respect not to this life only but to that of a better even to Eternity which no other Lawgivers had therefore Moses exhorted the Israelites that when they should possess the Land whether they were going that they should keep and do the statutes and judgments as the Lord had commanded him and it should be their wisdom and their understanding in the sight of the Nations which shall hear all those statutes and say surely this great Nation is a wise and understanding people And what Nation is there so great that hath Statutes and Judgments so righteous as all this Law which I set before you this day Deut. 4. 4 5 6 7 8. Having declared the necessity usefulness and benefit of Government and the final end thereof it is now requisite to show the true and efficient cause and right of Government where and in whom the just right of appointing Governours and Government is undoubtedly inherent and instated God beyond all contradiction reigns by his own Plenipotentiary Power and doth whatsoevor he pleaseth in Heaven above and in Earth beneath and in the Waters under the Earth Kings and other Governours only precariò at the good will and pleasure of others God by himself Kings by God and the Governed God by his own Jurisdiction Kings by deligated Authority from others the Jurisdiction of God is immense that of Kings limited So the power of God infinite that of Kings not so the Kingdom of God endless boundless that of Kings limited to certain Regions and fading When God sets Kings upon Thrones he sets them there as his Substitutes to go in and out before his people and to do Judgment and Justice 2 Chron. 9. 8. and upon condition that the governed should still be the Lords people 2 King. 11. 17. 2 Chron. 1. 10. So that God still remains Lord and Proprietor of the same People but sets Kings and other Magistrates over them to govern and feed them like good Shepherds not to pill poll and fley them so all good Kings acknowledged as David Solomon Jehosaphat and others So Nebuchadnezzar tho an Ethnick did acknowledge Dan. 2. 47. Hence it necessarily follows that Kings are set over a People to nourish and cherish them as God himself and not to wrong or oppress them So Jehojada made a Covenant between the Lord and the King and the People that they should be the Lords People and between the King also and the People 2 King. 11. 17. In the Inauguration of Joae we read of a holy Covenant between God and the King and the people as it is elsewhere expressed between Jorada the chief Priest and all the people and the King that they should be the people of God. So Josiah and all the people made Covenant with God 2 King. 11. 11. 2 Chr. 23. 13 16. 2 King. 23. from which is to be understood that the high Priest in the name of God covenanted between the Lord and the King and the People that they should be the Lords People and between the King also and the People that God should be truly and purely worshipped by both King and People of Judah And was not the King so to reign that he should suffer the People to serve God according to the Law of God and the People so to obey the King that in the first place they were to obey God and both King and People sworn by Solemn Sacrament in the first place to worship God and keep his Laws matter of Fact doth manifest it And all the People of the Land went into the House of Baal and brake it down his Altars and his Images brake they in pieces c. and restored the Worship of God the sum of the Covenant being that all should worship God and all should take care that God be worshipped according to his own Precepts and Prescript which if they did perform God would be with them and bless them if not then he would destroy them So Moses before his death rehearsâ—th the Conditions of the Covenant made with their Forefathers and all the Blessings and Curses attending the breach or performance thereof Deut. 29. 30 31. commanding them to take the book of the Law and put it in the side of the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord your God that it may be there for a witness against thee c. Deut. 31. 26 27 28. After Moses was dead God himself constituted Joshua to go in and out before his People on the same conditions Josh 1. which if they transgressed they should be delivered into the hands of the Canaanites One and the self-same Covenant which was made between God and the People under the Judges was made under and with the Kings After Saul was constituted King Samuel said to the People Fear the Lord and serve him in truth with all your heart but if you shall still do wickedly ye shall be consumed both ye and your King Josh 12. 