Selected quad for the lemma: authority_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
authority_n	call_v	king_n	kingdom_n	2,557	5	5.7928	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A05335	Of the interchangeable course, or variety of things in the whole world and the concurrence of armes and learning, thorough the first and famousest nations: from the beginning of ciuility, and memory of man, to this present. Moreouer, whether it be true or no, that there can be nothing sayd, which hath not bin said heretofore: and that we ought by our owne inuentions to augment the doctrine of the auncients; not contenting our selues with translations, expositions, corrections, and abridgments of their writings. Written in French by Loys le Roy called Regius: and translated into English by R.A.; De la vicissitude ou variete des choses en l'univers. English	Leroy, Louis, d. 1577.; Ashley, Robert, 1565-1641.	1594 (1594)	STC 15488; ESTC S113483	275,844	270

persons appointed for diuine seruice POLICIE conducteth the affaires of peace and warre in the which would not be found any iustice or fidelitie without the feare of God and loue towards men which are especially commaunded in all Religions Wherfore in all Lordships both auncient and moderne the first care hath alwaies bin of Religion and diuine seruice and such as haue had the chargethereof haue alwaies bin reputed the chiefest in aucthoritie much honoured and well intertained being both they and their children exempted from subsidies and militarie labours The PRIESTS or PROPHETS of Egipt inio●ed a third part of the reuenew of the kingdom and had great credit both with the king with the cōmon people aswel for that they had the care of diuine things were very learned and teachers of others as because they were called by the king to giue counsaile in great affairs foretelling of future things which they knew by the Sacrifices and by the starres The Roialtie was mingled with sacrificing and none could be king but he were also a PRIEST as Plato saith in his Politiks The CHALDEES in Assyria and Media had such aucthoritie as the Egiptian priests in Egipt being reputed most skilfull and expert in Astrologie by which they did prognosticate of things to come and by sooth-sayings and sacrifices turned away euill fortunes and made good to come The BRACHMANES amongst the Indians held the chiefe place to whom great honour was borne and great giftes were giuen as to men that were acceptable to the Gods and thought to know whatsoeuer was done in Hell They foretold at the beginning of the yeare droughts raines windes and diseases And they indure still at this present in those parts perseuering in the cerimonies of their auncient Religion and holding the chiefe places in honour calling themselues BRAMINS which go before the NAIRES that is to say the Nobles The King of Calecut is their high Priest and head of his Religion going for this cause before all the kings of India and being called SAMORY that is God in earth The MAGES gouerned the Religion and estate of the Persians with such aucthoritie that they interprised sometimes to vsurpe the kingdom during Cambyses his absence in his voiage of Egipt and to make one of them king It was the custome also that the king of Persia should learne their Magicke without the which he might not raigne The DRVIDES of Gaule being ministers of Religion and of iustice discoursed of the starres and of their mouings of the nature of things and immortalitie of soules as also of the diuine aucthoritie and prouidence being greatly respected of all the rest and verie well intertained At Rome the SACERDOTES ARVSPICES AVGVRES FLAMINS SODALES and virgins VESTALES which kept the eternall fire the high Priest and inferiour Priests super-intendēts of their cerimonies sacrifices and supersticions had knowledg of the Ciuil law and managed the publike affaires The first kings of Rome were sacrificers and the Emperours to make their greatnes aucthoritie more venerable called themselues high Priests The PRIESTS both men and women ordained both in Greece and elswhere to see to the obseruation of the pagan Religion founded on Oracles were in great aucthoritie and receiued mightie offerings The Roialtie in Lacedemon was a superintendence in warre and preheminence in sacrifices The LEVITES in Iurie separated from the other Iewes to exercise sacrificing and the office of Priesthood in the race of AARON receiued dueties of inestimable value The THALISMANS PARACADIS CADIS Priests and Iudges in the Law of Mahomet MENITSSMARLS and IMANS were wel priuiledged freed from all subsidies At the beginning the CALIPHES in that religion were Kings and Priests one in Bagdet another in Caire Sithence the Sultans haue taken the royal aucthoritie and haue brought in the MVPHTIS accounted as Patriarches in steed of the CALIPHES super-intendents of the Religion and iudging soueraignly in matters of the Law by which are not onely occained the praiers and diuine ceremonies but also the politike and militarie affaires They haue power to retract the ordinances of the Sultans and sentences of their Diuans or Counsailes which are not conformable or seeme repugnant to the ALCORAN Euery Mahometan Prince keepeth one alwaies neere about him or in his principal Citie with great pension The great CHAM of the Tartarians