Generality or some of them might escape to the Neighbouring Nations and return again with Foreign Colonies to re-inhabit their desolate Country which the Israclites were not to slay in but press'd forward towards the Land of Canaan and so the new Inhabitants assuming the Name of the Country might invade the Israclites in the days of Gideon We have seen the destruction of Midian occasioned by their Uncleanness but that of the Moabites was respited for a while because they were the off-spring of Lot Of such advantage is it to be descended of Godly Parents tho' in an illegal manner We have already considered Incestuous and Unlawfull Marriages as they were forbidden to the Israelites whom God would have distinguish'd from other Nations not only in respect of the purity of their Morals but even in their Apparel Hair and laudable Customs as Maimonides and others think And we come now to consider those Incestuous Marriages and Promiscuous Copulations as the Causes of the destruction of the Egyptians amongst whom they had dwelt and of the Canaanites in whose Land they were to dwell as it is particularly expressed in the 18th Chapter of Leviticus It 's true that all along in the Book of Exodus the Chief Crime of the Egyptians taken notice of is Oppression and Persecution but as we have said before Persecution and Uncleanness are Generally Companions and we find that the multiplication of the Hebrews was one great Cause of the Envy and Hatred of the Egyptians towards them which bâ—ing the usual Blessing and Reward of Chastity was a severe Reproof to the Lascivious Egyptians which no doubt did heighten their Enmity to the Children of Israel And by the Prophet's Reproof in the 20. and 23. Chapters of Ezekiel That Israel had plaid the Harlot in the days of her Youth when she was in the Land of Egypt there 's reason to think that too too many of the Israelites were infected with the corrupt Example of the Egyptians who â—or their Promiscvous Venery are Compared to Asses and Horses by the Prophet in these words Whose Members are as the Members of Asses and whose Issue is as the Issue of Horses Historians tell us That it was usual amongst the Egyptians for Brothers and Sisters to Marry together and that they made a Statute for the Lawfulness of it because Isis their Goddess was Married to her Brother Osiris Then seeing the Israelites had convers'd amongst them 200 Years and had not only seen but learned their Corrupt manners and been witnesses to all the plagues inflicted upon them on that Account there could not be a more proper Caution given them than to beware of their Practices It is also to be observed that the Arabians amongst whom the Israelites wandered married none but their own Kindred That the Persians held it Lawfull for the Fathers to marry with their Daughters and the Parthians accounted it no Crime for the Mothers to marry with their Sons so much were those Eastern Countries drowned in Uncleanness whence it is plain that Whoredom was one of the principal Causes of their destruction It 's true that in Abraham's time it would seem that such Incestuous Marriages were not Common amongst the Egyptians otherwise his advice to Sara to say that she was his Sister would have been no Argument to make the Egyptians conclude that she was not his Wife But it is plain from Historians that afterwards they grew more licentious And thus Ptolemy Pihladelphus married his Sister Arsinoe and Soter and Philopater Egyptian Kings did also marry their own Sisters And it 's a known Story of the Persians that when Cambyses King of Persia had a mind to his youngest Sister and ask'd his Judges whether there were any Law against it they answered him That they knew none but that there was a Law that the King 's of Persia might do what they would Then 't is also known that the Messagates Troglodites Brachmans and other Eastern People allowed a Community of Wives their Philosophers taught it and Crates and Cabades Kings of Persia made Laws for it Another of the Crimes forbidden to the Israelites and which the Canaanites and those Eastern People were guilty of was causing their Seed to pass through the fire to Moloch by which some understand that in a most filthy manner they consecrated their Sperm or Seed to their Idol Priapus as Baal's Priest offered their Blood to their Idol 1. Kings 18. and as the Manichees and Gnosticks mixed the Eucharist with humane Seed tho' the Current of Interpreters carry it for making their Children pass through betwixt two fires and sometimes offering them as a burnt-Sacrifice in Honour of their Idol They are also charged with Sodomy or the Unnatural Lust of Men towards Men to which they were given up by the Just Judgment of God as a due punishment for their Idolatry And at the dissolution of the Monastcries here in England our Anti-Christian Idolaters were found to have polluted themselves in this manner which Crime as it brought Hell upon the Sodomites before their time that is brought Fire and Brimstone upon them before they went off the Earth so this horrid Uncleanness of the Monks procur'd the dissolution of the Monasteries by Henry VIII before their Religion was discharged out of the Nation The Egyptians and Canaanites are also charged with Bestiality their Men and Women having committed Confusion with Beasts and thus Pasiphae is accused of having accompanied with a Bull Polyphantes with a Bear Semiramis with an Horse and the Women of Mendis in Egypt with Goats Nay if we may believe the Fables of the Jews the false Prophet Balaam who was slain amongst the Midianites was guilty of Bestiality with his Ass which they foolishly collect from those Words of the Beast viz. Am not I thine Ass which thou hast ridden upon It is also observable that those brutal Commixtious were punish'd by the Infamy of the Criminals as well as by their destruction for we read that the Monstrous Births have many times discovered those Unnatural Crimes and that sometimes they have been betrayed by Heterogeneous tho perfect Births And thus Plutarch tells us of a Boy begotten betwixt a Man and a Mare and of a Girl betwixt a Man and an Ass And Olaus Magnus mentions a Man begotten of a Woman by a Bear who was thereupon called Vrsus and of whom many Great Panish Princes did afterwards descend It 's true that Galen denies that there can be any such Generation of Mankind but others maintain it upon this reason That the Partial Cause being more Noble prevails over the less Noble as it is many times seen that a fair Woman hath brought forth a Black-a-moor In fine the Land of Canaan being polluted by those abominations Vomited out her Inhabitants the Posterity of Cham who did so impudently behold and revile his Father's Nakedness and is thought to have revived the Vitious manners of the old World in his Posterity the Sodomites and Canaanites and thus
was frequent Quarrels amongst the Children of so many different Mothers seeing it's Common to find Children by the same Father and Mother often to disagree and this without doubt begot mutual Broils Contentions and Heats amongst the different Wives every one envying the prosperity or good Fortune of anothers Children An Instance of this we have in Rachel who was so much taken with Reuben's Mandrakes that there 's no doubt but she could have wish'd they had been found by one of her own Sons Hence also we may observe That as the Children did every one love their own Mothers best it must needs occasion Quarrels amongst them It 's not agreed among Interpreters what these Mandrakes were some will have them to be Beautiful Fragrant Flowers and others that they were Beautiful and Delicious Apples which promoted Conception and that therefore they were so much desired by Rachel which if it were so she was however disappointed for having agreed that her Husband should be with Leah that night it occasioned her Rival to have two Sons Successively one after another and also one Daughter But as to the Mandrakes themselves St. Augustine against Faustus tells us That he has seen of 'em Diligently Inquired into their Nature and says they were Apples fine to the Eye and of a sweet Scent but insipid taste but very rare to be had and on that Account alone he thought Rachel did Covet them The sin of Jacob and Leah is also very legible in their punishment by the foul Crimes of their Children Reuben and Dinah Jacob was guilty of Incest with two Sisters and to the great grief of his Soul eternal Reproach of his Family and scandal to the Neighbouring Heathen his Son Reuben committed Incest with his own Concubine Bilhah which by the way was another punishment upon her for consenting to Marry one who had two Wives before and whom she had no reason to think could ever be able to perform Conjugal duty to so many and 't is not improbable that this made her an easy prey to the Tentation Then as to Dinah her being polluted by Schechem the Son of Hamor was another disgrace to Jacob's Family and brought a fresh scandal upon the Church as well as ruin upon the Schechemites whose destruction was occasioned by the Lustful Passion of their Prince in dealing with Jacob's Daughter as with an Harlot which so enraged her Brethren that by a fraudulent Covenant they obliged the Schechemites to Circumcise themselves came upon them while they were Sore and put all the Males to the Sword And thus Dinah was also punished for her Conversing with the Daughters of the Land who were Idolaters and of corrupt manners her Curiosity which is so common to young Maids was fatal to her self and many others neither is there any thing better to be expected from those Profane Festivals Revellings and Banquetings which Josephus thinks the Schechemites were now taken up with And that Dinah either having stole away from her Mother to see how the Daughters of the Land were adorn'd and behav'd themselves in their publick Dances or being so far indulged as to have Liberty to go the Libidinous young Prince being taken with her Beauty and under no restraint but dandled by an Indulgent Father violated her Chastity for which himself his Son and all their Male Subjects quickly after lost their Lives having first been by the Just Judgment of God punish'd in the very Instrument of their Lasciviousness The wound as it 's usual putting them to great pain and making them unable either to resist or fly from Jacob's Armed Sons and Servants and thus also the Good Old Man was punish'd by the Rape of his only Daughter and his bleeding wound ript open afresh by the Treachery and Cruelty of his Children This is another Instance of a People cut off and destroyed for Uncleanness The next thing that occurrs is another affliction to the Good Old Patriarch from the Evil Report of the Sons of his Concubines Zilpah and Bilhah who being the off-spring of an Unlawful Marriage were also of a Lewd Conversation themselves and according to the opinion of some of the Hebrews guilty of Sodomitical Impurities But however that was this is plain from the Sacred Text that they had an ill same and with this Joseph acquainted his Father which occasioned their Conspiracy to kill Joseph and at last to sell him so that here Jacob was remarkably punish'd for his Polygamy The Children of those Concubines being both wicked and haters of his Children by Lawful Wedlock and tho it be not directly to our purpose yet it may not be perhaps unpleasant to the Reader to acquaint him that the Hebrews think Jacob was justly punish'd when made to believe that the blood of a Kid was that of his Son Joseph because he had formerly deceived his Father and made him to believe that he was his eldest Son Esau by putting a Kid's Skin about his Neck c. Our next Instance is in Judah who having left his Brethren and his Father's House and by Consequence the then Church and Lodging with an Adulamite fell in Love with a Canaanitish Woman and Married her he not then exceeding 14 Years of Age himself as Chronologers think not only without his Father's Consent but against it according to the Example of Esau How he was punish'd for this fault the following History acquaints us viz. That having obliged his Son Er to an early and precipitant Marriage like his own who being a Wicked Man and as the Hebrews think guilty of Sodomy or as others of spilling his Seed upon the ground as his Brother Onan did the Lord destroyed him Nor was Judah any happier in his Son Onan abovementioned who being given to his Brother's Widow for a Husband to raise up Seed to his Brother did maliciously spill it on the ground that his Brother's Memory might not be continued Whereas to die Childless had not only a Tendency to the decay and ruin of the Family but was also look'd upon as Reproachful and therefore it is the opinion of Divines that that temporary Law was constituted Deut. 25. 5. The Rabbins according to their fabulous manner alledge That Onan did this because he would not have Thamar's Beauty spoiled by bearing Children but whatever truth there be in that 't is certain that God destroyed him for that Impurity and frustrating the End of Nature which is next akin to Murther if not a species of it seeing it destroyed that which was potentially a Man or Woman But Judah's punishment does not cease here he is plagued with raging Lust in his own advanced years and being a Widower did incestuously pollute his own Daughter-in Law Thoemar whom he took to be a Common Harlot by which he incurr'd a perpetual disgrace and brought an Indelible blot upon his Memory From that History we may plainly also perceive that Adultery was held a Capital Crime even amongst those Canaanites seeing Judah ordered his Daughter-in-Law
