death; he slew his wife and three of his own sons; and, at the last, when he saw that he himself was at the point to die, he sent for all the nobles from every part of Judea, upon the pretence of some weighty occasion: and when they were come, he most earnestly desired of his friends, that being enclosed in the cirque by the soldiers, they should every man be slain, not for any crime they were guilty of, but, as he said, "That when he was dead, there might be a real, just and universal grief at his funeral, when there should be no family exempt from this calamity."

4. Tiberius the Roman Emperor showed himself a good prince, all the while that Germanicus and Drusus were alive: he seemed to have a mixture of virtue and vice while his mother was in being, but afterwards he broke out into all kind of infamous and execrable actions, proceed ing in his villanies to such a height, that at some times, through the torment of his own conscience, he not only repented of what he had done, but professed he was weary of his life.

5. Nero, Emperor of Rome, at his first coming to the throne, was a mirror of princes, as he was afterwards of monsters. The Emperor Trajan gave this eulogium of him; "That the best of princes came far short of the first five years of Nero; but he soon outlived his innocency; for he poisoned his brother; forced his master, Seneca, to bleed to death; ripped up the belly of his mother; set the city of Rome on fire, while he himself, on the top of a tower, sung and played the burning of Troy; and indeed abstained from no kind of excess in vice and wickedness, till having made the world weary of him, he was forced to become his own executioner."

6. C. Caligula, though very young, governed the empire the first and second year of his reign with most noble directions, behaving himself most graciously towards all men, whereby he obtained the love and good liking of the Romans, and the favour of his other subjects: but, in process of time, the greatness of his estate made him so forgetful of himself, as to decline to all manner of vice, to surpass

the limits of human condition, and to challenge to himself the title of divinity, whereby he governed all things in contempt of God.

7. Heraclius, the Eastern Emperor, in his old age, did much degenerate from the virtues of his youth: for in his first years his government was laudable, happy and fortunate; afterwards he fell to the practice of forbidden acts, dealing with soothsayers and magicians; he fell also into the heresy of the Monothelites; and made an incestuous marriage with Martina, the daughter of his brother; after which his fortune changed, the oriental empire began to decline, and he lost all Asia.

8. Bassianus Caraccalla was so courteous and pleasant, and obsequious (in his childhood) to his parents, his friends, and indeed unto all the people, that every man was the admirer of his piety, meekness, and good nature: but advancing further into years, he was so changed in his manners and behaviour, and was of so cruck and bloody a disposition, that many could scarcely believe it was the same person whom they had known in his childhood.

9. Poschier, in his penitential sermons, relates of a friar that always dined on a net, till he had obtained the Popedom, when he bad them take the net away, seeing the fish was taken. Another in his younger time, and mean estate, lived only upon bread and water, saying, that aqua & panis vita carnis; but being afterwards advanced, he changed his diet, and then said, Aqua & panis vita canis. A third there was, that being low, preached exceedingly against the pride, vices, and sins of men in place and power; but being afterwards raised to preferment, he changed his note: and to one that admired at it, he replied by prophaning the Scripture, "When I was a child, I spake

as a child."

10. Lucullus was as sufficient a warrior in all kind of service as almost any of the Roman captains, and so long as he was in action, he maintained his wit and understanding entire: but after he had once given himself up to an idle life, and sat mewed up, as it were, like an house

bird

bird at home, and meddled no more in the affairs of the Commonwealth, he became very dull, blockish and stupid, much like to sea-sponges after a long calm, when the salt water doth not dash upon them and drench them: so that afterwards this Lucullus committed his old age to be dieted, cured and ordered by Calisthenes, one of his freed-men, by whom it was thought he was medicined by drinks, and bewitched with other charms and sorceries, until such time as his brother Marcus removed this servitor from about him, and took upon himself the government and disposition of his person, during the remainder of his life, which was not long. 11. Maxentius, the son of Maximianus, having seized upon Rome, and driven out from thence Severus, the son of Galerius Augustus, shewed himself equal and merciful to all men, insomuch as that he recommended the Christians unto the care of the Governors of his provinces; but no sooner had he strengthened himself with wealth and quieted Italy, but he turned tyrant, a cruel persecutor of the Christians, and left no sort of impiety, intemperance, or villany, unpractised by

him.

CHAP. III.

Of the rigorous Severity of some Parents to their Children; and how unnatural others have showed themselves towards them.

EVERY thing is carried on by a natural instinct to the preservation of itself in its own being; and by the same law of nature, even the most brutish among the brutes themselves may be observed to retain a special kind indulgence and tenderDess towards their offspring. The monsters of the sea give suck to their young ones: but the extraordinary severities of some parents to their children may assure us, that there are greater monsters upon the land than are to be found at the bottom of the deep; and if some of these may extenuate their inhumanities by ĺ

know not what virtuous pretences, yet the barbarities of the rest must be wholly imputable to their savage nature and cruel disposition.

