicians were the Rites and Ceremonies of the Cabiri which Cabiri it seems were in a British Island also The Cabiri in another place I have shewn to signifie as much as Powerful Gods Now what these GODS were I will also shew out of Learned Bochartus who has proved them to be of Phoenician Derivation as first Axieros CERES in the Phoenician Tongue Achzi-eres as much as to say The Earth is my Possession Axiokersa PROSERPINA in the Phoenician Achzi-cheres My possession is Death she being the Queen of Hell Axiokersos PLUTO The King of Hell Cadmilus MERCURY in the Phoenician Language Cadmel The Servant of the Gods This Mercury I have shewn to have been worshipped in Britain but under the name of Cadmilus I cannot find him unless the Inscription DEO MOUNO CAD be read Deo Mouno Cadmilo and so make it different from Magon Cad but this I leave to be examined by stronger Judgments than my own And for those Phoenician names of Ceres and Proserpina time hath quite worn them out in Britain the names of their Priests only are remaining Cohen signifies a Priest and the soeminine Coena a holy Votary in the Phoenician Tongue and from this Root proceeds Coies or Coes a Priest of the Cabiri from hence came an Heathenish Priest in Britain called Coi-fy as I have shewn in another place To Proserpina Women used in Ancient times to devote their Virginity Mela writes That in Gaul religious Women attending upon a certain God for Proserpina and Pluto were promiscuously used were called Cenae not Lenae as Mr. Cambden would have it Without doubt this God or Goddess was Proserpina or Pluto for their Priests we find to be called Coenae The Island mentioned by Strabo where these Rites were performed to Ceres and Proserpina after the Samothracian or Phoenician Custome in all probability was the Sayn lying upon Armorica anciently called Sena and possibly from these Coenae but the Devotresses themselves were not called Senae as Mr. Cambden writes but Coenae The worship of the Cabiri was performed in this Island by these Women being Nine in number according to Mela and here was an Oracle according to the same Author This is all I can gather of these sort of People about Britain but it is to be judged as Proserpina and Pluto had the same names so they might very well have the same worship and seeing they were worshipt here as the Cabiri in Samothracia it will not be amiss to put down some material particulars of the Ceremonies They were called Sacred Mysteries and I have shewn before that many Great persons had been initiated in them accounting the Ceremonies of these Cabiri to be of great Holiness and wonderful Power to protect them against any Dangers The words used at the solemn performance of these Rites were in an unknown Tongue and mystical Circumlocutions from whence I suppose our word to Gaber and Gaberish might proceed I will add that the Statues or Effigies of these Gods were made in ridiculous postures like to the Statues of Vulcan which made Cambises when he entred his Temple at Memphis instead of being devout he burst out in laughter at the strange posture he was carved in And the same Cambises when he entred the Fanum of the Cabiri to which none but Priests were admitted in the burning of their Statues he would not refrain from Jesting seeing in what Antick manner they were represented Hence it proceeded that the Jews called a
they grew daily lazier in their business rejoycing more in taking Plunder than strong Holds All this while the losses of the Romans were great seventy thousand of them and their Allies are reckoned by Tacitus to be slain and Suetonius numbreth them among the greatest Plagues and Misfortunes attending the evil Government of Nero for what in other Wars is usually in this way utterly excluded no change of Prisoners allowed no Ransomes or giving of Quarter the slaughter was the same in cool Blood as in hot and with Gibbet Fire and Cross the Britains proceeded against them rather as Malefactours than Enemies the Women as well Matrons as Virgins they stripped stark naked hung them up and cutting off their Breasts sowed them to their mouths that in the Agony of death they might seem to devour their own flesh the Britains all the while feasting and making merry in the Temple of Andate their Goddess of Victory Suetonius by this time had got together about 10000 Men well appointed made up of the fourteenth Legion the chief of the Twentieth and some of the Auxiliary Forces from the neighbour Garrisons With these he resolves no longer to delay but to give speedy Battle to the Britains this he signified to his Chief Commanders and withal gives them the Reasons enforcing him to so sudden an Engagement Provisions were grown short the Souldiers eager to revenge the sad Calamities of their Friends and Allies that were fresh in their memories and although but a few in comparison of their Enemies yet were they steady and resolved On the other hand the Britains although swarming in numbers wanting Order and Discipline were grown heady rash and inconsiderate and puffed up with their late success were over confident and forward measuring falsly the reasons of their Victories by their Numbers rather than Courage That now therefore was the time whilest they were glutted in Blood in the midst of their Guilt and vain Confidence and under the Conduct of a Woman to set upon them and in one manful Attempt to regain what in several parcels they had lost This Counsel was followed by all but Poenius Posthumus an Ancient Souldier and now Camp-Master It seemed to him to have more in it of heat than true consideration and proceeding from a rash Bravery rather than Roman Conduct He knew Suetonius to be of a haughty and proud Courage and feared that to vindicate his Honour and Reputation he would hazard and endanger all and be carried beyond the bounds of a sober and just Resolution He advised him therefore not to think as yet of regaining his losses but saving his stake to fortifie and encamp warily and to expect new supplies he shewed that this was alwaies the method of the Roman discipline and that it was never more necessary than in this conjuncture of Affairs that the Britains newly flusht with Victories were grown resolute and undaunted and the Roman Souldiers with their Losses fearful and dead-hearted that it was