because the latter Married Pythia Daughter to the Queen of Epirus whilst his Wife who was Sister to Antiochus was yet alive so fatal hath the Adultery of Princes always been to Kings and Kingdoms In his 30 th Book we have the Instance of Ptolemy King of Egypt who having murdered his own Wife Eurydice that was also his Sister he became so enamour'd on Agathocla the Strumpet that he minded nothing but Revelling and Dancing and thus says Justin the King became not only a Spectator but a Master of Villany and committing Sodomy also with Agathocles a handsome fellow and Brother to the Strumpet above mentioned they and their Mother Evanthe govern'd the King and Kingdom and disposed of all offices In the mean-time Ptolemy died which those vile Women concealed a long time and so shar'd the Royal Treasure and Government with Villains But the matter coming at last to be known the multitude assembled cut off Agathocles and hang'd his Mother and Sister such was the Tragical Exit they brought upon themselves by their uncleanness In his 37th Book we have the instance of Mithridates the great King of Pontus who married his own Sister Laodice in which match he was Justly unhappy for during his long absence a viewing the chief places of Asia she had admitted strangers to his Bad and tho' she feigned a mighty Joy at his return yet she endeavoured to poyson him in order to cover her Unchastity whereof Mithridates being advertised by a Maid he punish'd his Wife by death for her Treachery and tho' he himself became Great and Glorious afterwards by his Victories over the Asiaticks and his Wars with the Romans yet Divine Justice pursued him so that he killed himself in his old Age when he heard that his Son by that Unnatural Marriage had usurp'd the Kingdom In his 38th Book we have the horrid instance of Ptolemy Physcon who after the death of Ptolemy King of Egypt Married his Widow Cleopatra who was his own Sister kill'd her Son by her first Husband the very day of his Marriage and afterwards Divorc'd her self and Ravish'd her Daughter whom he afterwards Married This made him so hatefull to the people that they deserted the City where he dwelt so that finding himself a King without Subjects he was forc'd to invite strangers to reside there And at last became so odious that he fled with the Son that he had begot on his Sister taking her Daughter along with him and with a Mercenary Army made War upon his Sister and his Country and sent for his eldest Son and killed him to prevent the peoples chusing him in his stead The Subjects were so much enraged with these proceedings that they threw down his Statues and Pictures every where which he conceiving to be done by his Sister's advice he cut the Son that he had by her in pieces put them up in a Box and sent them to his Mother on his Birth-day Thus were they mutually plagued and punished for their Incest and a destructive War was kindled betwixt them which took its first rise from their enflamed Lusts and proved fatal to their Subjects as well as to themselves Ptolemy Physcon or the Debauch'd dying a little time after and having been some time before reconciled to his Wife and Sister Cleopatra he left her the Kingdom of Egypt she being compelled by the people to chuse her eldest Son to Govern that Kingdom before she would resign the same she compelled him to Divorce his Beloved Wife and Sister Cleopatra and she being afterwards married to Cyricaenus in Syria those Incestuous matches were punished by a mutual War betwixt the Brethren Gryphus and Cyricaenus and the latter being overcome Gryphina Wife to Gryphus would not be content till his Sister and Wife Cleopatra whom his Mother had made him to Divorce was murdered and Cyricaenus obtaining a Victory over Gryphus in his Turn put Gryphina to death in Revenge Cleopatra the Mother being weary of her Son Ptolemy's Reigning with her jointly in Egypt she stir'd up the people against him took his Wife Selence from him after she had born him two Sons sent him into Exile call'd his younger Brother Alexander to Reign in his stead but he being afraid of her cruelty abandon'd her then the Wicked Woman being afraid that her eldest Son would make War upon her to recover the Kingdom she sent great assistance to Gryphus and likewise gave him Seleuce to Wife Having at the same time recall'd her Son Alexander he understood that she laid snares for his Life and therefore seiz'd and cut her off and he himself was banisht by the people for this parricide Thus were their raging Lusts punished by a mutual War and Raging cruelty against one another And as if Heaven would have Syria and Egypt to read their sin in their punishment they were invaded and plagued by Hierotimus King of Arabia and his Six hundred Sons whom he had begot on Concubines and who attack'd the Syrians and Egyptians with separate Armies and parties We come next to the Roman History where in the very threshold we are presented with an Account that that City and Monarchy was founded by Whoredom The story of Râ—mus and Romulus being born of a Vestal Virgin for whom it was not Lawfull to Marry and that they were the Founders of that City demonstrates the truth of Rome's being Deriv'd from a spurious Original and the City being once Founded Romulus made it a Sanctuary for Vagabonds and a disorderly Rabble who were so much contemned by their Neighbours that they scorn'd to give them their Daughters in Marriage which occasion'd their Ravishing the Sabine Virgins and that brought forth a War which endangered the overthrow of this new Government in its Infancy as Livy gives an Account at large in his first Book Dec. 1. so fatal hath Whordom and Uncleanness always proved to Societies Livy in that same Book and Decad gives us an Account that Kingly Government was overturned at Rome because of a Rape in the manner following The Kings Sons and Kinsmen did often spend their time in Feasting and Treating one another and in their Cups at supper there happened a Discourse concerning their Wives upon which each man launched out in the praises of his own and thence a Quarrel arising Collatinus said it was in vain to talk since it might easily and speedily be known how much his Wife Lucretia excelled the rest adding for they were then in the Camp before Ardea Let us mount our Horses and go see with our own Eyes what kind of Women our Wives are and that shall be the Test which occurs to each man upon this unexpected Visit so that Galloping to Rome they went thence to Collatia where they found Lucretia not imployed like the rest of the Kings Daughters-in-Law viz. spending their time in Banquetting and Luxury but sitting amongst her Maids a Spinning Whereupon it was agreed that her Husband Collatinus came off Conquerer in that dispute and he being pleas'd
fit to be made Souldiers of Shall we put them in Arms that come out of such an obscene Brothel-house Will such Fellows as these that are cover'd all over with Buggeries of their own and other men fight for the Chastity of their Wives and Children And setting forth at large the Danger that might accrue to the State by those Nightly Meetings the Bacchanalian Rites were prohibited by Order of the Senate all the Priests of the Order were commanded to be shut up and the Frequenters of those Nightly Meetings enquir'd after such of them as they found to have been only initiated and had said Prayers according to the Sacred Form which the Priests repeated before them in which was contain'd a cursed Obligation to commit all Acts of Villany and Lechery but had not committed them them they imprison'd but those whom they found to have been defil'd by Lust or Murder false Testimonies false Tokens forging of Wills or other Frauds they put to Death after which the Bacchanalia were pull'd down at Rome and all over Italy We shall conclude our Instances from Livy with this Passage which is the last that fam'd Historian affords us that any way relates to our Subject It is proper however to observe here that the Bacchanalia which we have now describ'd may justly be reckon'd a-Kin to if not the Off-spring of the Eleusina Sacra formerly mention'd both of them had their Original from Greece and were solemniz'd with much the like Secrecy and Outrage and both of them serve to let us see how far Humane Nature may be deprav'd by raging Lust when a Person or People are justly given up to it of God We think it proper before we come to the Instances of the Roman Emperors c. which are but too too numerous to take a view of those persons whom Plutarch has honour'd to be their Biographer and to excerpt from thence what suits with our purpose We have taken notice that Rome was founded by a spurious Brood and in the Life of Thescus which is the first in Plutarch We shall find that Athens had much the same sort of Original which is the more observable because from those two Cities the Christian Religion met with the greatest Opposition viz. from the vain Philosophy of the former and the more bloody and cruel Persecution of the latter Our Author tells us That Theseus seems to resemble Romulus in many particulars and in his Birth especially both of 'em being born out of Wedlock and of uncertain Parentage Ageus however is reckon'd to be Father to Theseus by Athia Daughter to Plitheus whom having got with Child he left a Sword and a pair of Shoes hiding them under a great Stone and making her only privy to it commanding her that if she brought forth a Son who when he came to Man's estate should be able to lift up the Stone and take away what he had left there she should send him away to him with those things with all Secrecy Which she having accordingly observ'd her Son Theseus after he had slain Sinnis who from his way of murthering Men was call'd The Bender of Pines committed Fornication with his Daughter Perigune begot Menalippus upon her and afterwards married her to another The next Feat Theseus did was the killing of Phea a Beast of great fierceness according to some or a cruel and lustful Woman according to others who had the Name of a Sow given her from the beastliness of her Life which if true she was remarkably enough punish'd by one that was as guilty of Incontinence as her self The next thing we have of his Amours is that with Ariadne by whose Advice and Assistance he overcame the Minotaur but having serv'd his Ends he deserted her for another viz. Aegle with whom he fell in Love and thereupon Ariadue died of Grief as some say tho' others contradict it and alledge She died in Childbed Our Author gives us also an Account of his Rape of Antiope Princess of the Amazons and in short sums up his unlawful Amours and the fatal Consequence of them in a few words thus That the Marriages of Theseus were neither honourable in their beginning nor fortunate in their Events and recounts them thus viz. that he forc'd Anaxo the Traxenian ravish'd the Daughters of Sinnis and Cercyon married Peribaea the Mother of Ajax and then Pheribaea and then Iope the Daughter of Iphicles Further he is accus'd for deserting Ariadne as is before related being in love with Aegle the Daughter of Panopeus an Action neither just nor honourable and lastly for the Rape of Helen when he was fifty Years old which fill'd all Attica with War and Blood and occasion'd his Banishment and Death Lycomedes having thrown him headlong from a Rock as he had hurried himself headlong into Lustful Passion Such was the fatal Exit of this Ethnick Hero occasion'd by his Uncleanness In the Life of Lycurgus that great Lacedemonian Philosopher and Law-giver we have an eminent Instance of the truth of that of the Apostle concerning the Heathens that because when they knew God they glorified him not as God he gave them up to work all Uncleanness with greediness for what less than a Judicial Blindness could so much infatuate such a wise man as Lycurgus to allow a Community of Wives and the promiscuous Dancings of young Men and Women together naked that must necessarily inflame their Lusts Which is own'd by Plutarch himself tho' cover'd under the handsom Expressions of alluring them to Marriage not upon Interest and Equality of Fortune and Birth but from the sweet Constraint and unsophisticated Dictates of Nature The Reasons of this Community of Women he enforc'd by these Arguments following viz. That Children are not so much the Propriety of their Parents as of the Commonwealth and therefore he would not have 'em begot by the first Comers but by the best Men that could be found That the Laws of other Nations seem'd to him very defective and incongruous who were very sollicitous for the Bread of their Dogs and Horses and sent a great way to get the best Stallions and yet kept their Wives under Lock and Key for fear of other Men whereas themselves were craz'd old or infirm and more fit to propagate Diseases than their Species Certainly any man at first sight must needs see that those Dictates of our Philosopher are contrary to the Dictates of Nature and naturally Introductive of all manner of Villany and Disorders Reason as well as Revelation teaches us that Jealousie is the Rage of a Man and that there is nothing more unsupportable to Humane Nature All Histories are full of Tragical Instances of it and Experience teaches us that those Nations where such promiscuous Copulations are allow'd differ but very little from Brutes whose Example Lycurgus proposes and they follow If it be objected What we find in the Life of our Author that so long as these Ordinances were observ'd the Women were so far
near the City of Patras where she liv'd he fell into an Ambush of Cassander's Men whenâ—e with great difficulty he escap'd by the swiftness of his Horse And thus he had well nigh made a surrender of his Liberty and Design to the Charms of a lascivious Woman It is also observ'd of this Demetrius that he had many Wives at the same time and notwithstanding his multiplicity of Wives became so enamour'd upon Lamia a beautiful Lady but infamous for her looseness of Conversation that 't was said all other Ladies were amorous of Demetrius but Demetrius was only amorous of Lamia This Lustful Prince was not however satisfied with his variety of Women but did also pollute himself with the unnatural Crime of Sodomy and it 's storied of him that having been lost several days in a Debauch among his Companions and pretending to keep his Chamber afterwards by reason of Indisposition his Father Antigonus came to see him upon his approach to Demetrius's Chamber out bolts a sprightly young Fellow and Antigonus going to his Bed-side and feeling his Pulse Demetrius not knowing well how to excuse himself pretended that he had been ill of a Fever but that he hoped it had now left him Yes reply'd the King I believe it for I just now met it at your Chamber Door alluding to the young Catamite that sprung out of his Chamber His Victories and the Benefits which he bestow'd upon the Athenians put their Invention upon the rack to conferr new-devised Honours and Flatteries upon him and therefore they order'd him a Lodging behind Minerva s Temple in the Apartment of the Virgins the vow'd Votaries of that Goddess which occasion'd the Wits of the Time to say That Minerva had got a dangerous Inmate and That it was not much to the Reputation of her Virgins Chastity to keep company with Demetrius And as for Demetrius himself he was so far from shewing any Reverence to the Goddess with whom he had taken up his Quarters that he gave himself up to the most infamous Liberties and debauch'd the young Women and Matrons of Athens to that degree as 't is a shame for a modest Pen to relate This brutish Youth was so much enrag'd with unnatural Lust that he tempted a beautiful young Man call'd Damocles to that degree as made him to decline all manner of publick Conversation on purpose to avoid his design'd Passion but Damocles going to a private Bath the villainous Demetrius having Information of it surpriz'd him there so that the poor Youth seeing no other way to avoid him leap'd into a boiling Vessel and so became a Martyr to his Virtue Demetrius was not only lustful but profuse and prodigal in his Expences as all lustful Persons are so that having commanded the Athenians to raise 250 Talents for his Service and when they to satisfie his demands had levied it upon the People by distress he gave it as a trifling Sum to Lamia and the rest of his lewd Women to buy them perfum'd Washballs for their Baths And thus were the Athenians punish'd for giving way to the lustful Excesses of this young Prince to whom they were so slavishly obsequious that contrary to their Laws when he desir'd to be enroll'd in the Fraternity of the Priests of Ceres without attending the time commonly allotted which injoyns that the lesser Mysteries should be celebrated in November and the great Solemnity in August following