he never swam out again as is affirmed by them that saw it 19. Clemens Romanus saith of Simon Magus that he framed a man out of air that he became invisible as oft as he pleased he animated Statues stood unhurt in the midst of slames sometimes he would appear with two faces as another Ianus change himself into the shape of a Sheep or Goat and at other times would fly in the air That he commanded a Syth to go mow oâ— it s own accord and that it mowed down ten times more than any other When Selene the Harlot was shut up in a Tower and thousands of people went to see her and had compassed the castle about for that end he caused that her face seemed to shew it self out at every Window in the Castle at the same time to which Anastasius Nicenus adds that he would seem all made of Gold sometimes a Serpent or other beast in Feasts he shewed all kind of Spectres made Dishes come to the Table without any visible Servitor and he caused many shadows to go before him which he gave out were the Souls of Persons deceased 20. Pasetes had many Magical pranks he would cause the appearance of a sumptuous Feast to be upon the sudden and at his pleasure all should immediately vanish out of sight he would also buy several things and pay down the just price but then the mony would soon after return to him again 21. Iohannes Teutonicus a Canon of Halberstadht in Germany after he had performed a number of prestigious Feats almost incredible was transported by the Devil in the likeness of a black Horse and was both seen and heard upon one and the same Christmas-day to say Mass in Halberstadht in Mentzâ— and in Collen CHAP. XXI Of the Primitive Fathers and Doctors of the Church LIpsius in an Epistle of his to Thuanus tells him that these new things did little please his Palate that for his part he was a lover of the ancient both manners and men and then goes on Hos utinam inter Heroas natum tellus me prima tulisset Would I with ancient Heroes had been born He could not wish to be born amongst greater Heroes than some of these that follow who for their Learning and Piety Christian Courage and Fortitude are more renowned than Alexander the Great for all his Victories 1. Ignatius Bishop of Antioch in the reign of Trajan the Emperour he was the Scholar of the Apostle St. Iohn when he had sate nine years in Antioch he was by ten Souldiers brought to Rome to be devoured by wild Beasts when his martyrdom drew near he said Let me be ground in the Teeth of wild Beasts that I may be found fine â—lower in the House of my Father he was thrown to the Lions Anno 110. 2. Polycarpus was also the Scholar of St. Iohn and by him constituted Bishop of Smyrna he went to Rome probably to compose the controversie about Easter Three dayes before he was apprehended by his Persâ—cutors he dreamed that his Bed was set on fire and hastily consumed which he took for a Divine advertisement that he should glorifie God by suffering in the fire Being urged to deny Christ by the Roman Deputy he said that he had served him fourscore years and received no injury by him and therefore could not now renounce him He refused to swear by the fortune of Caesar and so patiently suffered death at Smyrna being aged eighty six years 3. Iustinus Martyr was a Philosopher afterwards converted to Christianity by an old man who counselled him to be a diligent Reader of the Prophets and Apostles who spake by Divine inspiration who knew the truth were neither covetous of vain glory nor awed by fear whose Doctrine also was confirmed with miraculous works which God wrought by their hands This Iustinus wrote two Books of Apology for Christians to the Emperour Antoninus Pius and to his Sons and the Senate of Rome In the second Book of his Apology he declareth that Christians were put to death not for any crime they had committed but only for their Profession in witness whereof if any of them would deny his Christian Profession he was straightway absolved he was beheaded at Rome Anno Dom. 166. 4. Irenaeus Bishop of Lyons in France a Disciple of Polycarpus in his Youth his meek Conversation and peaceable carriage answered to his name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Peaceable and made his name to be in great account amongst Christianâ— yet he lacked not his infirmities in Doctrin◠〈◊〉 was entangled with the error of the Chiliasts and he supposed that Christ was fifty years of age when he suffered he flourished in the raign of Commodus suffered Martyrdom in the raign of Severus Anno Dom. 176. 5. Clemens Alexandrinus was the Disciple of Pantenus these two seem to be the Authors of Universities and Colledges for they taught the people the grounds of Religion not by Sermons and Homilies to the people but by Catechetical Doctrine to the Learned in the Schools he flourished in the reign of Commodus 6. Tertullianus a learned Preacher of the City of Carthage in Africk a man of a quick pregnant wit coming to Rome he was envyed and reproached by the Roman Clergy whereat moved with anger he declined to the Opinion of the Heretick Montanus He wrote learned Apologies for the Christians and mightily confuted the error of Marcion he flourished in the reign of the Emperour Severus Anno Christi 197. 7. Origen the Son of Leonidas an Egyptian he was so pregnant in his youth and so capable of all good instruction that his Father would often uncover his Breast when he was asleep and kiss it giving thanks to God who had made him the Father of so happy a Son He was very learned yet had he failings he took the words of Matth. 19. 12. in a literal sense and guelded himself he held many worlds successive to one another and that the pains of men and Devils after long torments should be finished he offered to Idols rather than suffer his chast body to be abused he dyed in Tyrus and was there buried in the sixty ninth year of his age having lived until the days of Gallus and Volusianus 8. Cyprianus Bishop of Carthage in his youth altogether given to the study and practice of Magical Arts his conversion was by the means of Cecilius a Preacher and hearing of the History of the Prophet Ionah after his Conversion he distributed all his substance to the Poor he was a man full of love and modesty was banished in the persecution of Decius and Martyred under Valerian he held that erroneous opinion that such as had been baptized by Hereticks should be rebaptized he â—lourished Anno Dom. 250. 9. Athanasius Bishop of Alexandria he duelled with the whole world when it was become Arrian and stood for the Truth with an undaunted resolution amidst all oppositions and after