convenient to give them time to recover their spirits that their Enemies no doubt by delay would grow cooler and their great Numbers would scatter and disperse And it was concluded that it was absolutely necessary to wait for a more hopeful opportunity of Revenge Suetonius notwithstanding persisting in his resolution and although Posthumus utterly refused to joyn with him and contrary to his positive Command withdrew his Legions and encamped yet with the rest of his Forces he went out to seek the Enemy and chose a convenient place to embattle his Army It was an open Plain with a narrow passage into it so that he could not be overwinged by the Enemy on his back was a Wood whose passages being blockt up with huge Trees laid across secured him in the Rear so that the Enemy could not attack him but on the Front the wings of his Army lay to the open Country where he was certain no Ambush could be laid His Legionaries made up the body of his Army and stood thick and well compacted they were lined on all sides with light armed Souldiers and the Horse was placed in the Wings The Britains were drawn up before the mouth of the narrow passage that led into the Plain in such multitudes and nevertheless were extended all abroad in Troops and Companies and with Exaltations and Noises as if they were going to a Triumph rather than a Battle nay so confident were they of Victory that they brought their Wives and Children to be Spectators of that daies work who sat in Charriots upon the skirts of the Plain to behold the sport and to glut their eyes as they made sure account of the slaughter of the Romans Eoadicia her self carrying her Daughters in a Charriot before her as she came to every Nation declared That it was usual for the Britains in times past to make War under the Conduct of a Woman but for her part she desired them not for the present to look upon her Dignities but their Common liberty that though she was their Queen and might justly call upon them to revenge the loss of her Crown and Estate yet she could wave those smaller Considerations and lay before them as matter of just Resentment those horrid Indignities she had received the Violence to her Person and the Rapes of her Daughters She told them That the Insolence of the Romans and their Lust was grown to that height that neither the reverence of Age or the innocency of Virginity could preserve them from dishonour The Gods would be present and assist them in their just Revenge and that one Legion which adventured to fight was cut off the rest that remained either hid themselves in the Camp or were thinking already of an escape That they would not be able to endure the Shouts of so many thousand much less their force and impression and if they with her considered their advantage of Numbers and their Cause they should strive to overcome or die This she a Woman was fixt upon the Men if they pleased might live and be Slaves Dio Cassius places her upon a heap of Turfs with a Spear in her hand and an Hare in her bosom which after a long Oration having before hand said something to introduce it she let loose as a signification of good Omen to her Army Neither was Suetonius in so great an extremity silent and although he relied much upon the Courage of his Souldiers yet he thought it not unnecessary in a business wherein would be decided the whole Controversie of Britain to descend even to Prayers and Entreaties He desired them therefore to despise the vain and empty Noises of the Enemy and to consider that in their Camp were more Women to be seen than Men that weak and unarmed they would soon yield when they came to Contest with Roman Valour which had often overcome them That in great Armies and where there are many Legions the stress of the Battle alwaies lay upon a few and that it
would be to their greater Honour if with a small Power they should win the fame of a whole Army withal he ordered them that they should keep close and first with their heavy Darts gall the Britains afterwards press upon them with their Swords and Pikes in their Shields and follow the slaughter in a Body well wedged together That they should not scatter and disperse for Plunder but that after the Victory every thing would be their own The Souldiers received these Exhortations of their General with such alacrity that the Legionaries began already to try their Arms and sit themselves for the engagement and they shewed such great handiness in it having been experienced thereto in many Battles that Suetonius perceiving their Joy and Readiness was even certain of the event and so gave the signal for the Onset And first of all the Legion which for some time had kept its ground and been defended by the narrowness of the place as a sure Fortification at last watching its opportunity when the Britains had spent their Darts at random and were advancing to a nearer engagement they prest in upon them in a close Body after the nature of a Wedge and so worked themselves into the Enemies Battle that they soon broke and dispersed it And now the same resolution was found in the Auxiliary Forces and the Horse with their long Spears flung down all that came near them and brake in pieces some Parties who stood yet united Now the Britains began to betake themselves to flight but were hindred by the multitude of their own Charriots which had blockt up the passage for their Retreat so that they yielded their necks to the slaughter which was so great that it is reported fourscore thousand died upon that small spot of ground Neither did the Romans in their Rage spare any for even the Women and Cattle served to make up the heap of dead Carkasses And all this was performed on the Roman side with the loss only of four hundred and as many more wounded Boadicia after the fatal Defeat of so great an Army which is reckoned no less than two hundred and thirty thousand ended her daies with Poyson or as others say sickned out of Grief and died To war this QVEEN doth with her Daughters moue She for her Wisdom followed They for Loue What Roman force Such joined powers could quell Before so murdering Charmes whole Legions fell Thrice happy Princess had she rescued So Her Daughters honour and her Countrys too But they being ravish't made her vnderstand T is harder Beauty to secure then Land Yet her Example teaching