with Iuye the aultar of Hercules with Popley and of Pluto with Cypresse so were the aultars of Minerua with Oliue and of Venus with Myrtle so that there was no seruice omitted no dutie forgotten no lawe broken in the superstitious and prophane religion of the Heathens So fond and superstitious were both the Athenians and the Romaines that the Athenians builded temples out of Athens to Pouertie and old age because they would faine expell these aged and poore gods out of Athens or else to put the Athenians in remembrance that they should pray vnto them least they should come to pouertie and to want The Romans and Egiptians builded temples to those gods that might annoy their cities out of their cities as the Romanes builded the Temples of Bellona Mars foure miles out of the gate Capaena in Rome to reâ—…ist and withstand the trecherie and violence of their enemies The Egiptians builded the Temples of Saturnus and Serapis out of the cities as gods to watch ward to defend their cities from the enemies and least their gods by inuocation or supplication of the enemies should forsake their cities the Romanes bound fast the Image of Mars and the Carthaginians Hercules See how blinde men in religion are ignorant in gods seruice and yet ignorance with some late learned men was termed the mother of deuotion The Lord commaunded Israel to serue no straunge gods but him onely and to come at three appointed feasts in the yeare to one place in the citie of Ierusalem to serue him and to sacrifice in one Temple the Temple of Salomon for as the Lord made choise of one nation to be his peculiar people so hee made also choise of one place Ierusalem where his name should bee worshipped and called vpon After that the Tabernacle was set vp the arke of testimonie set therin the Lord commanded Moses to bring Aaron and his sonnes vnto the doore of the Tabernacle and there to wash them with water after to put vpon Aaron the holy garments to annoint him and 〈◊〉 him that he might minister in the Priests office The Gentiles vsed the like ceremonies at the first coâ—…crating of any teÌ„ple which they dedicated to their gods that they should lay their hands vpon the porch poste calling vpoÌ„ the name of that god to whoÌ„ they consecrated the temple for whatsoeuer the Gentiles dedicated to their gods though prophane before yet after they were coÌ„secrated they were Sacra diuino cuâ—… maÌ„cipata ciâ—…er temples aultars mony religious places or otherwise For among the Romains the Grecians the dumbe deafe blind lame or maimed otherwise by nature were reiected from any office in the temples of their gods So was it among the Persians in like sort that no blinde or maimed man should minister vnto their gods Whence had they all these originals but as it seemeth from the lawe of Moses And as Moses was commaunded that Aaron and his sons should be first washt with water before they should put on their holy garments and minister vnto the Lord so the priests of Egipt should often wash and annoint themselues before they should serue and sacrifice in the temple of Isis. So the Priests of Greece washt and annointed themselues before they would sacrifice vnto Ceres And so among the Romanes in other places they seemed though they erred much to imitate the ceremonies of the Iewes who had their warrant from the Lord and they from the diuell Moses put on Aaron the coate and girded him with a girdle cloathed him with the robe and put the Ephod on him after he put the brest-plate thereon and put in the brest-plate the Vrim and Thummim he also put the golden plate and the Miter vpon his head and vpon the Miter the holy crowne as the Lord had commaunded Moses and he powred of the annointed oyle vpon Aarons head and annointed him that the excellencie of his calling might be knowne and the dignitie of his office present the maiestie of the highest Hence the Heathens and the Gentiles tooke their platforme as an example to be followed in the annointing and crowning of their kings by the Lord warranted and particularly set downe to Moses whereby you shall find by comparison that the prophane ceremonies of the Gentiles tooke their originall from Moses lawe in the annointing of their kings In the fourth Regiment is shewed how the Gentiles confirmed their lawes by diuers authorities faining that their laâ—…s were giuen to them of their gods with the straight keeping of the same THere was no lawe among the Gentiles made nor established vnlesse they were authorized and confirmed by some diuine power to satisfie ignorant people for the Heathens most preferred that lawe and esteemed that gouernment which was commaunded and allowed as it were from the gods as by Mercurius in Egipt by Iupiter in Greece and by Appollo in Sparta as you heard before So among the Locreans their lawes were authorized by Minerua among the Getes by the Goddesse Vesta and so the lawe which Sergius compiled to the Turkes to this day the Turkes holde it authorized and confirmed