out and we descried not farre off us an Island full of mountaines woods about the which the seas did not rage so boisterously for the storme was now reasonably well calm'd there wee thrust in and went on shoare and cast our selves upon the ground and so lay a long time It was requisite the tempest◠should continue thus long and hee saile altogether in the dark lest he should be asked the way to this strange Island as utterly tired with our miserie at sea in the end we arose up and divided our selves thirtie we left to guard our ship my selfe and twentie more went to discover the Island and had not gone above three furlongs from the sea thorough a wood but wee saw a brasen pillar erected where upon Greeke letters were engraven though now much worne and hard to be discerned importing Thus farre travelled Hercules and Bacchus there were also neare unto the place two portraitures cut out in a rock the one of the quantitie of an acre of ground the other lesse which made mee imagine the the lesser to be Bacchus and the other Hercules and giving them due adoration wee proceeded on our journey and farre wee had not gone but we came to a river the streame whereof seemed to runne with as rich wine as any is made in c An Island in the Aegaean sea famous for excellent wines Chios and of a great breadth in some places able to beare a ship which made mee to give the more credit to the inscription upon the pillar when I saw such apparant signes of Bacchus peregrination we then resolved to travel up the streame to finde whence the river had his originall and when we were come to the head no spring at all appeared but mightie great vine trees of infinite number which from their roots distilled pure wine which made the river run so abundantly See our Authors modesty for this carries more probabilitie by farre than that a spring of wine should rise out of the earth the streame was also well stored with fish of which we tooke a few in taste colour much resembling wine but as many as eate of thē fell drunke upon it for when they were opened cut up we found them to be full of lees afterwards mee mixed some fresh-water fish with them which allayed the strong taste of the wine We then crost the streame where we found it passable and came among a world of vines of incredible number which towards the earth had firme stocks and of a good growth but the tops of them were women from the hips upwards having all their proportion perfect and compleat Halfe a virgin halfe a tree as painters picture out Daphne who was turned into a tree when shee was overtaken by Apollo at their fingers ends sprung out branches full of grapes and the haire of their heads was nothing else but winding wires and leaves and clusters of grapes when we were come to them they saluted us and joyned hands with us and spake unto us some in the Lydian and some in the Indian language but most of them in Greeke they also kist us with their mouthes but hee that was so kist fell drunke Many men have thus lost themselves in the yeelding to the bewitching enticements of wine and women and was not his owne man a good while after they could not abide to have any fruit pulled from thē but would roare crie out pittifully if any man offered it some of them desired to have carnall mixture with us two of our company were so bold as to entertaine their offer and could never afterwards be loosed from them but were knit fast together at their nether parts from whence they grew together and tooke roote together and their fingers began to spring out with branches and crooked wiers as if they were ready to bring out fruit whereupon wee forsooke them and fled to our shippes and told the company at our comming what had betide unto us how our fellows were entangled and of their copulation with the vines then wee tooke certaine of our vessels and filled them some with water and some with wine out of the river and lodged for that night neare the shoare On the morrow wee put to sea againe the winde serving us weakely but about noone when wee had lost sight of the Island upon a suddaine a whirlewinde caught us which turned our shippe round about and lifted us up some three thousand furlongs into the aire and suffered us not to settle againe into the sea but wee hung above ground and were carried aloft with a mightie wind which filled our sailes strongly The Island of of the Moone Thus for seven daies space and so many nights were wee driven along in that manner and on the eight day What winde blew them thither wee came in view of a great countrie in the aire like to a shining Island of a round proportion gloriously glittering with light and approaching to it vve there arrived and tooke land and surveying the countrie we found it to be both inhabited and husbanded He closely taxes their opinion who hold the Sunne Moone and Starres to be inhabited countries and as long as the day lasted we could see nothing there but when night was come many other Islands appeared unto us some greater and some lesse all of the colour of fire and another kind of earth underneath in which were cities seas rivers woods and mountains which we conjectured to be the earth by us inhabited and going further into the land we were met withall taken by those kind of people which they call d A made word signifying hors-vultures or vulture-horses or vulture riders and so are the rest that follow names coined and composed for his purpose Hippogypians these Hippogypians are men riding upon monstrous vultures which they use instead of horses for the vultures there are exceeding great every one with 3 heads apiece you may imagine their greatnesse by this for every feather in their wings was bigger longer thā the mast of a tall ship their charge was to flie about the countrie all the strangers they found to bring thē to the King and their fortune was then to seize upon us and by them wee were presented to him As soone as he saw us he conjectured by our habit what country-men we were and said are not you strangers Grecians which when wee affirmed and how could you make way said hee thorow so much aire as to get hither then wee delivered the whole discourse of our fortunes to him whereupon hee began to tell us likewise of his owne adventures how that hee also was a man by name e Icaromen c. Endymion and rapt up long since from the earth as he was asleep and brought hither where he was made King of the Countrie and said it was that region which to us below seemed to bee the Moone but hee bad
