BEAUTIFUL Blossoms, gathered by John Bishop, from the best trees of all kinds, Divine, Philosophical, Astronomical, Cosmographical, historical, & Human, that are growing in Greece, Latium, and Arabia, and some also in vulgar orchards, as well from those that in ancient time were grafted, as also from them which have with skilful head and hand been of late years, yea, and in our days planted: to the unspeakable, both pleasure and profit of all such as will vouchsafe to use them.  
¶ The first Tome.  
Imprinted at London for Henry Cockyn, dwelling in Fletestreate at the sign of the Elephant, a little above the Conduit.  
ANNO. 1577.   

The Author unto his Book: borrowed and translated out of Martial his Epigrams.  
O Blisselesse Book in Paul's Church yard  
Thou scorned craves to devil,  
When far from frump thou mayst remain,  
In empty desk full well.  
The coy dame England's squeamishness  
(Ah fool) thou knowest not, thou:  
Believe me, Brutus braving brood  
Are too too fine nosed now:  
More scornful quips, and Momish mocks  
In no place may one doubt,  
The old, the young, yea, children too,  
Can finely gibe and flout.  
When thou shalt look for to be praised,  
And to be made much of,  
Disdainful hand will toss thee high,  
And cast away with scoff.  
But that thy masters dashing blots  
Thou mayst not bide so often,  
Nor that the painful pen thy faults  
May note, when need is thought:  
Thou wanton dost unwisely wish  
Abroad in world to fly:  
GOD speed thee well: but safer thou  
At home with me mightst lie.   

The Author unto the Reader.  
I Being infected with the common contagion of our time, which maketh us small smatterers in good letters, like unto Aesopes' Ape, ambitiously to bring abroad, and show unto all men the deformed brood of our witless brains: have been pricked forth to publish unto the world, my unskilful conceits: and being obscure to seek fame by shame, or to use Horace his words, Stultitia caelum petere. This ill shaped changeling of mine have I, following the manner of these dainty days, who do delight to dalley with the letter, named bishops Blossoms: because it doth wholly consist of many & divers matters collected out of many and sundry sorts of authors: as if a man should in the spring time gather together beautiful blossoms from all kinds of trees. To declare the fruit of these flowers it shall not be needful in this place: seeing that the page following doth show the particular contents of every Chapter: but this only I will say: that besides a great number of other things, worthy both the reading, and also the remembering: thou shalt find briefly, and truly reported all the notable acts, ends and variable chances of almost all the famous Princes that have reigned throughout the world until this day.  
But if perhaps the first Chapter (wherein I have leapt above my latchet) may seem unto some delicate ears for the subtility of the matter, and specially it being so stammered out by me, to be somewhat obscure, & not for their pleasant humour: let them pass it over, and read the rest: which are all pleasant, and as plain as Dunstable way: unless peradventure in some place where that through the Printers oversight, yea, or mine own negligence, a word is either omitted, superfluously added, misplaced, false named, or ill pointed: the which I am most humbly to desire thee of human courtesy, either by thine own wisdom to correct: or else vouchsafe to take the pains to resort unto the Table of errata or escapes: where I hope thou shalt find thyself fully satisfied. Thus eftsoons craving thy patience in bearing with mine, and also the Printers imperfections: I remit thee unto the reading of the work: the which I do heartily pray may work in thee the wished effect, so that it may redound both unto thine unspeakable pleasure and profit: and also the surpassing praise of the peerless creator: and then shall I be encouraged to proceed: and fully to match in matter the ample and glorious title.   

bishops Blossoms.  

The first Chapter. Of the essence, unchangeablness, singleness, and almightiness of God.  
AS Valerius Maximus, following the old order of the ancient Orators, who always began their orations with the invocation of God, first entreateth of Almighty jove in his worthy work of manifold matter: so likewise I (that am borne now the day star is risen, whereby we do more perfectly see that all good gifts come from above, & do more surely acknowledge that apt likening of God by the divine Platonistes unto the centre, and all creatures unto the circle: signifying thereby, that as from the centre or middle prick, all lines do proceed into the circle and from it return unto the centre again, so also from God all good things come unto his creatures, and from them redound back unto his honour and glory) will begin my fruitless fancies with a fruitful discourse of God, not to define his essence the which is incomprehensible, but only to utter such things of his being, greatness, singleness, unchangeablness, and almightiness, as it hath pleased his unspeakable goodness to reveal unto us, unskilful men by his sacred scriptures, and holy saints. When that Simonides, who was not only a divine Poet, 
Simonides his wise answer.  but also a learned & wise philosopher was demanded of king Hiero to tell him what, & what manner of thing god was, he wisely requested of the courteous King a days respite to meditate on that weighty matter: but the next day being eftsoons asked, desired of the king two days more to consider upon it: yea and being often after urged to speak his opinion, still requested to have the number of his days doubled: whereat Hiero wondering, demanded of him the cause of his so doing, who wisely and truly answered him: because (said he) the longer. I do muse thereof, ever the more obscure the thing seemed to be. 
Plato his opinion of God.  Wherefore most truly said divine Plato, that God is unspeakable, and unnameable, (if I may use that term:) and worthily did the Persians break down all the images of God in Greece, 
The Persians broke down all Images of God.  because the nothing doth resemble his substance, and is like unto it, neither do we know any thing, or can we by imagination, devise, or by understanding conceive. Wherefore although that we do know by his works that there is a God: yet do we not better understand his essence or being by them, 
What words do best declare God's essence.  then by those terms by the which we do flatly deny we do understand it. We call him the creator, the King, the governor, the Father, the beginning, the end, eternal, blessed, almighty, the chiefest, all in all, and by a thousand other names, invented by the Ethnic and christian divines: yet by none of these words shall we understand that he is so fully showed, and declared, as by those terms that do bewray our ignorance: as when we do call him incomprehensible, immeasurable, infinite, for by these words we do not only acknowledge him to be, but also to be over, and above more than we can conceive: and that he who is all, above all, and beside all, is only known of himself. 
God is no essence. de Divi. No.  Wherefore doth Dionysius justly deny that he is an essence or being: but above all essences and béeings that our mind can see, our reason comprehend, 
In one sense God is most properly an essence. Hier. ad Marcel. Aug. super joan. tract. 99  or our speech express: and therefore to be called superessential.  
And moreover he affirms that these words of privation, and negation, as uncreated, unutterable, incomprehensible, and such like, are the most proper spéches to be used of God. But Hierome, Augustine, and other holy Fathers, otherwise considering of this word essence, or being: do think that only God is properly an essence or being, because he is everlastingly, neither can it be properly said of him, as touching his own nature, that he was, or shallbe, but always is, although that the weakness of our understanding hath wrested forth such manners of speech: as also that he doth predestinate, foreknow, and foresee: whereas in very deed he doth absolutely decree, know, and see, as he unto whom all things past and to come are present, although that our gross wits must measure them by distinctions of times. 
Why bodily limbs and affects are attributed unto God.  As also for the better apprehension of our dull understanding, that can conceive nothing, but by the senses: are there attributed unto God in the sacred scriptures, hand, arm, foot, and other bodily limbs (of all whom he being a spirit hath none) as also affects of the mind, anger, hatred, jealousy, love, repentance, sorrow, and such like, from whom he is far: who is (as he saith himself) God, and is not changed, but always remaineth one in all points: 
God only unchangeable.  the which doth happen unto no other: or certes if the angels do now enjoy this excellency in heaven, they have it not of nature, but of the superabundant grace and gift of God. Singular also is the singleness of his essence, 
The singleness of God's essence. August. de tri. lib. 6.  the which saith Augustine may easily be spoken and believed, but not seen but by a pure heart. For when we do say that God is, that God is good, that he is great, he is wise, he is merciful, he is almighty, and whatsoever else is spoken of that single manifoldenesse, or manifold singleness of God: the words are not to be taken in such sense, 
No quality in God.  as when they are spoken of any Creatures, yea and the singlest creature: the soul. For in the soul it is one thing to be, an other thing to be good, an other to be wise, an other to be learned, and so of other qualities: and, to be, doth signify the essence of the soul, but the other words, qualities happening unto the essence, and such as may be away, and yet the soul still a soul. But so must we not understand these words and things in God: for in him his being is the self same thing that his goodness, or his greatness is, or whatsoever else is truly spoken of him. And again his greatness, and his goodness are the very same thing that his essence is, and in him no quality: for there is nothing in him, which is not himself, and his very essence and substance: neither was any one thing that is in him, there before an other: but all there at once everlastingly: neither can any one be away, or be sundered one from another, without the corruption of his essence. 
We do speak unproperly of God by adjectives. Scal. de subti. ex●r. 365.  And here again hath our unperfect speech made us to speak unproperly of God by adjectives denominatively: as when we say God is merciful, is holy, is immortal, is good: for if that any thing could be spoken of him denominatively, than were the abstract, or substantive, from whence it is derived, an other thing from the adjective, and before it: as for example: mercy is another thing from merciful, and before it, as the fountain from whence merciful doth proceed: wherefore in very deed God is not merciful, but mercy: not holy, but holiness: not immortal, but immortality: not good, 
God is comprehended in none of the predicaments. August. de Trinit. lib. 5.  but goodness itself: the which things do devil fully in him. But so single is God's essence, that Augustine doth truly think that he can not be put aptly into any of the predicaments of the Logicians. For he cannot be a substance, because he doth not subsist unto any thing: neither is there any thing abiding in him as in a subject. For as I said before there is nothing in him, that is not himself: so also we must believe, that God is great with out quantity, good without quality, precedent without site, containing all things without habit, every where wholly without being enclosed in any place, eternal with out time, making and doing all things without labour, or changing of himself or his state, and suffering nothing at all. All things also can he do in heaven, earth, and hell. 
The omnipotency of God & wherein it doth consist.  Neither doth it any thing abridge his almightiness, that he cannot go, speak, or do any other such things as are done by bodily instruments. For although he being a spirit can not do them himself, yet are they within his power: for he can do them in his creatures, and doth make man to go and speak: and also worketh all those actions in all living things, which do them by his power. 
August lib 15. de Trinitate.  Neither because he cannot sin nor do ill, is he the less Almighty, because they be no points and parts of power, but of infirmity & weakness. For if he could do them, he were not omnipotent: therefore that he cannot do ill, 
August. lib. 1. de symbolo.  it is not to be imputed unto impotency, but unto power. The like also may be said of that he cannot die, he cannot be wretched, he cannot be deceived, he cannot be overcome: for if he were subject unto these defects: he were not Almighty. And also hereby is he proved to be Almighty: because that although those imperfections and wants cannot approach unto him, yet can he work them in other. For he can make man to die, be wretched, be deceived & overcome. Wherefore herein doth appear the omnipotency of God, that he doth all things that he will have done, neither doth he suffer any thing at all. For nothing is there which is able to infer any corruption unto him, or to make him suffer aught, neither is any thing able to bring any impediment or let unto his doings: but all things can he do without any impeachment, unless it be those things, by doing of which either his dignity should be diminished, or some thing derogated from his excellency. Wherefore is he truly omnipotent, who is able to do all things, the doing of whom is power. Then seeing that such is the surpassing excellency of God above all his creatures, that none of them cannot only not approach any thing near unto the singularity of his essence, not nor by wit and wisdom in any wise conceive the worthiness thereof: how can we wonder enough at the madness of those men, that have made to themselves Gods of creatures, or that which is more frantic, have made themselves to be adored of other, for Gods?   

The second Chapter, Of the wondered pride of Psapho, Menecrates, Alexander, Commodus, Caligula, Domitian, & Cosdras, who would be honoured for Gods. Of a witty decree of the Lacedæmonians touching Alexander's Godhead. How Philippe of Macedon dolted Menecrates and gave one in charge daily to put him in mind that he was a man. Of the free speech of a butcher unto Caligula, & a worthy saying of Antigonus  

Cap. 10.  MOst truly is it written in Ecclesiasticus that pride is the beginning of all sin, 
Come in Psal. 7  and in Augustine the last sin that the soul doth master and over come. 
Lib. 2. de Still. laud.  This only of all other (that I may use Claudians words) is the ingrate companion of virtues: this only vice doth spring and is bred of virtues: ye and of the kill and destroying of all other, this often is engendered. How many hunt and seek for glory by obstinate refusing thereof? have not many been more proud of the making of themselves poor, than they were before of their great riches? is the number of them trow you small, that be proud of their lowliness? do not some by conquering of all other sins, be conquered by this, and perish & be slain by the enemy whom they overthrew and trod upon? this fault only, or certes most, aught the perfect men to fear and take heed of, wisely warneth Augustine. Did not the devil, who for the subtlety of his nature, sharp judgement, long experience in deceiving, best knowing what would soon deceive, keep this temptation as a trusty Trystram for the last, when he tempted Christ our Lord and God? And what other train I pray you made the subtle serpent, when he tempted our first Parent Eve, but this? bearing the woman in hand, that she and her husband should be made like God? Then if that our first parents in that most free state of theirs, when as no sensuality moved them, nor any contagion of their corrupt and mortal bodies whereunto the soul is surely tied, annoyed and infected them, coveted the type of the glory of the Godhead, who will not believe but that the like proud and mad attempt might have been given by some wicked men, whom the devil, the flesh and the world did vehemently drive forward, but nothing stay and hold back? what small smatterer in human letters hath not read of Psapho a Lybian, 
Of Psapho.  who being overmuch adorned of bountiful nature, could not keep himself within his owneskinne, as Martial wittily warneth, the greatness or rather naughtiness of his haughty heart swelled so big: but by as witty, as wicked devise, got himself to be taken and worshipped for a God: for he catching birds, which were apt to learn man's speech, diligently but secretly taught them to speak distinctly and plainly the great God Psapho. And when he saw that these prattling birds had perfectly learned their lesson, & would ever be harping on it, he let them fly abroad into the woods.  
But they, as he subtilely conjectured, slew all abouts, still singing this song, The great God Psapho, which the inhabitants thereabouts hearing, being altogether ignorant of that crafty fetch, honoured Psapho for a God: thinking that they could not without great note of impiety, & obstinacy, deny him to be a God: whom the unreasonable birds did to their instruction by supernatural & divine speech (as they thought) acknowledge and profess to be a great God.  
Moreover I read it recorded in Athenaeus, a grave Author, and also in Aelianus and other, that one Menecrates born at Syracuse in Sicyle, a famous Physician, called himself jupiter the great Almighitie: proudly and foolishly boasting that he was unto men the cause of life, by reason of his great skill in Physic. And his usage was to force them whom he took in hand to heal of the falling sickness, to promise' and swear unto him, that when they were perfectly cured, they would be his bondmen, and follow him. Of them Nicostratus being adorned like Hercules, was called Hercules. Nicogoras who was the tyrant of his country, wearing a soldiers mantel, and wings, and bearing a Caducaeus in his hand, such a rod as the Poetes do feign Mercury to bear, he named Mercury. Astycreon was Apollo, and an other of his patients appareled like unto Aesculapius waited on this mad Menecrates, who being jupiter himself, the father of Gods and men, went about with his bands of Gods in his rob of purple, a crown of gold on his head, and a Sceptre in his hand. This mad mate sending a letter unto Philip king of Macenie wrote unto him thus. Thou art King of Macedon, but I of the art of healing: thou whensoever thou listest canst kill men, but I can save men that be sick, ye and if they will obey me keep them in health & lusty until they be old: thou goest guarded with Macedons, but I with all the men in the world, or that shallbe hereafter: for I jupiter do give them life: Philip answering his letter, used this superscription, or after their manner, this salutation.  
Philip wisheth unto Menecrates, health and his right wits. The very like wrote also Menecrates unto Archidamus, king of Lacaedemonia, that he had used unto Philip: and unto whom so ever he wrote, he never abstained from the name of jupiter. On a time when Philip had invited him with all his crew of Gods to a feast, he placed them at a bed, which was built and set on a great height, and very magnificently decked, and placed beside it a table whereon stood an altar, and the first fruits of all fruits of the earth, and when meat was brought, and served unto the other guests, the children sacrificed with perfumes unto Menecrates, and his God's waiters, but gave them never a morsel of meat: (for Gods need no earthly food, to nourish their heavenly bodies.) At the last, jupiter being laughed almost out of his coat, with those which followed him, ran away out from the feast, being dolted more like a dog, then worshipped as a God by that wise king, who after the great overthrow that he gave the Athenians, and their confederates at Cheronea, 
A worthy order taken by Philip.  where he quite everted the liberty of all Greece, perceiving himself to grow into pride and insolency by that happy success, prepared a preservative, to keep him from swelling so great, that he should break the bands of reason and humanity. Wherefore he gave unto one of his servants this office and charge, that every morning he should come into his chamber, and call out unto him aloud: Philip, remember thou art a man, and this was ever after so constantly kept by him, that he would not once go abroad himself, or suffer any man to be admitted unto his speech, but on that day that the boy had before thrice thundered out unto him, Philippe anthropos ei, Philip thou art a man. In the very same place also telleth Athenaeus of one Themison, 
Of horsemen.  darling and minion unto king Antiochus, who was proclaimed at public assemblies by the crier, Hercules: and also all the inhabitants for fear of the king, sacrificed unto him by the name of Themison Hercules, who was also present, if any of the noble men sacrificed, and lay upon a bed of state, 
Of Commodas.  clothed in a Lion's case. He bore also a Scythian bow, and a club: so that it is no marvel, if that in many years after, Commodus would be called Hercules, and son unto jupiter, and not of good Marcus Commodus, seeing that he being the Emperor of Rome, did more resemble Hercules both in large Empire, and strength of body, as he that would strike through with a dart an Elephant, or the horn of an Orix, and also in kill and destroying of Lions and monsters. For says Dion, he alone with his own hand slew upon the Amphitheatre in one day, five Hippotami, or water horses, two Eliphants, one Rhinocerotes, and a Chameleon Pardis, whereunto Capitolinus addeth one hundred bears, and one hundred Lions at so many shoots. He would come to the Amphitheatre in a rob of purple and gold, and a mantle of the same after the Greek cut (for Hercules was a Greek) with a crown of gold glistering with precious stones of India. These kinds of ornaments were strange unto the romans at those days, also the Caduceus and a Lion's case, and a club were borne before him, whether soever he went: but on the Theatre, whether he were present or absent, they were placed on a seat of gold. In the habit of Mercury, did he oftentimes enter the theatre, and casting off all his other apparel, would go unto the murdering of wild beasts, striped into his coat, & barefooted. He refusing says Capitolinus the habit of the Roman Princes, would come abroad into the city, wrapped in a Lion's case, and a club in his hand, and many times (not without contempt and derision) would he offer himself to be seen in women's apparel, that he might in all naughty and undecent points, imitate him whom he would be taken to be. He was publicly sacrificed unto, and a great number of statues were in his honour set up in the habit of Hercules: and a decree was made, that the time wherein he reigned, should be called the golden world, and that it should be so recorded and enrolled in all monuments. He was called the golden Hercules. He caused the head of Colossus to be cut off, and an other of his own visage to be set upon it, putting a club in his hand, and a Lion of brass at his feet, that it might be like unto Hercules. Neither was he contented in those ridiculous toys to follow Hercules, but that he most cruelly against all humanity, gathered together into one place, all such as in that mighty city (and which Galene called an abridgement of the whole world) were lame in feet, or legs: and doubling and folding up their legs unto their knees, as though they had had the neither parts of serpents (for so the Poets do feign of the Giants) and giving them sponges, which they should throw at him in stead of stones, he snatched them, and struck the brains out of their heads with a club, rather as a butcher doth calves, than Hercules did the Giants. But let us pass Commodus, whom Dion thinketh to be but a simple witted man. Can the diligent training, & wise instructions of that famous Philosopher Aristotle restrain his scholar Alexander the great, 
Of Alexander.  within the limits of humane nature, but that he being publicly pampered by fortune, like an horse over frankly fed, broke all bands of reason, not thinking it honour enough, for him to be the chiefest man and monarch of the earth, but would surmount humane nature, and be a God? who would think that the most skilful man in the nature of things, which ever nature brought forth, could not teach his scholar to know his own nature? He took foul scorn to be called the son of Philip, the most renowned king of the world, but would needs be son unto jupiter Hammonius, to the great grief of his mother, who used often to complain that her son would never cease, to make her envied and hated of juno, as her husband jupiter his harlot. Athenaeus writeth by the authority of Ephippus, that he used to wear sacred robes at supper, sometime of purple, rounded and horned like unto jupiter Hammonius, other times like unto Pallas, which he carried in his chariot, an other while like Mercury, his Petasus on his head, and his Caduceus in his hand: and oftentimes, in a Lion's case, with a club like unto Hercules. He would be sacrificed unto with myrrh, and other costly odours. He was minded, says Strabo, if he had not been prevented by death, to have invaded Arabia, by making a ditch of xxx furlongs broad, derived out of Euphrates, because as he pretended, they only of all nations, had sent no ambassadors unto him: but the very cause indeed was, for that he had heard that the Arabians only worshipped only two Gods, that is, jupiter & Bacchus, who give the principal things which do appertain to man's life, than he thought that if he should subdue them, and afterward suffer them to enjoy their ancient liberties, that then they would make him their third God. Which report of Strabo to be true, his ridiculous writing unto all the cities of Greece, to be ordained a God by public decree, doth probably prove: foolishly looking to obtain immortality of them, which were mortal themselves: and that by the statutes of men, which was not imparted by nature. But when as concerning this matter, some decreed one thing, some an other, the Lacedæmonians made this decree: 
A witty decree of the Lacedæmonians.  seeing that Alexander will needs be a GOD, let him be a God: in few words (as their manner was,) wittily reproving and covertly scoffing at his doltish pride. How much greater would he have been, if that he had not so hastily coveted to be so great, and would not rather have given ear and have been ruled by a pelting Poet of Argos, Hagis, and Clio, a servile Sicilian, and the drudges and slaves of those countries, whom he had subdued: who to feed his humour, were not ashamed openly to say, that he was a God far surmounting Hercules, Bacchus, Castor, and Pollux: whom the vain greeks accounted their great Gods, and being set on by him did move the Lords of Macedon, and Greece, to acknowledge him for a God: whom they said Clio perfectly already by his acts to be one. Then his wise, faithful, and loving schoolefelowe Calisthenes and his Nobles and kinsmen, and namely Antigonus, 
A worthy saying of Antigonus.  who could have told him, as he did afterward his own son, when he used himself towards his subjects somewhat proudly, and violently, that the state of a King was nothing else but a glorious bondage, and slavery.  
The contempt, hatred, unhappy end, and infamy, which this ambition of godly honour bred in Alexander, could not happily make other take warning of attempting the like. For Caius Caligula the Roman Emperor, one borne (says Seneca) to show what supreme naughtiness is able to do, being placed in the supreme place, 
Of Caligula.  did far surmount, and go beyond all precedent of Alexander. For he, that I may use Dion'S words, would be accounted higher than the top of mankind and to have carnal copulation with the Moon, whom says Suetonius he used, when she shined bright and was at the full, foolishly to invite to come down and lie with him: and to have been crowned by the Gods victory. He feigned that he was jupiter, and therefore he professed that he had fleshly dealt whereas with many other women besides his wives, than also with his own sisters. He oftentimes become juno, Diana, and Venus, always changing with his name his habit and apparel. Whereby it happened, that sometime he was seen in a woman's apparel holding a cup and a Thyrsus, or Bacchanal javelin, at other times clothed manlike in a lions case with a club, now he had a beard anon after he was beardless, otherwhile he bore a threefold mace like Neptune, them he would vambrish lightning as he had been jupiter, sometime he resembled Minerva the virgin warrior in glistering armour, shaking his spear, incontinently after was he transformed into a nice woman. Finally in the fashion of his apparel, and the garments that were partly put on him, and partly cast about him, was he wonderfully changed and altered, coveting to seem any thing rather than a man.  
On a time it happened that one Gallus seeing him sitting in judgement upon an high throne, disguised like unto jupiter, 
The free speech of a Butcher.  began to laugh at him. Then Caligula spying him to laugh called Gallus unto him, and asked the fellow, what he thought him to be: Gallus answered readily and truly, a notable great fool: and he escaped scotfree because he was a butcher, but one letter of that sentence should have cost a Senator his life & lands.  
There flattered him those that were in greatest estimation, among whom was also L. Vitellius, a man of great wisdom and valiancy, and very famous, specially for the government of Syria. For among other noble acts, he forced Artabanus the king of the Parthians for fear to sacrifice unto the statues of Augustus and Caligula, and to desire peace with conditions very honourable for the Romans: giving his children in hostage for the performance of them. This Vitellius being sent for by Caligula to be murdered (for his good service and glorious acts were the cause of his danger, 
The impudent flattery of Vitellius.  envy breeding hatred, and fear death) escaped death by a means worse than ten thousand deaths: for he appareling himself far more basely than his honour and glory required, and falling down flat at Caligula his feet shedding abundant tears, cokesing him with many divine honours, and vowing if that he did escape in safety that he would sacrifice unto him, as the only author of his salvation: did so mollify the man, and so appease his wrath, that he not only obtained pardon, but was taken into the number of his most entire friends.  
On a time Caligula affirmed that he had carnally dealt with the Moon, 
Vitellius his witty answer.  and would know of Vitellius whither that he did not see him doing it with the Goddess: then Vitellius as one astonished, casting down his head softly and trembling said: my sovereign it is granted only unto you Gods, to see one another. But to return unto Caius, he being carried further into folly, built up a Temple unto himself, and proper unto his own Godhead, wherein was set up his statuie of gold, which was every day decked with such garments, as he ware himself. He had made himself a mansion in the Capitol, that he might, as he would say himself, be conversant with jupiter, but afterward thinking it to be against his divine majesty in dwelling with jupiter to have the lower place, chafing with jupiter that he had gotten before him the Capitol, in great haste with all speed set up a Temple to himself in the Palace: and the Temple of Castor and Pollux which stood in the Roman Forum, being divided into two parts: he built a way or entry into the Palace between the two Images of Castor and Pollux, saying, that the two sons of jupiter and Leda should be his porters. Of the which matter writeth Suetonius. She would talk as it were in secret with jupiter, which was set up in the Capitol, the Romans chief God, sometimes he whispered, and at other times he listened, as though jupiter had spoken unto him, and other while would he speak aloud, not without bitter chide: for often those words of his were heard, threatening jupiter, with a piece of an ancient Greek verse, that he would send him thence unto the land of the greeks: until at the length he being won by entreaty, as he said himself, was invited by jupiter to devil with him, and made a bridge above the Temple of Augustus which joined the palace unto the Capitol. He chose to be his priests his wife Cesoina, and his uncle Claudius, & other of the richest and best of the city, every man making great suit for it, and out bidding one another in money. He took says Dron of every one of them which were admitted unto the office, Centies sestertium that is of our money. 75000. l. He also was his own Priest, and choose to his college or fellow in office his horse, a meet match.  
Every day were supplications and vows made unto him and sacrifices of all kinds of delicate birds, of great price, as Phinocopteri, peacocks, bustardes, Turkey cocks, and other strange birds. He also had an engine, wherewithal he would thunder against thunder, and lighten against lightning, and as often as any lightning fell down he would hurl up a stone, ever adding that verse in Homer: kill me or I will thee. Neither could Italy contain his pride, but that it stretched throughout all the provinces of the Roman Empire, ye and Petronius the governor of Syria was commanded to go to Jerusalem with a power and to set up his statues under the name of iovis Maximi in the inviolable and holy temple of God almighty: and unless that the jews would receive them, that he should put unto the sword those that would speak against them, and take prisoners all the rest of the multitude. 
The constant piety of the jews.  But when that the jews did wholly with one consent constantly refuse to admit them against God's laws, & offered unasked the throats of themselves, of their wives, and children to the fatal blade, rather than to suffer such abomination to be brought in to defile their Temple: Petronius moved with their constancy, stayed the execution of the emperors commandment for that present time, writing unto him immediately with what power he had entered jury, and what all the whole nation had suppliantly desired of his majesty, which if he would deny, he willed him to understand, that with the people the whole Province must be utterly destroyed, for they did obstinately keep their country laws, and vehemently refuse his new injunctions.  
To these letters Caius all to chafed answered very immoderately, and threatening him death for the slack executing of his commandment. But before these letters were delivered unto Petronius, more joyful news were brought, 
Caligula his great hatred unto mankind  that Caligula was made out of the way, to the incredible joy of all mankind, whom he hated so deadly, that he had been often heard to bewail his ill hap, that in all his reign there had chanced no notable pestilence, famine, ravine of water, earthquake, nor any great bloody battle, whereby many men might perish: & wished that all the people of Rome had but one head, that he might have strooken it off at one blow: it had been ill with mankind, if that this Phaeton of the world, as his uncle Tiberius did use to call him, had been immortal, who in three years and six months (for so long he reigned) had near hand utterly destroyed it. Moreover I read in Suetonius, 
Of Domitian.  that Domitian the Emperor drawing a form of letters, which his agents should use, began thus: Our Lord and God doth command it so to be done. Whereby it was decreed afterward, that he should not be called otherwise by any man either in writing or speech.  
It is is also left to memory, that about the year of our Lord 620. Cosdras the mighty King of the Persians, after that he had won all Syria, with Jerusalem, & all the South part of Asia with Egypt, and all Africa, would needs be adored for a God, and divine honours with sacrifices done unto him through out all his large dominions. But perhaps some man will say, what marvel was it for great monarchs among the heathen to think themselves to be Gods, if that you do consider their absurdity & fond usage in constituting of Gods: the original and causes whereof I do think good to touch.   

The third Chapter. Whereof the false Gods had their first ground, and the causes that moved diverse countries to worship many men after death for Gods, and also some while they lived: as Demetrius, julius Caesar, Pycta, Lysander, Simon Magus & Apollonius: and of the extreme madness of the Egyptians in choosing of their Gods, of the impudent flattery of the ambassadors of Palermo unto Martin the fourth, and of the people to Herodes Agrippa, and the present punishment of God for the accepting thereof. Of the wonderful reverence that the Persians gave unto their Kings: and of the rare love that the Galls, Arabians, & Aethiopians bore unto their Princes: two worthy sayings of Antigonus and Canute.  
AFter that the ungracious child Chara was abdicated and put away by his father without any instructions given him touching the worshipping of the true God, 
Lact. de fals. relic. The Original of worshipping of false Gods.  the outcast and his progeny marvelously increased, (as our common proverb is, an ill weed grows fast) and they deduced many colonies into divers parts of the world, and the ignorance of the proving of the true God, which was in the first parent, daily growing greater and greater in his posterity. You seeing as Cicero says in his book of the nature of the Gods, it is naturally engraffed in man to acknowledge a God, and that no people or nation is so rude and barbarous, that doth not profess a God, they being utterly ignorant of the true God, thought those things which they saw to excel other, and by whom they received most commodities to be Gods: whereof arose the worshipping of the Sun, the Moon, Stars, and such other things, and also the making of the Gods, when they were dead, 
The first cause why the Gentiles did make men Gods.  who in their lives had invented or done any notable things to the use and profit of mankind. And hereby it came to pass, that some for the great celebrity of their names, were as it were generally received of all nations, as Hercules, Bacchus, Castor, and Pollux: 
Lact. de fals. reli 1. cap. 15.  and other were worshipped but in particular countries, of whom only they had well deserved, as Isis in Egypt, juba in Mauritania, Cabyrus in Macedonia, Vracius among the Carthaginians, Fanus in Latium, Romulus, or after his deification Quirinus at Rome: and with a great number such other shall he meet, that diligently readeth the ancient monuments of the Pagans, and those christian authors which have refused their superstitions. 
The second cause.  We read also in the book of wisdom that the unhappy man being bereft by unripe death of his son whom he loved tenderly, to mitigate and assuage his sorrow, first invented to have his sons image adored, and it to be taken for a present GOD in earth, and the son himself for a GOD in heaven. The like affection we read in Lactantius Cicero had towards his Daughter, and Virgil's Aeneas unto his Father: 
Aeneid. 5.  with this consolation recovering their Spirits daunted and broken with grief. 
The third cause.  Wonderful also was the honour and observancy that some nations bore unto their kings: 
The love of the Arabians unto their Kings.  so that he which readeth what Atheneus doth writ of the Arabians, that the familiars of the Kings did use to maim themselves voluntarily of that member which it should happen the king to lose: and that when the King died either natural or violent death, they thought it but a sport to die all with him: the like whereof is affirmed by Strabo and Diodorus Siculus of the Aethiopians: 
Lib. 4. Lib. 17.  and also of the Soliduni in a country of Gallia: who were six hundredth men whom the King did choose to be about him as his guard, 
The love of the Solidunes unto their Kings.  and lived and died with the king, neither was it ever known that any one man of them did ever refuse, or seem, unwilling to die, the Prince being deceased. He (I say) that reads this will not be hard of belief to credit Lactantius, that the Maures did use to consecrated all their kings for Gods after they were dead.  
The Aethiopians sayeth Strabo libr. 17. think that there is an immortal God and a mortal God. The immortal is he that is the cause of all things: the mortal is with them uncertain and lacketh a name: but mostly they do take them by whom they have received benefits, and their Kings for Gods. Moreover they do think their kings to be conservers and keepers of all men, but private men when they be dead (for they do accounted all dead men for Gods) only of them, to whom they have done good. In like manner also the Romans used to deify their Emperors after their death, as they also did their first king Romulus. The Persian kings we read in Curtius and other, 
What man was first adored.  were adored like unto Gods, which honour says Arrianus was given & done unto Cyrus first of all mortal men: and the first of the Roman Emperors that was adored or kneeled unto, was Dioclesian after his glorious voyage and victory against the Persians. Yea in our time Xoas the king of the Persians is worshipped of his subjects for God. The water wherewithal he hath washed his feet do they power out of the basin, and keep religiously as holy, being an hoalsome medicine for all diseases: he is called the Lord that holds up heaven and earth.  
The Gentiles also to encourage the young Gentlemen to follow virtue and valiancy, 
The fourth cause of deifying of men.  used much to Canonize and consecrated for Gods after death, the renowned Captains and great conquerors: by these means Hercules, Bacchus, and other, did clime into heaven. Of this way speaketh Horace in his Epistles.  
In triumphs brave to countrymen  
To show the captive foes,  
Doth touch the stately throne of jove,  
And up to heaven it goes.  
And Lactantius citeth Ennius making Scipio Africanus thus to speak.  
If any man by shedding blood  
May climb the lofty Skies,  
Only to me the greatest gate  
of Heaven then open lies.  
This wasting and burning of other men's lands, and goods razing of towns, destroying of Cities, kill of infinite number of innocent men, women, and children, bringing into bondage unjustly many free people, did they call virtue: which heathen abuse of the world remaineth yet unto this day among the Italians, with many other such irreligious relics, calling john Galeazo the court of virtue, because he wrongfully like a strong thief rob and spoiled by force all the Princes about him of their Dominions, and possessions. 
Lact. de fals. relic.   
Among the Pagans' he that had killed one man was adjudged a contaminate & a wicked person, neither did they think it lawful to let him come into the earthly house of their Gods: but he that had slain infinite thousands of men, had overflown the fields with blood, had died the rivers, was admitted not only into the temples, but also received into heaven. Murdering of one climbed the gallows, of infinite thousands heaven. Not otherwise, than the pirate answered Alexander the great, when he reviled him as a most wicked knave, that lived by the spoil of other men: that because he roved but with one only pinnace, he was called a pirate: but Alexander, for that his mighty fleets filled all the seas, robbing, wasting, pillaging, and burning all countries, was named a king: as though singularity in wickedness, were singular virtue, and deserved singular honours. But although it was common among the Gentiles, to deify men after they were dead, yet godly honours to be ordained unto any while they lived, 
To what men godly honours were decreed while they lived. The fift cause.  happened but unto few. The first says plutarch among the Greeks was Lysander, to whom after he had taken Athens, the Greeks decreed many unwonted honours, and some of them altars to be erected in his name, and poems or sacred hymns to be sung in his honour. 
The impudent flattery of the Athenians unto Demetrius.  The Athenians did set a fine of ten talents on Demades his head, because he thought that Alexander was a god, and did put to death Euagoras, for that he adored Alexander when he was sent ambassador unto him from the city. Yet these severe men afterward received Demetrius Poliorcetes, 
Ath. lib. 6. ca 6  when he came to Athens, not only with fine perfumes, garlands, and effusions of wine, 
Ath. li. 14. ca 8  the quires and Ithyphalli (which were men disguised like drunken men, with garlands on their heads, & gloves made of flowers, or rather of divers colours like flowers, cloaks half white, and a Tarentine rob, down to the shaped, which sacred persons only attended on the highest gods) went out to meet him with sacred singing & dancing. But the multitude danced & sung: that only this the true God is present, but the other gods do sleep, or wander abroad from home, or else certes be not at all, but this is the son of Neptune, and Venus, excelling all in beauty, & for his facility common to all men. This God is here as it is meet, for a God surpassing beautiful, both laughing & also grave: because all his friends environ him, in the midst of whom, who are as it were stars, he is seen like unto the sun. All hail thou son of Venus, & most mighty Neptune, for the rest of the Gods, either they have no ears, or they be not at all in very deed: or at the lest wise, they adhibite not their minds to our matters. Therefore thou most merciful & mild, we do pray thee, that thou wilt vouchsafe to give us peace, for thou art the Lord: with a great deal more such stuff, which song, if that they had sung unto his father Antigonus, he would have answered them, as he did the parasite poet Hermodotus, 
A worthy saying of Antigonus.  that called him in his prattling poem, the son of the sun: my man that useth to empty my close stool, thinks not thus of me. Which sage saying of Antigonus, putteth me in remembrance the Platina writeth in the life of john, the eight of that name, that the bishops of Rome do use at their installing, to sit upon a jakes stool, to put them in mind, that although they are advanced to the highest seat of earthly glory (as they themselves think) yet for all that, that they are mortal men still, & subject to the necessities of man's nature, as well as other poor knaves. A suitable song unto this of the Athenians, howled out the ambassadors of the citizens of Palermo, unto Martin the fourth bishop of Rome, 
The shameless speech of the Panormitanes.  who had accursed them for slaying of all the frenchmen, women & children, which were in the Island of Sicyl, & all Sicilyan women which were known to be with child by any frenchman. Upon an Easter day at the first peal to Evensong, 
Paul Aemyl. lib. 7.  they lying prostrate at the bishops feet, cried out with lamentable voice: O lamb of God that takest away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us: and again: O lamb of God that takest away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us: and the third time: O lamb of God that takest away the sins of the world, give unto us peace: ungodly & violently pulling off the royal spoils from our Saviour Christ, & casting them on Martin: for whom they were as fit as Hercules' start-ups, according to the old proverb, are for a child, or his rough Lion's case and club, were for the nice Lady jole. But to return unto the Athenians, plutarch in the life of Demetrius writeth, that they decreed that Demetrius and his father Antigonus, should be called the Gods saviours, and that there should be ordained a priest unto the Gods saviours, that they should be interwoven in the sacred people with jupiter & Pallas, that the legates which should go at any time unto them, should be accepted for sacred. Yea, there lacked not some that would have had a shield consecrated unto him at Delphos, of whom they should publicly receive oracle and answer in all doubtful matters, as good, and as true as any that was there. But the Athenians not being content with this shameless flattering of the king, they decreed the sacrifices of Venus unto his two concubines, Leona and Lamia, and unto his flatterers and parasites Burichus Adimanthus, and Exythemides, were altars and statues erected, and poems which should be sung in their honour: in so much, that Demetrius himself being astonished at their servile flattery, affirmed, that in his time there was not one Athenian of stout heart, 
The shameless flattery of the Athenians unto Antonius, and how he required them therefore.  nor ripe judgement. The like impudency used they many years after unto Antonius the triumpher, and among many extraordinary honours, they espoused unto him their chief Goddess and patron of their city, Pallas, which marriage he said he did very well like off, and withal his heart accept, and they should give with her unto him quadragies sestertium. 10000 crowns, a fine not half great enough for so heinous a fault. The Ephesians also by plutarchs report received him Godlike, the women being disguised like Bacchus his dame priests, & the men & boys transfigured into satires, and Panes, bearing in their hands bacchanical javelins called Thyrsie, and garlands of ivy on their heads, saluting and calling him by the name of Bacchus, Charidoles, and Malichius. Wherein they be the more to be borne with, because, says Dion, lib. 48. he had after the overthrow that he gave unto Brutus and Cassius, named himself Bacchus, whom in very deed he did very lively counterfeit and express in drunkenness: and commanded that no man should call him by any other name. But before this time had the Romans decreed julius Caesar, 
The flattery of the Romans to julius Caesar.  after that he had with arms oppressed unto the liberty of his country, honours higher, and greater than could agree with any man, a temple jointly unto him and Clemency, a statuie of gold set with precious stones, to the Curia or Senatehouse: and before the judgement seat a sacred drey or little cart and a pageant setfoorth with the pomp that they used at their plays Circenses, his statues to be set up close unto the superstitious beds of their Gods. A College of priests were instituted unto his Godhead, which were called Luperci julii, and a Bishop or Flamen of the order, which was Marcus Antonius the consul: that they should swear by his fortune, that every fifth year a feast should be celebrated unto him, as a Heros or half God, that all the games of sword players that should be kept in Rome or in all Italy should be consecrated unto him. Finally, says Dion, they openly gave him the surname of jupiter, 
Lib. 44.  which things do agree unto Eustatius the famous interpreter of Homer upon the first of his Iliads, that julius Caesar was called a God by the Romans while he was living. 
Diod. lib. 44.  All these decrees which partly the flattering people, and partly his privy ill willers to bring him into envy thus heaped on him, were engraved in pillars of silver with letters of gold, and placed at the feet of jupiter Capitolinus, covertly to admonish him of his humanity, and subjection unto God. But it is not to be wondered at that Caesar was made a God by the oppressed Romans, 
Lib. 7. cap. 47.  seeing that Pliny affirmeth, that one Euthymus Picta, an Italian, who had ever been victor at the games held at Olympus, and never but once overcome, was by the commandment of the Oracle of Apollo and the astipulation of jupiter the highest God, consecrated alive and feeling: and that the very same day his statuie that had been set up at Olympia was strooken and consumed with lightning, and that this did also please the Gods, he says that Callimachus doth so marvel at, as he doth at nothing else that ever happened. Neither have Magicians, 
Simon Magus adored for a God.  and sorcerers obtained less honour: for in the time of Claudius the Emperor, one Simon a Samaritane, of his devilish art and science called Magus, 
just. in Apol, Tertul. in Apolo. etc.  came unto Rome and played there so many fine sly juggling knacks, that he with his minion Helena were accounted for Gods and sacrifices offered unto them, and his Image set up between the two bridges of Tiber with this title Simoni Deo Magno, to Simon a great God: but Tertullian hath an holy God whom all the Samaritans, and many also of other nations did adore and confess to be the highest God.  
The insolency, writes Egesippus, out of this juggling merchant went so far, 
The contention between Peter and Magus.  that he provoked Simon Peter, then being at Rome to contend with him in working of miracles. He went about to raise up by magic arts, the body of a child, whose soul was departed out of it, the Child was of kind unto Nero: and in deed moved it a little, but incontinently it fell down stark dead, as it was before.  
But Peter by the name of jesus made it to rise alone of itself. With the event of which miracle Simon being nettled, and chafed, professed that he would in the sight of all the people of Rome fly from the Capitol unto the Auentive hill, if Peter would follow him: that deed should manifestly declare whither of them two was best beloved of GOD. And now was Simon carried aloft in the air, when Peter on his knees suppliantly desired almighty GOD not to suffer the people who turneth all things to the worst to be deceived by false juggling, neither lacked his prayers effect, for Simon fell down to the ground in the mids of his foolish flight, and broke one of his legs, shortly after dying thereof at Aricia: whither he had been privily conveyed by his disciples after that foul foil. 
Lib. 5. cap. 3. Apollonius adored for a God.  I find also in Lactantius that in the reign of Domitian, Apollonius the famous Magician was adored of many for a GOD, and an image set up unto him by the name of Hercules Alexicacoes: Hercules the driver away of all evil. 
The madness of the Egyptians in choosing their false Gods.  Thus have ye heard the extreme foolishness of many heathen men in choosing of their GOD'S, but the madness of the Egyptians doth far exceed them all: for they, says Herodotus in Euterpe, do take all beasts both wild, and tame, for Gods.  
There are (says Strabo in his seventeenth book) some unreasonable living creatures, which all the Egyptians do universally worship, as of the land beasts, the neat, and the dog: of birds, the hawk and the Ibis: of fishes the Lepidotus, and Oxyrinchus. And there be other which every city adoreth peculiarly, as the Saites and Thebans a sheep, the Latopolitanes a fish in the River of Nilus called Latus, the Lycopolitanes a wolf, the Hermopolitanes the Cynocephalus, the Babylonians besides Memphis the Cepus, which is a beast like unto a Satire, but in all other parts mean between a dog and a bear: the Mendesians both the ram, and the ewe goat. The Athribites the venomous mouse called Mus Araneus, Hercules his city, with other the ill-favoured Ichneumon which killeth the crocodile, and destroyeth the asps eggs: the Arsinoites the cruel crocodile, the Leontines the Lyon. 
Diod. Sic. 2. Ath. 7. cap. 17. Hero. Enterp.  The Eel also is a general God in Egypt, and all fishes with scales, and the bird Phoenix, and the Bergander, as affirmeth Herodotus: who also telleth, that if any man kill any of those baggages willingly, he dieth the death for it: if against his will, he is fined and punished at the discretion & will of the priests: but whosoever killeth an Ibis or an Hawk either with his will, or against it, must needs die for it. And to be death to kill a cat either by mishap or of purpose, doth Diodorus Siculus show by an example, which he himself saw. 
Lib. 2. cap. 4.  The Roman ambassadors were at Alexandria to enter into society and friendship with the Egyptians and their king to he called an alley & friend of the people of Rome, where it chanced one of the Romans against his will to kill a cat. As soon as it was noised in the city, the angry citizens assembling together in great troops from all parts of the town, assaulted the house wherein the imbassaders lay, & requested to have him delivered unto them, that he might be executed: utterly neglecting the greatness of the Roman name, and the memory of the friendship lately made: and doubtless they would have put him to death, if that the king and the officers, had not rather conveyed then delivered him out of the present peril. Diodorus also doth affirm, that these baggage Gods are kept and nourished about the Temples by men of good reputation, who feed them with fine manchet, Alica, a kind of furmament, & dainty dishes made with milk. Moreover they do set every day before them geese both boiled, and also roasted, and for those that eat raw flesh they 'cause birds to be caught, finally they keep them with great care and charges. Furthermore they do wash them with warm water, and very good and odoriferous ointments. They also make for them sumptuous beds, costly garnished, they mourn for their death, as much as they were their children, and bury them more sumptuously than their ability can clear.  
After the death of Alexander the great, when that Ptolomeus Lagi held Egypt, an Ox being dead at Memphis for age, he that took upon him the charge to keep him, bestowed upon his burial a great mass of money the which had been given for the charges of the funerals, and also fifty talents that is 9375. lent by Ptolomey. Also in our age which was in the time of Ptolomeus Dionysius the last king, certain that had the keeping of such beastly Gods, bestowed upon their funerals, no less than 100 talentes, that is, 18750. pound. In what house soever says Herodotus cats do die by nature, all they that do devil in them do shave their ey-browes only, but if that a dog die, all their whole bodies, and heads are shaven. Dead cats are carried by the people howling and beating their breasts, unto the temples to be salted, and from thence into the city Buleastis to be buried: but they lay dogs in sacred cophines in those temples where they happen to die, but dead shrew mice and hawks they do carry unto the city of Butis: all these baggages do they by the report of Diodorus wrapp in fine sheeets, and embaulme with the precious liquor of Cedrus, and odoriferous ointments: but dead bears and wolves do they bury where they find them. Moreover, Juvenal in his xv. Satire, doth charge them with farther folly, in that they make leeks and onions their Gods: wherefore he frumping them says: O holy nations, that have Gods growing in their gardens. I have been the longer in declaring the madness of the Egyptians, to make men understand from whence the Israelites had their wonderful proneness unto idolatry, and worshipping of false Gods. But as I said before, it is not so greatly to be marveled at, if that heathen men, who accounted those to be Gods, whom they knew to be most renowned for virtue and valiancy, did when that when fortune fauned on them, forget themselves, and invaded wrongfully the godhead: yet who would believe that so absurd a thought could come into their minds, to whom God had revealed his truth, and the knowledge of himself, if we did not read the like of Herodes Agrippa, in the most true records of the Acts of the Apostles. Which history is in these words, related more at large by josephus, in the xix book of his antiquities. When Herodes Agrippa, 
The flattery of the people unto Herodes, & of his doleful end.  did set forth at the city of Caesaria, magnificent spectacles unto the people in the honour of Caesar, upon a day vowed for the life and safety of the Emperor: to the which came also the worshipful and honourable of the whole Province: the second day of the shows, the king putting on a glittering rob, wrought with wonderful workmanship of clean silver, about Sun rising came forth unto the theatre. Now when that the Sun at the first rising did shine upon the silver garment, the glistering of the metal did cast forth, with the reverberated beams, such a double and divine brightness, that the tenor of the sight, did dazzle the eyes of them that beheld it, striking in them a veneration with honour. Incontinently was there heard the flattery of the common people, prattling out words which sounded to honour, but brought destruction. He was saluted from all parts of the Theatre by the name of a God, and supplyantly prayed unto to be merciful and good unto them, the people saying: until this time we have ever feared thee as a man, but from henceforth we do now confess thee to surmount, and be above man's nature. But the king did not suppress nor blame their lewd exclamations, neither abhorred the ungodliness of unlawful flattery, until such time as a little while after he looking up, saw an Owl sitting upon a rope that went cross the Theatre over his head, and immediately withal, he felt him to be the minister of his destruction, whom he had known before to be his purveyor of good things, and so was he suddenly tormented with incredible pains about his heart, belly, and small guts, and looking back upon his friends, said: behold ye, I that God of yours am presently tumbled down from life: the power of God presently proving those words to be false, which you even very now bestowed and hurled on me. And I whom but very now, you called immortal, am out of hand at this instant, carried headlong to death: but I must abide and receive the sentence which God hath pronounced on me: for I have lived, not in misery, but in so great felicity, that all men call me a blessed man. When he had spoken those words, he being more grievously vexed with the violence of the pain, was incontinently borne into the palace. But shortly after, when it was bruited abroad, that he was upon the point of death, a great multitude of all ages & sects came unto the palace, who lying on the ground grovely clothed in haircloth, after their country guise, made incessant supplications unto God for the king's recovery, all the kings palace ringing with their doleful cries and lamentations: when as in the mean time, the king lying in a chamber above, and looking down, and beholding them lying flat on their faces with lamentable weeping, could not abstain from tears himself: but being five days thus tormented, incessantly with griping pains of his belly, at the length broke in sunder the tedious thread of loathsome life. Thus by this long narration of those, whose prosperity made them to forget their maker, 
A golden sentence of Augustine.  yea, and themselves too, that saying of Augustine's is verified: that as all fruits, all grains, all woods have their worm, and every one a divers worm the one from the other: so the worm of riches, power, and prosperity, is pride, which doth corrupt and quite consume them, as all other worms do the substances wherein they are bred: never dying, until that they have changed the names: turning woods to rottenness, iron to lust and dross, power to poverty: the unsearchable wisdom of God so ordaining, that those things which it might seem, no forreighe forre could be able to hurt, should themselves engender in themselves, a thing to destroy themselves, and be utterly consumed by an inward ill. Yet Canute the mighty Monarch of this realm, Denmark, and Norwey, did so medicine his prosperity with true godliness, religiousness, and humility, that there could no worm of pride be bred in it. For he having once gotten a leisure time, 
The humility of king Canute Polyd  from the troublesome affairs of his realms and subjects, walked for to refresh his spirits, dulled with the unquiet tediousness of Prince's toil, along the sea side upon the sands, not far from Southampton: where he was called by one of his soldiers, that served unto the ear, the king of kings, and of all kings, far the most mighty, who largely reigned over men, over the sea, over the earth. Then the king speaking never a word, erected his mind to contemplate the power of God: and that he might with a manifest argument and demonstration, reprove the vain and false flattery of his soldier: he did put off his cloak, and wrapping it round together like a bowl, and setting down upon it hard by the water, that then flowed, spoke thus: Wave I command thee, that thou touch not my feet. He had not so soon spoken these words (those which attended on him wondering to what end he did these things) when behold the wave in surging all to wet him.  
Then he going back said: Sirs call ye me a king who am not able to cohibite and stay this little wave? certes no mortal man is worthy of so high a name: there is one only king the Father of our Lord jesus Christ, with whom he doth reign: at whose beck all things are governed and ruled, him let us worship: him let us call king: him of kings, him of all peoples and nations to be the Lord, him of heaven, of the earth, of the sea to be the ruler, let us not only confess, but also profess, and besides him none. After this going to Winchester, he did set with his own hands the crown which he ware on his head upon the Image of Christ crucified, which stood in the Church, and never ware crown afterward.   

The fourth Chapter. Of the manifold miseries of man.  
NOw after I have rehearsed unto you a ragged roll of them whose unmeasurable pride would not suffer them to be contented with the next place unto God: but would needs sit with him, and many of them having by their savage and brutish usage and acts, justly lost the name of men, did wickedly & wrongfully invade the Godhead: I think it will not be either amiss, or unpleasant, to discourse, whither that they or any others such foundlings of fortune, ever had any such perfect felicity, as might quite take from them all annoyance and defect, and make them wholly forget that they were mortal men: and whither that any man may in this life be truly accounted happy: But I will plainly prove that man's nature of itself is so far from that bliss in this world, that no living creature is in any wise so wretched and fraught with miseries, as is he, and will also make manifest unto you by the particular examining of their lives, doings, chances, and ends, that no man which either would be, or was accounted a God, called the great: or any other man which was notorious and renowned for this worldly felicity, ever had fortune so addicted unto him, that he lived long without some great mischance, which might put him in remembrance that he was a man, and subject unto manifold miseries and gracious calamities.  
And first to speak in general of man, who knoweth not, that where as all other living things be borne with some covering defence, and clothing, as shell, rinds, hides, prickles, bristles, hair, feathers, quills, scales, fléeses, or will, ye and trees are defenced against both cold and heat with a bark, and some with two, only man hath nature thrown away on the bore ground all naked, for to wraule and cry, and only of all creatures to weep: yea and to begin his immeasurable labours with lamentations, but to laugh before he be forty days old is a monster, prognosticating and foretelling how seldom he shall have cause of mirth & how rife sorrows will be all his life long. After his doleful beginning of life, incontinently is he bound like a notorious malefactor both hand & foot, ye every limb of him: (which happeneth unto no other living thing:) and he that shall reign over all other creatures, lies crying in his cradle as in a prison fast tied, and begins his life with punishment, which he suffereth for no other fault, but because he is borne. O the madness of them that of their beginnings do think themselves borne to pride, and to be Gods. The first hope of strength, & function, and gift of time, makes him to crawl on all four. How long is it ere he doth go? how long before he speaketh? how long before his mouth he firm for meat? how long doth his mould pant: a sign and token of a singular weakness among the things that live? all other living things do feel and know their own nature, some use swiftness of foot, some wight wing, other their strength, other swim, only man knoweth nothing without teaching. He speaketh not, he goeth not, he eateth not, and to be short he doth nothing of natures own accord and instruct, but weep & cry. Whereby that saying of Menander in plutarch his consolation unto Apollonius is proved true: that no living thing doth sooner and more often rise and fall, then doth man, and good cause why, for that he being of all other most weak doth administer greatest and weightiest matters. To how many diseases is he subject? how many medicines are invented daily against them, which yet are overcome by new diseases, which do daily arise? and what disease almost hath any thing the draweth breath, whereunto man is not obnoctious? & how many maladies hath he, with whom no other living thing is troubled? the panting of the heart, 
Arist. in proble.  blood flowing out from the head by the nose, only he weepeth, only he goggleth with his eyes, only he stammereth with his tongue, he only is borne with the stone, only in his scars will no hair grow again, he néeseth oftener than any other thing that bears life: a token of great distemperature of the brain. Now if we run through all parts of his life, we shall find and see no time void of pain, lose of griefs, and free from torments of diseases. In the ages of men, says divine Hypocrates, happen such diseases: in infants and children newly borne, hot ulceres of the mouth, vomitings, coughs, watchings, swellings, inflammations of the navel, moistness of the ears: but when they come to breed teeth, itching of the gums, agues, convulsions, lasks and worse, when they put forth the dog teeth when they are waxed elder, inflammations of the parts between the mouth and the gullet, falling inward of the spondyl in the nape of the neck, Asthma or hasing, the stones, worms both round, and astarides, a kind of wortes called acrochordones, satyarismes or standing of the yard by a small inflammation, strumes or the kings evil, and other small tumours: when they be elder and come unto fourteen years, there happen many of the diseases of the ages which went before, and longer agues and bleeding at the nose. But unto young men spitting of blood, consumpsions of the lungs, sharp fevers, the falling sickness, and other diseases, specially those, which I have spoken of before, but unto them which have passed this age, befall Asthma, or hasinges, pleurisies, inflammations of the lungs, lethargies, frenzies, burning agues, long lasks, skouring upward and downward, bloody fluxes, lienteries, piles. But unto old men hard fetching of breath, rheums with coughs, stranguries, difficulties of making water, pains of the joints, swimming of the head, apoplexies, cacheries, itches over all the body, moistness of the belly, eyes and ears, dimness of sight, glaucedines or dryness and concretion of the crystalline humour in the eyes, and ill hearing. But although no age of man's life is free from diseases, yet perhaps some part of the year is so benign that in it the body having rest from grief may refresh and repair his strength which was wellnear quite tired and killed with the maladies and pains which it suffered before. Not (says Hypocrates) all diseases happen at all times, but yet some diseases are more bred and worse at one time, then at another. In the spring-time reign madness, melancholy, the falling sickness, fluxes of blood, squinseis, catarrhs, hoarseness, coughs, leprosies, morphews, impetigines, many ulcerous pustules, small tumours, pains of the joints. In the Summer some of those before rehearsed and agues, continual, and burning, and very many tertian and quartan agues, vomitings, and lasks, ophthalmies, or inflammations of the ears, pains of the ears, exulcerations of the mouth, putrefactions of the general parts and sweatinges. But in Autumn many of the summer diseases and fevers quartan & wandering agues, great spleens, dropsies, consumptions of the lungs, stranguries, lienteries, and bloody fluxes, pains of the hip, sqinseyes, Asthma or hasinges, pains in the small guts, falling sicknesses, madness, and melancholy. In the Winter pleurisies, inflammations of the lungs, lethargies, rheums, catarrhs, hoarseness, coughs, pains of the breast, sides and loins, swimming of the head, and apoplexies. Not only no part of man's age, nor of the year is free from diseases, not nor yet any kind of weather or state or temperature of the air. If it rain much there come long agues, lasks, putrefactions, the falling evil, apoplexies, and squinseys. In great droughts, 
Hip. Aph. sect. 3.  consumptions, ophthalmies, pains, of the joints, stranguries, and bloody fluxes. 
Hip. Aphor. sect. 5.  Much heat bringeth effemination of the flesh, weakness of the sinews, and brain, whereby the wits & mind be as it were benumbed, fluxes of blood, swoonings, after whom follow death. But cold causeth convulsions, tetanes, or distentions, benumbing, the kill of the natural heat, making of the flesh black and blue, quiveringes and shakings. Southern winds dull the hearing, dim the sight, make the head heavy, and men to be slothful & lither: but a northern constitution brings coughs, hoarseness, binding of the ●●lly, and stranguries, quivering pain of the sides and breast. So that Hypocrates truly says: that all whole man from his nativity is sickness. You though they & infinite other bodily griefs and diseases wherewithal man is oppressed, were not sufficient to keep this proud creature in his obedient, and to make him acknowledge his creator: he is no less but far more vexed with bodiless perturbations of the mind: unto whom he only at the lest in most, & in the other is most subject. Only says Pliny the diligent searcher of nature, who with Hypocrates have said almost all that you have heard of the misery of man, to him is given mourning, to him riot, & that innumerable ways, & in every member, to him only ambition, to him only covetousness, to him only unmeasurable desire of life, to him only superstition, to him only care of burial, yea, and what shall be when he is not. To none is more brittle life, to none greater lust of all things, to none more confuse fear, to none sharper and extreme rage and madness.   

