Plinie arbor luxuriosa in Rome arbor religiosa and too few like the wild ash-tree to driue away serpents out of great Brittane Melancthon was requested to shew the cause why serpents bred in the raines and bowels of dead men answered that man being infected with the poyson of the first Serpent in Paradise since which he ceaseth not viuentibus insidiari nec mortuos laniare you shall find in dead mens sculs Toads engendred of the braine and serpents engendred in the raines inuenietis generatos in cerebro bufones in renibus serpentes saith Augustine These be serpents by nature serpents by education and serpents by succession which shead much blood and cause great slaughter in England Germany and Fraunce It was not the great army of Xerxes at Marathon nor the great force of Philip at Chaeronea that so frighted the Athenians as the bloody streetes in Athens where the children were forced to daunce in the bloud of their parents in the tyme of the 30. Tyrants and yet Thrasibulus banished these tyrants from Athens Neither was it the tyrany of Antiochus King of Cyria nor King Susacus of Egipt that so feared the Iews as the bloudy streets in Ierusalem where one neighbor might wash his hands in the bloud of another in the time of Manasses Yet Iosias deliuered Ierusalem But these serpents these Harpeis these Crocodiles determined to leaue neither parents children or neighbors aliue but themselues to daunce in our bloud Such a daunce delighted Nabuchodonozer in Babilon of Misael Sidraach and Abednago Such a daunce of Herodias delighted Herod for Iohn Baptists head And such a daunce would haue pleased the Antichrist of Rome if their Roman Tragedy begun had not ended like a Brittane comedy and if their Egiptian daunce begunne by Pharo had not ended like the tryumphant daunce by Iacob Not Sylla which made the riuer Tiber ouerflowe with the bloud of the Roman citizens not Caligula with his poisoned cups that sought to destroy the cōsuls the Senators and the Magistrates of Rome not Nero which reioyced sang when he saw Rome on fire nor al turkish tyranny all Pharoes cruelties were but iests and plaies in respect of these furious Traytors and raging Wolues which thought in one day yea in one houre to ouerthrowe three flourishing Kingdomes But such fire as fell vppon Elias sacrifice shall fall vppon these priests of Bael such gaping gulfs of the earth that swallowed vp aliue Chore Dathan and Abiran shal swallow vp these rebellious Seminaries Some thinke that it would be as great a tryumph to that Roman Achab the hauing of King Iames in Rome as was to Tamberlaine the hauing of Baiazet the great Turke in Scythia or the hauing of the Roman Valerianus prisoner to King Sapor in Persia. But these Serpents forgat that Pharo could not harme Moses neither Saul destroy Dauid they forgat though all Egipt was punished with terrible horrible plagues yet the land of Gosen where Israell dwelt was not troubled with their frogs locusts flies lice neither with darknes bloud or slaughter they forgat what God sayd to his people erit sanguis vobis signum salutis when the first borne of Egipt were killed throughout all Egipt they forgat the marke which God set vpon his people in Hierusalem super quem videritis Tau ne occidatis But these desperat Traytors these malicious Serpents contemne Laws despise Magistrates way neither for the sword nor the word of God cōmitted to the Prince but as long as any of Sauls seed liued in Israel the Gibonites could not be in quiet neither would they suffer Dauid to take any rest But how shall we helpe this and purifie great Brittane of these monstrous broode the brood of Enachims they will not come to heare of God in his church as the Ethiopian Eunuch went to Phillip they will not with Naman the Syrian be cleansed of their leprosy in the flud Iorden they haue water in Damasco Abanah and Pharpar they haue water in Rome aquam mercurij aquam benedictam They had rather drinke of the puddles of Bethauen with Ieroboam than of the well of Bethell with Iacob they had rather trust to the mountaines of Samaria than to be rich in Sion How shall this be redrest and cleare our country of them If as among the Romans who bound such in bags and threwe them in Tyber too many should bee drowned If as Xerxes among the Persians by decymacion too many should be slaine If as Vlisses among the Graecians with fire and brimstone too many should be burned Better rather as Theseus did to seeke out their labyrinths to finde these late brood of Minotaurus that seeke to feed vpon the bloud of their countrymen like Gorgons And to vse them as Ieptha did the false Ephramites if they could not pronounce Schiboleth like true Israelites they should not passe ouer Iorden to gather a head againe against Israel So they shall not seeke a Roman Cateline for their Captaine nor a Spanish Viriatus for their leader If we may not reueng our wrongs as Dauid did against the Ammonites and Aramites his enemies If we may not as Gedeon did vpon Phanuel and Succoth Yet they should haue no such liberty that dreamed vpon a munday at night that they should sup at London with a Roman regiment vpon Tuesday at night As sometime Hamilcar Generall for the Carthagenians laying siege to Siracusa an jmage appeared in his dreame and told Hamilcar he should sup the next night in Siracusa so he did as a prisoner and captiue by the Siracusans and not as a Captaine with his Carthaginians that selfe-same Image that Serpent appeared to this treacherous crue which openly pronounce with Seba the Traytor what haue we to do with the house of Iudah or what portion in the sonne of Isai These be Volitantes Serpentes flying Serpents dreaming like Cambises that hee was lifted vp aboue the clouds and sodenly thought that hee fell from the clowdes to the earth Like Iulius Caesar who the night before hee was slaine in the Senate dreamed that he sat hard by Iupiters seat but sodainly he fell flat on his face to the earth with the like dreames are these Serpents fed Not as Ezechiel which was caried in a Vision frō Babilon to Hierusalem Inter caelum terram And God shewed the Prophet the abominations of the Iewes their jdols their jdolatries their manifold wickednes Paul also was caried either in bodie or without the bodie he knew not vnto the third Heauens and sawe many thinges which was not lawfull for Paul to speake of But Ezechiel and Paul had better supporters to carie them than either Cyrus or Caesar they dreamed that they fell not when the one was caried from the earth to the third heauen and the other caried from Babilon to Iudah and lest on a Mountaine in Israel But these
THE TRAGICOCOMEdie of Serpents By Lodowik Lloid Esquier Videte Canes Phil. 3. Domus impiorum delebitur Prou. 14. LONDON Printed by Thomas Purfoot and are to be sold by Arthur Iohnson at his shop neere the great North dore of Paules at the signe of the White Horse 1607. TO THE MOST HIGH AND MIGHTY King Iames by the grace of God King of Great Britane Fraunce and Ireland c. ARchimedes a famous Mathematician most mightie Prince sayd If he had but a place to stand free froÌ„ the earth he could inuent meanes to mooue the whole earth some such there be though not like Archimedes to mooue the whole earth yet they mooue Countreys and Kingdomes on the earth And as Dinocrates that skilfull Architector thought to bring mount Atho to the lowe forme and stature of a man so some would bring hie Mountaines and great hilles as lowe as mould-hilles Of such wee may nowe so say in Britane as Polemo spake sometime of counterfeit Tragedians in Smyrna who with their false Solaechismes lifting vp their dissembling eyes to heauen saying O coelum when their treacherous hearts and bloody hands be on earth saying O terra These bee they that haue with the Traitor Saba what portion haue we in the Sonne of Isa or in the house of Iudah Against such Ioshua made a law in Israel that no counterfeit Gibeonite should beare Office in Iudah but hewe wood and carrie water for Israel Iepthe made likewise a lawe that no foresworne Giliadite that could not pronounce Schibboleth should passe ouer Iorden Your Maiestie made also a lawe that no treacherous ambitious Papist that had Iacobs voice and Esaus handes should stay within great Britane they should either obey the Romane lawe lex Iulia or the Athenians law Ostrachismos therefore was the rodde of Aaron and the lawe Booke commaunded to bee kept together in the Arke Vt quiescant querelâ— Iudaeorum which King Iosias had both the Sword the Law booke carried before him Tanquam insignâ—â— Principis So Iulius Caesar as it appeareth his Image that had a Sword in one hand and a Booke in the other written vpon his breast Ex vtroque Caesar. But while any of Sauls seed liued in Israel Israel could not be quiet nor Dauid take rest Shall wee wish as the Apostles did fire to burne these Samaritans or with Elias fire to destroy these Souldiers of Achab Themistocles wished a bridge of gold for Xerxes armie to passe out of