from the very mouth of their great Prophet Mahomet And for that a sperhawke brought in her clawes a booke written with red letters to the Priests at Heliopâ—…lis in Egipt containing the lawes and religion of theyr gods the Priests therefore euer after ware red Scarâ—… caps like the colour of the letters the feather of a sperhawke in their caps in memorie thereof So no warre was commenced nor battell taken in hand without such policies to intice and allure the souldiers to fight as Sertorius had his white hinde which he taught to follow him in his Affrican warres by whom he made his souldiers belieue hee was instructed to dâ—… any thing he did So Lu. Sylla would take vpon him in the sight of his souldiers to consult with the picture of Appollo to make his souldiers more obedient and valorous So did Marius with his Scythian woman Martha and so of others which I spake of in my booke of stratagems and now to the Sabboth The obseruation of the Sabboth was seuerely by the lawe of the Iewes kept for the Lord blessed the seuenth day and hallowed it to rest from our workes aâ—…d to serue the Lord signifying vnto vs our eternall rest to come and therefore the Iewes gathered vpon the sixt day in the wildernesse so much Manna as serued them vpon the Sabboth because they should not breake the Sabboth As the Lord Iesus was crucified on the Sabboth eue and rested in his graue the Sabboth day so careful were the Iewes to obserue the Sabboth that the holy womeÌ„ that followed Christ with their odors ointments and spices staied from the annointing of his body vpon the Sabboth for the Sabboth was made especially that they should cease from labour and come to heare the lawes of the Lord and the voices of the Prophets
law-makers of the world Quibus omnes antiquae gentes quondā paruerunt both for the more credit of thēselues better authoritie of their lawes made their subiects people beleeue when their first lawes were made that the gods were so carefull that they gaue them seuerall lawes to gouerne the people So Mena one of the first kings of Egipt affirmed that he had instructions for making of his lawes and decrees to the Egiptians from god Mercurius In like sort Licurgus made the Lacedemonians beleeue that the lawes which he gaue vnto them were deliuered vnto him from Appollo in Delphos The people of Creete were perswaded fully by Minoes their first lawe-maker that the lawes which he gaue vnto them were deliuered vnto him from Iupiter that thereby the law might the more be feared and the law-makers better obeyed So did Numa Pomp. warrant his lawes which he established among the Romanes concerning religion from the Nimph Egeria for the gouernmēt which was vnder kings is by Aristotle called Primus diuinissimus principatus When the first gouernment and state of Common-wealths fell by too much seueritie of kings as among the Romaines who were wearie of kings and had no lawe but Ius regis the iudgement and sentence of the king called in Romulus time Lex curiata whose seueritie grew to be such that the second gouernment in Rome which was by Consuls and Senators tooke place by fall of the first which lawe was called Senatus Consultus which grew so great by authoritie of the Consuls that a third kind of popular gouernment vnder the Tribune of the people was authorised to suppresse the misgouernment both of the Consuls and Senators as the Ephori were among the Lacedemonians made by Theopompus to bridle the insolencie of the kings So were the wise men called Magi in Persia without whom the kings of Persia could make no lawes And so the Magistrates called Megistenes had the like authoritie with the kings of Armenia as the Ephori had in Sparta Among the Carthagineans also were two chiefe Magistrates named Suffetes the one with the other to looke to the gouernment of the kings that they should iustly and rightly minister iustice to the people The Hebrewes likewise where God placed Iudges to gouerne the people of the which they were wearie and would haue a king so that the Romanes being wearie of kings would haue Consuls and the Hebrewes being wearie of Iudges would haue kings for all nations at the beginning began with the gouernment of kings sauing the Hebrewes which were as straungers and bondmen in Egipt without eyther king lawe or libertie foure hundred thirtie yeares euen from the comming of Abraham into Egipt vntil Moses and Aaron were commaunded to bring Israel out of Egipt at what time a lawe was giuen in Mount Sinai to Moses within fiftie dayes after the Israelites came out of Egipt that they should bee gouerned thereby before they possessed the land of Canaan After they had receiued the lawe the Lorde commaunded them that they should not make gods of siluer nor gods of golde hee also commaunded that they should make him an Aultar and thereon to offer burnt offerings and peace offerings with a straight charge that they should not make him an Aultar of hewed stones like the aulter at Damascus