pourtrayde the picture of the Sauiour of the world with a flower-de-lyce in his hand and so marched to Orleance Her first exploit was fortunately to raise the siege and releeue the towne From thence shee passed to Reames tooke the cittie and caused the Dolphin there to proclaime himselfe king and take vpon him the crowne of France She after tooke Iargueux a strong towne and in it the Earle of Suffolke with many other braue English gentlemen She fought the great battaile of Pathay with good successe in which were taken prisoners the lord Talbâ—â— the skourge and terror of the French nation the lord Seales the lord Hungerfâ—rd with many others both of name and qualitie she tooke in Benueele Mehun Trois and diuers other townes of great import and consequence at length in a camisado or skirmish she was taken prisoner by sir Iohn of Entenburch a Burgonian captaine and sent to Roan The French Cronicles affirme that the morning before she was surprised she tooke the sacrament and comming from Church told to diuerse that were about her that she was betraide her life sold and should shortly after be deliuered vp vnto a violent death For sir Iohn gaue a great sum of money to betray her The English comming to inuest themselues before Mondidier Ioan was aduised to issue out by Elaâ—ie and skirmish with them who was no sooner out but he shut the gates vpon her being taken she was sent to Peter Bishop of Beuoise who condemned her to the fire for a sorceresse which iudgement was accordingly executed vpon her in Roane in the market place Twentie six yeares after Charles the king for a great summe of money procured an annichilation of the first sentence from the Pope in which she was proclaimed a Virago inspired with diuine instinct in memorie of whose vertuous life and vniust death he caused a faire crosse to â—ee erected iust in the place where her bodie was burned I returne againe to the English Fabian and Harding speake of Emma sister to the Norman duke called Richard who for her extraordinarie beautie was called The flower of Normandie she was married to Ethelred king of England By her heroicke spirit and masculine instigation the king sent to all parts of the kingdome secret and strict commissions That vpon a certaine day and hour assigned all those Danes which had vsurped in the land and vsed great crueltie should be slaughtered which at her behest and the kings commaund was accordingly performed which though it after prooued ominous and was the cause of much miserie and mischiefe yet it shewed in her a noble and notable resolution Of queene Margaret the wife of Henrie the sixt her courage resolution and magnanimitie to speake at large would aske a Volume rather than a compendious discourse to which I am strictly tyed And therefore whosoeuer is deâ—irous to be further instructed in the successe of those many battailes fought against the house of Yorke in which she was personally present I referre them to our English Chronicles that are not sparing in commending her more than womanish spirit to euerlasting memorie With her therefore I conclude my female Martiallists And now me thinkes I am come where I would be and that is amongst you aire Fones Of Faire Women IT is reported of a king that for many yeeres had no issue and desirous to haue an heire of his owne bloud and begetting to succeed in the Throne vpon his earnest supplication to the diuine powers he was blessed with a faire sonne both of beautie and hope And now being possest of what he so much desired his second care was to see him so educated that hee might haue as much comfort of him in his growth as hope in his infancie hee therefore sent abroad to find out the most cunning Astrologians to calculate of his natiuitie that if the starres were any way maleuolent to him at his birth he might by instruction and good education as farre as was possible preuent any disaster that the Planets had before threatened A meeting to that purpose being appointed and the Philosophers and learned men from all parts assembled after much consultation it was concluded amongst them That if the infant saw Sunne or Moone at any time within the space of ten yeeres hee should most assuredly be depriued the benefit of sight all his life time after With this their definitiue conclusion the father wondrously perplexed was rather willing to vse any faire meanes of preuention than any way to tempt the crosse influence of the starres Hee therefore caused a Cell or Caue to be cut out of a deepe Rocke and conueying thither all things necessarie for his education hee was kept there in the charge of a learned tutor who well instructed him in the Theorie of all those Arts which best suited his apprehension The time of ten yeeres being expired and the feare of that ominous calculation past ouer the day was appointed when his purpose was to publish his sonne to the world and to shew him the Sunne and Moone of which he had often heard and till then neuer saw entire and to present vnto his view all such creatures of which he had beene told and read but could distinguish none of them but by heare-say They brought before him a Horse a Dogge a Lion with many other beasts of seuerall kindes of which he onely looked but seemed in them to take small pleasure They shewed him Siluer Gold Plate and Iewels in these likewise hee appeared to take small delight or none as not knowing to what purpose they were vsefull yet with a kind of dull discontent he demanded their names and so past them ouer At length the king commanded certaine beautifull virgins gorgeously attyred to be brought into his presence which the Prince no sooner saw but as recollecting his spirits with a kind of alacritie and change of cheare he earnestly demanded What kind of creatures they were how bred how named and to what vse created To whom his tutor ieastingly replyed These be called Deuills of which I oft haue told you and they are the great tempters of mankind Then his father demanded of him To which of all these things he had beheld he stood affected best and to whose societie hee was most enclined who presently answered O Father I onely desire to be attended by these Deuils Such is the attractiue power of beautie which women cannot fully appropriate to themselues since it is eminent in all other creatures Who wonders not at the beautie of the Sunne the glorie of the Moone and the splendor of the starres the brightnesse of the morning and the faire shutting in of the euening Come to the flowers and plants what artificiall colour can be compared to the leaues of the Marigold the Purple of the Violet the curious mixture of the Gillyflower or the whitenesse of the Lilly to which Salomon in all his glorie was not to be equalled You that are prowd of your haire
and wife to Athanagildus was slaine by Chilperick the sonne of Clotharius at the instigation of his strumpet Fredegunda so saith Volateranus Sextus Aurelius writes that the Emperour Constantius sonne to Constantius and Helena caused his wife Fausta by whose instigation he had slaine his sonne Crispus to die in an hot scalding bath Herodotus speakes of Lysides otherwise called Melissa the wife of Periander who at the suggestion of a strumpet caused her to be slaine which makes Sabellicus amongst others to wonder why for that deede onely he should be numbered amongst the seuen wise men of Greece Marcus Cecilius in his seuen and twentieth booke vpon Pliny accuseth Calphurnius Bestia for poysoning his wiues sleeping Plinie in his fourteenth booke nominates one Egnacius Melentinus who slew his wife for no other cause but that shee had drunke wine and was acquited of the murder by Romulus Auctoclea the daughter of Sinon and wife of Laertes king of Ithaca when by a false messenger she heard her sonne Vlysses was slaine at the siege of Troy suddenly fell downe and died The mother of Antista seeing her daughter forsaken by Pompey the great and Aemilia receiued in her stead ouercome with griefe slew her selfe Perimele a damosell was vitiated by Achelous which her father Hyppodomus tooke in such indignation that from an high promontorie he cast her headlong downe into the Sea Hyppomanes a prince of Athens deprehending his daughter Lymone in adulterie shut her vp in a place with a fierce and cruell horse but left no kind of food for one or the other in so much that the horse opprest with hunger deuoured her hence came that Adage fathered vpon Diogineanus More cruell than Hyppomanes Gregorius Turonensis remembers one Deuteria fearing least her yong daughter now grown ripe and marriageable who might bee deflowred by the king Theodebertus cast her headlong into the riuer that runs by the citie Viridunum where she was drowned Orchamus finding his daughter Leucothoe to be vitiated by Appollo caused her to be buryed aliue Lucilla the daughter of Marcus Antonius and Fausta as Herodian reports was slaine by the hand of her brother Commodus against whom she had before made a coniuration Lychione the daughter of Dedalion because she durst compare hirself with Diana was by the goddesse wounded to death with an arrow at the celebration of whose exequies when her body was to be burnt her father likewise cast himselfe into the fire Hylonome the shee Centaur seeing her husband Cillarius slaine in the battaile betwixt the Centaurs and the Lapithes fell vpon his sword and so expired Anmianus and Marcellus lib. 16. haue left recorded that Mithridates king of Pontus being ouercome in battaile by Pompey committed his daughter Dyraptis to the safe custodie of the Eunuch Menophilus to bee kept in a strong Cittadell called Syntiarium which when Manutius Priscus had straitly besieged and the Eunuch perceiued the defenders of the Castle dismaide and readie to submit themselues and giue vp the fort hee drew out his sword and slew her rather than she should be made a captiue to the Roman Generall Sextus Aurelius writes of the Empresse of Sabina the wife of Adrian who hauing suffered from him many grosse and seruile iniuries gaue her selfe vp to a voluntarie death when shee considered shee had supported so inhumane a tyrant and such a contagious pest to the common weale Pontus de Fortuna speakes of a Virgin amongst the