Zauologues keepeth his at ●●●●rcand The SOPHI at T●●ris There are also in Africk at Fez Caroan ●●●●●ssen and elswhere The TVRK beareth vnto his greater reuerence then to any man of his Empire The ECCLESIASTICAL persons throughout Germanie Fraunce Poland England and Hungarie hold at this day the chiefe places in the counsaile of Kings and administration of iustice Among the seuen Electors of thempire there are three Ecclesiastical Amongst the Peeres of Fraunce there are six The chiefest of the Counsaile in Poland are the Archbishops and Bishops The Emperour is confirmed consecrated by the POPE The French king consecrated by the Archbishop of Rheimes The king of England by the Archbishop of Canterbury The king of Poland by the Archbishop of G●es●e For considering that the Archbishops and Bishops are established amongst the people as messengers of God and interpreters of the Law and will of God to their aucthoritie being great in it selfe haue bin added great honours in the common wealth to the end that the publike coūsailes and constitutions should by their presence be made more venerable The POPE commaundeth ouer the temporall of the Church called S. Peters patrimonie as king and is reuerenced by the rest of the Latin Christendome as head and chiefe of the Religion in those places where he is acknowledged for such But before we make an end of this matter we will set downe the agreements and differences which were betweene the Egiptian Priestes and the Chaldees Mages Brachmanes and the Druides The EGIPTIANS and BABYLONIANS dwelling in spacious plaines and hauing nothing to hinder them from the whole view of the Heaueri bestowed great studie in obseruation of the starres in the which both th one and the other were most skilful and expert The Egiptians said that the CHALDEES came out of Egipt and had learned Astrologie of them The MAGES and BRACHMANES agreed in sobrietie and austeritie of life and the Brachmanes were thought to haue discended of the Mages There was also the like similitude betweene the MAGES and DRVIDES namely those of great Britaine that they seemed to haue deliuered Magick to the Persians and not to haue learned it of them The bodies of the MAGES when they were dead were left to the doggs and birds to pray vpon before they were buried The BRACHMANES voluntarily ended their liues by fire The CHALDEES and EGIPTIANS had faire great and magnificent Temples The MAGES had no temples altars nor images The Mages were common both to the Persians and Parthians The CHALDEES to the Assyrians and Medes The EGIPTIANS and the PERSIANS beleeued the Resurrection and that men beeing raised from the dead

and sciences THE VICISSITVDE of Townes SOme Towns and Cities begin others end others increase others diminish cōming of little to be great of great little some are ouerthrowen by warres others by sedition others by long peace turned into loosenes or by pompe and prodigalitie pernitious to great riches or by casuall chaunces of fire inundation of waters or Earthquakes or els by old age which consumeth all things Niniue so great so faire and sumptuous was distroyed by Arbaces and the Medians Carthage by Scipio and the Romaines By tract of time the greatest part of Babylon hath bin turned vnto tillage and at this day is nothing or els hath chaunged his name Athens is reduced into a little village Troy into Champaigne Ierusalem so famous throughout the scripture hath bin often distroied and reedified Thebes was sometime the fairest Citie not onely of Egypt but of the whole world the magnificence of which was diminished by the increase of Memphis And that of Memphis by the edification and augmentation of Alexandria holden for the chiefe or second Citie in the world Rome began when Babylon ended and Constantinople is growen vp by the spoile of Rome the Empire being transported thither with his chiefe forces and riches Lions first scituated on a hill was burned then reedified below Elice and Buria drowned In auncient time there were in Candie 100. Townes which are now reduced vnto three On the contrarie in Germany there were no Townes there are at this day the fairest the strongest and best gouerned that are any where The Arabians and Tartarians march by great troupes representing great walking cities In other places are seen veriefaire Cities which were not in former time As Cair Alep Tauris Mosko Prague Cracouia Nugradia Antwerp London Lishbon Paris Roan Mexico in Temistiten Venice Cambalu Quinzay Meace in Gyapan Malach and Ormus THE VICISSITVDE OF COMMON Weales Kingdomes and Empires THe first and chiefest forme of Ciuil gouernment is a Monarchie erected naturally which by good establishment begetteth a Kingdom or Roialtie but when a Roialtie falleth into those vices which are neerest i● as into Tyrannie of their abolition ariseth Aristocratie which is commonlie chaunged into Oligarchie And when the Communaltie reuengeth the iniustice of the Gouernors there followeth a Democratie by the outrages and iniquities whereof is againe erected the Ochlocratie Such is the naturall reuolution of gouernments according vnto which the estate of the common wealth is chaunged and translated and againe returneth to the same Yf the vertue of commaunders were alwaies alike the affaires of men would go better and more certainlie without being transported