proportion of diet for householde of the kings of Persia and of Alexander the great The great prices of precious ointmentes and the riotous vse of them in auncient time and howe that Plotius and Muleasses were disclosed vnto their enimies by their sweet odors The manifolde sorts of wines the alterings of water found out by riot and the rare deuises to make men haue an appetite to eate and drink superfluously The great incommodities of excesse in diet the great death in the Duchie of Wittenberg by immoderate drinkinge of wine and at the game of drinking set foorth by Alexander the great The wonderful grosenesse of Nicomachus Ptolomey Alexander Dionysius and Sanctius of the rate vertue of an hearbe to make a man leane the rauenous nature of the beast Rosomacha and of certaine straunge shepe and swine The ninth chapter Of thâ— riotous magnificence of the Pyramides Labyrinthes Obelisces of the Babylonian garden of the vaine costly shippes of Ptolomey Hiero Sesostres Caligula the woonderfull purposelesse bridges of Caligula and Traian of the sumptuous Theatre of Scaurus of the incredible charges bestowed by the auncient Romanes in playes games and triumphes The tenth Chapter What intollerable troubles riot doth bring vnto man how it caused Catiline Marcus Antonius Curio Caesar to reise vppe ciuill warrs and of a dumbe shewe of Heraclitus that nothing doth more cause rebellion The shamelesse shiftes of Iulius Caesar Caligula Nero and Domitian to maintein their riotous expences and of Cheopes to finishe his Pyâ—â—mis howe Apitius murdered himselfe because he was not able to beare the charges of his wonted riot The eleuenth Chapter The vnutterable tormentes of loue the inordinate lust of man bothe before after against nature Of an harlotte that said she neuer remembred her selfe maide howe Solomon and Achaz begat their heires at the age of eleuen yeares of a Camell that killed his keeper for deceiuing him in horsing his damme of a man in Germanie in our dayes that begat vpon his mother a childe the whiche he afterward married of an horse that killed himself after he perceiued that he had serued his dam of diuerse men that burned in the lecherous loue of them whom they neuer sawe Of diuerse that raged in lust vpon senselesse statuies The twelfth Chapter Of the tormentes of ambition whiche are also confirmed by the examples of Themistocles Alexander Iulius Caesar Mancinus and an Indian Of the wonderfull summes of money giuen by the Romanes to obteine the honour to beare office and of the manner of the choosing of their Magistrates The thirteenth Chapter Of the painful troubles procured vnto man by his vnsatiable couetousnesse The fourteenth Chapter Of the great care and hofufulnes ingrafted by nature in man for his burial the rites aswel auncient as moderne of almost al nations and sectes vsed at burials with mention of diuerse costly tumbes The xv Chapter Of the confuse and causelesse feare of man and particularly of the Romans thriâ—e of Augustus of the Greekes thrise of the confederates called the common wealth before Paris of the Emperials in our dayes at Villa Francha of Pysander of one that died by seeing of Hercules of Artemons madde fearefulnesse of Saint Vallier Duke of Valentinois howe Cassander was affrighted at the sight of Alexanders Image and other suche vaine feares The xvi Chapter Of the furious wrath of man and specially of Walter Earle of Breme and Matthias king of Hungarie The xvij Chapter Of the care and hofulnesse that religion and superstition bredeth in man Of the vntollerable sorrowe for sinne of Dauid Marie Magdalene Fabiola Edgar the griping griefes of a guiltie conscience and the vaine imaginations of the Melancholike The xviij Chapter Of the great hofulnesse to prolong their liues of Lewes the eleuenth Charles the seuenth Dionysius Commodus and Aristippus The xix Chapter Of the shortnesse and vncerteintie of mans life and by howe many casualties it is cut off and of sundry straunge kindes of souden deathes The xx Chapter That not great riches and large Empire do make a man happie the which Socrates proued by an excellent induction whereunto is annexed a golden sâ—ntence of Agesilaus The xxi Chapter A discourse of the brittle blisse of Alexander the great The xxij Chapter The infelicitie and dolefull end of Demetrius yea his variable life and actes The xxiij Chapter The greatnesse and also great mishaps and troubles of Iulius Caesar and a worthy saying of Charles the fift The xxiiij Chapter Of the variable euents of Marcus Antonius The xxv Chapter Of Caligula his monstrous doings vntollerable enuies rare infelicities and shamefull end but the singular vertues of his father and great loue that all men bare vnto him The xxvi Chapter Of Domitians doings The xxvij Chapter Of the casualties of Commodus The xxviij Chapter Of the rare conquestes and losses of Cosdras king of Persia The xxix Chapter Of the insolent exulting of Vgoline Earle of Pisa Fredericke the second and Henrie the second for then good fortune but their farall falles and againe the moderation of mynde in their victories of Epaminondas Philip of Macedome Camyllus Paulus Aemylius Charles the fifte and why at Rome a bondman did ride in the chariot whereat did hang a bell and a whip with him that triumphed The xxx Chapter Of the infortunate fall of many great conquerours and founders of Empires The xxxi Chapter Of the greatnesse and also vnluckie chaunces of Augustus The xxxij Chapter Of Traiane The xxxiij Chapter Of Seuerus The xxxiiij Chapter Of Constantine the great The xxxv Chapter Of Iustinian The xxxvi Chapter Of Heraclius The xxxvij chapter Of Michael Paleologus The xxxviij chapter Of Charles the great The xxxix chapter Of Charles the fift The xl chapter Of Solomon The xli chapter Of Herodes king of Iudea The xlij chapter Of Mahomet The xliij chapter Of Hismael the Sophie The xliiij chapter Of the Cherife of Maroccho The xlv chapter Of Barbarossa king of Algier The xlvi chapter Of Tamberleine the Tartar. The xlvij chapter Of Selime the first great Lord of the Turkes The xlviij chapter Of Ferdinand the sixt king of the Hispaines The xlix chapter Of William Conquerour The l. chapter Of Henrie the second king of England The li. chapter Of Edward the third king of England The lij chapter Of Henrie the fift king of England The conclusion The Errata Fol. pag. line Fault Correction 1 1 20 singlenesse of God singlenesse God 4 1 21 of bountifull nature with the giftes of bounti c. 5 1 17 Camelion pardis Cameliopardis 10 1 3 you now 10 1 12 the them 11 2 22 poemes Paeanes 12 2 16 people Peple 12 2 32 Triumpher Triumuir 15 1 3 furmament frumentie 15 2 32 tenour terrour 17 2 19 gratious grieuous 22 1 10 100000. 1000000. 27 2 17 Myrrha Murrha 40 2 22 made make 57 1 32 burne burie 59 1 14 siluer Siler 100 1 28 these the East 100 2 6 demeanour misdemeanour 100 2 20 Cicero Curio 103 2 12 salting sallying 104 2 7 25000. 250000. 85 1 14 mire meere 88 2 21 abiect obiect 101 2 18 boldnesse baldnesse 102 1 19 moued monyed 104 2 14 of the Bataui of rhe king of the Bataui 115 1 3 especiall espiall 115 2 16 orgents his agents 112 1 25 the these 113 1 12 cartes certes 113 1 15 answered nothing answered nothing c. 114 1 12 scuffled stiffled 155 2 11 Sentines S. Quintins 116 2 22 seas feese 119 1 14 liueing his liuing 120 1 28 named hauing named 120 2 22 now nor 126 1 34 hall hat 128 2 14 finally smally 140 2 12 where wheras 142 2 19 brought brought foorth 137 2 11 Angier Argier Other escapes of lesse weight and small importance I referre gentle Reader to thine owne correction in thy priuate reading
of the partes betwéene the mouthe and the gullet falling inward of the spondill in the nape of the necke Asthma or hasing the stones wormes both round and astarides a kinde of wortes called acrochordones satyarismes or standing of the yarde by a smal inflamation strumes or the Kinges euill and other small tumors when they be elder and come vnto fourtéene yeares there happen many of the diseases of the ages which went before and longer agues and bléeding at the nose But vnto young men spitting of bloud consumpsions of the lungs sharp feuers the falling sicknesse and other diseases specially those whiche I haue spoken of before but vnto them whiche haue passed this age befall Asthma or hasinges pleurisies inflamations of the lungs lethargies phrensies burning agues long laskes skourings vpward and downeward bloudy fluxes lienteries piles But vnto old men hard fetching of breath rheumes with coughes stranguries difficulties of making water paines of the ioyntes swimming of the head apoplexies cacheries itches ouer all the body moistnesse of the bellie eyes and eares dimnesse of sight glaucedines or drinesse and concretion of the christaline humour in the eyes and ill hearing But although no age of mannes life is frée from diseases yet perhappes some parte of the yeare is so benigne that in it the body hauing rest from gréefe may refreshe and repaire his strength whiche was welnéere quite tyred and killed with the maladies and paynes whiche it suffered before No saies Hippocrates all diseases happen at all times but yet some diseases are more bredde and worse at one time then at another In the springtime reigne madnesse melancholy the falling sicknesse fluxes of bloud squinseis catarrhes hoarsnes coughes leprosies morphewes impetigines many vlcerous pustules small tumours paines of the ioyntes In the Summer some of those before rehearsed and agues continuall and burning and very many tertian and quartan agues vomitings and lasks ophthalmies or inflamations of the eares paines of the eares exulcerations of the mouth putrefactions of the general parts and sweatinges But in Autumne many of the summer diseases and feauers quartane wandring agues great splenes dropsies consumptions of the lungs straÌ„guries lienteries and bloudy fluxes paines of the hippe sqinseyes Asthma or hasinges paines in the smal gutts falling sicknesses maddnesse and melancholy In the Winter pleurisies inflamations of the lunges lethargies rheumes catarhes hoarsnesse coughes paines of the brest sides and loines swimming of the head and apoplexies Not onely no part of mans age nor of the yeare is frée from diseases no nor yet any kinde of weather or state or teÌ„perature of the ayre If it raine much there come long agues laskes putrefactions the falling euill apoplexies and squinseies In great droughts consumptions ophthalmies paines of the ioynts stranguries and bloudy fluxes Much heate bringeth effemination of the fleshe weakenesse of the sinewes and braine whereby the wittes minde be as it were benummed fluxes of bloud swounings after whome folowe death But colde causeth conuulsions tetanes or distentions benumming the killing of the natural heate making of the fleshe blacke and blewe quiueringes and shakings Southerne windes dull the hearing dimme the sight make the head heauie and men to be slouthfull lither but a northerne constitution brings coughs horsenesse binding of the â—â—lly and stranguries quiuering paine of the sides and brest So that Hippocrates truly sayes that all whole man from his natiuitie is sicknesse Ye though they infinite other bodily griefes and diseases wherewithall man is oppressed were not sufficient to kéepe this proud creature in his obediente and to make him acknowlege his creator he is no lesse but far more vexed with bodilesse perturbations of the mynde vnto whom he only at the least in most in the other is most subiect Only sayes Plinie the diligent searcher of nature who with Hippocrates haue sayd almost al that you haue heard of the miserie of man to him is giuen mourning to him ryot that innumerable wayes in euery meÌ„ber to him only ambition to him only couetousnesse to him only vnmeasurable desire of life to him only superstition to him only care of burial yea and what shal be when he is not To none is more brittle life to none greater lust of all things to none more confuse feare to none sharper and extreme rage and madnesse ¶ The fift Chapter The