¶ The fift Chapter. The immoderate mourning of man, and examples of them which have died for sorrow, conceived for the decay of God's glory, country's calamities, infortunity of parents, children, brethren, wives, masters, and friends.  
ANd these things not to be rather amplified rhetorically, then spoken truly, may easily be proved, and first of mourning. All other living things, because they are moved only by the senses, do apply themselves only unto those things which are present, little or nothing feeling things absent: whereby it cometh to pass, that they be not either so much or so long grieved with the loss of theirs. But man only by divine reason, which is given unto him by God, as the principallest and excellentest gift of nature: doth perceive and feel things absent, past, and to come, which multiplieth his miseries, and sorrows, the unsearchable wisdom of God so ordaining, that nothing in this world should be in all parts blessed. And as man by nature is desirous and loving society, and reposeth the greatest part of his felicity, in the mutual love of parents, children, husband, wife, kinsfolks, friends, country, yea, and most principally of God: so doubtless must we needs confess, that it is unto him the cause of great and many and sundry sorrows: and assent unto Martialis, that he which loveth not, feeleth less joy and less grief, the manifold mischances of death, dishonour, either by corrupt manners, or otherwise, griefs & diseases, both of body and mind, of our kinsfolks and friends, unto all which kind of calamities, the world is too too much subject, continually supplying unto us abundant sorrows. And how great the acerbity of this mourning is, besides the common examples, of whom daily experience gives unto us store: the lamentable habit of those which be in heaviness, doth sufficiently bewray: their faces pale and lean, their eyes hollow, their bodies nothing else but skin and bone, showing the knitting together of every joint, their continual watchings, their abhorring of meat, after which ensueth death. And of voluntary death willingly gone unto these cases, will I rehearse unto you examples. For piety towards God, we have innumerable of holy martyrs, who suffered all terrible torments to advance God his glory: and of Helie, as soon as he heard that the Ark of God was taken, fell backward from his chair, and broke his neck: of dutiful affection to their country out of justine, Codrus the king of Athens, and out of Livy the two Roman Decii, who willingly lost their lives for their country's welfare: & out of Paulus iovius, Pomperane in our age, a noble man of France: who being stricken with extreme sorrow for the lamentable loss by sickness of the flourishing army of his countrymen in Naples, under the conduct of the Lantrech, and the dishonourable yielding of Auersa, as he stood musing on this so great a calamity, and staring up into heaven, fell down stark dead: of pitiful piety towards parents out of Campofulgoso, the Toletane, who by importunate prayers and flowing tears, hardly at the length, obtained of the magistrate to be hanged in his father's steed: of fatherly sorrow out of Appian: Blaws, who hearing a false tale that his son was slain by the soldiers of Triumri, of his own accord went unto them, and obtained of them to be killed as one proscribed: and out of julius Capitolinus, Gordian the Roman Emperor, who understanding that his son was slain in battle, for intolerable grief hanged up himself, that night in his chamber: of brotherly love out of Pliny, Pub. Rutilius, who being certified of his brother's repulse in his suit for the Consulship, incontinently died: being before but grieved a little with an ague: and of the two Cappadocian brothers, that contended whether of them was the elder: for that Augustus had decreed, that the elder should be put to death with his father Adiatorix: and when they had long after this manner striven in deadly piety, scarce at the last Dyetentus, by the earnest entreaty and prayers of his mother, who saw that she might be more easily found and maintained by him, gave place, & suffered his younger brother to die for him the elder. Of sure affied heart unto wife, Marcus Plautinus, 
Valer. 4.6.  who slew him upon his dead wife: and Sempronius Gracchus, who did suffer himself to be slain wittingly in his fight, by kill of a male serpent, that he might deliver his wife from death, by letting the female to escape (for so the Soothsayers affirmed:) of fervent friendship Pylades and Pythias, who incessantly sued to die, to save his faithful friends Orestes and Damon, and Philotinus out of Pliny, that threw himself in to the rogue, or funeral fire of his patron, who had made him heir of all his whole goods: of faithful service two bondmen in Dion, who did change apparel with their proscribed masters, that they by wished error might be slain for them. Thus much of mourning the next is riot, whereunto may aptly be annexed too great lust of all things.   

The sixth Chapter. Of the great riot of man in apparel, and the excess therein, of a Cardinal's harlot of Poppea, of the soldiers of Antiochus, Sedetes, Caligula, Heliogabalus, Charles duke of Burgonie, the Marquis of Astorga, Lollia Paulina, Agrippina of the Romans, the greeks, and the Alexandrines, of the great prices of a pearl, and a precious stone which made his master to be proscribed: How man doth altar the natural constitution and ornaments of his body, and of Poppea her bath, and of a patriarch, and a Cardinal that made themselves to be pale.  
ALl other living things are contented with the clothing of nature, and the ornaments of it: only man covereth his carcase with foreign furniture, which were to be allowed in him, seeing nature hath afforded him none, if he could be pleased with such things, as are able to defend him from cold and heat, and not to seek the bottoms both of the seas, ye the Arabian and Indian, and all lands to garnish their bodies withal: robbing the Seas & fishes of purple, pearls, stones, and amber grease, and the hidden and secret treasures of the whole earth for gold, silver, & precious stones, and the poor vermin of the farthest cold countries of the north, cruelly of their able garments: for Sables, Lucernes, 
Georg. Agri. de animal. subter. & Paul Io. Rer. Musc. come.  Hermines, and such like costly furs, (paying for a face of Sables 1000 ducats) and wild beasts of the East for musk & civet to make them smell sweet. They set pearls, says Pliny, on their feet, & that not only upon the upper parts of their shoes, but also on the soles: ye in the memory also of our fathers, a Cardinal's harlot 
A cardinals harlot.  wore all the upper part of her shoes set clean over with pearls, and precious stones: and long before her, Poppea 
Poppea.  wife to Nero would shoe such horses as she liked of with gold, as her husband did all his mules with silver: so that it is not greatly to be marveled, that the soldiers of Antiochus Sedetes, king of Syria did peg their shoes with nails of gold. 
Antiochus Sedetes his soldiers.  Clemens Alexandrinus seemeth to make it a common thing in Greece and Asia, or rather at Alexandria, where he lived, to set their shoes every where full of studs of gold, & to wear pantafles made with diverse kind of workmanship of gold, 
Caligula and Heleogabalus Sueto.  & precious stones, so that I do cease to wonder that Caligula used riding cloaks covered over & over with precious stones, & Heliogabalus all his garments, 
Lamprid.  ye and his shoes, glistering with gems. Not, what say you that our Barbarians will board for bravery those riotous Romans, & gorgeous Greeks? for Charles the haughty, the last Duke of Burgonie, 
Charles Duke of Burgonie.  when he received Fredrick the Emperor wore a cloak of cloth of gold set with diamonds, & carbuncles valued at an hundredth thousand crowns. 
annals Fland.  And in our days at the coronation of Charles the fifth at Bologna, a Spaniard, the Marquis of Astorga, 
The Marquis of Astorga.  as iovius reports, wore a rich gown of cloth of gold wrought over and over with dolphins of pearls, and precious stones. Pliny telleth that the stones, & pearls, that Lollia Paulina 
Lollia Paulina,  wife unto Caligula wore, & not at any solemn feast, but only at a nuptial night, upon her head, her hairs, her ears, her neck, her hands, and fingers, were worth quadringenties sestertium, which after Budeyes' account is ten hundredth thousand french crowns, and above three hundredth thousand pound of our money: neither were they the gifts of the prodigal Prince, but her grand father's goods, gotten by the spoils of the provinces. This was the end of rapines & robberies, this was it, for the which Marcus Lollius infamed for the gifts given unto him by all the kings of the orient, and therefore falling into the displeasure of Caius, nephew, and son adopted unto Augustus, drank poison, that his niece might be seen by candle light covered over with 10000 crowns. 
Pliny's exclamation against pearls.  Against this excess in pearls doth Pliny exclaim, in his 9 book, 35. chap. speaking thus: ye marry, it had been a small thing for the seas to be buried in our bellies, unless they were worn as well of men, as women, on their hands, their ears their feet, ye and the whole body. What hath the sea to do with the garments and clothing? what have the waters and waves with the back? but nature, you will say, doth not friendly deal with us in casting us forth into the world naked? Go to, let there be so great society between the belly and the sea, but what with the back? let it be a small matter unless that we that are fed with dangers, be also clothed with perils, so through the whole body things gotten with the danger of man's life do best like. Therefore pearls of all things have the greatest price and praise. julius Caesar bought a pearl for his sweet heart Seruilia, which cost him Sexagies, 
A great price of a pearl.  that is six and forty thousand eight hundredth, threescore and seventeen pounds, and ten shillings of our money. Moreover it is certain (says Pliny) that Nonius a senator of Rome did wear in a ring a precious stone called an Opalus which was valued at vicies sestertium, 
A great price for a precious stone.  that is an hundredth thousand crowns, the which ring only of all his goods, he carried away with him, when he fled, being proscribed for it by Marcus Antonius, whose savageness and riot was great, that would proscribe a senator for a stone: and Nonius his contumacy no less, that loved the cause of his proscription: seeing that also wild beasts leave behind them those parts of their body being bitten off, for whom they know they are in danger. 
The jewels used by the Romans.  And in his 33. book .3. chap. he telleth how the men at Rome did wear rings, or hoops of gold about their arms, and the women that were wives unto the horsemen of Rome about the small of their legs, but the commoners wives of silver, and that the women did wear gold on their head, their ears, their neck, their arms, on all their fingers, ye and on their feet: and chains hanging bandericke wise on both sides, with tablets of gold, 
The jewels worn by the greeks.  set full of stones and pearls. Aristophanes also the Athenian in his comedy called Thesmophoria reckoneth up all the ornaments, and jewels that women did use to wear in that prodigal city, which were so many in number, that his breath failed him in the rehearsing of them: which made him to marvel that they fainted not in the bearing of them. 
The jewels worn by the Asians.  And Clemens Alexandrinus chargeth his countrymen the Greeks of Asia, with the decking of themselves with gold, pearls, and precious stones, and reckoning up the jewels that the women did wear, besides earrings, bracelets, tabletes, ouches, rings, chains, and a number of such riotous ornaments, the which being now out of use, I know not what things the names signify, he reciteth fetters of gold, which were either chains, or else hoops of gold, such as we showed before out of Pliny were worn at Rome: and that they were worn by the Greeks in Europe he proveth out of diverse Poets. Also the Greeks and Asians were appareled in purple: 
The price of purple.  a pound of the which wool being Tyrian double died, (as all good and usual in Pliny's time by his own testimony were) was worth at Rome, and in Asia, and Greece where it was usually worn of women, and the the noblemen, 1000 denaries, which is xxxj. l. v. s of our money. So that their people may for cost, which maketh all things to be esteemed of foolish men, compare with our cloth of gold, silver, & tissue, which then were rare, or not at all to be worn at Rome, as Seneca complains, the silk began to be worn by women in his days. Yet I read in Pliny, that he saw Agrippina, 
Agrippina.  wife unto Claudius Caesar, wear a rob of woven gold, without any other stuff intermixed with it. The which rob yet I think was not so rich as Clemens Alexandrinus doth report women did wear gowns in his country, being worth a thousand talents, 
women's rich robes at Alexandria.  which is of our money. 187500. at the lest, for if he meaneth Egyptian talents, it amounteth to a great deal more: whereat I do so much the more marvel, because neither at Alexandria, nor yet in those parts in his days, there were any Queens, which might be able to bear the outrageous charges of so great riot. 
Man is not contented with the natural habit or ornaments of his body.  But why stand I so long about the rehearsing of man's mad supplying of that profitable defect of nature, in clothing his body, seeing that he is no less troubled with correcting, or rather corrupting of the natural composition, and ornaments thereof. Whereof come colouring of hairs, depilactories, or making of hairs to fall off, yea, and that which is most shameful, wearing of bought hairs, painting of faces, whiting of teeth and hands, anointing, plastering, and slabbering against wrinkles, for the which cause Poppea, wife unto Nero, used to have driven with her, whether so ever she went, or traveled, five hundredth mylche Asses, in whose milk she bathed her unchaste body, and yet are they more to be discommended, that will make themselves ill coloured with drinking of slabber sauce, and in the old time with cumin, the which Horace toucheth in his epistles, and in the age of our fathers, Daniel the Metropolitan of moscovy, is reported to have used to make his face look pale with the smoke of brimstone, 
The patriarch of moscovy.  that he might seem to have pined himself away, & dried up his blood with fasting, study, 
Elog doct viror. Cardinal Egidius.  watching & praying: and Egidius a Cardinal, who by iovius his judgement, deserved the highest honour of a Christian Orator in a holy pulpit, was supposed for the causes before rehearsed, to drink cumin, and use perfumes of wet chaff.   

¶ The seventh Chapter. O● the unreasonable riot of men in building, and namely, of the ancient Romans, of Nero, Caligula, Heliogabalus, Lucullus, Clodius: of the rare riot in household stuff of the Romans, greeks, and Asians, and specially in their counterfeits both painted and in metal, and ivory, with the incredible prices of divers of them, in curiously wrought plate, hangings, bedsteedes, chairs, stools, tables with the excessive prices of divers of them, and of the great riot in furniture of household of Antonius Bassus, Sopus, Heliogabalus, the liberts of Clodius a Cardinal, and again, the spareness therein of the ancient Romans of Scipio Africanus and his brother, Aelius Catus, and what silver was found at the sack of Carthage, and of the costly piece of Arras of Leo the Pope.  
But as this wayward creature man, is not pleased with the proportion and garnishing of nature in his body, and the clothing thereof, so neither doth the open air, the high hills, the low valleys, the pleasant open fields, nor the coverts of trees, and caves against all kinds of injuries of the angry heavens, and air, content him, which do satisfy all other living things, but that he builds him sumptuous houses, not to defend him from cold, heat, and storms, the which is the use of an house, but to fulfil his riotous and intemperate proud heart, with wasting his wealth. Our houses says sage Seneca, are so wide and large that they be as it were cities. 
The Roman houses.  We have twice seen, writes Pliny, the whole city enclosed and compassed about with the house of two Princes, Caius and Nero, and the latter, that nothing might be missing, 
Nero his house.  of gold. It was so great, that these verses were set up against it in Rome.  
Roma domus fiet Veios migrate Quirites,  
Si non & Veios occupet ista domus.  
Rome shall be made an house, Romans  
To Veios' pack a pace,  
If not, both Veios to possess  
We will this huge monstrous place.  
Alluding unto the history, that the Romans after they had taken Veij, stood doubtful whether they should forsake Rome, or not, & inhabit Veios. This house reached by Suetonius his report, from the Palatium, even unto the Exquiliae, it had three porticus or galleries, three miles long, and a pool in it like unto a great sea, enclosed round with beautiful buildings like unto a city. The whole house was all guilted over with gold, and set with precious stones, and mother of pearl, the dining chambers were sealed with boards of ivory, 
Pli. 33. cap. 10.  the which Pliny doth witness to be of mighty price, and a stuff of all other most commended, for to make the images of the Gods: these boards might be turned when it pleased, the flowers & precious ointments might be powered down by pipes over all the whole chambers, upon the heads of the guests. But the principal and highest dining chamber, was in form round, & ran round continually day & night like unto the heavens: in the roof whereof were the stars with the Sun & Moon, expressed by precious stones, the colours of them agreeing unto the qualities of the stars. There were seats of gold, & ivory: & the walls were plated over with flowers and birds of silver, the which did cast forth continually the fragrancy of all kind of sweet odours. Of this house thus writeth Tacitus: He builded an house, in the which not the gold and precious stones should be such wonders, seeing that of late years before, they had grown through riot, to be usual and common at Rome: as the corn fields, and the great pools, and like unto great forests on the one side mighty woods, and on the other open galleries, or walks. By the which words of Tacitus, is insinuated the sumptuous building and garnishing of houses vulgarly used in Rome. 
Lucullus his buildings.  I read also that Lucius Lucullus would in all places the liked him, build wonderful sumptuous palaces, in places near unto the sea, repelling the sea, & on high mountains & hard stony rocks, as on Paulisippus, a little from Naples, with excessive charges force the sea to run into his fish pools: so that in all his buildings, he seemed to strive against nature: wherefore Pompey used to call him the gowned Xerxes, because that the Romans always wore gowns at home. Caligula used to set the floors of his chamber with pearls, and Heliogabalus strewed them with the dust and filings of gold. Publius Clodius, 
Clodius his house.  one that never bore office in the city, but Tribune of the people, an office for a commoner, dwelled in a house, for the which he paid. 147000. sesterces: and every sestertian being worth of our money seven. l. xujs. iij. d. the whole amounteth to above eleven hundredth and five and forty thousand, seven hundredth and six and thirty pounds. Whereat says Pliny, I do no less wonder, than I do at the madness of the kings that built the Pyramids and Laberynthes, but if the sum in Pliny, be as Budey doth read, centies, quadragies, octies, it is but an hundredth and fifteen thousand, six hundredth, and five and twenty: or as Hadrianus junius will have it, centies, quadragies, septies, an hundredth and fourteen thousand, eight hundredth and forty two pounds, with odd money. But as the least sum is over great to be bestowed upon an house, so would his wonder induce me to incline unto the greatest, if that I did not stand in doubt, whither that such kind of phrase in numbering were used, among the Romans or no: and namely seeing that he doth affirm that julius Caesar gave for the bore plat to build the great tilt yard in mill ducenties sestertium. 937500. pound: and Appian, Paulus his Basilica hall, cost 1500. talents the which is two hundredth and four score and one thousand two hundredth and fifty pounds. 
The stuff & garnishing of the Roman buildings.  He willbe easily led to believe such a mass of money to be given for an house, that reads how all their buildings were of fine marble, and alabaster, fet with unaccomptable charges out of Thasus, Paros, India, Syria, Damascus, Cyprus, Egypt, Aethiopia, Arabia, Armenia and Africa. The which how costly it was may appear by that we read in Valerius Maximus, that ten pillars of marble being fett no farther but out of Gréece, and not accounted afterward of any price, and they but twelve foot long, says, Pliny, and but six in number, cost 10000 nummos, that is a thousand and five hundredth french crowns. Add thereunto the huge largeness, the great and sumptuous gardens, the excessive price of vain trees, serving unto no use, but only for shadow, ten of them being valued in the afore alleged place cut of Valerius, 
The great prices of trees.  at tricies that is, 23436. pound, the roofs and walls of private men's houses guilt, and garnished commonly every where with gold, pearl, precious stones, mother of pearl, Indian torteises, and ivory, & their bains of silver, the floor under foot either of costly marble engraven, or else of stone very fair and cunningly painted, which they called Asarotica Pavimenta: they had also their Lithostrata, which were made of small pieces of marble, and stone, of all kind of colours, white, red, blue, black, green, yellow. etc. very finely simened together, representing not only the figures of men, beasts, and trees, but also their very lively and true colours. But of all the deckings, and garnishings of their houses, most costly were their painted tables, 
The great prices of painted tables.  and counterfetes of metals, of whom they had great store. Lucius Lucullus bought a table which cost him two talents, which is of our money three hundredth & seventy five pounds. Apelles gave unto Protogenes a painter for the tables that he had in his house ready painted at one time, 
Pli. li. 35. ca 11  fifty talentes, which is 4875. pound. and he himself had of Alexander the great for one table two hundredth talents of gold, 
Pli. li. 35. ca 10  the which were worth at the least two thousand of silver, yet every one of silver was worth of our money an hundredth fourscore and seven pounds ten shillings, unless perhaps Pliny meant the common talon of gold of Athens, which contained but three Athenien gildens, who weighing eight dramms a piece, I can value at no less than seven pound ten shilling the talon and the whole sum of the money received for the table 1500. pound. Aristides painting a table of a battle between Alexander, and the Persians, covenanted to have for every man painted in the table which were 100 ten of their pounds, every of them being worth iii l. two. s. vi. d of our money, & so consequently for every man xxxi. l. u.s. of our money, & for the whole table 3125.l. King Attalus bought also a table of the same man's painting, which cost him 100 talents that is eighteen thousand seven hundredth and fifty pounds. Mnason gave unto Asclepiodorus for the painting of twelve Gods 300. of their pounds a piece, and unto Theomnestus for every Heros he painted 100 pound, every one of theirs being as I told you before worth iii l. two. s. vi. d. of our money. 
Pl. li. 35. ca 11.  Hortensius gave unto Euphanor for a table of the Argonauts 144. sesterces the which is eleven hundredth, four and twenty pounds x. s. His scholar Antidotus refused to cell a table unto King Attalus for 60. talents that is 5850.l. Timoniachus had of julius Caesar for the pictures of Ajax, and Medea, 80. talents, which is 7700.l. So that painters being so well paid for their pains, might very well go in their purple, and wear crowns of gold on their heads, & have their staves writhed about with plates of gold, and their shoes tied with points of gold, as Atheneus reporteth of Parrhasius the painter. 
Pli. li. 35. ca 12.  But to return unto Images, Lucullus bargained with Archesilaus' to make the Image of Felicity in plaster, and he to have for it 60. talentes, that is 5850.l. Praxiteles made Venus in marble which the Guidians bought, all whose debts which were wonderful great, did king Nicomedes offer to pay, if they would let him have the Image, and they refused it. Of what value then may we justly conjecture were Images of ivory, of copper, and specially Corinthian copper, which was a temperature of gold, silver, and copper, of wonderful price, yea and Images of gold, and silver, seeing their workmen, Polycletus, Phidias, Lysippus, Myron, and other were no less famous for their works, than were the excellent painters, and their stuff did far exceed: and Pliny reporteth that many men were so in love with counterfetes of Corinthian copper, that they had them carried with them whither soever they went. Cicero in his sixth Oration against Verres says a counterfeit of copper, and no great one was ordinarily sold for 120000. sesterces. that is above 900. 
Pli. 34. ca 8.  l. Polycletus made Diadumenus a youth in copper, and had for it 100 talents that is 18750.l. I read that the Colossus of brass that stood in the capitol, cost 150. talentes, that is 28135.l. and one also brought by Lucius Lucullus to Rome from Appollonia of the same price: but one at Rhodes which cost 300. talentes, which is six and forty thousand 250.l. & in that city were there an hundredth Collossi, and of other Images of metal and ivory three thousand, and no fewer in Athens, Olympia & Delphos. But jest that some man should say that Colossi were never any garnishing for a house, I read in Suetonius that there stood before the entry into Nero his golden house, a Colossus of 130. foot high, with bigness in every part and limb agreeable unto the height. Of the prices of statues and images of gold and silver I read not: but of many made as one of Gorgias Leontinus a rhetoric teacher of gold set up at Delphos, and an other of Mithridates brought by Lucullus to Rome in his triumph: and also in Pompe●●s, one of king Pharnaces in silver, and many were erected of that metal in the honour of Augustus, the which flattery at the length brought them, to be very common at Rome: but as I said I do remember none valued, but only two Dolphines brought by C. Gracchus at five sesterces that is xxix. a pound. And correspondent unto their sumptuous houses was also their household stuff. All the Vtensiles of the kitchen had Antiochus Sedetes in his expedition against the Parthians, 
Plin. 53. cap. 11  and Marcus Antonius, of silver, which calvus the Orator complaineth in Pliny, to be common in every man's house at Rome: but Antonius with Bassus in Martial, and Heliogabalus, in Lampridius, 
Lamprid. in vit.  and Antonius Sopus in Pliny, had their close stools of gold, and Heliogabalus his pispotts of precious stones: in what stuff then may we think their meat was served, who abused gold and precious stones unto so filthy an office? As for close stools and chamber pots of silver had every woman of any countenance at Rome, ye and of gold to be no dainties at Alexandria and in Asia, 
Pli●. lib. 33. cap. 11.  it may appear by Clemens Alexandrinus. Before the civil wars says Pliny between Sylla and Marcus were there 500 chargers in Rome of an hundredth pound of silver, but our age says he, is stronger: for in the reign of Claudius, a bondman of his called Drusillianus caused one to be made of 500 pound, & his fellows 800. of 58.l. This would Aphricanus the younger have wondered at, who left unto his heir but xxxij. l. of silver, and also when he triumphed of Carthage, brought thence but 4476. pound, and that was all the silver which Carthage had, which contended long time with Rome for the dominion of the whole world, the which says Pliny, will not suffice a private man's table in our days. His Brother Allobrogicus was the first Roman that had a thousand pound of silver, and anon after Livius Drusus, the troublesome tribune of the commons, left 11000.l. for that an ancient senator was noted by the Censor for having of five pound of silver, will be taken now for a tale and a lie: as also that the legates of the Aetolians found Aelius Catus served in his Consulship in vessels of clay, and had no other plate all his life time, then one cup, the which his Father in law Aemilius gave him when he overcame Perseus' king of Macedon, who had wonderful store both of golden and silver plate. We also find this jest of the Carthaginians, that they say that in no country they lived more friendly and familiarly together, than they did in Rome, for wheresoever they supped, or with whom, they were always served with one and the same plate. But after those homely days, L. Crassus gave for two cups made by Mentor, the famous goldesmithe, without plate of whose woorkmanshippe there were few tables at Rome served (says Juvenal,) 781. he had also other plate that cost him forty five pound, a pound. 
Lib. 33. cap. 12.  Pliny also reporteth that Pitheas engraved upon a cup Ulysses, and Diomedes, stealing the Palladium every ounce whereof was priced and sold at tent sesterces, that is lxxviii. pound two shillings & vi. d. Unto this chargeable plate were the Greeks and the Asians marvelously given, in so much that Cicero doth affirm against Verres, that there was no man in Sicyl of any wealth to speak of, that had not at the jest, if he had no plate else, a great chalice or cup, with the Images of the Gods, & a bowl which the women should use in sacrifice, with a pair of censers, & all those parcels made by some of those famous ancient Goldsmiths, & artificers with singular cunning. 
Pli. lib. 37. ca 1  Pliny also reporteth, that a widow at Rome, & she to not very rich, did give for a dish made of Crystal, fashioned like unto a trey, 15000. sesterces, the is, 11718.l. & of a cup of Myrrh, which would hold but. 3. sextaries, that is, a pottle & half a pint, yet was sold for lxxx. sesterces, that is, 625.l. But Titus Petronius, that he might disherit Nero his table, broke at his death a cup of Myrrah, which had cost him 300. sesterces, the which is. 2343. l. 15. s. But Nero, as it become a prince, exceeded all men, by getting a cup which cost him tricies, 32437.l. ten shillings.  
Moreover, the use of glass (says Pliny) to drink in, hath driven away the use both of gold and silver, and grown into such estimation, the two small drinking glasses were sold for .6000. 
Pli. li. 35. ca 12.  sesterces, the which is almost forty seven pound. Yea, riot (says he) is now come to this pass, that vessels and dishes of potter's work, are esteemed more in value then platters of Myrrah. For Vitellius caused one to be made which cost him .200. sesterces, that is, 1500.l. But Budey doth otherwise interpret this place, taking the dish for the meat contained therein, the which he valueth at decies sestertium (for so he readeth) that is, 7812.l. 10. s. to the which interpretation I would not assent, seeing the Pliny in that chapter entreateth only of vessels of potter's workmanship, & the prices of them: but that in the next sentence before he says: for when we told you before, entreating of the nature of birds, that one dish of Aesopus the player did cost 600. sesterces, I doubt not but the readers would be angry. But in deed Vitellius etc. The which doth make me incline unto Budeis learned lore, that he made a platter of clay so great, (for the which purpose he caused a new furnace to be built abroad in the fields) as contained so much dainty viands, as amounted to that sum. But to return unto the rest of our fine furniture of household, I read that the flourishing Friar Cardinal, 
Bap. Fulg. li. 9 cap. 1.  of whom I spoke before, had the téekes of his beds made of silk, & cloth of gold, and Heliogabalus his beds stuffed with the soft hairs of hares, 
Lamprid. in vit.  & the down that grew under the wings of partridges. The beddestedles to be covered and plated over with silver and gold and garnished with mother of pearl, 
Plin. lib. 33  and Indian torteises bought at unreasonable prices, ye & with precious stones was common at Rome, Metellus Scipio, says Pliny, accounted, it among the capital faults, 
Martial. in Epigr.  that the hangings of one dining chamber of Babylonian work were sold for 800000. sesterces, the which is above 6000. l. when as now of late years Nero bought them which cost him quadringenties, which is above 300000.l. so that those hangings which Verres took from Heius were not of the best sort, although Cicero says they were notorious throughout all Sicyl, seeing that they were valued but at 200000. sesterces, that is 1500.l. or else if it were of the best kind of Attalica, then were the Attalica nothing comparable unto the Babilonica, the which I marvel at the Attalica being interwoven with gold, & the other but of divers colours. But to make the excessive prices of hangings more credible unto them the do measure all things passed in ancient time by the unjust rule of their own age: Leo the tenth bishop of Rome, since the memory of man, 
Paul jou. in vita Leonis.  had the history of the Apostles wrought in Arras to set over the altar of S. Sixtus chapel, the cost him. 50000. ducats. The Romans had also their chairs & stools of ivory, and silver very cunningly engraven and guilt, and their chariots also like garnished, 
Lamp. in vita.  the which thing Alexander Severus, a hearty hater of all riot, in so much, that he would not possess himself above two hundredth pound of plate, and thought that neither gold nor silver decent to be worn by men, suffered them to be used for the honour of the city. Neither was the madness of the Romans less in their costly tables, with whom the women did use to stop the men's mouths, when that they would cast them in the teeth with their pearls. In that poverty (says Pliny) of Tully's time, 
Pli. lib. 17.  and that which is more to be marveled at, in that age, tables of Cedrus, (which wood doth only grow on the mountain Atlas in Africa) were sold for ten sesterces a piece, that is lxxviij. l. ij. s. uj.d. With them are remembered the tables of Afinius Pollio, sold for eleven sesterces, that is lxxxv. l. xviij s. iijd. and two by king juba, the one for fifteen, that is Cxvij. l. iij. s and the other for little less. But perhaps some man will take them to be tables of great length, or compass. Not says Pliny, the largest that ever was seen yet until this day, was one belonging unto Ptolomey, king of Mauritania, joined together of two boards semicircles, four foot and a half over, and three inches thick, and greater therein is the wonder of the workmanship, that the joining of it together can by no means be espied & found, then of one by nature whole of one piece, which took his name of Nomius, libert unto Tiberius Caesar, lacking but three quarters of an inch of four feet over, and so much of half a foot in thickness. In this place me thinks (says he) we must not omit that Tiberius Caesar had a table two inches and a quarter above four foot, covered over with mother of pearl, and silver, whereas his libert had one far richer of a bounche of a tree, that is a fault of the root. And yet in it was this most praised, that it grew all under the ground, the which is a more rare thing, than bounches above the ground, or on the stock or boughs: and that which is bought at so great a price, is properly the fault or imperfection of a tree.   

The eight Chapter. Of the great riot of the Romans in their feasting, with the great prices of their acates, of the intemperance therein, of Timocreon, Crispinus, Vitellius, Nero, Caligula, Heliogabalus, Lucius Verus, two Antioches, Marcus Antonius, and Cleopatra, Aesopus the player, and his son Clodius, Lucius Lucullus, Galeazo, a Venetian, two Cardinals, and Mulcasses: and again, the ancient frugality in diet of the old Romans, and of Augustus, and Alexander Severus, and also the daily proportion of diet for household of the king of Persia, and Alexander the great. The great charges of precious ointments, and the riotous use of them: and how Plotius and Mulcasses were betrayed unto their enemies by their sweet odours. The manifold sorts of wines, and alterings of water found out by riot, and the rare devices to make men have an appetite to eat and drink superfluously. The great incommodities of excess in diet, the great death in Wittenberg with drinking of wine, and at Alexander's game of drinking: the wonderful grossness of Nicomachus, Ptolomey, Alexander, Dionysius, and Sanctius, of the rare virtue of an herb to make one lean. Of the nature of the beast Rosomacha, and of certain strange sheep and swine.  
But upon these costly tables were more chargeable viands set. This ravening Harpy, this bottomless gulf, this insatiable sink the belly, did exercise the Roman painful idleness, with the care of fetching of fishes, the Coracine out of Egypt, the Salpa from Eleusis, 
Aul. Gelli. Pli. and Macro.  the Salmon out of Aquitaine, the Murene from Tartessus in Hispaine, the Pelamis from Chalcedon, the Haddock and the Whiting from Pissinnutus in Phrygia, Oysters from the foreland about Sandwiche in England, Cockels from Chius, the Helops from Rhodes, and all these to be eaten fresh, and of flesh the Peacock from Samos, the Attagen or Francoline from Phrygia, the Crane from Melos, the Kid from Ambratia, the walnut from Thassus, the acorn from Iberia, although that almost all these things were also bred at home. The unreasonable prices of fishes at Rome in their flourishing state, 
Prices of fishes.  may be proved by that Cato the elder was commonly wont to say, that it could not be that the city could thrive, where that a fish was sold for more money than an ox. Asinius Celer gave for a Mugil, a fish which seldom says Pliny, exceeds the weight of two pounds (but Macrobius affirms, that in his days many far greater were found, and Bellonius holds it to be a Mullet) 8000 nummun: which is above 60.l. A Mullus (the which I do take to be a barbil, and the frenchmen do call a bearded Ronget) weighing sour pounds and an half, being commanded by Tiberius Caesar to be sold, did Timocreon a Rhodian buy for five sesterces, that is, above 40.l. Crispinus in Juvenal gives for a barbil six sesterces, that is, 42.l. 10. s. and their fine flesh to be very dear, may appear by the testimonies of Marcus Varro, 
De re rust.  a noble man of Rome, of great authority, and one accounted in that learned age of Rome, the best learned of the Romans, the which mollified the heart of that merciless tyrant otherwise, who would not spare his mother's dear brother, that he gave him unrequested his pardon, being wickedly proscribed by his colleges. For he writes, that young pigeons if they were fair, of a good colour, sound, and of a good kind, were commonly sold at Rome for .200. 
Lively de re rust.  sesterces, that is, 23. s. 4.d. yea, & if they were excellent, for .1000. nummum, that is 7.l. 16. s. 4.d. And of late, says he, when a merchant cheapened a pair of pigeons of Lucius Appius, an horseman or gentleman of Rome, and he held them at .1000. nummum: not quoth the merchant, I will give you for them then .400. denaries, which is .12.l. 10. s. peacocks also were sold for .50. denaries, that is. 31.ss. 3.d. and their eggs for five denaries, that is, 3. s. 1.d. ob. and Thrushes says Pliny, were commonly sold for 1. s. 9.d. ob. a piece. So that it is no marvel that Varro doth affirm, that Aufidius Lurcho, who was the first that kept & franked peacocks, did make yearly of the poultry and foul that he kept about his house .6000. nummum, that is .476.l. 9. s. and believed Albatius, who said, that if he had built his manor near unto the sea, where he might have had the commodity of fish, he would have made of it yearly, 20000. nummum, that is, 1532.l. 10. s. where now it yieldeth him for poulterie and venery, not above 20000. that is, 151.l. 5. s. A kind, says Pliny, of rathripe peaches called Duracina, 
Lib. 15. ca 12.  were sold at the first coming of them to Rome, for four sesterces, that is, 7.d. ob. a piece, but after when they were passing well liked, for 30. that is. 4.s 8.d. ob. the which says he, is strange, because they will not last above two days after they be gathered, & therefore force the owner to sell them. If that fruit were so dear, then may one the more safely believe that which he says in another place, that a tree near unto the city was hired out by the year, for 2000 sesterces, which is .15.l. 12. s. 6.d. By these excessive prices of fresh acates, be conjectured the sumptuousness & intolerable charges of the supper which was made unto Vitellius the Emperor, by his brother: 
Lib. 17. cap. 1. The riot of Vitellius and his brother. Sueto.  at the which there were .2000 of the most deintiest fishes, & 7000. birds. But this supper did he himself pass, says Sue●●●us, by the dedicating of a dish or platter, the which for his unmeasurable greatness he called Minerva her shield, wherein he mingled together the livers of fishes called Scari, to whom says Pliny, the principality is given, the brains of pheasants, and peacocks, 
Pli. lib. 10.  the tongues of the birds Phenocoptori, the which to be of the most excellent taste, Apicius, of all unthrifts the deepest gulf had taught him, the la●te● of the fishes called Murenae, fet from the Carpathian sea, ●●●e the Rhodes, and from the straits of Marrocke by Galleys. This is the dish whereof I spoke before, when I entreated of the riot in furniture of household, valuing it at seven thousand viii. C. xij.l. x. s.  
He would bid himself to banquets and feasts unto divers of his companions in one day, and the provision of the feast cost none of them less than three thousand l. Cornelius Tacitus doth affirm, that he riotously spent in banquets in the eight months that he reigned, nonies millies sestertium, which, is above threescore and seven hundredth and fifty thousand pounds. And his good Lord Nero spent at one banquet, on banqueting dishes made with honey, as ours are now of sugar, whereof it was called the honeyed supper, quadragies, above thirty thousand pounds. His manner was oftentimes to continued his feasting from noon to midnight. And such an other was Caius Caligula, 
The riot of Caligula.  who (says Suetonius) did exceed in gluttonous charges the wits and inventions of all unthrifts, devising new bains, & most monstrous kinds of meats, and suppers: in so much that he would be washed both with cold and hot ointments, and would sup up moste, precious pearls, being dissolved with vinegar, he would at feasts set on the table bread, & meats of gold, often saying, a man must be a pinchpeny or else a Caesar. 
Consol. and Albinam.  He spent says Seneca at one supper, centies sestertium, that is lxxviij. thousand 125, pound. And although he was herein holpen with the wits of all unthrifts, 
The riot of Heliogabalus Lamprid. in vit.  yet could he scarce find how to cast away upon one supper the tributes of three provinces. But Heliogabalus would have been ashamed that any man should have passed him in shameful things: for he besides the invention of a great number of chargeable dishes, would always eat fish, & nothing else, when he was in the midland countries far from the sea, and near unto the sea coast no fish, but all flesh: ye and strange birds, as Phenocopteri, and such like fet out of far countries. At one supper was he served with 600. heads of ostriches, for their brains, ye & he promised his pot companions to serve them at the table with a Phoenix, or else to give them a thousand pounds of gold for him. When he was very far from the sea, would he feed, ye the peasants of the country with the most dainty lactes of the fishes, Lupi, and Murenes. And look how many dishes of meat were served unto his table, so many would he also wastefully throw out at the windows, and apples with flowers, and precious stones among them. He never bestowed less upon a supper than centum sestertia, which is above 780.l. & very oftentimes 3000. sestertia, of our money more than 22500.l. But of all his mad feasts two are most famous, or more truly infamous: at the one were two and twenty courses, furnished with wonderful dainties, and between every course he and all his guests washed, and used women. The other he celebrated after this manner: he would that at all his friends their houses a sumptuous feast should be prepared with the self same dishes of meat, that he himself should be served, & although the one dwelled in Palatio, an other in mount Celius, and other on mount Capitolinus, and some beyond Tiber: finally some in one place, and some in another, yet must they eat their dishes in order, and not one man be in a course before another, and men were sent from one unto an other to bring news in what course they were: so that one meal was scarce ended in a whole day, they washing and using women between every course. I find it also recorded in authors of credit, 
The riot of Lucullus. Plut. in vita.  that Lucius Lucullus becoming very riotous after his triumph of Mithridates, ordained stews for Sea fish, and also great pools for fresh, and houses to frank all kinds of fowls and venery, & also appointed a rate of expenses for every one of his dining chambers: of whom one called Apollo had his proportion, 
The rate of Darius & Alex ander in diet. Athen. lib. 4. cap. 6.  50000. nummum, that is iij. C.x.l. xii. s. uj.d. but Plutarch affirms it to be five myriades of drachmas, which is, 1562. l. ten shillings, the which did five times exceed the ordinary rate of Alexander the great in his great glory: who having at meals with him usually lx. or lxx. of his familiars, spent 100 mines a day, that is 312. pounds, ten shillings. But the king of Persia daily feeding fifteen thousand, spent at a supper 400. talentes, which is threescore and fifteen thousand pounds. 
The frugality of the ancient Romans.  But lest that any man should think that this excess in diet was common at Rome, we read it recorded besides the law made by Licinius Crassus in the time of Lucullus, for the charges of diet, whereby they were forbidden to spend upon the kalends, Nones, and fair days above 30. asses, which is xxii.d. ob., upon their diet: but on other days there should not be served to the table more than three pounds of dry flesh, and a pound of salt meat, and whatsoever grew on the vine, 
The slender diet of Augustus and other Emperors.  tree, or earth, that Augustus, who (says Suetonius) was a liberal house keeper, had ordinarily but three dishes served to his table, & when he had most but six. But when he was alone he was contented with household bread, small fishes, curds, and green figs. And also the daily proportion of Alexander Severus his board in those riotous days, was for the whole day thirty sextaries of wine, that is five galons, one pottle, and a pint, and of fine manchet thirty pound, of household bread for his retinue fifty, of divers kinds of flesh's thirty pounds: he had also hens, and eggs, and upon a holy day a goose, & on principal feasts a feasaunt, and sometimes two, ye and two cocks, and every day a hare, and often venison, whereof he would always sand part unto his familiars: that I may omit the sparing of Pertinax, who would have half lettices to be set up to serve him again: and his successor julian, who would make three meals of a hare, or a pig, and often sup with out fish or flesh. But unto these two lascivious banquets of Heliogabalus, will I adjoin two other famous feasts, not only for the number of dainty dishes, but also for the magnificent gifts that were given thereat unto the guests. Capitolinus writeth, that Lucius Verus copartner in the Empire unto Antonius Commodus, made a feast, 
In vita Vari. The riot of Lucius Comodus.  whereat were first seen in Rome twelve persons, for they in the ancient world never used to have above nine, according to that saying of Varro in Aulus Gellius, that a feast must begin at the number of the graces, and end with the muses, that is to wit neither be fewer than three, nor above nine. And Capitolinus saith, that it was a common proverb in every man's mouth, Septem conuivium, novem vero convititium. But to return unto Lucius, he gave unto every one of the guests the beautiful boy that waited on his cup, and also the carver, and all the dishes that were served in, and unto every one of them of all those birds, beasts, and fishes that were served at the table one alive: and also at every change of drink, and as often as they drank, cups of myrrha, and crystal of Alexandria, ye and of silver, gold, and precious stone. They had also given garlands with many pendents of gold hanging down like unto ashen keys, & flowers, strange for the time of the year. Boxes also of gold, like unto Alabaster boxes, full of precious ointments, were also bestowed on them with charriottes, whose joints were of silver, and their moyleliters, that in them they might return from the feast. The charges whereof is said to be valued at sexagies, that is five and forty thousand pounds: but when Antonius Commodus heard of this riotous banquet, he bewailed the public state of the Roman Empire.  
And of such like feasts where also live birds and beasts were given unto the guests, 
Lib. 5 cap. 9 Lib. 4. cap. 7.  & also crowns of gold, and silver, and the camels, which they did drink, 
The riot of Cleopatra.  did after their manner mount on, doth Atheneus report to be made by two Antioches kings of Syria: who also telleth that when Cleopatra Queen of Egypt came into Cilicia to receive Marcus Antonius, she prepared for him a royal feast, all the furniture where of was of gold, magnificently adorned with precious stones, and wrought with excellent workmanship: and also the walls were hanged with purple and gold. And when she had in this sort furnished and garnished twelve dining chambers, she invited Antonius, and other whom it pleased her. But when that Antonius wondered at the magnificence of the sight, she smiling, said: that she did give it him all, and desired him with his familiars, and captains to sup with her the next day: where the furniture was so passing gorgeous, and rich, that the first seemed very palterie: and this also she gave unto Antonius. But the rich and brave bed whereat every captain sat, and the cups they drank in, with the sumptuous stools and seats, she gave unto the captains, & willed them to take them away with them. And when they departed she gave unto every man that was in dignity, a rich licter, and the men that bore it, and to the rest goodly horses with their brave and rich ornaments. And of such a magnificent feast telleth iovius in the life of Galeazo the viscount of Milan, 
The magnificent feast of Galeaze.  who at the marriage of his daughter unto Lionel son unto Edward the third, King of this noble Realm, commanded that after every course, the which were above thirty, so many gifts of unwonted magnificence should follow, as there were dishes in the course: all which things john Galeazo his son, who was Prince of the chosen young gentlemen that waited, bringing unto the table presented unto Leonell. There were at one course threescore and ten goodly great horses, covered with saddles of velvet and silver, but at an other silver plate, hierfalcons, hounds, greyhounds, armour for horses, sumptuous shirts of mail, glittering complete harness of strong steel, head pieces adorned with mighty high and rich crests, garments wrought with pearls, harness girdles: last of all, rare precious stones set in jewels, and a mighty mass of cloth of gold and purple. But such was the furniture of the feast, that the meat which was taken from the table, would abundantly suffice ten thousand men. 
The riot of a Venetian.  Of such a sumptuous supper also do Sabelicus and Egnatius mention made of late years by a gentleman Venetian unto an hundred gentlemen of the same city: which supper continued until day, or after Egnatius, seven hours, and for the variety of dainties, number of courses, and of dishes in every course, and the diversity of melody before every course, deserved to be numbered among the most riotous feasts of the Sybarites, 
The riot of a Cardinal.  ye & of the Roman Emperors. Of a very riotous banquet read we also in the secrets of nature, made by a Cardinal in Province, which puts me in mind of the carnal Cardinal spoken off by iovius in his book of fishes, who used to glory that he had buried in his belly 20000. ducats, which might more honourably have been bestowed upon so many poor folks. 
Rap. vol. come. Vrb. lib. 33.  But my before mentioned Friar Peter, passed him, for he within two years spent says Volaterane, in riotous banquets and trifles .300000. ducats. But to return again unto Heliogabalus, he was not contented so sumptuously to feast himself, & his friends, but that he would command great store of the renowned grapes of Apamea in Syria to be wastefully thrown into the maungers unto his horses, and would feed his dogs with the farsed livers of géefe, (a dish of great price among the riotous Romans,) and Lions and Libardes with Phesaunts, and Parrates, the tongues of whom, and of all other sweet singing birds would he greedily eat: not I think to know whither that they would delight the palate as much as they did the ear, but because of their great price: which he loved of all meats to be told him to be far greater than it was in very deed, that it might make him, as he used to say, to have the more eager appetite unto it. 
The riot of Aesopus.  But in this kind of riot the dish of Aesopus the tragedy player, is most famous, 
Pli. li. 10. ca 51.  or rather infamous: which was valued at 600. sestertia 4500.l: wherein he had put birds of great price either for singing, or else for imitation of man's speech, being induced thereunto by no other sweetness, but that he might in them eat the imitation of man, not not once reverencing those rich and great gains of his, 
Who first franked hens'  and gotten by the voice. Now me thinks in this place is it worthy of the noting that Pliny writeth, that the inhabitants of Delos first began to cram hens. I found it forbidden at Rome by the law of C. Fannius 40. years before the third Punical wars, to have any foul set on the table, except one hen, & she should not be franked: which clause being taken from thence, walked throughout all the laws of charges of feasts which were made afterward in Rome: but there was a starting hole found out to frank capons, which the law spoke not off, and to put milk unto their meat, and so are they liked as far the more pleasant to the palate. The first that ordained coupes to shut up all kinds of birds, was M. Lelius Sirabo, one of the order of the Equites at Brundisium, from him we began to restrain in prison those living things, to whom nature had assigned the air.  
But this cramming of birds is no news unto us, but to have mighty stews, or arms of the sea enclosed to keep sea fish in, is rare. 
Plin. 9.54.  Sergius Crata first invented in the creek Baiae stews for oysters, in the age of L. Crassus' the Orator, before the social wars, 
Ponds of salt water.  not for his throat but for covetousness, reaping great revenues by this invention: in the same age Licinius Murena invented stews for other fishes: whose example the nobility followed. Philip, & Hortensius, Lucullus also cutting out a hill with greater charges, than he had built his goodly house, did let in the sea, and made a pond, the fishes whereof were sold after his death for quadringenta that is 3000.l. The first that invented a stew only for Murenes, was HUNDRED Hirius, who at the triumphal suppers of Caesar the dictator, lent him by weight six thousand Murenes: for he would take for them neither money, nor yet any other reward. This man's manor house being a very pelting little thing, did his fish ponds cell for quadragies 30000. pounds. Fuluius Hirpinus made stews of cockles a little before the civil waters between Pompey and Caesar, severing also the kinds of them: that the white which be bred in the territory of Reate, might be by themselves, the Illyrian, who be the greatest, by themselves, and so the African, who are most fruitful, and the Solitane who are most noble.  
He also invented a fatting of them with Sapa and Far, and other things, that also franked cockles might glut the gormandize of the delicate. 
Of those that devoured pearls and precious stones.  But yet there is some affinity between Fish and Flesh, and the palate, for they have some taste, but pearls and precious stones have neither good nor ill smack, and therefore no alliance with the gullet, nor could bring any pleasure unto it, unless that their great price did make them sweet, which reason would should sour them. There were, says Pliny, two pearls which did excel all other which have been since the beginning of the world, 
Cleopatra.  both of them did Cleopatra, the last queen of Egypt possess, being delivered unto her by the hands of the kings of the East. When that Antonius her sweet heart was every day franked with exquisite banquets: she with proud and malapert stateliness and scornfulness, like unto a harlot Queen, debased and dispraised his dainties, and the provision, and furniture of his table. But when he demanded of her what greater magnificence could possibly be made, she answered: that she would absume at one supper centies sestertium, 75000. l. Antonius was desirous to learn, but he did not think that it could by any means be done. So then after that they had laid a wager thereof, the next day when the matter should be tried, she did set before Antonius, lest the day should be lost, a supper otherwise magnificent, but of their ordinary proportion: then Antonius began to scoff, and called for a reckoning of the supper, she said that the dishes which he had, was but a surplusage, and that she herself alone would spend at that supper the value, and sup at 75000. l. commanding the waiters to bring in the second table, (for with their fruit they always in the old time changed their table.) By her commandment the waiters did set before her one only dish, wherein was nothing but vineager, whose sharpness and strength doth resolve pearls. She ware at that present time, that singular, and in very deed lovely work of nature on her ears. 
He alludeth to the name vn●o  Then Antonius expecting what in God's name she would do, she pulled off one of them, and put it into the vinegar, and when it was resolved supped it up. L. Plancus the judge of the wager laid his hand on the other, whom she was about to dress, and absume in like manner, and pronounced judgement that Antonius had lost the wager, the man chase thereat. Let the fame of this pearl accompany his fellow, who after the Queen the winner of this so worthy a wager was taken prisoner, was cut into two parts to be set on both the ears of Venus, in the Pantheon, being but half their supper. And yet for all this shall they not carry away this price, & they shallbe spoiled of the glory of riotousness. For Clodius, 
Clodius.  the son of Aesopus a tragedy player, being left by him his heir of abundant riches, had done it at Rome before that time in pearls of great value, jest that Antonius should be too proud in his triumvirate, being compared unto one almost a player, and he not brought unto it by any wager, wherefore it was the more kinglike, but that he might try with the glory of the palate, what taste pearls had: and when they had wonderfully well liked him, that he should not know it himself alone, he also gave unto every one of his guests one to drink up. But, think you that Caligula 
Caligula.  would not strain all his sinews to win so gay a game, who used to drink most precious pearls and stones, and would use at his table bread and meat of gold, as you have heard before. Neither is the beastly belly satisfied with the robbing of the Indian and Arabian seas of their pearls, but that also she can eat no meat, unless it be seasoned with the bitter berries, rinds, and roots of those far countries, and of excessive price. 
The prices of spices at Rome in Pliny's days.  A pound of long pepper (says Pliny) is sold for 25. denaries, the is 15. s. 7. d. ob. of white for 17. which is 10. s. 7. d. ob. of black for 14. eight shillings nine pence. It is marvelous, says he, that the use of it hath liked men so well. For in some other things the pleasantness of them have caught men: in other the lovely look and outward show and beauty hath invited: but in pepper is there not any commendation, either of apple or berry: and only it pleaseth for his bitterness, and this in God's name must be fet out of India. What was he that first would try so ugly a thing in meats? and who did so greedily eat it, that it had not been better for him to have remained still hungry? It grows wild in his country, and yet is it sold here by weight, like gold and silver. Cinnamon, says he, was worth but 1000 denaries a pound, that is, 31. l. 5. s. now is it risen half in half: But Isocynamon, or cinnamon wood, at 300. denaries a pound, that is, 9 l. 6. s. 9 d. A sextary or pint and an half of Balm, was worth 1000 denaries 31. l. 5. s. and yet Heliogabalus used no other oil in his lamps: Malabathrum at 300. denaries a pound, that is, 9 l. 6. s. 9 d. the ears of Spikenarde at 90. 56. s. 3. d. a pound. Of these costly drugs and such other, were their ointments made in ancient time, 
The riot of sweet ointments.  of whom some did cost 310. denaries. 9 l. 12. s. 11. d. a pound, and doubtless, considering the price of the stuff, they were made of, many were far dearer, specially seeing that Marie Magdalene a poor woman, washed our Saviour his feet with a pound of ointment of Nardus Pistica, 
Io. 12.  which was valued at 300. denaries. With these costly ointments did they use to anoint, not only their heads, but also all parts of their body, yea, the soles of their feet. 
Pli. li. 13 cap. 3.  And Heliogabalus swimmed, neither in bane nor pond, but filled with precious ointment, which thing Pliny affirms Caligula used to do: & Nero both in cold & hot ointments. And jest this may seem to a good thing which only happeneth to princes, a bondman of Nero's, accustomed to wash himself in his tine filled with precious ointment. This, says Pliny, is a riot, of all most superfluous. For pearls & precious stones yet go unto the heir, and garments lengthen & prolong their time, but ointments incontinently breathe away, and die in their hours: Moreover, they are no pleasure unto himself, but unto other, for he that wears it, smells it not. Their highest commendation is, that the smell doth invite a woman passing by, who never before once thought of him, but went about her business: yea, but oftentimes more worthily the enemy. As we do read that Lucius Plotius proscribed in the triumvirate, & in our days Muleasses the expulsed king of Tunes being hidden, were bewrayed & betrayed unto their enemies by their fragrant odours. Whereby the Triumuiri were acquitted of cruelty, and Amida Muleasses son, of impiety: for who will not judge, but that such men worthily perished? It was thought by men of experience (says Pliny) that all Arabia brought not forth in one year so much sweet odours, 
Lib. 12. cap. 18.  as Nero burned upon the last day of his pomp. It was also common at Rome for private men to besprinkle the walls of their bains with precious ointments, yea they used to anoint upon holy days, the fierce & dusty ensigns, as though that the puissant Eagles corrupted with this wretched reward had conquered the whole world: no rather hereby they sought defence for their vices, that by this rite they might use to anoint their heads under their helmets. But also in good faith (says he) some put them into drink, & bitterness is so highly priced, that they may have & take prodigal odor at both the lower & upper end of the body. And that they used them with meats, specially with herbs, and roots, yea, the very peasants, do the Sataristes report: & such a kind of costly cookery used Muleasses the king of Tunes, 
Muleasses his costly cookery. Paul jou. hist. sui temp.  for a peacock & two pheasants infarsed after the manner of his kitchen with musk, civet, & amber grease, (the lack of the which precious odours, the souls of the ancient riotous Romans sore in hell lament) did cost above an hundredth ducats. Hereof grew cooks into great price. They (says Pliny) the complained of riot, bewailed it, 
The great price of cooks.  the more money was given for a cook, then for a horse, but now cooks are bought with the prices of triumphs, & fishes of cooks, 
Pli. li. 9 ca 17.  & there is almost no man which is more esteemed & accounted more worth, than he that can very cunningly drown his masters wealth. This fine cookery, the corrupter of nature, 
Lib. 19 ca 4  caused Pliny to complain, that herbs, yea, and water, which are common unto all living things, are exempted from the commons, and made meat and drink only for noble men. But it can not be better expressed, then with his own words. Out of the garden is the commons their shambles, 
Riot in herbs and water.  with how much more innocent and harmless diet? Not, I do believe it is better to dive into the bottom of the sea, and kinds of oysters to be sought by shipwreck, & birds to be set beyond the river of Phasis, who one would have thought should have been safe from fetching, by reason of the fabulous terror that we read in Poets: not, for that they are the more precious, to go fowling for other into Numidia, and Aethiopia, among the graves, or to fight with wild beasts, coveting to be eaten of that which an other man doth eat. But o Lord, how good cheap are herbs, how ready for pleasure and satiety, if that the same indignation and spite which doth every where, did not also here occur and come in the way? it were in deed to be borne withal, exquisite fruits to grow, of whom some for their taste and verdure, some for their greatness, other for their strangeness, should be forbidden poor men, and wines to be made to last until great ages, and to be gelded with bags, neither any man to be so old, that he may not drink wine elder than himself: and also riot to invent a certain food out of corn only and the fine flower of it to be taken, and it to live and continued longer than the works and ingraving of the bakehouses: some to be bread for noblemen, some for the commons, bread corn descending in so many kinds, even unto the basest of the commons. What, is there a distinction also in herbs? and hath riches made a difference in a meat, yea, which is to be bought for an halfpenny? And some also of them do the tribes say grow not for them the stalk by franking being made so great, that a poor man's table may not receive and hold him. Nature had made sperage wild, that every man might every where gather them, but behold now there is francked sperage, and Ranenna selleth them for pounds a piece. Out alas the prodigies of the paunch? it would have been a marvel not to be lawful for cattle to eat thistles, it is not lawful for the commons. Water also is separated, and the very Elements of nature are severed by the power of riches. These men drink snow, they ice: and do turn the punishments and pains of mountains into the pleasure of the throat. Coldness is kept in heat, and a device is found for snow to be cold in foreign and contrary months. Other water they boil, 
He alludeth unto the two departures of the commons out of the city unto those hills when they were oppressed by the noble and rich men.  and that also anon after they winter, or use in the winter having warm water in winter. So nothing doth please man, being such as it pleaseth nature. And be there also some herbs which grow only for rich men, let no man look about for the holy and Aventine hills, and the departure of the commons out of the city, for surely death shall make them equal, whom wealth hath overmatched. Thus far Pliny, who also in his 14. book telleth the waywardness of men to be such about their wines, 
How many kinds of wines.  that they had invented 195. kinds of them, and of special kinds of those general, almost double the number. Neither did the immeasurable charges of their meats, 
devices to make men eat & drink  satisfy their unthrifty minds, but that by vomiting they must make themselves ready to eat often, as though there had been no other use of eating meat, but to vomit it up again: 
The beast Rosomacha. Car. de sub. 10.  not much unlike unto the Rosomacha in Lithuama, a beast of the bigness of a dog, and the face of a cat, the back and tail of a fox, who useth when he hath filled his belly with meat, as full as it will hold, to scummer out that which he hath eaten, with squising his belly between two trees standing near together, and then incontinently to return again unto the carrion, and so to do continually so long as he can get meat. But the roisting Romans to have a quarrel unto the cup, besides salt meats, and old rotten cheese, which are in use also now a days among our tipplers, they used to drink cold poisons, as hemlock, that death might make them power in strong wine lustily to save their lives: other took the powder of a pomise stone, and other like things most abominable, which by rehearsing I am ashamed to teach: 
The incomodities of surfeiting & drunkenness.  the wariest of those tipplers, says he, do we see to be boiled with baynes, and to be carried out of them half dead: that they may drink the harder: but other can not stay for the bed, not not for their clotheses but incontinently naked, and hasing take mighty great cups, as it were to show their strength, and plentifully power in the wine, that they may immediately vomit it out, and again swill, and up with it straightway, and so the third time: as though they were borne to destroy wine, as and if wine could not otherwise be shed, but through men's bodies. But the fruits or rather incommodities of ravenous gluttony doth he set down in that place. That it fall out the best unto them, they never see the rising of the Sun, and they live the less while. Hereof comes paleness, hanging eyliddes, ulcers of the eyes, shaking hands, which will shed full cups (which is a present pain) furiall sleapes, disquiet and ill rest in the night, the next day stinking breathes cast out of the mouth, and oblivion almost of all things, and the death of the memory. It is recorded by Plutarch, that at a game of drinking made by Alexander 41. drank themselves dead. An. 1540 was a very good year for wines, in the which there were found to die in the duchy of Wittenberg, 
Io. maus. in Loc come.  at feasts from Autumn unto the first sunday of Lent 400. persons: so that we need no ancient examples. Many dishes, says sage Seneca, bring many diseases, and innumerable diseases do reward innumerable cooks: which is agreeable unto that golden sentence of Pliny, great diversity of dishes is very pestilent, but of sauces and dressings of them more pestilent. Ask me, says Seneca in his controversies, why we die so soon, because we live by deaths. But admit that a man did not with excessive quantity of meat, put the veins in danger of breaking, nor set on fire the spirits with hot wines, (which the Phycisians will never grant) yet who would not think it more intolerable than death, by gormandize to be so overladen with flesh, and fat, that he can not move, as Nicomachus of Smyrna, or not go, as was Ptolemy Euagetes king of Egypt: 
Gal. de morb. differ. monstrous fat men.  who in many years before he went forth to receive that Peerless Paragon of the world Scipio Africanus the younger, walked not on foot: or Alexander king of that Realm, who could not walk for grossness, 
Athe. lib. 12. cap. 27.  but stayed up with two men: or be like unto Dionysius the tyrant of Heraclea, 
Ath. li. 12. ca 26  whose fatness would not suffer him to fetch his breath, and did put him in continual fear of smouldering: wherefore the physicians prescribed very long & small needles to be made, with whom his servants should prick his sides and belly, when he was fallen into a dead sleep: as long then as they were driven through the fat only, he felt nothing: but when that the needles were come unto a more pure place, 
Sheep and swine monstrously fat Vide Card. de sub. 10.  & touched the quick flesh, then would he awake. This I think was one of the kind of weathers, that joannes Leo reports, that he saw at Asioe, a city of Egypt: of whom the tails weighed some 80.l. and some 150.l. by the which weight they were made immovable, unless that their tails were laid in little whéeleborowes: or of the hogs mentioned by skilful Scaliger, 
De sub. ex. 199 cap. 2.  that could not move for fat, and become so insensible, that mice made them holes to needle in their buttocks, 
Athe. lib. 12. cap. 27.  and they not once felt them. Maga the King of Cyrene was choked with his foul paunch. 
Tarapha de r●g. Hisp.  Which thing Sanctius the King of Castill fearing, whose mighty mass of belly and fat had taken from him all function of man's life, chose rather to be killed out of hand by taking of a pernicious heart, of the king of Corduba, a Moor, to make him lean, then to abide the intolerable torments of many years pressing to death with so great a weight.   

