the Hebrew Bible to draw the full time of the Messias from the verie promise of the seed of the woman vnto the very birth of the Messias So also did the Iewes draw Ex epinicio Mosis Quis sicut tu in dijs Iehouah Of these wordes they picked such letters as they inuented for the name of the Machabees For Ioshua vsed these words as Moses did And after Ioshua Iudas their third Iudge vsed it as his poesie the which was good and godly But how they vsed their vaine Cabbales out of the other godly words I know not vnlesse it were to know where when and how long this Religion should endure we know well how long it hath endured In like manner Maximilian the Emperour vsed the fiue Vowels for his poesie which noted the Maiesty and Iustice of the Empire a word for euery vowel which was Aquila Electa Iuste Omnia Vincit Vlisses had rather see the smoake of Greece than the sun shining in Phrygia And some had rather see the smoak of Idolatrie in Rome than their fier in England Vlisses confest that he would willingly loose the solace and ioy of immortalitie before he would forget the sweet ayer and delight of his Countrey Ithaca And others cannot abide the sight or smell of their Countrey Britane They cannot endure to drinke of the sweet Riuers of Bethel but they can swallow vp the puddles in Bethauen Genutius a Roman Pretor riding out of Rome suddainly there sprange as it seemed hornes on his head This woonder was by the Soothsayers interpreted that if Genutius would returne againe to Rome hee should be a King of the Romans He to auoid the name of a King being an odious name in his Countrey willingly banished himselfe from Rome least he should be a King in Rome to offend the Romanes The Romans therefore set vp his Image vpon that gate he went out of Rome in memorie of his great loue towards Rome So did they vpon the gate the 300 Fabij went out of Rome to end the quarrell betweene the Romans and the Viants Then in Rome they rewarded good Captaines for their seruice and now in Rome they reward Murtherers and Tirants that can inuent mischiefe When Kings and Kindomes reuolted their policies were practised then three Romane Embassadors were sent from Rome to Bythinia the one of them had a wound in his head The second had a stitch in his heart The third had the gowt or a sore legge Of these three Embassadors was Cato wont to iest saying Behold the Romane Embassadors without a head without a heart and without a legge Such Embassadors haue been often sent into England some with such wounds in their heads that their heads will not be healed without alteration of States and translation of Kingdomes some with such a stitch in their hearts that can take no rest before they haue gotten Spoliam opimam Patriae the overthrow of their Countrey and some with sore legges that cannot trauaile beyond the Seas but stay at home as standards and hospitals for such guests that come I know not whence I much doubt that there bee too many with such sore legges in Great Britane that lurke in Labyrinths made for such Embassadors some as Tutors in the Vniuersities some as Schoole masters in Gentlemens houses some as Magistrates and Officers in commission of peace some matcht in Mariage with great Houses and too many backt and countenanced lye hidden in such secret Labyrinths that the Sunne cannot see them but the Sonne of God seeth them though they be kept as secret as the Bookes of the Sibiles in Rome or verses of the Driades among the old Gauls Possidonius the Philosopher called Marcellus the Sword of Rome and Fabius the Target of Rome the one to cut off the heads of Romane enemies with his sword the other to guard and defend Rome with his Target Cunctando I pray God there bee not such a Marcellus or Fabius to defend these Romane Rebels in Britane who might liue and enioy the libertie of their countrey if they were not like the Cappadocians refusing their liberty offered theÌ„ by the Romans saying Se non posse ferre libertatem or like the Yonians as Critobolus sayd Frugi serui liberi mali good Romane seruants to the Pope but bad subiects in England These cannot abide the breath of Britane they would faine alter the name of the Isle of Britane either vnto the Isle of Serpents which is in Arabia or to the Isles of Satyres which is in Affrica Isles of their owne names Sectio 2. IN the time of Lu Crassus the Orator there dwelt in Rome a cruell dissembling Hypocrite one Dom surnamed Aenobarbus Of him Lu the Orator was woont to say That it was no wonder for Aenobarbus to haue a brazen beard since hee had an yron face and a leaden heart There bee many now in Rome and out of Rome that are like Aenobarbus with brazen beards yron faces and leaden hearts which if their bodies were opened as the Athenians did Aristomenes or as the Messenians did Hermogenes their hearts should bee found pilosa hijpida hairie and full of thornes And of late wee found many such brazen beards such yron faces and such leaden hearts in Britane as feare not the briars and brambles of Succoth nor the seruitude and bondage of Ioshua to the Gibeonites nor the lampes or the pitcher pots of Gedeon to the Medianites But it must be gladius Domini Gedeonis nostri the sword of God and our Gedeon that must tame these Tygrish Brutes and not Britanes whose hearts are in Rome though their bodies be in England and though they be not in Rome yet Rome is in their hearts for they are absent from Rome as the Iewes were from Egipt Corpore non animo But when the sunne shineth most cleere then the Crabbe catcheth the Oyster they are met and are found Policrates bragged so long of his fortunate estate and good successe that hee threw his Ring into the sea to trie further his fortune yet after his Ring was had againe he was hanged in Mount Mycalus in Persia by Oronâ—es Darius officer But Amasis a King in Egipt doubting much of his happinesse and great fortune wisht that he might tast of some calamitie and say Per varias fortunae vices and not alwayes to flourish in prosperitie Croesus iudged himselfe the happiest man vppon earth vntill he was taken with his Kingdome by Cyrus then hee thought what Solon sayd of such slipperie happinesse in this world Quam vitrea est Fortuna Saint Ambrose with some of his friends came vnto a lodging where the Host sayd of his good fortune and many bragged of their good fortune some sayd they knew not what calamity was others knew not what aduersitie was and others knew not what sicknesse meant Saint Ambrose made hast and tooke
