pertaineth to manie yea to the vvhole bodie of the people And admit that this reason vvas effectual yet the glose vpon the place saith very notably That the princes pleasure may be held for a law so far forth as that which pleaseth him be iust and honest giuing vs to know thus much therby that euerie vvill and pleasure of a Prince may not indifferentlie be allowed for a law if it be in an vniust and dishonest action contrarie to the rule of good maners Moreouer it appeareth by the customes of many ancient people and realmes that Princes had neuer this license giuen them to doe vvhat they listed for let them be neuer so mightie yea as mighty as Darius vnder vvhose raign the Persian monarchie was abolished yet he must bee content according to the law of the Medes and Persians not to bee able to infringe that law vvhich vvas by the aduise of his Peeres and priuie counsell enacted and by his owne consent and authoritie established no though for Daniels deliuerance sake vvhom he loued Dan. 6.8 he greatly desired and tooke paines either to disannull or at least to giue a fauourable interpretation of it Such in old time was the custome of the Kings of Aegypt not to follow their owne affections in any actions they vvent about Diod. lib. 2. cap. 2. but to be directed by the aduise of their laws for they had not so much authoritie as to iudge betwixt man and man or to leuie subsidies and such like by their owne powers neither to punish any man through choler or any ouerweening conceit but were alwaies tied to obserue iustice and equitie in all causes neither did it grieue them so to doe being persuaded that whilest they obeied their lawes nothing could better betide them but good Thucyd. lib 1. The Lacedemonian Kings were in such bondage to the lawes of their countrie that the Ephori which were set vp to none other end but to be a bridle to hold them backe from doing vvhat they listed had absolure authority to correct them vvhen they had committed any fault which subiection nothing displeased king Theopompus as it is apparent by the answere he made his wife that reproued him once in anger saying by his cowardlinesse he would leaue a lesse kingdome to his children then he had receiued of his ancestors nay saith he a greater for so much as more durable and parmanent Plutarch praising the vprightnesse of King Alcamenes who for feare to breake the law refused diuerse presents that were sent him bursteth into this speech O heart worthie of a King that hath preferred the authoritie of the law before his owne profite Where are those fellowes now that crie Kings pleasures ought to be obserued for lawes and that a Prince may make a law but is not subiect to it himselfe and this is that which Plutarch saith as concerning that matter who liued vnder Traian the Emperour Cornelius Tacitus discouering the beginning and originall of the Romane ciuill law Lib. 3. Annal. saith that Seruius the third King of Rome after Romulus and Numa was the only man that most established those lawes wherevnto kings themselues ought to yeeld and be obedient And admit that the Emperors swaied with great power and authoritie almost all the world yet for all their fiercenesse and haughtinesse of mind Pliny durst tell Traian verie roundlie In Paneger that an Emperour ought to vse to carrie himselfe with such good gouernment in his Empire as if he were sure to giue vp an account of all his actions thou must not saith he desire more libertie to follow thine owne lust then any one of vs doe a Prince is not set ouer the law but the law placed in authority aboue the Prince this was the admonition of that Heathen man Likewise Antonius and Seuerus two mighty Emperours although by reason of an opinion of their owne greatnesse and haultinesse wherwith they flattered themselues bragged that they were not subiect to anie law yet they added this clause withall That notwithstanding they would liue according to the direction of the law Lib. 4. tit 17. This saith Theodosius and Valentinian two no lesse mighty Emperours is a voice becomming the roial Maiestie and greatnesse of a king To confesse himselfe to liue vnder a law and in truth it is a thing of greater importance then the imperiall dignity it selfe Lib. 1 â—od to put soueraignty vnder the authority of law Amongst many other good lessons and exhortations which Lewis that good King gaue vnto his son on his death bed Nicol. Gil vol. 1. Chronicl franc this was one worthy the remembring how he commanded him to loue and feare God with all his strength and to take heed of doing any thing that should be contrarie to his law whatsoeuer should befall him and to prouide that the good lawes and statutes of his kingdome might bee obserued and the priuiledges of his subiects maintained to forbid iudges to fauour him more then others when any cause of his owne came in triall Thereby giuing vs thus much to vnderstand that euery good King ought to submit himselfe in obedience vnder the hand of God and vnder the rule of iustice and equitie Wherefore there is neither king nor Keisar that can or ought to exempt himselfe from the obseruance of sacred and vpright lawes which if they resist or disanull doubtlesse they are culpable of a most hainous crime and especially of rebellion against the king of kings CHAP. VII Of the punishment that seased vpon Pharoa king of Aegypt for resisting God and transgressing the sixt commandement of the law WE haue sufficiently declared in the premisses that the mightiest potentates of this world are bound to range themselues vnder the obedience of Gods law it remaineth now that wee produce examples of those punishments that haue fallen vpon the heads of the transgressors of the same according to the manner of their transgression of what sort soeuer which that wee may the better describe it behoueth vs to follow the order of the Commandements as the examples we bring may be fitly referred to any of them And first we are to vnderstand that when God said Thou shalt haue none other Gods before me he condemneth vnder these words the vanitie of men that haue forged to themselues a multitude of gods he forbiddeth all false religioÌ„ declareth that he wold be acknowledged to be the sole true God that we shold serue worship loue fear obey him in and aboue al things And whoseuer it bee that doth otherwise either by hindering his worship or afflicting those that worship him the same man prouoketh his heauie wrath to be throwne vpon him to his vtter ruine and destruction This is the indignation that lighted vpon Pharoa king of Aegypt as we read in the booke of God Exod. 3. who being one of the most puissant Kings of the earth in his age God chose him for an
ought to be aboue the prince not the prince aboue the lawes Dial. 4. ote legibus it is then most manifest that the prince is tyed vnto the lawes euen in such sort that without the same the gouernment which he swaieth can neuer be lawfull and commendable And if it be true that the Magistrate is or ought to be a Speaking law as it is said and ought to maintaine the authoritie and credit thereof by the due and vpright administration of Iustice for if he did not this he were a dumb law and without life How is it possible that he should make it of authority sorce with others if he despiseth and transgresseth it himselfe Dauid did neuer assume so much to himselfe as to desire to haue liberty to do what he listed in his kingdom but willingly submitted himselfe to that whicâ— his office and duty required 2. Sam. 5. making euen then when he was installed and established king ouer the whole land a couenant of peace with the princes and deputies of the people and wee know that in euery couenant and bargaine both parties are bound to ech other by a mutuall bond to perfourme the conditions which they are agreed vpon the like is vsed at the coronation of Christian Kings where as the people is bound and sworne to do their allegiance to their Kings so the kings are also solemnly sworne to maintaine and defend true religion the estate of iustice the peace and tranquilitie of their subiects and the right and priuiledges which are nothing but the lawes of the Realme whereas Dauid was by the Prophet Nathan reprooued for the adultery and murder which he had committed he neither vsed any excuse nor alledged any priuiledge whereby he was exempted from the rigour of the law to iustifie his fact but