IN the beginning of Affairs, the command of People and Nations was in the power of Kings, whom no popular am­bition, but an approved mo­deration amongst good men did advance unto the height of Majesty. The people were restrained by no Laws, the arbitrations of the Princes being in the place of Laws: It was their custome rather to defend then to enlarge the bounds of their Empires: Their own Countries were to every [Page 4] one the limits of their Kingdoms: Ninus King of the Assyrians was the first of all, who by an immoderate desire of reign, did change the an­cient, and (as it were) the hereditary custome of the Nations. He first made war upon his Neigh­bours, and subdued the people (as yet unexpe­rienced to resist) even to the bounds of Africk. There were indeed more antient in time, as Vex­ores King of Egypt, and Tanais King of Scy­thia, one of whom advanced into Pontus, and the other as far as Egypt; but their wars were remote, and not on their neighbouring Coun­treys: neither sought they domination for them­selves, but glory for their people: and being contented with victory, they abstained from the tyranny of command. Ninus with continued happiness confirmed the greatness of his acqui­red power; therefore the next Nations unto him being subdued, he by the access of new powers, did always march more strong against the others; and every last victory being the pro­moting of the following, he overcame all the Nations of the East. His last war was with Zoroastres King of the Bactrians, who is said first of all to have found out the art of Magick, and most diligently to have observed the begin­nings of the world, and the motions of the stars. He being slain, Ninus deccased himself, his son Ninus whom he had by Semiramis being not yet of age: she not daring to deliver up the [Page 5] Empire to a boy, nor openly to exercise the command of it her self, so many and so great Nations being scarcely to be obedient to a man, much less unto a woman, did counterfeit her self to be the son instead of the wise of Ninus, and a boy instead of a woman. They were both of a middle stature, their voyce but soft; their com­plexion and features of face, and the lineaments of their bodies were alike both in the mother and the son: she therefore with rayment cove­red her arms and thighs, and put a tire on her head; and that she might not seem to conceal any thing by her new habit, she commanded the people to be clothed in the same attire, which that whole Nation have ever since observed: Ha­ving thus counterfeiced her Sex, she was belie­ved to be a boy. After this she made her self famous by great atchievements, by the magni­ficence whereof when she thought she had o­vercome all envy, she c [...]nfes [...]ed who she was, and whom she had counterfeited; neither did this take away from her the dignity of her Go­vernment, but increased her admiration, that a woman not only surpassed her sex, but even men in vertue. She builded Babylon, and en­compassed it with a wall of Brick, being inter­lined with Rozen, Sand, Pitch, which in those places the earth doth everywhere cast up: There were many other famous acts of this Queen; for not content to defend the Bounda­ries [Page 6] of the Empire obtained by her husband, she not only added Aethiopia to it, but she carried the war into India, which besides her and Alexander the Great never any in vaded. At last when she desired to lie with her son, she was killed by him, having reigned two and for­ty years after Ninus. Her son Ninns being con­tented with the Empire purchased by his Pa­rents, did abandon the study of war, and as if he had changed his sex with his mother, he grew old in the company of Ladies, being seldome at any time seen by men; his Successors also fol­lowing his example, gave answers to the Nati­ons by their Agents. The Assyrians, who af­terwards were called Syrians, did possess the Empire for the space of one thousand and three hundred yeers. The last that reigned was Sar­danapalus, a man more dissolute then a woman. When his Lieutenant over the Medes, Arba­ctus by name, after great solicitation could hard­ly be admitted into his presence, which was vouchsafed unto none before him, he found him amongst a throng of Concubines spinning Pur­ple on a distaff, and distributing their tasks un­to them, and exceeding them all both in the ef­feminacy of his habit, the softness of his body, and the wanton glances of his eye: Which things observed, Arbactus being possest with indignation, that so many men should be sub­jet to such a woman, and that those who did [Page 7] bear arms should obey a Spinster, repairing to his companions, he did communicate to them what he beheld; he denied that he could pay Homage unto him who had rather be a woman then a man. A conspiracy therefore was plot­ted, and war was made on Sardanapalus, which he understanding, (not as a man who would defend his Kingdom, but as women at the fear of death) he looked first about where to hide him; then with a few, and those out of all military order, he advanced to the battell; being overcome, he retired himself into his Court, where a pile of wood being prepared and burning, he threw himself and his riches in­to the fire, in this only having imitated a man: After this Arbactus the Governor of the Medes, and the killer of the King, was made King himself; he translated the Empire from the Assyrians to the Medes: After many Kings the Kingdom did descend to Astyages by the order of Succession. He in a dream be­held a Vine to spring from the womb of his only daughter, by the branches whereof all A­sia was shadowed: The Magicians being as­ked their counsel, they made answer, that from the same daughter he should have a Grand­child whose greatness was presaged, and that he himself should lose the Kingdom: Being a­mazed at this answer, he gave his daughter in marriage neither to a Gentleman nor to a Ci­tizen, [Page 8] lest the nobility of the Father and Mo­ther should elevate the mind of his Grand­child, but to Cambyses a mean man, and one at that time of the obscure Nation of the Persians: And the fear of his dream being not thus taken off, he sent for his daughter being great with child, that the child should especially be killed in the sight of the Grandfather. The Infant be­ing born, was delivered to Harpagus (a parta­ker with the King in all his counsels) to be killed. He fearing that if the King being dead, and the Empire divolved to his daughter, because that Astyages had no male-child, she would take that revenge from the servant which she could not from the father for the murder of her son, did deliver the Babe to the Kings Shepheard to be exposed in the woods to the mercy of wilde beasts. It so fell out, that at the same time the Shepheard had a son born; his wife, hearing of the exposition of this royall Infant, did earnest­ly intreat her husband that the child might be brought home and shewed her: Returning to the wood he found a bitch close unto the In­fant giving suck unto him, and defending him from the birds and beasts: and being himself moved to compassion, with which he saw the bitch to be touched, he brought the Infant to his cottage, the bitch all the way sollicitously following him; as soon as the woman took him into her arms, the boy danced as to a note of [Page 9] musick; and there appeared in him such a vigor, and such sweet smiles of flattering innocence, that the wife of her own accord did desire the Shepheard to expose her own child for him, and to give her leave to bring up that boy either for his hopefulness, or for his fortune; and thus the condition of the little ones being changed, the one was brought up for the Shepheard, and the other exposed for the Grand child of the King. The name of the Nurse was afterwards called Spacon, for so the Persians do call a bitch. The boy being brought up amongst the Shepheards, received the name of Cyrus. Not long after being by lot chosen King amongst his Play­fellows, when by wantonness he punished those who appeared to be stubborn with stripes, a complaint was brought from the fathers of the boys to the King, disdaining that the sons of ingenuous men should be whipped like slaves by a servant of the Kings. The boy being sent for, and the reason of it demanded, when with a countenance nothing changed, he made an­swer, that he did as a King; the King admiring his constancy, did call to mind his dream, and the answer of the Magitians into his memory; and when his Physiognomy and likeness, and the time of his being exposed, and the con­fession of the Shepheard did all agree, he ac­knowledged him to be his Grandchild; and because he thought he was clear of his dream, [Page 10] the domination of Cyrus being exercised a­mongst the Shepheards, he only dismissed him with a check: but being angry with Harpagus in revenge of his preserved Grandchild, he slew his own son, and delivered him to his father to feast on; Harpagus for the present having dis­sembled his grief, deferred his hatred of the act to an occasion of revenge.

Some yeers after this, when Cyrus grew into years, Harpagus being admonished with his grief that he was childless, did write unto Cy­rus how he was made over by his Grandfather to the Persians, how he commanded him to be slain being a little one, how he was preserved by his benefit, how he had offended the King by it, and lost his own son: He exhorted him to prepare an Army and advance the ready way into the Kingdom, promising that the Medes should turn unto him; the Letter because it could not be carried openly, (the Kings Garrisons guarding all the avenues) was put into the belly of a disentrail'd Hare, and he Hare was delivered to a faithful servant to be carried to Cyrus into Persia; Nets were also gi­ven to him, that under the pretence of hunting the deceit might be more conceal'd. The Let­ters being read, he was commanded in a dream to take the same course, and was forewarned that whom he first should meet with on the next morning, he should take him as a Compa­nion [Page 11] in his enterprizes. Beginning his journey about the break of day, he met with the ser­vant of a Median, Sybaris by name, who late­ly had escaped out of prison; his pedigree be­ing demanded, he no sooner understood that he was a Persian, but his chains being knocked off, he took him as his companion, and return­ed to the City of Persopolis. The people being there called together, he commanded all of them to be ready with their hatchets to cut down the wood that shut up the way; which when they had cheerfully performed, he invited them on the next day to a dinner, and when he observ'd them made more cheerful, he demanded of them, that if a condition were propounded to them, which course of life they would make choice of, whether of yesterdays labor, or of this days dinner; as they all cryed out, Of this days dinner; you shall live all your lives, said he, like to yesterdays labor, as long as you obey the Medes; but if you will follow me, you shall lead a life like to your present feasting. All of them rejoycing thereat, he made war upon the Medians. Astyages forgetting what Harpa­gus had deserved of him, did commit the chief command of the war unto him; he no sooner received the Army, but presently did betray it unto Cyrus, revenging the cruelty of the King with the perfidiousness of revolt; which when Astyages understood, having from all places [Page 12] drawo together new forces, he advanced in person against the Persians, and the fight be­ing begun again with great resolution, whiles his men were in the height of the conflict, he placed a part of his Army on their Rear, and commanded them to fall on the flying souldiers with their swords as on enemies, & proclaimed to those in the Van with him, that unless they overcame, they should find no less resolute men on their Rear then in their Front; therefore he advised them to look to it, whether this Army was to be broken by them flying, or that by them fighting. Admonished by this necessity, his Army did fight with great resolution; there­fore when the Army of the Persians (being for­ced) began to give ground a little, their mo­thers and their wives did meet them, and desi­red them to return into the battel; the souldiers delaying to rally and to charge again, the wo­men pulling up their cloaths did shew them the nakedness of their bodies, and asked them if they would fly back into the wombs of their mothers or their wives; being restrained with this check, they returned into the battel, and having made a violent impression upon their enemies, they inforce those of fly from whom before they fled.

In this fight Astyages was taken, from whom Cyrus took nothing but his Kingdom, and deported himself to him rather like a [Page 13] Grandchild then a Conqueror; and because he would not return again unto the Medians, he made him Governor of the populous Nation of the Hyrcanians. This was the end of the Em­pire of the Medes, which continued three hun­dred and fifty years. Cyrus in the beginning of his Reign made Cybaris Governor of Per­sia, & gave him his sister to marriage, having ac­cording to his vision in the night delivered him from his chains, and made him his companion in all his enterprizes. But the Cities of the Me­dians which were tributary, thinking their con­dition changed with their Empire, did revolt from Cyrus, which was the cause and original of many wars unto him; but the greatest part of them being at last subdued, when he made war against the Babylonians, Croesus the King of the Lydians who in those days was famous for his treasure and rich moveables, did march to their assistance; but being overcome, and solici­tous for his own safety, he fled into his back Kingdom. Cyrus after this victory having setled the affairs in Babylon, did carry the war into Lydia, where he easily overcame the Army of Croesus; they being discouraged at the for­tune of the former fight, Craesus himself was taken; but by how much the war was of the less danger, by so much the milder was the vi­ctory. Croesus had his life, and some parts of his Patrimony, and the City Borce granted to [Page 14] him, in which although he lived not a Kingly life, yet it was next to Kingly Majesty. This clemency was no less profitable to the Conque­ror then the Conquered; for it being known that war was made against him, Auxiliaries came in such great numbers to him out of all Greece, as to extinguish a common fire; so great was the love which the Cities in general did profess to Croesus, that Cyrus would have pull'd a heavy war from all Greece upon himself, if he had determined any thing too cruelly against Croe­sus.

In the process of time Cyrus being imployed in other wars, the Lydians again rebelled, who being again overcome, their horses and arms were taken from them, and they were comman­ded to exercise voluptuous and effeminate arts and employments, by which means that indu­strious & heretofore powerful and warlike Na­tion being weakned by sloth and riot, did lose their antient vertue, and whom before Cyrus no wars could master, being fallen into luxury, ease and excess did overcome. The Lydians had many Kings before Croesus famous for ma­ny adventures; but the fortune of Candaules is to be compared unto none, who, when he made his wife the subject of all his discourse, whom he too much loved for the excellence of her beauty; and as if silence were the enemy of beauty, being not content with the tacit con­science [Page 15] of his pleasures, unless he revealed the secrets of wedlock, to add at last a proof to his asseveration, shewed her naked to his com­panion Gyges, by which fact he made both his friend his enemy, being allured to commit adul­tery with his wife, and her love being thus be­trayed to another, he estranged his wife from himself; for not long after the murder of Can­daules, was the reward of the marriage. The wife being [...]ndowred with the blood of her husband, delivered both her self and the King­dom of her Husband to her adulterer: Cyrus, Asia being overcome, and all the East brought into his power, did make war upon the Scy­thians. In that time Thomyris was Queen of the Scythians, who being not (like a woman) affrighted at the approach of her enemies, she suffered them to pass over the river of Araxes when she might have hindred them, conceiving that the event of the battell would prove more successful to her within the bounds of her own Kingdom, and that the flight would be more difficult to her enemies by reason of the inter­position of the river; Cyrus therefore when he had passed over his forces, having advanced a little further into Scythia, did there pitch his tents; on the next day dissembling a fear, as if he flying back had forsaken his Camp, he left behind him great store of wine, and of those things which were necessary for a Banquet, [Page 16] which when it was declared to the Queen, she sent her young son to pursue him with the third part of the Army. When he came to Cyrus Camp, the young man being unexperienced in the affairs of war, forgetting his enemies, and as if he came to feast and not to fight, did per­mit the Barbarians, unaccustomed to wine, to overburthen themselves with it, and the Scythi­ans were overcome with wine before they were overcome in war; for this being discovered, Cyrus returning by night did oppress them, not thinking of him, and put all the Scythians to the sword, and the son of their Queen. Thomy­ris (so great an Army being lost, and which is more to be lamented, her only son) did not pour forth her grief into tears that she was childless, but did reserve it into the comfort of revenge, and with the like policy of deceit circumvented her enemies insulting at their late victory; for counterfeiting a distrust of her strength, and retiring in some disorder, by reason of the loss received, she brought Cyrus into a straight be­twixt two hills, where her Ambuscado being lodged, she killed two hundred thousand of the Persians, with the King himself. In which victory this also was memorable, That there re­mained not a messenger of so great an over­throw. The head of Cyrus being cut off, the Queen commanded it to be cast into a tub fil­led with the blood of men, with this exprobra­tion [Page 17] of his cruelty, Satisfie thy self, she said, with blood which thou thirstedst after, and of which thou hast always been insatiable. Cy­rus did reign thirty yeers, being admirably re­markable not only in the beginning of h [...]s reign, but by a continual success through all his life. His son Cambyses did succeed him, who add [...]d Aegypt to his Fathers Empire; but being of­fended with the superstitions of the Aegypti­ans, he commanded the Temples of Apis, and of others of their Gods to be demolished; He sent also his Army to destroy the most fa­mous Temple of Ammon, which Army was lost, being overwhelmed with tempests, and with hills of sands. After this he saw in his sleep that his brother Mergides should reign; being affrighted at which vision, he de­layed not to commit parricide after sacriledge; for it was not easie for him to spare his own, who had committed violence against the Gods. To this so cruell an execution he selected one of his friends, a Magician called Comaris. In the mean time, he himself being grievously wounded in the thigh with his own sword drop­ping by chance out of his scabberd, died of that wound, and endured the punishment either of parricide commanded, or of sacriledge com­mitted. This being made known by a Mes­enger, Magus committed the villany before the death of the King was reported, and Mer­gides [Page 18] being killed, to whom the Kingdom was due, he sub [...]litu [...]ed his own brother Oropastes in his room; for he was like unto him in the fa­vor of face, and in the lineaments of body, and no man suspecting the deceit, Oropastes was made King in the stead of Mergides; which was reserved the more private, because amongst the Persians the person of the King under the awful pretext of Majes [...]ie is always concealed: Therefore the Magi to win unto them the favor of the people, did forbear the Tributes, and granted a vacation from wars for three yeers, that they might confirm the Govern­ment to them by favours and largesses which they had obtained by deceit, which was first suspected by Orthanes, one of the Nobility, a man of a most sharp apprehension; there­fore by his Agents he enquires of his daughter, who was one of the Kings Concubines, whe­ther the Son of Cyrus were King or no; who returned answer, that she did not know it her self, nor could learn it of another, because e­very one of them were shut up by themselves. He then commanded her to feel his head being asleep, for Cambyses had cut off both the ears of Magus. Being then assured by his daugh­ter that the King was without ears, he decla [...]ed it to the Nobility, and by the Religion of an Oath, did oblige them to the slaughter of this counterfeit King. There were only seven that [Page 19] were conscious of this confederacy, who imme­diately, that they might not have the leisure to repent and disclose the plot, with swords un­der their garments did repair to the Court. There those being killed whom they met with in the way, they came unto the Magi, who wanted not courage to defend themselves; for with drawn swords they killed two of the Conspirators; howsoever they were apprehend­ed by the greater number, one of whom be­ing fast in the arms of Gobrias, his companions doubting lest they should kill him in the stead of Magus, because it was acted in a dark place, he commanded them to make sure work of it, though the sword should pass even thorough his own body; but fortune so dis­posing, he was preserved, and Magus slain. The Magi being destroyed, great was the glo­ry which these Princes did obtain for the King­dome restored; but greater far was their glory in this, that when they were in debate on a Suc­cessor, they did so well agree upon it; for they were so equal in vertue and nobility, that the equality could hardly give an advantage to the people in the Election: They therefore of them­selves found out a way by which they might commit a triall of themselves both to Religion and to Fortune. They did all agree, that on an appointed morning they should on the break of day come every one on horseback before the [Page 20] Court, and he whose horse was first heard to neigh before the rising of the Sun, he should be King. For the Persians do believe the Sun to be the only God, and that horses are consecra­ted to him. Darius the son of Hystaspes was one of their Associates, who being desirous of the Kingdom, the master of his horse assured him, that if that were all which made the victo­ry doubtful, he should take no more care for it; therefore on the night before the appointed day he brought a Mare to the same place, and did let loose the horse unto her, conceiving by ea­gerness to the Venereal pleasure that it would so fall out, as indeed it did. On the next day when they all met on the prefixed hour, the horse of Darius, the place being known unto him, did presently neigh aloud, out of his desire to the Mare, and the other horses being dull and heavy, did give a happy auspication to his Ma­ster. So great was the moderation of the rest of the Nobility, that this auspication being heard, they rather leaped then alighted from their horses, and saluted Darius King. The people also following the approbation of the Princes, did constitute him King. Thus the Kingdom of the Persians being recovered by the vertue of seven of the most noble of the Princes, in so short a space, was conferred into the power of one. It is altogether incredible to consider with what a pious gallantry this [Page 21] was done, insomuch that they refused not to dye themselves to pluck the Kingdom from the Magi; howsoever Darius besides his perso­nableness and his vertue, worthy of the Em­pire, was of neer relation in blood to the anci­ent Kings; therefore in the beginning of his Reign, to confirm it with royal Nuptials, he took to wife the daughter of Cyrus, that so the Kingdom might not seem to be translated to a stranger, but to be returned into the Fami­ly of Cyrus. In process of time, when the Assyrians revolced, and had possessed them­selves of Babylon, and the King being in a pas­sion by reason of the difficulty of the Siege, Zopyrus one of the seven Confederates, gave command that his body at his own house should be torn all over with rods, and that his nose, lips, and ears should be cut off, and in this po­sture he unexpectedly presented himself to the King. Darius being amazed, and demanding the cause of so foul and deformed a violence, he softly informed him to what purpose it was done; and prepar'd with counsel for the design, he made haste to Babylon under the Title of a Renegado. There he shewed unto the peo­ple his dismembred body; He complained of the cruelty of the King, by whom he was o­ver-reach'd in his share of the Kingdom, not▪ by vertue, but by auspice; not by the judgment of men, but by the neighing of a horse; he ad­viseth [Page 22] them to take an example from his friends what his enemies must expect; he exhorts them not to trust unto their wals more then to their arms, and that they would suffer themselves to mannage the common war with fresh and doubled resolutions. The nobility and vertue of the man was known to them all, neither did they doubt of his fidelity, having the wounds on his body, and those marks of injury as the pledges of it. He was therefore made Cap­tain by the consent of all, and once and again the Persians on purpose giving back, he made with a small party successful encounters. At last, when the whole Army was committed to his charge, he betrayed it to the King, and re­duced the whole City into his power. After this, Darius made war against the Scythians, which shall be declared in the following vo­lume.

IN this relation of the atchievements of the Scythians which were of large extent and magnificence, we must derive their Pedi­gree from their first original; for they had beginnings as illustrious as was their Empire, and were no less famous under the govern­ment of women then of men; for the men did found the Kingdom of the Parthians and the Bactrians, and the women did erect the kingdom of the Amazons; if you consider the deeds done both by the men and women, it will be uncertain to determine which of their Sexes were most famous. The Nation of the Scythians was always esteemed to be of all most antient; although for a long time there was a contention betwixt the Scythians [Page 24] and Egyptians, concerning the Antiquity of their Nations. The Egyptians alleadging that in the beginning of all things, when other Lands did burn with the immoderate heat of the Sun, or were frozen with the extremity of the cold; so that they were not onely inca­pable to produce men, but could neither re­ceive or entertain any adventitious, before ha­biliments for their bodies were found out, to defend them from the violence of the heat or cold; or the intractableness of the places were made more tolerable by remedies procured by Art; Egypt was always so temperate, that neither the heat of the Summer, nor the cold of the Winter, did oppress her inhabitants. The soil was also so fruitful, that no place did more abound with nourishment for the use of mankinde; therefore it in reason may appear that men were first born there, where they could most easily be brought up. On the o­ther side, the Scythians conceived the temper of the Heavens to be an Argument of no force to prove Antiquity; for when Nature did first distribute the beginings either of heat or cold unto Countries, she straight way, not onely produced creatures to endure the con­stitution of that Clime, but divers kinds of Fruits and Trees, aptly qualified and suitable to the condition of the Countries. And by how much the Climate of the Scythians is [Page 25] more sharp then the Egyptians, by so much their bodies and their understandings are more solid. But if the world was ever entire in one piece, as it is now divided into many; or if in the beginning of things the deluge of waters did overwhelm the earth, or if the fire which begot the world did possess all things; the Scythians in every respect were most an­tient in their original: for if the fire first pos­sessed all things, which by degrees being ex­tinguished, gave place unto the earth; there was no place that was sooner severed from the fire then the North, by reason of the cold; as to this day it is to be seen, that no Clime is more stiffe with Winter; but Egypt and all the East received long afterwards their temper, seeing it doth still burn with the violent heat of the Sun. On the other side, if all Lands were heretofore drowned in the Deeps, no doubt but every highest part (the waters flowing down) was first uncovered, and that the water stayed for a long time in the lower Countries; and the sooner that any part of the earth became dry before the o­ther, the sooner it began to bring forth creatures. But Scythia is so high in her situation above all other Lands, that all Ri­vers which have their beginnings there, do flow down first unto the Maeotick, then into the Pontick, and afterwards into the Egyptian [Page 26] Sea, but Egypt (whose fences have been made at the care and charges of such great Kings, and so many ages, and provided with so many Banks against the force of the falling Rivers, and cut into so many Ditches, that when the waters are drayned from one place they are received into another; and yet for all this cannot be inhabited, unless Nilus too be excluded) cannot appear to pretend to any antiquity, which both by the exaggeration either of her Kings, and of Nilus drawing so much mud after it, doth seem of all Lands to be the last inhabited. The Egyptians being overcome with these Arguments, the Scythi­ans were always esteemed the more Antient. Scythia being stretch'd forwards towards the East, is inclos'd on one side with Pontus, and on the other with the Riphaean mountains, on the back of us with Asia, and the River Phae­sis. The men have no limits to their possessi­ons, they Till not the ground, nor have any house or shelter, or place of residence being accustomed to wander through waste and un­frequented places, as they drive and feed their Cattel: they carry their wives and chil­dren with them in Waggons: Which (being covered with the Hides of Beasts to defend them from the showers and tempests) they do use in the stead of houses. The Justice of the Nation is more beautified by the simplici­ty [Page 27] of their conversation, then by their Laws. There is no crime amongst them more capitall then theft; for having flocks and droves with­out any house or fence, what would be safe a­mongst them if it were lawful for them to steal? they despise gold and silver as much as other men do covet it. They feed on milk and honey. The use of Wool and of Apparel is unknown unto them; and because they are pinch­ed with continual cold, they are cloathed with the skins of wild beasts, great and smal.

This their continence hath endued them with such a righteousness of conversation, that they covet not any thing which is their neighbours; for there is the desire of riches where is the use of it; and it were to be wished that in other men there were the like moderation and absti­nence; surely not so many wars should be con­tinued through all Ages, almost over all Lands, neither should the sword devour more men then the natural condition of Fate. It is wonder­ful indeed, that Nature hath granted that to these, which the Grecians could not attain un­to by the repeated Instructions of their wise men, and the Precepts of their Philosophers, and that their refined Manners should stoop in the comparison to unrefined Barbarism; so much the ignorance of vices hath profited more in them, then doth in others the knowledge of vertue. The Scythians thrice attempted the chief com­mand [Page 28] of Asia, they themselves did always re­main either untouched or unconquered by the forces of others; by a shamefull flight they re­moved from Scythia Darius King of the Per­sians. They destroyed Cyrus with all his Ar­my, and in the same manner they overthrew Zo­pyron one of the Commanders of Alexan­der the Great, with all his power: They heard of, but not felt the arms of the Romans. They erected the Parthian and Bactrian Kingdoms, a Nation proud of war and labor. The strength of their bodies is great, they lay up nothing which they are afraid to lose, and where they are Conquerors, they desire nothing but glory. Vexores King of Aegypt was the first that made war upon the Scythians, having first by Ambassadors sent a Summons to them to obey him; But the Scythians being before adver­tised by their Neighbours of the coming of the King, made answer, We wonder that the Commander of so rich a People should so foolishly make war against poor men, having more reason to look to his affairs at home; for here the event of the war is uncertain, the re­wards of the Conquest are none, and the losses are apparent; therefore they would not attend till he should come to them, when in so great and rich an enemy there was more by them to be expected, and therefore of their own accord they were resolved to meet him. Their deeds [Page 29] did jump and overtake their words; and the King understanding that they marched towards him with so much speed, he turned his back up­on them, and his Army with all the Bag and Baggage being left behind, he timorously esca­ped into his Kingdom. The Marshes did hin­der the Scythians from the pursuit. Being re­turned from thence they subdued Asia, and made it tributary, a small tribute being imposed rather to shew their titular Command, then for any reward of their victory. Having stayed fifteen yeers in establishing the affairs of Asia, they were called back by the importunity of their wives, it being assured them by their Am­bassadors, that unless they did return with more speed, they would seek for issue from their Neighbours, nor ever suffer through their de­fault, that the Nations of the Scythians should have no name in posterity. Asia was tributary to the Scythians for the space of one thousand and five hundred yeers; Ninus King of the Assyrians did put a period to the tribute: But in this interval of time, two young men of roy­all blood amongst the Scythians, Plinos and Scolopythus being driven from their own Countrey by the faction of the Nobility, did draw with them a gallant and numerous train of young men, and sitting down in the coast of Cappadocia, neer unto the River of Thermodoon, they did inhabite the Themiscyrian Plains [Page 30] which they had conquered to obedience: Be­ing unaccustomed there for the space of many yeers to plunder their Neighbours, they were at last slain through treachery by the conspiracy of the people. Their wives when they obser­ved their punishment to be without children, to be added to their banishment, did put on arms, and first by removing, and afterwards by commencing wars, they did defend their own Territories. They also did forbear the desire of marriage with their Neighbours, calling i [...] slavery, not Matrimony; a singular example to Posterity. They did increase their Common­wealth without men, at the same time when they did desend themselves with the contempt of them; And lest some women should seem more happy then others, they killed those men who did remain alive amongst them, and after­wards prosecuted the revenge of their slaugh­tered husbands on the destruction of their Neighbors. Peace then being obtained by war, lest their Nation should fail, they mingled in copulation with their Neighbors; If any male-children were born, they were killed; They exercised their Virgins in the same way of education as they were bred up them­selves, not in sloth, or the manufactures of wool, but in arms, horses and hunting, the right breasts of every Infant Virgin being bu [...]ned off, that afterwards by not drawing of it home, it should [Page 31] not hinder the force of the arrow from the Bowe; from them they are called Amazons. They had two Queens, Marthesia and Lam­pedo, who, their forces being divided into two parts, being now renowned for their wealth, did make war by turns, carefully defending their Territories; and because authority should not be wanting to their successes, they declared that they were begotten of Mars. The grea­test part of Europe being conquered, they sei­zed on several Cities in Asia also, and having there builded Ephesus and many oher Towns, they sent home one part of their Army laden with a migh [...]y booty: The rest who stayed be­hind to desend what they had got in Asia, were overcome by the concourse of the Barbarians, and were killed with their Queen Marthesia; in whose place her daughter Orithya succeeded in the Kingdom, who besides her singular in­dustry in the war, hath been admirable through all Ages for the preservation of her Virginity. By her prowess so much same and glory was derived to the Amazons, that the King who imposed the twelve labours upon Hercules, did command him as a task impossible to bring him the Arms of the Queen of the Amazons; therefore he sayling thither with nine long ships did unexpectedly assault them, the youth of the Princes of Greece accompanying him. Two▪ sisters of the four did then govern the Kingdom [Page 32] of the Amazons, Antiopa, and Orithya; O­rithya was then employed in the wars abroad; When Hercules did steer towards the Ama­zonian shore, there were but a small and unu­sual number with Antiopa the Queen, fearing no invasion of an enemy; wherefore it came to pass, that a few being awakened by the sud­den Alarum had recourse to Arms, and became an easie victory to their Enemies; many were slain and taken prisoners, amongst whom were the two sisters of Antiopa; Menalippe who was taken by Hercules, and Hippolite by Theseus, who having mnde his prisoner his re­ward, did afterwards take her into marriage, by whom he begat Hippolitus; Hercules af­ter the victory restored Menalippe to her sister, and took for his reward the Armour of the Queen: and having performed what he was commanded, he returned to the King. But O­rithya returning, when she found that a war was made upon her sisters, and that the Prince of the Athenians was the chief actor, she per­swaded her companions to revenge, alledging that Pontus and Asia were subdued in vain, if they still lay open not only to the wars, but to the rapines of the Grecians. She desired aid of S [...]g [...]llus King of the Scythians, representing that she was of the same generation with him; she made apparan [...] to him the destruction long ago of all the husbands of the Amazous, the [Page 33] necessity that first made the women to take Arms, and the causes of the war, and that they had purchased by their vertue that the Scythi­ans should not be found to have women less industrious then were the men. He being mo­ved by the temptation of domestick glory, did send his son Penaxagoras to her aid with a very great body of horse. But some difference being occasioned before the Battel, she being a­bandoned of her Auxiliaries was overcome by the Athenians. Nevertheless she had the Tents of the Scythians for her receptacle, by whose assistance being untouch'd by other Nations she returned into her Kingdom. After her Pen­sithelea enjoyed the Kingdom, who bringing aid against the Greeks, and fighting in the Tro­jan war amongst the most valiant men, did give many demonstrations of her singular valour; but she being kill'd at last, and her Army con­sumed, those few that were left being nardly able to defend themselves against their Neigh­bours, did continue unto the time of Alexan­der the Great. Their Queen Minothaea or Thalestris having obtained of Alexander for thi [...]teen days together to enjoy his company to have issue by him, being returned to her King­dom, not long after was extinguished, and with her the whole name of the Amazons. But the Scythians in their third Asian expedition, when they were seven yeers absent from their wives [Page 34] and children, were received on their return by a war from their own slaves; for their wives being wearied with the long expectation of their husbands, and believing that they were not de­tained by the war, but destroyed, did marry their servants left behind to have a care of their cat [...]el, who being now armed did prohibit their Masters like strangers from their own Territo­ries, being returned with victory. The fight be­ing doubtful, the Scythians did admonish one another to change the manner of the war, and to remember that they did not encounter with enemies but with servants, and that they must not overcome now by the Law of Arms, but by Authority of Masters, and not use wea­pons but scourges; and the sword being laid by, rods and whips, and such other instruments of servile fear were to be provided; The Councel being approved, and all well appointed as it was prescribed, as they made their approach unto their enemies, they held out the lash unto them not thinking of it, which struck so sudden and deep impression into them, that they over­came them with the fear of stripes, whom they could not with the sword, and they fled away not like to conquered enemies, but a pack of fugi [...]ive slaves; whosoever of them were taken were fastned to the Cross. The women also being conscious to themselves, what they had done, did end their own lives with their own [Page 35] hands, some with knives, and some with hal­ters. After this the Scythians [...]ad peace untill the time of King Lanthin, against whom Da­rius King of the Persians, when he could not obtain his daughter in marriage, did commence a war, and invaded Scythia with seven hun­dred thousand armed men; but his enemies declining the fight, he fearing that the bridge of Ister being broken down, he should be stopped in his return, did timorously fly back, having lost ninety thousand men in the expedition, which brush in so vast a multitude of men was hardly reputed as any loss at all. After that, he subdued Asia and Macedonia, and over­came the Ionians in a fight at Sea; and it being known that the Athenians did bring aid to the Ionians against him, he turned all the force and fury of the war against them.

And now because we are come to the wars of the Athenians, which were managed not only beyond hope, but above belief; and because the acts of the Athenians were greater in ef­fect then their wishes, I will in a few words give you the original of them; and the rather because they rose not as other Nations from small beginnings to their heigh of glory; for they besides those additions which by degrees they purchased by their valour, did also much boast of their original; for they were not Aliens, neither did a collected Refuse of people give [Page 36] an original to this City, but they were born in the same Soyl which they did inhabit, and where was their seat there was also their origi­nal. They first taught the Manufacture of Wool, and the use of Oyl and Wine, and shewed to those who fed on Aco [...]ns, how to plough and sowe; without all doubt good letters and eloquence and the order of civill Discipline have Athens as their Temple. Be­fore the days of Deucalion they had Cecrops for their King, whom Antiquity did feign to be of two forms, he being the first who in mar­riage joyned the male unto the female. Cra­naus succeeded him, whose daughter Attis did give a name to the whole Countrey. After him Amphitrion reigned, who first of all did con­secrate the City to Minerva, and called it by the name of Athens. In his time a Deluge of water overwhelmed the greatest part of Greece; those only were preserved alive whom the tops of the mountains received into prote­ction, or who were transported in ships to Deu­calion King of Thessaly, for which cause he is said to restore mankind. By order of Successi­on the Kingdom descended to Erictheus, in whose Reign the sowing of Corn was found out by Triptolemus at Eleusinum, for the ho­nor of which gift were the mighty devotions ce­lebrated by women, called Eleusina sacra. Ae­geus, the father of Theseus, possessed also the [Page 37] Kingdom of Athens, from whom Medea de­parting being divorced from him, by reason of the full age of her Step-son, did repair to Col­chos with her son Meaus, begotten by Aege­us. After Aegeus, Theseus; and after These­us, Demophoon (who assisted the Greeks a­gainst the Trojans) did possess the Kingdom of Athens. There were some old grudges betwixt the Athenians and the Dorians, which the Dorians intending to revenge, asked counsel of the Oracle concerning the event of the war; it was answered, that the Dorians should have the better if they killed not the King of the Athenians: When the Armies therefore were to joyn in Battel, the Dorian Souldiers received Orders above all things to be careful of the person of the Athenian King; Codrus at that time was King of the Atheni­ans, who (the answer of God, and instructions of the enemies being understood) having put off his royal habiliments came all in rags (car­rying on his neck a bundle of vines) into the Camp of the Dorians, where in the throng of those that did oppose him he was slain by a souldier whom he cunningly wounded with his hook. The body of the King being known, the Dorians marched back without any engage­ment at all: By this means the Athenians were delivered from the war by the vertue of their King, who for the safety of his Country, [Page 38] did devote himself to destruction. After Co­drus there was no King of Athens, which is added to the memory of Codrus his name. The administration of the Commonwealth was transmitted to yeerly Magistrates; but the City had then no Laws at all, because the will of the Rulers did pass for Laws. Solon there­fore was chosen, a man famous for Justice, who with his Laws did as it were erect a new City, and did deport himself with so great a temper between the Senate and the People, that when he propounded something for one order, which might seem to displease the other, he received equall thanks from both. Amongst many ex­cellent things of this man, this doth most prefer it self to observation. The Athenians and the Megarans did contend with arms for the pro­priety of the Isle of Megara, almost to the ut­ter destruction of both parties. After many overthrows, it began to be a capital offence a­mongst the Athenians, if any one had but pro­pounded the vindication of their right to the Island; Solon being therefore perplexed, left by his silence he should be unprofitable to the Commonwealth, or by his speech he should in­danger his life, he disguised himself into a madness, by the liberty whereof he could not only speak, but do things that were prohibi­ted. In a torn unfashioned habite, just like a mad man, he came into the publick, where a [Page 39] great assembly being drawn together, that the better he might dissemble his counsell, he began to perswade the people in verses unac­customed to him, to that which was forbidden, and so possessed the minds of them all, that im­mediately war was decreed against the Mega­rans. In the mean time the Megarans being mindful of the war which was made against them by the Athenians; and fearing lest they should seem in vain to have attempted war a­gainst them, did repair to their ships, having a design to oppress by night the Athenian Ma­trons at their Eleusin devotions. Which being understood, Pisistratus Captain General of the Athenians, did lay an Ambush for them, the Mat [...]ons being commanded to celebrate their Devotions with their accustomed noise and clamor on the very approach of their enemies, that they might not perceive they were disco­vered; and Pisistratus having unexpectedly set upon them, as they came down from their ships he easily overcame them; their Fleet being ta­ken, he immediately did set sails for Megara, the women above the Decks being mixt with the men, that they might pretend a show of the captive Matrons. The Megarans when they observed the form and building of the ships, and the booty that was purchased, ran down to the shore to meet them, where being all slain, Pisistratus became almost Master of the Ci­ty [Page 40] it self. Thus the Megarans by their own de­ceit did give a victory to their enemies; but Pisistratus as if he overcame for himself, and not for his Countrey, did by subtility invade the soveraign Authority; for having afflicted himself at home with voluntary stripes, his body being torn, he came forth into the Market­place, and an Assembly being called, he shew­ed his wounds unto the people; be complained of the cruelty of the Rulers, by whom he dis­sembled that he suffered this opprobrious in­jury; tears were added to his complaints, and by his envious words the credulous people were incensed; he affirmed that he was hated by the Senate for his love unto the people; and ob­tained a Guard for the preservation of his per­son; by the power of whom being established in his tyranny he reigned three and thirty yeers. After his death, Diocles one of his sons, having ravished a Virgin, was killed by the brother of the Maid. His other brother Hippias being setled in his fathers Government, did command the killer of his Brother to be apprehended, who when by torments he was inforced to name those who were guilty with him of the murder, he named all the friends of the Ty­rant, who being put to death, the Tyrant de­manded if there were any yet remaining of them; he answered, there are no more whom I now desire to have dead, but the Tyrant him­self; [Page 41] by which words, after the revenge of his Sisters chastity, he shewed himself to be a Con­queror of the Tyrant himself. By his vertue the City being admonished of her liberty, Hip­pias at last was driven from his Kingdom into banishment, who repairing to the Persians, did offer himself as a Guide unto Darius in his war against his Countrey. Therefore the Atheni­ans (the approach of Darius being understood) desiring aid of the Lacedemonians, a City then in friendship with them, and finding that by reason of some Religion they demanded the respite of four days, their assistance being not regarded, with ten thousand of their own Citi­zens, and a thousand Auxiliaries of the Pla­tensians, they advanced into the fields of Ma­rathon, against six hundred thousand of their Enemies; Miltiades was Captain Gene [...]al of the war, and the Author, not expecting the Lacedemonian aid; who was armed with so great a confidence, that he believed there was more advantage in the swiftness of the march, then in the assistance of his friends. Great therefore was the cheerfulness and courage of their minds, which they shewed in their eager running to the battel, insomuch that when there was the space of a mile betwixt both Armies, in full speed, and before the flight of their arrows, they came up unto the faces of their enemies; neither was success wanting to [Page 42] their boldness; for they fought with so much courage, that you would take these to be men, and the other sheep.

The Persians being overcome, did fly into their ships, many of which were sunk, and ma­ny taken.

In this fight so great was the prowess of every one, that it is hard to judge whose praise was the greatest: But the glory of young Themi­stocles did apparently shine forth amongst the rest, in whom his Imperatorious Honours to come were easily to be seen. The glory also of Cynegirus an Athenian Souldier, is celebra­ted by the praises of many Writers, who after innumerable slaughters in the fight, when he had driven the flying enemies to their ships, he took hold of a ship laden with men with his right hand, nor did he let loose his hold till he lost that hand: His right hand being cut off, he fastened upon the ship with his left hand; and having lost that also, he took hold of the ship with his mouth; so great was his courage, that being not wearied with so many slaughters, nor (both his hands being lost) being yet over­come, at the last thus dismembred as he was, and like an inraged wild beast, he fought even with his teeth. In that battel the Persians lost two hundred thousand men, besides those who perished at Sea. Hippias the Athe­nian Tyrant was also slain, the Author and [Page 43] Promoter of the war, the Gods the revengers of his Countrey, taking punishment of his treachery. In the mean time Darius when he would renew the war, died in the very pre­paration of it, many children being left begot­ten both before and after his reign. Artobaza­nes being eldest by the priviledge of his age did challenge the Kingdom, which the right and order of birth and nature her self doth al­low to the Nations: But Xerxes did make his plea not in relation to order, but to the happiness of his birth; It was true indeed, he said, that Artobazanes was the first-born, but when Darius was a private man; but he was born when Darius was a King; therefore his brothers who were born to Darius being but a private man, could not challenge to themselves the Kingdom, but only that private Fortune which Darius had before he was a King; He alledging that he was the first whom his Father being a King, did beget to inherit the King­dom. To this it was added that Artobazanes was born when not only his father but his mother also were of a private Fortune: but he was born his mother being a Queen, and that he never saw his father but when a King; more­over that King Cyrus on his mothers side was his Grandfather, not only the heir but the ere­ctor of so great an Empire: Therefore if the Father had left both Brothers endued with e­quall [Page 44] right, yet he should carry it, both by the right of his Mother, and his Grandfather. This strife, with concording affections, they did refer to their Uncle Artaphernes, as to a Domestick Judge, who, the cause being exa­mined, made Xerxes King; and so brotherly was the contention, that neither the Conqueror did insult, nor the conquered repine; and in the very height of the contestation they sent pre­sents to one another, and had not only undi­strustful but delightful feastings together. The Judgement it self was also given without arbi­trators, and without reproaches; so much more moderately did brothers then decide great Kingdoms amongst themselves, then they do now share but small Patrimonies. Xerxes made preparations five yeers together for the Grecians; which when Demaratus King of the Lacedemonians, who lived as a banished man in the Court of Xexes, understood, being more friendly to his Countrey after his flight, then to the King after his benefits, lest they should be oppressed by an unexpected war, he did certifie the particulars to the Magistrates in Tables of wood, and covered the Letters with wax spread over them, that neither the Chara­cters might be read, which would have bin if they had nothing to cover them, nor the fresh wax betray the deceit; he then gave them to a faithful servant to be carried, and did command [Page 45] him to deliver them to the Magistrates of Sparta, which being brought unto them, it held them long in suspence at Lacedemon; for they saw nothing written, and yet believed that they were not sent in vain, and that the business was so much the greater, by how much it was the more concealed. The men not knowing what to conjecture, the sister of King Leonides found out the design of the writer; the wax ther­fore being taken off, the advertisements of the war were discovered. Xerxes had by this time armed seven hundred thousand men out of his own Dominions, & had three hundred thousand sent to his assistance, that it is not unworthily recorded that Rivers were drank up, and that all Greece was hardly able to contain his Ar­my; he was also said to have one hundred thousand Ships. To this so great an Army a Ge­neral was wanting; for if you look upon the King, you will rather extol his wealth then his conduct, of which there was such abundance in his Kingdom, that when Rivers were consu­med with his multitudes, yet his Exchequer was still full. He was always seen the last in the fight, and the first in the flight; humble in dangers, and when the occasion of fear was over, one high-minded. Before the trial of the War, as if he was Lord of Nature her self, by the confidence o [...] his numbers he levelled moun­tains and raised the valleys all to one height; [Page 46] some Seas he covered with Bridges, and con­tracted others, for the advantage of the Say­lors. His entrance into Greece as it was ter­rible, so was his departing foul and shamefull; for when Leonides King of the Lacedemonians had secured the Straights of Thermopylae with four thousand men, Xerxes in contempt of their powers, commanded those of his souldi­ers to encounter them, whose kinsmen were slain in the Marathonian Plains, who whiles they began to revenge their friends, were the beginning of the overthrow; and these being followed by an unprofitable multitude, a grea­ter slaughter was occasioned. Three dayes to­gether there they fought, to the grief and indig­nation of the Persians; on the fourth, when it was reported to Leonides, that the tops of the Straights were possessed by twenty thousand of the enemie, he exhorted his associates to drawback, and to reserve themselves for some better service for their Countrey: He would try his own fortune, he said, with the Lacede­monians, being more indebted to his Country then to his life; the residue were to be preser­ved for the general defence of Greece. The command of the King being heard, the rest were dismissed, and the Lacedemonians only remained. In the beginning of the war, coun­sell being asked of the Oracle of Delphos, it was answered, that either the King of the La­cedemonians, [Page 47] or the City must fall; therefore when King Leonides did set forth to the War, he so confirmed the resolution of his own soul­diers, that they all knew he advanced with a mind resolved to dye. He therefore did possess himself of the Straights, that he might overcome with a few with greater glory, or fall with less dammage to the Common-wealth. His Com­panions therefore being dismissed, he exhorted the Spartans to remember that howsoever did they fight, they must fall, and that they should take heed lest they might seem to have more couragiously stood still, then to have fought; therefore he said they were not to attend to be invironed by their enemies, but as soon as night should administer the opportunity to fall unex­pectedly upon them secure, and hugging an abusing joy: The Conquerors, he said, could never dye more honourably then in the Tents of their enemies. It was no hard task to per­swade those who were resolved to dye: they presently buckled on their Arms, and six hun­dred men did beat up the Quarters of five hun­dred thousand; immediately they advanced to the Pavilion of the King to dye with him, or if they vvere over-povvered to dye especially in his tent and sight. The Alarum vvas heard o­ver all the Camp. The Lacedemonians after they could not find cut the King, did fly up and dovvn as Conquerors over all the Camp, [Page 48] and killed or overthrew whatsoever did oppose them, as knowing that they did not fight in hope of victory, but to revenge their own deaths. The fight was continued from the be­ginning of night unto the greatest part of the next day; at the last not overcome, but being weary with overcoming, they fell upon the great heaps of the carka [...]es of their enemies. Xerxes having received two overthrows by land, was determined to try his fortune on the Sea. But Themistocles the General of the Athenians, when he understood that the Ionians, against whom the King of the Persians had underta­ken this war, had set forth to Sea with a Na­vy to his assistance, he resolved to sollicite them to take part with him; and because he could not have the opportunity to confer with them, he provided that Symbols should be provided and left written on the stones, by which they were to sail, in these words: What madness hath possessed you, O Ionians? What crime is this which you undert [...]ke? Did you before make war upon us your Founders, and do you now intend it again upon us your Defenders? Did we therefore build your Walls, that they should be those who must overthrow our own? What, was not this the cause that at first made Dari­us, and now Xerxes to make war against us, be­cause we would not forsake you rebelling? Come away from that Siege into our Tents, or [Page 49] if you think this Counsel not safe, the battels being joyned, withdraw your selves by de­grees, keep back your Oars, and depart from the War. Before the Battel at Sea vvas fought, Xerxes had sent four thousand men to plunder the Temple of Apollo at Delphos, as if he vvould vvage vvar not vvith men onely, but also vvith the Immortal Gods: vvho vvere all destroyed vvith tempests and thunders that he might understand that the greater the anger of the Gods is, by so much there is no povver of men that is able to stand against them. After this he set on fire Thespiae and Placeae, and Athens, destitute of inhabitants; and be­cause vvith his svvord he could not destroy the men, he did devour their houses with fire; for the Athenians after the battel of Marathon (Themistocles forevvarning them that the victory over the Persians vvould not be the end, but the cause of a greater vvar) did build tvvo hundred ships, and having asked Counsel of the Oracle on the approach of Xerxes, the an­swer was, that they should defend themselves with walls of wood. Themistocles conceiving that by the Oracle, a defence of shipping was [...]mplicitely understood, did perswade them all, that their Country was their confines, and not their walls, and that the City did consist not in the houses but the Citizens; therefore they should better commit their safety to their ships, [Page 50] then to their City, and that God was the Au­thor of this counsel. This counsel being ap­proved of, and the City being abandoned, they lodged their wives and children with their most precious moveables in the close Islands; they themselves being armed, did repair unto their ships. There were other Cities also that fol­lowed the example of the Athenians. When all their Fleet was united and resolved for a Sea-fight, and had possessed themselves of the Straights of Salamis, that they might not be circumvented by the multitude of Xerxes Fleet, there did arise a dissention amongst the Princes, who when they would forsake the war to de­fend their own possessions, Themistocles fear­ing that by the departure of his confederate [...] his strength should be diminished, did acquaint Xerxes by a faithful servant, that he might now with ease take all Greece, being drawn up into one place. But if the strength of the Cities, which we [...]e now marching homeward should be scattered he must pursue after then one by one with greater labor.

By this artifice, he prevailed upon the King to give a sign and sound to the battel: The Greeks also being busied at the advance of their enemies, did prepare for the fight with their [...] ­nited powers. The King in the mean time (one part of his ships not far from him) did stand upon the shore as spectator of the fight [Page 51] but Artemisia Queen of Halicarnassus, who came to the aid of Xerxes in her own person, did fight most gallantly amongst the foremost of the Commanders; for as you might here behold a womanish fear in a man, so in a wo­man you might see a manly courage. When the fight was doubtful, the Ionians according to the Instructions of Themistocles, did by de­grees with-draw themselves from the fight, whose revolt did alter the resolution of their companions; therefore looking round about them where to fly, they were at a stand, and presently after being overcome, they were all put to slight. In the violence of this fear, ma­ny ships were drowned, and many sunk, and many dreading as much the anger of their King as the fury of their enemies, did steal a­way into Persia. Xerxes being amazed at this overthrow, and uncertain what to resolve upon, Mardonius came unto him, and did ex­hort him that he would return into his own Kingdom, lest the report of the unprosperous war might occasion some sedition at home; and as the custome is, making the best of all things, he desired that he would leave to him the command of three hundred thousand of selected men, with which he would eithet to his glory overcome all Greece, or if the event fell otherwise, he should fall before the enemies without the infamy of his Master. The coun­sell [Page 52] being applauded, the Army was delivered to Mardonius, and the King himself intend­ed to lead back the remainder of them into his own Kingdom. But the Grecians having no­tice ot the Kings retreat, did take counsell to break down the bridge, which Xerxes as if he had been Conqueror of the Sea, had made at Abydos, that his passage being hindred, he should either be destroyed with his Army, or through desperation of success, be inforced to sue for peace. But Themistocles fearing lest the enemies being shut up in Greece, it might raise their desperation into resolution, and en­force them with their swords to open that way which was obstructed to them; he declared that there already were too many Enemies left in Greece behind, and that their numbers ought not to be increased by obstructing them in their return. When he could not prevail by his counsell, he sent the same servant to Xerxes, and did thoroughly inform him of it, and per­swaded him by a swift flight to make sure his passage. He being amazed at the information of the Messenger, left all his sould [...]ers to be commanded by his Captains, and himself with a small retinue did make all haste unto Abydos: Where when he found the bridge to be loose and broken by the winters stroms, in a great feare he passed over in a Fishers Sceph. It was a sight worthy the observation, and in the esti­mation [Page 53] of things to be admired for the various­ness of human condition, to behold him hiding himself in a small vessel, whom not long be­fore scarce all the Sea could contain: and that he should be without the attendance of ser­vants, whose armies by reason of their multitude were a burden grievous to the earth to bear them. Neither had his Armies by Land which he assigned to his Captains, a more happy expe­dition; for to their daily travell (there being no rest to the fearfull) famine was joyned, and the want continuing many days did bring the Plague upon them; and so great was the noy­somness of the dying, that the High-ways were filled with Carkases; and Beasts, and Birds of Prey did follow the Army, being tempted by the multitude of the Carkases. In the mean time Mardonius did sack Olynthus in Greece, and did sollicite the Athenians to the hope of peace, and to the friendship of the King, pro­mising them to build again their Citie that was burned, and to make it greater then before; when he found that they would sell their liber­ty at no price, having burned what he began to rebuild, he marched with his Army into Baeo­tia; thither the forces of the Greeks did follow him, which consisted of one hundred thousand men.

The battell there being fought, the fortune of the King was not changed with the Gene­ral [Page 54] Mardonius being overcome, did fly as out of a wrack at Sea, with a few men; his tents full of Princely wealth were taken, and the Persian gold being divided amongst them, the luxury of riches did there first seize upon the Grecians. On that day in which the forces of Mardonius were overthrown, there was a fight also at Sea against the Persians un­der the Mountain of Mycale in Asia. There before the engagement, when the two Fleets stood opposite to one another, it was with confidence reported to both Ar­mies that the Grecians had obtained the Victory, and that the Army of Mardonius was utterly overthrown; so great in this was the celerity of Fame, that when in the morning the Battell was fought in Baeotia, in a few hours through so many Seas, and so many hills and valleys, it was brought by neon into Asia.

The war being ended, there was a counsell called concerning the rewards of the Cities; and by the judgement of all, the vertue and the prowess of the Athenians was prefer­red above the rest, and by the attestation of all the Cities, Themistocles being judg­ed to be the most meritorious amongst the Commanders, did increase the glory of his Country.

The Athenians therefore being enlarged [Page 55] both by the rewards of the War, and by the glory of it, did begin again to build their City; and because their walls were stronger, and of a greater compass then they were before, they began to be suspected to the Lacedemonians, wisely fore-seeing that if the Ruines of their Citie could give them so great additions, what would they now purchase, the City being enlarged and wal­led about? They therefore did send Ambas­sadors to admonish them, not to build again Fortifications for their Enemies, and the Receptacles of a War to come. Themisto­cles observing that they envyed the increasing glory of their City, yet determining not to deal abruptly with them, did answer the Ambassa­dors that they would send messengers of their own to Lacedemon, who should debate with them concerning the same subject. The Spar­tans being dismissed, he exhorted the Atheni­ans to make haste of the work, and not long after he did go himself as an Ambassador to Lacedemon; and sometimes in his journey counterfeiting an indisposition in his body, some­time accusing the sloth of his fellow-Ambassa­dors, without whom nothing could be conclu­ded, he from day to day so long delayed the time, that he gave them at Athens the leisure to accomplish the work.

[Page 56] In the mean time it was told the Spartans that the buildings at Athens were almost fini­shed, whereupon they sent Ambassadors a­gain to look upon the work. Themistocles hearing of it, did write unto the Magi­strates at Athens to keep the Ambassa­dors of Lacedemon in safe custody, and to detain them as a pledge, lest any thing should be determined too cruelly against himself. He then addressed himself to the Senate of the Lacedemonians, where he declared that Athens was fenced round about, and that they were able now to sustain a War, not only by their Walls, but by their Armies: And if for that they would make him suffer, he told them that their Ambassadors were detained at Athens as a pledge of his safety. He then did sharply reprehend them, for that they sought to increase their own power not by the strength but by the weakening of their Associates. Being dismissed to Athens, he was received by the Citizens as if Spar­ta had been triumphed over. After this, the Spartans (that their Army might not be corrupted with sloth, and to revenge the War which the Persians had made on their City and on Greece) did of their own accord make incursions into, and plun­dred [Page 57] the Confines of Persia. They chose Pausanias to be General both for their own Army, and the Army of their Associates, who for his Conduct affected the whole Kingdom of Greece, and contracted with Xerxes for the marriage of his daughter, (a reward of his treachery;) to which pur­pose he restored the prisoners, that by some benefit he might oblige to him the belief of the King. He also wrote to Xerxes, that whatsoever Messengers he sent unto him, he should put them to death, lest the nego­tiation betwixt them should be betrayed by their tongues; but Aristides the Cap­tain of the Athenians, being chosen his Companion in the War, by crossing the designs of his Colleague, and wisely provi­ding for the imminent danger, did find out the Treason, and not long after Pausanias be­ing accused was condemned.

Xerxes when he found the plot discovered, made War again upon the Grecians, who elected for their Captain Cimon the A­thenian, the Son of Miltiades a young Gentleman, the example of whose piety did declare his greatness to come; for to give him Funerall Rites, he redeemed the body of his Father out of prison, where he dy­ed, being accused to have purloined from [Page 58] the publike Treasury, and took the Bonds upon himself; neither did he deceive in war the expectation of his Friends; for being not inferiour to the valour of his Father, he enforced Xerxes to fly back with fear into his Kingdom, being overcome both by Sea and Land.

XErxes the King of the Persians, the terror before of the Nati­ons, the wars being unfortunate­ly mannaged abroad, began at last to be despised at home; for the Majesty of the King daily diminishing, his Lieutenant Artabanus having flattered himself with the hope of the King­dom, did come in an evening with seven sons he had into the Court, which by the interest of friendship lay always open to him, where having slain the King, he by policy did attempt to take away his sons, who opposed his desire; [Page 60] and not mistrusting Artaxerxes being very young, he reported that the King was slain by his own Son Darius, that he might the sooner enjoy the Kingdom: He perswaded Artaxerxes by Parricide to revenge Parri­cide, and coming to the house of Darius be­ing asleep they killed him, as if being guilty he had coun [...]er [...]e [...]ted sleep on purpose.

After this, when Artabanus saw that one of the Royall Issue was yet remaining, and did out-live his villany, and withall fea­red the contention of the Nobility concerning the possession of the Kingdom, he assumed Baccabassus to be a partner of his co [...]nsells, who being contented with his present condi­tion, did reveal to Artaxerxes how his Father was slain, and his Brother murder­ed upon a false suspicion of Parricide, and that Treason was plotted against him­self.

This being understood, Artaxerxes fear­ring the number of the sons of Artabanus, did command that his Army should be mu­stered on the next day, that he might take into his observation the number of his soul­diers, and their particular industry and ex­perience in their exercise of Arms: There­fore when amongst the rest Artabanus was present and in Arms, the King dissembled [Page 61] that his Coat of Mayl was not fit for him, and desired Artabanus to make an ex­change, who being busie to disarm himself, and unprepared for defence, the King did run him through with his sword.

