¶ Amastrix was a citie builded by Amastrix daughter of Oxiatres Amastrix and wife of Dionisius tirante of Heraclia in Lemnos Out of that citie hir husbande was banished by Methridates and fledde into a place called Achilles course wher forsaken of his people he was slaine by his enemy Or that about Thrasillus tombe as did Euridamas Fast tyed about Larissian whele thou there mayst thrée times passe ¶ Thrasillus king of Larissa Thrasillus in an vprore of the people was slayne by one Euridamas a Soothsayer but wythin a while after the same Euridamas was by Simo brother of Thrasillus slayne and drawē thrée times about the place wher Thrasillus as the maner was was burned Or els like Hector valiaunt Hector whose body vew'd the wall That he had long in safety kept which after sone die fall ¶ Hector sonne of Priamus and Hecuba the glory of the Troyans and terrour of the Grekes was slayne by Achilles and drawen at a horse tayle thrée times about the wals of Troy such cruelty shewed he to his enemies dead body vppon which aliue he durst skant loke for fear But as he cowardly kylde him so he as shamefully misused him a tokē no dont of a dogged nature not to be approued in any gentleman As daughter of Hippomenes new torments did abide And as th' adulterer was drawen ouer Athens land so wide So when thy hated life of all thy lothed limmes shal leaue God graunt that hungry horses may thy corps in péeces reaue ¶ Hippomenes kinge of Athens Hippomenes Limone had a daughter called Limone she was taken in adulterye and by the commaundement of hir father shut vp with a horse that had no meate giuen him to the intente that hunger pryckinge hym he should deuoure hir which came in déede to passe The adulterer was drawen about Athens at a horse tayle and pulled in péeces But he himselfe for this vnspekable cruelty shewed to his daughter not longe after was banyshed hys kingdome Ouid. That some man may thy body thrust on rockes much tost before As were the bodyes of the Grekes on Caphareus shore ¶ Amimone Amimone Satirus Neptunus Nanplius Vlisses Palamedes one of the daughters of Danaus was loued of one of the Gods called Satiri To hir on a time being on huntinge by the Sea syde came hir louer and was somewhat busy with hir wher with she not content shot an arrowe at him and wounded hym sore but for all that Satyrus was somewhat sawey with hir so that she had no power to defende hirselfe agaynst hym She therfore desyred Neptunus to helpe hir who came and chased Satirus away and for his curtesy she was content to let him haue to doe with hir who at that time begotte Nanplius father of Palamedes the worthy Greeke slayne of the Gréekes by the guylefull hate of crafty Vlisses who alwayes was his extreame ennemy the matter was handled thus ¶ At what time the Grekes prepared themselues to goe to Troy to fetche agayne Helena the wife of Menelaus king of Sparta stolen away by the adulterous Paris sonne of Priamus Vlisses detracting the warre either for the loue of his newe maryed wyfe Penelope or els for cowardly feare fained himself mad and got dogs and foxes and other beasts and yoked them together and went to plow in the sande and sowed corne therein The Grekes desiringe to haue hym wyth them and mistrusting the thynge sente Palamades to espye his guyse and to sée whether he coulde bringe hym or not Palamedes came to the place wher Vlisses was at plough and layd his sonne Telemachus in his way thinkinge that if he were mad he could not know his owne sonne and by that meanes to trye the trueth but if he were sober he woulde passe by without hurting the child which in déede he did for as sone as he sawe his chylde lye before him he draue on the one syde and suspended hys plough and so passed without harme to the chylde Which thinge when Palamedes sawe he toke him and by force brought hym to the reste who after in the warre dyd very good seruice But Vlisses toke the matter in very euill parte and thought in time to be reuenged on him and this was one cause of his griefe An other was that Vlisses was sente to prouyde corne and other thynges as were necessare for the campe and retourned with out accomplyshinge any thinge at all But Palamedes being sent to those same places spedde so well that he furnyshed the campe wyth all thynges necessary as well as was possible These causes moued Vlisses to greate hate and to deuyse all wayes possyble to destroy Palamedes who in wytte was not inferiour to any of the Grekes and in corage surmounted them all euen hym selfe Achylles whych thynge at length he dyd in thys sorte By the consente consent of Palamedes seruauntes whom he had before corrupted with mony He hid a potte of Golde in his tente and put certayne letters into his cosers that he himselfe had made This done he accused him of treason that he woulde haue betrayed the Grekes to Priamus and had therefore receyued a summe of money which he had hyd in the grounde in hys