Ungrateful church, o'errun with rust, Who fain myself would kinsman prove The Church's answer. Alas! my innocence excuse, That goodness might give place to gold. n. Anno 1565, upon the fifth of February, one Paulus Sutor, of the village of Bresweil, near the city of Basil, came into the house of Andreas Hager, a bookseller: he was then old and sick, and had been the other's god father at the font, and performed to him all the good offices that could be expected from a father. Being entered his house, he told him that he was come to visit him, as one that esteemed him as his father. But as soon as the maid that attended upon the sick man was gone out of the parlour, he caught up a hammer, gave him some blows, and then thrust him through with his knife. As soon as the maid returned, with the same fury he did the like to her; and then seizing the keys, he searched for the prey intended: he found eight pieces of plate, which afterwards, being in want of money, he pawned to a priest of St. Blasius, who suspecting the man, sent the plate to the Senate at Basil, by which means the author of the detestable murder was known: he was searched after, taken at the village of Hagenstall, brought prisoner to Basil, where he had his legs and arms broken upon the wheel, and his head being (while yet alive) tied to a part of the wheel, he was burnt with flaming torches till, in horrible tortures, he gave up the ghost. 12. Furius Camillus was the great safety of Rome, and the sure defence of the Roman power; a person whom the Romans had styled the second Romulus for his deserts: yet being impeached by L. Apuleius, a tribune of the people, as having secretly embezzled a part of the Veientine spoils, by a hard and cruel sentence he was adjudged to banishment; and that at the very time when he was in tears for the loss of a son of admirable hopes, when he was rather to be cherished with comfort, than oppressed with new miseries. Yet Rome, unmindful of the merits of so great a man, to the funerals of the son added the condemnation of the father, and all this for fifteen thousand asses, which was the poor sum he was charged with, and banished for. 13. In later times, that great and fa→ mous captain, Gonsalvo, after he had conquered the kingdom of Naples, and driven the French beyond the mountains, and brought all the Italian princes to stand at the Spaniards devotion, was most, ungratefully called home by his master the King of Spain, where he died obscurely, and was buried without any solemnity or tears. 14. Miltiades, a renowned captain of the Athenians, after that glorious victory at Marathon, and other great services, having miscarried in an enterprize, whereof the consequence was of small value, was fined fifty talents; and being not able to pay it, was kept bound in prison (though sore wounded in the thigh) till (10.Full. Worth. c. 11. p. 33. (11.) Lon. Theatr, p. 338.- - (12.) Val. Max, 15. c.3.; P. 136. Hak. Apol. 1. c. 10. §.4. p. 434.—(13.) Clark's Mir. c. 74. p. 321. his son Cymon, to redeem his father, paid the money, and set him at liberty; but he soon after died of his wounds. 15. Theodatus was adopted, and made partner and successor in the kingdom by Amalasuntha, queen of the Goths, as soon as she was deprived of her son Athalaricus; who, in reward of so great and noble a favour, sent her to an island in the Vulsinian lake, where she was put into prison, and not long after strangled by his order; putting her to an unworthy -death, by whose bounty he had received a kingdom. 16. Cardinal Charles Caraffa and Duke John his brother were they that managed all affairs under Pope Paul the Fourth. He being dead, Pius the Fourth was made Pope, and that chiefly by the favour and diligence of these Caraffas ; and as a reward of their good service, he made it his first business to overthrow them he sent the cardinal and his brother the duke, together with count Alifane, and many others of their kin dred and friends, to prison, in the castle of St. Angelo there were they nine months in durance, and expectation of death. At last, by order from the pope, the cardinal was hanged, the duke and count beheaded, and their dead bodies exposed as a public spectacle to the people. : 17. Anaxagoras was of singular use to Pericles, the Athenian, in the government of the commonwealth, but being now burdened with old age, and neglected by Pericles, who was intent upon public affairs, he determined by obstinate fasting to make an end of himself. When this was told to Pericles, he ran to the philosopher's house, and with prayers and tears sought to withdraw him from his purpose, intreating him to live for his sake, if he refused to do it for his own. The old man being now ready to expire, "O Pericles," said he, "such as have need of the lamp use to pour