Anthony could find no other way to make Herod to be acknowledged for King while there was yet any of the bloud Royal left capable of rule so much this people loved their natural King and abhorred a stranger After these slaughters Herod mounteth to the top Entry of Herod to the crown of the wheel behold all the thorns as he thinketh pulled out of his feet he now had nothing to grapple with but an old man an infant and two women the last remainder of the noble race of the Asmodeans Hircanus was the aged man who in truth grew old among the thorns and horrible changes of his state He was as yet captive among the Parthians but the King although a Barbarian had so much commiseration of his so greatly afflicted goodness that he permitted him to live with all free libertie in his Citie of Babylon This poor Prince who had passed his whole life void of ambition bare the change of his fortune with great equalitie and temper of mind The Jews who at that time inhabited in the Parthians dominions beholding him all wounded disfigured wretched abandoned disarrayed did notwithstanding honour him as their King with so much respect and reverence that he had almost found a Kingdom in Captivitie Herod who saw this man might serve as a colour for those spirits that would aym at him in the swinge of his affairs as yet not well confirmed dispatcheth an express Embassadour to the Parthian King with many presents and letters sweetned with silken words wherein he besought him not to bereave him of the greatest contentment he could possibly have in this world which was to be grateful to those who had obliged him Hircanus said he was his benefactour his Protectour his Father and since God had given him some repose in his affairs it was an unspeakable comfort to him to share the scepter greatness and affluent content of Kings with a friend so faithful worthy to be beloved The King of Parthia willing to gratifie King Herod whom he beheld supported by the Roman Empire the power whereof he more feared than honoured the virtue gave free leave to Hircanus to go whither he would he put the business in consultation with the prime Peers of his countrie who much disswaded him But through the easiness of his singular nature which ever swallowed the bait without consideration of the hook he yielded himself to the dissembled courtesies of Herod and returned directly to Jerusalem where he was received with infinite demonstrations of amitie Behold the whole Regal familie in the hands of this Tyrant Hircanus had but one onely daughter named Alexandra a woman no whit of her fathers temper for she was extreamly haughtie and had much adoe with herself to bite the bridle in this servitude She was mother of two children one son and one daughter the son was the little Aristobulus and the daughter Mariamne married to Herod Mariamne was accounted the most beautiful Princess Marriage of Mariamne to Herod 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by Euphonie Mariamne of the earth for Gellius who went prying after all the beauties of the world to make relation thereof to Mark Anthony having well considered all the most exquisite Master-pieces of Nature when he beholdeth Mariamne in Palestine he protesteth all other beauties were terrestrial in comparison of this which seemed to have been composed amongst the the heavenly Orbs. This man saw nothing but the exteriour bark and was rapt with admiration but her form was not worthy esteem in comparison of the noble qualities of her mind She was a grandchild of the great Machabees well versed in the Law of God discreet wise stayed circumspect courteous chast as Susanna but above all couragious and patient who lived in Herods Court as Job on the dunghil Never beautie and virtue were so disgraced in any match This creature which had power to make so many brave Princesses to sigh for her and who might have beheld so many obsequious services done at her foot hath now Herod for her husband who had nothing humane in him but lineament and figure It was to match the Lamb with the Wolf the Dove with the Faulcon and to tye a living body mouth to mouth with the the dead to marrie such a Lady to so Prodigious a Monster But he who already had power in his hand passionately sought her as well for her in comparable beauty as besides for ever to establish his state considering the alliance of this little creature descended from so many Kings would cover the obscuritie of his house and gain him more reputation among the Jews Hircanus grand-father to Mariamne and Alexandra her mother seeing Herod was Master of his desires the Scepter already in his hands although by injustice and tyrannie measuring all things by his fortune not person judged this way might be yet advantagious and that his wife might mollifie him and make him favourable to the Royal bloud The generous Lady well foresaw that the putting her into Herods hands was to cast her into the Lions jaws But not to gainsay those to whom she had been taught to sacrifice her whole life and to obey the Laws of necessitie she under-went the yoke fortifying her Royal heart against all the stormy tempests which seemed already to menace her Behold her married Herod loveth her as the hunter venison for his appetite and advantage his love being not of power to make him loose one sillie grain of his ambition or crueltie This perverse Herod depresseth the Royal stock and violent spirit who held the Kingdom as a wolf by the ears ever wavering yea even in the secure safetie of his affairs endeavoured nothing but to rid himself of those whose spoils he possessed the respect of this good Queen being not able to sweeten or soften his savage humours He well shewed how little affection he bare towards her allies when it might any way import his pretended interest even at that time when there was question to substitute a High-Priest in