of 20. of the best learned Ciuilians with the aduise and consent of 50. of the grauest and wifest councellors that were within his Empire to examine whether the lawes were iust profitable for the people before they should be published but being once published as a lawe extreame punishment was appointed for the breach thereof as is before spoken without any appeale frō the lawe without some great extraordinary cause of appeale As among the Hebrewes in any citie of Iudah that if they could not rightly iudge nor discerne throughly the cause according to iustice by the Magistrates of the citie they might appeale to the Iudges named Sinadrion in Ierusalem from whence no appeale could be had So among the Grecians they might appeale from the Areopagites in Athens from the Ephories in Sparta and all other cities of Greece to the Amphictions at Trozaena which were appointed general Iudges for the vniuersall state of Greece in martiall and military causes and there to sit and determine twise a yeare of the whole state of Greece and further to heare and to iudge of some other great causes and capitall crimes from whose sentence no other appeale was to be had for out of euery citie in Greece in the Spring and in the Autumne to the Amphictions at Trozaena they sent Embassadors whom the Greekes called Pytagorae So among the Romanes a lawfull appeale might be had from the Consuls to the Senators from the Senators to the Tribune of the people and from the people to the Dictator which continued vntill the time of the Iudges called Centum viri for Sententia Dictatoris iudicia centum viralia were both lawes of life and death from whose iudgement and sentences there were no greater Iudges to appeale vnto of the like authoritie were the Decem viri from whom also there was no appeale during their gouernment So in diuine causes we may appeale to mount Sion from Mount Sinai from the lawe to the Gospell from Moses to Christ our perpetuall Dictator from whom we haue no place to appeale vnto for our eternall saluation In the fift Regiment is declared the choice of wise Gouernours to gouerne the people and to execute the lawes among all Nations and also the education and obedience of theyr children to their Parents and Magistrates ALl Nations made their choise of the wisest and chiefest men to rule and gouerne their countrey imitating Moses who was by the Lord commanded to choose seuentie wise graue men to be Iudges among the Israelites called Synadrion which continued from Moses time who first appointed these Magistrates vntill Herods time who last destroyed them for in euery citie of Iudah seuen Magistrates were appointed to gouerne and to iudge according to the law of Moses and for their further instructions in the lawe they had of the Tribes of the Leuites two in euery citie to instruct and assist the Magistrates in all actions according to the lawe The Egiptians being next neighbours to the Hebrewes though they mortally hated the Hebrewes yet theyr gouernment of Dinastia vnder thirtie Gouernours elected and chosen out of Eliopolis Memphis Pellusium Thaebes and other chiefe cities of Egipt seemed to imitate Moyses lawe vnder Aristocratia So Solon appointed in Athens certaine wise men called Areopagitae as Iudges to determine of life and death and of other criminall causes Among the old Gaules the Druydes sage and wise religious men had authoritie both in warre and peace to make lawes and to determine of the state of theyr countrey The lawes of all Nations against disobedient children to theyr parents are manifest not onely the lawe of nature among all Nations vnwritten but also the diuine lawe of the Lorde written commaundes children to bee obedient to theyr parents as the lawe sayeth Whosoeuer curseth his father or mother shall dye and his bloud bee on his owne head for that hee curseth his father or mother If a man hath a sonne that is stubborne or disobedient let his parentes bring him vnto the Elders of the Cittie and there accuse him of his faultes saying my sonne is a Ryotour a Drunkarde and disobedient vnto his parentes the lawe is that all the men of that Cittie shall stone him with stones to death This commaundement was esteemed among all Nations euen among wicked men as Esau beeing a reprobate so the Lorde saide Esau haue I hated and Iacob haue I loued yet Esau hating his brother Iacob in heart saying that the dayes of his fathers sorrowes were at hande for I will kill my brother and most like it is that he would haue done so had not the Lorde which appeared to Laban the Syrian in a dreame by night for that hee followed Iacob from Mesopotamia said to Laban Take heed to thy selfe that thou doo or speake to Iacob nothing but good as the Lorde kept Iacob from Laban so he kept him from his brother Esau. Notwithstanding Esau came to his father and said hast thou any blessing for me see that obedience and feare was in Esau towards his father Isaac though hee was a wicked man he determined not to kill his brother before his father died least Isaac his father should curse him The sonnes of Samuel the Prophet Ioel and Abiath which were made Iudges in Bersabe by rheyr father Samuel beeing olde they turned from theyr fathers wayes tooke rewards and peruerted the right the people complained to Samuel that his sonnes followed not his steppes and therefore they would haue a King to gouerne them as other nations had See the ende of Iudges in Israel by the wicked Iudges Ioel and Abiath two wicked sonnes of a good and godly father and the cause of the ouerthrowe of the Iudges in Israel The two sonnes of Eli their offences were such that their father being an olde man was rebuked of the Lord for suffering their vnthriftinesse and wickednesse which was the cause that the Priesthood was taken from the house of Eli for euer so