they made an Edict that the Month of March then currant should be accounted November that Demetrius might be then admitted to the lesser Ceremonies and as soon as that was done by another Edict they turn'd that same Month into August which occasion'd Philipedes the Comedian to exercise his Wit upon Stratocles the Inventer of this Trick in the following Couplet thus Prodigious Skill how strangely flattering Fear Into one Month hath crowded all the Year And upon the same Stratocles's proposing that Demetrius should lodge in the Temple of Minerva within the Castle he made the following Lines Stratocles thinks it is no Sin To turn a Temple to an Inn Or with lewd wanton Company To bless Minerva ' s Chastity We come now to treat of the Punishments which Divine Justice inflicted upon this Lecher which were very sharp and severe his Father and he both being dispoil'd of that large Empire which they had erected for themselves out of the Ruins of that of Alexander the Great His Mother and Children and divers of his Wives were made Prisoners and he himself forsaken by the Athenians who had formerly so much ador'd him but now made it a capital Crime for any body so much as to propose a Treaty or Accommodation with him and Alexander King of Macedon miss'd little of having cut him off treacherously It is also remarkable that this lustful Prince was punish'd observably in his Daughter Stratonice who follow'd her Father's pernicious Example The Story is well known to be as followeth Demetrius having married this his beautiful Daughter to Seleucus King of Syria to whom she brought forth a little Son Antiochus Son to Seleuchus by a former Marriage fell so passionately in love with his Step mother Stratonice that he sicken'd upon it and was in danger and not daring to discover the Cause of his Distemper he saw no other Remedy for his hopeless Misfortune but what was to be expected from Despair and Death which he therefore resolv'd upon by abstaining from Diet. Erasistratus the King's Physician quickly discover'd that Love was his Distemper but could not at first discover the Object he therefore diligently waited in his Chamber and when any of the Beauties of the Court came to visit the sick Prince he curiously observ'd the Emotions and Alterations in the Countenance of Antiochus and by that means discover'd Stratonice to be the Object of his Flames for when she came in either with the King or alone Antiochus became mute his Passion smothering his Words a fiery Blush would mount into his Face he would fix his Eyes upon Stratonice and then presently withdraw his stoln guilty Looks his Pulse would be disorder'd a cold Sweat would seize upon him and unable to support the violent Passion he would become sensless and pale Erasistratus having made this Discovery acquainted Seleucus that his Son's Distemper was Love but incurable because it is impossible for him to enjoy the Object of his Passion and as impossible for him to live without it The King demanding why he could not enjoy the Object Erasistratus answer'd Sir because he is in love with my Wife Upon this the King expostulated with the Physician saying How my dear Erasistratus will you not do me the Kindness as to bestow your Wife upon my Son and Successor when there is no other way to save his Life Nay then Sir replied the Physician the Object of the Prince's Love is your own Stratonice Ah my dear Friend answer'd Seleucus may some kind God or Man put the Safety of the Prince upon that Issue I would
cruel Man as is gathered from this discourse to his Wives in that Chapter viz. I have slain a man to my wounding and a young man to my hurt This bad example of Lamech's digamy did quickly infect the Infant World for we find in the next Chapter That when men began to multiply and that daughters were born unto them the Sons of God saw the Daughters of men that they were fair and they took them Wives of all that they chose It s still to be observed that as Whoredom and Uncleanness began in Cain's Family so there it continu'd and increas'd and by their Contagious Example the Family of Seth which did then contain the Visible Church became also infected and the Members of the Church having more regard to the Beauty and Comeliness of the Women of Cain's Race than to the vertue of those who were of their own Religion their Eyes betrayed their Hearts they lusted after their Beauty and without any consideration of Religion or Laws took them Wives of all that they chose by which Interpreters understand promiscuous Marriages Polygamy unjust Divorces Rapes and all manner of Lewd and Licentious practises which brought the Wrath of Goâ— upon the old World and occasion'd hiâ— saying as in the 3 d verse That his spirit should not always contend with Man The occasion of this General Corruption of Manners is hinted to be thâ— multiplication of Men and particularly oâ— the Women of Cain's Posterity who being under no discipline and wanting thâ— benefit of pious Instruction and good Example became dissolute and wanton and no care being taken to dispose of therâ— duly in Marriage they took all occasion to satisfie their brutal desires for whicâ— their dwelling in Cities whereof Caiâ— was the first Founder amongst multitudes of people gave them great opportunities it being always observ'd that iâ— Great Cities the numbers of dissolute persons makes them to despise Laws anâ— follow such practices as they durst noâ— venture upon in Villages and Countrieâ— where they could be more easily restrained and punisht not that I would be understood to be against the building anâ— maintaining of Cities which increase thâ— Glory Riches and Strength of Nations but would to God that the greâ— Cities of Christendom were not still to justly chargeable with avowed Impuritieâ— of the same nature which a zealous Magistracy might easily prevent It is also the opinion of some of the learned that the Cainites did first build themselves a City that they might strengthen one anothers hands in Cruelty and Uncleanness and follow such practises with all manner of impunity which gave their Women opportunity to pamper and deck themselves that they might be the more agreeable objects of Lust and this might also render them more amiable in the Eyes of the Posterity of Seth who living as 't is presumed a Rural Life for the most part and their Women being kept in order by Laws and Religion and applying themselves to the Affairs of their Families that they might approve themselves meet helps to their Husbands according to the design of God at the first Creation of Woman did not mind the decking and adorning of their Bodies nor the pampering of their Flesh and cherishing their Beauties as the Cainites did and therefore were not so pleasing to the Eye as those lascivious Women who behaved themselves as if God and Nature had design'd them for nothing else but a Man's bed whereas the Divine Goodness appointed that they should be meet-helps in their Religious Conversation Industry Care and Education of Children to all of which those loose practices of the Cainites were diametrically opposite From those unequal Marriages and promiscuous Copulations proceeded a contempt of Laws and Religion amongst the Cainites and an Apostacy from God and Religion amongst many of the Posterity of Seth and it hath been observed amongst all Nations since that when Religion decays uncleanness increases and that a love to Licentiousness hath always been a great cause of Apostacy as is but too too observable in those that are called Deists and Socinians in this present Age most of their New Converts or rather Perverts being people of a loose life especially as to the point of Chastity The next effect of those unclean anâ— beastly Commixtions was an off-spring of Giants so called as some Interpreterâ— think from the vastness of their bulkâ— as being begot in raging Lust or as others because of their Barbarous and Saâ—vagâ— Manners and filling all the World witâ— Rapes Cruelty and Devastation so that bâ— the just Judgment of God the Children oâ— those unlawful Marriages and Promiscuous Copulations became the plague oâ— their Parents and the scourge of Man kind as well as the declared Enemies oâ— Heaven and Religion Whence the olâ— doting Poets took occasion to amuse thâ— World with the fabulous War of the Gianâ— against Jupiter c. Noah not being able by his preaching of Righteousness to reform the World from this horrid Debauchery it provok'd God to bring the Deluge which drown'd that lascivious and wicked Generation of Men who had drown'd themselves in all manner of sensual Impurities with so much obstinacy that when that fatal Flood came it surpriz'd them as eating drinking marrying and giving in marriage Thus then it 's apparent that Whoredom was one of the principal Causes that brought the Wrath of God upon the old World And it deserves our observation that God by his Command to Noah to take only his own Wife and the three Wives of his three Sons into the Ark with him as he did thereby give another Testimony of his honouring and approving of Marriage he did also plainly testifie against Digamy Polygamy and Concubines and that as the World was peopled at first by lawful Marriage it should be also peopled in the same manner a second time To come next to the times after the Flood the â—â—â—st instance of impurity that occurs to us is Ham's deriding his father Noah ' s nakedness by which there are some Interpreters who understand that he not only told it his Brethren but also before Women and Children in a lascivious and filthy manner and took occasion to fall into foolish Jesting and Sarcasms Nay if we give credit to the opinion of Berosus and the Rabbins he inchanted his Fathers Virile parts and unman'd him but however that is this is certain that he discover'd a frothy unclean lascivious temper for which he was severely punisht in his posterity The Canaanites who wallowed also in those fleshly impurities when God destroyed them by the Israelites the posterity of Sem as shall be taken notice of in its proper place From Ham did also proceed Nimrod the Mighty Hunter and cruel oppressor who was the first that laid the foundation of a Tyrannical Government after the Flood so that the observation still holds that Vncleanness Murder and those other Crimes which lay Nations wasteare near a kin and generally the off-spring and product of one and the same
Crimes And answerable to this is the Command of the Apostle That the Husband should pay all due benevolence to the Wife and that they should not defrand one another but with Consent for a time lest Satan tempt them for their Incontinence Chastity was so strictly enjoyned unto this select people of God that they were not only forbid to suffer any of their Daughters to be Whores or any of their Sons to be Whore-Masters as some think the word which in our Translation Deut 23. 17. is Sodomites ought to be rendered but all manner of immodesty was strictly forbid and therefore if any Woman seeing her Husband and another Man a Quarrelling should be so impudent in her Fury or Passion as to take the other Man by the Secret Parts to oblige him to forbear Quarrelling with her Husband her hand was to be cut off without any pity tho' every Man knows that a Pressure or Gripe in those parts would quickly Force her Husband's Antagonist to quit the Fray And by much more reason would those Judges have Condemned Women who put their hands to those parts upon a Lustful Account The Trials appointed in the Levitical Law to find out whether the Jealousie of the Husband was well founded was likewise admirably Accommodated for the Clearing of the Innocent and condemning the Guilty The Tokens of Virginity which the Learned tell us never failed in that Climate were a Convincing proof of the Brides being a Maid or otherwise and therefore the Linen in which the Bridegroom and she lay the first night was carefully kept by the Parents of the Bride and taken from the Bed before proper Witnesses as a security for their Daughter's Honour If the accusation were found false the Husband was to be Chastis'd and Fin'd in an Hundred Shekels of Silver to the Father of the Damsel and if it was found to be true she was to be stoned to Death for having wrought folly in Israel so that there 's no doubt but this Custom had a mighty influence upon Parents to watch carefully over their Daughters and on the Virgius themselves to preserve their Chastity The Trial to find out whether a Woman had committed Adultery after Marriage was yet more solemn and terrible as may be seen in the 5th of Numbers from the 11th to the 31st Verse And seeing the effect of the bitter Water which the Woman was to drink on that occasion was altogether Supernatural viz. to make her fruitful if Innocent and her Belly to swell and Thigh to rot if guilty it plainly demonstrated that God himself was the Patron of Chastity and Revenger of Adultery and the Person found guilty upon this occasion becoming a curse among the people it shews how odious and abominable that Crime then was in the Eyes of Man as well as in the Eyes of God and there 's no doubt but this had a very great influence upon Women to be Loyal to their Husbands and careful to avoid giving 'em any occasion of Jealousie It 's probable that the Trial of Adultery by the Fiery ordeal or laying so many hot Bars of Iron upon the ground covering the Woman's Eyes and making her go over them with her bare Feet which she burnt if Guilty and came off without any hurt if Innocent was an Apish Imitation of this solemn and severe Jewish Trial as many other of the Popish Superstitions are foolish and unwarrantable Imitations of the Jewish Ceremonies but as they have not the Divine Institution for their Warrant they come always short of the desired effect and turn to the disgrace of the Inventers and Practitioners It also deserves our observation that the flux of the Natural Seed in Man the menstrua in Women and their ordinary purgations after Child-bearing rendred them unfit for publick worship and were accounted unclean Nay even the very Lawful Act betwixt Man and Wife went under that denomination because as it is well observed by Divines the Corruption of Nature is more apt to discover it self in that Lawfull act than perhaps in any other and because Original Corruption is Conveyed unto us in our first Conception by that very substance whereof we are made The next scriptural Instance that Occurs is in the 25th of Numbers where we have an account that the Moabites and Midianites being afraid of the Children of Israel the King of the Moabites sent for Balaam a false Prophet and Enchanter to Curse them that he might the more easily prevail over them but Balaam finding that it was not in his power to Curse those whom God had Blessed gave them advice to send out their Beautiful Women among the Israelites to tempt them to Uncleanness which if they could he knew that it would render them odious in the sight of their Holy God and bring down Judgments upon them from the Almighty hand of Jehâ—vah who had given them such Laws for the preservation of their Chastity as distinguished them from the polluted Nations of the Earth We must take notice by the way that the Moabites were the Descendants of Lot's Incestuous Brood by one of his Daughters and 't is very probable that they lookt upon promiscuous Copulations to be sufficiently Authoriz'd by the unhappy slip of that Good man which together with their Zeal to save their Country made them ready enough to prostitute themselves to the Israelites And they notwithstanding the prohibition and Laws of that God who had chosen them for his peculiar people called them his first born destroyed the Egyptians and Amorites for their sakes and as he told them himself because of such pollutions yet they whom Balaam's Magick could not Enchant were so much bewitched with Lust towards the Daughters of Moab that they first committed Whoredom with them and then committed Idolatry to please them so easie and natural is the transition from a wicked Life to a false Religion This Lewd and Ungratefull Practice did quickly kindle the Anger of the Lord against them which was no other way to be expiated but by the Death of those who had been Ring-Leaders of this Vncleanness and Idolatry and therefore God Commanded the Judges and Magistrates by the Mouth of his Servant Moses every one to slay those Ring-Leaders and Heads of the people in their own Jurisdiction who had polluted themselves and to hang them up against the Sun in the face of which they had committed these Abominations so that a Thousand of those profane Great men were hanged as the Learned do compute and Twenty Three Thousand of the Common people were consumed by the Plague for their Whoredom In this General Instance of Uncleanness there is one more particularly taken notice of by the Scripture viz. That of Zimri a Prince of the Tribe of Simeon with Cozbi the Daughter of a Prince of Midian By the reading it would seem that this man was so far besotted with his Lustfull Passion as neither to regard the Command of God for hanging up other Great men that were
