the time you went from me my life hath been so odious to me that I long for nothing so much as death and since it is the Queen's pleasure I am most willing to undergo it 7. Rubrius Flavius being condemned to death by Nero and brought to the Block when the Executioner spake to him that he would boldly stretch forth his neck Yes said he and I wish thou wouldst as boldly strike off my head 8. Ludovicus Cortesius a rich Lawyer of Padua commanded by his last Will and a great Mulct if otherwise upon his Heir that no Funeral should be kept for him no man should lament but as at a Wedding Musick and Minstrels to be provided and instead of black Mourners he took order that twelve Virgins clad in Green should carry him to the Church His Will and Testament was accordingly performed and he buried in the Church of St. Sophia 9. Cardinal Brundusinus caused this Epitaph in Rome to be inscribed upon his Tomb both to shew his willingness to die and to tax those that were loath to depart Excessi è vitae aerumnis facilisque lubénsque Ne pejora ipsâ morte dehinc videam With ease and freedom I resign'd this breath Lest I should longer see what 's worse than death 10. The words of dying Plotinus saith Caelius are worthy to be writ in Letters of Gold or if there be any other thing that is more precious than it in as much as they prescribe each of us what to do in the like case He lay as I said a dying when Eustochius went to Puteoli to visit him Hitherto said Plotinus I expected thee and even now I am labouring to return that which is divine in us unto that Divinity that informs and enlivens the whole Vniverse And having said these words he gave up the Ghost The End of the Third Book of the Wonders of the Little World THE FOURTH BOOK CHAP. I. Of Atheists and such as have made no account of Religion with their Sacrilegious actions and the punishments thereof THat was a worthy Law which was made by Numa Pompilius amongst the Romans viz. That men should not serve the gods in transitu as they passed by nor when they were in haste or were about any other business but that they should worship and pray to them when they had time and leisure and had set all other business apart He thought that the gods could never be attended upon with reverence and devotion enough whereas many of those that follow were so much of the contrary mind that they would abstain from no kind of affronts and abuses both in word and deed towards them whom they esteemed as their Deities most of these have been made as exemplary in their punishments as they had been presumptuous in their impieties 1. A young Florentine Anno 1527. esteemed a man very brave and valiant in arms was to fight with another young man who because he was melancholy and spake little was called Forchebene they went together with a great company to the place appointed which was without the Port of St. Gal whither being come a friend to the former went to him and said God give you the Victory the proud young man adding blasphemy to his temerity answered How shall he chuse but give it me They came to use their weapons and after many blows given and taken both by the one and the other Forchebene being become as the Minister and Instrument of God gave him a thrust in the mouth with such force that having fastned his tongue to the poll of his neck where the sword went through above the length of a span he made him fall down dead the sword remaining in his mouth to the end that the tongue which had so grievously offended might even in this world endure punishment for so horrible a sin 2. When Cambyses King of Persia had conquered Egypt seeing the Ox that is consecrated to Apis he smote him into the Hip so that he died The more wicked in this that what he did to that Idol Beast he did as he supposed to the true God in contempt of all Religion But not long after the counterfeit Smerdis rebelling against him and having seised the greatest part of Persia as Cambyses was mounting his Horse with a purpose to march against him his sword fell out of the scabbard the same sword with which he had before slain the Ox by this he received a wound in his Hip in the same place wherein he had given one to the Ox and of this wound in a short time he died 3. Vrracha the Queen of Arragon made War with her son Alphonsus and when she wanted money she determined to rifle the Shrine of St. Isidore at Leons in Spain such as went with her feared to touch those Treasures she therefore with her own hands seised upon many things but as she was going forth of the Temple she fell down dead So dangerous it is to adventure upon that which our selves are perswaded is Sacriledge though it should not be so in it self 4. Dionysius the Tyrant of Syracuse having rifled the Temple of Proserpina in Locris and sailing thence with a prosperous wind See said he smiling to his friends what a good Voyage the gods grant to them that are sacrilegious From Iupiter Olympius he pull'd off a garment of Gold of great weight which King Hiero of Syracuse had dedicated out of the spoiles of the Carthaginians and instead thereof caused a woollen one to be put upon him saying That a garment of Gold was too heavy in Summer and too cold in Winter but a woollen one was convenient for both seasons He caused the golden Beard of Esculapius at Epidaurus to be taken off saying It was not fit that he should have a Beard when his father Apollo was beardless He took out of the Temples also the tables of Gold and Silver and thereon being wrote according to the custom of Greece That these were the Goods of the gods he said he would make use of their goodness Also the golden Goblets and Crowns which the Statues held out in their hands he took from thence saying He did but receive what was given and that it was great folly to refuse what was proffered from their hands to whom we pray that we may receive 5. Heliogabalus would needs be married to one of the Vestal Virgins he caused the perpetual fire which was ever preserved burning in honour of Vesta to be put out and as one that intended to wage war with the gods he violated indifferently all the Rites and Ceremonies of Religion in Rome by which impiety he so provoked gods and men against him that he was assaulted and slain by his own Souldiers 6. Alphonsus the tenth King of Spain would usually blame Providence and say That had he been present with Almighty God in the Creation of the World many things should have been better ordered and disposed than
being once all together one of them stole from his Fellows and finding this Staff at the Door accused his Sister to his Father of adultery whereof by discovery of the truth she was cleared 9. Bassianus Caracalla the Emperour after he had slain the Son of Iulia his Mother-in-law did also take her to his Wife upon this occasion Iulia was a most beautiful woman and she one day as if through negligence or accident having discovered a great part of her body naked to the eyes of her Son Bassianus sighing said thereupon I would if I might Iulia replyed If you please you may know you not that you are Emperour and that it is your part to give and not to receive Laws Hearing this he publickly marryed her and kept her as his Wife Not long after being slain by the hand of Martialis Macrinus having burnt his body sent the reliques thereof in an Vrn to Iulia his Wife and Mother then at Antioch in Syria who casting her self upon the Urn slew her self and this was the end of this incestuous copulation 10. Artaxerxes Mnemon King of Persia fell in love with his own Daughter a beautiful Virgin called Atossa which his own Mother Parysatis perceiving perswaded him to marry her and so to take her for his Wife and though the Persian Laws forbad such incestuous Marriages yet by the counsel of his wicked Mother and his own lust he had her for his Wife after which time he never prospered in any thing he took in hand 11. Lucretia the Daughter of Pope Alexander the sixth not only lay with the Pope her Father but also with her Bother the Duke of Candy which Duke was also slain by Caesar Borgia for being his Rival in his Sisters Bed Of this Lucretia is this Epitaph extant Hic jacet in tumulo Lucretia nomine sed re Thais Alexandri Filia Sponsa Nurus Here Lucrece lies a Thais in her life Pope Sixtus Daughter Daughter-in-law and Wife 12. When we came to the Court of the King of Queda we found that with a great deal of Pomp excellent Musick Dancing and largess to the poor he was solemnizing the Funerals of his Father whom he himself had stabbed on purpose to marry his own Mother after he had already gotten her with Child As a remedy in these evils he made proclamation that on pain of a most rigorous death no person whatsoever should be so daring as to speak a word of that which had passed and it was told us how for that cause he had already put to death divers principal personages of his Kingdom and a number of Merchants CHAP. LII Of such as have been warned of their approaching death who yet were not able to avoid it WHen Alexander the Great then in India had been told by an Oracle that he should dye by Poyson at Babylon and that within the compass of the next eight months he was importunate to know further who was the person that should give him that Poyson But he had no other answer than this That the Fates cannot be deceived So it seems for when the appointed time is come 't is easie to observe how some push on themselves by a wilful and presumptuous foolhardiness and to others their very caution and circumspection hath proved as fatal to them as any other thing 1. Advâ—rtisements were come from all parts both within and without the Realm from Spain Rome Lorrain and Savoy to give notice to Henry of Lorrain Duke of Guise in the reign of Henry the third of France that a bloody catastrophe would dissolve that assembly he had then occasioned of the Estates The Almanacks had well observed it it was generally bruited in the Estates that the execution should be on St. Thomas day the very Eve before the Dukes death the Duke himself sitting down to Dinner found a scrole under his Napkin advertising him of a secret ambush of the King and his but he writ underneath with his own hand They dare not and threw it under the Tabâ—e seeing therefore that no warning would abate his confidence nor awake his security his murder was performed on this manner Upon December 23. 1588. the King assembles his Council having before prepared seven of his Gentlemen that were near his person to execute his will The Duke of Guise came and attending the beginning of the Council sends for an Handkerchief Pericart his Secretary not daring to commit this new advertisement to any mans report tyes a note to one of the corners thereof saying Come forth and save your self else you are but a dead man But Larchant the Captain of the Kings Guard staid the Page that carried it and caused another to be given to him by St. Prix the chief Groom of the Kings Chamber The spirit of man doth often prophesie the mischief that doth pursue him the Duke in the Council feels strange alterations and extraordinary distemperatures and amidst his distrust a great fainting of his heart St. Prix presents unto him some Prunes of Brignolles and Raysins of the Sun he eats and thereupon the King calls him into his Cabinet by Revol one of the Secretaries of State as it were to confer with him about some secret of importance the Duke leaves the Council to pass into the Cabinet and as he lift up the Tapestry with one hand to enter they charge him with Swords Daggers and Partisanes and so he was slain 2. Certain it is that some good while before the Duke of Buckinghams death by the Knife of Felton Sir Clement Throckmorton a Gentleman then living advised him to wear a privy Coat whâ—se Council the Duke received very kindly but gave him this answer That against any popular fury a Shirt of Male would be but a silly defence and as for any single mans assault he took hiâ—self to be in no danger so dark is destiny 3. The night before King William the second was killed a certain Monk dreamed that he saw the King gnaw the Image of Christ cruciâ—ied with his teeth and that as he was about to bite away the legs of the same Image Christ with his feet spurned him down to the ground and that as he lay on the earth there came out of his mouth a flame of fire with abundance of smoak this being related to the King by Robert Fitz Mammon he made a jest of it saying This Monk would sain have something for his dream go give him an hundred Shillings but bid him look that he dream more auspicious dreams hereafter Also the same night the King himself dreamed that the veins of his arms were broken and that the blood issued out in great abundance and many other like passages there were by which it seems he had Friends somewhere as well as Iulius Caesar that did all they could to give him warning but that as Caesars to his malus Genius would not suffer him to take it for King William notwithstanding forewarned by many signs
his Brother who had recommended the care of his Daughter unto him and had also shewed him where he had hid a great quantity of Gold under ground wherewith he should defray his Funeral Expences While he was speaking in this manner to the admiration of all that were present there came a messenger with the news of his Brother's death and the Gold was also found in the very place as he had said 2. Plutarch in his Book de anima writes of one Enarchus who being accounted and left for dead by the Physicians not long after return'd to life affirming that those spirits who had withdrawn him from this life were severely reproved by their Chief for that through their mistake they had brought him instead of Nicauda the Tanner who the same day and hour being sick of a Fever died in his Bed Besides this as a testimony of his return to life he told Plutarch who was then sick that he should speedily recover of that disease as indeed he did 3. A like case with the former is set down by Gregorius thus There was saith he one Reparatus a Roman who being stiff and cold was given over by his Relations as one who undoubtedly dead when soon after he return'd to life and sent to the Shrine of S. Laurence in Rome such as should enquire concerning Tiburtius the Priest there if any thing had newly befallen him In the mean time while the messenger was gone he told them that were with him that he had seen that Tiburtius tormented in Hell with terrible flames The messenger he had sent return'd with this news that Tiburtius was that very hour departed this life and soon after Reparatus himself died 4. Stephanus a Roman a person of great virtue and very wealthy went to Canstantinople about the dispatch of some Affairs he had there where he died And for as much as the day was far spent and inclining towards Evening so that preparations for his Funeral could not be conveniently made in that short time he was therfore laid out and kept in the house till the morrow at which time he arose from the dead and said that he was brought before a certain Judge where he heard them loudly reprehended and rated by whom he was thither brought for that the Judge had given them order not to bring him but one Stephanus a Blacksmith who was one of his Neighbours they sent therefore to that Blacksmith and it was found that he died in that very hour And this saith Gregorius I have heard related by the mouth of Stephanus himself 4. Near unto this is that which S. Augustine saith was seen by himself in the person of one Curina this man liv'd in a Village near unto Hippo in Africa where S. Augustine was Bishop â—alling into a grievous sickness he was reputed by almost all persons as dead having lost all his senses and receiving no kind of nourishment when he had lain some days in this posture that which detain'd his Friends from the burial of him was that some of them thought some little breath was yet in his Nostrils but when these also were now of the mind that he was departed on the sudden he opened his eyes and bade them send speedily to Curina a Smith and his Neighbour to see how he did and when word was brought back that he was newly dead he told them that he was brought before a Judge who sharply rebuked the spirits that had brought him instead of the other Curina that thereupon he was restored to life that in this extasie he had seen Paradise and many other things he related amongst others that hâ— was admonished to be baptized by S. Augustine at Hippo being therefore restored to his health he did as he was advised 6. While Narses was in Italy there was a great Plague in Rome whereof in the house of Valerianus the Advocate a young man fell sick he was his Shepherd and a Liburnian by Nation and when he was supposed to be dead he straight returned to himself and calling his Master to him told him that he had really been in Heaven and had there understood how many and who they were that should die out of his House in that great plague and having named them told his Master that he should survive his servants To confirm the truth of what he said he added that he had learned all kind of Tongues and in the same hour discoursed with his Master in Greek he also made trial with others that were skilled in other languages whereas before he only understood the Latine When he had lived thus two days he grew into a Frenzy and striving to bite his own hands he died as many as as by name he had said should die followed him soon after but his Master remain'd free from infection according as he had predicted 7. Everardus Ambula a German Knight fell sick in Germany in the time of Pope Innocent the Third and when he had lain for some time as one dead returning to himself he said that his Soul was carried by evil spirits into the City of Ierusalem thence into the Camp of Saladine who then reigned in Aegypt from thence it was conveyed to Lombardy where in a certain Wood he had spoken with a German Friend of his lastly he was brought to the City of Rome the site the form of places and Buildings of which together with the features of divers Princes there he most exactly described as they were whereas this is matter of admiration yet that encreases the wonder that he with whom he said he did converse in the Wood affirmed that he had there at the same time and hour discoursed with this Everardus according as he had declared 8. Acilius Aviola was concluded dead both by his Domesticks and Physicians accordingly he was laid out upon the ground for some time and then carried forth to his Funeral Fire but as soon as the flames began to seise his body he cryed out that he was alive imploring the assistance of his Schoolmaster who was the only person that had tarried by him but it was too late for encompassed with flames he was dead before he could be succored 9. Lucius Lamias had been Praetor and being departed this life he was carried after the Roman manner to be burnt being surrounded with flames he cryed out that he lived but in vain for he could not be withdrawn from his Fate 10. Plato tells of Erus Armenius how he was slain in Battel amongst many other when they came to take up the dead bodies upon the tenth day after they found that though all the other carcases were putrid this of his was entire and uncorrupted they therefore carryed it home that it might have the just and due Funeral Rites performed to it two days they kept it at home in that state and on the twelfth day he was carryed out to the Funeral Pile and being ready to be laid upon
the Snow lay thick upon the ground and finding some footsteps he pursued them till he overtook the Priest whom he seis'd and found his purse upon him he ty'd him therefore to the tail of his Horse and so drag'd him to the Magistrate to be punished his sentence was to be thrown into a Caldron of boyling Oyl which was accordingly executed on Ianuary 20. 1656. 16. A Soldier in the Army of King Pyrrhus being slain a Dog which he had could by no means be enticed from the dead body but the King passing by he fawn'd upon him as it were craving help at his hands whereupon the King caused all his Army to march by in order and when the Murderers came the Dog slew fiercely upon them and then fawn'd upon the King those Souldiers being hereupon examined confessed the fact and were hang'd 17. A Locksmith young and given to luxury kill'd both his Parents with Pistols out of a desire to enjoy their Money and Estate having committed this horrible murder he went presently to a Cobler and there bought him a pair of Shooes leaving behind his old and torn one which the Cobler's Boy threw under his seat which he sate upon Some hours after the door of the house where the slain were was commanded by the Magistrate to be open'd where were â—ound the dead bodies which the son so lively lamented that no man had the least suspicion of him to be the author of so great a villany But it fell out by accident that the Cobler had observed some spots of blood upon the Shooes left with him and it was noted that the son had more Money about him than he us'd to have the Magistrates mov'd with these things put the man into prison who soon confessed the fact and received the punishment worthy of his crime This was by the relation of Luther at Regimont in Borussia Anno 1450. 18. In Mets a City of Lorain the Executioner of the City in the night and absence of the Master got privily into the Cellar of a Merchants House where he first slew the Maid who was sent by her Mistress to fetch some Wine in the same manner he slew the Mistress who wondring at her Maids stay came to see what was the reason This done he fell to rifling Chests and Cabinets The Merchant upon his return finding the horrible murder and plunder of his House with a soul full of trouble and grief complains to the Senate and when there were divers discourses about the murder the Executioner had also put himself in the Court with the crowd and murmur'd out such words as these That seeing there had been frequent brawls betwixt the Merchant and his Wife there was no doubt but he was the author of that Tragedy in his House and said he were he in my hands I would soon extort as much from him By these and the like words it came to pass that the Merchant was cast into prison and being in a most cruel manner tortured by this Executioner though innocent confessed himself the murderer and so was condemned to a horrible death which he suffer'd accordingly Now was the Executioner secure and seemed to be freed of all danger when the wakeful Justice of God discovered his villany For he wanting Money had pawn'd a Silver Bowl to a Jew who finding upon it the Coat of Arms of the Merchant newly executed sent it to the Magistrate and with notice that the Merchants Coat was upon it Whereupon the Executioner was immediately cast into Prison and examined by torture how he came by that Cup he there confessed all as it had been done by him and that he was the only murderer Thus the innocency of the Merchant was discover'd and the Executioner had the due punishment of his wickedness 19. Ibycus the Poet was set upon by Thieves in hope of prey and seeing their Knives at his Throat he call'd to some Cranes which he saw then flying over his head that they would revenge his death These Murderers afterwards sitting in the Market-place a Flock of Cranes again flew over them upon which saith one of them Behold the revengers of Ibycus This saying was catch'd up by some present they were suspected of his murder examined by torture confessed the fact and were executed 20. Certain Gentlemen in Denmark being on an Evening together in a Stove fell out amongst themselves and from words fell to blows the Candles being put out in this blind fray one of them was stab'd by a Poynard Now the Deed-doer was unknown by reason of the number although the Gentleman accused a Pursevant of the Kings for it who was one of them in the Stove Christernus the Second then King to find out the Homicide caus'd them all to come together in the Stove and standing round about the dead Corps he commanded that they should one after another lay their right hand on the slain Gentlemans naked brest swearing they had not kill'd him The Gentlemen did so and no sign appeared to witness against them the Pursevant only remain'd who condemned before in his own conscience went first of all and kissed the dead mans â—eet but as soon as he laid his hand on his brest the blood gushed forth in great abundance both out of his Wound and Nostrils so that urg'd by this evident accusation he confessed the murder and by the Kings own sentence was immediately beheaded Hereupon arose that practice which is now ordinary in many places of finding out unknown murders which by the admirable Power of God are for the most part reveal'd either by the bleeding of the Corps or the opening of its Eye or some other extraordinary sign as daily experience teaches 21. Sir Walter Smyth of Shirford in Warwickshire being grown an aged man at the death of his Wife consider'd of a Marriage â—or Richard his Son and Heir then at mans estate to that end made his mind known to Mr. Thomas Chetwin of Ingestre in Staffordshire who entertaining the motion in the behalf of Dorothy his Daughter was contented to give 500 l. with her But no sooner had the old Knight seen the young Lady but he became a Suiter for himself proâ—ering 500 l. for her besides as good a Joynture as she should have by his Son had the match gone forward this so wrought upon Chetwin that he effectually perswaded his Daughter and the Marriage ensued accordingly It was not long e'er her affections wandring she gave entertainment to one William Robinson of Drayton Basset a Gentleman of twenty two years of age And being impatient of all that might hinder her full enjoyment of him she contriv'd how to be rid of her Husband Having corrupted her waiting Gentlewoman and a Groom of the Stable she resolv'd by their help and the assistance of Robinson to strangle him in his bed and though Robinson came not the designed night she no whit stagger'd in her resolutions for watching her Husband till he was
Republick with great prudence and justice he had also encreased their Dominion in a small time by the addition of Brixia Bergomum Crema and Ravenna When he was now arrived to the eighty fourth year of his age and the thirty fourth of his Dukedom they accused his decrepit age as a mighty impediment to the right administration of their Affairs and thereupon compelled him to depart from his Ducal Dignity and give way to another This open and unreasonable injury struck the old man with so vehement a grief that he died thereof in a day or two CHAP. XIV Of Desire and what have been the Wishes of some Men for themselves or upon their Enemies WE read of the Athenians that they set up a Pillar wherein they published him to be an Enemy of their City who should bring Gold out of Media as an instrument to corrupt them If once we see better things we are wont not only to desire them but to be discontented with what we had before of our own However the greatest of men have a wish or two to make as appears by what follows 1. Solyman Emperour of the Turks is said to have wished three things for himself That he might live to see the Mosque or Temple finished which he had begun in a glorious and most sumptuous manner That he might finish the Repairs of the ancient Aquaeducts that thereby Constantinople might have a plentiful and easie supply of water And that he might get the City of Vienna into his power The two former he lived to see but not himself the Master of Vienna which he used to call by no other name than his Infamy and Reproach 2. The Emperour Hadrian being angry with the Aegyptians wrote thus in a Letter of his I wish nothing more to befal them than that â—hey may feed upon their own Pullets which how they hatch is a shame to speak Alluding to their way of hatching Chickens in Gran Cairo by putrefied Dung in a Furnace S. Augustine used to wish that he might have seen three things which were Rome in its Glory the Apostle Paul in the Pulpit and Christ Jesus in the Flesh. 4. Eudoxus wished to know the nature of the Sun upon that condition that he should afterwards be burnt to death in the body of it 5. Philoxenus whether he was a Glutton as some say or a Musician as others is said to have wished his Neck as long as that of a Crane that so he might swallow his meat with the more delight or send out his Notes with greater variety and more pleasing sound although 't is a question whether if he had had his wish it would have helped him in either 6. The Spartans wished to their Enemies that they might be seised with an humour of building keep a Race of Horses and that their Wives might be false to their Beds 7. The Cretans when they wished the worst might befal their worst Enemies that they could possibly wish to them used to wish them this that they might be delighted with some evil custom 8. When King Iames came first to the publick Library at Oxford seeing the little Chains wherewith the Books were fastened to their places wished that if ever it should be his destiny to be made a prisoner that Library might be his prison those Books his Fellow-Prisoners and those Chains his Fetters 9. Cashan is a lovely City in Persia extremely hot when the Sun is in Cancer but Scorpio rages there in no less violence not that in the Zodiack but real stinging Scorpions which in great numbers engender here It is a little Serpent a finger long but of great terrour in the sting inflaming such as they prick with their inflamed Arrow so highly that some die none avoid madness a whole day and from hence grows that much used Persian Wish or Curse to them they are incensed against May a Scorpion of Cashan sting thee 10. Alexander the Great when he had got into the Ocean with his Navy he came to an Island which he called Scillustis others Psiltusis where having landed he viewed as he could the Sea-Coasts and considered the nature of that Sea which done he sacrificed to the Gods and prayed That no mortal man after him might ever pass further that way than he himself had done and so returned back 11. Pyrrhus the King of Epirus who next aâ—ter Alexander the Great was the most skilled in all military Affairs when he went to the Temples of the Gods to offer Sacrifices it was observed of him that he never importun'd the Gods about a more spacious Empire or a signal Victory over hâ—s Enemies no nor about any encrease of his Glory Riches or any such thing whereof most mortal men are so excessively desirous but all he asked of the Gods was that they would grant him good health as if in the enjoyment of this all other things would succeed the better And indeed though Fortune should pour out all her Bounties into our Bosoms yet if health be absent nothing of all these can much please or delight us 12. Lanfrancus Archbishop of Canterbury a man of great Learning and in high favour with William the Conquerour as Ranulphus writeth of him often wished to conclude his life either by a Fever or Dysentery because in these sicknesses the use of a man's tongue often continues to the last breath Having enjoyed his Prelacy nineteen years he died in the third year of King Rufus and of a Fever as as he desired 13. Critias who was one of the thirty Tyrants in Athens is said by himself to have wished for himself Divitias Scopadum prolixè facta Cimonis Spartani palmas fortis Agesilai The Wealth of Scopas Heart as Cimon's free And Great Agesilaus victory 14. C. Caligula was one that was desirous of nothing so much as doing that which was thought impossible to be done and therefore laid the foundations of Palaces on Piles where the Sea was most raging and deep he hewed Rocks of most hard Flint and Ragstones Plains he raised even with Mountains and by digging down the tops of Hills he levelled them to an equality with the Plains All these with incredible celerity as punishing the neglect or sloth of his Workmen with no less than death 15. Augustus Caesar as oft as he heard of any person that had departed this life quietly and without those painful pangs that are usual towards death his manner was to pray unto the Gods and desire of them that he and his might have the like Euthanasia that was the word he used by which he meant an easie passage or quiet death and indeed he had that for which he had so often wished For upon the day wherein he died enquiring often if there was yet any stir or tumult abroad as touching him he called for a Glass and commanded the hair of his head to be combed and his jaws
