the King answered in this wise Philippus dei gratia Francorum rex Bonifacio se gerenti pro summâ— pontificé salutem modicam siue nullam Sciat tua maxima fatuitas in temporalibus nos alicui non subesse ecclesiarum prebendarum vacantium collationem ad nos iure regio pertinere secus autem credentes fatuos reputamus deuiantes in English thus Philip by the grace of God King of France to Boniface bearing himselfe for Pope little or no health Be it knowne vnto thy exceeding great foolishnesse that we in temporall affaires are subiect to none that the bestowing of benefices belongeth to vs by our royall right and if there bee any that thinke otherwise we hold them for erronious fooles A memorable answere well beseeming a true royall and French heart immediately hee assembling together aâ—â— nationall councill of all the Barons and prelates within his dominion at Paris wherein Boniface being pronounced an Heretike a Simonist and a manslaier it was agreed vpon by a ioint consent that the king should doe no more obeysance but reiect as nothing worth whatsoeuer he should impose Wherfore the king to tame his proud malicious nature dispatched secretly two hundred men at armes vnder the conduct of one captaine â—oguard towards Auian in Naples whither his holines was fled for feare of diuerse whose houses and castels he had caused to be rased downe there to surprise him on a sodaine which stratageme they speedily performed and carried him prisoner to Rome where hee died most miserably Peter Mesie a Spanish Gentleman of Seuill saith in many of his lectures that he died in prison enraged with famine Nicholas Gilles in his first volume of French chronicles reporteth that he died in the castell Saint Angelo through a flux of his belly which cast him into a frenzie that hee gnew off his owne handes and that at the hower of his death there were heard horrible thunders and tempests and lightnings round about this is hee in whose honour this fine Epitaph was made Intrauit vt vulpes regnauit vt leo mortuus est vt canis Sabel Aenead 9. lib. 7. He entered like a fox raigned like a lion and died like a dog And this was hee that on the first day of Lent giuing ashes to the bishop of Genes in stead of vsing the ordinarie forme of speech which is Momento homo quod cinis es in cinerem conuerteris Remember man that thou art ashes and into ashes thou shalt returne said in despight and mockerie Memento homo quia Gibellinus es cum Gibellinis in cinerem conuerteris Remember that thou art a Gibelline and together with the Gibillines thou shalt bee turned into ashes and in stead of laying the ashes vpon his forehead threw them into his eies and forthwith depriued him of his Bishoprick and would haue done worse if it had ben in his power mark what little account this holy father himselfe made of these ceremonies and therefore it is no maruell if others mocke at them seeing the Popes themselues make them but matters of pastime If it bee so therefore that no man ought to arrogate to himselfe any title of diety then consequently it is no lesse vnlawfull to giue that diuine honour to any other mortall creature and therefore the people of Cesarea faulted greatly when blasphemously they called King Herod a god as hath beene declared before Likewise it was high and prowd presumption in the Senate of Rome not to receiue any god to their Commonwealth without their owne foreapprobation and consent as if that God could not maintaine his dignitie nor stand without the good liking and assent of men or as if that man could deifie whom he listed which is a most rediculous and absurd thing And thus the Romans in time of Tiberius consecrating to themselues a whole legion euen thousands of false gods Tertullian apolog would not admit of the true God his sonne Christ but reiected him aboue all others Among al the vanities of the Athenians this was one worthy noting how they ordained that Demetrius AlexaÌ„ders successor for reestablishing their popular and ancient liberty with his father Antigonus should be called kings and honored with the title of Sauing gods and to haue a Priest that should offer sacrifice vnto them and moreouer caused their pictures to be drawn in the same baÌ„ner where the pictures of Iupiter Minerua the protectors of their city were drawen in brodered worke but this goodly banner as is was carried about in procession was rent in peeces by a tempestuous storme that arose soddainly God thereby manifesting how odious and displeasant both this new and old superstition was in his sight besides that doe but consider the laudable vertues that so commended this new god Demetrius to make them honour him in such sort they were violence and cruelties intemperance with all inordinate lasciuiousnes vilanies and whoredomes so that it was no maruel if they had made him a God being vnworthy altogether of humane society This new found god hauing gotten a great victory by sea as hee triumphed and braued it with ships after the same was so shattered with a sodain tempest that the greatest part of his nauy went to wrack and afterwards