The ninth Chapter. Of the riotous magnificence of the Pyramids, Laberinthes, Obelisces, the garden at Babylon, the vain sumptuous ships of Ptolomey, Hiero, Sclostres, and Caligula, the chargeable fruitless bridges of Traian and Caligula, the theatre of Seaurus, the incredible charges of the Romans in plays games and triumphs.  
Now leaving private riot I will rehearse examples of public, which they do cloak with the honourable name of magnificence. 
The Pyramids. Pli. li. 36. ca 12  And first will I speak of the Pyramids, the idle and foolish ostentation of the Kings of Egypt, seeing that it is recorded that they were made for no other use, nor purpose, but that they should not leave money unto their successors, or those that lay in await for the crown, or else to keep the people from idleness. Within 78. years and four months were there three made. The greatest of which Pyramids is reported by Herodotus, and Pliny, to have been built by 360000. men in twenty years, of Arabian stone. It is engraven in the Pyramid, that there was laid out for the provision of the workmen in parsley, onions, and garlic 1600. talents, which is 288000.l But Pliny hath 1800. which amounteth to 324000.l. which if it be so, says Herodotus, how much is it credible was consumed upon the tools, meat, and apparel of the workmen. Every front of this Pyramid (for it was foursquare) being eight acres broad, and so many high: which acres of theirs being 240. long, and 120. broad, contain 28800. foot, and multiplied by eight amounteth to 230400. foot, and all of square stone, and very decently and finely shut together: never a stone being less and shorter than thirty foot. But whereas the Pyramids be wondered, yet do the Laberinthes far exceed them in sumptuous folly. 
The Laberinthes.  The Egyptian labyrinth hath twelve hauls covered over with one roof, and six gates on the north side, & six other on the south, directly one over against the other: and enclosed with a wall. The houses or rooms of it, are part under the ground, and part above, built one upon the other, and both in number 3500. The upper buildings, says Herodotus, we saw, and report that which we beheld. But we learned the lower by hear say, & relation of others. For the governors of the Egyptians would by no means have them showed, because that they say, there were both the sepulchres of the kings, that built the Labyrinth, & also of the sacred crocodiles: so that of the lower edifices we relate that, which we know by hear say: the upper we ourselves saw, greater than men's works. For the goings out through the houses, and the goings back through the haules, most diverse, did strike me with infinite admiration. From the haul, we go into parlours, out of parlours into chambers, out of chambers into other solars, and out of parlours again into other halls. Of all these edifices the roof over head is of stone, as be also the walls, and garnished every where with engraven imagery. All the halls for the greatest part, are of fine wrought white stone, set round about with pillars: close to the angle where the labyrinth endeth, standeth a pyramid of forty paces, every pace being six foot, every foot four hand breadth, in this pyramid be there great beasts, engraven: where the way is under the ground. And whereas the labyrinth is such, 
The lake of Merios'.  yet the standing pool of Merios' where the labyrinth standeth, maketh me much more to marvel, whose circuit is 3600. furlongs, that is to wit, as much as Egypt is unto the sea. Where it is deepest is it 50. paces. That it was made by hand and digged down so deep to the two pyramids convince which stand almost in the midst of the lake, being fifty paces above the water, and so much under. Upon both of whom is there a colossus of stone setting in a throne, so that the pyramids are 100 paces high. The water of the pool is not natural, for the soil is very dry, but derived out of Nilus, six months, flowing into the pool, and running back into Nilus so many. In those months that it runs out, enriching the king's treasure every day with a talon of silver, for the abundance of fish which is in it, and when it floweth into the pool, every day with twenty pounds. This pool do the inhabitants say, runs out into the Syrtes of Africa, through a mighty ditch digged under the ground through the midst of the land. Of these monstrous mazes thus writeth Pliny. The first of them that ever was made was built in Egypt, 
The description of labyrinths out of Pliny.  about 3600. years ago, of the which Dedalus no doubt, took a plat to build his labyrinth in Creta: but he imitated not above the hundredth part of it: which doth contain goings round of ways, and occourses and recourses, meetings with ways, and goings back of ways, out of whom no man can get himself: and this happeneth not because the ways do often turn, and wind this way, and that way: but only by reason of the thick standing of doors, set of purpose to deceive men, when they meet with the right way, and to make them go back again into the wrong ways. This was the second labyrinth: the third was in Lemnos, the fourth in Italy, all of them vaulted above with polished stone. The Egyptian labyrinth had at the coming in pillars of marble of Paros, but all the rest of the pillars of the house were of marble of Syene: which I marvel at, seeing that Syenian marble is far fairer, glistering with thick red spots like fire: the stones are so strongly compacted, that no not many ages can dissolve them, the Hieropolitanes helping to their uttermost, who did wonderfully annoyed that envied work. To declare the position of the work and all parts of it I mind not, seeing that it is divided into regions and into sixteen shires, which they call Nomos, unto the names of them, so many huge houses being attributed. Furthermore, it doth contain the temples of all the Egyptian Gods, and moreover, fifteen Nemeses included in chapels. There be a great number of pyramids of forty yards high, every one having at the foot six walls. Now when they be weary of going, come they unto that inexplicable error of the ways: but also before that they go up into the high dining chambers, and galleries, all of them being of ninety stairs: within are there pillars of Porphyrite stone, images of the gods, statues of kings, and idols of monsters. But such was the standing of some of the houses, that when they opened the doors, there was a terrible thunder heard within: but for the greatest part the entries & ways be dark, & again, without the walls of the labyrinth, be other huge piles of buildings adjoined, which they call Pteron. And there also are other houses under the ground. Enough is spoken of the Egyptian and Cretan labyrinth. The labyrinth of Lemnos is like unto them, only more marvelous for a hundredth and forty pillars. Also Porsena king of Hetruria made one for to be his tomb: and also that the vanity of foreign kings might be passed by the Italians. But seeing the fabulositie doth exceed all credit, we will use in the declaration of it, Varro his own words: he was buried hard by the city of Clusium, in the which place he left a monument of square stone, every one of the sides being thirty foot broad, and fifty high: and within the base of the work, is there within a labyrinth, inextricable, into which if one go without a clue of thread, he cannot find the way out. Upon that square work stand five pyramids, four in the corners, and one in the midst, being at the base three score and fifteen foot broad, and a hundredth and fifty high, made spire like, and on the top of all is a ball of brass, and a Pegasus upon it, from whom small bells hung down by chains, who being driven by the wind made a noise, which may be heard a great way off, as in the old time it was at Dodona. Upon the which ball be four other Pyramids, every one a hundredth foot high, above whom upon one ground, or floor are five other Pyramids set, whose height Varro was ashamed to put in: the tales of the Hetrusces say, they were as high as all the rest of the works: such was the extreme foolish madness of the king, to seek for glory by cost which would do no man good: and moreover, to weary the wealth of the kingdom, but yet so, that the praise of the workman should be the greater. From Egypt also, 
Of Obelisces.  the mother of all naughtiness, came obelisces, so called: because that they resemble the form of a spit, being long stones of marble of Syene, set up in the the honour of the sun, whose beams they do very well express. The first says Pliny, that ordained them in Egypt was Mitres, being admonished by a dream, Herodotus affirms it to be Pheron, and that it was 400. cubits long, and eight broad. Pliny telleth of many in Egypt, and among all other of one the work of twenty thousand men: which when the king Ramises would have to be raised, and feared that the engines were not able to bear the weight of him, to denounce greater danger unto the care and charge of the workmen, he tied his own son to the top of the stone, that the saving of his life might procure the stone good of the workmen. For a miracle, says Pliny, Augustus brought one by sea from Egypt of a hundredth and twenty five feet and nine inches besides the base. And Caligula one more marvelous than all the things that ever were seen upon the sea. Not less difficulty had Semiramis to bring one cut out of the Armenian mountains 150. foot long, and 24. broad, and thick: carried from Armenia in a great number of joined carts, unto Euphrates, and from thence by ship unto Babylon, where it was set up, being reckoned among one of the wonders of the world. It is also commonly held that she made an other of the miracles, that is, the garden at Babylon 
The Garden at Babylon.  which standeth upon arches: yet Diodorus Siculus doth attribute it unto a king of Assyria for to please his wife, who being born in Persia was very desirous to see green meadows on mountains, and persuaded her husband by workmanship to raise up a garden, that should represent her country in trees and meadows. Every side of this garden contained four acres: the coming unto it was as it were unto a mounteine: edifices being one built upon other, that they might see standing in it all the country round about. There were vaults set on the ground to bear the weight of the whole garden, than other were built upon other, always greater and greater. For the uppermost upon whom stood the walls of the gardens were fifty cubits high. And thus did they make the ground & flower of the garden. There were laid ioyces of stone 16. foot long, & 6. broad. Upon them for the paviment were ●éedes laid compacted with asphalt: and upon them two courses of brick laid with gypsum: and thirdly sheeets of lead, that no wet should sink into the vaults. Also places were made to receive the water, and to void it. Upon this paviment was so much earth laid, as would suffice for the roots of mighty trees, and this made the garden: in the which high trees of all sorts growing made a very pleasant sight. Some of them rose up five hundredth foot above the ground, and bore fruit as well as if they had come out of the bottom of the earth. He that saw this garden a far off would taken it for a wooden vpo● a mounteine. But the vaults and arches did one give unto an other such light, that in them were lodgings for the kings. And besides all this was there a conduit covertly made, which did privily water all the garden.  

Ptolomeus Philopaters' ship.  To this gay garden will I adjoin two as vain ships: the one made by Ptolomeus Philopater, only for the river, was half a furlong long, that is 125. paces, every pace containing five-foote, 
Ath. li. 5. ca 6  and above thirty cubits broad. The mast was 70. cubits high, the sails were of silk, which in those days was as costly as gold, and so I read it valued, the cables of purple: double walks on three sides, the compass of whom was no less than five acres. At the puppe was there a large porch of ivory, and other precious stuff, which had a door with four leaves, and of both sides of it were fair large windows to let in the light: then came men into a great house, or room in figure round, having in it twenty meat beds, or tables: the greatest part of this room was made of Cedar, and Cyparissus of Miletus: the gates or doors which were round about that room, being in number twenty, were of till tree boards, garnished with ivory, the nails and hammers of them were of red copper, and by cunning workmanship made to glister as fair, as if they had been guilt: the bodies of the pillars were of Cyparissus, but then heads were wrought by Corinthian art, and garnished with gold, and ivory: but all the Epistilium or archegrave was all of gold, upon the which was there a beautiful border having carved beasts of ivory in it, above a cubit long, wrought in deed with mean art, but with marvelous cost. There was also a very fair banqueting house, four square built of Ciparissus, the ornaments whereof were carved, and guilted, to this adjoined a chamber, with seven beds or tables, close whereunto stood the nursery, where was a place able to hold seven tables: which for magnificence was not unlike unto the great chamber, and an other chamber of fi●e tables. And thus were the places of the first story garnished. But they which went up the stairs, which were near unto the chamber, which we last spoke of, came unto a chamber, wherein were five supping beds, and by it a fair vaulted temple of Venus, in the which was her image of ivory. Over right against this was there a sumptuous ●ound banqueting place, whose pillars were of Indian st●●●es, whom followed other chambers having the like furniture and garnishing that they had of whom I spoke of before. And going forth towards the stem, was there a round house dedicated to Bacchus, containing fifteen tables, which was guilt. But the Goddess her house was finely proportioned, at the right side whereof, there was a cave, having the colour of stone, for it was gorgeously built of very stone indeed, and gold, and there were in it the images of them which were of affinity unto the kings, ●orse like Lychnaean stone.  
There were a great many of other such dining chambers as costly garnished, as well in the mids of the ship, as in all other parts of it, which I do willingly omit: 
The ship of Hiero. Athe. li. 5. ca 7  hasting unto Hiero the King of Syracuse his ship, made by Archimedes the famous Geometrician: of so great burden, that she carried unto Alexandria 60000. medimnes (a medimne is two bushels and a peck) of corn, 10000 barels of salt fishes 20000. talents of flesh, and 20000. of other burdens, besides the provision of the men and mariners. There went a wall with bulwarks round about the ship, & a trench of iron and eight towers; two at the stem and two at the puppe, and four in the middle. There was a sling in the ship, which would cast a stone, that weighed two hundredth, and arrows of twelve cubits, whom she would shoot a furlong. There were in the mids of the ship three fair dining chambers, having in them thirty dining beds. Albina they had their pavimentes of stones of diverse kinds, and colours, in whom with wonderful workmanship, were all things contained that are written of the siege of Troy: all which things are set forth in the furniture, the seeling over head, and the doors. There was also a place of exercise, and walking places, in whom were diverse sorts of gardens, filled full of plants, herbs and flowers, set in vessels of earth and lead. There were also benches growing full of white ivy, and vines which took their nutriment in tub, filled full of earth, and had the same watering that gardens have, these trees did shadow the walking places. After all these was Venus her parlour, whose paviment was of Achates, and other precious stones, which were found in the isle. The walls and seeling over head was of Cyparisse, the doors of ivory, & Thyia, which were very bravely garnished with pictures, images, & great magnificence of cups. There followed this room a parlour with five tables dedicated unto a school, which had the doors and walls of Box, and within it a library. There was also a bain, which had three vessels of copper apt for the fire, and a tine or cauldron, of diverse colours of Tauroncinian stone, which would hold five metretes, that is 56. gallons & a quart: there were also ten stables for horses: and at the stem a place enclosed with pitched boards, and canvas, wherein water was kept to the quantity of 2600. metretes, that is 27500. gallons: where was also a fish pond made of lead and boards full of salt water, in the which was kept great store of fishes, with a great number of such like sumptuous buildings. But omitting the ship of Cedar 280. cubits long, guilt without and silvered within, built by Sesostris king of Egypt, which he offered up unto the God which is worshipped at Thebae, 
Caligula his galley.  I read also in Suetonius that Caligula did build him long ships of Cedar with the puppes set with precious stones, with sails of divers colours, with mighty great bains, galleries, and parlours, and great variety also of vines, and trees that bear fruit: sitting in whom with great melody, singing and reveling, he would row along the coast of Campania. And Tacitus writeth that Nero had his banqueting ships garnished with ivory and gold. This colt Caius in building of palaces and manor houses in the country, 
Caligula his mad buildings. Suetonius.  contemning and refusing all reason, coveted and went about to do nothing so earnestly, as that which men told him could not be done. Wherefore he did cast up peers in the raging and deep sea, he cut out rocks of hard flint, he would with earth make low vales equal unto mounteins, & dig down the tops of mountains level with the fields, & that with incredible speed, all tarriance bringing present death. By these & such other riotous deeds, he spent all the huge sum of money of vicies septies millies sestertium, which is, 20250000.l. left him by Tiberius, before one year was gone about. Which unmeasurable prodigality Nero did not so much commend in words, as gladly imitate in deeds. 
Nero his pond. Sueto.  For he began a pond from the foreland of Misenus to the lake of Avernus, covered over and enclosed round about with fair galleries or walks, that all the baths of hot water which are at Baiae, might be brought together into one pond. He also began a ditch from Avernus, even to Hoscia, that they might go between them by ship, 
Nero his dich. Sueto.  & yet not on the sea, (surely a goodly thing:) this dich should have been 160. miles long, and so broad, that quinqueremes or galies with five orders of oars meeting, might pass one by the other. Upon these works he spent all his treasure, so that he had not wherewith to pay his soldiers their wages, and so was forced to leave the vain work unfinished. But to speak again of Caligula. 
Caligula his bridge. Sueto.  He made a bridge of 3. miles & a half long, upon the gulf of Baiae, reaching from Baiae to P●teols. gathering together for that purpose from all parts ships for burden: whom lying at anchor in two rows, he filled up with greet, & made a fair caulsey, over them like unto the Appian calsey: and this wondered bridge made he for no other use, but that the people might two days together behold him galloping from the one end of it unto the other: the first day on his horse very richly trapped, his garland of oaken leaves on his head, with his sword, his battle axe, his cetra, and soldiers mantel of gold: but the next and last day appareled like unto a chariot man, and in his chariot drawn with two goodly horses. Yet more magnificent was the bridge built by Trajan over the mighty river of Danubie, but yet to be numbered among riotous works, 
Traianes' bridge. Dion.  because it was not commodious, and therefore broken down by his wise successor Adrian, and made by Trajan only to show the magnitude of his mind, which was able to do those things, which were thought impossible. The arches of this bridge were in number twenty, all of square stone, every arch standing without any foundation, a hundredth and fifty foot high, and sixty broad, & one distant from the other a hundredth & seventy foot and were joined together by vaults. The charges of the which work, although it were wonderful, yet hath it the greater admiration, because that it was made on a river full of gulfs, and with a very slimy channel, and also for that the course of the river could not be turned an other way. Moreover, the bridge being built at the narrowest place of the river, did 'cause it to be the more hardly and painfully done: by reason that the river running from a broad channel into a narrow, did run the more violently, and was also the deeper there.  
But we will not suffer Trajan to enjoy this glory of fame, for we will show you that this magnificent madness of an Emperor, was passed by the works of Marcus Scaurus, a private man: whose Edilitie (says Pliny) I know not, whether of all other things it most destroyed the manners of the city, or whether Sylla did more mischief by proscribing of so many thousand citizens, or by advancing his son in law to so great riches. Who when he was Edilis, made the greatest piece of work of all that ever were made by man's hand, not only for to serve and endure for a time (as his was) but also being built to continued for ever: this was a Theatre. The scene whereof was threefold, of the height of 360. pillars, in that city which had not suffered six of Hymettian marble, with out the reproach of the noblest man in the common wealth.  
The lowest part of the scene was of marble, the middle of glass, a kind of riot never heard of, not not after his time: the highest pillars having their boards guilted, the lowest being of 38. foot. Between the pillars stood there 3000. Images of brass. On this Theatre might 80000. people sit, whereas pompeius his amphitheatre, the city being so often multiplied, and consequently, so many the more people, serveth very well, and yet could not there above forty thousand set. But so great was the rest of the furniture of hangings of purple and gold, called Attalica: of tables painted, and the rest of the furniture which appertained unto the players and musicians, that after the plays were ended, which lasted thirty days, and the Theatre pulled down, it being carried back unto his house at Tusculum, and the house set a fire by his angered bondmen, the stuff there burnt was valued at bis millies sestertium, 1562500. l. I read also, that Murena and Antonius made Theatres, with scenes of silver, and pompeius made one of stone, which Nero guilted all over. Whereby we may gather the wonderful charges that the Aediles and other were at, that did set forth plays or games of sword players at Rome, fetching a great number of wild beasts out of Asia and Africa, as Lions, Lybards, Elephants, bears, Panthers, tigers, Unicorns, Rhinocerotes, Hippotami, & such other, who were slain upon the amphitheatre before the people. Pompey had at one time eighteen Eliphants, and five hundredth Lions, and the Emperors after him many more. 
Vol. Anthro. lib. 24.  Trajan exhibited unto the people spectacles 120. days, upon some of them were 1000 and on other 10000 wild beasts and tame slain. The charges of which plays and games may yet most manifestly appear by that Cicero doth signify says Paedianus, that Milo spent on them three patrimonies, 
Lib. 3. epi. vl.  and Cicero writing unto his brother Quintus of the games and plays given unto the people by Milo, affirms, that he had bestowed 300. sesterces 234375. l. whereby he thought he had quite undone himself. Then what an inestimable mass of money spent julius Caesar, and other of the emperors, who exhibited plays and games of all sorts, yea, and digged mighty ponds, and so great, that in them might at ease fight galleys, and brigantines: and Domitian in so great number, that they might rightly seem to be great fleets: their feasting of all the whole people, giving unto every man corn and money, in that mighty city, which was worthily called an abridgement of the whole world. As this magnificence and munificence which did commonly accompany triumphs, were of inestimable charges: so, neither can the costs of the bore triumph itself be declared, or being told, be believed. The trumpeters went before, clothed in cloth of gold, all the soldiers bravely appareled, and gorgeously set forth, 
The Roman triumphs.  the forum with all the temples, were richly hanged, and perfumes with continual burning of sweet & precious odours, tables filled with all kind of dainty dishes set in every street of the city for the soldiers to eat of, as they went along through the city unto the Capitol: a mighty number of oxen with guilted horns, yea, and sometimes with garlands guilt about their necks, which should be offered in sacrifice, all the martial surniture, treasure, plate, noble Images, and pictures of the conquered enemies were carried, the Images of all the ships and towns gotten: (which in Pompey's triumph were of ships 949. of towns 1538.) then lastly, the rich robes of him that triumphed, with his chariot plated over with silver, yea, and gold: his seat, of gold and precious stones. Before whom also were a great number of crowns of gold, adorned with precious stones, and pearls carried, with a thousand more such magnificence. I read in Pliny, 
pompeius his triumph.  that in pompeius triumph over the East, were there carried before him, a pair of tables with dice made of two precious stones, three foot broad and four long. A Moon of gold of thirty pound weight, and three banqueting beds of gold: nine cupboards of plate of gold and precious stones: three Images of gold, one of Minerva, the second of Mars, the third of Apollo: thirty three crowns of pearls, a foursquare mount of gold with dear, and Lions, and fruit of all kinds, enclosed about with a vine of gold. A closet or study of pearls, on the top whereof was there a dial. The Image of Pompey of pearls, being, as truly says Pliny, more truly a riot then a triumph. 
The triumphs of Antiochus and Ptolomey  Two counterfeit triumphs, set forth by Antiochus' king of Syria, surnamed the mad, and by Ptolomeus, Philadelphus' king of Egypt, doth Atheneus at large describe, and affirms the pomp of the one to cost Ptolomey 2239. talents and fifty pounds, which amounts to 413968. l. 15. s. of our money.   

The tenth Chapter. What trouble riot doth bring unto man, how it caused Catiline, Antonius, Curio, and Caesar, to raise up civil wars, and of a dumb show of Heraclitus, that nothing doth more cause rebellion, the shameless shifts of julius Caesar, Caligula, Nero, and Domitian, to maintain their ryo-expences, and of Cheopes to finish his pyramid, and how Apitius murdered himself, because he was not able to bear the charges of his wonted riot.  
But now what troubles and torments this riot doth bring unto man, for the which cause I have with so many words related unto you so many examples of many kinds of riot, may very well hereby be gathered, that so many things, and out of so many countries, and so far distant off, that so great riches to be able for to do it, can not be gotten without continual care both day and night, tiring toil, & noisome unrest: but most plainly doth it appear by the shameful shifts that those great rioters, make to maintain their prodigality, and to fill that bottomless barrel. Was not this it which caused Catiline with his confederates, 
Sallust. why Catiline rebelled.  to attempt the murdering of the senate, the burning & destruction of the temples of the Gods & the city, & finally, the utter extinguishing of the memory of their sweet country? What else made Antonius and Curio to revolt from the senate, 
Dion. Pliny. why Antonius and Curio rebelled.  and the city unto Caesar, & to infer wars unto their country, but because they had unthriftily spent all their patrimonies, & yet would continue in their wonted outrageous reveling & riot, which they knew not by what means to maintain, but only if that they unhappily obtaining the victory, & oppressing the liberty of the common wealth, could obtain the spoil of many rich, good, and temperate citizens, yea, & of the whole world, choosing rather to adventure loss of life, (for goods were already gone) wife, children, yea, and utter destruction of stock and country, then to live moderately within the bounds of nature. Yea, their chiefteine Caesar himself, 
Why Caesar invaded his country. Suet.  if the Pompey béelyed him not, because that he was not able with his private wealth, either to finish the works which he had begun, or to fulfil the expectation of the people which he had made of his coming, did trouble the whole state of the public weal, & disordered & confounded all: seeking to piece the out with public spoils, the private riches could not reach unto. The which to be true may we conjecture, because that the magnificence & munificence which he had promised unto the people, did far surmount all private wealth, & also by the dishonourable, yea, dishonest dealings which he had used at other times before, to help to garnish his painted sheath: for when he was first Consul, 
Caesar's unhonourable dealings for money.  he stole out of the Capitol three thousand pound of gold, and laid in for it the same weight of copper guilt. He sold societies and kingdoms, whereas of many other then of Ptolomey the king of Egypt, who then was driven by his subject out of his kingdom, for a bribe for himself, and Pompey, 6000. talentes, which is eleven hundredth fourscore and five thousand pounds. And when he was Praetor in Hispaine, he enemy like sacked diverse towns of Lusitania, that refused nothing that he would command them, and also opened their gates unto him. In Gallia he rob Chapels and Temples of their gifts, and ornaments, and oftener sacked cities for spoil then for offence. But afterward did he with most manifest robberies and sacrileges sustain the charges of the civil wars, his triumphs, plays, and games. Yea, what say you that Appianus doth affirm in flat words, that before he began the civil wars, 
Caesar's great debts.  he was so oppressed with debt that he openly said, he must needs have bis millies quingenties, the which is xix. hundredth and three and fifty thousand, Cxxv. l. the which could not be gotten but by the spoil of the whole world. Wherefore wisely did the Philosopher Heraclitus, 
Heraclitus his advise against rebellion.  who being requested in a sedition to declare his advice, how the city might be brought to live in peace and concord: as soon as he was ascended the pulpit, called for a cup of cold water, wherinto he strewed a little meal, and then mingled therewith glecho, the which is either wild pennyroyal, or a kind of poulse, and when he had drunk up the cup he came down, speaking not one word: but signifying hereby after his wonted dark manner, that so the city should be without sedition, if that they would forsake their delicates, and enure themselves to be contented with simple diet. And I pray you what else was the cause of the outrageous cruelty of those tygerlike tyrants, Caligula, Nero, and Domitian, but to get wherewith to maintain their riot? for saith Suetonius, when Caligula had spent riotously that monstrous mass of money left him by Tyber●●●, of one and twenty thousand thousand, x. C.iij thousand seven. C. and fifty pounds, within less than one year, 
Caligula his shameless shifts for money.  he being very beggarly, and bore for all the accountable revenues of the Empire, turned all his mind to rapines or robberies, using sundry and most exquisite kinds of false accusations, sales, tributes, or impositions. He made all such to fine and compound again, whose ancestors had obtained for themselves, and their posterity, the freedom of the city of Rome, unless they were sons unto them which had purchased the chartre, restraining the word posterity unto children only. He disproved and disannulled all the wills of those which had borne in the wars the office of Primipile, or leader of the first band in the avantguard as unthankful, who from the beginning of Tiberius his reign had not left Tiberius, or himself heir. And also the wills of all other men as vain and void, whatsoever they were, if that any knave would say, that they were once minded if they had died to have left the Emperor their heir. Wherewith all men being feared, when that he was openly nuncupated heir by men unknown among their familiars, and by parents with their children, he would call them mockers and deriders, that would live still after they had made their wills, and him their heir, and unto many of them he would sand poisoned dishes of meat. Of such matters would he have the hearing himself, but first of all should the sum be taxed that he would have, to appoint the which he would sit, and as soon as ever that was dispatched, and agreed upon, would he incontinently rise up, and hear the rest of the matter who would: ye and not being patiented of any very short stay, he once by one sentence condemned forty men, being accused of diverse crimes: and bragged unto his wife Cesonia, when she arose from sleep, what a great piece of work he had done, whilst that she took her noon nap. He made an open portsale of the things which were left of all the shows unto the people, he himself ask the buyers what they would give, and recked the price so high, that many men being compelled to buy things at an immeasurable price, & thereby being quite undone, did let themselves blood to death. And among other there is a merry jest of one Aponius Saturninus, whom the Emperor espying to sit napping and nodding with his head, cried to the crier not to forget the gentleman which had borne the Office of Praetor, who beckoned unto him with his head: neither made they an end of offer and proffer (as though the sleeping gentleman had talked with them) before that thirteen sword players were sold unto him, he being altogether ignorant of it, for nonagies sestertium. 70312. l. In Gallia also when he had sold at unreasonable prices, the ornaments, household stuff, bondmen, ye and free men of his condemned sisters, he being alured & fleshed with the gain: fet from the city all the old household stuff and furniture of the court, and his own palace: taking up, ye carts and wagons that traveled for hire, yea & the bakers jades, and mill horses, in so much that bread often lacked at Rome: & many men that had matters in law, because they being absent could not appear at their days, were condemned. For the selling away of the which stuff he used all kind of deceit, and facing: sometimes he would blame the buyers of covecousnesse, that they were not ashamed to be richer than he: and other while he would make as though he had been sorry, that he had let private men have those things which had belonged unto the princes.  
He had learned that a rich man of the Province had given unto them which did invite the guests that did sit with the Emperor, two hundredth sestertia. 1562. pound, ten shillings, that he might sit at the emperors table: neither was he offended, the honour of his supper to be esteemed so much worth. To him the next day setting at the sale sent Caligula one, who should deliver him I can not tell what trifling thing, for the which he should pay 200. sestertia, & tell him, that he should sup with the Emperor by the Emperors own bidding. He exacted new kinds of tributes, and never heard of before, at the first by the Publicans and Customers, and afterward, because the gain grew great, by the Centurions, and Tribunes of the soldiers of the guard. There was no kind of thing, nor men, omitted: upon whom he did not set some tribute: for the victuals which were sold in all the whole city, was there a certain and stinted custom exacted: for suits and matters of Law in what place so ever they were entered, the fourth part of the sum that they sued for: neither without a penalty if that any plaintiff were convinced, either to have agreed or released. Of the daily earninge of the poor porters the eight part, and of common harlot's takinges, so much as they got for one journey. This shameless toll or custom for bawds, harlots, and abused striplings it may seem was ever after retained. For I do read in Lampridius, that Alexander Severus did forbidden that it should be brought into the sacred common treasure: but assigned it unto the reparations of the theatre, tiltyard, Amphitheatre and common treasure house. But to return unto Caligula his laws, it was also added, at the head of the statute, that they also should be bound to pay toll, that had exercised either harlots or bawds craft, ye that married folks also should be subject and payable thereunto. Such tributes being commanded and proclaimed: but the law not set up according unto the use, in a public place of the City: when that many offended, because they were ignorant what they were commanded: at length after long earnest suit of the people of Rome, he did in deed set up the law, but written both with very small letters, and also set up in a very narrow place, so that no man could take a copy of it. And jest there should be any kind of prey and spoil that he should not try: he did set up in the Palace a stews, building a great number of sells in whom matrons and young women should stand to be prostituted. He sent about unto the courts, and the Guild and common hauls, and unto all places of meetings and assemblinge of men nomenclatores, (who were men that knew the names of many men, and for that cause were retained by Noble men to prompt unto them their names, when they sued for any dignity) for to invite young men and old to lechery: they that came thither should have money lent them upon interest, and some were appointed, who should openly note their names, as they which did help the emperors revenues. Neither also contemning the gain by playing at dice, he got more by lying, ye and by forswearing himself. And on a time willing his next fellow to play for him, he went out into the court of the palace, & espying two rich Gentlemen of the order of the horsemen, he commanded them without any tarriance immediately to be apprehended, and all their goods seized: & when he had done this, he came in again skipping and rejoicing: and said that he never had a better hand at dice in all his life. But when his daughter was borne, he complaining of poverty, and now not only of the charges of an Emperor, but also of a Father, received contributions for the finding and marriage money of his daughter. He also made proclamation that he would receive new years gifts on new years day: upon which day he stood in the porch of his house, for to receive the almesses or gifts which all sorts of people with full hands and bosoms threw down before him. Finally, this unthrift who knew no other use of money then to dash it away riotously, and thought it high treason in any man to be rich, was inflamed with such a lewd lust to touch money: that very oftentimes he would 'cause immeasurable heaps of money to be strewed abroad, in a large room, and he would walk upon it with his bore feet, 
Nero his shameless shifts for money.  and ever now & then tumble up and down upon them. But when his kind cozen Nero, who used to call them stinking churls, and misers that did spend according unto their revenues, and praised them for good fellows, Gentlemen like men, and magnificent in deed, that would abuse their goods, and spend it away they care not how: when I say he by keeping no mean, either in giving or spending, allowing Tirydates the King of Armenia during his abode at Rome, six thousand pounds a day, and giving him at his departure away, above millies sestertium 781250. pound, by enriching rascal knaves with senators wealth, and burying them with kinglike funerals, by playing at dice 3000. pound a speck, by fishing with nets of gold, twine, and ropes of purple and scarlet, by never wearing one garment twice, by never traveling with fewer than a 1000 wagons, a great number of whom were of silver, and finally by his mad buildings, and works had brought himself bore, and quite without money, that he was not able no not to pay the soldiers their wages, nor the Veteranes their rewards and pensions: he bent his mind to false accusations & robberies. First of all he decreed that he should for half have three parts of all the goods of such libertes, as without probable cause were called by the name of any family or stock that was of kin or alliance unto him & the Caesars. Furthermore, that the Testaments of all men unthankful unto the Emperor, should appertain unto the Exchequer of the Prince. And neither that those which had written them, or told other what they should writ, should escape scotfree: and also that all acts & words, to whom there was any promoter, should be within the compass of the statute of high treason, the penalty whereof is agreeable to ours. And when that he had forbidden the use of purple colour, and had suborned a verlotte upon a market day to cell of it, two or three ounces, he imprisoned all the merchants of the city, forcing them to fine at his pleasure. Moreover as he was busy in singing, he espying out of the spectacles, a matron appairelled in purple, which was forbidden: he showed her unto his attorneys and agentes, and turned her not only out of her gown: but also out of all the goods she had. He revoked also all the rewards of crowns which the cities had given him before at any time at plays and games. He never gave office unto any man, but he said unto him, thou knowest what I lack, and let us this do, that no man may have any thing. He rob a great number of Temples of their gifts, he melted their Images of gold, and silver, and among them also the Images of the household Gods of Rome, whom Galba afterward made again. Finally when he had wilfully set on fire the city, which burned seven days, and seven nights continually consuming beside an immeasurable number of fair palaces, the houses of the ancient captains, which yet at that time were adorned with the spoils of their enemies, the Temples of the Gods built by the kings, ye and those which were afterward vowed and dedicated in the wars with the Carthaginians and Galls, and to be short all that had remained of the antiquity, worth either the seeing or memory: and the people, for fear of being burnt had forsaken their houses, he would suffer no man to come again unto his goods which was saved, and with subsidies and collections almost quite beggared both the Provinces, and also all private men: ye and murdered most of the city, which were of any notorious wealth. But leaving Nero, these are Suetonius his words, of Domitian: that he being brought quite out of money through the charges of his works and games, and the augmenting of his soldiers wages, attempted to abate the charges of the wars, diminishing the number of the soldiers. But when he perceived that by so doing he was obnoxious to the Barbarians, neither was he in less difficulty to dispatch other charges: he had no regard, but by all sinister means took the goods in all, places aswell of the dead, as the living, at every varlets' accusation, for every light offence were men put to death, and their goods escheated. But of the tygerlyke tyranny of Caesar Borgia, bastard unto Pope Alexander the sixth: the daily proportion of whose tables was 200. ducats, that gave 1000 suits of apparel to Parasites, that continually kept in wages 8000. soldiers, I shall have occasion to speak hereafter. Yet nothing that I have rehearsed, doth more evidently set forth unto us, the torments of riot, then doth the example of Cheopes king of Egypt: who lacking money to finish his folly, begun in building a pyramid, and being destitute of all other means, beastly against nature, abandoned the beautiful body of his dear daughter, and the king's child, to the filthy and shameful abuse of every slave, that would give her a stone ready hewed, to help build the Pyramid. I read also in Seneca and Albidian, that when Apitius had spent in reveling, and buried in his belly millies sestertium, 781250. l. and understood that he had but centies sestertium, 78125. pounds left: then perceiving that he must needs appair his port, for extreme grief poisoned himself.   

The eleventh Chapter. The torments of love the inordinate lust of man, both before, after, and against nature, of an harlot that said she never remembered that she was a maid: how Solomon and Achaz begat children at eleven years of age, of a Camel that killed his keeper for deceiving him in horsing his dam: of a man in Germany in one day that begat a child upon his mother, which child he afterward married: of an horse that killed himself after that he perceived that he had served his dam: of diverse that burned in the love of them whom they never saw, of diverse that raged in lust upon statues of stone.  
With no fewer nor less torments is man torn by that daughter, and as all men do hold, companion of riot: and her lackey love: in whom says the schoolmaster of that wicked art, there be as many sorrows, & griefs as there be heirs upon Athon, bees on Hiblus, berries on the Olive tree, and shells on the Sea shore. Not living thing doth rage so inordinately in love as doth a man: not only naturally, but also before nature, after nature, and against nature. Well known is the saying of the harlot in Arbiter Petronius: who swore deeply that she could not remember that ever she was a maid. And I would to God we had not rife examples daily of such lechery in both sex. We read in the scriptures that Solomon and Achaz begat their heirs at the age of eleven years. But that, as Juvenal says, the lust and lechery of those aged persons is worthily suspected, that attempt venery without ability to do it: it hath ever been, and also is also now in our days alas to to common. The abominable glass also of Horace, which with false representation augmented the devilish delight of his beastly master, may they that list find in Seneca, but it shall not come in my book: who unwillingly writ, the man spareth not his sister, his daughter, not nor his mother, 
Histo. animal. lib. 9 cap. 47.  which Aristotle the diligent searcher of the nature of things, affirmeth the camel to do: and telleth of a camel that having horsed his mother or dam his keeper having covered her with a cloth that the stallion should not know her: but after he had served her, knowing by the falling off of the cloth, that it was his dam, for just anger killed his keeper with his teeth. Any ancient example of this beastlike lust will I rehearse none, but one out of Manlius his common places, reported by him upon doctor Martin Luther's credit, to have been done in his time at Erphurst in Germany. There was, says he, a maid of an honest stock, and she herself also honest, which was servant unto a rich widow, whose son, (a young man) being inflamed with the love and beauty of this maid hotly solicitated her to be nought with him. The maid, abhorring the foul fact did often repel the furious youth: but in the end, when he become every day more troublesome instant, on her then other: the maid was forced for the safeguard of her honesty, to declare all the whole matter unto his mother, desiring her to bridle and restrain her son that lay in continual await for her. The Mother after she had deliberated on the matter, took this order with the maid: that she should consent unto him, and prescribe him a certain place, and hour of the night, when and where she would be herself: that by that occasion she might repress and chastise the lewdness of her son. The maid liked very well of the devise, & made a sure promise unto the young man according unto her mistress her mind. At the prefixed hour, the glad man went unto the place appointed, where he found in steed of his maid, the mother, who had come thither to correct the lecherous rage of her son: but (out alas) she being overcome with unnatural lust, prostituted her wicked body to her own son. Of this heinous incest was there a woman child born, which being for a time secretly brought up abroad, at the length the mother took home unto her. The same unhappy son, being altogether ignorant of all these things, began to fall in love with his sister, and daughter being grown up, and made her also his wife. Where art thou now that worthy horse of the king of Scythia, 
Arist. de hist. Anim. lib. 9 cap. 47.  who when thou couldst by no means be won wittingly to cover thy noble dam, but at length being deceived by her being hidden with a cloth: and afterward thy error perceived by the falling of it off from her head: didst never leave galloping and flinging, until the thou hadst willingly broken thy neck: leaving unto us men a profitable example of hearty abhorring of filthy incest? But what so abominable lust of man can I rehearse, that worse remaineth not still untold? I would have been ashamed to have declared, if that the Apostle had not written it before me, 
Ad Ro. cap. 1.  that men against nature do filthily abuse men, and women, women. Hereunto will I adjoin, because it happeneth unto no other living things (although otherwise compared unto man's unbridled and unruly lust, it be not worthy to be rehearsed) that many men fervently burn in the love of them, whom they never saw, as Crispin in Juvenal, Verres in Cicero, Alcybiades and Zaariades in Atheneus: 
Lib. 13. cap. 12.  and three gentlewomen in the Courtier, with the sight of a letter in commendation of a Gentleman. Shall I for shame tel, that man, the Image of God, and temple of the holy Ghost, doth oftentimes defile his noble body with congression with brute beasts?  

Lib. 36. cap. 5.  But yet here stays not man's madness: for Pliny telleth that one fleshly loved the image of Venus at Guidus, & an other the statuie of naked Cupid at Paris in Propontis, & julius Pisciculus a horseman of Rome, with a statuie standing in the temple of Felicity at Rome: 
Lib. 13. cap. 29.  and Atheneus writeth of Clisophus that raged on an Image of white Parian marble at Samos, and of one of the ministers of the temple of Delphos, with an Image of a naked boy standing there. And that godly father and learned pastor Clemens, bishop of Alexandria, 
In orat. ad hort. ad gentes.  reporteth out of Philostephanus the like fury of Pygmalion, towards an Image of ivory of naked Venus, and confirmeth the tale of the Guidian, by the authority of Posidippus, and remembreth also the pollution of the Roman horseman. But of all other doth the history written by Aelianus far exceed for raging folly. There stood (says he) at the Prytaneum or Burse of Athens, a beautiful Image of good fortune: with whom a young man, a citizen of good reputation fell fervently in love, often streigthly embracing, and sweetly kissing it. And at the length pining away for love, he ran half frantic to the Senate, desiring of them with most suppliant suit and earnest prayers, that they would vouchsafe to let him to buy the Image, for the which he offered them a mighty mass of money. But when that the Senate thinking it to be a great dishonour unto the whole city, to cell any such goodly public ornament, thereof, would in no wise grant his request: he being strucken with deadly grief, repaired unto the image, whereunto his hotesome heart was strongly tied with chains of Adamant: and binding fine fillets, and a gorgeous garland about the head of the Image, as they used in sacrifices, and clothing it with a rich rob, offered up sacrifice: and being impatient of the intolerable torments of frustrated love, among innumerable tears, which like mighty waters ran trickling down his cheeks, with his own wicked hand ended his loathed life.  
And this indeed beside the miserable habit, leanness, and paleness of lovers, (which be accounted proper unto love, by the master of that art) and their often and deep sighs, their continual unquiet minds, their restless nights spent in watching at cold doors, and windy windows, and a thousand other incommodities, which lovers do swallow down: this I say, doth most plainly prove their griping griefs, to be of all other most painful: seeing that so many of them do willingly run into the everlasting pains of hell fire, by cruelly murdering themselves, that they may thereby escape and rid them from the broiling brands of Cupid, which will not long endure: being much like unto Aesopes' fish, that foolishly leapt out of the frying pan into the fire. And thus much of riot, and her mate lewd love.   

The twelfth Chapter. Of the torments of ambition, confirmed also by the examples of Themistocles, Alexander, julius Caesar, Mancinus Sabinus, and an Indian, and of the wonderful sums of money given by the Romans to obtain offices of their magistrates, and of their order and manner in choosing officers.  
THE next incommodity of man in Pliny, is ambition: a cross, says blessed Barnard, that tormenteth all men: it pleaseth and delighteth every man, and yet nothing doth crucify more cruelly, doth disquiet more grievously: than whose troubles there is nothing more frequented among poor wretched men. The ambitious man is always afraid, lest he should do or say any thing that might offend any man: he feigneth humility, he counterfeiteth precise honesty, he showeth affability, he useth liberality, he taketh little rest: for he is up betimes in the morning, and watcheth late at night, he trudgeth to the court, he visiteth the Lords, he honoureth all men, he cappeth, he kneeleth, he croucheth unto all men, he riseth up to his inferiors, he embraceth, he fawneth on every varlet, that he thinks may in any point further his folly, he curreth favour, he longeth, he weepeth, he rejoiceth with all men, at all places, at all times, putting on other men's countenances. Who hath not heard of that saying of Themistocles, that the famous overthrow given by the athenans unto the Persians, at Marathon, would not suffer him to take rest either day or night, while he incessantly sought to match the glory of Milciades? This made julius Caesar plenteously to pour down tears, when he beheld the Image of Alexander the great, who at the age of thirty three years, had conquered the greatest and noblest part of the world: and Caesar at that age had done nothing worthy of memory: a man so desirous of the supreme place, that passing by a pelting town of Hispaine, he affirmeth, that he had rather be the chief man of that beggarly village, than the second man in rich Rome. They writ also of Alexander, that he shed tears abundantly, when that a Philosopher told him, that there were innumerable worlds: because that he had not yet thoroughly conquered one.  
Caesar, says Cicero, was oftentimes heard to rehearse, and with high commendation to like of those verses of Euripides: that justice was only to be broken for to obtain and win a kingdom, but in all other things religiously to be observed and kept. And from what other root, I pray you, do and have all wars well near both foreign and civil sprung?  
This causeth so many cold nights to be watched abroad in the field, so many scorching days abidden in smouldering armour, so many intemper at countries painfully traveled, and so many deadly dangers run into. This vice breaketh all bands of piety towards friends, parents, children, country, of the which all histories, and common life are examples, as also of them, who never left aspiring and climbing until they had broken their necks. Yet I can not pass over in silence Mancinus Sabinus, who for extreme sorrow and envy, that Tullius Hostilius was preferred before him unto the kingdom of the Romans, like a mad man killed himself. And may I aptly in this place set down the Indian, who chose rather to be hanged up shamefully, then to shoot at the commandment of Alexander: fearing, because he had long time discontinued that exercise, that he might perhaps corrupt the praise and glory before time won by that feat?  
Moreover, this one thing I think worthy the rehearsing, that Cicero writeth unto his brother Quintus, that they which sued to be Consuls (whom I do take to be Milo, Scipio, and Hypseus,) did openly offer to give centies sestertium, 78125. l. for the prerogative voice: and what that was, doth Ascanius Pedianus upon Divinatio in S. Verrem declare. It was the manner (says he) that the concord of the people might be strengthened, at their Comitia or choosing of officers: that there should be two Comitia held of all men which sued for office.  
The first tribes, because they were first asked, whom they would have to be officers, were called the prerogatives: and the second they named, they called of right: because in them the people, as it often happeneth, following the will and mind of the Prerogatives, all things were accomplished according unto the law, or that of law aught to be done. And this will I make more plain unto you, out of Dionysius. The people of Rome in choosing of their Consuls, and their other chief Magistrates in their enacting of laws, and decrees touching wars, (for of these three things had the people chief authority,) did give their voices by the centuries or hundrethes: and therefore were they called Comitia centuriata.  
Now there were of all the Centuries, accounting the eighteen Centuries of the equites or horsemen, (all the other were of footmen) one hundredth ninety and three: who in giving their voices, had every one their dignity reserved: so that they which were most valued in the Censors book, and bore the greatest burdens of the wars (for Servius Tullius ordained, that they should not pay their tributes by the pool as they did before, but every man according unto his wealth) should first give their voices. But the first classis or company (for they were divided into four) had in it eighty Centuries, with whom also the horsemen gave their voices: who all being in number ninety and eight, did exceed the number of half the voices. Whereby it came to pass, that what so ever they were agreed upon, was accounted for decreed. But if that the first classis or company, and the horsemen could not agree (which seldom times happened) then were the Centuries of the second order called, and so forth other in order, whereby they never lightly came unto the last classis or company. Tullius his prudence using this equity, that they which were most charged, should be requited in the suffrages and voices: from whom although that no man seemed to be excluded: yet all the power and sway was in the horsemen, & the Centuries of the first classis. This order in the suffrages, and giving of voices, do Dionysius and Livy writ was not kept afterward in all points: neither yet doth the one or the other express, what order was used. I am not ignorant that Gruchius and Sigonius, who have exactly written of the Roman Comitia, do interpret the Prerogative, otherwise than I have seemed to do: wherein I will counsel no man to follow me, namely seeing that I have set it down rather to declare the ancient order of the Roman election of Officers, then for that I assuredly thought that the first classes, & the horsemen were the Prerogative tribes: as also I leave unto every man's own judgement to assent either unto Gruchius, who conjectureth, that Patrician officers were chosen first by Centuriata, and then by Curiata Comitia: But the comoner by Curiata and Tributa: the first Comitia being always called the prerogative, or unto Sigonius, who thinketh that the Prerogative was a band chosen out of all the tribes: or else probably devise some fourth opinion. But omitting this controversy, I read in Pedianus, that when Milo sued for the consulship, he gave money unto all the tribes: to every man a thousand assies: that is three pounds, now the tribes being in number xxxv. If that he did corrupt but a thousand in every tribe, the sum would amount unto an hundredth and five thousand pounds: so that it is no marvel that Pliny reporteth, that he owed at his death, Sextingenties, 546875. pounds. julius Caesar also gave unto Paulus the Consul, to stand his friend that he might remain still in Office, 1500. talentes, which is 281250. pounds. So sweet unto men is the supreme sw●y of superiority.   

The thirteenth Chapter. Of the torments of covetousness.  
ALl other earthly living things desire nothing but single food to sustain their hungry bodies, & to have where to shroud themselves against storms, cold and heat: only man's immeasurable mind coveteth all that is within the compass of heaven. For fortune, says a wiseman, hath given too much to many men, but enough to no man. For although (says Horace) wealth do grow without measure, yet is there always some thing wanting unto wealth, which is ever too short. Wherefore in an other Ode doth he aptly compare covetousness to the dropsy, which groweth still greater and greater by continual feeding of her humour with lugging in of drink, the which it vehemently desires. For both the moisture, the ground of the grief, is augmented: and also the liquor, which is powered in to quench the thirst, being turned into a salt quality by the inward humour, increaseth the former thirst: the salt moisture, the cause thereof, being augmented. In like manner covetousness changing all that ever she doth get into her own greedy desiring humour, hath not her insatiable desire satisfied, & filled by getting of much: but rather made the greater: more matter being supplied, and added unto it: no otherwise than Hypocrates saith, that the more thou dost nourish and feed an unclean body, the more thou hurtest, and weakenest it: the quantity of ill humours being by meat increased, and the ill quality of them still kept and retained. To what pains doth this greedy gulf put man unto? This maketh him to run day & night through thick and thin, fire and water, to suffer kill cold in winter, to abide the hurtful heat in summer, to sail the dangerous seas, to travel the countries burnt up with the scorching sun beams, or oppressed with snow, and ice. What fact is so perilous, the which it will not drive man to do? And when the covetous have gotten great riches, are they not Tantalus in the Poets, that continually is like to die for thirst, and yet the water toucheth his lower lip, and starve for hunger the apple bobbing his upper? for unto the covetous according unto the old saws, as well that is lacking which he hath, as also that which he hath not: and unto a poor man be many things wanting, but unto a covetous man all. And as he coveteth those things which he hath not, so feareth he to use them which he hath, lest he should spend them: but much more is he tormented, lest they should be taken away from him: so that in prosperity, he feareth adversity, and loseth present joy for fear of sorrow to come. Wherefore most true is that saying of the Mimographer, one can wish a covetous man no greater mischief, then long life: for he is the cause of his own ill.   