immoderate mourning of man and examples of them whiche haue dyed for sorrowe conceiued for the decay of Gods glory countries calamities infortunitie of parents children brethren wiues maisters and friends ANd these thinges not to be rather amplyfied rhetorically then spoken truly may easily be proued and first of mourning All other liuing things bycause they are moued only by the senses do apply them selues only vnto those thinges which are present little or nothing féeling thinges absent whereby it commeth to passe that they be not eyther so much or so long grieued with the losse of theirs But man onely by diuine reason whiche is giuen vnto him by God as the principallest and excellentest gift of nature doth perceiue and féele things absent past and to come which multiplyeth his miseries and sorrowes the vnsearchable wisdome of God so ordeining that nothing in this world should be in all partes blessed And as man by nature is desirous and louing societie and reposeth the greatest part of his felicitie in the mutuall loue of parents children husbande wife kinsfolkes friendes countrie yea and most principally of God so doubtlesse must we néedes confesse that it is vnto him the cause of great and many and sundry sorrowes and assent vnto Martialis that he whiche loueth not feeleth lesse ioy and lesse griefe the manifold mischaunces of death dishonor either by corrupt maners or otherwise griefs diseases both of body and mynde of our kinsfolkes and friends vnto all which kinde of calamities the world is too too muche subiect continually supplying vnto vs aboundant sorrowes And howe great the acerbitie of this mourning is besides the coÌ„mon examples of whom daily experience giues vnto vs store the lamentable habite of those which be in heauinesse doth sufficiently bewray their faces pale and leane their eyes hollowe their bodies nothing else but skin and bone shewing the knitting together of euery ioynt their continuall watchings their abhorring of meate after whiche ensueth death And of voluntarie death willingly gon vnto these cases will I rehearse vnto you examples For pietie towardes God we haue innumerable of holy martyrs who suffered al terrible torments to aduaunce God his glory and of Helie as soone as he heard that the Arke of God was taken fell backward from his chaire and brake his necke of duetifull affection to their countrie out of Iustine Codrus the king of Athens and out of Liuie the two Romane Decij who willingly lost their liues for their countries welfare out of Paulus Iouius Pomperane in our age a noble maÌ„ of Fraunce who being strickeÌ„ with extreme sorow for the
madde feastes two are moste famous or more truly infamous at the one were two and twentie courses furnished with woonderfull dainties and betwéene euery course he and all his guestes washed and vsed women The other he celebrated after this maner he would that at all his fréendes their houses a sumptuous feast shoulde be prepared with the selfe same dishes of meate that he him selfe shoulde be serued although the one dwelt in Palatio an other in mounte Celius and other on mount Capitolinus and some beyond Tyber finally some in one place and some in another yet must they eate their dishes in order and not one man bée in a course before another and menne were sent from one vnto an other to bring newes in what course they were so that one meale was scarse ended in a whole day they washing and vsing women betwéene euery course I finde it also recorded in authours of credite that Lucius Lucullus becomming verie riotous after his triumphe of Mithridates ordeined stewes for Sea fish and also great pooles for fresh and houses to franke all kindes of foules and venerie also appointed a rate of expences for euery one of his dining chambers of whome one called Apollo hadde his proportion 50000. nūmum that is iij. C.x.l. xij s̄ vj.d. but Plutarch affirms it to be fiue myriades of drachmes which is 1562. l. ten shillings the which did fiue times excéede the ordinarie rate of Alexander the great in his great glorie who hauing at meales with him vsually lx or lxx of his familiars spent 100. mines a day that is 312. poundes tenne shillings But the king of Persia daily féeding fiftéene thousand spent at a supper 400. talentes whiche is thréescore and fiftéene thousand poundes But least that any man should think that this excesse in diet was common at Rome we reade it recorded besides the lawe made by Licinius Crassus in the time of Lucullus for the charges of diet whereby they were forbidden to spende vpon the Calendes Nones and faire daies aboue 30. asses which is xxii.d. ob vpon their diet but on other dayes there should not be serued to the table more then thrée poundes of drie fleshe and a pounde of salte meate and whatsoeuer grewe on the vine trée or earth that Augustus who saies Suetonius was a liberall house kéeper had ordinarily but thrée dishes serued to his table when he had most but sixe But when he was alone hée was contented with housholde bread smal fishes curds and gréene figges And also the daily proportion of Alexander Seuerus his boorde in those riotous daies was for the whole day thirtie sextaries of wine that is fiue galons one potle and a pint and of fine manchet thirty pound of housholde bread for his retinue fiftie of diuers kindes of fleshes thirtie pounds he had also hennes and egges and vpon a holy day a goose on principall feasts a feasaunt and sometimes two ye and two cockes and euery day a hare and often venison whereof he woulde alwaies send part vnto his familiars that I may omit the sparing of Pertinax who would haue halfe lettices to be set vp to serue him againe and his successor Iulian who would make thrée meales of a hare or a pigge and often suppe with out fishe or fleshe But vnto these two lasciuious banquets of Heliogabalus will I adioine two other famous feasts not onely for the number of daintie dishes but also for the magnificent giftes that were giuen thereat vnto the guestes Capitolinus writeth that Lucius Verus copartener in the Empire vnto Antonius Cōmodus made a feast whereat were first séene in Rome twelue persons for they in the auncient worlde neuer vsed to haue aboue nine according to that saying of Varro in Aulus Gellius that a feast must beginne at the number of the graces and ende with the muses that is to wit neither be fewer then thrée nor aboue nine And Capitolinus saith that it was a common prouerbe in euery mans mouthe Septem conuiuium nouem vero conuititium But to returne vnto Lucius he gaue vnto euery one of the guestes the beautiful boy that waited on his cuppe and also the caruer and all the dishes that were serued in and vnto euery one of them of all those byrds beastes and fishes that were serued at the table one aliue and also at euery change of drinke and as often as they dranke cuppes of myrrha and christal of Alexandria ye and of siluer golde and pretious stone They had also giuen garlandes with many pendentes of golde hanging downe like vnto ashen keyes floures straunge for the time of the yeare Boxes also of golde like vnto Alabaster boxes full of precious ointments were also bestowed on them with charriottes whose ioyntes were of siluer and their moyleliters that in thē they might returne from the feast The charges wherof is saide to be valued at sexagies that is fiue and fourtie thousand pounds but when Antonius Cōmodus heard of this riotous banquet he bewailed the publike state of the Romane Empire And of suche like feastes where also liue birdes and beastes were giuen vnto the guestes also crownes of golde and siluer and the Camelles whiche they did drinke did after their maner mount on doeth Atheneus reporte to bee made by two Antioches kinges of Syria who also telleth that when Cleopatra Quéene of Egypt came into Cilicia to receiue Marcus Antonius she prepared for him a roial feast al the furniture wher of was of golde magnificently adorned with precious stones and wrought with excellent workemanship and also the walles were hanged with purple and golde And when she had in this sorte furnished and garnished twelue dining chambers she inuited Antonius and other whome it pleased her But when that Antonius woondered at the magnificence of the sight she smiling said that she did giue it him all and desired him with his familiars and capteines to suppe with her the next day where the furniture was so passing gorgeous and rich that the first séemed verie palterie and this also she gaue vnto Antonius But the rich and braue bed wherat euery capteine sate and the cuppes they dranke in with the sumptuous stooles and seats she gaue vnto the capteines willed them to take them away with them And when they departed she gaue vnto euery man that was in dignitie a riche licter and the men that bare it and to the rest goodly horses with their braue and riche ornaments And of suche a magnificent feast telleth Iouius in the life of Galeazo the vicount of Milan who at the marriage of his daughter vnto Lionel sonne vnto Edward the third King of this noble Realme commanded that after euery course the whiche were aboue thirtie so many gyftes of vnwonted magnificence should folowe as there were dishes in the course all whiche thinges Iohn Galeazo his sonne who was Prince of the chosen young gentlemen that waited bringing vnto
and made meate and drinke onely for noble men But it can not be better expressed then with his owne wordes Out of the garden is the commons their shambles with howe muche more innocent and harmelesse diet No I doe beléeue it is better to diue into the bottome of the sea and kindes of oysters to be sought by shipwrackes birdes to be set beyond the riuer of Phasis who one would haue thought should haue béene safe from fetching by reason of the fabulous terrour that we reade in Poets no for that they are the more pretious to goe a fouling for other into Numidia and Aethiopia among the graues or to fight with wilde beastes coueting to be eaten of that which an other man doth eate But oh Lorde howe good cheape are hearbs howe ready for pleasure and satietie if that the same indignation and spite which doth euery where did not also here occurre and come in the waye it were in déede to be borne withall exquisite fruites to growe of whome some for their tast and verdure some for their greatnesse other for their straungenesse shoulde be forbidden poore men and wines to be made to laste vntill great ages and to be gelded with bagges neyther any man to be so olde that he may not drinke wine elder then him selfe and also riot to inuent a certaine foode out of corne onely and the fine floure of it to be taken and it to liue and continue longer then the workes and ingrauings of the bakehouses some to be breade for noblemen some for the commons breade corne discending in so many kyndes euen vnto the basest of the commons What is there a distinction also in hearbes and hath riches made a difference in a meate yea which is to be bought for an halfepenie And some also of them do the tribes say growe not for them the stalke by franking being made so greate that a poore mans table may not receiue and holde him Nature had made sperage wilde that euery man might euery where gather them but beholde nowe there is francked sperage and Ranenna selleth them for poundes a péece Out alas the prodigies of the paunch it would haue béene a maruel not to be lawfull for cattell to eate thistles it is not lawful for the commons Water also is separated and the verye Elementes of nature are seuered by the power of riches These men drinke snowe they ice and do turne the punishmentes and pains of mountains into the pleasure of the throte Coldenesse is kept in heate and a deuice is founde for snowe to be colde in forreigne and contrarie monethes Other water they boile and that also anone after they winter or vse in the winter hauing warme water in winter So nothing doth please man being suche as it pleaseth nature And be there also some hearbes whiche growe onely for rich men let no man looke about for the holy and Auentine