After this, he commanded the sons of Ar­tabanus to be apprehended; and at once this excellent young man did revenge the slaugh­ter of his Father, the death of his Brother, and delivered himself from treachery. Whiles these things were thus carried in Persia, all Greece being divided into two parts by the Lacedemonians and Athenians, they from Forraign Wars did convert their Swords in­to their own bowels: Therefore of one peo­ple there were constituted two bodies, and men heretofore of one and the same Camp, were now divided into two hostile Armies. The Lacedemonians did draw to their par­ty the common Auxiliaries heretofore of both Cities; but the Athenians being as renowned for their Antiquity as their Acts, did trust in their own strength; and so these two most powerful people of Greece, equal by the Institutions of Solon, and the Laws of Lycurgus, did throw themselves into a War through the emulation of greatness. Lycurgus when he succeeded his brother Polybites King of Sparta, and could challenge the Kingdom [Page 62] for himself, did with great fidelity restore it to his son Charilaus (born after his Fathers death) when he came unto age, to give an example to Posterity how much the Rights of Piety a­mongst all good men should prevail above the temptation of riches; therefore in the Paren­thesis of time whiles the Infant grew up, he be­ing his protector, made Laws for the Spartans; Laws not more famous for their justice, then for the example of the Law-giver; for he or­dained nothing in any Law for others, of which he first of all had not made a rule of it in him­self. He confirmed the people in their obedience to their Governors, and the Governors to Ju­stice in the execution of their places of Com­mand. He perswaded parsimony to all, belie­ving that the labors of the war would be more easie by the daily exercise of frugality; he com­manded all things to be bought not with mo­ney but with exchange of wares; he took a­way the use of Gold and Silver as the occasion of all wickedness; he divided the administra­tion of the Common-wealth by orders; he gave to their Kings the power of the Wars; to the Magistrates the Seats of Judgement and annuall Successions; to the Senate the Custo­dy of the Laws; to the People the substitu­ting of the Senate, and the power of creating such Magistrates whom they pleased; he made [Page 63] an equal division of Land to all, that their Patrimonies being alike, no man might be made more powerful then his Neighbour; he commanded all men to keep their feasts in pub­like, that no mans riches or his luxury should be concealed. It was permitted to young men to wear but one suit of Apparel during the space of one whole year, and that no man should be clothed better then another, nor feast more voluptuously, lest the imitation should be turned into luxury. He instituted that the boys at fourteen years of age should not be brought up in the City, but in the field, that they might lay forth their first yeers not in riot, but in labour: They were permitted neither bed nor pillows to lie upon, nor to eat any warm things, nor to return into the City un­till they were at mans estate. He ordained that the Virgins should be married without porti­ons. He commanded that wives should not be chosen for their money; for he said that hus­bands would more severely observe the Laws of Matrimony when they were obliged by no re­spects of Dowry. He ordained that the great­est reverence should not be given to men rich or powerful, but to those who were of the grea­test age; and to speak the truth, age had no­where in the world a more venerable respect; and because their manners before being disso­lute, these Laws at first might appear to be [Page 64] harsh and hard, he dissembled that Apollo of Delphos was the Author of them, and that he received them from his Instructions, that so the fear of Religion might take away all tediousness from the obedience of them. Last­ly, that he might give eternity to his Laws, he did oblige the City by oath that they should change nothing in their Laws till he returned, and counterfeited that he would go to the O­racle at Delphos to consult what should be taken away or added to them. But he travel­led not to Delphos, but to Creet, and lived there in perpetuall banishment, and dying he com­manded that his bones should be cast into the Sea, left being brought to Lacedemon they should think themselves discharged of the Reli­gion of their Oath, and dissolve their Laws. With these Laws the City 4o flourished in a lit­tle time, that when they made war with the Messenians for defiling their Virgins in a so­lemn sacrifice of the Messenians, they bound themselves by a great Oath that they would never return untill they had levelled Messenia to the ground; so much did they promise to themselves either by their strength, or by their fortune; therefore when contrary to their con­fidence they were detained ten yeers in the siege of the City, and after so long a widdow­hood were called back by the complaints of their wives, they fearing that this continuation [Page 65] of the war they should endammage themselves more then the Messenians; for what yong men the Messeninas lost in the War, could be sup­plyed again by the fruitfulness of the women; but unto them their losses in the War were day­ly, and the Husbands being absent, there could not be any fruitfulness of their Wives; there­fore they did choose yong men out of that num­ber of the Soldiers, who after the administration of the Oath, did come as Recruits unto the Ar­my; who being sent back to Sparta, a promi­scuous copulation with all women was permit­ted, thinking that the conception would be more mature, if the women did deserve for it by the 4ryal and use of several men. The Children born from these were called Parthenians, in reflection on their mothers chastity; who when they arrived to Thirty years of Age, for the fear of Penury (for they having no Father into whose Patrimony a Succession might be hoped) did choose for their Captain Phalantus the Son of Aratus, who was the Author to the Spar­ [...]ans of sending home the yong men for the pro­ [...]agation of Children: that as they had his Fa­ [...]her the Author of their Original, so they might 4ave his Son the Original of their hope and dig­ [...]ity. Not taking leave of their Mothers by 4hose loosness they thought they had contracted 44famy, they travel'd to seek out new Habitati­ [...]ns, and through many Adventures having been [Page 66] tossed long upon the Seas, they arrived at last in Italy, and the Tower of Tarentum being taken, and the ancient Inhabitants forced from it, they there made a Plantation for themselves. But af­ter many years their Captain Phalantus being by sedition driven into banishment, did repair unto Brundusium, to which place the ancient Tarentines, retired, being (as I have said) forced from their own Habitations. He dying, did perswade them that they should beat his bones and last Relicts into dust, and privately strow them on the publick place of meeting of the Tarentines; for Apollo at Delphos did by this means promise that they should recover their City and Country again: they conceiving that to fulfil his revenge, he had betrayed the fate of the Citizens, did obey his Instructions. But the sense of the Oracle was contrary, for it promised by this deed, a perpetuity to them, and not an amissi [...]n of their City. Thus by the counsel of their banisht Captain, and the officiousness of the Enemies, the City of Tarentum was through all Ages possessed by the Parthenians; In the memory of which benefit, divine ho­nours were decreed to Phalantus. In the mean time, the Messenians when they could not be overcome by prowess, were circumvented by deceit, & having for fourscore yeers endured the grievous scourges, and for the most part the bonds, and the other calamities of a conquered [Page 67] City; after a long patience of punishments they renewed the War, and the Lacedemonians did so much the more eagerly combine themselves unto Arms, because they were to fight against their own Captains; therefore when injury on this side, and indignitie on the other side did exasperate their swords, the Oracle at Delphos being consulted, the Lacedemonians were com­manded to fetch a Captain for their War from Athens.

The Athenians when they understood the Answer of the Oracle, in the disgrace of the La­cedemonians, did send Tyrtaeus the Poet, a man lame in feet, who being overthrown in three battels, did bring down the Spartans to so much desperation, that they set free their servants for recruits of their Armie; and the Widows of the slain were promised to them in marriage, that they might succed not only in the number, but also in the dignity of the Ci­tizens that were lost. But the Kings of the Lacedemonians, least by fighting against For­tune, they should heap more calamity upon their City, would have marched back with their Army, had not Tyrtaeus intervened, who at a full Assembly recited to the Army some Verses he had made, by which he shot so great a heat of courage into the breasts of the Souldiers, that more mindful of their burial then of their safety, they fastened Medals on their right Arms, in [Page 68] which their own and their Fathers Names were engraven, that if the fury of the battel should have deveured them all, and by the space of time the lineaments of their bodies should lie confused together, yet by the observation of their Titles they might be discovered and delivered unto burial.

When the Kings perceived the Army to bee thus encouraged, they sent a Messenger to e [...] ­form the Enemy with their Resolutions, which possessed the Messenians not with any fear, but a mutual emulation; they fought therefore with such height of Courage, that there was scarce ever seen a more bloody battel; the Lacede­monians at last did obtain the victory.

In the process of time, the Messenians com­menced the third War, at which time the Lacedemonians amongst their other Associates did call the Athenians to their ayd; but su­specting their fidelity, and pretending them to be supervacaneous, they dismissed them from the service, which left so deep an impression in the hearts of the Athenians, that they translated the money (which was collected over all Greece for the Persian War) from Delos unto Athens, least it should be a prey to the Lace­demonians: But the Lacedemonians were not contented with it; for being engaged themselve [...] in the Messenian War, they sent to the Pelopen­ [...]iensians to invade the Athenians, whose Forces [Page 69] at that present were but small, their Fleet be­ing commanded into Aegypt; therefore fight­ing at Sea they were easily overcome, but by the return of their Associates, being increased both in ships and men, they renewed the War; and now the Lacedemonians giving some respite to the Messenians, did turn themselves and their arms against the Athenians; the Victory was a long time doubtful; at last they left off with equal loss; and the Lacedemonians being called back to the war again of the Messenians, least in the mean time they should leave the Athenians idle, they bargain'd with the Thebans to restore unto them the Government of Boeotia which they lost in the times of their troubles with the Persians, if they would undertake the War a­gainst the Athenians; so great was the fury of the Spartans, that being envolved in two Wars, they refused not to undertake the third if they could get any to assist them who was an enemy to their Enemies; Therefore the Athenians against so great tempest of the War did chuse two Captains, Pericles a man of approved ver­tue, and Sophocles the writer of Tragedies, who having divided their Army, did waste the Fields of the Lacedemonians, and added many Cities of Achaia to their Government, with which misfortunes the Lacedemonians being disco [...] ­raged, did make peace with the Athenians for thirty yeers, but their enmities could not endure [Page 70] so tedious a truce; therefore in the space of less then fi [...]teen yeers they invaded the borders of Athens, and plundred the Countrey in the despite of God and man; and that they might not seem to desire a prey rather then an encoun­ter, they challenged the Athenians to battel; but by the counsel of Pericl [...]s, the Athenians deferr'd the injury of the loss sustain'd to an apt time of revenge, thinking it not good discretion to joyn in battel with the Enemies, when without danger they could be revenged of them. Certain daies being passed, they went aboard their Ships, and the Lacedemonians not thinking of it, they plunder'd all Sparta, and brought away far more then before they lost, and in reference to this booty taken, the revenge was above the anger. This Expedition of Pericles was famous, but much more famous was his contempt of his private Patrimony: for the Enemies when they made havock of the rest, did leave his Fields untouched, hoping by that means to pluck upon him either danger by the envie, or the infamy of treachery by suspition; which Pericles foreseeing, did both declare it unto the people, and to decline the assault of envie, did give away those Fields to the Com­monwealth, and so where his danger was most sought after, he found his greatest safety. Not long after, there was another battel at Sea, in which the Lacedemonians being overcome, were [Page 71] put to flight, neither did they cease afterward, but by various fortune of the War, either by Sea or by land they destroyed one another. At the last, being wearyed by so many calamities, they made a peace for fifty yeers, which they observed but six; for the Articles which they signed in their own names, they did break in the persons of their Associates, as if they were guilty of less perjurie by bringing ayd to their Confederates, then if they had proclaimed open War themselves. The War was hence translated into Sicily, which before I shall declare, some few things are to be first spoken concerning the situation of the Iland.

IT is reported that Sicily by some narrow necks of Land was heretofore joyned to Italy, and that it was torn from it as from the greater body by the impetuousness of the upper Sea, which is carryed that way with all the weight of its Waves. The Earth itself is light & brittle, and so full of holes & flaws, that it lies almost all open to the gusts of the winds; and there is a natural vertue and faculty in it, both for the begetting and the nourishing of fire; for it is reported that within, it is full of the [Page 73] veins of Pitch and Rozen, which is the cause that the wind in the bowels of the Earth wrast­ling with the fire, it often and in several places doth belch forth sometimes fire, sometimes va­pours, and sometimes smoak; and from hence through so many Ages, the fire of Aetna doth continue; and where the winds do work more strong through the spiraments of the Caves, heaps of Sands are cast forth. The Promon­tory next to Italy is called Rhegium, which according to the Greek doth signifie abrupt: Neither is it a wonder, that the Antiquity of this place should bee so fabulous, in which so many wonderful things do meet together. First, there is nowhere a more violent Sea, and not only with a rapid but a cruel force, and terrible not only to the Saylors but Spectators afar off: so great also is the combate of the Waves tilting one against another, that you may be­hold some of them as it were turning their backs to dive into the bottom of the Gulph, and others in foaming triumph to ride aloft as Con­querours over them; you may hear the roar of their rage in the height, and the groans again of their fall into the Deeps. The perpetual fires of the Hill of Aetna and of the Aeolian Ilands do come so neer, that you would think the very fire is nourished by the water; for other­wise in so narrow a compass, so great a fire could never continue so many Ages, if it were not fed [Page 74] by the nutriture of the moysture: From hence the Fables did produce Scylla and Charibdis; from hence those barkings were heard, from hence were those strange shapes of the Monster believed, when the Saylers by, affrighted with the great noyse and swallows of the whirl-Pools, did conceive those Waves did bark, which the voraginousness of the devouring Sea did commit and clash together. The same cause makes the fire of the Monntain Aetna to be perpetual; for this concurse and wrastling of the water doth take down with it into the bottom of the deeps the enforced spirit, and there suffocates and keeps it down so long, un­til diffused through the pores of the Earth, it kindles the nutriment of the fire. The neerness of Italy and of Sicily, and the height of their Promontories is so equal, that it gives no less admiration to us, then it did terror to Anti­quity, who did believe (the Promontories meet­ing both, and uniting themselves into one, and by and by again dividing) that Ships often­times were by them intercepted and comsumed. Neither was this invented by the Antients for the delightfulness of the Story, but by the fear and wonder of the Saylers; for such is the condition of the place to those who at distance do observe it, that you would believe it rather to be a Har­bour then a Passage, to which when you are arrived, you will think that the Promontories [Page 75] did cleave asunder and were divided, which before were joyned into one. Sicily was first called Trinacria, and afterwards Sicania: At the beginning it was the Country of the Cy­clops, who being extinguished, Aeolus possessed himself of the command of the Iland, after whom every one did stoop to the Government of Tyrants, there being never any Land more fruitful of them. In the number of whom when Anaxilaus with justice and mercy contended with the cruelty of others, his moderation gain'd him no little profit; for when dying he left many little children, and committed the Tutelage of them to Micythus a servant of his of approved fidelity, so great was the love which they did all bear unto his Memory, that they chose ra­ther to obey a servant, then to abandon the children of the King; and the Governors of the Ci [...]ie forgetting their dignity, did permit that the Majesty of the Kingdom should be admi­nistred by a servant.

The Government of Sicily was heretofore attempted by the Carthaginians, and with various success they for a long time did fight with the Tyrants; but their General Hamilcar being lost at last with his whole Army, the con­quered were quiet for a season: In the mean time, when the Inhabitants of Regium did la­bour with discord, and the City was divided into two parts, the old Souldiers who combined [Page 76] altogether being called by the Inhabitants of the City of Imera to their ayd, having relieved the City, did fall upon their friends whom they came to assist, and not only seized upon their City, but took their Wives and Children captive, their Fathers and Husbands being slain who did oppose them; a villany by no Tyrants to bee paralleld. How much more honoura­ble were it for the Rhegians in this cause to be conquered then to conquer? for although by the Laws of War they had served the Authors of their Captivitie, or, their Countrey being lost, they were necessitated to be banished, yet they should never have left their City nor their Wives and Children as a prey to the most bar­barous of Tyrants, nor be sacrificed themselves almost on their own Altars, and in the presence of the gods of their Countrey.

The Catanians also, when they found the Syracusians too heavily to oppress them, distru­sting their own strength, desired ayd of the Athenians, who whether out of the desire to encrease their Dominions, being masters already of Greece and Asia, or whether for fear that the Lacedemonians Forces should be added to the Syracusian Navie, sent Lamponius their Captain with a Fleet into Sicily, that under pretence of assisting the Catanians, they should indeavour to possess themselves of the whole Iland. And because their first beginnings were [Page 77] prosperous enough, their Enemies being often slain or routed, with a great Navie and a stronger Army they came again to Sicily, un­der the command of Lachetes and Chariades; But the Catanians either through fear of the Athenians, or the tediousness of the War, made peace with the Syracusians, the Auxilia­ries of the Athenians being dismissed: Not long after, when this Covenant of Peace was ill observed by the Saracusians, they sent their Ambassadors again to Athens, who in old and ragged habiliments, their hair both of head and beard being of an unsightly length, and in a most slovenly and deformed posture, to move compassion, did address themselves to the Assembly. Tears were added to their prayers, and their supplications so prevailed up­on the people inclined to pity, that they con­demned their Captains who brought back their Auxiliaries from them. Hereupon a great Navie was prepared; Nicias, and Alcibiades, and Lamachus were made Captains, and so formidable an Army was sent into Sicily, that they became even a terror to those unto whose ayd they marched. Not long after Alcibiades being called back to answer to the Charge that was brought against him, Nicias and Lama­chus did obtain two Victories by Land, and with a close siege having begirt their Enemies, they block'd up the passage, which brought [Page 78] them their relief from Sea. The Syracusians labouring under the burden of these necessities, desired ayd of the Lacedemonians, which was dispatched to them but with one Captain, Gylippus by name, but such a one that no as­sistance could be comparable to his. He (the nature and course of the War being under­stood, and yet almost in a lost condition, they had drawn together some few inconsiderable Forces our of Greece and Sicily) did in the first place possess himself of some places of reserve fit for the carrying on of the War: After this being twice routed; in the third encounter, he slew Lamachus one of their Commanders of the Athenians, and having put his Enemies to flight, he relieved his besieged friends. On this the Athenians transferr'd the War from Land to Sea, which being suddenly known, Gylippus sent to Lacedemon for the Fleet to his as­sistance, and for some recruits if need were for the service of the Land. The Athenians also sent Demosthenes and Eurymedon in the place of their Captain that was killed, with supplies both of men and money. And by the common decree of Cities, the Pelopennesians sent Auxiliaries in great numbers to the Syra­cusians; and as if that the War of Greece was translated into Sicily, they did fight on both sides in the height of resolution with all the powers they could make. In the first encounter at [Page 79] Sea the Athenians were overcome, who lost all, and all their moneys both publick and pri­vate: This distress at Sea was seconded by a distress at Land, and being routed there also, it was the counsel of Demosthenes, that they should remove themselves, and the War from Sicily, whiles their affairs, though shaken and ruinous, were not quite lost, and that they ought not to persevere any longer in a War unluckily begun; he alleaged that there may be more grievous and more unfortunate Wars at home, for which they ought to reserve the Forces of their City. But Nicias, whether through shame of the ill success, or through f [...]ar to leave destitute the hopes by abandoning the cause of his Associates, or fate so ordaining it, was re­solved not to stir. Therefore the fight again at Sea was renewed, and they were called back from the storm of their former misfortune, to some hope of Victory; But by the unexperience of their Captains who assaulted the Syracusi­ans, defending themselves in the streights of the Sea, they were easily overcome. Eurymedon their Captain fighting most bravely amongst the foremost, was the first that was slain: The thirty ships which he commanded were all immediately devoured by the fire. Demosthenes and Nicias being themselves all overcome, did convey their Army to the shoar, thinking that their flight would be more safe by Land, where­upon [Page 80] Gylippus seized upon one hundred and thirty of their ships which they had abando­ned, and pursuing the Athenians in their flight, he took many Prisoners, and put many to the sword. Demosthenes (the Army being lost) did with his sword by a voluntary death redeem himself from Captivity: But Nicias, who would not be admonished by the counsel of Demosthenes to provide for himself, did en­crease his overthrow with the dishonour of Captivity.

WHiles the Athenians for two years together did make war in Sicily more eagerly then hap­pily; one of their Generals, and a contriver of that War, Alcibiades by name, being ab­sent, was accused at Athens for having divulged the mysteries of Ceres, which were solemnized by nothing more then silence; and being called back from the war to his tryal, either not en­during the consciousness, or the indignity of the Charge, conveyed himself privately away into [Page 82] banishment at Elis; where he perswaded the King of the Lacedemonians (the State of the A­thenians being sorely shaken) by the adverse war in Sicily, to invade their Territories at home; whereupon all the Cities of Greece did come of their own accord to his assistance, as to put out a common fire; so general a hatred the Athenians had contracted by their cruelty, through the immoderate desire of Soveraignty. Darius also King of the Persians, being not unmindful of the ancient enmity of this City to them, (a league being made with the Lace­demonians by Tissafernes Governor of Lydia) did promise to assist the Grecians in all the charges of the war. This was his pretence to comply with the Grecians; but he feared in earnest, lest the Athenians being overthrown, the Lacedemonians should transfer the war on him. Who would therefore wonder that so flou­rishing an Estate as was this of Athens, should fall to the ground, when to oppose it alone, all the Powers of the East did unite themselves together? but they fell not in a sluggish or an unbloody war, but fought to the last man; and being sometimes Conquerors, they were not overcome but rather worn out by the variety of their fortune. In the beginning of the war, all their Consederates revolted from them, as com­monly it is seen, that where fortune, thither also the favour of men does incline; Alcibiades also [Page 83] did help on the war made against his Country, not with the industry of a common Souldier, but with the power of a Commander: For having received a squadron of five ships, he sailed into Asia; and by the authority of his name, compel­led the Cities which paid tribute there to Athens, to rebel against them; For they knew that he was famous at home, and saw him not made less by banishment; and he being a Cap­tain not so much taken from the Athenians, as offered to the Lacedemonians, they weighed the Government he had go [...]ten with that which he had lost: But his vertue contracted amongst the Lacedemonians more env [...]e then favour; Therefore when the Rulers had commanded that by treachery he should be slain, being one tha [...] did emulate their glory, it being made known to Alcibiades by the wife of King Agis, with whom he was too familiar, he sled to Tissafernes the Lieutenant of King Darius, into whom he quickly did insinua e himself by the officiousness of his Courtship and his elo­quence; For he was in the flower of his youth & beauty, and famous also amongst the Athenians for his Oratory, more happy in procuring friend­ships then in preserving them; for the vices of his manners did lie hid under the shadow of his Eloquence; he perswaded Tissafernes that he should not contribute so much in money to the Fleet of the Lacedemonians, alledging that [Page 84] the Ionians were to pay part of it, for whose liberty being tributary to Athens, the war was undertaken; neither were the Lacedemoni­ans (he said) too prodigally to be seconded with Auxiliaries; for he ought to consider that he provided a Victory for another, not for himselfe; and so far onely, the war was to be relieved, that it might not for want be abando­ned. For in this discord of the Greeks, the King of Persia might stand as an Arbitrator b [...]th of Peace and War, and overcome them by their mutual Arms whom he could not by his own. And the war being ended, it may come to his turn afterwards to fight with the Con­querors; Greece therefore he said, was to be over-run with Domestick wars, that they might not have the leisure to look abroad; and the powers of the Parties were to kept equal, and the weaker to be relieved with ayd; for he may be sure, that the Lacedemonians who profess themselves to be the Defenders of the liberty of Greece, will not be quiet after this Victory. This Speech was agreeable to Tissafernes; therefore the prom [...]sed provisions for the war were [...] but slowly in; he sent also but part of the R [...]yal Navy, lest he should compleat the Victory, and lay a necessity on the other side to lay down their Arms. Alcibiades in the mean time, did make this known to the Citizens of Athens, unto whom when their Ambassadors [Page 85] did arrive, he promised them the friendship of the King, if the command of the Common­wealth were translated from the people to the Senate; hoping that either by the agreement of the City he should be chosen General by all, or a difference being made betwixt the people and Senate, he should be called by one of the par­ties to their assistance; But by reason of the imminent danger of the war, the Athenians had a greater care of their safety then their dignity. Therefore the people giving way un­to it, the Government was transla ed to the Se­nate; whom when they mannaged themselves with great cruelty to the people, according to the pride inherent to that Nation, every one by himselfe exercising the power of a Tyrant, Alcibiades was called from his banishment by the Army, and cho en Admiral of the Navie: He immediately sent to Athens that he would make haste unto them with an Army, and if they would not restore it, he would by force take from the f ur hundred, the priv [...] ­ledges of the people. The Peers affright [...]d with this Rem [...]nstrance, did attempt in the first place to betray the City to the La [...]ed [...]monians, which when by the vigilance of the Army, it could not be effected, they undertook a wilful banishment. In the mean time, Alcibiades, his Country be [...]ng delivered from the intestine trouble, with great care and industry equipped [Page 84] [...] [Page 85] [...] [Page 86] his Fleet, and lanched forth against the Lacede­monians, and being expected by Mindarus and Pharnabasus, the two Admirals of the Lacede­monians, the battel being begun, the Athenians had the Victory: In this battel, the greatest part of the Army, and almost all the Comman­ders and Officers of the Lacedemonians were slain; Not long after, when they brought the War from Sea to Land, they were overcome again; being discouraged with those losses, they desired a peace; which that it might not be ob­tained, was procured by their policy who knew which way to make a mercenary advantage of it. In the mean time, the Carthaginians having made war in Sicily, the Auxiliaries sent to the Lacedemonians from the Syracusians were cal­led back; and the Lacedemonians being left destitute, Alcibiades with his conquering Navie did make spoile in Asia, and fought many battels in many places, and being every­where a Conqueror, he reduced the Cities which revolted, he subdued some others, and added them to the Commonwealth of Athens. And thus having vindicated the antient glory of the Athenians by Sea, and made himself mo [...]e famous by some Conquests by Land, be­ing much desired by the Citizens, he returned to Athens; In these encounters he took two hundred ships from the Enemy and a great booty: The Army rerurning in triumph, the [Page 87] people in throngs came forth to meet them, and with wonder they gaze upon all the Souldiers in general, but on Alcibiades in particular: The whole City did fasten on him their eyes; they extolled him as sent from Heaven, and be­held him as Victory her self: They repeated what he atchieved for his Country, and what being a banished man, he had acted against it, excusing him that he was incensed and pro­voked to it; So much of high concernment there was in this one man that he was both the Author of their large Dominions subverted, and again restored. They did prosecute his merits not onely with all humane, but with divine ho­nors, and contended with themselves whither they more contumeliously expelled him, or more honourably received him; they brought those gods to gratulate him to whose execrations they had before devoted him, and they would now place him in Heaven, to whom they had denyed the society of men. They made satisfaction for disgrace with honors, for losses w [...]th rewards, and for execrations with prayers. They discoursed no [...] of the adverse fight in Sicily, but of the Victo­ry of Greece, not of the Fleets he lost, but of those he won, not of Syracuse, but of Ionia and Hellespont. This was the fortune of Al­cibiades who never knew a mean either in the favours or the displeasure of his Citizens. Whiles this was done at Athens, the Lacede­monians [Page 88] made Lysander General both by Sea and Land; and Darius King of the Persians had made his Son Cyrus Governor of Lydia, and Ionia in the place of Tissafernes, who with men and money did raise up the Lacedemoni­ans to the hope of their former fortune. Being increased in their strength with the suddenness of their approach, they suppressed Alcibiades sent into Asia with one hundred ships, and spoiling the Countrey made rich with long peace, his Souldiers in the desire of the booty being dis­persed, and not suspecting the coming of an Enemy; so great therefore was the slaughter which the Lacedemonians made, that in this fight the Athenians received a greater wound then they did give in the former; and so great was their desperation, that immediately they changed their General Alcibiades for Conon, believing, they were overcome, not by the for­tune of the war, but by the deceit of Alcibiades, on whom the former injuries more prevailed then the latter benefits; they alleaged that in the former war, he over-came onely to shew the Enemies what a General they had despised, and yet he might fell the Victory more deer un­to them; for the vigor of his wit, his love to vices, and the luxury of his manners, made all things credible in Alcibiades: Fearing there­fore the violence of the people, he betook him­self to a willing banishment. Conow succeeding [Page 89] Alcibiades in the Government of the Army, ha­ving before his eyes, how great a Captain he was that was before him, did make the Navie readic with the greatest industry; but men were wanting to the ships, the most valiant being slain in taking the spoils of Asia; Boyes therefore and old men were armed, and great was the number of the Souldiers, but weak was the strength of the Army. The Lacede­monians made no long work of them; for being unable to resist, they were everywhere either killed or taken prisoners; and so great was the overthrow, that not onely the Common­wealth, but even the name of the Athenians did seem to be extinguished; so lost and de­sperate was their condition, and so great an exigence were they brought unto, that for want of Souldiers, they gave the priviledges of the freedom of the City to strangers, liberty to slaves, and impunity to the condemned; and with this c [...]nscribed Army composed of the out­casts of men, the late Lords of Greece did de­fend their Liberties. They had once more a minde to try their fortune at Sea, and they were possessed with such a sudden height of courage, that when they before despaired of their lives, they were now even confident of Victory. But these were not the Souldiers who should up­hold the name of the Athenians, nor these the Forces with which they were accustomed to [Page 90] overcome; neither could any military abilities be expected from these men, who were inured to bonds, and not unto Tents: They were all therefore either killed or taken; Conon their General only remained alive, who fearing the cruelty of the Citizens, with eight ships did re­pair unto Evagoras the King of Cyprus. But the General of the Lacedemonians, the war happily being mannaged, did insult over the fortune of his Enemies: He sent the ships he took, the booty being layd forth upon the Decks, in the way of triumph to Lacedemon, and re­ceived the Cities into his protection which payed tribute to Athens: the fear of the doubtful fortune of the war, detaining them till then in their fidelity; the Athenians had now nothing left them but the Citie it self; when this was reported at Athens, they all abandoning their honours, did traverse the streets of the City in great fear; they deman­ded the news of one another, and examined the authority of the Messengers; imprudency kept not at home the young, nor delibity the old, nor the weakness of their Sexe the wo­men: So much the sence of the calamity had possessed every Age. Late in the night they assembled in the Market-place, and began to lament the publick misfortune; some be­wailed their brothers, some their sons, some their parents, some their kindred, some their [Page 91] friends deerer then their kindred, and with private mischances mingled the publick losses; sometimes thinking of the ruine of themselves, sometimes of the ruine of their Countrey, sometimes conceiving the fortune of the li­ving to be more miserable then the fortune of the dead; they did every one propound unto themselves, siege and famine, and the proud conquering Enemy. The destruction and firing of the City, the general captivity, and most miserable slavery did still present it self before their eyes, believing that the ruines of the former City were far more happy, when their sons and fathers being alive, they were onely punish'd with the destruction of their walls and honours: They had now no Fleet to which as before they might repair, nor had they any Army by whose valour being pre­served, they might build greater walls. In this manner lamenting the condition of their Ci­ty, their Enemies came upon them, and at once did inviron them with an Army, and besieged them with hunger: They knew that not many of their forces remained; and they provided that no man should be brought in; with which growing miseries the Athenians being discouraged, after a long famine at­tended with a great mortality, they desired peace: And a long debate there was amongst the Lacedemonians and their Associates, [Page 92] Whether it were expedient that it should be vouchsafed them or not: when many were of judgement that the very name of the Atheni­ans was to be extinguished, and the City ut­terly to be destroyed with fire. The Lacede­monians denying that of the two eyes of Greece, one of them was to be plucked out, did promise peace unto them, if they would pull down their wals towards Pyreum, and surrender the ships unto them, which were left, and withal receive thirty of their Delegats to govern their Commonwealth. The City being delivered upon these conditions: the Lace­demonians did commit unto Lysander the charge of it.

This yeer was remarkable for the besieging and taking of Athens, and for the death of Darius King of the Persians, and for the ba­nishment of Dionysius the great Tyrant in Si­cily. The State of Athens being altered, the condition of the Citizens was changed with it: Thirty Rulers were set over the Common­wealth who became all Tyrants; for at their entrance into their government, they did take unto themselves a Guard of three hundred men, there scarce remaining so many Citizens by reason of so many overthrows; and as if this number were too little to secure the City, it re­ceived a Garrison of seven hundred Souldiers of the Lacedemonians; after this they began the [Page 93] slaughter of the Citizens with a design upon Alcibiades, left he should invade the Com­monwealth again with an intent to deliver it. When they found that he was fled to Ar­taxerxes the King of the Persians▪ they sent in full speed to intercept him in the way, and having found where he was, when they could not openly put him to death, they burned him alive in the chamber where he slept. The Ty­rants being delivered from this fear of their Revenger, did fill the wretched Relicks of the City with slaughters and rapine▪ which cruel­ty when they found it, did displease Thera­menes, who was one of their numbers, they did put him to death to be a terror to the rest; whereupon they fled all out of the City, and Greece was filled with the Athenian exiles, which being all the security they had, that also was taken from these miserable men; for by an Edict of the Lacedemonians, the Cities were prohibited to receive the banished; on this, they all conveyed themselves to Argos and Thebes; where they not onely lived in banishment, but entertained the grateful hopes to be restored to their Countrey. A­mongst the number of the banished, there was one Thrasibulus, a man of great vigour both in body and in minde, and of noble Pa­rentage, who propounding to himself, that something although with danger ought to be [Page 94] undertaken for the publick safety, having drawn the banished men together, he seized upon Phyle a Castle on the Borders of A­thens; neither was the favour and assistance of some other of the Cities wanting, who had in compassion the extremity of their sad con­dition: Therefore Hismenias the Prince of the Thebans did assist them with private, although he could not with publick helps: And Lysias the Syracusian Orator, being also a banish'd man, did send at his own charge five hundred Souldiers to assist them in this recovery of the Countrey of the common Eloquence. The encounter was sharp, the Athenians exerci­sing all their courage for the recovery of their own Countrey, and the Lacedemonians fighting more securely for the possessions which belong'd to others; the Tyrants at last were overcome, who flying into the City, ha­ving in revenge filled it with slaughter, they did also dispoil it of Arms; and suspecting all the Athenians to be guilty of treachery, they commanded them to depart out of the City, and to live in the ruines of the Suburbs which were pulled down, and in the mean time they defended themselves with forraign Souldiers. After this, they attempted to corrupt Thrasibulus, and to promise him a share in the Goverment, which he refusing to accept, they desired ayd of the Lacede­monians [Page 95] which being sent unto them, they re­newed the encounter, in which Critius and Hippomachus two of the most cruel of all the Tyrants were killed; the others being over­come, when their Army (which for the great­est part consisted of the Athenians) did flie away, Thrasibulus with a loud voice did cry out unto them, and demanded, What made them to fly from the Conqueror, whom they ought rather to assist as the Desendor of their common liberty? He told them that his Ar­my was composed of their own Citizens and not of Enemies; neither did he take up Arms to force any thing from them, but to restore unto them what they had lost; he made war, he said, on the thirty Tyrants, and not on the City of Athens; he did admonish them that they were all of one blood, of one Law, of one Religion, and of one Militia through the course of so many wars: He did implore them to have compassion on their banished Citizens; and though they themselves would be patient slaves, yet they should restore their Countrey unto them, that they might receive their liberty. With these words he so pre­vailed upon them, that the Army being re­turn'd into the City, they commanded the Tyrants to remove to Eleusina, ten being sub­stituted who should govern the Common­wealth, who being nothing terrified with the [Page 96] example of the former Tyrants, did tread in the same paths of cruelty.

Whiles these things were thus mannaged at Athens, it was enformed at Lacedemon, that the Athenians had taken Arms again; whereupon Pausanias their King was sent to suppress them, who being touched with com­passion, did restore the banish'd Citizens to their City, and commanded the ten Ty­rants to abandon the City, and to go to their companions to Eleusina. Peace being made, not many dayes after, the Tyrants on a sud­den, resenting with indignation, that the ba­nished were restored, and that they were con­demned to banishment, as if the liberty of the Citizens were their slavery, they did make a new war upon the Athenians: But a Treaty being had, as if they were to receive again their Domination (being in the way by policy in­tercepted) they were all put to death, and made the sacrifices of the publick peace. The people whom before they commanded to live about the ruines of the remotest walls, were called back into the City; and the City dispersed into many members, was re­duced again into one body; and that no dis­sention should arise concerning any thing committed in the time of war, they all did oblige themselves by oath, that there should be an oblivion of all dissentions. In the mean [Page 97] time, the Thebans and Corinthians did send Ambassadors to Sparta, to demand their pro­portion in the spoils of the common war and danger, which being denyed, they did not openly declare a war against the Lace­demonians, but with silence did conceive so great an indignation, that all might under­stand that a war was designed. Much about that time, Darius the King of the Persians dyed, leaving behind him two sons, Ar­taxerxes and Cyrus. His Kingdom he be­queathed to Artaxerxes, and to Cyrus the Cities of which he was before Lieu­tenant: This Legacy of the Father, did seem to Cyrus to be unequal; he therefore privi­ly prepared war against his brother, which when it was told to Artaxerxes, he sent for his brother, who pretending innocency, did come unto him, and was by him bound with chains of gold, and had been put to death, if his mother had not commanded him to the contrary▪ Cyrus being dis­missed, did now begin to make war against his brother, not covertly, but openly; not dissembl [...]ngly, but professedly, and from all places did draw Auxiliaries to him. The Lacedemonians being mindful of the assistance he sent them in their war against the Athe­nians, did decree to send help upon him, but in such a way as if they did not take no­tice [Page 98] against whom the war was made, that if the occasion so required, they might procure unto themselves the favour of Cyrus: and if Artaxerxes had overcome, they might hope for his Patronage and his pardon, be­cause they determined nothing openly against him. But in the encounter, the chance of the fight having brought both brothers directly opposite one against another, Artaxerxes was first wounded by his brother, but was delivered from further danger by the swift­ness of his horse; Cyrus being overpowred by the King's Life▪guard was slain out-right. Artaxerxes being Conqueror, enjoyed the Army and the spoils of his brothers war. In that battel Cyrus had ten thousand Greeks that came to his assistance, who in that part of the field where they stood did overcome, and after the death of Cyrus, could neither be conquered by the power of so great an Ar­my, nor yet taken by treachery, but returning in so great a march through so many uncon­quered Nations and barbarous people, they with their valour did secure themselves, even unto the confines of their own Countrey.

THe Lacedemonians after the common condition of men, who the more they have, the more they do desire, being not content that their strength was doubled by the access of the Athe­nian power, did begin to affect the Go­vernment of all Asia; The greatest part whereof being under the command of the King of the Persians, Dercillides who was chosen general for that war, when he found that he was to fight against two of the [Page 100] Lieutenants of Artaxerxes, Pharnabasus and Tissafernes, who were attended with the powers of formidable Nations, he resolved to make a peace with one of them. Tissafernes seemed most fit for his design, being more remarkable for his industry, and more power­ful by the Souldiers of the late King Cyrus, who being treated with, and conditions being agreed upon betwixt them, he was dismissed; whereupon he was accused by Pharnabasus before the King, that he repulsed not the Lacedemonians who had invaded Asia, but maintained them at the King's charge, and contracted with them to delay the wars, as if all the loss of the Empire should not be put upon one score. He alledged it to be an unworthy thing, that the war should be bought, and not carried on with resolu­tion, and that the Enemy should be removed with money and not with Arms: Tissafernes being estranged from the King by these com­plaints: Pharnabasus did perswade him, for the mannaging of the wars at Sea, to make Conon the Athenian Admiral in his place, who, his Countrey being lost by war, did led a ba­nished life in Cyprus; for the Athenians, al­though they were broken in their fortunes, had yet some strength at Sea; and if one were to be chosen, he alledged that they could not finde amongst them an abler man. Ha­ving [Page 101] received five hundred talents, he was commanded to make Conon Admiral of the Fleet: This being known at Lacedemon, they by their Ambassadors did desire ayd of Herci­mon King of Aegypt for the carrying on of the war at Sea, who sent them one hundred ships, and six hundred thousand measures of corn; and very great ayd was also sent unto them from the rest of their Associates: But a worthy Commander was wanting to so great an Army, and against so great a Cap­tain; Therefore their Associates desiring Age­silaus King of the Lacedemonians to lead forth their Armies, it was a long time debated whether they should make him their General or no, by reason of the answer of the Oracle of Delphos, which denounced a period to their Government when the royal Command halted; for Agesilaus was lame of his feet; but at last, resolving that it were safer that the King▪ then Kingdom should halt, they sent Agesilaus with a form [...]dable Army into Asia: Two such Captains as these to com­mand in this war could not easily be matched again; for they were equal in age, valour, counsel, providence, and in the glory of their atchievements: and when fortune gave them a parity in all things, yet she preserved them unconquered by one another. Great was the preparation of both for the war, great were [Page 102] the acts which they performed: But a sedition of the Souldiers (whom the former Lieute­nants of the King had defrauded of their pay) disturbed Conon; the Souldiers demanding their Arrears the more roundly, because knowing their duties in the war should be the harder under so great a Captain, Conon having a long time wearyed the King in vain with Letters, did at the last repair in his own person to him; but being denyed either to see him or to speak with him, because he would not prostrate himself unto him after the custom of the Persians, he treated with him by Messengers, and complained that the wars of the most mighty King did suffer through indigence, and having an Army equal to the Enemies, he was overcome by the want of money, in which he did exceed them, and was found inferiour in that part of strength in which he was far superiour. He de­sired that the moneys for the war might be trusted into his hand, it being dangerous that it should be committed unto many: The moneys being received, he returned to the Navie, and made no delay in the prosecution of the war. He acted many things valiantly, and many things happily; he plundred the Fields, he sacked the Cities of his Enemies, and as a Tempest, did beat down all before him. With which proceedings, the Lace­demonians [Page 103] being affrighted, did determine to call back Agesilaus out of Asia for the defence of his own Countrey. In the mean time, Lysander being left by Agesilaus to command the Forces at home in his absence, being re­solved to try the fortune of the war by battel, did with great care and industry provide a mighty Navie, and Conon being ready to joyn in battel with the Enemy, did with great judgement assign unto every ship its station, and the emulation of the Souldiers was no less then of the Captains; for Conon the Ad­miral did not so much labour for the Persians as for his Countrey, and in their afflicted estate, as he was heretofore the Author of their loss, so he would now be the author of their power restored, and receive that Coun­trey by conquering, which he had lost by be­ing conquered, which would be so much the more glorious, that he fought not with the forces of the Athenians, but of another Nati­on, and fighting at the charge and danger of the King of Persia▪ he should overcome for the advantage of his own Countrey, and gain true renown by other arts then the former Generals of Athens had purchased; for they defended their Countrey by overcoming the Persians, he by making the Persians Con­querors, should restore his Countrey being lost. On the other side, Lysander besides his [Page 104] conjunction with Agesilaus, was also an emula­tor of his vertues, and did contend that he might not fall shore of him in his acchievements & the splendor of his glory, and not in the moment of an hour by his over-sight subvert the State, gain'd by so many battels, and conti­nued for so many Ages. The same was the care of the Souldiers, and of all the Comman­ders, whom a deeper impression did possess, not so much that they should onely lose the great riches they had obtained, as that the Athenians should again recover it of them: But by how much the fight was the more perillous, the Victory of Conon was by so much more glorious. The Lacedemonians being overcome; The Garrisons of the Enemies were drawn away from Athens, and the people restored to their ancient dignity, were delivered from their bondage, and many Cities were reduced: This was the beginning to the Athenians of reas­suming their power, and to the Lacedemonians of ending theirs, who as o [...] they had lost their valour with their Dominions, did begin to be despised by their next neighbours: First of all the Thebans, the Athenians helping them, did make war upon them, which City out of the infinite advantages by the vertue of their Ge­neral Epaminondas, was raised up to be the Commandress of all Greece: The fight was by Land in which the fortune of the Lacedemo­nians [Page 105] was the same, as it was against Conon at Sea: In that battel Lysander was slain, who was General before against the Athenians when they were overcome by the Lacede­monians: Pausanias also, another Captain of the Lacedemonians, being accused of treachery, did betake himself to banishment. The The­bans having obtained the Victory, did advance with all their Army to the City of the Lacede­monians, thinking suddenly to become masters of it, because they were abandoned of all their Associates: Which the Lacedemonians fear­ing, they sent for Agesilaus their King out of Asia, who did there gallant service for the defence of his own Countrey; for Lysander being slain, they had confidence in no other Commander; and because it was long before he came, with an Army suddenly mustred, they adventred of themselves to fight with their Ene­mies; but being conquered not long before, they had neither strength nor courage to op­pose their Conquerors; therefore at their first encoun [...]er they were overthrown▪ but Agesi­laus came opportunely to their rescue; and the fight being renewed, he with his fresh Souldiers being all hardned to the services of the war, did with an easie violence pluck the Victory from his Enemies; but he received a dangerous wound himself; which being un­derstood, the Athenians fearing least the La­cedemonians [Page 106] being Conquerors, they should be reduced into their ancient condition of servitude, did leavie a new Army, and sent it to the ayd of the Boeotians under the command of Iphi­crates, a gentleman of not above twenty yeers of age, but of a vast expectation: The vertue of this young man was admirable, for amongst so many, and so great Captains, the Athenians had never any General before, of greater hope or forwardness, in whom there were not onely all the Arts belonging to a Commander, but to an Orator also. Conon having under­stood of the return of Agesilaus, did draw back out of Asia to spoyl the C [...]untrey of the Lacedemonians, who, the fear of the war grow­ing round about them, were brought almost to the bottom of despair, having plundred the Countrey of his Enemies, he marched to A­thens, where he was entertained with great joy of all the Citizens, but he himself was more possessed with grief to behold the City burned and pulled down by the Lacedemonians, then he was with joy to see it restored to its freedom: Therefore what places were burned he repaired, and what places were pull'd down he re-edified out of the profit of the booty, & of the Army of the Persians: This was the fate of Athens, that being before burned by the Persians, it was builded up again with their spoyls, and being now destroyed by the Lacedemonians, it was [Page 107] [...]estored again with the treasure that was taken from them, and the condition of the war be­ [...]ng changed, they had now those for their Associates, who were then their Enemies; and they were now their Enemies to whom they were then united in the neerest bonds of socie­ty. Whiles these things were thus mannaged, Artaxerxes King of the Persians sent Am­bassadors into Greece, by whom he comman­ded all to lay down their Arms, and whoso­ever should refuse so to do, he would esteem him for an Enemy. He restored liberty and all that belonged to them to the Cities, which he did not thereby to give redress to the labours and the wars of Greece, occasioned by the growing hatred of the Citizens, but that he himself being wholly imployed in the Aegyp­tian war, by reason of the ayd which they sent the Lacedemonians against his Lieute­nants, his Armies should not be detained in Greece: The Grecians being wearyed with many wars, did e [...]dily obey him.

This yeer was remarkable, not onely that a sudden Peace was made over all Greece, but that at the same time also the City of Rome was taken by the Galls. But the Lacedemo­nians being secure, and having treacherously observed the absence of the Arcadians, did lay a vigorous siege unto their Castle, and ha­ving taken it, they did put a Garrison into it. [Page 108] The Arcadians therefore with a prepared Ar­my, taking the Thebans unto their ayd, were resolved to regain what they lost by war: In the fight, Archidamus the General of the La­cedemonians was wounded, who when he beheld the destruction of his men, demanded by a Herald the bodies of the dead to give them burial: For amongst the Grecians, this was a sign of a victory acknowledged; with which confession the Thebans being contented, they sounded a retreat. Some few daies after, neither of them exercising hostility against each other, when as it were by a silent con­sent, there was a truce, the Lacedemonians being engaged in another war, the Thebans under the command of Epaminondis, en­tertained a sudden hope to become masters of their Citie; therefore in the beginning of the night, in a silent match, they did advance to Lacedemon; but they could not take the Ci­tizens unprepared; for the old men and the weaker youth, the approach of their Enemies being discovered, did meet them in Arms at their very entrance into their Gates, and not above one hundred men, and disabled too by their age, did enter into a fight against fifteen thousand Souldiers; so much strength and courage the sight of their City, and of their houshold gods did administer, who infused into them greater spirits, as much by their presence as [Page 109] by the remembrance of them; for when they saw for whom, and amongst whom they stood, they were all of a resolution either to over­come or die; a few old men undertook the whole brunt of the battel, unto whom (be­fore that day appeared) not all the youth and Army of their Enemies could be equal: In this fight, two Captains of the Enemies were slain. In the mean time, when the coming of Agesilaus was reported, the Thebans retreated, and some few hours after the battail again began; for the youth of the Lacedemonians being inflamed with the courage and glory of their old men, could not be kept back, but would throw them­selves upon their Enemies; howsoever the Thebans had the Victory, and Epaminondas performing the duty not onely of a General, but of a resolute and couragious Souldier, was grievously wounded, which being under­stood, the Thebans through the excess of grief were possessed with fear; and the La­cedemonians through the excess of joy with a kind of amazement, and as it were with a consent on both sides, they departed from the bat [...]el. Some few daies afterwards, Epaminondas deceased, with whom the whole strength of that Common-wealth dyed also; for as if you break or blunt the edge of [Page 110] any weapon, you take from the residue of the steel the power to hurt; so this Cap­tain who was the edge of their courage be­ing taken away, the whole strength and vigor of that Theban Commonwealth was immediately rebated; insomuch that they did not seem onely to lose him, but to have all perished with him; for before this Captain, they did never mannage any me­morable war, and were famous afterwards, not for their vertues, but their overthrows; so apparent it was that the glory of his Countrey was born and dyed with him. It is hard to say, whether he was a better man or a better Captain; for he sought the Go­vernment not for himself, but for his Coun­trey, and was so careless of money, that he had not wherewith to defray the charges of his own Funeral; moreover, he was no more covetous of glory then of money; for the Commands were all thrown upon him, refusing and drawing back from them; and he so deported himself in his places of ho­nour, that hee seemed not to receive, but to give an ornament to the dignity it self; So great was his knowledge in Letters and Phi­losophy, that it may be wonderful how that excellent experience in the affairs of war should arrive unto a man born amongst [Page 111] the Arts; neither did the manner of his death differ from the institutions of his life; for being brought half dead into his Tent, he collecting his voyce and spirits, de­manded onely if his Enemy had taken his Buckler from him when he fell, which when hee understood was preserved, he de­sired to see it, and it being brought un­to him, he kissed it as the companion of his labours and his glory. Hee again de­manded, Who had obtained the Victory? when it was answered, The Thebans; he replyed, It was well; and so gratulating his Countrey, he did give up his last breath. In his grave the vertues not onely of the Thebans, but of the Athenians al­so was buried; for he being taken away, whom they were accustomed to emulate, they did degenerate into sloth, and laid forth the publick Revenues, not as be­fore, on Fleets and Armies, but on festi­val dayes, and on the setting forth of Playes, and visiting the Scene oftner then the Camp; they onely celebrated the Thea­tors, famous with Poets and Actors, pray­sing their Poets and their Orators more then their Captans; by which means it came to pass that in these leisures of the Grecians, the name of the Macedons, but [Page 112] ignoble and obscure before, should rise into glory; and that Philip bred up in the vertues and institutions of Epaminondas and Pelopidas (being three yeers as an Hostage at Thebes) should put the Kingdom of Macedonia on the necks of Greece and of Asia as the yoak of their servitude.

MAcedonia was heretofore called Aemathia, after the name of their King Emathion, the first experiments of whose vertue were extant in those places. Their beginnings were but small, and their b [...]unds but narrow; the people were cal­led Pelasgi, and the Country Boeotia; But afterwards by the prowess of their Kings, and the industry of their Nation, having first subdued their borderers, and after them, other People and Nations, they extended their Empire to the furthest bounds of the [Page 114] Orient. Telegonus the father of Astriopaeus whose name we have received amongst the most famous Commanders in the Tro [...]on war, was said to reign in the Country of Poeonia, which now is a part of Macedonia; On the other side in Europa, there ra [...]gned Europus by name; But Caranus with a vast multitude of the Grecians, being commanded by the Oracle to lo [...]k out a seat for h [...]m [...]n Macedo­nia, when he came into Emathia, he unexpect­edly possessed himself of the City of Ediss [...], he Inhabitants not perceiving it by reason of a tempest, and a great mist that did attend it. In this expedition, he followed the conduct of a slock of G [...]ts, who [...]led towards the Town from the violence of the tempest, and calling the Oracle into his memory, by which he was commanded to seek out a place to rule in, the Goats being his leaders, he made that City the [...]eat of his Kingdom, and whithersoever after­wards [...]e advanced, he religiously observed to have the same Goats before his Ensigns to be the Leaders on in his enterprize, who were the authors of his Kingdom; for the memory of this event, he called the City Edissa, Aegaea; and the people Aegae [...]des.

After this, Midas being forced away (for he also possessed a part of Macedonia) and some other Kings with him, he alone succeeded into the place of them all, and having united the [Page 115] Nations into one, he brought the several people of Macedonia into one body, and the Kingdom increasing, he made the founda [...]ion strong with an intent to raise it higher. After him Per­dicas reigned, whose life was famous, and his last words at his death were as memorable as the precepts of the Delphian Oracle; for full of age and dying, he shewed to his Son Ar­gaeus, the place where he would be buryed, and commanded that not onely his own but the bo­dies of all who succeded him in his Kingdom should be interred the same place, presaging that if the Relicks of his Successors should be buryed there, the Kingdom should perpetually continue in that Family; And it is super­stitiously believed that the issue failed in Alex­ander, because he changed that place of Se­pulchre.

Argaeus having governed the Kingdom mo­derately, and with the love of the people did leave Philip his Successor, who being taken away by an untimely death, did make Europus a little child his Heir.

At this time the Macedonians had daily wars with the Thracians and Illyrians, by whose Armes being hardned as with a daily exercise, they became a terror to their neighbours by the glory of their atchievements. The Illy­rians contemning the Infancy of their King did make war upon the Macedons, who being [Page 116] overcome in the battel, the little Infant their King was brought forth in his Cradle, and placed in the front of their Army, whereupon they renewed the encounter with greater vio­lence; for they were beaten they conceived before, because in the fight they had not with them the auspicious presence of their King, and should now overcome, because out of a super­stition, they were possessed with a confidence that they should be Conquerors; the compas­sion also on their Infant Prince did leave an im­pression on them, whom if they were overcome, they should make him of a King a Captive. The battels therefore being joyned, with a great slaughter they overthrew the Illyrians, and made it apparent to their Enemies, that in the former encounter the Macedons wanted not courage but a King. Amyntas succeeded him famous by his own vertue, but more re­nowned by the excellent endowments of A­lexander his Son, in whose nature the orna­ments of all vertues were so extant, that in the various exercis [...] of sports, he contended at the Olympian Games. In the mean time Darius King of the Persians being routed, and making haste out of Scythia in a disho­nourable flight, least he should grow every­where contemptible by his loss, he sent Mega­bazus with a part of his Army to subdue Thrace and the other Kingdoms adjacent to it, [Page 117] in which number was Macedonia, a place then accounted so poor, that it was hardly worth looking after.

In obedience to the Kings command, Mega­bazus not long after sent Ambassadors to Amyntas King of the Macedons, demanding that pledges might be given to him as an earnest of the peace to come: The Ambassadors be­ing bountifully entertained, in the height of the banquet and of wine, required of Amyntas that to the magnificence of the Feast, they would add the priviledges of Familiarity, and send for their sons, their wives, and daughters, which amongst the Persians is the pledge and as­surance of entertainment: Who when they came, the Persians handling the Ladies with too petulant a wantonness, Alexander the son of Amyntas desired his Father in respect of his age and gravity, that he would be pleased to depart from the Feast, pro­mising that he would try the jests and frolicks of his Guests. His father being gone, he not long after, called all the women from the Ban­quet, in a pretence to dress them finer, and to return them more acceptable to them: In their places he brings in young men disguised in the apparrel of Matrons, and commands them to chastise the wantonness of the Ambassadors with the swords which they carried under their garments. And thus all of them being slain, [Page 118] Megabazus being ignorant of the event, and seeing they returned not, did command Bu­baris thither with a part of his Army onely, as into a poor and easie war, scorning to go himself least he should be dishonoured to make war in his own person with so contemptible a Nation. But Bubaris before the war, being inflamed with the love of the daughter of Amyntas, instead of making wars, did make a marriage; and all hostility being layd aside, he entred into the obligations of affinity. After the departure of Bubaris from Macedonia, Amyntas the King deceased, to whose son and Successor Alexander, the consanguinity with Bubaris not onely procured peace in the time of Darius, but confirmed Xerxes to him, insomuch that he endued him with the com­mand of the whole Countrey, between the Hills of Olympus and Haemus, when like a Tempest he invaded Greece. But Amyntas increased his Kingdom as well by his own va­lour as by the liberality of the Persians. By order of succession, the Kingdom of Macedonia came afterwards to Amyntas the son of his brother Menelaus; he also was famous for his industry, and accomplished with all royal ver­tues: He begat three sons of his first wife, Eurydice; Alexander, Perdicas, and Philip the Father of Alexander the Great, and a daughter called Euryone; and on his second [Page 119] wife Cygaea, Archelaus, Aridaeus, and Me­nelaus: He made great war, first with the Olynthians, and afterwards with the Illyrians, and had lost his life by the treason of his wife Eurydice who contracting a marriage with her son in-law, had undertaken to kill her hus­band, and to deliver the Kingdom unto her adulteror, which had taken effect if her daughter had not betrayed the loosness of the Mother, and the counsels of her wickedness. The old man deliverd from so many dangers, deceased, the Kingdom being left to Alexan­der the eldest of his Sons.

Alexander in the beginning of his reign bought his peace of the Illyrians, a sum of moneys being agreed upon, and his Brother Philip being given them as a pledge; in the process of time he made peace with the The­bans, having given the same pledge unto them, which conduced much to the growing for­tunes of Philip by the advantage of his edu­cation; for being three yeers a pledge at Thebes, he received the first rudiments of his youth in a City of ancient severity, and in the house of Epaminondas who was as great a Philosopher as a General. Not long after Alexander being assaulted by the treason of his Mother Euridice, was slain; his Father had pardoned her before, being guilty of contriving his death, in relation to the children [Page 120] he had by her, not thinking she would prove so pernicious unto them. His brother Perdicas did also lose his life, being killed by the trea­sonable plotting of his mother: A most un­worthy thing it was that the children should be deprived of their lives by their mother for her lust, the consideration of whom had before protected her from the punishment due unto her for her wickedness. This mur­ther of Perdicas seemed the more grievous, because the little son whom he left could not prevail upon her cruelty to take compassi­on of him. Philip a long time did deport him­self not as a King, but as a Guardian to the Infant. But when great wars did threaten the Kingdom, and that the help would be too late in the expectation of the Infant, he took upon him the Government of the King­dom, being compell'd unto it by the people. In the beginning of his reign, the hopes were great that were conceived of him both for his wit, which promised him to prove a great man, and for the ancient fates of Macedon, which sang that one of the sons of Amyntas being King, the state of that Kingdom should be most flourishing; And this was the man who was preserved from the wickedness of his mother, to make good the hopes of the people and to justifie the Oracle. When on one side, the most unworthy murder of his [Page 121] brothers, on the other side the multitude of his Enemies, the fear of new treacheries, the want occasioned by the continual wars, and the Kingdom exhausted of Souldiers, did much distract him and the wars of many Nations from several places did at one time conspire to oppress Macedonia, because he could not answer them all at once, he thought it expedient to dispence with some for a while; he therefore upon an agreement did com­pound for a peace with some; others he over­came with easie assaults, by the conquest of whom he confirmed the doubtful minds of his Souldiers, and took from himself the con­tempt of his Enemies. His first war was with the Athenians, who being overcome by an Ambu [...]cado, he without money (for fear of a greater war) did permit them all to go safe away, when it lay in his power to have put them all to the sword: The war being afterwards carryed against the Illyrians, he slew many thousands of his Enemies: After­wards he took the famous City of Larissaea, from whence he unexpectedly advanced against the Thessalians, not for the desire of prey, but that he might add to his Army the strength of the Thessalian Cavalry, by which means (the body of their horse being joyn'd to his foot) he made his Army invincible. The event of these things answering his ex­pectation [Page 122] with success, he took to wife Olym­pias the daughter of Neoptolemus King of the Molossians; her brothers son Arymbas, who was her overseer, and was then King of the Molossians did make the marriage, having him­self marryed Troas the sister of Olympias, which was the cause of his destruction, and the mani­fold calamities which afterwards fell upon him; for whiles he hoped to make some ad­ditions to his Kingdom by the affinity of Phi­lip, being depriv'd by him of his own King­dom, he grew old in banishment. These things being thus passed, Philip being now not contented onely to remove wars, did now provoke and challenge others Nations of his own accord. As he was besieging Methona, an arrow from the walls as he was passing by, did put out his right eye; for all which wound he became not the flower in the prosecution of the war, nor was he made more angry by it against his Enemies, who some days after­wards having supplicated for peace, he did grant it to them, and was not onely mode­rate, but also merciful against the conquered.

WHiles the Cities of Greece sought every one to enjoy, they all lost the Soveraignty of Greece; for restlessly running into mutual destruction they pe­rished, being overcome of all: and not unless oppressed, they found what every one did loose; For Philip lying in wait in Macedonia (as in a watch-Tower) for the liberties of them all, whiles he did foment their divisions by sending ayd to the weaker parties, he made both the Conquerors and [Page 124] Conquered to undergo the yoak of servitude. The Thebans were the cause and the beginning of this calamity, who when they were masters of all, and carrying their good fortune with too impotent a mind, did publickly before a general Councel at Greece accuse the Lacedemonians and Phocensians, as if before they had endured but small punishments for the slaughters and the rapines which they committed: it was layd to the charge of the Lacedemonians, that they had seized upon the Tower of Thebes in the time of truce, and to the Phocensians that they had plundered Baeotia, as if after Arms and War there were a place left for the Laws: When the judgement was carryed according to the pleasure of the Conquerors, they were condemned in a greater sum of money then they were able to pay. Therefore the Phocen­sians when they were deprived of their wives and children, and possessions, in a desperate con­dition, Philomelus being their Captain, they seized upon the Temple of Apollo at Delphos, and being angry with men, they would be re­venged of God; being made rich with the gold and silver which there they found, they made war upon the Thebans with a mercenary Army; and though all abhorred this act of the Pho­censians, by reason of the sacriledge, yet the Thebans contracted more envie by it, by whom they were enforced to this necessity, and both [Page 125] the Lacedemonians, and Athenians sent ayd unto them. In the first encounter Philomelus became master of the Camp and Tents of the Thebans; but in the second battel he fell first of all, fighting amongst the thickest of his Ene­mies, and with the forfeit of his impious blood did answer for the crime of his sacriledge. Onomerchus was made Captain in his place, against whom the Thebans and Thessalians chose not a Captain of their own Citizens for fear of his domineering if he should prove Conqueror, but Philip King of the Macedoni­ans to be their General; and of their own ac­cord they did fall into that power and domi­nation in another Commander which they feared in their own. Philip therefore, as if he was rather a revenger of the Sacriledge, then of the Thebans, commanded all his souldiers to weare wreaths of bayes on their brows; and thus as if god was his conduct, he advanced to the battel.

The Phocensians seeing the Ensigns of the God, being affrighted with the consciousness of their offence, throwing down their Arms, did fly away, and with great slaughter and blood­shed did expiate the violation of Religion. It is incredible, what glory this atchievement brought to Philip amongst all Nations; Him they extoll'd as the vindicator of sacriledge, the Revenger of Religion, which the world with all [Page 126] its power was obliged to keep undefiled; the onely man who was thought worthy to exact a Piacle for the sin committed to plunder God. He next unto the gods was esteemed, by whom the majesty of the gods was vindicated: But the Athenians, the event of the war being un­derstood, did seize upon the streits at Ther­mophyle to keep Philip from Greece, as they did heretofore the Persians, but not with the same courage nor the same cause; for then they fought for the liberty of Greece, now for pub­lick sacriledge; then to vindicate the Temples from the violent prophanation of the Enemies, now to defend the violent Prophaners against the Vindicators of them, and they deported themselves as defenders of that wickedness in which it was a shame to be Connivers, being altogether unmindful that in the uncertainty of their affaires they had heretofore repaired to that god as to the Author of their Counsels: and he being their conduct, they had undertook so many wars, and formerly erected so many Ci­ties, and obtained so great a Soveraignty both by Sea and Land, and mannaged nothing either publick or private without the majesty of his divinity. Who would imagine that wits adorned with all variety of learning, and brought up under such excellent Laws and Institutions, should commit so horrible an impiety, that they had nothing left, of which [Page 127] after it they might justly accuse the Barbari­ans? But Philip observed no more faith him­self towards his Associates; for fearing least he should be overcome himself of his Enemies in the impiety of sacriledge, in a hostile man­ner he seized upon those Cities, of which but immediately before he was Protector; those Cities which sought under his conduct, those Cities which gratulated both him and them­selves for the victory they had obtained, he in a scornful manner sold not long afterward both the wives and children of them all; he spared not the Temples, nor the consecrated houses, nor the publick, nor the private gods whom not long before he adored: Insomuch that he seemed not to be the Revenger of sa­criledge, but to grant a liberty for sacriledges; After this, as if he had done admirably well, he marched into Cappadocia, where having man­naged the war with the like perfidiousness and the neighbouring Kings being taken and slain by treachery, he joyned the whole Country of Cappadocia to the Kingdom of the Macedons: After this to take away the infamy of envie, with which at that present he laboured above other men, he sent several persons through several Kingdoms and most flourish­ing Cities, to plant a belief that King Philip had laid up a great bank of money for the erecting of new walls through the Cities, [Page 128] and for the building of Fanes and Temples, and made Proclamations by Heralds, to the end that work-men might come in to un­dertake the building, who when they came to Macedonia, being frustrated by long delayes, they departed home in silence, fearing the an­ger of the King. After this he invaded the Olynthians, who after his slaughter of one of his brothers, did in compassion entertain the two other, whom Philip resolved to put to death, pretending they desired to partake with him in the Kingdom, being the children of his mother-in-law; for this onely cause he utterly destroyed this ancient and noble City, and his brothers being delivered to their destined destruction, he enjoyed a great booty together with the desires of his pa­ricide. After this, as if all things were lawful which he had a mind to do, he seized upon the golden Mines in Thessaly, and on the silver Mines in Thrace, and that he might leave no­thing inviolated, he at last resolved to exer­cise Pyracies on the Seas: These things in this manner mannaged▪ it came to pass that the two brothers of the King of Thrace did make choyce of him as an Arbitrator of their diffe­rences, not out of any contemplation of his justice, but both of them fearing least by his assistance he should add more strength and quite over-ballance the cause and power of [Page 129] the other. But Philip, (according to the ver­satilness of his wit) did come with a gallant Army, the two brothers unsuspecting it, not as an Arbitrator but a General, and deprived them both of the Kingdom by force, not like a Judge, but as a Theif and a plunderer. While those thing were in agitation, the Athenians sent Ambassadors to him to desire a peace, who having had audience, he sent himself Ambas­sadors to Athens with the condition of it, and a peace was concluded for the advantage of them both. There came also Ambassadors from the other Cities of Greece, not so much for the love of peace, as for the sears of war; for the fire of their rage being not to be ex­tinguished but by blood, the Thebans and Boetians did desire that he would vouchsafe to profess himself to be the General of Greece against the Phocensians, being possessed with so great a hatred against the Phocensians, that forgetful of their own ruine, they de­sired rather to perish themselves then not to destroy them, and to endure the known cruel­ty of Philip then to pardon their Enemies. The Ambassadors of the Phocensians on the other side, the Lacedemonians and Athenians being joyned with them, did crave that the war might not proceed, this being the third time that they bought with moneys a for­bearance of it.

