he dispos'd of Empires and Kingdomes he abrogated old Laws and made new and yet in that field of which he was afterwards Master he lost the Praetorship which he stood for 6. But to relate the greatest crime of the Elections M. Portius Cato who was more likely to grace the Praetorship with the gravity of his manners than to receive addition of splendour from it could not once obtain it at the peoples hands Voices of Madmen how well were they paid for the errour they committed For the honour which they denied to Cato they were forced to give to Vatinius And therefore to speak the truth the Praetorship was not then denied to Cato but Cato was denied to the Praetorship CHAP. VI. Of Necessity 1. The People of Rome after the overthrow at Cannae 2. The Casilinates in their Siege 3. The Praenestines besieged 4. The People of Rome in the Wars of Marius 5. C. Caesar at Munda 6. The Asiaticks in the Parthian War FORRAIGNERS 1. The Cretans besieged by Q. Metellus 2. The Numantines besieged by P. Scipio 3. The Calaguritans MOst bitter are the Laws of abominable Necessity and most severe her Commands which have compell'd not only our City but also forraign Nations to suffer many things grievous not only to the understanding but also to the hearing 1. For in the Second Punic War the Youth of Rome being exhausted the Senate at the motion of Titus Gracchus Consult elect order'd that Servants might be publickly bought to serve against the Enemy Which being reported by the Tribunes to the people three persons were chosen out to buy four and twenty thousand Servants who swearing them to be true faithful and courageous while the Carthaginians continued in Italy sent them away to the Camp Out of Apulia also and the Territories of Fidicule two hundred and seventy Horsemen were bought to supply the Horse How great is the violence of bitter Chance That City which till that time loath'd to have Souldiers whose heads were never tax'd that very City is now constrain'd to hale the bodies of Slaves from their servile dens and Freemen from the Cottages of Shepherds to be the chief strength of their Army Generous spirits therefore must sometimes give way to convenience and submit to the power of Fortune where he that chooses not the safest Counsel yields to him that follows the most specious Advice But the slaughter of Cannae so amaz'd our City that by the industry of Marcus Junius then ordering the affairs of the Common-wealth as Dictator the spoils of the Enemies fix'd in the Temples consecrated to the Gods were taken down for the service of the Wars and the youth of the Nobility were forced to take Arms and six Thousand condemn'd persons were also listed our of necessity Which things consider'd in themselves seem to look somewhat odly but weighed in the balance of necessity they appear to be helps fit for the severity of the times By reason of the same Overthrow the Senate wrote back in answer to Otacilius and Cornelius Mammula the one Propraetor of Sicily the other of Sardignia who both complain'd that they had neither Money nor Provisions for their Armies That they had not Money in the Treasury for distant expences and therefore bid them take the best course they could to provide for themselves Whereby the Senate put the Government quite out of their own hands aâ—d abandon'd Sicily and Sardignia two the kâ—â—â—â—st Nurses of our City the strâ—â—gth and support of â—â—eiâ— Wars subdu'd with so much blood and sweat in a few words to the severe command of Necessity 2. The Casilinates wanting Victuals and being closely besieg'd by Hannibal took all the Leathern Thongs from their necessary uses and the Leather Covers from their Targets and boyling them in water were forc'd to feed upon them Consider but the bitterness of the Calamity and what could be more miserable If you consider their Constancy what greater mark of Fidelity Who rather than they would desert the Romans maintain'd themselves with such a sort of Diet when such fat Fields and such a fertile Soyls joyn'd so close to their Walls 3. When that Town was so besieg'd and so faithfully held out it hapned that one among Three Hundred Praenestines having taken a Mouse would rather sell it for Two Hundred Denaries than eat it himself notwithstanding the famishing condition he was in But Providence allotted both to the Buyer and the Seller the end which they both deserv'd For the covetous person being starv'd to death enjoy'd not the spoils of his Avarice but he that was at so great an expence for his own preservation though he bought it dear yet since it was out of Necessity liv'd 4. In the Consulship of C. Marius and Cn. Carbo who contended in a Civil War with Sylla and at what time the Commonwealth did not seek for Victory but that the Publick was to be the Victors reward by a Decree of the Senate the Gold and Silver Ornaments of the Temples were melted down to pay the Souldiers For it was a worthy contention whether the one should be permitted to satiate his Cruelty with the banishment of the Citizens or whether the Immortal Gods should be rob'd But it was not the will of the Conscript Fathers but thine Dire Necessity that occasion'd that order to be made 5. When the divine Juâ—ius's Army besieged Munda and that they wanâ—ed matter to raise their Battery they made up the height which they wanted with the Bodies of dead Mâ—n And because they wanted Stakes they drave in their Piles and