parts of India Nay he preferres the victories of Augustus to those either of Hercules or Bacchus The 12. labours of the first are so well known that we need not insist long upon these which are here mentioned The Hinde called CerenÃtis feigned to be brazen hoof'd was slain by him neer to the Town of Parrhasia he also took a terrible Boar called the Boar of Erymanthus a Mountain of Arcadia alive and brought it to Eurystheus who by Juno's command was his Tax-master and imposed all those hazardous labours upon that invincible Heroe Of the Beast of Lerna i. e. the Hydra we have descoursed at large Paragraph 39. From Augustus after a desultorious manner he returns to the successors of Romulus in whom the royal line of Aeneas did determine The first of these was aged and hoary-headed Numa whom Anchises seems not to know because a stranger and none of his posterity born at â—â—ures a small Dorp or Village of the Sabines on the very day the foundation of Rome was laid The character the Poet gives him and the rest is agreeable to the testimony of History For Numa Pompilius a person fam'd for his justice and religion was by the general vote of the people though a stranger chosen King who when placed in the regal Throne having made peace with all his neighbours applied himself solely to the reforming of the Lawes Manners and Discipline both Civil and Religious introducing all Rites and Ceremonies into their Church whence he is here said to be ramis insignis Olivae and sacra ferens the first denoting his studious love of peace of which the Olive is an embleme the second his great care of Religion and the worship of the Gods whereby as Florus observes populum ferocem eó redegit ut quod vi injuriâ occupaverat imperium religione justitiâ gubernâret He taught them to govern by religion and justice that Empire which they had atchieved by injury and force Hence the very names of these two precedent Kings seem to speak their natures and to have designed them as it were for this different manner of proceeding in the management of affairs for Romulus comes from the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. strength and hardiness and Numa 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from his inventing and ordaining of laws for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Law is written 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the Dores from whence Numa comes and hence his character is truly given us by Livie Numa regno potitus urbem novam conditam vi armis a Romulo scilicet jure eam legibusque ac moribus de integro condere parat Numa founded that City by wholsome laws which Romulus had founded by force and arms He reigned 43 years § 81 Tullus Hostilius the third from Romulus succeeded to Numa Grandson to Hostus Hostilius who died fighting against the Sabines under the Tower of Rome He was chosen for his great valour and known conduct He subdued the Albans razed their City and transplanted the Inhabitants to Rome In the direption and sack of this forlorn Town this is chiefly to be noted that when they had equalled all the edifices whether private or publick with the ground the triumphing enemy out of an awe and reverence to religion spared the Temples of the Gods Templis tamen Deûm ita enim edictum ab rege fuit temperatum est Livie a reproach to the impious and intemperate zeal of this worst of ages wherein the Temples of the true God have born the greatest marks of the irreligious furie not of foreign enemies as here but of the once-children of the same Mother and professors of the same faith This King was the restorer of their military discipline as here characterised and inlarger of the City by taking in the Mount Caelius He reigned according to Livies Compute 32. years § 82 Ancus Martius Grandson to Numa Pompilius by his Daughter the fourth from Romulus was elected after Tullus He is described here as haughty and popular because born of royall blood He was of a disposition and temper much like to that of his Grandsire Numa as to his justice regard of religion and government in peace though in time of warre he equalled any of his Predecessors whence Livie sayes of him Medium erat in Anco ingenium Numae Romuli memor In Ancus there was a mixture of Numa and Romulus the one appeared in his reviving the laws of Numa concerning religious Rites and Ceremonies in walling the City in building a bridge over Tiber in planting a Colony at Ostia a Town situated upon the mouth of Tiber which became a famous Mart in after ages The other in his warres with the Latines Fidenâtes Vejentes Sabines and Volscians He sat upon the Throne 24 years § 83 The fifth from Romulus was Lucius Tarquinius sirnamed Priscus or the elder in regard of L. Tarquinius Superbus his sonne or as Florus writes him his Grandson He though not only not a Roman but also not so much as an Italian was named King propter industriam elegantiam for his industrie and handsome deportment He as Livie tells the story was the sonne of Damarâtus a rich Merchant of Corinth who forced out of his own Country came with his family into Italy and planted himself at Tarquinii a Town of Etruria or Tuscanie He had two sonnes Aruns and Lucumo Lucumo after the death both of his Father and Brother came to Rome where for his wealth prudence he was elected into the Senatorian order by Ancus Martius and instead of Lucumo called Lucius and Tarquinius from Tarquinii the Town of his birth And after Ancus his death notwithstanding the left two sons was thought worthy to be his Successor He conquering the rebelling Sabines Latines and the twelve Tuscan Nations was the first who triumphed in Rome From these last he borrowed and introduced all the ornaments and ensigns of Soveraignty with all the habits and fashions which were afterwards used by the Roman people He reigned thirty eight years and was treacherously murdered by two Villains suborned by the two Sonnes of Ancus Martius As you may read the story at large in Livie l. 1. he left two sonnes Aruns and Lucius called afterward Superbus But neither of these succeeded immediately to their Father but Servius Tullius a Slave by birth as born of Ocrisia a Lady taken in the Corniculan warre Ocrisia as being of the best quality of the Captivâ—s was presented to Tanaquil Wife to Tarquinius and being left with child by her Husband was delivered of a boy which from the servile condition of his Mother was called Servius and from his Father Tullius He from a hopefull and towardly child became a deserving and gallant man insomuch that K. Tarquin thought him worthy of his Daughter and the people of Rome of the Crown For he married the one and after the death of the murdered Tarquin was elected to the other his
