had the force of Laws for Quintus Hortensius when the Commons of Rome had withdrawn themselves into Janiculum a Town beyond Tyber made a Law that those things which the Common People had commanded all the Quirites the Roman Citizens should be obliged by and observe which Law L. Valerius and M. Horatius had granted Centuriatis Comitiis i. e. to the general Assembly of the People of Rome assembled to treat of common affairs There was great difference between Plebiscita Orders made by the common People and the Laws for the Plebiscita the Tribunes demanded those things which did belong to the People but the Laws either Consul or Praetor or other Magistrate advising rogabantur were demanded whether they should be ratified or not They made also a difference between Populus the Citizens of Rome and Plebs the common Rout for that among the People were Patricians Senators and the Nobility but among the Rout there were no Patricians Notwithstanding whatever the People commanded was not always to be ratified because whatever was not just the People might not command The Counsels of the Senate though they were not brought yet if the Tribunes approved thereof and would have them ratified they obtained the force of Laws The Edicts and Interdicts of Praetors also sometimes and under some qualifications had the force of Laws which were intituled Jus Honorarium which were taken away by the Lex Cornelia Also the Responses of Wise-men went sometimes for currant Likewise the ablest and wisest Lawyers were esteemed and used as the best Interpreters and Judges of the Laws which some say was granted to them by Augustus others as confidently affirm they had it not from Augustus and other Princes but of antient custom and right long before But Caligula that Monster and Enemy of Mankind caused all the Decrees of the Lawyers to be forbidden and no body but himself to be the Interpreter and Judge of them At least the Decrees and Constitutions of Princes went for currant Law For when Caesar and the following Emperors had obtained the chief Empire and they only gave Laws and all the Right and Power of Legislation was rent from the People Lege Hortensia and was given to the Caesars so that their Wills and their Decrees without the counsel or consent of the People as formerly had the force of Laws contrary to the Laws of God Nature and Reason Caracalla being fully possessed of this exorbitant power used it accordingly who first killed his own Brother Geta who had equal share with him in the Government by the appointment of Severus their Father and then caused the great Lawyer Papinianus to be put to death because he would not defend that barbarous Act of his before the Senate alledging for his justification that it was easier to commit Parricide than defend it but afterwards this Caracalla was contented more Majorum to have him Canonized Divus modo non sit vivus to deify him being dead in another world rather than to have him a living Co-partner with him in the Empire On the contrary Trajan that most excellent Emperor being possessed of the same power and having published some private and special Laws or Indults for great merits and understanding that some relying thereon made ill use thereof by drawing them into Example and fearing lest contrary to the Laws and Customs of the Antients they should be drawn by application unto wrong Causes and being brought into Judgment and Courts of Justice or Pleadings as Precedents they should pass for Laws he refused afterwards to answer Plaintiffs or Defendants by any writing or Libel of Record lest thereby pernicious examples and as it were Seminaries of ill might spring from thence Antiochus had so great veneration for the Laws that by his publick Edicts he did declare that if he had at any time decreed contrary to Law and Right it should not be obeyed but should be freely opposed by whose example Agesilaus would be obliged by no Promises that he should make but on condition that they were just At what time the Common People did choose their Magistrates whom they always accounted as sacred in the sacred Mount it was provided by a Law that it should not be lawful for any Patrician to apprehend or disturb any of them and not without cause for when against the Power and Insolencies of the Patricians the common People did assemble to choose Tribunes as Champions and Defenders of their Laws and Liberties to hear complaints against the Patricians it would be very unjust that in that in which the People did choose their Defenders to the height and pitch of Honour they should admit those who were most adverse and shagreen to their Liberties and Franchises They esteemed their Tribunes as the Ephori among the Lacedaemonians advanced and delegated to that office to curb the Insolencies of the Spartan Kings lest they should abuse their power to the prejudice of the People Theopompus a Spartan King instated Five of his Friends to be Ephori as his Auxiliary Ministers in his Government at home when he went abroad in Person with his Armies though it was provided by the Laws of Sparta that their Kings should not go