to be composed and set right which did hang and were ready to fall for weakness Then having admitted his Friends to come to him he asked them whether they thought he had acted well in this enterlude of life and withal added this as a Plaudite Now clap your hands and all with joy shout out After this he dismissed them all and whiles he questioned with some that were new come from the City concerning the Daughter of Drusus then sick suddenly amongst the kisses of Livia and in these words he gave up the Ghost Live mindful of our wedlock Livia and so farewel 16. Albertus Magnus five years before his death desired of God that he might forget all that he had learned in the studies of humanity and prophane Authors that he might give up himself entirely to devotion and the practice of piety The Lord Cordes a French Commander so sore longed to gain Calice from the English that he would commonly wish that he might lie seven years in Hell so that Calis were in the possession of the French 18. Aelfred King of the West Saxons being naturally inclined â—o incontinency desired that God would send him such a Disease as might repress and hinder his lust but not unsit him for the managing the Affairs of his Kingdom and he accordingly had the Disease called the Ficus the Hemorrhoids or Piles 19. When Darius was informed that Sardis was set on â—ire by the Ionians and Athenians he contemned the Ionians because he thought he might easily be revenged of their Rebellion but he called â—or a Bow and shot up an Arrow towards Heaven and in so doing O Jupiter said he grant it may come to pass that I may be avenged of the Atheninians And so mortal a hatred did he conceive against them that whensoever he sate down to eat he had one of those that ministred unto him who was ordered to say My Lord remember the Athenians 20. When Augustus Caesar was fifty four years of age he is said to have prayed to the Gods that he might have the valour of Scipio the favour of Pompey and the fortune of Caius Caesar Which said he is the overcomer in all great matters CHAP. XII Of Hope how great some have entertained and how some have been disappointed in theirs THe Poet Hesiod tells us that the miseries and calamities of mankind were included in a great Tun that Pandora took off the Lid of it sent them abroad and they spread themselves in great quantities over all Lands and Seas but that at this time Hope only did remain behind and slew not all abroad But underneaâ—h the upmost Brim and Ledge it still abode And this is that which is our principal Antidote which keeps our hearts from bursting under the pressure of evils and that slattering mirrour that gives us a prospect of I know not what greater good 1. When Alexander was resolved upon his Expedition into Persia he parted his Patrimony in Macedonia amongst his Friends to one he gave a Field to another a Village to a third a Town and to a â—ourth a Port and when on this manner he had distributed his Revenues and consigned them over to several persons by Patent What is it O King said Perdiceas that you have reserved for your self My Hopes replyed Alexander Of those hopes then said he we who are your followers will also be partakâ—rs And thereupon refused that which the King had before assured unâ—o him and his example therein was followed by divers there present 2. A certain Rhodian for his over freedom in speech was cast by a Tyrant into a Cage and there kept up as a wild Beast to his great pain and shame at once for his Hands were cut off his Nostrils slit and his Face deformed by several wounds upon it In this his extremity he was advised by some of his Friends to shorten his life by a voluntary abstinence from all food But he rejected their counsel with great indignation and told them while a man is alive all things are to be hoped for by him 3 Aristippus a Socratick Philosopher by shipwrack was cast upon the Rhodian Shore having lost all that he had walking alone upon the Shore he found certain Geometrical Figures that were traced upon the Sands upon sight of which he returned to his company and required them with a cheerful countenance to hope the best For said he even here I have met with the footsteps of men C. Marius was a man of obscure Parentage and Birth and having merited commendation in military affairs he purposed by that way to advance himself in the State and Republick And first he sought for the place of the Aedileship but he soon perceived that his hope in that matter was altogeger frustrate He therefore petitioned sor the minor Aedileship upon the same day but though he was refused in that also yet he laid not his hope aside but was so far from despairing that he gave out that for all this he hoped to appear one day the chief and principal person in all that great City The same person being driven out of the City by Sylla proscribed and his head set to sale for a great sum of money when he being now in his sixth Consulship was compelled to wander up and down from place to place in great hazards and almost continual perils he at this time chieâ—ly supported himself with the hope he had in a kind of Oracle he had received that told him he should be Consul the seventh time Nor did this hope of his prove in vain for by a strange turn of fortune in his Affairs he was again received into the City and elected Consul therein 5. C. Iulius Caesar the Dictator after the Civil Wars were ended had great things in his design and which he hoped to accomplish he intended to make war with the Parthians and hoped to overcome this done his purpose was through Hircania by the Caspian Sea and Mount Caucasus and by the way of Pontus to invade the Scythians then having conquered all the Nations about Germany and Germany it self to return through France into Italy and so to leave the Roman Empire on all sides surrounded with the Sea In the mean time while preparation was made for this Expidition he endeavoured to dig through the Corinthian Isthmus After this he had determined to receive the Rivers Anien and Tiber in vast Ditches and turning them towards Circeium to bring them near Tarracina into the Sea that there might be thence a secure and ready passage for Merchants to the City Besides this he hoped to drain the Fens and Marish Grounds in Nomentana and thereabouts and make them firm lands and pasture capable of receiving many thousands of Husbandmen and withal to make Havens in the Sea nearest to the City by framing Moles to cleanse the foul and hazardous Shores of Ostia and to make Ports and Block-Houses and places of receipt
Litter and being so met upon the way by a Herdsman of Venusina the poor man ignorant who it was that was so carried asked by way of jest if they carried a dead man The Legate was so offended herewith that causing the Litter to be set down he made his servants with the Thongs wherewith his Litter was fastened to beat the fellow in such manner that he died under their hands 11. Vladislaus the Second King of Poland and Peter Dunius Earl of Shrine having been late a hunting were inforced to lodge in a poor Cottage When they went to Bed Vladislaus told the Earl in jest that his Lady lay softer with the Abbot of Shrine than they were this night likely to lie The Earl not able to contain replyed Et tua cum Dabesso And so does your Queen with Dabessus a a gallant young man in the Court whom Christina the Queen loved Tetigit id dictum Principis animum These words struck so deep into the very heart of the King that for many months after he was extreme pensive and thoughtful but they were the Earl's utter undoing for when Christina heard of it she persecuted him to death 12. Cassius Cherea was the Tribune of the Pretorian Cohort under Caius Caligula and he being now far stepped into years Caius was wont to flout and frump in most opprobrious terms scoffing at him as if he was a wanton and effemiâ—ate person so that when he came to him for the Watch Word he would one while give him Priapus and at another Venus If at any time he came to him to give him thanks he would offer him his hand to kiss framed and fashioned in an obscene manner These and other indignities were the occasion that Cassius was the Foreman in that conspiracy against him which brought him his death and was the man who gave him the first blow upon the Neck with his Sword which was followed by Sabinus and others till they had made an end of him with thirty wounds 13. The Citizens of Alexandria when the Emperour Bassiâ—nus Caracalla came amongst them taunted both him and his Mother-in-law Iulia with divers stouting and reproachful words amongst others they called him Oedipus and his Mother they said was Iocasta bitterly alluding to the incestuous marriage he had made The Emperour was extremely exasperated herewith so that pretending he would raise a Legion of Soldiers from amongst the Youth and Citizens of their City he set upon a mighty number of them and his Soldiers slew the unarmed Citizens with so great a cruelty that the River Nilus was discoloured with the blood of them 14. Iulian the Apostate took away the Revenues from the Churches that so neither the Teachers nor the taught might be provided for adding also this bitter and sarcastical scoff that hereby he had better fitted the Christians for the Kingdom of Heaven since the Galilean their Master so he called Christ had taught them That blâ—ssed are the poor for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven But the Justiâ—e of God soon repayd him for not long after wounded by an unknown hand he threw up his blood towards Heaven saying Vicisti Galileae O Galilean thou hast overcome me CHAP. XVII Of the Envious Nature and Disposition of some men PLutarch compares envious persons to cupping Glasses which ever draw the worst humours of the body to them they are like unto Flies which resort only to the raw and corrupt parts of the body or if they light on a sound part never leave blowing upon it till they have disposed it to putrefaction When Momus could find no fault with the face in the picture of Venus he picked a quarrel with her Slippers and so these malevolent persons when they cannot blame the substance will yet represent the circumstances of mens best actions with prejudice This black shadow is still observed to wait upon those that have been the most illustrious for virtue or remarkable for some kind of perfection and to excel in either has been made a crime unpardonable 1. Cambyses King of Persia seeing his Brother Smerdis draw a stronger Bow than any of the Soldiers in his Army was able to do was so enflamed with Envy against him that he caused him to be slain 2. In the Reign of Tiberius Caesar there was a Portico at Rome that bowed outwards on one side very much a certain Architect undertook to set it right and straight he underprop'd it every way on the upper part and bound it about with thick cloaths and the skins and sleeces of Sheep and then with the help of many Engines and a multitude of hands he restored it to its former uprightness contrary to the opinion of all men Tiberius admired the fact and envied the man so that though he gave him money he caused his name to be unremembred in the Annals and afterwards banished him the City This famous Artificer afterwards presented himself in the presence of Tiberius with a Glass he had privily about him and while he implored the pardon of Tiberius he threw the Glass against the Ground which bruised and crushed together but not broke he straight put again into its first form hoping by this act to have gain'd his good favour and Grace But Tiberius his Envy with this also encreased so that he caused him forthwith to be slain adding that if this art of Malleable Glass should be practised it would make Gold and Silver but cheap and inconsiderable things nor would he suffer his name to be put into the Records 3. Maximianus the Tyrant through envy of the honours conferred on Constantine and attributed to him by the people he contributed all that a desperate envy could invent and a great virtue surmount He â—irst made him a General of an Army which he sent against the Sarmatians a people extremely furious supposing he there should lose his life The young Prince went thither return'd victorious leading along with him the Barbarian King in Chains It is added that this direful Prince excited by a most ardent frenzy in his return from this Battel engaged him in a perilous Encounter with a Lion which he purposely had caused to be let loose upon him But Constantine victorious over Lions as well as men slew this fell Beast with his own hand and impressed an incomparable opinion in the minds of his Soldiers which easily gave him passage to the Throne by the same degrees which were prepared for his ruine 4. Alexander the Great both envied and hated Perdiccas because he was warlike Lysimachus because he was skillful in the arts of a General Seleucus because he was of great courage he was offended with the liberality of Antigonus the Imperial Dignity and Authority of Attalus and the prosperous felicity and good fortune of Ptolemaeus 5. Alexander the Great being recovered of a wound he had received made a great feast for his Friends amongst which was Coragus a Macedonian a man of
in a schedule that by the instigation of Satan mov'd with false suspicions he had murdered his innocent Wife and having tied this Note to his Left Arm he threw himself headlong from the top of his House into the Street by which â—all he died 8. Ionuses a great Bassa of the Turks upon an overthrow of the Christians beheld amongst other Captives then taken the Lady Manto a most beautiful Greek as much surpassing all other the companions of her misfortune in loveliness as the Sun doth the lesser Stars Ionuses with this one view was himself taken prisoner and finding her outward perfections no less graced with inward virtues and her honourable mind answerable to her rare â—eatures he took her to his Wife honouring her far above all the rest of his Wives and Concubines and she again in all dutiful Loyalty seeking to please him for a space she lived in all worldly felicity and bliss not much inferiour to one of the great Sultanesses But not long after the Bassa more amorous of her person than secured in her virtues and aster the manner of sensual men still fearing lest that which so much pleased himself gave no less contentment to others also began to have her in distrust although he saw no great cause more than his own conceit not grounded upon any her evil demeanour but upon the excess of his own liking which mad humour of it self still more and more encreasing in him he became so froward and imperious that nothing she could say or do could now so please to content him but he still thought some one or other to be partakers with him Thus he tormented himself and her with his own passionate distrust until at length the fair Lady grieved to see her self thus without cause suspected and wearied with the insolent pride of her peevish Husband determined secretly to depart from him and so return again into her own Country Her purpose she discovered to one of her Eunuchs to whom she had also delivered certain Letters to be by him conveyed unto such of her Friends whose help she was to use in her intended slight These Letters the false Eunuch opened and so for the more clear manifestration of the matter delivered them unto the Bassa his Master who therewith enraged and calling her unto him forthwith in his fury with a Dagger stabbed her to the heart and slew her and so together with the death of his love cured himself of so tormenting a jealousie 9. Leontius an Athenian Philosopher had a Daughter called Athenais of admirable beauty and a singular wit the Father with a secret presage of her good fortune had left his whole estate and at his death only bequeathed to her an hundred Crowns saying that her fortune would be sufficient for her Upon this occasion she falls out with them and was thereupon by them forced to Constantinople Then it was that she insinuated her self and commended her cause to Pulcheria the Emperour's Sister whom she so much pleased that hearing she was a Virgin she caused her to be baptized nam'd her Eudoxia and married her to her Brother Theodosius the Emperour with whom she could do all things This was her ascent now hear her fall Upon the day of Epiphany as the Emperour return'd from Church with great pomp and magnificence a certain Countryman a Stranger brake through the press accosteth Theodosius who was of most easie access and presented him with an Apple of an extraordinary size esteem'd at that time a rare fruit the Emperour receiveth it gratefully and commanded to give the good man presently to the value of an hundred and fifty Crowns As soon as he was return'd to the Palace he goes to visit the Empress and full of joy gave her the fair present for a great rarity The good Empress having understood that Paulinus a great Favourite of Theodosius kept his Bed sick of the Gout to please and comfort him had sent him the Apple not mentioning from whom she had received it Paulinus was seised with so great a joy at such a favour from a person so eminent that the contentment he received charm'd at that time the pain of his Gout He so admired this goodly fruit that he judged it worthy of Imperial Hands and forthwith he sent it to the Emperour excusing himself through his indisposition that he was not himself the messenger Theodosius knew the Apple which he had very lately put into the Empress's hands whereupon a furious jealousie began to lay hold on his gentle spirit he instantly sends for Eudoxia and to sound her heart demanded what was become of the â—air Apple he had given her The poor Princess was overtaken something appeared on the brow of her Husband whereby she perceived thaâ— his â—air Soul was not in its ordinary situation she therefore declin'd entreaty and thinking to underprop her innocenâ—y with a lie said she had eaten the Apple The Emperour urged her upon this answer she who already was involv'd tumbled her self further into the snare and that she might not seem a Liar sware by the life and health of her Husband she had eaten it He to convince her of this impudence drew the fatal Fruit out of his Cabinet The Empress at the sight of it turn'd pale and was so confounded she had not courage eâ—ough to speak one only word Theodosius retireth in an instant with his heart drenched in Gall and Bitterness the poor Eudoxia on the other side poureth her self into tears without comfort The Prince Paulinus who knew nothing of that which passed was that night put to death without any form of process When the Empress understood of his sudden and unexpected death she then well saw that the Emperour was tainted with the venom of most cruel jealousie Eudoxia was remov'd from councel and manage of affairs deprived of the Imperial Bed and so went a voyage to Palestine to satisfie her Devotion 10. Theodebert King of France married Deutera she was a Widow before and had by her former Husband a most beautiful Daughter which she took along with her It was not long ere the Queen suspected that her Daughter had stollen the heart of her Husband from her and although there was no such thing yet so strong was her jealousie that her maternal affection gave place to it and without admitting of any leisure wherein a discovery of the truth might be made she caused the young Lady to be slain 11. Hippocrates the Physician had a smack of this disease for when he was to go from home as far as Abdera and some other remote Cities of Greece he wrote to his Friend Dionysius to oversee his Wife in his absence although she lived in his House with her Father and Mother who he knew would have a care of her yet that would not satisfie his jâ—alousie he would have his especial Friend Dionysius to dwell in his House with her all the time of his peregrination and to observe her
provoked him he restrain'd and kept in his Soldiers till such time as the Gods being consulted by Sacriâ—ice had given encouragement to begin the Fight This was somewhat long in the performance so that in the mean time the Enemy interpreting this delay as an instance of fear began to pres hard upon him so that many of the Greeks fell yet would he not suffer in this extremity a single Javelin to be thrown against them but multiplying the Sacrifices he at last lift up his hands to Heaven and prayed That if the Fates had determined that the Grecians should not overcome yet at least it might please the Gods that they might not die unrevenged nor without performing some famous and memorable exploit upon their Enemies He was heard and straâ—ght the Fowels of the Sacrifice promised him success he marched out and obtained the Victory but what a Soul was that how fixed and earnest in the holy Rites of his Country that chuse rather to be butâ—hered and slain than to draw a Sword while the Gods seemed unwilling 17. The Aegyptians worshipped Dogs the Indian Rat the Cat Hawk Wolf and Crocodâ—le as their Gods and observe them with that kind of Religion and Veneration that if any man whatsoever knowingly or otherwise killed any of these it was death to him without mercy as a Roman Citizen found to his cost in the time of Diodorus Siculus who writes and vouches himself as a spectator and witness of what follows At such time saith he as Ptolemeus whom the Romans afterwards restored to his Kingdom was fiâ—st of all stiled the Associate and Friend of the Senate and people of Rome there was a publick rejoycing and a mighty concourse of people Here it fell out that in a great crowd amongst the rest were Romans and with them a Soldier who by chance and not willingly had killed a Cat straight there was a cry a sudden fury and tumult arose to pacifie which not the ignorance of the miserable wretch not any reverence of the Roman Name not the command of the King himself who had sent the chiefest of his Noble to appease it none of all these booted the poor man but that forthwith he was pulled in pieces by a thousand hands so that nothing of him was left either to bury or to burn 18. Vespasianus the Emperour returning out of the East when he found the City of Rome exceedingly disfigured by Civil Wars he began the restoration of it with the repairs of the sacred Buildings and the Temple of Iupiter Capitolinus wherein he betook himself to the work He carried timber upon his own Back he wrought in the Foundations with his own hands not conceiving that he any way injured the Majesty of an Emperour by putting his hand to a work that concern'd the worship of the Gods The Christians were about to build a Chappel in Rome wherein to perform service to Almighty God but they were complained of and the ground challenged by certain â—nholders in that City The matter was brought before the Emperour Alexander Severus who thus determin'd The things said he that concern the Gods are to be preferred before the concerns of man and therefore let it be fâ—ee â—or the Christians to build their Chappel to their God who though he be unknown to us at Rome ought nevertheless to have honour done unto him if but for this respect alone that he beareth the name of a God So great a Reverence to Religion had the Aethiopâ—an Kings to the time of Ptolemy King of Aegypt that whensoever the Priests of Iupiter who is worshipped in Mâ—roe declared to any of them that hâ—s life was hateful to the Gods He immediately put an end to his days Nor was there any of them found to have had a more tender regard to the safety of his own life than he had reverence to Religion till King Aâ—gâ—nes who lest the Priests should tell him he should dye began with themselves put them all to death first and thereby abolished the custom There was a mighty famine in Aegypt so that all kind of Food failing them they betook themselves to feeding upon mans flesh when in the mean time they spared Dogs Cats Wolves Hawks c. Which they worshipped as their Gods and not only forbore to lay hands upon them but also fed them and that doubtless with Mans Flesh also There was a Brazen Statue of Saturn at Carthage with Hands somewhat lifted up The Statue it self was open hollow and bending towards the earth a Man or Youth was solemnly laid upon these Arms and thence he was streight tumbled down headlong into a burning Furnace that was flaming underneath This burning alive was bestowed upon that God yearly upon a set day and at other times also ever with multiplyed Victims especially in â—ase of any great Calamity that should befal the City Accordingly upon the slaughter they received by Agathocles they made a decree I tremble to speak it to offer up two hundred of their noblest youth in this manner to Saturn And who would believe it there were as many more who freely offered themselves to the same death The Soldiers of Alaricus the Goth at the sacking of Rome while as yet they breath'd after slaughter and spoil It chanced that some sacred Virgins came amongst the Ranks of them carrying Vessels of Gold upon their heads uncovered They so soon as they were informed that both the Persons and the Plate were consecrate in honour of the Apostles suâ—â—ered both to pass through them untouched The Emperour Constantine being present at the Council of Chalcedon did their sit below all the Priests and when the Writings were brought to him that contained their mutual accusations and the charges that they had drawn up one against a the others he folded them all up in his Lap and committed them all unread to the fire saying that the Priests as so many Deities were set over men for the better Government of them and that therefore he would reserve the Judgment of them entirely to God himself Metellus was the chief Priest of the Temple of Vesta and when through some misadventure it had taken fire he with others being busied in carrying out the Statues of the Gods with the consecrated Vessels and such like the Flames increasing upon them the high Priest was thereby deprived of both his Eyes which the Senate of Rome did so highly approve of as an action of Religious Gallantry that as a testimony thereof they allowed that Metellus should as often as he pleased be carried in a Charito the Senate House An honour which was granted to none before him Cyprian Euchovius a Spanish Chorographer above all other Cities of Spain commends Barcino in which there was no Beggar no man poor c. but all rich and in good estate and he gives the reason They were more Religious and more truly devout than the rest of their Neighbours
secrecy and undiscovered for the space of nine years together She conceived and brought forth Children in that solitary mansion At last the place of their Abode came to be known they were taken and brought to Rome where Vespasian commanded they should be slain Eponina producing and shewing her Children Behold O Caesar said she such as I have brought forth and brought up in a Monument that thou mightest have more suppliants for our lives Cruel Vespasian that could not be mov'd with such words as these Well they were both led to death and Eponina joyfully dyed with her Husband who had been before buried with him for so many years together 15. Eumenes burying the dead that had fall'n in the Battel of Gabine against Antigonus amongst others there was found the Body of Ceteas the Captain of those Troops that had come out of India This man had two Wives who accompanied him in the Wars one which he had newly married and another which he had marryed a few years before but both of them bare an entire love to him for whereas the Laws of India require that one Wife shall be burnt with her dead Husband both these proffered themselves to death and strove with that ambition as if it was some glorious prize they sought after Before such Captains as were appointed their Judges the younger pleaded that the other was with child and that therefore she could not have the benefit of that Law The elder pleaded that whereas she was before the other in years it was also fit that she should be before her in honour since it was customary in other things that the elder should have place The Judges when they understood by Midwives that the elder was with child passed judgment that the younger should be burnt which done she that had lost the cause departed rending her Diadem and tearing her hair as if some grievous calamity had befallen her The other all joy at her victory went to the Funeral Fire magnificently dressed up by her Friends led along by her Kinred as if to her Nuptials they all the way singing Hymns in her praises when she drew near the fire taking off her Ornaments she delivered them to her Friends and Servants as tokens of remembrance they were a multitude Rings with variety of precious Stones Chains and Stars of Gold c. this done she was by her Brother placed upon the combustible matter by the side of her Husband and after the Army had thrice compassed the Funeral Pile fire was put to it and she without a word of complaint finished her life in the flames 16. Clara Cervenda was one of the most beautiful and fairest Virgins in all Bruges she was married to Bernard Valdaura at that time above forty four years of age The first night after her marriage she found that her Husbands Thighs were rolled and wrapped with Clouts and that he was a man very sore and sickly for all which she lov'd him not a whit the less Not long after Valdaura fell so sick that all the Physicians despaired of his life then did she so attend upon him that in six weeks space she put not off her cloaths only for shift nor rested above an hour or two at the most in a night and that in her cloaths This Disease was a venemous Relique of the Pox and the Physicians counselled Clara not to touch the sick man or come near him and so also did her Kinred and Neighbours All which moved her not but having taken order for that which concerned the benefit of his Soul she provided him all things that might tend to the health of his body she made him Broths and Juleps she changed his Sheets and Clouts although by reason of a continual loosness and many sores about him his body never left running with matter and filth so that he never had any clean part about him All the day she rested not the strength of her love supporting the delicacy of her body by this good means Valdaura escaped that danger After this by reason of a sharp and hot Rheum falling from his Brain the Gristle within his Nose began to be eaten away wherefore the Physicians appointed a certain powder to be blown up softly into his Nose at certain times with a Quill no body could be found to take such a loathsome service in hand because of the stench that came from him but Clara did it chearfully and when his Cheeks and Chin were all covered over with Scabs Wheals and Scales so as no Barber could or would shave him she with her little Scissars played the Barber and made him a deft Beard From this Sickness he fell into another which lasted seven years during which time with incredible diligence she made ready his meat put in his Tents laid on his Plaisters dressed and bound up his Thighs all rotten with Scabs and Ulcers his Breath was such that none durst come near by ten paces and abide by it which yet she protested was sweet to her This long sickness and the nourishing and medicining of a body oppressed by so many Diseases was a great matter in a House that had no Rents or Profits coming in and where Trade had ceased of a long time and consequently the gain she therefore to furnish expences sold her Pretious Jewels her Gold Chains her rich Carcanets her Garments of great value a Cupboard of Plate not caring for any thing so her Husband was relieved and contenting her self with little so he wanted nothing Thus Valdaura lingred on a life by the help of his Wife within a rotten body or rather within a Grave for twenty years together in which time she had eight children by him yet neither she nor they had so much as a Scab Wheal or Pimple in any part of their bodies Valdaura died an old man for whose death his Wife Clara made such mourning as they who knew her well say never woman did for any Husband When some instead of comforting her told her God had done much in taking him away and that they therefore came to congratulate with her she detested their speeches wishing for her Husband again in exchange of five children and though she was yet both young and lusty and sought to by many she resolved not to marry saying she should never meet with any whom she could like so well as her dear Bernard Valdaura CHAP. IX Of the Indulgence and great Love of some Parents to their Children THat natural affection which we bear towards them that proceed from us we have in common with other creatures The Poet hath expressed it in the most cruel of all other Beasts The Tiger which most thirsts for blood Seeing her self robbed of her tender Brood Lies down lamenting in her Scythian Den And licks the prints where her lost whelps had lain Only this affection reigns with greater power in the Souls of some than others and the effects of it have been such as cannot but detain us