French-Darts to strengthen 'em Necessity teaching them a new way of Fortification 6. And that I may adde the heavenly mention of the Son to the remembrance of the celestial Father when Phraates King of the Parthians threatned to break in upon our Provinces and that the adjoyning Regions were terrified at the news of their coming there was such a Famine in the Region of Bosphorus that the Souldiers exchang'd so many Slaves for a single Vessel of Oyle and so many Slaves for a Bushel of Wheat But the care of Augustus under whose Protection the world then was soon provided a Remedy for that Calamity RORRAIGNERS 1. The Cretans had no such help who being besieged by Metellus and reduced to the utmost Extremity rather tormented than quench'd their thirst with their own and the Urine of their Cattle For fearing to be overcome they suffer'd that which the Victors would not have forced them to have endur'd 2. The Numantines being besieged by Scipio when they had consum'd all other things at length were constrain'd to feed upon Mans-flesh So that when their City was taken there were many found with the joynts and members of the slain in their bosomes But Necessity has no excuse for this for there was no necessity for them to live to whom it was so lawful to dye 3. But the horrid impiety of the Calagurritans exceeded the obstinacy of the former who to the end they
the highest Authority in the City inflamed with Anger and Malice So that the Father rode in Triumph to the Capitol the Daughter to the Temple of Vesta Nor could it be righty decided to which most praise was due whether to him whom Victory or her whom Piety attended 7. Pardon me most antient Hearths pardon me eternal Fires if the context of our work lead us from your most sacred Temple to the more necessary rather than magnificent part of the City For no Misfortune no Poverty cheapens the price of Piety Rather the trial of it is the more certain by how much the more miserable The Pretor had delivered to the Triumvir a noble Woman to be put to death in Prison being condemned for some hainous Crime But the Keeper compassionating her case did not strangle her presently All the while he gave her Daughter liberty to come to her after he had diligently search'd that she carried her no food believing that in a little time she might be starv'd to death But seeing her live many days without any alteration he began to consider with himself by what means she kept herself alive thereupon more diligently watching her Daughter he observ'd her giving her Breast to her Mother and pacifying the rage of her hunger with her Nipples The novelty of which wonderful sight being by him related to the Triumvir by the Triumvir to the Pretor by the Pretor to the Council of the Judges they granted the Woman her pardon What will nor Piety invent that for the preservation of a Parent in prison found out so strange a means as this For what more unusual what more unheard-of than that a Mother should be nourished by the Breasts of a Child One would think this were against the course of Nature but that Nature commands us in the first place to love our Parents FORRAIGN Examples 1. The same is to be said of Pero's Piety who preserved her Father Cimon fallen into the same misfortune and in Prison nourishing him like an Infant in his decrepit Age with the Milk of her Breasts Mens eyes are fix'd and in an amaze when they behold this piece of Piety represented in painting 2. Nor can I forget thee Cimon that didst not fear to purchase the Burial of thy Father with a voluntary surrendring thy own person to imprisonment For though afterwards it hapned that thou wert both a famous Citizen and a renowned Captain yet didst thou get more honour in the prison than in the Council-Chamber For other Vertues deserve admiration but Piety merits Love 3. Nor must I forget the two Brothers whose Courage was more noâ—â—e than their Birth Who being born of â—ow Pâ—â—entage in Spain grew famous by their Dâ—â—ths laying down their Lives for the support of their Family For they having agreed with the Paciaeci for twelve thousand Pieces of Money to be paid to their Parents after their Death upon condition that they should kill Epastus Tyrant of that Countrey not only performed the exploit but bravely fell in performing it With the same hands revenging their Countrymen punishing Epastus providing a maintenance for their antient Parâ—â—â—s and purchasing renown to themselves Therefore now they live in their Tombs because they chose rather to support their Fathers in their old Age than to preserve their own 4. A more known pair of Brothers were Biton and Cleobis Amphinomus and Anapus The first because they drew their Mothers Chariot to the Temple of Juno to perform the Ceremonies there The other because they carried their Father and their Mother upon their Shoulders through the midst of Aetna's flames but neither of them lost their Lives 5. Nor do I go about to detract from the honour of the Argives or to cloud the glory of the Sicilians But I hold the light of knowledg to the ignorance of a more obscure Piety which makes me renew the memory of a piece of Scythian Piety For Darius invading their Territories with a mighty Army they retreated before him to the very utmost Solitudes of all Asia Thereupon being by his Embassadours questioned when they would make an end of flying or when they would begin to fight they made answer