in oil:" upbraiding him with the neglect of his friend who had been of such advantage to him. 18. Belisarius was general of all the forces under the emperor Justinian the First, a man of rare valour and virtue: he had overthrown the Persians, Goths, and Vandals; had taken the kings of these people in war, and sent them prisoners to his master; he had recovered Sicilia, Africa, and the greater part of Italy. He had done all this with a small number of soldiers, and less cost : had restored military discipline by his authority, when long lost; he was allied to Justinian himself; and a man of that uncorrupted fidelity, that though he was offered the kingdom of Italy, he refused it. This great man, upon some jealousy and groundless suspicion, was seized he upon, his eyes put out, all his house rifled, his estate confiscated, and himself reduced to that miserable state and condition, as to go up and down in the common road with this form of begging: "Give one halfpenny to poor Belisarius, whom virtue raised, and envy hath overthrown." 19. Scipio Nasica deserved as much by the gown as did either of the Africans by arms: he rescued the commonwealth out of the jaws of Tiberius Grac chus; was the prince of the senate, and adjudged the most honest person in all Rome: yet his virtues being most unjustly undervalued, and disesteemed by his fellow-citizens, under pretence of an embassy, he retired to Pergamus, and there spent the rest of his life; his ungrateful country not so much as finding him wanting, or desiring his return. 20. P. Lentulus, a most famous man, and a great lover of his country, when in Mount Aventine he had frustrated the wicked attempts of C. Gracchus, and in a pious fight (wherein. he had received many dangerous wounds) had put to flight the traitor's army, he bore away this reward of that and other his gallant actions, that he was not suffered to die in that city, the laws, peace, and liberty whereof he had by this means settled. So that forced by envy and slander to remove, he obtained of the senate an (14.) Lon. Theat. p. 334. Clark's Mir. c. 73. p. 317. 1. 5. c. 3. p. 611 (16.) Lips. Monit. 1. 1. c. 5. p. 58, 59. Zuin. vol. i. 1. 2. p. 204, 205.-(18.) Ful. 1. 5. c. 3. p. 612. Max. 1. 5. c. 3. p. 137. Hak. Apol. 1. 4. c. 19. § 4. p. 435., employment abroad, and in his farewelloration prayed the immortal gods, "That he might never return to so ungrateful a people:" nor did he, but died abroad. his 21. Achmetes, the great bassa, was, by the confession of all men, the best soldier, and most expert captain among the Turks; Bajazet made him the general of his army against his brother Zemes, where the conduct and valour of the general brought Bajazet the victory. At his return to court this great captain was invited to a royal supper, with divers of the principal bassas, where the emperor, in token they were welcome and stood in his good grace, caused a garment of pleasing colour to be cast upon every one of guests, and a gilt bowl full of gold to be given to each of them: but upon Achmetes was cast a gown of black vel, vet: all the rest rose and departed, but Achmetes, who had on him the mantle of death, (amongst the Turks) was commanded to sit still, for the emperor had to talk with him in private. The executioners of the emperor's wrath came, stripped and tortured him, hoping that way to gain from him what he never knew of (for bassa Isaac, his great enemy, had secretly accused him of intelli gence with Zemes); but he was delivered by the Janizaries, who would, no doubt, have slain Bajazet, and rifled the court, at his least word of command: but though he escaped with his life for the present, he not long after was thrust through the body as he sat at supper in the court, and there slain. This was that great Achmetes by whom Mahomet, the father of this Bajazet, had subverted the empire of Trabezond; took the great city of Caffa, with all the country of Taurica Chersonesus; the impregnable city of Croja, Scodra, and all the king doin of Epirus; a great part of Dalmatia, and at last Otranto, to the terror of all Italy. 20.) Val. Max. 1. §. c. 3. p. 137. Turk, Hist. p. 443, 444. (1.) Ph. de Com, 1. 