the liberty of the Sons of God as Saint Chrysostome hath expounded it They which maintaine any other future liberty in the Creature by way of restitution or bettering it are bound soundly to answere all the arguments before alleaged and withall to yeeld a sufficient reason why some Creatures are to be restored and not all since the name of Creature is equally attributed to all and not to some only Surely S. Ambrose in his Expositions vpon that place durst goe no farther then we doe habet enim in labore posita Creatura hoc solatium quoniam habebit requiem cum crediderint omnes quos scit Deus credituros the Creature travelling in paine hath this comfort that it shall rest from labour when they shall all beleeue whom God knowes are to beleeue And in truth this is as much as we neede beleeue and as the words being favourablely interpreted doe inforce The last testimony mustered against vs was taken from the Psalmist Thâ—…u shalt change them and they shall be changed But since in the same verse he likewise tels vs They shall perish what change shall we there vnderstand Surely for the same thing to bee sayd to bee chaunged into a better and more perfect estate and yet withall at the same time to perish cannot properly be verified We are to know then that a thing may be chaunged not only by alteration which is a chaunge in the quality but by augmentation or diminution which is a chaunge in the quantity by corruption which is a chaunge in the substance or lastly though in a larger and perchaunce somewhat vnusuall acceptation by annihilation which is a totall abolishing of the substance And this in truth is the greatest chaunge that may be it being ab ente ad non ens simpliciter from a being to a not being wholy And of such a chaunge must the Psalmist of force be vnderstood if we will reconcile him with himselfe and the passages before alleaged or if this satisfie not we may say as some doe that the heavens shall be changed in regard of vs insteed of visible and materiall heavens the vse of which wee now injoy wee shall be translated to an heaven immateriall and invisible the Coelestiall Paradise the heavenly Ierusalem which in holy Scriptures is likewise tearmed a new heaven Notwithstanding all this for the reverence I beare antiquitie I will not be peremptory in the point But truly me thinkes that a few obscure places should rather be expounded by many cleere then the cleere wrested to the obscure CAP. 14. Of the Uses we are to make of the Consummation of the world and of the day of Iudgement SECT 1. That the day of the worlds end shall likewise be the day of the generall iudgement thereof and that then there shall bee such a iudgement is proved aswell by reason as the testimonie of the Gentiles WHatsoever be the manner of the worlds end most certaine it is an end it shall haue and as certaine that then we shall all appeare before the Iudgement seate of Christ that every man may receiue according to that which he hath done in his body whether it be good or evill If we yeeld that there is a God and that this God is Almighty just which of necessity he must be or otherwise he may not be God it cannot be avoyded but that after this life ended he administer justice vnto men by punishing the wicked and rewarding the righteous Since in this world the one commonly liue in ease and prosperity and the other in misery and persecution Shall not then the Iudge of all the world doe right doubtles he shall and will Some therefore he punisheth exemplarily in this world that we might from thence haue a tast or glimce of his present iustice And others he reserveth to the next that from thence we might haue an assurance of a future iudgement which is either particular as we are single persons at the day of the separation of the soule from the body which wee may call the Privy Sessions of the soule or vniversall as we are parcels of mankinde at the last day which we may call the generall Assise both of soule and bodie And that there shall be such a generall judgement beside the particular we haue these reasons to induce vs to beleeue it First that the body of man rising from his sepulchre at that day may be partaker of eternall punishment or glory with the soule even as in this life it was participant of the vertues or vices which the soule did execute as they either sinned together or served God together So is it most fit that they should receiue the sentence of eternall life or death together Yet because the soule both may and often doth either sinne or serue God without the bodie but the body of it selfe can doe neither without the soule therefore is it as requisite that the separated soule should either suffer paine or injoy blisse whiles the body rests in the graue And being revnited and married againe vnto the body should partake more either of blisse or paine then it As this first reason is taken from the Essentiall parts so the second reason that there shall be an vniversall and publique judgement is drawne from the Actions of the persons to be judged their rewards Though it be true then that if men were rewarded in secret both in soule and in in bodie according to their actions the justice of God might by that meanes be preserved yet could it not be sufficiently manifested vnlesse this judgement were acted in the publique view of the whole world Many good men haue heere been openly oppressed and troden vnder foote and on the other side the wicked haue flourished in abundance of outward peace temporall felicity which hath made the best of Gods servants at times to stagger and stand amazed thereat But then shall they and all the world cleerely see and confidâ—…ntly professe to the honour of Divine justice Verily there is a reward for the righteous doubtles there is a God that judgeth the Earth And in regard of this conspicuous manifestation of Gods justice and full accomplishment thereof at the last day not a few of the Greeke Latine Fathers as also the holy Scriptures themselues in sundry places seeme to say the retribution of our workes in the flesh shall be differred till then Now besides this honour which shall accrew to the justice of God both wicked sinners and the blessed Saints of God shall then receiue their rewards and finall paiments openly in the sight and hearing of each other to the end that the griefe and shame of the impious and the triumphant joy of the vertuous and religious might therby be the more increased For what greater heart-breaking and confusion can there bee to the one then to haue all their secret faults layd open and the sentence of Condemnation passed vpon them in the presence of them
wōderfull either to beget in vs an abilitie for the doing of that which we apprehēd we cā do or a disability for the not doing of that which we cōceiue we cānot do which was the reasō that the Wisards and Oracles of the Gentiles being cōsulted they ever returned either an hopefull answer or an ambiguous such as by a favourable cōstructiō might either include or at leastwise not vtterly exclude hope Agesilaus as I remēber clapping his hāds vpon the Al tar taking it off againe by a cūning divice shewed to his souldiers victory stāped vpon it whereby they were so encouraged and grew so cōfident that beyong all expectation they indeed effected that wherof by this sleight they were formerly assured Prognostications and Prophesies often helpe to further that which they foretell and to make men such as they beare thē in hand they shall be nay by an vnavoydable destinie must bee Francis Marquesse of Saluzze yeeldes vs a memorable example in this kind who being Lieuetenant Generall to Francis the first King of France over all his forces which hee then had beyond the mountaines in Italy a man highly favoured in all the Court and infinitly obliged to the King for his Marquesite which his brother had forfeited suffered himselfe to be so farr afrighted and deluded as it hath since been manifestly proued by Prognostications which then throughout all Europe were giuen out to the advantage of the Emperour Charles the fifth and to the prejudice of the French that hauing no occasiō offered yea his owne affections contradicting the same hee first began in secret to complaine to his private friends of the inevitable miseries which he foresaw prepared by the Fates against the Crowne of France And within a while after this impression still working into him he most vnkindly revolted from his Master and became a turne-coate to the Emperours side to the astonishment of all men his owne greate disgrace ond the no lesse disadvātage to the French enterprize on the other side I doubt not but that the prophesies of Sauanarola as much assisted Charles the eight to the conquest of Naples which he performed so speedily and happily as he seemed rather with chalke to marke out his lodgings then with his sword to winne them To like purpose was that Custome among the Heathen of deriving the pedegree of valiant men from the Gods as Varro the most learned of the Romanes hath well observed Ego huiusmodi à Dis repetitas origines vtiles esse lubens agnosco vt viri fortes etiamsi falsum sit se ex Dis genitos credant vt eo modo animus humanus veluti diuinae stirpis fiduciam gerens res magnas aggrediendas presumat audaciùs agat vehementiù ob haec impleat ipsa securitate foeliciùs I for my part sayth he judge those pedegrees drawne from the Gods not to be vnprofitable that valiant men though in truth it be not so beleeving themselues to be extracted from divine races might vpon the confidence thereof vndertake high attemps the more boldly intend them the more earnestly and accomplish them the more securely and successiuely And of the Druides Caesar hath noted that among other doctrines they taught the soules immortality by propagation because they taught hoc maximè ad virtutem excitari homines metu mortis neglecto that by meanes of this apprehension men were notablely spurred forward and whetted on to the adventuring and enterprising of commendable actions through the contempt of death Which same thing Lucan hath likewise remarked Vobis authoribus vmbrae Non tacitas Erebi sedes ditisque profundi Pallida regna petunt regit idem spiritus artus Orbe alio longae conitis si cognita vitae Mors media est certè populi quos despicit Arctos foelices errore suo quos ille timorum Maximus haud vrget Lethi metus inde ruendi In ferrum mens prona viris animaeque capaces Mortis et ignavum est rediturae parcere vitae Your doctrine is Our ghost's goe not to those pale realmes of Stygian Dis And silent Erebus the selfe same soules doth sway Bodyes else-where and death if certaine trueth you say Is but the mid'st of life Thrice happy in your error Yee Northerne wights whom Death the greatest Prince of terror Nothing affrights Hence are your Martiall hearts inclind To rush on point of sword hence that vndanted mind So capable of Death hence seemes it base and vaine To spare that life which will eft soones returne againe By all which wee see the admirable efficacy of the imagination either for the elevating or depressing of the mind for the making of it more abject and base or more actiue and generous and from thence infer that the doctrine of Natures necessary decay rather tends to make men worse then better rather cowardly then couragious rather to draw them downe to that they must be then to lift them vp to that they should and may bee rather to breed sloath then to quicken industry I will giue one instance for all and that home-bredde the reason why we haue at this day no Vineyards planted nor wine growne in England as heretofore is commonly ascribed to the decay of Nature either in regard of the heavens or Earth or both and men possessed with this opinion sit downe and try not what may be done whereas our great Antiquary imputes it to the Lazines of the Inhabitants rather then to any defect or distemper in the Climat and withall professes that he is no way of the mind of those grudging sloathfull husbandmen whom Columella censures who thinke that the earth is growne weary and barren with the excessiue plenty of former ages I haue somewhere read of a people so brutish and barbarous that they must first be taught and perswaded that they were not beasts but men and capable of reason before any serviceable or profitable vse could be made of them And surely there is no hope that ever wee shall attaine the heigth of the worthy acts and exploits of our Predecessours except first we be resolved that Gods Grace and our own endeavours concurring there is a possibility wee should rise to the same degree of worth Si hanc cogitationem homines habuissent vt nemo se meliorem fore eo qui optimus fuisset arbitraretur ij ipsi qui sunt optimi non fuissent if men had alwayes thus conceaved with themselues that no man could be better then he that then was best those that now are esteemed best had not so beene They be the words of Quintilian and therevpon hee inferres as doth the Apostle 1. Corinth 12. at the last verse Nitamur semper ad optima quod facientes aut evademus in summum aut certe multos infra nos videbimus Let vs covet earnestly the best gifts and propose to our selues the matching at least if not the passing of the most excellent patterns by which meanes we