[Page 130] A vile thing it was, and shameful to behold, that Greece being at that time the mistress of the world, both in strength and dignity, and alwaies the Conqueress of Kings and Nations, and at that time the Comman­dress of so many Cities, should humble her self at the doors of a stranger, and either craving or deprecating war, should put all her hope in the assistance of another. The Revengers of the world were brought so low by their own discords and by civil wars, that of their own accord they flattered a sordid part not long before of their own clientry; and this especially was done by the Thebans and the Lacedemonians before emulous which of them both should enjoy the absolute command of Greece, as Greece at this present would have the command of them. Philip in these dis­sentions, for the ostentation of his glory, did ride as it were in triumph over the tops of so great Cities, and did deliberate with himself which part was most worthy of him. Having given audience in private to the Ambas­sadors on both sides, to the one side he did promise the forbearance of the war, having obliged them by an Oath not to divulge his answer; unto the others he gave assurance, that he suddenly and powerfully would assist them; he commanded both either to prepare for war or to fear it; and thus with a double [Page 131] answer both sides being secure, he seized upon the straights of Thermophylae. Then the Pho­censians finding themselves circumvented by the treachery of Philip had their recourse to Arms, but they had not the leisure to prepare an Army, nor to draw unto them any Auxilia­ries: and Philip threatned utterly to destroy them, if they would not surrender themselves unto him. But there was no more trust in his composition, then there was in his promise that the war should be forborn; They were there­fore everywhere put to slaughter, and violated; the Children were pluck'd from their Parents, the Wives from their Husbands, and the Images of the gods were not safe, nor left in their own Temples. This was all the misera­ble comfort that they enjoyed, that when Phi­lip had defrauded his Associates in the distribu­tion of the booty, and ingrossed it all to him­self, they could finde nothing of their own goods amongst their Enemies. Being re­turned into his Kingdom, he drove Cities and People as Shepherds do their Flocks, some­times into their Summer, and sometimes into their Winter Pastures: He translated every place according to his own pleasure, as he would have them peopled or left desolate; lamentable was the face of all things, and like unto an utter ruine. There was no fear of any invasion of the Enemy, no running about of the [Page 132] Souldiers in the streets, no tumult of Arms, no plundering of goods, nor forcing men into Captivity, but a silent grief and sadness did possess them, and a fear that even the very tears in their eyes should be censur'd for delin­quency: Their griefs did increase in their counterfeiting, and in their concealing of them, sinking so much the deeper, by how much they were the less seen to express them: Some­times they revolved in their mindes the Sepul­chers of their Ance [...]rs, sometimes their old houshold gods, sometimes their own houses in which they begot their children, and in which they were begot themselves: Sometimes they la­mented their own misfortune that they lived to see that day, sometimes the misfortune of their children that they were not born after it. Philip in the mean time did remove some of them into the frontier Garrisons, and set them before the faces of their Enemies; others he did dispose of into the farthest bounds of his Kingdom: Some whom he had taken Prisoners in the war he reserved at home to supply his Cities, and so out of many Countreys and Nations he con­stituted one Kingdom and People. The affairs of Macedonia being set in order, he became master of the Dardanians, and other neigh­bouring places taken by deceit; neither did he abstain from those who were most neer unto him; for he determined to drive Arym­bas [Page 133] out of his Kingdom who was King of Epirus, and in the neerest consanguinity obliged to his wife Olympias; and for this purpose he sent for Alexander the brother of his wife Olympias, a boy of a sweet and lovely counte­nance to come in his sisters name to Macedonia, and with all his art having sollicited him into the hope of his Fathers Kingdom, dissembling his lust, he enforced him to grant him the un­lawful use of his body, thinking that he would be more obsequious to him either through this familiarity of unlawful love, or through the benefit of the Kingdom; therefore when he arrived to the age of twenty yeers, he took the Kingdom from Arymbas and gave it unto him, being unrighteous in both, for that he ob­served not the rights of consanguinity in him f om whom he took the Kingdom, and that he made him his prostitute before he made him a King unto whom he gave it.

WHen Philip had advanced into Greece, sollicited by the plunde­ring of a few Cities, and find­ing by their riches how great was the wealth of them all, he intended to make war upon all Greece; and thinking that if he could be master of Bizantium a famous Sea-Town, i [...] would much conduce to his affairs, it being a gallant reserve both by Sea and Land, he layd a fiege unto it shutting her Gates against him▪ This City was first builded by Pausanias King of the Sparians, and possessed by him for th [...] [Page 135] space of seven yeers. Afterwards by the seve­ral inclinations of Victory, it was sometimes in the power of the Lacedemonians, and some­times of the Athenians, which uncertain pos­session was the cause that neither of them either helping it or owning it as their own, she did more constantly maintain her liberty. Philip therefore being weary, and his stock ex­hausted with the long delay of the siege, made use of Piracy for the purchase of moneys, and having taken one hundred and seventy ships, he refreshed his Army distracted and languish­ing through want; And that so great a power might not be held in a League [...] before one Town, taking with him the most valiant of them, he besie [...]ed many Cities of the Ch [...]so­nesians, and sent for his son Alexander, being then eighteen yeers of age to come unto him, that he might learn under him the first rudi­ments of the War.

He marched also into Scythia to see what plunder he could get there, and like a Merchant he maintained one war by the profits of another. At that time Matthaeas was King of the Scy­thians, who being oppressed by the war of the I strians did desire the assistance of Philip by the Apollonians, promising to adopt him in­to the succession of the Kingdom of Scythia. In the mean time, the King of the I strians dy­ing, delivered the Scythians both from the fear [Page 136] of the war, and the need of assistance. There­fore Matthaeas having dismissed the Macedo­nians, commanded them to acquaint Philip that he neither desired his ayd, nor did intend his a­doption; for the Scythians, he said, did not need the revenge of the Macedonians, being better men then themselves, neither his Son being alive did he want an [...] This being understood, Philip sent Ambassadors to Matthaeas, desiring of him to lend him some moneys towards the charge of the fiege, least through want he should be enforced to forsake the war, which the more re [...]dily he said he ought to do because he paid not the souldiers whom he sent unto his ayd, who received nothing for their service nor for the charges of their march in the way. Mat­thaeas excusing himself by reason of the unkind­ness of the heaven, & the barrenness of the earth, that neither inriched the Scythians with Patri­monies, nor allowed them sustenance, made an­swer that he had no wealth wherewith to satisfie so great a King, and therefore it were more ho­nourable for him to deny him altogether then to contribute but a little to him; the Scythians he said, were esteemed not by their wealth, but by the vertues of their minde, & by the strength and hardness of their bodies. Philip finding himself de [...]ided, having raised the fiege before Byzan­tium, did advance against the Scythians, who to make them the more secure did send Am­bassadors [Page 137] to enform Matthaeas, that when he besieged Byzantium, he had vowed a Statue to Hercules, and that he now came to erect it at the mouth of the River of Ister; he there­fore desired that coming as a friend to the Scythians, he might be allowed a peaceable entrance to perform his religion to his god: Matthaeas made answer, that if he would per­form his vowes, he should send the Effigies unto him, and promised that it should not onely be erected accordingly as he desired, but that it should stand inviolated. He sent him word that he could not give way that his Army should enter into his Dominions, and if he should erect any Statue, the Scythians being unwilling, he would pull it down again, when he was departed, and convert the brass of the Statue into heads for arrows. With these pas­sages the minds of both being much exaspera­ted, the battel was begun.

The Scythians excell'd in vertue and valor; howsoever they were overcome by the policy of Philip. There were taken twenty thousand women and children, and a vast booty of Cat­tel, but of gold and silver nothing at all: And although it were before reported, it was at this time first of all believed how poor the Scythians were. Twenty thousand of their Mares of a brave race were sent into Macedo­nia for breed. But the Triballians did meet [Page 138] with Philip on his return from Scythia; they denied to give him passage, unless they re­ceived part of the prey; From hence began the quarrel, and by and by the fight, in which Philip was so sorely wounded in his thigh, that through his body his horse was killed; when all conceived him to be slain, the booty was all lost; therefore the devoted spoyls of the Sythians were to be lamented rather than en­joyed by the Macedons; as soon as he began to recover of his wound, he brought upon the Athenians his long dissembled war, to whose cause the Thebans did joyn themselves, fearing least the Athenians being overcome, the flames of the neighbouring war should whirle upon them.

A league being therefore made betwixt the two Cities that not long before were at the greatest enmity, they wearved Greece with their Ambassadors, alleadging that the com­mon Enemy was to be repelled by the com­mon strength; for they said that Philip would not leave off, if the affairs at first succeeded ac­cording to his minde, until he had subdued all Greece unto him. Some Cities being per­swaded by the Athenians did unite themselves unto them, but the fear of the war did draw many unto Philip: the battel being begun when the Athenians did much exceed in the number of the Souldiers, they were overcome by the [Page 139] valor of the Macedons inured to daily wars; howsoever they fell not unmindful of their antient glory; for with honourable wounds they dying, did all cover that place of the field with their bodies which their Captains did assign them to fight in.

This day did set a period to all Greece, in the respect of their antient liberty, and the glory of the Soveraignty of their command. The joy of this Victory was craftily dissembled by Philip, for he did not observe it as a day consecrated to Triumphs; he was not seen to laugh at the banquet; he neither crowned his head, nor anointed his body, and as much as in him was, he so overcame that no man could perceive him to be a Conqueror: He com­manded that he should not be called the King, but the Captain of Greece; and he so tempe­red himself betwixt a silent joy, and the pub­lick grief of his Enemies, that his own Soul­diers could not observe him to rejoyce, nor his Enemies to insult. And though the Athe­nians were alwaies most pernicious to him, yet he sent home their prisoners without ransome, and restored the carkasses of the dead to bu­rial, and of his own accord gave order that they should be carryed to the Sepulchers of their Fathers: Moreover, he sent his Son Alex­ander and his friend Antipater to Athens, to establish a firm friendship and a peace betwixt [Page 140] them. But he was not so indulgent to the Thebans; for he not onely sold their Captives but also the carkasses of their slain. Some of the Rulers of that City he beheaded, some he forced into banishment, and seized on all their goods, and restored those into their Country who had been banished from it, out of which number he appointed three hundred to be the Judges and Rulers of the City, by whom when some of the most powerful of the Citi­zens were accused, that unjustly they had dri­ven them into banishment, they were of that constancy, they all in general confessed that they were all the Authors of it, and with con­fidence affirmed that it was better with the Commonwealth by far when they were con­demned persons, then it could be now when they were restored.

A wonderful confidence it was; they passed a sentence as well as then they could, on the Judges of their lifes and deaths, and did contemn that absolution which their Enemies could give them, and because they could not revenge by deeds, they assumed to themselves a liberty by words.

The affairs being thus composed in Greece, Philip commanded that Ambassadors out of all the Cities should be called to Corinth, to consider on the present occasions, and to provide for the future: He there appointed to [Page 141] all Greece a condition of Peace, according to the merits of every City, and chose to himself a Counsel, and as it were a Parliament out of all. The Lacedemonians onely did despise both the Law and the Law-giver, affirming that it was a slavery and not a peace which was imposed upon them by the Conqueror, and did not proceed from the Cities. After this the Auxiliaries of every City were listed, by whom the King was to be assisted against any invasion, or he being their General, was to make war himself with them, and to lead them forth against any Nation; for it was not doubtful that the Empire of the Persians was the design of these great preparations. The number of his Auxiliaries of foot were two hundred thousand, and fifteen thousand horse: Besides these, there was the Army of Mace­donia, and an Army of the barbarous Nati­ons who were contiguous to them. In the be­ginning of the Spring, he sent three of his cheif Commanders into that part of Asia which was under the power of the Persians, Parmenio, Amyntas, and Attalus, whose sister he had lately marryed; Olympias the Mother of Alexander being repudiated upon the suspiti­on of incontinence. In the mean time until the Auxiliaries of Greece might be drawn in­to one body, he did celebrate the Nuptials of his daughter Cleopatra, and of Alexander [Page 142] whom he had made King of Epirus. The day was remarkable for the magnificence of the two Kings, the one marrying, the other giving his daughter in marriage: Neither was there wanting the delightfulness of Enterludes, to the beholding whereof when Philip passed without a guard between the two Alexan­ders, his Son-in-law, and his own Son, Pau­sanias one of the Nobility, being suspected by no man, did kill King Philip as he was passing through the crowd, and made the day destined to mirth and marriage black with the lamentation of a Funeral: This Pausanias about the fourteenth yeer of his age, was en­forced to be a prostitute to Attalus, to which indignity this ignominy was added, that Attalus having afterwards brought him into the Banquet, and made him drunk with wine, did not onely expose him to his own lust, but to the lust of all his guests, and rendred him a common laughing stock amongst them all: Which Pausanias with great indignation re­senting, did oftentimes complain of it to Philip; And finding that he was both deluded and delayed in his just complaints, and that his Adversarie moreover was honoured with a new addition of power and greatness, he con­verted his anger against Philip himself, and that revenge which he could not have on his Ad­versary, he took on his unrighteous Judge, [Page 143] It is also believed that he was encouraged to it by Olympias the Mother of Alexander, and that Alexander himself was not ignorant of the murther of his Father; for Olympias was no less troubled at her divorce, and that Cleo­patra was perferr'd above her, then Pausanias was at the violation of his honour. It was conceived also that Alexander suspected that his brother begot of his Step-mother, did aspire unto the Kingdom; and so far the jea­lousie did advance it self, that at a former Banquet he first quarrelled with Attalus, and afterwards with his Father, insomuch that Philips did follow him from the Table with a drawn Sword, and was hardly deteined by the intreaties of his friends from the slaughter of his son. Wherefore Alexander did first convey himself with his Mother to his Uncle in Epirus, and from thence to the Kings of the Illyrians, and was hardly afterwards re­conciled to his Father, and with much dif­ficulty was perswaded by his kinsmen to re­turn unto him. Olympias also did sollicite her brother Alexander the King of Epirus to un­dertake the war, and had overcome him to it, if the Father had not prevented his Son-in-law by the collocation of his daughter to him: With these provocations of jealousie and anger, it is believed that both of them did in­cite Pausanias to the commission of so de­sperare [Page 144] an Act. Sure it is, that Olympias had horses ready for Pausanias, if it had been his fortune to have escaped; and she her self, the death of the King being understood, when un­der the pretence of the duty, she came in great haste that night to attend his Hearse, she did impose on the very same night a Crown of Gold on the head of Pausanias then hanging on the Cross, which none but she would have been so bold to have adventured, the Son of Philip being alive. Some few daies after, she caused his body to be taken off from the Cross and burn'd, and in the same place she did erect him a Monument, and struck such a superstition into the people, that she provided that for the honor of his memory, here should be yeerly made a parentation to him: After this, she caused Cleopatra (for whose sake she was divorced from Philip, having first in her own lap killed her daughter) to end her life by hanging, and satisfied her revenge by be­holding her in that lamentable posture swing­ing on the Tree. Last of all, she consecrated that sword with which the King was slain to Apollo, under the name of Myrtalis; for so Olympias was called when she was a little one. All which was done so opnely, that it may be seared least the fact committed by her were not approved by others: Philip deceased about the seven and fourtieth yeer of his age, [Page 145] after he had reigned five and twenty yeers. He begat on Larissaea the Danceress Aridaeus, who reigned after Alexander: He had also many other Sons from divers other marriages, it being the custom of Kings to take them into Marriage as many as they pleased; but they all dyed, some by natural deaths, and some by the sword. He was a King more studious of the preparations of Arms then Feasts; his greatest riches were the utensils of war, and yet he was more cunning to get riches then to perserve them, which made them alwaies poor, though he was alwaies plundering: Mercy and Treachery were in him equally beloved: No way whatsoever to overcome his Enemies did appear sordid to him; In his discourse he was both pleasing and deceitful, and one who would alwaies promise more then he would perform; he was master of his Arts both in jeast and in earnest: He observed his friend­ships not by faithfulness but by profit: To dis­semble love in hatred, to plant sedition amongst friends, and to insinuate himself both with friends and foes was his daily Custome: Excel­lent he was in Eloquence and in the acuteness of a fine flourish in his words, full of delicate composures, that neither facility was wanting to the ornament▪ nor the ornament of invention to the facility. Alexander did succeed him greater then his Father both in vertues [Page 146] and in vices. Their way was different in the Conquests they obtained: The Son man­naged his wars by apparent valour, the Father by deceits: The Father joyned his Enemies being surprized; the Son being openly over­come; The Father more subtle in Counsel; the Son more magnificent in minde; The Father would commonly dissemble his passions, and overcome them; The Son inflam'd with rage knew neither how to delay, not moderate his revenge; Both of them were too greedy of wine, but their vices in the excess were different. It was the custome of the Father from the Banket to advance against the Enemy, to en­counter him, and unadvisedly to expose him­self unto all dangers; Alexander was more furious against his own friends then against his Enemies; wherefore the battels have often­times sent back Philip wounded, and his Son hath often come from the Banquet the kil­ler of his Friends; This would not reign over his friends, the other would usurp and grow upon them; Tbe Father did choose rather to be beloved, the Son to be fear­ed; The love to Learning was equal to them both▪ The Father was more full of Policy, the Son of Fidelity; The Father more moderate in his speech, the Son in his actions, for he had alwayes a more ready and a more honest minde to be merciful to [Page 147] those whom he overcame; The Father was addicted to thrift, but the Son to excess: By these Arts the Father layd the founda­tion for the Conquest of the World, and the Son accomplished the glory of the work.

ARtaxerxes King of the Persi­ans had fifteen Sons by a hun­dred Concubines, but he had onely three begotten in lawful marriage; Darius, Ariarctos, and Occhus. Of these against the Lawes of the Persians, amongst whom the Kingdom suffered no change but by death, Ar­taxerxes being alive, did out of his Fatherly indulgence make Darius King, thinking that there was nothing taken from the Father which was conferr'd upon the Son, and that he should take a sincerer joy in his paternal [Page 149] Interest, if he alive did behold the Ensign of his Majesty in his Son. But Darius after these unaccustom'd examples of indulgence, took counsel to kill his Father: He had been wicked enough, if he onely had conceived the parricide in his minde; but so much the more wicked, that into the society of the villany he took his fifty brothers to be partakers of it; Prodigi­ous it was, that in so great a number, the parri­cide could not onely be contracted but con­cealed, and that amongst fifty of his children there was not one found whom neither the Majesty of the King, nor the reverence of an an­cient man, nor the indulgence of a Father, could recal from so horrible an act. What was the name of a Father so vile amongst so great a number of his Sons, that he who should be safe even against his Enemies by their defence, being circumvented by their Treason, should now be safer amongst his Enemies then amongst his own children? The cause of the Parricide was far more wicked then the Parricide it self; for Cyrus being slain in the brothers war, as menti­on above is made, Artaxerxes the King took his Concubine Aspasia into marriage; Dari­us did demand that his Father should give her unto him, as he had delivered up his Kingdom, who being too indulgent to his children, did promise at first that he would do it, and not long after repenting hims [...]l [...], and honestly [Page 150] denying what rashly he had promised, he made her a Prioress in the Temple of the Sun, whereby a perpetual abstinence from all men was religiously imposed on her. The young man being much incensed at it, did first quarrel with his Father; and not long after having made a conspiracy with his brothers, whiles he sought to betray his Father, being discovered and apprehended with his Associates, they ex­piated with their blood the designed Parricide, and did punishment to the Gods the Revengers of paternal Majesty. The Wives also of them all with all their children were put to death, that there should not be so much as a shadow to be seen of so great a villany. After this Ar­taxerxes having contracted a disease by the excess of grief deceased himself a happier King then a Father.

The Inheritance of the Kingdom by order of succession was devolved on Occhus, who fearing the like conspiracy, did fill the Court with the slaughter of his kinsmen, and the ruins of the Princes, being touched with no compassion in the respect either of blood, or sex, or age; belike that he might not be more innocent then the Parricides his brothers.

And having as it were thus purified his Kingdom, he made war upon the Armenians; in which one of the Enemies having sent a challenge to try his force in Arms with any in a [Page 151] single fight, Codoman with the good opinion of all, advanced to encounter him, who the Enemy being slain, did restore both victory to the Persians and almost their lost glory. For this atchievement so gallantly performed, he was made Governor of the Armenians, and in the process of time, after the death of Occhus in the memory of his ancient valor, he was chosen King by the people, and being honoured with the name of Darius, that nothing might be wanting to the regal Majesty, he a long time mannaged the war with great courage; but uncertain fortune against Alexander the Great; at the last, being overcome by him, and slain by his own kinsmen, he ended his life with the Empire of the Persians.

AS there were divers Nations in the Army of Philip, so he being slain, there were divers agitati­ons of minds in his Army: Some being oppressed with the injury of servitude did advance themselves to some hope of liberty; others not pleased with the tediousness of so remote a war, did rejoyce that the expedition would be remitted: Some there were who lamented that the torch lighted for the marriage of the daughter should be now imployed to be put under the pile of the Father. [Page 153] And no small fear it was that possessed his friends at so sudden a Change of the affairs, revolving in their minds how much Asia was provoked before Europe was subdued, and how unfaithful and uncertain were the Illyrians, the Thracians and Dardaneans and others of the barbarous Nations that were adjacent to them, which people if they should all revolt together, it was impossible to redress it.

In these destractions the coming of Alex­ander was as a Soveraign remedy, who in a set speech did for the present so perswade and comfort the Souldiers, that he took off all fear from the timerous, and did raise the opinion of all into a great hope of him: He was then but twenty yeers of age, in which he so mode­rately promised so much that it might appear to all that he reserved more for the proof. He gave to the Macedonians the immunity of all things, unless a discharge from the wats, by which he so much attracted their love, that they said they had changed onely the body, but not the vertue nor the valor of the King. The first care he had was for his Fathers ob­sequies at which he gave a charge above all things that all who were guilty of his Fa­thers death should be slain before the Tombe of his Father; he onely reprieved Alexander the brother of the Lyncestae, preserving in him the inaguration into his dignity; for he was [Page 154] the first that did salute him King. He also took care that his brother Caraunus born of his Step-mother, who aspired to the King­dom, should be put to death.

In the first beginning of his Reign he awed many Nations that were about to rebel, & ap­peased divers seditions in the East, and joyful at the success of his proceedings he marched privately into Greece, where having called all the Cities to Corinth after the example of his Father, he was made General in his place. After this, he did go on with the preparati­ons for the Persian war, which was begun by his Father; and being altogether imployed to make provision for it, he was enformed that the Athenians, Thebans, and Lacedemonians had revolted from him to the Persians, and that the Author of that treachery was De­mosthenes the Orator, who was corrupted by the Persians with a great sum of gold: He alledged that all the Forces of the Macedo­nians were overthrown by the Triballians with their King, and in his speech compo­sed for that purpose, he produced his Author before the people, who affirmed that he was wounded in the same battel wherein the King was slain: By which report the resolu­tions of almost all the Citizens being startled, they resolved to shake off the Garrisons of the Macedons; to meet with and to prevent [Page 155] these difficulties, he marched into Greece with so much speed, and with so gallant and so prepared an Army, that whom they knew not of to come, they could hardly believe they saw. In his way he exhorted the Thes­salians, and did put them in minde of the be­nefits of Philip his Father to them, and of the neer relations of his Mother descended from the generation of the Aeacidans. His exhor­tation was agreeable to the Thessalians; they created him General of Greece after the ex­ample of his Father, and delivered to him all their tributes and revenews. But the Athe­nians as they were the first in the revolt, so they began to be the first in repentance, and turning the contempt of their Enemy into their admiration of him, they extoll'd the youth of Alexander despised before above the vertue of the ancient Captains; Ambassa­dors therefore being sent, they besought a forbearance of the war; Alexander having heard them and severely reprehended them, did remit the war. After this he advanced against the Thebans, and would have exercised the same indulgence towards them, if he had found the same repentance; but the The­bans were resolved to make use of their Arms, and not of entreaties or deprecations. Being overcome, they endured the heaviest punishments of the most miserable captivity: [Page 156] When a Councel was called to debate on the utter destruction of the City, the Phocensian [...] and Plataeans, the Thespians and Orchomaeni­ans the Associates of the Macedonians, and the partakers with Alexander in this victory, did demonstrate to him the ruines of their own Cities, and the cruelty of the Thebans, charg­ing them with their inclinations towards the Persians against the liberty of Greece, not onely for the present, but for the continu­ance of many Ages, for which cause the ha­tred of all people was upon them to be mani­fested, by this that they have all bound them­selves by an oath, the Persians being overcome, to pull down Thebes. To this they added the fables of their former abhominations, with which they have filled all Scenes, inso­much that they are to be abhorred, not onely for their present treachery, but for their ancient infamy. Eleadas one of the Captives having obtained liberty to speak, did alledge that they did not revolt from the King whom they heard to be slain, but from the heirs of the King; and what by them was committed, was not so much by the guilt of treachery as by the provocation of cruelty, for which already they had endured grievous punishments; their youth being overthrown, there remained onely he said, a company of old men and wo­men, who were as weak as they were harmless, [Page 157] and were so vex'd with adulteries and re­proaches, that they never endured any thing more grievous; he intreated not he said for the Citizens who were so few, but for the in­nocent ground of his Country, and for the City which had not onely brought forth men but gods: He supestitiously conjured the King by the remembrance of Hercules, who was born amongst them, and from whom the Na­tion of the Aeacidans did derive their Origi­nal, that he would forbear all further execu­tion: He besought, his father Philip having had his education in that City, that he would vouchsafe to spare it, it being the City which adored some of his Ancestors being born gods amongst them, and which saw others who be­ing there brought up were Kings of the su­preamest dignity. But anger was more power­ful then prayer; the City therefore was le­vell'd to the ground: the Fields were divided amongst the Conquerors; the Captives were sold, whose prizes were set not for the profit of the Buyers, but at the rate of the hatred of the Enemy. Their sad condition was lamented by the Athenians, who opened their Gates to receive them against the mandate of the King: which Alexander took so grievously, that the Athenians by a second Ambassy beseeching him to forbear the war; he did remit it on that condition, that their Orators and Cap­tains [Page 158] by whose confidence they so often had rebelled, might be delivered to him; into so great a strait the Athenians were brought, that rather then undergo the war, their Orators being retained, their Captains were sent into banishment, who immediately go­ing to Darius, were of no small moment in the Army of the Persians; Alexander being now wholy design'd ▪on the Persian war did put to death those kindred of his step-mothers, whom Philip advancing to the places of highest dignity had set over the Kingdom; neither was he more indulgent to those who were more neer unto him, if they nourished aspiring thoughts and were fit for Govern­ment, that no occasion of sedition might call him back being imployed in his war in Asia; & he took into the war those Pensioners of the King with him, the abilities of whose under­standings were more eminent then their fel­lows, leaving those who were of any age and gravity behind him for the defence of his Kingdom. After this, having drawn his Army all into one Body, he speedily embarked them, and being come into the sight of Asia, being inflamed with an incredible ardor of spirit, he erected twelve Altars, where he made his vowes to the gods of war: He divided all the Patrimony which he had in Macedonia and in Europe amongst his friends, alledging [Page 159] that Asia was sufficient for himself; And be­fore that any of his ships put forth to Sea, he offered sacrifices, desiring Victory in this war, in which he was to be the Revenger of Greece so often invaded by the Persians; whose Empire was great, old, and over-ripe, it being now high time that it should receive others by turns, who could do better: Neither were the presageful resolutions of his Army less then his own; for all of them forgetting their wives and children, and the war that was to be mannaged so far from their own Country, did propound unto themselves the Persian Gold, and the Riches of all the East as already their own booty: when they drew neer unto the Conti­nent, Alexander first of all did throw a dart as into the hostile La [...]d, and in his Armor leaping on the shoar and valting aloft, did cut a fine caper or two; he there offered sacrifices, praying that those Countries would not un­willingly receive him their King: In Ilium also he did parentate to the Tombs of those who fell in the Trojan war; advancing afterwards towards the Enemy, he caused a Proclamation to be published, forbidding his Souldiers to plunder, alledging that they must spare their own goods, nor destroy those things which they came to possess.

In his Army there were two and thirty thou­sand foot, and four thousand and five hundred [Page 160] horse, and a Fleet consisting of one hundred and fourscore and two ships. With this so incon­siderable an Army, it is hard to say whe­ther he more wonderfully overcame all the World, or that he durst undertake to do it, especially when to so dangerous a war he chose not an Army of robustious men, or in the first flower of their youth, but old Souldiers, and some who by the Laws of war were to be dis­missed by reason of their Age, and who had served in the wars of his Father and his Grand­father, that you would have taken them to be selected masters of the war rather then Souldiers; neither in the first files or ranks was any a lead­ing man who was not threescore yeers of age, insomuch that had you beheld the order of their Camp, you would have said that you had seen a Senate of some ancient Commonwealth. Therefore in the battel no man thought of flight but of Victory, neither did they put any hope in the nimbleness of their feet, but in the strength of their Arms.

On the other side, Darius King of the Per­sians in the confidence of his strength, affirmed that nothing was to be done by circumvention, and that the close counsel of a stollen Victory was not suitable to his greatness: He thought it more honourable to drive back the war then not to admit it, and not to prohibite the Ene­my into his Confines, but to receive him into [Page 161] his Kingdom. The first battel was in the Plain of Adrastum, where there being six hundred thousand in the Army of the Persians, they were put to flight, being overcome as much by the policy of Alexander as by the courage of the Macedons; great was the slaughter of the Persians; in the Army of Alexander there were slain but nine foot-men, and one hundred and twenty horse, whom for the en­couragement of their fellows, the King caused to be honourably enterred, and commanded Sta­tues to be cut for them, as for some memorable Commanders, and gave priviledges of immuni­ty to all their kindred. After this victory, the greater part of Asia did submit unto him; He also made many wars with the Lieutenants of Darius whom he overcame not so much by arms as by the terror of his Name. Whiles those things were thus managed, he understood by one of his Captives, that a treason was plotted a­gainst him by Alexander of Lynceste, the Son-in-law of Antipater, who was the Kings Lieute­nant in Macedonia, and fearing that if he should put him to death, it might occasion some tumult in Macedonia, he onely confined him to Im­prisonment and Bonds; After this, he advanced to the City of Gordium, which is situated be­tween both the Phrygias, which City he de­sired to be master of, not so much for the booty, as for that he understood that in that City in [Page 162] the Temple of Jupiter, there was consecrated the plough of Gordius, the knots of whose cord if any could unlose, the Oracle did persage of old that he should raign over all Asia. The cause and original was from this; When Gardius was ploughing in this Country with his Oxen, great flights of birds of all sorts did flie round about him, and repairing to the Augurs of the next City to know the reason of it, he met in the Gate of the City a Virgin of an excellent beauty, and having demanded of her to what Augur he should more particularly ad­dress himself, she having understood the occasi­on, and having some knowledge herself in the Art, by the instructions of her Parents, did make answer that the Kingdom was presaged to him, and did offer her self the companion of his hope, and to be his companion in marriage. So [...]air a condition did seem to be the first felicity of the Kingdom. After the marriage, there did arise a sedition amongst the Phrygians; and counsel being asked, what a period should be put unto the differences: and when the Oracles did answer, That to end the discord there was need of a King; and it being deman­ded again, who should be the King: They were commanded to make him King whom they should finde with a Plough entring into the Temple of Jupiter. Gordius was the man whom presently they saluted as their King. [Page 163] He consecrated to Regal Majesty in the Tem­ple of Jupiter the Plough by which the King­dom was conferr'd on him. After him there reigned his Son Midas, who being instructed by Orpheus with the solemnities belonging to the worship of their gods, did fill all Phrygia with Religion and Ceremonies, by which during the whole course of his life, he was safer then by his Arms.

Alexander therefore, the City being taken, when he came into the Temple of Jupiter, he demanded where the Plough was, which being shewed unto him, when he could not discover the ends of the cord lying hid among the mul­tiplicity of the foldings, he gave a violent inter­pretation to the sense of the Oracle, and cutting the cords asunder with his sword, he found the ends lying undiscovered in the mysterie of the twists. Whiles he was doing this, he was in­formed that Darius was approaching to give him battel with a formidable Army. There­fore fearing the danger of the streights, he in a swift march did lead his Army over the Mountain of Taurus; in which expedition, his foot without any respite did run five hun­dred furlongs: When he came unto Tarsus, be­ing taken with pleasantness of the River Cydnus running through the midst of the City, having unbuckled his Armor, and being covered with sweat and dust, he threw himself into the River [Page 164] which, was extreamly cold. On an sudden; so great and so chilling a benumnedness did posses every joynt, that being speechless, the danger could be neither deferred, nor any hope o [...] remedy admitted. There was one of his Physitians Philip by Name who promised to give a redress unto his evil, but some letters sent the day before by Parmenio from Cappodocia did render him suspected to the King, who not knowing of Alexander's sickness did write un­to him to have a careful eye on Philip his Physitian, because he was corrupted by Darius with a great sum of money; howsoever thinking it safer to doubt the trust of his Physitian, then his undoubted disease, having received the Cup, he delivered the letters to him, & sted fastly did behold him as he drank the physick: Having ob­served h [...]m to be not moved at the sense of the letter, he became more cheerful, & on the fourth day afterwards was recovered. In the mean time, Darius advanced towards him with an Army of three hundred thousand foot, & one hundred thousand horse: The multitude of his numbers did trouble Alexander in the respect of the few­ness of his Souldiers, but computing with himself what great atchievements he had performed by that paucity, and how many Nations he had overthrown, his hope did overcome his fear, and thinking it dangerous to delay the Battel least some desperation should grow upon the minds [Page 165] of his Souldiers, being mounted on horse-back he did ride about his Army, and by several ex­hortations did enflame the courage of the se­veral Nations; he stirr'd up the Illyrians and the Thracians with the ostentation of the wealth of the Persians, the Grecians with the memory of their former wars, & with their per­petual hatred against the Persians: He put the Macedonians in mind of Europe overcome, and of Asia desired by them; and that the world had not any Souldiers that were comparable unto them: This battel he said would put an end to their labors, but no end unto their glory: As he delivered these words, he did once and again command his Army to stand, that by that delay they might the better observe and sustain the unwe [...]ldy numbers of their Enemies; neither was Darius less industrious in the marshalling of his Army; for omitting no office of a General, he in his own person did ride about the Army, and did exhort every one, and admonish them of the ancient glory of the Persian Empire, and of their everlasting pos­session which was given of it by the immortal Gods. After this the battel was fought with great resolution, in which both Kings were wounded, and the fight was doubtful until Darius fled, whereupon there followed a great slaughter of the Persians; there were slain of their foot threescore and ten thousand, and [Page 166] ten thousand of their horse, and forty thousand were taken Prisoners. Of the Macedons there were slain one hundred and thirty foot, and one hundred and fifty horse: In the Camp of the Persians, there was found much gold, and other rich movables. Amongst the Captives, there were the Mother, and the Wife, who was also the sister of Darius, and his two daughters, to visit and to comfort: who when Alexander came in person with some men in Arms, they imbracing one another as if immediately they were to die, did make a skrieking lamentation▪ then humbling themselves to the knees of Alex­ander, they desired not life, but onely a respite from death so long until they had buried the body of Darius. Alexander beimg moved at their so great a piety, did both give them an assurance of the life of Darius, and withal took from them the fear of death, and did command that they should be esteemed and saluted as Queens, and commanded the daughters of Darius to look for husbands sui­table to the dignity of their Father. After this taking into his observation, the riches and precious Furniture of Darius, he was possessed with admiration at it; he then first began to delight himself with luxurious Banquets, and the magnificence of Feasts, and to be tempted by the beauties of Barsine his Capive, on whom having afterwards begot a Son, he did call him [Page 167] Hercules. But remembr [...]ing that Darius was yet alive, he commanded Parmenio to seize up­on the Persian Fleet, and sent some others of his friends to take possession of some Cities in Asia, which the fame of his Victory being understood, came presently into the hands of the Conquerors, the Lieutenants of Darius deli­vering themselves with vast sums of gold unto them. After this he advanced into Syria, where many Kings of the East with Fillets and Miters did meet him; of whom some he received into the society of his friendship ac­cording to their merits, and from others he took their Kingdom, new Kings being chosen in their places. Amongst others, A'bdolominus chosen King of Sidonia by Alexander was remark­able, who living but miserably before (all his imployment being either to scoure ditches, or to water gardens) was ordained King by him, the Nobility of that Kingdom being rejected, least they should impute their royalty to their birth, and not to the benefit of the giver; When the City of Tyre had sent to Alexander by their Ambassadors a Crown of gold of great weight in the pretence of gratulation, the gift being gratefully accepted, Alexander did de­clare unto them that he would repair himself unto Tyre to pay his vows to Hercules; the Ambassadors replying that he should perform that better in the old Town of Tyre, and in [Page 168] the more ancient Church, & desiring withal that he would forbear to enter into their new City; Alexander was so incensed at it, that he threat­ned utterly to destroy their City: and immediate­ly drawing his Army to the Iland, he was not less resolutely received by the Tyrians through the confidence they had of being assisted by the Carthaginians. The example also of Dido did confirm them in their resolution, who, Car­thage being builded, were masters of the third part of the World, thinking it dishonourable, if their women had more resolution to subdue forreign Kingdoms, then they had to defend their own liberty: Those therefore who were unfit for the service of the war being removed to Carthage, and the ayd of that City desired to be hastned, they were not long after taken by treachery: After this he took Rhodes, Aegypt, and Cilicia upon composition, and was resolved to go to Jupiter-Hammon to ask counsel of him concerning the event of things to come, and concerning his own Original; for his mother Olympias had confessed to his Father Philip, that Alexander was not begotten by him, but by a serpent of a vast extent and bulk. And Philip not long before his death, did openly confess that Alexander was not his Son, and caused Olympias to be divorced from him as being guilty of incontinence; Alexander there­fore desiring to know the divinity of his Ori­ginal, [Page 169] and to deliver his Mother from Infamy, did send some before him to suborn the Priests what answers they should give unto him. En­tring into the Temple, the Priests immediately did salure him as the Son of Ammon; He be­ing joyful of this his adoption by the God, did command that he should be esteemed as his Fa­ther. After this he demanded, whether he had taken full revenge on all the Murtherers of his Father: It was answered, That his Father could neither be killed nor die, but the revenge for King Philip was fully performed. After this having propounded a third demand unto them: It was answered, That both Victory in all wars, and the possession of all Lands was granted to him. His Companions also were enjoyned by the Priests to worship him as a God, and not as a King. From hence he was possessed with a strange insolence, and a won­derful pride of minde, being altogether estranged from that familiarity which he had learned by the letters of the Grecians, and the Instituti­ons of the Macedons: being returned from Hammon, he builded Alexandria, and com­manded that a Col [...]ny of the Macedons should be the chief Seat of Aegypt.

Darius flying to Babylon, desired Alexander by letters, that he might have the liberty to re­deem the Captive Ladies, and promised him a vaste sum of money. But Alexander returned [Page 170] answer, That to redeem those Captives, he must not onely have his money, but all his Empire. Not long after Darius did write again to Alexander, and in his letter he offered him the marriage of his Daughter, and a great part of the Empire; but Alexander did write back unto him, that he gave him but that which was his own before, and commanded him to come as a Suppliant to him, and to per­mit the Conqueror to dispose of the Kingdom at his own pleasure. Wherefore having abando­ned all hope of peace, Darius did prepare again for the war, and advanced against Alexander with four hundred thousand foot, and one hundred thousand horse. In his march he was enformed that his Wife was dead in her extremity of pain by an abortive birth, and that Alexander did lament her death, and assisted at her burial, which civilities he used towards her, not out of the heat of vain love, but the obligations of humanity; for he was as­sured that Alexander did never see her but once, when he oftentimes repaired to com­fort his Mother and his Daughters; Darius then confessing that he was truly conquered, when after so many battels his Enemy in courtesies did overcome him, and that it should not be altogether unpleasing to him if he could not be victorious, especially when he was conquered by such an Enemy, [Page 171] did write the third time unto Alexander, and gave him thanks for his civil respects unto his Family, and offered him his other Daughter to Wife, and the greater part of his Kingdom, even to the River of Euphrates, and thirty thousand talents for the other Captives. Alex­ander returned answer, That the giving thanks of an Enemy was superflucus, neither had he done any thing in flatto [...]y of him, or in the distrust of the event of the war, or to com­plement for conditions of peace, but out of the greatness of his minde by which he had learned to contend against the Forces, but not the cala­mities of his Enemies: He promised that he would allow the same Grants to Darius, if he would be his Second and not his Equal: But as the World could not be governed by two Suns, no more could it endure the Government of two such great Empires in a safe condition: Therefore he should come, he said, and make a surrender of himself on that present day, or prepare for the battel on the next▪ nor promise to himself any other fortune then of what be­fore he had the experience.

On the next day, their Armies stood both in battel-array; Immediately before the fight be­gan, a deep sleep invaded Alexander, pos­sessed with too much care, who being onely wanting in the battel, he was with much ado awakned by Parmenio: All men demanding [Page 170] the cause of so sound asleep in such apparent danger, when in his greatest leisures he was al­wayes moderate of it; He made answer, that being delivered from a great sear, the sudden­ness of his security was the occasion of it, for he might now fight at once with all the Forces of Darius, being afraid before that the wars would be delayed if the Persians should have divided their Army. Before the battel did begin both the Armies made a stand, and did look on one another. The Macedons did wonder at the multitudes of their Enemies, at the greatness of their bodies, and the beauty of their Armor: The Persians were amazed that so many thousand of their Souldiers had so often by so few been overcome. The two Kings did ride round ab [...]ut their Armies; Darius assured his, that if the division were made throughout his Army, he had ten men in arms to fight against but one of his Enemies. Alexander admonished the Macedonians not to be troubled with the multitudes of their Enemies, nor with the greatness of their bodies, or the novelty of the complexion of their Arms: he commanded them onely to remember that this is the third time they fought with them, and so consider that they were become never the better men by their so often flying away, but carryed alwayes with them the sad remembrance of their former overthrows, & of so much blood [Page 171] they had lost before in the two other battels; He assured them that as Darius did exceed in men, so did he in strength: He perswaded them to despise that Army shining with gold and silver, in which there was more booty then danger; the Victory being not to be purchased by the glittering of ornaments, but by the edge of the sword.

After this both Armies were joyned in battel; The Macedons in contempt of the Enemy so often overcome, did throw themselves upon the swords of the Persians. And the Persians desired rather manfully to die then to be over­come▪ seldom more blood in any fight was shed. Darius when he saw his Army over­thrown, would willingly have dyed himself: But those who stood next unto him did compel him to flie: Some perswading him to break down the Bridge of the River of Cydnus to stop the passage of his Enemies; he made answer, That he would not so dishonourably provide for his own safety by exposing so many thousands of his Souldiers to the fury of their Enemies, and that the same way of flight was to he open to others, which lay open to himself. Alexander in his own person was alwayes pre­sent in the greatest difficulties, and where he saw his Enemies on their thickest squadrons to fight most bravely, he clapped in upon them, and would have all the dangers to be wholy his [Page 174] own and not his Souldiers. In this battel h [...] gained unto himself the whole Empire of Asia in the fifth yeer of his reign, and so great was his felicity, that after this no man durst to rebel; and the Persians after the Empire which con­tinued so many yeers did patiently endure the yoak of servitude. His Souldiers being reward­ed and refreshed, so great was the booty, that it took up forty daies to receive the full ac­count of it; he found hid in the City eleven thousand Talents: After this, he took Persepo­lis the chief Seat of the Persian Empire, a City renowned for many yeers, and full of the spoyls of the World, which first appeared at the destruction of it.

As those things thus passed, eight hundred Greeks did come unto him, who with dismem­bred bod [...]es did endure the punishment of their Captivity, beseeching him that as he had delive­red Greece, so he would deliver them also from the cruelty of their Enemies. The King having granted them leave to return to their own Country, they made choyce to be seated ra­ther in a plantation abroad, least in the stead of joy, they should present unto their Parents the lamentable and loathed spectacle of themselves. In the mean time, Darius to purchase favour of the Conqueror, was bound by his knismen in golden chains in a Town of the Parthians called Tancas. I believe the immortal gods, so [Page 175] ordained it, that the Empire of the Persians should have its end in their Land who were afterwards to succeed in the Government. Alexander pursuing the chase in a full gallop came to the same Town on the next day. He there understood that Darius in a close wag­gon was carryed away by night; his Army therefore being commanded to follow, he pursued him with onely seven thousand horse, and in the way had many and dangerous en­counters; And having in the chase numbred many miles, when he could not receive the least notice of Darius, he respited a little to breathe and bait his horses. As one of his Souldies did go unto the next spring, he found Darius bleeding through many wounds, but yet alive; whereupon he made use of his Cap­tive to be his Interpreter, whom when Darius found by his voyce to be a Persian, he said that this brought some comfort to him in his pre­sent misfortunes, that he should speak to one who understood him, and should not in vain breathe forth his last words. He desired that it might be represented to Alexander that he dyed much in his debt; being ob­liged to him for many favours, having ne­ver the happiness to return any; he was much to thank him that he deported himself to­wards his Mother and his children, not like an Enemy, but a King; and was more happy [Page 174] in his Adversary, then in his own kindred; for the lives of his Mother and his children were given to them (he said) by his En­nemy, but his life was taken away by his kinsmen to whom he had given both life and Kingdoms, for which he should receive that recompence, which he being a Con­queror should be pleased himself to take; All the thankfulness which he being a dy­ing man could return unto him, was to be­seech the powers above, and the powers below, and the gods that dispose of Scep­ters, that they would grant him the Em­pire of all the World; For himself he desired to have rather a solemn then a sumptuous Funeral. As for what pertai­ned to the Revenger of his death, it ought he said to be made Exemplar, it being not onely Alexanders but the com­mon cause of all Kings, which to neglect, would be as dishonourable as it were dan­gerous; for as in one, the Example of his justice, so in the other, the cause of his futu [...]e safety would be declared; for the performance of which he gave his right hand, the onely pledge of the Faith of a King.

Having spoken these word [...] and stretch­ed forth his hands he dyed; which when it was reported unto Alexander, having [Page 177] beheld him, he with tears prosecuted his death so unworthy of that height wherein he lived; and commanded that his body should be buried after the manner of their Kings, and be carryed to the Tombs of his Predecessors.

ALexander after this with great Funeral expences did honour those Souldiers whom he lost in the pursute of Darius, and divided fifteen thousand Ta­lents amongst their fellows who did accom­pany him in that Expedition. The greatest part of their horses were lost by the excessive heat, and those which remained alive made un­serviceable. The treasure consisting of one hundred and three and fifty thousand Talents, was brought all into one Exchequer, and [Page 179] Parmenio was made Chancellor of it. In the mean time Letters were received from Antipater in Macedonia, in which the war of Agis King of the Lacedemonians in Greece, the war of Alexander (King of Epirus) in Italy, and the war of Zopyron his Lieute­nant in Scythia were contained, with which news he was diversly affected, but received more joy by the death of the two Kings that did emulate his glory, then he expressed grief for the loss of Zopyron with his Army: For after the departure of Alexander, almost all Greece, taking advantage of his absence, did combine to take Arms for the recovery of their liberty; In which they followed the authority of the Lacedemonians, who alone despised the peace with Philip and Alexan­der, and refused the conditions of it. The Ge­neral of this war was Agis King of the La­cedemonians; which insurrection Antipater, having drawn his forces together, did sup­press in the very beginning of it. The slaugh­ter howsoever was great on both sides: Agis when he beheld his Souldiers to turn their backs, having cleared himself of his Guard, that he might be equal to Alexander, though not in fortune, yet in courage, did make so great a slaughter of his Enemies, that sometimes he drove whole Troops of them before him: At the last, though he was over-born by the mul­titude, [Page 180] yet he overcame them all in glory. And Alexander King of Epirus being called into Italy by the Tarentines, desiring ayd against the Brutians, did march with so much resolu­tion, that if in the division of the world, the West by lot had fallen to him, and the East to Alexander the Son of Olympias his sister, he might have found no less a subject of glory, in Italy, Africk, and in Sicily, then the other in Asia, and amongst the Persians. To this may be added, that as the Oracles at Delphos did fore-warn Alexander the Great of trea­chery in Macedonia; so he was advised by Jupiter of Dodona to take heed of the City of Pandosia and of the Acherusian River, which being both in Epirus, he being ignorant that they were both in Italy also, did more readily undertake a forreign war to decline the danger which was threatned by the destinies as he conceived at Rome.

Being advanced in Italy, he first of all made war with the Apulians; the fate of whose City being understood, he not long after made peace and friendship with their King. At that time Brundusium was the City of the Apulians, which the Aetolians (following the Conduct of their Captain Dio medes, renowned for his atchievements at the siege of Troy) did build. But being forced away by the Apulians, it was told them by the [Page 181] Oracle, that perpetually they should possess the place which they first found out, where­fore by their Ambassadors they demanded of the Apulians, that their City should be re­stored to them▪ and threatned to bring a war upon them, if they should detain it. But the Apulians having notice of the Oracle, did put the Ambassadors to death, and did bury them in their City, to have there their perpetual re­sidence. And being thus discharged of the Oracle, they for a long time did possess the City, which when Alexander of Epirus un­derstood, in reverence to the Antiquity of the place, he did abstain from making war upon the Apulians: But he made war against the Brutians and Lucanians, and took many of their Cities; afterwards he made peace with the Metapontinians, the Rutilians, and the Ro­mans. But the Brutians and Lucanians ha­ving the assistance of their Neighbours, did renew the war with greater courage, in which the King neer unto the City of Pandosia & the River Acheron was killed, the name of the fatal place being not known until he fell; and dying▪ he understood that the danger of death was not in his own Countrey, for the fear of which he did [...]e his Countrey. The Tyrians having at the publick charge redeemed his Body, did commit it unto Burial. Whiles those things were done in Italy, Zopyron, [Page 182] who was made Lieutenant of Pontus by A­lexander the Great, conceiving himself to be but as an idle person, if he should do nothing memorable himself, having drawn together an Army of thirty thousand men, did make war upon the Soythians: being slain with all his Army, he suffered for the rashness of making wars on that innocent Nation: When these things were brought to Alexander in Parthia, having dissembled a sorrow for the death of Alexander his kinsman King of Epirus, he commanded his Army to quarters for the space of three dayes; And all men sug­gesting to themselves, that in Darius death the war was ended, and expecting now a speedy return into their own Country, and in their imagination already embracing their wives and children, Alexander did call them forth to a general convention, and declared unto them, that nothing was as yet atchieved by so many famous battels, if the more Eastern Enemies should remain untouched; neither did he make war for the body, but the Empire of Darius; those he said were to be pursued who fled away and revolted from him. Having with his speech given new heat to the courage of his Souldiers, he subdued the Mardians and Hercanians. In that place Thalestris or Mi­nothaeae Queen of the Amazons did address her self unto him with three hundred thousand [Page 183] women, having travelled▪ five and twenty dayes through most hostile Nations, to have Issue by him; her countenance and the cause of her coming was the subject of much wonder, both for the strangeness of her habit, and the strangeness of her desire; To satisfie which, the King took the leisure of thirty dayes, and when she thought that her womb was preg­nant, she departed. After this Alexander assumed the habit and the diadem of the Kings of Persia, before unused by the Kings of Macedon, as if he had translated himself into the customes and fashions of those whom he had overcome; which, that it might not more enviously be beheld in him alone, he commanded his friends also to take unto them the long robe of gold and purple. And that he might imitate as well their riot as their habit, he divided the nights by turns amongst the flocks of his Concubines, as re­markable for their birth as for their beauty, to which he added, the magnificence of ban­quets, least his luxury should not seem com­pleat. And according to the vanity of royal pomp, he made his Feasts more delightful with Enterludes, being altogether unmindful that so great wealth with such profuseness is accustomed to be consumed and not enlarged. Amongst these things great was the Indigna­tion of all, over all the Camp, that he so de­generated [Page 184] from his Father Philip, that he cared not for the name of his own Country, and followed the dissoluteness of the Persians▪ whom for such dissoluteness he overcame; and that he might not onely seem to addict him­self to the vices of those whom with arms he had subdued, he permitted his Souldiers to marry those female Captives, to whom they had indeared themselves: politickly conceiving that having in their Tents a representation of their houses and Families at home, the labour of the war would be both more pleasant by the company of their wives; and their desires to return into their Countries, would be more moderate: And that Macedonia also should be less exhausted with recruits, if young Souldiers should succeed in their old Fathers places, and fight in the same works in which they were born, being likely to be more con­stant upon duty, exercising not onely their youth and childhood, but having their cradles also rocked in the Camp. This Custom re­mained afterwards amongst the Successors of Alexander, and maintenance was provided for the Infants, and Instruments for the making of Arms, and the furniture for horse were given them to practice on, when they were but young; and their Fathers had allowances ap­pointed them according to the number of their children, and if their Fathers dyed, ne­vertheless [Page 185] the children had the pensions of their Father, their Infancy amongst so many Expeditions being as a continual war-fare. Therefore from their minority being enured to labour and to dangers, their Armies were unconquerable; for they thought no otherwise of their Tents then of their Country, and that an encounter was alwayes nothing else but Victory.

This is that off-spring which were called Epigoni: The Parthians being overcome, An­dragoras one of the most noble of the Persians was made Governor of them, from whom the Kings of Parthia did afterwards derive their Original. In the mean time, Alexander did begin to exercise his rage on his own men, not like a King, but like an Enemy: Nothing more incensed him then that he was upbraided by them, that he had subverted the Customs of his Father Philip, and of his own Country, for which offence old Parmenio next unto the King in Dignity, and his Son Philotas (being questioned for other pretences) were both put to death. On this there did arise a mur­mur over all the Camp, in compassion of the condition of the innocent old man and of his Son, and sometimes they were heard to speak, that they could not hope for any better them­selves; which when it was reported unto A­lexander, fearing least the same reproach [Page 186] should be divulged in Macedonia, and that the glory of his Victories should be eclipsed by the ignomy of his cruelty, he dissembled that he would send some of his friends into his own Country▪ who should be the Messengers of his Conquests. He desired the Souldiers to write freely unto their friends, being but sel­dom to enjoy such an apportunity again, by reason of the more distant remoteness of the war. This being done, he commanded the packet to be brought privately unto him, by which having discovered what every▪ one thought of him, he reduced them who had written to their friends more hardly of him into one Company, either with an intent to destroy them, or to distribute them into Colonies in the furthest parts of the world. After this he subdued the Dracans, Ever­getans, Parimans, Paropamissidans, Hydaspi­ans, and the other Nations which live at the foot of Caucasus. In the mean time Bessus, one of the friends of Darius was brought bound in chains, who had not onely be­trayed, but also killed the King, whom A­lexander delivered to the brother of Darius to be tormented, in revenge of his treason, thinking Darius was not so much his Ene­my as he had been a friend to him by whom he was slain: And that he might give a name to those Lands, he builded the City of [Page 187] Alexandria on the River of Tanaia, within seventeen daies having made a Wall about it six miles in compass, and translated thither the people of three Cities which Cyrus had erected. He builded also twelve Cities a­mongst the Bactrians and the Sogdians, ha­ving distributed amongst them whomsoever he found to be seditious in his Army. After this, upon a holy day, he called his friends together to a banquet, where mention being made by them in their wine, of the deeds performed by Philip, Alexander preferr'd him­self above his Father, and extoll'd unto the Skies the greatness of his own atchievements, the greatest parts of his Guests assenting to him: Therefore when Clytus one of the old men tempted by the confidence of his friend­ship with the King, did advance the memory of Philip and the battels which he fought, he so inflamed Alexander, that a spear being snatched from one of the Guard, he killed him at the banquet, and insulting over him, he objected to him, being dead, how bravely he defended his Father Philip, and how highly he praised his wars. After his passion was blown over, and he was satisfied with his blood, and the consideration of his re­putation succeeded into the room of his an­ger, pondering with himself sometimes the person of him who was slain, and sometimes [Page 188] the cause of his being slain, he began to repent of what he had done, and that he gave so discontented an ear to the prayses of his Father, which he ought not to have given to his reproaches, and lamented that his old friend, and his innocent one was slain by him, being full of wine and supper, and by the same fury being hurryed into repentance, as he was into passion, he would have kill'd himself: Melting into tears, he did imbrace the body of the dead, he did handle his wounds, and did confess his madness to him, as if he had heard him, and taking the spear again into his hand, he turned the point of it to himself, and had done a thorough ex­ecution with it, if his friends had not pre­vented him; this resolution to die continued with him certain dayes afterwards. The re­membrance of his Nurse, sister unto Clytus, was an addition to his repentance, for whom being absent, he was greatly ashamed that he returned her so foul a recompence for the nourishments she had given him, and that be­ing a young man and a Conqueror, he should with Funerals requite her in whose arms he was bred up. He then considered what reports, what disgrace he had by this violent act pull'd upon himself, not onely in his Army, but amongst the conquer'd Nations, how much fear and hatred he had cotracted [Page 189] amongst his friends, how sad he had made his Feast, sitting more terrible at his banquet with his friends, then armed in face of his Enemies. Then Parmenio and Philotas, then Amyntas his kinsman, then his Step-mother and his Bothers being killed, then Attalus, Eurilochus and Pausanias, and others of the slaughter'd Princes of Macedonia, did pre­sent themselves unto his memory. For this he four dayes persevered in an abstinence from all meat, until at last he was intreated by the prayers of all the Army, desiring that he would not lament so much the death of one, as to destroy them all, nor forsake them whom he had brought into the furthest part of the East amongst barbarous and cruel Na­tions, and provoked by the war. The per­swasions of Calisthenes, the Philosopher, did prevail much upon him, who was his familiar acquaintance, and bred up with him in the School of Aristotle, and was at that time sent for by him to commit his Deeds to Hi­story.

Having therefore called back his mind to the war, he took into his protection the Dra­cons and Chorasmians, who did submit unto him; Not long after, to make himself yet more hateful, he commanded that he should not only be worshipped, but adored, which was the onely thing he had forborn in the proud [Page 190] imitation of the Persian Kings. Calisthenes was the most sharp and resolute of all that did contradict it, which brought a destruction both on him and many others of the Princes of the Macedons, for they were all put to death under the pretence of treason. Ne­theless the Macedons would not admit of adoration, but onely retained the Custom of saluting their King: After this he marched into India to bound his Empire with the Ocean and the farthest East, to which glory, that the ornaments of his Army might be a­greeable, he cover'd with silver the trappings of their horses, and the arms of his Souldiers, and from their silver bucklers he called his Army Argyraspidae. When he came unto the City of Nysa, the Inhabitants not resisting him by reason of their religious confidence in the assistance of their god Bacchus, by whom that City was builded, he commanded that it should be spared, being glad that he followed not onely the Militia, but the foot▪steps of the god.

After this he did lead his Army to the sight of the holy Hill, which was cloathed with Vines and lvie, the goods of Nature, and that so elegantly, as if it had been adorned by the art and industry of the hand of the Planter. But his Army was no sooner marched to the Hill, but transported with a sudden rap­ture, [Page 191] they did by instinct break forth into the sacred ululations of the God, and to the amazement of the King, did run up and down without any prejudice, that he might understand that by sparing the Inhabitants, he provided as well for his Army as for them.

From thence he marched to the Hills of Dodalus, and to the Kingdom of Queen Cleo­phis, who having yielded her self unto him, she received back her Kingdom, having re­deemed it by granting him the use of her body; obtaining that by wantonness which she could never have purchased by the force of arms; She called her son Alexander, who was be­gotten by him, who afterwards enjoyed the Kingdom of the Indians. Queen Cleophis by reason of this violation of her chastity was afterwards called by the Indians, The royal Whore. Having marched almost through In­dia, when he came to a Rock as wonderful in its bigness, as in the difficulty of its ascent, into which many Nations fled, he understood that Hercules was by an Earthquak prohibited from the taking of it. Being therefore trans­ported with a desire to overcome the Acts and Labors of Hercules, with infinite difficulty and danger, he became master of it, and took into his protection all the Nations in that place. One of the Kings of the Indians was [Page 192] called Porus, as admirable by the strength of his body, as by the greatness of his minde, who having understood before of the advance of Alexander, had prepared an Army to enter­tain him. The battels being joyned, he com­manded his Army to invade the Macedons, and demanded for their King, being resolved as a private Enemy to fight with him hand to hand; Alexander made no delay to answer him, and in the first encounter having fallen head-long to the ground, his horse being killed under him, he was preserved by the concourse of his Guard. Porus being almost covered with blood from many wounds which he received, was taken Prisoner, and with such indignation grieved that he was overcome, that after his Enemy had given him quarter, he would neither take any sustenance, nor suffer his wounds to be dressed, and with much difficulty was per­swaded to be contented to live.