freely confessed without any cloake that he had sinned Whereby it appeareth of how small strength and authority their opinion and words be which thinke or affirme that a prince may dispence with the lawes at his pleasure by this opinion was the mother in law of Antonius Caracalla seduced who hauing by her lasciuious and filthy allurements enticed her sonne in law to lust and loue her and to desire her for his wife perswaded him that he might bring his purpose to passe and that it was lawfull enough for him if he would though for other it was vnlawfull seeing that he was Emperour and that it belongeth not to him to receiue but to giue lawes by which perswasion that braue marriage was concluded and made vp contrary to the law of nature and nations and to all honestie and vertue So it was reported how Cambyses tooke his owne sister to wife Herod lib 3. whome notwithstanding a litle after he put to death which thing being not vsuall then among the Persians not daring to enterprise it although he was a most wicked man without the aduise of the magistrates and counsellers of his realme hee called them togither and demaunded whether it was lawfull for him to make such a marriage or no to whome they answered freely that there was no prescript law which did allow of it yet that they might sooth him vp fearing to incurre his displeasure they said further that though there was no law to command it yet such a mighty king as hee might doe what he pleased In like manner that trencher Philosopher Anaxarchus after that he had told Alexander the Great Plutarch with a loud voice that he ought not to feare the penaltie of any law nor the reproch nor blame of any man because it belonged onely to his office to create lawes for all other to liue by and to prescribe the limits of lawfull and lawlesse things and that it became him beeing a conquerour to rule like a lord and a master and not to obey any vaine conceit of law whatsoeuer and that what thing soeuer the king did the same was sacred iust and lawfull vvithout exception And by this meanes made his proceedings farre more dissolute and outragious in many things then euer they were before Dion in the epitome of Xiphiline reporteth how the Emperours were wont to vsurpe this priuiledge to be exempted from all lawe that they might not be tied to any necessity of doing or leauing vndone any thing and how in no case they would endure to be subiect to any written ordinances the which thing is manifest euen in the behauiour of the chiefest of them aswell in regard of their life and manners as of the gouernment that they vsed in their Commonwealths For first of all Augustus Caesar hauing kept in his owne hand the office of the Triumuir ten yeeres as Suetonius testifieth hee also vsurped the Tribunes office and authority and that til his dying day and likewise tooke vpon him the Censureship namely the office of correcting and gouerning manners and lawes if need required whose successours a man may truly say for the most part trampled vnder their feete all sincere and sacred lawes by their notorious intemperance dissolutenesse and cruelties And yet for all this there wanted not a parasiticall lawyer vvho to please the Emperour his lord and master the better and to vnderprop and as it vvere seele ouer vvith a faire shevv that tyrannicall gouernment vsed by other Emperours foisted in this as a lavv amongst the rest Princeps legibus solutus est That the prince was exempted from all law As for that which they alledge out of Aristotles Politiques maketh nothing to set a colour vpon this counterfait for saith Aristotle if there be any man that excelleth so in vertue aboue all others that none is able to compare with him that man is to be accounted as a God amongst men to whome no law may be prescribed because he is a law vnto himselfe all which I graunt to be true if that which was presupposed could take place for where no transgression is found there no law is necessary according as Saint Paul said The law was not giuen for the iust but for the vniust and offenders but where is it possible to find such a Prince so excellent and so vertuous that standeth not in need of some law to be ruled by Of the like force and strength is that which is written in the first booke of Institutions tit 2. the wordes are these The Princes pleasure serueth for a law because the whole bodie of the people hath translated all their authoritie power and iurisdiction vnto him this is spoken of the Romane Emperours but vpon the ground of so slender silly reason that vpon so weake a foundation it can neuer stand for if it be demanded whether this action of the people of giuing ouer their right and prerogatiue to their Prince be vvilling or constrained vvhat answere vvill they make If it be by constraint and feare as it is indeed vvho will not iudge this vsurping of their libertie vtterly vniust and tyrannicall when one man shall arrogate that to himselfe vvhich
halfe dead and with in short space died altogether without any appearance of repentance Among many other iudges which shewed themselues hot and rigorous in persecuting and proceeding against the faithfull prisoners of Valence in Daulphin and other Romanes at that season when two ministers of the same citie suffered martyrdome one Lanbespin a Counsellor and Ponsenas the Kings attourney at the parlement of Grenoble both two hauing beene professors in times past were not the backwardest in that action but God made them both strange examples of his wrath for Lanbespin falling in loue with a young maid was so extreamely passionate therein that hee forewent his owne estate and all bounds of ciuill honestie to follow her vp and downe whether soeuer shee went and seeing his loue and labour despised and set at naught hee so pined away with verie thought that making no reckoning of himselfe such a multitude of lice so fed vpon him took so good liking of their pasture that by no meanes he could be clensed of them for they increased issued out of euery part of his body in such number as maggots are wont to engender in a dead rotten carrion At length a litle before his death seeing his owne miserie and feeling Gods heauie vengeance vpon him he began to despaire of all mercie to the end to abridge his miserable daies hee resolued to hunger starue himself to death which purpose the lice furthered for they stack so thick in his throat as if they would haue choked him euery momeÌ„t neither could he suffer any sustenance to passe downe by reason of them They that were eie witnesses of this pittifull spectacle were wonderously mooued with compassion and constrained him to eat whether hee would or not And that they might make him take cullisses and other stewed broathes because hee refused and stroue against them they bound his armes and put gagges into his mouth to keepe it open whilest others poured in the food And in this wise being gagged he died like a mad beast with aboundance of lice that went downe his throat in so much that the very Papists themselues stucke not to say Persecution lib. 1. cap. 15. That as hee caused the ministers of Valence to haue gagges thrust into their mouthes and so put to death so likewise hee himselfe died with a gag in his mouth As touching Ponsâ—nas commonly called Bourrell a very butcher indeed of poore Christians after hee had sold his owne patrimonie and his wiues and friends also to the end to buy out his office had spent that which remained in house keeping hoping in short space to rake vp twise as much as he had scattered fell suddainly into a strange and vnknown disease and shortly grew in despaire of Gods succour and fauor towards him by a strong remembrance of those of Valence and the other Romanes which hee had put to death which would neuer depart out of his mind but still presented themselues before him Persecution Lib. 1. cap. 15. so that as one bestraught of reason sense he denied his maker and called vpon his destroier the Deuill with most horrible and bitter cursings which when his clarke perceiued he laid out before him the mercies of God out of all places of the scripture to comfort and restore his decaied sence But in stead of returning to God by repentance and praier hee continued obstinate and answered his clarke whose name was Steuen in this wife Steuen Steuen thou art blacke So I am and it please you quoth hee but I am neither Turke nor