THE SECOND OBSERVATION.
COncerning use of lots,* 1.1 it shall not be amisse to look into the nature of them, being in for∣mer times so generall, that there was no Nation, civil or barbarous, but was directed in their greatest affairs by the sentence of lots. As we may not refuse for an undoubted truth, that which Salomon saith in the sixteenth of Proverbs, The lots are cast into the lap, but the direction thereof belongeth to the Lord: through the knowledge whereof Josua was directed to take Achan, the Marriners Jonas, and the Apostles to consecrate Matthias: So whether the heathen and barbarous people, whose blindnesse in the way of truth could direct them no further then to senselesse superstition, and put them in mind of a duty which they owed, but could not tell them what it was, nor how to be performed; whether these, I say, were perswaded that there was any supernaturall power in their lotteries, which di∣rected the action to the decree of destiny, and as the Gods would have it, it remaineth doubtfull.
Aristotle, the wisest of the heathen concerning things naturall, nameth that event casuall, or proceeding from Fortune, of which the reason of man could assign no cause, or (as he saith) which hath no cause. So that whatsoever happe∣ned in any action besides the intent of the agent and workman, was termed an effect of Fortune, or chance of hab-nab: For all other effects, which depended upon a certainty and definite cause, were necessarily produced; and therefore could not be casuall, or subject to the inconstan∣cy of chance. And because many and sundry such chances daily happened, which like terrae filii had no Father, and could not be warranted as lawfull children either to nature or to reason, by the appearance of an efficient cause, they redu∣ced them all to the power of Fortune, as the principall efficient and soveraign Motor of all such unexpected events: that is, they made no∣thing else the Governesse and Directresse of ma∣ny things. Which afterward grew to such credit amongst men, that it surpassed in dignity all na∣turall causes, and was deified with celestiall ho∣nour, as the Poet saith, Te Nos facimus Fortuna deam, coeloque locamus. By the providence of this blind Goddesse, which held her Deity by the Tenure of mens ignorance, were all causuall actions directed, and especially lots; the event whereof depended only upon her plea∣sure and decree. Neither could their direction be assigned to any other power; for then their nature had been altered from chance to certain∣ty, and the event could not have been called Sors, but must have been reputed in the order of necessary effects, whereof discourse of reason ac∣knowledgeth a certain foregoing cause.
Whereby we see upon how weak an axletree the greatest motions of the goodlesse world were turned, having irregularity and uncertainty for the Intelligentiae that governed their revolutions. And herein all sorts of men (although in divers respects) rested as well contented as if an Ora∣cle had spoken unto them, and revealed the my∣steries of fatall destiny.
Rome directed the main course of her govern∣ment by the fortune of this mock-destiny. For although their Consuls and Tribunes were ele∣cted by the people, who pleased their own fancy with the free choice of their Commanders, and suted their obedience with a well-liking authori∣ty: yet the publick affairs which each Consul was severally to manage, was shared out by lots. For if an enemy were entered into their confines to depopulate and wast their territories, the lots assigned this Consul for the government of the City, and the other to command the legions, and to manage the war.
If forces were to be sent into divers Provinces, and against severall enemies, neither the Senate nor the people could give to either Consul his task; but their peculiar charges were authorised by lots. If any extraordinary actions were to be done in the Citie, as the dedication of a Temple, the san∣ctifying of the Capitol after a pollution; Sors omnia versat, that did all in all. And yet (not∣withstanding the weak foundation of this pra∣ctise in their Theologie and deepest Divinity) we may not think but these skilfull Architects of that absolute government, wherein vertue joyned with true wisdome to make an unexampled pattern, we may not think, I say, but they foresaw the manifold danger, which in the course of com∣mon actions could not other way be prevented but by the use of lots. For when things are equal∣ly levelled between divers objects, and run with indifferencie to equall stations, there must be some controlling power to draw the current to∣wards one Coast, and to appropriate it unto one channel, that the order of Nature be not in∣versed, nor a well-established government distur∣bed. So the state of Rome casting many things with equall charge upon her two soveraign Ma∣gistrates, which could not be performed but by one of them; what better meanes could there be invented to interesse the one in that office, and to discharge the other, then to appoint an Arbiter,