Alexander in the honour of his valour, did send him back safe into his own Kingdom: He erected there two Cities, one called Nicaea, the other Bucephale, after the name of his horse: After that having overthrown their Armies, he took the Adrestrians, Strathenians, Passi­dams, and Gangaritans; when he came to the Euphites where they attended his com­ing with an Army of two hundred thousand horse, all his Army being tired as well by the [Page 193] numbers of their Victories as by their labors did beseech him with tears, that he would put at last a period to the war, and once think upon a return into his Country; they besought him to look upon the yeers of his Souldiers whose age would scarce suffice to their return; some shewed him their gray hairs, some their wounds, some their bodies consumed with sickness, and some their bodies with the loss of blood. They onely (they said) were the men who en­duced the continual war-fare of two Kings, Philip and Alexander: They did entreat him that he would restore their Relicts and what was left of them to the graves of their Fathers, there being no defect in their zeal, but in their age: Howsoever, if he would not spare his Souldiers, that he would spare himself, and not weary his good Fortune by too much oppressing it; Being moved with these so just entreaties he commanded his Camp (as to give an end to his Victories) to be made more magnificent then was usual, that by the large extents thereof, both the Enemy should be terrified, and an admiration of him should be left unto posterity. His Souldiers did never undertake any work more readily; and their adjacent Enemies being slain with a great joy they returned unto them.

From thence he marched to the River Acesi­nes on which he sailed to the Ocean; The [Page 194] Gesonae there and the Asybians (two Nations of whom Hercules was the Founder) did sub­mit unto him; from thence he sailed to the Ambrians and Sycambrians, which Nations with fourescore thousand armed foot, and threescore thousand horse were ready to re­ceive him; Having overthrown them in battel he did lead his Army to their Citie, and being himself the first man that scaled the Walls, when he found the City to be abandoned by its Defendants, he leaped down without any Guard into it; The Enemy when they did be­hold him alone, with a great shout from every place ran towards him, to try if in one man they could end the wars of the World, and give a revenge to so many Nations. Alexander did as resolutely resist them, and did fight alone against so many thousands: It is incredible to be spoken, that not the multitude of his Ene­mies, nor the pointed force of their weapons, nor the cries and shouts they made provoking one another could any wayes affright him; he alone did kill and put to flight so many thousands of them; but when he perceiv'd that he began to be over-powred by their numbers, he applyed himself to the body of a Tree that stood close unto the Wall, by which defence he along time did sustain their multitudes: His friends at length (the danger being understood) did leap down unto him, of which many were [Page 195] slain, and the battels continued doubtful until all his Army (the Walls being thrown down) did come to his assistance: In this fight being shot with an arrow under the breast, he fainted▪ through the loss of blood, yet he fought so long with one knee on the ground until he had killed him who wounded him. The cure of the wound was more grievous then the wound it self; but being at last restored from almost a desperation of recovery, he sent Poli­percon with his Army unto Babylon. He him­self with a selected number of Souldiers did go aboard his Fleet to make some discovery on the Ocean. When he landed at the City of King Ambigerus, the Inhabitants understand­ing that he was not to be overcome by the sword, did arm their Darts with poyson, and with a double wound of death, forcing their Enemies to retreat from their Walls, they killed many of them. When amongst others, Ptolomy was deadly wounded, and was even ready to expire, an herb was shown to the King in his sleep as a remedy for the poyson; which being found out and steeped in Ptolomys drinck, he was suddenly delivered from the danger, and by this remedy the greater part of the Army was preserved. The City being taken, he returned to his ships and sacrificed to the Ocean, imploring a happy return into his Country; And (as a Chariot driven about [Page 196] the gole) having put bounds unto his Empire, where the creeks, or the solitudes of the Land did suffer him to pass, or the Sea was navigable, he was at last brought by a favourable tide into the mouth of the River of Indus. There as a Monument of what he had done, he builded the City of Barce, and erected Altars, having left one of his friends as his Lieutenant over the Maritine Indians: Being afterwards to march altogether by Land, having under­stood that the places were dry, about the middle of his way he caused Wells to be digged, and great store of fresh water being found he came to Babylon. Many of the conquered Nations did there by their Ambassadors accuse his Lieutenants, whom Alexander without any respect of friendship did cause to be put to death in the sight of the Ambassadors. After this he took to marriage Statyra the daughter of King Darius, and gave in marriage to the Princes of the Macedons the most noble of the Virgins chosen cut of all Nations, that by the community of the fact, the fault of the King might appear the less. He then called his Army together, & promised at his own charges to pay all their debts, that intirely they might carry home with them both their booty and their pay. This munificence was remarkable, not onely for the sum but for the ground of the Gift, nor was it more grateful to the Debtors [Page 197] then to the Credit [...]rs, because the exaction as well as the solution was of equal difficulty to them both: Three and twenty thousand Ta­lents were layd forth in this largess. The old Souldiers being dismissed, he supplyed his Ar­my with those of younger age, who being re­tained did murmur at the departure of the old Souldiers, and demanded to be discharged themselves; they required that Alexander would not number their yeers but their pay unto them; and being chosen into the same war with old Souldiers, they thought it just they should be disobliged of their oath with them; at last they turn'd their entreaties to re­proaches, and told him since he had so great a minde to it, he should end the wars alone with his Father Hammon. Alexander on the other side, sometimes did chastise his Souldiers, sometimes he did perswade them that they would not with seditions clow'd the glory of their warfare. At the last, when he found that he prevailed nothing by words, he leaped unarmed from the tribunal amongst the armed multitude, to apprehend the authors of the se­dition, and no man opposing him, he with his own hand took twelve of them and hurried them to punishment; either the fear of the King did give them so great a patience to die, or the Discipline of the war did give the King so great a constancy to exact punishment [Page 198] of them. After this, having called the Auxiliaries of the Persians to convention by themselves, he extolled their perpetual fidelity, both to­wards himself and towards their former Kings: He made mention of his benefits to them, and that he never did deport himself towards them as being conquered, but rather as the Compa­nions of his Conquests; lastly, that he trans­posed himself into their manners and fashions, and not they into the manners of his Country, and that the Conquerors did mingle in marri­age and affinity with the conquered; He de­clared that he was now resolved to commit the Custody of his Body not to the Macedons one­ly but to them; And accordingly he chose out of their young men one thousand of them to be in the number of his Guard; he mingled also a party of the Persian Auxiliaries with his own Army to inure themselves to the Discipline of the Macedons, which the Macedons took much to heart, alledging that the Enemies of the King were overcome by him for their own ad­vantage. Then they all weeping did repair unto him, and besought him that he would rather sa­tisfie himself with their punishments then with their ignominy. By which modesty they prevai­led so much upon him, that he dis-authorized eleven thousand of the antient Souldiers. Of his old friends there were dismissed Polypercon, and Clytus, Gorgias, Polydamas, and Antigonus. [Page 199] In their return, Craterus was appointed to be their chief, who was also to be the Kings Lieu­tenant in Macedonia in the place of Anti­pater, who was called out of Macedonia to bring some Recruits unto the Army and to be in the place of Craterus: Their pay was given to them in their return, as if they had continned still in the Army.

Whiles these things were thus managed, Ephestion dyed, one of the Kings friends, and most deer unto him both by the endowments of his beauty, and by the obsequiousness of his youth, whom Alexander contrary to the dig­nity of a King, did a long time lament, and erected him a Tomb on which he layd forth twelve thousand Talents, and commanded after he was dead, that he should be worship'd as a god.

Returning to Babylon from the furthest shores of the Ocean, he was informed that Ambassadors from Carthage and other Cities of Africk, as also from Spain, Sicily, France and Sardinia, and from divers Cities of Italy, did attend his arrival. The terror of his name had so possessed the whole World, that all Na­tions submitted to him as to their destined King: For this cause approaching to Babylon to keep as it were a Parliament of the World, some of the Magicians did advise him not to enter into the City, affirming that it would be [Page 200] fatal to him: wherefore Babylon being omit­ed, he turned aside to Byrsia an unpeopled City, on the other side of Euphrates; He was there importuned by Anaxarchus the Philo­sopher to despise again the presages of the Magicians as things false and uncertain, and unknown to men if proceeding from the Fates, or if from Nature, not to be prevented. Being returned therefore to Babylon, after the leisures of many days, he again prepared a solemn Feast, which sometimes before he had intermitted, where having devoted himself al­together to mirth, in the excess of drinking he added night unto the day: Thessalius Medius afterwards to a new Bower did invite both him and his Companions; having taken the Cup into his hand, in the middle of his draught he groaned as if he had been struck through with a sword, and being carryed half dead from the Banquet, he was tormented with so great a pain, that to free himself of it, he demanded for a sword, and his body be­came so extreamly tender, that he complained at the touches of his friends, as if he had recei­ved so many wounds. His friends divulged the cause of his disease to be a distemper by the excess of wine, when indeed it was treason, the infamy whereof the powerful­ness of his Successors did suppress. The Au­thour of the Treason was Antipater, who [Page 201] when he beheld the dearest of his friends com­manded to death, his Son-in-law Alexander Lycestos slain, and himself having done con­siderable service in Greece, not respected only, but also made distastful to the King, and more­ver accused by his Mother Olympias for divers insolencies: when he considered also some few daies before, what were the punishments which the Lieutenants of the conquered Nations too cruelly indured, and conjectured that he him­self was called out of Macedonia, not to the society of the war but to be a partaker of their punishment; therefore to make sure work with the King, he with poyson suborn'd his Son Cassander, who with his brother Philip and Jolla were accustomed to minister unto him; So great was the strength of this poyson, that it could not be contained either in Iron or in Brass, or in any shell, and could no way be carryed, but in the hoof of an horse. Cassander was instructed that he should not commit the trust of it unto any but to Thessalus and his bro­thers. For this cause therefore the Feast was prepared and renewed in the house of Thessalus. Philip and Jollas, who were accustomed to take an assay of the Kings Cup, had the poyson ready in cold water, and having tasted of the wine they put the poyson afterwards into it. Four days afterwards, Alexander finding that death undoubtedly was approaching, he said, [Page 202] that he acknowledged the fate of the Family of his Ancestors (most of the Aeacidans dying about the thirtieth yeer of their age:) After this he pacified the Souldiers growing into tu­mults, and suspecting that he perished by trea­son, and being brought into the highest and the most conspicuous place of the City, he did admit them all into his presence, and gave them his right hand to kiss. When they all wept, he was seen to be not onely without tears him­self, but without the least show of a troubled minde, and comforted some who impatiently did lament; he gave to others his instructions to deliver from him to their Parents; so invincible was his courage now against death, as it was before against his Enemies. The Souldiers be­ing dismissed, he demanded of his friends who stood round about him, if they thought they should finde another King that was like unto him? they all holding their peace, he said, that as he himself was ignorant of that, so he was confident of this, and did presage it, and did al­most with his eyes behold how much blood Macedonia should lose in this contention, and with how many slaughters she would parentate to him being dead: At the last, he comman­ded his body to be burryed in the Temple of Hammon. When his friends beheld him to faint away, they demanded whom he would make heir of his Empire? he made answer, [Page 203] The most worthy. So great was the magnitude of his minde, that when he had left behind him his Son Hercules, his brother Aridaeus, and his wife Roxane great with child, forgetting those obligations, he did nominate the most worthy to be his heir; as if it were a sin, that any but a valiant man should succeed a valiant man, or the wealth of so great an Empire should be left to any but to approved resolutions: With these words as if he had sounded into his friends ears a charge unto the battel, or had sent the evil spirit of discord amongst them, they all grew immediatly jealous of one another, and in a popular ambition, did all tacitely seek the fa­vour of the Souldiers. On the sixth day, being speechless, having taken his Ring from his finger he delivered it to Perdicas, which for the present did pacifie a little the growing dissention of his friends; for although he was not named Heir by voyce, yet by choyce he seemed to be elected. Alexander deceased being three and thirty yeers of age and one month, a man endued with a mightiness of spirit above the capacity of men. On that night when his Mother Olympias did conceive him, she seemed in her sleep to have commerce with a great Serpent, neither was she deceived in her dream, which by God was presented to her; for undoubtedly she had in her womb a burden [Page 204] above the condition of mortality; and although the generation of the Aeacidans from the first memory of Ages, and the Kingdoms of her Father, brother, and husband, and of her An­cestors before them, did render his mother most illustrious, yet she was not more famous by any Title, then by the name of her Son. There ap­peared also many presages of his greatness on the day of his birth; for two Eagles flying all that day round about the place, did pearch at last upon the Battlements of his Fathers Court, prognosticating unto him, the two Empires of Europe and Asia, and on the same day his Fa­ther received the glad tidings of two Victories, the one in Illyria, and the other in the Olympick race, to which places he sent some Chariots drawn all with four horses, which portented to the Infant the victory of the whole World. He was of an admirable apprehension in the study of letters, and having passed his minority, he for the space of five yeers had his education under Aristotle, the most excellent of all the Philosophers. Being invested in his Fathers Kingdom, he commanded that in his Title he should be called King of all Lands and Lord of the World. So great a confidence had his Souldiers in him that he being present they feared not, though unarmed, the arms of any Enemy. He therefore never encountred any [Page 205] Enemy whom he did not overcome, nor be­sieged any City which he did not take, nor invaded any Nation over whom he did not triumph. At the last, he was overcome not by any prowess of the Enemy but by Trea­son and the Civil fraud of his own Sub­jects.

ALexander the Great being de­ceased in the flower of his Age and the height of his Victories, a sad silence there was over all Babylon and over all men. The conquered and barbarous Nations would not believe the report, who be­liev'd him to be as immortal as he was invinci­ble; They called to minde how often he had been pluckt from sudden death, how often his sword being broke, and his buckler slipt from his hand, he on a sudden presented himself to his Souldiers not onely safe but a Conqueror. But as soon as it was believed that he was [Page 207] dead, all the barbarous Nations, whom not long before he overcame, did leave him not as an Enemy but a Father. The mother also of Darius (who her son being lost, yet repented not by the indulgence of the Conqueror that she lived that day, although reduced from the height of Majesty into Captivity) having heard of the death of Alexander, she wilfully ended her own life, not that she preferr'd an Enemy above her Son, but because she found the piety of a Son in him whom she had fear'd as an E­nemy. On the other side the Macedons did re­joyce as if they had lost rather an Enemy then a Citizen and a King of so great a Majesty, con­demning his great severity, and the daily dan­gers of the war. To this you may add that the Princes looked after the Soveraignty of command, the common Souldiers after the treasure and the heavie and great weight of gold as an unexpected booty, those bending their thoughts to the succession of his Kingdom, and these to the inheritance of his riches; for you are to understand that there was in the treasury one hundred thousand, and in the office of the yeerly revenews by tributes three hundred thou­sand Talents; But the friends of Alexander did not undeservedly expect the Kingdom; for they were of that vertue and veneration that you would have believ'd every one of them to be a [Page 208] King, such a graceful beauty of countenance, such a tall streightness of body, such a great­ness and vigor of strength and wisdom were in them all, that they who did not know them, would have judged them not to be selected out of one people, but out of all the Nations in the Earth. For never Macedonia be­fore, nor any other Nation did flourish in the production of such famous men, whom Philip first of all, and after him Alexander did select with so much care, that they seemed not so much to be chosen into the society of the war, as into the succession of the Kingdom. Who would therefore wonder that the world should be conquered by such ministrators, when the Army of the Macedons was go­verned rather by so many Kings then Cap­tains, who never had found any equal to them, if they had not fallen out amongst themselves; and Macedonia in the roome of one should have had many Alexanders, if Fortune had not armed them by the emulation of their vertue into their mutual destruction.

But Alexander being deceas'd, they were neither secure nor joyful, drawing both their persons and competitions into one place, neither were the common Souldiers less solli­citous, whose liberty was more dissolute, and whose favor more uncertain: Their equality [Page 209] did encrease their discord, not one of them all so excelling another▪ that any one of them should submit unto him. Therefore putting on their Arms, they came all unto the Court to form a new State according to the emergency of the pre­sent affairs. Perdiccas was of judgement, that they should attend the Issue of Roxanes womb, who being eight Moneths with childe, was al­most ready to be delivered, & if she brought forth a Boy, that he should be his Successor in the Kingdom. Meleager denied that the Counsels ought to be delayed to the doubtful events of the birth of the child, neither ought they to attend when Kings should be born unto them, when they might make choyce of those who were born already; for if they would have a child, there was at Pergamus the Son of Alexander, begotten on Arsine; or if they would rather have a young man, there was in the Camp Aridaeus the brother and companion of Alex­ander, and most acceptable to all, though not in his own, yet in the name and notion of Philip his Father. He alledged that Roxane received her original from the Persians, nei­ther was it lawful that Kings should be derived to the Macedons from those whose Kingdoms they destroyed, and that Alexander himself was against it, who dying made no mention of him. Ptolomy refused Aridaeus to be King, not onely by reason of his Mothers infamy, being begot on [Page 210] Larissaea the Danceress, but also by reason of his own incapacity, least he having the Title onely, another should govern the Empire; it was therefore better he said to make choyce of those who in regard of their virtue were next unto the King, who might govern the Provinces, and might command war or peace, then to subject themselves to the command of unwor­thy men under the pretence of a King.

The opinion of Perdiccas was approved by the consent of all: It was therefore agreed upon, that they should attend untill Roxane was deli­vered of her child, and if it were a Male, that Leonatus, Perdiccas, Craterus and Antipater should be his Guardians, and immediately they every one did take their oaths to perform the office of a Guardian. When all the horsemen did the like, the foot being offended, that they were not assumed into the participation of their Counsels, did choose Aridaeus the brother of Alexander to be their King, and did provide him with a Guard out of their own Compa­nies, and commanded that he should be called Philip after the name of his Father, which when it was reporred unto the Horsemen, they sent two of the Nobility, Attalus and Melea­ger to pacifie their minds, who seeking a new power to themselves by a compliance with the people, omitting their legation, did accord with them. On this the sedition did encrease, [Page 211] and it began now to have both head and Counsel. The foot being all in arms did break into the Court to destroy their Cavalry, which being understood, the Horse surprized with fear, did abandon the City, and having encamped not far from it, the Foot themselves were startled at it. But the contestation of the Nobility ceased not: Attalus did send to kill Perdiccas who was Captain of the other party, to whom, being armed and out-daring them, when the Executioner durst not approach, Perdiccas was of so great a resolution, that of his own accord he came unto them, and admonished them to look back upon the crime which they were about to commit, and consider against whom they had taken arms, not Persians, but Mace­dons, not enemies, but Citizens, and most of them their nearest kinsmen, certainly their fel­low Souldiers, and companions in the same Tents and dangers; it would be a gallant spectacle he said unto their Enemies, who would rejoyce in their mutual slaughter, by whose arms they were overcome, and to see them with their own blood to parentate to the ghosts of their Enemies whom they had slain. When Perdiccas had spoken this according to that excellent eloquence which was natural in him, he so prevailed upon the Footmen, that his Counsels being approved, he was chosen General by them all. The Horse at the same [Page 212] time being reduced into concord with the Footmen, did chose Aridaeus for their King▪ But a portion of the Empire was reserved for the Son of Alexander, if a Son were born unto him: When this was done, the dead body of Alexander was placed in the midst of them, that the Majesty of it should be a witness to their Decrees: These things being composed, Antipater was made Governor of Macedonia and of Greece. The custody of the Treasure was committed to Craterus: The care of the Army and of all Military affairs was assigned to Meleager and Perdiccas; And Aridaeus was commanded to convey the body of Alex­ander unto the Temple of Ammon. Per­diccas being incensed against the Authors of the sedition, did on a sudden (his Colleague being ignorant of it) command that there should be a lustrati [...]n of the Army for the death of the King; and having brought the Army into the Field, all men agreeing to it, he privately commanded that the seditious persons should be called out of every Band, and delivered to punishment. Being returned, the Provinces were by him divided amongst the Princes, that at once he might remove the Emulators, and make the allotments in the Empire the benefit of his bounty. Aegypt in the first place and a part of Africa and Arabia did come by lot to Ptolomy, whom Alexander from an ordi­nary [Page 213] Souldier had advanced for his Chivalry, Cleomenes, who builded Alexandria, was com­manded to deliver that Province to him: Laomedon the Mitylaenean received Syria which bounded on it; Philotas with his Son re­ceived Cilicia and Illyria; Acropatus was Governor of Media the greater, and Alcetes the brother of Perdiccas was set over Media the less: Susia and the Nat on thereabouts was assigned to Synus; and Phrygia the grea­ter was assigned to Antigonus the Son of Phi­lip: Learchus obtained Lycia and Pamphilia; Cassander was to command Caria, and Me­nander Lydia; Thracia and the Countries n [...]er to the Pontick Sea were given to Lysima­chus, and Cappadocia and Paphlagonia to Eumenes.

The chief Tribunalship of the Camp was given to Seleuchus the Son of Antiochus; Cassander the Son of Antipater was set over the Life-guard of the King: The former Lieu­tenants were retained in the further Bactria, and the Kingdoms of India; but Taxiles command­ed all betwixt the two Rivers Hydaspes and Indus; Phiton the Son of Ag [...]nor was sent into the Colonies planted amongst the Indians; Axiarches was to command the Parapomeni, and bounds of the Moun [...]a [...]n Caucasus; Stata­nor was set over the Dracans and Argaeans, and Amyntas the Bractrians; Sythaeus obtained the [Page 214] Sogdians, Nicanor the Parthians, Philip the Hyrcanians, Phratafarnes the Armenians, Neoptolemus the Persians, Peucestes the Ba­bylonians, Arthous the Pelasgians, and Ar­che [...]ilaus the Mesopotamians.

This division of the Empire, which was as a fatal gift to every one, did prove unto many a subject of great additions; for not long after as if they had divided Kingdoms, and not Lieu­tenantships, being made Kings of Lieutenants, they purchased great wealth for themselves, and dying, left it to their posterity. When this was done in the East, the Athenians and Aetolians with all their power did proceed in the war which they undertook Alexander being alive. The occasion of the war was, That Alexander returning out of India did send letters into Greece, by which the banished of all Cities were restored, those onely excepted who were guilty of murther. These Letters being read all Greece being present at the Olympick Fair, a great combustion did arise, because many of the banished men were driven from their Coun­try, not by the Laws, but by the faction of the Princes, who feared that being called back, they might grow more powerful then them­selves in the Common-wealth. Many Cities d [...]d therefore openly murmur, and declared that their liberty was to be vindicated by war. The Athenians and Aetolians were the chief stick­lers [Page 215] in it: Which when it was reported to Alexander, he commanded that a Fleet of one thousand ships should be in readiness, with which he would prosecute war in the West, resolving with a strong power to level Athens to the ground.

The Athenians therefore having drawn an Army together of thirty thousand Souldiers, and two hundred ships, did make war against An­tipater, who by lot was Governor of Greece, and delaying the battel, and protecting himself within the Walls of Heraclea, the Athenians did close besiege him. At the same time De­mosthenes the Athenian Orator, who was dri­ven from his Country, being condemned for bribery, having received a sum of gold from Harpalus, and who fled from the cruelty of Alexander, having perswaded the City to war against him, did lead a banished life at Me­garae, who when he understood that the Athe­nians had sent Hyperides their Ambassador to sollicite the Pelopennensians to joyn in war with them, having followed him to Syceon, he by his Eloquence joyned Arges, & Corinth, and other Cities to the Athenians: For which he was called back from banishment, the Athenians having sent a ship to meet him in the way. In the mean time, Antipater being besieged in Heraclea, Leosthenes the Captain of the Athenians was slain with a dart from the Wall [Page 216] as he came to give some directions in the Leaguer, which so encouraged Antipater, that he sallyed forth and possessed himself of some of the works of the Enemies. After that, he by his Ambassadors desired help of Leona­tus, who when he marched to his assistance, the Athenians meeting▪ him with a gallant Army, and having given him battel on horse-back, he received a grievous wound, of which he dyed: Antipater, although he beheld his Auxiliaries were overcome, yet he in wardly rejoyced at the death of Leonatus; for he gratulated himself that his emulator was taken from him, and that the remainder of his fortes was come unto him: Therefore with this addition to his Army, when he appeared to be equal to his Enemy in strength, having raised the siege, he marched into Macedonia▪ Whereupon the Forces of the Grecians, the Enemy being driven from their Confines, did steal away into their own Cities: In the mean time, Perdiccas having made an un­just war on Ariarathes the King of the Cappa­docians, and being Conqueror in the battel, did bring nothing from him but wounds & danger; for the Cappadocians flying from the fight into the City, having slain their own wives and children, did set their own houses on fire with all the Forces which they had; and having brought thither all their wealth, they threw both it and themselves into the flame, so that [Page 217] their Enemies, the Conquerors of them & their Possessions, did enjoy nothing but only the spectacle of the fire. After this, that by his power he might arrive to royal Authority, he pretended to the marriage of Cleopatra sister to Alexander the Great, and Wife to Alex­ander late King of Epirus, Olympias her Mother seeming enclined to it. But he re­solved first to over-reach Antipater under this pretence of affinity; he therefore dissem­bled to desire his daughter in marriage, to the end that he might the sooner obtain of him a recruit of young men out of Macedonia, which deceit Antipater fore-saw, and whiles Perdic­cas courted two Ladies at the same time, he ob­tained neither.

After this, there did arise a war betwixt him and Antigonus: Craterus and Antipater as­sisted Antigonus in their own persons, and having made a Peace with the Athenians, did substitute Polypercon in the Government of Greece and Macedonia. The affairs of Perdiccas being in some difficulty, he came into Cap­padocia, and he took into Counsel with him Aridaeus, and the Son of Alexander the Great, the charge of whom was committed to him to debate there concerning the carrying on of the war.

It was the opinion of some that the war should be translated into Macedonia, the head [Page 218] and original of the Kingdom, and where Olympias the Mother of Alexander lived, who would bring no small moment to their party, besides the favor of the Inhabitants in their respect to the names of Alexander and Philip.

Others differed in judgement from it, and it was concluded that it was better for the present to begin with Aegypt, least whiles they were withdrawn into Macedonia, Asia might be seized on by Ptolomy. In the mean time, Paphlagonia, Caria, Lycia and Phrygia were added to the Provinces of which Eumenes was Governor: It was appointed that they should there attend the coming of Antipater and Craterus: Alcetas the bro­ther of Perdiccas and Neoptolemus, did joyn themselves with their Armies to the Armies of Perdiccas: The charge of the Navie was committed to Clytus; Cilicia was taken from Philotas, and given to Philoxenus: Perdiccas himself with a formidable Ar­my did march into Aegypt; And thus the Macedons, their Captains being divided in­to two parties, were armed against their own bowels, and turning their swords from an hostile war, they covered themselves with civil blood, after the example of mad men who themselves do tear their own hands and members. Ptolomy in Aegypt with wise in­dustry [Page 219] did lay up great riches; for with sin­gular moderation of government he attracted the Aegyptians to him, and obliged the neighbouring Kings with benefits and all civil respects: He also enlarged the bounds of his Empire, having possessed himself of the City Cyrene, and was now so great, that he feared not so much his Enemies as he himself was be­come terrible to them. The City of Cyrene was builded by Aristaeus, who being tongue­tyed, was called Battus. Cyrenus his Father King of the Iland of Thera, when he came to the Oracle of Delphos to implore the god to take away the disgrace from his Son who could not speak, he received an answer by which his Son Battus was commanded to go to Africa, and to build there the City Cyrene, which being done, he should enjoy the use of his tongue: When the answer seem'd like a jeer, by reason of the similitude of the Iland Theramenis, from which they were commanded to travel so great a journey to build a City in Africa, the Oracle was was not obeyed: Not long after, having their contumaciousness punish'd with a Pestilence, they were enforced to be obedient to the Oracle, their number being so few, that all of them could scarce fill one ship; when they came into Africa, having driven away the Inhabitants, they seated themselves on the [Page 220] Hill Cyra, delighted both with the pleasant­ness of the place, and the abundance of the water. There Battus their Captain, the knots of his tongue being un [...]yed, did begin to speak, which encouraged them (the promises of the god being in some part fulfilled) to proceed in the building of the City; Having there pitched their Tents, they received the opinion of the ancient Fable, that Cyrene, a Virgin of an excellent beauty, being forced from the Hill Pelion to Thessaly by Apollo, and brought to the cliffs of the same Hill which they did inhabite, being bid by the god, did bring forth four Children, Nomius, Ari­staeus, Eurocus and Agaeus; those who were sent by their Father Hypsaeus King of Thessaly to seek out the Virgin, did reside in the same place with her, being taken with the pleasure of the place. Three of the Boys being grown unto age, did return afterwards into Thessaly, where they enjoyed their Fathers Kingdom; Aristaeus did reign in Arcadia, and first delivered unto men the use of Bees, and Honey, and Milk, and Curds, and the know­ledge of the Solstices, and the motion of the Stars: Which being understood, Battus (the name of the Virgin being known by the Oracle) did build the City Cyrene.

Ptolomy being encreased with the strength of this City, did make ready for war against [Page 221] the coming of Perdiccas: But the hatred con­tracted by his arrogance, did more hurt Perdiccas then all the Forces of his Enemies, insomuch that his Companions not endu­ring him, did fly away in Troops unto An­tipater. Neoptolemus being left for the as­sistance of Eumenes, would not onely fly away, but also attempted to betray the Army, which when Eumenes perceived, he held it necessary to fight with the Traytor, and Neoptolemus being overcome did fly unto Antipater, and Polypercon did perswade them by continual marches to advance against Eumenes, and to fall upon him, being proud of the Vi­ctory, and grown secure by reason of his flight; But Eumenes had notice of it, and the treacheries were turned against the Traytors, who thinking to have as­saulted him, unsuspecting their advance, and unprepared to receive them, they were assaulted themselves, not thinking of his approach, and wearyed withall by their watching and their travels in the night. In that fight Polypercon was slain and Neoptolemus fighting hand to hand a long time with Eumenes (both of them being wounded) was at the last over­come and killed by him. Eumenes being Conqueror in two battels, did a little sup­port [Page 222] the afflicted parties of his Compani­ons. And Perdiccas at last being slain, he was saluted as King by the Army of the Enemy with Phython, and Illyrius, and Al­cetas the brother of Perdiccas, and war was decreed against them by Antigonus.

E Ʋmenes having understood that Perdiccas was slain, and him­self adjudged as an Enemy by the Macedoniaens, and that war was denounced against him by Antigonus, did of his own accord de­clare it to his Souldiers, lest fame should make it greater then it was, or affright the minds of the Souldiers with the novelty of the danger, and withall that he might take new counsels from their motions, if he found that they were animated against him; He [Page 224] therefore constantly professed, that if these things were a terror unto any of them, he would willingly grant him leave to depart: By which words he so enflamed the minds of all to adhere unto him, that of their own accord they did exhort him to the war, af­firming that with their swords they would cut in pieces the Decrees of the Macedons. Being advanced with his Army into Aetolia, he commanded the Cities to pay him contri­bution, and violently forced it from those who refused it. Afterwards he marched unto Sardis, to Cleopatra the sister of Alexander the Great, that by her voyce the chief Officers and Centurions might be confirmed, con­cieving that regal Majesty would turn all to that side for which she stood.

Such was the veneration of the greatness of Alexander, that even by the addresses of women, the favor of his sacred name was implored. On his return, Letters were found dispersed over all the Camp, in which great rewards were promised to those who should bring the Head of Eumenes to Antigonus; Eumenes having understood it, and called the Souldiers to an Assembly, did in the first place give thanks that there was not any found amongst them who preferr'd the hope of a bloody reward above the Oath of his fidelity, and craftily concluded that these [Page 225] Letters were contrived and scattered by his directions, thereby to make a trial of their resolutions: He declared that his safety con­sisted in the power of them all, and that none of the Generals would so overcome, as to decree that such a most wicked act should be determined against him. By this means he confirmed the staggering resolutions of his Souldiers for the present, and provided for the future, that if any such thing should happen again, his Souldiers might believe that it was no corruption of their Enemy, but the temptation of their General: They therefore all by throngs did offer themselves and their endevours for the preservation of his person.

In the mean time Antigonus came upon them with his Army, and having encamped close unto him, did on the next day set his Army in Array to give him battel. Eumenes also with great care marshalled the Field, and made no delay of the encounter; but being overcome, he fled into a Castle that was fortified, where when he saw that he must undergo the fortune of a siege, he disbanded the greater part of his Army, lest he should be delivered to the enemy by the consent of the multitude, or the siege should be op­pressed by their numbers. After this, in a most humble manner he sent Ambassadors to An­tipater, who only was equal in power to Anti­gonus, [Page 226] who when he found that consider­able ayds were sent unto him by Antipater, he raysed the siege. Eumenes was now delivered from the fear of death, but not from the fear of danger, having before disbanded a great part of his Army. Therefore looking round about him to provide for his safety, it seemed most expedient to him to have re­course to the Argyraspides of Alexander the Great, an invincible Army, and shining with the glory of so great and so many Victories.

But Alexander being deceased, the Argy­raspides disdained to be commanded by any, conceiving that the Militia under others would be but disgraceful after the memory of so great a King. Eumenes therefore did court them with alluring words, and full of submis­sive respects, did complement with every one of them, sometimes calling them his fellow-Souldiers, sometimes his Patrons, sometimes the Companions of his dangers in the great labours of the East, sometimes his Suppor­ters, and the onely Refuges of his safety; they (he said) were the onely men by whose valour the East was overcome, the onely men who exceeded the wars of Bacchus, and the Monu­ments of Hercules, by whom Alexander was made great, by whom he obtained divine ho­nours and immortal glory; He besought them to receive him, not as their General, but as [Page 227] their fellow-Souldier, and to be admitted as a member of their body. Being on this con­dition entertained, he not long after by ad­monishing all of them, and by gently cor­recting what was done amiss amongst them, did by degrees usurp the Soveraignty of Com­mand; nothing was done in the Camp with­out him, nothing could be contrived or de­termined without his Policy. At the last, when it was declared that Antigonus came against him with an Army, he enforced them to come down and to give him battel, where when they despised the Commands of their General, they were overcome by the valour of their Enemies. In that battel, they did not onely lose their glory gained in so many wars, but their booty also, with their wives and children. But Eumenes, who was the Author of their overthrow, and had no other hope of safty, did encourage the conquer'd, affirming that they were superior to their Enemies in courage; for they slew five thousand of them, and if they would but continue the war, he assured them that the Enemy of their own accord would desire peace of them. He enformed them that their losses (by which they thought themselves overcome) were but two thousand women, and a few children and slaves, which were but the luggage, & the lumber of the war, and to be repaired by fighting and prosecu­ting, [Page 228] and not by forsaking the Victory. But the Argyraspides made answer that they would neither fly, after the dammages of Ma­trimony, and the losses of their wives, nor would they make war against their own children. Moreover, they did torment him with reproaches, that in their returning home after so many yeers of their pay dearly ear­ned with the rewards of so many Victories, he recalled them (being discharged) into new wars and battels as lasting as they were dan­gerous, and had with vain promises deceived them, being almost at their journeys end in the very entrance of their Country, and the sight of their houshold gods, and now having lost all the booty which they gained in their happy warfare, he would not permit them in the penury of their old age to rest, being over­come: Immediately upon this, their Captains not knowing of it, they sent Ambassadors to Antigonus, demanding that what they had lost, might be restored to them: He promi­sed that all things should be returned, if they would deliver up Eumenes unto him; which being understood, Eumenes with a few men did attempt to fl [...]e, but being brought back, and his affairs altogether desperate, there be­ing a great concourse of the multitude, he desired to have the liberty to speak unto the Army, which being readily granted by [Page 229] them all, silence being made, and his hand­cuffs of steel taken off, he stretched forth his hand unto the people, having yet some other chains upon him, and said: Souldiers, Behold here, the habits and the ornaments of your General, which none of the Enemies have imposed upon me, for that would be my com­fort: I [...] is you, who of a Conquerour have made me conquered, and of a General a Cap­tive; four times within this one yeer have you obliged your selves unto me in an Oath of fidelity, but that I do omit, for it becomes nor the miserable to be reproachful: One thing I intreat of you, that if Antigonus be resol­ved to take away my life, that you will give me the leave to die amongst you. For it con­cerns not him at all, where or in what manner I shall fall; and I shall by this means be deli­vered from the ignominy of death. This, if I shall obtain, I will disoblige you all of the Oath, by which you have so often devoted your selves unto me; or if you are ashamed to lay violent hands upon me, desiring it, give me a sword, and permit your General to do that for you without any Oath, which you have so often sworn, that you would act for your General. When he could not obtain it of them, he turned his entreaties into curses, and in a great passion: But you (he said) O devoted Heads, may the gods, the Revengers [Page 230] of perjury, look down in judgements on you, and give unto you such ends as you have given to your Generals▪ It is you who have imbrued your guilty hands in the blood of Perdiccas; It is you who attempted the murder of An­tipater; It is you (which is the worst of all) who would have killed Alexander himself, if it were possible for him to have fallen by a mor­tal hand, having so often tormented him with your seditions; I now the last sacrifice of such perfidious wretches, do fix these curses and imprecations on you: May you live all your lives Vagabonds & desolate in Tents and in banishment: May your own Arms devour you, by which you have destroyed more Cap­tains of your own then of your enemies. Being full of passion, he commanded his keepers to go before to the Camp of Antigonus: The Army followed, having betrayed their General, & he himself a Captive, did bring the triumph of himself to the Tents of his Conqueror: They delivered all the Trophies, all the Palms and Lawrels of King Alexander, together with themselves unto the Conqueror; and that no­thing of the pomp might be wanting, their Elephants, and the Auxiliaries of the East did follow. Much more honourable was this for Antigonus, then so many Victories were for Alexander; for though Alexander conquered the East, Antigonus conquered those by whom [Page 231] the East was overcome. Antigonus therefore divided amongst his Army these Conquerors of the World, having restored all things to them which he took from them in the former victory. After this, he did set a Guard upon Eumenes, being not admitted to come into his presence, in respect of the familiarity of their former friendship▪ In the mean time, Eurydice the wife of Aridaeus, the King of the Macedons, as soon as she heard that Polypercon was returned out of Greece into Macedonia, and that Olympias was sens for by him, being possessed with a female emulation, and abusing the weakness of her Husband, whose Offices she challenged to her self, she did write to Poly­percon in the name of the King to deliver the Arms to Cassander to whom the King had transferred the administration of the King­dom; she sent also Letters to Antigonus to the same effect in Asia, by which benefit Cas­sander being obliged, did perform all things which the boldness of the Queen did prompt him to; Having marched into Greece, he made war there on many Cities, by the destruction whereof the Spartans being affrighted, as by a fire in a neighbours house, distrusting to their arms, they did enclose their City with a Wall, contrary to the answer of the Oracles, and the ancient glory of their Predecessors, whose ho­nourable custom alwayes it was to defend it [Page 232] with their arms and not with their Walls; So much they degenerated from their Ancestors, that when for many yeers, the wall of their Ci­ty was the vertue and the valour of their Citi­zens, they now conceived they could not be safe unless they lay h [...]d under the protection of a Wall. Whiles these things were thus man­naged, the troubled Estate of Macedonia did call back Cassander out of Greece; for Olympias the Mother of Alexander the Great, being come from Epirus towards Macedonia, Aeacidas the King of the Molossi following her, she was forbidden by Eurydice and King Aridaeus to enter into the Confines of that Kingdom, which so incensed the Macedons, both in the regard of the memory of her Hus­band, the greatness of her Son, and the in­dignity of the act, that they all sided with Olympias, by whose command both Eurydice and King Aridaeus were both slain, having raigned six yeers after the decease of Alex­ander. But Olympias enjoyed not the Kingdom long afterwards; for having committed many great slaughters of the Princes after a wo­manish, rather then a manly way, she turned the love of her Subjects into hatred. There­fore having heard of the approach of Cassan­der, distrusting to the Macedons, she fled with Roxane her daughter-in-law, and Hercules her grand-child, into the City of Pictua. In her [Page 233] journey Dardamia the daughter of King Aeacidas, and Thessalonice her kinswoman (being also famous her self by the name of Philip her Father) and many other Ladies of royal blood, a gallant rather then a profita­ble company, did attend her.

When Cassander was informed of it, in a swift match he came to Pictua, and layd a close siege unto the City; Which when it was oppressed with the sword and famine, Olympias being no longer able to endure the tediousness of the siege, having Articles for her life, did deliver her self to the Conqueror. But Cassander having called the people to an Assembly to understand what they would have done in relation to Olympias, he suborned the Parents and kindred of the noble men whom she had put to death, who having put on mourning habits, did accuse the cruelty of the woman, by whom the Macedons were so much instigated, that without any respect to her former Majesty, they did decree that she should be put to death, being altogether unmindful that by her Son and Husband, they not onely enjoyed their lives with safety amongst their neighbours, but also became masters of such great wealth, as also of the Empire of the world. But Olympias, when she beheld the armed men to come resolutely towards her, being cloathed in royal habiliaments, and leaning [Page 234] on her two Maids, she did go to meet them: The Executioners beholding her, were amazed, and stood still, startled at the Majesty of her presence, and the names of so many of their Kings which came at once into their me­mory: At the last, they were commanded by Cassander to run her through with a sword; she drew not back from the sword, nor at the thrust that was made, nor gave any shrike like a woman, but submitted unto death after the manner of valiant men, and for the glory of her antient family; insomuch that you might have seen Alexander again in his dying mo­ther; Moreover, she covered her face with her hair, and the neither parts of her body with her garments, that nothing unseemly might be discovered.

After this Cassender did take to wife Thes­salonice the daughter of King Aridaeus, and sent the Son of Alexander with the Mother to be kept prisoners in the Tower of Am­phipolis.

PErdiccas and his brother Alce­tas, Eumenes and Polypercon, and divers Captains of the o­ther party being slain, the contention betwixt the Suc­cessors of Alexander the Great did seem to be at an end, when on the sudden a new discord did arise betwixt the Con­querors themselves: For Ptolomy, Cassander & Lysimachus, requiring that the Provinces and the booty of the money that was taken should be divided; Antigonus denyed to ad­mit [Page 236] any Companions in the booty, having un­dertaken all the danger himself; And that he might seem to make an honest war against his Companions, he declared that he would revenge the death of Olympias, slain by Cas­sander, and deliver the Son of Alexander with his Mother from their imprisonment at Am­phipolis.

This understood, Ptolomy and Cassander having entred into a league with Lysimachus and Seleucus, did with great industry provide for the war both by Sea and Land; Ptolomy had in his possession Aegypt with a greater part of Africk, and Cyprus, and Ph [...]nicia. Macedonia and Greece obeyed Cassander; Antigonus had all Asia and a part of the East, whose Son Demetrius in the first encounter of the battel was overcome by Ptolomy at Ca­lama: In which fight, the glory of the mo­deration of Ptolomy was greater then his vi­ctory; for he dismissed the friends of Deme­trius, not onely with their own goods, but also honoured them with the additions of great presents, and restored to Demetrius all his pri­vate treasure and family▪ and dismissed him with an honourable complement, that he undertook the war not for booty, but for dignity, being displeased that Antigonus, ha­ving overcome the Captains of the other party, would reserve intirely to himself the [Page 237] rewards of the common victory. Whiles these things were in agitation, Cassander return­ing from Apollonia, did fall upon the Ab­deritae, who having left their Country by reason of the abundance of Frogs and Mice, did seek out new places of habitation; where­fore fearing lest they should come into Macedonia, he made peace with them and received them into the society of his friend­ship, having assigned lands unto them in the furthest borders of Macedonia: After this, fearing least Hercules the Son of Alex­ander, who was now fourteen yeers of age, in the favor of his Fathers name should be cal­led into the Kingdom of Macedonia, he com­manded him privately to be killed with his mother Arsine, and that their bodies should be covered with Earth, least the murder of them should be betrayed by their Sepulture; and as if he had committed but a small crime, first in the poysoning of the King, afterwards in the murther of his mother Olympias, and then in the murder of his wife Arsine and her Son, he killed also by the same deceit the other Son of Alexander with Roxane her mother, as if he could not otherwise then by villany obtain the Kingdom of Macedonia, which he so inordinately affected. In the mean time Ptolomy did fight again with De­metrius at Sea; and having lost his Navie, and [Page 238] yielded the victory to his Enemy, he fled into Aegypt. Demetrius sent back Leuticus the Son of Ptolomy, and his brother Menalaus and their friends, with all that did belong unto them, being provoked before to the same remuneration by Ptolomy: And that it might appear that they were not inflamed with hatred, but the glory of Dignity and Do­mination, they did contend who should exceed each other in gifts and presents in the heat of the wars; so much more honourably were wars managed then, then friendships are professed now: Antigonus being puft up with the victory, commanded that the people should give him, and his Son Deme­trius, the Title of a King; And Ptolomy, that he might be of no less Authority amongst his Souldiers, was also saluted as King by the Army, which being understood, Cassander and Lysimachus did challenge to themselves the regal Majesty: They abstained from the Ornaments of this honour as long as the Sons of their King were al [...]ve; and so great was their modesty, that when they had the Estates of Kings, they were well contented to abstain from the Titles of a King, as long as Alexan­der had any Heir remaining: But Ptolomy and Cassander, and the Captains of the other faction, when they perceived they were all re­proached by Antigonus▪ whiles they made a [Page 239] private war of every one, and not a com­mon war of all, and were unwilling to assist one another, as if the victory were onely for one, and not for all; confirming themselves joyntly by Letters, they did appoint a time and place to meet together, and provide for the war with united Forces. At which, when Cassander could not be present by reason of the war with his Neighbours, he sent Lysi­machus to his ayd with a formidable power: This Lysimachus was famous in Macedonia by the Nobility of his discent, but more fa­mous by his vertue then his Nobility, which was so eminent in him, that in the greatness of his mind, in the knowledge of Philosophy, and in the glory of strength he excelled all by whom the East was overcome; For when Alexander the Great did falsely accuse Ca­listhenes the Philosopher of the Treason that was contriv'd against him, being indeed an­gry because he did forbear to worship him ac­cording to the custome of Persia, and had rendred him a lamentable and deformed spectacle by cruelty, dismembring his body, and cutting off his nose and lips, and carrying him shut up in a kennel with a Dog to be a terror to the rest; Lysimachus would then repair unto him, and hear and take instructions from him, and in compassion of so great a man, suffering forhis liberty, and not for any crime, [Page 240] he gave him poyson to put a period to his miseries, to which Alexander did give so hainous an Interpretation, that he command­ed him to be objected to a hungry and an enraged Lyon, who when at the first sight with a swift and eager violence he did run upon him to devour him, Lysimachus having wrapt his hand in a cloath, did thrust it into the mouth of the beast, and plucked out at once both the tongue and the life of the Lyon, which when it was reported to Alexander, the admiration was turned into satisfaction, and alwayes afterwards he had him in an higher respect for the constancy of so great a vertue; and Lysimachus with great patience indu [...]ed the contumely of the King, as the contumely of his Father; And at last, the memory of this act being banished from his minde, the King in India being in the pursuit of some routed Enemies, and his Guard not able to overtake him by reason of the swiftness of his horse, he onely was his Companion through the vast Desarts of the Sands, which when his brother Philip did before endevour to per­form, he expired in the Arms of the King; but Alexander alighting from his horse, did wound Lysimachus in the forehead so deeply with the point of his Spear, that his blood could not be stanched, before the King having taken the Diadem from his own head, did [Page 241] impose it on his to binde the wound, which was an earnest to Lysimachus of the royal Ma­jesty to come; And after the death of Alex­ander, when the Provinces were divided amongst his Successors, the most fierce of all the▪ Nations were assigned to him as the most valiant of them all, so much he did exceed the rest by the approbation of them all. But before the war was carryed on betwixt Ptolomy and his Associates against Antigonus, Seleucus marched down from Asia the greater, being a new Enemy unto him; famous also was the vertue of Seleucus, and his Original admira­ble; for his mother Laodice being married to Antiochus a great Commander in the Army of Philip, did seem in her sleep to have concei­ved with child by Apollo, and to have received a Ring from him, the reward for the use of her body; In this Ring, there was a Gem, and an Anchor engraven on it; which she dreamed she was commanded at her delivery to give to her Son for a gift. This apparition was truly wonderful; for on the next day, the Ring with the Anchor engraven on it was found in the bed, and the figure of an Anchor was ap­parently to be seen on the thigh of Seleucus when he was born. Seleucus going after­wards into the Persian war with Alexander the Great, Laodice did give that Ring unto him, having first taught him the original of his [Page 242] pedigree. After the death of Alexander, having possessed himself of the Kingdom of the East, he did build a City, and consecra­ted it to the memory of the Gem of his origi­nal; for he called the City Antiochia after the memory of Antiochus his Father, and con­secrated to Apollo the Fields adjoyning to it. The argument of his original did remain to his posterity; for his Sons and Grandson [...] had all of them the impression of an An­chor on their thighs as a natural mark o [...] their Family. He made many wars in the East, after the division of the Macedo­nian Empire betwixt him and his Compa­nions.

In the first place he surprized Babylon, an [...] having encreased his strength by the victory he overcame the Bactrians, and marched into India, which after the death of Alexander, ha [...] killed his Lieutenants, and shaken off from their necks the yoak of servitude. Sandrocottu [...] was the Author of this liberty, which after­wards he turned into slavery; for having possessed himself of the Kingdom, he by ty­ranny oppressed the people whom he ha [...] delivered from sorraign domination: He was born of ignoble parentage, but enforced to take upon him the Government of thi [...] Kingdom by the Majesty and providence of God. For having offended Alexander [Page 243] by his petulance, and being commanded to be killed, he purchased his safety by the swiftness of his feet; And being drousie and weary by the length of his travel, a Lyon of a great bigness did approach unto him in his sleep, and with his tongue wiped away the sweat which did run down his face, and did gently leave him, being awakned. Being by this prodigy advanced to the hope of the Kingdom, he sollicited the Indians to rebel­lion, having drawn a company of Thieves to his assistance.

In the beginning of the war against the Lieutenants of Alexander, an Elephant of an infinite bulk, did of his own accord draw neer unto him, and as if he had been tame by di­scipline, did receive him on his back; Sandro­cottus became afterwards a great Leader, and a famous master of the war; and having thus gained the Kingdom, he had possessed himself of all India at that time when Seleucus did lay the foundations of his future greatness, who having made peace with Sandrocottus, and settled his affairs in the East, did march down to the war against Antigonus; And the Ar­mies of all the Associates being united, the battel was fought, in which Antigonus was slain, and Demetrius his Son put to flight. But the Associates, the war with Antigo­nus being ended, did again turn their arms [Page 244] upon themselves, and not agreeing upon the booty, were divided again into Factions. Seleucus was joyned with Demetrius, and Ptolomy with Lysimachus, and Cassander being dead, his Son Philip did succeed him, and thus new wars did arise in Macedonia.

AFfter the death of King Cas­sander and his Son Philip, Queen Thessalonica the wife of Cassander was slain not long afterwards by her Son Anti­pater, she having besought and conjured him by her breasts that gave him suck to spare her life. The cause of the Par­ricide, was, that after the death of her Husband, she seemed to be more inclined to Alexander in the division of the Kingdom amongst the brothers. This wicked act appeared to all men to be so much the more grievous, there being [Page 246] not the lest evidence of any deceit in the Mother, although in parricide no cause can be pretended to be just enough to defend the wickedness. Alexander resolving to make war with his brother in the revenge of his Mothers death, desired ayd of Demetrius; and Demetrius in hope to obtain the Kingdom, made n [...] delay to advance to his assistance; and Lysimachus fearing his coming, did per­swade his Son-in-law Antipater to be re­conciled to his brother▪ and not permit the Ene­my of his Father to enter into Macedonia; when Demetrius had understood that there was an agreement made betwixt the brothers, he killed Alexander by treacheries, and having possessed himself of the Kingdom of Mace­donia, he called the Army to an Assembly to excuse the murther. He alledged that Alexan­der had first of all a design upon him, and that for his own part, he rather prevented then com­mitted treachery. As for the Kingdom of Macedonia, he said, it was more due to him, both for the experience of his age, and for other considerations; for his Father was Companion to King Philip, and to Alexander the Great in all their wars, and he was afterwards Gover­nor of the children of Alexander, and a General in their wars to prosecute those who revolted from them. On the other side, An­tipater the Grandfather of these young men [Page 247] was alwayes a more inexorable minister of the Kingdom then the Kings themselves; and Cassander their Father was the destroyer of the Royal Family, who put to death both the wives and children of Alexander, and ceased not till he had utterly destroyed the whole Progeny of him: and because he could not light upon Cassander, the revenge of these horrid murders was translated to his Sons, for which cause Philip and Alexander (if the spirits of the departed have any sense) had rather that their Revengers, then the Murderers of them and their Posterity should enjoy the Kingdom of Macedonia.

The people being pacified with these words, he was saluted King of Macedonia. But Ly­simachus when he was oppressed with the war of Dromiches King of the Thracians, least at the same▪ time also he might be enforced to fight with Demetrius, he made a peace with him, having delivered to him the other part of Macedonia which belonged to his Son-in-law Antipater. Therefore Demetrius being possessed with all the strength of the Kingdom of Macedonia, did resolve to seize upon Asia, when Ptolomy, Seleucus, and Lysimachus ha­ving made a proof before of what force was Concord, did enter into a League together, and having amassed their Forces into one body, they [...] the war against Demetrius into [Page 248] Europe. Pyrrhus, King of Epirus, did joyn himself unto them as their Companion in the war, hoping that Demetrius could lose Ma­cedonia as easily and as suddenly as he obtain­ed it; neither was he deceived in his expectati­on. For his Army being corrupted, and himself put to flight, he left his Kingdom to the Con­querors. In the mean time, Lysimachus killed his Son-in-law Antipater, complaining that the Kingdom was taken from him by his deceit, and committed into Custody his own Daughter Euridice, the companion of his complaints; And thus all the Family of Antipater, partly by slaughter, partly by punishment, became so many sacrifices to satisfie the revenge of the Ghost of Alexander, both for his own death, and for the destruction of all his off-spring. De­metrius also being surrounded by so many Ar­mies, when it was in his power to die honour­ably, chose shamefully rather to deliver him­self to Seleucus.

The war being ended, Ptolomy dyed full of the glory of his atchievements: He against the law of Nations delivered the Kingdom to his youngest Son, not long before the last infirmi­ty of his Age, and afterwards did give a rea­son of it to the people; the favour which the young man gained, was no less in receiving, then was his Fathers in delivering the Scepter; Amongst other Examples of mutual piety be­twixt [Page 249] the Father and the Son, it procured the young man many respects of love amongst the people, that his Father having publickly deli­vered his Kingdom to him, did privately attend upon him amongst the Guard, affirming that to be the Father of a King, was more honourable then to enjoy any Kingdom whatsoever. But discord, an assiduous evil amongst equals, had moved a new war betwixt Lysimachus & King Pyrrhus, Associates▪ not long before against Demetrius. Lysimachus being the Conqueror, having routed Pyrrhus, did possess himself of Macedonia: He afterwards did make war against the Thracians, and not long after a­gainst the Heraclians, the beginning and the ending of whose City was admirable; For the pestilence raging in Boeotia, the Oracle at Del­phos answered that they should plant a Colony in the Country of Pontus, which they should dedicate to Hercules. When it was omitted by reason of the fear of the long and dangerous voyage by Sea, every man desiring rather to die in his own Country, the Phocensians made war against them, and being after vanquished by them, they again had recourse to the Oracle, which answered, That the remedy was the same both for the war and the pestilence. Therefore a considerable Colony being drawn together, and brought to Metapontus, they builded the City of Heraclea, and because they were [Page 250] brought thither by the Ordinance of the Desti­nies in a short time, they obtained grea [...] pos­sessions.

This City afterwards maintained many wars against their Neighbours, and much they suffer­ed by dissentions at home: Amongst other pas­sages of magnificence, this one is memorable. When the Athenians were masters of all, and the Persians were overcome, it was ordered by the Athenians that the tribute of Asia and of Greece should be for the maintenance of their Navie; all other Cities readily submitting for their own safety, the Heraclians onely re­fused by reason of their ancient friendship with the Kings of Persia. Mala [...]tus therefore be­ing sent with an Army to force them to Con­tribution which they were resolved not to pay, whiles he was plundering their Country, having left his ships in their Harbour, there did arise on a sudden so great a tempest that he lost all his Fleet with the greatest part of his Army; there­fore when they could not return by Sea, having lost all their ships, nor durst adventure to return by Land with so small an Army amongst so many warlike Nations, the Heraclians think­ing it more honourable to confer a benefit then to revenge a discourtesie, did send them home furnished both with Seamen and Provisions, believing that herein they had provided well for themselves, and for their Fields, having by this [Page 251] act confirmd those to be their friends who were before their Enemies. Amongst many other calamities they also indured the heavie burthen of Tyranny; for when the common people did too impotently demand new tables and a levelling proportion to be shared amongst them in the Fields of those who were rich, the business being often debated in the Senate, when it could not be determined, the Senate desired ayd of Timotheus General of the Athenians, and not long after of Epaminondas General of the Thebans: but both of them refusing it, they had recourse to Clearchus whom they them­selves had forced into banishment: So great was the necessity of their calamities, that they called him back to the defence of their Coun­trie, whom they had commanded never to re­turn unto it. But Clearchus returning more wicked from his banishment, conceiving this dissention of the people to be a prompt occasi­on offered to him to exercise his tyranny, he had first a conference with Mithridates the Enemy of his Citizens, and having entred into a League, he compounded with him to be made his Lieutenant, and to betray the City to him as soon as he was called back into his Country. Af­terwards he turned the treachery which he had prepared for the Citizens against Mithridates himself: For being returned from banishment, as the Arbitrator of the civil discord, the time [Page 252] being appointed in which he should deliver the City to Mithridates, he took him Prisoner with his friends, and having received a vast sum of money for his ransom, he delivered him being taken. And as to Mithrdates he suddenly made himself an Enemy of a friend, so being called back to defend the cause of the Senate, he immediately became the Patron of the peo­ple, and not only incensed the people against the Authors of the power, by whom he was called back into his Country, and by whom he was placed at the helm of Government, but exer­cised his usurped power in the highest demon­strations of Cruelty and Tyranny. The people therefore being called to an Assembly, he declared that he would be no longer present nor assist the Senate in their rage against the people, but would take their parts if they persevered in their former cruelty; and if they conceived themselves to be equal in strength to deal with them, he would depart with his Soul­diers, nor have any hand in their civil discords; but if they distrusted in their own strengths, he would not be wanting to be a Protector to in them. He desired them therefore to ask counsel of themselves, whether they would command him to be gone or to remain their Companion in the common cause. The people being excited with these words did transfer into his power the chief Government of all, & whiles [Page 253] they were incensed at the power of the Senate, they delivered themselves, their wives, and chil­dren, unto the domination of a Tyrant. Clear­chus having seized upon threescore of the Sena­tors (for the rest were fled away) did throw them into prison, being laden with Irons. The people rejoyced especially that the Senate were over­thrown by the Captain General of the Senators, and that their ayd was converted into their de­struction; and Clearchus threatned sudden death to every one of them on purpose to raise the market of them to a higher rate. For under the pretence of withdrawing them from the fury of the people, having received from them great sums of money, and despoyled them of their fortunes, he not long after did despoyl them of their lives; And having understood that war was made against him by those Sena­tors who fled away, the Cities prompted to compassion being come to their assistance, he did set free their Servants: and that no affliction should be wanting in these potent Familes, he enforced their wives and their daughters to mar­ry their own Servants, death being proposed to every one that should refuse it; by this means he thought to render the Servants more faithful to him, and more unreconcileable to their ma­sters. But these sad Nuptials were made more grievous by the sudden Funerals of the Matrons; for many of them before their Nupti­als, [Page 254] and some on the very day in which they were marryed, having first killed their hus­bands, did afterwards kill themselves, and delivered themselves from their encreasing calamities by the vertue of an ingenious shame.

Not long after this, the battel was fought, in which the Tyrant being Conqueror, he in the way of triumph did drag the conquered Sena­tors before the faces of Citizens, and being re­turned into the City, he bound some of them, he racked others, and slew many; there was no place free from his cruelty; insolence was added to his savageness, and arrogance to his fury. And now by the success of his continual felicity he did forget himself to be a man, and did call himself the Son of Jupiter. When he would be seen in publick, a golden Eagle was born before him in the honour of his discent: His body was cloathed with a garment of Purple; he did wear buskins on his feet after the custom of Tragick Kings, and a Crown of Gold upon his Head: He also called his Son Ceraunus, that he might delude the gods not onely with lyes, but also with names. Two of the most noble of the young men, Chion and Leonides, complain­ing at these things with indignation, and re­solved to deliver their Country, did conspire the death of the Tyrant. These two were the Scholars of Plato the Philosopher, who desiring [Page 255] to exhibite that vertue to their Country to which they daily were instructed by the precepts of their Master, they did prepare an Ambush of fifty of their kindred, as if they were all their Clients, and repairing themselves to the Tower to the Kings, as two in great contestation, being admitted by the right of Familiarity, whiles the Tyrant intentively heard the former of them pleading his cause, he was killed by the other; but their friends coming in not timely enough to their assistance, they were both cut in pieces by the Guard, by which it came to pass that the Tyrant indeed was killed, but their Country was not delivered; For Satyrus the brother of Clearchus did the same way invade the Ty­ranny, and Heraclia for many yeers by degrees of succession was possessed by Tyrants.

MUch about the same time there was a terrible Earthquake in the Countries of Hellespont and Chersonesus, in which though they trembled all over, yet the City onely of Lysimachia erected by Lysi­machus two and twenty yeers before, was ut­terly overthrown, which portended dismal things to come both to Lysimachus and to his Generation, and the ruine of the Kingdom with the desolation of the afflicted Countries round about him. Neither was belief wanting to the prodigy; for not long after, he killed [Page 257] his Son Agathocles by poyson, having used therein the assistance of his Stepmother Ar­syrice, it being the more horribly remarkable; for (having ordained him into the succession of the Kingdom, and made many prosperous wars under his Conduct) he now hated him not onely beyond the obligation of a Father, but beyond the Example of Humanity. This was his first stain and the beginning of his growing ruine; For this parricide was attended with the slaughter of the Princes, who were punished to death because they lamented the death of the young man. Therefore those who were Commanders in his Army, did in great numbers fall away from him to Seleucus, & enforced him (being prone enough before out of the emulati­on of glory) to make war against Lysimachus.