The fourteenth Chapter. The rites used at burials of almost all nations, and sects, as well ancient as modern with mention of diverse costly rumbes,  
But how great man's care for burial is, which Pliny doth set down for the next incommodity, the two Oceans of all knowledge and wisdom Homer and Virgil, have declared, yea and long before them, God himself: who commanded it to be told to a disobedient prophet, as a great terror and mischief, that he should not be buried in the sepulchre of his ancestors: and threateneth Achab and jezabel for their great outrages: that either dogs or birds should tear into pieces their dead carcases. But Homer in the 22. book of his Iliad. maketh courageous Hector to desire his cruel enemy Achilles, when he was about presently to bereave him of light, not to spare his life: but only earnestly to obtest him for the soul & piety of his parents, not to suffer the dogs to tear him in pieces at the ships of the Greeks: but to take a great mass of money, gold, and other rich gifts of his father and mother for his dead body: that the Troi●●s & their wives might honourably burn it. And in the xii. book of Virgil's Aeneidos, the Italian Hector Turnus desireth the insulting Victor, to restore unto his friends his body spoiled of life, and to extend his hatred no further. Also in the tenth, that despiser of the Goddess Mezentius, when that Aeneas triumphed over him, (who lay flat on the ground) and said where is this valiant Mezentius, where is that savage fierceness of heart of his? answered: O cruel enemy, why dost thou insult over me, & threatenest me death? why stayest thou thy happy hand? why man it is no cruelty to kill me, neither came I hither & challenged thee to the combat, that I might be victor & vanquisher neither did my dear son Lausus make any such covenant with thee for me: but now he is slain, it is life for me to die. But this one thing I do request of thee, if the a vanquished enemy may obtain any pardon or benefit at thy hand, that thou wilt suffer my body to be covered with the earth I know the cruel hatred of my subjects environ me round about, I suppliantly beseech thee, defend me from this one extreme fury, and let me be partaker of my sons sepulchre. The foolish gentiles did hold that the souls of deadmen could not pass over the Srygian lake into the place of rest, before that their bodies rested in some seat and place: hereof came it, that the soul of Patroclus in the twenty-three. of the Iliads appearing unto Achilles, complaineth of his flouthe, desiring him to hasten his funerals and burial. And Palinurus in Virgil can not pass the Stygian lake, because that his bones lay unburied. Moreover Virgil in the same sixth book doth affirm, that the souls of the unburied do wander about the hither shore of the lake 100 years: which is, says Servius, the just years of man's life, which being complete and ended, they may pass over the river: that is, go into the place of purgation, that they may return again, (according unto Pythagoras his doctrine) into some body. 
Cel. Lec. antiq.  Hereof it came that among the Athenians, if any captain did not honest with burial his soldiers slain in the wars, he should lose his life for it. And there was among the Macedons almost no so solemn a function of warfare, as to bury their dead fellows. But at Rome he that had taken up a dead man, out of the grave, or digged up the bones, if he were a man of low degree, says Paulus, he suffered death: but if of more honest calling, he was banished into an isle, or condemned to work in the mines. Yea this care of burial is so common unto all mankind, that I know not whither there were ever any nation so barbarous, or sect so savage, which hath not had their solemn funerals and burying: although in deed diverse, 
The Persian burial.  yea and quite contrary one unto an other. The Persians after that the dead body is torn in pieces either by dogs or birds, 
The Babylonian burial.  wrapping it in wax, buried it in the ground. The Babylonians honeyed them, and in other ceremonies were like unto the Egyptians: among whom, 
The Egyptian burial.  when one died, the women of the house did cover their face and head all over with dirt, and ran out of the doors through out the streets, crying and wring their hands, with their clotheses tucked up, & their dugs naked: and with them in like manner did all their neighbours run: but the men bareing their breasts, did beat and thump themselves. After they had done this: then they carried the dead body forth to be seasoned and dressed. There were certain appointed for this purpose: who when the body was brought unto them, did show them which brought it three images of wood: painted every one like unto a dead man. And they say that one of them was very curiously and cunningly made, whose name, says Herodotus, if I should name I shall not do holily. The second was inferior and of less price. The third very good cheap. Then they demanded, to which of these patterns they would have the Image of their dead person made. Then after they were agreed of the price, they departed. But the seasoners trimmed the body very diligently after this manner.  
First of all they drew out all the brain out of his head through his nose with a hooked instrument, filling up the place again with medicinal matter. Then they ripped his belly with an Aethiopian stone, & took out all the paunch, which when they have made very clean and filled with wine of Phoenicia, they stuffed full of beaten odours: & then farsing all the belly with pure myrrh, cinnamon and other odours, except frankincense, they sowed it up again. When they had thus done, they keeping it in a secret place within, did salt it 70. days for longer it is not lawful to salt them. When that the 70. days were expired, they washed, and wrapped it in a sheet of bissine, mallng it with whip cords, which they anointed with a gum, that the Egyptians do for the most part use in steed of glue. Then the kinsfolks of the dead man receiving the body, did make an Image of a man of wood, in the which they do put the dead man, and so lay him up.  
Thus used the Egyptians to burn their private men. But when the King died, all the people lamented with common heaviness: 
The funerals of the Egyptian King.  they tare their clotheses, they locked the doors of their Temples, they frequented not the courts, places, they kept no solemn feasts, defiling their heads 72. days with dirt, two hundredth & three hundredth in a company with a sheet girt under their breast, would walk round about the city twice in a day, renewing their mourning, and sing to the instrument the praises of the King. And during this time they abstained from eating of any living thing, any boiled meats, wine & all furniture of the table. They used neither baths, ointments, beds, nor venery: but as though their dear son had been dead did they all this time mourn & lament. Now in the mean while all things appertaining unto the pomp of the funerals being prepared: the next day after, they did set the body. being laid in a cofin, before the entry into the sepulchre: where of custom they read a brief of all things that he had done in his life time: and leave was given to every man that would to accuse the dead king. The priests stood by praising the good deeds of the king, the people which stood round about the funeral pomp, applauded unto his true praises, & but at the rest reclaimed with great tumult. Whereby it happened that many kings, the people repugning, lacked the wonted honour, and magnificence of funerals. The fear whereof made the kings of Egypt to live uprightly, fearing that they should have the everlasting anger, and hatred of the multitude when they were dead. But the Aethiopians after that they had dried the dead body, 
The burial of the Aethiopians.  either as the Egyptians, or else as other nations used covered it over with Gipsum, and adorned it with a picture, the which did express the dead person, as lively as might be: then they enclosed it in a tomb of glass, in the mids whereof, one might see the dead man, who caused no ill smell at all, nor any kind of filthiness. This tomb did the next of kin unto the dead man keep in his house, twelve months, offering unto him the first fruits of all things, and sacrifices. When a year was passed, they carried the tomb out of the house and did set it in some place about the city. But Diodorus Siculus cotrarieth by the authority of Clesias, (who was in great credit 17. years with Artaxerxes king of Persia) this rite of the Aethiopians written by Herodotus, and says that they salted, and then burned them, and did put the ashes in hollow statues of Gold, the which they enclosed in glass whom they did set in some high place of the house: so that all men that beheld the tomb, might see not the dead body, but a lively statuie thereof through the glass, but only the richer sort had statues of gold, the poorer of silver, the poorest of clay. But some of the Aethiopians, 
The burial of the Meroites.  says Diodorus, do cast the dead into a river, as the best sepulchre, as did also some of the Meroites, but other of them kept them at home in their houses enclosed in glass, other putting them in earthen pots, buried them in the earth about the Temples. But this was general unto them all to swear by them & to accounted them for Gods. The Troglodytes did bury the dead, 
The burial of the Troglodytes.  tying their neck to their feet with twigs of Paliurus: and afterward they suddenly carried them forth merry and laughing, until they had with earth covered the body, and then sticking a goats horn upon the grave, they departed. 
The burial of the Panebi. The burial of the Colchians The burial of the Phrygians. The burial of the Chii.  The Panebi in Africa did put in the ground the body of their deceased king: but his head being cut off, & guilted, did they set up in the Temple. The Colch● did not lay dead men in the ground, but hanged them up on high up on trees: & the Phrygians their dead priests upon stones set-up of eleven cubits high. The Chij after they had burnt the corpses, and gathered the bones, they pounded all in a mortar, and embarking them in a ship, did sail into the main sea, & all a long as they went shifted them through a siue into the Sea, until all were quite dissipated and consumed. The Arabians buried their kings in dunghills. 
The burial of the Arabians.  It was peculiar unto the Cathei of all Indians, 
The burial of the Cathei.  for the wife to be burned with her husband, and she that refuseth so to do, was ever after accounted infamous, which Herodotus in his fifth book affirms also to be the manner of the Scythians above the Chrestonei. 
The burial of the Chrestonei  Some of the Indians 
The burial of the Indians.  used when they felt themselves sore sick, to 'cause a great pile of wood to be made, upon the top whereof they would ascend, and it being set on fire, burn themselves: and thus did a Gymnosophist in the campt of Alexander the great. The Derbices 
The burial of the Derbices.  killed them that were passed 70. years, and the next of their kin did eat all the flesh of them, (which Strabo doth also affirm of the Irish men, 
The Irish burial. ) but they strangled old women, and buried them. They that died before they were 70. years old did they not eat, but put in the ground. The Caspians 
The burial of the Caspians.  starved him that lived passed 70. years, and casting him away into a desert would stand a far off and watch his event. If he were pulled and torn out of the head by birds, they judged him happy: if by wild beasts and dogs, not so fortunate: but if by neither, than altogether unhappy. If dogs devour my dead carcase (said Diogenes) I shall have the burial of the Hyrcanians, 
The burial of the Iberians.  if vultures of the Iberians. Onesicritus writes that the Bactrians did use to cast alive such persons as were quite worn with age or sickness unto dogs which they kept for that purpose, 
The burial of the Bactrians.  and calling them sepulchral dogs. But it is not true says Strabo who writes that the Massaget● thought it to be the best kind of death, 
The burial of the Massagetae  that men w●●ue with age should be chopped into pieces, and eaten mingled with mutton. But those that died of sickness did they cast away as wicked folks, and worthy to be devoured by wild beasts. The manner of the Thracians in burying of their noble men was thus. 
The Thracian burial.  To bring forth the corpse, to kill all kinds of sacrifices, & to feast three days: and then the corpse being first bewept, and after burnt, they buried, or otherwise covered it with earth, making a mighty high heap, and setting forth all kinds of games, and specially combats. 
The burial of the Transi.  But the Transi among other buried their dead in the ground with all joy and mirth, rehearsing from how many calamities and evils he was delivered. 
The burial of the Scythian kings.  When any of the kings of Scythia died, the people digged a great hole four square, which when they have prepared, they took the dead king his body, being wrapped in wax, his paunch taken out and cleansed, the which when they have filled with beaten silver, sweet herbs, parsley seed, and aniséede, they sowed it up again, & laying the corpse in a wain, they carried him unto an other country, who did the same that the other Scythians had done where he had been resident: they did cut round his ears, they rounded his hairs, they circumcised his arms, they wounded his nose, and forehead, they thrust his left hand through with arrows. Afterwards they carried the king's corpse in a wain to another nation that he had reigned over, who did accompany them unto the country from whence they first came. Now when they carrying the dead king about had traveled all the countries, over whom he had reigned: they laid him with them the dwelled in the farthest part of the Gerrhi, & in the solemn sepulchres of the kings: and when they had seen him laid upon a bed in a tumb, spears being sticked here & there, they also did set up posts round about upon whom they hanged a cloak that covered the tumb. But in the wide tumb with the king, they buried one of his concubines, being strangled, & his cupbearer, his cook, his horskéeper, & the man that used to go on his messages, & also horses: & the first fruits of all other things, ye & also cups of gold. When they had so done, they any hurled earth upon him, coveting to make a very great and high mount. After a year was passed the like did they again. They took the chiefest of the kings servants: (and the servants of the kings of Scythia were all fréemen,) for no bondman served them, of whom when they had strangled 50. and so many excellent horses, and taken out their entrails, and cleansed them: they filled them full of chaff, and sowed them up. And when they had set on half of an embowed edifice turned topsy-turvy, upon two beams, and the other half upon two other, & set up many made after this fashion: then they did set up on these edifices the horses, strong pieces of timber being thrust through them along their backs & coming out at their necks, who so stood that the foremost vaults or embowed edifices did hold up the fore legs of the horses: and the hinder did bear up their bellies close to their thighs, both the legs hanged down aloft: they bridled the horses, and tied their reigns unto the posts. Then upon every one of the horses did they set one of the young men, a long piece of wood, which was fastened at the lower end unto the post that went through the horse, being thrust through them: which came out at their neck. These horsemen being set up round about the sepulchre, who seem like unto a troop of horsemen set to guard the King, they departed. After this manner they buried their kings. 
The burial of private Scythians.  But other Scythians when they were departed, did all their neighbours, laying them in veins, carry about unto their kinsfolks. Every one of their friends receiving them, did make a feast unto all that accompanied the corpse, aswell kinsfolks as other. After this manner were private men carried about forty days: and then buried in the ground: but being first cleansed after this manner, when they had taken all the brain out of his head, and washed it: this they did with the body. They did set up three posts one shoring above towards another: about these posts did they hung woollen caps, and into a trey set in the mids of the posts, and caps, did they throw fire stones, upon whom they did cast seeds of a kind of flax that they have: whereof they made a perfume, causing such a vapour, as no censars do among the Greeks. With this odour the Scythians being brought into an astonishment used to cry out right, and howl. But of the Scythians, says Mela, 
The burial of the Essedones.  the Essedones did celebrated the funerals of their parents merrily with sacrifices, and festival assemblies, of their friends, eating the dead bodies chopped together with mutton: but the heads after they had finely polished them, did they make mayzers of, trimming them about with gold: and these were their last duties of piety. He also telleth that in Thracia, 
The burial of a country in Thrace.  when a husband died, his wives, who are always many, did earnestly contend whom her husband best loved in his life time, and was the most worthiest woman: that she might be slain upon her husbands body, and burnt with him: which she, to whom it was adjudged, did joyfully fulfil: the rest mourning and with lamentable voices & bitter beating did bring forth the corpse unto burial: and by this only way could they be comforted: if that certain men did bring weapons and money or cattle unto the rogue or funeral fire: and say that they were ready either to compound with the fate of him that lay there, or else to fight with it; but when there was place neither for money nor for fight, than they remained suitors unto the women. The Massilians buried their dead without any lamentation or beating of themselves: 
The burial of the Massilians. Vale Max. lib. 2. cap. 1.  finishing the funerals with a domestical sacrifice and a feast made unto their kinsfolks. The Tauri 
The burial of the Tauri.  in Scythia did use to bury with their kings such of their friends as they best loved in their life time. The Galls burned, 
The burial of the Galls.  and did put in the ground their dead folks, burying with them their books of remembrances and ordering of their affairs and businesses, and also of their debts: there were some also that would willingly cast themselves into the rogues or burial fires of their friends, as though they should by that means live with them together in an other world. 
The burial of the king of Macedon. Herod. lib. 6.  When the king of Lacedemonia happened to die, horsemen did carry news of his death through out all the realm: and women went about the city, making a great noise with ringing of brazen pots and basins. And while this was a doing: of every house there must one man and one woman be defiled with mourning, or else a great fine was set upon their heads. But at the funerals, they used the same order that the Barbarians of Asia did at the burials of their kings. For there must be at the funerals out of every region of Lacedemonia, all that were of alliance unto him. Of whom, and also of bondmen, and the Lacedæmonians them selves, after there were many thousands assembled together: then both men and women pricked and punched their foreheads without fear, and used an unmeasurable howling: affirming every last king to be the best. But that king which died in the wars, after they had made a very lively Image of him, did they carry to be buried, laying him upon a bed gorgeously trimmed. At his interring, proclamation was made, that no judges nor Magistrates should sit, and that there should be continual mourning, but for private men they might mourn but eleven days. But I think this burial was common unto all the Greeks, 
The burial of the greeks.  to burn their bodies: and putting the ashes into a pot or stone to bury it in the ground, setting upon the grave a tomb. Servius, although Celius doth reprehend him for it, 
Who began burning of the dead.  thinks that the usage of burning dead bodies was begun by Hercules, who burned Argiws the son of Lycimnius, bringing his bones with him unto Lycimnius, that he might perform the promise which he had made unto him: that he would bring him home his son again. 
The opinions of Heraclitus and Thales of burial.  And upon the eleventh of the Aeneidos, he saith: that Heraclitus, who would have that all things consist of fire, holds, that all bodies aught to be resolved into fire: but Thales, who affirms all things to be bred of moisture, says, that bodies aught to be covered in the earth, that they may be resolved by moisture. And on the third that the Egyptians, men skilful in all wisdom, 
Why the Egyptians preserved the dead bodies.  do conserve their coorses, being seasoned (for says Mela, they keep the dead, being medicined by art at home in their houses) that the soul may long time continued and remain obnoxious and bound unto the body: that he may not soon pass into an other body: the Romans do contrary, for they burn the bodies, 
Why the greeks burned the bodies. Why the Persians, and Egyptians would not burn their dead.  that the soul may incontinently return into generality, that is to wit, into her nature. Herodotus writes in his third book, that the Egyptians & Persians think it not lawful to burn the dead. For the Persians do hold the fire for a God: and it is not meet and convenient to offer a dead man's carcase unto a God. But the Egyptians be persuaded, that the fire is a certain living beast, which doth consume and devour all that ever it can get: but when it hath eaten and absumed all, that then both it, and also all those things which it hath devoured, do die together: therefore the Egyptians have decreed neither to burn folks, nor yet to cast them unto beasts, which many other nations did: but to season them, that they may not be consumed by worms. But to return again unto the greeks, Homer thus describeth the manner of their burial, 
The funerals of the Greekes  when he writeth how Patroclus was buried. They made a mighty oil of wood an hundredth foot high, upon the which they laid the dead body, pouring into the fire gallons of oil and honey, and threw in also sheep and oxen (always provided that they were even) out of whom they had before taken the cawls, and tallow, and laid upon the course: and when the carcase with all these gear were burnt, and the wood spent, they did put the fire quite out with black wine, and gathered up all the bones and ashes, which being put into a cup of gold, and wrapped in two folds of tallow, they digged a grave, in which they laid the cup, throwing still earth upon it, until they had made a great hillock: 
The funerals of a captain slain.  whereupon they did set a tomb. If that a noble man were slain in the wars, they used to kill and burn with him for an infernal sacrifice to appease his spirit, certain of the enemies prisoners. So doth Achilles sacrifice twelve troyans unto Patroclus: and Aeneas as many Rutillians unto Pallas: and Alexander unto Ephestion, (although he died of sickness) all the Cussei that were above 14. years: which in old time to have been also used in Italy, doth appear by Servius upon the tenth of the Aeneidos: where he hath these words: Inferiae be the sacrifices which are paid unto hell. Indeed it was the manner in old time, for prisoners to be slain upon the sepulchres of valiant men: but afterward when that seemed to be over cruel, it was thought good that sword players should fight before the sepulchres, who thereof were called Bustiarij, of the bustes or burial fires. 
The sumptuous charges of funerals.  The greeks also used at burials to hold great feasts, plays, and all sorts of games, as Achilles doth in Homer, at the burial of Patroclus: and Aeneas in Virgil, at the twelve months mind of his father. Hereof arose those incredible charges of funerals, that Alexander bestowed 10000 talents, that is, 1875000.l. upon the funerals of Ephestion: and Isidorus a Roman, willed by testament his heir to bestow upon his funerals xj. 
The Roman funerals.  thousand sesterces, which amounts to above 87937. for the riotous Romans followed all the rites of the Greeks in their funerals: burning the body, and laying the bones in a pot or stone in the ground, and setting thereupon a tomb, and holding of magnificent feasts, games, stage plays, and all such other pastimes. 
Curio his marvelous Theatres. 36.15.  C. Curio, who says Pliny, had no goods to put into the Censors book, but only the discord of Pompey and Caesar, did at the funerals of his father make two mighty Theatres of wood, the one set close unto the other, either of them hanging by one vice: so that in the forenoon they stood back to back, that the players in the one should not with their noise hinder the other, but suddenly with all the people sitting upon them, were they turned round about, so that the one stood right over against the other: and at the last their horns (for they were made in form of a new moon) joined close together, and made an amphitheatre round, whereupon fought sword players. But because I spoke a little before of the great charges bestowed upon the funerals of Ephestion, 
The funerals of Ephestion.  I think it not unpleasant to rehearse out of Diodorus Siculus, somewhat of the sumptuous manner of them. All the captains and friends of the kings (says he) seeking to feed his humour, and to follow his affection, caused Images to be made of ivory, gold, and other precious stuff. But Alexander himself gathered together a great number of Architects, and the excellentest workmen to adorn his funerals. And first of all did he cast down ten furlongs of the walls of Babylon, & all the bricks being gathered together, caused he to be carried away, the the ground might be level to build the rogue or funeral fire upon: the which he erected four square, every side being one furlong long: the rest of the plot he divided into 30. edifices, the which were built with stories boarded with palm tree: at the lowest part were set 240. béekes of quinqueremes or galleys with five ranks of oars of gold, and upon every one of them, as it were upon the stem of a galley stood two archers two cubits high, resting on their knee: in the mids stood five statues in armour, of five cubits high: and all the places between them were covered with drawn courteins of purple. On the second story were fifteen lamps whose feet were enclosed with crowns of gold. In the top or highest story, where the fire should be put and kindled, were Eagles portraytured, spreading abroad their wings, and looking down upon the dragons, that stood beneath staring up upon them. The third story was filled full of a mighty number of wild beasts wrought for that purpose. The fourth had the fight of the Centaurs made in gold. The fifth had Bulls, and Lions of gold: first a Bull and then a Lion, and so still in like order. Above all this was the highest story hanged round about with the weapons of the Macedons, and also of all the Barbarians, both to show the valour of the Macedons and also to signify what nations they had conquered. Then upon the top of all did there stand hollow Myrmaides, in whom were hidden certain men that sang the funeral Nenia or song. The height of the whole work was esteemed to be 130. cubits. And when that the capteins, the soldiers, the ambassadors and the inhabitants did to the uttermost of their power help to furnish and adorn the pomp, there was bestowed above 12000, talentes, that is, 572500. And after the rate and proportion of this magnificence were all other things celebrated in the funerals, and burial with surpassing bravery. And last of all were men commanded to sacrifice unto him as unto a God precedent. To furnish the funerals of so dear a believed, Alexander gave commandment unto all the cities near to help and garnish the pomp by all means, and with all things that they could possible. He also gave commandment to all the cities of Asia that they should put out the fire which was kept in the Temples, and casted the holy fire: the which thing was never used to be done among the Persians but at the death of their king. In this place also, although somewhat out of order, will I set down out of Thucydides: the public obsequies the which the athenans 
The funerals of the Athenians slain in the field.  kept for their countrymen that were slain in the Peloponnesian wars, following the ancient manner of their country. Three days before the burial was there made a great tabernacle: within the which were laid the bones of them, that were dead, that their parents & friends might lay upon them, what they thought good. Afterwards every lineage or tribe of the town had a great coffer or cophin of cypress, into the which they did put the bones of all them of that tribe which were dead, and carried it in a chariot to the usual place of burial. And after all the coffers, was there carried in a● other chariot, a great bed ready made, & garnished, without any body lying thereon, the which represented these deadmen whose bodies could not be found. These chariots were conducted and accompanied by all sorts of people, citizens or other (those that would go) unto the sepulchre: where the wives & parents of the diseased wept bitterly, and made great lamentation. Then did they lay all the coffers or cophins in a public sepulchre, or monument made for the purpose, in the fairest suburb of the city the which sepulchre is called Ceramicon, wherein they used to but i● all th●se that died in the wars, except it were they that were slain at the battle of Mar●●●n. In memory of whose singular ●●wesse, they had willed a ●●●●●ar sepulchre to be 〈◊〉 ●s the self same p●●e. And after the bodies were buried the usage was, the some notable parsonage of the city both for knowledge & honour should make an Oration unto the people in the praise of the persons departed: the which being unded every body departed home? But for to make the oration at that time was the vallaint and ●●quent Pet●●te● appointed. And now to 〈◊〉 unto the Romin●●, 
Why the Romans burned the dead.  I do find in Pliny, 〈◊〉 was not used among them 〈…〉 for to burn the dea● bodies 〈◊〉 to 〈◊〉 them in the earth: but afterward when that they understood, the those which were over whelmed by wars, far from home, were oftentimes taken up, an ordinance was made, that all should be burnt: & yet they kept the ancient rite diversly: for they do report that none of the house of the Cornelij were burnt before Sylla the Dictator, who feared jest he himself should be taken up and handled after his death, as he in his life time had dealt with Marius his dead body. Learned Volaterranus doth hold, that after the time of the Antonines, (of whom Heliogabalus was the last) they burned no corpses at Rome. And before that time I read in Tacitus, that when Nero had slain in his mad mood his wife Poppea, he burned not her body, but stuffing it full of odours, after the manner of foreign kings, buried it in the sepulchres of the julij: but the solemn accustomed funerals were kept: Furthermore laying of the dead body in the earth, doth Cicero truly think to be the most ancient kind of burial (for the patriarchs were so buried:) whereunto Xenophon also seemeth to assent making Cyrus to will his son to lay him neither in gold, silver, nor in any thing else: but only to restore him unto the earth. 
Rites of burial common to many countries.  This also was common both unto the greeks and Romans to bury the dead with great lamentations, and tears, without which, says Servius, they thought that they were not orderly & duly buried: whereof proceeds that complaint of Drances against Turnus: the we, an unbewept multitude, may be slain in the field: for the which cause they used to hire women to weep & howl at burials: 
In Epistolam ad Cor. 8.12. In Mat. ho. 32. & in cap. ad Cor. 1. Ser. 13.  whereof chrysostom doth make mention in many places, & Horace also toucheth in his book De Arte Poetica, chrysostom in his 69. sermon unto the people of Antioch, blameth in them the tearing of their hairs, the bearing of their arms, the dissipating of their eyes, and the wearing of black apparel, and upon the first unto the Philippians scratching of their faces: & he rebuketh their immoderate and undecent mourning so sharply, that he threateneth to excommunicate them which would not cease to use it. And not without good cause. For by Bellonius his report it is used among the greeks even at this day: that when one is dead, 
P. Bello in obseru.  all the women of the town or hamlet will assemble together even at the hard morning, and there continued until night, making a very piteous howling, and woefully tearing their hairs renting their faces, and thumping their breasts. And that their pauses (as the musicians term them) may be the better understood, they hire a woman that hath a good wide and a clear throat, to lead the song, whom all they follow, singing all the acts and life of the deceased even from his nativity. 
Tacit. de mori Ger. The burial of the Germans  But the ancient Germans did soon wipe dry their tears, & leave off their lamentations: but remained somewhat longer in sorrow, and sadness. It was also permitted only unto the women to mourn, and unto the men no more but to have them in memory. There was no ambition of funerals among them: this only was observed: that the bodies of famous men were burnt with certain woods: neither did they make high the pile of the funeral fire, either with garments, or odours, as did the Romans, but every man had only his armour and weapons cast into the fire with him, & some of them their horses, the grave was raised up with green turfs, they despising & abhorring the painful and laboursome honour of tombs, & monuments, as heavy and grievous unto the deceased. But I read in Curtius the Alexander in his great mourning for Ephestion commanded the manes of all the horses & mules in the camp to be shorn, 
The manner of the Persian mourning.  the pinnacles of all the cities near about to be beaten down, & neither pipes nor other instruments of music to be used for a time in the camp. Herodotus writeth in his ninth book, that it was the manner of the Persiani, when that their king, or any of consanguinity or familiarity with him died, to poll themselves, and to share the manes of their horses, and other beasts either for burden or the saddle. 
The manner & habits of the Roman mourning.  But the usage of the Romans was quite contrary, for they in all kind of mourning and sorrow, did let their head & beard grow long: whereof came the merry jest of Sabinus: who being offered by the Cretes, 
A merry tale of Sabinus.  because they saw the Proconsul Appius singularly to favour him, to bear the chiefest office among them which officer must bear his beard and the hair of his head long, thanked them hearty for their good wills, but he would none of it: for he had borne it twice already at Rome, for he had been twice accused of notorious crimes. But to shame their beards in mourning, may seem to have been a fashion in France, yea of late years, for in Frosard, the Earl of Foix shaveth his beard for the death of his son. Moreover, Suetonius reporteth in the life of Caligula, that when the Romans heard of the death of the noble Germunious, 
The manner of mourning of the Romans and divers barbarous nations for the death of Germanicus.  they battered their temples with stones, they threw down the altars of their Gods, some did hurl their household Gods into the streets, and finally, other did cast away their children lately borne. Also the Barbarians that had either foreign or civil wars, as in a common heaviness consented to truce. Some of the kings shaved their beards, and the heads of their wives for a token of supreme mourning. The king of the Parthians commanded a Megistanun: which is to abstain from hunting, & setting at meat together: like unto the Roman institium: which Caligula commanded to be kept so straightly for the death of his sister Drusilla, that during the time it lasted, no man upon pain of death might laugh, wash or sup, yea with his parents, his wife, or children. Moreover, this I thee in Seranus, that men at the first did use to bury the bead at home at their houses: 
In 6. Ae. Roman rites at burials.  and I dead that it was permitted the Lacedæmonians to bury within their city, yea, and to set up tombs and monuments about the temple: but afterward, the Romans were mostly buried in Appia Via without the city: and Vulpian rehearseth an Edict of Adrian the Emperor, that no man upon pain of forty aurei (which I take to be twenty pounds) should bury any man within the city, with a penalty also on the officers that suffered it: yet I read in plutarch, that it was granted unto noble and famous capteins, and their posterity to be buried in the Roman forum or market place: but the Roman Emperors were well near all buried in Mars his field, where they were made Gods. Furthermore, this I note out of Appian, that the greatest cause, that the rich men did allege against the law for division of lands among the people, was: because they said, it was a wicked thing for to have the sepulchres of their ancestors to pass unto strangers: albeit Pomponius the lawyer doth hold, that the Owners of lands upon whom they have builded sepulchres, have right to resort unto, and visit them after that the lands be alienated. Moreover (says Sernius) it was the manner among the ancient Romans, 
In. 5. Aeneid.  that where soever a man died, he was brought home unto his own house, or of his kinsfolks, and there kept seven days, and the eight burnt, so he were above three years old, and the ninth buried: whereof the plays that were kept in the honour of the dead, were called Ludi novensiles. Every day of these seven was the body anointed with precious ointments, and washed with hot water, and called unto with a loud voice, to see if he would come unto himself again: for many had returned to life in the mids of their burning, & could by no means be saved. After this was he carried forth upon a high bed with his feet forward, to be burned, 
Virg. Aenei. 11 Pers. satire. 3. Alex. Aphrod. in Proble.  the people following (although afterward in the time of Hierome they went before) with torches, tapers, & candles, and trumpets sounding, & pipes and other musical instruments playing, & also many boughs of Cypress were borne before the beer, the which were sticked down round about the fire, because (says Varro) the people which stood about, should not be annoyed with the smell of the burning of the corpse: the people continued there, answering unto the weeping, words, gestures, & doings of the Prefica or leader of the lamentations, until that at the length, the last word was pronounced ilicet, ye may be gone if ye list. 
Hist. lib. 5.  Polybius writeth, that when a noble man died in Rome, they carried the course unto a place in the city, where orations were used to be made unto the people, called the Rostra: where his son, or else some other of his kin, did make an oration in his praise, & of his noble acts: & then they buried him, & then did set up his Image in the noblest part of his house, & built about it little chapels of wood. But when any notable man died, there road round about the course, divers men that seemed very like unto him in stature & other points, who aware apparel, if he had been Consul, or General of an army, guarded about with purple, if he had been Censor, of clean purple, but if he had triumphed, interwoven with gold. Thus road they in their chariots, & the bundles of rods, the axes, & other ensigns belonging unto the office, that he had borne in his life time, were borne before them: but when they came unto the Rostra, they did all set down in their seats of ivory, & then was done as you have heard before. 
Lib. 8. cap. 18.  Furthermore Pliny affirms, that it was the usage throughout the whole world, to burn at burials great heaps & piles of odours, whereas they offered them up unto the Gods but by crumbs. This also was common unto the Athenians, for the next of kin to make an oration, in praise of the dead person at his burial. I read in Valerius Maximus, that it was first ordained at Athens by Pericles, but plutarch in the life of Publicola, affirms it to have come from Solon, to whom I do rather assent: but afterward it was enacted, that it should not be lawful to make an oration in the praise of the dead, but only at burials made by the public weal, nor for every man to pronounce it: but such an one, as was by public authority appointed thereunto. But the first that was praised at Rome, was junius Brutus the first consul, & that by Publicola his college: & it was also permitted unto women in the time of Camillus, because they gave their jewels to make a cup for Apollo, the which should be sent unto Delphos. But this was peculiar unto the Romans, to canonize their good emperors after their death for gods, the manner of the which consecration & funerals, 
The funerals and deification of the Roman Emperors.  is thus described by Herodian. When the emperor is departed out of this life, there is in all the whole city as it were a certain mourning mixed with festival celebrity, for they bury the dead body, after the rite of their country, with sumptuous burial. But they make an image very like to the emperor deceased, which they lay forth at the porch or coming in of the court, upon a very great & high bed, covered with clotheses of gold: & the image doth lie pale like unto a sick man. But about the bed on both sides set there a great part of the day, on the left side all the Senate, appareled in black, but on the right, matrons honourable for the dignity of their husbands or parents: none of them wearing any gold, ouch, or tablet, but being clothed in straight short white garments, seem to be women in great heaviness. This do they continually the space of seven days, the Physicians repairing every day unto the dead man, & looking upon the image, as it were the sick emperor, telling daily, that he waxeth worse and worse. afterward, when he hath seemed to have changed life for death, the noblest of the young gentlemen, and the very flower of the orders of the Senators and horsemen, took up the bed upon their shoulders, and bore it along the Sacred way (a street so called) into the old forum, where the Roman magistrates had used to give up their authority and offices. But on both sides of the Forum steps or grieces were built like unto stairs upon the which was on the one side a great company of the children of the most noble men, and senators, and on the other of noble women, which did sing hymns and Paeans made with solemn and lamentable verse and note in the honour of the Emperor departed: which being ended, they took up the bed again, and carried it out of the city into Mars his field, where in the broadest place of the field there was a scaffold set up four square with equal sides, built of nothing else but mighty timber, in the form of a tabernacle. Within it was a wall all filled full of dry sticks, kixes, spray and all other things, that will quickly take fire: but without, it is adorned with hangings of purple, and golte, & with Images of ivory, and diverse kinds of pictures and paintings. But under it was there another less Tabernacle set, but in form and garnishing very like unto the first, with gates & doors standing wide open. And so also a third and a fourth, ever always lesser, & lesser and so other beneath them until you come unto the lowest which was the lest of all. You may liken the form of this building unto those towers, that stand over havens, who by showing of fire in the night do direct the ships into safe roads, the greeks do vulgarly call them Pharos, and we towers serving to such uses, as lantern towers. Then the bed being carried up into the second Tabernacle, they get together spices, perfumes of all kinds, fruits, herbs, and all sweet smelling juices, and powered them down by heaps. For there was neither nation, nor city, nor man, excelling in any honour or dignity, but every one of them did any one upon another, give those their last gifts unto the honour of the Prince. Now when they had made a mighty great heap of odoriferous things, and all the whole place was filled full of them: all the whole order of the horsemen road round about the edifice, making their horses to tread that solemn kind of dance, which the Lacedæmonians did use to exercise armed, called Pyrrhica. Chariotes also were drawn round about it, who were guided by men clothed in purple, bearing the persons of all the Roman captains, and of all their famous Princes. After all these solemnities were celebrated, the successor of the Empire took a fire brand, and thrusted it into the Tabernacle. Then all the multitude on all parts did thick and threefold put to fire and incontinently all the whole edifice being filled full of that dry stuff, and those odoriferous things, burned with a mighty fire. Anon, from the lowest & least Tabernacle was an Eagle let go, who fleeing out at the top of a building, together with the fire, it was believed did carry the emperors soul into heaven. And then ever after that time was the Emperor worshipped with the other Gods. But the funerals and burial of Augustus 
The funerals of Augustus.  is thus set forth by Dion. There was a bed or bane made of gold and ivory adorned with clotheses of purple interwoven with gold. In the lowest part thereof lay the dead body, enclosed in a chest, but his image of wax in triumphal robes was laid above to be seen of all men. This did the nominated Consuls carry: an other was of gold carried out of the senate house, & the third in a triumphal chariot. Behind them were borne the Images of his grandfathers and kinsmen dead, (except of julius Caesar who was enroled among the half Gods) and of all other men that ever had been famous in Rome for their acts, beginning at Romulus: among whom was also an Image of Pompey the great, and all the nations which he had subdued, set forth in their proper apparel and habit: and after them, all his noble acts, conquests, and victories. The hearse being set down at the Rostra, Drusus his adopted son read an Oration in writing: but at Rostra julia, by the decree of the senate, Tiberius had an eloquent speech unto the people in his praise: which being ended, they that brought the hearse thither, did take it up, and bore it out at the triumphal gate. There attended on the corpse the Senate the horsemen with their wives, the Praetorian soldiers of the guard and almost all men that were then at Rome. After that his body was laid upon the rogue or pile of wood, which should burn it, first of all the priests went round about it, after them the horsemen, than the legionary, and also the other soldiers, and lastly they which had had any charge of custody, throwing upon him all the rewards that ever they had received of him for their noble acts in the wars. After this the Centurions or petty captains, taking firebrands did set on fire the rogue: which being absumed, an Eagle was let to go, who flying out of the rogue, did as they would say, carry Augustus' soul into heaven. When all these things were done, the rest departed: but his wife Livia, with the chiefest of the horsemen tarrying in that place five days, gathered together his bones, and laid them in a tomb. The men did not mourn for him many days, but the women by decree an whole year, as they had done before time for Brutus, Publicola, and other. Moreover at Rome the wives used to mourn for their husbands ten months in white: within the which time if that they married, Numa made a law that they should offer up a cow with calf: 
Plu. in vita Numae. Pomp. The funeral of the jews.  but afterward it was enacted that they should be reputed infamous.  
But now leaving the Romans, I do find that the jews used to anoint their dead all over with precious ointments, and then wrapping them in a sheet full of sweet odours lay them in a sepulchre or grave, as we read that joseph of Arimathea buried our saviours body, embaulming it with a mixture of Aloe and myrrha of an hundredth weight. josephus in his first book of the wars of the jews telleth this of the burying of Herodes.  
All the hearses were garnished, 
The funerals of king Herode.  and set with gold and precious stones: but the bed itself was spotted with purple: the body also was covered with purple. But a Diadem was set on his head, but over it a crown of gold and a sceptre at his right hand, and about the bed attended his children with his kinsfolks. Moreover the guard, and the band of the tetrarchy, the Germans, and the Galatae, went all before in battle array and furniture. But the rest of the soldiers did decently follow armed the captains and chief of their orders. But five hundredth bondmen and libertes carried odours. The body was with this pomp carried two hundredth furlongs to Herodian, where it was buried. He was mourned for seven days: for the usage of the country would allow no longer, which is agreeable unto that saying of the Son of Syrach: the mourning for a dead man is seven days. Yet I read no certain time appointed by the law, and also I find that the Israelites mourned for Moses thirty days & for Aaron other 30. But why we do not read that joshua was mourned for, as well as Moses and Aaron, Jerome in his consolation unto Paula for the death of Blesilla, affirms the cause to be, for that Aaron and Moses presignified the time before the coming of Christ: but joshua figured Christ and the time after. In the which Epistle also he doth report that the jews in his time did use at the death of their friends to go barefooted, and tumbled in Ashes, to lie on hair cloth: and lest that any thing should want unto superstition, by a lewd rite of the pharisees, the first meat the they did eat was lentils. Furthermore, these rites I note out of the sacred Scriptures, to be used by the jews in their solemn mournings to rend their clotheses, 
2. Reg. 1.13.9. E. 20.22. Ezech. 24 Mich. 1 job. 1.2.  to go barefooted: ye sometimes all their body half bore, to lie prostrate on the ground, and upon hair cloth, to shave their heads, and beards, and cast dust and ashes on their heads, to sit in ashes, to cover their face with a hood, to apparel themselves in hair cloth, ye to cut the brawns of their flesh: which thing although I find forbidden in Leuit. 19 yet this to be commonly used among the jews may we probably gathere by the sixteenth of jeremy: and Jerome upon that place doth affirm, that diverse jews still used it in his time. 
Tob. 4. Pro. 13. Herald 16.  I find also that they used to go a gossipping, as we do now term it, unto them that mourned: carrying with them bread and wine, and making them good cheer. 
Num. 6  This also is worthy to be remembered, that the Nazarenes might not be present at the funerals no not of their parents, 
Levi. 21.  brothers, nor sisters, & the high Priest, only of his parents, children, brothers & sisters, so she were a virgin, but at no burial else, not not of the Prince: and yet was it not lawful for him to pass by a dead body, and leave it unburied: for the law commanded the jews to bury their enemies. 
Of tombs.  And thus much of the jewish funerals. But this was common unto all civil nations to erect upon the grave namely of noblemen, & Princes, a tomb: but they began to be so sumptuous at Athens, that the city was forced to make a law, that no man should build other tomb, than such an one, as ten workmen could make in three days: upon the which neither might there be any Image of Mercury, which they called Hermes. Also Demetrius Phalereus prohibited by statute any pillar to be set up upon any grave, above three cubits high: or any table, but pillars were not set upon the graves of none, but very noble and famous men: whereby was signified that they did exceed other men, which now adays (says Pliny) is done by Arches, a new invention. It was not lawful at Lacedemonia to engrave any man's or woman's name on a tomb, but only of them which had valiantly died in the wars. plutarch in the lives of the ten Rhetoricians, writeth: that there was engraven in Isocrates his sepulchre, 
The tumb of Isocrates.  a Ram of thirty cubits, wherein was a Siren of seven cubits, for a mystical signification, and also near unto it a table, which had the Poetes, and his schoolmasters, among whom was also Gorgias, beholding an Astronomical sphere, and Isocrates standing by him. 
The tomb of Augustus.  Augustus in his life time, built for himself in Mars his field, a tomb of wonderful workmanship, with twelve doors, in memory of the twelve Sages, and an obelisce, wherein was engraven the interpretation of the nature of things, out of the philosophy of the Egyptians. Unto the which obelisce, August added an other marvelous good use, that was, to find out by it the shadows of the Sun, the length of the days and nights. He added moreover unto his tomb a porticus or walking place of a thousand foot long, and gardens of pleasure, with wonderful, beautiful, and goodly groves, yet could not the sumptuousness thereof 'cause it to continued five hundredth years, 
De cur bre. affect. lib. 8.  for Theodorite affirms, that in his time it was not to be seen: this tomb he called Mausoleum, by the name of a famous tomb built in Syria, 
The tomb of king Mausolus.  by Queen Artemisia for her husband Mausolus, & accounted among one of the wonders of the world. The which monument was from the South to the North, sixty three foot, but shorter in the frontes. The whole compass of it about, was 411. foot, and 25. cubits high, environed round with 36. pillars. The east part was engraven and cut by Scopas, the south by Timotheus, the north by Bryxaxis, the west by Leochares. Before they had finished it, the Queen died, yet they departed not before it was done, judging that it would be a monument of their glory and cunning: and at this day (says Pliny) the hands contend, and no man can judge which piece is best wrought. There came unto them also the fift workman, for a Pyramid drawing itself in, still less and less with xxiv. stairs, like unto a steeple being built upon the under side wall, the which they called Pteron, doth make it equal with the rest of the work. Upon the very top of all, is there a chariot drawn with four horses of marble, which Pythis made: the which being six score foot high, doth enclose the whole work.  

The tomb of the king of Mien.  I read in Paulus Venetus, of a sumptuous tomb made by a king of Mien, which country is now under the great Cham, which was covered all over with plates of gold and silver, and at the head of it, a Pyramid of marble, 70. foot high, and as thick, on the top whereof was a sphere: all the whole pyramid or sphere was covered with plates of gold, a finger thick, so that a man could see nothing but gold. The sphere had a great number of bells hanging on it, which when the wind blew, did ring. Such an other like pyramid was there also erected at the feet, which was covered all over with plates of silver. You have heard before of the tumb of Porsena, and also of the labyrinths, and pyramids were the tombs of their builders. Yet I can not moderate myself, but that I must needs relate unto you out of Diodorus Siculus (who saw it) the tomb of Symandius king of Egypt. 
The tomb of king Simandius.  At the coming in thereof, was there a porch or gate built of speckle stone, the length whereof was two acres, and the height 45. cubits. After this was there a square room set round with pillars of square stone, every side of it containing four acres. In it for pillars were there set up beasts (made of one stone a piece) of sixteen cubits, built after the ancient form. The roof above was made of stones two paces broad, and garnished with divers blue stars. Out of this room was there an other entry in, and at that a gate like unto the first, but with greater store of carved work. At the coming in, were three mighty statues set of one stone a piece, made by Memnon. One of whom be made fitting, with a foot above seven cubits, and did in greatness exceed all the statues of Egypt.  
The other two were as her daughters, less than the mother, and came up but to her knees, one standing on the right hand, the other on the left. This piece of work was not only worthy to be seen for the greatness, but also was excellent, for the wonderful art and nature of the stones: because in so mighty a mass and pile, there was neither cleft nor spot. There was written in it, I am Simandius the King of Kings, if any man would know what manner of man I was, and where I lie, let him excel one of my works. They say, that there was also an other statuie of the mother, of twenty cubits, made of one stone, having over her head three Queens: to signify, that she had been daughter, wife, and mother of a king. After this gate was there an other quadrant, more excellent than the former, with divers ingraving, among the which was the wars kept against the revolted Bactrians, over whom the king's sons reigned: In this army which he divided into four hosts, was there four hundredth thousand footmen, and twenty thousand horsemen.  
The first part of the wall did contain engraven the siege of the city, on that side where the river ran close by the wall.  
Afterwards the king encountering with a part of his enemies, a Lion also entering with him the field, and they fight together, did put the enemies to flight. Some writers say it was a true history, & that the king was wont to use in fight the help of a lion, that he had brought up at home. Other, that he would by the likeness of a Lion, show his singular strength of body and mind. The second wall was cut and engraven with prisoners without privities and hands, led by the king: which was a mark that they were vile in mind and weak in body.  
The third side adorned with divers ingraving, and gorgeous pictures, did contain the sacrifices of the kings and his triumph of his conquered enemies. At the middle side of the square room, lay two mighty statues made of two stones, either of them being of seven and twenty cubits: at the which Images, there were three ways out of the quadrant. Near unto these statues, there was a house which stood upon pillars, every side whereof contained two acres. In it were there set up statues of wood, not few in number, representing both them which went to law, as also the judges which should give sentence. They being thirty in number, were engraven at one part of the wall, and in the middle of them was the chief justice, on whose neck there hanged down truth: and the judge was pictured with his eyes half shut, and with a great heap of books lying about him. These Images did show that judges aught to be upright, & that the chief justice aught to look upon truth only. After this there was a walking place full of houses, and in them were divers kinds of fine fishes, very pleasant in taste prepared. Then was there the king engraven, sitting on high in divers kinds of colours, offering unto God gold & silver, coming out of the mines of gold & silver, which he yearly received. There was engraved the sum of the whole, being reduced into silver: which was thirty hundredth pounds, and two hundredth thousand thousands. Then followed a sacred library, wherein was engraven these words: the medicine of the soul. In this library were the images of all the Gods of Egypt, & also of the king, bearing unto every one of the Gods, such gifts as were convenient for them, and moreover showing that both Osiris & the kings after him, had done very much good unto the behoof of man's life, both for their reverent worshipping of the Gods, & also for their justice among men, Behind the library, stood there a goodly house, wherein were twenty sacred beds of jupiter, and juno, and also a statuie of the king: where also the king's body seemed to be buried. Round about this house stood there a great many of dwellings, in whom were there seen pictured many beasts of Egypt, all of them being apt for sacrifices, & all ascending towards the sepulchre. There went round about the monument a circle or band of gold of 365. cubits, & one cubit thick, on the which were described by every cubit the days of the year, & the risings & goings down of the stars, & what after the observations of the Egyptian astrologians they do signify: thus much Diodorus. 
Great riches buried with Princes.  But here stayed not the madness of men, but their bodies must be wrapped in silk, which Jerome noteth in the life of Paul the Eremite, or costly purple: ye they also used saith he to bury in the sepulchres of Princes, 
Co. in jeroni. cap. 8.  and of the nobility, gold, and rich ornaments, both for men and women. So we read in josephus, 
joseph. de Ant. judi. li. 7. ca 12.  that David was buried with great riches: in so much that 1300. years, after Hircanus took out of his tumb three thousand talents to deliver himself and the city from the dangerous siege of Antiochus Pius: and many years after that, Herodes took out another great mass of money. I find also in Strabo, that there was in Cyrus his tomb, a licter of gold, a table with cups, and a pair of tables of gold, and great store of apparel inconstated with precious stones. In like manner An Dom. 1544. was there found in the tomb of Marie, daughter unto Stilico, (which Marie had been sent to Rome to marry with the Emperor Honorius, but died before the marriage was solemnized) besides the rich rob which was about her, which being burnt was there gathered six and thirty pounds of gold, a casket of silver a foot and an half long, and twelve fingers broad, in the which were many small vessels of Crystal, and of Achates, marvelously fair wrought: also forty rings of gold set with diverse stones. There was also an emerald enclosed in gold, which was valued at five hundredth ducats, and as it were a cluster of grapes, compacted of emeralds, and other stones, a great number of ear rings, tablets, bracelets, and other jewels and ornaments for Ladies: and innumerable precious stones, and a great deal of other magnificent stuff. Hereof I think (for Polydore Virgil, who of purpose entreateth of the invention of things, showeth not, from whom, or whence it came,) proceeded this foolish fashion of latter years for the christian bishops of the West church to be buried in their pontificalibus, that is, with all such robes and ornaments as they used to wear, when they were consecrated, and the archbishop of Wirtzpurge hath also a naked sword laid with him. But this is most certain, 
The burial of the christians.  that from the beginning all christians in all places used to bury their dead, whole in the earth without burning, nor at the first the godlier sort with such immoderate mourning and riotous funerals, as did the Gentiles. Yet were there some corrupt christians that in immoderate mourning did imitate the Pagans, 
In 9 ad Rom. serm. 17  whom as you have read before, chrysostom sharply takes up, as he doth in an other place cry out against their madness, who when they died, would will such and so much gorgeous gear to be bestowed upon their carcases, as would quite consume all their substance and goods. Of such degenerate christians doth holy Augustine complain: 
Lib. pri. de mor. Eccle. Cath. cap. 34.  who would most riotously swill and tipple at the graves of the dead, and exhibit unto corpses exquisite banquets, and burying themselves upon the buried depute their raveninges and drunkenness unto religion. So in our days, 
joan. Macrus de Ind. hist. lib 3. cap 16.  the christians that inhabit the city Carangora in India, do use to feast eight days together for the dead person, all his kinsfolks assembling together. But I do think that of all the christian nations, only certain Tartars do, 
joan. Boc. de om. gent. more. li. ●. cap. 10  not lay the dead body whole in the ground, but use this savage fashion, when that their parents be worn with age, they do feed them altogether with fat and tallow, that they may die the sooner. But when that they are dead, by this diet, they burn them, and take up their ashes very diligently, keeping them as some precious thing: and every day season their meat therewithal, until they be all spent. But the barbarous christians the Sarmatians the inhabit about Cimerius Bosphorus use this manner. 
Musc. lib. 4. The burial of the inhabitants of Meotis.  When one of their Princes dieth, they make in a fair large field a great pile or heap of reeds, whereupon they lay the dead body being howelled: eight days is he visited by his kinsmen, and subjects, and is honoured with diverse kinds of gifts. There stand by the pile two of the princes ancient friends, resting on their staves: and on the left hand of the corpse a maid with a dart, & a piece of silk fastened unto the end of it, wherewithal she drives away the flies, yea although it be in the winter. But overright against him, setteth his chief or first wife on the bore ground incessantly beholding him, but without tears. Now when the eight days be ended, they bring a great cophin, in the which they enclose the dead man with part of the gifts, and bear him unto the place where he is appointed to be buried: and there they set him down on the ground, casting earth upon him not only until they have covered him, but also made a borough or little hill or mount, and the greater his power and Dominions were, the greater and higher do they make the hill, or grave. After they have thus buried him, when it is upon the time of refection, they make ready an horse garnished with fair furniture, and lead him unto the grave of the dead Prince, and invite and bid him three times unto the prepared feast. But when he maketh them no answer, they return home with the horse, to bring news unto the guests, that they had received no answer. Then it is decreed by them all, that they be exempted from his band and obedience, eating, drinking, and feasting merrily in the honour of the dead prince. 
Musc. li. 3. The burial of the Livonians.  The Livonians, when they will bury a dead man do stand round about him, tippling hard, & also invite the dead man to drink with them, pouring his part upon him: but when they lay him in the grave, they lay by him an axe, meat and drink, & a little money for to spend by the way, and speak unto him thus: farewell, go into an other world where thou shalt reign over the Almains, as they have done here over thee. This manner of burial of the Livonians hath reduced into my memory, although somewhat to late, a usage of the Greeks, which I have read in Epiphanius in Ancorato, the which was, to bring meat, and drink unto the monuments of the dead, and to call out unto them aloud by their names: O arise up again man, come eat, drink, and be merry: but on their days called Pandemes, they did burn unto coals their meats, and offer up their wines, bringing thereby no good at all unto the dead, and also hurting themselves.  
But (says Thevet) although the Mahometans, & the Turks, the Persians, the Arabians, & the Moors do dissent in divers ceremonies, yet do they all agreed in the rites of burial, and the song used thereat. 
The burial of the turks ye and of all the mahometans.  When that any Turk dieth they wash his body and sock it in a very clean white sheet, afterward they carry him with his head forward, men bearing men, and women women, unto some place without the city to be buried, for it is not lawful to bury any body within a church, not not the great Turks themselves: wherefore the Bassas do use to found great mosques, and hospitals, adjoining to whom they do erect a round room in form like unto our pigeon houses, where they be buried. Before the course go the monks with candles: but Thevet holds it stiffly that they bear no candles nor any other kind of lights: the priests come behind the bear singing very mournfully, as also doth all the people, until they come unto the place of his burial, eftsoons crying out abound: the great God that made heaven and earth, and had compassion of his prophets David, Abraham, Mahumeth, and Haly, will also take pity on the soul of this poor sinner, who hath offended all his life long. But if that any of the great officers do die, as a Bassa, a Beglerbey, the Aga which is captain of the guard, the Nassangibassa who is Lord chancellor or any such like, the news of his death is bruited every where, and the day when he shallbe buried, the which doth cause a great number of people to stand in the streets to behold the funerals. They that bear the course are of the nearest of his kin, clothed all in white rusette cloth, but the rest of the mourners have every man a piece of white linen cloth hanging down from the top of his tubban (which is his hat) unto his knees. But if he be a great captain that hath served in the wars, one doth lead after the course a horse, or two, into whose nostrils they do put the powder of a root, that makes them to neese and their eyes to water, the which they do say the horse sheddeth for sorrow that he taketh for his masters death. There do also attend on the course, six or seven Solachers, they are a kind of ordinary soldiers, and every one with a certain number of janisars, and the steward of his house, and certain Timariotes (which be servitors on horse back) who bear divers banners, and estanders. And before the corpse marcheth a Mutapharca (an horseman of the turkish guard) who holds a spear in his hand, upon the end whereof is borne the Tulban of the dead man, with a tail of an horse fastened thereunto, but if one of the children of the great segniour die, the pomp is very magnificent, and the master of the ceremonies causeth many sorts of arms to be borne before the course by the king of herhautes. But to proceed in the relation of the general ceremonies: if that he that dieth be a poor man, they use to gather money through the streets for the pains of the religious men. The friends of the person departed do often resort unto the grave with mourning, and set upon the monument bread, flesh, eggs, and milk (a novendiall feast after the manner of the Ethnics) the which are eaten for the soul of the dead, by poor men or birds of the air, or else emottes: for they do hold that it is a like acceptable to God to give alms unto brute creatures which are in lack, as it is to men, seeing that it is given for the love of God. There be that do let fly birds which were kept in cages, paying their masters for them and some for the love of God do cast bread into rivers for fishes, saying that they shall obtain most ample reward of God for such pity showed towards them that do want. 
Must. lib. 5.  But the great lords of the Turks, or as we do here commonly call them, the great turks, lie all magnificently intumbed at Brusa a city of Bythinia in many chapels which do stand round about the church, every prince hath his candlestick of gold with a candle burning set upon his sepulchre, & in the higher parts of the chapels hung there many lamps alight. Moreover, there do continually abide in that place twelve priests of their religion, who of their green caps are called Talismanlarie, who do by course incessantly pray in the church both day and night, three before noon, and three after, three before midnight, and three after. But when that any man is sick amongst the Tartars, 
joan. Boe. lib. 2. cap. 12.  and is near unto the point of death, they do stick up before the tent wherein he lieth, a spear with a black cloth, that he that goeth by come not in: for no man if he see this sign dare go in, yea, though he be called. But after that he is departed this life, all his household assembles together, and privily carries the course out of the tent into some place chosen before and digging there a hole deep and broad enough, they set up over it a little tent, and furnish a table with dishes of meat, and setting the dead body very preciously appareled unto the table, they overwhelm them altogether with earth. There is also buried with him, one beast for burden, and one horse trapped. But the mightier sort choose in their life time one of their servants, whom being burned with their mark, they 'cause to be buried with them: and the for this cause, that they may use them in an other world. After this his friends take an other horse, & kill him & eat up the flesh, but the skin being stuffed full of hay, and sowed up again, do they set upon four posts over the sepulchre for a sign of a dead man. The bones do the women burn for to cleanse the soul. But the men of great power do an other thing with the skin or hide: they cut it in very narrow thongs, and measure with them so much ground about the grave, as they will compass: for they do believe that the dead man shall have so much land assigned him in an other world, as his friends have measured out for him with this hide. 
The burial of the great Cham.  The thirtithe day they end their mourning. But the Emperor of the Tartars, the great Chame, must be buried in the mountein Altay, yea and thither is he carried although he die an hundredth days journey from thence. All the men, the horses, yea if they be worth never so much, that they meet withal as they carry the Emperor to the place of burial, do they kill, and bid them go into the other world, to do service unto the great Cham, for they do think that they shall stand him in use there. 
The burial of the kings of the Moors Hist. lib. 3.3.  In like manner doth iovius write that all the lords and princes of the Moors and Numidians, devil they never so far off, are all buried at the city of Caruenna three days journey from Tunes: because they be persuaded that their souls whose bones lie in the most ancient sacred temple of that city, are most effectually commended unto God for to obtain the felicity of the heavenly life, as they which are most purely purged and cleansed by the exquisite ceremonies and prayers of the reverend college of holy priests, of the church. 
The burial in Tangute.  In Tangute a province under the great Cham, they use to burn the body of the dead, as also do almost all the nations of the East: yet some do reserve the body certain days, some seven days, & other while a month, & often times six months, making at home a coffin for him, the boards thereof being joined together so close that no stink can breathe out of it. And every day whilst the course is in the house, do they at dinner time prepare and furnish a table besides the course, where upon they set wine and meats, letting them stand there the space of an hour: for they do think that the soul of the dead man doth take and feed of the things which are set upon the table. In the city of Tarnasseri, in the new found east Indies, they also burn their dead, 
The burial of the Tarnassereus  and put their ashes in vessels of clay, which are seasoned with saltpetre, or nitrum, the vessels being filled with the ashes in the ground do they set up at home in their own houses. When they burn them, they cast into the fire all kinds of sweet odours, as Aloe, frankincense, Myrrh, Storax, Coral, Saunders, and innumerable sorts of such odoriferous trees, the trumpets blowing, & the pipers playing heavenlike: but fifteen days after the death of her husband, the wife which surviveth biddeth all her kinsfolks unto a feast: and adorned with all her jewels goeth unto the place, where her husband was burnt: where a hole or pit is digged of great depth and able to receive a woman which they hang round about with black cloth, and the pit burneth very fervently being filled full of odoriferous woods: & after that the guests have ended their feast, the widow eateth great store of Betola, whereby her wits are somewhat taken from her. Now a great number of pipers stand round about the pit, appareled like unto devils, and the woman like one somewhat frantic goeth to and fro, hopping & skipping, as though she danced, & at the length when all the ceremonies be finished, she throweth herself down headlong into the burning pit, even as though she thereby should be received immediately into heaven. And unlest the widow will do thus after the death of her husband, she is noted with wonderful infamy, & is a mocking stock unto all the whole region, as one that loved not her husband. This fashion do none keep, but the noble men and the chief of the city, wherefore they say the king is mostly present at such a pomp. The wild people of America, as soon as ever the soul is departed out of the body, lay the dead body in the earth, in that place where the diseased person did lack greatest pleasure in his life time: 
The burial of the wild men of America. Thevet.  thinking that they cannot lay him in a more notable and honourable place, then in the earth that bringeth forth so many good fruits and other riches profitable and needful for man's use. If that an householder happen to die, his wives and his nearest kinsfolks, and friends, will make a marvelous mourning, not for the space of three or four days, but of four or five months: but the greatest lamentation is four or five of the first days: you shall hear them make such a noise and harmony, as if a sort of cats and dogs were together: ye shall see as well men, as women, some laid on their beds sorrowful, other sitting with their bore buttocks on the ground embracing one an other, & saying in their launguage, our father, or friend, was so good a man, he was so strong and mighty, he laboured so well, and dressed our gardens, he caught beasts, fowls, & fishes for our sustenance: alas he is dead, we shall see him no more, but after that we be dead with our friends, in the countries where the pages (they be their priests and prophets) say they have seen them, with many such like words, the which they will ten thousand times repeat day and night continually, for the space of four or five days, never ceasing to lament. The children of the deceased a month after their mourning, will desire their friends unto a feast, or solemnity, held in the honour of the dead man, & there will they all assemble together painted with divers colours, and bedecked with feathers, and other bravery according unto the fashion of their country, using a thousand ceremonies, pastimes, dances, plays, and piping on flutes made of the bones of the legs, and arms of the slain enemies, and play also on other instruments, which are in use amongst them. But the ancient sort cease not to tipple all the day long without eating one morsel of meat, and they be served by the wives and kinswomen of the deceased.  
In the Isle of Cephale, when one is dead, 
Thevet. The burial in the Isle Cephale  they bury him in the court of his house, until that his flesh be consumed, and when this is done, they take up the bones, and mark them, that they may afterward know whose they were, and then lay them on the table, under a cloth of black fustian, whither one doth bring bread, and flesh baked, as an offering or sacrifice made for the dead, whom they do pray to have them in remembrance. The principal effect of their prayers is to desire him to be favourable and good unto their king: to make him prosperous in all his affairs, and so to destroy and confound his enemies that he may keep the Island in peace, rest, and security. These prayers are made by the chief of every house, all the rest that be there being silent, & clothed in white. But when this prayer is done, they all rise up, & wash their faces & hands, and then sit laughing and singing of the praise of the dead person, and every one with his household, eateth up those things that were offered. 
The burial in the Isle of hermits. Thevet.  When one dieth in the Isle of the hermits, and specially one of the hermits, or priests, all the women of the town or village, assemble together in the dead man's house, who is put into the bark of a tree, in the mids of the house.  
About the course, they make with ropes, which are all covered with barks if trees, as it were a tent, the which they cover all over with green boughs of divers trees, and in the mids thereof they make a place finely trimmed with herbs, & in form like unto a pavilion.  
Under these green boughs, and within the tent, do the most honourable and honest women assemble, all clothed in black, having every one of them a fan made of palm leaves: the rest of the women & the parents of the dead, are in the house, weeping and sighing: then one of the women that is of greatest estimation, advanceth herself, and cuts off the hairs of the dead man, during the which time his wife remaineth all dismal, and weeping bitterly over the course of her husband oft kissing his mouth, hands, and feet. But when that all the hairs be shorn off, this weeping wife raiseth up herself, and falls to singing with a countenance as merry and laughing, as it was before monstrously sad. These things being done, they put into a vessel of purcellane, wherein is fire, Myrrh, frankincense, Storax and other such odoriferous things, perfuming therewith both the body and the house: in the which joy and perfuming they continued five or six days: after which term expired, they do anoint the body with camphor, a certain time, which being ended, they enclose him in a cofine, the which is nailed with wooden pings, and after wards lay him in the ground in some place where no body dwelleth. But when the king is departed out of life, the greatest and most honourable men of the realm assemble to celebrated the obsequies, and having appareled & clothed the body very honourably and reverendly, they cut off the heads, or snatch certain great personages of the chief of the men of war, or the best of the soldiers, or some merchants of the retinue, and certain of the kings best horses, to the end they may wait upon the king in the other world: and when they do pute them to death, they do say: Go in the name of our Gods, to serve our king in our paradise, even as ye have attended on him in this world: and as ye have been faithful unto him here beneath in the earth, so also shall ye be in the glory of our Gods. Those that be slain, be nothing sorry or dismayed therefore, but take their death in very good part, laughing & rejoicing no less than they do among us, that go unto a marriage. When one dieth in Siam a country of India, 
Bell Forest.  beyond Ganges, his friends and kinsmen, for to honour him, do take his body, and carry it into the mids of a field: where they do drive into the ground two posts of wood, & lay a third upon them: unto this cross post do they fasten a chain with two hooks: in whom they do lay the dead man, and make a great fire under him: and as long as the body roasteth, his children and kinsfolks stand round about the fire: weeping, howling, and sighing: both as pitifully, & also as loud as they can for their lives. But when the the body is well roasted, they take out their goblets, and fill them with their kind of wine, and ordinary drink, made of rice and sugar: and every one also draweth his knife, and begins to cut off the flesh of the man: the which they do eat, and drink of their goblets: and yet they cease not to sigh and lament. And the first that beginneth to eat of the dead man's flesh is the person that is nearest of his kin: neither do they depart out of the place, before that they have eaten all the flesh unto the very bones: the which they do burn: a rite used by all the Orient. And they do say, that it is impossible to give unto their friends a more honourable tomb, and where he shallbe better, than their own bodies, who love him best, and are also of equal dignity, unto his person. In the city of Fez in Aphrica they use to bury the dead men, 
The burial of the kingdom of Fez. Sansevino.  in a common field without the town, setting upon the grave a great stone, made of the fashion of a triangle. But notable men, and of great reputation have at the head a table of marble, and an other at their feet, in whom are seen engraven proper verses, in comfort of hard and unhappy chances passed. And a little beneath the name of him that lieth there, and the name of the house he was off, with the day & year of his death. There is also without the town upon a hill, a palace, where are seen the tombs of the kings made of marble, with fine and witty epitaphs engraven in them, and the tombs are garnished with such surpassing workmanship, and beautified with the finest colours of the world, so that it would make a man astonished to behold the excellency of them. At Ormus in the Arabian gulf useth the wife of the deceased man, once in a day for the space of four months, to make a pitiful solemn weeping and howling: and sometime to hire an other woman to do it for her. The like manner says Bel Forest, the author hereof, have I seen in Perrigord, a Province of France, among the peasants.   