Moore nor Bohemian but a Gascoigne of red haire No no answered he not so but thou art blacke but it is with sinne That is true quoth hee but I hope in the bountifull mercie of God that for the loue of Christ who died for mee my blacke sinnes shall not bee imputed to me There he redoubling his choler cried mainely after his clarke calling him Lutheran Huguenot villaine At which noise his friends without rushed in to know what the matter was but hee commanded that Steuen his clarke should presently haue a paire of bolts clapt on his heeles and to bee burned for an Heretike In briefe his choler and rage boiled so furiously in him that in short space hee died a fearfull death with horrible houling outcries his creditors scarce gaue them respite to draw his carcase out of his bed before they seased vpon all his goods not leauing his poore wife and children so much as a bed of straw to lie in so grieuous was the curse of God vpon his house Another great Prince hauing in former time vsed his authoritie and power to the aduancing of Gods kingdome afterwards being seduced by the allurements of the world renounced God and took part with the enemies of his church to make warre against it in which warre hee was wounded to death and is one notable example of Gods iust vengeance to all that shall in like manner fall away CHAP. XXI Of Heretikes AS it is a matter necessarily appertaining to the first commandemeÌ„t that the puritie and sinceritie of the doctrine of Gods word be maintained by the rule whereof hee would haue vs both know him and vnderstand the holy mysteries which are reuealed to vs therein so also by the contrarie whatsoeuer tendeth to the corrupting or falsifieng of the same word rising from foolish and strange opinions of humane reason the same transgresseth the limits of this commandement of which sort is Heresie an euill of it owne nature verie pernicious and contagious and no lesse to bee feared and shunned then the heate of persecution and by meanes whereof the whole nation of Christendome hath beene heretofore tossed with many troubles and the church of God greeuously vexed But as truth got euer the vpper hand and preuailed against falshood so the brochers and vpholders of falshood came euer to the worse and were confounded as well by the strength of truth as by the speciall iudgements of God sent downe vpon the most part of them Acts. 5.36.39 Euseb eccle hist lib 2. cap. 10. Ioseph antiq lib. 18. cap. 1. lib. 20 cap. 2. Theudas and Iudas Galilaeus were two that seduced the Iewes before Christ for the first of them said hee was a Prophet sent from God and that hee could deuide the waters of Iordan by his word as Ioshua the seruant of the Lord did The other promised to deliuer them from the seruitude and the yoke of the Romanes And both of them by that means drew much people after them so prone is the coÌ„mon multitude to follow nouelties and to beleeue euery new fangle that is but yesterday set on broch But they came both to a deserued destruction for Fatus the gouernour of Iury ouertooke Theudas sending his trunck to the graue carried his head as a monument to Ierusalem As for Iudas hee perished also al his followers were dispersed manifesting their ends that their works were
a wise man to preuent all mischiefes was found dead the day before hauing his throat cut and as most likelihood was finding himselfe guilty of the fact and too weake to ouerway the other side forestalled the infamie of a most shamefull death by killing himselfe although there be that say that the Emperour sent one of purpose to dispatch him in this manner Lib. 3. cap. 4. Of the Northren people Olaus Magnus telleth of one Methâ—tin a noble magitian in old time that by his delusions did so deceiue and blind the poore ignorant people that they accounted him not only for some mightie man but rather for some demy god in token of the honour and reuerence they bare him Refer this also to the lib. 1. cap 24. they offered vp sacrifices vnto him which he refused not but at last his knaueries and cousenages being laid open they killed him whom before they so much esteemed because his dead carkasse with filthy stinke infected the approchers they digged it vp and broched it vpon the end of a stake to be deuoured of wild beasts Chap. 18. of the foresaid book Another called Hollere as the same authour witnesseth plaied the like tricks in abusing the peoples minds as strongly as the other did insomuch that he was reputed also for a god for he ioined with his craft strength and power to make himselfe of greater authority in the world WheÌ„ he listed to passe ouer the sea hee vsed no other ship but a bone figured with certaine charmes wherby he was transported as if both sailes wind had helped driuen him forwards yet his enchanted bone was not of power to saue him from being murdered of his enemies The same authour writeth that in Denmarke there was one Otto a great rouer pirat by sea who vsed likewise to passe the seas without the helpe of ship or any other vessell sunke drowned all his enemies with the waues which by his cunning he stirred vp but at last this cunning practiser was ouerreached by one more expert in his Art then himselfe and as hee had serued others so was hee himselfe serued euen swallowed vp of the waues There was a coniurer at Saltzbourg that vaunted that he could gather togither all the serpents within halfe a mile round about into a ditch and feed them and bring them vp there and being about the experiment behold the old and grand serpent came in the while which whilst he thought by the force of his charmes to make to enter into the ditch among the rest he set vpon and enclosed him round about like a girdle so strongly that he drew him perforce into the ditch with him where he miserably died Marke here the wages of such wicked miscreants that as they make it their occupation to abuse simple folke they are themselues abused cousened of the deuill who is a finer iuggler then them all It was a very lamentable spectacle that chanced to the gouernour of Mascon a magitian whome the deuill snatched vp in dinner while and hoisted aloft carrying him three times about the towne of Mascon in the presence of many beholders to whome hee cryed on this manner Helpe helpe my friends Hugo de Clam so that the whole towne stood amazed thereat yea and the remembrance of this strange accident sticketh at this day fast in the minds of all the inhabitants of the countrey and they say that this wretch hauing giuen himselfe to the deuill prouided store of holy bread as they call it which hee alwaies carried about with him thinking thereby to keepe himselfe from his clawes but it serued him to small stead as his end declared About the yeere 1437 Charles the seuenth being king of France Sir Giles of Britaine lord of Rayes and high Constable of France was accused by the report of Enguerran de Monstrelet for hauing murdered many infants and women great with child Vol. 2. to the number of eight score or more with whose blood he either writ or caused to be written books full of coniurations hoping by that abominable meanes to attaine to high matters but it happened cleane crosse contrary to his expectation and practise for being conuinced of those horrible crimes it being Gods will that such grosse and palpable sinnes should not go vnpunished hee was adiudged to be hanged and burned to death which was also accordingly executed at Nantes by the authoritie of the Duke of Britaine Iohn Francis Picus of Mirand saith that hee conferred diuers times with many who being enticed with a vaine hope of knowing things to come were afterwards so grieuously tormented by the deuill with whome they had made some bargaine that they thought themselues thrise happy if they escaped with their liues He saith moreouer that there was in his time a certaine coniurer that promised a too curious no great wise prince to present vnto him vpon a stage the siege of Troy and Achilles and Hector fighting togither as they did when they were aliue but he could not performe his promise for another sport and spectacle more hideous ougly to his person for hee was taken away aliue by a deuill in such sort that he was neuer afterward heard of In our owne memory the Earle of Aspremont and his brother lord of Orne were made famous and in euery mans mouth for their straunge and prodigious feats wherein they were so