was vanquished by Seleuchus in a battel wherin his father Antigonus was slain wheÌ„ he thought to retire to Athens they shut their gates vpon him whom a little before they had canonized for a god for which cause he raised war against them so wearied them with onsets on ech side and so inclosed them both by sea land that being brought to extreame famine necessity they were compelled to entertaine him againe and to behold the horrible outrages of their own made god to their griefe confusion But not long after Seleuchus once againe damped his courage in so much that hauing liued three years in a countrie of Siuia like a banished outlaw for fear to be deliuered into his hands weary of his own life he stuffed himself so with food that he burst in peeces Therefore let euery man learne by these examples not to translate the honor and maiestie of God to any creature but to leaue it to him alone who is iealous therof will not as the Prophet saith giue his glorie vnto another CHAP. XXV Of Epicures and Atheists AS touching voluptuous Epicures and cursed Atheists that deny the prouidence of God beleeue not the immortality of the soule think there is no such thing as life to come and consequently impugne all diuinity liuing in this world like brute beasts like dogs and swine wallowing in all sensuality they do also strike themselues against this commandement by going about to wipe out and deface the knowledge of God and if it were possible to extinguish his very essence wherein they shew themselues more then mad and brutish whereas notwithstanding all the euident testimonies of the vertue bounty wisedome and eternall power of
strange thing to consider how that prowd citie hath lifted vp her head aboue all others and vsurped a tyranny ouer nations and which Lactantius Hierom Rome he meaneth and Augustine three learned fathers entituled Babylon how I say she hath been humbled for all her pride and empouerished for all her riches and made a prey vnto many nations It was sacked ransacked twice by the Visigothes takē once by the Herulians surprised by the Ostrogothes destroied and rooted vp by the Vandales annoied by the Lumbards pilled and spoiled by the Grecians and whipped and chastised by many others and now like Sodome and Gomorra it is to expect no more punishment but the last blow of the most mightiest his indignation to throw it headlong into euerlasting and horrible desolation CHAP. XLIX Of such punishments which are common to all men in regard of their iniquities THese and such like effects of Gods wrath ought to admonish instruct euery man to look vnto himselfe for doing euill and to abhorre and detest sin since it bringeth forth such soure and bitter fruits for albeit the waies of the wicked seeme in their owne eies faire and good Prou. 22. yet it is certaine that they are full of snares thorns to intrap and pricke them to the quicke for after that being fed with the licourous deceitfull sweetnesse of their owne lusts they haue sported themselues their fils in their pleasures wicked affections then insteed of delights and pastimes they shall find nothing but punishment sadnesse their laughter ioy pompe magnificence and glory shall bee turned into torments dolors weepings opprobries ignominies confusion and misery euerlasting for if God spared not great cities Empiers monarchies and kings in their obstinate misdeeds shall we thinke hee will spare little cities hamlets and villages men of base estate when by their sins they prouoke him to anger No it cannot be for God is alwaies of one the same nature alwaies like vnto himselfe A God executing iustice and iudgement vpon the earth Ierem. 9. Psal 5. A God that loueth not iniquitie with whom the wicked cannot dwell nor the fooles stand before his presence It is hee that hateth the workers of vnrighteousnesse and that destroieth the liers abhorreth all deceitfull disloiall periurous murdering persons as with him there is no acception of persons so none of what estate or condition soeuer be they rich or poor noble or ignoble gentle or carterlike can exempt themselues from his wrath and indignation when it is kindled but a little Rom. 2.9 if they delight and continue in their sinnes for as S. Paul saith Tribulation anguish is vpon the soule of euery man that doth euill Now according to the variety and diuersity of mens offences the Lord in his most iust and admirable iudgement vseth diuersity of punishments sometimes correcting them one by one in particular other whiles altogither in a heape sometimes by stormes and tempests both by sea and land other times by lightning haile and deluge of waters often by ouerflowing and breaking out of riuers and of the sea also and not seldome by remedilesse and sudden fires heauen earth and all the elements beeing armed with an inuincible force to take vengeance vpon such as are traitors and rebels against God sundry times he scourgeth the world as it well deserueth with his vsuall and accustomed plagues namely of warre and famine and pestilence which are euident signes of his anger according to the