And say, Thus saith the king, Put this [fellow] in the prison, and feed him with bread of affliction and with water of affliction, until I come in peace.
Ver. 27. Put this fellow in the prison.] So Savanarola was served for his plain dealing with the Pope; but Mancinell much worse; who, for reproving Pope Alexander VI in a sermon at Rome, had first his hands cut off and then his tongue cut out; of which wound he died. a Livy b boasteth of the ancient Romans, that no nation had more gentle punishments for offenders than they; and that for the first seventy years, till the reign of Ancus Martius, they were without a prison. But the modern Romists, as they are noted for their cruelty - witness the bloody inquisition - so it is said to be a like difficult thing amongst them to find a wicked man in their prisons, or a good man out of them.
And feed him with bread of affliction.] With prisoners' pittance; such as may keep him alive only, for further punishment at my return. The martyrs in the Marian times were fed, many of them, with bread made most part with sawdust; this was bread of affliction, worse than that in Deuteronomy 16:3. Bonner allowed William Hunter a half penny a day in bread and drink in prison. c Dr Martin bid the keeper give Elizabeth Young one day bread, and another day water. d The Bishop of Norwich kept Robert Samuel without meat and drink, whereby he was unmercifully vexed, saving that he had every day allowed two or three morsels of bread, and three spoonfuls of water. How oft would he have drunk his own water! but his body was so dried up with long emptiness, that he was not able to make one drop of water. e
a Jac. Revius.
b Lib. i.
c Act. and Mon., 1397.
d Ibid., 1872.
e Ibid., 1547.