which Achab brought to Israel for that they should doo nothing of themselues after the manner of the Gentiles but by the Lords prescript rules which are his eternall lawes Yet before this lawe was giuen to Moses there were Aultars builded and sacrifices offered by Noah after hee landed out of the Arke at Baterion by Abraham after he came to the land of Canaan at Sychem by Isaac in Bersabe by Iacob in Bethel where hee fled from his brother Esau they were instructed by the lawe of nature written in the tables of their hearts to worship the Lord to feare him euen from the creation Vnder the lawe of nature the people of God liued and were assisted by the spirit of the Lord ministred vnto them by Angels and instructed by the Patriarches and liuely tradition of the fathers to the sonnes two thousand fiue hundred yeares before the lawe written Who doubtes but what Methusalem beeing in the company of Adam aboue two hundred fiftie yeares and with the rest of the Patriarches vnto the very floud liuing vnder the lawe of nature heard of Adam but Methusalem deliuered it to Sem what Sem heard of Methusalem but hee instructed Abraham therewith what Abraham heard of Sem hee shewed it to Iacob and what Iacob heard of Abraham hee taught it to Amri who was father to Moses to whom the lawe written was giuen so that the one was instructed by the other from the father to the sonne to serue and feare the Lord by the lawe of nature So that Enoch Noah Abraham Iacob Iob and all the olde Patriarches and godly fathers liued in the feare of God by the lawe of nature No doubt many things were written of the olde fathers before the floud and left to their posterities and after the floud generally ouer the whole world before the vse of paper lawes and learning were giuē by traditions frō the parents to the children their posterities as the Indians which had no lawes written no more then the Lacedemonians but by obseruations vntill the Indian Philosophers called Brachmaines found meanes to write in Sindone fine linnen or lawne as the old Egiptians vsed to write on the inward side of the barke of the tree Biblus or as Vlpian saith the Grecians vsed to write on the barke of the tree Tilia for in auntient time from the beginning lawes were written on the inward side of barks of trees as on the barke of Beech trees Elme Ashe Palme trees and such for the great library in Alexandria by Philadelphis compiled and the library in Asia by A◅talus and Eumenes gathered together were written in Haedonis Chartis in goate skinnes During all which time there was no mention made neither of gods nor of Idols though Satan plaid the first Idolater in practising to Adam Eue saying Eritis vt dij Ye shal be like gods on earth your eies shal be opened Satan by degrees deceiued Adā first asking him questions then doubting then denying saying you shal not die which was the first lye in the world so Satan proceedeth with his stratagems as Gregorius Magnus saith in Vnoquoque lapsu a minimis semper incipitur Yet after the lawe written was giuen Idolatry was presently committed before Moses came downe from the Mount so that there was no Idols mentioned nor spoken of before Rachel Iacobs wife stole her father Labans Image and brought it from Mesopotamia in her husbands company towards Canaan where Laban accused his daughter that she stole his gods away But Iacob within a while after he came to Canaan commaunded his houshold and all that were
with him to put away the straunge gods that were among them to cleanse themselues and chaunge their garments and Iacob buried and hid their Images vnder an oake by Sichem and went to Bethel and made an aultar there to his God as the Lord had commaunded him So Ninus a little before that time set vp the first Image that is read of to bee among the Gentiles to Belus his father from which time the name of Baal his prophets and his priests began to multiply so many in Niniuie and in Babilon yea in Iudah it selfe among the Israelites to whome the lawe was giuen from the Lord to Moses forbidding them to serue straunge gods Ieroboam Salomons seruant and king of Israel which made Israel first to sinne by making two golden calues theyr gods the one in Dan the other in Bethel saying to the people These be thy gods ô Israel which brought thee out of the land of Egipt Within a while after wicked Achab being not satisfied with the gods of Samaria the golden calues which Ieroboam made brought Baal froÌ„ Assyria to Iudah where he kept and maintained 450. false Prophets to instruct and teach Israel in the religion of Baal contrarie to the lawe which the Lord gaue vnto Moses for the lawe was Thou shalt haue no other gods but me so that the gods of the Moabites and Ammonites yea the gods of the Gentiles came to be worshipped in the middest of Ierusalem and Mount Oliuet was so full of Idolatry vnder euery greene tree and in euery groue that thereby it was called the Mount of corruption so that Ierusalem had as many straunge