threats denounced in the law touching the same and therefore if at any time he defer the punishment of the wicked it is for no other end but to expect the fulnesse of their sinne and to make them more inexcusable when contrary to his bountifulnesse and long suffering which inuiteth and calleth them to repentance they harden themselues and grow more obstinate in their vices and rebellion drawing vpon their heads the whole heape of wrath the more grieuously to assaile them And thus the vengeance of God marcheth but a soft pace as saith Valerius Maximus to the end to double and aggrauate the punishment for the slacknesse thereof CHAP. L. That the greatest punishments are reserued and laid vp for the wicked in the world to come NOtwithstanding all which hath bene spoken and howsoeuer sinners are punished in this life yet is certaine that the greatest and terriblest punishments are kept in store for them in another world and albeit that during this transitory pilgrimage they seeme to themselues often times to liue at their ease and enioy their pleasures and pastimes to their hearts contentment yet doubtlesse it is so that they are indeed in a continuall prison and in a dungeon of darkenesse bound and chained with fetters of their owne sinne and very often turmoiled and butchered with their owne guiltie conscience ouercharged with the multitude of offences fore-feeling the approch of hell and in this case many languish away with care feare and terror being toiled and tired with vncessant and vnsupporrable disquietnesse and tossed and distracted with despaire vntill by death they be brought vnto their last irreuocable punishment which punishment is not to endure for a time and then to end but is eternall and euerlastingly inherent both in body and soule I say in the bodie after the resurrection of the dead and in soule after the departure out of this life till all eternity for it is iust and equall that they which haue offended and dishonored God in their bodies in this life should be punished also in their bodies in the world to come with endles torments of which torments when mention is made in the holy scripture they are for our weake capacity sake called gehenna or a place of torment vtter darkenesse and hell fire where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth c againe eternall fire a poole and pit of fire and brimstone which is prepared for the deuill and his darlings and how miserable their estate is that fall therein our Sauiour Christ giueth vs to know in the person of the rich glutton Luk. 16. who hauing bathed himselfe in the pleasures and delights of this world without once regarding or pittying the poore was after death cast into the torments of hell there burneth in quenchlesse flames without any ceasing or allaying of his griefes therefore whatsoeuer punishments the wicked suffer before they die they are not quitted by them from this other but must descend into the appointed place to receiue the surplus of their paiments which is due vnto them for what were it for a notorious and cruell tyrant that had committed many foule and wicked deeds or had most villanously murdered many good men to haue no other punishment but to be slaine and to endure in the houre of death some extraordinarie paine could such a punishment ballance with his so many and great offences whereas therefore many such wretches suffer punishment in this world wee must thinke
images or pictures and such other outward and corruptible meanes which hee hath in no wise commanded wherefore Isaiah the Prophet reproouing the folly and vanity of idolatours saith Chap. 40.18 To whome will you liken God or what similitude will you set vp vnto him Therefore if it be not Gods will that vnder pretence and colour of his owne name any image or picture should be adored being a thing not only inconuenient but also absurd and vnseemely much lesse can he abide to haue them worshipped vnder the name and title of any creature whatsoeuer And for this cause gaue he the second commandement Thou shalt not make to thy selfe any grauen image c. which prohibition the Israelielits brake in the desert when they set vp a golden calfe bowed themselues before it after the maner of the Painyms giuing it the honour which was only due to God whereby they incurred the indignation of Almightie God Exod. 32. who is strong and iealous of suffering any such slander to be done vnto his name wherefore hee caused three thousand of them to be stroken wounded to death by the hand of the Leuits at the commaundement of Moses to make his anger against idolatrie more manifest by causing them to be executioners of his reuenge who were ordained for the ministery of his Church and the seruice of the altar and tabernacle Howbeit for all this the same people not long after fell backe into the same sinne and bowed themselues before strange gods through the allurements of the daughters of Moab ioyned themselues to Belphegor Num. 25. for which cause the Lord being incensed stroke them with so grieuous a plague that there died of them in one day about