tent This Palamedes denyed the places were searched the Golde was founde Palamedes condempned was stoned to death His father Nanplius hearinge of this at the retourne of the Grekes from Troy made great lightes vpon the Promontorie Caphareus of Euboea The Grekes supposinge that there had béen a Hauen sayled thether and as many as came néere perished on the rockes wherof is great store there and as many as came to lande by his souldyours were slaine Euboea bordereth vppon Boetia in it be two Promontoryes that make it famous Cerestus Caphare Cerestus which reacheth towarde Athens and Caphareus whych reacheth Hellespont And that with Thunderboltes seas as Aiax ferce dyd dye God graunt that so the fyre may ayde the waters drowning thée ¶ Aiax Oileus Aiax Oileus for forcing Cassandra Priams daughter in the temple of Pallas in his retorne to Grece hae hys shyp broken on Caphareus Rocks and him selfe was stryken with a Thunderboult by Pallas and so wyth fyre and water destroyed And that also with furyes tost thy mynde may be as mad As his whose body ouer all one onely wound hath had ¶ Marsias sonne of Hiaguis Marsias the famous Musitian pleased the rurall goddes and Nympes of smalskyll with pype very well Wherewith he became so proude that he challenged Apollo The nyne Muses and Minerua were appointed Iudges of the controuersie they gaue sentence of Apollos syde But he thinking scorne to yelde and take Apollo for hys better was hanged on a trée and had his skin pulled from his back The Nympes and Satyres and the rest of that crue dyd so lament the losse of his musike that of their teares came the great Riuer of Phrigia called Marsias Ouid. vi Meta. But I think it
true fréendes but haue ben much deceaued wherof you shall in the boke folowing sée many examples As of Thessalus and Eurialuss Cocalus and Minos Mirtilus Oenomaus and such like There is no poyson to the poyson of a Serpente no strength to the strength of Gunpouder no sting to the sting of the Aspe no malyce to the malyce of a woman nor no euill to the euill of a fayned fréende and a dissembling louer It is a great deale better no doubt to haue an open ennimie then a counterfeyte friende For of the one we may take héede but of the other it is not possible to beware A true frend then must nede be so much worth as nothing may be more For who is not well pleased to heare of Orestes and Pilades Theseus and Perithous Achilles and Patroclus Nisus and Eurialus Castor and Pollux Damon and Pithias Achates and Aeneas Alexander and Ephestio Celius and Petronius C. Lelius and Scipio Affricanus Darius and Megabisus and a great number of payres of freendes mo which I could rehearse but that it néedeth not All which ech for other refused no death nor torment Wherfore euen nowe also their renown is fresh they be extolled aboue the skyes neither shal ther be any so vngratefull posterity which shal forget their passing amitie Contrariwise if we consider the horrible effects of enmitie and hatred in Atreus and Thiestes Etheocles and Polinices wyth such other which for breuitie I leaue out I thinke there will be no man so rude which will not detest But what meane I to entreat of frendship of which so many excellent men haue written before in such sorte that I shall rather hereby bewray the barennesse of my sclender wit then doe any thing therto worthy prayse And the more for that Fauorinus in Aul. Gellius sayth it is better to disprayse earnestly then to prayse coldly I will therefore leaue to speake of this any more and wil come to the other cause which no man can wel perceaue but he that is maried For my part if you wil bear with mine vnexperienced iudgemente I am well pleased that Ouid toke it in very euill part to beare S. Lukes helmet seeing that many men euen nowe a dayes be scant well content to weare that lothsome liuerie Of this I am well assured that Propertius coulde be contente that his fréend should be partaker of al the goods he had and what soeuer els was in hys power but as touching his wife he could spare Iupiter no parte of hir He writeth thus Te socium lecti te corporis esse licebit Te dominum admitto rebus amice meis Lecto te solum lecto te deprecor vno Riualem possum non ego ferre Iouem But of these causes enough I wil therfore omitte to blot my paper wyth any more words concerning these matters and will tell you what Ouid was and why he called this worke Ibis and wrote it in so hard a stile He was a gentleman of a good house borne at Sulmo who rather to please hys father then for any loue he bare thervnto studyed the lawe But after his decease he returned to his olde study of Poetry againe wherin he profyted so much that excepte Virgill I dare call him péerelesse He was fiftie yeres in prosperitie good credyte with Augustus but was afterward banyshed into Pontus where he liued eyght yeres and then dyed was buried in Dorbite a Citie of Hellespont The cause of his banishment is