the place of Hircanus who having his ears cut off with much deformitie necessarily fell into the irregularity ordained by Law which forbad him Altars Herod daily saw the Aristobulus the brother of Mariamne put from the High-Priesthood young Aristobulus in his Palace son of Alexandra and sole brother of his wife a most accomplished Prince to whom every one destined the Myter He sets his eyes a-wandering and finds out on the further side of Euphrates in the Citie of Babylon an unknown Jew named Ananel and createth him High-Priest This was a pill which Alexandra the mother of Aristobulus and Mariamne could not swallow yet thought fit to dissemble it She saw her house manifestly dejected in that her son after so many obligations was dispossessed of an honour to which bloud nature and the consent of the whole world called him to give it to a man of no value she could not so well digest her choler but that she thundred more lowdly than
of their flying arrows overthrown scattered torn into a thousand pieces by the enterprise of a Jewesse Judith gives not her self the praise of this work it was God that acted in her who was the direction of her hand the strength of her arm the spirit of her prudence the ardour of her courage and the soul of her soul O how great is this God of gods O how terrible is this Lord of hosts and who is there that fears not God but he that hath none at all What Colossus's of pride have faln and shall yet fall under his hands What giants beaten down and plunged even into hell for kindling fiery coals of concupiscence shall smoak in flames by an eternall sacrifice which their pains shall render to the Divine Justice HESTER THe holy Scripture sets before our eyes in this History Greatnesse falling into an eclipse and the lownesse of the earth elevated to the Starres Humility on the Throne and Ambition on the Gallows Might overthrown by Beauty Love sanctified and Revenge strangled by its own hands It teaches Kings to govern and People to obey great Ones not to relie on a fortune of ice Ladies to cherish Piety and Honour the Happy to fear every thing and the Miserable to despair of nothing All that we have to discourse of here happened in the Kingdome of Persia during the Captivity of the Jews in Babylon about four hundred and sixty years before the Nativity of our Lord and under the Reign of Ahasuerus But it is a great Riddle to divine who this Prince was to whom Hester was married and which is called here by a name that is not found in the History of the Persian Kings and which indeed may agree to all those high Monarchs signifying no other thing but The great Lord. Mercator sayes that it was Astyages grandfather of Cyrus and Cedrenus that it was Darius the Mede Genebrand is for Cambyses Scaliger for Xerxes Serrarius for Ochus Josephus and Saillan for Artaxerxes with the long hand The wise Hester that was so much in love with Chastity is found to have had fourteen husbands by the contestation of Authours every one would give her one of his own making she is married to all the Kings of Persia she is coursed up and down through all the Empire and her Espousals made to last above two hundred years But as it is easie enough to confute the Opinions of all those that speak of her so is it very hard to settle the truth of the Chronology amidst so great obscurities The Scripture sayes that Mordecai with Hester was carried away out of Judea into Babylon under the Reign of Nebuchadonozor and if we are of the opinion that marries her to Artaxerxes if we reckon well all the years that were between those two Kings we shall find that this young and ravishing beauty of Hester which caught so great a Monarch by the eyes was already an hundred and fifty years old which is an age too ripe for a maid that one would give for a wife to a King It is impossible to get out of this labyrinth if we do not say that Mordecai and Hester were not transported in their own but in the persons of their ancestours and that that passage means nothing else but that they issued from the race of those that were lead captives with King Jechonias destroyed by Nebuchadonozor so we will take Artaxerxes and not divide that amiable concord of Authours united in this point Represent then to your selves that from the time that the Jews were dispersed into Babylon into Persia into Medea and through all the States of those great Kings they ceased not to multiply in Captivity and that servitude which is wont to stifle great spirits produced sometimes amongst them gallant men Amongst others appeared upon the Theatre the excellent Mordecai a man of a good understanding and of a great courage who by his dexterity and valour delivered all his Nation from death and total ruine He then dwelt in Shushan the capitall city of all the Kingdome and bred up in his house a little Niece the daughter of his brother an orphan both by father and mother which was named in her first child-hood Edisla and after called Hester Now as those great spirits that are particularly governed by God have some tincture of Prophecie he had a wonderfull Dream and saw in his sleep a great tempest with thunderings and lightnings and an earthquake which was followed with a combate of two dragons who were fighting one against the other and sent forth horrible hissings whiles divers Nations assembled together stood and looked upon them expecting the issue of the combate thereupon he perceived a little fountain which became suddenly a great river which was changed into a Light and of a Light transformed it self into a Sun that both watcred and illuminated the earth He knew not what his Dream did mean but he learned the Interpretation of it in the great combates he had with Haman and in the exaltation of his little Niece that was promoted to so high a splendour as to give both evidence and refreshment to all the people of her Nation