support of human Life that neglects to return Kindness for Kindness How severely therefore are they to be reprehended who having most just Laws but being very wickedly enclined rather choose to obey their deprav'd manners than their Laws So that if it could happen that those great Persons whose misfortunes I have related could appeal to any other Cities d' ye think they would not quickly have silenced those talkative People as ingenious as they were Marathon glitters with the Persian Trophies Salamis and Artemisium beheld the Ruine of Xerxes Navy Those Walls that were pull'd down rise more glorious from their ruines But what are become of all those great Men that did these great things Answer Athens for thy self Thou hast suffer'd Theseus to be buried in a little Rock Miltiades to die in Prison and Cimon his Son to wear his Fathers chains Themistocles a Victor to prostrate himself at the Knees of that very person whom he had vanquished Phocion also Solon and Aristides to forsake their Houshold-gods when at the same time ye give divine Honour to the Bones of Oâ—dipus infamous for the Death of his Father and for marrying his Mother Read therefore thy own Law which thou art bound by oath to observe and since thou wouldst not give due Reward â—o Vertue make just atonements to their injured Ghosts They are silent but whoever reads the ungratetul acts of the Athenians will be severe and free to eternity to reproach so great a Crime CHAP. IV. Of Piety toward Parents ROMAN Examples 1. Cn. Marcius Coriolanus 2. Scipio Africanus the Great 3. T. Manlius Torquatus 4. M. Aurelius Cotta 5. C. Flaminius Tribune 6. Claudia a Vestal 7. A Daughter that gave her Mother suck in Prison External Examples 1. Pero a Daughter gave her father suck in Prison 2. Cimon the Athenian 3. Two Brothers Spaniards 4. Cleobis and Bython Amphinomus and Anapus 5. Scythians 6. Croesus 's dumb Son 7. Pulto BUt leave these Ingrates and talk of those that have been accompted pious for honest subjects are more pleasing than Stories of the wicked Let us come then to those who have been so fortunate in their Offspring as never to repent the promotion of Generation 1. Coriolanus a person of a vast Courage and deep in Counsel and well deserving of his Countrey yet almost ruin'd under the oppression of an unjust Sentence fl d to the Volsci who were Enemies to the Romans For Vertue gets esteem wherever it goes So that where he only sought for refuge in a short time he obtain'd the chief command of all things And it hapned that he who was by the Romans refused for their Leader had like to have proved their most fatal Enemy For the Volsci having often overcome our Armies by his Conduct and Valour came up and begirt the very walls of Rome For this reason the People that were so haughty as not to value their own happiness were forced to supplicate an Exile whose offence they would not pardon before Embassadors were sent to appease him but they could do no good the Priests went in their religious Habits but returned without obtaining any favour The Senators were at their Wits end the People trembled both Men and Women bewail'd their approaching Calamity But then Veturia Coriolanus's Mother taking along with her Volumnia his Wife and Children also went to the Camp of the Volsci Whom assoon as h r Son espied O my Countrey thou hast overcome my anger said he by vertue of this Womans tears and for the Wombs sake that bare me I forgive thee though my enemy and immediately he withdrew his Army from the Roman Territories And his Piety encountred and overcame all Obstacles as well his revengâ— of the Injury received the hopes of Victory as the fear of Death upon his return And thus the sight of one Parent changed a most severe War into a timely Peace 2. The same Piety inflam'd the Elder Africanus hardly past the age of Childhood to the succour of his Father and arm'd him with manly strength in the midst of the Battle For he saved the Consul being despâ—rately wounded in the Battle which he lost to Hannibal upon the River Ticinus nothing terrified either by the weakness of his Age the rawness of skill in War or the event of an unfortunate Fight which would have dauâ—tâ—d an old Soldier he thereby merited a Crown conspicuous for its double Honour he having recover'd from the jaws of death a Father and a General 3. Those famous Examples the City only received by hearsay these they beheld with their eyes Pomponius the Tribune had accused T. Manlius Imperiossus to the People for that he had exceeded his Commission out of hopes of making an end of the War and for sending away his Son which was a person of very great hopes from publick employment to follow his own counâ—â—ey-affairs Which when Manlius understood he came to the City and went by break of day to Pomponius's House who believing that he came to aggravate his Fathers Crimes by whom he had been 〈◊〉 used commanded all the people out of the Chamber that he might the more freely take his Examination The Son having thereby got an opportunity so sit for his turn