the duke of Orleance was a vertuous and commendable action and the authour of it to be void of fault and therefore ought to be void of punishment The preface which this braue oratour vsed was That he was bounden in duty to the duke of Burgundy in regard of a goodly pension which he had receiued at his hands and for that cause he had prepared his poore tongue in token of gratitude to defend his cause Hee might better haue said thus That seeing his tongue was poore and miserable and he himselfe a senslesse creature therfore he ought not to allow or defend so obstinately such a detestable and traiterous murder committed vpon a Duke of Orleance and the same the kings brother in such vile sort and that if hee should do otherwise he should approoue of that which God and man apparantly condemned yea the very Turkes and greatest Painyms vnder heauen that he should iustify the wicked condemne the innocent which is an abomination before God should put darknes in stead of light and call that which is euill good for which the Prophet Esai in his 1 chapter denounceth the iudgemēts of God against false prophets should follow the steps of Balaam which let out his tongue to hire for the wages of iniquity but none of these supposes came once into his mind But to returne to our history The duke of Burgundy hauing the tongues of these braue doctors at his commaundement and the Parisians who bore themselues partially in this quarrel generally fauourers of his side came to Paris in armes to iustifie himselfe as he pretended and stroke such a dreadfull awe of himselfe into all mens minds that notwithstanding all the earnest pursuit of the Duchesse the widow of Orleance for iustice he escaped vnpunished vntill God by other meanes tooke vengeance vpon him which happened after a while after that those his complices of Paris being become lords and rulers of the city had committed many horrible and cruell murders as of the Constable and Chancellour two head officers of the realme whose bodies fast bound togither they drew naked through the streets from place to place in most despitefull maner for the Daulphin escaping their hands by night and safeguarded in his castle after that hee heard of the seasure of the citie found meanes to assemble certaine forces and marched to Montereaufautyon with twenty thousand men of purpose to be reuenged on the Duke for all his braue riotous demeanors hither vnder colour of parling deuising new means to pacifie these old ciuill troubles he enticed the duke being come at his very first arrtuall as he was bowing his knee in reuerence to him he caused him to be slaine And on this manner was the duke of Orleance death quitted the euill and cruelty shewed towards him returned vpon the murderers owne necke for as hee slew him treacherously cowardly so was hee also treacherously and cowardly slaine and iustly requited with the same measure that he before had measured to another Treason lib. 2. cap. 3. notwithstanding herein the Daulphin was not free from a grieuous crime of disloialtie truth breach in working his death without shame of either faith-breach or periury and that in his owne presence whom he had so often with protestation of assurance and safety requested to come vnto him Neither did hee escape vnpunished for it for after his fathers decease hee was in danger of loosing the crowne and all for this cause For Philip duke of Burgundy taking his fathers reuēge into his hands by his cunning deuises wrought meanes to displace him from the succession of the kingdome by according a marriage betwixt the king of England and his sister to whome he in fauour agreed to giue his kingdome in reuersion after his owne decease Now assoone as the king of England was seased vpon the gouernment of Fraunce the Daulphin was presently summoned to the marble table to giue answer for the death of the old duke whither when he made none appearance they presently banished him the realme and pronounced him to be vnworthy to be succeeder to the noble crowne which truly was a very grieuous chastisement and such an one as brought with it a heape of many mischiefes and discomfitures which happened in the warre betwixt England and him for the recouery of his kingdome Peter sonne to Alphonsus king of Castill Froiss lib. r. hist was a most bloodie and cruell tyrant for first hee put to death his owne wife the daughter of Peter duke of Burbone and sister to the Queene of France Next he slue the mother of his bastard brother Henry togither with many Lords and Barons of the realme for which he was hated not only of all his subiects but also of his neighbour and adioyning cuntries which hatred mooued the aforesaid Henry to aspire vnto the crowne which what with the Popes aduouch who legitimated him and the helpe of certaine French forces and the support of the nobility of Castill he soone atchieued Peter thus abandoned put his safest-guard in his heeles and fled to Bordeaux towards the Prince of Wales of whome he receiued such good entertainment that with his aid