saying that hee had killed Pirrhus The like policy practised Iugurth saying to his Numidian soldiers that hee had slayne Caius Marius with his owne hand It is the onely marke that euery trecherous soldier in the field and euery seditious subiect in the country shoot at I meane the head for if the head be off the body must needs fall These be the very home-Vipers and secret Serpents that deuoure their natiue soyle These practising Vipers are often troubled with the like monstrous Image which Hanibal saw was astonished in his dreame asking what he was the Image Cic. de diuinat 1. said Vastitas Italiae These Vipers see nothing waking nor sleeping but the image of Hanibal vastitatem patria the spoyle of their countrey Sectio 8. THeophrastus the Philosopher and the successour of Aristotle his master in Athens faith that the playing vpon a Harp Lute or any other instrument doth heale the biting of some Vipers Alex. lib. 2. cap. 17. which Asclepiades the Phisician doth confirme that frantike people that are not well settled in their wittes can by no meanes better recouer their health quà m symphonia vocum consensu then by the consent of harmony and the voyce of a man for Ismenias the Theban healed many Boetians his country mē that were troubled with phrensie and madnesse with symphony and harmony of musike It is to bee beleeued that Ismenias with his Flute could ease the Boetians and Asclepiades with his phisike heale the frantike Such practises were necessary to be in many places to preuent lunatike policies Dauid with his Harpe did often mitigate the fury of king Saul asswaged oftentimes the phrenetical spirit 4. Reg. ca. 3. of Saul Againe Elizeus whē both Iehosaphat K. of Iuda and Ieboram king of Israel would know the euent of the warres betweene them and Mesa king of Moab Elizeus called for a Minstrel whē the Minstrel plaid the hand of the Lord came vpon Elizeus and then he told the kings of the victory they should haue ouer Moab Harmony saith Cicero doth incitare languentes et languefacere Cic. de leg 2. excitates nothing quickneth mans mind more the such musike I doubt such frantik men be likewise in many places abroad ready like Saul with their speares in their hands that neyther Dauid with his Harpe nor Elizeus with his Minstreles can heale these men of their frenzy These be the Vipers that sting their friendes worse in England then Hanibals Vipers stinged the Romans their enemies in Italy These Vipers are so ful of poysō that if they might kill with their sight like the Cockatrice or if they might infect with their breath as the Viper of Affricke doth and as they say of some kind of wolues which if they come within their breath they would kill some men both with sight and breath And therefore we haue a Caueat to take heed of such infected wolues that haue daungerous and stinking breath and be in sheepes clothing which liue as wolues dye as swine they liue in all common-wealths they dwel together in cities in towns and in houses we must be as subtill as Serpents against Serpents Yet the Egiptians think themselues most happy and fortunate and in great fauour with their gods when The superstition of Egypt they are bitten with Serpents Vipers and Crocadiles because they worship those kind of Serpents as their gods and truly fit gods for such a superstitious nation for that they worshipped no other gods but Serpents and beasts wherein they were reprehended of the superstitious Grecians for you shall not read that Crocadiles Cic. lib. 1. de Natur. Cats and Dogs and for that Wolues are like Dogs and such other like were slayn or kild in Egypt for they haue such beasts in reuerence and worship them as gods So superstitious were they in Egypt that it was coūted an abomination among them to eate with the Hebrewes Can. 43. for the nature of superstition is to condemne all other men in respect of themselues So Ioseph vsed the Hebrewes his brethren by themselues So did the Samaritans hate the Iewes that they might not eate or conuerse with the lewes for so did the woman of Samaria take vp Christ at Iacobs Well Ioh. 4. hee being a Iewe to aske water at a Samaritans hand but wee haue Iewes and Samaritans Hebrues and Egyptians so mingled that wee know not one another What will not blinde superstition cause to doo It made Nabuchadnezar and all Babel to say and confesse Great art thou God Bel. Dar. 14. It made the Ephesians say Great art thou Diana among the Ephesians Acts. 19. It made Charles the se uenth the French king with the consent of all his Counsell to beleeue the superstitious speech of Ioanna Lotharinga a woman that shee was sent from God to driue the Englishmen Ioseph lib. 18. cap. 4 out of Fraunce in the great Warres betweene England and Fraunce It is thus historied Arma gerebat viris preibat But shee was taken by Englishmen and burned at Rhotomagium It made Pallina the onely fayrest and chaste Gentlewoman of Rome to refuse two hundred thousand Drachmes of Decius Mundus a yong Romane knight