that the gouernment of Iudges in Iudah and also of the Priesthood were taken away by the corruption and disobedience of wicked and vngodly children Obserue likewise the end of kings and kingdomes by wicked kings by Ahaz who offered his sonnes in fire to Moloch by Ioachim and his sonne wicked fathers which brought vp wicked sonnes The kings which were 21. in number continued fiue hundred and odde yeares Who would haue iudged that three such good Kings of Iudah should haue three such wicked children As Dauid had Absolon who sought most trecherously to dispossesse his father of his kingdome As Ezechias had Manasses who offered his sonne in fire to Moloch and filled Ierusalem with bloud Or as Iosias had Ioachim whose wickednesse together with Zedechiah was so disobedient to the Lord and his Prophets that he lost the kingdome of Iudah Who would haue iudged that Salomon the onely wise king of the world hauing
aultars taking Abraham for their warrant in sacrificing his sonne Isaac and Ieptha in sacrificing of his daughter for their Idolatrous sacrifice in murdering their children as is said before of Achab Manasses and others The Ammonites had a great Image called Moloch which had seuen chambers within the hollownesse of it one to receiue meale the second to receiue Turtle Doues the third a sheepe the fourth a ramme the fift a calfe the sixt an oxe and the seuenth a man This Idoll had the face of a calfe with stretched out hands to receiue gifts certaine Samaritan Priests called Chemarims attended vpon this Idoll Moloch though I know well that graue godly Iudges are not acquainted with Molochs reaching hand nor with his chambers yet I doubt some like Chemarims that liue in the world and serue Moloch attend more vpon the reaching hand of Moloch and his hollow chambers then their maisters becke in true seruice to whom may bee said as Christ spake to Nicodemus Art thou a maister in Israel and knowest not how to be borne againe Euen among the Persians Cambises though a tyrant and a wicked king yet would he haue the Persian lawes obserued for the breach whereof hee caused one of his Iudges named Sinetes corrupted with money to haue his skinne fleyed from his backe and to be made a carpet for his sonne that succeeded after him to leane vpon to put him in remembrance of his fathers corruption and punishment by the law that his sonne therby might better obserue the lawe Remota iustitia regna magna latrocinia sunt Darius king of Persia caused Sandoces one of his Iudges for that he was corrupted with money to iudge vniustly against the law to be hanged and codemned by the lawe in that very place where hee was appointed to be a Iudge Of these corrupt Iudges and of the like the Prophet saith Dextra eorum repleta est muneribus These and such Lawiers and Iudges that oppresse poore Widowes and Orphants robbe the poore are corrupted with rewards cannot be hold the brightnesse of Moses face without a vaile to couer their face These are the lawiers of which the Prophet speakes that turne the lawe to wormewood righteousnesse to bitternesse and cast downe iustice to the ground for Nihil tam venâ—… quam aduocatâ—…m praesidâ—… saith Aristotle And therefore the Prophet Esay reprehended the Iudges of Israel and called them companions of theeues following after gifts and rewards as Samuels sonnes did he called them tyrants of Zodome and people of Gomorah Learne to do right saith the Lord apply your selues to equitie let the Widdowes complaint come before you and helpe the fatherlesse to his right This is the lawe onely of the Lord these be the precepts and summe of all lawes to liue honestly to hurt none and to giue to euery man his owne for where good kings rule and raigne there lawes are obeyed Iudges ought to doo righteous iudgement they ought to accept no persons but iudge according to the lawe of the people they should heare the small and the great alike neither accept the face of the poore nor feare the face of the mightie for that iudgement is the Lordes therefore Iudges are called goddes for the lawe commaundeth that thou shalt not raile vpon the Magistrates neither curse the ruler of the people So Homer saide Ex Ioue sunt reges To that effect dooth Plato likewise say Deus quispiam humanus Rex est What lawe had then Nabuchodonozer to say what GOD is hee that is able to take Iudah out of my hand Or Holofernes to say there was no God but onely his maister Nabuchodonozer such lawes made Domitianus that he would be called Dominus Deus Domitianus What lawe had king Zedechiah to answere his nobles that sought the Prophet Ieremies death take Ieremie and do with him what you list it is not lawfull for me to denie you any thing The like lawe and the like words vsed king Ashuerus to Ammon who sought the destruction of the Iewes throughout all the kingdome of Persia age quod placet do what thou list with the Iewes The like lawes vsed Darius at the request of his Persian Princes to throwe Daniel the Prophet of the Lord to be deuoured of Lyons these are the lawes of tyrants and not of kings to kill the Prophets of the Lord without lawe they forget the lawe of the Lord written by Esay the Prophet Woe be vnto you that make vnrighteous lawes and deuise lawes which are hard to keepe and are not to be kept that thereby the innocents are robbed of iudgement such a lawe made Iezabel for Naboths vineyard with false witnesse These kings like tyrants vse the sword for bloud and not the scepter for iustice like Pharao to whom when Moses alledged all the lawes of the Lord hee said Who is the Lord Nescio dominum I know not the Lord like Lysander of Sparta who said to a Lawier that pleaded lawes and customes on their sides he pleadeth best in lawe which pleadeth with this said Lysander laying his hand on his sword for this penne doth write with