they proceed I care not For what if the first matter digested into the foure elements of all things containe wrapped vp in its rotations the causes of all miseries what if the motions of the starres by certaine signes parts times lines produce these evils and bring vpon things subject vnto them necessities of diverse sortes what if inset times the vicissitude of things fall out and as it is in the motions of the sea sometime there is a flow of prosperity somtime it ebbeth back againe and evils returne in the roome thereof What if the dregs of this matter which wee treade vnder our feet haue this law given vnto it to breath forth most noysome vapours wherewith this aire being corrupted should both infect the bodies and disable the endevours of men what if which indeed is nearest vnto truth whatsoever seemeth crosse vnto vs is not evill to the world it selfe and that wee perswading ourselues that all things are done for our benefits do by reason of our wicked opinions wrongfull accuse the event of nature Plato the highest top and chiefest piller of Philosophers maintaineth in his cōmentaries that those fearefull inundations and conflagrations of the world are the purging of the earth neither was that wise man affraid to call the subversion slaughter ruine destruction and funerals of mankind an innovation of things and that thereby repareing their strength they recover accrtaine youth agane Heaven saith hee raines not and wee labour of I know not of what scarcity of corne What dost thou require that the Elements serue thy necessities and to the end thou mayst liue more daintily and delicately that the times obsequiously apply themselues to thy commodities What if he that is desireous of navigation complaine in like sort that now along time there are no windes and that the blasts of heaven are ceased Must wee say there fore that such tranquillitie of the world is pernicious because it hinders the desires of Passengers What if any who hath beene accustomed to tosse himselfe in the sun and to procure drynesse to his body should in like manner complaine that the pleasure of faire and cleare weather is by very often cloudinesse taken away Must the cloudes therefore be sayd as enimies to hang and ouerspread the skie because thou canst not at thy pleasure frie thy selfe in the flames and prepare occasions for drinking All these events which come to passe and fall out vnder the cope of Heaven are to be weighed not by our petty commodities but by the reasons and orders of nature itselfe Neither if any thing happen which toucheth vs and our affaires but with vnwelcome successes is it forthwith evill and to be accounted noxious Whether the worldraine or not raine it raineth or not ratneth to itselfe and which happily thou knowest not either it consumes away the too much moysture with the fervencie of drought or temper thes drought of a very long time with the pouring out of raines It sendeth pestilences diseases famines other formes of evils threatning destruction how dost thou know whether so it take away that whichis superfluous and by itsowne losses set a measure to the riot and excesse of things Darest thou say this or that is evill in the world the originall and cause whereof thou art not able to vnfold and resolue and because happily it hinders thy pleasures of the deleights and lustes wilt thou say it is pernicious cruell what then If cold be contrary vnto thy body vse to congeale the heat of thy bloud must not winter therefore be in the World And because thou canst not endure the fervent heat of the Sun must the Summer be taken out of the yeare and nature againe be ordered by other lawes Hellebore is poison vnto men ought it not for this cause to bee brought forth The wolfe layes wait for the flocke of sheep is Nature in the fault which hath bred so troublesome a beast vnto those fleecie creatures The biting of the Serpent taket away life shall I therefore speake evill of the first beginnings of things because they haue added so cruell monsters vnto living Creatures It is too arrogant a part seeing thy selfe art not thine owne and livest in possession of another to presume to prescribe to those that are mightier then thy selfe and to require that that be done which thou desirest not that which thou findest by ancient constitutions already settled in things Wherefore if you men will haue your complaints to take place it is requisite yee first teach vs whence or what yee are whether this World be made framed for you or ye came as stranger◅ vnto it out of other Countries Which seeing you are not able to tell you cannot resolue vs for what cause you liue vnder this hollow vault of Heaueu leaue off to suppose that any thing belongeth vnto you seeing the things that are done are not alike done but are to be reckoned accounted in the summe intended in the whole By reason of Christians say they these evils are come the gods send these calamities vpon corne I demaund when ye say these things doe ye not see how desperatly with open manifest lies ye slander vs It is now three hundred yeares more or lesse since we Christians began to be beare this name in the World haue there been all these yeares continuall warrs continuall dearths hath there been no peace at all in the Earth no cheapnes no plenty of things For he that accuseth vs must first of all demonstrate that these calamities haue been perpetual continuall that mortall men haue neuer had any breathing time that without any holydayes as they say haue endured the formes of manifold dangers But do we not see in these middle yeares middle times that innumerable victories haue bin obtained over conquered enemies that the territories of the Empire haue bin inlarged Nations whose names were neuer heard of bin brought in subiection that oftentimes the yeares haue yeelded marveilous great increase such cheapnes plenty of things that there was no buying or selling at all the prices of things being so much fallen For how could things be done how could mankind continue vntill this time if fertility plenty did not supply all whatsoeuer need required But sometimes heretofore haue bin in need necessity And theyhaue bin recompenced again with abundance Again some wars haue bin waged against our will And they haue afterwards bin corrected by victories good successe What then shall we say that thegods are somtime mindfull of our miseries somtime againe vnmindfull If at what time there is Famine it be said they are angry it followeth that in time of plenty they are not aengry nor displeased so all is brought to this issue that by turnes they lightly lay aside take vp their angers by remembrance of offences returne afresh vnto them again Although what that is wbieh they say seemes to be inexplicable
light and warmth they are no whit impaired why should wee make any doubt but that their influence is now likewise as sweet as God in his conference with Iob teameth it as benigne as gratious as favorable as ever in regard of the Elements thee Plants the beasts and man himselfe and why should we not beleeue that education reason and eeligion are now as powerfull as ever to correct and qualifie their vnlucky and maligne aspects that the hand of God is no way shartned but that he is now as able as ever to controle and check his creatures and make them worke together for the best to them that loue him As he did sometime in this very case for his chosen people they fought from heaven the starres in their courses fought against Sisera Hee that set the Sun and Moone at a stand in their walks and commanded the shadow to retire in the dyall of Ahaz he that made a dry path through the red sea musled the mouthes of thee Lyons and restrained the violence of the fire so as for a season it could not burne hath he bound himselfe to the influetce of a Starre that he cannot bind it vp or divert it or alter it at his pleasure and vpon the humble supplication of his servants no no Sanctus dominabitur astris if according to Ptolomy the great Master of Iudiciary Astrology wisedome and fore-sight ouer-rule the starres then surely much more devotion and piety If the Saints by their prayers commaund the Divels and both shut and open Heauen for raine and drought as did Elias then may they aswell by vertue of the same prayer stoppe the influences of the starres the instrumentall causes of drought raine Bee not dismaide then at the signes of heauen for the Heathen be dismaide at them And surely they in whom corrupt Nature swayes raignes haue much more reason to be dismaide at them then others in whom Grace and the sence of Godlines prevailes And whiles they feare many times they know not what by meanes of their very feare they fall into that which they stand in feare of feare being the betrayer of those succours which reason affords Much noise there is at this present touching the late great Conjunction of Saturne Iupiter many ominous conjectures are cast abroad vpon it which if perchance they proue true I should rather ascribe it to our sinnes then the starres wee need not search the cause so far off in the Booke of Heauen we may find it written neerer at home in our own bosomes And for the starres I may say as our Saviour in the Gospell doth of the Sabboth the stars were made for men and not men for the starres they were not created to governe but to serue him if he serue be governed by his Creator and if God be on our side and we on his Iupiter Saturne shal neuer hurt vs But whatsoeuer the force of the starrs be vpon the persons of private men or the states of weale-publiques I should rather advise a modest ignorance therein then a curious inquisition thereinto following the witty pithy counsel of Phavorinus the Philosopher in Gellius where he thus speakes Aut adversa eventura dicunt aut prospera si dicunt prospera fallunt miser fies frustrà expectando si adversa dicunt mentiuntur miser fies frustrà timendo si vera respondent eaque sunt non prospera jam indè ex animo miser fies antequam è fato fias si falicia promittunt eaque eventura sunt tum planè duo erunt incommoea expectatio te spe suspensum fatigabit futurum gaudij fructum spes tibi defloraverit Either they portend then bad or good luck if good they deceiue thou wilt become miserable by a vaine expectation if bad they lye thou wilt be miserable by a vaine feare if they tell thee true but vnfortunate events thou wilt be miserable in mind before thou art by destiny if they promise fortunate successe which shall indeed come to passe these two inconveniences will follow therevpon both expectation by hope will hold thee in suspence hope will deflowre devoure the fruit of thy Content His conclusion is which is also mine both for this point and this Chapter this discourse touching the Heavenly Bodies Nullo igitur pacto vtendum est istiusmodi hominibus res futuras praesagientibus we ought in no case to haue recourse to those kinde of men which vndertake the fore-telling of casuall events And so I passe from the consideration of the coelestiall bodies to the subcoelestial which by Gods ordinance depend vpon them and are made subordinate vnto them touching which the coelestiall bodies both together comparing each with other the Divine Bartas thus sweetly and truly sings Things that consist of th' Elements vniting Are euer tost with an intestiue fighting Whence springs in time their life and their deceasing Their diverse change their waxing and decreasing So that of all that is or may be seene With mortall eyes vnder Nights horned Queene Nothing reteineth the same forme and face Hardly the halfe of halfe an houres space But the Heau'ns feele not fates impartiall rigour Yeares adde not to their stature nor their vigour Vse weares them not but their greene-euer age Is all in all still like their pupillage CAP. 6. Touching the pretended decay of the Elements in generall SECT 1. That the Elements are still in number foure and still retaine the ancient places and properties HAuing thus prooued at large in the former Chapters touching the Heauens that there neither is nor in the course of Nature can be any decay either in regard of their matter their motion their light their warmth or influence but that they all continue as they were euen to this day by Gods ordinance it remaines that I now proceed to the consideration of the sublunary bodies that is such as God Nature hath placed vnder the Moone Now the state of these inferiour being guided and governed by the superiour if the superiour be vnimpaireable as hath beene shewed it is a strong presumption that the inferiour are likewise vnimpaired For as in the wheeles of a Watch or clock if the first be out of order so are the second third the rest that are moued by it so if the higher bodies were impaired it cannot bee but the lower depending vpon them should tast thereof as on the other side the one being not impaired it is more then probable that the other partake with them in the same condition Which dependance is well expressed by Boeshius where hauing spoken of the constant regularity of the heauenly bodies he thus goes on Haec concordia temperat aequis Elementa modis vt pugnantia Vicibus cedant humida siccis Iungantque fidem frigora flammis Pendulus ignis surgat in altum Terraeque graves pondere sidant Iisdem causis vere tepenti