twenty and foure thousand persons And albeit that after all this being brought by him into the land of promise hee had forbidden and threatned them for cleauing to the idols of the nations whose land they possessed yet were they so prone to idolatry that notwithstanding all this they fell to serue Baal and Astaroth wherefore the fire of Gods wrath was enflamed against them and hee gaue them ouer to be a spoile and prey vnto their enemies on euery side so that for many yeeres sometimes the Moabites oppressed them otherwhiles the Madianites and euer after the death of any of their Iudges and rulers which God raised vp for their deliuerance some grieuous punishment befell them for then being without law or gouernment euery man did that which seemed good in his owne eies and so turned aside from the right way Now albeit these examples may seeme to haue some affinity with Apostasie yet because the ignorance and rudenessâ— of the people was rather the cause of their falling away from God then any wilfull affection that raigned in them therefore wee place them in this rancke as well as they that haue beene alwaies brought vp and nuzled in Idolatrie 2. Chron. 22. One of this crew was Ochosias king of Iuda sonne of Ioram who hauing before him an euill president of his wicked father and a worse instruction and bringing vp of his mother Athaliah who togither with the house of Achab pricked him forward to euill ioyned himselfe to them and to their idols and for that cause was wrapped in the same punishment destruction with Ioram the king of Israel whome Iehu slew togither with the princes of Iuda and many of his neere kinsmen And to be short Idolatry hath bene the decay and ruine of the kingdome of Iuda as at all other times so especially vnder Ioachas sonne of Iosias 2. King 23. that raigned not aboue three moneths in Ierusalem before hee was taken and led captiue into Aegypt by the king thereof and there died from which time the whole land became tributary to the king of Aegypt And not long after it was vtterly destroied by the forces of Nabuchadnezzar king of Babel that came against Ierusalem and tooke it and caried king Ioaâ—him with his mother his princes his seruants and the treasures of the temple and his owne house into Babylon And finally 2. King 24.25 tooke Zedechias that fled away and before his eies caused his sonnes to be slaine which assoone as he had beheld commaunded him also to be pulled out and so binding him in chaines of iron carried him prisoner to Babylon putting all the princes of Iuda to the sword consuming with fire the temple with the kings pallace and all the goodly buildings of Ierusalem And thus the whole kingdome though by an especiall prerogatiue consecrated and ordained of God himselfe ceased to be a kingdome and came to such an end that it was neuer reestablished by God but begun and confirmed by the filthy idolatry of Ieroboams calues Vide lib. 1. c. 19. which as his successours maintained and fauoured more or lesse so were they exposed to more or lesse plagues and incumbrances Nadab Ieroboams sonne being nuzled and nurtured vp in Idoll worship after the example of his father 1 King 15.27 receiued a condigne punishment for his iniquitie for Baasa the sonne of Ahijah put both him and all the offspring of Ieroboamâ— house to the sword and raigned in his stead who also being no whit better then those whome he had slaine was punished in the person of Ela his sonne whome Zambri one of his seruants slew And this againe vsurping the crowne enioyed it but seuen daies at the end whereof seeing himselfe in daunger in the citie Tirza taken by Amri whome the people had chosen for their king went into the pallace of the kings house and burned himselfe As for Achab hee multiplied idolatry in Israel and committed more wickednesse then all his predecessours wherefore the wrath of God was stretched out against hiâ— and his for hee himselfe was wounded to death in battaile by the Sitians his sonne Ioram slaine by Iehu and threescore and ten of his children put to death in Samaria by their gouernours and chiefe of the city sending their heads in baskets to Iehu Aboue all a most notable and manifest example of Gods iudgement was seene in the death of Iezabel his wife that had beene his spurre and prouoker to all mischiefe when by her Eunuches and most trustie seruants at the commandement of Iehu shee was thrown downe out of a window and trampled vnder the horse seer and last of all deuoured of dogges Moreouer the greatest number of the kings of Israel that succeeded him were murdered one after another so that the kingdome fell to such a low decline that it became first tributary to the king of Assyria and afterward inuaded and subuerted by him and the inhabitants transported into his land whence they neuer returned but remained scattered here and there like vagabonds and all for their abominable idolatrie which ought to be a lesson to all people princes and kings that seeing God spared not these two realmes of Iuda and Israel but destroied and rooted them out from the earth