Salattines called Neaera who greeuing that a yong man to whom shee was betrothed had forsaken her and made choice of another caused her vaines to be opened and bled to death Cleopatra after the death of Anthony least shee should bee presented as a captiue to grace the triumphs of Augustus gaue her arme to the byting of an Aspe of which shee died for in that manner was her picture presented in Rome of whom Propertius lib. 3. thus speakes Brachia spectaui sacris admorsa colubris Neaera and Charmione were the two handmaides of Cleopatra These as Plutarch others report of them would by no persuasion suruiue their queen and misteresse who perceiuing as they were gasping betwixt life and death the crowne to be falne from the temples of their dead Ladie raised themselues from the Earth with the small strength they had left and placed it right againe on her fore-head that shee might the better become her death which they had no sooner done but they both instantly fell downe and breathed their last an argument of an vnmatchable zeale to the princesse their Ladie Monima Miletia and Veronica Chia were the wiues of Mithridates who vnderstanding of his tragicall fall and miserable end gaue vp their liues into the hands of the Eunuch Bochides Monima first hanged her selfe but the weight of her bodie breaking the cord she grew somewhat recouered and fell into this acclamation O execrable power of a diadem whose command euen in this small sad seruice I cannot vse which words were no sooner spoke but she offered her throate to the sword of the Eunuch who instantly dispatched her both of life and torment Veronica dranke off a chalice of wine tempered with poyson which dispersing into her vaines and keeping her in a languishing torment her death was likewise hastned by the Eunuch Bochides A strange madnesse possest the Virgins of Milesia these as Aelianus and others haue writ gaue themseues vp to voluntarie deaths many or the most strangling themselues this grew so common amongst them that scarce one day past in which some one or other of them were not found dead in their chambers To remedie which mischiefe the Senators of the citie made a decree That what maide soeuer should after that time lay violent hands vpon her selfe the body so found dead should be stript naked and in publike view dragd through the streetes freely exposed to the eyes of all men The impression of which shame more preuailing than the terrour of death none was euer after knowne to commit the like outrage vpon themselues Phaedra the steppe-mother to Hyppolitus her son in law and wife of Theseus when shee could not corrupt the yong man her son in law to make incestuous the bed of his father despairing hung her selfe yet before her death she writ certain letters in which she accused Hippolitus to his father of incest which after prooued the speedie cause of his death Amongst many strange deaths these of two mothers are not the least remarkable most strange it is that sudden ioy should haue as much power to suffocate the spirits as the power of lightning The rumor of the great slaughter at the Lake of Thrasimenes being published one woman when beyond all hope she met her sonne at the cittie gate safely returned from the generall defeates cast herselfe into his armes where in that extasie of ioy shee instantly expired Another hearing her sonne
alwayes can the purple violet smell Or Lillies bloome in whitenesse that excell The fragrant rose whose beautie we desire The leaues once falne shewes but a naked brire O thou most faire white heires come on apace And wrinckled furrowes which shall plow thy face So likewise Petronius Arbiter in one of his Satyres Quod solum formae decus est cecidere Capillae The onely beautie of her shape her haire Fell from her head her beautie to impaire Summer succeedes the Spring her Autumne chaceth And them sad Winter with his snow disgraceth Deceitfull Nature all these youthfull ioyes Thou gau'st vs first thou art the first destroyes Now the fruits and effects of this fraile beautie especially where a faire face meeteth with a corrupted mind I will next shew you by historie Achab by the persuasion of his faire wife Iesabell was the death of many of the Prophets of the Lord. Dalila was the confusion of Sampson the Strong Strange women brought Salomon the Wise to Idolatrie and to forget God Ioram a king of Israell at the instigation of Athalia committed many horrible outrages Helena's beautie was the occasion of that infinite slaughter betwixt the Greekes and Troians Pelops succeeding in the kingdome of Phrygia made warre vpon Oenomaus the father of Hyppodamia because being surprised with her beautie she was denyde him in marriage Another Hyppodamia the wife of Perithous was the occasion of that great Centauromachia or battaiâ—e betwixt the Centaures and the Lapithes for which Propertius calls her Ischomache of the greeke word Isco which signifieth Habeo and Mache Pugna his words are these Qualis Iscomache Lapithae genus Heroinae Centauris medio grata rapina mero Such as Iscomache that was Of the Lapythaean line She whom the Centaures would haue rapt Amidst their cups of wine Pericles for his loue to Aspasia made warre against the Samians For Chrisaeis the daughter of Chrises Priest to Apollo vitiated by Agamemnon a plague was sent amongst the Greekish host which ceased not till she was returned backe to her father for so writes Tortellius Lauiniaes beautie the daughter of King Latinus and the Queene Amata was cause of the combustion betwixt Turnus and Aeneas so saith Pontanus lib. 4. de Stellis Lysimachus the sonne of Agathocles poysoned his owne sonne Agathocles by whose fortunate hand he had receiued the honour and benefit of many glorious victories at the instigation of his wife Arsinoe the sister of Ptoloâ—teus Vollateran Iphis a youth of exquisite feature strangled himselfe because he was despised by the faire but cruell Anaxarite Archilâ—â—us king of Macedon was slaine by a young man called Crateua because hauing first promised him his faire daughter he after bestowed her vpon another The Poet Archilocus called Iambographus because Lycambes denyde him his daughter in marriage writes against him such bitter Iambicks that hee despaired and hanged himselfe therefore Ouid thus writes Post modo si perges in te mihi liber Iambus Tincta Licambaeo sanguiâ—e tela dabit If thou pursu'st me still my booke Iust vengeance shall implore And in Lambickes weapons yeeld Dipt in Lycambes gore Iustine in his 27 booke relates That Seleneus Callinicus king of Syria for exiling Berenice his steppe-mother sister to Ptolomaeus was by the same Ptolomaeus inuaded and prosecuted by armes Deiphebus after the death of Paris hauing marryed Hellen to which infortunate match her beautie had inuited him was by her treacherie not onely murdered but his body hackt and mangled being almost made one vniuersall wound Tortellius reports of one Euander the nephew of Pallas king of the Arcadians at the persuasion of his mother Nicostrate slew his owne father Orestes the sonne of Agamemum slew Pyrrhus the sonne of Achilles being surprised with the beautie of Hermione daughter to Menalâ—us and Helena Pteleras king of the Thebans was slaine by king Craeon being betrayde by his owne Polydices Cleopatra was the cause of that bloody warre betwixt Ptolomaeus Philopaser and her owne father Alexander king of Syria Idas and Lyncaeus the sons of Aphareus and Arbarne fought a great battaile neere to Sparta about the two faire daughters of Leucippus Phebe and Ilaira against Castor and Pollux both which were slaine in that battaile and perisht not by shipwracke as some write in the pursuite of Paris by sea for the rape of their sister Hellen Liuie lib. 36. writes of Antiochus who warring against Rome was so taken with the beautie of a Chalcidonian damsell that neglecting all warlike discipline to spend his time in dalliance with his wanton hee became a shamefull and dishonourable prey to the enemy Octauia the sister of Augustus being repudiated by Anthony was the occasion of a ciuill and intestine war The Poet Lucretius growing mad for the loue of a faire damsell dranke poyson and so dyed Tullia incited Tarquinius Superbus to kill her owne father Seruius Tullius Martia the strumpet caused Autonius Commodus the Emperour whose Concubine she was to bee slaine by a souldiour with whom shee had many times had lustfull congression Tytus Corrancanus being sent on embassie to Teuca queene of the Illyrians because hee spake to her freelie and boldlie she caused him to be put to death against the lawes of kingdomes and nations Liuius and Florus Vollateranus writes of one Rhodoricus king of the Gothes who because he stuprated the daughter of Iulianus who was Prefect in the Prouince of Tingitana the father of the rauisht virgin brought in the Moores and raised a warre which before it was ended was the death of seauen hundred thousand men Chilpericus the sonne of Clotharius was slaine by the instigation of his wife Fridegunda in his returne from hunting Luchinus a Count of Italy warred vpon Vgolinus Gonzaga because hee had adulterated his faire wife Isabella Vollateran Otratus king of Bohemia accused of sloath and cowardise by his wife Margarita for entering league with Rodulphus Caesar raised warre betwixt them in which her husband was defeated Gandulphus the Martyr for but counselling his wife to a more chast and temperate life was murdered betwixt her and the adulterer Of warres and many other mischiefes of which faire women haue beene the originall Ouid elegantly deliuers in 2 Eleg. thus concluding Vidi ego pro â—iuea pugnantes coniâ—ge tauros Spectatrix animos ipsa innenca dabat For a white heyfer I haue seene bulls sight Both gathering rage and courage from her sight At the building of Rome Romulus to people the cittie and get wiues for his souldiers caused them to rauish the Sabine women and damsells for which warre grew betwixt the two nations Of which Proper lib. 2. Cur exempla petam Gracum Tu criminis auâ—hâ—r Nutribus duro Romule lacte lupae c. What neede I from the Greekes examples aske Thou Romulus by a fell she-wolfe nurst To rape the Sabines
