made answer not impertinently Ne Musca quidem No not so much as a Flye In the Administration of the Empire he behaved himself for a good while variable as one made of an equall mixture and temper of Vices and Vertues untill at length he turned his vertues also into vices He neglected all Liberall Studies in the beginning of his Empire albeit he took order to repaire the Libraries consumed with fire sending as far as Alexandria for copies of Books His ordinary speech was not unelegant sometimes he would deliver Apothegmes as for example he wished That he had been as fair and well-favoured as Metius did think himself to be another time he said That the condition of Princes was most miserable who could not be credited touching a Conspiracy plainly detected unlesse they were first slain This speech was used also by Adrian Miser a conditio Imperatorum quibus de affectata tyrannide nisi occisis non potest credi Vulcat Gallic in Avidio Cassio He had no affection to bear Armes or wield weapons but delighted especially to shoot Arrowes He would drive his Arrowes point blank so just against the Palm of a mans right hand standing a far off and holding it forth stretched open for a mark as they should all directly passe through the voyd spaces between the fingers and do him no harm at all During his abode at Alba many have seen him shoot at an hundred wild beasts at a time and purposely so to hit some of them in the head that his shafts appeared there like a pair of hornes It was rumoured abroad that in his Infancy Dragons were found about him in manner of a Guard which is but a Fable for he himself who never derogated from himself was wont to report but of one Serpent which was seen in his Chamber When he was mounted once to the Imperiall state he made his boast in the very Senate that it was he who had given unto his Father and Brother both the Empire and they had but delivered it up to him again Martial writeth thus to him in his Epigrams Magna licet toties tribuas majora daturus Dona Ducum victor victor ipse tui Diligeris populo non propter praemia Caesar Propter te populus praemia Caesar amat He was precise and industrious in ministring Justice he reversed many times definitive sentences given for favour and obtained by flattery he did so chastise those that were faulty in that kind that the Officers were never more temperate or just in their places He repressed false informations and sharply punished such informers using this saying Princeps qui delatores non castigat irritat The Prince that chasteneth not Promoters setteth them on to promote At the first he so abhorred all Bloodshed and slaughter that he purposed to publish an Edict forbidding to kill and sacrifice any Oxe and he scarce gave the least suspicion of Covetousnesse But he continued not long in this strain but fell after both to Cruelty and Avarice He was not only cruell but very subtil and crafty in cloking of his cruelty Nunquam tristiorem sententiam sine praefatione clementiae pronunciavit ut non aliud jam certius atrocis exitus signum esset quam Principis lenitas He never pronounced any heavy and bloody Sentence without some preamble and preface of clemency so that there was not now a surer signe of some horrible end and conclusion then a mild beginning and gentle Exordium It is reported of him that Eum se impensissimè diligere simulabat quem maximè interemptum vellet He would seem to love them most whom he willed least should live It was sufficient if any deed or word whatsoever was objected against any one to make it high Treason against the Prince Inheritances though they belonged to the greatest strangers were held confiscate and adjudged to the Emperours Coffers in case but one would come forth and depose that he heard the party deceased say whiles he lived that Caesar was his heir He was the first Emperour who commanded himself to be called Lord and God He sent out his writs in this form Dominus Deus noster sic fieri jubet Our Lord and God thus commandeth Whereupon afterward this order was taken up that neither in the writing or speech of any man he should be otherwise called Edictum Domini Deique nostri Martial A true forerunner of his successour the Pope who in the Extravagants and well it deserves to be put there is styled Dominus Deus noster Papa and his Decrees are styled Oracles The second persecution was