overthrown the pernicious plot and design of the wicked Tyrant and preserved Timoleon but had also at the same time executed its Justice upon a Murderer 22. An. Dom. 1552. about the Nones of February Franciscus Pelusius one of sixty years of age while in the Mannor of Lewis Dheiraeus and in the Hill of St. Sebastian he was digging a Well forty foot deep the earth above fell in upon him to thirty five foot depth He was somewhat sensible before of what was coming and opposed a plank which by chance he had by him against the ruines himself lying under it By this means he was protected from the huge weight of the earth and retained some air and breath to himself by which he lived seven days and nights without food or sleep supporting his stomach only with his own urine without any pain or sorrow being full of hope in God in whom alone he had placed it Ever and anon he called for help as being yet safe but was heard by none though he could hear the motion noise and words of those that were above him and could count the hours as the Clock went After the seventh day he being all the while given for dead they brought a Bier for his Corps and when a good part of the Well was digged up on a sudden they heard the voice of one crying from the bottom At first they were afraid as if it had been the voice of a subterranean Spirit the voice continuing they had some hope of his life and hastned to dig to him till at last after he had drunk a cup of wine they drew him up living and well his strength so entire that to lift him out he would not suffer himself to be bound nor would use any help of another of so sound sense that jesting he drew out his purse gave them money saying he had been with such good Hosts that for seven days it had not cost him a farthing Soon after he returned to his work again and was then alive when I wrote this saith Bartholomaeus Anulus 23. A certain Woman saith Iordanus had given her Husband poyson and it seems impatient of all delay gave him afterwards a quantity of Quick-silver to hasten his death the sooner but that slippery substance carried along with it the poyson that lay in the Ventricle and had not yet spread it self to the heart through the bowels away from him by stool by which means he escaped Ausonius hath the story in an Epigram of his the conclusion of which is to this purpose The Gods send health by a most cruel wife And when Fates will two poysons save a life 24. At Tibur An. Dom. 1583. two years before I wrote this Book there was one who diging in a subterranean Aquaduct by a sudden fall of the earth which store of ruine had caused he was overwhelmed and buried alive yet such was the vigour of his spirit that night and day though he could not distinguish either working with hands feet head and back he hollowed the earth that lay about him and dug as it were a Coney-hole so that working as a Mole into the part of the Aquaduct that was beyond the place where the earth fell he at last reached it and from thence upon the seventh day he had scratched himself out and was safe and sound though all the time without meat and drink only his fingers ends bruised and wore away CHAP. XXXIV Of such persons as have taken poyson and quantities of other dangerous things without damage thereby PVrchas tells of the herb Addad that it is bitter and the root of it so exceedingly venemous that a single drop of the juyce of it will kill a man in the space of one hour This nimble Messenger of death makes its approaches to the Fortress of life so speedy and withal so sure that it is not easie for the virtue of any Antidote to make haste enough to overtake it or to over-power and counterwork it yet of the like dangerous drugs taken without sensible harm see the following Histories 1. Mithridates that warlike King of Pontus and Bithynia when in the War with the Romans he was overcome in Battel by Pompey determined to finish his life by poyson and therefore drank a draught of it himself and gave others to his Daughters who would needs accompany their Father in death They overcome by the force of the poyson fell down dead at his foot but the King himself having formerly accustomed his body to the use of Antidotes found that the poyson he had taken was of no use to him in this his last extremity and therefore gave his throat to be cut by his Friend Bystocus who with his Sword gave him that death which he in vain expected from the poysonous draught he had swallowed 2. Conradus Bishop of Constance at the Sacrament of the Lords Supper drank off a Spider that had fallen into the cup of wine while he was busied in the Consecration of the Elements yet did he not receive the least hurt or damage thereby 3. While I was a Boy saith Fallopius and was sick of the Colick I took a scruple of Scammony and yet had not one stool by it And I saw a German Scholar at Ferrara who took at once a whole ounce of Scammony I say of Scammony not Diagridium and yet was no way stirred by it 4. Theophrastus tells of Thrasyas who was most excellently skilled in all sorts of Herbs that yet he would often eat whole handfuls of the roots of Hellebore without harm and he also tells of one Eudemus a Chian that in one day he took two and twenty Potions of Hellebore and yet was not purged thereby and that supping the same night as he used he did not return any thing he had taken by Vomit 5. Schenckius relates the History of a Woman from an eye-witness of the truth of it that she intending to procure abortion to her self swallowed down half a pound weight of Quick-silver in substance and though she had done this more than once or twice yet it always passed through her assoon almost as she had taken it and that without hurt 6. A certain man condemned for a capital crime was set free by Pope Leo the Tenth of that name for that without taking any previous Antidote he had swallowed down almost an ounce of Arsenick and received no hurt thereby 7. The weight of thirty grains of Antimonial glass prepared hath been taken without any harm as Schenckius reports from Albertus Wimpinaeus 8. I knew a man saith Garsias ab Horto who was Councellor to Nizamoxa he would daily eat three shivers of Opium which weighed ten drams and more and though he seemed always to be stupid and as one ready to sleep yet would he very aptly and learnedly discourse of any thing propounded to him so much is custom able to perform 9. Albertus Magnus saith he hath seen
