were eaten and destroyed in such sort with multitudes of Rats that the inhabitants in the end although they daily endeuoured to kill them were notwithstanding for penurie faine to leaue and forsake their Countrey Marcus Varro writeth That there was a Towne in Spain scituated on a sandie ground which was so vndermined by Connies that in short time it sunke and was vtterly decaied Neither haue these chances happened only in wild Countries and many continents but in places also enuironned with the sea as that it is written that one of the Isles Cyclades called Giare was by the ouer-abundance and multitudes of Rats and Mice left void and destitute of inhabitants being so tormented and annoied with them that very necessitie caused them to forgoe their Countrie It is also reported that in Fraunce a very famous towne was by the said vermine so abounding therein left void vnfrequented of any Inhabitants The like chance also as it is written happened in a certaine country of Affrica by the swarmes of Locusts and Grashoppers Plinie reporteth That in a certaine Prouince adioining to the confines of Aethiopia Ants and other small vermine exiled thence all the inhabitants thereabout The people of Megaris in Greece were constrained by bees to leaue and forsake the countrey Theophrastus speaketh of another Countrey which was destroyed by Palmers which are little wormes long and rough hauing many legs and in Latine may be called Bruchi Campe or Multipede Antenor writing also of the Isle of Crete sayth That a certaine multitude of Bees chased out of a great Cittie all the inhabitants thereof vsing their houses in the stead of hiues But returning to our former matter which was that the people of Aegypt verily beleeued that those Moles were sent by Vulcan into their Countrey to destroy and driue away their enemies the Arabians then entred into the land It is crediblie written by Plutarch and others that the people of Arabia do at this time infinitely abhor hate those kind of beasts and doe lay all plots and deuises to kill destroy them wheresoeuer they heare them to remaine which kind of vermine also the Ethiopians especially the coniurers of Persia hold an opinion to be very odious displeasing to their gods But it is not written that the Aegyptians beleeued that Vulcan should send them those Moles nor what reason moued them vnto that conceit in the embracing of such opinion but it is so recited as is before spoken of by that Author Alexander Neapolitanus without any further explication of it Although with some writers it is thus expounded By Vulcan say they is meant the drinesse and extreame heat of that season which was summer or else indeed the naturall drinesse and warmth of that Countrey of Aethiopia And Plinie writing of those vermine sayth they doe encrease and multiply in most aboundant manner alwaies coueting those places which by the ardent furie of the sunnes vertue become drie sandie and crased as likewise most of the countrey of Aethiopia is and further expositions are not found to bee deliuered by anie Writers touching that opinion and conceit of the Aegyptians The opinions and writings which the Ancients haue made of Vulcan remaine diuerse many and in that respect hee is shaped forth sometimes in this forme and sometimes in another with some hee is depictured standing working and hammering in a Smiths forge on the hill Etna in Sicilia framing thunderbolts for Iupiter and fashioning arrowes for the god of loue and was taken to bee the rarest workman that euer liued vnto whome when the gods had anie occasion to vse such maner of weapons they presently repaired as Thetis went vnto him to desire him to forge an armor for her sonne Achilles and Venus for her sonne Aeneas Some depicture him lame of one leg and of a very blacke and swart complexion as one all smokie of a general ill-shaped proportion of all his lineaments It is not read that vnto Vulcan were appropriated any beasts plants or trees as vnto all other of their gods onely Elianus writeth that the Egyptians consecrated vnto him the Lyons in that those beastes of all other are most hot drie fierie by nature by which abundance of heat within their bodies it comes to passe that they doe so exceedingly feare and are astonied at the sight of fire which they can by no meanes indure but run from it with great affrightment It is read also that on the hill Mongibell in Sicillia there are certain great dogs which do there guard and keepe the Temple of Vulcan which is seated hard by a woods side adioyning to that Mountaine and the people thereabouts doe worship and adore Vulcan in that Temple and in those consecrated woods and bushes It is written by the Poets that Vulcan was the husband of Venus as lawfully married vnto her and that they are alwaies depictured together as accompanying one the other By which is vnderstood that the generation and birth of creatures meant by Venus cannot bee effectuall without a moderate heat warmenesse which is also vnderstood by Vulcan Some also doe adioine Mars as the companion to Venus meaning by him the heat of the Sunne wherevpon the Alcitans people inhabiting the furthermost parts