upon her and them And when they saw no hope of favour in this cruell man they called upon the gods and men for help wherwith hee fell into such a rage seeing hee could not have his will that hee drew his sword and thrust it through the young woman as she held her fathers legges in her armes But this beastly fact so little offended the Tyrant that such as shewed any mislike to the matter hee eyther put to death or banished which purchased him such hatred of all men that certaine of his subjects not willing any longer to endure his tyranny conspired together and slue him His wife hearing of the tumult of the people shut her into her chamber and strangled her selfe The like death suffered two yong women his daughters marriage-able having libertie to make choice of their own death But the love of Antiochus sonne to King Seleucus was much more commendable and used with greater modestie For being extremely in love with his mother in law his fathers second wife yet shame fastnesse and modesty made him so dissemble his vehement passion that he made choice rather to die than to discover his affection suffring himselfe by little and little to pine away untill his body was almost dryed up And as hee lay languishing in manner like a dead body his father lamenting the pitifull estate of his onely sonne desired Erasistratus an excellent Physician to use all his skill to find out what his sons disease should be with large promises of reward This man sitting by the yong Prince observed that ever as the Queene came to visit him his bloud would rise in his face his pulse would beat with more force and all his body would seem to quicken revive and as she departed from him he would waxe pale his pulse would beat weakly and would returne to his former state againe which when he had diligently observed two or three times hee perceived that his discase was the passion of love And comming to the king who was desirous to heare whether hee had found the cause of his sonnes sicknesse he told him that his son was in love with a woman but such an one as hee could by no means have which was the only cause of his sicknesse Then he being glad it was no worse hoping that whosoever she was he would by some meanes obtaine her for him though it cost him a great part of his kingdome desired to know who it was that his sonne was in love with It is my wife quoth he And will you said the King whom I have favoured so greatly deny her to my onely sonne and lesser him to perish that is my only comfort and useth such modestie that he had rather dye than bewray his affection by which it appeareth he is violently carried against his will and then making carnest petition to him to save his sonnes life with promise of great reward Your request said the Physitian is not reasonable make the case your owne Would you be content if it were your wife he were in love with whom you affect so tenderly to leave her to him Yea quoth the King with all my heart I would it were in my power so to save his life It is even your wife said he with whom your sonne is in love Then the King greatly rejoycing that it was in him to restore his sonne to health married his wife to his son his fatherly affection prevailing more than the tender love of his wife Saint bernard lamenting the miserable estate and condition of men that gave themselves to the pleasures and delights of this world O man quoth he naked and blinde that art made of humane flesh and a reasonable soule be mindfull of thy miserable condition why departest thou from thy selfe and troublest thy selfe with externe things and art lulled asleepe in the vanities of the earth and drownest thy selfe in the transitorie pleasures of the world Doest thou not consider that the nearer thou approachest to it the farther thou departest from thy God the more thou thinkest to winne without the more thou losest within that is thy self which is or greater price the more careful thou art of temporall things the more want thou hast of spirituall things Thou settest all things in good order and makest none account of thy selfe There is not a beast but thou tamest and thy selfe remainest without a bridle thou art vigilant in all things but in thine owne matters thou art fast asleepe The desire of base things hoyleth in thy heart and in the meane while heavenly things lyeth quenched The nearer thou commest to thy death the sarther thou goest from thy salvation Wee should take heed lest that curse fall upon us that the Prophet Isay speaking of the carelesse nobilitie and gentrie of the Iewes that gave themselves to banquetting and pastimes without consideration of their duties towards God a matter usuall enough and too much in these dayes The lute and harpe saith hee and timbrell and shalme and good wine aboundeth in your banquets but the workes of God you respect not nor have any consideration of his dâ—…gs Then followeth Therefore hath Hell enlarged his soule and opened his mouth without all measure or limitation and the stout and high and glorious of this people shall goe down into it And that it may appeare how many that give their delight to pleasures and vaine pastimes through their owne vanitie and foolishnesse are brought strangely to their ends when they are in the midst of their jollitie The French King Charles the sixth his minde being distempered committed the governement of his Realme to others and gave himselfe to pastimes there chanced a marriage to bee solemnized in his Court where the King was disposed to make himselfe and others merrie he put off all his apparell and disguised his face like a Lion annointing his body with pitch and flatned staxe so artificially to it that he represented a monster rough and covered with haire When he was thus attired and five others as wise as himselfe they came into the chamber among the Lords and Ladies dauncing and singing in a strange tune all the Court beholding them The Duke of Orleance whether that hee might better see or for some other toy snatched a torch out of a mans hand held it so neare the king that a spark falling upon him set them all on a flaming fire two of the five companions were miserably burnt in the place crying and howling most pitifully without any remedie other two dyed in great torment two daies after the fifth running speedily into a place where was water and wine to wafh himselfe was saved the King having more helpe than the rest before the flame had compassed his body round about was saved by a Lady that cast her traine and gowne about him and quenched the fire The Emperour Commodus among other his vain toyes pleasures when he beheld the Goddesse Ifis painted with
