than good Neither is the determination of Affairs led by Judgment but guided and turn'd to and fro according to the favour number and affection of the Multitude Which Pliny the younger affirms for the decrees and choices of the people are number'd not consider'd For in popular Consultation that always carries the day which not the wisest but the greatest number think most convenient among whom while they all accompt themselves equal there is nothing more unequal than that Equality it self Nothing therefore can be rightly order'd by the promiscuous heat and headlong fury of the Multitude nor can any thing be rightly amended that shall be found amiss and disadvantageous to the Commonwealth rather those Statutes and Decrees which are made and confirm'd and found to be most wholesome for the publick good by the rage of the inconsiderate Multitude are overturn'd and abrogated Now among all these so various forms of Rule and administrations of Government most Authors have another compounded of two particular kinds Such an one did Solon compose partly of the Nobles partly of the People so making his publick Honours communicable to all Others thought fit to frame their Political Rules by making a mixture of all three together Such was the government of the Lacedaemonians for they had a King who was perpetual but he had little or no Command only in time of War then had they a Senate chosen out of the richest and wisest part of the Nobility moreover out of the Common People they Created Ten perpetual Ephori who had power of Life and Death and were Controulers both of the King and Senate being Elected out of the Vulgar people Among the Romans the Authority of the Senate plainly shew'd that there was an Aristocracy mix'd with their Democracy and we find that many things were commanded by the Senate many things by the People And at this day though in many places Kings and Princes do rule at their own pleasures yet do they make use of the chief Nobility and Gentry in the several Counties and Provinces of their Kingdoms to transact many Affairs and of great consequence from whence hath arose a question which it is most sate to live under a good Prince and bad Counsellours or bad Counsellours and a wicked Prince Marius Maximus Julius Capitolinus and others choose the latter notwithstanding that many grave Authors are no way willing to consent to them finding by experience that evil Counsellors may be corrected sooner by a good Prince than an evil Prince be amended by good Counsellers However for the good government of a Commonwealth or Kingdom it is not Philosophy nor Kingcraft nor any other Science that can avail but the integrity fidelity and ability of the Ruler for a single person may govern best so may a few so may the people provided that in each there be the same intention of Unity and Justice but if the designes of each be evil then can neither rule as they should But that which convinces the strange rashness of Men addicted to Rule is this that when Men in their several stations some plainly confess themselves ignorant how to Plough and Sow how to keep Sheep some how to guide a Ship or govern a Family yet there is no Man who does not think himself sufficiently gifted to bear Office in a City to act a King or Prince or to command great Nations and People which is the most difficult thing CHAP. LVI Of Religion in General TO the perfect Weal of a State or Kingdome Religion is of main concernment which is a certain Discipline and Canon of outward Rites and Ceremonies by means whereof as by certain signes we are admonished of our Internal and Spiritual Duties Cicero defines it to be a Discipline teaching us to exercise the Ceremonies of Divine Worship with a reverent Famulatu which that it is most useful and necessary for all Cities and Governments the same Cicero together with Aristotle firmly holds For thus saith he in his Politicks It behoves a Prince above all others to seem Religious For the People are of Opinion that such Rulers will do 'um no harm and they will be the more afraid to Plot against them by how much the more they think themselves defended by the Gods Now Religion is so deeply Rooted in Men by Nature that it makes the difference more plain betwixt them and Beasts than Reason Now that Religion is thus Naturally grafted in us Aristotle confesses besides that it is apparent from â—his very experiment That as often as we are oppressed with any suddain Dangers or put to any suddain Affright presently before we search into the Cause or seek for any other help we flye to Coelestial Invocation Nature it self teaching us without any other Instructor to Implore Divine Assistance From the Beginning of the World we find that Cain and Abel did Religiously Sacrifice to God though Enoch were the first that taught the Forms and Ceremonies of Divine Worship for which reason the Scripture saith That then the name of the Lord first began to be call'd upon After the Flood how many several Laws and Ordinances of Religion were Instituted by several persons in several Nations For Mercury and King Menna taught the Aegyptians their Forms of Worship Melissus the Foster-Father of Jove instructed the Cretans in their Ceremonies Faunus and Janus Instituted the Rites of the Latines Numa Pompilius those of the Romansâ—Moses those of the Hebrews Cadmus also the Son of Agenor is said to have brought out of Phoenicia all those Solemn Mysteries Consecrations of Images Hymns Festivals and other Sacred Rites and Customs performed in honour of the Gods which were afterwards in use among the Graecians Neither did they only give names to the Gods but also Ordaina what Rites and Ceremonies should be due to each They held that there were certain Numens the Protectors of Criminal Offences and ascrib'd a Deity to Diseases and evil Accidents Therefore did the Romans Worship Jove the Adulterer and Dedicated a publick Temple to the Goddess Feaver and in their Esquiliae plac'd an Altar to Misfortune In Hell they also found out Deities to adore and the Prince of Darkness Satan the most miserable and the lowest of all they made a shift to Worship under the Names of Pluto Dis and Neptune assigning to him for a Keeper the Three-headed Cerberus that greedy Monster that Compasses the Earth seeking whom he may Devour sparing none hurtful to all the Accuser of all Men. From Captive Souls the Lord of Stygian Lands For past Offences Punishment demands 'Gainst all the shades remorseless Rage he breaths With Furies compass'd and a thousand Deaths Here sundry sounds of sundry wayling Pains There Thousand Torments shake their dismal Chains Th' Aegyptians together with their Deities adore Brute Beasts and Monsters and there are at this day that Worship Idols and Images At this day likewise a great part of the World as the Turkes Saracens Arabians and Moors give Divine Honours to Mahomets