answer that the Bayliff was a rich man which the King not knowing how to believe considering the wretched Country his House was seated in he immediately sent for him and said unto him these words Come on Bayliff and tell me why you did not build your fine House in some place where the Country was good and fertile Sir answered the Bayliff I was born in this Country and find it very good for me Are you so rich said the King as they tell me you are I am not poor replyed the other I have blessed be God wherewithal to live The King then asked him how it was possible he should grow so rich in so pitiful a barren Country Why very easily replyed the Bayliff Tell me which way then said the King Marry Sir replyed the other because I have ever had more care to do my own business than that of my Masters or my Neighbours The Devil refuse me said the King for that was always his oath thy reason is very good for doing so and rising betimes thou couldst not chuse but thrive CHAP. XIII Of the Faithfulness of some men to their engagement and trust reposed in them THe Syrians were looked upon as men of no faith not fit to be trusted by any man and that besides their curiosity in keeping their Gardens they had scarce any thing in them that was commendable The Greeks also laboured under this imputation of being as false as they were luxurious and voluptuous It is strange that those who were so covetous after all other kinds of improvement in learning and knowledge should in the mean time neglect that which sets a fuller value upon man than a thousand other accomplishments I mean his fidelity to his promise and trust 1. Those of Iapan are very punctual in the performance of what they have promised those who desire their protection or assistance For no Iaponese but will promise it any one that desires it of him and spend his life for the person who hath desired him to do it and this without any consideration of his family or the misery whereto his Wife and Children may be thereby reduced hence it comes that it is never seen a malefactor will betray or discover his complices But on the contrary there are infinite examples of such who have chosen rather to dye with the greatest torment imaginable than bring their complices into any inconvenience by their confession 2. Micithus Servant to Anaxilaus Tyrant of the Rhegini was left by his dying Master to govern his Kingdom and children during their minority In the time of this his Viceroy-ship he behaved himself with that clemency and justice that the people saw themselves govern'd by a person of quality neither unmeet to rule nor too mean for the place yet when his children were come to age he resign'd over his power into their hands and therewithal the treasures by his providence he had heaped up accounting himself but their steward As for his part he was content with a small pittance with which he retired to Olympia and there lived very privately but with great content respect and serenity 3. Henry King of Arragon and Sicily was deceas'd and left Iohn his Son a child of twenty two months age behind him entrusted to the care and fidelity of Ferdinand the Brother of the deceased King and Uncle to the Infant He was a man of great vertue and merit and therefore the eyes of the nobles and people were upon him and not only in private discourses but in the publick assembly he had the general voice and mutual consent to be chosen King of Arragon But he was deaf to these proffers alledged the right of his infant Nephew and the custom of the Country which they were bound the rather to maintain by how much the weaker the young Prince was to do it He could not prevail yet the assembly was adjourn'd for that time They meet again in hopes that having had time to consider of it he would now accept it who not ignorant of their purpose had caused the little Child to be clothed in Royal Robes and having hid him under his Garment went and sate in the Assembly There Paralus Master of the Horse by common consent did again ask him Whom O Ferdinand is it your pleasure to have declared our King He with a sharp look and tone replied Whom but John the Son of my Brother and withal took forth the Child from under his Robe and lifting him upon his shoulders cryed out God save King John commanded the Banners to be displayed cast himself first to the ground before him and then all the rest moved by his example did the like 4. King Iohn had left Hubert Burgh Governour of Dover Castle and when King Lewis of France came to take the Town and found it difficult to be taken by force he sent to Hubert whose Brother Thomas he had taken Prisoner a little before that unless he would surrender the Castle he should presently see his Brother Thomas put to death with exquisite torments before his eyes But this threatning mov'd not Hubâ—rt at all who more regarded his own loyalty than his Brothers life Then Prince Lewis sent again offering him a great sum of money neither did this move him but he kept his loyalty as inexpugnable as his Castle 5. Boges the Persian was besieged in the City Etona by Cimon Son of Miltiades the General of the Athenians and when he was proffered safely to depart into Asia upon delivery of the City he constantly refused it lest he should be thought unfaithful to his Prince Being therefore resolved he bore all the inconveniencies of a Siege till his provisions being now almost utterly spent and seeing there was no way to break forth he made a great fire and cast himself and his whole Family into the Flames of it concluding he had not sufficiently acquitted himself of his trust to his Prince unless he also laid down his life in his cause 6. Licungzus the conductor of the Rebel Thieves had seiz'd the Empire of China taken the Metropolis Peking and upon the death of the Emperour had seated himself in the Imperial Throne He displac'd and imprison'd what great officers he pleased Amongst the rest was one Vs a venerable person whose Son Vsanguâ—jus lead the Army of China in the confines of Leatung against the Tartars The Tyrant threatned this old man with a cruel death if by his paternal power he did not reduce him with his whole Army to the acknowledgment of his power promising great rewards to them both if he should prevail wherefore the poor old man wrote thus to his Son Know my Son that the Emperour Zunchinius and the whole Family of Taimingus are perished the Heavens have cast the fortune of it upon Licungzus we must observe the times and by making a vertue of necessity avoid his Tyranny and experience his liberality He promiseth to thee a Royal dignity if
soever the execution of them be At the first sign or intimation by gesture of their King they will immediately cast themselves headlong from Rocks and Towers leap into the Waves throw themselves into the fire or being sent by him to kill any such Prince whose death he desires they set themselves about it despising all the tortures they must endure after they have performed the murther or discovery of their intention When once Henry Earl of Campania passed from Antioch towards Tyrus having obtained a safe conduct the Prince of this people called Vâ—tus gave him a strange assurance of his people's obedience for he shewed him several persons standing upon the top of a high Tower one of these he called out by name who no sooner understood his command but without any delay he cast himself down from thence in their sight and broken in pieces with the fall he immediately died The King would have called out others to the like trial and was difficultly diverted from his designs by the earnest entreaties of the Earl who was astonished with wonder and horrour of the experiment The Sâ—lsidas of the Sâ—quimar of Arabia the Happy perform the same at their Prince's command When Hannibal made war against the Romans in Italy he at that time had under his Standards Carthaginians Numidians Mâ—ors Spaniards Baleares Gauls Ligurians and a number of Italian people and yet the General was of that authority amongst them that though his Army consisted of so many and different Nations and that the War was drawn out into so long a continuance and that there was such variety of events therein yet in all that time there was never known that there was any stir tumult or sedition mov'd amongst them 8. The Inhabitants of those Islands that lie over against the Coast of Florida are in great subjection to their Lords and Masters in such manner as that if they should command them to throw themselves headlong from off a high Hill or do any other thing whatsoever they will not refuse to do it whatsoever danger there may be in the performance not once asking wherefore they should do it but only because their Master commandeth it 9. Instead of Crowns and Scepters the Ornaments of the Kings of Peru whereby they shew their Majesty are these They wear certain Tassels of Red Wool bound about their Heads hanging down upon their Shoulders almost covering their eyes whereat there hang other Threads which they use when they will have any thing done or executed They give that Thread unto one of their Lords that attend upon them by this token they command in all their Provinces and the King hath done whatsoever he doth desire At the sight of this Thread his pleasure is by his Subjects with so great diligence and dutiful obedience fulfilled that the like is not known in any place of the world for if by this way he chance to command that a whole Province shall be clean destroyed and utterly lest desolate both of men and all living creatures whatsoever both young and old it is done If he send but one of his Servants to execute the severest of his commands although he send no other power or aid of men nor other commission than one of the Threads of his Quispel it is sufficient and they willingly yield themselves to all dangers even to death and destruction 10. Xerxes flying out of Greece the Ship or Boat was so over-pressed with the numbers of such as were got within her that a Tempest arising they were all brought to the hazard of their lives here it was that Xerxes bespake them in this manner Since upon you O Persians depends the safety of your King let me now understand how far you take your selves to be concerned therein He had no sooner spoken these words but that having first adored him most of them leaped into the Sea and by their death freed their King of his present danger CHAP. XV. Of the Generosity of some Persons and the Noble Actions by them performed AS amongst those Starry Lights wherewith the arched Roof of Heaven is beautified and bespangled there are some more conspicuous for their extraordinary brightness and lustre and draw the eyes of men with greater admiration towards them so amongst the race of mankind there are some found to shine with that advantage in point of Generosity and true Nobleness of Mind above the common Standard of Humaniry that we fix our eyes with equal wonder and delight upon those actions which we know to be the effects whereof the vulgar are uncapable 1. Cardinal Petrus Damianus relateth how being a Student at Faenza one told him of an act of Charity and Generosity that happened of which he made more account than of all the Wonders of the World it was this a man whose eyes another had most traiterously pulled out was by this accident confined in a Monastery where he liv'd an unspotted life performing all offices of charity according to the ability of his body It fell out this cruel creature who had done this mischievous act sickened of a languishing malady and was enforced to be carried to that same place where he was whom he had bereaved of sight his heart said within him he could never endure him but for revenge would put out his eyes on the contrary the blind man made earnest suit to have the charge of him as if he had sought some great fortune from the hand of a Prince he prevailed and was deputed to the service of the sick man and he dedicated to him all the functions of his body except the eyes which the other had pulled out Notwithstanding saith the Cardinal he wanted not eyes you would say the blind man was all Eyes all Arms all Hands all Heart to attend the sick man so much consideration vigour diligence and affection he used 2. In the Cathedral Church of Roan in Normandy is the Sepulchre of Iohn Duke of Bedford and Regent of France for King Henry the Sixth an envious Courtier perswaded Charles the Eighth to deface it God forbid said he that I should wrong him being dead whom living all the power of France was not able to withstand adding withal that he deserved a better Monument than the English had bestowed upon him 3. Conrade succeeding Henry in the Empire by this Henry Wenceslaus the Duke of Poland was overcome in Battel and made a Tributary of the Empire he afterwards rebelled and took upon him the Title of a King to whom succeeded Mysias in both the Kingdom and contumacy towards the Empire Conrade therefore by the help of his Brother had enforced him to quit Poland and flie to Vlrick Duke of Bohemia who at that time was also an Enemy to the Empire Vlrick despising all the Laws of Hospitality gives Conrade to understand that in case he would compound the difference betwixt them two he would send him Mysias as his prisoner to dispose of him as he
deserve 6. M. Bibulus a man of Eminent Authority while he abode in the Province of Syria had two Sons slain by the Souldiers of Gabinius for whose death he exceedingly mourned Queen Cleopatra of Egypt to asswage his grief 〈◊〉 him bound those that had slain his Sons that he might take of them such reveng as he thought sit He very joyfully received this good office but commanded them untouched to be returned back to Cleopatra thinking it revenge enough that he had the Enemies of his blood in his power 7. Sophia Augusta the Wife of Iustinus the younger had conspired against Tiberius the Emperor to advance Iustinianus the Nephew of Iustinus to the Greek Empire and in the absence of Tiberius had called him to her for that purpose but he having notice of the business hasted to Constantinople and by his presence quite spoyled the Plot. He caused Augusta to be apprehended took from her her Treasure displaced such Officers about her whose counsel he knew she used and appointed others in their places yet left her an abundant maintenance This done he called Iustinianus before him and contenting himself sharply to reprove him he afterwards unpunished permitted him to go at his liberty where he pleased 8. Flavius Vespasianus in the Reign of Nero was forbid the Court from whence he departed in great fear at that time there came to him one of the Courtiers who gave him harsh language and withal driving him thence commanded him to go to Morbovia when Vespasianus had afterwards attained the Empire this same man in terrible apprehensions of death presented himself before him begging his life the Emperor revenged himself only with a Jest and in his own former words commanded him also to go to Morbovia 9. Tiberius Caesar when the Rhodians had wrote a Letter to him and in the latter end of it had not prayed for his health he sent for their Embassadors as if he had resolved to inâ—lict some puâ—nishment upon them as soon as they came he caused them to add to their Letter the good wishes which were wanting and without any further feverity dismissed them 10. Certain persons of Chios being strangers in Sparta after supper not only disgorged themselves by vomit but also in a beastly manner defiled the very Seats of the Ephori great diligence was used to â—ind out the Authors of so heinous a crime being in case they were Citizens to suffer a condign punishment when at last it was found they were of Chios the Ephori caused publick Proclamation to be made that the Chians had liberty to leave behind them the tokens of their intemperance and further there was nothing decreed against them by Aelian they are called Clazomenians 13. Amilcar the brave General of the Carthaginians had fought divers battles with desirable fortune after which he was looked upon with the eyes of Envy and being accused as if he went about to establish the sole Sovereignty in himself he was put to death his Brother Giscon was forced into Exile and all his Goods conâ—iscate After which the Carthaginians made use of several Generals but finding themselves to be shamefully beaten and reduced to an extream hazard of servitude they recalled Giscon from his banishment and having entrusted him with the Supreme Command in all Military Affairs they put into his hands all his and his Brothers Enemies to be disposed of and punished at his pleasure Giscon caused them all to be bound and in the sight of the people commanded them all to lie prostrate on the Ground which done with a quick foot he passed over them all three times treading upon each of their necks I have now said he a sufficient revenge for the murder of my Brother upon which he freely dismissed them all saying I have not rendered evil for evil but good for evil 12. The Civil Law for many Ages together lay conceal'd amongst the Ceremonies and Mysteries of the Gods known only to the Chief Priests Ca. Flavius the Son of a Freed man and a Scribe being to the great indignation of the Nobility made Edile Curule divulged the Maxims of it and made it common almost to the whole Forum When therefore Flavius came once to visit his Collegue in his Sickness he found the Chamber filled with the Nobility none of which would vouchsafe to proffer him a Seat amongst them whereupon he commanded his Chair of State to be brought him and sate down therein this way revenging at once his injured Honour and the Contempt that was shewed to his Person 13. When the Duke of Alva was in Brussells about the beginning of the Tumults in the Netherlands he had sate down before Hulst in Flanders and there was a Provost Marshal in his Army who was a Favourite of his and the Provost had put some to death by secret Commission from the Duke There was one Captain Bolea in the Army who was an intimate Friend of the Provosts and one Evening late he went to the Captains Tent and brought with him a Conâ—essor and an Executioner as it was his custom He told the Captain he was come to execute his Excellencies Commission and Martial Law upon him The Captain started up suddenly his hair standing at an end and being struck with amazement asked him Wherein have I offended the Duke The Provost answered Sir I am not to expostulate the business with you but to execute my Commission therefore I pray prepare your self for there 's your Ghostly Father and Executioner So he fell on his knees before the Priest and having done the Hangman going to put the Halter about his Neck the Provost threw it away and breaking into a laughter told him there was no such thing and that he had done this to try his courage how he would bear the terrour of death The Captain looked ghastly upon him and said Then Sir get you out of my Tent for you have done me a very ill office The next Morning the said Captain Bolea though a young man of about thirty had his hair all turned grey to the admiration of all the World and the Duke of Alva himself who questioned him about it but he would confess nothing The next year the Duke was revoked and in his journey to the Court of Spain he was to pass by Sarragossa and this Captain Bolea and the Provost went along with him as his Domesticks The Duke being to repose some days in Saragossa the young old Captain Bolea told him that there was a thing in that Town worthy to be seen by his Excellency which was a Casa de loco a Bedlam-house for there was not the like in Christendom Well said the Duke go and tell the Warden I will be there to morrow in the Afternoon The Captain having obtained this went to the Warden and told him the Duke's intention and that the chief occasion that moved him to it was that he had an unruly Provost about him who was subject
Lettuce head or else some new gathered sharp and tart Apple that had a kind of winish liquor in it Thus lived this great person after a fashion that some Coblers and Botchers would almost be loth to be obliged unto 3. Ludovicus Cornarius a Venetian and a learned man wrote a book of the benefit of a sober life and produceth himself as a testimony hereof saying Vnto the fortieth year of my Age I was continually vexed with variety of infirmities I was sick at Stomach of a Fever a Plurisie and lay ill of the Oout At last this man by the perswasion of Physicians took up a way of living with such temperance that in the space of one year he was freed almost of all his diseases In the seventieth year of his Age he had a â—all whereby he brake his Arm and his Leg so that upon the Third day nothing but death was expected yet he recovered without Physick for his abstinence was to him instead of all other means and that was it which hindred a recurrency of malignant humours to the parts affected In the eighty third year of his Age he was so sound and chearful so vegete and so entire in his strength that he could climb hils leap upon his horse from the even ground write Comedies and do most of those things he used to do when he was young If you ask how much meat and drink this man took his daily allowance for bread and all manner of other â—ood was twelve ounces and his drink for a day was fourteen ounces This was his usual measure and the said Coraraius did seriously affirm that if he chanced to exceed but a few ounces he was thereby apâ— to relapse into his former diseases All this he hath set down of himself in writing and it is aâ—â—â—xed to the book of Leonardus Lessius a Physician which was Printed at Amsterdam Anno Dom. 1631. 4. Philippus Nerius at Nineteen years of Age made it a law to himself that he would refresh his body but once a day and that only with bread and water and sometimes he would abstain even from these cold delights unto the third day Being made Priest his manner was to eat some small thing in the morning and then abstain till Supper which never consisted of more than two poched Eggs or instead of these some pulse or herbs He would not suffer more dishes than one to be set upon his Table he seldom eat of Flesh or Fish and of white Meats he never tasted his Wine was little and that much diluted with water and which is most wonderful he never seemed to be delighted with one dish more than another 5. Cardinal Carolus Borromaeus was of that abstinence that he kept a daily fast with bread and water Sundays and Holy-days only excepted and this manner of life he continued till his death He kept even festivals with that frugality that he usually fed upon Pulse Apples or Herbs Pope Gregory the Thirteenth sent to him not only to advise but to command him to moderate these rigours But the Cardinal wrote back to him that he was most ready to obey but that withal he had learned by experience that his spare eating was conducting to health and that it was subservient to the drying up of that Flegm and humours wherewith his body did abound whereupon the Pope left him to his pleasure He persisted therein therefore with so rigid a constancy that even in the heat of Summer and when he had drawn out his labours beyond his accustomed time he would not indulge himself so far as to tast of a little wine nor allow his thirst so much as a drop of water 6. The Aegyptian Kings fed upon simple diet nor was any thing brought to their Tables besides a Calf and a Goose for Wine they had a stated measure such as would neither fill the belly nor intoxicate the head and their whole life was managed with that modesty and sobriety that a man would think it was not ordered by a Lawgiver but a most skilful Physician for the preservation of health 7. Cato the younger marching with his Army through the hot sands of Lybia when by the burning heats of the Sun and their own labour they were pressed with an immoderate thirst a Soldier brought him his Helmet full of water which he had difficultly found that he might quench his thirst with it But Cato poured out the water in the sight of all his Army and seeing he had not enough for them all he would not tast it alone By this example of his temperance and tolerance he taught his Soldiers the better to endure their hardship 8. When Pausanias had overcome Mardonius in Battel and beheld the splendid Utensils and Vessels of Gold and Silver belonging to the Barbarian he commanded the Bakers and Cooks c. to prepare him such a Supper as they used to do for Mardonius which when they had done and Pausanias had viewed the Beds of Gold and Silver the Tables Dishes and other magnificent preparations to his amazement he then ordered his own servants to prepare him such a Supper as was usual in Sparta which was a course repast with their black broth and the like When they had done it and the difference appeared to be very strange he then sent for the Grecian Commanders and shewed them both Suppers And laughing O ye Greeks said he I have called you together for this purpose that I might shew you the madness of the Median General who when he lived such a life as this must needs come to invade us who eat after this homely and mean manner 9. Alphonsus the Elder King of Sicily had suddenly drawn out his forces to oppose the passage of Iacobus Caudolus over the River Vulturnus he had forced his Troops back again but being necessitated to stay there all day with his Army unrefreshed A Soldier towards evening brought him a piece of Bread a Radish and a piece of Cheese a mighty Present at that time But Alphonsus commending the Soldiers liberality refused his offer and said it was not seemly for him to feast while his Army fasted 10. Iulian the Emperour first a Deacon then a wretched Apostate yet was otherwise highly to be commended for his many good qualities so temperate that he never had any war with his Belly so chast that after the death of his Wife he never regarded women and would not see the Persian Captive Ladies nor suffer Cooks nor Barbers in his Army as being Ministers of intemperance As for Stage-Plays he never but once a year permitted them in his Court and then he saith of himself that he was more like to one that detested than one that was a spectator of them 11. Agesilaus King of Sparta was sent for into Aegypt to assist that King against his enemiess at his arrival all the Kings great Captains Nobles and an infinite number of people went to see