to and fro and incessantly altered for aucthoritie is easilie maintayned by the same meanes by which it is gotten but where for diligence idlenes for continencie and equitie couetousnes and pride do take place there the fortune chaungeth with the maner of their lyuing Wherefore the Kingdoms and Empires are translated continually from the lesse apt and able to those that more chaunging from familie to familie and from nation to nation As by the variable course of the Moone is gouerned the great Sea mouing or appeasing his waues aduauncing or withdrawing the flowing and the ebbing of the tydes so are by the vnstabilitie of fortune and mens want of wisdom publike states increased diminished exalted abased changed destroied conuerted and put ouer from some vnto others those that are best gouerned hauing their power more assured and durable then the rest and yet none being perpetuall for asmuch as they are corrupted in length of yeares whatsoeuer good orders there are at the beginning if heed be not carefully taken in reforming them often and reducing them as much as is possible to their first integritie We see that a Lordship well founded doth prosper a time by the goodnes of the gouernment and goeth from good to better drawing in a right line towards the midst or the highest of his true politique course afterwards declineth from high to low or from the midst to the extremitie True it is that where th one endeth thother beginneth and is aduaunced by the ruyne of the former or many smal are reduced into one great and that great one diuided into lesser THE VICISSITVDE AND variety of Tongues LIkewise the Tongues words writings and Characters are continually changed hauing no better hap then other humaine things which do change ordinarily with their words namely maners of liuing both publike and priuate customes meates lawes habits and garments edifices buildings armes engines and instruments They haue a beginning continuance perfection corruption and alteration Some are altogether lost others do spring out of the former beeing corrupted and mingled others after they haue bin long time disanulled are restored They are maintayned with their proprietie sweetnes and elegancie with the sciences which are written in them thorough the power and greatnes of Empire and by religions with which meanes they are largely spread abroad in diuers Countries and endure long as also they are lost by the contrarie THE VICISSITVDE of Artes. BY the same order and interchangeable course the Arts and Sciences being small at beginning do augment by little and little and come vp to their perfection whether after they are once come they fall eftsoones and finally perish thorough the slouth of men or by the calamitie of warres long continued or by the tyrannie of barbarous people Then when they haue bin a while let downe they arise againe and successiuelie recouer their former strength Which hath giuen occasion to some excellent Philosophers and Astrologers to thinke that the same Sciences haue sundrie times bin inuented before time out of minde and lost againe as they may be againe also in time to come seeing that power and wisedom leaue not long each other but ordinarily keepe good companie together As I haue obserued within these three thousand yeares to haue falne out fiue or sixe times at certain seasons finding the excellency of armes and learning to haue bin first in Egipt Assyria Persia and Asia the lesser consequently in Greece Italie and Sarasmenia and finallie in this age in which we see almost all auncient liberal and Mechanical arts to be restored with the tongues after that they had bin lost almost twelue hundred yeares and other new inuented in their places Wherein shal be employed all the discourse ensuing depending on the former which we will begin with the Tongues with which are preserued and lost all humaine arts and affaires The end of the first Booke OF THE VICISSITVDE AND varietie of Tongues The second Booke GOD creating Man gaue him for a great and excellent gift the vse of Reason and Speech and by these two prerogatiues hath separated him from other Creatures But reason would little helpe him and would lesse appeare in him if he could not by speech expresse that which before hee had conceiued in his mind for the beastes seeme to yeeld vnto him rather in speech then vnderstanding doing finely and

not chaunge thorough our opinions but according to their nature remaine alwaies in the same order also that the true names did not chaunge after our pleasure but were agreeable to the things signified whose essence and similitude they did imitate being first conceiued in mind afterwards expressed in sound and voice and then written by letters and sillables Which opinion some haue so farre beleeued that they haue gone about to enquire and search out the proprietie of things by the proprietie of words and to insinuate so far by the secret vertue which they deemed in them as to do miracles in pronouncing them and to heale the diseases both of bodie and mind therwith And that which is more they haue affirmed that there are some inuented by diuine inspiration meaning amongst others the name of GOD which is pronounced by fower letters onely in most languages In which they say so manie Nations could not agree without some maruailous mysterie of the