bloud Sileant leges inter arma So also Pompey the great said what prattle you to vs of your lawes when wee haue our swordes in our hands Who doth warrant the sword but the lawe who defends the lawe but the sword he that commaunded Peter to put vp his sword in his sheath in mount Oliuet was euen he that commaunded Ioshua to pull his sword out of his sheath to destroy the Canaanites the first commaundement that was giuen to man after the creation was the lawe and vpon breach of the lawe was the sword giuen to reuenge iustice for the Lord is iust for as lawes are made by God and ministred by Angels vnto men so must lawes be obeyed with reuerence and defended with the sword Prudentem dicemus sibi Reipub consulere potentem validum So Plato saith that he is valiant and wise that can both with the sword and the law defend a common-wealth In Egipt it was not lawfull for any heard-man to come within their Temples neither among the Hebrewes was it lawfull for men or women that had any white or blacke spottes somewhat reddish or pale to come among the congregation to the Temple for the priests should pronounce them vncleane So among the Persians by the lawe of their Magi none that had any pimples or red speckes on their face might touch the aultar or offer any sacrifice to their gods for in Persia they had neither Temples nor Images but among the Persians and the Arabians laid fire vpon the aultar in a vessel called Arula and offered frankinsence in sacrifice onely to the sunne for the Gentiles trimmed their aultars diuersly the aultar of Iupiter with Oaken branches the aultar of Appollo with Lawrell the aultar of Bacchus
therefore destroyed at the brooke Kyson false witnesse is a murtherer of his neighbours false witnesse selleth bloud for money a theefe that selleth mens lands liuings and liues secretly for it is written in the lawe of Moses that thou shalt not remoue thy neighbours marke which they of olde time haue set in thine inheritance So Numa Pomp. made the selfe same lawe in Rome that whosoeuer would plough vp any of his neighbors markes or meeres both he and his oxen should be slaine and sacrificed to god Terminus vpon the very meere where the offence was done False witnesse is a defamer and slaunderer of mens credite and therefore the lawe of the twelue tables saith Siquis occentauisset aut carmen condidisset quod infamiam faceret flagitiumque alteri capitale sit If any would write slaunderous libelles or infamous verses touching a mans credite good name and fame he should die for it The selfe same lawe was by Solon made in Athens that vpon any slaunders or nicknames an action might be had before the Iudges Areopagites How much more false witnesses and periurers that seeke mens liues by false oathes are to bee punished whose conscience are burned with hotte irons of whom is said Conscientia pietatis lacinia for you shall not sweare by my name falsely saith the Lord neither shall you defile the name of your God The Lord though he commaunded his people that they should not sweare at all neither by heauen for it is the Lords throane neither by the earth for it is his footestoole for the scripture vsed the speech of the Lord for an oath Dixit Dominus it was an oath and the Lord sware by the excellencie of Iacob he sware by himselfe Per me ipsum iuraui Oathes may bee well and iustly required in lawfull causes for Abraham made his seruant to sweare by the God of heauen and earth not to take a wife to his sonne Isaac of the daughters of the Canaanites but of his owne stocke and kindred and therefore hee caused his seruant to lay his hand vnder his thigh which ceremony declareth the dutie and obedience the seruant should haue to his maister Iacob sware the like oath as his grandfather Abraham did and caused Ioseph his sonne to put his hand vnder his thigh as an oath that he should not suffer him to be buried in Egipt but to be brought from Egipt to Haebron to the field Machpelaâ—… and there to be buried with his fathers Abimelech requested Abraham to sweare Iura per deum ne noceas mihi nec stirpimeae and Abraham sware vnto Abimelech and named the place where they both sware Berseba Iacob sware vnto Laban his father in law Pertimorem in Patrissui by the feare of his father Dauid sware against Nabal and said Hocfaciat mihi dominus Thus God do vnto me if I leaue Nabal a head for that he denied me and my company a little victualls being a hungrie Salomon sware vnto his mother by the Lord Thus God do vnto me if Adoniah liue for that by seeking Abizaig he seeketh also the kingdome Elias the Prophet sware vnto Achab king of Israel Viuit Dominus as sure as the Lord liueth So Elizeâ—…s sware vnto Elias the like oath Viuit Dominus I will not forsake thee this kind of oath is often vsed in scripture as the Lord liueth or as thy soule liueth Paul the Apostle vsed this oath God is my witnesse whom I feare in an other place Testem Deum inuoco in animam meam I call God to witnesse to my soule and againe God knoweth that I lye not In the thirteenth Regiment is set downe the danger and inconveniences that hapned by ambition and what lawes diuers countries made to banish the same THe states of Princes and countries are euer in most danger where ambitious men be who fearing nothing at all secretly to speake against Princes and Magistrates ambitiously whose ambitious nature seekes not onely to rule and raigne but also to practise without feare through pollicie to vndermine states and to ouerthrowe their countrey through ambition Pacem contemnentes gloriam appetentes pacem gloriam perdunt Of these men Plato saith Siquis priuatim sine publico scitu pacem bellumuè fecerit capitale esto Ambitious men are not so glad and proud to see many follow them and obey them as they are spitefull and disdainfull against any one man that