*cipline, to which alone he conceived men of honour "ought to apply themselves;" so it seems to me, that this addrefs, to which we form our limbs, those writhings and motions young men are taught in this new school, are not only of no ufe, but rather contrary and hurtful to the manner of fight in battle: our people alfo commonly make ufe of particular weapons, peculiarly defigned for duel. And I have known, when it has been difapproved, that a gentleman, challenged to fight with rapier and poniard, fhould appear in the equipage of a man at arms; or that another fhould go thither with his cloak instead of a poniard. It is worthy of confideration, that Lachez in Plato, fpeaking of learning to fence after our manner, fays, "that he never knew any

The art of

great foldier come out of that fchool, efpecially the "mafters of it*:" and, indeed, as to them, our own experience tells us as much. As to the reft, we may, at leaft, conclude, that they are abilities of no relation nor correfpondence. And, in the education of the children of his government, Plato prohibits the art of boxing, introduced by Amicus and Epeius, and that of wrestling, by Antus and Cecyo, because they have another end, than to "render youth fit for the fervice of the war, and contri"bute nothing to it." But I fee I am too far strayed from my theme.

boxing prohi bited by Plato.

The emperor Maurice, being advertifed, by dreams and feveral prognoftics, that one Phocas, an obfcure foldier, would kill him, queftioned his fon-in-law, Philip, "who this Phocas was, and what was his nature, quali"ties, and manners;" and as foon as Philip, amongst other things, had told him, "that he Cruel and bloody "was cowardly and timorous," the em- men naturally cowards. peror immediately thence concluded, that he was a murderer and cruel." makes tyrants fo bloody? It is only the follicitude for their own fafety, and that their faint hearts can furnish them with no other means of fecuring themselves, than

Plato's dialogue, intitled, Lachez, p. 247.

+ De Legibus, lib. vii. p. 630.

What is it that

Or rather Cercyo, K, Plato de Legib. lib. vii. ibid.
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in exterminating thofe that may hurt them, even fo much as the women, for fear of a fcratch.

Cuneta ferit, dum cuncta timet *.

He strikes at all, who every one does fear.

One act of cruelty neceffarily produces others.

The first cruelties are exercifed for themselves: from thence fprings the fear of a juft revenge, which afterwards produces a feries of new cruelties, to obliterate one by the other. Philip king of Macedon, who had fo much upon his hands with the people of Rome, agitated with the horror of fo many murders committed by his appointment, and doubting of being able to regain his credit with fo many families, whom he had at diverfe times offended; "refolved to feize all the children of those he "had caused to be flain, to dispatch them daily one after "another, and thereby eftablish his own repole." Good fubjects become any place; and therefore I, who more confider the weight and utility of what I deliver than its order and connexion, need not fear, in this place, to bring in a fine ftory, though it be a little by the bye; for when fuch fubjects are rich in their own native beauty, and are able to juftify themfelves, the least end of a hair will ferve to draw them into my difcourfe.

"Amongst others condemned by Philip, Herodicus+,

A remarkable fory on this fubject.

"Prince of Theffaly, had been one. He "had, moreover, after him, caufed his "two fons-in-law to be put to death, who "each left a fon, very young, behind him. Theoxena and Archo were the two widows. Theoxena, though "warmly courted to it, could not be perfuaded to marry

again: Archo was married to Poris, the greatest man "of the Enians, and by him had a great many "children, which the, dying, left all minors. Theoxena, "moved with a maternal charity towards her nephews, "that he might have them under her own conduct and "protection, married Poris: when prefently comes a

Claud. in Eutrop. lib. i. ver. 182.

+ The intire ftory is taken from Titus Livy, lib. xi. cap. 4.

"procla

proclamation of the king's edict. This bold-fpirited "mother, fufpecting the cruelty of Philip, and afraid of the infolence of the foldiers towards thefe lovely young "children, was fo bold as to declare, that fhe would ra "ther kill them with her own hands, than deliver them "up. Poris, ftartled at this proteftation, promised her "to fteal them away, and to tranfport them to Athens, " and there commit them to the cuftody of fome trusty "friends of his. They took therefore the opportunity "of an annual feaft, which was celebrated at Enia, in "honour of Æneas, and thither they went. Having "appeared by day at the public ceremonies and banquet, "they ftole, the night following, into a veffel laid ready "for that purpose, to make their efcape by fea.