and with a youthful ardour had gallantly acquitted himself in divers Enterprises Severus being informed hereof and supposing him to be one of the Senatorian Order he wrote a Letter to him wherein having given him due praises for the service he had done he desired him to encrease his Forces This he speedily performed and having done things worthy of admiration he sent to Severus one thousand seven hundred and fifty Myriads of Drachmes This done without fear he presented himself to the Emperour and openly declared who he was yet he neither requested upon the score of his Victories that he might really be made one of the Senate nor did he petition for any Honour or increase of Wealth but only received from Severus some small thing to maintain him alive and so retired into the Country where he spent the rest of his life in privacy and poverty 6. Crates Thebanus was adored for a God a Noble-man by Birth many Servants he had an Honourable Attendance much Wealth many Mannors rich Apparel and great store of Money but when he apprehended that all this yea all the Wealth of the World was but brittle uncertain and no whit availing to live well he cast off his burden renounced his Estate and threw his Treasure into the Sea 7. Epaminondas that great General of the Thebans after his Glorious Exploits and Famous Victories lived in such meanness and extream poverty that he had but one upper Garment and that a poor one to so that if at any time he had occasion on to send it to the Fuller or to mending he was constrained for want of another to stay at home till it was returned At his death they found nothing in his House but a little Iron Spit nor wherewithal to commit him to the Ground so that he was buried at the Publick Charge yet had this great man the offer of a considerable sum in Gold sent him by the Persian King whereof he would not accept and in mind saith Aelian he shewed himself more genrous in the refusal than the other did in the gift of it 7. Aristides who by his Valour Prudence and Justice had made the Athenians rich and honourable at his death was so poor that nothing in his House being found to do it withal he was buried at the charge of the Commonwealth 9. Frederick Duke of Saxony his virtues were so great that unanimously the Electors chose him for Emperor while he as earnestly did refuse nor did they like tickly Italians pet at this and put another in his room but for the reverence they bore him when he would not accept it himself they would yet have one that he should recommend which was Charles the Fifth who out of his gratitude for the putting of him into that Place sent him a Present of 30000 Florens But he that could not be tempted by the Imperial Crown stood proof against the blaze of Gold and when the Ambassadors could fasten none upon hâ—m he desired but his permission to leave 10000 amongst his Servants To which he answered They might take it if they would but he that took but a Piece from Charles should be sure not to stay a Day with Frederick A mind truly Heroick evidently Superlative by despising what was greatest not temptable with either Ambition or Avarice far greater than an Emperor by refusing to be one 10. Audentius upon the death of Bassianus Caracalla was proffered the Roman Empire which yet he utterly refused and could not by any perswasions be wrought upon to accept of it 11. Alexander the great having overcome Darius of the Persian Spoils he sent Phocion the Athenian an hundred Talents of Silver but when the Messengers brought him this Gift He asked them why Alexander gave him so great a Gift rather than to any other of the Athenians Because said they he only esteemeth thee to be a good and honest man Then said Phocion let him give me leave to remain that which I seem and am so long as I live The Messengers would not so leave but followed him home to his House where they saw his great frugality and thriftiness for they found his Wife her self Baking and he himself drew water to wash his feet But when they were more earnest with him than before to accept of their Master 's present and were offended with him saying That it was a shame for the Friend of Alexander to live so miserably and beggarly Then Phocion seeing a poor old man pass by asked them Whether they thought him worse than that man No the Gods forbid replied they yet answered he He lives with less than I do and yet is contented and hath enough To be short he said If I should take this Sum of Money and not employ it it is as much as if I had it not again if I should employ it I should occasion all the City to speak evil of the King and me both And so he sent back this Great Present shewing thereby that he was richer that needed not such Sums than he that gave them 12. Paulus Aemylius was sent by the Senate of Rome into Spain where they were all up in Arms in which Journey he twice overcame the barbarous people in main battel and slew about 30000 of them he took in also two hundred and fifty Cities and so leaving the Country quiet he returned to Rome not enriched by all these Victories the worth of one groat yea he so little regarded the World that although he was Consul twice and twice triumphed yet when he died all the Estate he left was little enough to satisfie his Wives Joynture 13. Vergerits the Pope's Legate was sent by his Master to Luther when he first began to preach against the Corruptions of the Church of Rome to proffer him a Cardinal's Cap if he would relinquish his Opinions to whom he answered contemptus est à me Romanus favor furor I do equally dispise the favour and fury of Rome Another time there was Proposals made of a great Sum of Money to be sent unto him but one of the Cardinals who was then present cried out Hem Germana illa bestia non curat aurum That beast of Germany does not care for money Luther also tells us that when some of the Cardinals were by the Pope sent to him to tempt him with promises of great Wealth and Honour Turning my self saith he to God Valde protestatus sum me nolle sic satiari ab eo I earnestly protested that God should not put me off with such mean matter 14. Deiotarus King of Galatia being a very old man sent for Cato Vticensis to come to him intending to recommend to him the care of his Sons and when he was arrived the King sent him divers rich Presents of all sorts entreating him that he would accept of them This so much offended Cato that he stayd very little with him and the next day returned But he had