diuinitie If the imposition propertie and vertue of names be admirable the inuention and vse of Letters is no lesse and to haue found a mean to comprehend in a few notes such a multitude and varietie of sounds and voices of men By them are written the things of greatest profit vnto the world as the lawes sentences of Iudges testaments contracts and other such things necessarie for the vnderstanding of the life of man Those which haue bin long time dead are reuiued in the memorie of the lyuing and they which are many miles distant a sunder commune with their absent friends as if they were present The sacred Bookes of the holie Scripture and word of God are preserued by them the sentences of wise men philosophy and generally all sciences are deliuered ouer from hand to hand to the suruiuors Some haue cauiled at this inuention as Thames king of Egipt in Platoes Phaedrus who made answere to Theut boasting himself therof that he had not found a remedie or help for memory but for remembrance Therfore the Pythagoreans and the French Druydes did write nothing but deliuered one to another their mysteries without writing to th end that they should not exercise their memorie the lesse thorough the confidence of letters Notwithstanding experience which is Mistres of things hath manifestly opened their errour for asmuch as by writing nothing the memorie of their doctrine in processe of yeares thorough mans imbecillitie is vtterly lost no apparance or auncient mark therof remayning at this day In like maner the Hebrewes say of their Cabal that it was first giuen by God to the Patriarches and to Moises afterwards to the Prophets not written but reuealed successiuely and giuen from hand to hand by the one to the other But after they were deliuered from the Captiuitie of Babylon by Cyrus and that vnder Zorobabel they had reedified the Temple then Esdras who alreadie had restored the books of Moises fore-seeing that his nation amongst so many calamities flights banishments and mortalities vnto which it was exposed could not at length preserue and keepe the secreats of that celestial doctrine reuealed to them from aboue and preferred before the written Law except they did write them he gathered what he could of the wise men then suruiuing and reduced it into seuentie Volumes Letters then being most necessarie after they were inuented they which considered them neerest diuided them into Vowels and Consonants then into halfe vowels mutes and liquids calling that art Grammer which serued to know to discerne and to assemble them to make sillables nounes verbs and speach And although Plinie building on the authoritie of Epigenes thinketh the vse of letters to haue bin eternal that is to say without beginning neuertheles he is gainsaid in that by other Authors Philo the Iew imputeth the inuention of the Hebrew letters to Abraham Eusebius to Moises and others vnto Esdras Iosephus saith that the children of Seth the sonne of Adam erected two Pillars the one of stone thother of earth in the which they wrote the arts inuented by them and that th one of stone was yet in his time remayning in Syria Cicero attributeth the Egiptian letters to Mercury and the Phrygian to Hercules Liuie ascribeth the Latin to Euander the Arcadian whom he calleth venerable by the miracle of letters Cor. Tacitus the Hetrurian letters to Demaratus the Corinthian The Slauonians attribute theirs to S. Iherome who they say translated into their tongue the old new Testament The Bishop Gordian gaue letters to the Gothes The auncient Frenchmen which first possessed both the Gauls had three sorts of letters differing th one from thother The first inuēted by Wastald the other by Dorac the third by Hiche The Normans had theirs also described by Bede In like maner many Nations haue inuented new Characters haue changed and corrupted the old as the Slauons those of the Greeks the Armeniās of the Chaldees the Chaldees of the Hebrewes the Gothes Lombards Spaniards Germains and Frenchmen those of the Romains The other Hetrurian letters which are seen yet at this day in the ancient sepulchers are altogether vnknowen Others searching the same yet more deeply and fetching it farther off affime that they were first inuented by the Ethiopians who deliuered them to the Egiptians the Egiptians to the Assyrians the Assyrians to the Phenicians the Phenicians to the Pelagians the Pelagians to the Latins the Latins to the Italians Frenchmen Spaniards Almains Englishmen Scots Noruegians Suecians Polacques and Hungarians The Characters of the letters are no lesse different then the tongues can not serue any tongue but that wherunto they were ordayned nor represent the entier natural pronunciation no not of their owne which changeth not onely from towne to towne but almost from village to village for Greek could not be written in Latin letters nor the Latin in Greek letters and the Greeks and Latins do not alwaies pronounce as they write but to make the sound of their words softer do change the pronounciation of some letters taking th one for thother whereof ther is a complaint made in Lucian to the iudgment of the vowels Suetonius writeth of Augustus that he obserued not the Ortographie set down by the Gramarians but seem rather to leane to the opiniō of those which think that we ought to writ as we speak In the which howbeit he were followed yet could he not with his imperial authority and inestimable power preuaile against custome And therfore I wonder at some Frenchmen who not considering that in Grammer there is more obseruation thē reasō that it behoueth in such things as are speking writing pronoūcing with nature to mingle custom which as Quint. saith is the most certain Mistresse thereof haue of late intruded themselues assaying to reduce the writing of that language which they haue cleane turned vp-side downe wholie to the pronunciation without thinking that the French doe vse straunge letters which if they could neuer thoroughly satisfie their owne tongue but because of