both his Sons should be slain in one day and the Scripture tells us that he fell backward and broke his Neek upon the receipt of that fatal News It reach'd also the Wife of one of 'em who died upon the News of her Husband's death and the Arks being taken and it reach'd also their Posterity who were for ever excluded from the Priest's Office and had a perpetual Poverty entailed upon them as a Curse and to make them the more sensible of the dignity from whence they had fallen they were condemned to be a sort of slaves to the High-Priest of the succeeding Family of whom they were to beg a morsel of Bread and Employment so naturally does the Curse of Poverty or of bringing a Man to a piece of Bread follow upon Whoredom and Uncleanness There are some other Instances of lesser note as Saul's forcing his Daughter Michal after she had been married to David to marry another Man which was an act of Unncleaness and Tyranny too and had no doubt its influence amongst others of that Prince's Tyrannical and Impious Acts to hasten ruin upon him The Instance of Abner's going into Rispah Saul's Concubine which Interpreters think he did in an Adulterous manner and not by way of Lawfull Marriage deserves our Remark for hereby Saul suffered in his Fame after his Death and he who had compelled his Daughter to defile her Husband's Bed had this Ignominy and punishment inflicted upon his Son that he saw his Fathers Wife dishonourably defiled and Abner who was guilty of that Villanous Action took occasion because of his Reproof to Revolt from him and to transfer the Kingdom to David and as he went about to effect it fell into the snare which Joab had laid for him and lost his Life We come in the next place to Davids Adultery with Bathsheba a Crime which hath many aggravations to be committed by David a prophet who instructed others in the Law of God and did so grosly break it himself to be committed by David â— King who ought to have defended the Chastity of his Subject and not to have violated it himself to be Commited by David a holy Man who did thereby expose Religion ro be ridicul'd and laid a stumbling block before others to commit the like Crime because of his Example then if we consider the time it was when his Generals and Army were expos'd to the Fury of their Enemy in a Siege when he ought to have been more sollicitous for the honour and dignity of his Crown and for the safety of his Subjects Then if we consider the Person against whom this Crime was committed we find it to be against a Brave Valiant and Faithfull Friend and Subject who would not indulge himself in his Pleasures and Accommodations while the Ark and People of the Lord abode in Tents tho' David who was his Sovereign allowed him nay Commanded and Enticed him to do it which heightned and aggravated the Crime of that Holy man who acted herein Hypocritally and Scandalously to cover his Iniquity and gave occasion to the Israelites to think that as for Personal Conversation they had made but a sorry Exchange betwixt Saul and David for we don't find that Tyrant accused of Personal Uncleanness But the bloody part of the Scene is still to be acted David finding that he could not effect his design by Hypocrisy hath recourse to down-right Violence and Murder his Intrigue to make Vriah drunk which he thought might provoke him to a desire of his Wife having miscarried he resolves to cut him off by the Sword of the Ammonites and that too in a fraudulent manner by ordering him to be set in the front of the Battle and commanding the Men to retire from him that he might be smitten Nay so eager was he to have this Poor Man's life in order to cover his own Uncleanness that he was content to Sacrifice the Lives of many more of his Subjects so that this could be but effected so natural is it for Uncleanness to be the Parent and occasion of Murder The Crime is still further aggravated if we consider how deliberately it was committed how long he continued without Repentance and what a severe Judgment he gave against himself when Nathan the Prophet propounded the Case to him by way of Parable So much for David's Crime we must now consider that of Bathsheba she Wash'd and Bath d her self in open view of the Palace otherwise David could never have seen her from the Roof of his House which argues her to have been very Immodest nor do we find that she made any opposition to the proposal when 't was made to her so little regard had she either to the Law of God or her own and her Husband's Honour It remains then that we come to the punishment inflicted upon both The Judgment pronounced by Nathan against David was That the Sword should never depart from his House that the Lord would raise up evil against him out of his own House that he would take his Wives before his Eyes and give them unto his Neighbour who should lie with them in the sight of the Sun and that the Child which he had begot in Adultery should surely die all which was exactly fullfilled as we shall see in the following Instances The first part of the punishment inflicted was the Death of the Child and how near that went to David may easily be perceived by his afflicting himself with fasting and bying all night upon the Earth while it was sick and there 's no doubt but this part of the punishment reach'd Bathsheba as well as him seeing 't is reasonable to suppose that the Death of a Child for whom she had broke through all ties Divine and Humane must go very near her The next part of the punishment displayed David's Sin in Legible Characters and brought an horrid Disgrace upon his Family viz. The Incest of his Son Amnon with his Daughter 〈◊〉 she Story and Consequence of which iâ— as follows Tamar being a fair Woman Amnon her Brother fell in Love with her but knowing that she was within the forbidden degrees of Consanguinity he found he could not Lawfully enjoy her Before we proceed any further in the History of this affair it is proper to consider that this Damsel's Mother was 〈◊〉 Daughter to Talmai King of 〈…〉 says That David 〈◊〉 this â—ady Captive and being himself Captivaâ—ed with her Beauty defil'd her and begot this Tamar and that persevering in his Love to Maacha tho' a Heathen he made her a Proselyte and did according as it is prescribed by the Levitical Law Deut. 21. viz. Shav'd her Head and Eyebrows cut her Nails c. and took her to Wife Lyranus and some of the later Rabbins say That when Maacha was taken she was with Child of this Tamar by another Husband and this they think favoured by her saying to Amnon Speak unto the King for he will not with-hold me from thee But
Modern Interpreters do with more reason think that she only said this to put him off for if they could have been married by Law Amnon would not have pin'd for her but have straightway demanded her of the King who was so indulgent to his Children that he would never have refused it if it could have been Lawfully Granted and therefore Amnon knowing that this could not be done he burned and consumed away in his Unlawfull Love which prevented his sleep disordered his stomach hindered his digestion and occasioned a paleness in his Countenance which made his Friend Jonadab to guess at his Malady and put him upon that fatal Intrigue to satisfy his Lust viz. To feign himself sick and to desire of his Indulgent Father when he came to see him that his Sister Tamar might come and make him some Cakes by which means he should have an opportunity of satisfying his passion and this being accordingly put in Execution he ravish'd her and then his hatred to her became as excessive as ever his Love had been so that tho it was his Interest to have concealed his Villainy both upon the Account of his Reputation and safety His fury was so outragious that as he had forc'd her into his Bed he forc'd her also out of his Chamber which presently divulg'd his own shame The Rabbins according to their fabulous manner alledge that this hatred proceeded from the bitter Reproaches and Words which Tamar made use of against him during the Rape or from his having hurt himself while he struggled with her but the more probable reason is that it proceeded from those stings of Conscience and that perturbation of mind which usually attends such Villainies-and thus Nero hated his Mother Mortally and at last ordered her to be murdered after he had committed Incest with her but in the Case of Amnon there was something of a special Providence God would have David's sin legible in his punishment and therefore that the shame of his Children and Family should be publick nay it 's plain that God deprived him of his ordinary sagacity when he so easily consented to Amnon's desire of having his Sister Tamar to bake him some Cakes which was enough to Minister cause of suspicion that some wicked design lay conceal'd at bottom and in like manner he was deprived of his sagacity when about two years after he consented to Amnon's going to Absalom's Feast at the sheering of his Sheep for he might easily have conceived that his Daughter Tamar who remained desolate in her Brother Absalom's House kept the Memory of the indignity which Amnon had done to her fresh in Absalom's mind and that Absalom being an Ambitious Man might also be prompted to cut off Amnon who was David's Eldest Son that he might make way for himself to succeed but so God would have it that his Judgments denounced upon David's House because of his Murder and Adultery might be Executed and therefore Amnon is not only suffered to go but the rest of the King's Sons so much deprived of their Reason and Courage as that they could not prevent this horrid Fratricide and thus Amnon whom David had spared out of a fond affection tho' he ought to have died by the Law was Justly cut off for his Incestuous Rape and as David's Uncleanness was punish'd by Incest betwixt his own Children so his Murder is punish'd in that same manner by this Fratricide Committed by one of his Sons upon another which was an early presage of Absalom's usurpation by taking the Sword of Justice out of his Father's hand This must without all doubt have been a very sensible affliction to David to have one Son Murdered and another obnoxious to lose his Life by the Law for the said Murder It must needs also pierce him to the heart to hear the Reproaches of the wicked who no doubt upbraided him with the Ungodly Lives of his Children and the want of Discipline in his Family But his affliction did not terminate here being again reconciled to his Son Absalom which his Unwarrantable indulgence made easie to be effected this Unnatural Monster by his Treachery and Flattery stole away the hearts of the People from his Father and then broke out into a formal Rebellion That the People did so readily concur with him is attributed to the perswasions of Achitophel and others who exposing David's personal faults as his Adultery with Bathsheba his Murder of Vriah sparing his Incestuous Son 〈◊〉 and dealing hardly with Absalom for Execuâ—ing Justice upon him did mightily Incense them against him and besides these we find that Absalom himself accus'd him of Male-Administration and a neglect of Justice which by the Just Judgment of God in order to the fullfilling of his threatning That the Sword should never depart from David's House did so take that he was in great danger of losing his Crown and it 's worth our observation that the Person which occasioned him so much trouble and disgrace was his own Son by a Heathen Wife with whom he had contracted Marriage out of a Lustfull principle as has been formerly taken notice of Absalom in the Course of his Rebellion does also commit Incest with his Father's Concubines by the Counsel of Achitophel contrary to the positive Law of God and thus was the threatning accomplish'd upon David of having his own Wives taken from him and given to another who should humble them in the sight of the Sun and of all the People and it is remarkable that this Villainy was Acted upon the roof of the King's House where he himself did first commit Adultery with Bathsheba in his Heart The reason of Achitophel's giving this pernicious advice was that he might do what in him lay to make the breach between David and Absalom Irreconcilable that so he might never be called to an Account for aiding Absalom in this Rebellion and there are others who say that he had also a design of Revenge in it for David's having Debauch'd Bathsheba who it 's probable was this Achitophel's Grand-Daughter As to Absalom's own part in this Villany we have reason to think that he was thereunto prompted by Revenge and Lust both Revenge because his Father had not punish'd Amnon for his Rape upon Tamar his Sister and Lust because we find he was a Vain and Effeminate Person and Excessively proud of his Beauty and Hair which he nourished so prodigiously that at the end of the year when he poll'd it he usually cut off about Two Hundred Shekells which is computed at above six Pound Averdupoize The next thing which in Course we are to take notice of is the punishment inflicted upon Achitophel who gave this pernicious Counsel and upon Absalom who followed it The former tho' his Wicked advice as to the polluting of David's Concubines was obey'd yet finding his Counsel as to the Military part despised took it so much to heart that he thereupon became a deliberate Felo de se and after having set his