This was the last contestation betwixt the fellow - Souldiers of Alexander, and (as it were) reserved by Fortune to make the example of their parallel the more admirable. Lysima­chus was seventy and four yeers of age, and Seleucus seventy and seven: But in this old age, they had both of them the resolutions of youth, and an insatiable desire to encrease Soveraignty of Command; for when but these two did seem as it were to be masters of the whole world, they were shut up into too narrow bounds, and measured the end of their lives, not by the space of yeers but by this limits of their Empire. In [Page 258] that war Lysimachus having lost▪ before in divers charges fifteen sons, dying not uncouragiously, did discend into the Grave himself being the last Hearse of all his Family: Seleucus rejoycing in so great a victory, and which he conceived to be greater then the victory, that he was the last that lived of the cohort of Alexander, and a Conquerour of the Conquerors, did vaunt of his fortune, as if it had been a work of Divi­nity, and above the condition of man, being al­together ignorant, that not long afterwards he was to be an Example himself of the frailty of the condition of man; for at the end of seven Moneths he was slain, being circumvented by the treachery of Ptolomy, whose sister Lysima­chus had marryed, and lost the Kingdom of Macedonia (which he took away from Ly­simachus) together with his life. Therefore Ptolomy being ambitious to please the people, for the honour of the memory of Ptolomy the Great, and in the favour of the revenge of Ly­simachus, did first resolve to reconcile unto him the children of Lysimachus, and desired the marriage of Arsinoe his own sister who was their Mother; having promised to adopt them his own Sons, thinking thereby that they would attempt nothing against him, being re­strained by their duty to their mother, and by their calling of him Father. He desired also by letters the friendship of his brother the King [Page 259] of Aegypt, professing that he would forget the offence of his succeeding in his Fathers King­dom, & would demand no more of him being his brother, the injury being received from his Fa­ther: With all his Art he flattered Eumenes and Antigonus the Sons of Demetrius, and Antio­chus the Son of Seleucus, against whom he was to make war, for fear a third Enemy should arise unto him. Neither was Pyrrhus the King of Epirus omitted, it being of great con­cernment to what party he became a friend, who desiring himself to master them all, did labour to have an interest in every party. Therefore having promised to assist the Ta­rentines against the Romans, he desired ships of Antigonus to transport his Army; he desired moneys of Antiochus who was more conside­rable both in men and money; he desired of Ptolomy the ayd of the Macedonian Souldiers; Ptolomy who made no delay to gratifie him, having a numerous Army, did lend unto him for the space of two yeers, and no longer, five thousand foot, four thousand horse, and fifty Elephants, for which Pyrrhus having taken to marriage the daughter of Ptolomy, did leave him invested in the Kingdom.

But because we are come to the mention of Epirus, we must deliver a few things concer­ning the Original of that Kingdom. In that Countrey was first of all the Kingdom of the [Page 260] Molossians: Afterwards, Pyrrhus the Son of Achilles having lost his Fathers Kingdom by his long absence in the Trojan wars, did plant himself in this Country, the people being first called Pyrrhide, afterwards Epirotae: But Pyrrhus when he came to ask counsel in the Temple of Jupiter of Dodona, he there saw and by force took unto him Anassa the Niece of Hercules, by whom he had eight children: He marryed those who were Maids to the neighboring Kings, and purchased to himself great Possessions by the ayd of affinity: and gave unto Helenus the Son of King Priamus for his singular knowledge in Prophecy the Kingdom of Chaonia, and Andromache the relict of Hector to wife, whom in the division of the Trojan booty he took unto his own bed. Not long after he was slain at Delphos between the Altars of the god by the teachery of Orestes the Son of Agamemnon. Piales his Son succeeded him and by order of suc­cession the Kingdom was devolved to Arym­bas, who being of a tenderage, and the onely child that remayned of that Regal Family, had Guardians assigned him with great care, both for his preservation & his education: And being sent to Athens to be instructed there, he was so much the more acceptable to the people, as he was more learned then all his Predecessors▪ He first made Laws, and ordained a Senate and [Page 261] yearly Magistrats, and the form of a Com­monwealth; and as the Country became more famous by Pyrrhus, so it was reduced to more humanity under the Government of Arymbas. His Son was named Neoptolomus, from whom Olympias was immediately discended, who was the Mother of Alexander the Great, and Alexander who after him enjoyed the King­dom of Epirus, and having made war in Italy, he was slain amongst the Brutians. After his death, his brother Aeacides succeeded in the Kingdom, who by his daily wars against the Macedonians having too much wearyed and exhausted the people, did contract the hatred of the Citizens, and being forced into banish­ment by them, he left his Son Pyrrhus a young child of two yeers of age to succeed him in the Kingdom, who when he was fought for by the people to be put to death by reason of the hatred which they did bear unto Father, he was privately conveyed to the Illyrians, and deli­vered to Beroe the daughter of King Glaucias to be nursed by her, who was himself of the Family of the Aeacidans; The King either in the compassion of his fortune, or delighted with his sportfulness, did not onely protect him a long time against Cassander King of Macedonia, although he threatned to make war against him for detaining of him, but also did adopt him into the succession of the King­dom, [Page 262] with which the Epirots were so over­come, that turning their Hatred into Pity, they called him back at eleven yeers of age, having set Guardians over him, who were to govern the Kingdom until he arrived to maturity of age. Being a young man, he made many wats, and began to be so great in the success thereof, that he seemed alone to be able to de­fend the Tarentines against the Romans▪

PYrrhus therefore King of E­pirus, being again wearyed by a new Embassie of the Tarentines, and by the Pe­titions of the Lucanians and Samnites who also needed ayd against the Ro­mans, was not much induced by the Petitions of the Suppliants, as by the hope of invading the Empire of Italy, and did promise that he would assist them with his Army. The E [...] ▪amples of his Ancestors did carry him on med [Page 264] violently to it, being well enclined to it of him­self, that he might not seem to be inferior to his Uncle Alexander, whom the same Tarantines used as their Protector against the Brutians, or to have less resolution then Alexander the Great, who in a war so remote from his own Country had subdued the East: There­fore having left his Son Ptolomy about the fifteenth yeer of his age to be the Keeper of his Kingdom, he landed his Army in the Ha­ven of Tarentum, having taken with him his two young Sons Alexander and Helenus, to be some solace to him in so remote an Ex­pedition.

Valerius Levinus the Roman Consul, ha­ving heard of his arrival, did march towards him with all speed, with a resolution to give him battel before his Auxiliaries could be drawn together; And having put his Army in array, the King though inferiour in the number of Souldiers, made no delay to encounter him: The Romans being Conquerors, at first were amazed, and enforced to forsake the battel at the unusal sight and charge of the Elephants; these strange monsters of the Macedonians did on a sudden conquer the Conquerors, neither had their Enemies an unbloody victory: For Pyrrhus himself was grievously wounded, and [...] great part of his Souldiers being slain, he [...] a greater glory then a joy of the Victory. [Page 265] Many of the Cities of Italy following the event of this battel, did deliver themselves to Pyr­rhus; Amongst the rest, the Locri having be­trayed the Roman Garrison did submit to Pyr­rhus: Pyrrhus out of the booty which he took, sent back to Rome two hundred Souldiers whom he had taken Prisoners without any ran­som, that the Romans might take notice as well of his liberality as of his valour: Some time being passed, when the Army of the Associates were drawn altogether, he joyned in battel again with the Romans, in which his fortune was the same as in the former.

In the mean time, Mago the General of the Carthaginians, being sent with one hundred and twenty ships to bring Auxiliaries to the Romans, did address himself to the Senate, af­firming that the Carthaginians did deeply re­sent that in Italy they should suffer the cala­mity of war from a forraign King: For which cause he was sent, that the Romans being en­fested by a forraign Enemy, they should also be relieved by a forraign Enemy.

The Senate having returned their hearty thanks to the Carthaginians, did send back their Auxiliaries. But Mago after the fine subtilty of the Punick wit, after a few days did repair pri­vately to Pyrrhus as a peace-maker from the Carthaginians, to dive into his Counsels con­cerning Sicily, to which place Fame reported [Page 266] that he was designed. And indeed, that was the cause why the Romans sent back the Car­thaginians ayd, lest Pyrrhus in the war with Rome, being detained in Italy, should not have the liberty to transport his Army and the war into Sicily.

Whiles these things were in agitation, Fa­bricius Lucinus being sent Ambassador from the Senate of Rome, did conclude a peace with Pyrrhus; to confirm which, Cyneas being sent to Rome with great presents from Pyrrhus, found not any whose hand was open to enter­tain them: There was almost at the same time, another Example of the same continuance of the Romans; for an Ambassie being sent from the Senate into Aegypt, when they had refused great gifts offered to them by King Ptolomy, some few days after being invited to a supper, they had Crowns of Gold sent to them, which having received in a complement of an honour, the next day they imposed them on the Statues of the King. Cyneas when he brought back word that the Peace with the Romans was disturbed by Appius Claudius, Pyrrhus de­manded of him what manner of City Rome was; He made answer, That it seemed to him to be a City all of Kings.

After this, the Ambassadors of Sicily came to Pyrrhus, delivering to him the command of the whole Iland, which was extreamly harrassed [Page 267] with the daily wars of the Carthaginians. Therefore having left his Son Alexander at Locri, and put strong Garrisons into the Ci­ties, he passed over with his Army into Si­cily.

And because mention hath been made of the Carthaginians, we will speak something of their original, the Genealogy of the Tyrians being to be extracted from many generations, whose conditions also were much to be lamen­ted. The Nation of the Tyrians discended from the Phoenicians; who being shaken with an Earthquake, having abandoned their Coun­try, did first inhabit the Assyrian marsh, and not long afterwards the shoar next unto the Sea where they builded a City and called it Sidon, from the abundance that was there of fishes; for the Phoenicians call a fish Sidon; Af­ter the process of many yeers, being overcome by King Ascalon, they took shipping again, and did build the City of Tyre in the yeer be­fore the destruction of Troy; and being long and variously wearied with the wars of the Persians, they were Conqueros at the last; but their Forces being exhausted, they endured un­worthy punishments by their own Servants at that time abounding in their multitudes, who having made a conspiracy, did kill all the free people and their masters with them; and pos­sessing themselves of the City, they enjoyed the [Page 268] Houses of their Masters, they invaded the Com­monwealth, they marryed wives and begat children.

One amongst so many thousands of the slaves, being of a better disposition, and prompt­ed to take compassion on the old man his Master and his little Son, did not kill them with cruelty, but look'd upon them with pious pity and humanity; therefore when he had removed them out of the way, as if they had been slain, the slaves taking into consideration the present condition of their Republick, they thought it expedient to have a King created out of their own Corporation, and to make choyce of him as most acceptable to the gods, who first could discover the rising Sun. This design he ac­quainted Strato with, for so his Masters name was called whom he had privately conceald: and being by him instructed of the place of the Randezvous, when at midnight they came all forth into one Field, the others looking towards the East, he alone did turn himself towards the West; It appeared unto them a madness to look for the rising of the Sun in the Hemi­phere of the West: But when the day brake forth, and the Sun began to shine on the highest tops of all their Cities; others expecting that they should in the East behold the rising of the Sun, he showed them in the West the fulgor of it, where it did gild the Pinnacles of their [Page 269] Temples. The device appeared to exceed the apprehension of a slave; and Strato being examined, he confessed that he had been one of their Masters: Then they understood how much ingenious understandings were superi­our to the servile, and that slaves may over­come in numbers and malice, but not in wis­dom; pardon therefore was granted to the old man and his Son; and as if they had been preserved by Providence, they immediately created Strato their King; after whose death the Kingdom passed to his Son, and after­wards to his Grandsons. This outragious villany of the slaves, was everywhere report­ed as an Example to be feared over all the World: Therefore in the process of time, when Alexander the Great made war in the East, having sacked the City of the Tyrians, he lastned all to the Cross who remained alive, as the Revenger of the publick security in the remembrance of this their ancient slaughter; But he preserved the Family of Strato invio­late, and restored the Kingdom to his poste­rity; ingenuous and innocent Inhabitants being commanded to inhabit that City, and so the servile race being utterly extirpated, a new generation of Citizens was erected. The Tyrians being thus founded by the auspication of Alexander, did soon grow rich by thrift and industry: But before the mur­ders [Page 270] committed on their Masters, when they abounded both in wealth & numbers, having sent a Colony into Africa, they builded the City of Ʋtica: In the mean time, the King of Tyrus deceased, having left Heirs Pygmalion his Son, and Eliza his daughter, a Virgin of an excellent beauty; The people delivered the Kingdom to Pygmalion a boy of a very tender age. Eliza marryed her Uncle Sichaeus the Priest of Hercules, which was an honour next unto the King. He had great but concealed treasures, and for fear of the King he did hide his gold, not in Houses or Coffers, but in the Earth, which though it was unknown to men, yet Fame reveal'd it to Pygmalion, who being transported with an insatiable desire of it, and forgetting all respects of nature and hu­manity, did impiously kill his Uncle, who was also his brother-in-law. Eliza for a long time could not endure the presence of Pygmalion by reason of the horrid murder he had com­mitted; at the last, having dissembled her hatred, and made more smooth her brow, she privately attempted to fly away, and having taken into her society some of the Princes who were equally exasperated against the King, she truly conceived that they had the same desire to make an escape with her. Af­ter this she made her deceitful addresses to her brother, and represented to him that she [Page 271] had a desire to live in his Court, that the house of her Husband might no longer re­new any subject of grief unto her, she being desirous to forget him, and that no longer the imagination of him might reflect so sad up­on her. Pygmalion did give no unwilling eare to these words of his sister, thinking that with her the gold of Sychaeus would come along unto him. But Eliza in the dusk of the evening, did put into the ships not onely the goods but the servants of the King, who were sent by him to attend her in his re­moval to the Court: and being carryed in­to the main, she commanded them to throw into the Sea some great bags and sacks of sand, which she said were all bags of gold, and so made up and corded, that by their handling they could not discover what the heavie burden was. Then she melting into tears, did implore Sichaeus with a mournful voyce, that favourably he would receive his own wealth which he left, and take those as sacrifices to his grave which were the cause of his death: After this, she sent for the servants of the King, and declared to them, that for her part, she wished for death many yeers ago, but grievous and dismal torments did hang over their own heads, who had taken to satisfie the avarice of the Tyrant, the wealth of Sychaeus, for the hope of which [Page 272] the King had murdered him. These words having shot a general fear into them, she took them along with her as the companions of her flight, and on that night also a prepared company of Senators did unite themselves un­to her, and under pretence of renewing the Sacrifices in the honour of Hercules, whose Priest Sichaeus was, they sought new habita­tions by a wilful banishment. Sayling along the Coast, they were first driven into the Ile of Cyprus, where the Priest of Jupiter by the admonition of the god, did offer himself a companion to Eliza, with his wife and chil­dren, to be a partaker of her fortune, having agreed with her to have for himself and his posterity the perpetual honor of the Priest­hood. The condition was taken for a mani­fest token of a good fortune to come. It was the custom of the Cyprians to send their Virgins on set days before their marriage to the Sea-shore, to provide themselves a Dowry by the use of their bodies, and to offer sa­crifice afterwards to Venus for the rest of their chastity: Eliza commanded that four­score of the youngest of them should be taken away and carryed to her ships, that so both the young men she took with her might enjoy wives, and her City grew numerous by Posterity.

In the mean time, Pygmalion having un­derstood [Page 273] the flight of her sister, and resolving to prosecute her with an impious war, he was with much difficulty restrained by the en­treaties of his Mother, and by the threatnings of the gods, the Prophets by inspirations presaging to him, that he should not go un­punished, if he hindred the beginnings of a City, which promised to be the most flourish­ing one in the World; by this means Eliza and those who fled with her, had leave to breathe; therefore being brought into the Coasts of Africa, she sollicited the Inhabi­tants, rejoycing at the arrival of Strangers▪ and the Commerce of Traffick with them, to make friendship with her: Having then bought a place no larger then what might be incom­passed with the Hide of an Ox, in which she might refresh her Associates, weary with their long travel, until she advanced further; she divided and did cut the Hide into long and thin thongs, by which artifice she gained a far larger extent of ground then she seemed to desire, by reason whereof the place was afterwards call'd, The Burss. The Neighbors out of every Country in a short time, did in great numbers resort thither, and in hope of gain brought many things to be bought by their new Guests, and making Booths to vent their Commodities, it appeared by the frequency of the people, like a new City. [Page 274] The Ambassadors also of the Ʋticensians did bring presents to them as to their kindred, and did exhort them to build a City where they had made their mansion.

The Africans also had a great desire to entertain these new Inhabitants; therefore Carthage was builded by the general consent of all the Tyrians, paying a yeerly Tribute for the ground on which the City was build­ed: In the first foundations of the City, there was found the head of a Bullock, which was the token indeed of a fruitful Earth, but of a labourious and a servile City; wherefore they translated the City into another place; There the head of an horse, (portending that they should be a wa [...]like and powerful people) did give a happy auspication to the original of their City. The Nations coming in throngs to give their judgement on this new City, in a short time, both the people and the Ci­ty were greatly enlarged. The affairs of the Carthaginians flourishing thus in continual success, Hiarbas King of the Mauritanians having sent ten of his Princes to them, he demanded Eliza for wife, and threatned to make war upon them if they should deny him: The Ambassadors fearing to declare their Message to the Queen, they dealed with her according to the capritiousness of the Punick apprehension, and expressed to her that the [Page 275] King desired to have one who should teach the Africans more refined Arts and manners; but none of their own consanguinity could be found who would come unto them living like Barbarians, and not to be distinguished from the manners of beasts▪ Being then reproved by the Queen if they themselves would refuse any difficulty or travel for the improvement of their Country, to which if necessity did re­quire, they did owe their lives, they delivered to the Queen the mandats of the King, al­ledging that if she intended well to her own City, she must do that her self which she pre­scribed unto others. Being circumvented by this deceit, having with many tears and great lamentation invoked the name of Sichaeus, she at last made answer, That she would go whether her own stubborn fortunes and the destinies of her City did call her. For which having taken the space of three Monthes, she at the end thereof, erected a huge pile of wood in the Suburbs of her City, and as she would appease the ghost of her Husband, she slew many sacrifices; and having a drawn sword in her had, she did ascend the funeral pile, and looking back on her people, she told them that she would go to her Husband accordingly as he had enjoined her, and ended her life with the sword: As long as Car­thage was unconquered, she was afterwards [Page 276] honoured for a Goddess. This City was builded before Rome threescore and twelve yeers, and as it was famous for war, so the state thereof at home was troubled with much contention. When amongst many other ca­lamities, they were afflicted also with the plague, they used the Religion of a most bloody devotion, & an abhomination for their remedy, for they offered men in Sacrifice, and laid their children on their bloody Altars, whose Infancy would have provoked their Enemies to compassion, and with their blood they desired peace of the gods, for whose life the gods were accustomed by other Nations to be devoutly importuned. The gods therefore being averse to so horrid an impiety, when a long time they had fought unfortunately in Sicily, the war being tran­slated into Sardina, they were overthrown in a great battel, having lost the best part of their Army, for which they commanded Ma­cheus (under whose conduct they had sub­dued a part of Sicily, and performed great atchievements against the Africans) to be ba­nished with the part of the Army which re­mained: Which the Souldiers took so heavily, that they sent Ambassadors to Car­thage, who in the first place were to desire the liberty to return into their Country, and a pardon for their unhappy warfare, and if not, [Page 277] to declare unto them, That if they could not obtain it by entreaties, they would command it by arms. When the threatnings as well as the Petitions of the Ambassadors were despised, they not long after having embarked themselves▪ did advance in arms unto the City. There having called both the gods and men to witness, that they came not to ruine, but to be restored to their Country, and to manifest to the Citizens, that in the managing of the former war, they wanted not valour, but for­tune, having besieged the City, and cut off all provisions from coming to it, they brought the Carthaginians to the lowest desperation. In the mean time, Cartalo the Son of the ba­nished Machaeus, when he was sent for by his Father, as he passed by the Leaguer in his return from Tyre (to which place he was sent by the Carthaginians to carry the Tenths to Hercules out of the Sicilian prey, which his Fa­ther took) he returned answer, That he would first discharge the obligations of publick Religion before the duties of private piety; This answer, although it much troubled his Fa­ther, yet he durst not offer any violence to Religion; Not long after, the people having made Cartalo their Agent, to desire that Machaeus would suffer provisions to be brought with safety to the City, when he came unto his Father, being cloathed in purple [Page 278] and the fillets of the Priesthood hanging down from his Miter, his Father calling him aside did speak unto him; And how darest thou, wretch as thou art, to approach into the presence of so many miserable Citizens cloathed in that purple & glistering with gold! How darest thou, as it were in triumph to enter into our sad mournful Tents, in such a slowing habit and ornaments of quiet fe­licity! Couldst thou finde none else to whom to vaunt thy self? was there no place so fit for thee as this Camp, where is nothing to be re­presented, but the sordid condition of thy Fa­ther, and the reproaches of his unhappy ba­nishment? Not many daies since being sent for by me, thou didst not onely proudly de­spise (I will not say) thy Father, but I am confident, the General of thy own Citizens; And what shewest thou more in that purple, and those Crowns, then the titles of my Victories? Since therefore, thou wilt ac­knowledge nothing of a Father, but the title onely of a banished man, I am resolved to shew my self not like a Father but a Soul­dier, and I will make thee an Example that none hereafter shall be so bold as to scorn the unhappy miseries of his Father; having said this, he commanded him to be fastned to a most high Cross, in his gorgeous habiliments in the sight of the whole City. Some few days [Page 279] afterwards he surprized Carthage, and having called forth the people to an Assembly, he complained of the injury of his banishment, he excused the necessity of the war, he forgave the contempt of his former Victories, & having punished the chief Authors of the injurious ba­nishment of the miserable Citizens, he par­doned all the rest; And having put to death ten of the Senators, he restored the City to her former Laws. And not long after being ac­cused to have affected the Kingdom, he suf­fered double punishment, both for the mur­der of his Son, and for the violation of the liberties of his Country. In his place Mago was chosen General, by whose industry and courage the wealth of the Carthaginians, and the limits of their Empire, and their glory in the affairs of war increased.

MAgo the General of the Car­thaginians, having establi­shed their government by an orderly course of mili­tary Discipline, and con­firmed the strength of that City, as well by the art of war as by his policy, deceased, having left be­hind him two Sons, Asdrubal and Amilcar, who treading in the pathes of their Fathers vertue, did succeed as well in the greatness, as in the genealogy of their Father. Under their conduct war made against the Illyrians: They [Page 281] fought also against the Africans, demanding the Tribute for the ground of their City, the payment whereof for many yeers was neg­lected: But as the cause of the Africans was more just, so their fortune was better; And the war was concluded with them not by Arms, but with the payment of the moneys: And Asdrubal being grievously wounded, dyed in Sardinia, having delivered up the Government to his brother Amilcar: The general lamentation in the City, and his ele­ven Dictatorships, and four Triumphs, did make his death the more remarkable. The courage also of the Enemy did encrease, as if the Carthaginians had lost their Army with their Captain; The people therefore of Sicilia having addressed themselves to Leonidas bro­ther of the King of the Spartans (by reason of the daily injuries committed by the Carthani­gians) the war between them continued long with various success. Whiles these things were in action, Ambassadors came to Carthage from Darius King of the Persians, bringing an Edict with them, in which the Carthaginians were forbidden to sacrifice men upon their Altars, as also to eat the flesh of dogs, they were also commanded to burn, and not to bury in the ground the bodies of the dead; they desired also ayd of the Carthaginians against the Grecians, on whom Darius was [Page 282] resolved to make war. But the Carthaginians refusing to send Auxiliaries by reason of the daily wars with their Neighbors, did readily obey him in the rest, lest that they might seem to be obstinate altogether. Amilcar in the mean time was killed in the Sicilian war, ha­ving left behind him three Sons, Hamilco, Hanno, and Gisco. Asdrubal also had the same number of Sons, Annibal, Asdru­bal, and Sapho, by whom the affairs of the Carthaginians were governed in those times; they invaded the Mauritanians, and fought against the Numidians; and the Afri­cans were compelled to remit the Tribute which was demanded for their City: After­wards when so a great a Family of the chief Commanders began to be heavie to the City, because they did act and determine all things of themselves, the City made choyce of one hundred of the Senators, unto whom the Generals (returning from the war) were to give an account of what they had done for the publick service, that being under the power of this supream Court, they might so in war dispose of their Commands, that they might have a regard to Justice and to the Laws at home. Amilco succeeded General in Sicily in the place of Amilcar, who when he made many successful encounters, both by Sea and Land, did at last on a sudden, lose all [Page 283] his Army by the rage of a pestilential Planet. Which when it was reported at Carthage, the City was so full of sorrow and lamen­tation, as if it had been taken it self: The shops and houses were shut up; so were the Temples of the gods; no publick duties of religion were performed, and all Offices intermitted which belonged to the administration of justice. They all slocked in throngs to the Haven, and asked those few who came out of the ships (who escaped the fury of the mortality) how their Sons and kinsmen did; and when they were as­sured of their deaths, of which before they were uncertain, and were in some hopes that the Re­ports were false, they filled all the shoar with their lamentations; nothing was heard but sighes and throbs, and the sad complaints of the unhappy Parents. In the mean time, the di­stressed General Amilco came down out of his own ship, raggedly cloathed, and in the habit of a servant; the multitudes of the mourners pressed round about him to behold him; And he amongst the rest lifting up his hands to Heaven, sometimes bewailed his own, and sometimes the publick fortune; sometime he accused the gods who took from them so many Ornaments and Trophies of the war, and of the victories which they had given them, and had destroyed the victorious Army, not by war but pestilence, so many Cities being taken, [Page 284] and the Enemies so often overcome in the battels both by Sea and Land; Howsoever, he said, he brought some comfort to the Citizens, that the Enemies though they might rejoyce, yet they could not glory in their calamity, for they could neither say, that those who were dead were killed, or that those who returned, were routed by them. The booty he said, which the Enemy found in their abandoned Tents, was not such as they could boast to be the spoyls of a conquered Enemy, but such as by the casual deaths of their Masters, they had seized upon, being poor and transitory things, which no body was left to own; & that in relation to their ene­mies, they departed Conquerors, but in the re­lation to the plagues, they departed conquered: Howsoever, he affirmed that he took nothing more neer unto his heart, then that he could not die himself amongst so many most valiant men, and was preserved not for any delight which he took in life, but onely to be the sport of calamity; yet nevertheless, having brought the miserable relicks of his Army to Carthage, he would follow also himself his deceased Souldiers, and would make it apparent to his Country, that he did not continue to that day, because he had a minde to live, but that he would not by his death, betray these whom the direful pestilence had spared, by leaving them amongst the Armies of their Enemies. [Page 285] With this Resolution and complaint, having entred the City, as he came to the threshold of his own door, he dismissed the multitude that followed him with his last Farewel unto them, and having locked the door, with his sword he put a period to his own life, not admitting any, not so much as his own Sons to come unto him.

THe Carthaginians being dri­ven out of Sicily, Dionysius seized upon the command of the whole Iland, and thinking so great an Army without action would be prejudicial to his King­dom, he transported his forces into Italy, that the Souldiers should be both exercised with continual labor, and the bounds of his King­dom enlarged; His first war there was amongst the Grecians who enhabited the next Coasts of the Italian Sea, who beings overcome, he [Page 287] assaulted all their Neighbors, and destined to himself all the Grecians that possessed Italy, who at that time enjoyed not onely a part but almost all Italy; for many Cities after so great a Tract of Antiquity, do to this day demon­strate that they received their original from the Grecians. For the people of Tuscany, who inhabit the Coast of the lower Sea, did come from Lydia; And Troy being taken and sacked, did send forth the Venetians, who are the In­habitants on the Coasts of the upper Sea under Antenor their Commander; Adria also which is washed by the Illyrian Sea, is a Greek City which gives a name to the Adriatick, and so is Arpos which (Troy being overthrown) Diomedes builded, being brought by ship­wrack into that place; Pisca also amongst the Ligurians, is beholding to the Graecians for her original. And amongst the Tuscans, Tar­quinia derives her beginning from the Thessa­lians, and the Spinambrians and Perusians from the Achaians; What shall I speak of the City Cere, and the Latine people who seem to be planted by Aeneas? And are not the Falicians, Japigians, Nolans, Abelans, Plantations from Calcedo in Greece? What shall I speak of all the Provinces of Cam­pania? What shall I speak of the Bru­tians, Sabinians, and the Samnits? what of the Tarentins which we have read did [Page 288] come from Lacedaemon, and were called Spurii. It is recorded that Philoctetes did build the City of the Thurins, whose Monument is yet to be seen in that place; As also the Ar­rows of Hercules which were the first ruine of Troy, are to be seen in the Temple of Apollo. The Metapontins also do shew in the Temple of Minerva those Tools of Iron with which Epeus, from whom they are derived, did build the Trojan horse; by reason of these Inhabi­tants, all that part of Italy is called Graecia major.

But in the beginning of these Originals, the Metapontins with the Sybarits and Crotoni­ans, did resolve to drive all the other Grecians out of Italy; and having first of all taken by force the City of Syris, they killed fifty young men, embracing the Image of Minerva, and the Priestess her self amongst the Altars of the Goddess, having on her the Sacerdotial orna­ments. Wherefore when they were punished with pestilence and sedition; the Crotonians first of all repaired to the Oracle at Delphos for a remedy, to whom it was answered, That an end to their calamity would ensue, if they would pacifie the violated power of Minerva, and the ghosts of the slaughtered young men: There­fore when they began in the first place to erect the Statue of Minerva; and afterwards of the young men according to the just proportion of [Page 289] their bodies, the Metapontins having under­stood the Oracle of the gods, did resolve to be as forward in the Religion as they, and erected small Images of stone to the young men, and pacified the goddess with Manufa­ctures of Wool. And thus the Plague was ceased in both places, the one striving who should exceed in magnificence, and the other in swiftness: The Crotonians being recovered to their health, were not long quiet. But being discontented, that in the taking of the City of Syris, the Locrensians did send Auxiliaries a­gainst them, they made war upon them, which so troubled the Locrensians, that they besought ayd of the Lacedemonians; The Lacedemonians be­ing unwilling to employ their forces into so re­mote a war, did advise them to crave ayd of Ca­stor & Pollux; Neither did the Ambassadors de­spise the counsel of their friends; And departing to the next Temple, having offered sacrifice, they implored the assistance of the gods, and having obtained as they thought what they desired, and being as ioyful as if they should carry the gods themselves with them, they placed Cussions for them in the ship, and by a fortunate adventure they brought home comfort to their distressed Army in the stead of help. This being known, the Crotonians themselves did send Ambassa­dors to the Oracle at Delphos, imploring the grant of victory, and prosperous events in th [...] [Page 290] wars to come. It was answered, that the Enemies were first to be overcome by Votes, and afterwards by Arms.

Hereupon the Locrensians devoted to A­pollo the Tythes or Tenths of their booty, having understood that the Crotonians had devoted but the ninth part, which they reserved with great privacy, lest the answer of the god being known, they should be overcome in their Votes. There­fore when both Armies were drawn into battel-Array, and there were marshalled in the Field one hundred and twenty thousand armed men of the Crotonians, the Locrensians looking upon their own Musters, which could not at the most amount to above fifteen thousand men, having abandoned all hope of Victory, they did destinate themselves to a certain death; and so honourable an heat did grow upon them all out of this desperation, that in the battel they thought themselves to be Conquerors, if they dyed not unrevenged. Thus whiles they desired to die honourably, they overcame hap­pily; and their despair was the original of their Victory. In the heat and height of the labour of their sword, an Eagle constantly ap­peared to fly in the front of the Locrensian Ar­my, and sometimes wheeling about the wings of the Army, she would immediately return and be seen again to hover over them, until they were become Masters of the Field. In the [Page 291] wings of their battel there were also seen two young men to fight in Armor far different from others, and remarkable by the height and greatness of their bodies, and by their white horses, and co [...]cineous paludaments; neither did they appear any longer then whiles the battels were fighting.

The incredible swiftness of the report of the victory did encrease the wonder of it: For on the same day on which the Battel was fought in Italy, the Victory of the Locrensians was reported at Corinth and Athens, and at Lace­daemon. After this, the Crotonians delighted themselves, neither in the exercises of honour, nor in the use of Arms, for they hated what so unhappily they undertook, and had changed their lives into luxury, had it not been for the documents of Pythagoras the Philosopher, who being born at Samos, was the Son of Demara­tus a rich Merchant; he was indued with ex­cellent gifts of wisdom and understanding, and travelled first into Aegypt, and afterwards to Babylon to learn the motion of the Stars, and to understand the beginning of the World; And having therein attained to the perfection of knowledge, he returned to Creet and Lacedae­mon, to instruct himself in the Laws of Minos and Ly [...]urgus, with which (their Laws being the most famous of all in those daies) he redu­ced the people of Crotona from the abuse of [Page 292] riot by his example, to the use of temperance and frugality. He daily extolled vertue, and cryed down the vices of luxury, and did num­ber to them how many Cities were destroyed by this devouring sin; and at last he was so much followed by the multitude, that what was thought almost incredible, even some of the most riotous of those people were converted into the manners and principles of the most thrifty of men. He had several Schools and several Au­ditories, and distinctly taught the Matrons from the men, & the children from their Parents: He taught the Matrons chastity, and obsequious­ness towards theit husbands; and he taught their husbands temperance, and to be lovers of Learning. He alwayes prompted both unto frugality, as if it were the mother of all ver­tues, and by his daily disputation he so pre­vailed that the Matrons did leave off their Gar­ments of gold, and other ornaments of their dignity, as the instruments of luxury; and these ornaments being brought them into the Temple of Juno, they were by these Matrons consecra­ted to the goddess her self, professing that the best ornaments of Matrons was chastity and not gorgeous apparrel: How much also he prevailed by conquest on the young men, the conquered spirits of the contumacious women [...]id declare. But when three hundred of the young men having obliged themselves by oath, [Page 293] through the Interest of their society, did like Separatists segregate themselves from the rest of their Citizens, being suspected to hold a clan­destine Conspirary, they exasperated the Citizens against them, who would have burned them al­together being convened in one house. In this tumult there perished about threescore of them; the rest were condemned to banishment. Py­thagoras having lived twenty years at Crotona, did remove himself to Metapontum, in which City he dyed; they had there so great an ad­miration of him, that they made of his house a Temple, and did worship him as a god.

Dionysius the Tyrant having (as before we mentioned) transported his Army out of Sicily into Italy, and made war upon the Grecians who there inhabited, he overcame the Locrians, and did assault the Crotonians through a long respite scarce resuming new strength, so great was their overthrow of their former war; they now more valiantly resisted with a few men the powerful Army of Dionysius, then heretofore with many thousands they resisted the incon­siderable number of the Locrensians: So much vertue hath poverty against insolent riches, and sometimes so much more certain is a dispaired then a presumed Victory.

In the mean time, the Ambassadors of the Gauls, who not many Moneths before had burned Rome, did address themselves to Diony­sius [Page 294] making wars in Italy, and desired a league and friendship of him, they affirmed that their Nation was now seated between his Enemies, and would be of great concernment to him, both to attend him in the Van▪ or to defend him if his Enemies should take the advantage to press upon him in the Rear.

This Embassie was acceptable to Dionysius; wherefore having entred into a league with them, and re-inforced his Army with Auxi­liaries from them, he did begin the war again. The cause which brought these Gauls to seek new habitations in Italy, was civil discord and daily dissentions at home, being weary with the tediousness whereof, when they came in multitudes into Italy, they did drive the Tus­cans from their possessions, and builded Mil­lain, Comum, Brixia, Verona, Bergomum, Tri­dentum, and Vincentia. The Tuscans at the same time under the command of Rhetus, ha­ving lost their ancient habitations, did possess themselves of the Alpes, and called the Country which they commanded Rhetia, after the name of their Commander.

Not long afterwards, Dionysius was called back into Sicily by the Carthaginians, who having recovered themselves by the aggregati­on of new Forces, did begin the war again which they had abandoned by reason of the Pestilence. Hanno was chosen General of the [Page 295] war, whose Enemy Suniator the most powerful at that time of all the Carthaginians, when in hatred to him he had frequently in the Greek Tongue acquainted Dionysius of the approch of the Army, and of the temper and sloath of the General, the letters being intercepted, he was accused of Treason, and condemned for it, and an Act was passed by the Senate, that no Car­thaginian should afterwards either speak or write in the Greek Tongue, that they might hold no discourse, nor write unto the Enemy without an Interpreter: Not long after Diony­sius, whom neither Sicily nor Italy could con­tain, being overcome and wearyed out with the daily encounters in the war, was slain by the treachery of his own Souldiers.

DIonysius the Tyrant being slain in Sicily, the Souldiers did sub­stitute in his place his eldest Son, who was called after his Fa­thers Name, both for the ma­turity of his Age, and that the Kingdom might be more firmly united, if it continued in the power of one man, then if it should be by parts divided amongst many of his children. But Dionysius in the beginning of his raign had a desire to take away his Uncles as those who would be partakers with him in his Kingdom, and be the perswaders of his brothers to have [Page 297] it divided amongst them. And the better to dis­semble his design, he thought it requisite in the first place to assure himself of the good opinion of the people, being more excusedly to perform what he had determined, if he stood fast in the approbation of them all. He delivered there­fore out of prison three thousand that lay there in chains together, and for three years dismissed the payment of all tributes, and by all Artifices sollicited the affections of all men to him.

Then resolving to put in practice his contri­ved villany, he put to the sword not onely the kinsmen of his brothers, but even his bro­thers themselves, beginning his tyranny first in his own Family before he exercised it in others, and left not so much as the spirit of fraternal consortment to those to whom he owed a consortment in his Kingdom. His emulators being thus taken away, and falling into sloth, he became unweildy in his body by too much riot, and contracted so great a weakeness in his eyes, that he could not endure the Sun or Dust, or any splendor of light: By reason of which, believing that he began to become despicable, he committed outragious cruelties, and filled not as his Father the pri­sons with enchained Citizens, but filled the City with the murthers of them, by which he grew both contemptible and hateful unto all. [Page 298] Therefore when the Syracusians had deter­mined war against him, he was in a great sus­pence whether he should lay down his royal Authority, or make resistance in war against them; but his Souldiers propounding to them­selves a great booty, and the plundering of the City, he was enforced by them to try it out in battel with them. Being overcome, when not long after he had the same ill fortune in the fight again, he sent Ambassadors to Syracusae, promising to lay down his tyranny, if they would send some to him to agree upon Articles for a peace.

The Syracusians sending some of the most eminent in their City to him, he commanded them to prison, and brought his Army to over­throw their City, which at that present feared no assault, nor the approach of any Enemy at all: The fight was a long time doubtful in the City, but the Citizens overcoming with their multitudes, Dionysius was routed and beaten out of it. And fearing to be besieged in the Tower, he fled privately into Italy with all his Princely furniture: Being there as a banished man, he was received by the Locren­sians, who were in friendship with him, and he possessed himself of their Tower, where he exercised his accustomed cruelties: He com­manded the wives of the chiefest of the City to be defloured; He took away the Virgins [Page 299] by force, and having ravished them, he returned them to those who were to espouse them: The most wealthy of all the City he commanded to be expelled, or to be slain, and did confiscate their goods; And when there was not the lest occasion for any further rapine, he circumven­ted the whole City by this studied project. When the Locrensians were oppressed by the war of Leophron Tyrant of Rhegium, they vowed if they were Conquerors, they would prostitute their Virgins on a day dedicated to Venus. This vow being unperformed, when they made unfortunate wars against the Luca­nians, Dionysius called them to a publick Assembly, and did exhort them to send their wives and daughters into the Temple of Venus, dressed in the richest cloathes they could put on, and that one hundred of them, chosen by lot, might perform the publick vow, and that for Religions sake, they might stand one whole Moneth in the open Stews, all men having be­fore taken an Oath not to defile any of them▪ And that the Virgins might not be deceived, performing the Vows of the City, he ordained that not a Maid should be marryed until hus­bands were first provided for them: This counsel being approved, in which provision was made both for the superstition and the chastity of the Virgins, the women adorned in the most sumptuous manner did come in [Page 300] throngs to the Temple of Venus, every one of whom Dionysius despoyled, having sent in Souldiers to the Temple, and converted the Ornaments of the Matrons into his own Wardrope. He killed also some of the Hus­bands of the richest of them: and some women he tormented to betray their Husbands wealth; when by these arts he raigned six years, being driven from the City by the Confederacy of the Citizens, he returned into Sicily, and after a long peace, all men being secure, he became Master of Syracusae by treachery.

Whiles these things were thus mannaged in Sicily, Hanno the General of the Carthagini­ans in Africa employed his own treasure, in which he exceeded the bank of the Common­wealth, to become absolute Soveraign of all, and attempted having first killed the Senate, to usurpe the Kingdom. For the acting of this wickedness, he set apart a solemn day for the marriage of his Daughter, that by the religion of his Vows, he might both the better com­mit and conceal his abominable design. He prepared a Feast for the people in the publick places, and for the Senate in his own house, that with Cups infected with poyson, he might more secretly and without any witnesses destroy them, and the more easily invade the Com­monwealth deprived of her Magistrates. This being betrayed to the Senators by his servants, [Page 301] the wicked plot was declined but not re­venged, least in a man so powerful the plot should prove more prejudicial being known then concealed. Being therefore con­tended by a decree to put a measure to the charges of marriages, they commanded it not to be observed by one or some few, bur by all in general, that the person might not seem to be pointed at, but the vice corrected. Being prevented by this Counsel, he again incited the slaves to a Rebellion; and having appointed another day for the slaughter of the Senators, when he found that he was the second time prevented, fearing to be call'd into judgement, he possessed himself of a fortified Castle having armed twenty thousand slaves.

There whiles he incited the Africans and the King of Mauritania to make war on the Carthaginians, he was taken, and being scourged with rods, his eyes pulled out, and his hands and legs broken, that a due punish­ment might be exacted of every one of his members, he was put to death in the sight of the people, and his body torn with rods, was fast­ned on a Cross. His Sons also, and all his kindred though innocent were delivered to the Executioner, that not [...]one of so nefarious a Family should remain either to imitate his wickedness, or to revenge his death.

In the mean time, Dionysius being received [Page 302] by the Syracusians, when he grew every day more grievous and cruel to the City, was be­sieged by a new conspiracy, and having at last layd down both his Tyranny and his Army, he delivered the Tower to the Syracusians, and taking with him some necessaries for a private fortune, he betook himself to a banished life in Carinth, and there conceiving things most humble to be most safe, he descended into a most sordid condition of life, for being not contented to foot it up and down in publick, but to drink also, and not onely to be seen in Taverns and Houses of wantonness, but to continue in them many dayes together, he would quarrel with the vilest scum upon the basest subject, and be seen all in rags and squallid, and rather give an occasion of laughter to others then receive it from them; he would stand in the Shambles and devour with his eyes what he was not able to buy; he would com­plain of the Bawds and Whores before the Aedils, and do all things in such an importu­nate rudeness, that he seemed rather to be de­spised then to be feared. At last, he professed himself to be a School-master, and taught chil­dren in open places, that he might either be seen alwayes in publick by those that feared him, or more readily be despised by those that feared him not. And although he abounded with the vices of a Tyrant, yet this dissembling of [Page 303] his vices was not by nature, but by art he counterfeited to have lost all royal shame, being not ignorant how hateful was the very name of Tyrants without their revenews. He endeavoured also to take away the envie of things past by the contempt of things present, and made use not of honest, but of safe counsel. Nevertheless, amongst those arts of his dissimulation, he was thrice ac­cused to affect the Tyranny again, and his best protection was the despicableness of his person and his fortunes.

In the mean time the Carthaginians being amazed at the great success of Alexander the Great, fearing that he would add Africa to the Empire of Asia, sent Amilcar, sirnamed Rhodanus (a man famous above the rest for eloquence and policy) to discover his intents: Their fear was encreased by the taking of the City of Tyre, the mother to their City, and by the building of Alexandria, a City emulous of Carthage on the bounds of Africk and Aegypt, and by the perpetual felicity of the King, whose desires and whose fortune could not any wayes be bounded: Amilcar having obtained access to the King by the means of Parmenio, he dissembled to the King that he fled unto him, being bani­shed from his own Country, and offered himself to serve him in his expedition against [Page 304] it. And having dived into his Counsels, he wrote all things to the Carthaginians in woodden Tables, the Letters being covered with wax. Howsoever, after the death of Alexander, the Carthaginians did put him to death, being returned into his own Country, not onely by an ungrateful but with a cruel sentence▪ alledging that he would have betrayed their City unto Alexander the Great.

AGathocles the Tyrant of Sicily, who arose to the height and greatness of the former Di­onysius, from a base and sordid pedigree did advance himself unto royal Majesty. He was born in Sicily, his Father was a Potter; nor had he a more honest childhood then he had Original; for being admirable in beauty, and the linea­ments of his body, he a long time lived by the passive prostitution of his body: And being come to sixteen yeers of age, he transferred his lust from men to women. Afterwards be­ing [Page 306] infamous with both Sexes, he changed his course of life, and committed Robberies. In process of time he travelled to Syracusae, and was sent for into the City by the Inhabitants, where he lived a long time without reputati­on; for he had nothing more in fortune to lose, nor in chastity to defile. Being at last an ordi­nary Souldier, he was as prone to any villany by a seditious, as he was before by a dissolute life. He was resolute and active, and very eloquent in discourse. In a short time he was made a Centurion & not long afterwards Tri­bune of the Souldiers. In the first war against the Aetnaeans, he shewed the Syracusians ex­cellent demonstrations of his Chivalty. In the following war against the Campanions, the opinion which all had of him was so great, that he was chosen General in the place of Damascen deceased, whose wife (having known her first by adultery) he did take unto him in marriage after the death of her hus­band. And being not contented that of a poor man he suddenly grew rich, he at last turned Pyrat against his own Country: It was his safety, that his Companions being taken, and tormented, denyed that he had any any interest amongst them. Twice he endea­voured to possess himself of Syracusae, and twice he was driven into banishment for it. In the hatred to the Syracusians he was made [Page 307] first Praetor, and afterwards General by the Murgantins, amongst whom he did lead a banished life: In that war he took the City of the Leontins, and began to besiege the City of Syracusae, to the defence whereof when Amilcar General of the Carthaginians was desired to march, having laid aside all hostile hatred, he sent considerable Forces to relieve it. In one and the same time, the City of Syracusae was defended by her Enemies in a civil love, and was besieged by her Citizens in a civil hatred; But Agathocles when he perceived that the City was more gallantly defended then beleagured, did by his Messen­gers Petition to Amilcar, that he would un­dertake the arbitration for a peace betwixt him and the Syracusians, promising on his part the assured peculiar return of all good Offices that he could expect. Amilcar being possessed with this hope, did enter into a league with him, being induced to it by the fear of his power, considering that what strength by this confederacy he gave to A­gathocles against the Syracusians, he ad­ded as much to himself for the enlargement of his private fortunes. Therefore Peace was not onely made with Agathocles, but he was also made Praetor of Syracusae: After this tapers of wax, being brought forth and lighted, he did swear to Amilcar to be careful [Page 308] upon all occasions to advance the Interests of Carthage. Having then received of him a Garrison of five thousand Africans, he killed all those of greatest power in the City; and intending as it were to form a new Govern­ment in the Common-wealth, he commanded the people to be called forth into the Theater, the Senate being disposed of into another place, as if he would consult with them concerning something before hand; and thus having or­dered his affairs, and brought in the Souldiers, he besieged the people, and put the Senators to the sword; and having finished the slaughter of them, he killed those that were most rich, and most forward of the people. This being done, he leavied more men, and formed an Army, with which he assaulted the neighbouring Cities, fearing no Enemy at all. He also per­fidiously provoked with injuries the Associates of the Carthaginians, Amilcar permitting it. Of which the Confederate Cities did com­plain at Carthage, not onely of Agathocles but of Hamilcar: of the one as a domineering Tyrant, and of the other as a Traytor, by whom the fortunes of the Confederates were given to a most deadly Enemy, by the making of a peace with him, and by delivering Syra­cusae to him as the pledge of their Society, (a City alwayes at enmity with the Carthagini­ans, and the Rival of Carthage for the command [Page 309] of Sicily) and now at last by delivering up the Cities of their Confederates to the same Agothocles under the title of a friendship, they did declare that those things would suddenly redound to the Carthaginians themselves, and they should suddenly perceive how much evil they brought not onely to Sicily but to Africa also. With those complaints the Senate was incensed against Amilcar: But because he had the Command of the Army, they passed silent suffrages on him, and commanded that before they were reported, they should be cast into an urne and sealed up, until another A­milcar, the Son of Gisco, should return from Sicily: But the death of Amilcar prevented these close contrivances, and the dumb suffrages of the Carthaginians, who being injuriously condemned by his own Citizens, his cause un­heard, was delivered from them by the friend­ship of death. This administred a subject to Agathocles to make war against the Cartha­ginians.

The first encounter of the war was with Amilcar the Son of Gisco, by whom being overcome, he retreated to Syracusae to renew the war with greater Force; But the fortune of the second battel was the same as of the former; wherefore, when the conquering Carthaginians had laid a close siege to Syracusae, Agathocles finding himself neither equal to them in strength, [Page 310] nor any wayes prepared to endure the fury of the siege, and withal (by reason of his cruelty and other offences) that he was forsaken of his Confederates, he resolved to carry the war into Africa. A wonderful boldness it was, that he who was inferior to his Enemy in his own Land and Cities, should translate the war into their Countrey, and advance to encounter with them abroad, being not able at home to desend him­self, and that being overcome he should in­sult over the Conquerors. The silence of this counsel was no less admirable then was the de­sign he undertook▪ professing onely to the peo­ple that he had found them out a way to victo­ry: He desired them that they would arm them­selves with a resolution patiently for a while to indure the difficulties of the siege; or if the condition of their present fortune was grievous to any of them, he gave them free leave to de­part where they pleased; when one thousand and six hundred of them did go away, he pro­vided the rest with corn and money for the necessity of the siege; he onely took with him fifty Talents for his present use, being to provide himself with other things rather from his Ene­my then his Companions; Having then gran­ted freedom to all the servants that were of age to bear arms, he did oblige them by Oath to be faithful to him, and afterwards shipped them and the greatest part of his Army; and [Page 311] having made equal the condition both of bond and free, he conceived that there would be be­twixt them a mutual emulation of vertue. All the rest were left for the defence of his Country.

In the seventh year of his raign (none of his Souldiers knowing whether they were to be transported) he directed his course to Africa, taking with him his two Sons, who were then of age, Archagathus and Heraclidas; when they all believed that they were imbraked ei­ther to plunder Italy or Sardinia, having land­ed them on the shore of Africa, he declared his design unto them, and enformed them in what condition Syracusae was, to whom there was no other help remaining then to do unto their Ene­mies what they suffered themselves. The war, he said, was managed otherwise at home then it was abroad; Those were onely the ayds at home, which the strength and Forces of the Country did administer: but abroad the Enemy was often overcome with his own strength, their associates revolting from them, and in the hatred of continued Soveraignty look­ing after innovation and forraign ayds. To this he added that the Cities and Castles of Africa were not encompassed with Walls not builded on the tops of Hills, but lay open in the Champain without any defence, and these might easily be brought to joyn in society with him to prevent their utter ruine. The war, he [Page 312] said, would be more grievous to the Cartha­ginians in Africa it self then in Sicily, where they would all joyn their Forces together against one City more famous by her name then her by strength; and what strength he brought not with him, he would take it there. Neither would the sudden fear of the Cartha­ginians be of a small moment to the victory, who undoubtedly would tremble, amazed at the gallant confidence of their Enemies; And this terror of theirs would be encreased by the firing of their Towns, and the plunde­ring of their Castles and contumacious Ci­ties, and by the spoyls of Carthage it self: By all which they should perceive, that war not onely lay open to them against others, but to others also against them; and by this means that the Carthaginians might not only be over­come, but Sicily be delivered from the burthen of their Forces; for the Enemies would never continue in the besieging of Syracusae, when they were put so hard to it at home. The war he alledged, could never be carryed on more easily, nor the booty be more abundant; for Carthage being taken, all Africa and Sicily would be the reward of the Conquerors; Moreover, the glory of this honourable war­fare was so great, that it would continue through all Ages, and be determined by no measure of time, it being recorded that they [Page 313] were the onely men in the world, who tran­slated to their Enemies the wars which they could not themselves sustain at home, and of their own accord followed the Conquerors, and besieged the besiegers of their own City: He concluded that the war therefore was to be carryed on by them all with a gallant & joyful resolution, there being no reward more abun­dant for the Conquerors, nor any monument more honourable for the conquered. By these exhortations the courages of the Souldiers were erected; but they were amazed again at the portent they beheld, which was that being under Sayl the Sun was ecclipsed; of which the King gave an account with no less care then was his preparation for the war, he af­firmed that if it had hapned before they had set forth, it might be believed that it persaged loss unto them, but it coming to pass after they had lanched forth, it did por­tend ill to those against whom they did ad­vance. Moreover, that the natural defect of the Stars did alwayes persage some present change of State, and it was most certain that the condition of Carthage being then in their height of flourish, there was a change per­saged by it, and calamity to come.

The Souldiers being thus comforted, he commanded all the ships to be burned, that they might all understand that the means of [Page 314] their flight being taken away, they must ei­ther overcome or fall by the sword. After­wards having born down all before them wheresoever they did march, and set on fire the Towns and Castles, Hanno General of the Carthaginians did advance to give them battel with an Army of thirty thousand men: The battel being fought, two thousand of the Sicilians, and three thousand of the Cartha­ginians were slain with the General himself; with this Victory the courages of the Sici­lians were erected, and the spirits of the Carthaginians fainted.

Agathocles, his Enemies being overcome, did sack and raze their Towns and Castles, driving away great booties, and killing many thousands of his Enemies. He afterwards pitched his Tents within five miles of Car­thage, that they themselves from the Walls of their Cities might behold the loss of those things which were most pretious to them, to­gether with the wasting of their Fields, and the burning of their Towns. In the mean time the great Fame over all Africa of the Army of the Carthaginians being overthrown, and of the taking of their Cities being di­vulged, a sudden wonder and amazement did invade them from whence should arise so great an overthrow in so potent an Estate, especially ftom an Enemy overcome: And [Page 315] not long after, not onely all Africa, but the most noble of the Cities having followed the novelty, did revolt to Agathocles, and as­sisted the Conqueror both with corn and money.

To this calamity of the Carthaginians the news of their Army in Sicily overthrown with their General, did arrive to make up the height of their affliction: For after the deparure of Agathocles out of Sicily, the Carthaginians, being become the more secure in their Leagure before Syracusae were utter­ly routed, and cut in pieces by Antander the brother of Agathocles: Therefore when the fortune of the Carthaginians was the same both at home and abroad, not onely their tributary Cities, but the Kings who were their Confederates revolted from them, weighing the interests of friendship not by fidelity but success: Amongst others, Offellas King of the Cyrene, who entertained a vain hope to be master of all Africa did by his Ambassa­dors enter into a League with Agathocles, and accorded with him, that the Carthagini­ans being overcome, the one should obtain the command of Sicily, and the other of Africa: Therefore Offellas came with a formidable Army into the society of the war; having often dined together, Agathocles who alwayes entertained him with humble [Page 316] submissions and flattering complements, be­cause Offella had adopted his eldest Son to succeed him in the Kingdom, did at the last kill him, and having possessed himself of his Army, the Carthaginians renewing the war with all their might, were overcome again in a great battel, not without much effusion of blood on both sides. By this overthrow the Carthaginians were brought to so great a desperation, that (if there had not been an insurrection in the Army of Agathocles) Bo­milcar who was General of the Carthagi­nians, had revolted to him with the remainder of his Army: For which offence he was fastned to a Cross in the middle of the Market-place, to make the same place the monument of his punishment which before was famous for the Installation of his honours. But Bomilcar with so great resolution endured this cruelty of the Citizens, that he declaimed against the wickedness of the Carthaginians from the height of the Cross, as from the height of a judgement-seat: Sometimes he objected how Hanno was circumvented by them with false accusation that he aspired to the Kingdom; sometimes he did call into their memory the banishment of innocent Gisco; sometimes the silent suffrages against his Uncle Amilcar; sometimes he alledged the nature of his own offence, which was that he had rather make [Page 317] Agathocles a friend unto them then an Enemy: After he had roared out this in a great Assem­bly of the people, he expired. In the mean time, Agathocles having overcome all in Africa, did deliver his Army to his eldest Son Archagathus, and returned into Sicily, conceiving that nothing had been performed in Africa, if Syracusae in Sicily was any longer besieged: For after the slaughter of Amilcar the Son of Gisco, the Carthaginians had sent a new Army thither: Therefore on his first ap­proach, all the Cities of Sicily, having heard of his atchievements in Africa, did strive (as if in emulation) which first should surrender it self unto him; and by this means the Cartha­ginians being driven out of Sicily, he became the a [...]olute Master of the whole Iland; And returning afterwards to Africa, he was re­ceived by an insurrection of his Souldiers; for his Son had deferred the payment of the Army until his Father returned. Having therefore called them to an Assembly, he stroaked them with fair words, and told them that their Pay was not to be demanded of him, but to be sought for from their Enemy, and that a common victory would produce a common booty: He desired them to be pa­tient but a little until the relicts of the war were ended, and when Carthage was taken, he would satisfie all their hopes. The military [Page 318] tumult being thus pacified, some few daies afterwards, he did bring his Army to the Camp of his Enemies, and inconsiderately engaging with them, he lost the greatest part of his Army. Therefore when he was fled into his Tents, and saw the envie and blame of the ill managed war turned upon himself, and feared withal the former offence of ha­ving not payed his Army, he fled away about midnight, having not any with him but his Son Archagathus, which when his Souldiers understood, they were struck with so great a fear, as if they had been all taken by their Enemies. They declared that they were twice abandoned by their King in the midst of all their Enemies, and that their safety was forsaken by him who ought by the Law of Arms to take care of their burial. When they would have purchased their King who was received by the Numidians, they were enforced to fly back unto their Tents; but Ar­chagathus was taken by them, who had lost his Father in the error of the night. In the mean time, Agathocles had embarked himself for Syracusae in the same ships which brought him from Sicily. He was a singular Example; a King, and yet the forsaker of his Army; and a Father, and yet the betrayer of his children: But his Souldiers having articled for an agree­ment in Africa, after the flight of the King, did [Page 319] deliver themselves to the Carthaginians, having first killed the Sons of Agathocles. Archaga­thus being commanded to be slain by Ar­chesilaus his Fathers old friend, demanded of him, what he thought that Agothocles would do by his children by whom he was made childless: To whom he answered, That it was enough for him to understand that they out­lived the children of Agathocles. After this the Carthaginians sent Commanders into Sici­ly [...], to prosecute the relicts of the war, with whom on equal conditions Agathocles did conclude a peace.

AGathocles King of Sicily, ha­ving made peace with the Carthaginians, subdued part of the Cities dissenting from him through confidence of their own strength. After­wards, as if he had been con­fined too closely in the bounds of one Iland, a part whereof in his first beginnings he could not presume so much as to hope for, he tran­sported his Army into Italy, following the ex­ample of Dionysius who subdued many Cities in that Nation. His first Enemies were the Brutii, who appeared to him to be the most valiant [Page 319] and the most rich, and by their situation most prompt to be injured by their neighbours; for they had driven from Italy the Inhabitants of many Cities, who had been Grecians, and in war had overcome the Lucanians from whom they had derived their Original, and had after­wards made peace with them on equal terms: So great was the wildness of their nature, that they would not spare their own Original. For the Lucanians were accustomed to institute their children in the same Laws as the Lacedae­monians did: For in their beginning to be strip­lings, they were bred up in the Woods amongst the Shepherds without any to attend them, and without any garment to put on, or to lie down in, that so in their first years they might inure themselves to hardness and frugality without any accommodation of the City: Their food was what they got by Hunting; their drink, honey and milk, and the chry [...]al of the Fountain; And thus they by degrees were hardned to the labours of the war. Fifty of their number were first accustome [...] to plun­der the Fields of their neighbours, their multitude encreasing, and sollicited by the prey, they troubled all the Countries round about them.

Therefore Dionysius the Tyrant of Sicily, being wearyed with the complaints of his Con­federates, did send six hundred Africans to [Page 320] suppress them, whose Castle (it being betrayed to them by a woman called Brutia they sur­prized and planted there a City; the Shep­heards flocking thither to behold and inhabit the new City, called themselves Bruti [...], after the name of the woman. Their first war was with the Lucanians, the au hors of their original; and being elevated with the victory over them, when they had made a peace on equal terms, they subdued the rest of their Neighbours, and in a short time purchased so much wealth, that they seemed formidable even unto Kings. At last, Alexander King of Epirus, when he came with a great Army to the assi [...]ance of the Grecian Cities, was destroyed by them with all his Forces; whereupon, the resolutions of them being inflamed by the success of their fe­licity, they became terrible to their own Neigh­bors. At last, Agathocles being implored to invade them, in the h pe of enlarg ng his Ter­ritories, he passed from Sicily into I aly. The Brutians being startled at the noise [...] his ap­proach, did send Ambassadors into Sicily to him, desiring his society and right [...]and of friendship, whom Agothocles deluded; for having invited them to supper, he promised them audience the next day, and on the mor­ning following he embarked his Army for Italy, the Ambassadors suspecting no such thing: But the event of the deceit was not for­tunate; [Page 321] for not long after the violence of his disease did enforce him to return into Sicily, and being taken over all his body (the pesti­ferous humour raging in all his nerves and every joynt) he was assaulted as it were with an inward war of every member. By this despera­tion of his Recovery, a war began betwixt his Son and his Nephew, both challenging the Kingdom, as if he had been dead; in this war his Son being slain, his Nephew possessed himself of the Kingdom. Agathocles, when the pain­fulness of his disease, and the difficulty of the cure and the anguish of his minde did daily encrease, and one malady did grow upon and strive to overtake and exceed the former, di­spairing of his life, did by Sea send back his wife Theogena to Aegypt from whence he fetched her, and two small children which he begot of her, with all his money, family, and Princely movables, in which none of the Kings then living did exceed him; fearing lest the fury of his Enemy, who usurped and plundered his Kingdom, should se [...]e on them also. Ne­vertheless his wife would not be a [...] long [...]me plucked from the embraces of her sick husband, and did beseech him, That her departure might not be added to the cruelty of his Ne­phew, and she might seem as unconscionably to forsake her husband, as he to have made war against his Uncle; she affirmed that when [Page 322] she marryed him, she not onely undertook to be a partaker in his prosperities, but in all for­tunes whatsoever, and would willingly pur­chase with the danger of her own life the sad happiness to receive the last breath of her hus­band, and perform his funeral Rights, in which (she being gone) there was none left to succeed her with that obsequiousness of piety which was due unto him. His little children depart­ing, did hang upon their father, and embraced him with many doleful complaints. On the other part, his wife who should see her husband no more, did weary him with her kisses; and no less miserable were the tears of the old man: The Mother and Children bewailed the dying Fa­ther, the Father bewailed his banished wife and children. They at their departure la­mented the melancholy estate of the old and sick man their Father: he lamented the condi­tion of his children, and that they should be left in misery whom he had brought up unto the hope of a Kingdom. Amongst these complaints all the Court resounded with the lamentations of the Standers, to behold this so sad a departure; at length the necessity of their Journey, did impose an end to their tears; and the death of the King did follow his travelling Family.

