at the change of every dish every man again commanded by a law to go to his woman And thus from meat to women from women to meat they beastly and brutishly entertained their Epicurial lust wherein these Gorgons reposed their chief felicity Certainly if Quéen Semitamis of Babylon had been matched with Heliogabulus Emperour of Rome it had béen as méet a match if time had served as one beast should be for another for he was not so filthy but she was as shameless not onely in procuring divers to lie with her but in alluring her own son Ninus to lust and as writers report being a beast matched her self with a beast a horse Had Pasiphae Quéen of Creet been well matched she had forsaken King Minos and come to the Emperour Caligula where she might have been as bold with others as she was with Minotaurus father Had the Empresse Mestalina been deservedly according to her life married she had been more meet for Nero then for Claudius for his life and her life did well agree together for she passed all the Courtesans of Corinth all the strumpets of Athens and all the whores of Babilon for she was onely mistresse and ruler of all the stews and brothel houses in Rome What wickednesse procéedeth from lust what ungodly incest is brought to passe by lust what secret vengeance commeth by lust Lust assured Queen Cleopatra to use her brother Ptolomy as her husband Lust deceived King Cynar to lie with his daughter Myrrha Lust brought Macarius to his sister Canaces bed By lust did Menepron defile his own mother Lust stayeth the purpose of all men hindereth and hurteth all kind of persons Lust stayed King Antiochuâ— of Syria in Chalâ—idea a whole winter for one maid he fancied there Lust stayed Hannibal in Capua a long season to his great hurt Lust stayed Julius Caesar in Alexandria a long time unto his infamy Lust was the first cause of wars between the Romans and the Sabines for Romuâ—us had hardly built Rome but he lusted to ravish the women and to steal the Sabine maids to Rome whereby the war first began The great wars between King Cambyses of Persia and King Amasis of Egypt wherein was a great slaughter and murther of men grew by lust to one woman The ten years betwixt the Thebans and the Phoceans was for the lust of one young man in Phoca towards a young woman in Thebes The cruel conflicts that was between the Troyan Prince Aeneas and stout Turnus was the lust which either of them did bear to Lavinia King Latinus Daughter What bloud what tyranny was between the Egyptians and the Assyrians betwéen Ptolomy and Alexander the one King of Egypt the other King of Assyria and all for one woman Cleopatra Augustus the Emperour made long wars for Octavia his sister whom Antonius abused to the spoyl and murther of many Romans Had Hesione King Priamus sister not lusted to go with Telamon from Troy to Greece had likewise Helen the wife of Menelaus not lusted to come with Paris from Greece to Troy the bloudy wars and ten years siege between the Greeks and the Troyans had never been writâ—en by Homer Had not lust ruled the five cities called Pentapolis where Sedom and Gomorrha were they had not been consumed with fire and brimstone from heaven to the destruction of all the people saving Lot his children If lust had not ruled all the world the deluge of Noah had not drowned the whole earth and all living creatures saving Noah his wife and children Thus lust from time to time was the onely Monster and scourge of the World And in this our Age lust is nothing diminished but much encreased and though we shall not be plagued again with Water according to promise yet to be punished with Fire most sure we be unlesse we detest and abhor this vice There is a History in Justine worthy to be noted of Princes that will not punish these offences Pausanias a Noble Gentleman of Macedonia being a very fair young man whom Attalus by lust abused and Attalus not contented to handle the young man so wickedly and ungodly did bring him also to a banquet where Attalus would have used him as before making all men privy how Pausanias was his paramour as a woman The young man being ashamed of it often complained unto Philip King of Macedonia and after many and divers complaints having no redresse but being rather flouted and scoffed at by Philip Pausanias took it so grievously that after this sort he requited his shame and injuries At the marriage of Cleopatra King Philips daughter with Alexander King of Epirus in great triumphs and pomps King Philip in the midst of his joys walking between his own son Alexander the great who then was but young and Alexander King of Epirus his son in law being married then to his daughter Cleopatra Pausanias thrust him into the heart saying Minister Iustice and punish Lust Thus died that mighty Prince as well for the bearing of Attalus fault as also for his own wickednesse using the same sin sometime with a brother in law of his natural brother to his first wife Olympias Lust and intemperancy do never escape without just punishment and due vengeance Amnon the son of King David for that he misused his own sister Tamar was afterward slain Absalom for that he did lie with his fathers Concubines died for it David was plagued for Uriah's wife The two Elders that would ravish Susanna were put to death This sin is the onely enemy of man For all sin saith St. Paul is without the body but uncleannesse and lust sinneth against the body Had not Olofernes séen the beauty of Judith yea marked the comelinesse of her slippers he had not lost his head by it Had not Herod séen Herodias daughrer dancing he had not so rashly granted her John Baptists head Had not Eve séen the beauty of the Apple she had not eaten thereof We read in Genesis that when the sons of men viewed the beauty of women many evils happened thereby By sight was Potiphars wife moved with lust toward Joseph her servant By sight and beauty was Solomon allured to commit Idolatry with false Gods By sight was Dina the daughter of Iacob ravished by Shechem These evils procéed from sudden sights therefore saith the Prophet Turn away thine eys lest they sée vanities The Philosopher likewise saith That the first offer or motion is in the eye from sight proceedeth motion from motion election from election consent from consent sin from sin death Wherefore with the Poet I say resist the violence of the first assault I mean the eys The evil that happened thereby too long it were to write Lust again hath its entrance by hearing as Justine in his twelfth Book doth testifie of Thalestris Quéen somtime of the Amazons who having heard the great commendations the fame and renown of Alexander the great ventered her life to hazard to come from Scythia to Hircania which
Rome of such love professed of such friendship promised that though Pompey was the onely joy of Rome the long delight of Romans and the defender and maintainer of their name and fame yet being convicted they received Caesar as another Pompey for that he used humanity and shewed gentlenesse even to his enemies For noble hearts ought to contemn cruelty Princes minds ought to abhor tyranny A simple Sparrow which to avoid the griping paws of a hungry Sparhawk that would have preyed upon him fled unto Artaxerxes bosome being in the Camp whâ—â— after long panting as well for fear as for wearinesse in Artaxerxes bosome Artaxerxes said It is as little mastery unto a Prince or commendation to a valiant Captain to destroy that which of it self doth yéeld as it is a fame unto Artaxerxes to kill this poor sparrow that fled for succour Saying again beholding the sparrow As I will not betray thee thou little sparrow for that thou hast fled for help unto Artaxerxes so will I never deceive any man that will have confidence in me If this pity of Artaxerxes was shewed unto a Sparrow how much more ought Princes to shew the same unto men Antigonus though he was a great enemy to Pyrrhus as Princes be during the time of war Pyrrhus being slain by a silly woman in Argos and his head brought by Alcioneus unto his father King Antigonus thinking to please his father much with bringing K. Pyrrhus head who long had molested Antigonus alive yet the King perceiving the cruel tyranny of his son delighting in dead mens heads took the staff whereon his son Alcioneus carried the head and instead of thanks which he looked for at his fathers hands he was well and worthily rewarded with stripes he took Pyrrhus head and very honourably covered it and after long looking thereon he commanded his son Helenus to carry it to the Kingdome of Epire where Pyrrhus in his life time was King and there to bury it according unto the custome of the Epirots by King Alexander his own brother The like history is written in Herodotus of King Darius who yéelded thanks unto those that brought Histeus head as Antigonus did to his son Alcioneus saying I do as little joy to see Histeus head being dead as I do lament much such tyranny and cruelnesse to be in you who never did see King Darius so cruel to any man alive as you are cruel to Histeus being dead As Darius was gentle of himself so he greatly estéemed those that were gentle insomuch that being at the point of death even at that time when he was so weak that he knew not Polistratus that gave a litle water to refresh his heart he said Whosever thou be I know thée not and for that I am not able to thank thée Alexander shall and will requite thy gentlenesse and the Gods shall thank Alexander for his clemency and humanity towards my mother my wife and children And with that he stretched forth his hand and said Have me recommended to Alexander and give him this my right hand and tell him that Bessus killed Darius whom thou didst sée dying Which when it was told by Polistratus to Alexander he much lamented his death and caused his body to be brought to his mother named Sisigambis Thus worketh clemency and humanity that these two famous Princes Alexander and Darius two mortal enemies yet not forgetting each others courtesie at deaths dore were in love each with the other for their humanity one to another Darius at his death repeating Alexanders gentlenesse towards him and Alexander requited Darius gentleness being dead The greatest fame or commendation that may happen to any man is to be counted gentle and courteous therein are divers vertues knit and joyned in friendship as pity mercy wisedome and affability with others so that the property of those men is always though they can hurt yet never to offend As it is the property of an evil man to revenge so it is the nature of the good and gentle to forgive Pilistratus shewed both wisdome and rourtesie to certain drunkards who having in their drink used wanton speech to his wife and being sober the next morning came to Pisistratus to ask him forgivenesse for their lewd talk to his wife he gently said Learn to be more sober another time I know my wife was not out of her house yesterday Excusing his wife wisely and pardoning them gently How gently did Alexander Severus use Camillus though he rebelled against him and by sleight thought to be Emperor of Rome and for that being condemned to die by the Senate yet he was pardoned by Alexander How curteous was Fabius Maximus to forgive Marsius one of his chief Captains the treasons and snares that he used against his Master Fabius with the enemies Such gentlenesse did Xerxes the great shew unto the Gréeks who were as Spies to view the power and host of King Xerxes sent from Athens and being taken and brought before the King he not onely gently dismissed them but shewed them curteously all his host and force of souldiers The greatest victory is alwaies gotten by gentlenesse as Alphonsus King of Aragon by gentlenesse won Careta Marcellus won Syracusa Metellus Celtiberia as you have heard before mentioned Plutarch reciteth a passing history of great curtesie and humanity of King Belenus towards his son Antigonus who being married to a fair woman fell in love with his fathers wife for his mother was dead and his father married the daughter of Demetrius king of Macedonia named Estrabonica a young woman of excellent beauty for this therefore the Kings son languished in love that he was like to die unknown to his father which when his father knew he caused his own wife to be married to his son Antigonus a rare clemency and great gentlenesse for a man to give his wife to please his friend Pity accompanieth this excellent vertue clemency as we read in holy Scriptures that divers good men ceased not to bewail and wéep over the state of their enemies I néed not here to recite Peticles the Athenian who willed that the dead souldiers of his enemies should be buried in the wars of Peloponesus nor of Hannibals curtesie in the wars of Carthage for the burial of Roman enemies But Moses that man of God brought with him from Egypt the bones of Joseph Tobias and Machabeus mercifull men commanded likewise a solemn buriall for the dead souldiers And Jehu king of Israel caused his enemie Jezabel to be honourably buried But as white is better discerned by the black then by any colour else so shall humanity and gentlenesse appear most excellent in reading the title of tyranny where by conferring both together the excellency of the one is manifest the terrour of the other is odious The gentlenesse and pity that our Saviour Iesus Christ shewed unto Mary Magdalen the lewd woman unto the prodigal child unto Peter that denied him unto the Thief that was hanged with him