shadie woods thick coverts so Men by the Moons uncertain glimm'rings goe When Jove in clouds hath wrap't the darken'd skye And night with-drawn all colours from the eye 'Fore Hells 34 base-Court Sadnesse with poynant care As ever-waking Sentinels appeare Pale Sicknesse peevish Age Death Labour Feare Ill-prompting Hunger sluttish Want dwell there Forms dreadfull to behold Deaths brother Sleep Self-hugging Sin dire Warre next station keep Last th' iron beds of the Eumenides And witlesse Discord neighb'ring were to these With bloody fillets bound about her head Within the Court a shadie 35 Elme did spread Its aged branches Here the vulgar tell That vain Dreams under each leafe shrouded dwell Beside of divers forms there monsters were Centaurs 36 stall'd at the Gates mix'd 37 Scylla's there Hundred arm'd 38 Briareus with 39 Lerna's beast Whose fearfull hissings the whole place infest Chimaer ' 40 with flames inviron'd 41 Gorgons there And 42 Harpyes with three-bodied-Elves 43 appear Aeneas whom surprizal made afraid As they approach presents his threatning blade And had he not by his wise * Guide been told That hee but apparitions did behold Forms without bodies them hee charged had And on the Ghosts a vain impression made The way hence to infernal 44 Ach'ron leads That troubled and unfathom'd gulph here spreads Its inlarg'd bosom whence it up doth fling Its noysom sands into Cocytus spring A dreadfull Ferry-man doth guard this passe Horrid old nasty 45 Charon on whose face A wood of snarl'd and grizly hair doth grow His eyes like sawcers stare like fire do glow Ty'd on his shoulders hung his sordid coat A Pole did steer and sayles advance his Boat Wherein his ayrie fraight he o're did passe And though in yeeres the God yet lusty was Matrons and men with Ghosts of Heroes stout Boyes and unmarried Virgins throng about These banks with youths imposed on the Pyre Before the face of their lamenting Syre Trees doe not faster shed their wither'd locks In Autumns cold nor in more num'rous flocks Doe Birds from Northern-blasts make their retreat To Regions blest with more indulgent heat They for praecedence striving prayd and did Desirous of the Rivers further syde Stretch forth their hands But the grim Boat-man those Now these receives but others doth oppose In their desired passage Here the good Aeneas who at this throng wondring stood Tell Maid doth say what means this confluence What would those Soules and why this difference That those should from the banks depart whilst these With joyfull Oares doe sweep the livid Seas The aged Priestesse briefly thus replies Anchises sonne of the great Deities Th' undoubted of-spring thou dost here survay Cocytus noysome streames that Stygian bay By which the Gods doe feare an Oath to take But more that Oath which they have ta'ne to break Those troops are such as yet no buriall have That Boat-man Charon those hee wafts a Grave Have found None may be ferri'd o're this Deep Till in the Earth their quiet bones doe sleep A 46 hundred yeeres about these banks they stray This term expir'd the passage then is free Aeneas stop't with various thoughts opprest And for their harder fate much grief exprest Leucaspes and Lycian Orontes hee Sad as depriv'd fo fun'ral Rites did see Whom stormie-Winds both men and ships did drown As they fled from their sack'd and flaming Town His master 47 Palinurus here appears Who whilst from Lybia sayling the bright starres Hee did observe into the Deep did fall To him whom he to mind could scarce recall Amidst those shades Aeneas doth begin By what God hast thou from us ravish'd bin Say Palinurus who hath drowned thee Phoebus who ne're before deluded mee Herein hath mee deceiv'd Hee made beleeve That on Ausonia's shore thou shouldst arrive Safe from all dangers of the faithlesse flood What doth the God his promise thus make good But hee nor Phoebus hath deluded thee Great Chief or in the surges drowned mee The helm by which as Steers-man I our Course Did govern from the vessel rent by force Falling I with me drew by Seas I sweare That none mee lost could be ingreater feare For thee then I least void of guide and helm The swelling waves thy ship should over whelm Three winter nights by stoâ—my Auster tost I floated on the waves th' Italiau coast As I a rowling billow did bestride On the fourth morning hardly I descry'd I safe now gain the shore to which I made When wet and tyr'd a savage route m' invade Guided by hopes of prey as I did climb And graspe the craggy Rock now dead I swim A sport to winds and waves rol'd to the shore But by heav'ns blessed light I thee implore By thy dead Sire and by thy living * Heir Mee from these miseries great Conquerer Rescue or mee interre which thou maist doe If to the Port of Velia thou wilt goe Or if some other way there be if thy Fair Mother it to thee doth shew for I Beleeve without the Auspice of the Gods Thou ventur'st not to passe these dreadfull floods Help wretched mee me o're these streames convay That quietly in death repose I may But to him thus the Prophetesse replies From whence doth this accust desire arise Think'st Palinure unburied to sayle o're The Stygian sound or to the other shore Without thy passe-port wilt thou goe forbear The stubborn Fates mill not be bow'd by Prayr Take this for salace of thy sadder chance By prodigies compell'd th' Inhabitants Both far and neer thy Manes shall appease And to thy memory a tomb shall rayse After thy name to all aeternitie The place shall Palinurus called bee This speech the grief which he conceiv'd abates He 's pleas'd that hee that Coast denominates Wherefore proceeding they doe now draw nigh The River whom when Charon did espy Tending that way hee 48 rudely thus 'gan speak Who e're thou art who armed to this Lake Guid'st thy bold steps what is thine errand here Say man and further to advance forbeare Of Ghosts sleep drowzie night thou view'st the place No living bodies in our Bark may passe Nor 49 that Perithous and Hercules With Theseus came aboard mee did it please Though from the Gods they were descended though For matchlesse valour none could them out-doe One Hell 's grim Guardian bound and trembling drew From our great Sov'raigns Throne the other two From Dis his armes his Queen design'd to force The 50 Virgin briefly speaks to this discourse Be not offended wee no treason beare No violence though wee bee armed feare That Porter may to all aâ—ternity Ly barking in his Den and terrifie The bloodlesse Ghosts the Emperesse of Hell May unattempted with her Uncle dwell For piety and armes Aeneas great Doth seeke his father in hells lowest seat If so great piety perswade not see This bough the Bough in her vest hidden shee Did then display He pacif'd replies No more