This Mordecai being a man of good behaviour and quality found means to advance himself to Court and to make his beginnings there in some inferiour office expecting some good occasion to make himself be known He had an eye alwayes open to discover all that passed without any bragging of it He considered the approaches of divers Nations that lived in that Court the humours the capacities the businesses the obligations the intricacies the credit the industry of every one omitting nothing of all that might advance the benefit of his Countrey-men He quickly discovered the spirit of Haman who was at that time a mean Cavalier of fortune but ambitious close crafty revengefull bloudy and capable to embroil a State He had an aversation from him although he had not yet been offended by him and began to distrust him fearing lest he be one day fatall to his people Neverthelesse Haman with the times took an high ascendant and Mordecai feared his greatnesse as one would do the apparition of a Comet It happened that two perfidious Subjects Thares and Bagathan ushers of the door made an abominable conspiracy against King Artaxerxes which Mordecai who was not a drowsie spirit soon perceived and began carefully to watch them observing their goings out and comings in their words and their countenances their plottings and their practices He gave notice of it very opportunely so that being taken arrested and put to the rack they acknowledged the crime and were led away to punishment The King gave hearty thanks to Mordecai commanded him to live in his Palace in a certain office which he bestowed upon him and caused the day to be set down in writing wherein he had been preserved from the conspiracy of those unhappy servants to recompence as opportunity should be offered the good services of his Deliverer
reveals to me nor speak any more in his name but then I selt a fire boiling in my heart that was shut up in the marrow of my bones and I fell into a swoon and could not endure the violence of my thoughts without unloading my self by the tongue and publishing that which you inspired into me And for this behold me reduced to irons And have I not good cause to say that which miserable men use to say That the day of my nativity in regard of originall sin and so many calamities that spring from that source is lamentable and cursed and that it were to be wished that the womb of my mother that bare me had been my sepulchre Wherefore did I come out of the bowels of a woman to be a spectatour of so many sorrows and so much confusion The Saints speak sometimes like men according to the sense of the inferiour part of the soul especially when they see themselves overwhelmed with great evils but God raises them up immediately and makes them resume the tongue of heaven As the Prophet was deploring his miseries in that dark prison God gave lights and remorses to his persecutour that came the next day to deliver him either through some compassion or because he had attempted that beyond the limits of his authority The prisoner instead of expressing some kind of weaknesse spake more boldly then before fore-telling even to Pashur that he should be led captive into Babylon and that he should die there the other not daring to enterprise any thing against him After that very time Jeremy betook himself to the Palace to speak with the King and with the Queen his wife to advertise them of the utmost misery that menaced their Crown if they did not make an entire conversion to God to give an example to their Subjects Besides this he gave some State-counsel and told the King that since God had permitted that he should be subdued by the Arms of the King of Babylon that had put him on the Throne and to whom he had promised Faith Homage and Tribute he should do well to keep his promises inviolable rather then to adhere to the King of Egypt and expect the assistance of his Arms. This was the most important point of State that concerned the safety of all the kingdome Neverthelesse King Zedekiah whose spirit was a little soft hearkned to the advice and took sometimes fire but it was but for a little time he being no way constant in his good resolves When he saw himself menaced with a siege by the King of the Babylonians he was affrighted and inclined a little to his side but assoon as he perceived that he diverted his arms another way he brake his promised faith being weary of the rigour of the Tributes that the other exacted of him Thereupon Jeremy ceased not to publish that it was an errour to expect that the army of Pharaoh King of Egypt which was reported to be upon its march to help Jerusalem should do any good that it should return upon its own steps without enterprising any thing that Nebuchadonozor was not so farre off but that in a small time he would render himself before the city to besiege and win it That it was a decree of God and although the Army of the Chaldeans should be defeated yet those that remained though wounded and sick should be sufficient to take Jerusalem abandoned of the Divine protection When he had spoken this publickly he resolved to retire himself for a time and to go into the countrey but he was taken at the gate of the city by Irijah that accused him falsly and said that he was going to render himself to the army of the Chaldeans whereupon he carried him under a good guard to the Magistates who having beaten and ill used him sent him to prison where he remained many dayes without consolation At last the King having heard of what had happen'd to him caused him to come secretly to him and spake to him to conjure him to tell the truth whether those Predictions that he ceased not to sow in the ears of all the world were Revelations from God whereof the Prophet assured him again and gave him some good incitement to incline to the most wholesome counsels Poor Jeremy seeing this Prince