That they had neither till'd Lands nor any Cities which were worth fighting for but when they came to the Monuments of their Ancestors then he should know how the Scythians were wont to fight By which pious answer that fierce and barbarous Nation redeem'd themselves from the scandal of Savageness Therefore is Nature the first and best Mistress of Piety which neither wanting the help of Speech nor the use of Letters through her own silent and proper Power infuses Charity into the breasts of Children What is then the profit of Learning That their Wits should be more polite but not more honest For true Vertue is rather born than acquired 6. For who taught such People as wander up and down in Carts that shelter their naked Bodies in the Woods and live by destroying Cattle like Dogs to give Darius such an Answer She that taught Croesus's Son that was born dumb to speak for the preservation of his Father For the City of Sardis being taken by Cyrus when one of the Persians not knowing who the person was furiously was going about to have kill'd his Father call'd back the Sword that was just at his Throat by crying out aloud to the Souldier that he should not kill King Croesus So that he who till that time was mute recovered his Speech for the safety of his Father The same Charity arm'd a Youngman of Pinna sirnamed Pulto in the Italian War with the same strength of Body and Mind Who being Governour of the City when it was besieged when the Roman General caused his Father to be brought forth and threatned to put him to death before his face unless he would deliver up the Town made a Sally and recovered his Father out of the Enemies hands Doubly famous â—or that he preserved his Father and yet did not betray his Countrey CHAP. V. Of Fraternal Benevolence 1. P. Africanus the Great 2. M. Fabius Vibulanus Cs. 3. T. Caesar Augustus 4. A certain Souldier NExt to this kind of Piety follows Fraternal Benevolence For as it may be accompted the first Bond of Friendship to have received many and great Benefits the next tye is that we have received them together For how abundantly pleasant is the remembrance of those things Before I was born I liv'd in the same House My Infancy lay in the same Cradle The same Persons were Parents to both The same Vows were made for both and we enjoy the same honour by our extraction A Wife is dear to a Husband Children dear to a Parent Friends are acceptable and Acquaintance are delightful but when you have read what follows there is no Benevolence that exceeds Brotherly Loving Kindness 1. And this I speak by the testimony of Scipio Africanus who though he had contracted a most strict Friendship with Laelius yet he
upraided him in these words What need have I then of thy friendship if thou wilt not do for me what I desire made this answer What need I of thine if for thy sake I should do any unhandsome action To these words were agreeable those deeds when rather through the dissention of the two Orders than for any fault of his own he was arraign'd he neither put on sorry Cloaths nor laid aside the Senatorian Ornaments nor made any Supplication to the Judges nor spoke any thing unworthy the splendour of his past years But so order'd it that his Tryal was rather an Experiment than any Impediment of his Gravity And when Sylla's Victories gave him liberty to return into his own Countrey he rather chose to tarry in Banishment than to do any thing against the Laws And therefore more justly might we have given the Title of Happy to the Manners of so grave a Man than to the prosperous Arms of the other more potent Conquerour Which Sylla usurp'd but Rutilius deserv'd 5. M. Brutus the Murtherer of his own Virtues before he was the Parricide of the Parent of his Countrey for by one foul deed he overthrew them all and defil'd his memory with an unexpiable detestation as he was going in to his last Battle to some that told him it was not convenient to fight Boldly said he I go into the Battle for this day either all things will be well or I shall have nothing to care for For he presum'd he could not live without Victory nor dye without Security FORRAIGNERS 1. The person beforementioned puts me in mind to relate what was said to Decius Brutus in Spain For when all Lusitania had surrendred it self to him and only the City of Cinninia obstinately held out and that the Consul thought to have bought them out they presently made answer to his Commissioners That their Ancestors had only left them their Swords to defend their City but no Money to purchase their Liberty from a covetous General A Saying more noble for Romans to have spoken than to have heard from others 2. Nature led them into these paths of Severity But Socrates the most famous Pillar of the Grecian Learning when he was to plead his own Cause at Athens and that Lycias had repeated to him an Oration compos'd by himself for him to make use of in the Court of Judicature humble suppliant and accommodated to the danger that threatned him Take it away said he for if I could be brought where I might repeat it in the farthermost deserts of Scythia there I should think I deserved death He contemn'd Life that he might not want Gravity choosing rather to dye like Socrates than to live like Lysias 3. As great as he in Wisdome Alexander as great in War shewed himself to be of the same mind For Darius having tried his force in two Battles and therefore offering him a