Wife of Seleucus had not one hair upon her head yet notwithstanding gave six hundred Crowns to a Poet who had celebrated her in his Verse and sung that her hair had the tincture of the Marygold I know not how this soothing flatterer meant it but this Queen became very proud of it which made her so much the more ridiculous 16. Rudolphus King of the Heruli warred with Tado King of the Lombards and when both Armies approached each other Rudolph committed the whole to his Captains he himself remained in his Tent in the mean time and sate jesting at the Table 'T is true he sent one to the top of a Tree to behold the fortune of the day but withall told him if he brought him ill news he would take his head from his shoulders This Scout beheld the Heruli to run but not daring to carry that news to the King consulted only his own safety by which means the King and all that were with him were taken and slain 17. Nero the Emperour was so luxuriously wastful and beyond all reason and measure that he would not fish but with Nets of Gold drawn with purple coloured Cords It is said he took delight to dig the Earth with a Golden Spade and when there was question about cutting the Isthmus of Corinth a design that had long troubled his brain he went thither led on with musical Violins holding in his hand the Golden Spade with which he began in the sight of the whole world to break the ground a matter which seemed ridiculous to the wiser sort living in that age 18. C. Caligula presented himself to be adored ordained peculiar sacrifices to himself at nights in case the Moon shined out full and bright he invited her to embracements and to lye with him the day he would spend in private conference with Iupiter Capitolinus sometimes whispering and laying his ear close to the Statue of him and sometimes again talking aloud as if he had been chiding Nay being angry with Heaven because his interludes were hindred by claps of Thunder and his banquetting disturbed with flashes of lightning he challenged Iupiter to fight with him and without ceasing roared out that verse of Homer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 None is O Iove more mischievous than thou or else that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dispatch thou me Or I will thee whereupon Seneca inferrs what extreme folly was that to think that either Iupiter could not hurt him or that he could hurt Iupiter 19. The servants of the Moscovites yea and their Wives too do often complain of their Lords that they are not well beaten by them for they look upon it as a sign of their indignation and displeasure with them if they are not frequently reproached and beaten by them 20. In the worship of Hercules Lyndius it was the manner that such as stood by him that embowelled the sacrifice did curse the bowels and wish heavy Imprecations upon them 21. Poliarchus the Athenian was arrived at that height of Luxury and Folly that if any of his Dogs or Cocks that he loved chanced to die he made publick Funerals for them invited his friends and buried them with great sumptuousness erecting Pillars upon their Monuments upon which also he caused their Epitaphs to be engraven CHAP. XXVII Of such as have been at vast Expences about unprofitable Attempts and where-from they have been enforced to desist or whereof they have had small or no benefit THere is scarce any thing of that difficulty but some one or other have had the confidence to undertake it and there have been some men of that nature as to desire nothing more than to effect that which others have looked upon as altogether impossible Some of those costly designs have been given over as suddenly as they were rashly adventured upon and others made to miscarry by some accident or other 1. In the Province of Northgoia a part of Bavaria the Emperour Charles the great caused a Ditch to be begun which should have been in length two thousand paâ—es and in breadth three hundred whâ—reby through the help of the Rivers Regnitz and Altmul he meant to have made a passage for Boats from the Danubius into the River of Rhine which begun work was hindred by continual rains and the Marishness of the Grounds 2. Full West of the City of Memphis close upon the Libyan Desarts alost on a rocky level adjoining to the Valley stand those Pyramids the barbarous Monuments of Prodigality and vain glory so universally celebrated the Regal Sepulchers of the Aegyptians The greatest of the three and chiefest of the Worlds seven wonders being square at the bottom is supposed to take up eight Acres of ground every square being three hundred single paces in length The square at the top consisting of three stones only yet large enough for threescore to stand upon ascended by two hundred fifty five steps each step above three foot high of a breadth proportionable No stone so little throughout the whole as to be drawn by our Carriages yet were these hewen out of the Trojan Mountains far off in Arabia a wonder how coâ—veyed hither how so mounted a greater Twenty years it was in building by three hundred sixty six thousand men continually wrought upon who only in Radishes Garlick and Onions are said to have consumed one thousand and eight hundred Talents It hath stood as may be probably conjectured about three thousand two hundred years and now rather old than ruinous Herodotus reports That King Cleops became so poor by the building hereof that he was compelled to prostitute his daughter charging her to take whatsoever she could get Arsinoe is eighty Miles distant from Cairo the ancient Kings of Aegypt seeking by vain and wonderful works to eternize the memory of themselves had with incredible charge and cost cut through all that main Land so that Vessels of good burden might come up the same from Arsinoe to Cairo which great cut or ditch Sâ—sostris the mighty King of Aegypt and long after him Ptolomaeus Philadelphus purposed to have made a great deal wider and deeper and thereby to have let the Red Sea into the Mediterraâ—ean for the readier Transportation of the Inâ—ian Merchandize to Cairo and to Alexandreâ— which mad work Sesostris prevented by death 〈◊〉 not perform and Ptolomaeus otherwise perswaded by skilful men in time gave over for fear lest by letting in the grâ—at South Sea into the Mediterranean he should theâ—â—by as it were with another general Deluge have drowned the greatest part of Grecia and many other goodly Countries of Asia and with exceeding charge instead of honour have purchased himself eternal infamy 4. The Emperour Caius Calâ—gula desired nothing more earnestly than to effect that which others thought was utterly impossible to be brought to pass And hereupon it was that he made a Bridge which extended it self from Baiae to Puteoli that is three Miles and six