for one nights lodging and yet shee came most ioyfully with the consent of all her friendes and of her husband Saturninus to lye with God Anubis in the Temple of Isis for nothing by the meanes of Isis Priests But this practize being found out by Pallina she cōplayned to her husband Saturninus and her husband to the Emperour Tiberius who first caused the priests of Isis to be slaine with the sword the Idoll of Isis to be drownd in Tyber the great God Anubis to be burned with fire and Decius Mundus the yong knight for euer to bee banished from Rome Nabuchadnezar destroyed the priests of Baal in Babylon as Tiberius destroyed the priests of Isis in Rome And so God stirred vp Iehu to destroy the house of Achab in Israel All dangerous and rebellious seditions grow of Idolatrous superstition therefore the Lord reprehended Ochosia because he maried the daughter of Achab. So Iehosaphat was reprehended of the Prophet Elizeus in danger of his life for that he ioyned in friendship 4. Reg. 1. with the same Idolatrous Achab. Salomon by growing in friendship with Pharaoes daughter lost his kingdome and Sampson by marying 3. Reg. 11 with Dalila a Philistine lost his life Sara complayned vnto Abraham that Ismael should not be in one house with Isaac her sonne which words though they were grieuous vnto Abraham yet God commaunded him to doe what Sara sayd for in Isaac Gen. 21. shall thy seed be blessed We must not only auoyd euill mens company but also depart from the place where they bee and where they dwell For God commaunded Abraham to depart from Vt his owne countrey being an Idolatrous Gen. 12. place So God commaunded Iacob to shun Mesopotamia
giuing Achilles armour to Vlisses that wise and politike men might be estemed as well for counsell as valiant men for valour Augustus the Emperour was written vnto by his deare friend Maecenas that if hee would haue a quiet Empire and his subiects to loue him he should cut off faction the chiefe cause of sedition and that the name of factions or any other new name tending to moue quarrels and debate might be quite excluded out of Rome And so doth Aristotle exhort that Magistratuum potentum contentiones the beginning of brawles Arist pol. 5. and contentions should be stayed and stopt by lawes if not by lawes by the sword Adulta seditio melioribus consilijs flectetur sayth Cicero What slaughter came of the cynders and ashes of Pompey the great of Cato of Scipio and of others to reuenge their death vpon Caesar and his friends What murther what warre was to reuenge the murthering of Caesar vpon Brutus Cassius and others The Lawe of Thrasybulus which curbed the thirty Tyrants in Athens could doe no good in Rome though Cicero did what he could in perswading Thrasybulus law to take 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 place with the people For then euery man in Rome seemed as a Serpent one to another ready in armes one to kill another Orosius hereupon induceth a Fable of Medea of a Serpent slayne of whose teeth set in Oros li. 6. cap. 17. the ground by Medea grew so many armed men who presently fought so within themselues that one destroied another Such was the slaughter by the ciuill warres at Rome Sectio 7. THeopompus being demaunded why did Sparta flourish Is it for that their kings gouerne their subiects wisely or that their subiects obey their kings faithfully Theopompus answered We practise in Sparta but to indure labour Theopom saying of Sparta No seditiō in Sparta to ouercome our enemies and to obey our kings howsoeuer kings gouerne the commaundement is giuen to subiects frō God to vse their shield not the sword The law in Sparta was therefore that the souldier that lost his shield in the field among the enemies should dye for it The sword is put into the hands of princes to punish offendors and to cut off disobedient and seditious subiects Chirurgians cut off rotten putrified members from the sound members which may be well likened to Gangraena which must of necessity be cut off lest the whole body perish God vsed to shew such seuerity to those factious Rebells the Iewes for their disobedience that fire came from heauen aboue and burned them and the earth belowe swallovved them for their factious disobedience which of all other Nations were most factious to Moses in the wildernesse to Iosua at Iericho and from time to time to the Iudges in Israel It was euer the wonted practice of policy among the seditious and factious people to taunt Magistrates or to speake some whispering speech against a prince to feele and to heare who will ioyne with them to moue seditiō These be the Vipers that bite men priuily these be the domesticall Serpents the secret brue-bates of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Commonwealths in whō there is no fayth found nor othes to be beleeued as Aristophanes sayth Augustus Caesar hearing that a slaunderous fellow one Elianus spake vnreuerent words of the Emperour the Magistrates willing to punish him Augustus