Juno should also joyn against him his weather-beaten Trojans as she had done with the Greeks formerly And lastly that as the Trojan war proceeded from a Wife Causa mali tanti Conjux namely from Helena the rightfull Wife of Menelaüs stoln away and ravished by Paris so should this mortal quarrel take birth from Lavinia Latinus his Daughter formerly betrothed to Turnus and by force of armes an uncouth way of wooing sought in marriage by Aeneas And thus is the dark Oracle expounded § 14 Viz. from Evander of Arcadia a Province of Peloponesus a known and famous part of Graecia The reason of whose quitting his native soil and Kingdome Servius affirmes to be this Evander unnaturally slew his aged Mother by some called Carmentis by others Nicostrata for which fact being expelled by his Subjects he came into Italy where warring with and conquering the native Aborigines he possest himself of that place where Rome now stands and there founded a small Town on the Palatine Hill naming it Pallantêum in remembrance of King Pallas his Great-grand-sire and this is that urbs Graia obscurely hinted by the Oracle but more plainly specified by the Poet l. 8. Arcades his oris genus à Pallante profectum Qui regem Evandrum comites qui signa secuti Delegêre locum posuêre in montibus urbem Pallantis proavi de nomine Pallantêum Arcadian strangers Pallas mighty race Conducted by Evander in this place A City chose to build and did the same From 's Grandsire Pallas Pallanteum name § 15 It was the subtilty of the Devill who could not positively affirm any thing of future contingencies lest his Prophets and Oracles should by the non-successe of his predictions be had in disrepute to deliver his answers in dark and obscure riddles in intricate and involved terms and such as might be taken two wayes that whether they succeeded or not his credit might not suffer such were these Aio te Aeacida Romanos vincere posse Pyrrhus I say thy force the Romans shall subdue Croesus Halim penetrans magnam pervertet opum vint If Croesus Halis pass great wealth he shall o'rethrow See Cicer. l. 2. de divinat And such was that wicked riddle as our Histories report it of Adam d'Orleton Bishop of Hereford concerning the murdering of Edward the Second Edvardum occidere nolite timere bonum est All which according to the pointing of the words had a different nay a contrary meaning and construction whence Apollo is sirnamed by the Greeks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. obliquus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from his doubtfull and perplexed answers § 16 Aeneas not only from the opportunity of the place where the descent into those infernall mansions was held to be urgeth his request but also from that Topick of example pursues it further First from Orpheus whose story skill in Musick descent into Hell with other particulars ascribed to that ancient Heroe are so well known that we shall not at all dwell upon them we will only give you the mythologie thereof Orpheus was said to be the sonne of Apollo and Calliope one of the Muses first in generall because all good and gallant men were said to be descended from the Gods and their souls to be dropt into their bodies from one of the Spheres especially from that of the Sun then in particular for his great skill in Musick and Poetry as the undoubted sonne of Apollo and Calliope But that trees and bruit beasts were feigned to be attentive auditors of his harmonious Lyre is that by his eloquent tongue and good example he brought the rude and barbarous of that age to a more civil and sociable way of living Sylvestres homines sacer interpresque Deorum Caedibus victu foedo deterruit Orpheus Dictus ab hoc lenire tigres rapidosque leones Dictus Amphion Thebanae conditor arcis Saxa movere sono testudinis prece blandà Ducere quo vellet fuit haec sapientia quondam Publica privatis secernere sacra prophanis Concubitu prohibere vago dare jura maritis Oppida moliri leges incidere ligno Horat. de art Poet. ' Cause sacred Orpheus that interpreter Of the great Gods did brutish men deterre From their enormous living it was sam'd That salvage Lions he and Tigers tam'd Amphion so Thebe's founder with his Lyre Mov'd stones and led men to his own desire By sweetning words It was the sapience Of elder times to put a difference Betwixt things sacred and prophane betwixt Publick and private interests Commixt And rambling lust by marriage to restrain And by sound Lawes Republicks to maintain § 17 You see the office of the ancient Poets and the effects of true Poesie to which Philosophy both naturall and morall owes its originall They did not prostitute that excellent faculty in composing flattering Panegyricks lascivious Epigrams and saltless Sonnets as now adayes but according to the true state and grandeur thereof imployed it in delivering the mysteries of Philosophy and principles of humanity so that in the infancy of this profession and things then are least adulterated men repaired to Poets as to Oracles all knowledge and erudition being as we have said originally confined to that divine endowment Neither is any other thing meant then what we have said by his descent into Hell by bringing back Euridice from thence and working effects contrary to their nature on the Devils themselves but that he by civilizing and sweetly subduing the irregular affections of brutish men who render the place where they abide a very Hell did bring Euridice which signifies Justice under which notion the whole Systeme of morality is comprehended again among them who till then lived by rapine the stronger oppressing the lesse able to defend Secondly he alledgeth the examples of Castor Pollux Jupiter falling in love with Leda not knowing how to gain accesse to her changed himself into the likeness of a Swan caused an Eagle to pursue him who took Sanctuary in her lap Pity in her ushered in love Beauty and the harmony of the tongue expressed by the Swan were his prevailing solicitors In conclusion he master'd his design and lying with her got her with child who that night also was made impregnat by her Husband Tyndarus At last she was delivered of two eggs of the one came Pollux and Helena both immortall because the progenie of Jupiter of the other Castor and Clytemnestra both mortall because the Children of Tyndarus Hence Pollux an emblem of fraternall affection obtained of his Father Jupiter that since his Brother Castor could not be altogether immortall he might be so in part and that by participation of his immortality whence when Castor died it was granted that they should live by turns Castor one day and Pollux another wherefore Virgil sayes Itque reditque viam toties The Fables of the ancients wherein their wisedom and learning was mystically couched and purposely to procure reverence to them and it