tormented and comming at last to the prison and place of torment vvee wondered to see the nature and qualitie of the soile which brought forth no other flowers but swords and daggers and round about it ranne certaine rivers the first of dirt the second of blood and the innermost of burning fire which was very broad and unpassable floting like water and working like the waves of the sea full of sundrie fishes some as bigge as firebrands others of a lesse sise like coales of fire and these they call Lychniscies there was but one narrow entrance into it and Timon of Athens appointed to keepe the doore yet wee got in by the helpe of Nauplius and saw them that were tormented both Kings and private persons very many of which there were some that I Knew for there I saw Cynirus tyed by private members and hanging up in the smoake but the greatest torments of all are inflicted upon them that told any lies in their life-time and wrote untruly as d Two historians Ctesias the Cnidian Herodotus and many other which I beholding was put in great hopes that I should never have any thing to do there Witnesse this historie for I do not know that ever I spake any untruth in my life wee therefore returned speedily to our ship for we could indure the sight no longer and taking our leaves of Nauplius sent him backe againe A little after appeared the Isle of Dreames neare unto us The Island and Citie of Dreams described an obscure countrie and unperspicuous to the eie indued with the same qualitie as dreames themselves are for as wee drew it still gave backe and fled from us that it seemed to be farther off then at the first but in the end wee attained it and entred the haven called e 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sleepe Hypnus and adjoyned to the gate of Ivorie where the temple of f Or Alector Alectryon stands and tooke land somewhat late in the evening entring the gate wee saw many dreames of sundrie fashions See the Cocke but I will first tell you somewhat of the citie because no man else hath written any description of it Odyss lib. 9 v. 562. onely Homer hath toucht it a little but to small purpose it is round about environed with a wood the trees whereof are exceeding high g Hearbs procuring sleepe The names both of places and persons here are compounded of such words as signifie something belonging to dreames sleepe or to the night Poppies and Mandragoras in which an infinite number of owles doe nestle and no other birds to be seene in the Island neare unto it is a river running called by them Nyctiporus and at the gates are two wells the one named Negretus the other Pannychia the wall of the citie is high and of a changeable colour like unto the rainebow in vvhich are foure gates though Homer speake but of two for there are two vvhich looke toward the fields of flowth the one made of iron the other of potters clay through which those dreames have passage that represent fearefull bloodie and cruell matters the other two behold the haven and the sea of which the one is made of horne the other of Ivorie vvhich vvee vvent in at As vvee entred the citie on the right hand stands the temple of the Night vvhom with Alectryon they reverence above all the gods for hee hath also a Temple built for him neare unto the haven on the left hand stands the pallace of sleepe for hee is the soveraigne King over them all and hath deputed two great Princes to governe under him namely Taraxion the sonne of Matoegenes and Plutocles the sonne of Phantasion in the middest of the market-place is a well by them called Careotis and two temples adjoyning the one of falshood the other of truth which have either of them a private cell peculiar to the Priests and an oracle in which the chiefe prophet is Antipho the interpreter of dreames vvho was preferd by sleepe to that place of dignitie these dreames are not all alike either in nature or shape for some of them are long beautifull and pleasing others againe are as short and deformed some make shew to be of gold and others to be as base and beggarly some of them had wings and were of monstrous formes others set out in pompe as it were in a triumph representing the apparances of Kings Gods and other persons many of them were of our acquaintance for they had beene seene of us before which came unto us and saluted us as their old friends and tooke us and lull'd us asleep feasted us nobly and courteously promising beside all other entertainment which was sumptuous and costly to make us Kings and Princes some of them brought us home to our own countrie to shew us our friends there and come backe with us the next morrow thus wee spent thirtie daies and as many nights among them sleeping and feasting all the while untill a sudden clap of thunder awakned us all and we starting up provided our selves of victuals and tooke sea again and on the third day landed in Ogygia But upon the way I opened the letter I was to deliver and read the contents Homer Odyss which were these Vlysses to Calypso sendeth greeting this is to give you to undestand that after my departure from you in the vessell I made in hast for my selfe I suffered shipwracke hardly escaped by the helpe of Leucothea into the countrie of the Phoeacks who sent mee to mine owne home where I found many that were vvooers to my wife and riotously consumed my meanes but I slew them all and was afterwards kill'd my selfe by my son h Who being told by his mother whose son he was travell'd to Ithaca to see his father but being kept backe by the guard and not suffered to have admittance hee slew certain of them and at length Vlysses being drawne thither by the tumult Telegonus not knowing who he was ignorantly slew him Telegonus whom I begat of Circe am now in the Island of the blessed vvhere I daily repent my selfe for refusing to live with you and forsaking the imortalitie profered mee by you but if I can spie a convenient time I will give them all the slippe and come to you This was the effect of the letter with some addition concerning us that wee should have entertainment and farre had I not gone from the sea but I found such a cave as Homer speakes of and shee her selfe working busilie at her wooll when shee had received the letter and brought us in shee beganne to weepe and take on grievously but afterwards shee called us to meat and made us very good cheare asking us many questions concerning Vlysses and Penelope whether shee was so beautifull and modest as Vlysses had often before bragged of her and wee made her such answer as wee thought would give her best content and departing to our ship
to give any just account of their owne and can therefore be hardly thought fit and competent judges of another mans Written lives being nothing else but the lineaments of the minde as the plaine draught and extremities of a picture are of the body colours may give it ornament and beauty but addes but little to the true resemblance as he then that undertakes to copie out the one had need to bee well skil'd in the composure and difference of faces so he that adventures to draw the other ought to bee as cleare sighted in discerning manners and actions For the least mistake but of the smallest touch or shaddow in a face alters the shape and posture of the countenance and in matter either of life or government the insertion or omission of the meanest circumstance may give an alteration and difference to an action As for our author now in hand there is but little trust to bee given to the tracke of former times for some that have heretofore undertaken to record his life having drawne three or foure severall persons of that name some Sophisters some Rhetoricians and living at severall times into one Lucian have not so much wrote his life as made it In a matter therefore so full of uncertaintie to avoyde the like errour in following the doubtfull and various relations of such Writers as give no other reasons for their opinions then their owne authoritie I have thought best to gather him out of himselfe and so as neare as I can make the author his owne Biographer b Joannes de Ravenna in rationar vit M. S. in Biblioth Coll. Balliol nemo enim quam se quemquam meliùs novit vitae nemo verior testis c. First then for the place that brought him forth he was borne in c