sonne Ochosias that died without issue shee put to death all the blood roiall to wit the posterity of Nathan Salomons brother to whome by right of succession the inheritance of the crowne appertained to the end that shee might install her selfe into the kingly diademe after this cruell butchery of all the roiall male children except Ioas who by Gods prouidence was preserued aliue shee vsurped the crowne and scepter of Iuda full seuen yeeres at the end of which date Ioas was exalted to the crowne and she not onely deposed but slaine by the hands of her guard that attended vpon her Brunchild whome histories call Brunhault a Queene of France by marriage Aimon Nic. Gil. vol. 1. but a Spaniard by birth was a woman that bred much mischiefe in her age and that wrought many horrible and death-deseruing crimes for partly with her subtill deuises and partly with her owne hands shee murdered ten kings of France one after another shee caused her husband to slay his owne brother she procured the death of her nephew Meroueus whome against all equity and honestie she had secondly espoused for her husband for he being hated of his father for that vile incest and perceiuing himselfe in danger of taking made one of his owne seruants thrust him through After shee had committed these and many other foule factes shee went about also to defraud Clotairius the sonne of Chilpericke of the right of the crowne which pertained vnto him and to thrust in another in the roome Whereupon arose great warre in the which as shee dealt more boldly and manfully then the condition of her sexe would beare so she receiued the due wages of her braue and vertuous deeds for shee was taken prisoner with three of het nephewes whose throats she saw cut before her face and after her selfe was set vpon a camell and led through the host three daies togither euery man reuiling mocking reproching and despiting her and at last by the award and iudgement of the princes and captaines of the army shee was adiudged to be tyed by the haire of her head one arme one foot to the taile of a wild and vntamed horse and so to bee left to his mercy to be drawen miserably to her destruction which was no sooner executed but her miserable carkasse the instrument of so many mischiefes was with mens feet spurned bruised trampled and wounded after a most strange fashion and this was the wofull end of miserable Brunchild Let euery one both great and small learne by these examples to containe themselues within the limits of humanitie and not to bee so readie and prompt to the shedding of humane blood knowing nothing to be more true than this That he that smiteth with the sword shall perish with the sword CHAP. XV. Of such as without necessitie or conference vpon euery light cause mooue warre AS in surgerie so in a commonwealth we must account warre as a last refuge and as it were a desperate medicine which without very vrgent necessity when all other meanes of maintaining our estate against the assaults of the enemy faile ought not to be taken in hand and indeed the chiefe scope and marke that all those that lawfully vndertake warre Cic. Off. lib. 1. ought to propound to themselues should be nothing els but the good and quiet of the commonwealth with the peace and repose of euery member thereof And therefore so oft as any reasonable offers and conditions of peace are propounded they ought to be accepted to the end to auoid the masse of euils as ruines bloodsheds robberies which alwaies accompany warre as necessary attendants for whosoeuer doth not so but vpon euery light occasion runneth to armes and to trie the hazard of battaile they manifest their owne foolish and pernicious rashnes and their small conscience in shedding humane blood Amongst the good kings of Iuda Iosias for piety zeale in the seruice of God was most renowmed for hee purged the realme from all drosse of idolatry repaired the decaied temple and restored it to the first glory and yet for all this for committing this one crime he lost his life for as Nechao king of Aegypt was passing with an army towards the king of Babylon in Charcamis beside Euphrates to bid him battaile he would needs encounter him by the way 2. Chron. 35. and interrupt his iourney by vnprouoked warre yea though Nechao had by embassage assured him not to meddle with him but intreated onely free passage at his hand yet would not Iosias in any wise listen so opinionatiue and selfe willed was he but gaue him battaile in the field without any iust cause saue his owne pleasure which turned to his paine for he caught so many wounds at that skirmish that shortly after he died of them to â—he great griefe of the whole people and the Prophet Iereâ—â—e also that lamented his death King Iohn of France for refusing reasonable conditions of peace at the English mens hands was ouerthrowen by them two miles from Poytiers with a great ouerthrow Froiss vol. 1. Nic. Gil. vol. 2. for the Englishmen in regard of their owne small number and the huge multitude of the French to encounter with them timorously offered vp a surrender of all that they had either conquered taken or spoiled since their comming from Bordeaux and so to be sworne not to beare armes against him for seuen yeeres so that they might quietly depart But the king that crowed before the conquest affying too much in the multitude of his forces stopt his eares to all conditions not willing to heare of any thing but war war euen thinking to hew them in pieces without one escaping but it fell out otherwise for the Englishmen intrenching themselues in a place of aduantage and hard of accesse inclosed with thicke hedges and brambles disturbed and ouerthrew with their archers at the first onset the French horsemen and wounded most of their men and horses with multitude of arrowes it tarried not long ere the footmen also were put to flight on the other side the whole army of threescore thousand men by bare eight thousand English discomfited diuers great lords were found slaine in the field and diuers others with the king himselfe carried prisoners into England which was a great shake to the whole Realme and the occasion of many tumults and disorders that ensued afterwards Moreouer as it is a rash part to hazard the doubtfull euent of battaile indiscretely and without cause so it is a point of no lesse folly to thrust ones selfe voluntarily into any action of war without charge not being particularly called and bound thereunto or hauing a body vnsufficient and vnfit for the same And this was also one of the warlike points of discipline which the ancient Romans vsed That none should presume to fight for his countrey before hee had beene admitted by some captaine by a solemne oath Of all the histories that I euer read I know none