esteemes them not so ambitious and proud was Ammon that he could not endure the sight of Mardochaeus The ambition of Abimelech was such that hee slew three score and eight lawfull sonnes of Gedeon his bretheren vpon one stone to become a Iudge in Israel himselfe being but a bastard Absolon the naturall sonne of Dauid went most ambitiously about to winne the hearts of Israel from his father embracing and kissing euery one that came vnto him saying I wish there were some that would minister iustice to the people Such is the nature of ambitious men Qui honores quieta Repub desperant perturbata se consequi posse arbitrantur Can a man goe barefooted on thornes and not bee prickt can a man put coles in his bosome and not bee burnt can a man be ambitious and not be trecherous for ambition claspeth enuie as the Iuye claspeth the Oake and as the Iuye sucketh all the moysture of the Oake so enuie sucketh all the moysture of the ambitious man What was the end of Ammon for his ambition to be hanged vpon the selfe-same gallowes which he prepared for Mardocheus What got Abimelech by his ambition and murthering of his bretheren but to haue his braine panne broken and slaine and that by a woman in the Cittie of Argos The end of Absolon was no better but to be brought by his owne mule and to be hanged by the haire of his owne head in the wood of Ephraim where his mule left him Impia proditio celeri paena uindicanda Had these ambitious men obserued the three precepts which Brasidas taught his countrey men the Athenians Velle vereri obedire they might haue died a more honourable death then to be hanged and killed by those whom they sought ambitiously to destroy by their next kinred and chiefe friends These bee such men Qui suam sibi fortunam fingunt The like lawe was appointed by Plato for treason as for sacriledge Iudices istis proditoribus dantur qui sacrilegis solent for as Philip of Maecedon was wont to say Amare se prodituros non proditores so Augustus Caesar after him vsed the like wordes Proditionem non proditores amo And therefore Corah Dathan and Abiron and all their complices to the number of two hundred and fiftie were swallowed vp of the earth aliue for theyr ambitious murmuring against Moses The Lord spared neither Aaron Moses brother nor Myria his sister for the like offence so
sacriledge against their gods and therefore were the Acarnanites slaine in Athens If the Gentiles do this for dumbe Idols and woodden gods and allow no straunge gods to bee worshipped nor serued within their territories neither suffered their religion to bee altered how much more should Israel obserue the lawe of their Lord and God for of him through him and for him are all things and as Hillarius saith Quicquid in deo est Deus est totum quod in Deo est vnum est Hermes though a Heathen man amōg the Egiptians could say Deus est quae sunt ea quae non sunt And Plato among the Greekes could say Deum esse aequalem totum ipsum singulum Such was the blinde zeale of the Gentiles towards theyr goddes that they exceeded the Iewes for as theyr gods were innumerable so were theyr ceremonies theyr sacrifices feasts and vowes infinite they were so religious to theyr goddes that they sought neither health wealth nor any thing else without vowes made eyther to dedicate Temples and Aultars to sacrifice and make Playes as the Romaines did for the health of theyr Consuls Dictators and Emperours or for any thing else the Priestes of Iupiter called Flamines should offer the sacrifice of Haecatombae vnto theyr gods The Grecians also when their gods were offended with them vowed for their assistance and helpe to stand with them to dedicate statues Images with crownes chaines and Iewels The Egiptians when they had offended their gods they should shaue their heads and their beards and dedicate the haires thereof at Memphis with vowes made that they would build temples of marble and of Iuorie to their gods The Persians which haue neither Temples nor Images but the Sunne onely whom they worship whose Temple said they is the whole world to whom the Persians made a pile of wood offered sacrifice and powred wine milke hony which with supplication vowes they made to the Sunne for the Persians had neither Temples nor Idolls which made Xerxes when he came to Greece with his Persian armie and sawe their Goddes and Idolls so full painted and pictured on the walles of their Temples that he left neither Gods nor Temples that he could come vnto vnburned In so much that the Lorde complained by his Prophets and brings these Heathens the Romanes Egiptians Persians others in for a proofe against his people saying how these Gentiles obserue and keep the lawes of their Gods and suffer no straunge God to be worshipped among them but my people will not obey me saith the Lord. The Prophet Ieremy cried so to Israel saying Looke how many cities are in thee oh Iudah so many strange Gods do you worship within Iudah And so the Lord complained how the Rechabites kept the lawes and ordinances of their father Ionadab that commaunded them they should neuer drinke wine build no house sowe no seede plant no vines and haue no vineyards they haue kept their fathers lawes but my people will not obey my lawes nor keepe my commaundements saith the Lord. So did the sonnes of Mattathias as the sonnes of Ionadab did obeyed their fathers commaundement in obseruing the lawes of the Lord. The examples are verified in all the kings of Israel euen from Salomon for hee forsooke the Lorde and serued straunge gods and builded Aultars to Chemosh god of the Moabites and to Moloch god of the Ammonites But Dauid burnt the Images and Idolls of the Philistines in the valley of Giants so in like sort were the Idols of the Iamnites burned The Lord therefore sent Ahiah the Sylonite to Ieroboam Salomons