power hurt Rome so much as their hidden hatred betwéen themselves did Again Alexander the great Cyrus the valiant Xerxes the famous most mighty Conquerors with all their strength of wars could not annoy Greece half so much as their inward Envy betwéen the Cities of Gréece What caused Julius Caesar to war against his son in law Pompey Ambition What made Adrian the Emperor to despise the worthy fame of Traâ—an Envy What moved Cato surnamed of Vtica to kill himself Envy to Caesar Hidden hatred working for private gain and rash counsel of flattery which is heard most often in the envious mouth have destroyed Kingdoms Envy first entred into the hearts of Princes arrested the worthiest Conquerors waded into the bowels of the wise and blushed not to attaint the learned Philosophers in the middest of Athens Hercules in killing the great Dragon that watched in the garden of Hesperides in destroying the ravening birds Stimphalides in conquering the raging and furious Centaurs in vanquishing terrible monsters as Gâ—rcon and Cerbeâ—us in overcomming the Lion the Boar and the Full in overtaking the gilded Hart and lastly for his conquest of the huge and prodigious Hydâ—a in the fens of Lerna won no lesse envy of some then he justly deserved fame of others Theseus to imitate the haughty attempts of Hercules overcame Thebes slew Minoâ—â—mus in the dens of Labyrinthus subdued Caâ—on the Tyrant with divers other large enterprises as one more willing to envie the fame of Hercules then desirous to deserve fame by lenity and quietnesse So might I speak of Julius Caesar that envied Alexander the great and Alexander likewise that envied Achilles And thus alwayes Envy was fostered by Princes With the wise and learned envy bare great sway as betwixt Plato and Xenophon the best and gravest philosophers in their time betwixt Demonsthenes and Aeâ—â—ines betwixt Aristotle and Isocrates one despising the other Such slaughter grew of Envy that one brother killed another the son the father and the father likewise the son as Romulus slew his brother Remus through envy lest he might be King in Rome Cambyses King of Persia killed his brother Mergides as Herodotus doth write through envy Envy caused Anachaâ—sis the Philosopher to be slain by his own brother Cadvidus King Jugurth murthered both his brethren Hiempsalis and Adherbales that he onely might reign King in Numidia Cain did kill his brother Abel the scripture doth testifie because his sacrifice was not accepted Thus envy was known and seen to be betwixt brethren betwixt parents and their children The like we read that envy committed horrible and terrible murthers as well betwixt the husband and the wife as in the children towards their Parents as in short examples is verified Clicenmestra slew her own husband Agamemnon and she again was slain by her son Orestes Queen Semiâ—ams killed likewise her husband King Ninus and she was killed even so by her son called Ninus Agrippina murthered her husbaÌ„d Tiberius she was also murthered by hâ—r son Nero O cruel tyranny that envy should ever cause such unnatural murther as one brother to kill another the father to destroy his son the son to slay his fathsr the husband to murther his wife the wife to make away her husband We read in Pliny of a certain King in Thebes named Athamas that gave both his sons the one named Learchus the other Euriclea to be devoured by ravenous Lions So many monstrous tyrants have been brought up in the school of envy so many deformed Centaures that all countries have been full of them When Antiphiles saw Apelles in great favour with King Ptolomy he so envied the matter that he told the King in spight to Apelles that Apelles was the very cause of the long wars between the Tyrians and Egypt to discredit Apelles for very envy that he was great with the King but the matter being known and his envy weighed Apelles was rewarded by the King with a hundred Talents and Antiphiles for his envy commanded afterward all the daies of his life to be the slave and bonomen of Apelles Themistocles was so grieved to see Miltiades so honoured for his great conquest and triumph in Marathon that being demanded why he was so sad he answered Mitiades triumphs will not suffer Themistocles to be joyfull There was no countrey but envy bare sway in it there was never any great vertue but it was accompanied with envy Caesar was envied in Rome by Cato Turnus was envied in Rutilia by Drances Ulisses was envied in Gréece by Ajax Demetrius was envied in Macedonia after King Cassander died What envy M. Crassus bare toward Pompey is sufficiently known What hidden hatred Pollio had toward Cicero may be read in Brusonius the third book the seventh chapter where Pollio saith to Messala that he could not endure the voice of Cicero The like we read of Aristotle who envied Isocrates so much that he was wont to say It were a shame to Aristotle to hold his peace and let Isocrates speak For as there is no light saith Pliny without a shadow so there is no vertue or glory without envy The wavering state of the vulgar which always ruled Rome and Athens was so mutable and uncertain that after wise and sage Socrates was condemned to die being dead the Athenians repented his accusers were banished and Socrates now being dead had his pictures erected which being alive the rude and uncertain people estéemed nothing Even so was Aristides and Themistocles banished into Persia Iphicrates into Thrace Conon into the province of Corporos Chabrias into Egypt and Cares into Sigeum men of excellent vertues of noble service of renowned fame yet by the envious people they were banished their own countreys to range abroad the world Again Homer was envied by Zoilus Pindarus by Amphimanes Simonides by Timocreon yea learned Maro and Horace were envied and backbiten by Maevius and Suffenus What do I speaking of envy Why wast I time to write of envy Wherefore seem I so fond to touch a general subject being so common with all men so nourished in all countreys being known from the beginning of the world and being first practised by the Devil who envying mans state the felicity joy and pleasure hee was in lest man should possesse the place where somtime the Devil reigned as an Angel he deceived man This envy took root then in the first Age for Cain envied so his brother Abel that he slue him for that God accepted the sacrafice of Abel and refused his Joseph was by his own brethren sold into Egypt for envy that he was better beloved of his father then they were Saul did envy King David that he gave his daughter Michal in marriage to David for that she being his daughter might betray her husband to the Philistines Dathan and Abiram had great envy toward Aaron Daniel was much envied in the Palace of King Nebuchadnezzar What should I be long in this The Apostles the Prophets the Martyrs yea Christ himself
was envyed at by the Iews and Gentiles insomuch that tyranny and murther was the sequel of envy as from time to time hath been tried from age to age séen and from man to man practised nay even to dead men it hath béen shewed as Achilles did to Hector by haling and drawing his body about the fields of Troy in the open sight of King Priam his father So M. Antonius did to Cicero having the head of Cicero set before him to ease his Tygerish mind permitting his wife Fulvin to wear the tongue of Cicero on her Coyf This Cambyses shewed to the Iudge Sâ—samenes who being dead flead him being flead did cut him in pieces and being cut in pieces did give him to be devoured by beasts and birds I might well declare the tyranny of Tullia shewed towards her father King Servius Tullius being dead who caused her Chariot and horses to tread on her fathers body in the open stréets I might speak of Tomyris Queen of Scythia toward King Cyrus being dead who did strike off his head and did bathe it in bloud I might make mention of the tyranny of Alexander in Thessaly and of Busiris in Egypt I might open the wicked life and state of Dionysius in Syracusa of cruel Creon in Thebes of Periander in Corinth and of Pisistratus in Athens But I should be tedious to amplifie that which may be briefly examined And this we read and see daily by experience that the end of Tyrants is to die in tyranny and as they deal with others so are they dealt withal themselves As Diomedes and Busiris were wont to féed their horses with mens flesh and to quench their thirst with mens bloud so were they themselves vanquished by Hercules and made food to be eaten and devoured by their own horses which they before fed with other mens flesh Likewise the great tyrant Phalaris and that cruel Perillus were both destroyed with those new invented torments that they made for others I mean the brazen Bull which Perillus made to satisfie the tyranny of Phalaris Thrasillus and Scyron the one teaching the way of tyranny was first of all in that which he taught unto others tormented and slain the other thrown headlong into the sea by Theleus even so as he was wont to do unto others What should I speak of the great cruelty of Aemilius who as Aristides in Plutarch doth testifie used to recompence any man that would and could invent new torments to punish the innocent and to pleasure his divellish minde He I say dwelling in Agesta a City of Sicilia made a brasen horse to vexe and torment the people wherein through the commandement of Armmius Paterculus chief Magistrate of the City he first suffered the assay of his new invented work We read again of King Danaus fifty daughters called Belides which being maried to the fifty sonnes of Aegistus slew all their husbands the first night except Linceus who was preserved by Hypermenestra his wife The like we reade of the thirty sisters of Albina who after the same manner made an end of thirty husbands in one night The sequel of tyranny was such that what wanted in the father wâ—s fully supplied in the sonne for amendment is seldome séen And that was very well considered of a simple woman named Ihera who when she perceived that the people of Syracusa did wish the death of Dionisius the tyrant she straight