he soone reentred his lost dominions and by maine battell chased his bastard brother out of the confines thereof But being reinstalled whilst his cruelties ceased not to multiply on euery side behold Henry with a new supply out of France began to assaile him afresh and put him once againe to his shifts but all that hee could doe could not shift him out of Henries hands who pursued him so hotly that with his owne hands he soone rid him out of all troubles and afterwards peaceably enioyed the kingdome of Castill CHAP. X. Of diuers other murderers and their seuerall punishments MAximinus from a shepheard in Thracia grew to be an Emperor in Rome by these degrees his exceeding strength and swiftnes in running commended him so to Seuerus then Emperour that he made him of his guard from that hee arose to be a Tribune and at last to be an Emperour which place he was no sooner in possession of but immoderate crueltie all this while buried began to shew it selfe for he made hauocke of all the nobilitie and put to death those that hee suspected to be acquainted with his estate insomuch as some called him Cyclops some Busiris others Anteus for his cruelty Wherfore the Senat of Rome seeing his indignity proclaimed him an enemy to their commonwealth and made it lawfull for any man to procure his death which being knowen his souldiers lying at the siege of Aquileia mooued with hatred entred his tent at noone day and slew him and his sonne togither Iustinian the younger no lesse hatefull to his subiects for his cruelty than Maximinus was deposed from the Empire by conspiracie and hauing his nosthrils slit exiled to Chersona Leontius succeeding in his place Howbeit ere long hee recouered his crowne and scepter and returned to
of meat Fides fit apud Authorem snakes and of sauce serpents to the great terror of his conscience but that which is more one of the serpents leaped in his face and catching hold by his lip hung there till his dying day so that hee could neuer feed himselfe but hee must feed the serpent withall And this badge carried he about as a cognisance of an vnkind and vngratefull sonne Moreouer this is another iudgement of God that coÌ„monly as children deale with their parents so doe their children deale with them this in the law of proportion is most iust in the order of punishing most vsuall for the proofe wherof as experience daily teacheth so one example or two I wil subioine Theat histor It is reported how a certaine vnkind peruerse son beat his aged father vpon a time and drew him by the haire of his head to the threshold who when he was old was likewise beaten of his sonne and drawne also by the haire of the head not to the threshold but out of dores into the durt and how he should say he was rightly serued if he had left him at the threshold as he left his father and not dragged him into the streets which he did not to his thus did his owne mouth beare record of his impietie his own conscience condemn him before God and men Guiliel Lugdi Another old man being persuaded by his sonne that had married a young wife with faire and sugred promises of kindnesses and contentments to surrender his goods and lands vnto him yeelded to his request and found for a space all thinges to his desire Discipulus de temp but when his often coughing annoied his young and daintie wife hee first remooued his lodging from a faire high chamber to a base vnder roome and after shewed him many other vnkind and vnchildish parts and lastly when the old man asked for clothes hee bought foure elnes of clothes two whereof he bestowed vpon him and reserued the other two for himselfe Now his yoong sonne marking this niggardise of his father towards his grandfather hid the two elles of cloth and being asked why hee hid them whether by ingeniousnesse of wit or instinct of God he answered to the end to reserue them for his father against hee was old to be a couering for him Which answere touched his father so neere that euer after hee shewed himselfe more louing and obsequious to his father then hee did before Two great faults but soone and happily amended Would it might bee an example to all children if not to mitigate yet at least to learne them to feare how to deale roughly and crookedly with their parents seeing that God punisheth sinne with sinne and sinners in their owne kind and measureth the same measure to euerie man which they haue measured vnto others George Lanter de disciplina liberorum The like wee read of another that prouided a trough for his old decrepite vnmannerly father to eate his meat in who being demanded of his sonne also to what vse that trough should serue answered for his grandfather What quoth the child and must wee haue the like for you when you are old Which words so abashed him that hee threw it away forthwith At Millan there was an obstinate and vngodly sonne that wheÌ„ he was admonished by his mother of some fault which hee had committed made a wrie mouth Theat histor and pointed his fingers at her in scorne and derision Whereat his