the Iacobits and the Iamnites had their gods in their bosomes when they went to any battel so found in their bosomes when they were dead and slaine in the field and the Iewes imagined they were slaine therefore It is to bee doubted that the Papists haue their Crucifixe their Crosses their agnus Dei in any foule fact or in any treacherous actions they take in hand imitating Infidels and Pagans as Silla who had the picture of Apollo as Scipio had the picture of Iupiter to animate their souldiers to any hard enterprise These therefore are not well to be trusted lest they deceiue vs as the people called Iapyges in the borders of Italie who vnder colour of yeelding certaine Townes and Villages and some number of souldiers in pleadges of their submission to Publ Licinius the Romane Proconsul these souldiers were placed in the rereward of the armie hauing agreed that when these people came to submit themselues on both sides the armie and also they of the rereward fell suddenly vpon the Romanes that many were slaine and the Generall hardly escaped These Ismalites are backt with Rome on the one side with Spaine on the other side I trust they bee not backt in Britane for we wish them as the Grecians wished to the Persians to be out of Greece or as the Romanes wished to the Affricans to be out of Italie and so we wish them to bee in Rome or in Spaine if they cannot be quiet in Great Britane King Philip of Macedon the last doubting that his souldiers durst not abide the great hoasts of the Scithians appointed certaine horsemen to backe the timorous Macedonians and commanded them not to let one liue that would flee from their company But the Britanes being better backt than King Philips armie were and stronger wald than the Macedonians as Iosephus saith yea then either Carthage or Africa murus maior quo septi Britanni yet wee may not trust neither Friers nor Monkes which are now called Iesuits and Seminaries the onely cause of all sedition and quarrels And therefore was Heraclitus requested by some of his friends to make some speech in the pulpit to perswade loue friendship concord and amitie among the people being at variance by some seditious persons that loue discord Heraclitus knowing the cause of this discord and varience went vp to the pulpit and called for a cup of cold water and a handfull of flowre or meale and mingled it together and dranke it and came down without further speech Some of his friends said that his sermon was very short said it was a dum sermon yea said Heraclitus short speeches and dum shewes perswade most if men vnderstand it omes seditiones ex luxu nasci vnderstand that the water the mingled meale that I drank in the pulpit are as much as the words I spake that all seditions grow of too much wealth and of abundance There was an old man in Greece called Cleanthes which alwaies brauled and chid with himselfe his neighbor Theodectes asked Cleanthes with whō he so brauld chid awaies with an old friend of mine said Cleanthes which hath a white beard and a graye head These gray heads white beards which we haue in great Britane might find their owne falts as well as Cleanthes did if they were as carefull of their heads as Philetas was of his feet or Cinesias was of his back Rhodiginus writes that one Philetas of Coos was so light and so little of bodie that they put lead vnder the soles of his shooes lest any great wind should haue blowne him from the earth And of another that was so long and so slender named Cinesias that he was bound with strong barkes of Oakes about his backe to keep his bodie streight lest he should bend and breake his backe I wish that our Countreymen had either Philetas lead vnder their shooes to stay in England or Cinesias corke vnder their backs to hold vpright their backs in England for all men see that they goe not about to find out their faults or to chide with themselues with Cleanthes for their fault Neither wil they heare the speech of Augustus audite me senem iuuenes But they are euer laughing for their own wits wisdome with Democritus in finding out their own destruction and euer weeping with Heraclitus for their folly when they bring these to destruction Archimedes after long studie if he had found in any hard or difficult conclusion to satisfie his mind he would for very ioy cry out in Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I found I found Many doe studie how to find meanes not as Archimedes to inuent Engines to feare the Romanes from Syracusa the citie where he dwelt but like Dinocrates who mused how hee might bring mount Atho to the forme and figure of a man to please their great Alexander Some such there be that studie how to bring great mountaines and hie hilles as low as mould hilles but they so worke vnder ground that the ground falles vpon them It is written that Tho Aquinas was at dinner at Paris with Philip the Frence king musing long with silence suddenly he so stroke the Table with his hand and said ego vici ego vici the king asked him what he ment Aquinas answered and said an argument to ouerthrow the Maniches I would they should be so occupied to ouerthrow heresies heretickes but their heads are fraughted with greater things to ouerthrow Kings and kingdomes This Aquinas being a young boy in schoole was called of his schoole fellowes bos mutus ye sayd his schoolemaster when this dumbe oxe begins to lowe totum 〈◊〉 suo boatu replebit Such diuelish scholemasters haue bin and I doubt are in great Britan that brought vp many such dumb oxen as Aquinas was to bring vp their children not for their countrey Such a schoolemasters was Apion in Alexandria that moued sedition among the Greekes and the Iewes And in Phaliscu another schoolemaster that brought all the noble mens children being his schollers to Camillus the Romane Consul that then besieged Phalisius And such schoolemasters had we I pray God wee haue not that bring vp their schollers for Rome for Spaine and not for great Britane in caues and coniholes as conicatchers not onely vnder ground but on the ground It was an exercise in Rome among the sword plaiers called exercitium laqueatorū and after much vsed in war in Finelan and in many places of the North these souldiers were called laquearij milites because they vsed stratagems with ropes halters in throwing them vp to the wals and forts of the enemies Such souldiers were the Spaniards with their halters and ropes marching towards England to hang vs in England our owne natiue countrey such were the Massacres of Paris that slue and kild the chiefe men of Fraunce and such souldiers doe daily come from Rome to Great Britane to
multitude of birds in the Etruscan warre for those fowles fledde in such fright from a thicke wood that the Consull sent scowt-watch and found 10 Thousand Boyans in watch for Aemilius and his Romane Armie We should finde greater birds in great Britane if we should send scowt-watch abrode and yet I stand in doubt that as Ioshua sent some of euerie Tribe to search the Land of Chanan at their returne they would not open the fertilitie of the Land for feare of great men of higher stature than the Israelites were lest they should fight with those mightie men the brood of Enachims saying Nuncij cor nostrum terruerunt those Israelites feared men more thaÌ„ God they had rather returne to Egipt than otherwise They came from Rome to great Britane as Cleonimus the Athenian with his souldiers went to Tracaena with a dart in his hand which hee threw ouer the wals which had written vpon his dart that Cleonimus came to deliuer the Trocenians from Craterus their enemie by this policie Cleonimus wan Trocaena by sedition of the souldiers The like did Haniball after he had gotten the great Victorie at Thrasymenum wrote diuers Letters to sundry Cities and Townes in Italy saying that Haniball came from Carthage to Italy to deliuer Italy from the Romans Many vse Hanibals speach and letters that come in one hand with pardons indulgences not onely promising on earth absolution for their treacherie and murther but also to be canonized Saints in heauen and in the other hand Cleonimus dart yea Sauls dart to throw to King Dauids face such darts would these cursed Crew throwe to Kinges and Princes faces Not what lawes should bee sought for these Rebels but what punishment might bee inuented for these Traytors Antiochus inuented torments