them to dye Virtue the roome of Honour did Supply SHE is described by the Greek Historian of stature bigg and tall of a Grim and sternvisage but withal modest and chearful a rough and hoarse voice her Hair of a bright Yellow hanging in Tresses to her very skirts about her Neck she had a Chain of Gold and was apparelled in a loose Garment of changable Colours wearing a Kirtle there under very thick plated in her hand she carried a Spear she was highly devoted to ANDATE the Goddess of Victory and seemed much to triumph in her self for in her address to that Female Deity she used these expressions I being a Woman adore thee O ANDATE a Woman The same Historian likewise delivers the manner of the Fight otherwise and that the Victory was not obtained with so little difficulty but that the Britains would have renewed the Battle had not the death of their Queen discouraged them but I rather follow the report of Tacitus who wrote next to these times and who may be supposed to have truer intelligence in that some Circumstances of her life relating to the British Affairs engaged him to more particular Enquiries after them The death of Boadicia was attended on the Roman side with that of Paenius Posthumus Camp-Master of the second Legion who having expected to have heard of the ruine of Suetonius and the defeat of his two Legions being informed on the contrary of their great success fell upon his Sword and so by a Roman death in some measure attoned for the breach of Roman discipline in not obeying his general Pardon and by this means he escaped the punishment that might have followed and delivered himself from the Clamours of his Legion whom by his cautious Counsels he had defrauded of part of his glory Thus was the Island by one Battle restored again to the Romans which by the absence of Suetonius in the Isle of Anglesey had been well nigh lost but neither yet could the Britains think of totally submitting but many of them who were principally involved in the guilt of this Revolt and who feared the vindicative nature of the Roman General which begun already to appear stood out in a posture of defence Suetonius to make an end of this War kept the Field and by removing his Tents as he saw occasion continually awed the Britains And now Nero sent unto him new Supplies out of Germany two thousand Legionary Souldiers and Auxiliary Cohorts and one thousand Horse by whose coming they of the ninth Legion had their Companies made up and compleated with heavy Armed Souldiers The Cohorts and other Troops were lodged in new Winter Quarters and those Nations who continued in open Hostility or in doubtful Allegiance were prosecuted with Fire and Sword But nothing so much afflicted the Britains as Famine having generally neglected the tilling of the Ground and employed all hands in carrying on the War hoping by the Defeat of the Romans to have served themselves of their Provisions Nevertheless many Warlike Nations could not be brought to any Compliance but were encouraged to stand out for that they had heard of great Clashings between Suetonius and the new Procurator Julius Classicianus who was sent to succeed Catus in that employment This Classicianus had entertained some grudges against the General and preferred his private Resentments before the Publick good He gave out That a New Governour was to be expected who should be void of Rancour and not hurried on with the pride and insolence of a Conquerour one that should with more Clemency and less Partiality consult the condition of the Conquered And it is certain that Suetonius though other waies a Worthy person carried himself too Imperiously over the Britains and revenging the Injuries which he thought done to himself by their Revolt oftentimes went beyond the bounds of Justice or Moderation He writ Letters also to Rome in which he signified That no end of the War was to be expected unless Suetonius was removed and ascribed all the Losses received to his ill Conduct and his good success not his well management but the Fortune of the Common-wealth To compose these Differences between the Lieutenant and Procurator and to view the State of Britain Nero sent Polycletus his Free-man hoping by his Authority not only to put an end to the Dissension but to compose
Instruments of their deeper Slavery so that what Kings of Britain for the future we shall find under the Emperours they were either Tributaries to the Romans if they lived in the Southern parts such as Lucius and Coelius or else they resided beyond Glota and Bodotria those Northern Regions the absolute Conquest whereof Agricola had not time to accomplish In the daies of this Domitian lived at Rome Claudia Rufina the Daughter of a Britain and Wife of Pudence a Senatour famous in the Verses of Martial for her Beauty Wit and Learning Claudia coeruleis cum sit Rufina Britannis Edita cur Latiae Pectora Plebis habet Quale decus formae Romanam credere matres Italides possunt Atthides esse suam Though Claudia does descend of British Race Yet her Behaviour 's full of Roman Grace Her Beauty does the Italian Dames surpass And for her wit she may for Attick pass But more famous was she for her profession in Christianity in the writings of St. Paul being the very same Woman as John Bale and Matthew Parker first Protestant Arch-bishop of Canterbury have written of whom he maketh mention in his later Epistle to Timothy neither is the computation of Time repugnant although others are of a different Opinion And now we come to the death of Domitian there being nothing more upon Record memorable in his Reign that relates to our British Affairs He was slain in a Conspiracy wherein his Wife was partaker the chief in the Action was Stephen a Procurator and Steward to Domicilla the Empress who feigning himself Lame of one Arm and carrying it in a Scarf secretly withal bore a Dagger therein and approaching to the Emperour under pretence of delivering him a Scrowl of the Names of divers Conspirators struck him with a Poniard into the Belly Domitian although sorely wounded yet was not wanting to himself upon so sudden an occasion for strugling with this Assassinate he had certainly wrested the Dagger from him had not the rest of the Confederates broke in and with seven Wounds put an end to his life It was upon the eighteenth day