Greece vnto Persia. Scipio wished a brazen wall to conuey Haniball out of Italy into Affrica truely the Persians were not more greedy of Greece nor the Carthagenians of Italy as these Iesuits and Seminaries are of great Britane who haue sworne and promised as Zedechâ—as did with his yron hornes to Achab His ventilabis Syriam These be the Frogges that went out of the Dragons mouth spiritus Daemoniorum croaking in euery corner of great Britane to mooue seditions and treasons in Kingdomes and Countreys These contend not as Aiax did with Vlisses for Achilles armour nor like Edom though they bee Edomites for the blessing of Isaak but as Torquine did with Brutus who should rule Rome a King or a Consul who should gouerne great Britane a King or a Pope Where many if they might heare the Bishop of Rome proclaimed a Pope in England would as willingly die for ioy in great Britane as Diagoras the Philosopher died at Rhodes for ioy to heare his three Sonnes to bee crowned in the games of Olympia Your Maiesties most humble and dutifull Seruant LODOVVIK LLOID IN ADVENTVM POtentissimi Principis Iacobi Dei gratia magnae Britaniae Franciae Hiberniae Regis Ludouici Lloid Eboracensis gratulatio MVlti foelices fuere dies Augustissime Princeps dies solis supra Gabaon dies Lunae super Aialon dies Martis non solum super Scotos in Scotia sed super Anglos in Anglia in quibus vti Ioshua de regibus sua fixit in coelo trophaea ita noster Iacobus de Tyrannis suos habuit in terra triumphos O dies queÌ„ fecit Dominus dies soli at coelo gratissimus nobis foelicissimus dies Israel è Mesopotamia in Chanan vti Chanan Iudah diceretur dies Iacobi è Scotia in Angliam vt Anglia magna iterum appellaretur Britania an potuit vlla foelicior Britanis euenire dies quam in quo rex noster laureatus non armatus venit instar Alexandri ad solium Cyri cum sanguine aut instar Caesaris ad Romam suam patriam in armis quorum ius fine iure in armis fuerat Non venit galeatus sed coronatus nuntius cum nuntio foelicissimo quid enim foelicius quam in tria florentissima regna cum foelicissimo populi applausu regem inaugurari quid foecundius quam de tribus in faecundis regnis regna tria faecundissima fieri ita venit inuenit Angliam vti Alexander reliquit Asiam sine rege regijs liberis at quam foecundam ex infoecunda fecit Angliam regia proles inuenit Cambriam vti Augustus inuenit Romam lateritiam ac ruinosam O quaÌ„ marmor eaÌ„fecit rex noster Iacobus in quo tanquam in secundo Bruto in secundo rege quasi in secundo seculo secula post multa quae aruerunt virescunt quae senuerunt in te hodierno die repubescunt O quanta hinc nostra foelicitas si à tanta foelicitate non vincamur parce pijssime princeps potuit Lucullus atrum dieÌ„ diem candidum efficere Romanis potuit Themistocles nephastum dieÌ„ in diem festum conuertere Graecis O quanto facilius poteris princeps non diem non annum sed dies annos plurimos Britannis efficere foelicissimos si de fictis Gabonitis ita tua mundetur Sparta ne contamnetur Israel si de perfidis Efframitis ita nostra purgetur Britania ne inquinaretur domus Iacob Amphippi milites quos omnis color cum Aristippo decuit Mercurij proles qui pluris cum Vlisse de sua Ithaca quam de patria quam de principe vere or quam de aeternitate pensitarunt quibus vnus semper Catilina pluris praecij fuit quaÌ„ tercentuÌ„ fabij quibus non quae lex sed quae nex digna querer eiur qui magis saeuiunt in Britaniam quam Caligulae proles in Romam Atiquorsum est haec cum anima nostra in tuo 〈◊〉 passer ereptae est de laqueo venantium Plaudite itaque Britani clangite â—ubam Angli nam vti Troes cum Tyrijs vno nomine fuere Latini ita Anglicum Scotis qui sub vno rege gubernantur vna lingua loquuntur ita vnaâ—lege vtantur vna voce vocentur Britanni Sic Cotys rex Thraciae Thraciam aeqnauit Athenis sic Vespasianus ius Latij Hispanis tribuit sic Claudius ius ciuitatis Gallis Graecis concessit vt cum externis vniti Romani Roma semper victrix cum nec numero Hispanis necrobore
dream of Images and Idols like De Brutus which dreamed of such an Image that neuer left him till Brutus fell vpon his owne sword at Philippos And such an Image appeared to Hanibal that neuer gaue him ouer vntill Hanibal had poysoned himselfe in Bythinia It was then a world of Images amonge Heathens and Pagans and amonge Christians at this time too many though they know Confundantur qui sculptilia adorant I must needs borrow some termes of the Heralds and as they describe the natures of Lions being regal beasts So must I describe the nature of Serpents being Diuels themselues and beasts for the Diuels some dormient Serpents some cowching some walking Serpents and some flying Serpents that soare so hye that at their fall they are dasht in peeces Had Saul feared God and not consulted with these Serpents he should haue done as Dauid Asa Iosaphat consult with Samuel while Samuel liued and not after hee died Saul should aske counsell of the Prophets and not of Witches and Images not with Phaetanissa a Witch at Endor but of Huldah a Prophetesse at Hierusalem as Iosias did Daniel choakt that great Colossus the Image of Baall in Babilon Iacob buried his wiues Idols the Gods of Laban at Sichem King Asa burned to ashes and threw into Cedron his mothers Idoll Priapus Young Iosias left not an Altar an Image an Idoll a groue within Iudah destroyed the greene Groues in Mount Oliues called the Mount of corruption These were such Kings as should be imitated who clensed Angeus hall in Israel and extinguished the fierie furnace of Egipt in Iudah and not such as Triphon that killed his master King Antiochus nor such as Hazaeâ— that strangled his Maister Benhadad Great was the lamentation and cry in Egipt when the first-borne were slaine throughout the land of Egipt euen from Pharos throne to her that grindeth at the mill Likewise great was the feare and terror in Hierusalem when Senacherib came and determined with his huge Armie to destroy Hierusalem saying They should eate their owne dung and drinke their owne vrine if they refused to yeeld to the great King Nebuchadnezar England of late was not a little frighted when the Hispaniards with their great Armadoes laden with weapons and armor came fully perswaded to make an end of England But he that destroied the first-borne of Egipt from the highest to the lowest destroyed also Senacheribs Armie being a hundred fower-score and fiue thousand Assirians And the same Angell daunted the bragges of the Spaniards with the like reuenge vppon themselues which they thought to doe vnto others The Sunne the Moone the Starres and the Heauens fought for Deborah and gaue her victorie ouer the Chananites So the windes weathers stormes tempests rockes and stones of the earth sung and gaue the victorie to Queen Elizabeth against the Spaniards Truely these were three great Victories without blood or sword drawne of which wee may say as Samuel sayd for the like Victorie he had against the Philistines Hitherto hath the Lord holpen vs and pitched there a stone in remembrance of Victorie and named the place Lapis adiutorij So Ioshua pitched a stone vnder an Oake at Sichem as a couenant between him and the people So Iacob gathered a heape of stones as a witnesse between Laban and himselfe Wee must likewise pitch a stone Euen that stone which the Builders reiected which to the Iewes was a stumbling-blocke and to the Gentiles folly euen that stone must be our Angularis lapis We must not be like Philip of Macedon after his great Victorie at Chaeronea ouer the Graecians who waxed so proude and insolent that he was sharpely reprehended of that noble Prince Archidamus Agisilaus sonne saying that his shadowe was no longer after the victorie than it was before his victorie Neither must we answere as Epaminondas being asked what was the greatest ioy hee euer had in the world he sayd Leutrica victoria the Victorie of Leutricke In truth of our victories we ought to reioice and to giue thankes vnto God And wee must put away all other stones as our Idols and Images the Gods of the Gentiles being Lapidij Dij and build all buildings vpon that stone which is lapis Angularis This was the cause why Moses was sent an Embassabor to Pharo to deliuer Israel from double bondage where Israel serued Pharo in slauerie and the Diuel in Idolatry This ought and should cause vs to serue God in true and sincere Religion and not in Images and Idols as doe the Heathens in the engendred Serpents of Medea But that Monster and great terrible beast with iron teeth which deuoured and stamped all others vnder his feet neuer feared him that commeth in red garments from Bozra that plagued the Idumeans the Moabites the Amonites and the Iewes after them euen that God that saith Vengeance is in my heart and I will tread them in mine anger and stampe them vnder foot in my wrath If you compare Bozra with Rome and the Idumeans with the Romans you shall find the one to claime their chiefe Religion from Abraham by heritage and the other from Peter