to torture the Iewes that would not eate Swines flesh Phalaâ—is had by perillous inuention a brazen Bull to torment Offendors Among the Greekes it was lawfull for any man to bring such Offenders to Delphos and there to offer them quicke in sacrifice to Apollo Among the Romanes to bring such to the Theators and there to bee hewd and cut in peeces Per Gladiatores the Sword-players Among the Persians such should be quick buried the Massilians had a naked Sword and a great Vessell full of poyson hanged vp in publicke sight to terrifie such Traytors Sectio 4. THemistocles before compared himselfe to a Plantane tree for that the Athenians vsed it for to shadow them and to defend them in times of warres with the Persians so in like sort said Themistocles That Athenians vse him at their pleasure sometime for their drinking Cup and sometime for their Chamber pot and so often vsed him off and on to cast him of at their pleasure and to call him againe at their will that Themistocles would sometime speake to the Athenians Illos non laudo homines qui eodem vase pro calice matula vtuntur I like not those kinde of people that vseth one vessell for to drinke out wine of it in the morning and to make water in it at night So vngratefull people were the Athenians that they wayed for nothing but for three Monsters of Athens Noctua populus draco so full of flattery and dissimulation was Athens that euerie one stood in doubt whome to trust Many vse such dissembling speaches and countenances in great Britane like counterfeit Tragedians at Smyrna with their false Solaescismes holding vp to heauen their bloodie hands and looking downe to the earth with wicked malicious eyes longing to see their tree at Rome bring forth such fruits as the wild Oliue tree did at Megara a Citie of Achaia in Greece There was a Citie in the Market-place a wilde Oliue tree on which the Captaines and the souldiers vsed to hange their armors a long season that in continuance of time this tree by hanging on of these armors bred of it selfe Armors which was prophecied that when this tree should breed of it selfe Armors for souldiers this Citie should be destroyed for this tree was Arbor fatalis There was a great Tree likewise in Babilon which shadowed all beasts of the field and on whose boughes all the fowles of the ayre made their neasts and all the Kings of the earth hanged their Swords their Targets their Helmets and all their Militarie Armors But there was a rotteÌ„ Tree a long time in Rome Religiosa arbor on which the Dominick Franciscans Benedicts Friars hanged their Caputium their weeds and religious garments so long that this Tree bred more Armors and armed men in Rome and out of Rome than the wilde Oliue did at Megara or the mightie high Tree at Babilon But as the fatall Tree of Megara had an end so the great Tree of Babilon was cut downe and so the rotten Tree of Rome is as readie to fall downe for vnder this Tree were more Traytors bredd more Scysmes and heresies brought vp than were Souldiers at Megara either beasts or fowles in Babilon For these hold it a principle or a maxim of their laws that it was as lawfull to burne a Protestant in England as to kill a Tyrant in Greece and the reward was a like Spolia opima Ioui a rich spoyle to their Iupiter It was counted great tyrannie in Tamberlane King of Scythia to vse Baizates the great Turke though as great a Tyrant as himselfe being taken captiue to carrie him in his tryumph from Countrey to Countrey in a Cage and to feede him like a dogge vnder his table in that Cage And it is greater tyrannie to feed Turkes and Tamberlanes to cut our throats in England Sapor King of Persia after his great Victorie ouer the Romanes and had taken the Roman Emperour Valerianus he kept him as his Prisoner vsed him as a blocke on his knee for the King of Persia to mount on horse-backe to the great disgrace of the Romans These were tryumphs of Tyrants and not of Kings The King of great Britane may vse his enemies as Tamberlane vsed the great Turke or as Sapor vsed the Romanes I remember the tyrannie of Sesostris whom the Ethiopians call the Hercules of Egipt which was caried in a Coach as Melancthon saith In curru ex auro lapidibusque praeciosis constructo by â—ower Kinges in a Charriot wrought with gold and precious stones But one of these 4 Kings euer looked back vpon the wheele of the chariot Sesostris asked him why he so ofteÌ„ looked back he said I look vpon the wheele how by course the staues of the whele are somtimes aboue sometimes belowe Histories report that he dismissed those Kinges and freed them from such bondage vpon these words Such was the fortune of Tygranes the great King of Armenia though he had 4 Kings wayted on him at his Table and ranne sometime as foot-men at his stirrope yet was hee forced to throw his Diademe at Pompeis feet Thus Fortuna ambiguo vagatur axe But the Bishop of Rome which had more Kings and Kingdomes vnder his obeysance vseth much more tyrannie than Tamberlane of Scythia or Sapor of Persia Yea greater tyrannie than Adonibezek who had 70 Kings feeding
like dogs vnder his table without either toes to their feet or fingers to their hands but he had legem Talionis This man of Rome commaundeth his Embassadors as Nabuchadnezar commaunded Holofernes Ne parâ—at oculus tuus vlli regno to make Acheldama of England and great Britane This is that Ashuerus that willed proude Haman De populo age quod placet Doe what thou wilt with the Iewes The like condition is betweene the Pope and his people who sends his Heraulds abroade tanquam cursores with his Buls and Agnus Dei pardoning and absoluing all murtherers that will destroy all Kinges and Kingdomes that are not of his Catholike Religion This hath beene practised in Fraunce vppon their cheefe Peeres by the Massacres in Paris and by a Friar in auricular consession of a King In England vpon the best learned men of England and vpon our late gracious and renowned Queene if their often practises by many pretended had not fayled them And now of late vpon our Soueraigne Lord and King vpon our Queene vpon our Prince and vpon their children the sacred and stayed anchor of three Kingdomes and vpon these three Kingdoms it selfe At illos Deus è Coelo subsannauit Is this the Catholike fruit of their Catholike Religion Is Treason and Murther the profession of Papists We thanke God with Paul that hath deliuered vs from the snares of Sathan and from the practise of his fierie Souldiers and from these Dreamers Caligula that Monster wished but one necke vnto Rome one Citie that hee might cut it off with one stroke That proud Haman sought of king Ashuerus but to destroy the remnaÌ„t of one nation that vpon one day within a hundred and seuen and twentie Prouinces in Persia. But these Serpents in one houre with one flame of fier fully decreed to destroy England Scotland and Ireland three flourishing Kingdomes Quis non meminisse horret Who laments not to thinke much more to haue seene the terror of that day The inuenter thereof could not be but a Diuell and not one Diuell vnlesse it bee that Diuell which Christ commaunded exi hominem whose names was Legio a legion of Diuels Such a Diuell might draw many Diuels after him Such a treacherous Catelin had more with him to destroy Rome rather thaÌ„ 300 faithfull Fabians to defend it Who seeth not the monstrous intentions of these Traytors after long lurking in many secret Labyrinths of