24 25. thereby shewing that God expects as strickt performance of his Laws from Kings as from the People Saul being rejected because he brake Covenant David was constituted King on the same Conditions and so Solomon his Son which Covenant was That if they and their Children kept his Commandments and observed his Statutes they should sit on the Throne of Israel for ever if otherwise they should be destroyed 1 Kings ch 2. ver 12. 2 Chron. 6. 16. ch 7. 17. Hence the Book of the Law found in the Temple in the days of Josiah is called the Book of the Covenant of the Lord which he commanded his People to deliver to the King 2 King. 23. 2. Deut. 7. 18. which Samuel did to Saul 1 Sam. 10. 25. and Josiah accordingly did covenant before the Lord So the Law which was kept in the Ark is called the Covenant of the Lord with the Children of Israel who being delivered from the Babylonish Captivity renewed their Covenantwith God which they had violated 2 Chron. 6. 11. whereby it is manifest that Kings as Vassalls to the Law of God solemnly swear to be obedient thereunto We make a sure Covenant and write it and our Princes Levites and Priests seal unto it Nehem. 9. 38. the breach of which Covenant is a like penal to King and People which is manifested in Saul who for offering Sacrifice and for sparing Agag King of the Amalekites was accounted a Rebel and punished accordingly 1 Sam. 13. 12 13. and thereby taught that Kings if they break the Laws are as truly Rebels as Subjects and that obedience is better than sacrifice thou hast rejected the wâ—rd of the Lord and the Lord hath rejected thee from being King over Israel 1 Sam. 15. 26 27. which crime doth not terminate only in the Persons of Kings so rebelling but is extensive also to their Children So God did rend the Kingdom out of the hand of Solomon and gave ten tribes to his servant Jeroboam because he forsook God and worshipped 〈◊〉 c. 1 King. 11. 32 33.
and sinful Injustice and therefore cannot be from God. Dum contra officium facit Magistratus non est Magistratus quippe à quo non injuria sed jus nasci debet and consequently they who resist the tyrannous acts of Kings do not resist the Ordinance of God. What were it less than Blasphemously to charge God with prevaricating with his People if in Authorizing Kings to preserve them should give them liberty without all Politick restraint to destroy them Which is contrary to God's end in the Fifth Commandment that one Man a King should have absolute Power to destroy Millions of Souls and Bodies uncontrolably If the Kings of Israel and Judah were under censures and rebukes of the Prophets and sinned against God and the People in rejecting such rebukes and in persecuting the Prophets and were under and liable to all the Laws of God as all other People though their Subjects were then is their Power not above any Law nor absolute That these matters of Fact are true sit liber Judex Samuel rebuked Saul Nathan David Elias Achab. Jeremiah is sent to Prophecy against the Kings of Judah Jer. 1. 18. and the Prophets practised it Jer. 19. 3. Ahab could not take Naboths Vineyard against his will without the formality of Law and without the help of Men of Belial to boot for which violence offered to Law and Justice in the place where Dogs licked the Blood of Naboth shed by shamming of Laws by Innuendoes and false constructions of Laws the Dogs did lick the Blood of Ahab and did eat that cursed Woman Jezabel by the wall of Jezrael and her Carkass became as dung upon the face of the field A Document to all Kings and Princes for giving any countenance to Violence or Oppression or to shamming any Laws by any irresistable or prevalent Influences and the Inferior Judges ought not to accept the Persons of any in judgment whether small or great for the judgment is the Lords and their office as much of divine right as that of the Kings then certainly we may justly conclude That Kingly Power is neither above Law nor yet absolute for Kings who swear to Govern according to Law it is contrary to common sense nay impossible they should have an illimited or absolute Power either from God or the People for foedus conditionatum or promissio conditionalis mutua facit jus alteri in alterum it 's not to be thought that Kings can at one and the same time and in the same breath justly swear to Govern according to Law and at the same time interpretatively and secondarily swear to Govern absolutely and without Law. If the governed in Senates Parliaments and Dyets may call in question the Acts Previledges Charters and Commissions of Kings granted to any Persons and null and vacate them circumscribe and dock any of their Prerogatives may increase or diminish his Revenue and State may call into question any of his Friends Counsellors or Ministers of State and punish or remove them If the governed may appeal from Kings to Senates Dyets or Parliaments