in like sort by succession and yet both worship Idols Who durst say that Micah was a true Prophet to Ahab If Micah so say Zedechia will strike him before Achab. If Ieremie prophecie to the King of Iudah the noblemen of Iudah will set Ieremie by the heeles But they will hearken what Zedechia Baals Prophet will say with his yron hornes who told Achab his Maister His ventilabis Syrtam donec deleas eam with these hornes thou shalt ouercome the Aramites vntill thou hast vtterly consumed them There bee I doubt many that so say of England Scotland and Ireland The Romane Achab will not bee satisfied as the Ammonites were with the Embassadors of Israel by cutting one side of their beards away and one halfe of their garments and so in contempt of Dauid sent backe againe to Hierusalem But they will haue all Dauids beard all his longe garments yea his crowne and all his Kingdomes or they will hange with Achitophell They will betray their friends their countrey their King and Soueraigne Lord or they will burst out their guts with Iudas They would haue all England either to Rome or to Spaine or bring Rome or Spaine into England At illa nobilitas cum plebe pereat qui patriam ita perire velit When Balac King of Moab perceiued that he could not subdue the children of Israel neither by strength nor by any policie hee practised with Balaam to destroy them be cursing but Balaams curse was turned into blessing to Israel This practise hath beene longe vsed in Rome for when guifts and rewards failed then cursing and excommunicating was vsed Isaac in giuing his blessing to Iacob sayd Cursed be those that cursed Iacob The Pope hath vsed
multitude of birds in the Etruscan warre for those fowles fledde in such fright from a thicke wood that the Consull sent scowt-watch and found 10 Thousand Boyans in watch for Aemilius and his Romane Armie We should finde greater birds in great Britane if we should send scowt-watch abrode and yet I stand in doubt that as Ioshua sent some of euerie Tribe to search the Land of Chanan at their returne they would not open the fertilitie of the Land for feare of great men of higher stature than the Israelites were lest they should fight with those mightie men the brood of Enachims saying Nuncij cor nostrum terruerunt those Israelites feared men more thaÌ„ God they had rather returne to Egipt than otherwise They came from Rome to great Britane as Cleonimus the Athenian with his souldiers went to Tracaena with a dart in his hand which hee threw ouer the wals which had written vpon his dart that Cleonimus came to deliuer the Trocenians from Craterus their enemie by this policie Cleonimus wan Trocaena by sedition of the souldiers The like did Haniball after he had gotten the great Victorie at Thrasymenum wrote diuers Letters to sundry Cities and Townes in Italy saying that Haniball came from Carthage to Italy to deliuer Italy from the Romans Many vse Hanibals speach and letters that come in one hand with pardons indulgences not onely promising on earth absolution for their treacherie and murther but also to be canonized Saints in heauen and in the other hand Cleonimus dart yea Sauls dart to throw to King Dauids face such darts would these cursed Crew throwe to Kinges and Princes faces Not what lawes should bee sought for these Rebels but what punishment might bee inuented for these Traytors Antiochus inuented torments to torture the Iewes that would not eate Swines flesh Phalaâ—is had by perillous inuention a brazen Bull to torment Offendors Among the Greekes it was lawfull for any man to bring such Offenders to Delphos and there to offer them quicke in sacrifice to Apollo Among the Romanes to bring such to the Theators and there to bee hewd and cut in peeces Per Gladiatores the Sword-players Among the Persians such should be quick buried the Massilians had a naked Sword and a great Vessell full of poyson hanged vp in publicke sight to terrifie such Traytors Sectio 4. THemistocles before compared himselfe to a Plantane tree for that the Athenians vsed it for to shadow them and to defend them in times of warres with the Persians so in like sort said Themistocles That Athenians vse him at their pleasure sometime for their drinking Cup and sometime for their Chamber pot and so often vsed him off and on to cast him of at their pleasure and to call him againe at their will that Themistocles would sometime speake to the Athenians Illos non laudo homines qui eodem vase pro calice matula vtuntur I like not those kinde of people that vseth one vessell for to drinke out wine of it in the morning and to make water in it at night So vngratefull people were the Athenians that they wayed for nothing but for three Monsters of Athens Noctua populus draco so full of flattery and dissimulation was Athens that euerie one stood in doubt whome to trust Many vse such dissembling speaches and countenances in great Britane like counterfeit Tragedians at Smyrna with their false Solaescismes holding vp to heauen their bloodie hands and looking downe to the earth with wicked malicious eyes longing to see their tree at Rome bring forth such fruits as the wild Oliue tree did at Megara a Citie of Achaia in Greece There was a Citie in the Market-place a wilde Oliue tree on which the Captaines and the souldiers vsed to hange their armors a long season that in continuance of time this tree by hanging on of these armors bred of it selfe Armors which was prophecied that when this tree should breed of it selfe Armors for souldiers this Citie should be destroyed for this tree was Arbor fatalis There was a great Tree likewise in Babilon which shadowed all beasts of the field and on whose boughes all the fowles of the ayre made their neasts and all the Kings of the earth hanged their Swords their Targets their Helmets and all their Militarie Armors But there was a rotteÌ„ Tree a long time in Rome Religiosa arbor on which the Dominick Franciscans Benedicts Friars hanged their Caputium their weeds and religious garments so long that this Tree bred more Armors and armed men in Rome and out of Rome than the wilde Oliue did at Megara or the mightie high Tree at Babilon But as the fatall Tree of Megara had an end so the great Tree of Babilon was cut downe and so the rotten Tree of Rome is as readie to fall downe for vnder this Tree were more Traytors bredd more Scysmes and heresies brought vp than were Souldiers at Megara either beasts or fowles in Babilon For these hold it a principle or a maxim of their laws that it was as lawfull to burne a Protestant in England as to kill a Tyrant in Greece and the reward was a like Spolia opima Ioui a rich spoyle to their Iupiter It was counted great tyrannie in Tamberlane King of Scythia to vse Baizates the great Turke though as great a Tyrant as himselfe being taken captiue to carrie him in his tryumph from Countrey to Countrey in a Cage and to feede him like a dogge vnder his table in that Cage And it is greater tyrannie to feed Turkes and Tamberlanes to cut our throats in England Sapor King of Persia after his great Victorie ouer the Romanes and had taken the Roman Emperour Valerianus he kept him as his Prisoner vsed him as a blocke on his knee for the King of Persia to mount on horse-backe to the great disgrace of the Romans These were tryumphs of Tyrants and not of Kings The King of great Britane may vse his enemies as Tamberlane vsed the great Turke or as Sapor vsed the Romanes I remember the tyrannie of Sesostris whom the Ethiopians call the Hercules of Egipt which was caried in a Coach as Melancthon saith In curru ex auro lapidibusque praeciosis constructo by â—ower Kinges in a Charriot wrought with gold and precious stones But one of these 4 Kings euer looked back vpon the wheele of the chariot Sesostris asked him why he so ofteÌ„ looked back he said I look vpon the wheele how by course the staues of the whele are somtimes aboue sometimes belowe Histories report that he dismissed those Kinges and freed them from such bondage vpon these words Such was the fortune of Tygranes the great King of Armenia though he had 4 Kings wayted on him at his Table and ranne sometime as foot-men at his stirrope yet was hee forced to throw his Diademe at Pompeis feet Thus Fortuna ambiguo vagatur