Servius observes makes their souls to be grievously punished in Hell whose late possessors had before the expiration of Natures Lease over-hastily turned them out of doores But why Styx is said here novies interfusa nine times incompassed Interpreters vary some say that the Poet alludes here to those sacra novendialia the Ceremonies and Rites observed about the dead whose body was kept eight dayes and interred the ninth others to the nine Regions of Hell above mentioned but De la Cerda and Meyenus conclude with Cael. Rhodigin l. 22. c. 8. that the number of 9. as being a most perfect and absolute number is taken here indefinitely for any number or multitude so that novies here is eqvivalent with multoties § 55 The fourth station is assigned to such as have died or made themselves away for love and here we may observe these following circumstances First that this place hath the name of the fields of Mourning from that grief and melancholy which is the individuall companion of impatient Lovers Secondly that they spend their time in secret close and retired walks as such who being ashamed of their forepassed commissions shun the light and all conversation as Ovid speaks of Nyctimene quae conscia culpae Conspectum lucemque fugit tenebrisque pudorem Celat Ovid Met. l. 2. f. 9. she full of guilt the sight And day did shun and mask'd her shame in night Or because Lovers for the Poet speaks principally of the unchaste out of the nature of this vice commit that sin in secret Thirdly that they converse in myrtle Groves as the Slaves and Satellites of Venus to whom that tree is sacred Fourthly that though dead they retain their former love and affection for this vice we still speak of unlawfull love that is lust sticks most pertinaciously is never or with much difficulty eradicated naturall inclination seconded with evil habits rendring the unchast an irredeemable vassall to his own filthy desires The examples the Poet presents us with here are all of women as the sex the most impatient of love and the most unbridled in their appetite Of these the first is Phaedra Daughter to King Minos and Wife of Theseus King of Athens who by Antiopa the Amazon a former Wife had a Sonne called Hippolitus He as well in his vow and love of Chastity as in that of hunting shewed himself to be a true Votary of Diana the Goddesse of both Phaedra falling in love with her Son in Law courted him to her bed but the more virtuous Youth refusing to stain his Fathers sheets disappointed his lustfull Mother who impatient of the affront as also fearing to be her self betrayed and accused by Hippolytus took the advantage of anticipation and told Theseus that his Sonne would have forced her The over-credulous Father vowing revenge pursues him with curses whom because fled he could no otherwise pursue The Gods who oftentimes yield to unjust Petitions for a punishment to the Petitioner heard his rash vowes and provided a sad and sudden destruction for the Sonne whom the Father had so undeservedly cursed for as Hippolytus took his flight by the sea-side certain sea-monsters called Phocae which lay basking themselves on the shore affrighted at the noise of his chariot and the trampling of his horses threâ— themselves with great violence into the sea the horses in like manner affrighted thereat ran away and overturning the Chariot tore the intangled Youth limb from limb which when the conscious Phaedra knew after confession of her own wickedness and false accusation she expiated her crime by becoming her own executioner See Sen in Hippâ—l and Ovid. in epist § 56 The second is Procris whose story related at large by Ovid Met. l. 7. we shall contract in this manner Precris was the Daughter of Erectheus King of Athens and Wife of Cephalus who though a true lover of his Wife and a great admirer of her virtues upon I know not what suspicion incident to lovers coming to her in a disguise attempted her chastity she having made a resistance sufficient to testifie her loyalty at last by his over-acted importunity all-conquering presents yields when he discovering himself upbraâ—ds her with her infidelity Whereupon Procris convinced and ashamed forsakes her Husband and hides her self in woods and desert places but at last peace being made betwixt them she gave him who delighted much in hunting an inevitable dart and a dog exceedingly swift called Lelaps Thus provided Cephalus was much abroad in the woods and rising before day from his Wife went often a hunting wherefore Prâ—cris searing that under pretence of going a hunting he quitted her embraces for those of some beloved Nymph followed him privately into the woods and there as a spye hid her self amongst the bushes Cephalus being tired with heat and toyl hapned to retire himself into the shade near the place where Procris lay and there according to his custome called upon Aura i. e. the Air to refresh him she thinking that by that name he called upon his expected Mistress that she might make the better discovery raised her self and by stirring the bushes gave him a suspicion that some wild beast lay there obscured wherefore casting his never-missing dart his unhappy Consorts fatal present he unwittingly slew his dearest Wife A story invented to deterre from jealouse the bane of all conjugall content and from imaginary and groundless suspicions which are oftentimes the cause of real and fatall tragedies Eriphyle was according to Eustathius Daughter of Talaüs wife of Amphiaraüs and Adrastus his Sister who corrupted by Polynîces with a chain of gold betrayed her Husband who absented himself that he might not accompany Adrastus in the Theban expediâ—ion where he knew he should certainly perish But Amphiaraüs resenting very highly the perfidiousness of his Wife left it as his last legacies with his Son Alcmaeon that as soon as he should receive the certain news of his death he should slay his Mother which he facto pius sceleratus â—odem in revenge of his Father performed therefore the Poet sayes of her here moestamque Eriphylen Crudelis nati monstrantem vulnera cerâ—it The nex was Evadne the Daughter of Mars by Thebe the Wife of Asôpus she was Wife to Capaneus one of those Captains who accompanied Adrastus in the Theban Warres who loved her Husband so passionately that when his exequies were solemâ—ized she cast her self into the same flames which consumed her beloved Consort As for the story of Pasiphaë we have already enlarged upon it § 4. we shall therefore proceed to Laodamîa the most affectionate Consort of the undaunted Protesilaüs who notwithstanding that it was foretold him by the Oracle that whosoever of the Greeks should land first upon Phrygian ground should for his forwardness pay the price of his life first lept on the shore where encountring Hector he was by him slain His Wife receiving the sad news of her Husbands death conceived such