In lib. quomodo scribend Histor in Piscator Samosata the Metropolis and prime Citie of Comagenia d Plin. lib. 2. cap. 104 l. 5. cap. 24. seated not farre from the river Euphrates in the Country e Strabo l. 16. of Syria which is f Plin. lib. 5. c. 20. Pomp. Mel. lib. 1. cap. 11. Volaterr l. 11. cap. 8. Herodot l. 2. c. a region of the greater Asia berdering upon Palestine and Arabia so called sayes g cap. 57.58 Diod. Sic. l. 4. Solinus from Syrus the sonne of Apollo and Synope and oftentimes in his writings he calls himselfe h In Piscat in Scyth in lib. advers indoct c Syrian i In Dea Syria Assyrian k In bis accusato and the Syrian Rhetorician l In Dea Syria having when he was yet but a youth consecrated in the Citie of Hierapolis according to the custome of that Country the first cutting of his haire to the Syrian Goddesse Howbeit m In Asino in Pseudolog at other times he derives himselfe from Patras n Herodot l. 1. Plin. lib. 4. cap. 5. a Citie of Achaia as if o In comment in octavum lib. metamorph Apuleii sayes Beroaldus he would hereby intimate the one to be the place of his nativity the other of his descent according to that of Livie nati Carthagine oriundi Syracusis Secondly for his kindred p In Asino His Fathers name was Lucius his brothers Caius who as he sayes was an Elegiack Poet and a Sooth-sayer That he was borne but of meane parentage we may well conjecture q In Somnio his friends not being able to breed him up a Scholler or to afford him education correspondent to so hopefull a genius and therefore plac't him with an Vnckle of his by the mothers side who was an excellent cutter in stone that hee might learne a trade whereby to get his living but there he stay'd not long for either led by his good fortune or driven by his hard usage he soone gave his Vnckle the slip and became his owne carver applying himselfe afterwards wholly to his booke At the length both friends and meanes failing him at home he left Samosata and went to Antioch where having bestowed some time in the study and practise of the Law that profession and condition of life either thwarting his disposition or not answering his expectation being besides an excellent Rhetorician he left his Law and betooke himselfe and travelling into r In Hercule Gallico in pro mercede conduct France became there a publique professor in that Art Departing thence he went into Macedonia where hee gave a full and open testimony of his worth and learning ſ In Herodoto before a generall assembly of the most able and sufficient persons of the whole country Having thus after many and sundry perigrinations made himselfe knowne and famous in divers regions he now began to draw nearer home and to travell farther into himselfe for perceiving the Rhetoricians of those times to direct the whole bent and scope of their studies towards their owne ends endeavouring more the enriching and preferment of themselves then the advancement of vertue and goodnesse and finding the profession likewise t In Reviviscentib full of many disturbances deceptions oppositions impudences lies clamours and infinite other inconveniences hee forsooke this also u In Hermotim and about the 40th yeare of his age betooke himselfe to Philosophie x In Icaromen in Hermot When having by great industrie and studie acquainted himselfe with the severall tenents and doctrines almost of every sect and finding that they not only crost and contradicted each other in the very grounds and principles of all Arts and Sciences and chiefly in matter of Religion and in their conceits and opinions of the Gods but also that their lives and practises were nothing at all agreeable to their rules and precepts hee grew at length into such an utter dislike of them being himselfe a man that alwayes profest an uprightnesse of carriage and freedome of speech y In Piscator as may appeare by those artes which he acknowledges himselfe to be skill'd in and that borrow'd name of Parrhisiades that he bent his style almost wholly against them and became a sharpe and earnest opposer of the titular and mock-Philosophers of that age laying open to the world in his writings by way of Dialogue after a most pleasant and comicall manner their avarice intemperance ambition and hypocrisie and so farre deriding the senselesse superstition and feigned deities of the heathen that hee thereby got the sirname of z Suidas Atheos or Blasphemus and was commonly reputed a mocker and derider both of Gods and men They that report him to have beene sometimes a Christian and that afterwards falling into apostasie he should scoffingly say that he got nothing by that Religion but only the corruption of his name which was changed at his baptizing from Lucius to Lucianus have not only wrote more then they could justifie but what is easie enough to bee disprov'd for whosoever shall reade his booke de
patronage a friend nor crie quittance with a foe nor worthy to be emulated by other citizens only a meer drudge one of the common rascalitie ready to give way to thy better and waite upon him that can speake in thy behalfe living the life of a hare and great luck if ever thou light upon a better for say thou come to be as cunning as Phidias or Polycletus and worke many wonderous pieces thy Art will certainly bee commended by all men but not one that lookes on them if hee love himselfe will wish to be such an other as thou for bee what thou canst be thou shalt be but a mechanicall fellow one of a manuall Trade that hath no meanes to live but by his handy-labour But if thou wilt be ruled by me I will acquaint thee with all the famous Acts and memorable exploits of men of former time I will make thee know all that hath beene spoken or delivered by them so that thou shalt have a perfect insight into all things thy minde which is the lordly part within thee I will beautifie and garnish with many excellent ornaments as temperance justice pietie clemencie wisdome patience the love of good things and desire to attaine to matters of worth for these indeede are the ornature of the minde that shall never decay nothing whatsoever it be ancient or moderne shall escape thy knowledge and by my assistance thou shalt also foresee what is yet to come and to conclude I will in a short space make thee learned in all things divine and humane so thou that art now so poore and simple the son of a meane person that lately was like to bee put to a base and ignoble Art within a while shalt bee emulated and envied by all men reverenced commended and celebrated for thy good parts and respected by those that are of an high ranke both for nobilitie and riches then shalt thou be clad in such a garment as this is shewing mee the mantle shee wore herselfe which was very gorgeous to the eye and thought worthy of all honour and preheminence if it shall be thy fortune to travell into any forraine place thou shalt never arrive there as a person unknowne and obscure for I will set such markes and tokens upon thee that every one that seeth thee shall jogge the next stander by on the elbow e Pulchrum est digito monstrari dicier hic est Persius sat and point out his finger toward thee saying This is the man If any occasion of urgencie betide thy friends or the whole Citie they all shall cast their eyes upon thee when thou art to make a speech in any place the whole multitude shall stand gaping to heare thee admiring and wondring