knéeled upon her knées and besought the Gods that he might live and being demanded why she prayed for such a tyrant she said I knew three Kings in Siracusa every one a tyrant the second worse then the first the the third worse then the second and now Dionisius being the fourth is worse then the third and I am doubtfull if a fourth should come it would be the Divel himself who is worse then Dionysius and therefore I pray the Gods he may live for of two evils the least is to be chosen Mark how in a simple woman a silly person truth doth often sojourn The like we read of a certain husbandman that digged in the ground when the murtherers that slew King Antigonus passing in hast taking their flight into Phrygia demanded of the husbandman why he digged so déep I dig up said he another King Antigonus to rule in Macedonia letting them to understand the true Proverb That seldome comes the better that he that would come after should be far worse then King Antigonus O happy age O golden world while tyranny was not known The great Monarchies of the world were gotten with tyranny and likewise through tyranny lost The first Monarchy after the great Deluge was that of the Assyrians which began under Ninus the third King of the Assyrians and continued in slaughter and tyranny till Sardanapalus time who was the last King which was a thousand two hundred nine and thirty years From the Assyrians it was won with the sword and brought with violence and tyranny by that cruel and bloudy Arbactus to the Medes and remained there till the time of King Astyages who was the ninth and last King of the Medes two hundred and fifty years From the Medes it was had away by tyranny to Persia by King Cyrus and there stayed until the time of King Darius which was two hundred and thirty years From the Persians it was with bloud and great slaughter taken away by Alexander the great unto Macedonia and there maintained till Perseus time which was a hundred and seven and fifty years From the Macedonians it was posted to Rome where under Julius Caesar the proudest Monarch in all the world it fomed in bloud flourished in tyranny a long time Thus tyranny was fed and fostered from one country to another till almost the whole world was destroied The murther and tyranny that long flourished in Gréece betwéen the Thebans and the Lacedemonians again betwixt the Lacedemonians and the Athenians betwixt the Athenians and all Greece who readeth it not in Thucidides Tamberlan the great murtherer King sometime in Scythia got through tyranny Medea Albania Mesopotamia Persia and Armenia he passed over Euphrates subdued Asia the lesse and took Baiazet King of the Turks called all the Princes of Asia in his voyage toward Gréece where such tyranny was used that not onely Cities and Countries were destroyed but also their Temples and their Gods neglected and spoiled Great was the tyranny betwixt King Darius of Persia and Miltiades Prince of Athens who slew a hundred thousand of Darius men How great was the slaughter of King Cyrus after he had exiled his Grandfather King Astrages from Persia vanquished the Babylonians and overthrew Croesus King of Lydia and after he had subdued the most part of Asia he ceased not his tyrâ—nny untill he came to Scithia where he and two hundred thousand were slain by one woman Tomyris Queen Scithia who after she had slain him she caused his head to be cut off and made it to be bathed in a great tun of
bloud saying these words now Cyrus drink enough of that which thou hast alwaies so long thirsted for Bloud doth require bloud and tyranny will have cruelty Antiochus famed in tyranny brought in subjection Egypt and India with other countries Hannibal excelled all men in tyranny as both Rome and Italy can well testifie To speak of King Philip and his son Alexander the great their tyranny their conquest and bloudy wars it were superfluous as Thessalia Thebes Larissa the Olinthians Phoceans Lacedemonians Athenians Persians Indians and all Asia are witnesse thereto Pyrrhus Antigonus Pompey the great with infinite more bloudy Generals did more rejoyce with tyranny to offend others then with justice to defend their own For the triumphs of cruel Captains are to joy in tyranny the wish and desire of the ungodly tyrant is to destroy all he is thirsty alwaies of bloud hungry continually of murther and slaughter What wished Caligula the Emperour to his own City of Rome onely one neck that with one stroke he might strike it off The difference betwéen a gentle and a goodly Prince and a cruell tyrant is and hath béen alwaies séen King Codrus of Athens how far excelled he cruell Caligula when by an Oracle it was told to the Athenians that they should never have victory during the life of Codrus their King the King understanding of it he cloathed himself like a common souldier nay rather as the history saith like a poor beggar and went into the midst of his enemies to be slain to save Athens How much did noble Curtius and famous Decius surmounted that cruell L. Sylla and that wicked imp C. Marius they instructed by the like Oracle were ready in their arms to mount on horseback to offer themselves alive to an open gulf to save Rome the other with sword and fire were no lesse willing to destroy Rome and to spoil their native soil and country of Italy Again Thrasibulus was not so beneficial to Athens but Catelin was as hurtfull unto Rome Divers Princes and Noble men have béen no lesse studious how to kéep and defend their countries then they were loath and unwilling to trespasse against their countries Happy are those places and most happy are they that injoy such Princes How famous was Thebes while Epaminondas lived how renowned was Sparta while yet Agesilaus ruled how happy was Rome when Fabius Maximus bare sway how flourished Athens when Pericles with his magnanimity when Themisiocles with his worthinesse when Demosthenes with his wisedome defended their state The vertuous lives of goodly Emperours time hath advanced to fame and fame hath spread over the whole world as of Traian Constantine Augustus Alexander Severus with others which are to be honoured and had in perpetual memory But the cruell tyranny of other wicked Magistrates neither time can take away nor any good nature forget as that monster of shame sinck of sin that beast Heliâ—gabalus that tyrant Nero that monster Caligula with Domitian Dionisius and others which are to be detested and utterly lothed Laertius in his third book doth write that the people of Agineta had a law written that if any of Athens should come unto their great City Aginia he should lose his head WheÌ„ Plato the philâ—sopher had hapned to come to that City it was told Carmendius who then was chief Iudge for that year that a man of Athens was in Aginia which ought by law to die the calling Plato before him in a great assembly demaÌ„ded what he was he said a Philosopher a certain man envious unto learning hearing the name of a Philososopher said this is no man but a beast then said Plato I ought to be frée by your law being a beast and not a man and so pleaded the matter that by the name of a beast he was dismissed applying thus the sense thereof that with tyrants and envious people beasts are better esteemed then men Such is the furious rage of tyranny that without mercy and respect of person he féedeth his fury King Atreus brother to Thiestes and son to King Pelops slew without pity the thrée sons of his brother Thiestes whose bloud he caused his brother and their father to drink unawares and after he had hidden their bodies in a cave he cut off their members and made their father to eat thereof The like history we read in Justine that King Assiages made Harpagus to eat his own son dressed ready and served up at the Kings table in two silver dishes before Harpagus the father of which as one ignorant of such tyranny the father fed Mithridates the bloudy King of Pontus slew his thrée sons and three daughters he killed his wife Laodice and married another named Hipsicratea Tyranny lurketh in the hidden veins and secret bowels of envy for even as Mithridates flew his wife Laodice so Constantine the great Emperour slew his wife Fausta and Nero murthered his wife Poppea I should weary the Reader to speak of Cleander Aristratus Strates Sabillus with innumerable others The state of Rome was so often changed by tyranny that sometimes they reigned under Monarchy and then streight under Aristrocacy And thus the Commons séeking by change an amendment of Princes kept alwaies the chief rule and government of the City of Rome under Democracy which is the popular government abhorring the corruption of Princes to their immortal fame and glory CHAP. XLIII Of Flattery FLattery is the sweet bait of Envy the cloak of malice the onely pestilence of the world a monster ugly to behold if it could be seen and dangerous to trust if it might be known it hath as many heads as Hidra to invent wickednesse as many hands as Briareus to commit evill as many eys as Argos to behold and delight in vengeance as swift of foot as Thalus entring into every mans house with words as sweet as honey but a heart as bitter as gall of which the old poem is spoken Melin ore verba lactis felin corde fraus in factis Antisthenes the learned Athenian was wont to say that he had rather have Ravens in his house with him then flatterers for Ravens said he devour but the carcasse being dead but the flatterer eateth up the body and soul alive For even as tyranny is hidden in the secret bowels of envy so is envy cloaked under the filed phrase of flattery and very well compared to the Crocodiles of Nilus or to the Syrens of the seas the one weeping and mourning the other singing and laughing the one with lamentation the other with mirth doth study how to annoy the poor Mariner The flattering Parasite as Ovid saith denieth with the negative and affirmeth with the affirmative wéepeth with him that is sad and laugheth with him that is merry As sometime Clisophus who when his master Philip King of Macedonia and further to Alexander the great did halt because he had the gout he would halt likewise when the King would be merry at his drink Clisophus would not be sad
