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AS a dwarf is little still, though he stands upon a Mountain; we may affirm like∣wise, that Man is inseparable from crosses and misfortunes, to what dignity soever fate may exalt him. Though he may change his condi∣tion,
yet he cannot change his nature; the Purple and the Crowns, which make him command so many Men, doth not impower him to be arbitrator of his own life; we see that he ought never more to fear, but when he is in a condition to cause fear in others; if fury arms it self against him, it respects nei∣ther his ornaments, nor his opulence; it fears neither his power nor his retinue; it seeks him both amongst his friends, and amongst his guards, as well as amongst his Enemies, and pursueth him in Palaces, as well as in De∣sarts.
A Man would think, that Agamemnon, af∣ter he had taken Troy, had had nothing more to do, but to hear and receive acknowledg∣ments of all Greece: his revenge ought to have been satisfied by the consuming of that famous City to ashes, whose power made all Asta trem∣ble before; and his patience, which could not signalise it self better, then by a Siege of ten years time, had rendred his glory as dear to those, that could no longer suffer it, as to them who only desired to employ it. After so many perils, which he defended himself from by Sea and Land, he returned home, loaden with forreign spoil; and as if he could not have received any consolation for the sacrifice of his Daughter Iphigenia, but with his Wife, he made no other wishes, but to make that loss
supportable to her by his presence, and to make her confess, that her greatest care was to let the publick see, some marks of joy, ra∣ther then of sadness. Clitemnestra received him with an incredible satisfaction; all her actions seemed so many transports of love, one would have thought, that she had acquired a new friendship, when she got him in her pos∣session, and that she proposed no other period to her designs, but his satisfaction. Agamem∣non, on the other side esteemed himself more glorious by her Carresses, than by his Victo∣ries; the flames wherewith he had consumed Troy, was not so great (as he thought) as those he had kindled in his Wifes brest; and grew of opinion, that Virtue and Beauty was reconclled together in his favor. Clitemnestra fearing that at last he would discover how Egi∣stus had defiled his bed in his absence, quick∣ly changed her doubts into a resolution, and to avoid the reproach, or the punishment of her impudicity, sollicited this secret Lover, to add Murther to Adultery, to deprive him of his life, whom he had robb'd of honor, and to cover one crime, by committing another. Egist, blinded with passion, considered not the horror of that attempt, he thought bet∣ter to lose all the World, than the favors of Clitemnestra; that he ought not to regard his reputation so much as his happiness, nor the
innocence of the Husband, as the unchastity of his Wife. Clitemnestra having this assuran∣ces from him, Carressing Agamemnon, as he was rising, threw a Robe on him, that was closed upwards; and having wrapped it about him, as she had proposed to herself, deli∣vered him to the Traitor Egistus, who ran him through, and left him not, till he had clea∣red himself of all his fears, by as many wounds.
Candolus, King of Lydia, was murthered for the same Subject, by his favorite Gyges, when he seemed least in danger. Chilperick, the ninth, King of France, by the malice of his Wife Fredegonda, was killed in his Palace, by Landry's hands, as he returned from hunt∣ing; and that great Xerxes, who according to some Historians, led three millions of men against Greece, was not so strong, but Arta∣ban, with his seven Sons, assassinated him up∣on the Throne it self.
The Israelites, being not able, or not wil∣ling to suffer the Tyranny of Eglon, King of the Moabites, dealt so well with Ahud Gera's Son, that de resolved to venture all for their liberty, although the danger seemed great enough, to make him desist from his resoluti∣on; and that his courage might be counted, at that time a folly, rather than a virtue; ne∣vertheless, because all things appear easy to the undaunted; and that success follows bold∣ness
ordinarily; Ahud seeks him in his very Chamber, and seeming to present him with something from his Companions, drew a Sword which he had hid under his Garment, and ran him through, with such a force, that it was not in his power to draw it back. He gets out immediately after, with as little per∣turbation of mind, as if he had acquired E∣glon's favor. He went home, and related the adventure, sollicited his Men to undergo the last extremity for their liberty, and perswa∣ded them to charge the Moabites with him, who were more imployed to mourn for their King, then to revenge his death. He cutten thousand of them in pieces, and made him∣self absolute Master of their goods, of their wills, and of their lives.