mother bâ—ing angrie Mandat 3. Cursing lib. 1. cap. 33. wished that he might make such a mouth vpon the gallows Neither was it a vaine wish for within few daies he was taken with a theft and condemned by law to be hanged and being vpon the ladder was perceiued to wryth his mouth in griefe after the same fashion which hee had done before to his mother in derision Henry the second of that name king of England sonne of Geffrey Plantagenet and Maud the Empresse Stow. chron after hee had raigned twentie yeares was content to admit his yoong sonne Henrie married to Margaret the French kings daughter into participation of his crowne but he like an vnnaturall sonne to requite his fathers loue sought to dispossesse him of the whole for by inciting the King of Fraunce and certaine other Nobles hee tooke armes and raised deadly warre against his owne naturall father betwixt whome diuerse strong battailes being foughten as well in England by the Deputies and friends of both parties as also in Normandie Poytou Guyan and Brittaine the victorie alwaies enclined to the father so that the rebellious sonne with his allies were constrained to bend to his fathers will and to desire peace which hee gently granted and forgaue his offence Howbeit the Lord for his disobedience did not so lightly pardon him but because his hasty mind could not tarrie for the crowne till his fathers death therefore the Lord cut him short of it altogether causing him to die sixe yeares before his father being yet but yoong and like to liue long Languet chron Lothair King of Soyssons in Fraunce committed the rule of the Prouince of Guyan to his eldest sonne Cramiris who when contrary to the mind of his father he oppressed the people with exactions and was reclaimed home hee like an vngratious and impious sonne fled to his vncle Childebert prouoked him to war vpon his owne father wherein he himselfe was by the iust vengeance of God taken burned with wife and children to death Leuit. 20. Furthermore it is not doubtles but to a very good end enacted in the law of God that he which curseth his father or mother shold dy the death that rebellious childreÌ„ such as be incorrigable should at the instance and pursute of their owne parents by order of law be stoned to death As children by all these examples ought not onely to learne to feare to displease and reuile their parents but also to fear and reuerence them least that by disobedience they kindle the fire of Gods wrath against theÌ„ so likewise on the other side parents are here aduertised to haue great care in bringing vp and instructing their children in the fear of God and obedience to his will least for want of instruction and correction on their part they themselues incurre a punishment of their carelesse negligence in the person of their children And this is prooued by experience of the men of Bethel 2. King 2. of whose children two and fortie were torne in peeces by beares for that they had beene so euill taught as to mocke the holy Prophet Elizeus in calling him bald pate 1. Sam. 2.4 Heli likewise the high Priest was culpable of this fault for hauing two wicked and peruerse sonnes whome no feare of God could restraine being discontent with that honourable portion of the sacrifices allotted them by God like famished and insatiable wretches fell to share
wife daughter to Philip the Faire king of France vpon no other occasion but onely to satisfie his owne appetite and the better to follow his delights And thus by this meanes shee was chased out of England and driuen to retire to king Charles her brother where hoping to find rest and refuge shee was deceiued for what by the crafts and practises of the English and what by the Popes authoritie who thrust himselfe into this action as his custome is shee was constrained to dislodge her selfe and to change her countrey very speedily wherefore from thence shee went to craue succour of the Countie of Henault who furnished her with certaine forces and sent her towards England where being arriued and finding the people generally at her commaund and ready to doe her seruice shee set vpon her enemie Hugh Spencer tooke him prisoner and put him to a shamefull death as hee well deserued For hee was also the causer of the deaths of many of the Nobles of the Realme therefore he was drawne through the streets of Herford vpon a hurdle and after his priuie members his heart and head were cut off his foure quarters were exalted in foure seuerall places to the view of the world Now if these be found guiltie that either directly make or indirectly procure diuorcements shall wee excuse them that allow and authorize the same without lawfull and iust occasion No verily Guicciard li. 4. no though they be popes that take it vpon them as we read pope Alexander the sixt did who for the aduancement of his hautie desires to gratifie and flatter Lewis the twelft king of France sent him by his son a dispensation to put away his wife daughter to king Lewis the eleuenth because shee was barren and counterfait and