drew his Sword which he had brought privately under his Coat compell'd the threatned and terrified Consul to swear that he would forbear any farther prosecution of his Father So that Imperiossus never came to his Trial. Piety toward mild Parents is commendable But Manlius the more severe to him â—is Father was the greater praise he merited by the assistance which he gave him being invited by no allurement of Indulgence but only natural Affection to love him 4. This sort of Piety did M. Cotta imitate the very same day that he put on the Coat of Manhood when assoon as he descended out of the Capitol he accused Carbo who had condemn'd his Father and being condemn'd prosecuted him to punishment ennobling his early Youth and first attempt in publick business with a famous action 5. Paternal Authority was equally reverenced by C. Flaminius For when he being a popular Tribune had publish'd a Law for dividing the Gallick Land to every particular man in opposition to the Senate and quite against their wills contemning both their threats and entreaties and not at all terrified with the threats of an Army which they menaced to raise against him if he persisted in his obstinacy was got into the Pulpit for Orations reading his Law to the People yet when his Father pull'd him away he came down obedient to Paternal Command no man murmuring in the least to see him break off in the midst of his Speech 6. These were great effects of Manly Piety but I cannot tell whether the act of Claudia the Vestal Virgin were not as forcible and as couragious Who when she saw her Father pull'd out of his Triumphal Chariot by the rude hand of a Tribune with a wonderful celerity interposing her self between them appeased
undertaken unless they had first observed the signe from which Custome the South-sayers were alwaies consulted before Marriages And though they have left off the marking of Birds or bodings of good or bad luck yet nominally they follow the footsteps of the old Custome 2. The Women supp'd with the Men sitting but the Men lay down which Custome among men was observed in Heaven For Jupiter is said to sup lying on his Couch while Juno and Minerva are invited to sit Which kind of severe Custome our Age more diligently observes in the Capitol than in their Houses It being more proper to adhere to the Discipline of Goddesses than Women 3. They that were content to be married but once were honoured with a Crown of Chastity For they believed that Matron to have an incorrupted mind and sincere Loyalty that would not leave the Chamber where she had first deposited here Virginity and esteemed the experience of many Matrimonies to be a signe of some Incontinency 4. There was no Divorce between Man and Wife till Five Hundred and Twenty Yeares after the City was built The first was Spurius Carvilius who divorced his Wife for being barren Who though he appeared to have a good excuse for what he did yet there were that blamed him enough being such as believed that Conjugal Loyalty was to be preferred before desire of Children 5. But that the Honour and Modesty of Matrons might be more sacred when they were call'd into Court no man was permitted to touch them that their Garments might not be defiled by the contact of a strange hand The use of Wine was formerly unknown to the Roman Women for fear it might bring them to any disgrace because the first degree to forbidden Venus is from father Bacchus Yet that their Chastity might not alway occasion undecent retirement but that they might appear in a comely Garb of converse through the Indulgence of their Husbands they wore Purple and ornaments of Gold For then Corrupters of Marriages were not fear'd but Women might modestly behold and chastly be behâ—ld 6. When there was any diffâ—rence between Husband and Wife they went to the Chappel of the Goddess Viriplaca which is in the Palace and having liberty to talk what they had a minde to after the heat was over they returned home very good friends This Goddess had her name from appeasing of men worthy of adoration and to be worshipped not with choice but exquisite Sacrifices as being the Keeper of dayly and Family-peace rendring to men and women under the same yoak of Peace what is due to the Majesty of men and the Honour of women 7. This Modesty among Wives is it not necessary among other Relations â—oâ— that I may be a small example set forth the great force thereof formerly neither Father us'd to wash with his Son at age nor Father-in-law with Son-in-law Whence it appears there was as much Religion attributed to Kindâ—â—d and Consanguinity as to the Immortal Gods while among those that were thus â—i'd it was no more lawful to strip themselves than it was in the Temple 8. Our Ancestors also instituted a sacred Feast which was calâ—â—d Charistia where none wâ—re admitted but Kindred that if there were any difference among Reâ—ations there might be a reconciliation by the help of Friends in the midst of their sacred Rites and holy Mâ—rch 9. Youth gave to Old Age such circumspect and manifold