he was sayd to cover nine acres of ground He for attempting Latona's chastity Mother of Apollo was by him for his insolence killed and being thrust into Hell suffered that cruel and endless torture which you see here expressed Here you see how lust and all inordinate desires are rewarded The truth is that by Tityus we are to understand filthy Concupiscence which according to the opinion of Physitians resideth in the liver as laughter in the spleen anger in the gall whence his liver is said to reincrease and grow as it is devoured because beastly desires are no sooner satisfied but that they return again and for this reason also he was said to cover nine acres because lust does latè patére is very extensive unbridled and ranging But most worthily is Tityus punished in his liver as the seat of lust The divine justice is oftentimes so precise and notorious as to afflict the very partts which have offended Thus the very hand which Jeroboam stretched out against the man of God and no other part shrunk up and withered The fifth was Pirithous who was therefore damned because he attempted Proserpine as we have already said The sixth was Ixion Father of Pirithous and King of the Lapithae who for the attempt upon June was punished in the same manner The story of Ixion in short is this Ixion King of the Lapithae a barbarous people of Thessalie and sonne of Phlegyas having treacherously slain his Wifes Father Deioneus and for that fact and other misdemeanours dethroned and expelled his Kingdome by his own Subjects was by Jupiter pitying his disconsolate and sad condition received into heaven and made a Privado to the King of the Gods But as Favorites often doe abusing his Princes friendship he endeavoured to stain Jupiters bed and to that end made great Court to Juno who as naturally honest as she was a curst Shrew and ugly discovered it to her Husband he hardly crediting that a person so obliged could prove so ungratefull would not at first entertain any prejudiciall opinion against his friend unless he had some more evincing evidence wherefore transforming a cloud into the shape of Juno now by compact consenting he by this experiment found out the falshood of the designing Adulterer who for his desired Mistress embraced a cloud and indeed that contentation and satisfaction which the unchast promise themselves in their illicit and beastly enjoyments proves but a cloud a meer nothing neither answering the pleasure expected or countervailing the sin committed turpis est brevis in coitu voluptas For this fact Ixion was cast out of heaven who not ceasing to boast of the affront he had put upon Jupiter was for this second piece of insolence thrust into Hell where he was said to be tied to an ever-turning wheel though Maro hath invented another kind of punishment But the History which gave rise to this tale is this Ixion banished by his own Subjects fled to a certain neighbouring King for every King was anciently by his Parasites styled Jupiter where he was courteously entertained by that Prince but endeavouring to corrupt the Queen was by her discovered to her Husband who purposely put a trick upon him by deceiving him with a servant called Nephele which signifies a cloud after which being expelled the Court he was said to wander up and down as unquiet and restless in mind as one who is turned on a wheel is in body This Fable is invented against the ungratefull and treacherous who repay kindness and desert with injury and falshood with which no punishment but that of Hell can bear proportion As for the Lapithae they were a bloody barbarous and inhospitable people as were their Conterraneans the Centaurs and might therefore as well as they deserve to be confined to those infernall Mansions But whereas the Poet mentions here the hanging stone c. it is to set before us the life of a Tyrant which though in shew glorious and splendid yet in reality is very miserable and sad being as obnoxious to inquietudes and disturbances of mind as it is to personall hazards and dangers as is manifested by the Story of Democles Dionysius his Parasite who admiring and magnifying the happiness of that exquisite Tyrant was by him clothed in royall robes and set at a magnificent and richly-furnished Table but a naked sword hanging over his head by a slender thread took away his appetite made him desire to be disrob'd and divested of that honour and state which was accompanied with so much peril and anxiety See Val. Maxim and Tully l. 5. Tusc quaest and to this particular Story the Poet may haply allude The Poet having alledg'd divers particulars lest he should cloy the Reader with too many instances of the same kind doth as it were sum up his discourse in these following generals placing such as are found guilty of these or the like crimes in Hell whereof the first are such as hate their own Brethren whom by the Law of Nature they are tied to prosecute with all kindnesses and good offices therefore if hatred be thus severely punished and hereby forbidden whatsoever is greater as fratricide is much more detestable Secondly those who have lifted up their hands against or struck their Parents whom by the same Law of Nature they are bound to reverence honour and obey The Law was that whosoever struck his Father should lose that hand which had been guilty of that intolerable offence Si quis patrem pulsaverit manus ei praecidatur Senec. Controvers l. 4. If this be forbidden and so severely punished much more is Parricide or Patricide for which the Ancients imagining that no man could be so prostitutely wicked as to be guilty of so enormous a crime appointed no punishment the after-times less innocent punished the Parricide in this manner they sowed him up in a Sack with a Dog a Cock a Viper an Ape and so cast him into the sea Pompey was Author of this law which was therefore called lex Pompeia de parricidiis Inst tit de publicis Judiciis § 5. one L. Ostius as Mynsinger observes upon that place was the first who was found guilty of and suffered for this abominable crime The third were such Patrons as had cheated abused or deserted their Clients It was a Custome amongst the Romans for the poorer sort which were called Plebei to make choice of some one of the richer which were termed Patricii to be their protectors in their lives and fortunes to defend and rescue them from the unjust oppressions and persecutions of their more powerfull adversaries and these were called Patroni for which protection or patronage the others called Clientes were bound to return all observance and respect to credit them with their attendance in publick Assemblies to disburse out of their own purses toward the bestowing of their Daughters the paying of publick Mulcts the giving of Largesses in suing for Offices c. Neither was