who vpoÌ„ condition of hir yeelding to his lust and payment of 200 duccats promised safe deliuerance for him the poor woman seeing that nothing could redeeme her husbands life but losse shipwrack of her owne honesty told her husband who willed her to yeeld to the captains desire not to pretermit so good an occasion wherfore she consented but after the pleasure past the traiterous and wicked captaine put her husband to death notwithstanding which iniury when she complained to Gonzaga duke of Ferrara hee caused the captaine first to restore backe her 200 dukats with an addition of 700 crowns secondly to marry her to his wife and lastly when hee hoped to enioy her body to be hanged for his trecherie O noble Iustice and comparable to the worthiest deeds of antiquitie and deseruing to be held in perpetuall remembrance As these before mentioned excelled in punishing this sin so this fellow following excelled in committing it and in being punished for it Theat histor his name is Nouellus Cararius Lord of Pauie a man of note and credite in the world for his greatnesse but of infamy and discredit for his wickednesse This man after many cruell murders and bloodie practises which he exercised in euery place where he came fell at last into this notorious and abhominable crime for lying at Vincentia hee fell in loue with a young maid of excellent beautie but more â—ent honestie an honest citizens daughter whome hee â—anded her Parents to send vnto him that hee might haue his pleasure of her but when they regarding their credit and shee her chastitie more then the Tyrants command refused to come he tooke her violently out of their house and constrained her body to his lust and after to ad crueltie to villanie chopt her into small peeces and sent them to her Parents in a basket for a present wherewith her poore father astonished caried it to the Senate who sent it to Venice desiring them to consider the fact and to reuenge the cruelty The Venetians vndertaking their defence made war vpon the Tyrant and besieging him in his own city took him at last prisoner and hanged him with his two sons Francis and William Diocles sonne of Pisistratus Tyrant of Athens for rauishing a maid Lanquet was slain by her brother whose death when Hippias his brother vndertooke to reuenge and caused the maidens brother to be racked that he might discouer the other conspirators he named al the tyrants friends which by commandement being put to death the Tyrant asked whither there were any more none but only thy selfe quoth hee whome I would wish next to be hanged wherby it was perceiued how abundantly he had reuenged his sisters chastitie by whose notable stomacke all the Athenians being put in remembrance of their libertie expelled their tyrant Hippias out of their city Mundus a young Gentleman of Rome Lanquet chron rauished the chast Matron Paulina in this fashion when he perceiued her resolution not to yeeld vnto his lust hee persuaded the priests of Isis to say that they were warned by an Oracle how that Anubius the god of Aegypt desired the company of the said Paulina to whome the chast Matrone gaue light credence both because she thought the Priests would not lie and also because it was accounted a great renowne to haue to do with a god and thus by this meanes was Paulina abused by Mundus in the temple of Isis vnder the name of Anubius which thing being after disclosed by Mundus himself was thus iustly reuenged the Priests were put to death the temple beaten downe to the ground the image of Isis throwne into Tiber and the young men banished In the yeare of our Lord 955 Edwine succeeding his vncle Eldred was king of England Lanquet This man was so impudent that in the very day of his Coronation hee soddainely withdrew himselfe from his lords and in sight of certaine persons rauished his owne kinswoman the wife of a Nobleman of his realme and afterward slew her husband that he might haue vnlawfull vse of her beautie for which act he became so odious to his subiects and nobles that they iointly rose against him and depriued him of his crowne when hee had raigned foure yeares CHAP. XX. Other examples of Gods Iudgements vpon Adulterers AMongst all other things this is especially to bee noted how God for a greater punishment of the disordinate lust of men stroke them with a new yet filthy and stinking kind of disease called the French pocks though indeed the Spaniards were the first that were infected therewith by the heat which they caught among the women of the new found lands Paulus Iouius Ben. b. sowed the seeds thereof first in Spaine and from thence sprinkled Italy therewith where the Frenchmen caught it when Charles the eight their king went against Naples Guicciardine froÌ„ whence the contagion spread it selfe throughout diuers places of Europe Barbary was so ouergrowen with it that in all their cities the tenth part escaped not vntouched nay almost not a family but was infected From thence it ranne to Aegypt Siria and to the great Cair and it may nerehand truly be said that there was not a corner of the habitable world where this not only new and strange for it was neuer heard of in ancient ages but terrible and hideous scourge of Gods wrath stretched not it selfe They that were spotted with it and had it rooted in their bodies led a languishing life full of aches and torments and carried in their visages filthy markes of vncleane behauiour as vlcers boiles and such like that greatly disfigured them And herein we see the words of S. Paul verified 1. Cor. 6.18 That an Adulterer sinneth against his owne body Now for so much as the world is so brutishly carried into this sinne as to none more the Lord therefore hath declared his anger against it in diuers sorts so that diuers times hee hath punished it in the very act or not long after by a strange death Sabell Of which Alcibiades one of the great captaines of Athens may stand for an example who being polluted with many great and odious vices and much giuen to his pleasures and subiect to all vncleannesse ended his life in the middest thereof for as he was in companie of a Phrigian strumpet hauing flowne thither to the king of Persia for shelter was notwithstanding set vpon by certaine guards which the king induced by his enemies sent to slay him but they though in number many through the coÌ„ceiued opinion of his notable valor durst not apprehend him at hand but set fire to the house standing theÌ„selues in arms round about it to receiue him if need were Hee seeing the fire leaped through the midst of it and so long defended himselfe amongst them all till strength failed in himselfe and blowes encreasing vpon him constrained him to giue vp his life amongst them Plinie telleth of Cornelius Gallus and Q.