festivall time to make some pastime to the people in their Theatres among which this was one to cast slave and condemned men to wilde beasts to be devoured And as for this purpose they used to cause wilde beasts to be taken in the deserts so it chanced that this Lyon amongst others was taken by hunters and sent to Rome about that time that Titus the Emperour returned from the warres and had determined to shew some of these pastimes to the people of Rome and as the Emperour and the people sate beholding these matters in the Theatre this Lyon was brought in place and after he had cruelly rent in peeces certaine prisoners that were cast in to him this poore slave was also throwne into the place to be dismembred and devoured as the rest were but as the Lyon ran towards him to teare him in peeces he knew the man and laid downe his â—…ares and wagged his taile fawning upon him like a dog with all the kindnesâ—…e he could use Then the poor slave that looked to bee devoured and was almost dead for very feare at the fight of the Lyon gathered his spirits to him knowing him to be the same Lyon with whom he lived in the cave and renuing old acquaintance stroked the Lyon gently with his hand upon the backe and made as much of him as hee could After the slave and the Lyon had thus courteously entertained each other to the great admiration of the Emperor and all the people whose minds were diversly drawne to see so strange a thing some saying the Lyon was enchanted others alledging other causes according to the inclination of their conceits the Emperour called the man to him whom the Lyon followed like a dog asked him how this strange matter should come to passe the slave told him all the manner of it as hath been said whereupon 〈◊〉 the petition of all the people the Emperour pardoned him and gave him the Lyon who waited upon him whithersoever he went CHAP. IIII. The gratitude of an Eagle and of a Dolphin of a Roman Censâ—…r and his Host. The rare modesty of Cato sent to governe Spaine of Collatinus of Regulus of Cincinnatus the Dictator c. Pride derided in Teribarus the Peâ—…sian The Contemplative life preferred before the Civill Illustrated both by the authority of 〈◊〉 astiâ—…ns Philosophers and other later examples THe like examples of love and friendship hath beene found in fowles of the aire and that which is more strange in fishes of the sea Philarchus reporteth a historie of a boy that had a great pleasure in birds among the rest he tooke a singular delight in a young Eagle that was given him which he fed and cherished very carefully and cured him also being sicke and when the Eagle was fully growne and had lived a good time with this boy he shewed many signes of mutuall love to him for when the boy happened to fall sick the Eagle would continually sit by him when he slept the Eagle would also sleepe when he waked the Eagle would wake and when he would not â—…ate the Eagle would abstaine from meat And afterward when the boy was dead and carried forth upon a hearse the Eagle followed and when he was burned the Eagle flew into the fire Aelian writeth of a singular love of a Dolphin towards a boy this boy being very faire used with his companions to play by the sea side and to wash themselves in the water and practise to swim A Dolphin fell into great liking with this boy above the rest used very familiarly to swim by him side by side the boy though at the first he feared the Dolphin grew by custome so familiar with him that they would contend together in swimming each by other and sometimes the boy would get upon his backe and ride upon the fish as though hee had beene a horse insomuch that the Dolphin would carry him a great way into the sea and bring him to land againe in the sight of all the people of the citie adjoyning wherin they took great pleasure it chanced at last that the boy lying with his belly close to the Dolphins backe the sharpe pricke which those fishes have rising out of the middest of his backe ran into the boyes belly and killed him The Dolphin perceiving by the weight of the boy and by the bloud which stained the water that he was dead swam speedily with all his force to land and there laid down the dead boy and for sorrow died presently by him These examples may make many men seeme more brute than beasts that performe things appertaining to vertue more effectually by the instinct of nature onely than they do by nature and reason joyned together Many will use honesty so long as it serveth their turne to be honest but when to be honest will no longer serve their turne then farewell honesty In this generall confusion of things and depravation of manners wee may say with the wise man Quos fugiam scâ—…d quos sequar non video whom to avoyd I know but whom to follow I see not Examples of vertue in these corrupt dayes are so rare that he which will seeke for a faithfull friend or a man endued with vertue and honesty