Tribune to be found to intercede for his life at last he escaped by anothers mediation the fury of his adversary whom in his Censorship he had removed from the Senate And yet though there were so many of the family of the Mâ—telli in great authority and power in the state the villany of this Tribune was overpassed both by him that was injured and all the rest of his Relations CHAP. XXXIV Of such as have patiently taken free Speeches and Reprehensions from their Inferiors THe fair speeches of others commonly delight us although we are at the same time sensible they are no more than flatteries and falshoods nor is this the only weakness and vanity of our nature but withal it is very seldom that we can take down the pill of Reproof without an inward resentment especially from any thing below us though convinced of the necessity and justice of it Great therefore was the wisdom of those men who could so easily dispense with any mans freedom in speaking when once they discern'd it was meant for their reformation and improvement 1. A senior Fellow of St. Iohn's College in Cambridge of the opposite faction to the Master in the presence of Dr. Whitaker in a common place fell upon this subject what requisites should qualifie a Scholar for a Fellowship concluded that Religion and Learning were of the Quorum for that purpose hence he proceeded to put the case if one of these qualities alone did appear whether a Religious Dunce were to be chosen before a Learned Rake-Hell and resolv'd it in favour of the Latter This he endeavoured to prove with two arguments First because Religion may but Learning cannot be counterfeited He that chuseth a Learned Rake-Hell is sure of something but who electeth a Religious Dunce may have nothing worthy of his choice seeing the same may prove both Dunce and Hypocrite His second was there is more probability of a Rake-Hells improvement to Temperance than of a Dunces conversion into a Learned Man Common place being ended Dr. Whitaker desired the company of this Fellow and in his Closet thus accosted him Sir I hope I may say without offence as once Isaac to Abraham here is wood and a knife but where is the Lamb for a burnt offering you have discovered much keenness of language and fervency of affection but who is the person you aim at who hath offered abuse to this Society The other answered If I may presume to follow your Metaphor know Sir though I am a true admirer of your most eminent worth you are the sacrifice I reflected at in my discourse for whilst you follow your studies and remit matters to be managed by others a company is chosen into the College of more zeal than knowledge whose judgments we certainly know to be bad though others charitably believe the goodness of their affections and hence of late there is a general decay of Learning in the College The Dr. turn'd his anger into thankfulness and expressed the same both in loving his person and practising his advice promising his own presence hereafter in all elections and that none should be admitted without his own examination which quickly recovered the credit of the house being replenished with hopeful Plants before his death which fell out in the 38th of Q. Eliz. Anno 1593. 2. Augustus Caesar sitting in judgment Mecaenas was present and perceiving that he was about to condemn divers persons he endeavoured to get up to him but being hindred by the Crowd he wrote in a Schedule Tandem aliquando surge Carnifex Rise Hangman and then as if he had wrote some other thing threw the Note into Caesars Lap Caesar immediately arose and came down without condemning any person to death and so far was he from taking this reprehension ill that he was much troubled he had given such cause 3. A poor old Woman came to Philip King of Macedon intreated him to take cognisance of her cause when she had often interrupted him with her clamors in this manner the King at last told her he was not at leisure to hear her No said she be not then at leisure to be King the King for sometime considered of the Speech and presently he heard both her and others that came with their complaints to him 4. One of the Servants of Prince Henry Son to Henry the fourth whom he favored was arraigned at the Kings Bench for Fellony whereof the Prince being informed and incensed by lewd persons about him in a rage he came hastily to the Bar where his servant stood as Prisoner and Commanded him to be unfettred and set at liberty whereat all men were amazed only the Chief Justice who at that time was William Gascoign who exhorted the Prince to be ordered according to the Ancient Laws of the Kingdom or if he would have his servant exempted from the rigour of the Law that he should obtain if he could the gracious Pardon of the King his Father which would be no derogation to Law or Justice The Prince no way appeased with this answer but rather inflamed endeavoured himself to take away the Prisoner The Judge considering the perilous Example and inconveniency that might thereupon ensue with a bold Spirit and Courage Commanded the Prince upon his Allegiance to leave the Prisoner and to depart the place At this Commandment the Prince all in a fury and chafed in a terrible manner came up to the place of Judgment men thinking that he would have slain the Judge or at least done him some harm But the Judge sitting still without moving declaring the Majesty of the Kings place of Judgement and with an assured bold countenance said thus to the Prince Sir Remember your self I keep here the place of the King your Sovereign Lord and Father to whom you owe double Allegiance and therefore in his name I charge you to desist from your wilfulness and unlawful enterprize and from henceforth give good example to those which hereafter shall be your own Subjects and now for your contempt and disobedience go you to the prison of the Kings Bench whereunto I commit you until the pleasure of the King your Father be further known The Prince amazed with the words and gravity of that worshipful Justice laying his Sword aside the doing reverence departed and went to the Kings Bench as he was commanded When the King heard of this action he blessed God that had given him a Judge who feared not to minister Justice and also a Son who could patiently suffer and shew his obedience thereunto 5. Fridericus was consecrated Bishop of Vtrecht and at the feast the Emperour Ludovicus Pius sitting at his right hand admonished him that being mindful of the profession he had newly taken upon him he would deal justly and as in the sight of God in the way of his Vocation without respect of persons Your Majesty gives me good advice said he but will you please to tell me whether I
variously and cruelly tormented by the Tyrant Nicocreon and yet by all his crueltiâ—s could never be restrained from urging of him with opprobrious terms and the most reproachful language At last the Tyrant being highly provok'd threatned that he would cause his tongue to be cut out of his mouth Effeminate yong man said Anaxarchus neither shall that part of my body be at thy disposal And while the Tyrant for very rage stood gaping before him he immediately bit off his Tongue with his Teeth and spat it into his mouth A Tongue that had heretofore bred admiration in the ears of many but especially of Alexander the Great at such time as it had discours'd of the State of the earth the properties of the Seas the motion of the Stars and indeed the Nature of the whole World in a most prudent and eloquent manner 12. William Colingborn Esq being condemned for making this Rhime on King Richard the third The Cat the Rat and Lovel our Dog Rule all England under the Hog was put to a most cruel death for being hang'd and cut down alive his bowels rip 't out and cast into the fire when the executioner put his hand into the bulk of his body to pull out his heart he said Lord Iesus yet more trouble and so dy'd to the great sorrow of much people 13. Amongst the Indians the meditation of patience is adhered to with that obstinacy that there are some who pass their whole life in nakedness one while hardning their bodies in the frozen rigours and piercing colds of Mount Caucasus and at others exposing themselves to the â—lames without so much as a sigh or groan Nor is it a small glory that they acquire to themselves by this contempt of pain for they gain thereby the reputation and Title of Wise Men. 14. Such Examples as I have already recited I have furnished my self with either by reading or by the relation of such as have seen them but there now comes into my mind a most eminent one whereof I can affirm that I my self was an eye witness and it was this Hieronymus Olgiatus was a Citizen of Millain and he was one of those four that did Assassinate Galeatius Sforza Duke of Millain Being taken he was thrust into Prison and put to bitter tortures now although he was not above two and twenty years of age and of such a delicacy and softness in his habit of body that was more like to that of a Virgin than a man though never accustomed to the bearing of Arms by which it is usual for men to acquire vigour and strength yet being fastned to that rope upon which he was tormented he seemed as if he sat upon some Tribunal free from any expression of grief with a clear voyce and an undaunted mind he commended the exploit of himself and his Companions nor did he ever shew the least sign of repentance In the times of the intermissions of his torments both in Prose and Verse he celebrated the praises of himself and his Confederates Being at last brought to the place of Execution beholding Carolus and Francion two of his associats to stand as if they were almost dead with fear he exhorted them to be couragious and requested the Executioners that they would begin with him that his fellow sufferers might learn patience by his example Being therefore laid naked and at full length upon the hurdle and his feet and Arms bound fast down unto it when others that stood by were terrified with the shew and horror of that death that was prepared for him he with specious words and assured voyce extolled the gallantry of their action and appeared unconcerned with that cruel kind of death he was speedily to undergo yea when by the Executioners knife he was cut from the shoulder to the middle of the breast he neither changed his countenance nor his voyce but with a Prayer to God he ended his life 15. Caius Marius the Roman Consul having the chief veins of his legs swelled a Disease of those Times he stretched out one leg to be cut off by the hand of the Chirurgeon and not only did he refuse to be bound as 't is customary with such Patients or to be held by any man but not so much as by any word or sign did he bewray any sence of pain all the time of the operation no more than if the incision had been made in any other body or that he himself had been utterly voyd of all sence But afterwards when his Chirurgeon propounded to him the same method of cure for his other leg in regard the Disease was rather deforming than extreamly dangerous Marius told him that the matter seemed not to him of that importance as that upon the account thereof he should undergo such tormenting pain By which words he discovered that during the time of the incision of his leg he had indured very great pain but that through the strength and tollerance of his mind he had dissembled and supprest what he felt 16. This was also an Example of great patience in this kind which Strabo mentions in his Geography from the Authority of Nicholaus Damascenus viz. that Zarmonochaga the Ambassador from the Indian King having finished his Negotiation with Augustus to his mind and thereof sent account to his Master because he would have no further trouble for the remaining part of his life after the manner of the Indians he burnt himself alive preserving all the while the countenance of a man that smiled CHAP. XXXVI Of the Fortitude and Personal Valour of some Famous Men. THere is a Precious Stone by the Greeks called Ceraunia as one would say the Thunderstone for it is bred among Thunders and is found in places where Heaven all swollen with anger hath cleft the Master-pieces of the Worlds Magazine saith Caussine such is the valiant man bred up so long in dangers till he hath learned to contemn them And if the Poet be a Prophet you shall hear him say He that smiling can gaze on Styx and black wav'd Acheron That dares brave his ruine he To Kings to Gods shall equal be At least if he fall in a Noble Cause he dies a Martyr and the Brazen Trumpet of Fame shall proclaim this glorious memorial to late Posterity as it hath done for those that follow 1. Sapores the Persian King beseiged Caesaria in Cappadocia a Captive Physician shewed him a weak place of the City where he might enter at which the Persians gaining entrance put all indifferently to the Sword Demosthenes the Governour of the City hearing the Tumult speedily mounted and perceiving all lost sought to get out but in the way fell upon a Squadron of the Enemy that gathered about him to take him alive but he setting Spurs to his Horse and stoutly laying about him with his Sword slew many and opening himself a way through the midst of them escaped 2. When L. Sylla beheld his
of Poplicola who had long waited at the door for this occasion spake aloud Consul thy Son is dead of a Disease in the Army The Assistants were perplexed at this news but Horatius not moved in the least Dispose then said he of his Carcass as you please I shall not mourn at this time and so performed the rest of his dedication His news was not true but merely feigned by Marcus to divert Horatius from the Dedication in favour of his Brother But however the constancy of the man is memorable whether he in a moment discerned the fraud or whether though he believed it yet was unmoved 3. Pomponius a Knight of Rome was in the Army of Lucullus against Mithridates where upon some engagement he was sorely wounded and made a prisoner being brought into the presence of that King he was asked by him whether when he had taken care for the cure of his wounds he would be his friend Pomponius with the constancy worthy of a Roman replyed That if he would be a friend to the people of Rome he would then be his otherwise not 4. Sylla had seized upon the City of Rome had driven out his enemies thence and 〈◊〉 in Arms had called the Senate togâ—ther for this purpose that by them he might speedily have C. Mâ—rius adjâ—â—ged the enemy of the people of Rome Therâ— was no man amongst them found who had the courage to oppose him in this matter only Q. Sâ—aevola the Augur being asked his opinion herein would not declare his assent with the resâ— And when Sylla began to threaten him in a terrible manner Though said he you shew me all these armed Troops wherewith you have surrounded this Court and though you threaten me with death it self yet shall you never bring it to pass that to save a little old blood I should judge Marius an enemy by whom this City and all Italy it self hath been preserved 5. It was the saying of Xantippe concerning Socrates her Husband that although there were a thousand perturbations in the Common-Wealth yet did Socrates always appear with the same manner of countenance both going oâ—t and returning into his house For he had a mind equally prepared for all things and so well and moderately composed that it was far remote from grief and above all kind of fears 6. C. Mevius was a Centurion in the Army of Augustus in his war against Anthony wherein after he had done many gallant things he was at last circumvented by an unexpected ambush of the enemy taken prisoner and carried to Alexandria Being in the presence of Antonius he was by him asked how he should deal with him Cause said he my Throat to be cut for neither by the obligations of saving my life nor by the punishment of any kind of death can I ever be brought to cease from being Caesars Soldier and begin to be thine But by how much the greater constancy he shewed a contempt of lifeâ— by so much the more easily did he obtain it for Antonius in the admiration of his vertue preserved him 7. Modestus the Deputy of Valens the Emperour sought to draw S. Basil after many other Bishops into the heresie of Arrius he attempted it first with caresses and all the sugar'd words that might be expected from one that was not uneloquent Disappointed in his first essay he reinforced his former perswasions with threats of exile and torments yea and death it self but finding all these equally in vain he returned to his Lord with this character of the man Firmior est quam ut verbis praestantior quam ut minis fortior quam ut blanditiis vinci possit That is he is so solid that words cannot overcome him so resolute that threats cannot move him and so strong that Allurements cannot alter him 8. Dion the Son of Hyparinus and Scholar of Plato was busied in the dispatch of publick affairs when it was told him that one of his Sons was fallen out of the window into the Court-Yard and was dead of the fall Dion seemed to be nothing moved herewith but with great constancy continued in the dispatch of what he was about 9. Antigonus the second beheld when his Son was born dead upon the shoulders of some Soldiers that had thus brought him from the Battle he looked upon him without change of countenance or shedding a tear and having praised him that he dyed like a brave Soldier and a valiant man he commanded to bury him 10. When the aged Polycarpus was urged to reproach Christ he tells the pro-Consul Herod that fourscore and six years he had served him and never was harmed by him with what conscience then could he blaspheme his King that was his Saviour And being threatned on with fire if he would not swear by Caesars fortune he tells him that it was his ignorance that made him expect it For said he if you know not who I am hear me telling you that I am a Christian And when at the fire they would have fastned him to the Stake the brave Bishop cryes out to let him alone as he was for that God who had enabled him to endure the fire would enable him also without any chains of theirs to stand unmoved in the midst of flames so with his hands behind him unstirred he took his Crown 11. Valens an Arrian Emperour coming to the City of Edessa perceived that the Christions did keep their Assemblies in the fields for their Churches were demolished whereat he was so enraged that he gave the President Methodius a box on the ear for suffering such their meetings commanding him to take along with him a cohort of Soldiers and to scourge with Rods and knock down with Clubs as many as he should find of them This his order being divulged there was a Christian woman who with her Child in her Arms ran with all speed towards the place and was got amongst the ranks of those Soldiers that were sent out against the Christians and being by them asked whither she went and what she would have She told them that she made such hast lest she and her little Infant should come too late to be partakers of the Crown of Christ amongst the rest of those that were to suffer When the Emperour heard this he was confounded desisted from his enterprize and turned all his fury against the Priests and Clergy 12. Henry Prince of Saxony when his Brother Georgâ— sent to him that if he would forsake his faith and turn Papist he would leave him his Heir But he made him this answer Rather than I will do so and deny my Saviour Iesus Christ I and my Kate each of us with a staff in one hand will beg our bread out of his Countryes 13. Quintus Metellus Numidicus when he perceived whereunto the dangerous endeavours of Saturninus the Tribune of the people tended and of what mischievous consequence they would prove to the Common-Wealth unless
mouth nostrils ears and all open passages of his body with unslaked lime this was the only embalming and conditure he required and that for this purpose that his body might by this eating and consuming thing be the sooner resolved into its earth 2. Saladine that great Conquerour of the East after he had taken Ierusalem perceiving he drew near unto death by his last Will forbad all funeral pomp and commanded that only an old and black Cassock fastned at the end of a Lance should be born before his body and that a Priest going before the people should aloud sing these verses as they are remembred by Boccace Vixi divitiis regno tumidusque trophaeis Sed pannum heu nigrum nil nisi morte tuli Great Saladine the Conqu'rour of the East Of all the State and Glory he possess'd O frail and transitory good no more Hath born away than that poor Shirt he wore 3. The Emperour Severus after many wars growing old and about to dye called for an Urn in which after the ancient manner the ashes of their burnt bodies were to be bestowed and after he had long looked upon it and held it in his hands he uttered these words Thou said he shalt contain that man whom all the world was too narrow to confine Mors sola fatetur Quantula sint hominum Corpuscula 'T is only death that tells How small he is that swells 4. Philip King of Macedon had a fall and after he was risen perceiving the impression of his body upon the sand Good Gods said he what a small parcel of earth will contain us who aspire to the possession of the whole world 5. Luther after he had successfully opposed the Pope and was gazed and admired at by all the world as the invincible Champion of the true Christian faith not long before his death sent a fair Glass to Dr. Iustus Ionas his friend and therewith these following verses Dat vitrum vitro Jonae vitrum ipse Lutherus Se similem ut fragili noscat uterque vitro Luther a Glass to Jonah Glass a Glass doth send That both may know our selves to be but Glass my Friend 6. Antigonus lay sick a long time of a lingring disease and afterwards when he was recovered and well again We have gotten no harm said he by this long sickness for it hath taught me not to be so proud by putting me in mind that I am but a mortal man And when Hermodorus the Poet in certain Poems which he wrote had stiled him the Son of the Sun he to check that unadvised speech of his He who useth to empty my Close-Stool said he knoweth as well as I that it is nothing so 7. Croesus that rich King of Lydia shewed unto Solon his vast riches and asked of him who it was that he could esteem of as an happier man than he Solon told him that riches were not to be confided in and that the state of a man in this life was so transitory and liable to alteration and change that no certain judgment could be made of the felicity of any man till such time as he came to dye Croesus thought himself contemned and despised by Solon while he spake to him in this manner and being in his great prosperity at that time thought there was little in his speech that concerned him But afterwards being overthrown by King Cyrus in a pitcht battle his City of Sardis taken and himself made prisoner when he was bound and laid upon a pile of wood to be publickly burnt to death in the sight of Cyrus and the Persians then it was that he began to see more deep into that conference he heretofore had with Solon And therefore being now sensible of the truch of what he had heard he cryed out three times O Solon Solon Solon Cyrus admired hereat and demanded the reason hereof and what that Solon was Croesus told him who he was and what he had said to him about the frailty of man and the change of condition he is subject to in this life Cyrus at the hearing of this like a wise Prince began to think that the height of his own fortune could as little excuse from partaking in this fragility as that of Croesus had done and therefore in a just sense and apprehension of those sudden turns which the destinies do usually allot to mankind he pardoned Croesus set him at liberty and gave him an honourable place about him 8. Antiochus at the first stood mute and as one amazed and afterwards he burst out into tears when he saw Achaeus the Son of Andromachus who had married Laodice the Daughter of Mithridates and who also was the Lord of all that Country about the Mountain Taurus brought before him bound and lying prostrate upon the earth That which gave the occasion to these tears of his was the consideration of the great suddenness of these blows which Fortune gives and how impossible it is to guard our selves from them or prevent them 9. Sesostris was a Potent King of Aegypt and had subdued under him divers nations which done he caused to be made for him a Chariot of gold and richly set with several sorts of precious Stones Four Kings by his appointment were yoked together herein that they instead of Beasts might draw this Conquerour as oft as he desired to appear in his glory The Chariot was thus drawn upon a great Festival when Sesostris observed that one of the Kings had his eyes continually fixed upon the wheel of the Chariot that was next him He then demanded the reason thereof the King told him that he did wonder and was amazed at the unstable motion of the wheel that rowled up and down so that one while this and next that part was uppermost and the highest of all immediately became the lowest King Sesostris did so consider of this saying and thereby conceived such apprehensions of the frailty and uncertainty of humane affairs that he would no more be drawn in that proud manner 10. Xerxes Son of Darius and Nephew to Cyrus after five years preparation came against the Grecians to revenge his Fathers disgraceful repulse by Miltiades with such an Army that his men and Cattel dried up whole Rivers he made a Bridge over the Hellespont where looking back on such a multitude considering mans mortality he wept knowing as he said that no one of all those should be alive after an hundred years CHAP. LII Of such as were of unusual Fortune and Felicity MEn in a Dream find themselves much delighted with the variety of those images of things which are presented to their waking fancies that felicity and happiness which most men count so and please their thoughts with is more of imaginary than real more of shadow than substance and hath so little of solidity and stableness in it that it may be â—itly looked upon as a dream All about us is so liable to the blows of fortune
Messenger is come to thee our will and pleasure is that thou send us by him thy head unto Constantinople In vain was it to dispute the command of his Lord and thus the miserble man perished 3. William the Conquerour for his game and the pleasure he took in hunting enforested thirty miles in Hamshire pulled down thirty six Parish Churches and dispeopled all the place chasing the inhabitants from the places of their inheritance But the just hand of God was visible and remarkable upon his posterity for this his grievous oppression for in this very New Forest his two Sons Richard by a pestilent air and King William Rufus by the shot of an Arrow and his Grandson Henry son of Duke Robert by hanging in a bough as Absolom came to their untimely ends 4. Anno Dom. 1570. at Ryâ— in Sussex there was a strange example of Gods judgements upon a covetous oppressive Gentleman and one that desired to grind the faces of the Poor This Gentleman living near the Sea had a Marsh wherein upon poles Fishermen used to dry their Nets for which he received of them yearly a sufficient sum of money but at length not being content with it he caused his servants to pluck up the poles not suffering the Fishermen to come upon his ground any longer except they would compound at a larger rate but it came to pass the same night that the Sea breaking in overwhelmed all his Marsh which saith Hollinshead continueth in that manner to this very day 5. Lucullus the Roman Consul visiting the Cities of Asia found the poor country afflicted and oppressed with so many evils and miseries as no man living could believe nor tongue express for the extream and horrible covetousness of the Farmers Customers and Roman Usurers did not only devour it but kept the people also in such miserable bondage and thraldome that Fathers were forced to sell their goodly Sons and Daughters ready for marriage to pay the interest and use money of that which they had borrowed to pay their fines withall yea they were forced to sell the Tables dedicated to the Temples the statues of their gods and other Ornaments and Jewels of their Temples and yet in the end they themselves were adjudged for bondslaves to their cruel Creditors to wear out their dayes in miserable servitude And yet the worst of all was the pain and torment they put them to before they were so condemned for some they imprisoned and cruelly racked others they tormented upon a little brazen Horse set them in the Stocks made them stand naked in the greatest heat of Summer and on the Ice in the deepest of Winter so that bondage seemed to them a relief of their miseries and a rest from their torments Lucullus found the Cities of Asia full of such oppressions whereof in a short time he exceedingly eased them 6. King Iohn of England was a great oppressour on a time a Jew refusing to lend this King so much mony as he required the King caused every day one of his great teeth to be pulled out by the space of seven dayes and then the poor Jew was content to give the King ten thousand marks of silver that the one tooth which he had left might not be pulled out The same King assaulting the chastity of the Daughter of Robert Fitzwater called Mawd the fair and by her repulsed he is said to send a messenger to give her poyson in a poached Egg whereof she died not long after he himself had but little better fate being poysoned at Swinestead Abbey 7. Luther reports that he being at Rome a great Cardinal died and left behind him great store of mony Before his death he had made his Will and laid it in a Chest where his mony was After his death the Chest was opened and therein by the mony was found written in Parchment Dum potui rapui rapiatis quando potestis I scrap'd together while I could That you should do so too I would 8. Five Brethren of the Marshalls successively Earles of Pembrook dyed issueless Which Mathew Paris attributeth to the judgement of God upon them for their Fathers iniquity who detained from the Bishop of Firning certain Manours which he had violently taken from him 9. Lewis the eleventh King of France having been a great oppressour of his Subjects by excessive Taxes and enforced Contributions when he grew old resolved to redress that and other mischiefs whereby they had been oppressed but was in a short time after this purpose prevented by death 10. Anno Dom. 1234. in the reign of King Henry the third there was a great dearth in England so that many people died for want of victuals At which time Walter Grey Arch-bishop of York had great store of Corn which he had hoarded up for five years together yet in that time of scarcity refused to relieve the poor with it but suspecting lest it might be destroyed with Vermine he commanded it to be delivered to Husband-men that dwelt in his Mannors upon condition to return him as much New Corn after Harvest but behold a terrible judgement of God upon him for his covetousness and unmercifulness to the poor When men came to one of his great Stacks of Corn near to the Town of Rippon there appeared in the sheaves all over the heads of Worms Serpents and Toads so that the Bayliffs were forced to build a high wall round about the Stack of Corn and then to set it on fire lest the venemous creatures should have gone out and poysoned the Corn in other places CHAP. XIII Of the bloody and cruel Massacres in several places and their occasions THe Naturalists tell us of a Serpent who is therefore called Haemorrhois that wheresoever he bites he makes the man all over bloody It seems his poyson hath a particular command over the blood so as to call it all into the outward parts of the body The vulgar rout and headstrong multitude when once it is enraged is such another kind of Serpent wheresoever the scene of its insolency is it makes it all over bloody This unbridled torrent bears all down before it and being transported with its own fury it knows no difference of age sex or degree till it hath converted a flourishing place into an Akeldama or a field of blood In the year 1506. in Lisbon upon the tenth day of April many of the City went to the Church of Saint Dominicks to hear Mass On the left side of this Church there is a Chapel much reverenced by those of the Country and called Iesus Chapel Upon the Altar there stands a Crucifix the wound of whose side is covered over with a piece of Glass Some of those that came thither to do their devotions casting their eyes upon this hole it seemed to them that a certain kind of glimmering light came forth of it Then happy he that could first cry a miracle and every one said that God