seruant which tooke his mantle and rent it into twelue peeces thus saith the Lord so will I rent the kingdome out of Salomons hand and will giue tenne Tribes to thee although they read in the lawe of the Lord that the sword of the Lord is sent against them that worship Images as the Lorde said I will whet my sworde which shall eate the flesh of Ido◅ators and will make my arrowes drunken with ◅heyr bloud I will destroye your Aultars ouerthrowe your Images and cast your bodies vpon the ◅arkasses of your Idols yet would not Israel bee in◅tructed And therefore it was prophesied and said of Ierusalem Thou shalt serue thy enemie in hunger in thirst ◅n nakednesse and in neede and he shall put a yoake of Iron vpon thy necke vntill hee haue destroyed thee thou shalt eate the fruite of thy body euen the flesh of ◅hy sonnes and daughters during the siege and straight◅esse wherein thy enemies shall inclose thee because thou obeyedst not the voice of the Lord so that thorne and thistle shall grow on their aultar and they shall say to the mountaines couer vs and to the hilles fall vpon vs. And therefore Zaleucus Pythagoras Scholler the first lawe that he made among the Locreans was first to establish religion and to honour and worship the gods acknowledging all things that are good to come from diuine powers the second lawe was against contention and discord among the people exhorting one to loue an other agreeable to the lawe of nature which lawe was giuē vnto vs that we should loue others and do for others as much as for our selues Hence grew that Paradoxe of Pythagoras that all things should be common amongst friendes and friendship most common and therefore Socrates was wont to curse that man Qui primus vtilitatem a natura seiunxisset for what nation is in the world but by the law of nature loues lenitie humanitie gratitude and goodnesse and by the selfe same lawe hates crueltie pride vngratefulnesse and wickednesse It seemed that Zeleucus read Moses lawe for that his first lawe was concerning religion in the first table and his second lawe touching loue and charitie betweene neighbours in the second table Licurgus among the Lacedemonians made a lawe that no straunger might come and dwell in Sparta not in any part of Lacedemonia lest they should defile prophane their lawes and religion neither should that Lacedemonian that went out of his countrey returne to his countrey lest he should corrupt their religion So it was among the Israelites by the lawe of Moses that no straunger might match with the Israelites neither by marriage nor by any societie vnles they would become obedient to the lawe of Moses It was not lawfull in Athens to thinke much lesse to speake any thing against their gods and for that Auaxagoras the Philosopher said the Sunne was but a fierie stone he was by the Athenians put to death for that the Athenians iudged the same to be a God So carefull were the Gentiles to serue theyr Gods that Gedeons death was sought for the breaking of the aultar of Baal Ieptha was threatned to be slaine in his owne house whereby hee was forced to flie to the land of Tob. Protagoras because the Athenians found
lawes for it was the manner as well among the Grecians as among the Romaines euer to make lawes and neuer to keepe them And though the authoritie of the kings were taken away and derogated in many countries yet the force and power of the law stood in effect though the change thereof were dangerous For the lawe sayth Thou shalt not steale nor deale falsely heerein is included vnder the name of stealing all kinde of sacriledge falshood fraud lying one to an other and all other crimes pertaining to stealing Achan for his cunning stealing of a cursed Babylonian garmēt two hundred sickles of siluer and a toong of gold against the lawe at the spoile of Iericho was deliuered by the Lord to Ioshuahs hand who brought him with his sonnes his daughters all his cattells his Tent and all that hee had vnto the valley of Achor and there stoned Achan to death and burned them with fire the Lord euer preferreth obedience before sacrifice for the disobedience in Achan for breaking the lawe was the cause of his stoning The disobedience of Saul against the commaundement of the Lord was such that he lost both his kingdome and his life A Prophet that went from Iudah with the word of the Lord to Bethel for that he did eat bread in that place being forbidden he was killed of a Lion as he returned The man that gathered stickes vpon the Sabboth day against the commaundement the Lord commaunded he should be stoned to death We might thinke that the gathering of stickes and the eating of a peece of bread were but small faults that thereby the one should be stoned and the other killed of a Lyon had it not bene forbidden by the lawe So such men suppose Adams fault to be but little that for earing of an Apple in Paradise not onely he but his posteritie after him should loose Paradise but as the Angels in heauen by their disobedience lost heauen so Adam by his disobedience lost Paradise The Lorde spared not Kings for breach of the law as Oza and Ozias both kings the one for vnreuerent handling of the Arke vsurping the Leuites Office against the lawe was strooken with sudden death and the other for burning incense against the lawe which was the Priestes Office was strooken with leprosie The Lord spared not his owne Priest Aaron that for his incredulitie before the people he died for it in mount Hor. Neither spared the Lord his owne seruant Moses for his disobedience so that hee also died in mount Nebo that neither of them both came to the land of Canaan for their disobedience and diffidence in the Lord. So seuere the lawe of the Lord was that 50000. Bethsamites died for looking into the Arke Aarons sonnes Nadab and Abihu for offering strange