sayd to him that Achelous demaunded of him if he would giue him his daughter and that if he would not giue her to him at this time he would molest and gréeue his countrey and would make him warre At this message Oeneus was troubled and answered the messenger that on the morrow he would giue him an answere All that day Oeneus was pensiue and sorry and abode alone and for to passe his melancholy he came to Hercules When Hercules sawe him so pensiue he adiured him in earnest wise that he should tell him the cause of his pensiuenes who tolde it him and sayde Lord Hercules since it pleaseth you to know of mine anoiance and gréefe I will anon tell you the cause There is hereby a king my neighboure named Achelous great and fierce and proude which many times hath required to haue to his wife Deyanira my daughter I haue not béene in will to accord the mariage for asmuch as I knowe this king a man of right euill life And for this cause I haue had many menaces of him and also this day his messenger is yet come againe to me and hath sayde to mée that if I giue him not my daughter at this time he will make mée war Certes Hercules if ye ye sée me pensiue it commeth to me by this occasion for I haue not yet giuen him his aunswere but I must giue it him to morrow Neuerthelesse I haue concluded in my selfe that I will not giue vnto him my daughter And now when I sée verily that by the refuse of my daughter it must néedes be that the war be open betwéene the aforesayde king Achelous and me know well that I am displeased for warre is the eternall desolation of the countrey perdition and wast of the people and of goods Sir said Hercules it is néedefull vnto a man that he take and beare all that fortune will As ye say warre is not increasing of people but dimunition yet by that extremitie it behooueth to passe It is expedient that a man reioyce in his right Right comforteth the courage of a man and the courage of a man comforted bringeth him often times to glorious victorie A brute beast disgarnished of reasonable wit fighteth for his hole and nest with his clawes with féete with his téeth and with his bill What shall a man sensible and endowed with wit and reason do with any assault and namely in his owne land and territorie Nature willeth and instructeth that where corporall force faileth vigour and vertue of courage worketh and that they fight for their countrey Take courage then in your right and say your intent vnto your enemies ye haue receiued mée worshipfully in my receiuing these tydings that be come I wil help you if it be neede and I suppose if Achelous assaile you he shall repent him With these words the king Oeneus comforted himselfe greatly and the day drewe ouer On the morrow Oeneus called the messenger of Achelous and said to him that he should come no more to demaund his daughter and that he was not minded to giue her to his maister and furthermore if he mooued warre against him for this cause hee had intention to defende himselfe vnto the death of the last man of his people The messenger returned with these words and tolde them to Achelous and all that hée found with him Achelous was euill content with king Oeneus and as hee that was ouermuch smitten with the loue of Deyanira beganne to assemble his men of armes in intention to make warre on king Oeneus and to take from him his Daughter Hercules was then in Calcedonie and often times he was with Deyanira in gracious conferences He found her so well adressed in all honest maners that all day he was the most part with her and in the night he did nought but dreame and thinke on her howbeit he sayd nothing to her that touched his amorous desires willing first to shewe there his power in armes It happened on a day he opened a window that was by the garden of Deyanira and casting his eyes downe he sawe Deyaninira that sate vppon a gréene place accompanied with many Ladyes and Gentlewomen Then hee set all his minde to contemplate the excessiue beautie of her After he desired her and in coueting and desiring said O Deyanira thou that hast not the prerogatiue to know the hearts and the thoughts of men if I should say to thée the tenth part of the loue and desire I haue to thée thou mightest not beléeue it I haue gone many a countrey and séene mannie a Realme and many a treasure I haue desired many a thing But of all for to come to my wished blisse I was neuer in so great thought as I am for to get thy grace The same houre that Hercules spake by himselfe Deyanira was not idle shee hadde Hercules in her minde and remembrance in hir heart then being rich in the points of loue sowen betwéene variations of hope and despayre was esprysed in all her veynes with the heate of that fire that burneth amorous hearts This fire burning was strong and very hard to quench or to couer the right pearcing sparkle Shée lay downe then vpon the grasse and beganne to say in her minde Alas Hercules what shall Deyanira do she may not come to attaine vnto your loue I was wont not long since not to daigne to behold a man and then said that neither Prince nor King should haue my loue Nowe I am all of another nature and desire no other thing but that I might bee your wife I haue supposed to haue remained and continued a stable virgin and I only was disdainer of men contrary to the requests and admonitions of the ladies these be nowe farre other tydings with these words she ceased a little and beganne to thinke on many other things At this point as she thought on Hercules and Hercules on her tydings came thither that Achelous was comming for to besiege the Citie by land and by sea and that he was very neare by For these tydings arose in the pallace a great murmuring that came to the eares of Hercules and of Deyanira their spirits were trauersed in such fashion that Hercules left to behold Deyanira and the damosell left to thinke on Hercules and both two went vnto the king Oeneus Anon as Hercules came vnto the king and that the King saw him he went against him and said to him that his enemies were verye neare the Citie Hercules answered ioyously that it behooueth to go feast them and willed that he put his people in armes At this answere of Hercules the king did sounde to armes and with this sound all Calcedonie was mooued and each man made him readie Hercules and his Gréekes were ready in a little space The Calcedonians assembled by great companies in the pallace When they were assembled the king and Hercules brought them into the field and Hercules put them in order that done he did
from chamber to chamber he found in the highest tower the daughter of the king Lycaon named Calisto which was passing fayre yong and fresh of colour The damosel bewept right sorowfully the lesse of her father which she had al newlye vnderstood When Iupiter saw her so desolate and discomforted he set him downe by her and said Damosel comfort your selfe and speake to mee and cease your wéeping Alas sir sayde the Damosell howe should I recomfort my life The Epiriens haue slaine the king my father Ought I to take consolation in his ruine Ought I not to be angrie ought mine heart to be without sorrow my stomake without sighs and mine eyes without wéeping An hundred thousand infortunes trauerse my bodie and trouble me And I sée me so poore a gentle Damosell daughter of a king that I desire more death then life and am more in wanhope then in hope When Iupiter knewe by the wordes of this Damomosell that shée was Daughter of King Licaon hée had more great pittie of her then hee had before for as much as she was Daughter to the king and saide to her Damosel appease your heart I wote well that it is of force that nature acquite himselfe but yée ought to consider the inordinate workes of your Father which yée are bound to bewaile Hee was a lesse reasonable man then a king ought to be Hee is not dead he hath put himselfe in some place secret to saue himselfe his sinnes were too infamous and who shall bewaile and sorrow him The Gods and Fortune haue suffered the ouerthrowe and casting downe of his pride and of his tyrannie It is a right other wise thing that ye take it haue patience in his righteous aduersitie For his demerites giue you cause to take patience where as nature enclineth you to vnpatience and yet ye ought not to bee vnpatient for his reprehension and casting downe For it is so that the losse of a tyrant turneth all a Countrey to ioy O then comfort your selfe Damosell The outragious sinnes nor the vnmanly furours of your Father nor his shamefull deedes shall nothing be hurtfull vnto you nor turne to your preiudice no man shall mislay nor do to you nor touch you in any maner of wise I assure you certainly Syr answered the maide I thanke you of your courtesies and of the faire wordes which ye proâ—er and say vnto mee I wote well that my pouertie hath made mee indigne and vnworthie but since I sée that the infortune of my father is irreuocable and that his infelicitie is past remedie I renounce the world and pray you that it please you to intreate for mee vnto the Epiriens that I might go yéeld my selfe into the religion of dame Diana the noble Virgin Daughter of the wise Iupiter sometime king of Attique and borne in this land Wherevppon ought to bee remembred that right anciently issued out of Pelage a wise noble man named Iupiter of whome Boccace maketh mention in the first booke of the genealogie of Goddes which Iupiter was King of Attique who for as muche as hee induced the people to honest lawes and did first ordaine and halowe marriage For before that time the Atticiens married them not but vsed women in common and of this Iupiter came a Daughter named Diana the which willing to abide in the state of virginitie made a cloyster in the Woods of Archadie where shee assembled many Virgins that passed their time with hunting and chasing the wilde beastes For to turne to our purpose this noble Virgin Diana liued the same time of the subuersion of the reigne of Lichaon When Iupiter vnderstoode of Calisto that she would yéeld her selfe with the Virgins he behelde her and saide vnto her and howe Damosell be yee so despayred for a little tribulation that toucheth not your person ye bée young and faire among none oâ— you that so go into Religion may growe no fruite of children Aduise you well It were better that yee abode among the worldly people that replenish the world Many women and also men enter into Religion in their youth and repent them in their age Syr sayde Calisto tempt me no more If there be any gentlenes in you receiue the praier and request of one so desolate and infortunate gentlewoman more desirous of the health of my soule then of temporall pleasures During these deuises Iupiter behelde without ceasing this damosel and could not enough complayne her beautie for as much as she would into religion with great paine when he had heard her answers and had séene how swéetely she had taken it and woulde not be turned from her will he said to her that her request shoulde bée accomplished Then he called the Epiriens and required them that they would be content to suffer this virgin to enter into religion What shall I say The Epiriens put the request in the will of Iupiter and Iupiter did so much that shée was conducted and led into the religion of virgins After he searched all the Pallace of King Lycaon and made the Epiriens to seise his richesse And there Iupiter abode a certayne time with so great worship that the Pelagiens and the Epiriens would haue crowned him to be their king But he would neuer consent thereto as he that considered ouer his young age and the variations of fortune and sayd that it auayleth more to a man and is to him more sure to be made king in his old age then in his youth for the diuers perils that may fall Alway he accorded that he would be Captayne of the realme and was a man of great iustice swéete and curteous vnto al maner of people c. This was the first comming vp of this noble Childe When he had brought in subiection to his pleasance the Pelagiens he buried the Epirien that Lycaon had murthered as it is sayde before and did his obsequye solemnlye and after he did burne into ashes the Pelagiens that had béene slaine in the helpe of Lycaon And after that he sent word and did all these things to be knowne and shewed to the Epiriens that were left at home in Epire as to the King Meliseus whereof all the Epiriens and the king Melliseus gaue thankes vnto their goddes But for as much as I muste tell all after this he gaue not his heart and courage so much to accomplishe these thinges but that otherwhile hée gaue himselfe to remember and to thinke on the beautie that hée had séene in the religious Calisto whereby the sparkles of loue enuironed strongly his heart in such wise that day and night hée wished her in his armes and repented him that he had consented that she went into religion And so laboured in this maner that his rest in the night was taken from him and he was not nowe his owne man so encreased he to loue and desire this virgin and for to sée her he made hir pastime to haunt the wooddes and continually to hunt the wilde beastes
vnto thée all that thou canst or mayst thinke néedfull c. When the noble damosell Danae vnderstoode the will of her father she behelde the Tower of Copper made for to kéepe her shut fast there in And further when she considered that she should neuer marry during the life of her father the king she was sore troubled about these things and by great bitternesse with sorrowfull heart began to wéepe and said Alas my father am I borne vnder so vnhappie a constellation for to be a martyresse and prisoner not in the end of my yeares but in my young time not in a prison of stone or of cement but in a tower of Copper and Latton in such wise as I should dwell therein perpetually Thou interpretest euill the sentence of the God Belus saying that of me shall be borne a sonne that shall turne thée into a stone For by this sentence ought none other thing to be vnderstoode but that I shall haue a sonne that shall raigne after thée and shall turne thée into a stone That is to say that hee shall put thée into thy Sepulchre Beholde then what simplenesse shall it be to thée to beholde me thus enclosed and shut in this Tower My daughter answered Acrisius thou interpretest the Prognostication of our god Belus after that thée lyketh to thy ioy and profite It lyeth me sore on my heart that if thou haue a sonne he shall put me to death and that is my iudgement and feare Gainsay no more me I am thy father Lord and maister ouer thée thou shalt abide here either by loue or otherwise At this conclusion when Danae saw that she might not content her fearefull father as wise and sage as she was she agréed and accorded to do his pleasure yéelding to it with the mouth and not with the heart And then the king sent for virgins and also olde matrones in all the Realme about and deliuered his daughter vnto them for to accompanie serue and kéepe her and made them all to be shut and closed in with her After he tooke his leaue of them commaunding them vpō pain of death that they shuld not suffer any man to come and speake with his daughter without his witting and knowledge When he had thus done he returned into the Citie of Argos and assembled fortie strong women which he gaue wages and pay to and sent them to kéepe the gate and the entrie of the Tower And then spread the renowme of these things in so great a sound and noyse that all Grece was full of the tydings and there was no King ne Prince but that complained the losse of the youth of faire Danae then holden and named the most faire of al the Greekish maidens daughter of the king c. CHAP. XIX ¶ Howe Iupiter in guise of a messenger brought vnto the Tower of Dardan to the Damosels and to Danae many Iewels faigning that he came from Iupiter BY this Tower and by this meane Acrisius thought to ouercome his predestinate misfortune and was well eased that his Daughter was in so sure and safe a place All the world spake of her and of her Tower by compassion they complained her state and it was so much spoken of this cause that Iupiter had his eares full thereof and not onely his eares but also his heart for in hearing the recommendation of the excessiue perfection of this virgine Danae he was amorous of her greatly and desirously assoone as the mariage of him and Iuno had bin consummated And then he began with all his heart to thinke how and when or in what maner he might come to sée this Damosell Danae And so much he thought and studied in this matter that there was none other thing that hée woulde heare of nor no conferences of his men saue only of them that spake of the pryson of Danae And hée spake chéerefullye and talked with all diligence couetting instantly to be with her and that as well in the presence of Iuno as otherwise saying many times that he would that the Gods would giue him grace and power to bring this Damosell Danae out of the Tower c. By this meane and these spéeches Iuno was in doubte and began to feele the first sparkle of ielowsie casting infinite curses and maledictions vpon Danae and vpon all them that had sowen those tidings before her husband This shée shewed not only in couert and in her stomacke but more openly in the presence of her husbande shewing euidently that she had the attaint of ielously This notwithstanding Iupiter was neuerthelesse desirous for to sée Danae more then hée was before The maleditions ne curses might not let ne withdrawe his affections which grewe more and more In the end he found himself so rauished with her loue that there was no more continence found in him To conclude hée deuised intencions and conclusions and purposed to go vnto the guardiens and kéepers of the Damosell Danae and that he would beare vnto them so largely and so many owches of golde and Iewels with money of golde that hée would turne them with his giftes to accorde to him and let him enter into the tower of Danaes Then hée sente for the Iewellers that were woont to serue his father Saturne and made them make the most rich Iewels and Owches that were euer séene or thought When the workmen had made a part Iupiter tooke them and laded him therewith and euill cloathed like as he had béene a seruant he alone departed from Crete and drewe him to Argos the most secretlie that he might and so went and came séeking the Tower of Dardan Which he found in an euening and saw the wals shining and came vnto the gate where he found many of the matrones sitting at the doore for recreation c. When Iupiter was comen he saluted the Matrones and said vnto them Noble dames the good night come to you What Tower is this of so noble and so strong fashion Fayre sonne said the eldest of them ye be not of this Countrey forasmuch as ye knowe not the name of this Tower Know ye certainly that it is named the Tower of Dardain and this is the proper place that the king Acrisius hath caused to make for to keepe his daughter the virgin Danae in which is a Damosell so furnished with all vertues and honourable maners that her like is not in all this world But the poore maid is so much infortunate that her father Acrisius holdeth her in this Tower shut for that he hath an answere of his goddes that of his daughter Danae should bee borne a childe that should turne him into a stone This is cause wherefore we be and kéepe her that no man may conuerse with her in no fashiō And her father is the king Acrisius which is so sore smitten to the heart with iealousie that if he knew of your being here he would sende to destroy you And therefore withdrawe you and go foorth on your way
Iupiter hearing the answere of the woman gaue no regard vnto her words sauing that he heard with his eares for he employed his eyes vnto the marking of the Tower and séeing that it was impregnable for anie assault as well for the strength of the place where it was founded on as for that it was nigh the Citie of Argos which was right strong he considered in himselfe that for to come and sée this mayde he coulde not obtaine but by the meane of these women And then thus he aunswered to the old woman I thanke you of your good aduertisement I am much beholden vnto you but I shall yet say more vnto you if it please you I am sent vnto the damosels of this place from the right mightie king Iupiter of Crete for to deliuer to them certaine presents on his behalfe Wherefore I pray you that it please you to giue mee assistaunce to speake with them When the olde matrone vnderstoode of Iupiter and that he brought presents vnto the Damosels she aunswered him that he was right welcome and made him to enter into a little Chamber which was by the gate for to speake therein to their friends when they came to visit them And then she went into the chamber of Danae and there assembled all the women of the place and sayde vnto them My fellowes the King Iupiter of Crete gréeteth you well by one of his seruants whom I haue put into the Chambret of the gate he hath sayde to me that he hath brought certaine presents Sée ye nowe whether ye will receyue them or not and what I shall answere to the messenger c. The Damosels were right ioyous and glad when they heard these tydings and tooke their councell togither and concluded that they would take and receiue these presents of the king Iupiter Then they descended into the chambret and feasted the messenger which did them reuerence and saide to them Ladies and Damosels your renowme is so great that it hath moued the king Iupiter to desire your loue In signe of which he hath sent to you of his Iewels and prayeth you to receiue them in good part and he recommendeth him vnto the right noble grace of your Mistresse the kings daughter With these wordes Iupiter opened his sacke of leather wherein were his Iewels and deliuered them vnto the damsels When they had receiued and saw them what they were they were all abashed for to sée things so precious and sayd that they would go and shewe them to their Mistresse And foorth they went vp into the tower and shewed their presents vnto Danae signifying to her that the king Iupiter recommended him vnto her noble grace As soone as this noble virgin had séene these Iewels she saide that it must néedes be that Iupiter was rich and liberall and said moreouer that the gift that he had giuen was more of value then all the Realme of Argos and also that she would that the man that had brought these Iewels where feasted as it appertaineth and also willed that Iupiter should be thanked in her name Then the Damosels by the commandement of Danae went to feast the messenger of king Iupiter the best wise that they might the most part of the night in eating and drinking And then came the aged woman that had first spoken with him and saide to him My sonne the maiden Danae thanketh the king Iupiter of the courtesie that it hath pleased him to do her Damoselles and shée taketh her selfe greatly beholden to him and to you that haue taken the paine to bring them and if there may please you any thing héerein spare not this house Dame answered Iupiter ye do mee too much honour by the one halfe if there bee any thing in Crete to your pleasure aske you it and certainely ye shall haue it with good heart And thus they talked so long that it was time to withdraw him thence Iupiter tooke leaue of the damoselles and concluded that he would returne into his countrey on the morrow early What shall I say more Iupiter tooke this night as much rest as he might and had the heart so surprised that he awoke more then he néeded for the houre was not come that he attended to speake to Danae He returned secretly into Crete and caused to be made newe iewels much more rich and more precious then the other were for to go againe and present to the damosels And as soone as was to him possible he gathered iewels together as many as would loade an horse After this on a morning early he loaded an horse with these iewels and without wéeting of any person with the same he so laboured on his way that without any hinderance hee came vnto the tower And there assembled the damosels and did them reuerence and saide to them Ladies and damosels the king Iupiter hath you so in his grace that knowing by the report of me what feasting and welcome ye made lately for his iewels hee hath sent vnto you other and in his name I present to you these iewels that I haue nowe brought praying that the present may be acceptable and wel thought of and that it please you to do so much vnto your mistresse that I might a little speake with her for to aduertise her if it please her of certaine secret things that touch her and wherewith I am charged by Iupiter CHAP. XX. ¶ How Iupiter in the guise of a messenger with many iewels came the second time to see Danaes and how he spake and gaue to her in knowledge what he was and how he lay with her that night WHen Iupiter had atchieued his purpose he shewed forth his merchandise and when the matrones had vnderstood of Iupiter that he desired to haue grace to speake with Danaes they went vnto the maide by the councell of the olde woman for to haue her opinion and coming to her the olde woman spake for them all and saide my daughter the king Iupiter hath sent hither the burthen of a horse of the most fairest Iewels that euer ye sawe Certes it is a gallant sight to sée them notwithstanding wee durst not receiue them for asmuch as the messenger requireth to speake with you which is forbidden vs by your father Consider what wee shall doo wée be greatly beholden vnto the king Iupiter for his courtesies but when wee thinke on the straight commandement of your father we wot not what to do When the maide Danaes had heard the words and the tidings of the olde woman she was right pensise but for all that she spared not to say that that her heart iudged best and thus answered My mother ye know well and it néedeth not to tell you that he that doth shewe loue and courtesie ought to be thanked by kindnesse The king Iupiter as ye haue to me saide hath often times done for vs. And séeing the first good commeth from him me thinketh vnder all corrections that we may well suffer him to