to recontract Anne of Bretaigne the widdow of Charles the eight lately deceased But herein though barrennesse of the former was pretended yet the dutchie of the latter was aimed at which before this time he could neuer attaine vnto But of what force and vertue this dispensation by right was or at least ought to be it is easie to perceiue seeing that it is not only contrary to the words of the Gospell Mat. 19 but also to their own decrees secund part quaest 7. Hi qui matrimoniū wherein is imported that marriage ought not to be infringed for any default or imperfection no not of nature but Popes may maime and clip both the word of God and all other writings and doe whatsoeuer themselues liketh be it good or bad CHAP. XXXI Of Incestuous persons ALthough incest be a wicked and abominable sinne and forbidden both by the law of God and man in so much that the very heathen held it indetestation yet are there some so inordinately vicious and so dissolute that they blush not once to pollute themselues with this filthinesse Genes 35. Reuben the Patriarch was one of this vile crew that shamed not to defile himselfe with Bilba his fathers concubine but hee was cursed for his labour for whereas by right of eldership and birth Genes 49. he ought to haue had a certaine prerogatiue and authoritie ouer his brethren his excellencie shed it selfe like water and he was surpassed by his brethren both in encrease of progenie and renowme Ammon one of king Dauids sonnes 2. Sam. 13. was so strongly enchaunted with the loue of his sister Thamar that to the end to fulfill his lust hee traiterously forced her to his will Rape lib. 2. cap. 21. but Absolom her natural brother hunting for opportunitie of reuenge for this indignity towards his sister inuited him two yeeres after to a banquet with his other brethren and after the same caused his men to murder him for a farewell The same Absolom that slew Ammon for incest with his sister 2. Sam. 16. committed himselfe incest with his fathers concubins mooued thereto by the wicked counsell of Achitophel that aduised him to that infamous deed of defiling his fathers bed but it was the forerunner of his ouerthrow as wee haue already heard Diuers of the Romane Emperours were so villanous and wretched Suet. Lamprid as to make no bones of this sinne with their owne sisters as Caligula Antoninus and Commodus and some with their mothers as Nero so much was he giuen ouer and transported to all licentiousnesse Oros lib. 7. c. 4. Plutarch telleth vs of one Cyanippus that being ouercome with wine defloured his owne daughter Cyane but hee was slaine of her for his labour Neither doe I thinke it so vnnaturall a part for her to kill her father as in him to commit incest with his own daughter for the oracle lessened or rather approoued her fault when it abhorred and chastened his crime for when Siracusa was grieuously infected with the pestilence it was pronounced by the oracle that the plague should continue till the wicked person was sacrificed which darke speech when no man knew Cyane haled her father by the head to the altar telling them that hee was that wicked person pointed at by the Oracle and there sacrificed him with her owne hands killing her selfe also with rhe same knife that her innocencie might be witnessed euen by her blood Thus it pleased God euen among the idolatrous heathen to execute iustice iudgement vpon the earth though by the meanes of the deuill himselfe who is the authour of all such villany Valeria Thusculana was in loue with her owne father Plutarch and vnder colour of another maid got to lie with him which as soone as hee vnderstood hee slew himselfe in detestation of his owne ignorant abomination and wickednesse nay so monstrous and horrible is this sinne euen in the sight of man Valerius that Nausimenes a woman of Athens taking her owne sonne and daughter togither was so amazed and grieued therewith that shee neuer spake word after that time but remained dumbe all the rest of her life time as for the incestours themselues they liued not but became murderers of their owne liues Papyrius a Romane got with child his owne sister Canusia which when their father vnderstood hee sent each of them a sword wherewith they slue themselues But aboue all the vengeance of God is most apparant in the punishment of Heraclius the Emperour Zonar lib. 3. who to his notorious wickednesses heresie persecution and paganisme hee added this villany Paul Diac. lib. 18. to defile carnally his owne sister so to his notorious punishments the Saracens sword dropsie and the ruine of the Empire the Lord added this infamous and cruell iudgement that he could not giue passage to his vrine but it would flie into his face had not a pentise beene applied to his belly to beat it downward And this last plague was proper to his last sinne wherein the very member which he had abused sought reuenge of him that abused it for that hee had confounded nature and most wickedly sinned against his owne flesh Agathias
