ways of God and â—ell to Fornication and Idolatry His bad Son Rehoboam succeeded him a great sinner against God therefore the sole Monarchy of the people was taken from him ten of the Tribes revolting from his Government chusing to themselves Jeroboam for their King a most wicked man of the Tribe of Dan who poyson'd all Israel seducing the ten Tribes to Idolatry setting up Golden Calves in Samaria that the Blessing might be fulfil'd saying Dan shall be a Serpent by the way an Adder by the path biting the horse heels so that his rider shall fall backward As for the Tribe of Judah it remain'd quite under the Posterity of David according to the Prophesie of Jacob That the Scepter was not to depart from Judah till the Messiah came Yet was Judah one of the worst of Jacob's Sons and one that lay with his Mother-in-Law His Sons also were most lewd and evil wherefore the blessing of Power and Nobility was granted to him in the enjoyment of the Scepter and his blessing to be as strong as a Lion After that the people of Edom and Jobne revolted from the King of Israel chusing Rulers of their own at their own will and pleasure and God promis'd to Esau that he should shake off the Yoak Among all the Kings of Juda and Israel scarce four were known to be good At last their Kings and all their Nobility being ruin'd and overcome the Jews were carried Captive to Babylon In process of time God taking compassion of their Calamities where they erected a king of Popular Government living happily under the command of their Priest and the chief Heads of their Tribes until Aristobulus the Son of Hircanus took the Regal Diadem and renewed the Kingdom of the Jews with the murther of his Mother and Brothers To him many Kings succeeded till at length under Archelaus an insolent and obscene Tyrant the Kingdom was by the Romans reduc'd into a Province and last of all wholly ruin'd and laid waste by Vespasian and Titus the whole Nation being scatter'd over the whole world from that time to this day in a continu'd servitude All this I thought convenient to repeat out of the Sacred Scripture to the end I might make it apparent that at the beginning of the world there was no Nobility whose Original was not evil even among the people of God and that Nobility is nothing else but the reward of publick Iniquity and by how much the life of a man is most polluted so much the more famous it shall be accompted the fuller of wickedness the greater his Glory and Recompence As Diomed the Pirate when he was taken wittily pleaded before Alexander I said he because I rob but with one Ship am accus'd for being a Pirate Thou because thou dost the same thing with a great Navy are call'd an Emperour If thou wert single and a Captive thou wouldst be a Pirate if I had an Army at my command I should be esteem'd an Emperour For as to the matter we differ not unless it may not be disputed whether he be not the worst that takes with greatest violence who deserts Justice most manifestly and contemns and breaks the Law For those whom I fly thou pursuest those whom I honour thou contemnest The hardâ—ness of my Fortune and the narrowness of my Estate makes me thy intolerable Pride and insatiable Avaâ—rice makes thee a Thief If my wilde Fortune would grow more tame perhaps I might be better but if thou wert more fortunate thou wouldst be worse Alexander admiring the constancy of the man caus'd him to be â—ifted in his Army that he might lawfully fight and make War that is rob and steal Now to proceed to the Histories of the Ethnicks I shall from thence also â—hew that Nobility and Greatness is nothing but Improbity Madness Robbery Rapine Homicide Luxury the sport of Hunting and violence arising from principles of disorder prosecuted more wicked and always coming to a disastrous end all which shall be made out from the four famous Monarchies as also from the success of other more petty Kingdoms The first Monarchy then after the Flood was that of the Assyrians the Founder whereof was Ninus who first of all not content with the bounds of his own Empire resolv'd to extend his Dominions as far as he could made cruel Wars upon his Neighbours subduâ—ng all the Eastern Nations and increasing the vastness of his Empire with new Acquests and successful Victories he brought all Asia Pontus under his subjection He also murther'd Zoroastes King of the Bactrians Ninus had a Wife nam'd Semiramis she begg'd of her Husband that she might rule onely five days which being granted her she took the Regal Ornaments and seating her self in the Royal Throne commanded the Guard to kill her Husband who being slain she succeeded him in the Empire not satisfi'd with the large extent of her Dominions she conquer'd Ethiopia and carried the War into India she Wall'd Babylon with a most stately and magnificent Wall and at length is kill'd by her Son Ninus the second whom she had wickedly conceiv'd impiously expos'd and incestuously known Under these Murtherers the Assyrian Monarchy took its original of Grandeur till extinguish'd by the death of Sardanapalus a man more vicious and effeminate than any woman whom Arbactus Prefect of Media slew in the midst of all his Concubines and taking upon him the Kingdom translated the Empire from the Assyrians to the Medes which Cyrus afterwards translated to the Persians among whom Cambyses his Son founder of New Babylon joyning and adding by conquest many Kingdoms to his own began the second Monarchy which he confirm'd to himself by the murther of his Brother and Son This Empire declin'd under Narsus the Son of Ochus who being slain by Bagoas the Eunuch Darius succeeded him and he being overthrown by Alexander put a period to the Persian Monarchy with his life which the said Alexander conscious with his adulterous Mother of his Fathers death and indeed the contriver thereof translated again to the Macedonians The fourth Monarchy was that of the Romans the most powerfulâ— and of largest extent but should we repeat the successions of Governments from the building of the City we finde it founded upon most wicked beginnings and maintain'd by as bad principles Let us therefore observe who were the Founders of this great City Rome was built by two Twins Remus and Romulus incestuously begot upon a Vestal Nun. Remus at the beginning of his Government was murthered by Romulus a second Cain who suffering himself to be call'd the Son of the Gods having gather'd together a Crew of detestable Villains ravish'd the Daughters of the Sabines to get themselves Wives and from them sprung the Off-spring of Roman Giants so formidable to all the world After this thirsting after the blood of his Father-in-Law he slew Titus Tatius a good Old man and Captain of the Sabines having drawn him into a League and associated him into