for as much as they intended vnto vices that hold of earthly things Of these daughters one was named Medusa the other Euriale and the third Senno Medusa that was the eldest of all the other succéeded in the Empire and in the Realme And the Poets say that 〈◊〉 had the head of a Serpent giuing by this to vnderstand that shee was wonderfully wife and subtill After the death of King Porcus this Medusa gouerned mightly her Realme and maintained pyâ—â—es and men of warre and in hir beginning she occupied and haunted the sea of Europe at pleasure and with right great triumph And landing on a day at the port of Athens shee sent vnto king Neptune to require him that he would grant vnto her that she might enter into his Citie for to worship in the temple of the goddesse Pallas which was newly made Neptune did great honour vnto the Messengers of Medusa and accorded vnto her that shee should enter into his Citie and into the Temple vpon condition that she should haue none with her saue her damosels Whan Medusa heard the aunswere of king Neptune she concluded that shée would go into the temple where of was a great talke And she was accompanied with many Damosels so richly arayed that it was a gallant sight for to sée She entred into the Temple and into the citie and there she turned into stones not onely the men that beheld her but also the women and among all other especially a Quéene that was named Ida. By this it is to be vnderstood that this Medusa was of so excellent beautie and was so passing rich that all they that beheld her gaue themselues ouer wholly to couet her beautie and her riches And therefore write the poets that they were turned into stones For they that dispose theÌ„selues and giue them to the delightes of this worlde be lykened and compared vnto harde stones whereof maye no good come Thus then Medusa entring into Athens conuerted and turned manye men into stones in so much that Neptunus heard these tydings and desiring to sée thys Quéene hée went into the Temple where shée was in contemplation And hée hadde not long behelde her when hée felte himselfe so desirous of her and of her loue that hée sayde to himselfe that shée shoulde be his wife and that shée shoulde neuer escape him This Medusa was long space in contemplation during which Neptune desired her beautie more and more and his heart gaue him that he should obtaine his purpose And anon after that his heart had thus chéered him he a little paused considering the excellencie of her griefe and thought trauersed and arose in his minde that constrayned him to say these wordes that follow Alas in what matter in what sorrowe and in what right great and enflaming payne be they that be burning in loue by long space of time that I alreadye beginne to finde mée in so manye sighes and paynes that I wot not howe I maye in time come vnto this Ladye for to require her to be my wife She is shining in all beautie and in right aboundaunt riches This is it that I lacke She beholdeth me otherwhiles in her prayers it maye happen so well that loue may turne her heart for to make aliance betwixt her and me And what is this men say that loue hurteth no man but if it be by his eyes If the eyes be not made for to sée I will saye that my desire shall hap well Where am I where I am put me out Where is my hart where is my desire I know not what I thinke my thought may be abused and my abuse may well be reuersed myne eyes peraduenture thinke they see that they sée not Mine eares imagine to heare and yet they be deafe I finde my selfe in a great perplexity and very ataynder and yet more in a superfluous errour more then any man may haue For when I sée this Ladye more excellent then all other in beautie and riches reason telleth me that she is not come hither for me and when I behold that shée is alone without men in my Cittie who shall againe saye my will I will require her to be my wife after that she hath doone her deuotion and if shée accord to my request my labour shall doo well And if she gainsay and withstand it then I must vse force and authoritye royall Thus when Neptune came to this conclusion Medusâ— arose from her contemplation and looked right fayre Neptune went to her and did her reuerence and after prayd her that she would go to his royall pallace for to refresh her Medusa thanked him of his curtesie and sayde that she might not well tarye there at that time When Neptune vnderstoode that she was to returne without staying longer in his house nor in his Cittie hée was sore displeased in his heart yet hée helde her in parle and drewe her a parte and sayde vnto her chaunging coloure Madame I am sorye that ye refuse to take harbor in my house I am king of this Cittie the goddes haue not giuen to mée so great happe that I haue yet any wife any Lady or damosel it is so now happened that the gods and fortune haue enspired you to come hither Certes it is so that your right high beautie hath prepared the eye of my heart and hath made me so desirous of you that I giue vnto you heart body and goods and all that a louer may giue vnto his loue and Ladie or any king may giue Wherefore I pray you that ye will go vnto my pallace to the end that I may haue communication more secretly there and tell you of the right great loue that I haue to you Anon as Medusa vnderstood the requests of the king shee began to frowne and not willing to bee otherwise intreated she answered to him Syr king if it were so that mine heart desired acquaintance and communication with one man more then with another in truth if I so found me disposed I would holde my selfe right happie finding my selfe in the grace of your eyes but the matter goeth with me far otherwise I loue men as much one as another I haue a purpose to abide and continue in my virginity Ye be a king you haue giuen to me safe conduct for to performe my pilgrimage I desire you that ye holde you content and that ye beare your selfe in such wise as if yee had neuer seene me Madame saide Neptune how shall I do that ye say when my heart is all giuen vnto you Sir answered Medusa it behoueth first to know and after that to loue I haue tolde you here that I haue a purpose to abide a virgine what may it profit you to say that ye haue giuen me your heart these be but lost words Dame saide Neptune the Diamond shineth not till it be polished ye were neuer peraduenture desired nor requested of loue before now wherefore ye haue no more loue to one man then to another Therefore
hated him and beheld the Battel from far by very great routs When Hercules had then laboured so much that he found no man to fight with him he set down his Club and addressed him unto a great company of Aegyptians that stood there and assured them he would do nothing unto them and asked what people they were that had assailed him They answered him knéeling on their knees they were Man-slayers Hang-men and people of vicious and evil life that their King which he had first beaten down was the worst of them all and had purposed to put him to death as a stranger to make Sacrifice unto the Gods And they prayed him to Sacrifice their said King Hercules granting their petition accorded it unto the people and took this cursed Tyrant Busire and bore him upon his shoulders unto the Temple which the Aegyptians shewed him The false Tyrant cryed after help terribly but his cry availed him not The Aegyptians cryed unto Hercules sacrifice sacrifice him When Hercules came into the Temple he sacrificed him after he had shewed him his cursed and evil life And then when the fire was put unto the Sacrifice it began to rain and the great drought began to fail Whereof the Aegyptians were so joyful that none could expresse They did sing praises unto Hercules and brought him and Philotes unto the Palace and constituted Hercules King over them but he refused and ordained Iudges to govern them Then he returned unto Quéen Juno who had great sorrow and to King Creon who had great joy at the rehearsal of his good Fortune CHAP. III. ¶ How Hercules espoused Megara and how he was made knight in Thebes IN like wise as the young Vine by the labour and industry of the labourer groweth in height and his boughes spred abroade full of fruit so Hercules by vertue labouring vertuously grewe in verdure of well dooing and in fruite of noblenesse his workes his boughes his braunches then beganne to sproute abroad and to mount and spread from Realme to Realme The secrete conspiracies of Iuno and her cursed enuyes might not hurt nor minish the vertue of Hercules The more that shee thought to put downe and hurt him she more she was cause of his exaltation As hée was puissant and strong of bodie he was yet more strong of vertue for vertue was set in him as the precious stone is in golde and as the swéete smell as in the flower and as the ray of the Sunne beame is in the Sunne hée was beloued of Kings of Princes of Ladyes of Gentlewomen of Nobles and of base folke in especially Megara the daughter of King Creon loued him And verily shée was not deceyued for Hercules loued her also and was neuer hurt but he thought on her Yet they durst none of them speake to other of this matter they were ashamed to discouer that whereby they had hope to haue honour and worship They behelde each other and oft they bewayled and complained to themselues and desired the day that they might take each other in marriage And so much they wished after that day that at the last it came For on a morning tide as Hercules was gone vnto the wood for to take a wilde beast he remembred him of his Ladie and beganne to speake and say to himselfe softly Shall I be alway in paine Shall mine heart neuer be eased but alway languishing in loue I sée one and other in great ioy with their loues and ladies and I wote neuer how to come to the point of one onely that I haue chosen aboue all other and for to atchieue my purpose I wot not how to beginne I dare not speake to her nor I haue not assayed if shée would condiscende Shall I speake to her I wote not wel If I speake to her and she refuse me I shall fall in despaire I shall die for sorrow of melancholie and displeasure I shall neuer dare come after in any noble assembly a foote Alas what paine all considered a time must come that I speake to her If all her friendes were of one accord for to giue her to me in marriage and she were not content and pleased all were lost The most ieopardie is to haue her good will and grace for without her grace I may nought do Then it is of necessitie that I séeke and require if I may haue her good wil since it is so for if I sléepe thus and speake not I shall neuer atchieue nor come to my purpose Hercules resolute in his purpose surprised and enflamed with great desire of loue came from the wood and abandoned the wilde beast and gaue it ouer for to come vnto Megara thinking how and by what words he might come and shew vnto her that which lay on his heart He went then so farre that he came vnto the garden of the pallace where he was with many ladies and gentle women He made to them reuerence vntill he espied the time that he might speake to Megara and he waxed so pensife that it is maruaile hee entermitted nothing to conferre with the Ladies but therewith he drewe him apart into the garden When the Ladies beheld him so pensife diuers of them came to him and talked with him to put him from his thoughts and pensifenesse but they could not and at last Megara came to him As soone as Hercules sawe her come to him he beganne to sigh and came against her And she said to him Hercules why are ye so pensiue put away from you such melancholie tel me of your newes I pray you Ladie aunswered Hercules I thanke you of your good visitation and since it pleaseth you to heare of my tydings and to knowe them I will say to you a part First I tell you that the cause that I am brought and put in the abisme or swallowe of pensiuenesse and sighes that is this day come vnto me is by beholding of you for as I went to the wood to hunt the remembrance of your right noble beautie continually being in mine imagination came into me and made me enter into a secret perplexitie that is to wit whether I should alway liue vnguerdoned and vnrewarded of loue and also if I durst say so to you I haue set my heart and loue wholy on you Madame this perplexitie was great but in the end I concluded to come vnto you for to know the conclusion of my fortune whether it be death or life Being in this deliberation thinking how I might spéed with you and staying in this point and doubtfulnesse your comming hath put me out of a right great thought and pensiuenesse for I wist not better howe to come to the poynt for to speake to you a part as I may now doo then for to apply the matter in time for I say to you for truth that since the tyme of my Olympiade I haue desyred you night and day and at that tyme I set my heart on your seruice resoluing to loue you for euer
come into Italy for to wit if his destiny should happen or no. And when the Italians heard recount the birth of Hercules they beléeued better that he was the sonne of god Iupiter then of Amphitrion CHAP. XXVI ¶ How the queene of Laurentia grew inamored of Hercules and how the king Pricus came into Italie with a great hoste and sent to defie Hercules THe glorious déeds of Hercules were greatly recommended in Italy aswel for that he had vanquished the giants of Cremona as for the death of Cacus So great was his renoume that during the building of his temple all maner people came thither for to see him and did to him diuine honours naming him the sonne of god Iupiter The kings and the lords came to him for to giue him gifts and rich presents Among all other the quéene of Laurentia came thither from her citie with manie chaires and chariots filled and laden with iewels and presented them to Hercules Hercules receiued into his grace this quéene her presents and thanked her greatly This quéene had to name Facua and was wife of the king Fanus sonne of the king Pricus the sonne of Saturne she was yong fresh tender and full of lustinesse She had not séene king Fanus her husband in foure yere for he was gone into a farre countrey and was not in all this time come againe So it happened that after she first began to take héed of and beholde Hercules and to marke him well she began to desire his company and acquaintance and she loued him so sore and excéedingly that shée could not turne her eyes nor her thoughts vppon none other thing but vpon Hercules In the beholding séeing him she sayd in her heart that he was the most well fauouored man and proper without comparison that euer she saw and that of right men should giue him laud praise saying moreouer that her séemed that her heart was intangled with the fire of his loue many cogitations and thoughts ran in her minde Nowe was she awaked and quickned with a ioyous spirit eftsoone all pensiue She passed so the first day that she came in this maner with Hercules When she was gone away for to rest she layd her downe on a bed all clothed and there she began to thinke on the beautie of Hercules with so ardent desire that she could not absteine from wéeping sore wished after him whereof the end was such that after many imaginations about the gray morning she began to say vnto her selfe O fortune what man what priuie what king hast thou brought into this countrey This is not a king like other This is an image singular and like as if the gods had made him by nature to exceede and triumph aboue all her other subtill workes and labours All glory shineth in him not onely by his valiant prowesse but by his simple and sacred perfection of bodie to which may be made no comparison O cleere image among the nobles who is she séeing his eyes that with one onely sight will not haue her heart thorowly pearsed who is she that will not couet and desire his grace The most fortunate of al happie and well fortuned shall she be that may get his good will he is humble faire pleasant and laughing he is a treasure O deare treasure like as the golde passeth all other maner mettals in like sort he passeth all other works of nature in all prosperities how then shal I not loue him As long as I shall liue his name shall remaine written in my memory and his beauty shall not be forgotten but remaine for a memoriall eternall Great were then the praises that Facua vttered of Hercules she forgate anon the king Fanus and put him all in neglect for the loue of Hercules She was there a certaine space of time and alway thought on Hercules Hercules that thought nothing of her made vnto her no semblance nor signe of loue howbeit he talked oft times with her and with the wife of the king Euander named Carmenta The more he conferred with them the more was Facua in great paine by the inflaming of loue some time she lost her colour and countenance but certainly she couered it and hid it so well that no man tooke héede of it Then when she had bene there eight dayes bearing such grieuous paine she saw that Hercules could not perceiue the loue that shee had to him for to come to the end of her desire she came on a day to Hercules and humbly required him that he would come and take the paines to come to her house for to passe the time whiles the king Euander there finished his temple Hercules accorded and agreed vnto her request whereat she had very great ioy in her selfe They then disposed themselues for to goe vnto Laurencia and tooke leaue of the king Euander and of the queene and so tooke their way Thus then going Hercules was alway by the side of Facua who reasoned of many things by the way and alway Facua had her amorous eyes fixed on the view of Hercules that at last Hercules began to take heed and sayd to her softly thus Lady you doe me great worshippe to bring me into your house Alas sir answered Facua I do to you nothing but trouble you for I haue not the power to feast you and make you chéere as I fain would Lady said Hercules the good chéere that ye bestow on me is to me acceptable so that from henceforth ye bind mine heart for to bée willing to fulfill your will in such wise that there is nothing that ye desire but I will accomplish it at your commandement after my power as to anie the most best accomplished lady that is in the West part Facua with these wordes began to smile and answered Sir I haue nothing done for you and ye are not so beholding to me as ye say Howbeit I thanke you for your good worde And thereof I hold me right fortunate and happy for that the most worthy man of all â—en dayneth to accompany one so poore a lady as I am Lady answered Hercules I take not that to be attributed rightly to me to say that I am the most worthy of men for there haue béen many better then I am But certes the more ye speake the more ye make me your subiect And since you doe to mee so great honour I request you as much as I may that I may be your knight and that ye take power ouer mée to commaund me to doe your wil and pleasure Sir said Facua will ye that it be so Lady answered Hercules alas yea I will not commaund you said Facua but I will giue you ouer me asmuch seignorie and lordship as it shall please you to take Hercules with the same word would faine haue kissed the lady and had done it had it not béen for the worship of her which hee woulde keepe They had enough of other conferences From that day forth Hercules