The

"wind proved contrary, and finding themfelves, in the "morning, within fight of the land from whence they "had launched over night, were purfued by the guards "of the port; which Poris perceiving, he laboured all he "could to hasten the mariners to put off. But Theox "ena, frantic with affection and revenge, in pursuance of her former refolution, prepared both arms and poifon, and expofing them before them; Go to, my children, "faid fhe, death is now the only means of your defence and liberty, and will adminifter occafion to the gods to "exercise their facred juftice: thefe drawn fwords, these "full cups, will open you the way to it be of good "courage; and thou, my fon, who art the eldeft, take

this steel into thy hand, that thou mayeft the more bravely die. The children having, on one fide, fo "hearty a counfellor, and the enemy at their throats on "the other, ran, all of them eagerly, to dispatch them

felves with what was next to hand; and, when half << dead, were thrown into the fea. Theoxena, proud of having fo glorioufly provided for the fafety of her "children, clafping her arms, with great affection, about " her husband's neck; let us, my dear, faid fhe, follow "these boys, and enjoy the fame fepulchre they do: " and, thus embraced, they threw themselves headlong, "overboard, into the fea; fo that the fhip was carried "back, without its owners, into the harbour."

Tyrants con

trive to lengthen

the torments of thofe they put to death.

Tyrants, at once both to kill, and to make their an ger felt, have racked their wit to invent the most lingering deaths: they will have their enemies difpatched, but not so fast that they may not have leifure to tafte their vengeance: and herein they are mightily perplexed; for, if the torments they inflict are violent, they are fhort; if long, they are not then fo painful as they defire; and thus torment themselves, in contriving how to torment others. Of this we have a thoufand examples in antiquity, and I know not whether we, "unawares, do not retain fome traces of this barbarity. All that exceeds a fimple death, appears to me mere

Executions of justice beyond merely putting to death, abio. Jute cruelty.

cruelty; neither can our justice expect, that he, whom the fear of death, by being beheaded or hanged, will not reftrain, fhould be any more awed by the imagi nation of a flow fire, burning pincers, or the wheel. I know not whether we do not even drive them into defpair by that means; for in what condition can the foul of a man be, who expects death four and twenty hours together, whether he is broke upon a wheel, or, after the old way, nailed to a cross? Jofephus relates, "that, in the time of the war which the Romans "made in Judea, happening to pafs by where they had, "three days before, crucified certain Jews, he knew "three of his own friends amongst them, and obtained "the favour of having them taken down. Two of "them, he fays, died, the third lived a great while after." Chacondilas, a writer of good credit, in the records he has left behind him of things that happened into his time, and near him, tells us, as one of the moft exceffive torments, of what the emperor Mechmed often practifed, viz. "cutting off men in the mid"dle, by the diaphragma, with one blow of a fcymeter; by which it followed, that they died, as it were, two "deaths at once, and both the one part, fays he, and "the other were feen to ftir, a great while after, with the torment." I do not think there was any great

Barbarous punifhments inAlicted by the emperor Mechmed.

fuffering

fuffering in this motion: the torments that are most dreadful to look on, are not always the greatest to endure; and, I think, thofe that other hiftorians relate to have been practifed upon the Epirot lords, to be more cruel, who were condemned to be flead alive, by piece-meal, in fo "malicious a manner, that they continued in this mifery "a fortnight: as alfo thefe other two that follow.

..

"Cræfus, having caused a gentleman, the favourite of "his brother Pantaleon, to be feized on,

Two more instances of ex

ceffive cruelty.

caried him into a fuller's fhop*, where "he caufed him to be fcratched and "carded with cards and combs belonging to that craft, "till he died. George Sechel, chief commander of the "peasants of Poland, who committed fo many mischiefs,

under the title of the Crufado, being defeated in battle, "and taken by the vayvod of Tranfylvania, was three days "bound naked upon the rack, expofed to all forts of tor"ments that any one could inflict upon him; during “which time, many other prifoners were kept fafting. "At last while he was living, and looking on, they "made his beloved brother Lucat, for whofe safety "alone he intreated, by taking upon himself the blame "of all their evil actions, to drink his blood, and "caufed twenty of his moft favoured captains to feed "upon him, tearing his flesh in pieces with their teeth, "and swallowing the morfels: the remainder of his "body and bowels, as foon as he was dead, were boiled, "and others of his followers compelled to eat them."

CHA P. XXVIII.

All Things have their Seafon.

UCH as compare Cato the cenfor with the younger Cato that killed himfelf, compare two beautiful natures, and forms much refembling one another. The first acquired his reputation feveral ways, and excelled

• Herodot. lib. i. p. 44.
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