of September the name of which Month he had changed into that of Germanicus a Title vainly assumed to himself in the fifteenth year of his Reign and of his life 45 in the year of Grace 98. The chief Vertues of this Prince for his Vices were innumerable were that he favoured Learning and was the Patron of greatest Bounty and easiest Access of any in his time He was desirous of a lasting Name but took the wrong way in attaining it for being pleased with the Flatteries of some Writers who would make him an excellent Prince he neglected to be so and alwaies sought after the shadow of Vertue rather than the substance of it But these Parasites who were kept warm by his Bounty whilest living basely deserted him at his death and followed his Memory with all the Scorns and Reproaches of the succeeding Age. None thought of his Apotheosis or Deification after his Departure insomuch that it may be counted a Prophetick Spirit in him as well as Pride That in his life time he commanded himself to be called God and Lord. NERVA COGGEIUS NERVA succeeded Domitian he was chosen by the Senate with the assistance of Petronius Secundus Captain of the Praetorian Bands and Parthenius High-Chamberlain one of the Murtherers of Domitian His Birth was Noble and of Italy in the City Narnia of the Province of Umbria He was a prudent and Aged Prince but the shortness of his Reign which was only one year four months and odd daies hath given little matter for Writers to speak of British Affairs Mr. Hollinshead maketh Cneius Trebellius Lieutenant of Britain in his daies and the daies of Trajan and that under his Government during both Emperours there were troublesome times in this Island which last Circumstance may be certainly gathered out of good History in the time of Trajan his Successour and may perhaps be true under Nerva seeing that in his life time he accepted Trajan and made him Partner with him in the Empire and so his Reign alone was but of small continuance so that the little Remembrances of this Island in these Times shall be reserved to the next Emperour TRAJAN ULPIUS TRAJANUS was a Spaniard born of a Noble Family in the Province of Biscay he extended the Roman Empire beyond the bounds of all his Predecessors He subdued Dacia Armenia Parthia Mesopotamia and passing Tigris he carried his Arms to the remotest Indies making them feel the Roman Force who before had never heard of their Name And as he gained in the East so lost he nothing in the Western Provinces for although the Britains Revolted yet were they soon again reduced to Obedience by him as is evident out of Spartianus The time of their Revolting may be supposed to have begun after the removal of Agricola by Domitian as is gathered out of Tacitus and through the Idleness of that Prince and the short Reign of Nerva it might be neglected till the dates of this Emperour And no wonder if the Britains watched all opportunity of freeing themselves from the Roman yoke and the insufferable Grievances which accrued and besides the constant Tribute and Imposts through the Insolence of Garrisons the Exactions of Officers they were constrained to receive Publicans that is to say greedy Cormorants and Horse-leeches who sucked their very Blood confiscated their Goods and exacted Toll not only for the Living but in the name of the Dead The Ancient Laws of their Country began to grow out of use and instead thereof the Civil Law of Rome and the arbitrary Sentence of Judges was introduced Magistrates were sent from that City with absolute Power and Commission even in Capital matters and besides Praetors Propraetors and Presidents every City and State had their Municipal Lord over them At the solemn Sessions and Assizes the Praetor sitting alost upon an high Tribunal proudly executed his Jurisdiction shewing Terrible amidst his Guards and Lictors where Rods and Axes upon slight occasions were often presented to the backs and necks of the Common People Through the often changing of Governours there ensued great Confusion one destroying what another had established and the Successour often of course abolishing the Acts and Constitutions of his Predecessour Neither was this sufficient they kept on foot continually Discords and Dissensions favouring some above the rest that they might make them Instruments of their own Slavery As many of these Abuses had been sormerly rectified under the last Lieutenant Agricola so again were they redressed by this Worthy Emperour whose care in other matters is left upon Record namely his carrying of Roads and broad-Causies through the whole Island begun by Agricola a work of prodigious greatness and infinite Charge what with the drayning of Fens and Marishes through which they were continued and what with casting up of Banks through the low Vallies besides they were paved with Stone and
at least Recorded though some of them through their short continuance in Power had no time to exercise it so far off And this is all I intend to do for I mean not to write of their Actions in Rome Syria or Africa or to make a History of the World save only what I shall speak of their Original and Antiquity when I intend only one of Britain Nothing shall be Recorded but what hath some relation to our Island and where no Circumstances tend to it it shall be sufficient the Emperour is named and the time of his Reign Secondly Another Motive which swayeth me to proceed in the aforesaid method is the weight of Presidents that have written after this manner and yet it is not absolutely necessary I should name them Nay the British Histories themselves have all along hitherto made the presence of a King in Britain and his being born here a necessary qualification to his being King Now we must take up with Kings in Right and admit of Heliogabulus Gordianus Maximine c. who never saw this Island to be their natural or rightful Inheritance And what can be said more for these Emperours which cannot be alleadged for all the rest for allowing Martia to have created a Title to Severus and his Sons must Heliogabulus the Bastard of Caracalla be hookt in upon the same score and must Alexander Severus be created another of his Bastards or else have no Right to the Kingdom most excellent But by what Right is his Murtherer Maximine admitted King Because saith Basingstoke BELIN a