obtained the sole regiment without controlment Besides hee corrupted so by bribes the Senators of Rome that had soueraigne authority in and ouer his kingdome that in stead of punishment which his murder cried for he was by the decree of the Senat allotted to the one halfe of the kingdome Wherevpon being growne yet more presumptuous hee made excursions and riots vpon Adherbals territories and did him thereby much iniurie and from thence falling to open war put him to flight and pursued him to a citie where hee besieged him so long till hee was constrained to yeeld himselfe And then hauing gotten him within his power put him to the cruellest death he could deuise which villanous deed gaue iust cause to the Romanes of that warre which they vndertooke against him wherein he was discomfited and seeing himselfe vtterly lost fled to his sonne in law Bochus king of Mauritania to seeke supply of succour who receiuing him into safegard prooued a false guard vnto him and deliuered him into the hands of his enemies and so was he carried in triumph to Rome by Marius fast bound being come to Rome cast into perpetual prison where first his gowne was torne off his back by violence next a ring of gold pluckt off his eare lap and all and lastly himselfe starke naked throwne into a deep ditch where combating with famine six daies the seuenth miserably ended his wretched life according to the merits of his misdeeds Orosius saith he was strangled in prison Oros Sabel Treason lib. 2. cap. 3. Methridates king of Parthia put to death the king of Cappadocia to get his kingdome and after vnder pretence of parlying with one of his sons slew him also for which cause the Romanes tooke vp the quarrell and made warre vpon him by means whereof much losse and inconuenience grew vnto him as well by sea as by land After his first ouerthrow where one of his sisters was taken prisoner and when he saw himselfe in so desperate a case that no hope of helpe was left he slew two other of his sisters with two of his wiues hauing before this war giuen his fourth sister who also was his wife a dram of poison to make vp the tragedie Afterward beeing vanquished in the night by Pompey the Romane and put to flight with onely three of his company as hee went about to gather a new supply of forces behold tidings was brought him of the reuolt of many of his Prouinces and countries and of the deliuering vp of the rest of his daughters into Pompeis hand and of the treason of his yoong sonne Pharnax the gallantest of his sonnes and whome hee purposed to make his successour who had ioined himselfe to his enemie which troubled and astonished him more then all the rest so that his courage being quite dashed and all hope of bettering his estate extinguished his other two daughters he poysoned with his owne handes and sought to practise the same experiment vpon himselfe but that his body was too strong for the poison and killed the operation thereof by strength of nature but that which poyson could not effect his owne sword performed Though Pompey the great was neuer any of the most notorious offenders in Rome Plâ—tarch yet did this staine of cruelty ambition and desire of rule cleaue vnto him for first he ioining himselfe to Silla dealt most cruelly vnnaturally with Carbo whom after familiar conference in shew of friendship hee caused sodainly to be slaine without shew of mercie And with Quintius Valerius a wise and well lettered man with whome walking but two or three turnes hee committed to a cruel and vnexpected slaughter He executed seuere punishment vpon the enemies of Silla sepecially those that were most of note and reputation and vnmercifully put Brutus to death that had rendered himselfe vnto his mercie It was he that deuised that new combate of prisoners and wild beasts to make the people sport withall a most inhumane and bloodie pastime to see humane and manly bodies torne and dismembred by brute and sencelesse creatures which if we will beleeue Plutarch was the only cause of his destruction Now after so many braue gallant victories so many magnificent triumphs as the taking of king Hiarbas the ouerthrow of Domitius the conquest of Africa the pacifying of Spaine and the ouerwelding of the commotions that were therein the clearing of the sea coasts from Pyrates the victory ouer Methridates the subduing of the Arabians the reducing of Siria into a prouince the coÌ„quest of Iudea Pontus Armenia Cappadocia Paphlagonia I say after all these worthy deeds of armes and mighty victories he was shamefully ouercome by Iulius Caesar in that ciuil war wherin it was generally thought that hee had vndertaken the better cause in maintaining the authority of the Senat defeÌ„ding the liberty of the people as he pretended to do being thus put to flight making towards Aegypt in hope the king for that before time hee had ben his tutor would protect furnish him that he might recouer himselfe again he found himself fo far deceiued of his expectation that in stead thereof the kings people cut him short of his purpose of his head both at once sending