Partnership of the Kingdom These were the Originals of the Roman Empire which for two hundred forty three years was govern'd by cruel Kings and ended under Tarquinius the Proud exil'd for the Rape of Lucrece And as the Posterity of Cain ended in the seventh Generation destroy'd by the Flood so these Roman Successors in the Seventh King from Romulus were driven out of the City by Popular Tumult However though the Romans threw off the Yoak of Kingship yet they could not shake off the Yoke of Servitude For the Kings being now thrown out and the Government translated into the hands of the Nobility Brutus a Nobleman was the first Roman Consul chosen He to establish the Foundations of intended Empire not onely labour'd to equal Romulus the first Founder of the City in Murther but also to outdo him for he slew two of his own Sons and two of his Wives Brothers in the Market-place after he had caus'd 'um to be publickly whip'd After this the Government continued for many Ages sometimes in the hands of the Nobility sometimes of the Commonalty under the power and command of sundry Magistrates and petty Tyrannies at length under Julius Caesar a man I cannot say whether stronger in War or corrupter in Manners and afterwards under Antonius a man inslav'd to Lust and Luxury wholly determin'd After which the whole Command of the Roman Empire fell into the sole hands of Octavianus Augustus In him began the fourth Monarchy of the World but not without Murther for though Augustus was accompted one of the mildest Princes in the world yet he put to death a Son and a Daughter of his Uncle Caesar begot upon Cleopatra though his Uncle had Adopted him and left him his Heir by Will not regarding Name Kindness Affinity nor Childhood And now the Roman Emperours held the Monarchy of the world among whom behold these Monsters of Cruelty and Impiety Nero Domitian Caligula Heliogabalus Galienus and others under whom the whole world was oppress'd till Constantine the Great having slain Maxentius for his Lust and Cruelty hated of the Roman people was proclaim'd Emperour He because he re-edifi'd Byzantium making her equal with Rome or else as it were a new Rome and commanded it to be call'd Constantinople from his own name seems to have translated the Roman Empire to the Greeks and at Constantinople as Romulus at Rome assur'd it to himself by the murther of the two Licinii the Husband and Son of his Sister as also of his own Childe and Wife Thus the Empire remain'd among the Greeks till the time of Charles the Great under whom the name of the Empire onely was remov'd into Germany And thus far for Monarchies Let us make inquiry into the beginnings of some other Kingdoms and we shall finde them founded upon no better principles nor upheld by less impiety nor the occasions of their dissolutions less remarkable I shall omit the Murthers of Dardanus and by what devilish contrivances having besotted the Greeks to be his impious accomplices he laid the Foundation of the Greek Monarchie I omit the Governments obtain'd by the murthers of their Husbands as the stories relate concerning the Amazonians I come to later times and the verges of our own memories In Spain in the time of Theodosius the Emperour Alarick the Goth was the first that raign'd at which time the Vandals also possess'd a great part of the same Country The first King of the Goths that obtain'd the Monarchy of Spain was Sâ—ytilla which Roderick the King because he had ravish'd Julia Daughter of the Prefect of the Province of Tingitana some while after lost to the Saracens or Moors who after him possess'd Spain till Pelagius having again recover'd some places they were then call'd no more Kings of the Goths but Kings of Spain the Seat of the Empire being settled at Leon until the raign of Ferdinando the Holy who first call'd himself King of Castile who having slain his Brother Garsias by means of that parricide obtain'd the Kingdom of Navarre Their Brother Romanus whom their Father had begot upon a Concubine being a warlike and fierce man became the first King of Arragon The first King of Portugal was Alphonsus the Son of Henry of Lorain and Terese the Bastard-daughter of Alphonsus King of Castile A stout man at Arms who slew five Princes or great Governours of the Saracens in one Battel which was the reason that the Kings of Portugal carry five Shields for their Arms yet was this Alphonsus curst and cruel to his Mother whom because she married a second time he cast into perpetual imprisonment nor could be mov'd to set her free by any perswasions intreaties prayers or menaces of Ecclesiastical Censure Thus all the Kingdoms of Spain have been obtain'd by unheard-of Villanies and held by the same Arts. I omit the Kingdoms of the Burgundians and Lombards compos'd of the greatest and most famous people of Germany and begun in Lombardy by Alboynus in Burgundy by Gondaicus and in both places maintain'd and propagated by Murther and Bloodshed Let us view the most Potent Kingdom of the Franks in Gallia whose first Foundations were laid by Pharamond Son of Meroveus who coming out of Germany into France was made King of the Franks excelling in nothing more than in Cruelty and Fierceness His Posterity remain'd till the time of Childerick the Third who