aultars in the time of Salomon as Athens had in the time of Paul The Iewes therefore were as Idolatrous and had as many gods as the Gentiles had and rather serued the dumbe Idols of the Gentiles then the liuing God of Israel So vaine and wicked were the Israelites that while Moses was in the Mount with the Lord for the lawe before he came downe from the Mount they had forced Aaron to make them a calfe of mettall as a god to go before them for so the Lord said vnto Moses vp and get thee downe quickly for the people haue made them a god of mettall at what time the Lord was so angrie that he determined to destroy all the Hebrues for their Idolatrie had not Moses earnestly praied and made intercession for them For the Hebrues before they came out of Egipt sawe the Idolatry of the Egiptians in worshipping oxen calues serpents crocodiles and other beasts as gods the lawe was not so soone giuen to Moses but it was as soone broken by the people who forsooke the Lord and his lawe and followed other gods Baalim and Ashtaroth after Ioshuahs death for during the whole time of Ioshuah he kept Israel from Idolatry and they serued the Lord but after his death they committed fornication with the daughters of Moab who brought Israel to worship and serue theyr goddes that the Lord was angrie with Israel and bad Moses take vp the chiefe men among the people and hang them vp to the Lorde against the Sunne that the Lords wrath might bee taken away So after Gedeons death Israel fell to their Idolatrie as they were wont to doo that Manasses a most wicked Idolatrous king builded aultars to all the host of heauen in the house of the Lord and he put vp an Image in the Temple of the Lord where the Lord himselfe said In Ierusalem will I put my name hee worshipped and serued them hee reared vp aultars and made groues he built high aultars which Ezechiah his father destroyed and following Achab king of Israel offered his sonne in fire so that in Ierusalem the Israelites worshipped more gods and had more aultars to their gods then the Athenians had in Athens which Paul testified who sawe so many gods and so many aultars in Athens one to lust one to shame and one among so many Ignotodeo to an vnknowne god The second Regiment of Lawes containing the contempt of religion seuerely punished among diuers nations of the sundrie sacrifices and vowes of the Heathens and of the multitude of Idols and Aultars in Israel SOcrates deriding scoffing at the multitude of the goddes and aultars of Athens was by the Athenians put to death not for breaking their aultars destroying their temples nor betraying the Citie but because he sware by a straunge god thinking thereby hee had despised the goddes of Athens and more esteemed straunge gods Plato his scholler though hee was of the like opinion as his maister Socrates was yet durst hee not openly confesse it for feare of the people though king Dyonisius knew Platos minde by his Letters therein signified that when Plato wrote to king Dyonisius of one god then hee wrote seriously and earnestly but when hee wrote of many gods hee ieasted with scoffes as Socrates did Plato was of oipnion that Poets and Painters filled Greece with all kinde of Idols for what the Poets faigned in Greece in fables the same the Painters painted in Greece in tables and therefore Plato thought good to remoue Homer crowned annointed with all reuerence out of Greece for that hee through the opinion of the Greekes had of him filled Greece with too many gods and aultars But the Lord commanded Israel to ouerthrowe the â—…ltars of the Gentiles to breake their pillars cut downe their groues and burne the Images of their goddes with fire saying Couet not the golde nor the siluer that is about the Heathens Images as Achan did least thou be snaâ—…ed thereby for it is an abhomination to the Lord. Among the Romanes they thought it a great sacriledge to contemne and prophane the religion of theyr gods for so Alcibiades was accused of sacriledge for that he offended the lawe of the Athenians despising the holy misteries of the goddesse Ceres entred with his torch-bearer and vâ—…rger before him against the lawe of Eumolpides into the secret sacrifice and misteries of Ceres for the which his goods were confiscated and himselfe banished out of Athens for his contempt So for the like Clodius was accused in Rome for that he entered secretly into the misteries of Flora where none should bee but women and the Priests of Flora but as Alcibiades was banished out of Athens so Cloâ—…ius after was slaine in Rome for that Clodius offended the lawe being rather suspected for Pompeia Caesars wife then for the zeale hee had to Floraes sacrifice So zealous were the Heathens that euen among the Scythians rude and sauage people for that Anacharsis the Philosopher brought the ceremonies of the Grecians and their religion into Scythia and vsed the same in Scythia he was slain by his owne countreymen the Scythians In like maner the Athenians vsed certaine of the Acarnanites who being not Priests prophaned the gods of Athens in their religion which was taken of the Athenians for a