avoid as much as may be the Exhausting of their Men by Wars Colonies or Conquests which do naturally occasion the want oâ— a sufficient number of Males to supply the Females whence proceeds Whoredom Uncleanness and Luxury which infallibly issues in Contempt of Marriage an Obstruction of Propagation and the ruin of a people Before we come to give an Account how the Persian Monarchy was overturn'd by Luxury and Lasciviousness we shall have occasion to touch upon some Remarkable Revolutions occasioned amongst the Greeks by Uncleanness The first that we meet with in Justin is that of Diocles King or Governour of Athens who having forced a young Woman he was in Revenge thereof killed by her Brother whereupon Hippias Brother to Diocles ordered the youngman to be apprehended and putting him upon the Rack examined him concerning those that were privy to his design the young man in further Revenge for this new Injury Nam'd all the Tyrant's Friends who being put to Death upon his Accusation Hippias ask'd if he knew of any more that were Conscious to his Crime To this the young man answered That there were no more at whose Death he could gladly rejoyce but the Tyrant himself which the Citizens took as a Signal to recover their lost Liberty and drove Hippiâ—s into Exile who thereupon joining with the Pâ—rsiâ—ns against his own Country was slain in Battle And here it 's proper to add that the effeminacy and Luxury of the Persians under the Reign Xerxes was the chief cause of the shamefull overthrows which they received by the Grecians The next Remarkable instance which we find for our purpose in Justin is that in his 3d. Book of the War betwixt the Messenians and Lacedemoonians occasioned by the former's having Ravished the Virgins belonging to the latter whilst they were at Sacrifice upon which the Lacedomineans bound themselves by a solemn Oath never to return into their Country till they had taken in Messenia which laid the Foundation of Intestine Discord and Civil War in Grecia The Siege of this Town continued 10 years during which time the Lacedemonian Women being not able to brook the want of their Husbands Company they sent heavy complaints to them upon that head but the Lacedemonians being unwilling to violate their Oaths and at the same time sensible that their people must needs decrease they fell upon this Medium to send home all the young men who had come as Recruits to their Camp after the taking of the said Oath and allowing them the Liberty to Accompany with the Women the Children begot by this promiscuous Copulation were as a Brand of their Mothers ' Infamy called Parthenii and arriving at the Age of 30 they were so much afraid of coming to Want because they knew not whom to call Father nor which way to have any Patrimony that under the Conduct of Phalantus Son to Aratus who was the Author of the Advice to send the young men from the Camp above said they resolved to seek new Habitations for themselves and so without so much as saluting or taking leave of their Mothers from whom they deriv'd the Infamy of being Bastards they arriv'd at last in Italy subdued the Tarentines and settled in their Country But to return to the Messenians they were at last overcome by the Lacedemonians in two Wars the 1st of 20 and the 2. of 14 years continuance and reduced to a miserable slavery which was originally occasion'd as we have just now heard by their Uncleanness Our next Instance is in Justin Lib. 5 concerning Timea Queen to Agis King of Lacedemon who being guilty of Adultery with Alcibiades the Athenian while an Exile from his Country at her Husband's Court she discovered to him the design which the Lacedemonians had against his Life because they envied his Conduct and Glory upon which Alcibiades fled to the Persians and having by his cunning prevail'd with the Athenians to recall him he afterwards defeated the Lacedemonians by Sea and Land and brought them to sue for Peace so destructive to her Country was the Unlawfull Amours of this Whorish Queen and so ruinous to the whole East and particularly to Athens was the Vitious Lustfull Temper of Alcibiades the occasion of whose Exile as above mentioned was his discovery of something of the Mystery of Ceres's Worship or the Profane Eleusina Sacra which we have already described at large The fatal Exit of this Great Man is also Remarkable viz. That he was by the order of the 30 Tyrants burnt in his Chamber when asleep a suitable punishment from the hand of Divine Justice for one that had burnt in impure Lust however he deserved better Treatment at the hands of his Country That same Author in his sixth Book acquaints us that after the death of Epaminondas the great Theban General the Athenians having no Enemy to whet their Emulation or Exercise their Martial Courage grew Luxurious and Debauch'd spent their Time and Revenues in publick Festivals and Plays frequented the Stage and Play-Houses more than the Camp and did more extoll their Poets and Orators than their Captains and Generals by which means they lost their Glory and rendred themselves and all Greece and Asia a prey to the Macedonians formerly an obscure people Before we go any further in the History of the Unlawful Amours of Greece it may not be improper to take notice of the ruine of Troy by the Graecians after ten years War upon the account of the Rape of fair Helena from Menelaus a Graecian Prince by Paris Son to Priamus King of Troy This story being known to every School-Boy its needless to insist upon it but we shall only observe that the Lust of Paris occasioned the ruin of that Kingdom and City about the year of the World 2870. after it had stood near 296 years The ruins of that Famous Town are still to be seen near the Mountain Ida about 32 German Miles South of Constantinople upon the Asian side of the Hellespont or strait of the Dardanelles as a Monument of Divine Justice against Whoredom Justin in his 7th Book gives us this Remarkable instance of punishment inflicted upon the Persian Ambassadors for their Lechery viz. That being sent by Magabazus the Persian General to demand Hostages from Amyntas King of Macedonia that Prince received them kindly and the Ambassadors having drank largely in the time of the Feast so as their Lust was inflamed they demanded that they might have the Company of the Kings Wives and Daughters at their entertainment which they said was a Pledge of Hospitality among the Persians The King thinking sit to grant it the Persians began to handle the Women immodestly upon which Alexander Son to King Amyntas desir'd his Father to withdraw from the Banquet because of his Age and Gravity the Prince having done so Alexander a little while after called out the Women pretending that he would bring them back in a better dress that so they might be the more
acceptable to the Persians and in their place brought in as many young Men in Womens Habit with orders to punish the Ambassadors for their lasciviousness and accordingly when they begun to handle them as they had done the Women the young men kill'd every one of the Ambassadors with Swords which they had concealed under their Garments In that same Book we have an instance of an abominable Incestuous Intrigue of Eurydice Wife to another Amyntas King of Macedonia and Nephew to the former who falling in Love with her Son-in-Law upon promise of Marriage undertook to murder her Husband and advance her Gallant to the Throne but was prevented by her Daughter who discovered her Mother's Incest and bloody design yet Amyntas for the Love which he bare to the Children that he had by this wicked Woman spar'd her and the Unnatural Beast after his Death murdered her own Sons Alexander and Perdiccas by him tho' for their sakes he had spared her Life and all this mischief she committed that she might wallow without Interruption in her Impure Lusts In his 9th Book he gives us an account of the death of Philip of Macedon â—ather to Alexander the Great which was occasioned partly by his having Divorc'd Olympias on suspicion of Adultery or with an Adulterous design to marry Cleopatra and partly because he had not executed Judstice upon Attalus for having Committed Sodomy upon Pausanias who frequently complained of it but was always dismiss'd with scorn and therefore watching his Opportunity he stabb'd Philip on the day that he was married to Cleopatra as walking betwixt his own Sons afterwards Alexander the Great and Alexander his Son-in-Law Thus this Great Prince who had Conquer'd many Nations and Countries became a Conquest and Victim to his own Lusts and the Lusts of others and occasioned likewise the death of his Paramour Cleopatra Olympias having first murdered her Daughter and then forc'd Cleopatra to hang her self His 10th Book furnishes us with a very remarkable instance of Artaxerxes King of Persia who had 115 some say 160 Sons by Concubines and three only by Lawfull Marriage for which Incontinence he was punish'd in the following manner his Son Darius being by the Indulgence of Artaxerxes admitted to the Throne while he himself was alive contrary to the Custom of the Persians he ungratefully Conspired against his Father's Life and engaged 49 of his Brethren in the Conspiracy The occasion of this Unnatural Plot was yet more vile than the Plot it self which Justin relates thus Artaxerxes having defeated and killed his Brother Cyrus in the War betwixt them he married Aspasia Cyrus his Concubine and her Darius wou'd have his Father to resign to him as well as his Throne which the Indulgent Father promised to do at first but repenting of it afterwards he made her priestess to the Sun that he might have a fair pretence of denying her to Darius because according to the Persian superstition those of that Office must observe perpetual Chastity Darius taking this as a great affront entred into the Conspiracy as abovementioned which being discovered the Incestuous and Unnatural Traitor with all his Associates their Wives and Children was cut off that there might be no memorial left of such a horrid piece of Villainy Thus was Uncleanness justly punish'd both in Father and Children and this Instance is so much the more remarkable that it fell out but a few years before the overthrow of the Persian Monarchy by Alexander the Great which the Lasciviousness and Effeminacy of the Persians made easy to be effected Our next instance is Alexander the Great who tho' in the height of his Youth and Conquests he obtain'd so much Glory by abstaining from Darius his Beautiful Queen and Daughters who were his Captives yet giving himself afterwards up to Impure Pleasures he hath thereby rendred his Infamy as Immortal as his Fame It 's observed of him by his Historian Curtius that he was always more Famous in War than after Victory and that having broke the Power of the Persian Empire he degenerated into those very Manners or rather Vices which made the Persians such an easie Conquest to him That same Author in his 5th Book gives us an Account that Alexander having staid much longer at Babylon than he did at any other place the Corrupt Manners of the Citizens did more prejudice to the Discipline of his Army than any thing they had met with before that time and indeed the Description that Curtius gives us of the abominable Luxury and Impurity which reign'd in that City is sufficient to convince us that the Empire of which that was the Metropolis or at least the most Renowned and Greatest City was ripe for ruin The words of the Historian are as follow There was nothing more corrupt than the manners of that City and nothing more Accommodated to incite and provoke Voluptuousness and Lust The Parents and Husbands permitted their Wives and Daughters to lie with their Guests provided they gave them a Reward Banquets Revells and Plays were the Chief delights of the Kingâ— and Princes of Persia The Babylonians â—ere wholly giv'n up to Wine Drunkenness and the Consequences of it Their Women when they first came in to their Feasts and Banquets were apparelied modestly enough but in a little time after they threw off their upper Garments and in the last place with modesty be it spoken uncover'd their Nakedness nor was this only the practise of the Common prostitutes but of 〈◊〉 Matrons and married Women who esteem'd such promiscuous dalliance a Great piece of Complaisance and Good breeding with which Debauches says our Author that Army which Conquer'd Asia being glutted for 34 days they had doubtless been rendred very unfit for what they under took afterwards if they had not been Reinforc'd by fresh supplies of uncorrupted men from Macedonia c. Our Author gives us another Instance of the Idleness and Luxury of the Persian Women viz. That when Alexander the Great had received Purple and Macedonian Apparel made by his own Sisters in a Present from home be ordered the same to be Presented to Sysigambis the Mother of Darius with this Complement that if she lik'd them he would surnish her with those who shou'd teach her Grand Daughters to make such which presently drew Tears from the Persian Princess there being nothing reckon'd more dishonourable amongst the Persian Women than to Card and Spin which I take to be the meaning of our Author's words to touch Wool How much this differs from Solomon's Character of a good Houswife and whether the handling of Wool had not been more commendable than such Dissolute Revels as we just now mentioned let the World judge But to return to Alexander the Great After he had with great difficulty and danger past the straits of Susis and taken Persepolis the Royal Residence of the Kings of Persia the Lascivious Inhabitants became Executioners of Divine Justice upon themselves and their Impure City for putting on