of Spaine as Macrobius reporteth made the Statue and Image of Mars so adorned and beautified with the beames of the sunne in as liuely manner as could bee deuised which picture was there reuerenced with wondrous zeale and adoration Macrobius also sayth That the gods being the substance of the celestiall fire were onely different in name and not otherwise and that Mars was generally taken for that heat and warmenesse which proceeded from the vertue of the Sun By reason whereof the liuely heat and bloud which is within vs is easily set on fire enflamed with anger furie and desire of warre of which things Mars also is held and supposed to bee the god And after that fashion the Auncients worshipped adored him dedicating vnto him many sumptuous Statues Images and Pictures and they shaped him of aspect most fierce terrible and wrathfull with hollow red eyes very speedie and quicke in their reuolutions his face all hairie with long curled lockes on his head depending euen to his shoulders of a coale-blacke colour he stood all armed throughout with a speare in one hand and in the other a whip and sometimes they depicture him riding on a horse sometimes drawne in a chariot whose horses were called Feare and Horror And some other say that his chariot was drawne with two men which alwaies accompanied him wheresoeuer he went and they were called Furie Violence The which thing Statius imitateth when he sayth That Iupiter sent for Mars and commanded him to raise and stirre vp bloudie warres and quarrels between the Argiues and Thebans And in this place Statius describeth the armes of this god to bee these He wore sayth hee on his head a helmet most bright
caue where Nature sits the soules of men seeme to flutter and houer ouer her head which importeth the infinite numbers of men that are euerie day created bringing then with them their soules and for that they appeare to flie directly ouer the bosome of Eternitie it meaneth that whosoeuer attaines vnto that excellencie of perfection must first enter his aspiring steps by the means of Nature and for that cause she is placed at the dore or portall The aged man which there sits deuiding and parting the starres may be called God not that hee is old for time ouer him loseth her vertue and worketh no effect who of himselfe is perpetuall and euer-liuing but that the auncients heretofore haue pleased so defigure him and because he effecteth all things by infinite wisdome ruling and commanding all creatures whatsoeuer by his vnspeakeable power they therefore attribute vnto him old age wherein is commonly found more wisdome grauitie and experience than in youth Thus farre Boccace reporteth not touching any thing at all the explication of the ages and worlds which followed in that his description in that indeed they were not so enigmaticall but euery one might easily admit the conceiuing knowledge of so familiar intendements Therefore now wee will proceed beginning with the Image or Statue of Saturnus according as it hath beene by the Auncients heretofore composed Saturne SAturne being expulsed heauen by Iupiter as histories record and throwne downe from thence into this middle region after many daies sailing vpon the sea at the length hee ariued in Italie where hee liued manie yeares with Ianus then king of that part of the Countrey where Rome afterwards was built but poorely and meanely he liued as indeed all the people in those times did as hauing vnfound out the vse of tilling and planting whereby corne and other fruits of the earth might suppeditate their wants of necessarie food and victuall The vse of which things they now learned from Saturne who painfully instructed them in the perfect knowledge of the nature of each soile and how and by what industrious meanes of art any ground fruitlesse of it self by nature might become fertile and rich This learned and powerfull skill of Saturne Ianus infinitely admired insomuch as manifesting his gratefulnesse for so be hoofefull and commodious a good turne receaued he communicated part of his kingdome for him to liue vpon affording him many other princely and respectiue regards And further commanded his people that when he died they should with all reuerence honour him as a god a thing easily embraced by the ignorant Heathen in those daies who in that they had receiued so vnexpected a benefite from his meanes willinglie condiscended to ascribe and attribute vnto him all godlike reuerence and deuout adoration as men indeed vnto whome the sole and eternall God had not ministred the Key of vnderstanding that their close-shut hearts liuing in the darke caue of ignorance might therewith bee opened and vnlocked for the admittance of the true acknowledgment of his sacred deitie but they onely worshipped him for their god who by his humane knowledge had found out some new means either for the earths better increase or other like profit that were most auaileable for their labour-lesse and sluggish liuing And therefore they willingly adored Saturne as a mightie and puissant god dedicating vnto him manie sumptuous Statues and temples And him in his Statue they framed with a hooke or syth in