hills and the departure of the commons out of the citie for surely death shall make them equall whome wealth hath ouermatched Thus farre Plinie who also in his 14. booke telleth the waywardnes of men to be suche about their wines that they had inuented 195. kindes of them and of special kindes of those generall almoste double the number Neither did the immeasurable charges of their meats satisfie their vnthriftie mindes but that by vomiting they must make themselues readie to eat often as though there had béen no other vse of eating meate but to vomite it vp again not muche vnlike vnto the Rosomacha in Lithuama a beast of the bignesse of a dogge and the face of a catte the backe and taile of a foxe who vseth when he hathe filled his bellie with meate as full as it wil hold to scummer out that whiche he hath eaten with squising his bellie betwéene two trées standing néere together and then incontinently to returne againe vnto the carreine and so to do continually so long as he can gette meate But the roisting Romanes to haue a quarell vnto the cuppe besides salte meates and olde rotten chéese whiche are in vse also nowe a dayes among our tipplers they vsed to drinke colde poisons as hemlocke that deathe might make them powre in strong wine lustely to saue their liues other tooke the poulder of a pomise stone and other like thinges moste abhominable whiche by rehearsing I am ashamed to teache the wariest of those tiplers saies he do we sée to be boyled with baynes and to be carried out of them halfe dead that they may drinke the harder but other can not stay for the bedde no not for their clothes but incontinently naked and hasing take mightie great cuppes as it were to shewe their strength and plentifully powre in the wine that they may immediatly vomite it out and againe swill and vppe with it straightway and so the thirde time as though they were borne to destroy wine as and if wine could not otherwise be shedde but through mennes bodies But the fruites or rather incommodities of rauenous gluttonie doth he set downe in that place That it fall out the best vnto them they neuer sée the rising of the Sunne and they liue the lesse while Hereof comes palenesse hanging eyliddes vlcers of the eyes shaking handes which wil shedde full cuppes whiche is a present paine furiall sleapes disquiet and ill rest in the night the next day stinking breathes caste out of the mouth and obliuion almost of all things and the death of the memorie It is recorded by Plutarch that at a game of drinking made by Alexander 41. dranke them selues dead An. 1540. was a very good yeare for wines in the which there were found to die in the duchie of Wittenberg at feasts from Autumne vnto the first sunday of Lent 400. persons so that we néede no auncient examples Many dishes saies sage Seneca bring many diseases and innumerable diseases do rewarde innumerable cookes which is agréeable vnto that golden sentence of Plinie great diuersitie of dishes is very pestilent but of sauces and dressings of them more pestilent Aske mée sayes Seneca in his controuersies why we die so soone because we liue by deathes But admit that a man did not with excessiue quantitie of meate put the vaines in daunger of breaking nor set on fire the spirites with hote wines whiche the Phycisians will neuer graunt yet who woulde not thinke it more intollerable then death by gourmandise to be so ouerloden with flesh and fatte that he can not moue as Nicomachus of Smyrna or not goe as was Ptolomei Euagetes king of Egypt who in many yeares before he went foorthe to receiue that Péerelesse Paragon of the worlde Scipio Africanus the yonger walked not on foote or Alexander king of that Realme who could not walke for grosenesse but staied vp with two men or be like vnto Dionysius the tyrant of Heraclea whose fatnesse would not suffer him to fetch his breath and did put him in continual
feare of smouldering wherfore the physicians prescribed very long smal néedles to be made with whom his seruants shold pricke his sides and bellie when he was fallen into a dead sléepe as long then as they were driuen through the fatte only he felt nothing but when that the néedles were come vnto a more pure place touched the quick flesh then would he awake This I thinke was one of the kinde of weathers that Ioannes Leo reportes that he sawe at Asioe a citie of Egypt of whome the tayles weighed some 80.l and some 150.l by the which weight they were made immoueable vnlesse that their tayles were laid in litle whéeleborowes or of the hogges mentioned by skilful Scaliger that could not moue for fatte and became so insensible that mice made them holes to néedle in their buttockes and they not once felt them Maga the King of Cyrene was choked with his foule paunche Whiche thing Sanctius the King of Castill fearing whose mightie masse of belly and fatte had taken from him all function of mannes life chose rather to bée killed out of hande by taking of a pernicious hearte of the king of Corduba a Moore to make him leane then to abide the intollerable torments of many years pressing to deathe with so greate a weight The ninth Chapter Of the riotous magnificence of the Pyramides Laberinthes Obelisces the gardein at Babylon the vaine sumptuous shippes of Ptolomey Hiero Sclostres and Caligula the chargeable fruitelesse bridges of Traian and Caligula the theater of Seaurus the incredible charges of the Romanes in playes games and triumphes NOwe leauing priuate riot I will rehearse examples of publike whiche they do cloake with the honourable name of magnificence And first wil I speake of the Pyramides the idle and foolishe ostentation of the Kings of Egypt séeing that it is recorded that they were made for no other vse nor purpose but that they shoulde not leaue money vnto their successours or those that lay in await for the crowne or else to kéep the people from idlenesse Within 78. yeares and foure moneths were there thrée made The greatest of which Pyramides is reported by Herodotus and Plinie to haue béene built by 360000. men in twentie yeares of Arabian stone It is ingrauen in the Pyramis that there was laide out for the prouision of the workmen in persely onions and garlike 1600. talents whiche is 288000.l But Plinie hathe 1800. which amounteth to 324000.l whiche if it be so saies Herodotus how muche is it credible was consumed vpon the tooles meate and apparell of the workemen Euery fronte of this Pyramis for it was fouresquare being eight acres broade and so many highe whiche acres of theirs being 240. long and 120. broade conteine 28800. foote and multiplied by eight amounteth to 230400. foote and al of square stone and very decently and finely shutte together neuer a stone being lesse and shorter then thirtie foote But whereas the Pyramides be wonderful yet do the Laberinthes farre excéede them in sumptuous folie The Egyptian Laberinthe hathe twelue haules couered ouer with one roufe and sixe gates on the northe side sixe other on the southe directly one ouer against the other and enclosed with a wall The houses or roomes of it are part vnder the ground and parte aboue built one vpon the other and bothe in number 3500. The vpper buildinges saies Herodotus we sawe and reporte that which we behelde But we learned the lower by heare say relation of others For the gouernours of the Egyptians would by no meanes haue them shewed because that they say there were bothe the sepulchres of the kings that built the Labyrinth also of the sacred crocodiles so that of the lower edifices we relate that whiche wée know by heare say the vpper we ourselues sawe greater then mens workes For the goings out through the houses and the goings backe through the haules moste diuerse did strike me with infinite admiration From the haule we goe into parlours out of parlours into chambers out of chambers into other solars and out of parlours againe into other halles Of all these edifices the roofe ouer head is of stone as be also the walles and garnished euery where with ingrauen imagerie All the halles for the greatest parte are of fine wrought white stone set rounde about with pillers close to the angle where the labyrinthe endeth standeth a pyramis of fourtie paces euery pace being sixe foote euery foote foure hand breadth in this pyramis be there great beastes ingrauen where the way is vnder the grounde And whereas the labyrinthe is suche yet the standing poole of Merios where the labyrinthe standeth maketh me much more to maruell whose circuite is 3600. furlongs that is to wit as much as Aegypt is vnto the sea Where it is déepest is it 50. paces That it was made by hand and digged downe so déepe to the two pyramides conuince which stande almost in the middest of the lake being fiftie paces aboue the water and so muche vnder Vpon both of whom is there a collossus of stone setting in a throne so that the pyramides are 100 paces highe The water of the poole is not naturall for the soyle is verie drye but deriued out of Nylus sixe monethes flowing into the poole and running backe into Nylus so many In those monethes that it runnes out inriching the kings treasure euerie day with a talent of siluer for the aboundance of fish which is in it and whē it floweth into the poole euery day with twentie poūds This poole do the inhabitants say runnes out into the Syrtes of Africa through a mightie ditch digged vnder the ground through the middest of the lande Of these monstrous mazes thus writeth Plinie The first of them that euer was made was built in Aegypt about 3600. yeares ago of the which Dedalus no doubt tooke a plat to build his labyrinthe in Creta but he imitated not aboue the hundreth part of it which doth conteine goings round of wayes and occourses and recourses méetings with wayes and goings backe of wayes out of whom no man can get him selfe and this happeneth not bycause the wayes doe often turne and winde this way and that way but only by reason of the thicke standing of doores set of purpose to deceiue men when they méete with the right way and to make them go backe againe into the wrong wayes This was the seconde labyrinthe the thirde was in Lemnos the fourth in Italie all of them vaulted aboue with polished stone The Aegyptian labyrinthe had at the comming in pillers of marble of Paros but al the rest of the pillers of the house were of marble of Syene whiche I maruell at séeing that Syenian marble is far fairer glistering with thicke red spottes like fire the stones are so strongly compacted that no not many ages can dissolue them the Hieropolitanes helping to their vttermost who did wonderfully annoy that enuied worke To declare the