for his sloth and libidinous wantonness was depos'd from his Kingdom and thrust into a Monastery In his place was Pipin advanc'd Steward of Childerick's House who having got the Kingdom for himself and his Posterity by treason establish'd his own Power by the Murther of Grifo his Brother His Posterity continu'd to Lewis the Second Son of Lotharius who for adulterating his Wife Blanch's bed was poyson'd by her at which time Hugh Capet laid violent hands upon the Scepter a stout Warrier and there highly esteem'd by the Parisians but otherwise ignoble as being the Son of a Butcher He rebelling against Charles the Uncle of Lewis and right Heir of the Crown scrapes together a loose Band of debauch'd fellows and Vagabonds and having got the said Charles into his hands by treachery thrust him into Prison and there kept him till he di'd and thus having most barbarously murther'd his King and Prince he assum'd the Regal Diadem changing a Kingdom into a Butchers shop whose Succession endures to this day It would be too long and tedious in this place to enumerate the Originals of all Kingdoms and discourse the Histories of all Antiquity I have in another Volume writ more at large of what I have here but lightly touch'd where I have painted out Nobility it self in its proper Colours and Lineaments and I have shewed that there never was nor is any Kingdom in the world or famous Principality the Foundations whereof were not built upon Particide Treachery Perfidiousness Cruelty Murther Slaughter and other most horrid Crimes the Arts and Utensils of Nobility whereof when we see the
than good Neither is the determination of Affairs led by Judgment but guided and turn'd to and fro according to the favour number and affection of the Multitude Which Pliny the younger affirms for the decrees and choices of the people are number'd not consider'd For in popular Consultation that always carries the day which not the wisest but the greatest number think most convenient among whom while they all accompt themselves equal there is nothing more unequal than that Equality it self Nothing therefore can be rightly order'd by the promiscuous heat and headlong fury of the Multitude nor can any thing be rightly amended that shall be found amiss and disadvantageous to the Commonwealth rather those Statutes and Decrees which are made and confirm'd and found to be most wholesome for the publick good by the rage of the inconsiderate Multitude are overturn'd and abrogated Now among all these so various forms of Rule and administrations of Government most Authors have another compounded of two particular kinds Such an one did Solon compose partly of the Nobles partly of the People so making his publick Honours communicable to all Others thought fit to frame their Political Rules by making a mixture of all three together Such was the government of the Lacedaemonians for they had a King who was perpetual but he had little or no Command only in time of War then had they a Senate chosen out of the richest and wisest part of the Nobility moreover out of the Common People they Created Ten perpetual Ephori who had power of Life and Death and were Controulers both of the King and Senate being Elected out of the Vulgar people Among the Romans the Authority of the Senate plainly shew'd that there was an Aristocracy mix'd with their Democracy and we find that many things were commanded by the Senate many things by the People And at this day though in many places Kings and Princes do rule at their own pleasures yet do they make use of the chief Nobility and Gentry in the several Counties and Provinces of their Kingdoms to transact many Affairs and of great consequence from whence hath arose a question which it is most sate to live under a good Prince and bad Counsellours or bad Counsellours and a wicked Prince Marius Maximus Julius Capitolinus and others choose the latter notwithstanding that many grave Authors are no way willing to consent to them finding by experience that evil Counsellors may be corrected sooner by a good Prince than an evil Prince be amended by good Counsellers However for the good government of a Commonwealth or Kingdom it is not Philosophy nor Kingcraft nor any other Science that can avail but the integrity fidelity and ability of the Ruler for a single person may govern best so may a few so may the people provided that in each there be the same intention of Unity and Justice but if the designes of each be evil then can neither rule as they should But that which convinces the strange rashness of Men addicted to Rule is this that when Men in their several stations some plainly confess themselves ignorant how to Plough and Sow how to keep Sheep some how to guide a Ship or govern a Family yet there is no Man who does not think himself sufficiently gifted to bear Office in a City to act a King or Prince or to command great Nations and People which is the most difficult thing CHAP. LVI Of Religion in General TO the perfect Weal of a State or Kingdome Religion is of main concernment which is a certain Discipline and Canon of outward Rites and Ceremonies by means whereof as by certain signes we are admonished of our Internal and Spiritual Duties Cicero defines it to be a Discipline teaching us to exercise the Ceremonies of Divine Worship with a reverent Famulatu which that it is most useful and necessary for all Cities and Governments the same Cicero together with Aristotle firmly holds For thus saith he in his Politicks It behoves a Prince above all others to seem Religious For the People are of Opinion that such Rulers will do 'um no harm and they will be the more afraid to Plot against them by how much the more they think themselves defended by the Gods Now Religion is so deeply Rooted in Men by Nature that it makes the difference more plain betwixt them and Beasts than Reason Now that Religion is thus Naturally grafted in us Aristotle confesses besides that it is apparent from â—his very experiment That as often as we are oppressed with