British God undertook the Revenge Was ever Title so plainly demonstrated Then follows Gordian who is lawful King of Britain because he was Father of Claudius from whom proceeded Constantine who had Right by his Wife Helena so that we see the Grandson gives Title to the Grand-father a Tenure able to puzzle the ablest Lawyers we have now in England If this were sufficient to make a lawful King of Eritain we need not fear even in their sence to hook-in the most obstinate and perversest Emperour imaginable so that the maintainers of that History have no reason to find fault with the Method designed And as for those who are only for the Romans I hope they will not account it impertinent and besides the purpose to give a short account if it were no more of the Emperours of Rome Macrinus Reigned one year one month and twenty eight daies Anton. Heliogabulus HE is supposed the Bastard Son of Bassianus by his Concubine Simiamira his Name HELIOGABULUS he took from being a Priest to that God in Phoenicia for Heliogabulus in the Phoenician Tongue signifies the Sun or Jupiter as Lampridius witnesseth But it seemeth rather to have been the Sun for from Clioun in the Phoenician Tongue signifying Lord or God the Greeks had their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the Sun which sheweth that the Sun in a peculiar manner was the God of the Phoenicians When he came to Rome he introduced that barbarous Custome in the honour of this God of sacrificing of Infants and Children looking into their Intrails to foretel future Events a Custome for which the Britains in former time were so much accused and which I mention to shew That the Phoenician Worship by such horrid Sacrifices was yet continued in the World and in all probability might be the Original of the same Custome in Britain brought hither when the Phoenicians were most conversant in the Island as I have shewn in the Antiquities of this Nation He was the most vicious Prince of all that either went before him or came after him and in his daies were acted over the Vices of the whole Empire for many Ages By Herodians Computation he Reigned six years and died in the twentieth year of his Age. Aurelius Victor saith he Ruled but three years and was slain at seventeen years of Age. Eusebius whom I follow assigneth him four years which agreeth with Onuphrius who maketh him to live but eighteen years And by all it is agreed that he came to the Empire at fourteen and for the Honour of our Nation is allowed King of this Island by our British Histories Alexander Severus ALEXANDER was the Son of Varius and Mammea Sister to Simiamira others make him the Son of Bassianus and that the two Sisters Simiamira and Mammea waiting on their Aunt Julia the Empress had the misfortune to be both gotten with Child by him But whether he were the Brother and Cousin German of Heliogabulus certain it is he had no Alliance with him in his Vicious inclinations being a Learned Warlike and Fortunate Prince We find that the Senate met together in the Temple of Concord and used many of those Acclamations to him and the Gods which I have taken notice of in the Life of Commodus and are too tedious here to be repeated It is thought that he made an Expedition into Britain and Lampridius saies he was slain in a Town called Sicila but whether it were in Britain or Gaul he leaves us uncertain Howbeit thus much we find in the same Author of his Actions in this Island When he had given unto the Captains and Souldiers of the Marches those Grounds and Lands which were won from the Enemies so that they should be their Propriety if their Heirs served as Souldiers and that they should not revert to any private Men supposing they would go to the Wars more willingly and take the better care if they could to defend their own peculiar Possessions Note these words well saith Mr. Cambden from hence may be deduced either a kind of Feudum or Fee or the beginning of Fewds Before his death a Druid Woman cried out to him in the Gaulish Tongue Go on but hope not for Victory and trust not thy Souldiers He was slain by some of his own Army at the instigation of Maximine who succeeded him and the cause of his death was That the Souldiers grown loose under Heliogabulus could not endure the severity of Discipline He Reigned according to Lampridius thirteen years and nine daies Aged twenty nine years three months and seven daies in the year of our Lord 236. Basing stoke endeavoureth to prove Sicila was a Town in Britain so called from the British Prince Sicilius who built it but his Arguments are not worth reputing This Alexander Severus is also numbred among the British Kings Julius Maximinus MAXIMINE a Man of mean Birth but of prodigious strength and greatness proved an unweildy insolent and untractable Tyrant insomuch that Old Gordianus and his Son were set up by the Senate against him their Reigns were but short for Capelianus Governour of Numidia and Mauritania more out of private hatred to Gordian than kindness to Maximine gave them Eattle the success whereof was That young Gordian being slain his Father out of grief hanged himself This Gordian had been Quaestor of Rome and amongst many of his Magnificent Shews
their Deities the Religion and Worship of the Saxons their Runick or Magical Writings their Habits Customes Laws and Constitutions upon the time of their entrance into Britain with some Remarks all along shewing the exact Coherence of the Saxon with the Getick Nation in many weighty points and material circumstances the relation whereof I hope will not be unprofitable or unpleasant to the Reader WODEN WHAT strange and monstrous Opinions the Saxons conceived of WODEN may be gathered out of most of their Authors who seldom mention his Name without some excessive Encomium of his Person or miraculous relation of his Magical performances whether it were that in those Ages the pretending to supernatural assistances was indispensably necessary to the Conducting of People from their own Countries and establishing them in New ones or whether Woden was no more than an ordinary Leader and his Actions made miraculous after his death certain it is none of all the Saxon Nation ever attained to so great Reputation being worshipped in all places and by all Sexes and saluted with the highest title of Divinity Den