For the same reason Peacocks are receiv'd because of their pride and the Lapwing or Heath-hen for that she seems to carry the Emblem of Majesty wearing the resemblance of a Crown on her head Nor is she refus'd because she makes her Neast in Excrements for we know that Vespatian impos'd a tribute upon Piss acknowledging That the smell of Gain was always sweet There be many of smaller Animals also that claim a prerogative in the Shields of great men provided they be the Documentors of mischief Such are Coneys Moles Frogs Locusts Mice Serpents Salpeges Scolopenders through the multitude of which sort of Animals as Pliny testifies people have been forc'd to forsake their Habitations and Cities have been forsaken For the same reason some have not been asham'd to bear Lice Fleas and Flies and some there are that count it a great honour to be mark'd with Blains and Botches while there are those that hold them for the best Gentlemen that have been most pepper'd with the French Pox. Some there are that bear for their Arms Swords Daggers Faulcheons Towers Battlements Engines of War Fire-works and whatsoever other Instruments of Murther and Mischief The Scythians carry Thunder for their Arms the Persians a Bow and Arrows the Coralli Wheels Thus among the Gods Jupiter carried Thunder Neptune a Trident Mars a Spear Bacchus a Thyrse Hercules a Club and Saturn a Scithe And these Ensignes of Armory as they are the Emblems of Cruelty Rapine Violence Fortitude Rashness and other Heroick Vertues are by the judgment of the Heralds some nobler than others Now those Shields that are blazoâ—â—d with things that are less noxious as Trees Flowers Stars as the Harp of Apollo the Caduceus of Mercury or are otherwise distinguish'd onely by variety of Colours these are accompted much more modern and less noble than the other as not being acquir'd by any Acts of War or other Artifices of Ruine and Destruction However 't is a wonder to see how foolishly and idly these applauded Heralds play the Philosophers Astrologers and Divines while they ascribe black and brown to Saturn and therefore Perseverance Patience and Taciturnity to him also But Saphyr and Azure Faith and Zeal belongs to Jupiter Over Red which signifies Anger and Revenge they give Mars dominion The Golden Colour they dedicate to the Sun and by reason of the Price of the one and the Lustre of the other think it signifies desire and joy Over Green and Purple Venus is made chief Ruler to Purple by reason of its Rosie beautie ascribing the signification of Love though the French will have it to denote Treachery but Green by the consent of all was the Emblem of Hope seeing that from the green Fields Fruit is expected at the end of the year White is ascrib'd to the Moon which being simple without mixture yet is it capable of all mixture and therefore they will have it to denote Purity Docility and Simplicity of heart All other mixt Colours they assign'd 〈◊〉 Mercury who being himself inconstant and of several humours so they observe that those humours signifie the various Affections of the Minde As Ash-colour being neer to Black signifies Trouble Flesh-colour inward Grief of the Soul or secret and hidden Thoughts Straw-colour Desperation and Suspition or Jealousie Too long it would be to repeat their Trifles of the same nature feigned and digested into Emblems from the Water Days corners of the World Winds Wood Planets Plants Stones and the very Mysteries and Sacraments of Religion Nay they have translated all the Apocalypse into Fables and Trifles of their own invention And this is that Heroick Philosophy of the Heralds And here I had made an end of this Discourse had I not met with the Original of these Heralds Aeneas Sylvnius deduces the Original of the Heralds from the Heroes Now these Heroes were old Souldiers which they ought also to be and Harald the Teutonick word signifies an old man in Arms or a Veterane Souldier But now every Servile and Mechanick-fellow fecial Messengers and Caduceators frequently are admitted to the Employment However the Priviledges and Offices of Heralds remain inviolable to this very day Their first Institutor was Father Bacchus who having conquer'd India gave them their first beginning in these words This day I free you from War and Labour I will that ye be called Veterane Souldiers and Heroes Your business shall be now to take care of the Commonwealth to punish the bad and cherish the good From other Offices ye shall be free in whatever part of the world ye shall be found Your Diet and Clothing shall be at the King's Charge Ye shall be honourable among all men Princes shall send ye Gifts Firm credit and authority shall be given to your words ye shall abhor Lying ye shall sit and judge Tratyors those who ill entreat their Wives ye shall adjudge infamous Ye shall be free in all Countries secure in Travel and Habitation Whosoever shall molest or injure any of you shall be put to death Alexander the Great after many Ages following added very much to their Priviledges giving them liberty to wear Garments of Gold Purple and Scarlet as also to bear Royal Coats and Escutchâ—ons in whatsoever part of the world they inhabited If any person struck them or injur'd them in words they forfeited their Goods as guilty of Treason All which Thucydides Herodotus Didymus Magasthones and Xenophon have related as the same Aeneas reports Thirdly Octavianus Augustus being settled in the Roman Empire incorporated them and gave them several Laws Whoever thou art that has serv'd us in the Wars ten years provided thou art forty years of age whether thou wert a Footman or a Horseman after that thou shalt be free from farther service let him be a Heroe and a Veterane Let free access be given thee to all Cities Pleading-places Temples publick and private Houses Let no man accuse thee of any Crime impose any Burthen on thee or exact any Money from thee If thou hast done amiss onely expect to be punish'd by Caesar Whatever foul act men commit let them expect thee their Judge and the Proclaimer of their Miscarriages whether private or publick persons what thou shalt affirm or say let no man contradict whether Prince or private person Let all High-ways and places be open to thee In the houses of Great men let there be a Table provided for thee Sufficient to keep thee and thy Family receive out of the publick Treasury Let thy lawful Wife take place of other women Whom thou shalt contemn and name for infamous let him be contemn'd and esteem'd infamous Let a Heroe bear the Ensignes Arms Names and Ornaments of Kings What thou hast a minde to do or say that do or say in any part of the World in any Country or Nation whatsoever be that injures thee let him want a head At last Charles the Great having obtain'd the name of the Empire into Germany and being stil'd Caesar Augustus