profession of sacred viginitie which she vowed unto Diana was so famous for her magnanimity that when Turnus Aeneas were in wars for the marriage of Lavinia King Latinus daughter she came Bellona like unto the field resisting the violence and puissance of the Troyans with the Rutils and brought aid unto Turnus That noble Zenobia the famous Quéen of the Palmyrians a Princess of rare learning of excellent vertues of most valiant enterprises after that her Husband named Odenatus had died took the Empire of Syria and attempted the magnanimity of the Romans and a long time she withstood in wars that noble and renowned Emperor Aurelian by whom the Emperor was wont to say when it was objected to him that it was no commendation for a Prince to subdue a woman That it is more valiant to conquer a woman being so stout as Zenobia then to vanquish a King being so fearfull as Xerxes The ancient Gréeks as Herodotus doth witnesse were much amazed at the magnanimity of Artemisia Queen of Caâ—ia who after that the King her husband died did shew such fortitude against the inhabitants of Rhodes that being but a woman she subdued their stoutness she burned their Navies wasted their wealth vanquished and destroyed the whole Isle entred into the City of Rhodes caused her Image to be set up for a monument of her chivalry the perpetual memory of her victory O renowned Ladies O most worthy women that with feminine feats have merited manly fame How did famous Teuca Queen of the Illyrians govern her subjects after the death of her husband King Argon who being warred on by the Romans repelled their force broke their bonds and discomfited their armies to her perpetual fame and commendation she governed the people of Illyria no lesse wisely then she defended the puissant force of the Romans stoutly She lived as Histories report as soberly and chastly without the company of man as she governed her countrey wisely and stoutly without the counsel of man It were sufficient to repeat the ancient Histories of two women to prove fully an everlasting prâ—ise and commendation unto all women The one written in Herodotus in his first book of Quéen Tomyris of Scythia the other mentioned by Valerius and Justine of Cleopatra Queen somtime of Egypt The first after that Cyrus had made havock in her Kingdome of Scythia killing destroying and burning all without any regard of Princely clemency or respect unto a womans government and not satisfied therewith he slew also the Queens own son named Margapices thirsting more and more for bloud Insomuch that the valiant Queen being much moved to revenge Margapices death weighing the gréedy rage of Cyrus came Lion like to field either to lose her own life or else to revenge her sons death and prest upon Cyrus at that time more like a grim Gorgon then a silly Scythian and â—lew him in the field and haling him up and down the field she cut off his head and bathed it in a great Tun full of bloud appointed for that purpose saying Now Cyrus drink thy belly full of that which thou couldest never have enough of Thus valiant Tomyris revenged tyranny requiting the death of her son with the death of two hundred thousand Persians The other was Cleopatra who after that Julius Caesar was murthered by Brutus and Cassius and that Marcus Antonius was by Augustus invaded with a puissant Army for his perjury and falshood shewed unto his Vncle Caesaâ— she I say Cleopatra having the most part of Arabia and Syria confederated with her friend and lover Antonius against Augustus being then the second Emperor of Rome and having with the forces of Egypt aided him a long time until that she perceived that Augustus prevailed and that Antonius was vanquished lest she should be conquered by Augustus she conquered her self yeelding rather her body a prey unto Serpents then to become a subject unto Augustus Hannibal could do no more but to poylon himself rather then to yeeld to Scipio Let Semiramis with her valiant force and stoutness be commended at Babylon where she reigned fourty years a Widdow after King Ninus her Husbands death Let noble and famous Atalanta with her Bows and Spears and feats of Arms be praised in Arcadia Let Hypsieratea that followed her Husband King Mithridates in the wars as a Lackey unknown be extolled in Ponius Lot Helerna Janus daughter with all her fortitude be spoken of in Latine And let Deborah be famous amongst the Israelites These women were no lesse famous for their pilgrimâ—ge thâ—n the worthy Conquerors and Champions of the world They were in no point inferiour to men and in many points far excelled Princes and Kings Surely the world was then very weak or women were very strong and resolute And to omit particularly to touch any more of women I will open and declare their vertues in several Countreys The women of Lacena would together with their husbands go unto the field yea they went souldier like unto Missena to fight in field The women of Cimbria would kill those that first fled the field though they were the next friends or kinsmen unto them The women of Saca had this custome either at their marriage to be conquered by their husbands the first day or else to be conquerors over their husbands all the days of their life their combat saith Aelianus was for victory and not for life The women of Persia would meet their husbands and sons flying the field lifting up their cloaths shewing their nakedness saying Whither flée you O you Cowards will you again enter into your mothers wombs will you créep into your wives bellies This they â—id in the wars betwixt Cyrus and his Grandfather Astyages The women of Sparta would go unto the field to sée in what place their Husbands and friends were wounded if it were before they would with gladness and joy shew the same unto every man and bury the body solemnly if their wounds were behind they would be so ashamed of the same that they would leave them unburied in the field The women of Scythia called Amazons lived as conquerours over men and not conquered by men untill Alexander the Great destroyed them and their Countrey which before were so valiant that they weighed not to encounter with Hercules in the field and after with Theseus in open battel they blushed not to meet the valiant Greeks at the destruction of Troy Magnanimity which was then for the defence of countreys is now turned into Tyranny to destroy countreys so that the toyl and travel the great dangers and high attempts that men took in hand was nothing but a pilgrimage of life some going some comming some born some dying some winning some losing some beginning their race and some ending their life much like a Comedy played on stages where every man acteth his appointed part shifting himself into sundry shapes and fashions To make an end of this subject whatsoever we do we do like pilgrims whersoever
displeasure conceived yea for nothing they were ready to requite good men with cruel déeds as banishment and death As in Rome Cicero for Clodius sake after sure and sound service often shewed toward his country was afterward inforced to flee unto Greece from Rome where so well he was before estéemed The like I may urge of Aristides Thrasibulus Hippias and Thucidides men sometimes honoured in Athens with pictures for the noble and excellent defence of the City and yet for nothing not long after exiled the pictures taken down and the monuments broken So Popilius Opimius Metellus Scipio and Lâ—vius with others were sometimes in Rome highly honoured with pictures and yet at length the like fortune as these aforenamed Gréeks had did accrue unto them Such is the uncertain pilgrimage of man the wandring ways of the world the mutability of fortune as there hath béen full proof shewed of the same from time to time in all places in banishing in murthering yea again in worshipping and honouring As for example we read that Alexander the great was born in Pella a town in Macedonia and died in Babylon King Cyrus was born in Persia and slain in Scythia Hannibal born in Affrick and buried in Bithinia Cleomenes King of the Lacedemonians born in the City of Sparta yet his grave was made in Egypt Crastus and Pompeius the great born in Rome the one died in Assyria the other in Egypt Paulus Aenilius died in Cinna T. Gracchus in Lucania Augustus Caesar in Nola Trayane the Emperour in the East part of the world with other famous men born within the City of Rome as the Cornelii Scipioes Catots Decii all Noble families who died like pilgrims in the world scattered one from another So in Athens Themistocles Theseus Solon were flourishing with others yet in Syria Cyprus and Persia were they buried King Jugurtha born in Numidia was buried in Rome Again King Aegeus born in Athens Pharao in Egypt Ajax in Gréece Leander in Abidos yet their graves and burial was in the bottome of the sea Mark how puissant Princes of the world and mighty Caeâ—ars were subject unto fortune And sée again the learned and sage philosophers which as I said before had their persons estéemed their pictures erected yet not able to avoid the furious frets of Fortune As Pythagoras born in Samos died in Metapontus Virgil born in Mantua buried in Bâ—undusium Terence born in Carthage brought up in Rome ended his life in Arcadia These Princes and famous men had notwithstanding in divers places their fame spread their name advanced and their pictures every where erected Gorgius Leontinus was the first amongst the Greeks for his wisedome and eloquence that had his picture set up in Delphos in the Temple of Apollo His scholler Isocrates had for his wit and passing eloquence in Olympia his picture erected Demetrius Theophrastus scholler after he had ten years with all diligence and industry governed the state of Athens having three hundred and threescore pictures in Greece erected and set up for his fame and reonwn in administration of the Common-wealth yet were they all broken and taken down through envy afterward and when Demetrius heard of the inconstancy and envy of the people in shewing their malice therein he said though they pull down my pictures yet can they not banish the vertuous cause of the pictures Mithridates King of Pontus made a worthy monument at Sylo unto Plato about the which as Plutarch saith was writtgn this sentence Mithridates made this picture of Plato and dedicated the same unto the Muses Mutius Scaevola had his picture in Rome for that he delivered the the City of Rome from Porsenna King of Hetruscans For the like Cocles was not forgotten of the Romans It were unto small purpose to speak of Lucullus of M. Attilius and Octavius whose fame and renown made their pictures to be monuments thereof And why should I busie my self with infinite names of men since women well deserved the same as Tanaquil Tarquinius wife Cloaelia a Virgin of Rome yea as Quintilian saith Phrine for her beauty was commended by pictures so common were they for all men that I refer those who will read further of this unto Plini where he may at large satiefie himself in this subject I should be ever much charged to recite the places persons and time only this that pictures were erected to advance the fame of Princes and deserving men and to stir them further in such procéedings as were the cause of these their pictures of which as before is spoken they shall find in Plini variety of examples CHAP. XI Of Kings and Heroes who defended divers from death from Serpents Dragons Lyons and of cunning Archers EVen as by these valiant and noble Conquerours not onely Towns Cities and Countries were defended but also Serpents Dragons Licus and other monstrous and wild beasts were slain so divers and sundry captives and prisoners were deliverred from death unto life How many did famous Hercules that off-spring of the Gods save from the gulf of Avâ—ntine where that Cacus both day and night murthered the passers by How many delivered he from the huge monster Chymaera which continually with flashing of fire feared and slew many valiant men For he had three heads one of a Lyon the second of a dragon the third of his owne monstrous proportion Hee againe slew Sphinx a terrible beast in Ethiopia which with his sight destroyed men hee overcame Geron Cerberus and Diomedes and divers other enterprizes as is before rehearsed Perseus after that Neptune had defloured Medusa in the temple of Pallas the Gods being displeased therewith turned every haire of her head unto Snakes whose sight was so venemous that whatsoever he was that beheld her dyed presently Perseus slew the same whereby he delivered divers that should else have perished Cappadox being then tribune of the souldiers in Affrica under the Emperour Dioclesian killed a huge serpent and delivered a young Phrygian made even a prey for her mouth Even so Alcâ—n a noble Archer of Creet shot at a dragon which had his own son in his claws ready to be devoured and slew him and so saved his son unhurt But I will digresse here from the skilfull Archers and speak a little more of the famous and renowned conquerors of wilde beasts of monsters and of serpents as Bellerophon King Glaucus son of Corinth being accused of fornication with Quéen Stenobia King Proetus wife hée was judged to dye and to be devoured of the Monster Chimaera which he valiantly subdued and slew in the dungeon The fame of Lysimachus is spread over all the world for that he killed a Lyon being but a souldier under king Alexander The name of Coraebus shall not be forgotten amongst the Peloponesians for the overthrowing of that terrible monster in Gréece The renowne of Att. Regulus shall alwayes be revived when any man doth think of the great serpent that he slew by the flood Bragada which as Pliny saith was a