Britane where so longe they were hidden vntill they had decreed to bring their last Pageant of ostentation not only with their great Colossus from Rome to England and there to rest but also with their huge Pyramides from Egipt to bee buried in England and to make a Chaos of Great Britane sometime called Insula fortiuÌ„ and to christen it againe after their own name Insula Serpentum the Isle of Serpents which is an Isle in Arabia where such Serpents breed that are of 120 cubites long And yet now in Britane my heart bleedeth to speake of them wee finde longer Serpents that their bodies bee in Britane and their heads at Rome I will not say their heart and hands at Spaine These are worse than the Athenians that had certaine Priests named Mantes which caried Firebrands in their handes and went before the Magistrates of Athens and threw about their Firebrands in signe of battell between the cities of Greece These are worse then the Priests of Rome called Faeciales that went before the Consulls with bloudy darts in their hands which they threwe towardes the Confines of their neighbours to pronounce warre And these our late Iesuits and Seminaries as Embassadors came from Rome with Firebrands and bloodie darts not in their hands but in their harts to destroy their Countrey and Countrey-men and glad when they finde meanes by any policie to practise mischiefe But these hellish Harpeis these cruell Crocodiles worse than Pharoh that sayd Quis est Dominus and worse than the Athiests that say in their hearts there is no God Such double faced Ianus children such two-fronted Cecrops broode say with the foole Non est Deus who can onely deliuer vs from these that are double-hearted double tongues double faced Such the law of God punished so that fire from heauen deuoured them the earth gaped and swallowed them vp aliue Such the lawes of men amonge all Nations haue punished as in Athens by Solon in Sparta by Lycurgus and in Rome by so many lawes that tortures and torments were inuented to punish these tanquam sacrilegos in patrios lares focos deos penates The Egiptians with long sharpe needles per singula patricidae membra torment such Offenders the Grecians threwe such headlong downe from high rockes the Macedonians stoned them to death The Romanes drewe them in peeces either between fower horses or 4 boughes of a tree and yet sayd Cicero Quae nex tanta tanto sceleri inueniri potuit And should not these false and forsworne Gibeonites be punished with seruitude and bondage and be reiected from the house of Iudah as Ioshua vsed them And should not these dissembling Giliadites which could not pronounce Scibboleth bee vsed as Ieptha vsed the Ephramites at the riuer Iordan The Tyrant Antiochus gaue them time by tormenting the seuen brethren either to eate Swines-flesh or to die The tyrant Phaleris in like manner torturing them with his frying-panne and with Perillus his brazen Bull were not in such a rage insuch a furie and that against the rule of reason so long I neuer remember of the like that in a whole yere and a halfe they could not call vpon God and repent of this their determined tyrannie worse than Esau who would haue repented and sought it with teares but yet could not worse than Pharoh for hee desired Moses to pray to his God for him But these refuse all mens praiers but such as be Catholikes like themselues Cain felt his conscience so to afflict him that hee thought that euerie man that mette him would haue killed him and faine would die but could not But these without feeling of any conscience are worse than Cain neither fearing God nor man worse than Esau for they seeke not to repent with teares and worse than Pharoh as I sayd before who sought Moses to pray for him These I say stood to their first longe pretended tyrannie to the very day most vnhappy for them and most happie for vs. Dies quem fecit Dominus Dies solus supra Gabaon the day of Ioshua when the Sunne stood ouer Gabaon And Dies Lunae when the Moone stood ouer Atalon And Dies Martis not onely in Scotland
but also in England which day we should celebrate and solemnize with eternall memorie So did Moses set downe the dayes which God commaunded to bee solemnized in memorie of the victories and tryumphes which he had against Pharoh called Parasâ—eua for the which both Ezechias and Iosias proclaimed this feast throughout all Israel from Dan to Berseba with others two feasts which were yeerely kept and solemnized at Hierusalem in memorie of victories So Ioshua remembred his victories ouer 31 Kings with thanksgiuing to the Lord. So Machabeus in memorie of his victories of that blasphemous Nicanor Antiochus Generall and made that day to be solemnized So Mardocheus kept the feast called Phurim in memorie of the victorie which the Iewes had against the Persians in all the Cities of Persia. These are the feasts of thankesgiuing vnto God and not like such drunken feasts as the Athenians did make in the Moneth of Nouember to honour Bacchus neither such feasts as the Thracians had worse than the Athenians to honor Dionisius neither such Feasts as the Egiptians worse than the Thracians made to the Image of Priapus In such a drunken Feast to Baall Balthazar King of Babilon lost his Kingdome In such a Feast to Dagon the house fell vpon the 5 Princes of the Philistins and in such was Benhadad a drunken King of Syria slaine with 32 Kings in his drunken Pauillion Of such drunken Feasts the Prophet saith That both Priests and Prophets were drunken with wine and that they fayled in Prophecie and stumbled in Iudgment Therfore we must season and temperate our feasts as Elizeus did the water of Iericho by casting salt into it In Rome and in Italy as Varro sayth they farre exceeded the Athenians the Thracians and Egiptians in such filthy Feasts vntill by the Senators these kinds of Feasts were banished from Rome and Italy Per Senatus consulium Sectio 5. THE Lampsenians vnderstanding that Alexander the great had fully determined to destroy the Citie of Lampsacus they sent Anaximenes the Philosopher Schoolemaster somtime to Alexander to intreat for peace No sayd Alexander I haue vowed that whatsoeuer thou sekest at my hand I wil denie it thee Destroy then Lampsachus said Anaximenes His request being denyed Lampsachus was saued This Embassage was better performed to Alexander by Anaximenes then the Embassage of Aeschines to King Philip. This Orator being sent from Athens to King Philip of Macedon at his returne to Athens hee much coÌ„mended Philip for his beautie for his eloquence and for much bearing of drinke Demosthenes tooke vp Aeschines and sayd That he made a woman of King Philip for his beautie a babling Sophister for his eloquence and a Spunge for his drinking you should haue done as Demades did being then as his prisoner with diuers other citizens of Athens seeing Philip crowned with garlands in his robes and too much reioysing in his drinke of his victories ouer his Captaines and prisoners of Greece Demades boldly sayd Art not thou King Philip ashamed whome Greece made their Generall like AgameÌ„non thou to make thy selfe like bibbing Thersites with such taunts as Demades made Philip to cast off his crowns his garlands and his roabes and for verie shame to dismisse the poore Greekes his prisoners with Demades to go free to Athens and other Cities of Greece The like is read of Polemon a gallant Gentleman of Athens but being drunke rushed in his