he might get some money At Athens sayd Antiphones where the Statues and Images of Harmodius and Aristogiton are made of pure siluer for that they kill Pysistratus the Tyrant that bold speech cost Antiphones his life Plutarch recites a Historie of Dionisius barbor who hearing in his shop many attending their washing and trimming that Dionisius Anton Comodus and Alexander Pheraeus and especially Dionisius and his sonne was the most cruell Tyrant Say you so sayd his barbor Sub cuius iugulo hanc teneo nouaculum he was hanged for his speech In manibus linguae mors vita But Dionisius the Father was slaine by the people and Dionysius the Sonne expelled out of Scicilia by Dion a Noble man in Sicilia by the Councell of Plato That was the cause why Philippides the Poet refused to be of King Lysimachus Councell being in such grace and fauor with Lysimachus that the King spake with Philippides Quid vis vt impartiar tibi nothing said the poore poet but only this ne sime consilijs tuis Orontes the Persian being cast out of fauour with king Artaxerxes his father in law would cōpare the fauour of Princes to Arithmeticians fingers laying downe and taking vp to make what summe they list so might that great Philosopher Aratus speake of king Philip when he vomited vp blood saying haec sunt regia proemia Valentinianus the Emperour after he had caused his familiar friend Aetius to be slaine asked another friend of his whether Aetius deserued death that I know not said he to the Emperour but this I know that you cut off your right hand with your left hand and it was true for Valentinianus was slaine by Aetius souldiers And yet better is an euill Prince hauing good and faithfull subiects than wicked and false subiects with a good Prince Had Saul but tenne such as Samuel as he had tenne Thousand Doegs about him no doubt he had obeyed God and serued him better and gouerned Israel wiser Had Ioas but few such coūcellors as Iehoida was he had not been seduced to forsake his God to neglect his commaundement and to forget what Iohoida had done for him Had Dionisius the Tyrant entertained but Ten such like Plato to tell him true as he had ten Hundred like Aristippus to flatter him he had not need to be guarded with armed men and to say to his son Haec adamantina regum vincula God would haue but tenne good and godly in Sodome and Sodome should bee saued Agamemnon wished but tenne such as Naestor to vanquish all his enemies in Phrygia and sette the Greekes at libertie to returne to Greece againe And yet Saul a wicked King did many good things by the perswasion of Samuel And King Ioas while Iohoida liued forsooke not God nor his lawes And Dionisius the Tyrant abstained from much tyrannie by the councell of Plato But Saul had not so many Chusai as he had Achitophels Dionisius had not so many Platoes to tell him truth as he had of Aristippus to flatter him Plato asked Dionisius why he went so guarded Dionisius answered Plato I told my Sonne a dumme stratageme that Torquinius Superbius told his Sonne Tarquinius Sextus what Thrasibulus willed Periander to do In spicarum de truncatione but all these damned stratagems were to effect tyrannie as you read before But King Antigonus reprehended his Sonne that handled his Subiects roughly saying Doest not thou know Son that Regnum nostrum est splendida seruitus that neither armes strength nor treasures are so certaine and sure to regall Sceptors as faithfull friends So Maximilian the Emperor said in a publick meeting with all the Princes of Germanie at Wormatia where the Duke of Saxon first preferring his Mettals and rich vaines of the earth the Duke of Bauaria much commending his stronge and braue Cities and Townes the Duke Palatine his Wines and fertilitie of his Land and the Duke of Whitenberg sayd I can lay my head and sleepe vpon the lap of any Subiects I haue idque subdio abrode in the field euerie where and when I will Then sayd Maximilian Huic facile concedite palimam I would England might haue so sayd in Queen Elizabeths time or now great Britane in King Iames time is hard to haue it among such as thinke it as sweete a Sacrifice to their Romane Mars to burne a Protestant in England as in Greece to kill a Tyrant to please their God Iupiter And as great a tryumph was it in Oxford to burne three famous learned Bishops as it was to Diagoras the Philosopher to see his three Sonnes crowned at the games of Olympia This was prooued in Queene Maries time when Arch-bishops Bishops learned men and all kind of men were burned in all places of England and yet in all the time of Queene Elizabeth not a haire of their heads were toucht But of such Iesuits and Seminaries which vnder colour of Religion became Traitors and Rebels These forget Hectors verse out of Homer chiding his friend Polydamus that feared to fight for his Countrey doubting soothsaying Augurium optimum said Hector patriam fortiter defendere But these Iesuites hold with Pope Iulian the 2 that threw Saint Peters keyes ouer Romes bridge into Tiber and with Pope Hildebrand which threw the Sacrament into the fire haue that verse in their mouth which Pope Leo and diuers other Popes vsed to say Flectere si nequeo superos acheronta mouebo Of such Menedemus the Philosopher sayd That many went to Athens that thought themselues wise before they went to Athens and after a while being at Athens they thought themselues eloquent Orators and streight after they thought themselues to be graue philosophers but at last prooued verie Idiots Many likewise goe to Rome to see the Pope the Senators and people of Rome and as some prooued to be Idiots by going to Athens so some be prooued to be Serpents by going to Rome and such Serpents that are Rebels and Traytors in England are canonized Saints at Rome Beda our Countrey-man being at Rome was requested by some Schoole-master in a scoffe to know what meant these foure letters S. P. Q. R. Beda dissembled out the matter sayd Stultus populus quaerit Romam Foolish people seeke to see Rome yea too many seek out Rome in England and too many would willingly build Rome in England Such a Schoolemaister was Appion in Alexandria that reioysed to make discord and mooue sedition in the Citie to set the Egiptians against the Iewes and the Iewes against the Greekes to expell to banish both Greekes and Iewes out of Alexandria to haue Egiptians onely in Egipt saying ô beatae ciuitas quae me talem maeruit habere ciuem This seditious Schoole-maister Appion was more esteemed in Rome of both the Emperours Claudius and Nero in his Embassage for the Egiptians than Philo that learned Iewe was on the behalfe of the people of God
and made two golden Calues to entice Israel to Idolatrie These Iesuites and Seminaries haue hornes ready made and they promise their Maister the Pope as Zedechia did to Achab victorie and say Hijs ventilabis Britanniam donec deleas eam And if that faile Balacke shall cause Balaam for reward to curse Britane with Bookes and Bels. So did Golias curse Dauid in the name of his Gods The Bishop of Rome did vse to baptize and name Bels and annoint the same by the sound of which Bels they coniure Diuels from their houses terrifie their enemies purifie the ayre curse and excommunicate whome they list Raimerus the 5 King of Arragon published that he would make such a great Bell that all Spaine should heare the sound of it Some of his noble-men iesting and scoffing at this Bell lest it should be like the cursing Bell of Rome despised the same speech But they were apprehended and commanded by Raimerus to be put to the sword saying Nescit vulpecula cum quo laudat The like punishment had many that spake against the Bels and Buls of Rome Surely we shall neuer be able to end this quarrell or make a lawe as Elias did with Achabs Prophets and as Daniel did with Nabuchadnezars priests and so execute the lawe according to their composition which was effected by the commandement of these two great idolatrous Kings the one at the brooke Kyson the other at Babilon Illustrissimo principi Christiano regi Daciae c. Ludouici Lloid gratulatio QVis potest tanta illustrissime Princeps hodierno die coÌ„ticere gaudia aut hos halcyoneos poterit silere dies in quibus rex Daciae relicto regni scaeptro ac regijs insignijs depositis quasi vna inter duos reges diuisa fuisset anima pluris aestimans de suo dimidio in Britania quam de roto in Dacia O quantus amor qui nec in coelo vinci nec in terra obliuisci nec vllo vnquam fortunae fulmine subuerti potest de cuius fama fama mentiri veretur Quiescat Maro suuÌ„laudare Aeneam sileat Homerus de suo magno Achille erubescat Graecia de suo Vlisse qui insaniam dissimulauit ne ex Ithaca de Penelope vxore dissederet in Ilion At Christianus rex Daciae nec mater nec regina nec regnum potuit à magna detinere Britania à rege à regina sorore à principe à caeteris regijs liberis quasi artibus neruis huius imperij vbi rex Daciae tanquam sydus aquilonis coronatum hoc coelum nostruÌ„ corruscans multo magis potest laetari de regia progenia sua in Britania quam Philippus de Heraclea stirpe in Macedonia quae in Alexandro desinit quam Caesar Augustus qui multum de gente Iulia iactauit quae in Nerone extincta fuit itanunc Romani dicant fuimus Trâ—es ita nunc dicant Macedones fuimus Heraclides At magnae Britania ita sicut aquila renouatur aetas nunquam enim maior nec tam magna magna Britania fuit sub Bruto primo quam hodterno die sub Bruto secundo nostro Iacobo vt in cunis adhuc vagientes de cunis clamitant iubilate Britani O quanta nostri in nos numinis beneficentia si nostri numinis noÌ„ obliuiscamur aut de nostra ingratitudine in DaciaÌ„ obruamur quae si taÌ„ta potest muta Angerona silere ligna lapides loquentur Cum nec Syracusa cuÌ„ suis Comeatibus ad cladem Thrasimeni Romanis nec Tyrus cum Caedris Libani Hierosolyme paratior quam Dacia in nostram Angliam Quanto magis hodierno die qui vt Masinissa vnum ait esse in terris populuÌ„ Romanum in illo vno populo vnuÌ„ esse Scipionem cui animum animam deuouebat ita rex Daciae vnam ait esse in terris gentem Britaniam in illa vna gente vnum esse Iacobum cui nec Hira cum suis Sydonijs paratior fuit Salomoni nec Masinissa cum suis numidicis magis beneuolus suo Scipioni quam rex Daciae cum suis Dacis regi Iacobo Sit par noster amor si par potest esse cum Dacis non cum argenteis gladijs Philippi nec cum aureis Artaxerxis sagittarijs sed cum Pythagoreis armis vna anima ac animo in eadem lance trutinari sic amor amore compensatur O amor quem nec ensis Alexandri dissecare nec delphicus gladius enodare poterit Quid opus est inire foedus cum vestibus sanguine imbutis vt Armenij aut cum Lydis Medis ex humeris brachijs sanguineÌ„ inuicem propinare cum nostra foedera ex cruore cordiuÌ„ confirmata ex visceribus pareÌ„tum sint consecrata hoc tam validuÌ„ naturae vinculum vt citius duos soles in coelo concordes esse videris quaÌ„ duos hos reges in terra discordes inueneris ita fatuÌ„ voluit ita natura annu it ita virtus praesagit ita Deus ipse esse statuit Hinc publica nostra Scaenopegia digna coronis tegi Hinc per petuus Britanorum triumphus qui faecile Caesaris contemnat triumphos Hinc Britani cum Dacis vt Romani olim cum Sabinis sua sacra semper Consualia decantabunt FINIS Hanibal a sworne enemy to the Romans Zozom lib. 5. cap. 8. The custome of Rome Serpents borne in mens armes in Asia The armed Serpents of Medea The Gods Mesopotamia Gen. 31. Mychaes Idoll Iudg. 18. Many ran after their Gods from great Brittane the target of treason Front lib. 1. cap. 5. Front lib. 1. cap. 8. Lib. 16. cap 3. The wild Ashtree Men aptlie compared to trees In Euang. in Die pasc Aug. ad fratres in Eremo serm 8. 30. Tyrants in Athens 4. Reg. 21. Sesostris in Herodot Sylla Caligula Nero. Elias sacrifice Oros. lib. 7. cap. 22. Exod. 12. Ezech 9. Sauls seed 2 Reg. 21. The brood of Enachims 4 Reg cap. 5. The puddles of Ieroboam Diuers kinds of purifications among the Gentiles Iudg 11. The false Ephramites could not pronounce Schiboleth 2 Reg. 11. Iudg 8. Hamilcars dreame 2 Reg. 20. Cyrus and Caesars dreames Cyrus and Caesars dreames Ezech. ca. 8. Ezech. cap. 40. Plut. in Bruto Plut. in Hanib Descriptions of some Serpents 1. Sam. 28. Saul consulted with Coniurers Witches Dan. 3. For such Kings the Prophet Elizeus wept Exod. 12. 4 Kin. 19. Senacherib England late frighted Iud. 5. 1. Sam. 7. Gen. 31. The maner of CouenaÌ„ts among the old Hebrewes Rhodig lib. 8. cap. 26. King Philip taunted of Archidamus The answere of Epaminondas All victories come from God Dan. 7. Esay 63. Idumeans and Romans compared Zedechia one of Baals false Prophets 3. Kin. 22. 2. Kin. 10. The Embassadors of Israel abused by the Amonites Hispaine in Rome and Rome England Num. 22. Gen. 27. Some curses perilous Gen. 9. 2. Reg. 6. 1. Mac. 13. 4. Reg. 21. Triphon Hazael Cic. de diui lib. 1.
Gallis nec calliditate poenis nec artibus Graecis par fuit Roma ita Graecia cum ciuibus vnita quae gens par potuit esse Graecis at diuisa quanto facilius noÌ„ à Persis nec à Macedonibus sed Graecia à Graecis victa QuaÌ„ta virtus victoria Iudaeorum dum vna vniti lege religione Quanta vtriusque regni clades diuisa dici non potest Quid multa nihil aliud maius fuisse fertur exitio Graecis quam iura ciuitatis externis interdicere leges quas Solon Athenis quas Lycurgus Spartae sanxerunt nam vti omnis virtus vnita praestantior ita omnis vis vnita fortior vt Anglia sine Scotia minus vigeret ita Scotia sine Anglia magis langueret ita regnum omne ita orbis totus langueret diuisus Quid opus est itaque cuÌ„ctari de vnitate Britaniae de perpetua vtriusque regni pace de fortitudine imperij de magnitudine regis saepe tamen non nocet cum fabio cunctari qui cunctando vicit Hanibalem ita saepe non nocet cum popilio imperare qui imperando vicit Antiochum At penes te est inuictissime Princeps cunctari imperare quiad sacram Henrici 7. tui Attani sedem cuÌ„ lauro oliua venis cum regina foecundissima cuÌ„ Principe prudentissimo cum caeteris regijs liberis quasi fidissimis Britaniae Scipionibus de quibus ac de sacris regnorum anchoris omnis plaudit Anglia gestunt parietes Scotiae Hibernia cuncta laetatur Cambria tota triumphat The Tragicomedie of Serpents I Haue promised to adde something to my last little Treatise The practise of pollicie I thought I should write but of the pollicie of men yet I haue cause to speake of diuers kinds of Serpents of Diuels Serpents of Idols Serpents of Image Serpents of beasts serpents and of men serpents which are the most perilous serpents of all according to the old saying Homo homini Lupus not only a Wolfe but a Lyon a Tygre a Diuell to a man Hanniball a sworne enemy to the Romans not only himselfe but soliciting the great Antiochus with Camels and Pirrhus before him with his Elephants and he himselfe with serpents and vipers to throwe in the faces of the Roman army to amaze their souldiers and to put them in fright in their fight Stratagems allowed in warre but not among peaceable christians But these stratagems were of Affrica and Asia against the Romans who had but Camels ElephaÌ„ts for their chiefe pollicy with the which the Romans became well acquainted and exceeded them in their owne stratagems and ouerthrew their Hanniball But now in Rome their is another kind of Hanniball whose stratagems are furnished with Wolues Beares Dragons and Tygres and those in the habit of men that farre passe Tarquine the proud with his furious priests with Snakes in one hand and firebrands in the other and their Affrican Hanniball with his Serpents in one vessell and vipers in the other but these would haue Lyons in one hand and Vnicornes in the other But we feare not the Camels of Asia nor the Elephants of India nor the Serpents of Affrick neither do we feare the Basilisks of Rome and the Romish broode in great Brittane which would faine ride on Lyons and Vnicornes For it was a long custome among the Romans to fight with Lyons on the Theators and with wilde cruell beasts that the Romans became more cruell then Serpents and such Serpents that Rome and Asia are full of them In Asia they carie Serpents in their armes to clense their aire to purifie their temples and to driue diuels away from their Townes and Cities In Rome they sent for Serpents in any plague time to Epidaurus to the jmage of Esculap whome they worshipped in the forme of a Serpent to heale them We ouercame the old Dragon the great Serpent in Paradise by the seede of the woman The children of Israell ouercame the serpents of Cadis-barne by looking vpon the brasen Serpent in that wildernes and Moses with his Hebrew army escaped the serpents in the deserts of Ethiopia by their continuall enemies the birdes Ibides of Egipt But we haue armed serpents engendred of the serpents teeth which Medea not of Colchos but of Babilon where they carry such serpents in their armes I meane their golden and siluer Gods to bee worshipped of men in the streetes these be the dangerous serpents After such serpents ran Laban after Iacob of more complaining for his jdols and images the Gods of Mesopotamia thaÌ„ for his two daughters Iacobs wiues saying cur fuâ—atus es Deos meos why hast thou stolne my Gods away from me Micah ran for such serpents after the Tribe of Dan exclaiming more for his idols then for all the wealth and goods that they took from him saying Cur Deos quos mihi feci tulistis why haue you taken my Gods which I made to my selfe from me Many ran from great Brittane after such Gods and such images to Rome to Spaine and many yet lurkes like Hydra in Laerna in their secret labyrinths more greedy for the spoyle like moabites than true catholikes for religion these be the Roman wolues in sheeps clothing like Camelions in al kind of colors scattered ouer all England these be the domesticall serpents tanquam lemures nocturni lares domestici in Cities in townes yea in our houses vnknowne and not vnseene enemies I meane those rebels and Trators which vnder colour of religion attempted sundry times our late queene and now our soueragine Lord and King That neither Hanniball with his fiery oxen was so furious against Fab. Max and his Roman armie Neither was Darius with his barking dogs and braying Asses left in his tents to deceiue the Scythians so crafty Neither desperate Tarquine so cruell to vnbridle all the horses of his army and so to rush vnto the middest of the Sabins his enemies as these late fierie oxen these barking Dogs and braying Asses left too long to barke and braye in great Brittaine these desperate horses too long suffered to bee vnbridled in England The subiect of this booke is to write of Serpents because we are troubled with serpents Plinis writes of some kind of Serpents that dare not approach the wild ash-tree nor the shadow of this tree that if they bee walled round about with great fire they will rather run through the fire then abide nigh the Ash tree or his shaddow I wish there were more such trees in great Brittaine for trees are aptly compared to men so are Kings Princes and Potentates of the earth compared to the hygh great Caedar trees in Libanon the palme trees to the constant martyres the Oliue trees to the iust and godly men and Christ himselfe to the vine tree too many like the Plantan tree with fayre and florishing showe without substance called in