booke de honesta disciplina reports out of Terentius Varro from the authority of Dioscorides a great Astrologer that the Egyptians who tooke speciall care about the imbalming of dead bodies by a subtill and witty kinde of reasoning found out within what bounds of space to the very vtmost the age of man is confined taking their estimate from the weight of the heart they affirmed then that the life of man is limited to one hundred yeares so that it could not passe that tearme which the heart of those say they who dye not vntimely doth manifest in as much as together with age if it be examined it either receiues increase or decrease It receiuing the increase of two drams euery yeare till a man come to fifty and then again the decrease of two yearely till he arriue to an hundred and so returning to its originall weight it can then make no farther progresse Now this observation though it be doubtlesse more curious then true yet doth it shew that the common opinion of the Ancients was that men did seldome passe one hundred years Seculum centum annorum spatium vocârunt dictum à sene quòd longissimum spatiumâ—…id putârint senescendorum hominum saith Varro Seculum was the space of an hundred yeares so called à sene because they held that to be the vtmost point of growing old And with Varro herein accords the son of Syrach The nuÌ„ber of a mans dayes at the most are an hundred yeares So as that prerogatiue extraordinary of Longevity was as I take it specially annexed as to those first ages of the world so to the Church and people chosen by God in those times For had men in all places and in all ages arriued to the liues of the Patriarches the Earth by this time had not beene able to sustaine them with food nor hardly to contain their multitude yet can it not be denied but that in all times and in all Nations some haue beene alwayes found who haue exceeded that number of yeares which many of the Ancients as we haue heard accounted the vtmost period of mans life SECT 5. That in all times and nations some haue beene found who haue exceeded that number of yeares which the wisest of the ancients accounted the vtmost period of mans life and that often those of latter ages haue exceeded the former in number of yeares as is made to appeare as well from sacred as prophane story TO let goe fabulous and vncertaine reports of the Arcadian kings and such like certaine it is that Marcus Valerius Corvinus liued one hundred yeares compleate Metellus the Pontife or Supreame Priest liued full as long Epimenides the Cretian liued one hundred fifty whereof the last fifty he spent vnder ground in a Caue Zenophanes the Colophonian one hundred and two at the least for he travelled at twenty fiue and returned at seuenty seuen after his setting forth but after his returne how long he liued it is vncertaine Gorgias the Sicilian a famous Rhetorician in his time liued to one hundred and eight Hippocrates the renowned Physitian to one hundred and fowre both approving and honouring the excellency of his Art by his age Asinius Pollio inward with Augustus though of a luxurious life surmounted an hundred And for women Ciceroes wife Terentia liued till she was one hundred and three Clodia wife to Ofilius went beyond her and saw one hundred fifteene years yet had she in her youth fifteene children Luceia a common vice in playes followed the stage and acted thereon an hundred yeares such another vice that played the fooles part and made sporte betweene whiles in interludes named Galeria Copiola was brought agaâ—… act her feates vpon the stage when Cn. Pompeius and Q. Sulpitius were consulls at the solemne playes vowed for the health of Augustus Caesar when she was in the hundred and fourth yeare of her age The first time that ever she entred the stage to shew proofe of her skill in that profession was ninety one yeares before and then was she brought thither by M. Pomponius an Edile of the Commons in the yeare that C. Marius and Carbo were Consuls And once againe Pompeius the great at the solemne dedication of his stately Theater trained the old woman to the stage thereby to make a shew of her to the wonder of the world And if from prophane stories wee should come to the sacred we shall there likwise find that some in all ages haue reached to that number of yeares and that often which I desire to be observed those of latter times haue exceeded the former To let goe the Patriarchs of whome as far as Iaacob I haue in part allready spoken Ioseph attained to an hun-and tenne his brother Leui to one hundred thirty seaven and Moses Aron were each of them one hundred and twenty at the least Phineas Arons nephew it may be by speciall favour for his great Zeale is supposed to haue liued three hundred yeares and justly no doubt if the warre of the Israelites against the tribe of Beiamin in which expedition Phineas was consulted with were acted in the same series of time in which the history is recorded Iosua liued one hundred and tenne Iob after his restitution liued one hundred and forty yeares notwithstanding that before his affliction he had children of the age of men and women Elizeus seemes to haue beene aboue an hundred inasmuch as he lived threeskore yeares after the assumption of Elias and such he was at that assumption as the children taunted him for his bald pate Tobias the elder liued to one hundred fifty and eight the yonger to one hundred twenty seaven Long after this Anna the Prophetesse mentioned by S. Luke seemes to haue out pitched an hundred as our common translation reads it she being a widdow fowerskore and fowre years married seauen and by common account no lesse then fourteene or fifteene when she was married which being put together make vp an hundred and six yeares or there about though I am not ignorant that Iunius and our last translation agreably to the originall render it thus erat vidua annorum quasi octoginta quatuor she was a widdow of about fowreskore and fower yeares that is according to an vsuall Hebraisme about fouerscore and fower yeares old as Noah is said to haue beene filius quingentorum annorum the sonne of fiue hundred yeares that is natus quingentos annos fiue hundred yeares old Iohn the divine and beloued desciple an apostle a prophet and an evangelist who of all the apostles onely died in his bed all the rest suffering martyrdome for the name of Christ was doubtlesse very aged when he resigned his spirit for as witnesseth Eusebius out of Irenaeus he deceased in the 2 yeare of Traian which was the 101 froÌ„ the nativity the 68 froÌ„ the passion of Christ Cedrenus affirms that he liued to 106 but surely considering he wrote
bin only disproportionable but exceeding weake aswell for offence as defence whereas he is described as a mighty man and of wonderfull strength Lastly if we shall imagine him to haue beene a transcendent Gyant and yet measure him by his owne cubit double to the ordinary his length will then arise to twenty foure foote at least a stature most incredible After this in Davids time we reade that Goliath the Philistin of Gath was a Gyant of six cubits and a spanne long Neither doe I remember that in sacred Scriptures we haue the measure of any precisely observed saue of him onely the armour which he wore weighed fiue thousand shekels of brasse the sheft of his speare was like a weavers beame and his speare head weighed six hundred shekels of yron Also in tho second of Samuell there is mention of a brother to this 〈◊〉 a man of like stature and strength And of two 〈◊〉 the one of which was slaine by Iehonathan Davids Nephew hee who had twelue fingers and as many toes foure and twenty in number And that before these Sampson was of surpassing strength and of a stature answerable the 〈◊〉 no man need to doubt considering he tore a Lyon as it had beâ—…o a kidde slew thirty of the Philistins at once and after that a thousand more of them with the iaw-bone of an asse And lastly he tooke the gates of Assah and the two postes lifted them away with the barres and put them vpon his shoulders and carried them to the toppe of the mountaine before Hebron SEC 3. That latter times haue also afforded the like both at home and abroad specially in the Indies where they liue more according to nature THE like may be said of all succeeding ages downe to the present times It is the confession of Cassanion in his booke of Gyants Noâ—… vno tantum seculo aut altero visi sunt sed fermè ab initio mundi ad Davidis vsque tempora propagatum id genus hominum magnitudine prorsus admiranda They haue not beene seene in one onely or two ages but almost from the beginning of the world euen to Davids time hath that kinde of men of a monstrous bignesse beene deduced S. Augustine goes farther Quasi vero Corpora hominum modum nostrum longe excedentia non etiam nostris temporibus nata sint as if some bodies of men much exceeding our ordinary stature were not likewise borne in these our times And yet more fully in the ninth Chapter of the same booke Nunquam fermè defuerunt qui modum aliorum plurimum excederint they haue almost at no time beene wanting who haue much exceeded the ordinary stature I will insist onely vpon the most signall instances drawne from the testimonies of the most approved Authours In the Gospells or writings of the Apostles wee reade not of any they intending matters of greater weight and consequence But Pliny tells vs that during the reigne of Claudius the Emperour a mighty man one Gabbara by name was brought out of Arabia to Roome nine foote hith was he and as many inches There were likewise in the time of Augustus Caesar two others named Pusio and Secondilla higher then Gabbara by halfe a foote whose bodies were preserved kept for a wonder within the Salustian gardens Maximinus the Emperour as Iulius Capitolinus affirmes exceeded eight foote And Andronichus Comninus tenne as Nicetas In the dayes of Theodosius there was one in Syria as Nicephorus reports fiue cubits high and an hand-breadth Eginhardus and Krantzius affirme that Charlemaigne was seven foot high But in that they adde of his own feet they both leaue his heighth altogether vncertaine as was before said in the description of the stature of Ogge and his body very disproportionable there being no man whose body is rightly featured who exceedes fix of his owne feete But to draw neerer to our owne times Iulius Scaliger hath left it vpon record that at his being at Millane he there saw in a publique hospitall a young man of so monstrous an heighth that he could not stand vpright he was therefore layd vpon two beds the one ioyned longwise vnto the other both which he filled with his length Goropius Becanus Physitian to the Lady Mary Queene of Hungary regent of th Netherlands and sister to the Emperour Charles the fifth assures vs thae himselfe saw a woman tenne foote high and that within fiue miles of hit dwelling there was then to be seene a man almost of the same lengths wherevpon his assertion is Audacter affirmamus wee boldly affirme that men in former ages were commonly nothing taller then now they are Their Gyants were of six or seaven cubits high so are ours nay hee goes farther Considenter de philosophiae preceptis statuimus nihil in humana statura ab inevnte mundi aetate immutatum esse Wee confidently auerre out of the grounds of Philosophie that since the Creation of the world nothing is altered in the stature of man-kind But to returne to the Gyants of latter ages Iohn Cassanion who seemes to haue vndertaken his treatise of Gyants purposely to censure and confute Goropius yet mentions one himselfe commonly called the Gyant of Burdeaux whom King Francis passing that way beheld with admiration commaunding he should bee of his guard but being a pesant of a grosse spirit not able to apply himselfe to a Courtiers life hee soone quited his halbard and getting away by stealth returned to the place whence he came An honorable person who had seene him archer of the guard did assure me saith Cassanion that he was of such an heighth as any man of an ordinary stature might goe vpright betwixt his legges when hee did stride There is at this present to bee seene heere in England one Parsons by trade a blacke-smith now Porter at the Kings Court who by iust measure is found to be no lesse then seaven foote two inches And I heere that a Welch-man is lately entertained by the Prince in the like place who outstrips the Smith in heighth by fiue inches and yet is he still growing so as in time he may well come vnto eight foote But it may well bee that in these parts of the world where luxury hath crept in together with Ciuility there may be some diminution of strength and stature in regard of our Ancestours yet if wee cast our eyes abroad vpon those nations which still liue according to nature though in a fashion more rude and barbarous we shall finde by the relation of those that haue liued among them that they much exceede vs in stature still retaining as it seemes the vigorous constitution of their Predecessours which should argue that if any decay be it is not vniversall and consequently not naturall but rather adventitious and accidentall For proofe heereof to let passe the stories of Olaus Magnus touching the Inhabitants of the Northerne Climate I will content
few Before I conclude this discourse touching the comparison of the strength of the Ancients with ours it shall not be amisse to remember a moderne example or two of Parents famously fertile in the linage issued from their bodies such as I doe not remember any where to be parallelled by antiquity In the memory of our Fathers saith Vives in his commentary vpon the eight chapter of the fifteenth booke of the Citty of God there was seene a village in Spaine of about an hundred houses whereof all the inhabitants were issued from one certaine old man who then liued when as that village was so peopled so as the name of propinquity how the youngest of the children should call him could not be giuen Lingua enim nostra supra Abavâ—…m non ascenâ—…t For our language saith hee meaning the Spanish affords not a name aboue the great Grandfathers father Likewise in S. Innocents Church-yard in the citty of Paris is to be seene the Epitaph of Yelland â—…aeily widow to Mr Dennis Capell a Proctour at the Chastellet which doth shew that she had liued eighty foure yeares and might haue seene 288 of her children and childrens children shee dyed the 17 of Aprill 1514. Now imagine saith Pasquier how much she had beene troubled to call them by a proper denomination that were distant from heâ—… the fourth and fifth degree Wherevnto wee may adde that which Theodore Zwinger a Physitian of Basill in the third volume of the Theatre of mans life recites of a noble Lady of the family of the Dalburgs who saw of her race euen to the sixth degree whereof the Germanes haue made this distich 1 Mater 2 ait natae 3 dic natae filia 4 natam 5 Vt moneat natae 6 plangere filiolam That is to say The mother said to her daughter daughter bid thy daughter tell her daughter that her daughters daughter cries The more I wonder at Pliny that he should report it as a wonder worthy the Chronicle that Crispinus Hilarus praelata pompa with open ostentation sacrificed in the Capitoll 74 of his children childrens children attending on him And so I passe from the consideration comparison of the stature strength of mens bodies to that of their mindes consisting in the more noble faculties of the reasonable soule and the beautifull effects thereof CAP. 6. Containing a discourse in generall that there is no such vniversall and perpetuall decay in the powers of the minde or in the Arts Sciences as is pretended SECT 1. The excellencie of the Ancients in the powers of the mind compared with those of the present as also their helpes and hinderances in matter of learning ballanced SInce it is a received conclusion of the choisest both Divines