John Trapp on Proverbs 16:18

Verſ. 18. Pride goeth before deſtruction] A bulging wall is near a downfall: ſwelling is a dangerous ſymptome in the body, ſo is pride in the ſoul. Sequitur ſuperbos ultor à tergo Deus. Seneca. Surely, as the ſwelling of the ſpleen is dangerous for health, and of the ſails for the over-bearing of a little veſſel, ſo is the ſwelth of the heart by pride. Inſtances hereof wee have in hiſtory not a few. Pharaoh, Adonibezek, Agag, Haman, Herod, &c. Xerxes, Harod. having covered the Seas with his ſhips, and with two millions of men, and paſſed over into Grecia, was afterwards (by a juſt hand of God upon him for his prodigious pride) forced to flye back in a poor fiſhers boat, which being over-burdened, had ſunk all, if the Perſians, by the caſting away of themſelves, had not ſaved the life of their King. It was a great fore-token of Darius his ruine,Q. Curt. when in his proud Ambaſſie to Alexander, hee called himſelf the King of Kings, and Couſin of the gods, but for Alexander, hee called him his Servant. The ſame Senators that accompanied proud Seianus to the Senate, conducted him the ſame day to priſon; they which ſacrificed unto him as to their god,Dio in Tiberio. which erſt kneeled down to adore him, ſcoffed at him, ſeeing him dragged from the Temple to the Gaol, from ſupreme honour, to extream ignominy. Sigiſmund the young King of Hungary, beholding the greatneſs of his Army, in his greaT jollity, hearing of the coming of the Turks, proudly ſaid, what need wee fear the Turk, who need not at all to fear the falling of the heavens; which if they ſhould fall, yet were wee able with our Spears and Halberts,Turk. hiſt. fol. 208. to hold them up from falling upon us? Hee afterwards ſhortly received a notable overthrow, loſt moſt of his men, and was himſelf glad to get over Danubius in a little boat to ſave his life. What ſhould I ſpeak of Bajazet the terrour of the world, and as hee thought, ſuperiour to fortune, yet in an inſtant with his ſtate in one battel overthrown into the bottome of miſery and deſpair,Ibid. 287. and that in the middeſt of his greateſt ſtrength?