fire before the Lord against the lawe were destroyed by fire from heauen Hence grew the ceremoniall lawes of the Gentiles touching their religion and sacrifices to their Gods So the women that attended the fire on the aultar of Apollo in Delphos were seuerely punished if by any negligence it happened to be extinguished neither might that fire being so extinguished be kindled again by any other then by the said women and by no other fire thē by the beames of the sunne The Vestall virgins in Rome if the sacred fire of Vesta weare out by any negligence that Vestall virgine that then attended should be brought Per Regem sacrorum to the Bishop to be whipt neither might any fire be kindeled againe to the goddesse Vesta but by the heate of the Sunne neither might they sweare by any other then by the name of Vesta the like ceremonies they vsed to Minerua in Athens So among the Persians Assyrians and Chaldeans they worship their sacred fire Vt Deorum maximum on their aultars seeming to follow Moses lawe Zaleucus an auncient Lawe-maker among the Locreans brought vp with Pythagoras the Phylosopher made a lawe against adulterers that both the eyes of the adulterer should be pulled out which being broken by his eldest sonne though all the Locreans ioyntly en treated for Zaleucus sonne yet said he the lawe must nobe broken and to satisfie the lawe Zaleucus pulled one of his sonnes eyes out and an other of his owne shewing himselfe a natural father to his sonne a iust Iudge to performe the lawes which hee made to the Locreans so seuerely were they punished that brake the lawes or sought to breake the lawes among the Gentiles Those people said Alcibiades do better which keepe the lawes they haue though they be worse then often changed for better Obseruatio legum morum tutissima that plant cannot take roote which is often remoued So Augustus Caesar wrote to the Senators that what lawes soeuer they had decreed and set downe should not be chaunged nor altered for better were it not to make lawes then to make so many lawes and not to keepe them Positas semel leges constanter seruate nec vllam earum immutate si deteriores sint tamem vtiliores sunt Reipub. Lu. Papirius Cursor the Dictator for that Fabius Rutilius brake the decree of the Dictator though hee had good successe and wonne a great victorie yet the lawe was that Fabius should dye neither could the captaines entreate him for his pardon that Fabius was constrained secretly to flye to Rome and to appeale to the Tribune of the people and to the Senators the Dictator followed Fabius to Rome saying that there was no lawe that any appeale should be made from the Dictator vntill Fabius and his father fell vpon their knees with the Senators and Tribune of the people to entreat for him and that for breach of the lawe though hee was Magister equitum the greatest and next in authoritie to the Dictator for the lawe-makers themselues that brake their owne lawes were punished as Zaleucus spared not his owne eye nor Diocles his owne life for breach of the lawe The like we find in Plato comparing the lawe to medicines mingled with poyson to that ende the patient might recouer his health by the medicine so that saith Plato the law is profitable to correct and amend the offender Vt medicamentis venena miscemus salutarifine instar pharmaci haec talia vtilia esse Diocles among other of his lawes in Syracusa made a lawe that if any should come armed with weapons into any Senate Court of Councell or before any Magistrate or assembly of people sitting in lawe causes he should die for it by the lawe of Diocles. This lawe of Diocles was the cause of his own death for as he was riding into the Towne being met sent for to mitigate some contention and debates among the people he making hast forgetting his sword on his side came to the Court and opened to them the lawe made to the people to be gouerned by willed them to obey the same but hee was tolde by some
Lacedemonians had also their Senate of eight and twentie graue and auncient wise men which by Licurgus lawe should be 60. yeares old before they should be chosen and accepted to be of councell The Carthagineans in like manner made choice of 30. of their principall and chiefe men of Carthage called Conipodes to sit and determine in secret councell of the state of their citie for the Carthagineans though they followed Charondas lawe yet they imitated the Lacedemonians in all other gouernment as well in warreas in peace So wearie were many nations of kings that when the Hebrewes sought to alter the gouernment of Iudges to haue Kings the Lord commaunded Samuel to set downe to the Hebrewes the lawes of Kings that they will take their sonnes their daughters the best of their fields of their vineards and of their Oliue trees giue them to their seruaunts and they shall take the best of their men-seruants and their maid-seruants their yong men and their asses to do their worke withall So the Vine the Figge tree and the Oliue answered the trees which would haue a king Shall we loose our fatnesse and sweetnesse to become a king Notwithstanding the bramble would be a king ouer the trees The Storke also would accept to be king ouer the the Frogges though all nations desire generally rather to be ruled by one then by many yet many that were elected kings would faine haue forsaken it Q. Cincinnatus being taken from the plough to be a Dictator in Rome to weare Togam praetextam assoone as sixe moneths were expired so long the office of the Dictatorship endured he returned again to his plough according to Salomons speech better is a morsel of bread in a poore mans house peaceably then to bee a Consul or a Dictator in Rome among vnruly people And therefore the Ephori of Sparta grew so ambitious that they began to enuie their kings and therefore