shewed the testimonies of his presence A Iew that was but lately become a Christian there denied that it was any miracle saying it was not likely that out of a dry piece of Wood there should come such a light Now albeit many of the standers by doubted of the miracle yet hearing a Jew deny it they began to murmure calling him wicked Apostate a detestable enemy to Jesus Christ and after they had sufficiently revileâ— him with words all the multitude foaming with anger fall upon him pluck off the hair of his head and beard tread upon him trail him into the Church-yard beat him to death and kindling a great fire cast the dead body into it All the residue of the people ran to this mutinous Company there a certain Fryer made a Sermon wherein he vehemently egged on his auditors to revenge the injury that our Lord had received The people mad enough of themselves were clean cast off of the hinges by this Exhortation besides this two other Fryers took and held up a Cross as high as they could cryed out Revenge Heresie Heresie down with wicked Heresie and destroy the wicked Nation Then like hungry Dogs they fall upon the miserable Jews cut the throats of a great number and drag them half dead to the fires many of which they made for the purpose They regarded not Age or Sex but murdered Men Women and Children they brake open doors rush into rooms dash out Childrens brains against the walls they went insolently into Churches to pluck out thence the little Children old Men and young Maids that had taken hold of the Altars the Crosses and Images of Saints crying misericordia mercy mercy there they either so murdered them presently or threw them out alive into the fire Many that carried the port and shew of Jews found themselves in great danger and some were killed and others wounded before they could make proof that they had no relation to them Some that bare a grudge to others as they met them did but cry Jews and they were presently beaten down without having any liberty or leasure to answer for themselves The Magistrates were not so hardy as to oppose themselves against the fury of the people so that in three dayes the Cut-throats killed above two thousand Jewish persons The King understanding the news of this horrible hurly burly was extreamly wroth and suddenly dispatched away Iaques Almeida and Iaques Lopez with full power to punish so great offences who caused a great number of the seditious to be executed The Fryers that had lift up the Cross and animated the people to murder were degraded and afterwards hanged and burnt The Magistrates that had been slack to repress this riot were some put out of Office and others fined the City also was disfranchized of many priviledges and honours 2. In the 1281 year since the birth of our Saviour when Charles of Anjoy reigned in Sicily his Souldiers all French men lying in Garisons in the Cities grew so odious to the Sicilians that they studied of nothing so much as how to be revenged and to free themselves from the yoke of the French The fittest and most resolute in this business was a Gentleman called Iohn Prochyto This Gentleman being justly provoked by the French who had forced his Wife and finding himself much favoured by the Sicilian Lords and Gentlemen begins by their counsel and support to build a strange design for the entrapping of all the French at once and abolishing for ever their memory in Sicilia All which was so secretly carried for eighteen months that ever since it hath been looked upon as a prodigious thing that a design of that nature could possibly be so long and safely concealed by so many people and so different in humour The watch-word or signal was that upon Easter-day when the Bell should begin to toll to Even-song all the Sicilians should presently run to arms and joyning together with one accord should fall upon all the French throughout Sicilia Accordingly all the Inhabitants of the Iâ—le were gathered together at the appointed hour and armed ran upon the French cut all their throats without taking so much as one prisoner or sparing the Children or Women gotten with Child by the French that they might utterly extinguish the whole race of them There were slain eight thousand at that time and there escaped but a very small number who fled into a Fort called Sperling where for want of victuals they were all starved to death This bloody Massacre is to this day called the Sicilian Even-song 3. Anno 1572. was the bloody Parisian Mattins wherein was spilt so much Christian blood that it flowed through the streets like rain water in great abundance and this butchery of Men Women and Children continued so long that the principal Rivers of the Kingdom were seen covered with murdered bodies and their streams so dyed and stained with humane blood that they who dwelt far from the place where this barbarous act was committed abhorred the waters of those Rivers and refused to use either it or to eat of the fish taken therein for a long time after This Tragedie was thus cunningly plotted A peace was made with the Protestants for assurance whereof a marriage was solemnized between Henry of Navarre chief of the Protestant party and the Lady Margaret the Kings Sister At this Wedding there assembled the Prince of Conde the Admiral Coligni and divers others of chief note but there was not so much Wine drank as blood shed at it At midnight the Watch-bell rung the King of Navarre and the Prince of Conde are taken prisoners the Admiral murdered in his bed and thirty thousand at the least of the most potent men of the Religion sent by the way of the Red Sea to find the nearest passage to the Land of Canaan 4. In the year 1311. and in the time of Pope Clement the fifth all the order of the Knights Templars being condemned at the Council of Vienna and adjudged to dye Philip the Fair King of France urged by the Pope and out of a covetous desire of store of Confications gave way for men to charge them with crimes and so these Innocents were put to death The Great Master of the Order together with two other of the principal Persons one whereof was Brother to the Dolphin of Viennois were publickly burnt together 5. Mithridates King of Pomus once a friend and confederate of the Romans and took their part against Aristonicus who would not consent to the admission of the Romans unto Pergamus according to the last will of King Attalus yet afterwards conceiving an ambitious hope to obtain the Monarchy of all Asia in one night he plotted and effected the death of all the Roman Souldiers dispersed in Anatolia to the number of one hundred and fifty thousand 6. The Massacre of the Frâ—nch Protestants at Merindol and Chabriers happened in the year 1545. the instrument of it being
recreate your eyes with the sweet pleasures of the Spring The Germans replied That they were not at all moved or affected with these feminine Ornaments that the time was now come wherein the Greeks must change their Gold for Iron for unless they should succeed in the Embassage they must expect to fight with men that do not glitter with Jewels as the Meadows with Flowers nor glory in their embroidered Garments as Peacocks in their Plumage but who as the true Sons of Mars in the fight would carry sparkles in their eyes and whose sweat-drops as they fell from them should resemble Oriental Pearls Thus they frighted these effeminate ones with their words and had done it much more with their blows but that the death of the Emperour Henry which soon after followed put a period to those purposes This was about Anno 1197. 9. Sir Walter Raleigh in great favour with Queen Elizabeth was observed in her Court to wear his Shoos so set with Pearls and Precious Stones that they were estimated to exceed the value of six thousand and six hundred Crowns 10. C. Caligula the Emperour in his Apparel Shoos and other habit did not alwayes wear what was according to the guise of his Country what was Civil Manlike no nor what was suiting with a mortal man He went sometimes attired in Cloaks of Needle-work embroidered with divers colours and set out with Precious Stones at others in a Coat with long Sleeves and with bracelets sometimes you should see him in Silks veiled all over in a loose Mantle of Tiffanie or transparent Linnen one while in Greekish Slippers or Buskins otherwhiles in a simple pair of Brogues or high Shoos now and then also in Womens Pantofles and Pumps For the most part he shewed himself abroad with a golden Beard carrying in his hand a Thunderbolt or three-forked Mace and Trident or else a Warder or Rod called Caduceus all of them the Ensigns and Ornaments of the Gods yea sometimes he went in the attire of Venus His triumphal Robes and Ensignes he always wore even before he made his Expedition or else the Cuirace of Alexander the Great which he had caused to be fetched out of his Sepulchre 11. Heliogabalus the Emperour excelled all others in his prodigious Luxury in this kind for his upper Garments were ever either of Gold or Purple or else the richest Silks that were procurable nay sometimes all beset with Jewels and Pearls which habit he was the first that brought up at Rome his Shoos were bedecked with Precious Stones and Pearle he never wore any Suit of Apparel twice He thought of wearing a Diadem made up with Jewels wherewith to set off his face and render his aspect more effeminate He sate commonly amongst Flowers or the most precious odours his excrements he discharged into Gold Vessels and Urined in Vessels of Onyx or Myrrhine pots He never swimmed but in Fishpools that were before hand replete with the Nobler Unguents and tinged with Saffron His Houshold-stuff was Gold or Silver his Bedsteads Tables and Chests of Massy Silver and so were his Cauldrons and other Pots and even these and the most part of his other Vessels had lascivious engravings represented on the sides of them 12. Anno 1582. the seventh of May a rich Merchants Daughter of Antwerp came to a fearful and lamentable end she being invited to a Wedding and intending to shew her self in her greatest gallantry sent for two Landresses to dress her Ruffs then greatly in fashion who bringing them home as well dressed as possibly they could yet not to the satisfaction of her foolish curiosity she in a great rage began to curse and swear and throwing the Ruffs on the ground wished the Devil might take her when she wore any of them again In which time by Gods permission the Devil in the shape of a Gallant her Suitor came to her and questioning the cause of her rage she told him how she was abused in setting her Ruffs He undertook to please her drest them she liking them put them on and looking in the Glass was very well pleased But while she was so doing the Devil kissed her and writhing her neck killed her Great preparations were made for her Burial and when four men went to move the Coffin they could not they opened the Coffin and instead of the Body which was gone there was seen sitting therein a black Cat very lean and deformed setting to great Ruffs and frizling of Hair to the great fear and wonder of the beholders CHAP. XIX Of Gaming and some mens expensiveness therein together with the wofull and dreadfull consequences of it ALexander the Great set a fine upon some of his Friends for that when they were playing at Dice he perceived they did not play for there are many who are concerned in this sport as if it was the most serious and weighty affair in the world We cannot say that they play who permit their whole fortunes yea sometimes their Wives and Children to the disposal of the Dice and great pity it is that such should be played with but rather that some exemplary punishment should be imposed upon so bold a prodigality 1. A Famous Gamester called Pimentel an Italian in the year 1603. came into France It is said and it is perfectly true that this Cavalier hearing what a humour of play reigned at the French Court caused a great number of false Dice to be made of which he himself only knew the high and the low runners hiring men to carry them into France where after they had bought up and conveyed away all that were in Paris he supplyed all the Shops with his own By which means having subjected the Spirit of Play and tyed the hands of Fortune he arrived at last in France where insinuating himself into the Court he was by some of his own Nation who had great interest there soon brought acquainted with the King and admitted as a Gamester Amongst others the Duke of Espernon was one from whom he drew considerable sums he got all his ready mony and many of his Jewels and after these wan of him a piece of Ambergriese to the value of twenty thousand Crowns the greatest that ever was seen in Europe and which the Republick of Venice to whom it was afterwards sold preserve to this day in their Treasury as a great rarity 2. Henry Cheney created by Queen Elizabeth Baron of Tuddington in Bedfordshire in his youth was very wild and venturous he played at Dice with Henry the Second King of France from whom he wan a Diamond of great price at one cast and being demanded by the King what shift he would have made to repair himself in case he had lost the cast I have said young Cheney in an Hyberbolical brave sheeps tails enough in Kent with their wool to buy a better Diamond than this 3. The Emperour Nero as he was excessively prodigal in his gifts so was he
of Arms. And because they were to go against a King who was no less mighty and puissant than warlike as was the King of France there ought to be a time to make necessary provision for a War of so great importance The Embassador presently to no purpose or reason added these words Anchio hodetto piâ— volte questo medesimo à sua sanctita which is to say And I have oftentimes said the same to his Holiness these words which shewed the will of the Embassadour to be different from that of his Prince gave great doubt and suspicion to the Kings Council and they began to doubt that the Embassadour was rather inclined to favour the King of France than the Pope his Master and setting secret Spies about him to observe his behaviour it was perceived that by night he spake secretly with the French Embassadour by which means he was undone and if he had fallen into the hands of the Pope he had peradventure put him to death However by his imprudent answer he both wronged himself and was the occasion that the King of England was constrained to begin the War sooner than he would who in deferring the succours had possibly accorded the controversie betwixt the Pope and the French King 7. Demaratus which should have succeeded in the Kingdom of Sparta was deprived thereof by Ariston his father for one only imprudent word uttered without consideration in the Senate Which was that news being brought unto him that he had a son born he counted upon his fingers how long his Wife had been with him and seeing that there were no more than sâ—ven Months and that usually women are delivered at nine he said It is not possible that he should be my son these words turned to the great damage of Demaratus for after the death of Ariston his father the Spartans refused to give him the Kingdom because the Ephori bare record that Ariston had said that it was not possible that Demaratus born at the end of seven Months should be his son and that he had bound it with an Oath 8. Renzo de Ceri a most honourable Captain in hâ—s time was in the pay and â—ervice of Lawrence de Medici against Francis Maria Duke of Vrbin This Captain was advertised that certain Spanish Captains had plotted a Treason to deliver the Duke of Vrbin into the hands of the Duke of Florence wherefore the said Renzo talking with a Drum demanded of him in jest and laughing but with great inconsideration When will these Spaniards deliver your Duke Prisoner The Drum made no answer but being returned to the Camp he reported to his Duke the words which Renzo had used to him without any necessity or reason wherefore the Duke of Vrbin having engraven them in his heart stood upon his guard and marked the behaviour of the Spanish Captains In the end through certain Letters and writings found amongst their Baggage the truth appeared and the Conspirators against Duke Francis were known who were committed to Prison and convict of Treason Thus Renzo was the cause why the Treason took no effect the Captains were dispatched and that Lawrence his Master made not so soon an end of the Wars as otherwise he might probably have done 9. Famous was the Contention between Chrysostom on the one part and Thâ—ophilus Cyril and Epiphanius on the other about the burning or not burning of Origens Books all good and great men yet they grow so hot that because Chrysostom would not consent to the burning Theophilus and Cyril would hardly acknowledge him a lawful Bishop and Epiphanius in bitter chiding fell to such choler as he said he hoped he should not die a Bishop To whom Chrysostom answered as eagerly again That he trusted he should never return alive into his own Country of Cyprus which chiding words were not so bitter in sound as afterwards they proved true indeed For both Epiphanius died before he gat home to Cyprus and Chrysostom being put out of his Bishoprick ended his life in banishment CHAP. XXI Of the dangerous and destructive curiosity of some men VEssalius was busied in the dissection of the body of a Person of Quality meaning to find out the root of that distemper which was supposed to have given him his death when to his grief he found that which he looked not for The heart panted and there appeared other convincing signs that the unfortunate Noble-man might have lived had not he been so unseasonably Butchered this cost the Anatomist much trouble and disgrace and it hath fallen out with many others in the like maâ—ner who while they have been gratifying their curiosity have occasioned irreparable injuries to themselves or others 1. Cornelius Agrippa living in Lorrain had a young man who Tabled with him one day being to go abroad he left the Keys of his Study with his Wife but with great charge to keep them safe and trust them to no man The youth over-curious of Novelty never ceased to importune the woman till â—he had lent him the Key to take view of his Library he entred it and light upon a Book of Conjurations wherein reading he straight hears a great bouncing at the door but not minding that he reads on the knocking grew greater and louder but he making no answer the Devil breaks open the door and enters enquires what he commands him to have done or why he was called the youth amazed and through extreme fear not able to answer the Devil â—eises upon him and wriths his neck in sunder Agrippa returns and finds the young man dead and the Devils insulting over the Corpse he retires to his Art and calls his Devil to an account of what had been done who told him all that had passed then he commanded the Homicide to enter the body and walk with him into the Market-place where the Students were frequent and after two or three turns there to forsake the body he did so the body falls down dead before the Scholars all judge the reason of it some sudden fit of an Apoplexy but the marks about his neck and jaws rendred it somewhat suspicious Agrippa concealed this story in Lorrain but being banished thence he afterwards feared not to publish it in Lorrain 2. The Emperour Carracalla had a curiosity to know the name of him who was most like to succeed him and employed one Maternianus to enquire amongst the Magicians of the Empire by whom accordingly he was advertised that Macrinus was to be the man the Letters being brought unto Carracalla as he was in his Charriot were by him delivered with the rest of his Pacquets to the hands of Macrinus who was Captain of his Guard and by his oâ—fice to attend upon the person of the Emperour that he might open them and signifie unto him the contents thereof at his better leisure Macrinus finding by these the danger in which he stood resolved to strike the first blow and to that end entrusted
yet this man was very ambitious of being thought to be a learned man 5. Baâ—â—a King of the Goths by a draught of Poyson given him by his successor Heringius utterly lost the use of his memory 6. In the reign of the Emperour Frederick the second one Germanus a Clerke having opened a vein whereat he might lose some blood together with it lost all memory of Learning nor could be better tell how to write or read than if he had never learnt either but in the mean time he still retained all other things A year together he continued in this Kind of oblivion till which is strange being let blood again at the same time of the year in the same place he was restored to his former knowledge of reading and writing 7. A certain Franciscan being recovered of a disease was suddenly so deprived of his memory that although he was an able Divine yet he did not understand the first Elements nor could he remember the names of those things which he daily used Four months did he thus continue and began to learn his Alphabet but by the use of powerful medicines he recovered all his former learning in the next four months 8. When Curio the Oratour was to plead in the behalf of Sex Naevius and Cicero was to do the like for Titinia Corta upon the sudden Curio forgat the whole cause and said it was occasioned by the witchcraft and enchantments of Titinia But the truth is he had naturally so frail a memory that sometimes propounding to insist upon three heads he would either add a fourth or have forgotten the third And in his writings usually he forgat what he had set down before 9. Hermogenes was born in Cilicia a Rhetorician of that account that he may challenge the next place to Aristotle he was scarce eighteen years old when he wrote the Art of Rhetorick which is yet extant He was in great reputation for his learning in the reign of Marcus Aurelius but being arrived to the twenty fourth year of his age he fell into an invincible and incurable stupidity of mind so that he forgat all manner of learning whereupon they used to say by way of jest Hermogenes was an old Man amongst Boyes and a Boy amongst old men he flourished Anno Christi 160. 10. Antonius of Siena being newly recovered of a disease did so perfectly forget all that he had before fixed in his memory that he remembred not so much as the names of things while he was at Florence he believed he was at Siena he knew not his friends from his enemies but called them by other names and therefore as a meer mad Man and Dotard he was left to Nature It was now twenty days since he was thus affected when a looseness took him wherein he voided blood green choler and other things and was thereby restored to his former memory though he remembred nothing of what he had done in the mean time 11. In Claâ—dius Caesar there was nothing that men wondered more at than his forgetfulness and inconsiderateness When Messalina his Empress was slain by his command as soon as he was sat down to Supper he enquired of the Servitors why their Lady did not come And many of those whom he had put to death the next day he invited into Council and to play at Dice and as if they made little haste he sent messengers to reprove them for their sloth 12. Thâ—anus writes of Theodore Beza that before he died when his mind was grown feeble he forgat things present but what was printed in his memory afore-time when he had his understanding that he held and it continued thus with him during the two years wherein he languished 13. So stupid and so dull of memory was Atticus the Son of Herod the Sophist that by no means he could be brought to retain the names of the first Elements or letters in the Alphabet His father to remedy this evil procured twenty four boyes of like age with his son and gave to each of them a sirname from the several letters that at least by this means he might instruct the gross capacity of his son 14. The Emperour Antoninus Caracalla had so profited in learning and Philosophy that he was numbred amongst the learned and used to employ a great part of the day in philosophical discourses and disputations But afterwards he was seised upon with so great a forgetfulness of all sorts of learning as if he had never had the least acquaintance with letters 15. When Theseus was about to sail into Creet with a purpose to encounter with the Minotaur there his father commanded him all the way in his Voyage thither to make use of black sails but in case he should be victorious in his return homewards he should then advance his white flags as the sure sign of his being a Conquerour Theseus utterly forgot all that his Father had given him in charge when therefore the careful old man stood almost continually upon the Rocks in a longing expectation of his Sons arrival at last he set his eye upon the ship which he knew but observing that the sails of it were black and concluding that his Son was perished in that his unfortunate enterprize as one who was not able to survive that which was once so dear and desirable to him he cast himself headlong from the Rock into the Sea and was there drowned 16. Conradus Lycosthenes in the year 1555. was suddenly taken with a dead Palsey on his right side by which he lost the use of his speech and though he retain'd his reason yet his memory was quite gone for divers dayes At last being restored to his wonted health he lived seven years with his memory as perfect and entire as ever CHAP. XXVI Of the absurd and strange follies of divers men SOme little deviations of any of the lesser lights would scarce be heeded by us but should the Sun make but one false step the eyes of almost all the world would be suddenly directed that way thus the follies of mean persons are lightly passed over whereas the impertinences of Princes and the dotages of great persons are as generally observed and censured as those foolish and ridiculous customes wherewith whole Nations at once have been tainted and infected 1. Amongst the Caribbians assoon as the wife is delivered the husband goes to bed to bemoan himself there and act the part of the woman in that condition but what is most troublesome to the poor Caribbian who hath put himself into bed instead of his new delivered wife is that they oblige him to a certain diet for ten or twelve dayes together allowing him every day only a little piece of Cassava and a little water wherein there had been boyled a little of that Root-bread afterwards his allowance is a little increased yet still continued in that same diet but he breaks the Cassava which is presented
Lord Thomas Seymour Admiral of England the other was the Dutchess of Sommerset Wife to the Lord Protector of England Brother to the Admiral These two Ladies falling at variance for precedence which either of them challenged the one as Queen Dowager the other as Wife to the Protector who then governed the King and all the Realme drew their Husbands into the quarrel and so incensed the one of them against the other that the Protector procured the death of the Admiral his Brother Whereupon also followed his own destruction shortly after For being deprived of the assistance and support of his Brother he was easily overthrown by the Duke of Northumberland who caused him to be convicted of Felony and beheaded 9. A famous and pernicious faction in Italy began by the occasion of a quarrel betwixt two Boys whereof the one gave the other a box on the Ear in revenge whereof the Father of the Boy that was stricken cut off the hand of the other that gave the blow whose Father making thereupon the quarrel his own sought the revenge of the injury done to his Son and began the Faction of the Neri and Bianchi that is to say Black and White which presently spread it self through Italy and was the occasion of spilling much Christian blood 10. A poor distressed wretch upon some business bestowed a long and tedious Pilgrimage from Cabul in India to Asharaff in Hircania where e're he knew how the success would be he rested his weary limbs upon a Field Carpet choosing to refresh himself rather upon the cool Grass than be tormented by those merciless vermine of Gnats and Muskettos within the Town but poor man he fell à malo in pejus from ill to worse for lying asleep upon the way at such time as Sha Abbas the Persian Monarch set forth to hunt and many Nobles with him his pampered Jade winded and startled at him the King examines not the cause but sent an eternal Arrow of sleep into the poor mans heart jesting as Iphicrates did when he slew his sleepy Sentinel I did the man no wrong I found him sleeping and asleep I left him The Courtiers also to applaud his Justice made the poor man their common mark killing him an hundred times over if so many lives could have been forfeiâ—ed 11. Anno 1568. the King of Sian had a white Elephant which when the King of Pegu understood he had an opinion of I know not what holiness that was in the Elephant and accordingly prayed unto it He sent his Ambassadors to the King of Sian offering him whatsoever he would desire if he would send the Elephant unto him but the King of Sian would not part with him either for love mony or any other consideration Whereupon he of Pegu was so moved to wrath that with all the power he could make he invaded the other of Sian Many hundred thousand men were brought into the field and a bloody Battle was fought wherein the King of Sian was overthrown his white Elephant taken and he himself made tributary to the Monarch of Pegu. 12. A needy Souldier under Abbas King of Persia draws up a Catalogue of his good services and closing it in his pressing wants humbly intreats the favour and some stipend from his god of war for such and such his exploits The poor man for his sawciness with many terrible bastinadoes on the soles of his feet was almost drubbed to death Besides Abbas enquires who it was that wrote it the Clerk made his apology but the King quarrelled at his scurvy writing and that he should never write worse makes his hand to be cut off CHAP. XLIII Of such as have been too fearful of death and over desirous of Life A Weak mind complains before it is overtaken with evil and as Birds are affrighted with the noise of the Sling so the infirm soul anticipates its troubles by its own fearful apprehensions and falls under them before they are yet arrived But what greater madness is there than to be tormented with futurities and not so much to reserve our selves to miseries against they come as to invite and hasten them towards us of our own accord The best remedy against this tottering state of the soul is a good and clear Conscience which if a man want he will tremble in the midst of all his armed guards 1. What a miserable life Tyrants have by reason of their continual fears of death we have exemplified in Dionysius the Syracusan who finished his thirty eight years Rule on this manner Removing his Friends he gave the custody of his body to some strangers and Barbarians and being in fear of Barbers he taught his Daughters to shave him and when they were grown up he durst not trust them with a Rasor but taught them how they should burn off his hair and Beard with the white filmes of Wallnut kernels Whereas he had two Wives Aristomache and Doris he came not to them in the night before the place was throughly searched and though he had drawn a large and deep Moat about the Room and had made a passage by a wooden Bridge himself drew it up after him when he went in Not daring to speak to the people out of the common Rostrum or Pulpit for that purpose he used to make Orations to them from the top of a Tower When he played at Ball he used to give his Sword and Cloak to a Boy whom he loved and when one of his familiar Friends had jestingly said You now put your life into his hands and that the Boy smiled he commanded them both to be slain one for shewing the way how he might be killed and the other for approving it with a smile At last overcome in Battle by the Carthaginians he perished by the treason of his own Subjects 2. Heraclides Ponticus writes of one Artemon a very skilful Engineer but withal saith of him that he was of a very timerous disposition and foolishly afraid of his own shadow so that for the most part of his time he never stirred out of his House That he had always two of his men by him that held a Brazen Target over his head for fear lest any thing should fall upon him and if upon any occasion he was forced to go from home he would be carryed in a Litter hanging near to the ground for fear of falling 3. The Cardinal of Winchester Henry Beaufort commonly called the Rich Cardinal who procured the death of the good Duke of Gloucester in the reign of King Henry the sixth was soon after struck with an incurable disease and understanding by his Physicians that he could not live murmuring and repining thereat as Doctor Iohn Baker his Chaplain and Privy-councellor writes he fell into such speeches as these Fye will not death be hired Will mony do nothing Must I dye that have so great Riches If the whole Realm of England would save my life I am able either