must bee dâ—…iven to seeke for him as one sought a good man by the report of Marcus Aurelius The Emperour Marcus Aurelius maketh report of a custome among the ancient Romans to send once or twice every yeare their Censors into the countries under their dominions to see how the lawes were executed and how justice was done One of these Censors comming to a towne in Italy commanded his host of the Inne where hee lodged to call the good men of the towne unto him that he might understand by them how justice was ministred This man being wiser peradventure than the Censor goeth with his message into the Churches to the graves and sepulchers of such as in their life time were of most estimation among the people for their vertue and were dead many yeares before and calling every man aloud by his name het old them the Censor commanded them to come to him and returned home againe The Censor looking long for their comming asked his hoste whether he had done as he commanded him who answering him that hee had done it the Censor willed him to goe againe and hasten them away and to shew them of his tarrying The hoste goeth againe to the Churches and to the tombes and graves and with a loud voyce calleth them as hee did before and returneth to his house againe the Censor waxing angry for their long tarrying sent for his hoste and enquired of him the cause and who they were to whom hee had spoken You commanded me saith he to warne the good men of the towneto come to you the pestilence and civill wars hath consumed long since all our good men so that I was driven to goe to the graves and sepulchers of the dead none
and that way howling most pittifully sometime toward the king beholding him earnestly as though he demanded justice which made the king and all the company suspect that these men committed the murder whereupon they were examined and tormented and upon their confession of the fact put to death The like happened in France one Gentleman having killed another and the dog of him that was slaine would not depart from the body untill he was by the kings commandement taken away the murderer could in no wise be knowne untill the king by some occasion tooke view of his men and as the murtherer passed by the dog waiting upon the king ran furiously upon him and returning againe to the king looked up earnestly to his face as though he required justice and thus ran too and fro barking and howling so often that the king and the rest suspected the Gentleman to have committed the murther And being examined and denying the matter the king thought good to make triall what the dogge would do he gave leave to the Gentleman to use his sword for his defence and armed the dogge with leather and turned them together the dogge assayled the Gentleman with such fury and violence that perceiving himselfe like to bee torne in peeces and unable to defend himselfe from the dogge he desired to bee delivered from him and confessed the fact The manner of this fight was by the kings commandement painted in a table for a memoriall and kept in the kings Court to bee seene many yeares after King Lysimachus had a dog which had long waited upon him in the wars when he was on hunting or any otherwhere and when hee saw the king his master dead and layd upon a pile of wood as the manner was to be burnt the dog with great howling and sorrow in the sight of all men leapt into the fire was burnt with his master When Titus Sabinus and his family were put to death as Rome one of their dogges would never be driven from his master and when one of the Romanes did cast meat to the dog he tooke 〈◊〉 up and carried it to the mouth of his master that lay upon the ground dead and when the carâ—… was cast into Tyber the dog swam after labored by all the meanâ—… he could to liâ—…t up his master out of the water all the people wondring at the love of the dog Nicomedes king of Bithynia had a horse which he used a long time in the warres and when Nicomedes was â—…ine the horse would never cate meate after but wasting daily with sorrow and emptinesse dyed And this was a strange thing that happened at Constantinople when the Turks for their pastime had cut off divers Christians whom they had taken prisoners in the midst with their swords so as their bodies were divided into two parts besides a great many other in the same sort most cruelly â—…aine at this time there were five hundred captives brought into the 〈◊〉 and so divided with their swords in the midst and after these dead bodies had lyen upon the ground a while where they were slaine there commeth an oxe roaring and finding his masters câ—…kasse among them hee lifted one part of him upon his hornes and carried it away to another place and returneth fetcheth the other part likewise and joyneth both parts together which thing being greatly wondred at and brought to the 〈◊〉 of Mahomet the great Turke hee caused the parts of the dead body to bee separated againe and brought to the former place the oxe followeth roaring as before and finding out his master among the rest of the dead bodies taketh him up and carrieth him away againe the great Turke being much amazed with this strange fight commanded the dead bodies to be buried and the oxe to be kept among his caâ—… during the rest of his life And if we shall descend from these that be domesticall to wilde and salvage beasts wee shall finde them in this matter nothing inferiour to the others A Gentleman of a noble house called Andrâ—…cles being taken prisoner and made a slave taking occasion by his masters hard dealing ran away from him and fled into certaine desert woods in Aâ—…frica adventuring himselfe rather among wilde beasts than to endure the tyranny of his cruell master and after he had wandred a long time in the desert â—…ee