The fathers shal not be put to death for the children nor the children for the fathers but euerie man shall beare his owne sinne 2. King 15. Neither did Shallum that slue Zacharia king of Israel prosper any better for he raigned but one month in Samaria wheÌ„ Menahim the sonne of Gadi rebelled against him and slew him as he had done his maister Amon the sonne of Manasseh was slaine by his owne seruants but the Lord stirred vp the people of the land to reuenge his death to kill all them that had conspired against their king But to let passe the holy histories of the sacred scripture wherein euer after any treason the Holy-ghost presently setteth down the punishment of traitors as it were of purpose to signifie how the Lord hateth all such rebels that rose vp against his owne ordinance Let vs consider a little the consequents of these in prophane yet credible authors and applie them vnto our purpose Iâ—lian lib. 1. Archelaus King of Macedonia had a mignion called Cratenas whome he loued most entirely but he againe required him not with loue but with hatred and stretched all his wits to enstall himselfe in his kingdome by deposing and murthering him which though he accomplished yet his deserts were cut short by the vengeance of God for he continued not many daies in his roialtie but he was serued with the same sauce that he had made Archelaus before him to tast of euen betraied and murdered as he well deserued Ludouicus Sfortia to the end to inuest himselfe with the dukedome of Millain spared not to shed the innocent blood of his two nephewes the sonnes of Galeachus togither with their tutors and one Francis Calaber a worthy and excellent man But the Lord so disposed of his purposes that he in stead of obtaining the kingdome was taken prisoner by the king of France so that neither hee nor any of his offspring enioyed that which he so much affected When Numerianus was to succeed Carus his father in the Empire Phil. Melanct. chron lib. 3. Arrius Axer his father in law to the end to translate the Empire vnto himselfe entred a conspiracie and slew his sonne in law that nothing mistrusted his disloialty But the Pretorian army vnderstanding the matter discharged Arrius and elected Dioclesian in his roome who laying hold vpon his competitor laid an action of treason to his charge and put him to death in the sight of the multitude Theodericke and Fredericke conspired against their owne brother Thurismund king of the Visigothes Chron. Sigebert to the intent to succeed him in his kingdome And albeit that nature reclaimed them from the act yet they slew him without all compassion But after thirteene yeres raigne the same Theodericke was requited by his other brethren with the same measure that hee before met to his brother Thurismund And so though vengeance slept a while yet at length it wakened Aelias Antonius Gordianus the third Emperour of Rome Phil. Melanct. chron Aventin lib. 2. though so excellent a young prince that hee deserued to be called the Loue and Iewell of the world yet was hee slaine by one promoted by himselfe to high honour called Philip Arabs when hee was but two and twentie yeere old after whose decease this Philip got himselfe elected Emperour by the band confirmed by the Senat. Ingratitude punished All which notwithstanding after fiue yeeres Decius rebelled and his owne souldiers conspired against him so that both he at Verona and his sonne at Rome were slaine by them about one time Aâ—entin lib. 2. After the death of Constantine the Great his three sonnes deuiding the Empire betwixt them succeeded their father Constantine the eldest had for his share Spaine France the Alpes and England Constance the second held Italy Africa Graecia and Illiricum Constantine the younger was king and Emperour of the East But ambition suffered them not to enioy quietly these their possessions for when the eldest being more proud and seditious thâ—n the other not content with his alotted portion made warre vpon his brother Constance his prouinces and stroue to enter Italy hee was slaine in a battell by Aquileia when he was but fiue and twentie yeere old by which meanes all the prouinces which were his fell to Constance and therewithall such a drowsinesse and epicurisme for want of a stirrer vp after his brothers death that he fell into the gout and neglected the gouernment of the Empire Wherfore in Auspurge and in Rhetia they created a new Emperour one Magnentius whose life before-time Constance had saued from the souldiers Notable ingratitude punished and therefore his treachery was the greater This Magnentius depriued and slew Constance but was ouercome by Constantine the third brother in Illiricum yet in such sort that the conquerour could not greatly brag for he lost an infinite company of his men and yet missed of his chiefe purpose the taking of Magnentius for he escaped to Lyons and there massacring all that he mistrusted at last growing I suppose in suspition with his owne heart slue himselfe also And so his traiterous ingratefull and ambitious murder was reuenged with his