a large Treatise Entituled De Machinis Metallicis Though how out of the Metallick Oar to consolidate and purifie the true Metal by fire or if mixt how to separate them few or none have hitherto taken the pains to teach perhaps because that being an Art too Mechanick and Servile learned and ingenious Men have thought it beneath their Studies However being my self some years since made Overseer of some certain Mines by his Imperial Majesty searching diligently into the Nature of all those things I began to write a special Treatise thereof which I have yet in my hands continually adding and correcting the same as my Experience and Knowledge encreased intending to omit nothing that may serve to further the Invention and Knowledge thereof whether in relation to the searching and discerning of the Vein melting the Oar under-propping of Mines framing all manner oâ— Engines and whatever else belongs thereto Mysteries hitherto altogether hidden before By means of this Art we come to be Possessors of all Humane Wealth the eager desire whereof hath so invaded Mortals that they make their approaches to Hell and seek Riches in the very mansions of the Infernal Ghosts as Ovid elegantly describes it Deep in the Bowels of the Earth they toyl There what she strove neer Stygian shades to hide They dig up Wealth the baneful Root of Pride Now fatal Steel but far more fatal Gold With gain bewitch'd did Mortals first behold Desire of gain that Truth and Vertue chas'd And in their room Deceit and Treason plac'd Or as another Poet doth express himself Now Truth is driven out by Gold By Gold our Laws are bought and sold. Certainly therefore he first found out the greatest plague of Humane life that first found out Mynes of Gold and other Veins of Metal These men have made the very ground the more hurtful and pestiferous by how much they are mâ—re rash and venturous than they that hazard themselves in the deep to dive for Pearl Concerning the places where these Metals are found Authors do very much vary Lead they say was first found in the Islands called Cassiterides not far from Spain Brass in Cyprus Iron in Crete Gold and Silver in Pangaeus a Mountain of Thracia At length they infected the whole world onely the Scythians as Soline relates condemn'd the use of Gold and Silver resolving to keep themselves eternally free from publick avarice There was an antient Law among the Romans against the superfluity of Gold And indeed it were to be wish'd that mâ—n would aspire with the same eagerness to Heaven that they descend into the Bowels of the Earth allur'd with that vein of Riches which are so far from making a man happy that many repent too often of their time and labour so ill bestow'd CHAP. XXX Of Astronomy IN the next place Astrology offers it self otherwise called Astronomy an Art altogether fallacious and more to be derided than the Fables of the Poets whose Professors are a sort of confident persons Authors of Prodigies who with an impious Confidence and Curiosity at their own peasures beyond humane ability undertake to erect Celestial Orbs and to describe the measures motions figures shapes number and reciprocal harmony of the Stars as if they had long convers'd in Heaven and were but newly descended thence however among themselves of most different and dissenting Opinions even concerning those things by which they say all things are kept up and subsist that I may well say with Pliny that the incertainty and inconstancy of this Art plainly argues it to be no Art at all of whose very Fundamentals the Indians think one thing the Egyptians another the Moors another the Caldeans another the Jews another the Arabians another the Latins another the Antients another the Moderns another For Plato Proclus Aristotle Averroes and almost all the Astrologers before Alphonsus treating of the number of the Spheres reckon up but onely eight Spheres though Averroes and Rabbi Isaac aver that one Hermes and some Babylonians did adde a ninth to which Opinion Azarcheles the Moore adheres with whom Albertus Teutonicus agreed in his time for what notorious fact I know not called the Great and all those that approve the accesses and recesses of the Spherical Motions But the later Astrologers have constituted and appointed ten Orbs which Opinion the same Albertus believes that Ptolomy also held But Alphonsus following the judgment of Rabbi Isaac sirnamed Bazam held onely nine Spheres but four years after in an Edition of his Tables adhering to the Opinions of Albuhassen the Moore and Albategnus he reduc'd them to the number of eight Rabbi Abraham Avenezra Rabbi Levi and Rabbi Abraham Zacutus believe no moveable Orb above the eighth Sphere But they differ very much about the motion of the eighth Orb and of the fixed Stars For the Caldeans and Egyptians are of opinion that it is mov'd by onely one motion with whom Alpetragus and among the Modern Writers Alexander Aquilinus agree but all the other Astronomers from Hipparchus even unto these times affirm the same to be turn'd with various motions The Jewish Talmudists assigne thereunto a double motion Azarcheles Tebeth and Johannes Regiomontanus added the motion of Trepidation which they call approachings and recedings upon two little Circles about the heads of Aries and Libra but in this differing one from another for that Azarcheles affirms that the moveable head is distant from the fix'd not more than ten parts Tebith asserts them to be distant one from the other not above four parts with some minutes Johannes Regiomontanus makes them distant more than eight parts which is the reason given that the fixed Stars do not always incline to the same part of the Sky but sometimes they return to the place where they began But Ptolomy Albategni Rabbi Levi Avenezra Zacutus and among the later Authors Paul the Florentine and Austin Ritius my familiar Acquaintance in Italy affirm that the Stars do always move according to the successions of the Signes The later Astrologers make a threefold motion of the eighth Sphere the one which is most proper and is the motion of Trepidation which is finished once in seven thousand years the second they call the motion of Circumvolution being the motion of the ninth Sphere and is finished in forty nine years The last is made by the tenth Orb and is called the motion of the Primum mobile or the rapid and diurnal motion which turns round in the Compass of one natural day However among them that give a double motion to the eighth Sphere there is great diversity of Opinions for all the Modern Authors and they who admit the motion of Trepidation say that the Sphere is carried about by a superior Sphere But Albategni Albuhassen Alfraganus Averroes Rabbi Levi Abraham Zacutus and Austin Ritius say that the Diurnal motion which they call the Rapid motion is not proper to any Sphere but that it is made by the whole Heaven Averroes also confirms it that