Whiles these things were in agitation, the Carthaginians understanding how the affairs [Page 323] were carryed in Sicily, conceiving that an occasion was offered to them to become Ma­sters of the whole Iland, they passed thither with a great Army, and subdued many Cities. At the same time, Pyrrhus made war against the Romans, and being desired by the Sicilians to assist them (as hath been mentioned here­tofore) when he came to Syracusae, and had there conquered many places, he was called as well King of Sicily as of Epirus. In which felicity rejoycing, he bestowed on his Son Helenus, whom he begat on the daughter of Agathocles, the Kingdom of Sicily, as di­scending to him by the priviledge of Inheri­tance, and gave to his Son Alexander the Kingdom of Italy: After this he made ma­ny prosperous battels with the Carthaginians. In the process of time, there came Ambassa­dors from his Confederates in Italy, report­ing that they could not resist the Romans, and that they must surrender all unto them unless they were relieved with sudden supplies. Be­ing perplexed with this doubtful danger, and uncertain what to determine, or whom first to assist, he providently consulted for the safefy of both. For the Carthaginians pres­sing him on this side, and the Romans on the other, it appeared dangerous unto him not to transport his Army into Italy, but far more dangerous to abandon Sicily, least that the [Page 324] one should not appear forsaken, nor the other lost for the want of Recruits. In this tempest of growing dangers, the safest ha­ven of Counsels did appear to fight it out in Sicily with all the powers he could make; and the Carthaginians being beaten, to carry his conquering Army into Italy. The battels therefore being joyned, although he overcame his Enemies, yet because he withdrew his Army from Sicily, he was interpreted to be overcome, and his Confederates revolting from him, he lost speedily the Kingdom of Sicily, as he easily did obtain it. But having found no better fortune in Italy, he returned into Epirus: His fortune in both these places was as admirable as exemplar; For as before in his prosperity, the happiness of his affairs flowing above and beyond his desires, he added the command of Italy to Sicily, and grew glorious by many victories against the Romans: [...]so now in his adversity, his For­tune having destroyed what she had builded, and made him an example of humane frailty, she added to the loss of Sicily the ruine of his Navie at Sea; and the disgraceful battel against the Romans, and his dishonourable departure from Italy.

After his departure from Sicily also, Hiero was made chief Magistrate, whose modera­tion was so great, that with the approbation [Page 325] of all the Citizens, he was created General against the Carthaginians, and not long after­wards King. His infant Education was a Prophetess of his future Majesty; for he was the Son of Hieroclytus a noble man, who derived his original from Gelus an antient Ty­rant of Sicily, but his birth on the Mothers side was sordidly ignominious: For he was begotten on a Mayd-servant, who was his mo­ther; and therefore it was commanded by his Father, that he should be exposed as the disgrace and dishonour of his Family. But the Bees having layd honey round about him where he was left, did nourish him, being ve­ry young, and wanting all humane comfort for many days; by reason of which his Father being admonished by the South▪sayers, who persaged in their songs that the Kingdom was portended to him, did cause him to be brought home, and with all his care and endeavor, did instruct and bring up to that hope of Majesty which was promised; being but a boy at Shool amongst his companions, a Wolf sud­denly appearing, took his book from him; and being a young man, and learning his first rudiments in the art of war, an Eagle pearched on his buckler, and on Owl on his Spear; which did presage, that he should be wary in Counsel, high in courage, and be crown'd a King at last. He often fought with those that [Page 326] challenged him, and always returned a Con­queror; he was rewarded by King Pyrrhus with many Military gifts; he was as ad­mirable for his strength as for the beauty of his body; pleasing in discourse, just in em­ployment, moderate in command, and no­thing could be seen that was wanting in him of a King, but the Kingdom only.

WHile these things were thus managed in Sicily, King Pto­lomy sirnamed Ceraunicus, and Antiochus and Antigonus dissenting in Greece and make­ing war amongst themselves, almost all the Cities of Greece being encou­raged by it, as if an occasion were offered them to recover their liberty, did send to one another; and by their Ambassadors having ob­liged themselves into a league of friendship, they did break forth into an apparent war; & that they might not seem to make war with [Page 328] Antigonus, they assaulted the Aetolians his Confederates, pretending that the cause of the war was because they had by force pos­sessed themselves of the Cyrean Fields, which by the consent of all Greece, were dedicated to Apollo.

To this war, they made choyce of Aras for their General, who with a prepared Ar­my▪ did spoyl both the Cities and wrecks of Corn which was layd up in those Fields, and what they could not take, they did set on fire: Which when the Aetolian Shep­herds beheld from the tops of the Moun­tains, having drawn themselves together into a body of five hundred, they pursued their scattered Enemies, not knowing how numerous they were, because the amazement of the sudden assault, and the smoak of the fire had taken from them the full discovery of their Enemies, and having killed nine thousand of them, they put the residue to fight.

After this the Spartans beginning the war again, many of the Cities denyed them ayd, conceiving that they sought not after liberty, but the soveraign command of Greece. In the mean time, the wars amongst the Kings were ended; for Ptolomy having beaten away Antigonus, and possessed himself of the Kingdom of all Macedonia, did make peace [Page 329] with Antiochus, and joyned in affinity with Pyrrhus, his daughter being given to him in marriage; and being safe from all fear of a forraign Enemy, he turned his unrighteous minde to commit domestick wickedness, and by treachery prepared the destruction of Ar­sinoe his sister, that he might both deprive her Sons of life, and her self of the possession of the City of Cassandria. His first artifice was by dissembling his love to convert his sister in the way of marriage; for he could not other­wise then by the pretence of love finde access to the Sons of his sister whose Kingdom he would enjoy. But this wicked design of Ptolomy was made known unto her; but he did send her word (not giving any belief unto him) that he would come and joyn with her Sons in the fellowship of the Kingdom, with whom he would not contend in arms to force the Kingdom from them, but because he would more confirm it on them by his presence and assistance. To this effect, he desired that she would send one to be the Attestator of his oath, before whom he would oblige himself with what obsecrations she would desire in the presence of the gods of his Country. Arsinoe was uncertain what to resolve upon, fearing, if she should send, she should be de­ceived by perjury: and if she should not send, she should pull upon her the fury of her bro­thers [Page 330] cruelty. But more careful for her children then for her self, whom she thought she should be the better able to protect by her marriage with her brother, she sent Dione one of her friends, who being brought into the most holy Temple of Jupiter (a Temple of the ancient Religion of the Macedons) Ptolomy having laid his hands on the Altars and touching the Images and Cushions of the gods, did swear by un­heard of and devoted imprecations, that he most sincerely did desire the marriage of his sister, and that he would call her his Queen, neither would he ever in the disgrace of her take any other wife, or own any other children but her Sons. Arsinoe after she was delivered from fear, and became pregnant with hope, and had conference with her brother, whose counte­nance and flattering eyes promised no less belief then did his Oaths, although Ptolo­my his Son did apparantly disswade her, and enformed her of the deceit, yet she consented to marry with her Brother. The Nuptials were celebrated with great solemnity, and with the publick joy of the people. And Ptolomy ha­ving that day called forth the Army to an Assembly, he there imposed a Diadem on the head of his sister, and called her his Queen; with which title Arsinoe being transported with joy (because she had now regained that which she had lo [...]t before by the death of her [Page 331] former husband Lysimachus) did of her own accord invite her husband to her City of Cas­sandria, for the desire of which the deceit was contrived: And going before to compleat the preparations, she commanded that a holy-day should be observed in the City for the approach of her Husband, and that the Houses, Temples and the streets should be adorned, and that Al­tars should be erected everywhere, and that sacrifices should be in a readiness. She also com­manded her two Sons, Lysimachus of sixteen years of Age, and Philip three years younger, being both of an excellent feature and com­plexion, to meet him with Crowns on their heads. Ptolomy the better to conceal his de­ceit, having greedily embraced them both (and beyond the measure of true affection) did a long time even smother them with his kisses. When he approached to the Gate of the City, he commanded the Citadel to be seized on, and the two boys to be slain, who when they fled to their Mother, they were killed in her very lap as she was kissing them; Arsinoe ex­claiming that Ptolomy had committed so abo­minable a crime under the pretence of marriage, and offered herself to the Executioners for her children, and oftentimes with her own body she protected the embraced bodies of her children, and would willingly receive the wounds which were intended to them: At the last being [Page 332] denyed to be present at the funerals of her chil­dren, she was brought out of the City with two hand-maids onely, her garments torn, and her hair dishevelled, to lead a banished life in Samothracia, being so much the more miserable, that it could not be permitted to her to die with her own children.

But this wickedness of Ptolomy was not unrevenged; for the immortal gods re­venging so many perjures and cruel Parricides, he was not long after dispoyled of his King­dom by the Gauls, and being taken, he lost his life by the sword as he deserved. For the Gauls (their multitudes abounding, when the Land [...]n which they were born could not contain them) did send as it were like vagabond so­journers three hundred thousand men to look out new habitations: Part of them sate down in Italy, who took and set on fire the City of Rome; part of them (through the Armies of the Barbarians who opposed them) did out their way into the Coasts of Illyria, and inhabited Pannonia, following the auspication of the birds, in which Art the Gauls excell above all others; a hardy, bold, and warlike Nation, who first after Hercules (to whom this attempt gave an admiration for his vertue, and a belief of immortality) did pass over the un­conquered H lls of the Alps, and places in­tractible by the extremity of cold, where ha­ving [Page 333] overcome the Pannonians, they for many years made sundry wars with their Neigh­bours. Afterwards by the temptations of suc­cess, having divided their strength, some of them advanced as far as Greece, some as far as Macedonia, laying all things waste before them. So great was the terror of their Name, that Kings not provoked by them would of their own accords buy their p ace with vast sums of money: Onely Ptolomy King of Macedonia d [...] without [...]e [...]r at end the arrival of the Gauls, and with a few S [...]u [...]d [...]ers, and those disordered (s if wars were managed with no less d fficulty then parricides were committed) e did advance to meet them being tormented with the furies of his bloody Acts. He despised also the Em­bassage of the Dardanians, offering him twenty thousand armed men to ayd him, ad­ding this to their contumely, that Macedonia was in a sad condition, if when they alone overcame all the East, they should now stand in need of the Dardanian Citizens to be re­venged of their Enemies: He boasted that he had the Sons of those in his Army, who being Conquerors under Alexander the Great, made all the World tributary to him.

Which when it was reported to King Dar­danus, he said that the renowned Kingdom of Macedonia would shortly fall by the rashness of one heady young man. But the Gauls under [Page 334] the commannd of Belgius, did send Ambassa­dors to Ptolomy, to try the Resolutions of the Macedons, offering him peace if he would purchase it with money; But Ptolomy vaunted to his Subjects, that the Gauls did sup­plicate to him to have peace for fear of the war, and did speak as insolently to the Ambassadors as to his Subjects; He assured them that he would grant them no peace, unless they should give him their Princes for Hostages, and deli­ver up their Arms; for he would not believe them unless they were disarmed.

This answer being returned, The Gauls laughed out-right, crying out on every side that he should shortly perceive whether they offered peace unto him for his advantage or their own. Some few dayes after, the battel was fought; and the Macedons being over­come, were beaten down: Ptolomy having re­ceived many wounds was taken, his head was cut off, and being fixed on the point of a Lance, it was carryed all about the Army to the terror of the Macedons: So fatal was this over­throw, and so great the rout, that few of them were preserved by flight, the rest were either all slain or taken Prisoners. When this was re­ported throughout all Macedonia, the Gates of the Cities were shut, all places were filled with mourning; sometimes they lamented the loss of their children, sometimes they feared the [Page 335] destruction of their Cities, they called upon the names of Alexander and Philip, as if their Kings had been their gods, and emplored their assistance under whom they were safe, not onely against their Enemies, but also Conquerors of the World; they emplored them that they would defend their Country, which by the glory of their atchievements, they had made second unto Heaven, and to relieve those now in their distress, whom the fury and rashness of King Ptolomy had destroyed. All men despairing, Sosthenes one of the Princes of the Macedons, thinking that in this extremity they must use deeds as well as prayers, having drawn the youth of the Macedons into a body, he both restrained the Gauls growing insolent with their Victory, and defended the Macedons from the plunderings of their Enemies; for which bene­fit of his conduct and valour (many of the Noble men of Macedonia affecting the King­dom) he by his birth although ignoble, was advanced above them all▪ and being saluted King by the Army, he compelled the Souldiers to take the Oath of Allegiance, not in name of the King, but of the General.

In the mean time, Brennus under whose command one part of the Gauls had poured themselves into Greece, having understood of the victory of his Associates, who under Belgiu had overcome the Macedons, disdaining that so [Page 336] rich a booty and laden with the spoyls of the East, should so easily be abandoned, having amassed a body of one hundred and fifty thousand foot, and fifteen thousand horse, did break into Macedonia: and having plundred the Towns, and preyed the Fields, Sosthenes did advance against him with a gallant Army of the Macedons, but being not so numerous, they were overcome by the mul­titude, and the weaker by the stronger. The Macedonians being overcome, did hide them­selves within the Walls of their Cities, and Brennus being Conqueror, did plunder up and down the Country of all Macedonia no man opposing him; And as if those spoyls were too unworthy of his avarice, he turned his minde to the Temples of the immortal gods, pro­phanely asserting that the gods being rich, ought out of their abundance to contribute unto the poverty of men. He presently therefore marched to Delphos, preferring gold, the temptation of Religion, above the violation of the im­mortal gods, who he affirmed did stand in no need of riches, it being their custom to bestow them upon men.

The Temple of Apollo is placed at Delphos on the Hill of Parnassus, a rock everywhere hanging over it, in which place the frequent confluence of men did erect a City, who com­ing thither in great numbers, to the confirma­tion [Page 337] of the Majesty of the god did inhabit on that Rock. The Temple and City is not de­fended by Walls, but by precipices not made by hands, but made strong and guarded by Nature; so that it is hard to say, whether the strength of the place, or the majesty of the god be more to be admired: The middle of the Rock doth open it self into the form of a Theater, by reason whereof, the clamour of men, and the clangor of the Trumpets when they are sounded (the hollowness of the Rocks returning and banding the sound from one to another and playing with it amongst them­selves) the sound is heard more multiplyed by the reboation, and appears greater far then when at first it was delivered. This is that which striketh a greater terror of Majesty into those who are ignorant of the cause, and adds a reverent amazement to the admiration; much about this hollow of the Rock on the middle of the height of the Hill, there is a little plain, and in it a deep hole, out of which the Oracle proceeds, which being a cold breath driven up as it were by a winde, doth possess the minds of the Priests with a madness, who being filled with god, he doth enforce them to give an­swers to those who do demand them: By reason of this, there were to be seen many and very rich gifts, both of Kings and others, who do ma­nifest by their magnificence both the grati­titudes [Page 338] of the Givers, and the Answers of the gods.

Brennus when he beheld the Temple, did make a halt with his Army, debating whither he should presently assault it, or give his weary Souldiers the respite of one night, to refresh themselves. Euridanus and Tessalonus two Commanders, who joyned themselves unto him in hope of the booty, did counsel him to cut off all delayes, whiles the Enemies were unprepared, and his new approach had struck a terror into them; but they affirmed that if they should give them the deliberation of one night, the Enemies might put on new resoluti­ons by the access of new supplies, and the wayes which now lay open might be ob­structed. But the common Souldiers of the Gauls out of their long want, when they found the Country to abound with wines, and all manner of provision, did disperse themselves about the Fields, being no less joyful with the abundance they found, then with their victory; and forsaking their Ensigns, they did range up and down as Conquerors to seise on all things; which gave some respite to the Delphians; for on the first report of the coming of the Gauls, the Country people were prohibited by the Oracle to bring their Vintage and Harvest into their Towns: which saving counsel was not under­stood until the abundance of wine and other [Page 339] provisions being left as a temptation and delay to the Gauls, the Auxiliaries of the neighbouring Countries had the leisure to draw together; and the Delphians being encreased by the access of their Forces, did fortifie their City, before the Gauls falling to their swill of Wine as to their prey, could be called to their Standards.

Brennus out of all his Army made choyce for this service of threescore and five thou­sand foot. The Army of the Delphians and their Associates did not amount to above fourteen thousand, in contempt of whom, Brennus the more to encourage his men, did shew them the greatness of the booty, and the Statues drawn with four horse (of which a vast number were seen afar off) all with solid gold; moreover he affirmed to them that the booty was far more considerable in the weight then in the show. With this informa­tion the Gauls being as much inflamed as with their last nights Wine, did fall upon the onset without respect of danger. The Del­phians on the other side, putting their con­fidence in their god, and not in their own strength, did with contempt oppose their Ene­mies, and from the top of the Hill, some of them with Arms, and some with stones did overwhelm and repel the Gauls in their Scalado. In the heat of this encounter, on a sudden the [Page 340] Priests of all the Temples, & the Prophets them­selves with their hair dishevelled in their most solemn habits and fillets did tremble all with in­dignation, & did run forth mad into the Front of the Army: where the fight most violently was maintained, They cryed out that their god was come down, & that they beheld him leaping into the Temple, laughing from the opened Roofs thereof; for whiles they most humbly emplor­ed his help, a young man as admirable in his beauty as the tall proportion of his body, with two armed Virgins who were his Com­panions did appear, and did meet them out of the two adjoyning Temples of Diana and Mi­nerva; neither did they onely behold them with their eyes, but they heard also the twang of his Bow, and the clashing of his Armour; they therefore conjured them by the utmost Imprecations, that they would not delay to make a thorow-dispatch upon their Enemies, the gods being their Leaders, and to joyn them­selves Companions with them in the Victory; with these words being enflamed, they did all throw themselves upon the points of their Ene­mies swords, and immediately they perceived the presence of their god; For part of the Hill (being torn off by an Earthquake) did over­whelm the Army of the Gauls, and the most thick and pointed wedges did fall to the ground not without some wounds to the Delphians. [Page 341] Immediately there followed a great Tempest of hayl, lightning, & thunder which devoured those who fainted by reason of their wounds. Bren­nus their General, when he could not endure the anguish of his wounds, did end his life with his Poynedo. Belgius the other of their Gene­rals, the Authors of this war being punished, departed in a flying march out of Greece with ten thousand of his Associates: But Fortune was not more propitious to them flying; for fearful as they were, there was no night without rain or cold, nor day without labor and danger, but daily storms and snow concrete with Ice, and hunger, and weariness, and above all the great evil of too much watching did consume the miserable Relicks of the unhappy war. The people also and Nations through which they marched, did pursue them flying before them as a prey; By which means it came to pass, that not one of so great an Army, who not long before being too confident in their strength and numbers presumed to plunder the gods, did now remain to witness the remem­brance of so great an overthrow.

PEace being concluded be­twixt the two Kings, An­tigonus and Antiochus; when Antigonus returned into Macedonia, a new E­nemy did on a sudden arise unto him; for the Gauls who were left by Brennus to defend the bounds of the Nation, when he advanced into Greece (that they alone might not seem idle) having armed fifteen thousand foot, and three thousand horse, did invade the Getes and Tribals, and having overcome them, they did hang like a [Page 343] dark cloud over Macedonia, and sent their Ambassadors to King Antigonus to offer him a mercenary Peace, and to discover his strength. Antigonus with royal magnificence did invite them to a stately Banquet, set forth in the highest manner that could be devised. The Gauls admiring the vast weights of gold and silver, which on purpose were layd open to their observations, and being provoked by the abundance and variety of the booty, returned more greedy of war, then when they came forth. The King also commanded that the Elephants should be shewed unto them for a terror, it being a sight unaccustomed to them, and that they should see the ships laden with Souldiers, and gallantly equipped, being ignorant that he did hereby tempt them by the rlchness of the booty, whom he thought to have affrighted by the greatness of his power.

The Ambassadors being returned, made all things greater then they were, and declared both the wealth and the security of the King; his Tents, they said, were covered with gold and silver, and defended neither by works nor ditches: and as if their riches were defence enough, they neglected all Military duties, thinking (belike) that they needed not the de­fence of Iron, because they abounded with gold: By this relation the desires of the greedy Na­tion were the more provoked to the prey. The [Page 344] Example of Belgius did the more excite them, who not long before had overthrown the Army of the Macedons, and killed the King himself. With the general consent of all, they in the night did invade the Tents of the King, who foreseeing this tempest, did give order the day before to take away all the precious moveables, and privately to hide themselves in the ad­joyning woods; neither was the Camp other­wise preserved, then that it was thus abandoned; For the Gauls when they saw all things for­saken and not onely without Defenders, but also without a Guard, conceiving it to be rather an Ambush then a flight, they did forbear for a while, to enter into the Ports thereof. At last, they possessed themselves of them, rather exa­mining and searching then plundering them, and not long afterwards, taking away what they found, they did carry it to the shore; There when too rashly they thought to seise upon the ships, they were killed by the Sea-men, and by a part of the Land Army, who fled thither with their Wives and children suspecting no such danger: And so great was the slaugh­ter of the Gauls, that the report and opinion of this Victory procured peace to Antigonus, not from the Gauls, but some other stubborn Enemies who were his Neghbors.

The yong men of the Gauls at that time were so numerous that they swarmed all over Asia, [Page 345] neither did the Kings of the East manage any wars without the mercenary Army of the Gauls; neither did those who were banished or beaten from their Kingdoms, address themselves unto any but to the Gauls onely. So great was the terror of their name, or the invincible happi­ness of their Arms, that the King believed their Majestie was not safe, nor could they re­cover it being lost, unless they were assisted by the valor of the Gauls: Being therefore called by the King of Bithynia to his help, and the Victory obtained, they divided the Kingdom with him, and called that Country Gallograecia; Whiles these things were performed in Asia, Phyrrus being overcome by the Carthaginians in a battel at Sea, desired ayd of Antigonus King of Macedonia, declaring that if he assisted him not, he must be enforced to return into his Kingdom, and seek the advancement of his Fortunes from the Romans. Which when his Ambassadors brought him word was denyed, (having dissembled the reason) he pretended a sudden departure.

In the mean time, he commanded hls Con­federates to provide for the war, and delivered the Government of the Tower of Tarentum to Helenus his Son and Milo his friend. Be­ing returned into Epirus, he immediately in­vaded the bounds of Macedonia, where An­tigonus did meet him with an Army, and being [Page 346] overcome by him, was put to flight; Pyrrhus hereupon did take Macedonia into his power, and as if he had ballanced the loss of Italy and Sicily with the regaining of the Kingdom of Macedonia, he did send both for his Son and for his friend, which he did leave at Tarentum. Antigonus with a few horsemen the Compa­nions of his flight, being on a sudden forsaken of all the ornaments of his dignity, did repair to Thessalonica, to behold the events of his lost Kingdom, hiring a mercenary Army of the Gauls to renew the war; And being again ut­terly overthrown by Ptolomy the Son of Pyr­rhus, and in his flight attended but with seven men, he not onely lost all hope of the recovery of his Kingdom, but fled into solitary places and made them the best procurers of his safety.

Pyrrhus being now advanced to so great a height of soveraignty, was not content with that which with modesty he durst not aspire unto in his hopes, but propounded unto him­self the Empire both of Greece and Asia; he took a felicity and pride in his wars as in his Soveraignty; for no man could resist him whi­thersoever he turned his power; but as he was esteemed invincible in adding Kingdom unto Kingdom, so having overcome them and obtained them, he quickly lost them, being more fortunate to obtain then to pre­serve; [Page 347] having afterwards transported his forces on the other side of Chersonesus, he was re­ceived by the Embassies of the Athenians, Achaians, and Messenians; And all Greece amazed at the glory of his name, and at the wonders of his Atchievements against the Romans and Carthaginians, did with a labour­ing expectation attend his arrival.

His first war in Greece was against the La­cedemonians, where he was opposed more by the valour of the women then the men: There he lost his Son Ptolomy, and the a­blest and the choycest men in his Army: For so great a multitude of women did press in throngs upon him for the defence of their Country, as he was besieging Sparta, that he was enforced to retreat from them, being not more valiantly then modesty over­come. Moreover, it is affirmed that his Son Ptolomy was so able a man of his hands, that he took the City of Corcyra being fol­lowed onely with threescore men. In a bat­tel at Sea, there being but seven men with him, he leaped out of his boat into the ship of his Enemies, and did enforce it to obedience. And at the assault of the City of Sparta he gallopped into the middle of the City, and was there killed by the concurse of the multitude, whose bo­dy, [Page 348] when it was brought unto his Father, it is reported that Pyrrhus said thar he was slain a great while later then he feared or then his rashness did deserve. Pyrrhus being bea­ten back by the Spartans, did march to Argos, where when he endeavoured to besiege Antigonus shut up in that City, he (fighting most violently amongst the thickest and the formost) was slain with a stone thrown from the Walls; his head was brought unto An­tigonus, who using the victory with gen­tleness, did dismiss his Son Helenus deliver­ed to him with Epirus, and gave him leave to depart to his own Kingdom, aud delivered him the body of his unburyed Father to be interred in his own Country. Amongst all Authors the Fame is constant and clear enough, that no King either of that or the former Age, was to be compared to Pyrrhus; and that not onely amongst Kings, but other personages, there was seldom any to be found of a more just or a more Religious life. So great was his knowledge in Mi­litary affairs, that although he made war with so great Kings, as Lysimachus, De­metrius, and Antigonus, yet he al­wayes remained unconquered. In the war also of the Illyrians and Sicilians, and of the Romanes, and Carthaginians, he was [Page 349] never inferiour to them, and oftentimes a Conqueror, who though his Country was but narrow, and before ignoble, by the Fame of his atchievements and the up­rightness of his conversation he did re­nown it over all the World.

AFter the death of Pyrrhus there were great motions and tumults of war, not onely in Macedonia but in Asia also and in Greece, for the Pelopennesians were by treachery betrayed to An­tigonus, and according to the several in­clinations of the Inhabitants, partaking ei­ther of joy or grief, as the several Cities either hoped for ayd from Pyrrhus, or were afraid of his power; so now they either entred into league with Antigonus, or [Page 351] flung themselves upon a war by the mutual hatred amongst themselves.

In this commotion of the troubled Pro­vinces, the City also of Epirus was by ty­ranny invaded by Aristotimus the Prince; by whom when many of the Rulers of the City were slain, and more of them driven into banishment, the Aetolians desiring of him by their Ambassadors, that the Exuls might be permitted to have their wives and children come unto them, he at the first denyed it, and afterwards as if he had re­pented of what he had denyed, he gave all the Matrons leave to repair unto their ba­nished husbands, and appointed a day for their departure. They as if they should for ever suffer banishment with their husbands, taking with them their richest moveables, when they had met at the gate of the City to tra­vel all in one troup, they were apprehended and committed to prison, and plundred of all their goods, the little children being slain in the laps of their Mothers, and the Vir­gins their daughters ravished. All men be­ing amazed at this domineering cruelty, one of their Rulers Helemat by name, an old man, and destitute of children, and one that feared not the respect of age, being not obliged to the respect of pledges, having called to his house the most faithul of his [Page 352] friends did exhort them to the revenge of their Country.

They all debating on a way to conclude the publick with their private danger, and desiring a time for deliberation, he send­ing for his servants, did command them to lock the doors, withall to go unto the Tyrant, and desire him to send some of his Guard to apprehend the Conspirators as­sembled in his house, objecting to every one of them, that because he could not be the Author of delivering his Country, he would be the revenger of it being forsaken by them. Hereupon they being surprized with a doubtful danger, chusing the more honour­able way of the two, they conspired to kill the Tyrant, and Aristotimus by this meanes was slain in the fifth Moneth af er he had usurped the Tyranny.

In the mean time, Antigonus being op­pressed with several wars, which he made against King Ptolomy and the Lacedemonians, and a new Army of Enemies from Gallo­graecia, having left in his Camp some few Companies to defend it against the other Enemies, he marched with his chief power against the Gauls: Which being understood, the better to prepare themselves to the fight, they did offer sacrifices for the good event of the battel; And a great slaughter [Page 353] and utter destruction, being persaged to them by the entrails of the beasts, they de­sperately turning their fear into a fury, hoping that the threatnings and the anger of the gods could be expiated by the slaugh­ter of their Families, they killed their wives and children, beginning the auspica­tions of the war with such a detestable Parricide: So great was the barbarous­ness of their savage minds, that they did not forbear their Infants and the tender­ness of that age which even their Ene­mies would have spared, but made a na­ [...]alitious and an intrinsick war with their own bowels their children, and with the mothers of their children, for whom others are accustomed to undertake wars: There­fore as if they had redeemed the Victory and their lives by the barbarous cruelty, (bloody as they were from the streaming murthers of their wives and children) they joyned in battel with their Enemies with no better event then the auspication pro­mised; for fighting, the furies of their own consciences did surround them before their Enemies, and the Ghosts of those whom they had murdered, ptesenting them­selves alwayes before their eyes, they fell upon a final desolation. So great was the slaughter, that the gods did seem to have [Page 354] combined with men for their utter destru­ction.

After the event of this battel, Ptolomy and the Lacedemonians declining the con­quering Army of Antigonus, did retreat into more safe places: Antigonus when he per­ceived that they were departed, the courage of his Souldiers being flushed with the for­mer Victory, did make war upon the Athe­nians: In which, when he was engaged, Alex­ander King of Epirus desiring to revenge his Fathers death, did plunder the borders of Macedonia; against whom when Antigo­nus marched, being returned out of Greece, he was forsaken by his Souldiers who re­volted from him, and did lose with his Ar­my the Kingdom of Macedonia. His Son Demetrius being in his minority having leavied a new Army in his Fathers absence, did not only recover Macedonia that was lost, but dis-invested Alexander of his Kingdom of Epi­rus. So great was the inconstancy of the Soul­diers, or the variety of Fortune, that Kings were even now but banished men, and by and by they were Kings again. Alexander when he fled as a banished man into Arcadia, was not long after restored into his Kingdoms with as great an applause of the Epirots as with the help of their Confederats.

At that time Agas King of the Cyrenians [Page 355] dyed who before his sickness (to compose all strifes with his brother Ptolomy) had espoused his onely daughter Beronioe to his Son. But after the death of King Antigonus, Arsinoe the Mother of the young Lady, that she might dissolve the marriage contracted without her consent, did send for Demetrius the bro­ther of King Antigonus from Macedonia, not onely to the marriage of Beronice, but to the Kingdom of Cyrene; Demetrius being born himself of the daughter of Ptolomy, made not the least delay; but having a fore­wind to his own desires, arrived suddenly at Cyrene, and by the confidence of the comeli­ness of his personage, endevouring to en­deer himself to his Mother-in-law Arsinoe, he began to deport himself very proudly to the royal Family, and to domineer over the Souldiery, and to translate his affecti­ons and his Courtship from the daughter to the mother, which was first discovered by the daughter, and afterwards abominated both by the people and the Souldiers: Therefore all of them having changed their affections, a plot was laid for Demetrius, to whom Executioners were sent being in bed with his Mother-in-law: But Ar­sinoe having heard the voyce of her daugh­ter standing at the door, and giving order [Page 356] to spare her Mother, did for a while with her own body protect the adulterer, who being slain, Beronice with the preservation of her piety, revenged the incontinency of her Mother; and in the choyce of her husband did follow the judgement of her Father.

ANtiochus King of Syria being dead, when Seleucus his Son succeeded in his place, he be­gan his raign with Parricide, his mother perswading him to it, who ought to have de­terred him from it; for he killed his Step­mother Beronice with his little brother be­gotten on her: Which horrible crime being committed, he was not onely tainted with Infamy, but withall he involved himself in a war with Ptolomy. Moreover, Beronice when she understood that Executioners were sent [Page 358] to take away her life, she shut up her self in her Fathers Daphne, where when it was re­ported to the Cities of Asia, that she was be­sieged with her little child, they calling to their minds the dignity of her Father, and of her Ancestors, and prompted to compassion at the indignity of her Fortune, they all sent ayd unto her: Her brother Ptolomy being also startled at the danger of his sister, having left his own Kingdom, did advance to her relief with all the speed that could be. But before the arrival of any ayd, Beronice when she could not be taken by force, was killed by treachery: It was conceived by all to be a subject most wor­thy of lamentation. Therefore when all the Cities who had revolted from her, had provided a very great Fleet, being amazed at this ex­ample of horrid cruelty, they did offer them­selves and their ships to Ptolomy, who if he had not been called back into Aegypt by some in­testine sedition, had possessed himself of all the Kingdom of Seleucus; This parricidial guilt had brought upon him so much hatred; or the unworthy death of his sister had pur­chased to Ptolomyes much affection. After the death of Ptolomy, when Seleucus had set forth a great Navie against the Cities which revolted, immediately a great tempest arising, as if the gods themselves would revenge this par­ [...]icide, he lost them all by Tempest, neither had [Page 359] he any thing left of so great a preparation, but his naked body, & some few Companions of his shipwrack whom Fortune had preserved alive; A lamentable thing it was, and yet acceptable to him; for the Cities, which in hatred of him had revolted to Seleucus (as if the gods were satisfied in his punishment, themselves being the Arbitrators) by a sudden change of their minde, being touched with compassion for his shipwrack, they did restore themselves unto the Authority of his command: Rejoycing there­fore in his calamity, and made more rich by loss, he made war upon Ptolomy, conceiving him­self now equal in strength unto him: But as if he was born to be the sport of fortune, and had onely received his Kingdom again but to lose it again, being various in battel, and not much more accompanied then after his shipwrark, he sled in great fear to Antiochia: from whence he sent Letters to his Brother Antiochus, in which he did implore his ayd, and in recom­pence thereof did offer to him all that part of Asia which lyeth on the bounds of the Hill Taurus.

Antiochus being but fourteen years of age, and greedy of Soveraignty above his years, took hold of the occasion, but not with that pious minde as it was offered; but desiring like an Oppressor, to force all from his brother, he armed himself being but a boy with a [Page 360] wicked but a manly boldness; from his rave­nous disposition he was called Hierax, because in snatching away the goods from other men he followed not the life of a man, but of a Bird of prey.

In the mean time, Ptolomy, when he under­stood that King Antiochus did advance to the ayd and help of Selencus, made peace with Seleucus for ten years, that he might not fight at once against two: But peace being granted by the Enemy, it was reversed by the Brother, who having drawn unto him a mercenary Army of the Gauls, in the stead of a Brother did ren­der himself an Enemy. In that war by the prowess of the Gauls, Antiochus was Con­queror; but the Gauls believing that Seleucus was slain in the battel, did turn their swords against Antiochus himself, believing they should plunder Asia with more freedom, if they had destroyed all the Royal Progeny. Which when Antiochus perceived, he ransomed himself from them as from high-way men with gold, and not long after entred into a league with his own mercenaries.

In the mean time, Eumenes King of Bythinia, his Brothers being dispersed and consumed with civil discords (being as it were to invade the uncertain possession of Asia) assaulted the Gauls, and the Conqueror Antiochus at once, who being weary, &c. many of them wounded [Page 361] in the former encounter, it was not difficult for him to overcome them. In that time, all the wars were designed for the destruction of Asia, and as one was more powerful then another, he always seized upon Asia as a prey. The two Brothers, Seleucus and Antiochus did wage war for Asia; Ptolomy King of Aegypt in pretence to revenge his sister, did also greedily covet the Empire of Asia; on this side Eumenes of Bythinia, on the other side the Gauls being always a mercenary Army, did make a prey of Asia; and amongst so many­there was no man found to be a Defender of it. Antiochus being overcome, when Eumenes had possessed the greatest part thereof, the two Bro­thers, (the booty being lost for which they made war) could not yet agree amongst them­selves, but, the forraign Enemy being neglected, they did drive on a war for the mutual de­struction of themselves: In which Antiochus being overcome the second time, and wearyed with flying, which continued many dayes, he at last directed his course to Artamenes his Father-in-law, who was King of Cappodocia: He having nobly entertained him at first, did not long after contrive to take away his life by treachery, which Antiochus having un­derstood, did provide for his safety by flight. And when wandring up and down, he could finde no place in which he might reside with [Page 362] safety, he repaired to Ptolomy his Enemy, con­ceiving his assurance to be more safe then his Brothers, being either conscious what he in­tended to him, or what he had deserved of him; But Ptolomy being not to be reconciled to him, did command him to be kept in close imprison­ment, from whence by the endeavors of a wo­man whom familiarly he knew, he made an escape, having deceived his Keepers, and flying away, he was seized upon and killed by Thieves. Much at the same time, Seleucus ha­ving lost his Kingdom (being thrown from his horse) did lose his life; and thus these two bro­thers, being Brothers also in banishment, after the loss of their Kingdoms, did suffer the pu­nishment of their transgressions.

OLympias the Daughter of Pyr­rhus King of Epirus, having lost Alexander her husband, who was also her Brother when she took upon her self the guardianship of her two Sons Pyrrhus and Ptolomy begotten by him, and the Government also of the Kingdom; the Aetolians attempt­ing to force from her part of Acarnania which her husband had purchased with his sword, she addressed her self to Demetrius King of Macedonia, who having before espoused the sister of Antiochus King of Syria, she delivered [Page 364] him her own Daughter Phytia in marriage also, that so by the right of consanguinity she might obtain that assistance which she could not procure by Compassion: The Nuptials therefore were solemnized by which the favour of the new marriage was confirmed, and the offence for giving distast to the old was con­tracted: But the first wife (as if she had been divorced) did of her own accord depart to her Brother Antiochus, and did by importunitie inforce him to make war upon her husband. The Arcanians also distrusting the Epirots, did implore ayd of the Romans against the Aetolians, and obtained of the Senate of Rome that Ambassadours should be sent who should command the Aetolians to withdraw their Garrisons from the Cities of Arcania, and permit those to be free who onely heretofore refused to ayd the Grecians against the Trojans the Authors of their Original. But the Aeto­lians returned a proud answer to the Ambas­sadors of Rome, upbraiding them with the Carthaginians and the Gauls, by whom they were oppressed with so many wars, and so often absolutely overcome; they told them that they must first open their Gates to fight against the Carthaginians, which the fear of the Punick war had shut, before they could translate their Army into Greece: They desired them also to call to minde who they were whom they [Page 365] threatned; the Romans (they said) could not defend their own Citie against the Gauls; and it being taken, they did not rescue it by the sword, but redeemed it with Gold; which Nation ha­ving invaded Greece with a far greater number, they without any Auxiliaries received from strangers or from their own Country-men did totally overthrow, and gave them that seat for their Sepulchers which they propounded to themselves for their Armies and their Empire: On the other side, the Romans trembling at the burning of their City, did give the leisure to the Gauls to possess themselvs of almost all Italy. They declared that the Gauls were first to be beaten out of Italy, before they should impose any command upon the Aetolians, and that they should first defend their own, before they should undertake to protect the interests of others; proceeded further in disdainful Inter­rogatories; and what men are these Romans? Shepherds who by robbery detained the Lands from their right Master; who through the in­famy of their discent, could not provide them­selves with Wives, unless they took them by violence; who erected their City by parricide, and mingled the matter of the foundation with brothers blood. They declared, that the Aeto­lians were always Princes of Greece, and exceeded others as much in dignity as in valor; They were the onely men who always despised [Page 366] the Macedonians flourishing with the com­mand and Soveraignty of the World, who feared not King Philip, who contemned the Edicts of Alexander the Great, after his conquest of the Persians and the Indians, when the world trembled under his Laws. They there­fore admonished the Romans to be contented with their present fortune, nor provoke those Armies by whom they saw the Gauls were overthrown, and the Macedons made con­temptible; And having thus dismissed the Ro­man Ambassadors, that they might not appear to have spoken more couragiously then they resolved to have performed, they plundered that part of Acarnania which bordered on Epirus.

Olympias had now delivered her Kingdoms to her sons, and Ptolomy succeeded in the place of Pyrrhus his deceased brother, who when he advanced against his Enemies with a gallant Army, being surprized by sickness, dyed in the way: And Olympias her self, her heart being pierced through and through for the loss of both her children, and her soul sick within her, did not long out-live them; and when of all the Royal Family there not any remained alive but onely the young Lady Nereis with her sister Laodamia, Nereis marryed Gelon the Son of the King of Sicily; and Laodamia flying to the Altar of Diana, did there lose her life by the [Page 367] violence of the people; which facinorous act the Immortal Gods revenged with the conti­nued slaughters, and almost the total destru­ction of all the people. For being punished with barrenness and hunger, and vexed with civil discords, they were at last almost utterly consumed by Forreign Wars. And Milo the executioner of Laodamia being possessed with a fury, attempting sometimes to kill himself with a sword, sometimes to beat out his brains with stones, at the last tearing out his bowels with his teeth died the twelfth day after­wards.

These things being thus mannaged in E­pirus, King Demetrius in the mean time de­ceased in Macedonia, leaving his Son Philip in his minority, to whom Antigonus being Tutor, having married his mother, did intend to possess himself of the Kingdom. In the process of time, when he was kept a prisoner in his own Court by the threats and sedition of the Macedons, he broke forth at last and ad­ventured into the publick without a Guard; and having thrown his Diadem and purple robe amongst the people, he commanded that they should be given to some other man who knew better to govern them, or they to obey him. For his part, he understood well enough the ringols in that envyed Crown, and the weight of it▪ not by his pleasures, but by his [Page 368] labours and his dangers. He did put them in minde of what he had done for them; how he revenged the revolt of their associates; how he suppressed the Dardanians and Thessalians, insulting at the death of King Demetrius; and at last, how he not only defended, but increa­sed the dignity of the Lacedemonians, of which since they did repent, he d [...]d lay down his command, and did return them their own gift, because they demanded a King over whom they might command.

The people hearing this, were rebuked by their own shame, and commanded him ro re­ceive again the soveraignty of Command, which he refused untill the Authors of the se­dition were delivered to him to be punished.

After this he made war upon the Lacedemo­nians, who alone in the Wars of Philip and Alexander, despised the command of the Ma­cedons, and the Arms which were feared by all the world. Betwixt these two renowned Na­tions the War was carried on on both sides with the greatest resolutions: Those fighting for the ancient glory of the Macedons, and the others not only for their unstained liberty, but for their certain safety.

The Lacedemonians being overcome, not themselves only, but their wives and children sustained their misfortune with them, with an invincible courage. In the Battel not any one [Page 369] of the men was indulgent to his own safety, nor any one of the women did afterwards be­wail her lost husband: The old men extolled the honourable death of their sons, and the daughters did gratulate their Fathers slain in the field. They all lamented their own condition, that they died not them­selves for the liberty of their Country. The Parents did receive into their houses all that were wounded, they comforted the sick, and refreshed all the weak and the weary. In so great an overthrow there was no com­plaint in the City, no sign of fear at all; they all lamented rather their publick then their private fortunes: presently upon this Cleo­menes their King (after a great slaughter of his enemies) being covered with his own blood, and with the blood of his Enemies, re­treated to the City, and having entred into it, he fate not down to demand either meat or drink, nor eased himself by putting off the burden of his Armour, but leaning against the wall, when he beheld that there were but four thousand left of all his Army, he exhorted them to reserve themselves to a better oppor­tunity to do their Country service; and ta­king his wife and children with him, he depart­ed to Ptolomy in Egypt, by whom he was for a long time honourably entertained, and lived in the height of regal Majestie: And at last [Page 370] after the death of Ptolomy, he and all his Fa­mily were slain by his son. But Antigonus (the Lacedemonians being utterly overthrown) did lament the fortune of so great a City, and strictly did inhibit his Souldiers to plunder; and moreover gave a free pardon to those who remained alive, alledging that he made War not with the Lacedemonians, but with Cleomenes in whose flight all his anger was appeased; and it was more for his own glory that Lacedemon was preserved by himself, then if it were taken and plundered by his forces. He therefore spared the City and the founda­tion of the walls because there were no men left to whom he might shew indulgence. Not long after he died himself, and left his King­dom to his Son Philip, being above fourteen years of Age.

MUch about the same time, the soveraign Commands of the whole world did suffer a change by the succession of new Kings; for Antigonus, the Tutor of Philip being dead, Phi­lip raigned afterwards fourteen years in Ma­cedonia, and Seleucus being in Asia, Antio­chus was made King both of it and Syria be­fore he was fifteen yeers of age: The King­dom of Cappadocia was delivered by his Fa­ther to the child Ariathres. Ptolomy posses­sed himself of Egypt having slain his father and mother, and for this parricidial guilt was surnamed The Lover of his Father the clean contrary way. The Lacedemonians constituted [Page 372] Lycurgus to be their King in the place of Cle­omenes. And that in no place there should a change be wanting, Hannibal, being not yet of Age, was chosen General of the Cartha­ginians; not for the want of Commanders, but for his hatred to the Romans, which arose up from his childhood with him: A fatal dis­ease he was not only to the Romans, but to Africa it self. These boys being kings, al­though there were no Governours of a grea­ter age, yet every one of them being intent to follow the traces of their Predecessors, there shined forth a growing light of honour in them all. Only Ptolomy as he was nefari­ous in gaining the Kingdom, so he was sloth­full in the administration of the government of it. The Dardanians, and other neighbour­ing Nations, who carried an inveterate and a deadly hatred to the Kings of Macedonia, in the contempt of this young mans age, did daily provoke him. On the other side, his ene­mies being round, and he not contented only to defend his own Dominions, desired to make War against the Aetolians; and being full of the design, Demetrius King of the Il­lyrians being lately overcome by Paul the Ro­man Consul, did with an humble Petition ad­dress himself unto him, complaining of the injury of the Romans, who were not content­ed with the bounds of Italy, but in an aspi­ring [Page 373] hope, promising to themselves the Em­pire of all the World, did make War upon all Nations. Thus they affected the soveraign­ty of Sicily, Sardinia and Spain, and greedy after Africa made VVar with the Carthagini­ans, and with Hannibal himself. They also he said brought a war upon himself for no o­ther cause, but that he was a neighbour unto Italy; as if it were a trespass for any King to Reign neer the bounds of their Empire; but above all things he was to be an example of Admonition, whose Kingdom by how much it was more noble and more neer unto them, by so much the Romans would be his more eager Enemies.

He alledged that he would give a place to him in that Kingdom which the Romans had possessed, it being more gracefull to him to see a friend and not an enemy to strive with him in the possession of the Soveraignty.

VVith this speech he enforced Philip to for­bear the Aetolians, and to make VVar upon the Romans, conceiving the business of the VVar to be the less, because he understood that they had been already beaten by Hanni­bal at the lake of Thrasimen. Therefore at the same time that he might not be infested with mutual War, he made peace with the Aetolians, not that he desired to translate the War into another place, but that he would [Page 374] take care for the safety of Greece, which he af­firmed was never in a greater danger. For the Empires of the Carthaginians and of the Ro­mans growing up to a great height in the West, to whom the Kingdom of Macedonia was on­ly a delay from being Masters of Greece and Asia (they having tryed amongst themselves for the superiority) the Conquerour would sud­denly invade the East.

He said, he beheld the cloud of that fierce and cruel War arising in Italy, and the storms already thundring and lightning from the West, which into whatsoever parts of the world the Tempest of the Victory should drive, it would pollute all things with a crimson shower of blood.

Greece indeed he said had oftentimes indured vast motions of the Persians, sometimes of the Gauls, sometimes of the Macedons, but all this would appear no more then a sport, if that Army of the Romans which was now in Italy should pour it self into another Land.

He beheld what cruel and bloody Wars both the Nations of the Romans and Carthaginians amongst themselves did make, being equal in the strength of their forces, and in the conduct of their Generals, which enmity could never be concluded with the destruction of one of the parties only, without the ruine of their neigh­bours.

[Page 375] It was true indeed, that the fierce minds of the Conquerours were less to be feared by the Macedonians then by the Grecians; for they were more remote in their situation, and more strong in their power to exercise their revenge howsoever; he was confident moreover that those who now fought in Italy with so much might, would not content themselves with that victory, and they ought even in Macedonia to fear the approach of the Conquerors.

With this pretence the War being ended with the Aetolians, Philip minding nothing more then the Wars against the Romans and Carthaginians, did weigh with himself the strength of both Armies. And the Romans themselves who were deeply engaged in the War with Hannibal, were not free from the fear of the Macedons, by reason of the ancient va­lour of the Macedons, and the glory of the con­quered East; & yong Philip being industrious & prompt to the War, & withall inflamed with an emulation to tread in the victorious steps of A­lexander, did strike a new terrour into them.

Therefore Philip when he found that the Ro­mans were overcome again by the Carthagini­ans in a second Battel, professing himself to be an Enemy openly to the Romans, he did begin to build ships to transport his Army into Italy. He sent afterwards an Ambassador to Hanni­bal with Letters, to enter into a League with [Page 376] him who being apprehended by the Romans, and brought unto the Senate, was dismissed without any prejudice, not in honour to the King, but that being yet but doubtfull they might not make him an undoubted Enemy. When it was afterwards declared to the Ro­mans, that Philip would pass his forces into Italy, they sent Levinus the Praetor with a Fleet well equipaged to hinder him in his passage, who when he arrived in Greece, he inforced the Aetolians with many promises to undertake a War against Philip.

At the same time also Philip did sollicite the Aetolians to make War against the Romans. In the mean time the Dardinians began to make spoil on the borders of Macedonia, and having taken thence twenty thousand Captives, they called back Philip from the Roman War to defend his own Kingdom. Whiles these things were thus in action, the Praetor Levinus having entred into a League with King Attalus did plunder Greece, with which the Cities be­ing dismayed they wearied Philip with their Embasseys desiring aid of him; and the Kings of Illyria also with their daily supplications did importune him to perform his promise: but a­boveall, the plundred Macedons desired re­venge. He being besieged with so great and so many difficulties did deliberate with himself what War he should first undertake, and pro­mised [Page 377] unto all, that he suddenly would send ayd unto them, not that he was able to perform what he promised, but that having filled them with hope, he might still keep them obliged in the Indentures of their association. His first ex­pedition was against the Dardanians, who at­tending to make an advantage of his absence did threaten to fall upon Macedonia with a greater weight of War. He made Peace also with the Romans, being content that they had deferred the Macedonian War. He had a de­sign upon Philopemenes General of the Achae­ans, who (as he had heard) did privately sol­licite the Romans, and the tempers of their as­sociates, which being known and avoided, he by his authority commanded the Achaeans to depart from his service.

PHilip being intent on great at­chivements in Macedonia, the manners of Ptolomy in Aegypt were far different from him; for the Kingdom being obtained with the Parricide both of Fa­ther and Mother, and the slaughter of his Brother being added to the murder of his Pa­rents, as if he had done very bravely in it, he afterwards delivered up himself to luxury, and the whole Country followed the dissolute manners of the King: Therefore not only his friends and Lieutenants, but all the Army [Page 379] having left off the Arts of War, were cor­rupted with the looseness of the Court, and became unarmed by sloth and riot. Which be­ing understood, Antiochus the King of Syria (the antient hatred betwixt both Kingdoms exciting him) in a sudden War did possess him­self of many of his Cities, and did invade Egypt it self. On this, Ptolomy was surprized with fear, and by his Ambassadors desired Antiochus to forbear, until he could get his Army in a readiness. And having drawn ve­ry considerable Forces from Greece, he over­came Antiochus, and had dispoyled him of his Kingdom if he had but a little helped Fortune and improved the advantage by his valour. But contented with the restauration of the Cities which he had lost, and having made a Peace, he greedily imbraced a Subject for sloth, and being fallen into luxury, having slain his wife Eurydice, who was his own sister, he was overcome by the allurements of Agathocle [...] the Harlot, and forgetting the greatness of his Name and Majesty, he wasted the nights in wantonness, and the days in riot. Timbrels and Dances were added (the Instruments of Lux­ury) and he was not now looked upon as a King, but as a professed Master of looseness; he delighted himself with Minstrels and all the provocations of lust. This was the hidden disease, and the sad symptomes of the falling [Page 380] Court. Licentiousness afterwards increasing, the impudence of the incontinent woman could not be contained within the wals of the Pa­lace, whom the daily and intermingled pollut­ons of the King with her Brother Agatho­cles, (a prostitute of an aspiring come [...]ness) did make more insolent. No little aggrava­tion to this was the Mother Euanthe, who held more fast the King inthralled with the al­lurements of both her children: Therefore be­ing not contented to possess the King, they did now also possess the Kingdom: Now they were seen in publick, and saluted and attended. Agathocles the Prostitute being joined to the side of the King, did govern the City, and the women did dispose of the S [...]a [...]s of Judicature, of Lieutenant-ships, and places of Command; neither was there any man of less power in the Kingdom then the King himself. In the mean time, having left five sons by his sister Eurydice, he died. Thus whiles the women seized upon his Exchequer, and indeavoured to govern the Kingdom, by making a League with the de­boystest and most dissolute persons, the business was a long time concealed; but it being disco­vered at last, Agathocles was killed in the first place by the concourse of the multitude, and the women (to revenge the death of Eurydice) were fastened upon crosses.

The King being dead, and the infamy of the [Page 381] Kingdom being as it were expiated by the punishment of the Harlots, the Alexandri­ans did send their Ambassadors to Rome in­treating them that they would undertake the Guardianship of the young Prince, and pro­tect the Kingdom of Egypt which (they said) Philip and Antiochus having made a League together, had divided amongst themselves. The Embassy was gratefull to the Romans at that time seeking an occasion to make War against Philip, who lay in wait to entrap them in the time of the Carthaginian War. To this may be added, that the Carthaginians and Hanni­bal being overcome, the Romans feared the Arms of no man more; Considering with themselves, how great a commotion Pyrrhus with a few Bands of the Macedonians had made in Italy, and what great atchievements they had performed in the East; Ambassadors were therefore sent to require Philip and An­tiochus to refrain from the Kingdoms of E­gypt. Marcus Lepidus was also sent into E­gypt to be protector of the Kingdom in the behalf of the young Prince. Whiles these things were in action, the Ambassadors of At­talus King of Pergamus and of Rhodes did address themselves to Rome, complaining of the injuries of King Philip, which complaint took away all the delay of the War against Macedonia. Immediatly in pretence of bring­ing [Page 382] aid to their associates, War was denounced against Philip, and many Legions were sent with the Consul into Macedonia: And not long afterwards all Greece in confidence of the Romans success against Philip (being erected into a hope of their former liberty) did make VVar upon him; so that the King being urged on every side was compelled to desire peace, the conditions whereof when they were expounded by the Romans, King Attalus began to redemand his priviledges, the Rhodians demanded theirs, the Achaeans and Aetolians theirs.

On the other side Philip did grant that he could be induced to obey the Romans, but it would be an unworthy part of him if he should condiscend that the Grecians being overcome by Philip and Alexander his Pre­decessors, and brought under the yoke of the Macedonian Empire, should like Conquerors impose Laws of peace on him, who ought ra­ther to give an account of their subje [...]ion then lay a claim to liberty.

At the last Philip being importunate, a Truce was made for two moneths, and the peace which could not be concluded in Ma­cedonia, was to be concluded on by the Senate at Rome.

In the same year between the two Ilands of Theramenes and Therasia in the midst be­twixt [Page 383] both banks and the Sea, there was a great Earthquake. In which to the wonder of those who sailed by, the waters growing sud­denly hot, there arose an Iland out of the Deeps: And on the same day an Earth­quake in Asia did shake Rhodes and many o­ther Cities, and bringing a great ruine with in, did wholly devour others. All men being affrighted at the prodigie, the prophets pre­saged that the rising Empire of the Romans should devour the ancient one of the Greeks and Macedons. The Senate in the mean time having refused to make any Peace with Phi­lip, he sollicited the Tyrant Nabis into the society of the War; and having brought his Army into the field, and marshalled them to incounter their enemies who were prepared to receive them, he did exhort them by decla­ring to them that the Persians, Bactrians, and the Indians, and all Asia, even to the end of the East was overcome by the Macedons, and that this war ought so much the more coura­giously to be sustained by them, as Liberty is more noble then subjection.

But Flaminius the Roman Consul did ex­cite his Souldiers unto Battel by the Comme­moration of their late Atchievements, demon­strating that Carthage and Sicily on this side, and that Italy & Spain on the other side were conquered by the Roman valour; and that [Page 384] Hannibal was not to be ranked below Alex­ander the great, who being beaten out of I­taly, they had subdued Africa it self, the third part of the world. Moreover the Macedons were not to be esteemed according to their ancient fame, but by their present strength; for now they waged not war with Alexander the great, whom perchance they heard to be invincible, neirher with his Army who subdued the East, but with Philip a boy not yet grown up to maturity of Age, who hardly was able to maintain the bounds of his own Kingdom; and with those Macedons who not long ago became a prey to the Dardanians. They did only boast of the honors of their Ancestors, but the Romans were renowned for the pre­sent courage of their Souldiers; for Hanni­bal, and the Carthaginians, and almost all the West were not overcome by any other Army but by those Souldiers who were then in the field with him. The Souldiers on both sides being stirred up with those exhortations, they joyned in Battel; the one glorying in the con­quest of the East, the other of the West; these carrying into the fight the ancient and obso­lete Honours of their Ancestors, and the o­thers the flower of their Chivalry, flouri­shing in the height of the present examples. But the Roman fortune overcame the Mace­donians: And Philip having lost the battel, de­sired [Page 385] Peace of the Consul Flaminius; which being obtained, he preserved still the name of a King, and all the Cities of Thrace being lost (as Members that had no interest in the ancient possession of the Kingdom) he onely reserved the title of King of Macedonia; but the Aetolians being offended, because Mace­donia was not taken from the King, and given to them for a reward of their service, did send Ambassadors to Antiochus, who by flattering him with his greatness, did perswade him to make War with Rome, promising him that all Greece would be ready to assist him.

PTolomy surnamed Philopater, King of Egypt, being dead, the tender age of his Son, who was left to inherit the Kingdom, being despised, he became a prey to his own Subjects; moreover, Antiochus King of Syria had a design to dis­possess him of Egypt; Therefore when he had invaded Phaenicia, and other Cities of Sy­ria, which belonged to the principality of E­gypt, the Senate of Rome did send Ambassa­dors to him to declare unto him that he [Page 387] should abstain from the Kingdom of the yong Prince, which was bequeathed to their trust by the last Will of his Father. But these Am­bassadors being neglected by Antiochus, not long after there was sent from Rome another Ambassy, who making no mention of their Ward at all, commanded that the Cities (which by the right of War were under the People of Rome) should wholly be restored to them. Antiochus refusing it, War was denounced against him, which he as hastily did undertake as unfortunately he did manage. At the same time Nabis the Tyrant did seize up­on many Cities of Greece. Whereupon the Senate (that the Roman forces should not at the same time be detained in a double War) did write unto Flaminius, that if he thought good, he should first free Greece from Nabis as he had delivered Macedonia from Philip. For this cause his Commission was prolonged. The name of Hannibal did also make the war of Antiochus more terrible, against whom his adversaries (who envyed his name in Arms) did in private accusations complain unto the Romans that he had entred into a League with Antiochus, alledging that he being accustom­ed to military Commands and the arbitrary power of the sword, would never be content to live under Laws, and that he being weary of the peace of the City, would be always [Page 388] looking after new causes of War, which ac­cusations, although they were falsly reported, yet amongst the fearfull they passed for truth. The Senate being surprised with the fear of him, did send Servilius Ambassador into A­frica to discover his Designs, and gave him private Instructions, that if possibly he could, he might kill him by his emulators, and free the Roman people from the fear of so hated a Name. But Hannibal was not long ignorant of the design, being a man experienced both to foresee and to prevent dangers, and pre­paring for adverse fortune in prosperity, as thinking of prosperous fortune in adversity. Therefore after he had the whole day present­ed himself in publick before the face of the Senate of Carthage, and of the Roman Am­bassador, the evening approaching, he took horse and repaired to his Country-house, which he had near to the Sea-Coast, his ser­vants not knowing of it; and being command­ed to attend him at the gate of the City. He had there ships with Marriners in a readiness, which lay hid in a Creek, and vast sums of mo­ney, that when occasion required, neither want nor inconveniency should delay him. With the choisest youth of his Servants, whose number the prisoners which he had taken in Italy did increase, he imbarked himself, and directed his course to Antiochus. On the next [Page 389] morning the City expected their Commander in chief, and at that time Consul, in the place of publick Assembly, whom when they found to be departed, they were possessed with as great a fear, as if the City it self had bin taken. And the Roman Ambassador, as if a new War already was brought by Hannibal upon Italy, returned in a private silence unto Rome, and brought along with him the melancholy ti­dings. In the mean time Flaminius (having with him some of the associated Cities of Greece) did in two battels overcome Nabys the tyrant, and left him, as it were, unnerv'd and fainting in his Kingdom: But liberty be­ing restored to Greece, and the Garrisons drawn off from the Cities, when the Roman Army was commanded back into Italy, Nabys being incensed at the nothingness of his empty fortunes, did in a sudden War invade again many of the Cities, with which the A­chaians being affrighted (that the neighbour­ing Evil might not creep unto them) they con­stituted their Praetor Philopemenes to be their General, a man of admirable industry, whose courage, and whose conduct in that War was so apparent, that in the Judgement of all he might be compared to Flaminius the Roman General.