vnreasonably dissolute and vainglorious that sometime they made it their sport and pastime to breake downe all the windowes about the castle Aspremont where they kept which lieth in Lorraine two miles from S. Michael and threw them peece meale into a deep well to heare them crie plumpe but this vaine excesse prefaged a ruine and destruction to come aswell vpon their house which at this present lieth desolate and ruinous in many respects as vpon theÌ„selues that finished their daies in miserie one after another as wee shall now vnderstand of the one the Lord of Orne a Albeit the author forget himselfe for there is no more mentioÌ„ made of him in the whole booke as for the Earle how he died wee shall see more at large in the second booke 28 chapter to which place his history properly belongeth Now it chanced that as this Lord of Orne was of most wicked and cruell conditions so he had an euil fauoured looke answerable to his inclination and name to be a coniurer the report that went of his cruelty was this that vpon a time he put the baker one of his seruants whose wife he vsed secretly to entertaine into a tunne which he caused to be rouled from the top of a hill into the bottome bounsing some times as high as a pike as the place gaue occasion but by the great mercy of God notwithstanding all this this poore man saued his life Furthermore it was a common report that wheÌ„ any Gentlemen or Lords came to see him they were entertained as they
deigne to acknowledge And thus it falleth out with all wicked miserable Atheists whose hearts imagine there is no God and therfore haue so little assurance in themselues that there need no thunder and lightning to amase them for the shaking of euerie leafe is sufficient to make them tremble To conclude this Atheist void of religion and feare of God and full of all prophanesse was according to his due desert murthered by one of his owne seruants of the which will follow more at large in the next booke Domitian likewise was so blinded with pride that he would be called a god and worshipped Oros lib. 7. ca. 7. of whome also wee will speake in the second booke and 34 chapter To these we may adde them also Dionys Halie Lib. 1. antiq Roman that to the end to make themselues feared and reuerenced as gods haue counterfaited the lightnings and thunders of heauen as we read of one Alladius a Latin king that raigned before Romulus who being a most wicked tyrant a contemner of God inuented a trick whereby to represent to the eare and eie the rattling swift shine of both thunder lightning that by that meanes astonishing his subiects he might be guised of them for a god but it chanced that his house being set on fire with true lightning ouerthrown with the violent strength of tempestuous rain togither with the ouerflowing of a pond that stood nere he perished by fire water burnt drowned all at once Did not the king of Elide the like and to the same end also by the deuice of a chariot drawn about with foure horses wherein were certaine iron workes which with wrinching about gaue an horrible sound resembling thunder and torches and squibs which hee caused to be throwen about like lightnings in such sort that he oftentimes burnt the beholders Diod. lib. 4. in this manner hee went vp and downe brauing it especially ouer an iron bridge which hee had of purpose built to passe and repasse ouer at his pleasure vntill Gods long suffering could not endure any longer such outragious and presumptuous madnesse but sent a thunderbolt from heauen vpon his head that all the world might see by his destruction the exceeding folly and vaine pride which bewitched him in his life time Which history the Poet in the person of Sibilla setteth downe at large to this effect I saw Salmon in cruell torments lie For counterfatting thunder of the skie And Ioues cleare lightning whilst with torches bright Drawne with foure steedes and brandishing his light He rode triumphantly through Elis streats And made all Grecia wonder at his feats Thinking to win the honor of a god Mad as he was by scattertng fire abroad With brazen engines and with courses faining A noise like that which in the clouds is raining And no where else but God from thickest skie No torch but such a thunderbolt let flie At him that headlong whirld him from his cell And tumbled downe into the deepest hell Thus this arrogant king was punished according to the quality of his offence euen in the same kind wherin he offended which thing though it bee found written in a Poet yet ought not be reiected for an old wiues tale seeing it is not incredible that a king might make such pastimes yron crashing noises nor that he might be iustly punished for the same and the rather because Caligula did the like as wee haue heard before And we read also that one Arthemisius in the time of the Emperour Iustinian counterfeited by certain engines and deuises in his owne house in Constantinople Agath lib. 5. bell Gothis such earthquakes lightnings and thunders that would astonish a wise braine to heare or behold them on a sodaine But aboue all others that by darkening the glorie of God to encrease their own power haue prowdly exalted theÌ„selues against him the Popes are the ringleaders whose vnbrideled boldnes hath ben so much the more impudent pernicious for that in tearming themselues the seruants of the seruants of God in word in deed take vnto them the authoritie and power of God himself as of pardoning absoluing sins creating laws ordinances at their pleasure in binding or vnbinding mens consciences which things appertain to God only nay they haue ben so brasen faced as to coÌ„mand Angels and deuils as Clement the fift did in one of his buls so impudent as to be carried like idols vpon their vassalâ— shoulders weare three crownes vpon their heads so prowd and arrogant as to constraine kings and Emperours to kisse their feet to make them their vassals to vsurpe Lordship dominion ouer them and all their lands and possessions and to dispossesse whome they like not of kingdomes enstall in their roomes whom they please and all this by the thunder of excommunication whereby they make themselues feared and stood in awe of By which dealings of theirs they verifie in themselues that which the scripture speaketh of Antichrist which is the man of sinne the sonne of perdition 2. Thes 2.3 an aduersarie and one that exalteth himselfe against all which is called God or which is worshipped till he bee set as a god in the temple of God shewing himselfe that he is God Wherefore also the heauie vengeance of God is manifest vpon them by the great and horrible punishments they haue beene tormented with for some of them haue had their eies pulled out others haue died in prisons a third sort haue beene smothered to death a fourth hath beene killed with the sword a fift hath died with hunger a sixt bene stoned a seuenth poysoned and yet there hath not wanted an eigth sort whom the deuill himselfe hath stifled This it is to ouerreach the clouds Sabel Aenead 9. lib. 7. Iohn le Maire de Besges Niâ—h Giles of the Chronicles of Fraunce and not content with earthly power to vsurpe a supremacy and praeeminence ouer kings such was the pride of Pope Boniface the eigth wheÌ„ he sent an embassage to Philip the Faire king of France to command him to take vpon him an expedition against the Sarasens beyond the sea vpon paine of forfeiting his kingdome into his hands and when hauing his sword by his side he shamed not to say that he alone and none else was Emperour and Lord of all the world in demonstration wherof he bestowed the Empire vpon Duke Albert together with the crowne of Fraunce and not content herewith his insolencie was so importunat that he charged Philip the Faire to acknowledge himselfe to bee his subiect in all causes as well spirituall as temporall and to leuie a subsidie for his holinesse out of his Clergie disabling his authority in bestowing church liuings which prerogatiue hee chalenged to his sea the conclusion of this bull was in these words Aliud credentes fatitos reputamus as much to say as whosoeuer is of another mind then this we esteeme him a foole Wherevnto