though the Author or first Founder of a most absurd Religion and the Jews yet persisting in their folly believe their Messiah yet to come Among us Christians several Popes several Councils several Bishops have prescrib'd several Varieties and Forms of Worship differing among themselves either touching the manner of the Ceremonies Meats lawful Fasts Vestments Publick Ornaments or else about Clerical Promotions and Tithes But one thing overcomes the admiration of Wonder it self to see how these Ambitious men think to climb Heaven by the same wayes that Lucifer fell from it Neither do all these Laws and Rules of Religion lean upon any other Foundation than the meer Opinions and Pleasure of their Founders Consider from the Beginning of the World how many there were how many there are several Inventions of Religion how many Ceremonies how many Heresies how many Opinions how many Decrees how many Canons yet cannot Religion lead men in so many Ages to the right Path of Faith without the Word of God which being once made Flesh and Triumphing over his Enemies on the Cross Temples and dols were thrown down and the Powers of Numens and Oracles ceas'd The Voice of Pytho's gone that seldom â—rr'd Apollo too so many Ages heard Is now in silence lock't Tby Service done to thine own Country go Return to thine own Altars down below For no sooner the Word of God came to shine in the World by the manifestation of the Gospel but all the Gods of the Heathen being as it were Thunder-struck fell to Destruction according to the saying of Christ in Luke I saw Satan falling from Heaven like Lightning How far this concerns Faith Theology and the Decrees of the Canonists we shall discourse hereafter For now we are only treating of Religion so far as to those Mysteries contained therein which concern the benefits of the Priest or that suffice to render the outward face of the Commonwealth sumptuous with Images Statues Temples Phanes Chappels Dignities Pomp and Riches of the Ministers and Ecclesiastical Officers of which I have Disputed at large in my Dispute upon the Theological Decrees held by me at Collen in the Year 1510 and therefore I shall the more briefly pass them over now yet show you that among those things which were set apart for the decency of Worship and most proper for the safety of Mens Souls not a little of the Tare of Vanity and Destructive Superstition has been mix'd CHAP. LVII Of Images THe worship of Images has not been antiently by all people admitted For the Jews as Josephus relates after they had been so often chastized and indeed at first the most strict observers of the Law did abhor nothing more than the making of Images For the commands of God delivered by Moses did utterly prohibit the use of Images either in Temples or in any other place And Eusebius testifies that among the people call'd Seres the adoration of Images was by Law absolutely forbidden Neither do we read either in Clement or Plutarch that for so Numa had decreed there was any Image to be seen or that was spoken of for above a hundred and seventy years after the building of the City Which also St. Austin alleadges out of Varro whose words most clearly witness that there was no Image or Idol in the City for one hundred and sixty years and that afterwards it came to pass that by reason of the Multitude of Images and Idols the Worship of the Gods was not only neglected but had in contempt The Persians also as Herodotus and Strabo Witness never suffered Images among them On the otherside in the honour of Idols there were none more Superstitious and dotingly stupid than the Aegyptians from whence that Impiety as from a corrupted Fountain over-ran other Nations which Superstitious Customes and false Religion of the Heathens when the same People became to be Converted to the Christian Faith did not a little contaminate the Purity of our Religion introducing Idols and Images into our Church together with many Barren Pomps and Ceremonies of which there was nothing thought of among the Ancient and Primitive Christians Nor can it be imagin'd how strongly and superstitiously Idolatry is riveted into the Minds of the Unlearned Multitude by the means of Images the idle Priests among the Catholicks conniving thereat as reaping not a little benefit thereby 'T is true they endeavour to defend themselves by the help of St. Gregories Words who saith That Images are the Books of the Vulgar whereby the Memory of things is by them the more easily retain'd so that by these they who cannot read may yet be taught and by the sight thereof be drawn to the Contemplation of God However these are but the humane Comments and Suppositions of Palliating St. Gregory and though that good Man might in some sort approve of the Images themselves yet it cannot be thought that he did any way allow the Worship thereof For it is no part of our duty to learn from the Forbidden Book of Images but from the Book of God which is the Scripture He therefore who desires to know God let him not endeavour to obtain that Knowledge from the handy-work of Painters and Statuaries but according to the Direction of St. John Let him search the Scriptures what testimony they give concerning him And they who cannot read let them hear the Word of the same Scripture where St. Paul pronounces That Faith comes by hearing and what Christ in another place â—aith My Sheep know my Voice As also what in another place he avers No man can come to him unless the Father draw him and no man cometh to the Father but by Christ himself Why then do we take the Glory from God giving it to Pictures and Images as if they could draw us to the Knowledge of the most Divine Being To this we may add the vain and immoderate Worship of idle Reliques We confess That the Reliques of the Saints are Holy and that they thall one day shine with the Glories of Eternity Yet to give them Adoration as to the Reilquâ—s of Dâ—ities that hear our Prayers is a most stupid piece of Fascination Lest therefore we fall into Idolatry and Superstition it is the safest way for us not to fix our Faith upon visible things But the Covetous Generation of the Romish Clergy greedy after gain raising matter to â—eed their Avarice not only out of Wood and Stones but also from the Bones of the Dead and Reliques of the Saints make them the Instruments of their Rapine and Extortion They shew the Sepulchres of the Saints they expose the Reliques of Martyrs which no man must so much as touch or kiss but for mony They adorn their Pictures set out their Festivals with great Pomp and State they extol 'um for Saints advance the Fame of their Miracles utterly disagreeing in their Lives and Conversations from the Lives and Examples of those whom they praise These were the Men to whom our Saviour spoke when