land which we hold is little hard and barren and we must go from it to win a better elswhere There are many neere about vs and many farther remoued from vs of the which if we once possesse but one we shall be admirable to many others And surely men that rule ought to think on these things for when shall we haue better occasion then when we are Lords ouer many men and ouer all Asia CYRVS hearing these words commaunded they should be put in execution but in commaunding warned them also to prepare themselues not to rule but to be ouerruled for it is so that soft Countries make soft people because it is not proper to one land to beare both delectable fruits and valiant warriours Then the Persians repented them chosing rather to rule dwelling in an vnfruitfull land then to serue others sowing and labouring of the faire fieldes The same CYRVS in Xenophon showeth his people that watching and trauayling enduring of labour and vsing of diligence had enriched them Wherfore saith he it behoueth also that hereafter you be vertuous holding for certaine that great goods and great contentments will come vnto you by obedience constancie vertue paines-taking and hardines in vertuous and perilous interprises CYRVS then is he which first put the Persians in reputation making them Lords ouer the Medes whose vassals and tributaries they were before But as in all the great effects of nature and notable mutations of mankind God raiseth vp ordinarily great and excellent Princes adorned with rare vertues lifted vp in great aucthoritie to found Kingdomes and Empiers to bring in good lawes and maners of liuing in Religion and politike gouernment and to further the arts and sciences whose birth and death are foretold long time before by oracles prophecies and signes in Heauen and earth and after their death reuerenced with diuine honours So GOD meaning then to establish in Asia a most mightie Monarchie and to bring Philosophie into the world at the same time he raised vp CYRVS as praise-worthie a Prince as any other hath bin either afore or after him It is he alone amongst all the great Lordes and Captaines of whom histories do make mencion that could obserue modestie in all his prosperities and victories and bridle his absolute power and aucthoritie with equitie and clemencie But from whence may wee haue a more certaine testimonie of his excellencie then from the Propher Esay where he was named two hundred yeares before he was borne and is called of GOD his king promising to hold his right hand that hee might take stronge Townes and subdue mightie Nations and humble the great Kings of the earth And he chose him amongst all the Princes of the Gentils to reedifie the Temple of Ierusalem and deliuer the Iewes from the Captiuitie of Babylon in the which they had long remayned restoring them to their full libertie and vse of the true Religion The words of Esay are these The Lord saith thus to CYRVS his anoynted I haue taken the right hand that I may subdue the Nations before his face and that I may weaken the raines of Kings that the dores may be opened before him and that the gates be not shut I will go before him and make the crooked waies straight I will breake the gates of brasse and will bruse the barres of yron and will giue the treasures laied vp and the thinges hid in secret places that thou maist know that I am thy Lord the God of Israell calling thee by thy name for my seruant Iacobs sake and for Israell my chosen I haue named thee by thy name though thou neuer knowest me But though fortune were verie contrarie to him at the beginning yet did GOD neuer forsake him but following the prophecie deliuered him from many dangers and inconueniences ASTYAGES king of the Medes had a daughter called Mandana of whom he dreamt in his sleepe and it seemed vnto him that he saw her make water in such abundance that she filled all the Citie of Ecbatane and from thence watered and ouerflowed all Asia He proposed this vision to some of his Mages expounders of dreames and was afraied with that which he learned of them Wherefore when Mandana was of yeares to be maried hee would not giue her to any Median Lord but gaue her to a Persian whom he found of a good house and of sweet and peaceable maners though he esteemed him lesse then a Median of meane estate Mandana beeing maried to this Persian called Cambyses the first yeare of their mariage Astyages had an other vision and dreamed that he saw a Vine comming out of the wombe of his daughter and spreading ouer all Asia which he proposed to the deuiners as before and hearing them sent into Persia for his daughter being alreadie with child who being come