Part i

■A \
ci.eobulp:
.f’ '
^ Litert.
f SiM.
CHAP I.
Cleobulus his Life, Death, and Writings
Dee} deli'll
* CLEOBULUS was of Lindus, City
O of Rhodes) or, according to ot
Crria Son of Evagoras , lineally defeended to^uZt, excfuantWh m Wifdom out- ward Beauty, and t
of his time ; learned in the Philotophy of the lymmu. That he was Tyrant of is
marafeft from » PlMarch. » He re-edihed the 'Temple of Minerva, {ourAt^^ hy Lanaits,
He had a Daughter ''^whom he nairod Eumeus, but was called commonly from her Father C/^^- ^/z//>7t^:She compofed verfes and riddles, in Hexa* miters, famous for her Wifdom and Acutenels m thofe r iddles,fome of her queftions having fpread as far as Egyp, which (he ufed jocularly like Dice upon occafions,' only conteltingwith fuch ^ as provoked her •, Ihe was alfo. indued with an admirable height of Miod, and a
43
Part P
C.L EOB V L V S.
f Lacrt.
*LaeyU
f Laert*
'^Lueri.
Politick, and full of humanity, caufing her Father to govern his People with niore mild- nefs. Cr at inns alfo mentions her in a Come¬ dy named from her CleobuU^ often cited by Athen£Tts.
+ He died full of Years, which extended to Seventy: His Tomb carried this Infcription,
Wife Cleobulus’s Deaths the Lyndian Shoar^
To which hk Birth wots oimng^ doth deplore.
^ He Gompofed Verfes and Riddles to the number of three Thoufand of which was this Riddle concerning the Year, ( by buidaut afcribcd to his Daughter Cleohnlinay^ : ■
On Sire^ twelve Sons, from every one a race Of thirty Daughters with a double ^'ace : Their Looks are black, and white fuccefjively •, Immortal they are all, and yet all die,
f Some afert him the Author of this Epigram upon Midas (not Homer *, twho, as they account, lived long before Midas , though- Hefodotus o- therwife,) \
A brazen Virgin flretcht on MiddLs Tomb,
To laji whilji Water runs,and Trees fhall bloom •, Whilft Sun and Moon dart their fuccejjive beams. And the rough Sea fupplied by gentle Streams.
I dwell upon this d final Sepulchre,
To tell all thofe that pafs, Midas lies here.
ing, that the Virgins alfo fhould be infiruUed, which the Greeks xiDdt. not, the Romans brought them up in the Liberal Sciences. Do good to your Eriend that he may be more your Eriendyour Enemy that he may become your Eriend : Eor we fhould beware of the Calumny of Eriends , of the Treachery of Enemies : When any Alangoeth forth, let him con fide r what he k to do •, when he returns , examine what he hath done.
t A Erince may be happy, if he trujl none that f Sympof, are about him. That Common wealth kbeji or- ppt- dered, wherein the Citizens fear Reproach more than Law. That Eamily k bejl, wherein more love than fear the Alajler,
His Precepts thus colleQed by Demetrius'^ stoh.Srmi.ii Phalereus : A mead k befi.(^ His particular Sen- I Bacrt. tence)Tc> reverence thy Eather k Duty. Take care ' oj thy. Body and Soul. Hear willingly, but trujl not hajiily. (Or as Laertius, kis better to Love td hear, than to love to fpeak.) It is better to know many things, (Laertiiss, to love knowledge) than to be ignorant of all. Teach your Tongue to fpeak well. It k proper to Vert ue, and contrary to Vice, to hatei-lpjujlice. (Laerti/^fe a Friend to vertue^- a Stranger to Vice.) P ref erve thy Piety. Advife thy Countrymen what k beJl. Govern thy Tongue.
(Laertius Pleafure.) Do nothing by Violence. In- ftruSlthy Children. Pray to Eortune. Eorego En¬ mity. The Enemy to thy Country, efieem thy own.
Eight not, nor be kind to thy Wife in the prefence of others, one argue sj oily phe other madnefs .Corretl not your Servants when-they are drunk,it Jhews as
ff you were drunkyourf elf Alarry with your equal. There is likewile extant under his name this * hy matching into a higher Eamily , you procure
Epiftle :
Cleobulus to ^olon.