any suddain Dangers or put to any suddain Affright presently before we search into the Cause or seek for any other help we flye to Coelestial Invocation Nature it self teaching us without any other Instructor to Implore Divine Assistance From the Beginning of the World we find that Cain and Abel did Religiously Sacrifice to God though Enoch were the first that taught the Forms and Ceremonies of Divine Worship for which reason the Scripture saith That then the name of the Lord first began to be call'd upon After the Flood how many several Laws and Ordinances of Religion were Instituted by several persons in several Nations For Mercury and King Menna taught the Aegyptians their Forms of Worship Melissus the Foster-Father of Jove instructed the Cretans in their Ceremonies Faunus and Janus Instituted the Rites of the Latines Numa Pompilius those of the Romansâ—Moses those of the Hebrews Cadmus also the Son of Agenor is said to have brought out of Phoenicia all those Solemn Mysteries Consecrations of Images Hymns Festivals and other Sacred Rites and Customs performed in honour of the Gods which were afterwards in use among the Graecians Neither did they only give names to the Gods but also Ordaina what Rites and Ceremonies should be due to each They held that there were certain Numens the Protectors of Criminal Offences and ascrib'd a Deity to Diseases and evil Accidents Therefore did the Romans Worship Jove the Adulterer and Dedicated a publick Temple to the Goddess Feaver and in their Esquiliae plac'd an Altar to Misfortune In Hell they also found out Deities to adore and the Prince of Darkness Satan the most miserable and the lowest of all they made a shift to Worship under the Names of Pluto Dis and Neptune assigning to him for a Keeper the Three-headed Cerberus that greedy Monster that Compasses the Earth seeking whom he may Devour sparing none hurtful to all the Accuser of all Men. From Captive Souls the Lord of Stygian Lands For past Offences Punishment demands 'Gainst all the shades remorseless Rage he breaths With Furies compass'd and a thousand Deaths Here sundry sounds of sundry wayling Pains There Thousand Torments shake their dismal Chains Th' Aegyptians together with their Deities adore Brute Beasts and Monsters and there are at this day that Worship Idols and Images At this day likewise a great part of the World as the Turkes Saracens Arabians and Moors give Divine Honours to Mahomets
but God as he himself spake to the Contemners of Samuel They have not contemn'd thee but me And as Moses reproving the murmuring people saith Ye have not murmured against us but against the Lord your God nor will God suffer them to go unpunish'd that resist their Bishop or Prelate Thus Dathan and Abiram rebell'd against Moses and the Earth swallow'd them up Many conspir'd with Corah against Aaron and were consum'd with Fire Achab and Jezebel persecuted the Prophets and were eaten by Dogs The Children mocked Elisha and were torn and devour'd by Bears Vzzia the King presuming to meddle with the Priesthood was strucken with Leprosie Saul adventuring to sacrifice without the presence of Samuel the High Priest was depriv'd of his Kingdom and not onely depriv'd of his Prophetick Spirit but possess'd with an Evil one It is a point of Infidelity not to believe the Scriptures a point of Impiety to despite the Ecclesiastick Government CHAP. LXII Of the several sorts of Monks THere are yet remaining in the Church a sort of People of several Opinions which are call'd Monks and Fryars Anchorites altogether unknown to the Old Law At this day they assume to themselves the Title of Religious Persons prescribing to themselves most severe Rules of Living and Professing most Holy Duties and Exercises march under the Name and Banner of some most Religious and noted Person or Martyr as Bernard Austin Benedict Francis and the like but at this time there is an Abominable Rout of sinners crept in among them For hither as to a Sanctuary flock together all those who out of the guilt of their Consciences or otherwise fearing the Punishment of the Law are safe no where else others who have committed certain Crimes that are to be Expiated by Sufferance and Repentance whom the dis-repute of their Conversations hath rendred proof against Infamy who having wasted their Estates with Whoring Drinking Gaming and all manner of Riot at length Debt and Want compells 'um to Begg others there are whom the hope of ease loss of Mistress or their being Cheated when Young fierce Mothers-in-Law or severe Tutors compel and drive to these Houses the Massie Body of which Higgle-de Piggle-de is joyn'd and soder'd together with a reign'd Sanctimony a Cowl and a confidence of sturdy Begging The Body of their Houses is that great Sea wherein with the other little Fishes dwell the great Leviathans and Behemoths the Great Whales Monsters and creeping things whose number is not to be told From thence are spew'd up so many Stoical-Apes so many Penny-Beggers so many Mendicant Gown-men so many Monsters in Cowls so many Beard-weareâ—s Rope-carriers Staff-bearers black sad-colour grey white woodden-shooes baâ—â—-footed Budget bearers vary-colour'd many-coated canvas-wearing cloak-carriers gown-men coat-carriers some loose some tuck'd up with all the rest of the crouds of Histrio's who having no Faith in Worldly things themselves by reason of their monstrous habit are yet by the poor People of the World accompted Divine Usurping the Sacred Name of Religion to themselves and boasting themselves to be the Companions of Christ and his Apostles whose Life and Conversation is generally most Wicked contaminated and defil'd with all manner of Covetousness Lust Ambition Sawciness Impudence and all manner of enormity yet going safe and unpunishable under the defence of pretended Religion For they are fortified with the Priviledges of the Romish Church and exempted from all Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction to the end they may the more lawfully go on in Wickedness