use him kindly said unto him Alas Sir what have I done and in what have I offended your Majesty to be used as a rogue by those that usurp your authority What crime have I committed by telling you the truth Where are your false Prophets that said that there was no need to fear the coming of Nebuchadonozor and that he had other businesse to dispatch is he not at length come to verifie my Prophecies Since you do me the honour at present to hear me My Lord and my Master hearken to my most humble request and grant me a courtesie that I desire of you in the Name of God which is that I may no more return into the prison out of which your Majesty hath caused me to be drawn for the continuation of the evils that I have suffered there is able suddenly to tear my soul from my body and it will be but a grief to you to deliver me to death for having given you counsels of life and safety The King was softned by the words of the Prophet but he was so timorous that he durst not take the boldnesse to cause a prisoner to be delivered by his absolute authority fearing the reproaches and out-cryes of those that would have the upper end in all affairs He caused onely the goaler to be bid to use him a little kindlier taking him out of the black dungeon to give him a place more reasonable and to have a care that in that great famine of the city he should not want bread This was executed and he staid some time at the entrance of the prison with a little more liberty during which he spake again to those that visited him and said freely That there was no way to escape the sacking of the city but by rendring themselves to the Chaldeans This made Pashur and his complices incensed again with a great wrath and speak insolently to the King that Jeremy might be delivered to them publishing that he was worthy of death that he was a seditious fellow that did nothing but make the people mutiny and separate them from their obedience to him The miserable Zedekiah that had let these men take too high an ascendent upon his person had not strength of spirit enough to resist them but against his conscience abandoned his poor Prophet to them although it was with some regret These wicked men having taken him let him down with cords into a deep pit of the prison which was full of mire and filth where he expired the remainder of his deplorable life and had dyed there of miseries if God had not raised him up a protectour of whom he never so much as dreamed There was in
the deluge which after it had born the whole world in the bowels thereof amongst so many storms and fatal convulsions of universal nature reposed on the mountains of Armenia So S. Monica when she so long time had carried in her entrails and heart a spirit as great as this universe among so many tears and dolours so soon as she was delivered of this painful burden went to take her rest on the mountains of Sion A little before her death beholding Heaven from a high window which opened on a garden she seemed there already to mark out her lodging so much she witnessed resentment and extasie towards her son Augustine who at that time made this admirable colloquie with her couched by him afterward in his Confessions The conclusion was that she said unto him My son I have now no more obligations to the world you have discharged all the promises of Heaven to me and I have consummated all the hopes I might have on earth seeing you a Catholick and which is more resolved to perfection of the life you have embraced When it shall please God to call me I am like fruit ripe and falling that holdeth on nothing Soon after she betook her to her bed being surprized with a feaver which she presently felt to be the messenger of her last hour Behold the cause why she being fortified with arms and assistances necessary for this combat took leave of Augustine and his brother there present affectionately entreating them to remember her soul at the Altar onely meditating on Heaven and neglecting the thought of the land of Africa which she had seemed at other times to desire for the sepulcher of her body And as her other son said unto her Madame my mother we as yet are not there we hope to close your eyes in our own countrey and burie you in the tomb of your husband this holy woman seeing this man would still tie her to the present life and divert her from cogitation of death which to her was most sweet beheld him with a severe eye and then turning her self towards her son Augustine Hearken saith she what he saith as if we absent from Africa must needs be further from God She often cast her dying eyes towards this son who was her precious conquest and who in her sickness served her with most particular assistances affirming that Augustine had ever been a good son towards her and though he had cost her many sorrows he never had forgotten the respect due to a mother Verily there was a great sympathie between the soul of such a mother and such a son which was infinitely augmented after this happy conversion and therefore we must give to nature that which belongs to it The child Adeodatus seeing his Grand-mother in the last agony as possessing the affections of his father threw out pitifull out-cries in which he could not be pacified And S. Augustine who endeavoured to comfort them all upon so happy a death withheld his tears for a time by violence but needs must he in the end give passage to plaints so reasonable The Saint died as a Phenix among Palms and they having rendered the last duties to her pursued the way begun directly for Africk Behold how the conversion of S. Augustine passed and though many cooperated therein yet next unto God S. Ambrose hath ever been reputed the principal Agent and for that cause his great disciple said of him (b) (b) (b) Aug. contra Julianum Pelagianum l. 1. c. 6. Excellens Dei dispensator quâ—m veneror ut patrem in Christo enim