his house and knew not what to do requested their helpes and councell All his flatterers forsooke him sauing one Callias a true and faithfull friend of Alcibiades of whom Alcibiades would say Callias instar omnium Notwithstanding this Alcibiades could flatter his vncle Pericles yet being a young youth asked his vncle Pericles why he sighed so often and seemed so sad because said Pericles I must yeeld an accompt to the Athenians for much money which I receiued to build vp a porch to Mineruaes Temple Rather said Alcibiades muse how you may not giue an accompt and be merry and make much of your selfe Too few like Pericles that thinke how much they are indebted to God to build his Church and to maintaine his Seruice and too many like Alcibiades carelesse of the Church though they liue by the Church and haue honour and dignitie from the Church But let the Church be tossed on surging waues of seas that cannot be remoued yet shee standeth sure and certaine vpon a rocke though many Palinures were drowned and lay dead vpon the sands that had no great care neither to gouerne nor to be gouerned by the Church and yet they will sit in Moyses chaire Saul could dissemble with Dauid and Absalon with the people of Israel and the latter Iewes were such dissemblers and hypocrites that Christ called the Scribes and the Pharises hidden hypocrites and false dissemblers the Church were euer full of such hypocrites A Romane Gentleman told Alexader Seuerus that hee was agreeued to see his Court so pestered with dissemblers and hypocrites and said I will find out a place to dwell where no hypocrites be the Emperour said where wilt thou goe where no dissemblers be thou must goe beyond the Sauromates and the frosen seas and yet when thou commest thither thou shalt find hypocrites and dissemblers And though Achilles in Homer exclaimeth out against such dissemblers and say that he hateth them worse thē hel it selfe that haue two tongues the one in their mouth the other in their harts Qui aliud sentiunt aliud loquuntur This was sometime a naturall propertie to the Thracians to bee liars and dissemblers and so to bee taught with their hypocrisie and dissimulations that it grew to a prouerbe Thrasica fides so it was sayd of the Africans punica fides and of the Grecians most of all spoken Nunqnam ista natio saith Cicero coluit fidem People of no trust of no faith that it grew to a very scoffe to the Grecians Greca mercarifide to taunt their lightnes and dissimulations Of late we robde Thracians Affricans and Grecians of their properties that now Cicero may speak of vs as he spake of thē Quos fugiamus ignoramus quibus credamus nescimus and therefore it is good to follow Epicharmus counsaile Sis prudens memento diffidere sith we dare not trust our friends our kinsmen nor our countrimen This dangerous time seemeth to be that of which the Prophet saith that the father shal be against the sonne and the sonne against the father the brother against the brother but though this prophecie was performed in other kingdomes of long time past yet we ought to doubt feare some iustice at gods hand for our sinne and onely for our hypocrisie dissimulations and flatterie the three greatest Monsters vpon the earth Lewis the tenth was wont to bragge of his owne kingdome of France that it was a kingdome that far exceded al other kingdoms wanting but one thing And being requested to know what that was hee answered Truth And therefore Osymantes had his picture painted with his eyes shut with a tablet of gold about hanging about his necke with this word written thereupon veritas And hee willed that the Kings of Egypt his successors to weare that Tablet in memorie of him So did Antigonus doubting much to heare trueth among flattering Courtiers went with his Nobles to hunting from whom the King secretly departed changed his garments and wandred like a stranger among countrymen and lodged in a meane house and asked as an vnknowen man what was spoken of the King Of whom he heard Omnia quae fecerat mala The next morning the King being sought for and found they brought such princely garments as were fit for a King Giue said Antigonus these garments to him of whom Nisi hac nocte verum de me nunquam audiui Torquin the proud after he was put out of his kingdome would say that he neuer knew his friends while he was King in Rome Ma. Antonius surnamed the Philosopher was most carefull of his good name and fame willing the truth to be knowen by straungers report and not by such Courtiers which Constantine the Emperour cals Sorices Palatij the rats of the Court or as the Philosopher termes them vermes opum Many good Kings vsed the like meanes to auoid the one and to seeke out the other For Courts of Kings Princes cannot be without limping and halting In Meroe a Kingdome of India if the Kings were lame or halt or in any part of their bodies his Courtiers by the law in Meroe should be also lame and halt as the Kings did It is histored that in Macedonia in the