sayd to him that Achelous demaunded of him if he would giue him his daughter and that if he would not giue her to him at this time he would molest and gréeue his countrey and would make him warre At this message Oeneus was troubled and answered the messenger that on the morrow he would giue him an answere All that day Oeneus was pensiue and sorry and abode alone and for to passe his melancholy he came to Hercules When Hercules sawe him so pensiue he adiured him in earnest wise that he should tell him the cause of his pensiuenes who tolde it him and sayde Lord Hercules since it pleaseth you to know of mine anoiance and gréefe I will anon tell you the cause There is hereby a king my neighboure named Achelous great and fierce and proude which many times hath required to haue to his wife Deyanira my daughter I haue not béene in will to accord the mariage for asmuch as I knowe this king a man of right euill life And for this cause I haue had many menaces of him and also this day his messenger is yet come againe to me and hath sayde to mée that if I giue him not my daughter at this time he will make mée war Certes Hercules if ye ye sée me pensiue it commeth to me by this occasion for I haue not yet giuen him his aunswere but I must giue it him to morrow Neuerthelesse I haue concluded in my selfe that I will not giue vnto him my daughter And now when I sée verily that by the refuse of my daughter it must néedes be that the war be open betwéene the aforesayde king Achelous and me know well that I am displeased for warre is the eternall desolation of the countrey perdition and wast of the people and of goods Sir said Hercules it is néedefull vnto a man that he take and beare all that fortune will As ye say warre is not increasing of people but dimunition yet by that extremitie it behooueth to passe It is expedient that a man reioyce in his right Right comforteth the courage of a man and the courage of a man comforted bringeth him often times to glorious victorie A brute beast disgarnished of reasonable wit fighteth for his hole and nest with his clawes with féete with his téeth and with his bill What shall a man sensible and endowed with wit and reason do with any assault and namely in his owne land and territorie Nature willeth and instructeth that where corporall force faileth vigour and vertue of courage worketh and that they fight for their countrey Take courage then in your right and say your intent vnto your enemies ye haue receiued mée worshipfully in my receiuing these tydings that be come I wil help you if it be neede and I suppose if Achelous assaile you he shall repent him With these words the king Oeneus comforted himselfe greatly and the day drewe ouer On the morrow Oeneus called the messenger of Achelous and said to him that he should come no more to demaund his daughter and that he was not minded to giue her to his maister and furthermore if he mooued warre against him for this cause hee had intention to defende himselfe vnto the death of the last man of his people The messenger returned with these words and tolde them to Achelous and all that hée found with him Achelous was euill content with king Oeneus and as hee that was ouermuch smitten with the loue of Deyanira beganne to assemble his men of armes in intention to make warre on king Oeneus and to take from him his Daughter Hercules was then in Calcedonie and often times he was with Deyanira in gracious conferences He found her so well adressed in all honest maners that all day he was the most part with her and in the night he did nought but dreame and thinke on her howbeit he sayd nothing to her that touched his amorous desires willing first to shewe there his power in armes It happened on a day he opened a window that was by the garden of Deyanira and casting his eyes downe he sawe Deyaninira that sate vppon a gréene place accompanied with many Ladyes and Gentlewomen Then hee set all his minde to contemplate the excessiue beautie of her After he desired her and in coueting and desiring said O Deyanira thou that hast not the prerogatiue to know the hearts and the thoughts of men if I should say to thée the tenth part of the loue and desire I haue to thée thou mightest not beléeue it I haue gone many a countrey and séene mannie a Realme and many a treasure I haue desired many a thing But of all for to come to my wished blisse I was neuer in so great thought as I am for to get thy grace The same houre that Hercules spake by himselfe Deyanira was not idle shee hadde Hercules in her minde and remembrance in hir heart then being rich in the points of loue sowen betwéene variations of hope and despayre was esprysed in all her veynes with the heate of that fire that burneth amorous hearts This fire burning was strong and very hard to quench or to couer the right pearcing sparkle Shée lay downe then vpon the grasse and beganne to say in her minde Alas Hercules what shall Deyanira do she may not come to attaine vnto your loue I was wont not long since not to daigne to behold a man and then said that neither Prince nor King should haue my loue Nowe I am all of another nature and desire no other thing but that I might bee your wife I haue supposed to haue remained and continued a stable virgin and I only was disdainer of men contrary to the requests and admonitions of the ladies these be nowe farre other tydings with these words she ceased a little and beganne to thinke on many other things At this point as she thought on Hercules and Hercules on her tydings came thither that Achelous was comming for to besiege the Citie by land and by sea and that he was very neare by For these tydings arose in the pallace a great murmuring that came to the eares of Hercules and of Deyanira their spirits were trauersed in such fashion that Hercules left to behold Deyanira and the damosell left to thinke on Hercules and both two went vnto the king Oeneus Anon as Hercules came vnto the king and that the King saw him he went against him and said to him that his enemies were verye neare the Citie Hercules answered ioyously that it behooueth to go feast them and willed that he put his people in armes At this answere of Hercules the king did sounde to armes and with this sound all Calcedonie was mooued and each man made him readie Hercules and his Gréekes were ready in a little space The Calcedonians assembled by great companies in the pallace When they were assembled the king and Hercules brought them into the field and Hercules put them in order that done he did
and of the Epiriens all the worlde prayseth him and holdeth him one of the valiauntest men of the world he is my sonne I shall send to him and let him haue knowledge of the miserie that I am in by the Damosell that bare him vnto the Mountaine of Oson and shall require him of succour and I hope that he is a man of so hie courage and so fortunate that he shall succour her that hath done him that merite that is worthie to haue his succour and that saued him in his tender dayes and my heart telleth me that hee shall receyue by this tyding a right great ioy in knowledging the place of his natiuitte For more greater ioy hée may not haue come to him then to knowe that hee is the first sonne of the auncient house of Crete And this shal turne to him a soueraigne gladnesse when he shall see thal he is required to come and make the recouerance of his father and mother and of his countrey CHAP. X ¶ Howe Iupiter with the ayde of King Meliseus of Epire deliuered Saturne his father and Cibell his mother out of the prison of Titan and howe hee slue Titan in battaile WHen Saturne and Vesca had heard Cibel so speake Vesca sayd that her aduise was right good and Saturn was al astonied for he thought that Iupiter that he had séene at diuerse times with King Meiâ—seus should in no wise be his son so hardly hee could beléeue it and giue faith vnto the words of Cibell and said if Iupiter would succour him he were the man to do it and that he was content that Cibel shuld send to fetch him as she had sayde Then Cibell sent for the Damosell that knewe all the guiding of Iupiter and gaue her the charge to go vnto him and to dispatch this businesse This Damosell ioyous of this Ambassade departed secretlie and taryed not till shee came vnto the house of Meliseus and finding there Iupiter with the King after the reuerence made she addressed her spéech to Iupiter and saide to him Iupiter reioyce and bee glad I bring to thée tydings of gladnesse For among other sorrowes fortune that hath holde â—â—ee long time ignoraunt and not knowing the place of thy right noble natiuitie hath now certainly layde open the discouerture and knowledge of the same ignorance and will that thou knowe that thou art the first sonne and heyre of the King Saturne and of Dame Cibell The King Saturne thy father as euery man knoweth long since made an oath vnto his brother Titan that hee wouldâ— slea all his children males that should come of his séede for which cause the day of thy natiuitie he commaunded that thou shouldest be put to death but thy mother had pitie of thée and for to saue thy life she sent thée secretly vnto this house giuing thy father Saturne to vnderstand that she had done execution on thée And so for to eschue the furors of thy father thou hast béene here nourished all thy dayes and knowest not thy selfe what thou wert and nowe thou art certaine What ioy is this to thée certainly great And thou oughtest to go ioyously vnto thy father and mother presenting thy selfe vnto their grace if it were not that after these tydings of ioy I must néedes shewe vnto thée Iupiter other tydings and that is this Thy mother that hath saued thée thy vncle Titan holdeth her in pryson with Saturne for that that she hath nourished thée and hée hath ouercome and vanquished thy father in battaile latelie and taken from him his Realme and yet more hee will put them to death Wherefore they pray and require thée that thou haue pittie of them and that thou wilt employ thée to go and deliuer them out of the daunger that they be in at this day The King Meliseus and Iupiter hearing these tydings of the Damosell maruayled them right greatly and Iupiter was right ioyous when he had vnderstoode that he was sonne of King Saturne and on that other side he was sore vexed of the troubling of Crete and thanked the Damosell And after that he turned him vnto the king and said to him Sira yee may nowe knowe and vnderstande what I am and of what house as this Damosell witnesseth My father and my mother be in the hands of their enimies I pray you in their fauour that ye will helpe me to succor them and that we go hastily oppressing him that hath oppressed them I haue a singular hope and trust in fortune that she will helpe vs. Faire sonne aunswered Meliseus knowe that I haue more ioy in the recoueraunce of thy lynage then I can shew or make semblant of and in signe of this I promise to helpe thée asmuch as in me is possible And then Iupiter assured the Damosel and swore vnto her that he would put him in armes against Titan and had her returne vnto Saturne and Cibel and to comfort them in hope of right short succour The damosel departed from thence with the words of Iupiter and returned in to Crete and told vnto Saturne and Cibell all that she had doone Anon after the Damosell was departed Iupiter sent for Archas his sonne hastily with the Arcadiens and also sent for the Epiriens and the Parthenyens with them of the Citie of Analcre All these people loued Iupiter with great loue and came at his commaundement in great number of men of warre Iupiter welcomed them as wel as he could and told them the cause why he had sent for them and tolde them that he was Sonne vnto king Saturne After these things he did cause to be made ready all things that were necessarie vnto his Host and so they departed from the Citie of Oson with a right fayre companye of men of armes vnto the number of six thousand fighting men and so well sped that in short time he brought them within a mile nigh the Citie of Crete And there Iupiter would tary vpon the toppe of a Mountayne and called to him his sâ—â—â—e Archas that then had but thirtéene yeare of age but he was right wise and well bespoken and gaue him in charge that he should go into Crete to giue summons vnto the king Titan that he shuld go out of the Citie and deliuer to him his father Saturne with his mother Cibell The young Archas that was hardye and hadde his heart highe enhaunsed with the word of his father went vnto Crete to the King Titan to whome he gat him to be presented and sayd vnto him these wordes that folow Titan I come vnto thée in the obeysance of my father Iupiter first sonne of King Saturne that thou holdest in captiuitie He hath béene aduertised of oppression that thou hast doone in the personne of his Father and of his mother and the death of their sonnes he signifieth to thée by me that he is sonne of Saturne and that he is as much thine enemy as thou to hiâ— souiâ—â—â—art enemie Vpon which I thée â—â—â—non as
dwelled with his mother and his sisters Cibell and Ceres and beganne to raigne with so great magnificence that they of the countrie séeing their neighbours by them did make and ordaine Kings to raigne on them of such as were noble and vertuous assembled togither on a day and made Saturne King ouer them and vppon their lines and crowned him with great glorie with a crowne of Lawyer with great ioy Saturne anon tooke and accepted this royall honour and worship and tooke the scepter in his hand and here the crowne on his head and raigned wisely inducing his people to liue honestly and to loue vertue and ordained a naked sword to be borne afore him in signe of iustice He did iustice on malefactours and enhaunsed them that were good hee did build a Citie which he named Crete because the I le bare the saide name and hee was the first inhabitour and dweller When he had founded the Citie he ordained his Pallace and dwelling place in the middle thereof in example as the heart is in the middes of the bodie to minister to the members so hée would instruct and gouerne his people And after this he chose an hundred and foure wise men which hee instituted and ordained counsellours and gouernours of his Realme And then they of Crete séeing the right great wisedome of their king assembled togither diuers times and named him a god and yet more they founded vnto him a Temple an Alter and an Idole bearing in the one hand a sickle in signification that hee destroyed the vices in such wise as the fickle cutteth hearbs and destroyeth the wéedes and in the other hand he held a serpent that did bite his taile forasmuch as Saturn said that euery man shuld bite the taile of the serpent that is to say that euery man should feare and flée the euill end For the end oftentimes is venemous as the taile of a Serpent and that appeareth yet daily by the ende of many euill disposed and inuenomed men By the meane of these thinges the renoume of king Saturne grewe and that worlde was the time of golde That is for to say it was much better and more abundant in the daies of mans life and in plentie of fruits of the earth then in any other time after The Poets by this colour compared the world at this time to gold which is most pretious of al metals wherfore many men say that Saturne was the first man that found the maner to melt mettall and to affine gold and made his vessell vtensilles of his house of diuers mettal And vnder this colour they figured at that time the worlde to be of gold Then began the men by the doctrine of Saturne to vse and were gold to myne the rocks to pearce the mountains perillous to haunt the thorny desarts to fight aduance the orguillous serpents the fierce dragons the deadly griffons the moÌ„strous beasts to spred abroad their worldly engins By these exercises was then Saturne the fourbisher and beginner of the stile to learne men to take these beasts And first found the manner of shooting and drawing of the bow Of this gold made Saturne his house his chambers and halles to shine by maruailous working He was strong and hardie he had no feare nor doubt of any Serpent of the mountaine nor any monster of desart or of beast dwelling in caues He knew the veines of gold in the earth and could discerne them from the veines of siluer He edifies rich things of gold ioyous vnto the eie sight and hâ—te and couragious to the heart For at that time the courages by perdurable fire chasing the affections of man in manner of a contagious heat so singularly that after alway that they coueted they desired to accomplish In this time of the golden world the creatures liued and endured greatly and long And al the world laboured in edification of science and cunning of vertue And that time were the men more vertuous in bodily edifying then euer they were since Among whom Saturne was neuer idle after that he had once laboured cornes in earing and sowing Hee molte and fined gold and mettals and induced and taught his men to draw the bow and shoote He himselfe found first the bow and the manner to go and saile by the sea and to rowe with little boates by the riuage and tooke his owne pleasure for to endoctrine and teach his people in all these things and he had great aboundance of worldly goods reserued onely he durst not marrie and that hee had sworne to death all the men children that should come of his séede Whereof hee was oftentimes anoyed and had great displeasure c. CHAP. III. ¶ Howe Saturne went to Delphos and had aunswere how hee should haue a son that should chase him out of his realme And how he maried him to his sister Cibell c. WHen Saturne sawe his Palace flourish and shine of gold and sawe his people obey him saw his goldsmiths workers breake mountaines with their Pikares and instruments saw his mariners cut the waues of the sea with their Oares saw his disciples learn and labor the earth saw his Archers shoot with their arrowes smote and tooke the birds dwelling in the high trées and flying by the ayre he might embrace great glorie and inhaunce on high his throne and his felicitie But on the other side when he remembred the couenant made betwéen him and his brother Titan he was like vnto the Peacocke that is proud of the fayre feathers diuersly faire coloured which he spreades round as a whéele withall only looking on his féet he leeseth all his ioy Saturn likewise by this treatie lost al his ioy his glory and his pleasure He was long time leading this life now ioyous now sorowfull growing alway and increasing his realme and dayly thought and poised in himselfe if he might marry or not for nothing in the world he would false his oath He was iust and true in déed in word Neuertheles nature moued him and cited him to haue generation and to come to company of women and this mouing was al all times refreshed and renued by a continuall sight that hée had daily in a passing faire maid that is to wit his sister Cibell which he saw continually in whom was no default of al the goods of nature appertaining to woman She was out of measure right huÌ„ble in speaking wise in her works honest in conuersation and flowing in all vertues And for this cause Saturne behelde her oft times And so hapned on a time as he beheld her affayres and workes he cast his eyen on her vertues that pleased him so greatly that in the ende he was desirous of her loue wherof his mother Vesca had great ioy and pleasure And she perceiuing of the desire of Saturne gaue him courage and will to marry her And so laboured and solicited the mariage so effectually that with great worship and triumph Saturne