Queene of Aethiopia Harpalice of the Amazons Hyppolite of Magnesia Teuca of the Illyrians c. Of these in their places Amongst whom let me not be so vnnaturall to her merit or so ingratefull to my countrey thrice blest and diuinelie happie in her most fortunate raigne as not to remember that euer to be celebrated Princesse Elizabeth of late memory Queene of England She that was a Saba for her wisedome an Harpalice for her magnanimitie witnesse the Campe at Tilburie a Cleopatra for her bountie a Camilla for her chastitie an Amalasuntha for her temperance a Zenobia for her learning and skill in language of whose omniscience pantarite and goodnesse all men heretofore haue spoke too little no man hereafter can write too much sacred be still her memorie to vs on earth as her blessed soule liues euer glorified in heauen Her succeeded though not in her absolute Monarchy yet a Princesse of vnspotted fame incomparable clemencie vnmatchable goodnesse and most remarkable vertue Queene Anne whom all degrees honored all nations loued and no tongue was euer heard to asperse with the least callumnie who in her too short eminence heere amongst vs was knowne to be the step of dignitie to many but detriment to none in whom all were glad by whom none had euer the least cause of sorrow vnlesse in the lamented losse of so graue and gratious a princesse And for my owne part gentle and curteous reader let me borrow so much of thy patience that I may vpon this so iust and good occasion remember a long neglected dutie by inserting in this place a few funerall teares vpon her hearse A Funerall Oade vpon the death of ANNA PANARETA NOw Hymen change thy saffron weedes To roabe and habit sable For ioyfull thoughts vse funerall deedes Since nothing's firme or stable This alas we May read and see As in a mappe or printed table It was not at the time of yeare Birds bid the Spring god-morrow Nor when we from the Summer cleare Her warmth and pleasures borrow Nor when full fields Ripe Autumne yeelds That we are thus inuolu'd in sorrow But when the barren earth denyes Fruits to the reapers mowing When Meteors muster in the skyes And no faire fruits are growing When winter cold Dry seare and old His frozen fingers or'e the fire sits blowing When the Sunne scants vs of his heat And Phoebe tempests threateth When Boreas blustring in his seat His frozen pineons beateth And as a King Aboue the Spring The fresh and timely budds defeateth In this great barrennesse were we Our plenty made to smother But what might this rare iewell be A Saint a Queene a Mother An Hester faire A Iudith rare These dead oh point me out another Saue Debora that 's likewise dead Fam'd for her countries freeing But shall we henceforth see or reade Of such another being Oh what a dearth Is now on earth That heare none liues with these agreeing Saba was wise so was our Queene For beautie others famed Some for their vertue crown'd haue beene And in large legends named Who liuing shall Contend in all With her alas shall be but shamed But since our prayses at their best Shorten so farre her merit Leaue her to her eternall rest A glorious Sainted spirit For aye to sing Vnto heauens King Thanks for these ioyes she doth inherit Yet 't is a duty that we owe To giue our griefe expression The greater that our sorrowes grow It shewes the lesse transgression A losse like this T is not a misse That we then leaue to all succession Skyes mourne her death in stormie cloudes Seas weepe for her in brine Thou earth that now her frailtie shroudes Lament though she be thine Onely reioyce Heauen with lowd voyce That you are now become her shrine For this appear'd the Blazing starre Yet fresh in our memory That Christendome both neere and farre Might tell it as a story Great Ioue it sent With an intent Onely to get her to her glory In this Catalogue of Queenes hauing so late remembred the mother how can I forget the daughter she to whom I must giue that attribut which all soldiers bestow vpon her The Queene of women and the best of Queenes whose magnanimitie in war and gentlenes in peace resolution in the one and generous affabilitie in the other haue so sweet a correspondence that when the Canon roared lowd at the gates and the bullet forced a passage euen through the Pallace where she lodged was no more daunted in courage nor dismayd in countenance than when the gentle and soft musicke melodiouslie sounded at the celebration of her espousalls Sacred oh Princely Lady for euer be your memorie and fortunate and happy your hopefull posteritie may your wombe prooue a bed of souldiours and your breasts the nursserie of Kings may the sonnes victories redeeme the losses of the father and the daughters surmount the fertilitie of their mother may your future fortunes be answerable to your former vertues that as you haue the earnest prayers of all good men so you may haue the successe of their wishes which millions that neuer yet saw you desire but all that vnderstand you know you worthilie deserue And to conclude that as you are the last of these in this my Catalogue by order posterity may reckon you the first amongst the Illustrious by merit Of diuers Ladies famous for their Modestie OH thou Chastitie and puritie of life thou that art the ornament as well of man as woman from whence shall I inuoke thee thou diddest first helpe to kindle the sacred fires of Vesta where virginitie was made Religion Thou that was wont to frequent the chambers of great Ladies with sinnelesse and vndefiled hands make the beds of the cittie Matrons and to be obsequious about the Pallats strowed in the countrey cottages where shall I find thee now to direct this my pen in her large and vnbounded progresse or to tutour me so farre that I may know what on this argument thou thy selfe wouldest haue done Liuie Florus Plutarch and others speaking of the wonder of the Roman chastitie Lucresse accuse fortune or nature of error for placing such a manlie heart in the breast of a woman who being adulterated by Sextus Tarquinius after she had sent to her friends and to them complained her iniuries because she would not liue a by-word to Rome nor preserue a despoiled body for so noble a husbands embraces with a knife which she had hid vnder her garment for the same purpose in presence of them all slew her selfe which was after the cause that the Tyrannicall monarchy of Rome was transferd into a Consular dignitie Armenia the wife of Tygranes hauing beene with her husband at a sumptuous banquet made by King Cyrus in his Pallace Royall when euery one extold the maiestie and applauded the goodlinesse of the Kings person at length Tygranes askt his queene what her opinion was of his magnitude and person She answered I can
downe The king beginning to dallie with them and playing with their cheekes neckes and brests the rest willingly suffered him shee onely strooke his hand aside and if hee offered but to touch her in the least part she presently cried out and told him he should not do it vnpunished The king much delighted with this vnexpected coynesse since at euerie offer of his shee fled his embraces which was against the custome of the Persians hee more ardently fixt his affection vpon her and turning to the souldier who first presented them thus sayd This Phocean onely thou hast brought me chast and vncorrupted the rest both in beautie and behauiour are impostures and from thencefoorth she was solicited and beloued of the king aboue all others with whom he had before or after conuerst with and from that time a mutuall affection grew betwixt them so great that it increased as farre as the modest and absolute confirmation of marriage conformable to the custom of the Graecians In so much that the loue of the king to Aspasia was not rumoured in Iönia solely but through all the spatious prouinces of Greece euen Peloponesus was filled with the bruit therof to the glorie of the great King who after his familiar acquaintance with her was neuer knowne to haue vsed the companie of any other woman And now began the vision of Aspasia concerning the Doue to be much spoken of and of the goddesse that appeared to her to whom she dedicated after a goodly statue called the image of Venus beautified with many rich jewells withall the picture of a Doue to which she made daylie supplications sacrifices and oblations still imploring the fauour of the goddesse To her father Hermotimus shee sent many rich and vnualued presents making him of a subiect almost vnparraleld for wealth vsing in the processe of her life as witnesse as well the Persian as Graecian Ladies a wonderous modestie and continence Hormus sometimes of Thessaly was sent from Scopa the junior who was of Scicily with an admirable rich Iewell to Cyrus for a present Who hauing shewed it to many all wondering at the cost and workemanship and prowd of so rich a gemme presently after dinner repaired to the chamber of Aspasia and finding her asleepe cast himselfe vpon the bed by her without disturbing her rest who waking and espying the king so neer began to embrace him according to her accustomed manner who presently taking the jewell from the casket showed it to her vsing these wordes This I bestow on thee as a gift worthie the daughter or mother of an Emperour which I charge thee to weare for my sake in a carkanet about thy neck To whom she wisely consideratly answered And how dare I be the possessor of so great a treasure which rather becomes the maiestie and estate of your mother Parasatides therefore I intreat you send it to her for I without this ornament can present you with a neck sufficiently beautifull The king much pleased with her answer daily and howerly more and more increased his loue towards her and what she said and did sent in a letter to his mother with the iewell inclosed For which she was not only much graced and fauored by the Princesse but after by Cirus rewarded with many rich gifts of value inestimable all which she modestlie sent backe with this message These things ô king may be vsefull to thee that hast the charge of such infinites of men when my greatest riches is to be solely beloued of thee with these and the like she tyed the King in inseparable bonds of affection towards her For without all competitorship