under him in the twelfth year of his reigne he most cruelly persecuted the Christians because they would not give the Title of Lord to any but Christ nor worship any but God In this second great persecution the beloved Disciple of Christ the Evangelist Iohn when he taught the Church of Ephesus was banished to the Isle of Patmos for the Word of God where he wrote the Revelation Cletus Nicomedes Pontia Theodora Domicilla were then famous Martyrs There were many learned Schollars in his time Iuvenal Martial Valerius Flaccus Silius Italicus Poets Epictetus the Philosopher and Apollonius Tyanaeus a famous Magician Cornelius Tacitus the Historian Iulius Solinus Quintilian Iosephus the writer of Iewish Antiquities He was proud like Nero and persecuted innocent Christians as he did Tertullian called him Neronis portionem Eusebius haeredem the one a part the other the heir of Nero and Tacitus puts onely this difference between them that Nero indeed commanded cruell Murthers but Domitian not onely commanded them but beheld them himself and so he was Bis Parricida as Valerius Maximus saith of another Consilio prius iterum spectaculo He caused the line of David to be diligently sought out and extinguisht for fear lest he were yet to come of the house of David which should enjoy the Kingdom He was so fearfull that he walked almost continually in his Gallery which he caused to be set with the stone Phengites that by the brightnesse thereof as in a glasse Plin. l. 36. c. 22 he might see what was done behind him That is admirable which writers have related concerning Apollonius Tyanaeus a Pythagorick Philosopher and famous Magician who suddenly as amazed cried out at Ephesus the same time O Stephen strike the Tyrant and a little after he said It is well thou hast strucke him thou hast wounded him thou hast killed him As his life was like unto the life of Nero so was he not unlike him in his death for his own wife Domitia and friends conspired against him and slew him his body was carried to the grave by Porters and buried without honour the Senate of Rome also decreed that his name should be rased that all his Acts should be rescinded and his memoriall abolished quite for ever He perished in the 45. year of his life about the 15. of his
P. Voet. in Herodiani Marc. Commod p. 183. videsis Fromondum de Anima l. 1. c. 4. art 3. p. 97. c Another time a Panther having fastned upon a man who was brought into the lists so that all thought she would instantly tear him in pieces he darted at her so happily that he killed the beast and saved the man preventing the impression of her teeth with the point of his weapon Alcon seeing his son Phalerus one of the Argonauts sleeping on the grasse and a Serpent creeping on his breast slew the Serpent and saved his son Non sic libravit in hostem Spicula qui nato Serpentis corpore cincto Plus timuit dum succurrit dum jactibus iisdem Interitum vitamque daret stabilemque teneret Corde tremente manum totamque exiret in artē Spe propiore metus dans inter membra duorū Vnius mortem Sidonius Apollinaris in paneg Majoriani videsis Servium in fextam Virgilii Eclogam He slew also 100. Lyons with so many darts their bodies falling in such order that they might easily be numbered not one dart miscarrying Herodian ubi suprà He resembled his Father in nothing but fortunate fighting against the Germans with whom notwithstanding he made a dishonourable peace He was faithfull to none and most cruel to those whom he had before advanced to the greatest honours and enriched with most vast rewards Sextus Aurelius Victor He and Heliogabalus conferred all the dignities of the Empire upon men for lust and licentiousness most like unto themselves Walsinghams Manuall He was the first Roman Emperour who through covetousnesse sold offices for mony Vespasian had done it before him but through necessity finding the common-wealth in debt and the treasure exhausted The History of Spain translated by Grimston He killed some though innocent instead of others who were guilty and did let offenders escape for mony Lampridius in Comm. If any one had an enemy of whom he would be revenged he needed but to bargain with Commodus for a summe of money to kill him Id. ibid. He pretended that he would go into Africa that he might raise money for that feigned journey which when he had gathered he spent in