suffered in free Cities and Towns free tongues Philip King of Macedonia when certain Embassadours of Athens came to him he required of them if he might stand in any stead to Athens to certifie him of the same to whom Demochares one of the Embassadours answered that the greatest pleasure that he could do to Athens was to hang himself the King most patient in such scoffs and taunts said the reproachfull slander of the Athenians do make King Philip better able to revenge their malice by wars then to move him to answer their back-biting in words A Prince not onely patient in hearing but also wise in answering As sometime the Emperour Alexander Severus in Rome when it was signified unto him after Antonius was dead that the barbarous nations were ready to enter the City of Rome and that he was much rebuked of the people and blamed of the Senators for the slender care he had to the City he as Herodianus affirms answered that it belongeth to Princes to requite the good and not to answer the evill for wisemen will speak evil of no man in the beginning least they should be judged fooles in the end whereunto all things are directed and whereby all things are proved So patient was Anaxagoras when it was told him that his son was dead to answer merrily I know my son was mortal So patient was King Antigoâ—us being certified of his son Alcâ—onus death to answere I looked no other than for his death So patient was Pericles whon he heard that both his sons died in one day to kéep his countenance merry his cheere unchanged and his businesse about the state of his countrie not delayed But Harpalus was of passing patience being bidden of Astiages King of Persia to supper where he had two sons of his ready drest and layd in a silver dish before him on the table to be eaten by their owne father The King nay the tyrant marking the countenance of Harpalus and perceiving him not to be moved much at the matter asked him how he liked his supper he without alteration of colour or change of countenance framed himselfe to answer the king merrily commending much the supper as one that knew that patience was the onely remedy in tyranny A second Iob in patience nay hee passed Iob for Iob knew that his God did suffer Satan to punish him for love he had to Iob but Harpalus perceived that this tyrant did this to him of tyranny and evil will far from christianity for in this vale of misery we count him wise and certain we may cal him most wise that can in prosperity be gentle and in adversity be patient Both these examples were seen in one man in one day at Rome Paulus Aemilius having two sons the hope of Rome and comfort of the father the one dead foure dayes before the triumphs of Macedonia the other three dayes after the triumph returning from Macedonia with that noble victory and such triumphs unto Rome that no man could finde in his heart to tell this noble Romane of the heavinesse in Rome by reeson of the death of his children he perceiving the people of Rome to be sad and he so merry they so heavy with sobs and sighes and he so glad by reason of his triumphs and victories demanded the cause which being at length made known he then comforted them that should comfort him saying I thank the Gods more to give me victory over my enemies to the glory and prayse of Rome then I accuse fortune to spoyl me of my children which by nature were borne to dye and though much it be to my griefe yet wish I the Gods to do the like to the father as they did the sons so that the like conquest and glory may happen to Rome In this was both magnanimity and patience Some men are patient in some things as in a corporal paine some in torments another is patient of injuries done I commend them both but to be patient in all kinde of aflictions and adversity heaven and earth commendeth that man Plyny speaketh of one man Anarchus Augustus most patient in torments Of one Woman Laena to kéep silence So were the Egyptians people of great patience when they had rather dye in torments with patience then to betray any man The Gymnosophistes of India were so patient that from sun rising untill night upon the hot sanâ— they continued without meat and drink saith Plyny going from one seat to an other to behold the heavens the Sun the Moon c. The Lacedemonians were most patient in travel paine winde weather and wars The people of Sparta at what time certaine men of Chios came to pilgrimage understanding the wise men of Sparta called Ephori to be in all things most patient to move them to anger they vomited before them and then went where the Ephori sate in judgement and used it as a common stoole to discharge nature When they came to Chios againe they said that the wise men of Sparta were fooles and blocks because they could not move them to be angry but not more patient then the other were beastly For this kinde of patience was Mithridates king of Pontus renowned so was Agesilaus king of the Lacedemonians so was Masissima king of Numidia So patient was the Emperor Augustus that he suffered a young man of Sycilia to answer him as boldly as he had demaÌ„ded of him merrily whether ever his mother had been in Rome he being like to the Emperour in countenance and proportion meaning thereby that he might be his father if she had been there the young man perceiving the sleight of Augustus answered boldly and said My mother was never in Rome but my father hath béen divers times in Rome meaning that the Emperour might rather be his brother that way then he to be his son the other way by his mother But because patience is better known by reading of divers Princes anger where they shall see what hurt was done what wickednesse was committed by impatience which might have bin redressed and saved by patience therefore to avoyd prolixity it shall be spoken in the one what wanteth in the other but I will first speak of the humanity and sobriety and other vertues famous in Kings and Princes CHAP. XV. Of humanity and clemency of Princes LIke as pride oppresseth love provoketh disdain kindleth malice confoundeth justice and at length subverteth states even so humanity stirreth up affection augmenteth amity maintaineth love supporteth equity and preserveth Cities and countries Nothing saith the godly Emperour Alexander Severus so joyneth the hearts of subjects unto their Prince as humanity Nothing doth purchase honour so much to the noble man as affability Nothing so much kindleth love amongst the Commons as mutual humanity How gently did Cyrus king of Persia handle Croesus king of Lydya who being vanquished and convicted was by the law as Herodotus doth witnesse appointed to dye he being brought to the place of execution began heavily
he began to be moved with pity and mercy possest the chief place in his heart so that when the women of the City brought their children in their arms to crave mercy at Merellus hand he avoided the calamity and misery that was ready to fall on Centobrica and spared the City and removed his Camp being conquered himself with pity and mercy of the ruthfull women and innocent children Thus gentle Metellus where he might have béen a Conqueror over men did suffer himself to be conquered by little Infants O Rome happy were those golden days wherein through clemency and gentleness thou wast as much loved and honoured as thou hast béen by valiant Captains trembled at and feared Pompieius the great when Tigâ—anes King of Armenia being by him conquered had knéeled before Pompeius face yéelding his Crown and Scepter at Pompeius his foot and himself unto his gentleness as a captive took him in his arms embraced him put his Crown on his head and restored him to to the Kingdome of Armenia again The like courtesie he used toward Mithridates King of Pontus being dead in giving him a royal burial though he knew well the great hatred that Mithridates had fourty years against the Romans yet in stead of just revengement Pompey used Princely clemency The gentleness that was then used in Rome yet betwixt foes was such that Julius Caesar that valiant Emperor and Conqueror was as willing to revenge the death of his great enemy Pompey upon Photina and Bassus who slew Pompey and did send his head to Caesar as L. Parâ—lus was courteous and favourable to his most mortal foe Perseus Hannibal though he was counted the most and greatest enemy that ever Rome felt yet moved with Princely clemencie he won more commendations for the burial of P. Aemilius Gracchus and Marcellus three noble Romans then he wan fame by overcomming two thousand Romans in field The chief fame that Hannibal was worthy of was for his humanity and gentlenesse as is proved by these two noble Romans before mentioned whose dead carcasses Hannibal caused diligently to be sought for in the field and solemnly to be buried with honour and renown though they were his enemies And as Hannibal was much commended in Rome and well beloved of the Romans for his humanity so was he feâ—red much in Rome for his prowesse and valiant déeds of arms Polycrates that Tyrant of Samos was chiefly commended for his gentlenesse and courtesie shewed towards women which were the wives and mothers of the dead souldiers in restoring them unto liberty in giving them wealth to live and a great charge that no man should do them any wrong Augustus the Emperor when he beheld in the City of Alexandria the sword wherewith Marcus Antonius slew himself could not refrain from tears to shew his humanity and opening his clemency of nature to his enemy he commanded that he should be honourably buried with his dear friend Cleopatra in one grave Cicero in his first book of Tusculans commendeth much the clemency of Cleobes and Bâ—ton in shewing such love and obedience to their mother who being in her Chariot ready to go to the solemn feast of the Goddesse Juno the horses suddenly died and there being no other remedy least their mother should go on foot they yoked themselves to draw the Chariot ten miles to their immortal praise and commendations I remember a history in Patritius of one Simonides who for that he was moved with pity to bury a dead corps left in the way where no man put it into the earth as he was passing with his fellows over the seas that night before they should sail in the morning appeared unto Simonides the self-same man whom he had buried upon the way warning him that day not to go to sea so when he should take shipping he remembring his dream told if unto his fellows desiring them to stay that day but his company laughing him to scorn leaving Simonides on the shore sailed to the seas where in sight of Simonides the ship and all his fellows were lost The like pity was found in Simon the son of that most valiant Gréek Militiades who being elected Generall over the Athenians against the great might and force of puissant Zerxes in the wars of Marathon was nothing inferiour unto his renowned father in prowesse but far passed him in clemency and curtesie this young man for his lenity and pity being joined with valiantnesse was appointed by the City of Athens to incounter with Xerxes whom his father Militiades often plagued at the first time of trying his magnanimity inforced Xerxes after spoil of his souldiers and victory of field to fly unto Persia he was so pittifull that he paied a great sum of monies to have his father Militiades buried who after many conquests and fawning of fortune in victories died in prison whose death and burial shewed no lesse love and faithfulnesse in