espied a cave under the ground into which he goeth to repose himselfe the night following which unknowne to him was the den of a Lyon hee had not beene long there but a little before night in commeth a great and terrible Lyon roaring and halting which had beene a hunting for his prey to rest himselfe that night in his accustomed lodging the poore slave looking for no other but that the Lyons belly should be his sepulchre the Lyon espying the man lay downe by him and stretched forth his fore-foot that was lame making mone as though he desired helpe the slave perceiving the Lyons meaning began to plucke up his heart and looking into the Lions foot he found a thorne sticking fast in it and the wound festred which caused his foot to swell hee lanced the wound and let forth the corruption and tooke out the thorne which though it were wonderfull painefull to the Lyon as appeared by grinding his teeth and wrying his mouth yet he endured it with great patience when he had washed the wound with his urine and lapt up his foot as well as he could they remained together in the den all that night so soone as it was day the Lyon goeth forth to hunt for his prey and after he had beene abroad a certaine time he returneth to the den again with part of the wilde beast in his mouth which hee layd downe before the man for his dinner and went forth againe to hunt for more The slave having eaten nothing in two or three dayes before went forth of the cave and layd the flesh in the Sunne to be rosted and before it was throughly rosted he eat it very hungerly when the evening was come the Lyon returneth with more meat and thus hee continued fed by the Lyons provision certaine dayes But at length waxing wearie of his dict and of his solitarie life he stale forth of the den in the absence of the Lyon and hid himselfe not far from the place but when the Lyon was returned after his accustomed manner with meat for his guests dinner and found him not there he made pitifull lamentation and mone which declared his great sorrow for the mans absence when the Lyon was layd to rest the slave departeth and wandering to seeke some place of refuge he fell by chance into the hands of them whom his master had sent to seeke him and being taken and sent to Rome his master layd him in prison to be devoured of wilde beasts for the Romanes had a manner when the Emperors or principal men were disposed to celebrate some
seeme to you happy or vnhappy I know not because I was neuer conuersant with him but what if you had had his company would you then know him Can you take knowledge of his felicity by no other meanes No truly Then it seemeth ô Socrates that you will say likewise I cannot tell whether the great King of Persia bee happy or not and so it is true for I know not how he is instructed with learning or with iustice Doth all felicity consists in this Truly by mine opinion for I account that man or woman that is honest and good to be happy and him that is vniust and vnhonest vnhappy Then according to your words Archelaus is vnhappy Yea surely if he be vniust and vnhonest Thus much of Socrates Yet negligence is to be auoided and prouidence without ouermuch care and possession without feare is necessary and requisite It is a wise mans part to put aside dangerous things before they come to do hurt for the losse or harme a man receiueth by his own fault is more grieuous then that which happeneth to him by another man Thucidides saith It is no shame for a man to confesse his pouerty but it is a shame to fall into it by his owne fault He must haue all things premeditate that happeneth to men and thinke the same may fall vpon him for the things that are foreseene before pierce not so deepely as that which commeth suddenly and taketh a man vnwares He that will make his life pleasant must not take ouermuch care to prouide for it neither can any man take full pleasure of any thing except he haue a minde prepared for the losse of it One proâ—…steth by long study to haue learned this to contemne mortall things and not to bee ignorant of his ignorance Death is to all men by nature terrible but to a Christian that knoweth with how great an aduantage hee changeth his estate it ought to bee had in contempt whereof the heathens that knew not God nor what should become of them made little account who for friuolous causes would offer themselues voluntarily to die whose examples though they be not to be followed but auoyded as an vnlawfull and vnnaturall act yet they may serue to perswade men the rather to discharge themselues of all feare of death that haue an assured hope certaine knowledge to possesse the vnspeakable ioyes of heauen when the Infidels through a vaine hope of a better life wherein neuerthelesse they were deceiued would often make choise of a voluntary death CleoÌ„brotus hauing read Plato his booke of the immortality of the Soule wherein he disswadeth men from the ouermuch loue of this life thinking he had found the ready way to deliuer his soule out of prison cast himselfe downe headlong from a high wall and brake his necke They haue a custome in Narsinga that when the men die their wiues be buried aliue with them that with great solemnity and ioy when the king is dead there is a pile of wood of a most pleasant sauour set on fire the kings carkeise carried into it and then all his concubines whereof he hath great store and all his familiar friends and fauourites and such of his seruants as were in estimation with him are likewise carried into that pile of wood to which place they go with such haste ioy to be burnt that to accompany their king in that kind of death they seeme to esteeme it the greatest honour and felicity that can happen to them The Indians by custome doe marry many wiues and when the husband is