deuised this lawe to expell their kings to obserue the starres euery ninth yeare in a cleare bright night which if they sawe any starre eyther shooting sliding or any way remouing from their place they with the consent of the whole colledge of soothsayers accused their kings that they had offended their gods and therefore deposed their kings so were king Agis and king Pausanias deposed from their kingdome by Lysander This was against the lawe of the Lord who said vnto Iob Where wast thou when I placed Hyades in theyr places and Plyades in their course canst thou know the course and orders of Septentriones and of other starres and of the reason thereof Nunquid Nosti rationem caeli saith the Lord Against these starre-gazers Plato writeth men should not bee too curious to seeke causes supernaturall and saith Nequè inquiri oportere nec fas esse curiosè satagere causas scrutantes That was the cause why Andronicus the Emperour hearing two learned men reasoning of the like to say if they would not leaue their curious and friuolous disputations the riuer Rindacus should be Iudge betweene them and end the controuersie for Non sapit qui nimis sapit So were the Priests called Mantes in Athens of such authoritie that nothing could be done in any publike councell concerning religion and matters of state vnlesse they were in place present The like lawe the Romaines vsed euery fiftyeare being taught and commaunded to bee obserued out of the bookes of the Sybils that vpon any appearances or sights of two Sunnes together or of three Moones or any other great causes the soothsayers might remoue either Consul or Praetor from their place The like ambition began in Persia after Cambises dyed that it was not lawfull for the kings of Persia to make any lawes otherwise then they were instructed by theyr Magi neither was there any lawe made among the auntient Romaines without the counsell of their soothsayers who were called interpretes Iouis Nuntijdeorum for these lawes were called among the Romains and the Persians Leges Augurales but of these Augural lawes I haue toucht them in my booke of Stratagems which were as much esteemed and feared of captaines and souldiers as their military lawes for both the Persians Grecians and Romains followed the counsell of soothsayers in their warres contrary to Moses lawe which forbad dreames and soothsaying to be vsed as the Gentiles did for saith the lawe Non declinetis ad magos The superstitious error of the Gentiles in their soothsayers grew to be so great that if the soothsaiers said that Esculapius beeing dead could sooner restore health and minister medicine to the sicke by dreames then Galen could do by his art aliue some would beleeue it and therefore the Pythagorians abstained from beanes when they went to sleepe because it filleth rather the minde with vaine dreames then the belley with good meate If any soothsayers would say that Serapis and Minerua through diuination could minister medicine and restore the sicke vnto health without the helpe of Phisitions sooner then the Phisitions themselues these flatterers would be as they are accepted in court countrey TanquaÌ„ Syrenes aulae the Gentiles would beleeue it which as Thucydides saith are two most noysome things in a common-wealth for nothing could be spoken so absurd but some Philosopher or other will maintaine it and defend it The Philosophers among the Indians which would either prognosticate or defend falsehood or seeme to affirme that to be true which was false they were by law for euer after commaunded to perpetuall silence The lawe of diuination was such in all kingdomes and countries eyther by fleeting of starres flying of fowles by intrailes of beasts or by dreames that whatsoeuer the soothsayers spake among the Persians Grecians and the Romaines it was taken for Maximum praestantissimum ius Reipub for the words of the lawe were Auspicia seruanto for example therof Cicero reciteth many histories and Crisippus gathered many Oracles together But if the lawe of the Gospell were so kept among Christians as the law of Augurers was among the Gentiles and the words of the Preacher were so obserued as the words of the Soothsayers among Pagans if mens affections were set on a heauenlycommon-wealth Vbi Rex est veritas lex charitas modus aeternitas as worldlings are set on an earthly habitation Vbi Rex est vanitas lex infidelitas modus breuitas As it hath bene seene in the Greeks which first florished before the Affricans in the Affricans which florished before the Romains and in the Romains which flourished before the Scythians and therefore In rebus cunctis est morum temporum imperiorum vices So that all commoâ—… wealths all kingdomes and all countries were ruled are and shall be gouerned by diuine prouidence from the beginning to the worlds ende FINIS A Table containing a briefe summe of the whole booke THe old Patriarkes liued vnder the lawe of nature
700. Queenes and 300. concubines and hauing but one sonne which is read of and that so wicked that through his wicked and cruell dealing to his people the Lord tooke 10. of the 12. Tribes of Israel away from Salomons sonne gaue them to Ieroboam Salomons seruant It was a commaundement giuen from Moses to the people that they should not forget the lawes of the Lord but teach them to their sonnes and their sonnes sonnes and therefore the lawes were commaunded to be set as frontlets betweene their eyes to bee written vpon the postes of their houses vpon their gates and to bind them for a signe vpon their hands that their children should not forget but be instructed by the sight thereof in the lawes of the Lord. For the olde Pharisies were wont to weare Philacteria which were scrolles of parchment about their heads and armes hauing the tenne commandements written on them therefore