even to desire of Copulation The other Wife to King Minos suffer'd her self to be known by a Bull. It is not our business to set forth here a Catalogue of Illustrious Curtesans yet we must not omit to inform you that the Beds of Harlots and Adulteresses have brought forth the most Illustrious Heroes in the world for example Hercules Alexander Ishmael Abimelech Solomon Constantine Clodoveus King of the Franks Theodorick the Goth William the Norman and Raymund of Arragon So lightly are the Laws of Matrimony set by among great Personages who at their pleasure divorce leave and change their true and lawful Wives and so often they wed and rewed their Sons and Daughters that it is hard to say which is the most lawful Marriage Do we not read how Ladislaus of Poland having taken Beatrice to Wife by whose very nod as it were he obtain'd the Kingdom of Hungary at length repudiated her to marry a French Harlot Do we not finde how Charles the Eight the French King having divorc'd Margaret the Daughter of Maximilian Caesar took away his espoused Wife and married her whom afterwards Lewis the Twelfth having put away his own Wife took afterwards to his Bed the Bishops and Chief Clergy of the Kingdom assisting him therein and consenting thereto who esteem'd and valu'd the ends of obtaining Britany more than the observation of the Laws of Marriage But let us return to the Discourse of Harlots whose cunning devices he that will understand that is to say by what ways they prostitute their Chastity with what wanton casts of the Eye with what nods of the Countenance with what gestures of the Body with what flatteries of Speech with what obscene Embraces with what allurements of Habit and artificial Paintings they provoke their Corrupters together with the rest of their cunning Harlotry Devices Snares and Stratagems let him seek 'um among the Comick Poets But he that desires to know what Allurements what affectionate Language what Kissing Handling Rubbing Resisting what postures of Lying what impulse of Action what reciprocations of Kindness compleat the Venereal Game let him search into the Volumes of Physitians Yet there be others that have set forth Treatises of Harlotry as Antiphanes Aristophanes Apollodorus and Callistratus in particular Cephalus the Rhetorician wrote in the praise of Lais the Curtesan and Alcidamus in honour of Nais Not have many others both Greeks and Latins been wanting to discover their wanton Amours as Callimachus Philetes Anacreon Orpheus Alceon Pindarus Sappho Tibullus Catullus Propertius Virgil Juvenal Martial Cornelius Gallus and many others more like Panders than Poets though all of them were outdone by Ovid in his Heroick Epistles dedicated to Corinna which were also outdone by himself in his de Arte Amandi which he might have better intitled The Art of Whoring and Pimping The learning whereof because it had corrupted Youth with unchast Documents therefore was the Author deservedly banish'd by the Emperour Octavianus Augustus to the farthest parts of the North Archilochus also the Lacedaemonian caus'd all Love-books and Verses to be burnt Yet now adays this Art is publickly learnt and taught in every School by our unwary Pedagogues with vain and obscene Commentaries upon the Text. Nay I my self have seen and read under the Title of The Curtesan publish'd in the Italian Tongue and printed at Venice a Dialogue touching the Art of Bawdery wickedly explaining the Veneries of both Sexes which with the Author were more fit to be committed to the fire I omit to rehearse the most detstable vice of Buggery which the Great Aristotle so much approves of and which Nero solemniz'd with a publick Wedding at which time St. Paul writing to the Romans denounces the anger of the Omnipotent against them For on them shall God certainly rain Brimstone and Coles of fire shall be the portion of their Cup. Against these the Emperour commands the Laws to arm themselves and with exquisite torments to inflict capital punishment upon them the Sword being the Executioner but now adays they are burnt with Fire Moses in his Laws ordain'd most severe punishment for this Crime and Plato extirpates it out of his Republick utterly condemning it in his Laws The Antient Romans as Valerius and others witness inflicted most severe penalties on those that us'd it Examples whereof were Quintus Flaminius and the Tribune stain by Caelius But that we may not farther vex the honest Ear let us return from this monstrous Lust and beastly uncleanness to our first Subject For the Love of women is common to all there is no person that at one time or other does not feel the Fire thereof though the women love one way the men another young men one way great pesonages another way the poor one way the rich another way and which is more miraculous according to the difference of Nations and Climates The Italians are of one humour in their Amours the Spaniards of another the French of another the Germans of another The same difference of Love appears in the difference of Sex Age Dignity Fortune and Nation every one having a different sort of amorous Frenzy The Love of men is more ardent and impetuous the love of women more constant the love of young men is wanton the love of aged persons ridiculous the poor Lover strives to please with Obsequiousness the rich Lady with Gifts the vulgar sort with Feasts and Treatments Noble-men with Interludes and Plays The ingenious Italian courts his Lady with a dissembled heat a quaint kinde of Wooing praising her in Verse and extolling her above all other women If he be jealous he perpetually shuts her up and keeps her as his Captive if he despair of enjoying his Mistriss then he confounds her with a thousand Curses and loads her with Maledictions The Spaniard is rash impatient of his heat mad and restless and bemoaning the torments of his Flames with miserable lamentations worships and adores his Mistriss If he be cross'd in his Love he grieves and pines away to death if he grow jealous he kills her or being â—atiated leaves her to prostitute her self The lascivious French-man trusts in his Obsequiousness and strives to win his Ladies favour with Songs and merry Discourse If he grow jealous he complains of his hard fortune but if he lose his Love he reviles her threatens revenge and attempts to compass his ends by force After enjoyment he neglects her and marries another The cold German slowly moves to love but being once inflam'd he makes use of art and liberality If he grow jealous he shuts his Purse After enjoyment the heat is quickly over The French-man feigns his Love the German dissembles his Heat the Spaniard hath a good opinion of himself and believes himself to be belov'd but the Italians Love is never without Jealousie The French-man loves a witty though unhandsome woman the Spaniard prefers a fair woman before a witty the Italian loves a fearful bashful woman the German one that is