their hartes when they haue gréeuously offended him do surmount all dolour conceiued for any other heauie happe Hereof Dauid whom neither the perilous persecution of his maister Prince Saule could dismay nor the huge mōstrous might of Golias or many other infinit nūber of armed enimies appaul neither the sorrowful banishment from wife kinsfolks countrie wring teares from being admonished of his fault rored out for sorow of his hart watered his couch with wéeping did eate ashes like bread and mingled his cup with teares The stout king Edgar whose power and puisance made all his neighbours to quake being warned of his vnchaste life fel down flat at the féete of a beggerly Monk with mightie streames of teares waltering downe his chéekes from the bottome of a heauie hart asking pardon of God broken off with many a scalding sighe and discontinued by infinite sobbes and loude shrikes yea to make manifest his compunction he that proudly had caused eight kinges subdued by him to rowe him in a boate sitting in his royall robes now became so lowly that during the space of seuen yeares he abandoned the vse of the kingly crowne thinking himselfe not worthy to weare the ensigne of supreame honour and Empire ouer the honourable and worshippeful of this florishing Realme séeing that he had debased himselfe by wicked fornication to be one bodie with a vile strumpet From what other perpetuall spring came those mightie streames of teares with whom Marie Magdalene washed our Sauiours féete Who can with words expresse her immeasurable sorrowe which so at one instant wroung out of her al the moisture of her bodie and turned it into repentant teares whom shée dried with the golden lockes of her head which with their beautie swéete smell of precious ointmentes and curious gorgeous trimming had allured many great men vnto her lewde loue and made them her bestlike bondmen slaues Neither if Cicero his soule were translated into my breast coulde I with wordes worthily vtter the griping griefes of that noble Romane Ladie Fabiola who nothing regarding the glittering glorie of her honorable auncestours the Fabij nor her owne honour nor yet the shame reproch whiche it might seeme to be vnto the vnwise worlde casting off her gownes of silke her costly cawles her rich attyre of head her precious Iewels of golde pearle and stone stood of her owne voluntarie will at the solēne feast of Easter bare footed bare headded with her torne golden locks hanging downe detormously ouer her shoulders her bodie pined away and made lothsome with the long paines of penitence clothed in prickinge haire-cloth before a Church porche in that citie where a great number of her noble progenitours had rode in their triumphall chariots richely adorned in their Picta Toga and gyrtle of estate and with her horrible habite cruel beating and buffeting of that faire face of hers whiche had liked one man to well her dolefull sighes sorrowful sobbinges flowing teares she turned the bishoppe the priestes and all the whole people vnto compassion and prayers neither did this doleful day end her penitence but that which finished her life For she builded a publike hospitall the first that euer was erected at Rome into the which were all the poore and lamentable lazars brought out of all the stréetes of mightie Rome in careful prouiding for whom as she passed the liberalitie of all bounteous mistresses so did she in painefull attendance seruice awaiting on them more then match the diligence of al good seruants thinking it not to be sufficient to bee pitifull in purse vnlest that shée also were merciful with hand yea she spent al her goods which were inestimable to haue thē that might with painful toile continually punishe her rebelling bodie Howe did she daily tyre her sender and soft shoulders with the bearing of impotent beggers The swannish necke of that beautifull yong Ladie which was wont to be adorned with chaines of golde and precious stones was nowe almost continually beclipsed with the scuruie scabbie armes of leperous Lazars leauing behinde on her white skin the marks of their filthie running sores and their lothsome créepers Her eyes whom before time fine fantasies did wholy féede nowe behelde nothing but scalde heads scuruie handes faces and breastes eaten with cruel cankers running legges and rotten bodies swarming full of mightie magots Her nose in stéede of her accustomed precious ointments Arabian odours and sweete flowers had with him but stinkinge vlcers and rotten carkasses and all the filthy excrementes of the bodie The eares who were wont to heare the swete melodie of voyce and instruments are nowe continually filled with the horrible grones and grieuous gaspes of men labouring for life and fetching the laste painefull panges the lamentable moane of folkes tormented with incessante paines of the ioyntes and the loude cries of poore wretches burned with hoat scalding carbuncles and gnawen with eating vlcers The tounge which had béene vsed to talke of pleasant matters was nowe wholy occupied in speaking of lothesōe lice filthy vlcers stinking corses The palate which before coulde taste nothinge but the pleasantest wines and the delicatest meates nowe was glad of an olde harde dried browne breade cruste the vilest herbes rootes and water that shée by pinching of her owne belly might haue wherwithall to buye holsome meates and thinges to make good suppinges for the sicke and impotente and to satisfie the hungrie mawes of the almoste starued beggers Those fiue fingers whiche whiledome must doe no worke for marring of their whitenesse no scarce weaue their riottous purple queenes worke nor sowe fine knacks now were made as harde as horne with scowring of beggers pisse pottes and pannes and were all filthy and foule with quisshing out of rotten matter out of mangie legges and busied still in washing of their stinkinge scabbie and poysoned cloutes Finally all her riche robbes pretious iewelles gay geare were soulde away to buy the naked beggers garmentes to defende them against the colde and shée stripped into her patched peticote her clouted hose her pegged shoes and a course kerchiefe to trusse in her neglected lockes But whie stande I so longe aboute Fabiola as though her sorrowe for sinne were rare and all the aunciente ecclesiasticall and sacred histories were not full of the like as our wicked age is verie fruiteful in bringing forth of men who tormented with the cruell remorse of a conscience cumbered with the knowledge of innumerable heynous facts committed by them and doubling them with degenerate despaire wickedly conceiued of Goddes mercie whiche surmounteth all his workes do wilfully murder them selues folishly thinking to ease the pinching paines of the soule by seperating it from the bodie whē as in verie déede they thereby immesurably augmente her miserie tormentes But besides these piteous penitentes are there an other kinde of sinnefull men who beeing plunged ouer heade and eares in the myre of mischiefes and sinnes
do contemne their deadly daunger and seeme to haue an insensibilitie of their sinnes and perill finally are ashamed of nothing so muche as to shewe ye any light signe of sorrowe for their horrible déepe sinke of sinne yet can not these lustie bloudes escape the inwarde percinge pricke of a guiltie conscience which tormenteth them a thousande folde more terriblye then if it were the deadly stinge of a viper and worketh them more woe and vnrest then doth the madde flie the coursed cattell in the rageing dogge dayes These iolly gentlemen tremble â— shake at euerie flash of lighteninge and be halfe deade at a clappe of thunder as though they came not of anie naturall cause but were sente downe from heauen by angred God purposely to reuenge their outrages Not in the day time not in the night will their vexed mindes graunte vnto their bodies anie reste WheÌ„ they go vnto their meales no one morsell of meate will go downe their throates fearing as men that had their iawes dried vp with a longe wastinge sicknesse yea they cast vp their drinke like vnto younge children makinge a sowre face at sweete Hippocras as though it were sharpe vineagre so vnsauourie doth remorse of their sinnes make al things vnto them But when the time of the night doth adhorte them to goe vnto their restlesse bedde they dare not lye alone for feare that a thousande diuelles woulde carrie them away bodie and soule vnto hell Nowe after they be tyred with tossinge and turning if they chaunce to happen on a slumber for sounde sleape will not the tormenting torche that burneth without intermission in their troubled brestes in anie case graunt them with what dreadfull dreames méete they howe starte they howe hydeously crie they out If theÌ„ religioÌ„ ingendereth suche griefes what tormentes may we think superstitioÌ„ bringeth for I can not tel how saith Seneca vaine thinges do trouble and vexe vs farre more theÌ„ true for the true haue their certeine measure and quantitie but whatsoeuer commeth of an incertâ—ntie is deliuered and giuen ouer vnto the coniecture and licence of a fearefull minde and what that will make of them may the straunge imaginations of the melancholyke manifestly declare some steadfastly beleauinge that they haue eaten venimous serpentes soÌ„e that they haue lost their heads soÌ„e that they haue drouÌ„ke poysoÌ„ soÌ„e that they beare vp al the whole world faynte faile vnder so heauie a burden other that they sée Atlas whoÌ„e the Poetes fayne to staye vp heauen with his shoulders to shrinke and giue ouer and presently readie to lett fall the weightie engine of the heauens on their heades some that they be earthen vessells and merueilously feare breaking other crie out if they do but see one come into the chamber for feare he will treade on his nose some that they haue deadly botches where as in verie déede there are no such thinges with 1000 such like vaine feares al of whome it were as madd a parte for me to rehearse as it was is for theÌ„ to imagine The eighteenth Chapter The hoofullnesse of Lewes the eleuenth Charles the seuenth French kings of Dionysius Commodus and Aristippus for the prolonging of their liues ANd no lesse madnesse considering the manifolde miseries the often calamities the greate mischiefes and annoyances whiche happen vnto man in his life is mans immesurable desiring of liuing which Plinie assigneth for a proper incoÌ„moditie of mankinde Lewes the French kinge the eleuenth of that name when he had liued thrée score yeares perceiuinge that he was fallen into a sicknesse which was likely to shorten his time and also being feared with the sixtieth yeare of his age because that none of the Capetts had passed that bound which yet could not coÌ„tent him what wayes wrought he to prolong his lothsome life to what solemne shrine offered he not greate rich oblations to what famous house of religion throughout all Fraunce gaue not hee fayre lands for a great parte of it wrongefully wrouÌ„g from pore men which donations because they were so great were reuoked after his death to what holy man of name in al Christendome sent not he the golden gifts instantly desiring them in their daylie praiers to God to haue a speciall memento for the large increase of his yeares But amonge all other he fet out of Calabria one Robert an Heremite a man of all them of his time moste renowned for holynesse of life at whose feete at the firste méetinge he fell downe desiring him with manie a bitter teare to prolonge his life foolishly hopinge as the Heremite truely tolde him to obteine that of a man whiche God only was able to giue But yet fearinge that he was not surely enoughe defenced againste terrible death by spirituall helpe studiously also soughte for naturall by phisicke and founde one Cocterius who with large promises of longe life fedde his folishe humoure as the kinge againe glutted the physicians vnsatiable desire of golde with giuinge him ten thousande crownes a moneth yea in fiue monethes foure and fiftie thousande besides manie greate promotions promised if he did recouer his health Yet could not this rare liberalitie of the kinge make the physician courteous vnto him but hee woulde continually handle him verie roughly churlishely and with despitefull wordes vpbrayed vnto him his wrongfull and cruell demeanour towardes diuers of the nobilitie and the counsell and vsed often to tell him that he woulde also handle him so one day Although this vncourteous and proude dealinge greatly greeued the kinge and made him often to complaine of it vnto his familiars yet durste he in no wise put him away because that he had constantly affirmed that the kinge shoulde not liue sixe dayes after that he were gone Which direfull denunciation the kinge abhorred as gate of hell as the man that in al his whole life coulde not abide to haue it once tolde him that he must one day die and would often in his health will his friendes that when they should sée him daungerously sicke they shoulde in no case put him in minde of death where as in verie déede he shoulde haue meditated nothinge so much all his life longe which should haue bene a continual preparing of him self vnto death where vnto he should most assuredly come at the laste and howe soone vncerteine neither yet during his longe sicknesse stoode hee in greater dreade of death by inwarde diseases then he feared shortening of life by forreigne foes Wherefore he imprisoned manie noble men of great power diuerse faithful counsellours vpon vaine imagination conceiued in his fearefull minde of their infidelitie He woulde suffer verie fewe of the nobilitie to come neare vnto the place where he lodged much lesse come within the castell gate which was guarded daye and night with foure hundreth souldiours of whom the one halfe were Scottes whome he trusted better then his owne subiectes commaunding them to shoote at all men whiche did