At the same time Hannibal came to Antio­chus, and was received as a gift from the gods, [Page 390] and by his arrival the King was possessed with so great a heat of resolution, that he thought not so much on the war it self as on the re­wards of the victory. But Hannibal who had experience of the Roman valour, affirmed that the Romans could not be suppressed but in I­taly it self. For the performance of which ser­vice he desired one hundred ships, ten thou­sand foot, and one thousand horse, promi­sing with those unconsiderable forces to make as great a War in Italy as he did ever hereto­fore, and bring unto the King sitting in his throne in Asia, either a victory over the Ro­mans, or the equal conditions of a peace; for he said, that there was wanting only a Gene­ral to the Spaniards inflamed with a de­sire to commence the War against the Ro­mans; and Italy moreover was now more known unto him then heretofore; neither would Carthage be quiet, but without delay would send Auxiliaries to him. These coun­sels being acceptable to the King, one of the Confidents of Hannibal was sent to Carthage to exhort them to the War, being too cove­tous of it, before he represented to them that Hannibal would immediately be present with his forces, and did not communicate to either of the Factions any thing at all, but only that nothing was wanting to carry on this War but the resolutions of the Carthaginians; for [Page 391] Asia would defray the charges, and lend them men enough for the War. When these things were reported to the Carthaginians, the Mes­senger himself was apprehendrd by the Ene­mies of Hannibal, and being brought into the Sentate (according to the subtilty of the Carthaginian wit) he made answer, that he was sent to the whole Senate; for his business did not belong to this man or that man in par­ticular, but did concern them altogether. Whiles they debated many days in the Se­nate to send him to Rome to purge the pub­lick conscience, he privately took shipping and returned to Hannibal; which was no soo­ner discovered, but the Carthaginians sent pre­sently an Ambassador to Rome. The Romans also sent Ambassadors to Antiochus, who un­der that pretence might discover the prepara­tions of the King, and either reconcile Hanni­bal to the Romans, or by their daily conversa­tion with him might render him suspected and hated by the King. The Ambassadors there­fore when they came unto Antiochus at E­phesus, they delivered to him the desires of the Senate; and whiles they attended for an answer from him, they missed not a day to give a visitation unto Hannibal, and inform­ed him that unadvisedly he departed from his Country when the Romans with great fidelity did observe the peace, not made so much with [Page 392] the Commonwealth of Carthage; as with himself; for they found that he made War not so much out of any hatred that he did bear unto the Romans, as for the love to his own Country, to which the best of men do owe their lives. These they said were the publick causes of War amongst the People, but not of private ones amongst Commanders. They afterwards began to extoll his atchieve­ments, by the discourse whereof he being de­lighted, did more often and more greedily converse with the Ambassadors, being igno­rant that he should procure hatred with the King by his familiarity with the Romans: For Antiochus suspecting that he had reconciled himself to the Romans by his often discourse with them, did refer nothing to him as here­tofore he was accustomed, nor made him par­taker of any of his Councels, but did begin to hate him as his Enemy and Betrayer: Thus suspition did corrupt all the preparations for the War, there appearing no General in the field, either to take the Musters, or to exercise the Souldiers. The substance of the Roman Embassie to Antiochus was, that he should be contented with the Borders and Frontiers of Asia, and not impose upon the Romans a necessity to enter into Asia with an Army: which Message being despised by Antiochus, he made answer that it became his Royalty [Page 393] and resolution not to attend a War, but to give it. The Councel of VVar being often called afterwards, and Hannibal never sitting amongst them, Antiochus at last command­ed that he should be summoned, not that he should act any thing which he propounded, but that he might not appear to have neglect­ed him altogether; and the Councel of every one being asked, at the last he demanded his advice, which being observed by Hannibal, he professed that he sufficiently understood that he was called by him to the Councel of War, not that he wanted advice, but to fill up the number of the Sentences; howsoever out of his inveterate hatred to the Romans, and his love unto the King, with whom alone he en­joyed a safe banishment, he was resolved, he said, to declare unto him the best way of ma­king War against the Romans. Desiring then to be excused for his boldness, he professed that he approved not of any thing of the pre­sent Councels or Enterprises, neither did it seem good in his Judgement that Greece should be the seat of the War, when Italy af­forded a far more plentifull subject for it. For the Romans, he said, could not be overcome but by their own Arms, nor Italy be subdued but by the Italian Forces: for in them both the manner of the War and the People did differ much from other sorts of men. It was [Page 394] of great importance in other Wars to take the first advantages of place and time, to lay waste the fields, and to plunder the Cities of the Enemies; but with a Roman, if you first either plunder them of their goods, or over­come them in Battel, you must also wrestle and tug with them when they are subdued and lying on the ground. Wherefore if any shall provoke them in their own Country, they may be overcome by their own wealth, by their own strength, and by their own Arms, as he himself had done: But if any shall draw them out of Italy▪ which is the fountain of their strength, he shall be as much decei­ved, as he who would dry up the Rivers, should attempt it not at the head of the Fountain, but further off by some new works and dams which he should make.

This he said was his Judgement, which he had a long time reserved in private to himself, and freely before did offer it unto them, and did now again repeat it, that they might all understand the way of making War with the Romans, and that although invincible abroad, they are easie to be conquered at home: For you may sooner, said he, deprive them of their City then their Empire, and sooner dis­poyl them of Italy then of the Provinces: they were taken by the Gauls, and almost utterly overthrown by my self; neither was I or my [Page 395] Army ever overcome untill we departed from them. But when we returned to Carthage, the fortune of the War was suddenly changed with the place. The Friends of the King were the Contradictors of this Counsel, not reflect­ing on the profit of it, but fearing least his advice being approved, he should have the first place of respect with the King. But An­tiochus was not so much displeased with the Councel as with the Author, and feared lest the glory of the Victory should be Hannibals and not his own; all things therefore were cor­rupted with the various informations of the flatterers; nothing was undertaken either according to Judgement or to Reason. The King himself being fallen into Luxury, was given all the VVinter to new Mar­riages.

On the other side, Attilius the Roman Con­sul, who was sent into this VVar, did with ela­borate ca [...]e and industry, muster his Armies, and provide Arms and other necessaries for the war; he confirmed the associated Cities, he allured the doubtfull ones, the event of the war consisting in the preparations of either side. The King therefore beholding his men to give back at the first charge, he brought no succor to them in distress, but was the foremost in the flight, and left his Tents full of Riches for the Conquerors; and the Romans being [Page 396] intent on the plundring of them, he fled into Asia, where he began to repent of the Coun­cel he neglected, and having called back Han­nibal, he promised to act all things according to his counsell.

In the mean time it was reported to him that Livius Menemus, the Roman Admiral, did approach, being sent by the Senate with four­score Brazen-beaked ships to make a war by Sea. Therefore, before that his associated Ci­ties should revolt to the Enemies, he resolved to encounter with the Enemy by Sea, hoping by a new Victory to abolish the Infamy of the overthrow lately received in Greece. The Na­vy being committed to the charge of Hanni­bal, the Battel was fought. But neither were the Asian Souldiers comparable to the Ro­mans, nor their Ships to theirs, which were armed with brass on their sterns; howsoever the overthrow was the less by the policy of the General.

The report of the Victory had not as yet arrived at Rome, and the City was therefore in suspence concerning the creating of Consuls. But who could be a better Commander against Hannibal▪ then the brother of Africanus, it being the business of the Scipio's to overcome the Carthaginians? Lucius Scipio therefore was created Consul, and his brother Afri­canus was given as Legate to him, that Antio­chus [Page 397] might understand that he placed not a greater confidence in conquered Hannibal, then they did in the conquering Scipio's. The Scipio's being busie in the transporting of their Army into Asia, it was reported to them that the War was everywhere already brought to a period, and accordingly they found Antio­chus overcome in a fight by Land, and Hanni­bal in a fight by Sea. Therefore at their first arrival, Antiochus sent Ambassadors to them to desire peace, and as a peculiar gift to A­fricanus, they brought him his Son, whom An­tiochus had taken, as he was transporting him­self in a small Bark into Asia. But Africa­nus returned answer, that private benefit ought to be distinguished from publick, and that the offices due unto him as a Father were of one Nature, and the Offices due unto his Coun­trey were of another, which ought to be pre­ferred not only above children, but also above life it self. Howsoever he declared, that he very thankfully accepted the gift, and out of his own Fortunes would answer the munifi­cence of the King. As for that which belong­ed either to Peace or War; he made answer, that he could contribute nothing by way of thankfulness, neither could he fall in any pun­ctilio from the rights of his Countrey; for his son being taken, he never treated with the King concerning his ransom, nor suffered the [Page 398] Senate to make mention of it, but as it was worthy of the Majesty of his resolution, he professed that he would recover him by arms. After this the Articles of the Agreement were drawn up, That Asia should be surrendred to the Romans, and Antiochus be contented only with the Kingdom of Syria; that he should de­liver to the Romans all his Ships, Prisoners and Renegadoes, and give full satisfaction to the Romans for their Charges in the VVar. VVhich when it was reported to Antiochus, he made answer, that he was not so overcome as to be content to be dispoyled of his Kingdom; and alledged, that what the Romans had propoun­ded to him, were rather provocations to war then any inducements unto peace. Great pre­parations therefore were made for war on both sides; the Romans having invaded Asia, and entred into Ilium, there was a mutual gratulation between the Inhabitants of Ilium and them; the inhabitants of Ilium declared that Aeneas and other of their Captains proceeded from them; and the Romans ac­knowledged that they received their Original of them. Such& [...]o general was the joy, as after a long absence is accustomed to be seen betwixt Fathers and Children. It delighted the Inha­bitants of Ilium▪ that their Nephews having overcome Africa and the VVest, did challenge Asia as their Hereditary Kingdom, and they [Page 399] said the ruine of Troy was not to be lamented, which was revived again in a happy race of such Noble successors. On the other side, the Romans with an unsatisfied desire did behold the Houshold Gods, and the Cradles of their Ancestors, and the Temples and Images of the Gods. The Romans being departed from Ilium, King Eumenes did march with Auxilia­ries to them; And not long after the Battel was fought with Antiochus, when in the right wing a Roman Legion being beaten, did fly back to the Camp with more disgrace then danger; one of the Tribunes of the Souldiers, Marcus Aemilius by name, being left for the defence of the Camp, commanded his Soldi­ers immediately to buckle on their Arms, which being done, he did lead them out of the works, and with drawn swords did threaten those that fled back, and declared that there should not a man of them be left alive, unless they returned to the Battel, and that their own Tents should be more fatall to them then their Enemies swords. The Legion being amazed at so great a danger, the Soldiers Armed by the Tribune, accompanying them, they returned into the Battel, and having made a great slaughter of their Enemies, it was the beginning of the Victory. There were fifty thousand of the Enemies slain, and eleven thousand taken. Antiochus again desiring peace, there was [Page 400] nothing added to the former conditions. Afri­canus declared that the Romans did neither abate their courage being overcome, neither grew they insolent with the success of Victory. They divided the Cities they had taken a­mongst their Associates, judging glory more proper for the Romans then possessions; For the glory of the Victory was to be owned by the Roman Name, and the luxury of wealth was left to their Associates.

ANtiochus being overcome, the Aetolians who inforced him to make wars against the Romans, remained alone being unequal to them in strength, and desti­tute of all help. And not long after being o­vercome, they lost their liberty which they alone amongst so many Cities of Greece had preserved unviolate, against the Dominations of the Lacedemonians and Athenians; which condition was so much the more afflicting as [Page 402] it arrived the more late unto them: They com­puting with themselves those times, in which with their own strength they resisted such nu­merous Forces of the Persians, and those when in the Delphian war they brake the violence of the Gaules, terrible both to Asia and Italy; which glorious commemoration did the more increase the desire of their liberty. As these things were in action, in the mean time there arose first a contention, and afterwards a war betwixt the Messenians, and Achaians, concerning the honor of preheminence, in which Philopemenes the Noble General of the Achaians was taken, not that in the fight he spared his life, but that as he called back his Soldiers to the Battel, being thrown from his horse as he leaped a ditch, he was inviron­ned and oppressed by the multitude of his Ene­mies. As he lay on the ground, the Messenians durst not kill him, either through the fear of his courage, or the consciousness of his dignity. Therefore as they had dispatched all the war in him alone, they did lead him Captive round about Greece in the way of Triumph, the People thronging in multitudes to behold him, as if he was their own, and not the General of their Enemies approached. Neither did ever the Achaians with a more greedy eye behold him being a Conqueror, then the Messenians did now being conquered. Therefore they com­manded [Page 403] him to be brought into the Theater, that they might all have a full view of him, whom every one conceived to be impossible to be taken. Being brought afterwards unto the Dungeon, in the respect to his greatness, they gave him poyson: which he took as cheer­fully as if he had conquered death, as he had heretofore his Enemies; He demanded after­wards if his Lieutenant Generall Lycortal, whom he knew to be second to him in the af­fairs of war, had escaped, and having understood that he was alive, and in safety, he said, Then it goes not altogether so ill with the Achai­ans; and speaking those words he died. Not long after the war being renewed, the Messeni­ans were overcome, and they endured the pu­nishment for the death of Philopemenes. In the mean time Antiochus King of Syria, when he was oppressed by the Romans with too great a Tribute, and groaned under the burden of it (either enforced by the want of money, or sollicited by avarice, by which un­der the pretence of a necessitated Tribute, he hoped that he more excusedly should commit Sacriledge) having drawn an Army together, did by night assault the Temple of Dindy­maean Jove. Which being discovered, he was slain with all his Army by a concourse of the Inhabitants. When many Cities of Greece [...]ame to Rome to complain of the Injuries of [Page 404] Philip King of the Macedons; And there was a great dispute in the Senate between Demetri­us the Son of Philip, whom his father had sent to satisfie the Senate, and the Ambassa­dors of the Cities; the young man being con­fused with the multitude of complaints made against his Father, did on a suddain hold his peace; The Senate being moved with his shamefastness (by which in a private condition he before endeered himself to all when he was an Hostage at Rome) did give him the cause: and thus Demetrius by his modesty obtained pardon for his Father, not by the right or plea of defence, but by the patronage of his mo­desty, which was signified by the Decree of the Senate, that it might appear that the King was not absolved, but the Father rather was given to the Son; Which procured to Demetrius not the grace of an Ambassador, but the hatred of obtrectation. It pulled upon him the emu­lation and envy of his brother Philip, and the cause of the pardon being known to his Father who was pardoned, it became an offence, Philip disdayning that the person of his Son was of more moment with the Senate then the Autho­rity of the Father, or the dignity of regall Ma­jesty. Perseus therefore having observed the sickness of his Father, did bring daily com­plaint unto him against Demetrius being ab­sent; and at first did cause him to be hated, [Page 405] and afterwards to be suspected by him; some­times he did object against him the freindship of the Romans, and sometimes treason against his Father. At the last he counterfeited that treacheries were prepared by him against his person to be put suddenly in Execution, to the trial and proof whereof the Judges were sent for, the suborned witnesses examined, and the Charge was proved which was objected against him. By those unjust proceedings the Father being compelled to parricide, did make sad all the Court with the execution of his Son. De­metrius being slain, Perseus grew not more dutifull but more contumatious against his Fa­ther, and carried himself not as an heir of the Kingdom, but as the King himself, with which Philip being offended, did daily more impati­ently lament the death of Demetrius: and suspecting that he was circumvented by the Treachery of Perseus, he caused the witnesses and the Judges to be tormented; And having by this means discovered the deceit, he was no less afflicted with the wickedness of Perseus, then with the innocent death of Demetrius; which he was resolved to have revenged if he had not been prevented by death; For not long after his disease encreasing by the Melan­choly and perplexedness of his spirit, he de­ceased, having left great preparations of war against the Romans, which Perseus afterwards [Page 406] employed; For he enforced the Gaules, called Scordisci, to joyn in league with him, and he had made a great war against the Romans if he had not died. For the Gaules, the war against the Delphians being unfortunately mannaged, in which they found the power of God to be more great and present then the power of their Enemies, having lost Brennus their Generall, some part of them did fly into Asia, and some part did wander up and down in Thracia; From whence in the same path in which they marched forth, they returned to their antient Country. Of these a considerable number did sit down in the Confluent of the River Danubius, and called themselves by the name of Scordisci. But the Tectosagi when they arrived at their antient Country of Tholouse, were there visited by the Pestilence, and recovered not their health untill being admonished by the answers of the Diviners, they had drowned all their Gold and Silver which they had got by Sacriledge in the Lake of Tholouse, all which Coepio the Roman Consul did a long time afterwards take away. There was in all one hundred and twenty thou­sand weight of Gold, and five millions of Sil­ver, which Sacriledge was the cause afterwards of the destruction of Coepio and all his Army.

The tumult also of the Cambrian war did follow the Romans, as the revenge of the viola­tion [Page 407] of the consecrated money. Not a small number of the Nation of the Tectosagi did seat themselves in Illyricum, being delighted with the sweetness of the Air and the Prey, and having spoyled the Istrians, they did in­habite Pannonia. Fame reports that the Na­tion of the Istrians do derive their Originall from Colchos, being sent by King Aetus to the Argonauts to pursue the ravisher of his daughter, who as soon as they entered into Ister out of Pontus, having sailed far into the Channel of the River Sais, following the steps of the Argonauts, they carried their ships on their shoulders over the cliffes of the hills, untill they came to the shore of the Adriatick Sea; having understood that the Argonauts by rea­son of the length of their Ship had done the same before them, whom when the Colchians did not receive, they either through fear of their King, or the tediousness of their long Na­vigation, did sit down at last neer to Aquileia, and were called Istrians, after the Name of the River, into the which from the Sea they say­led.

The Dacians also are a Generation of the Getes, who when they fought unfortunately under Olor their King against the Bastarni­ans, were commanded, that when they were in bed, they should, to expiate their sloth, lay their feet where they should rest their heads, [Page 408] and perform those houshold offices and ser­vices to their wives, which their wives before were accustomed to do to them. Neither was this custome changed, untill by their courage they had wiped away the old Ignominy which they had received in the war. Perseus when he succeeded in the Kingdom of Philip his Father, did excite all these Nations to joyn in assist­ance with him against the Romans. In the mean time there did arise a war betwixt King Prusias, to whom Annibal fled after the peace granted to Antiochus by the Romans, and Eumenes; Which war Prusias first began having broken the League through the confi­dence he had in Annibal; For Annibal (when amongst other of the Articles of the Treaty, the Romans did demand of Antiochus that he should deliver him up unto them) being ad­vertised by Antiochus of it, did fly to Crete; Where having lived for many years a quiet life, and found himself envied by reason of his exces­sive wealth, he deposed in the Temple of Di­ana pitchers filled with Lead, as the safe­gard of his fortune; and the City being no wayes jealous of him, because they had his fortunes with them as his, he repaired to King Prusias, his Gold which he carried with him being melted and poured into hollow Statues, least his riches being discovered should be a hinderance to his life. Prusias being over­come [Page 409] by King Eumenes by land, and intending to try the fortune of a Battel by Sea, Annibal by a new invention was the Author of the Victory; For he commanded that all kinds of Serpents stored into earthen Vessels in the mid­dle of the Battel should be thrown into the Ships of their Enemies. It seemed ridiculous to the Enemies at first, that they should Arm themselves and fight with earthen Pots, who could not encounter their Enemies with swords; But when their Ships began to be filled with the Serpents, they were circum­vented with a doubtfull and double danger, and yeilded the Victory to their Enemies. When these things were declared at Rome, Ambassadors were sent by the Senate to make a reconciliation betwixt both Kings, and to de­mand the person of Annibal; but Annibal having notice of it, did take poyson and pre­vented the Embassy by death. This year was remarkable by the death of three of the most famous Generals in the world; Annibal, Phi­lopemenes, and Scipio Africanus; Most certain it is that Annibal when Italy trembled at the thunder of his Arms, did never sit down when he did eat, nor did ever drink more at once then one pint of wine; and so great was his chastity amongst so many Captives, that who would deny that he was born in Africa? It was undoubtedly a great Argument of his [Page 410] moderation, that when he commanded an Army of divers Nations, he was never set upon by any treachery of his own men, nor betrayed by the deceit of others, when his Enemies had oftentimes attempted both against him.

THe Romans mannaged the Macedonian war with less noise and trouble then they did the Carhaginian; But with so much the more ho­nour, as the Macedons in fame did exceed the Car­thaginians; For the Macedonians were not onely encouraged with the glory of the con­quered East, but assisted with the Auxiliaries of all Kings. Therefore the Romans sent more Embassies to their Associates, and received Auxiliaries from Messanissa King of the Nu­midians, [Page 412] and from others of their Confederates; And amessage was sent to Eumenes King of the Bithynians to contribute to the war with all his powers. And (besides the opinion that the Army of the Macedons was invincible) Perseus had provision for ten years war laid up byhis Father, both in his Exchequer, and his Granaries, with which being growng insolent, & forgetful of his Fathers fortune, he commanded his Soldiers to call to mind the Ancient glory of Alexander. The first encounter was of the horse onely, in which Perseus being Conqueror made all men begin to doubt, and to incline to his side. How­soever he sent Ambassadors to the Consul to desire that peace which the Romans had given to his Father being overcome, offering to de­fray the charges of the war as if he had been overcome himself. But Sulpitius the Consul did give him no other conditions then what the conquered were accustomed to receive. In the mean time, through the fear of so dangerous a war, the Romans made Aemylius Paulus Consul, and decreed unto him contrary to custome, the Macedonian war; who when he came unto the Army, did make no long delay of the battail. On the night before there was an Ecclipse of the Moon. All men judged that it was a sad portent for Perseus, and that the end of the Macedonian Empire was there­by presaged. In that Battel Marcus Cato the Son of Cato the Orator, when amongst the [Page 413] thickest of his Enemies he gave admirable De­monstrations of his valor, having fallen from his horse did fight on foot; For a band of the Enemies with a horrid cry did stand round a­bout him, falling on him as if they would have killed him lying on the ground. Bur he having suddenly recollected himself, did get upon his feet, and made a great slaughter of his Enemies, the Macedons did surround him on every side, and did throw themselves upon him to take a­way his life, but he striking at one of the Com­manders, his sword flying from his hand did fall into the midst of a cohort of his Enemies, to re­cover which (protecting himself with his Buck­ler, both Armies looking on) he was covered with the swords of his Enemies, & having gained his sword, and received many wounds, he returned with a general acclamation to the Army; his fel­lows imitating his valor obtained the Victory. Perseus the King fled to Samothracia carrying with him ten thousand talents; And Cneus Octa­vius being sent by the Consul to pursue him, did take him prisoner with his two Sons Alexander and Philip, and brought them to the Consul. Macedonia had from her first King Caranus to Perseus, thirty Kings; But she was not fa­mous for Soveraignty above one hundred and ninty three years; when she came into the pow­er of the Romans she was made free, Magi­strates being constituted through the several Cities, and she received those Laws from Aemylius Paulus which to this day she doth [Page 414] observe. The Senates of all the Cities of the Aetolians (because they were uncertain in their fidelity) were sent with their wives and children unto Rome, and were a long time de­tained there, that they might make no innovati­on in their Countries; but the City being wea­ryed with the importunities of many Ambassa­dors, they were hardly, after many years, suffer­ed to return into their Countries.

THe Carthaginians and Ma­cedonians being subdued, and the strength of th [...] Aetolians being weakned by the Captivity of their Princes; the Achaians onely of all Greece did seem at that time most powerful to the Romans, not by the excessive wealth of every one of their particular Cities, but by the combination of them all; for although the Achaians be divided by their Cities as by so many members, yet they have one Body and one Command; [Page 416] they beat off the dangers which threaten par­ticular Cities, with their mutual strength. The Romans therefore seeking out an occasion of the war, fortune did luckily present them with the complaints of the Lacedemonians, whose Fields in mutual hatred the Achaians had laid wast.

The Senare answered the Lacedemonians, that they would send Ambassadors into Greece, to look upon the affairs of their Asso­ciates, and to take away the suspitions of all injury; but instructions were privily given to the Ambassadors that they should dissolve this intire Body of the Achaians, and make every City to subsist by her own priviledges, that so they might more easily be inforced to obedience; and if any appeared to be stubborn, that they should be broken: The Princes therefore of all the Cities being called to Co­rinth, the Ambassadors did recite the Decree of the Senate▪ and declared what was the Counsel which was given to them: They de­clared, that it was expedient for all, that every City should have her own Laws, and her own priviledges; which the Achaians no sooner understood, but in a fury they pre­sently killed all that were strangers; and had violated the Romane Ambassadors them­selves, if upon notice of the tumult, they had not fled away in a great fear. When this [Page 417] was declared at Rome, the Senate did im­mediately Decree that the Achaian war should be undertaken by Mummius the Consul; who not long after, having trans­ported his Army into Greece, and all things with great care being provided for, did provoke his Enemies to battel. But the Achaians (as if it had been no trouble at all to conquer the Romanes) had nothing in a readiness for War, but thinking more of the booty then the fight, they brought their Carriages into the Field to draw from thence the spoyls of their Enemies, and placed their Wives and Children on the adjacent Hills to behold the pleasure of the Battel, which was no sooner begun, but be­ing slain before the eyes of their Wives and Children, they became a sad spectacle to them for the present, and left them a grievous re­membrance of it for the future; and their Wives and Children being made Captives of Spectators, were an easie prey unto their Ene­mies: The City of Corinth it self was pull'd down, and all the people sold in the most ig­nominious manner that in those times was practised, that this Example might strike a fear into the other Cities to take [...]eed of In­novations for the time to come.

Whiles these things were in action, Antio­chus King of Syria made War upon Ptolomy King of Egypt, the Son of his elder Sister, but [...] [Page 418] slow man, and so consumed with daily luxury, that he not onely neglected the Offices of Regal Majesty, but was deprived also of the sense of an ordinary man: Being therefore beaten out of his Kingdom, he fled to Alex­andria to his younger brother Ptolomy, and having made him a partaker in his Kingdom, they joyntly sent Ambassadors to the Senate at Rome, by whom they desired their help and implored the Faith of their Society; The supplications of the Brothers did move the Se­nate: Therefore Publius Popilius was sent Ambassador to Antiochus to command him not to invade Egypt; or if he was already in it, to withdraw from it. The Ambassador having found him in Egypt, the King kissed him; for Antiochus above the rest did respect Popilius when he was a Hostage at Rome; Popilius desired him to forbear all private friendship, when the Mandates and the Interests of his Country intervened; and having produced the Decree of the Senate, he delivered it to the King; when he found the King to demur upon it, and to say that he would refer it to the Consultation of his friends; Popilius with a rod which he had in his hand, having inclosed him in a spacious Circle, that it might contain his friends with him, did require him to counsel with them in the Precinct of that Round, and not to move out of it before he [Page 419] had given an Answer to the Senate, Whether he would have peace or War with the Ro­manes. This sharp proposition did so blunt the minde of the King, that he answered that he would obey the Senate. After this, An­tiochus returning to his Kingdom, dyed, ha­ving left behind him a son very young, to whom when Guardians were assigned by the people, his Uncle Demetrius (who was then a Hostage at Rome) having understood of the death of his brother Antiochus, addressed himself unto the Senate, and alledged that his brother being alive, he came to Rome as a Hostage for him: but being dead, he did not now know whose Hostage he might be; therefore he pleaded that it was just he should be dismissed from Rome to be invested in his Kingdom, which as it was due by the law of Nations to his elder brother, so it was now due unto himself who must have the precedency of the Pupil by the priviledge of Age; When he observed that the Senate (silently presuming that the Kingdom would be more safe unto them under the Pupil, then un­der him) were un willing to grant him leave to depart. Having secretly departed to Hostia, under the pretence of hunting, he there took shipping with the Companions of his flight; and being brought into Syria, he was received with the applause of all men; and the young Prince being put to death, the Kingdom [Page 420] by his Guardians was delivered unto him.

Much about the same time, Prusias King of Bithinia contrived how to put to death his son Nicomedes, endeavouring to provide for his younger sons whom he had by Nicomede's Step-mother, and who were then at Rome: But the plot was betrayed by those who un­dertook to perform it; they exhorted the young man (being provoked by the cruelty of his Fa­ther) to prevent the deceit, and return the wicked act upon the Author of it; nor was it hard to perswade him to it, therefore (being sent for) when he came into the Kingdom of his Father, he was saluted as King, and Pru­sias his Father being dis-invested of his King­dom, became as a private man, and was for­saken of his own servants. When he concealed himself in corners, he was discovered and com­manded to be killed by his son, with no less wickedness then he commanded his son to be killed.

DEmetrius having possessed himself of the Kingdom of Syria, conceiving that the common hatred by this In­novation would prove rui­nous to himself, he deter­mined to inlarge the bounds of his Soveraignty, and to encrease his Re­venues by making War upon his Neighbours. Therefore being become an Enemy to A­riathes King of Cappadocia, because he re­fused to marry his Sister, he received his sup­pliant Brother Holofernes injustly driven [Page 422] from the Kingdom; and rejoycing that he had offered to him an honest Title of the War, he determined to restore to him his Kingdom: But Holofernes having ungratefully made a League with the Antiochians, and growing into enmity with Demetrius, he took counsel to expel him from the Kingdom, by whom he was restored to it; which although Deme­trius understood, yet he spared his life, that Ariathes might not be freed from the War which his brother Demetrius threatned to bring upon him; howsoever having apprehend­ed him, he commanded him to be kept bound at Seleucia; nevertheless the Antiochians being no ways terrified at it, did continue in their rebellion against him. Therefore Ptolomy King of Egypt, Attalus King of Asia, and Ariathes King of Cappadocia being all provoked by him to war, they suborned one Prompalus a young man, but of a most sordid birth and condition to challenge the King­dom of Syria, as if derived to him from his Father; and if denied, to recover it by force of Arms; And that nothing should be wanting to the pretence, he was called by the name of Alexander, and reported to be the Son of Antiochus. So general a hatred they did bear to Demetrius, that not onely Kingly powers, but the Nobility of birth also by the consent of all was bestowed on this counterfeit: Alexan­der [Page 423] therefore forgetting the baseness of his for­mer condition through the wonderful variety of events being attended with the Forces of all the East, did make war upon Demetrius: and having overcome him, did deprive him at once both of his life and Kingdom: Howsoever De­metrius wanted neither care nor courage to provide for the War; for in the first encounter he routed his Adversary, and the King again renewing the War, he killed afterwards in battel many thousands of his Enemies; At last, with an invincible courage, he fell fighting most gallantly amongst the thickest of his Enemies. In the beginning of the War, De­metrius commended both his Sons with a vast sum of Gold to his Guest Gnidius, both that they should be exempted from the dangers of the War; and if fortune so ordained it, that they should be preserved to revenge their Fa­thers death. The eldest of these, Demetrius by name, being about the sixteenth year of his age (having heard of the luxury of Alexander, whom such unlooked for possessions, and the royal ornaments belonging to another did keep a Prisoner in his own Court, amongst throngs of Concubines) the Cretians helping him, did set upon him secure, and fearing no Enemy at all: The Antiochians also recompencing their old offence committed against his Father with new deservings, did surrender themselves unto [Page 424] him; and his Fathers old Souldiers in favor of the young man (preferring the Religion of their old oath of fidelity above the pride of this new King) did translate both themselves and their Ensigns to Demetrius; And thus A­lexander being forsaken by no less impetuous­ness of fortune then he was advanced, was overcome and killed in the first encounter, and by his punishment satisfied the Ghost both of Demetrius whom he killed, and of Antiochus whose original he did counterfeit.

DEmetrius having recovered his Fathers Kingdom, and (by the success of affairs) being cor­rupted himself, did fall through the vice of his youth into sloth and riot, and contracted as much contempt by his sloth, as his Father had hatred by his pride. Therefore when the Cities did everywhere revolt from his Com­mand, to wipe away the blemish of his idle­ness, he made War upon the Parthians. The Eastern Nations did not unwillingly behold his approach both for the cruelty of Arsacidas [Page 426] King of the Parthians, and for that being accustomed to the ancient Command of the Macedonians, they did with indignation en­dure the arrogance of this new people: There­fore being assisted with the Auxiliaries of the Persians, Elamites, and the Brastrians, he overthrew the Parthians in many battels. At last, being circumvented by the pretence of a peace, he was taken; and being led in triumph through the Cities, he was shewed (as a mock of their favour) to the people that re­volted; and being afterwards sent into Hyr­cania, he was honourably intreated according to the dignity of his former Fortune. Whiles those things thus passed, Trifo who laboured in Syria to be constituted by the people to be the Guardian of Antiochus, the privign of Demetrius, having slain the young Prince, did invade the Kingdom of Syria, which having a long time enjoyed, the favour of his new Command growing out of date, at last he was overcome by Antiochus the Brother of De­metrius, a very young man who was bred up in the Wars of Asia; and thus the Kingdom of Syria was again devolved to the Issue of Demetrius.

This Antiochus being mindful that both his Father was hated for his pride, and his Brother made contemptible by his sloth, that he might not fall into the same vices, having [Page 427] first married Cleopatra his Brothers wife, he followed the War with great resolution against the Cities which revolted in the be­ginning of his Brothers raign, which being subdued, he added them to the bounds of his Empire. He also overcame the Jews, who under his Father Demetrius in the Macedo­nian Empire had by their arms redeemed themselves into liberty: So great was their power, that after him, they would not endure any King of the Macedons, and using their own Governours, they infested Syria with great Wars.

The Jews derive their Original from Da­mascus, which is the most noble of the Cities of Syria; and the Syrian Kings do boast their discent in a direct line from Queen Semira­mis: The name of Damascus was given to the City by Damascus who was King of it, in the honour of whom the Syrians have wor­shipped the Sepulcher of his wife Arathes as a Temple, and esteemed her a Goddess in the height of their most Religious devotions; After Damascus, Abraham, Moses and Israel were Kings: But the happy Issue of ten children made Israel more famous then the rest of his Ancestors; he delivered to his Sons the people divided into ten Tribes or Kingdoms, and commanded▪ that they should be all called Jewes, after the name Judah who dyed not [Page 428] long after the division of the Kingdoms, whose memory he commanded should be reverenced by them. His portion was distributed amongst them all, and Joseph was the youngest of the brethren, who fearing his excellent wit, having privately intercepted him, they sold him to forraign Merchants, by whom being brought into Egypt, when by the sharpness of his ap­prehension he had learned there the Magick Arts, he became in a short time most gracious with the King; for he was most sagacious in the discovery of wonderful events, and was the first of all who found out the understand­ing of dreams; and there seemed nothing un­known unto him which belonged to the Laws either of God or men, insomuch that (many years before it came to pass) he foresaw the barrenness of the Fields; and Egypt had been destroyed by Famine, if the King by his ad­monition had not given command that the fruits of the Earth should for many years to­gether be preserved; And so great was his Experience, that his Answers seemed to be gi­ven not from a man, but God. Moses was his Son, whom besides his hereditary know­ledge, the excellency of his beauty did com­mend. But when the Egyptians were plagued with itch and scabs, they were admonished by the Oracle to expel him with the sick from the bounds of Egypt, least the contagion of the [Page 429] disease should spread over all. Being therefore made Captain of the banished persons, he took away by stealth the sacred things of the Egypti­ans, which they attempting to recover by arms, were enforced to return back by Tempests. Moses therefore on his return to his ancient Country of Damascus did possess himself of Mount Sinai, where he and his people being afflicted with seven dayes continued fast, in the Desarts of Arabia, when he arrived to his journeys end, he by a fast consecrated the se­venth day to all Posterity, and according to the language of his Nation did call it the Sabbath, because that day did put a period both to their fasting and their travel: And (in remembrance that they were driven from Egypt for fear of the contagion) least for the same cause they might be hated by the In­habitants, they provided by a Law that they should not communicate with strangers, which beginning first from Policy, was by degrees turned afterwards into Discipline and Reli­gion.

After the death of Moses, his Son Arvas who was a Priest also in the Egyptians Religi­on, was created King; and it was always after­wards a Custom amongst the Jews that they had the same men both for Kings and Priests; whose justice being mixt with Religion, it is incredible how greatly they did prosper. The [Page 430] weath of the Nation did arise from the profits of the Opobalsamum which doth only grow in those Countries; for it is a Valley like a Garden which is invironed with continual Hils, and a [...] it were inclosed with a Wall: The space of the Valley containeth two hundred thousand Acres, and it is called Jericho. In that Valley there is a Wood as admirable for its fruitful­ness as for its delight; for it is intermingled with Palm-Trees and Opobalsamum: The Trees of the Opobalsamum have a resem­blance like to Firr-Trees, but that they are lower, and are planted and husbanded after the manner of Vines: On a set season of the year they do sweat Balsom; The darkness of of the place, is besides as wonderful as the fruitfulness of it: For although the Sun shines nowhere hotter in the World, there is natural­ly a moderate and a perpetual darkness of the Ayr: There is a Lake also in that Country, which by reason of its greatness and unmove­ableness of the water, is calld the dead Sea; fot it is neither stirred with the Winds, the gluti­nous substance (with which all the water is covered) resisting their violence, neither is it patient of Navigation; for all things wanting life, do presently sink into the bottom, neither doth it sustain any matter, unless it be washed over with Roch-Allum dissolved.

Xerxes King of the Persians did first over­come [Page 431] the Jews, they came afterwards with the Persians themselves into the power of Alexander the great, and a long time they continued in subjection to the Macedonian Empire; when they revolted from Deme­trius, and desired the friendship of the Ro­mans, they first of all the East did receive their liberty, the Romans at that time giving freely out of other mens possessions. In the same time in which the change of Go­vernment in Syria was alternately managed by the new Kings, Attalus King of Asia pol­luted that most flourishing Kingdom received from his Uncle Eumenes, with the slaughters of his friends, and the punishments of his neerest kinred; feigning sometimes that the old woman his Mother, sometimes that his wife Beronice were slain by their trea­sonable practices. After the fury of this most wicked violence, he did put on ragged clothes, and made short his beard, and the hair of his head after the manner of the guil­ty; he would not be seen in publick, nor shew himself to the people, he would have no feasts of mirth at home, or any appearance of a sober man▪ as if he would altogether by taking punishment on himself, give satisfacti­on to the Ghosts of the slain. At the last having forborn the administration of his Kingdom, he digged in gardens, sowed [Page 432] seeds, and mingled the good with the hurt­ful, and having steeped them all in the juyce of poyson, he sent them as a peculiar gift un­to his friends. From this study, he gave him­self to the Art of making of brass, and in the invention of tools and things belonging to it, and much delighted himself with the melting and the minting of pieces in Brass. After this, he bent all his endea­vours and design to make a Tomb for his Mo­ther, at which work being too intent, he contracted a disease by the immoderate heat of the Sun, and died the seventh day after­wards. By his Testament the People of Rome were made Heirs: But there was one Aristonicus descended from Eumenes, not by lawful marriage, but born of an Ephesian Strumpet, the Daughter of a Fidler, who after the death of Attalus did invade Asia as his Fathers Kingdom: And having made many happy encounters against the Cities, which for fear of the Romans would not de­liver themselves unto him, he seemed now to be a King in earnest; wherefore Asia was decreed to Licinus Crassus the Consul, who being more intent to the Attalick booty then to the war, when in the end of the year he entred into Battail with the Enemy with a disordered Army, being overcome, he with his own blood suffered for his inconsi­derate [Page 433] avarice. The Consul Perpenna being sent to supply his place, at the first encounter did overcome Aristonicus, and brought him under subjection, and carried with him unto Rome the hereditary treasures of Attalus; which his successor the Consul Marcus Aqui­lius repining at, did make all possible haste to snatch away Aristonicus from Perpenna, to become the gift and honor of his Triumph. But the death of Perpenna did end the diffe­rence of the Consuls; and thus Asia being made the Romans, she sent also, with her wealth, her vices unto Rome.

ARistonicus being taken, the Massilians sent Ambassa­dors to Rome, humbly in­treating for the Phocensians their Founders, whose City, and the memory of whose Name, because they were al­wayes implacable Enemies to the people of Rome, both at that time, and before, in the war of Antiochus, the Senate commanded should be utterly extinguished, but a pardon was granted by the importunity of the Am­bassadors. After this, the rewards were [Page 435] given to those Kings who brought in their Auxiliary forces against Aristonicus Syria the less was bestowed on Mithridates of Pontus; Lycaonia and Cilicia were given to the sons of Ariarathes, who fell himself in that war; and the people of Rome were more faithful to the sons of their Confederate Ariarathes, then the Mother was to her own children; for they encreased the Dominions of his son in his nonage, and she took away his life from him: For Laodice having in number six sons by King Ariarathes, fearing that they growing into years, she should no longer enjoy the administration of the King­dom, did destroy five of them by poyson. The care of his Kindred did preserve the yon­gest from the violence of the Mother, who after the death of Laodice (for the people did cut her off by reason of her cruelty) did enjoy the Kingdom alone. Mithridates also being taken away by a sudden death, did leave his Kingdom to his son, who was also called Mithridates, whose Greatness after­wards was such, that he excelled in Majesty, not only all the Kings of his time, but of the former age, and with various victory held war with the Romans for the space of six and forty years: whom the most famous Generals, Sylla, Lucullus and others at the first, and Cneius Pompeius at the last did so [Page 436] overcome, that he arose alwaies more great and famous in renewing of the war, and be­came more terrible by his losses; and at last being overcome by no hostile force, he died a voluntarie death in his own Kingdom, be­ing a very old man, and leaving a Son to suc­ceed him, many signs from Heaven did pre­sage his greatness to come; for both on that day in which he was born, and on that in which he began his Reign, at both times there did appear a Comet, which for seventie nights did shine so brightly, as all Heaven did seem to be in a flame; for by the greatness of it, it took up the fourth part of Heaven, and by its splendor it overcame the light of the Sun; and when it did either rise or set, it took up the space of four hours.

Being in his minoritie, he laie open to, and did endure the treacherie of his tutors, for they did put him upon a wild and an unma­naged horse, and did command him not one­ly to ride him, but to exercise his horsman­ship, and to throw darts from him; but Mi­thridates deluding their design, by governing the horse beyond the expectation of his age, they conspired against him by poyson, which he suspecting, did oftentimes drink Anti­dotes, and with such exquisite remedies did so prepare his bodie against it, that being an old man, he could not die by poyson, though [Page 437] attempting it. Fearing afterwards, that his enemies would perform with the sword what they could not dispatch with poyson, he pretended he would solace himself with the recreation of hunting; wherefore for the space of four years, he neither entred in­to Citie, nor came in the Countrie within the roof of any house, but wandred in the woods, and took up his lodging on the tops of se­verall hills, no man knowing in what place he was, being accustomed by his swiftness of foot, either to pursue wild beasts, or to flie from them, and sometimes by main force to grapple with them. By which means he both eschewed all treason that was designed a­gainst him, and hardned his bodie to all in­durance of virtue. When afterwards he came to the management of the Kingdom, he im­mediately contrived not so much how to rule it, as how to enlarge it, and by an incompara­ble felicitie overcame the Scythians, who were before invincible, for they had over­thrown Zopyro the Lieutenant of Alexander the great, with thirtie thousand armed men, and killed Cyrus King of the Persians, with two hundred thousand Souldiers, and routed Philip King of the Macedons. Being increased in his power, he possessed himself of Pontus, and not long afterwards of Cappadocia; and going privately out of his Kingdom, he so­journed [Page 438] over all Asia with a few friends, and thereby gained a perfect knowledge of all the Countrie, and of the situation of every Citie. After that, he travailed higher over all Bithy­nia, and being already, as it were Lord of A­sia, he contrived where to laie his best op­portunities for his following victories. Af­ter this he returned into his Kingdom, where it being generally noysed abroad that he was dead, he found a young childe, which in his absence Laodice, who was both his sister and his wife, had brought forth. But after his long travels, amidst the gratulations both of his safe arrival, and of the birth of his son, he was in danger of being poysoned; for his sister Laod ce believing he had been dead, did fall into an incontinent life, and attempting to conceal one sin by committing a greater, did resolve to welcome him with poyson; which when Mithridates understood by her maid, he revenged the treason which was plotted, on the author of it. And winter drawing on, he spent his time, not at the ban­quet, but in the field, not in sloth, but in exer­cise, not amongst his companions, but with Kings equal to him, either in the horse-race, or the foot-race, or by trying the strength of bodie. He also by daily exercise hardned his Armie to the same patience of labour, and being unconquered himself, he by these acts [Page 439] made his Armie invincible. Having after­wards made a league with Nicomedes, he in­vaded Paphlagonia, and having overcome it, he did share it with his companion Nico­medes. The Senate being informed that Pa­phlagonia was again in the possession of Kings, they sent Embassadors to them both, to command them to restore the Nation to her former condition. Mithridates when he believed that he was equall to the Roman Greatness, did return a proud answer, which was, that he received his Kingdom by inheri­tance, and did much wonder that they should trouble themselves with a Controversie which did not belong unto them; and being no­thing terrified with their threatnings, he seized upon Galatia. Nicomedes, because he could not defend himself by right, made an­swer▪ that he would restore his part to a law­ful King, and (having changed his Name) he called his own Son Philomenos, after the name of the Kings of Paphlagonia, and in a false name and title enjoied the Kingdom, as if he had restored it to the true Roial Pro­genie: And thus the Embassadors being deluded, did return to Rome.

MIthridates having begun his parricides by the murder of his own wife, determined with himself to put to death the Sons of his other sister Laodice, whose hus­band Ariarathes King of Cappadocia he had treacherously murdered by Gordius, thinking he had done nothing in murdering of the father, if the young men still enjoyed their fathers Kingdom, with a desire whereof he was violently transported. Whiles he was busie on his design, Nicomedes [Page 441] King of Bithynia did invade Cappadocia, de­stitute of a King; which when Mithridates understood, in a counterfeit pietie he sent as­sistance to his sister to drive Nicomedes out of the Kingdom; but in the mean time a con­tract being made, Laodice had espoused her self to Nicomedes. At which Mithridates being much troubled, he drove the Garrison-Souldiers and others of the Armie of Nico­medes out of Bithynia, and restored the King­dom to his sisters son, which was an honor­able act indeed, if it had not been attended by deceit; for not long after, he pretended that he would call back Gordius from banish­ment, whom he used as his minister in the murder of Ariarathes, and restore him to his Countrie, hoping if the young man should not give waie to it, there would arise from thence a sufficient cause of the war, or if he should permit it, that the Son might be de­stroyed by thesame man who killed his father, which when young Ariarathes did under­stand to be attempted by Mithridates, taking it deeply to heart, that the murderer of his father should be called from banishment by his Uncle, he imbodied a mightie Armie; Mithridates brought into the field four score thousand foot, and ten thousand horse, and six hundred Chariots armed with hooks of steel, and Ariarathes was altogether as [Page 442] powerful, the neighbouring Kings assisting him. Mithridates fearing the uncertain chance of the war, did alter his counsels, by causing them to degenerate into treachery; & having by his Agents courted the young man into a conference, and hid a naked sword in the plates of his garment, the Searcher be­ing sent to do his office according to the manner then of Kings, with great curio­sitie examined about the bottom of his bel­ly; whereupon he desired him to take heed, lest he found another weapon then that he sought for; the treachery being thus protected by the jeast, Mithridates having called him aside from his friends, as if he would con­fer in private with him, did kill him, both the armies being the spectators of it. This be­ing done, he delivered the Kingdom of Cap­padocia to Ariarathes his Son, being but eight years of age, having made Gordius Tutor over him, and calling him by the name of Ariara­thes. But the Cappadocians being incensed at the crueltie and the lust of Mithridates, his Lieutenants revolted from him, and called back the brother of the slaughtered King from Asia, where he was bred up, and whose name was Ariarathes also, with whom Mi­thridates renewed the war, and having over­come him, did expell him the Kingdom of Cappadocia; and not long after the young [Page 443] man (having contracted an infirmitie by his melancholy) died; after his death Nicome­des fearing least by the addition of Cappa­docia, Mithridates should also invade Bithy­nia that bordered on it, did suborn a boy, as remarkable for his stature as his countenance, to demand of the Senate of Rome his fathers Kingdom, as if old Ariarathes had three, and not two Sons born unto him. He also sent his wife Laodice to Rome to be a witness of the three Sons begotten by Ariarathes. Which when Mithridates understood, he with the like impudence, sent Gordius to Rome, to assure unto the Senate, that the Boy to whom he delivered Cappadocia, was be­gotten of that Ariarathes who died in the war of Aristonicus, bringing his Auxiliaries to the Roman Armie▪ But the Senate being prepossessed with the designs of the Kings, would not give to false Names the Kingdoms of others, but took Cappadocia from Mi­thridates, and that he should not be alone in discontent, they took away also Paphla­gonia from Nicomedes. And that it should not be any contumely to the Kings, that the Kingdoms which were taken from them should be given unto others, both people re­ceived the Donation of their libertie. But the Cappadocians refused their gift of free­dom, affirming that their Nation could not [Page 444] subsist without a King. Therefore the Senate did constitute Ariobarzenes to be their King. At that time Tigranes was King of Armenia, not long before given as a pledge to the Par­thians, and now lately dismissed and sent by them home to his Fathers Kingdom. Mi­thridates had a great desire to joyn him with him in the war against the Romans, which he had before determined with himself. Ti­granes thinking nothing what an offence it would be against the Romans, was by Gordius excited to make war against Ariobarzenes, a man of a heavy temper & not able to oppose him; and that there should be no suspition of any injury to be contrived by deceit, Mithri­dates did give him his Daughter Cleopatra in­to mariage. Therefore on the first approach of Tigranes, Ariobarzenes having taken all things with him that he could call his own, did repair to Rome; and thus by the means of Tigranes, Cappadocia became again under the power of Mithridates. At the same time Nicomedes being deceased, his son, who was also called Nicomedes, was by the force of Arms beaten by Mithridates from his fathers Kingdom; who when he came a suppliant to Rome, it was decreed in the Senate, that they should both be restored into their Kingdoms; to the effecting of which, Aqui­lius Manlius, and Malthinius were sent Am­bassadors. [Page 445] This being made known in Asia, Mithridates being to make war against the Romans, did enter into a league with Ti­granes, and articled with him, that the Cities and the fields should be the part of Mithridates, but the Captives and all the movables should be the portion of Tigranes.

And Mithridates having pondered with himself how great a war he had raised, sent some Ambassadors to the Cymbrians, and others to the Gallogrecians, to the Sarmati­ans and Bastarnians, to desire assistance of them. For heretofore when he had deter­mined with himself to make war against the Romans, he obliged to him all these Nations with variety of gifts and benefits. He also sent for an Army out of Scythia, and armed all the East against the Romans: therefore with no great difficulty he overthrew Aqui­lius and Malthinius, who commanded the Asiatick Army, who being routed and driven out of the field with Nicomedes, he wasrecei­ved with an extraordinary great applause of the Cities. In those he found great store both of Gold laid up by the thrifty providence of the former Kings; he found also great store of Arms and Provision for the war, with which being furnished, he remitted to the Cities their publick and private debts, and for five years did free them from all Im­positions. [Page 446] After this, having called his sol­diers to a general Assembly, with several ex­hortations he did excite them to the Roman, or rather the Asiatick Wars. The Copy of his Speech I have thought worthy to insert into the narrow compass of this work, which Pompeius Trogus did interpret to be indirect, and reprehended both Livy▪ and Salust, that (inserting set speeches into their writings as the orations of the parties interested) they did exceed the bounds of History. Mithri­dates said, that it was to be wished that he might have leave to take Counsel, whether war or peace were to be had with the Ro­mans; since we are bound to resist those who do oppose us; and those are not to be in doubt what to determine on, who are with­out hope of Victory: For against thieves, though we cannot for our safety, yet we all do draw our sword for revenge; but be­cause that is not in question whether we ought to set down, being lookt upon not only with hostile minds, but assaulted also with hostile arms; the present Counsel to be demanded is, upon what hope and account we may maintain the wars begun? For his own part, he affirmed he had a confidence of the Victory, if they had a generous Re­solution to fight: and it was known as much to his soldiers as to himself, that the Romans [Page 447] that were to be overcome, were they who overthrew Aquilius in Bithynia, and Malthinus in Cappadocia; But if other ex­amples would perswade more then his own Experience, he had heard that Pyrrhus King of Epirus commanding an Army of not above five thousand Macedons, did in three battails overthrow the Romans. He had heard that Annibal had continued a Conquerour in Italy for the space of sixteen years together, and that he might have taken the City it self, were he not hindred by a faction of emulating and envious spirits at home, and not by any power of the Romans. He had heard he said, how the people of Transalpine Gaule had invaded Italy, and possessed themselves of the most and grea­test Cities therein, and had there larger territories then they enjoyed in Asia, which was said to be but weak in comparison of Rome, neither was Rome only overcome by the Gauls, but it was taken also by them, and nothing was left them but only the top of one hill, from whence they were removed not by war, but by money. But as for the Gauls (whose Name was so terrible to the Romans) he had a great part of them amongst his own Auxiliaries; for the Gauls he said, who do inhabit Asia, do only differ from those in Italy by the distance of place, but [Page 448] had the same original, the same courage, and the same manner of fight; who had so much the more clear and apprehensive wits, as they had adventured a more long and dif­ficult march through Illyricum and Thracia, who have their residence in other places. As for Italy it self, did they never hear how, and by whom Rome was builded? which though now at peace with it self, yet some of them dayly for their liberty, and others for the power of Command have persevered in continual wars; How many Armies of the Romans have been overthrown by the Cities of Italy, and some of them by a new way of Contumely thrust under the yoak: And that we may not dwell on old Examples, all Italy is now in Arms excited by the Marsick war, demanding now not liberty, but to be partakers in the Empire, and of the free­dom of the City of Rome▪ neither is the City more oppressed with the neighbou [...]ing war of Italy, then with the domestick faction of the Governours, & [...] war even with their own Ci­tizens doth grow upon them far more dan­gerous then the war with Italy. The Cym­brians also from Germany like a vast deluge of wild and ungoverned people, do at this pre­sent overwhelm all Italy. And although the Romans peradventure could maintain the se­veral wars one after another, yet they must [Page 449] needs now suffer, so many wars coming all at once upon them, insomuch that they cannot be at leisure to follow this very war that they do make upon us; we make use therefore of this present occasion, and pluck from them the increase of their strength, and not give them leave to rest, being so deeply engaged, lest hereat they might finde more work, being quiet at home, and without another enemie; for the question is not to be put, whether we should take arms or no, but whether of our selves, or provoked by the Romans.

But the war he said was indeed begun a­gainst him by them, when in his nonage they took the greater Phrygia from him, which they granted should be given to his father, as a reward for the aide he brought against Ari­stonicus, it being the same Countrie which Seleucus Callimacus gave in Dowrie to his Grand-father Mithridates. And what shall I say to the command laid upon me to depart from Paphlagonia; was not that another mo­tive of the war? espeeially since Paphlago­nia came not by the power of the sword, but descended to my Father by inheritance, by a­doption in Will, and by the death of suc­cessive Kings; and in giving obedience to their violent Decrees, I have no waies miti­gated them, but they have still deported themselvs more violently against me. For [Page 450] he said, what obsequiousness was not afforded to them by him? was not Phrygia and Paphlagonia taken from him? was not his Son forced from Cappadocia? which by the Law of Nations he seized upon being Con­querour; but his victorie was ravished from him by them, who have nothing at all but what they have purchased by the sword. Was not Crestos the King of Bithynia (a­gainst whom the Senate had denounced war) cut off by him to do them a favour? yet in whatsoever Gordius or Tigranes had offend­ed, it must be reckoned all on his account. He alledged also that in the ignominie of him, the Senate of their own accord offered that libertie to Cappadocia, which they took from other Nations▪ and that people instead of their proffered libertie, desiring Gordius to be their king, it could not be granted because Gordius was his friend. Nicomedes also by their command had made war upon him, and was assisted by them, because Mithri­dates did pass unrevenged; and now they finde the same cause of war with Mithri­dates, because he would not tamely yield him­self to be torn in pieces by Nicomedes the Son of a vaulting woman; for they did not so much pursue the faults of Kings, as their Power and their Majestie, neither did they with so much violence exercise his art on him [Page 451] alone, but on all other Kings also; so his Grand-father Pharnaces was by their arbitra­tion delivered up to Eumenes King of Per­gamus; So Eumenes again, in whose Ships they were first transported into Asia, by whose Armie rather then by their own, they overcame both Antiochus the great, and the Gauls in Asia; and not long after King Per­seus in Macedonia, was at the last censured by them as their Enemie, and forbidden to come into Italie; and because they thought it would render them odious to make war with him in his own person, they deferred it for a while, to carrie it on with more violence a­gainst his Son Aristonicus. They professed that no man deserved better of them, then Masinissa King of the Numidians; to him they imputed the Conquest of Annibal, the Captivitie of Syphax▪ and the destruction of Carthage; to him as well as unto the two Scipios, called Africani, the title was ascri­bed of Preserver of the Citie; and yet the war waged but the other daie in Africa with his Son, was so inexpiable, that having over­come him, they would give no respect in him to the memorie of his Father, but he must endure both imprisonment, and become the spectacle of the Triumph. This condition and height of hatred was imposed by them on all Kings, because their own Kings were [Page 452] such, at whose very names they might blush, being either Stepherds of the Aborigines, or Southsaiers of the Sabins, or Ex [...]ls of the Corinthians, or slaves and varlets of the Tus­cans, or (whose name is most honourable a­mongst them, and as they themselves assert are their founders) those who were nourished with the Milk of a Shee▪Wolf; according­ly all their people have the minds of Wolves, insatiate of blood, and greedie and hungry after riches and soveraigntie. But if he would descend to compare himself in his No­bilitie with them, he was far more famous he said, then that litter of mongrels▪ deri­ving his Ancestors on his fathers side, from Cyrus and Darius, the founders of the Per­sian Empire, and on his mothers side from Alexander the great, and Nicanor Seleucus, the Erectors of the Macedonian Empire; or if he should compare his people to theirs, they were of those Nations who are not onely equal to the Roman Empire, but op­posed the Macedonian; no Nation that is subject unto him, did ever stoop to the com­mands of a forreign Potentate, and obey­ed none but their own Domestick Kings; would they have him to make mention of Cappadocia or Paphlagonia, of Pontus or Bi­thynia, or of Armenia, the greater or the less, none of which Nations, neither Alexander [Page 453] the great, who subdued all Asia, nor any of his Successors or Posteritie ever touched. As for Scythia, it is true indeed, that two Kings before him adventured not so much to sub­due as to invade it; Darius by name, and Phi­lip, who had much to do to escape from thence by flight, from whence he shall re­ceive the greatest part of his strength against the Romans. He affirmed he undertook the Pontick wars, with far more fear and diffi­dence then this, he being then but a young man, and unexperienced in the Discipline of war. The Scythians▪ howsoever then his ene­mies, (besides their Arms, and courage of their minds) were fortified with the solitude and inhospitable coldness of their climate, by which, their great labor in war, and their con­tempt of dangers was the more declared; amongst which difficulties, there could not be any hope of reward expected from a wan­dring enemie, and destitute not onely of money, but of habitations; but he now un­dertook another waie of war; for there is no climate more temperate then the Air of Asia, nor any place more fruitful of soyl, nor more pleasant in the multitude of Cities; and they should consume the greatest part of their time, not as it were in war, but in keep­ing of holy-daies; and it is hard to say, in a ser­vice more easie or more aboundant, whether [Page 454] they are to march to the neighboring posses­sions of the Attalick Kingdoms, or to the anti­ent Cities of Lydia & Jonia, which they should not go to overcome, but to possess. And Asia it self, desirous of his approach, doth so much expect him, that she seemeth even to court his presence, and to call upon him with her voice; so hateful had the Romans made themselves unto her, by the ravenous avarice of their Proconsuls, the exactions of their Publicans, and the calumnie of their contenti­ons. Let them therefore (he concluded) fol­low him with resolution, and collect to them­selves what so great an Armie might atchieve under his command, whom without the aide of any Souldier, they saw with his own strength to have taken in Cappadocia, and to have slain the King thereof, who the first of all mankinde subdued Pontus and all Scy­thia, which no man before him could with safetie pass by, much less invade. Nor could his Souldiers be ignorant, he said, of his Ju­stice and liberalitie, having those demonstra­tions of it, that alone of all Kings he possess­ed not onely his Fathers Kingdoms, but had added other Kingdoms to them, by reason of his munificence, as Colchos, Paphlagonia, and Bosp [...]orus. Having with this Oration excited his Souldiers, in the three and thirtieth year of his Reign he descended to the wars with [Page 455] Rome. At the same time King Ptolomy being dead in Egypt, his Kingdom and his sister Queen Cleopatra, who was his wife also, was by Embassadors presented to that Ptolomy, who was King of Cyrene. At which Ptolo­my much rejoyced, but especially that with­out contestation he should be possessed in his Brothers Kingdom, to which he knew that the Son of his Brother was appointed both by his mother Cleopatra, and by the favor of the Princes. Not long after (all being displeased with him) he no sooner entred into Alexan­dria, and commanded all the favourers of the young childe to be put to death; and on that very day in which he married his mother, he killed the young Prince in the mothers im­braces of him, in the midst of the Banquet and the solemnitie of this marriage; and thus he ascended his sisters bed, bloodie with the slaughter of her Son. Afterwards, he was not more milde unto the people who cal­led him unto the succession of the Kingdom; for licentiousness being given to the forreign Souldiers, all things did daily flow with blood, and at last (having by force ravished her daughter, and taken her afterwards into mar­riage) he divorced himself from his sister. With which crueltie the people being af­frighted, they stole away into several places, and having wilfully banished themselves, they [Page 456] forsook their Country for the fear of death. Ptolomy therefore with his own servants be­ing left alone in so great a City, when he perceived himself to be a King not of men, but of empty houses, did publish a declarati­on, solliciting all Strangers to inhabit the City, who coming in great numbers to him, he not long after did go himself to meet Scipio Africanus, Spurius Mummius, and Lucius Metellus the Ambassadors of the Ro­mans, who made a visitation into those parts to observe the condition and kingdoms of their Confederates.