it for a token to Caesar to gratifie him withall Neuerthelesse for all this his murderers betraiers as the yong king all others that were causers of his death were iustly punished for their cruelty by the hands of him whom they thought to gratifie for as Cleopatra the kings sister threw her selfe downe at Caesars feet to intreat her portion of the kingdome and he being willing also to shew her that fauor was by that meanes gotten into the kings pallace forthwith the murderers of Pompey beset the pallace went about to bring him into the same snare that they had caught Pompey in But Caesar after that he had sustained their greatest brunt frustrated their purposes recouered his forces into his hands assailed them with such valor prowesse on al sides that in short space he ouercame this wicked traiterous nation Amongst the slain the dead body of this young and euill aduised king was found ouerborn with durt Flor. lib. 4. Theodotus the kings schoolemaster by whose instigation and aduise both Pompey was slaine and this war vndertaken being escaped fled towards Asia for his safety found euen there sufficient instruments both to abridge his iourney shorteÌ„ his life As for the rest of that murdering felowship they ended their liues some here some there in that merciles element the sea and by that boisterous element the wind which though senslesse yet could not suffer them to escape vnpunished Although that Iulius Caesar concerning whom more occasion of speech will be giuen in the 39 chapter did tyranously vsurpe the key of the Romane common-wealth Plutarch intruded himselfe into the Empire against the lawes customs and authority of the people and Senat yet was it accounted a
and consent of parties is committed bee condemned how much more greeuous and hainous is the offence and more guiltie the offendour when with violence the chastity of any is assailed and enforced This was the sinne wherwith Sichem the sonne of Hemor the Leuit is marked in holy scripture for hee rauished Dina Iaacobs daughter Gen. for which cause Simeon and Lui her brethren reuenged the iniury done done vnto their sister vpon the head of not onely him and his father but all the males that were in the citie by putting them to the sword It was a custome among the Spartanes Messenians during the time of peace betwixt them to send yearely to one another certaine of their daughters to celebrate certaine feasts and sacrifices that were amongst them now in continuance of time it chanced that fiftie of the Lacedemonian Virgines being come to those solemne feasts were pursued by the Messenian gallants to haue their pleasures of theÌ„ but they iointly making resistance and fighting for their honesties stroue so long not one yeelding themselues a prey into their hands till they all died wherevpon arose so long miserable a warre that all the countrie of Messena was destroied thereby Aristoclides a Tyrant of Orchomenus a city of Arcadia fell enamoured with a maid of Stymphalis who seeing her father by him slaine because hee seemed to stand in his puâ—poses light fled to the Temple of Diana to take Sanctuarie neither could once bee pluckt from the image of the goddesse vntill her life was taken from her but hir death so incensed the Arcadians that they fell to armes sharpely reuenged her cruell iniury Appius a Romane a man of power and authoritie in the city â—â—us Liuius enflamed with the loue of a Virgin whose father hight Virginius would needs make her his seruant to the end to abuse her the more freely whilst he endeuoured with all his power and pollicie to accomplish his immoderate lust her father slew her with his own hands more willing to prostitute her to death than to so foule an opprobrie and disgrace but euery man prouoked and stirred vp with the wofulnesse of the euent with one consent pursued apprehended and imprisoned the foule lecher who fearing the award of a most shamefull death killed himselfe to preuent a further mischiefe In the yeare of our Lord 1271 vnder the raign of the Emperour Rodolphe Nic. Gil. vol. 1. the Sicilians netled and enraged with the horrible whoredomes adulteries Rapes which the Garrisons that had the gouernment ouer them committed not able to endure any longer their insolent outragious demeanor entred a secret coÌ„mon conspiracy vpon a time appointed for the purpose which was on Easter sunday at the shutting in of the euening to set vpon them with one accord and to murder so many as they could as they did for at that instant they massacred so many throughout the whole island that of all the great multitude there suruiued not one to beare tidings or bewaile the dead At Naples it chaunced in the Kings pallace Bâ—mb lib. 3. hist Venet. as young King Fredericke Ferdinands sonne entered the priuie chamber of the Queene his mother to salute her and the other Ladies of the court that the Prince of Bissenio waighting in the outward chamber for his returne was slaine by one of his owne seruants that suddainely gaue him with his sword three deadly strokes in the presence of many beholders which deed