Philosophers that the reasonable soule of man is not conveied vnto him from his Parents but infused immediatly by the hand of the Creator withall that the soules of all men at their first Creation infusion are equall perfect alike endued with the same essence abilities it must needes bee that the inequality disparity of actions which they produce arise from the diverse temper of the matter which they informe and by which as by an instrument they worke Now the matter being tempered by the disposition of the bodies of our parents the influence of the heavens the quality of the elements diet exercise the like it remaines that as there is a variety vicissitude of these in regard of goodnes so is there likewise in the temper of the matter whereof wee consist the actions which by it our soules produce Yea where both the agents the instruments are alike yet by the diversity of education or industry their workes are many times infinitely diversified The principall faculties of the soule are imagination iudgement and memory One of the most famous for memory among the Ancients to my remembrance was Seneca the Father who reports of himselfe that hee could repeate two thousand names or two hundred verses brought to his Master by his Schoole-fellowes backeward or forward But that which Muretus reports of a young man of Corsica a student in the Civill Law whom himselfe saw at Padua farre exceedes it he could saith heâ—… recite thirty six thousand names in the same order as they were deliuered without any stay or staggering as readily as if he had read them out of a booke His conclusion is Huic ego ne ex antiquitate quidam quem opponam habeo nisâ—… forte Cyrum quem Plinius Quintilianus alij Latini Scriptores tradiderunt tenuisse omnium militum nomina I find none among the Ancients whom I may set against him vnlesse Cyrus perchaunce whom Pliniâ—… Quintilian and other Latine writers report to haue remembred the names of all his souldiers which yet Muretus himselfe doubts was mistaken of them Zenophon of whom onely or principally they could learne it affirming onely that hee remembred the names 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of his Captaines or cheife commanders And Aeneas Sylvius in his history of the Councill of Basill at which himselfe was present tels vs of one Ludovicus Pontanus of Spoleto a Lawyer likewise by profession who dyed of the Pestilence at that Councill at thirty yeares of age that he could recite not the titles onely but the intire bodies of the Lawes being for vastnes and fastnes of memory nemini Antiquorum inferior as he speakes nothing inferiour to any of the Ancients It is to this purpose very memorable which Famianus Srada in the first booke of his Academicall Pâ—…olusions relates of Francis Suarez who hath sayeth he so strong a memory that he hath S. Augustine the most copious various of the Fathers readie by heart alleadging euery where as occasion presents it selfe fully faithfully his sentences which is very strange his very wordes nay if he be demaunded any thing touching any passage in any of his volumes which of themselues are almost enough to fill a Librarie Statim quo loco quaque pagina disseruerit ea super re expedite docentem ac digito commonstrantem saepe vidimus I my selfe haue often seene him instantly shewing and pointing with his finger to the place page in which he disputed of that matter This is I confesse the testimonie of one Iesuite touching another But of Dr Rainolds it is most certaine that he excelled this way to the astonishment of all that were inwardly acquainted with him not only for S. Augustines workes but almost all Classike Authours so as in this respect it might truely be said of him which hath beene applyed to some others that he was a liuing librarie or third vniuersitie I haue heard it very crediblely reported that vpon occasion of some writings which passed to fro betwixt him Doctour Gentilis then our Professour in the Civill Lawes he publiquely professed that he thought Dr Rainolds had read and did remember more of those Lawes then himselfe though
sword-fight in which their skill in defence was not somuch regarded or praised as the vndaunted giving or receiving of wounds and life vnfearefully parted with neither mattered it who had the hap to surviue he being reserved but for another dayes slaughter And here I shall craue pardon if I descend a little to particulars and insist somewhat largely vpon some of them The matter in it selfe seemes to require it being no doubt very strange to such as are not acquainted with the Romane history so strange that in a people so renowned for their morall vertues it might happily seeme incredible but that I make it good by the testimony of graue Authours and which is more their owne The testimony of any man against himselfe being in reputation of law of sufficient validity without either legall exception or iust suspition If the Apostle judged the testimony of Epimenides the Poet forcible against his owne countrey-men the Cretians why should not wee judge the testimony of the most approved Romane Historiographers Poets Oratours weighty enough being alleadged against the Romane Nation First then I will consider the cruelty of the act it selfe together with some aggravating circumstances Secondly the cruell disposition of the people in entertaining it with that heat and fervencie of affection as is wonderfull Thirdly that the Christian Religion was it which first cryed out against it by the pennes of her Divines and then cryed it downe by the edicts of her Emperours The beginning of these kinde of shewes originally sprang from a superstitious conceite suggested no doubt by the common enimy of mankind of sacrificing with the blood of men for the Manes or Ghosts of their deceased parents or neere friends Iunius Brutus was the first we reade of that began it in honour of his fathers funeralls about 500 yeares after the Cities foundation He exhibited to this purpose in the market place 22 paires of sword-players Hoc scilicet erat expiare manes patris vel potiùs placare diabolum saith Peter Martyr This forsooth was to appease his fathers Manes or rather to please the Devill After this they grew so common that men by their testaments appointed them at their funeralls Some there are saith Seneca who vndertake to dispose of matters even beyond the tearme of their liues taking order for stately monuments pompous funerals ad rogum munera and at the end of their funerals the exhibiting of sword-fights And whereas it was in vse only at the funerals of great men within a while private men tooke it vp privatorum memorijs Legatariae editiones parentant saith Tertullian in somewhat an harsh African phrase I confesse but doubtlesse his meaning is that even private meÌ„ by legacies in their last wils provided for these sword-fights which by the Romans were called Editiones Neither was this vsed at the funeralls of men only but of women too Iulius Caesar exhibiting it at the death and for the honour of his daughter which none ever did before him and so from a small brooke it increased to a great and mighty sea and from matter of Religion became a matter meerely of honour in those that gaue it and of pleasure in those that beheld it Transijt hoc genus Editionis ab honoribus mortuorum ad honores viventium These shewes passed from the honour of the dead to the honour of the liuing The Aediles the Pretors the Quaestors the Consuls the Priests the Emperours exhibited them at their birth dayes at the dedication of publique works at triumphes and by degrees they came to set solemne dayes which they held as festivall and at the last not the Magistrates alone but private men exhibited them at all times without difference of persons or dayes Iuvenall speaking of some that of base fellowes were become rich addes Munera nunc edunt verso pollice vulgi Quemlibet occidunt populariter Sword-playes they doe bestow and when they turne the thumbe They murther whom they list And Martiall tels vs of a Cobler that exhibited them Das gladiatores sutorum regule Cerdo Quodque tibi tribuit Subila sica rapit Braue king of Coblers thou sword-players dost maintaine And what thine awle doth get the sword soone spends againe The number of sword-players thus exhibited grew in the end to a multitude incredible Caesar in his Edileshippe exhibited three hundred and twenty paire Gordianus sometimes 500 never lesse then an hundred every moneth Traian by the space of 123 dayes without intermission tenne thousand but that of Nero exceedes all and almost beleife it selfe Exhibuit ad ferrum quadringentos Senatores sexcentosque Equites Romanos He brought forth to the sword-fight foure hundred Seanatours and six hundred Romane Knights So that in regard of those excessiue number thus wilfully cast away thorow the Romane Empire we may justly complaine with Lypsius Non temere à funere ortares quae revera funus pestis orbis terrae credo imò scio nullum bellum tantam cladem vastitiemque generi humano intulisse quam hos advoluptatem ludos numerum cum animis vestris recensete dierum quos dixi hominumque mentior si non vnus aliquis mensis Europae stetit vitenis capitum millibus aut tricenis 〈◊〉 It seemes vpon good reason to borrow its originall from Funeralls it being in trueth the very funerall and plague of the World I thinke nay I know that no warre euer made such havocke of mankinde as those games of pleasure Doe but count the number of dayes men which I named let meâ—… not be credited if one moneth sometimes did not cost Europe twenty thousand or thirty thousand heads Yet was the expence infinit which these bloudy games cost the masters of them in hiring in dyeting in disciplining in arming in bringing forth their sword-players in preparing the Theater the like And in this regard as for some noble and meritorious act they had tiâ—…es honours bestowed vpon them pillars with inscriptions erected to them and during their shewes they had the power of publique Magistrates And though those whom they exhibited in theâ—…e games at first were â—…ues onely or captiues over whom they had â—…us vitâ—… neciâ—… power of life death yet afterwards they drew into the sand free men Knights Senâ—…ours yea Histories not onely affirme that Commodus the Emperour did himselfe play the Gladiator in person but his Statue in that fashion starke naked with his naked sword in his hand is yet to be seene at Rome in the palace of the Farnesi But that which passeth all bounds of humanity moderation and modesty is that Domitian exhibited women in these sword-fights of which Statius Stat sex us rudiâ—… insciâ—…que ferri Et pugnas capit improbus viriâ—…es Credas ad Tanaim serumque Phasin Thermodontiâ—…as calere turmas Th' vnskilfull sexe not fit for broyles In bloody fights to manlike toyles You at Tanais would haue thought Or
Phasis Amazons had fought SECT 9. Secondly of the fervent and eagen affection of the people to these games as also that they were in vse in the Provinces and namely among the Iewes but refused by the Graecians and why NOw the affection of the people to these bloody games was such that at the death of a great man they would call for them as due mutine if they had them 〈◊〉 The market-place being not able to containe the multitude that flockt vnto them they had Theaters Amphitheaters built if not purposely yet specially for these shewes which places were of incredible both charge capacity some one of them being sufficient to hold aboue a hundred thousand persons yet all little enough in regard of the infinite troupes that resorted thither Equidem existimo saith Tully nullum tempus esse frequentioris populi quam illud Gladiatorium Truly I thinke there is at no time a greater concourse of the people then at the sword-playes And againe Id autem spectaculi genus erat quod omni frequentia atque omni genere hominum celebratur quo multitudo maximè delectaâ—… that kinde of shew is it which is most frequented with company of all sorts with which the multitude is most delighted They left all other sporrs to run to this Primo actu placeo cum interèa rumor venit Datum iri gladiatores populus convolat Tumultuantur clamant pugnant de loco They be the words of the Comicall Poet My first act pleased them well when in the meane while a rumor was rais'd that the sword-players were at hand at which noise the people flocke thither They striue tumultuously they cry out they fight for their places When the day was ser they sought the time long before it came as appeares by that of Seneca Quicquid interjacet grave est tam mehercules quam quando dies gladiatorij muneris dictus est transire mediâ—…s dies volunt Whatsoeuer fals in between is troublesome as are the dayes which come between the publishing of the day of the sword-playes the comming of it Being assembled and the sword-players entred the fight Irascitur populus injuriam putat quod non libenter pereunt saith the same Seneca the multitude growes angry and hold it a wrong and scorne done them if they dye not willingly With whoÌ„ Lactantius accords in sense almost in words Irascuntur etiam pugnantibus nisi celeriter è duobus alter occisus est tanquam humanum sanguinem sitiant oderunt morâ—…s 〈◊〉 They are displeased with the sword-players except one of them be presently slaine And as if they thirsted for humane bloud they are impatient of delayes Such as were wounded and lay weltering in their blood they desired to be searched Ne quis illos simulata morte deludat lest any should deceiue them with a faigned death And this was not done onely by men but by women by Virgines by Uirgines devoted to Religion by the Vestall Virgines themselues Consurgit ad ictus Et quoties Victor ferrum jugulo inserit illa Delicias putat esse suas pectusque jacentis Virgo modesta jubet converso pollice rumpi Rise vp at euery stroke shee must And whiles into the throat the Victors knife is thrust That 's th' onely sport and then the modest Vestall Priest Turning her thumb commaunds to stab him through the brest Besides this some of them bathed their hands in the bloud of the slain as Lampridius obserues in the life of Commodus