almegiste aas and hin almatke aas that is the Omnipotent Asian and the Asian maker of all things By what degrees he arrived to this Honour I will relate as it falls to my hand out of the Saxon Authors themselves Snorro Sturlaeson writes thus of him WODEN was a happy and glorious Warriour in all his Battles he alwaies came off Conquerour and every one believed that by a particular favour of the Gods Victory was inseparably entayled upon his Person and from thence derived to his Followers For this was his constant custome when ever he sent out any to War or intrusted them with matters of moment to lay his hand on their Head after the manner of Consecration which Ceremony performed they thought themselves sufficiently blest and beyond the reach of any misfortune whatsoever In Dangers they invoked his Name as a ready help in times of necessity placing in him their whole trust and confidence In the same Author this story is told of him Being once at War with the Scythians called Uaner it happened that both Parties tired out agreed to give each other Hostages The Scythians sent Niord Sirnamed the Rich and his Son Froi Woden on the other side sent Heimer a good Commander and Mimer a wise Counseller Heimer obtained the Kingdom of the Scythians but did nothing without the Advice of Mimer but Mimer dying the Scythians perceived by change of Affairs that all had been managed by his Wisdom insomuch that wanting some prudent Counseller they sent to Woden to redemand one Quasir whom with the other Hostages they had sent and to give him something in lieu of Quasir they cut off Mimers Head and sent it to Woden who no doubt knew how to use it who embalming it by Magick Incantation made it vocal so that it would reveal all hidden and secret Mysteries Besides this he had a way to call up the Ghosts of deceased Persons and at his pleasure shut them up in Hills and Rocks whence he was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dronga Drotten and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 honga Drotten Lord of the Hobgoblins Upon his death he commanded that all his Limbs and Members should be marked with nine Scars which were called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Geirs Dode and that they should sacrifice to him such as were taken in War as a most pleasant offering and attonement to him After his death he appeared to many especially in Battle wherein he promised Victory Others he invited to Ualhalden that is the Palace of Hell according to this the Goths sacrificed to him not only the Vulgar sort of People but Princes and Kings nay some of their lesser Gods while living as will afterwards appear And they believed that after death they were to go into Wodens Hall and there drink Ale with him and his Companions in the Skulls of their Enemies To this end they imagined a certain Goddess called DYSER employed by Woden to convey the Souls of the Valiant into his drunken Paradice And methinks I see the Danish King LOTH BROCK in his Fur-Leather Breeches for so his name importeth in as good Verses as Ale could inspire hugging himself with the hopes of Full-pots in the World to come 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We have stood true to Snick and Snee And now I laugh to think In Wodens Hall there Benches be Where we may sit and drink There we shall Tope our bellies-full Of Nappy-Ale in full-brim'd Skull And as if he were impatient till he arrived at this Immortal drinking where like a Good-fellow he doubts not but to bear up for the first place hear what breathings and pantings he hath after it and how his bowels yearn to be at it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Methinks I long to end I hear the Dyser call Which Woden here doth send To bring me to his Hall With Asians there in highest Seat I merrily will quaff Past-hours I care not to repeat But when I die I 'le laugh Having given you a taste of their Heaven and the Joys thereof you shall next hear what their Hell was we are like to find little good eating or drinking there a very uncomfortable place to the Saxons Thus it is They supposed a Goddess Hel which name we yet retain to signifie the place of Punishment who by Woden received Dominion over the Infernal Regions To her were conveyed the Souls of such as were not designed for the Blessings of the other Paradise What they were and what miserable attendance they had assigned them by this Inhospitable Goddess according to their Edda is as follows Hel tastade hann i Niflheim og ollum Sottdaudum Monum med og Elledaudum hun a thar mykia Bolstad og eru Garder hennar forhonar haffer og grindur storar Eliud ver heitur salut hennar hungur diskur Sultur kniffur Ganglate heiter hennar Chreell gunglott Awbatt Fallande forrad Chrokulout kor Seeng Blikande bol Arsale hennar hun er bia halff enn halff med horunds lit thui er hun andken Helldur gnupleit og grimleit He that is WODEN sent Hell into Nifleheim and gave her power over nine Worlds that she should distribute places among them who were sent unto her namely those that died of Diseases or Old age There she hath many high Towns and great strong Cullices her Palace is called Eliud her Dishes Hunger her Knife Sultur Want Her Serving-man Ganglate that is Slow-back her Waiting-woman Gaugiot that is Lazy her Threshold Falland forrad that is Steep destruction her Bed Ror that is Pining-sickness her Blankets Blicand bol that is shining Curse Hell her self on one side is Blew on the other the colour of a Mans-skin all over she looks fierce and dismal so that she may easily be known This was the place assigned for all who died not in Battle but staid till Sickness and Old age carried them away And we