time of Philip and in Neapolis in the time of Ferdinandus for that these two Kings held their necks a litle on the left side though it was a naturall defect in others yet in Princes followed and imitated and yet no longer then these Princes liued In the next King it is cleane altered for in the time of Alexander the great for that he had a bush of haire standing vp on his forehead the Courtiers in Macedonia left to holde their heads awry after Philip the father and followed the sonne Alexander euery Courtier imitating the time with great care and trauaile to make their haires stand vp vpon their foreheads like Alexander and to be called Opisthocomae as Alexander Hector and Pompei the great were noted to haue beene The Emperour Constantine practized a pollicie to find out sound Christians and faithfull seruants in his Court he fained a decree and commanded all the Christians to depart frō his Court cingula Militaria deponere The sound true Christians left the Emperour and his Court and forsooke their credit and militarie dignitie and esteemed not his Court in respect of Christianitie The other Christians which the Emperor found tantum nomine staied behind he banished and reuoked his decree and called backe the other and restored them to their former estate with greater credit saying Qui suo numini fidi non sunt nec mihi And so banished those counterfeit Christians This sentence squares well with our rebellious brutes and not Britanes who were neuer sound to God faithfull to their Prince nor true to their countrey but as Caligula wished to Rome so they wish to England and as Haman wished to the Iewes so they wished to the Britanes They wish with
dream of Images and Idols like De Brutus which dreamed of such an Image that neuer left him till Brutus fell vpon his owne sword at Philippos And such an Image appeared to Hanibal that neuer gaue him ouer vntill Hanibal had poysoned himselfe in Bythinia It was then a world of Images amonge Heathens and Pagans and amonge Christians at this time too many though they know Confundantur qui sculptilia adorant I must needs borrow some termes of the Heralds and as they describe the natures of Lions being regal beasts So must I describe the nature of Serpents being Diuels themselues and beasts for the Diuels some dormient Serpents some cowching some walking Serpents and some flying Serpents that soare so hye that at their fall they are dasht in peeces Had Saul feared God and not consulted with these Serpents he should haue done as Dauid Asa Iosaphat consult with Samuel while Samuel liued and not after hee died Saul should aske counsell of the Prophets and not of Witches and Images not with Phaetanissa a Witch at Endor but of Huldah a Prophetesse at Hierusalem as Iosias did Daniel choakt that great Colossus the Image of Baall in Babilon Iacob buried his wiues Idols the Gods of Laban at Sichem King Asa burned to ashes and threw into Cedron his mothers Idoll Priapus Young Iosias left not an Altar an Image an Idoll a groue within Iudah destroyed the greene Groues in Mount Oliues called the Mount of corruption These were such Kings as should be imitated who clensed Angeus hall in Israel and extinguished the fierie furnace of Egipt in Iudah and not such as Triphon that killed his master King Antiochus nor such as Hazaeâ— that strangled his Maister Benhadad Great was the lamentation and cry in Egipt when the first-borne were slaine throughout the land of Egipt euen from Pharos throne to her that grindeth at the mill Likewise great was the feare and terror in Hierusalem when Senacherib came and determined with his huge Armie to destroy Hierusalem saying They should eate their owne dung and drinke their owne vrine if they refused to yeeld to the great King Nebuchadnezar England of late was not a little frighted when the Hispaniards with their great Armadoes laden with weapons and armor came fully perswaded to make an end of England But he that destroied the first-borne of Egipt from the highest to the lowest destroyed also Senacheribs Armie being a hundred fower-score and fiue thousand Assirians And the same Angell daunted the bragges of the Spaniards with the like reuenge vppon themselues which they thought to doe vnto others The Sunne the Moone the Starres and the Heauens fought for Deborah and gaue her victorie ouer the Chananites So the windes weathers stormes tempests rockes and stones of the earth sung and gaue the victorie to Queen Elizabeth against the Spaniards Truely these were three great Victories without blood or sword drawne of which wee may say as Samuel sayd for the like Victorie he had against the Philistines Hitherto hath the Lord holpen vs and pitched there a stone in remembrance of Victorie and named the place Lapis adiutorij So Ioshua pitched a stone vnder an Oake at Sichem as a couenant between him and the people So Iacob gathered a heape of stones as a witnesse between Laban and himselfe Wee must likewise pitch a stone Euen that stone which