in the beauty of face feature of body integritie of life and noblenesse of mind she was aboue all those of her time admirable But after Cyrus being slaine in battaile by his brother and his whole army ouerthrowne she likewise fell into the hands of the enemy whom the king Artaxerxes with singular care and diligence caused to be sought and brought before him as one whose name and vertues he held in great respect and estimation and being presented before him bound hee grew wondrous angry commanding all such to prison as were the authours of her least durance withall commanding a costlie and magnificent roabe to bee cast about her which she with many teares and much sorrow refused till shee was compeld to it by the king still taking to heart and lamenting the death of Cyrus But thus adorned according to the Persian state shee appeared in the eyes of all men the fairest of women especiallie in the kings much surprised with her extraordinary beautie still persuading her to race out the memorie of Cyrus dead and in his roome to admit of Artaxerxes liuing which slowly and at length though late he obtained respecting her aboue all other his wiues and concubines Soone after his Eunuch Teridates dyed more than a child and scarce full man the most beautifull youth in Asia and of the king the most beloued who so much lamented his death that all the principalities and nations vnder him seemed to participate of his griefe yet none that durst be so bold as to come into his presence or minister to him any words of comfort Three dayes being past in these lamentations and sorrowes Aspasia in a funerall habit and with her eyes fixt vpon the earth appeared before the king who no sooner espyed her but demanded the cause of her comming To comfort thee said she ô king if thou beest so pleased else to returne to the place of sorrow from whence I came At which seeming to reioyce the king intreated her to her chamber whether he would presentlie repaire to whom she obeyed And hauing put on a roabe of the Eunuches so much bewayled and in that casting her selfe vpon her bed she gaue the king such content that he commanded her till the dayes of mourning were past neuer to appeare to him but in that habit she more preuailing with him than all his Princes wiues subiects and seruants about him still liuing in his most especiall grace and fauour And so farre Aelianus The Matrons of Lacedemon in all battailes fought against the common enemy as many of their husbands sonnes or allyes as they found slaine they vsed to search what wounds they had about them if the greater number were in the face or breast with great ioy and solemnitie they bore them to bee intombed in the monuments of their ancestours but if on the contrary those on their backs exceeded the number of the former surprised with shame and sorrow they eyther left them to the common buriall or gaue them such priuate interment as if they wisht their memories to haue perisht with their bodies This historie Aelianus in his twelfth booke records This discourse for the rarenesse of it I hold not impertinent to insert amongst the women most illustrious Chares Mitylenus in his tenth booke of Histories thus writes Zariadres the yonger brother of Hystaspes
both of them being so naturallie beautifull that they were said to be the sonnes of Adonis and Venus The elder raigned in the lower parts of Media the Iunior kept his principalitie in the higher countrey as farre as the riuer Taâ—ais not many leagues distant from thence there liued the king Homartes who had one onely daughter cald Odatis whom as diuers Authours affirme seemed in a dreame to haue seene this Zariadres and of his person to be much inamoured The like in a vision happening to him in so much that he was ardentlie affected to her whome as yet he had neuer seene This Odatis was the fairest Princesse in that time liuing in Asia and Zariadres no whit to her inferiour who sent to the king Homartes to demand her in marriage he would by no meanes yeeld to the motion because not hauing any male issue he was loath to transferre the succession of his kingdome vpon a stranger purposing rather to bestow her on some Prince of his countrey though a subiect Not long after he caused to be assembled all the friends kinsmen Nobilitie and Gentrie of his land inuiting them to his daughters marriage but not yet knowing or hauing determined in himselfe on whom to conferre her His subiects thus assembled hee inuited them all to a solemne and high feast whither hauing called his daughterâ— in the hearing of all his guests he thus bespake her We are now ô Princely daughter to celebrate thy nuptialls take therfore this golden bowle filled with rich Greekish wine and hauing throughlie and aduisedlie perused all this noble companie to whom thou shall daine first to drinke he is vndoubtedlie thy husband She hauing viewed and reuiewed them all none pleasing like that person presented to her in her dreame she demanded of her father some few daies respight which granted she sent word to Zariadres how her affaires stood concerning her marriage and withall much desiring his speedy presence He being in his army neere to Tanais and hearing this newes secretlie conueyed himselfe out of his tent and without any seruant or attendant sauing his chariotter came priuatelie into the Cittie of Homartes hauing in wondrous short space runne 8000 furlongs this done he disposed both of his charriot and driuer and withall putting himselfe into a Scythians habit hee came to the place where this marriage was to be celebrated and thronging in amongst the rest he beheld the beautifull Odatis sad in countenance and tempering her draught with a slow and vnwilling hand to whom approaching more neerer he thus whispered Behold Odatis thy dearest Zariadres for whom thou didst latelie send ready to doe thee all seruice She casting an aduised eye vpon him and perceiuing him to be a stranger beautifull and in all semblance so like the person of whom she had dreamt in a great extasie of ioy dranke to him and gaue him the cup and whilst the rest were amased at the nouell hee snatcht her vp and carryed her where his charriot stood ready and so transported her into Media This their loue was so famous amongst the barbarous people that the history was portraied in all their Pallaces and Temples nay euen in their priuate houses many of the Nobilitie in memorie of her calling their daughters by the name of Odatis Dionisius the Tyrant banisht Dion out of Sicily taking into his owne custody the exyles wife Aristomache and her daughter but after at the great intercession of one of his seruants Polycrates a man by him much affected he compelled the Lady who stil lamented the absence of her Lord vnto a second marriage with this Polycrates who was by nation of Syracusa But Dion hauing gathered fresh forces and expelling Dionisius from Syracusa vnto the Locrenses Arâ—â—e his sister meeting him and congratulating his famous victorie made intercession for Aristomache who with great shame had sequestred her selfe from the presence of her first husband not daring to looke him in the face howsoeuer her second nuptialls were made by force and compulsion But the necessitie of the cause the wondrous submission and modest excuse of Aristomache together with the mediation of Arete so much preuayled with Dion all confirming hir innocence that he receiued his wife and daughter into his familie still continuing their former loue and societie Hippo a woman of Greece trauelling by sea with her husband and being surprised by Pyrats finding the chiefe of them to be inamoured of her beautie rather than yeeld to his lustfull desires she voluntarilie threw her selfe into the sea and was drowned leauing behind her a remarkable president of chastitie her body was driuen vpon Ericheon or as some will haue it the Erythean shore in memorie of whom a sacred monument was raysed which was many yeares after yeerely celebrated with many condigne honours Valer. Max. lib. 7. cap. 1. Chiomara of whom Liâ—ius Frontinus Florus and others haue written was the wife of Orgiantes Regulus and borne in Galatia Plutarch calls her Oriagontes it is thus related of her The army and the forces of the Gallogrecians being part of them defeated and the rest taken captiue by Ca. Manlius then consull neere to the mount Olimpus this Chiomara the wife of Regulus a woman of most knowne modestie and chastitie being first taken and after committed to the custody of a Roman Centurion was forceably by him adulterated A commandement comming from the Consull that all the treasure of which the Lady was possest should be confiscate to the Centurion onely her selfe with that ransome to bee returned safe and vntoucht to her husband she presently promist the captaine to bring him to a place where all his desires should be satisfied He of a couetous disposition with all celeritie hasted with her to the discouerie of this Magazin where she before had placed a company of Gallogrecians her countrey men and in their language commanded them to fall vpon him kill him which done she cut off his head and presented it to her husband and kneeling to him both expressed the nature of her iniury and the manner of her reuenge The censures of the Consull Manilius and her husband Regulus both assented in this That she was of a courage vnmatchable for though her body was brought vnder the subiection of an enemy neither her mind could be conquered nor her chastitie made captiue An antient woman amongst the Syracusans when all the subiects of Dionysius with many execrations cursed and openlie inueighed against his insufferable cruelties she onely was obserued morning and euening to sollicite the gods for his long life and happinesse which comming to the eare of the king he caused her to be called before him and demanded of her the cause Why amongst all his oppressed subiects who dayly wisht his ruin she alone inuoakt the gods for his health and preseruation to whom with an vndaunted resolution she thus answered That which I doe ô King is not without due premeditation and grounded both vpon reason