Jesu per Evangelium ipse me genuit eo Christi ministerio lavacrum Regenerationis accepi Ambrose is the excellent steward of the great father of the family whom I reverence as my true father for he hath begotten me in Jesus Christ by the virtue of the Gospel and God hath been pleased to make use of his service to regenerate me by Baptism Whilest stars and elements shall continue it will be an immortal glory to the Bishop Ambrose to have given the Church a S. Augustine of whom Volusianus spake one word worth a thousand (c) (c) (c) Volusian Epist 2. Vir est totius gloriae capax Augustinus In aliis sacerdotibus absque detrimento cultus divini toleratur inscitia at cum ad Antistitem Augustinum venitur Legi deest quicquid ab eo contigerit ignorari Augustine is a man capable of all the glorie of the world There is much difference between him and other Bishops The ignorance of one Church-man alone prejudiceth not Religion but when we come to Bishop Augustine if he be ignorant of any thing it is not he but the law which is defective because this man is as knowing as the law it self The eleventh SECTION The affairs of S. Ambrose with the Empeperours Valentinian the father and Gratian the son LEt us leave the particulars of the life of S. Ambrose to pursue our principal design which is to represent it in the great and couragious actions he enterprized with the Monarchs of the world Let us not behold this Eagle beating his wings in the lower region of the ayr but consider him among lightenings tempests and whirl-winds how he plays with thunder-claps and ever hath his eye where the day breaketh The state of Christianitie stood then in need of a The state of Christendom brave Prelate to establish it in the Court of Great-ones The memory of Jâ—lian the Apostata who endeavoured with all his power to restore Idols was yet very fresh it being not above ten years past since he died and yet lived in the minds of many Pagans of eminent quality who had strong desires to pursue his purpose On the other side the Arians who saw themselves so mightily supported by the Emperour Constans made a great party and incessantly embroyled the affairs of Religion Jovinian a most Catholick Emperour who succeeded Julian passed away as a lightening in a reign of seven moneths After him Valentinian swayed the Empire who had in truth good relishes of Religion but withal a warlick spirit and who to entertain himself in so great a diversitie of humours and sects whereon he saw this Empire to be built much propended to petty accommodations which for some time appeased the evil but took not away the root He made associate of the Empire his brother Valens who being a very good Catholick in the beginning of his reign suffered himself to be deceived by an Arian woman and did afterward exercise black cruelties against the faithfull till such time as defeated by the Goths and wounded in an encounter he was burnt alive by his enemies in a shepherds cottage whereunto he was retired so rendering up his soul in the bloud and flames where with he had filled the Church of God The association of this wicked brother caused much disorder in the affairs of Christendom and often slackened the good resolutions of Valentinian by coldness and
Beware how you enter into the list among so many noble spirits there to discover your weaknesse and to adde nothing to the lustre of the honour of so many worthy Ancestours but to render your own crimes the more remarkable Shew your self herein a reasonable man and endeavour that all your actions may be as lines which grow from the centre of wisdome to be produced with all felicitie Remember things past rectifie the present foresee those to come Above all learn to set a true estimation upon every thing in the world and suffer not your self to be surprised by the illusions of so many objects which when they have charmed the eyes and overthrown reason leave nothing behind them but sorrow to have done ill and impotencie of doing well In conversation take the measure of your self and the like of those with whom you deal to husband and accommodate your self reasonably to all the world yielding to every one the respect which his merit seems to require The exercise of devotion will not hinder you from the endeavour how to become an able man in your profession from being honest civil discreet affable liberal obliging stout couragious patient which are the principal qualities of a Courtier It is not desired that to be devout you should have a spirit drowzie sluggish overwhelmed not that through overmuch simplicitie you make profusion of your self in an Age where bountie seemeth to be the prey of insolent spirits Wisdom will teach you neither to intrude nor pour out your self to dissemble through virtue that which ought to be concealed to adapt your self to companies and affairs to believe nothing lightly nor to promise nor decide any thing without consideration to persevere in certain things not ill because you have begun them not to be harsh nor too much complying since the one tasteth of brutishness the other inclines to flatterie To propose to your self good and evil which may arise from an affair to moderate the one and tollerate the other Above all honour the King next after God as the source of all greatness and the fountain of the most noble lights which reflect on Nobilitie Honour him with profound respect as the lively Image of God Love him sincerely serve him with all fidelitie If you be employed in affairs and governments endeavour to persist therein with conscience and honour which are the two mansions of a great soul If you have merit without employment and recompence say not therefore that all is lost It is a good business to be well at rest to manure your spirit to enable your self with reading and peaceable conversion to govern your house Learn nothing but what you ought