'0 U have many Friends, and a Habita¬ tion every where ^ but I dare affirn;i,L/>7- ‘ difs would be moft pleafing to Solon, being go- ‘ verned by a Democracy 5 an Ifland where S there is no fear of Pifjlrater, thither' your ‘ Friends will come to you from alt parts..
C H A P. II.
Hk Moral Sentences, Precepts, and Verfes. ;
kF hismbral Sayings, are thefe.* Employ * thy felf in fomething excellent. Be not vain and ungrateful. Bejiow your Daughters, Virgins in Tears, Matrons in d fcretion: imply-
Mafters, not Kinfmen, Laugh not in compliance with him who- derides others -, for you will be ha¬ ted hy thofe, he fderidesERich, be not exalted Poor.:, be not d^Qe'di ( Laertius adds, Learn to beat 'thechahges of Fortune.^
• Aufonius alcr^es thefe to hirn.
The more k in thy Power, defire the lefs •
Plot to be env?d ifunhappinefs.
Jdoj^e longan his impieties can thrive; ':/
In others much, nought in thy felf forgive.
All:Men pjo'uld fpare the._geod, the bad caft down.
We fhard 'hot in our fiticeflors Renown :
But theirjingloriousfMlions often oven.
Of hiS*Ac/ii«V* thble^^ were moft r^d. Lam,
By Ignorance mojl deeds are fway'd.
In indny'fp'ecious Words array'd
• BuV ki^ things fhall by Time be weigh'd.
PERI.
L.ue)t.
* H:rod, i.
A .*3
7 Lib, 9
PERlAl^fDER
CHAP. I.
* T})e Country Ancejiors, and Barents oj Periander.
PEriander was Son of Cypfelui Tyrant of Corinth, his Mother Cratea, hisAhceftors the Ueraclidx, defcended fiom Hercules and 7- Jardana ) Reigned Kings of Ijydia five hundred and five years, the Son continually fucceeding the Father for two and twenty Generations, 'file original of Cypfelus, and the manner of his obtaining the Kingdom receive thns from t He-
' roJoliis-
When Corinth was governed by an Oligar* chy, inhabited by the Bacchiadd, who never would marry out of their own Family, one of them (called Amphion )hzd a lame Daughter ( by name Labda ) whom when none of the Bacchiadoe would take to Wife, Eetion married ( Son of Echetrates of the Betraan tribe, but dclcended afar off from Lapithe and Cams ) having no Children, he confulted the Delphian
Oracle
Part. I.
PEKIANDER.
Oracle about it ^ as foon as he entred, the Pro- phetels Ipake thus to him.
Eeiion none will thee though great refpe^.
A jione from Labdas Womb expelt^ Which Jhall the 'People Caujh^ Corinth Corre^.
This Oracle to Eetion^ agreed with another delivered to the Bacchiadce ( though by them not underftood ) to this elFeft.
Being poireft of the Kingdom, he perlecuted the Corinthians^ depriviving many of their E- lb ICS, more ( by far ) of their Lives*, having reigned thirty years, he dyed and was fucceed- ed by his Son Eeriander^ whofe Reign corn- pleated this Tyranny, which lafted according to Ariptle 73 years and 6 months: fo that began, to Reign in the fecond year of the thirtieth Olympiad.