fell vpon the same sword and in her death mingled her blood with his Aristides writes a historie to the like effect In the celebrations of Bacchus feasts Arnutius who was likewise a man of knowne temperance from his birth was for the like contempt alike punished by the god of Healths This Roman touched with the like distemperature in the darke vitiated by force his daughter Medullina she also by his ring knowing the incestuous be thought a greater mischiefe for hauing a second time besotted him in the dregges of the grape and crowning him with Vine leaues like a Bacchinall slew him at the altar Excuse me Reader I illustrat not these as they are parrasides but as without respect of time person or place they thought no reuenge great ynough to be inflicted on the corrupters of their virginities Erixo ARchelaus the Tyrant vsing many tyrannies vpon the Cyraeneans ouer whom hee vsurped but more by the euill instigation of one Laarchus whom he had entertained as his familiar friend and counsellor was at length supplanted by this Laarchus whom he most trusted and as some thinke poysoned Archelaus left behind him a sonne after his grandfathers name Battus Falix called Battus who because he was weake of body and lame of his feet his mother Erixo in whose guardianship he was was by that meanes held in more respect and reuerence being a woman of approoued humanitie and goodnes Lâ—archus notwithstanding she had the loue and hearts of all the cittisens yet he inioyed the power and by the helpe of his mercenarie souldiers vsurped the dominion ouer all But apprehending in himselfe that his tyrannie could not last long without better supporture he sent to this chast dowager to treat with her of marriage proposing to her as a maine article to make her sonne Battus copartner with him in his regencie About this motion shee consulted with her brothers pretending a seeming consent They debated with Laarchus but somewhat protractedly about the matter in which interim shee priuately sent to the vsurper one of her damosells with a message That notwithstanding her brothers as vnwilling the match should goe forward had made needlesse delaies yet her purpose was so fixt vpon the motion especially since it concerned the generall good that she wholly submitted herselfe to his seruice in so much that if it pleased him to vouchsafe to come priuatly in the night she would yeeld her honor intirely vp into his hand vpon which beginning a good successe would doubtles follow for then in vaine her brothers and kindred should oppose themselues against that to which the publike good occasion place opportunitie all things necessarie inuited them This message was plausible to Laarchus who apprehended at once the imbraces of a beautious lady a principalitie and a countinuance therof Briefly the night was betwixt them appointed and hee in regard of her honour to come priuatly and vnattended all which she reueal'd to her eldest brother Poliarchus making him solely of her counsell who at the time of their appointed meeting hid himselfe in his sisters chamber Laarchus comes singly according to promise and is admitted by Erixo and in the midst of his hopes ready to cast himselfe into her imbraces is transpierst and slain his body cast ouer the walls Battus proclaimed Prince and pristine libertie restored to the long opprest Cyraenians This Poliarchus did in reuenge of Archilaus death husband to his chast sister Erixo There were then about the cittie many soldiers belonging to Amasis king of Aegipt by whose assistance Laarchus had bin long terrible to the people these complained to the king accusing Poliarchus and Erixo of the murder of Laarchus But as he was about to inuade the Cyraenians his mother happily died and so hindered that expedition Polyarchus and Erixo notwithstanding purposed a voluntarie iournie into Aegipt to purge themselues of all accusations commenced against them in which iourney Critola a woman of great reuerence and very aged as hauing beene the wife of Battus Felix would needs accompanie them These appearing before Amasis so well pleaded their owne cause that their iniuries appeared to him much to surmount their reuenge so that imbrasing Erixo he commended her fortitude and temperance and with princely gifts sent them back into their owne countrie A Woman of the cittie Pergamus MIthridates king of Pontus hauing diuerse waies opprest the Galatians as by sending to the citie by way of inuitation to Pergamus for diuerse of the chiefe citisens and then vniustly detaining them This wrought such an impression to supplant the tirant in the hart of Toredorix Tetrarch of Tosipporus that he made a combination wherein many noble gentlemen of qualitie were ingaged all which had vowed the tyrants death Their plot being discouered and they in the attempt surprised were all commaunded to death in the midst of the execution Mithridates remembred a beautiful yong man of extraordinarie shape and feature that was one in the conspiracie but half despairing whether hee were yet aliue hee sent in hast that if the hang man had not done his office vpon him to reprieue him to his mercie This yong mans name was Bepolitanuâ— whose turne being come and he presenting himselfe to the block it happened at that time hee had on a rich and pretious garment of purple embrothered with gold of which the executioner being greedie and carefull to keepe it from blood thereby to make the better sale of it he spent so much time in disposing his head this way and that way not for the prisoners ease but for his own aduantage till the messengers appeared from the king and called aloude to make stay of iustice by which meanes Bepolitanus his garment was as much beneficiall to his life as the kings mercie and couetousnesse that hath beene the destruction of many was the meanes of his vnexpected safety The executioner in his greedinesse making good the old english Adage All couet all loose To leaue circumstances and come to the matter The bodie of Toredorix was cast out and by the kings edict denied all rights of buriall with a grieuious penaltie imposed vpon any such as should contradict the kings writ This notwithstanding dismaid not a faire Pergamaean damosell with whom Toredorix had beene in familiaritie to accomplish the vowed office of a louer and a friend who in the night watched the opportunitie to take thence the bodie and bestow on it a faire interment but being taken by the souldiers in the performance of this last memorable dutie and brought before the tyrant either her beautie so much mooued him or her teares so farre preuailed with him as that his bodie was not onely left freely to her dispose but to recompence her loue and loyaltie shee had a faire and competent dower allotted her out of the lands and goods of the trespassor Stratonica OF Stratonica Galatia may boast as breeding a Ladie scarce matchable before her time or since in her condition she being the wife of
owne death namely to see thee die When accommodating all things for the present execution shee no sooner saw her dead but she gentlely layd her out and with great modestie couered her Then she besought Megisto on her knees to haue a care of them in their deaths that nothing immodest or vncomely might bee done to their bodies which graunted she not only with courage but seeming ioy vnderwent her last fate till she expired nor was there any spectator there present to whom the memorie of the tyrant was neuer so hatefull from whose eyes and hearts this obiect did not extract teares and pittie In Megisto is exprest the Magnanimitie of spirit but in these following I will illustrate Fortitude in action The Turkes busied in the siege of some townes in Catharo Vluzales Carocossa two of no meane place and eminence among them wrought so farre with the great Admirall that he deliuered into their charge the managing of threescore gallies with munition and men in number competent to make incursions into the bordering Islands then vnder the state of Venice These two Turkish captaines land their forces before Curzala a citie that giues name to the countrie with purpose to inuest themselues before it which Antonius Contarinus then gouernour of the cittie vnderstanding like a timerous and fearefull coward taking the aduantage of the night fled with his souldiors thence not leauing the â—owne any way defensible which the cittisens vnderstanding all or the most followed after The towne thus left to the weake guard of some twenty men about fourescore women the Turks giue them a bold and fierce assault when these braue viragoes chusing rather to dye like souldiers than like their husbands runne like cowards some maintaine the Ports others defend the walls and with that noble resolution that what with fire stones scalding water and such like muniments then readiest at hand so opposed the assailants that many of the Turks in that conflict were slaine and all repulst retyring themselues with purpose some rest giuen to the souldiours to salute them with a fresh alarum But fortune was so fauourable to these Amazonian spirits that a mighty tempest from the North so tost and distrest the Turks gallyes that they were forced to abandon the Island with dishonour leauing to the besieged a memory worthy to outliue all posteritie Of Dido Cesara Gumilda and Ethelburga OF Dido queene of Carthage all Authours agree to haue falne by the sword and to haue died by her owne bold and resolute hand but about the cause that mooued her thereto diuerse differ Ausonius is of opinion That her husband Sychaeus being dead shee did it to preserue her viduall chastitie and so free hir selfe from the importunities of Hyarbus king of Getulia of his mind is Marullus and of these Remnius or as some will haue it Priscianus in the Geography of Dionisius writing De scitu orbis i. the Scituation of the world Contrary to these is the Prince of Poets he whom Scalliger cals Poeta noster Pub. Virgilius who ascribes her death to an impatience of griefe conceiued at the vnkind departure of Aeneas which though it carry no great probabilitie of truth yet all the Latin Poets for the most part in honour of the authour haue iustified his opinion as Ouid in his third booke De fastis his Epistles Metamorph. and others workes so likewise Angelus Polytianus