For in Spiritual things that they may be wisely and maturely managed we may draw an example from carnal things When Marriages are to be celebrated in the World married people are invited that they which are gone in the path of Matrimony before may be partakers in the joys of the subsequent wedding Why therefore in this Spiritual Ordination by which man through the holy Mystery is joyned unto God ought not such to meet who may either rejoyce at the advancement of the Bishop that is to be Ordained or pour out their prayers equally to Almighty God for his protection The ninth Interrogation of Augustine How ought we to behave our selves towards the Bishops of Gaul and Britain Gregory's Answer We allow you no Authority over the Bishops of Gaul because in the ancient times of my Predecessors the Bishop of Arles received the Pall of which Authority we ought in no wise to deprive him If therefore it should so fall out that your Brotherhood should make a journey into the Provinces of Gaul you ought to treat with the same Bishop of Arles how if there be any misdemeanors among the Bishops they may be corrected who if he be cold in inflicting Discipline he is to be stirred up with the zeal of your Brotherhood to whom also we have wrote Letters that when your Holiness should come into Gaul he would assist you with all his heart and quell those things that are contrary to the Commandment of our Creatour in the life and manners of Bishops But you cannot judge any of the Bishops of Gaul by your own Authority but by perswasions and fair speednes and by proposing good works to their imitation you may reduce the minds of the wicked to the study of Holiness for it 's written in the Law When thou commest into the standing Corn of thy neighbour thou shalt not put a sickle unto it but thou maist pluck the Ears with thy hand and eat Deut. 23. 25. For you cannot put the sickle of Authority into that Corn which seems committed to the charge of another but by the effects of good works you may take from the Corn of the Lord the chaff of its Vices and you may by admonishing and perswading as it were by eating convert to the body of the Church But whatsoever is to be done by Authority you must consult about it the aforesaid Bishop of Arles left that be omitted which the Ancient wisdom of our Fathers invented But all the Bishops of Britain we commit to your Brotherhood that the ignorant may be taught the weak by perswasions strengthned and the perverse corrected by Authority The tenth Interrogation of Augustine If a Woman with child may be Baptized or after she hath brought forth after how long time may she enter into the Church or lest what she has brought forth be prevented by death after how many daies may it lawfully receive the Sacrament of holy Baptism or after how long time may her Husband be joyned with her in Carnal copulation or whether if she be troubled with her terms it be lawful for her to come to Church or to receive the Sacrament of the holy Communion or whether a man that has lain with his wife may enter into the Church before he is washed with water or whether he may come to the ministery of the holy Communion In all which things the rude Nation of the English ought to be satisfied Gregory's Answer I doubt not but your Brotherhood by this time is satisfied in what I have just now given Answer but I suppose you urge whatever you can say or think that you may be confirmed by my Answer Why should not a Woman with child be baptized since the fruitfulness of the flesh is no offence to Almighty God For when our First Parents had sinned in Paradise they forfeited the Immortality they had received by the just judgment of God because therefore Almighty God would not utterly extinguish in them all Mankind for their fault he deprived man of Immortality for their offence and yet out of the goodness of his grace he left him the fruitfulness of his Issue What therefore is reserved for Human Nature by the gift of Almighty God by what reason can it be prohibited the favour of holy Baptism For in that mystery in which all our sins are utterly swallowed up 't is very foolish to think that the gift of Grace should any waies seem to contradict it When a Woman shall have brought forth after how many daies may she enter the Church is manifest from a Precept of the Old Testament which runs thus If a Woman have conceived seed and born a child she shall continue in the blood of her purifying three and thirty daies she shall touch no hallowed thing nor come into the Sanctuary until the daies of her purifying be fulfilled but if she bear a Maid-child she shall continue in the blood of her purifying three score and six daies which ought to be understood and taken mystically For if in the same hour she brought forth she should enter into the Church to give Thanks she cannot be charged with any offence for the pleasure of the flesh not the pain is in fault For in the joyning of the flesh is pleasure but in the delivery of Children pain whence that was said to the first Mother of us all that had transgressed the Commandment of God I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception in sorrow shalt thou bring forth Children if therefore we forbid a Woman that has brought forth to enter into the Church we esteem her punishment her fault It is by no means forbidden to baptize a Woman newly delivered or the Infant newly born if there be danger of death no not in the very instant of the delivery or the first birth of the Child because as the grace of the holy Mystery is to be provided for the living with great discretion so it ought to be offered without any delay to those that are at the point of death lest that whilst we take too much time for the offering the mystery of Redemption through a little delay we are not able to find him that should be redeemed The husband ought not to go in to his wife until such time as the child which is brought forth is weaned And it is a bad custome that has prevailed in the manners of married people that women neglect to nurse their own children and deliver them to other women to be nursed which thing seems to have been invented merely on the score of incontinence because whilst they will not contain themselves they despise to suckle those they bring forth These therefore that out of a wicked custom deliver their children to others to be nursed ought not to lie with their husbands before the time of their purgation be over Moreover when Women that have not brought forth suffer their Monthly Terms they ought to be prohibited the use of their husbands so that the holy