his hand demonstrating thereby as they meant it the inuention of tilling of the ground because with that the corne once recouering his maturitie is cut downe Other writers there are that would haue him signifie Tyme as that with his sythe he should measure and proportionise the length of Time and therewith to decurtate and cut away all things contained therein Those also would haue him to be in the shape of a very aged man as one who began from beginning of the world holding in his hand a child which by peecemeales hee seemes greedily to deuour importing the reuenge hee tooke being banished heauen by his owne children those which escapt the furious gulfe of his maw were onely foure Iupiter Iuno Pluto and Neptune which intend the foure elements Fire Aire earth and Water which are not perishable by the all-cutting sickle of deuouring time Martianus Capella depictures him holding in his right hand a Serpent with the end of her taile in her mouth still turning round with a heauie and dead slow pace and he hath his temples redemyted with a greene wreath which seemeth still to flourish his haire of his head and his beard all milke white looking like one of many yeares withering and declining and yet manifesting that it is in his power to rebecome youthfull fresh and blooming The wreath on his head imports the beginning or spring of the yeare his haire and beard the snowie approch of churlish Winter the slownesse of the serpents paces the sluggish reuolution of that planet which as it is of all the greatest so it asketh longest time for his circular circumference and in that from this plannet proceed dolorous and dismall effects they shape him to be old louring sorrowing hardfauonred and sluggish his nature being cold drie and melancholie The same Martianus sayth That the nuptials of Mercurie and Philologia when she had searched and perviewed each corner of the higher and lower heauens shee found Saturne sitting with great solitude in an extream cold mansion all frozen couered with yse and snow wearing on his head a helmet on which was liuely depictured three heads the one of a Serpent the other of a Lyon and the third of a Boare which three by many constructions may signifie the effect of Time but in that it is by the Authors themselues but sleightly approued we will wade no further in it And yet Macrobius toucheth it very neerely when hee describes him with a Lyons head a Dogs head and a Wolfes head intending by the Lyons head the time present which duly placed betweene that past and that to come preuaileth most and is of greatest force or discouering thereby the stormie troubles of mans life by the rough vnpleasing and grim aspect of the Lyon by that of the Dog is meant the present time who alwaies fawnes on vs and by whose alluring delights we are drawne vnto vaine and vncertain hopes The Wolues head signifies the time past by his greedie deuouring what ere he finds leauing no memorie behind of what hee catcheth within his clawes Astarte the daughter of Celum and wife and sister of Saturne made for her husband a princely helmet which had foure eies two before and two behind which continually shut themselues slept by turns so that two alwaies were open and vpon his shoulders were likewise made foure wings two of them volant and two couchant which signified that although he slept he alwaies waked and flying continued fixe and permanent vnclouding hereby the nature of
narrow search of the birds as Lyons according as Solynus reporteth are accustomed when they are chased and hunted by woodmen to sweepe disperse the dust with their tailes that so the print and impression of their footing might not detect their course of escape or else to shew that there is no ground so barren stubborne and fruitlesse but may in time by often cultiuation industrious manuring be made a plenteous fertile soile as the Lyons themselues in the end become gentle tame and tractable The emptie and void seats which are placed round about the picture doe import that there is no countrey so populous and abounding in people but are by pestilences infections dissentions and warres wasted spoiled and depopulated or to shew that in many places of the earth are diuerse countries vnpeopled and desolate And thus farre Varro in his description of Ops. It is read with Isiodorus that the Image of this goddesse called Lagran Madre is framed holding in one of her hands a key signifying thereby that the earth in the time of Winter and cold season is locked vp as it were and incloseth within it the seed which is dispersed and throwne downe into it which at the approch of the Spring and Summer doth peepe forth and shew it selfe againe at which time it is said that the earth is again vnlocked and openeth her bosome Cornelius Tacitus reporteth That certaine people of Germanie worshipped and adored this goddesse as she that of all other was the most friendly helping to mankind supplying their wants and necessities with her manifold fruits and encreases And in that they erected not vnto her as I haue in some places alreadie written any Statues Images or Pictures they performed such their adoration in cōsecrated