and although they are able to cite all other Persons whatsoever before their false and illiterate Tribunal yet they themselves can be Cited no where but either to Rome or Jerusalem As for their Vanities and Errors were I to set them down in Writing not all the Parchment in Madian would comprehend them I mean of them who profess not Piety for Religions sake but put on the Cowl to maintain their Luxurie Most rapacious Wolves who under Lambs-skins and Sheeps-cloathing hide the Fox in their Brests using such Arts of Dissimulation that their whole Profession seems to be a meer Mimick Hypocrisie and a meer trade of Piety driven on by personated Persons which under a Pale Visage hide their pretended Fasting making their dutiful Tears obey their deep Sighs counterfeiting Prayers with the Motion of their Lips and by means of their sober Gate and demure Postures With Head dejected fixing on the Ground Their Leacherous Eyes Assuming Modesty and Devoutness to themselves with their poor Garments covering their pretended Humility and by means of their Cowls hanging down their backs creating to themselves an Opinion of Holiness though their inward and private Conversations be most detestable who though they commit very great Enormities are yet sav'd with the pretence of Religion overcoming and with their Cowls as with Bucklers warding off all the Darts of ill-Fortune and thus living secure from all civil Troubles and Dangers eating the bread of Idleness instead of that which they ought to Labour â—or they afterwards lye down to Rest in ease and quiet Esteeming it to be Evangelical poverty to feed upon the Labours of other men in beggery and idleness These are they who Professing utmost Humility clad in mean and vile Habit bare-footed Stage-players bound with Ropes like Robbers and Thieves with their Heads shaven like Mad-folks with their Cowls Beads and Bells like Morris-Dancers and Carneval-mummers prosess themselves to wear these Emblems of Poverty and Contempt for the sake of Christ and Religion yet swelling inwardly with Ambition and giving to the chief of their Orders the most Arrogantâ—Tides of Paranymphs Rectors Guardians Presidents Priors Vicars Provincials Archimandritae and Generals so that no sort of People seems more covetous of People than they are There are not wanting many other Enormities which may be truly reported of them but there are others before me who have made sufficient discovery thereof already I will not deny but there are some Pious and Devout men among them but the Generality of 'um are Infidels Reprobates and Apostates that deform and deface Religion CHAP. LXIII Of Prostitution or the trade of Whoring HEre it seems no way unseasonable for us to speak something of the Art of Bawdery seeing that among the Egyptians the first institutors of Religion it was not lawful for any person to be made a Priest that was not first initiated in the ceremonies and mysteries of Priapus and for that in our Church it is also a receiv'd Maxime that there can be no Pope without Testicles and that Eunuchs and gelt persons are forbidden to be admitted into the Priesthood and for that we also finde that wheree're there be the most stately Priories and Abbies there are always certain Bawdy-houses adjoyning to 'um and for that the recluse houses of Nuns and Religious houses are for the most part but the receptacles of lewd women whom the Monks themselves do often keep privately in the Habit of Men for their particular solace Therefore I say
even to desire of Copulation The other Wife to King Minos suffer'd her self to be known by a Bull. It is not our business to set forth here a Catalogue of Illustrious Curtesans yet we must not omit to inform you that the Beds of Harlots and Adulteresses have brought forth the most Illustrious Heroes in the world for example Hercules Alexander Ishmael Abimelech Solomon Constantine Clodoveus King of the Franks Theodorick the Goth William the Norman and Raymund of Arragon So lightly are the Laws of Matrimony set by among great Personages who at their pleasure divorce leave and change their true and lawful Wives and so often they wed and rewed their Sons and Daughters that it is hard to say which is the most lawful Marriage Do we not read how Ladislaus of Poland having taken Beatrice to Wife by whose very nod as it were he obtain'd the Kingdom of Hungary at length repudiated her to marry a French Harlot Do we not finde how Charles the Eight the French King having divorc'd Margaret the Daughter of Maximilian Caesar took away his espoused Wife and married her whom afterwards Lewis the Twelfth having put away his own Wife took afterwards to his Bed the Bishops and Chief Clergy of the Kingdom assisting him therein and consenting thereto who esteem'd and valu'd the ends of obtaining Britany more than the observation of the Laws of Marriage But let us return to the Discourse of Harlots whose cunning devices he that will understand that is to say by what ways they prostitute their Chastity with what wanton casts of the Eye with what nods of the Countenance with what gestures of the Body with what flatteries of Speech with what obscene Embraces with what allurements of Habit and artificial Paintings they provoke their Corrupters together with the rest of their cunning Harlotry Devices Snares and Stratagems let him seek 'um among the Comick Poets But he that desires to know what Allurements what affectionate Language what Kissing Handling Rubbing Resisting what postures of Lying what impulse of Action what reciprocations of Kindness compleat the Venereal Game let him search into the Volumes of Physitians Yet there be others that have set forth Treatises of Harlotry as Antiphanes Aristophanes Apollodorus and Callistratus in particular Cephalus the Rhetorician wrote in the praise of Lais the Curtesan and Alcidamus in honour of Nais Not have many others both Greeks and Latins been wanting to discover their wanton Amours as Callimachus Philetes Anacreon Orpheus Alceon Pindarus Sappho Tibullus