the mountains, and other the like places of hardest access; their enemies possessing all the plains and fruitful valleys; and in harvest time by themselves, and the multitude of their cattle, destroying all that grew up, covering the fields as thick as grasshoppers; which servitude lasted seven years.

Then the Lord by his angel stirred up Gideon the son of Joash, afterwards called Jerubbaal; whose fear and unwillingness, and how it pleased God to hearten him in his enterprise, it is both largely and precisely set down in the holy scriptures: as also how it pleased God by a few select persons, 'namely 300 out of 32,000 men, to make them know that he only was the Lord of hosts. Each of these 300, by Gideon's appointment, carried a trumpet, and light in a pitcher, instruments of more terror than force, with which he gave the great army of their enemies an alarum; who hearing so loud a noise, and seeing (at the crack of so many pitchers broken) so many lights about them, esteeming the army of Israel to be infinite, and strucken with a sudden fear, they all fled without a stroke stricken; and were slaughtered in great numbers, two of their princes being made prisoners and slain. In his return, the Ephraimites began to quarrel with Gideon, because he made war without their assistance, being then greedy of glory, the victory being gotten; who, if Gideon had failed, and fallen in the enterprise, would no doubt have held themselves happy by being neglected. But Gideon appeasing them with a mild answer, followed after the enemy, in which pursuit being tired with travel, and weary even with the slaughtering of his enemies, he desired relief from the inhabitants of Succoth, to the end that (his men being refreshed) he might overtake the other two kings of the Midianites, which had saved themselves by flight. For they were four princes of the nations which had invaded and wasted Israel; to wit, Oreb and Zeeb, which were taken already, and Zebah and Salmunna, which fled.

Gideon being denied by them of Succoth, sought the like

relief from the inhabitants of Penuel, who in like sort refused to succour him. To both of these places he threatened therefore the revenge, which in his return from the prosecution of the other two princes he performed; to wit, that he would tear the flesh of those of Succoth with thorns and briers, and destroy the inhabitants and city of Penuel. Now why the people of these two cities should refuse relief to their brethren the Israelites, especially after so great a victory, if I may presume to make conjecture, it seems likely, first, that those cities set over Jordan, and in the way of all invasions to be made by the Moabites, and Ammonites, and Midianites into Israel, had either made their own peace with those nations, and were not spoiled by them; or else they knowing that Zeba and Salmunna were escaped with a great part of their army, might fear their revenge in the future. Secondly, it may be laid to the condition and dispositions of these men, as it is not rare to find of the like humour in all ages. For there are multitudes of men, especially of those which follow the war, that both envy and malign others, if they perform any praiseworthy actions for the honour and safety of their own country, though themselves may be assured to bear a part of the smart of contrary success. And such malicious hearts can rather be contented that their prince and country should suffer hazard, and want, than that such men as they mislike should be the authors or actors of any glory or good to either.

Now Gideon, how or wheresoever it were that he refreshed himself and his weary and hungry soldiers, yet he followed the opportunity, and pursued his former victory to the uttermost: and finding Zeba and Salmunna in s Karkor, (suspecting no further attempt upon them,) he again surprised them, and slaughtered those 15,000 remaining; having put to the sword in the former attempt 120,000, and withal he took Zeba and Salmunna prisoners; whom, because themselves had executed Gideon's brethren before at Tabor, he caused to be slain; or (as it is written) at their own request slew them with his own hands: his son, whom s A place in Basan, as it is thought, Judg. viii. to.

he first commanded to do it, refusing it; and in his return from the consummation of this marvellous victory, he took revenge of the elders of Succoth and of the citizens of Penuel; forgiving no offence committed against him, either by strangers or by his brethren the Israelites. But such mercy as he shewed to others, his own children found soon after his death, according to that which hath been said before. The debts of cruelty and mercy are never left unsatisfied; for as he slew the seventy elders of Succoth with great and unusual torments, so were his own seventy sons, all but one, murdered by his own bastard Abimelech. The like analogy is observed by the rabbins, in the greatest of the plagues which God brought upon the Egyptians, who having caused the male children of the Hebrews to be slain, others of them to be cast into the river and drowned; God rewarded them even with the like measure, destroying their own firstborn by his angel, and drowning Pharaoh and his army in the Red sea. And hereof a world of examples might be given,

both out of the scriptures and other histories.