put her out of the order and of her company AT this time began to rise in the mind of Iupiter many thoughts for the better he concluded in himself to returne to Pelage from whence he came And then for because that hee was displeased with himselfe for the enforsing of his Ladie dame Calisto by loue hee departed from the wood and so hasted on his way that hee was on the morne among the Epiriens in his first habite When the Epiriens sawe Iupiter come againe they made him right great chéere and great honor And the same day Iupiter fained him that he would go on hunting and so went and found means to speake with Calisto and required her that she would be his loue but she in no wise would assent to him He returned from the chase so gréeued that for to passe his melancholy he departed out of the country The fourth day following after that he ordained there folke that gouerned the people and returned into the house of king Melliseus who receiued him as his son and there he dwelled a long time without aduentures whereof any mention is made and also Calisto dwelled in peace a while and when she heard tell and vnderstood that Iupiter was gone she was passing ioyous for she had leuer haue him far then nigh alway the time passed the fruit of her wombe grew and the day came that Diana and Athalanta with other virgins perceiued that she was with child wherfore they assembled al in their Chapyter and called Calisto and then spake Diana to her and said Calisto my daughter thou hast done fornication with some man this fornication is not excusable The virgins of this place be sorie for thy sinne and haue abhomination of thy shame For this cause it is of force that thou departe out of this house thou shalt be no longer their fellow Thou hast made thy selfe worthie to depart by the breaking and loosing of thy virginitie Take thine array and go thy way into some place where then maist be deliuered of the fruit that resteth in thée for thou shalt no longer be héere within When Calisto heard the goddesse Diana and knew that she said truth great teares fel from her eies and wéeping by great aboundance excused her vpon Iupiter rehearsing the abuse and violence that she had Diana and the maidens had great maruaile of Iupiter that had them so deceiued Calisto cried her mercie right humbly and many times offered her selfe to the correction of the maidens This notwithstanding albeit that she was held excused they receiued her not to mercie She was condemned to go out of the cloyster and so much went the matter for t of that the poore religious woman departed from thence all bewept and so ashamed that she would not go to no towne citie nor house but in a déepe caue that she had seene afore time in the wood And first she made her prouision of hearbs and rootes for as much as the winter was comming After she entred into the caue and there she held her so lōg time as the beare holdeth him in his den wherefore the Arcadiens fayned that she was turned into a beare And it is not to be forgottē that during this time she was deliuered of a sonne which she named Archas. This child was great and huge of members Calisto nourished him among the wilde beastes with rootes fruites and hearbes and of the proper meates and prayes that the cruel and terrible beasts liued with and there was no beaste that did him any harme nor none was so hardie to do him any gréeuance And he was so cruel and fierces that at the age of seuen yeare as his mother angred or troubled him on a day he lifted vp himselfe against her and would haue slaine her In so much that Calisto was constrained to flée before him by the bushes and to issue out of the wood and go to Iupiter which at that time was in the citie of Pelage Are has pursued Calisto his mother vntill he came within the citie and so forth entred after her into the Pallace and held in his hands two great round stones When Calisto entred into the pallace by aduenture she encountred and mette with Iupiter whom she knew and she knéeled downe on the earth before him and required him with afrayed spirite that he would do her iustice of her sonne that would flea her Iupiter that nothing knewe Calisto for asmuch as she was euil clothed and halfe wilde and sauage behelde the chylde and made him be taken and after he demaunded Calisto what she was Sir said she I am ' Calisto that for thy sinne was long since banished out of my religion I haue had this childe of thy séede such as thou seest this is thy sonne I haue nourished him seuen yeares in the forrest among wilde beasts He now would slea me for asmuch as I haue angred him I pray shée saue my life When Iupiter heard these wordes of Calisto he was right glad and ioyous for it was sayd that she was dead and he comforted her the best wise he could After that he called Archas and made the peace betwéene him and his mother and did cause him to be clothed and reteyned him in his palace And thēceforth the same Archas gouerned him so wel and so wisely that at the prayer and request of the Pelagiens Archas was made king of the countrey CHAP. IX ¶ How Titan assayled by warre his brother Saturne for as much as he had not put to death all his Children males c. IN this time that the young Archas was crowned king of Pelage and that he named the Cytie Archadia after his name the king Saturne was so great and so puissaunt that for to ample and increase the splendor of his natiuity he named himselfe Saturne sonne of heauen and of earth But then as he began to study how and by what maner hée might exalt the splendour of his felicitie by diuine misteries fortune turned her backe to him warde And as there is nothing in earth that may abide and endure so it happend that Tytan was all acertained that the quene Cibell had diuerse men children that she did cause to be kepte secretly and so had saued their liues Boccace that recounteth this history in the fourth booke of the genealogie of the goddes sayth not by what meane Titan knewe this thing alwaye eyther by suspection or by enuy that he had of the glorye of Saturne his Brother or by secret aduertisement Vnder this colour he determined in his courage that he woulde assayle Saturne by armes and for this cause he did assemble on a daye al his sonnes and them required that they would ayde and helpe him to get the land of Crete saying that hée woulde make warre against Saturne his Brother and that by right and iuste tytle he had good cause for he had not put to death dyuerse men children that his wife Cibell had conceyued of his séede like as
he had promised and sworne The children of Titan the one was Lycaon that at this time was no loÌ„ger wolf nor king of Arcadia another had to name Tiphon and was king of Sycilie and of Cipres the thyrd was called Briarius and was king of Nericos the fourth was named Ceon and was king of the I le of Cea the fifth was named Egeon king of the Sea Egee and of the I le desart and the sixt was named Eperion king of Plipheros When they had heard the will of their father that had purueyed them all these Realmes that hee had conquered after his departing out of Crete they desiring to please him and coueting the recoueraunce of their auncient heritages that were then of great renowme sayde to him as by one voyce that they were readie to accomplish his good pleasure and to go into Crete with armed hande and sware that they should constraine Saturne to séeke and fetch his sonnes and persecute them with his hand vnto death The olde Titan had in his heart great ioy when he behelde the frée and great courages of his sonnes And there they promised and sware togither that they all should imploy them to the recoueraunce of their heritages After which communication they ordayned in such wise that they gathered them togither at the port of Sicill and sent vnto their Lordships to assemble men of Armes and of warre They went and made such diligence and so exployted that there were assembled great armour and harnesse and much people at the sayd port And when the day was come they so desired to labour this matter that they departed from Sicill with a great host and tooke the Sea and so made their iourneys with good spéede that in fewe dayes they sayled vnto Crete at the port arriued and tooke land And then entring fiercely into the land they destroyed and wasted all afore them so cruelly and continued in their warre so mortally that they came vnto the Citie of Crete where King Saturne dwelled and was resident and then Saturne was aduertised of their comming and discent And Titan that might no further passe without battaile or assault sent to Saturne a letter whereof the tenour followeth O Saturne glutted with worldly he â—our and couetous of glorie for as much as thou art occupter of the seignorie that by right belongeth to me Titan thy Lord and elder brother furthermore because thou art falsâ—ie periured for thy wife hath diuerse men children that thou hast not put to death in like wise as thou wert bound knowe that I am come to take possession of thy kingdome not appertaining to thee but to me Wherefore come to mercie and méeke thy selfe to grace Or else make thée sure of thy person for if it be possible for me I will come and haue reason of thée When Saturne had read this letter as a man all amazed sent for his wife Cibell and tooke her apart and adiured and charged her to say the truth and tell him what shee had done with his children With this charge the poore Ladie chaunged colour and séeing that she was constrayned to say the truth shée saide Sir thou knowest that I am a woman the heart of a woman naturally doth workes of pitie Had not I béene in nature an abhominable monster if I should haue deuoured with my hande the children of my wombe where is that mother that will murther her children Certes my hand was neuer man-slear nor neuer shall be I haue erred against thy commaundement in the fauour of nature and since it must néedes be so I had leuer to bee murthered then a murtherer and to be named pitious then cruell for murther is crueltie appertaining to vnreasonable beastes and to tyrants and pitie is naturally appertaining to a woman And therefore I confesse to haue borne thrée sonnes conceyued of thy séede which I haue caused to bee nourished secretly but demaund me no further for where they bée they shall liue as long as it pleaseth fortune will Titan or not and there is no death whereof any woman may bée tormented with that shall make the places to bée discouered where they be Saturne hearing these wordes of his wife was so astonished that hée wist not what to aunswere Notwithstanding for the better he assembled all the wise men of his Citie and to them said My brethren and friends what is best to be done Titan my brother hath begunne warre in this Realme my wife hath confessed that shee hath receiued of mee three Sonnes which shee hath nourished in a straunge lande vnder the colour that I shoulde not flea them Titan assayleth mee What shall wee do Syr aunswered the wise men where force is enhaunced by ouer great presumption there must bee policie to conduct wiselie and to put the hande to withstande it Thou hast a strong Citie and fulfilled with great people thou art wise for to gouerne them put thy selfe in armes and take no regarde to the quarell of Titan. A man is not woorthie to bee a King but if it be in his vertue and gentle manners Crete was neuer Realme but nowe Titan hath béene all his lyfe inclined to vyces and is all wrapped in sinne in which purpose hee séeketh to come to thy Crowne If hee extoll himselfe thou must debase and put him downe This is the remedie helpe thy selfe and we shall helpe thee He that flyeth causeth his enemies to chase him Thus nowe it may not be eschewed but wee must withstande and assault our enemie and that couragiouslie For what a man may do this day let him not put it ouer till to morrow Arme thée then well and surely and assayle from thy Citie thine enemies If thou so do thou shewest thy courage to bée aduaunced greatly and not lightly to bée ouercome by any and so thou mayest abate somewhat their pride and presumption If thou behaue otherwise thy selfe and let them take their rest that shall bee matter and cause for to encourage them vpon which they will waxe proud hoping to come to their purpose which shall bee to thée more harming then auaylable For courage and hope oft tymes men say make men to attaine to become conquerours great and hie Notwithstanding thou art king thy will be accomplished and fulfilled Saturne aunswered and sayd Brethren and friends it were great shame to vs and our Citie if we suffered it to bée dissipate and destroyed It is of force that the warre be begunne and open and euerie man dispose him to saue his worship Titan assayleth mine honour and requireth my dishonour Since it must bée that of this matter the armes and warre bée iudges wee shall arme vs this houre and pursue the intertainment of the right good aduenture of Fortune that shall come to vs. And my heart telleth mee that as sodainlie as our enemies bee entered into this lande as sodainlie wee shall make them to go and issue out agayne With this answere all the wise and noble men of Crete tooke great
time the most renowmed king of the world In those daies when Saturne saw him quit of Titan and of his generations and that he saw his children mount from lowe places into reignes of high Chaires all his sorrowes vanished away and then beganne the clearenesse of his reigne to bee peaceable all doubtes all dreades all suspitions were put away Hée had of the goods of Fortune as much as hee woulde None was then so hardie that durst conspire against his dominion hée founde himselfe in peace generall And it is to bee supposed and gathered by the Reignes of his time that hee was in so great peace and tranquilitie that hee might haue finished and ended his dayes in the same if he himselfe had not sought to beginne warre for hee had Iupiter his sonne vnto his helpe at that time the most valiliant in armes that was in all the worlde And when Saturne sawe him thus in peace a long time it happened on a day when it came vnto his minde that his God Apollo had prognosticated that this Iupiter shoulde put him out of his Realme sodenly there began to engendre in him a mortall hate against Iupiter that had doone vnto him so manye good déedes And séeing that euerye man helde him in loue and was busie to please him he was the more incensed and gaue credence vnto his cursed prognostication and so he suffred himselfe to bee intangled with so great a follye that he coulde neuer drawe it out after and thus he returned vnto his auncient sorrowes and fantasies in such wise that he made them appeare outward c. When they of Crete sawe Saturne so troubled the most priuie of his secrete councell endeuoured to comfort him but it helped nought nor they coulde not gette from his mouthe the cause of such melancholye vnto the tyme that hée hadde determined in his hearte that he woulde persecute vnto the death his sonne Iupiter And then he did cause to assemble his Princes and his councellours and said to them I charge and adiure you all by the names of all our glorious goddes that ye saye to mée the trouth and aduise mée what thing shall or ought a king to do with a man that he doubteth by a diuine aunswere that hath béene sayde to him that this man shall put him out of his reygne and Kingdome When they of Crete hadde vnderstoode the charge and adiuration of the King they assembled themselues at a councell and there they ordeyned and appointed one that for all the other should haue charge to giue this aunswere Syr the councell knoweth that long since ye hadde an aunswer of your God conteyning that ye had engendred a sonne that should put you out of your reygne and that dame Cibell that time was deliuered of Iupiter the counsel prayeth you that ye will consider howe what time ye were depryued of your crowne and hadde lost it hée deliuered you and made you quit of all your enemies If the cause of your charge and adiuracion touch not this matter the councell is of opinion that if the king haue puissance and might ouer him that he doubteth and that he haue cause euident a king then ought to make him sure from that man and frée from daungers Certes sayd Saturne the aduice of the counsell is reasonable enough and for asmuch as I must declare to you and say to you what I meane I am the King that I speake of and the man that I doubte is Iupiter my sonne him I feare and dread much more then the death in so much that I maye not endure nor take rest for him For sléeping I dreame that he riseth against me and assayleth me in armes with a great multitude of Arcadiens and of Epyriens and resteth conqueror and victorious ouer me and waking I haue alwaye mine eares open for to hearken and espie if he be aboute to come on me with men of armes and thus I can haue no solace pleasure nor reast and am a man lost This considered I will that he be dead and I take the culp and sinne vpon me And I wil that ye know that I am your king and that ye to me owe obeysaunce and for that I commaund you vpon payne of death that there be not one man that is so hardy to withsaye any thing contrary to my will and that each of you be to morrow found readie in armes before this Pallace for to succour and serue me in this worke which is the greatest thing that euer shall come to me CHAP. XIIII ¶ How they of Crete when they had heard the commaundement of Saturne were sore troubled and greeued and how he gathered his forces against Iupiter his sonne WHen they of Crete had hearde the resolution of Saturne they were greatly abashed for they knewe well that Saturne tooke this matter greatly to his heart and that he was a terrible man to offend And so they knew that wrongfully he willed the death of his sonne Iupiter that had restored him to his Lordship by prowesse and valiance Many there were that went into an other kingdome because they would not be with the father against the sonne nor with the sonne against the Father But there was no man that durst be so hardy to replye against Saturne nor say that he did euill for they dreaded more his ire then to offend iustice What shall I say After the commaundement of Saturne each man withdrewe him vnto his house full of gréefe and bitter sorrowe in heart And there was not one man but he had his face charged with great gréefe and heauy annoyaunce c. The daye then drewe past and on the morne Saturne armed himselfe and sounded Trumpettes vnto armes They of Crete arose this morning and manye there were of them that knewe the intention of Saturne And also there were manye that maruayled of that that the King woulde do and could finde no reason wherefore he made this armie For all Crete was in peace and all the Tytanoys were disparkled and put vnto destruction for euer Among all other Cibell wist not what to thinke Séeing that Saturne sent not for Iupiter she demaunded him oftentimes whither hée woulde go and for what reason he tooke not Iupiter with him in his company Iupiter was at that time in Parthenie with his wife Iuno When Saturne hadde heard the demaunde of his wife Cibell all his bloud beganne to chaunge and he sayd to her that all in time shée shoulde knowe the place that hée woulde go to Cibell was wise and subtill when shée heard the aunswere of the King and sawe the facion of his countenance her heart gaue her that he had some euill will and she had suspicion that he woulde do harme to Iupiter Wherefore she went into her chamber righte pensife and at all aduenture shée sent hastelye into Partheny and signified to Iupiter that he shoulde departe hastely thēce that she imagined the Saturn his father would to him displeasure for he made
a right great assemblie of men of armes and there was no man that could tell the cause wherefore CHAP. XV. ¶ How King Saturne with all his great host came before the Citie of Arcadia against Iupiter his sonne IT is to be thought that Iupiter had his heart right displeasant when he had receyued these tydings from his mother Cibel and although that she warned him by supposing as she that wist not verilye the will of the king yet when he considered that he was not sent for vnto his armie he doubted him and departed thence and sayd to his wife Iuno that he would go vnto Arcadia concluding in himselfe that by this meane he should sée the behauiour of his father and to what place he imployed his armie But he was not farre on his waye when he rested vpon a mountayne and looked behinde him that he sawe the Cittie of Partheny that anon was euyroned and full of the men of armes of king Saturne that gaue to him a great proofe of the aduertisement of his mother And for to sée what waye he bent his course he taryed still on the mountayne hauing his eyes alwayes vnto the Cittie And anon he sawe his father Saturne mounte into his Chayre and all his armye issue out at the same gate where he came from and tooke the same waye that he had taken And that gaue him verilye to vnderstand and knowe that his father sought him And so he departed from this mountaine and went to Arcadia and told vnto his sonne and to the Arcadiens the cause wherefore he was come and prayed them that they would furnish him with good armours to the ende he might defend their Citie if néede were c. The Arcadiens at the request of Iupiter made ready their armes and their citie and sent out espies vpon the way And anon after they were come from the Pallaice the espies affirmed to Iupiter and Archas that they had séene the champaine countrey and the wayes of Arcadia all full of men of armes Anon there was proclaimed in the Citie in the name of theyr soueraigne Lord Iupiter that euerie man should make good watch and kéepe his ward With this crye the Arcadiens armed them with helmets and armes of leather and went vpon the the walles and towers hauing in theyr handes Axes Swordes Guyfarmes Glayues and Maces And they had not long taried there when they sawe come from farre two men of Crete which came to the gate and asked of the porters if Iupiter were within The porter when he vnderstood what they asked answered them that Iupiter was in the Cittie and if they hadde to doo with him they should finde him in the Pallace where he passed the time with his sonne Archas and that hée was newly come vnto the towne to visit him When they of Crete heard this they were sore troubled for they sought him that they would not finde Notwithstanding they went in and passed foorth vp to the Pallace and there finding Iupiter with the nobles of Arcadia after the reuerence made one of them spake and sayde Syr we séeke thée and we haue no will to finde thée for wée come against our will to execute a commission by the which maye sooner come ruine trouble then peace to Crete and vs. Saturne thy father commaundeth thée that thou alone come speake with him he hath sought thée in all the places of Partheny His daughter Iuno thy wife not thinking euill hath ascertayned him that thou art come hither Hée is come after thée in armes and we knowe not what he thinketh to doo for was neuer so angry nor sorrowfull nor so fierce as he is now We be his seruauntes force hath constrayned vs in his obeysance and for this cause wil we thée to appeare in person before him this same houre all excusations set a part When Iupiter had considered and well pondered in his minde the adiournement or summons with his eyes full of teares hée made â—â—s aunswere and sayde thus I maruell of the right straunge demeanour of my father and peraduenture it is not without great cause His Realme is in peace I haue put and set him againe in his Realme he putteth himselfe in armes without my knowledge and nowe he sendeth for me that I shoulde alone come speake with him that is too straunge a thing vnto mee And hée behaueth himselfe not as hee ought to do for men ought to prayse them that haue deserued it and be of value I haue auayled him as much as his Realme is woorth and hee hath other tymes sent for mee to make warre I wote not nowe what euill will he hath or may haue to mee But here he is come with his armie where he hath nothing to do And being come he demaundeth nothing but me alonely All things considered and weighed I haue no reason for to obey his commaundement notwithstanding that hee is my Father forasmuch as the suspition is too much apparaunt But I am content if hee haue to do with mee to serue him and to come to him vppon condition that I shall bee accompanyed with all my friends that I can get and none otherwise The two Commissaryes with this worde returned vnto Saturne and tolde him the intention of Iupiter Saturne tooke right impaciently the aunswere of Iupiter and approached vnto Archadie and besieged it with great oathes making his auowe vnto his goddes that if hee may haue Iupiter hee with his handes would make sacrifice of him And then hee sent for his moste wise men and willed them that in fell menaces they should go summon the King Archas and the Archadiens to yéelde and deliuer him Iupiter declaring openlie and plainly that hee was more his enemie than his sonne The wise men departed from the Hoste at the commaundement of Saturne and did well theyr deuoier to summon the Archadians and sayde to the King and people of Archadie we bee come vnto you forasmuch as yee sustayne Iupiter whome the King Saturne holdeth for his enemy telling you if ye deliuer him vnto Saturne ye shall bee his friendes and if not hee doeth you to wit that ye doe kéepe you with good watch and warde for hee hath not in the worlde whom hee reputeth greater enemies than you c. By this commaundement knewe Iupiter that it was hée himselfe for whom Saturne made his armie The Archadiens assembled to councell without Iupiter and spake of this matter and made aunswere to the wise men of Crete howe they were bounden to serue Iupiter and howe they woulde kéepe him and liue and die with him agaynst all men aboue all other When the wise men had their aunswere they returned vnto Saturne and tolde him the aunswere of the Archadiens Anon hastilie sore chafed and enflaming with great yre hee commaunded that the Citie shoulde bée assayled Anon went to Armes they of Crete in such wise that they approched the walles and fortes And when the Archadiens sawe their enemies approch anon they sounded