out in Person with their Armies which Ephori in process of time came to have so great a power over their Kings that they directed them what they were to do and also were Censors of all they did insomuch that they called Archidamus to account imprisoned him laid a great mulct upon him and at last took his life away The like they did to Pausanias and Agis Lacedaemonian Kings and were so terrible that they erected Timoris Sacellum a Chappel of Terror which Ephori together with their Kings did take Oaths every Month that they would observe the Laws of Lycurgus and preserve the Kingdom in peace In tract of time they grew so insolent that Cleomenes broke their Empire and restored the Kingly Power It was not lawful for any Patrician to accept of being a Plebeian Magistrate and Volero Tribune of the People ordained by a Law proclaimed with the consent of the Plebeians that the Plebeian Magistrate should be made without the Patricians and only the Plebeians admitted to the Tribunitian Councils And though formerly to be Dictator Consul Praetor or Censor none but Patricians were to be admitted yet afterwards the Patrician Magistrates were to share and communicate with the Plebeians So Sextius Primus of a Plebeian was made a Consul which then was ratified Lege Licinia which C. Licinius and L. Sextius Tribunes of the People proclaimed that the Consulship should be common with the Plebeians Q. also P. Philo and Cl. Licinius Stolo Plebeians the one did bear the office of Pretorship the other the Master of the Horse with the Patricians Moreover the Dictatorship in which was placed the greatest glory and Censorship we find to be in common with the Plebeians For both M. Rutilius the first Dictator and Censor then Q. Pompeius and Q. Metellus
may learn wisdom and not fall away Wisd chap. 1. ver 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9. THE Right of Government AND JUSTIFICATION OF DEFENSIVE ARMS c. THough there can be nothing so exactly so accurately so cautiously written that prevaricating and searching Wits and Men of different Principles and different Interests who take and measure only by their own Plummets and their own Lines will not quarrel and throw Stones at when sound Reason and solid Arguments are wanting to refute Yet I presume to expose my Sentiments concerning Government and Governors and to run the same fortune and risk with others not vainly expecting to pass currantly without snaps and snarles laying a very short but firm Foundation as a solid Rock able to bear and justifie all the Superstructures which I shall Build thereon relating to any Form of Government whatsoever thereby avoiding multiplicity and ministring less occasion of Disputes and less Fuel to kindle the fire of Contention and less scope to pick and make Disputes and Quarrels upon I shall not particularly meddle with the several Forms of Government nor how rightly or abusively exercised in any Nation State or Kingdom but shall endeavour quantum in me to set the Right of Governors and Government on a right Foundation in general without respect to this or that Form or to this or that Nation Commonwealth or Kingdom and without particular Reflections as much as is possible unless by way of instance on any particular Kingdom or Commonwealth CHAP. I. Shews the absolute necessity of Government of what Nature it ought to be and how Governors ought to behave themselves in the Management thereof To what Governors Obedience is due I Shall First shew the absolute necessity of Friendly Assotiations and Government Secondly Of what Nature it ought to be Thirdly Who of right have the Power of Government It is a Maxime most Christian an undeniable That pure Religion and undefiled Holiness of Life and Conversation is every Man's bounden Duty in particular and is and ought to be the highest of all the Cares and Concerns of all publick and private Governors and Governments in many respects 1. In respect of gratitude towards God who hath done so great things for us Men and for the Eternal Welfare of our Immortal Souls and who giveth to all Men liberally and upbraideth not and not only for necessity but for delight also 2. In respect of his Almighty Power who is Lord alone of all the Kingdoms of the Earth and doth whatsoever he pleaseth in Heaven above and in Earth beneath and in the great Waters 3. In respect that righteousness and judgment are the habitation of his throne Psalm 97. 2. and he will judge the World with Righteousness and all Persons with his Truth and who only can give Peace within our Walls and Plentiousness within our Pallaces but that only Hypothetically on condition that our ways do please him 4. In respect of the great power Religion hath to qualifie all unnatural exorbitant humors and passions of Men even most rebellious against God or Men and to incline all Governors to Rule with Conscience and the Governed to obey for Conscience sake It is no Phanatick whim but a matter of â—ound and undeniable consequence That all Duties both of the Governors and Governed are by so much the better executed by how much they are the more Religious For it 's not possible that good Government can continue without good Governors which being most certainly true Policy must submit and be subordinate and dâ— homage to Religion This is more demonstrable in that all good Christians do own these very Truths in their very Prayers to which the several Lyturgies of several Nations give abundant undeniable Testimony Besides they have God's own Command and own Pattern for such Government and Governors viz. Hâ— that ruleth over men must be just ruling in the fear of God 2. Sam. 23. 