Simon towards his father then it shewed evidently the pity and mercy he had in redéeming his fathers corps to be buried Wherefore that pitifull Emperour Alexander Severus being demanded what is that which is chief felicity in this world said to foster friends with benefits and gentlenesse and to reconcile foes with pity and rewards Alphonsus at what time a certain dog barked at him took a toast out of his cup and cast it to the dog then saying gentlenesse and clemency shall make foes friends I know not what greater humanity could be then was in Vespasian the Emperour after that Vitellius had killed his brother Sabinus and had long persecuted Vespasians son being at last subdued he spared not to shew gentlenesse to Vitellius his daughter and gave her a great sum of money towards her marriage Agesilaus King of the Lacedemonians after he had the victory of Corinth did not so joy in his conquest as he lamented the deaths of so many Athenians and Corinthians and as Plutarch doth witnesse he said wéeping O Greece thou spillest more men with civil wars by discord then would defend thy state against all the world with courage To use victory genty is more famous then to conquer cruelly As the Emperour Adrian was wont to say that Princes ought rather with pity to say this I can do then with tyranny to say this I will do Augustus that most pittifull Prince after he had conquered that famous City Alexandria which the great Conquerour Alexander had builded and named it according unto his own name being moved with pity stirred with mercy in sight of the Citizens who hoped to have nothing but death said for the beauty of your city and memory of Alexander as also for the love I have unto Prius your Philosopher and for the pity I bear unto you all I spare unto you your City and grant you your life O swéet sounding words from a pittifull Prince not much unlike his predecessour Julius Caesar his own mothers brother who after vanquishing of Pompey at Pharsalia sent letters unto
him he answered not one word but bad him Good night when he come to his own door which when the enemy saw and that he would not be moved to anger to take any advantage on him he went to the next tree and hanged himself Thus did Socrates who being blamed by his friends for his silence in that he was injuriously handled by his foe answered That his enemies could not endamage him sith he was not that man whom his words did import to be and being stricken spurned by the same man Socrates was counselled to call the same to the Law before the Iudges to the which he answered Which of you if an Asse strike him will call that Asse before any Iudges sith he is no better that useth me this for by this am I known to be Socrates and he to be an Ass The greatest revenge to a fool is to let every man know his folly and the greatest hurt to a wise man is to revenge folly for it was al the revenge of Socrates wheÌ„ any man spake il of him to say thus The man never was taught to speak well So courteous was Fabius Maximus that when he had heard that one of his chief souldiers was about to betray him to his enemies he called the party before him not making him privie that he knew of it and demanding of him what he wanted he commanded him to ask any thing he would have and made him chief Captain of his Army By this means he became most true to Fabius being before most false This was far from such revenge as Alexander the Great used who after he had subdued divers Kingdoms and Countreys he went to the Temple of Ammon to know by the Oracle of Jupiter whether yet any were alive that flew his father King Philip whereby he might shew more tyranny and practise greater murther This was far from M. Brutus rage who was not content to conspire against Caesar and to kill him in the Senate-house but also when power failed when souldiers decayed and he was almost vanquished he made his prayers to Jupiter and to the host of Heaven to plague Caesar and his posterity This I say was far from Livius Salinator who being warned of Fabius Maximus not to revenge malice upon Hasdâ—ubal before he knew the state of the matter the power of the field and the end of the victory where it should happen yet being more rash to revenge then wise in forbearing he said that either out of hand he would kill or be killed And in this place I will recite three or four Histories fit for this purpose Phobius wife fell in love with Antheus a noble Gentleman of Halicarnassus being left in pledge with Phobius chief ruler then of Milesia and used al means possible to allure Antheus to requite her love But he partly for fear and partly for love of Phobius her husband in no wise would consent to any filthy desire Cleoboea Phobius wife took the same in so evil part that she began mortally to hate him inventing what way best she might revenge his discourtesie in refusing her love She feigned on a time that she had quite forgotten her old love towards him and thanked Antheus very much for the love and great zeal that he did bear to her husband Phobius in not consenting to her folly then when she was in love with him Thus talking with him Cleoboea brought her old Lover Antheus over a Well where for that purpose onely she threw a tame Partridge desiring him to aid her to have her Partridge out of the Well the young Gentleman misdoubting her in nothing as one willing to pleasure his friend and old lover went down into the Well to have the Partridge out but she revenged her old love and requited his service after this sort she threw a great stone after him and there killed him and straight for sorrow caling to mind the old amity and hidden love betwéen them she hanged her self This revenge that noble and famous Lacedemonian used who had his own wife in such admiration and was so impatient in love that he was as much hated of her as she of him was honoured and estéemed For she loves King Acrotatus son so dear that her husband Cleonimus understanding the same went to Epire to King Pyrrhus perswading him earnestly to go unto Peloponesus and to move wars against King Acrotatus whereby he might revenge the injury done by his wife in killing him whom she loved best thinking it a greater revenge to kill him whom she loved better then her self then to revenge it upon her own person Valerius Torquatus for that he might not have Tuscus daughter in marriage moved wars immediately and revenged the same with bloud For what cause did Progne King Pandions daughter of Athens kill her own son Iâ—is and gave him to be eaten unto his father and her husband King Pereus of Thrace for nothing but to revenge her sister Phylomela whom her husband deflowred Why did Nero that cruell Emperour kill Seneca his master and teacher in all his youth for nothing but to revenge old stripes which he received at his master being a boy For what purpose did Cateline Silla Damasippus Marius and others make quarrels to plague Rome to punish all Italy to destroy the country for nothing but for that they could not abide the one to be above the other Darius after that he had taken the City of Babilon he revenged his old malice after this sort as Herodotus in his third book affirms he caused thrée thousand of the best within the City to be hanged Attilla King of Panonia slue eleven thousand virgins at the siege of Colonia So several were revenges amongst men so cruel yea so foolish that Xerxes and Cyrus two great Kings of Persia when the water of Hellespont troubled Xerxes and molested his souldiers he forthwith commanded that the sea of Hellespont should have thrée hundred stripes and willed thrée hundred pair of Fetters to be thrown into Helespont to bind the sea Even so did Cyrus because the river Gindes did drown one of his best geldings he made his souldiers to divide the river into a hundred and fourscore small parts to revenge the rage of the river toward him thinking that by breaking of the great rage of so great a stream he well and worthily requited the injuries of Ginges These are cruell revenges too many are of these insomuch that women revenge their malice after this sort So Tomyris Quéen of Scithia to revenge her son Margapites death slue King Cyrus and two hundred thousands of his souldiers too great a slaughter for one mans death and not yet satisfied till she bathed Cyrus head in a great vessel of bloud This Bâ—ronice Pollia and divers cruell women have performed Princes ought to use advisement in revenging and wisedome in sufferance For as Frederick the Emperour was wont to say Princes that revenge hastily and especially wrongfully are like fair marks for
was as Iustine saith five and twenty days journey in great danger and peril of life as well by wild beasts waters as also by forreign foes She had thrée hundred thousand women of Scythia in company with her For the fame she had heard of this great Prince she came from her Countrey where she was a Quéen to lie with a stranger to satisfie her lust And when she had accomplished her mind after thirty nights lying with him she returned unto her own countrey again Cicero doth write that we are more moved by report oftentimes to love then by sight For as by report Quéen Thalestris came to lie with Alexander from Scythia unto Hircania for his magnanimity victories and courage so by report came the Quéen of Sheba from Ethiopia unto Solomon to hear and to learn wisdome O golden world Oh happy age when either for simplicity men could not speak or for temperance men would not speak The innocence of them then and the subtilty of us now the temperancy of their age and the lust of our age being wel weighed and throughly examined it is easily to be séen how vertuously they lived in ignorance and how viciously we live in knowledge Before Aruntius proud Tarquins son was by lust moved toward Collatines wife there was no alterations of States nor change of Common-wealths no banishment of Princes in Rome And Rome being changed for this mans lust onely from a Monarchy unto another state called Aristocracy it continued so long in that form until Appius Claudius ravished Virginius daughter which was the occasion of the second change And the popular state which had the chief rule always in Rome changed the states of the City for that lust so reigned Thus might I speak of divers other Countreys where lust was the just cause of the subversion of them For by one Venus a strumpet in Cyprus all Cyprus was full of Whores By one Semiramis in Babilon all Persia at length grew full of queans By one Rhodope in Egypt at the beginning all the country became full of strumpets In Rome Flora was honoured like a Goddesse having such solemnity and on Theaters which were called according to her own name Floralia In Thebes was Phrine so magnified that her name was put in print upon every Gate of the City As for Lais in Corinth and Lamia in Athens their Fame was more heard then their Honesty known It grew in fine to that strength that all the Princes of the world were as bulwarks and defenders of lust Yea learned Philosophers and wise Law-givers séemed to defend the same in writing As Lycurgus and Solon two famous wise men the one a Law-giver among the Lacedemonians people in the beginning more expert in the banners and flags of Mars then studious or desirous to haunt the palaces of Venus The other a Law-giver in Athens people likewise more frequenting at the first the school of Minerva then the lurking dens and secret snares of Cupid these two famous men made laws to maintain lust under the colour and pretext of issue every young woman being married to an old man might for children take choise what young man she would of her husbands name So likewise might any young man choose a young woman being married to an old woman Aristotle séemeth to defend this law after a sort So Abrahams wife