much lesse will he spare any other kingdome and monarchie which continue by their images and idoll worship to stirre vp his indignation against them CHAP. XXVII Of many euils that haue come vpon Christendome for idolatrie IF wee consider and search out the cause of the ruine of the East Empire and of so many famous and florishing Churches as were before-time in the greatest part of Europe namely in Greece wee shall find that Idolatry hath beene the cause of all for euen as it got footing and increase in their dominions so equally did the power of Saracens and Turkish tyrany take root and foundation amongst them and prospered so well that the rest of the world trembled at the report thereof God hauing raised and fortified them as beforetime he had done the Assyrians and Babylonians as whips and scourges to chasten the people and nations of the world that wickedly had abused his holy gospell bearing the name of Christians had become idolaters for no other name then this can be giuen them that in deuotion do any maner of homage to images pictures whatsoeuer may superficially be alledged to the contrary For be it the image either of Prophet Apostle or Christ Iesus himself yet it is necessary that the law of God stand whole and sound which saith Thou shalt make thy selfe no grauen image nor any likenes of things either in heauen aboue or in earth beneath Epiphan Iohn Bishop of Ierusalem thou shalt not bow downe to them nor worship them c. Wherefore he perfourmed the part of a good bishop that finding a vaile spred in the entrance of a Church dore wherein the image of Christ or of some other Saint was pictured rent it in peeces with these words That it was against the authoritie of the sacred scripture to haue any image of Christ set vp in the Church After the same manner Serenus bishop of Marseilla beate down banished all images out of his Churches as occasions of idolatry to shun them the more it was ordained in the Elibertine councill that no image nor picture should be set vp in any Church for which cause also the Emperour Leo the third by an open edict commanded his subiects to cast out of their temples all pictures and statues of Saints Paul Diacon Lib. 6. cap. 14. Angels and whatsoeuer to the intent that all occasions of Idolatry might be taken away yea and he burned some and punished diuers otherwise that in this regard were not pliant but disobedient to his commaundement After which time when images were recalled into Greece into Constantinople the chiefe city and seat of the east Empire it came to passe by a great and dreadfull yet iust iudgement of God that this famous and renowmed city in the worlds eie impregnable after long siege and great and furious assaults was at length taken by the Turkes who hauing wonne the breach and entred with fury droue the poore Emperour Paleologus euen till then fighting for the cities defence to that extremity that in retiring among the prease of his owne souldiers he was thronged and trampled to death and his slaine body being found was beheaded and his head contemptuously caried about the city vpon a launce Now after the massacre of many thousand men to make vp a complete and absolute cruelty they drew the Empresse with her daughters and many other Ladies gentlewomen to a banquet where after many vile and horrible wrongs and disgraces they killed and tore them in pieces in most monstrous manner In all which the execution of Gods most iust wrath for idolatry did most liuely appeare which sinne accompanied with many other execrable and vile vices must needs draw after it a grieuous and terrible punishment to serue for example to others that were to come neither was it a thing by chance or haphazzard that the christians were made a mocking stocke vnto them in that wofull day when in their bloody triumphes they caused a crucifixe to be caried through the streets in contempt and throwing durt vpon it cried in their language This is the gallant God of Christians And thus did God license and permit these sauage Turkes to commit eueryday grieuous outrages and to make great wastes and desolations in all Christendome till that they grew so mighty that it is to bee feared least the saying of Lactantius touching the returne of the Empire into Asia be not verified and accomplished verie shortly if there bee no amendment practised for we see by wofull experience that almost all the forces which Christian Princes haue mustered together from all quarters in pretence to resist their furie and rage haue not onely beene bootlesse and vnprofitable but also that which is worse giuen them further occasion by their bloodie victories and wonderfull slaughter of so many millions of men to make them more obstinate in their detestable Mahumetisme and Turkish religion then they were before for they make their boasts thereof and reare vp trophees of their cruelties taking no more pittie of the vanquished then a butcher doth of sheepe alotted to the slaughter Whereof we haue a pittifull example in rhe ouerthrow of the French armie which Iohn the sonne of Philip duke of Burgundie led against the Turke Pazaite and by the trecherie and cowardise of the Hungarians who in the time of battaile turned their backes and fled was ouercome in that this wicked and cruell tyger expresly charged that all the prisoners in number many should be murdered one after another which was readily executed before his eies so that sauing the chiefe captaine and certain few lords of the companie that were spared in respect of great ransoms there scaped not one aliue Besides these generall calamities the Lord hath particularly showne foorth his indignation against priuate persons and places for Idolatrie Cent. 4. cap. 3. as in Spoletium at one rime there perished by an earthquake three hundred and fiftie whilst they were offering sacrifice vnto their Idols At Rome vnder the empire of Alexander Seuerus after that the left hand of the image of Iupiter was miraculously melted Cent 3. cap. 14. the priests going about to pacifie the anger of their gods with Lectisterns and Sacrifices foure of them togither with the altar and Idoll were stricken in peeces with a thunderbolt and sodenly such a horrible darkenesse ouerspread all the Citty that most of the inhabitants ran out into the fields all amazed Moreouer did not the Lord send lightning from Heauen to inflame that notorious Temple for Idolatrie of Apollo Theodor. lib. 3. cap. 9. 10. or rather the Deuill of Delphos in the time of Iulian the wicked Apostatae whilest hee was exercising tortures vpon one Theodorus a Christian and did it not consume the image of Apollo to ashes The famous and rich Temple of Iupiter at Apamea how strangely did it come to ruine and destruction Nicâ—phor lib. 12. cap. 27. For when the President and Tribunes
humbled vnder so grieuous a scourge as neuer forsook him til his death When the arke of the couenant was in bringing from Abinadabs house in Kyriathiarim in a cart guided by Vzza and Ahio Abinadabs sonnes 1. Sam. 6. 1. Chron. 13. it fell out by the way that it being shaken by the oxen vnfit seruitors for such a worke Vzza put forth his hand to hold it but therin he went beyond his charge therefore was punished forthwith with present death for his inconsiderate rashnes for albeit he was both a Leuit and thought no euill in his heart yet in no respect was he licenced to touch the arke being a thing lawfull for the Priests onely Let therefore euery one bee aduised by these examples to follow that rule in seruing God which is by him designed in all simplicitie modesty and obedience without altering or declining or vndertaking any thing aboue or beside their calling CHAP. XXIX Of Periurers THe third commandement which is Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vaine is first and especially broken by periurie when God is so lightly esteemed nay so despised that without any regard had to his name that is to say to his greatnes maiesty power diuine vertue and fearfull iustice for these be his names men by fraud and malice abuse their othes either in denying that which is true or affirming that which is vntrue or neglecting their promises made vowed to others for this is neither to haue respect vnto his presence who is euery where nor reuerence to his maiestie who is God of heauen and earth but rather to make him bear witnes to our lie falshood as if he approued it or had no power to reuenge the iniury dishonor done vnto him And therfore against such in threatning words he denounceth this iudgement that Hee will not hold him guiltlesse that taketh his name in vain Howbeit very many ouerboldly giue