Catullus Propertius Virgil Juvenal Martial Cornelius Gallus and many others more like Panders than Poets though all of them were outdone by Ovid in his Heroick Epistles dedicated to Corinna which were also outdone by himself in his de Arte Amandi which he might have better intitled The Art of Whoring and Pimping The learning whereof because it had corrupted Youth with unchast Documents therefore was the Author deservedly banish'd by the Emperour Octavianus Augustus to the farthest parts of the North Archilochus also the Lacedaemonian caus'd all Love-books and Verses to be burnt Yet now adays this Art is publickly learnt and taught in every School by our unwary Pedagogues with vain and obscene Commentaries upon the Text. Nay I my self have seen and read under the Title of The Curtesan publish'd in the Italian Tongue and printed at Venice a Dialogue touching the Art of Bawdery wickedly explaining the Veneries of both Sexes which with the Author were more fit to be committed to the fire I omit to rehearse the most detstable vice of Buggery which the Great Aristotle so much approves of and which Nero solemniz'd with a publick Wedding at which time St. Paul writing to the Romans denounces the anger of the Omnipotent against them For on them shall God certainly rain Brimstone and Coles of fire shall be the portion of their Cup. Against these the Emperour commands the Laws to arm themselves and with exquisite torments to inflict capital punishment upon them the Sword being the Executioner but now adays they are burnt with Fire Moses in his Laws ordain'd most severe punishment for this Crime and Plato extirpates it out of his Republick utterly condemning it in his Laws The Antient Romans as Valerius and others witness inflicted most severe penalties on those that us'd it Examples whereof were Quintus Flaminius and the Tribune stain by Caelius But that we may not farther vex the honest Ear let us return from this monstrous Lust and beastly uncleanness to our first Subject For the Love of women is common to all there is no person that at one time or other does not feel the Fire thereof though the women love one way the men another young men one way great pesonages another way the poor one way the rich another way and which is more miraculous according to the difference of Nations and Climates The Italians are of one humour in their Amours the Spaniards of another the French of another the Germans of another The same difference of Love appears in the difference of Sex Age Dignity Fortune and Nation every one having a different sort of amorous Frenzy The Love of men is more ardent and impetuous the love of women more constant the love of young men is wanton the love of aged persons ridiculous the poor Lover strives to please with Obsequiousness the rich Lady with Gifts the vulgar sort with Feasts and Treatments Noble-men with Interludes and Plays The ingenious Italian courts his Lady with a dissembled heat a quaint kinde of Wooing praising her in Verse and extolling her above all other women If he be jealous he perpetually shuts her up and keeps her as his Captive if he despair of enjoying his Mistriss then he confounds her with a thousand Curses and loads her with Maledictions The Spaniard is rash impatient of his heat mad and restless and bemoaning the torments of his Flames with miserable lamentations worships and adores his Mistriss If he be cross'd in his Love he grieves and pines away to death if he grow jealous he kills her or being â—atiated leaves her to prostitute her self The lascivious French-man trusts in his Obsequiousness and strives to win his Ladies favour with Songs and merry Discourse If he grow jealous he complains of his hard fortune but if he lose his Love he reviles her threatens revenge and attempts to compass his ends by force After enjoyment he neglects her and marries another The cold German slowly moves to love but being once inflam'd he makes use of art and liberality If he grow jealous he shuts his Purse After enjoyment the heat is quickly over The French-man feigns his Love the German dissembles his Heat the Spaniard hath a good opinion of himself and believes himself to be belov'd but the Italians Love is never without Jealousie The French-man loves a witty though unhandsome woman the Spaniard prefers a fair woman before a witty the Italian loves a fearful bashful woman the German one that is
bold The French-man through vehement desire of a wise man becomes a fool but the German having wasted all his Estate at length though late of a fool becomes a wise man the Spaniard for his Mistriss sake will attempt great things and the Italian for the enjoyment of his Lady contemns all thought of danger Moreover we see that great men intangled in the Shares of Love and Passion many times forsake great Actions and leave most noble Enterprizes behinde their backs as formerly Mithridates in Pontus at Capua Hannibal Caesar in Alexandria in Greece Demetrius Antonie in Egypt Hercules ceas'd from his labours for Iole's sake Achilles hides himself from the Battel for love of Briseis Circe stays Vlysses Claudius dies in Prison for love of a Virgin Caesar is detain'd by Cleopatra and the same woman was the ruine of Antonius We read in Scripture that for the Fornication of Seth with the Daughters of Cain that the whole Race of man was drowned in the Flood The Sichemites and the House of Amor was destroy'd in revenge of Fornication and the whole people of Israel for committing Fornication with strange women were many times overcome in Battel and carried into Captivity And for the single Adultery of one person David the King what a destruction and waste of people ensu'd For Fornication and ravishing of women the Thebans Phoceans and Circeans were assail'd and quite overthrown and for the same reason was the Peloponnesian War undertaken as I said before by Pericles and Troy for the same reason ten years besieg'd to the vast detriment of Greece and Asia For the same reasons and upon the same score Tarquinius