dwelled with his mother and his sisters Cibell and Ceres and beganne to raigne with so great magnificence that they of the countrie séeing their neighbours by them did make and ordaine Kings to raigne on them of such as were noble and vertuous assembled togither on a day and made Saturne King ouer them and vppon their lines and crowned him with great glorie with a crowne of Lawyer with great ioy Saturne anon tooke and accepted this royall honour and worship and tooke the scepter in his hand and here the crowne on his head and raigned wisely inducing his people to liue honestly and to loue vertue and ordained a naked sword to be borne afore him in signe of iustice He did iustice on malefactours and enhaunsed them that were good hee did build a Citie which he named Crete because the I le bare the saide name and hee was the first inhabitour and dweller When he had founded the Citie he ordained his Pallace and dwelling place in the middle thereof in example as the heart is in the middes of the bodie to minister to the members so hée would instruct and gouerne his people And after this he chose an hundred and foure wise men which hee instituted and ordained counsellours and gouernours of his Realme And then they of Crete séeing the right great wisedome of their king assembled togither diuers times and named him a god and yet more they founded vnto him a Temple an Alter and an Idole bearing in the one hand a sickle in signification that hee destroyed the vices in such wise as the fickle cutteth hearbs and destroyeth the wéedes and in the other hand he held a serpent that did bite his taile forasmuch as Saturn said that euery man shuld bite the taile of the serpent that is to say that euery man should feare and flée the euill end For the end oftentimes is venemous as the taile of a Serpent and that appeareth yet daily by the ende of many euill disposed and inuenomed men By the meane of these thinges the renoume of king Saturne grewe and that worlde was the time of golde That is for to say it was much better and more abundant in the daies of mans life and in plentie of fruits of the earth then in any other time after The Poets by this colour compared the world at this time to gold which is most pretious of al metals wherfore many men say that Saturne was the first man that found the maner to melt mettall and to affine gold and made his vessell vtensilles of his house of diuers mettal And vnder this colour they figured at that time the worlde to be of gold Then began the men by the doctrine of Saturne to vse and were gold to myne the rocks to pearce the mountains perillous to haunt the thorny desarts to fight aduance the orguillous serpents the fierce dragons the deadly griffons the moÌ„strous beasts to spred abroad their worldly engins By these exercises was then Saturne the fourbisher and beginner of the stile to learne men to take these beasts And first found the manner of shooting and drawing of the bow Of this gold made Saturne his house his chambers and halles to shine by maruailous working He was strong and hardie he had no feare nor doubt of any Serpent of the mountaine nor any monster of desart or of beast dwelling in caues He knew the veines of gold in the earth and could discerne them from the veines of siluer He edifies rich things of gold ioyous vnto the eie sight and hâ—te and couragious to the heart For at that time the courages by perdurable fire chasing the affections of man in manner of a contagious heat so singularly that after alway that they coueted they desired to accomplish In this time of the golden world the creatures liued and endured greatly and long And al the world laboured in edification of science and cunning of vertue And that time were the men more vertuous in bodily edifying then euer they were since Among whom Saturne was neuer idle after that he had once laboured cornes in earing and sowing Hee molte and fined gold and mettals and induced and taught his men to draw the bow and shoote He himselfe found first the bow and the manner to go and saile by the sea and to rowe with little boates by the riuage and tooke his owne pleasure for to endoctrine and teach his people in all these things and he had great aboundance of worldly goods reserued onely he durst not marrie and that hee had sworne to death all the men children that should come of his séede Whereof hee was oftentimes anoyed and had great displeasure c. CHAP. III. ¶ Howe Saturne went to Delphos and had aunswere how hee should haue a son that should chase him out of his realme And how he maried him to his sister Cibell c. WHen Saturne sawe his Palace flourish and shine of gold and sawe his people obey him saw his goldsmiths workers breake mountaines with their Pikares and instruments saw his mariners cut the waues of the sea with their Oares saw his disciples learn and labor the earth saw his Archers shoot with their arrowes smote and tooke the birds dwelling in the high trées and flying by the ayre he might embrace great glorie and inhaunce on high his throne and his felicitie But on the other side when he remembred the couenant made betwéen him and his brother Titan he was like vnto the Peacocke that is proud of the fayre feathers diuersly faire coloured which he spreades round as a whéele withall only looking on his féet he leeseth all his ioy Saturn likewise by this treatie lost al his ioy his glory and his pleasure He was long time leading this life now ioyous now sorowfull growing alway and increasing his realme and dayly thought and poised in himselfe if he might marry or not for nothing in the world he would false his oath He was iust and true in déed in word Neuertheles nature moued him and cited him to haue generation and to come to company of women and this mouing was al all times refreshed and renued by a continuall sight that hée had daily in a passing faire maid that is to wit his sister Cibell which he saw continually in whom was no default of al the goods of nature appertaining to woman She was out of measure right huÌ„ble in speaking wise in her works honest in conuersation and flowing in all vertues And for this cause Saturne behelde her oft times And so hapned on a time as he beheld her affayres and workes he cast his eyen on her vertues that pleased him so greatly that in the ende he was desirous of her loue wherof his mother Vesca had great ioy and pleasure And she perceiuing of the desire of Saturne gaue him courage and will to marry her And so laboured and solicited the mariage so effectually that with great worship and triumph Saturne
infamye is it to you that the people and folke of euery other citie haue reigning ouer them kings noble men and vertuous and they be crowned by election for their vertuous déedes ye be different from them and all of another nature A Tyrant is your king a murtherer an vniust man a sinner worthy of infamous death and vnworthy for to be left aliue vppon the earth Consider yea consider vnder whose hand ye be and how nighe ye finde your selfe in maladye and perill of death When the head aketh all the other members suffer payne then ye may not be whole and sound What shall we now doo thinke ye and councell ye vs we come to you for refuge and to demaunde you how we ought to do and behaue vs against one that is so foule a king as is Lycaon Tell vs the very truth If ye confesse the truthe and that ye be louers of reason iustice and of equitie ye shall iudge and condemne him ye shall lay your handes and puissances in correction of him and so ye shal be râ—â— of his malice Anon as the Pelagiens vnderstoode of Iupiter that Lycaon their king had committed this vilanous crime also that he had presented to the Epiriens the body of their fréend so dead they being at table they condemned his sinne and murmured against him saying that they would no more be gouerned and norished vnder the rodde of so peruerse and infamous a tirant and said to the Epiriens that they would abide by them and stand theyr fréendes With these wordes Iupiter put himselfe among the Epiriens and by his hardinesse admonished them to conspire against their king With which conspiracion accorded all they of the Citie And the wordes of Iupiter were so agréeable to them and his maners that they put in his hande the death and destruction of their king Licaon And to the ende that he should trust and haue affiance in them they sent for their armes and habillementes of warre and armed them After they assembled aboute Iupiter and said to him that he should be their captaine and their conducter to achieue this sayde worke Iupiter being ioyous of so great an honour and woorship excused himselfe But his excusations had no place the Epiriens and the Pelagiens ordeyned and constituted him head ouer them And he being constituted in his dignitie set his people in order and after did them to marche toward the pallace They had not long gone on the way when they sawe King Lacaon issue out of his pallace with great company of his fréendes all armed as they that had bin aduertised of the sayd conspiratioÌ„ made against Lycaon and féeling that his enemies came for to assaile him for to shewe himselfe a man of fierce courage came against them wéening presumtuouslie for to haue ouercome them And anon as they began to approche they challenged ech other to the death without other councel And strongly moued they assembled to a battayle that was right meruailous sharpe Lycaon did set and lead his people in order against Iupiter They medled them hastely togither with little strife of wordes and with great strife of armour and strokes The strife cost much but in especiall to Lycaon for his people were lesse in puissance and myght then the men of Iupiter which were stronge and of greate enterprise so they fought and smote vpon the Pelagiens and caste them downe nowe héere nowe there so fiercelye and so vnmeasurablye that none might abyde that was there before them Amonge all other Iupiter did woonders and meruailes by his well doing he put Lychaon in a passing great distresse and noyance And in this great anoye he pursued passing fast for to haue come runne vpon him But when the false tyrant sawe him come and he sawe that Iupiter set his strokes so mightely that all them that he raught were smitten down to the earth and coÌ„founded then all his heart began to fayle him and went on the other side and he had not long abidden there when that Iupiter had vanquished and ouerthrowen the Pelagiens and made them to flée from the place before him like as it had bin the thunder of tempest In this maner when Lichaon sawe his complices and fellowship in such extremitie he fled himself not as a king but as a poore man out of comfort and hope so desolate as he durst take none of his complices with him to helpe him away nor to comfort him He doubted Iupiter as the death he so flying away as is said durst not enter his pallace but issued out of the citie and went vnto a great Forrest that was nighe by and from thence foorth he was a brygand and a théefe and for this cause the poets fayne that he was turned into a wolfe that is to saye he liued as a wolfe of praies and roberies Albeit to confirme this mutacion Leoncius rehearseth that Lichaon so flying as saide is fearing to be sued after of Iupiter to be put to death put himself in a riuer or a great lake and there saued himselfe where féeling that the water of that riuer had a singular propertie that is to wit that the men that putte themselues in that water should be turned into wolues for the terme of nine yeares and the nine yeares expired if they would put themselues in the water after that againe they should recouer againe their first likenesse And so it might well be doone for Lichaon put himselfe into the water and was transformed to a wolfe by space aboue saide and liued of theft and pillage in the woods and forrests wayting oft times how the Pelagiens gouerned themselues and in the end when he had accomplished his penaunce he returned into the riuer and tooke againe his mans forme and knowing that the citie of Pelage might neuer be recouered he returned poore and wretched vnto his father Titan of whom I will say a little and shall tell how Iupiter began to be amorous on Calisto daughter of the sayd Lycaon c. CHAP. VII ¶ How Iupiter after the discomsiture of King Lycaon transformed himselfe into shape of a religious woman waiting on the goddesse Diana for the loue of Calisto daughter of the said Lycaon and did with her his will AFter the discomfiture of King Lycaon which was transformed into shape of a wolfe and began to be a rauishour of the substance of men of the countrey eater of their children and murderer of wilde beastes that he oft times assayled by rage of hunger which constrained him to cherish and kéepe his miserable life when the Epiriens saw that Iupiter had vanquished their enimies and that he abode mayster in the place they brought him with great ioye and glorye to the Pallace and sought long Lycaon first in the place where the battayle had bin and after that in the chambers of the Pallace but they founde him not quicke nor dead nor coulde heare no tidings of him And it happened that as Iupiter sought him thus
speake with me It is a small matter for his seruant to speake a word with me The king my father shall neuer know it it is no neede that he know all that shall fall but first shew to him how it is charged you vppon death that no man speake with me And make him promise and sweare that he shall kéepe this matter secret The Damosels and the olde woman ioyous of the answere of the maide went downe from the tower to the gate and finding Iupiter busie to open abroad and vnbinde his iewels the old woman said vnto him Faire sonne the king Iupiter hath found more grace héere in this place anenst the maide Danaes then all the men in the world Neuerthelesse ye must know that vpon paine of death it is to you forbidddn and to other by vs And wee be also charged vppon the same paine by the King Arcrisius that wée shall let no man liuing speake with her The commandement of the king is so great and your request is not little Certes we dare not bring you vnto her al thing considered For if it were knowen without faile we should be all put into the fire And peraduenture if ye were found héere within by the king that cometh often times hither he would put you to death Wherfore we pray you excuse vs against your maister At hearing of this answere Iupiter founde not that hee sought and then hee helde him more néere in dispaire then he did in hope but he remembred that a begger shuld not go away for once warning said vnto the old woman to the beginning of her answere Dame ye do wel if ye feare and dread the king which is to me no meruaile Yet his commaundement is not so strait but that ye may enlarge it if ye will he hath commanded that none shal speake with her The king Iupiter requireth that his seruant may saye to her certaine things in secrete touching her honour ye shall do that pleaseth you but in truth if ye accorde him his request the accord shall not be preiudiciall to you in anye thing For the king Iupiter is no pratler and knoweth so much of the worlde that vnto you he hadde not sent me if he hadde not founde me secrete And thus if ye will doo to him anye pleasure ye haue none excusacion reasonable None knoweth heereof but you and I. If I speake vnto the mayde by your consent who shall accuse vs it shall not be ye for that the matter toucheth you And it shall not be I nor the King Iupiter for certainly we had leuer die in sorrowfull death and also abide in greeuous payne c. Faire sonne answered the old woman ye speake so swéetely that we may not nor can giue vnto you the refuse of your request We dare well affye and trust in you Alas dame answered Iupiter doubt you When I shall fault against you or any other I wish to be smitten with the thunder and tempest I would verily that ye had the prerogatiue to know my inward thoughtes to the end that in iudging of my mind yee might be assured of mee not to haue by my cause any inconuenience With these words Iupiter drew to his will the olde woman and all the Damosels as well by his subtil language as by his riches For to vse short processe the olde woman accorded to Iupiter that he shall haue the grace to speake with the mayde and brought him before her with all his presents Iupiter had then more ioy then I can write And when he was thus aboue in the towre of Dardane in beholding the ample beauty of Danae his ioy doubled and he knew her well by her beautie and made vnto her reuerence saying Right noble accomplished damosell the king Iupiter saluteth you by me and sendeth vnto the women of this house of such goddes as fortune hath giuen to him if it be your pleasure they shall receiue them and after I will saye vnto you certayn things secrete which the king Iupiter your seruaunt hath charged me to faye vnto you My fréende answered Danae sauing your honour the King Iupiter is not my seruaunt but I my selfe am beholden to him and am his seruant and thanke him of his bounty it séemeth as he had reygned golde in this place It is acceptable to me that the women of this tower haue your presents And it pleaseth me well also to heare your charge to the ende that King Iupiter should not say that I were vnkinde c. The matrons and the Damosels were present at this answer Iupiter deliuered vnto them his Iewels which they receyued with great galdnes After that Danae tooke the messenger by the hand and led him a parte vnto the beddes side where she made him to leane by her And then when Iupiter founde himselfe all alone with Danae he sayde vnto her right noble Damosell I no more call you Damosell but Lady For ye are my lady and my only mystres which haue maystred mine heart and also haue ouercome me vnder the sownd and bruit of your glorious reports name For to aduertise you verily I am Iupiter of whome now I haue spoken to you at the presentation of the iewels and it is truth that it is not long fithen when I was in my Realme for to heare reported the maner how your Father helde you shutte in this Tower with litle good that maye accorde vnto your honoure as well for to gette your thanke and grace as for pittie wherewith I was mooued I haue deliberated in my heart to employe my selfe vnto your deliueraunce and also for to gette your grace And for to execute this deliberation I haue taken parte of my tresours and haue come hither to present them vnto your Damosels and so departed and of newe am comen again in hope to haue your loue whereof I am wel content and thanke mercy and fortune Alas madame if I be so hardy as for to haue put my self in the aduēture of my life for to shew the great loue that I haue to you Excuse me if I haue enterprised a thing so hie that I ne me holde worthie to attaine but in the affiance of fortune and insomuch as shée will fauour in this partie Madame then in consideration of my wordes ye may sée my life or my death and yee onely may lightly make the iudgement If your humilitie condiscend in the knowledge of pitie that I haue had of you exposing my selfe into the daunger where I might bee sure I am nowe nigh the ieopardie which ye may saue and if not I yéelde me your prisoner Certes the shining resplendissour of your renowmed beautie whereof the méede passeth the renowme and the triumph of your incomparable excellency hath enraged mine heart and brought me hither into the prison of your will Alas Madame behold and sée with your eyes full of swéetnesse and of clemencie mee which sée not at this tyme but languish for fault of rest in continuall
profit of another This is against your prosperity and utility from which ye be shut here within How may you have love unto him which is cause of two evils The lesse evil is to be chosen since that you féel your self condemned here unto the end of the daies of your Father doubt you not but his end is oft desired for your sake and his death may not be effected without great charge of conscience Mée thinketh that better it were for you to find way to issue out of this place and to take to husband some noble and puissant man that would enterprize to carry you away secretly for his wife into his Countrey By this means you shall be delivered from the pain that you be in you may eschew the death of your Father and lesse evil you shall do in breaking his foolish commandment then to abide in the point where he hath put you I have said unto you I am your servant and if it please you to depart from this plaâ—e you shâ—ll find no man readier then I am for to save you I give my self unto your noble commandments to nourish your will to my power as he that beareth alway in remembrance of you in the most déepest place of my mind in sléeping I sée you and waking I think on you I have had no rest in my self nor never shall have but if it please you My fortune my destiny comes of you If you take mée unto your mercy and that I find grace with you I shall be the most happiest of all happy And if ye do otherwise it may be said that among all unhappie none shall go before mée But if such Fortune shall come to mée by your rigour I will take it in patience for the noblenesse that I sée in you alway I require you that my heart bee not deprived nor put from your heart forasmuch as it toucheth mée nearly All the tongues of men cannot expresse the quantity of the love that I have in you no more then they can pronounce by proper name all the Stars of Heaven By this love I am alway in thoughts labours in sighs anguishes and oftentimes in great fear At this hour I know not whether I live or not because mée thinketh I am here to receive absolution or a mortal sentence These things considered alas will not yee have him in your grace that for to deserve your love and mercy hath abandoned and adventured his life as yee may sée leaving his Royal estate the better to kéep his cause secret Vnto an heart well understanding few words suffice For conclusion I pray you to give your heart to him that hath given his heart unto you and that ye consider from henceforth for the ill conceit yée now be in after the common judgement With this Jupiter held his peace and lent his ears for to hear what should be the answer of Danae The right noble Damosel When she saw that he had given her space to speak shée was resolved and changed colour and said to him Sir King â—las know ye well what would be the Renown that would abide with mée if I 〈◊〉 beléeve your counsel What would the people say Madam answered Jupiter the worst that they may say shall be that men will name you disobedient unto the foolish commandment of your Father which as all men knoweth holdeth you fondly in this Prison And if yee will thus help your self and convey your self away men would but laugh for your youth would excuse your doing and yee should bee reported to have done this déed by great wisdome Ah Sir said Danae ye go about to deceive mée by your fair words I know the speeches of the Argiens and also know that I am bound to obey my Father Furthermore I am not so ignorant but that I would well have some noble-man to my Husband so as mine honour were saved and also I confesse that I am greatly beholden to him that hath sent so liberally and so largely of his treasures and Iewels and in likewise unto you if it be truth that ye bée him that ye say that ye are But when I have considered and understood and séen visibly that the Argiens would defame mée to perpetuity and that my Father would send mée where mine honour should strongly be abased and put underfoot by your proper declaration I will in no wise deal hardly with you neither shall you have any disturbance for my cause But I pray you to think on the other side of mine honour and that ye suffer mée alone with my company and friends Dame answered Jupiter be ye in doubt of mée that I am not Jupiter King of Creet If I be any other all the Gods confound mée and the Thunder fall on mée the swallow of the Sea receive mée and that I be given to be meat unto the most venemous beasts of the world O Madam put no suspition in my doing as I have said to you I am come to you not in Royal estate but in simple array for to order my matters more secretly then accord ye this request Take yee day of advise and grant to morrow I may speak once to you and counsel you well this night The noble Maid Danae had then her blood so moved that she durst not behold Jupiter for shame smote her in the eyes This notwithstanding her heart commanded her to try what man he was and whether he had the state of a Noble-man or a King At last she took day of advise and accorded to him that she would speak again to him on the morrow After this she commanded the Tables to be covered by the Damosels and said that shée would feast the messenger of the King Jupiter The Damosels hearing that answered they were all much bound to feast him and shewed to her the riches that they had all along in the Chamber whereof the walls shone and were bright The Damosels arrayed with the Iewels of Jupiter garnished the Tables with meat Danae and Jupiter were set the one against the other the seruice was great and rich and they had enough to eat yet Jupiter nor Danae gave little force of eating Jupiter eat lesse bodily then spiritually he was in trances in doubts and fears He had an answer by which he could not gather any thing to his profit save onely that he hoped that Danae would discover it unto the Damosels as the young maidens bee of custome to discover the one to the other and as when any requireth them of love that they should shew favour to him the more for his gifts In this estate was King Jupiter for his part The Damosels beheld him enough and said that he had not the behaviour of a yeoman or servant but of a man of very noble and great estate and above all other Danae to whom Jupiter had given cause to be pensive cast her eyes upon Jupiter upon his countenance his gesture and beauty and then it séemed that he had said truth