1. There was a peasant, a Mardonian by nation, named Rachoses, who being the father of seven sons, perceived the youngest of them played the little libertine and unbridled colt. He endeavoured to cure him with fair words and reasons: but finding him to reject all manner of good counsel, he bound his hands behind him, carried him before a magistrate, accused, and required he might be prosecuted as a delinquent against nature. The judge, who would not increase the discontent of this incensed father, nor hazard the life of this young man, sent them both to the king, which at that time was Artaxerxes. The father went thither, resolved to seek his son's death; where, pleading before the king with much fervor and forcible reasons, Artaxerxes stood amazed at his courage, "But, how can you, my friend," said he, "endure to see your son die before your face?"— He being a gardener by trade, "As willing," said he, " as I would pull leaves from a rank lettuce, and not hurt the root." The king threatened the son with death, if his carriage was not better; and perceiving the old man's zeal to justice, of a gardener made him a judge.

2. The following singular matter was discovered at Rome, May 21, 1788, which gave occasion to a variety of conjectures on education. A man who followed the business of a sieve-maker, a Grison by nation, having lost his wife, by whom he had a daughter aged two years, he retired to the upper story of a small house, where he shut the poor innocent in a little garret, leaving open to it only one small win, dow, through which he gave the child, food, without ever speaking to her, or giving her any instruction. In this manner she passed more than ten years. man then falling ill, was carried to the hospital of the Holy Ghost, where two days after he called a servant to him, and begged him to carry something to eat to his daughter, describing to him the place where she was shut up. The man went to the house with the victuals, where, after

The

searching

nius) had conspired with others to restore him, though by the death of the consuls. The conspiracy being detected by Vindicius, a servant; they, with the rest, were brought before the tribunal of the consuls, whereof Brutus their father was one: and when they were accufed, and their own letters produced against them, Brutus calling both his sons by their names; "Well," said he, "what answer make you to these crimes you are accused of?" When he had thrice asked them, and they remained silent, turning his face to the Lictors, "The rest is now," said he, "to be performed by you :" they straight catch hold of the young men, pull off their gowns, and binding their hands behind their backs, scourged them with rods. When others turned away their eyes, as not able to endure that spectacle, Brutus alone never turned away his head, nor did any pity change the wonted austerity and severity of his countenance: but look ing frowningly upon his sons, in the midst of their punishments, he so remained till he had seen the axe sever their heads from their shoulders, as they lay stretched out upon the ground; then leaving the rest to the doom of his colleage, he rose up and departed.

9. King Herod, after his inquiry about the time of the birth of the new King of the Jews, which the wise men of his nation said was then born; caused a number of innocent infants in Bethlehem, and the costs thereof, to be slain; and amongst the rest a young son of his own. Augustus Casar being certified of this at Rome, said, "It was better to be Herod's pig than his son " This he said in allusion to the custom of the Jews, who killed no hogs, as not being permitted to eat any swine's flesh. 10. The dukedom of Alsatia was heretofore divided amongst several counts. So many rulers did occasion great pressures upon the subjects; and especially one of these counts called Adolph, was more grievous than any of the rest: Hardivicus, therefore, one of the nobles, conspired against him, enters his castle and chamber by night, and advised him to yield himself: but he refused, and fought it

fought it out, till such time as he was killed by the conspirator. There was then with the count one of Hardivicus's own sons, who waited upon him; him also Hardivicus did kill at that time with his own hands: and this he did, as he said, "That none might suspect his son as be-" ing privy to the treason intended against his

master.

11. Deiotarus had a great number of sons, but he caused them all to be slain, save only that one whom he intended for his successor; and he did this for his sake, that the survivor might be the greater both in power and security.

12. Pausanias was a great captain of the Spartans: but being convicted by the Ephori of a conspiracy with the Persians against his country, he fled to the Tem ple of Minerva for sanctuary. It being unlawful to force him thence, the magis trates gave order to build a wall about it, that being guarded and kept in, he might be starved to death. As soon as his mother Alcithea understood this, though he was her only son, yet she brought the first stone, to make him there a prisoner till his death.

13. Antonius Venereus, Duke of Venice, caused his son Ludovicus to die in prison; for that being incensed with his mistress, he had caused divers pairs of horns to be fastened on the doors of her husband.

14. Robert de Beliasme delighted in cruelty, an example whereof he shewed on his own son, who being but a child, and playing with him, the father, for pastime, put his thumbs in his child's eyes, and crushed out the balls thereof.

15. Johanna Dougal, of Anderston, near Glasgow, being on a treaty of mar1iage with a man who objected on account of her having a daughter, who was between eight and nine years of age; in or der to get rid of this incumbrance, she led the innocent obstacle into the fields, and cut her throat to the neck bone with a common table-knife; but some people being near, and perceiving the scuffie, she was pursued and taken. The poor child having made some resistance, the barbarous mother had cut her quite across the

VOL. II.

fingers