And which of all is most horrible to imagine they sucked the recking bloud out of the fresh wounds For which we haue the testimony of Pliny Now a dayes saith he you shall see them that are subiect to the falling euill to drinke the very bloud of Fencers sword-players as out of liuing cups a thing that when we behold within the same shew-place Tigres Lyons other wilde beasts to doe we haue it in horrour as a most fearefull and odious spectacle and these monstrous minded persons are of opinion that the said bloud for sooth is most effectuall for the curing of that disease if they may suck it breathing warme out of the man himselfe if they may set their mouth close to the veine to draw thereby the very heart bloud life and all How vnnaturall soeuer otherwise it be holden for a man to put his lips so much as to the wounds of wild beasts for to drinke their bloud So as it seemes they still retained the nature of that wolfe which Romulus their founder sucked and as their walls were tempered with bloud Fraterno primi maduerunt sanguine muri With brothers blood the walls at first imbrewed were So were their mindes And yet as if in all this they had done marvellous well they proclaimed these games they set vp bills in publique places to signifie the time the number of the dayes they lasted together with a list of the names and qualities of the sword-players and sometimes the more to content and provoke the multitude but too forward of themselues they set forth and exposed to publique view those Tragicall sports in painted tables artificially done and to the life which practise was first begun by Terentius Lucanus as witnesseth Pliny All which considered I haue often wondered at two things the one that Sathan should so farre prevaile vpon this people in blinding their vndeâ—…nding being otherwise held a wise Nation great Professors of Morality the other that the Divine Vengeance should suffer such prodigious Cruelty to passe so long vnrevenged yet Bodin rightly and truly obserues that by Gods judgement at Fidenae fifty thousand men beholding a sword-fight were at once slaine by thr fall of a Theater which notwithstanding this foule practise infected most of their Provinces and Colonies and so farre wrought it vpon the Iewes themselues that Agrippa exhibited vnto them vna commissione paria septingenta seuen hundred paires of Fencers at one sitting exceeding therein the Romanes themselues And a kinde of shadow hereof we haue resembled in the 2. of Samuel and the 2. Abner said to Ioab Let the young men now arise and play before vs and Ioab said let them arise Then there arose and went ouer twelue of Beniamin by number which pertained to Ishbosheth the son of Saul twelue of the servants of David euery one caught his fellow by the head and thrust his sword in his fellowes side so they fell downe together In which combate saith Peter Martyr in his Commentaries on the place their meaning was not to decide the controversie by the event of the conflict for the sparing of blood as was intended in the duells betwixt David and Goliah the Horatij the Curiatij sed nihil aliud hic quaeritur quam vt homines barbarico belluino more sese mutuo sauciantes cadentes spectantium oculos pascerent horrendo spectaculo Heere they sought for
out of Pliny will I presume alter his opinion therein not by excusing the present but by not excusing the former ages and the better learne to detest this beastly vice in both Thus then writeth he no lesse sharpely then elegantly of this vice and the great excesse thereof in his time If a man marke and consider well the course of our life we are in no one thing more busie curious nor take greater paines then about wine as if Nature had not given to man the liquor of water which of all other is the most wholesome drinke and wherewithall other Creatures are well contented But we thinking it not sufficient to take wine ourselues giue it also to our horses mules labouring beasts and force them against nature to drinke it Besides such paines so much labour so great cost charges we are at to haue it such delight pleasure we take in it that many of vs thinke they are borne to nothing else and can skill of none other contentment in this life Notwithstanding when all is done it transporteth carrieth away the right wit and mind of men it causeth furie rage and induceth nay it casteth headlong as many as are given therevnto into a thousand vices misdemeanours and yet forsooth to the end that we may take the more cups and powre it downe the throate more lustily we let it runne thorow a strainer for to abate geld as it were the force thereof yea and other devices there be towhet our appetite therevnto and cause vs to quaffe more freely nay to draw on their drinke men are not affraid to make poysons while some take hemlocke before they sit downe because they must drinke perforce then or else die for it others the powder of the Pumish stone and such like stuffe which I am abashed to rehearse teach those that be ignorant of such lewdnes And yet we see those that be the stoutest most redoubted drinkers even those that take themselues most secured of danger to lie sweating so long in the baines brothell houses for to concocke their surfet of wine that otherwhiles they are carried forth dead for their labour You shall haue some againe when they haue beene in the hot house not to stay so long as they may recover their beddes no not so much as to put on their sherts but presently in the place all naked as they are puffing labouring still for winde catch vp great cans and huge tankards of wine to shew what lusty and valiant Champions they be set them one after another to their mouth power the wine downe the throate without more adoe that they might cast it vp againe and so take more in the place vomiting and revomiting twice or thrice together that which they haue drunke and still make quarrell to the pot as if they had beene borne into this world for none other end but to spill and marre good wine or as if there were no way else to spend waste the same but thorow mans body And to this purpose were taken vp at Rome these forraine exercises of vauting and dauncing the Moriske from hence came the tumbling of wrastlers in the dust and mire together for this they shew their broad breasts bare vp the heads and carry their necks farre back in all which gesticulations what doe they else but professe that they seeke meanes to procure thirst take occasion to drinke But come now to their pots that they vse to quaffe and drinke out of are there not grauen in them faire pourtraites thinke you of adulteries as if drunkennesse it selfe were not sufficient to kindle the heat of lust to teach them wantonnesse Thus is wine drunke out of libidinous cups and more then that he that can quaffe best play the drunkard most shall haue the greatest reward But what shall we say to those would a man thinke it that hire a man to eat also as much as he can drinke vpon that condition covenant to yeeld him the price for his wine-drinking and not otherwise You shall haue another that will injoyne himselfe to drinke euery denier that he hath wonne at dice. Now when they are come to that once be thoroughly whittled then shall you haue them cast their wanton eyes vpon mens wiues then fall they to court faire Dames and Ladies and openly bewray their folly euen before their jealous and sterne husbands then I say the secrets of their heaâ—…t are opened and displayed Some you shall haue euen in the midst of their cups make their wills euen at the board where they sit others againe cast out bloudy and deadly speeches at randome cannot hold but bluit out those words which afterwards they are forced to eat againe for thus many a man by a lavish tongue in his wine hath come by his death had his throat cut And verily the world is now grown to this passe that whatsoeuer a man saith in his cups is held for sooth as if truth were thâ—… dâ—…ughter of wine But say they escape these dangers certes speed they neuer so well the best of them all neuer seeth the Sunne rising so drowzie and sleepie they are in bed euery morning neither liue they to be old men but die in the strength of their youth Hence commeth it that some of them looke pale with a paire of flaggie cheekes others haue bleared and sore eyes and there be of them that shake so with their hands that they cannot hold a full cup but shed and powre it downe the floore Generally they all dreame fearefully which is the very bâ—…ginning of their hell in this life or else haue restlesse nights And finally if they chance to sleepe for a due guerdon and reward of their drunkennesse they are deluded with imaginary conceits of Venus delights defiled with filthy abominable pollutions thus both sleeping waking they sin with pleasure Well what becomes the morrow after they belch sowre their breath stinketh of the barrell and telleth them what they did ouer night otherwise they forget what euer they did or said they remember no more then if their memory were vtterly extinct And yet our jolly drunkards giue out and say that they alone enjoy this life and rob other men of it But who seeth not that ordinarily they loose not onely the yesterday past but the morrow to come Of all Nations the Parthians would haue the glory for this goodly vertue of wine bibbing among the Greekes Alcibiades indeed deserved the best game for this worthy feate But here with vs at Rome Nivellius Torquatus a Millanois wan the name from all Romanes and Italians both This Lombard had gone thorow all honourable degrees of dignity in Rome he had beene Pretor and attained to the place of a Proconsull In all these offices of state he wonne no great name but for drinking in the presence of Tiberius 3 gallons of wine at one draught before hee
from hence I beleeue hath chiefely growen in the world so great an admiration of them in many things beyond all succeeding ages and their deserts But certaine it is that never any people vnder the Sunne more daringly chalenged to themselues the toppe of all perfection Nulla vnquam Respub nec maior nec sanctior nec bonis exemplis ditior fuit sayth Livie Never was there any common-wealth more ample or holy or rich in good examples Gentiuâ—… in toto orbe praestantissima vna in omni virtute haud dubie Romana exstitit saith Pliny The Romane Nation hath beene doubtlesse of all others in all kinde of vertue the most excellent Nulla Gens est quae non aut ita subacta sit vt vix exstet aut ita domita vt quiescat aut ita pacata vt victoria nostra imperioque laetatur sayth Tully There is no Nation which either is not so vtterly vanquished as it is extinguished or so mastered as it is quieted or so pacified that it rejoyceth in our victorie and Empire and Claudian Haec est exiguis quae finibus orta tetendit In geminos axes parvaque à sede profecta Dispersit cum sole manus Small were her confines when she first begun Now stretcheth to both poles small her first seat Yet now her hands shee spreadeth with the Sunne This seemed not enough vnto Caecilius against whom Arnobius writes for he sayth that the Romans did Imperiuâ—… suum vltra solis vias prapagare They inlarged their dominion beyond the course of the Sun And Ovid he commeth not a steppe behind them in this their exaggerated amplification For he sayth that if God should looke downe from heaven vpon the earth he could see nothing there without the power of the Romanes Iupiter arce sua totum cum spectet in orbem Nil nisi Romanum quod tueatur habet Yea and as Egesippus recordeth there were many that thought the Romane Empire so great and so largely diffused over the face of the whole earth that they called orbem terrarum orbem Romanum the globe of the earth the globe of the Romanes the whole world the Romane world Hyperbolicall speeches which though Lypsius put off with an animosèmagis quam superbè dicta as arguing rather magnanimitie then ostentation yet Dyonisius Halicarnassaeus somewhat more warily limits them thus Romana vrbs imperat toti terrae quae quidem inaccessa non sit the citty of Rome commaunds the whole earth where it is not inaccessible But Lypsius himselfe more truly quicquid oportunum aut dignum vinci videbatur vicit it overcame whatsoeuer it could well overcome or thought worthy the ouercomming And Macrobius though himselfe a Roman ingenuously acknowledgeth Gangem transnare aut Caucasum transcendere Romà ni nominis fama non valuit The fame of the Romans as great as it was yet was neuer so great as to be able to swimme ouer the Riuer Ganges or climbe ouer the mountaine Caucasus so that euen their fame came short of their swelling amplifications vsed by their Orators and Poets but their Dominion came much shorter as is expressely affirmed by the same Author Totius terrae quae ad coelum puncti locum obtinet minima quaedam particula à nostri generis hominibus possidetur Though the whole Earth compared with the Heauens bee no bigger then a Center in the midst of a Circle yet scarce the least parcell of this little earth did euer come into the hands of the Romans Yet how could a man well devise to say more then Propertius hath said of that City Omnia Romanae cedant miracula terrae Natura hic posuit quicquid vbique fuit All miracles to Rome must yeeld for heere Nature hath treasur'd all what 's euery-where Except Martial perchaunce out-vy him Terrarum Dea gentiumque Roma Cui par est nihil nihil secundum Of Lands and Nations Goddesse Rome and Queene To whom novght peere nought second yet hath beene Which Frontinus seemes to borrow from him but with some addition of his owne Romana vrbs indiges terrarumque Dea cui par est nihil nihil secundum Now saith Crinitus alleaging those words of Frontinus Eos dicimus ferè indigetes qui nullius rei egeant id enim est tantum Deorum wee vsually call those indigites which want nothing for that is proper to the Gods Hubertus Golzius in his treasure of Antiquity hath effigiated two peeces of coine the one with a Greeke Inscription 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the other with this in Latin ROMA DEA the meaning of both being that Rome was a Goddesse neither was this figuratiuely