banquetting and gaming Id. ibid. He was so careless in serious matters that he wrote nothing more then Vale in many of his letters and so serious in things of light or ill concernment that he caused to be registred how often he frequented the fense-schoole with all his cruelties and impurities Id. ibid. He employed not himself in any thing which became an Emperour making glasses dancing singing piping playing the Buffoon and fencer bathing 7. or 8. times in the day eating in the Bath drinking in the theatre in womans habit mingling humane excrements with the daintiest fare tasting them himself thinking so to mock others Id. ibid. He kept 300. Concubines and so many boyes which he used as women like Caligula commanded women to be ravished in his sight committed incest as he did with all his Sisters and exceeded him saith Tristan in polluting the Temples with whoredome and human bloud His naturall incontinence was incredibly inflamed by divers sorts of ointments used by him to preserve himself from the pestilence whilest it reigned throughout Italy which were of so hot and subtile a quality that they excited in him the unquenchable flames of extraordinary lasciviousnesse Tristan He was so cruell that when he was but 12. yeares old because the bath in which he was washed was a little too warm he commanded that the heater of it should be cast into a furnace Dion confidently reporteth that the Physicians poysoned his Father to gratify him He put to death his Wife Crispina his eldest sister Lucilla and Annia Faustina his Fathers Cousin German with 24. of the Eminentest Personages of the Roman Empire He commanded one to be cast to wild beasts for reading the life of Caligula in Suetonius because he had the same birth-day with Caligula His very jests were cruell seeing one have white haires among black ones he set on his head a starling which thinking it picked wormes made festers He cut a fat man off at the middle of the belly that he might see his entrailes drop out suddenly He called them Monopodii and Luscinii whom he deprived of a foot or eye He made men exercise that cruelty upon themselves in reality which they used to act but in shew Lamprid. c. 9. He imitated Chirurgions in letting bloud and barbers in trimining under which pretence he cut off eares and noses wherefore such was his jealousy of all men that he was forced like Dionysius to be his own barber Histories not onely affirm that he plaid the Gladiator in person but his statue in that fashion stark naked with his naked sword in his hand is yet extant at Rome in the Farnesian palace He imitated Nero in driving of Chariots and if Quintus Aemylius Laetus had not deterred him he would have burned Rome as Nero did thinking he might do what he pleased with that place which he called after his name So exceeding great was the madness of this vile monster that he sent a letter to the Senate with this style Imperator Caesar Lucius Aelius Aurelius Commodus Antoninus Augustus Pius Foelix Sarmaticus Germanicus Maximus Britannicus pacator orbis tevy rum Invictus Romanus Hercules Pontisex Maximus Tribunitiae potestatis XVIII Imperator VIII Consul VII Pater Patriae Consulibus Praetoribus Tribunis Plebis Senatuique * Commodiano soelici Salutem Xiphilin The former Emperours at pleasure sometimes times took some few names to themselves sometimes bestowed them on others In the later times vertue decaying ambition in titles increased Yet Iustinian accounted of as a sober Emperour hath his style notwithstanding not much shorter Imp. Caesar Flavius Justinianus Alemannicus Gothicus Francicus Germanicus Anticus Alanicus Vandalicus Africanus Pius Foelix Inclytus victor ac Triumphator semper Augustus S r. H. Savil on Tacitus He changed the names of all the moneths calling them after his own sur-names which was observed no longer then he lived He ever and anon changed all his surnames except that of Amazonius taken up out of love to Marcia his Concubine whose picture he wore upon the outside of his garment and of Exuperans because he would have been thought to excell all men as appeareth by his being sacrificed to as a God When his Favourite Perennis was dead he repealed many things that were done by him but persisted no above 30 dayes in his reformation permitting Cleander to be more licencious then Perennis Lamprid. Yea to such drunken dotage he was grown that he refused his fathers name commanding himself in stead of Commodus the son of Marcus to be styled Hercules the son of Iupiter and accordingly he forsook the Roman and Imperiall habit and in stead thereof thrust himself into a Lions skin and carried a great club in his hand