those Vile Persons did upon their Accusation cut off his best Friends and became so hatefull to his own Greeks that they talk'd divers times of Revolting and at last Poyson'd him in Babylon amidst his Feasts and Revels which was very Remarkable that he should be Poyson'd there where he had suffered himself and his Army to be first Poysoned by the Vicious Manners of the Persians and thus by his Luxury and Uncleanness he occasioned the Division of that vast Empire which he had rais'd his Great Captains after his Death having each of them erected Monarchies for themselves in those Places where they Govern'd which occasioned the speedier dissolution of the Graecian Monarchy and that it was less taken notice of as not being cemented together under one head so true is it which the Wiseman tells us in the Proverbs That many strong men have been slain and cast down by strange Women nay we may add that Empires and Monarchies have been over-turned by Uncleanness The next remarkable instance we meet with in Justin is that of Dionysius junior the Tyrant of Sicily who was as infamous for Uncleanness as for Cruelty and being expelled by the Inhabitants of Syracusa he was received by those of Locris where having surprizd the Castle he Tyranniz'd also over them Ravish'd the Wives of the Great Men and the young Women before Marriage and would then send them back to their Sweet-hearts The Locrenses being at that time in War with Leophron they vow'd if they came off Conquerers to prostitute their Virgins on the Festival of Venus which having neglected to do Dionysius Circumvented the Citizens thus he advised them in order to perform their Vow to send all their Women with their Richest Apparel to the Temple of Venus and chuse out a hundred of their handsomest Virgins and send them Richly adorn'd to stay a Month in a Brothell-House but beforehand to oblige all their Men by Oath not to touch one of them and likewise to take an Oath that none should be Married 'till all those Virgins were first dispos'd in Marriage The Citizens thinking this a good Contrivance both to absolve themselves from their Oaths and to preserve the Chastity of their Virgins did accordingly Where upon Dionysius sent his Soldiers who dispoiled the Women both of their Honour and Ornaments which so incens'd the Locrenses against him that they likewise drove him out of their City and being received again by the Syracusans he Tyrannized over them in his usual Manner so that they Besieged him and forcing him to lay down the Government he liv'd in Exile at Corinth where he spent his time in Taverns and Bawdy-Houses went in a fordid Habit kept the Meanest and most Rascally Company Jangl'd with Scoundrels and Bawds became a laughing stock to every Body and would walk about in the Shambles to gaze upon the Meat that he was not able to buy and was reduced so low that partly to maintain himself and partly to satisfy his Tyrannical humour he taught a Trivial School and so concluded his Life as Ingloriously as he led it In his 22d book he gives us an Instance of Agathocles another Tyrant of Sicily Son to a Potter who during his youth was a Catamite and as soon as he was of Age became a Common Stallion and a Highwayman but being Valiant and Eloquent he was advanced to Great Commands in the Army and having Committed Adultery with Damasco the General 's Lady he succeeded in his Post after his death and twice attempted the Soveraignty of the Island which at last he obtained yet tho' he was prosperous for a long time and rendered himself Famous by his Victories over the Carthaginians Judgment pursued him at last that he was forc'd to flee from Africk where his two Sons were put to death by the fury of his Enemies and being himself taken with a grievous Disease his Son and Grandson made War upon one another for the Crown wherein the latter succeeded so that Agathocles was forc'd on his Death-Bed to send his Wife and two young Children to Egypt lest they should be cut off by his Grandson and in this Afflicted and Disconsolate Condition he ended his days so true has it always been found that Whoremongers and Adulterers God will Judge In his 24th Book he gives us the History of the Incestuous Amour of Ptolemy Ceraunus King of Macedonia with his Sister and the fatal Consequence of it to them both Ptolemy having a mind to Usurp the Kingdom from her two Sons and to possess himself of her fine City of Cassandria pretended Love to her and that he had no other design in desiring her to Wife but to make her a Queen and that her Children should succeed him and because she her self and her Son Ptolemy suspected him he swore to the Sincerity of his Intentions upon the Altar in Jupiter's Temple whereupon that Incestuous Marriage was contracted and his Sister now his Wife Arsinoe being overjoy'd at her new Title of Queen invited the King her Husband to her City of Cassandria where all things were prepar'd to receive him with the utmost Magnificence and she order'd her Sons to meet him with Crowns on their Heads He Received and Embrac'd them with much seeming Affection but as soon as he came to the Gate of the City he ordered them both to be kill'd and the Castle to be seiz'd their Mother endeavouring in vain to cover them in her Arms and preserve them After this Tragedy as a Just punishment for her consenting to such an Incestuous Marriage she went in Exile to Samothraeia and Ptolemy in a little time after fell by the Sword of the Gauls who cut off his Head and fix'd it upon a Lance. In his 26th Book we have the Story of Aristotimus Tyrant of Epirus who having kill'd and banish'd many of the Nobility The Aetolians who entertained the Exiles sent Ambassadors to demand the Wives and Children of the banished which Aristotimus pretended to grant and as the Matrons had assembled together to go to their Husbands he sent and spoiled them of their Apparrel threw them in Prison kill'd the Infants in the Arms of their Mothers and Ravish'd the Virgins which so incens'd the people against him that under the Conduct of Helematus an old man they Conspir'd against him and cut him off In the Close of that Book he gives us an Account of the Incest of Demetrius King of Macedonia with his Mother-in-Law Arsinoe Queen of Cyrene who had sent for him on purpose to Marry her Daughter and enjoy that Crown but being her self taken with his Beauty she entertained an Incestuous Commerce with him which did so much provoke her Daughter and the people that by her Daughters order he was slain in her Mother s Bed the Incestuous and Impudent Woman endeavouring to preserve him by covering him with her own Body In the 28th Book he likewise gives an Account of a War betwixt Antiochus King of Syria and Demetrius King of Macedonia
Athens but there are divers more observable Particulars as to that matter in his Life written by Plutarch tho' he was continually attended by that excellent person Socrates whose wholsome Instructions had much Influence upon him yet all his Philosophy was not able to reform him We find him accus'd when a Boy of a Suspicion of being a Catamite his Wife Hipparete a virtuous Lady and one that lov'd him entirely abandon'd him at last because of his multitude of Whores and su'd for a Divorce from him but when she presented her self before the Magistrate for that end Alcibiades retook her again by Force He is accus'd of being Luxurious in his Eating Drinking and Amours and was much despis'd by the Athenians because instead of their usual Ensigns upon his Shield he had a Cupid painted upon it with a Thunderbolt in his Hand Aristophon the Painter drew him sitting in the Curtesan Nemea's Arms which much displeas'd the graver Athenians While he was an Exile at Sparta he debauch'd the Wife of Agis King of Lacedemon and had a Son by her And 't is observable that the cause of his being banish'd from his own Country and condemn'd to Death was his having perform'd the debauch'd Mysteries of the Eleusina Sacra by way of Mockery The Injury he did to Agis King of Lacedemon made him unsafe there so that he fled for Security to Tisaphernes the Persian General In a word his whole Life was a continued Series of remarkable Ups and Downs And his Death was no less remarkable the Historian giving us an Account of it in this manner viz. That having retir'd to a small Village in Phrygia with one Timandra a Mistress of his he was at the instance of the Lacedemonians attack'd in his House by some Barbarians who setting it on fire he with much ado escap'd thro' the Flames and was at last slain by their Darts his Mistress Timandra having buried him with as much Decency as her Circumstances would allow Thus did Alcibiades fall ingloriously by his Lusts who had done so many Great and Glorious Actions in the World We have already touch'd upon the Judgments which pursued Dionysius the Lustful Tyrant of Sicily for his Uncleanness but meeting with a further Instance of it in the Life of Timoleon it is thought proper to take notice of it here in the words of Plutarch viz. That all the Mischiefs and Vexations of his former Reign were abundantly repaid and outdone by those Evils and Calamities which he then suffer'd for he liv'd to see the Funerals of his Sons in the prime of their Age the Rapes of his Daughters in the Flower of their Virginity and the Prostitution of his own Sister that became his Wife who being first villanously treated and her Person expos'd to all the Lust and Lewdness of the common Souldiery she was afterwards murder'd together with her Children and their Bodies cast into the Sea Thus was Dionysius punish'd as we may say in Specie for his Lust and Cruelty In the Life of Pelopidas we find this remarkable Passage concerning Archias the Tyrant of Thebes who having render'd himself odious to the People by his Oppression and sent many of them into Exile some of the Chief of those Exiles contriv'd his Ruine under the Conduct of Pelopidas thus Philidas who was Secretary to Archias having invited him and some others to an Entertainment to drink freely and accompany some married Whores he was so much taken up with his Cups and the Expectation of his Female Guests that tho' he had a Letter sent him discovering the Plot against his Life and deliver'd with this Message That it contain'd Matters of Concern and therefore 't was necessary he should read it he answer'd Matters of Concern to morrow And as he was carrousing thus Charon and Molon two of the Conspirators having put on Women's Apparel over their Armour and thick Garlands of Firr and Pine to shade their Faces in this manner came to the Door upon which Archion and his Guests gave an Huzza thinking they had been the lewd Women that they expected but were quickly undeceiv'd and had their Hearts pierced by the Conspirators Swords at the same time when they were pierced with the Darts of raging Lust And thus Thebes was deliver'd from Tyranny In that same Life we have an Account how Divine Justice pursued Alexander the Tyrannical King of Pherea for his Brutish Lust His Wife Thebe Daughter to Jason being enrag'd at him for his Debaucheries and particularly for abusing her younger Brother to his Lust she contriv'd his Death thus She hid her three Brothers in a Room near to his Bedchamber all the other Apartments being fâ—ll of the Tyrant's Night-guards before his Chamber there lay a fierce Dog cham'd which would flye at all but the Tyrant â— Wâ—fe and a Servant that fed him Wâ—â—n Night came Thebe went in alone to his Chamber according to the usual Custom and finding him asleep came out again commanded the Servant to lead away the Dog for the King would take some Rest and then covering the Stairs with Wool brought up her Brothers into his Chamber where they kill'd him and throwing out his Carcass it was trod under foot in great Contempt by the Phereans In the Life of Marcus Caâ—o the Censor we find that the grave Romans thought that not so much as a Marriage or a Night's Lodging for the Procreation of Children nay not a Feast or Drinking-bout ought to be permitted according to every one's Fancy without being censur d and enquir'd into and therefore they chose two Persons one out of the Patricians the other out of the Commons who were to watch correct and punish if any one ran too much after Voluptuousness and therefore Cato tho' he met with much Opposition because of his Severity was prefer'd to that Imployment and the first remarkable thing which we find perform'd by him in that Office was the Expulsion of Lucius Quintus from the Senate because he had to please a Boy whom he kept as a Catamite order'd a condemn'd Person to be executed before him at a Feast He did also throw Manitius out of the Senate because in the presence of his Daughter and in open Day he was a little too sweet upon his own Wife The People were so well pleased with his Behaviour in his Imployment that they erected a Statue for him in the Temple of the Goddess of Health with the following Inscription That this was Cato the Censor who by his good Discipline and Ordinances reclaim'd the Roman Commonwealth when 't was declining and supinely tumbling into Vice Yet we find that this very Man so faâ—ous for the Severity and Uprightness of his Manners not improving that Knowledge which God had given him was overcome by his Lusts even in his Old-age for Plutarch says that in his old days when he was past a Lover's Years he made use of Women and particularly of a young Wench who came privately to him which being discover d
by his Son who took Offence thereat the old Man in revenge married a young Woman Daughter to Salonius his own Clark and when his Son ask'd him the reason of it he answer'd him soft and fair Good Son I desire to have many Children and to leave the Commonwealth more such Citizens as thou art In the Life of Pyrrhus we have an Account that his multiplying of Wives with a design to enlarge his Interest had not the happy Effect which he propos'd to himself by it for Lanassa one of his Wives took so great Offence at his Inclination to the rest that she deserted him and married Demetrius King of Macedonia and by that means kindled a War betwixt him and Pyrrhus In that same Life we do also find that Pyrrhus was invited against Sparta by Cleonymus one of the Chief Men there because his Wife Chelidonis falling desperately in Love with Aerotatus that Youngster dishonour'd his Bed and therefore to revenge himself for the Injury he brought Pyrrhus with a great Army against Sparta which occasion'd a great deal of Bloodshed and endanger'd the City however Pyrrhus did not succeed in his Design against it as if Providence would let him see that he was no fit Person to revenge an Injury done to the Marriage Bed who was so very guilty of that same Crime himself and at last he fell by the Hands of a Woman who seeing him engag'd with her Son in the Streets of Argos threw a Tile upon him from the top of an House which made him fall from his Horse and a common Souldier did afterwards cut off his Head In the Life of Sylla we have this Account of him That he us'd to sit on a Chair of State amongst beautiful Women Mimicks Fidlers and such-like Rascally People on whom he squander'd away the Revenues of whole Countries and Cities bestowing on some of them Ladies in Marriage against their Will so as his Gratuities were much more intolerable than his Usurpations He kept company with Actors Actresses and Minstrels drinking with 'em Night and Day He also indulg'd himself in Unnatural Lust with Men particularly Metrobius the Woman-actor But behold the just Judgment of God upon him These lascivious Courses brought him into a Disease which made his Bowels to fester so that at last the corrupted Flesh broke forth into Lice in such prodigious quantities that all the Hands he could employ were not able to destroy 'em so that his Clothes Beds Basons and Meat was polluted with that Contagion He went often into the Baths by day to scoure and cleanse his Body but all in vain the course return'd so quick and with such numerous Supplys as overcame all manner of Riddance so that in fine he who had led an unclean Life dy'd of an abominable and unclean Disease In the Life of Câ—â—non Plutarch tells us that he was lewd and vicious accuses him of Incest with his own Sister and other unclean Practices and at last he died of a Wound as some Authors say which he receiv'd from the Barbarians in a Skirmish his Impurity having fix d a â—â—â—petual stain upon him which all his great Actions could never wipe off In that same Life we meet with a remarkable Passage concerning Pausanias the Lacedemonian who having sollicited a young Lady of Constantinople call'd Cleonice to debauch her her Friends dreading the Power of the Tyrant were