and may not appeal from them to Kings all which may and have been done as the publick Monuments of Laws do testifie who of sound judgment can deny the Power of the People in Dyets Senates and Parliaments to be above that of Kings If in an Interregnum Senates Dyets and Parliaments have Power and which is plain by Histories without regard had to right of Inheritance have created Kings whom they pleased and altered Successions In summ If Dyets Senates Parliaments are the Supreme Council of Nations constituted by the People indued with Power from them to this very thing that they may consult in common of the weighty matters of Kingdoms and common good and Kings therefore created that they should see executed what they did advise and agree upon quis nisi mentis inops can deny upon such plain evidence and demonstration that the People in Parliaments Dyets and Senates are not only co-ordinate and have a share in the Government but are also in some sense and some places superior to them for that they can do more than Kings Kings have their Prerogatives true and very fit they should have So have all other Governments be their Prerogatives what they will Power of the Militia making War and Peace calling of Councils Dyets Synods Senates Parliaments nominating Judges and other publick Officers of Kingdoms c. they are all derived from the People and transferred for their own good and so always expressed or implied If they make ill use of the Militia it 's a breach of trust and no obligation of Obedience and Submission is due if they make ill Leagues the People not bound to confirm or assist if they call Dyets and Parliaments it is not for their peculiar interests but for the good of the whole and nothing done therein can be of force unless the free assent of the convocated be first had Which demonstrates it is the Office and Duty of Kings to call those great Councils as oft as the People see cause and desire it and to continue them till they have the benefit designed And though the Royal Assent be desired it is but for the Honour of the business for what concerns common good safety and liberty they ought to pass by virtue of their Oaths and Office. Non negabimus non differimus cuique jus aut justitiam Chartae Artic. c. 29. Will not Kings deny Justice and may they deny just Laws Not to private Persons and yet to the Representatives of Nations Not in the Inferior Courts and yet in the Supreme They are created and elected Kings that they should do Justice to all indifferently Bracton l. 3. c. 9. Ad hoc creatus electus est ut justitiam faciat universis per eas nimirum leges quas vulgus elegerit Hence in Archivis H. 4. Rot. Parl. N o. 59. Non est ulla Regis Prerogativa quae ex justitia aequitate quicquam derogat Kings have no Prerogative which derogate from Justice and Equity And when Kings have refused to make or confirm Magnas Chartas good Laws they have been compelled by force of Arms and such Laws accounted as good and valid by the best Lawyers the reason given is That they of right and of their own accord ought to have assented unto that which they were forced to do All Courts of Judicatory are Authorized and Confirmed by Parliament in which it is Lawful for the meanest of Subjects to implead Kings in which Courts Judgment is often given against Kings which though endeavoured to be contradicted or countermanded by Kings yet the Judges by the Laws of God and Man and by their Oaths are obliged to refuse their Mandamus's and to give right Judgment for the judgment is the Lords Kings can justly Imprison no Man nor punish any Man nor seize their Goods or Estate without Citation out of Courts where the Judges not Kings have all the Power So
set a stranger over thee which is not thy brother 2. By the constant practice of the jews under the Prophets and since And not without this moral reason That one from among themselves being by their consent and suffrages set King over them that what Authority soever they grant unto Kings they may acknowledge to have had it from the People and therefore obliged more readily to imploy all their times studies strengths and endeavours for the good of them who set them over themselves to take the burden of the Government upon their Shoulders and therefore they consent to pay them all Honour allow them great Priviledges and Prerogatives and give them Munificent Tributes and Maintainance for the Support of them and the Governm nt and swearing Allegiance unto their Kings and the Kings swearing unto the People to keep Faith with them in the due performance and execution of the Laws already made and to be made The reason formerly set down doth warrant this viz. No Man hath or can have any lawful Power to Govern Kingdoms and States but he must have it either immediately from God himself which no Man now can possibly pretend unto or by consent of the Paâ—tâ—â—s The Elders of Israel being the representative 1 Sam. 10. 