vncertayn but most men thinke I am of that opinion also that it was for vsing too familiarly Iulia Augustus his daughter who of hir selfe too much enclined to lasciuiousnes was the more incensed therto by him vnto whoÌ„ he wrote many wanton Elegies vnder the name of Corinna as Sidonius plainly affirmeth Et te carmina per libidinosa notum Naso tener tonosque missum Quondam Cesareae minis puellae falso nomine subditum Corinnae In hys banyshmente he wrote dyuers bokes and among other this against an vntrue fréende and calleth it Ibis thereby to declare that there is no valure nor hansomnes in him nor any thinge worthy to be accepted For Ibis is a birde of Egipt the fylthiest that we reade of of it you may finde more in Plinie He is obscure and his verses of purpose vnperfit for that he imitateth Callimachus who in lyke style wrote against his owne scholer Appollonius Rhodius whych wrote the voyage of the Argonants and calleth him by the same name of Ibis also Thus much I thought good to note in the Preface because I wold not trouble so litle a boke with an other argument Take it curteous Reader and accepte it in good parte and thinke that it commeth from one who hath inough if he please thée Fare well Ouid his inuectiue against IBYS WHole fifty years be gone past since I a lyue haue béen Yet of my Muse ere now there hath no armed verse be séen Among so many thousand works yet extant to be had No bloody letter can be red that euer Naso made Nor yet no man set me a side my bookes haue caus'd to smart ¶ He meaneth hys bookes of the arte of loue for the which he was banisâ—ed Syth I my selfe am cast away by my inuented arte One man there is that wyll not let this is a greuous payne The tytle of my curteyse verse for euer to remaine What so he be as yet his name shall not by me be wrayde Who me constraynes to take in hand No weapens erst assayde He will not let me scent almost vnto the frosen Zone In banishment take restles ease and there to ly vnknowne That cruel man doth vexe my wounds that séeke for néedefull rest And sclanderous wordes doth vtter oft Where great resort is prest He suff'reth not my cuppled mate by lasting league of bedd To wayle hir wretched husbands corse not much vnlyke the dead And while some part of beaten barke I hard doe holde in hande He striues to haue the onely bowrde Whereon I swim to lande And he who should of ryght put out eche suddayne kyndled flame Too violent doth seeke to gette his pray amyd the same He labors that my wandring age due noryshment should lacke Oh how much worthyer to beare our myschefes on his backe The Gods doe graunt me better lucke of whome he 'is great'st to me That will not sée my trauell want Augustus the emperour who banyshed him opprest with pennury To him therefore deserued thankes as long as I shall lyue For his so kinde and curtyse heart I euermore wyll giue Let Pontus hereof record beare and he perhaps wyll make That I shall of some nearer ceast hereof a wytnesse take But vnto thée thou cruell man that treadest on me soe Wherein I may alas therefore I wyl be styll thy foe Yea moysture shall surcease to be contrary to the drye And with the Moone bryght Phebê° beams shall ioyned be on hye And one
were accustomed to be buryed in vauts he esppyed two serpeÌ„ts fyghting so long together that the one had kylled the other Then he that wos alyue dyd fetche an herbe put it into the mouth of him that was dead by vertue whereof he recouered life again Polyidus meaning to trye whether this wold doe any good to his maister fetcht a part thereof and put it into his mouth and hée therewith presently recouered lyfe also Higinus capite de polyido Or else that thou a guilty man mayst drink with heauy cheare That which the famous clark dyd drink to fore with out all feare ¶ Socrates accused by Polideutus Miletus Socrates Policrates Anytus that he corrupted the youth of Athens as wel with euel false religion as also with vndecent maners was therfore cast in prison and after condempned Where he hauing disputed of the immortalitie of the soule with mery chéere and smiling countenaunce drank poyson and dyed Plato That thou no better lucke mayst haue then Hemon had in loue As Machareus his sister did so thou thine to mayst proue ¶ Hemon Creons sonne Hemon loued Antigone daughter of Oedipus in suche sorte that when she was buryed quicke for breaking Creons wycked commaundement in buryinge hir brother Polinices for he had commanded the contrary vpon pain aforesayde he slewe hymselfe vppon her graue An other Hemon vsing his daughter Rodope for his wyfe Hemon Rodope was by the anger of the Goddes tourned into a hyll and she also Of Machareus Canace Eolus chyldren I haue written before And that which Hectors sonne did sée when all thinges were on flame From top of natiue tower god graunt that thou mayst sée the same How Vlisses caste Astianax Hectors son Astianan from the toppe of Troyan tower is also