own hands Ritius lib. 1. regib Hispan Victericus betraied Luyba king of Spaine and succeeded in his place seuen yeeres after another traitor slew him succeeded also in his place Mauritius the Emperour was murdered by Phocas togither with his wife fiue of his children he seating himselfe Emperor in his Rome Howbeit traitours and murderers can neuer come to happy ends for as hee had slaine Mauritius so Priscus Heraclianus and Phorius three of his chiefest captaines conspiring against him with three seuerall armies gaue him such an alarme at once at his owne dores that they soone quailed his courage and after much mangling of his body cut him shorter by the head and the kingdome at one blow In the time of Edward the second and Edward the third in England Lanquet one Sir Roger Mortimer committed many villanous outrages in shedding much blood and at last king Edward himselfe lying at Barkley castle to the end that he might as it was supposed enioy Isabell his wife with whom he had very suspitious familiarity After this hee vniustly accused Edmond Earle of Kent of treason and caused him to be put to death therefore and lastly he conspired against king Edward the third as it was suspected for which cause he was worthily and deseruedly beheaded Among this ranke of murderers of kings we may fitly place also Richard the third vsurper of the crowne of England Stow. and diuers others which he vsed as instruments to bring his detestable purpose to effect as namely Sir Iames Tirrell knight a man for natures gifts worthy to haue serued a much better prince then this Richard if he had well serued God and bene indued with as much truth honestie as he had strength wit also Miles Forest Iohn Dighton two villains fleshed
betwixt whome was great strife for the soueraigne dominion but to rid himselfe of all his trouble at once hee slew his brother Manlius by treason and after continued his raigne in tyranny and all vnlawfull lusts the space of twentie yeares but although vengeance all this while wincked yet it slept not for at the end of this space as hee was hunting hee was deuoured of wild beasts In the yeare of our Lord God 745 one Sigebert was authorised king of the Saxons in Brittaine a cruell and tyrannous Prince towards his subiects and one that chaunged the ancient lawes and customes of his realme after his owne pleasure and because a certaine Nobleman somewhat sharpely aduertised him of his euill conditions he malitiously caused him to bee put to death but see how the Lord reuenged this murder hee caused his Nobles to depriue him of his kingly authority and at last as a desolate and forlorne person wandering alone in a wood to bee slaine of a swine-heard whose maister hee being king had wrongfully put to death In the yeare of our Lord 678 Childerich king of Fraunce caused a Nobleman of his Realme called Bolyde to bee bound to a stake and there beaten to death without the pretence of any iust crime or accusation against him for which cruelty his Lords and commons being grieuously offended conspired togither and slew him with his wife as they were in hunting In the raigne of Edward the second and Edward the third Sir Roger Mortimer committed many villanous outrages in sheading much humane blood but hee was also iustlie recompenced in the end first he murdered king Edward the second lying in Barkley castell to the end hee might as it was supposed enioy Isabell his wife with whome hee had very suspitious familiarity Secondly hee caused Edward the third to conclude a dishonourable peace with the Scots by restoring to them all their ancient writings charters and patents whereby the kings of Scotland had bound themselues to be feudaries to the kings of England Thirdly he accused Edmund Earle of Kent vncle to king Edward of treason and caused him vniustly to be put to death And lastly he conspired against the king to worke his destruction for which and diuerse other things that were laid to his charge he was worthely and iustly beheaded In the raigne of Henry the sixt Humfry the good duke of Gloucester faithfull protector of the king by the meanes of certaine malicious persons and especially the Marques of Suffolke as it was suspected was arrested cast into hold strangled to death in the Abbey of Bury for which cause the Marques was not only banished the land for the space of fiue yeares but also banished out of his life for euer for as he sailed towards France he was met withall by a ship of warre and there presently beheaded and the dead corps cast vp at Douer that England wherein hee had committed the crime might be a witnesse of his punishment As the murder of a gentleman in Kent called maister Arden of Feuersham was most execrable so the wonderfull discouerie thereof was exceeding rare this Arden being somewhat aged had to wife a young woman no lesse faire then dishonest who being in loue with one Mosby more then her husband did not onely abuse his bed but also conspired his death with this her companion for togither they hired a notorious ruffian