lawes for it was the manner as well among the Grecians as among the Romaines euer to make lawes and neuer to keepe them And though the authoritie of the kings were taken away and derogated in many countries yet the force and power of the law stood in effect though the change thereof were dangerous For the lawe sayth Thou shalt not steale nor deale falsely heerein is included vnder the name of stealing all kinde of sacriledge falshood fraud lying one to an other and all other crimes pertaining to stealing Achan for his cunning stealing of a cursed Babylonian garmēt two hundred sickles of siluer and a toong of gold against the lawe at the spoile of Iericho was deliuered by the Lord to Ioshuahs hand who brought him with his sonnes his daughters all his cattells his Tent and all that hee had vnto the valley of Achor and there stoned Achan to death and burned them with fire the Lord euer preferreth obedience before sacrifice for the disobedience in Achan for breaking the lawe was the cause of his stoning The disobedience of Saul against the commaundement of the Lord was such that he lost both his kingdome and his life A Prophet that went from Iudah with the word of the Lord to Bethel for that he did eat bread in that place being forbidden he was killed of a Lion as he returned The man that gathered stickes vpon the Sabboth day against the commaundement the Lord commaunded he should be stoned to death We might thinke that the gathering of stickes and the eating of a peece of bread were but small faults that thereby the one should be stoned and the other killed of a Lyon had it not bene forbidden by the lawe So such men suppose Adams fault to be but little that for earing of an Apple in Paradise not onely he but his posteritie after him should loose Paradise but as the Angels in heauen by their disobedience lost heauen so Adam by his disobedience lost Paradise The Lorde spared not Kings for breach of the law as Oza and Ozias both kings the one for vnreuerent handling of the Arke vsurping the Leuites Office against the lawe was strooken with sudden death and the other for burning incense against the lawe which was the Priestes Office was strooken with leprosie The Lord spared not his owne Priest Aaron that for his incredulitie before the people he died for it in mount Hor. Neither spared the Lord his owne seruant Moses for his disobedience so that hee also died in mount Nebo that neither of them both came to the land of Canaan for their disobedience and diffidence in the Lord. So seuere the lawe of the Lord was that 50000. Bethsamites died for looking into the Arke Aarons sonnes Nadab and Abihu for offering strange fire before the Lord against the lawe were destroyed by fire from heauen Hence grew the ceremoniall lawes of the Gentiles touching their religion and sacrifices to their Gods So the women that attended the fire on the aultar of Apollo in Delphos were seuerely punished if by any negligence it happened to be extinguished neither might that fire being so extinguished be kindled again by any other then by the said women and by no other fire thē by the beames of the sunne The Vestall virgins in Rome if the sacred fire of Vesta weare out by any negligence that Vestall virgine that then attended should be brought Per Regem sacrorum to the Bishop to be whipt neither might any fire be kindeled againe to the goddesse Vesta but by the heate of the Sunne neither might they sweare by any other then by the name of Vesta the like ceremonies they vsed to Minerua in Athens So among the Persians Assyrians and Chaldeans they worship their sacred fire Vt Deorum maximum on their aultars seeming to follow Moses lawe Zaleucus an auncient Lawe-maker among the Locreans brought vp with Pythagoras the Phylosopher made a lawe against adulterers that both the eyes of the adulterer should be pulled out which being broken by his eldest sonne though all the Locreans ioyntly en treated for Zaleucus sonne yet said he the lawe must nobe broken and to satisfie the lawe Zaleucus pulled one of his sonnes eyes out and an other of his owne shewing himselfe a natural father to his sonne a iust Iudge to performe the lawes which hee made to the Locreans so seuerely were they punished that brake the lawes or sought to breake the lawes among the Gentiles Those people said Alcibiades do better which keepe the lawes they haue though they be worse then often changed for better Obseruatio legum morum tutissima that plant cannot take roote which is often remoued So Augustus Caesar wrote to the Senators that what lawes soeuer they had decreed and set downe should not be chaunged nor altered for better were it not to make lawes then to make so many lawes and not to keepe them Positas semel leges constanter seruate nec vllam earum immutate si deteriores sint tamem vtiliores sunt