dead there is great contention among his wiues which of them he loued best that she may be buried with him then she that hath iudgement with her with great ioy merry countenance is led by her friends to the place and casting her selfe into the fire vpon her husband is burnt with him as a most happy woman the rest remaining leading a sorrowfull life There hath been a people dwelling by the mountaines called Rifei who hold this for a custome when they come to the age of 50 They make great piles of wood and put fire to them there burne themselues aliue and sacrifice to their gods and the same day the kinsfolke children make a great feast and do eate their flesh halfe burnt and drinke with wine the dust of their bones How much lesse then should Christians feare death when it pleaseth God to send for them that hope for a crowne of glory after this life They make a good bargaine that with the death of the body seeke the saluation of their Soule Plato saith All the life of wise men is the meditation vpon death that men ought not to be carefull to liue long but to liue well For the honourable age saith Saâ—…mon is not that which is of long time neither that which is measured by the number of yeeres but wisedome is the gray haire an vndefiled life is the old age And Euripides saith This life is life by name but in very deed labour Death is not a torment but a rest and end of all mans miseries and labours And Seneca Before old age come a man should learne to liue well and in old age to die well But the day of our death saith Gregory our Creator would not haue knowne to vs that the same being alwayes vnknown may be alwayes thought to be at hand and that euery man should be so much the more feruent in operation by how much hee is vncertaine of his vocation that whilest we be vncertaine when we shall die wee may alwayes come prepared to death And because that is so certaine a thing that no man can escape it shall bee good alwayes to thinke vpon death especially in the time of prosperity â—…or the thinking often thereof will bridle and restraine all other cuill thoughts and desires of worldly vanities for in prosperity we forget humane srailty It is reported that the Emperour Charles the fift fiue yeeres before he died euen when he was occupied in his greatest affaires caused a sepulcher to be made with all things appertaining to it that was necessary for his buriall being dead and that secretly lest it might be taken for ostentation or hypocrisie which things he had closely carried with him whithersoeuer he went fiue yeeres together some thinking there had been some great treasure in it some other that there had been bookes of old stories some thought one thing some another but the Emperour smiling said that he carried it about with him for the vse of a thing to him aboue all others most precious In that sort he seemed to set death alwayes before his eyes that the coÌ„tinuall remeÌ„brance therof might driue from his heart the vaine pompe pride of this world Let vs imagine that we see a maÌ„ of mean estate whose mind is cleansed from all perturbations vnquietnes that hath
before and then straineth it out between the two trees and returneth to the carkasse to eate againe and thus he continueth to do untill he hath devoured all which being consumed he hunteth after more in this sort continually passing his life This beast it seemeth God hath created to the shame of gluttonous men that passe whole daies and nights in eating and drinking when they have filled themselves so full that their bodies wil hold no more they vomit up that they have taken and returne to their carowsing againe as though it were their felicitie and end for which God hath made them as the Poet saith Plusque cupit quò plura suam dimittit in alvum cibus omnis initto Causacibi est semperque locus fit inanis edendi The more he eates he askes his meat Is of his eating cause And be his belly ne're so full Still empty are his jawes Which kinde of surfeits maketh worke many times for the Physician who turning R. into D. giveth his patient sometime a Decipe for a Recipe and so payeth deerely for his travell that hastneth him to his end Horace calleth such men that give themselves to their belly a beast of Arcadia that devoureth the grasse of the earth Cornelius Celsus giveth this counsell when men come to meat Nunquam utilis nimia satietas saepe inutilis nimia abstinentia Over-much satiety is never good overmuch abstinence is often hurtfull Mahomet desirous to draw men to the liking of him his doctrine perceiving the pronenesse of men to luxuriousnes fleshly pleasures yet dealt more craftily in his Alcaron than to perswade them that felicitie consisted in the voluptuousnesse pleasures of this life which he knew would not be beleev'd nor follow'd but of a few and those the more brutish sort but threatned them with a kind of hell and gave them precepts tending somewhat more to civilitie and humanitie and promised his followers a Paradise in the life to come wherin they should enjoy all maner of pleasures which men desire in this world as faire gardens environed with pleasant rivers sweet flowers all kinde of odoriferous savours most delicate fruits tables furnished with most daintie meats and pleasant wines served in vessels of gold with beautifull damsels which every man might use at his pleasure The Egyptians had a custome not unmeet to bee used at the carowsing banquets their manner was in the middest of their feasts to have brought before them Anatomic of a dead body dried that the sight and horror thereof putting them in minde to what passe themselves should one day come might containe them in modesty But peradventure things are fallen so far from their right course that that device will not so well serve the turne as