do to him what he may And thus began the dolorous battaile of Saturne and Iupiter There was the father agaynst the sonne and the sonne agaynst the father There lost nature her fayre and commendable properties The father sought to spill the blood that hee had engendred and promised great giftes vnto them that might take him The battaile was rigorous and hard and then wrought and fought well Iupiter and Archas and aboue all the noble Iupiter imployed so hardilie his Swoorde tempered with stéele that hée smote downe Shéeldes and Helmes and cut off heades and armes and there was no man might resist his prowesse inuincible Hée made to tremble the most hardiest that were there hée made retyre and to go abacke them that had aduaunced themselues more then they had power and vertue to maintaine Hee brake the wings of the battaile and in their most strength he met and encountred manie times Saturne his father and it was well in his power and puyssaunce to gréeue him but though that Saturne layde on him and gaue him great strokes and grieuous horions yet he would neuer smile againe but sayde to him oft tymes Alas my father wherefore séekest thou the effusion of my blood I am thy sonne and thy seruaunt Thou hast no cause to persecute mée I will not lay my hand vppon thée but beware and put no affiance in the Archadiens for if they may haue and get thée in their power thou shalt find in them little pitie nor mercie c. Saturne notwithstanding these fayre wordes woulde neuer refrayne his yre but smote euer vpon Iupiter as fiercely as he mought Iupiter of all his strokes tooke no héede and set little thereby and albeit that he had occasion to fight and smite his father alway he turned his strokes and had no consciens to occupy his sharp sword vpon them of Crete yet somtimes he so laied on that euery stroke without fault was died with newe bloode And this he did meaning to shewe Saturne that he fought against him in vaine and that to him was nothing impossible All these things nothing dismaied Saturne The cry was great aboute Iupiter the armes were greatly exercysed the ground was all couered with the effusion of bloud and the deade bodies lay one vpon an other beheaded and smitten in péeces O right hard and sore battaile Saturne was so intangled in his obstinacie that the bloud of his men wetting his armes by the course of the large woūds that Iupiter made vnto them might not moderate his yre nor heate And his eyes were so blynde in his yre that he sawe not his right euydente dammage nor how he sought the proper meane by which he was put out of his Realme that he doubted and against which he intended to make resistance and eschewe it with his might CHAP. XVII ¶ How Iupiter vanquished in the battaile against Saturne his father and Saturne fled by the sea IN this battayle Iupiter saued oftentimes Saturne among the Swoordes of the Arcadiens and did good against euill many of them of Crete fought against heart knowing that Saturne had begoon and was cause of the warre and notwithstanding they put theyr hands to worke yet the faynte hartednes that they had among them was cause of the losse of a right great number of people They doubted Iupiter and had no power to withstande and fight so well as they woulde haue done if they had felt the quarrell good and by this maner was the batteldemeaned to the great preiudice of the Saturniens Iupiter submitted himselfe to his father and often times cried in his eare that hee should withdraw him or the battaile would be worse or be lost Hee withstoode his stroakes a great while waiting that hee would conforme and conuert himselfe from his euill opinion But then at last when Iupiter tooke héede and sawe that he would in no wise heare him he opened and displayed his valour and the great might of his armes and of his sword and made such affray vpon his aduersaries breaking their helmes and hewing their harnesse not in manner of a man hauing all day sustained the feare of great stroakes and conflicts of the Saturniens but in the manner of a Champion fresh and newe of whome the strokes redoubled Thus then it séemed vnto the Saturniens that in multiplying of the horions and stroakes the strength and puissance of Iupiter beganne to reuiue and grow His well dooing and valliance gaue vnto the Archadiens strength vppon strength and vnto his enemies great losse of bloud and also of life There was the ground bedewed with newe bloud There were dead bodies couered with new dead men There was the chaire of Saturne smitten into péeces Saturne helde a long while the battaile as long as his might would endure and in no wyse would flée But in conclusion whan his men sawe that the warre went with them alway from euill into worse they beganne to retire and turned the backe and fled and then Saturne turned and fled in likewise Then they were followed in the chase so sharpely and deadly that some were slaine in the way and some saued themselues nowe heere and nowe there And among all other Saturne was so nigh pursued by Archas and some of the Archadiens that he had no leisure to returne into Crete but was driuen by force till he came vnto a port of the sea that was thereby where he saued himselfe by meane of a shippe that hee there found and there hee went vnto the sea with some of them that fled so sore gréeued and pensife that hee might not speake c. Thus this battaile ended of the father and the sonne When Archas saw that Saturne was saued in the sea hée returned to Iupiter his father and assembled againe his people and tolde them these tydings and also he assembled his councell for to wete what Iupiter should do And they of the councell were all of the opinion that Iupiter should go into Crete and that they would make him king saying that the gods had shewed clearely that they would that he should succéede as king in the Realme which his father was fled from for as much as they had then no head To this counsaile accorded Iupiter and went to Crete by space of time where hee was receiued for king for the citizens durst not gainesay it for as much as they wist not where Saturne was become And although Cibell and Vesca made great sorrow for the misfortune of Saturne yet they turned their sorrow into gladnes at the coronation of Iupiter and sent for Iuno And then began Iupiter to reigne in distributing and departing vnto the Archadiens the treasures of his father whereof they had great ioy and gladnesse and for this cause say the Poets that Iupiter gelded and cast his genitoyre into the sea of whom was engendred Venus That is to say that he cast the treators of his father into the bellies of his men whereof engendred all voluptuousnesse which
speake with me It is a small matter for his seruant to speake a word with me The king my father shall neuer know it it is no neede that he know all that shall fall but first shew to him how it is charged you vppon death that no man speake with me And make him promise and sweare that he shall kéepe this matter secret The Damosels and the olde woman ioyous of the answere of the maide went downe from the tower to the gate and finding Iupiter busie to open abroad and vnbinde his iewels the old woman said vnto him Faire sonne the king Iupiter hath found more grace héere in this place anenst the maide Danaes then all the men in the world Neuerthelesse ye must know that vpon paine of death it is to you forbidddn and to other by vs And wee be also charged vppon the same paine by the King Arcrisius that wée shall let no man liuing speake with her The commandement of the king is so great and your request is not little Certes we dare not bring you vnto her al thing considered For if it were knowen without faile we should be all put into the fire And peraduenture if ye were found héere within by the king that cometh often times hither he would put you to death Wherfore we pray you excuse vs against your maister At hearing of this answere Iupiter founde not that hee sought and then hee helde him more néere in dispaire then he did in hope but he remembred that a begger shuld not go away for once warning said vnto the old woman to the beginning of her answere Dame ye do wel if ye feare and dread the king which is to me no meruaile Yet his commaundement is not so strait but that ye may enlarge it if ye will he hath commanded that none shal speake with her The king Iupiter requireth that his seruant may saye to her certaine things in secrete touching her honour ye shall do that pleaseth you but in truth if ye accorde him his request the accord shall not be preiudiciall to you in anye thing For the king Iupiter is no pratler and knoweth so much of the worlde that vnto you he hadde not sent me if he hadde not founde me secrete And thus if ye will doo to him anye pleasure ye haue none excusacion reasonable None knoweth heereof but you and I. If I speake vnto the mayde by your consent who shall accuse vs it shall not be ye for that the matter toucheth you And it shall not be I nor the King Iupiter for certainly we had leuer die in sorrowfull death and also abide in greeuous payne c. Faire sonne answered the old woman ye speake so swéetely that we may not nor can giue vnto you the refuse of your request We dare well affye and trust in you Alas dame answered Iupiter doubt you When I shall fault against you or any other I wish to be smitten with the thunder and tempest I would verily that ye had the prerogatiue to know my inward thoughtes to the end that in iudging of my mind yee might be assured of mee not to haue by my cause any inconuenience With these words Iupiter drew to his will the olde woman and all the Damosels as well by his subtil language as by his riches For to vse short processe the olde woman accorded to Iupiter that he shall haue the grace to speake with the mayde and brought him before her with all his presents Iupiter had then more ioy then I can write And when he was thus aboue in the towre of Dardane in beholding the ample beauty of Danae his ioy doubled and he knew her well by her beautie and made vnto her reuerence saying Right noble accomplished damosell the king Iupiter saluteth you by me and sendeth vnto the women of this house of such goddes as fortune hath giuen to him if it be your pleasure they shall receiue them and after I will saye vnto you certayn things secrete which the king Iupiter your seruaunt hath charged me to faye vnto you My fréende answered Danae sauing your honour the King Iupiter is not my seruaunt but I my selfe am beholden to him and am his seruant and thanke him of his bounty it séemeth as he had reygned golde in this place It is acceptable to me that the women of this tower haue your presents And it pleaseth me well also to heare your charge to the ende that King Iupiter should not say that I were vnkinde c. The matrons and the Damosels were present at this answer Iupiter deliuered vnto them his Iewels which they receyued with great galdnes After that Danae tooke the messenger by the hand and led him a parte vnto the beddes side where she made him to leane by her And then when Iupiter founde himselfe all alone with Danae he sayde vnto her right noble Damosell I no more call you Damosell but Lady For ye are my lady and my only mystres which haue maystred mine heart and also haue ouercome me vnder the sownd and bruit of your glorious reports name For to aduertise you verily I am Iupiter of whome now I haue spoken to you at the presentation of the iewels and it is truth that it is not long fithen when I was in my Realme for to heare reported the maner how your Father helde you shutte in this Tower with litle good that maye accorde vnto your honoure as well for to gette your thanke and grace as for pittie wherewith I was mooued I haue deliberated in my heart to employe my selfe vnto your deliueraunce and also for to gette your grace And for to execute this deliberation I haue taken parte of my tresours and haue come hither to present them vnto your Damosels and so departed and of newe am comen again in hope to haue your loue whereof I am wel content and thanke mercy and fortune Alas madame if I be so hardy as for to haue put my self in the aduēture of my life for to shew the great loue that I haue to you Excuse me if I haue enterprised a thing so hie that I ne me holde worthie to attaine but in the affiance of fortune and insomuch as shée will fauour in this partie Madame then in consideration of my wordes ye may sée my life or my death and yee onely may lightly make the iudgement If your humilitie condiscend in the knowledge of pitie that I haue had of you exposing my selfe into the daunger where I might bee sure I am nowe nigh the ieopardie which ye may saue and if not I yéelde me your prisoner Certes the shining resplendissour of your renowmed beautie whereof the méede passeth the renowme and the triumph of your incomparable excellency hath enraged mine heart and brought me hither into the prison of your will Alas Madame behold and sée with your eyes full of swéetnesse and of clemencie mee which sée not at this tyme but languish for fault of rest in continuall
trauaile in furies redoubled and in sighes vpon sighes which may not be puruaied of remedie but by your benignitie and amorous good will At the beginning of the first recommendation that was made of you in my presence and at the poynt that I enterprised to deliuer you out of this Tower I beheld my selfe right ioyfull and happie because of so hie an enterprise but séeing the perils that I finde my selfe in since I wote neuer what I may say of my selfe For by moneth vpon moneth wéeke vpon wéeke and day vpon day your name hath had domination on me And oft times hath constrained mée to be rauished and yet more in a traunce by desire to speake to you and to imagine howe I should come to the poynt where I nowe am and not onelie in this but also to finde mercie in you And I pray and require you right humbly that the amourous gift of mercie ye will to me accord and thus doing ye shall do mercie to your selfe and haue pitie of your yong daies which you haue consented to loose by the foolish fantasies of the king your father Ye know well that his life during he will not suffer you to be married to any man It is possible that your father shall liue as long as you for he is strong of members hard and boystrous Also ye ought conceyue if ye will beléeue me that your life hath no wealth nor pleasance Onely the pleasances come vnto the people by the sight and by beholding of diuerse things The women singularly haue their principall pleasures in their husbands and in their generation and lynages Ye may come here to but then ye must haue mercie on your selfe Is it not in your conceyte and knowledge that no man hath but his life in this world Forasmuch as ye obey and yéeld to the foolish commaundement of your father the King Acrisius ye shall be a woman lost being in this place it is not possible to take and haue patience This is too hard a thing vnto a yong heart to be put in prison without demerite I knowe the humaine affections and vnderstande that natually euerie creature loueth his profite before the profite of another This is agaynst your prosperitie and vtilitie from which ye be shut here within Howe may ye haue loue vnto him which is cause of two euils The lesse euill is to bee chosen since that you féele you condemned here vnto the ende of the dayes of your father Doubt ye not but his ende is oft desired to his death for your sake and his death may not bee effected without great charge of conscience Me thinketh that better it were for you in diuerse considerations to finde way to issue and go out of this place and to take to husband some noble puissant man that wold enterprise to carrie you away secretelie for to be his wife in his Countrey By this meane ye shall be deliuered from the paine that ye be in ye may eschew the death of your father and lesse euill yee should doo in breaking his foolish commaundement then to abyde in the poynt where hee hath put you Madame alas thinke ye here on for your honour and health as I haue sayde vnto you I am your seruaunt and if it please you to depart from this place ye shall finde no man readier then I am for to kéepe you and to saue you I giue my selfe vnto your noble commaundements for to furnish your will to my power as he that beareth alway the remembrance of you in the most déepest place of my mind in sléeping I sée you and waking I thinke on you I haue had neuer rest in my selfe nor neuer shall haue but if it please you My fortune my destinie my happe and vnhap come of you If yee take me vnto your mercie and that I finde grace with you I shall bée the most happiest of all happie And if ye do otherwise it may be sayde that among all vnhappie none shall go before me But if such fortune shall come to me by your rigour I will take it in patience for the noblenesse that I sée in you alway I require you that my heart be not depriued ne put from your heart for as much as it toucheth me nearely All the tongues of men can not say nor expresse the quantitie of the loue that I haue in you no more then they can pronounce by proper name all the starres of heauen By this loue I am alway in thoughts labours in sighs anguishes and often times in great feare and doubt At this houre I wot not whether I liue or not because me thinketh I am héere for to receiue absolution or a mortall sentence These things considered alas will not ye haue him in your grace that for to deserue your loue and mercy hath abandoned and aduentured his life as ye may sée leauing his royall estate the better to kéepe his cause secret Vnto an hart wel vnderstanding few words suffice For conclusion I pray you to giue your heart vnto him that hath giuen his heart vnto you and that ye prouide from henceforth for the ill case ye now be in after the common iudgement With this Iupiter held his peace and kept silence and lent his eares for to heare what should be the answere of Danae The right noble damosell when she had heard his talke which she had sore noted and whē she saw that he had giuen her space to speake she was resolued and changed colour and said to him Sir king alas know ye well what would be the renowme that would abide with me if I shuld and not onely in this but also to find mercy in you And I pray you right humbly that out of the amorous gift of mercy ye will to mée accord and in this doing ye shall do mercy to your self and have pity of your young daies which you have consented to lose by the foolish fantasies of the King your Father Ye know well that during his life he will not suffer you to be married to any man It is possible that your Father may live as long as you for he is strong and boysterous Also ye ought to conceive if ye will beléeve mée that your life hath no wealth nor pleasure Onely the pleasures come unto the people by the sight and by beholding of divers things The woman singularly have their principal pleasures in their Husbands and in their generation and linages Ye may come hitherto but then you must have mercy on your self Is it not in your conceit and knowledge that no man hath but his life in this world Forasmuch as ye obey the foolish commandment of your Father the King Achrisius yée shall be a woman lost being in this place it is not possible to have patience This is too hard a thing unto a young heart to bée put in prison without demerit I know the humane affections and understand that naturally every creature loveth his profit before the