19. of the whole Kingdom for by that name are generally meant Centurions Captains Judges Princes of all the Tribes â—f Israel c. came to Samuel in Ramah desiring a King to 〈◊〉 in and out before 〈◊〉 like the Nations at whose instance Samuel did anoint Saul to be their King neverless Samuel that Saul might know that he was chosen by the People called all the Peâ—â—â— together in Mizpeh by their Tribes and by their Thousands where as if the farmer Election and Anointing had been insignificant they cast lots which â—ell upon the Tribe of Benjamin and Saul the Son of Kish was taken and all the People shouted and said God save the King 1 Sam. 10. 17 c. All which was done at the Peoples instanceâ— And lest the Election of the King should be attributed wholly to the chance of Lots all the People by the advice of Samuel some few grumbling Dissenters excepted having said Shall Saul reign over us 1 Sam. 11. 13. went to Gilgal and renewed the Kingdom there and made Saul King before the Lord in Gilgal ver 14. 15. Which manifests that though Saul was chosen by God himself and also by Lot yet was constituted confirmed and approved by the suffrages of the People God indeed before ever there was a King in Israel knowing that they would reject him and foolishly desire a King like all the Nations round about them prescribed Rules and Laws whereby they ought to Govern Deut. 17. So David Samuel Saul being rejected by God from Reigning over Israel by God's command anointed David at â—ethlâ—m whom God had chosen King over Israel Did David therefore Reign though so chosen by God himself and anointed by his own command No sure he was so far from it that he avoided the presence of Saul hiding himself from him and arming himself with the Sword of Goliah and armed Men against the evil designs which Saul had against him and fled from him wandring up and down and became as it were an exiled and Out lawed Person and was not King till Saul was dead nor then neither until all the People of Judah first chose him King of Judah by their suffrages And seven years after all the Tribes of Israel and all the Elders of Israel came â—o Hebron and made a Covenant with him before the Lord and then they anointed David King over Israel 1 Sam. 16. 13. 1 Chron. 11. 3. 2 Sam. 5. 3. Besides if Samuel's first anointing of David King had formerly made him King then either Saul was thereby deposed or else there were two Kings of Israel at one time which is monâ—â—ous to conceive for according to their Doctrine Kings have no Royal Power from the People but it is manifest David was not King for that after his being so anointed he oâ—ten called Saul the Lord 's anointed and that by the Inspiration of God's Spirit Moreover he neither challenged nor executed any Royal Authority till he was crowned King by all Israel at Hebron but was persecuted and hunted as a Partridge on the Mountains and that as a Rebel to Saul of which he acquitted himself when he had the Life of Saul in his power and yet would not take it which he justly might have done had he been really King and it had been a crime in him being King not to have executed his Royal Authority in doing Justice and Judgment by cutting off Saul a murtherâ—r who killed the Priests of the Lord especially seeing Saul according to such doctrine must be but a private murtherâ—r and David the only lawful King. Whereby it is apparent that not Samuâ—â— s Oil but the consent and suffrages of the People that made both Saul and David Kings Whereby it is apparent that though God appointed David to be their King yet not so Absolute but that he should be under and subject to agreements with his People and make a Covenant with them on tearms to which he should be obliged to perform with them as they with him and this before the Lord by which Covenant he was obliged to keep within the Boundaries which God and the People had set So David was twice anointed 1. By the Prophets by God's command in token of his Election 2. By the instance and suffrages of the People in Confirmation of his being constituted King by them 2 Sam. 4. 11. 5. 13. So it is true that by God Kings Reign yet so as not without the Peoples Consent Approbation and Covenants first had that he may Reign over them for their good Besides Kings receive not their Kingship immediately from God nor the Sword because the People were first girt with the Sword. Moreover will any Christian say that the Kings of Nations who lived without God in the World did Rule and Reign by Gods immediate appointment I trow not The like is observable in Constituting Solomon King who though David 's Son and God chose him to sit upon his Fathers Throne and to be a Father unto him as he had promised David 2. Sam. 7. 