The fifteenth Chapter. The confuse and causeless fear of man, and particularly of the Romans three times, of Augustus Caesar, of the greeks at Patras, Philocrene, and Trapezonda, of the league called the common wealth in France, before Paris, of the imperials at Villa Francha, of Pysander, of one that died with the sight of Hercules, of Artemon of Saint Vallier of Cassander, at the sight of Alexander's Image, and other.  
ANd this is enough, ye and I fear me too too much touching man's care for his burying. Which hopefulness doth the confuse fear of man much augment, which Pliny, rightly putteth, as a misery of man, and truly affirmeth that no living thing hath greater. Hereof came the proverb among the Greeks & Latins, a Panik chance: whereby they signify a sudden, vain, and causeless tumult of men's hearts, and it is so called, because that the Ethnics did think, that the God Pan did sand into men such sudden terrors, and consternations of mind, making them like mad men, so impotent and unstaid: that for the time they be not only voided of reason, but also of common sense. Such vain fears, according to the proverb, often happen in wars, many in Alexander the great his voyage, and twice unto the Saracenes in that famous expedition of Godfrey de Bolloigne, which chances be of such force, that the famous Poet Pyndarus holdeth that it aught not to be accounted a reproach, and dishonour, if that the sons of the Gods, or the most valiant men, fly out of the field in such tumults. I read in Livy, that Claudio Sulpicio, 
A vain fear of the Romans.  and Aemilio Ceritano Conss. there arose such a fear one night in the city of Rome, that alarm was cried throughout all the whole city, & such a tumult was raised, as though every street had been full of the enemies: But when it waxed day, there appeared author neither of the noise, or yet of the fear. And in his third decade he telleth, that when the Fragellans had brought news that Hannibal drew near unto the city: all the Citizens fell into a marvelous fear, and the women running out of their houses, sweeped the Temples of the Gods, and the sacred altars with the hairs of their head, and on their knees holding up their hands to heaven, besought the Gods with abundant tears, & loud shriches, that they would keep the city and people of Rome in safety. But after that he was come, and encamped within three miles of the city, he approached almost to the hard walls with a chosen band of two thousand horse, to view the city: with whom Fuluius, one of the Consuls skirmished: & in the mids of the fight one thousand & two hundredth Numidians, which had revolted from Hannibal, unto the Romans, & were at the hour on the Aventine hill: were commanded to march from thence, into a part of the city called Exquiliae. Now they running apace from the hill into the plain, seemed unto them which were ignorant of the counsel, to be their enemies: and thereof did such tumult arise, in the whole city, and such a fear and trembling: that if Hannibal had not encamped himself so near unto the city, that they could not fly, but into the laps of the enemy, the dismayed multitude had quite forsaken the city. 
The degenenerate fear of Augustus and the Romans.  Yea Augustus, whom all the world stood in dread of, was put into such a fear with the news of the overthrow and slaughter of Q. Varus, with three legions, in Germany by the Cherusi: that although they were many hundredth miles off, and the monstruous Alps between them, and the loss were nothing in comparison of his great power, yet as in almost a desperate state he commanded strait watch and ward to be kept, that no tumult should arise within the city: he also prolonged unto the governors of the provinces the time of their charge, that they might be kept in obedience by men of skill, and such as had been used unto them: he vowed great plays unto jupiter Optimus Maximus, if that of his wonted goodness, he would change the public weal into a better state. The people also following their prince, were so afraid, that they made their wills, and conveyed away their goods, as though there had surely been but one way with them: and yet the Germans never did set forth on foot towards Italy. This people which conquered all nations, were so affrighted with this one discomfiture: that they would not go into Germany unto Tiberius' aid, who with great felicity warred there: so that the Emperor was forced to confiscate the goods of them, as the lot fell upon them, & to note them with ignominy: but when that neither would serve to revoke the courages of the cowards, but that many refused to go, he put them to death: that assured death might make them to win doubtful victory.  
Also I read in Gregoras, 
The fear of the greeks before Patras.  that when john the brother unto Michael Paleologus the Emperor of Constantinople, besieged with a mighty army, the despot of Thessaly in the strong castle of Patras, whither he had driven him: the Despote being almost in despair, how to get himself and his out of this present peril, attempted this way, the which yet he durst not to communicate unto any man in the world; it was so desperate. In a very dark night, he did let down himself from the wall by a rope, and privily went through the camp of the imperials (for other way had he none) in clotheses all to torn and ragged, crying and gaping, with a loud and boisterous voice, and with words half barbarous, and clownish, as though he had sought a horse which he had lost, the soldiers laughing and flouting of him, as some poor lob of the country. By this means he escaping them, came into Attica, where upon promise of much money, and the marriage of his fair daughter, he obtained of the Duke five hundredth soldiers, with whom he marched towards Patros: where he found many of the imperials abroad in the fields, taking their pleasure, of whom some he did take, other of purpose, hoping that which in deed happened, he coursed into the camp. By his souden and unlooked for coming, arose there such a tumult in the camp, they imagining some mighty power had come unto the Despotes aid, that before he could come unto the munitions, the imperials were all fled, some one way, some an other, leaving all the carriages and furniture of the camp behind: vain fear making them to flee, which twenty thousand men could not have done. And in his sixth book writes he the like. 
The fear of the greeks at Philocrene.  Andronicus Paleologus the younger Emperor of Constantinople, went with an army against Archanes the great Turk, who invaded his dominions in Asia: and before Philocrene, a little town not far from Nicaea, they fought until that the night parted them, the Greeks returning into their fortified camp: but the Turk, who by trial made that day of the prowess of the Greeks, thought that they would go farther up into the country the next day: marched forward that night to take before hand the ways for passage, leaving yet behind him near unto them, a band of three hundredth horsemen, to watch what they would do. The emperor who had been a little wounded in his foot in the sight, went into the town to have his wound dressed. Now the Greeks who were ignorant wherefore he went thither, thought that he had been fled away for fear: then also came this imagination into their brains, that the Turk would be there that night with a mighty army, and that not one man of them should escape, and see the sun the next day. Whereupon they that had brought small boats thither (for the town stood by the water side) went aboard their boats, leaving all their baggage behind them: other hasting to get into the town, some of them trod upon and smouldered an other: some standing one upon an others shoulders, got into the town, but other were pulled, and other thrust down by their fellows, and slain in the fall. There were some also that in this outrageous fear, died as they stood. But in the morning when the sun was up, those 300. Barbarians beholding that incredible discomfiture of the Greeks, and in their camp horses, armour, and weapons, without men, yea, and also the Emperors own horses, with read saddles, two hundredth of them took the spoil, and went away: the other hundredth came nearer, and with many a shot galled and killed the poor Greeks that were left. 
The fear of the Greeks at Tr●pesunt.  another such history find I in him, when Ziges lay in siege before Trapesunt, a poor woman that thought her hemp and flax (which was all her wealth) lay not safe enough in a bastil near unto the wall, removed it thence, and brought it by night into the great castle: where by misadventure it falling a fire, did also set on fire the house: the chief of the city and the people seeing the fire, thought that some traitors had betrayed the city: whereupon they all fled out of the town, some by sea, and some by land, leaving the king in the city alone with about a fifty men, who yet kept the city. Yea, this foolish fear makes men to affirm steadfastly, that they heard and saw that which they never did. As when the Turk besieged the mighty rich city of Argos, 
The fear of the greeks at Argos.  assaulting it on two sides, they which were in the one part of the city, imagined that they heard one say, that the town was taken in the other side, wherefore they all ran thither, leaving at their own part an easy entry for the enemy.  
When that the Dukes of Berry and Britain, 
The fear of the Frenchmen. Paul Aemyl. Phil. Com.  the Earl of Charolois, and the rest of the league which called themselves the public good, or the common wealth, were encamped against Lewes the eleventh before Paris: in the dead time of the night, the watch of the camp heard the voice of one that said, that he was sent by certain of the city that favoured the confederates, and willed it to be showed unto them, that the king had determined in the very dawning of the next day, to assault their camp with all his power, being divided into three battles or companies: that the watchmen should with all possible speed certify the Dukes, that they were not oppressed unwares. Incontinently all the whole army is raised up, the soldiers commanded to arm themselves. Before it was day, all things were in a readiness, both to defend the camp, and also to fight the battle, and the scouts that were sent forth when the Sun was up, brought news back that they had seen a mighty number of pikes & spear men.  
The light was somewhat troubled and not good, by reason of a thick mist, which arose that morning: again the horsemen being sent forth, confirm the first news. Now was the enemy looked for, as though they would even at that very instant salie out: but there was not one man in very deed, for the scouts had conceived a vain and false sight, both fear, and also the voice, and mocking used in the night, representing unto their eyes false things for true. At the length when it was far forth days, a clearer light opened the error: and it was merrily jested among them, that the thistles with whom the fields about the city are clothed, seemed unto the fearful to be pikes and spears. But iovius will match this history with an other more ridiculous. 
Histo. lib. 37. The fear of the imperials at Villa Francha.  Anno. 153 S. Charles the Emperor, Francis the french, and Paulus Tertius, the bishop of Rome, were appointed to meet at Nicaea, a town belonging unto the Duke of Savoy: and during the colloquy there, the Emperor lying at Villafrancha, whither Andrew Doria had brought him out of Hispanie, one after noon, the idle Courtiers and Mariners walked along the sea side, and on the high hills, that run along there, and chanced to see beside a farm house built with towers, a great thick smoke to ascend ever and anon: incontinently the foolish multitude imagined that it was Barbarosha the Turks high Admiral, with a great fleet traitorously procured to come thither by the French king, to take the Emperor, and the bishop: and with this fearful news they came running into the city. Immediately was there a mighty uproar in all the whole town, with, Out alas, we be all betrayed, Barbarossa is at hand with a mighty navy. The tale was so credited, that the valiant and prudent Marquis of Guasto, who lay in camp on a hill above the city, with a band of soldiers for the emperors safeguard, in all haste clapped on his head piece, caught his target, commanded all his soldiers, with all speed to be in a readiness: and with all his power descended down into the town unto the Emperor, appointing every man where he should stand on the cliffs, and higher places to beat down with shot and stones, the landing Turks. Andrew Dori also an other Neptune, with great tumult, makes the mariners to weigh up their anchors, to turn about their galleys: and with all speed sends out foists, to certainly espy where their enemies are, and in what number. They went forth, and not one galley or ship could they see: at length they sailed unto the towered farm house, where this fleet was reported to have been seen: and there could learn of never a ship, but understood that the good husband that dwelled there, had that day been making clean and fanning of his beans in divers places: the dust of whom flying up, now and then with a space between (as ye know, happeneth in making clean of all corn) was taken not only of the rude multitude, but also of the expert soldiers, and skilful mariners, for to be 36. galleys, for so many times they had marked the dust to fly up: and all men trembled and shaken for fear, except only the Emperor himself, (such was his hardy courage) and yet could no man of them all see from the high houses, and mighty mountains, in that very open & broad sea, either mast, sail, or sail yard. And lest I should be tedious, I omit in this place, how that the old expert captain james de Caldora with great uproar aranged his battles in Puglia, against a great heard of dear, whom he did take for a mighty host of his enemies: and how within few years after, Ferdinand the first king of Naples, retired back with his whole army to the walls of Barletta, for fear of an heard of dear, which was supposed by the fearful, to be a great army of armed men, & a thousand such like examples. Of this foolish vain fearfulness of men came the proverb, 
Eras. in Chili.  I think among all nations, he is afraid of his own shadow: and among the Greeks more fearful than Pysander, 
The fearfulness of Pisander.  who was continually afraid that he should meet with his own soul, that he dreamt it had forsaken him, while he was yet living: and more fearful than he that looked out of the cave: which proverb arose of a man, 
Of one that died with the sight of Hercules.  who being strucken with great terror of the same of Hercules, who men said would come that way, hid himself in a cave: and popping out and in his head (as it is the manner of the fearful) to see if he could espy him, chanced unluckily to see him in very deed passing by: wherewithal he was so affrighted, that he died presently. I read also of one Artemon, a man so fearful (if he be not to be accounted mad) that as long as he lived, 
The fearfulness of Artemon. Brusonius.  two of his servants did continually hold over his head a target of brass, that nothing should fall down upon him: and if he happened to go forth any whether out of the doors, he was carried in an horslitter sealed over, & thereof was surnamed Periphoretes. And in our days, S. Vallier, Duke of Valentinois in France, being condemned to die, for not disclosing the treason of Charles the duke of Bourbon, the king sent him his pardon, at that very instant that the executioner was about to strike of his head, but the kings pardon could not save his life. For the vehement fear of death conceived, brought him into a pernicious fever, the which within few days maugre all Physic, bereft him of life. Whereof came the French proverb, La fieure de Saint Vallier, The fever of Saint Vallier, for a strong apprehension. Cassander did so fear Alexander the great, 
The fear of Cassander. Sabelie.  that coming to Delphos long time after Alexander's death to behold the statues, that were set up there: and chancing to see one of his old prince Alexander: with the sight thereof was he that had won Macedon and Greece, shaken with such fear, that he could not in long time leave trembling, & come again unto himself. In the like agony will many be with the sight of a toad, other of a snake, as the Gentleman of late years that durst not go by a writhed hat band of white and black that lay on the floor, because he had thought it had been an adder: but many are more foolish than Sir Thomas moors ape, which fell into an ague, with seeing upon a scuden a snail putting out her horns: for they will be in a cold sweat, with the sight of many meats, and divers of a cat, and some swoon with the sight of their blood, or beholding of other let blood. It is common, that many men, otherwise of good courage and hardiness, dare not lie alone for fear of spirits, not, nor go alone in dark places, taking every thing they see, hear, or feel, to be a devil. I have showed the more examples of men's confuse fear, because that the great clerk Ludovicus Vives seemeth to doubt, whether that Pliny hath charged man truly with it or not: wherein I dare say Pliny hath not belied him, not, nor yet in the next, that no living thing hath more extreme rage.   

The sixteenth Chapter. Of the furious rage of man, and specially of Walter Earl of Breme, and Mathias king of Hungary.  
FOr the proof hereof, will I only allege two examples among six hundredth, namely, seeing that daily experience doth continually give us a great number, that of them that moved with wrath, and inflamed with ire, do in that raging fit many things, which bring them assured destruction, indelible dishonesty, and sorrowful repentance. 
The wrath of Walter Earl of Breme.   
Walter the Earl of Breme, having to wife the eldest daughter of Tancredi, late king of both Sicyles, but then prisoner unto the Emperor: as next heir unto his father in law his kingdom, invaded Naples with only four thousand soldiers, and had, what through fortunes rare favour, and his own prowess, recovered almost the whole realm: but at the last, he was taken prisoner in a skirmish before Sarno, by one Thebald an Almain: who within three days after he was taken, offered to set him, and also his father in law Tancredi at liberty, and to restore him unto his kingdom which he had lost: so that he would confirm unto him the towns which he then possessed in the kingdom. Walter bewitched with rage, considering nothing at all either the recovery of the kingdom, or his own servile captivity, out of the which he might easily rid himself: like a mad man answered him: that he would never take at such a stinking scabs hand, either that Thebald had offered him, or things much greater. The Almain being justly moved to be so currishly answered by his prisoner, threatened that he would make him repent those villainous words of his: which as soon as Walter had heard, he fell immediately into such a rage: that renting off the clotheses, and rolls with whom his wounds were bound, he cried out, the fire flying out of his eyes, that he would live no longer, seeing that he was come into such a villains hands, as would deal with him by threats: and therewithal like a Tiger tare his wounds & bowels with his cruel hands, & never after would either eat meat, or suffer any thing to be applied unto his wounds, & so within a few days violently drove his furious soul out of his tormented body: leaving his only daughter destitute of all friends, to be a laughing stock unto the world: who if she had gotten a modest father, should have been Queen of the flourishing kingdom of both Sicyles.  
Neither could that bulwark of christendom Mathias king of Hungary, 
The wrath of Mathie King of Hungary Munster.  who valiantly ever overcame the Turks, who never could be vanquished since, overcome his own ire: and he that had so often slain in the field so many of his fierce foreign foes, was killed at home at his own table by an inward enemy. For he sitting very merry at dinner, upon a Palm Sunday, accompanied with honourable Ambassadors sent from the French king, called for figs: but when it was told him, that they were all eaten, he become so angry, and raging, that he incontinently fell into an apoplexy, and never spoke word afterward, but roaring out like unto a Lion, died the next day. Was it not, think ye now, 
Hor. odd. 16. A witty devise of Poets.  wisely feigned of the Poets, that Promotheus lacking clay to finish his man, was forced to make it up with parts cut off from other living things: and among other, did put the heart of a wood and mad Lion into man's breast? And truly said Cato, 
Anger a short madness.  that anger differeth not from madness, but only in this: that it continueth not so long. 
It is good for a man to look in a glass, when that he is angry.  Wherefore wisely doth plutarch will men to look in a glass, when they be angry, and to behold themselves well, and then will they be afraid ever afterward to deform themselves again in such sort.  
Yea, when they shall behold their fiery eyes, their swollen veins and arteries, their terrible Lionlyke look: they will be no less afraid of themselves, than was poor transformed Io in Ovid, when she beheld her horrible horns in the water. But how hurtful it is unto the body do Physicians show, who define it to be a setting on fire of the vital spirits in the heart, whereby it is of near alliance unto an ague. But that which followeth this perturbation be long pining consumptions, which inféeble the body.   

The seventeenth Chapter. Of the great troubles that religion and superstition do inflict into man, of the unutterable sorrow for sin, of David, Marie Magdalene, Fabiola, king Edgar, the griping griefs of a guilty conscience, and the vain imaginations of the Melancholic.  
AS no man doth doubt, but that these troubles do hap unto man only: so I think no man will deny, but that all which have reason do feel the molestation of them. We are willed by the Apostle to work our salvation in trembling, and fear: & the wiseman accounted that man happy, 
Prou. 28.  which is always fearful: so that according unto saint Paul's counsel good men are very careful that they fall not: & when they be fallen, are heartily heavy, and sorrowful therefore. And as God doth exceed in tender love towards us, the kindest parents, and in gentle government the mildest Princes: and as the pleasing of him doth bring unto us unutterable joys, and the displeasing of him unspeakable pains: so doubtless doth the hopefulness of the godly for to please him, pass all worldly study, and the torments that tears their hearts, when they have grievously offended him, do surmount all dolour conceived for any other heavy hap. Hereof David, 
David.  whom neither the perilous persecution of his master, & Prince Saul, could dismay, nor the huge & monstrous might of Golias, or many other infinite number of armed enemies appaul, neither the sorrowful banishment, from wife, kinsfolks, & country, wring tears from: being admonished of his fault roared out for sorrow of his heart, watered his couch with weeping, did eat ashes like bread, and mingled his cup with tears. The stout king Edgar, 
Edgar.  whose power and puissance made all his neighbours to quake, being warned of his unchaste life, fell down flat at the feet of a beggarly Monk, with mighty streams of tears weltering down his cheeks, from the bottom of a heavy heart ask pardon of God, broken off with many a scalding sigh, and discontinued by infinite sobs, and loud shrieks: yea & to make manifest his compunction, he that proudly had caused eight kings subdued by him, to row him in a boat sitting in his royal robes: now become so lowly, that during the space of seven years, he abandoned the use of the kingly crown: thinking himself not worthy to wear the ensign of supreme honour and Empire over the honourable and worshippeful of this flourishing Realm, seeing that he had debased himself by wicked fornication, to be one body with a vile strumpet. From what other perpetual spring came those mighty streams of tears, with whom Marie Magdalene 
Marry Magdalene.  washed our saviours feet. Who can with words, express her immeasurable sorrow, which so at one instant wrong out of her all the moisture of her body, and turned it into repentant tears? whom she dried with the golden locks of her head which with their beauty, sweet smell of precious ointmentes, and curious & gorgeous trimming, had alured many great men unto her lewd love, and made them her bestlike bondmen & slaves. Neither if Cicero his soul were translated into my breast, 
Fabiola.  could I with words worthily utter the griping griefs, of that noble Roman Lady Fabiola, 
jero. de morte Fabiolae.  who nothing regarding the glittering glory of her honourable ancestors, the Fabii, nor her own honour, nor yet the shame, & reproach which it might seem to be unto the unwise world: casting off her gowns of silk, her costly cawls, her rich attire of head, her precious jewels of gold, pearl, and stone, stood of her own voluntary will at the solemn feast of Easter, bore footed, bore headed, with her torn golden locks, hanging down detormously over her shoulders, & her body pined away, and made loathsome with the long pains of penitence: clothed in pricking haircloth, before a Church porch in that city, where a great number of her noble progenitors had road in their triumphal chariots, richly adorned in their Picta Toga, and gyrtle of estate: and with her horrible habit, cruel beating, and buffeting of that fair face of hers, which had liked one man to well, her doleful sighs, sorrowful sobbings, flowing tears, she turned the bishop, the priests and all the whole people unto compassion, and prayers: neither did this doleful day end her penitence, but that which finished her life. For she builded a public hospital, the first that ever was erected at Rome, into the which were all the poor and lamentable lazars brought out of all the streets of mighty Rome: in careful providing for whom, as she passed the liberality of all bounteous mistresses: so did she in painful attendance, service, & awaiting on them, more than match the diligence of all good servants: thinking it not to be sufficient to be pitiful in purse, unlest that she also were merciful with hand: yea, she spent all her goods which were inestimable, to have them that might with painful toil continually punish her rebelling body. How did she daily tire her sender, and soft shoulders with the bearing of impotent beggars? The swannish neck of that beautiful young Lady, which was wont to be adorned with chains of gold, and precious stones, was now almost continually beclipsed with the scurvy & scabby arms of leprous Lazars, leaving behind on her white skin, the marks of their filthy running sores, and their loathsome créepers. Her eyes, whom before time fine fantasies did wholly feed, now beheld nothing but scald heads, scurvy hands, faces, and breasts eaten with cruel cankers, running legs, and rotten bodies, swarming full of mighty maggots. Her nose in steed of her accustomed precious ointments, Arabian odours, and sweet flowers, had with him but stinking ulcers, and rotten carcases, and all the filthy excrements of the body. The ears who were wont to hear the sweet melody of voice, and instruments, are now continually filled with the horrible groans and grievous gaps of men labouring for life and fetching the last painful pangs, the lamentable moan of folks tormented with incessant pains of the joints, and the loud cries of poor wretches burned with hot scalding carbuncles, and gnawn with eating ulcers. The tongue which had been used to talk of pleasant matters, was now wholly occupied in speaking of lothesone louse, filthy ulcers, stinking corpses. The palate which before could taste nothing, but the pleasantest wines and the delicatest meats, now was glad of an old hard dried brown bread crust, the vilest herbs, roots, and water, that she by pinching of her own belly might have wherewithal to buy wholesome meats and things to make good suppings for the sick and impotent, and to satisfy the hungry maws of the almost starved beggars. Those five fingers, which whiledome must do no work for marring of their whiteness, no scarce weave their riotous purple queen's work, nor sow fine knacks, now were made as hard as horn, with scouring of beggars piss pots and pans, and were all filthy, and foul, with quisshing out of rotten matter out of mangy legs, and busied still in washing of their stinking scabby, and poisoned clouts. Finally all her rich robs, precious jewels & gay gear were sold away to buy the naked beggars garments to defend them against the cold, and she stripped into her patched petticoat, her clouted hose, her pegged shoes, and a course kerchief to truss in her neglected locks. But why stand I so long about Fabiola, as though her sorrow for sin were rare, and all the ancient ecclesiastical and sacred histories were not full of the like? as our wicked age is very fruitful in bringing forth of men who tormented with the cruel remorse of a conscience cumbered with the knowledge of innumerable heinous facts committed by them, 
The torments of those that do despair of God's mercy,  and doubling them with degenerate despair wickedly conceived of God's mercy, which surmounteth all his works, do wilfully murder themselves, foolishly thinking to ease the pinching pains of the soul by separating it from the body, when as in very deed they thereby immeasurably augment her misery & torments. But besides these piteous penitentes, 
The torments of a guilty conscience.  are there an other kind of sinful men, who being plunged over head and ears in the mire of mischiefs, and sins, do contemn their deadly danger, and seem to have an insensibility of their sins, and peril, finally, are ashamed of nothing so much as to show ye any light sign of sorrow for their horrible deep sink of sin: yet can not these lusty bloods escape the inward percinge prick of a guilty conscience which tormenteth them a thousand fold more terribly, then if it were the deadly sting of a viper, and worketh them more woe and unrest, then doth the mad fly the coursed cattle in the raging dog days. These jolly gentlemen tremble ● shake at every flash of lightening, and be half dead at a clap of thunder: as though they came not of any natural cause, but were sent down from heaven by angered God, purposely to revenge their outrages. Not in the day time, not in the night, will their vexed minds grant unto their bodies any rest. When they go unto their meals, not one morsel of meat will go down their throats, fearing as men that had their jaws dried up with a long wasting sickness, yea, they cast up their drink like unto young children, making a sour face at sweet Hippocras, as though it were sharp vinegar, so unsavoury doth remorse of their sins make all things unto them. But when the time of the night doth adhort them to go unto their restless bed, they dare not lie alone for fear that a thousand devils would carry them away body and soul unto hell. Now after they be tired with tossinge and turning, if they chance to happen on a slumber (for sound sleep will not the tormenting torch, that burneth without intermission in their troubled breasts in any case grant them) with what dreadful dreams meet they, how start they, how hydeously cry they out? If then religion engendereth such griefs, 
The torments of superstition.  what torments may we think superstition bringeth? for I can not tell how, saith Seneca, vain things do trouble and vex us far more than true: for the true have their certain measure and quantity, but whatsoever cometh of an incert●ntie, is delivered and given over unto the conjecture and licence of a fearful mind, and what that will make of them, may the strange imaginations of the melancholyke manifestly declare: some steadfastly believing that they have eaten venomous serpents, 
Trall. Aegineta.  sun that they have lost their heads, sun that they have drounke poison, sun that they bear up all the whole world, & faint & fail under so heavy a burden, other that they see Atlas, 
Galen.  whom the Poetes feign to stay up heaven with his shoulders, to shrink and give over, and presently ready to let fall the weighty engine of the heavens on their heads, 
Matth. de grand.  some that they be earthen vessels and marvelously fear breaking, other cry out if they do but see one come into the chamber for fear he will tread on his nose, some that they have deadly botches, where as in very deed there are no such things: with 1000 such like vain fears, 
Amat. Lusit  all of whom it were as mad a part for me to rehearse, as it was & is for them to imagine.   

The eighteenth Chapter. The hoofullnesse of Lewes the eleventh, Charles the seventh French kings, of Dionysius, Commodus, and Aristippus, for the prolonging of their lives.  

Lewes the eleventh.  ANd no less madness, considering the manifold miseries, the often calamities, the great mischiefs and annoyances which happen unto man in his life, is man's immeasurable desiring of living, which Pliny assigneth for a proper incommodity of mankind. Lewes the French king, the eleventh of that name, when he had lived three score years, perceiving that he was fallen into a sickness which was likely to shorten his time, and also being feared with the sixtieth year of his age, because that none of the Capetts had passed that bound which yet could not content him, what ways wrought he to prolong his loathsome life? to what solemn shrine offered he not great rich oblations? to what famous house of religion throughout all France gave not he fair lands, for a great part of it wrongfully wrung from poor men? which donations because they were so great were revoked after his death: to what holy man of name in all Christendom sent not he the golden gifts? instantly desiring them in their daily prayers to God to have a special memento for the large increase of his years? But among all other he fet out of Calabria one Robert an Eremite, a man of all them of his time most renowned for holiness of life: at whose feet at the first meeting he fell down, desiring him with many a bitter tear to prolong his life, foolishly hoping, as the Eremite truly told him, to obtain that of a man which God only was able to give. But yet fearing that he was not surely enough defenced against terrible death by spiritual help, studiously also sought for natural by physic, and found one Cocterius, who with large promises of long life, fed his foolish humour, as the king again glutted the physicians unsatiable desire of gold with giving him ten thousand crowns a month, yea in five months four and fifty thousand, besides many great promotions promised if he did recover his health. Yet could not this rare liberality of the king, make the physician courteous unto him, but he would continually handle him very roughly, & churlishely, and with despiteful words vpbrayed unto him, his wrongful and cruel demeanour towards divers of the nobility and the counsel: and used often to tell him that he would also handle him so one day. Although this uncourteous and proud dealing greatly grieved the king and made him often to complain of it unto his familiars: yet durst he in no wise put him away, because that he had constantly affirmed, that the king should not live six days after that he were gone. Which direful denunciation the king abhorred as gate of hell, as the man that in all his whole life could not abide to have it once told him, that he must one day die, and would often in his health will his friends, that when they should see him dangerously sick, they should in no case put him in mind of death: where as in very deed he should have meditated nothing so much all his life long: which should have been a continual preparing of himself unto death, where unto he should most assuredly come at the last, and how soon uncertain: neither yet during his long sickness stood he in greater dread of death by inward diseases, than he feared shortening of life by foreign foes.  
Wherefore he imprisoned many noble men of great power, & diverse faithful counsellors upon vain imagination conceived in his fearful mind of their infidelity.  
He would suffer very few of the nobility to come near unto the place where he lodged, much less come within the castle gate, which was guarded day and night with four hundredth soldiers, of whom the one half were Scots whom he trusted better than his own subjects, commanding them to shoot at all men which did approach near unto the castle without licence before obtained. The bottom of the castle ditch caused he to be sticked full of iron pikes, and the banks with rakes of iron, whose long teeth he would ever and anon command to be whetted, and made sharp with a file. But this fearfulness perhaps he had by inheritance from his father Charles the seventh: 
Charles the seventh.  who for fear of being poisoned by his rebellious son, did six days forbear all kind of meat, but when at the last through the persuasions of the physicians, who told him if that he continued in this wicked and obstinate purpose, he would assuredly lose both this life and the life to come, he would have eaten, his strength was so worn with fasting, that he was not able to swallow any meat down, and so by inconsiderate wariness ran into that mischief which he had thought to have avoided by fearing. But was not their desire of life immeasurable, who having lived so long, that all men hated them, and therefore would they have no society and company with men: yet in this unnatural wilful wilderness in the mids of populous cities, in this incessant fear, sought by daily bereavinge of other men of life, to prolong their hated life: using many painful and troublesome means to preserve that, which was unto them every minute cause of intolerable torments: 
Dionysius the tyrant.  as Dionysius the tyrant showed unto his flatterer, that commended the stately life of tyrants, by a very lively demonstration, setting him at his table furnished sumptuously with all kind of delicates, but hanging over his head by a small thread, a mighty sword, which continually threatening fall, through continual fear thereof took away from this unhappy guest all the joy of his great dainties and pomp. Massinissa the mighty king of Numidia, 
Massinissa.  when he had lived four score and ten years, distrusting the faithfulness of all men, guarded himself with fierce bawling bandogs: and yet had he besides his large dominions, many sons, and the assured friendship of the romans, the Lords of the world. Dionysius 
Dionysius  the tyrant entrenched his bed chamber, as if it had been a town standing in the mids of his enemies, with a large and deep ditch, over the which went a drawebridge, which he kept under lock and key, but when he himself used it. And Aristippus 
Aristippus  the tyrant of Argos climbed unto his bed with his sweet heart by a ladder: the which after they were ascended, and the Perculleiss of iron opened, they entered the chamber, his minion's mother took away with her: and then did he let down the Perculleiss, on the which he laid his restless bed, that he might soon hear if that any man went about to work his body treason in his unsound slumbers. Dionysius 
Dionysius.  the tyrant trusting, not not his own daughters, after they were grown up, whom he had used before for his barbers, to clip the hairs of his suspicious head, nor shave his beard, taught them to burn them off with Nut shells. And Commodus 
Commodus  the Emperor did not himself with blazing coals.  

julius Caesar's sentence.  Had it not been, as julius Caesar was wont to say, a thousand times better for them once to have died than with so great grief continually to have feared it. Moreover it would fill great volumes to rehearse all the examples of those, which for desire of prolonging their lives a little while, have by denying of God, and his faith, by betraying of their country, their parents, wives, children, & friends, corrupted the glory which their virtues before had gotten, and so while they endeavoured to lenghten a little this temporal life, oppressed on all sides with manifold miseries, lost the everlasting and the eternal memory of them among men, or rather more truly won everlasting death in torments of hell, 
Alexander's worthy saying.  and in reproach and infamy on the earth. They came not of the royal blood of Alexander the great, who says in Curtius, that he was borne of such a stock, that he aught not so much to wish for long life, as immortality of name. This noble prince when that Penus had made a long oration, for to persuade him to return homeward out of India, and not to abject his victorious army to be devoured by the wild beasts, swallowed up by the mighty rivers of those savage countries, & died with in short time after, said that Penus had made too long an oration for so few days living, which was not worth half his painful speech, 
Vitellius and Andronicus.  But I am almost a shamed to tell how shamefully Vitellius, and Andronicus Comenus Emperors of Rome, and Constantinople, to save for that present pinch their lives, yielded unto their enemies to be immediately after slain with exquisite torments, after ten thousand villainies said and done unto them, the one drawn like a dog through the city of Rome by a rope fastened about his neck, and half naked, the other through Constantinople set him upon a mangy Camel, his head toward the tail of the beast, and all the unmannerly multitude every where, emptying all their pisspots, and close stools upon them both, which they must needs receive on their faces: because a sword was put under their chins, to hold up their hated heads. Unto these will I adjoin Papirius Carbo, 
Papyrius Carbo.  who after that he had been thrice Consul, was drawn by the commandment of the princox boy Pompey, afterward surnamed the great, with three chains like a wild beast unto the butcher's block. But when the hasty hangman was about to strike off his noble head: the coward wretch, staining his honour, that he might a little moment prolong his life desired stay of execution, until that he had discharged his belly of burden: the which he for greedy desire of living long, was so long in doing, that his head was strucken off, and his own filthy dung become a meet tomb for his degenerate body. This dastardly demeanour of his, no doubt abating much the envy of his enemies, which he should have incurred by this cruel & unwonted execution: but now no man thought him to be worthy of life, who had sought such unworthy ways to prolong his life, for reason would us to love life, but not to fear death.   

The ninetenth Chapter. The shortness of man's life, and by how many casualties it is shortened, and of sundry strange kinds of death.  
SEeing then that man is thus incessantly tormented with infinite diseases of the body, and no less molested with the perturbations of the mind, who can blame the Thracians, or as Herodotus calleth them, the Trausi, a people of Thrace, seeing that they had no knowledge of the resurrection, and the bliss which God hath prepared for his elect to enjoy after this life, for weeping and lamenting at the birth of their children, rehearsing how many miseries they must abide, but carried them to burying with all mirth, pastimes and dancing, numbering up from how many and great calamities and griefs they were withdrawn. Menander in Stobeus thinketh it to be sufficient, and enough to bear the name of one altogether wretched, and oppressed with miseries, if he be a man: and wittily says Plautus in Bacchides: that it is far better to have lived, then to live. How solemn and vulgar an Epitheton unto man is (wretched) in that flowing fountain of all knowledge and eloquence Homer? for nothing (says he) that liveth, that draweth breath, and creepeth along the laynes, is so wretched as is man, and feels so often and grievous pains. And therefore is it truly said of Pliny, that if we will judge and decree uprightly, refusing all ambition of Fortune, there is no man happy: yea, and fortune deals with that man very friendly, and makes him a wanton, which can not justly be called unhappy. Our felicity (says Seneca) is no sound thing and massy, 
Epi. lib. 7. epi. 11.  but only an overcasting, and that very thin, and which is lightly broken by so many violent chances, as I have already showed, and also by the shortness of man's life: which life Homer calleth a shadow: Pyndarus, the dream of a shadow: Sophocles a shadow, and blast: Aechylus a shadow of smoke, Lucian and the common proverb a bubble that riseth on the water: of whom some vanish away as soon as ever they rise, some continued a little longer, but all endure a very short time, besides ten thousand diseases which do daily and hourly, yea, to speak most truly, continually bereave men of life: do fewer chances assault us? ruins, poisons, shipwrecks, wars, earthquakes, lightnings, thunders, falls, and what not? One is choked with swallowing down of the stone or grain in a grape, as Anacreon the poet, a little hair in a mess of milk strangled Fabius a Praetor of Rome, 
Valer.  Aeschylus the Poet had his crown so cracked, that he died thereof, with a cockle let fall by an Eagle, who did take his bald scalp to be a rock, whereupon she might break her cockle to come by the fish. 
Pli.  Q. Aemylius with dashing his foot against a stone, and C. Aufidius against a threshold, jovinian the Emperor with the smoke of coals in his chamber, 
Fulg.  or as other say, with the smell of a chamber newly pargetted, some with a clap on the cheek given by a girl: 
Hippon.  some avoided their bowels out, at the privy, as Arrius the arch-heretic, 
Fulg.  and Anastasius the second bishop of Rome. Some are eaten with mice, 
Munster.  as Hatto Archbishop of Mentz, and Piast Prince of Poleland, and some with toads, as in Wales Seisillus Elkerher, 
Ger. Cambr. in Itin.  some killed with lightning, as Strabo pompeius, father unto great Pompey, Carus and Anastasius emperors of Rome: some are slain in the midst of their pastimes in hunting, as Aistulphe king of Lombardy with a boar, Basilius' Emperor of Constantinople with a stag, Fulco king of Jerusalem, by the foundering of his horse in pursuit of an hare, William Rufus King of this land, with the glancing of an arrow: Drusus the son of Claudius Caesar the Emperor, playing with a pear, 
Sueton.  which he would cast up and catch in his mouth, was choked with it: some die in the midst of their venery, as Tytus Aetherius an horseman of Rome, and Cornelius Gallus, who had been praetor of the city: and two horsemen (says Pliny) in our days, in one varlet: and Cornelius Tacitus noteth a woman, and Campofulgoso, Giachetto Gereva, a worshipful man of Saluzzo, with his minion.  
And as though that sorrows and griefs did not sufficiently annoyed mankind: we read of many that suddenly died for extreme joy: as Diagoras, and two women in Aulus Gellius, Chilo the philosopher, and Sophocles the famous poet, & Dionysius the tyrant in Pliny, and Inuentius Talua a Consul in Valerius, who also writeth that Philemon the poet, was choked with laughing at his own jest. How innumerable are they whom daily experience and histories do teach us, to have died suddenly of no evident cause, and without all foreféeling of pains, some at feasts and pastimes, and some in their beds, of whom Pliny reckoneth many examples? Therefore seeing that such is the infirmity of man at his birth, and many years after, so many sicknesses and diseases, so many molestations, and vexations, do continually chance unto him all his life long, & that also is so short and uncertain: is there any man endued with common sense, that will hold that any man can be happy in this world and life?   

The twenty Chapter. That not great riches and Empires do make a man happy, the which Socrates proved by an excellent similitude, whereunto is annexed a golden sentence of Agesilaus.  
ANd now then after that I have declared, that man can not in this life be happy, I will descend unto my second proposition, that no man hath continued many years in so great felicity, that he never felt during that time any cause to complain of Fortune, with protestation first made, that these great Empires, conquests, and riches, are not in any wise to be accounted things which do make a man happy: no more than a scabbard of gold set with precious stones doth make a good sword: a rich gown, a perfect body, a golden collar a swift dog: because they be things without them, and no part of their substance. A very lively induction whereof makes Socrates, with which kind of Argument, did he singularly delight. The magnificent Nicias of Athens, had a very goodly horse, which when he was ridden through the streets, did turn the eyes of all the people to behold him, and with great acclamations to cry out: yonder goes the noblest horse of the world. When I saw, says Socrates, this horse so generally with one consent, praised of the whole city: I stepped unto his keeper, & demanded of him, what mass of money this so singular a horse, and so highly commended had? why sir quoth the horse keeper, what money should a horse have, he hath not one farthing? why then, says Socrates, if that an horse may be an excellent horse, and perfect in all points, which belong unto an horse, & have neither money, not nor goods, nor an horse were never the better horse, if he had great riches: what then should let but that a man may be a good and happy man, without all goods? or what shall he be the perfecter, & more blessed, if he have innumerable store of these fruits, or rather follies of fortune? Wherefore that saying of Agesilaus king of Lacedemonia is worthy to be written in letters of gold, or rather in deed in all men's hearts, which he used unto one that called, according unto the manner of the world then, the king of Persia the great king: how says Agesilaus, is he greater than I am, unlest he be more just, and more temperate? justly measuring the felicity, and greatness of man by the goods of the mind, and not of fickle fortune. But now after this protestation made, I say and will prove, that neither these men which were, or would be called by the name of Gods, nor no man surnamed the great, or any of them which have boasted of their felicity, and finally no other notable conqueror, or fondling of fortune, hath deserved justly to be accounted happy: but that they often felt the roughness of frowning fortunes bit, and had often admonitions of their miserable mortality. And first speaking of my Gods, I will begin with Alexander the great, both for the honour of his antiquity, and also for the largeness of his Empire, the surpassing greatness of his conquests, and the rare felicity in them.   

The xxi. Chapter. A discourse of the brittle bliss of Alexander the great.  
AS it was singular in Alexander never to besiege city which he won not, never to fight battle wherein he vanquished not, never to invade country, which he conquered not: so I think was it singular unto him of all kings to be often wounded, and endangered of life by his enemies: never living long without peril of death. His own father had nailed him to the wall with a javelin, if that he had not happily avoided the deadly stroke with swift leaping aside. Even almost at his first entry into Asia had he been doubtless slain in the first battle with Darius his power at Granike: if that Clitus running unto his rescue, had not fortunately warded the blow. And anon after into how great danger of death fell he by bathing himself in the river of Sydnus, when his enemy Darius was even at hand with a mighty host: the lively heat was so mortified in all parts of his body: that his servants took him up, and carried him being senseless at the extreme point of death. Neither were his pains afterward any less, nor his danger seemed to be abated: when he would needs desperately take a medicine which should presently upon a sudden rid him of his sickness, being at the first more like to have bereft him of his life: was he not twice wounded at Gaza, and at the first time so sore, that he fainted and fell down, and was taken up by his soldiers, and carried into his tent? How long time I pray you passed, but that he was like to be murdered by Dimnus: under colour of which conspiracy he put to death, the most approved captain, that ever served Prince, Parmenio, with his valiant son Philotas. About the river of Oxus was he stricken in the leg with an arrow, which being pulled out, the head was left behind: the anguish whereof was such that he was forced to forsake the field, and to be carried on his soldiers backs unto his tent. He had also such a blow in the neck with a stone at the siege of the city of the Memacenes, that his sight failing him, he fell down, and was taken up senseless for dead, all the whole host making loud lamentation for him, as though he had surely been slain. I can not with words express the agony he was in, when the Scythians went about to destroy his new city of Alexandria built by him upon the River of Tanais, as Curtius saith: or more truly on Oxus, or Ochus, as plutarch and Strabo have, (and Ptolomey maketh mention of Alexandria upon Oxus, but not of any by that name upon Tanais,) and to destroy his fortifications on the rivers side, & to remove from thence the Macedons. When he saw that he was to enter into a wars, for the which he was not provided, & his enemies to ride up and down in his sight, & he himself so grieved with the pain of the wound of his neck, and also through long abstinence, that his speech failed him, called his friends to counsel: to whom he declared that he was not troubled with any fear of his enemies, but with the iniquity of the time: the Bactrians rebelling, and the Scythians provoking him, when he was neither able to stand on the ground, nor strong enough to ride on horseback, nor in case to give advise, or exhortation unto his soldiers. Therefore in consideration of the doubtful danger he saw himself wrapped in: he blamed the Gods, complaining that he was enforced to lie along like a block, whose swiftness before time none was able to escape. The matter grew so great: that his own friends believed that he had counterfeited his sickness for fear. And therefore he, who thinking himself a God, had ever since the overthrow of Darius left consultation with the diviners, and Prophesiers, fear made religious: and them commanded his soothsayers to try out by sacrifices, what his success should be. But who can worthily utter the anguish, sorrow, and grief, that gripped him, for the drunken murdering on his ale bench, of Clitus his foster brother: an old soldier of his Father, a valiant captain of his, and the saviour of his life, and a selly old man, yea & for praising of his father: for the which duty would, he should have commended and rewarded him. He plucked out the bloody spear out of the guiltless corpse, and justly would have thrust it into his own guilty heart: if the standers by had not letted him, and wrong it out of his hand. That done they took him up and carried him unto his lodging: where he fell flat down upon the flower, filling all the Court full of the pitiful noise of his howling and lamentation: he tare his face with his nails, and desired such as stood about him, that they would not suffer him to live in such shame and dishonour. In these complaints, and requests was all that night spent. Then another toy toy came into his head, to aggravate his grief: he thought that his friends, being astonished at his cruelty, would not resort unto him, and talk familiarly with him, as they were wont to do: and that then he should live like unto a wild beast in a wilderness, both making other afraid, and being also afraid himself. He commanded diligent search to be made, whither it were the ire of the Gods, that had caused him to commit so heinous an outrage: and nothing so much assuaged his sorrow, says Plutache, and broke off his wilful refusal of all kind of nutriment, wherein he had continued three days, shut up in his chamber, continually lamenting & weeping, as that Aristander the chief soothsayer affirmed, that this mischief happened, because that the yearly sacrifices & feasts unto Bacchus were not done, & kept at their due time: manifestly bewraying Alexander's weak Godhead, that was not able to resist that drunken God.  
And how near was this counterfeit GOD unto death, anon after his ungodly practice at a banquet with his flatterers Hagiss, and Cleon, to be adored of the Macedons for a God? for if he had not very devoutly served his brother Bacchus with drinking even until two hours after the dawning was broken, he had lost both life and Godhead by a great conspiracy made by Hermolaus, & his fellows. At the first city of the Indians that he assaulted, was he hurt with an arrow. Afterwards at the siege of Mazace was he stricken in the thigh with a dart, which he pulled out, & without wrapping of the wound, called for his horse, and letted not for all his hurt to give order for such things as he thought expedient. But at the length when by hanging down of his leg, the blood drew unto the wound, & it waxed cold, whereby his wound began to pain him: then could he say, that he was called the Son of jupiter, but yet he felt in himself the passions of a diseased body. But no peril that ever he suffered, was comparable to that which he ran into through his own desperateness, at the siege of the city of the Oxidracans, as hath Curtius, of the Mellumans, says plutarch, or as it is in justine, the Sicambrians. For, like a mad man he leapt down from the walls post alone, into the town: it being a thousand to one, that he should have either been slain, or taken alive ere he could have recovered his legs, the walls were so high: but it happily chanced, that he fell upon his feet, and an old tree adjoining to the wall well defended him from being enclosed, and the boughs served him for a target to keep off the darts and arrows of many thousands, that fast flocked thither to end the cruel wars of the whole world, by one mschiefous man's death: and to revenge so many flourishing nations which he had spoiled, and so many free peoples, as he had wrongfully brought into bondage. And at the length one threw a dart of two cubits long, which a little above his right thigh passed through his corselet: by reason of the which wound he did shed so much blood, that he was not able to hold his sword, but let it fall out of his hand, as one at the point of death: so that the Indian that had strucken him, came to spoil him, whose hand when Alexander felt upon him: disdain of infamy revoked his spirits then passing out of his body, and with his sword thrust through his unarmed enemy. But yet so feeble was his strength, that when he endeavoured to lift himself up with the help of a bought of the tree: he straightway fell own again upon his knees.  
During which time Peucestes, Timaeus, Leonatus, and Aristonius, were come unto him, of whom Timaeus was slain, and the rest so sore wounded, that they were able to do nothing: and they had undoubtedly died there with their Prince, if that the whole army being made almost mad with the rumour, that the king was slain, had not at that very instant violently broke into the city, and delivered him out of assured peril of death.  
Neither was the curing of his wound less dangerous, and grievous, than the wound itself: because that the hooks or barbs of the dart fastened in the flesh could not be plucked out, but by cutting of the wound wider, whereof ensued such abundance of blood, that he fell into a swoon, and stretched out himself, as one at the the pangs of death: in so much that all his friends had verily thought, that he had been dead, so long was it er his blood could be staunched.  
Thus ye see how many and oftentimes this mad man which would be accounted a GOD, was made painfully to feel within few years, the griefs of man's flesh: the which was also, last incredibly increased by the death of his darling Ephestion: whom he loved as entirely, and mourned for as immoderately, as ever man did for his friend. But when GOD saw that no admonishments would serve to keep him in his duty, and that the Empire of the whole earth would not satisfy his insatiable ambition, which by falling was always made more hungry, but that he would also needs invade heaven: he did cut his days shorter, than the common fate of man is, not suffering him to pass the age of thirty three years, and one month: and made a small cophin to show, how small a thing in deed he was: who having all the Orient, chafed that he was thrust up into a narrow corner, and squeezed together. If he had followed the counsel that the Lacedaemonian king gave unto his Father Philippe, after the fortunate battle of Choronea: and had measured his shadow after the overthrow of Darius, he should have found it neither greater, nor longer than it was before: and sometimes he himself could find it. For when Nicesias a flatterer, (the pernicious pestilence of Princes) saw Alexander marvelously troubled with a medicine which he had taken, and said: what pains must we poor wretched men abide, seeing that ye Gods suffer such torments? Alexander sternly looking on him said: And what kind of Gods are we? no, I fear we be hated of the Gods. And at an other time when Anaxander, a fortunate Philosopher, as Atheneus terms him, one of the crows that haunted that carrion, traveling with Alexander in a great and terrible thunder, which appalled the hearts, yea of the stoutest, said: have you done the like, O mighty prince? Alexander laughed, and said: I will not be so terrible and dreadful as thou dost teach me to be: who wouldst have me to be served at the table with the heads of kings, and princes cruelly cut off. It is also reported by Plutarch, that he had been oftentimes heard to say, that whereas many men called him a God: yet did he find that he was a man by two things: that is to wit, the act of Venery, and sleep: for that these two things did most bewray the imbecility of his nature, but against all other things he was invincible.  
Now, sleep is an Image of death: and the act of venery, as it were, a kind of convulsion. But this man who knew himself so well, and besides his often dangers of death, and many painful wounds, did acknowledge that he had ever in him two things, which manifestly declared unto him that he was a man, and yet would be adored for a GOD: yea, and when he saw himself quite past all hope of life, instantly desired his wife Satyra, privily to convey him away, and to cast him into the river of Euphrates, that he might seem unto the world to have been assumpted body and soul into heaven: did not he justly deserve to be deprived of those things, which the most vilest varlets do enjoy? did not his woeful mother Olympias, when that she heard that his body lay unburied many days (the captains of the Macedons being busied about the succession in his Empire) cry out with abundant tears, deep sighs, and loud lamentations? O son, thou that endevouredst to be partaker of heaven, hasting thither with might and main, now alas art not able to obtain and get so much as those things, which are common unto all mortal men, the earth and burial. A worthy mirror to be set always before the eyes of great Princes, for them to see in, that if they do covet greater and more honour, then is due unto man, they shall not have that which hath been often done unto horses and dogs.   