if the carowsers of these later daies were perswaded as Mahomet perswaded his followers when hee forbad them the drinking of wine that in every grape there dwelt a divell But when they have taken in their cups it seemeth that many of them doe feare neither the divell nor any thing else Lavater reporteth a Historie of a Parish Priest in Germanie that disguised himselfe with a white sheete about him and at mid-night came into the chamber of a rich woman that was in bed and fashioning himselfe like a spirit hee thought to put her in such feare that shee would procure a conjnrer or exorcist to talke with him or else speake to him her selfe The woman desired one of her kinsmen to stay with her in her Chamber the next night This man making no question whether it were a spirit or not in stead of conjuration or exorcisme brought a good cudgell with him and after hee had well drunke to encrease his courage knowing his hardinesse at those times to bee such that all the Divels in hell could not make him affraide hee lay downe upon a pallat and fell asleepe The spirit came into the chamber againe at his accustomed houre and made such a rumbling noyse that the exorcist the wine not being yet gone out of his head awaked and leapt out of his bed and toward the spirit hee goeth who with counterfeit words and gesture thought to make him affraid But this drunken fellow making no account of his threatnings Art thou the Divel quoth he and I am his Damme and so layeth upon him with his cudgell that if the poore Priest had not changed his divels voyce and confessed himselfe to be Hauns and rescued by the woman that then knew him he had bin like not to have gone out of the place alive This vice of drunkennesse wherein many take over-great pleasure was a great blemish to Alexanders vertues For having won a great part of Asia he laid aside that sobrietie hee brought forth of Macedon and gave himselfe to the luxuriousnesse of those people whom he had conquered And passing his time in feasting and banquetting in the company of hariots hee was so overcome many times with drunkennesse that he wanne more infamie by the outrages hee committed through that vice than commendations by his vertuous acts As hee sate on a time banquerring among those strumpets one of them called Thais being drunke told Alexander that hee should greatly win the favour of the Greekes if he would command the Palace of the goodly Citic of Persepolis to bee set on fire the chiefe seat of the Kings of Persia which in times past had beene the destruction of so many great Cities The same being confirmed by others as drunk as she Alexander that then had in him more inclination of heat than of patience Why doe not we then quoth he revenge Greece and set this Citie on fire wherewith being all chafed with drinking they rose immediately to burne that Citie in their drunkennesse which the men of warre had spared in their fury And the King himselfe first and after his guests and concubines set fire on the Palace by whose example others burnt the whole Citie Thus the famous Citie of Persepolis head of the East countries from which so many nations had before fetched their lawes the royall seat of so many mighty kings the only terror somtimes of Greece the sender forth of navies and armies that overflowed all Europe that had done many notable acts was utterly destroyed by the enticement of a drunken strumpet to the perpetuall shame of the King and all his nation But when Alexander had taken his rest and was become better advised hee repented him of this foule act as he did also the killing divers of his noble men in the like drunkennesse without judgement which helped him to conquer so many nations Iohn Baptist that holy Prophet was killed by Herod in a drunken banquet That great King Cambyses tooke over-great pleasure in drinking of wine and when he asked Prexaspes his secretary what the Persians said of him he answered that they commended him highly notwithstanding they thought him over-much given to wine the King being therewith very angry
of this disease was so great that there was no roome in the Church-yards to bury the dead and many finding themselues infected with this disease being out of all hope of recouery would presently sow themselues in sheetes looking when death would come to separate the soule from the body These were the whips that God vsed in a generalitie for punishment of sinnes But what would we speake of diseases when Plinie and others write that in two thousand yeeres to their time they haue discouered aboue three hundred diseases to which men are subiect we may say with the Poet Optima quaeque dies miseris mortalibus 〈◊〉 Prima fugii subeunt morbi tristisque senectus Et labor durae rapit inclementia mortis The best dayes of vs miserable men The first are that make haste from vs and then Diseases come with sorrowfull old age Labour and lust Deaths implacable rage Let vs descend to some particular matter which hath happened to men either by the secret iudgement of God or by some rare accidents Popyelus King of Polonia a man of euil life would often wish that he might be deuoured of mice At last as he was sitting at dinner banquetting and 〈◊〉 a company of great mice set vpon him which came from the carkasses of his vncles which he and the Queene his wife had killed with poyson These mice in great heapes assaulted him his wife and children as they sate feasting and neuer left gnawing vpon them day and night though his guard and souldiers did all they could to driue them away great fires were made and the King his wife and children placed in the middest yet notwithstanding the Mice ran thorow the fire and fell to their gnawing againe Then they went into a ship and prooued what the water would doe the Mice followed them