drunkenes into Anaxagoras schoole at lector time he perceiuing that Polemon was beastly shameles drunken Anaxagoras altered his daies Lector to speake of drunkennesse in such sort that Anaxagoras made Polemon as shamefast of his druÌ„kenes as Demades did king Philip both made to cast off their Crownes their Garlands and their Robes and to be ashamed of themselues Yet M. Antonius made a Booke to defend drunkennesse being reprehended therof by Cicero which was the onely cause of Ciceroes banishment and afterward of his death another Glutton named Apicius wrote a whole volume De gulae irritamentis And for the like speech Cicero vsed was Hermodorus banished from the Sybarites with whome the law was that nemo apud nos frugi sit they banished all kind of Artificers because they should not trouble them with knocking haÌ„mering carting or any noise to disquiet their drinking and withal the Sybarites made a law that no Cock shuld be in their Citie to wake theÌ„ from their sleep These were the Epicures of whom the Prophet saith Eadmus bibamus cras moriamur Of this companie was Philoxenus and Melancthus the one wished a Cranes neck the other a swans neck and either of these two wished to haue tricubitale guttur a throat of 3 cubites long to haue more pleasure in their long swallowing of their meat and drinke and yet see and obserue the difference The great Alexander when Ada Queene of Caria had sent him a daintie dish of meat thought shee should be commended for her cookery and pleasant sawce one sayd to her Euerie souldier that Alexander hath is a better Cooke and maketh sweeter sawce than the Queene of Caria can make The like Darius sayd the great King of Persia that he neuer dranke better wine in Persia than that water which was brought to him by a souldier in his Helmet So Ptolomey the first King of that name in Egipt confessed that he did neuer eat better bread in Egipt than that which a shepheard gaue the King out of his scrip See the difference betweene three base Epicures and three of the most mightie Kinges vppon the earth I know not which to preferre Philip of Macedon for his ambition or Xerxes for his lust and pleasure King Xerxes appointed pensions and great rewards for them that were named nouae voluptatis repertores that could inuent and find out new kinde of delights and pleasures King Philip gaue much money to any man that would betray great Cities and Townes and would after giue those Townes and Cities to those that would betray Countreys and Kingdomes Caesar suspecting the faith and promise of the Egiptians to be flatterie gaue himselfe to feasting and banqueting in Alexandria Thus Caesar fed the Egiptians vntill he wan all Egipt So great King Cyrus stratagem was to make his foes become his friendes in lieue off punishment and slaughter banquets and playes so hee pleased the people of Sardenses and so hee rewarded the rude and barbarous people Arymaspy and commaunded they should be called Euargetes Leontinus Gorgius being asked what hee thought of a great mightie King I knowe not sayd Gorgius whether he be Philip or Alexander a Marchant or a Souldier for Philip wan all Greece tanquam Mercator as a Marchant and Alexander wanne all Asia tanquam Victor as a Conquerour Alexander enquired for good Souldiers Philip sought good siluer Like Dionisius the Tyrant that asked his familiar and dere friend Antiphones where how
the Peeres and Nobles of India went to the Riuer Ganges to offer sacrifice to the Sunne with a number of blacke Buls and blacke horses which colour among the Indians is best esteemed The Grecians vowed for their Princes and Gouernors health and long life to dedicate Statues and Images to their Gods in their temples with crownes and garlands The Persians and Armenians did honour their Kings as their Gods And no Nation vnder the Sun reuerenced their Kings more than England did before Titans children came from Rome to Britane who were taught in Rome mortally to hate Kings they might not heare of the name of a King And it seemeth that these be right Romanes who neuer with Kings could agree like to the Taprobanes a Nation in India where none might be King of the Kings stocke especially if he had children lest they should clayme the Kingdome by heritage The Priests of Egipt and Ethiop haue a Law and a Custome to elect Kings and so long he should raigne as pleased the priests And they had authoritie from their Gods to elect and depose Kings at their will This continued vntill their God of Heliopolis Vulcan appeared in a dreame to Sabachus King of Egipt whome hee warned either to kill all the priests of Egipt and to march ouer their bodies with his whole armie or to loose his Kingdome But this idolatrous and superstitious King yeelded his Kingdome vnto priests handes and they banished the King into Ethiop Some Kinges in Europa haue been and are in the like homage to the priests of Rome as the Kinges of Affricke haue beene to the priests of Egipt and Ethiop This law and custome continued with the priests of Egipt and Ethiop vntill Ergamenes time who liued in Pto Philadelphos time who to auoid this custome hee fained a great sacrifice to the Goddesse Isis and commaunded by a straight decree that all Prophets and Priests of Isis should come to this sacrifice Ergamenes by this stratageme slew and burned all these Sacrificers and left not one aliue The like did King Iehu to Baals prophets and the like Elias did to the false prophets of Achab and the like did Daniel at Babilon found out the policie and practise of Nabuchadnezar priest These three great stratagems are equall no doubt to the Iesuits and Seminaries though not in number yet in policie And truely farre better sacrifice than the blood of Rams Goats Heiffers and thought to be better farre than that good fire which Agesilaus commended in Greece when he saw the Vsurers tables burne at Athens Some thought yea too many agreed to practise Ergamenâ—s stratageme in England but I will let passe in silence the terrour and horrour of that day The determinations of these Serpents were such that neither by Tamberlane the Scythian neither by Romane Silla nor by any Turkish tyrannie could be inuented or practised You read in this booke before how in Asia men caried Serpents on their armes to driue Diuels and euill spirits from their houses in great Britane they carrie Diuels in their hearts not to driue Diuels out of Britane but to bring more Diuels into Britane by that Romane Belzebub as the Diuell confest when he knew not where to goe sayd I will returne whence I came and brings with him 7 Diuels worse thaÌ„ himselfe So these Serpents go to Rome at their returne bring seuen such and worse from Rome to great Britane While blindnes and ignorance with superstitious ceremonies were in England no such stratagemes were vsed the Diuell slept sound and secure but now in time of the Gospell the Diuels bestirre themselues with their Priests Iesuites and Seminaries And where before in Rome a Serpent barked like a Dogge and a Dogge spake like a man at the ouerthrow of Tarquine the proude And now in Rome such creeping frogges that creepes from Rome to England and croaking in euerie corner in euerie hole and in euerie ditch worse than barking Serpents or speaking Doggs These be Spiritus Daemonum that went out of the beasts mouth in farma runarum to moue contentions and brawles betweene Kings and Princes of the earth I meane not true papists