Achilles had done in the funeral of Patroclus. In this performance, when he sought for hair to cast upon the funeral pile, and that he had but thin hair, he was laughed at by all men; yet he caused that little he had to be cast into the fire, being clipped off for that purpose. He was also a studious imitator of Alexander the Great; he went in the Macedonian habit; chose out a band of young men, whom he called the Macedonian phalanx, causing them to use such arms as were used when Alexander was alive; and commanded the leaders of the Roman legions to take upon themselves the names of such captains as served Alexander in

his wars.

CHAP. XXIX.

Of the Authority of some Persons amongst

their Soldiers and Countrymen.

NEAR Assos there are stones which, in a few days, not only consume the flesh of dead bodies, but the very bones too; and there is in Palestine ar. earth of the same operation and quality. Thus there are some men who, by their singular prudence and authority, are able not only to stop the present tumult and disorder of a people, but to take such offectual course, that the very seeds and causes of their fermentation and distemper should be utterly consumed and removed. Of what force the presence of some, and the eloquence of others, have been in this matter, see in the chapter following.

1. Caius Cæsar, the dictator, intending to transfer the war into Africa, his legionaries at Rome rose up in a general mutiny, desiring to be disbanded and discharged from the war: Cæsar, though otherwise persuaded by all his friends, went out to them, and showed himself to the enraged multitude. He called them quirites, that is, commoners of Rome, by which one word he so shamed and subdued them, that they made answer, They were soldiers, and not commoners :" and being then by him publicly

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discharged, they did not without diffi culty obtain of him to be restored to their commissions and places.

2. Arcagathus, the son of Agathocles, had slain Lyciscus (a great captain) for some intemperate words; whereupon the friends of the dead put the army into such commotion, that they demanded Arcagathus to death, and threatened the same punishment to Agathocles himself, unless he did yield up his son. Besides this, divers captains with their companies spoke of passing over to the enemy. Agathocles, fearing to be delivered into the hands of the enemy, and so to be put to some ignominious death, thought, in case he must suffer, he had better die by the hands of his own soldiers: so laying aside the royal purple, and putting on a vile garment, he came forth to them; silence was made, and all ran together to behold the novelty of the thing; when he made a speech to them agreeable to the present state of things; he told them of the great exploits he had formerly done; that he was ready to die if his soldiers should think it expedient, for he was never yet so possessed with fear, as out of an over-desire of life to be drawn to do any thing unworthy of himself. And when he had told them, " that themselves should be witnesses thereof," he drew his sword, as one that was about to kill himself; and being now ready to inflict the wound, the whole army cried out, " He should not do it, and that they had forgiven him." So he was persuaded by the army to re-assume his royal nanit, and was fully restored with their great applause.

3. A great sedition was in Rome, and the common people so incensed against the rich men and the senate, that all things were now tending to ruin and destruction, when the senate sent unto the people one to appease them; this was Menenius Agrippa, an eloquent man, who being admitted amongst them, is said thas to have spoken: "Upon a time there arose a great sedition amongst the members of the body against the belly; the eyes, ears, hands, feet, and tongue said, They each of them performed their seve

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and he called them Epigoni, or his posterity. The Macedonians resented their coming, especially when the king, in an oration of his to the army, told them, "that he would dismiss them that were become unserviceable through age or wounds, and send them home with honour." The Macedonians were highly incensed with this oration, interpreting his words as if he despised them, and looked проп them all as unserviceable: whereupon without regard to their commanders, or presence of the king, with a tumultuous noise, and military violence, they cried out, "that they would all be ́dismissed;" adding, "that he and his father should war together," scoffingly intending Jupiter Ammon. When Alexander heard this, grinding his teeth for anger, he leaped with his captains from his tribunal, rushed into the midst of them, and having noted thirteen of those that had spoken most boldly, he laid hands on them, and delivered them as prisoners to his guard, no man opposing him. The army, before so fierce, was seized with a sudden fear at this his procedure; and when they saw their fellows, led to execution, they remained as men stupified, and expecting what the king would determine of them all. The next day they were prohibited the sight of the king, he only admitting the Asiatic soldiers to his presence: whereupon they set up a mournful cry, and said, "they would all die, if the king would persist in his anger against them." He continued resolute, calling the strangers to an assembly, ordering the Macedonians to stay in their camp, made the Persians his guard and his apparitors, and by these punished the mutineers. This the Macedonians took patiently; but when they knew that the Persians had leaders appointed them, were formed into troops, and Macedonian names given them, and themselves ignominiously rejected, they were no longer able to restrain their grief, but came to the palace, laid down their arms at the gates, and retaining only their under-garments, stood at the door, with great humility and tears beseeching to be