he commaunded she should be carefully kept purposing to put her child to death because the Mages had told him that the sonne of his daughter should one day raigne in his place Wherefore as soone as she brought forth a child who was called CYRVS he appointed Harpagus his greatest fauorite and trustiest seruant to put him to death who gaue him to a Shepheard to be exposed for a pray to wild beastes which the shepheard did and left him in the midst of a forest wrapped in a blanket of cloth of gold and a mantle of diuers colours whither retourning afterward he found a bytch by the child which gaue him suck and defended him from the beastes Wherefore beeing moued with the same pitie which moued the bitch he brought the cradle into his Cabin and nourished the child as his owne till he was ten yeares of age when he was chosen king amongst the children In which charge bearing himselfe more brauelier then the estate of a shepheards sonne yeelded in appointing to euery one their offices and estates some to buyld him houses and castles others to be of his gard one to be as the eye of the king another ordayned to make report vnto him of the gouernment of his affaires and chastising roughly such as disobeyed him he became knowen and was brought back againe to Astyages who brought him vp thinking his dreame to be accomplished in this childish royaltie But being woxen greater he became most warlike and hauing at the beginning of his conquests but thirtie thousand fighting men afterwards as he increased in Lordships he augmented his forces and gathered togither sixe hundred thousand footemen sixe score thousand horsemen and aboue two thousand chariots armed with hookes His Empire being the greatest and the fairest that euer king had in Asia bounded towards the East with the red sea towards the North with the sea Euxinus on the West with Cypres and Egipt and on the south with Ethiopia He conquered first the Countrie of the Medes and the Hircanians which yeelded themselues vnto him of their owne free will then subdued by force the Assyrians the Arabians and Capadocians the inhabitants of th one and

sacrificed to pray onely for himselfe but hee must also pray for the prosperity of the king and generally of all the Persians being himselfe by this means comprised in the praier Euery one of thē when they would sacrifice brought his offering into a place that was not contaminated then hauing his attire on his head made for the most part of mirtle he called on that God to whom he sacrificed They would neither pisse spit nor void their noses into the riuers but reuerenced them aboue all things They suffered their dead bodies to be bitten praied on by doggs and birds before they would bury them others anointed them ouer with waxe then put them into the earth They and the Egyptians did not burne them because the Persians said it was not fit that a God should feed on a dead man the Egyptians thought the fire to be a liuing creature eating cōsuming whatsoeuer he seased on dying with his meat whē he was ful in their Law it was not permitted to cast the dead bodies to birds and beasts to deuoure them or to any liuing Creatures and therefore they embalmed them with salt that they should not be eaten of wormes The Egyptians would neuer kill any thing that had life The Mages killed with their handes euery liuing creature sauing man whom also the DRVIDES of Gaule did not spare to kill and sacrifice diuining by southsayings as the MAGES whom they resembled in many thinges shewing themselues so cerimonious in obseruing of Magick that they seemed to haue taught it to the Persians and not to haue learned it of them as Pliny sayth These Mages gaue out that the Gods appeared vnto them and foretold them of things to come affirming that the aire was full of spirits which did subtilly insinuate themselues into mens eyes that there were two princes namely one good God which they called Herosmades and the other euill whom they termed Arinan They clothed themselues with white garments liued of herbes cheese and course bread slept on the ground caried canes or reades in steed of staues They assembled in a holy place to communicate and talke togither Their authority was so great that Cambises when he went out of Persia left the gouernment of his house to one of them who in the absence of the king conspired with a brother of his against him and went about to make himselfe king Their Magicke consisted wholy in the religion and seruice of the Gods To whom they offered praiers vowes and sacrifices as if they onely were exalted beleeuing the resurrection of men and that they should be immortall Aristotle witnesseth that they were auncienter then the PROPHETS of Egypt Clearehus affirmeth that the BRACHMANES or GYMNOSOPHISTS of India came from thē ZOROASTER without doubt was the first inuentor whom somethinke by the etimologie of his name to haue bin an obseruer of the starres and to haue vnderstood natural things Plato in his first Alcibiades saith that the Magick of ZOROASTER is a knowledge of diuine mysteries which was wont to bee taught vnto the children of the kings of Persia to th end they might learne by example of the whole worlds common wealth to gouerne their owne And in his Charmides he sayth that the Magick of ZAMOLSIS was the physick of the minde causing it to vse temperance