Alexander was sorry, because there were no more worlds for him to conquer, he is admired by some for it, animosa vox videtur, & regia, ’twas spoken like a Prince, but as wise Seneca censures him, ’twas vox inquissima & stultissima, ’twas spoken like a bedlam fool: and that sentence which the same Seneca appropriates to his father Philip and him, I apply to them all, Non minores fuere pestes mortalium quàm inundatio, quàm conflagratio, quibus, &c. they did as much mischief to mortall men as fire and water, those mercilesse elements when they rage.

Which is yet more to be lamented, they perswade them, this hellish course of life is holy, they promise heaven to such as venture their lives bello sacro, and that by these bloody wars, as Persians, Greeks, and Romans of old, as modern Turks do now their Commons, to encourage them to fight, ut cadant infeliciter, If they dy in the field, they go directly to heaven, and shall be canonized for saints, (O diabolical invention!) put in the Chronicles, in perpetuam rei memoriam, to their eternal memorie:

when as in truth, as some hold, it were much better (since wars are the scourge of God for sin, by which he punisheth mortal mens peevishnes and folly) such brutish stories were suppressed, because ad morum institutionem nihil habent, they conduce not at all to maners, or good life. But they will have it thus neverthelesse, & so they put a note of divinity upon the most cruel, and pernicious plague of humane kinde, adore such men with grand titles, degrees, statues, images, honor, applaud and highly reward them for their good service, no greater glory then to die in the field.

So Africanus is extolled by Ennius: Mars, and Hercules, & I know not how many besides of old were deified, went this way to heaven, that were indeed bloody butchers, wicked destroyers, and troublers of the world, prodigious monsters, hel-hounds, feral plagues, devourers, common executioners of human kinde, as Lactantius truely proves, & Cyprian to Donat, such as were desperate in wars, and precipitately made away themselves (like those Celtes in Damascen, with ridiculous valour, ut dedecorosum putarent muro ruenti se subducere, a disgrace to run away for a rotten wall, now ready to fall on their heads) such as will not rush on a swords point, or seek to shun a canons shot, are base cowards, & no valiant men.

By which means, Madet orbis mutuo sanguine, the earth wallows in her own blood, Sævit amor ferri & scelerati insania belli, and for that, which if it be done in private, a man shall be rigorously executed, and which is no lesse then murder it self, if the same fact be done in publike in wars, it is called manhood, and the party is honored for it. —— prosperum & fœlix scelus Virtus vocatur ——— We measure all as Turks do, by the event, and most part, as Cyprian notes, in all ages, countreys, places, sævitiæ magnitudo impunitatem sceleris acquirit, the foulnesse of the fact vindicates the offender.

One is crowned for that which another is tormented: Ille crucem sceleris precium tulit, hic diadema. made a Knight, a Lord, an Earl, a great Duke, (as Agrippa notes) for which another should have hung in gibbets, as a terror to the rest, & tamen alter, Si fecisset idem, caderet sub judice morum.

A poor sheep-stealer is hanged for stealing of victuals, compelled peradventure by necessity of that intollerable cold, hunger, and thirst, to save himself from starving: but a great man in office, may securely rob whole provinces, undo thousands, pill and pole, oppresse ad libitum, flea, grinde, tyrannize, enrich himself by spoils of the Commons, be uncontroleable in his actions, and after all, be recompensed with turgent titles, honored for his good service, and no man dare finde fault, or mutter at it.

How would our Democritus have been affected, to see a wicked caitiffe, or fool, a very idiot, a funge, a golden ass, a monster of men, to have many good men, wise men, learned men to attend upon him with all submission, as an appendix to his riches, for that respect alone, because he hath more wealth and money, and to honour him with divine titles, and bumbast Epithets, to smother him with fumes and eulogies, whom they know to be a dizard, a fool, a covetous wretch, a beast, &c. because he is rich? To see sub exuviis leonis onagrum, a filthy lothsome carcasse, a Gorgons head puffed up by parasites, assume this unto himself, glorious titles, in worth an infant, a Cuman asse, a painted sepulchre, an Egyptian temple?

To see a withered face, a diseased, deformed, canckred complexion, a rotten carcass, a viperous minde, and Epicurean soul set out with orient pearls, jewels, diadems, perfumes, curious elaborate works, as proud of his clothes, as a childe of his new coats; and a goodly person, of an angelike divine countenance, a saint, an humble minde, a meek spirit clothed in rags, beg, and now ready to be starved? To see a silly contemptible sloven in apparel, ragged in his coat, polite in speech, of a divine spirit, wise? another neat in clothes, spruce, full of curtesie, empty of grace, wit, talk non-sense?