Law punishes with death if any man lye with a menstruous Woman which Woman nevertheless whilst she suffers her monthly Terms ought not to be forbidden entrance into the Church because the superfluity of Nature ought not to be accounted a fault in her and for what she unwillingly suffers it is not just to debar her coming into the Church For we know that the Woman which was troubled with a flux of Blood coming humbly behind our Lord touched the hem of his Garment and presently her infirmity departed from her If therefore she having a Flux of blood upon her might praise-worthy touch the garment of our Lord why should it not be lawful for her that suffers her menstruous Terms to enter into the Church of God But you may say that infirmity compelled her so also those whom we speak of are compelled by their Terms Consider therefore my dear Brother because whatever we suffer in this frail flesh out of the infirmity of nature was by the judgment of God appointed after the fall For to be an hungry to thirst to be hot to be cold to be a weary is from the infirmity of nature and what is it otherwise to provide food against hunger drink against thirst air against heat rayment against cold rest against weariness than to find out some Medicine against our Diseases Women therefore and their menstruous issues are Diseases if therefore she did well that in her grief touched the garment of our Lord which was granted to one infirm person why should it not be granted to all Women which are rendered infirm by the corruption of Nature Therefore the receiving of the Mystery of the holy Communion at these times ought not to be prohibited but if out of a reverent fear she shall not presume to receive she is to be commended But if she shall receive not to be censured for 't is the sign of a good mind even there after a manner to acknowledg a fault where there is none because we many times do things in themselves without a fault which proceeded from a fault We are an hungry without fault by eating proceeds from a fault It proceeds from the first Man that we are an hungry for the Menstruous terms are faults in women because they come naturally but nevertheless because nature it self is so corrupted that it may seem to be polluted without the bent of the evil From offence came corruption by which human Nature may know what through the judgment of God 't is come to and the man which of his own accord committed the fault bore the guilt of it unwillingly And therefore women when they consider their condition if they shall not presume during their Menstruous terms to come to the Sacrament of the Lord's body and blood they are to be praised for this their honest consideration But if out of a custome of a Religious life by receiving they are transported with the love of the same mystery they are not as we said before to be restrained from it For as in the Old Testament the outward works were to be observed so in the New Testament not that so much as is done outwardly as that which is inwardly thought on is carefully to be lookt after that it may be kept under by strict examination For when the Law forbids many things to be eaten as unclean in the Gospel the Lord saies Not that that enters into the mouth defiles a man but those things that come out of the mouth defile him Matt. 15. 17. And a little after he adds by the way of exposition from the heart proceed all evil thoughts where 't is largely shewn that that appears polluted to Almighty God indeed which proceeds from the root of corrupt Cogitation Whence Paul also the Apostle saies To the pure all things are pure but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure And a little after shewing the cause of this defiling he adds but even their mind and conscience is defiled If therefore his meat is not unclean to him whose mind is not unclean why should that which a Woman endued with a pure heart suffers from nature be accounted in her uncleanness And a man sleeping with his own wife unless he is washed with water ought not to enter into the Church neither presently after his washing may he enter for the Law commanded the ancient People that a man that had lain with a woman ought to be washed with water and not to enter into the Church before Sun-set which nevertheless may be understood in a spiritual sense because unless the fire of Concupiscence be before allayed in the mind he ought not to look upon himself as worthy the Congregation of his Brethren who seems loaded with the wickedness of a depraved will Although many Nations think diversly of this thing and seem to retain different customes yet this was alwaies the use of the Romans from the eldest times that after a man had lain with his wife he was to endeavour his cleansing by the Laver and to abstain somewhat reverently from entring into the Church Neither by saying these things do we make Marriage a fault but because the very lawful copulation it self cannot be done without the pleasure of the flesh we ought to abstain from coming into an Holy place because the pleasure it self can no wales be free from fault for he was not born in adultery or fornication but in lawful wedlock that said Behold I was shapen in iniquity and in fiu did my mother conceive me For he that knew himself to be conceived in iniquity bewailed himself that he was born of sin for the tree bears the same vicious humour in its branches which it drew from the root In which words he does not call the copulation of married people Iniquity but the pleasure that results from that admixtion For there are many things that are lawful and right by which in their acts we are defiled as oftentimes we angrily prosecute enormities and disturb the peace of our minds within us when indeed what we did was right but no wales approvable for that our mind was thereby disturbed for 't was against the wickedness of Male-factor she was angry that said Mine tye is troubled for very Anger because nothing but a calm mind is able to continue in the brightness of Contemplation he was sorry that his eye was troubled through anger for whilst he persecuted wicked actions below he was confounded and forced from the contemplation of the highest things Therefore Anger is commendable against Vice yet troublesome because he that is disturbed by it thinks himself in some sort guilty Therefore the lawful copulation of the flesh ought to be for Issues sake not for pleasure and joyning of the flesh ought to be for the procreation of Children not for the satisfaction of our vices If therefore any man makes use of his wife not hurried there unto by the transport of pleasure but only for procreation sake he