Reipub. Lu. Papirius Cursor the Dictator for that Fabius Rutilius brake the decree of the Dictator though hee had good successe and wonne a great victorie yet the lawe was that Fabius should dye neither could the captaines entreate him for his pardon that Fabius was constrained secretly to flye to Rome and to appeale to the Tribune of the people and to the Senators the Dictator followed Fabius to Rome saying that there was no lawe that any appeale should be made from the Dictator vntill Fabius and his father fell vpon their knees with the Senators and Tribune of the people to entreat for him and that for breach of the lawe though hee was Magister equitum the greatest and next in authoritie to the Dictator for the lawe-makers themselues that brake their owne lawes were punished as Zaleucus spared not his owne eye nor Diocles his owne life for breach of the lawe The like we find in Plato comparing the lawe to medicines mingled with poyson to that ende the patient might recouer his health by the medicine so that saith Plato the law is profitable to correct and amend the offender Vt medicamentis venena miscemus salutarifine instar pharmaci haec talia vtilia esse Diocles among other of his lawes in Syracusa made a lawe that if any should come armed with weapons into any Senate Court of Councell or before any Magistrate or assembly of people sitting in lawe causes he should die for it by the lawe of Diocles. This lawe of Diocles was the cause of his own death for as he was riding into the Towne being met sent for to mitigate some contention and debates among the people he making hast forgetting his sword on his side came to the Court and opened to them the lawe made to the people to be gouerned by willed them to obey the same but hee was tolde by some
therefore destroyed at the brooke Kyson false witnesse is a murtherer of his neighbours false witnesse selleth bloud for money a theefe that selleth mens lands liuings and liues secretly for it is written in the lawe of Moses that thou shalt not remoue thy neighbours marke which they of olde time haue set in thine inheritance So Numa Pomp. made the selfe same lawe in Rome that whosoeuer would plough vp any of his neighbors markes or meeres both he and his oxen should be slaine and sacrificed to god Terminus vpon the very meere where the offence was done False witnesse is a defamer and slaunderer of mens credite and therefore the lawe of the twelue tables saith Siquis occentauisset aut carmen condidisset quod infamiam faceret flagitiumque alteri capitale sit If any would write slaunderous libelles or infamous verses touching a mans credite good name and fame he should die for it The selfe same lawe was by Solon made in Athens that vpon any slaunders or nicknames an action might be had before the Iudges Areopagites How much more false witnesses and periurers that seeke mens liues by false oathes are to bee punished whose conscience are burned with hotte irons of whom is said Conscientia pietatis lacinia for you shall not sweare by my name falsely saith the Lord neither shall you defile the name of your God The Lord though he commaunded his people that they should not sweare at all neither by heauen for it is the Lords throane neither by the earth for it is his footestoole for the scripture vsed the speech of the Lord for an oath Dixit Dominus it was an oath and the Lord sware by the excellencie of Iacob he sware by himselfe Per me ipsum iuraui Oathes may bee well and iustly required in lawfull causes for Abraham made his seruant to sweare by the God of heauen and earth not to take a wife to his sonne Isaac of the daughters of the Canaanites but of his owne stocke and kindred and therefore hee caused his seruant to lay his hand vnder his thigh which ceremony declareth the dutie and obedience the seruant should haue to his maister Iacob sware the like oath as his grandfather Abraham did and caused Ioseph his sonne to put his hand vnder his thigh as an oath that he should not suffer him to be buried in Egipt but to be brought from Egipt to Haebron to the field Machpelaâ—… and there to be buried with his fathers Abimelech requested Abraham to sweare Iura per deum ne noceas mihi nec stirpimeae and Abraham sware vnto Abimelech and named the place where they both sware Berseba Iacob sware vnto Laban his father in law Pertimorem in Patrissui by the feare of his father Dauid sware against Nabal and said Hocfaciat mihi dominus Thus God do vnto me if I leaue Nabal a head for that he denied me and my company a little victualls being a hungrie Salomon sware vnto his mother by the Lord Thus God do vnto me if Adoniah liue for that by seeking Abizaig he seeketh also the kingdome Elias the Prophet sware vnto Achab king of Israel Viuit Dominus as sure as the Lord liueth So Elizeâ—…s sware vnto Elias the like oath Viuit Dominus I will not forsake thee this kind of oath is often vsed in scripture as the Lord liueth or as thy soule liueth Paul the Apostle