that the King Troos made to him and he thanked him of so hie and ample offers and at the coming out of his shippe he b◠〈◊〉 him in his armes and kist his hande What shall I saye the King Troos brought him into his Pallace with all his men and feasted them as it appertayned for the loue of Saturne In likewise the people being aduertised of Saturne that it was he that found the maner of labouring of the earth of melting of metals and of sayling and rowing by Sea made so greate and plentifull feast at his comming that they coulde no more doo At that time during this feasting when Saturne felt him in the grace of the Troyans on a daye he called Troos and his two sonnes and addressed his words to them saying Lordes of Troye ye haue doone so much for me that I maye neuer deserue it but as I haue sayde to you my sonne is enhaunsed and lift vp aboue me and hath taken from me my Realme I intreate you as much as I may that ye will councell me what thing is most conuenient for me to doo And how I shall suffer and beare the iniury doon to me c. My brother aunswered the King Troos this is against nature for a sonne himselfe to rebell against his Father the sinne and crime is foule and worthy of reprehension for euery sonne is bounden by all lawes to serue worship dread and obey his Father And it is not reason that any man should approoue or hold with a sonne disobeysant Your sonne is in this condition cursed and right euill and I am of the opinion that ye shal not acquite you well vnlesse you do to your power to maister and ouercome his euill maners And to the end ye shall not excuse your euident harmes and losses when ye will I will deliuer you my sonne Ganimedes accompanied with twentie thousand Troyans that shall succour you vnto the death Or they shall sette you agayne in your royall tribunall Saturne was all recomforted when he knewe the loue that the King Troos shewed to him and after many thankes concluded that he would returne into Crete with Ganimedes and would begin againe the pitious warre of him and of his sonne And following this conclusion from thenceforth on he did cause 〈◊〉 â—â—â—â—int the shipping of Troye and all things apperteyning and gathered togither men of armes with great puissance by the introduction of Ganimedes And when all the assembly had mustred and were gathered togither he tooke leaue of the king Troos and of Ilion and went to the sea and shipped all his manie and knowing the situations of the countreys by the seas he directed his hoste into the Sea Egee where as was Egeus sonne of Titan the greate pyrate which durst not haue to doo with them in no wise and from this sea of Egee he trauailed so much by diuerse iourneys that he came and arriued at the first porte and hauen of Crete CHAP. XXIIII ¶ How Saturne by the ayde of Ganimedes and of the Troyans returned into Crete to fight against Iupiter where he was ouercome and vanquished and Ganimedes taken AT that houre when Saturne arriued in Crete the sunne was turned into the west and on the heauen begaÌ„ to appeare the stars Saturne knewe the port and tooke land hoping to enter the country secretly and went a little way and there lodged his people in a place coÌ„uenieÌ„t made theÌ„ rest eate and drinke by the space of foure houres and then hée awooke the host and made the Troians arme them and enter into the Realme But they were not farre gone but anon after the sunne rysing and approaching a straight passage the espies and scowrers came vnto Saturne and Ganimedes hastily and tolde them that they had séene the King Iupiter right strongly accompanied which kept the passage Vpon this place it is to wit that when Iupiter was departed from Danae and from the Tower of Dardan and was come into Crete desiring to accomplish his promise to Danae hee did cause to assemble his men of warre concluding in himselfe that faithfully he would go fetch the fayre Danae and bring her into his Countrey by force of armes What shall I say more His armie was all readie and came the same night where on the morrow he hoped to haue departed but as hée was in his bed that night in his Citie of Parthenie tidings came to him of the arryuing of the Troyans Wherefore he was constrained by force to change his purpose of which he was right sorie and maruailous passing heauie This notwithstanding suddenly as these tydings were freshly brought vnto him he arose and tooke his men of armes that he had assembled and hastily brought them vnto the straight whereof aboue is written and there abode his enemies as wise well aduised And it is not to be forgotten that in this armie among his men was the king of Molosse which had late found the industrie and craft to tame and breake horses for to be ridden and to ride them And there was come he and his men to serue the king Iupiter for his good renowme accompanied with an hundred men that ran as the winde And for this cause they were called Centaures and these Centaures were so terrible and cruell that they doubted not the puissance of King nor of none other whatsoeuer they were For then to returne to the matter alreadie begun when Saturne knewe that the passage was kept and that Iupiter was then aduertised of his coÌ„ming he caused his host to stay and sayde vnto them My children it behooueth that this morning ye so do in Crete your deuoir not onely in mustring and shewing your courages but aboue all that ye bee redoubted and dread like the thunder Assure year selues of your quarrell Iupiter mine enemie is heere where he abydeth our comming to the battaile ordained if we will come to the ende of our enterprise it is necessarie that we draw thither Let me heare what ye will say Then thus answered Ganimedes we be come into Crete for to correct your sonne and to set you againe in your throne We will do that we may do by our power and fight fréely without doubting or feare And vnto the ende that no reproch be layde vnto vs I will sende and summon your sonne first or any swoorde be drawne or stroke smitten to the ende that he yéelde him vnto your obeysaunce and that he come and amende his misdéedes And then Ganimedes did call forth his Troians by consent of Saturne and set them in order of battaile and when he had so done he sent one of his auncient knights a noble man vnto Iupiter and gaue him charge to make the summons such as is sayde before The Troyan departed from the host at the commaundement of Ganimedes and did so much that hee was presented before Iupiter and said to him Iupiter thou oughtest to know that euery sonne oweth obeysance vnto his father thou dost
to Argos and betooke Danae in kéeping to other women and commaunded them vpon paine of death that they should tell him if she were or happened to be deliuered of childe or no. Within a certaine tyme when Danae sawe her in this case shée began to fall into wéeping The king Acrisius from this day forth came euery day to knowe how she did She wept without ceasing shée spake not but vnto her heart and shée bewayled her loue and complayned on Fortune sorrowfully But when she had laboured long in these wéepings and that her faire eyes were made great and red about fiftéene dayes before the time of her childing the beganne to remember the cause why she was put into the Tower And that the gods had prognosticated that she should haue a sonne that should bée king of Argos In this remembrance she was comforted a little and when the time came that nine months was expired she brought forth a passing faire sonne which the Ladyes and women receiued and named him Perseus And after that signified it vnto the king But at the birth of this childe she excused and put out of blame all the damosels and saide that they were all innocents of her fact Anon then as the king Acrisius knew the veritie of his Daughter and that she had a faire sonne he had in his heart more of sorrow then of ioy and condemned her to death indéede and commanded two of his mariners that they should take the mother and her childe and put them in a little Boate them both alone and that they should carrie them farre into the high sea that after should neuer man sée them nor haue knowledge of them The mariners durst not refuse the commaundement of the King but by his commandement they went vnto the Tower Dardane and tooke Danae and her sonne Perseus and said vnto the damosell al that that they had charge to do praying her humbly that shee would pardon them And this was about midnight when Danae vnderstood that shee should bée cast into the sea and her sonne with her Yet she had hope to escape this perill by the meane of the fortune of her son This notwithstanding the teares ran downe from her eyes and wéeping tenderly she tooke her leaue of the ladies and damosels that had her in kéeping and they let her be caried vpon the sea making complaint pitious bewailings When the mariners had brought hir vpon the sea they left her in a litle boat put in her lap Perseus her faire son And as hastily as they might they conducted her into the déepe sea without meate or drinke and without sterne or gouernaile and gaue her ouer to all windes Then was there many a teare wept among the mariners and Danae and Perseus the young childe The marriners bewailed with great compassion that they had to sée such a Damosell abandoned to perill of death Danae wept in considering the rigour of her father and the fault that Iupiter had done to her and also for the perill which she might not resist and Perseus wept for the blowing of the winde and for the grosse ayre of the sea that his tendernesse might not well suffer to endure In this fashion the Matrones returned to Argos and the right discomforted Damosell Danae went forth vpon the waues of the sea at the agréement and will of the windes The waues were right fearefull and lifted themselues into the ayre as Mountaynes the windes blewe by great stormes the little Boate was borne and cast vpon the waues and oftentymes Danae looked and supposed to haue perished but shée had alway hope in Fortune And so well it happened that in this aduersitie and trouble shée was cast into the Sea of Apulia or Naples And there shée was found by aduenture of a Fisher that for pitie and charitie tooke her into his Shippe and her sonne and brought her on lande forasmuch as hee sawe it was great néede At this time the noble Danae was as a deade bodie and halfe gone when the marriner had brought her a land the tooke a ring of gold that she ware on her finger and gaue it vnto the good man praying him that he would bring her into some house where shee might warme and cherish her with her childe for he was nigh dead for colde and was all in a traunce The marriner tooke the Golde Ring and brought the Damosell and the little childe into his house and made them a good fire and brought them meate and drinke As soone as Perseus felt the ayre of the fyre his heart came to him againe and he began to laugh on his mother When shee sawe that all her sorrowes turned to nought and she tooke hope of good fortune She then made ready and arayed her son and her colour came againe she did eate and drinke What shall I say the fisher behelde her and then séeing in her so much beautie that the like to her he sawe neuer none he went vnto the court of the king of Naples and tolde him his aduenture praysing so certaynly her beautie that the King sent hastely for to fetch her This King was named Pilonus and was sonne to the auncient Iupiter And when Danae was come before him sodaynlye he waxed amorous of her and demaunded her name her countrey and the cause why she was aduentured on the sea At beginning she excused her selfe of al these things vnwilling to tell all and began to wéepe When the King sawe that he comforted her and said to her that he would take her to his wife for her beautie and spake so fayre to her and so graciously that she tolde him al her life how she was daughter of the king Acrisius and how she was shutte in the tower and how Iupiter had deceyued her and how her father hadde put her in the sea What shall I say more when the King Pilonus heard all these fortunes of the damosell he had pitie on her and wedded her with great honour and did put to nurse Perseus and gat on her a sonne which was named Danaus but of this matter I will cease and turne again to the history of Iupiter c. CHAP. XXIX ¶ How Iupiter returning from Troy by sea encountred the great theefe Egeon which he fought with and ouercame and of the tidings that hee had of Danae whereof hee was passing sorrowfull WHen Iupiter was departed from Troy as afore is said he made his mariners to saile and row with all diligence for to withdraw from the port and for to approch Crete for he knew well that the time of his promise made to Danae was expired and that displeased him greatly that he might not amēd it His mariners did all that they could do by the space of a day naturall but the day being past there rose a tempest in the sea so terrible and out of measure that it bare many ships with their furniture vnder water brake their sternes and helmes and drowned all the
one of the seruants of the place and he had not long taried after but Amphitrion and his esquire came knocking at the gate for it was then night When Ganimedes heard him knocke he came to the gate and opened it Amphitrion wéend that it had béen his porter so he saluted him and demaunded him where his wife was The valiant porter said to him that she slept and so brought him into her chamber and Iupiter so going charmed him that he had no desire to eate nor to drinke When he was come into the Chamber he awooke Alcumena that was all abashed when she sawe Amphitrion for she supposed for truth that shée had séene him a good while before and she groped about her in the bed and thought she had dreamed And when shée had groped in the bed and that she found no person there then she was more amazed then afore Notwithstanding she arose and came to Amphitrion saying to her self that she had supposed to haue séene him before notwithstanding shee made chéere to her husband saying to him that shée had all the night dreamed of his comming After they talked of many things Finally he went to bed with her and lay with her that same houre and then Alcumena conceyued yet a sonne of Amphitrion Iupiter and Ganimedes departed then from the Castell and there left all sléeping that were within the place that none awooke till it was in the morning and they had weend that they had slept but one night but they slept a day and two nights And this matter was handled so secretlie that neuer person could espie it By this meane the faire Alcumena conceiued two sonnes the one of Iupiter and the other of Amphitrion By space of tyme the fruits of her wombe beganne to appeare the tydings were borne all about and also into Crete and came to the eares of King Iupiter and Quéene Iuno The King Iupiter this hearing was passing ioyous and glad in the presence of Quéene Iuno Hée behelde Ganimedes and beganne to waxe redde and after shewed a right good countenaunce and gaue prayses to the goddes for the conception of Alcumena and spake much good of her so that the iealousie of thys olde Quéene renewed and refreshed and shée planted in her heart a right great enuâ—e and deadlie hatred agaynst Alcumena With the renewing of this enuie the Quéene Iuno concluded in her minde that was medled with the multipliance of ielosie that shée would slea and cause to die Alcumena by enchauntment of sorcerie For in that craft she was an experienced mistresse O olde cursed woman Shée held musing in her heart her cursed ielous thought and laide her eares to heare Iupiter speake of Alcumena without any thing replying againe But finally when she knew that the time of childing of Alcumena approched she departed from Crete secretly al alone and saide to Iupiter and did him to vnderstand that shée would go disguised on certaine secret pilgrimages and went forth vnto Arciancie where was a temple standing right nigh the castle and was made in remembrance of the goddesse Diana This olde quéene then entred into this Temple nothing for deuotion that was in her but for to espie if any person came from the castle for to inquire the state of Alcumena Shée was disfigured by her craft This craft vsed afterward Simon Magus in the time of Saint Peter and of the Emperour Nero. When she had béene there a little Galantis that gouerned Alcumena was there long in orisons and prayers before the representation of the goddesse At the end when she had done she arose from her contemplation and thought to haue returned But this old quéene came against her and saluted her and for to come vnto her purpose shée sayd vnto her faintly dame I am all abashed Wherefore answered Galantis For as much saide shee as I am not in certaine where I am Loue saide Galantis ye bee at the Castle of Arciancie for this Temple is of the appertenances of the Castle and standeth betwéene Thebes and Athens Dame sayde the olde Iuno I trow that this is the place that Amphitrion and Dame Alcumena dwell in Ye say truth sayde Galantis and howe fare they sayde Iuno Right well sayde Galantis my Lorde Amphitrion is in good health and my Ladye Alcumena is readie to bring foorth a childe shée expecteth nor waiteth for longer day nor tearme and therefore I may no longer tarie it is time that I returne to her To the gods I commit you Galantis with this word went to Alcumena which began to trauaile and féele the paine of childing and the false olde queen abode in the temple in intention to cause to die and slay Alcumena in such wise as she had purposed Then in stéede of saying of orisons she began to make certaine fiendly and diuelish works This done she laide her legges to crosse one ouer the other and sate in that wise and then the same moment and time that shée had so doone Alcumena by the strength of sorcerie began in the same wise her legges to crosse one ouer the other and sate in the same maner as the olde Iuno did In such wise as there was no man nor woman that might make her do otherwise The poore Alcumena felt then the most gréeuous and sharpe paines of the world for her fruit would come out and it might not in no wise for as much as her legges and thighs were so crosse one ouer the other she cried and complained pittiously and was in right gréeuous martirdome The midwiues coulde finde no remedie shée was thrée dayes holden in this point alway her legges crossed one ouer another During these thrée dayes Galantis and the ladies and women one after another came to the temple of Diana for to pray for the deliuerance of Alcumena and alway they found the old queen sit with her legges crossed and one ouer another But they found her neuer in one semblance and likenesse For at each time she transformed her into diuers likenesses and figures of beasts or of women to the ende that they should not perceiue her nor her craft Neuerthelesse she could not so transforme her selfe but that Galantis that oft came into the temple tooke héede of her which found alway there a beast or a woman sit in the maner that Alcumena sate in her chamber Alcumena had béene then thrée dayes in paine At the fourth day then Galantis waxed melancholie and angry at that shée sawe in the temple so shee assembled the women and said to them Certainly faire dames it must néedes be that the paine that my lady Alcumena suffereth commeth of some sorcerie and witchcraft for al the paine that she hath commeth of that that shee may not depart her legs and vnfolde them This is mine imagination and I am of aduice to puruey soone for it For I haue séene in the Temple at all times that I haue béene there more then thrée daies a woman or a beast with legges crossed or