brother Elydurus in his roome after he had raigned fiue yeares Hardiknitus king of Denmarke The same after the death of Harold was ordained king of England in the yeare of the Lord 1041 this king as he was somewhat cruell for he caused the body of Harold to be taken vp out of the sepulchre and smiting off his head to be cast out into the riuer Thames because he had iniured his mother Emma when he was aliue so hee was burdensome to his subiects in tributes and exaction for which cause growing into hatred with God and his subiects hee was stricken with suddaine death not without suspition of poysoning after he had raigned three years The same William Rufus second sonne of William the conquerour succeeded his father as in the kingdome of England so in disposition of nature for they were both cruell vnconstant and couetous and burdened their people with vnreasonable taxes insomuch that what with the morreine of men by pestilence and the oppressions of them by exactions the tillage of the earth was put off for one yeare being the yeare 1096 whereby ensued great scarsitie the yeare following throughout all the land but for the oppression William was iustly punished by sodaine death when being at his disport of hunting hee was wounded with an arrow glaunsing from the bow of Tyrill a French knight and so his tyranny and life ended togither The same Neither dooth the Lord thus punish oppressors themselues but also they that either countenance or hauing authoritie doe not punish the same as it appeareth by this example following In the yeare of our Lord 475 there liued one Corrannus a king of Scots who though hee gouerned the people in peace and quietnesse a long space and was indeed a good Prince yet because his Chancelour Tomset vsed extortion and exaction amongst his subiects and hee being aduertised thereof did not punish him hee was slaine traiterously by his owne subiects It is not vnworthie to bee noted how Edward the third king of England prospered a long while in the warres against France and got many worthie and wonderfull victories but when Prince Edward sonne vnto the foresaid Edward after conditions of peace concluded began to set taxes and impositions vpoÌ„ the country of Aquitaine then did king Edwards part begin to decline and the successe of war which the space of fortie years neuer forsooke him now frowned vpon him so that he quickly lost all those lands which by composition of peace were granted vnto him CAAP. XXXIX Of such as by force of armes haue either taken away or would haue taken away the goods and lands of other men NOw if they that oppresse their subiects and deuour them in this manner In this whole chapter note the nature of ambition and the fruits thereof bee found guiltie then must they needs bee much more that are carried with the wings of their own hungrie ambitious desire to inuade their lands and signiories attended on with an infinite retinue of pillages sackings ruines of cities and people which are alwaies necessarie companions of furious vnmercifull warre There are no flouds so broad nor mountaines so steepe nor rockes so rough and dangerous nor sea so long and furious that can restraine the rash and headstrong desire of such greedie minded Sacres so that if their bodie might bee proportioned to the square and greatnesse of their mindes with the one hand they would reach the East and with the other hand the West as it is said of Alexander howbeit hereof they boast and glorie no lesse than they that tooke delight to bee surnamed citie-spoilers others burners of cities some conquerors and many Eagles and Faulcons seeking as it were fame by infamy and by vice eternitie But to these men it often coÌ„meth to passe that euen then when they think to aduance their dominion and to stretch their bounds and frontiers furthest they are driuen to recoile for feare of being dispossessed themselues of their owne lands and inheritances and euen as they delt with others rigorously and by strength of weapons so shall they bee themselues rehandled and dealt withall after the same measure according to the word of the Prophet denounced against such as they Cursed bee thou that spoilest and dealest vnfaithfully when thou hast made an end of spoiling others thou thy selfe shall bee spoiled and when thou hast done dealing traiterously then treason shall begin to be practised against thee and this curse most commonly neuer faileth to sease vpon these great Theeues and Robbers or at least vpon their children and successours as by particular examples wee shall see after wee haue first spoken of Adonias who not content with his owne estate of being a kings sonne 1. King 12. which God had allotted him went about to get the crowne and kingdome from his brother Salomon Treason lib. 2. cap. 3. to whome by right it appertained for God had manifested the same by the mouth of his father Dauid but both hee and his assistants for their ouerbold and rash enterprise were iustly by Salomon punished with death â—arod Crassus king of Lidia was the first that made war against Ephesus and that subdued the Greekes of Asia to wit the Phrigians Mysians Chalybeans Paphlagonians Thracians Bythinians Ionians Dorians Aeolians and Pamphilians and made them all tributaries vnto him by meanes whereof hee being growne exceeding rich and puissant by the detriment and vndoing of so many people vaunted and gloried in his greatnesse and power and euen then thought himselfe the happiest man in the world wheÌ„ most misery and aduersity griefe and distresse of his estate and whole house approched neerest for first and formost one of his sonnes that was deare vnto him was by ouersight slaine at the chase of a wild bore next himselfe hauing commenced war with Cirus was ouercome in battaile and besieged in Sardis the chiefe city of his kingdome and at last taken and carried captiue to Cyrus despoiled of all his late glorie and dominion And thus Crassus as sayth Plutarch after Herodotus bore the punishmeÌ„t of the offence of his great grandfather Giges who being but one of king Candanles attendants slew his master and vsurped the crowne at the prouokement of the Queene his mistresse whom he also tooke to be his wife And thus this kingdome decaied by the same meanes by which it first encreased Policrates the Tyrant Herod was one that by violence and tyrannous meanes grew from a base condition to an high estate for being but one of the vulgar sort in the citie Samos hee with the assistance of sifteene armed men seased vpon the whole citie and made himselfe Lord of it which deuiding into three parts he bestowed two of them vpon his two brethren but not for perpetuitie for ere long the third part of his vsurpation cost the elder of them the best part of his life and the younger his liberty for he chased him away that hee might be