vsed this oath God is my witnesse whom I feare in an other place Testem Deum inuoco in animam meam I call God to witnesse to my soule and againe God knoweth that I lye not In the thirteenth Regiment is set downe the danger and inconveniences that hapned by ambition and what lawes diuers countries made to banish the same THe states of Princes and countries are euer in most danger where ambitious men be who fearing nothing at all secretly to speake against Princes and Magistrates ambitiously whose ambitious nature seekes not onely to rule and raigne but also to practise without feare through pollicie to vndermine states and to ouerthrowe their countrey through ambition Pacem contemnentes gloriam appetentes pacem gloriam perdunt Of these men Plato saith Siquis priuatim sine publico scitu pacem bellumuè fecerit capitale esto Ambitious men are not so glad and proud to see many follow them and obey them as they are spitefull and disdainfull against any one man that esteemes them not so ambitious and proud was Ammon that he could not endure the sight of Mardochaeus The ambition of Abimelech was such that hee slew three score and eight lawfull sonnes of Gedeon his bretheren vpon one stone to become a Iudge in Israel himselfe being but a bastard Absolon the naturall sonne of Dauid went most ambitiously about to winne the hearts of Israel from his father embracing and kissing euery one that came vnto him saying I wish there were some that would minister iustice to the people Such is the nature of ambitious men Qui honores quieta Repub desperant perturbata se consequi posse arbitrantur Can a man goe barefooted on thornes and not bee prickt can a man put coles in his bosome and not bee burnt can a man be ambitious and not be trecherous for ambition claspeth enuie as the Iuye claspeth the Oake and as the Iuye sucketh all the moysture of the Oake so enuie sucketh all the moysture of the ambitious man What was the end of Ammon for his ambition to be hanged vpon the selfe-same gallowes which he prepared for Mardocheus What got Abimelech by his ambition and murthering of his bretheren but to haue his braine panne broken and slaine and that by a woman in the Cittie of Argos The end of Absolon was no better but to be brought by his owne mule and to be hanged by the haire of his owne head in the wood of Ephraim where his mule left him Impia proditio celeri paena uindicanda Had these ambitious men obserued the three precepts which Brasidas taught his countrey men the Athenians Velle vereri obedire they might haue died a more honourable death then to be hanged and killed by those whom they sought ambitiously to destroy by their next kinred and chiefe friends These bee such men Qui suam sibi fortunam fingunt The like lawe was appointed by Plato for treason as for sacriledge Iudices istis proditoribus dantur qui sacrilegis solent for as Philip of Maecedon was wont to say Amare se prodituros non proditores so Augustus Caesar after him vsed the like wordes Proditionem non proditores amo And therefore Corah Dathan and Abiron and all their complices to the number of two hundred and fiftie were swallowed vp of the earth aliue for theyr ambitious murmuring against Moses The Lord spared neither Aaron Moses brother nor Myria his sister for the like offence so
seuere was the Lord in his lawes that he spared not Moses himselfe And therefore Zaleucus made a lawe among the Locreans to suppresse the pride and insolencie of great men who did more harme theyr Countrey through pride and ambition then they did profit theyr countrey by iust and true dealing The like lawe against ambitious men was made in Syracusa which secretly sought through ambition to excell others in singularitie both in wisedome and in wealth and therefore were they banished for fiue yeares out of Syracusa according to the lawe which was made against ambitiō called Petalismus least their greatnesse through ambition should do more harme to their countrey then good In Rome for a time ambition was not knowne vntill the Romaines grew great out of Italy then Cai. Petilius Tribune of the people made a lawe that no man through ambition which then grew in Rome together with the greatnesse of the Empire should make meanes by money or reward to beare office in Rome After Petilius Cincius decreed an other straight lawe against ambitious meanes to become Magistrates that none of the Patricians or any other that were ambitious to become magistrates or officers in Rome should come in a gowne or any long garment into the Senate least they should carrie money secretly in their bosome to corrupt the people for the choosing of Censors Praetors Consuls and other officers were in the election of the people both in Rome and in Athens alike for there was nothing in Rome but Forum Senatus lawes decreed in the Senate by the Senators and weapons in the market place by the Tribune ansd the people to resist the same The lawe of Cass. Longinus Tribune of the people was that