great Founder of it was Sir Thomas Bodley formerly a Fellow of Merton Colledge he began to furnish it with Desks and Books about the year 1598. after which it met with the liberality of divers of the Nobility Prelacy and Gentry William Earl of Pembroke procured a great number of Greek Manuscripts out of Italy and gave them to this Library William Laud Archbishop of Canterbury bestowed 1300 choice Manuscripts upon it most of them in the Oriental Tongues At last to compleat this stately and plentiful mansion of the Muses there was an accession to it of above eight thousand Books being the Library of that most learned Antiquary Mr. Iohn Selden By the bounty of these noble Benefactors and many others it is improved in such manner that it is a question whether it is exceeded by the Vatican it self or any other Library in the World CHAP. VII Of such persons who being of mean and low Birth have yet attained to great Dignity and considerable Fortunes IT was the dream of some of the Followers of Epicurus that if there were any Gods they were so taken up with the fruition of their own happiness that they mind not the affairs or miseries of poor mortality here below no more than we are wont to concern our selves with the business of Ants and Pismires in their little Mole-hills But when we see on the one side pompous Greatness laid low as contempt it self and on the other hand baseness and obscurity raised up to amazing and prodigious heights even these to a considering mind are sufficient proofs of a superiour and divine Power which visibly exerts it self amongst us and disposes of men as it pleases beyond either their fears or hopes 1. The great Cardinal Mazarini who not long since sate at the Stern of the French Affairs was by birth a Sicilian by extraction scarce a Gentleman his education so mean as that he might have wrote man before he could write but being in Natures debt for a handsome face a stout heart and a stirring spirit he no sooner knew that Sicily was not all the World but he left it for Italy where his debonaire behaviour preferred him to the service of a German Knight who plaid as deep as he drank while his skill in the one maintained his debauches in the other The young Sicilian deemed this shaking of the elbow a lesson worth his learning and practised his art with such success amongst his Companions that he was become the master of a thousand Crowns Hereupon he began to entertain some aspiring thoughts so that his Master taking leave of Rome he took leave of his Master after which being grown intimate with some Gentlemen that attended the Cardinal who steered the Helm of the Papal interest he found means to be made known to him and was by him received with affection into his service after his Cardinal had worn him a year or two at his ear and distilled his State-maxims into his fertile Soul he thought fit the World should take notice of his pregnant abilities He was therefore sent Coadjutor to a Nuntio who was then dispatched to one of the Princes of Italy whence he gave his Cardinal a weekly account of his transactions here the Nuntio's sudden death let fall the whole weight of the business upon his shoulders which he managed with that dextrous solidity that his Cardinal wrought with his Holiness to declare him Nuntio His Commission expired and the Affairs that begot it happily concluded he returns to Rome where he received besides a general grand repute the caresses of his Cardinal and the plausive benedictions of St. Peter's Successour About this time Cardinal Richelieu had gotten so much glory by making his Master Lewis the Thirteenth of a weak man a mighty Prince as he grew formidable to all Christendom and contracted suspicion and envy from Rome it self this made the Conclave resolve upon the dispatch of some able Instrument to countermine and give check to the cariere of his dangerous and prodigious successes This resolved they generally concurred in the choice of Mazarini as the fittest Head-piece to give their fears death in the others destruction To fit him for this great employment the Pope gives him a Cardinals Hat and sends him into France with a large Legantine Commission where being arrived and first complying with that grand Fox the better to get a clue to his Labyrinth he began to screw himself into Intelligence but when he came to sound his Plots and perceive he could find no bottom and knowing the other never used to take a less vengeance than ruine for such doings he began to look from the top of the Enterprise as people do from Precipices with a frighted eye then withal considering his retreat to Rome would neither be honourable nor safe without attempting something he resolves to declare himself Richelieu's Creature and to win the more confidence unrips the bosome of all Rome's designs against him This made the other take him to his breast and acquainted him with the secret contrivance of all his Dedalaean Policies and when he left the World declared him his Successor and this was that great Cardinal that umpired almost all Christendom and that shined but a while since in the Gallick Court with so proud a Pomp. 2. There was a young man in the City of Naples about twenty four years old he wore linen Slops a blue Wastcoat and went bare-foot with a Mariners Cap upon his head his profession was to angle for little fish with a Cane Line and Hook and also to buy fish and to carry and retail them to some that dwelt in his quarter His name was Tomaso Anello but vulgarly called Masaniello by contraction yet was this despicable creature the man that subjugated all Naples Naples the Head of such a Kingdom the Metropolis of so many Provinces the Queen of so many Cities the Mother of so many glorious Hero's the Rendezvous of so many Princes the Nurse of so many valiant Champions and sprightful Cavaliers This Naples by the impenetrable Judgment of God though having six hundred thousand Souls in her saw her self commanded by a poor abject Fisher-boy who was attended by a numerous Army amounting in few hours to one hundred and fifty thousand men He made Trenches set Sentinels gave signs chastised the Banditi condemned the guilty viewed the Squadrons ranked their Files comforted the fearful confirmed the stout encouraged the bold promised rewards threatned the suspected reproached the coward applauded the valiant and marvellously incited the minds of men by many degrees his superiours to battel to burnings to spoil to blood to death He awed the Nobility terrified the Viceroy disposed of the Clergy cut off the heads of Princes burnt Palaces rifled houses at his pleasure freed Napâ—es from all sorts of Gabels restored it to its ancient Priviledges and lest not until he had converted his blue Wastcoat into Cloth of Silver and made himself a more absolute Lord of