to get honor and worship but their labor profited little vnto them in regard of getting the prise for Hercules cast and foyled all them that came and the wrastling dured foure houres continually At the last at the request of the Ladies the Iudges made the wrastling to cease for that day because that they sawe that Hercules was young and that hee had done a great worke c. When Hercules had vnderstoode that the Iudges had made cease the wrastling he was right sorrowfull for in his wrastling he had a singular pleasure The Iudges thē with Eusteus came to him made him do on his cloaths and aray him After they brought him into the common hal where as the Ladies were dauncing and singing ioyously and it was sayd to him that he must daunce and sing like as other did Hercules excused him much but his excuse might not auaile He was set on to daunce in hand with Megara a right faire Gentlewoman of yong age but she was right well furnished with wit and vnderstanding and shée was daughter of king Creon When Hercules saw him in the hand of one so noble a Gentlewoman hee was sore abashed and ashamed The Gentlewoman on the other side was also shamefast for as soone as she had séene Hercules wrastle shee had set all her loue on him And they wist none of them both what to say howbeit in stead of wordes they vsed priuie and couert countenances Hercules tooke a singular pleasure to behold and sée the Gentlewoman and the more néere the Gentlewoman was to Hercules the more she set her heart on him What shall I say loue in this night enforced and constrained them to loue each other without speaking and their beauty was cause therof Men shuld not haue found in all Grece two so faire children nor of better qualities They were inough beholden and looked on and in especially Hercules for his prowesse and euery man maruailed of him and of his behauiour By space of time then Hercules was brought from the feast into his tent His tent nor the tent of the kings and of the ladies were not made but of branches with leaues and herbes giuing good odour sauour It was not knowne how to make tentes of cloath nor of silke then Hercules passed this night more intending to thinke on the beautie of Megara then for to sléepe The day following at houre conuenient she came vnto the sport and there were many young men strong and actiue the strongest of all Grece but Herculus with one arme threw and cast them and that day and the day following he cast and flang to the earth mo then thrée hundred and there could not so many come to him but he cast them downe and put them to foyle without any chasing himselfe ne greeuing and at that time he gat a right great glorie and honour there Megara oftentimes behelde him and in likewise did the ladyes and gentlewomen and many there were that set their loue on him And thus he passed the exercise of wrestling to his worship all thrée dayes At the fourth day he assembled all them that were come thither for to run and he made them that were most féeble to ryde vpon the best coursers that were in Grece and after he shewed them the furlong or stade and made thē to take their waye and run and he ran after the horse and men but he passed all them that ran and without taking once his breath he ran the furlong and came thereto before al the ryders and runners wherefore he was greatly praysed and had a great laude And some say that he ran all as swiftlye as a hart Of this course that Hercules made all the world wondred and helde it for a merueilous thing and wrote it in bookes among other things worthy to be put in memory At the fifth and sixt dayes following Hercules tooke his bowe and his arowes and went into the place that was ordeyned for to shoote in with the bowe and the Ladyes and the gentlewomen were there Hercules and manye other shot at a most strait and neare the marke but shot by shot he excéeded al the nighest for he shot alway wtin a little ring of gold And as for shooting at a long marke he passed the furthest in the fielde foure and twentie strides his howe was so great that it was the load and burthen of a man No man could bend it but himselfe It was a pleasure to sée him for he gat great praise and fame the two dayes and yet gat he more the daye following which was the seuenth daye of the sports for when it came to the casting of the stone a farre one after an other then he cast it imploying his strength in such wise that he passed sixe pases further then anye man that at that time imployed himselfe in that exercise Then they that were come to this feast cried with a high voice the Esquire vnknowne is neither the sonne of Amphitrion nor the sonne of Iupiter but he is the sonne of the god of nature which hath garnished him with double force and redoubled it an hundred folde in his infancie he vanquished the serpentes and in hys youth he surmounteth in wyt force and valiance all the world Blessed be the wombe that conceiued hym and bare hym for to glorify Greece For certes the tyme shall come once that he shall be the glory of the Greekes and their tryumphe and wel shal helpe them if they haue néede Such were the wordes of the Kings of the Ladyes and of the Damosels of the nobles and of the valiant each man praysed him in his guise The fayre Megara heard gladlye the commendation and praysing that men gaue him but yet she sawe him more gladly doo his feates and valiances and it is no meruaile though she sawe him gladlye and gaue her to beholde him for in Hercules was that was not in other his beautie surmounted the measure and the great portion and quantitie of his force and strength What shall I laye After that each man that would cast the stone hadde doone he went into the common tente where manye an amorous man was with his Ladye and there he began to put himselfe forth a little and his speache with one and other well became him for he had a right high and a cleare vnderstanding Megara and Hercules in this euening oftentimes beheld each other secretly their countenaunces were fixed each on other often and then of force they chaunged colour In this chaunging of coloure there was not a veine in them but was mooued And by this moouing grew amorous desires in aboundance with déepe sighes which were nourished in the abismes and bottomes of their heartes Among al other things for to spéede the matter the kings and the auncient knightes assembled them in councell for asmuch as they had manye yong knightes that were come and had abidden from the beginning of the feast for to do feats of armes
his armes and after long wrastling he cast him to the earth in such wise that Philotes yéelded him seruaunte vnto Hercules and promysed him to serue him trulye all the residue of his lyfe and that he would beare his armes after him in all places where he should go Hercules receyued to mercy Philotes And then called Theseus and his companye who came and were right glad and ioyous of the victorye that he had obtained Then Hercules Philotes and all the other wente into the yle where they founde the daughters of Athlas greatlye discomforted for the death of the giant And for as much as Hercules hadde also conquered Philotes their kéeper Hercules and Philotes comforted the daughters the best wise they coulde and there the Greekes refreshed themselues the space of three dayes The fourth daye he tooke xxx rammes and xxx ewes and brought them into their ship after that they went to the sea without any harme doing in the I le for the loue of the gentle women they departed thence and went to the sea accompanyed with Philotes which was conquered by Hercules as is sayd and after loued Hercules well and truly serued him euer after But of theyr iourneys I will ceasse for this time and will speake of a monster of the sea that the goddes sent to Troy for to deuoure the faire Exione daughter to king Laomedon CHAP. XLI ¶ How Hercules fought at the Porte of Troy against a monster of the sea for the daughter of king Laomedon IN that time as Boccace rehearseth in his genealogie of goodes in the third chapter of the sixt booke Laomedon the King of Troy was busie to wall and fortifie his cittie with walles and towers to the end to make it more strong He was not well furnished with treasures nor with money For to accomplishe his desire he went vnto the temple of the gods of the sunne and of the sea that were passing rich and tooke all the money that he could find promising to pay it againe all at a certayne day and time set By the meane of this money he closed and fortified the citie of Troye with walles and towers The worke was costlye howbeit in litle time he finished it and it was not long after that the worke was finished but the day came in which Laomedon should paye and render vnto the temples of the gods the money that he had taken and borowed At which day the préestes of the temples came vnto Laomedon and demaunded him if he would tender the oblations and offrings that he had taken out of the temple Laomedon daigned not to speake to the préestes but sent them word shamefully that they should returne and kéepe their temples Wherefore he was afterward sore punished for in the same night after that he would not heare the priestes the great windes began to ryse and beate the one against the other and caused the sea to rise in such wise that it entred and went into the towne so far that it helde the stréetes full of water and drowned a great part of the towne Besides this in eight dayes following the sunne shone so ardently and gaue so great heate that the people durst not go into the ayre by day time and that dried the superfluity of the aboūdance of the water of the sea that was left whereof rose a corrupt and a mortal vapour that infected all the citie Whereof engendred so great a pestilence that the most parte of the Troyans were smitten to death by the great influence of the corrupt ayre By this pestilence they of Troy fell in great desolation the Cittizens men and women young and olde dyed without speaking sodainlye The father could not nor might not helpe his childe in necessitie nor the childe the father At this time reigned in Troy neither loue nor charitie for each man that might saue himselfe fled awaye for feare of this mortalitye and gaue ouer and left the Cittie and went to dwell in the fieldes and among all other the king Laomedon séeing the destruction of his realme went into the I le of Delphos vnto the temple of the god Apollo for to haue the councell of the god touching the health of his Cittie With Laomedon went the most noble and the most puissant men of Troye when they were come into the temple they put them in contemplation and deuotion before the idol and the diuell that was therein aunswered them and sayd The money which was taken out of the temples and not rendred and payde againe is cause of the maladie and vengeaunce of Troye And I doo all the Troians to wit that neuer shall Troye be quit of this maladye vnto the time that the sayd citie prouide to appease the gods in this wise that it is to wit that euerye moneth they must choose one of the virgins and maydens which must bée set on the sea side for to be deuoured by a monster that the gods shall sende thither and the sayde virgin shal be chosen by lot or aduenture And in this wise must the cittie do for to appease the goddes perpetually vntill the time that they finde one man that by his armes and by his might shall ouercome the said monster After these wordes and answeres Laomedon and the Troyans assembled to counsell vpon this matter and concluded that for the common weale and health of Troy they would put their virgins in that ieopardie and aduenture to the spoyling of the monster without any exception or reseruing Then they returned vnto Troy and tooke their virgins and cast lots among them and on her that the lot fell shée was taken and brought to the sea side and anon after was séene to come out of the déepes or swallow of the sea so great a tempest that the sea rose and was troubled The sea wrought and a right great floud of water lifted vp the monster by times out of the sea hee was as great as a whale or a hulk and then he tooke the virgin and swalowed her in and went away againe into the sea and from thence forth the pestilence ceased Thus was Troy deliuered from their sicknes and maladie by the oblation of their virgins that were offered vnto the monster from moneth to moneth and thus as is said their virgins were deliuered It hapned in the end of the moneth that the sorte or lot fell on one of the daughters of king Laomedon named Exiona this daughter was yong and faire and well beloued of all people When this lot was fallen on her shée was not onely bewailed and sorrowed of king Laomedon her father and of his son Pryamus and her sister Antigona and of her cofins and allyes but of al the people men women and children notwithstanding their wéepings nor the good renoume of her could not saue her shee was put to the disposing of the monster The noble virgin was ready to obey the king Laomedon and brought héereupon to the sea side accompanied with nobles ladies and
gentle women with a great traine of Troyans citizens and marchants all which made sorrow for her What shall I say at the instant that she was thus brought thither Hercules at aduenture arriued at the port of Troy with his muttons and hée willing to refresh him there made to cast his ancres out and going out and taking land he beheld on the one side and saw the Troians wéeping and bewailing Exiona in casting abroad their armes and wringing their hands that he had pitie to see it And he desiring to know what them ailed put himselfe into the prease and sawe there where they bound the faire Exiona in the rout attired with royall attire all discoloured and ful of teares as shée that expected nothing but the death Hercules mooued with compassion to the damosell adressed his language vnto king Laomedon for as much as it séemed that aboue all them that were in the place hee was a man of authoritie and demanded him wherefore that the damosel was there bound Laomedon cast his eies al be wept on him and was all abashed to sée his greatnesse and his beautie neuerthelesse he answered him what art thou that art so hardie to demand me of my misfortune which is to all common in Troy Sir said Hercules I am a stranger and I loue the worship and honour of Ladies and there is no thing that I might do for them but I would do it vnto my power and for as much as I sée this Gentlewoman thus intreated in the fauour of all Ladies I haue asked of you the cause and I will know it or put my selfe in aduenture for to die with her And therefore I demand yet again what trespasse or sinne hath shee done that these men thus binde her My sonne answered Laomedon I sée well that ye hée ignorant and know not the reasons and the cause wherefore my daughter is here abandoned there is no man but he may wel know it for she shall die for the safetie and health of Troy and I will tell you how we be come thereto The gods of the sea and of the sunne haue plagued and greeued Troy with a right great pestilence that tooke his beginning with a superaboundance of the sea whereby the stréetes of Troy were full in euerie place of water After this deluge and flood the time was maruailously and outragiously hote by the great heate of the sunne whereby this sea was dried vp Of this drinesse or drouth engendred a vapor infected and of this vapour insued a pestilence And for to resist this pestilence I haue béen at the oracle of the god Apollo where I haue had answer for to appease the gods and to cease the pestilence the goddes of the sunne and of the sea will that from moneth to moneth be taken in Troy one of the virgins by sorte or lottte for to be exposed and offred in this place vnto a monster of the sea The Troyans were content to fulfil the will of the goddes and I with them We haue cast our lottes vpon our virgins whereof many be swalowed and deuoured by the monster and now the sort or lotte is fallen on my daughter will she or not she must needes obey and appease the goodes After her shall come an other there is no remedy and this shal endure vpon the virgins of Troy perpetually for it is the desteny that Troye shall neuer be quite of this right hard seruitude and thraldom vntill the time that they haue found a man that alone shall vanquish and ouercome the foresaide monster by his puissance and prowesse which will be impossible for because that it is true that all the men of the greatest cittie of the world can not finde any way to vanquish him he is so great and dreadfull And these things considered demaund me no more my daughter shall dye for the common weale of the place of her natiuitie She was borne in a good houre when the goddes will that by lotte and this fortune she be to them offred Syr answered Hercules trulye I thinke vnder heauen is no citie so bond and thrall as yours is howbeit it ought to be vnderstoode that the goddes will not suffer that this malediction shal holde and endure continually Ye must liue in hope If fortune and the goddes will do me that grace that I might vanquishe and ouercome the monster and make Troye frée from this seruitude what reward would ye giue me Trulye sayde Laomedon I thinke not that it be possible that ye should vanquishe the monster Who is he that will expose him to so great a follye Hercules answered vnto a valiant hearte is nothing impossible If I tryumphe vpon the monster and saue thy daughter what reward shall I haue Laomedon answered If thou mayst do that thou sayest I haue two horses the best that be in all the world which I loue as well as halfe my realme I will giue them to thée as to the best knight of knightes and as to the most hardiest of hardye Sir sayde Hercules it is enough to me and it suffiseth mée to haue the two horses Let me alone with your daughter I haue a trust and hope that this daye I shall labour for the weale of Troy and that I shall fraunchise and make free the virgins and maidens of this citie But I pray you if there be in your citie any great barre of yron or of metal that ye wil send for to fetch it to me for to defend me with all The King Laomedon and the Troyans were all abashed when they sawe the enterprise that Hercules had made and at the wordes of Hercules the King remembred him of a great club of yron that laye at the entrie of his pallace of Ilion that was so heauie that the strongest man of Troye had enough to doo to lay it on his shoulder He sente for it and presented it to Hercules and Hercules lifted it vp as it had béene a little glayue Philotes and Theseus were present at all these things Hercules tooke leaue of them and at the prease and recommended him vnto theyr prayers and foorth with all the Sea began to rore terribly Laomedon and the Ladyes and they that were there tooke leaue of Exione and of Hercules and recommended them vnto the mercye of the goddes and went vpon the downes for to sée the ende Thus abode Exione alone and all dispayred vpon the grauell with Hercules who knéeled downe on his knées vpon the grauell turning his face vnto the East and made his prayers vnto the God that made the monsters and terrible beastes requyring him that he would giue him force strength and vertue of power for to deliuer Exione from her misfortune of the monster This oryson accomplished Hercules entred into a little boate that Exione was in and anon after the Sea roring more and more grewe and arose in such wise that the boate floted and was lifted vp and borne by diuers waues After this in great troubling of
hated him and beheld the Battel from far by very great routs When Hercules had then laboured so much that he found no man to fight with him he set down his Club and addressed him unto a great company of Aegyptians that stood there and assured them he would do nothing unto them and asked what people they were that had assailed him They answered him knéeling on their knees they were Man-slayers Hang-men and people of vicious and evil life that their King which he had first beaten down was the worst of them all and had purposed to put him to death as a stranger to make Sacrifice unto the Gods And they prayed him to Sacrifice their said King Hercules granting their petition accorded it unto the people and took this cursed Tyrant Busire and bore him upon his shoulders unto the Temple which the Aegyptians shewed him The false Tyrant cryed after help terribly but his cry availed him not The Aegyptians cryed unto Hercules sacrifice sacrifice him When Hercules came into the Temple he sacrificed him after he had shewed him his cursed and evil life And then when the fire was put unto the Sacrifice it began to rain and the great drought began to fail Whereof the Aegyptians were so joyful that none could expresse They did sing praises unto Hercules and brought him and Philotes unto the Palace and constituted Hercules King over them but he refused and ordained Iudges to govern them Then he returned unto Quéen Juno who had great sorrow and to King Creon who had great joy at the rehearsal of his good Fortune CHAP. III. ¶ How Hercules espoused Megara and how he was made knight in Thebes IN like wise as the young Vine by the labour and industry of the labourer groweth in height and his boughes spred abroade full of fruit so Hercules by vertue labouring vertuously grewe in verdure of well dooing and in fruite of noblenesse his workes his boughes his braunches then beganne to sproute abroad and to mount and spread from Realme to Realme The secrete conspiracies of Iuno and her cursed enuyes might not hurt nor minish the vertue of Hercules The more that shee thought to put downe and hurt him she more she was cause of his exaltation As hée was puissant and strong of bodie he was yet more strong of vertue for vertue was set in him as the precious stone is in golde and as the swéete smell as in the flower and as the ray of the Sunne beame is in the Sunne hée was beloued of Kings of Princes of Ladyes of Gentlewomen of Nobles and of base folke in especially Megara the daughter of King Creon loued him And verily shée was not deceyued for Hercules loued her also and was neuer hurt but he thought on her Yet they durst none of them speake to other of this matter they were ashamed to discouer that whereby they had hope to haue honour and worship They behelde each other and oft they bewayled and complained to themselues and desired the day that they might take each other in marriage And so much they wished after that day that at the last it came For on a morning tide as Hercules was gone vnto the wood for to take a wilde beast he remembred him of his Ladie and beganne to speake and say to himselfe softly Shall I be alway in paine Shall mine heart neuer be eased but alway languishing in loue I sée one and other in great ioy with their loues and ladies and I wote neuer how to come to the point of one onely that I haue chosen aboue all other and for to atchieue my purpose I wot not how to beginne I dare not speake to her nor I haue not assayed if shée would condiscende Shall I speake to her I wote not wel If I speake to her and she refuse me I shall fall in despaire I shall die for sorrow of melancholie and displeasure I shall neuer dare come after in any noble assembly a foote Alas what paine all considered a time must come that I speake to her If all her friendes were of one accord for to giue her to me in marriage and she were not content and pleased all were lost The most ieopardie is to haue her good will and grace for without her grace I may nought do Then it is of necessitie that I séeke and require if I may haue her good wil since it is so for if I sléepe thus and speake not I shall neuer atchieue nor come to my purpose Hercules resolute in his purpose surprised and enflamed with great desire of loue came from the wood and abandoned the wilde beast and gaue it ouer for to come vnto Megara thinking how and by what words he might come and shew vnto her that which lay on his heart He went then so farre that he came vnto the garden of the pallace where he was with many ladies and gentle women He made to them reuerence vntill he espied the time that he might speake to Megara and he waxed so pensife that it is maruaile hee entermitted nothing to conferre with the Ladies but therewith he drewe him apart into the garden When the Ladies beheld him so pensife diuers of them came to him and talked with him to put him from his thoughts and pensifenesse but they could not and at last Megara came to him As soone as Hercules sawe her come to him he beganne to sigh and came against her And she said to him Hercules why are ye so pensiue put away from you such melancholie tel me of your newes I pray you Ladie aunswered Hercules I thanke you of your good visitation and since it pleaseth you to heare of my tydings and to knowe them I will say to you a part First I tell you that the cause that I am brought and put in the abisme or swallowe of pensiuenesse and sighes that is this day come vnto me is by beholding of you for as I went to the wood to hunt the remembrance of your right noble beautie continually being in mine imagination came into me and made me enter into a secret perplexitie that is to wit whether I should alway liue vnguerdoned and vnrewarded of loue and also if I durst say so to you I haue set my heart and loue wholy on you Madame this perplexitie was great but in the end I concluded to come vnto you for to know the conclusion of my fortune whether it be death or life Being in this deliberation thinking how I might spéed with you and staying in this point and doubtfulnesse your comming hath put me out of a right great thought and pensiuenesse for I wist not better howe to come to the poynt for to speake to you a part as I may now doo then for to apply the matter in time for I say to you for truth that since the tyme of my Olympiade I haue desyred you night and day and at that tyme I set my heart on your seruice resoluing to loue you for euer