Honour as if the â—lder were the common Father of the younger There upon Council-day if any young man waited upon any Senator Relation or Friend of his Faâ—her to the Senate they stay without door till the other came to perform the same duty home again By which voluntary attendance they accustom'd their bodies and minds to undergo publick Offices and in a short time became more experienced in labour and meditation Being invited to a Feast they diligently inquired who was to be there that they might not be forced to rise to give way to their Elder and when the Cloth was taken away they always rose and went away first and all the time of Supper they were very sparing and modest in their discourse 10. The Elder were wont to sing the famous deeds of their Ancestors in Verse at their Festivals thereby to stir up Youth by imitation thereof What more splendid or more profitable than this kind of Combat Youth honour'd Gray Hairs and superannuated Age encourag'd those who were ready to enter into Action with the nourishment of their favour What Athens what School what forraign Education may I prefer to this Domestick Discipline This raised the Camilii Scipio's Fabricii Marcelii and Fabii and that I may not be tedious in recounting all the lights of our noole Empire thus the most glorious part of Heaven the â—acred Caesars obtained their fame CHAP. II. Of the Offices of Magistrates and Orders 1. The Roman Fidelity and Taciturnity 2. Authority of Magistrates and observance of the Latin Tongue 3. C. Marius despising Eloquence 4. Consular Majesty 5. Constancy of the Roman Embassadours 6. Vigilancy of the Senate 7. Diligence of the Tribunes 8. Abstinence of the Magistrates 9. The Tryal of the Roman Knights and Lupercalia 1. SO high a Love had all our Ancestors for their Countrey that there was not a Senator who for many Ages would reveal the Transactions of the Fathers Q. Fabius Maximus onely and he also through imprudence going into the Countrey and meeting P. Crassus by the way told him what was done in order to proclaiming the Second Punick War remembring that he had been Questor three years before and not knowing that he was not yet put into the Senate by the Censors who were the only persons that gave admittance to those that had born Honours in that Assembly However though this were but a harmless errour in Fabius yet he was severely reprehended for it by the Consuls For they would by no means suffer Taciturnity the best and safest bond of Government to be violated in the least And therefore when Eumenes King of Asia gave intelligence to the Senate that Perseus was preparing to make War it could not be known either what Eumenes said or what the Father 's answered till Perseus was taken The Court was the faithful and deep breast of the Commonwealth environ'd and fortifi'd with Silence which they that enter'd soon cast off private Love cloathing themselves with publick Zeal So that I may say that one would have thought that no man heard what was committed to the ears of so many 2. But our antient Magistrates how they behaved themselves in bearing up the Majesty of the Roman People from hence may be observed that among all their other marks of Gravity this they punctually maintain'd not to talk with the Greeks but in the Latine Tongue And also causing them to lay aside the volubility of their own language forc'd them to speak by an Interpreter not only in our own City but in Greece and Asia That the honour
purchase the good will of the Roman People whose Vertue he could not overecome had transported almost all the wealth of his Treasures into our City But when his Embassadours went from House to House with great Gifts fit for the use of Men and Women they could not finde a door open to them Thus the more stout than prosperous defender of the Tarentine petulancie was repulsed and defeated as well by the Customes as Arms of the City nor can I determine which was the greatest Victory In that storm also with which Marius and Cinna infested the Common-wealth wonderful was the abstinence of the People For when they lest the people at liberty to ransack the houses of them that were by themselves proscribed there was no man to be found that would lay hands upon the Prey of civil Discord For every one abstained from using violence toward them as from things consecrated to the Gods Which compassionate abstinence of the common people was a tacit reproach to the Cruelty of the Victors FORRAIGN 1. And lest we should be thought to envy the same applause to strangers Pericles Prince of the Athenians having for his Companion in the Pretorship Sophocles the Tragoedian whom he observ'd at the same time to utter certain Expressions over-lavish in the praise of a beautiful Boy that pass'd by reprehended him in these words That a Magistrate ought to keep his eyes front lustful desires as well as his hands from unlawful gain 2. Socrates himself being now stricken in years and being demanded by one whether he yet minded his Youthful dalliances The Gods have taught me better said he