he could not take from them He yielded Neustria to them by his own Authority without privity of the Estates so these Normans called it Normandy By this and some other things he fell into a deep hatred with the French upon which Charles fell sick and that sickness was accompanied with a distemper of the mind through jealousie conceived against his Queen Richarda After this the French and Germans dispossess him of the Empire and give it to Arnoul and the French reject him from the Regency of that Realm substituting in his room Eudes or Odo Duke of Angiers This poor Prince deposed from all his Dignities abandoned by every man in his prosperity had so ill provided from himself that he had not a house wherein to shrowd him banished the Court he was driven to a poor Village in Suevia where he lived some days in extreme want without any means of his own or relief â—rom any man In the end he dyed neither pitied nor lamented of any man in a corner unknown save for this to have been the Theatre of so extraordinary a Tragedy And surely for one of the greatest Monarchs of the World thus to dye without house without bread without honour without mourning and without memory is a signal instance of the Worlds vanity and inconstancy 18. Valerianus the Roman Emperour after he had reigned fifteen years commenced a War against Sapores King of Persia of which such was the unfortunate success That the Emperour was not only overthrown but also was brought alive into the hands of his Enemy Sapores carried him about with him in chains as a common Slave and joining derision to his adversity he made him his Footstool for as oft as he mounted his Horse he caused the miserable Emperour to bow down that he might tread upon his back for his more commodious ascent into the Saddle and after to be flead alive 19. Bajazet King of the Turks for his fierceness was sirnamed Gilderun that is Lightning a Prince of great Spirit and who for ten years space had been exceeding fortunate in his great Enterprises This great Monarch was invaded by Tamerlane the great Chan of Tartary overthrown in the Battel his Son Mustapha slain and he himself made Prisoner At the first the Victor gave him a civil reception and sitting together he thus said to him O Chan we are each of us exceedingly indebted to the Divine bounty I that thus lame have received thence an Empire extending from the Borders of India to Sebaste and thou who from the same hand hast another reaching from the same Sebaste to the Confines of Hungary so that we almost part the World it self betwixt us we owe therefore our praises to Heaven which I both have and will always be ready to render accordingly thou possibly hast been less mindful and of a more ungrateful disposition and therefore thou art brought into this calamity But let that pass and now my Chan tell me freely and truly what thou wouldst have done with me in case I had fallen under thy power Bajazet who was of a â—ierce and â—aughty Spirit is said thus to reply Had the Gods given unto me the Victory I would have inclosed thee in an â—ron Cage and carried thee about with me as a spectacle of derision to all men Tamerlane hearing this passed the same Sentence upon him three years almost the miserable Creature lived inclosed in this manner at last hearing he must be carried into Tartary despairing then to obtain his freedom he struck his head with that violence against the bars of his Cage that he beat his brains out 20. Iugurtha was a great and powerful King of Numidia had long withstood all the power of the Roman Arms but at last was taken by C. Marius and led in Triumph wherewith he was so affected that he began to dote and turn foolish After the Triumph was ended he was thrust into prison and when some had tore off his cloaths and shirt others snatched at the rich Ear-ring he had with that insolence and violence that they tore off together with it the tip of his ear that it hung by At last thus naked he was thrust into a Dungeon all stupid discovering his teeth as one betwixt grinning and laughing Iupiter said he how cold is your Bath There he lived six days till he was starved to death in a miserable manner 21. Never was there a more notable example of the vanity and inconstancy of all earthly things than in the Earl of Morton An. 1581. who was Regent of Scotland in the Minority of our King Iames and was reverenced of all men feared as a King abounding in wealth honour and multitude of friends and followers whereas not long after he was forsaken of all and made the very scorn of all men and being by the malice of his adversaries accused condemned and executed at Edenburgh had his Corps left on the Scaffold from the hour of Execution to Sun-setting covered with a beggerly Cloak every man fearing to shew any kindness or so much as to express a sign of sorrow His Corps was afterwards carried by some base Fellows to the common place of Burial and his Head fixed on the Toll-booth 22. Belisarius a noble and famous General under the Emperour Iustinian having with great success fought many Battels against the Persians Goths and Vandals in his old age by the malice and cruelty of the Empress had his eyes put out and fell into such extreme want that he was forced to beg by the Higy-way side Date obolum Belisario Give a half-penny to poor Belisarius whom vertue raised and envy hath thus made blind 23. King William the Second on the morrow after Lammas-day hunting in the New Forest of Hampshire in a place called Chorengham was unhappily slain in the midst of his sport For Sir Walter Tyrel shooting at a Deer his Arrow glanced upon a tree and hit the King full in the breast who hastily taking hold of so much of the Arrow as stuck out of his body brake it off and with one only groan fell down and dyed Whereupon the Knight and most of the Kings Followers hasted away and those few that remained laid his body in a Colliers Cart which being drawn by one silly lean beast in a foul and filthy way the Cart broke where lay the spectacle of worldly glory both pitifully goared and filthily bemired till thus drawn into the City of Winchester on the morrow after his death he was buried under a plain Marble stone 24. King Edward II. sirnamed Carnarvan being deprived of his Royal Crown and Dignity remained with Henry Earl of Leicester his Kinsman but the Queen suspecting his escape wrought so with her Son King Edward the Third that by his commandment the King was delivered thence into the hands of Thomas of Gurney and Iohn Maltravers Knights who brought him from Kenelworth to the Castle of Corffe from thence to Bristol