to know Search that onely which you may profitably find desire nothing but what you may honourably wish for And be not conceited to run after a spectre of imaginarie favour nor to mount to a place where you cannot stay without fear nor fall without ruin So many great Monarchs so many Princes Lords and valorous men who are come from Courts and the profession of arms to enter into the Temple of pietie assure us this life is capable of Saints and that no man ought to despair of virtue but he who renounceth it If the brevitie of this Treatise would permit I would willingly set before you a David a Josias an Ezechias a Charlemaign a S. Lewis a Hermingildes a Henry a Stephen a Casimire a Godfrey of Bovillon a Wenceslaus an Edward an Elzear an Amideus I would make you see flourishing Squadrons of Martyrs drawn from warfare amongst which you would admire a Maurice an Exuperius a Sebastian a Marius a Mennas an Olympiades a Meliton a Leontius a Maximus a Julian an Abdon a Sennen a Valens a Priscus a Marcellus a Marcellinus a Severinus a Philoromus a Philoctemon and so many such like Finally I would shew in the latter Ages men worthy of all honour eminent in arms and enobled with singular pietie but I now content my self to draw from Eusebius Theodoret Nicephorus Zozimus Socrates Sozomenus Cedrenus and above all Cardinal Baronius the life of Great Constantine who hath been the very prime man amongst Christian princes and hath witnessed especially after his Baptism a masculine pietie and a great example of sanctitie IMP. CAES. FLAVIVS CONSTAN AVG. CONSTANTINE The first SECTION The Providence of God over Constantine I Will shew to Christian Nobilitie its source in the life of the prime Gentleman of Christianitie If we respect antiquitie greatness and dignitie we shall not find a Prince either more anciently noble than he who first of all among Emperours deserved the title of Christian or more truly great than he who so happily engraffed the empire of the universe on the tree of the Cross or more justly honourable than he who cemented his honour with the bloud of the Lamb. It is the admirable Constantine Greatness of Constantine who so perfectly allied valour to pietie Monarchy to humilitie the wisdom of the Cross to the government of the world the nails and thorns of the passion to the Diadem of Kings and delights of the Court that he hath left matter of meditation for the wise of profit for Religious of imitation for Monarchs and of wonder for those who admire nothing vulgar Behold a marvellous Theatre of the providence of Theatre of Divine Providence God whereunto I would willingly invite all those spirits repleat with humane policie and devested of heavenly Maxims who are onely great by the greatness of their ruin to see how the breath of God demolisheth the Towers of Babel to raise the walls of Sion how the subtil are surprized in their subtility how the science of men becometh blind in its proper lights how the vigour of the world is slain by its own hands how stabilitie is overturned by the supports it chooseth how the spirit of flesh at unawares contributeth to plant the Gross on the top of Capitols and heads of Monarchs by the same ways wherewith it promised to over-cloud them with darkness and abysses I here produce a Constantine beed up very young in the Court of Diocletian who had an intention to become a scourge to Christianitie but God surprized him therein as Moses in the Court of Pharaoh to stop the stream of persecution to calm the tempests of the time confound Idols and raise the Church on the ruins of Gentilism Reader stay a little on the frontispice of this history and behold how the Eternal Providence led this young Constantine by the hand like another Cyrus to humble the Great-ones of the earth before his face and to give him hidden treasures to take Isaiah 49. from him so many bars and impediments to open for him so many gates of iron and to cause so many Kings to turn their faces and afford him their place There was at that time twelve heads which alreadie either wore the diadem or thought themselves capable of it Diocletian and Maximian held the highest place
suitable to the greatness of this Mysterie Another having lived free from the bands of marriage caused to be set on his tomb Vixit sine impedimento Brisson for He lived without hinderance which was a phrase very obscure to express what he would say Notwithstanding it was found this hinderance whereof he spake was a woman This may well happen through the vice and misery wherein the state of this present life hath confined us but to speak generally we must affirm had it been the best way to frame the world without a woman God had done it never expecting the advise of these brave Cato's S. Zeno homil de continent Aut hostis publicus aut insanus and whosoever endeavoureth to condemn marriage as a thing not approved by God sheweth that he is either out of his wits or a publick enemy to mankind The great S. Peter in whose heart God locked up 1 Pet. 3. Vi qui non credunt Verbo per conversationem mulierum sine verbo lucriâ—iâ—nt the Maxims of the best policie of the world was of another opinion when he judged the good and laudable conversation of women rendered it self so necessary for Christianity that it was a singular mean to gain those to God who would not submit themselves to the Gospel Whereupon he affordeth an incomparable honour to the virtue of holy women disposing it in some sort into a much higher degree of force and utility than the preaching of the word of God and in effect it seemeth this glorious Apostle by a spirit of prophesie foresaw an admirable thing which afterward appeared in the revolution of many Ages which is that God hath made such use of the piety of Ladies for the advancement of Christianity that in all the most flourishing Kingdoms of Christendom there are observed still