but properly vnderstood she hauing advanced her selfe into the number of the Gods as witnesseth Dion in Augustus nay erected Temples and addressed sacrifices to her selfe as testifie Victor and Onuphrius in their descriptions of Rome which Prudentius a Christian Poet both glances at and deservedly derides Colitur nam sanguine ipsa More Deae nomenque loci seâ—… numen hà betur Atque Vrbis Venerisque pari se culmine tollunt Templa simul geminis adolentur thure deabus Shee Goddesse-like is worshipped with blood A places name is hallowed for a god As high as Venus Cities Church doth rise And joint to both they incense sacrifice And Lucan as to a Goddesse directs his prayer solemnely vnto her summique ô numinis instar Roma saue câ—…ptis And thou as greatest power divine Favour O Rome this enterprise of mine Her Temple was situate vpon mount Palatine as appeares by that of Claudian bringing in the Provinces as suppliants to visite the Goddesse Conveniunt ad tecta Deae quae candida lucent Monte Palatino They meet at th'Goddesse Temple which doth shine So white and glorious on mount Palatine But this was in truth such a mad drunkennesse with pride and self-loue that Lypsius himselfe cannot hold from crying out O insaniam aedificijs inanimato corpori non vitam solùm attribuere sed numen O strange madnesse to ascribe vnto houses and stones and a dead body not life onely but a deity And being now a Goddesse shee might well take to her selfe that of old Babylon a type of her pride I sit as a Queene and am no widdow shall see no sorrow and challenge to her selfe aeternity as most blasphemously she did as is to be seene in the coine of the Emperour Probus in which we haue Rome set forth sitting in her Temple in a victorious triumphant manner hauing on the one side this inscription Conserv vrbis suae and on the other Romae aeternae and so is it expressely named both by Symmachus and Ammianus Marcellinus And Suetonius testifies in the life of Nero cap. 11 that of all their seuerall kindes of playes pro aeternitate imperij susceptos appellari maximos voluit those which were exhibited for the aeternity of the Empire should bee had in greatest
shalt not kill or he who charges not to be angry which of the two is more perfect to forbid adultery or to restraine the eyes from concupiscence whether more wisely done to forbid evill deedes or evill words whether more like to do good the not permitting of injuries or the not suffering the revenge of them And besides all this the Ethnickes only threatned the death of the body to malefactors but we sayth the same Tertullian feare to offend God pro scientiae plenitudine pro latebrarum difficultate pro magnitudine cruciatus non duiturni verum sempiterni in regard of the fulnes of his knowledge the difficulty of being hid and the greatnes of the punishment not for a long time but for ever And thus haue we seene that the ancient Romanes neither were nor indeed had the meanes to be so just as is pretended or as the Christians were whom they persecuted But it will be said that howsoever they might bee defectiue in matter of justice yet they excelled in wisedome and courage Let vs then take a view of these and first of their wisedome SECT 4. The second objection touching the pretended wisedome of the Romans answered by taking a briefe view of of their courses but specially by the testimony of Pliny IF we should speake of true wisedome it is only that which serues to make vs wise vnto salvation which without true Religion can never be attained as Lactantius most divinely Omnis sapientia hominis in hoc vno est vt Deum cognoscat colat hoc nostrum dogma haec sententia est quanta itaque voce possum testificor proclamo denuntiö hoc est illud quod Philosophi omnes in tota sua vita quaesâ—…erunt nec vnquam tameÌ„ investigare comprehendere aut tenere valuerunt quia religionem aut pravam retinuerunt aut totam penitus sustulerunt All the wisedome of man consists only in this that he know and worship God this is our doctrine this our opinion and this with as loud voyce as I can I testifie professe proclaime This is it which all the Philosophers during their whole life haue sought and yet could never finde out comprehend or attaine vnto because they either retained a corrupt religion or wholy extinguished it I would willingly learne how they who as hath already beene proved worshipped stockes and stones the workes of their owne hands or such a rabble of filthy wicked odious Gods and that in such a beastly or cruell manner like men voyde of common reason could be sayd to be wise Or how they who suffered the most notorious vices of their Gods to be described by their Poets acted by their Players drawne to life by their Painters whom they highly applauded and rewarded as if thereby they meant to instruct their youth in vertue could be said to be wise Or how they who wasted such infinite masses of treasure in such vaine buildings banquettings spectacles could be said to be wise Or they who by their sword-playeâ—… or wilde beasts only to satisfie their beastly pleasure devoured so many millions of men as might haue served to inlarge or preserue their Empire could bee said to bee wise Or how they who gaue way to men to make themselues away vpon all occasions as they thought fit nay exhorted them to it commended them for it which must needes bee a meanes to weaken their state could be said to be wise Lastly how they who professed that they most desired to traine vp their citizens to a militarie course of life and yet suffâ—…red them to wallow in all kinde of luxurie could be said to be wise What great peece of wisedome did they ever shew in the making of their Lawes or in their stratagems of warre which hath not bin exceeded or at least-wise equalled by the Christians in latter ages But the notable follie of the whole body of this state notoriously appeared in one action of theirs which I finde thus at large described and censured by pliâ—…y their Country-man and a great admirer of his owne Nation Certes when I consider and behold the monstrous humors of these prodigall spirits my mind is drawn away still from the progresse of mine intended journey forced I am to digresse out of my way and to annexe vnto this vanity of Scaurus as great folly of another not in Masonry and marble but in Carpentry and timber And C. Curio it was he who in the civill warres betweene Caesar and Pompey lost his life in the quarrell of Caesar. This Gentle-man desirous to shew pleasure vnto the people of Rome at the funeralls of his father deceased as the manner then was and seing that he could not out-goe Scaurus in rich and sumptuous furniture was put to his shifts and devised to surpasse him in wit since hee could not come neere him in wealth And what might his invention be Certes it is worth the knowledge if it were no more but this that we may haue joy of our owne conceites and fashions and call our selues worthily as our manner is Majores that is to say superiour every way to all others This Curio then in aemulation of Scaurus caused two Theaters to bee framed of timber and those exceeding bigge howbeit so as they might bee turned about as a man would haue theÌ„ approach neere one to the other or bee removed farther asunder as one would desire and all by the meanes of one hooke apeece that they hung by which bare the weight of the whole frame the counterpoise was so even and all the whole fabrique thereof sure and firme Now he ordered the matter thus that to behold the severall stage-playes and shewes in the fore-noone before dinner they should be set backe to backe to the end that the stages should not trouble one another and when the people had taken their pleasure that way he turned the Theaters about in a trice against the after-noone that they affronted one another and toward the latter end of the day and namely when the fencers and sword-players were come in place he brought both the Theaters neerer together and yet every man sate still kept his place according to his rank order in somuch as that by the meeting of the hornes or corners of them both together in compasse he made a faire round Amphitheater of it there in the middst betweene hee exhibited indeede vnto them all joyntly a sight and spectacle of sword-fencers fighting at sharpe whom hee had hired for that purpose But in truth a man may say more truly that hee carried the whole people of Rome round about at his pleasure bound sure enough for stirring or removing Now let vs câ—…me to the point and consider a little better of this thing what should a man wonder at most therein the deviser or the devise it selfe The workeman of this fabrique or the Master that set him a worke Whether of the twaine is more admirable either the verturous head
out against him so long and withall calling to mind that they had often galled his subjects by sea was so farre from accepting of their petition that contrariwise hee resolved to put them all to the sword had he not beene diverted from that resolution by some sage Counsellours then about him who told him that for having beene faithfull and loyall subjects to their Soveraigne they deserved not to be so sharpely dealt with Wherevpon Edward changing his first purpose into some more clemencie promised to receiue them to mercy conditionally that six of their principall Towensmen should present him the keyes of the Towne bare-headed bare-footed with halters about their neckes their liues being to bee left to his disposition Whereof the Governour being advertised he presently gets him into the market-place commaunding the bell to be sounded for the conventing of the people whom being assembled hee acquainted with the articles which he had received touching the yeelding vp of the towne and the assurance of their liues which could not bee graunted but with the death of six of the chiefe of them With which newes they being all of them exceedingly cast downe perplexed on the suddaine there rises vp one of their Company called Stephen S. Peter one of the richest most sufficient men of the town who thus spake alowd Sir I thanke God for the goodes he hath bestowed on me but more that he hath given me this present opportunity to make it known that I prize the liues of my Countrey-men fellow burgesses aboue mine owne At the hearing of whose speech and sight of his forwardnes one Iohn Daire and foure others after him made the like offers not without great abundance of teares prayers from the common people who saw them so freely and readily sacrifice all their particular respects for the weale of the publique instantly without any more adoe they addressed themselues to the King of England with the keyes of the towne with none other hope but of death to which though they held themselues assured thereof they went as cheerefully as if they had bin going to a wedding Yet it pleasing God to turne the heart of the English King at the instance of his Queene and some of the Lords they were sent backe againe safe and sound Now who can say that our France hath not her Horatij Quinti Curtij Decij Wee haue ours aswell as the Romanes had theirs but a certaine kind of basenes in vs more ready to apprehend and admire the worth of strangers then of our owne Nation makes vs happily not to beleeue so Now that which Pasquier writes of his Nation and truly as I thinke in comparison with the Roman valour in suffering for their countrey wee may as confidently speake of ours others perchaunce of theirs SECT 8. That as the Christians haue surpassed the Romans in the passiue part of fortitude so haue they matched them in the actiue and that the partiall overvaluing of the Romane manhood by their owne Historians is it chiefely which hath made the world to think it vnmatchable FOurthly and lastly as the Romans were thus surpassed in the passiue part of fortitude so were they matched in the Actiue many times meeting with those that either put backe their forces without losse or with victory put them to the worst Iulius Caesar their great experienced and most renowned Captaine after all his valiant acts and triumphs what adoe did hee make to doe any thing worth the remembrance vpon this Iland then inhabited by naked Brittains and those divided And though Velleius Paterculus the Court Historiographer beare vs in hand bis penetratam Britanniam à Caesare that Brittainy was twice throughly invaded by Caesar yet Lucan tels vs another tale Territa quaesitis ostendit terga Britannis To th' Britons whom he sought his coward backe he turnd And Tacitus a graue Authour Britanniam tantum ostendisse non tradidisse Romanis that he only shewed but delivered not Britannie to the Romans And sure he did so little that both Horace and Propertius agree in it that he left them vntouched or at least vnconquered Intactus aut Britannus vt descenderet Sacra Catenatus via Or that the Britons yet vntouched may Be led in chaines along the sacred way Sayes the one And the other Te manet invictus Romano Marte Britannus Vnconquered Britannie By Romane armes reserved is for thee The Gaules in their contention with them they found so stout hardy as Tully himselfe confesseth that with other Nations the Romans fought for dominion but with the Gaules for preservation of their owne safety who once vnder the conduct of Brennus entred the citty of Rome it selfe sacked it and burnt it Pyrrhus King of the Epirots encountred them in Italy it selfe and vanquished them in two severall battailes in the former of which they were through feare stricken with such a consternation forgetfulnes of their discipline that they tarried not somuch as to defende their campe but ran quite beyond it leaving both it and the honour of the day entirely to Pyrrhus though the Consull himselfe were then in the field with a select army But Hanniball was indeed the man who made the Romanes know that they were but men made of like mettall as others are Like a haile storme he came thundring downe from the Alpes Pyrrenaean mountaines vpon Italy At Ticinum now called Pavia after a long tedious journey having scarce refreshed his wearied army consisting of severall Nations and therefore the harder to be held together commaunded he beate Scipio the Consull and sent him with the losse of almost all his horses wounded out of the field And within a while after fighting with both the Consuls Scipio Sempronius at Trebia there escaped of six thirty thousand of the Romans but tenne thousand of all sorts horse and foote Not long after this againe he encountred with Flaminius another Consull at the lake of Thrasymene who was slaine in the place accompanied with fifteene thousand dead carkases of his Countrey-men And Cetronius being sent by Servilius the other Consull to the ayde of Flaminius his strength only served to increase the misadventure being charged and the greatest part of them cut in peeces by Maharball the rest yeelding themselues to mercy The Romans being put to these straights choose a Dictator that was Fabius Maximus who like a cloud hung vpon the toppes of the hils but durst not come downe into the plaines to fight with Hanniball though he saw the countrey fired spoiled by him before his eyes Wherevpon two new Consuls are chosen Aemilius Paulus Terentius Varro For the dispatch of the warre great forces are leavied and at Cannae they come powring vpon him with assurance of victorie The whole summe of Hanniball's army in the field this day was tenne thousand horse and forty thousand foote his enimies having two to one against him in foote he fiue to three against