sayde before And that with proper blood as he thou mayst repay thy shame Whose grandfather was made his syre and sister to his dame ¶ Adonis sonne of Cineras by hys owne daughter Mirrha beloued of Venus Adonis in huntinge the Bore was by him slayne Ouid .x. Metamor And that such kinde of weapon may within thy bones remayne As wherwith Icarus sonne in law is sayde for to be slayne ¶ Vlisses that marryed Penelope Vlisses Icarus daughter knowinge that he shoulde be slayne by his son banyshed Telemachus into the country or fieldes called Cephalenia But Telogonus his other son that he had by Circe comming to séeke his father in Ithaca and not at the first admitmitted to speake to hym kylled the porter and diuers other of Vlisses seruants wherwith he himself came downe vnarmed and was by misaduenture slayne wyth a Darte that Telogonus caste But after knowinge what hée was he he forgaue him the offence notwithstanding he dyed of the blow And that with proper thumbe thy throte thou mayst so stop as did Agenor full of talke whose life by fall from horse was rid ¶ One Agenor a pratling felow Agenor not sparinge Iupiter in hys talke fell from hys horse and wyth his owne finger choked himselfe That thou as Anaxarchus was in mortar mayst be flayne And that thy bones may haue like souÌ„d as they were perfect grayne ¶ Anaxarchus the Philosopher betwene whom and Nicocreon tyraunt of Cyprus was a greate quarell supped on a tyme with the great Alexander Anaxarchus of whome being asked howe the chéere liked him answered that it myght not be amended that there wanted nothing but the head of Nicocreon Which iniury after Nicrocreon reuenged For when by mishap he arryued in Ciprus he was taken by the Tyraunt and beaten in a Mortar hys tongue fyrste pulled out that he myght not after hys accustomed manner rayle vpon him That Phebus with Lencotheas sire to Hell may thrust thée to Which thing vnto his daughter first he did attempt to doe ¶ Lencothea daughter of Orchamus Lecothea Orchamus was loued of Phebus and therefore burned of hir father wherewith Phebus offended wyth hys beames burned Orchamus to death also And that that monster may annoy thy frendes that erst was slayne by Corebus his prowes who rid the sory Grekes from payne ¶ How Corebus killed the monster that infested Peloponesus Corebus which Apollo sent for the death of his sonne Linus is sayde before And Ethras neuew for the wrath that stepdame did him beare God graunt that those thy scarred horse in péeces may thee teare ¶ Of this also is sayde before Hippolitê° But because Iupiter and Apollo fell out by hys meanes it shall not be much amysse to prosecute the story a litle farther After he was torne in péeces Diana hauing pitie on him because he was so chast desired Esculapius Apollos sonne to make him aliue againe Esculapiê° Ciclopes which he did But Iupiter not content that any mortall man had such skyll to make deade men alyue agayne with a thunderbolt kylled hym Wherwith Apollo angred killed all the Ciclopes that made hys thunderboltes Wherfore he was himself banished out of heauen nyne yeares and driuen to so narow a pinch that he was fain to kéepe Admetus shepe till he was againe restored to his olde place And as the host for too much wealth t is clyent did destroy So let thine hoste for thy smal goodes thée reaue of liuely ioy How Priams sonne Polidorus Polimnestor Polidorus was slaine by Polimnestor king of Thracia ech man knoweth and I haue tolde already And as so many brothers were with Damasiâ—hon stayne God graunt that so of all thy stocke there may not one remayne ¶ Amphion sonne of Iupiter Antiopa had by Niobe daughter of Tantalus and Taigetes seuen sonnes and seuen daughters With which number Niobe very proude when Manto daughter of Tiretias commaunded the Thebans to doe sacrifyce to Latona and hir children she said plainly that hirselfe was the better woman Wherfore Latona angry complayned to hir children so that they came froÌ„ heauen in cloudes Apollo killed al hir sonns whose names were Ismenus Sipilus Phedimus Tantalus Alphenor Dama sithon Ilioneus with his arrowes and Diana all hir daughters She hirself with sorow consumed was turned into a marble stone and hir husband kild himselfe as in the .ii. next staues Ouid reporteth And as the harper did his death vnto his children adde So let ther be to loth thy life a iust cause still be had ¶ Amphion was a cunning Musitian Niobe That thou as Pelops sister mayst be turnd into a stone Or Battus els to whom his tongue did geue him cause to mone ¶ Apollo banished out of heauen for killing the Ciclopes kepte Admetus cattell which was sonne of Pheres but while he wandred pyping about the wildernesse his cattell strayed into Pilis which Mercury turned out of the way and hid in a wood which Battus son of Neleus espyed Battus who kept a herd of mares therby to whoÌ„ Mercury gaue one of the fairest kyne to to kepe his counsell He toke the