some Queens or Princesses who have the very first of all advanced the Standard of the Cross upon the ruins of Infidelity Helena planted true Religion in the Roman Empire Caesarea in Persia Theodelinda in Italie Clotilda in France Indegundis in Spain Margerite in England Gysellis in Hungarie Dambruca in Poland Olga in Russia Ethelberga in Germanie not speaking of an infinite number of others who have happily maintained and encreased that which was couragiously established Reason also favoureth my proposition for we must necessarily confess there is nothing so powerfull to perswade what ever it be as complacence and flattery since it was the smoothest attractiveâ— which the evil spirit made use of in the terrestrial Paradise to overthrow the first man setting before him the alluring pleasures of an Eve very newly issued out of the hands of God Now every one knows nature hath imparted to woman a very good portion of these innocent charms and it many by these priviled ges are also powerfull in actions so wicked why should not so many virtuous souls generoully employed in the service of the great God bear as much sway since he accustometh to communicate a grace wholly new to the good qualities that are aimed to his honour I conjure all Women and Ladies who shall read this Treatise to take from hence a generous spirit and never permit vice and curiosity may derive tribute from such ornaments as God hath conferred on them it being unfit to stuff Babylon with the gold and marbles of Sion The second SECTION That women are capable of good lights and solid instruments SInce I see my self obliged by my design to make a brief model of principal perfections which may be desired for the complishment of an excellent Ladie and that this discourse cannot be throughly perfected without observing vicious qualities which are blemishes opposite to the virtues we endeavour to establish I will make use of the clew of some notable invention in so great a labyrinth of thoughts the better to facilitate the way I remember to have heretofore read a very rare manuscript of Theodosius of Malta a Greek Authour touching the nuptials of Theophilus Emperour of Constantinople and his wife Theodora which will furnish us with a singular enterance into that which we now seek for so that we adde the embelishment of so many Oracles of wisdom to the foundations which this Historian hath layed He recounteth that this Theophilus being on the Anno 830. Zonoras saith that she was onely step-mother and relateth it somewhat otherwise but let us follow our Authour point to dispose himself for marriage the Empress his mother named Euphrosina who passionately desired the contentment of her son in an affair of so great importance dispatched her Embassadours through all the Provinces of the Empire to draw together the most accomplished maidens which might be found in the whole circuit of his Kingdom And for that purpose she shut up within the walls of Constantinople the rarest beauties of the whole world assembling a great number of Virgins into a chamber of his Palace called for curiositie The Pearl The day being come wherein the Emperour was to make choice of her to whom he would give his heart with the Crown of the Empire the Empress his mother spake to him in these terms MY LORD AND SON Needs must I confess that since the day nature bound me so streightly to your person next after God I neither have love fear care hope nor contentment but for you The day yieldeth up all my thoughts to you and the night which seemeth made to arrest the agitations of our spirit never razeth the rememberance of you from my heart I acknowledge my self doubly obliged to procure with all my endeavours what ere concerneth your good because I am your mother and that I see you charged with an Empire which is no small burden to them who have the discretion to understand what they undertake It seems to me since the death of the Emperour your father my most honoured Lord I have so many times newly been delivered of you as I have seen thorny affairs in the mannage of your State And at this time when I behold you upon terms to take a wife and that I know by experience to meet with one who is accomplished with all perfections necessary for your State is no less rare than the acquisition of a large Empire the care I have ever used in all concerns your glory and contentment is therefore now more sensible with me than at any other time heretofore It is true O most dear Son that the praise-worthy inclinations which I have observed in your Mujestie give me as much hope as may reasonably by conceived in the course of humane things yet notwithstanding the accidents we see to happen so contrary to their proceedings do also entertain my mind in some uncertaintie That you may take some resolution upon this matter behold in the Pearl of Constantinople I have made choice of the most exquisite maidens of your Empire to the end your Majestie may elect her whom you shall judge most worthie of your chaste affections I beseech God