Claudius Dionysius Hannibal Ptolomy Marck Antony Theodorick the Goth Rodoaldus the Lombard Childerick of France Advinceslaus of Bohemia and Manphred the Neapolitan suffered death and the ruine of their Countries Meerly for the vitiating of Julia Cana Daughter of the Governour of Tingitana by Rodorick the King the Moors having driven out the Goths possess'd all Spain Henry the second King of England for abusing the contracted Wife of his Son Daughter of Philip the French King had like to have been driven out of his Kingdom by his Son For being false to their Beds those enraged Wives Clytemnestra Olympia Laodicea Beronica Fregiogunda and Blanch both Queens of France Joane of Naples and many other women slew their Husbands And this was the reason that Medea Progne Ariadne Althea Heristilla changing their maternal Love into Hatred were every one the cause and plotters of their Sons deaths And now adays we finde that many women revenge the Adulteries of their Husbands upon their Children and of most milde and patient Mothers have become most cruel Medea's furious Althea's and impious Heristilla's CHAP. LXIV Of Pandarism or Procuring NOw because that by the advice assistance and perswasion of Pimps and Bawds both Whores and Whoremongers commit their mutual Follies Let us discourse a little concerning their Subtleties and Devices for as it is the Calling of a Whore onely to prostitute her own body so it is the business of a Pimp or Bawd to batter and overcome the Chastity of another Which is therefore a Trade to be in some respects preferr'd before the Trade of Self-prostitution by how much it is the more wicked and so much the more powerful as being guarded with the Artillery of many other Arts and Experience besides so much the more pernicious that while it makes use of other Arts and Sciences whatever there is of poyson in any Art or Science that this worshipful Vocation wholly sucks to it self out of which the weaves those Snares that not like Spiders Cobwebs take the Flies but let go the stronger Birds nor like the strong toils of Hunters catch the bigger Beasts of Chace and let go the less but such strong Nooses and Bands that no Maid no Virgin no Woman never so silly never so prudent never so constant never so obstinate never so bashful never so fearful never so confident but will at length lend a willing ear to a Bawd be insnar'd with her perswasions So fine a Craft is this that no woman can vanquish whose perswasions no Virgin Widow Wife or Matron though a Vestal can resist whose unarmed Militia vanquishes the Chastity of most women which a whole Army would not be able to conquer The crafty tricks cunning shifts deceit circumventions delusions frauds and strange inventions of the Art of Bawdery no Pen can suffice to set down nor Wit to express So that it is nothing strange that though there be so many Professors of this Trade of both Sexes yet there are few that arrive to a perfection therein For since the Baits of Pandarism lie couch'd in every Art or Science it behoves therefore a Bawd to be perfect in every one Therefore she that intends to be a perfect Bawd must not direct her studies to one particular sort of knowledge as to her Pole-star but to be universally learned as professing an Art to which all other Arts and Sciences are but the Slaves and Hand-maids For first and foremost Grammar the Art of Writing and Speaking affords ye ability to write Love-letters and how to compose and frame them of Complements Petitions Lamentations and Moans Invocations Protestations and alluring perswasions of all which ye have many late Presidents in Sylvius Jacobus Caviceus and many other Modern Authors There is also another use of Grammar for the manner of abstruse and secret writing in Characters an Invention of Archimedes the Syracusan as Aulus Gellius reports Concerning this Trithemius Abbot of Spanheime hath written two Treatises some few years since one under the Title of Polygraphy the other under the Title of Stenography in the latter of which he hath discover'd such mysterious ways and means of expressing the minde at what distance soever and concealing the meaning of words plainly legible that the most discerning jealousie of Juno nor the strict custody of Danae nor the watchful eyes of Argos can ever prevent Next to Grammar comes Madam Poesie who by the assistance of her lascivious Rhimes wanton Stories and Love-dialogues Epigrams and Epistles taken out of the Armories of Venus playing the part of a Pimp and Bawd together corrupts all Chastity destroys all the hope towardliness and good manners of Youth Well therefore do Poets deserve to have the Precedencie above other common Pandars and Bawds of which the chiefest among the Antients were these whom we have above named in the Chapter of Prostitution as Callimachus Philetes Anacreon Orpheus Pindarus Alceon Sappha Tibullus Catullus Propertius Virgil Ovid Juvenal and Martial and we have now adays too many that write after a most impudent and shameful manner Next to Poets Rhetoricians claim Precedencie the contrivers of fraudulent Flatteries and Perswasions for which cause Suadela or Persuasio was held to be the chief Goddess of Pandarism Historians also have not a little Interest in the World especially the Compilers of those Historical Romances of Lancelot