enemies enuenomed with mortall venom O Danae remember your selfe of me And thou fortune that hast succored me in al my affairs succour me in this present néed With this worde his complaint ceased and he gaue his minde so many sharp thoughtes that pearced his heart right pensiuely This thought was great and touching a right aduenturous enterprise When all was doone hée determined in himselfe to assay if he might come to the ende of his thought and arayed and clothed himselfe and went out of his chamber vnto the tower where he sawe the doore open to his séeming and finding it true that it was open hée went vp as softly as he could that he should not be heard and came so far that he came to the chamber of Danae wherof the doore was open in which chamber was a lampe burning Iupiter all full of gladnes put his head into the chamber to behold if the damosels had bin with Danae and when hée had beholden that there was none but that Danae was alone in her bed he aduentured him to go vnto her where he founde her sléeping and awooke her by kissing c. Danae was so sore abashed when she felt her selfe so kill that she crept within the bed Iupiter drewe néerer so that he discouered her face for to speake to her whereof shée being afrayd opened her eyes and when shée wist that it was Iupiter and that he was alone by her bed side she made a right great shrych and cry When Iupiter heard this cry he was much troubled neuerthelesse he purposed to aduenture turning her to him warde and comforting her by his swéete speaking he declared to her in the ende that it must néedes be that she must be his wife promising to come and to fetch her in short time And so long he helde her in such talke that he vnclothed himselfe and in speaking to her he sprang into the bed and laye by her side notwithstanding that she with sayd and wit-stoode it with all her might Then sayde the mayde that she was betrayed And wéeping tenderly she wende to haue fledde and did her beste to haue gone awaye But Iupiter tooke good héede and at the leape that she supposed to make caught and held her by the arme and made her to lye downe agayne and he clypt her and kiste her againe And so appeased her in such facion that she left her wéeping And on the morning when he rose vp from her he left her with child with a yong sonne What shall I say more Iupiter by this hardinesse atchieued his purpose and his will on fayre Danae and made the peace for his offence The night passed ouer and the day came that Iupiter must néedes arise and depart from her and then by necessitie constrayning him to kéepe the honour of Danae he arose and tooke his clothing trussed togither and returned into his Chamber where he went to bed and slept so fast and surely that he awooke not till the houre and time to go to dinner At this houre Danae asked where was the Messenger of king Iupiter and said that she would eate with him and that they should bring him vp into the Tower secretlie With the worde of Danae two Damosels went downe out of the Tower into the Chamber of Iupiter and finding him asléepe awooke him whereof he was amazed and ashamed For the Sunne was that tyme mounted hie And then he arose and arayed him hastily when he wist that Danae had sent for him to come speake with her And so came to her which began to waxe red and to loose her colour countenance when she saw him And the reuerence made they went and eate togither and made great cheare yet Danae was ashamed and was strongly surprised for the case that was happened to her and she might not abstaine to set her eyes on the beautie of Iupiter which also fayled not on his side to beholde her by so ardent desire that the eyes of the one and the other pearced each other oftentymes In this beholding they passed part of the tyme of the dinner When they had taken their refection Iupiter and Danae drewe them apart and helde a long parliament of their worke And it was concluded betwéene them that Iupiter should go into the Countrey and that he should returne thither with a certaine number of people for to take away the faire Danae And with this conclusion Iupiter departed and returned into Crete leauing Danae in the Tower of whome I will cease for this present and returne to speake how Tantalus the king of Frigie fought against the Troyans and had battaile against them which was the first battell that euer was in Troy CHAP. XXII ¶ How the King Tantalus of Frygy assayled by battaile the King Troos of Troy and how Ilion and Ganimedes his sonnes discomfited him in battayle WHen the King Troos had named his city Troy and was mounted and enhaunced in so hie renowme that the kings his neighbours as to his regarde were but in little reuerence and lesse glory many thus loosing their honours by his right great worshippe began to murmure against him in déede and in thought and among all other the King Tantalus of Frigie sonne of the Archadien Iupiter king of Attique tooke in right great despight the excellencie of Troos and considered agaynst him and made a great assemblye of men of armes and so departed out of his Realme with intencion to destroye and spil the King Troos and his Cittie of Troye This Tantalus had a sonne in his companye named Pelops and also left a sonne at home named Thiestes for as much as he was young And this Thiestes had a sonne since named Philistines the father of Menelaus that reygned in the time of the third destruction of Troy For to returne to our purpose then Tantalus behaued himselfe in such wise that he conducted and brought an host vpon the territorie of Troy and did smite downe and destroye all thing that was in theyr puissaunce vnto playne destruction Wherewith the crye and clamours of them that fledde was so great that in short tyme the King Troos was aduertised of it whereof hée was not affraid for he had the city wel garnished with people Also he made readie to resist his aduersaryes and that by such diligence that when he had heard the tydings in the morning in foure houres after he issued out of Troy with xxx thousand fighting men and drew vnto the place where the Frygiens were entred This noble king Troos had in his company two sonnes of whome the eldest was called Ilion to whome came downe from heauen the Palladium And the yoonger was called Ganimedes These two sonnes valiant and hardie came into the fielde and required theyr father Troos to departe his armie in two and that he would graunt to them his vawarde for to proue theyr might vppon theyr enimies Troos considering that by separatyon of his people they that were beaten or put backe might
that his enemies because of the succours that came to them were stronger then he was he found not in the resolution of his enterprise but dispaire and shamefull end and all discomforted he called his sonne and his principal friendes and demaunded them what was best to do They counselled him that hee should labour to saue himselfe and saide to him if he abode and attended the Troyans that would be cause of his destruction and of all them that were left of his people When Tantalus vnderstood this and knew that hee was desperate and nigh his shamefull ende and flight and aboue that that he might not extinguish and put downe the name of Troy hee tooke himselfe by the beard that was long and impatiently said smiting himselfe with his fist O cursed enuie thou didst promise mee of late to put Troy vnder my féete and hast made me to rise presumptuously against her Nowe sée I well the contrarie and that by mee Troy shall flourish and that more is by my cause her name shall growe and shall be enchaunsed and that all kings shall tremble before her in my sight and beholding O false traiterours fortune accursed be thou that I euer beléeued on thée These words finished hee saide to his son and to other of his councell that they should cause his people to withdraw a little and a little At last he commaunded that each man should saue himselfe and then they put them all to flight Ilion and Ganimedes tooke héede and ranne after and chased them out of the territories of Troy with great occison and slaughter of the people of the Frigiens And after that they had chased them they said that they had doone them shame inough and left worke and returned and came anon and met the king Troos their father that followed them which had great ioy when hée saw that they had quit them so well vpon his enemies by the good conduct of his two sonnes The ioy then that Troos made Ilion and Ganimedes after the battaile was great and of good loue Troos brought them again vnto Troy with great worship The Troyans men and women receiued them worshipfully blessed the womb that had borne them and the breasts that gaue them sucke These were two noble sons of the King of whom the names were borne into all the Marches there aboutes with so great a bruit and noyse that not onelie the neighbours of Troos came to make alliaunce with King Troos and the Troyans but there came also Kings of many far Countreys of the East which could not magnifie inough the puissance of the king and of the citie of Troy c. In these dayes when Troy shewed the rayes of her puissance and noblenesse through the vniuersall world Saturne late king of Crete sayled by the seas with little companie not as king and possessor of the realme but as banished and dispurueyed of all land and countrey so poore that he had no place to withdraw him to nor wist not whither to go but onely by desarts and by the depth of the sea When he had béene in this poynt a great while thinking without end how he might persecute his son Iupiter fortune brought him into the sea of Hellespont and then beholding about him he espyed and sawe Troy which was a Citie passing fayre and rich and of marueylous greatnesse And then what for to take him a little rest as for to put away his melancholie and for to reuittaile his shippe and people hee sayled and rowed into the Citie and landed at the port When the Troyans had seene the shippe of Saturne that was better and more of value then all the shippes that they had euer séene the maisters of the ships of Troy went hastily vnto the King Troos and said Sir bee of good cheare and make readie your house I assure you that there is come right now vnto your port the most rich ship that euer was séene on the sea and me séemeth this considered that in so noble a ship must be some noble or great earthly Lord that commeth vnto you c. Anon as king Troos heard these tidings of the maister mariner he desired to sée so fayre a shippe and accompanied with his two sonnes went for to sée at the port and to feast them of the straunge shippe This king Troos was courteous and honourable When he came vnto the port he found that Saturne made readie his shippe and disposed him for to go vnto the citie And séeing the ship he maruailed much for the vtensils that were within were richly made furthermore Saturne his companions were armed and had no mariners He beheld their behauiour at his comming and knew that they were men of warre right well in point so he thought in himselfe at the beginning for to arme himselfe and to send for the Troyans But afterward when hee had séene their little number and that no ship followed nor came after these strangers from the coast he changed his purpose viewed and approched vnto the ship and called Saturne that most best was arayed aboue the other and asked him what he sought both he and his fellows and from what nation they were and whence they came from And Saturne answered to him and saide Sir albeit I know not at what port I am arriued for as much as my heart giueth me that ye be courteous of your nature I will not hide nor couer any thing touching your request I was late king of Crete named Saturne now I am but Saturne for my sonne hath put me out sorrowfully so that of all the riches of all my people and all my goods temporall there is nothing left me but this onely ship that ye may sée Wherefore I pray you and require that it please you to direct mee to some Lord of this countrey to the end that I may require licence and leaue to enter into his lordship and to take that that shall be necessarie competently to the life of me and of my companie When king Troos heard the case of Saturne comprised in briefe words he saide to him by compassion King Saturne yee be welcome into the house of Troos in troth I haue great gréefe in my selfe of your first anoyance for your glorious renowme and for the goodnesse that is in you as often times I haue heard it recounted But with this anoyance two things gladde and ioye my heart the one procéeding of the accomplishment of desire for I haue desired manye dayes for to sée you and this desire is now accomplished in me and the other procéedeth of hope and in this part I saye to you that I king of this countrey haue intention to comfort and to councell you to my power and also to giue you so good ayde that ye shall correcte your sonne and shall punishe his personne in suche wise as it shall appertayne for his offence Saturne began to sighe and to take a lyttle comforte of the greate proffer and good chéere
And said further that he vnderstood by the Eagle that it was a token to him that he should abide victorious of his enemies And that he should be soueraigne king of Crete like as the Eagle is king of all foules CHAP. XXV ¶ How Iupiter discomfited againe king Saturne in battaile and how Saturne was put to flight by the sea SVch were the speaches of King Iupiter in this night the which hee passed the most ioyously that he could and he visited the hurt men and comforted them and concluded with Ixion that the day following the Centaures shoulde haue the battaile and they that had foughten the day before should rest them After this he slept on the gréene and rested him vntil the time that the Centaures put them in aray and went to horsebacke And so did Iupiter for he had leuer haue died then to haue béene idle At this time Saturne slept not nor was there no more slacknesse found in him and Ganimedes then was in Iupiter for they were sure that they should be met withall and assailed of their enemies againe They doubted and arayed them the best wise they could and about the Sunne rising they trained and went vnto the host of Iupiter encouraging each other to smite and fight and assaile their mortall enemies hardily for to auenge the blood of their fellowes that were dead in the battaile the day before For to make short then the Troians were sore inflamed with appetite of vengeance and were the first in the field wherefore they had great ioy in their harts made a right great cry But this ioy was anon abated vnto them for suddenly as Iupiter the Centaures heard their cry they took the baner with the Eagle of gold their spears and their shields and with a ioyous sound of trumpets clarions and tabours pricked forth their horses which ran swiftly through the aire and running as they that held not of heauen ne of earth vpon theyr enemies they beganne to fight Certes when the Troyans sawe the Centaures mounted on horsebacke running as the winde they were so amased and affraide that they had wéened neuer to haue séene light day Neuerthelesse they tooke courage and abode them and the Centaures fought so mightily among them that eche one of them bare to the earth a Troyan with the point of his speare And among other Ganimedes was borne downe to the earth amoÌ„g them and some were hurt and some reléeued after hurting and some without hurte When Ganimedes felt himselfe among the horse-féete he was in his heart terrible angry and said that he would be shortly auenged Anon he arose sodainly and tooke his swoord and séeing the Centaure that had smitten him down doing meruailous feats of arms among a great many of his folke that mightily withstood his vnmeasurable strokes he gaue vnto him so great a stroke as he was leaning on the right side to haue smitten a Troyan that he gaue him a great wound by which he was so astonyed that he droue him down of his horse and he himselfe leapt vp into the saddle This Centaure was named Eson and was yong and was afterward father of Iason that conquered the golden fléece When he had receyued the stroke that Ganimedes had giuen him he made a cry so great that tenne Centaures came running and defended him from the prease And casting downe one another they beate the Troyans and cast them downe and sparkeled their bloud that all the place was dyed red and as they found Eson and Ganimedes the one nighe the other and beholding Ganimedes that he practised to manage and gouerne his horse and séeing theyr felow put down from his horse they were passingly surprised with great yre and by mortall hate they pursued Ganimedes vnto death The Troyans approched they being there fought manly against the Centaures And the Centaures casting and smyting on Ganimedes the Troyans did their vtmost to defend him and put themselues in ieopardy of death for him For many of them were slaine and sore hurt These Centaures were strong huge great and lothly the Troyans had more courage then strength of body In this place Ganimedes shewed enough of prowesse and of valure and well defended him a while but in the end Fortune was to him aduerse in such wise that after he had suffered many assaultes and that he had séene put and cast to grounde mo then a thousand Troyans he behelde on the otherside and saw Saturne retyre in playne discomfiture After he saw that his Troyans let them to be driuen backe and to be put to death without turning or fighting againe and that al brake and turned their backe also he sawe them that were about him gaue it vp and fled and then knowing in this discomfiture that he had no remedy nor recouerance and that he alone might not beare nor abide the battaile he put himselfe to flight and fled after the other and susteyned as he might the pursuit that the Centaurs made vpon his men and in the ende he guyded them vnto the porte where the shipping was Saturne then all despaired entred into his ship with great losse of Troyans and Ganimedes entred into an other right angry and so displeasant that I cannot rehearse At the entry of the shippes one partye of the Troyans that were lefte were perished in the sea another party perished by the sword and the other tooke shipping Iupiter and Ixion thanked their goddes greatly of this victorye and concluded togither that they woulde yet pursue their enemies by the sea for as much as they were yet great in number And Ixion sayde that it was expedient to bring them to vtter destruction for as much as they had fortune with them and to the ende that they shoulde neuer rather force more against them Iupiter yéelded this pursuit greatlye greeâ—ed for to him séemed that he had taryed too long and yet shoulde tary more if he entred into the sea that he might not be with Danae at the day that he had promised her This notwithstanding hoping alway to excuse him vnto her he made him readie hastely to go to the pursuit of his enemies and sent for his mariners and after went into a temple that was thereby dedicated vnto the god Mars CHAP. XXVI ¶ How Iupiter after he had sacrificed the Egle pursued the Troyans and of the strong battaile that he had against Ganimedes IVpiter was not so soone in the Temple but the Egle entered also an set him on the altar When Iupiter sawe that after manie thoughts he tooke the Egle and made Sacrifice and anon after came tydings that his mariners were ready So he went out of the temple and recommended him vnto Mars and came to his mariners that hadde made all things readie and went to sea accompanyed with the Centaures and two thousand of his men of Crete and sayled after his enimies as he desired For the Troyans fled apace and made all the sayle they could In these two dayes