part of his Kingdome and his Daughter in Marriage with Ten Hundred thousand Talents when Parmenio told him that if he were Alexander he would accept the Condition He made answer And so would I were I Parmenio An expression worthy of the two Victories and deserving the third which he obtain'd 4. This was the effect of a magnanimous Minde in Prosperity That more generous whereby the Lacedaemonian Ambassadors testified to his Father the miserable condition of their fortune For when he impos'd most intolerable Burthens upon their City they made him answer That if he should persist to command them things more grievous than Death they would prefer Death before his Commands 5. No less grave was the Saying of that Spartan who excelling both in Nobility and Sanctity of Mind being put by the Magistracy which he petition'd for I rejoyce exceedingly said he that my Countrey produces men more worthy than my self By which Speech he equall'd the honour he was put by CHAP. V. Of Justice ROMANS 1. The People of Rome 2. The four Tribunes of the People 3. Ti. Gracchus Censor 4. Colledge of Tribunes of the People 5. Cn. Domitius Ahenobarbus 6. Licinius Crassus the Oratour 7. Cor. Sylla Consul FORRAIGNERS 1. Pittacus of Mitylene 2. Aristides the Athenian 3. Zeleucus the Locrian 4. Charundas the Thurian 'T Is now time to enter the sacred recesses of Justice where alwaies the respect of just and honest Actions is conversant with Religious Observation Where Modesty is studied and Desire gives way to Reason there nothing is reputed profitable that is not honest Of which our City among all Nations is the most certain and principal Example 1. When Camillus the Consul besieg'd the Falisci a School-master brought over to the Roman Camp several Youths and those the most noble in the City under pretence of taking them to walk abroad Not questioning but they being in the power of the Romans that the Falisci would submit themselves to our General Upon which affair after consultation the Senate decreed that the Youths should be sent home lashing their Master all the way while his hands were tyed behind him Which Justice of theirs overcame the Minds of those whose Walls they were not able to expugn For the Falisci overcome by their Kindnesses not by their Arms open'd their Gates to the Romans The same City oftentimes rebelling but alwaies broken by adverse Fortune was at length constrained to yield to Q. Lutatius the Consul Against which when the Roman People desir'd to have shewn the extremity of their Revenge when they understood from Papyrius who by the Consuls command had writ the Articles of Surrender that the Falisci had surrender'd themselves to the Faith not to the Power of the Romans they laid aside all their Anger lest they should be wanting to their Justice suppressing the force of their Hatred which is not easily overcome and the pride of Victory which easily begets Licentiousness Another time when P. Claudius having by his prosperous conduct taken the Camerini had sold them under the Spear according to custome though thereby they saw their Exchequer filled with Money and their Empire enlarged yet because it did not seem to be done according to the Rules of Honour and Justice they sought them diligently out and redeemed them again assigning them a place of habitation in Aventinum and restoring them their Lands They gave them Money also to build Chappels and purchase Sacrifices and by their Justice gave the miserable an occasion to rejoyce in their destruction being so rais'd again What I have related was confin'd within our own Walls and the neighbouring parts what I now relate has flown over all the world Timochares the Ambracian promis'd Fabritius the Consul that he would poyson Pyrrhus by the assistance of his Son who was his Cupbearer Notice whereof being given to the Senate they sent Embassadors to give Pyrrhus intelligence of it admonishing him to be careful against such kind of treachery Remembring that their City was built by the Son of Mars and that War was to be carried on by Arms and
coming into the Senate-House Hannibal said he has sent me to advise with you Whether if he meet the Roman Admiral and finde him too numerous he shall fight or no When the whole Senate were unanimously for fighting Then said he he has fought and is overcome And then it was too late to condemn the fact which they themselves had approv'd 8. The other Hannibal finding Fabius Maximus's delay so prejudicial to his Victories to render him suspected of spinning out the War while he wasted all other parts of Italy with Fire and Sword he only spar'd his Farm And the crafty act of kindness had taken effect had not the piety of Fabius and the wily tricks of Hannibal bin too well known to the City of Rome 9. The Tusculans also sav'd themselves by the acuteness of their Councils For when by their frequent Rebellions they merited the total destruction of their City and that Furius Camillus was sent for the same purpose with a very powerful Army they all came forth to meet him in their Gowns bringing him provisions and offering him all other as at Peace and Friendship while their Shops were open as at other times By which Constancy of theirs they not only obtain'd our Friendship but became also incorporated with our City 10. But wicked was the counsel of Tullus Captain of the Volsci who being eager to make War upon the Romans finding after the loss of several