for I fled from it of my own accord as from a furius Contagion 3. Of equal Continency was Xenocrates in his old Age of whose opinion the following Relation is no small testimony Phryne a noble Curtesan of Athens while he was in drink laid herself upon the bed by him having receiv'd a sum of money to try if she could tempt him But though he neither refused to hear her flattering allurements nor to let her stroak and handle him but let her lie dallying in his bosome yet he at length put her off without prevailing in her designe An abstemious act of a mind endu'd with wisdom But the saying of the Curtesan was very facetious For the young men deriding her that she being so handsome and witty could not win the affection of an old man and refusing to give het what they had engaged she made answer The Bargain was to deal with a Man and not a Statue Could this Continence of Xenocrates be more truly demonstrated more truly or properly by any one than by the expression of the Curtesan her self For Phryne with all her Beauty could not weaken nor move the most constant Abstinence of the Philosopher 4. What think ye of King Alexander could he tempt him with his Riches You would have thought him a Statue though equally assail'd as well by the King as by the Curtesan The King sent Embassadours to him with a Present of some Talents whom being brought into the Academy was entertain'd according to his custom after his mean and poor fashion The next day the Embassadours asking him if he would have his Money told out I had thought said he by your yesterdays entertainment that you had understood that my condition does not require Money Thus while the King was desirous to buy the friendship of the Philosopher the Philosopher denies to sell it him 5. The same Alexander having obtained the name of Invincible could not conquer the Continence of Diogenes the Cynie to whom as he was fitting in the Sun when he came and bid him tell him wherein he might do him a kindness as he lay in the shade of a sordid conversation but of a flout minde quoth he As to the rest of thy pressers by and by but in the mean time do not stand between me and the Sun Which words carried a deep sense with them so Alexander might sooner overcome Darius with his Arms than remove Diogenes from his low estate to love wealth The same person being told by Aristippus at Syracuse seeing him washing Pot-herbs that if he could but flatter Dionysius he need not eat such trash made this retort quoth he If thou couldst eat this mean fare thou needst not flatter Dionysius CHAP. IV. Poverty praised 1. P. Valerius Poplicola 2. Agrippa Menenius 3. C. Fabricius Luscinus and Q. Aemilius Papus 4. Of Captains called from the Plough to command Armies 5. C. Attilius Regulus Cos 6. M. Attilius Regulus 7. L. Quinctius Cincinnatus Dictat 8. The Elian Family 9. Elius Tubero and L. Paulus Emilius 10. Cn. Cornelius Scipio 11. M. Emilius Scaurus THat Children are the greatest Ornaments to Women we finde written by Pomponius Rufus in his Book of Collections in these words When a Campanian Lady lying at the House or Cornelia Mother of the Gracchi shewed her her Jewels and other Ornaments which were the fairest of any in that time Cornelia held her in discourse till her Children return'd from School And these quoth she when they appeared are my Ornaments For he hath all things that covets nothing and much more certainly than he that possesses all things For great Estates many times fail but a good Habit of Minde is above the violence of Fortune And therefore what matters it whether we put Riches in the highest part of Felicity or Poverty in the lowest degree of Misery Especially when the chearful countenance of Wealth is full of many conceal'd Bitternesses and the more rugged and deformed aspect of Poverty many times abounds with many sure and solid Contents 1. The pride of Tarquin having put an end to Kingly Government Valerius Publicola with Junius Brutus his Colleague auspiciously began the Office of Consulship The same person having afterwards born three Consulships to the great content of the People and by many and most renowned Actions having enlarged the Grandeur of his Nobility And yet this great Pillar of History died not leaving a Patrimony sufficient for the expences of his Funeral which were therefore defray'd at the Publick charge It imports not to make any farther search into the Poverty of so great a Person for it is apparent what he possessed when he lived though being dead he wanted both a Bier and Funeral-Pile 2. We may well guess how high in Dignity Agrippa Menenius was whom the Senate and People chose Arbitrator of their differences and to make peace between um For how great ought he to be who was Umpire of the publick Safety This man unless the People had gathered among themselves the sixth part of a Penny to make up the Sum could not have defrayed his meer Funeral-Expences dying so poor that he wanted for the decency of Burial and therefore the City divided by pernicious Sedition were content to be reconcile by the Ghosts of Agrippa who though they were poor yet they had observed them to be religiously sincere Who as he