at thee blessing the powerfulnesse of thy deliverance and thy fathers happinesse to beget such a sonne And as it is said of some men that they shall continue immortall the same will I effect in thee for when thou shalt depart this life thou shalt perpetually converse with learned men and keepe company with the best hast thou not heard of f Plutarch in the life of Demosthenes Demosthenes what a poore mans sonne he was and what a fellow I brought him to be remembrest thou not Aeschines the sonne of a Taberer yet how did King Philip observe him for my sake yea g Socrates was the sonne of Sophroniscus a Carver and as some say exerces'd that Art himselfe the cloathed Graces in the tower of Athens were thought to have bin of his workmanship he also exercis'd painting and made the pictures of Aesculapius and his five daughters Plin. nat hist lib. 35. cap. 11. Socrates himselfe though he were bred up in this art of carving yet as soone as he made a better choice and gave that trade the bagge to be intertain'd as a fugitive by me you know how much he was magnified by all men and wilt thou forsake men of such excellent worth such glorious exploits such powerfull speeches such decent attire honour glory praise precedencie power authority commendation for good words admiration for wisedome and in leiw of all this cover thy skinne with a base garment cast a thread-bare cloak upon thy backe have thy hands full of carving tooles fit for thy trade thy face ever more bent downewards towards thy worke so continuing a sordide slavish and abject life never able to lift up thy head or to entertaine any manly or free thoughts but all thy care must bee to have thy worke handsome and proportionable respecting not a rush thine owne good but making thy selfe of lesse value then a stone Whilest she was yet speaking I could hold no longer for my life but rising up declared my selfe for her and abandoning that ugly drudge betooke me to learning with a glad heart especially when I bethought my selfe of the lash and the many stripes I received for my welcome the day before she that was forsaken tooke it haynously clapt her hands at me gnasht her teeth together against mee and in the end like a second h Niobe was the daughter of Tantalus and wife to Amphion King of Thebes who having borne unto her husband six sonnes and six daughters became thereupon so proud that shee preferr'd her selfe before Latona Whereat the Goddesse being mov'd with anger caused all her children to bee shot to death by her son and daughter Apollo and Diana and Niobe her selfe to be carried with a whirle winde neare unto Sipylus a Citie of Maeonia which was her native Country and there turn'd into a rocke of marble Vid. Ovids Metamorph the 6. booke Niobe i A fit metamorphosis for her profession was wholly congealed and turned into a stone you may thinke it strange but distrust not the truth for dreames can produce as unlikely matters as this But the other casting her eye upon me What recompence shall I make thee saith shee for passing thy censure with such discretion come hither and mount this chariot shewing me a chariot drawne with certaine horses winged and shaped like k Pegasus was a winged horse sprung from Medusas bloud when her head was strooken off by Perseus Pegasus that thou mayst see how many rare wonders thou shouldst have beene ignorant of if thou hadst not followed me When I was got up she drave away and supplyed the place of a Coachman and being raised to a full height I looked every way round about me beginning at the East and so to the West beholding Cities and Nations and people and like l Celeus King of the Elusines having entertained the Goddesse Ceres when she travail'd in the search of her lost daughter Proserpine shee in recompence of his liberall hospitalitie not only taught him the art of husbandrie but also nursed his young son Triptolemus with her owne milke and afterwards placing him in a chariot drawne with winged serpents sent him abroade into the world to teach men the use of corne and seed which as he rode
The abominable acts and tragicall ends of deverse wicked Princes and Tyrants committing incest vvith his sister Lysimachus betraying by his sonne Antiochus the sonne of Seleucus falling in love vvith Stratonice his mother in law Alexander the Thessalian slaine by his wife Antigonus adulterating his sonnes wife and Attalus poysoned by his sonne on the other side I saw Arsaces killing his wife and the Eunuch Arbaces drawing his sword against Arsaces Spartinus the Median by his Guard dragg'd out from a banquet by the heeles and his head wounded with a standing cup of gold the like was to be seene done in Lysia and among the Scythians and Thracians in the Courts of their Kings adulteries murthers treacheries rapines perjuries feares and false-heartednesse towards their friends thus was I occupied in beholding the affaires of Kings But the acts of private persons were farre more ridiculous for I beheld them also The base conditions of sundry Philosophers and saw Hermodorus the Epicure forswearing himselfe for a thousand Dragmes Agathocles the Stoike going to law with his Scholler for the hire of his teaching Clinias the Rhetorician stealing a peece of Plate out of the Temple of Aesculapius and Herophilus the Cynick asleepe in a bawdy-house what should I tell you of other men of whom some were breakers up of houses some wranglers in law-suits some usurers some exactors indeede the sight was most variable and full of diversitie Friend You have done friendly Menippus in imparting this unto mee and I know it could not chuse but give you extraordinary content Menippus To deliver every thing in order good friend is altogether impossible it was worke enough for mee to see it but the totall of what was done made such a shew as * Iliad 18. à v. 480. ad v. 608. Homer described upon Achilles shield in one place were merrie meetings and marriages in another trialls of suits and courts of justice here was one sacrificing for joy of his good fortune and his next neighbour in heavinesse and mourning d Hee speakes here according to the customes conditions and imployments of these severall Nations when I looked towards the Getes I saw thē fighting turning my sight to the Scythians I saw them wandring about in wagons then casting mine eyes on the other side I beheld the Aegyptians tilling their land the Phoenician trading in marchandise and the Cilician practising pyracie the Laconian was lasht with whips and the Athenian was going to law all these being in action at one instant you may imagine what a confused apparition was presented to my view as if many singing men should be brought into a roome together or rather many quiers of singing men and every man commanded to sing a severall tune and strive to make his owne song good and with the strength of his voice to drowne the notes of the other I beseech you what is your conceit of such a noise Friend O Menippus it must needs be both foolish and offensive to the eare Menippus Beleeve mee friend such singers as these are all they that dwell upon the earth and of such unmusicall discords is the whole life of man composed and not onely of untunable notes but of disproportionable motions and no man takes notice of it untill the master of the quier drive them every man off the stage and tell them hee hath no more cause to use them then all at