by policy to get it or by riches to buy it But the king of Terrors is not to be bribed by the Gold of Ophir it is a pleasure to him to mix the Brains of Princes and Politicians with common dust and how loth soever he was to depart yet go he must for he dyed of that disease as little lamented as desired 4. C. Mecaenas the great Friend and Favourite of Augustus was so soft and effeminate a person that he was commonly called Malcinus He was so much afraid of death that saith Seneca he had often in his mouth All things are to be endured so long as life is continued of which those Verses are to be read Debilem facito mami Debilem pede coxa Tuber adstrue gibberum Lubricos quate dentes Vita dum superest bene est Make me lame on either hand And of neither foot to stand Raise a bunch upon my back And make all my teeth to shake Nothing comes amiss to me So that life remaining be 5. The Emperour Domitian was in such fear of receiving death by the hands of his Followers and in such a strong suspicion of treason against him that he caused the Walls of the Galleries wherein he used to walk to be set and garnished with the stone Phengites to the end that by the light thereof he might see all that was done behind him 6. Lewis the eleventh King of France when he found himself sick sent for one Fryer Robert out of Calabria to come to him to Toures the man was a Hermit and famous for his sanctity and while in his last sickness this holy man lay at Plessis the King sent continually to him saying that if he pleased he could prolong his life He had reposed his whole confidence in Monsieur Iames Cothier his Physician to whom he gave monthly ten thousand Crowns in hope he would prolong his life Never man saith Comines feared death more than he nor sought so many wayes to avoid it as he did Moreover as he adds in all his life time he had given commandment to all his Servants as well to my self as others that when we should see him in danger of death we should only move him to confess himself and dispose of his Conscience not sounding in his ear this dreadful word Death knowing that he should not be able patiently to hear that cruel sentence His Physician aforesaid used him so roughly that a man could not have given his Servant so sharp language as he usually gave the King and yet the King so much feared him that he durst not command him out of his Presence For notwithstanding that he complained to divers of him yet durst he not change him as he did all his other servants because this Physician said once thus boldly to him I know that one day you will command me away as you do all your other Servants but you shall not live eight days after it binding it with a great Oath which word put the King in such fear that ever after he flattered him and bestowed such gifts upon him that he received from him in five months time fifty four thousand Crowns besides the Bishoprick of Amiens for his Nephew and other Offices and Lands for him and his Friends 7. Rhodius being through his unseasonable liberty of speech cast into a Den by a Tyrant was there nourished and kept as a hurtful beast with great torment and ignominy his hands were cut off and his face disfigured with wounds In this wretched case when some of his Friends gave him advice by voluntary abstinence to put an end to his miseries by the end of his days he replied that while a man lives all things are to be hoped for by him 8. Cn. Carbo in his third Consulship being by Pompeys order sent into Sicily to be punished begged of the Souldiers with great humility and with tears in his eyes that they would permit him to attend the necessity of nature before he dyed and this only that he might for a small space protract his stay in a miserable life He delayed the time so long till such time as his head was severed from his body as he sate in a nasty place 9. D. Iunius Brutus bought a small and unhappy moment of his life with great infamy for Antonius having sent Furius to kill him when he was taken he not only did withdraw his Neck from the Sword but being also exhorted to lay it down with more constancy he swore he would in these words As I live I will give but some wretched delay to my fate 10. A certain King of Hungary being on a time very sad his Brother a jolly Courtier would needs know of him what ailed him Oh Brother said he I have been a great sinner against God and I fear to dye and to appear before his Tribunal These are said his Brother melancholy thoughts and withal made a jest of them The King replyed nothing for the present but the custome of the Country was that if the Executioner came and sounded a Trumpet before any mans door he was presently to be led to execution The King in the dead time of the night sends the Headsman to sound his Trumpet before his Brothers door who hearing it and seeing the messenger of death springs in pale and trembling into his Brothers presence beseeching him to tell him wherein he had offended Oh Brother replyed the King you have never offended me but is the sight of my Executioner so dreadful and shall not I that have greatly and grievously offended God fear that of his that must carry me before his Judgement-Seat 11. Theophrastus the Philosopher is said at his death to have accused nature that she had indulged a long life to Stags and Crows to whom it was of no advantage but had given to man a short one to whom yet the length of it was of great concern for thereby the life of man would be more excellent being perfected with all Arts and adorned with all kind of Learning he complained therefore that as soon as he had begun to perceive these things he was forced to expire yet he lived to the eighty fifth year of his age 12. Mycerinus the Son of Cleops King of Egypt set open the Temples of the Gods which his Father Cleops and Uncle Cephrenes had caused to be shut up he gave liberty to the people who were before oppressed and reduced to extremity of â—alamity He was also a lover and doer of Justice above all the Kings of his time and was exceedingly beloved of his people But from the Oracle of the City Buti there was this prediction sent him that he should live but six years and dye in the seventh He resented this message ill and sent back to the Oracle reproaches and complaints expostulating that whereas his Father and his Uncle had been unmindful of the gods and great oppressors of men yet had they enjoyed a long
what he should do with a Spartan who knew of a Conspiracy that was formed against his Life but covering all in silence had not given him the least intimation thereof His Counsel was in this manner If said he thou hast formerly obliged him with any great benefit kill him immediately If not yet send him out of the Country as a man too timerous to be vertuous Thus the Ancients adjudged ingratitude to be punished with death and very worthily it deserved to be so at least in the person of him who follows 1. Humphrey Banister was brought up and exalted to promotion by the Duke of Buckingham his Master the Duke being afterwards driven to extremity by reason of the separation of his Army which he had Mustered against King Richard the Usurper sled to this Banister as his most trusty friend not doubting to be kept secret by him till he could find an opportunity to escape There was a thousand pound propounded as a reward to him that could bring forth the Duke and this ungrateful Traytor upon the hopes of this summ betrayed the Duke his Benefactor into the hands of Iohn Metton Sheriff of Shropshire who conveyed him to the City of Salisbury where King Richard then was and soon after the Duke was put to death But as for this perfidious Monster the vengeance of God fell upon him to his utter ignominy in a visible and strange manner for presently after his eldest son fell mad and died in a Boars Stye his eldest daughter was suddenly stricken with a foul Leprosie his second son became strangely deformed in his limbs and lame his youngest son was drowned in a puddle and he himself arraigned and found guilty of a murder was saved by his Clergy As for his thousand pounds King Richard gave him not a farthing saying That he who would be so untrue to so good a Master must needs be false to all other 2. Two young men of Sparta being sent thence to consult the Oracle of Apollo at Delphos in their Journey lodged at the house of one Scedasius in Leuctra a good man and much given to hospitality This Scedasus had two daughters beautiful Virgins upon whom these young men cast wanton eyes and resolved at their return to visit the same house they did so found Scedasus from home yet as kind entertainment from his daughters as they could desire in requital of which having found an opportunity they ravished them both and perceiving that they were all in grief and tears for the injury and dishonour done to them they added Murder to the Rape and threw them into a pit and so departed Not long after Scedasus came home and missing his daughters looked up and down for them at last a little Dog that he had came whining to him and ran out of doors as it were inviting him to follow him he did and the Dog brought him to the pit into which they were thrown He drew out his daughters and hearing by his Neighbours that the two young Spartans had been again at his house he concluded them the murderers Hereupon he went to Sparta to complain to the Magistrates of this barbarous cruelty he first opened his Cause to the Ephori and then to the Kings but to both in vain he therefore complained to the people but neither did he find any redress there wherefore with hands list up to Heaven he complained to the gods and then stab'd himself Nor was it long e're the Spartans were defeated in a great Battel by the Thebans in that very Leuctra and by the same deprived of the Empire of Greece which they had many years possessed It is said That the soul of Scedasus appeared unto Pelopidas one of the chief Captains amongst the Thebans incouraging him to give them Battel in those very Plains of Leuctra where he and his daughters lay buried telling him That their death should be there revenged 3. Pope Adrian the sixth having built a fair Colledge at Lovain caused this Inscription to be written upon the Gates of it in Letters of Gold Trajectum plantavit Lovanium rigavit Caesar dedit incrementum with an unworthy allusion to that of the Apostle Paul to the Corinthians Vtrecht planted me there he was born Lovain watered me there he was bred up in Learning and Caesar gave the increase for the Emperour had preferred him One that had observed this Inscription and withal his ingratitude to meet at once with that and his folly wrote underneath Hîc Deus nihil fecit Here God did nothing 4. When Tamberlain had overcome and taken Prisoner Bajazet the great Turk he asked him Whether he had ever given God thanks for making him so great an Emperour Bajazer consessed That he had never so much as thought upon any such thing To whom Tamberlain replyed That it was no wonder so ungrateful a man should be made a spectacle of misery For saith he you being blind of one eye and I lame of one leg what worth was there in us that God should set us over two such mighty Empires to command so many men far more worthy than our selves 5. When Xerxes had resolved upon his Expedition against Greece he caused his Army to make their Randezvous at Sardis in Lydia and when he had Assembled to the number of seventeen hundred thousand foot and 88000 Horse as he entred the body of Celaenas he was by one Pythius the Lydian entertained who out of his Flocks and Herds of Cattle gave food to Xerxes and his whole Army the Feast ended he also presented him with two thousand Talents of Silver and in Gold four millions wanting seven thousand of the Persian Darici which make so many of our Marks Then Pythius besought him to spare one of his five sons from his attendance into Greece because himself was old and had none whom he could so well trust as his own son But Xerxes like a barbarous and ungrateful Tyrant caused the body of the young man for whom his father had sought exemption to be sundred into two parts commanding that the one half of his Carkass should be laid on the right and the other half on the left-hand of the common way by which the Army was to march 6. That is a remarkable one that is reported by Zonaras and Cedrenus of the Emperour Basilius Macedo who being hunting as he much delighted in that exercise a great Stagg turned fâ—riously upon him and fastened one of the Brouches of his Horns into the Emperours Girdle and lifting him from his Horse bare him a distance off to the great danger of his life which when a Gentleman in the Train espyed he drew his sword and cut the Emperours Girdle by which means he was preserved and had no hurt at all But observe his reward The Gentleman for this act was questioned and adjudged to have his head struck off because he presumed to expose his drawn-sword so near the person of the Emperour and he suffered
in any thing to violate and infringe them 3. Draco was also before him a Law-giver at Athens whose Laws were antiquated by Solon by reason oâ— their severity and rigour for he punished all sorts of faults almost with death He that was convicted of Idleness died for it and he that had stolen an Apple or handful of Herbs was to abide the same sentence as iâ— hâ— had committed Sacriledge So that Demades afterwards said wittily That Draco's Laws were not written with Ink but blood They say that Draco himself being ask'd Why he punished even petty Larcenies with death made this answer That the smallest of them did deserve that and that there was not a greater punishment he could find out for greater Crimes 4. Zâ—molxis was the Law-giver of Thrace a Native of that Country who having been brought up under Pythagoras and returning home prescribed them good and wholsom Laws assuring them That if they did observe the same they should go unto a place when they left this World in which they should enjoy all manner of pleasure and contentment By this means having gotten some opinion of a Divinity amongst them he absented himself and was afterwards worshipped by them as a god 5. Diocles was the Law-giver of the Syracusans he punished offences with inexorable severity and for such as transgressed there was no hope of pardon Amongst others of his Laws this was one That no man should presume to enter armed into the Forum and Assembly of the people in case any should he should suffer death no exception being made in case of imprudence or any kind of necessity One day when the news was That the enemy had broke into their Fields Diocles hasted out against them with his Sword by his side Upon the way as he went it sell out That there was a Sedition and tumult amongst the people in their Assembly whither he imprudently diverts armed as he was when presently a private person that had observed him began to cry out That he had broken the Laws which himself had made Diocles turning towards his Accuser No said he with a loud voice but they shall now have their Sanction which said he drew out his Sword and thrust it through his own throat that he died 6. Zalencus was the Law-giver of the Locrians he made a Law That the Adulterer should be punished with the loss of both his eyes his own son happened to be the first offender in that kind therefore to shew the love of a Father and the sincerity of a Judge he put out one of his sons eyes and one of his own He also provided by his Laws That no woman should be attended in the Street with more than one Maid but when she was drunk That no woman should go abroad at night but when she went to play the Harlot That none should wear Gold or embroidered apparel but when they meant to set themselves to open sale And that men should not wear Rings and Tissues but when they went about some act of uncleanness and many others of this mould By means whereof both men and women were restrained from all extraordinary trains of attendance and excess of apparel the common consequents of a long and prosperous tranquillity 7. Charondas the Law-giver of the Thurians in Greece amongst others of his Laws had made this against civil factions and for prevention of sudden and tumultuary slaughters That it should be Capital for any man to enter the Assembly of the people armed with any weapon about him It fell out that as he returned from abroad he appointed a Convention of the people and like unto the forementioned Diocles appeared therein armed as he was When his opposers told him That he had openly broken the Law of his own making by entring the place in such manner as he did It is very true said he but withal I will make the first sanction of it and thereupon drawing his Sword he fell upon it so that he died in the place 8. Pharamond was the first King of the French and a Law-giver amongst them it is said That he was the Maker of the Law called the Salick Law by which the Crown of France may not descend unto the Females or as their saying is fall from the Lance to the Distaff Whence this Law had its name of Salique is uncertain some say from the words Si aliqua so often used in it others because it was proposed by the Priests called Salii or that it was decreed in the Fields which take their name from the River Sala But Haillan one of their best Writers affirms That it was never heard of in France till the time of Philip the long Anno 1315. Others say it was made by Charles the Great after the Conquest of Germany where the incontinent lives of the women living about the River Salae in the modern Misâ—ia gave both the occasion and the name De terrâ vero Salicâ nullae portio haereditatis mulieri veniat sed ad virilem sexum tota terrâ— haereditas perveniat are the words of the Law This terra Salica the Learned Selden in his Titles of Honour Englishes Knights Fee or Land holden by Knights Service and proves his Interpretation by a Record of the Parliament of Bourdeaux cited by Bodinus 9. King Richard the first of England as Lord paramount of the Seas immediately on his return from the Holy Land the Island of Oleron being then in his possession as a member of his Dukedom of Aquitaine did there declare and establish those Maritime Laws which for near five hundred years have generally been received by all the States of the Christian World which frequent the Ocean for the regulating of Sea affairs and deciding of Maritime Controversies From thence they are called the Laws of Oleron Quae quidem leges Statuta per Dominum Richardum quondam Regem Angliae in reditu à terrâ Sanctâ correcta fuerunt interpretata declarata in Insula de Oleron publicata nominata in Gallica Lingua la Loy d' Oleron c. saith an old Record which I â—ind cited in a Manuscript discourse of Sir Iohn Burroughs intituled the Soveraignty of the British Seas 10. Nicodorus was a famous Wrastler and Champion in his younger time but having taken leave of those youthful exercises and grown into years he became the Law-giver of the Mantineans amongst whom he lived and by the prudent composure of his Laws he brought much greater honour to his Country than when he was publickly proclaimed Victor in his former Atchievements It is said That the body of his Laws were framed for him by Diagoras Melius 11. Pittacus made Laws for the Mitylenians and having ten years presided amongst them after he had well setled the affairs of their Republick he voluntarily resigned up his power Amongst other his Laws this was one That he who committed a fault in his Drunkenness should undergo a double
the building of the City His first eleven Books are all that are extant in which he reaches to the two hundred and twelfth year of the City He â—lourished in the time of Augustus Caesar and is said to have lived in the Family of M. Varro 10. Polybius of Megalopolis was the Master Councellour and daily Companion of Scipio the younger who in the year of the World 3800. razed Carthage he begins his Roman History from the first Punick War and of the Greek Nation the Achaeans from the fortieth year after the death of Alexander the Great of forty Books he wrote but five are left and the Epitomes of twelve other in which he reaches to the Battel at Cynoscephale betwixt King Philip of Macedon and the Romans 11. Salustius wrote many Parts of the Roman History in a pure and quaint brevity of all which little is left besides the Conspiracy of Catiline oppressed by the Consul Cicero sixty years before the birth of Christ and the War of Iugurth managed by C. Marius the Consul in the forty fourth year before the Conspiracy aforesaid 12. Iulius Caesar hath wrote the History of his own Acts in the Gallick and Civil Wars from the 696 year ab V. C. to the 706. and comprized them in Commentaries upon every year in such a purity and beautiful propriety of expression and such a native candour that nothing is more terse polite more useful and accommodate to the framing of a right and perspicuous expression of our selves in the Latin Tongue 13. Velleius Paterculus in a pure and sweet kind of speech hath composed an Epitome of the Roman History and brought it down as far as the thirty second year after the birth of Christ that is the sixteenth year of Tiberius under whom he flourished and was Questor 14. Cornelius Tacitus under Adrian the Emperour was Praefect of the Belgick Gaul he wrote a History from the death of Augustus to the Reign of Trajan in thirty Books of which the five first contain the History of Tiberius the last eleven Books from the eleventh to the twenty first which are all that are extant reach from the eighth year of Claudius to the beginning of Vespasian and the besieging of Ierusalem by Titus which was Anno Dom. 72. He hath comprised much in a little is proper neat quick and apposite in his stile and adorns his discourse with variety of Sentences 15. Suetonius was Secretary to Adrian the Emperour and in a proper and concise stile hath wrote the Lives of the twelve first Emperours to the death of Domitian and the ninety eighth year of Christ he hath therein exactly kept to that first and chief Law of History which is That the Historian should not dare to set down any thing that is false and on the other side That he have courage enough to set down what is true It is said of this Historian That he wrote the Lives of those Emperours with the same liberty as they lived 16. Dion Cassius was born at Nice in Bythinia he wroâ—e the History of nine hundred eighty one years from the building of Rome to Ann. Dom. 231. in which year he was Consul with Alexander Severus the Emperour and finished his History in eighty Books of all which scarce twenty â—ive Books from the thirty sixth to the sixty first and the beginning of Nero are at this time extant 17. Herodianus wrote the History of his own time from the death of M. Antoninus the Philosopher or the year of Christ 181. to the murder of the Gordiani in Africa Ann. Dom. 241. which is rendred purely into Latin by Angelus Politianus 18. Iohannes Zonaras of Byzantium wrote a History from Augustus to his own times and the year of our Lord 1117. the chief of the Oriental Affairs and Emperours he hath digested in the second and third Tomes of his Annals from whence Cuspinianus and others borrow almost all that they have Zonaras is continued by Nicaetas Gregoras and he by Chalcâ—ndylas 19. Eutropius wrote the Epitome of the Roman History in ten Books to the death of Iovinian Anno Dom. 368. He was present in the Expedition of Iulian into Persia and flourished in the Reign of Valens the Emperour 20. Ammianus Marcellinus a Grecian by birth War'd many years under Iulian in Gallia and Germany and wrote the History of the Romans in thirty one Books the fourteenth to the thirty first are all that are extant wherein at large and handsomely he describes the acts of Constantius Iulian Iovinian Valentinian and Valens the Emperours unto the year of Christ 382. 21. Iornandes a Goth hath wrote the History of the Original Eruptions Families of their Kings and principal Wars of the Goths which he hath continued to his own time that is the year of our Lord 550. 22. Procopius born at Caesarea in Palestine and Chancellour to Belisarius the General to Iustinian the Emperour being also his Councellour and constant companion in seven Books wrote the Wars of Belisarius with the Persians Vandals and Goths wherein he also was present 23. Agathias of Smyrna continues Procopius from the twenty seventh of Iustinian Anno Dom. 554. to the end of his Reign Anno Dom. 566. the Wars of Narses with the Goths and Franks with the Persians at Cholchiâ— wherein he recites the Succession of the Persian Kings from Artaxerxes who Anno Dom. 230. seised on the Parthian Empire to the Reign of Iustinian Anno Dom. 530. and in the end treats of the irruption of the Hunnes into Thrace and Greece and their repression by Belisarius now grown old 24. Paulus Diaconus of Aquileia Chancellour to Desiderius King of the Lombards Writes the entire History of the Lombards to Ann. Dom. 773. in which Charles the Great took Desiderius the last King and brought Lombardy under his own power 25. Haithonus an Armenian many years a Souldier in his own Country afterwards a Monk at Cyprus coming into France about the year of Christ 1307. was commanded by Pope Clement the fifth to write the Empire of the Tartars in Asia and the Description of other oriental Kingdoms 26. Laonicus Chalchondylas an Athenian wrote the History of the Turks in ten Books from Ottoman Anno 1300. to Mahomet the second who took Constantinople Anno Dom. 1453. and afterwards continued his History to Ann. 1464. 27. Luiâ—prandus of Ticinum wrote the History of the principal Affairs in all the Kingdoms of Europe in his time at most of which he himself was present his History is comprised in six Books and commencing from Anno Dom. 891. extends to Ann. Dom. 963. 28. Sigebert a Monk in a Abby in Brabant wrote his Chronicon from the death of Valens the Emperour or Anno Dom. 381. to the Empire of Henry the fifth Anno Dom. 1112. wherein he hath digested much of the French and British Affairs and acts of the German Emperours 29. Saxo Grammaticus Bishop of the Church of Rotschilden wrote the Danish History from utmost Antiquity to his
own time and King Canutus the sixth almost to the year of Christ 1200. but more like a Poet than Historian commonly also omitting an account of the time 30. Conradus Abbot of Vrsperga a Monastery in Suevia as worthy of reading as any of the German Writers hath described the Affairs of Germany beginning two hundred years after the Flood and carrying on his relation to the twentieth year of Frederick the second that is Anno Dom. 1230. 31. Iohannes Aventinus wrote the Annals of the Boii and memorable matters of the Germans in seven Books beginning from the Flood and continuing his History to Ann. 1460. 32. Iohannes Nauclerus born not far from Tubinga hath an intire Chronicon from the beginning of the World to his own time and the year of our Lord 1500. in two Volums 33. Albertus Crantzius hath brought down the History of the Saxons Vandals and the Northern Kingdoms of Denmark Sweden Gothland and Norway to Ann. 1504. 34. Iohannes Sleidanus hath faithfully and plainly written the History of Luther especially and the contests about matters of Religion in the Empire of Germany the Election and Affairs of Charles the fifth Emperour and other of divers of the Kings of Europe from Anno Dom. 1517. to Ann. 1556. 35. Philippus Comineus wrote five Books of the Expedition of Charles the eighth into Italy and Naples and eight Books of the Acts of Lâ—wis the eleventh and Charles Duke of Burgundy worthy to be read of the greatest Princes 36. Froisardus wrote the sharp Wars betwixt the French and English from Anno 1335. to Ann. 1400. 37. Hiâ—ronymus Osorius wrote the Navigation of the Portugals round Africa into India and the Acts of Emanuel King of Portugal from Anno 1497. to his death in twelve Books 38. Antonius Bonfinius in four Decades and an half hath wrote the History of the Hungarian Kings to the death of Matthias the son of Huniades and the beginning of the Reign of Vladislaus 39. Polydor Virgil hath wrote the History of England in twenty six Books to the death of Henry the seventh 40. Iustinus flourished Anno Christi 150. and wrote a compendious History of most Nations from Ninus the Assyrian King to the twenty fifth year of Augustus compiled out of forty four Books of Trogus Pompeius a Roman Ecclesiastical Writers I have here no room for but am content to have traced thus far the steps of David Chytraeus in his Chronology whose help I have had in the setting down of this Catalogue CHAP. IX Of the most famous and ancient Greek and Latin Poets THE Reader hath here a short account of some of the most eminent of Apollo's old Courtiers as they succeeded one another in the favour of the Muses not but that those bright Ladies have been I was about to say equally propitious to others in after-times nor is it that we have given these only a place here as if our own Land were barren of such Worthies Our famous Spencer if he was not equal to any was superiour to most of them of whom Mr. Brown thus He sung th' Heroick Knights of Fairy Land In lines so elegant and such command That had the Thracian plaid but half so well He had not left Eurydice in Hell But it is fit we allow a due reverence to Antiquity at least be so ingenuous as to acknowledge at whose Torches we have lighted our own The first of these Lights 1. Orpheus was born in Libethris a City of Thrace the most ancient of all Poets he wrote the Expedition of the Argonauts into Colchis in Greek Verse at which he was also present this Work of his is yet extant together with his Hymns and a Book of Stones The Poets make him to be the Prince of the Lyricks of whom Horace in his Book De Arte Poeticâ Sylvestres homines sacer interpresque deorum Caedibus foedo victu deterruit Orpheus Dictus ob hoc lenire Tygres rabidosque leones His Father was Oeagrus his Mother Caliopea and his Master was Linus a Poet and Philosopher Orpheus is said to have flourished Anno Mundi 2737. Vid. Quenstedt Dial. de Patr. vir illustr p. 453. Voss. de Nat. Constit. artis Poet. cap. 13. sect 3. p. 78. Patrit de Instit. reipub l. 2. tâ— 6. p. 83. 2. Homerus the Prince of Poets born at Colophon as Cluverius doubts not to affirm but more Cities besides that strove for the honour according to that in Gellius Septem urbes certant de stirpe illustris Homeri Smyrna Rhodos Colophon Salamis Ios Argos Athenae Many are the Encomiums he hath found amongst learned men as The Captain of Philosophy The first Parent of Antiquity and Learning of all sorts The original of all rich Invention The Fountain of the more abstruse Wisdom and the father of all other Poets à quo cen fonte perenni Vatum Pieriis ora rigantur aquis Of him this is part of Quintilians Charaâ—ter In great things no man excelled him in sublimity nor in small matters in propriety In whom saith Paterculus this is an especial thing that before him there was none whom he could imitate and after him none is found that is able to imitate him He flourished Anno Mund. 3000. Vid. Quenstedt dialog p. 483. Gell. Noct. Attic. lib. 3. cap. 11. p. 104. Quintil. instit orator lib. 10. cap. 1. p. 466. 3. Hesiodus was born at Cuma a City in Aeolia bred up at Ascra a Town in Boeotia a Poet of a most elegant genius memorable for the soft sweetness of his Verse called the son of the Muses by Lipsius the purest Writer and whose labours contain the best Precepts of Vertue saith Heinsuis Some think he was contemporary with Homer others that he lived an hundred years after him I find him said to flourish Anno Mundi 3140. Vid. Quintil. instit orat lib. 10. cap. 1. p. 466. Vell. Pâ—tercul hist. lib. 1. ...... Voss. de Poet. Graec. cap. 2. p. 9. Quenstedt dial p. 478. 4. Alcaeus a famous Lyrick Poet was born in the Isle of Lesbos in the City of Miâ—ylene whence now the whole Isle hath its name what Verses of his are left are set forth by Henricus Stephanus with those of the rest of the Lyricks Quintilian saith of him That he is short and magnificent in his way of speaking diligent and for the most part like Homer he flourished Olymp. 45. Vid. Quenstedt dialog p. 433. Quintil. instit orat lib. 10. cap. 1. p. 468. 5. Sappho an excellent Poetress was born in the Isle of Lesbos and in the City of Eraesus there she was called the ninth Lyrick and the tenth Muse she wrote Epigrams Elegies Iamâ—icks Monodies and nine Books of Lyrick Verses and was the Invetress of that kind of Verse which from her is called the Sapphick she attained to no small applause in her contention first with Stesichorus and then with Alcaeus she is said to flourish about the 46 Olympiad Voss. Instâ—t Poet. lib. 3. cap. 15. p.