chastly measuring others dispositions by his own vicious inclination He maligning Constantines fame at last persecuted the Christians in the East where he reigned with Martinianus whom he before made Caesar at Byzantium and his son Licinius at Arles He was overthrown by Constantine in several battels loosing many thousands of men and was himself taken prisoner yet by meditation of his wife had his life spared and was confined within Nicomedia where for his treasons after he and his son who somewhat survived him were put to death He lived 70 years and reigned 15 Victor Licinius a Constantino morte mulctatur vel ut alii tradunt quum filiam suam Herinam eò quòd Christiana esset ab equis discerpi mandasset ipse adstans inspecturus equi morsu interfectus est Elenchus Numismatum in Bibliotheca Bodieejaâ—a Select and Choyce French Proverbs some of which were collected out of Gruterus de la Noue and other Authors divers observed by my self when I was in France Alphabetically disposed and englished and compared also sometimes with the Refranes or Spanish A. ALler où le Roy va à pied To go where the King goes a foot Aller sur la Hacquenâ—e des Cordeliers To go upon the Franciscans Hackney 1. to go a foot Aimer n'est pas sans amer Love is not without bitternesse Ainsi va le monde So the world goeth Amasser en saison despencer par raison font la bonne maison A seasonable gathering and a reasonable spending make a good house-keeping Amiens fut priuse en Renard repriuse en Lion Amiens was taken by the Fox retaken by the Lion Amour peut moult argent peut tout Love can do much silver can do all Amour toux fumée argent on ne peut cacher longuement Love the cough the smoak and money can not long be hidden by any A Pere à Maistre à Dieu tout puissant Nul ne peut rendre l'equivalent To Father Master and God Al-sufficient None can render equivalent A petit Mercier petit panier A little Pedler a little pack Apres disner de la moustarde After dinner mustard Apres la mort le Medecin After death the Doctor Apres la pluye vient le beau temps After rain comes fair weather A quoi pensez vous quand vous nepensiez rien A vous respondre quand vouy me demandez rien On what think you when you think on nothing To answer you when you ask me nothing Argent content porte medicine Ready money is a ready medicine A rude Chien faut dur lien A curst Dogge must be tyed short Attente tourmente Expectation torments Au jourdhuy marriè demain marri Married to day sad to morrow A un bon Entendeur ne faut que demy mot Half a word is enough to an understanding Hearer Autant de Pais autant de coustumes So many Countries so many customes B. BEau parler n'escorche pas la language Good speech flees not the tongue Beauté sans bonté est comme vin esventè Beauty without goodnesse is like wine that hath taken wind Belles filles se trovent au bourdeau les beaux hommes es mains du Bourreau The fairest woman in the Stâ—wes and the hansom'st man at the Gallowes Bon marché tire l'argent de la bourse Good cheap commodities are not able pick-purses Bon sang ne peut mentir Good blood cannot lye Bonne renommée vaut mieux que ceniture dorée A good renown is better then a golden girdle Bonne Terre mauvais Chemin Bon Advocat mauvais Voisin Bonne Mule mauvaise beste Bonne Femme mauvaise teste Good Country and bad Way Good Lawyer and bad Neighbour Good Mule and a bad beast Good Woman and a bad head Borgne est Roy entre les aveugles He that hath one eye is a King among the blinde C. CEqu'on apprend au bers dure jusques au vers That which one learnes in youth will continue till old age Cela est la Philosophie de Quenoville It is the Philosophy of the Distaff C'est un mouton de Berri il est marqué sur le nez It is a Sheep of Berrie it is marked upon the nose C'est un bon harquebusier il vise aux talons frappe le nez It is a good Harquebusier it aims at the heels and hits the nose Chair du Mouton manger de Glouton Flesh of Mutton is meat for a Glutton Chascun a son tour Le devise du Mounsieur de Guise Every one hath his turn The devise of the Duke of Guise Chascun est Roy