one Blacke Will to strangle him to death with a towell as hee was playing a game at tables which though secretly done yet by her own guiltie conscience and some tokens of blood which appeared in the house was soon discouered and confessed Wherfore she her selfe was burnt at Canterbury Michael maister Ardens man was hanged in chaines at Feuersham Mosby and his sister were hanged in Smithfield Greene another partner in this bloody action was hanged in chaines in the high way against Feuersham And Blacke Will the ruffian after his first escape was apprehended and burnt on a scaffold at Flushing in Zealand And thus all the murderers had their deserued dewes in this life and what they endured in the life to come except they obtaine mercy by true repentance it is easie to iudge CHAP. XI Of Paricides or parent murderers IF all effusion of humane blood bee both horrible to behold and repugnant to nature then is the murdering of parents especially detestable when a man is so possessed with the deuill or transported with a hellish fury that he lifteth vp his hand against his owne naturall father or mother to put thē to death this is so monstrous and inormious an impiety that the greatest Barbarians euer haue had it in detestation wherefore it is also expressely commanded in the law of God that vvhosoeuer smiteth his father or mother in what sort soeuer though not to death Exod. 21. yet he shall die the death If the disobedience vnreuerence and contempt of children towards their parents are by the iust iudgement of God most rigorously punished as hath ben declared before in the first commandement of the second table how much more then when violence is offered aboue all when murder is cōmitted Diodor. Sic. Thus the Aegyptians punished this sin they put the cōmittants vpon a stack of thorns and burnt thē aliue hauing beaten their bodies before hand with sharp reeds made of purpose Solon being demanded why hee appointed no punishment in his lawes for Parricides answered that there was no necessity thinking that the wide world could not affoord so wicked a wretch It is said that Romulus for the same cause ordained no punishment in his Common-wealth for that crime but called euery murderer a Parricide the one being in his opinion a thing execrable and the other impossible And in truth there was not for 600 years space according to Plutarchs report found in Rome any one that had cōmitted this execrable fact The first Parricide that Rome saw was Lucius Ostius after the first Punick war although other writers affirme that M. Malliolus was the first and Lucius the second howsoeuer it was they both vnderwent the punishment of the law Pompeia which enacted that such offendors should be thrust into a sack of lether an ape a cock a viper a dog put in to accōpany them then to be thrown into the water to the end that these beasts being enraged animated one against another might wreke their teene vpon them so depriue thē of life after a strange fashion being debarred of the vse of aire water earth as vnworthy to participate the very elements with their deaths much lesse with their liues which kind of punishmēt was after practised and confirmed by the constitution of Constantine the great And albeit the regard of the punishmēt seemed terrible the offence it self much more monstrous yet since that time there haue ben many so peruerse exceedingly wicked as to throw themselues headlong into that desperat gulfe As Cleodorick son of Sigebert king of
her enemies namely his sonne Callinicus who slew her with one of her sonnes and all that belonged vnto her and then he tooke again his old wife for which cause Ptolomie Euergetes sonne to Philadelphus renued war vpon him Herod the Tetrarch was so bewitched with the loue of Herodius his brother Philips wife Ioseph of the Iewish antiquitie lib. 18. cap. 7.9 that to the end hee might enioy her hee disclaimed his lawfull wife and sent her home to her father king Aretas who being touched netled with this indignity and disgrace sought to reuenge himselfe by armes and indeed made so hote war vpon him and charged his army so furiously that it was discomfited by him after which shameful losse he was by the Emperor Caligulas commandement banished to Lions there to end the residue of his daies Amongst the Remans Marcus Antonius was noted for the most dissolute and impudent in this case of diuorce Plutarch for albeit that in the beginning of his triumphirship he forsooke his first wife to mary Octauius his sister yet he proceeded further not content herewith but must needs forsake her to to bee with Cleopatra the queen of Aegypt from whence sprung out many great euils which at length fel vpon his own head to his finall ruin destruction for when he saw himself in such streights that no means could be found to resist Octauius hee sheathed with his own hands his sword into his bowels whē all his seruants being requested refused to performe the same being thus wounded hee fell vpon a little bed intreating those that were present to make