The two and twenty Chapter, Of the infelicity and doleful end of Demetrius, yea, his whole life and acts.  
THe next of these proud Gods in anciency of years, is Demetrius son unto Antigonus, a captain of Alexander the great: one whom I am not able to charge to be so ambitious for Godlike honour, as was Alexander: yet do I blame him for accepting of those divine honours, which the flattering Atheniens prodigally heaped on him: whereby he began to fall into all incontinency, riot, and pride, in so much, that he beware garments woven of purple and gold, (a rare thing in those days) and golden shoes. Very hard access was there unto him, and very rough were his answers. The Legates of the athenans, who might do most with him, followed him, and danced attendance two years, and then at the last he dismissed them home, not once hearing their message. There was never man with whom fortune sported more, and showed her mutability, that worthily that sentence of Aeschylus was often heard in his mouth: Thou fortune exaltedst me, & thou also dost cast me down full low. When he was but 22. years of age, he fought a field with greater courage then cunning, with the ancient politic captain long practised in Alexander's wars, Ptolomey: where he lost 13000. men, of whom 3000. were slain, and the rest taken with the camp also. But having the royal tent, with all the furniture thereof, and also the prisoners princely restored unto him without ransom by Ptolomey: who said that princes aught not to contend for all things at once, but only for empire and glory, he repaired his power, and invaded Mesopotamia, then being subject unto Scleucus, the which he conquered, with one half also of mighty Babylon (the river of Euphrates runneth in the midst of the city, & parteth it in two) but doubting that he was not able to abide the force of Seleucus, who hasted homeward out of India to the rescuse of Mesopotamia, he broke up his siege, & took the sea, & sailed unto Halicarnassus, where he removed by force the siege o● Ptolomey, & fortune still favouring, he entered Greece, to set them at liberty, who were then in subjection unto Cassander his fathers, and his enemy. At his first arrival at Athens, all the citizens revolted unto him, only there remained a garrison of Cassander's in a part of the city, called Munichia. From thence he marched to Megara, where the intemperate young man leaving his army, went unto a famous harlot called Cratesipolis, given by Alexander unto Polypercon: the which woman it was told him was in love with him. But being come to the place appointed, he had near been taken by his enemies (who had intelligence thereof) with his minion being together in a tent, the which he had caused to be set up a little out of the sight of his army, that he might cover the more cleanly the access of his harlot. Yet as it happened he escaped by showing a fair pair of heels, and returned in safety unto his army, won the town of Megara, and returning unto Athens, took Munichia, & razed the castle, restoring unto the athenans their ancient liberties and laws. Whereupon ensued that impudent flattery that I spoke of before. But before he could finish his exploit & purpose of setting of all Greece at liberty: he was sent for from thence by his father to aid Cyprius, the which Ptolomey had invaded. In his voyage thetherward, he discomfited Menelaus, brother unto Ptolomey, & afterward in Cyprus before Salamina Ptolomey himself, who had a mighty fleet of 150. ships, & also a great army by land. He took 60 ships, & drowned all the rest, only 8. escaping with Ptolomey. Demetrius having thus won the victory, whereby he got all the kings retinue with a mighty mass of money & warlike furniture, had also shortly after Menelaus with the city of Salamina, & the fleet, and 1200. horsemen, & 12000 footmen yielding unto him: all which prisoners he sent home without ransom, & also honourably buried the dead. This notable victory did set Antigonus in such a pride, that he with his son would be called kings: from the which name the captains of Alexander had abstained until that time. But to pull down their puffed pride: when that Demetrius after the victory at Salamina, sailed about to strike terror into the hearts of his enemies, by sudden tempest he lost the greatest part of his ships, and Antigonus who led a flourishing army along the sea cost, fell into such difficulties, that he returned home like unto a vanquished man, having lost almost his whole army.  
Yet after this Demetrius besieged Rhodes, where he lay until he was weary, and could do no good: and to save his honour, there was joyful news brought him, that he should hast to the succour of Athens, then straightly besieged by Cassander: whom he repelled, pursuing him even unto Thermopile, and going yet farther, he wan Heraclea, and being from thence returned into Gréece, he made almost all Peloponesus free, expelling the garrisons of Cassander. Wherefore in the memory of this benefit, he was in a parliament of the Greeks, elected and proclaimed the captain or Duke of Gréece: as Philip king of Macedon had in time before been. Immediately upon this, was he sent for to repair into Asia to aid his father against Seleucus, & his confederates, who led a mighty army of 40000. footmen, 10000 horsemen, 400. Elephants, and 1200. hooked chariots, with whom they encountering with no less power, were overthrown, and Antigonus slain, and Demetrius forced to flee unto Ephesus, with only 5000 footmen, and 4000 horsemen, with whom being there embarked, he directed his course unto Athens, his only refuge. But when he was come unto the Islands Cyclades, the ambassadors of the Athenians met him, requesting him in the name of the whole city, that he would not sail unto Athens, for the city had made a decree, that he, who had been lately expelled out of a kingdom, should in no case be received into a free city. Although this unlooked for message did inwardly sore chafe him, yet seeing that presently to be revenged, neither time nor power would serve him: he gave them fair words, and desired that he might have the ships that he had left in their haven: the which being gently delivered with his wife, and all his royal furniture of household, he sailed into Peloponesus. But when he saw that his faction in those quarters waxed worse and worse, the cities daily revolting unto his enemies, he leaving there Pyrrhus, son to Aeacus, to keep the cities in their obedience: sailed into the Thracian Chersonese, to invade Lysimachus kingdom, where his affairs prosperously succeeding, he marvelously increased his navy and army. And not long after he married his daughter unto Seleucus, and he himself (having buried his first wife) married Ptolemies daughter. Whereby he being again recovered, besieged Athens, and forced them for famine to yield the city unto him. The famine was so great, that the father and the son fought with bloody sword for a mouse that fell down from an house, and men divided beans into divers parts to give unto their children. Then placing a strong garrison in Athens, he gave Archidamus the king of Lacedemonia, a mighty overthrow, and entering Laconica, vanquished him again in an other battle, and besieged the city: the which he had doubtless taken (the which never man had done until that day) if that to interrupt the course of his victory in Peloponesus, sorrowful news had not been brought him, that his cities in Asia were assailed by Lysimachus, and Cyprus also would be won by Ptolomey, unless that he hasted out of hand to secure his mother, and children, who were straightly besieged in Salamina the chief city thereof. Demetrius being sore moved with these heavy tidings, broke up the siege of Lacedaemon. But being very pensive and sorrowful for this mishap, fortune made him merry again with an other good occasion. For Cassander's two sons, Antipater and Alexander, contending for the kingdom of Macedonia, Alexander desired Demetrius to come unto his aid, of whom he was at the first very friendly and honourably entertained: but anon after, Demetrius understanding that Alexander laid awaits to murder him: he caused his soldiers to slay Alexander, as he came out from supper, & then the cause of his death being declared in an assembly of the people, Demetrius was proclaimed king of Macedonia. And also Lysimachus being oppressed with the wars of the king of Thrace, gave him a part of the kingdom of Macedon, which had befallen unto his son in law Antipater, the other brother, that he might not have wars with him also, seeing that he was then not able to match the Thracian. And to augment his good luck, he was certified that Ptolomey was departed from Cyprus. Demetrius having thus gotten Macedonia with Thessalia, subdued also all the Boetians. And then having intelligence that Lysimachus was taken prisoner by Dromichetes' king of Thrace, he invaded his kingdom. The which occasion the Boetians having gotten, rebelled: the which revoked Demetrius into Gréece, & while he was busied in subduing of the Boetians, Pyrrhus king of Epyrus, suddenly becoming his enemy, wasted Thessalia. Wherefore Demetrius, after he had won Thebes, and made a road into Aetolia, leaving a part of his power in Aetolia, under the government of Pantachus, went forth himself with the rest of his army, to revenge the injuries of Pyrrhus, whose countries he wasted. But Pyrrhus marching in array of battle to fight with Demetrius: I know not by what adventure, happened on his Lieutenant Pantachus, whom he slew in combat, whereunto Pantachus had challenged him: and then the army being dismayed with the loss of their captain, incontinently fled. The fame of this overthrow got Pyrrhus a great name among the Macedons, whose hearts Demetrius his pride had much alienated from him: in so much that when he fell sick at Pella, Pyrrhus spoiled & wasted almost all Macedonia, and not one man would go out into the field against him, until that Demetrius was recovered: who having greater matters in his head dissembled this injury, & made peace with Pyrrhus, preparing a mighty army of 100000. footmen and 10000 horsemen, and a navy of 500 ships (among whom were galleys with sixteen banks of ears) for to invade Asia, and to recover his father's kingdom. But this huge army was almost oppressed before it did set forth. For Seleucus, Lysimachus, and Ptolomey, being feared with this so great preparation, did knit themselves in a league together against him, and did set forth both by sea and land, all the power they were able to make: & they had also won by embassage Pyrrhus to invade Macedonia, telling him plainly, that Demetrius would no longer have peace with him, then until such time as he had done his exploits in Asia, and then would he upon him with all his power to hurl him out of his kingdom, all the which things they easily persuaded Pyrrhus to believe.  
Whereupon he at one side, and Lysimachus on an other, at one time invading Macedon, and also a fleet sent by Ptolomey suddenly setting upon the sea coast of Gréece, filled all places full of fear and trembling. Then Demetrius leaving his son to guard Gréece, went himself in person against Lysimachus. But before he was come unto this enemy, behold, news was brought with a great uproar, that the city of Beria in Macedonia was taken by Pyrrhus, and all the country near abouts miserably wasted with fire and sword. This news much troubled Demetrius mind, but the revolting of the Macedons far more: who now began to refuse to serve in that voyage. Wherefore Demetrius to retain them in their duty, promised that he would go against Pyrrhus to save Macedon from spoil. This he pretended, but the very cause in deed was, for that he would be far off from Lysimachus, to whom the talk was, that the Macedons minded to revolt, because he was their countryman.  
Wherefore thinking that they were not so much inclined unto Pyrrhus, he had retired from Lysimachus: when that certain Macedons coming into the camp from Beria, had by extolling Pyrrhus with singular praises, and commendations, brought their countrymen unto that point, that they broke out into an open mutiny and rebellion. Demetrius, having intelligence of those things which were in brewing, and thinking it not good to expect a more hostile and worse chance, did put off his royal robes and ensigns, and fled with a small train in a black cloak unto the city Cassandria, where his wife wearied with woe, killed herself with poison.  
Not long after that Demetrius was crept away, Pyrrhus setting upon his army (the which was forsaken by their captains) at the first shout scattered them: and being honourably received of the Macedons, got both the camp and the kingdom, the which had been under Pyrrhus six years: but now was divided between Pyrrhus & Lysimachus. Then fled Demetrius unto Thebes, where one scoffingly applied unto him that verse of Euripides: he came unto the Dyrcean springs, and Ismenus, his divine and godly form and shape being changed in to a mortal. But Demetrius gathering together all his ships, whom the cruel tempest, which about the same time had almost drowned and destroyed his whole fleet, had left him: and also the remnants of his lost army, wearied a little while with siege of the city of Athens, the which with fortune had changed their fidelity: but at the length through the persuasion of Crator the Philosopher, he broke up the siege, and having almost eleven thousand men under his banner, wasted over into Asia to avert Caria and Lycia from the dominion of Lysimachus.  
And having gotten Sardis the chief city of Lydia, and other places of that Province, he had well increased his army: when fearing the approach of Agathocles, Lysimachus his son: he diverted into Phrygia, thinking that if he could get Armenia, that then the state of the Medes would easily be disturbed. He marched in the Champain country, often skirmishing with Agathocles, who followed him still at the hard heels, and Demetrius was victor almost in every conflict, but yet nevertheless was sore vexed with lack of victuals, and also pasture and forage for his horses (as he that traveled through countries, that were not his friends:) and to make up the mischief, he lost a great part of his army in the passing over of the river of Lycus, they missing the ford, and being drowned in the depth. So that what by this infortunate chance, and also through famine, and pestilence: about eight thousand of his soldiers being lost, he turned his course into Cilicia: where he stayed the fury of his soldiers from spoiling of Tharsus, jest that he should have incurred the displeasure of Seleucus, under whom Cilicia was: where he hardly obtained of Seleucus for to winter, there Agathocles having taken the straits, which he should pass. But Seleucus remained not long in his good mind: but being persuaded by certain of his counsellors, that he did unwisely to foster in the mids of his Realm, the army of so martial, and unquiet a Prince, came down with a strong army into Cilicia. Then Demetrius, when he could obtain no friendship of him by entreaty, and prayers: like unto a wild beast, enclosed in a toil, with men, weapons, and snares: turned his lenity into fury: and with sudden violence sacked certain Cities of Cilicia, and anon after taking heart of grace, fought with Seleucus, and overthrowing his chariots, and putting to flight the rest of his army, he obtained a notable victory, and opened the straits of Cilicia, expelling the garrisons of Seleucus in every place. And by this lucky success, was he come into great hope of better fortune, when he fell into an unfortunate sickness: wherewith he being long time afflicted, lost a great part of his army, many revolting unto the enemy, and starting, some this way, and some that, as every man's soudein force carried him: a great part of whom wandering they wist not where, and missing their way through ignorance of the country, perished by diverse chances. But when he was recovered of his sickness, he marched with those that had remained in their dutiful obedience, within the sight of his enemy, having spoiled no small part of Cilicia. And then passing over Amanus, he came wasting and spoiling unto Cyrrestes: where thinking to have set upon Seleucus, (who now was at his back) in the night time: he miss of his purpose, and also being foiled in fight, was forced to fly back again amain unto the ports of Amanus, and there to hide himself, and those few that he had about him, in the thick woods, and assayed to go through the desert and blind ways unto Caunus, where he hoped to find a fleet. But when that the straits of the country were kept, and set with armed men, and of his small train many hourly dropped away, he by the adhortation of his friends, sent certain unto Seleucus to yield up unto him his life, and afflicted state. Men report that Seleucus had commanded a royal pavilion to be set up for him, and that he had minded to entertain him in all respects not as a prisoner, but as a guest, being in his most flourishing state: yea & many noblemen thinking that he should in short time have been in great favour & authority with Seleucus, road forth for duties sake to meet him. But in the mean space before he could come, Seleucus being changed, through suspicions, put into his head, by his counsel, he sent Pausanias with 1000 horse against him, who should take him, and carry him into the Chersonesus of Syria, and there should diligently keep him: it being a country of a small compass. Wherewithal Demetrius being dismayed, although by Seleucus his commandment he was in all points entreated like a king, & with singular honour, and courtesy, handled of his keeper: yet he sent one unto his son Antigonus to tell him, that he should take his Father for a dead man, and never after give any credit to letter or seal of his. Antigonus dolefully lamented at this heavy news, and incessantly commended unto all Princes by letters the life and safety of his Father: yea and offered unto Seleucus, that he and all that ever cruel fortune had left him, should remain pledges with him: if that he would vouchsafe to set his Father at liberty. But for all this earnest suit, Seleucus persevered still in keeping of Demetrius: who having always used from his childhood to hunt and to ride much, and also to exercise his body with great travel, and labour: now, as one weary of this present life, drowned himself in gormandize and drunkenness: and so died within three years after his captivity, being of the age of lxiiij. years, and one that in all that long time, after that he came to man's state, never remained three years in one state, before his captivity: when doubtless for tranquillity and rest, if his proud heart could have been contented therewithal, he did draw nearest unto the quiet and restful order of the Gods, as Horace terms it.   

The twenty-three. Chapter. Of julius Caesar's greatness, and also his great mishaps, and troubles, and of a worthy saying of Charles the fift.  
Demetrius' doth julius Caesar succeed, a very martial Gentleman, and also fortunate in wars, & such an one as well deserved to be a GOD, after the manner of the Roman Deification: for he had slain of his enemies, eleven hundredth, and lxxxij. thousand, besides them that he had killed in the civil wars, the which were doubtless a mighty number, of whom he was ashamed to boast, as he might also have been of the other, to be accounted so cruel an enemy to mankind. But although fortune was friendly unto him, yet did she often make him feel her fickleness. For in his youth he being accounted one of the Marian faction, was deprived by Sylla of his office of flamen Dialis, his wives dowry, and all his own lands: yea and moreover forced to hide himself, from the tyrant, who sought his death, yea, and to change his lodging every night, although he were very ill molested with a quartan: and yet all this would not have saved his life, if that he had not often corrupted with money, those that were sent to search for him: until at the length, through the earnest and incessant suit of the vestal virgins, and certain of his friends, great favourers of Sylla, his pardon was hardly obtained: the tyrant being so exasperated against him, that when he was overcome by the importunate prayers of them, who would have no nay, he broke out into this loud speech: take him to you: who will one day be the destruction of the nobility, whom ye so much favour. For in this one boy be there many Marij. But after he had escaped this danger, within few years after fell into an other almost as great, being taken by pirates, as he sailed to Rhodes, out of whose hands he redeemed himself, when they knew him not, for 50. talents, that is 9375. pounds. After this when he was Praetor, was he commanded for to cease to execute his office, because he so stubbornly stood with Metellus the troublesome tribune, who obstinately went about to set forth seditious laws against the will of all his Colleges, yea and of all good men. But when that Caesar notwithstanding this injunction persisted still in hearing of matters, and administering of things appertaining unto his office, the Senate sent armed men to repress his insolency: for fear of whom he sent away his sergeants, and casting off the robes of his office, privily stole home. And upon the neck of this was he accused by Cato to be one of the conspiracy with Catiline, the which was confessed by two of the same conjuration: but he very well escaping this danger, was made Praetor of the farther Hispaine, where he was driven to such poverty, that he shamefully begged money of the Proconsul, and the Allies of the people of Rome in those parts, to pay his debts at home. At his return out of Hispaine got he the consulship, and by confirming of all those things which Pompey had done in these (the which the Senate would not before assent unto) he won his good will: and then they two, and Crassus conspired together to have the government of the whole common wealth, & of all the men of war, having the greatest Provinces allotted unto them, first for five years, and then for other five, Caesar having both Gallia cisalpina, and also Comata with Illyrium: Pompey the Hispaines, and Crassus Syria, this was the foundation of his Godhead: but the infirmities of his human frailty was the incontinency of his wife, for the which he did put her away: such a cruel corrosive unto some men, that it makes them for impatience thereof to murder themselves: but more did the fear of due punishment for his demeanour in his Consulship molest him: to escape the which, he began to raise the civil wars, and to invade his country: in the which wars in what difficulties, and woes was he often wrapped? and first in Hispaine before Ilerda, when that the river of Sicoris had overflown all the country about, and broke down the bridges built by him upon it: whereby not only many of his men were intercepted by the enemy, but also his whole host for the space of many days, was brought into extreme penury of all victuals, & almost quite starved up. In so much it was bruited at Rome, that the civil wars were happily ended, Caesar, and his army being quite tamed with sword, and famine. Yet when that he had afterward become vanquisher in Hispaine, his trusty friend Cicero was slain with all his whole power in Africa: and an other of his Lieveftenants C. Antonius discomfited, and taken with his fleet by Sea upon the coast of Illyria: & he himself with his army brought into pincheing penury before Dyrrachium: so that a long time they sustained their starved bodies, with only bread made of an herb called Lapsana: whereof came the proverb afterward, Lapsana vivere, to live hardly. But yet here stayed not fortune her frowning: for Pompey gave him such a foul overthrow in fight, that by Caesar's own confession, if he had used the victory, he had that day ended the wars. And so great was Caesar's foil, that he was forced to provide for his safety by shameful dislodging, & flight. Neither was his danger less, when that he pursued his discomfited & fleeing enemy the great Pompey in to Egypt: where he was suddenly quite contrary unto his expectation circumvented with the whole power of that mighty and rich kingdom, he having not there above 800, horsemen, & 3200. footmen: wherefore when that his sword would not save him, he procured his safety by fire, burning the king's palace, with that famous library of the world of 700000. books. And although for brevities sake, I omit his manifold perils in those wars, yet can I not pass over in silence: when at a conflict by sea, between his navy & the Alexandrines, he standing upon the bridge, could not by adhortation, nor threats, stay the flight of his men: he leapt off from the bridge to have lighted into one of his ships: but was forced to leap short through the violence of his enemies, (who shot all of them, thick and threefold at him, being notorious for his purple mantle,) and to swim 200. paces unto the next ship, among so many thousand shot of his enemies, & also being clogged & oppressed with his wet clotheses & he holding up his left hand above the water, that he might keep dry certain libels, which he held therein, & also with the drawing of his coat armour, after him with his teeth, that the enemy should not get his spoil. But having fortunately tamed the Egyptians, and also the king of Pontus, quieted all the East, discomfited the Pompeians in Africa, with juba king of Mauritania, and returned victor to Rome, where he triumphed four times within one month at the battle of Munda in Hispaine against the two young Pompeyeses, he was in such an agony of mind, that when he could not make his soldiers to go forth to fight, neither by adhortation and entreaty, nor yet by thundering threats, he would have murdered himself, and in that mad mood to die desperately: he gave the charge himself alone upon the whole Pompeyan battles, crying unto his Soldiers: here shallbe the end of my life, and of your wars. But then all his army, either moved with their generals danger, or their own shame, did courageously set forward, and vanquished their enemies. They do writ that by Caesar's only impression, the Pompeyan battles gave back ten foot of ground, and within a short space 100 shot lighted on him: the greatest part of whom, he received on his target. Then strait after his return out of Hispaine, and those godly honours given him at Rome, that I spoke of before, the shameful and terrible disease of the falling sickness took him: whereby he was admonished of his fall, who fell so often: and of his death, who seemed so often to be dead. In this place I can not omit that golden saying of Charles the fift, who when certain of his familiars told him, that they came from a noble man, that was so extreme sick, that he had given over the world, and thought that he must needs die, answered: what, did he not know that before now? I thank my God (quoth this good Emperor) that he hath sent me store of diseases, the which do daily admonish me of my mortality. But to return unto Caesar, I would be ashamed to allege his boldness, and the disorderly growing of hairs, as infortunities, and incommodities: if that they had not so much vexed his vain mind, that of all the honours that the impudent flattering Romans heaped on him, he had rejoiced so much at none, as that they had granted him to wear continually on his head, a garland of bays, the which did cover his deformity: & also that he was so wayward in trimming of himself, that he would not only be very curiously clipped, & shaven, but also would have diverse hairs pulled out. But as the proverb saith, pride must needs have a fall: so he in the mids of his majesty, was slain in the Senate house with 23. wounds, yea & in the Court of his enemy Pompey, to aggravate the grief of his doleful death: which was foretold unto him by many, & sundry prodigies, & also the conspiracy was disclosed all unto him, which he contemned, as one that was weary of life, seeing that he could not enjoy his old wonted health, nor security from deadly conspiracies.   

The xxiv. Chapter. Of Marcus Antonius.  
THE fourth in order of time is Marcus Antonius, an other Bacchus, a meet potcompanion for the two Greek Gods, as he that being Magister Equitum, drank so hard over night at Hippias his marriage, that the next day at an assembly of the people, he overflowed all the stately bench with vomited wine, and gobbets of fish. In his youth he was so unthrifty, and so given both to suffer and do all uncleanness, that he brought himself in debt sexagies, that is, six and forty thousand eight hundredth three score and fifteen pound: wherefore his father did forbidden him his house, the which forced him to follow the wars in Syria and Egypt, under Gabinius. And afterward being made Tribune of the commons, he stubbornly held Caesar's part against the Senate: both for that he was of kin unto him by his mother, and also because he was moved by him. For this pertinacy he was commanded to avoid the court or senate house, or else to stand unto his adventures: whereupon he fled out of the city, contrary unto the ancient Roman laws (the which did forbidden the tribune of the commons to lodge one night out of the city) and hasted unto Caesar: who was glad to take this slender occasion of invading his country, because the Senate had violated the inviolable majesty of the Tribune. In the which wars Caesar obtaining the victory, advanced Antonius, who had never before that time, come unto the honour of being Praetor, to the office of master of the horsemen, the next dignity unto himself the Dictator: and the very same year, contrary unto the ancient ordinances, made him Consul, in the which year Caesar was slain: which did so amaze Antonius, that he casting away his consulary robes and ensigns, hid himself until such time as he heard that Marcus Lepidus, the master of the horsemen had taken the forum or market place, with a great power of soldiers: and then came Antonius abroad again as brag as a body louse, and he and Lepidus made this atonement with the murderers of Caesar, that all should be well, and that nothing before time done, either by the one or the other faction, should ever be called into question, but all quite forgiven & forgotten. Whereby Antonius grew into great favour with the senate, and anon after, into far greater with the people, for the dutiful funerals of Caesar, and his seditious Oration in his praise, and hatred of his murderers: so that he obtained, as a popular man, a guard of six thousand to defend him against the awaits of the Senate. And then at pleasure he sold immunities to cities, and Provinces, he remitted Tributes, he nominated Kings, and allies, he gave liberties and privileges, but to no man any thing freely, and all these things he said, he did by Caesar's Commentaries, the which being confirmed by the Senate, no man had but himself. He also obtained to have Macedon allotted for his Province with a goodly army, with the which he besieged all Mutina, Decius Brutus the lieutenant of Gallia Cisalpina, the which he against all right and order would of self will and force have. Wherefore he was proclaimed enemy by the Senate, and the two Consuls with Octavian. Caesar's heir (whose authority was very great with his uncles soldiers) were sent against him: who gave him two overthrows, and forced him to raise his siege, and brought him and his army into great misery. For when they marched on the Alps to join with Lepidus: they fell into such lack of victuals, that Antonius himself did eat the bark of trees, and drank corrupt and foul stinking water, and road in miserable and filthy habit (his head and beard all untrimmed, and let to grow long like unto a wild man) unto Lepidus his camp, who had a great power, whom Antonius with his tears and wretched habit won to receive him: when that his old friend Lepidus had commanded the trumpets to be blown, that the soldiers should not hear the lamentable oration of poor Antonius, lest he might move them to compassion, as he did in very deed, with them incontinently after joined Plancus and Pollio, with both their armies, and then also Octavian being feared with the great power that the murderers of Caesar had then in Asia and Greece. Whereof ensued that proud and cruel triumvirate, the which advanced Antonius unto the dignity of a God. But this brittle bliss of his, was crazed thee next year with the siege of his brother, and dear wife at Perusium, by Octavian, and they forced to yield unto him. But who can number up the manifold dangers & difficulties, that he sustained, when he invaded the Parthians with 15. legions (such an army as before that time the Romans never led,) the event whereof was nothing but dishonour and shame, having lost above 20000. footmen, and 4000 horsemen: yea, and if he had not for the space of a great number of days used singular wisdom, vigilancy, pains, and courage, he had never brought one man back: and also if that a Parthian had not friendly warned him to keep the hard hills, and not to come down into the plain country, they had been slain every mother's son. One night there was such an uproar in the camp, that Antonius had surely thought the enemy had enclosed them, and that he and all the whole army, should have perished with the sword of the einmie, who would grant them no rest neither day nor night. Wherefore being in utter desperation, he swore one of his libertes, that he should thrust his sword into him when so ever he would command him: and then cut off his head, and convey it away, that he might not be a laughing stock unto his enemies, as Crassus had been, I do think there was never God ever brought into such an agony. Not many years after this brake out that fatal wars between Octavian and him, wherein he was discomfited by sea, and besieged in Alexandria whether he fled. And to augment his sorrow, he sailing out of the city with a great power took a hill, to behold the fight between his navy and Octavians, saw his men friendly to join with Octavians: & immediately the army also that he himself conducted, revolted to Octavian, and he was forced fearfully to flee into the city, being forsaken of all men. But hereof also grew a greater grief, for he thought that all was wrought through the treason of his darling Queen Cleopatra: who therefore fearing the fury of Antonius, fled into the sepulchres of the kings, and commanded the Perculleiss to be let down, causing also one to tell Antonius, that she had slain herself for fear of him. With the which news Antonius returning out of his rage unto himself, cried out: O Antonius, what dost thou now expect? seeing that fortune hath taken her away, who only was left a cause why thou shouldest desire life. And when he had thus said, he went into his chamber, where renewing his complaint, he said: It grieves me not (Cleopatra) that I shall lack thee, for I will be with thee incontinently: but this spites me, that I, that am so great a captain, am overcome in fortitude by a woman: and with that called unto his man Eros, whom he had long time before prepared for that purpose, and said: come, sirrah, and with assured thrust, open this breast of mine. But Eros turning the sword towards his own body, fell down dead at his masters feet. Then said Antonius, Eros also doth excellently well teach me what to do: and therewithal thrusting himself through with his sword, died. Whereof when Cleopatra heard, she also slew herself, & then Augustus entering the city, murdered his two sons Antyllus, and Caesario: And the Senate and people of Rome decreed, that all monuments and ornaments of Antonius in all places, should be cast down, defaced, and put out: and that the day of the month wherein he was borne, should be adjudged and accounted for an unlucky, dismal, and nefast day, whereupon it should not be lawful for any judge to sit: and finally, that no man of the stock and name of the Antonii, should for ever afterward bear the forename of Marcus. So low be they brought that exalt themselves, and they that do covet more honour than they deserve, in the end do loose their due: and climbing to be sacred, become execrable: and verify the old proverb, that pride goeth before, and shame cometh after.   

The xxv. Chapter. Of Caligula his monstruous doings, rare infelicities, and shameful end, and the singular virtues of his father, & great love that all men bore unto him.  
ANd now are we come unto the three Roman Emperors, Caligula, Domitian, and Commodus, men so like one unto an other in folly, lechery, cruelty, and all ungraciousness: as they were unlike unto any other that bore the name of men. Neither did this vain opinion of their godhead come into their mad minds by reason of any notable conquests, or victories achieved by either of them: but only because they possessed the large Roman Empire, by succession of inheritance. For, that I may begin with Caius Caligula, he never made expedition, but one into Germany with 20000. or as other writ, of 25000. men, and by them was the name of Emperor seven times given him: as though he had so often vanquished his enemies in a pitched field (for then only was the Roman General, called by the name of Emperor) whereas in very deed, he never made light skirmisth with any of them: for nothing at all did he there: but only receive into obedience the son of the Batavi, who had fled from his father with a small train, and revolted unto him. But then as though all the whole Isle had been yielded up unto him: he wrote magnificent letters unto Rome, often willing the bearers of them, that they should ride in their chariot into the market place, yea, & unto the court or Senate house, & not to deliver their letters unto the Consuls, but in Mars his temple, & when there were present a great number of Senators. And anon after, when he lacked matter of warfare, he commanded that a few Germans that were in prison, should be carried over the Rhine, & there hidden, & then news to be brought unto him with a mighty uproar, that the enemy was at hand. The which being done accordingly, he with certain of his friends, & a part of the horsemen of his guard, road into the next wood, where he did hung up the poor prisoners their garments or spoils, on the trees there, the which were lopped & dressed like unto Trophies, as though some notable victory had been obtained there: & returned unto the camp about candle lighting, sharply reproving them of fearfulness & cowardice, that had not followed him: but those the went forth with him, & were partakers of his vain victory, did he honour with garlands of a new fashion & name, as being set with suns, moons, & stars, & called especial garlands. another time he took certain hostages out of a school, & sent them a little before, whom he suddenly forsaking his supper, followed with his horsemen, & brought them back in irons, as fugitives: & then going again to make an end of his supper, because that news by his own suborning, was brought him, that the enemy was again in the field: he willed his men to set down to supper armed, adhorting them with that vulgar verse of Virgil, Durate, & vosmet rebus seruate secundis. And whiles he was thus playing the fool in Germany, he by a very grievous Edict bitterly blamed the absent Senate, & people, that they would be at their riotous banquets, & merry on the Theatres, & take their solace in their pleasant manor houses, while that the emperor was wearied in the wars, & objected unto so great dangers. Last of all, as though he would fight some great battle, he araunged all his army in array of battle, on the shore of the Ocean, and disposed his balistes and other engines: and he himself going abroad, a galley rowed a little way into the sea, and then came back again, and sitting upon an high throne, gave the signal of battle, & commanded the trumpets to blow to the battle, all the whole army marveling what a mischief he meant to fight against no man.  
But then suddenly he commanded them to gather up the shells that lay upon the shore, and fill their laps and helmets with them, for they were the very and true spoils of the Ocean, & due unto the Capitol and Palace. And in sign of his great victory and conquest of the Ocean: he built up a very high tower, and also gave unto his soldiers, as though they had won a great victory, a hundredth denaries, that is, three pound two shillings & six pence a man, & then as though he had passed all example of liberality, he said unto them: Go ye your ways joyful, go your ways rich. And then turning all his study to the care of the triumph: besides the prisoners of the Barbarians that fled unto him, he chose out also the tallest men in Gallia, yea, and divers of the Princes, and did put them by themself to set forth the pomp of his trifling triumph, and forced them not only to make read their heads (for the Germans had for the most part read heads) and to let them grow long, but also to learn the Germans language, and to be called by Barbarian names. He also commanded that the galleys, in whom he had entered the Ocean sea, should for a great part of them be carried to Rome by land: but especially all the shells, for lack of kings, captains, plate, money, counterfeits of towns won, to be showed in his triumph: the which he wrote unto orgents, they should prepare with a great magnificence, as ever any had been, because he said they had right and power over all men's goods. But although as you hear, he slew not one of his enemies, as he that only fought with his own fancies: yet he administered not the Province without great effusion of blood: for as says Dion, he lost a great part of his own army, through murdering many of them man by man, and other by whole troops and ranks. And one day, seeing a great number of men standing together, he commanded them to be all slain: using this by word: from bald man to bald man.  
And before he departed out of the Province, he thought to have slain all the legions of the country, because that they mutining after the death of Augustus, had besieged his father Germanicus their captain, and himself, then being an infant. And being hardly revoked from so great a frenzy: he could by no means be stayed, but that he would needs tithe them, slaying every tenth man. Wherefore he calling them, unarmed to a contion or oration, environed them about with weaponed men, and armed horsemen. But when that he saw that many of the soldiers, suspecting the matter, did slide away to take their weapons, if that any violence should be offered: this dastardly God ran away out of the contion, and incontinently hasted to the city, turning all his malice on the Senate: whom he openly threatened, that he would punish for the rumours of so great dishonours spread of him: complaining also among other things, that he was defrauded by them of his just, and due triumph: when as in deed, he himself had a little before enjoined them, under pain of death, that they should decree nothing concerning his honour. Lo now, ye have heard the sum of his noble martial acts: and certes nothing else was there in him, whereof he should be proud: but only his large Empire, and the felicity to have the worthy Germanicus his Father: unto whom, says Suetonius, there happened all the virtues, both of body and mind: and they also so great, as it is manifest never chanced, unto any other man. A goodly parsonage, and a beautiful, great strength, and courage, a wit far excelling in the eloquence of both the Greek, and the Latin, and in all kind of learning in both the tongues: singularly well was he beloved, & one that had a wondered, and very effectual endeavour, and way to get the favour of all men, and to win their love: both at home, and also abroad very civil, and so courteous, that he would go unto the free towns, and such as were in league with the Romans, without his sergeants: and wheresoever he understood, that famous men were intumbed, he would keep their obsequies. The old, and dispersed relics of the Romans that were slain in Germany with Varus, he first began to gather up with his own hands, and to bring into one heap, and to bury them together. And also so mild, and harmless was he unto his obtrectours, backebiters, and enviers, whatsoever they were, and wherefore soever they did it, that he would not be angry no, not with Piso, who had disannulled all his decrees, and ordinances, and a long time vexed his clientes, before that he certainly knew, and had found, that he went about to work his death, by poisonings, and solemn cursings: & neither then went he any farther: than according to the ancient manner of their forefathers, renounced his friendship: that is, solemnly told him, that he would not take him for his friend: and willed them of his house, to be revenged, if that any ill happened unto him. He was also chaste of body, that it is recorded of him as a miracle, in that lewd age, that he never knew woman besides his wife. Of the which virtues he reaped most abundant fruit, for he was singularly liked, and loved of all men, and so favoured of the people in all countries, that whensoever he came unto any great town, or departed from thence, such a number of people did either go forth to meet him, or to bring him going, that he was very oftentimes in danger of death, with the great throng of the loving people. But when he returned out of Germany, unto Rome, after he had quieted the sedition, the which I spoke off even now: all the Praetorian bands went forth to meet him, although that proclamation had been made, that there should but two go: but of the people of Rome all sex, age, and order ran forth against him, yea twenite miles. Yet greater, and surer signs, of unutterable love towards him, did appear at, and after his death.  
The day that he died, the Temples were battered with stones, the altars of the Gods were overthrown: and some threw their household Gods into the street, and did cast away the children, that their wives had lately brought forth: yea, and they writ that the Barbarians that had either wars between themselves, or with the Romans, did as in a Domestical and common heaviness, consent unto truce: and certain kings did shave their beards, and their wives heads, for to show as great a mourning, as might be. And also the Parthian, who called himself, the king of kings, abstained from hunting, & keeping of company: the which the Parthians call Megistanum, being like unto the justitium among the Romans. But when at the first bruit that was brought to Rome of his sickness, the dismayed, and sorrowful city looked for the messengers, that followed: and suddenly after the evening was shut, it had been noised without any certain authors, that he was recovered, the people ran huddling from all parts of the city, up into the Capitol, with lights and sacrifices, and they had almost pulled off the doors of the temple, that they should not any while stay the rejoicing people from performing of their vows. Tiberius' the Emperor, was waked out of his sleep, with the voices of them that rejoiced, and sang in every place: salva Roma, salva Patria, saluus est Germanicus, Rome is well, our Country is well, Germanicus is well.  
But afterward when it was certainly known he was dead: the public mourning could not be inhibited by any comforts, nor proclamations: but lasted yea also all the festival days of December: being the same among them, that the twelve days be with us. After that this darling of mankind, was traitorously poisoned by Piso, (who at his return unto Rome was therefore near hand torn into pieces, by the people, & put to death by the Senate) but at the instigation of his unkind uncle Tiberius: whom Augustus had made to adopt Germanicus: ill requiting his loyalty towards him, who so obstinately refused the Empire: that when the Legions in Germany, would needs force him to take it, he would have killed himself, if they had not desisted from their rebellious purpose: this young colt his son, was brought up with his mother, who being banished, and his two brothers put to death, remained with his great grandmother Livia, widow of Augustus, after whose death, he went unto his grandmother Antonia, with whom he remained until he was nineteen years of age: at what time he was sent for, by Tiberius to come unto him, into his slaughter house at Capreas: where he remained without any honour. There was he assaulted, and undermined ten thousand ways, groped, provoked, ye and in a manner forced to complain of the wrongs done unto his Father, and his friends: but never could there be any hold taken of him, as though he had quite forgotten the fall of his friends, & as though no ill had happened unto any of them: but all those villainies, of whom he suffered innumerable, he passed over with incredible dissimulation, and was so serviceable unto Tiberius, and those that were near about him, that it was not without just cause commonly spoken, that never was there a better servant, nor a worse master. In this slavery continued he all the reign of Tiberius, whom he succeeded: whereby it is greatly to be marveled, how he, that had been so long time one of the most wretched men of the world, could for so short a fickle felicity, think himself suddenly translated into a God. But that he was always guilty in conscience, of his own infirmities, his strange spiteful envy towards all men, that excelled in honour, good fortune, and finally, in any thing, did manifestly declare. For first he broke down all the statues of famous men, that were set up in the Court of the Capitol by Augustus: he thought also to have destroyed quite all Homer'S works: and there lacked little, but that he had taken out of all libraries, all the Images, and works of Livy, and Virgil: and also he often boasted, that he would burn all the books of the Law. Moreover he took from all the Noble men, the ancient ensigns of their houses, from Torquatus, his chain, from Cincinnatus, his hair, from Pompey, the surname of the great. Yea, & Ptolomey, king of Mauritania his cousin, whom he had sent for, received, and entertained very honourably: because that at a public spectacle he had through the glistering of his purple rob caused the people to gaze upon him: he suddenly struck him on the face, with his fist. As often as he met with any beautiful parsonage, or that had a goodly bush of hair: he would incontinently deform him, with the shaving off the hinder part of his head. There was one Esius Proculus, whose Father had been Primipile: this Proculus, for his tall, and big stature, and beautiful, and good making thereof, was called Collosers: this man's goodly parsonage did so spite the Emperor, that suddenly, as Proculus was beholding of the plays: he commanded him to fight, first with a Thracian, and then with an armed man, with a shield, soldier like: and being victor in both conflicts, the envious wretch commanded him without all delay to be bound, and clothed in old patched garments, to be carried throughout every street of the city, and showed unto the women, (a villainy, of all other most great: as though he had been a man, altogether effeminate) and then to have his throat cut.  
Finally, there was no man of so base a state, nor of so abject, and beggarly calling, whose commodities he obtrected not: in so much, that when at a public game, one Porius, a chariot man, had made his slave free, because he had had good luck in running, that day: and the people commending well of the master for so doing had given a great shout: Caligula was brought into such a choler, that he incontinently flung up, and would be gone, the which he did with such haste, that treading upon his gown, he went tumbling down the steps of the Theatre, chase, and crying out: that the Lord of nations, the people of Rome, did for a very light a matter, give more honour, unto a slave chariot man, then unto consecrated Princes, and unto himself, being present.  
Furthermore, the thinness of the hairs of his head, and his bald crown, bereft him of bliss, seeing that he did take it for such a deformity, that to look out at a window above him, whereby his baldness might be espied, (for in Rome at those days men went bore headed,) or upon any occasion to name a goat, was present death. Yet was there a greater breach made in his bliss, by the death of his sister, and harlot Drusilla: for it made him almost stark mad, in so much that he did let his beard, and hair grow long: and often upon a souden, and that also in the night time, would he for no cause fling on gallop along all the Sea ceased of Italy, and over into Sicyl, where when he had done the like, he would come back again, as fast upon the spur. He proclaimed for her a justitium, during the which time, it was death for a man to laugh, wash, or sup, either with parents, wife, or children: and yet was he also angry with them that made lamentation for her: because as he said, she was of a gillet, become a Goddess: and to affirm this lie, he gave unto two men Deries sestertium, that is, 7812.l. 10. s. Who swore, that they saw her ascending up into heaven. Moreover to put him in mind of his mortality, he enjoyed health, neither of body nor mind. For he was a child, he was troubled with the falling sickness, & after he was grown to man's state, he would otentimes be so taken, that he could neither go, stand, nor stay upon himself. And that his wits were not well, he himself perceived, and therefore would ever and anon, think to separate himself from company, and purge his brain. But most was he vexed with lack of sleep, for he never could take above three hours rest in a night, & neither them quietly, but in great fear through diverse terrible dreams, and visions. And therefore a great part of the night did he for tediousness of watching, and lying, use now sitting in his bed, and then walking up and down in long galleries, ever and anon to call, & look for day. Once in his short reign was he very dangerously sick, in so much, that of a foolish flattery Publius Africanus Potitius swore, that if that the Gods would vouchsafe of their wonted goodness to grant life unto Caligula, the then he would gladly lose his life for him: and Secundus, a horseman of Rome, upon the same condition, vowed to fight at a game of sword players: both which vows did Caligula, when he was recovered make them to fulfil lest they should be forsworn: worthily, though ingratefully, forcing them to die, who would wickedly, though feignedly, wish his life, that did daily take away life from so many good men. But Suetonius writes, that he made the horseman to fight in his sight, and would not let him go before he had vanquished: no nor then neither, but after great intercession: but the other mad man, who made no great haste to perform that which he had rashly sworn: he caused to be whipped, and clothed in a sacrificeng rob: and then delivered him unto Boys, who still requesting of him, as they went, the performance of his vow, should drive him along throughout all the Streets, until that at the length they broke his neck off from a rampire.  
Moreover, this Godless man, that contemned all GOD'S, and as I have before alleged out of Dion, would thunder against thunder: doth Suetonius affirm, would oftentimes be so afraid of a small thunder, and lightning, that he would wink, and blindefolde himself: but if it were great, creep out of his bed, and hide him under it. And also he was so feared in Sicyl, with the smoke, and noise of the hill Aetna, that suddenly in the night he fled out of the city of Messana. And also hearing that Germany had rebelled, he prepared to run away from Rome, and rigged ships in a readiness, to carry him thence, resting in this one only comfort, that he should have left unto him the Provinces beyond the Sea, if that the Germans did take the tops of the Alps: as in old time the Cymbri had done, or else the city, as had the Sevones. He lived only twenty nine years, whereof he reigned but three years, and ten months, and eight days, and those, in how great fear, and hopefulness, his continual putting of men to death, for treason against him, and his curious searching, for Oracles, and prophecies, do declare: all the which yet could not save him, from being slain with his wife, and his daughter, whose brains were dashed out, against the wall. His body, for fear jest that some villainy should be done unto it, was privily conveyed away, and being but half burnt, was covered over with a few turfs: so that he that would be honoured for a God, whilst he lived: could not be buried like a man, when he was dead.   

The xxvi. Chapter, Of Domitian.  
Neither were Domitian's acts any thing greater, as one that had no delight in arms, and in whose reign the Daces revolted, and oppressed Appius Sabinus their lieutenant, with his whole army: and anon after also Cornelius Fussus captein of his guard (an office in those days of all other the greatest) and sent thither, with a power, to reduce them unto their duty. Then Domitian went against them himself, or more truly, made as though he had gone: for (as Dion affirms) he never during all his reign governed army, or administered wars, as he that was a man impatient of all bodily labour: for in the city he would never go on foot, and in the field seldom ride on horse, but always be carried in a lieter, and was also of a faint and fearful heart: but he staying by the way out of danger, sent his captains against them, who fought with no greater felicity, than had their predecessors, and shamefully lost a great part of their army: and yet this shameless God sent lying letters unto Rome, that he had conquered and subdued them: whereupon there were so many, and so honourable decrees made for him, that almost in all places of the world that were under his dominion, statuies of gold and silver were set up. But he might in deed have truly triumphed of flies, of whom he doubtless slew innumerable. For at the beginning of his reign, he used to have every day a secret hour to catch flies, and to thrust them through with a long piece of iron made for the nonce: so that it was as merrily, as wittily answered of Vibius Craspus', when one desiring to speak with Domitian, asked him who was within with the Emperor: he answered, not so much as a fly: for than he had been as busy, as if the whole Senate had been with him. He also deserved a just triumph over wild beasts, of whom he would kill upon the Theatre an hundredth in a day with his bow, bestowing his arrows so artificially, that they seemed to be horns growing out of their heads. For he was so good an archer, that he would oftentimes 'cause a boy to stand a great distance off, & hold up his hand abroad, and he would shoot between every finger, and never hurt them. But seeing that not great conquests, but only riches left unto him, did make him to conceive so highly of himself: my thinks he might well have been put in mind of his mortality, by calling to memory his youth passed in great poverty and infamy, as he that had not one piece of plate, and did shamefully prostitute his body: so that there were at Rome that did often show, after he came to the Empire, his hand and seal for a night's lodging. What shall I rehearse his great danger in the wars against Vitellius, Competitor in the Empire with his father, when he & his uncle Sabinus, being overcome in fight, fled into the Capitol: but his enemies breaking into the temple, & setting it on fire, he lodged all that night privily in great fear with the sextene: and in the morning being disguised in the apparel of a priest of Isis, he passed the river among the priests of that vain superstition, unto the mother of one of his school fellows, who hide himself so closely, that they which following his foot diligently searched for him, could by no means find him. What torments may we think tore him, when he understood the adultery of his dear wife Domitia, (by whom he had a son, and had proclaimed her Augusta, or Empress) with Paris a common player, whom she loved as openly, as she did fervently. Whereupon he did put her away, but within short time after, being impatient of the divorce, took her again, seeking to colour his ignominy in so doing with a feigned tale, that the people had desired him to do it. I do omit what grief his bald head brought him, who would draw unto his own reproach, if that the like were objected unto any other man, either in earnest or sport: and also his often infirmities, through whom he become deformously spindle shanked. But in what continual fear he led his life, his often murdering of many, under colour of treason against him (whereby he become hatesome to all men) makes manifest: but much more, the overcasting of the walls of his gallery wherein he used to walk, with a shining kind of marble: wherein as in a glass, he might see who was behind him. Yet this strange kind of hopefulness could not keep him from being murdered by a conspiracy of his nearest friends, liberts, and wife (although that he had long time before suspected, & feared the year, the day, yea, the hour, and the kind of his death) when he had reigned fifteen years, a long and a rare time for a tyrant, but a very short, for a man to think that he had such assured trial of Fortune, that he should never feel her unfaithfulness, but be advanced into the unchangeable felicity of the gods. His body was carried out of the city in the common bear by the sextens, the which his nurse burned at home at her own house, but afterward privily conveyed the ashes thereof into the sepulchre of his house in their church. For if that the Senate had known thereof, they would have withstood it, as they which decreed, that all statues, and arckes set up in his honour, should be broken down, and all titles scraped out, and all memory of him quite abolished for ever.   

The xxvi. Chapter. Of Commodus.  
But what pen can display the continual hopefulness of Commodus, a God without Martial glory? how great a number of conspiracies were there made to deliver the people of Rome from the bondage of this tyrant? from how many good men took he life away, to prolong his own hated years? It is left in memory, that he left not any man alive that was in authority, either in his fathers, or the beginning of his own reign, but Pompeyanus, Pertinax, & Victorius. He become so fearful, that he durst let no body either clip his hair, or shave his beard, but burned them off himself with a flaming coal. And yet this wariness could not save him from being poisoned by his minion Martia: and being sick thereof, and laid upon his bed, from being strangled by Narcissus, in the twelve year of his reign, and one and thirty of his age. But the just anger of the Senate, and people, become so hot against him after he was dead, that they all cried out with one voice unto Pertinax his successor: Hear, O Caesar, we desire thee, that all honours may be taken away from the enemy of his country, that all honours may be taken away from the parricide: we request, O Caesar, that the enemy of the Gods, the sword player, the butcher may be drawn along the channels of the city with an hook: Let him that was more cruel than Domitian, and more filthy than Nero, be drawn along the channels with an hook. He that murdered all sorts of men, let him be drawn among the channels with an hook. He that spoiled the temples, let him be drawn along the channels with an hook, and thrown into Tiber. But Pertinax, who had caused his body to be privily buried in the night, desired them, seeing that his body was already buried, not to meddle with it: although they cried out it was unjustly buried: and therefore it aught to be taken up again, but the Emperor would not permit them to do any villainy unto his body but to break down all statues, and monuments of him, and to abrogate all things before decreed for his honour, and to abolish his name out of all places, as well public as private. Thus the three Roman Emperors that would needs unjustly be adored for Gods while they were alive: not only lost the honour of being canonised for Gods after death (the which was common unto the rest of their predecessors and successors) but also the due funerals of a noble man: although I do read that Severus to anger the Senate (whom he hated) did afterward canonize Commodus for a God, and commanded his birth day to be kept holy.   

The xxviij, Chapter. Of Cosdras king of Persia.  
Now am I glad that I have passed these Roman monsters, and am come unto the last of my sergeant Gods Cosdras, the mighty monarch of Persia, whose sight had fortune blinded with greater, flattery. For he lived until he was aged, and had towardly sons, (both which things provident and loving nature had denied unto those other Tigers, lest that they should quite have destroyed mankind) and also surpassed in Martial glory, all the kings that had reigned in Persia before him. For he wan from the Roman Empire Mesopotamia, Syria, all the south side of Asia, all Egypt and Africa. But as it was soon won & almost with continued course of victories: so that after he become proud, and would not acknowledge that he received these victories of God: but would needs be adored for a God: he lost them again in as short time, and Empire and life withal: for Heraclius the Emperor of Constantinople, being broken with so many and great foils, supplyantly desired peace of him, although the conditions were very dishonourable, and shameful: but when that proud Cosdras utterly refused to make peace with any conditions, and wickedly vaunted, that he would never spare the Christians, until that he had made them all to deny him that was crucified, and adore the sun: then Heraclius rather impelled by necessity, the pricked forward by prowess, prepared a power: and after many holy supplications and general feasts held, did set forth against his insolent enemy, who was then at Azotus, a city of Syria, in those days very rich, whether Heraclius marched for to darreine battle with him. But this dastardly God before that Heraclius could come thither, retired back into Mesopotamia, almost in flying form, destroying every where the standing corn that was now as good as ripe, that he might take from his enemy all faculty of following him. Yet nevertheless, Heraclius pursued him, who still fled before him so fast, that Heraclius could not overtake him. Wherefore he wisely left following of him, and turned all his force unto the wasting of the country, with fire and sword. But when he understood that the Persian had left two captains with two great armies, who trusting to the advantage of the hills, should stop his passage over the mountains, he leaving a part of his power to subdue the cities, and places, the which were behind untouched, hasted himself with the strength of his army unto Taurus, the which being speedily passed over, he fought with one of the Persian captains, called Salbarus at the river of Saro, whom he discomfited in a bloody fight, & forced to flee into Persis. The government of the remnants of whose army, augmented with a strong supplement of fresh soldiers did Saias take, and fought a pitched field with Heraclius, who still marched forward: the which fight continued from the dawning of the day, until it was late, with great slaughter on both sides, but at the length the Persians had the better, when that a mighty shower of rain, mixed with wind, hail, & terrible thunder & lightning, was sent from heaven into the faces of the Barbarians: the which taking from them the use both of eyes, & ears, yea, & also depriving them of all their senses, they were beaten down by the Christians, as thick as hops: so that of so mighty an army, there escaped very few, but either they were slain or taken. Yet after this great discomfiture, Cosdras repaired his army, with all the power of his empire, & created one Razanes general thereof: who fought with greater endeavour than his predecessors, but with like event: for he himself with his whole army was slain, after they had fought with equal fortune an whole day. Then Cosdras being broken with those manifold discomfitures, fled over Tigris, proclaiming his younger son Medarses his consort in the kingdom. The which reproach & injury caused the elder son Sirochus, a towardly young prince, to join in league with Heraclius, with the conditions, that they should prosecute the wars against Cosdras, & Medarses: & they finished, Sirochus should restore unto Heraclius, all that had been won from him, & his predecessors, & to bond his kingdom with the river of Tigris. This league being confirmed, certain horsemen were sent to pursue Medarses & his father who brought them both back with their wives: & were by Syrachus cast into painful prison, where not long after, they were both slain by his cruel commandment. Such was the fearful fall of him, who in mockage of the Trinity, 
Zonoras'.  had built him a sumptuous house in form like unto the heavens: and at the right side thereof, had placed the cross, whereon Christ our Saviour was crucified, the which he had lately taken at Jerusalem, and on the left a cock, and did set himself in the midst between them: saying, that he was the Father of Heaven, that did sit in the middle between the son and the holy Ghost. I have the more at large declared the particularities of Cosdras his ruin, because that every degree and step thereunto, may rightly seem to be of God's special working, to the fear and terror of all those that shall insolently rejoice at a deceitful gale of fickle fortune, as though that were done by their own force and strength, which is either wrought by Gods own arm, or else permitted by his long sufferance.   

The xxix. Chapter. Of the insolent exulting of Vgoline Earl of Pisa, Frederick the second, and Henry the second, of their good fortune, & their falls: and again, the moderation of mind of Epaminondas, Philip king of Macedon, Camillus Paulus, and Charles the fift in their fortunate concourse of victories, and why at Rome a bondman did ride in the chariot with him that triumphed.  