13 14 15. And though David had promised his People that Solomon should succeed him and sit upon his Throne yet this was not sufficient and therefore David assembled all the Princes of Israel and the princes of the Tribes and the captains of the companies and captains over the thousands and the stewards over all the substance of the possession of the King and of his Sons with the officers and with the mighty men and with all the valiant men which bear any publick office and as it were the representative of all Israel and consequently had a share in the Government and in the Election unto Jerusalem This great congregation made Solomon the Son of David King
and most properly it is only in his high Court of Parliament wherein and wherewith his Majesty hath absolutely the Supreme Power and consequently is absolutely Supreme Head and Governor from whence their is no Appeal And without doubt the Parliament may take an account of what is done by his Majesty in his Inferior Courts and therefore much more of what is done by him without the Authority of any Court. What more usual than for Parliaments to call to an account all other Courts of Justice and all Officers and Ministers under his Majesty even for such things as they shall do against the Law though by his Majesty's express command And what is this but to take an account of the discharge of his Majesty's Trust The Law exempts his Majesty from account in no other sense than it exempts him from fault because he is to do publick Affairs of the Kingdom by his Officers and Ministers of State and not by himself and they are to give an account of that which the Kings doth by them In which respect Sir William Thorp Chief Justice in Edward the Third's time was charged for breaking the Kings Oath as much as in him lay The King's Authority is above his Person and his Personal Commands ought not to controul those that proceed from his Authority which resideth in his Courts and his Laws and in his Person acting by the one and according to the other We are really such admirers and so fond of Kingship and so willing to excuse all his Peccadilloes that we retain it as a Maxime That the King can do no wrong i. e. he can do nothing but by Law which can do no wrong And if he do against the Law his personal Acts Commands or Writings oblige no more than if they were a Childs and the Books call him an Infant in Law though his publick capacity be not in non-age as the Parliament declared in Edward VI. which is not to exempt him from Errors or excuse his Crimes but to shew that he ought to be guided by his Council and that his own personal Grants or Commands cannot hurt any more than an Infant which may be reclaimed or recalled not to say corrected by the Courts of Justice or the Council of the Kingdom King James of happy memory in his Speech to the Parliament at White-Hall March 21. 1009. told them That a King Governing in a settled Kingdom leaves to be a King and degenerates into a Tyrant as soon as he leaves off to Rule according to his Laws In which case the King's Conscience may speak unto him as the poor Widow said to Philip of Macedon either Govern according to your Law Aut ne Rex â—is Therefore all Kings that arenâ—t Tyrants or Perjured will be glad to bound themselves within the limits of their Laws and they that perswade them the contrary are Vipers and Pests both against them and the Commonwealth Ibid. 531. I will ever prefer the Weal of the whole Commonwealth in making of good Laws and Constitutions to any particular or private ends of mine thinking ever the Wealth and Weal of the Commonwealth to be my greatest Weal and Worldly Felicity p. 493. The Arguments brought for Kings being appointed by God only and their Power derived from him only are grounded on some few wrested and misunderstood places of Scripture viz. By me Kings reign and Princes decree justice By me Princes rule and Nobles even all the Judges of the earth Prov. 8. 