written Zenophon and Mago great Captains have done the like together with Oppian the Poet. And besides them Cato Varro Pliny Columella Virgil Crescentius Palladius and many others of later times Cicero believ'd there was nothing better nothing more gainful nothing more delightful nothing more worthy the employment of a generous Spirit than the occupations above mention'd Not a few plac'd the chief Good and Supream Happiness in them Therefore Virgil calls Husbandmen Fortunate Horace Blessed The Oracle of Delphos also pronounc'd one Aglaus a most happy man who having a little Farm in Arcadia never stir'd out of it His Content keeping him free from the Experience of Evil. But miserable men that they are while they so highly honour Agriculture little do they consider that it was the Effect of Sin and the Curse of the most High God For chasing Adam out of Paradise he sent him to till the Earth saying Cursed be the Earth for thy sake in sorrow shalt thou Eat of it all the days of thy Life Thorns also and Thistles shall it bring forth to thee and thou shalt eat the herb of the field In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread till thou return to the Earth for out of it thou wast taken Nor are there any persons that feel the sadness of this saying more than Husbandmen and Countrymen who after they have Plough'd Sow'd Harrow'd Weeded Mowed Reap'd Graz'd Shear'd Hunted Fish'd here one looses his Father for Grief to see his Labours all on a suddain come to nothing and wasted with Hail and Tempests Another Mans Sheep dye another man's Oxen or else they are driven away by the Souldiers Beasts of Prey devour his Lambs and destroy his Fish the Wife laments at home his Children cry Famine follows and after all with uncertain hope of benefit he is forc'd to return to his hard Labour Before the Fall there was no need of Artificial Tillage no want of Grazing Hunting or Fowling for the Earth was to have produc'd all things of its own accord always flourishing with all sorts of Fruits fragrant Smells constant Summer and verdant Meadows Nor had the Earth brought forth any thing noxious no Herb endu'd with poysonous Qualities no venomous Toads Vipers or other Reptiles And Man himself being then Lord of the whole Creation having had the least occasion for the wild Beasts had found none such but all naturally Tame had he but beckned to the Beasts of Carriage they had willingly submitted to his Burthens Man then but new Born had had the use and strength of all his Members and Limbs not wanting Garments to hide his Nakedness Houses for Shelter nor Sawces to provoke his Appetite and had prolong'd his happy days without the help of Physick all things offering themselves spontaneously to satisfie his desires The Earth had been his Food his Garments Air And for his Bed the Fields their Flowr's prepare But the mischief of Sin and the necessity of Death rendred all things incommodious to us for now the Earth produces nothing without our Labour and our Sweat but deadly and venomous and as it were upbraiding us that we live nor are the other Elements less kind to us Many the Sea destroys with raging Tempests and the horrid Monsters devour the Air making War against us with Thunder Lightning and Storms and with a crowd of Pestilential Diseases the Heavens conspire our Ruine Nor are the Creatures only our Enemies For Man as the Proverb hath it is to himself a Wolf We are encompassed with innumerable Temptations of Unclean Spirits whereby to draw us into the Dark Receptacles of Pain and Punishment there to be Tormented in Eternal Fire By all which it appears that Agriculture with all its appurtenants of Fishing Hunting Fowling and Grazing is a loss of the greatest happinesses the invention of Mischief and a trouble to Humane Life Those Exercises appurtenant to Agriculture being only incommodious means to restore the Barrenness of the Earth to supply the want of Food and defend us from the Rigor of cold which puts us in mind of Death And yet this Calamity and necessity of ours might in some measure deserve commendation could it have retain'd it self within moderate bounds and not shewn us so many devices to make strange Plants so many portentous Graftings and Metamorphoses of Trees How to make Horses Copulate with Asses Wolves with Dogs and so to engender many wondrous Monsters contrary to Nature And those Creatures to whom Nature has given leave to range the Air the Seas and Earth so freely to Captivate and Confine in Aviaries Cages Warrens Parks and Fishponds and to fat 'um in Coops having first put out their Eyes and maim'd their Limbs had it not also taught us so many varieties of Weaving Dying and dressing of Linnen Woollen Skins and Silk which Nature only design'd for plain and homely Cloathing but invented for the increase of Pride and Luxury Pliny complaining of these inconveniences gives for instance the Seed of Hemp which being but a little Seed in a short time produces a large Sail that by the help of the Wind carries a Ship all over the World occasioning men as if they had not Earth to perish in to perish in the Sea likewise I omit the many Laws and Maxims and Observations of Husbandmen Shepherds Fishers Hunters and Fowlers so ridiculous and not only foolish and ridiculous but Superstitious and Repugnant to the Law of God How to prevent Storms make their Seed Fruitful kill Weeds scare Wild Beasts stop the flight of Beasts and Birds the swimming of Fishes to charm away all manner of Diseases of all which those Wise Men before named have written very seriously and with great cruelty CHAP. LXXIX Of the Art Military BUT now from Husbandmen let us pass to Souldiers chosen out of the Countrymen and therefore more fit for Fight as saith Vegetius and whom Cate affirms to make the strongest and hardiest Souldiers and we find in Scripture That Cain the first Warrier or slayer of Men was a Husbandman and a Hunter Therefore the Art of War ought least to be despis'd which as Valerius remembers made the Roman Empire Mistress of all Italy and of many Cities and Kingdoms of great and Warlike Nations beside open'd the streights of the Pontick-Sea forc'd through the close passages of the Alps and Taurus And Scipio Africanus glories in Ennius that by the slaughter and Blood of his Enemies he open'd a way to Immortality To whom Cicero assents saying that Hercules ascended to Heaven by the same means The Lacedemonians are said to be the first that deliver'd Rules for teaching this Art and therefore Hannibal having taken a Resolution to Invade Italy desired a Lacedemonian General Under the Power of Lacedemon many Kingdoms and Nations grew great neglected by her or neglecting her from large Dominion they fell to nothing for under the Leading of rash Captains fell the Warlike Numantia Corinth the curious Proud Thebes the Learned Athens the Holy Jerusalem