Sara after a sort willed her husband to accompany with a young maid for that he might have children And Sempronia a woman excellently well learned in the Gréek and Latine and Sapho a woman of no lesse fame then of learning defended lust by their Writings I might have large scope herein to prove Lust as a Lord to rule and govern every where I have sufficiently I hope declared the effect of Lust For as Princes wise stout and learned have been hereto subject so the Poets fain that the Gods themselves have yielded to the might of lust What I pray you translated Jupiter to a Bull Neptune unto a horse Mercury unto a Goat Lust What moved Apollo to be in love with Daphnes What caused Bacchus to favour Gnosida What made Pan to yeeld unto Sirinx lust What moved wise learned stout and strong as well as the foolish the ignorant the weak and the simple but onely that corruption of nature that seed and dregs of Adam which equally without grace moveth all men to sin For there is no man but he is privy to lust moved by lust and sorely assaulted by it Yet there be some that subdue lust some that rule lust but none that vanquish lust for as some are born chast so some do make themselves chast and some who are thus made chast are yet not without some spice of lust I speak not of Proculus the Emperour who kept at his pleasure a hundred maids of Sarmatia Neither do I think herein of Sardanapalus King of Assyria who was alwaies weâ—ried but never satisfied with Venus But I speak of those that fight and wrastle against nature of those I say that are in common combats with the world the flesh and the Divell For lust saith Oviâ— is I wot not what and commeth I wot not whence it taketh root without breaking of flesh and pierceth the very intrals of the heart without any cutting of the vein it is the onely businesse and travel of idle men The young Roman Estrasco at mount Celio beholding the beauty of a Lady called Verrona either of them by nature being dumb one fell in love with the other so sore that Estrasco would often go from Rome to Salon and Verrona would as oft travel from Salon to Rome the one to sée the other and this dumb love continued thus thirty years till it fortuned that the wife of Estrasco died and the husband of Lady Verrona died also Whereby these lovers thirty years without words did both manifest their long desire by a marriage So was Masinissa K. of Numidia Sophronisba a Lady of Carthage the one enflamed with the other onely by a sight that King Masinissa had of Sophronisba The like is written of that most valiant Captain Pyrrhus the long defendor of the Tarentines and King of Epirots when he came from Italy unto Neapolis being but one day there he fell in love with a fair Lady called Gamalice to the great infamy of so famous a Prince and to the great shame of so noble a Lady The like lust arrested that noble and renowned Conquerour Alexander so that when he thought to give battel to the Queen of Amazons having a sight of her at a river side where they both had appointed to come to talk concerning their wars their fury and rage before bent to fight and murther was by a sight changed into a wanton pastime and sport We do read also that Quéen Cleopatra made a banquet for Anthony her lover in the Province of Bithinia in the Wood Sechin where the young virgins were not so cunning to hide them in the thick bushes but the
son to Theseus being falsly accused by his mother in law Quéen Phedra and flying to avoid the fury and rage of his father at the request of the Queen was torn in pieces by wild horses But let us passe further and we shall read that as some were devoured by horses so others were by Serpents stung to death as Laocoon that worthy Troyan was by two Serpents destroyed yea that famous and warlike woman Cleopatra Quéen of Egypt after her lover and friend Marcus Antonius was overcome by Augustus Caesar the Emperour did chuse rather to be overcome with Serpents then subdued by Caesar With this death was Opheltes the son of Licurgus King of Menea vanquished Again some have perished by wild Bores and raging Lions as Anceus King of Samos and Paphages King of Ambracia the one by a Bore the other by a Lion Some have béen devoured by dogs as Linus the son of Apollo Pliny in his seventh book metions a Quéen in Bithinia named Cosinges K. Nâ—comedes wife whom her own dogs flew tare in pieces Euripides that learned Gréek coming in the night time from Archelaus King of Macedonia with whom he had been at supper was incountered by his enemy Promerus who set his dogs on him and did tear him to pieces Even so were Herachtus and Diogenes both Philosophers by dogs likewise killed I may not forget so great a prince as Basilius the Emperour of Macedon who in hunting amongst his Lords and Nobles yea amongst thousands of his Commons he onely meeting a Hart in the chase was hurt by him in the leg whereof he died As for Seleucus King of Syria son to Antiochus surnamed the Great and Bâ—la King of Panonia they were both thrown by their horses and died If these mischance happen unto princes in the midst of their state what is their glory but misery since nothing expelleth fate nor can avoid death Some have been so weary of life some so fearfull of death that they have thrown themselves into the water to be drowned others for all their diligent fear and watching for death have most shamefully notwithstanding been by death prevented Frederick the Emperour marching towards Ierusalem after that he had taken several Cities and Townes in Armenia in passing through a little river was drowned Decius that noble King being enforced to take his flight from the Goths with whom he then was in wars was drowned in the Marish ground Marcus Marcellus after that he had béen a Consul in Rome thrée times before the third wars betwixt the Romans and the Carthaginians was likewise by shipwrack cast away How many noble Princes have béen drowned as Pharaoh King of Egypt in the red sea of whom we read in the sacred scriptures How many have the seas despoyled of life and with their own names christened the names of seas and waters in which they were drowned As by the death of Aegeus King of Athens the sea Aegeum was so called by the death of Tyrrhenus King of Lydia the sea was called The Tyrrhen Sea And so King Tyberinus altered the river called Aelbula by his death to be the river of Tyber Again the sea Hellespont was so called by a woman named Helle drowned in it So by Iâ—arus and Myrtilus the sea of Icarus and the sea Myrton were so called Divers Princes have also perished by famine and have been compelled to eat their own flesh as Erisicthon and Neocles a Tyrant of Scicioma It is written in Curtius that Sysigambis King Darius mother died of hunger Ulysles the Gréek lest any off-spring of Hector should rise in Phrygia to revenge the fall of Troy and his countrey did cast Astianax the son of Hector over the walls alive Lycurgus King of Thrace was by his own subjects thrown headlong into the sea for that he first mingled water with wine How many famous and noble Princes have been stoned to death as valiant Pyrrhus King of the Epyrotes being in wars with Antigonus was slain by an old woman with a a tile-stone at Argos Pyrander at what time the Athenians warred against Eumolpus for that he feared famine hiding the wheat from his souldiers was therefore by them stoned to death Even so was Cinna the Roman in the wars betwixt the Gauls and the Romans for the like offence stoned to death Stout Cebrior King Priaâ—'s son was slain by a stone hurled at him by Patroclus at the siege of Troy so died Cygnus the son of Achilles at the same time O unstedfast fortune that stones should end the many lives of famous princes O imprudent princes that know not how nigh ye are always to death How many hath God punished with sudden death for their offences as Mithridates King of Pontus and Nicanor the son of Parmenio of Macedonia died suddenly Sertorius was slain suddenly at a banquet by Upenna The Emperour Heliâ—gabalus was killed upon his stool at his easement and thrown into Tyber That renowned and famous Conquerour Julius Caesar was in the middest of the City of Rome where he was Emperor yea in the Senate-house murthered and mangled by Brutus and Cassius Divers Consuls in Rome died this death as Fabius Maxâ—mus Gurges the Senator And Manlius Torquatus even at his supper died presently Some with Thunder-bolts did God likewise punish thus Capaneus was slain at the wars of Thebes Tullus Hostilius King of Rome was with a Thunderbolt for his insolency and pride slain Zoroastres King of the Bactrians the first inventer of Magick was likewise by that kind of death encountred Pride in princes was the onely cause of their falls insomuch that the poets feign that the great and monstrous Giant Eâ—câ—ladus for his proud enterprise against Jupiter was thrown by a Thunderbolt into the bottome of Aetna a fiery and flaming mountain The uncertain state of princes is séen and tried by their death Who liveth so short a time as a prince who dieth so strange a death as a prince Who liveth in care who dieth living but a prince Was not Sergius Galba and Commodus the son of Marcus sirnamed Anbilius two Emperors of Rome the one by Otho strangled in the Market place of Rome the other imprisoned by Martia his own concubine Minos King of Creet travelling after Dedalus into Sicily was by his great friend King Cocalus slain by deceit So was Alebas chief governour of Larissa murthered by his own souldiers The desire that men bear unto honour and dignity is commonly accompanied with death as Spurius Cassius and Spurius Melius for their greedinesse of the Empire of Rome were both worthily beheaded God hath shewed just vengeance upon Princes for their iniquity with plagues and pestilences which spoiled the Emperor Constantine and the Empresse Zoae his wife And by this were Marcus Antonius Alphonsus and Domitius justly and worthily punished God hath wonderfully punished the pride of Princes even with shamefull and horrible deaths insomuch that Lice and vermine have consumed their bodies alive As Maximilian the Emperour Arnulphus