15 16. which are applicable to all other Governments as well as Regal and make only for the institution of the Kingly Office and nothing at all for the designation or application of the Person to the Office or Gods immediate nomination or appointment of Kings but for approbation of Kingly Government among other Governments by Judges or others whereby it manifestly appears that Kingly Authority hath no more of Divine Right than any other form of Government And it is manifest to all the World That God did not of his own free choice primarily erect and establish Regal Government but that of the Judges as the best Form of Government but waved his own Prerogative and Wisdom and to gratifie the publick desire of a froward ungrateful and rebellious People who were used accordingly by such their choice and felt the smart thereof accordingly as Samuel foretold so indulgent was God himself to National desires which should be a Document to Kings to comply very readily with the desires of their People in Government of their Kingdom as God here did Besides I must repeat again That no Man can have Lawful Authority to be King over any Nation but he must have it either immediately from God Almighty unto which there can be no possibility of pretence or from the publick consent of the Nation therefore Kings must have their just Authority from the People Let Scripture it self be judge all Israel made Omri captain of the host King over Israel not Zimri and his Son Achab rather than Tibni the Son of Ginath 1 Kings 16. 16 21 22. And the People made Solomon King not Adoniah though he were the elder Brother 1 Kings 1. God by the Peoples free suffrages createth such a Man King because by the Authoratative choice of the People the person is made of a private Man and no King a publick Person and a crowned King 2 Sam. 16. 18. The men of Israel said to Gideon Rule thou over us both thou and thy Son and thy Sons Son also And all the men of Sechem made Abimelech King Judg. 9. 6. So the elders of Giliad made Jepthah head over them Judg. 11. 8 9 10 11. So all the people of Judah made Azariah King instead of his father Amaziah 2 Kings 14. So in the change of Government when Israel not pleased with their Government by Judges whom God himself had appointed over them but would have a King like other Nations Wherein God so far waved his Prerogative that he complied with their publick desire and gratified them therein though contrary to his own Infinite Wisdom And Samuel said unto all Israel Behold I have hearkned unto your voice and in all that yee said unto me and have made a King over you And all the Congregation made a Covenant with the King Behold the Kings Son shall reign 2 Chron 23. 3. God himself by Moses gave the People power to chuse themselves a King and withal directions and qualifications whom and how qualified they should chuse when thou shalt say I will set a King over me like all the Nations round about me thou shalt in any wise set him King over thee whom the Lord thy God shall chuse i. e. according to his Rules and Prescriptions and Dictates viz. one from among thy Brethren shalt thou set King over thee thou maist not set a stranger over thee which is not thy Brother Deut. 17. 15. Consider also those Kings whom God most immediately caused to be anointed Kings and it will
had the force of Laws for Quintus Hortensius when the Commons of Rome had withdrawn themselves into Janiculum a Town beyond Tyber made a Law that those things which the Common People had commanded all the Quirites the Roman Citizens should be obliged by and observe which Law L. Valerius and M. Horatius had granted Centuriatis Comitiis i. e. to the general Assembly of the People of Rome assembled to treat of common affairs There was great difference between Plebiscita Orders made by the common People and the Laws for the Plebiscita the Tribunes demanded those things which did belong to the People but the Laws either Consul or Praetor or other Magistrate advising rogabantur were demanded whether they should be ratified or not They made also a difference between Populus the Citizens of Rome and Plebs the common Rout for that among the People were Patricians Senators and the Nobility but among the Rout there were no Patricians Notwithstanding whatever the People commanded was not always to be ratified because whatever was not just the People might not command The Counsels of the Senate though they were not brought yet if the Tribunes approved thereof and would have them ratified they obtained the force of Laws The Edicts and Interdicts of Praetors also sometimes and under some qualifications had the force of Laws which were intituled Jus Honorarium which were taken away by the Lex Cornelia Also the Responses of Wise-men went sometimes for currant Likewise the ablest and wisest Lawyers were esteemed and used as the best Interpreters and Judges of the Laws which some say was granted to them by Augustus others as confidently affirm they had it not from Augustus and other Princes but of antient custom and right long before But Caligula that Monster and Enemy of Mankind caused all the Decrees of the Lawyers to be forbidden and no body but himself to be the Interpreter and Judge of them At least the Decrees and Constitutions of Princes went for currant Law For when Caesar and the following Emperors had obtained the chief Empire and they only gave Laws and all the Right and Power