hee confessed that hee had watched three yeares to performe in regard of an iniurie done vnto his sister and in her to him Benzoni Milan of the new found land whome hee rauished against her will The Spaniards that first tooke the Isle Hispaniola were for their whoredomes and Rapes whhich they committed vpon the wiues and Virgins all murdered by the inhabitants The inhabitants of the Prouince Cumana when they saw the beastly outrage of the Spanish nation The same author that lay along their coasts to fish for pearle in forcing and rauishing without difference their women young and old set vpon them vpon a Sunday morning with all their force and slew all that euer they found by the sea coasts Westward till there remained not one aliue And the fury of the rude vnciuill people was so great that they spared not the Monkes in their cloisters but cut their throates as they were mumbling their Masses burnt vp the Spanish houses both religious and priuate burst in peeces their belles drew about their Images hurld downe their crucifixes and cast them in disgrace and contempt ouerthwart their streetes to bee trodden vpon nay they destroyed whatsoeuer belonged vnto them to their very dogges and hennes and their owne Countriemen that serued them in any seruice whether religious or other they spared not they beate the earth and cursed it with bitter curses because it had vpholden such wicked and wretched caitifes Now the report of this massacre was so fearefull and terrible that the Spaniards which were in Cubagna doubted much of their liues also and truly not without great cause for if the Indians of the Continent had beene furnished and prouided with sufficient store of barkes they had passed euen into that Island and had serued them with the same sauce which their fellows were serued with for they wanted not will but hability to doe it And these are the goodly fruits of their adulteries and Rapes which the Spanish nation hath reaped in their new found land The great calamity and ouerthrow which the Lacedemonians endured at Leuctria wherein their chiefest strength and powers were weakened and consumed was a manifest punishment of their inordinate lust committed vpon two Virgines â—i Mel. lib. 2. whome after they had rauished in that very place they cut in peeces and threw them into a pit and when their father came to complaine him of the villanie they made so light account of his words that in stead of redresse he found nothing but reproch and derision so that with griefe hee slew himselfe vpon his daughters sepulchre but how greeuously the Lord reuenged this iniurie hystories doe sufficiently testifie and that Leuctrias calamitie doth beare witnesse Pausan lib. 2. Brias a Grecian captaine being receiued into a Citizens house as a guest forced his wife by violence to his lust but when he was asleepe to reuenge her wrong she put out both his eies and afterward complained to the citizens also who depriued him of his office and cast him out of their city Macrinus the Emperour punished two souldiours that rauished their hostesse on this manner hee shut them vp in an oxes bowels with their heads out and so partly with famishment and partly with wormes and rottennesse they consumed to death Iohan magnus Rodericus king of the Gothes in Spaine forced an Earles daughter to his lust for which cause her father brought against him an army of Sarasens and Moores and not onely slew him
sole possessor of the whole Island after this he inuaded many other Islands besides many cities in the same land he raised the Lacedemonians from the siege of Samos which they had begirt And when hee saw that all things fell out so well to his owne wish that nothing could be more fearing so great prosperity could not but carry in the taile some terrible sting of aduersitie and mischance attempted by voluntary losse of something of value to preuent the mischiefe which he feared to ensue and this by the aduise of his deare friend and ally the king of Aegypt therefore hee threw a ring which hee had in great price into the sea to the end to delude fortune as he thought thereby but the ring was after found in a fishes belly and offered as a present vnto him and this was an euident presage of some ineuitable misfortune that waited for him neither did it proue vaine and friuolous for hee was hanged vpon a gibbet of Sardis by the commandement of Orates the gouernour of the city who vnder pretence of friendship and coulor of rendering his treasure into his hands and bestowing vpon him a great part thereof promising also to passe the rest of his daies vnder his wing for fear of the rage of Cambises drew him to come priuately to speak with him and so easily wrought his will vpon him Aristodemus got into his hands the gouernment of Cuma Dionâ—s Halicar lib. 7. after hee had made away the principall of the citie and to keepe it the better being obtained hee first won the vulgars hearts by presents then banished out of the Citie their children whome hee had put to death and entertained the rest of the youth with such varietie of pleasures