Christ pronounced so many woes against the Scribes and Pharisies for their hipocrisie Hence grew the beginning of setting vp of pictures in porches the Images of Philosophers in Schooles and Vniuersities and the Images of the goddes in the Temples and secret closets of Princes as Alex. Seuerus had the Image of Christ Abraham Orpheus and Appollonius in his closet worshipped as gods so the Heathens and Pagans had the Images of their countrie gods set vp at theyr gates galleries and closets Among the olde Romanes in auntient times they were buried in theyr gardens and in theyr houses and therefore they had their houshold godeds to doo sacrifice vnto them and to vse funerall ceremonies vnto these Idols for it was not lawfull by the lawe of the 12. tables to burie any within the citie for the lawe was Ne in vrbem sepelito and it was also Platos lawe that the dead should bee buried in the fieldes or some barren ground out of the cities least the dead bodies should infect the quicke These lawes were called Leges funerales But the Lord spake to Ioshuah Let not the booke of this lawe depart out of thy mouth see that thou doo and obserue all the lawes which Moses commaunded thee so Ioshuah did made a couenant with the people at his death set ordinances and lawes before them in Sychem and tooke a great stone and pitched it vnder an oake that stood in the Sanctuarie and said behold this stone shal be a witnesse vnto vs and a memoriall of the couenant betweene vs. So Iacob set vp a stone and said to his bretheren gather stones and make a heape which hee called Gilead and said to Laban this heape of stones be a witnesse betweene thee and me It was a custome among the olde Hebrewes as markes of witnesse and memoriall of things past to put vp stones as Samuel did in his victorie against the Philistines pitched vp a stone and named it the stone of helpe So carefull were the kings of Persia that they made choise of foure principall men in all knowledge to instruct the kings children after fourteene yeares of age and therefore the Persian lawes for education of theyr youth were not onely commended of many but of many imitated they should learne three principall lessons to take heed of lyes and onely to speake the truth secondly to deale iustly and wrong no man and thirdly to knowe what was wrong and what was iustice The children in Persia were brought vp with such reuerence to their parents that it was not lawfull for them in the presence of their parents either to sit to spit or to blowe their noses theyr children might not so much as taste wine though it were vpon their feast day which among the Persians is the most solemne feast also the children might not come to their parents sight before they were seuen yeares olde there is nothing so requisite in parents as the education of children And therefore Charondas made a lawe that the citizens which were gouerned by his lawes should bring vp their children in schooles to be taught to know good from euill and to be accustomed with vertuous education that thereby they might stand in stead to theyr countrey with wisedome iudgement and counsell The like law is set downe by Plato who saith Si Rempub. verè institues virrtus cum ciuibus comunicanda est For as euery citie hath her Phisitions to prouide for health and to care for the bodye So I thinke it rather better saide Chaerondas to haue schoolemaisters and teachers to bring vp youth in vertue and knowledge and to bee taught in the lawes of God man to serue their countrey Diuers Nations as the Carthagineans Arcadians Baeotians and Mazacens sent for Charondas lawes to gouerne their countrey and as the Romanes sent to Greece for Hermadorus to interpret the 12. Tables so the Mazacens sent for one to Thuria to interpret Charondas lawes So the Iewes after their return from Babilon appointed Esdras to read interpret the law of Moses vnto thē before whom they sware that they would turne away theyr straunge women the Ammonites and Moabites and that they would keepe the lawes of the Lord. The Lacedemonians would make their hindes and husbandmen drunken hauing roddes in their hands to whip and beat them for their drunkennesse and would bring them out before their children other youths of Sparta which was both Plato and Anacharsis order to the Grecians because their children might see the faults and beastlinesse of the seruants to terrifie the children that thereby they might loath vice and loue vertue and learne to bee obedient to their parents for the greatest care the Lacedemonians had was to bring vp their children in musicke and military discipline esteeming the education of their chidren in any thing else indifferent Nabuchodonozer king of Babilon caused foure of the kings stocke Zedechiah Daniel and his fellowes to bee brought vp in the Chaldaean discipline that they might serue the king in his chamber and at his table In auntient time the olde Romanes were not onely studious and carefull to bring vp their children to obserue the lawes of their gods at Rome but also vsed yearly to make choise often of the best mens children in Rome and to send thē to Etruria a religious nation there to be taught in the Etrurian discipline concerning religion to their gods and to learne dutie and seruice to their countrey beeing in the Latin tongue instructed first then in the Greeke tongue and after to learne wise and pithy sentences as Paradoxes and Aphorismes Charondas iudged those parents not fit to be of counsell nor worthy to be Magistrates to rule in their countrey that hauing many children by the first wife would marry a second for he supposed that they would neuer be carefull ouer their country that would not be careful ouer their children And therefore the lawes of diuers of the Gentiles were not to bee allowed in selling theyr