the Hebrew Bible to draw the full time of the Messias from the verie promise of the seed of the woman vnto the very birth of the Messias So also did the Iewes draw Ex epinicio Mosis Quis sicut tu in dijs Iehouah Of these wordes they picked such letters as they inuented for the name of the Machabees For Ioshua vsed these words as Moses did And after Ioshua Iudas their third Iudge vsed it as his poesie the which was good and godly But how they vsed their vaine Cabbales out of the other godly words I know not vnlesse it were to know where when and how long this Religion should endure we know well how long it hath endured In like manner Maximilian the Emperour vsed the fiue Vowels for his poesie which noted the Maiesty and Iustice of the Empire a word for euery vowel which was Aquila Electa Iuste Omnia Vincit Vlisses had rather see the smoake of Greece than the sun shining in Phrygia And some had rather see the smoak of Idolatrie in Rome than their fier in England Vlisses confest that he would willingly loose the solace and ioy of immortalitie before he would forget the sweet ayer and delight of his Countrey Ithaca And others cannot abide the sight or smell of their Countrey Britane They cannot endure to drinke of the sweet Riuers of Bethel but they can swallow vp the puddles in Bethauen Genutius a Roman Pretor riding out of Rome suddainly there sprange as it seemed hornes on his head This woonder was by the Soothsayers interpreted that if Genutius would returne againe to Rome hee should be a King of the Romans He to auoid the name of a King being an odious name in his Countrey willingly banished himselfe from Rome least he should be a King in Rome to offend the Romanes The Romans therefore set vp his Image vpon that gate he went out of Rome in memorie of his great loue towards Rome So did they vpon the gate the 300 Fabij went out of Rome to end the quarrell betweene the Romans and the Viants Then in Rome they rewarded good Captaines for their seruice and now in Rome they reward Murtherers and Tirants that can inuent mischiefe When Kings and Kindomes reuolted their policies were practised then three Romane Embassadors were sent from Rome to Bythinia the one of them had a wound in his head The second had a stitch in his heart The third had the gowt or a sore legge Of these three Embassadors was Cato wont to iest saying Behold the Romane Embassadors without a head without a heart and without a legge Such Embassadors haue been often sent into England some with such wounds in their heads that their heads will not be healed without alteration of States and translation of Kingdomes some with such a stitch in their hearts that can take no rest before they haue gotten Spoliam opimam Patriae the overthrow of their Countrey and some with sore legges that cannot trauaile beyond the Seas but stay at home as standards and hospitals for such guests that come I know not whence I much doubt that there bee too many with such sore legges in Great Britane that lurke in Labyrinths made for such Embassadors some as Tutors in the Vniuersities some as Schoole masters in Gentlemens houses some as Magistrates and Officers in commission of peace some matcht in Mariage with great Houses and too many backt and countenanced lye hidden in such secret Labyrinths that the Sunne cannot see them but the Sonne of God seeth them though they be kept as secret as the Bookes of the Sibiles in Rome or verses of the Driades among the old Gauls Possidonius the Philosopher called Marcellus the Sword of Rome and Fabius the Target of Rome the one to cut off the heads of Romane enemies with his sword the other to guard and defend Rome with his Target Cunctando I pray God there bee not such a Marcellus or Fabius to defend these Romane Rebels in Britane who might liue and enioy the libertie of their countrey if they were not like the Cappadocians refusing their liberty offered theÌ„ by the Romans saying Se non posse ferre libertatem or like the Yonians as Critobolus sayd Frugi serui liberi mali good Romane seruants to the Pope but bad subiects in England These cannot abide the breath of Britane they would faine alter the name of the Isle of Britane either vnto the Isle of Serpents which is in Arabia or to the Isles of Satyres which is in Affrica Isles of their owne names Sectio 2. IN the time of Lu Crassus the Orator there dwelt in Rome a cruell dissembling Hypocrite one Dom surnamed Aenobarbus Of him Lu the Orator was woont to say That it was no wonder for Aenobarbus to haue a brazen beard since hee had an yron face and a leaden heart There bee many now in Rome and out of Rome that are like Aenobarbus with brazen beards yron faces and leaden hearts which if their bodies were opened as the Athenians did Aristomenes or as the Messenians did Hermogenes their hearts should bee found pilosa hijpida hairie and full of thornes And of late wee found many such brazen beards such yron faces and such leaden hearts in Britane as feare not the briars and brambles of Succoth nor the seruitude and bondage of Ioshua to the Gibeonites nor the lampes or the pitcher pots of Gedeon to the Medianites But it must be gladius Domini Gedeonis nostri the sword of God and our Gedeon that must tame these Tygrish Brutes and not Britanes whose hearts are in Rome though their bodies be in England and though they be not in Rome yet Rome is in their hearts for they are absent from Rome as the Iewes were from Egipt Corpore non animo But when the sunne shineth most cleere then the Crabbe catcheth the Oyster they are met and are found Policrates bragged so long of his fortunate estate and good successe that hee threw his Ring into the sea to trie further his fortune yet after his Ring was had againe he was hanged in Mount Mycalus in Persia by Oronâ—es Darius officer But Amasis a King in Egipt doubting much of his happinesse and great fortune wisht that he might tast of some calamitie and say Per varias fortunae vices and not alwayes to flourish in prosperitie Croesus iudged himselfe the happiest man vppon earth vntill he was taken with his Kingdome by Cyrus then hee thought what Solon sayd of such slipperie happinesse in this world Quam vitrea est Fortuna Saint Ambrose with some of his friends came vnto a lodging where the Host sayd of his good fortune and many bragged of their good fortune some sayd they knew not what calamity was others knew not what aduersitie was and others knew not what sicknesse meant Saint Ambrose made hast and tooke
axe But the Bishop of Rome which had more Kings and Kingdomes vnder his obeysance vseth much more tyrannie than Tamberlane of Scythia or Sapor of Persia Yea greater tyrannie than Adonibezek who had 70 Kings feeding like dogs vnder his table without either toes to their feet or fingers to their hands but he had legem Talionis This man of Rome commaundeth his Embassadors as Nabuchadnezar commaunded Holofernes Ne parâ—at oculus tuus vlli regno to make Acheldama of England and great Britane This is that Ashuerus that willed proude Haman De populo age quod placet Doe what thou wilt with the Iewes The like condition is betweene the Pope and his people who sends his Heraulds abroade tanquam cursores with his Buls and Agnus Dei pardoning and absoluing all murtherers that will destroy all Kinges and Kingdomes that are not of his Catholike Religion This hath beene practised in Fraunce vppon their cheefe Peeres by the Massacres in Paris and by a Friar in auricular consession of a King In England vpon the best learned men of England and vpon our late gracious and renowned Queene if their often practises by many pretended had not fayled them And now of late vpon our Soueraigne Lord and King vpon our Queene vpon our Prince and vpon their children the sacred and stayed anchor of three Kingdomes and vpon these three Kingdoms it selfe At illos Deus è Coelo subsannauit Is this the Catholike fruit of their Catholike Religion Is Treason and Murther the profession of Papists We thanke God with Paul that hath deliuered vs from the snares of Sathan and from the practise of his fierie Souldiers and from these Dreamers Caligula that Monster wished but one necke vnto Rome one Citie that hee might cut it off with one stroke That proud Haman sought of king Ashuerus but to destroy the remnaÌ„t of one nation that vpon one day within a hundred and seuen and twentie Prouinces in Persia. But these Serpents in one houre with