as the other is cause of bodily health Pithagoras Empedocles Democritus and the same Plato sayled and went far to learne it and hauing learned it did celebrate it at their retourne and kept it secret and many other vertuous amongest the auncients haue trauailed carefully therein getting great authority and reputation thereby For obseruing by it the meruailes hidden in the secretes of the world in the bosome of Nature and mysteries of God they haue discouered the concords of the world and agreement of the heauen with the earth accommodating the superiour thinges to the inferiour after they had once knowen their vertues howe they agree in doing and suffering which the Greekes call Sympathies and Antipathies which hath moued Plotinus to call such MAGES making profession of naturall MAGICKE the ministers of Nature It is at this day much vsed in CHINA and CATHAY which are Countries inhabited by most ingenious and industrious people where they are not permitted to come to Offices and Honours in the Common wealth without being learned namely in this MAGICKE which signifieth to speak simply according to the auncient Persian language perfect and soueraigne wisedome and MAGVS an expounder and obseruer of the diuinity Sithence that men haue abusiuely transferred this name to inchaunters who do wickedly abuse the simple making them beleeue that they know the secret and future things by strange words by signes and characters by diuelish deceits and impostures and other superstitious obseruations of Necromantie Geomantie Hydromantie Aeromantie Pyromantie such other of long time reproued both by diuine and humane lawes Wherhence may be vnderstood that there are two sorts of MAGICK th one natural thother superstitious The natural in contemplating the vertues of celestial and terrestiall things considering the conuenances contrarieties discouereth the powers which are hidden in nature mingling th one with thother in due proportion vnder certain constellation and applying the actiue to the passiue draweth them one to another by the similitude of nature So the elements do draw th one the other so the loadstone draweth the yron to it amber the chaffe and brimstone fire the sunne many flowers leaues the Moone waters Mars the winds many herbes drawe vnto them many liuing creatures and haue meruailous secret properties by the which this Magicke naturally worketh great miracles The other superstitious Magick is by inuocation of euil spirits which is a manifest Idolatry and hath alwaies bin forbidden by wel ordered common weales Such were the MAGICIANS of PHARAO which counterfeited diuelishly whatsoeuer MOSES ARON diuinely had wrought til such time as the rod of MOSES turned into a serpent did eate vp theirs which they had tourned also into serpents Such was SIMON MAGVS and such the Pythonisse was that called vp the soule of Samuel the prophet such also was Circe such a one was Medea Plutarch writeth that the spirit of Antony being bound by magicall verses and loue drenches that his liberty being lost he was fixed in the face of Cleopatra The Euthydemus of Plato compareth Oratorie and Magicke or Enchauntery togither and sayth that as Oratory is a delighting and appeasing of the Iudges and assemblies of men so that Enchanting is an asswaging of vipers spiders scorpions other venimous and cruel beastes as also of diseases The vanity of this superstitious Magick appeared especially in the Emperour Nero who gaue him selfe to it as much as euer any man did hauing neither want of goods of power nor of vnderstanding and desiring nothing more then to command the Gods and the dead Notwithstanding after he had called vnto him Tyridates king of Armenia

Tacitus writing of famous Oratours saith Tell me the cause why we are so farre from the former eloquence since it is but six score yeares from the death of Cicero to this present And a little after who knoweth not that eloquence and the other arts are fallen from their auncient glorie not for want of men but by the slouthfulnes of youth and negligence of parents and ignorance of teachers and forgetfulnes of the auncient customes Which euils being first begun in the Citie haue bin eft soones dispersed thorough Italie and all the prouinces The eloquent men of this time commit foule and shamefull faults in euery woord of their ordinarie speach shutting vp eloquence into little sence and smal sentences as if she were banished from her kingdome Whereas in times past being richly deckt with all arts she filled the breasts now being clipt and curtailed she remaineth without ornament without honour and as if she were without ingenuitie and is learned but as some base discipline This we account to be the chiefe and principall cause why we are so far gon backe from eloquence And the same author againe in the xvij of his Annales saith Before the affaires of the people of Rome were written with like eloquence libertie but sithence the battaile of Actium that the benefit of peace required all things to be reduced vnder the power of one then ceased these great witts and the trueth was vtterly lost first by ignorance of the state of the common wealth which was strange vnto them then by flatterie or hatred of those that ruled Plinie in his second booke I meruaile saith he that the world disagreeing and being diuided into kingdoms