ways of God and â—ell to Fornication and Idolatry His bad Son Rehoboam succeeded him a great sinner against God therefore the sole Monarchy of the people was taken from him ten of the Tribes revolting from his Government chusing to themselves Jeroboam for their King a most wicked man of the Tribe of Dan who poyson'd all Israel seducing the ten Tribes to Idolatry setting up Golden Calves in Samaria that the Blessing might be fulfil'd saying Dan shall be a Serpent by the way an Adder by the path biting the horse heels so that his rider shall fall backward As for the Tribe of Judah it remain'd quite under the Posterity of David according to the Prophesie of Jacob That the Scepter was not to depart from Judah till the Messiah came Yet was Judah one of the worst of Jacob's Sons and one that lay with his Mother-in-Law His Sons also were most lewd and evil wherefore the blessing of Power and Nobility was granted to him in the enjoyment of the Scepter and his blessing to be as strong as a Lion After that the people of Edom and Jobne revolted from the King of Israel chusing Rulers of their own at their own will and pleasure and God promis'd to Esau that he should shake off the Yoak Among all the Kings of Juda and Israel scarce four were known to be good At last their Kings and all their Nobility being ruin'd and overcome the Jews were carried Captive to Babylon In process of time God taking compassion of their Calamities where they erected a king of Popular Government living happily under the command of their Priest and the chief Heads of their Tribes until Aristobulus the Son of Hircanus took the Regal Diadem and renewed the Kingdom of the Jews with the murther of his Mother and Brothers To him many Kings succeeded till at length under Archelaus an insolent and obscene Tyrant the Kingdom was by the Romans reduc'd into a Province and last of all wholly ruin'd and laid waste by Vespasian and Titus the whole Nation being scatter'd over the whole world from that time to this day in a continu'd servitude All this I thought convenient to repeat out of the Sacred Scripture to the end I might make it apparent that at the beginning of the world there was no Nobility whose Original was not evil even among the people of God and that Nobility is nothing else but the reward of publick Iniquity and by how much the life of a man is most polluted so much the more famous it shall be accompted the fuller of wickedness the greater his Glory and Recompence As Diomed the Pirate when he was taken wittily pleaded before Alexander I said he because I rob but with one Ship am accus'd for being a Pirate Thou because thou dost the same thing with a great Navy are call'd an Emperour If thou wert single and a Captive thou wouldst be a Pirate if I had an Army at my command I should be esteem'd an Emperour For as to the matter we differ not unless it may not be disputed whether he be not the worst that takes with greatest violence who deserts Justice most manifestly and contemns and breaks the Law For those whom I fly thou pursuest those whom I honour thou contemnest The hardâ—ness of my Fortune and the narrowness of my Estate makes me thy intolerable Pride and insatiable Avaâ—rice makes thee a Thief If my wilde Fortune would grow more tame perhaps I might be better but if thou wert more fortunate thou wouldst be worse Alexander admiring the constancy of the man caus'd him to be â—ifted in his Army that he might lawfully fight and make War that is rob and steal Now to proceed to the Histories of the Ethnicks I shall from thence also â—hew that Nobility and Greatness is nothing but Improbity Madness Robbery Rapine Homicide Luxury the sport of Hunting and violence arising from principles of disorder prosecuted more wicked and always coming to a disastrous end all which shall be made out from the four famous Monarchies as also from the success of other more petty Kingdoms The first Monarchy then after the Flood was that of the Assyrians the Founder whereof was Ninus who first of all not content with the bounds of his own Empire resolv'd to extend his Dominions as far as he could made cruel Wars upon his Neighbours subduâ—ng all the Eastern Nations and increasing the vastness of his Empire with new Acquests and successful Victories he brought all Asia Pontus under his subjection He also murther'd Zoroastes King of the Bactrians Ninus had a Wife nam'd Semiramis she begg'd of her Husband that she might rule onely five days which being granted her she took the Regal Ornaments and seating her self in the Royal Throne commanded the Guard to kill her Husband who being slain she succeeded him in the Empire not satisfi'd with the large extent of her Dominions she conquer'd Ethiopia and carried the War into India she Wall'd Babylon with a most stately and magnificent Wall and at length is kill'd by her Son Ninus the second whom she had wickedly conceiv'd impiously expos'd and incestuously known Under these Murtherers the Assyrian Monarchy took its original of Grandeur till extinguish'd by the death of Sardanapalus a man more vicious and effeminate than any woman whom Arbactus Prefect of Media slew in the midst of all his Concubines and taking upon him the Kingdom translated the Empire from the Assyrians to the Medes which Cyrus afterwards translated to the Persians among whom Cambyses his Son founder of New Babylon joyning and adding by conquest many Kingdoms to his own began the second Monarchy which he confirm'd to himself by the murther of his Brother and Son This Empire declin'd under Narsus the Son of Ochus who being slain by Bagoas the Eunuch Darius succeeded him and he being overthrown by Alexander put a period to the Persian Monarchy with his life which the said Alexander conscious with his adulterous Mother of his Fathers death and indeed the contriver thereof translated again to the Macedonians The fourth Monarchy was that of the Romans the most powerfulâ— and of largest extent but should we repeat the successions of Governments from the building of the City we finde it founded upon most wicked beginnings and maintain'd by as bad principles Let us therefore observe who were the Founders of this great City Rome was built by two Twins Remus and Romulus incestuously begot upon a Vestal Nun. Remus at the beginning of his Government was murthered by Romulus a second Cain who suffering himself to be call'd the Son of the Gods having gather'd together a Crew of detestable Villains ravish'd the Daughters of the Sabines to get themselves Wives and from them sprung the Off-spring of Roman Giants so formidable to all the world After this thirsting after the blood of his father-in-Father-in-Law he slew Titus Tatius a good Old man and Captain of the Sabines having drawn him into a League and associated him into