3. Before the Israelites God's own peculiar People for whom God has done so much and shewed so many Miracles by bringing them out of the Land of Egypt by a strong Hand entred that good Land beyond Jordan he taught them by his Servant Moses Laws Statutes and Judgments to govern themselves by saying Behold I have taught you Statutes and Judgments even as the Lord my God commanded me that ye should do so in the Land whether ye go to possess it keep therefore and do them for this is your wisdom and understanding in the sight of the Nations which shall hear all these Statutes and say Surely this great Nation is a wise and understanding People For what Nation is there so great who hath God so nigh unto them as the Lord our God is in all things that we call unto him for and what Nation is there so great that hath Statutes and Judgments so righteous as all this Law which I have set before thee Only take heed to thy self and keep thy soul diligently and teach them thy Son and thy Sons Sons c. What human Oracles can contrive and dictate better Laws Statutes and Judgments than is commanded in Holy Writ And therefore greatest prudence and safety to make them their Pattern But we have not only Divine but Human Sanctions also for what is averred That great Prince Augustus was wont to say That Religion did Deifie Princes And Tully tells us That the Roman State did increase and flourish more by Religion than by any other means All the Laws of Solon and Lycurges of Greece and Rome c. come far short of the Laws of God for the most pure just and excellent Government And whoever shall consult the Antients of the very Heathens themselves as Plato Aristotle Cicero and others shall find that they all center be the Form of Government what it will in just Laws and just Execution without creating Subtilties or coyning Evasions to sham good Laws made in simplicity and in sincerity Thus by Testimony both Divine and Human Religion is the best and surest Basis of Human Society Union Peace Liberty Plenty and distributive Justice to all indifferently without respect of Persons high or low rich or poor Consider also what Edward I. hath left as a Pattern of good Government concerning the Office of a King Rex autem c. The King because he is the Vicar of the great God is ordained to this That above all he should reverence Holy Church that he should govern the Earthly Kingdom and People of God and defend them from injuries and should discountenance and dispel all lewd People out of Church and State which if he do not the name of King remains not in him But Pope John testifying he loseth the name of King to whom Pepin and Charles his Sons not yet Kings but Princes under the French King wrote foolishly complaining that if so the Kings of France ought to be content with the Name and Title of King by whom it was answered That it belongs to them to be called Kings
the yoak of such Bondage and Impery is likewise according to the Law of Nature virtus vocatur The People for certain were before there could be any King and consequently Kings must be made by the People and therefore are superior to them in some sense according to quicquid efficit tale est magis tale a rule as true in Politicks as in Naturals Produce who can any one Law of God and Nature or any one Rule of Natural Justice by which Usurpers Tyrants perverters of Law and Justice are to be free of punishment and yet the Inferior People to be subject to punishments for Crimes of the same nature The Reason and Law of Government be it Monarchical or Republick is equally natural Kings by Nature are no more Sacred than those seated in the Government of Republicks who nemine contradicente may and ought to be punished and why not Kings when transgressors their Power being given them by the same Persons and for the very self-same ends and purposes the good of the governed To assert the Oaths and Pacts of Kings with their People to be obliging and yet to be unaccountable and unreprovable for any breach of them is with the Cow to give good Milk and then kick it down at one and the same moment to make good Laws and yet to abolish and null them which ought to have dominion over both Kings and People Look into Ancient Histories which strut with examples of Governors Kings and others brought to Judgment and condemned by the People Lacedaemonians Grecians Romans c. formal Governments Victima haud ulla Amplior Potest magisque opima mactari Jovi Quam Rex Iniquus Senec. Frag. See the Edict of Theodosius and Valens Christian Emperors Codex 1. tit 14. De Authoritate Juris Imperatorum pendet