Battles that his own People began to encline to Peace by a subtile way of reasoning made 'em do what he pleased For it happening that a great multitude of the Volsci went to Rome to behold the Publick Shews he told the Consuls he was afraid they would contrive some mischief being so numerous advis'd them to be careful and presently left the City himself This the Consuls related to the Senate who though they knew no reason for it yet upon Tullus's words voted the Volsci to depart the City By which contempt the Volsci incensed were easily induced to Rebellion Thus with a Lye mask'd in Kindness did a cunning Captain deceive two Nations The Romans being moved to abuse the Innocent and the deceived Volsci to revenge the injury CHAP. IV. Of Stratagems ROMANS 1. Tullus Hostilius King 2 Sext. Tarquiniuâ— 3. The besieged in the Capitol 4. M. Livius and C. Claudius Consuls 5. Q. Metellus sirnamed the Macedonian FORRAIGNERS 1. Agathocles King of Syracuse 2. Hannibal BUt this part of Subtilty is to be applauded as being free from all reproof the acts whereof because we have no word to express we are forced to borrow the word Stratagem from the Greek 1. Fidene a City that kept the growing infancy of our City waking and nourishing her Vertue with neighbouring Trophies and Triumphs taught her to aspire farther was assail'd by Tullus Hostilius all his forces At that time Metius Suffetius in the field when the Battles were ready to joyn discover'd the falsity of his heart which he had a long time kept conceal'd For leaving the wing of the Roman Army he drew Off to a Hill where he resolv'd to be a Spectator rather than an Assistant intending either to triumph over the vanquish'd or to fall upon the weary Victors No question but it discourag'd our Souldiers to see themselves forsaken by their Allies at the very time when they were going to fight their Enemies To prevent which Tullus riding swiftly about the Battalions cryed out That Metius had drawn off by his command and that he was to fall upon the back of the Fidenates when he gave the signe And by that cunning of an expert General he chang'd their Fear into Confidence and fill'd their breasts with Chearfulness instead of Consternation 2. And that I may not presently leave our Kings Sextus Tarquinius the Son of Tarquinius fretting to see that the Gabii could not be taken by his Father's Army found out a trick more powerful than Weapons themselves whereby he over-reach'd the Town and joyn'd it to the Roman Empire For he betook himself to the Gabii counterfeiting himself to be fled from his Fathers stripes and severity After that procuring the good will of every one by his kind and winning behaviour when he had won that he sent his Servant to his Father to tell him how he had every thing in his hands and to desire him to know what he should do The old mans Craft was answerable to the youngs mans subtilty For Tarquin pleased with the news yet not confiding in the Messeâ—ger return'd no answer but carrying him into the Garden strook of the heads of the highest and biggest Poppies with his Cane The young man understanding his silence and what he had done concluded there was another meaning in the thing which was that he should either banish or put to death all the Chief Heads of the Gabii Whereby he deliveir'd up the City empty of defenders and yet the peoples hands were not tyed 3. Prudently also and prosperously was it provided by our Ancestors when our City being taken the Capitol was besieg'd by the Gauls who despair'd of taking it any other way than by famishing the besieg'd For by how cunning an act of deliberation did they deprive the Victors of their only motive to that obstinacy by casting Loaves of Bread out of the Capitol into several parts of the Besieger-Line At which sight they were so amaz'd and thought us to be so well stor'd that they were constrain'd to raise their Siege Certainly Jupiter himself took compassion of the Roman Courage which then borrow'd assistance from Craft seeing them in the height of want to waste the support of Life And therefore he prosper'd the cunning Stratagem with a prosperous event 4. The same Jupiter afterwards became propitious to the crafty Councils of our Captains For when Hannibal â—â—â—â—assed one side of Italy and Asdrubal had invaded the other that the conjoyn'd forces of two Brothers might not too heavily and sorely oppress the already-too-weak condition of our affairs here Claudius Nero supply'd his vigorous Counsel there Livius Salinator providently provided For Nero curbing Hannibal in the Province of the Lucans making a shew of still attending the Enemy for so the reason of War requir'd with long and speedy marches hastens to the assistance of his Colleague Salinator being then in Vmbria by the River Metaurus and resolved to fight the next day with an extraordinary Policy received Nero by night For he order'd the Tribunes to be receiv'd by the Tribunes the Centurions by the Centurions the Horsemen by the Horsemen the Foot by the Footmen and so without any tumult he ingrafted two Armies into one in the same ground that was hardly able to contain that which he had before Whereby it hapned that Asdrubal knew not that he fought with two Consuls before he was by both overthrown And thus was the Punic faith so infamous over all the world deluded at its own Weapon while the Roman Prudence deliver'd up Hannibal to the Wiles of Nero