themselues ouer to this sinne making little or no conscience to cousen one another euen by forswearings whereby they giue most cleare euidence against themselues that they haue very little feare of God before their eies and are not guided by any other rule saue of their owne affections by which they square-out and build their othes and pull them downe againe at their pleasures for let it be a matter of vantage and then they wil keepe them but straightway if a contrarie persuasion come in their braine they will cancell them by and by wherein they deale farre worse and more iniuriously with God then with their knowne enemies for hee that contrarie to his sworne faith deceiueth his enemie declareth that therein he feareth him but feareth not God and careth for him but contemneth God It was therefore not-without good reason that all antiquity euer marked thē with the coat of infamie that forswore themselues And therevpon it is that Homer so often taunteth the Troians by reason of their so vsuall periuries Diod. lib. 2. ca. 2. The Aegyptians had them in detestation as prophane persons and reputed it so capitall a crime that whosoeuer was conuinced thereof was punished by death The ancient Romanes reuerenced nothing more then Faith in publicke affaires for which cause they had in their city a temple dedicated to it wherein for a more streight bond they vsed solemnly to promise and sweare to all the conditions of peace truces and bargaines which they made and to curse those which went about first to breake them for greater solemnitie and confirmation hereof they were accustomed at those times to offer sacrifices to the image of faith for more reuerence sake Hence it was that Attilius Regulus chiefe captaine of the Romane army against the Carthaginians was so highly commended of all men because when hee was ouercome and taken prisoner and sent to Rome he only for his othes sake which hee had sworne returned againe to the enemie albeit hee knew what greeuous torments were prouided for him at his returne Others also that came with him though they were entreated and by their parents wiues and allies instantly vrged not to returne to Hannibals campe could in no wise bee moued therevnto but because they had sworne to the enemie if the Romans did not accord to those conditions which were offered to come againe they preferred the bond and reuerence of their promised faith though accompanied with perpetuall captiuity before their priuate commodities and neerest linke of affection But two of those ten for so many were they falsified their oth whatsoeuer mist they may cast to darken and disguise their periurie with yet were they condemned of all men for cowards and fainthearted traitors in so much that the Censors also noted them with infamie for the fact whereat they tooke such griefe and inward sorrow that being wearie of their liues they slew themselues Now what can they pretend that professe themselues Christians and Catholickes to excuse their periuries Cic. offic lib. 1. seeing that the very Heathen crie out so loud and cleare that an oth and faith is so sacredly to be kept towards our enemies This is one of the greatest vertues and commendations which the Psalmist attributeth to the faithfull man and him that feareth God and whome God auoucheth for his owne Psal 15. Iosh 9. not to falsifie his oth that he sweared though it bee to his dammage The Gibaonites although they were so execrable a people that for their great and horrible wickednesses and abhominations they might be well esteemed for Heretikes yet the Princes of Israell after they had sworne and giuen their faith vnto them would in no wise retract or goe against their oth albeit therein they were abused deceiued by them for feare of incurring the wtath of God that suffereth not a periurer to go vnpunished Vpon what ground or example of holy Scripture then may that doctrine of the counsell of Constance bee founded the purport whereof is That a man ought not to keepe his faith to Heretiks I omit to speake how these good fathers by Heretikes meant those men who fearing God relied themselues vpon his word and reiected the foolish and superstitious inuentions of men And vnder what colour can the Popes vsurpe this authoritie to quit and discharge subiects of their oth wherwith they are bound to their superiors yet this was the impious audacity of Pope Zacharia pope Boniface the eight and pope Benedict de la Lune Platina who freed the Frenchmen from their dutie and obedience which they ought vnto their kings In like manner disgorged Gregory the seuenth his choller and spite against the Emperour Henry by forbidding his subiects to be his subiects Enguerran de Monstrelet and to yeeld that obedience vnto him which subiects were bound to doe Howbeit if an oath be made either against God or to the dammage and hurt of our neighbour it being for that cause vnlawfull it behooueth vs to know that we ought to reuoke it
and consent of parties is committed bee condemned how much more greeuous and hainous is the offence and more guiltie the offendour when with violence the chastity of any is assailed and enforced This was the sinne wherwith Sichem the sonne of Hemor the Leuit is marked in holy scripture for hee rauished Dina Iaacobs daughter Gen. for which cause Simeon and Lui her brethren reuenged the iniury done done vnto their sister vpon the head of not onely him and his father but all the males that were in the citie by putting them to the sword It was a custome among the Spartanes Messenians during the time of peace betwixt them to send yearely to one another certaine of their daughters to celebrate certaine feasts and sacrifices that were amongst them now in continuance of time it chanced that fiftie of the Lacedemonian Virgines being come to those solemne feasts were pursued by the Messenian gallants to haue their pleasures of theÌ„ but they iointly making resistance and fighting for their honesties stroue so long not one yeelding themselues a prey into their hands till they all died wherevpon arose so long miserable a warre that all the countrie of Messena was destroied thereby Aristoclides a Tyrant of Orchomenus a city of Arcadia fell enamoured with a maid of Stymphalis who seeing her father by him slaine because hee seemed to stand in his puâ—poses light fled to the Temple of Diana to take Sanctuarie neither could once bee pluckt from the image of the goddesse vntill her life was taken from her but hir death so incensed the Arcadians that they fell to armes sharpely reuenged her cruell iniury Appius a Romane a man of power and authoritie in the city â—â—us Liuius enflamed with the loue of a Virgin whose father hight Virginius would needs make her his seruant to the end to abuse her the more freely whilst he endeuoured with all his power and pollicie to accomplish his immoderate lust her father slew her with his own hands more willing to prostitute her to death than to so foule an opprobrie and disgrace but euery man prouoked and stirred vp with the wofulnesse of the euent with one consent pursued apprehended and imprisoned the foule lecher who fearing the award of a most shamefull death killed himselfe to preuent a further mischiefe In the yeare of our Lord 1271 vnder the raign of the Emperour Rodolphe Nic. Gil. vol. 1. the Sicilians netled and enraged with the horrible whoredomes adulteries Rapes which the Garrisons that had the gouernment ouer them committed not able to endure any longer their insolent outragious demeanor entred a secret coÌ„mon conspiracy vpon a time appointed for the purpose which was on Easter sunday at the shutting in of the euening to set vpon them with one accord and to murder so many as they could as they did for at that instant they massacred so many throughout the whole island that of all the great multitude there suruiued not one to beare tidings or bewaile the dead At Naples it chaunced in the Kings pallace Bâ—mb lib. 3. hist Venet. as young King Fredericke Ferdinands sonne entered the priuie chamber of the Queene his mother to salute her and the other Ladies of the court that the Prince of Bissenio waighting in the outward chamber for his returne was slaine by one of his owne seruants that suddainely gaue him with his sword three deadly strokes in the presence of many beholders which deed hee confessed that hee had watched three yeares to performe in regard