once are striken silent and cease from that confused and disorderly song but in this variable and disparible Theater of the world though all things appeared most absurd and peevish yet I thought I had most cause to deride them that contend about the limits of their lands and take much upon them because they have corne growing in e Sicyon was a city of Peloponnesus betweene Corinth Achaia Pausan in Attic. Sicyonia or lands lying in that part of f A town in Attica Thucy l. 2. Marathen which borders upon g A towne on the borders of Attica Oenoe or are Lords of a thousand acres among the h Acharnae is a towne of Attica distant some 63 furlongs from Athens Thuc. lib. 2. Acharnens for all Greece in my eye exceeded not the bredth of foure fingers of which the country of Attica was the least part and I therefore could but conceive how little was left for our rich men to be proud of when the greatest landed man amongst them seemed to possesse scarcely the quantitie of an i The least quantitie that can be imagined Epicurean Atome then casting mine eye upon Peloponnesus and in it beholding the country of k A territory betweene Argia and Laconia towards the sea side about which there was a battle fought betwixt the Lacedaemonians Argives wherein both sides thought they had the victory Thucyd. lib. 5. Cynuria I remembred how many Lacedaemonians and Argives lost their lives in one day for a plott of ground hardly so bigge as an Aegyptian beane againe when I saw men thinke well of themselves because they were so well stor'd with gold in rings and cupboords of plate I could not possibly containe my laughter when whole l A mountaine in Thrace aboue the Pierian bay Thucyd. l. 2. Pangaeum and all the mettalls in it were no bigger in quantitie then the smallest seede Friend O happy Menippus for injoying so rare a spectacle but I beseech you let mee heare somewhat of men and cities what shew thy made when you were so high Menippus I am sure you have often seene a swarme of emets how some of them trot up and downe some issue out some return again into their hold one carries out filth another snatcheth up a peece of a beane bull or part of a wheat corne and runnes away with it as fast as hee can to these the life of man hath most resemblance some build houses some affect popularity some authority some will be Musicians some Philosophers and their cities not farre unlike the houses of emets if you thinke it a poore comparison to liken men to such small creatures peruse the ancient m Most of the ancient fables of the Greekes had their beginning in Thessalie the countries therabouts Plin. Nat. Hist l 4. in prooem Thessalian fables and you shall finde that the n Iupiter at the prayer of his son Aeacus King of Aegin◠an Iland of Greece transformed a great multitude ef Ants which he saw in a hollow oake into men and gave them unto him Juno having before by a fearfull pestilence depopulated his whole country They were called Myrmidons from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth in Greeke an Ant. Ovid Metam Myrmidons a warlike nation had their first originall from emets When I had thus seene enough to serve my turne and satisfied myselfe with laughter at it I set my wings together againe to take my flight to the habitation of heavenly Jove and had not mounted a full furlong up but the
they are all puft up with winde some more some lesse some have a short continuance of swelling and some vanish as soone as they are risen but all must needs burst in the end Mercurie Well said Charon Iliad 6. v. 146. thou hast made as good a comparison as Homer for he likens the generation of men to the leaves of trees Charon They are no better Mercurie and yet you see how busie they are and what a stirre they make in striving for dignities honours and possessions which they must all leave behinde them and bring but one poore halfe-pennie with them when they come to us what if I should call aloud unto them now wee are got to such a height and exhort them to abstaine from their vaine imployments and to live as having death alwaies before their eyes and say unto them O foolish men why do you bestow your time upon such trifles mis-spend not your travels to so ill purpose ye shall not live for ever nothing you here affect can be perpetuall neither shall any man bring any of it away with him at his death but of necessitie he must come starke naked and leave his house his land and money behinde him to be for ever in the possession of others and subject to the changes of many masters if I should proclaime this and the like amongst them out of a place whence all might heare mee do you not thinke it would do a great deale of good and make them more warie in their carriage Merc. O honest Charon little dost thou know how they are bewitched with ignorāce error their eares so stopt that they can hardly be boared open with an awgar Vlysses could not make his followers eares more fast with waxe from hearing the Syrens you may breake your heart with calling before they will harken to you Od. 12. v. 177 for look what vertue the water of Lethe hath with you the same operation hath ignorance with them yet there are some few amongst them that will suffer no waxe to be crammed into their eares but are attentive to the truth see perfecty how the world goes and able to judge of it accordingly Charon What if I call to them Mercurie It were bootelesse to tell them what they know alreadie you see how they stand aloofe off from the multitude and deride their actions taking no contentment in them perceive you not how they are upon consultation to turne fugitives out of this life and runne to you for they are hated of all men because they reprove their ignorance Charon Few men wise Well done honest hearts but Mercurie mee thinkes there be but few of them Mercurie These are all let us now downe againe Charon One thing more Mercurie I desire to heare from you let mee know but that and you shall make your guidance compleat I would faine see the places where dead bodies lye when they are cast into the earth Mercurie They are called monuments Charon and tombes and sepulchers dost thou not see those heapes of earth that are cast up before their cities and the pillars the f The Aegyptian sepulchers built by their Kings at a wonderfull charge Pyramides those are all store-houses and receptacles of dead carcases Charon But why do they crowne those stones with garlands and annoint them with sweet ointments some make a great pile of wood before those heapes of earth upon which they burne costly and delicate banquets The manner of buriall in ancient times and digge a pitt in the earth into which they powre as I suppose wine and honey mixt with it Mercurie Beleeve mee Ferriman I do not know wha◠good all this can doe to them that are in hell but perhaps they are perswaded the soules below come up againe to feed upon the savour and smoake of the feast as they flie about it and to drinke of the liquor in the pit Charon They eate or drinke whose sculls are withered dried up but I am a foole to say so much to you that conduct them every day and know it unpossible for them to get up againe when they are once under the earth I were in a poore case then indeed and should have somewhat to doe if I were not onely to bring them downe but also carry them up againe to drinke O vaine men and ignorant not knowing upon what termes the