it lawfull for either of them to inform depose to give their voices or to side with adversaries one against another without the guilt of treason for which they were Diis inferis devoti cursed to Hell and the Law gave liberty for any man to kill them so sacred and inviolable a thing was faith amongst the Ancients nay so great was the reciprocall bond and tie of the Patron towards the Client that as A. Gellius testifies l. 20. c. 1. they preferred their Client to the nearest of their relations and did defend them though it were against their own Brother The fourth were the Covetous who preferring their filthy sordid and illegal gain to all other respects whatsoever were so far from making others sharers with them in their great wealth and riches that they denied that support and assistance which by all Laws both natural and civil they were oblig'd unto to their nearest and dearest relations The fift were adulterous persons such sayes he as have been slain in that filthy and unlawfull act for by the Law the Husband might kill the Adulterer and his Wife if he took them together Lastly he puts all Rebels in this damned List who take up armes against their natural Prince their politick Father and tear out the bowels of their native soyl their dearest Mother such arms the Poet there full justly calls impia and as justly damns them who take them up to Tartarus or the nethermost Hell But whereas the Poet sayes of Theseus sedet aeternumque sedebit that he sits and shall for ever sit in Hell hath given much trouble to Interpreters to reconcile and is excepted against by Jul. Higinus A. Gell. lib. 10. c. 16. for he is reckoned by our Author a little above amongst those who both descended to and returned from Hell and therefore how can it be said that he sat here for ever The learned De la Cerda salves it thus Virgil speaks here of Theseus not when he descended alive into Hell to ravish Proserpine but of Theseus who after his death was said to sit for ever upon a hot burning stone Cael. Rhodig l. 4. c. 8. Although I see no reason why Theseus should be condemned to so cruel a torment who for his heroick deeds deserved so well of mankind that after his death he was thought worthy of divine honours of altars and Sacrifices as you may read in his life written by Plutarch wherefore some read it Thereus as Meyênus observes But for Phlegyas he was said to be the sonne of Mars King of the Lapithae Father of Ixîon and the Nymph Corônis who being ravished by Apollo he in revenge fired that Gods Temple at Delphi for which impiety he was slain by Apollo and thrust into Hell He was certainly a very wicked Tyrant and therefore worthily damned his own guilt he openly professeth whilst he bids others by his example beware of committing the like offences of injustice against men and impiety against the Gods Dicite justitiam moniti non temnere Divos Learn justice nor when warn'd the Gods despise § 63 Not unlike the Story of the rich Glutton in the Gospel who desired that his Brethren should be forewarned by his example from coming into that place of torments After these two particulars see how artificially the Poet to avoid nauseating his Reader interweaves his discourse with variety he subjoyns a few generals viz. of those who for gold had betrayed their Country's liberty to an usurping oppressor Interpreters say that either Lasthenes who sold Olynthus to Philip of Macedon or Curio who sold Rome to Jul. Caesar is here glanced at of the latter thus Lucan l. 4. Momentumque fuit mutatus Curio rerum Gallorum captus spoliis Caesaris auro Chang'd Curio to that side much weight did add By Caesars gold and spoils a Traytor made Secondly of those who having the legislative power have both made abrogated Laws for mony in the Latin the Poet alludes to the Roman Custome who when they had enacted a Law used to engrave the same in brazen Tables and then to affixe them to a pillar in some publick place there to be exposed to the general view and then when they did null the same to take them down from that Pillar whence legem figere refigere is to make or null a Law Thirdly and lastly of those who had been guilty of incest a filthiness which nature abhors Donatus whom Servius for this reprehends sayes that the Poet obliquely toucheth Cicero which unhandsome censure of his he grounds upon that defamatory declamation against Tully which goes vulgarly under Salustius his name whose words are these Filia matris pellex tibi jucundior atque observantior quam parenti par est Thine own Daughter sayes that uncivil Declaimour received into her Mothers bed was more delightfull to and observant of thee then became either her oâ— thee And now the Poet having enlarg'd upon the description of Hell of the Damned and of the torments they sustain shuts up his excellent discourse with this imitation of Homer Il. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We have here in the translation taâ—â— in Homers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not only as necessary to the filling up of the English Rythm but as an addition and complement to the sense Thus you see Hell most naturally depainted by the excellent pencill of our great Artist with all imaginable circumstances of Horror invented on purpose to the end that those-whom humane Lawes and temporary punishments could not bridle and restrain from evil doing might for fear of those more severe and lasting torments of the other world abstain from those enormous sins for which they are sure to be called to a very strict account hereafter And now Sibylla the person speaking having satisfied Aeneas his curiosity concerning Hell bids him proceed for they made a halt during this discourse partes ubi se via findit in ambas as you may read a little above and now leaving Tartarus or Hell on the left hand they take to the right which led to Pluto's Palace and the Elysian fields we have therefore translated this of Virgil Corripiunt spatium medium as you see not as Virgils late translatour has done they take the middle way for Pluto's Palace stood not in the mid'st betwixt Hell and the Elysium but on the right hand Hence corripiunt spatium medium is according to Turnebus l. 9. c. 27. expounded carptim faciunt citò peragunt spatium intermedium vel positum inter illos Plutonis regiam Corripere Gradum Viam Spatium are phrases frequently used by this Poet and signifie the same § 64 The Poet having described Hell the irksome abode of the Damned now comes to the description of the Elysium where the souls of good men were entertained with all pleasures imaginable as green Medows shady Groves delightfull odours clear and gentle streams pleasant fruits harmonious Musick dancing feasting mirth peace and