he could In the mean time those that were in the streets perceiving all things to be without fear made signs to them in the Church to keep themselves quiet crying to them there was no danger but for as much as no word could be heard by reason of the noise in the Church those signs made them much more afraid than before supposing all on fire without the Church and that they were bid to tarry within and not to venture out for the dropping of the Lead and the fall of other things this trouble lasted for many hours The next day and week following there was an incredible number of Bills set upon the Church doors to inquire for things lost as Shoes Gowns Caps Purses Girdles Swords and Money and in this garboil few but through negligence or oblivion left something behind him The Heretick who through this hurly-burly had not done his sufficient Penance was the day following reclaimed to the Church of St. Frideswide where he supplied the rest of his plenary Penance This ridiculous accident happened An. 1541. in the Reign of King Henry the Eighth CHAP. XXX Of Retaliation and of such as have suffered by their own devices QVod tibi non vis fieri alteri ne feceris or Do as you would be done by is a Rule that Nature it self dictates unto all Mankind yet there is no Lesson that is sooner forgot than this where power is it is ordinary to be oppressive according to the measure of it but then many times the Providence of God steps in and measures out the greatest Insolents the measure they have meted causing them to fall into the very pits they have digged for others 1. In the 7. of King Stephen the times being then turbulent Robert Marmyon whose Seat was the Castle of Tamworth being a man potent in Arms and a great Adversary to the Earl of Chester possessed himself of the Monastery of Coventry turned out the Monks and fortified the Church with the Buildings belonging thereunto making deep Trenches in the fields adjacent which he so covered that they could not be seen to the end that they might be an impediment to an Enemy whensoever any approach should be made but it so happened that as he fallied out with some forces upon the Earl of Chester's drawing near and not remembring whereabouts those places had bin digged he fell with his Horse into one of them himself and by that means being surprized by a common Souldier had his head presently cut off 2. Daout Bassa grand Vizier had taken along with him Executioners and strangled Sultan Osman his great Master not long after by the contrivance of the great Vizier Georgâ— the Spahies were stirred up to demand his life in satisfaction of the death of their late Emperour Daout bribed the Ianizaries with 40000 Chequins of Gold and they received him into their protection but the Spahies persisting in their former resolution the Ianizaries put him secretly into the same Coach wherein he had sent Sultan Osman to Execution twice in the way being dry with sorrow he drank at the same Fountains where his late Master begged drink and so was conveyed into the same Chamber where he had murthered him The Executioners beginning to tye him himself shewed the very corner where he had committed that foul fact and desired that he might if possible expiate it there and so he was accordingly strangled 3. Mack Donald born in Rosse was a Thief fleshed in all Murders mischievous without mercy amongst other his cruelties he nailed Horse-shoes to the soles of a Widows feet because in her grief she had sworn to report his wickedness to the King Not long after he was brought to Perth by men of his own qualities with twelve of his Associates the King Iames the first of Scotland caused them all in like manner to be shod as they had served the woman and when they had been three days hurried along the Town as a spectacle to the people his Companions were gibbeted and himself beheaded 4. In the Reign of Lewis the Eleventh King of France there were by his order cruel Prisons made as Cages being eight foot square and one â—oot more than a mans height some of iron and some of wood plated with iron both within and without with horrible iron-Iron-works He that first devised them was the Bishop of Verdun Cardinal Balue who incontinent was put himself into the first that was made where he remained fourteen days And it is remarkable how the King himself did imprison himself not long before his death for in a jealous fear of his Son and Nobles that they would deprive him of his Government he enclosed himself within a Castle framed with Towers of Iron and iron Grates round about it 5. Perillus the Athenian having cast a brazen Bull for Phalaris the Tyrant of Sicilia with such cunning that offenders put into it feeling the heat of the fire under it seemed not to cry with humane voice but to roar like a Bull when he came to demand the recompence of his pains was himself by order of the Tyrant put into it to shew the proof of his own invention Whence Ovid Et Phalaris tauro violenti membra Perilli Torruit infoelix imbuit autor opus Perillus roasted in the Bull he made Gave the first proof of his own cruel trade 6. Scarce any of the Murderers of Iulius Caesar out-lived him three years but dyed a violent death being all of them condemned they all perished by one accident or other some by shipwrack others in Battel and some of them slew themselves with the same Poignards wherewith they had before stabbed Caesar. 7. When Sultan Bajazet the First was taken by Tamerlane he being demanded of the Victor what he would have done in case the Victory had been his Had I gotten thee in my power said he I would have inclosed thee in an iron Cage and carried thee about therein for a shew wheresoever I went Tamerlane having heard this surly and unseasonable answer caused an iron Cage to be made wherein he inclosed the insolent Sultan who not able to endure the indignities that were there daily done to him gave his head so many knocks against the Grates of his Cage that at last death heard and put an end to all his miseries 8. Pope Alexander the Sixth went to supper in a Vineyard near the Vatican where his Son Caesar Borgia Duke of Valence meaning to poyson Adrian Cardinal Cornetti sent thither certain Bottles of Wine infected with poyson and delivered them to a Servant of his who knew nothing of the matter commanding him that none should touch them but by his appointment It happened the Pope coming in something before supper and being very thirsty through the immoderate heat of the season called for drink his own provision being not yet come The Servant that had the empoysoned Wine in keeping thinking it to be committed to him as a special