state of dead and living men depend nor the manner of our beeing where g Animitation and inversion of some of Homers verses Iliad 1. Od. 10. c. No difference is but all is one Whether they have Tombes or none Poore Irus of as great a birth As Agamemnon under earth Thersites hath as good a feature As Thetis sonne that comely creature All emptie skulls naked and drie In Asphodelus medows lie Mercurie O Hercules what a deale of Homer hast thou pumpt up together but now thou hast put it into my head I will shew thee Achilles tombe see where it stands upon the sea shoare for that is the h Both Promontories nere unto Troy Trojan Sigeum and over against it is Ajax entombed in h Both Promontories nere unto Troy Rhoetium Charon These are no such great monuments Mercurie but now let mee see those famous cities we have heard of below as i Ninivie Ninus the citie of Sardanapalus and Babylon and k Ancient cities of Greece Mycenae and k Ancient cities of Greece Cleonae and the citie of Troy for I remember I have transported many a man from thence l All the time of the Trojan warre tenne yeares together I had no time to draw up my boat into the dock nor once to make it cleane Mercurie Ninus ferriman is utterly vanisht no token of it remaining neither can any man tell where it stood but Babylon you may see yonder the citie that hath so many towres and takes up so great a circuit of ground shortly to be sought after as well as the other as for Mycenae and Cleonae I am ashamed to shew them and especially Troy for I know when you are got downe againe you will have about with Homer for magnifying them so much in his verses yet in former time they have beene famous places though now decayed for cities must die Ferriman as well as men which is more to be admired even whole rivers are perished from having any beeing m A river said to be in the countrie Argos Inachus hath not so much as a sepulchre to be seen in all the countrie of Argos Charon Alas good Homer that thou shouldst commend them so highly and set them forth with such stately titles as sacred Ilium spacious Ilium beautifull Cleonae but whilst wee are busie in talke who are they that are fighting yonder and kill one another so desperately Mercurie There thou seest the Argives and Lacedaemonians in battell Charon and Othryades their captaine halfe dead n 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Others
appeare to us about Sunne setting some dropt downe upon the earth which made mee suppose it was upon some such occasion Iliad lib. 16. v. 459. that Homer thought Jupiter rained blood for the death of his sonne Sarpedon returning from the pursuit vvee erected two Trophies one for the fight on foote which wee placed upon the spiders webbe the other for the fight in the aire which wee set up upon the clouds as soone as this was done newes came to us by our scouts that the Nephelocentaures were comming on which indeed should have come to Phaethon before the fight And when they drew so neare unto us that we could take full view of them it was a strange sight to behold such monsters composed of flying horses men that part which resembled mankinde which was from the wast upwards did equall in greatnesse the h Icaromenip y Rhodian Colossus and that which was like a horse was as bigge as a great shippe of burden and of such multitude that I was fearefull to set downe their number lest it might be taken for a lie and for their leader they had the i Chiron the Centaur who was translated into heaven and made one of the 12 signes of the Zodiake Sigittarius out of the Zodiake vvhen they heard that their friends vvere foyled they sent a messenger to Phaethon to renewe the fight vvhereupon they set themselves in aray and fell upon the Selenitans or the Moone souldiers that were troubled and disordered in following the chace scattered in gathening the spoiles and put them all to flight and pursued the King into his citie and killed the greatest part of his birds overturned the Trophies hee had set up and overcame the vvhole countrie that was spunne by the spiders My selfe and two of my companions were taken alive when Phaethon himselfe was come they set up other Trophies in token of victorie and on the morrow vvee vvere carried prisoners into the Sunne our armes bound behinde us with a piece of the cobweb yet would they by no meanes lay any siege to the citie but returned and built up a wall in the midst of the aire to keepe the light of the Sunne from falling upon the Moone The reason of the Moones Eclipse they made it a double wall wholly compact of clouds so that a manifest ecclipse of the Moone insued and all things detained in perpetuall night wherewith Endymion was so much oppressed that he sent Embassadours to intreat the demolishing of the building and beseech him that hee would not damne them to live in darknesse promising to pay him tribute to be his friend and associate and never after to stirre against him Phaethons counsell twice assembled to consider upon this offer and in their first meeting would remit nothing of their conceived displeasure but on the morrow they altered their mindes to these termes The Heliotans and their colleagues have made a peace with the Selenitans and their associates upon these conditions that the Heliotans shall cast downe the wall and deliver the prisoners that they have taken upon a rarable ransome and that the Selenitans should leave the other starres at libertie and raise no warre against the Heliotans but aid and assist one another if either of them should be invaded that the King of the Selenitans should yearely pay to the King of the Heliotans in vvay of tribute tenne thousand vessels of dewe and deliver tenne thousand of their people to be pledges for their fidelitie that the Colonie to be sent to the Morning starre should be joyntly supplied by them both and libertie given to any else that would to be sharers in it that these articles of peace should be ingraven in a pillar of amber to be erected in the midst of the aire upon the confines of their country These names of the inhabitants of the Sunne are taken frō things belonging to the day those of the Moone from things appertaining to the night for the performance whereof were sworne of the Heliotans Pyronides and Therites and Phlogias and if the Selenitans Nyctor and Menias and Polylampes thus was the pleace concluded the wall immediately demolished and vve that vvere prisoners delivered being returned into the Moone they came forth to meet us Endymion himselfe and all his friends vvho embraced us with teares and desired us to make our aboad with him and to be partners in the colonie promising to give mee his owne sonne in marriage for there are no women amongst them vvhich I by no meanes vvould yeeld unto but desired of all loves to be dismist againe into the sea and bee finding it unpossible to perswade us to his purpose after seven daies feasting The strange novelties hee observ'd in those parts gave us leave to depart Now vvhat strange novelties worthy of note I observed during the time of my abode there I will relate unto you The first is that they are not begotten of vvomen but of mankinde for they have no other marriage but af males the name of women is utterly unknowne among them untill they accomplish the age of five and twentie yeares they are given in marriage to others from that time forwards they