John Trapp on Esther 2:21

Verſe 21. In thoſe dayes] Whiles the King is drowning himſelf in pleaſure, and dreadeth no danger: whiles he was raviſhing and deflowring of Virgins, and bragging (perhaps) as Proculus the Emperour did, that when he made warre upon the S[illegible: 2 letters]matians; in fifteen dayes he got with childe an hundred Virgins of that Countrey, there taken priſoners. Whiles this voluptuous Prince was in the glut of his carnal delights, in the flagrancy of his ſinful luſts his life is ſought for, and hell gapes for him; ſo ſlippery places are great ones ſet in: ſo doth the Lord ſauce their greateſt proſperity with ſudden and unexpected dangers. Thus Artilas King of Hunnes was hang'd up in gibbets, as it were, by Gods own hand, in the [illegible: 1 word] of his Nuptials. Thus King Henry of France, upon the marriage of his ſiſter to [illegible: 1 word] King of Spaine, was ſo over joyed, that he called himſelfe by a new title, Tres heureuſe Roy, the thrice happy King, But (to confute him) in ſolemnizing that marriage, he was ſlain at Tilt by Mongomery, Captain of his guard, though againſt his Will, &c.

Ad [illegible: 1 letter]enerum Cereris ſine caede & ſanguine panciJuvenal. Deſcendunt reges, & ſiccâ merce [illegible: 1 letter]yranni.

While Mor decai ſate in the Kings gate] See ver. 19.

Two of the Kings Chamberlaines] In truſt I have found treaſon, ſaid Queen Elizabeth. So before her, did David, Solomon, Rehoboam, Joaſh, Amaziah, Alexander the great, Julius Caeſar, and who not, almoſt? Hence ſome great Princes have wiſhed never to have meddled with Government as Auguſtus, Adrian, (foelix ſi non imperitâſſet) Pertinax, who uſed to ſay, that he never in all his life committed the like fault, as when he accepted the Empire: and many times he motioned to leave the ſame, and to return unto his houſe. Diocleſian and Maximian did ſo; for they found, that quot ſervi, tot hoſtes; quot cuſtodes, tot curnifices: they could not be ſafe from their own ſervants; but Damocles-like, they ſat at meat with a drawn ſword hanging by a twined thread over their necks. Hence Dionyſius durſt not truſt his owne daughter to barbe him. And Maſſiniſſa, King of Numidia, committed his ſafe-keeping to a guard of dogs; for men he durſt not truſt.

Of thoſe which kept the door] ſc. Of the Kings bed-chamber. Some render it, which kept the houſbold-ſtuffe[illegible: 2 letters]. Men, they were much intruſted, and therefore the more to be abhorred. Metuendum eſt eſſe ſine cuſtode, ſed multò magis à cuſtode metuendum eſt, Dio Caſſ. ſaid Auguſtus concerning his guard, whom he ſuſpected of treachery: All, or muſt of his ſucceſſours, till Conſtantine, died unnatural deaths. Let great ones therefore com[illegible: 3 letters] themſelves to God in well-doing, as unto a faithful Creatour.

Were wroth] What the occaſion of their diſcontent was, is uncertain. The Greek and Chaldee ſay it was, becauſe Mordecai was ſo promoted. Others, becauſe Vaſ[illegible: 1 letter]ti was depoſed, and Eſther advanced to her Royal ſtate. Others ſay that they affected the Kingdom, as the Magi had done not long before. Some again, that they were not well paid their arrears. Sure it is, that ambition, envy, covetouſneſſe, all or ſome of theſe ſtirred them up to this treaſonable attempt. Whatſoever the Sire was, the baſtard is anger: and rage likely is the mother of treaſon, becauſe as it baniſheth reaſon, and ſo gives way to all unrulineſſe, ſo it ends in malice; and malice will have blood.

And ſought to lay hands on the King Ahaſhuerus] Kings are fair marks for Traitours to ſhoot at. In which regard —Miſeratque infelix eſt etiam Rex Nec quenquam (mihi crede) facit diadema boatum.

Moſt of the Ceſars got nothing by their adoption or deſignation to the Empire, Niſi ut citiùs interficerentur, but to be ſlain ſo much the ſooner. Treaſons there were ſo many plotted and practiſed againſt that incomparable Queen Elizabeth, that ſhe ſaid in Parliament,Camd. Eliz. Pref. She rather marvelled that ſhe was then muſed that ſhe ſhould not be, were in not that Gods holy hand had protected her beyond expectation. Henry the fourth of France, Ibid. was firſt ſtabbed in the mouth, and after that in the heart, by thoſe falſe Jeſuites, whom he had admitted into his very boſome, and uſed with marvellous reſpect. But in would not ſerve his turne to ſave his life. His Countreyman Cominaeus telleth us, that if he ſhould write of all the Princes which he knew in his time, that in the judgement of men ſeemed to live in great felicity, and yet to thoſe that knew them familiarly, lived in a miſerable eſtate, that matter alone would require a reaſoriable Volume.