In the end, so much did the people reverence Gideon in the present for this victory, and their own deliverance, as they offered him the sovereignty over them, and to establish him in the government; which he refused, answering, I will not reign over you, neither shall my child reign over you, but the Lord shall &c. But he desired the people, that they would bestow on him the golden earrings which every man had gotten. For the Ismaelites, neighbours, and mixed with the Midianites, used to wear them: the weight of all which was a thousand and seven hundred shekels of gold, which makes of ours 2380 pounds, if we follow the account of the shekel vulgar. And because he converted that gold into an "ephod, a garment of gold, blue silk, purple, scarlet, and fine linen, belonging to the high priest only, and set up the same in his own city of Ophra, or Ephra, which drew Israel to idolatry, the same was the destruction of Gideon and his house.

There was another kind of ephod besides this of the high

u Exod. xxviii. Judg. viii. 28.

priests which the Levites used, and so did David when he danced before the ark, and Samuel while he was yet young, which was made of linen only.

Now if any man demand how it was possible for Gideon with 300 men to destroy 120,000 of their enemies, and afterward 15,000 which remained, we may remember, that although Gideon with 300 gave the first alarm, and put the Midianites in rout and disorder, yet all the rest of the army came into the slaughter and pursuit; for it is written, × That the men of Israel being gathered together out of Nephtali, and out of Asher, and out of Manasse, pursued after the Midianites: for this army Gideon left in the tents behind him, when he went down to view the army of his enemies, who with the noise of his 300 trumpets came after him to the execution.

There lived with Gideon geus the son of Pandion, who reigned in Athens; Euristheus king of Mycenæ; Atreus and Thyestes, the sons of Pelops, who bare dominion over a great part of Peloponnesus; and after the death of Euristheus the kingdom of Mycenae fell into the hand of Atreus. This is that Atreus, who, holding his brother in jealousy, as an attempter both of his wife and crown, slew the children of Thyestes, and causing their flesh to be dressed, did therewith feast their father. But this cruelty was not unrevenged. For both Atreus and his son Agamemnon were slain by a base son of Thyestes, yea the grandchildren and all the lineage of Atreus died by the same sword.

In Gideon's time also those things were supposed to have been done which are written of Dædalus and Icarus. Dædalus, they say, having slain his nephew Attalus, fled to Minos, king of Crete, for succour, where for his excellent workmanship he was greatly esteemed, having made for Minos a labyrinth like unto that of Egypt. Afterwards he was said to have framed an artificial cow for Pasiphaë the queen, that she, being in love with a fair bull, might by putting herself into the cow satisfy her lust, a thing no less unnatural than incredible, had not that shameless emperor Domitian ex

* Judges vii. 23.

hibited the like beastly spectacle openly before the people of Rome in his amphitheatre, on purpose as may seem to verify the old fable. For so it appears by those verses of Martial, wherein the flattering poet magnifieth the abominable show as a goodly pageant in those vicious times:

Junctam Pasiphaën Dictao, credite, tauro
Vidimus; accepit fabula prisca fidem.
Nec se miretur, Cæsar, longæva vetustas:
Quicquid fama canit, donat arena tibi.

But concerning that which is reported of Pasiphaë, Servius makes a less unhonest construction of it, thinking that Daedalus was of her counsel, and her pander for the enticing of a secretary of Minos called Taurus, which signifieth a bull, who begat her with child, and that she being delivered of two sons, the one resembling Taurus, the other her husband Minos, it was feigned that she was delivered of the monster Minotaur, half a man and half a bull. But this practice being discovered, and Daedalus appointed to be slain, he fled out of Crete to Cocalus, king of Sicily; in which passage he made such expedition, as it was feigned that he fashioned wings for himself and his son to transport them. For whereas Minos pursued him with boats, which had oars only, Dædalus framed sails both for his own boat and for his sons, by which he outwent those that had him in chase. Upon which new invention Icarus bearing himself overbold, was overborne and drowned.

It is also written of Dædalus, that he made images that could move themselves and go, because he carved them with legs, arms, and hands; whereas those that preceded him could only present the body and head of those men whom they cared to counterfeit; and yet the workmanship was esteemed very rare. But Plutarch, who had seen some of those that were called the images of Dædalus, found them exceeding rude.

With y Gideon also flourished Linus the Theban, the son of Apollo and Terpsichore, who instructed Thamaris, Or

y Herind. Plat. Paus. 1. 9.