that is to say into parts so many persons haue imploied themselues to search out things which are so difficult to find In such sort that at this day euery one in his countrie knoweth some thinges more truely by the bookes of such as were neuer there then by aduertisement of the originaries And now that we inioy so happie a peace and haue an Emperour that taketh so great pleasure in the sciences and in new inuentions men are so far off from inuenting any new thing that they scarce learne the inuentions of the auncients The rewards were not then bestowed in greater abundance by the greatnes of fortune and yet more men imployed themselues in searching out of these things not expecting any other reward then to help their posterie But mens maners are waxen old and not the rewards And the sea being open on all sides and safe landing in all coasts many do nauigate but it is to gaine and not to learne whiles the mind being blinded and altogether giuen ouer to auarice doth not consider that it may more surely and safely be done by learning The same Authour saith in his thirteenth booke As the world is communicated by the maiestie of the Romaine Empire who would not think the life of man accomodated by the intercourse of things and by the societie of a happie peace And yet notwithstanding there are found but few which know that which the auncients haue left So much the greater was their studie and their industrie more fertile About a thousand yeares past shortly on the beginning of Letters Hesiodus gaue precepts vnto husbandmen who hath bin followed of many which hath increased husbandrie amongst vs for as much as it is good to consider not onely that which hath bin sithence inuented but also that which the auncients inuented before the memorie whereof is lost by our sluggishnes whereof we can alleage no other causes then those that are publick of the whole world Surelie other customes are come in sithence and mens witts are busied about other exercises They are onely giuen to questuarie and gainfull arts Before the Empires of nations were shut vp in themselues and therefore were they constrained by the necessitie of fortune to exercise the gifts of the mind Innumerable Kings were honoured by the Arts and preuailed by them thinking by them to obtaine aide and immortalitie wherefore both the rewards and works abounded The inlargment of the world and plentie of things hath bin hurtfull to posteritie Sithence the Senatour began to be chosen by his reuenew the Iudge to be made by the reuenew and that nothing hath so much commended the Magistrate and Captain as his reuenew Since that corrupting bribes were authorized the purchase of offices became very gainful that the only pleasure was in possessing much the prises of life are vanished and the arts called liberall of the great benefit of libertie haue fallen out to the contrarie and men haue begun to profit onely by seruitude and slauerie some worshipping of it in one sort and some in an other yet all notwithstanding aspiring to the same hope of profiting The chiefest haue rather respected the vices of another then their owne vertues Wherfore pleasure hath begun to liue and life is perished And the same in his xxv booke I can not sufficiently admire the diligence of the auncients who haue left nothing vnsearched and vnexperimented not retayning to themselues that which they knew to be profitable to posteritie on the contrarie we indeuour to hide and to suppresse their labours to depriue those good things of life which are gotten by others So certainly do they hide it which know any thing being enuious of others And ●eaching it vnto none do think thereby to authorize their knowledge So far are these maners from inuenting any new thing wherwith to be helpful to life the chiefest and soueraine labour of good wits being come vnto this to reserue to themselues the deeds of others and to let them perish Which is not to say that there haue not bin sithence any learned and eloquent men but that they are much differing from the former in proprietie puritie facilitie and elegancie of speach not comparable to them in vnderstanding iudgement and knowledge As in Italie Seneca called by the Emperour Claudius sand without lyme and a besome vnbound The two Plinies the Vnkle accounted the most learned of his time and the Nephew a famous Oratour who were men of great credit and authoritie Tacitus and Suetonius Historiographers Lucan Persius Sylius Italicus who was Consul the last yeare of Nero Statius Iuuenal and Martial Poets Cornelius Celsus exercised in all sciences Quinctilian a Rhetorician Aulus Gellius Iulius Hyginus an Astrologer Polemon and Scaurus Grammarians Aburnius Valens Tuscianus Vindius Verus Vlpius Marcellus Arrianus Tertullianus Saluius Iulianus L. Volusius Mecianus Papinianus and his auditours Vulpianus Tarnucius Palernus Macer Terentius Clementius Menander Arcadius Rufinus Papyrius Fronto Anthius Maximus Hermogenianus Africanus Florentinus Triphonius Iustus Callistratus Venuleius Celsus Alphenus Sabinus AElius Gordianus Triphonius Proculus Modestinus Pomponius and Africanus all excellent Lawiers In GREECE ASIA and ALEXANDRIA of EGIPT Plutarch and his nephew Sextus Musonius Apollonius Tyanaeus of CHALCEDONIA Lucian Galen the Physician Epictetus the Stoick Fauorinus Arrianus Herodianus and