Socrat. lib. 3. hist ecclesiast cap. 20. that hee died thereof When he vndertooke this voiage hee was furnished with such brauery both of apparell and all things else as it might seeme it appertained to him and none else to ouerwhelme and ouersway the world still belching out threats against poore Christians whome he had determined at his returne from Persia vtterly to destroy and leaue none aliue as was afterwards reported by one of his counsaile The number of his souldiers was so innumerable and his strength so impregnable that hee made no other reckening but to be lord of Persia in a verie short space But loe how the Lord ouerturneth the attempts of his enemies this great army as S. Chrysostome reporteth against the heathen in which he put so much confidence seemed ere long to be rather a vast and weake multitude of women infants then an host of warriours for by his euil and foolish conduct and gouernment there rose so great a famine amongst them that their horses which were prouided for the battell serued for their bellies yea and for want of that too many hundreds died for hunger and thirst Euer when he skirmished his own side came to the worst doing more scath to themselues then to their enemies and last leading them so vndiscretely they could not by any meanes escape but were constrained after he was slaine to intreat the Persians to suffer them to retire and so as many as could escaped and fled away to saue their liues And thus this braue armie was thus miserably dismembred and discomfited to the euerlasting shame of that wicked Apostate One of the treasurers of this wicked Emperour who to please his master Theod. lib. 3. cap. 13. Sozom. lib. 5. cap. 8. Contempt the word Lib. 1. cap. 34. forsooke also the religion of Christ being on a time mocking and deriding the ministery of the holy word died miserably on a sudden vomiting his owne blood out of his mouth and as Chrysostome saith his priuie parts being rotten and putrified and consumed with lice for all that euer he could doe to remedy the same It is recorded of Trebellius the first king of the Bulgarians that being conuerted with his people to the faith of Christ to the end to giue himselfe the quieter to the meditation exercise of religion resigned ouer his kingdome to his eldest sonne whome when he perceiued to renounce the faith and to follow strange gods he not only depriued of all his roiall dignity but also caused his eies to be put out for a punishment of his Apostasie and bestowed the kingdome vpon his other sonne shewing thereby that hee that abandoneth the true light of saluation is not worthy to enioy the comfortable light of the world A Diuine of Louaine one Iames Latonus who was well instructed at the first in the knowledge of the truth afterwards renouncing the same endeuoured with all his power to impugne oppresse it this man being on a time mounted into a pulpit to preach before the Emperor Charles the fift was at the very instant so amased astonished that no man could perceiue what he said so made himself a laughing stock to all that audience seeing himselfe thus disgraced he returned frō Brussels to Louaine where he fell into such grief sorow of mind for the dishonor which hee had gotten that it turned at length into despaire and in his daily lectures these or like words oftentimes escaped him after that goodly sermon that he had impugned the truth of God which when diuers of his own coat heard they caused him to be shut vp fast in a house where in desperation he died telling euery man he was damned and that hee could not hope for saluation or remission of his sinnes because that of meere malice hee had resisted and made war with God Cardinal Poole an Englishman had also somtimes professed himself to be wel seene in the sincerity of the gospel yet contrary to his conscience he sent into his countrie the trophees and ensignes of Antichrist the Pope which before had been rased out and abolished the realme but he died two or three daies after queene Mary in horrible griefes terrors and fearefulnesse without any shew of repentance Stephan Gardiner bishop of Winchester and afterward Chancelor of England shewed in his yoong yeares some forwardnesse to withstand the Popish abuses and superstitions but assoone as he was exalted to honor he turned ouer a new leafe began freshly and furiously to afflict and to rend the poor and faithfull seruants of Christ putting them to the cruellest deaths hee could deuise And yet more to discouer his profanesse rebellion he wrot many books against the pure religion of God being thus swolne with venomous spight against the son of God beside the extreame couetousnesse whoredomes extortions which raigned in him behold the Lord laid his hand of wrath vpon him stroke him with so strange a malady that before his death such horrible stincke issued from him that none of his friends and seruants no not himselfe could endure the sauour therof his belly was swoln like a taber his eies distracted and sunke into his head his cheeks thin the appearance of his whole face very terrible his breath sauoured of a filthie intollerable stincke and all his members were rotten with continual griefes sownings yet this vile wretch in the middest of al these torments ceased not to yell out continual blasphemies and infamous speeches and so despighting and maugring God died Peter Castellan bishop of Maston hauing attained to great riches and renowne by the meanes of the gospell turned notwithstanding his backe to Christ and mightily inueyed in his sermons at Orleance against the profession of his religion seeking to make it knowne that he had not onely abiured and denied it but also that hee was a profest aduersarie vnto it This man sitting at a time in his chaire fell into a strange disease which no Phisition had euer seen or could search out the cause of for one halfe of his body was extreme hote and burned like fire the other extreame cold and frozen like I se and in this torment with horrible cries and gronings hee ended his life A gray frier called Picard who once was not ashamed of the Gospell afterwards set himselfe to preach against that which he had professed being in the pulpit at Orleance after infinit blasphemies which he disgorged against the truth at last said That he protested before God and the whole assemblie that hee would neuer preach more after that day because he was an Apostatae which saying hee by and by impudently and constantly denied to the perill damnation of his owne soule thinking by his horrible curses forswearings to abuse the poore ignorant and superstitious people but he no sooner came into the field but the puissant hand of God ouerreached him and stroke him speechlesse so that he was caried thence