Poet. Lat. cap. 2. p. 26. Quenstedt dial p. 382. Quintil. de Instit. orator l. 10. c. 1. p. 472. 10. Publ. Ovidius Naso was born at Sulmo an old Town of the Peligni in Italy thus saith he himself Trist. lib. 4. Eleg. 10. Sulmo mihi patria est gelidis uberrimus undis Millia qui novies distat ab urbe decem He excels all others in Elegy and therefore by Dempster is called The Prince of Elegy in the judgement of Seneca he is a most ingenious Poet had he not reduced that plenty of wit and matter into childish toyes his Medaea saith Quintilian shews how much that man was able to perform had he chose rather to govern than indulge his wit he died in his banishment and is buried near the Town of Tomos he flourished Anno Dom. 4. Quintil. de Instit. orator lib. 10. cap. 1. p. 473. Voss. de Poet. Lat. cap. 2. p. 29. Senec. nat Quaest. cap. 27. p. 11. C. Valerius Catullus was born at Verona of no obscure Parentage for his father was familiar with Iulius Caesar and he himself was so accepted at Rome for the facility of his wit and learning that he merited the Patronage of Cicero as he himself acknowledges with thanks He loved Clodia whom by a feigned name he calls Lesbia Martial prefers him before himself he died at Rome in the thirtieth year of his age and that was commonly said of him Tantum parva suo debet Verona Catullo Quantum magna suo Mantua Virgilio He flourished Olympiad 180. Anno Dom. 40. Voss. de Poet. Lat. cap. 1. p. 14. Gell. noct Attic. lib. 7. cap. 20. p. 220. 12. Albius Tibullus of an Equestrian Family in Rome a Poet famous for his Elegies in which he was the first amongst the Romans that excel'd saith Vossius he was in familiarity with Horace and Ovid. He loved Plancia under the feigned name of Delia whereas he was very rich by the iniquity of the times he complains he was reduced to poverty he composed four Books of Elegies and died young for the elegancy of his Verse it is said of him Donec erunt ignes arcusque Cupidinis arma Discentur numeri culte Tibulle tui He flourished A. ab V. C. 734. Quenste dt dial p. 369. Petr. Crinit de Poet. Lat. lib. 3. p. 71. 13. Sex Aurel. Propertius was born in Mevania a Town in Vmbria as he himself somewhere saith Vt nostris tumefacta superbiat Vmbria libris Vmbria Romani patria Callimachi He complains that he was put out of his fathers Lands in that division that was made amongst the Souldiers of the Triumvirate The true name of his Cynthia was Hostia saith Apuleius We have four Books of his Elegies some write that he died in the forty first year of his age he flourished with Ovid Catullus and Tibullus Petr. Crinit de Poet. Lat. lib. 3. p. 71. Voss. de Poet. Lat. cap. 2. p. 31. 14. Cornelius Gallus born at Forojulium was an Oratour and famous Poet from a mean fortune he was received into the friendship of Augustus and by him made the first President of Aegypt when it was become a Roman Province Through his discourse in his Wine at a Feast he came into suspicion of a Conspiratour and being turn'd over to the Senate to be condemn'd for very shame he slew himself in the sixty third year of his age he wrote four Book of Elegies his Lycoris was one Cytheris a freed Maid of Volumnius most of his Writings are lost he flourished Olympiad 188. Voss. de Poet. Lat. cap. 2. p. 25. 15. Decius Iunius Iâ—venaliâ— was born at Aquinum in Italy he spent his studies in writing Satyres following the examples of Lucilius and Horace in which kind he hath gained no mean reputation amongst the learned The Prince of Satyrists saith I. Scaliger his Verses are far better than those of Horace his Sentences are sharper and his phrase more open having offended Paris the Pantomime at eighty years of age in shew of honour he was made Prefect of a Cohort and sent into Aegypt he flourished Anno Dom. 84. Quenstedt dial p. 372. Voss. de Poet. Lat. cap. 3. p. 41. 16. A. Persius Flaccus was born at Volaterra an ancient and noble City in Italy seated by the River Caecina He wrote Satyres wherein he sharply taxes the corrupted and depraved manners of the Citizens of Rome sustaining the person of a Philosopher while he severely reprehends he is instructive much he borrowed out of Plato saith Chytraeus by some he is under censure for his obscurity he flourished in the Reign of Nero Anno Dom. 64. died in the twenty ninth year of his age about the 210 Olympiad Quenstedt dial p. 322. Voss. de Poâ—t Lat. cap. 3. p. 41. 17. N. Valer. Martialis was born at Bilbilis in Celâ—iberia in the Reign of Claudius the Emperour At twenty years age he came to Rome under Nero and there continued thirty five much favoured by Titus and Domitian He was Tribune and of the Order of Knights in Rome after Domitian's death he was not in the like honour and therefore in Trajans time return'd into his own Country and there having wrote his twelfth Book of Epigrams weary of his Country and Life as being ill treated by his Country-men he deceased Voss. de Poet. Lat. cap. 3. p. 46. 18. Statius Papinius born at Naples lived under Domitian he left five Books Sylvarum twelve Thebaidos five Achilleidos Martial liked not that he was so much favoured and in his Writings never mentions him Voss. de Poet. Lat. cap. 3. p. 45. 19. Ausonius the Poet and also Consul at Rome was born in Gascony at Burdigala now called Burdeaux at he tells us himself thus Diligo Burdigalam Roman colo civis in illa Consul in ambabus cunae hic ibi sella curulis Scaliger saith of him That he had a great and acute wit he Stile is somewhat harsh he flourished Anno Dom. 420. Quenstedt dial p. 36. Voss. de Poet. Lat. cap. 4. p. 55. 20. Marcellus Palingenius wrote the Zodiack of like that is of the right way of institution of the life study and manners of men in twelve Books a Work of great Learning and Philosophical he flourished Anno Dom. 1480. Quenstedt dial p. 392. 21. Baptista Mantuanus Sirnamed Hispaniolus a Monk and excellent Poet to whom Mantua gave both birth and name he was accounted the almost only Poet in his age and another Maro he taxed with great freedom and liberty the corruption of the Roman Church the impiety and villanies of the Popes amongst others he thus writes of the Simony and Covetousness of the Popes Venalia nobis Templa Sacerdotes altaria sacra coronae Ignis Thura preces coelum est venale Deusque He wrote divers Verses in praise of the Saints and other excellent Books and flourished Anno Dom. 1494. Quenstedt dial p. 300. CHAP. X. Of Musick the strange efficacy of it and the most famous Musicians THere are four sorts of
amongst them that was stirred up by vision whose name was Cangius and it was on this manner There appeared to him in a dream a certain person in Armour sitting upon a white Horse who thus spake to him Cangius it is the will of the Eternal God that thou shortly shalt be the King and Ruler of the Tartars that are called Malgotz thou shalt free them from that servitude under which they have long groaned and the neighbour Nations shall be subjected to them Cangius in the morning before the seven Princes and Elders of the Malgotz rehearses what he had dreamed which they all at the first looked upon as ridiculous but the next night all of them in their sleep seemed to behold the same person he had told them of and to hear him commanding them to obey Cangius Whereupon summoning all the people together they commanded them the same and the Princes themselves in the first place took the Oath of Allegiance to him and intituled him the first Emperour in their language Chan which signifies King or Emperour All such as succeeded him were aâ—ter called by the same name of Chan and were of great Fame and Power This Emperour freed his people subdued Georgia and the greater Armenia and afterwards wasted Polonia and Hungary 5. Antigonus dreamed that he had sowed Gold in a large and wide field that the seed sprang up flourished and grew ripe but that streight after he saw all this golden harvest was reaped and nothing left but the worthless stubble and stalks and then he seemed to hear a voice that Mithridates was fled into the Euxine Pontus carrying along with him all the golden harvest This Mithridates was descended of the Persian Magi and was at this time in the Retinue of this Antigonus King of Macedonia his Country of Persia being conquered and his own Fortunes ruined in that of the publick The dream was not obscure neither yet the signification of it The King therefore being awaked and exceedingly terrified resolves to cut off Mithridates and communicates the matter with his own Son Demetrius exacting of him a previous oath for his silence Demetrius was the Friend of Mithridates as being of the same age and by accident he encounters him as he came from the King The young Prince pities his Friend and would willingly assist him but he is restrained by the reverence of his oath Well he takes him aside and with the point of his Spear writes in the sand Fly Mithridates which he looking upon and admonished at once with those words and the countenance of Demetrius he privily flies into Cappadocia and not long after founded the famous and potent Kingdom of Pontus which continued from this man to the eighth descent that other Mithridates being very difficulty overthrown by all the Power and Forces of the Romans 6. The night before the Battel at Philippi Artorius or as others M. Antonius Musa Physician to Octavianus had a dream wherein he thought he saw Minerva who commanded him to tell Octavianus that though he was very sick he should not therefore decline his being present at the Battel which when Caesar understood he commanded himself to be carried in his Litter to the Army where he had not long remained before his Tents were seised upon by Brutus and himself also had been had he not so timely removed 7. Quintus Catulus a noble Roman saw as he thought in his depth of rest Iupiter delivering into the hand of a child the Ensign of the Roman People and the next night after he saw the same child hug'd in the bosome of the same God Whom Catulus offering to pluck from thence Iupiter charged him to lay no violent hands on him who was born for the Weal and preservation of the Roman Empire The very next morning when Q. Catulus espy'd by chance in the street Octavianus then a child afterwards Augustus Caesar and perceiving him to be the same he ran unto him and with a loud acclamation said Yes this is he whom the last night I beheld hug'd in the bosome of Iupiter 8. Iulius Caesar was excited to large hopes this way for he dreamed that he had carnal knowledge of his Mother and being confounded with the uncouthness of it he was told by the Interpreters that the Empire of the World was thereby presaged unto him for the Mother which he beheld subject unto him was no other than that of the Earth which is the common Parent of all men 9. Arlotte the Mother of William the Conquerour being great with him had a dream like that of Mandane the Mother of Cyrus the first Persian Monarch namely that her bowels were extended and dilated over all Normandy and England 10. Whilst I lived at Prague saith an English Gentleman and one night had sate up very late drinking at a Feast early in the morning the Sun-beams glancing on my face as I lay in my bed I dreamed that a shadow passing by told me that father was dead At which awaking all in a sweat and affected with this dream I rose and wrote the day and hour and all circumstances thereof in a Paper-book which Book with many other things I put into a Barrel and sent it from Prague to Stode thence to be conveyed into England And now being at Nuremberg a Merchant of a noble Family well acquainted with me and my Relations arrived there who told me that my father dyed some two months past I list not to write any lies but that which I write is as true as strange when I returned into England some four years after I would not open the Barrel I sent from Prague nor look into the Paper-book in which I had written this dream till I had called my Sisters and some other Friends to be witnesses where my self and they were astonished to see my written dream answer the very day of my fathers death 11. The same Gentleman saith thus also I may lawfully swear that which my Kinsmen have heard witnessed by my Brother Henry whilst he lived that in my youth at Cambridge I had the like dream of my mothers death where my Brother Henry lying with me early in the morning I dreamed that my mother passed by with a sad countenance and told me that she could not come to my Commencement I being within five months to proceed Master of Arts and she having promised at that time to come to Cambridge when I related this dream to my Brother both of us awaking together in a sweat he protested to me that he had dreamed the very same and when we had not the least knowledge of our mothers sickness neither in our youthful affections were any whit affected with the strangeness of this dream yet the next Carrier brought us word of our mothers death 12. Doctor Ioseph Hall then Bishop of Exeter since of Norwich speaking of the good offices which Angels do to Gods servants Of this kind saith he was that
very time he was carried out in a Cart towards the gate all covered with dung The man overcome with these entreaties of his friend â—mmediately runs out to the gate where he finds the Cart he had seen in his dream he seiâ—es and searches it finds there the body of his friend and drags the Inn-keeper to his deserved punishment 23. Upon a Sally made upon some of the Forces of Alexander the Great out of Harmata a City of the Brachmans many of his Souldiers were wounded with empoysoned Darts and as well those that were lightly as those that were deeper wounded daily perished Amongst the wounded was Ptolomy a great Captain and exceeding dear to Alexander when therefore in the night he had been solicitous about his welfare as one whom he tenderly loved he seemed in his sleep to see a Dragon holding a certain herb in his mouth and withal informing him both of the virtue it had and of the place where it grew He rises finds the herb bruises it and applies it to Ptolomy's Wound and by this means that great Ancestor of the Royal Family in Egypt was speedily restored 24. A rich Vessel of Gold being stolen out of the Temple of Hercules Sophocles by a Genius was shewed the resemblance and name of the Thief in his sleep which for the first and second time he neglected but being troubled a third night he went to the Areopagi to whom he made relation of what had passed They upon no other evidence summoned the party before them who after strict examination confessed the fact and made restitution of the Vessel For which discovery the Temple was ever after called Templum Herculis Indicis The Temple of Hercules the Discoverer 25. When Marcus Cicero was forced into Exile by an opposite Faction while he abode at a Village in the fields of Atinas in his sleep he thought that while he wandred through desert places and unknown Countries he met with C. Marius in all his Consular Ornaments and that he asked him wherefore his countenance was so sad and whither he intended that uncertain journey of his And when he had told him of his misfortune he took him by the right hand and gave him to the next Lictor with command to lead him into his Monument in as much as there was reserved for him a more happy Fortune and change of his condition Nor did it otherwise come to pass For in the Temple of Iupiter erected by Marius there it was that the Senate passed the Decree for the return of Cicero from his Exile 26. In the year of our Redemption 1553. Nicholas Wotton Dean of Canterbury being then Embassador in France dreamed that his Nephew Thomas Wotton was inclined to be a party in such a project as if he were not suddenly prevented would turn to the loss of his life and ruine of his family The night following he dreamed the same again and knowing that it had no dependence upon his waking thoughts much less on the desires of his heart he did then more seriously consider it and resolved to use so prudent a remedy by way of prevention as might introduce no great inconvenience to either party And to this end he wrote to the Queen it was Queen Mary and besought her that she would cause his Nephew Thomas Wotton to be sent for out of Kent and that the Lords of her Council might interrogate him in some such feigned questions as might give a colour for his Commitment into a favourable Prison declaring that he would acquaint Her Majesty with the true reason of his request when he should next become so happy as to see and speak with Her Majesty It was done as the Dean desired and Mr. Wotton sent to Prison At this time a Marriage was concluded betwixt our Queen Mary and Philip King of Spain which divers persons did not only declare against but raised Forces to oppose of this number Sir Thomas Wyat of Bexley Abbey in Kent betwixt whose Family and that of the Wottons there had been an ancient and entire friendship was the principal Actor who having perswaded many of the Nobility and Gentry especially of Kent to side with him and being defeated and taken Prisoner was arraigned condemned and lost his life so did the Duke of Suffolk and divers others especially many of the Gentry of Kent who were then in several places executed as Wyats assistants And of this number in all probability had Mr. Wotton been if he had not been confined For though he was not ignorant that another mans treason is made mine by concealing it yet he durst confess to his Uncle when he returned into England and came to visit him in Prison that he had more than an intimation of Wyats intentions and thought he had not continued actually innocent if his Uncle had not so happily dreamed him into a Prison 27. This forementioned Thomas Wotton also a little before his death dreamed that the University Treasury was rob'd by Townsmen and poor Scholars and that the number was five and being that day to write to his Son Henry at Oxford he thought it was worth so much pains as by a Postcript in his Letter to make a slight inquiry of it The Letter which was writ out of Kent came to his Sons hands the very morning after the night in which the robbery was committed and when the City and University were both in a perplexed inquest after the Thieves then did Sir Henry Wotton shew his Fathers Letter and by it such light was given of this work of darkness that the five guilty persons were presently discovered and apprehended without putting the University to so much trouble as the casting of a figure 28. Aristotle writeth of one Eudemus his familiar Friend who travelling to Macedonia came to the noble City of Phaecas in Thessaly then groaning under the immanity of the barbarous Tyrant Alexander In which place falling sick and being forsaken of all the Physicians as one desperate of recovery he thought he saw a young man in his dream who told him that in a short space he should be restored to his health that within a few days the Tyrant should be removed by death and that at the end of five years he himself should return home into his Country The two first happened accordingly but in the fifth year when encouraged by his dream he had hope to return from Sicily into Cyprus he was engaged by the way in a Battel fought against the Syracusans and there slain It seems the soul parting from the body is said to return into its own Country 29. Actia the Mother of Augustus the day before she was delivered of him dreamed that her bowels were carried up as high as Heaven it self and that there they were spread out in such manner that they covered the whole Earth a notable presignification of the mighty Empire and Grandeur which her Son afterwards attained unto 30. When Themistocles lived
Queen answered And I hope to see your Pope both which prophetick Complements proved true and within a short time one of another 3. I have spent some inquiry saith Sir Henry Wotton whether the Duke of Buckingham had any ominous presagement before his end wherein though ancient and modern stories have been infected with much vanity yet oftentimes things fall out of that kind which may bear a sober construction whereof I will glean two or three in the Dukes case Being to take his leave of my Lord his Grace of Canterbury then Bishop of London after courtesies of course had passed betwixt them My Lord says the Duke I know your Lordship hath very worthily good successes unto the King our Soveraign let me pray you to put His Majesty in mind to be good as I no ways distrust unto my poor Wife and Children At which words or at his countenance in the delivery or at both my Lord Bishop being somewhat troubled took the freedom to ask him if he had never any secret abodement in his mind No replied the Duke but I think some adventure may kill me as well as another man The very day before he was slain feeling some indisposition of body the King was pleased to give him the honour of a visit and found him in his bed where and after much serious and private conference the Duke at His Majesties departing embraced him in a very unusual and passionate manner and in like sort his Friend the Earl of Holland as if his soul had divined he should see them no more which infusions towards fatal ends have been observed by some Authors of no light Authority On the very day of his death the Countess of Denbigh received a Letter from him whereunto all the while she was writing her Answer she bedewed the paper with her tears and after a bitter passion whereof she could yield no reason but that her dearest Brother was to be gone she fell down in a swound her said Letter ended thus I will pray for your happy return which I look at with a great cloud over my head too heavy for my poor heart to bear without torment but I hope the great God of Heaven will bless you The day following the Bishop of Ely her devoted Friend who was thought the fittest preparer of her mind to receive such a doleful accident came to visit her but hearing she was at rest he attended till she should awake of her self which she did with the affrightment of a dream Her Brother seeming to pass through a field with her in her Coach where hearing a sudden shout of the people and asking the reason it was answered to have been for joy that the Duke of Buckingham was sick which natural impression she scarce had related to her Gentlewoman before the Bishop was entred into her Bed-chamber for a chosen Messenger of the Dukes death 4. Before and at the Birth of William the Conqueror there wanted not forerunning tokens which presaged his future Greatness His Mother Arlotte great with him dreamed her bowels were extended over all Normandy and England Also assoon as he was born being laid on the Chamber-floor with both his hands he took up rushes and shutting his little fists held them very fast which gave occasion to the gossipping Wives to congratulate Arlotte in the birth of such a Boy and the Midwife cryed out The Boy will prove a King 5. Not long before C. Iulius Caesar was slain in the Senate house by the Iulian Law there was a Colony sent to be planted in Capua and some Monuments were demolished for the laying of the foundations of new Houses In the Tomb of Capys who is said to be the Founder of Capua there was found a brazen Table in which was engraven in Greek Letters that whensoever the bones of Capys should be uncovered one of the Iulian Family should be slain by the hands of his own party and that his blood should be revenged to the great damage of all Italy At the same time also those Horses which Caesar had consecrated after his passage over Rubicon did abstain from all kind of food and were observed with drops falling from their eyes after such manner as if they had shed tears Also the Bird called Regulus having a little branch of Laurel in her mouth flew with it into Pompey's Court where she was torn in pieces by sundry other birds that had her in pursuit where also Caesar himself was soon after slain with twenty and three wounds by Brutus Cassius and others 6. As these were the presages of the personal end of the great Caesar so there wanted not those of the end of his whole Family whether natural or adopted which was concluded in Nero and it was thus Livia was newly married to Augustus when as she went to her Villa of Veientum an Eagle gently let fall a white Hen with a branch of Laurel in her mouth into her lap She received this as a fortunate presage and causing the Hen to be carefully looked after there came of her abundance of white Pullets The branch of Laurel too was planted of which sprang up a number of the like Trees from which afterward he that was to triumph gathered that branch of Laurel which during his Triumph he carried in his hand The Triumph finished he used to plant that branch also when it did wither it was observed to presage the death of that Triumpheâ— that had planted it But in the last year of Nero both all the stock of white Hens and Pullets dyed and the little wood of Laurel was withered to the very root the heads also of the Statues of the Caesars were struck off by Lightning and by the same way the Scepter was thrown out of the hands of the Statue of Augustus 7. Before the death of Augustus in Rome where his Statue was set up there was a flash of Lightning that from his name Caesar took away the first Letter C. and left the rest standing The Aruspices and Soothsayers consulted upon this and concluded that within an hundred days Augustus should change this life for AESAR in the Hetrurian Tongue signifies a God and the Letter C. amongst the Romans stands for an hundred and therefore the hundredth day following Caesar should dye and be made a God as they used to deiâ—ie their dead Emperours 8. While the Grandfather of Sergius Galba was sacrificing an Eagle snatched the bowels of the Sacrifice out of his hand and left them upon the branches of an Oak that grew near to the place Upon which the Augurs pronounced that the Empire though late was certainly portended thereby to his Family He to express the great improbability he conceived of such a thing replied That it would then come to pass when a Mule should bring forth Nor did any thing more confirm Galba in the hope of the Empire upon his Revolt from Nero than the news brought him of a Mule that
wherein we have any understanding it can never be suâ—ficiently wondred at that it should be so very little that we are able to comprehend with any certainty concerning the Soul it self The most learned amongst men are at a loss as often as they would speak distinctly touching its nature manner of working the way of its conjunction with the body and principal place of its residence and so are they also for the manner of its retreat and the place of its retirement in such cases as are propounded in this Chapter 1. William Withers born at Walsham in Sussex being a child of eleven years of age did An. 1581. lye in a trance ten days without any sustenance and at last coming to himself uttered to the standers by many strange speeches against pride and covetousness coldness of charity and other outragious sins 2. Hermotimus the Clazomenian seemed frequently to have his body deserted of the soul and as if it had wandred about in the World at the return of it he would relate such things at a distance performed that none could tell of but such as were present by which means he was long the admiration of such as he dwelt amongst At last being in one of these trances his enemies seised upon his body and burnt it by which means the returning soul was disappointed of its usual place of residence and retreat Plin. lib. 7. cap. 52. pag. 184. 3. Iohannes Scotus the same who hath treated with such subtilty concerning divine matters is also said to have been in frequent raptures in such manner that he hath been observed to sit sometimes for the space of a whole day and more immoveable with his mind and senses bound up or at least wandring far off from the body In which condition at length he was taken up by some such as were unacquainted with him and so buried alive 4. Restitutus a Presbyter could at his pleasure deprive himself of all sense and would do it as oft as he was asked which many did as desirous to be the eye-witnesses of so admirable a thing At the imitation of some notes and the tone of lamenting persons he would lie as one that was dead altogether sensless of his being pulled or pricked nay once being burnt with fire he had no apprehension or feeling at all of it for the present only the wound was painful to him at his return to himself In these his trances he did not breathe at all only he would say that the voices of men only if they spake louder than ordinary were heard by him as if they were at some great distance from him 5. Thomas Aquinas by his daily and constant contemplations had so accustomed himself that frequently falling into an Ecstasie of the mind he seemed to all that were present to be dead yet in the mean time he gained the knowledge of the abstruser Mysteries in Divinity and being returned to himself he imparted to others the fruits of this his philosophick death both in his Writings and Converse 6. Hieronymus Cardanus of Millain writes of himself that he could pass as oft as he would into such an Ecstasie as only to have a soft hearing of the words of such as discoursed by him but not any understanding of them at all he felt not any pullings or pinches of him nor was at such times in the least manner sensible of the pains of the Gout or any other thing but only such things as were without him The beginnings of this were first in the head especially from the brain diffusing it self thence all along to the back bone At first he could perceive a kind of separation from the heart as if the soul were departing and this was communicated to the whole body as if a door did open He adds that he saw all that he desired with his eyes not by any force of the mind and that those images of things did perpetually move as Woods Mountains living Creatures and what else he pleased He imputes all this to the vigour of his fancy and the subtilty of his sight 7. The Father of Prestantius saith St. Augustine was often in such an Ecstasie that upon the return of his spirit he would affirm that he had been transformed into a Horse and that he with other Horses had carried relief and forrage into the Camp whereas his body lay then at his own house in the manner of a dead Corps 8. The English Histories relate that Elizabeth Burton a Maid of Canterbury had contracted a custom of entrancing her self and taking away her senses which first came upon her by reason of a disease which she had upon her CHAP. XIX Of extraordinary things in the Bodies Fortunes Death c. of divers persons TRavellers that have determined to pass through divers Countries lightly touch those common occurrences that present themselves to every mans eye but if they meet with any thing extraordinary these they set a special and particular remark upon as matter wherewith mens knowledge may be improved and their curiosity gratified If I have staid the longer upon this Chapter it is possibly for some such reason as this that the Reader may have something if not so profitable as he could wish yet not altogether unpleasant in the perusal 1. Antonius Cianfius a Book-seller at Pisa some few years since putting off a shirt which was made straiter to his body than usual flames were seen to issue from his back and arms and that also with a crackling noise to the affrightment of the whole family The truth of this is attested as well as the History related by Fortunius Licetus that great Philosopher of this Age in the second Book and 28. Chapter of his Commentary of the Causes of Monsters 2. That is strange which is recorded of M. Furius Camillus that though he had gained many important Victories was often General in the head of an Army was Censor was five times created Dictator and at four several times had triumphed and was also called the second Founder of Rome yet was he never chosen Consul 3. Nicholas Wotton was termed a Center of Remarkables so many met in his person he was Dean of the two Metropolitan Churches of Canterbury and York he was the first Dean of those Cathedrals he was Privy Counsellor to four successive Soveraigns King Henry the Eighth King Edward the Sixth Queen Mary Queen Elizabeth he was employed thirteen several times in Embassies to foreign Princes and which is not the least remarkable in the first of Queen Elizabeth he was offered the Archbishoprick of Canterbury and refused it he died 1566. 4. Iohn Story Doctor of Law a cruel Persecutor in the days of Queen Mary fled afterwards into Brabant being trained into the Ship of Mr. Parker an English man the Master hoised Sail and over was this Tyrant and Traitor brought into England where refusing to take the Oath of Supremacy and professing