Accuser Thou tellest no untruth Pompey said he I come from the infernal shades to accuse Libo But when I was there I saw Cn. Domitius Ahenobarbus all bloody and weeping for that being of a noble Extraction of an upright Life and Conversation and a great Lover of his Countrey he was put to death in the flower of his youth at thy command I saw there also Brutus famous in the same degree hack'd and hew'd complaining that the same calamity befel him first through thy perfidy and then by thy cruelty I saw Cn. Carbo a zealous defender of thy youth and of thy paternal estate in his third Consulship laden with those chains which thou didst cause to be put upon him and upbraiding thee that contrary to all equity and justice he was slain by thee a private Roman Knight when he was the greatest Officer in the Commonwealth I saw in the same habit and condition a person of the Pretorian Order Perpenna cursing thy Cruelty and all with one consent bewailing their hard fate that they should fall uncondemn'd under such a young hangman as thou It was lawful for a Member of a Municipal Town that still had a twang of his Fathers servitude with an unbridled rashness and an unsufferable malice to recal to minde the wide wounds which he had receiv'd in the Civil War now grown dry with age And therefore at that time he was in the strongest condition to reproach Pompey as well as in the safest 9. Diphilus the Tragedian when in the Apollinary Plays he came to that Verse wherein there is this Sentence Our misery is Magnus he pronounced the words pointing full upon Pompey And being rebuk'd by the People immediately fell to act him as a person that carried himself too great and busie in Authority With the same petulancy he repeated those other words The time shall come when thou shalt bewail that vertue 10. The mind of Marcus Castricius was also inflam'd with Liberty who being the chief Magistrâ—â—e at Placentia at what time Cn. Corbo the Consul caâ—â—â— a Decree to be made that the Placentines should gâ—â—â— Hostages neither obey'd his Authority nor subâ—â—â—ted to Greater Men. And to one that told him Hâ— had many Swords he answer'd And I years The Legions were amaz'd to behold such stout Reliques of Old Age. And Carbo's anger surceas'd of it self having so little matter to rage upon knowing how small a part of his life he should deprive him of 11. But the Accusation of Ser. Galba was strangely presumptuous Who forbore not to tax the sacred Julius himself after all his Victories as he sate in the Seat of Judicature Caius Julius Caesar said he I took up money upon my bail for Pompey the Great thy Son-in-Law in his third Consulship What shall I do Must I suffer He deserv'd to have been turn'd out of the Court for upbraiding him so openly with the sale of Pompey's Goods But he more mild than Clemency it self caus'd Pompey's Debt to be paid him out of his own Treasury 12. A. Caesellius a famous Civilian yet how sawcie and impertinent For no Favour no Authority could compel him to make a Bill of sale of those Goods which the Triumviri had given away By that Judgment of his excluding the purchases of Victory out of all course and form of Law The same person when he had spoken many things against Caesar's Faction and that his Friends admonish'd him to be silent There were two things he answered most bitter to most men that gave him the boldness which he took that was to say old Age and want of Children FORRAIGNERS 1. A Woman of another Countrey intrudes among so many Men who being undeservedly condemned by King Philip in his drink I would appeal to Philip said she but it must be when he is sober The smart sentence rows'd him and by her present courage she compell'd the King to examine the business more strictly and to give a juster Sentence So that she extorted that Justice which she could not get by fair means borrowing her assistance rather from her frankness of Speech than from her Innocence 2. The next now is not only a stout but a lepid and witty liberty of speech A very antient Woman when all the Syracusans pray'd for the Death of Dionysius the Tyrant by reason of his Cruelty and Oppression on pray'd every day to the Gods for his life and safety Which when the Tyrant understood admiring her undeserved kindness he sent for her and enquired of her what merit of his made her so careful of him Then Truely Sir said she the reason of my designe is very well grounded For when I was a Girl and that a very severe Tyrant ruled over us I desired his death he being slain one more cruel came in his place then I prayed that he might be taken out of the way after whom we began to feel thee worse than all the rest And therefore fearing lest if thou shouldst die a worse than thee should succeed I pray to the Gods for thy safety Which facetious boldness Dionysius himself had not the face to punish 3. Between these and Theodorus the Cyrenean there might be a kind of match made for stoutness