earnestly to desire to know the day wherein hee should die which also his schoolemaster the deuill reuealed vnto him but vnder such doubtfull tearmes that he dreamed in his foolish conceit of immortalitie and that he should neuer die It chanced on a time as he was singing masse at Rome in a Temple called Ierusalem which was the place assigned for him to die in and not Ierusalem in Palaestina as he made himselfe falsly beleeue he heard a great noise of deuils that came to fetch him away A note worthy the noting note that this was done in masse while whereat hee being terrified and tormented and seeing himselfe not able any waies to escape he desired his people to rend his body in pieces after his death and lay it vpon a charriot and let horses draw it whether they would which was accordingly perfourmed for as soone as hee was dead the pieces of his carkasse were carried out of the Church of Laterane by the wicked spirit who as he ruled him in life so he was the chiefe in his death and funerals By like means came Benedict the ninth to the Popedome for he was a detestable magitian Benno Balleus and in the ten yeres wherin he was Pope hauing committed infinite villanies and mischiefes was at last by his familiar friend the deuill strangled to death in a forrest whither he went to apply himselfe the more quieter to his coniurings Gregorio the sixt scholler to Siluester as great a coniurer â—s his master wrought much mischiefe in his time Bal. but was at last banished Rome and ended his life in misety in Germany Iohn the two and twentieth being of no better disposition then these we haue spoken of but following iudiciall astrologie fed himselfe with a vaine hope of long life whereof hee vanted himselfe among his familiars one day aboue the rest at Viterbum in a chamber which hee had lately builded saying that hee should liue a great while hee was assured of it presently the flore brake suddenly in pieces and hee was found seuen daies after crushed to pieces vnder the ruines thereof All this notwithhanding yet other Pope eased not to suffer themselues to be infected with this execrable poison as Hildebrand who was called Gregorie the seuenth and Alexander the sixt of which kind we shall see a whole legend in the next booke and 43 chapter do but marke these holy fathers how abominable they were to be in such sort giuen ouer to Satan Cornelius Agrippa a great student in this cursed Art and a man famous both by his owne workes and others report for his Necromancie Iouius in elogijâ— vtrorum illustrium went alwaies accompanied with an euill spirit in the similitude of a blacke dog but when his time of death drew neare and he was vrged to repentance he tooke off the enchaunted collar from the dogs necke and sent him away with these tearmes Get thee hence thou cursed beast which hast vtterly destroied mee neither was the dog euer after seene some say hee leapt into Araris and neuer came out againe Agrippa himselfe died at Lions in a base and beggerly Inne Zoreastres king of Bactria is notified to haue beene the inuentor of Astrologie and Magicke Theat hist but the deuill whose ministerie he vsed when he was too importunate with him burned him to death Charles the seuenth of Fraunce put Egidius de Raxa marshiall of his kingdome Fulgos lib. 9. cap. 1. to a cruell and filthie death because hee practised this arte and in the same had murdered an hundred and twenty teeming women and young infants he caused him to be hanged vpon a fâ—â—ke by a hote fire and rosted to death Bladud the sonne of Lud king of Britaine now called England in the yeere of the world 3100 hee that builded the citie Bath as our late histories witnesse and also made therin the hote bathes addicted himselfe so much to the deuilish arte of Necromancie that he wrought wonders thereby in so much that hee made himselfe wings and attempted to flie like Dedalus but the deuill as euer like a false knaue forsooke him in his iourney so that he fell downe and brake his necke In the yeere of our Lord 1578 one Sâ—mon Penbrooke dwelling in S. Georges parish in London being a figure setter and vehemently suspected to be a coniurer by the commaundement of the iudge appeared in the parish Church of S. Sauiour at a court holden there where whilst hee was busie in entertaining a proctour and leaned his head vpon a pew a good space the proctour began to lift vp his head to see what hee ailed and found him departing out of this life and straight waies hee fell downe rattling in the throat without speaking any one word this straunge iudgement happened before many witnesses who searching him found about him fiue deuilish bookes of coniuration and most abominable practises with a picture in tinne of a man hauing three dice in his hand with this writing Chance dice fortunately and much other trash so that euery one confessed it to be a iust iudgement against sorcerie and a great example to cause others to feare the iustice of God Now let euery one learne by these examples to feare God and to stand firme stedfast to his holy word without turning from it on any side so shall he be safe from such like miserable ends as these wicked varlets come vnto CHAP. XXXIIII Of those that through pride and vainglory stroue to vsurpe the honour due vnto God A Forgetfull and vnthankfull mind for the benefits which God bestoweth vpon vs is a braunch of the breach of this first commaundement as well as those which went before and this is when we ascribe not vnto God the glory of his benefits to giue him thanks for them but through a foolish pride extoll our selues higher then we ought presuming aboue measure and reason in our owne power desire to place our selues in a higher degree then is meet With this fond and foolish affection I know not how our first fathers were tickled and tainted from the beginning to thinke to empaire the glory of God Gen. 3. and they also were puffed vp with the blast of ambition that I know not with what fond foolish rash and proud conceit went about after the flood to build a city and tower of exceeding height by that meanes to win fame and reputation amongst men Gen. 11. In stead whereof they ought rather to haue praised God by remembring his gratious goodnesse in their miraculous deliuerance in their fathers persons from that generall deluge and shipwracke of the world but forasmuch as with a proud and high stomacke they lifted vp themselues against God to whome onely all glory appertaineth therefore God also set himselfe against them and against their ouer bold practises interrupting all their determined presumptuous purposes by such a confusion and alteration of tongues which he sent amongst them that one could not
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
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