whom they derided and vilified or what greater comfort and content to the other then to be justified and rewarded in the view of them who were their professed enemies Lastly as our blessed Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ who shall then appeare as Iudge at his first comming into this world was contemptible in the eye of wordlings and dishonoured publiquely both in his life and death So was it convenient that once in this world hee should shew his power and Majesty and that in the sight of all his Creatures but specially of his wicked enimies who after that day are never to see or behold him more To these reasons may be added the testimonie of the very Gentiles of Hydaspes Hermes Sybilla whereof the first having described the iniquity of the last age sayes that the godly and righteous men being severed from the vntighteous shall with teares and groanes lift vp their hands to heaven imploring the helpe of Iupiter and that therevpon Iupiter shall regard the earth heare their prayers and destroy the wicked Quae omnia vera sunt praeter vnum quod Iovem dixit illa facturum quae Deus faciet saith Lactantius all which things are true saue one which is that he ascribes that to Iupiter which God shall doe And besides sayth he it was not without the cunning suggestion of Sathan left out that then the Sonne of God shall be sent from the father who destroying the wicked shall set the righteous at liberty Which Hermes notwithstan ding dissembled not Part of Sybilla's verses alleadged by Lactantius in Greeke may thus be rendred in Latine English Huic luci finem imponent cum fata supremum Iudicium aethereus Pater exercebit in omnes Iudicium humano generi imperiumque verendum When God shall to this world its fatall period send Th' immortall mortall men in judgment shall arraigne Great shall his judgment be his Kingdome without end And againe Tartareumque chaos tellure hiscente patebit Regesque aetherij sistentur judicis omnes Ante thronum Tartarean Chaos then Earth opening wide shall show And then all kings before Gods judgment seat shall bow And in another place Coelum ego convolvens penetralia caeca recludam Telluris functique fati lege soluti Et mortis stimulo exurgent cunctosque tribunal Ante meum Iudex statuam reprobosque probosque Rolling vp Heauen I will Earths secret vaults disclose Deaths sting also and bonds of fate will I vnloose Then shall the dead arise and all both small and great Both good and bad shall stand before my judgment seat Ouer and aboue these Prophets and men of learning Peru the South part of America doth yeeld to vs an ignorant people who by the light of Nature and a generall apprehension for God knoweth they haue nothing else doe beleeue that the World shall end and that there shall be then a reward for the good and for the euill according to their desert SECT 2. The consideration of this day may first serue for terrour to the wicked whether they regard the dreadfulnesse of the day it selfe or the quality of the Iudge by whom they are to be tryed THe certainty then of this vniversall Iudgment at the last day being thus cleerely prooued not only by the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament but by the light of Reason and the testimonies of the Gentiles the consideratiō thereof may justly serue for terrour to the wicked it being to them a day of wrath and vengeance for Comfort to the Godly it being to them a day of refreshing and full redemption and lastly for admonition instruction to both First then it may justly serue for matter of extreame terrour to the wicked whether they regard the dreadfulnes of the day in which they shall be tryed or the quality of the Iudge by whom they are to be tryed or the nature number of their accusers that shall bring in evidence against them or the presence of such an assembly of men and Angels before whom they shall be arraigned or their owne guiltinesse and astonishment or lastly the sharpnesse and severity of the sentence that shall passe vpon them The very face and countenance of that day shall be hideous and dismall to looke to it shal be apparelled with horrour and affrightment on euery side That day is a day of wrath a day of trouble and heavinesse a day of destruction and desolation a day of gloominesse and darknesse a day of clouds stormes and blacknesse a day of the trumpet and alarme against the strong cities and against the high towres Then shall the Sun be darkned and the Moone shall be turned into bloud and the starres shall fall from heauen as it were withered leaues from their trees and the powers of heauen shall be shaken and the graues shall vomit vp their dead bodies the heauens shall passe away with a noise and shriuel together like scorched parchment the elements shall melt dissolue with heat the sea flouds shall roare the Earth with the works that are therein shall be burnt vp there shall be horrible clapps of thunder flashes of lightning voyces earthquakes such as neuer were since men dwelt vpon the earth such howling such lamentations such skriches shall be heard in euery corner that the hearts of men shall tremble wither for very feare and expectation of those things which at that day shall befall them And now tell me what mortall heart can choose but ake and quake at the remembrance of these vnspeakable incomprehensible terrours The Law was giuen with thunder lightnings and a thick cloud vpon the mount with an exceeding lowde and shrill sound of the trumpet so that all the people were afrayde yea so terrible was the sight that Moses said I feare and quake Now if Moses the servant of the Lord quaked to heare the first trumpet at the giuing of the Law how shall the wicked condemned in their owne Conscience tremble and quake to heare the second at the execution thereof Specially being arraigned at the barre of such a Iudge apparelled with Robes of Majesty attended with millions of Angels A Iudge so soueraigne as there lyes no appeale from him so wise as nothing can escape his knowledge so mighty as nothing can resist his power so vpright as nothing can pervert his justice who neither can bee deceiued with sophistry nor blinded with gifts nor terrified with threats They shall looke vpon him whom they haue wounded and gored with the speare of their blasphemies with the nailes of their cursings and cursed oathes whō they haue buffeted spit vpon with their impiety prophanesse whō they haue again crucified to themselues by their divelish damnable actions trampling his pretious Bloud vnder foot by their impenitencie putting him to open shame by their infidelity making a mock of him by their obstinacy and turning his grace into wantonnes by their presumption Holy Augustine
that and to thinke evill or not to thinke of it and thinke well Therefore when Salomon had spoken of all the vanities of men at last he opposes this memorandum as a counterpoise against them all Remember for all these things thou shalt come to judgement as if he should say men would never speake as they speake nor doe as they doe if they did but thinke that these speeches deedes of theirs should one day come to judgement Whatsoever thou takest in hand then remember the end and that finall account which thou art to make and thou shalt never doe amisse S. Augustine I remember in the entrance of one of his sermons touching the day of Iudgement makes a kind of Apologie for himselfe that he treated in their hearing so often of that subject telling them that he did it for the discharge of his owne dutie and for their good it being better sayth he hereto indure a little bitternes and hereafter to injoy eternall sweetnes then here to be fedde with false joyes and there to indure reall and eternall punishments But hee might haue justly excused himselfe had any excuse needed in such a case by the example of our blessed Saviour who in his Gospells and his Apostles who in their Epistles beate vpon this point no one more frequently The knowledge and publishing whereof to the world hath in all ages beene held so necessarie that not the Prophets alone whose writings are read in our assemblies at this day plainely foretold it but Enoch the seaventh from Adam prophesied thereof nay Adam himselfe if we may beleeue Iosephus And that no man might plead ignorance herein the light of this trueth as hath already beene touched shined among the very Gentiles before the incarnation of Christ. A great shame were it then for vs Christians not to beleeue it but a greater shame to our selues and to our profession a disgrace a scandall to infidels to professe that we beleeue it and yet to liue worse then Infidels Mahometans Iewes Pagans shall rise in judgemens against a number of Christians and shall condemne them for that standing vp in the Congregation and with their mouths openly professing this article that they beleeue that Christ shall come againe to judge both the quicke dead yet their thoughts their desires their passions their actions their words are such so foule as it evidētly shewes they beleeue not or they vnderstand not or they remember not what they professe Shall I thinke that the common drunkard glutton doth beleeue and remember that at this day he must giue an account of the abuse of Gods Creatures of making his belly his God his kitchin his Chappell and his Cooke his Priest Shall I thinke that the prophane swearer and blasphemer doth beleeue remember that at this day he must giue an account of every idle word much more then of his hellish oathes and damnable blasphemies wherewith he teares in peeces the name of God infects the very aire he breaths in shall I thinke that the Hypocrite who seekes to bleare the eyes of the world doth beleeue remember that at this day he must giue an account of his glozing shifting and that then his hypocrisie shall be vncased laid open to the view of the world shall I thinke that the Parasite doth beleeue and remember that at this day he must giue an account of preferring the favour of men before the loue and service of God Shall I thinke the Slanderer doth beleeue and remember that at this day he must giue an account of wounding and killing his brother in his good name by his tongue or pen or both Shall I thinke the Adulterer doth beleeue and remember that at this day he must giue an account of giuing the reines to his vnbridled appetite without any checke or controll Lastly doth the malicious man beleeue and remember that at this day hee must giue an account of his bloody practises or plots the ambitious man of making his honour his Idoll the covetous of his oppression and extortion Let themselues a little consider of the matter and they will easily grant it to be vnreasonable that any man should beleeue it to be a part of their beleife SECT 8. As likewise for instruction LEt vs then either strike it out of the articles of our Creede or let vs so endeavour to liue as it may appeare that we doe not only professe it with our mouthes but assuredly beleeue it with our hearts Let the civill Magistrate shew that he beleeues it by forbearing to make his will a law by a conscionable care in the governing of those who are committed to his charge and providing that they may liue vnder him a quiet and peaceable life in all godlines and honesty Let the Divine the Messenger of the Lord who preacheth it to others shew that he beleeues it himselfe by forbearing base and indirect meanes to rise to honour which he is most vncertaine how long or with what content he shall hold and by feeding the flocke of God which depends vpon him caring for it not by constraint but willingly not for filthy lucre but of a ready minde not as Lording it over Gods heritage but as being a patterne to the flocke and when that chiefe sheepheard shall appeare he shall receiue an incorruptible Crowne of glory Let that severe call euer ring in his eares Come giue an account of thy stewardship There shall Andrew come in with Achaia by him converted to the saving knowledge of the truth Iohn with Asia Thomas with India Peter with the Iewes and Paul with the Gentiles and what shall we then say for our selues if wee cannot bring forth somuch as one soule converted by vs in the whole course of our ministerie Let the Counsellours shew that he beleeues it by giuing counsell rather wholesome then pleasing not for faction but for conscience and by forbearing to make the good of the state the stalking horse of his private ends For though he digge never so deepe yet he who now searches and shall then judge his heart digs deeper Let the Courtier shew hee beleeues it by vsing his favour to the countenancing and advancing of vertue and suppressing of vice and by forbearing to varnish guild over foule projects or smother honest motions with faire semblances looking rather to the worths and necessities of petitioners then to their purse and power Let the militarie man shew that hee beleeues it by forbearing to thinke that a prophane oath is an ornament of speech or that violence rapine and outrage are the best Characters of a souldier or that vnjust effusion of blood Duells shall then passe for manhood or that his stoute lookes and braue resolution shall then any thing availe him Let the Nobility and Gentry shew that they beleeue it by forbearing to make marchandise of Church livings committed to their care only in trust to strippe the backes of the poore that