forc'd to abandon her to him Cleonice commanded the Servants to put out all the Lights and approaching his Bed silently in the dark she stumbled upon the Lamp which she overturn'd and spilt Pausanias being awak'd by the noise and thinking it had been some Assassin to attack him snatch'd up his Poinard and wounded her mortally after which he never enjâ—y'd himself but was disturb'd in his Thoughts and haunted by her Ghost so that he never had Success in any thing afterwards and was at last slain by order of the Senate in Miâ—â—â—va's Temple whither he had sled for Refuge In the Life of Lucullus we find that there was a stop put to the Careir of his good Fortune and Glory chiefly by means of Clodius his Wife's Brother who was so unnatural a Villain as to commit Adultery and Incest with his own Sister Clodia Lucullus's Wife and stirring up the Fimbrian Army against Lucullus prevented his further Conquests Lucullus himself returning to Rome gave himself up to all manner of Luxury and was at last depriv'd of his Senses by a Philtre or Amorous Potion giv'n him by Callisthenes his Freeman to endear him to himself so that this Great Man was not only ruin'd by the Lasciviousness of himself and others but a stop was thereby put to the Roman Conquests which had otherwise says our Author not been bounded by the Euphrates but by the uttermost parts of the Earth and the Hyrcanian Sea In the Life of Pompey the Great we find that famous General accus'd of unchaste Amours with Flora the Courtesan whom he afterwards resign'd to his Friend Geminius upon which she languish'd and died We find likewise that Sylla to gain over this Great Man to his Party perswaded him to put away his Wife Antistia and to marry Aemilia Daughter-in-law to Sylla who was at that time Wife to another Man by whom she was big with Child This unlawful Marriage was soon after punish'd in part for Antistius Father to Antistia was murder'd in the Senate as a Favourer of Sylla for Pompey's sake and her Mother upon this account made away with her self These were the Tragedies that attended that unhappy Marriage says Plutarch and that there might be nothing wanting to compleat the last Act by Heav'ns even Aemilia her self not long after died at Pompey's in Child-bed These things were the more inexcusable in Pompey because we find that he delighted much in the discovery of Weaknesses of the same Nature in Mithridates when he seiz'd his secret Writings wherein amongst other things he found abundance of wanton Love-Letters betwixt Mithridates and his Concubine Monune He might have taken Warning one would think of the Judgments that pursued Mithridates for his Intemperance seeing when all his Concubines were brought before Pompey he could not but perceive the abominable Crimes into which his lustful Temper had hurried him headlong for most of his Concubines were either the Daughters or Wives of Princes and great Commanders except it was one whom they call'd Stratonice who was Daughter to a Musician and having pleas'd Mithridates by singing before him at a Banquet his lustful Passion was so much rais'd that he immediately took her to Bed with him and in the Morning presented her Father who grumbl'd that he had taken his Daughter without speaking one kind Word to himself with many rich and costly Presents and the Estate of a Nobleman lately deceas'd whereupon the old Fellow was so much transported that putting on his Purple Robes and mounting his Horse he rode through the City crying out All this is mine and so became the Herauld
of his own as well as of Mithridates's Folly and to those that laugh'd at him for the same he said There was no such Wonder in this but rather that he did not throw Stones at all he met he was so much beside himself with Joy Another Piece of Vengeance that pursued Pompey and wherein he might read his Crime in his Punishment was That his Wife Mutia during his absence had dishonour'd his Bed at which he was so nettl'd that he sent her a Bill of Divorce Pompey in pursuit of his Amorous Inclination did likewise commit a piece of notorious Injustice in marrying Julia Daughter to Caesar who had been affianced before and was to be married within a few days to Caepio and to appease Caepio's Anger married his own Daughter to him who had formerly been espoused to Faustus the Son of Sylla Pompey was so much besotted with his Love to Julia that he created abundance of Envy to himself by committing the Government of his Provinces and Legions into the Hands of his Friends as his Lieutenants whilst he himself wantonly rambl'd up and down caressing his Wife throughout all the Delicacies of Italy but he was soon depriv'd of her for she dy'd in Child-bed her Daughter not outliving her many days He afterwards married Cornelia Daughter to Metellius Scipio and Relict of Publius the Son of Crassus a young Lady of great Quality Beauty and Education but this Marriage was very unpleasing to some People who thought that she was a Match more agreeable to his Son and were angry that the Affairs of the City lay neglected while he from whom they expected a Cure to their Distractions went crown'd with Garlands and was revelling in his Nuptial Feasts It 's observable that at the very last his Fondness towards this young Lady and his Fear that her Beauty might expose her to some Dishonour amongst the Parthians was the chief Argument that prevail'd with him not to have recourse thither where in all probability he might have been able to renew the War and recover his Glory after his Defeat in the Pharsalian Plains so that resolving to sail for Egypt and intrust himself with Ptolomy he was by Advice of that young King's Council barbarously and inhumanly murder'd as going ashore in a Boat in order as he thought to a favourable Reception the distressed Cornelia and his Friends beholding this lamentable Tragedy from on board the Vessels where they were Thus fell this Great Man to which it cannot be denied that his Amorous and Sensual Temper did highly contribute Not that I would be understood positively to assert that Uncleanness was the sole procuring Cause of those Tragical Disasters that befel the great Man and others whom I have mention'd or shall mention in the course of this History it being enough for my Design to prove that it was always one of the visible Causes and that it makes good the Assertion of the Wise Man in the Proverbs where speaking of the Harlot or strange Woman in general he says That many strong Men have been slain by her of which there is not a more speaking and demonstrable Instance than this of Pompey who had triumph'd over Asia Africa and Europe and yet was himself a Captive and Subject of Triumph to his own Lusts In the Life of Cato the younger who was not only a great Pretender to Virtue but compar'd with his Contemporaries a glorious Mirror of it We find that he had no true Notions of the Honour of the Marriage Bed nor any just Idea of Chastity as is apparent from the following Instance Quintus Hortensius whom Plutarch calls a Man of singular Worth and approved Virtue propos'd to Cato That his Daughter Porcia who was already married to Bibulus and had already born him two Children might be given to him as a fruitful Field from which he might raise an Offspring For said he tho' this in the Opinion of Men may seem strange yet in Nature it would be honest and profitable for the Publick that a Woman in the prime of her Youth should not lye useless and lose the Fruit of her Womb Nor on the other side would it be convenient she should burthen and impoverish one Man by bringing him too many Children Also by this Communication of Families among worthy Men Virtue would encrease and be diffus'd thro' their Posterity and the Commonwealth would be united and cemented by their Alliances Yet if Bibulus would not part with his Wife altogether he would restore her as soon as she had brought him a Child whereby he might be united to both their Families Cato answer'd That he lov'd Hortensius very well and did much approve of uniting their Houses but he thought it very strange to speak of marrying his Daughter who was already given to another Then Hortensius turning the Discourse acknowledg'd that ' t was Cato ' s own Wife which he desir'd for she was young and fruitful and he had already Children enough To which Cato agreed with the Consent of his Wife Martia and her Father Philip and after the Death of Hortensius took her again for which Caesar reproach'd him as having a mercenary design in his Marriage saying If Cato had need of a Wife why did he part with her And if he had not why did he take her again unless he gave her only as a Bait to Hortensius and lent her when she was young to have her again when she was rich It 's plain from this Instance that Cato was guilty of countenancing Impurity in others if he was not actually guilty of it himself and seeing he was unwilling to take his Daughter from Bibulus and yet as willing to gratifie Hortensius by parting with his own Wife it would argue that he was weary of her and that he would make no Scruple to use other Women seeing he allow'd her to give up her self into the Embraces of another Man But now it remains that we should take notice of the Judgments which pursued this great Man of which without breach of Charity we may look upon this Crime amongst others to have been one of the procuring Causes It 's known to every one that he follow'd Pompâ—y and adher'd to him against Caesar and that after Pompey's Defeat he retir'd to Vtica where having no hopes of retrieving his desperate Affairs he deliberately murder'd himself from which Design all the Endeavours of his Friends were not able to divert him And thus the Divine Vengeance made him the Executioner of Justice upon himself which he ought to have suffer'd by the hands of others for that brutish and unnatural Carriage to his Wife In the Life of Demetrius Poliorcetes we have an account that when this great Prince laid Siege to Megara he was so far transported with a Lustful Passion for Cratesipoliâ— the Widow of Poliperchon a Lady of greater Beauty than Virtue that leaving his Army he went to make her a Visit with two or three of his Intimates but when he came
she was frequently visited and this gave Terentia Ground of Jealousie Clodius was also accus'd of Incest with his own Sisters and of deflowring several other Women but the Judges being brib'd he was acquitted It appears also plainly enough by Plutarch that Cicero himself was not altogether without Blame as to his Chastity for he put away his Wife Terentia to marry a young Virgin as she alledg'd for the sake of her Beauty or as his own emancipated Slave said for her Riches to satisfie his Debts Not long after this Marriage his Daughter Tullia died for which he prov'd unconsolable and put away his new-married Wife for seeming to rejoyce at her Death but a further Judgment pursu'd him for Antony bearing him an irreconcilable Hatred sent Assassins after him when he fled from Rome and murder'd him in the 64th Year of his age his Hands and Head being cut off and publickly affix'd to the Rostra at Rome In the Life of Artaxerxes King of Persia our Author informs us That that Prince being desperately in love with Atossa one or his own Daughters but concealing his Criminal Passion for fear of his Mother Parysatis the wicked Woman to further some of her own mischievous Designs perswaded him to marry her contrary to the Determinations of the Grecian Sages alledging That he was determin'd by Providence to be a Law to the Persians and he is also accus'd by Heraclides the Cumean and other Historians of having likewise married his second Daughter Amestris The Judgments which pursu'd this lascivious Prince were that he was defeated in his War with the Egyptians and became contemptible in the Eyes of his Subjects upon the account of his unsuccessful Expedition against the Cadusians He was also punish'd by the Controversies amongst his Sons about the Succession and by the unnatural and villainous Amours of his Son Ochus with his Wife Atossa therefore to dash the Hopes of his Son Ochus he proclaim'd Darius the elder Brother his Successor who soon after begg'd of the King that he would give him Aspasia who was formerly Cyrus's beloved Miss but then Concubine to Artaxerxes who tho' he had Three hundred and Sixty most exquisite Beauties in his Seraglio could not endure to part with Aspasia to Darius but being constrain'd to it by the Law he afterwards took her from him and created her Priestess to Diana which bound her to perpetual Chastity upon which account the unnatural Son conspir'd against his Father at the Instance of Tiribazus who bore a mortal Grudge to Artaxerxes for having married his own Daughter Amestris whom he had promis'd him to Wife but the Plot being discover'd Darius was put to death as a just Recompence for his unnatural Lust and Treason After this Ochus by his Interest with Atossa was strengthen'd in his Hopes of Succession found Means to cut off his other two Brothers Ariaspes and Arsames the Grief of which kill'd Artaxerxes And thus was he justly punish'd by and in his own Children because of his horrid Uncleanness leaving his Son Ochus behind who being the wicked Son of a wicked Parent prov'd a Monster of Cruelty Thus we have finish'd Plutarch's select Lives and dare referr it to the Judgment of the Ingenuous Reader whether many of his Heroes have not been foully culpable as to the point of Chastity and as remarkably punish'd for the same We come in the next place to search among the Roman Emperors where we find many remarkable Instances for our purpose and as remarkable Judgments pursuing ' em The first is Julius Caesar who tho' he triumph'd over most part of the then known World yet was himself triumph'd over by his Lusts When he was High-Priest of Jupiter he divorc'd Cossutia a Lady of an Equestrian Family and of a very great Fortune to whom he had been contracted during his Minority and married Cornelia the Daughter of Cinna Nor could all the Arguments of Sylla the Dictator prevail upon him to part with her Whereupon he was suspended his Sacerdotal Dignity and had his Estate sequestred which forc'd him to abscond and shift his Quarters almost every Night tho' sick of a Quartan Ague and with much ado obtain'd his Pardon at last Being thus unfaithful to the Marriage-bed he was punish'd in the same Coin for having afterwards married Pompeia she was accus'd of Uncleanness with Clodius as has been already mention'd who had access to her during publick Worship whereupon he divorc'd her The Lasciviousness of his Mind may be also guessed at by his Dream that he had ravish'd his own Mother which tho' those who pretended to interpret such things told him That it was a Presage that he should arrive at the Vniversal Monarchy yet is a plain Indication of the predominancy of his Lust Suetonius also acquaints us That he divorc'd his Daughter Julia from Servilius Coepio her former Husband one who had stuck the fastest to him of all Men living in his Dispute with Bibulus his Fellow-Consul and married her to Pompey which made him guilty of his Daughter's Adultery and was a horrid piece of Ingratitude at the same time And tho' it 's true he had great Success in his War against the Gauls Germans and Britains yet he was not without Checks from Divine Justice having lost a whole Legion by the Gauls had two of his Lieutenants defeated on the Frontiers of Germany and lost the greatest part of his Fleet upon the Coasts of Britain And in his own Family he was punish'd by the Death of his Mother his Daughter Julia and his Grand-daughter Nor was he without danger of being indicted and tâ—y'd for his Life for his Male-administration during his Consulship and of being utterly ruin'd by Pompey tho' he had the good Fortune to overcome him at last in that decisive Battel on the Pharsalian Plains Suetonius gives us a particular Enumeration of his Amours which have spread his Infamy as far as ever his Fame reach'd His being a Catamite and guilty of Sodomy with Nicomedes King of Bythinia occasion'd many Railleries upon him and expos'd him to the Contempt of his Enemies as when he swagger'd one day in the Senate and said He would run down his Adversaries they reply'd that He would find that an hard Task for a Woman alluding to his being prostituted by Nicomedes They call'd him also The Queen of Bythinia ' s Cuckoldmaker the Bawdyhouse of Bythinia and Nicomedes ' s Stable His Adversary Bibulus said of him when he proscrib'd him That formerly he affected a King but now a Kingdom Octavius a prating Fellow whose Tongue usually got the start of his Wit did one day before a great company when he saluted Pompey by the Name of King give Caesar the Title of Queen Cicero upbraided him with those things in his Epistles and when Caesar in his Plea before the Senate for Nisa Daughter to the said Nicomedes insisted upon the good Offices that King had done him Cicero cut him short saying No more of that let me