predecessors issue being pretermitted He held the reins of goverment 44. years and was as deserving a Prince as any although omitted here by our Author who treats of things not Historically but Poetically and after a grosser manner § 83 The seventh and last of the Kings was Tarquinius Superbus Sonne to Tarquinius Priscus and Sonne-in-law to Servius Tullius who bestowed his Daughter Tullia on him A woman of a violent unquiet and ambitious spirit who incited her Husband L. Tarquinius a man of the like temper with her self to murder the King her own Father and by force to invest himself in the regal power which he as boldly as wickedly effected but administring that government as impotently as he had obtained it wickedly as also for the rape of Lucretia by his Son Sextus He with his whole family was expelled Rome which from that time of a Monarchy became a free State Tarquin tyrannized 25. years so that Rome from Romulus to him was governed by Kings 244. years as Livie computes it And this was the infancy of the Roman State under the regal power and indeed as an Infant it being no more then able to crawl had made but a small advance in order to that greatness which it afterward atchieved For that people which in process of time when it arrived to its virile estate or manhood did bound its Empire with the rising and setting Sun and carried its victorious Eagles from the Northern to the Southern world had not in 250. years gained above fifteen miles in circuit from their Cities walls nor after so many battels conquests and triumphs extended their Territories further then a nimble Footman could run in two hours As if it were in States as it is in nature wherein we see that those things which are designed for strength and duration do soberly and by degrees arrive to perfection but that those which are soon in their wane and decadence do suddenly and as it were per saltum attain to their increment and consistence How often have we seen the power of a State terminate in one man and the glory of a Nation breath out its last when he expired so circumscribed a thing is greatness and so transitory is that gaudy pomp which the world admires but to return § 84 Lucius Junius the sonne of Marcus Junius and Tarquinia Sister to Superbus was the first who brought the sirname of Brutus into the Junian Family For he seeing by the sad examples of his own Father and Brother lately murdered by the jealous Tyrant that to deserve highly was the highest treason and that vertue was the most compendious way to ruine and destruction counterâ—eited himself a fool wherein he acted his part so to the life that he purchased to himself and his Descendants the contemptible but secure nickname of Brutus or the Brute And in all appearance he continued such till a fair opportunity incouraged him to lay aside the fool coat and to appear in the more becomming dress of a man of wisdome and courage For he was the first who having rescued the oppressed people from the impotent rule of the Tarquins changed the form of government from a Monarchy to a State from Regal to Consular and was the first who together with his Collegue Collatinus was invested in this new Magistracy which was annual and to be administred by two on purpose to defeat and disappoint those advantages which a single and continued power might take upon the people who instrusted them They were called Consules à consulendo Reipublicae from the care they took of the common good as Cicero will have it or as Varro quòd consulere populum Senatum deberent because they ought to advise with the Senate and the People in all affairs and designs This office as annual and in the person of two differed only from the Kingly government otherwise they had the same ensigns and marks of soveraignty which the Kings had for they had their twelve Lictors carrying the Fasces or bundle of rods before them with the Secures or Axes as before the late Kings wherefore Virgil calls them here fasces receptos viz. à regibus the Fasces or soveraign power wrested out of the hands of the Kings But to proceed and I hope that the Reader will not think that I doe impertinently seek matter of discourse if I inlarge something upon this Story he shall find many particulars coincident with passages of our own times and agreeing with the sinister policies of our modern Innovators Brutus therefore the principal vindicator of the peoples liberty knowing that there was as much virtue required in maintaining what he had got as in the primarie acquisition endeavours by all means possible to confirm and knit the as-yet-feeble joynts of his infant Republick and to this end in the first place he causeth the people to ingage themselves by oath against the government of a single person jure-jurando populum adegit neminem Romae passuros regnare Livie Secondly he was very industrious in ruining and disâ—abling the royal party which indeed by reason of Tarquins demerits were but few and those either green-headed Courtiers or such of the Nobility quâ—rum in regno libido solutior fuerat whose looseness under a Kingly government were lesse remarkable all the friends I say of the ejected King were suddenly suppressed amongst the rest Collatinus the Husband of the ravished Lucretia and Brutus his Coadjutor in the regifuge and now Companion with him in office was by his means because of Tarquins Family both turned out of his place and banished his Country nay to strike the greater terrour into others who should attempt the restitution of the Tarquins he did not only pronounce sentence upon his own sonnes Titus and Tiberius with others of the Nobility neerly allied to him who were convinced to have held correspondence with the Common enemy but appeared an unmoved and irrelenting overseer and exactor of their punishment qui spectator erat amovendus eum ipsum exactorem supplicii fortuna dedit Livie Thirdly he caused all the estate both real and personal of the ejected Family to be dissipated and divided amongst the people knowing full well that those who had swallowed such fair morsels would be very hardly perswaded to regorge them Bona regia diripienda plebi sunt data ut contactâ regiâ praedâ spem in perpetuum cum his pacis amitteret On the other side the Tarquins were not idle but finding by the disappointment of the late plot that it was in vain to hope to compass any thing by the assistance of disarmed suppressed and discouraged friends at home they as in their case any would doe implore forain aid and flie first to the Veientes and Tarquinienses a people of Etruria and implacable enemies to the Roman name These arme in the quarrel of the exiled Princes and in this battel fell their great Brutus but most remarkably Aruns the sonne of Tarquin who commanded the enemies