nor religious Catholikes but these treacherous Iesuits and Seminaries which doe much resemble those frogges that went forth of the Dragons mouth croaking in euery place of great Britane the Messengers of Satan and the brood of Serpents to make debates and contention not as Mimus Roscius did with Cicero which of them both should excell in their faculties neither as Aiax did with Vlisses for Achilles Armour These frogges croake for Kings and Kingdomes and they meane to haue their Babilon againe so to flourish that neither Semiramis Cyrus nor Alexander shall preuaile against it the second time These Serpents the broode of the Dragon bestir themselues to get worke-men and Souldiers to build the wals of their Babilon and to turne the great Riuer Euphrates again as their sure defence I would they had fewer worke-men out of great Britane These Serpents these diuelish dogges and croaking frogges will not bee with the bryars and brambles of Succoth nor with the lampes and pitcher pots of Gedeon but with the sword of God our Gedeon Manasses would not know the Lord to bee God before he was taken Captiue and layd in bonds and fetters by the Assirians And Sampson did not fully call vpon God vntill his eyes were pluckt out by the Philistians Nabuchadnezer knew not God before he was cast off among beasts to eate with beasts Sampson had often reuenged the malice and enuie of the Philistians towards Israell and hee might haue had more reuenge vpon them if his wife a Philistian had not opened his probleme and betrayed him vnto the Philistians Againe Sampson might haue been reuenged of the Philistians before his locks had beene cut off had it not beene for his wife Dalilah This Sampson got by marriage of such a heiffer Surely Sampsons heiffer doth vexe and trouble many good husbands This jdolatrous heiffer doth molest many strong Sampsons and many wise Salomons which that good King confessed that it was for his good that God had humbled him and then he sayd Virgatua bacculus tuus c. thy rod and thy staffe hath much comforted me Athalia Sampsons heiffer a wicked woman constrayned her Son Ochosias to walke in the jdolatrous pathes of Achab. The marriage of Sampson with Dalilah a Philistian brought Sampson and all Israell to great vexation and troble It was a law in Israell that the Iewes should not marrie out of their own tribe and being maried they were straigsttly charged and commaunded to put their wiues away for the Prophet compared the Iewes to stoan'd Horses neying on their neighbors wiues and daughters which horse gaue the Iewes sundrie great fals This horse gaue to King Dauid neying on Vrias wife such a fal that the prophet Nathan told him Non
recedet gladius de domo tua to Salomon his Sonne neying on Pharoes daughter to the losse of ten Tribes of Israel to the Beniamites such a fall for the Leuites wife to the losse of 25000 Beniamites and to the Sichemites such a fall for Dina Iacobs daughter to the ouerthrow of themselues and of their Citie Sichem But for prophane Histories Paris had such a fall for Helene Menelaus wife to the losse of the greatest number of all the Kings of Asia and of Greece Marcus Antonius for Cleopatra of Egipt had such a a fall that hee lost both the Empire of Rome and the Kingdome of Egipt I know that matching in mariage to be not one of the least causes of good and euil religion in any Common-wealth As the mariage of Esau with forraine and strange Nations The mariage of Ioram King of Iudah with King Achabs daughter an Idolater was the cause of much wickednesse in Israel The Law of Moses was that the Hebrews should match with their owne Tribe And therefore Esdras commaunded the Children of Israell to forsake their strange women Nehemias rebuked and punished the Israelites for not putting away such strange idolatrous Nations The blasphemer which was stoned in the wildernesse was the Sonne of an Egiptian gotten by an Hebrew woman Abraham was so carefull of a wife for his Sonne Isaac that hee sware his seruant to bring him one of his owne Tribe With the like care did Isaac send to Mesopotamia to his brother Laban to choose him a wife So did old Tobias send his young Sonne Tobias to Medea So God appointed such godly womeÌ„ to these godly men that willingly they forsooke their friends their kinred their brethren and sisters their Parents and country to come with their husbands to Iudah Ruth forsooke her idolatrous Nation the Moabites and would not though she was sought earnestly to returne vnto Moab A blessed woman in the Lord sayd Bâ—oâ— for she became the Mother of many blessed kings in Israell and of one most blessed King euen the King of Kings So Loah and Rachell the wiues of Iacob became the Mothers of the 12 Tribes of Israell These were godly marriages for they forsooke parents and friends to come out of such idolatrous countreys to come into Iudah to serue God with a strange Nation I could wish that there were not in great Britane those that would forsake their natiue soyle to be married in Rome or in Spaine to serue Images Caleb a zealous and earnest Hebrew promised his daughter Aâ—â—san in marriage to him that ouercame that wicked and peruerse Towne Zepheri Dissembling Saul promised his daughter Micholl to him that could bring him 200 Philistims skinnes And two godly and zealous men performed and effected the same namely Dauid and Othoniel So did Clysthenes for his daughter Agarista who made search throughout all the Cities of Greece for a vertuous youth learned and wise fit for his daughter And Themistocles was wont to say Mallem virum sine pecunia quà m pecuniaÌ„ viro iâ—digere that was his choise Yet some philosophers were of opinion like the Papists that men might haue as many women as they would for multiplication So Cato did by his wife Martia and Socrates by his wife Zantippa change them for others for that they were barrein It was not onely the opinion of Chrysippus whose writings were full of Oracles but also of Socrates and Plato and other which maintaine Poligamia but the papists will not allow their Priests Monogamia but as many Concubines and as many bastards as they list Phigius and Eccius two famous Papists left written in their bookes behinde them that Minus peccat Sacerdos sâ—ortando quam vxorem ducendo But when Pope Gregorie had found in one of his Fishing-ponds 6000 heads of Infants by his seruants he was forced with shame to say with Paul That it was better to marrie than to burne And when one of the Popes seruants sayd That it was not so rich a draught as the poore Milessian Fishers found at Miletum where they tooke Mensem aurâ—am which was not fit for any of the Sages of Greece but onely for Apollo Yea saith his fellow softly to him this draught is as fit for the Pope as the other draught was for Apollo How many such draughts were drawne in the time of Papissa a woman of Miguntia Gilberta and not Ioanna an English womaÌ„ as Heidfield saith which bare at one birth more than the Countesse of Flanders who had 365 at one birth and more than Herotimus King of Arabia who had 600 bastards by coÌ„cubines but Gilberta and her Successors so exceeded that all the world is much trobled with her bastards In Rome God Anubis fel in loue with Saturninus wife the onely faire woman of Rome her husband her parents her kinsmen and friends brought her to the temple of Anubis where the Feast Lectesternium was prepared where after the Feast they left Saturninus