of an iniurie done vnto his sister and in her to him Benzoni Milan of the new found land whome hee rauished against her will The Spaniards that first tooke the Isle Hispaniola were for their whoredomes and Rapes whhich they committed vpon the wiues and Virgins all murdered by the inhabitants The inhabitants of the Prouince Cumana when they saw the beastly outrage of the Spanish nation The same author that lay along their coasts to fish for pearle in forcing and rauishing without difference their women young and old set vpon them vpon a Sunday morning with all their force and slew all that euer they found by the sea coasts Westward till there remained not one aliue And the fury of the rude vnciuill people was so great that they spared not the Monkes in their cloisters but cut their throates as they were mumbling their Masses burnt vp the Spanish houses both religious and priuate burst in peeces their belles drew about their Images hurld downe their crucifixes and cast them in disgrace and contempt ouerthwart their streetes to bee trodden vpon nay they destroyed whatsoeuer belonged vnto them to their very dogges and hennes and their owne Countriemen that serued them in any seruice whether religious or other they spared not they beate the earth and cursed it with bitter curses because it had vpholden such wicked and wretched caitifes Now the report of this massacre was so fearefull and terrible that the Spaniards which were in Cubagna doubted much of their liues also and truly not without great cause for if the Indians of the Continent had beene furnished and prouided with sufficient store of barkes they had passed euen into that Island and had serued them with the same sauce which their fellows were serued with for they wanted not will but hability to doe it And these are the goodly fruits of their adulteries and Rapes which the Spanish nation hath reaped in their new found land The great calamity and ouerthrow which the Lacedemonians endured at Leuctria wherein their chiefest strength and powers were weakened and consumed was a manifest punishment of their inordinate lust committed vpon two Virgines â—i Mel. lib. 2. whome after they had rauished in that very place they cut in peeces and threw them into a pit and when their father came to complaine him of the villanie they made so light account of his words that in stead of redresse he found nothing but reproch and derision so that with griefe hee slew himselfe vpon his daughters sepulchre but how greeuously the Lord reuenged this iniurie hystories doe sufficiently testifie and that Leuctrias calamitie doth beare witnesse Pausan lib. 2. Brias a Grecian captaine being receiued into a Citizens house as a guest forced his wife by violence to his lust but when he was asleepe to reuenge her wrong she put out both his eies and afterward complained to the citizens also who depriued him of his office and cast him out of their city Macrinus the Emperour punished two souldiours that rauished their hostesse on this manner hee shut them vp in an oxes bowels with their heads out and so partly with famishment and partly with wormes and rottennesse they consumed to death Iohan magnus Rodericus king of the Gothes in Spaine forced an Earles daughter to his lust for which cause her father brought against him an army of Sarasens and Moores and not onely slew him
as the earth was corrupted and polluted with abundance of sinne so God sent abundance of water to purge and clense away the filthinesse thereof as at the latter day hee will send fire to purifie and refine heauen and earth from their dregs and restore them to their first and purest estate And thus God reuenged the extortion and crueltie of that age But yet for all this those sinnes were not then so defaced and rooted vp but that they be burnished againe and grown in time to as big a Bulke for euen at this day the greatest part of the world is giuen to practise fraud and deceit and by vnlawfull meanes to encroch vpon others goods which subtleties though they desire neuer so to disguise and cloke yet will they euer bee condemned reputed kinds of theft before God now as some are of greater power and authority than others in the world so answerable to their selues is the qualitie of their sinnes and by consequence the punishment the greater of power the greater theeues and the greater iudgement for if a poor man through pouerty and necessity cutteth a purse of stealeth any other trifle be culpable how much more culpable shall he that is rich bee that vsurpeth the goods of his neighbor Draco the lawgiuer of Athens appointed death to be the punishment of theft Solon mitigated that rigor and punished it with double restitution The Locrians put out his eies that had stolen ought from his neighbour The Hetrurians stoned them to death The Scythians abhorred theÌ„ more than all creatures because they had a communitie of all things except their cups The Vacceians vsed such seuerity towards this kind of men that if one had taken but a handfull of corne he was sure to die for it Marcus Fabius being Censor condemned his own son Buteâ— to death being apprehended for theft Tiberius the Emperor punished a souldior after the same manner for stealing a Peacock in sum there was no CoÌ„monwealth wherin this sin was not highly detested sharply punished except the Lacedemonian where it was permitted and tollerated for their exercise of warlike discipline It was a rash and seuere Theat histor yet as it proued a iust ded of Tamburlaine that mightie tyrant and conqueror of Asia when a poore woman complained to him of one of his souldiors that had taken from her a little milke and a peece of cheese without paiment he caused the souldiors belly to be ripped to see whither shee had falsly accused him or no and finding the milke in his stomacke adiudged him worthy of that punishment for stealing from so poore a woman When Theophilus raigned Emperour in the East there was a certaine souldiour possessed of a very gallant and braue horse which his captaine by all meanes possible sought to get from him Zonar Annal. 3. but he would not in any case part with him wherefore hee put him forth of pay and tooke his horse from him by force and sent him for a present to the Emperour Theophilus now it chanced that this poore souldiour was slaine in the battaile for want of his horse and his wife and children left destitute of succour insomuch that through necessity shee was constrained to flie to Constantionple and to complaine to the Emperour of the iniury done vnto her husband with this resolution entring the citie she met the Emperour riding vpon her husbands horse and catching the horse bridle chalenged him not onely for stealing the horse but also being the cause of her husbands death The Emperour wondering at the womans boldnesse examined her more narrowly and found out the whole practise of that wicked captaine whom he banished presently his Empire and bestowed his possession in recompence vpon the distressed widdow Ibicus the Poet being set vpon by theeues when hee saw that they would not only spoile him of his money but of his life also he cried for help and reuenge to the cranes that flew ouer his head a while after as these murdering theeues sat togither in the market place the same cranes appearing vnto them in the aire they whispered one another in the eare and said yonder flie Ibicus reuengers which though secretly spoken yet was ouerheard so that they being examined and found guiltie were put to death for their paines The like story Martin Luther Luther reporteth touching a trauailer only differing in this that as cranes detected the former so crows laid open the latter Albert. Krantz lib. 10. cap. 7. In the yeare 1384 when as al Saxony was so infested with theeues that no man could trauaile safely in the countrie the Princes calling a councill set downe this order That not only the theeues themselues should be seuerely punished but all that did protect or harbor any of them which decree wheÌ„ as Theodorick countie of Weringrode impugned the body of the councill sent for him and adiudged him to a most cruell and shamefull death Cranth lib. 10. cap. 30. In the year 1410 Henry duke of Luneburge a most iust seuere prince went about to purge his country from all thefts robberies insomuch as the least offence coÌ„mitted in that kind he suffered not to goe vnpunished now