in his Manto with diuers others Iustine in his eighteenth booke of Hystor speaking of the first erecting of Carthage saith That where they began to digge with purpose to lay the first foundation they found the head of an Oxe by which it was predicted that the cittie should be futurelie fertill and commodious but withall full of labour and subiect to perpetuall seruitude therefore they made choice of another peece of earth where in turning vp the mould they chanced vpon the head of a horse by which it was presaged their collony should in time grow to be a warlike nation fortunate and victorious In what manner she dyed I referre you to Virgill and will speake a word or two of her sister Anna the daughter of Belus She after the death of her sister forsaking of the cittie of Carthage then inuested with siege by Hyarbus fled to Battus king the Island Melita but making no long soiourne there she put againe to sea and fell vpon the coast of Laurentum where being well knowne by Aeneas she was nobly receiued but not without suspition of too much familiaritie betwixt them in so much that iealousie possessing Lauinia the wife of Aeneas she conceiued an irreconcilable hatred against Anna in so much that fearing her threatned displeasure she cast her selfe headlong into the riuer Numicus and was there drowned for so Ouid reports in his booke de Fastis But touching the illustrious Queene Dido vnder her statue were these verses or the like engrauen in a Greeke character interpreted into Latine by Ausonius and by me in the sacred memorie of so eminent a queene thus englisht I am that Dido looke vpon me well And what my life was let my visage tell 'T is faire and smooth what wrinckle can you find In this plaine Table to expresse a mind So sordid and corrupt Why then so vneuen And blacke a soule should to a face be giuen That promiseth all vertue Virgill where Begott'st thou those ill thoughts that brand me here With lust and incest Neuer I protest Was that Aenaeas whom thou calst the best Of men in Lybia Neuer saw I land One Troian on the Carthaginian strand Because Sychaeus my first husband dead To keepe my sacred vowes to him I fled Th' imbraces of Hyarbus am I made A prostitute to nothing to a shade He came in armes to force me and compell Me a chast widdow to another hell A second marriage 'T is the gods aduise No woman can be chast that marryeth twice To auoide that sinne I slew my selfe ô why Couldst thou ô Maro then comment a lye With lust to brand my memory When heauen knowes To saue mine honour I my life did lose Giue faith to History you that Readers are Before this fabling Poesie since that far Transcends the bounds of truth for Poets can Make the high gods much more corrupt than man So much touching queene Dido and as farre as probabilitie can to acquit her of all incontinence One Paulus an historiographer in his fifth booke remembers vs of Cesara a queene of Persia who hauing some light of the Gospell trauelled as farre as Constantinople in Greece to be further instructed onely attended by a few priuat followers who being satisfied in all the fundamentall points of her faith she with her small traine was christened The Persian Sophy hauing notice thereof sent embassadours to the Emperour to know the reason why he deteined his queene wishing him to returne her safe vpon such easie sommons Cesara being in presence when this embassie was deliuered desired the Emperour that she
but his wife also The manner how she came to be his queene was as followeth Before his time it was not lawfull but punishable amongst the Persians to marry into that proximitie of blood but Cambyses surprised with the loue of his sister and hauing resolued by what meanes soeuer to make her his wife yet to colour his purpose he sent for those honorable persons who were stiled the kings Iudges being selected men for their wisedomes and of great place and qualitie as those that inioy their offices Durante vita vnlesse some capitall crime bee prooued against them besides they are the expounders of the lawes and to their causes all matters of doubt and controuersie are referred These being cōuented the king demanded of them Whether they had any one law amongst so many which licenst a man that had a will so to doe to contract matrimony with his sister to whom the Iudges thus ingeniously answered We haue indeed no law which giues licence for a brother to marry with a sister but we haue found a law oh Soueraigne which warrants the king of Persia to doe whatsoeuer liketh him best Thus they without abrogation of the Persian lawes soothed the kings humour and preserued their owne honours aud liues who had they crost him in the least of his disseignes had all vndoubtedly perisht This hee made the ground for the marriage of the first and not long after hee aduentured vpon the second The younger of these two who attended him into Aegypt he slew whose death as that of her brother Smerdis is doubtfully reported The Graecians write that two whelps one of a Lyon the other of a Dog were brought before Cambises to fight and try maisteries at which fight the young Lady was present but the Lyon hauing victorie ouer the Dog another of the same litter broke his chain and taking his brothers part they two had superioritie ouer the Lyon Cambises at this fight taking great delight shee then sitting next him vpon the sudden fell a weeping this the king obseruing demaunded the occasion of her teares she answered it was at that obiect to see one brother so willing to helpe the other and therefore she wept to remember her brothers death and knew no man then liuing that was ready to reuenge it and for this cause say the Greekes she was doom'd to death by Cambises The Aegyptians report it another way That she sitting with her brother at table out of a sallet dish tooke a lettice and pluckt off leafe by leafe and shewing it to her husband asked him Whether a whole letice or one so despoiled shewed the better who answered a whole one then said shee behold how this lettice now vnleaued looketh euen so hast thou disfigured and made naked the house of king Cyrus With which words he was so incensed that he kickt and spurnd her then being great with child with that violence that she miscarryed in her child-birth and dyed ere she was deliuered and these were the murderous effects of his detestable incest Of Lyuia Horestilla Lollia Paulina Cesonia c. IT is reported the Emperour Caligula that he had not onely illegall and incestuous conuerse with his three naturall sisters but that bee after caused them before his face to be prostituted by his ministers and seruants thereby to bring them within the compasse of the Aemilian Law and conuict them of adultery He vitiated Liuia Horestilla the wife of C. Pisonnius and Lollia Paulina whom he caused to be diuorced from her husband C. Memnius both whose beds within lesse than two yeares he repudiated withall interdicting them the companie and societie of man for euer Caesonia he loued more affectionatly insomuch that to his familiar friends as boasting of her beautie he would often shew her naked To adde vnto his insufferable luxuries he defloured one of the vestall virgins Neither was the Emperour Commodus much behind him in diuelish and brutish effeminacies for he likewise strumpeted his owne sisters and would wittingly and willingy see his mistresses and concubines abused before his face by such of his fauorites as hee most graced hee kept not at anie time lesse than to the number of three hundred for so Lampridius hath left recorded Gordianus iunior who was competitor with his father in the Empire kept two and twentie concubines by each of which he had three or foure children at the least therefore by some called the Priamus of his age but by others in dirision the Priapus The emperour Proculus tooke in battaile a hundred Sarmatian virgins and boasted of himselfe that he had got them all with child in lesse than fifteene dayes this Vopiscus reportes and Sabellicus But a great wonder is that which Iohannes Picus Mirandula relates of Hercules as that hee lay with fiftie daughters of Lycomedes in one night and got them all with child with forty nine boyes onely fayling in the last for that prooued a guirle Iocasta APollodorus Atheniensis in his third booke De deoroum Origine records this history After the death of Amphion king of Thebes Laius succeeded who tooke to wife the daughter of Menocoeas called Iocasta or as others write Epicasta This Laius being warned by the Oracle that if of her he begat a sonne he should prooue a Patricide and be the death of his father notwithstanding forgetting himselfe in the distemperature of wine he lay with her the same night she conceiued and in processe brought forth a male issue whom the king caused to be cast out into the mountaine Cytheron thinking by that meanes to preuent the predicted destinie Polybus the heardsman to the king of Corinth finding this infant bore it home to his wife Periboea who nourced and brought it vp as her owne and causing the swelling of the feet with which the child was then troubled to be cured they grounded his name from that disease and called him Oedipus This infant as he increased in yeares so hee did in all the perfections of nature as well in the accomplishments of the mind as the body insomuch that as well in capacitie and volubilitie of speech as in all actiue and generous exercises he was excellent aboue all of his age his vertues beeing generally enuied by such as could not equall them they thought to disgrace him in something and gaue him the contemptible name of counterfeit and bastard this made him curiously inquisitiue of his supposed mother and she not able in that point to resolue him hee made a iourney to Delphos to consult with the Oracle about the true knowledge of his birth and parents which forewarned him from returning into his countrey because he was destinied not onely to be the deathsman of his father but to adde misery vnto mischiefe he was likewise borne to be incestuous with his mother Which to preuent and still supposing himselfe to be the sonne of Polybus and Peribaea he forbore to returne to Corinth and hyring a charriot tooke the way