had been to be sold in open Market There was also a Story flew about of him of a private Supper which he made vulgarly call'd The Supper of the twelve Gods at what time the Guests sate down in the Habits of Gods and Goddesses he himself representing Apollo upon which the following Verses were made viz. Cum primum istorum conduxit mensa Choragum Sexque Deos vidit Mallia sexque Deas Impia dum Phoebi Caesar mendacia ludit Dum nova divorum caenat Adulteria Omnia se à Terris tunc Numina declinarunt Fugit Auratos Jupiter ipse Thronos In English thus Soon as the Vestments for the Feasts were hir'd Six Gods six Goddesses themselves attir'd In Mallia ' s view And impious Caesar nothing would suffice But Phoebus Shape and under that disguise Th' Aduâ—teries of the Gods to act anew But then the Gods withdrew From Sights on Earth they could not brook And Jove himself their gilded Thrones forsook Thus we see this great and excellent Emperor who was in a manner ador'd and admir'd by all Men could not with all his Magnificence and Bounty and the Fame of his other Actions wipe off that indelible Stain which those Impurities had fix'd upon his Memory so infallibly true is it what Solomon hath said of the Adulterer That a Wound and a Dishonour he shall get and his Reproach shall not be wip'd away The next Instance is that of Tiberius Caesar who to comply with the Emperor Augustus divorc'd his Wife Agrippina who had born him a Son and was then big with Child to marry Julia Daughter to the said Emperor much against his Inclination This Marriage as it was unlawful did justly prove uncomfortable so that some time after the Death of his Son by Julia there arose such a Difference betwixt them that from that minute he forbore the use of her Bed and she being convicted of Adulteries a Divorce was drawn up against her in his Name and sent him by Augustus After this Tiberius retir'd to Capraea where he gave himself up to Drink and Lust insomuch that he was call'd Biberius instead of Tiberius and Mero instead of Nero and was waited on at Meals by Wenches There he invented Alcoves which he furnish'd with Whores and Catamites and lewd Discoverers of unnatural and beastly Postures and Motions and those he call'd Spinctriae the Incendiaries of his Lust He entertain'd himself by seeing them in three several rows abusing each other thereby to excite his decay'd Appetite He provided likewise several Chambers hung about with filthy Pictures and infamous Statues and furnish'd them with the abominable Books of Elephantis that if any one had a mind to be prodigiously wicked he might not want a Pattern to sin by He invented also in the Woods Walks and Grottoes proper for the business of Debauchery where young People of both Sexe prostituted themselves in the Masquerades oâ— Nymphs and Satyrs so that in allusion to the Island and his beastly Lustfulness he was publickly derided by the Name Caprinaeus One incredible piece of Debauchery he was guilty of viz. that he debauch'd young Children yet in ignorance calling them his little Fry teaching them to play between his Thighs while he swam to lick and tongue and suck him like Infants not yet weaned It is also storied of him that when a piece of Parrhasius's Work representing Atalanta offering her Mouth in that manner to Mâ—lcager was left him for a Legacy with condition that if he fancied not the Design he should receive in lieu thereof a Million of Sesterces he not only chose the Picture but placed it in his very Bed-chamber And one time when he was performing Sacrifice he was so seiz'd with a Fit of this unnatural Passion towards the Boy that carried the Censor that he could scarce restrain himself till the Sacrifice was over and as soon as that was done he debauch'd both that Boy and his Brother and hearing that they upbraided one another with that Ignominy afterwards he order'd both their Leggs to be broken He was wont to abuse Women and those of Quality too very unnaturally as was evident in the Case of Mallonia who being brought him by his Panders and resolutely withstanding his Brutish Desires was cited before him upon the Depositions of suborn'd Witnesses where he ask'd her openly if she did not yet repent of her coy Refusal and rex'd her so that she at last went out of Court and stabb'd her self having before-hand sufficiently reproach'd the old Goatish Lecher with his nasty and obscene Mouth upon which in the next Farce a severe Reflection was made upon him which took mightily and was in every-body's Mouth the Expression was thus The old He-goat â—icks the Pudenda of the She-goats Such Practises must necessarily be thought to render him odious and therefore he kept in his Retirement as not daring to venture himself among the People yet Justice found him out our Author gives us an Account that Caius was suppos'd to have given him Poyson which wrought upon him by degrees others say that they starv'd him and some that he was stifled with a Pillow in the 78th year of his age The next that falls under our Consideration is Caligula of whom Suetonius gives us this following Account viz. That during his Youth he spent Nights in haunting Brothel-houses and meeting upon Adulterous Assignations disguis'd in a Perruque and a long Gown and was most passionately addicted to Dancing Singing and all the Alurements of the Stage with every one of his Sisters he was incestuously familiar and at all his Entertainments they were placed next below him by turns while his Wife sate at the upper end of the Table Among the rest he is reported to have debauch'd Drusilla while he was yet but a Youth and was once taken a-Bed with her by his Grandmother Antonia soon after being married to Lucius Cassius Longinus he took her away from him by force and liv'd with her as if she had been his Wife and after her Death it was his usual Oath to swear by Drusilla's Deity As for his other Sisters he did not love them so passionately but did frequently prostitute them to his Ganimedes which afforded him a more easie Opportunity to condemn them in the Case of Aemilius Lepidus of whom he was afraid for Adultery As to his Marriages he contracted and dissolv'd 'em with equal Ignominy Upon the very day that Livia Orestilla was married to C. Piso he being present at the Wedding commanded her to be brought home to his Palace as his own Wife but within a few days turn'd her off again and two years after banish'd her pretending that she had convers'd privately with her Husband in the mean time Others report That being invited to the Nuptial Supper as he sate over against Piso he sent one to whisper in his Ear these words Forbear to lie with my Wife and presently after rising from the Table led her home along with him and
to debauch the same Day and happy he that entertain'd him who could could come off for Ten thousand Crowns at one sitting But above all the rest the most famous Supper was that which was made him by his Brother to welcome him to the City at which time as 't was reported no less than Two thousand Dishes of Fish and Seven thousand of Fowl all Rarities in season were brought to the Table Only he himself exceeded this Festival at the Dedication of his great Platter which by reason of its extraordinary size he call'd The Buckâ—â—r of Minerva This Platter he fill'd with an Oglio consisting of the Livers of Thorn-backs the Brains of Phesants and Peacocks the Tongues of Phaenicopters and the milky Guts of Mullets for which the Bowels of the Ocean were ransack'd from the Carpaâ—hian Sea to the Streights of Spain by the Masters of the Roman Ships and Galleys His Appetite was so insatiable and bottomless and withal so unseasonable and sordid that whether he were upon a Journey or offering Sacrifice he could not forbear from snatching the Flesh of the Victim and the parch'd Barley from the Altars nor from tearing the Victuals from the Cooks Stalls in the Streets whether steaming hot or of yesterdays dressing and the Leavings of others But this lustful and luxurious Emperor becoming hateful to every body he was every where either vanquish'd or betray'd and at last seiz'd in the Porter's Lodge of his own Palace whence he was dragg'd ignominiously through the Sâ—reets by the Hair with his Garments all torn and at last brought to the Scalae Gemoniae or common place of Execution where by gently stabbing him with small pricks at a time they tortur'd him to death by degrees and thence dragg'd along with an Hook they flung his mortified Carcass into the Tiber. As for the Emperor Titus and his Son Vespatian they were not without Blame as to the Point of Chastity and tho' their Exits were not tragical like those of the preceding Monsters yet they were not without their Troubles and Reproaches as just Punishments for their inordinate Passions Suetonius says of Vespatian That he had a great number of Concubines after the death of Coenis one of which lay by him all the while of his Repose And that being persecuted by a certain Curtesan who pretended to be ready to die for Love of him he at length yielded to her Embraces and gave her Four hundred Sesterces out of his own private Purse which he order'd his Steward to place to his Account thus viz. To Vespasian for being belov'd That same Historian observes of him that he was much given to Drolling and that sometimes so broad and scurrilously that he could hardly refrain from Obscenity He died of a sudden Looseness as a just Punishment for his loose Life of which the indelible Stain is convey'd to Posterity by Suetonius and other Historians His Son Vespatian is accus'd of sitting up till midnight revelling with the lewdest of his Companions and that his Lechery was notorious by his Gangs of Catamites and Eunuchs and the excessive Love he bore to the Queen Berenice Upon the whole he was generally esteem'd and talk'd of as another Nero but after he came to the Empire he reform'd himself turn'd off his Paramour Berenice and all his Catamites and became one of the most excellent Princes that ever sway'd the Roman Scepter Yet so far hath the Divine Justice punish'd his Incontinence that the Infamy of it is transmitted to Posterity upon Record and he was cut off in a manner in the Vigor of his Age being but in his 41st Year when he died And of this Misfortune he was very sensible the Historian telling us that he look'd up toward Heaven bitterly complaining that his Life was wrongfully taken from him for he had been guilty of no Action of which he need repent excepting one only which what it was he neither then declar'd himself nor could it be easily guess'd by any one else tho' some were of Opinion that 't was his Familiarity with his Brother's Wife Domitia but she swore positively there was no such thing and she would not have denied it had it been true but rather have gloried in it which it was usual for her to do of any kind of Lewdness But thus his Memory and Fame justly suffers because of his former Intemperance The following Instance is that of Domitian who was infamous from his very Youth Nero produc'd a Note under his Hand when he was a young Man wherein he had promised him a Nights Lodging at any time and he is also accus'd of having prostituted his Body to Nerva He divorc'd his Wife Domitia on pretence that she was in Love with one Paris a Stage-player and afterwards took her again Being greatly addicted to Venery he call'd frequent Coition his Bed-wrestling as if it had been a kind of Exercise and it is reported of him that he would often smooth and depilate his Concubines and swim amongst the most notorious Harlots When his Brother's Daughter was offer'd him in Marriage he would by no means accept of her as being engag'd in Wedlock with Domitilla but not long after when she was married to another he debauch'd her of his own accord tho' Titus was then alive but when her Father and Husband were dead he lov'd her with a most passionate Affection which he own'd before all the World insomuch that after he had got her with Child he forc'd her to miscarry which was the occasion of her death This vile Prince being justly hated for his Cruelty and Debauchery was kill'd in his own Chamber by those that conspir'd against him Stephanus Domitilla's Steward having stabb'd him with a Dagger in the Groin as he was reading a Paper which he had given him pretending it was a Discovery of a new Plot. And the Memory of this Emperor was so execrable to the Senate that they order'd all his Decrees and Titles to be every where ras'd out and the very Memory of him utterly abolish'd so infallibly true hath it always been found that Whoremongers and Adulterers God will punish Thus we have gone through such Instances as Livy and Suetonius afford us and must now have recourse to other Authors for the remainder of the Roman Emperors The next we shall instance is the Emperor L. Aurelius Commodus Antoninus who was elevated to the Imperial Dignity about the Year of Christ 180. From his very Infancy he was bent to all sorts of Vice notwithstanding the Care of the wise Philosophers who had the conduct of his Manners so that Rome found in him a second Nero. He would needs pass for Hercâ—les Son to Jupiter appear'd as he did with the Lions Skin and Club and would have Altars and Sacrifices which the Senate consented to rather than they would irritate his furious nature He murder'd most of the Senators was a severe Persecuter of the Christians debauch'd his own Sisters and entertained three hundred Concubines and