and gnawing continually vpon the Ship the Mariners seeing themselues in danger of drowning the water comming in at the holes which the Mice made brought the Ship to land where another companie of Mice ioyned with these and molested them more then before when his followers saw these things perceiuing it to be the Iudgement of God they all fled The King seeing himselfe left alone and those departed that should defend him he went vp into an high tower but the Mice climbed vp and deuoured him his wife and two sonnes By which it appeareth that there is no policie nor power to be vsed against God The Emperour Arnolphus was likewise eaten vp with Lice his Physicions being vnable to giue him any remedy Hotto Bishop of Ments in Germanie perceiuing the poore people in great lacke of victuals by the scarcitie of corne gathered a great many of them together and shut them into a barne and burnt them saying That they differed little from Mice that consumed corne and were profitable to nothing But God left not so great a crueltie vnreuenged for he made Mice assault him in great heapes which neuer left gnawing vpon him night nor day he fled into a Tower which was in the midst of the Riuâ—…r of Rhyne which to this day is called the Tower of Mice of that euent supposing hee should be safe from them in the midst of the Riuer But an innumerable companie of Mice swam ouer the riuer to execute the iust Iudgement of God and deuoured him The like happened to a Bishop of Strasbrough who was also deuoured with mice When Harold King of Denmarke made warre vpon Harquinus and was ready to ioyne battell there was a dart seene in the aire flying this way and that way as though it sought vpon whom to light And when all men stood wondering what would become of this strange matter euery man fearing himselfe at last the dart fell vpon Harquinus head and slew him An Italian Gentleman being vniustly condemned to die as it was thought by Pope Clement the fift at the request of Philip the faire King of France seeing them both out of a window speaketh to them aloud in this sort Thou cruell Clement for as much as there is no iudge in the world before whom a man may appeale from that vniust sentence which thou hast pronounced against me I appeale from thee as from an vniust Iudge to the iust Iudge Iesus Christ before whom I summon thee and likewise thee King Philip at whose suite thou hast giuen iudgement of death vpon me within one yeere to appeare before the Tribunall seat of God where I shall plead my cause which shall be determined without couetousnesse or any other passion as yee haue done It chanced that about the end of the time by him prefixed both the Pope and the King dyed The like happened to Ferdinando the fourth King of Castile who puttìng to death two knights rather through anger then iustice whose fauour could not be obtained neither by weeping and lamenting nor by any petitions they summoned the King to appeare before the Tribunall seat of Christ within thirtie daies the last of which the King died A Captaine likewise of the Gallies of the Genowayes tooke a vessell the Captaine whereof neuer did harme to the Genowayes yet for the hatred that the Captaine of the Genowayes did beare to his Nation he commanded him to be hanged And when no petitions nor prayers would be heard nor excuses allowed nor any mercy would be found hee said to this cruell Captaine that he did appeale to God that punisheth the vniust and summoned him to appeare at a certaine day appointed to render account before God of the wrong he had done him the very same day that he appointed the Captain of the Genowayes dyed of like went to yeeld his account A strange example likewise by a false accusation of an Archbishop of Mentz called Henry This man was indued with many vertues and had great care of his flocke and would punish seuerely publike sinners which procured the hatred of many wicked persons who accused him to the Pope as a man insufficient for his charge laying many faults against him The Pope holding a good opinion of the Bishop aduertised him of it who to purge himselfe and to declare his innocency made choise among all his friends of one Arnand whom he loued dearely and aduanced to many dignities to go to Rome This man being rich intending to depriue his master and to occupie his place suborned two wicked Cardinals with a great summe of money to fauour his practice when he came to answer for his master hee confessed how much bound he was to him yet he was more bound to God and to the truth then to men and said that the accusations laid against the Bishop were true By meanes whereof the Pope sent the two corrupted Cardinals to heate determine the Bishops cause when they came into Germanie they sent for the Archbishop and vpon hearing of his cause depriued him of his dignities and placed Arnand in his roome The Bishop being present at
sent from a Free State in Embassage to the Duke of Moscouia and as one of them kept his Cap vpon his head in the presence of the Duke he being therewith offended caused a nayle to be driuen thorow his Cap into his head Ludit in humanis diuina potentia rebus Et certam prasens vix habet hora fidem The Diuine power all humane things derides And scarce one certaine houre with vs abides The Emperour Marcus Aurelius meditating vpon the miserable condition of men spake in this sort I haue imagined with my selfe whether it were possible to find any estate any age any countrey any kingdome where any man might be found that durst vaunt he had not in his life tasted what manner of thing aduerse fortune is And if such a one might be found it would be such an ougly monster that both the quick and the dead would desire to see him Then he concludeth In the end of my reckoning I haue found that he which