" good End. Men forced to ufe bad Means for obtaining a good End. Lycurgus, the most virtuous and perfect Ligislator that ever was, invented this unjust Practice of making the Helotes, who were ' their Slaves, drunk by Force, by so doing to teach his People Temperancem, to the • End, that the Spartiates, seeing them so demolished and • drowned in Wine, might abhor the Excess of this Vice." And yet they were more to blame, who, of Old, gave Leave, that Criminals", to what fort of Death foever they were condemned, should be dissected alive by the Physicians, that they might make a Discovery of our inward Parts in the Life, and build their Art upon greater Certainty: For, if we must run into Excesses, 'tis more excusable to do it for the Health of the Soul, than that of the Body; as the Romans trained up the People to Valour, and the Contempt of Dangers and Death, by those furious Spectacles of Gladiators and Fencers, who fought it out till the last, cut, and killed one another in their Prefence : Quid vefani aliud fibi vult ars impia ludi, Quid mortes juvenum, quid fanguine pasta voluptas ° ? i. e. Of such inhuman Sports what further Ufe ? And this Custom continued till the Emperor Theodofius's Time. Arripe dilatam tua, dux, in tempora famam, i. e. Prince, take the Honours destin'd for thy Reign, } Let •m Plutarch in the Life of Lycurgus, c. 21. of Amyot's Translation. Medicina in Præfat. p. 7. Edit. Th. I. ab Almeloven. Amft. 1713. Let none but Beasts Blood stain the Theatre, It was, in Truth, a wonderful Example, and of very great Advantage for the Instruction of the People, to fee every Day before their Eyes a hundred, two hundred, nay, a thousand Couples of Men armed against one another, cut one another to Pieces with such Intrepidity, that they were never heard to utter so much as one Syllable of Weakness or Commiferation; never seen to turn back, nor so much as to make one cowardly Motion to evade a Blow, but rather exposed their Necks to the Adversaries Sword, and presented themselves to receive the Stroke. And many of them, when mortally wounded, have sent to ask the Spectators, If they were satisfied with their Behaviour? and then they lay down to give up the Ghost upon the Place. It was not enough for them to Fight and Die bravely, but chearfully too; infomuch that they were hissed and cursed, if they made any Dispute about receiving their Death. The very Maids themselves egged them on. confurgit ad ictus : Et quoties victor ferrum jugulo inferit, illa 1 The modest Virgin is delighted so The ancient Romans only imployed Criminals in this Leffon; but they afterwards imployed innocent Slaves in the Work, and even Freemen too, who fold themselves to this Effect; nay, moreover, Senators and Knights of Rome; and alfo Women: VOL. II. li 4 Prudent. lib. ult. v. 617. Nunc Nunc caput in mortem vendunt, et funus arena, i. e. They fell themselves to Death, and, since the Wars Hos inter fremitus, novosque lusus, i. e. : Amidst these Tumults and Alarms, The tender Sex, unskill'd in Arms, Challeng'd each other to engage, And fought, as Men, with equal Rage. which I should think strange and incredible, if we were not accustomed every Day to fee, in our 'own Wars, many Thousands of Men, of other Nations, staking their Blood and their Lives for Money, often in Quarrels wherein they have no manner of Concern. I CHAP. XXIV. Of the Roman GRANDEUR. WILL only say a Word or two of this infinite Argument, to shew the Simplicity of those who compare the pitiful Grandeurs of these Times to that of Rome. In the feventh Book of Cicero's Familiar Epistles, (but let the Grammarians put out that Surname of Familiar, if they please, for, in Truth, it is not very proper; and they who, instead of familiar, have substituted ad familiares, may gather something to justify them for so doing, + Manil. Aftron. lib. iv. v. 225, 226. • Statius, Syl. 6. lib. i. v. 52, 53, 54 out Witness the Swiss, who, though of the fame Country, and perhaps of the same Family, ferve one against another, for Pay, in the Armies of France, Holland, &c. That out of what Suetonius says, in the Life of Cafar, Tot Galata, tot Pontus, tot Lydia nummis *. i. e. Such Sums of Money did he raise, as these, A great King deprived of bis Conquests, by a Letter from the Ro man Senate. : Mark Anthony faid, 'That the Grandeur of the People of Ii2 u Lib. vii. Ep. 5. Ciceronis Cæfari Imper. w Cic. de Divinat. lib. ii. c. 37 * Claud. in Eutrop. lib. i. c. 203. Plutarch, in the Life of Anthony, c. 8. 1 them, Popilius made a Circle about him with the Stick he had in his Hand, saying, 'Return me an Answer, that I may carry it back to the Senate, before thou stirrest out of this Circle 2.' Antiochus, astonished at the Roughness of so urgent a Command, after a little Pause, replied, I will obey the Senate's Command;' and then it was that Popilius faluted him as a Friend to the People of Rome. After having quitted Claim to so great a Monarchy, and in such a Torrent of successful Fortune, upon three Words in Writing; in Earnest he had Reason, as he did, to fend the Senate Word, by his Ambassadors, that he had received their Order with the same Respect, as if it had arrived from the immortal Gods *.' All the Kingdoms, that Augustus gained by the Right of Conquest, he either restored to those who Why the Romans restored had lost them, or presented them to Strantheir conquered gers. And Tacitus, in Reference to this, Kingdoms to speaking of Cogidunus, King of England, gives their Owners. ⚫us a wonderful Instance of that infinite Power: 'The Romans, fays be, were, from all Antiquity, ac' customed to leave the Kings they had fubdued, in Pof• session of their Kingdoms under their Authority, that they might have even Kings to be their Slaves: Ut haberent instrumenta servitutis, et Reges. 'Tis likely, that Solyman, whom we have feen make a Gift of Hungary, and other Principalities, had therein more Respect to this Confideration, than to that he was wont to alledge, viz. • That he was glutted and overcharged with so many 'Monarchies, and fo much Dominion, as his own Va'lour, or that of his Ancestors, had acquired.' 2 Tit. Liv. lib. xiv. c. 12. a Idem, ibid. c. 23. Vitâ Julii Agricola. b Idem, in 1 CHAP. |