one flame of fier fully decreed to destroy England Scotland and Ireland three flourishing Kingdomes Quis non meminisse horret Who laments not to thinke much more to haue seene the terror of that day The inuenter thereof could not be but a Diuell and not one Diuell vnlesse it bee that Diuell which Christ commaunded exi hominem whose names was Legio a legion of Diuels Such a Diuell might draw many Diuels after him Such a treacherous Catelin had more with him to destroy Rome rather thaÌ„ 300 faithfull Fabians to defend it Who seeth not the monstrous intentions of these Traytors after long lurking in many secret Labyrinths of Britane where so longe they were hidden vntill they had decreed to bring their last Pageant of ostentation not only with their great Colossus from Rome to England and there to rest but also with their huge Pyramides from Egipt to bee buried in England and to make a Chaos of Great Britane sometime called Insula fortiuÌ„ and to christen it againe after their own name Insula Serpentum the Isle of Serpents which is an Isle in Arabia where such Serpents breed that are of 120 cubites long And yet now in Britane my heart bleedeth to speake of them wee finde longer Serpents that their bodies bee in Britane and their heads at Rome I will not say their heart and hands at Spaine These are worse than the Athenians that had certaine Priests named Mantes which caried Firebrands in their handes and went before the Magistrates of Athens and threw about their Firebrands in signe of battell between the cities of Greece These are worse then the Priests of Rome called Faeciales that went before the Consulls with bloudy darts in their hands which they threwe towardes the Confines of their neighbours to pronounce warre And these our late Iesuits and Seminaries as Embassadors came from Rome with Firebrands and bloodie darts not in their hands but in their harts to destroy their Countrey and Countrey-men and glad when they finde meanes by any policie to practise mischiefe But these hellish Harpeis these cruell Crocodiles worse than Pharoh that sayd Quis est Dominus and worse than the Athiests that say in their hearts there is no God Such double faced Ianus children such two-fronted Cecrops broode say with the foole Non est Deus who can onely deliuer vs from these that are double-hearted double tongues double faced Such the law of God punished so that fire from heauen deuoured them the earth gaped and swallowed them vp aliue Such the lawes of men amonge all Nations haue punished as in Athens by Solon in Sparta by Lycurgus and in Rome by so many lawes that tortures and torments were inuented to punish these tanquam sacrilegos in patrios lares focos deos penates The Egiptians with long sharpe needles per singula patricidae membra torment such Offenders the Grecians threwe such headlong downe from high rockes the Macedonians stoned them to death The Romanes drewe them in peeces either between fower horses or 4 boughes of a tree and yet sayd Cicero Quae nex tanta tanto sceleri inueniri potuit And should not these false and forsworne Gibeonites be punished with seruitude and bondage and be reiected from the house of Iudah as Ioshua vsed them And should not these dissembling Giliadites which could not pronounce Scibboleth bee vsed as Ieptha vsed the Ephramites at the riuer Iordan The Tyrant Antiochus gaue them time by tormenting the seuen brethren either to eate Swines-flesh or to die The tyrant Phaleris in like manner torturing them with his frying-panne and with Perillus his brazen Bull were not in such a rage insuch a furie and that against the rule of reason so long I neuer remember of the like that in a whole yere and a halfe they could not call vpon God and repent of this their determined tyrannie worse than Esau who would haue repented and sought it with teares but yet could not worse than Pharoh for hee desired Moses to pray to his God for him But these refuse all mens praiers but such as be Catholikes like themselues Cain felt his conscience so to afflict him that hee thought that euerie man that mette him would haue killed him and faine would die but could not But these without feeling of any conscience are worse than Cain neither fearing God nor man worse than Esau for they seeke not to repent with teares and worse than Pharoh as I sayd before who sought Moses to pray for him These I say stood to their first longe pretended tyrannie to the very day most vnhappy for them and most happie for vs. Dies quem fecit Dominus Dies solus supra Gabaon the day of Ioshua when the Sunne stood ouer Gabaon And Dies Lunae when the Moone stood ouer Atalon And Dies Martis not onely in Scotland
the Peeres and Nobles of India went to the Riuer Ganges to offer sacrifice to the Sunne with a number of blacke Buls and blacke horses which colour among the Indians is best esteemed The Grecians vowed for their Princes and Gouernors health and long life to dedicate Statues and Images to their Gods in their temples with crownes and garlands The Persians and Armenians did honour their Kings as their Gods And no Nation vnder the Sun reuerenced their Kings more than England did before Titans children came from Rome to Britane who were taught in Rome mortally to hate Kings they might not heare of the name of a King And it seemeth that these be right Romanes who neuer with Kings could agree like to the Taprobanes a Nation in India where none might be King of the Kings stocke especially if he had children lest they should clayme the Kingdome by heritage The Priests of Egipt and Ethiop haue a Law and a Custome to elect Kings and so long he should raigne as pleased the priests And they had authoritie from their Gods to elect and depose Kings at their will This continued vntill their God of Heliopolis Vulcan appeared in a dreame to Sabachus King of Egipt whome hee warned either to kill all the priests of Egipt and to march ouer their bodies with his whole armie or to loose his Kingdome But this idolatrous and superstitious King yeelded his Kingdome vnto priests handes and they banished the King into Ethiop Some Kinges in Europa haue been and are in the like homage to the priests of Rome as the Kinges of Affricke haue beene to the priests of Egipt and Ethiop This law and custome continued with the priests of Egipt and Ethiop vntill Ergamenes time who liued in Pto Philadelphos time who to auoid this custome hee fained a great sacrifice to the Goddesse Isis and commaunded by a straight decree that all Prophets and Priests of Isis should come to this sacrifice Ergamenes by this stratageme slew and burned all these Sacrificers and left not one aliue The like did King Iehu to Baals prophets and the like Elias did to the false prophets of Achab and the like did Daniel at Babilon found out the policie and practise of Nabuchadnezar priest These three great stratagems are equall no doubt to the Iesuits and Seminaries though not in number yet in policie And truely farre better sacrifice than the blood of Rams Goats Heiffers and thought to be better farre than that good fire which Agesilaus commended in Greece when he saw the Vsurers tables burne at Athens Some thought yea too many agreed to practise Ergamenâ—s stratageme in England but I will let passe in silence the terrour and horrour of that day The determinations of these Serpents were such that neither by Tamberlane the Scythian neither by Romane Silla nor by any Turkish tyrannie could be inuented or practised You read in this booke before how in Asia men caried Serpents on their armes to driue Diuels and euill spirits from their houses in great Britane they carrie Diuels in their hearts not to driue Diuels out of Britane but to bring more Diuels into Britane by that Romane Belzebub as the Diuell confest when he knew not where to goe sayd I will returne whence I came and brings with him 7 Diuels worse thaÌ„ himselfe So these Serpents go to Rome at their returne bring seuen such and worse from Rome to great Britane While blindnes and ignorance with superstitious ceremonies were in England no such stratagemes were vsed the Diuell slept sound and secure but now in time of the Gospell the Diuels bestirre themselues with their Priests Iesuites and Seminaries And where before in Rome a Serpent barked like a Dogge and a Dogge spake like a man at the ouerthrow of Tarquine the proude And now in Rome such creeping frogges that creepes from Rome to England and croaking in euerie corner in euerie hole and in euerie ditch worse than barking Serpents or speaking Doggs These be Spiritus Daemonum that went out of the beasts mouth in farma runarum to moue contentions and brawles betweene Kings and Princes of the earth I meane not true papists nor religious Catholikes but these treacherous Iesuits and Seminaries which doe much resemble those frogges that went forth of the Dragons mouth croaking in euery place of great Britane the Messengers of Satan and the brood of Serpents to make debates and contention not as