But he appeared as ridiculous to the Ro­mans, as bloody to all the Citizens; for he was deformed in countenance, and short in stature, and by the obeseness of his strutting belly, more like unto a Beast then to a man; which filthiness, his tiffanies and light gar­ments which he had on did encrease, as if those parts offered themselves to be seen as through a vail, which Modesty commands us with diligence to conceal.

After the departure of the Ambassadors, amongst whom while Africanus walked forth to behold the City, he became a spectacle of honor himself to the Alexandrians; Ptolo­my (being hated by the Strangers also that were become Citizens) did silently for fear of treachery, depart into banishment, having [Page 457] taken with him his son which he had begot­ten on his sister, and his new wife whom he had married, having put away her mother, and having with money contracted a merce­nary army, be made war at once on his Sister, and his Country; After this, having sent for his eldest son from Cyrene, that the Alexan­drians should not make him their King against him, he put him to death; where­upon the people pulled down his Statues and Images, which he conceiving to be done in favour of his Sister, he slow that Son also whom he begot on her, and having divided his Body into several parts, and put it into a Coffin, he sent it to his Mother on that day whereon she made yeerly a great feast for the solemnity of his Birth; which was a sight not only grievous and much lamented by the Mother, but by all the City also, and brought so much grief in the height of all their mirth at the banket, that all the Court was filled with a great and a suddain lamentation.

The Inclinations of the Princes being therefore turned from feasting into mour­ning, they shewed to the people the dis­membred body of the young Prince, and by the murder of his own son did declare what they ought themselves to expect of their King. Cleopatra having ended the dayes of her mourning for the death of her son, when [Page 458] she perceived that she was oppressed by a war also from her late husband her brother, she by her Ambassadors demanded aid of De­metrius King of Syria, whose own fortunes were as various as they were memorable; For when Demetrius made war against the Parthians, as mention hath been made before, and in many encounters overcame them, being on a sudden surrounded by an Ambus­cado, having lost his Army, he was taken himself.

Arsacides King of the Parthians, in the greatness of his royal spirit having sent him into Hyrcania, did not only honour him with the Respect due unto a King, but gave him his daughter also in marriage, and promised to restore unto him the Kingdom of Syria, which in his absence Trypho became Master of. After his death, Demetrius despayring of return, and not enduring Captivity, and loathing a private life, although a fatt one and a wealthy, did contrive with himself how he might escape into his own Kingdom. His friend Calamander was both his Compa­nion, and his perswader to undertake this journey, who after his Captivity in Syria, having hired a guide, did bring him disgui­zed in a Parthians habit through the desarts of Arabia into Babylon; But Phrahartes who succeeded Arsacides, by the swiftness of his [Page 459] horses did cause him to be brought back, be­ing overtaken by the compendiousness of their goings; Being brought unto the King, he not only pardoned Calamander, but gave him a reward for his fidelity to his friend; but having very roundly checked Demetrius, he sent him to his wife in Hyrcania, and com­manded that he should be observed by a stricter guard: In process of time, when the children which he had by his wife, did seem to be a stronger obligation on him for his fidelity, he did endeavour to make his escape again, having the same friend to be his Companion▪ but by the same infelici­ty he was taken again near unto the bounds of his own Kingdom▪ and being the second time brought unto the King, he was looked upon as a hated man, and not suffered to come into his presence. But being then also dismissed to his wife and children, he was sent back into Hyrcania and confined to a City, upon a penalty not to go out of it, and in the reproach of his childish levity, was laden with golden shackles. But no com­passion of the Parthians, nor respect of any consanguinity was the occasion of this their clemency towards Demetrius, but because the Parthians affected the Kingdom of Syria, they determined to make use of Demetrius against his brother Antiochus, as the oppor­tunity [Page 460] of time or the fortune of the war should require. This being understood, An­tiochus thinking it discretion to take the ad­vantage to begin the war, did conduct his Army, which he had hardened with many neighbouring wars against the Parthians; But his preparation for luxury, was no less then for the carrying on of the war, for three thousand of his black guard followed eight thousand of the armed men; amongst whom also, a great number were Cooks, Bakers and Players▪ and all of them so abounding with Gold and Silver, that the common Soldiers had their shoes enterlaced with Gold, and trod upon that mettal; for the love of which all other Nations do fight with steel. In their Kitchings also their in­struments were of silver, as if they advanced rather to keep some great feast, then to pro­secute a war.

Anticohus approaching, many Kings of the East did meet him, who in detestation of the Parthian Pride, delivered themselves and their kingdoms to him. Not long after the battail began, and Antiochus having over­thrown his Enemies in three several fields, and possessed himself of Babylon, he was cal­led Antiochus the great; And the people in all the neighbouring Nations revolting to him, there was nothing left to the Parthians [Page 461] but their own Country, and the boundaries of it. At the same time Phrahartes sent Demetri­us into Syria with a considerable Army of the Parthians, to possess himself of his own Kingdom, that upon that account Antio­chus should be called off from Parthia to de­fend his own Interests. And because he could not overcome him by strength, he did every where attempt him by Stratagems. The Army of Antiochus abounding with multi­tudes, the winter coming on, he quartered his Army in several Cities, which was the cause of his destruction; For when the Cities beheld themselves oppressed with the billet­ing▪ & the injuries of the soldiers, they revol­ted to their old Masters the Parthians and on a prefixed day, by treacheries they did all assault the divided Army, that thereby one might be disabled to bring assistance unto the other. Which when Antiochus under­stood, being resolved to relieve those who were next unto him, he advanced with that party which with him had their winter quarters.

In his way, he encountred with the King of the Parthians, against whom in his person he fought more couragio [...]sly then all his Ar­mie. At last when he had overcome his ene­mies by fine force, being abandoned of his own Souldiers through the treacherie of their [Page 462] fear, he was slain. Phrahartes did bestow upon him the solemnitie of magnificent funerals, after the manner of Kings, and (being taken with the love of the Virgin) did marrie the daughter of Demetrius, which Antiochus had brought along with him, and began to repent that ever he suffered Demetrius to go away; and having sent in full speed several troops of horse to fetch him back, they found him in safetie in his own Kingdom, fearing the same design of Phrahartes, and having in vain at­tempted all things to reduce him, they re­turned to their own King.

ANtiochus being overthrown in Parthia with his Armie, his Brother Demetrius being de­livered from the Captivitie of the Parthians and restored to his own Kingdom, when all Syria was in lamentation by reason of the loss of the Armie, as if he had happily ma­naged his own and his Brothers wars with Parthia, in which the one of them was taken, and the other slain, he was resolved to make another war in Egypt, his mother in law Cleo­patra having promised him that Kingdom [Page 464] as the reward of his assistance against her Brother. But whiles he affected the posses­sions of other men (as oftentimes it comes to pass) he lost his own by the revolt of Syria; for the Antiochians first of all un­der the command of their General Trypho, having in detestation the pride of their King which became intolerable by the exercise of his Parthian crueltie, and after them the Apa­menians and other Cities following their ex­amples, did revolt from King Demetrius in his absence. But Ptolomy King of Egypt, ha­ving his Kingdom invaded by him, when he understood that his sister Cleopatra having taken with her the wealth of Egypt, was fled unto her Daughter and to Demetrius her Son in law, did suborn a young man of Egypt the son of Protarchus a Merchant, who by armes should demand the Kingdom of Syria; and the plot was laid as if he had been received into the Royal Family by the adoption of King Antiochus; and the Syrians despising not any who was imposed upon them to be their King, the name of this their King that they might no longer endure the arrogance of Demetrius) was called Alexander, and great aides were sent him out of Egypt▪ In the mean time, the bodie of Antiochus slain by the King of the Parthians, was brought in a silver Coffin, being sent by him to be bu­ried [Page 465] in Syria, which was received with infi­nite solemnitie, both from all the Cities and from King Alexander himself, to leave a fairer gloss upon the fable; and this pro­cured him the general favour and acclama­tions of the people, all men believing that his tears came as much from his heart as from his eyes. But Demetrius being overcome by Alexander, when he was besieged round with calamities, he was at last forsaken by his own wife and children. Being therefore le [...]t with a few poor servants when he repaired to Ty­rus, to defend himself there by the religion of the Temple, going out of the Ships, he was killed by the commandment of the Lieutenant. Seleucus, one of his Sons, be­cause he assumed the Diademe without the Authoritie of his mother, was slain by her▪ the other (whose Name▪ by reason of the greatness of his Nose was Gryphus) was or­dained King as yet by the mother, that the Name of the King might be with the Son, but all the command of Soveraigntie with the mother. But Alexander having seized upon the Kingdom of Syria, being puffed up with the vanitie of his present success, did be­gin now by a contumelious arrogance to de­spise Ptolomy himself by whom he was ad­vanced into the Kngdom. Ptolomy there­fore having reconciled himself unto his sister, [Page 466] did endeavor with all his power to destroy the Kingdom of Alexander, which in the hatred to Demetrius he had procured to him by his own power; To which purpose he sent Auxiliaries into Greece to Gryphus, and his daughter Gryphina to be espoused to him, that he might sollicite the people to the aide of his Nephew, not onely by his affinity to him, but by the societie of the war. Neither was it in vain; for when all perceived Gry­phus recruited with the Egyptian forces, they did by degrees begin to revolt from Alexan­der. Not long after the battaile was [...]ought, in which Alexander being conquered, did flie to Antiochia. Being there destitute of mo­ney, and the Souldiers complaining for want of pay he commanded the Effigies of VI­CTORY being all of solid Gold, to be taken away from the Temple of Jupiter, laughing at the Sacriledge with this scorn of prophan [...]r wit [...] for VICTORY he said was lent him by Jupiter. Not long after, when he commanded [...]e Effigies of Jupiter himself, being all of beaten Gold, and of an infin [...]e weight to be taken away, he was met with in the Sacriledge and enforced to fly, by reason of the concourse of the multi­tude, and a great Tempest following him, he was taken by Thieves, being forsaken of his own men, and was by them▪ brought un­to [Page 467] Gryphus, who did put him to death. Gry­phus having recovered his fathers Kingdom, and being delivered from all forrein dangers, was set upon by the Son of his own Mother, who in her immoderate desire of Soveraign­tie, having betrayed her Husband Demetrius, and killed one of her Sons, and complain­ing that her Dignitie suffered Diminution by the greatness and the Victories of her Son, she offered him a Boule of poyson as he came hot from hunting. But Gryphus having no­tice of this treason, as if he would contend with his mother in complement, desired her to drink first her self; but she refusing it, he grew importunate upon her; at the Iast the witness being produced, did convict her, and affirmed that she had nothing left to defend her self, but onely to drink that which she offered to her Son. The Queen being thus overcome, her wickedness being turned upon her self, she died by the same poyson which she had prepared for another. Gryphus ha­ving obtained securitie for his Kingdom, did live for the space of eight years secure him­self. At the last he found a Rival in his Kingdom; it was his Brother Cyricaenus born of the same mother, but begotten of his Uncle Antiochus, whom when he endeavored to take away by poyson, he exasperated him to contend with him the sooner in [Page 468] Arms for his establishment in the Kingdom.

Amongst these parricidial discords in the kingdom of Syria, Ptolomy King of Egypt dyed, the kingdom of Egypt being left to his wife and to one of his Sons, whom she should make choice of to succeed him; as if the State of Egypt should be more quiet then the Kingdom of Syria, when the mother ha­ving elected one of her Sons to be her suc­cessor, should have the other to be her ene­mie. Therefore when she was more inclined to her younger Son, she was compelled by the people to make choice of the elder, to whom before she would give the Kingdom, she took away his wife, and inforced him to divorce from his bed his most dear sister Cleopatra, and to marrie his yonnger sister Seleuce, not with the impartial [...]tie of a mo­therly affection to her two daughters, having taken a husband from one of them and given him unto the other. But Cleopatra being not so much forsaken by her husband, as dis­missed from him by the willfulness of her mother, was married afterwards to Cyri­caenus in Syria; and that she should not bring him the bare and emptie name onely of a wife, she sollicited the Armie of Cyprus, and having engaged them to her▪ she brought them as a Dowrie to her husband. Ciry­caenus being now equall to him in strength, [Page 469] the battaile was fought, and Cyricaenus being overcome was put to flight and came to An­tioch, which was presently besieged by Gry­phus, in which Citie was also Cleopatra the wife of Cyricaenus; the Citie being taken, Gryphina the wife of Gryphus commanded nothing more earnestly then that her sister Cleopatra should be sought out, not to assist her in her Captivity, but to be sure that she might not escape the calamitie of it, because that in the emulation of her, she did come in­to that Kingdom, and by marrying the ene­mie of her sister, did make her self an enemie unto her; she accused her for drawing for­reign Armies into the contestation of the Brothers, and that it was not for nothing that she was divorced from her Brother, and that she married another without the King­dom of Egypt, against the will of her mo­ther. On the other side, Gryphus did desire her that she would not compell him to com­mit so foul a crime, and that never any of his Ancestors after so many wars both at home and abroad, having overcome their enemies, did offer any violence to the women, whom their sex did exempt from the danger of the war, and from the crueltie of the Conqueror; but to plead for her, besides the Laws of war, there was also the contiguitie of blood, she being her own sister, against whom so bloodi­ly [Page 470] she raged, and his own cosen German, and the mother of children betwixt them; to this neer relation of consanguinitie, he added the superstition of the Temple to which she fled to protect her self, and that the gods were so much the more religiously to be wor­shipped, as they were more propitious and favourable to him in his conquest; besides, she being slain, nothing was diminished of the strength and power of Cyricaenus. But by how much Gryphus was the more unwil­ling, by so much her sister was inflamed with a female pertinatiousness, conceiving those words of his proceeded from love and not from pittie. Therefore having called the Souldiers to her, she sent them her self to kill her sister, who entering into the Temple, when they could not drag her out of it, they cut off her hands, holding fast on the Image of the goddess, and in her last words having cursed the Author of the Parricide, the gods besides being violated, she died but to revenge her self; for not long after, ano­ther battaile being fought, and Cyricaenus Conquerour, he took Gryphina the wife of Gryphus prisoner, who killed her sister, and by her death did parentate to the Ghosts of his wife. But Cleopatra in Egypt, when she was offended that her Son Ptolomy was her companion in the Kingdom, she excited the [Page 471] people against him, and having taken from him his Wife Seleuce, and so much the more unworthily because he had two children by her, she compelled him to live a banished life, having sent for her younger Son Alexan­der, and crowned him King in the place of his Brother; and being not content to have ba­nished him out of the Kingdom, she prosecu­ted a War against him in Cyprus, and having driven him from thence also, she killed the General of her own Army, because he per­mitted him to escape alive out of his hands: although Ptolomy being no wayes inferior to him in strength, did willingly depart out of the Iland, that he might not be engaged in a War against his own Mother.

Alexander being terrified with this cruelty of his Mother, did also himself forsake her, preferring a safe and quiet life above a dan­gerous Kingdom.

But Cleopatra fearing that her eldest Son Ptolomy should be assisted by Cyricaenus to be by him restored into Egypt, did send great Ayds to Gryphus, and Seleuce to be his wife, who must now be espoused to the Enemy of her former husband, and by Ambassadors called back Alexander her Son into the Kingdom, whose life when by treachery she contrived to take away, being prevented by him, she was killed herself, and yielded up her [Page 472] spirit not by fate but parricide. Worthy she was of this infamy of death, who drove her own Mother from the bed of her husband, and possessed her room in it, and successively made her two Daughters Widows after their al­ternate marriage with their own Brothers, who banished one of them, & afterwards made war against him, and having taken the Kingdom also from the other, did endeavor to put him to death by treachery.

But Alexander had the leisure to repent of this horrible act; for when ever it was known that the Mother was slain by the violence of the Son, he was forced into banishment by the people, and Ptolomy being called back, the Kingdom was restored to him, who would neither make War with his Mother, nor take away by Arms from his brother what he him­self did first possess. Whiles these things were thus carryed, his brother begotten on a Con­cubine, to whom his Father in his Will did leave the Kingdom of Cyrene, did decease, having made the people of Rome his Heir; for now the fortune of Rome being not content with the bounds of Italy, did begin to extend it self to the Kingdoms of the East. There­fore that part of Lybia was made a Province, and afterwards Crete and Cilicia being sub­dued in the Piratick War, were reduced into the form of a Province, by which meanes the [Page 473] Kingdoms of Syria and Egypt being streight­ned by the Roman neighbourhood, and ac­customed heretofore to raise advantages to themselves by Wars, with those who were next unto them, the power of wandring abroad being taken away, they turned their own strength into their own bowels, insomuch that consuming themselves with daily encounters, they grew into contempt with their neigh­bors, and became a prey to the Nation of the Arabians but weak and contemptible before; whose King Herotimus in the confidence of six hundred Sons begotten on divers Concu­bines, with divided Armies did sometimes in­vade and plunder Egypt, and sometimes Syria, and advanced the name of the Ara­bians, making it great by the weakness of the neighbouring Princes.

THe mutual hatreds of the Brothers, and not long af­terwards the enmity of the Sons succeeding the hatred of their Parents, when both the Kings and King­dom of Syria was consu­med by an inexpiable War, the people were en­forced to seek forraign Ayd, and began to look upon the Kings that were strangers to them; Therefore when one part of them were of opinion that Mithridates should be sent for out of Pontus, and another part [Page 475] thought that Ptolomy should be sent for out of Egypt, it being advertised that Mithridates was involved in the Roman War, and that Ptolomy was an Enemy unto Syria, they all agreed upon Tigranes King of Armenia who was supplyed (besides his own strength) with the Society of the Parthians, and the affinity of Mithridates. Tigranes being therefore sent for into the Kingdom of Syria, for the space of eighteen years most peaceably enjoyed the Kingdom, neither did he provoke any by War, neither being provoked did he conceive it necessary to make war against any other. But as Syria was safe from the in va­sion of Enemies, so it was made desolate by an Earthquake, in which one hundred and se­venty thousand persons, and many Cities were destroyed: The South-sayers being consulted, did make answer, that this Prodigie did por­tend the change of affairs in the Kingdoms of the East.

Tigranes therefore being overcome by Lu­cullus, Antiochus the Son of Cyricaenus was made King of Syria by him. But what Lu­cullus gave, Pompey afterwards did take away; for he demanding the Kingdom of him, he made answer, That he would not make him King of Syria, either desiring or refusing it, having for the space of eighteen years, during which Tigranes possessed Syria, dishonourably [Page 476] concealed himself in a corner of Cilicia; but Tigranes being overcome, he now desired of the Romans the reward of another mans la­bour; Therefore as he did not dispossess him of the Kingdom when he had it; so because he gave way to Tigranes, he would not grant him that which he could not defend, least he should render Syria again obnoxious to the robberies of the Arabians and the Jewes: He therefore reduced it into the form of a Pro­vince, and thus by the discord of the consan­guineous Kings, the East by degrees became under the power of the Romans.

THe Parthians in whose power (as if they had made a division of the World with the Ro­mans) the Empire of the East is at this time resident, were the banished men of Sythia; which by their own language is interpreted; for in the Sythian tongue, a Parthian doth signifie a banished man. In the time of the Medes and Assyrians, they were the most obscure of all the Nations in the East; and af­terwards when the Empire of the East was translated from the Medes unto the Per­sians, [Page 478] like people without a name they be­came always he prey of the Conquerors. At last the Macedons having triumphed over all the East, did make them their servants: And indeed it may appear wonderful, that by their courage they were advanced to so great a hap­piness, as to raign over those Nations under whose command they were accounted before but as a servile Generation: And being pro­voked by the Romans by their greatest Ge­nerals in their most flourishing estate of the Empire, they were of all Nations not onely their equals but their Conquerors: Howsoever, it is more their glory to rise and grow up amongst hose Empires of Assyria, Media, and Persia, (before remembred) and the most re­nowned Bactrian Dominion of one thousand Cities, then to be fam us in the Conquests of a Nation so remote: Moreover it is remark­able, that when they were daily vexed with the great Wars against the Sythians and their neerer Enemies, and were oppressed round with all manner of dangers, they did not onely possess themselves of the solitary and waste places betwixt Hyrcania and the Dacans, but privily became masters of the Borders of the Areans, Spartans, and Majans: Afterwards their neighbours not permitting but opposing them, they did so far advance themselves, that they inhabited as well the clifts and tops of the [Page 479] Rocks and Mountains, as the low and spacious plains: By which means it comes to pass, that either the excess of cold or heat doth give bounds to the greatest part of Parthia; for the snow doth possess the Mountains, and the heat doth afflict the Valleys. The Govern­ment of the Nation after their revolt from the Empire of the Macedons was under Kings. The order or estate of the Commons is next to the Majesty of Kings; from hence they derive both Generals in War, and Ma­gistrates in peace: Their speech is mixt be­twixt the Sythian language and the Median; They are cloathed after their old Custom; and if their fortunes do grow high, they are appa­ralled like the Medes, with a garment trans­lucently thin and fluent; In their Wars, they use both their own and the Sythian Disci­pline; They have not as other Nations, an Army composed of free-men, but the greatest part of it doth consist of servants; the Commu­nalty of whom (they being never to be made free) doth daily encrease as more are daily born: They bring up these with as great care as they do their own children, and teach them both to ride and shoot with great industry: As eve­ry one is more rich, so in the service of the War he brings in more Horses to the King. When fifty thousand of their Cavalry did meet Mark Anthony in the Field, making war [Page 480] upon them, there were not above four hundred and fifty of them that were free born: They are not used to fight hand to hand, or to maintain a league before a City: They fight always with their Horses either charging or wheeling about; they also oftentimes do coun­terfeit themselves to be routed, that they may return with the greater advantage, whereby they both finde their pursuers to lie open to their swords, and unprepared to receive the second impression of their Charge; their sound unto the Battel is not given by a Trumpet, but by a Drum; neither do they long hold out in fight; for they were not to be indured, if they had as much perseverance in the fight, as im­petuousness in the first shock of the charge. Oftentimes in the very heat of the first charge they forsake their battel, and after their fight they will immediately rally and renew the fight again, and when you think you are most sure of Conquest, the greatest difficulty and danger of the Battel is to come; Their de­fence for themselves and for their Horses, are plumed Coats of Mail, on which are such waving Plumes [...]at they do cover all the bodies of both; They have no use either of Gold or Silver, but onely on their Armor; through the delight of various lust, they have every one several Wives; neither is there any crime amongst them which is prosecuted with [Page 481] a greater punishment then adultery; Where­fore they forbid their women not onely the company of men at their Banquets, but also the sight of them; they eat no flesh but what they procure by hunting; they are always carryed on Horses; on those they mannage their Wars, on chose they celebrate their Feasts, and perform all pu [...]lick and private Offices; on those they ever move, or stand still, on those they constantly trade and discourse. This is the greatest difference betwixt their Slaves and their Free-born, that the Servants in times of no War do go on foot, the Free-men do al­ways ride on horseback; their common burial is no other then to be devoured by birds or dogs; their bones being all that is left, are covered with the Earth; as for their Religion, they are most devout in the wor­ship of their gods; the d sp [...]sitions of the Nation are lofty, seditious, deceitful, petulant; they comman [...] boldness in men, and courtesie in women; they are always apt to rise at any commotion either Forraign or Domestick, they are more prompt to act then to speak; there­fore they cover all things with silence whether good or bad; they are prone unto lust, frugal in their diet, and with us faith either in their words or promises, unless it complies with their advantage; they obey their Princes, not for reverence, but for fear.

[Page 482] After the death of Alexander the Great, when the Kingdoms of the East were divided amongst his Successors, none of the Macedons vouchsafing to command over so poor a Na­tion as they were, delivered it to Stratagenor, one of their Associates in their wars. The Parthians therefore, the Macedonians being divided and exercised in civil Wars, did follow Eumenes with the other Nations of Upper Asia, who being overcome, they came unto Antigonus: Afterwards they followed the Ensigns of Nicanor Seleucus, and (he being dead) of Antiochus and his Successors, from whose Nephews Son Seleucus they first of all revolted. In the first Carthaginian War, Lucius Manlius Piso and Attilius Regulus being Consuls, the discord of the two Brothers Seleucus and Antiochus did give them an impunity for this desertion; for the two bro­thers contending to pluck the Kingdom from one another, they did forbear to prosecute against the Revolters. At the same time Theodotus the Lieutenant of the thousand Cities of the Bactrians revolted also, and commanded himself to be called King, whose Example all the people of the East following, there was a general revolt from the Mace­dons.

There was in those times a man called Arsaces, of an uncertain birth, but of an un­doubted [Page 483] courage, who being accustomed to live by theft, and upon the spoyl, having under­stood that Seleucus was overcome by the Gauls, being delivered from the fear & the dan­ger of him, having invaded the Parthians with a company of Thieves, he suppressed Andra­gores their Lieutenant, and not long after having killed him, he usurped the Empire of that Nation: After that he possessed himself of the Kingdom of the Hyrcanians; and ha­ving thus invested himself with the command of two Cities, he prepared a great Army for the fear of Seleucus and Theodotus King of the Bactrians; but being quickly delivered from his fear by the death of Theodotus, he entred into a League and Covenant with his Son, whose name was Theodotus also; and not long after he encountring with King Seleucus, who advanced with his Army to make War against the Revolters, he overcame him; the day of which Conquest the Parthians ob­serve in their Almanacks as an Holiday, it be­ing the beginning of their liberty.

Seleucus being called back, and some in­termission of time being given to the new troubles in Asia, he founded and formed the Parthian Kingdom, and made choyce of a Militia; he fortified the Castles, and confimed the Cities, and erected the City Clara on the Mount of Thabor; such is the condition of [Page 484] that place, that there is nothing more secure or more delightful; for it is so invironed with Rocks and Clifts, that the safety of the place needs no Defe [...]ders; and so great is the fruitfulness of the adjacent plains, that it is al­most oppressed with its own abundance: Such a variety there is also both of Fountains and Forrests, that copiously it is wa ered, and at­tracteth the neighbouring people with the de­light of hunting. Arsaces in this manner having both attempted and obtained a King­dom, became no less famous amongst the Parthians, then Cyrus amongst the Persians, or Alexander amongst the Macedons, or Romulus amongst the Romans, and deceased in a ripe old Age. To whose memory the Parthians have ascribed this honour, that they have ever since called all their succeeding Kings by the name of Arsaces. His Son and Successor was also himself called Arsaces, who commanding an Army of one hundred thousand foot, and twenty thousand horse, did with admirable prowess fight against Antio­chus the Son of Seleucus, with one hundred thousand foot, & twenty thousand horse, and at last he entred into a Confederary with him.

Pampatius was the third King of the P rthians, and he also was called Arsaces; for as I have mentioned heretofore, the Par­thians by that name called all their Kings, as [Page 485] the Romans do call every Emperour Caesar and Augustus. He having raigned twelve years, deceased, having left behind him two Sons, Mithridates and Pharnaces; Phar­naces being the elder did inherit the King­dom after the Custom of the Nation, and having overcome the valiant Nation of the Mardi, he not long after dyed, having left behind him many Sons, who being all rejected by him, he left the Kingdom to his brother Mithridates, a man admirable for his Vertue, thinking that he owed more to his Kingdom then to the name of a Father, and was more obliged to provide for his Country then his children.

At the same time almost as Mithridates began his Raign in Parthia, Eucratides was invested in the Kingdom of Bactria, being both of them men of excellent Spirits. But the fortune of the Parthians being more happy, that Nation was advanced under the raign of Mithridates to the height of all their glory; but the Bactrians being distressed by several Wars, did at the last not onely lose their Kingdom, but their liberty: For being wearyed with the Wars of the Sogdians, the Dranganits, and the Indians, they were at last as men without spirit or blood, sup­pressed by an inconsiderable number of the Parthians. Howsoever Eucratides man­naged [Page 486] many Wars with great resolution, be­ing much wasted, with which when he was at last beleaguered by Demetirus King of the Indians, he by daily sallies with three thousand men did overcome threescore thousand of his Enemies: and having raised the siege in the fifth Moneth after it was begun, he made India stoop in obedience to him, from whence when he withdrew his Army, he was killed in the march homewards, by his own Son, whom he made partner with him in the King­dom, who not dissembling the murder of his Father (as if he had killed an Enemy, rather then a Father) caused his Chariot to be hurried over the place where his blood was spilt, and commanded that his body should be thrown away, as unworthy to be buryed. Whiles these things thus passed amongst the Bactrians, a new War did arise amongst the Parthians and the Medes, and the fortune of both Nations being a long time various, the Bactrians were at last overcome by the Par­thians; Mithridates being more formidable by this access of new power, did make Ba­casus his Lieutenant in the Kingdom of Media, and marched himself into Hyr­cania; From whence being returned, he waged War with the King of the Elamits, who being overcome, he also added that Nation to his Kingdom; and many Nations [Page 487] being subdued, he extended the Empire of the Parthians from Mount Caucasus to the River of Euphrates, and being at last visited with sickness, he dyed in an old age, no less glorious then Arsaces his Grandfather.

AFter the death of Mithridates King of the Parthians, Phra­hartes his Son was made King, who when he determined to make War on Syria, to be re­venged on Antiochus, who attempted the Parthians Kingdom, he was called back by the commotion of the Scythians to defend his own possessions; for the Scythians being sol­licited with the promise of great rewards to help the Parthians against King Antiochus, they came with their Auxiliaries just when the War was ended; when they were denyed [Page 489] their pay, to reproach them for their assistance which came so late, the Scythians grieving that they had made so great a march to so little purpose, when they desired that either their pay should be given them for their tra­vel, or an Enemy with whom they might encounter, they had a proud answer returned them, whereat being incensed, they began to plunder the Borders of the Parthians. Phra­hartes therefore advancing against the Scy­thians, did leave one Hymerus for the de­fence of his Kingdom, having obliged him by his love from the flower of his youth, who un­mindful of the courtesies received, and whose substitute he was, did afflict the Babylonians and many other Cities with tyrannical cruelty. Phrahartes himself in this War did proudly and insolently deport himself towards the Army of the Grecians, whom he had then with him (having taken them prisoners in the War which he made against Antiochus) being al­together unmindful that no Captivity could abate their spirits, and that the indignity of new injuries did more exasperate them. There­fore in the battel when they perceived the Ar­my of the Parthians deeply engaged, they re­volted to the Enemy, and executed their long desired revenge on the Parthian Army, by their slaughter of them, and by the death of their King Phrahartes himself: In his place [Page 490] his Uncle Artabanus was chosen King. The Scythians being contented with the Victory, having plundred their Country, return home. But Artabanus having made War upon the Inhabitants of Colchos, and received a wound in his arm, not long after deceased by the anguish of it.

His Son Mithridates did succeed him, whose Atchievements did gain him the same name of GREAT; for being enflamed with the emulation of the Acts of his Predecessors, he excelled their glories by the greatness of his vertues; he made many Wars with his neigh­bours, where he shewed great demonstrations of his valour, and added many Nations to the Parthian Kingdom, and having made many prosperous Wars against the Scythians, he re­venged the injuries of his Predecessors, and made War at last upon Artoadistes King of the Armenians.

But because we have here a passage opened to Armenia, we will in the first place derive its original from the first beginning; neither is it fit that it should be passed by in silence, it being so great a Kingdom, whose bounds, Parthia being excepted, doth exceed the mag­nitude of any Kingdom whatsoever; for Ar­menia lies open from Cappadocia towards the Caspian Sea eleven hundred miles in length; the latitude of it conteineth but seven hundred [Page 491] onely: It was founded by Armenius the Companion of Jason the Thessalian, whom when King Pelias desired to have destroyed by reason of his excellent valour, thinking him dangerous to his Kingdom, he was command­ed to be one of the adventurers into Colchos, to bring home the Fleece of the Ram, so famous amongst all Nations; the King hoping that he would be destroyed either by the length of the Expedition, or by war amongst the most barbarous of the Nations. Jason there­fore, the report being spread abroad of that glorious expedition, when the most noble of the youth of the whole world did strive who first should come into that service, did com­pose an Army of most excellent men, who were called Argonautae, whom after great at­chievements, when he had brought back safe into Greece, they were with great force beaten from Thessaly by the Sons of Pelias; Jason therefore with a great multitude (who on the report of his glory, came daily out of all Na­tions to him) his Wife Medea being his companion (whom having repudiated, he again in the commiseration of her banish­ment did take into the participation of his Bed) and Medius his Stepson, begotten by Aegeus King of the Athenians, did return to Colchos, and restored there his Father-in-law driven from the Kingdom.

[Page 492] After that he made great Wars against the neighbours, and added to the Kingdom of his Father-in-law, divers Cities that were taken, to take away the injury of the former War, in which he both took by force his daughter Medea, and killed Aeg [...]alus the Son of Aetas, and part of them he distributed to the people whom he had brought with him to serve him in his Wars: He was the first of all men who subdued that part of the world, Hercules and Bacchus excepted, who were said to be the Conquerors and the Kings of all the East. To some of the people he assigned Phrygius and Ansistratus to be their Gene­rals, who were the drivers of the Chariot of Castor and Pollux; he made a league also with the Albanians, who having followed Hercules out of the Mount Albania in Italy after he had slain Geryon, did drive his Cattel through Italy, and who being mindful from whence they derived their Original, did in the War of Mithridates salute the Army of Cneius Pompeius by the name of brethren. All the East therefore did erect Temples and constitute Divine Honours to him, which many years afterwards, Parmenio Lieutenant General under Alexander the Great did command to be pulled down and abolished, that no name in the East should be of more ve­neration then the name of Alexander himself.

[Page 493] After the death of Jason, Medus was the emulator of his vertues, who in the honour of his Mother Medea, did build a City, and called it after her name, and founded the Kingdom of the Medes after his own name, in the Majesty whereof the Empire after­wards did a long time flourish. The A­mazonians are near unto the Albani­ans whose Queen Thalestris desired for ge­neration to have the carnal knowledge of Alexander the Great, as we finde it asserted by several Authors. Armenius also being himself a Thessalian, and one in the number of Jasons Captains, having recollected a considerable party that wandred up and down after the death of Jason, did plant Armenia, from whose Hills the River Tygris doth first flow but with small beginnings, and after some space she hides her self under Earth, through which running undiscovered for the space of five and twenty miles, she sheweth again her self, and appears a great and violent River in the Country of Sophone, from whence falling down, is received into the waters of Euphrates.

But Mithridates King of the Parthians, after the war of Armenia, was expelled by the Senate from the Parthian Kingdom, by reason of his cruelty: His brother Horodes having possessed himself of the vacant King­dom, did for a long time besiege Babylonia, [Page 494] whither Mithridates fled, and at last com­pelled the Inhabitants, being oppressed by fa­mine, to surrender themselves; and Mithri­dates of his own accord in confidence of the contiguity of his blood, did deliver himself unto the power of Horodes. But Horodes taking him to be rather an enemy then his brother, did in his own presence command him to be slain. After this he made War upon the Romans, and overthrew Crassus the Roman General, with his Son, and all the Roman Army. His Son Pacocus having performed great atchieve­ments in Syria, and being sent to pursue the relicts of the Roman Army, was called back into Parthia, being suspected by his Father, in whose absence the Army of the Parthians being left in Syria, were slain by Cassius the Quaestor of Crassus, with all their Cap­tains.

This being performed, not long after there did arise the Civil Wars of the Romans be­twixt Caesar and Pompey, in which the Par­thians took the part of Pompey, both by reason of their association with him in the war with Mithridates, & because of the death of Cras­sus, whose Son they heard did side with Caesar, and who they doubted not would thoroughly revenge his Fathers death, if Caesar were the Conqueror; Therefore Pompey and all his party being overcome, they afterwards sent [Page 495] their Auxiliaries to Cassius and Brutus a­gainst Augustus and Antonius; and after the end of that war, having entred into a league with Labienus, they made desolate with their Armies both Syria and Asia, and being as high in their resolutions as their numbers, they assaulted the Camp of Ven­tidius; who after Cassius, in the absence of Pacorus did overthrow the Parthian Armie; but Ventidius having dissembled a fear, did a long time contain himself within the Camp, and permitted the Parthians for a while to insult; who being insolent and secure, he at the last did send forth one part of the legions against them, who charging upon them with great courage, did utterly rout them; Pa­corus conceiving that his flying men had drawn along after them the Roman legions to pursue them, did set upon the Camp of Ventidius, supposing it to be destitute of de­fenders; whereupon Ventidius sallying forth with the other part of the legions, did cut off the whole Armie of the Parthians, with the King Pacorus himself; neither did the Parthians in any war receive a greater wound then in that battail.

When these things were reported in Par­thia, Horodes the father of Pacorus, who not long before had understood that all Sy­ria was plundred, and Asia seized upon by [Page 496] the Parthians, and who did glorie▪ that his Son Pacorus was a Conqueror of the Romans, being on a suddain informed both of the death of his Son, and the total destruction of the Armie, his grief was heightned into furie. For the space of many daies he would not speak to any, nor take any sustenance, nor utter any words at all, insomuch that he seem­ed to be a dumb man. After many days, when grief had opened the passage of his voice, he called upon nothing but Pacorus; he seemed as if he both heard and saw Paco­rus, and would stand still and speak as if he discoursed with him, and somtimes would la­mentably condole him, being slain.

After a long time of sorrow, another af­fliction did invade the miserable old man, which was to determine with himself, which of his thirtie Sons he should make King in the place of Pacorus.

He had many Concubines, on whom so great a number of children were begotten, and every one of them was importunate with him to make choice of her own Son; but the fate of Parthia did so ordain, (it being there a solemn custom to have Kings to be parri­cides) rhat the most wicked of them all, Phrahartes by name, should be elected King, who no soo [...]ner was invested in his royaltie, but (as if he would not die a natural death, [Page 497] and when he would have him) did kill his fa­ther, and afterwards put to death his thirtie Brothers; neither did his guilt cease here; for perceiving that the Peers of the King­dom were much incensed against him for his daily cruelties, he commanded his own Son, being almost of age, to be killed, that there should not one remain who might bear the name of a King.

Marke Antony made war upon him with sixteen gallant Legions, because he brought aide to Pompey and his partie, against Caesar and himself; but his Armie being sorely weakned by many encounters, he retreated from Parthia; by which victorie, Phrahartes being grown more insolent, when he determi­ned many things cruelly against the people, he was driven into banishment by them; and having with repeated importunities for a long time wearied the neighboring Cities, and last of all the Scythians, he was by their great assistance restored unto his King­dom.

In his absence the Parthians had constitu­ted one Tyridates to be their King, who un­derstanding of the advance of the Scythians, did flie with a great number of his friends to Caesar, making war at the same time in Spain, carrying with him as a pledge to Caesar, the youngest Son of Phrahartes, whom he took [Page 498] away by force, being too negligently guard­ed. Which being understood, Phrahartes sent presently Embassadors to Caesar, deman­ding that his servant Tyridates and his Son should be restored to him.

Caesar having understood the Embassie of Phrahartes, and the desires of Tyridates, (for he desired also to be restored to the Kingdom) affirming that the Romans would have a Right to Parthia, if the Kingdom thereof should be at his disposing, did make answer, That he would neither deliver Tyridates to the Parthians, neither would he aide Tyridates against them.

And that it might appear that Caesar was not of that sullen temper, that they could prevail nothing at all upon him, he sent Phrahartes his Son without ransom, and al­lowed Tyridates a large exhibition as long as he would continue with the Romans.

After this, the war in Spain being ended, when he came into Syria to compose the State of the East, Phrahartes was pos­sessed with a great fear that he would make war against him.

Therefore the Captains over all Par­thia, that were taken Prisoners in the Armies of Crassus, or of Antony, were re­collected, and the Ensigns that were ta­ken, were also sent back to Augustus; [Page 499] with them the Sons and Nephews also of Phrahartes were given as pledges to Augustus; and Caesar prevailed more with the greatness of his Name, then another Emperor could have done by Arms.

THe affairs of Parthia, and the East, and al­most of all the world, being described; Tro­gus, as after a long pil­grimage, doth return home, thinking it the part of an ungrateful Citizen, if having illustrated the actions of all Nations, he should conceal the affairs on­ly of his own Countrie. He briefly therefore toucheth upon the beginning of the Roman Empire, that he might not exceed the mea­sure [Page 501] of his propounded work, and not in silence to pass by the original of that Citie which is the head of the whole World.

The Inhabitants of Italie were first the Aborigines, whose King Saturn was repor­ted to be of so great Justice, that no man served under him, neither had he any thing private to himself, but all things were undi­vided and common unto all as one patrimo­nie to them. In the memorie of which ex­ample, it was provided that in the Saturna­lia, the Interests of every one being made e­qual, the servants did everywhere in their banquets, lie down along with their masters. Therefore Italie was called Saturnia, after the Name of their King; and the Hill where Sa­turn did inhabite, being by Jupiter driven from his own Seat, is called the Capitol.

The third King who Reigned in Italie af­ter him, was Faunus, in whose time Evander came into Italie from Pallantheum, a Citie of Arcadia, with a small Retinue, to whom Fau­nus did bountifully assign certain fields and a Hill, which he afterwards called the Hill Pa­latine. At the foot of this Hill he errected a Temple to Lycaeus, whom the Greeks call Pan, and the Romans Lupercus. The Effi­gies of the god is cloathed with the skin of a Goat, in which habit they rnn up and down in Rome at the Lupercals. Faunus had [Page 502] a wife whose name was Fatua, who being daily filled with a divine Spirit, did as it were in a furie presage of things to come, from whence those that to this daie are inspired, are said to fatuate, or to foretell the events of Fates to come. Latinus conceived in whore­dom, was the son of the daughter of Faunus, and of Hercules, who at that time having kil­led Geryon, did drive his Cattle through Ita­lie, the rewards of his Victorie. In the Reign of Latinus, Aeneas came from Ilium into Italie, Troy being sacked and destroyed by the Greeks. He was immediately entertain­ed with war, and drawing forth his Armie to battail, Latinus sending a Trumpet to par­ly with him, was possessed with such an ad­miration of him, that he received him into the societie of the Kingdom, and Lavinia being given him in marriage, he was the son in law to Latinus. After this they had both war with Turnus King of the Rutilians, be­cause Lavinia who before the arrival of Ae­neas was betrothed to him, was denied him in marriage. In this war both Turnus and Latinus perished; therefore when Aeneas by the Law of Arms commanded over both people, he builded a Citie after the name of his wife Lavinia. He afterwards made war against Mezentius King of the Tuscans, in which dying himself, his Son Ascanius did [Page 503] succeed him, who having abandoned the Ci­tie Lavinium, did build long Alba, which for three hundred years was the Metropolis of the Kingdom. After the Reign of ma­ny Kings of that Citie, at the last Numitor and Amulius did enjoy the Kingdom▪ but when Amulius had disenthroned Numitor, who was the more respected by reason of his age, he politickly devoted his Daughter Rhea to a perpetual Virginitie, that there should be no more children out of the race of Numitor, to take revenge on him for the usurpation of the Kingdom; and the better to conceal his design, a pretence of honor was added to the injurie, and she seemed not so much to be a person condemned, as a Vo­teress elected. Therefore being shut up in a Wood sacred to Mars, she brought forth two children at one birth; it is uncertain whether begotten by Mars or by inconti­nence with another. Amulius his fear be­ing multiplyed by the birth of the two boys, did command them to be exposed, and laded Rhea with chains, by the injurie and burden whereof she not long after died. But for­tune prospicient to the Original of Rome, did provide a Woolf to give suck to the children, who having lost her whelps, and de­siring to emptie her teats, did offer her self as a Nurse to the Infants, and returning often [Page 504] to the children, as to her own young ones; Faustulus the Shepherd observed it, and ha­ving taken them from the Woolf, he brought them up amongst the flocks in a rural life. It is by manifest arguments believed, that the boys were begotten by Mars, both because they were born in his Grove, and were nurs­ed also by a Woolf, which is a creature under the protection of Mars. One of the boys was called Remus▪ and the other Romulus; being at mans estate, in their daily exercises amongst the Shepherds, they did encrease their strength and swiftness, and did often­times with prompt industrie drive away the Theeves that came to steal the Cattle. It so fell out that Remus at last was taken by them, and as if he was himself the same which he did forbid in another, he was brought unto the King, and accused to have been accustomed to rob the flocks of Nu­mitor; wherefore the King did deliver him to Numitor to be revenged of him. But Numitor being moved with the flourish of his youth, and his suspition calling to his minde his Nephew exposed, when the simili­tude of the savor of his daughter, and the time at which he was exposed, did agree with his age▪ and held him very doubtful: Be­hold then Faustulus came unexpectedly with Romulus, by whom the Original of the [Page 505] [...]oys being understood, the plot immediate­y was contrived; the young men were armed or the revenge of their mothers death, and Numitor for his Kingdom taken from him. Amulius being slain, the Kingdom was re­tored to Numitor, and the Citie of Rome was [...]uilded by the young men; the Senate then was constituted, consisting of one hun­dred Seniors, who were called Fathers. The Neighbors also disdaining that their daugh­ters should be married unto Shepherds, the Sabin Virgins were taken away by violence, and the Nations about them being overcome by Arms, they first obtained the Empire of Italie, and afterwards of the world.

In those times it was the custom of Kings, instead of Diadems, to use Spears, which the Greeks call Scepters; for in the beginning of time, the Antients worshipped Spears for the immortal Gods; in the memorie whereof, Spears at this daie are added to the Images of the gods. In the times of King Tarquin, the youth of the Phocensians being brought into the mouth of Tyber; did enter into friendship with the Romans; and sayl­ing from thence into the furthest parts of France, they builded Massilia betwixt the Ligurians and other fierce Nations of the Gauls, and performed great atchievements, whiles by Arms they either protected them­selves [Page 506] against their barbarous insolence, o [...] whiles of their own accord they did provoke them, of whom they were provoked hereto­for [...].

For the Phocensians (being compelled by the barrenness of their soyl) did live with more industrie and alacritie on the Seas, then on the Land, and did lead their lives som­times by fishing, somtimes by trading, but for the most part by Pyracie, which at that time was accounted honorable. Therefore having sailed into the farthest Coasts of all the Ocean, they came into a harbor at the mouth of the River of Rhone, and being de­lighted with the pleasure of the place, on their return to their own Countrie, disco­vering to others what they had seen them­selves, they stirred up many men to undertake that voyage. Furius and Peranus were the Admiral and Vice-Admiral of their Fleet. They came to the King of the Segoregians, S [...]anus by name, in whose Territories they d [...]ired to build their City, desiring his friendship. It so fell out, that the King on th [...] daie was employed in the preparations for the marriage of his daughter Gyptis; for whom according to the custom of that Na­tion, he intended to provide a husband, who was to be chosen by her self, at a great and solemn feast prepared for that purpose. [Page 507] Therefore all the Suitors being invited to the [...]inner, the Grecian Guests were also intreat­d to be present at it. The Virgin then (ac­ording to the custom being brought in) and eing commanded by her father to give wa­er unto him whom she would make choice of [...]o be her husband, she passing by all the Gauls, did turn towards the Greeks, and gave the water to Peranus, who being made of a guest a Son in law, had a place assigned to him wherein to build his Citie. Mas­ [...]ilia therefore was builded neer unto the mouth of the River of Rhone on a remote Bay, as it were an angle of the Sea. But the Ligurians envying the prosperitie and in­crease of the Citie, did wearie the Grecians with daily wars, who in beating back the dangers from them, became so glorious, that their enemies being overthrown, they sent forth many Colonies into the neighboring Countries; from these the Gauls being in­structed, their barbarous manners being ei­ther quite laid aside, or more civilized, they learned the use of a more refined course of life; as to exercise and mitigate the field s with ploughs, and to environ and to defend their Cities with Walls. They then began to live not only by Arms, but Laws; they learned to prune the Vine, and to plant the Olive. And so great a beautie and order [Page 508] was observed both in disposing of the things and men; that Greece did not seem to come into Gallia, but Gallia to be translated into Greece. Senanus King of the Segoregians being dead, from whom the place was re­ceived to build the Citie, his Son Comma­nus did succeed him in the Kingdom, and a certain King affirming that the time would come, when Massilia should be the destru­ction of the neighboring people; did argue that it might be suppressed in the Original, lest growing strong by degrees, it might at last suppress him, who gave both an Original and an encrease unto it; to the performance whereof he inserted this following Fable.

A Bitch great with whelp, did petition to a Shepherd to give her room in which to bring forth her young ones; which being obtained, she petitioned to him again to grant her the same room to bring up her young ones; at the last her whelps growing into age, and she being supported with her Domestick numbers, did challenge the pro­prietie of the place unto her self.

So the Massilians who do now appear to be but strangers, may in a short time become Lords of the Countrie.

The King being incited by the application of this storie, did attempt by deceits to de­stroy the Massilians. Therefore on the [Page 509] Holy-day dedicated to Flora, he sent many lustie and able men into the Citie, to be en­tertained as guests, and gave order that many more should be brought in Carts, in which they should be covered with green leaves, whiles he himself with his Armie lay hid in the next hills, that they might be present when the opportunitie served for their Am­bush, and the Gates in the night being o­pened to receive their Carts, they might with armed men invade the Citie drowned in wine and sleep.

But a woman, who by the contiguitie of blood had neer relation to the King, being accustomed to play the wanton with one of the Grecians, pittying the loveliness of the young man in her embraces of him, did be­tray the deceit unto him, and desired him to decline the danger. He immediately inform­ed the Magistrates with it; and the prepared treacheries being discovered, the Ligurians were apprehended, and lying hid were drawn out of the Carts, and being all put to death, deceits were prepared for the deceitful King, and seven thousand of the Ligurians were slain with the King himself.

After this, the Massilians did alwaies up­on their Holy-daies keep their Gates shut, and observed a strict watch, and had Centi­nels to walk their Rounds on the walls, and [Page 510] to take notice of strangers, and to demand the word; and thus, as if they were inviro­ned with war, they managed their Citie in the times of peace; so punctually good In­structions are observed there▪ not so much by the necessitie of the times, as by the custom of doing well.

After this the Massilians had for many years great wars with the Ligurians and the Gauls, which both increased the glorie of the Citie, and amongst the neighboring Coun­tries, made famous the valor of the Greeks by their multiplied Victories.

And when a new war arose from Carthage, they having surprized the Busses of their Fishermen▪ they often overthrew the Armie of the Carthaginians, and gave peace unto them, being conquered. They entred into a league with the Spaniards; and almost from the first foundation of their Citie, they ob­served their friendship with the Romans with great fidelitie, and in all their wars industri­ously assisted their associats, which both in­creased the confidence of their strength, and purchased them peace from their enemies.

When Massilia flourished therefore with the same of their atchievements, the abun­dance of their wealth, and the glorie of their strength, the neighboring people in con­spiring multitudes did gather themselves to­gether [Page 511] to root out the name of the Massili­ans, as to extinguish a common fire. By the consent of all, Caramandus was chosen Ge­neral, who when he besieged the Citie with a powerful Armie of chosen men, being af­frighted in his sleep with the vision of a hard favoured woman, who called her self a god­dess, he offered peace of his own accord to the Massilians, and having desired that he might be allowed the libertie to enter into their Citie, and to worship their gods, when he came unto the Temple of Minerva, and beheld in the p [...]rtalls of it, the image of the goddess which he beheld before in his sleep, he immediately cried out, that that was she who did affright him in the night, and com­manded him to raise the siege; and having gratulated the Massilians, that the immortal gods had care of them, he entred into a per­petual league with them, having recompen­ced the goddess with a chain of Gold.

Peace being obtained, and their securitie established, the Embassadors of the Mar­silians having returned from Delphos, to which place being sent, they had brought gifts unto Apollo, did inform them that they heard in the way that the Citie of Rome was taken by the Gauls and set on fire; they seem­ed to be much afflicted at the loss, and did prosecute it with a publick funeral, and sent [Page 512] their Gold, both what they had in private as well as publick, to make up the summe, ha­ving understood that they had redeemed their Citie and their peace with money from the Gauls. For which benefit, it was decreed by the Senate, that they should be made free of Rome, and a place allowed them in the publick Spectacles, and a solemn league was again confirmed perpetually to be observed with equal Interests on both sides. In his last book Trogus affi [...]ms that his Ancestors derived their original from the Volscians, that his Grandfather Trogus Pompeius was made free of the Citie, at what time Cneius Pom­peius made war against Sertorius in Spain; he affirmeth also, that his Uncle under the same Pompey, was Colonel of a Regiment of horse, in the war against Mithridates, and that his father served in the wars under Caius Caesar, and that he was both his Secretarie, the master of the Complements, and had the office of the Seal.

SPain, as it is she doth shut up the limits of Europe, so it is the conclusion of this Work. The Antients called it first Hyberia, from the River Hybe­rus, and after Spain [...]om Hispanus. It is situated betwixt Africk nd France, and inclosed with the main [...]cean and the Pyrenaean mountains; and as is less then either Africk or France, so it more fruitful then either; for it is not [Page 514] scorched with the violence of the Sun as Africa, neither is it troubled with daily windes as France, but enjoyes a mean betwixt both, and by its temperate heat, and season­able and pregnant showers, it produceth all variety of fruits, insomuch that it sufficeth not only the Inhabitants, but sendeth forth abun­dance of all things to Italie and the Citie of Rome; neither is there in it only great store of Corn, but also of wine, honie▪ and oyl. There is in it also, an abundance of steel, and of swift horses; and it is not only to be praised for the outward goods of the earth, and which are on the superfiices of it, but for the many Mines, and richness of the metals in the bowels of it. There is al­so abundance of Flax and Spartus, and no Count [...]ie in the world undoubtedly, is more full of minion.

In this Kingdom, the courses of the Rivers are not now so violent as to bring any hurt by their swiftness, but smooth and gentle, and water both the fields and Vine-yards, and by the high tides from the Ocean, very full of fish.

Many of their Rivers are rich in Gold, which are celebrated by the praises of many writers; It onely joyns to France by one ridge of the Pyrenaean hills; on all other parts of it, like to a circle, it is surrounded [Page 515] by the Sea. The Form of the Countrie is almost four square, unless when it is shut in by the Pyrenaean Hills, the Sea shores being there more straight and narrow.

The space of the Pyrenaean Hills doth contain six hundred miles. The salubrity of the air and the equal temper of it through­out all Spain is not infected with any hea [...]ie mists from the marshes; to this may be ad­ded the cool aires from the Sea, and the gentle and daily whisperings of the windes, which piercing through all the Countrie, is an occasion of a great and general health to all.

The bodies of the men are prepared for hunger and labor, and their resolutions for death. They are all and altogether given to frugalitie, and covet war rather then sloth; if they want an enemie abroad, they will seek him at home. They have been often­times tormented to death, for the concealing of things committed to their trust; so much more strong is the care of their taciturnitie then of their life.

The patience of that servant is made fa­mous in the Carthaginian war, who having revenged his master, did insult with lowd laughter on the rack, and in an unclouded and pure joy, overcame the horror of death, and the crueltie of his tormentors.

[Page 516] The Nation are swift of feet, they have for the most part active spirits; Horses for service in war, and good swords are more dear unto them then their own blood. They have no feasts there but on holy-daies.

After the second Carthaginian war, they learned of the Romans to be bathed in hot water. In a long course of time they had never any famous General besides Veriatus, who for the space of ten years, wearied the Ro­mans with various victory, (so much the more neer to beasts then unto men are their dispo­sitions) Neither was he elected by the suffrages of the people, but they followed him as a warie man, and expert to decline dangers; and so great was his valor, and his continence, that though oftentimes he over­threw the Armies of the Consuls, and was renowned for great atchievements, yet he never changed his arms nor his habit, no not so much as his diet, and continued in the same fashion of cloaths and Arms in which at first he began to fight, insomuch that every common Souldier did seem more gallant then the General himself.

In Portugal, neer unto the River of Ta­gus, it is affirmed by divers Authors, that Mares do conceive by the winde, which fables received their original by the fruitfulness and abundance of them, who are found to be so [Page 517] swift in Galizia, and in Portugal, that not undeservedly they seem to be conceived by the winde.

The Galizians do derive their pedigree from the Grecians; for after the end of the Trojan war, Teucer being hated by his father Telamon, and not received into the Kingdom by reason of the death of his Brother Ajax, sayled unto Cyprus, and builded there the Citie Salamina, after the Name of his antient Countrie; to which place (having under­stood of the death of his father) he not long afterwards returned; But when Eurix the Son of Ajax would not suffer him to land; he lanched forth into the Deeps again, and by rough windes was driven to the Coasts of Spain; where he possessed himself of that place on which new Carthage now doth stand; from thence he sayled to Galizia, and having planted there a Colony, he gave a name unto that Nation. Howsoever Ga­lizia is said to be the portion of Amphilo­chus.

The Countrie doth abound with Lead, and Brass, and with Minion also, which giveth a Name to the neighboring River. And it is so rich in Gold, that oftentimes in ploughing the ground, they do turn up the Oar of Gold with it.

On the bounds of this Nation, is a con­secrated [Page 518] Hill, and which it is accounted a great sin to violate with Iron, but when the earth is cleaved with thunder▪ Bolts, which is usual in those places; it is permitted to any to collect the detected Oar as the gift of God.

The women do exercise themselves in houshold affairs, and in manuring of the ground; the men do live by their swords and by their plunder. Steel with them is a principal commoditie, but their water is more violent then Steel it self, for the Steel being extinguished in it, is made more sharp & hard; neither do they approve of any wea­pon which is not dipped in the River of Bil­bo, or in Chalybs, from whence the Inhabi­tants who live neer unto this River are called Chalybes, & are said to excell all others in the commoditie of Steel. But the Curetians do inhabite the Forrests of the Tertesians, in which it is reported that the Titanian Gyants made war against the gods.

The most antient of their Kings was Gar­goris, who did first finde out the use of hony. He, when a Nephew was born unto him by the incontinence of his own Daughter, being ashamed at the dishonor of the act, he com­manded that the little one, by several varie­ties of death should be destroyed; but be­ing preserved by fortune, through so many chances, he at the last, even by the compas­sion [Page 519] of the dangers themselves, did arrive unto the Kingdom. First of all, when he com­manded him to be exposed, he after certain daies did send to enquire after his Body, and found that he was wonderfully preserved, and nourished by the milk of several wilde beasts; Being brought home, he commanded him to be cast into a narrow path in which the droves and heads of Cattel were accustomed to pass; too cruel he was in this, to have the young childe rather to be trod upon by the mui [...]tude of the Beasts, then to perish by a single death; and remaining untouched by them, and not wanting nourishment, he com­manded that he should be cast to fierce ban­dogs, impatient by the abstinence of many dayes; and they also forbearing him, he not long afterwards commanded that he should be cast unto the hogs, who did not onely not hurt him, but some of the Sows did nourish him, with their milk; whereupon at the last, he command­ed that he should be cast into the Ocean. Then by the present power of Providence, as if he was carryed rather in a Ship then on the waves, by a gentle tide he was brought to the land safe, betwixt the raging sands and the recipro­cating Billowes: And not long after there did appear a Hinde, who did offer her strutting dugs unto the little one, who by his daily conversati­on with his nurse, became of a wonderful swift­ness [Page 520] of body, and a long time wandred on the Mountains and the Valleys amongst the herds of the Dear, being no ways inferior in his swiftness to them: At the last, he was taken in a snare, and given as a great present to the King, and being discovered to be his Nephew by the similitude of his lineaments, and by the marks of his body, which presently after his birth were burned on it; in the ad­miration of the deliverances from so many chances and dangers, he was ordained by the King to be his Successor in the Kingdom; his name was called Habis, and no sooner was he invested in the Kingdom, but he shewed such proofs of nobility and greatness, that it appeared he was not in vain delivered from so many dangers by the Majesty of God; for by Laws he did unite the barbarous people, and taught them how to yoak the Oxen, and to plough and sow the ground, and enforced them to feed on better nourishment then what the trees or Plants provided, belike in the hate of those things which he himself had endured. The education of this Prince would seem fabulous, but that it is recorded, that the Builders of Rome were nourished by a Woolf, and that a Bitch did give suck unto Cyrus King of Persia: The people were by him for­bidden to exercise any servile labour, and they were distributed by him into seven Cities.

[Page 521] Habis being dead, the Kingdom for many Generations continued amongst his Suc­cessors. But in another part of Spain which consisteth most of Ilands, the Kingdom was in the power of Geryon. In this place there is such abundance of grass, and withall so pleasant, that if by the providence of the herdsmen the Cattel were not enforced to discontinue feeding, their bodies would break by the excess. From hence the Droves of Geryon, in those times accounted the onely wealth of the world, were of that fame a­mongst the Nations, that by the greatness of the booty, they allured Hercules out of Asia. It is recorded in Story, that Geryon was not a Gyant of three bodies, as the Fa­bles do make mention, but that there were three brothers of so fast a concord, that all three seemed to be governed by one minde, and that Hercules did not of his own accord make War upon them, but having observed that his own droves of Cattle were forced from him, he regained of them what he had lost by the sword.

After the Succession of many Kings in Spain, the Carthaginians first of all possessed them­selves of it; for when the Inhabitants of the Gades being obedient to the vision, had tran­slated into Spain the holy things of Hercules from Tyre, from which place the Carthagini­ans [Page 522] also do derive their Original, and had builded them there a City, the neighbouring people of Spain envying the growing happi­ness of the new City, and upon that account provoking them to War, the Carthaginians be­ing of the same kindred, did send relief unto them, and by a happy Expedition they both vindicated the Gaditans from injury, and added the greatest part of Spain to the Empire of their command: And afterwards being inci­ted by the fortune of their first Expedition, they sent Amilcar their General, with a great Army to make themselves masters of all the Province, who having performed great atchievements, whiles he followed his fortune too inconsi­derately, he was betrayed in an Ambush and slain. Asdrubal his Son-in-law was sent to supply his plae who was slain himself by the servant of a Spaniard, in the revenge of the unjust death of his Master.

Annibal the Son of Amilcar did succeed him, and was a greater General then them both; for having excelled them in his at­chievements, he subdued all Spain, and having afterwards made war on the Romans, he af­flicted Italy with several losses and overthrows for the space of 16 years. The Romans in the mean time having sent the Scipioes into Spain, did first of all drive the Carthaginians out of that Province; afterwards they had great Wars [Page 523] with the Spaniards themselves, neither could they be conquered to an absolute obedience, untill Augustus Caesar, having subdued all the world, did carry thither his conquering swords, and having by Laws brought the barbarous and rude people into a more civil course of life, he reduced all Spain into the form of a Province.