and delights that by those deuises hee kept himselfe in his tyrannous estate many yeares but assoone as the children of those slaine Citizens were growne to ripe yeares of strength and discretion being desirous to reuenge their fathers deaths they set vpon him in the night so at vnawares that they put him and all his family to the slaughter Plutarch Tymophanes vsurped a principality power and rule in Corinth a free citie and became so odious thereby to the whole people yea and to his owne brother Tymoleon also that laying aside all respect of nature hee slew him with his owne hands preferring the libertie of his countrie before any vnity or bond of bloud When the cities of Greece sayth Orosius would needes through too greedie a desire and Ambition of raigne Lib. 3. cap. 12. get euery one the maisterie and soueraigntie of the rest they altogither made shipracke of their owne liberties by encroching vpon others as for instance The Lacedemonians how hurtfull and vncommodious the desire of bringing their neighbour adioining citties vnder their dominion was vnto them the sundrie discomfitures and distresses within the time of that warre vndertaken vpon that onely cause befell them Oros lâ—b 3. ca. 2. beare sufficient record Seruius Tullus the sonne to a bondman addicted himselfe so much to the exploits of warre that by Prowesse hee got so great credite and reputation among the Romanes that hee was thought worthie to bee made the sonne in law of king Tarquinius by marrying one of his daughters Titus Liuius after whose death hee also vsurped the crowne vnder colour of the Protectorship of the kings two yong sonnes Who when they came to age and bignesse maried the daughters of their brother in law Tullius by whose exhortation and continuall prouokement the elder of them which was called Tarquinius conspired against his father in law and practised to make himselfe king and to recouer his rightfull inheritance and that by this means he watched his oportunitie when the greatest part of the people were out of the citie about gathering their fruit in the fields and then placing his companions in readinesse to serue his turne if need should be he marched to the pallace in the roiall robes guarded with a company of his confederats and hauing called a Senate as hee began to complaine him of the trecherie and impudencie of Tullius behold Tullius himselfe came in would haue run violently vpon him but Tarquinius catching him about the middle threw him headlong down the staires and presently sent certaine of his guard to make an end of the murder which hee had begun But herein the cruelty of Tullia was most monstrous that not only first moued her husband to this bloudy practise but also made her coach to be driuen ouer the body of her father which lay bleeding in the middest of the street scarce dead Manlius after hee had maintained the fortresse of Rome against the Gaules glorying in that action Parricide lib â— cap. 11. and enuying the good hap and prosperity of Camillus went about to make himselfe king vnder pretence of restoring the people to their ancient entire libertie but his practise being discouered he was accused found guiltie and by the consent of the multitude adiudged to be throwne headlong downe from the top of the same fortresse to the end that the same place which gaue him great glory might bee a witnesse and memoriall of his shame and last confusion for all his valiant deedes before done were not of so much force with the people to excuse his fault or saue his life as this one crime was of weight to bring him to his death In former times there liued in Carthage one Hanno Oros lib. 4. c. 6. who because hee had more riches than all the Commonwealth beside began to aspire to the domination of the citie which the better to accomplish he deuised to make shew of marrying his only daughter to the end that at the mariage feast he might poyson the chiefest men of credit and power of the citie whome hee knew could or would any waies withstand or countermand his purpose but when this deuise tooke no effect by reason of the discouerie thereof by certain of his seruants he sought another meanes to effect his will He got togither a huge number of bondslaues and seruants which should at a sodaine put him in possession of the citie but being preuented herein also by the citizens hee seased vpon a castle with a thousand men of base regard euen seruants for the most part whither thinking to draw the Affricanes and king of the Moores to his succour he was taken first whipped next had his eies thrust out and then his armes and legs broken in peeces and so was executed to death before al the people his carcas being thus mangled with blows was hanged vpon a gallowes and all his kindred and children put to death that there might not one remaine of his straine either to enterprise the like deed or to reuenge his death That great and fearefull warriour Iulius Caesar one of the most hardie and valiants peeces of flesh that euer was after he had performed so many notable exploits ouercome all his enemies