commaunded Suet. in Aug. those that accused him to goe and tell Elianus Sciat Elianus Augustum habere linguam that Augustus had also a tongue both to punish and to pardon Philip of Macedon in like sort to his friends that perswaded him to banish the like lewd fellowes for their speach out of his court and countrey sayd God Plut. in Apotheg forbid lest they should speake of mee more in another Country then in Macedonia But these were dilatory plees to looke further vnto thē to find more fellowes of the like practice The example of Raymerus is much more commended which looked vnto the disposition of his Noble men and saw them vntractable little waying the care and loue the king had vnto them contemning despising both him and his lawes giuing eare to seditious men vntill the king saw their practice waxed angry perceiuing that they esteemed him not as their king caused 11. of these whom he saw most contentious to Lips lib. 3 be put to the sword in the City of Osca giuing them this taunt withall Nescit Vulpecula cum quo ludat A caueat not to pluck haires from Lions as the prouerb is Lecnem vellicare To serue a king saith Brasidas consisteth in three precepts Velle obedire vereri Brasida◠precepts A certayne king in Persia vsed in like sort as Raimerus did in Spayne but of meaner persons which for some reprochfull taunting wordes that they spake of the king he caused those scoffers nostrils quite on both sides to be cut off saying Ecce sigillum Regis in conuitiatores Behold the kings seale against scoffers This seuerity is more commended in these princes then the clemency of Philip or of Augustus What became of the taunt which the Egyptiās gaue to Ochus K. of Persia naming the K. the Asse of Persia King Ochus taunt to the Egyptians said Ochus Faciam vt hic asinus vestrū bouem depascat I wil make the Asse of Persia eate your Oxe of Egypt for the Egyptians worshipped an Oxe which they called Apis as one of their chiefe gods which within a while after Ochus surnamed Artaxerxes marched with a great Oros li. 3. cap. 7. army and subdued Egypt and sacrificed their Oxe and their god Apis according to his promise Cotis a Thracian K. answered one that said his seuere gouernmēt was rather fury then clemency towards his Cotis subiects Yea said Cotis hic furor meus sanos reddit subditós Clemency must be ioyned with seuerity This my seuerity said Cotis shall make my subiects both to loue me and to feare me Nimia clementia nocet Had Artabanus obserued the rule of Raymerus or the seuerity of Cotis he needed not to haue fled secretly Artabanus from Parthia to king Izetes beyond Armenia a far meaner king then himselfe neither to feare the snares and trappes of his subiects being so great a king called the king of kings for so the kings of Parthia are called but hee was restored to his kingdome by this meane king Izetes A thousand mishaps may happen to princes which subiects are free of Examples may be found of Iugurth king of Numidia and of Persius king of Persia who were taken Captiues in their owne kingdomes and dyed prisoners in Rome Charles surnamed sapiens the French king saw the king his father taken captiue in his owne kingdome and caried into England and the whole kingdome of Fraunce possest of Englishmen The Romane Histories are full of these horrible examples that by seditions and factions the whole Empire was welnigh destroyed that I
need not declare of Tomoembeus the great Soldan of Egypt and Affricke king and Lord of so many Nations in his owne kingdome Tomoembeus Lip lib. 2. how cruelly and strangely he was both depriued of his kingdome and of his life And how the great king de nouo orbe Mexicanus after infinite good Mexicanus successe of great fame and fortune lost suddenly both fame and fortune I need not confirme these histories with authority as of Achab Zedechias other who felt the iust Iudgemēt of God neyther of Manasses and Nabuchadnezar one 2. Reg. 10 confessing the Lord to bee God being a king among beastes the other a captiue and a prisoner out of his owne kingdome of whom the Greeke Prouerbe is verified 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Misery captiuity and want make kings to know thēselues It is a true saying Miseria bona mater prudētiae Augustus Caesar would know of his friend Asinius Pollio if he would come with him to the battell of Actium betweene Mar. Antonius and him He answered the Emperour In ciuil warre I wil take no part but Vell. 11. I will rest and be a pray to the Conquerour Tit. Atticus though Pompey by a Decree pronounced him a Rebel that would forsake his Senators the Consuls and the state of the Common-wealth in so troublesome a time yet Atticus was of the like opiniō as Q. Hortensius Hortensius saying was who often vsed to brag that he had neuer byn in any ciuill warres Cicero wrote his Epistle to them being his deere frends that scattered cattel wil come to their flocke how much more should such wise men be a cōfort Cic. ad Att. to their afflicted