Vgoline of Pisa his felicity.  VGoline Girardescus, a citizen of Pisa in Italy, chief of the faction of the Guelphs, having partly expelled and partly subdued the Gibelines, came to that power, that he administered at beck all things in that rich and mighty city, and become lord thereof, and also of Lacoa: a man of great power for riches, nobility, fame of his wisdom, and authority, and seemed unto himself and unto others, for wife, children, and children's children, and all other things that be desired in man's life, to be a happy and blessed man: and reaping the fruit of thinking on his felicity, was fraughtfull of joy, and confidence, and took a delight to be still talking of it: insomuch that at a magnificent feast which he held on his birth day, where he had all his friends, and kinsfolks: he extolled with words his favourable fortune, admiring, and advancing it up to heaven, yea, he durst ask an entire friend of his, called Marcus, what he thought to be lacking and away. Marcus, whither moved by mature consideration of the fraieltie, and unstability of human things, and how deceitful their show is, and with how swift a swinge they are carried about on fortunes whirling wheel, or else carts, admonished from heaven, answered nothing: but the wrath of God: which can not be long away from so great prosperity: and it must needs come to pass: seeing so many fortunate things are heaped together upon one man, who never yet felt the contrary fortune, that he must one day be overwhelmed with some notable calamity: The which prognostication fell out shortly after to be to true. For the power of the Guelphs decaying, the Gibelines arose up in arms, and besieged, and assaulted his house, and slew one of his sons, and another of his nephews, that defended force from their parent. But at the length they taking prisoner Vgoline with his two other sons, and three nephews, did shut them up in a tower, the gates whereof they locked: and then threw the keys into the river of Arno, that raune thereby. There the unhappy Father dying for hunger, saw his dear pledges, dying, also starved in his lap: and when he crying out requested his enemies to be contented to exact only human punishment, they would not suffer him to receive the sacred rites due unto Christians.  
I find also recorded, 
Frederick the second.  that in the great discord between Frederick the second, Emperor of Almain, & Innocens the bishop of Rome, the city of Parma, that stood stiff on the Pope's part, did shut their gates against Frederick, as he passed that way from Sicyl unto Burgonie. Wherewithal he being sore chafed, besieged them with determination not to departed thence, before he had taken and razed it flat to the ground: to deter all other from staying his course. This siege held him an whole year and more. Before Parma in the place where he encamped, had he laid out a plot to build a new city on, and appointed places for churches: and the high, and chief church he dedicated unto Saint Victor, for a good abodement of happy success: and the other, both public and private buildings began to go up sumptuously. This city called he Victoria. He coined also money with the Image of Saint Victor, which he named Victoriates. He did also set forth spectacles after the manner of the old Roman Emperors, and such in deed as might compare with those ancient shows: being gloriously adorned with Elephants, and a great number of such other wild beasts: the which when the Romans flourished, & were Lords of the world were known in Italy: but in those days were strange sights unto the Latin eyes. These strange beasts were sent him by the Sultanes of the Orient, and the kings of afric, to whom he was a friend and confederate. He also made magnificent games and plays, and brought forth and showed unto the people, men of unknown tongues, and Countries, such as they never heard of before, appareled also in as strange attire: in this manner proudly triumphing, and requesting the fruit of victory, (the which is the gift of God,) before that he had overcome. Thus going about to match the magnificence of the ancient Roman Emperors, but attempting it in a wrong time: he fell into great lack of money.  
Then the Victoriates, which were before of gold, now began to be made of leather, with a very small, and thin Image of silver: making proclamation, that they should be taken for fine gold: for his mint would so value and take them. And to seal up the mischief, the Parmesans, and their allies falling out of the City, wan his camp, the new Victoria: and put the Emperor unto a foul flight: and so the City of Victoria fell before it was finished. Yea it was overthrown before it were reared up, and quite destroyed before it was built: and with his Victoria his Empire also flew away, and not long after his life too, being scuffled in a sickness, when he was likely to recover, by his base son Manfredo. Wherefore most truly said the divine Poet Virgil.  
Nescia mens hominum fati sortisque futurae,  
Nec servare modum rebus plerunque secundis.  
Man's mind uncertain is of Fate,  
And what will after fall,  
And mean to keep when fortune fawns,  
It knoweth not at all.  
And worthy to be enroled in the brazen book of fame is Epaminondas the renowned captain of the Thebans, with whom their. Martial glory, 
The modesty of Epaminondas.  both began and ended. For he the next day after he had given that famous overthrow at Leuctris: whereby he broke all the strength of the invincible Lacedæmonians: walked abroad all untrimmed, and sad, holding down his head: whereas he used at other times to go bolt upright, with his body anointed with sweet ointmentes, & with a merry countenance. But when his friends marveling at this unlooked for alteration asked him, if that any ill chance or trouble had happened unto him: he answered none: but because that I felt that I liked myself yesterday better than I aught: I do chastise to day the intemperance of that joy: wast thou borne under the thick air of Boetia, and therefore are thy countrymen infamed for dolts? marry I do not think, that the fine & subtle air of Athens, did ever breed man comparable unto thee in true wisdom, nor all the babbling Philosophers did ever show any such perfect precedent of modesty. I would unto God that Henry the second late king of France, had imprinted this Peerless pattern in his haughty heart: 
Henry the French king.  and not have thought his felicity to be firm, the which, was in deed very fickle, and brittle. For he waxing proud of his unwonted great victories, having recovered from the English men, the town of Buloigne, and Scotland: the heir whereof he had obtained for his son, & gotten from the Empire, the Duchy of Lorraine, with the young Prince, and the three famous Imperial cities, Metz, Tul, and Verdum, and ranged at pleasure in Germany, under the name of recoverer of the liberty of Germany, giving the devise of a cap between two daggers, the which the conspirators against julius Caesar had long time before used, and from thence had broken forth into the Duchy of Luxenburg, taking there the strong towns of juois, and Danuilliers, and the castles of Momedie, and Bullion, and an other town upon the Maze, and spoiled, and burned Hennault, taking Trelo, Aglay, & Cimaw, and had returned home to Paris without any loss: and the same year also expelled the emperors garrison out of Srena in Italy, restoring their common wealth unto their ancient liberty: and moreover, which deserved no less glory, had valiantly, and fortunately defended the city of Metz against the Emperor, and his mighty army, and provision: forcing him after that he had lost forty thousand men with cold, and sickness, to break up the siege before he ever gave assault, casting into the river great store of Martial furniture, and munition, that he might the more easily, and commodiously reduce small remnants of his huge army sore weakened with many incommodities: and the next year being 1553. the Constable had by policy, and ambush overthrown in a skirmish, the which was almost equal unto a set battle, the Prince of Piedmont, General to the Emperor, taking many noblemen, and among them the Duke of Arscot: and afterward he himself had spoiled and pillaged Artois, eftsoons provoking the imperials to battle, who knowing their weakness kept themselves in their defensed camp near to Valencennes: his navy also being joined with the Turkish fleet, had won from the Genovaies the greatest part of the Isle of Corsica. And Anno 1554. Rochsur jon had burnt and destroyed Artois, and the Constable Hennalt, where he wan again Trelo, Aglay, Cinnaw, and after the kings coming unto the camp, Bovine, Demcut, Mariburg, and Bincey, and before Rentey, the which he besieged, with rare felicity, and valiance had with his lances disordered, and scattered all the field over the troops of the Rutters, with their pistolets, the which never was done either before, nor since, unlest it were by the self same man Francis Duke of Guise, at the battle of Dreux, by the report of Thevet. Neither was his fortune, any thing inferior beyond the Alps, for the Brisac had won the strong station of Hiberna, and Briel, and the great city of Cassacle, and Monte Caluo with so much his greater joy, because that the Duke of Alva had departed from saint jago, the which being but a pelting hold he had besieged in vain three weeks, with incredible loss of Martial furniture, and much greater of his honour: leaving Vulpiano, the which he had delivered from siege, and relieved the garrison, to be won by Dumal. The French king, I say being proud of so prosperous a concourse of victories, when that his fruitful Queen had brought him forth Anno 1556. two daughters at one burden: he named the one of them Victoria, who within very short time after died, and with her all her Father's Martial victories. For An. 1557. besides the unfortunate journey of Guise, into Italy, he lost a great battle before Saint Sintines where were either slain, or taken the flower of all the Nobility and valiant captains of France: after the which ensued the loss of the Town, wherein were taken prisoners the Admiral, and diverse other of the nobility, and afterward also the towns of Hawne and Chastell●t. And the next year 1558. he lost another field besides graveling, not inferior, for the number of them that were slain unto the other, but nothing so many noble men were lost, and yet were there taken Marshall Thermes the General, Denabault, Villebon, Sinarpoit, with other, and almost all the captains and Gentlemen of name that were there. With the which two adverse battles, he that had thought in his heart to have appointed Laws unto all christendom, being broken: was glad to get peace by restoring all that he had of the kings of Hispaine, the Queens of England, (or else to pay well for it,) of the Dukes of Savoy, Florence, and Mantua, the Bishop of Liege, and the Genoese, and to withdraw his garrisons out of the territory of Sienna: and at the triumph kept for the espousals of his daughter, whom he had given in marriage unto the king of Hispaine, as it were for a pledge of the peace, he was slain at the Tilt by the Count Montgomerie, in the last course that he purposed to have run. The Queen, who had with great fear dreamt the night before, that he was slain by fatal stroke of deadly lance, and the graver sort of his nobility in vain, dehorting him to leave off in time that dangerous pastime: specially seeing that his arms were waxen stiff with the unwonted and toilsome travail of three days running. Thus ye see how God doth pull down the mighty from their thrones, and doth disperse those that are proud, in the imagination of their own hearts: suffering no man longer to enjoy the gladsome gale of good fortune, than he doth humbly acknowledge God to be the giver thereof: not glorying therein, but thinking lowly of himself: as a player doth not take to him any Princely pride, because he beareth some times the person of a Monarch, as he the knoweth he shall soon after lay it down. If that the French King himself had been ignorant of all antiquities: me thinks his learned confessors, who had taken on them the charge of his soul, might have told him, that when Philip king of Macedon heard that upon one day his servant Tetrippo, was victor at the games of all Greece held at Olympus, and his captain Parmenio had discomfited in battle the Dardarences, 
Philip fearful of prosperity.  and his wife Olympias had brought him forth a son: lifted up his hands unto heaven, and said: And O fortune for these so many, and so great good haps, strike me with some light mishap.  
The wise Prince did not insolently exult for this rare success of things, but had the fawning of fortune in suspicion, whose nature he knew to be to fleare upon them a little before with a flattering face of unwonted prosperity of things, when she intended incontinently to destroy them: they might also have rehearsed unto him out of Livy, that when Paulus Aemilius had taken prisoner Perseus the mighty king of Macedon, who fell down at his feet with abundant tears desiring him to take compassion on his afflicted state: 
The worthy words of Aemilius unto the young Gentlemen.  after he had courteously comforted the king, he used this speech, unto the Romans: ye see here presently before your eyes, a notable example of the mutability of man's state.  
I speak this specially unto you, young men: and therefore it doth not become us to do any thing in our prosperity, violently and proudly against any man, nor to give credit unto present fortune, seeing that it is uncertain what the evening may bring. He shallbe a man in deed, whose mind neither prosperity shall with her brittle blast lift up, nor adversity break. And also that when he had buried the one of his sons five days before he triumphed of Perseus, 
Paulus his Oration unto the people.  and the other three days after: he spoke among other, these grave words unto the people of Rome at the burial of the younger. Nothing did I fear more, dear country men, from the beginning of this most prosperous course of mine acts: then some unthought of chance of insidious and false fortune: neither did my fear for the public weal cease, before that the violent seas of her cruelly raging had privately invaded me: the which thing I had oftentimes before heartily desired of almighty God eftsoons praying, that if any cursed mishap did hung over the people of Rome for this felicity: that he would vouchsafe to turn it all wholly upon me, and mine house. My two most sweet sons, whom I had appointed to be mine heirs and successors: have I buried with almost continuated funerals: so that now I seem to be delivered out of all danger, and do put myself in good hope, that the fortune of the people of Rome will abide still without all stain: seeing that she hath inflicted hatred enough on me, and mine, by these two incomparable incommodities, and losses. Who now will marvel that Philip first brought the kingdom of the Macedons, to great power and renown, and that Aemylius overthrew and destroyed it, that doth consider how wary and circumspect they were against all privy awaits of false Fortune. Furthermore, they should not have left untold, how that Camillus, 
Camillus' his fear of fortune.  when he had taken the mighty and rich city of Veij, and saw that the spoil and pray was far greater than any man thought: with trickling tears besought the Gods, that if the fortune of the people of Rome did seem to be greater, than could be corrected without some great mishap: that what so ever incommodity did for that envy hung over the Roman name, that it might be wholly turned upon his head: and then not long after Camillus the captain, was banished by the unthankful people, and also the city of Rome, the conqueror taken sacked, and burnt by the Galls. moreover, they might have showed him, 
A slave rideth with the triumphing consul,  that it was the ancient usage of the Romans at their triumphs, that a slave, a physician of envy, (says Pliny) should ride behind in the chariot with the triumpher, lest he should like himself to well (as writeth Juvenal:) and holding over his head a great crown of gold, set with precious stones, did often call to the triumphant to look behind him: & also by Zomoras his report, 
A whip and a bell hanged at the triumphant chariot.  a whip & a bell were hanged at his chariot, to admonish him that he might for all that present proud pomp, fall into so great calamities, that he might be scourged with a whip, and put to death: (for all that were executed at Rome, did use to wear bells: lest any man as they went to execution, might defile himself, as they thought, by touching them.) But if that the negligent friars had failed to admonish him of a thing, that did so greatly appertain unto his soul's health, and also to his long felicity on the earth, whereof some are far more careful, then for their everlasting bliss: yet might he have been put in mind of his duty by that rare example of moderation of mind in Charles the fift, his perpetual enemy. Who neither when news was brought him, that Francis, the mighty and flourishing king of France was taken prisoner by his captains, before Pavia in a bloody battle: where a great part of the nobility of France were either slain or taken: neither when he understood that his soldiers had sacked that proud city of Rome, the which had in time passed ruled and reviled the whole world, and that they besieged in the castle of S. Angelo, the which could not for lack of victuals hold out, yea, a few days: his bitter enemy Clemens the 7, bishop of that See, who was not contented spitefully to have laboured to set all the princes of Christendom in his top, but also had earnestly, & incessantly solicitated his subjects, and renowned captains, & namely, the valiant Marquis of Pescara, to revolt from him: at neither news I say, of such rare felicity did he give either publicly or privately any sign of rejoicing, but only commanded for the first, devout supplications unto God to be holden seven days, & forty for the Pope, that he might escape the cruel hands of his soldiers, without any bodily harm & misusage. I read also in Manlius his common places, that the citizens of Antwerp long after presented him with a very fair piece of Arras, wherein was set forth very sumptuously & lively, the battle of Pavia, where the french king was taken prisoner by the imperials. There was also expressed the names of Francis the king of France, & of all the noble men that were taken or slain at that battle. But when this modest Emperor had viewed it, he refused to accept it, lest he should seem to upbraid unto other their calamities & miseries. Whereof they that presented it, being admonished, took home the arras with them, & caused the names to be taken out, & then being brought again, he with hearty thanks received it, & commended the work. This his singular moderation of mind, and conquering of himself and insolency, the which very few of them that have vanquished all other men, could ever attain unto, was far more famous than the taking prisoners of the two mighty Princes, than the sacking of the city that had been Lady of the world, and at this day also the greatest city of Christendom, than the conquest of the kingdom of Tunes in Africa, than the subduing of the Germans, and the passing over beyond Albis, the which the proud Romans, when they were in all their greatest royalty were never able to do: for this victory might he justly use his word, Plus ultra, passing not only the bounds of Hercules, & the Romans, but also of cursed envy: the which after all earthly victories remaineth still invincible, and can not be subdued, but by this sword of modesty and humility.   

The thirty. Chapter. Of the unfortunate fall of many great conquerors & founders of Empires.  
AND now that I have declared the fearful fall of those, that I know not, whether more wickedly, or foolishly, would be accounted Gods, and also of them that proudly vaunted of their victories, without humble confession and acknowledging that they received them from heaven: I prosecuting my purpose, will show, that all those that have been famous for victories, and the fawning of fortune have also had often admonitions of their fickle frailty, brittle bliss, and tottering state.  
Wherefore passing over in silence Cyrus the great, 
Cyrus' the great.  the founder of the Persian Empire, who was slain with his whole army of two hundredth thousand by a weak woman, 
Michridates the great,  Tomyris Queen of the Massagets: and the great Mithridates Eupator, king of Pontus, who after he had augmented his father's kingdom, with the conquest of two and twenty nations, and had won a great part of Gréece, and the signory of the sea from Cilicia to Thracius Chersonesus, had kept wars forty years with the Romans, and vanquished their captains, Cassius, Murena, Cotta, Fabius, Triarius: Sylla, restrained him within his father's kingdom, Lucullus so afflicted him, that for despair he murdered his two wives, and sisters, and finally, Pompey quite everted: who would not grant unto him humbly desiring it, of his two and twenty kingdoms, not so much as the poor one of Pontus, and for that also to pay a yearly tribute: wherefore after that four of his sons were taken by Pompey, and the eldest revolted unto him, and also one of his daughters taken, and the other two poisoned by himself, he desperately caused a Barbarian to kill him, lest he should have come alive into the hands of the Romans, and to be carried in the triumph as a laughing stock: and an other Mithridates the great, 
another Mithridates the great.  king of the Parthians, who augmented the Empire, with the access of many kingdoms, and oftentimes discomfited in battle the valiant Scythes: but when he was in his greatest ruff, being returned out of Armenia, the Parthians expelled him out of the kingdom, for his cruelty: and his own brother invaded the empty siege, and taking him prisoner at Babylon, caused him unnaturally to be slain in his sight: and Antiochus the great, 
Antiochus the great.  king of Syria, who after great conquests achieved in Syria, Asia, and Greece, was overthrown in battle by the Romans, and forced to buy peace with the loss of all his dominions on this side the mountain Taurus, and the payment and the payment of such a mighty mass of money, that not being able to levy it of his own possessions, he attempted to rob the rich temple of jupiter Dyndemenus, or as says Strabo, of Belus, where he and all his army were slain by a sudden incursion of the inhabitants of the country: and Pompey the Great 
Pompey the Great.  who more augmented the dominions and revenues of the Roman Empire then all the captains before and after him, was after the great overthrow given him by Caesar, traitorously slain by the boy king Ptolomey and his geldinge: and Mathewe the Great, 
Mathewe the Great.  Lord of Milan, who among other his variable chances was expelled out of the city, and constrained twelve years to get living by fishing: and being restored was at the age of seventy years, forced to abandon the city of Milan, and to resign his Empire unto his son Galiazo, who had unnaturally, not long before revolted from him: and dying of this anguish, and grief, the body of him, being excommunicated by the Pope, was buried in a privy and vile place, his death being long time kept close, lest his carcase in the adverse fortune of the wars, 
Sforza the Great.  might have been subject unto the reproaches and villainies of the Pope's cruel Legate: and the great Sforza, who besides his overthrows in fight at Viterby, at Crixta, at Aipua, and his being taken prisoner in fight at Casaleccio, and also twice in captivity through treason, first by Pandulpho Aleppo, the Queen of Naples darling, and then kept four months in the new castle of Naples, looking every day when his breath should be stopped by that effeminate lecher: & after wards by james Earl of Marchia, who had married the Queen, where he escaped as narrowly, and his many other great dangers: was at the last drowned in the river of Lyris or Gariliano, by the unfortunate foundering of his horse: and the great Gonsalues, 
Gonsalues the great.  who only of all the famous warriors of our age (the which have yet excelled for noble chiefteines) obtained the proud name of the great: this victorious gentleman after that he had conquered out of the hands of the French men the rich kingdom of Naples for his Prince Ferdinando the king of Hispaine, was by him ingratefully put from the government thereof, and almost also from his life, for false suspicion of treason, and ever afterward kept from all honour and office to lead a loathsome life far from the court and field at home, as it were in an honest banishment, and there for to see his eldest brothers heir for a light occasion banished the court for ever: and to his greater grief, his own native place, his nephews chief castle razed down to the ground, notwithstanding his most suppliant suit, the which was also furthered by the earnest prayers of the French kings honourable Ambassadors: for the implacable Prince by all means sought to spite him, and to impair his Princely port and riches as one whom he suspected to be to great: so that he was aptly compared by a noble man of Hispaine unto a great ship in a shallow water, 
Croesus' king of Lydia.  the which abides in continual fear to be lost by striking and sticking on the flats: and Croesus the mighty king of Lydia, whose inestimable riches have ever since been a proverb throughout the world, bereft of all by Cyrus, and forced to end his long life in bondage: and Philippe king of Macedon, 
Philippe king of Macedon  the mightiest king of all Europe, says Diodorus, in his time, and who durst for the largeness of his Empire (for he conquered Thessalia, Greece, and many other countries adjoining unto him) reckon himself match unto the twelve Gods, slain by his subject Pausanias at the sumptuous marriage of his daughter unto the king of Epyrus, in the midst of his mirth, yea and of his conquests, when he had levied two hundredth thousand Greekes foot men, and fifteen thousand horsemen, 
Antiochus Epiphanes.  besides the power of Macedon, Thessaly and all his Barbarous dominions to invade the Persian: and Antiochus king of Sy,ria ria surnamed the noble, 
Milciades. Themistocles.  who was slain going about to spoil the temple of Diana at Helimais: omitting also the two walls of Greece Milciades and Themistocles: of whom the one destroyed the huge army of Darius, and the other of Xerxes, and mighty Emperors of Persia, afterward died both in great misery, the one being cast into prison by the unthankful people, and the other banished where he poisoned himself: 
The two Scipiones.  and the two lights of the Roman Empire the two Scipiones Africani of whom the one was banished out of his country, the which he not only had conserved from the rage of Hannibal, but also enlarged with the dominions of the Hispaines, and all Asia on this side Taurus: but the younger after he had razed Carthage and Numantia the two terrors of the romans was one night shamefully murdered at Rome in his bed, without any inquisition after made how he came unto this unworthy end, to whom his country was almost as much bound as unto their founder Romulus 
Romulus.  whom they cruelly tare in pieces: showing at the very first what reward all their benefactors should look for of that unthankful and ungracious people: passing also over in silence Lucius Sylla who only of all men named himself happy, because that he had oppressed the liberty of his country, and proscribed and slain so many of his country men, was eaten to death with louse: his body gnawing itself, and breeding his own punishment: nor Dionysius the elder, who of a mean man become Lord of the mighty state of Syracuse, yea, and of the whole Island of Sicyl: out of the which he expelled the Carthaginians, and subdued many cities in Italy, and was grown unto this power that he was able to bring sixscore thousand footmen, and twelve thousand horsemen into the field, and four hundredth ships into the sea: yet at length being broken with continual wars, was slain by his own people: nor yet rehearsing the unfortunate fatal fall in fight of the three gems of Greece, Lysander, Epaminondas, and Pelopidas, 
Lysander, Epaminondas, Pelopidas, and Conon. Hannibal.  and the maniefolde foils, and finally the banishment of the fourth and last famous captain of Greece Conon: nor Hannibal the honour of Africa banished his country, and after divers wanderings forced to poison himself, lest he should have been a may game unto the ireful romans: nor Brennus' 
Brennus.  king of the wandering Galls, the terror of Greece, who slew himself, after that he saw his invincible army destroyed from heaven: nor Aurelianus, 
Aurelianus.  who reduced into one the Roman Empire, being many years torn into pieces by thirty tyrants, but was slain by his servant: nor Alboinus 
Alboinus.  the founder of the kingdom of the lombards in Italy, murdered by the treason of his own wife. Now Enghist 
Enghiste.  who first brought into Britain the Saxons, & changed the name of a part thereof into England, slain with a great power in battle after that he had seen his brother Horsa fallen by the like feat: nor the valiantest captain that ever served Prince, Belisarius: 
Belisarius.  who triumphed eftsoons of the Persians, and reduced unto the Roman Empire both Africa, & Italy which had been long time quietly possessed by the vandals, and Goths: yet he, whom no man's might could mate, cursed envy overthrew, raised by a displeasure taken against his proud wife, by the insolent Empress: who stirred the shameful indignation of her husband not only to bereave him of his sight but also of his goods: so that he was forced to beg his bread, who had triumphed over all parts of the world. Nor minding to recite Orcanes 
Orcanes.  the second Prince of the Turks who after that he had conquered Mysia, Lycaonia, Phrygia, Caria, and the city of Prusa, & extended his Empire unto the Hellesponte, and the Sea Euxine, was slain in a great overthrow given him by the Tartars: nor his son Amurathes 
Amurathes.  slain by a slave of the Dispotes of Servia, after that he had conquered a great part of Thrace, the lower Mysia, the tribals, and Besses, and discomfited in a great battle the power of Servia and Bulgaria: nor how his son Bajazet, 
Bajazet.  after that he had subdued all Thrace except Pera, and Constantinople, the which he besieged eight years, and doubtless had taken it, if that he fearing the coming of Sigismunde the Emperor with a great power, and not broken up the siege to give the Western Christians that famous foil at Nicopolis, and afterward won Macedonia, Thessalia, Phocis and Attica: was taken prisoner by Tamburlaine with the loss of two hundredth thousand Turks, and made during all the rest of his lamentable life, a miserable block for the proud victor to mount on horseback, and also was carried about with him in an iron cage, to gnaw bones under the table among his dogs: nor how the Martial prince of the Moscovies Swatoslawe, 
Swatoslawe.  after that he had subdued Bulgaria, and all the country even unto Thonawe, discomfited the Emperors of Greece with their huge army, & forced them to redeem the sack of Constantinople with a great weight of gold, was at the length slain in an ambush by Cures Prince of Pleczenig, and a maizer made of his skull, about the which was engraven: by seeking other men's he lost his own: nor how the three Italian tyrants of our time, of whom two were Creti sanguine Diuum, two Pope's sons, the third a near Sib unto Pope Clemens the seventh, who oppressing wrongfully the liberty of his country, advanced this unthrifty bastard Alexander Di medici 
Alexander di medici.  unto the Duchy of Florence, where within few years for his tyranny and lechery, he was hated of all men and slain by his cozen and familiar Laurence Di medici: the which fate also befell for his semblable manners unto Peter Luigi 
Peter Luigi.  created by his father Paul the third Duke of Placentia and Parma, but that greater villainies were done unto his dead body by the angry multitude: the third, but the first in order of age was, Caesar Borgia 
Caesar Borgia.  son unto Alexander the sixth, one that for cruel murdering of noble men passed the cursed memory of Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, Nero, Domitian, Commodus, Severus, and all the rest of those Roman Monsters.  
And first to lay a fit foundation for his ambitious building, he caused his elder brother Francis Duke of Candia to be murdered in the city one night after they had supped together merrily abroad, and threw his body into Tiber: for no other cause, but for that his father's mind was that Francis should marry, and increase the name of the Borgiae, the which he would make honourable with large dominions, but Caesar, he had as it were banished into the cloister of religion, disguising him with a red hat, the which was far inferior unto his royal heart and immeasurable desire of earthly honours, who bore in his ensign this word Aut Caesar aut nihil, an Emperor or nothing: the which insatiable thirst of his, the Colonnese fearing that he would quench with their blood, abandoned all their dominions and lands, and fled away following the Castor who some say bites off his own stones when he is hardly pursued: knowing, that for them only his death is sought: but the Orsines alured with his liberal entertainment to serve him in the wars, were almost all murdered. Baptista the cardinal at Rome, Francis the Duke of Gravina, and Paulo in the territory of Perugia, Liberto Prince of Firma, & Vitelloccio Vitelli one of the Princes of Civita de Castello at Senogallia, the which caused all the rest of the Vitelli to fly, and by their lives with the loss of their livings.  
And also the noble men of the house of Gaieta who possessed the town of Sermoneta in Campagna di Roma, james Nicholas, and Bernardine being slain, some one way and some an other, yielded their castles lands, and goods unto Caesar. And also the Dukes of Camerino Caesar, Anibal, and Pyrrhus, were expelled their dominions and strangled. Astor Manfredi Prince of Favenza yealdinge the town and himself upon promiss of safety, was slain, and cast into Tiber. Furthermore Pandulpho Malatesta, john Sforza, and Guido Ubaldo, had rather by flight leave their dominions of Rimini, Pesaro, and Urbine, unto the invading tyrant, then be murdered. And also james Appiano, let him have the principality of Piombino.  
But Catharine Sforza, who reigned at Forly and Imola, having lost by force her dominions, & being taken prisoner was brought in triumph to Rome. But while by this bloody way he encroached on all the principalities about him, he also commanded the prince of Beselio & base son unto Alfonse king of Naples, yea and his sister's husband, to be slain in her chamber, yea & in her bed being before wounded, in the Court of the church of Saint Peter, but so that it was thought he would escape.  
And by the same means he dispatched the younger Borgia, the Cardinal, because he had seemed to favour the duke of Candia his brother.  
he also savagely slew as he came from supper, john Cerbellion, a man of great nobility, both at home and also in the wars, because he had severely kept the honesty of a gentlewoman of the house of Borgia. He did also put to death james Santatrucio a noble man of Rome, them whom there was no man more friend and familiar with Caesar: neither for any other cause but for that he was able upon a sudden to gather together a strong band of lusty fellows of the Orsine faction & make them courageously to attempt any exploit. But when for this cursed and unquenchable desire of Empire, he and his father had appointed to poison at a feast certain noble and rich princes: his man mistaking the flagon, gave thereof unto the ungracious father, and worse son, whereof the father, being old, died, but his blessed bird a lusty young man, was by many medicines conserved to greater punishment: for after the death of Alexander, the Colonese and the Orsines that were left, returned unto Rome. Then Caesar that he might not be overmatched by having wars with both the families, restored unto the Colonese all their possessions, on whom in diverse places he had sumptuously built. Guido Defeltrie recovered Urbine, john Sforza Pesaro, except the castle Malatesta Riminie, but the castle was still retained by Caesar, and the Baleones Perugia, through the help of the Orsines, who also took Tuderto with the castle, and put to shameful death the captain, and with like success at Viterby, Ameria, and all the cities there abouts, either they restored the Princes of their own faction, or else strengthened them: and had also beesieged Caesar in Nepe, if he had not fearfully fled into Rome, the which he obtained of the new Pope Pius, as a safe refuge: but Pope Pius dying within twenty & seven days, the Orsines also entered the city with a great power, whom the greatest part of the citizens favoured: and the Orsines requested that Caesar might according to justice be put to death for his manifold murders, or else kept in sure ward in the castle until that his cause were heard. But while the matter was prolonged with outrageous altercations: Caesar being afraid stale away out of his house in the Suburbs into the Pope's palace: then his soldiers, who until that time had valiantly guarded him, perceiving that their Captains' courage quailed, and that he sought for hiding holes: fled also away, some to one place and some unto another, leaving him guardlesse among the cruel companies of his enemies, and forcing him, because he could otherwise stand in no surety of his life, to desire as a great benefit, to be cast into the castle of Saint Angelo until that a new Pope were created: the which being julius the second, would not set him at liberty, before that he had delivered up all the Castles and towns that he had in the territory of Rome, Romandiola, and the duchy of Spolieto. But not long after preparing at Naples an expedition into Romandiola, he was at the Pope's earnest suit imprisoned in the new castle, and shortly after carried into Hispanie, where he broke prison and fled unto the king of Navarre, whose near cousin he had married: and there was slain in a skirmish, with this event, that not being known he was spoiled of all his armour and clotheses, and left stark naked, and so brought by one of his servants unto the city of Pompelona, where he had sometimes been Bishop: a notable document of man's misery. But as I said before, I passing over in silence all those great worldlings, whom Fortune at the last overthrew, will examine the lives and infortunities only of those, whom the world doth accounted most fortunate, and search whether that God did not often make them to feel his force, and to confess their own frailty.   

The xxxi. Chapter. The unlucky chances of Augustus.  
AND first I will begin with him that thought so well of his own fortune, that when he sent his nephew Caius into Armenia against the Par●thians, he wished that the love & good will of Pompey, the hardiness & prowess of Alexander, & the Fortune of himself might, accompany him.  
Neither had he alone this opinion of his good Fortune, but it was also generally received of all men, in so much that it was decreed and also kept until the time of justinian, that the people should cry at the creation of a new Emperor: Augusto felicior, melior Traiano, God make thee more fortunate than Augustus, and a better Prince than Trajan. In Augustus (says Pliny) whom all men do call happy, if that all things in him be rightly esteemed, shall great fickleness of Fortune be found. First, his repulse in the office of the master of the horsemen unto his uncle julius Caesar, and against his will Lepidus preferred thereunto. The envy and hatred of all men: yea, and of the posterity, for the proscribing of Cicero his advancer and college in the Consulship: that he had to be his colleges in the triumvirate, very naughty men.  
Neither was his portion equal: for Antonius had far the greater.  
At the battle of Philippi, his sickness and discomfiture by Cassius, and running away, and hiding of himself, being sick three days and hiding of himself in a marish three days, being sore sick. The cares that he was wrapped in after his return from Philppi to Rome: where going about to allot lands throughout all Italy unto the soldiers: the ancient possessors, with great exclamations and complaints repined thereat: wherein they had their earnest favourer Lucius Antonius the Consul, and brother unto Antonius the Triumuir, who would have the soldiers paid out of the goods of those that were proscribed, and did also put them in hope of the spoil of rich Asia, the which did make their teeth to water.  
Octavian being thus beset on all sides with troubles, coveted to please both the Senate and people, and also the soldiers: but in very deed he offended them both: in so much that he had been almost slain by the soldiers, for commanding at a play a common soldier to be taken up, that sat upon one of the xiiii. greeces, where, by the law, no man might sit under the degree of an horseman of Rome. Hereunto addeth Pliny, the famine that was in Italy by reason that Sextus pompeius and Domitius would suffer nothing to be brought thither by Sea.  
Then Lucius Antonius, and Fulvia, wife unto Marcus, fell out with Octavian, and wrote vehement letters unto Antonius the Triumuir against him, as though he had attempted to murder his children: Lucius had seventeen legions & the amity & aid of Ventidius, Asinius, Pollio, & Calenus, who had either of them a great power: & on the other side Octavian had the il will of the Senate, & of all Italy, for his division of the lands among the soldiers: the which brought him into this agony and extremity, that debaseing himself, he earnestly sued to have the old soldiers to sit in judgement and hear the controversies between Antonius and him: and afterward, when for all his labouring to have the matter taken up, the wars broke out, he was almost intercepted at the siege of Perugia, by a band of sword players that sallied out, while he was sacrificeing unto the Gods. After this followed two incomparable losses of two mighty fleets by tempest in the Sicilian wars against Sextus pompeius: and then another hiding of himself in a cave. And also he being vanquished by fight on the Sea, his enemies so eagerly pursued him, that for fear he should be taken, he earnestly desired Proculeus to slay him. Also pompeius captains, Demochares, and Appolophanes suddenly oppressed him: from whom he hardly escaped at the last with one only ship, and afterward walking on foot from Locrie to Rhegium, he saw certain brigantines of pompeius, dragging along the shore: then he thinking them to be his own, went down unto the water side unto them, and was almost taken: and forced to seek his safety by flying through blind paths, where he was wellnear slain by a bondman of Aemylius, who thought that he had then good occasion offered him, now he was alone, to revenge the death of his master unjustly proscribed by Octavian and his fellows. In his Dalmatian wars was he twice wounded, once in fight on the right knee with a stone, and at the siege of a town on both his arms and legs with the fall of a bridge.  
Twice also was he greatly endangered by tempest, all the tacklinges of the ship, wherein he was, being broken all into pieces, and the rudder clean strucken off.  
And two great foils had he in Germany, one under Lollius, the which was more shameful, then hurtful: and the other under Varus, the which was almost pernicious, three legions with the General, and the captains, and all the aid of the strangers being slain. When news was brought him of this great overthrow, he commanded watch and ward to be kept in the city, that no tumult should arise therein, and prorogued unto the Precedents of the provinces, the time of their government: that the allies might be kept in their obedience by men of experience, and them that the Provinces knew. He also vowed plays, which were called the great, unto jupiter Optimus Maximus, to turn the common wealth into a better state, as it had been done before at Rome in the Cymbrian and social wars, when the city stood in great danger of sack and destruction. For he was so dismayed, that for the space of many months after, he letting the hairs of his head, and beard grow long, would ever and anon cry out: Quintili Vare red legiones: Quintilius Varus tender thy legions: and that day did he ever afterward keep for an heavy and mournful day. Pliny rehearseth also for incommodities and infortunities, lack of money to pay his soldiers their wages, and lack of able men to serve in the wars: and therefore was he forced, contrary unto the ancient orders, to press forth 20000. bondmen: a great pestilence in the city, and sundry defacinges thereof by fire: a great famine and thirst throughout all Italy, often dangerous mutinies of the soldiers: the foul scorning and scoffing of the people at his Majesty, the incomparable loss of his good and noble adopted sons, the valiant Drusus, and Marcus Agrippa: and the towardly young gentleman Marcus Marcellus, his sister's son, and Caius, and julius his daughter's sons by Agrippa: but greater grief for the lewd disposition of other of his children: his only natural child julia conspiring his death, and openly playing the harlot: wherefore he banished her: but her infamous life was such a shame unto him, that he broke the matter touching her punishment unto the Senate by libel being absent: and a long time after abstained from all company: and oftentimes was he minded to put her to death, but continued still so severe against her, that he could never be entreated to revoke her: although that many great men made great suit for her, and also the whole people of Rome, did oftentimes request it: but being at one time very importunate, they so chafed him, that in his choler, he wished them all such wives, & such daughters. The like rigour also did he use towards her daughter julia, who followed her mother's steps, & gave commandment, that the child whereof she was delivered after her condemnation, should be destroyed: and also left order by his will, that neither of them should be buried in his Sepulchre. Moreover her son Agrippa Posthumius, whom he had adopted, and ordained for his successor in the Empire, did he for his vile and cruel nature disinherit, and banish unto Surrentum. But afterward when he saw that for all this he would not become more tractable, but every day more madder than other, he transported him into an Island, where he was kept with a guard of soldiers: and provided by a decree of the Senate, that he should be kept there during his life: and at all mention made of him, or the two juliae, he would sigh deeply, and break out into a Greek verse.  
O would to God I had never wed wife.  
And without children had ended my life.  
And used never otherwise to call them, than his three botches, and eating cankers. Of diseases he had store, the dropsy, swelling sides, the impetige throughout all his body, his left hip, thigh, and leg so ill, that he oftentimes halted, and was lame thereof: and also he sometimes felt the forfinger of his right hand so weak, that being benumbed and contracted with cold, he could scarce bring it for to writ, yea with the help of a ring of horn. He fell into many great and dangerous sicknesses, throughout all parts of his life: but his greatest fit was immediately after he had conquered the fierce Cantabri, at what time (saith Pliny) the greatest part of death was received into his body, his liver was quite marred with distillations, so that he being brought into despair of recovery, entered of necessity into a contrary, and doubtful kind of cure: because hot fomentations had done no good, he was constrained to be cured by cold, thorough the advise of Musa his Physician. Some other sicknesses had he that did take him every year, and would return always at a certain time. For mostly he was sick about that time of the year, that he was borne, and at the beginning of the Spring, his sides would be swollen, & in Southern tempests he was troubled with the Rheum, wherewithal his body being sore shaken and weakened, he could not well endure either cold or heat. In the winter he was defended with four coats, and a thick gown, and all the forepart of his shirt that covered the bulk of his body was woollen: he wore also breeches, & netherstockes, things very rarely used in those days. But in the summer he would lie with his chamber door open, yea, & oftentimes in open galleries, where spouts of cold water should continually run, & a man stood by him still fanning his face. But the Sun was he not able to abide, not not in the winter: nor ever walked abroad, yea at home, but in a great broad hall. Moreover he never traveled but in a licter, and mostly in the night, but so softly, and with so small iournyes, that he would be two days in riding to Tibur, or Prenest, twelve miles from the city. Besides all those dangerous diseases was his life often assaulted with a great number of perilous conspiracies: first of young Lepidus, then of Varro, Murena, Fannius, and Cepio, and anon after of Marcus Egnatius, and then of Plautius Rufus, & Lucius Paulus: and besides all these of Lucius Audasius, a varlet that had been condemned for forging of false writings, & one impotent both by nature and years, and of Epicadus a apparel, having a Parthian to one of his parents, and last of all of Telephus, a bondslave and nomenclator unto a woman, to tell her the names of men: for he was not free from the danger of men of the most vilest condition. This rascal rogue had practised to murder him and the Senate: because the fool had surely thought and beleft, that the Empire was allotted to him by the loving Ladies of destiny. Moreover once was there taken near unto his chamber, having deceived the watch and porters, a drudge of the Illyrian army being armed with a woodknife. And besides these conspiracies rehearsed by Suetonius, we read in other of one made by Cornelius Cinna, and his complicies. Unto these infortunities Pliny addeth the great suspicion that he had of Fabius, and the disclosing of his secrets, and his last care, the cogitations and counsels of his wife and her son Tiberius: who are thought to have poisoned him with figs, fearing jest that if he lived longer, he would have disherited Tiberius, or else have joined young Agrippa with him: finally he died, leaving to be heir of his large Empire, not his own son, but his enemies, Tiberius' son to Domitius.   

The xxxij. Chapter. Of Trajan.  
Trajan that conquered the fierce Daces with their valiant king Decebalus, that had foiled many Roman Captains, and also subdued the Armenians, and Parthians, a great part of Arabia, and went so far Eastward with victorious ensigns, as never did Roman, either before or since: and wrote unto the Senate, that he had conquered such nations as they never heard off before, nor could name: yet deserved not the name of an happy man. For straight after his return out of Armenia and Parthia into Syria, was he in great danger of death at Antioch by an earthquake: the which overthrew and quite destroyed the whole city, and infinite were the number of them that were slain with the fall of the houses, & scarce one or two men escaped unslain or unhurt. And so great was the emperors army, and so great the resort of Ambassadors, and other out from all nations unto him, that there was scarce any nation, or city, that escaped scotfree from this detriment and massacre: that in very deed all the whole world, and the nations that were under the Roman Empire received thereby a mighty calamity. The Emperor himself was marvelously saved, being taken out at a window by one of a strange stature, and far passing man's measure. And afterward also, when he following Alexanders the great his steps, advanced still further and further his conquering Eagles, sailing the red sea: the Armenians and Parthians, whom he had before subdued, revolted, slaying the garrisons that he had placed among them, and also in battle Maximus, whom he had sent with a power to reduce them unto their duty: yea, and in the end the Parthians forced him to let them have a king of their own nation, the which did make frustrate all his toil taken in the East. Also the jews that dwelled about Cyrene revolted, and taking arms, slew of Romans and greeks with more than barbarous cruelty, two hundredth and twenty thousand: and doing the like also in Cyprus and Egypt, murdered two hundredth and forty thousand. Hereunto will I add his great peril at the siege of the city of the Agarenes, where the enemies directed all their shot against him, kill every man that stood near unto him. Then followed fearful prodigies, terrible thunder, lightnings, whirlwinds, monstrous hail: and that which of all other is most miraculous, as oft as ever the Romans assaulted, or encountered the enemy, they were forced by lightening sent from heaven to retire. Then suddenly came there to remove the siege a monstrous might of flies, the which plagued the Romans in their cups and dishes, leaving neither drink nor meat free from their filthy contamination and corruption. The which forced the Emperor to break up the siege, and to departed out of the country, and immediately after fell sick: and then the Parthians deposed the king, that he had appointed them, and chose an other according unto their ancient orders: to revenge the which dishonour Trajan was not able, waxing every day worse and worse, and finally fell into a dropsy, whereof he died, not leaving behind him a child to uphold his house and name.   

The xxxiij. Chapter. Of Severus Emperor of Rome.  
SEVERUS that got the Roman Empire by slaying of his three competitors, and four bloody battles, and entered Parthia, taking Babylon, Seleucia, and Ctesiphon, where the king narrowly escaped with the loss of his children, wives, mother, treasure, and furniture of household, and also made great conquests in Arabia, and Arobenica, and forced the kings of the Armenians and Osrhoenes to submit themselves unto his mercy: felt also the tickle turning of fortune's wheel. For that I may omit his youth, full of furies and crimes, and often accusations, and how he was to his great shame, openly arraigned for adultery: and the open bitcherie of his shameless latter wife julia, whom he witting and knowing, did suffer more than either the majesty of an Emperor, yea, or the honesty of a man could bear: was he not forced for lack of victuals, and necessaries, and the great sickness in his camp, speedily to forsake the countries and places that he had conquered in the east, and to return home contented only with the spoil, the which he dearly bought, with the loss of infinite of his soldiers lives.  
Furthermore, he twice besieged the pelting town of Atrae in Arabia, and twice was constrained to departed with great dishonour, and loss: his soldiers being either so affrighted, or else so disobedient, that not one of the Europian soldiers could be gotten to the assault, when that a great part of the walls lay flat to the ground: moreover, when one of his Captains told the Emperor, that he would undertake to win the town with 550. Europians, and the Emperor did bid him take them: the captain answered in the hearing of all the army: But where shall I have them? Neither had his ambition, any better success in Britain: For when that he would not receive the submission of the rebels, but would needs tame them by the sword, that he might obtain the glorious title of Britannicus, or conqueror of Britain: he reaped almost no other fruit by marching with his victorious ensigns even unto the furthest part of the East, then the loss of fifty thousand men through sickness, lack of victuals, the inclemency of the air, and divers other chances: finally endamaging the Britain's, who wisely still fled before him into their safe bogs and marrishes. Add hereunto how at the battle at Lions against Albinus, who fought for the Empire, he was unhorsed and fled out of the field, casting away his coat armour, that he might not be known: and hid himself in a marish. Spartianus saith, that in this battle he fell into great peril by the foundering of his horse, and then had such a blow with a pellet of lead, that his army thinking that he had been slain, were about to choose an other Emperor. Furthermore, what intolerable torments did the great discord of his two sons bring unto him, when that the one never liked of any thing that did please the other? and in all quarrels, controversies, games, finally, in all things they were extreme adversaries one unto the other: neither could their hateful hearts ever be reconciled, although that their woeful father, fearing that their discord would be either the destruction of the Empire or of his house, or both: sought all means to agree their dissenting minds: putting also to death many that were about them, by whose flattery & lewd counsel he thought them to be corrupted.  
But in what continual fear he led his life, his immeasurable murdering of above forty Senators, and infinite mean men without arreigning of them, doth manifestly bewray. This African is truly said to have revenged in his gown the cruel destruction of his country of Carthage by the Romans. Whereof arose that saying of the Senate after his death, that it had been well for the people of Rome: if that he had either never been borne, or else never had died: the one being spoken for his cruelties, the other for his valiancy, and good government. But among all other, put to death for suspicion of treason, I cannot forget two: the one Plautianus, to whom he had as it were in a manner imparted the Empire, yet lost his life upon a very unlikely accusation, and only credited, because that the Emperor had dreamt that Albinus some time his competitor, was alive: the other Apronianus, who was condemned absent, because that one had heard his Noursse say, that she had dreamt that he should be Emperor. So fearful was he, left his good child Antoninus should be put from the Empire, who drew his sword to have thrust his father in at the back, as he road with him: if that his servants that road behind, had not cried out unto him to take heed of his son, who was about to murder him. And finally, he died not of his old torment of the gout, but as men thought, helped forward by his wicked son Antonine: and so was held in an earthen pot, whom all the world had not holden, as he himself said, a little before his death, when that he had commanded his sepulchral pot to be brought unto him.   

The xxxiiij. Chapter. Of Constantine the great.  
THE greatness of Constantine, who reduced into one Monarchy the distracted parts of the Empire, and to the unspeakable profit of mankind, first established by Imperial power the faith of Christ throughout the world, the foul unworthy murdering of his own wife, Fausta, his son Crispus, and his sister's son, and no small number of his friends, the ungodly restitution of the arch-heretic Arius, and the more wicked banishment of that pillar of the church Athanasius, whom yet some hold, he revoked by testament: and if some belie him not, his filthy disease of the dropsy, did much diminish: whereof he was by a byword called Tracala, the first ten years of his reign a very good and excellent Prince: the ten next, a thief and a murderer: but the ten last, a pupil for his immoderate expenses. But as his Martial acts, but only against his coparceners in the Empire Licinius, and Maxentius were not great: so was his danger very great, when that his father in law Herculeius came under colour of friendship unto him, traitorously to have killed him: but it being disclosed unto Constantine by his wife, cost her father his life. And no less also was his fear, and hopefulness how he might honourably administer these perilous wars against Maxentius: the which he thought that of himself he was unable to do, and therefore carefully studied day and night, what Gods favour it were best for him to obtain by devout service, that was able to advance his true worshippers unto all honour, and also keep them from falling: 
Euseb. in vita Const.  at what time it pleased of his accustomed unutterable goodness, Christ the true God to manifest and show himself unto him, and told him, that if he would vanquish, he should serve under his banner & trophy of the cross.   

The xxx●. Chapter. Of justinian the Emperor.  
IVstinian recovered from the Vandals, Africa, & Italy, and Sicyle from the Goths, all the which countries had been long possessed by these Barbarians, and valiantly repressed within their fines with many discomfitures, the unquiet Persians, and all other Barbarians: so that he only of all the Constantinopolitan Emperors deserveth the name of a free Emperor, says Agathius: yea, and not being contented with martial glory, wan no less honour by reducing the two thousand confuse tomes of the law into fifty orderly books: yea, and furthermore by suppressing of all false sects throughout the Empire, and establishing in all places the one and only true & sound faith of Christ: & finally for his sumptuous buildings of cities, churches, palaces, burses, bains, & to be short, of all kinds of private & public edifices he far surpassed the praises of all Princes, either before or since him: yet deserveth he not to be accounted among the number of the happy. For the Persian often foiled in fight his captains, and as for himself, he was never in the field, and often forced him to redeem peace with money, yielding up of Castles and towns.  
Yea, in one voyage the Persian overcame a great part of Syria, and all Cilicia, wan the cities of Surum, Berrhea, and Antioch, the mightiest city of all the East, except Alexandria, the which he wholly consumed with fire, except the great church, and also constrained a great number of cities to redeem their safety with great sums of money: as also Apamea, Edessa, and Sergiopolis were delivered from his rage by miracle: and to augment the unworthiness thereof, justinian did not only not revenge this outrage, but also procured his speedy return with fifty thousand gyldens presently paid, and so many yearly to be paid for ever. Moreover, the year before this woeful waste, the Hunes passing over the river of Hister, miserably spoiled, and burned a great part of Europe: and never did any nation so much hurt in those parts: for they wasted all from the Ionian gulf, even unto the Suburbs of Constantinople, and razed two very strong castles in Illyricum, and the city Cassandrea, and returned home with infinite treasure, and sixscore thousand prisoners, not one man once resisting them. And afterward returning again, they wan the Chersonesus, and passed by the straight of Abydos & Sestos over into Asia: where when they had spoiled at pleasure, they returned home in safety: after this, breaking out the third time into Illyria, they wan by assault the strong city of Thermopolis, and wasted all Greece except Peloponesus, and then reduced their power home without impeachement or damage.  
Furthermore in the latter end of his reign, they again with their wonted cruelty, lechery, and impiety, wasted all Thrace even unto Melantis a village within twelve miles of Constantinople, where they encamped themselves. The which did not only make the common people to fly thick and three fold out of the city for fear of siege: but also appalled the hearts of the magistrates, and the Emperor himself, who having not above three hundredth soldiers, commanded that all the ornaments of the Churches near abouts, & in all places from Blacerne unto Pontus Euxinus, and Bosphorus, should be either brought into the city, or else transported over into Asia. And although that his old approved captain Belisarius putting on again his long left armour, (as one whose strength withering age had long before wasted) discomfited them in fight, and caused them, having no great harm, to retire a little back: yet could they not be expelled out of the country, but by a great sum of Greek gold. And before this time had the Misians slain, with his captain Sotyris with his army, and took the great treasure that he carried to pay the army that served against the Persians, and to maintain those wars. Moreover, the destruction of the two Sees of the Empire, did much diminish his felicity.  
Rome being taken by Totylas king of the Goths, and three parts of the walls broken down, and all the houses, in the whole city burnt, and all the people driven out of it, and no man suffered to inhabit there: but Constantinople was set on fire in a rebellion of the people against the Emperor for his cruelty and covetousness: the which fire consumed all the Churches, Palaces, bains, court houses, market places, Burses, and all notable places and monuments that were left after that cruel fire, that happened in the reign of Leo the first. The rebels also did put the Emperor into such fear, that at their request, he put away and banished two wise, and faithful counsellors, the captain of the guard, and that famous Lawyer Tribonianus his high chancellor, & yet could not this appease their fury, but that they adorned with the Imperial Diadem one Hypatius, a near cousin of Anastasius that was Emperor before justinian's uncle: the which so dismayed justinian, that he had s●ed out of the city, if he had not been stoutly retained by his proud wife: who said that she would endure to live one day in banishment, and without the name of Empress: and flatly affirmed that she would doubtless die there Empress. These words of his wife, made him to prepare himself to tarry out the storm, the which he overcame shortly after very fortunately, what through his wise winning by money of the blue faction: for this city, (as a great many of other) was divided into the blue and green factions, who were continually enemies one unto the other, before that his tyranny had caused them to join together to oppugn their common enemy: and also by the valiancy of Belisarius, who sailing out of the palace (the porch whereof was burnt) slew thirty thousand of the rebels, with their newly created Emperor, and his brother: and had quite quieted the city, if that the Emperor had not maintained the fury of the blue faction against the green, letting them not only to dispossess them of all that ever they had: but also not to permit any man to receive them into their houses: wherefore they were forced to forsake the city, and to stand in the high ways, and kill, rob, and spoil all men that traveled.  
But beside these manifold mischiefs, there happened also many earthquakes, to put him in mind of his maker: twice was Constantinople sore shaken, but the second time did far pass all that ever the city before had felt, both for the strange time of the year, being in Winter, the long continuance, being divers days the overthrowing of a great number of houses and edifices, and losing the joints of more: and the slaying of infinite people, among whom was the Lord steward of the emperors house, slain in his bed by the fall of a fair carved stone: finally, the fall and fear were so great, that a good while after the people become very religious, holding many solemn supplications, often frequenting the churches, exercising many charitable deeds, (and that great calamity had supplied unto them store of maimed and impoverished men, upon whom to bestow them) yea, many quite abandoning house, goods, and all earthly honour and pleasures, sought how wholly to serve God. This earthquake did also take & destroy Berytus, a beautiful city of Phoenicia, the whole Isle of Cos, and sundry cities of Aeolis & jonia.  
And another earthquake also was there, that quite overthrew all the walls and building of Antioch, and slew above four thousand and eight hundredth people. Moreover, a third shaken all Boetia and Achaia, and all along the Criseaen gulf, and infinite other places: overthrowing the houses, and overwhelming men in them, and among all other, laid along eight cities. Then also chanced there as strange a pestilence, the which as it did pass all that are committed to memory, for the long continuance thereof, being fifty years, so may it well match with the worst, for large dominion and mortality: as that which by Nycephorus his report, raged throughout all parts of the Roman Empire, and left few men of that age untouched. This plague against the which (as writeth Procopius) who lived in that time (there could never remedy be found) began in Egypt, and crept still forward into all countries, leaving, not, not any obscure place untouched, nor never taking one person twice. The manner of the disease was this.  
As many as were taken therewithal, did think that some man had given them a blow, whereupon they fell sick incontinently on a souden. This strange kind of taking, made many at the first to seek, but in vain the cure of it by holy words and prayers: for like unto men possessed with ill spirits, they knew not their friends, neither would they give ear unto them: yet upon some did it come in their sleep. They were incontinently taken with an ague, but yet so that neither the old heat, nor colour of their body was any thing altered, no inflammation had they, but only a cough, so that there seemed no danger. But upon some the first day, on other the second, but on most the third would there a botch break out, but upon divers men in divers places.  
Some again would do nothing but sleep sound, but more were wild mad, and would often cry out, that some haled and assaulted them: wherewithal they would run backward, breaking their necks down the stairs, and other did run into rivers, to quench their thirst. Some died the first day, but most many days after. Three months did this plague continued at Constantinople, at the first kill but few, but afterward five thousand on a day, and also more often ten thousand: in so much, that a great number of rich men, having lost all their servants by this disease, died also themselves, rather through lack of keeping, then by sickness, and then also remained unburied. Yet was not this disease contagious, that one man did take it of an other, and also this good quality it had, that it would take no man twice. And now in the afflicted city were seen no Arts exercised, no shops open, and most for fear, leaving their former life, did put on new manners, and wholly dedicated themselves unto religion and godliness.  
And also after a certain course of years, the same plague (which had never clean ceased) began again ruefully to rage: consuming almost all those that the first had spared, and now very many would fall down stark dead very suddenly at the first taking, and far more men died then women. And yet a greater mishap chanced unto this unhappy Emperor: which was, that he had so proud, so covetous, so cruel, so ungodly a woman to his wife: who made him, who ruled the whole world, to be her vile slave at beck to commit all outrages: first to banish from their Sees, two godly Bishops of Rome, because they would not wickedly consent unto the unjust restitution of the Heretic Anthemius, one deprived for his impiety of the Sea of Constantinople by a general counsel held in that City in the presence of the Emperor himself: the first of them (Syluerius) was shorn, and thrust into a Monastery, but the latter (Vigilius) was whipped almost to death: and afterward having escaped their cruel hands, was drawn out of the church by a rope fastened about his neck along all the city of Constantinople, and cast into a painful prison, there to be pined away with water and bread, given him in small quantity: and then afterward to satisfy her stately stomach against Belisamis his proud wife, he against all right and honour, bereft him of his sight, who was the light of his Martial glory.  
But here stayed not his infortunity, for in his latter days he himself falling into that heresy, that Christ did take upon him an impassable body: and being wilfully bend to have all men follow his wicked folly, most cruelly persecuted the Catholics, banishing among other Entichius Bishop of Constantinople, and was busied about the drawing of a precept for the banishment of Anastasius Bishop of Antioch, or as than they called it, after the reedification by justinian, Theopolis, a man of all the Bishops of the East far moste famous for profound learning in divinity and also for integrity of life, because that he would not subscribe unto his ungodly gear: but he could not finish his wicked work, being strucken by the hand of almighty God, whereof he died without issue of his body. But to wipe out that indelible blot of impiety, it is reported by his favourers, that he commanded by his last will that Entichius should be restored, the which thing as it may make us charitably to judge that it saved his soul from the intolerable torments of hell: so no doubt must we confess that the same bitter remorse of conscience, and acknowledging of his ungodly doings, did presently on earth much aggravate his griefs.   

The xxxvi. Chapter. Of Heraclius the Emperor.  
AS Heraclius for his singular piety, great humility before God, suppliant and often prayers, and assured confidence in Christ, obtained the rare honour to recover from the Persian, Asia, Africa, and Egypt: so after that he fell into the impiety of the wicked Monothlets and married his brother's daughter, & to colour his fault made the like lawful unto all men: Mahumet bereft him of Egypt, Syria, Mesopotamia with jerusalem, Antioch, and Damascus: and also displeased God abridged his days by a strange & most painful disease. For his unchaste members were so convulsed upward, that his unclean yard standing continually stiff, did whensoever he made water, defile his face, and blasphemous mouth, unlest that a broad board were tied above his navel to keep down the filthy spouting Urine.   

The xxxvij. Chapter. Of Michael Paleologus Emperor of Constantinople.  
MIchael Paleologus recovered from the Latins, or the christians of the west church the French men, and Venetians, the Empire of Constantinople, and was a Prince by the report of the Greek chronicles, inferior to none of his predecessors in goodly parsonage, strength of body, Princely Majesty, skilfulness in arms, prudence, eloquence, valiance, and speediness in doing of all exploits: and yet found he fortune a false flatterer, rather than a faithful friend. For that I may omit his great dangers of death for suspicion of treason, in the reign of john Ducas, and also afterward in the time of Theodorus Lascaris: when for fear of death procured unto him by spiteful envy, he fled unto the Turk that reigned at Cogin: in short time after that he had wrongfully gotten the Empire, deposing the rightful young prince, whose governor he was, and fortunately recovered the city of Constantinople, from the Latins, and all such countries of the Empire, as they then held: was Alexius Caesar, his delight, his trusty friend, through whose valiance he had taken Constantinople, and the rest of the Empire, and therefore had heaped upon him so many and great honours as never were given unto any private man: this his fortunate captain, was taken prisoner by the Despote of Epirus, & Aetolia, having lost in battle his mighty army. Then also began he to fall into fear of losing the Empire: the which he had wickedly won: and therefore to establish it, he contrary unto three oaths (for so often was he sworn to be true) shamefully deprived the true Emperor young john Lascaris of his sight, whom he had before bereft of his Empire: for the which detestable fact to abate his swelling pride, was he excommunicated by Arsenius the patriarch: and a great number of days stood before the Church porch in suppliant manner, and habit, pitifully praying the hardened Patriarch to restore him unto the communion of Christ's church: but all in vain until that by craft he had caused a counsel to depose the Patriarch. And also for the revenge of this cruel wrong done unto the young Emperor Constantine, the Prince of the camphors, who had married his sister, made a lamentable road into the Empire: in the which he so spoilt all Thrace, so that in that whole mighty Province there could for a time scarce be one husbandman, or Ox seen: he also slew, and took prisoners all the whole army of the Emperor, returning out of Thessaly, not one man, horse, or cattle fleeing from his fingers, except the Emperor himself, who escaped almost miraculously by privy stealing away over the mountains unto the Sea side. Where, as it were by God's providence, he happened upon two Latin galleys, who were sailing unto Constantinople, but then were happily come a landed in that place, for fresh water, a board one of whom he went, choosing rather to trust their doubtful faith, then to fall into the hands of the bloody camphors. And after this followed a shameful loss of a flourishing army under the conduct of his brother: the which was discomfited by the Dispote of Thessaly with five hundredth men, the imperials being afraid of their own shadow. But afterward a far more harmful fear took him of invasion and loss of his Empire by Charles the king of Naples: to prevent the which mischief, after that he had by large gifts stirred up the king of Sicyl, and other of his neighbours against him, at the length he was glad to sue for help unto the Bishop of Rome, and contrary unto the laws of his country, to submit himself, and his Empire unto his jurisdiction, granting three articles: the first that at their divine service mention should be made of the Bishop of Rome among the four patriarchs: the second that it should be lawful for all men to appeal in matters Ecclesiastical unto old Rome (for they used also to call Constantinople Rome, but with this addition, new:) the which should be accepted for the highest, and more absolute Court: the third, that in all spiritual things the principality should be given unto it. By this cowardly submission, as he escaped the threatened danger of the Neapolitan, so fell he into a far greater peril of the displeased people, who did so abhor him for this degenerate subjection, that he looked every day to be deposed or slain by them: in the which hofull state he continued all his life's time: the people's indignation & hatred towards him being nothing by long process of time appeased. And on the other side the Turk scourged him in Asia, miserably wasting & burning his Doninions in those parts, & subdued all the Countries from Mare Ponticum, and Galatia, even unto Mare Lycium, and the River of Eurìmedon. Furthermore I can not omit his great anguish of heart, and the deep sighs that he fet: when that he fell sick in his voyage against the unquiet despot of Thessalia, at a village called Pachonius, the which place putting him in mournful memory of his ungodly, and unjust bereaving the godly man Pachonius of his sight: made him incontinently truly to despair of his recovery. Neither was frowning fortunes spite satisfied with his doleful death, but also she caused his only son, unto whom he had with rare benignity imparted the Empire, while he lived himself, ingratefully to deny him not only Imperial funerals, but also christian burial in sacred place: & this only did child's duty extort of him, that he commanded him to be carried forth privily in the night time out of the camp, and great store of earth to be hurled upon him, that the wild beasts and birds should not tear into pieces his Fathers, & the emperors body. The cause of this uncourteous dealing with the blisselesse body of this noble Emperor, proceeded not of any wicked stomach of the son against his father, (who was inferior unto no child in piety toward his parent,) but because the country laws, and the states of the Empire would not suffer him to be buried in any of their churches who had, they said, wickedly revolted from the true church unto the false and malignant of Rome.   