fared till king Charles the sixt sent an army of men to his succour Cap. 125 126. for he was his subiect by whose support he ouercame those rebels in a battaile foughten at Rose Be◠to the number of forty thousand the body of their chieftaine Philip Arteuill slaine in the throng hee caused to bee hanged on a tree Nic. Gil. vol. 2. And this was the end of that cruell Tragedy the countrie being brought againe into the obedience of their old Lord. A while before this Froiss vol. r. cap. 182. whilest king Iohn was held prisoner in England there arose a great cōmotion of the cōmon people in France against the nobilitie and gentilitie of the realme that oppressed them this tumult began but with an hundred men that were gathered togither in the countrey of Beauvoisin but that small handfull grewe right quickly to an armefull euen to nine thousand that ranged and robbed throughout al Brie along by the riuer Marne to Laonoise and all about Soissons armed with great bats shod with iron an headlesse crue without gouernour fully purposing to bring to ruine the whole nobility In this disorder they wrought much mischief broke vp many houses and castles murdered many Lords so that diuerse Ladies and knights as the Dutchesses of Normandy Orleance were faine to flee for safegard to Meaux whither when these rebels would needes pursue them they were there ouerthrowen killed and hanged by troupes In the yere of our Lord 1525 Sleid. lib. 4. there were certaine husbandmen of Souabey that began to stand in resistance against the Earle of Lupsfen by reason of certaine burdens which they complained themselues to be ouerlaid with by them their neighbors seeing this enterprised the like against their lords And so vpon this small beginning by a certaine contagion there grew vp a most dangerous and fearfull commotion that spread it selfe almost ouer all Almaine the sedition thus increasing in all quarters and the swaines being now full fortie thousand strong making their owne liberty and the Gospels a cloake to couer their treason and rebellion and a pretence of their vndertaking armes to the wonderfull griefe of all that feared God did not only fight with the Romane Catholikes but with all other without respect as well in Souabe as in Franconia they destroied the greater part of the nobility sacked and burnt many castles and fortresses to the number of two hundred and put to death the Earle of Helfestin making him passe through their pikes But at length their strength was broken they discomfited and torne in pieces with a most horrible massacre of more than eighteene thousand of them During this sedition there were slaine on each side fifty thousand men The captaine of the Souabian swaines called Geismer hauing betaken himselfe to flight got ouer the mountaines to Padua where by treason hee was made away In the yeere of our Lord 1517 in the Marquesdome of the Vandales the like insurrection and rebellion was of the comminaltie especially the baser sort against the nobilitie spirituall and temporall by whom they were oppressed with intollerable exactions their army was numbred to stand of ninety thousand men all clownes and husbandmen that conspired togither to redresse and refourme their owne grieuances without any respect of ciuill magistrate or feare of Almightie God This rascality of swaines raged and tyranized euery where burning and beating downe the castles and houses of noble men and making their ruines euen with the ground Nay they handled the noble men themselues as many as they could attaine vnto not contumeliously only but rigorously and cruelly for they tormented them to death and carried their heads vpon speares in token of victory Thus they swaied a while vncontrolled for the Emperour Maximilian winked at their riots as beeing acquainted with what iniuries they had bene ouercharged but when he perceiued that the rude multitude did not limit their fury within reason but let it runne too lauish to the damnifying as well the innocent as the guilty hee made out a certaine small troupe of mercenary souldiers togither with a band of horsemen to suppresse them who comming to a city were presently so inuironed with such a multitude of these swaines that like locusts ouerspread the earth that they thought it impossible to escape with their liues wherefore feare and extremitie made thē to rush out to battel with thē But see how the Lord prospereth a good cause for all their weake number in comparison of their enemies yet such a feare possessed their enemies hearts that they fled like troupes of sheepe and were slaine liee dogs before them insomuch that they that escaped the sword were either hanged by flockes on trees or rosted on spits by fires or otherwise tormented to death And this end befell that wicked rebellious rout which wrought such mischiefe in that countrey with their monstrous villanies that the traces and steppes thereof remaine at this day to be seene In the yeere of our Lord 1381 Stow Chron. Richard the second being king the commons of England and especially of Kent and Essex by meanes of a taxe that was set vpon them suddenly rebelled and assembled togither on Blackheath to the number of 60000 or more which rebellious rout had none but base and ignoble fellowes for their captaines as Wat Tilour Iacke Straw Tom Miller but yet they caused much trouble and disquietnesse in the realme and chiefly about the citie of London where they committed much villanie in destroying many goodly places as the Sauoy and others and being in Smithfield vsed themselues very proudly and vnreuerently towards the king but by the manhood and wisdome of William Walworth Maior of London who arrested their chiefe captaine in the midst of them that rude company was discomfited and the ringleaders of them worthily punished In like manner in the raigne of Henry the seuenth Stow Chron. a great commotiō was stirred vp in England by the commons of the North by reason of a certaine taxe which was leuied of the tenth penny of all mens lands good within the land in the which the Earle of Northumberland was slaine But their rash attempt was soone broken and Chamberlaine their captaine with diuers others hanged at Yorke for the same Howbeit their example scared not the Cornish men frō rebelling vpon the like occasion of a taxe vnder the conduct of the lord Audley vntill by wofull experience they felt the same scourge for the king met them vpon blacke heath and discomfiting their troupes tooke their captains and ringleaders and put them to most worthy and sharpe death Thus we may see the vnhappie issue of all such seditious reuoltings and thereby gather how vnpleasant they are in the sight of God Let all people therefore learne by these experiences to submit themselues in the feare of God to the higher powers whether they be lords kings princes or any other that are set ouer them CHAP. VI. Of Murderers AS