A Lyon by an Eagle Jhall be laid Upon a Rock^ fierce^ making all afrid, Corinthians, what I fay confider welj Who in tall Corinth and Pirene dwell-
The Bacchiadde who could not comprehend the meaning of this Oracle,* when they heard that to Eetion^ underftood their own by the affinity it had with the other, and thereupon fecretly defign’d amongft themfelves to kill Eet ion's Child. His Wfte being delivered, they fent ten Men of their own to the tribe where¬ in Eetion dwelt, that they fliould murther the , Infant j when they came to Letra to Eetion's * Houfe, they demanded the Child. Labda ( not knowing their intent, but thinking they came to congratulate with the Father, ) brings her Son, and gives him into the hands of one of them: they had agreed (upon the way ) that he into whofe hands the Child were delivered fhould dafti out its brains againft the ground,
‘ but by divine Providence, the Child Imiling upon him to whom Labda had given it, he was moved therewith to fuch companion, that he could not find in his heart to kill ir, but deli¬ vered it to another, he to a third, until at laft itpaft through the hands of all the ten*. None of them having power to kill it, they reftored it to the Mother. Then going forth and ftand- ing, before the door, they began to find fault with one another, but chiefly with him who took the Child firft, for not performing the agreement ^ after fome debate, they agreed to go in all and be equal ftiarers in the mur- thcr ^ but it vvas decreed that Eetion^s Child fiiould be the opprelTor of Corinth^ for Labda ftanding at the door heard all their difcourfe, and fearing left their minds changing, they fhould. murther it , carried away the Child, and hid it in a meafure of Corn ( called Cyp- Jela ) a place which (he conceived they could never learch if they returned,' and fo it fell out.* They came back and fought all about*, when they could not find him, they agreed amongft themfelves to tell thofe who fent them, they had done what they required, and return¬ ing home, did fo. Eetiorfs Son growing up was called Cypfelus from the danger he had efcaped in the Corn-meafure ; when he came to Man’s eftate, he confulted with the Delphian • Oracle, and received a doubtllil anfwer, in con¬
fidence whereof he attempted Corinth and took it, the Oracle was this.
Happy is Cyplelus, who to my jane 2'his vifit makes X, he Connth’j- Crown Jhall gain:, - ^ ■
he. and his Sons ( but no! their Sons ) Jlntll Reign^
CHAP. 11.
The time of his Birth, his Reign, and the change of his Difpojttion, ,
PEriander ( by computation from his death, which according fo Laertim was in the eightieth year of his age, the laft of the forty eighth Olympiad) was born in the laft year of the tweenty ninth Olympiad. His Reign ( ac¬ cording to Arif otle's account, hRing forty four * Politic. $. years ) begun in the fourth year of the thirty feventh Olympiad. Suidiu faith, he fucceeded in the Kingdom, fas being his Fathers eldeft Son, which Plutarch calls, a difeafe hereditary to him, |j flourifhedin the thirty eight Olymdiad. \\*conviv fett He ^ was at firft of a mild gintle difpofition,l5. but afterwards grew very rigid upon this occafi-'*’ SuH. on. His Mother, whilft he was* very young,* kept him much in her company, when he grew”*^* more in years, fell in love with him *, with time her paflion encreafed to Rich extremity, that file could no longer fupprefs it *, alTuming con¬ fidence, fhe told her Son, there was a beautiful Lady fallen in love with him, and advifed him not to flight her affe£lion. He anfwer’d, he would not tranl^efs Law and Vertue, by touhing a married Woman- His Mother prefled him with intreatics j at laft he conlcn- ted 5 file appointed a Night, advifing him not to have any light in his Chamber, nor to con- ftrain the Lady to Ipeak, but to excule her for modeftie's lake. Periander engaged himfelf to do all (he dire£led- She, attired as richly as Ihe could, went to his Chamber, and departed - again before day-break.* On the morrow the enquired if he were plealed, and if the Lady fhould come again to him. Periander laid, it was his chiefeft defire, and that he affe£led her exceffively, from that time fhe vifited her Son often .* he, at laft, was moved with a great curiofity to know who Ihe was, and folicited his Mother very importunately that he might have fome difcourfe and acquaintance with her, feeing he was lb much taken with love of her, affirming it was unreafonable , he fhould be denyed the fight of one, with whom he had ,
fo often a nearer acquaintance. His Mother affirm’d it could not be done, in refpeff to tlie Modefty of the Lady. Hereupon Ip gave one of his Servants order to hide a light in his Chamber .* file came as fhe' ufed, and when '(he was alleep, Periander role, took the light, and feeing it was his Mother, was about to have killed her, but with-held by fome genius or apparition, forbore: From that time for¬ ward he was troubled in mind, grew cruel, and killed many of his SubjeHs. His Mother, much accufing her unhappy genius. Hew her
46
f Hmd,
^ Lcicrt.
coiniv.
f Lasrt.
* Snid.
P E R I A N D E R.