to assayle their enemies Whilest these things were in parle in the citie Iupiter was in the fielde and made great chéere with Ixion and the Centaures and being set at supper vpon the ground al about a great stone Iupiter sent for to fetch Ganimedes and made him to sup with them Ganimedes was sore mooued and had in his heart great trouble yet he tooke a short refection with them for he felt right great ache and smarte in his woundes And there Iupiter commāned with him saying that he was the valiantest man that euer was séene among the most valiantest of Troy and for as much as he was in his mercye and that it was hée that late with his father descended into Crete where he had gladly planted his name in worshippe if fortune woulde haue suffered him therefore sayd he I will no more warre before Troye but I will enter agayne to morne into the Sea and will go and putte in execucion a thing that lyeth me nowe sore at hearte And will well that ye knowe that I haue intencion to go vnto the Realme of Argos vnto the Tower of Dardan for to deliuer according to my promise out of the same Tower the fayre Danae whome the King Acrisius holdeth fast shut in without any reason This conclusion pleased king Ixion and the Centaures for as much as they had heard speake of the Tower of Dardain and they thought well that the Argiens might not hold against their strength When that they had eaten they entred into their ships and thought among other things on the wounds of them that were hurt and also of Ganimedes And after they laide them downe on the straw to sléepe and about two houres before day they weighed anchor and departed so secretly that the Troyans had no knowledge thereof And on the morrow betimes when king Troos and Ilion issued out of Troy to battaile they ranged in good order and found no man to haue to do withall nor they could not sée nor perceiue their enemies on no coast of the sea for they had so farre sailed from the port that by that time they were out of sight Thus they had great sorrow maruailously and came vnto the place where the battaile had béene and buried the dead men But nowe I will leaue speaking of them and of Iupiter and will turne vnto the History of Danae CHAP. XXVIII ¶ How the king Arcrisus when he sawe his daughter with childe sent her to exile and put her in a little vessell into the sea at the aduenture of fortune c. THe noble Damosell Danae abode with child of the séede of Iupiter as it is said before After that Iupiter was returned into his countrey she abode passing long in hope that he would come to fetch her by strength of people and would leade her into his Realme as he vnto her had promised In this hope she mounted often times into high windowes of the tower and casting her eyes now hither now thither vpon the mountaines wayes and stréetes for to awarre if he came or that she might sée his men of armes and his people of warre and without end shée had alway her eares open to hearken if she might heare the Trumpets Tabours and Clarions This hope dured long vnto the last day that Iupiter had promised and sore she complained in this tyme of his abyding and sayde vnto her selfe that he would come But certes when euening was come of the day that he had set and hee was not come nor she heard no tydings of him when she sawe that hée came not and that the fruit of her bellie appeared she went downe from the window of the hie Tower and all surprised with dispayre to beholde her belly sayde poore belly I may no longer hide thée I haue couered thée vnto this time hoping the comming of Iupiter the day is come and past that he should haue come and there is no tidings of him Alas and hath he also forgotten me Where art thou Iupiter Art thou dead or aliue If thou be dead speake to mee in spirite in excusing thée of thy default Tell me what I shall do with thy séede And if thou be aliue what right euill aduenture holdeth thée Art thou wearie of me Of Danae of her that thou enforcedst by raining golde of her that thou so much desiredst Alas thou promisedst me thy loue and gauest it vnto me and I receyued the gift in good part and gaue vnto thée mine heart in like case and more then thou wéenest And what shall this be Iupiter my loue and friend Art thou of the nature of false men as hypocrites that go about to deceyue poore women and then leaue them in dishonour Alas thou art one verily thou hast brought me into perpetuall shame and hast abandoned and giuen me ouer O mischieuous man O false lier be thou cursed with thy riches and accursed be the houre that euer I saw thée I am for euer by thée put to shame and by thée mine ende approcheth I may no longer hide thy workes Where shall my childe become euery man shall sée and know my trespasse Alas my father shall put me to death I may not faile of it and as for death it shall not grieue me saue for the fruit that I beare yet shall I kéepe it as well as myselfe at all aduenure come what may come thereof c. In these and such like wordes Danae passed ouer this night without sléeping or rest from thenchforth she began to be all melancholious and tooke this so sore to heart that she fell into a right grieuous maladie When the maydens that nothing knew of this case saw her so euill disposed they signifyed it into the king Acrisius And then came the king to visit his daughter and betooke her to the cure of his Phisitians and cunning men and demaunded of them what maladie she had They answered him in the presence of Danae that she was great with childe and that in short time shée should be deliuered Danae answered that they fayled to say the truth and that she had neuer knowne man and denied her fact as much as in her was possible hoping alway to liue for she knewe well that her father would condemne her to death if he knewe that she were with child And about this all the maydens of the house striued with the mistresse saying that they had well and surely kept the tower that no man saue the king had spoken to her but if he were come inuisible since that they had receyued her into their gouernance Whereat the king was greatly abashed and sore wondered When the king heard these wordes and saw the state of his daughter he was sore troubled For by experience he sawe well and it appeared that Danae was with childe hée trusted and beléeued better the Phisitians then the excusations of the maydens and of his daughter And for to knowe the truth he sent all the maydens of the place into prison
to Argos and betooke Danae in kéeping to other women and commaunded them vpon paine of death that they should tell him if she were or happened to be deliuered of childe or no. Within a certaine tyme when Danae sawe her in this case shée began to fall into wéeping The king Acrisius from this day forth came euery day to knowe how she did She wept without ceasing shée spake not but vnto her heart and shée bewayled her loue and complayned on Fortune sorrowfully But when she had laboured long in these wéepings and that her faire eyes were made great and red about fiftéene dayes before the time of her childing the beganne to remember the cause why she was put into the Tower And that the gods had prognosticated that she should haue a sonne that should bée king of Argos In this remembrance she was comforted a little and when the time came that nine months was expired she brought forth a passing faire sonne which the Ladyes and women receiued and named him Perseus And after that signified it vnto the king But at the birth of this childe she excused and put out of blame all the damosels and saide that they were all innocents of her fact Anon then as the king Acrisius knew the veritie of his Daughter and that she had a faire sonne he had in his heart more of sorrow then of ioy and condemned her to death indéede and commanded two of his mariners that they should take the mother and her childe and put them in a little Boate them both alone and that they should carrie them farre into the high sea that after should neuer man sée them nor haue knowledge of them The mariners durst not refuse the commaundement of the King but by his commandement they went vnto the Tower Dardane and tooke Danae and her sonne Perseus and said vnto the damosell al that that they had charge to do praying her humbly that shee would pardon them And this was about midnight when Danae vnderstood that shee should bée cast into the sea and her sonne with her Yet she had hope to escape this perill by the meane of the fortune of her son This notwithstanding the teares ran downe from her eyes and wéeping tenderly she tooke her leaue of the ladies and damosels that had her in kéeping and they let her be caried vpon the sea making complaint pitious bewailings When the mariners had brought hir vpon the sea they left her in a litle boat put in her lap Perseus her faire son And as hastily as they might they conducted her into the déepe sea without meate or drinke and without sterne or gouernaile and gaue her ouer to all windes Then was there many a teare wept among the mariners and Danae and Perseus the young childe The marriners bewailed with great compassion that they had to sée such a Damosell abandoned to perill of death Danae wept in considering the rigour of her father and the fault that Iupiter had done to her and also for the perill which she might not resist and Perseus wept for the blowing of the winde and for the grosse ayre of the sea that his tendernesse might not well suffer to endure In this fashion the Matrones returned to Argos and the right discomforted Damosell Danae went forth vpon the waues of the sea at the agréement and will of the windes The waues were right fearefull and lifted themselues into the ayre as Mountaynes the windes blewe by great stormes the little Boate was borne and cast vpon the waues and oftentymes Danae looked and supposed to haue perished but shée had alway hope in Fortune And so well it happened that in this aduersitie and trouble shée was cast into the Sea of Apulia or Naples And there shée was found by aduenture of a Fisher that for pitie and charitie tooke her into his Shippe and her sonne and brought her on lande forasmuch as hee sawe it was great néede At this time the noble Danae was as a deade bodie and halfe gone when the marriner had brought her a land the tooke a ring of gold that she ware on her finger and gaue it vnto the good man praying him that he would bring her into some house where shee might warme and cherish her with her childe for he was nigh dead for colde and was all in a traunce The marriner tooke the Golde Ring and brought the Damosell and the little childe into his house and made them a good fire and brought them meate and drinke As soone as Perseus felt the ayre of the fyre his heart came to him againe and he began to laugh on his mother When shee sawe that all her sorrowes turned to nought and she tooke hope of good fortune She then made ready and arayed her son and her colour came againe she did eate and drinke What shall I say the fisher behelde her and then séeing in her so much beautie that the like to her he sawe neuer none he went vnto the court of the king of Naples and tolde him his aduenture praysing so certaynly her beautie that the King sent hastely for to fetch her This King was named Pilonus and was sonne to the auncient Iupiter And when Danae was come before him sodaynlye he waxed amorous of her and demaunded her name her countrey and the cause why she was aduentured on the sea At beginning she excused her selfe of al these things vnwilling to tell all and began to wéepe When the King sawe that he comforted her and said to her that he would take her to his wife for her beautie and spake so fayre to her and so graciously that she tolde him al her life how she was daughter of the king Acrisius and how she was shutte in the tower and how Iupiter had deceyued her and how her father hadde put her in the sea What shall I say more when the King Pilonus heard all these fortunes of the damosell he had pitie on her and wedded her with great honour and did put to nurse Perseus and gat on her a sonne which was named Danaus but of this matter I will cease and turne again to the history of Iupiter c. CHAP. XXIX ¶ How Iupiter returning from Troy by sea encountred the great theefe Egeon which he fought with and ouercame and of the tidings that hee had of Danae whereof hee was passing sorrowfull WHen Iupiter was departed from Troy as afore is said he made his mariners to saile and row with all diligence for to withdraw from the port and for to approch Crete for he knew well that the time of his promise made to Danae was expired and that displeased him greatly that he might not amēd it His mariners did all that they could do by the space of a day naturall but the day being past there rose a tempest in the sea so terrible and out of measure that it bare many ships with their furniture vnder water brake their sternes and helmes and drowned all the
would kéepe his countrey with his sword Then Perseus which woulde not there employe his armye withdrewe him from the porte meaning to auenge him an other time of that hard vsage if fortune would helpe him He passed the strayte and sought so long the Realme of Medusa that anon after he found it and had tydings by certain merchants that he found trauailing on the Sea who tolde him that she and her sisters soiourned in a citie which stoode on the sea coast Great was the ioye of Perseus when he vnderstoode these tydings his folke had great nede of vittayle wherefore he called them all and bad that they shoulde make them ready and arme them for they were nighe the place that they sought and then as they sayled away forth about thrée houres before the euening they saw the citie where Medusa was in and moreouer they saw Medusa and her sisters with a great number of men of war that were trained on the port so richly arayed and furnished so that it was meruaile to sée When Perseus sawe this he diuided his armie in three equall battailes each of ten galeys and ordeyned and put in captaines of war and wisely enformed them howe they shoulde come nigh and approche the porte And after he put himselfe in the first battaile and the poets saye that the goddesse Pallas gaue to him then a shielde of crystall that is to vnderstand that he approched right wisely the port that was vpon the great sea of Spayne and that he conducted himself by such prudence which is likened to cristal that he came and fought hand to hād against the puissance of Medusa that by the shining of the right cleare shield of his prudence in receiuing giuyng infinit strokes he gat lād and constrained Medusa to returne to her city by force of armes and by prowesse and with a good ordering and fighting of his souldiers At that time the head serpent-like of Medusa might not withstand his first fortunes for she that was accustomed to put vnder foote and ouercome all them that exposed them in armes agaynst her at this time was put to the same extremitie that she had put other to CHAP. XXXI ¶ How Perseus vanquished in battaile the Queene Medusa and how she fled into her Citie SVch was the beginning of the war that was betwéene Perseus and Medusa where the Gorgons so fortunate which Medusa had cherished right dearely fell downe from the whéele of Fortune which whéele had cōsented that the prudence of Perseus should be cause of theyr downefal and humbling This notwithstanding Medusa tooke courage in her selfe and reentred into her Citie and gaue charge to one of her men to go vnto her enemies and to enquire of them who was chiefe and captaine of them and what thing he sought in her Countrey The Hesperiens at commaundement of Medusa departed from the Citie and came to the host of the Apuliens that were busie for to lodge them that night and hée hasted so much that he came to Perseus who tooke his refection vpon a table that he had made of a great stone of Marble and said to him in this wise Sir the conqueresse of men hath sent me to thée for to enquire what thing thou wilt do in her countrey to the end that she may know what she hath to do Messenger answerd Perseus I haue a purpose to enfranchise and make frée all men from the seruitude that thy mistresse holdeth them in and to make her that hath but one eye that shee conuert and turne men no more into stones and that her riches shall be no more the causes of the losse and perdition of knights which would haue hir in mariage For against her malice of the serpent I wil be armed with prudence and will well that she know to morrow without longer delay I will giue assault vnto the Citie in case she come not against me in battaile With this answere the Hesperien returned vnto Medusa and recounted vnto her all that he had heard Medusa assembled then all her men of warre and said to them it is no maruaile though I haue mine heart sore troubled when after that I haue vanquished great companies of men of armes I sée that shamefully we be driuen backe and withdrawne into this Citie by the prowesse of an handfull of men O what griefe is this to them that haue béene accustomed to ouercome and to triumph in all manner of warres Where be the high enterprises by which wee made all the Westerne Seas to feare and dreade Where be the swords that haue béene yéelded to vs by the kings our tributaries Where bee the armies and strengths that haue made to tremble the mountaines and Rockes of Libia Where bee they that this day haue taken feare for prowesse dreade for hardinesse dishonour for honour At least since this thing is so handled it behoueth to deale the best wise we may but now it behoueth also that euery man incourage and shew himselfe valiant and that to morrow it be recouered that by vs this day is lost The enemies of the Citie haue doone vs to vnderstande and knowe that to morrow they will giue vs assault if we furnish not them with battaile And for as much also as they be trauailed on the ayre of the Sea it is much better that we furnish them with battaile at this time then that wée should abide longer Our enemies be strangers here lyeth our triumph or euer mortall misaduenture If we ouercome them it shall be a memorie for vs farre and nigh in all honour If the case go contrarie wee shall runne with the losse of our liues into derision and mockerie of all people And what is this shall the bloud be spread abroad of them that haue made the ground red with the bloud of other Shall the honour be wasted and lost and also the name that wee haue gotten with so great labour All the worlde take to them courage and hope these two things be as néedfull in war as the armes and without them shall neuer man attaine to the crowne of victorie Ah then take heart to you and make readie your harnesse and armes to morrow must be the day that ye must néedes make to shine your déedes the best wise ye may and that for to kéepe your renowmes and your titles of honorable prowesse Dame answered one of the Captaines it is great pitty that ye were not a man for if it had béene so it is apparant that ye would haue conquered and put vnder all the monarchie of men As ye say we must néeds kéepe our renowme if fortune hath beene to vs this day froward to morrow she shall turne to profit The wounds and hurts that be made in our worshippes and bloud wee must beare it and take it in good part And our prowesse and honour shall to morrow put from vs all notes and shame wee will so behaue our selues Can yee not rise so early that we might be
the assaulte they hadde great shieldes and large wherwith they couered them They dreaded no stroke of glayne ne sworde nor of stones they putte themselues into the myddest of the porte and there they gaue the assaulte where manye were deade on the one parte and on the other there were plentye of fighters in such wise that at the entrye there were manye Apuliens ouerthrowne and put backe for they were then hote and eager but after this when they hadde gotten lande Perseus and Danaus beganne to smyte so vnmeasurably vpon the Lybiens that they beate them downe without remedye nowe heere nowe there at the right side and at the left side all made red with theyr bloud Also Perseus gaue so great a stroke with his sword vnto Athlas that purposed to haue come and broken the rankes that neuer after Athlas had no hope nor durst not come among the strokes albeit that he was great strong and puissant Too much couetous of victorye were Perseus and Danaus and they of Naples the Libiens had not béene accustomed to finde so fierce and mortall armes as them of Perseus The king Athlas wist not what to saye he encouraged his people the best wise he could This notwithstanding hée sawe them beaten downe of his enimies without number and without measure and sawe further that they of Naples wan alway And when he had séene all this and also beheld that these men had vanquished the Quéene Medusa he iudged in himselfe that he was not puissant ynough to resist their strength and that the hardines of this battaile shoulde be to him more damageous then auailable so sounded he the retraite and fled not into his citie but into a right hie mountaine that was thereby and therefore say the poets that Athlas by the sight of the heade of Medusa was turned into a Mountaine And from thenceforth was this hill called Athlas and yet endureth the name vnto this daye And for as much as Athlas saued him there among the stones he foūded afterward a castele there where he dwelled vntil time of Hercules CHAP. XXXIIII ¶ How Perseus turned the king Athlas into a stone and how the Queen Auria wife of king Pricus waxed amorous of the Knight Bellerophon that refused her wherfore after he had much payne WHen Perseus and Danaus sawe Athlas and all his folke putte to flight first hée chased them vnto the Mountaine where they were turned into stones dying with their bloud the caues bushes wayes pathes And secondly when they hadde put them vnto vtter foyle as much as they coulde they drewe to the Citie whereof the gates were not shut nor kept with any man and entring in they found none but a little number of matrones and yong children which made a terrible great lamentation All the yong men and women were fled vnto the fields and had abandoned the Citie with their folke and goods When Perseus and Dardanus were within and sawe that it was abandoned to them and their people they tooke all that they founde and passed that night with great ioy gladnes making great cheare and thanking their goddes of their victorie that they had giuen to them And on the morrow Perseus made to be beaten downe the gates of this Citie after he commanded that euerie man should take his spoyle and when they were laden with all Perseus and Danaus went to the sea into their gallies and sailed forth leauing Athlas in the mountaine where he gaue him vnto the studie of Astronomie In this time Iupiter made aliance with king Troos by the meanes of Ganimedes and in signe of loue and friendship he gaue vnto Ilion a picture of gold which was set in the palace of Ilion as it shall be saide in the third booke And it was not long after that king Troos came to the course and end of his raigne and his obsequie was halowed and kept solemnely at Troy in great aboundance of teares And then Ilion was crowned king of the Citie where hee liued in ampliation and increasing of his seigniorie and lordship and wedded a noble Ladie of the citie of whom he receiued a son named Laomedon And for as much as I finde not that Ilion did any thing after his coronation nor made other thing saue that he finished and made his pallace I will speake henceforth of Laomedon his sonne that raigned after him And héere I will leaue the noble déeds of this Ili on and yet ere I write of Laomedon I will persue my matter of Perseus And for to come thereto I will recount an historye that fell after that Perseus had turned king Athlas into a mountaine In this time then that Perseus began to giue his life vnto right worthie déedes and works of noble fame Acrisius Grandfather of this Perseus and naturall father of Danae was put out of his kingdome and Realme and all the seignorie of Argos by a conspiration that Prycus his brother made against him And there was left vnto Acrisius of all his Realme no more but onely the tower of Dardain wherto he fled for refuge This Acrisius and Prycus were naturall sons of Abas lawfull sonne of Linceus that was only left aliue of the fiftie sonnes of Egistus by the mercie of his wife Hypermnestra daughter of Danaus Pricus then hauing vsurped from his brother Acrisius the seignorie of the Realme of Argos had a wife named Aurea that was so brought vp that of custome she had no delight but to liue in voluptuousnesse And on a day shée beheld among her seruants one so comely a knight that nature had nothing forgotten in him touching his bodie of whom she was enamoured Shee was yong and her husband Pricus was ancient in his demeanure conditions and much lesse desired carnall concupiscence then his wife did though they were both right neare one age This knight thus beloued hadde to name Bellerophon When Aurea had begunne to loue this knight she solicited him with her eyes and with her countenances drawing him to delight and fleshly lust But the true knight that had his heart firme and stable which perceiued well her countenance dissimuled and fained that he was blinde in this part And in the ende when the Ladie sawe that by countenance nor signe amorous that she shewed he employed him not once for to please her but fled her companie in the most euill wise that she might shee intended to turne her loue into hate and her faire countenances into fierce malice so enuenimed that for to make him die shée accused him before her husband the king Pricus saying that he would haue enforced her wherefore she required iustice instantly At this accusation made Bellerophon was present and being sore abashed and astonished at the beginning but hearing the Ladie speake at length he cleared himselfe and excused him saying Madame neuer please it vnto the gods that for to couer mine honour I do discouer the disworship and fault of another Let neuer man