woman to the Emperour Adrian is very worthy to be remembred Fulgos lib. 6. cap. 2. who appealing and complaining to the Emperour of some wrong when hee answered that he was not at leisure then to heare her sute shee told him boldly and plainly That then he ought not to be at leisure to be her Emperour which speech went so neare the quicke vnto him that euer after he shewed more facilitie and courtesie towards all men that had any thing to do with him The kings of Fraunce vsed also this custome of hearing and deciding their subiects matters as wee read of Charlemaigne the king and Emperour who commanded that he should be made acquainted with all matters of importance and their issues throughout his realme King Lewes the first treading the steps of his father Charlemaigne accustomed himselfe three daies in a weeke to heare publikely in his pallace the complaints and grieuances of his people and to right their wrongs and iniuries King Lewes sirnamed the Holy Aimo a little before his death gaue in charge to his sonne that should succeed him in the crowne amongst other this precept To be carefull to beare a stroke in seeing the distribution of iustice and that it should not be peruerted not depraued CHAP. XLVI Of such princes as haue made no reckening of punishing vice nor regarded the estate of their people IT cannot choose but be a great confusion in a common-wealth when iustice sleepeth and when the shamelesse boldnesse of euill doers is not curbed in with any bridle but runneth it owne swinge and therefore a Consull of Rome could say That it was an euill thing to haue a prince vnder whome license and libertie is giuen to euery man to doe what him listeth for so much then as this euill proceedeth from the carelesnes and slothfulnesse of those that hold the sterne of gouernment in their hands it can not be but some euill must needs fall vpon them for the same The truth of this may appeare in the person of Philip of Macedonie whome Demosthenes the oratour noteth for a treacherous and false dealing prince after that he had subdued almost all Greece not so much by open warre as by subtilty craft and surprise and that being in the top of his glory hee celebrated at one time the marriage of his sonne Alexander whome hee had lately made king of Epire and of one of his daughters with great pompe and magnificense as hee was marching with all his traine betwixt the two bridegroomes his owne sonne his sonne in law to see the sports and pastimes which were prepared for the solemnitie of the marriage behold suddenly a young Macedonian gentleman called Pausanias ran at him and slew him in the midst of the prease for not regarding to doe him iustice when hee complained of an iniury done vnto him by one of the peeres of his realme Plutarch Tatius the fellow king of Rome with Romulus for not doing iustice in punishing certaine of his friends and kinsfolkes that had robbed and murdered certaine Embassadors which came to Rome and for making their impunitie an example for other malefactours by deferring and protracting and disappointing their punishment was so watcht by the kindred of the slaine that they slew him euen as he was sacrificing to his gods because they could not obtaine iustice at his hands What happened to the Romanes for refusing to deliuer an Embassadour Tit. Liuius Plutarch who contrary to the law of nations comming vnto them plaid the part of an enemie to his own country euen well nigh the totall ouerthrow of them and their citie for hauing by this meanes brought vpon themselues the calamitie of warre they were at the first discomfited by the Gaules who pursuing their victory entred Rome and slew al that came in their way whether men or women infants or aged persons and after many daies spent in the pillage spoiling of the houses at last set fire on all and vtterly destroied the whole city Childericke king of France Paul Aemil. is notified for an extreame dullard and blockhead and such a one as had no care or regard vnto his realme but that liued idly and slothfully without intermedling with the affaires of the common wealth for he laid all the charge and burden of them vpon Pepin his lieutenant generall therefore was by him iustly deposed from his roiall dignity mewed vp in a cloister of religion to become a monke because he was vnfit for any good purpose albeit that this sudden change mutation was very strange yet there ensued no trouble nor commotion in the realme thereupon so odious was hee become to the whole land for his drowsie and idle disposition Paul Aemil. For the same cause did the princes Electours depose Venceslaus the Emperour from the Empire and established another in his roome King Richard of England amongst other foule faults which he was guilty of incurred greatest blame for this because he suffered many theeues and robbers to roue vp and down the land vnpunished for which cause the citizens of London coÌ„menced a high sute against him coÌ„pelled him hauing raigned 22 yeres to lay aside the crown resigne it to another in the presence of all the states died prisoner in the Tower Moreouer this is no small defect of iustice when men of authority do not only pardon capitall and detestable crimes but also grace and fauour the doers of them and this neither ought nor can be done by a soueraigne prince without ouerpassing the bounds of his limited power which can in no wise dispence with the law of God Exod. 21. whereunto euen kings themselues are subiect for as touching the willing and considerate murderer Dâ—ut 19. Thou shalt plucke him from my altar saith the Lord that hee may die thy eye shall not spare him to the end it may goe well with thee which was put in practise in the death of Ioab 1 King 2. who was slaine in the Tabernacle of God holding his hands vpon the hornes of the Altar for hee is no lesse abominable before God that iustifieth the wicked Prou 17. than hee that condemneth the iust and hereupon that holy king S. Lewes when hee had granted pardon to a malefactour Nich. Gilles reuoked it againe after better consideration of the matter saying That hee would giue no pardon except the case deserued pardon by the law for it was a worke of charitie and pittie to punish an offender and not to punish crimes was as much as to commit them In the yeere of our Lord 978 Egebrede the sonne of Edgare end Alphred king of England was a man of goodly outward shape and visage but wholly giuen to idlenesse and abhorring all princely exercises besides he was a louer of riot drunkennesse and vsed extreame cruelty towards his subiects hauing his eares open to all vniust complaints in feats of armes of all men most ignorant so