groues wherein they placed a chariot or coach couered all ouer with sacred vestures vnto which no man might be suffered to approch and touch but only a certaine Priest appointed to speake to her as hee onely that knew the goddesse to be there was further acquainted with all her vnreuealed matters of secrecie and in this respect they all gaue him preheminence place and dignitie And this chariot was drawne very solemnely and with all obseruancie of reuerence done vnto it by the people by two white Cowes It is to be pre-intended that the world in those daies was not afflicted with warres stratagemes contentions intestine broiles and fatall massacres neither knew it the vse of yron or steele the daies and yeeres were then circumfered in ioy tranquilitie and hearts content all places were free peacefull secure and quiet vnto this sight and solemnitie the people came flocking in with great humility deuoting vnto her their poore seruices with many gifts presents and oblation And after that this goddesse afterward intended to end such her progresse and to abide no longer below in the world the chariot with the cloths thereof was suddainely by some sleightfull art throwne violently into a Lake or Riuer with the picture of the goddesse in it and the seruants so appointed for this deuise all ouerwhelmed and drowned in the water And it is thought that this fond ceremonie encreased mightily their opinion and beleefe of such their religion and caused that she was alwaies among them adored and worshipped as a mightie goddesse And this goddesse was also called as I haue alreadie written Cibele which name according to the opinions of manie came of a certaine mount so entearmed But Festus Pompeius giues her the same nature and vertues and the same Statues Images and Pictures as she hath being Ops with her chariot likewise drawne by two furious Lyons which Aristotle likewise affirmeth when writing of many wonders and miraculous things in the world he remembreth in such his description a certaine stone which groweth on the hill Sipilus in Phrygia the which who so had found and caried away any part of it into the Temple of Cibele he should become instantly most dutifull obedidient and regardant vnto his parents although he had before infinitely hated despised and by violent and impious hands beaten them and vnder her picture there in that temple were placed with great curiosity of art two stately and maiestical Lyons But Diodorus and manie others are of opinion that the Lyons so dedicated vnto her signified that she was once fed and nourished by them on that Mountaine Sipilus as it is read also of many others that haue beene kept aliue and preserued by Wolues Harts Beares and Serpents The Naturalists and such as haue laboured for the vertue and nature of things produced say that the elements admit in themselues such a coherence communencie and coniunction that the one is easily changed into the nature of another according as the aire becommeth indensate and grosse or pure and rarified And in that regard there ought to follow lesse admiration among vs of such intricate names effects and properties of the gods of the auncients as the one sometimes vnderstood for one thing and sometimes for another and yet all signifying vnder seuerall names and titles one and the same thing as Iupiter oftentimes is taken for the element of Fire sometimes for the aire and so likewise the Sunne and the Moone in many places taken for the same and yet exposed vnder diuerse names The waters also had diuerse gods shewing forth their sundry qualities and effects in the same manner as the earth from whose bosome ascend vp mistie and vapourous exhalations and are setled and remaine in the lower part of the aire composing there thicke and conglomerated clouds from whose moistnesse afterward issue downe on the earth great vents and abundance of raine And for this cause according to Fornutus the earth is called Rhea as it were guiltie and being the cause and occasion of such showers and rainie moistures And the Image of this goddesse was set forth with many Cymbals and vessels of water as also torches lampes and firebrands meaning thereby the many lightenings and suddain flashes which immediately precede the approches of violent and tempestuous showers The Statue of the earth as she is Vesta is proportioned in the shape of a young virgine with her apparrell beautified and bedecked with many curious ornaments and attires of sundrie and diuerse colours as wee see the earth vpon the comming of the Summer to bee so gloriously bespotted with seuerall-sorted flowers But it is to bee obserued that among the auncients was also another Vesta which as the first as I haue said signified the earth this intended the fire that is that liuely nourishing heat from which being dispersed into the bowels of the earth euerie thing therein contained receiueth his being and encrease and of this the auncients shaped not any Image or Statue in that it could not be discerned by any outward eies but with diuine and contemplatiue thoughts being of it selfe wholly celestiall And besides these names of the earth it was called also when of