whose water if any man taste thereof he forgetteth any thing done or past before In this were the Thracians so dull of memory that they could not count above the number of four Now that memory is praised in some and obliviousnesse is dispraised in others there vvant no testimonies therein vvhat may be spoken of those that vvere counted famous clerks and the renovvnedst Oratours in all the vvorld vvhich did not onely stay in their Orations but also were quite beside their matters as Demosthenes Cicero two noble Oratours upon whom depended the City of Athens and Rome such imperfection was in them that Demosthenes was so dismaied at the presence of Philip King of Macedonia and Cicero so astonied at the presence of some bold Senators that both tongue and countenance failed these noble Orators Likewise Theophrastus that grave Philosopher who succéeded Aristotle many times was put to silence in the middest of his Oration before the people of Athens So was Heraclitus Severus dumb before the Emperour Herodus Atticus was before M. Antonius so that the presence of Princes the dignity of places the majesty of states abate and change the worthinesse of the person Some again challenge to themselves that which altogether they are in no capacity to apprehend as Hyparchion who when he would have contended with Ruffinus had not a word to speak in somuch that a proverb grew thereon applied unto him that is more talkative then wise Hiparchion is dumb Some again with Cassius Severus who though all his books were burned by Senatours said that he carried all his learning in mind and memory which could not be taken away For my learning said he is in my mind and not printed in books The greatest excellency that can be in man is memory and the next thing that approacheth immortality is memory and so nigh that if a man could but remember the end of the things he should never taste death but he should live for ever CHAP. XXXII Of Dissimulation and Craft of Subtiltie and Deceit THat Cynick Philosopher Diogenes making himself ignorant sometime in that which he knew best was wont in banquets and feasts to say if any man had demanded what kind of meat there was I cannot name it but I can eat it and so would passe to answer any thing with dissimulations So likewise Sigismund the Emperour would say that he that could not dissemble could not rule At what time Galba a Citizen of Rome had bidden a Gentleman named Mecaenas unto supper perceiving the Gentleman to be in love with his wife he feigned himself asléep for that Mecaenas might shew some part of his will and love in the mean season In the mean time while his wife and he were in talk came one of his servants to take some things away from the table supposing his master had béen asléep unto whom his master said Sirrah forbear though I sée not Mecaenas yet I sée you I sléep to him and not to you The like dissimulation was betwéen Demosthenes and Archia at what time he fled from Athens for fear of Antipaters displeasure and went to the Isle of Calabria where in the Temple of Neptune he hid himself till Archias came and promised him what honour and dignity he could enjoy if he would come unto Antipater Demosthenes perceiving his dissimulations and crafty ways answered plainly to move him to anger and said Thou of all men couldest never play upon the stage playing thy part then where truth is oftentimes opened and now at this time thou canst not be an Orator to perswade me whereat Archias waxed angry and threatned to hale him out of the Temple to whom Demosthenes answered Now perforce thy dissimulation is broke forth into truth I might hereon stay to note the great dissimulation betwéen Metellus and Scipio which was so great that Metellus feigned that Rome was happy that Scipio was born therein and yet was his mortal enemy all the days of his life In like case Frederick an Emperor sometime of Rome at what time the Senators would sit about the state of the City he would say Before you go into the Senate house cast away from you two things that you carry with you And being demanded of the Senate what two things were they he said Simulations and Dissmulations In this Philip of Macedon differed much from his son Alexander insomuch that Alexander would exercise nothing but magnanimity and truth and his father used all kind of falshood as was séen by subduing of the Sarunsians and the Cities of Thrace for under colour of peace he commanded his souldiers to bring under their Clokes every one a cord that at what time King Philip made silence to speak the enemies being attentive to hear he stretched forth his right hand for a Watch-word to his souldiers suddenly to bind the enemies with their cords and to bring them captive to Macedonia The like craft used Alcibiades amongst the Agrigentines feigning that he had something to speak for the common profit as well of Athens as of Agrigentum calling them into place as though he would open something necessary for them and had the Gréeks ready in the mean time to take the City and to possesse their substance by this craft Such craft used Thrasillus to take the City of Byzantium such deceit used Zopyrus to overcome Babylon such did Sextus the son of Tarquinius practise against the Gabians who when he perceived that his father might by no means subdue them he imitated Zopyrus craft making the enemies to believe that he was ill handled and cruelly used by his father and that he knew well how to deceive his father and to betray him unto them they being ready to beleeve Sextus made him chief of their company He straight sent messengers to his father to signifie unto him that he might do his pleasure with his enemies Tarquinius understanding the craft and subtilty of his son did bring the messenger into a fair garden mistrusting like a wise Prince the matter and gave this subtil warning to his son Walking up and down the Garden with divers noble man he with his staff did strike off the chief flowers in the Garden saying to the messenger Farewel tell my son what I do and bid him do accordingly Young Sextus Tarquinius perceiving his fathers mind flew the most eminent of his enemies and having thus oppressed the chief men he betrayed the City to his Father By this means and like craft Conon the Athenian deceived the Persians in Cyprus The subtilty that Pysistratus used to beguile the people of Megaera what Hannibal used in Italy when he subdued Tarentum are to like effect insomuch that Hannibal was wont to say when the Romans had again won Tarentum Eadem arte qua prius cepimus Tarentum amisimus For by craft Hannibal vanquished the Tarentines and by craft did the Romans win the same again Antigonus deceived the Citizens of Corinth under the colour of a marriage betwixt his son
Demetrius and Alexanders wife who then was a widdow and a Quéen in Corinth for in the midst of triumphs and preparations to the marriage Antigonus by deceit took the Castle commanded his souldiers in arms and proclaimed himself King in Corinth In the same book of Polinaeus the like History is written of Lysander of Sparta and Nearchus of Creet the one promising to the inhabitants of Miletum his aid and help in defending their liberties and the people giving credit to a Kings promise and trusting to have Lysander their special friend they found him their mortal foe for he deceived them thereby and took the City of Miletum unto himself The other sailing to the haven of Telmessus to renue friendship with Antripatridas who then governed the City of Telmessus under the color of friendship he had his men at arms ready on the Sea to destroy his friend and to take the City to himself This deceit was not onely séen in wars where much falshood and perjury is practised but in all things men use craft according to the proverb There is craft in daubing To speak of Theodectes craft toward his Master Aristotle to defraud him privily of his glory to speak of Sertorius deceit in winning authority among the common people to describe the means that Dionisius used to get mony amongst the Syracusans or how Pythius deceived Cannius in his bargain of fish or how Darius became King of Persia by the neighing of a Mare and a million more of such deceits and crafts were infinite I therefore refer the Reader to Poliaenus where he shall have enough of falshood But because craft is used diversly I will somewhat touch those that used craft in altering themselves into the form of women some for filthy lust some for vertues sake and some for vice What kind of dissimulation was in Sardanapalus King of Assyria to forsake the Empire to forgo his Kingdome to become like a woman to spin and card with his Concubines and so from the shape of a man to dissemble himself to be a woman What kind of dissimulation did that renowned and mighty Hercules even the off-spring of the Gods and son to Jupiter use after that he tamed monsters slew Giants overcame Dragons Lions wild beasts and yet he did translate himself from a champion and a conquerour into womans apparel and fashioned himself like a woman with such dissimulation he served Omphale Quéen of Lydia like a woman in the apparel of a woman at the whéel and at the cards at Omphales commandement What kind of craft used Clodius to bring his purpose to pass with Pompeia Caesars wife dissembling himself to be a woman as Cicero taunteth him in an Epistle that he writeth to Lentulus where he saith that Clodius dissembled with the Npmph Bona Dea as he was wont to use the thrée sisters Thus Clodius would at all times go unto Pompeia in the apparel of a woman to use such feats that he made Caesar to divorce his wife Pompeia Dissimulations and subtilties as they are most evil to practise so somtimes they are necessary to do good for example Euclides used the like craft as before but to a better purpose for he practised it not to féed lust or to pleasure affectioÌ„ but he used it to hear Socâ—ates to read Philosophy to learn wisedome from him For there was a law betwéen Athens and them of Megaris for the great hatred the one bare unto the other that whosoever came from Athens to Megaris should die and whosoever would go from Megaris to Athens should likewise die Thus death frighted not Euclides but the love thâ—t he bare to Socrates and to Philosophy and wisedome so emboldned him that he would in the night travel from Megaris to Athens in the apparel of a woman least he should be known and he returned before day from Athens to Megaris again This dissimulation and craft of Euclides was far better and more to be commended then the doings of the former Better is Semiramis Quéen of Babylon thought of in that she perceiving her young son Ninus to be too tender to govern the stout Babylonians and Assyrians and knowing the nature of the people to be impatient of a womans government became in her apparel like a man and ruled the Kingdome till her son came to ripe age More praâ—ie ought â—â—lâ—gia a woman of Antioch to have who though she fained her self to be a man and dissembled with the world in that case yet this was to avoid incontinence and to live chast and solitary without the company of men For this cause is the Greek Virgin Mâ—rina and Euphrosina a maid of Alexandria worthily preferred before Cleocritus and Clisthenes for that they went in the apparel of men to live in the wildernesse to avoid lust and sensuality the others went in the apparell of women to beguile women Caelius doth report that certain women as Mantinia Lasthenia Axâ—othea and Phliasia would come in their apparel like men to hear Plato read philosophy in the schools The cause of their dissimulations was vertue and honest life the cause of the others dissimulation was vice and a wicked life so that dissimulation is both good and bad For we read at what time the armed youth of Gréece had determined co fetch home again fair Helene Menelaus wife from Troy where she was deteined by Paris King Priamus son that then Achilles the stoutest and worthiest of all the Gréeks while yet he slept in the Tent of Chiron his mother Thetis suddenly took him from Chiâ—ons house and changed his apparel into the apparel of a woman and appointed where he should hide himself with the daughters of King Lycomedes where he got one of them with child and commanded her to betray him to no man for she knew that her son Achilles should die in Troy if he should go thither There Achilles was a long while at the commandement of his mother Thetis untill the Oracle was given that the City of Troy should never be destroyed without the help of Achilles Ulisses being most subtill and crafty taking upon him to séek out Achilles took a little pack full of fine wares such as women buy and a strong bow and arrows thus when Ulisses came to King Lycomedes daughters though he knew Achilles to be there yet because he was in the apparel of a woman he knew him not and therefore shewed his fine ware unto the Kings daughters having a strong bow bent by him while Deidamia the mother of Pyrrhus and the rest of her sisters viewed the glistering ware of Ulisses Achilles stept in and took Ulisses bow in hand and drew it whereby Ulisses séeing him draw so strong a bow he straight perceived that he was Achilles And thus one craft beguileth another one deceit deceiveth another and one dissembling man findeth out another For by the means of Ulisses was the dissimulation of Achilles known I might have just occasion here to speak of those that were