en sa maison Every one is King in his own house Commun n'est pas comme un The Publick is not as private Courte messe long disner Short Masse and long dinner D. D'Eau benite le moius suffis Of holy-water the lesse sufficeth De fol Juge brieve sentence From a foolish Judge a quick sentence De la pance vient la dance Dancing followes a full belly De mauvais payeur il faut prendre paille Of an ill pay-master take any thing Desjuner de chasseurs disner d'Advocats Souper de Marchands collation de Moines The Huntsmans break fast the Lawyers dinner The Merchants supper and the Monkes drinking De trois choses Dieu dous garde De Beuf salé sans Moutarde D'un Valet qui se regarde D'une Femme qui se farde From three things God keep us From powderd Beef without Mustard From a Servant which vieweth himself From a Woman which painteth Du cuir d'autruy large courroye A large-thong of anothers leather E. EN gouttes Medicin ne voit Goutte The Physician sees but littie in the Gout En Orenge il n' ya point d'Oranges In Orange there are no Oranges En Pont en Planche en Riviere Valet devant Maistre derriere On Bridge on Plank and on River The Servant before and Master after Entre deux selles le cul à terre Between two stooles the tail to the ground Entre la bouche le verre Le vin souvent tombe à terre Between the lip and the cup. The wine is often spilt Eschorhcer le Renard To flea the Fox Estre sur la bord de la fosse To be upon the brink of the pii Alterum pedem in cymba charonti habere F. FAire de Chasteaux en Espagne To build Castles in Spain We say to build Castles in the air Faire de son Medecin son heritier To make his Phisician his heir Faire grond cas de peu de chose To make great account of a little thing Femme argent vin on leur bien leur venin Women money and wine have their good and their evil Femme rit quand elle peut pleure quand elle veut A Woman laughes when she can and weeps when she
5. Centuriis Baronius produceth a Medaie of Severus with Caracalla and Geta's heads on the reverse and these words Concordia perpetus * Novo exemplo hic fanatiâ—us de nomine cjus dei cujus sacerdos fuit se quoque dici voluit quod non minut insolens quà m si Iovis sacerdos aut dialis flamen ipsam Iovis appellationem sibi vindicasset Casaubon On a reverse of Aunia Fanstina is written Concordia and on one of Paula's Concordia aeterna Tristan See p. 171. in the margin In parasitas tantùm scelestus nebulo ingeniosus justus fuisse videtur saith one Of his pedigree see H. Valesius on Peiresci Excerpta p. 112. * Quod ei qussi Alexandre est oblatum See p. 13. in the margin See p. 44. and 132. Lamprid. c. 51. Sr. Th Elyot his image of govern See p. 62. and 63. See p. 128. Lampridius c. 14. Matris cultu plus quam pius Aur. Victor * Nequid a rudi homine militaribus viris venires injuriae saith Iornaâ—des in Geticis c. 15. Capitolinus in Maximimino Ian. id Maximo Balbino Ridiculè Orosius l. 7. fratres fuisse scribit cùm alter nobilis ignobilis alter fuerit Capitolinâ— auctore Schottus in Aur. Victorem Eutropius See Iulius Caesar p. 19. Of Brutus saith Aur. Victor Solâ pestilentiâ morbis atque aâ—gritudinibus Galli Volusiani notus fuit principatus Eutropius Valeriani vita censura est Massa Candida in Africa Initio imperium faeliciter mox commodè ad ultimum perniciosè gessit Eutropius aliter Aur. Victor Aurelianus maâ—â—ad ferrum The Amphora Copitolina held 6 Gallons See Macrinus p. 177. See in Herberts Travels the pillar of beasts heads erected at Spaâ—awn on such an occasion See Alexander Serus p. 192. He called September Tacitus because he was born and made Emperour in that month Vopiscus in Probo c. 13. 14 15. Iulianus in Caesaribus Oraculum apud Plutarchum monebat quendam ut anguem seduâ—ò vitaret id cum praestaret ille in militem cui anguish insigne clypei erat incidit ac obtruncatuâ— fuit Quanquam putem ego pace magni istius Philosophi Historiâ—i tamen monuisse Deum ut 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vitaret quod commune nomen clypei serpâ—nâ—is est ita oraculo illi aequivocatio sua constat Heinsius in Crepundiis Vide Val. Maximum l. c. 8. de Daphida Philippo Macedone Quae persecutio omnibus ferè anteactis diâ—turnior atque immanior fuit p. Orosius l. 7. c. 25. Incessabiliter acta est Id. ibid. Nomine Christianorum deleto Qui Remp. everâ—ebant in another Inscription mentioned by Baronius