of Legislation was rent from the People Lege Hortensia and was given to the Caesars so that their Wills and their Decrees without the counsel or consent of the People as formerly had the force of Laws contrary to the Laws of God Nature and Reason Caracalla being fully possessed of this exorbitant power used it accordingly who first killed his own Brother Geta who had equal share with him in the Government by the appointment of Severus their Father and then caused the great Lawyer Papinianus to be put to death because he would not defend that barbarous Act of his before the Senate alledging for his justification that it was easier to commit Parricide than defend it but afterwards this Caracalla was contented more Majorum to have him Canonized Divus modo non sit vivus to deify him being dead in another world rather than to have him a living Co-partner with him in the Empire On the contrary Trajan that most excellent Emperor being possessed of the same power and having published some private and special Laws or Indults for great merits and understanding that some relying thereon made ill use thereof by drawing them into Example and fearing lest contrary to the Laws and Customs of the Antients they should be drawn by application unto wrong Causes and being brought into Judgment and Courts of Justice or Pleadings as Precedents they should pass for Laws he refused afterwards to answer Plaintiffs or Defendants by any writing or Libel of Record lest thereby pernicious examples and as it were Seminaries of ill might spring from thence Antiochus had so great veneration for the Laws that by his publick Edicts he did declare that if he had at any time decreed contrary to Law and Right it should not be obeyed but should be freely opposed by whose example Agesilaus would be obliged by no Promises that he should make but on condition that they were just At what time the Common People did choose their Magistrates whom they always accounted as sacred in the sacred Mount it was provided by a Law that it should not be lawful for any Patrician to apprehend or disturb any of them and not without cause for when against the Power and Insolencies of the Patricians the common People did assemble to choose Tribunes as Champions and Defenders of their Laws and Liberties to hear complaints against the Patricians it would be very unjust that in that in which the People did choose their Defenders to the height and pitch of Honour they should admit those who were most adverse and shagreen to their Liberties and Franchises They esteemed their Tribunes as the Ephori among the Lacedaemonians advanced and delegated to that office to curb the Insolencies of the Spartan Kings lest they should abuse their power to the prejudice of the People Theopompus a Spartan King instated Five of his Friends to be Ephori as his Auxiliary Ministers in his Government at home when he went abroad in Person with his Armies though it was provided by the Laws of Sparta that their Kings should not go out in Person with their Armies which Ephori in process of time came to have so great a power over their Kings that they directed them what they were to do and also were Censors of all they did insomuch that they called Archidamus to account imprisoned him laid a great mulct upon him and at last took his life away The like they did to Pausanias and Agis Lacedaemonian Kings and were so terrible that they erected Timoris Sacellum a Chappel of Terror which Ephori together with their Kings did take Oaths every Month that they would observe the Laws of Lycurgus and preserve the Kingdom in peace In tract of time they grew so insolent that Cleomenes broke their Empire and restored the Kingly Power It was not lawful for any Patrician to accept of being a Plebeian Magistrate and Volero Tribune of the People ordained by a Law proclaimed with the consent of the Plebeians that the Plebeian Magistrate should be made without the Patricians and only the Plebeians admitted to the Tribunitian Councils And though formerly to be Dictator Consul Praetor or Censor none but Patricians were to be admitted yet afterwards the Patrician Magistrates were to share and communicate with the Plebeians So Sextius Primus of a Plebeian was made a Consul which then was ratified Lege Licinia which C. Licinius and L. Sextius Tribunes of the People proclaimed that the Consulship should be common with the Plebeians Q. also P. Philo and Cl. Licinius Stolo Plebeians the one did bear the office of Pretorship the other the Master of the Horse with the Patricians Moreover the Dictatorship in which was placed the greatest glory and Censorship we find to be in common with the Plebeians For both M. Rutilius the first Dictator and Censor then Q. Pompeius and Q. Metellus