8. Petrus Lauretanus was the Venetian admiral who had overthrown the navy of the Turks at Callipolis. At Rapalus he had taken Franciscus Spinola of Genoa, with eight captains of gallies, and three counsellors, whereupon he was created a procurator of St. Mark, and his authority was so great among the people, that (when a mighty. sedition arose of the mariners and seamen, who in great numbers were come out of Istria and Dalmatia, to furnish out the fleet against Philip, duke of Milan) this man, by his presence alone (though sick) did appease them, and that too when the command of the duke himself was not regarded, the authority of the Decemviri contemned, and the power of all the guards drawn out against them availed not. In this state of things, such was the majesty of this one private person, that, as men affrighted, the seditious fled all away at the sight of him.

CHAP. XXX.

Of such Princes and Persons as have been fortunate in the finding hidden Treasures, and others that were deluded in the like Expectations.

SOME men have as wilfully cast away their riches as Crates the philosopher is said to have done his, and upon much the like pretences, as looking upon them to be the fuel of all sorts of vices, and fearing to be undone by them;

whereas,

whereas, if riches prove hurtful to any man, it is no fault of theirs, but his only that makes an evil use of them; and to a wise man they are the handmaids and assistants to his virtues. It is hapPF, therefore, for some men that the earth should for ever conceal her treasures from them, seeing their greatness would be an obstruction to their goodness: but wherscever she shall disclose her riches, may they ever be put into sch hands as will make others better d themselves no worse by them.

1. Tiberius the Second, emperor of Greece, was exceedingly fortunate in this kind: he seeing many (s they passed by a certain cross) that they would even go to the upper side thereof, as led thereunto with a kind of devotion, he commanded that this cross should be taken away, and set in some other place. They that were employed in digging of it up, found underneath, beyond all hope or expectation, very rich treasure. He found besides, the huge wealth of Narses, which he had hid in his house, a little before he died, having killed a those that knew any thing thercof, save a young child, whom he made to give his promise, with many oaths and execrations, that he should never speak a word of it to any body. But when this child was grown old, and long after the decease of Narses, he revealed the matter to Tiberius, who found in the place an incredible mass of gold and silver.

2. Gontran, king of Burgundy, dreamed that he found a treasure hid in a cave within a certain mountain; when he awaked he sent away some on purpose to dig in the same place, who found it there accordingly.

3. About the year 1000, Robert Guiscard being at that time prince of Calabria, Apa, and the adjacent isles, there was found in Apulia a statue of marble having about the head a circle of brass, with this inscription; Calendis lai, o iente sole, aureum caput habebo; that is, "The first day of May, at sun-rising, I shall have a golden head." There was not any that could solve this riddle that could

any where be found. At last a Saracen, then prisoner, offered himself to expound the inscription, upon promise that when he had done it, he should be set free, and at full liberty. The prince gave him assurance thereof; and the first day of May being come, at the rising of the sun the Saracen observed the shadow of the circle that was about the head of the image, and in the same place where the shadow was, caused them to dig; which they did: and when they were come very deep, they found a mighty treasure, which came in good season for the prince, for it served to defray the charge of the war he made at that time. The Saracen, besides the grant of his liberty (which he preferred before all other things), was bountifully rewarded, and sent away with many rich and princely gifts.

4. Decebalus, the king of Dacia, by the hands and labour of captives only, turned the course of the river Sargetia, that ran near unto his palace, and in the midst of the channel caused a deep vault to be digged, wherein he bestowed a mighty niass of silver and gold, and all such things as were with him of greatest estimation, even such precious liquors as would keep; and this done, he restored the river to its wonted course. All that he had employed in this work, or that he supposed to rave any knowledge hereof, he caused to be slain, to prevent all discovery. But one Biculis, a captain, who, though he knew thereof, had accidentally made his escape, revealed the matter to the emperor Trajanus; who causing diligent search to be made, found it. Upon this account divers ancient inscriptions in marble are found to this pur

pose:

Jovi Inventori, Diti Patri, Terræ Matri, detectis Dacia Thesauris, Cæsar, Nerva, Trajanus, Aug Sac. p.

5. Cæcilius Bassus with much confidence and exultation came to Nero, and told him, that "it was revealed to him in a dream, that within his ground in Africa was hid stupendous mass of treasure

(3.) Ibid. —(4.) Ibid. p. 285.

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