John Trapp on Esther 2:20

Verſe 20. Eſther had not yet ſhewed her kinred] Taciturnity is ſometimes a vertue, and Tacitus the beſt Hiſtorian. Queen Elizabeths Motto was, Video, taceo, I ſee, and ſay nothing. Sophocles ſaith, Nothing better becometh a woman then ſilence. Euripides alſo ſaith, that ſilence, and modeſty, and keeping at home, are the greateſt commendation to a woman that can be.Cui tacere grave ſit. Curt. l. 4. Curtius telleth us, that the Perſians never truſt one whom hey finde to be talkative. Why Eſther concealed her kindred, ſee the note on v. 11. and know that this is no warrant for popiſh equivocation; a device of the Jeſuites, for the comfort of afflicted Catholikes (as Blackwell and Garnet profeſſe) and for the inſtruction of all the godly.

For Eſther di[illegible: 1 letter] the commandment of Mordeoai] Her honours had not altered her manners. She was ſemper endem, as obſequious and obſervant of Mordec[illegible: 3 letters] ſtill as ever. So was Joſeph, David, Solomon, Epaminondas, and others, of their old and poorer Parents. Pope Benedict a Lombard, Ani[illegible: 1 letter] Dom. 1303. A ſhepherds ſon would not acknowledge his poore mother, when ſhe came to him Lady-like, but cauſed her to put on her ſhepherdeſſe apparel, and then did her all the honour that might be. Sir Thomas Moore, would in Weſtminſter Hall beg his fathers bleſſing on his knees. Mordecas was Eſthers foſter-father, and had given her (though not her being, yet) her well-being; and hence ſhe ſo reſpects him, and is ſo ruled by him. She had gotten from him that nurture and admonition in the Lord, that was better to her then the Crown of the Kingdome: for what is unſanctified greatneſſe but eminent diſhonour? and what is dignitas in indigno, but ornamentum in lute? Salvian. If any Parents finde diſobedient children; let them conſider whether Eli like, they have not honoured (I mean cockered) their ſons too much, 1 Sam. 2.29. which is the reaſon they honour then now ſo little. Will they keep meat well ſavoured, yet never ſalt it? will they have ſprigs ſprout right, yet never lop them? Our Henry the ſecond ſo cockered his eldeſt ſon Henry, that he crowned him whileſt himſelf was yet alive, which made his ambition quite turne off his obedience, to his fathers great heart-break.