Seleucus tasted at ease, the fruits of his labors, after he had conquered Babilon, and the Country of Bactria, upon Pennites, and upon Amintas; after he had vanquisht Demetrius; and in fine, destroyed Lisymachus in a Battle, who was the last of Alexanders Captains: At a time when Ptolomeus, envious of so many prospe∣rities, was contriving with himself, which way he should bring his ruine about. He was afraid to attack him, because he despaired of the Victory over him; he looked upon him∣self to be too weak, and t'other too fortunate; he considered that he wanted Forces as well
as resolution, and that he should loose his Crown, if he lost the last Battle. Between fear and hope, which suspended his courage, it came in his mind, that Treason would pros∣per better with him then a Combat, and in that Sentiment he wrought so well for the de∣struction of his Enemy, that he caused him to be killed by Men, that deffidence it self would not have suspected.
The Tribune, Gentius, according to Titus Livius, was found full of wounds in his bed, when they came to desire him to assist at the sentence of the two Consuls, whose pride he he had brought down before; although was in such a credit at Rome, that a Man was counted a Criminal, that was of a contrary opinion to his.
Lamedon, the fourth King of Troy, and the greatest Prince of Asia, was stab'd in his Palace, before he could be assisted by his domesticks; and Leo the Fifth, Emperor of Constantinople, was assassinated in a Church, by the conspira∣tion of Michael the Stutterer, whom he had imprisoned: and thus this Man was the author of the death of him, who had been that of his fortune.
James King of Scotland, the first of the Fa∣mily of the Stuards, was killed in his Royal Palace, by Men in Visards: Asella his Succes∣sor, was shot by a piece of Artillery which
was a scouring: the third was slain by his Son, in a Battle at Larlin; and this paracide by the English; and the fifth was poisoned, as if all that Race had been Heirs to James's misfortune, as well as his Crown.
Pompey, having taken Sylla's party, during the Civil Wars of Rome, did not only win the favor of his General, but he acquired besides the love of the Souldiers, and was no less respected by strangers, then by the Roman Le∣gions; he retooke Sicilia; he restored Mas∣sinissa in Numedia, which had been usurped from him by Hyarbus; he was honored three times with the pomp of a Triumph, and cau∣sed Lepidus to retire out of Italy, before he was yet considerable by his power, or by his offices. He worsted Domitius in Africa, van∣quish't Sertorius in Spain, conquered all Asia in forty days, he submitted Tigranus to his power, and forced Mithridates to kill himself, because he would not submit. He passed on the north through the Henochians, the Iberi∣ans, the Albanians, and the Colchians Countries, and on the east, against the Arabians, against the Jews, and against the Parthians. He was the first of the Romans that carried his Arms as far as the Coasts of the Hircanian, Caspian, Red and Arabic Seas; and was so absolute, that af∣ter Crassus's death, he commanded Caesar him∣self, to disband his Troops: but having been
some time after vanquisht by him, in the plain of Pharsalia, he was constrained to retire to Ptolomeus, in Egypt, and there to assure his life, because he could not assure his liberty, no where else. As he proposed to see Ptolomeus, who was then in the City of Pelusium, where he warred against his Sister, and reading the Speech which he had composed, to congra∣tulate that young Prince; some Souldiers sa∣luting him, fell immediately upon him, and stabbed him in many places; after that, they cut off his Head, and threw his Body into the Sea, in his Son's and Wifes presence.
Tatius, having been too slow, to punish some of his Favorites, for killing some Am∣bassadors, which were sent from Bizantium to Rome, was murthered in the fifth year of his Reign, as he was offering Sacrifices in Li∣vinium, and Romulus, who had alwaiss shared with him in the management of affairs, was tore in pieces by the Senators in the Temple of Vulcan, because he rendred the Vejeans their hostages, without acquainting them with it, and for having distributed the Countries he had Conquered to his Souldiers.
That great Caesar, whose Wisdom was no less then his courage, and whose Orations were as much admired as his Combats; af∣ter he had signalized his arms, and his name in France, in Spain, in England, in Germany,
in Afriea, and in Asia, was assassinated by his friends, in the Senate, because he would have changed the Government of the Repub∣lick into a Monarchy. In fine, we see that a sick Man, though he is laid upon a straw bed, or upon a downe bed, still retains his maladie; That Men do not change their de∣stiny, though they change their situation; That death meets them every where, and ventures in Palaces, and in Temples, as well as in Cottages and Battles.