4. c. 12. p. 138. VQL. II. CHAP. XLVIII. Of the Perfidiousness aud Treachery of some THERE is nothing under the sun that is more detestable than a treacherous person, he is commonly followed with the execrations and curses of those very men to whom his treason hath been most useful. All men being apt to believe, that he who hath once exposed his faith to sale, stands ready for any chapman as soon as an occasion shall present itself. It is seldom that these perfidious ones do not meet with their just rewards from the hands of their own patrons: however, the vengeance of Heaven (where the justice of men fails) doth visibly fall upon them. 1. Charles, duke of Burgundy, gave safe conduct to the constable the earl of St. Paul; and yet, notwithstanding, after he found that Lewis XI. king of France, had taken St. Quintins, and that he did solicit him either to send him prisoner to him, or else to kill him within eight days after his taking, according to the agree ment heretofore made betwixt them; he basely delivered him up to Lewis, whom he knew to be his mortal enemy, and by whom he was beheaded. But the duke, who heretofore was great and mighty with the greatest princes in Christendom, who had been very fortunate and successful in his affairs, from thenceforth never prospered in any thing he undertook: but was betrayed himself by one whom he trusted most, the earl of Campobrach ; lost his soldiers, his formerly-gained glory, riches, and jewels, and finally his life, by the Switzers, after he had lived to see himself deserted of all that entered into any league with him. 2. The emperor, Charles IV. made war upon Philip, duke of Austria, and both ar Hak. Apol. 1. 4. c. 10. § 4. p. 435. (21.) Knowles's Ibid. 1. 5. c. 8. p. 155, 156. mies mies were got near together with a resolution to fight; but the emperor, perceiving he was far surmounted in force by the enemy, determined to do that by subtility which he could not by strength. He caused three of the duke's captains to be sent for, and agreed with them to strike a fear into their master, that might cause him in all haste to retire. Upon their return they told the duke, "That they had been out, and particularly viewed the power of the emperor, and found it thrice as great as his own; that all would be lost if he did not speedily retreat; and that he had no long time to deliberate." "Then," said the duke, "let us provide for ourselves, waiting for some better opportunity: it is no shame for us to leave the place to a stronger than ourselves." So Philip fled away by night, no man pursuing him. The traitors then went to the emperor to receive their reward, who had made provision of golden ducats, all counterfeit, the best not worth six-pence, and caused great bags of the same to be delivered to them, and they merrily departed. But when employing their ducats they found them to be false, they returned to the emperor, and complained of the treasurer and master of the mint. The emperor looking on them with a frowning countenance, said, "Knaves as you are, get you to the gallows, there to receive the reward of your treason: false work, false wages, an evilend befal you." They, wholly confounded, withdrew themselves suddenly, but whither is not known. 3. The Bohemians having gotten the victory, and slain Uratislaus, they set the country on fire; and after finding a young son of his, they put him into the hands of Gresomislas, the prince, called also Neclas, who pitying the child, his cousin, committed him to the keeping of the earl Duringus, whose possessions lay along by the river Egra; and a person who formerly had been much favoured by Uratislaus. This earl, (thinking to insinuate himself into the favour and good liking of Neclas) as the child was one day playing upon the ice, came upon him, and with one blow of his scimitar smote off his head: and hastening to Prague, presented it to Neclas all bloody, saying, "I have this day made your throne sure to you, for either this child or you must have died you may sleep henceforth with security, since your competitor to the crown is disposed of." The prince retaining his usual gravity, and just indignation at so cruel a spectacle, said thus unto him, "Treason cannot be, mitigated by any good: I committed this child to thee to keep, not to kill. Could neither my command, nor the memory of thy friend Uratislaus, nor the compassion thou oughtest to have had of this innocent, turn away thy thoughts from so mischevious a deed? What was thy pretence to procure me rest? Good reason 1 should reward thee for thy pains: of three punishments, therefore, choose which thou wilt; kill thyself with a poniard, hang thyself with a halter, or cast thyself headlong from the rock of Visgrade." Duringus, forced to accept of this decree, hanged himself in an halter upon an elder-tree not far off: which ever after, so long as it stood, was called "Duringus's elder-tree." 4. In the war with the Falisci, Camillus had besieged the Falerians; but they, secure in the fortifications of their city, were so regardless of the siege, that they walked, gowned as before, up and down the streets, and oftentimes without the walls. After the manner of Greece they sent their children to a common school, and the treacherous master of them used to walk with them day by day without the walls: he did it often; and by degrees he trained them so far onward, that he brought them unawares into the danger of the Roman stations, where they were all taken. He bids them lead him to Camillus: he was brought into his tent, where standing in the middle, "I am,' said he, "the master of these boys;, and having a greater respect to thee than to my relations, I am come to deliver thee the city in the pledges of these children."