of mind as vertuous though not so fortunate For when Lysimachus threatned to put him to death Truely said he You think you have a great purchase because you understand the vertue of Cantharides But when the King being incens'd at his Answer commanded him to be nail'd to the Cross Fright your Courtiers said he with that Sentence for 't is all one to me whether I stink under ground or above CHAP. III. Of Severity ROMANS 1 The Roman People 2. P. Mutius Scaevola Tribune of the People 3. The Senate of Rome 4. M. Curius Dentatus Cos 5. L. Domitius Ahenobarbus 6. M. Horat. Tergeminus 7. The Senate of Rome against Incest 8. The Kinsmen against Witches 9. Egnatius Metellus 10. C. Sulpitius Gallus 11. Q. Antistius the Old 12. P. Sempronius Sophus FORRAIGNERS 1. Lacedaemonians 2. Athenians 3. Cambyses King of Persia IT is necessary we should arm our selves with Cruelty while we treat of the terrible and horrid acts of Severity that having laid our more humane thoughts aside we may be at leasure to give ear to Rigour For such inexorable Revenge such several sorts of Chastisement will come to be known as though they may be accounted the fortresses of the Law yet should hardly be inserted into the number of peaceful Pages 1. M. Manlius was thrown headlong from the place from whence he had repulsed the Gauls Because he endeavour'd wickedly to have opprest that Liberty which he had so couragiously defended Of which sharp Sentence this was the Preface I lookt upon thee as Manlius when thou dravest the Senones headlong down the Rock when thou he camest a Changeling I lookt upon thee as one of the Senones themselves There is a Character of eternal Memory fix'd upon his punishment For for his sake it
his Condemnation had bin because his Accuser was so great a person And therefore I believe they reason'd thus amongst themselves We must not admit him that seeks the life of another to bring Triumphs Trophies and Spoils to the seat of Judgment Let him be terrible to his Enemy but let not a Citizen trusting to his high Merits and great Honour prosecute a Citizen 12. Not more eager were those Judges against a most noble Accuser than these were mild toward a Criminal of a far lower degree Callidius of Bononia being taken by night in the Husbands Bed-chamber being brought to answer for the Adultery he buoyed himself up among the greatest and most violent waves of Infamy swimming like corn in a Shipwrack laying hold upon a very slight kind of defence For he pleaded that he was carried thither for the Love of a Servant-boy The place was suspected the time suspitious the Mistress of the house was suspected and his Youth suspected But the confession of a more intemperate Lust freed him from the Crime of Adultery 13. The next is an example of more concernment When the two Brothers of Cloelius were brought to answer for Patricide whose Father was kill'd in his bed while the Sons lay asleep in the same Chamber and neither Servant nor Freed-man could be found upon whom to fasten the suspicion of the Murther They were both acquitted only for this reason that it was made appear to the Judges that they were both found fast asleep with the door open Sleep the certain mark of innocent security sav'd the unfortunate For it was adjudg'd impossible that having murthered their Father they could have slept so securely over his wounds and blood PERSONS Condemned 1. Now we will briefly touch upon those to whom things beside the question did more harm than their own Innocency did good L. Scipio after a most noble Triumph over King Antiochus was condemned for taking Money of him Not that I think he was brib'd to remove beyond the Mountain Taurus him that was lately Lord of all Asia and just going to lay his victorious hands upon Europe But being otherwise a man of a most upright life and free far enough from any such suspicion he could not resist that envy that haunted the two famous Sirnames of the two Brothers 2. Scipio was a person of high splendour But Decianus a person of unspotted Integrity was ruin'd by his own tongue For when he accused P. Furius a man of a lewd life because that in some part of his Declamation he ventured to complain of the Death of Saturninus did not only not condemn the Guilty but suffered the Punishment appointed for him 3. The same case overthrew C. Titius He was innocent and in favour with the People for the Agrarian Law But because he had the statue of Saturninus in his house the whole College of Magistrates with one general consent ruined him 4. We may to these adde Claudia whom though innocent of a crime an impious Imprecation ruined For being crowded by the multitude as she returned home from the Playes she wished that her Brother by whom we had the greatest loss of our Naval Forces were alive again that being made often Consul he might by his ill conduct rid the City of the pesterment of the People 5. We may pass to those whom the violence of Condemnation snatched away for flight causes M. Mulvius Cn. Lellius L. Sextilius Triumvirs because they did not come so