hee O Diogenes worthie thy iust taxation to accompanie with a woman with whom many others haue had commerse Againe being by others calumniated for his often repayre and publike recourse to her in regard of her common prostitution and therefore the greater blemish to his more austere profession hee thus satisfied them This is the difference betwixt me and the rest of her Clyents I onely enioy Lais all others are enioyed by her When Demosthenes the famous Orator of Athens desired to haue had companie with her and shee for one nights lodging demanded of him a thousand Drachmaes affrighted with the name of so great a summe he thus replyed I purpose not to buy repentance so deare A young man much taken with her beautie came to Diogenes the Cinicke and asked him this question What if a man should marrie with Lais Who presently answered For a young man it is much too soone and for an old man it were farre too late Concerning her I haue read an elegant Epigram of an old man desirous of companie with her at any rate and her wittie answere to him Canus rogabat Laidis noctem Myron Tulit repulsam protinus Causamque sensit caput fuligine Fucauit atra Candidum c. White-headed Myron did of Lais craue To haue one night and he her price would pay Which she deny'd But why he could not haue His purpose he perceiu'd his head was gray He knew his age betray'd him therefore hee Dyes his hayre blacke and did his suit renew She seeing face and head to disagree And them comparing with considerate view Thus sayes Why do'st thou vrge me thus the rather Since but eu'n now I did denie thy father Nimphodorus Syracusa in his booke De admirabil writes That Lais came into Sicily from Hycaris the most defenced citie of that countrey but Strattis in Macedon or Pauson affirmes her to be of Corinth in these words Dic vnde sunt ductae puellae Venere nuper ex Megara Corinthiae Decus Lais Ingens Aelian de Varia Histor. Lib. 10. sayth That Lais casting her eyes vpon a young man of Cyrenaea called Eubatas neuer left solliciting him by all womanish enticements till shee had made him promise her marriage but the solemnization not to be performed till hee had returned Victor from the Olympicke Games in which hauing had good successe but fearing to hazard the embraces of a strumpet he tooke her Picture onely and carryed it to his citie of Cyrena boasting by the way that hee had marryed and borne thence Lais. Which she hearing and enraged at the skorne thereof writ to him this or the like Letter O false and periured man Whose lust hath no satietie Since nothing please thee can Saue changes and varietie O thou alone Constant to none In nothing settled saue Impietie Our Sex why do'st thou blame Tearme women sole offenders 'T is you that past all shame Are still your owne commenders That care nor feare To whom you sweare Cease iudging and be now suspenders Phillis was chast and faire Demophoon false and cruell Sapho thought Phaon rare And he tearm'd her his Iewell But Traytors they Their Loues betray Poore we can oft fore-see but not eschew ill Falser than eyther thou As foulely hast betray'd me But I le beware thee now As Heauen I hope shall ayd me All thy procurements And slye allurements Hence-forth shall neuer more persuade me Thy Oathes I hold as Lyes As skorne thy craftie smiling Thy shape a meere disguise Thy practise but beguiling All thy protests As scoffes and ieasts And thy faire words no better than reuiling Poysons I le thinke thy Kisses And from mine keepe thee fastings Thy torments count my blisses Thy breathings feare as blastings And thanke my fate I now can hate Thee whom I now abandon euerlasting It is moreouer reported of her That being of purpose conueyed into the bed of Xenocrates by the meanes of his schollers whom hee had instructed in all austeritie and strictnesse of life but she by no whorish blandishments able to corrupt his temperance his schollers asking her the next morning How shee sped shee told them They had lodged her with a Statue or an Image but no man Tymaeus in his thirteenth booke of Histories sayth That she was beaten to death with woodden foot-stooles by certaine women of Thessalie in iealousie and madnesse because she was beloued of a beautifull young man called Pausonias on whom some of them doted This was done at a sacrifice in one of the Chappels of Venus for which cause the place was euer after called The Groue of wicked or vniust Venus Her Sepulcher was neere vnto the riuer Paeneus in Thessalie which runnes betwixt the two great mountaines of Ossa and Olympus and vpon her Tombe-stone this inscription was grauen Roboris inuicti ac animi sit Graecia quamuis Victa tamen formae paruit illa suae Laiais ipse parens Amor est aluitque Corinthus At nunc ipsa tenet inclita Thessalia Though Greece of vnmatcht strength and courage bee It obey'd Lais to thy shape and thee Loue was thy father thee Corinthus bred Who now in stately Thessaly lyest dead This notwithstanding some will not allow her to haue beene educated in the Cranaeum which is a place of exercise in the citie of Corinth Phrine SHe for her beautie was emulated by Lais and was a prostitute in Thespis a citie of Boetia who being for some capitall crime conuented before the Senate and notwithstanding she had a famous Aduocate to plead in her behalfe fearing some harsh and seuere censure she trusting to her beautie bethought her of this proiect before the Sentence was pronounced shee cast off her loose and vpper garments and without any word speaking as farre as womanish modestie would suffer her exposed her bodie naked to the Iudges O Beautie thou canst more preuayle than the tongues of a thousand Orators With her rare forme and extraordinarie feature the old gray-beards were so taken that where before their purpose was to inflict vpon her some seuere punishment they changed their austeritie into loue and pitie and dismissed her without mulct or fine Therefore the famous Orator and Grammarian Quintilian thus speakes The admirable beautie of so compleate a Fabricke more preuayled with the Senate than all the Rhetoricall eloquence of the Aduocate Hyppariâ— Vpon this occasion an Edict was published That from thence-forward no Clyent whatsoeuer should be in presence whilest their Cause was in pleading least either pitie or affection to the person should sway the ballance of Iustice and equitie It is further remembred of her That Praxitiles the most excellent Painter of his time for some courtesies shee had done him or some fauours grac't him with promised to giue her the best and most curious Table in his worke-house but shee by no persuasion or cunning able to wrest from him which amongst so many had the prioritie shee bethought her of this sleight watching a time when the Painter was abroad
pittied her grauitie or suspected her innocence did not cause her to be instantly strangled according to the rigor of her sentence At the importunacie of the daughter he gaue her leaue to visit and comfort her mother but narrowly searcht before her entrance into the prison least shee should carrie with her any food or sustenance to her reliefe rather desiring she should perish by famine and dye that way than himselfe to haue any violent hand in her execution The daughter hauing dayly accesse to the mother who now had past ouer more dayes than the keeper thought was possible by nature and wondering in himselfe how she should draw her thred of life out to that length without any meanes to maintaine it hee casting a more curious eye vpon the young woman and watching her might perceiue how shee first drew out one breast and after another with her owne milke relieuing her mothers famine At the noueltie of so strange and rare a spectacle being amazed he carryed newes thereof to the Triumvir he to the Praetor the Praetor he related it to the Consuls they brought it before the Senate who to recompence what was good in the daughter pardoned all that was before thought ill in the mother For what will not loue deuise or whither true zeale not penetrate What more vnheard or vnexpected thing could be apprehended than for a mother to be fed from the breasts of her daughter Who would not imagine this to be against nature but that we see by proofe true naturall pietie transcends all bounds and limits The like of this we may read of in Plinie of another young marryed woman who when her father Cimon was afflicted with the same sentence and subiect to the like durance prolonged his life from her breasts for which she deserues to be equally memorized Our Parents in no dangers or necessities are to be by vs abandoned and that by the example of Aeneas in whose person Virgil thus speakes as to his father Anchises Aeneid 2. Eia age chare pater ceruici imponere nostrae Ipse subibo numeris nec me labor iste grauabit c. Come my deare father and get vp for see No burthen to my shoulders you can bee No weight at all and hap what can betide One danger or one safetie wee 'l abide Sabellic lib. 3. cap. 6. remembers vs of Rusticana a noble Matron of Rome and the daughter of Synnarchus who with his brother Boetius the famous Philosopher being put to death by Theodoricus king of the Gothes Shee after the Tirants miserable end was the cause that all his Statues in Rome were demollished and ruined purposing vtterly if it were possible to extirpe his memorie that was the inhuman murderer of her father for which fact of hers being called in question before king Totila who succeeded him she was so far from excuse or deniall that she approued the deed with all constancie whose noble magnanimitie resolution prooued more auailable to her saftie than any timerous euasion could haue done for he not only dismissed her vnpunished but highly applauded and commended Fulgos. Sabellicus and Egnatius writing of Alboinus king of the Longobards who at his first enterance into Italie hauing subdued and slaine Turismundus whom some call Cunimundus sonne to Cunimundus king of the Gepidanes and after taken his daughter Rosamunda to wife the Historie sayth hee made a bole of her fathers skull in which one night hauing drunke somewhat lauishly he caused it to be filled with wine and sent to Rosamunda then in her chamber with this message