the Builders reiected which to the Iewes was a stumbling-blocke and to the Gentiles folly euen that stone must be our Angularis lapis We must not be like Philip of Macedon after his great Victorie at Chaeronea ouer the Graecians who waxed so proude and insolent that he was sharpely reprehended of that noble Prince Archidamus Agisilaus sonne saying that his shadowe was no longer after the victorie than it was before his victorie Neither must we answere as Epaminondas being asked what was the greatest ioy hee euer had in the world he sayd Leutrica victoria the Victorie of Leutricke In truth of our victories we ought to reioice and to giue thankes vnto God And wee must put away all other stones as our Idols and Images the Gods of the Gentiles being Lapidij Dij and build all buildings vpon that stone which is lapis Angularis This was the cause why Moses was sent an Embassabor to Pharo to deliuer Israel from double bondage where Israel serued Pharo in slauerie and the Diuel in Idolatry This ought and should cause vs to serue God in true and sincere Religion and not in Images and Idols as doe the Heathens in the engendred Serpents of Medea But that Monster and great terrible beast with iron teeth which deuoured and stamped all others vnder his feet neuer feared him that commeth in red garments from Bozra that plagued the Idumeans the Moabites the Amonites and the Iewes after them euen that God that saith Vengeance is in my heart and I will tread them in mine anger and stampe them vnder foot in my wrath If you compare Bozra with Rome and the Idumeans with the Romans you shall find the one to claime their chiefe Religion from Abraham by heritage and the other from Peter in like sort by succession and yet both worship Idols Who durst say that Micah was a true Prophet to Ahab If Micah so say Zedechia will strike him before Achab. If Ieremie prophecie to the King of Iudah the noblemen of Iudah will set Ieremie by the heeles But they will hearken what Zedechia Baals Prophet will say with his yron hornes who told Achab his Maister His ventilabis Syrtam donec deleas eam with these hornes thou shalt ouercome the Aramites vntill thou hast vtterly consumed them There bee I doubt many that so say of England Scotland and Ireland The Romane Achab will not bee satisfied as the Ammonites were with the Embassadors of Israel by cutting one side of their beards away and one halfe of their garments and so in contempt of Dauid sent backe againe to Hierusalem But they will haue all Dauids beard all his longe garments yea his crowne and all his Kingdomes or they will hange with Achitophell They will betray their friends their countrey their King and Soueraigne Lord or they will burst out their guts with Iudas They would haue all England either to Rome or to Spaine or bring Rome or Spaine into England At illa nobilitas cum plebe pereat qui patriam ita perire velit When Balac King of Moab perceiued that he could not subdue the children of Israel neither by strength nor by any policie hee practised with Balaam to destroy them be cursing but Balaams curse was turned into blessing to Israel This practise hath beene longe vsed in Rome for when guifts and rewards failed then cursing and excommunicating was vsed Isaac in giuing his blessing to Iacob sayd Cursed be those that cursed Iacob The Pope hath vsed
the ouerthrow of Rome For as Philip of Macedon made sale of Greece by discord of Grecians for such was the mutuall discord of all the Cities of Greece that King Philip and his sonne after him became Ruler of all Greece So in Rome for the indignation of marriage of the Cōmons with the Patricians there grew cōtentions And therefore old Osyris King of Egipt had the likenesse of a mans eye in the vpper end of his Diademe to put the King in remembrance carefully to see to such Monsters cum oculo animi This must be be set vpon the Diadem of a Christian King a farre surer Scepter than the Scepters of Babilon with their Lions and Eagles than the Sceptors of Egipt with their Dragons and Serpents than the Diademe of the Persians the likenesse of the Sun the Image of fier vpon the horse of Mars Yet had the old Persians their Scepters carried before them in forma palae like a spade And the ould Egiptians and the Ethiopians had Scepters Informa aratri made like a plough Some weigh not for spades but for spoyles some weigh not for the plough vnlesse it be the plough of Abimelech to sowe salt for corne to make barren and to destroy the Countrey or the plough of Catelin to sowe the seede of sedition and to reape the fruit of Tribulation to sowe winde and tempest and to reape fire and brimstone Many sought Pompeis head to please Caesar Many sought Pyrhus head to please Antigonus and too many seekes the heads of Kings and Princes to please that Antichrist of Rome Cyrses and Calypso that altered the shape and forme of men vnto Beares Woolues Asses and Apes could make no stranger metamorphosis of men than men make of themselues And yet