approche néere vnto the castell without licence before obteyned The bottome of the castel diche caused he to be sticked full of yron pikes and the bankes with rakes of yron whose longe téeth he would euer and anon commaunde to be whetted and made sharpe with a file But this fearefulnesse perhappes he had by inheritance from his father Charles the seuenth who for feare of being poysoned by his rebellious sonne did sixe dayes forbeare all kinde of meate but when at the laste through the persuasions of the phisicians who tolde him if that he continued in this wicked and obstinate purpose he woulde assuredly loose bothe this life and the life to come he woulde haue eaten his strength was so worne with fasting that hee was not able to swalowe any meate downe and so by incoÌ„sâ—derate warinesse ranne into that mischiefe whiche he had thought to haue avoyded by fearing But was not their desire of life immeasurable who hauing liued so longe that al men hated them and therefore woulde they haue no societie and companie with men yet in this vnnatural wilfull wildernesse in the middes of populous cities in this incessante feare sought by daylie bereauinge of other men of life to prolonge their hated life vsinge manie painefull and troublesome meanes to preserue that whiche was vnto them euerie minute cause of intollerable tormentes as Dionysius the tyrante shewed vnto his flatterer that commended the stately life of tyrantes by a verie liuely demonstration setting him at his table furnished sumptuously with all kinde of delicates but hanging ouer his heade by a small threade a mightie sworde whiche continually threatning fall through continuall feare thereof toke away from this vnhappie guest all the ioy of his greate daynties and pompe Massinissa the mightie kinge of Numidia when he had liued foure score and tenne yeares distrusting the faithfullnesse of all men guarded him selfe with fierce bawlinge bandogges and yet had he besides his large dominions manie sonnes and the assured friendshippe of the Romaines the Lordes of the worlde Dionysius the tyrante intrenched his bedde chamber as if it had béene a towne standing in the middes of his enimies with a large and deepe diche ouer the whiche wente a drawebridge whiche he kept vnder locke and keye but when hee him selfe vsed it And Aristippus the tyrant of Argos climed vnto his bedde with his swéete harte by a ladder the which after they were ascended and the Perculleis of yron opened they entred the chamber his minions mother toke away with her and then did he let downe the Perculleis on the whiche hee layde his restlesse bedde that he might soone heare if that anie man wente aboute to woorke his bodie treason in his vnsounde slumbers Dionysius the tyrante trustinge no not his owne daughters after they were growen vp whome hee had vsed before for his barbars to clippe the hayres of his suspicious heade nor shaue his bearde taught them to burne them off with Nutte shales And Commodus the Emperour did nott him selfe with blasinge coales Had it not béene as Iulius Caesar was wonte to say a thousande times better for them once to haue died theÌ„ with so great griefe coÌ„tinually to haue feared it Moreouer it woulde fill greate volumes to rehearse all the examples of those whiche for desire of prolonging their liues a little while haue by denying of God and his faith by betraying of their countrie their parentes wiues children friendes corrupted the glorie which their vertues before had gotten and so while they endeuoured to lenghten a little this temporall life oppressed on all sides with manifolde miseries loste the euerlasting and the eternall memorie of theÌ„ amonge men or rather more truly wonne euerlasting death in tormentes of hell and in reproch and infamie on the earth They came not of the royall bloude of Alexander the greate who sayes in Curtius that he was borne of suche a stocke that he ought not so muche to wishe for longe life as immortalitie of name This noble prince when that Penus had made a longe oration for to persuade him to returne homewarde out of India and not to abiecte his victorious armie to be deuoured by the wild beastes swalowed vp by the mightie riuers of those sauage countries died with in shorte time after sayd that Penus had made too longe an oration for so fewe dayes liuing whiche was not worth halfe his painefull speach But I am almoste a shamed to tel how shamefully Vitellius and Andronicus Comenus Emperours of Rome and Constantinople to saue for that present pinche their liues yelded vnto their enimies to be immediately after slaine with exquisite tormentes after ten thousande vilanies saide and donne vnto them the one drawne like a dogge through the citie of Rome by a rope fastened aboute his necke and halfe naked the other thorough Constantinople set him vpon a mangie Camel his heade towarde the tayle of the beaste and al the vnmannerly multitude euery where emptying all their pispots and close stooles vppon them both which they must néedes receiue on their faces bycause a sworde was put vnder their chinnes to holde vppe their hated heads Vnto these will I adioyne Papirius Carbo who after that he had bene thrise Consul was drawne by the commaundement of the princoxe boye Pompey afterward surnamed the great with thrée chaines like a wilde beast vnto the butchers blocke But when the hastie hangman was about to strike off his noble heade the cowarde wretch stayning his honour that he might a little moment prolong his life desired stay of execution vntill that he had discharged his belly of burthen the which he for gréedy desire of liuing long was so long in doing that his head was struckeÌ„ off and his owne filthy dung became a méete tumbe for his degenerate body This dastardly demeanour of his no doubt abating much the enuie of his enimies which he shuld haue incurred by this cruell vnwonted executioÌ„ but now no man thought him to be worthy of life who had sought suche vnworthy wayes to prolong his life for reason would vs to loue life but not to feare death The ninetenth Chapter The shortnesse of mans life and by how many casualties it is shortned and of sundrie straunge kindes of death SEeing then that man is thus incessantly tormented with infinite diseases of the body and no lesse molested with the perturbations of the mynde who can blame the Thracians or as Herodotus calleth them the Trausi a people of Thrace séeing that they had no knowledge of the resurrection and the blisse which God hath prepared for his elect to inioy after this life for wéeping and lamenting at the byrth of their children rehearsing howe many miseries they must abide but carried them to burying with al mirth pastimes and dauncing numbering vp from howe many and great calamities and griefes they were withdrawne Menander in Stobeus thinketh it to be sufficient and
to vpbraide vnto other their calamities miseries Wherof they that presented it being admonished tooke home the arras with them caused the names to be taken out then being brought againe he with heartie thankes receiued it commended the worke This his singular moderation of mynde and conquering of him selfe and insolencie the which very fewe of them that haue vanquished al other men could euer attaine vnto was farre more famous then the taking prisoners of the two mightie Princes then the sacking of the citie that had ben Ladie of the world and at this day also the greatest citie of Christendome then the conquest of the kingdome of Tunes in Afrike then the subduing of the Germanes and the passing ouer beyond Albis the which the proud Romanes when they were in al their greatest roialtie were neuer able to do for this victorie might he iustly vse his word Plus vltra passing not only the bounds of Hercules the Romans but also of cursed enuie the which after all earthly victories remaineth still inuincible and can not be subdued but by this sword of modestie and humilitie The xxx Chapter Of the vnfortunate fall of many great conquerours founders of Empires AND nowe that I haue declared the fearefull fall of those that I knowe not whether more wickedly or foolishly would be accounted Goddes and also of them that proudly vaunted of their victories without humble confession and acknowledging that they receiued them from heauen I prosecuting my purpose will shewe that all those that haue ben famous for victories and the fawning of fortune haue also had often admonitions of their fickle frailtie brittle blisse and tottering state Wherfore passing ouer in silence Cyrus the greate the founder of the Persian Empire who was slaine with his whole armie of two hundreth thousand by a weake woman Tomyris Quéene of the Massagets and the greate Mithridates Eupator king of Pontus who after he had augmented his fathers kingdome with the conquest of two and twentie nations and had won a great part of Gréece and the signorie of the sea from Cilicia to Thracius Chersonesus had kept warres fourtie yeres with the Romanes and vanquished their capteines Cassius Murena Cotta Fabius Triarius Sylla restrained him within his fathers kingdome Lucullus so afflicted him that for despaire he murthered his two wiues and sisters and finally Pompey quite euerted who woulde not graunt vnto him humbly desiring it of his two and twentie kingdomes not so much as the poore one of Pontus and for that also to paye a yerely tribute wherefore after that foure of his sonnes were taken by Pompey and the eldest reuolted vnto him and also one of his daughters taken and the other two poysoned by him selfe he desperately caused a Barbarian to kill him least he should haue come aliue into the hands of the Romanes and to be carried in the triumphe as a laughing stocke and an other Mithridates the great king of the Parthians who augmented the Empire with the accesse of many kingdomes and oftentimes discomfited in battell the valiant Scythes but whē he was in his greatest ruffe being returned out of Armenia the Parthians expelled him out of the kingdome for his crueltie and his owne brother inuaded the emptie siege and taking him prisoner at Babylon caused him vnnaturally to be slaine in his sight and Antiochus the great king of Syria who after great conquestes atchieued in Syria Asia and Greece was ouerthrowne in battell by the Romanes and forced to buye peace with the losse of all his dominions on this side the mountaine Taurus and the payment and the paymente of suche a mightie masse of money that not beeing able to leuie it of his owne possessions he attempted to robbe the riche temple of Iupiter Dyndemenus or as sayes Strabo of Belus where he and all his armie were slaine by a soudeine incursion of the inhabitauntes of the countrie and Pompey the Greate who more augmented the dominions and reuenues of the Romaine Empire then all the capteines before and after him was after the greate ouerthrowe giuen him by Caesar trayterously slaine by the boy kinge Ptolomey and his geldinges and Mathewe the Greate Lorde of Mylan who amonge other his variable chaunces was expelled out of the citie and constreyned twelue yeares to get liuinge by fishinge and beeing restored was at the age of seuentie yeares forced to abandon the citie of Mylan and to resigne his Empire vnto his sonne Galiazo who had vnnaturally not longe before reuolted from him and dying of this anguishe and griefe the bodie of him beeing excommunicated by the Pope was buried in a priuie and vile place his death beeing longe time kepte close leste his carcasse in the aduerse fortune of the warres mighte haue bene subiecte vnto the reproches and vilanies of the Popes cruel