Commend me to my Queene and say I command her to drinke with her father The Ladie though shee knew him to be slaine by the Longobards receiuing his death by a common casualtie and chance of war and by this assuring her selfe that he fell by the hand of her husband betwixt filiall dutie and coniugall loue being for a time destracted the bond of affection towards her father preuailed aboue those nuptiall fetters in which she was tyde to her Lord in so much that to reuenge the death of the one she resolued to take away the life of the other to bring which about she deuised this proiect she had obserued one Hemegildus a noble man amongst the Lumbards to bee surprised with the loue of one of her waiting gentlewomen with whom she dealt so far that when her maid had promised to giue this Hemegildus meeting in a priuate and darke chamber she her selfe supplyde the place of her seruant after which congression she caused lightes to be brought in that he might know with whom he had had carnall companie and what certeine preiudice he had therein incurred protesting withall that vnlesse he would ioyne with her in the death of the king shee would accuse him of rape and outrage The Lumbard to preuent his own disaster vndertooke his soueraignes death which was accordingly betwixt them performed The murder done they fled together to Rauenna she preferring the reuenge of a slaughtered father before the life of a husband the title of a Queene State Soueraigntie or any other worldly dignitie whatsoeuer Something is not amisse to be spoken in this place concerning the loue of mothers towards their children which as Plutarch in his Grec Apotheg saith was excellently obserued in Themistocles Prince of the Athenians who was wont to say That hee knew no reason but that his young sonne whom his mother most dotingly affected should haue more power and commaâ—nd than any one man in Greece whatsoeuer and being demanded the reason hee thus answered Athens sayth he commands all Greece I Themistocles haue predominance ouer Athens my wife ouer-swayes me â—nd my sonne ouer-rules his mother Olympias the mother of Alexander caused Iollaes graue to be ript vp who was Butler to her sonne and his bones to be scattered abroad raging against him in death on whom in his life time shee could not be reuenged on for the death of her sonne to whom this Iollas was said to haue ministred poyson Agrippina the mother of Domitius Nero by all meanes and industrie possible labouring to confirme the Empire vnto her sonne enquired of the Chaldaeans and Astrologers Whether by their calculations they could find if he should liue to be created Caesar who returned her this answer That they found indeed by their Art that he should be Emperour but withall that he should be the death of his mother To whom she answered Inter-ficiat modo Imperet i. I care not though he kill me so I may but liue to see him raigne Sab. lib. 3. cap. 4. The same Author tells vs that in the second Punick warre the Romanes being ouerthrowne with infinite slaughter in the battailes fought at Thrasiamenus Cannas many that were reported to be assuredly dead escaping with life after their funeralls had beene lamented returning home vnexpectedly to their mothers such infinite ioy oppressed them at once that as if sinking beneath too
inequalitie of manners Therefore bold and bloodie Tullia poysons her faire and gentle-conditioned Aruns the other modest and mild-tempered sister is made away by the proud and ambitious Superbus the best are lostâ— the worst left They two contract an incestuous Marriage Pride with Crueltie and Immanitie with Ambition Murther is the ground or cause and Treason and Vsurpation the prodigious effect shee complots the death of her owne naturall father and hee the ruine of his liege Lord and Soueraigne shee a Parricide hee a Regicide The king is betwixt them slaine ouer whose dead bodie shee caused her Chariot to be drawne Her cheekes blushed not when the wheeles of her Waggon were stained with her fathers blood And so much to giue Tullia a short character the most insolent of Wiues and the worst of Daughters Of a lower voice softer spirit and more temperate condition were these wiues following Chilonia the wife of Cleombrotus king of Sparta and daughter of Leonides who had before soueranised when in those ciuile combustions the sonne in law had expulsed the father and compelled him into exile shee neuer ceased to importune her husband till shee had called him home from banishment But in processe of time when Fortune had turned her Wheele and Leonides in those dissentions hauing got the better had confined Cleombrotus shee was an hourely intercessor for the repeale of her husband but finding her father to bee obdure and her suit by him not listened too though she might in all pleasure and ease haue happily spent her age in her owne cittie with her father shee rather made choise to be a faithfull companion in all distresses with her husband Fulgos. lib. 6. cap. 7. Anaxandrides the sonne of Leontias marryed with his sisters daughter whom hee exceedingly loued but because shee was barraine and that by her he had no issue the Ephori made suit vnto him to be diuorsed from her and would haue compelled him vnto it but when he had absolutely denied to condiscend with them in that point they made another request vnto him That hee would take vnto him another wife more fruitfull least the most fortunate issue of Euristaeus might in him bee extinguished Hee therefore at their intreaties tooke to him a second wife namely Perinetades the daughter of Demarmenus and so brought her home to his house where which is strange the two women liued together peaceably without emulation or enuie His last wife brought him a sonne whom hee called Cleomenes and not long after his first wife before barraine made him the fortunate father of three sonnes the first Dorieâ—s the second Leonides the third Cleombrotus but Cleomenes the eldest by the second wife succeeded in the Soueraigntie Herodot Lib. 5. Thesca the sister of Dionisius beeing marryed to Polixenus who hauing entred into a Coniuration with other noble gentlemen to supplant the Tyrant but fearing discouerie fled for his best safetie Vpon whose flight Dionisius calls his sister into question as one that must of necessitie be priuie to his escape To whom shee boldly thus answered Thinkest thou ô Dionisius thy sister to be a woman of that seruile and degenerate condition that had shee knowne the least purpose of his retyrement shee would not haue made her selfe a companion in all his Nauigations and Trauaile Erasm. Apotheg Lib. 5. Caius Caligula the Emperour hauing found Herod the husband to Herodias Tetrarch of Galilee engaged in a reuolt from the Empire with Artahanus king of the Parthians amerced him in a great summe of money for that defect and till it was leuied and payed into the Treasurie gaue him in custodie to king Agrippa whom he had found loyall vnto him and in whose fidelitie hee much trusted Hee after banished Herod into Lyons a citie of France with an irreuocable doome of exile imposed vpon him but vnderstanding Herodias to be sister to the wife of Agrippa whom hee much fauoured out of Herods mulct or fine hee proportioned her a large Dower reserued in the hands of Agrippa to her vse as not dreaming shee would haue beene a companion with him in his confinement To which extraordinarie grace from the Emperour shee thus replyed You ô Emperour as best becomes your Maiestie speake like a royall and munificent Prince but the Coniugall Bond of Loue and Pietie in which I am tyed to a husband is to me an impediment that I am not capable of this great Largesse and vnmerited bountie Vnmeet it is that I who haue beene a partaker with him in all his prosperous and flourishing fortunes should now forsake him and not be a companion with him in the worst that disaster or aduersitie can inflict This noble answere Caligula tooke in such scorne and high displeasure to see himselfe in magnanimitie and greatnesse of spirit to be exceeded by a woman that hee banished her with her husband Herod and the bountie before bestowed on her hee conferred vpon her brother in law Agrippa Ioseph in Antiquitatibus Cleomenes the sonne of Anaxandrides and Perinetades but lately spoken of being expulsed from Sparta by Antigonus king of Macedonia fled for refuge to Ptolomeus king of Aegypt whither his wife would haue followed him but dissuaded by her parents notwithstanding a strict guard was set ouer her yet in the night shee beguiled her keepers and hauing prouided a Horse for the purpose posted with all possible speed to the next Port Towne that was least suspected where hyring a shippe with all the Coyne and Iewels shee had then about her shee sayled into Aegypt and there spent the remainder of her dayes with him in his vncomfortable exile Fulgos. lib. 6. cap. 7. I haue but one more gentle Reader to trouble thy patience with at this present Blanca Rubea Patauina the wife of Baptista a Porta betaking her selfe into the same free priuiledged Towne of which Bassianus was then Gouernour and whither her husband for his safetie was retyred in the yeere of our Redemption 1253 when Aâ—â—iolinus the Tyrant hauing lost Padua and bending all his forces to the surprisall of Bassiâ—â—â—â— compassing that at length by fraud and stratagem which by opposition and violence hee could neuer haue accomplished in the entring of which Towne Baptista was slaine and Blanca Rubea being armed and fighting boldly by his side till shee saw him fall was notwithstanding her masculine valour taken prisoner by a souldier and presented to the Tyrant who gazing on her rare feature much more beautified by the rich armour shee then had on grew exceedingly enamoured on this manly Virago and first with faire enticing blandishments hee courted her loue but finding no possibilitie to satiate his libidinous affections that waye where faire meanes fayled hee purposed force which to auoid and to preuent the dishonour intended her shee cast her selfe out from an high Bay-window two stories from the ground where being taken vp halfe dead with much difficultie shee was recouered No sooner was shee well able