quickly as they ought to quench a Fire that happend in the Holy way being cited before the People at a prefixed day by the Tribune were condemned 6. Publius Villius also Nocturnal Triumvir being accused by Aquilius the Tribune fell by the Sentence of the People because he was negligent in going his watch 7. Very severe was that Sentence of the People when they deeply fin'd M. Aemilius Porcina being accused by L. Cassius for having built his House in the Village of Alsium a little too high 8. Nor is that Condemnation to be supprest of one who being over-fond of his little Boy and being by him desir'd to buy him some Chitterlings for Supper because there were none to be got in the Countrey kill'd a Plough-Ox to satisfie the Boys desire For which reason he was brought to publick Trial Innocent had he not lived in the antient times Neither Quitted nor Condemned 1. Now to say something of those that being questioned for their Lives were neither quitted nor condemned There was a Woman brought before Popilius Lenas the Praetor for having beaten her Mother to Death with a Club. But the Praetor adjudged nothing against her neither one way nor other For it was plain that she did it to revenge the death of her Children whom the Grand-mother angry with her Daughter had poysoned 2. The same demur made Dolabella Proconsul of Asia A woman of Smyrna killed her Husband and her Son understanding that they had killed another Son of hers a hopeful young man which she had by a former Husband Dolabella would not take cognizance of the Cause but sent it to be determined by the Areopagi at Athens Unwilling to set a woman at liberty defiled with two Murthers nor to punish her whom a just Grief had mov'd to do it Considerately and mildly did the Roman Magistrate nor did the Areopagite act less wisely who examining the cause bound the Accuser and the Criminal to appear an hundred years after upon the same ground as Dolabella acted Only he by transmitting the Trial they by deferring delay'd the difficult Sentence or Condemnation or Acquittal CHAP. II. Of remarkable private Judgments whereby were condemned 1. T. Claud. Centumalus 2. Octacilia Laterensis 3. C. Titinius Minturnensis 4. A certain person for riding a horse farther than hired for TO Publick Judgments I will adde private ones the Equity whereof in the Complainants will more delight than a great number offend the Reader 1. Claudius Centumalus being commanded by the Augurs to pull down some of the height of his House which he had built upon the Coelian Mount because it hindered them from observing their Auguries from the Tower sold it to Calpurnius Lanatius concealing the command of the Augurs By whom Calpurnius being compelled to pluck down his House brought Marc. Porcius Cato father of the famous Cato to Claudius as an Arbitrator and the form of Writing Whatever he ought to give him or do in good Equity Cato understanding that Claudius had for the nonce supprest the Augurs Edict presently condemned him to Calpurnius with all the Justice in the world For they that sell according to Conscience and Equity ought neither to enhance the hopes of the Bargain nor conceal the Inconveniencies 2. I have recited a Judgment famous in those times Yet what I am about to relate is not quite buried in silence C. Visellius Varro being taken with a great fit of Sickness suffered a Judgment of three thousand pieces of Money as borrowed of Otacilia Laterensis with whom he
him to have been taken by the Enemy and that they were absolute Masters of the field hasten'd to end his life when Brutus's forces were in part safe and Masters of the Enemies Camp But the Courage of Titinius is not to be forgot who stood a while astonish'd at the unexpected sight of his Captain wallowing in his own blood then bursting into tears Though imprudently General said he I was the cause of thy death this imprudence shall not go unpunish'd receive me a companion to thy fate and so saying threw himself upon the liveless trunk with his Sword up to the Hilts in his own Body And intermixing blood with blood they lay a double sacrifice the one of Piety the other of Errour 3. But certainly Mistake did a great injury to the family of Lartis Talumnius King of the Veientes who after he had through a lucky cast at Dice cried to his Play-mate Kill the Guard mistaking the word fell upon the Roman Embassadours and slew them as they were just entring the Room interpreting Play as a Command CHAP. X. Of Revenge In ROMANS 1. Of the Papyrian Tribe of the Tusculans against Polias 2. Of the people of Utica against Fabius Adrianus FORRAIGNERS 1. Thamyris and Berenices Queens 2. Certain Youths of Thessaly THe Stings of Revenge as they are sharp so they are just while they meditate to repay received Injuries Of which a few Examples will serve 1. M. Flavius Tribune of the People reported to the People against the Tusculans that by their advice the Privernates and Veliterni would rebel Who when they came to Rome in a most miserable and suppliant manner with their Wives and Children it