Mimus Roscius did with Cicero which of them both should excell in their faculties neither as Aiax did with Vlisses for Achilles Armour These frogges croake for Kings and Kingdomes and they meane to haue their Babilon againe so to flourish that neither Semiramis Cyrus nor Alexander shall preuaile against it the second time These Serpents the broode of the Dragon bestir themselues to get worke-men and Souldiers to build the wals of their Babilon and to turne the great Riuer Euphrates again as their sure defence I would they had fewer worke-men out of great Britane These Serpents these diuelish dogges and croaking frogges will not bee with the bryars and brambles of Succoth nor with the lampes and pitcher pots of Gedeon but with the sword of God our Gedeon Manasses would not know the Lord to bee God before he was taken Captiue and layd in bonds and fetters by the Assirians And Sampson did not fully call vpon God vntill his eyes were pluckt out by the Philistians Nabuchadnezer knew not God before he was cast off among beasts to eate with beasts Sampson had often reuenged the malice and enuie of the Philistians towards Israell and hee might haue had more reuenge vpon them if his wife a Philistian had not opened his probleme and betrayed him vnto the Philistians Againe Sampson might haue been reuenged of the Philistians before his locks had beene cut off had it not beene for his wife Dalilah This Sampson got by marriage of such a heiffer Surely Sampsons heiffer doth vexe and trouble many good husbands This jdolatrous heiffer doth molest many strong Sampsons and many wise Salomons which that good King confessed that it was for his good that God had humbled him and then he sayd Virgatua bacculus tuus c. thy rod and thy staffe hath much comforted me Athalia Sampsons heiffer a wicked woman constrayned her Son Ochosias to walke in the jdolatrous pathes of Achab. The marriage of Sampson with Dalilah a Philistian brought Sampson and all Israell to great vexation and troble It was a law in Israell that the Iewes should not marrie out of their own tribe and being maried they were straigsttly charged and commaunded to put their wiues away for the Prophet compared the Iewes to stoan'd Horses neying on their neighbors wiues and daughters which horse gaue the Iewes sundrie great fals This horse gaue to King Dauid neying on Vrias wife such a fal that the prophet Nathan told him Non
so say in England that wee had but 7000 that bend not their knees and knocke their breasts to jmages and jdols in their closets who worship more the Queene of Heauen in bedchamber than the God of heauen in the church and the starre of Rempha more than the starre of Iacob And yet these women in Britane will excuse themselues as the women of Israel did in Egypt that they did nothing but what they sawe their husbands doe Yet they saw Ieremie stoned to death at Taphnis for that hee would not be an Idolater and confesse their beasts and serpents to be Gods They also saw Esay cut in the middest with a Sawe in Hierusalem in the idolatrous time of Manasses Plinie writeth that in furthest part of India breed many Monsters and that in Affrica the Mother and the Nurse of strange Serpents of one Serpent among others I read of that which kept the Riuer Bagrada that much spoyled and destroyed the Romane Armie then vnder Atillus Regulus the Romane Generall of which the Affricans were glad But in time this Serpent was slaine and his skinne sent to the Senators for a wonder for it was in length 120 foot The skinne of this Serpent bred so many Serpents in Rome that Rome filled all Europe with Serpents And wee haue found of late too many in great Britane whose hearts were Pilosa Hispida as is sayd before yea double-hearted Britanes one to Rome the other to Spaine but none to their owne Country Vae duplici cordi like Partridges of Paphlagonia Such Monsters are more monstrous than those of which Plinie writes in the furthest part of India Of which some haue heads like dogges that doe alwayes barke to moue sedition and mutanies some with long eares to their feete such can heare from Spaine and from Rome to Britane There be some other Monsters whose feet are so broad that when they lye vpon their backs the shadowe of their feet doth not only couer themselues from the raine heat or tempest but also couer them that be in their companie Too many such Monsters are to bee found euerie where And yet sayth the same Author that there is one kinde of Monster more strange in India which haue no heads but a great huge eye in the middest of their breasts who can see further than Strabo Lincius that sawe the shippes of Carthage from Lelibium in Cicilia But these can see from the north to the south and from the south to the north But we must not looke for fire from heauen as Elias had in mount Carmell vpon King Achabs captaines neither must we looke for fierie Charriots and fierie armed men as Elizeus had at Dothan against King Benhadad But we may well doe as Daniel did in Babilon to seeke and finde out the print of the feete of Baals Priests and of their wiues and children So we may well trace out these Traitors and seek to finde the footing of these Iesuites and Seminaries and being found there is no way to helpe this but by paring their feete lesser their eares shorter their eyes out and their heads off vnlesse prayers helpe it These be farre worse than the Iebusites Hethites and Cananites which were left in Iudah as needels to pricke them and as Goads to sting Israel These Serpents these Monsters the verie brood of Satan seeke not onely in the Land of Hus to destroy Iob and his children but in the Land of great Britane to destroy King Iames his Queene his children and their Countrey Hinc rubent eorum vestes sanguine Sanctorum as Britane Fraunce and Germanie can testifie with the blood of more thā 100 thousand Christians whom they slew and burned to feed that Monster Mino-Taurus not of Creet but of Rome not with the blood of the Athenians to please Androgeus but with the blood of Britanes not with their forraine enemies blood but with the blood of the best learned men in Europe The Serpent in Paradise promised Adam if hee would eat of the Apple immortality And the Serpent Satan promised our Sauiour Christ al the world which was giuen him as hee saide if Christ would worship him The Pope promiseth Kingdomes on earth and Kingdomes in heauen for he saith Heauen is his and he hath the keys of Heauen deliuered to him onely and whome he bindeth or looseth on earth the same shal be bound or freed in heauen and with this Serpent for money a man may haue some place in heauen or some Kingdomes vpon the earth The Heauen of Heauens is the Lordes and the Earth hee gaue to the children of men And continuance of Kingdomes and Periods of Empires are from God and not by Oracles and Dreames as Heathen Princes did obserue Astiages King of Assiria was much disquieted vppon a dreame that the Mother of Cyrus and his daughter Mandanes sawe that she made such an vrine that ouer flowed all Asia And Cyrus thought to bring Scythia vnto Persia vpon his mothers dreame and his Grandfather Astiages thought to haue both Scythia Persia and also Cyrus life from Cyrus Alexander the Great for that hee dreamed that Hercules reached his hand ouer the wals of Tire hee doubted not but that hee should bring India to ioyne with Asia and yet it was 7 yeeres before these two great Captaines though Hercules was within Tire and Alexander without wanne Tire So many dreamers are in these our daies that dreame to see some handes ouer Rome some ouer Rhemes that haue such confidence in these handes that these seeke to bring Rome Rhemes and Spaine together by Images or imagination to Britane So superstitious people are euer light of beliefe that the Greeks thought and the Athenians affirmed to haue seene Theseus many yeeres after his death to goe before the Greeks against the Barbarians The Romanes were informed by Castor and Pollox against the Macedonians and other Kingdomes of their Conquests and victories The Machabees saw a Horse-man all in gold armed shaking his speare against the Syrians to warrant the Iewes of the victorie The Iesuits and Seminaries dream that they haue many Hercules many Alexanders reaching ouer the Seas to them laying siege to England all the Queenes time 45 yeres and to great Britane 4 yeres I wish that these Dreamers were sould to some Ismalite or to some Egyptian that doe nothing in great Britane but dreame and by their dreames worke mischiefe The Image of Iuno appeared to one of Camillus souldiers and willed the Romanes to banish the Egyptian God Serapis out of Rome and that Iuno then said she would come to Rome There bee some Dreamers in England that if they might haue the God of Israel banished out of Great Britane they would haue Images and Idols in his place The Image of Minerua appeared to Augustus Phisitian and told him how hee should heale his Master of his sicknesse Diogenes of all the