countrey and follow the best sort seing Cato himselfe Viua virtutis Imago was a Captaine in these warres Obserue the nature of factions in the best men Cicero and Cato went out of Rome as men determyned and resolute to take part with the best men and with the state of the Empyre to abide what so euer came of it Pomp. Atticus Q. Hortensius men of no lesse iudgement and credit in Rome then they were forsooke to be factious or to take part with eyther Pompey or Caesar at that time spake Cato to Pompey to strike the ground according to his promise yet Solon in Athens decreed a law that they which would be neuters in ciuil warres Gel. li. 11. cap. 12. and seperate themselues in their Countries calamities they should be banished igne aqua The Prophet Elizeus spake to Ioas king of Israel being in such distresse as Rome was and bade Ioas smite the ground with his foot and Ioas smote the ground three times and ceased Elizeus was angry and sayd Thou shouldest haue smitten fiue sixe or seuen times and so 4. Reg. 13. many victories shouldest thou haue had ouer the Assyrians as thou strookest the ground So Pompey also sayd to Cato If he should but strike the ground of Italy with his foot hee should want no men Plut. in Pomp. on his side to fight against Caesar But Pompey could not keepe promise with Cato as Elizeus did with Ioas. Many promise more then they can performe and doe deceiue themselues and others I could well compare these seditious people to Balaam who being sent for by king Balac promising him great rewardes to come and curse Israel as Balaam rode on his iorney an Angel with a drawen sword in his hand stood in his way which the Asse sawe and started but Balaam sawe not the Angell vntill his Asse spake to him and asked Balaam why he strake him These Asses cary some false Balaam or other not on their backs but in their bellyes that had rather go with Balaam to Balak to curse Israel and to conspire against their owne natiue countrey and if they can not preuaile Num. 22. by cursing banning they will practise another way by policy and counsell as Balaam did to deceiue Israel But these practisers doe as Benhadad did when hee was ouerthrowen in the mountaines he said that the The blasphemy of Benhadad 3. Reg. 20. Gods of the mountaynes were against him and therfore Benhadad would haue a battell in the Valley with the Israelites so these Balaams Asses euer haue done and will do if they faile of their practice in the mountaine they wil practize in the valley if they fayle in the valley they will practise their policy in Kings Courts Rebelles haue their snares layd downe how treason may be wrought and their places appointed where their treason may be performed and their time when to execute their treason So did Pausanias kill Philip of Pausanias Chaerea Macedon at a Marriage So did Chaerea kill Claudius the Emperour going to the Theaters So did the fryer of Fraunce murther the King at his confession What dare not practisers of policy do if they dare kill Emperours Kings and princes Claudius Nero sound no better way to feare Hannibal his great enemy then to throw Hasdrubals head into the Tent of his brother Hannibal which so amazed Hannibal and his army that they made haste from Carthage to Italy That Hanibal had nothing to comfort him but to nippe the Romanes of so many heads of Senators of Consuls of Praetors and of Romane Magistrates at the battell of Canna of Trebeia and of Thrasimena that requited his brothers head But these nippes were betweene Hanibal and Scipio For it was Sillaes practice to put Italy in fright and to make Rome amazed at his tyranny against his countrey that Cato wondred much to see so many heads of Magistrates and of Roman Citizens vpon poles hanged Plut. in Caton Oros li. 5. cap. 21. on euery gate at Rome about the Capitoll and in the market place and that no Romane for Romes sake had killed Silla When Golias head was caried by Dauid to Saul the Philistines fled and they were followed vnto Geth and vnto Acaron and the slaughter was great of the Philistians and their terrour was more to see their Captaine Golias without a head and therefore was the Sword of Golias hanged in the Temple at Ierusalē as a Trophey of victorie as the picture of the Sun 1. Reg. 17 was vpon Ioshuas Tombe for his victory at Gibeon When Holophernes head was brought frō the campe to Bethulia by Iudyth a womā the slaughter was great of the Assyrians and much more were they astonished Inaith 14 and ashamed to find their General Holophernes without a head and that by a woman It was great policy in Alexander the great to commaund all his souldiers to shoote their pieces and their arrowes together toward king Perus in India perceyuing Ore lib. 3. cap. 19. Dioder lib. 17. that the soldiers would fly if the king were slaine And therefore diuers great Captaines did practise such policy afterward to their soldiers as Leuinus the Consul perswaded his souldiers and shewed them a naked bloudy sword in his hand