hapned that all the rest of the Tribes being for Mercy the Polian Tribe alone gave judgment that they should be first whipp'd and then put to death and the multitude of Women and Children to be sold for Slaves For which reason the Papyrian Tribe in which the Tusculans being received into the City had a strong Vote never made afterwards any Candidate of the Polian Tribe a Magistrate that no Honour might come to that Tribe which as much as in them lay had endeavoured to deprive them of their Lives and Liberty 2. But this Revenge both the Senate and the consent of all men approved For when Adrianus had sordidly tyrannized over the Roman Citizens at Vtica and was therefore by them burnt alive the matter was never question'd in the City nor any complaint made against it FORREIGNERS 1. Famous Examples of Revenge were both Queens Thamyris who having caused the Head of Cyrus to be cut off commanded it to be thrown into a Tub of humane Blood upbraiding him with his insatiable thirst after Blood and revenging upon him the Death of her Son who was slain by him And Berenice who taking heavily the loss of her Son entrapped by the snares of Laodice got arm'd into her Chariot and following the Kings Life-guard-man that had done the Mischief after she had miss'd him with her Spear she sell'd him with a Stone and driving her Horses over his Body rid directly through the bands of the adverse party to the house where she thought the body of the slain Child lay 2. It is a hard thing to judge whether a just Revenge or not were the ruine of Jason of Thessaly preparing to make war against the King of Persia For he gave leave to Taxillus the Matter of his Games complaining that he had been abused by certain young men that he should either require thirty Drachma's from them or to give them ten Stripes Which last revenge when he used they that were lash'd kill'd Jason valuing the measure of the punishment by the pain of the Minde and nor of the Body Thus by a small provocation of ingenious Shame a great Undertaking was subverted Because that in the opinion of Greece there was as much expected from Jason as from Alexander CHAP. XI Of things naughtily said and wickedly done ROMANS 1. Tullia Servilia 2. C. Fimbria Tribune of the People 3. L. Catiline 4. Magius Chilo 5. C. Toranius 6. Villius Annalis 7. The wife of Vettius Salassus FORREIGNERS 1. Two Spanish Brothers 2. Mithridates the King 3. Sariaster the Son of Tigranes 4. L. Aelius Sejanus NOw because we pursue the good and bad things of humane Life let us go on with what hath been naughtily said and wickedly done 1. But where shall I better begin than from Tullia as being the ancientest in time the wickedest and most monstrous Example of Impiety Who when her Charioteer as she was riding in her Chariot stopp'd his Horses upon her enquiry finding that the dead body of her Father Servius Tullius lay in the way caus'd the Charioteer to drive over it that she might hasten to the embraces of Tarquinius who had slain him By which impious and shameful haste she not only stain'd herself with eternal Infamy but also the very Village it self which was called The wicked Village after that 2. Not so horrible was the Act and Saying of C. Fimbria though consider'd by themselves both very abominable He had order'd it that Scaevola should be killed at the Funeral of C. Marius whom after he found to be recovered of his Wound he resolv'd to accuse to the People Being then ask'd what he could say truely of him whose conversation was not to be blamed answered that he would accuse him For not receiving the Dart any further into his Body 3. L. Catiline Cicero saying in the Senate that there was a great fire kindled by him I perceive it said he and if I could not quench it with Water I would with Ruine What can we think but that the stings of his Conscience moved him to finish the act of Parricide which he began 4. The Breast of Magius Chilo was deeply troubled with Madness Who with his own hand snatch'd away Marcellus's Life that Caesar had given him For being an old Souldier under Pompey he took it ill that any of Pompey's friends should be preferr'd before him For as he was upon his return from Mitylene to the City he stabb'd him with a Dagger in the Port of Athens An Enemy of Friendship an Intercepter of divine Favour and the Ignominy of publick Faith which had promis'd the Life of so great a person 5. To this Cruelty to which there seems no addition to be made C. Caius Toranius exceeds in heinousness of Parricide For adhering to the Faction of the Triumviri he described to the Centurions the marks the age and lurking places of his proscrib'd Father a famous person and of the Praetorian Order to the end they might finde him out The Old-man more concerned for the life and advancement of his Son than for the remainder of his days enquired of the Centurions whether his Son were safe and whether he pleas'd his Generals One of which made answer Being shewed by him said he whom thou so much lovest we are come to be thy Executioners and presently ran him