he set his men in aray after hee went alone before vnto his enemies as he that doubted of nothing When Achelous saw him come he began to make a great sigh and cried vnto his people vpon him saying that it was he with the clubbe that had chased him out of Calcedonie and promised great giftes vnto them that best belaboured him with strokes But when his folke knew that it was Hercules they made curtesie ech to other for to go before and trembling as the leafe on the tree they durst not abide the weight of the clubbe but without smiting of any stroke turned their backs and fled vnto the castle Achelous séeing the behauior of his folke and the dread and feare that they had of Hercules wéened that he should haue died for sorrow so he went and entred againe with them into the castle And Hercules returned with his people laughing at the poore dealing of his enemies Hercules beganne then to thinke on Deianira and Achelous beganne to imagine how hee might annoy the Calcedonians hee had there one of his captaines that sayde vnto him Sir yee know well that your strength may not compare vnto the strength of your enemies we be tenne against one but that may nothing helpe vs for alonely the clubbe of the mighty giant that is with them is enough for to bury vs all and also for to destroy your realme Consider ye then since it is so that open puissance and plaine strength may not be vsed at this time it is expedient to imagine some subtiltie for to gréeue the Calcedonians and it is mine aduice that there shall be made a great flaming light in the sea such as I shall well deuise so as by that meanes they that haue besieged vs may be deceiued lightly This flaming light must be by night and it shall be great and forcible we will make it secretly assoone as our enemies shal see it they wil leape out of their tentes and will goe vnto the sea for to see the marueile peraduenture without any armes for they dreade nor feare vs not and then wee will set on them and shall finde them vnfurnished and vnpurueyed of their armes consequently it may ensue that of them all we shall make a notable riddance c. When Achelous heard this counsell it seemed to him good and hee would that it were put in effect in such wise as he had deuised The deuiser did make an hundred torches which were finished in fifteene dayes During these fifteene dayes Hercules assailed many times the castle where Achelous was in but he might neuer do any thing thereto for the fortresse stood vpon the sea and in a strong countrey and might not bee gotten by assault and Achelous might haue no succours from no part for betwéene this castle and Achaye was a great countrey When the fifteene dayes were passed and the torches were made on a night when it was peaceable from winde storme they that carried the torches issued out of the castle foure of them vnto the hauen where was left but one little boat which was on groūd and had not in long time afore bene put to the sea And if ye demand where the shippes were become that Achelous brought to this port I say to you that Hercules had caused to take them and sent them into the sea to the intent that Achelous should not escape him nor take away the shippes by night The Achayans then came to this litle boat lying on the ground and plied them that they brought it aflote on the Sea as secretly as they could and entred therein with all that to them was necessary And the king Achelous put himselfe in ambushment with a thousande of his men in a place nigh whereas him seemed that the Calcedonians woulde goe out for to see the light that should be made Then when they that were in the sea knewe that it was time to light their torches they set them a fire and put them round about the mast wherein were made as many holes as was torches And so as they had imagined they did Anon the knights that kept the watch of the host of Hercules sawe it and sore marueiling at this light awoke Hercules and his fellowes and shewed them the light Assoone as Hercules saw the brightnesse of the torches he would knowe what it was and then he approched the bancke of the sea and his company with him and had not béene long there when the king Achelous did cause to light an hundred torches that hee had prouided and after he issued out of his ambushment with his thousand men and ranne vpon Hercules and assailed him and all his men fiercely But when Hercules sawe them discouer themselues he set his people in order in the best maner he might by the light of the starres and receiued his enemies couragiously where began a right dolorous battaile for the one smote on the other very felonously and there were many wounded and dead The skirmish was great Achelous thought to skirmish but he was skirmished with himselfe vnto the effusion of his bloud for Hercules among all other smote him on the helme that he foundred and gaue him a wound on his head that the bloud gushed out and moreouer hee tooke him and deliuered him to twelue of his men to kéepe There were great cries and great aboundance of strokes of swordes Then were the torches quenched and put out by the force of the smiting of the Achayans which desired greatly to rescue their king and so they abandoned their liues in the heat But when their torches were quenched a litle and a litle they began to coole them and withdraw them for they sawe nothing at all When they were withdrawen Hercules assembled his folke and sayd to them that he would goe assay if he might take the castle in this trouble and that they shoulde followe him hardily and fiercely and anon after when he sawe his enemies returne vnto the castle he ranne after and stayed them and put himselfe in the thickest of them and smiting with his club on the right side and on the left side he made a right large place and way And by this way he lead his people vnto the gate of the castle where he entered with them that fled and there made so great a slaughter of his enemies that with litle resistance that same night he put to death twelue hundred and the other fled into the citie of Patrace from whence they were In this battell and in the battell that had béene in Calcedonie all the men of Achaye were slaine except about a foure hundred which saued themselues by flying for Achelous had taken all his men with him his countrey and his citie Patrace was all destroyed When Hercules had taken the castle afterward he went into the countrey and into the citie of Patrace and entering into all places without any resistance he set ouer this realme into the hande of king Oeneus and he
euen as well they will take them in the Citie as in the fieldes And if there be a robber or theefe in the countrey that will take them away I suppose I shall finde him and shall make Italy quite of him With these wordes Hercules sent his beastes into the pasture and there left them without any keepers The day passed ouer the night came In this night Cacus issued out of his caue and went into the countrey for to pill and rob if hee might finde any booty Thus as he that is vnhappy seeketh euill and in the end he is paid at once for his trespasses the vnhappy aduenture brought him into the medow where as pastured the oxen and kine of Hercules it was nigh the morning he had with him his three wiues Assoon as he saw the beasts by the light of the moone that shone cleere he knew them Anon he was all abashed and his bloud chaunged in his visage and not without cause for soon after his sorrows began to grow on him and came to the quicknesse of the heart that he could not speake His wiues seeing that he spake no worde and that hee beheld the beastes as all a wondred came to him and demaunded of him what hee â—iled Alas aunswered Cacus since it is so that yee must needes know I tell you for certaintie that all the sorrow of the worlde ariseth in my stomacke and enuironeth mine heart for I heere see the oxen of the triumph of mine ennemy Hercules and in beholding them I remember the losses that I haue had by him and the honours and worships that hee hath made mee for to loose and also the realmes that he hath taken away from me and the great misery that I am now in Hee must needes be hereby in some place Cursed be his comming for I wote not what to doe but in signe of vengeance I will slea his oxen and his kine When the three sisters had heard that Cacus so sorrowed they councelled him that hee shoulde not slea the beastes Saying that if he slewe them Hercules shoulde léese nothing for he shoulde eate them It were better saide his wife that ye take and leade away as many as ye may and bring them into our caue for if ye doe so Hercules shall haue losse and displeasure and ye shall haue pleasure and profite Cacus beleeued that his wife said to him yet hee looked in the medow al aboutes if any man had bin there to keepe them but hee found no man nor woman And then he came to the beasts and tooke eight of the best that he could chuse foure oxen and foure kine after hee bound them togither with a corde by the tailes and put the corde about his necke and drewe them so in that maner vnto his caue albeit that the beastes resisted strongly to go backward in that maner Cacus brought in this maner reculing and going backward al those beastes that hee stale to the end that no man should follow him by the traches of the feete of the beastes When he had put in his caue the beastes of Hercules as said is he shut the doore so well that a man should neuer haue knowne nor perceiued that there had been anie doore Then weening that he had been sure he laid him downe and slept Anon after the sunne rising and that it was day Hercules that desired much to heare tidings of his beastes arose vp and did so vse the matter that the king Euander brought him vnto the place whereas his oxen and kine were When they were come into the medow Hercules found that he lacked foure oxen and as many kine Whereat hee was sore troubled and for to knowe if the Gods had taken them or any théeues hadde stollen them he commaunded that they should séeke all about the medowe and sée if the traches or the printes of the féete of the beastes might be séene or found At this commandement one and other began to séek Some there were that looked toward the mount Auentin and founde the stepps and footing of the oxen but they thought by that footing that the beasts were descended from the mount for to come into the medowe When al they had sought long and saw that they found nothing they made their report vnto Hercules and saide to him that they coulde not perceiue on no side where these oxen were issued out and that on no side they coulde finde any signes nor tokens of beastes going out of the pasture But right now said one I haue found the steppes and feete of certaine oxen and kine that he descended from the mountaine into the medow When Hercules heard that from the mountaine were come oxeÌ„ into the medow he called Euander demanded him what people dwelles on the mountaine Euander said to him that thereon dwelled no man nor beast and that the mountaine was not inhabited Hercules woulde go to see the footing and went thither and hee thought well that thither might haue passed eight great beastes in that night for the traces of the feete were great and new Then hee woulde wete where they were become but hee found wel that the footing of the beasts took their end there as they pastured He was then right sore a maruelled forasmuch as there were no strange beastes and beganne to muse When he had a little paused he beheld the mount and said it must needes bee that the Gods haue rauished mine oxen or els that there is a théefe in this mountaine that is come and hath stollen them and hath led them away reculing backward But forasmuch as I haue lesse suspition of the Gods then of the theefe I will neuer depart from hence vntill the time that I haue searched this mountaine from one side to another for my heart iudgeth that the beastes be here c. With this conclusion Hercules did cause to take diuers calues that were there and made them to fast till noone During this while hee sent for his harneis and armes by Phylotes and armed and made him ready to fight Anon after midday as the calues beganne to crie and bleate for hunger he caused them then to be brought about the mountaine Thus as they passed by the place where the caue was and cried it happened that the kine that were in the caue heard them and answered crying so loud that the sound passed by the holes of the caue and came to the eares of the calues and also of Hercules and of other When Hercules heard the crie of his kine hee abode there his calues beganne to cry again but his kine cried no more for Cacus by the force of their cries was awaked and as he that alway doubted for to bee discouered rose vp and cut the throates of the kine The calues then naturally knowing their dammes cried very loud and bleated as they that desired the milke for to liue by Howbeit they coulde not so loud cry that their dammes aunswered them heereof maruelled much Hercules Then
he approched the mount and went vnto the place where him séemed that he hadde heard the kine and was there full three houres seeking if hee could finde any hole or caue or way to passe by But howbeit that hee passed many times by the entry of the caue hee could neuer perceiue it Some said that the noise and bleating that they had heard of the kine was come by illusion The other said that Hercules lost his labour and trauell and praied him to leaue to séeke any more for they thought them not recouerable In the end when Hercules had heard one other and saw that hee might not come to the end of his desire in a great anger he tooke in both armes a great tree that grewe there and shooke it three times with so great force that at the third time he ouerthrew it root and all in such wise that the roote that came out of the earth made a very great large hole so déepe that the bottome of the caue was séene plainly When Hercules sawe the great hole that the roote of the tree had made hee was right ioyfull and glad and said truely it is here that the great théefe dwelleth I must sée if he be heere and what marchantes inhabite in this place In saying these wordes Hercules bowed downe his head and beheld on the one side of the caue where hee saw Cacus Assoone as he saw the theefe he knew him anon whereof he was more ioyous than he was before and called to him Cacus I see thee thou hast before this time troubled the realmes of Hesperie with innumerable trespasses and great sins that thou didst commit openly and manifestly This was the cause of the destruction of thy seignory Now thou troublest the Italians with tyrannies secret and vnknowne I know thy life Thou maiest not denie it nor gainsay it It behooueth that thou die therefore and that I make the Italians franke and free from thine horrible and odious thefts O cursed man if thy crownes thy Diademes thy Scepters thy renowns thy royall men might not maintaine thee Why then and wherefore art thou wrapped here still in sinnes and amendest not for all thy punishment that thou hast suffered but yet still in the steed and place that thou shouldest dispose thee to that that appertaineth to a king and a prince thou hast been a theefe In steed to doe iustice thou hast been a murderer and a putter in of fire to burne villages and houses And where thou shouldest haue kept and saued womē thou hast defloured them and done them villany O caitife king without coniuring or pining of thee Certes I see well that thou art hee that the Italians know not and that thou hast persecuted thē Thy malice hath been great and thy subtiltie seeing that this day thou wert neuer bewraied and hast done great mischiefe But thy cunning is not so great nor hast not thou so hid thée but thou art right nigh peril for thou shalt yeeld to me againe my Oxen. And to conclude thou shalt put mee to death or thou shalt die by my hand and thou shalt not escape by running nor by thy subtile shiftes When Cacus vnderstood this sentence he was exceedingly afraid neuerthelesse he lifted vp his head and seeing that he was found by Hercules the onely man of the world that he most hated he said to him Alas Hercules a man all corrupted with couetousnesse what cursed fortune hath made thee to draw out the tree whereof the profound and déepe rootes hath couered the secret abode of king Cacus late reigning but nowe depriued from reigning and banished from all worldly prosperitie Suffiseth it not to thee that I may haue the vse of my natural forces to liue by when thou hast taken al away from me and that I am forced to liue of robbery and spoile whereof the blame and fault ought to redound vpon thee Why sufferest thou not me to liue and drawe forth the residue of my poore life among the stones among the rockes and among the wormes of the earth Consider nowe what thou hast done to this king and seeke him no more Thou hast hurte and greeued him enough Hercules answered Cacus In the déepest of thy depthes of wretchednesse and miseries thy demerites wil accuse thee and I am right sory and greeued to sée a king in so wofull and shamefull estate but seeing thou canst not beautifie thy dayes passed or present with one onely good deed what remedie thou hast dayly exercised tyranny as well in prosperitie as in aduersitie I wote well that thou art the newe persecuter of the Italians and that thy hand is all foule with their bloud I séeke thée not nor the Italians can say nothing of thee And for asmuch as they complaine not of thee hauing cause to their preiudice this tree hath spoken for them and by his rootes hee hath discouered thine ambush So behoueth it that thou choose whether thou wilt come and fight with me here in the aire at large or els that I come and assaile thée there within For if it be to me possible I will deliuer the world from thy tyrannies c. By this answere Cacus knew that there was no respite for his life Then he intended to saue him as he had done aforetime and made by his crafte so great a smoke and fume that it séemed to come out of the hole that the tree had made as it had ben a very pitte of hell And this fume was mingled with flames burning as it was maruaile For all this fume Hercules left not Cacus but leapt into the Caue in the middle of the flames and fume as he that was maister of the craft and was quickly purueied of remedies that thereto appertained and went in lustily and assailed Cacus in such wise as he felt no fume nor let and then hee gaue him so great a stroke vpon the helme with his clubbe that he made him to hit his head against the walles of the caue Cacus with the receiuing of this stroke let the fume disgorge out of his stomacke seeing that by that maner he could not escape and tooke his huge great axe that stood by him for to defend him with Hercules suffered him to take his axe Cacus smote vpon him for the caue was not large they fought long therein Vnto the reskewe of Cacus came the thrée sisters that made great sorrowe and did cast stones vppon Hercules in great aboundaunce and wept bitterly These three damsels loued very wel Cacus Hercules and Cacus fought more then a long houre without ceasing At the end of the houre they were both so sore chafed that they must needes rest them Then Cacus tooke in himselfe a great pride for he was strong of body and him séemed when he had rested that Hercules was not so strong as hee had been afore times that he might neuer vanquish him forasmuch as he had not ouercome at the beginning By this presumption hee