aduance himselfe by defaming another This knowing I will say the truth and if there bee any man that may worthily prooue this against me and ouercome me no blessing to my heart I will stand to the iudgement of all noble men that haue knowne my behauiour Alas ladie from whence is come this abusion for to charge me that I should haue willed to enforce you when or in what place was it doone or where be the witnesses of the crie that ye made at the affray where be the prooues that shall say that euer in my life I was with you alone It giueth me maruaile from what heart departed this dishonour that ye note in me and for what cause it is imagined against me for I will well that all the world know that I haue serued you truely and loyally and that I neuer thought dishonour vnto you nor vnto the king to whom I pray that he will take and make information vpon my liuing and to vnderstand in like wise yours And if it can be prooued and appeare that I haue trespassed that I may be punished but I pray also if I be founde innocent that I may haue spéedy absolution Syr said the Ladie that strongly was obstinate in her errour I make me partie against him If then I accuse him it is truth it ought not to demand witnesses of his follie In this case I am worth two witnesses for all the world knoweth that when an ill man will dishonour a woman he calleth no witnesses nor no prooues thereto but doth his damnable will the most secretly that in him is possible And so wéened Bellerophon to haue doone with mée wherefore I require sentence and iudgement of him With these wordes Pricus assembled his Councell and it was iudged that the ladie shoulde bee beléeued and that Bellerophon should bee culpable of death Then spake Pricus to Bellerophon and said Faire sonne thou knowest and hast found that I haue loued and nourished thée louingly thou vnderstandest the accusation of thy Ladie the case is so foule that it may not be purged by denying For if it were so the euill boyes and had fellowes would all day dishonour as many of our women as they could find In this case the Ladyes haue a prerogatiue for to be beléeued and néede not to bring forth witnesses And forasmuch as thy mistres hath vanquished thée and required iudgement of thy trespasse thou art condemned to die But forasmuch as before this time I haue had great loue vnto thée and that I knowe thée a valiant man of thy bodie I will mittigate and attemper this sentence in this wise that thou shalt go fight agaynst the Chymere of Sicill and if thou mayst ouercome and maister her I giue thée thy life and giue thée plaine absolution of all vpon condition that neuer after thou renue nor rehearse this trespasse Sir answered Bellerophon sith that fortune consents that I be attainted of any infelicitie and that the priuiledge of the Ladies take place and go aboue reason I had much leuer to be vanquished by wrong cause and euil then by iust and good cause and thanke you of the moderation of your iudgement and make vow here in your presence that in all haste I will go into Sicil to proue me against the Chimere and will sée if fortune will helpe me to get againe the life which she hath made me lose by your iudgement Then the noble knight departed and tooke leaue of the king of the ladies and damosels tooke also his armours and goods and made couenant and bargained with certaine marriners to bring him to Sicill When they were agréed he went to the sea with little companie and was euill at ease at his heart when hee sawe that Fortune was to him so contrarie yet hee comforted him selfe in his good quarrell and sayling on a daye on the Sea of Hellesponte his Marryners looked into the West and sawe come a right great floate of Shippes of warre which discomforted them so sorrowfully that it was wonder and they awooke Bellerophon that at that time slept and saide that they were but dead and cast away Bellerophon comforted his marriners the best wise hee could and told them that discomfort could not helpe them and as he was thus speaking a gallie of aduantage went out afore his fellowes and flying on the sea like vnto a bird adressed her vnto the ship wherein was Bellerophon and aborded it And who that will demaund what the name was of the gallie and what men were therin I wil say to them that this was Pegase and that Perseus was within it As soone as he might speake to the marriners that caried Bellerophon to Sicyll hee asked and demanded them what they were and into what region they would go When Bellerophon heard Perseus speake hee behelde his behauiour and countenance and iudged in himselfe that he was of a good house and said to him Certes sir I haue much great ioy for that I sée the ship and marriners be so well adressed and in so good readinesse as yours be for ye séeme well a knight of a noble house and therefore I tell you my case afterthat ye haue made your asking First then where ye enquired what we bee knowe ye that in Argos wee haue taken our birth And as to the second I answere you that we haue a purpose to go straight into Sicill to the which I am constrained by the rigour of a mortall iudgement cast vppon mee at the instance of a Ladye called Aurea that vniustly and vntruely hath complained vppon mee saying that I would haue enforced her This Ladye that I speake of is wife to king Prycus which newly and of late hath banished and exiled his Brother Acrisius out of his Realme and this King for to please and satisfie the accusations of his wife hath condemned mée to be put to death yet for the good and the acceptable seruice that I haue doone to him hée hath graunted me to liue if so it please the goddes that I may by possibilitie vanquish and ouercome a Chimere that is in Sicill vnto the which I go for to assay mee So I pray you that in our misfortune we be not let by you neither by none of your companie Valiant knight answered Perseus as it is true that the heart of a noble man taketh pitie and compassion in the distresse and passion of his equall the weighing of your case hath pearced mine heart with a charitable mercie and pitie by which yée may surely vnderstand not to haue by vs any hinderance during your infortunate life And for as much as the hearts of them that would be induced at calling to the déedes of Armes singularly delyte them in aduentures of great woorth and weight to get credite by I will accompanie you for two causes The first is to expose my selfe to the disputation and destruction of the Chimere if it happen that you ouercome her not which I suppose yée can not
they iudged him to be but dead alowing his hardines that to them séemed was too great One and other spake of this matter Perseus armed him ioyously When he was armed he came to Andromeda and kiss her taking leaue of her and sayd fayre mayde praye ye vnto the goddes for your champion that for your loue submitteth himselfe vnto the perill of death to the ende that by your onely meane I maye come vnto the enioying of loue and that we togither maye be ioyned in maryage which I buye at the price of my life Noble Knight aunswered the mayde I am more beholding to you then to all my kinsmen and fréendes Knowe ye that if my prayers may obtayne of the goddes ye shall returne safe from this enterpryse Then Perseus wente before the stone and Andromeda knéeled with great humilitie with both her knées vpon the earth in calling on her gods to help her champion and there were many matrones vpon the banke of the Sea that for compassion put them in contemplation and by this example of them all the Siriens beganne to pray for the prosperitie of the Knight excepting onely the king Phineus which prayed for his death And that for this cause for as much as before the iudgement giuen on Andromeda hée had fianced and betrothed him to her So had he wished that the monster had deuoured Perseus to the ende that the mariage of him and of her might haue béene ended What shall I say more When Perseus had so put himselfe foorth by the stone he looked towarde the sea and helde in his hande a good and passing strong sworde and he had not long behelde the situation and taken leasure to sée the place when there sprang out of a swalow or depth of the sea a monster so great and so horrible and so dreadfull that it séemed that he had béene made for to destroy all the worlde hee was rough and went on foure féete like a beast and his forme was so disfigured that none wist whereto he might be likened When then the Syriens sawe him put his head out of the déepe there was none so well assured but he trembled for feare And many were so afrayed that they fled into their houses and reentred into their Citie This notwithstanding Perseus as soone as he sawe him rise vp he came to him as hardie and right well assured and smote him with the poynt of his sworde so full vpon the right eye that on that side he made him blinde whereof the monster felt so great paine that he came out of the Sea with open mouth and thought to haue swallowed Perseus And Perseus went backe a little and put his sworde betwéene his iawes into his throate so farre foorth that he could not draw it out againe and so of force it abode in his throate more then foure foote At the second stroke the monster made a maruaslous crie lifting vp his head and wéening to haue cast out the péece of the sworde which abode in his throate but it would not bée Alwaye the monster assayled Perseus and wéend to haue swalowed him into his throate and Perseus alwaye stroke at him with his sword and put him at defence and smote alway at his throte and about nigh his other eye and so well intended the worke that after he had giuen him many woundes he made him blynde on the left eye like as hée did on the right eye And then as the monster went héere and there and made many walkes without séeing or knowing where he went pursuing his enemy Perseus gaue him manye woundes searching his heart and at the last he founde it And finallye he bestirred him so that he pearsed the heart with which stroke he made him to fall downe dead CHAP. XXXVI ¶ How Phineus would haue had Andromeda and how Perseus answered him that she should be his wife PAssing ioyous and astonied were the Syryens when they sawe the good fortun of Perseus and sayd one to an other that such a knight ought to be praysed aboue al other men The king Amon tooke great pleasure to sée his dealing séeing the monster labouring in his death hée went downe to him embracing him and said Sir the gods gouerne thy fortune and since they haue receyued thée in their fauour and grace there is none that may anoy thée in a good houre were thou héere arriued demaunde what thou wilt and I will cause thée to haue it Syr aunswered Perseus I haue preserued from death the Damosel I desire none other thing but her O valiant Knight sayde Phineus that was there awaighting thou doost much gloryfye thy selfe for thou hast gotten in a halfe day more honor then an other knight shal get in an hundred yeare And greatly thou oughtest to be commended But beware that the beautie of this mayd deceiue thée not know thou that I haue betrothed her and by right she ought to be my wife Many dayes bee gon and expyred since that in the presence of our bishop we promised to take each other in mariage This misfortune is after come to her thou haste reléeued her and wouldst therefore haue her The beginning is fayre but the ende is foule And if it so happe that thou do me wrong I let thée know that I will not suffer it for in this coūtrey I am a King haue great puissance al the glory that thou hast gotten shal be héere quenched Wherefore I praye thée that thou forbeare in this case and that thou suffer me to take that is mine and take thou that that belongeth to thée During these wordes Perseus looked towardes the Sea and saw from farre his galyes comming the one after the other directing them towarde this porte Whereof he hadde right great ioy and sayde vnto Phyneus King I make no doubt that thy power is great in this countrey but knowe thou right well that I knowe no man liuing that shall cause me to leaue that belongeth to me When I came hither I found this mayde condemned vnto death At that time shée was all abandoned to the death I haue saued her and I saye to thée that shée is mine and thou oughtest to haue no regard to any promise that she hath made to thée or to any other And so I haue intention that she shal be my wife And if thou wilt Combate and fight for her assemble thy power and make thée ready in thy battaile Lo héere come my galies readye for to receiue thée and although I haue not people ynough yet I haue in my cofers the most parte of the treasors of Medusa for to send for men of armes in al places where I may get them When Phineus considered this answer and knew that hée was the Knight that hadde vanquished Medusa whereof the renoume was greate and ran through out the whole worlde hée coulde none otherwise aunswere to Perseus but that hee might do his pleasure All the kinsmen of Andromeda were angrie with Phineus for his
shield of the giant was fallen from him and his armes all to bruised and his sword entred so farre into his bodie neare vnto his heart that he smote him downe dead at his féete When Philotes saw his giant dead he came vnto Hercules for to defend the place saying that he would auenge his giant if he might Hercules had great ioy when hee saw Philotes come to the place and said to him king thou art welcome I haue now ioy in my heart since I shall proue my selfe against thée Men say there is no stroke but of the maister now let vs sée how we shall worke together Well and happie bee hée that well shall doo and proue himselfe Philotes in the hearing of these wordes came vnto the place and helde a great Polaxe with which hée smote sore vppon the shield of Hercules and made him to stagger a little Whereat Philotes beganne to laugh and thought to haue smitten againe Hercules with that Polaxe who was ashamed of the other stroke And he then kept him well and waited so that in the smiting he caught it and plucked it out of his fists and cast it into the sea Then was Philotes all abashed of the force of Hercules and when hee had lost his Poleaxe hée tooke his sword and came for to fight with Hercules Philotes had the aduantage for Hercules was vnder him They assayled the one the other right fiercely and well they kept them both two All this day they fought without ceasing so long as the day endured the night came on that they must cease then they lay there both two vpon the place They slept nothing for it was no time both two kept the watch and they endured it well for they were accustomed for to wake Thus waking Philotes hadde many words vnto Hercules and demanded from whence hee was and Hercules tolde him the truth After they spake of their battaile and at the desire and request of Philotes they promised each to other that if anye of them were vanquished and ouercome for to saue his life he should be holden to serue truly the vanquisher all his life after c. During these spéeches and promises the day starre that the Poets call Aurora began to arise in his reigne The aire was cleare and fayre the starres shone At this houre Hercules cast his eyes among the starres and séeing there Aurora shine aboue all other he began to remember his ladie Megara saying Alas Madam where be ye now I would it pleased the goddes that ye remembred as well me as I remember you In truth the light of this same starre inflameth the amourous fire wherewith I was late seised by the administration of your beautie Ye bee as farre shining in beautie aboue the maidens of Greece as this Aurora shineth aboue all the other starres of whom the number is so great that no man can tell O noble Megara the right cleare starre your remembrance illumineth mine heart like as this starre illumineth the heauen and mee thinketh that by this remembraunce when I come to the battell I shall preuaile the better Wherefore I promise you if fortune helpe me like as I desire ye shall haue your part of all that I shall conquer c. The night drew ouer and the day began and at the poynt of the sunne rising Hercules was all glad of the thinking and remembrance that he had of his Ladie and tooke his sworde and sayd to Philotes we haue pawsed long enough â—o it is day and the sunne ryseth it is better that we exercise déedes of armes now then when the rayes of the sunne be greater let vs take the time ere the great heate come and let each of vs do his best Philotes that was all readie was right ioyous when he heard Hercules for he thought in his minde that he should soone and in little space spéede this matter and sayde to him Hercules I am readie and was since yesterday to atchieue this battaile kéepe you as well as yee can ye haue slaine my Giant the most stout and hardiest man that was in all the West Wherfore I haue great displeasure but at the least since his death may not be recouered by death of a man I will doo my best and deuoir to haue a new souldiour and that shall be you or els my sword and fortune shall fayle me Shall I so saide Hercules and if your sword and fortune shall faile you what tidings By my gentlenesse sayde Philotes that befell me neuer And if any ill fortune and misaduenture run vpon me that I must néedes be your seruaunte let it be vpon condition that I shall neuer go after into battaile at mine owne aduenture or none other during your life neither for you nor for other I shall neuer fight but if it be my selfe defendaunt Without other wordes the two champions assayled each other and smote togither so sadlye and sore that the place redounded with their strokes In a little while they had their shields vnfastened by great blowes Philotes did not fayle to smite on Hercules but his strokes were nothing so great but that Hercules might beare them well enough without greefe or suffering great damage Thus began the battaile againe of the two Giants Hercules was as high as a giant he was right fierce in armes he did much to get the standing but yet he might neuer attaine to smyte Philotes a full stroke for asmuch as Philotes was aboue on the passage which conteyned well two cubites of height When Hercules sawe and knewe that Philotes kept his standing without abashing or aduenturing to come downe he thought subtillye that he would fayne himselfe wearie and by little and little after he began to smite more féeblye then he did before after that he reculed himselfe and smote from farre as if he had fayled and béene wearye The Greekes were affraid and wéend he might no more and then Philotes sprang downe from the standing wéening to haue put him to the foyle but then when Hercules sawe him before him and that one was no more hygher then an other Hercules came to his place againe and gaue so great a stroke to Philotes that he made him recule and go backe more then foure foote Philotes was then all abashed and repented him that hee descended from the standing but that was for nought for the repenting might not auaile Then he tooke courage and enhaunced his sworde and smote Hercules on the left arme so hard that he gaue him a wound that the bloud sprang out When Hercules sawe the armes of Philotes besprinckled with his bloud he made none other countenaunce but that he would sodainly be auenged of the stroke In giuing to Philotes thrée strokes with the first he brake his helme and smote him on the head and with the seconde he gaue him a great wound on the right shoulder and with the third stroke he made his sword to flie out of his fistes and then he caught him in
abode not long after that he had subdued this realme but he departed and returned into Calcedonie as hastily as he might for to sée Deianira and there he was receiued with so great glory ioy triumph that no man can rehearse ne write The Poets report and write this conquest that Hercules made vpon Achelous faining that Achelous fought first in guise of a man and that then he was vanquished after he changed himselfe in a guise of a serpent This is to be vnderstood in subtilnesse and in malice as he did in assailing Hercules by night To conclude hée fought in the guise of a bull and that Hercules brake his one horne that is to be vnderstoode that at the last Achelous was fierce as a bull for hee died well nigh for pride sorrow that he was taken and that Hercules brake his horn that is to be vnderstood that he brake his realme and destroyed it CHAP. XVII ¶ How Nessus tooke Deianira from Hercules when hee passed with her ouer the riuer and how Hercules slew Nessus with an arrow GReat was the feast then that the king Oeneus made for the victories that Hercules had atchieued vpon king Achelous For he doubted him passing sore Hercules at his comming presented to him Achelous his realme and sayd to him that he should haue it without any refuse The king Oeneus sent king Achelous into exile and held himselfe greatly bounden and beholden to Hercules whō he honoured marueilously Then Hercules tooke to his heart againe right amorous conceits and also in like maner did Deianira she had souereigne ioy to see Hercules and desired none other thing but for to see him What shall I make long processe when Hercules had béene there a space he required king Oeneus that he would giue him his daughter to wife Oeneus with right good will agréed and accorded to him and Deianira consented with better will The wedding was solemnized pompously and solemnely and they went to bedde and lay together And soone after when Hercules sawe that his father in lawe had his realme in peace he tooke leaue of the king Oeneus and departed from Calcedonie with Deianira and his people for to goe by land into his realm of Iconie Hercules had alway in his iourney Deianira by him he loued her excéedingly had great solace in her beauty and if he had not studied with Athlas he could not haue absteined him from beholding her beauty In passing the time pleasantly in the maner that folke do that be new maried Hercules iourneyed so farre that he came to a quarter of Thessaly where the riuer of Hebenus runneth and arriued on this riuer which was déepe and broad running impetously and had neither bridge nor plancke to passe ouer but there was a Centaure named Nessus that spent there his life by the meanes of a little boate in the which he carried the people ouer the riuer c. When Hercules had found this passenger Nessus he came to him and demaunded of him howe he and his folk might passe the riuer Nessus that knew Hercules since the time that he had vanquished his fellowes at the wedding of Pyrothus aunswered to him that hee might not passe the riuer but by his little bote And if hee woulde passe hee would with a good will doe him the pleasure to set him ouer Hercules thanked Nessus And forasmuch as he saw that the bote was but litle and that the time was disposed to raine he would that Deyanira and her damsels shoulde passe first Deyanira and her maidens entred into the bote When they were therein Nessus rowed and in the rowing he beheld Deyanira and hee looked on her so much that her beautie rauished him For as soone as he was come ouer on the other side he took Deianira and said that she shoulde be his wife and then catching hold on her he tooke her on his shoulders and bare her away wherefore Deianira and her damselles made great cries And Hercules seeing that the olde giant bare away Deianira which he would resist to his power bent his bowe and shotte an arrowe vpon the giant with so great might and cunning that he smote him on the right side vnto the heart and gaue him the deaths wound The bowe of Hercules was so great and strong that no man could bend it but himself Nessus when as by his wound that Hercules gaue him he began to féele the approching of death and to suffer sharpe anguish alway he ran a great while after vnto a valley where he fell downe and considering that his life had no recouery hee emploied the end of his life to imagine howe hee might doe displeasure to Hercules and remembred that hee had terrible poyson about him and mortall and said to Deianira by great malice Ladie the loue of you hath caused me to receiue the death which me displeaseth not so sore as doth that cruel Hercules shall enioy you which are worthy to haue a worthy man Hercules is no true husband but the vntruest to his wife that euer was And forasmuch as I haue singular pitie of you and that your beautie constraineth me to doe you pleasure I will giue you heere a pretious thing and hauing such vertue that if ye boyle it with one of the shirtes of Hercules with the bloud that runneth out of my wound and if that ye giue the shirt to Hercules and that he weare it he shal neuer after loue other woman ne lady but you And with these wordes the giant tooke the poison and tempered it with his bloud wound it in a linnen cloth and gaue it to Deianira The foolish Deianira giuing credence to the giant tooke the poyson The giant charged her that no man shuld touch it bare saying that then it woulde loose his vertue after the touching and with that he gaue vp his ghost and died pitiously and Deianira escaped from his handes purposing that shee woulde kéep that poison secretly at all aduenture for to helpe her self if it were néed In the mean while that these things befell betwéene Deianira and the giant Hercules was not in heartes ease for Deianira for he was in great distresse when he saw Nessus beare away his wife Assoone as he had smitten him on the right side with his arrow as is said he vnclothed himselfe and cast his gown his harnesse and club ouer the water by great strength and after he started into the water and swamme ouer vnto the other side and then as he put on his raiment Deianira again accompanied with her damsels that followed her came to the riuer furnished with the cursed poyson When Hercules sawe Deianira returne hee imagined anon that he had slaine the giant and went against her and demaunded where the traitor was Deianira aunswered not at the first to this demaund but saide to him alas my Lord in what perill haue I been what oppression what dispaire of ioy hath oppressed mine heart The traches of mine