Legate and the greate Sforza who besides his ouerthrowes in fight at Viterby at Crixta at Aipua and his beeing taken prisoner in fight at Casaleccio and also twice in captiuitie through treason firste by Pandulpho Alepo the Queene of Naples darlinge and then kepte foure monethes in the newe castell of Naples lookinge euerie day when his breath shoulde be stopped by that effeminate lecher after wardes by Iames Earle of Marchia who had maried the Queene where he escaped as narrowly and his manie other greate daungers was at the laste drowned in the riuer of Lyris or Gariliano by the vnfortunate founderinge of his horse and the greate Gonsalues who only of all the famous warriours of our age the whiche haue yet excelled for noble chiefteines obteined the proude name of the greate this victorious gentleman after that he had cōquered out of the hands of the French men the riche kingdome of Naples for his Prince Ferdinando the kinge of Hispaine was by him ingratefully put from the gouernemente therof and almost also from his life for false suspicion of treason and euer afterwarde kept from all honour and office to leade a lothsome life farre from the courte and fielde at home as it were in an honest banishemente and there for to sée his eldest brothers heire for a light occasion banished the courte for euer and to his greater griefe his owne natiue place his nephues chiefe castle razed downe to the grounde notwithstandinge his most suppliant sute the whiche was also furthered by the earnest prayers of the French kinges honourable Ambassadours for the implacable Prince by all meanes sought to spite him and to empaire his Princely Porte and riches as one whome he suspected to be to greate so that he was aptly compared by a noble man of Hispaine vnto a greate shippe in a shalowe water the which abides in continuall feare to be loste by strikinge and sticking on the flattes and Cresus the mightie kinge of Lydia whose inestimable riches haue euer synce bene a prouerbe throughout the worlde berefte of all by Cyrus and forced to ende his long
life in bondage and Philippe king of Macedonie the mightiest kinge of all Europe saies Diodorus in his time and who durst for the largenesse of his Empire for he conquered Thessalia Greece and manie other countries adioyning vnto him reckon himselfe matche vnto the twelue Goddes slaine by his subiecte Pausanias at the sumptuous mariage of his daughter vnto the kinge of Epyrus in the middest of his myrth yea and of his conquestes whē he had leuied two hundreth thousand Greekes foote men and fifteen thousand horsemen besides the power of Macedonie Thessaly and all his Barbarous dominions to inuade the Persian and Antiochus kinge of Sy ria surnamed the noble who was slaine going aboute to spoile the temple of Diana at Helimais omittinge also the two walls of Greece Milciades and Themistocles of whome the one destroyed the huge armie of Darius and the other of Xerxes and mightie Emperours of Persia afterwarde died both in great miserie the one beeing caste into prison by the vnthankfull people and the other banished where he poysoned himselfe and the two lightes of the Romaine Empire the two Scipiones Africani of whome the one was banished out of his countrie the which he not only had conserued from the rage of Hanibal but also enlarged with the dominions of the Hispaines and all Asia on this side Taurus but the younger after he had razed Carthage and Numantia the two terrors of the Romaines was one night shamefully murdered at Rome in his bedde without anie inquisition after made howe hee came vnto this vnworthy ende to whome his countrie was almost as muche bounde as vnto their founder Romulus whom they cruelly tare in péeces shewing at the verie firste what rewarde all their benefactours shoulde looke for of that vnthankefull and vngratious people passinge also ouer in silence Lucius Sylla who onely of all men named himselfe happie because that hee had oppressed the libertie of his countrie and proscribed and slaine so manie of his countrie men was eaten to deathe with lice his bodie gnawing it selfe and breeding his owne punishemente nor Dionysius the elder who of a meane man became Lorde of the mightie state of Syracusae yea and of the whole Islande of Sicyl out of the whiche hee expelled the Carthaginians and subdued manie cities in Italie and was growne vnto this power that he was able to bringe sixscore thousande footemen and twelue thousande horsemen into the fielde and foure hundreth shippes into the sea yet at length beeing broken with continuall warres was slaine by his owne people nor yet rehersinge the vnfortunate fatall fall in fighte of the three gemmes of Greece Lysander Epaminondas and Pelopidas and the maniefolde foiles and finally the banishment of the fourth and laste famous capteine of Greece Conon nor Hanibal the honour of Afrike banished his countrie and after diuers wandringes forced to poyson himselfe leste he shoulde haue beene a Maye game vnto the yrefull Romaines nor Brennus kinge of the wanderinge Galles the terrour of Greece who slewe him selfe after that he sawe his inuincible armie destroyed from heauen nor Aurelianus who reduced into one the Romaine Empire beeing manie yeares torne into péeces by thirtie tyrants but was slaine by his seruaunt nor Alboinus the founder of the kingdome of the Lombardes in Italie murdered by the treason of his owne wife Nowe Enghist who first brought into Britaine the Saxons chaunged the name of a parte therof into England slaine with a great power in battell after that he had seene his brother Horsa fallen by the like feate nor the valiantest capteine that euer serued Prince Belisarius who triumphed eftsoones of the Persians and reduced vnto the Romaine Empire bothe Africa Italie whiche had beene longe time quietly possessed by the Vandalles and Gothes yet he whome no mans might could mate cursed enuie ouerthrewe raysed by a displeasure taken againste his proude wife by the insolente Empresse who stirred the shameful indignation of her husband not only to bereaue him of his sight but also of his goodes so that he was forced to begge his breade who had triumphed ouer all partes of the worlde Nor minding to recite Orchanes the seconde Prince of the Turkes who after that he had conquered Mysia Lycaonia Phrygia Caria and the citie of Prusa extended his Empire vnto the Hellesponte and the Sea Euxine was slaine in a greate ouerthrowe giuen him by the Tartars nor his sonne Amurathes slaine by a slaue of the Dispotes of Seruia after that hee had conquered a greate parte of Thrace the lower Mysia the Triballes and Besses and discomfited in a greate battell the power of Seruia and Bulgaria nor howe his sonne Baiazet after that he had subdued all Thrace excepte Pera and Constantinople the whiche he besieged eyghte yeares and doubtlesse had taken it if that he fearing the cōminge of Sigismunde the Emperour with a greate power and not broken vp the siege to giue the Westerne Christians that famous foile at Nicopolis and afterwarde wonne Macedonia Thessalia Phocis and Attica was takē prisoner by Tamberlaine with the losse of two hundreth thousande Turkes and made during all the reste of his lamentable life a miserable blocke for the proud victor to mounte on horsebacke and also was carried aboute with him in an yron cage to gnawe bones vnder the table among his dogges nor howe the Martiall prince of the Moscouies Swatoslawe after that he had subdued Bulgaria and all the countrie euen vnto Thonawe discomfited the Emperours of Greece with their huge armie forced thē to redéeme the sacke of Constantinople with a greate weight of golde was at the length slaine in an ambushe by Cures Prince of Pleczenig and a maizer made of his scull about the which was ingrauen by seekinge other mennes he loste his owne nor howe the three Italian tyrantes of our time of whom two were Creti sanguine Diuum two Popes sonnes the thirde a neare Sib vnto Pope Clemens the seuenth who oppressing wrongfully the libertie of his countrie aduaunced this vnthriftie bastarde Alexander Di medici vnto the Duchie of Florence where within fewe yeares for his tyrannie and lecherie he was hated of all men and slaine by his cosen and familiar Laurence Di medici the which fate also befell for his semblable manners vnto Peter Luigi created by his father Paule the thirde Duke of Placentia and Parma but that greater vilanies were done vnto his deade bodie by the angrie multitude the thirde but the firste in order of age was Caesar Borgia sonne vnto Alexander the sixte one that for cruel murderinge of noble men passed the cursed memorie of Tyberius Caligula Claudius Nero Domitian Commodus Seuerus and al the rest of those Romaine Monsters And firste to lay a fit foundation for his ambitious buylding he caused his elder brother Frauncis Duke of Candia to be murthered in the citie one night after
campe replenished with inestimable riches and finally winninge the two chiefe cities of his realme Tauris and Chois The xliiii Chapter Of the Cherife of Maroccho THE Sophie doth put me in mind although somewhat out of seasoÌ„ of one Mulamethes that began also in our dayes a newe secte of Mahumetanes in Africa and with no lesse fortunate successe then the Sophie had in Persia This Mulamethes being borne of base parentage in the village of Gahen at the foote of mounte Atlas in Africa beganne aboute 1514 to be greate estéemed of the people because he gaue him selfe wholy to religion and the seruice of God which kinde of men they do call Morabuth that is an Hermite He for his singlenesse austeritie of life was singularly honoured and reuerenced of the vnskillfull multitude vnto whome hee preached the simplicitie and puritie of the lawe without receiuinge of anie glose or interpretation but onely the bare Texte And after he had by this meanes gotten him a great number of adherents in Fesse and Maroccho he woulde needes in Gods name go to preache the trueth vnto the king of Caphilet the whiche countrie lyeth nere vnto the desertes of Lybia Where although he were not suffered to preache in anie towne yet by prating in the countrie he had gotten such a traine that they were aboue 60000 fighting men And when at the last the foolishe kinge would needes one day come to heare one of his sermones the Cherife for so they nowe called Mulamethes which worde signifieth the prieste toke him being admonished by God as he saide so to do to the whiche effect he rehersed manie fained dreames and visions and did put the kinge to death and seazed vpon his kingdome and continuing still in this trayterous trade hee within three yeares gotte to him the kingdomes of Tremissen Marroche Dara Taphilet and Suse and aboute twentie fiue yeares after the mightie kingdome of Fesse the which doth vsually by Iouius his reporte bringe thirtie thousande horsemen into the fielde and within the citie of Fesse are fiue and twentie thousande houses But although Mulamethes was Prince of so manie kingdomes yet he reteined still his name of Cherife Thus liued he in iolitie beeing a terrour vnto all the Princes of Afrike and namely vnto Sala-raix Barbarossa his sonne kinge of Algier who being vnable to resiste him with force vsed this policie to dispatche him He sente vnto Marroche where the Cherife made his vsuall abode one of his capteines a Turke a verie valiant man who with two hundreth valiant Tuâ—kes for the most parte al archubussiers should seeke interteynmente of the Cherife alledging for cause of their departure froÌ„ Algier the iniurious misusage of the kinge towardes them and that after that they had by these meanes gotten interteinment they shoulde indeuour to winne euerlasting life accordinge to the promises of their lawe by sleaing of so wicked a tyrante the whiche traine did also fortunately take effecte for the Cherife who was hartely hated at Marroche kept aboute him a greate guarde of men of Taphilet Dara and Suse to whom he also adioyned these Turkes whome his counsell did greately mistrust consideringe the great hatred