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
no less than marvellous cure which at St. Madernes in Corâ—wall was wrought upon a poor Creeple whereof besides the attestation of many hundreds of the neighbours I took a strict and impartial examination in my last Visitation This man for sixteen years together was fain to walk upon his hands by reason the sinews of his legs were so contracted And upon monitions in his dream to wash in that Well was suddenly so restored to his limbs that I saw him able both to walk and get his own maintenance I found here was neither Art nor collusion The name of this Creeple was Iohn Trelille 13. The night before Polycrates the Tyrant of Samos departed thence to go to Oraetes the Lieutenant of Cyrus in Sardis his Daughter dreamed that she saw her Father lifted up in the air where Iupiter washed him and the Sun anointed him which came to pass for assoon as he was in his Power Oraetes caused him to be hang'd upon a Gibbet where his body so remaining was washed of the rain and the Sun melted the fat of it 14. Alexander the Philosopher a man known to be free of superstition reporteth of himself that sleeping one night he saw his Mothers Funerals solemnized being then a days journey from thence whereupon he waking in great sorrow and many tears told the dream to divers of his acquaintance and friends The time being punctually observed certain word was brought him the next day after that at the same hour as his dream was his mother expired 15. Iovius reporteth that Anno 1523. in a morning slumber Sfortia dreamed that falling into a River he was in great danger of drowning and calling for succour to a man of extraordinary stature and presence who was on the further side upon the shore he was by him slighted and neglected This dream he told to his Wife and Servants but no further regarded it The same day spying a child falling into the water near the Castle of Pescara he thinking to save the child leapt into the River but over-burdened with the weight of his Armour he was choak'd in the mud and so perished 16. The Mother of Scanderbeg dreamed she saw a Serpent that covered all Epiruâ— his head was stretched out into the Turks Dominions where he devoured them with bloody jaws his tail was amongst the Christians and in the Government of the Venetians all which very exactly prefigured her Son 17. A Citizen of Millain was demanded a debt as owing by his dead father and when he was in some trouble about it the image of his dead father appears to him in his sleep tells him the whole process of the business that the debt was by him paid in his life time and that if he looked in such a place he should â—ind a Writing under the hand of his Creditor wherein he did acknowledge himself satisfied Awaking therefore from his sleep and reflecting upon his dream he searched and found all things agreeable to what he had dreamed St. Austin saith that this very Writing was seen by him 18. When Galen had an inflammation about the Diaphragma he was admonished in his sleep that if he purposed to be freed from it he should forthwith open that vein which was most apparent betwixt the thumb and the forefinger and take a quantity of blood from thence he did as he was advised and was presently restored to his former health 19. I remember saith Coelius when I was two and twenty years of age being busied in the interpretation of Pliny and while as yet the learned emendations of Hermolaus Barbarus upon that excellent Author had not performed to him almost all that was requisite I light upon that place which we have in his seventh Book concerning such as grow up beyond the usual proportion which Nature hath assigned and they are called by the Greeks Ectrapeli That word was some trouble to me I knew I had read something concerning it but could neither recal to my memory the Author from whom nor the Book wherein Fearing the censure of unskilfulness I laid my self down to rest the best remedy for a perplexed mind where while my thoughts were still employing themselves about it methought I remembred the Book yea the page and place of the page wherein that was written I sought for When I awaked I recalled what was offered to me in my sleep but valued all as a mere illusion yet being stil haunted with the apprehensions of being reputed an Ignoramus that I might leave nothing unattempted I caught up the Book of which I had dreamed and there found it accordingly 20. When St. Bernards Mother was with child of him she dreamed she had a little white and barking Dog in her Womb which when she had communicated to a certain religious person he as by a Spirit of Prophecy reply'd Thou shalt be the mother of an excellent Dog indeed he shall be the Keeper of Gods House and shall incessantly bark against the Adversaries of it for he shall be a famous Preacher and shall cure many by the means of his medicinal tongue 21. Francis Petrarch had a Friend so desperately sick that he had no expectation of his life when therefore wearied with grief and tears he was fallen into a slumber he seemed to see his sick Friend to stand before him and to tell him that he could now stay no longer with him for there was one at the door that would interrupt their discourse to whom he desired that he would recommend his weak estate and that if he should undertake him he should be restored Presently enters into Petrarchs Chamber a Physician who came from the sick and had given him over as a dead man He came therefore to comfort him But Petrarch with tears recounts to him his dream and with great importunity prevails with him to return to the care of his Friend he did so and e're long the man was restored to his wonted health 22. Two Arcadians of intimate acquaintance travelled together to the City of Maegara where when they were arrived the one goes to lodge with a friend of his and the other betakes himself to an Inn. He that was at his friends house saw in his sleep his Companion beseeching him to assist him for he was circumvented by his Host and that by his speedy resort to him he might deliver him from a very imminent danger Awaked with what he had seen he leaps from his bed and intends to go to the Inn but by an unhappy Fate he desists from his compassionate purpose and believing that his dream had nothing in it he returns both to his bed and his sleep When the same person appears to him a second time all bloody and requested him earnestly that seeing he had neglected him as to the preservation of his life at least he would not be wanting to him in the revenge of his death That he was killed by his Host and that at this