our aduersaries let vs now defend the port Auenge we our bloud auenge we our sorrow auenge we our damage it must needes be done c. In the meane while that Gerion encouraged thus his folke Hercules and his companie rowed so nigh the port that they were come to strokes smiting The Hesperiens cast vpon Hercules then round stones dartes with sharp yrons on the end speares and swordes Against this the Greekes tooke their shieldes and couered them and put them in deuoire for to winne the port But the casting of the Hesperiens was so mortall that it constrained their enemies to abide and not approche the porte They had at this port great aboundance of stones The Hesperiens kept well the entry more then three houres so that the Greeks coulde finde no way nor meane to remedy it At the end of three houres Hercules right sorrowfull to see his men troubled so thought he would enter into a little boat and aduenture himselfe alone to win the port Then he that doubted no stroke of any mortall man entered into the little boate and steared it himselfe with helpe of the winde which he had at his aduauntage and hoised vp the saile and putting all in aduenture as fast as he might he brought the boate vnto the port whither hee came by his hardinesse But this was at such time as he receiued more then a thousand strokes with stones and that his saile that stood ouer end by force of the winde was smitten full of holes and the cordes broken and the mast ouerthrowne and the boate well nigh filled with stones Notwithstanding all these thinges Hercules ceassed not at all from his enterprise but through he passed by al the strokes of his enemies He laboured so that hee tooke land and that he thrust himselfe among the Hesperiens and there he began to smite with his clubbe on the right side and on the left side endlong and ouerthwart with such aboundance of prowesse that all the place was red with their bloud and with their braines Theseus and Hispan and fiftie of the Greekes best armed by the example of Hercules tooke a light boat and aduentured themselues to winne the porte Hercules was euen at the mouth of the porte he saw Theseus come and for to make him haue passage he ran hither and thither and did so great hurt to the Hesperiens that without great danger they tooke land and sprang out of the boate Then was the assault hote and furious Gerion came to the landing of Theseus and fully three hundred of his men that followed him All they smote and layd vpon the Greeks and of the fiftie they slew ten When Theseus and Hispan saw that their heartes began to swell They encouraged themselues and piersed the assembly of Gerion and against one man that was slaine of theirs they slew fiftie of the Hesperians And there they vsed so their prowesses that they did there the greatest marueiles of the world by armes Gerion died for sorrow that he might not come to haue his will on the Gréekes hee and his men were eager as Tygres that had béene famished The Gréekes were very mighty and strong as Elephants their strokes were great they doubted neither death nor sworde but put all in aduenture The battell was strong and the Gréekes receiued many a wound alway Theseus and Hispan by their marueilous prowesses saued them from the death and made passage thorow a great prease where Hercules was Hercules that left not to smite was very glad when he saw Theseus and Hispan and their forty companions Their comming cost Gerion the death of a thousand men more for Hercules for to encourage his men and for to be to them an example of well doing he added to his déeds strength vpon strength and prowesse vpon prowesse confounding his enemies so dreadfully and terribly drawing them toward the sea that they that saw him wished that they had bin in their mothers wombs and in flying they were in such haste so distressed that they beat ech other into the sea and so they slew ech other themselues Then was Gerion smitten to the heart with great ire medled with impatience so hee put himselfe in the prease and smote not only vpon Hercules but also vpon the companions of Theseus he smote the first man vpon the helm so that he cleft his head vnto the téeth After he assailed another and bare him to the earth so astonied that he wist not where he was Consequently he made there a great assault suddenly on the Gréekes so that he died his sword with their bloud and that the Gréekes were constrained to make a huge great crie for to haue succours At this season the Gréeks that were left in the gallies entred into the port and tooke land easily When Hercules and his folke heard the crie that his men made he ran thither to the assault and made about them a newe noise great pitious Gerion knew anon that the noise came because of Hercules For he saw him come and smite in the thickest of the prease for to saue himselfe then he called to his folke and chéered them in encouraging and had there so great mishap that for one stroke that Hercules gaue him with his club by chance he was constrained to depart from the prease to withdraw him apart with them that were weary for to take his breath Gerion afterward fought to his extremitie and casting so his eies vppon the skirmish and fighting he saw the Greeks vpon the port prouiding them vnto the battaile After he saw how they put many of his men to the worst and that hee might not resist it al his losses came before his eyes and then he began to sigh and said with a dolorous heart alas what is the mutabilitie of fortune Flattering fortune what hast thou thought All the honor that thou hast giuen me here before redound now to my shame since thou hast sent and parted to me so many goodes wherefore hast thou sent to me Hercules this is the enemy of all my glory noâ—e queÌ„ched He from a shining hath brought me vnto a name all full of darknes At least if thou hast giuen him sufficient let him not come after me with his horrible deedes All my veines be replenished with furies my heart murdereth it selfe boyling with ire O what great mishap is this since it must needes be that I shal be vnfortunate I will verily die of the club that I haue seene my brother die with or I will take vengeance Gerion all out of his wit with these wordes put him in the prease crying Gerion Gerion for to make his men to courage theÌ„selues Thus crying seeking Hercules he put to death many Gréeks he was al furious so as his sword was died with the blood of his enemies In the end he came vnto Hercules with his sword so died he smote him sore Hercules was weary for without ceassing hee abode
then he had done before whereof the cries arose so high there that Hercules then sighting on another side heard the cry and then hee ran thither at all aduenture And anon as he spied Cacus hee went before him and brake the prease and smote downe so sore that Cacus knew Hercules but hee durst not abide him but fled againe with euill hap And then the Greeks made a cry and a ioyfull noyse so that all the Castiliens fledde some heere and some there to the great hurt and losse of Cacus For of all his people there was left no more but 50 which saued theÌ„selues vpon the mount of Monchayo which stoode thereby But that was with great effusion of bloud of them of Castile that thought to haue mounted vp with the other that it séemed that there had been a great spring of bloud that the caues in the valley were replenished with bloud howbeit Cacus for to flie wel saued him selfe and fiftie of his men vppon the mountaines as the chronicles of Spaine rehearse When he was aboue and in sure peace he returned and looked downe to the foot of the hill and he saw there so many Castiliens that without number were dead or in daunger for to die hee hadde great sorrowe then at his heart not for pitie but for despite and for the danger that he sawe ready whereby hee must passe Anon after he sawe from farre in the champaigne and each quarter and place there all couered with them of his part and of their bloud Also he saw them that fled taken and brought to the handes of the other These things considered the desolation of his dominion and the punishment of his tyranny was to him euident he thoght then that Hercules would soone conquere all the country For they obeied him for his tyranny and not for naturall loue This notwithstanding he dispaired not albeit that he saw all the puissance of his men destroied by the clubbe of Hercules and knewe that hee might no more reigne in that countrey for all were slaine in the battaile and then hee returned vnto his Science And thus as sorrowfull as he was he entered into a house that he had there But first appointed twelue of his men to keepe the passage of this mount which was so straite and narrowe that there might go vp but one man at once When then Hercules and his men had put to death all their enemies Hercules began to assaile the rocke and to mount and go vppon the degrees or staires but then sodainly they that kept the passe cast vppon him great stones in so great aboundance that of force hee was constrained to descend When Hercules sawe that hee must withdraw him he obeied fortune but notwithstanding he made there a vowe that hee would neuer depart from the foot of the rocke vnto the time that he had constrained Cacus to descend rome downe by famine or otherwise This vow made Hercules came vnto the foote of the hil where battell and slaughter had been and made the place to bee made cleane and purged of the dead bodies and of the bloud of them that there lay dead After hee did make his tent of dewes and leaues and his bed of freshe grasse and commaunded that each man shoulde lodge there At that time the night came and the day fayled the Greeks were weary for that they had all day laboured in armes and woulde faine haue rest and made good cheere with that they had And after that they had ordeined and set their watche aswel for to keepe the coast as for to keepe the rocke that Cacus should not come downe they layd them downe vpon the grasse in such wise as they were accustomed when they were in war and so slept and passed that night On the morrow Hercules parted the hoast in twaine and sent Hispan with one of them into Arragon and Nauarre and hee abode there with the other Hispan in the name of Hercules was ioyfully receiued of the Nauarroys and of the Arragonoys And they made to him all obeysance acknowledging Hercules to be their Lord and the most vertuous prince that was in the West When Hispan had all subdued as is said hee returned vnto Hercules Hercules lay yet still before Monchaio and there held Cacus in such subiection that he might not issue Cacus and his folke were then in great want of vittaile and they wist not what to eate nor to drinke They deferred as long as they might hoping that Hercules woulde bée weary to be there so long But in the end when their vittaile failed and they saw that they muâ—t néeds aduenture themselues to come downe Cacus by his science made certaine secret things to go downe into their stomackes and after put thereto the fire and taught all the other to do so and then sodainly as they felt the fire issue out of their mouthes and the fume and smoke in such aboundance that it seemed all on a light fire then by the counsaile of Cacus they aduentured themselues to descend downe in running and casting fire and fume so impetously that Hercules and the Greeks thought that it had been a tempest of lightning of the heauen and had burnt the mountaine so they made him place for it was a thing for to make men sore abashed and thus they escaped the daunger of Hercules at that time For during all that day the rocke was full of smoke and fume that Cacus had made and the smoke was so material that it séemed darknes When Cacus and his folk were thus escaped and passed the hoste of Hercules and of the Greekes Hercules was then the most wise clerk that was in the world and all his pastimes hee emploied in study hee tooke his bookes and began to muse howe and by what reason hée was descended from the rocke he read and turned many leaues but all thing well considered hee found not that this fume came of naturall thinges wherof he had great maruel Then he sent for Athlas that alway was lodged behinde the hoste for to be solitary When Athlas was come he shewed him the smoke and fume that yet dured Then he told of the lightning that was passed by the hoste and demaunded of him his opinion Athlas knew incontinent the fume and answered to Hercules Certes my sonne thou art more sharpe in science then I for mine age may not attaine to so high things as thy youth Howbeit forasmuch as I know the growing of this thing long time past I will tell thee that I shal say thou shalt find true as I suppose Thou shalt vnderstaÌ„d that this fume is a thing artificiall and made by the craft of Vulcan that was father of Cacus which was an excellent maister in this science and was the inuenter thereof he made certaine mountaines in Cicille to burne and shall alway continually burne vnto the end of the worlde Cacus which can the arte and craft of his father hath made this fume and
bloud of their brethren and for to haue worshippe of the battell And they sayde that they were infortunate séeing they might not ouercome one man alone nor match him In fighting they helped and comforted ech other and had all good courage But what profited them the great number of brethren and what auailed them their couragious strokes when they were approching their death Hercules was alway Hercules he reioiced much in the plentie of his enemies hee comforted himselfe in fortune fortune helped him hee did marueiles on all sides well could he fight and well defended he himselfe all that hee did was well done all that other did and indeuoured to do was nought worth notwithstanding that they were mighty and hardy But the lucke and good hap of Hercules was not to bee broken ne his clubbe coulde not bee foyled but hee triumphed and more was his puissance to susteine the furies of his aduersaries then their might was to charge him with their strokes O marueilous strength and might of a man His puissance was not of a man but of an elephant his skin of the lion séemed that it had bene tempered with quicke and hard stéele his body séemed more constant against the cutting swordes of all his ill willers then is an anuill against the strokes of many hammers or great sledges There was no stroke of his enemie that grieued him he tooke great pleasure in the battell séeing himselfe among so many giants He stil greatly reioyced and there was nothing grieuing him but the declining of the day which began to faile At this houre when the Sun withheld her rayes and turned into the West Hercules would make an end and spéede his battell The giants began to cease for to smite for from the morning vnto the euening they had fought without any ceasing and Hercules behaued himselfe in such wise smiting vppon one and other being about him harde and sharpely that it befell so that of some hée ouerthrew and brake helmets and heads and of other he brake armes and sides maruellously and gaue so many great strokes that finally he beat downe and to bruised them all except Nestor which fled away when he saw the discomfiture And therein did he wisely for all his brethren were there slaine by the hand of Hercules c. When they of Cremona sawe their Lordes dead they had soone made an end of their weeping and sorrowe for they had béene to them hard and troublesome At the end of this battell they assembled to councell when they sawe that Hercules had woonne the battaile and concluded together that they would yéeld themselues to Hercules and put themselues to his mercy With this conclusion they issued out of the gates in a great number and came vnto Hercules which was the conquerour of his enemies first they knéeled before him downe to the ground secondly they prayed and required of him mercy and thirdly they surrendered vnto him their city and their goods and sayd to him they woulde holde him for their lord during their liues Hercules that was pitifull and gentle vnto them that were méeke and humbled themselues receiued the Cremonians into his grace and made them to rise stand vp and after sent for them of his hoste When they were come he brought them into Cremona where great ioy was made vnto them for they were glad of the death of the giants And there was no man nor woman nor childe that thanked not the gods By this maner was Hercules king of Cremona and inriched with a new title of victory The first night that he entred into the city he rested him and his people and then were they well refreshed and right well feasted and serued with vitaile On the morrow he did cause to bring into the citie the bodies of the giants that were dead and did bury them worshipfully And after he founded vpon them a very great tower and high and vpon the tower he set xi images or statues of metall after the fashion of the giants that he had slaine in remembrance of his victorie After the edification of this tower Hercules left in Cremona folke for to gouerne them and departed thence for to goe further forth into the countrey He studied alway and was neuer idle he studied so much that he could make the fire artificiall aswell as Cacus and founde the remedies against the same What by armes and by his science he gate a very great glory and praising in Italie He went into many places and ouer all where he came or went men did him honour and reuerence What shall I make long processe with great good aduenture he went so farre that he came to a citie standing nigh the mount Auentin where reigned a king named Euander which receiued him solemnly It is to be noted that when Cacus fled from Monchayo as is sayd vnto this mount hée came into Italie all displeasant to haue lost his seignorie Then hee gaue leaue to depart from him to all his seruants and all despaired alone he went to the mount Auentin in an euening where he was constrained to withdraw himselfe for he doubted much Hercules When he was come aboue on this hill he found there a great caue and there he went in without supper and then he began to be discomforted greatly bitterly said Alas now am I exiled banished out of all my seignories lordships Now haue I no succour nor comfort of person I dare not name me king where I was wont by my name to make kings to trēble alas al is turned become vpside down I haue nothing to eat nor wote not where to lodge vnlesse it be with the beasts O poore king where so any man so vnhappy as I I am so infortunate and vnhappie that I dare not be séene nor knowen With these wordes he layd him downe vpon the bare ground and layed a stone vnder his head and with great paine and griefe fell asléepe which dured not long for his veines were strongly stirred his heart was not quiet and his body was right euilly susteined Anon he awoke went out of the caue for to looke if it were nigh day for the night troubled him and was to him too long But when he was come into the ayre he saw no day appeare nor starres nor moone shine but he found it all darke cloudy and thicke and saw all the region of the aire couered with clouds whereat he was greatly vexed and grieued Then he went into the caue againe not into the déepest but at the mouth thereof and there sorrowful and pensiue abode without any more sléeping till it was day When the day appeared Cacus issued out of the caue and went vp vnto the top of the hill and beganne to beholde and sée the countrey about The countrey séemed to him good and faire for to liue there After great pensiuenes and many thoughts he concluded in himselfe that he would abide there vnto the time that his fortune ceased