take others in marriage to themselves for as soone as the infant is conceived the legge begins to swell and afterwards vvhen the time of birth is come they give it a lance and take it out dead Why that part which we terme the calfe is called by the Grecians the belly of the legge then they lay it abroad vvith open mouth towards the vvinde and so it takes life and I thinke thereof the Grecians call it the bellie of the legge because there in they beare their children instead of a belly I will tell you now of a thing more strange than this there are a kinde of men among them called Dendritans which are begotten in this manner they cut out the right stone out of a mans codd and set it in their ground from which springeth up a great tree of flesh with branches and leaves bearing a kinde of fruit much like to an acorne but of a cubite in length which they gather when they are ripe and cut men out of them their privie members are to be set on and taken off as they have occasion rich men have them made of Ivorie poore men of vvood vvherewith they performe the act of generation and accompanie their spowses vvhen a man is come to his full age hee dieth not but is dissolved like smoake and is turned into aire One kinde of food is common to them all Their food for they kindle a fire and broyle frogges upon the coales vvhich are with them in infinite numbers flying in the aire and whilst they are broyling they sit round about them as it were about a table and lappe up the smoake that riseth from them and feast themselves therewith and this is all their feeding for their drinke they have aire beaten in a
morter Their drinke which yeeldeth a kinde of moysture much like unto dew they have no avoydance of excrements either of urine or dung neither have they any issue for that purpose like unto us their boyes admit copulation not like unto ours but in their hammes a little above the calfe of the legge for there they are open they hold it a great ornament to be bald for hairie persons are abhord with them Because that Comets seeme to be hairie and have their name from thence and yet among the Starres that are Comets it is thought commendable as some that have travelled those coasts reported unto us such beards as they have are growing a little above their knees they have no nailes on their feete for their whole foote is all but one toe every one of them at the point of his rumpe hath a long colewort growing out in stead of a tale alwaies greene and flourishing which though a man fall upon his backe cannot be broken the dropping of their noses is more sweete than honey when they labour or exercise themselves they annoint their bodie with milke whereinto if a little of that honey chance to drop it will be turned into cheese they make very fat oile of their beanes and of as delicate a savour as any sweet ointment they have many vines in those parts which yeeld them but water for the grapes that hang upon the clusters are like our halestones and I verily thinke that when the vines there are shaken with a strong winde there falls a storme of haile amongst us by the breaking down of those kinde of berries their bellies stand them instead of sachels to put in their necessaries which they may open and shut at their pleasure for they have neither liver nor any kind of entralls onely they are rough and hairie within so that when their young children are cold they may be inclosed therein to keepe them warme the rich men have garments of glasse very soft and delicate the poorer sort of brasse woven whereof they have great plentie which they inseame with water to make it fit for the workman as we do our wooll If I should write what manner of eies they have I doubt I should be taken for a liar The cause of haile The like is faigned by the Poets of the Gorgons three sisters that had but one eye amongst them which they used by turnes when they went abroad in publishing a matter so incredible yet I cannot chuse but tell it for they have eyes to take in and out as please themselves and when a man is so disposed hee may take them out and lay them by till hee have occasion to use them and then put them in and see againe many when they have lost their owne eies borrow of others for the rich have many lying by them their eares are all made of the leaves of plane-trees excepting those that come of acornes for they onely have them made of vvood I saw also another strange thing in the same court a mightie great glasse lying upon the top of a pit of no great depth whereinto if any man descend hee shall heare every thing that is spoken upon the earth if hee but looke into the glasse hee shall see all cities and all nations as well as if hee were among them there had I the sight of all my friends and the whole countrie about whether they saw mee or not I cannot tell but if they beleeve it not to be so let them take the paines to goe thither themselves and they shall finde my words true then we tooke our leaves of the king and such as were neare him and tooke shipping and departed at which time Endymion bestowed upon mee two mantles made of their glasse five of brasse with a compleat armour of those shells of lupines all which I left behinde mee in the whale and sent with us a thousand of his Hippogypians to conduct us five hundred furlongs on our way In our course we coasted many other countries and lastly arrived at the morning starre now newly inhabited where wee landed and tooke in fresh water from thence wee entred the Zodiake passing by the Sunne and leaving it on our right hand tooke our course neare unto the shoare but landed not in the country though our companie did much desire it for the winde would not give us leave but wee saw it was a flourishing region fat and well watered abounding with all delights but the Nephelocentaures espying us who were mercenary souldiers to Phaethon The citie of lights made to our ship as fast as they could and finding us to be friends said no more unto us for our Hippogypians were departed before then wee made forwards all the next night and day and about evening-tide following wee came to a citie called Lychnopolis still holding on our course downewards this citie is seated in the aire betweene the Pleiades and the Hyades somewhat lower than the Zodiake and arriving there not a man was to be seene but lights in great numbers running to and fro which were imployed some in the market place and some about the haven of which many were little and as a man may say but poore things some againe were great and mightie exceeding glorious and resplendent and there were places of receipt for them all every one had his name as well as men and we did heare them speake these did us no harme but invited us to feast with them yet we weare so fearfull that we durst neither eate nor sleepe as long as wee vvere there their court of justice standeth in the midst of the citie A very proper death where the governour sitteth all the night long calling every one by name and hee that answereth not is adjudged to die as if he had forsaken his rankes their death is to be quenched wee also standing amongst them sawe what was done and heard what answers the lights made for themselves and the reasons they alleaged for tarrying so long there wee also knew our owne light and spake unto it and questioned it of our affaires at home and how all did there which related every thing unto us As some have affirmed every countrie to be governed specially by some particular Star so hee faignes a light in this city for everie nation which could tell all that was done amongst them that night vvee made our abode there and on the next morrow returned to our ship and sailing neare unto the clouds had a sight of the citie Nephelococcygia which wee beheld with great wonder but entred not into it for the winde was against us the King thereof was Coronus the sonne of Cottyphion and I could not chuse but thinke upon the Poet k In his Comedie called the Clouds which hee wrote against Socrates Aristophanes how wise a man hee was and how true a reporter and how little cause there is to question his fidelitie for what hee hath written