Partnership of the Kingdom These were the Originals of the Roman Empire which for two hundred forty three years was govern'd by cruel Kings and ended under Tarquinius the Proud exil'd for the Rape of Lucrece And as the Posterity of Cain ended in the seventh Generation destroy'd by the Flood so these Roman Successors in the Seventh King from Romulus were driven out of the City by Popular Tumult However though the Romans threw off the Yoak of Kingship yet they could not shake off the Yoke of Servitude For the Kings being now thrown out and the Government translated into the hands of the Nobility Brutus a Nobleman was the first Roman Consul chosen He to establish the Foundations of intended Empire not onely labour'd to equal Romulus the first Founder of the City in Murther but also to outdo him for he slew two of his own Sons and two of his Wives Brothers in the Market-place after he had caus'd 'um to be publickly whip'd After this the Government continued for many Ages sometimes in the hands of the Nobility sometimes of the Commonalty under the power and command of sundry Magistrates and petty Tyrannies at length under Julius Caesar a man I cannot say whether stronger in War or corrupter in Manners and afterwards under Antonius a man inslav'd to Lust and Luxury wholly determin'd After which the whole Command of the Roman Empire fell into the sole hands of Octavianus Augustus In him began the fourth Monarchy of the World but not without Murther for though Augustus was accompted one of the mildest Princes in the world yet he put to death a Son and a Daughter of his Uncle Caesar begot upon Cleopatra though his Uncle had Adopted him and left him his Heir by Will not regarding Name Kindness Affinity nor Childhood And now the Roman Emperours held the Monarchy of the world among whom behold these Monsters of Cruelty and Impiety Nero Domitian Caligula Heliogabalus Galienus and others under whom the whole world was oppress'd till Constantine the Great having slain Maxentius for his Lust and Cruelty hated of the Roman people was proclaim'd Emperour He because he re-edifi'd Byzantium making her equal with Rome or else as it were a new Rome and commanded it to be call'd Constantinople from his own name seems to have translated the Roman Empire to the Greeks and at Constantinople as Romulus at Rome assur'd it to himself by the murther of the two Licinii the Husband and Son of his Sister as also of his own Childe and Wife Thus the Empire remain'd among the Greeks till the time of Charles the Great under whom the name of the Empire onely was remov'd into Germany And thus far for Monarchies Let us make inquiry into the beginnings of some other Kingdoms and we shall finde them founded upon no better principles nor upheld by less impiety nor the occasions of their dissolutions less remarkable I shall omit the Murthers of Dardanus and by what devilish contrivances having besotted the Greeks to be his impious accomplices he laid the Foundation of the Greek Monarchie I omit the Governments obtain'd by the murthers of their Husbands as the stories relate concerning the Amazonians I come to later times and the verges of our own memories In Spain in the time of Theodosius the Emperour Alarick the Goth was the first that raign'd at which time the Vandals also possess'd a great part of the same Country The first King of the Goths that obtain'd the Monarchy of Spain was Sâ—ytilla which Roderick the King because he had ravish'd Julia Daughter of the Prefect of the Province of Tingitana some while after lost to the Saracens or Moors who after him possess'd Spain till Pelagius having again recover'd some places they were then call'd no more Kings of the Goths but Kings of Spain the Seat of the Empire being settled at Leon until the raign of Ferdinando the Holy who first call'd himself King of Castile who having slain his Brother Garsias by means of that parricide obtain'd the Kingdom of Navarre Their Brother Romanus whom their Father had begot upon a Concubine being a warlike and fierce man became the first King of Arragon The first King of Portugal was Alphonsus the Son of Henry of Lorain and Terese the Bastard-daughter of Alphonsus King of Castile A stout man at Arms who slew five Princes or great Governours of the Saracens in one Battel which was the reason that the Kings of Portugal carry five Shields for their Arms yet was this Alphonsus curst and cruel to his Mother whom because she married a second time he cast into perpetual imprisonment nor could be mov'd to set her free by any perswasions intreaties prayers or menaces of Ecclesiastical Censure Thus all the Kingdoms of Spain have been obtain'd by unheard-of Villanies and held by the same Arts. I omit the Kingdoms of the Burgundians and Lombards compos'd of the greatest and most famous people of Germany and begun in Lombardy by Alboynus in Burgundy by Gondaicus and in both places maintain'd and propagated by Murther and Bloodshed Let us view the most Potent Kingdom of the Franks in Gallia whose first Foundations were laid by Pharamond Son of Meroveus who coming out of Germany into France was made King of the Franks excelling in nothing more than in Cruelty and Fierceness His Posterity remain'd till the time of Childerick the Third who for his sloth and libidinous wantonness was depos'd from his Kingdom and thrust into a Monastery In his place was Pipin advanc'd Steward of Childerick's House who having got the Kingdom for himself and his Posterity by treason establish'd his own Power by the Murther of Grifo his Brother His Posterity continu'd to Lewis the Second Son of Lotharius who for adulterating his Wife Blanch's bed was poyson'd by her at which time Hugh Capet laid violent hands upon the Scepter a stout Warrier and there highly esteem'd by the Parisians but otherwise ignoble as being the Son of a Butcher He rebelling against Charles the Uncle of Lewis and right Heir of the Crown scrapes together a loose Band of debauch'd fellows and Vagabonds and having got the said Charles into his hands by treachery thrust him into Prison and there kept him till he di'd and thus having most barbarously murther'd his King and Prince he assum'd the Regal Diadem changing a Kingdom into a Butchers shop whose Succession endures to this day It would be too long and tedious in this place to enumerate the Originals of all Kingdoms and discourse the Histories of all Antiquity I have in another Volume writ more at large of what I have here but lightly touch'd where I have painted out Nobility it self in its proper Colours and Lineaments and I have shewed that there never was nor is any Kingdom in the world or famous Principality the Foundations whereof were not built upon Particide Treachery Perfidiousness Cruelty Murther Slaughter and other most horrid Crimes the Arts and Utensils of Nobility whereof when we see the