euery Tribe by it selfe of the 35. should bring their seuerall Tables where the voyces of the people were secretly prickt to auoyd ambition and quarels which lawe was called Lex Tabellaria An other lawe among the Romanes was to auoyd ambition among the people that the Senators with the consent of the people should elect one Consul and that Consul so chosen should choose one of his own friends to be his fellow Consul for it was not lawfull for both the Consuls at one time to haue Serieants to beare Maces before them but one after an other monethly neyther might a Consul be chosen againe within ten yeares after his Consulship which lawes were made onely to auoyd ambition The like law was among the Thaebans against Merchants that were called Mercurij proles which hunted for priuate profits and gaped for gaine which forbad them that had bene officers within ten yeares after not to be chosen gouernours againe in that office for that Merchants be not fit men to be Magistrates and as Aristotle saieth Parum generosa haec ratio vitae vertuti aduersa Against which Demosthenes exclaimed in his bannishment the three monsters of Athens Populus Noctua and Draco but two of these monsters ruled alwaies in Rome and in Athens Noctua Populus men and money And therefore the lawe Ostracismus was made in A thens against such ambitious men as would secretly seeke to growe into greatnesse to win the fauour of the people that they should be banished out of Athens for tenne yeares as Themistocles Alcibades Demosthenes and others This lawe of Ostracismus was euer readie in A thens so long against the greatnesse of ambitious men that at length it grewe against base men that would practise any sinister meanes among the people For it was a practise among the Athenian least one should growe greater then an other to make this lawe Ostracismus according to Aristotles rule Neminem vnum magnum facere communis custodia principatas The kings of Egipt that did not minister iustice rightly nor obserue the lawe iustly while they liued might not be buried after they dyed for it was lawfull for any man to accuse the kings of Egipt before they were buried of any ambition iniustice or crime before committed against the law for nothing was more ignominious to the kings of Egipt then to bee depriued of their burialls which made them liue more circumspectly vsing iustice and obseruing the lawe But what were the Kings of Egipt better to be buried in sweete odours in their Pyramides or the Heathen Princes of the world to be buried in Suis Mausoleis was not poore Lazarus better in Abrahams bosome then the rich man tormented in hell for hee cannot bee ill buried wheresoeuer he is buried that dyeth well neyther can he dye ill wheresoeuer or howsoeuer he dieth that liueth well and therefore Non potest male mori qui bene vixcrit saith Augustine A people in India called Pedalij among other theyr vowes and prayers they wished nothing to bee graunted vnto them of the Gods but to be iust and to vse iustice Appollonius Thianeus the Philosophers wish was Pa◅a habere Nullius in digere and to knowe good and iust men and to auoyd the company of wicked and vniust men Socrates wish was to haue a sound minde in a sound body In Eliopolis a cittie of Egipt the Image of Iustice was set vp in the market place without a head and on the right side of Iustice the Image of a king was painted blinde without eyes because he should not see his friends nor foes but gouerne without affections and on the left side of Iustice the Image of a Iudge was painted without handes because hee should not receiue bribes and be corrupted in his iudgement Iuditij venenum sua cuique vtilitas and therefore the Iudges called Areopagitae in Athens might not sit on life and death in the day time while the sunne were vp but in the night because they might not see the prisoner in the face to moue affections but to heare theyr causes to do iustice so is the lawe of the Lorde Accept not the face of the poore feare not the face of the mightie So the Philosopher could say Deus enim nusquam nunquam iniurius semper iustissimus A Philosopher after hee had seene these pictures at Eliopolis hee caused the picture of an ambitious magistrate to be painted without legges because hee should not climbe too high saying Agesilaus climbes in Sparta to ouerthrowe Thaebes and Epaminondas climbes in Thaebes to ouercome Sparta This is that ambition euery where Quae frontem aperit mentem tegit But these ambitious men remember not Lots wife who seeking to saue her life by looking back on Sodome she lost both her selfe Sodome and Zegor So that among all nations in all countreys ambitious men are such that some with Absolon seeke to plant and set their names on earth by some monuments of fame but die ignominiously without monuments or fame like Absolon Some with Sebna build them sumptuous Tombes in theyr owne countrey but are buried in an other countrey Some with Achab build them Iuorie houses who