wife with God Anubis all night where De Mundus a young Romane Knight was Deputie by means of the priests for 2000 Drachmeis Marcus Antonius comming from Rome to Athens in all kinde of habites and ceremonies with Thyrsus in his hand like Dionisius hee was so reuerenced of the Athenians that they offered him their Goddesse Minerua in mariage with 1000 talents for her dowry which was well accepted of the Romane so that the God Anubis must haue a woman and the Goddesse Minerua must haue a man The brood of these great marriages were greatly multiplied in all Countreys by mariages of these two great houses Saturninus wife with God Anubis and Minerua with M. Antonius for before that in Rome meane Families were matched with the Patricians in marriage the Senators and Consuls had the whole gouernment ouer the Romanes but being strengthened by mariage with the patricians not only the election of the Tribunes themselues but of all the Magistrates of Rome and the whole gouernment of the Romanes was Per plebem Tribunum plebis It was euer seene in all common wealths that the vulgar people by being Magistrates or being in commission by great countenance by marriage by bearing and backing them in their Religion be that Immanis bellua the verie Monster among Nations A Thistle in Libanon sent to a Cedar tree in Libanon saying Giue thy daughter to my Sonne in marriage and there came a wild beast from Libanon and troad downe vnder foote the Thistle with a watch-word giuen by the Prophet to Amasias King of Iuda for the worshipping of the Gods of Edom Deos albatos filiorum Seir. Vnequall marriage specially in Religion is like an Oxe and an Asse to drawe vnder one Yoake This was the first cause of sedition at Rome in monte Ianiculo betweene the Patricians and the Commons Ob dignitatem natalium Hence grewe many seditions and so many that it was
THE TRAGICOCOMEdie of Serpents By Lodowik Lloid Esquier Videte Canes Phil. 3. Domus impiorum delebitur Prou. 14. LONDON Printed by Thomas Purfoot and are to be sold by Arthur Iohnson at his shop neere the great North dore of Paules at the signe of the White Horse 1607. TO THE MOST HIGH AND MIGHTY King Iames by the grace of God King of Great Britane Fraunce and Ireland c. ARchimedes a famous Mathematician most mightie Prince sayd If he had but a place to stand free froÌ„ the earth he could inuent meanes to mooue the whole earth some such there be though not like Archimedes to mooue the whole earth yet they mooue Countreys and Kingdomes on the earth And as Dinocrates that skilfull Architector thought to bring mount Atho to the lowe forme and stature of a man so some would bring hie Mountaines and great hilles as lowe as mould-hilles Of such wee may nowe so say in Britane as Polemo spake sometime of counterfeit Tragedians in Smyrna who with their false Solaechismes lifting vp their dissembling eyes to heauen saying O coelum when their treacherous hearts and bloody hands be on earth saying O terra These bee they that haue with the Traitor Saba what portion haue we in the Sonne of Isa or in the house of Iudah Against such Ioshua made a law in Israel that no counterfeit Gibeonite should beare Office in Iudah but hewe wood and carrie water for Israel Iepthe made likewise a lawe that no foresworne Giliadite that could not pronounce Schibboleth should passe ouer Iorden Your Maiestie made also a lawe that no treacherous ambitious Papist that had Iacobs voice and Esaus handes should stay within great Britane they should either obey the Romane lawe lex Iulia or the Athenians law Ostrachismos therefore was the rodde of Aaron and the lawe Booke commaunded to bee kept together in the Arke Vt quiescant querelâ— Iudaeorum which King Iosias had both the Sword the Law booke carried before him Tanquam insignâ—â— Principis So Iulius Caesar as it appeareth his Image that had a Sword in one hand and a Booke in the other written vpon his breast Ex vtroque Caesar. But while any of Sauls seed liued in Israel Israel could not be quiet nor Dauid take rest Shall wee wish as the Apostles did fire to burne these Samaritans or with Elias fire to destroy these Souldiers of Achab Themistocles wished a bridge of gold for Xerxes armie to passe out of Greece vnto Persia. Scipio wished a brazen wall to conuey Haniball out of Italy into Affrica truely the Persians were not more greedy of Greece nor the Carthagenians of Italy as these Iesuits and Seminaries are of great Britane who haue sworne and promised as Zedechâ—as did with his yron hornes to Achab His ventilabis Syriam These be the Frogges that went out of the Dragons mouth spiritus Daemoniorum croaking in euery corner of great Britane to mooue seditions and treasons in Kingdomes and Countreys These contend not as Aiax did with Vlisses for Achilles armour nor like Edom though they bee Edomites for the blessing of Isaak but as Torquine did with Brutus who should rule Rome a King or a Consul who should gouerne great Britane a King or a Pope Where many if they might heare the Bishop of Rome proclaimed a Pope in England would as willingly die for ioy in great Britane as Diagoras the Philosopher died at Rhodes for ioy to heare his three Sonnes to bee crowned in the games of Olympia Your Maiesties most humble and dutifull Seruant LODOVVIK LLOID IN ADVENTVM POtentissimi Principis Iacobi Dei gratia magnae Britaniae Franciae Hiberniae Regis Ludouici Lloid Eboracensis gratulatio MVlti foelices fuere dies Augustissime Princeps dies solis supra Gabaon dies Lunae super Aialon dies Martis non solum super Scotos in Scotia sed super Anglos in Anglia in quibus vti Ioshua de regibus sua fixit in coelo trophaea ita noster Iacobus de Tyrannis suos habuit in terra triumphos O dies queÌ„ fecit Dominus dies soli at coelo gratissimus nobis foelicissimus dies Israel è Mesopotamia in Chanan vti Chanan Iudah diceretur dies Iacobi è Scotia in Angliam vt Anglia magna iterum appellaretur Britania an potuit vlla foelicior Britanis euenire dies quam in quo rex noster laureatus non armatus venit instar Alexandri ad solium Cyri cum sanguine aut instar Caesaris ad Romam suam patriam in armis quorum ius fine iure in armis fuerat Non venit galeatus sed coronatus nuntius cum nuntio foelicissimo quid enim foelicius quam in tria florentissima regna cum foelicissimo populi applausu regem inaugurari quid foecundius quam de tribus in faecundis regnis regna tria faecundissima fieri ita venit inuenit Angliam vti Alexander reliquit Asiam sine rege regijs liberis at quam foecundam ex infoecunda fecit Angliam regia proles inuenit Cambriam vti Augustus inuenit Romam lateritiam ac ruinosam O quaÌ„ marmor eaÌ„fecit rex noster Iacobus in quo tanquam in secundo Bruto in secundo rege quasi in secundo seculo secula post multa quae aruerunt virescunt quae senuerunt in te hodierno die repubescunt O quanta hinc nostra foelicitas si à tanta foelicitate non vincamur parce pijssime princeps potuit Lucullus atrum dieÌ„ diem candidum efficere Romanis potuit Themistocles nephastum dieÌ„ in diem festum conuertere Graecis O quanto facilius poteris princeps non diem non annum sed dies annos plurimos Britannis efficere foelicissimos si de fictis Gabonitis ita tua mundetur Sparta ne contamnetur Israel si de perfidis Efframitis ita nostra purgetur Britania ne inquinaretur domus Iacob Amphippi milites quos omnis color cum Aristippo decuit Mercurij proles qui pluris cum Vlisse de sua Ithaca quam de patria quam de principe vere or quam de aeternitate pensitarunt quibus vnus semper Catilina pluris praecij fuit quaÌ„ tercentuÌ„ fabij quibus non quae lex sed quae nex digna querer eiur qui magis saeuiunt in Britaniam quam Caligulae proles in Romam Atiquorsum est haec cum anima nostra in tuo 〈◊〉 passer ereptae est de laqueo venantium Plaudite itaque Britani clangite â—ubam Angli nam vti Troes cum Tyrijs vno nomine fuere Latini ita Anglicum Scotis qui sub vno rege gubernantur vna lingua loquuntur ita vnaâ—lege vtantur vna voce vocentur Britanni Sic Cotys rex Thraciae Thraciam aeqnauit Athenis sic Vespasianus ius Latij Hispanis tribuit sic Claudius ius ciuitatis Gallis Graecis concessit vt cum externis vniti Romani Roma semper victrix cum nec numero Hispanis necrobore