others by Pimping and Pandarism others by Poyson others by Parricide Many by Treason have been advanc'd to Grandeur and great Power as we observe in the Histories of Euthierates Philocrates Euphorbus and Philager Many more by Flattery Detraction Calumny and Sycophantry many by prostituting their Wives and Daughters to Kings many by Hunting Rapine Murther and Witchcraft have attain'd the highest degrees of Honour But let us return to Joseph He growing great in the house of Pharaob and having begat his eldest Son Manasseh pufft up with his unexpected Nobility not without blame spake too severely in contempt of his Father's house and his own Family God said he hath made me forget all my labours and my fathers houshold For which cause when Jacob blessed the two Sons of Joseph he set Ephraim before Manasseh Joseph also although he were the Son of Jacob yet by reason of his Nobility contemptible in the sight of God was not honour'd to have any one of the Tribes bear his name which was given to his two Sons Ephraim and Manasseh After this the people of Israel liv'd in Egypt and kept Sheep in the Land of Goshen but when they grew numerous and populous they grew also suspected and envi'd by the Potentates and Kings of Egypt who thereupon thought to oppress 'um with continual hard labour and servitude They also slew their Male-children thinking to have quite extirpated them from the Earth But one of those Children because of his Beauty was preserv'd by the Daughter of Pharaoh who adopted him for her Son and call'd him Moses because she had preserv'd him out of the Water Moses therefore grew up in the house of the King and being bred up in all the Learning of the Egyptians was accounted as the King's Son was made a great man and Captain of Pharaoh's Army against the AEthiopians but having married the King of AEthiopia's Daughter he got the ill will of the Egyptian Lords and being banish'd out of Egypt fled into Midian where at a certain Well taking part with certain Damsels against the Shepherds of that Country for that kindness he had bestow'd on him for a Wise one of those Virgins the Daughter of the Priest of Midian At length increasing in Age and Wisdome and remembring himself to be an Hebrew he return'd into Egypt and renouncing his Egyptian Honours encouraged by God he undertook to be Captain of the Children of Israel and by the assistance of many Miracles carried them out of Egypt and when the people had sinned against God in making a golden Calf Moses being angry calling to his aid the strong men of the Sons of Levi commanded 'um saying Put every man his sword to his side go to and fro from gate to gate through the host and slay every man his brother and every man his companion and every man his Neighbour Now after he had made this memorable Slaughter of about three some say three and twenty thousand persons he bless'd 'um saying Consecrate your hands or ye have consecrated your hands this day unto the Lord every man upon his son and upon his brother that there may be given you a blessing this day fulfilling what was said by Jacob of his Sons Simeon and Levi calling them Instruments of Cruelty in their habitations cursing their wrath for it was fierce and their rage for it was cruel And thus we finde this signal Slaughter to be the first Original of Nobility in Israel For after that did Moses appoint Princes and Captains among 'um Captains of hundreds Captains of fifties and tens famous Warriors stout Fighters through their Tribes and Families Among whom if there were any that excell'd in valour and strength him they made their Chief giving him the power of Judgment and Command For they had no King but were govern'd by Judges among whom Joshua a Nobleman strong warlike a vanquisher of Kings not fearing any man after Moses was dead held the most Supream Command after whose death they liv'd under a Democracie without any Prince or Leader But growing seditious fell out one among another and had almost totally extirpated the Tribe of Benjamin insomuch that there were not above six hundred men remaining And when they had forsworn to given 'um their own Daughters they contriv'd a way to let 'um have four hundred of the Virgins of Jabesh-Gilead and for the other two hundred they were permitted to take 'um by force from the men of Silo. And thus was fulfill'd the Blessing of Benjamin's Nobility like unto a Wolf seizing his Prey in the morning and diving his Prey in the evening After this they return'd to Aristocracie and the Government of Princes among whom Abimelech the natural Son of Gideon of the Tribe of Manasseh having slain seventy of his legitimate Brethren upon one stone obtain'd the Kingdom and rul'd in Sichem After this the people universally clamouring for a King God gave them Kings in his wrath very few good very many wicked For the Lord was angry with them forewarning them of the high Prerogative of Kings and the subjection they must suffer under 'um affirming that Kings would take their Sons and their Daughters and would make Carters and inferiour Servants of 'um that they would at their own pleasure take their Lands their Farms their Men-servants and their Maid-servants and employ 'um in his own service and that as often as the King was wicked and did evil the people would suffer for his sake The first King he gave them was a young man of the Tribe of Benjamin named Saul a man of great strength tall of Stature insomuch that he was higher than any of the rest of the people from the shoulders upwards and God struck such an awe upon the peoples Spirits that they esteem'd and reverenc'd him as a sacred Minister of God This man before he began to raign was as innocent as a Childe of one year old but having obtain'd the Kingdom he became a wicked man and a Son of Belial Therefore God took the Kingdom from Saul and gave it to David the Son of Jesse of the Tribe of Judah He from a Shepherd was advanc'd to be King but then being infected with the contagion of Nobility he also became a man of sin Sacrilegious an Adulterer a Murtherer though God in his mercy did not quite forsake him He raign'd at first in Hebron Ishbosheth the Son of Saul raigning beyong Jordan after which he raign'd over all Israel in Jerusalem Nor could he raign in peace neither for while he was yet alive his Son Absalon invaded the Kingdom in Hebron who being slain Siba the Son of Bochra rebell'd again After that Adoniah his other Son attempted to gain the Crown at what time David on his death-bed appointed Solomon his younger Son born of Bathsheba the Adulteress to inherit his Throne He being the first absolute Monarch of the Hebrews confirm'd himself therein by the Murther of his Brother Adoniah but being once establish'd he forsook the