that his cruelty made him odious to his subiects and his cowardise encouraged strange enemies to inuade his kingdome by meanes whereof England was sore afflicted with warre famine and pestilence In his time as a iust plague for his negligence in gouernment decaied the noble kingdome of England and became tributary to the Danes for euer when the Danes oppressed him with warre he would hire them away with sommes of mony without making any resistance against them in so much that from ten thousand pounds by the yeere the tribute arose in short space to fiftie thousand wherefore hee deuised a new trick and sought by trechery to destroy them sending secret commissioners to the Magistrats throughout the land that vpon a certaine day and houre assigned the Danes should sodainly and iointly bee murdered which massacre being performed turned to bee the cause of greater misery for Swaine king of Denmarke hearing of the murder of his countrymen landed with a strange armie in diuerse parts of this Realme and so cruelly without mercy and pitty spoiled the countrie and slew the people that the Emglishmen were brought to most extreame and vnspeakeable miserie and Egelrede the king driuen to flie with his wife and children to Richard duke of Normandie leauing the whole kingdome to be possessed of Swaine Edward the second of that name Stow. chron Phil Com. may well bee placed in this ranke for though hee was faire and well proportioned of body yet he was crooked and euill fauoured in conditions for he was so disposed to lightnesse and vanity that hee refused the company of his Lords and men of honor and haunted among villaines and vile persons he delighted in drinking and riot and loued nothing lesse than to keepe secret his owne counsailes though neuer so important so that he let the affaires of his kingdome run at sixe and at seuens to these vices he added the familiarity of certaine euill disposed fellows as Peirce de Gaueston and Hugh the Spencers whose wanton counsel he following neglected to order his Commonwealth by sadnesse discretion and iustice which thing caused first great variance betwixt him and his nobles so that shortly he became to them most odious and in the end was depriued of his kingdome for the Scots that were so curbed in his fathers daies now plaied reakes through his negligence and made many irruptions into his land killing discomfiting his men at three sundry battels besides Charles of Fraunce did him much scath vpon his lands in Gascoin and Guyan and at last Isabell his own wife with the help of Sir Iohn of Henault and his Henowaies to whoÌ„ the nobles commons gaue their assistance tooke him and depriued him of his crowne installed his young sonne Edward in his place keeping him in prison at Barteley where not long after hee was murdered by Sir Roger Mortimer CHAP. LXVII How rare and geason good Princes haue ben at all times IT appeareth by all these former histories what a multitude there hath ben of dissolute prowd cruell and vicious princes and of tyrants oppressors so that the number of good and vertuous ones seemeth to haue beene but small in comparison of them which is also intimated by the tenour of the histories of the kings of Iuda and Israell of whom being in number forty but tenne onely were found that pleased God in their raignes and they of Iuda yet of them ten one was corrupted in his old age fell away to vile iniquities but of Israel ther was not one that demeaned not himself euil in his estate and dealt not vniustly and wickedly before the Lord as for the first Emperors what maner of meÌ„ they were for the most part we haue already sufficiently declared Wherefore it was not vnfitly spokeÌ„ of him that iesting wise told the Emperour Claudius that al the good Caesars might be engraueÌ„ in one litle ring they were so few so that theÌ„ a king or prince indued with vertue bounty clemeÌ„cy that loueth his subiects endeth strifes kindleth concord is an especiall note of Gods fauor a gift inestimable and that people that haue such a prince for their support stay are infinitly blessed they lie as it were vpon a sunny banke and ride in a most safe and quiet hauen whilst other are exposed laid open to the cruelty of time and are tossed turmoiled with the waues of calamity oppression therfore this may be their song of mirth reioicing whilst other nations sing nothing but welladaies A sad afflicted soule all pale with griefe and wrong Being easd from sence of dole doth straightway change his song From mone to mirth for why his thicke and cloudie night Is turnd to purity of Tâ—tans glorious light The raging storme is past and feare of shipwrack gone Their weary ships at last a calmy shore haue wonne The pilot safely lies reposed vnder lee Not fearing frowne of skies or other miserie The strong and mighty blast of furious winds are still They doe no more downe cast huge firr trees at their will A pleasant gale succeeds of fruitfull Zephirus Which recreates the seeds of spring voluptuous Pack hence you wicked ones with all your equipage Of murdering champions enuenomed with rage Your horse are tir'd with toile and all your strengths pluckt down Your swords haue caught a foile by louely peaces crown O blessed glorious peace that beautifiest ech land And mak'st all dangers cease whereof in feare we stand Distill thy fauours pure which are immortall things On vs that lie secure in shadow of thy wings Euen those thy holy traine which still attendance yeeld Let them wax yong againe and flourish in our field Iustice and veritie which ballance right from wrong Let them attend on thee with equitie among Then shall the Swaines reioice vnder a figtree lien And sing with chearefull voice vntill the suns decline And all the world shall ring with ecchoes of our praise Which to the Lord our king we warble out alwaies The simple harmlesse lambe no greedy wolfe shall feare Nor kid new wean'd from dam shall stand in awe of beare But sheepe and wolfe shall make like friends one flock fold A fearelesse child shall take the rule of tygres old You flockes of Sion hill which through so many feares Of war and crosses still haue sowne your field with teares Take comfort to your hope straight comes the ioifull houre To reape a fruitfull crop for all your torments soure But alasse it commeth to passe through the sins and wickednesse of men that realms are oftentimes scarred with the alarmes and assaults of foes and strangely afflicted with many euils Esay 3. when as the state of gouernment is troubled and changed by the iniquities of the people CHAP. XLVIII That the greatest and mightiest cities are not exempt from punishment of their iniquities WHereas great and populous cities are as it were the eies of the earth as Athens and Sparta were said to