and that deservedly censures Eratostenes Hipparchus Polybius Possidonius the gravest Authors among the Ancients and Ptolomie sharply takes vp Marinus Tyrius though otherwise a diligent Writer yet both Strabo Ptolomy themselues if they be compared with our latter Geographers Hondius Mercator Thevet Merula Ortelius Maginus how defectiue how imperfect will they be found The ignorance of former ages in this point was so grosse that what time Pope Clement the sixth as we read in Robert of Auesbury had elected Lewis of Spaine to be Prince of the Fortunate Ilands for to aide assist him mustered Souldiers in France Italy our Countrey-men were verily perswaded that he was chosen Prince of Brittaine as one sayth he of the Fortunate Ilands yea and our very Ligier Embassadors there with the Pope were so deepely settled in this opinion that forthwith they with-drew themselues from Rome hasted with all speed into England there to certifie their Countreymen and friends of the matter Yet that which to me seemeth more strange is that those two learned Clearkes Lactantius and Augustine should with that earnestnesse deny the being of any Antipodes Their words are worth the noting thereby to see their confidence and eagernesse in the maintenance of so evident a mistake Quid illi saith Lactantius qui esse contrarios vestigijs nostris Antipodes putant num aliquid loquuntur aut est quisquam tam ineptus qui credat esse homines quorum vestigia sunt superiora quam capita aut ibi quae apud nos jacent inversa pendere fruges arbores deorsum versus crescere pluvias nives grandinem sursum versus cadere in terram miratur aliquis hortos pensiles inter septem mira narrari quam Philosophi agros maria vrbes montes pensiles faciunt What shall we thinke of them who giue out there are Antipodes that walke opposite to vs doe they speake any thing to the purpose or is there any so blockish as to beleeue there are men whose feet are higher then their heads or that those things there hang which with vs lye on the ground that the plants and trees spring downeward that the snow and raine and haile fall vpward vpon the earth need any man marvell that hanging gardens are counted in the number of the seuen wonders of the world since the Philosophers haue made both fields and seas cities and mountaines all hanging Lactantius is herein seconded by Augustine Quod verò Antipodes esse fabulantur id est homines à contraria parte terrae vbi sol oritur quandò occidit nobis adversa pedibus nostris calcare vestigia nullâ ratione credendum est Their fable of the Antipodes that is men dwelling in the opposite part of the earth where the Sunne rises when it sets to vs hauing their feete opposite to ours is a matter altogether incredible by no meanes to be beleeued But Zachary Bishop of Rome and Boniface Bishop of Mentz led as it seemes by the authority of these Fathers went farther herein condemning one Virgilius a Bishop of Saltzburg as an Heretique onely for holding that there were Antipodes But time and travell haue now discovered the contrary so evidently that we may aswell doubt the being of a Sun in the firmament as the experimentall cleerenes of this truth And as evident it is now likewise found to bee by certaine experience that vnder the middle or burning Zone which the Ancients by means of excessiue heate held altogether inhabitable there is as healthfull temperate and pleasant dwelling as any-where in the world as appeares by the relations of Benzo Acosta and others Besides the Ancients as it seemes were altogether ignorant of the new World discovered in the yeare 1492 by Columbus now knowne by the name of America or the West-Indies whatsoeuer from Platoes Atlantis or Salomons Ophir be slightly pretended to the contrary yet I confesse I haue often wondred not a little at Senecaes bold prepheticall spirit touching that Discovery Venient annis Secula seris Quibus Oceanus Vincula rerum Laxet ingens Pateat tellus Typhisque novos Detegat orbes Nec sit terris Vltima Thule In latter times an age shall rise Wherein the Ocean shall the bands Of things enlarge there shall likewise New Worlds appeare and mighty Lands Typhis discouer then Thule The Worlds end shall no longer be This prophesie wee haue found fulfilled not onely in the discovery of those vast Regions before vnknowne but in opening by meanes of Navigation and the helpe of the Compasse euery creeke and corner of the habitable World worth the knowing so that now it hath neuer before had it thorow lights made in it Nay particular countreyes haue bin of late yeares most exactly described by several Writers The Netherlands by Lewis Guicciardine Great Brittaine by the renowned Camden the like by others Neither haue there wanted some who haue descended to Provinces and Shires Master Carew to the survay of Cornewall Master Lambert to the perambulation of Kent and Master Burton to the description of Lecestershire yea particular Cities Rome Venice Paris London the Houses of great Princes haue found their particular Maps delineations so fully perfectly expressed that a man who neuer saw them but in representation may now speake as particularly of them as if he had beene borne and bred in them SECT 2. That the defect of the Ancients in Naturall Ecclesiasticall history is iustly corrected by the moderns in Civill history the moderns are matched with the Ancients And of the knowledge of weights and measures and the true valuation of coinès recovered and restored by latter Writers which thorow the neglect of former ages had well nigh perished THe bodie of History branches it selfe into History Naturall Ecclesistasticall Civill For the first it is most certaine that euen Aristotle himselfe and Pliay were ignorant of many things and wrote many not onely vncertaine but now convinced of manifest errour and absurdity Conradus Gesnerus hath laboured this part of History most industriously but others who haue vndertaken severall peeces of this burden more exactly Some of birds de animalibus insectis crustaceis testaceis Zoophytis as Aldrouandinus Some of fishes as Rondoletius some of Bathes as Baccius and Blanthellus some of Mettals as Georgius Agricola and some of plants and vegetables as Mathiolus Ruellius Fuchius to whom may be added the commendable paines of Gerrard in our owne language And some others againe purposely of some one particular kinde of beasts or birdes or fishes or plants or bathes or mettals History Ecclesiasticall hath likewise beene shamefully abused by thrusting into it many fabulous narrations of the liues of Saints and deaths of Martyrs Baronius and before him the Magdeburgians haue both very diligently though with different purposes travelled heerein in somuch that now betweene them both we haue made vp a compleate history of the Church
which former ages neuer saw Civill history indeed the Graecians Romans excelled in but with much partiality on both sides many speches they haue put into the mouths of Commanders others meerely fained besides they lay in darkenes obscurity for the space of many huÌ„dred yeares together till this latter age in which they were not only drawn into the light but aemulated equalled Cornelius Tacitus somuch magnified Sr Henry Savill sharply censures for his stile taking occasion froÌ„ those words in the life of Agri cola bonum virum facile crederes magnum libenter at te saith hee Corneli Tacite bonum historicum facile credimus bonum oratorem crederemus libeÌ„ter were it not for this some other sayings of the like making Fuit illi viro sayth Tacitus iudging of Seneca as we may of him ingenium amaenum temporis illius auribus accommodatum How that age was eared long or round I cannot define but sure I am it yeelded a kinde of sophisticate eloquence riming harmonie of words where-vnder was small matter in sense when there seemed to be most in appearance and diverse instances he brings out of Tacitus and as Sr Henry Savill taxes him for his phrase so doth Strada for his history in that not content with bare relations he adds of his owne coniectures animadversions interpretations of actions sometimes savouring of detraction sometimes of flatterie and for the most part as it best serued his turne to make way for the displaying of his wit in his politicall obseruations and precepts as he shewes by diverse passages taken out of him accusing him likewise of irreligion and with Strada heerein accords Lipsius who calls Tacitus immemorem secumque pugnantem vnmindfull of what he had said and crossing himselfe Bonamicus sectantem veri speciem relicta veritate a follower of the shadow of trueth leauing the truth it selfe Caesar Baronius who convinces him of envie lying Tom. 1. Annal. lib. 21. cap. 24 as likewise dâ—…th Marsilius Ficinus de Christiana religione cap. 35. and Dion nepos in vita probi Imperatoris And to passe by others Tertullian who liued in the next age after him stiles him mendaciorum loquacissimum a lowd lyar and in trueth his vaine and fabulous narration touching the Iewes in the last booke of his historie together with his virulency against the Christians annal 15. 10. shew him to haue bin none other whatsoeuer he pretend to the contrary But I leaue him and descend to moderne Historiographers Sr Walter Rawleigh for so farre as he hath gone in the history of the world is matchable with the best of the Ancients Francis Guicciardine Comines Thuanus not inferiour to any and the particular histories of most countreys haue receiued as it were new light fresh colours in this latter age The Spanish from Mariana Turquet the French from Peter Mathew Du Serres the high Dutch from Paulus Iouius Sleidan the low Dutch from Meteranus the Scottish from Buchanan the Irish from Stannihurst the Sicilian from Fazelus the Turkish from Knoles and for our owne storie it lay dispersed in the narrations of seuerall writers those for the most part Monkes till Polidor Virgill collected it into one bodie but in my iudgement Sr Henry Savill and Mr Camden haue better deserued by presenting vs the Authours themselues in two seuerall volumes Some peeces heereof wee haue very well done in our owne language as the three Norman Kings Henry the fourth by Dr Hayward Edward the fifth or rather Richard the 3 by Sr Thomas More Henry the seventh by my Lord of S. Albanes the life of Q. Elizabeth by M. Camden since translated Neither haue there beene wanting such as haue written and that very commendablely the liues of particular men eminent for vertue or learning or place Onuphrius Cicarella come nothing short of Anastasius and Platina in the liues of the Popes The liues of the Emperours Petrus Mexias hath well performed Serrarius of the Archbishops of Mentz and Mathew Parker Archbishop of Canterbury of his predecessours Barlet hath with good approbation published the life of Scanderbegge and Catena of Pius Quintus Doctour Humphreys of Bishop Iewell and Sir George Paule of Archbishop Whitegift and it were to be wished that this kinde of history were more in vse aswell for the honour of the deceased as the incitement of the liuing in which kinde Theuet and Paulus Iouius and the right Reverend father in God Doctour Godwin now Bishop of Hereford deserue both praise and imitation An appendix of historie is the right valuation of weights and measures and coynes which though they were doubtles knowen to the Ancients who vsed them yet since for many ages past the knowledge of them hath much growne out of vse and was in a manner lost which bred a marveilous great mistake and confusion in historie vntill by the worthy paines of Budaeus Gesnerus Alciatus Glarianus Agricola Villalpandus Mariana and our learned Countrey-man Edward Brierwood late professour of Astronomie in Gresham Colledge it was againe regained and restored And if any desire to see all that haue written of this subiect I referre him to Gaspar Wolphius his treatise intituled Virorum illustrium alphabetica enumeratio qui de ponderibus ac mensurarum doctrina scripserunt SECT 3. A Comparison betweene the Greeke Latine as also betweene the ancienter latter Latine Poets and those that haue written in other languages and that poetry as other arts hath fallen and risen againe in this latter age TOuching Poetrie for the inventiue part thereof Sir Phillip Sydneyes Arcadia is in my judgement nothing inferiour to the choisest peece among the Ancients for the Poets themselues it is true of the most ancient both among the Greekes Latines which Bartas hath of Marrot Thee Marrot I esteeme euen as an old Colosse All soyled broken ouergrowen with mosse Worne picture Tombe defac'd not for fine worke I see But in deuoute regard of their antiquity Volcatius Sedigitus hauing named nine of the Romane Comedians adds in the close of all Decimum addo antiquitatis causà Ennium Ennius as tenth I add Because he ancient'st is This controuersie being it seemes on foote in Horace his time as in all ages it hath bin he wittily demaunds this question Si meliora dies vt vina poemata reddat Scire velim pretium chartis quotus arroget annus If as time betters wine it betters Poems too Tell me how many yeares doth giue them price enough And in the end concludes Qui veteres ita miratur laudatque Poetas Vt nihil anteferat nihil illis comparet errat Who prayses admires old Poets much doth erre If nought he dare compare or nought to them preferre Hercules Ciophanus witnesseth that Planudes well knowing that Grecce had not a Poeme so abounding with delight beauty as Ovids Metamorphosis translated it into that language And generally