that the king of Algier bare towards the Cherife and also the carelesnesse for life of the Turks so that they may pleasure their Prince Whereof the Turkes hauinge intelligence were fully determined shortely to set al at sixe and seauen either to winne the horse or loose the saddle Wherefore one daye as they marched against a towne in Suse that had rebelled and the Alarbes were sente forth for forage and none lefte in the campe but two hundreth of the Cherifes guarde and they the Turkes entred the kings Pauilion where then the counsell sate with him aboute these Turkishe matters and slewe bothe the Cherife and his counsell and spoyled the campe wherein the guarde also ioyned with â—â—em This was the vnhappie ende of the Cherife when he had reigned fourtie three yeares But the Turkes that slue him beeing persued by the newe kinge his sonne were all slaine valiauntly fightinge The xlv Chapter Of Barbarossa kinge of Argier VVto the Cherife will I adioyne a nere neighbour of his Hariaden commonly called of his redde bearde Barbiressa who also in our age of a poor pirat became a mightie prince and scourge vnto all the Christians borderinge on the midlande Sea. This mate with his brother Horruccio when they could not abide their beggerie at home in Lesbos or Miteleno they solde al that euer they had to rigg forth a fragate and serued vnder Camalis an archepirate In whose seruice after they had béene enriched by takinge manie prises and had gotten certeine galleyes they becomming iolly capteines departed from their maister and did set vp for themselues going in rouing vpoÌ„ the coast of Afrike where at their first arriuall they were enterteyned by the kinge of Argier who was almoste oppressed with the armies of his brother but the Pirates hauing valiantly thorough their shott the whiche the Africanes had then no vse of discomfited the brother soudenly also turned their force on their friend the king whome they slue Lyornaio the elder brother succeeded in the kingdome where vnto he thorough his prowesse adioyned the kingdome of Circello many other places and forced the Numidians or Alarbes a people that liue altogether by the warres glad to enter in league with him But at the length inuadinge the kinge of Tremissen he was slaine in fight by the aide of the Hispaniardes who cutting off his head did beare it on a pole rounde aboute al Hispaines to the great ioy of the whole countrie Then Haruedene succeeded his brother in the kingdome whose valiaunt demeanour both againste the Africanes by lande and the Christians by Sea aduaunced him to the office of high Admerall vnto the Turke whereby he became matche vnto the Christians on the Sea and farre passed anie Prince of Afrike for power by lande then wanne he the mightiest kingdome of all Afrike Tunes where he had not nesteled one yeare but that Charles the Emperour thinking it smally for his securitie to suffer his infestious foe to growe so great vnder his nose passed thither with a power where he wan by assaulte the stronge castell of Goletta whereby he gote the hauen and all the whole nauie of Barbarossa then discomfited he him in battell wanne the citie of Tunes with the whole kingdome and finally forced Barbarossa fearefully to flie vnto Bona where hee had doubtlesse beene either taken or slaine if that either Doria the Emperours admerall had gonne thither him selfe with the strength of the fleete or his vnskilfull kinsman Adamo whome he sente to do the exploite with sixtéene galeies ill appointed had not trifled foorth the time not comminge to Bona before that Barbarossa had weighed vp sixtéene galeies the whiche he had sounke in the hauen and hauinge rigged them had launched out of the harborough or els he had beene forced to haue fledde vnto
fall that neither their brotherly bloud nor impotent age could persuade the bofull man securitie But anon after that he had wonne Constantinople the stately seate of the Easte Empire and slaine the Emperour therein before Belgrade which he boasted that hee woulde take within fiftéene dayes whereas as his father had like a cowarde in vayne béesieged it seuen monethes bee was by a sallie out of the towne daungerously hurte vnder the pappe his armie discomfited his campe taken with all his ordinaunce martiall furniture and carriages and hee him selfe gladde to séeke safetie by the benefite of a darke night yea so great was his ouerthrowe that it was thought by men of wisedome and experience that if the Hungarians had prosecuted the victorie they might haue driuen him out of Constantinople The next morning when he was come vnto himselfe after the rage of his wound was somewhat abated and vnderstoode howe great a foile he had taken he would haue poisoned himselfe that he mighte not returne home in so great dishonour and was hardly letten by his friends from doing thereof Hee could neuer abide after to heare or speake of this foule foile as often as he vnwillingly minded it he would teare his beard fetch déepe sighes gastly grind his téeth cruelly cursing that dismall day the which he did all his life after accompt for a blacke and infortunate But after this tempestuous storme the which had néere destroyed him a wished winde gan blowe againe and he conquered the Empire of Trapezonda the Isles of the Aegean sea or Archipelago Miteleno and Bosna the Peloponesus or Morea the whiche the Venetians and two of the Paleologi possessed brake downe the strong wall that the Venetians had builte in the Isthme of Corinthe and gott those townes which the Venetians had in Morea and by bloudie assault Eubea now Nigrepont Hauing thus fortunately subdued Constantinople and all Greece with the Islands thereabouts it was a great eye sore for him to sée the royall Rhodes frée from his bondage wherefore frowning fortune pricked him forth to assaile it with many a foule bloudie foile receiued both by sea land thus when force failed hee sought to take it by treason suborning many false knaues who vnder colour of fugitiues should betray it vnto him but when that neither this foxes skinne ioyned to his Lions was long enough to reach the Rhodes hee feigned great friendship if that they would vouchsafe to pay him any trifle in the name of tribute yea or present him with any gift but when that nothing would be graunted vnto the enimie of Christe and hee had vainely spent thrée yeares in these toyes he fell againe to force inuading it with a mightie fléete and fourescore thousand men but with no better successe then that after hée had lost 7000. souldiours at the landing and two thrée thousand at euery assault of whome hée made very many during his aboade there of thrée monethes hée was forced to depart home with incredible losse of men and munition and much greater of his honour But when his hautie heart could not rest in this great dishonour but prepared for the reuenge thereof and also to conquere proud Italie as hée termed it where his mightie armie being landed had taken Otronto his purpose was preuented in the one and the prosperous course of his conquestes corrupted in the other through his sondeine death when he had liued 58. yeares and reigned 31. The xlvij Chapter Of Selime the first great Lord of the Turkes SELIME that came vnto the Empire of the Turkes by murthering of his father brothers brothers children ouerthrew in battell the mightie Sophie in the middest of his realme and toke his chiefe cities of Chois Tauris subdued the Aladuli that inhabite the mountaine Taurus conquered the Empire of Aegypt that stretched on one side vnto the desartes of Arabia the streightes of the redd sea and to Aethiope and on the other vnto Cilicia staying two Soldanes yet this man who was of rare felicitie in all his attemptes was ouerthrowen and hurt in the battel that he sought against his father and also made such an hautie retire out of the Persian dominions that it might very well be termed a fearefull flight loosing a great number of his men his ordinance and his carriages in the passing ouer of Euphrates the Persians hotly pursuing them And when hée had escaped the Sophie hée was no lesse endammaged and endaungered by the Aladuli And finally this furie of hell that threatened vtter destruction to the Christian name reigned not aboue seuen yeares but died miserably of an eating Vlcer in his reynes which consumed so much fleshe in one night that a man might turne his fist round in the hole yéelding vpp his wicked spirite at the village of Chiurle where hée had vngraciously before foughten against his father The xlviij Chapter Of Ferdinande the sixt king of Hispaine FERDINANDE the sixte king of Arragon and Sicyl that had by his wife the rich kingdomes of Castill and Lions and won by sword the kingdoms of Granata that had béene in the handes of the Moores almost eight hundreth yeares of Naples and Nauarre and an other world of rich countries in the West Indies had a great and yet an harmelesse admonition of mans tickle state at the siege of Granata For a Moore burning in desire of deliuering his countrie out of perill by a desperate attempt of killing the king and Quéene of Hispaine came out of the towne into the Hispanish campe feigning that he had brought cōditions of peace and desiring to be admitted vnto the kinges and Quéenes presence but hee was put by his purpose thoroughe a meruailous chaunce or rather by Gods special prouision for a noble man of Hispaine that lay in a goodly and riche hall sent for this Moore to come vnto him being very desirous to vnderstand what newes the Moore brought The noble man sate at that instant at dinner with his wife whome the Moore taking by their brauerie to be the king and the Quéene assaulted them sore wounding them both but yet was stayed from killing them by the rescue of their seruants But afterward whē that this victorious king returned from the glorious conquest of the kingdome of Graneta and rode into Darselona in triumphant maner with the great acclamations of the people ringing his renowne hee had in the middest of that proud pompe almost loste both life and kingdome For one Canemas a Cathelane who séemed to haue béene long time molested with the madde melancholie thincking to haue killed the king in his chiefest iolitie gaue him a great wound in the neck Neither could any other cause of doing this desperate facte be wrounge from him by all kinde of terrible tormentes then that he hoped if that Ferdinando had béene slaine to become king himself being a very poore knaue the which thing he said had béene told him oftentimes by an Angel. On so féeble fléeting a