was yesterday rich is to day poore hee that was yesterday whole is to day sicke he that yesterday laughed to day I haue seene him weepe he that was yesterday in prosperitie to day I haue seene him in aduersitie he that yesterday liued I haue seene him by and by in his graue Saint Augustine entring deepely into the consideration of the miserable condition of men and wondering at their infelicitie maketh thus his complaint to God Lord after men haue suffered so many euill things mercilesse death followeth and carrieth them away in diuers manners some it oppresseth by feauers others by extreme griefe some by hunger others by thirst some by fire others by water some by the sword others by poyson some thorough feare others are stifled some are torne in pieces by the teeth of wild beasts others are peckt with the fowles of the ayre some are made meat for the fishes others for wormes and yet man knoweth not his end And when hee goeth about to aspire higher hee falleth downe and perisheth And this is the most fearefull thing of all fearefull things the most terrible of all terrible things when the soule must be separated from the body And what a miserable sight is it to see one lying in the pangs of death and how lothsome when he is dead And then followeth the dreadfull day of Iudgement when euery one must yeeld account of his life past This is the time when Monarkes and Princes must giue account whether they haue laid intolerable exactions vpon their subiects and beene the cause of the effusion of innocent blood to feede their ambitious humours This is the time when the Pastours and Prelates must giue vp a reckoning of their flocke and with what doctrine good or bad they haue fed them This is the time when Merchants must yeeld an account and all other Trades that stand vpon buying and selling for the falshood they haue vsed in vttering their Wares whose case is hard if it bee true the Poet saith Periurata sâ—…o postponit numina lucro Mercator Stygiis non nisi dignus aquis The periur'd Merchant will forsweare for gaine Worthy in Stygian waters to remaine This is the time when Lawyers will tremble how to answere the animating their poore Clyents to waste their goods to their great hinderance or vtter vndoing in continuing their suits in a wrong cause the end whereof is their owne gaine This is the time that Magistrates and Iudges must bee called to a reckning whether they haue administred iustice vprightly and indifferently without fauour or corruption This is the time when men of Warre must answer for their spoyles and rapines and intolerable outrages and cruelties vsed vpon euery sexe and age that Christ dyed for as well as for them This is the time that couetous men and vsurers must yeeld an account for their rapines and oppressions and for the vndoing of infinite numbers to enrich themselues with their excessiue and vnlawfull interest and gaines This is the time that Widowes and Orphanes and other afflicted people will cry out and present their complaints before God of the iniustice and wrongs they haue sustained and suffered This is the time when the wicked shall say quaking and trembling for feare and repenting too late Looke how yonder folkes which we had heretofore in contempt as base persons and of none account in respect of our selues are now exalted in the sight of God and are accounted among the Saints This is the time saith Saint Hierome when they that stut and stammer shall be more happie then the cloquent And many Sheepheards and Heardmen shall bee preferred before Philosophers many poore beggers before rich Princes and Monarkes many simple and grosse heads before the subtill and fine-witted Then shall the fooles and insensible persons saith Saint Augustine take hold vpon Heauen and the wise with their wisedome shall fall downe into hell where is the miserie of all miseries and such as the miseries of this world be pleasures and delights in respect of them This is the iudgement spoken of in Saint Matthew Goe yee cursed into hell fire where is nothing but lamenting and gnashing of teeth which is prepared for the Diuell and his angels before the beginning of the world where they shall bee tormented for euer and euer and shall wish for death but they shall not finde it they shall desire to die and death shall flie from them These miseries to which men are subiect made the Prophet Esay sorry that hee was not destroyed or styfled in his mothers wombe and murmured that his legges did hold him vp and complained vpon the paps that gaue him sucke â—…remie mooued with the like spirit considering that man is formed of the earth conceiued in sinne borne with paine and in the end made a prey for wormes and serpents wished that his mothers belly had serued him for a sepulchre and her wombe for a tombe The consideration of the miserable estate of this life brought in a custome to the people of Thracia to weepe and lament at the birth of their children and to reioyce when they dyed But the Philosopher Demosthenes discouered his conceit by a more particular passion For beeing demanded of the Tyrant Epymethes why he wept so bitterly for the death of a Philosopher being so strange a matter for a Philosopher to weepe To this Demosthenes answered I weepe not O Epymethes because the Philosopher dyed but because thou liuest being a custome in the Schooles of Athens to weepe more because the cuill doe liue then for the death of the good Seeing therefore wee haue perused the principall estates of life and can finde nothing in them worthy to be called Felicitie nor answerable to the thing which that word seemeth to purport but rather that they all defect so much from felicitie that they decline to infelicitie and miserie Let vs doe yet with a better minde as many now a dayes vse to doe