signifies the Academie of the dead Necracademia then we took the vanquished prisoners and bound them and sent them backe to be punished with greater torments this fight was also pend by Homer who at my departure gave mee the booke to shew my friends which I afterwards lost and many things else beside but the first verse of the poeme I remember was this x Somewhat like the beginning of his Odyss Tell mee now Muse how the dead Heroes fought when they overcome in fight they they have a custome to make a feast with sodden beanes wherewith they banquet together for joy of their victorie onely y See the Cocke Pythagoras had no part with them but sate aloofe off and lost his dinner because hee could not away with beanes Sixe moneths were now past over and the seaventh halfe way onwards when a new businesse was beg 〈…〉 ongst us for Cynirus the sonne of Scintharus a proper tall â—oung man had long beene in love with Helena and it might plainly be perceived that shee as fondly doted upon him for they would still be winking and drinking one to another whilst they were a feasting and rise alone together and vvander up and downe in the vvood this humour increasing and knowing not what course to take Cinyrus devise was to steale away Helena A second rape of Helena whom hee found as pliable to runne away with him to some of the Islands adjoyning either to Phello or Tyroessa having before combined with three of the boldest fellows in my companie to joyne with them in their conspiracie but never acquainted his father with it knowing that hee vvould surely punish him for it being resolved upon this they vvatcht their time to put it in practise for vvhen night was come and I absent for I vvas falne asleepe at the feast they gave a slip to all the rest and vvent away vvith Helena to ship-bord as fast as they could Menelaus vvaking about midnight and finding his bed emptie and his vvife gone made an outcrie and calling up his brother vvent to the Court of Rhadamanthus as soone as the day appeared the scowts told them they had descried a shippe vvhich by that time vvas got farre off into the sea then Rhadamanthus set out a vessell made of one whole peece of timber of Asphodelus vvood man'd vvith fiftie of the Heroes to pursue after them vvhich were so willing on their vvay that by noone they had overtaken them newly entred into the milkie Ocean not farre from Tyroessa so neare vvere they got to make an escape then tooke vvee their shippe and haled it after us vvith a chaine of roses and brought it backe againe Rhadamanthus first examined Cinyrus and his companions vvhether they had any other partners in this plott and they confessing none vvere adjudged to be tyed fast by the privie members and sent into the place of the wicked there to be tormented after they had beene scourged with rods made of mallows Helena all blubbered with tear 〈…〉 so ashamed of her selfe that shee would not 〈…〉 they also decreed to send us packing out of the 〈…〉 our prefixed time being come and that vvee should stay there no longer then the next morrow wherewith I vvas much aggrieved and vvept bitterly to leave so good a place and turne wanderer againe I knew not whither but they comforted mee much in telling mee that before many yeares were past I should be with them againe and shewed mee a chaire and a bed prepared for mee against the time to come neare unto persons of the best qualitie then vvent I to Rhadamanthus humbly beseeching him to tell mee my future fortunes and to direct mee in my course and he told mee that after many travels and dangers I should at last recover my countrie but would not tell mee the certaine time of my returne and shewing mee the Islands adjoyning vvhich vvere five in number and a sixth a little further off hee said those nearest are the Islands of the ungodly which you see burning all in a light fire but the other sixth is the Island of dreames and beyond that is the z Ogygia an Island between the Phoenician and Syrian seas in which Calypso a sea-nymph the daudhter of Oceanus Thetis being Queen entertain'd Vlysses in his travels falling in love with him deteined him with her seven yeares Island of Calypso which you cannot see from hence when you are past these you shall come into the great Continent over against your owne countrie where you shall suffer many afflictions and passe through many nations and meete with men of inhumane conditions and at length attaine to the other continent When hee had told mee this hee pluckt a root of mallowes out of the ground and reached it to mee commanding mee in my greatest perills to make my prayers to that advising mee further neither a Mest have interpreted this Pythagorian precept not to stirre up the anger of great powerfull persons 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to rake in the fire with my knife nor to feed upon lupines nor to come neare a boy when bee is past eighteene yeare of age if I were mindfull of this the hopes would be great that I should come to the Island againe then wee prepared for our passage and feasted with them at the usuall houre and next morrow I went to Homer intreating him to do so much as make an Epigram of two verses for mee which hee did and I erected a pillar of Braylstone nâ—… unto the haven and engraved them upon it the Epigram was this Lucian the gods belov'd did once attaine To see all this and then go home againe after that daies tarrying wee put to sea brought onward on our way by the Heroes where Vlysses closely comming to mee that b The wife of Vlysses Penelope might not see him conveied a letter into my hand to deliver to Calypso in the Isle of Ogygia Rhadamanthus also sent c The sonne of Neptune and Amymone the daughter of Danaus King of the Argives Nauplius the feriman along vvith us that if it were our fortune to put into those Ilands no man should lay hands upon us because wee were bent upon other imployments no sooner had wee past beyond the smell of that sweete odour but wee felt a horrible filthie stinke like pitch and brimstone burning carying an intolerable sent with it as if men were broyling upon burning coales the aire was darke and muddie from which distilled a pitchie kinde of dew wee heard also the lash of the whips and the roarings of the tormented yet went wee not to visit all the Islands but that wherein wee landed was of this forme it was wholy compassed about with steepe sharpe and craggie rocks without either wood or water yet wee made a shift to scramble up among the cliffes and so went forwards in a way quite overgrowne with briars and thornes through a most vilanous gastly countrie The Islands of the