it happened as the Duke went towards Luneburge hee sent before him one of his chiefest officers to prouide necessaries against his comming who riding â—â—thout a cloake the weather being cold entreated a ploughman to lend him his cloke till his returne which wheÌ„ the clown refused to do he took it without leaue but it cost him his life for it for the ploughman awaited the dukes comming and directed his complaint vnto him on this maner What auaileth it O noble prince to seek to suppresse the outrage of theeues spoilers when as the chiefest officers dare commit such things vncontrolled as the lieutenant of Tzela hath but now taken froÌ„ memy cloke the duke hearing this complaint considering the cause dissembled his councill till his returne backe from Luneburge vnto the same place where calling for his leiutenant and rating him for his iniury he commanded him to be hanged vpon a tree a wonderfull seueritie in iustice and worthy to be commended for what hope is it to root out small and pettie theeues if we suffer grand theeues to goe vncorrected There is another kind of theft practised of them that be in authority who vnder the title of confiscation assume vnto themselues stollen goods and so much the readilier by how much the value of the things amounteth to more worth an action altogither vniust and contrary to both diuine and humane law which ordaine to restore vnto euery man his own truly he that in steed of restitution with holdeth the good of his neighbour in this manner differeth no more from a theefe than that the one stealeth boldly without feare the other timorously and with great danger and what greater corruption of Iustice can there be then this For who would follow the law vpon a theefe when
woman to the Emperour Adrian is very worthy to be remembred Fulgos lib. 6. cap. 2. who appealing and complaining to the Emperour of some wrong when hee answered that he was not at leisure then to heare her sute shee told him boldly and plainly That then he ought not to be at leisure to be her Emperour which speech went so neare the quicke vnto him that euer after he shewed more facilitie and courtesie towards all men that had any thing to do with him The kings of Fraunce vsed also this custome of hearing and deciding their subiects matters as wee read of Charlemaigne the king and Emperour who commanded that he should be made acquainted with all matters of importance and their issues throughout his realme King Lewes the first treading the steps of his father Charlemaigne accustomed himselfe three daies in a weeke to heare publikely in his pallace the complaints and grieuances of his people and to right their wrongs and iniuries King Lewes sirnamed the Holy Aimo a little before his death gaue in charge to his sonne that should succeed him in the crowne amongst other this precept To be carefull to beare a stroke in seeing the distribution of iustice and that it should not be peruerted not depraued CHAP. XLVI Of such princes as haue made no reckening of punishing vice nor regarded the estate of their people IT cannot choose but be a great confusion in a common-wealth when iustice sleepeth and when the shamelesse boldnesse of euill doers is not curbed in with any bridle but runneth it owne swinge and therefore a Consull of Rome could say That it was an euill thing to haue a prince vnder whome license and libertie is giuen to euery man to doe what him listeth for so much then as this euill proceedeth from the carelesnes and slothfulnesse of those that hold the sterne of gouernment in their hands it can not be but some euill must needs fall vpon them for the same The truth of this may appeare in the person of Philip of Macedonie whome Demosthenes the oratour noteth for a treacherous and false dealing prince after that he had subdued almost all Greece not so much by open warre as by subtilty craft and surprise and that being in the top of his glory hee celebrated at one time the marriage of his sonne Alexander whome hee had lately made king of Epire and of one of his daughters with great pompe and magnificense as hee was marching with all his traine betwixt the two bridegroomes his owne sonne his sonne in law to see the sports and pastimes which were prepared for the solemnitie of the marriage behold suddenly a young Macedonian gentleman called Pausanias ran at him and slew him in the midst of the prease for not regarding to doe him iustice when hee complained of an iniury done vnto him by one of the peeres of his realme Plutarch Tatius the fellow king of Rome with Romulus for not doing iustice in punishing certaine of his friends and kinsfolkes that had robbed and murdered certaine Embassadors which came to Rome and for making their impunitie an example for other malefactours by deferring and protracting and disappointing their punishment was so watcht by the kindred of the slaine that they slew him euen as he was sacrificing to his gods because they could not obtaine iustice at his hands What happened to the Romanes for refusing to deliuer an Embassadour Tit. Liuius Plutarch who contrary to the law of nations comming vnto them plaid the part of an enemie to his own country euen well nigh the totall ouerthrow of them and their citie for hauing by this meanes brought vpon themselues the calamitie of warre they were at the first discomfited by the Gaules who pursuing their victory entred Rome and slew al that came in their way whether men or women infants or aged persons and after many daies spent in the pillage spoiling of the houses at last set fire on all and vtterly destroied the whole city Childericke king of France Paul Aemil. is notified for an extreame dullard and blockhead and such a one as had no care or regard vnto his realme but that liued idly and slothfully without intermedling with the affaires of the common wealth for he laid all the charge and burden of them vpon Pepin his lieutenant generall therefore was by him iustly deposed from his roiall dignity mewed vp in a cloister of religion to become a monke because he was vnfit for any good purpose albeit that this sudden change mutation was very strange yet there ensued no trouble nor commotion in the realme thereupon so odious was hee become to the whole land for his drowsie and idle disposition Paul Aemil. For the same cause did the princes Electours depose Venceslaus the Emperour from the Empire and established another in his roome King Richard of England amongst other foule faults which he was guilty of incurred greatest blame for this because he suffered many theeues and robbers to roue vp and down the land vnpunished for which cause the citizens of London coÌ„menced a high sute against him coÌ„pelled him hauing raigned 22 yeres to lay aside the crown resigne it to another in the presence of all the states died prisoner in the Tower Moreouer this is no small defect of iustice when men of authority do not only pardon capitall and detestable crimes but also grace and fauour the doers of them and this neither ought nor can be done by a soueraigne prince without ouerpassing the bounds of his limited power which can in no wise dispence with the law of God Exod. 21. whereunto euen kings themselues are subiect for as touching the willing and considerate murderer Dâ—ut 19. Thou shalt plucke him from my altar saith the Lord that hee may die thy eye shall not spare him to the end it may goe well with thee which was put in practise in the death of Ioab 1 King 2. who was slaine in the Tabernacle of God holding his hands vpon the hornes of the Altar for hee is no lesse abominable before God that iustifieth the wicked Prou 17. than hee that condemneth the iust and hereupon that holy king S. Lewes when hee had granted pardon to a malefactour Nich. Gilles reuoked it againe after better consideration of the matter saying That hee would giue no pardon except the case deserued pardon by the law for it was a worke of charitie and pittie to punish an offender and not to punish crimes was as much as to commit them In the yeere of our Lord 978 Egebrede the sonne of Edgare end Alphred king of England was a man of goodly outward shape and visage but wholly giuen to idlenesse and abhorring all princely exercises besides he was a louer of riot drunkennesse and vsed extreame cruelty towards his subiects hauing his eares open to all vniust complaints in feats of armes of all men most ignorant so