then anon rent off In bickering he receiued many a stroke and alway he defended himselfe without displaying of his power and of his strength as he that awaited for the tidings of the assault that was nigh The affray was great in the hall and in the citie on al partes the Calidoniens ranne to the pallace for to assaile Hercules King Pricus made him ready came with other vnto this fray Then was Hercules assailed fiercely but this assault was déere to the king for to his welcome Hercules came to the tabernacle that stoode vppon foure great barres of yron whereof hee tooke the one and beat downe the tabernacle After he lifted vp his arme with the bar and smote the king Pricus so vnmeasurably vpon the â—oâ— of his helmet that notwithstanding his strong harnesse and armours he all to beat him downe to the earth and smote him so sore broken and bruised that he fell downe dead betwéene his two porters At this time the crie arose great among the Calidonians Not alonely there but also in the citie for hee that kept the watch sounded to armes forasmuch as the Greeks assailed hastily the walles Calidony was then terribly troubled and the Calidonians wist not where to turne them whether to Hercules or to the assault All was full of heades armed aswell in the pallace as vppon the walles After this that Hercules had slaine the king Pricus he beganne to smite vppon his enemies and his strokes were great at ech stroke he slew two or three so as shortly he bare himselfe there a knightly that in little while hee couered all the pauement of the pallace with dead bodies of the Calidonians lying one vpon another without that any man might dammage his armor The Calidonians were of great courage and had great shame for that they might not ouercome Hercules that alone had done vpon them so great an exploit They assailed him with great courage and cast vpon him darts sharpe iauelines His armes and his shoulders bare all and he did so great things with his barre and gaue so great strokes that none of them might resist his strength The poore Calidonians came thither with great courage and desire for to reuenge the death of their king Hercules put so many to death that hee wist not where to set his foote but it must be vpon Calidonians Before the gate of the pallace was a pitifull noise of wéepings of cries that women and children made In the end when the Calidonians knew and perceiued the vertue the strength of Hercules and that they laboured in vaine they ceassed to assaile him and fled Then Hercules issued out of the pallace with his barre all couered with bloud Assoone as the Calidonians saw him they set vpon him passing furiously and assailed him anew they cast stones and darts vpon him they shotte arrowes on him aboundantly as they that were purueyed and awaited for his passage In this assault Hercules had much to suffer yet after receiuing moe strokes then canne be numbred he passed the watch that awaited to haue staine him and rested neuer till he came vnto the gate The Calidonians ranne then after him as men without dread of death and mightily swollen with pride and ire beganne on anew to smite vppon his shoulders and vpon his backe When Hercules saw that he turned his face vppon his euill willers and smote vppon them with his barre on the right side and on the left side so lustily that he died his barre with newe bloud and maugre his enemies he beat them downe and all to bruised them before him He made them then to recule and go backe more then fourtie pases and after came to the gate And the Calidonians pursued him againe but ere they came vpon him he all to brake bruised and to frushed the lockes and the wickets and doores of the gate and the Greekes assailed him with all their power and beate downe the draw bridge After he called the assailants and they came vnto him and with little resistance they entred the citie which was at that time with great slaughter of the Calidonians that would not yéeld themselues nor put themselues to mercy vntill the time that they saw their stréets and houses full of dead bodies c. CHAP. XXVIII ¶ How Hercules was enamoured on Yo le the daughter of king Pricus and how he required her of loue and how she accorded vnto him BY this maner was king Pricus slaine and his city taken by Hercules After the slaughter when the Calidoniens had huÌ„bled themselues Hercules and Theseus went to the pallace they came thither so fitly that they found the daughters of king Pricus with their ladies and gentlewomeÌ„ séeking the king among the dead bodies There were so manie dead bodies that they could not finde nor know him that they sought Hercules at his comming beganne to behold one and other and especially among al other hee cast his eie vppon Yo le the daughter of the king forasmuch as she was excellently glistering in beautie that in all the world was none like vnto her When hee had a little beheld her by a secret commaundement of loue hee drewe him vnto her wéening for to haue comforted her Anon as the right desolate gentlewoman saw Hercules approching vnto her she trembled for dread and fled vnto her chamber the ladies and the gentlewomen followed her and among them so did Hercules What shall I say hee entered into the chamber where she was and sate downe by her She thought to haue risen for to haue gone out of the way but he held her by her clothes and said vnto her Lady ye may not flie my companie Yo le spake then and said O miserable tyraunt what séekest thou me nowe for to trouble mee more Thou hast slaine my father let that suffice thee Madame answered Hercules if the king Pricus be dead it is reason that he be not much bewailed nor wept for he thinking for to auenge the death of the tyraunt Cacus came not long since for to assaile me in Italy saying that I had vnrightfully and without cause slaine him In maintaining the contrary I fought with him vppon this quarrell the battaile was not ended nor put to vtterance at that time for he withdrew himselfe with his people and came into this citie and I haue pursued him hastily albeit I coulde not ouertake him When I saw that I laide my siege about this citie he would not come to fight the battaile during my siege wherefore I haue this day willed to haue an end Fortune hath béen on my side and hath put you in my power Certes it must néedes be that without remedie ye be my lady and my loue for in séeing your singular beauty loue hath constrained me to be yours Then I pray you as affectuously as I may or can that yee cease your sorrow and that ye receiue mee as your friend and loue The more ye weep
flesh Since the beginning of our aliance vnto this day I haue had all the dayes and nights such paines for you and borne and suffered them But alas all these things are but little in comparison of the paines that I now suffer and endure forasmuch as ye maintein strange women and a woman of all folly May she be called the mother of your childrē by whom the sparcles of foule renoume shall abide with you With this spot or vice is my paine redoubled and it pearceth my soule I am troubled with the dishonour of your ample highnesse The people say that ye are made as a woman and liue after the guise and maner of a woman and spin on the rocke where yee were woont to strangle lions with your hands ye◠leaue the exercise of armes and to be knowen in farre countreyes and realmes in shewing your vertue like as you were wont to do for the only company of the caitife Yo le that holdeth and abuseth you O cursed company and foule abuse Speake to me Hercules if the right high and mightie men that thou hast vanquished as Diomedes of Thrace Antheon of Libie Busire of Egypt Gerion of Spaine and Cacus the great thiefe saw thee thus holden to do nought for the beautie of a daughter that soone shall passe what would they say Certes they would not repute them woorthie to be vanquished of thee and would shewe and point at thee with their fingers as at a man shamed and made like a woman liuing in the lappe of a woman O how strong is Yo le when her handes that are not woorthie nor meet to threed a needle hath taken thy clubbe and brandished thy swoord wherewith thou hast put in feare all the earth Alas Hercules haue you not in remembrance that in your childhood lying in your cradle ye slew the two serpents You being a childe were a man and now when you haue beene a man are you become a woman or a childe This is the worke of a woman to holde himselfe alway with a woman or it is the deede of a childe for to enamour himselfe on a woman of follie The trueth must be sayd you began better then you end your last deedes aunswere not the first your labours shall neuer be aunswerable nor woorthie your praisings nor your lands For all the commendation praising is in the end Whosoeuer he be that beginneth a worke whereof the beginning is faire the end foule all is lost Surely Hercules when I beholde the glorious beginning that vertue made in you and see that you now be vitious all my strength faileth and mine armes fall downe as a woman in a trance or a swoune and without spirit and it may not séeme to me true that those armes that bare away by force the shéepe from the garden belonging to the daughters of Athlas may fall into so great a fault as for to embrace and beclip fleshly another wife then his owne This notwithstanding I am assured of a trueth that you hold not caitife Yo le as a caitife but as your owne wife not in prison but at her pleasure in chamber finely be decked and in bedde curteined and hanged not disguised and secretly as many holde their concubines but openly and with shamelesse face shewing herselfe right glorious to the people as that she may so do lawfully For she holdeth you prisoner and caitife and she hath put the fetters about your necke by her Italian iuglings shifts whereof I haue great shame in my selfe But as for the amendment I will discharge my minde I cannot better it but pray to the gods that they will puruey for remedie CHAP. XXXI ¶ How Deianira sent to Hercules a shirt enuenimed and howe Hercules burned himselfe in the fire of his sacrifice and how Deianira slewe herselfe when shee knew that Hercules was dead by the meanes of her ignorance c. WHen Hercules had read this letter he vnderstood well what it conteined and was smitten with remorse of conscience By this remorse he vnderstood that vertue was stained in him he was then very pensiue and so much depriued from all pleasure that none durst come to him in a great while and space saue onely they that brought to him meate and drinke Neither Yo le durst not go to him Licas that had brought this letter was there waiting and attending the answere long No man could know whereof procéeded the pensiuenesse of Hercules nor the cause why hee withdrew himselfe from the people In the end when Hercules had bene long pensiue and had thought vpon all his affaires and what he had to doe for to withdraw himselfe and to get himselfe from Yo le he departed from his chamber on a day saying that hee would go and make sacrifice to the god Apollo vpon the mount named Oeta and commanded and forbade vppon paine of death that no man should follow him except Phylotes By aduenture as he issued out of his pallace accompanied onely with Phylotes for to go vpon the mount he met Licas Licas made to him reuerence and demanded of him if it pleased him any thing to send to Deianira Hercules answered to Licas that he would go make his sacrifice to the god Apollo and that at his returne and comming againe he would go vnto her or els he would send vnto her With this word Hercules and Phylotes passed foorth and went on their pilgrimage And Licas returned vnto Deianira and tolde to her the ioyfull tidings that he had receiued of Hercules and also what life Hercules had lead since the day and the houre that he had presented to him her letter Deianira all comforted with these good tidings went into her chamber and thanked the gods and fortune Anon after she beganne to thinke on her estate and thus thinking she remembred her of the poison that Nessus had giuen her being at the point of death how she had kept it in one of her coffers and forthwith incontinently she opened the coffer and tooke the cursed poison and one of the shirts of Hercules and as shee that imagined by the vertue of the poison to draw againe to her the loue of Hercules like as Nessus had sayde vnto her shée made the shirt to be boiled with the poison and gaue the charge thereof to one of her women When the shirt was boiled enough the woman tooke the vessell and set it to coole After she tooke out the shirt openly and wrong it but she could not so soone haue wrung it but the fire sprang in hir handes so vehemently that as shee cast it vppon a pearch to drie shee fell downe dead In processe of time Deianira desiring to haue the shirt and seeing the woman that hadde charge thereof brought it not shée went into the chamber where the shirt had béen boiled and found the woma◠dead whereof she had great maruaile Neuerthelesse shee passed the death lightly and by one of her damsels shée made take the
well remembred of the great iniuries that yee and other haue done to him that for so little cause or occasion haue slaine his father destroied his citie and his people some dead and some in seruitude And yet that is worse to holde his sister foully as a concubin and yet at least he ought to haue wedded her And forasmuch as yée be a man of great witte and discretion the king my lord wisheth you and warneth you that from henceforth yee cease the rage and the great slaunders that may come for this cause that all good men ought to eschewe to their power that his sister be safely deliuered again to him and he will pardon the residue and wil hold it as a thing that neuer had happened c. When the king Peleus had heard Anthenor so speak hee chafed with him anon in great anger and ire and beganne to blame the king Priamus and said that his wit was light And after menaced Anthenor and commaunded him that he should go anon out of his land for if hee tarried long there hée woulde flea him with great tormentes Anthenor taried not long after but entered into his shippe without taking leaue of king Peleus and sailed so farre by the sea that he arriued at Salamine where the king Thelamon soiourned Then Anthenor went vnto him and declared to him the cause of his comming in this maner Sir said hee the king Priamus requesteth effectuously your noblenesse that his sister Exione whom ye holde in your seruice so foully ye would restore vnto him For it is not fitting nor seemly vnto your glorie nor renowne to vse so the daughter and sister of a king and that is issued of a more noble ligne then yée bée And in case that ye will restore to him his sister hee will hold all thinges as not done as well the damages as the dishonours that by you and other haue beene done vnto him When the king Thelamon hadde heard Anthenor so speake hee beganne to waxe passing angry and aunswered to him right fiersly saying My friend saide hee whatsoeuer thou bee I haue much maruaile of the simplenesse of thy king to whom I beare none amitie neyther he to mee And therefore I ought not to hearken vnto his praier nor request Thy king ought to knowe that I and other haue béen there for to reuenge an iniurie that his father Laomedon did late to some of our friendes And forasmuche as I then entered first into the citie of Troy with great trauaile effusion of my bloud Exione of whom thou speakest which is right faire was giuen vnto mée for the guerdon of my victorie for to do with her my will And forsomuch as shee is so well to my pleasure as shée that is of great beautie and replenished with all Sciences it is not to me so light a thing to render and deliuer againe a thing that is so faire and delightfull which I haue conquered with so great paine and daunger But thou shalt say to thy king that hée may neuer recouer her but by the point of the sword but as for me I repute thée for a foole that euer wouldest enterprise this message wherein lieth thy great perill for thou art come among people that vehemently hate thée and thy like therefore go thy way hastily out of this countrey For if thou abide any more here I will make thée die by cruell and hateful death c. When Anthenor heard Thelamon so speake hee entered right hastily into his ship and sailed so farre that hée arriued in Thessalie where the king Castor and the king Polux his brother soiourned Hée went a shore spéedily from his shippe and declared his message like as hée had done to the other And the king answered to him in great yre and said to him thus Friend what that thou art I will that thou knowe that wée thinke not to haue iniuried the king Priamus without cause for it is so that the king Laomedon his father then beganne the folly wherefore he was slaine For he wronged first certaine of the Nobles of Greece and therefore wee desire more the euill will of thy king Priamus then his good loue or peace And certes it séemeth well that he had not thée in anie good reckoning when hée sent thee hither to doe this message in this countrey wherefore I wishe thée see well that thou abide not here long for if thou go not incontinent thou shalt die villanously Then Anthenor departed without leaue and entered into his shippe and sailed till hee came to Pilon where the duke Nestor soiourned with a great company of noble men Anthenor went vnto him and saide that hee was messenger of the king Priamus and tolde and counted to him his message in such wise as hee hadde saide to the other before And if the other were angry this Nestor chafed in himselfe more against Anthenor and said to him Ha ha vile varlet who made thee so hardie for to say such thinges before me Certes if it were not that my noblenesse refraine me I woulde anon cause thy tongue to be plucked out of thy head and in despite of thy king I would by force of horse cause to draw thy members one from an other Go thy way hastily out of my sight or by my Gods I will cause to bee done all that I haue heere said c. Then Anthenor was all abashed at the horrible words of Duke Nestor and doubting the furie of his tyrannie returned vnto the Sea and sette him on his returne to Troy ward And hee hadde not been long on the Sea when a great tempest arose and the aire began to waxe darke and to raine and to thunder right maruellously and there rose great windes contrary and waxed thicke and horrible mistie and his shippe was borne on the waues one time high and another time lowe in great perill and there was not a man in the saide shippe but supposed to die and that made not speciall promises and vowes to their Gods and in these perilles were they three dayes and on the fourth day the tempest ceased and and the aire waxed all cléere and became peaceable Then they comforted themselues and sayled so farre that they came to the port of Troy and went straite to their Temples to giue then thankes to their Gods for that they hadde escaped so manie perilles as they hadde been in And after Anthenor went with a great companie of noble men before the king Priamus and when all the Barons were assembled and all the sonnes of the king present then Anthenor tolde all by order what hee had done in Gréece like as it is contained heretofore At these tidinges was king Priamus sore troubled and greeued for the opprobrious tauntes that they had offered to his messenger in Greece And then he had no more hope nor trust to recouer his sister CHAP. II. Howe the king Priamus assembled all his barons for to know whom hee might send into Greece for
and helde his peace and spake not of a great while and so did all the other Then arose vppe on his féete Troylus the yoongest sonne of king Priamus and beganne to speake in this manner O noble men and hardy how be ye abashed for the wordes of this coward priest here Is it not the custome of Priestes for to dread the battailes by pusillanimitie and for to loue good chéere and pleasures to fill their bellies with good wines and with good meats who is he that beléeueth that any man may know the things to come vnlesse the gods do shew it him by reuelation It is but follie for to tarie vpon this or to beléeue such things If Helenus be afrayd let him go into the Temple and sing the diuine Seruice and let the other take reuenge of their iniuries by strength and force of armes O right deare father and lord wherefore art thou so troubled for these wordes send thy shippes into Gréece and thy knights wise and hardie that may make requitall to the Gréekes for their iniuries that they haue done vnto vs. All they that heard Troylus thus speake allowed him saying that hee had very well spoken And thus they finished their parlement and went to dinner After dinner the king Priamus called Paris and Deiphebus and commaunded them expresly that they should goe into the parties of Pannonie hastily to fetch and assemble knightes wise and hardie for to take with them to Gréece And then that same day Paris and Deiphebus departed from the citie of Troy for to performe and accomplish the will of their father The day following the king assembled to counsel al the citizens of the citie of Troy and sayd vnto them after this maner O my louing friendes and true citizens ye all doe know notoriously howe the Gréeks by their pride and insolencie haue done to vs great wrongs and innumerable dammages as it is very well knowen in the al whole world And ye know also how they holde Exione my sister in seruitude wherefore I liue in great sorrow and also ye be remembred howe I sent Anthenor into Gréece that hath nothing done wherefore my sorrowe is doubled And forasmuch as by yron hee cured the woundes insanable I haue purposed to sende Paris my sonne with men of armes and puissance into Gréece for to inuade and assaile our enemies by strength and for to do them great damages and for to assay if they might take any noble ladie of Gréece and to send her into the city and that by the commutation of her I might get againe my sister Exione And forsomuch as I will not begin this thing but that it may come to your knowledge first I pray you that you say to mee your aduise for without you I will not procéed further therein forasmuch as it toucheth you all as well as me When the king had thus finished his spéeches and that ech man held himselfe silent a great while then stood vp a knight named Pantheus that was the sonne of Deuphrobe the Phylosopher and sayde O right noble king as I am your true seruant and vassaile I will declare to you my aduice in this matter also truely as a vassaile and subiect is bound to counsell his lord Ye haue had wel in knowledge Deuphrobe the great Phylosopher my father that liued whole and sounde more then nine score and tenne yeres and was so wise in Phylosophy that he knew the science of things to come hereafter he sayd vnto me many times and affirmed for trueth that if Paris your sonne went into Gréece for to take any noble ladie by violence that this noble citie should be destroyed and burnt vnto ashes by the Gréeks and that ye and all yours should be slaine cruelly And therfore right sage and wise king pleaseth if your noblenesse to heare my wordes and beléeue that the wise men haue sayd and be perswaded in that thing that ye may not loose by if ye leaue it whereof great sorrowes may ensue if ye perseuere in opinion Wherefore wil ye séeke to intrap the good estates of your rest and put your tranquillitie vnder the dangerous aduentures of fortune Leaue this and disswade your selfe if it please you from this folly and finish and end your life in rest happily and suffer not Paris to goe into Gréece in Armes And if ye will algase send ye another then Paris At these wordes of Pantheus grewe and arose great murmuring of the hearers Some reprooued the prophesies of Deuphrobe the Philosopher and some helde it for mockerie and a fable and they were of the greatest number insomuch that by the consent of the more part Paris was appointed for to go into Gréece with men of armes and the parliament finished each man went home into his house and to his place When this conclusion was known of Cassandra daughter of king Priamus she began to make so great sorrow as if she had been foolish or out of her right mind began to cry on high saying Ha ha right noble Citie of Troy what Faierie hath mooued thee to bee brought to such perils for which thou shalt in short times be beaten downe and thy high Towers be ouerthrown destroied vnto the ground Ha ha queene Hecuba for what sinne hast thou deserued the death of thy children which shal be cruell and horrible wherefore with holdest not thou Paris from going into Gréece which shal be cause of this euill aduenture And when she had so cried she went vnto her father the king and with weeping drowned in teares praied him that he woulde be perswaded for to leaue off his enterprise saying that she wist by her science the great euils and harmes that were comming by this meane But neither for the disswasions of Hector neither admonition nor warning of Cassandra the king woulde not change his purpose nor for Helenus his son nor Pantheus c. CHAP. III. ¶ Howe Paris and Deyphebus Eneas Anthenor and Polidamus were sent into Greece and howe they rauished Helene out of the temple of Venus with manie prisoners and richesse and brought them to Troy where Paris espoused the said Helene AT the entry of the moneth of May when the earth is attyred and adorned with diuers sloures Paris and Deiphebus returned from Panonie and brought with them thrée thousand knightes right hardy and wise Then they made readie two and twentie great shippes and charged and laide in them all that was conuenient for them Then the king Priamus called Eneas Anthenor and Polidamas that was the sonne of Anthenor and praied them and commaunded that they shoulde go into Greece with Paris and Deyphebus and they offered themselues to go with a good will And when they were all ready and assembled for to go into their shippes the king Priamus spake to them in this maner It needeth not to vse many wordes for yee knowe well enough for what cause I send you into Greece and howe well that I haue