an end of his daies but they all fled and left him in the chāber crying tormēting himself vntill such time that he was cōueied to the monumēt wherin Cleopatra was enclosed that he might die there Cleopatra seeing this pitifull spectacle all amased let down chains cords from the high window with the help of her two maids drew him vp into the monument vniting their forces and doing what they could to get his poore carcasse though by a shamefull vndecēt maner for the gate was locked might not be opened it was a lamentable sight to see his poor body al besmeared with bloud breathing now his last blast for he died assoon as he came to the top to be drawne vpon that cruell fashion As for Cleopatra who by her flattering allurements rauished the hart of this miserable man was cause of his second diuorce she plaied her true part also in this woful tragedy as she partaked of the sin so she did of the punishment for after she saw her self past hope of help her sweet heart dead she beat her own breasts tormented her self so much with sorrow that her bosome was brused halfe murdered with her blows her body in many places exulcerate with inflamations she puld off her hear rent her face with her nailes altogether in phrensied with grief melancholy distresse was found fresh dead with her two maids lying at her feet this was the miserable end of those two who for enjoying of a few foolish cursed pleasures together receiued in exchange infinite torments and vexations and at length vnhappy deaths togither in one the same place verifieng the old prouerbe For one pleasure a thousand dolours Charles the eight king of France Philip. de Cont. after he had ben long time married to the daughter of the king of the Romanes sister to the Archduke of Austria was so euill aduised as to turne her home again vpō no other occasion but to mary the duchesse of Britaine the sole heire to her fathers dukedome wherein he doubly iniured his father in law the Roman king for he did not only reiect his daughter but also depriued him of his wife the duchesse of Britaine whom by his substitute according to the maner of great Princes he had first espoused Bembus Bembus in his Venetian history handling this story somewhat mollifieth the fault when he saith that the Roman kings daughter was neuer touched by king Charles in the way of mariage all the while she was there by reason of her vnripe oueryong yeares After a while after this new maried king had giuen a hote alarme to all Italy and conquered the realme of Naples as the Venetians were deliberating to take the matter in hand of themselues to resist him Maximilian the Roman king sollicited them in the same thrust them forward aswell that he might confederate himselfe with the duke of Millan as that he might reuēge the iniury touching his repelled daughter so that by this means the French king was sore troubled at his return hauing to withstād him al the Venetian forces with the most part of the Potentates of Italy notwithstāding he broke through thē al after he had put the Venetians to the worst Philip. de Com. but being returned after this victorious triumphant voiage it happened that one day as hee led the queen to the castle of Amboise to see some sport at tenise he stroke his forehead against the vpper dore post of the gallory as he went in that he fel presently to the ground speechles Surseuil died incontinently in the place from whence though the filthiest sluttishest place about the castle they remoued not his body but laid it on a bed of straw to the veiw of the world from two of the clocke in the afternoone till eleuen at midnight and this good successe followed at last his so much desired diuorce CHAP. XXX Of those that either cause or authorise vnlawfull diuorcements Mat. 19. ALthough the commandement of our Sauiour Christ bee very plaine and manifest That man should not seperate those whome God hath ioined together yet there are some so void of vnderstanding and iudgement that they make no conscience to dissolue those that by the bond of mariage are vnited Iudg. 15. of which number was Sampsons father in law who took his daughter first giuen in mariage to Sampson and gaue her to another without any other reason saue that he suspected that Sampson loued her not but what got he by it Marry this the Philistims prouoked against him consumed him and his daughter with fire because that by the meanes of his iniury Sampson had burned their corne their vineyards and their oliue trees 1. Sam. 25. After the same sort dealt king Saule with Dauid when he gaue him his daughter Michol to wife and afterward in despight and hatred of him tooke her away againe and bestowed her vpon another wherein as in many other things hee shewed himselfe a wicked and prophane man and was worthely punished therefore as hath ben before declared Froysard vol. 1. Hugh Spencer one of king Edward of Englands chiefest fauourits insomuch that his eare and heart was at his pleasure was he that first persuaded the king to forsake and repudiate the Queene his