The xxxviij. Chapter. Of Charles the great.  
Charles' the great did for princely parsonage, rare strength of body, valiant courage, and martial prowess and glory, far pass any Christian Prince that ever was, and also was inferior unto none in learning, wisdom, piety, and all virtues: unto him came there Ambassadors out of all parts of the world to desire either peace, or friendship: yea, out of Africa, Persia, & Greece: he had restored again into the west the Empire, which had been transferred wholly into Thrace and Constantinople: and largely reigned over Gallia, Germany, Italy, Hungary, & Slavonie: the puissance of whose arms the Almains, the Italians, the Lombard's, the Hispaniardes the Moors, the Bohemians, the Bavares, the Huns, the Slavoines, the Saracenes, the greeks did feel; of whom did he triumph. Moreover he reigned forty seven years, and lived threescore and twelve, and had three valiant sons, and with rare felicity loved also to have the trial of the valiancy of their sons, and yet was he forced to feel the manifold incommodities of wretched man. First the Colony of Eresburg was won by the Saxons, and almost all the Garrison slain that was placed there to bridle their eruptions, and the Provinces adjoining wasted, and the sacred churches every where burnt. All the heavy carriages of his army, as well his own private plate, and household stuff, as of all the whole army were lost in his return out of Hispaine in his first voyage thither. Guielo his high Constable was slain with all his power by the Saxons: eight thousand horses were lost by contagion in an expedition against the Huns. Two dangerous conspiracies were there made to murder him, the one by certain noble men of the house of Austratia, the other by his own base son Pipine, and his adherents. Then at one time were four heavy messages brought him: that the commissioners that he had sent to take up soldiers in Saxon to serve against the Huns, and also his old officers there, were slain by the rebelling people, and that a power of the Abrodites, a fierce nation in arms, coming to stay this tumult was slain with their King Vizen by an ambush: that his soldiers that kept the frontiers of Hispaine had a great overthrow at the siege of Burselona, & finally that Gerolde Lieutenant of Bavare was slain with a chosen band of five hundred horse by the rebelling Huns. Moreover he could come no farther from his creation and Coronation of Emperor at Rome, than Spoleto: but that an horrible earthquake took him about the second hour of the night, to the great terror and damage of Italy, France, and Germany. For some hills sunk into the ground, in other places new mountains were raised up by prodigious casting up of the earth, some towns were thrown down, other swallowed up with hideous gulf, the swift course of Noble rivers was driven back, the Sea in some places ran backward and forsook the shore, but in other overflowed and drowned all the country. The city of Rome was foully deformed with ruins, and the Church of Saint Peter almost quite destroyed. The times & seasons of the year were also turned into their contraries: for the winter was warm, and of the temperature of the spring: and upon Midsummer day was there a hoar frost hard frozen, as if it had been at Christmas: and after this trembling of the earth, and the threats, as it were of pleasant Summer taken away, from the world, did there a pestilent Autumn or harvest follow, to show unto this new Emperor the power of the almighty Emperor, & that his advancement unto the highest degree of earthly honour, should not make him forget the reverence & service due unto the heavenly highness. Then four years before he died, buried he almost with continuated funerals his two valiant sons, Pipine and Charles, the one at Milan, the other in Bavier. And two years after this domestical incomparable damage, followed the cutting off of the third battle of his army at Ronceval at their return out of Hispaine: no place is more famous for the discomfiture of the frenchmen, nor more celebrated in books and songs in all countries of christendom, namely for the death of his cozen Roland, and other the flowers of France: and that, which doth heap the harm, he was now so worn with withering age, that he was not able to stir to seek the revenge thereof, but died in this dishonour.   

The xxxix. Chapter. Of Charles the fift.  
Charles' the fift, was the mightiest Emperor since Charles the great, both for his large dominions, and also Martial acts. His fortunate birth gave him the kingdoms of the Hispaines, Mallorca, Minorca, Sardina, Sicyl, Naples, and of the West Indies, and the rich and large dominions of base Germany, or the low country: and his great towardliness, the Empire, but his valiance, the Duchess of Milan and Placentia, with the rich and mighty kingdoms of Mexico and Peru in the North and South parts of the West Indies, with many other countries in those regions, and the kingdom of Tunes in Africa. He sacked the proud Lady of the world Rome, he subdued the Florentines, and the Senese, depriving them both of liberty, and brought the stately states of all Italy to be at beck. He made the stout Almains to stoop, and achieved an absolute conquest of Germany, he recovered the Duchy of Geldres, and the Earldom of Zulphen from the Duke of Cleave, and forced him suppliantly to sue for pardon and peace. He often discomfited the french power, & made many honourable voyages into France: and valiantly with great detriment repelled the Turk, when with a huge power of seven hundredth thousand men, as it were with monstrous gaping jaws, he thought to have devoured all Germany: yea, and with rare felicity he took prisoners almost all the Christian princes, that were or had been his enemies. Francis the french king, Henry the king of Navarre, Clemens the Pope, John Frederick Prince elector of Saxon, Eruest Duke of Brunswick, & the lusty Landgrave of Hessen, and William duke of Cleave came in, and yielded themselves unto his mercy. And yet did this fondling of fortune as it may yet seem, often feel her fickleness. For his Admiral that brought him out of Hispaine into Italy, to be crowned Emperor at Bologna, was in his return, taken with all his fleet by Turkish pirates: then made he in person a frustrate and fruitless expedition into Province, where he lost above 20000. men, and afterward a more infortunate unto Angier in Africa: from whence he departed, the city not won, losing by tempest a great part of his navy, yea, within few hours 140 ships, and 15. galleys, and almost all his ordinance, and Martial furniture and provision, and hardly sustaining the incessant invasions of his fierce enemies, and more hardly the violent surges of the raging sea, which now again drowned many, and threw thereon the pernicious of the enemy: in so much, that it was the news in all places, that the Emperor was drowned: and also during all the time of his abode on the land, it rained continually, so that the soldiers could not rest their tired bodies, on the wet and overflowed ground, but only a little refreshed their decayed strength, by slumbering on their weapons: and also the ships; in whom their victuals were, being lost by tempest, they were forced to kill many of their horses to sustain their starved bodies, and to cast the rest into the sea at their departure, for lack of shipping. After this followed the great discomfiture in battle, given unto his valiant captain, the Marquis of Guasto, at Ceresoles in Piedmont. And five years after, he had tamed the Almains, they through the revolting of his captains, Morris Duke of Saxon, and Albert Marquis of Brandenburge, who then besieged Mayndenburg, and the help of the French king Henry, not only recovered their liberty, and forced him to set free john Duke of Saxon, and the Landgrave, but also to save himself by flying over the mountains of tyrol by torch light. Immediately after this dishonour, ensued the frustrate siege of Metz, won in this tumult from the Empire by the French men: the which he broke up before he had ever assaulted it, casting a wonderful mass of Martial furniture into the river, that he might thereby more easily reduce his army, brought very weak by many incommodities. The common opinion is, that he lost there above forty thousand men, besides the incomparable detriment of excellent horses, and innumerable other things: the acerbity whereof did not so much vex his mind, as the loss of his fame and estimation. So that the sorrow conceived for this most grievous injury of spiteful fortune, did quite break his heart, which at other times had been invincible, and specially seeing that the exploit was not achieved, whereof he himself was precisely the only author and conductor. 
Com. Ludo. Guiacciard.  Wherefore after this cruel chance, he for the most part lay hidden, and was sick both in body and mind, and within three years after gave up all his inheritances, conquests, and purchases unto his son Philip, and the government of the Empire unto his brother Ferdinando: and utterly loathing the world, enclosed himself in an house of religion, where he died at the age of fifty and eight years.   

The xl. Chapter. Of Solomon king of the Israelites.  
SOlomon passed for renown of wisdom, riches, and largeness of dominions, all the kings that ever reigned over the peculiar people of God. For he is said to have extended his kingdom from Euphrates, to the Syrian, and the Egyptian seas, and to have subdued by arms the Canaanites that inhabited upon and about mount Lybanus, who until that day had never been subject unto the Israelites, but Solomon made them all bondmen: and from thence a long time after did the Israelites fetch all their slaves. He also built many great cities, as Asotus, Magedon, Zazarum, and Palmyra, and walled all the towns in Israel that were not before defensed: he kept continually forty thousand horses for field chariots, (unless there be a fault in the number, for in the third of the Kings are numbered but a hundredth and forty chariots) and 12000 horsemen. He built him also a great fleet, the which he used to send unto Ophir for gold and precious stones, and at one voyage they brought him four hundredth and fifty talents of gold, and at an other, seven hundredth three score and six. Yea, there was yearly brought unto Solomon, six hundredth three score and six talents of gold (the which do amount, seeing that at the lest every one of their talents were seventy pounds, fourtéen hundredth and six & fifty thousand, eight hundredth seventy five pound of our money) besides that which they that were appointed to gather up the king's revenues, customs, and tributes, and the merchants, the legates of all countries, all the kings of Arabia, yea, all the princes of the world did use to present him, which was with precious stones, horses, spices, sweet odours, and what so ever was accounted precious. So that not only all the vessels belonging unto his table were of gold: he also had his stately throne of ivory, adorned with many grieces and Lions of gold: but silver was in no estimation in the city of Jerusalem, where it was as common as stones, and the sumptuous Cedar, as wild Mulberry trees that grew in every hedge: and the Israelites become so rich, that not one of them did any bodily labour, but their necessity therein was altogether wholly supplied by strangers, they only following arms.  
But nothing did so much declare the great riches of the king, as the sumptuous temple that he built of twenty cubits broad, & three score long, an hundredth & twenty high, of white stone fair glistering, & Cedar, all guilt with very fine gold both within and without, and his peerless palace of the same stuff, and garnishing, and finally the rich furniture of the temple, wherein were many tables of Gold, and silver, and namely the great table whereupon the holy loaves were set was of clean gold, the rest being not much unlike, neither in stuff, nor workemanshipp: on whom stood twenty thousand cups and boles of gold, and forty thousand of silver, ten thousand candlesticks of gold, and double as many of silver, eight thousand dishes of gold to put in fine flower to offer at the altar, and double as many of silver: and also threescore thousand standing cups of gold, in whom they did incorporate the flower & oil: and double as many of silver, ten thousand of gold of the measures called Hin, which contained of our measure about two gallons and a quart, and double as many of silver: twenty thousand ships of gold to carry incense into the temple, and fifty thousand of the same metal to carrrie frankincense from the great altar unto the little: of trumpets two hundredth thousand, and four hundredth thousand of musical instruments, the one and the other being of Electrum, that is a metal where a fift part of silver is mixed with gold: and two hundredth thousand robes of Bissine for the Levites. In this wealth and jollity led he his life a long time, far from any mishappy, or fear of foe, but in continual peace and tranquillity: until his latter days, when that over great felicity had made him to forget God, and to fall to idolatry: as he himself had feared long before that it would do: wherefore he had requested of God, neither abundance nor scarcity, as both hurtful to Godliness. When he had thus unthankfully revolted from him, who had made him to like so well of himself: God sent him this mournful message by his Prophet, that because he had broken covenant with him, he would also break and tear into pieces his kingdom, and give it unto his servant: but not in his days, for his father david's sake, but in his sons: to whom yet he would leave one Tribe, for the love that he bore unto his grandfather David and the city of Jerusalem: neither was the just wrath of God assuaged by this dreadful denunciation, the which no doubt did thoroughly pierce the heart of sorrowful Solomon: but that he also stirred him up enemies of vile persons incessantly to vex him: First Adan an Idumean, who having escaped the hasty hands of David imbrued with the blood of all the males of Idumea, after he had long lurked in Egypt, returned into Idumea to be a continual terror and trouble unto aged Solomon: then Adadezer, who of a fugitive servant become a captain thief, and after king of Damascus, and with his often ruthful roads and wastinges to disturb the quiet state of hofull Solomon: but the rebellion of his own servant Hieroboam, whom he had advanced from base birth to bear the honourable office of Lord Steward of his household, more broke the dismayed king, who had not been used unto such furious fits o●●aging Fortune.  
This Hieroboam being told by Ahias the Prophet that he should have ten of the Tribes after the decease of Solomon, thought it too long to stay until he was dead, but solicited the soldiers and people to revolt and deprive Solomon of his royal dignity: but attempting it untimely, he was forced to seek safety by flying into Egypt: but yet would not Solomons fear conceived of him cease, until that friendly death had rid him out of worldly troubles, with whom his heavy heart was now wholly oppressed.   

The xli. Chapter. ¶ Of Herodes king of judea.  
NOne of all the successors of Solomon did come so near unto his greatness, as did Herodes, who yet for Martial glory, strength of body, and valiant heart, did more resemble his father David. He being descended of the royal blood, was the first stranger that reigned over the jews, having the kingdom given unto him by the Romans, when that the Parthians had expelled Hyrcanus, carrying him away with them in yrones being deformed of his ears, and placed there his enemy Antigonus, whom Herodes through the aid of the romans foylinge in many fights, took prisoner in jerusalem, and sent unto the romans to be murdered: he also augmented the bounds of the kingdom, through the liberality of Augustus, with Sadara, Hippon Samaria, Gaza Anthedon, joppes, Pyrgos, Stratonis, and afterward with the countries of Thracoes, Bathanea, and Auranitis, and his immeasurable riches do his beautiful buildings blaze. First he built the great and fair cities of Sebaste and Caesaria, at which Caesaria he overcoming nature with charges, made the goodliest haven of the east, where before no man could sail all along that shore for the fleeting quick sands: and although that all the whole place did withstand his purpose, yet he did so strive with the difficulties thereof, that the strength of the work did not give place unto the violence of the Sea, and the beauty of the building was so great, as though no hard thing had hindered the garnishing thereof. For all that great space that he had appointed for the safe road of the ships, he piled or paved twenty fathom deep with stones, every one of whom being fifty foot long, and ten broad, and many of them greater: then enlarged he a wall into three hundredth foot, of the which one hundredth was cast up before to repel the surges of the Sea, the rest lay under the wall that enclosed round the haven, mounting with many very goodly and beautiful towers: there were also many vaults or arches through whom such things as were in the haven might be carried forth: and before the vaults a sumptuous gallery or walking place.  
At the mouth of the haven were set up three Colossi stayed up on both sides with pillars, on the left hand of whom as a man came into the haven stood a tower, but on the right two high stones, the which did pass the tower in greatness. And unto the haven he adjoined great houses of white stone, and over right against the haven, a temple unto Caesar, a singular piece of work, both for beauty and greatness: and therein was there a Colossus of Caesar no less than jupiter's at Olympia, by the which pattern it was made. He also built therein a market place, or a town house, a Theatre, and an Amphitheatre: and what charge it was to build a Theatre may appear by Pliny the younger, in his epistle unto Trajan, where he writeth that the Theatre at Nicen had consumed Centies sestertium, that is, threescore and eighteen thousand, one hundredth, twenty five pounds, & yet was not finished, but unperfect. And doubtless an Amphitheatre spent double the charges, as that which was, as who would say, two theaters joined in one. Besides these cities, he built also Agrippium, and Antipatris, & the sumptuous castles, the which might compare with towns of Cyprus, Phaselis, and Herodion. He also new built the temple of Jerusalem, making it as fair as ever was Solomons: and adjoined unto it double as much ground, as it had before, being enclosed with a wall, where he built stately walking places, which the Romans called Porticus: whereunto he adjoined a goodly castle.  
He also built for himself a sumptuous palace, wherein were two chapels dedicated unto Caesar, the which might for beauty and greatness, compare with any temple of the world. Finally, in all fit places of his kingdom, did he erect goodly Churches, and other sumptuous monuments in the honour of Augustus. Neither was he contented to beautify his own realm with goodly buildings, but also in foreign cities he showed his magnificence, building at Tripoli, Damascus, & Ptolomais, public bains, a kind of building in that riotous age, of all other most costly, both for the garnishing, and also for the stately walks, gardenes, places of exercises, and other such like things usually adjoined unto them. Byblus he walled about, at Berithus and Tyrus he built burses, town houses, and temples, 
The charges of a conduit.  and at Sidon and Damascus theatres: and at Laodicea a conduit, the which had been no great princely work, if that they had been no more chargeable in those countries, than they be in ours: but they being there brought upon mighty arches of stones, gallantly garnished, were of inestimable charges: in somuch that Claudius Caesar, bestowed upon a conduit at Rome, Quingenties quinquagies quinquies: of our money four hundredth and thirty three thousand, five hundred l. and fifteen shillings, the which as it is a great sum of money to be bestowed upon a conduit: so doth it draw nothing near unto the sum of seven. millions, and eight hundredth thousand pounds, set down by William Thomas. But to return unto Herode, he also built bains, and cisterns for water at Ascalon, with other edifices worthy to be wondered at for their workmanship, and also their greatness. Moreover, of his magnificent liberality in kingly gifts, the Rhodians, the Lycians, the Samians, the jonians, the Athenians, the Lacedæmonians, the Nicopolitanes, the Pergamenians were partakers. And besides these goods of Fortune, had God also bountifully blessed him with ten sons, and five daughters, and with long life to reign 37. years, and to see his sons sons, and daughters married, he living until he was seventy years old. But yet this man upon whom fortune had thus prodigally thrown her gifts: was often sore shaken with many adverse tempests. For while he was a private man, but in deed ruled all the kingdom of jury under Hyrcanus, was he in danger of death, being accused by an honourable Embassage of an hundredth jews, before Antonius the Triumuir, for oppressing of the realm, and subjects, and also (the which touched Antonius more) that he had been his enemies Cassius lieutenant in Syria. But not long after that he had fortunately escaped this doubtful peril, fell he into a greater, when that the Parthian took Jerusalem with king Hyrcanus, and placing there in his room Antigonus, forced Herodes his brother Phaselus, to dash out his own brains against a wall, that he might not come alive into their bondage: and Herodes himself very hardly escaped their hands, and fearfully fled unto Rome, where he was created king of judea. The which he had not long enjoyed, but that he was sent for to come before Antonius at Seleucia, to be arraigned for the unworthy murder of his wives brother Alexander the high priest: at what time he knowing the great hatred towards him of Antonius his sweet heart Queen Cleopatra, who insatiably thirsted for his kingdom: he was almost in utter despair of return. But not long after he fell into greater peril of his state, through aiding of Antonius against Octavian: wherefore after that Antonius was overcome, he sailed into Rhodes unto Caesar, and there in private apparel without diadem, suppliantly desired pardon of Caesar, the which being happily obtained, and his kingdom also by his liberality augmented, he fell in his old age into many domestical dolours: the beginning whereof, came through his wife Mariemne, one descended of the ancient blood royal, whom he loved as immoderately, as she hated and abhorred him both heartily and openly: upbraiding him often with the cruel murdering of her grandfather, and brother: but in the end he did wrongfully put her to death, for sinister opinion of adultery betwixt her and his uncle josippus: and then as immoderately bewailed and lamented her death, as before he had rashly slain her.  
This unworthy murder of their mother, did her two sons, whom Herodes had appointed to be his successors in the kingdom, stomach: in so much that they fled to Rome, and accused their father unto Augustus, who made an atonement between the wretched father, and his wicked sons: but it was not long, but that Herodes accused them for treason against his person before Archelaus king of Cappadocia, whose daughter the one of them had married: but Archelaus again reconciled them: but the ill patched friendship broke out again not long after to the destruction of the two innocent sons. After the doleful death of his two dear sons Alexander, & Aristobulus, the woeful father found out the treason of his son Antipater, whom he had nominated his heir, and how he not only had caused him by suborning of false witnesses, wrongfully to murder his two brothers Alexander, and Aristobulus: and exasperated him also against two other of his brothers Archelaus & Philippe: the poison was brought where with Antipater had gone about to poison him, whereupon he obtained of the Emperor, that he might worthily be put to death. This domestical calamity and continual treasons and murtherings of his sons, did so afflict the aged father, that he led a loathsome life wrapped all in wailefulnesse, taking no joy at all in his large Empire, great heaps of treasure, and beautiful and pleasant buildings. And this heaviness was heaped by long continuance of many doleful diseases. He had no small ague, and an intolerable itch throughout all his body, than was he also vexed with a painful torment in his neck, and his feet were swollen with the dropsy: and his belly as big as a barrel with wind, the which griefs were augmented with a filthy putrefaction of his privy parts, the which bred abundance of stinking worms. Moreover he was very short winded, sighing often, and had all his limbs contracted and cramped, the torments were so intolerable, that he thought his friends did heinously injury him, when that they did let him to end his woeful life by friendly stroke of fatal meat knife. And then to double his torments, came this toy into his head, that all the jews and people would rejoice at his desired death: wherefore he commanded that out of every village and town of the judea, should the gentlemen be brought into the castle, and be all slain when he should yield up his cruel and ghastly ghost, that all the whole land, yea, and every house might weep and lament at his death against their wills.   

The xl. Chapter. Of Mahumet.  
MAhumet the first founder of the sect of the Mahometans, who possess now far the greatest part of the world, of a beggars brat and slave become conqueror and king of all Syria, and Egypt, and by the consent of the most of the best approved authors, of the whole Empire of Persia, and yet had he also sour often mingled with his sweet: for when he first preached his seditious superstition at Mecha, he was driven by arms out of the town with his band of bondmen. Neither found he fortune more friendly at Medina Thalnabi whether he fled: for the jews taking arms against him, discomfited him in many skirmishes, in one of whom they wounded him in the face, struck out his fore teeth, and hurled him into a ditch. And afterward also in his first invasion of the Persian, was he foiled in fight, and forced to retire home, where entering in society with the Sinites, that had lately for reproachful words revolted from the greeks, and returning with them into Persia, fortunately achieved his exploit. But how pitifully he was tormented with the terrible falling sickness, I think it unknown unto few. Moreover very short was his reign: for six years after he began his conquests, he died, and in the fourteenth year of his age. But what cause did deprive this furious firebrand of mankind of his envied life, authors do not agree.  
Some hold that he was poisoned by a Greek, other that he died mad. But the common opinion in the East (says Thevet) that he was sick thirty days of a pleurisy, in seven of whom he was distraught of his wits, but coming unto himself a little before he died, he told his friends, that within three days after his death, his body should be assumpted into heaven. The which words did witness that he was stark mad still, as the event did after prove: for when his illuded sectaries had long time in vain expected his assumption: at last they washing & embaulminge his stinking body, were forced to bury it.   

The xliii. Chapter. Of Hismaell the Sophy.  
HIsmaell, who began in our age a new sect of Mahometans among the Persians, whereof he and all his successors are called Sophies, as we should say the wise men: through the help of his followers threw down from the Imperial siege of Persia the ancient blood royal, and placed himself therein, making also subject thereunto many other countries bordering there on: but Selim the Turk plucked this Peacocks tail, discomfiting and wounding him in a bloody battle fought in the boweles of his realm, the which he himself had caused to be all woefully wasted, that his fierce enemies should find nothing to sustain the necessities of themselves and their horses, and also taking his camp replenished with inestimable riches, and finally winning the two chief cities of his realm Tauris, and Choice.   

The xliiii. Chapter. Of the Cherife of Maroccho.  
THE Sophy doth put me in mind, although somewhat out of season, of one Mulamethes, that began also in our days a new sect of Mahometans in Africa, and with no less fortunate success than the Sophy had in Persia. This Mulamethes being borne of base parentage in the village of Gahen, at the foot of mount Atlas in Africa began about 1514 to be great esteemed of the people, because he gave himself wholly to religion and the service of God, which kind of men they do call Morabuth, that is an Hermit. He for his singleness & austerity of life, was singularly honoured and reverenced of the unskilful multitude, unto whom he preached the simplicity and purity of the law without receiving of any gloze, or interpretation, but only the bore Text.  
And after he had by this means gotten him a great number of adherents in Fez and Maroccho, he would needs in God's name go to preach the truth unto the king of Caphilet, the which country lieth near unto the deserts of Lybia. Where although he were not suffered to preach in any town, yet by prating in the country he had gotten such a train, that they were above 60000 fight men. And when at the last the foolish king would needs one day come to hear one of his sermons: the Cherife (for so they now called Mulamethes, which word signifieth the priest) took him, being admonished by God as he said so to do: to the which effect he rehearsed many feigned dreams, and visions, and did put the king to death: and seized upon his kingdom, and continuing still in this traitorous trade, he within three years got to him the kingdoms of Tremissen, Marroche, Dara, Taphilet, and Suse, and about twenty five years after, the mighty kingdom of Fez, the which doth usually by iovius his report bring thirty thousand horsemen into the field, and within the city of Fez are five and twenty thousand houses. But although Mulamethes was Prince of so many kingdoms, yet he retained still his name of Cherife. Thus lived he in jollity being a terror unto all the Princes of Africa, and namely unto Sala-raix Barbarossa his son king of Algiers: who being unable to resist him with force, used this policy to dispatch him. He sent unto Marroche, where the Cherife made his usual abode, one of his captains a Turk, a very valiant man who with two hundredth valiant Turks for the most part all archubussiers should seek interteynment of the Cherife, alleging for cause of their departure from Algiers the injurious misusage of the king towards them: and that after that they had by these means gotten entertainment they should endeavour to win everlasting life, according to the promises of their law, by slaying of so wicked a tyrant: the which train did also fortunately take effect, for the Cherife, who was heartily hated at Marroche, kept about him a great guard of men of Taphilet, Dara, and Suse: to whom he also adjoined these Turks whom his counsel did greatly mistrust, considering the great hatred that the king of Algiers bore towards the Cherife, and also the carelessness for life of the Turks so that they may pleasure their Prince. Whereof the Turks having intelligence, were fully determined shortly to set all at six and seven: either to win the horse or lose the saddle. Wherefore one day as they marched against a town in Suse that had rebelled, and the Alarbes were sent forth for forage, and none left in the camp but two hundredth of the Cherifes guard and they: the Turks entered the king's Pavilion, where then the counsel sat with him about these Turkish matters, and slew both the Cherife, and his counsel, and spoiled the camp, wherein the guard also joined with ●●em. This was the unhappy end of the Cherife when he had reigned forty three years. But the Turks that slew him being pursued by the new king his son, were all slain valiantly fighting.   

The xlv. Chapter. Of Barbarossa king of Argier.  
Wto the Cherife will I adjoin a near neighbour of his, Hariaden commonly called of his red beard Barbiressa, who also in our age of a poor pirate become a mighty prince, and scourge unto all the Christians bordering on the midland Sea.  
This mate with his brother Horruccio when they could not abide their beggary at home in Lesbos or Miteleno they sold all that ever they had to rig forth a fragate, and served under Camalis an archepirate. In whose service after they had been enriched by taking many prizes, and had gotten certain galleys, they becoming jolly captains departed from their master, and did set up for themselves going in roving upon the coast of Africa, where at their first arrival they were entertained by the king of Argier, who was almost oppressed with the armies of his brother: but the Pirates having valiantly through their shot (the which the africans had then no use of) discomfited the brother, suddenly also turned their force on their friend the king whom they slew, & Lyornaio the elder brother succeeded in the kingdom, where unto he through his prowess adjoined the kingdom of Circello, & many other places, and forced the Numidians or Alarbes a people that live altogether by the wars, glad to enter in league with him.  
But at the length invading the king of Tremissen he was slain in fight by the aid of the Hispaniardes, who cutting off his head did bear it on a pole round about all Hispaines, to the great joy of the whole country.  
Then Haruedene succeeded his brother in the kingdom: whose valiant demeanour both against the africans by land, and the Christians by Sea, advanced him to the office of high Admerall unto the Turk, whereby he become match unto the Christians on the Sea, and far passed any Prince of Africa for power by land: then wan he the mightiest kingdom of all Africa, Tunes, where he had not nesteled one year, but that Charles the Emperor thinking it smally for his security to suffer his infestious foe to grow so great under his nose: passed thither with a power, where he won by assault the strong castle of Goletta, whereby he got the haven, and all the whole navy of Barbarossa, then discomfited he him in battle, wan the city of Tunes, with the whole kingdom: and finally forced Barbarossa fearfully to fly unto Bona: where he had doubtless been either taken or slain, if that either Doria the emperors admiral had gone thither himself with the strength of the fleet, or his unskilful kinsman Adamo, whom he sent to do the exploit with sixteen galeies ill appointed, had not trifled forth the time, not coming to Bona, before that Barbarossa had weighed up sixteen galleys: the which he had sounke in the haven, and having rigged them, had launched out of the harborough, or else he had been forced to have fled unto Argier, a long journey by land through the Alarbes, and africans, who being his cruel enemies would never have suffered him to have come to Argier long time after to trouble and spoil the Christians.   

The xlvi. Chapter. Of Tamerleyne the Tartar.  
AMounge these rogue kings, will I inrolle Tamerlaine the Tartar.  
This man, whom Thevet calls Tamirrhan, and Tamerlanque: Sigismundus Liber Themirasscke, and Chalcondilas, Temer, was son unto a poor man called Sangalis, a Massaget, says Chalcondilas, but a Parthian affirms Thevet, borne at Samerchanden, At the first he was the heardeman of a town for horses, but after ward conspireing together with other herdmen, he become a strong thief, stealing horses and other cattle. But climinge one night a wall to enter into a stable, and being espied of the good man of the house, he was forced to leap down from the wall, and broke his leg. Campofulgoso says that he broke his thigh, whereof he had his name: for in his country language, Temer is a thigh, and Lang is lame, or maimed, the which two words being put together make Temerlang: but the Latins keeping the propriety of their own tongue, corruptly call him Tamerlan.  
But Sigismundus Lyber says that one whose sheep he was about to steal broke his leg with a great stone: and because he bound the bones together with a hoop of iron, he was called Themerassacke, of iron, and halting: for Themer in the Tartarian tongue is iron, and Assacke halting. But whether he had his name of the one thing, or the other: herein they do both agreed, that he could not when he came to be Lord of all the Orient, and a terror unto the whole world, step forth one foot, but that he felt his infirmity: nor record his own name, but that he was put in mind of his infortunity. But after this mishap, he waxing wiser, fortified a place where he and his might have safe refuge, when that they were pursued.  
At length he being marvelously enriched by robbing of all men that travailed within his walk: and also by stealing of all kind of cattle, he gathered together a fair band of Soldiers, and associating himself with two captains called Chardares and Myrxes, did set upon a power of the enemies, which spoiled the country, and gave them a great overthrow, the like whereunto he also often times did afterward, whereby he become so famous, that the king of the Massagetes made him captain general over his armies, the which office he administered both valiantly and fortunately: and namely a little before the kings death, having driven his enemies into the cities of Babylon and Samarchen, and then the king dying, he married the Queen, and took Samarchen, or Semerchanda, and enjoyed that mighty kingdom, and also Babylon: yea, and then with continued course, conquered Hiberia, Albania, Persia, Media, both Armeniaes', Mesopotamia, Syria, Damascus, Egypt, even unto Nilus, and Capha upon the coast of the Euxine Sea, Cilicia, Asia the less where he discomfited in battle Baiazett the Turk with ten hundredth thousand Turks, neither was his own ordinary army any thing inferior in number.  
But while he was busied in those parts about taking of the Turkish towns: heavy news was brought him, that one of his confederates a king of India, called the king of Tzachataa, passing over the river Araxis, had subdued a great part of the country thereabouts, which were subject unto Tamerlane.  
And among all other manifold detrimentes, had miserably defaced the city of Cheria, and had taken Tamerlanes his treasure, and returned home: but yet so that he still threatened, that he would be his confederate no longer.  
This sorrowful message did put Tamerlane in great fear, lest that the king of India would return again, and sweep him out of all his dominions at home, while he was busied abroad with foreign wars: and herewithal the cursed condition also of humane affairs, and man's tickle state, the which doth not suffer any man long to enjoy here on earth the blissful blast of friendly Fortune, appalled his heart: wherefore he hasted homeward: and whereas before he injuried all men, now did he not only put up cowardly the Indian wrong, but also made great suit to recover his ancient friendship.  
But after that Tamerlane had thus recovered his countries lost, and quieted them, and built that renowned city of the world Samarchanden, in the village where he was borne, which he beautified and enriched with the spoils of the whole Orient, and had thoroughly peopled it: he prepared a voyage against the Turks, and Christians: from the going forward wherewith he was stayed both by a mighty Earthquake, and also two celestial signs and prodigies: the one, of a man appearing in the air, holding in his hand a Lau●●●: and the other, of a blazing Star, terrible for his greatness, the which stood directly over the city by the space of fifteen days.  
He consulting with the Soothsayers, and Astrologians, about these wonders, was told by them, and namely, by one Bene-iaacam, a man of greatest authority and credit among them, that they were tokens, either of his own death shortly after to ensue, or else of the utter ruin and bringing to nought of his Empire.  
But much more was he in short time after amazed by a vision that he had one night, the which was the cause of his fatal sickness, and in the end, of his death.  
For he dreamt one night, that Bajazeth the Turk whom he had made to die miserably in an iron cage, came unto him, or else the devil in his likeness, with a countenance stern, and terrible to behold, and said unto him: now it shall not be long (villain) but that thou shalt worthily be paid for thy manifold outrages: and I too shall be revenged, for the wearisome wrong that thou didst unto me, making me to die like unto a beast in mine own dung.  
And when he had thus said, Tamerlane thought that Bajazeth did beat him very grievously, and trod and trampled upon him with his feet, sore bruising his belly and bowels: in so much that the next morning, when he had thought to have risen, he remained still attainted with the apprehension conceived in his sleep: the which did near quite bereave him of his wits: and so raving all ways upon Bajazeth, died, leaving his large Empire unto his two sons, begotten of divers ventures, who consuming themselves with civil wars one upon another, left an easy way for all those princes and countries, whom their father had spoiled, and conquered, to recover all that which they had before lost.   

The xliiii. Chapter. Of Mahumet the second, the great Turk.  
MAhumet the second, the great signior of the Turks that wan Constantinople, Pera, Capha, and the Empire of Trapezonda, the kingdom of Cilicia, or Caramania, and Bosna, and pierced Illyria or Slavonia, even unto Forum julij, now Friali, where he discomfited the Venetians with the flower of all Italy: began his reign with the murdering of two infants his brothers: so fearful was he of fall, that neither their brotherly blood, nor impotent age, could persuade the bofull man security. But anon after that he had won Constantinople, the stately seat of the east Empire, and slain the Emperor therein: before Belgrade, which he boasted that he would take within fifteen days, whereas, as his father had like a coward in vain béesieged it seven months, be was by a sally out of the town dangerously hurt under the pap, his army discomfited, his camp taken with all his ordinance, martial furniture, and carriages, and he himself glad to seek safety by the benefit of a dark night: yea, so great was his overthrow, that it was thought by men of wisdom and experience, that if the Hungarians had prosecuted the victory, they might have driven him out of Constantinople. The next morning when he was come unto himself, after the rage of his wound was somewhat abated, and understood how great a foil he had taken, he would have poisoned himself that he might not return home in so great dishonour, and was hardly let by his friends from doing thereof. He could never abide after to hear or speak of this foul foil: & as often as he unwillingly minded it, he would tear his beard, fetch deep sighs, & ghastly grinned his teeth: cruelly cursing that dismal day: the which he did all his life after account for a black and infortunate. But after this tempestuous storm, the which had near destroyed him, a wished wind 'gan blow again, and he conquered the Empire of Trapezonda, the Isles of the Aegean sea or Archipelago, Miteleno, and Bosna, the Peloponesus or Morea, the which the Venetians, and two of the Paleologi possessed, broke down the strong wall, that the Venetians had built in the Isthme of Corinthe, and got those towns which the Venetians had in Morea, and by bloody assault Eubea, now Nigrepont. Having thus fortunately subdued Constantinople, and all Greece, with the Islands thereabouts: it was a great eye sore for him to see the royal Rhodes free from his bondage: wherefore frowning fortune pricked him forth to assail it with many a foul bloody foil, received both by sea & land: thus when force failed, he sought to take it by treason, suborning many false knaves, who under colour of fugitives should betray it unto him: but when that neither this fox's skin joined to his Lions, was long enough to reach the Rhodes, he feigned great friendship, if that they would vouchsafe to pay him any trifle in the name of tribute, yea, or present him with any gift: but when that nothing would be granted unto the enemy of Christ: and he had vainly spent three years in these toys: he fell again to force, invading it with a mighty fleet, and fourscore thousand men, but with no better success, then that after he had lost 7000. soldiers at the landing, and two & three thousand at every assault, of whom he made very many during his abode there of three months, he was forced to departed home with incredible loss of men and munition, and much greater of his honour. But when his haughty heart could not rest in this great dishonour, but prepared for the revenge thereof, and also to conquer proud Italy, as he termed it: where his mighty army being landed had taken Otronto: his purpose was prevented in the one, and the prosperous course of his conquests corrupted in the other, through his sondeine death, when he had lived 58. years and reigned 31.   

The xlvij. Chapter. Of Selime the first great Lord of the Turks.  
SELIME, that came unto the Empire of the Turks by murdering of his father, brothers, & brother's children, overthrew in battle the mighty Sophy in the midst of his realm, and took his chief cities of Chois, & Tauris, subdued the Aladuli, that inhabit the mountain Taurus, conquered the Empire of Egypt, that stretched on one side unto the deserts of Arabia, the straits of the red sea, and to Aethiope, and on the other unto Cilicia, staying two Soldans: yet this man who was of rare felicity in all his attempts, was overthrown, and hurt in the battle that he sought against his father, and also made such an haughty retire out of the Persian dominions, that it might very well be termed a fearful flight, losing a great number of his men, his ordinance, and his carriages in the passing over of Euphrates, the Persians hotly pursuing them. And when he had escaped the Sophy, he was no less endamaged and endangered by the Aladuli. And finally this fury of hell, that threatened utter destruction to the Christian name, reigned not above seven years, but died miserably of an eating Ulcer in his reins, which consumed so much flesh in one night, that a man might turn his fist round in the hole: yielding up his wicked spirit at the village of Chiurle, where he had ungraciously before foughten against his father.   

The xlviij. Chapter. Of Ferdinand the sixth king of Hispaine.  
FERDINAND the sixth king of Arragon, and Sicyl, that had by his wife the rich kingdoms of Castill and Lions, and won by sword the kingdoms of Granata, that had been in the hands of the Moors almost eight hundredth years, of Naples, and Navarre, and an other world of rich countries in the West Indies: had a great, and yet an harmless admonition, of man's tickle state, at the siege of Granata.  
For a Moor burning in desire of delivering his country out of peril, by a desperate attempt of kill the king and Queen of Hispaine, came out of the town into the Hispanish camp, feigning that he had brought conditions of peace, and desiring to be admitted unto the kings and queens presence: but he was put by his purpose thorough a marvelous chance or rather by God's special provision: for a noble man of Hispaine, that lay in a goodly and rich hall, sent for this Moor to come unto him: being very desirous to understand what news the Moor brought. The noble man sat at that instant at dinner with his wife: whom the Moor taking by their bravery, to be the king and the Queen, assaulted them: sore wounding them both, but yet was stayed from kill them by the rescue of their servants. But afterward when that this victorious king returned from the glorious conquest of the kingdom of Graneta, and road into Darselona in triumphant manner, with the great acclamations of the people, ringing his renown: he had in the midst of that proud pomp almost lost both life and kingdom. For one Canemas a Cathelane, who seemed to have been long time molested with the mad melancholy, thinking to have killed the king in his chiefest jollity, gave him a great wound in the neck. Neither could any other cause of doing this desperate fact be wrung from him by all kind of terrible torments, then that he hoped, if that Ferdinando had been slain, to become king himself, being a very poor knave: the which thing, he said had been told him oftentimes by an Angel. On so feeble, & fleeting a foundation, do kingdoms stand, & on so tottering a stool do princes sit, that sporting Fortune seems oftentimes to put them into the hand of a mad man. But nothing did more manifestly show unto him his brittle bliss, than the revolting of all the noble men of the farther Hispaine, (except the duke of Alva) unto Philip duke of Burgogie: who had married his eldest daughter and heir, at his arrival in Hispaine, after the death of Queen Isabella, they eftsoons, saying, that they would rather adore the sun rising, then going down. The grief of this shameful forsaking of him did so gripe the aged prince's heart, that not being able to endure the dishonour, to be a subject, where he had long reigned: he left Hispaine, and sailed with his new wife unto Naples, choosing rather to commit himself unto the doubtful faith of the governor, and conqueror of that flourishing kingdom, whom the report was minded to revolt, & make himself king of Naples (the which he might easily have done) then unto the open ill wills and rebellion of the unfaithful Hispaniards. And doubtless he was in very great danger of being utterly excluded out of his kingdoms of Castill & Lions, if that God had not shortly after taken out of the world his son in law, who was so alienated from him, that when the courteous king laden with wearisome years, had taken a long painful journey to receive him at the water: the proud and uncivil duke would not vouchsafe to show him any countenance. But after he had given him scornfully a word or two, and them too in French, which the king understood not, he flang away from him, & all the nobility with him.   

The xlix. Chapter. Of William Conqueror.  
But now after that we have roamed long abroad in all foreign lands, let us return home unto our own country, & take a view of such Princes as have by dint of sword attained the imperial crown thereof, or enlarged the dominions: lest we may be thought to be like unto the Lamiae in Poets: whom they do feign to see very exactly when they are abroad, but to be stark blind at home.  
William, bastard son unto Robert duke of Normandy, who left him his heir, although by puissance he conquered this land, discomfited in battle the king of Denmark, forced the king of Scotland for fear to do him homage, & swear him fealty: yet the often rebellions and secret treasons of the Englishmen & Normans, the perfidiousness of his own dear brother Odo, in whom he reposed his greatest trust, the wicked revolting of his eldest son Robert unto the French king, & with his aid his dangerous invasion of Normandy, his arm thrust through in fight, and his unhorsing by that unnatural child, and his bowels sore bruised, by a leap off his horse in his last voyage against the French king, of the intolerable torments whereof he died, will not suffer him to be enroled among the happy. But nothing in my mind doth more manifestly bewray his infelicity, then that he had not so much ground at his death, as could cover his carcase without doing an other man wrong: and that which the beggar hath without contradiction, was denied and forbidden this mighty king. He had built S. Stephen's Church at Cane in Normandy, (where he would be buried) upon an other man's ground, and had not paid the owner for it: who being then a very poor man, yet nothing fearing the funeral pomp, and the great number of nobles attending on the corpse, did thrust through the thickest throng of the solemn train, like unto a mad man, and got him to the Church door, wherein he stood stoutly to withstand the bearing into the Church of the king's body, crying out with a loud voice: He that in his life time oppressed kingdoms by his furious force, hath hitherto with fear also oppressed me: but I that do survive him that hath done me the wrong, will not grant rest and peace unto him now he is dead. The place whereinto ye do carry this dead man is mine, I claim that it is not lawful for any man to lay a dead body in an other man's ground. But if that the case do so stand, that when as now at the length, through the grace of good God, the author of this so unworthy a wrong is extinguished: yet force still doth flourish, I do appeal unto Rhollo the founder & father of this nation: who alone is of greater power by the laws which he ordained, then is any man's injury. And therewithal I know not whether by hap, or man's fraud, there suddenly was seen a great fire, which raged on the Church, & the houses near adjoining: then every body speedily running to quench the fire, left the kings corpse desolate all alone: only Henry the king's youngest son could not be gotten from his father's body, who being feared with, as it were the manifest wrath of God, presently paid the poor man for his ground, & discharged his father's injurious spirit. But these blisselesse bones of his, which so hardly obtained entumbing, did afterward as unluckily again loose it in Anno Domini 1562. when chastilion conducting reliquias Danaum, atque immitis Achilles those that had escaped at the battle at Dreax, took the city of Cane. For certain savage soldiers, accompanied with four captains, did beat down, and utterly deface the noble tomb, and monument of that renowned conqueror, and victorious king, and pulled out all his bones, which they spitefully threw away, when that they could not find the treasure that they falsely surmised had been laid up there, as I have been certainly informed by Englishmen of very good credit, & faithful favourers of the reformed: who saw this sorrowful sight scarce without distilling tears. And also Thevet maketh mention of this matter in his universal cosmography, writing of Cane.   

The l. Chapter. Of Henry the second.  
HENRY the second had by his father, the Earldoms of Anjou, Toures, and Maine: by his mother the kingdom of England, and the duchy of Normandy, and by his wife the mighty duchy of Aquitane, and the earldom of Poitow, conquered the kingdom of Ireland, and took prisoner in battle the king of Scots: but this his glistering glory was foully darkened, by the shameful submission of his crown unto the Roman See (as Platina their recorder doth report) or certes by binding himself unto unreasonable conditions, to abate the envy of the murder of Thomas the archbishop of Canterbury, as our Chronicles do record: and by the dangerous and wicked wars a long time kept in Normandy, France, and England, with all his ungodly sons, Henry, Richard, Gefferie and john, yea, and his own wife, and their mighty confederates, the kings of France and Scotland, with a great number of the English nobility, and after the death of his ungracious son Henry, by the second revolting of his son Richard unto the French king, who won from him in those wars a great part of the duchy of Normandy, and besieged him in the city of Maws, out of the which he fearfully fled, 
Polydore.  and left that city, which of all other he best loved, to be won with Toures by his fierce enemies, for which he was cast into such a chafe, that he openly said, that he would for ever after, wholly withdraw his heart from God, seeing that he had suffered his delight to be taken, and deformed with fire: but anon after he came unto him self, and acknowledged his error, and wickedness: and suppliantly sued unto the French king for peace, the which he could by no means obtain. Wherefore despairing of the safety of his estate, he died rather oppressed by this cruel concourse of calamities, then worn with sickness.   

The li. Chapter. Of Edward the third.  
AS Fortune was unto Edward the third, a loving and cocklinge mother in his youth, in giving him the famous victories at Sluse, Cressey, poitiers, and Durham, with the taking prisoners of the French and Scottish kings, and the restoring of Peter king of Castill, and augmenting his dominions with the town of calais, and the Earldom of Guisnes, and sending of him so many valiant sons, and to so long life to have proof of their prowess: so was she no less cruel stepdame unto him in his age: for the revolting of the Earls of Armeniacke, and Petiagors, which brought the loss of Ponthiew, Poitou, Caoars, Limosin, Xantoigne, Perrigort, and finally almost, all Gascoigne, except Baron and Bordeaux, and all Britain, unless it were Breast, and the discomfiture and taking of john Earl of Penbruche, and his great Fleet, coming to the rescuse of Rochel, the uncourteous & disobedient denial of subsidy by Parliament in that his great necessity, and the licentious complaint against him in open Parliament for keeping of Alice Piers, and the proud appointing of him Tutors, as though he had been a pupil, who in his nonage was thought meet to hurl his father from the helm of the common wealth, and rule the rudder himself: and finally the untimely deaths of his two valiant sons leonel, and the only stay and staff whereon his worn age did lean, and hold up itself, Prince Edward, the sorrow whereof quite broke the heart of the woeful father, which was before sore wasted with age, and the grief conceived for his unwonted froward Fortune.  
And to make up the mischief, he left the realm to be ruled by an unthrifty pupil, who could never learn less all the days of his life, then how he should rule himself. This worthy Prince doth prove that to be true, that Paulus Aemilius noteth in Charles the great: that Fortune doth think it a goodly thing to show unto men both her powers, in kings of long life: and that those Captains which are said never to have found Fortune but favourable in great attempts, lightly died young men: for so (saith he) I do think it hath seemed good unto God, jest that human things may seem to be able to give true and sound felicity.   

The lii. Chapter. Of Henry the fift.  
IN that perfect pattern of prowess Henry the fift, I blame his unthrifty youth, and his being committed to the kings bench by the Lord chief justice for his misdemeanour, (such a precedent, as I think is hardly to be found in all the records of antiquities) his wounding at the battle of Shrewesburie, the dangerous conspiracy to murder him made by the Earl of Cambridge, and other in his first voyage into France: his great hopefulness for Agincourt field, and almost utter despair of escape: the disfomfiture in fight, and also the death of his brother the duke of Clarence, and last of all, his own untimely death, the which did not only corrupt all his former victories, and lost the duchy of Guian, whereof his ancestors had been possessed ever since Henry the second: but also did so wrap the realm in such civil discord that it is almost a miracle, that it was not quite destroyed for ever. So that if we do duly consider the event, it had been much better for this land that he had never been borne, then to have provoked the French men, and not to have quite subdued and tamed them: and to have begotten to succeed him, one so unfit to govern, although he were otherwise a Prince of singular piety and godliness. But as for Henry the fourth, Edward the fourth, and Henry the seventh, who got the crown by the sword, they kept it with so much, and so great trouble, that I think no wise man would take up the crown, if it lay upon a dounghill, to wear it in such continual perils and molestations: as Antigonus did use to say.   

The Conclusion.  
THAN seeing that the miseries of mankind are so many, and so great: and with so manifold and grievous calamities, have all they been oppressed, whom fickle Fortune hath seemed most to favour: what may they promise' unto themselves, that do think that they are now carried with the most blissful blast of worldly felicity? Let them like wise men persuade themselves that they are made of the same lamentable lump, that other men are, and also as much subject unto sondeine sorrows as they that have been before them. Wherefore, let them think moderately of themselves, let them make account of the guileful gifts of false Fortune, as though they should be incontinently taken from them: let them not proudly despise the wretched, whom lowering lot hath laid low: seeing that the unstableness of their own tottering state may shortly cast them into the same sink of shame as they do think it: finally, let them attribute all honour and glory unto God, the only author and also conserver of their brittle bliss: whom let them serve most lowly, if that they desire to continued aloft in the ruling of other.   
FINIS.   

 

   

A Table showing what is contained in every Chapter of this book.  

The first Chapter, Of the essence, unchangeableness, singleness, and almightiness of God.  
The second Chapter. Of the wondered pride of Psapho, Menecrates, Alexander, Commodus, Caligula, Domitian, and Cosdras, who would be adored for Gods: of a witty decree of the Lacedæmonians touching Alexander's deification: how Philippe of Macedon dolted Menecrates: and also to repress his own pride gave in commandment unto one to tell him every morning that he should remember that he was a man. Of a free speech of a butcher unto Caligula, and of a worthy saying of Antigonus.  
The third Chapter. Whereof false Gods had their first ground, and the causes that moved divers nations to accounted men for Gods after death, and also some while they lived: as Demetrius, julius Caesar, Pycta, Lysander, Simon Magus, and Appollonius and of the extreme madness of the Egyptians in choosing of their Gods. Of the impudent flattery used by the Ambassadors of Palermo unto the Bishop of Rome: and of the people unto Herodes Agrippa: and the grievous punishment of God for his accepting thereof. Of the great reverence that the Persians gave unto their kings: and of the rare love that the Galls, and the Aethiopians bore unto their Princes: two worthy sayings of Antigonus, & Canute.  
The fourth chapter. Of the manifold miseries of man.  
The fifth chapter. The immoderate mourning of man: and examples of men, that have died of sorrow conceived for the decay of God's glory, Country's calamity, and infortunity of parents, children, brethren, wives, masters, and friends.  
The sixth chapter. Of the great riot of man in apparel, and particularly of the excess therein of a Cardinal's harlot, of Poppea, of the soldiers of Antiochus, of Caligula, Heliogabalus, Charles Duke of Bourgongne, of the Marquis of Astorga, Agrippina, Lollia Paulina, of the ancient Romans, greeks, & Alexandrines, of the great prices of a pearl, & a precious stone. And also how man doth altar the natural constitution, and ornaments of his body, of Poppea her bath, and of a patriarch and Cardinal that made themselves to look pale.  
The seventh chapter. Of the unreasonable riot of man in buildings, and namely of the Romans, Nero, Caligula, Heliogabalus, Lucullus, Clodius: of the rare riot in household stuff of the Romans Greekes, & Asians, & specially in their counterfeits both painted, & wrought in metal, with the incredible prices of diverse of them, in curiously wrought plate, hangings, beds bedstead, chairs, stools, tables, with the excessive prices of many of them. Of the great riot in plate of Antonius, Bassus, Sopus, Heliogabalus, the libertes of Claudius, a Cardinal, and again the spareness therein of the ancient Romans, of Scipio Africanus, and his brother, and of Aelius Catus: and what silver was found in Carthage, when it was sacked: and of a costly piece of Arras bought by Leo the tenth.  
The eighth chapter. Of the great riot of the Romans in their feasts, with the incredible prices of their Acates: of the intemperancy therein, of Timocreon, Crispinus, Vitellius, Nero, Heliogabalus, Lucius Verus, two Antiochi, Marcus Antonius, Cleopatra, of Aesopus a player and his son Clodius, Lucullus, Galeazo a Venetian, two Cardinals, and Muleasses king of Tunis: and again the frugality in diet of the ancient Romans, of Augustus, Pertinax, julianus, and Alexander Severus: also the daily proportion of diet for household of the kings of Persia, and of Alexander the great. The great prices of precious ointmentes, and the riotous use of them in ancient time: and how that Plotius and Muleasses were disclosed unto their enemies by their sweet odours. The manifold sorts of wines, & the alterings of water found out by riot, and the rare devices to make men have an appetite to eat and drink superfluously. The great incommodities of excess in diet: the great death in the Duchy of Wittenberg by immoderate drinking of wine, and at the game of drinking set forth by Alexander the great. The wondered grossness of Nicomachus, Ptolomey, Alexander, Dionysius, and Sanctius, of the rate virtue of an herb to make a man lean, the ravenous nature of the beast Rosomacha, and of certain strange sheep, and swine.  
The ninth chapter. Of th● riotous magnificence of the Pyramids, Labyrinths, Obelisces, of the Babylonian garden, of the vain costly ships of Ptolomey, Hiero, Sesostris, Caligula, the wonderful purposelesse bridges of Caligula, and Traian, of the sumptuous Theatre of Scaurus, of the incredible charges bestowed by the ancient Romans in plays, games, and triumphs.  
The tenth Chapter. What intolerable troubles riot doth bring unto man: how it caused Catiline, Marcus Antonius, Curio, & Caesar to raise up civil wars: and of a dumb show of Heraclitus that nothing doth more cause rebellion. The shameless shifts of julius Caesar, Caligula, Nero, and Domitian to maintain their riotous expenses, and of Cheopes to finish his Pyramis: how Apitius murdered himself because he was not able to bear the charges of his wonted riot.  
The eleventh Chapter. The unutterable torments of love: the inordinate lust of man, both before, after, & against nature. Of an harlot that said she never remembered herself maid: how Solomon and Achaz, begat their heirs at the age of eleven years: of a Camel that killed his keeper for deceiving him in horsing his dam: of a man in Germany in our days that begat upon his mother a child, the which he afterward married: of an horse that killed himself after he perceived that he had served his dam: of diverse men that burned in the lecherous love of them whom they never saw. Of diverse that raged in lust upon senseless statues.  
The twelfth Chapter. Of the torments of ambition: which are also confirmed by the examples of Themistocles, Alexander, julius Caesar, Mancinus, and an Indian. Of the wonderful sums of money given by the Romans to obtain the honour to bear office: and of the manner of the choosing of their Magistrates.  
The thirteenth Chapter. Of the painful troubles procured unto man by his unsatiable covetousness.  
The fourteenth Chapter. Of the great care and hofufulnes engrafted by nature in man for his burial: the rites aswell ancient as modern of almost all nations, and sects used at burials: with mention of diverse costly tombs.  
The xv. Chapter. Of the confuse and causeless fear of man, and particularly of the Romans thri●e of Augustus, of the greeks thrice, of the confederates called the common wealth before Paris: of the imperials in our days at Villa Francha: of Pysander, of one that died by seeing of Hercules, of Artemons' mad fearfulness, of Saint Vallier Duke of Valentinois: how Cassander was affrighted at the sight of Alexander's Image, and other such vain fears.  
The xuj. Chapter. Of the furious wrath of man, and specially of Walter Earl of Breme, and Mathias king of Hungary,  
The xvij. Chapter. Of the care and hopefulness that religion and superstition breedeth in man. Of the untolerable sorrow for sin, of David, Marie Magdalene, Fabiola, Edgar, the griping griefs of a guilty conscience, and the vain imaginations of the Melancholic.  
The xviij. Chapter. Of the great hopefulness to prolong their lives, of Lewes the eleventh, Charles the seventh, Dionysius, Commodus, and Aristippus.  
The xix. Chapter. Of the shortness and uncertainty of man's life, and by how many casualties it is cut off, and of sundry strange kinds of sudden deaths.  
The xx. Chapter. That not great riches and large Empire do make a man happy: the which Socrates proved by an excellent induction: whereunto is annexed a golden sentence of Agesilaus.  
The xxi. Chapter. A discourse of the brittle bliss of Alexander the great.  
The xxij. Chapter. The infelicity and doleful end of Demetrius, yea, his variable life and acts.  
The twenty-three. Chapter. The greatness and also great mishaps and troubles of julius Caesar, and a worthy saying of Charles the fift.  
The xxiv. Chapter. Of the variable events of Marcus Antonius.  
The xxv. Chapter. Of Caligula his monstrous doings, untolerable envies, rare infelicities, and shameful end: but the singular virtues of his father, and great love that all men bore unto him.  
The xxvi. Chapter. Of Domitian's doings.  
The xxvij. Chapter. Of the casualties of Commodus.  
The xxviij. Chapter. Of the rare conquests and losses of Cosdras king of Persia.  
The xxix. Chapter. Of the insolent exulting of Vgoline Earl of Pisa, Frederick the second, and Henry the second, for then good fortune: but their feral falls, and again, the moderation of mind in their victories of Epaminondas, Philip of Macedome, Camillus, Paulus Aemylius, Charles the fift: and why at Rome a bondman did ride in the chariot whereat did hung a bell and a whip, with him that triumphed.  
The thirty. Chapter. Of the infortunate fall of many great conquerors and founders of Empires.  
The xxxi. Chapter. Of the greatness and also unlucky chances of Augustus.  
The xxxij. Chapter. Of Trajan.  
The xxxiij. Chapter. Of Severus.  
The xxxiiij. Chapter. Of Constantine the great.  
The xxxv. Chapter. Of justinian.  
The xxxvi. Chapter. Of Heraclius.  
The xxxvij. chapter. Of Michael Paleologus.  
The xxxviij. chapter. Of Charles the great.  
The xxxix. chapter. Of Charles the fift.  
The xl. chapter. Of Solomon.  
The xli, chapter. Of Herodes king of judea.  
The xlij. chapter. Of Mahomet.  
The xliij. chapter. Of Hismael the Sophy.  
The xliiij. chapter. Of the Cherife of Maroccho.  
The xlv. chapter. Of Barbarossa king of Algiers.  
The xlvi. chapter. Of Tamberleine the Tartar.  
The xlvij. chapter. Of Selime the first great Lord of the Turks.  
The xlviij. chapter. Of Ferdinand the sixth king of the Hispaines.  
The xlix. chapter. Of William Conqueror.  
The l. chapter. Of Henry the second king of England.  
The li. chapter. Of Edward the third king of England.  
The lij. chapter. Of Henry the fift, king of England.  
The conclusion.    

The Errata.  
Fol. pag. line. Fault. Correction. 1 1 20 singleness of God singleness God 4 1 21 of bountiful nature with the gifts of bounti. etc. 5 1 17 chameleon pardis Cameliopardis 10 1 3 you now 10 1 12 the them 11 2 22 poems Paeanes 12 2 16 people people 12 2 32 Triumpher Triumuir 15 1 3 furmament frumenty 15 2 32 tenor terror 17 2 19 gracious grievous 22 1 10 100000. 1000000. 27 2 17 Myrrah Murrha 40 2 22 made make 57 1 32 burn bury 59 1 14 silver Siler 100 1 28 these the East 100 2 6 demeanour misdemeanour 100 2 20 Cicero Curio 103 2 12 salting sallying 104 2 7 25000. 250000. 85 1 14 mire mere 88 2 21 abject object 101 2 18 boldness baldness 102 1 19 moved moneyed 104 2 14 of the Batavi of the king of the Batavi 115 1 3 especial espial 115 2 16 orgents his agents 112 1 25 the these 113 1 12 carts certes 113 1 15 answered nothing: answered: nothing etc. 114 1 12 scuffled stifled 155 2 11 Sentines S. Quintin's 116 2 22 seas feeze 119 1 14 living his living 120 1 28 named having named 120 2 22 now nor 126 1 34 hall hat 128 2 14 finally smally 140 2 12 where whereas 142 2 19 brought brought forth 137 2 11 Angier Argier  
Other escapes of less weight and small importance, I refer (gentle Reader) to thine own correction, in thy private reading.