and she was the fairest mayde that was in her time and the best formed Many mo were within the towne and without during the fiege but these were the principall greatest of name And therfore Dares declareth the fashion of them and rehearseth not of the other CHAP. V. ¶ How the kinges dukes earles and Barons of Greece assembled al with their nauie before the citie of Athens for to come to Troy and how many shippes each man brought vnto the helpe of the king Menelaus WHen it came vnto the end of February that the winter was passed the kings and princes of all the prouinces of Greece assembled them togither at the porte of Athens for to go to Troy It is not in the remembraunce of any man since the beginning of the worlde that so many shippes and knights were assembled as there were at that time For first Agamemnon that was chiefe and prince of all the hoste of the Greekes brought from his realme of Michmas an hundred shippes full of armed knightes The king Menelaus his brother brought from his realme of Sparta fortie shippes Archelaus and Prothenor from the realme of Boecie fiftie shippes The Duke Ascalapus and the Earle Helmius from the prouince of Orconemy thirtie shippes The king Epistrophus and the king Sedius from the realme of Focide thirtie shippes and in his companie were the Duke Theuter Duke Amphimacus the Earle Polixene and the Earle Thebus and many other noble men The auncient duke Nestor for his prouince of Pilon fiftie shippes The king Thoas of Tholy fiftie ships The king Doxunois fiftie shippes The king Thelamon Thyleus sixe and thirtie shippes Polibetes and Amphimacus from his prouince of Calidonie two and thirtie shippes The king Idumeus and the king Mereon of Crete foure score and two shippes The king Vlisses of Trace two and fiftie shippes The Duke Tynelus from his Citie of Friges twelue shippes Prothocathus and Prothesilaus the dukes of Philaca brought with them two and fiftie shippes Collesis brought foure twentie ships from the realms of Cresome and then brought king Machaon and the king Pollydris his sonne three and thirtie shippes Achilles brought from his noble Citie of Phaces two and twentie shippes The king Thephalus brought from Rhodes two and thirtie shippes Eruphilus from Orchomenie two and fiftie shippes The duke Anthipus and the duke Amphimacus of Rusticane thirteene shippes The king Polibetes of Rithe and the duke Lopins his brother in lawe that hadde wedded his sister threescore and two shippes The king Diomedes of Arges foure score and two shippes and hadde in his companie Thelamus and Eurialus the king Poliphebus nine shippes the king Fureus thirteene shippes the king Prothoylus of Chemenense two and fiftie shippes The king Carpenor of Carpadie two and fiftie shippes Theorius of Breisse foure and twentie shippes The summe of kinges and dukes that were come thither were sixtie and nine And there assembled at the Port of Athens twelue hundred and foure and twentie shippes without comprising the ships of duke Palamedes the sonne of king Naulus that came after on with his estate as shall be saide hereafter c. CHAP. VI. ¶ How the Greekes sent Achilles vnto Delphos to the God Apollo for to know the end of their warre and howe hee found Calchas sent from the Troyans that went with him to Athens WHen the king and the Princes were thus assembled at the Port of Athens the king Agamemnon that was chiefe of all the hoste and taught alway to conduct this hoste orderly assembled vnto the counsell on a plaine without the Citie all the noble men of their hoste And when they were all assembled about him in seates that he had made he said to them in this maner O yee noble men that by one will and minde bee heere assembled in this hoste with so great puissance yee knewe verie well that it is not in the remembraunce of any man that he sawe euer so many noble men assembled for to achieue any worke nor so manie young knightes and actiue in armes for to assail◠their enemies Is not he then out of his minde that presumeth to raise himselfe against vs and to begin warre verily I doubt not but one of an hundred that is in this companie is sufficient enough to bring this worke to an end for which we be all assembled It is well knowne to each of you the great iniuries and the great damages that the Troyans haue done to vs wherefore wee haue iust cause to take vengeance by force of armes to the end that from henceforth they nor any other enterprise neuer against vs in any maner for if we should suffer such iniuries by dissimulation they might yet greeue vs more then they haue done And it is not the custome of the noble men of Gréece to let passe such wrongs in dissimulation therfore it shuld be to vs great shame that be so many and that haue assembled so great strength to dissemble in this quarrell and yet that more is there is no nation in the worlde but that breadeth our puissance saue onelie these foolishe people of Troy that by euil counsell haue mooued them against vs and also haue enterprised war vpon vs as first the king Laomedon that iniuried some of our people for little occasion wherefore hee receiued death for his reward and his citie was destroied and his people slaine and soone brought in seruitude where they he yet Certes it is not so difficile and hard to vs that hée more puissant to take vengeance on the Troians as it was to foure Princes of lesse puissance that came to get the better of them Forsomuch then as the Troyans knowe verily that we be assembled for to go vppon them and that they be strongly furnished with men of arms against our comming and of all such thinges as behooueth them for to defend them with it seemeth me good if it please you that ere wee depart from this port heere wée send into the Isle of Delphos our speciall messengers for to haue answere of our God Apollo of this that wee wil doe and enterprise Then was there none but hee allowed and approoued the wordes of Agamemnon and chose incontinent Achilles and Patroclus for to go into this I le to heare the answere of Apollo and anon they departed and went and came soone thither for the saide Isle is as it were in the middest of the Iles of Ciclades where Locana Enfanta Apollo and Diana be And there was a rich temple in the which the God of the Paynims was worshipped and gaue aunswere to the people of such things as they demaunded of him This Ile was first called Delos that is as much to say in Greeke as manifestation forasmuch as in this I le the Paynims sawe first the sun and the moone after the deluge and therefore they supposed that they hadde been borne there of their mother for Apollo is the Sunne and Diana is the Moone in their languag◠Some
and I trow there is not left one at home of the men of Troy but that euery man is come to the battell and therefore if it please you now whiles that the Troyans be wearie to come to the battell ye shall get to you perpetuall memorie of worship and of glorie For by your prowesse you shal in little space haue all vanquished theÌ„ and they shall not dare to defend themselues against you they be so wearie Neuer would Achilles for the words of his varlet nor for the death of Ebes change his courage but dissembled all that he had seene heard for the great loue that he had to Polixene During these things the battell was right sharpe and endured vnto the night to the great damage of the Gréeks and the night parted them yet was not Deiphebus dead but hee drewe towardes his ende and when Paris and Troylus saw him in that sorrow they began to cry and make great sorrow And then Deyphebus opened a little his eies and demaunded of Paris with a féeble voice if he were dead that had slaine him And Paris saide to him yea Then Deyphebus did cause to drawe out the head of the speare with the truncheon and anon died Wherefore the Troyans made great sorrowe It is no néed to hold long talke of the sorrow that the king Priamus his father made nor his wife and his sister for it was too much and also for the death of the king Sarpedon Of the other partie the Greekes made great sorrow for the death of Palamedes and made his body to be buried worshipfully And as they that might not bee long without an head and gouernour by the counsell of the duke Nestor and of other Agamemnon was set againe in his dignitie as he was before The day following the Troyans early in the morning issued out of the citie in good order and the Greekes came against them Then began the battell mortall and there was great slaughter on both sides but it rained so much that day that the Greekes withdrew them to their Tentes and the Troyans followed after them but the raine was so great that they must needes leaue the battell and returne to their citie On the morrow betimes they began to fight and flew that day many barons of the Greekes and fought till the euen and so they fought the space of seuen daies continually where was great slaughter of the one and of the other And forasmuch as the Greekes might not suffer the stenche of the dead bodies they demaunded truce for two monethes which were graunted to them by king Priamus During this truce the king Agamemnon sent the duke Nestor Vlisses and Diomedes to speake to Achilles for to pray him and will him to come to the hoste for to defend theÌ„ against the Troyans that slew them maruellously When they were come vnto him he receiued them with great ioy And then Vlisses said vnto him Sir Achilles was it not by your agreement and also ours all this host to leaue our countrey and a ow yeare come running vpon king Priamus and haue destroyed him and his by force of armes do beat downe his â—itie From whence commeth this courage after so many hurts and damages as we haue receiued in this land by the Troyans that haue slaine so many kings and pâ—intes pilled and robbed our tents and burnt our shippes and we were now in hope to haue vanquished them alter that ye by your force and valour haue slaine Hector that was the true defender of the Troyans and also now that Deiphebus is dead the Troyans be there with put â—nder foot and after this day when ye haue gotten with great trauell to great worship and so good renowme will ye nowe loâ—se all at once and suffer your people to be slain â—uelly that ye haue so long defended with the effusion of your bloud Please it you from henceforth to enter â—oute kéepe your good renoume and defend your people that without you may not long defend them against your enemies to the ende that wee may come to the victorie by your prowesse by the which we hope to atteine and come to it Sir Vlisses sayde Achilles if wee be come into this land for these causes that ye haue declared wee may say that great folly was among vs that for the wife of one of vs that is to wit of sir Menelaus so many kings and so high princes bee put in perill of death Had it not béene much more wisedome for the noble Palamedes to haue abider in peace in his countrey then for to be slain here and other kings and princes in like maner Certes as the most great part of the world of noble menne be héere how assembled if they die here as many be already dead it must needes follow that the countreys shall be replenished and gouerned by villaines Hector that was so noble and so worthy is he not dead in like wise I may die shortly that am not so strong as he was And therfore in as much as ye require me to goe to battell so much paine and labour loose yee for I haue no more intention to put me any more in daunger and loue better to loose my renowme then my life for in the end there is no prowesse but it will be forgotten Nestor and Diomedes contended enough to drawe Achilles to their quarrels but they might neuer induce him to their purpose nor the wordes of Agamemnon neither And then he sayd to them that they shoulde make peace with the Troyans before that they were all slaine c. Then returned these thrée princes vnto Agamemnon and sayde to him all that they had found in Achilles and Agamemnon made it to bee knowen to the princes of the host whom he had assembled for this cause and demaunded of them their aduice Then stood vp Menelaus saying that it would be to vs now great shame to séeke peace with the Troyans since that Hector and Deiphebus bee dead and slaine and that by their death the Troyans repute them as vanquished and that without Achilles they shoulde well mainteine the warre against the Troyans To that answered Vlisses and Nestor and sayde that it was not maruell though Menelaus desired the warre for affection to recouer his wife and that Troy was not so disgarnished but that they had a newe Hector that was Troylus who was little lesse strong and woorthy then Hector And there was also another Deiphebus and that was Paris whom wee ought to doubt as much as the other and therefore they counselled the peace and to returne home againe to Gréece Then cried the false traitour Calcas which was traitour to the Troyans and sayd Ha noble men what thinke yee to doe against the commaundement of the gods haue not they promised to you the victory and will ye now leaue it Certes that should be great folly take againe courage to you fight ye against the Troyans more strongly then ye haue done
profit of another This is against your prosperity and utility from which ye be shut here within How may you have love unto him which is cause of two evils The lesse evil is to be chosen since that you féel your self condemned here unto the end of the daies of your Father doubt you not but his end is oft desired for your sake and his death may not be effected without great charge of conscience Mée thinketh that better it were for you to find way to issue out of this place and to take to husband some noble and puissant man that would enterprize to carry you away secretly for his wife into his Countrey By this means you shall be delivered from the pain that you be in you may eschew the death of your Father and lesse evil you shall do in breaking his foolish commandment then to abide in the point where he hath put you I have said unto you I am your servant and if it please you to depart from this plaâ—e you shâ—ll find no man readier then I am for to save you I give my self unto your noble commandments to nourish your will to my power as he that beareth alway in remembrance of you in the most déepest place of my mind in sléeping I sée you and waking I think on you I have had no rest in my self nor never shall have but if it please you My fortune my destiny comes of you If you take mée unto your mercy and that I find grace with you I shall be the most happiest of all happy And if ye do otherwise it may be said that among all unhappie none shall go before mée But if such Fortune shall come to mée by your rigour I will take it in patience for the noblenesse that I sée in you alway I require you that my heart bee not deprived nor put from your heart forasmuch as it toucheth mée nearly All the tongues of men cannot expresse the quantity of the love that I have in you no more then they can pronounce by proper name all the Stars of Heaven By this love I am alway in thoughts labours in sighs anguishes and oftentimes in great fear At this hour I know not whether I live or not because mée thinketh I am here to receive absolution or a mortal sentence These things considered alas will not yee have him in your grace that for to deserve your love and mercy hath abandoned and adventured his life as yee may sée leaving his Royal estate the better to kéep his cause secret Vnto an heart well understanding few words suffice For conclusion I pray you to give your heart to him that hath given his heart unto you and that ye consider from henceforth for the ill conceit yée now be in after the common judgement With this Jupiter held his peace and lent his ears for to hear what should be the answer of Danae The right noble Damosel When she saw that he had given her space to speak shée was resolved and changed colour and said to him Sir King â—las know ye well what would be the Renown that would abide with mée if I 〈◊〉 beléeve your counsel What would the people say Madam answered Jupiter the worst that they may say shall be that men will name you disobedient unto the foolish commandment of your Father which as all men knoweth holdeth you fondly in this Prison And if yee will thus help your self and convey your self away men would but laugh for your youth would excuse your doing and yee should bee reported to have done this déed by great wisdome Ah Sir said Danae ye go about to deceive mée by your fair words I know the speeches of the Argiens and also know that I am bound to obey my Father Furthermore I am not so ignorant but that I would well have some noble-man to my Husband so as mine honour were saved and also I confesse that I am greatly beholden to him that hath sent so liberally and so largely of his treasures and Iewels and in likewise unto you if it be truth that ye bée him that ye say that ye are But when I have considered and understood and séen visibly that the Argiens would defame mée to perpetuity and that my Father would send mée where mine honour should strongly be abased and put underfoot by your proper declaration I will in no wise deal hardly with you neither shall you have any disturbance for my cause But I pray you to think on the other side of mine honour and that ye suffer mée alone with my company and friends Dame answered Jupiter be ye in doubt of mée that I am not Jupiter King of Creet If I be any other all the Gods confound mée and the Thunder fall on mée the swallow of the Sea receive mée and that I be given to be meat unto the most venemous beasts of the world O Madam put no suspition in my doing as I have said to you I am come to you not in Royal estate but in simple array for to order my matters more secretly then accord ye this request Take yee day of advise and grant to morrow I may speak once to you and counsel you well this night The noble Maid Danae had then her blood so moved that she durst not behold Jupiter for shame smote her in the eyes This notwithstanding her heart commanded her to try what man he was and whether he had the state of a Noble-man or a King At last she took day of advise and accorded to him that she would speak again to him on the morrow After this she commanded the Tables to be covered by the Damosels and said that shée would feast the messenger of the King Jupiter The Damosels hearing that answered they were all much bound to feast him and shewed to her the riches that they had all along in the Chamber whereof the walls shone and were bright The Damosels arrayed with the Iewels of Jupiter garnished the Tables with meat Danae and Jupiter were set the one against the other the seruice was great and rich and they had enough to eat yet Jupiter nor Danae gave little force of eating Jupiter eat lesse bodily then spiritually he was in trances in doubts and fears He had an answer by which he could not gather any thing to his profit save onely that he hoped that Danae would discover it unto the Damosels as the young maidens bee of custome to discover the one to the other and as when any requireth them of love that they should shew favour to him the more for his gifts In this estate was King Jupiter for his part The Damosels beheld him enough and said that he had not the behaviour of a yeoman or servant but of a man of very noble and great estate and above all other Danae to whom Jupiter had given cause to be pensive cast her eyes upon Jupiter upon his countenance his gesture and beauty and then it séemed that he had said truth