his house and knew not what to do requested their helpes and councell All his flatterers forsooke him sauing one Callias a true and faithfull friend of Alcibiades of whom Alcibiades would say Callias instar omnium Notwithstanding this Alcibiades could flatter his vncle Pericles yet being a young youth asked his vncle Pericles why he sighed so often and seemed so sad because said Pericles I must yeeld an accompt to the Athenians for much money which I receiued to build vp a porch to Mineruaes Temple Rather said Alcibiades muse how you may not giue an accompt and be merry and make much of your selfe Too few like Pericles that thinke how much they are indebted to God to build his Church and to maintaine his Seruice and too many like Alcibiades carelesse of the Church though they liue by the Church and haue honour and dignitie from the Church But let the Church be tossed on surging waues of seas that cannot be remoued yet shee standeth sure and certaine vpon a rocke though many Palinures were drowned and lay dead vpon the sands that had no great care neither to gouerne nor to be gouerned by the Church and yet they will sit in Moyses chaire Saul could dissemble with Dauid and Absalon with the people of Israel and the latter Iewes were such dissemblers and hypocrites that Christ called the Scribes and the Pharises hidden hypocrites and false dissemblers the Church were euer full of such hypocrites A Romane Gentleman told Alexader Seuerus that hee was agreeued to see his Court so pestered with dissemblers and hypocrites and said I will find out a place to dwell where no hypocrites be the Emperour said where wilt thou goe where no dissemblers be thou must goe beyond the Sauromates and the frosen seas and yet when thou commest thither thou shalt find hypocrites and dissemblers And though Achilles in Homer exclaimeth out against such dissemblers and say that he hateth them worse thē hel it selfe that haue two tongues the one in their mouth the other in their harts Qui aliud sentiunt aliud loquuntur This was sometime a naturall propertie to the Thracians to bee liars and dissemblers and so to bee taught with their hypocrisie and dissimulations that it grew to a prouerbe Thrasica fides so it was sayd of the Africans punica fides and of the Grecians most of all spoken Nunqnam ista natio saith Cicero coluit fidem People of no trust of no faith that it grew to a very scoffe to the Grecians Greca mercarifide to taunt their lightnes and dissimulations Of late we robde Thracians Affricans and Grecians of their properties that now Cicero may speak of vs as he spake of thē Quos fugiamus ignoramus quibus credamus nescimus and therefore it is good to follow Epicharmus counsaile Sis prudens memento diffidere sith we dare not trust our friends our kinsmen nor our countrimen This dangerous time seemeth to be that of which the Prophet saith that the father shal be against the sonne and the sonne against the father the brother against the brother but though this prophecie was performed in other kingdomes of long time past yet we ought to doubt feare some iustice at gods hand for our sinne and onely for our hypocrisie dissimulations and flatterie the three greatest Monsters vpon the earth Lewis the tenth was wont to bragge of his owne kingdome of France that it was a kingdome that far exceded al other kingdoms wanting but one thing And being requested to know what that was hee answered Truth And therefore Osymantes had his picture painted with his eyes shut with a tablet of gold about hanging about his necke with this word written thereupon veritas And hee willed that the Kings of Egypt his successors to weare that Tablet in memorie of him So did Antigonus doubting much to heare trueth among flattering Courtiers went with his Nobles to hunting from whom the King secretly departed changed his garments and wandred like a stranger among countrymen and lodged in a meane house and asked as an vnknowen man what was spoken of the King Of whom he heard Omnia quae fecerat mala The next morning the King being sought for and found they brought such princely garments as were fit for a King Giue said Antigonus these garments to him of whom Nisi hac nocte verum de me nunquam audiui Torquin the proud after he was put out of his kingdome would say that he neuer knew his friends while he was King in Rome Ma. Antonius surnamed the Philosopher was most carefull of his good name and fame willing the truth to be knowen by straungers report and not by such Courtiers which Constantine the Emperour cals Sorices Palatij the rats of the Court or as the Philosopher termes them vermes opum Many good Kings vsed the like meanes to auoid the one and to seeke out the other For Courts of Kings Princes cannot be without limping and halting In Meroe a Kingdome of India if the Kings were lame or halt or in any part of their bodies his Courtiers by the law in Meroe should be also lame and halt as the Kings did It is histored that in Macedonia in the time of Philip and in Neapolis in the time of Ferdinandus for that these two Kings held their necks a litle on the left side though it was a naturall defect in others yet in Princes followed and imitated and yet no longer then these Princes liued In the next King it is cleane altered for in the time of Alexander the great for that he had a bush of haire standing vp on his forehead the Courtiers in Macedonia left to holde their heads awry after Philip the father and followed the sonne Alexander euery Courtier imitating the time with great care and trauaile to make their haires stand vp vpon their foreheads like Alexander and to be called Opisthocomae as Alexander Hector and Pompei the great were noted to haue beene The Emperour Constantine practized a pollicie to find out sound Christians and faithfull seruants in his Court he fained a decree and commanded all the Christians to depart frō his Court cingula Militaria deponere The sound true Christians left the Emperour and his Court and forsooke their credit and militarie dignitie and esteemed not his Court in respect of Christianitie The other Christians which the Emperor found tantum nomine staied behind he banished and reuoked his decree and called backe the other and restored them to their former estate with greater credit saying Qui suo numini fidi non sunt nec mihi And so banished those counterfeit Christians This sentence squares well with our rebellious brutes and not Britanes who were neuer sound to God faithfull to their Prince nor true to their countrey but as Caligula wished to Rome so they wish to England and as Haman wished to the Iewes so they wished to the Britanes They wish with