foūdation do kingdoms stand on so tottering a stoole do princes sitt that sporting Fortune séemes oftentimes to put them into the hand of a madd man But nothing did more manifestly shewe vnto him his brittle blisse then the reuolting of all the noble men of the farther Hispaine except the duke of Alua vnto Philip duke of Burgogie who had maried his eldest daughter and heire at his arriual in Hispaine after the death of Quéene Isabell they eftsones saying that they would rather adore the sunne rising then going downe The griefe of this shamefull forsaking of him did so gripe the aged princes heart that not being able to endure the dishonour to be a subiecte where hee had long reigned he left Hispaine and sailed with his newe wife vnto Naples chosing rather to cōmit himselfe vnto the doubtfull faith of the gouernour and conquerour of that flourishing kingdome whom the report was minded to reuolt make himselfe king of Naples the which hée might easily haue done then vnto the open ill wills and rebellion of the vnfaithful Hispaniards And doubtlesse hee was in very great danger of being vtterly excluded out of his kingdomes of Castill Lions if that God had not shortly after taken out of the world his sonne in lawe who was so alienated from him that when the courteous king laden with wearisome yeares had taken a lōg paineful iourney to receiue him at the water the proud and vnciuil duke would not vouchsafe to shew him any countenaunce But after he had giuen him scornefully a word or two and them too in French which the king vnderstood not he flange away from him al the nobilitie with him The xlix Chapter Of William Conquerour BVt nowe after that wee haue romed long abroad in all forreigne lands let vs returne home vnto our owne countrie take a view of such Princes as haue by dint of sword atteined the imperial crowne thereof or enlarged the dominions least we may be thought to be like vnto the Lamiae in Poets whome they do faine to sée very exactly when they are abroad but to be starke blinde at home William bastard sonne vnto Robert duke of Normandie who left him his heire although by puissance he cōquered this land discomfited in battel the king of Denmarke forced the king of Scotland for feare to do him homage sweare him fealtie yet the often rebellions and secrete treasons of the Englishmen Normans the perfidiousnes of his owne déere brother Odo in whom he reposed his greatest trust the wicked reuolting of his eldest sonne Robert vnto the French king with his aide his daungerous inuasion of Normandie his arme thrust through in fight and his vnhorsing by that vnnaturall child and his bowelles sore brused by a leape off his horse in his last voyage against the French king of the intollerable torments whereof he died will not suffer him to be enrolled among the happie But nothing in my mind doth more manifestly bewray his infelicitie then that he had not so much ground at his death as could couer his carcase without doing an other man wrong and that which the begger hath without contradiction was denied and forbidden this mightie king Hée had built S. Stephens Church at Cane in Normandie where he would be buried vppon an other mans ground and had not payed the owner for it who being then a very poore man yet nothing fearing the funeral pompe and the great number of nobles attending on the corps did thrust through the thickest thronge of the solemne traine like vnto a madd man and got him to the Church doore wherein he stoode stoutly to withstand the bearing into the Church of the kings body crying out with a lowde voice Hée that in his life time oppressed kingdomes by his furious force hath hitherto with feare also oppressed mee but I that do suruiue him that hath done me the wronge will not graunt rest and peace vnto him now he is dead The place whereinto ye doe carrie this dead man is mine I claime that it is not lawfull for any man to lay a dead body in an other mans ground But if that the case do so stand that when as now at the length through the grace of good God the author of this so vnworthie a wrong is extinguished yet force still doth flourish I do appeale vnto Rhollo the founder father of this nation who alone is of greater power by the lawes which he ordeyned then is any mans iniurie And therewithal I know not whether by hap or mans fraud there soudeinly was séene a great fire which raged on the Church the houses neere adioyning then euery body spéedily running to quench the fire left the kinges corps desolate all alone onely Henrie the kings youngest sonne could not be gotten frō his fathers body who being feared with as it were the manifest wrath of God presently paid the poore mā for his ground discharged his fathers iniurious spirite But these blisselesse bones of his which so hardly obteined entumbing did afterward as vnluckily againe lose it in Anno Domini 1562. when Chastillion conducting reliquias Danaum atque immitis Achillis those that had escaped at the battell at Dreax toke the citie of Cane For certaine sauage souldiours accompanied with foure Capteynes did beate downe and vtterly deface the noble tumbe and monument of that renowmed conquerour and victorious king and pulled out all his bones which they spitefully threwe away when that they could not finde the treasure that they falsly surmised had béen layed vp there as I haue béene certainly enformed by Englishmen of very good credite faithfull fauourers of the reformed who sawe this sorrowfull sight scarse without distilling teares And also Theuet maketh mention of this matter in his vniuersall Cosmographie writing of Cane The l. Chapter Of Henrie the second HENRIE the second had by his father the Earledomes of Aniow Toures and Maine by his mother the kingdome of England and the duchie of Normandie and by his wife the mightie duchie of Aquitane and the earledome of Poitow conquered the kingdome of Ireland and toke prisoner in battell the king of Scottes but this his glistering glorie was fouly darkened by the shamefull submission of his crowne vnto the Romane Sée as Platina their recorder doth report or certes by binding himselfe vnto vnreasonable conditions to abate the enuie of the murther of Thomas the archbishop of Canterburie as our Chronicles do record and by the daungerous and wicked warres a long time kept in Normandie Fraunce and England with al his vngodly sonnes Henrie Richard Gefferie and Iohn yea and his owne wife and their mightie confederats the kings of Fraunce and Scotland with a great number of the English nobilitie and after the death of his vngracious sonne Henrie by the second reuolting of his sonne Richard vnto the French king who wan from him in those warres a great part of the duchie of Normandie and besieged him in the
citie of Mauus out of the whiche hée fearefully fledde and left that citie which of all other he best loued to be won with Toures by his fierce enimies for which he was cast into such a chafe that he opeÌ„ly said that he would for euer after wholly withdraw his heart froÌ„ God séeing that he had suffered his delight to be taken and deformed with fire but anon after he came vnto him selfe and acknowledged his errour and wickednesse and suppliantly sued vnto the Frenche king for peace the which he could by no meanes obteine Wherfore despairing of the safetie of his estate hee died rather oppressed by this cruell concourse of calamities then worne with sickenesse The li. Chapter Of Edwarde the thirde AS Fortune was vnto Edwarde the thirde a louing and cocklinge mother in his youth in giuing him the famous victories at Sluse Cressey Poyters and Durham with the taking prisoners of the Frenche and Scottishe kinges and the restoring of Peter king of Castill and augmenting his dominions with the towne of Calaice and the Earledome of Guisnes and sending of him so many valiant sonnes and to so long life to haue proofe of their prowesse so was shée no lesse cruell stepdame vnto him in his age for the reuolting of the Earles of Armeniacke and Petiagors whiche brought the losse of Ponthiew Poitou Caoars Limosin Xantoigne Perrigort and finally almost all Gascoigne except Baron and Burdeaux and all Britaine vnlesse it were Brest and the discomfiture and taking of Iohn Earle of Penbruche and his greate Fléete comming to the rescuse of Rochell the vncourteous disobedient deniall of subsidie by Parliament in that his greate necessitie and the licentious complaint against him in open Parliament for kéeping of Alice Piers and the proude appointing of him Tutors as though he had béene a pupil who in his nonage was thought méete to hurle his father from the helme of the common wealth and rule the rudder him selfe and finally the vntimely deathes of his two valiant sonnes Leonell and the onely staye and staffe whereon his worne age did leane and holde vpp it selfe Prince Edwarde the sorrowe wherof quite brake the heart of the wofull father which was before sore wasted with age and the griefe conceiued for his vnwonted froward Fortune And to make vp the mischiefe hee left the realme to be ruled by an vnthriftie pupill who could neuer learne lesse all the dayes of his life then howe hee shoulde rule him selfe This worthie Prince doeth proue that to be true that Paulus Aemilius noteth in Charles the great that Fortune doth thinke it a goodly thing to shewe vnto men both her powers in kings of long life and that those Capteines which are saide neuer to haue found Fortune but fauourable in great attemptes lightely dyed young men for so saith hee I do thinke it hath séemed good vnto God lest that humane thinges may séeme to bee able to giue true and sound felicitie The lii Chapter Of Henrie the fift IN that perfect patterne of prowesse Henrie the fift I blame his vnthriftie youth and his being committed to the kinges benche by the Lorde chiefe Iustice for his misdemeanour such a president as I think is hardly to be founde in all the recordes of antiquities his wounding at the battell of Shrewesburie the daungerous conspiracie to murther him made by the Earle of Cambridge and other in his first voyage into Fraunce his greate hofulnesse for Agincourt fielde and almost vtter despaire of escape the disfomfiture in fight and also the death of his brother the duke of Clarence and last of all his owne vntimely death the which did not onely corrupt all his former victories and lost the duchie of Guian whereof his auncestours had béene possessed euer since Henrie the seconde but also did so wrappe the realme in such ciuil discorde that it is almost a miracle that it was not quite destroyed for euer So that if wee do duely consider the euent it had béene much better for this land that he had neuer béene borne then to haue prouoked the Frenche men and not to haue quite subdued and tamed them and to haue begotten to succéede him one so vnfit to gouerne although he were otherwise a Prince of singular pietie and godlinesse But as for Henrie the fourth Edwarde the fourth and Henrie the seuenth who gott the crowne by the swoorde they kept it with so much and so greate trouble that I thinke no wise man would take vpp the crowne if it laye vpon a dounghill to weare it in such continuall perils and molestations as Antigonus did vse to saye The Conclusion THEN séeinge that the miseries of mankinde are so manye and so greate and with so manifolde and grieuous calamities haue all they béene oppressed whome fickle Fortune hath seemed moste to fauoure what maye they promise vnto them selues that doe thinke that they are now carried with the most blisfull blast of worldly felicitie Let them like wise men persuade themselues that they are made of the same lamentable lump that other men are and also as much subiect vnto sondeine sorrowes as they that haue béene before them Wherfore let them thinke moderately of them selues let them make accompt of the guylefull giftes of false Fortune as though they should be incontinently taken from them let them not proudly despise the wretched whome lowring lott hath laide lowe séeing that the vnstablenesse of their owne tottering state maye shortly cast them into the same sincke of shame as they do thinke it finally let them attribute all honour and glorie vnto God the onely author and also conseruer of their brittle blisse whome let them serue moste lowly if that they desire to continue aloft in the ruling of other FINIS Symonides his wise answere Plato his opinion of God. The Persians brake downe all Images of God. What wordes doe best declare Gods essence God is no essence de Diui. No. In one sense God is moste properly an essence Hier. ad Marcel Aug. super Ioan. tract 99. Why bodily limmes and affectes are attributed vnto God. God onely vnchaungeable The singlenesse of Gods essence August de tri lib. 6. No qualitie in God. We do speake vnproperly of God by adiectiues Scal. de subti exâ—r 365. God is comprehended in none of the predicamentes August de Trinit lib. 5. The omnipotencie of God wherein it doth consist August lib 15. de Trinitate August lib. 1. de symbolo Cap. 10. Com in Psal. 7 Lib. 2. de Stil laud. Of Psapho A worthy order taken by Philip. Of horsmen Of Commodas Of Alexander A wittie decree of the Lacedemonians A woorthie saying of Antigonus Of Caligula The free speeche of a Botcher The impudent flattery of Vitellius Vitellius his wittie answer The constant pietie of the Iewes Caligula his great hatred vnto mankind Of Domitian Lact. de fals relig The Original of worshipping of false Gods. The first cause why the Gentiles did make men Gods. Lact. de fals