^ Camillus heard him, and looking upon it as a base action, he turned to them about him, and looking upon him, "War," (2.) Camer, Oper. Sube. cent, 1. c. 7. P. 60.- (3.) Ibid. cent. 2. c. 60. p. 254. said he," is a cruel thing, and draws along with it a multitude of injuries and wrongs: yet to good men there are certain laws of war, nor ought we so to thirst after victory, as to purchase it at the price of unworthy and impious actions. A great captain should rely upon his own virtue, and not attain his ends by the treachery of another." Then he commanded the lictors to strip the school-master, and having tied his hands behind him, to deliver rods into the hands of his scholars to whip and scourge the traitor back into the city. The Faliscans had before perceived the treason, and there was an universal mourning and outcry within the city for so great a calamity; so that a concourse of noble persons, both men and women, like so many mad creatures, were running to and fro upon the wall: when the children came driving with lashes their master before them, calling Camillus their preserver and father. The parents, and the rest of the citizens, were astonished at what they beheld; and having the justice of Camillus in great admiration, they called an assembly, and sent ambassadors to let him know, "That, subdued by his virtue, they rendered up themselves and theirs freely into his hands." 5. Agathocles was very prosperous in Africa, had taken all the rest of the cities, and shut up his enemies in Carthage, about which he lay, He invited Ophellas, the Cyrenian, to join with him, promising, that the crown of Africa should be his Ophellas, won with this hope, came to him with great forces, and was, together with his army, cheer fully received, and provided for by Agathocles: but soon after, great part of his army being gone forth to forage, and Ophellas but weak in the camp, he was fallen upon, and slain in the fight, and his whole army, by vast promises, won to the colours of Agathocles. But observe how successful this treachery proved: It was not long before Agathocles was forced to fly out of Africa, his army lost, and two of the sons slain, by the fury of the mutinous soldiers; and, which is worthy of observation, this was done by the hands of them that came with Ophellas, and in the same month, and day of the month, that he had treache rously slain Ophellas, his friend and his· guest. 6. Ladislaus Kerezin, a Hungarian, traiterously delivered up Hiula (a strong place) to the Turks; and when he expected to receive many and great presents for this his notable piece of service, certain witnesses were produced against him by the command of Selymus himself, who deposed, "That the said Ladislaus had cruelly handled certain Musselmen that had been prisoners with him:" whereupon he was delivered to some friends of theirs, to do with him as they should think good. They enclosed this traitor in a tun, or hogshead, set full of long sharp nails within-side, and rolled it from the top of a high mountain, full of steep downfalls, to the very bottom; where, being run through every part of the body with those sharp nails, he ended his wretched life. 7. Leo Armenius, emperor of Constantinople was slain by some conspirators in the temple there, and Michael Balbus set up to succeed him in his room. He also being dead, Theophilus, his son, was advanced to the imperial palace of his father, who was no sooner confirmed in his empire, but he called together the the whole senate into his pa lace, and bid those of them that assisted his father in the slaughter of Leo, to se parate themselves from the rest; which when they had cheerfully done, turning to the præfect over capital offences, he commanded him to seize and carry them away, and to execute condign punishment upon them. 8. When the emperor Aurelian marched against Thyana, and found the gates of the city shut against him, he swore he would make such a slaughter, that he would not leave a dog alive in the whole city. The soldiers, enticed with the hope of spoil, did all they were able to take it; which one Heracleon perceiv ing, and fearing to perish with the rest, betrayed the city into their hands. Au (4.) Plut. in Camillo, p. 134. Din. Mem. 1. 3. p. 212. Bruson. Exempl. 1. 5. c. 6 p. 356.(5.) Diod, Sicul. 1. 20. p. 674, 686.- (6.) Camer. Oper Subsc. cent. 2. c. 61, p. 259. Heyl. Cosm. p. 544.-(7.) Zonar. An. tom. 3. p. 146. Din. Mem. 1.3. p. 215. x 2 relian, |