anno 304. Zonaras Nicephorus Callist Th. Metochita c. but neither Tristan nor Chr. Matthias hold this to be the sole cause of his resignation Eusebius de vita Constantini l. 1. c 10. Gonstantius Paâ—per See Suidas in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sozomen l. 1 The like History Theodorus Lector â—elteth of Theodorick King of the Gothes an Arrian in the second book of his Collections Socrates l. 3. Camden his Brit in description of York Nullo modo Iacobus Philippus Bergomensis audiendus est qui Constantium repudiata Theodorâ Helenam Anglorum regis filiam captivam uxorem duxisse fabulatur cùm ex Romannorum annalibus certò constet Helenam illum coactum repudiasse ut Theodoram Maximiani Augusti priâ—ignam conjugem acciperet Usserius in Antiquitat Britann Hemeâ—arius p 1â—6 1. To the Stool Love is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a bitter sweet * Because the Arch-Duke took it by a stratagem and Henry the fourth regained it by force The Italian Proverb is Love the Itch and the Cough cannot be hid * We say After Eecf Mustard Paroum parva decent * Post nubilâ— Phoebus After a storm comes a calm * Verbum sâ—t sapienti We say Good words cost nothing The Spaniards say It is much worth and costs little to give to evil words a good answer Refraâ—es â—'Oudin A worthy nature cannot conceal it self See Prov. 22. 1. This Proverb is well explained by Eâ—din de Reaub l 5. c. 3. and Pasquiâ—r de Recherches de la France l. 6. c. 11. Some make it all one with that Proverb The hood or habit makes not the Monk others say that onely women of a good name and not whores were suffered to wear a golden girdle The Spanish Proverb is He that hath lost his renown is dead in the world The English is He who hath an ill name is half hanged See l'Eâ—ymòlogie des Proverbes Francois l. 1. c. 9. Quo semel est imbuâ—a reâ—ens servabit odarem Testa 〈◊〉 * It is the custome of the Shepherds of that Province in France so to mark their Sheep therefore if in brabling or otherwise one hath received a blow on the nose and it appears theâ— men merrily say so See l' Eâ—imologie des Proverbe Francois l. 3. c. 25. * They speak merrily of a faâ—r We say A fooles bolâ— is sâ—â—n shot * Tollere nodosam niscit medicina podagram Ovidius * The Prince of Orange his Countryis fertill of all fruits save Oranges whence came this Proverb saith Iodoâ—â—â— Sincerus in his Tâ—iâ—erarium Galliâ— * Like to this is the Spanish Proverb Algran arroyo passar postrero At a great River one should passe last Multa cadunt inter calicem supremaque labâ—a * To spue cast vomit especially upon excessive drinking either because then one makes a noise like a Fox which barkes or because the flaying of so unsavory a beast will make any man vomit See l'Etymologie deâ— Proverbe Francois l. 2. c. 33. Beneficium accepisti libertatem vendid isti Terence * Prov. 17. 28. Si sapiens stultus si stultus sapiens Pitissando dolium exâ—auritur Terence Semper auâ—rus eget * This is spoken of one that hath a great appetite the second small gut is named Ikiâ—num because it is alwaies void whence springeth this Proverb Me quasi pilam habâ—t Plautuâ— * There iâ— such store of Sheep in that Province that they have this by word when thâ—y would taxe a fellow for his notable lying and telling a greater number then the truth * See l'Etymologie des Proverbes Francois l. 1. c. 4. * sumptuousnesse of apparel destroyes Hospitality and good House-keeping 〈…〉 * Such be Hectique paralitique Apoplectique Lathargique because they are hardly or never cured Lex salica Gallorum imperii successor masculus esto * It is spoken of those who in their youth have all prosperity but in the end sorrow and care * A Charm which they use to hinder a man from accompanying with his wife Est aliquod bonum propter vicinum bonum Matrem proles sequitur See I' Etymologie des Proverbes Francois l. 2. c. 15. * Like to which is both the Latine Proverb Lupus in fabula See Erasm. Adâ—g and the Arabick Quando mentionâ—m feceris lupi praepara illi â—aculnm Qui vult â—ucleum nucem frangat oporteâ— Ciâ—ò longè â—ardâ— Pâ—r pâ—ri râ—â—erre See of the French Proverb l' Etyâ—â—logiâ— des Proverbes Francois l. 1. c. â— Rem acutetigisti The Cony by reason of his fear is very forgetful whence came this Proverb That is to teach or professe no more 1 Cor. 22 Mocking those that eat by the way