Life those of Rigour He desires Peace and it is denyed him and sues for an agreement and is slighted His arrogance being sorely pricked vomits out nothing but whirlwinds of fire and comes to fall before Croye the Capitall City of the Valiant Castriot with an Army of two hundred thousand men The other defends himself with six thousand One onely place bayes that great Deluge the Storm is scattered the Siege raised the shame of it remains on the face of the Sultan with so lively a Tincture that the Shadow of death must passe over it to blot it out He that had lived with Glory dyes with the sadnesse of his Ignominy and carries with him into the other World the unability to revenge himself and an eternall desire of vengeance Mahomet his sonne the Scourge and Terrour of the Universe that overthrew two Empires took two hundred Cities killed twenty Millions of Men comes to split against the same Rock Was there need of so much blood to write upon Castriot's Trophies the Title of Invincible Who would Imagine that a mortall man should have gone so farre who should believe that those exploits were the Actions of a slave Truly we must avow that he lent his Name to God in all this businesse and that God lent his Arm to him It is said of him that he never refused Battell never turned his back never was wounded but once very Lightly He slew two thousand Barbarians with his own hand which he cleft ordinarily with his Coutelax from the head down to the Girdle Mahomet desired to see that Thunder-bolt that he bore in his hands and had it in veneration although so many times bedewed with his Subjects blood He saw the Steel but he never saw the Arm that gave it Life O brave Castriot If the State of Christians could have been delivered from the Tyranny of the Sultans it should have been by thy hands We must now acknowledge that our wounds are irrecoverable seeing that our divisions hinder us from enjoying the succour of so Divine an hand The Feaver that took thee hence in the City of Lissa in the Climactericall of seven and nine the most to be feared by old men extinguished all our hopes by the same burnings that consumed thy Body After thou hadst lived the most Admirable of Captains thou dyedst like a truly Religious melting the hearts of all those that beheld thee by a most sensible Devotion Thy victorious spirit soared up to the Palace of the Beautifull Sion after it had performed in the Body all that was possible for a most eminent Virtue and an Happinesse to which nothing was wanting but imitatours The most barbarous thy Enemies have kissed thy Sepulchre have Reverenced thy Ashes and shared thy Bones as the dearest Reliques of Valour And now thou hast no more to do with a Tomb seeing that thy Memory hath found as many Monuments as there are Hearts in all ages BOUCICAUT BAYARD BOVCICAVD BAYARD WE need not search the Catalogue of Saints and Martyrs for a Souldier Furnished before God and men with great and Divine virtues Behold one among a thousand I mean the brave Marshal Boucicaut who flourished in France under Charles the Sixth Those petty Rodomonts who boast of their Duels but indeed meer cowardise varnished with a glossy colour of valour durst not behold this most excellent Cavalier without doing that which was antiently done to the Statues of the Sunne that is to put finger on the mouth and admire For not to mention his other acts of prowesse it is he who was present at that daring Battell which the Turkish Emperour Bajazet waged against the King of Hungary the Duke of Burgundy then called the Count of Nevers with many other of the French Gentry being there in person The History relateth that the Turkish Emperour coming to fight with dreadfull forces began so furious a charge the air being darkned with a black cloud of Arrows that the Hungarians who were alwayes reputed good Souldiers being much amazed with this fierce assault fled away The French who in all Battels had ever learned to conquer or dye not willing to hear so much as the least speech of the name of flight pierced into the Turkish army notwithstanding a field of Pikes and stakes fastned in the earth did hinder their approch and attended by some other Troops brake the Vangard of the Turks by the counsell and example of this brave Marshall whereat Bajazet much amazed was about to retire but that at the same time it was told him that it was but a very little handfull of Frenchmen that made the greatest resistance and that it was best for him to assault them The Turk who kept his Battalions very fresh returneth and fell like lightning upon these poor Souldiers now extreamly wearied Never did an angry Lyon exercise more violent force against the Hunters Javelins then this generous Cavalier shewed prowesse which shined in the midst of the adventurous Pagans For seeing himself at last negligently betraied he having no other purpose but to sell his own life and those of his companions at as dear a rate as he could he with the French Cavalry and some other people that stuck to him did such feats of Arms that it was thought twenty thousand Turks were slain in the place At last this prodigious multitude able to tire out the most hardy although it had been but to cut them in pieces did so nearly encompasse our French that the Count of Nevers with Marshall Boucicaut and other the most worthy Personages were taken Prisoners The next day after this dismall Battell the proud Bajazet sitting under a Pavillion spread for him in the field caused the prisoners to be brought before him to drench himself in blood and revenge which he alwayes most passionately loved Never was seen a spectacle more worthy of Compassion A sad spectacle The poor Lords who had wrought wonders in Arms able to move Tygers were led to the slaughter half naked straight bound with cords and fetters no regard being had either to their bloud which was noble or youth which was pitifull or their behaviour which was most ravishing These Saracens ugly and horrible as Devils set them before the face of the Tyrant who in the twinkling of an eye caused their throats to be cut at his feet as if he meant to carouse their bloud The Count of Nevers with the Count of Ewe and the Count of Marche had now their heads under the Symiter and their lives hung as it were by a thread when Bajazet who had heard by his interpreters that they were near Kinsmen to the King of France caused them to be reserved commanding them to sit at his feet on the ground where they were enforced to behold the lamentable butchery of their Nobility The valiant Boucicaut covered with a little linnen cloth in his turn was brought forth to be massacred over the bodies of so many valiant men He being wise and in this