was a man of very able parts quick witty apprehensive eloquent fitted for any either publick or private employment See the ample character Livie gives of him l. 39. In hoc viro tanta vis animi c. He wrote much and upon various subjects especially in Oratory though by the injury of time we are deprived of those his Monuments He had two Wives his first was of a noble Family by whom he had M. Cato who married Tertia Paulus Aemilius his Daughter a right Gallant and deserving person He died when he was chosen Praetor before he was invested in his office He begot M. Cato who was Consul with Q. Martius Rex an urb 637. and C. Cato Consul with M. Acilius Balbus an urb 640. Marcus the elder of these left another Marcus who being Praetor died in France this is what we can gather concerning Cato's posterity by his first Wife See A. Gell. l. 13. c. 18. He took for his second choice the Daughter of Salonius his Client a woman of mean birth on whom he begot when he was 80. years of age Cato Salonianus who left two Sons M. and L. Cato the first died whilst he sued to be Praetor the second was Consul with Cn. Pompeius Strabo Father to Pompey the Great This Lucius Cato was according to Plutarch Father to M. Cato sirnamed the Philosopher from his wisdome and virtue and Vticensis because he slew himself at Vtica in Africk rather than to receive his life from the hands of Caesar his enemy His life is written at large by Plutarch and his character thus briefly delivered by Vell. Paterculus l. 2. Marcus Cato genitus proavo M. Catone principe illo familiae Porciae homo virtuti simillimus per omnia ingenio Diis quà m hominibus propior qui nunquam rectè fecit ut facere videretur sed quia aliter facere non potuit cuique id solum visum est rationem habere quod haberet justitiam omnibus humanis vitiis immunis semper fortunam in suâ potestate habuit Marcus Cato born of M. Cato his Great-grand-father the chief and first of the Poreian Family was the very image of virtue a person in all things more resembling the Gods then men who never did any handsome thing that it might be said he did it but because he could not doe otherwise as who thought that only reasonable which was just and being free from all vice had fortune still in his power He left a sonne of his own name who although noted for intemperate and loose expiated that stain by dying valiantly on Brutus his side against Augustus as heir to his Fathers cause as well as name He had a daughter also called Porcia the most loving Wife of M. Brutus and true Inheritrix of her Fathers soul who hearing of the death of her beloved Consort when she could no other way put an end to her loathed life swallowed down hot-burning coals and so expired which the ingenious Martial hath thus expressed Conjugis audisset fatum cum Porcia Bruti Et subtracta sibi quaereret arma dolor Nondum scitis ait mortem non posse negari Credideram satis hoc vos docuisse Patrem Dixit ardentes avido bibit ore favillas I nunc ferrum turba molesta nega When Porcia heard of her dear Brutus fate And sought wherewith her own t' accelerate Know you not death can't be deni'd I thought My Father this sufficiently had taught This said she greedily drank glowing coals Now swords deny unreasonable fools And this is what we could collect concerning Cato and the Porcian Family See Plut. in Cat. Major Minor Liv. l. 39. epit l. 114. c. § 92 The Cossi were Patricians of the illustrious and numerous Family of the Cornelii which according to Anton. Augustinus were branched into the Cossi which were subdivided into the Maluginenses and the Arvinae Secondly into the Scipiones who were distinguished by the sirnames of the Asinae Calvi Nasîcae and Africani Thirdly into the Lentuli who were differenced by the houses of the Gaudini Lupi Surae Spintheri and Marcellini we may add to these the Syllae Rufini Dolabellae Merulae and the Cethegi Of the Cornâ—lio-Cossian Family there were very many who bore the greatest offices in the Common-wealth i. e. Pontificate or high Priesthood once the honour of winning the Spolia opima or Royal Spoils three Dictaetorships two Censorships three Triumphs two Decemvirates ten Consulates twenty two Tribunates with Consular power and four Masterships of the horse rested in this Family and were with great honour to themselves and advantage to the State administred by them But the glory and honor of the name and the person more particular to be understood here is Aulus Cornelius Cossus who when the Fidâ—enates a Colony of the Romans assisted by the Falisci and Vejentes rebelled wonne the Spolia opima or Royal Spoils of which more largely anon by killing with his own hand Lars Tolumnius King of the Vejentes See the manner of it in Livie l. 4. by whom it is left very doubtfull both in what Command whether Consul Consular Tribune or Master of the horse Cossus performed this His character Livie gives in short thus viz. That he was a most goodly and beautifull personage of extraordinary strength of body and courage of mind and very ambitious to increase the honour of his Family which being of it self very illustrious he by this exploit render'd much more conspicuous He was the second after Romulus who consecrated the Spolia opima to Jupiter Feretrius and this is what we find recorded concerning Cossus wherefore Quis te Magne Cato tacitum autâ— te Cosse relinquet Who Cato would omit or Cossus thee § 93 I wonder very much that that learned and diligent Author Antonius Augustinus who wrote purposely of the most illustrious and noble Families of Rome should omit that of the Sempronii a Family not of the latest extraction or meanest credit in its time We according to our slender and often-interrupted reading having trac'd the Roman Story find four streams issuing from the same fountain of the Sempronii viz. that of the Blaesi that of the Tuditani that of the Longi and that of the Gracchi to these Fulvius Vrsinus adds the Atratini and the Petitiones names he finds stampt upon some ancient coins C. Sempronius Blaesus was twice Consul first with C. Servilius Caepio an urb 500. about the middle of the first Punick warre He was Consul nine years after with Aul. Manlius Torquatus Atticus M. Semproniuâ— Tudit anus was Consul with C. Claudius Cento an urb 517. Pub. Sempronius Tuditanus his Sonne was Consul with M. Cornelius Cethegus an urb 549. the fifteenth year of the second Punick warre when he fought prosperously against Hannibal M. Sempronius Tuditanus his Sonne was Consul with App. Claudius Pulcher an urb 568. about the time that the Romans warred against Philip King of Macedon Tib. Sempronius Longus