A Treatise of Witchcraft by Alexander Roberts
page 91 of 100 (91%)
page 91 of 100 (91%)
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appoyntment, hee must of necessity haue this faculty communicated by
some combination and inter league with the diuell. Eightly, the Iudge or ciuil Magistrate is bound by vertue of that office, and superioritie he sustaineth in the common-wealth, to purge and free that place, in, and ouer which he hath command, of all malefactors, which if he doe neglect, then is a double offender, against the Law both of Iustice and Charity; for hee is obliged by duety to foresee (so much as in him lyeth) that the publike state should be secured, which it concerneth to haue offenders punished, otherwise hee maketh himselfe partner with them in their outrages and offences, and standeth answerable for those damages sustained by the whole bodie of the people in generall, or vndergone by any particular of the same, for sparing of the wicked[r] is hurting the good, and hee that doth not represse and forbid euill (when it is in his power) doth countenance and maintaine it. [Footnote r: _Pythagoras apud Stobæum._] Much more might be added, and many examples produced, to manifest, how in all Nations these odious company of witches, and the like haue euer beene accounted detestable; and for their impious deedes requited with neuer dying shame, aud vtter confusion, and iustly by law executed; for among the Romans, Mathematitians,[s] and Magitians by the Decree of the Senate were expelled out of all Italy: and amongst these _Pituanus_ was throwne downe from the rock _Tarpeius_, and crushed apeeces. _Martius_ by the Consuls put to death with the sound of a Trumpet without the gate _Exquilina_: _Publicia_ and _Licinia_ women,[t] and seauenty more witches hanged. The [u]speedy judgement of the Athenians, witnesse of their hatred against these kinde of malefactors, is much commended, who |
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