was sirnamed the Ape because he was able to express any thing by a most ingenious imitation 10. Alexander the Great carried his neck somewhat awry and thereupon all the Courtiers and Great men took up the same as a fashion and framed themselves to his manner though in so mall a matter 11. The luxury of the Romans was exceeding great in their Feasts Cloaths Houshold-stuff and whole Families unto the time of Vespasian and it was so confirmed amongst them that it could not be restrained by the force of those many Laws that were made against it But when he came to be Emperour of it self it streight became out of fashion for while he himself observed the ancient manner both in his diet and attire the love and fear of the Prince swayed more with the people than the Law it self 12. It is said of the Emperour Titus Vespasian That he could write in Cyphers and Characters most swiftly striving by way of sport and mirth with his own Secretaries and Clerks whether he or they could write fastest also he could imitate and express exactly any hand-writing whatsoever he had once seen so that he would often profess he could have made a notable Forger and Counterfeiter of Writings 13. When King Henry the Eighth of England about the year 1521. did cut his hair short immediately all the English were so moved with his example that they were all shorn whereas before they used to wear long hair 14. Lewis the Eleventh King of France used to say he would have his Son Charles understand nothing of the Latine Language further than this Qui nescit dissimulare nescit reguare He that knows not how to dissemble knows not how to reign This advice of King Lewis was so evil interpreted by the Nobles of France that thereupon they began to despise all kind of learning On the contrary when Francis the First shewed himself a mighty Favourer of learning and learned men most men in imitation of his example did the like 15. Ernestus Prince of Lunenburg complaining to Luther of the immeasurable drinking that was at Courts Luther replied That Princes ought to look thereunto Ah! Sir said he we that are Princes do so our selves otherwise it would long since have gone down Manent exempla regentum In vulgus When the Abbot throweth the Dice the whole Covent will play 16. Queen Anne the Wife of King Iames had a Wen in her neck to hide which she used to wear a Ruff and this they say was the original and first occasion of that fashion which soon after spread it self over the most part of England 17. A certain Duke of Bavaria before he went to his Diet or Council used to call his Servant to bring him water in a Bason in the bottom whereof was stamped in Gold the Image of Cato Major that so he might fix the impression of his Image in his mind the imitation of whose vertues he had prudently proposed for his practice 18. The Emperour Charles the Fifth having resigned his Kingdom and betaken himself to a Monastery laboured to wash out the stains of his defiled Conscience by Confession to a Priest and with a Discipline of platted Cords he put himself to a constant and sharp Penance for his former wicked life This Discipline his Son King Philip ever had in great veneration and a little before his death commanded it to be brought unto him as it was stained in the blood of Charles his Father Afterwards he sent it to his Son Philip the Third to be kept by him as a Relique and a sacred Monument 19. Antoninus Caracalla being come to Troy visited the Tomb of Achilles adorning it with a Crown and dressing it with flowers and framing himself to the imitation of Achilles he called Festus his best beloved Freed-man by the name of Patroclus While he was there Festus died made away on purpose as it was supposed by him that so he might bury him with the same Solemnities as Achilles did his Friend Indeed he buried him honourably using all the same Rites as Achilles had done in the Funerals of Patroclus In this performance when he sought for hair to cast upon the funeral Pile and that he had but thin hair he was laughed at by all men yet he caused that little he had to be cast into the fire being clipped off for that purpose He also was a studious Imitator of Alexander the Great he went in the Macedonian Habit chose out a Band of young men whom he called the Macedonian Phalanx causing them to use such Arms as were used when Alexander was alive and commanded the Leaders of the Roman Legions to take upon themselves the names of such Captains as served Alexander in his Wars CHAP. XXII Of the Authority of some persons amongst their Souldiers and Country-men and Seditions appeased by them divers ways NEar Assos there are stones which in few days not only consume the flesh of dead bodies but the very bones too and there is in Palestine an Earth of the same operation and quality Thus there are some men who by their singular prudence and authority are able not only to cease the present tumult and disorder of a people but to take such effectual course that the very seeds and causes of their fermentation and distemper should be utterly consumed and removed Of what force the presence of some and the eloquence of others hath been in this matter see in the Chapter following 1. Caius Caesar the Dictator intending to transfer the War into Africa his Legionaries at Rome rose up in a general mutiny desiring to be disbanded and discharged from the War Caesar though otherwise perswaded by all his friends went out to them and shewed himself amongst the enraged multitude He called them Quirites that is Commoners of Rome by which one word he so shamed and subdued them that they made answer they were Souldiers and not Commoners and being then by him publickly discharged they did not without difficulty obtain of him to be restored to their Commissions and places 2. Arcagathus the Son of Agathocles had slain Lycifcus a great Captain for some intemperate words whereupon the friends of the dead put the Army into such a commotion that they demanded Arcagathus to death and threatned the same punishment to Agathocles himself unless he did yield up his Son Besides this divers Captains with their Companies spake of passing over to the Enemy Agathocles fearing to be delivered into the hands of the Enemy and so to be put to some ignominious death thought in case he must suffer he had better die by the hands of his own Souldiers so laying aside the Royal Purple and putting on a vile garment he came forth to them silence was made and all ran together to behold the novelty of the thing when he made a Speech to them agreeable to the present state of things he told them of the great
to bear these his last words to the Prelate That being too weak to contend though the Law was on his side he gave place and was also departing this life but that God would be the Judge unto whom he made his appeal that therefore both of them should prepare to order their Cause before his Tribunal where favour and power set aside only Justice should prevail Not long after the Abbot died of a Feaver and soon after him the Bishop also for one time as he was mounting his Horse he fell down as one stricken with a Thunderbolt and his last words were That he was hurried away to the Judgment-seat of God there to be judged 8. The Genoways sent out their Gallies against the Pirates and in the way took a small Ship of Sicily together with the Master of it whom in contempt of the Sicilians they hanged up The poor man said he suffered unjustly since he had never done any thing of injury to them but perceiving all his plaints to be in vain he appealed unto God for Justice and cited the Admiral of the Genoways to make his appearance at his Bar within six months within which time he that was thus cited died 9. Amphilothius a Tribune was accused to have conspired against the life of Constantius the Emperour but seeing the thing could not be made out by sufficient proof Constantius bad his accusers to create him no further trouble but to remit the Tribune to the tortures of his own conscience for if he was really guilty they should behold even in his presence the evident tokens thereof The next day therefore while they beheld the Plays the Seat where the Tribune sate over against the Emperour fell down to the ground those that sate therein were but lightly hurt only the Tribune himself was taken up dead 10. Patrick Hamilton studied at Marpurge and afterwards returning into his Country was informed against by Aâ—ex Cambel with whom he had conferred about matters of Religion oppressed by the Priests he was burnt by the Church of St. Andrew An. 1527. in the twenty fourth year of his age As he was leading towards his death he thus spake unto Cambel Thou wicked Wretch who now condemnest those things which thou knowest to be true as thou hast confessed unto me but a few days since I do summon thee to appear before the Tribunal of the living God Cambel was troubled at these words and from that very day was never in his right mind but soon after died mad 11. There was one Agrestius who reproached and calumniated Columbanus when he was dead Eustachius the Abbot who had been Scholar to Columbanus a man famous for patience and great knowledge boldly sets upon this slanderer in this manner Thou Agrestius said he I am the Disciple and Successour of him whose doctrine and discipline thou thus rashly condemnest and before these Priests I do invite thee to the divine Judgment and within this year see that thou there make thine appearance thou shalt then know from the most just Judge whose vertue thou hast slandered Agrestius looked upon these as vain and ridiculous threats and also refused the place of the Penitents often proffered to him but the words of Eustachius had a mighty weight for upon the thirtieth day before the year was at an end Agrestius by a Servant of his whom he had bought for a Slave was stricken with an Ax that he died 12. In Sweden Iohannes Turso gave sentence upon a certain man that he should lose his head who when all other defence was denied him fell down upon his knees Behold said he I die unjustly and I cite thee unjust Judge to Gods Tribunal there to answer for my head within this hour These were looked upon as frivolous words but scarce was the man beheaded by the Executioner when the Judge himself fell down dead from his Horse 13. An. 1013. Menwercus Bishop of the Paderbonensian Church determined to restore the decayed Discipline in the Monastery of Corbeia he began this his reformation first in point of Manners but Walo the Abbot stoutly opposed him as one that would not admit of any greater strictness The Cause was brought before the Emperour and at last it came to this that the Abbot was put out of his place Whereupon the Bishop constant to his purpose again sets upon the reformation he first intended and designed to begin the work with the celebration of Divine Service in that Church But one Boso a Monk of that Monastery and Sacrist of the place denied him the holy Garments and threw those off from the Altar which the Prelate had brought thither He was admonished again and again and still he persisted in his contumacy The Bishop moved with so great an injury cited the Monk to the divine Judgment who thus contemned all humane Laws in these words Thou shalt render said he an account of this deed to the most High The Monk slighted this menace and derided the Bishop but the success was that in the very same hour wherein the Bishop departed this life the Monk Boso being at that time under the Barbers hand to be shaved suddenly fell down and died 14. Benno was Bishop of Misnia and forty years together had he sate in that See presiding there with vigilance and sanctity that he was famous for many miraculous works amongst which the following was one Otho the Marquess of Misnia a covetous man against all Justice seised upon the Goods of that Church The vigilant Pastor Benno supposing so great an injury was not to be dissembled admonished the Marquess with all mildness and told him he should do well of his own accord to restore the Church of Misnia her rights if not there was a most just Judge to be appealed to in the case who not only did take notice of all injuries but in a convenient season would exactly revenge them And said he to this Tribunal in case all other help fail this present controversie is to be referred The Marquess being a furious man and not able to bear this liberty of speaking though delivered with sincerity and humanity gave Benno the Bishop a box on the ear who inspired from above told him That God should revenge this injury also at the same time in the following year The Marquess scoffed at this prophecy And who Bishop said he made thee the chief Secretary of Heaven Art thou then of Ioves Privy Council so the thing seemed to have passed away in a jest Not long after Benno fell sick and died An. 1106. The Marquess when the time of the year and the day designed by Benno was come Behold said he this is the day that Bishop Benno foretold should be so fatal to me He is gone and his prediction with him and there is nothing that we should need to fear Scarce had he spoke the words when a sudden consternation fell upon him he called for help but death executing his
she presignified for his eldest Son it is uncertain whether out of some sudden transport of passion or through distraction threw himself headlong from the top of the house and so killed himself Soon after some Conspirators that lay in wait for an opportunity slew Dion himself in his own house committing his wife and daughter to prison and thus was the house swept clean indeed 6. Curtius Ruffus was at Adrumetum a City in Africa in the Family of the Questor and at that time not remarkable for any Dignity walking one time in the mid-day in the Portico he saw the apparition of a Woman of a more august presence and greater than humane form who spake to him in these words Thou art Ruffus who shalt come Proconsul into this Province By this prodigy he was advanced in his thoughts unto some hopes not long after he obtained of Tiberius the Proconsulship of Africk which fulfilled what was promised by the Vision 7. Crescentius the Popes Legate at the Council of Trent 1552. March 25. was busie writing of Letters to the Pope till it was far in the night whence rising to refresh himself he saw a black Dog of a vast bigness flaming eyes ears that hung down almost to the ground enter the room which came directly towards him and laid himself down under the table Frighted at the sight he called his Servants in the Antichamber commanded them to look for the Dog but they could find none The Cardinal fell melancholy thence sick and died at Verona on his death-bed he â—ryed out to drive away the Dog that leaped upon his bed 8. Cassius Severus of Parma none of the meanest Poets took part with Brutus and Cassius having a Command of a Tribune of the Souldiers after they were overcome he betook himself to Athens where one night when he lay solicitously perplexed in his thoughts he saw a man of a vast bigness come to him he was black his beard squalid his hair dangling and being by him asked who he was he told him a Cacodemon or evil Spirit Frighted with so horrible a sight and so dreadful a name he called up his Servants inquired if they saw any to enter or depart his Chamber in such habit as he described They answered that none came He therefore again composed himself to sleep and rest when the same Image did again represent it self to his mind and sight so that not able to sleep he called for lights and commanded his Servants to stay with him Now Quintilius Varus was sent by Augustus to kill him and betwixt this night wherein he had this Vision and the death he suffered by the orders of Caesar there was but a very little distance 9. Iulianus the Emperour that night which preceded the day wherein he was slain in Persia while he was reading in his Tent saw a Ghost that presented it self before him full of horrour so that for very fear he arose from his seat Assoon as he saw it go â—orth of his Tent he supposed that it was his Genius which now deserted him as one that was near unto his death Ammianus Marcellinus writes that Iulian saw the same Spirit the night before the day that he was declared Augustus that it was then veil'd and with a Cornucopia in its hand as the publick Genii are described that it reproved him saying I have long Iulian watched at thy door delighting in the increase of thine honour and sometimes have returned with a refusal 10. There is saith Aventinus a Town in Austria called Greinon near unto which there are huge and high Rocks through these Danubius passes foaming along and with a mighty noise Henry the Third was sailing this way and Bruno the Bishop of Wirtzburg his Kinsman accompanied him in another Ship As they passed by a high Rock there stood the form of a Negro which called Bruno saying Ho ho Bishop I am an evil Genius thou art mine and wheresoever thou shalt betake thy self thou shalt be mine I have at present nothing against thee but in short space thou shalt see me again All that heard this were astonished the Bishop signed himself with the sign of the Cross and adjuring the Spirit it vanished away Not far thence I think about ten miles the Emperour and his Nobles were entertained at Bosenburg by Richilda the Widow of Adelbert a Nobleman lately dead where the Widow besought the Emperour that Bosenburg and the Farms about it held by her late Husband gratis might be so held by Welpho her Brothers Son There were then in the presence with the Emperour Bruno Alemannus President of Ebersperg and Richilda while the Emperour was reaching out his hand as a sign of his Grant the floor of the Chamber fell down under them the Emperour fell into a bathing Vessel without hurt Bruno Alemannus and Richilda were thrown upon the sides of that Vessel in such manner that they were sore bruised and in a few days after dyed of that fall 11. Decemb. 20. 1641. the Irish Rebels did drown an hundred and eighty Protestants men women and children in the River at the Bridge of Portnedoune and Elizabeth the Wife of Captain Rice Price of Armagh deposeth and saith That she and other women whose husbands were murdered hearing of divers Apparitions and Visions which were seen near Portnedoune-Bridge since the drowning of their children and the rest of the Protestants there went unto the Bridge aforesaid about twilight in the evening Then and there upon the sudden there appeared unto them a Vision or Spirit assuming the shape of a Woman waste high upright in the water naked with elevated and closed hands her hair hanging down very white her eyes seemed to twinkle and her skin as white as snow which Spirit seemed to stand straight up in the water crying Revenge revenge whereat this Deponent and the rest being put into a strange amazement and affright walked from the place This was sworn to Ianuary 29. 1642. 12. Damon for many murders he had committed was enforced to quit Cheronaea the Citizens not long after with fair words enticed him back thither again and one day as he was in the Bath set upon him and slew him from that time there were many Spectres seen in that place and groans heard so that at last they were compelled to stop up the doors of the Bath 13. Dio Cassius writes of Drusus that being busied in Germany destroying all as far as the River Albis he endeavoured also to pass that but in vain and therefore having erected Trophies on the hither bank of it he retired upon this occasion He was met by a Woman greater than human form who said to him Drusus whither goest thou assigning no measure to thy covetous ambition thou art not allowed by the Fates to pass further and therefore depart for now the end of thy Atchievements and life draws near Upon the hearing of which Drusus bent his course backward and in his Journey
many others also went in to behold the remains of his body and this is certain that his ribs were found to be not distinct as those of other men but from the shoulder to those that are called the short ribs there was only one continued and entire bone instead of the greater ribs 21. Some are born with bones concrete and solid and thâ—se they say neither sweat nor thirst such a one was Lygdamus the Syracusan who in the 33. Olympiad had the first Crown of Wrastling his bones were found to be of a solid substance throughout without any marrow in them or place for it 22. A certain Gentleman hath lived many years without any ejection of excrements by stool more than at his eyes a little before noon he sits down at his table commonly inviting divers Noble persons about one a clock he rises from table after he hath eat and drunk after the manner of other persons then he vomits up the dinner he had eaten the day before exactly retaining all that he hath newly eaten being to return that by vomiting the day following as he did that he had eaten the day before he ejects it putrid and filthy not differing from other excrements In his vomits he raises it with ease without delay at once casting up a great quantity from his stomach then washing his mouth with sweet waters he returns to the table and there eats as much as will suffice till the nâ—xt day at noon he eats no break-fasts nor suppers contented with a dinner only He hath thus continued about twenty years It often comes into my mind that this Gentleman may have two ventricles as those Creatures have that chew the cud the one of which being newly filled provokes the other to empty it self by vomit but the truth of this conjecture will be cleared only by Anatomy if it will be permitted 23. A noble Matron in our City for this six years space about ten of the clock in the morning every day â—ills a Bason containing two of our pints by vomit sometimes clear at others black with an acour that stupifies the teeth sometimes yellow with an extremity of bitterness sometimes intensely green with a loathsom smell at other times white and frothy yet doth she never vomit up any thing of what she eat at supper over-night in other respects she is of good health and in that six years hath been delivered of five children she is now almost thirty years of age 24. I saw at Genoa saith Cardanus one Antonius Benzus of the Town of Port Maurice he was thirty four years of age his complexion was pale his beard grew thin as to the habit of his body he was fat out of the paps of this man â—lowed so much of milk as was almost sufficient to have suckled a child and not only did it run out but he would spirt it out with a great force Such as have seen the new World affirm that most of the men have abundance of milk 25. Neubrigensis and also Huntingdon report of one Raynerus a wicked Minister of a more wicked Abbot that crossing the Seas with his Wife he with his iniquity so over-weighed the Ship that in the midst of the stream it was not able to stir at which the Mariners astonished cast lots and the lot fell upon Raynerus and lest this should be thought to happen by chance they cast the lots again and again and still the lot fell upon the same Raynerus whereupon they put him out of the Ship and presently the Ship as eased of her burden sailed away certainly a great Judgment of God and a great Miracle but yet recorded by one that is no fabulous Author saith Sir Richard Baker 26. In the time of King Stephen there appeared two children a Boy and a Girl clad in green in a stuff unknown of a strange language and of a strange diet whereof the Boy being baptized died shortly after but the Girl lived to be very old and being asked from whence they were she answered they were of the Land of St. Martyn where there are Christian Churches erected but that no Sun did ever rise unto them but where that Land is or how she came hither she her self knew not This I the rather write saith mine Author that we may know there are other parts of this World than those which to us are known and this story I should not have believed if it were not testified by so many and so credible Witnesses as it is 27. Hugo a child of five years old was constituted Archbishop of Rhemes to possess the Seat of the great Remigius which was to parallel the â—oot of Hercules with the leg of a Fly 28. At Hammel a Town in the Dutchy of Brunswick in the year of Christ 1284. upon the 26. day of Iune the Town being grievously troubled with Rats and Mice there came to them a Piper who promised upon a certain rate to free them from them all it was agreed he went from street to street and playing upon his Pipe drew after him out of the Town all that kind of Vermine and then demanding his wages was denied it Whereupon he began another tune and there followed him one hundred and thirty Boys to a Hill called Koppen situate on the North by the Road where they perished and werâ— never seen after This Piper was called the pyed Piper because his cloaths were of several colours This story is writ and religiously kept by them in their Annals at Hammel read in their Books and painted in their Windows and in their Churches of which I am a witness by my own sight Their elder Magistrates for the confirmation of the truth of this are wont to write in conjunction in their publick Books such a year of Christ and such a year of the Transmigration of the children c. It 's also observed in the memory of it that in the street he passed out of no Piper be admitted to this day The street is called Burgelosestrasse if a Bride be in that street till she is gone out of it there is no dancing to be suffered 29. Ptolomaeus the Son of Lagus intending to erect a Library at Alexandria and to furnish it with all such good Books as were extant requested of the Jews inhabiting Ierusalem that they would send him their Books translated into the Greek Tongue they forasmuch as they were yet subject unto the Macedonians sent unto Ptolomaeus seventy Elders from amongst them very skilful in their Books and both the Tongues Ptolomaeus fearing if they conferred together they would conceal the truth revealed in their Books commanded them severally every man by himself to write his Translation and this in every Book throughout the Old Testament When as they all came together in presence of Ptolomaeus and compared their Translations one with another from the very beginning to the ending they had expressed the same thing with the same words and
in the same sentences so that the Gentiles then present pronounced those Scriptures to have been translated by the inspiration of the holy Spirit of God 30. When Anterus had sate Bishop of Rome for one month only he died after whose death it was that Fabianus came from the Country together with certain others to dwell at Rome when such a thing as never was seen before at the Election of a Bishop happened then by the divine and celestial Grace of God For when all the Brethren had gathered themselves together for to make choice of a Bishop and many thought upon divers notable and famous men Fabianus being there present with others when as every one thought least nay nothing at all of him suddenly from above there came a Dove and rested upon his head after the example of the Holy Ghost which in likeness of a Dove descended upon our Saviour and so the whole multitude being moved thereat with one and the same Spirit of God cryed out chearfully with one accord that he was worthy of the Bishoprick and immediately he was taken and installed Bishop 31. Constantine the Emperour going against the Tyrant Maxentius had a certain Vision It was about noon the day somewhat declining when he saw in the Sky a lightsom Pillar in form of a Cross wherein these words were engraven In hoc vince i.e. In this overcome This so amazed the Emperour that he mistrusting his own sight demanded of them that were present whether they perceived the Vision which when all with one consent had affirmed the wavering mind of the Emperour understand it of Religion whether he should become a Christian or not was setled with that divine and wonderful sight The night following he dreamed that Christ came unto him and said Frame to thy self the form of a Cross after the example of the sign which appeared unto thee and bear the same against the enemies as a fit Banner or token of Victory which he accordingly did and was victorious 32. That was a rare instance of propitious Fortune which befel Thomas Serranus who in one and the same year was consecrated Bishop elected Cardinal and also attained to the Popedom by the name of Nicholas the Fifth 33. Franciscus Trovillon was a man of a middle stature a full body bald except in the hinder part of the head which had a few hairs upon it his temper was morose and his demeanour altogether rustick he was born in a little Village called Mezieres and bred up in the Woods amongst the Charcoal men About the seventh year of his age he began to have a swelling in his forehead so that about the seventeenth year of his age he had a horn there as big as a mans finger end which afterwards did admit of that growth and increase that when he came to be thirty five years old this horn had both the bigness and resemblance of a Rams horn It grew upon the midst of his forehead and then bended backward as far as the coronal â—uture where the other end of it did sometimes so stick in the skin that to avoid much pain he was constrained to cut off some part of the end of it whether this horn had its roots in the skin or forehead I know not but probably being of that weight and bigness it grew from the skull it self nor am I certain whether this man had any of those teeth which we call Grinders For two months together the man was exposed to shew in Paris where saith Vrstitius in the year 1598. I in company with Dr. Iacobus Faeschius the publick Professor at Basil and Mr. Iohannes Eckenstenius did see and handle this horn From Paris he was carried to Orleance where as I am informed he died soon after he came 34. In the time of a grievous Persecution Felix Presbyter of the City of Nola by a divine instinct hid himself in the corner of a ruined Wall and before the Persecutors had pursued him thither a Spider had drawn her web at the mouth of the hole whereinto the Presbyter had put himself His enemies told them that Felix was crept in at that very place but they beholding the Spiders web could not be perswaded that any man could enter and lurk there where the Spiders lived and laboured so securely and thereupon by their departure Felix escaped Paulinus once Bishop of that City hath these Verses upon this occasion which I will also try to English Eccubi Christus adest tenuissima aranea muro est At ubi Christus abest murus aranea fiet Where God is present Spiders spin a wall He gone our Bulwarks like to cobwebs fall 35. In the Reign of King Henry the Eighth there was one Mr. Gresham a Merchant of London who was sailing homewards from Paâ—ermo a City in Sicily wherein was dwelling at that time one Antonio sirnamed the Rich who had at one time two Kingdoms mortgaged to him by the King of Spain Mr. Gresham crossed by contrary winds was constrained to anchor under the Lee of the Island of Strombulo where was a burning Mountain Now about the mid-day when for a certain space the Mountain used to forbear sending forth flames he with eight of the Sailors ascended the Mountain approaching as near the vent as they durst where amongst other noises they heard a voice cry aloud Dispatch dispatch the Rich Antonio is a coming Terrified herewith they hasted their return and the Mountain presently vomited out fire but from so dismal a place they made all the haste they could and desiring to know more of this matter since the winds still thwarted their course they returned to Palermo and forthwith inquiring for Antonio they found that he was dead about the instant so near as they could compute when that voice was heard by them Mr. Gresham at his return into England reported this to the King and the Marinâ—â—s being called before him confirmed the same by their Oaths Upon Gresham this wrought so deep an impression that he gave over all merchandizing distributed his Estate partly to his Kindred and partly to good uses retaining only a competency for himself and so spent the rest of his days in a solitary devotion 36. That is much to be admired at as being little less than a Miracle which is related of Xenophilus a Musician who lived to the age of an hundred and five years without any manner of disease or indisposition of body throughout his whole life 37. The Governour of Mountmarine besieged by Augustus the base Son of the Prince of Salucia was called forth as it were to parley and then held Prisoner he was threatned with death if he yielded not up the place and was so frighted with the apprehensions of this undeserved death that he sweat blood over all his body CHAP. XX. Of matters of importance and high Designs either promoted or made to miscarry by small matters or strange accidents PLutarch tells us of a