Authoritas The Majesty therefore of Cesars must submit to the Laws on which they depend Whoever consults and considers the very severe Laws of the Romans Grecians Lacedaemonians Carthaginians Athenians against the Licentiousness Oppressions Tyranny Insolencies c. of their Emperors and other Magistrates they will find that they were made with all the Sincerity Care Caution and Wisdom that the Understandings and Wisdoms of those several Countries and Ages could afford and that the breach of them were very severely punished Valerius Publicola Collegue of Junius Brutus after their Kings were banished made a Law That when Tyrants by reason of their armed Soldiers could not be brought to Judgment it should be lawful for any Man to resist them by any means and afterwards to give an account of their so doing Such like Appeals and Examples are common amongst most Nations Ambiorix King of the Gauls confessed that the Multitude had no less Power over him than he had over them Tacitus writes of the Germans Nec Germanorum Regibus infinita aut libera potestas erat de minoribus rebus Principes consultant de majoribus omnes Rex aut Princeps auditur Authoritate suadendi magis quam jubendi potestate si displicuit sententia fremitu aspernatur That their Kings had no Infinite or Arbitrary Power c. It is not unworthy our consideration to recount with how great severity and strictest Discipline of Laws and Ordiances both of the Senate and Common Council the Romans did provide against the exorbitant and imperious licentious Government of their Kings beyond all bounds of reason After the expulsion of Tarquinius Superbus the last Roman King all the Citizens of Rome assembled and concluded that their Government under one whom they called King should for the future be settled on two whom at first they called Praetores afterwards Judices then Consules P. Valerius who was chosen Consul with L. Brutus made a Law That it should be lawful for any Man to Appeal from any Magistrate whomsoever to the People esteeming such Appeals as Bridles and Curbs to licentious Governors And some do contend that Appeals during the Reigns of their Kings from them to the People were in use before and that it was so provided by their Pontifical Books which Law was re-inforced again by Muraena the Consul quo tempore Sora Alba coliniae deductae sunt Afterward when the Decemvirate Impery was annulled the People of Rome the better to provide against Arbitrary Government besides the Tribunes of the People who had the Protectorship of the Liberties and Goods of the People made a new Law That if any should create a Magistrate without the intercession of the People or their Tribunes it should be lawful for to kill him Which Duellius the Consul soon after renewed by an other Constitution That whoever created a Magistrate without the benefit of Appeals his Back and Head should pay for it Notwithstanding all these severities yet the Nobles did oppress the Commons and therefore as the only remedy thereof M. Valerius before the first Punick War made a Law called Lex Valeria which among other things did provide That whosoever appealed from another Magistrate should not be punished either Head or Back But yet the Liberty and Goods of the People not being sufficiently secured but that the more mighty did oppress the less powerful the â—icher the poorer M. Valerius the Consul did a third time promulgate a Law with grievous punishments to those who should prohibit Appeals to the greater Tribunal in so much that those who were violently oppressed and condemned he gave the right of Appeal to the People And yet after a few years Caligula on pretence that Suits should not be spun out and wier-drawn too long did inhibite many Appeals Although Appeals the chief protection of the People from Injuries was ratified by so many Laws and yet proved insufficient thereunto therefore Martius Censor made a Law in behalf of the People That no Man should be preferred twice to those higher places And then Fab. Maximus in favour of the People ordained That no Man should in ten years be admitted to the same Place and Authority Then L. Sylla by a Law forbade any Man under great punishments to be a Praetor before he had been a Quaestor or Consul before he had been a Praetor and the same Man not to be advanced again into the same place within ten years deeming the frequent exaltations into Powers would make the Powers not to be endured which Law was afterwards extended unto twenty years There were many Acts also of the Common Council extant by which it was provided That no Man should bear two Magistracies especially that of the Curulis in one year neither the Plebaeian nor the Patritian And all Magistrates were before admittance to be sworn and not to stay therein above five Days except they were sworn and if they carried themselves proudly and insolently in their Government they were to be cast out the first of such was Tarquinius Superbus afterwards Kingship being banished Sergius and Virginius Tribune Consuls and Cn. Manlius and Servilius Cepio Pro-consuls the Senate for their Male-Government caused