Plinie writes that the Asse loues so her young Fole that she neither feares water nor fire nor any terrour to saue her young one in any danger for Suos impencissime amat foetus There bee a number of christened Asses in the world that esteeme not so their parents their children nor their Countrey as these asses doe These rather are like to Apes who euer lickes and kisses with such toyes and playes and with such gestures as are fit for Apes Iulius Caesar seeing certaine men of Apulia in Rome carrying Apes vpon their armes playing asked the men had they no women in Apulia to get children to play withall These Iesuits Seminaries be the Popes Apes kissing his foot and licking his hands for as these Iesuits are the Popes Apes so the Pope is the Diuels Ape and the Diuell would willingly be Gods Ape Sectio 7. THey that found Romulus staffe among the scinders of the Capitoll vnburned thought themselues happie but it was the Romane Scepter not fit for them but for the Consuls which succeeded the Kings of Rome They that brought to Dauid Sauls Crown thought they had reapt well They that killed Isbosheth vppon his bed thought they had likewise reapt well but their rewards were alike The Fisher-men of Miletum thought they had treasure during life without any more fishing when they had drawne in their net Auream mensam a rich golden Table but it was told them that it was fit for Apollo and not for Fisher men And therfore a philosopher being asked why were philosophers poore He answered for telling truth and suffering iniuries And being againe asked why were fooles rich For that said he they can dissemble and flatter Cicero was taunted by Liberius Mimus being by Caesar elected a Senator sought a place to sit by Cicero in the Senate house you should sit by mee but that we sit too streight said Cicero together Laberius answered You cannot sit too streight that hath two seats to sit on the one with Caesar the other with Pompey taunting Cicero for his dissimulation and flatterie to both Caesar and Pompey for Cicero loued Pompey and feared Caesar. Yet Plato allowed that dissimulation in Themistocles to promise King Xerxes to betray Greece to that effect to saue Greece to haue Xerxes out of Greece Allowed also that dissimulation in Alcibiades to Agis the King of Sparta to betray Athens to saue Athens But dissemblers in their Countrey against their Countrey are most odious and yet liue and enioy the benefits of their Countrey Vlisses which dissemled madnesse in ioyning an Oxe and an Asse vnder one yoake and sowed salt for corne in his ground lest he should goe out of his Countrey Achilles which dissembled to be a woman and in a womans apparell left also he shuld go out of Greece the one was the only wise man of Greece the other the most valiant man of Greece yet that wise man had rather be accounted a foole and that valiant man had rather be accounted a coward before they shuld goe out of Greece their Country was so sweet vnto them In trueth flattering and feining are good trades in some Courts For Lewis the sixt the Prince King would haue his sonne that succeeded him to learne no more latine but this sentence Qui nescit dissimulare nescit viuere But it was not so in Augustus Court for he much lamented the death of his friend Varus and being very sad was asked the cause of his sadnesse because said Augustus I haue none in my Court to tell mee the trueth but I must goe to poore Phylosophers and Preachers to seeke and find out trueth And some say that Phylosophers can flatter and dissemble yea Priests and Preachers and if Phylosophers cannot dissemble these ambitious masters will learne foules of the aire of Hanno to say Deus est Hanno or else in Greeke with Psaphos to say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 These dissemblers and Hypocrites will not onely learne Latin and Greeke and all kind of tongues but all gestures manners and conditions of men and especially in Courts of Kings and Princes where such flatterie and dissimulations are practised that sooner may Hannibal as Augustus Caesar often said make a passage through the hard rockes of the Alpes to come to Italie then trueth in Court to come to Kings and Princes eares That good Emperour Alexander Seuerus would also often say veritas minime peruia regum auribus Diogenes when he saw mise creeping for some crums to his table would say to his friends behold Et suos habet parasitus Diogenes aswell as princes haue their parasites These creeping flatterers like Diogenes mise attend in euery corner for some crums bending and kneeling at the becke of ambitious selfe loue masters I would they were not better fed then Diogenes mise were nor better satisfied then with Heliogabalus banquet painted on wood on stones on Iuorie and vpon waxe But if a man trie these dissemblers as Alcibiades did these who alwaies flattered him most and proue them as Alcibiades did who told in great secret and fained a great mischaunce that he had killed a man and hid him in