euen as well they will take them in the Citie as in the fieldes And if there be a robber or theefe in the countrey that will take them away I suppose I shall finde him and shall make Italy quite of him With these wordes Hercules sent his beastes into the pasture and there left them without any keepers The day passed ouer the night came In this night Cacus issued out of his caue and went into the countrey for to pill and rob if hee might finde any booty Thus as he that is vnhappy seeketh euill and in the end he is paid at once for his trespasses the vnhappy aduenture brought him into the medow where as pastured the oxen and kine of Hercules it was nigh the morning he had with him his three wiues Assoon as he saw the beasts by the light of the moone that shone cleere he knew them Anon he was all abashed and his bloud chaunged in his visage and not without cause for soon after his sorrows began to grow on him and came to the quicknesse of the heart that he could not speake His wiues seeing that he spake no worde and that hee beheld the beastes as all a wondred came to him and demaunded of him what hee â—iled Alas aunswered Cacus since it is so that yee must needes know I tell you for certaintie that all the sorrow of the worlde ariseth in my stomacke and enuironeth mine heart for I heere see the oxen of the triumph of mine ennemy Hercules and in beholding them I remember the losses that I haue had by him and the honours and worships that hee hath made mee for to loose and also the realmes that he hath taken away from me and the great misery that I am now in Hee must needes be hereby in some place Cursed be his comming for I wote not what to doe but in signe of vengeance I will slea his oxen and his kine When the three sisters had heard that Cacus so sorrowed they councelled him that hee shoulde not slea the beastes Saying that if he slewe them Hercules shoulde léese nothing for he shoulde eate them It were better saide his wife that ye take and leade away as many as ye may and bring them into our caue for if ye doe so Hercules shall haue losse and displeasure and ye shall haue pleasure and profite Cacus beleeued that his wife said to him yet hee looked in the medow al aboutes if any man had bin there to keepe them but hee found no man nor woman And then he came to the beasts and tooke eight of the best that he could chuse foure oxen and foure kine after hee bound them togither with a corde by the tailes and put the corde about his necke and drewe them so in that maner vnto his caue albeit that the beastes resisted strongly to go backward in that maner Cacus brought in this maner reculing and going backward al those beastes that hee stale to the end that no man should follow him by the traches of the feete of the beastes When he had put in his caue the beastes of Hercules as said is he shut the doore so well that a man should neuer haue knowne nor perceiued that there had been anie doore Then weening that he had been sure he laid him downe and slept Anon after the sunne rising and that it was day Hercules that desired much to heare tidings of his beastes arose vp and did so vse the matter that the king Euander brought him vnto the place whereas his oxen and kine were When they were come into the medow Hercules found that he lacked foure oxen and as many kine Whereat hee was sore troubled and for to knowe if the Gods had taken them or any théeues hadde stollen them he commaunded that they should séeke all about the medowe and sée if the traches or the printes of the féete of the beastes might be séene or found At this commandement one and other began to séek Some there were that looked toward the mount Auentin and founde the stepps and footing of the oxen but they thought by that footing that the beasts were descended from the mount for to come into the medowe When al they had sought long and saw that they found nothing they made their report vnto Hercules and saide to him that they coulde not perceiue on no side where these oxen were issued out and that on no side they coulde finde any signes nor tokens of beastes going out of the pasture But right now said one I haue found the steppes and feete of certaine oxen and kine that he descended from the mountaine into the medow When Hercules heard that from the mountaine were come oxeÌ„ into the medow he called Euander demanded him what people dwelles on the mountaine Euander said to him that thereon dwelled no man nor beast and that the mountaine was not inhabited Hercules woulde go to see the footing and went thither and hee thought well that thither might haue passed eight great beastes in that night for the traces of the feete were great and new Then hee woulde wete where they were become but hee found wel that the footing of the beasts took their end there as they pastured He was then right sore a maruelled forasmuch as there were no strange beastes and beganne to muse When he had a little paused he beheld the mount and said it must needes bee that the Gods haue rauished mine oxen or els that there is a théefe in this mountaine that is come and hath stollen them and hath led them away reculing backward But forasmuch as I haue lesse suspition of the Gods then of the theefe I will neuer depart from hence vntill the time that I haue searched this mountaine from one side to another for my heart iudgeth that the beastes be here c. With this conclusion Hercules did cause to take diuers calues that were there and made them to fast till noone During this while hee sent for his harneis and armes by Phylotes and armed and made him ready to fight Anon after midday as the calues beganne to crie and bleate for hunger he caused them then to be brought about the mountaine Thus as they passed by the place where the caue was and cried it happened that the kine that were in the caue heard them and answered crying so loud that the sound passed by the holes of the caue and came to the eares of the calues and also of Hercules and of other When Hercules heard the crie of his kine hee abode there his calues beganne to cry again but his kine cried no more for Cacus by the force of their cries was awaked and as he that alway doubted for to bee discouered rose vp and cut the throates of the kine The calues then naturally knowing their dammes cried very loud and bleated as they that desired the milke for to liue by Howbeit they coulde not so loud cry that their dammes aunswered them heereof maruelled much Hercules Then
the lesse ye get and winne continual teares or wéepinges nor long lasting sighes may neuer raise your father againe The faire Yo le with these wordes was sore oppressed with hote contrary imaginations that her heart failed her It was a piteous thing to beholde howe her friend Hercules would haue taken her vp and susteined her betwéene his armes But a wise lady that had alway gouerned her came to him and said to him kneeling on her knees Sir I pray you in the name of all the Gods that ye will cease to speake to this poore damsell for this time She hath this day lost her father it must needs bée that nature acquite her Ye may do with her your owne pleasure if ye let her a little abide in her melancholie all shall be well if it please the Gods as well for you as for her At the request of the Lady Hercules was content to let her go for that time hee recommended Yo le vnto the Gods and went vnto Theseus for to passe his time with him but to the end that Yo le shoulde not go away nor escape he ordained twelue Gréekes to kéepe her and commaunded vpon pains of death that they should suffer no woman to issue out of the chamber without witting whither she went In this night Hercules did cause the dead bodies to be had out of the pallace and the place to be made cleane And also he ordeined that the body of the king Pricus should be put in the sepulture When these things were accōplished Hercules Theseus with their men of armes made good chéere with such as they found there and Yo le was neuer out of the remembrance of Hercules Yo le certainely at this time was so discomforted that it cannot be recounted The ladie that had her in gouernance trauelled right sore for to comfort and chéere her Then when Hercules had left her in the chamber as sayd is she had many words to her and among all other she sayd to her My daughter you wéepe too much Ha madame sayd Yo le how may I lesse do when shall I haue cause to wéepe and to waile if I haue not nowe My father is dead I haue lost him that most loued me of all the world I may loose no more ne no greater thing Ought not then my heart to be angry and sorrowfull My daughter sayd the lady I know well that ye haue the most apparant occasion of sorrowe that any woman may haue but since it must néeds be that you passe by this infortune what profite you your grieuous wéepings There may nothing procéed of them but augmentation of melancoly and hurting and appairing of your praised beautie Ye be now fallen into the hand of this prince This is a man worthy and noble aboue all other he loueth you ye ought to thanke the gods and to giue them praise for this grace For this is to you a good fortune and an hap in your mishap If ye will be ruled by me y◠shall take all this in good part Better it is to suffer one euil then two He thinketh ye ought to consider your estate And if ye consider it well ye shall indeuour you to forget it Madame sayd Yo le Alas and how may that be that I should haue loue or affinitie or familiaritie with him that hath done to mee so much harme He hath not taken onely from me a knight an vncle nor a cousin but mine onely proper father Let none speake to me thereof Hee is and shall be my mortall enemy as long as I liue and as long as he shal liue he shall haue no more of me for prayer promise nor for menace My daughter sayd the lady make not your selfe bond whereas you be free the effects and déeds of loue be subtill and sudden Loue is alway in his secret throne that can doe none other thing but humiliate and méeken the hard hearted and bow the strong So hard nor so strong a heart is not amongst the humaine creatures but that it is right soone humbled and made méeke when that it is his pleasure There is no tower so high but it may be beaten downe by subtill mining Neither is no winde so great nor so rigorous but it may be tempered There is no night so darke but that it is surmounted with the day Ye hate Hercules now but if you haue a while kept companie with him and haue had communication with him peraduenture you will loue him better then euer you loued your father your mother or any other of your linage And that I may proue by my selfe for I had my husband in so great hate first ere we loued together that I would faine haue séene him die a shamefull death Shortly after when we had begun to be acquainted one with another I loued him so stedfastly that if he had not beene with me day and night I had thought I should haue died for sorrow and griefe My daughter such be the chances of loue that often times I say after great hate commeth great loue The glory of Hercules is so cléere that your heart ought to be delighted therewith the conquest that he hath made in this citie shall be for you a singular preparation to all good Would you attaine to a more greater weale then for to be fellow or loue of him that is the subduer of kings the most best wel-faring man and the most triumphant in armes for to him is nothing vnpossible hee hath conquered the most part of the vniuersall world O my daughter reioyce you in fortune shut not the doore to prosperitie that commeth to you it is to be beléeued that the desolation of this citie hath bene deuised and ordeined by the parlement of the gods in fauor of you that are the paragon and none like vnto you of all the daughters of the kings for to giue you in marriage vnto this man By these wordes the faire Yo le had her stomacke surprised with sundry imaginations She rose then vp from that part and entred into her guardrobe whereas was the presentation of the goddesse Diana When she was come thither she knéeled downe in great humilitie before the image and in abounding of sighes and weeping as sore as shee had done any time of the day before shee sayd Goddesse of virgines what shall thy right simple seruant and handmayden doe Alas lighten mine hope beholde mine affection weigh my mishappe Send thine eyes into the secret of mine heart and sée the sorrow that I beare and in the fauour of virgines kéepe my bodie and preserue me frō the hand of him that would that I should be his wife Since that he had caused in me the roote of mortall hate which is not possible to be rooted out as nature iudgeth in mee for it is not possible that I may loue mine enemie I am therefore perswaded and it is trueth that the hate that I haue against this tyrant Hercules shal be euer abiding
Iconie then shee depriued her selfe of all worldly pleasure and held her solitarily without going to feasts or to playes Thus abiding in this solitude her gréeuous annoy grew more and more by so great vexations that she was constrained to make infinite bewaylinges and sighes The continuall comfort of her ladies might giue to her no solace The innumerable spéeches that they vsed vnto her eares for to make her passe the time might neuer take away Hercules out of her minde She passed and liued many daies this life hauing alway her eare open for to know if Hercules sent for her In the end whē she had wayted long and sawe that nothing came and that neither man nor woman was comming to bring her tidinges from the person of Hercules shee made a letter which she deliuered to Lycas for to beare vnto Hercules and charged him to deliuer it to no person but to the proper hand of him that shee sent it vnto Lycas tooke the letter and went vnto Licie and two mile frō the citie hee met Hercules in a crosse way Hercules came from Archadie where he had newly slaine a wilde bore so great that there was neuer none séen like to him When then Lycas saw Hercules hee made to him reuerence and presented his letter to him saluting him from Deianira Hercules waxed red and chaunged colour when he heard speake of Deianira He receiued the letter amiably and read it and found therein conteined as as here followeth Hercules my Lord the man of the world that I most desire I humbly beséech earnestly intreat you that you haue regard to your true seruant and vnworthy louer Deianira Alas Hercules alas Where is become the loue of the time past yee haue nowe soiourned manie daies in Licie ye haue let me haue no knowledge therof Certes that is to mée a right dolorous griefe to suffer and beare for I desire not to be deified nor to mount into the celestiall mansions with the sunne with the moone nor with the starres but without faining or breaking of a free heart I desire your solemne communication I may from henceforth no more faine It is said to me that you haue another wife besides mee Alas Hercules haue I made any fault against your worthines wherefore giue yee me ouer and abandone me Howe may ye do so men name you the man vertuous Yee abandon me and forsake me and that is against vertue Though now yee doe it I haue seene the time that yee were my husband in embracing vs togither and kissing you shewed then to me semblance of good liking of ioy Now let ye her alone that ye loued as a poore castaway Alas where be the witnesses of our mariage where be the eternal vowes othes that we made one to another Men bée deafe blinde but the Gods heare and see wherefore I pray you that ye consider that which ye ought to consider and that ye hold your good name more deerer than ye do the loue of your new acquainted gossip that maketh you to erre against vertue whereof ye haue so great a renowm I pray you hastily write to me your pleasure c. When Hercules hadde read from the beginning to the end the letter of Deianira as hee yet beheld and sawe it Yo le came vnto him with three hundred gentlewomen for to bee merrie and to make cheere with Hercules Hercules then closed the letter and returned into Licie holding Yo le by the hand howbeit when he was in his pallace he forgot not Deianira but found meanes for to go into his studie and there wrote a letter and when it was finished he tooke it to Lycas for to present it to Deianira Lycas tooke the letter and returned home againe to Deianira First he told her the tidinges and of the state of Yo le After he deliuered to her the letter conteining that he recommended him vnto her and that hée hadde none other wife but her and that hee praied her that shee woulde not giue her to thinke any euill but to liue in hope and in patience as a wise ladie and noble ought and is bound to doe for her honour and credite This letter little or nought comforted Deianira she was so vehemently attainted with ielousie Her sorrowe redoubled and grew In this redoubling she wrote yet another letter which she sent to Hercules and that conteined these wordes that follow Hercules alas and what auaileth me to be the wife of so noble a husband as ye be your noblenesse is to mee more hurtfull then profitable O fortune I was woont to reioyce for all day I heard none other things but commendations and praisinges of your prowesses and right glorious deedes and exploites wherwith the world was inlumined and shone Nowe must I be angry and take displeasure in your workes that be foule full of vices All Greece murmureth at you and the people say that ye were woont to be the vanquisher of all thinges no◠ye be vanquished by the foolish loue of Yo le Alas Hercules and how shal I be separated from you and hée holden the waiting drudge of the caitife Yo le She is your Caitife for ye haue slaine her father and haue taken her in the prise of Calidonie and yet now shee hath the place of your lawfull wife Alas haue I sayd well married for to be named the faire daughter of Iupiter king of the heauen and of the earth Now shall I no more be called so it is not alway happy to mount vnto the most high estate For from as much as I haue mounted in height and was your fellowe from so farre I feele my selfe fall into the more great perill O Hercules if for my beautie ye tooke me to your wife I may well curse that beautie for that is cause of the grieuous shame that is to me all euident for to prognosticate mine harme and ill to come And that is to come cannot your astronomers sée that I would I knew that I wote well your beautie and my beauty haue brought my heart into the strait prison of sorrow without end And I may not count them but for enemies since by them all sorrowes come vnto me The ladies haue ioy in the preheminence of their husbands but I haue ill fortune and mishappe I sée nothing but displeasure in my marriage O Hercules I thinke all day on you that ye go in great perils of armes and of fierce beasts and tempests of the sea and in the false perils of the world Mine heart trembleth and hath right great feare of that I ought to haue comfort and hope of wealth All that I remember in my minde and thinke on in the day I dreame on in the night and then me thinketh verily that I see the cutting sharpe swords enter in me and the heads of the speares and after mee thinketh that I sée issue out of the caues of the forrests and deserts lyons and wilde monsters that ease my
haue victorie and that wee shall destroy their Citie albeit that it is strong but onely for our worship to the end that wee be recommended to haue conducted this worke by great discretion and without pride for oftentimes by our too hastie enterprise a thing of great waight without aduised councell may come to a mischieuous end Ye know well that it is long ago that the king Priamus did require vs by his special messengers that we shoulde render to him his sister Exione that by our hautinesse pride we would not deliuer her againe and if wee hadde deliuered and sent her home againe these euilles had neuer happned in the I le of Cythar as they now be And the queene Helene that is of the most noble of Gréece had neuer been rauished nor lead away and also we had not enterprised the paine nor the labour where we nowe be in And there is none of vs that knoweth what shal happen to him good or euil and therefore if ye seeme good that we might returne into our countrey without suffering of more paine with our honour and worshippe wee will send vnto the king Priamus our speciall messengers and bidde him to send and deliuer againe to vs Helene fréely and that he restore vnto vs the dammages that Paris hath done in the I le of Cythare for if he will so do our returne shal be honourable and we may no more aske of him by right And if he refuse this wee shall haue two things that shall fight for vs that is iustice and our true quarrell and our puissance excused and when men shall heare of our offers they will giue the wrong and blame to the Troyans and to vs the laud and praise and we shal be excused of all the dammages that wee shall doe to them after these offers Therefore aduise you among your selues what thing ye will doe Then were there some badde people that blamed this counsell and some allowed it and finally they concluded to do so as Agamemnon had sayde Then they chose for their messengers Diomedes and Vlisses for to goe to Troy and make their legation which tooke their horses and went incontinently thither and came to Troy about midday and they went straight to the Pallace of king Priamus and tooke their horses to kéepe at the gate and after went vp into the hall and in going vp they marueiled greatly of the rich works that they saw in all the pallace and specially of a tree that they sawe in a plaine the which was made by arte Mathematike marueilously composed and of great beautie for the tronchon or stocke beneath was no greater but of the greatnesse of a speare and was passing long and high and aboue had branches of golde and of siluer and leaues that spread ouer the pallace and saue a little it couered all and the fruite of the same tree was of diuers precious stones that gaue great light and brightnes and also did much please and delight them that beheld it They went so farre foorth that they came into the great hall where the king Priamus was accompanied with noble men And then without saluting the king nor the other Vlisses sayd vnto him in this maner King Priamus marueile nothing that we haue not saluted thee forasmuch as thou art our most mortall enemie The king Agamemnon from whome wee be messengers sendeth and commaundeth thee by vs that thou deliuer and send vnto him the queene Helen whom thou hast caused most vilely to bee rauished and taken from her husband and that thou make satisfaction for all the damages that Paris thy sonne hath done in Gréece and if thou so doe I suppose thou shalt shew thy selfe a wise man but if thou doe not beholde what euils may come vnto thee and thine for thou shalt die an euill death and all thy men and this noble and famous citie shall be destroyed When the king Priamus heard Vlisses thus speake he answered incontinently without demanding or asking any counsel I marueile greatly of these thy wordes that requirest of mee that thing that a man already vanquished and ouercome and one that might not defende himselfe no more with great paine would accord to thee I beleeue not that the Greeks haue such puissance to do that thing which thou hast sayd vnto me they require of me amends and I ought to demand the like of them Haue not they slaine my father and my brethren and lead away my sister in seruitude whome they daigne not to marrie honourably but to hold her and vse her as a common woman And for to haue her again I haue sent vnto them Anthenor and woulde haue pardoned them the surplus but yee knowe the villanies and menaces that they did vse towardes my messenger and therefore I ought not to heare anything that yee say vnto mee but had rather die valiantly then to agree to your request And let Agamemnon knowe that I desire neuer to haue peace nor loue with the Greeks that haue done to me so many displeasures And if it were not that ye be messengers I shoulde make you die an euill death Therefore goe ye your way anon for I may not beholde you without displeasure in mine heart Then beganne Diomedes to laugh for despight and sayde thus Ha king if without displeasure thou mayest not see vs that be but twaine then wilt thou not be without displeasure all the dayes of thy life for thou shalt see from hencefoorth before thine eyes great armies of Gréekes the which shall come before the citie and shall not cease for to assaile it continually against whom thou mayest not long defend thee but that thou and thine finally shall receiue bitter death Therefore thou shouldest take better counsell in thy doings if thou wert well aduised Then were there many Troyans that would haue runne vppon the Gréekes and drew their swordes for to haue slaine them But the king Priamus forbade them and sayd vnto them that they should let two fooles vtter their follie and that it was the nature of a foole to shew follie and to a wise man to suffer it Ha ha sir sayd Eneas what is that that yee say men must shewe to a foole his foolishnesse and truely if it were not in your presence this fellow that hath spoken so foolishly before you shoulde receiue his death by mine owne hande It apperteineth not vnto him to say vnto you such vile and venemous wordes nor menaces and therefore I aduise him that he goe his way quickly vnlesse he cease to speake foolishly Diomedes that of nothing was abashed answered to Eneas and sayd Whatsoeuer thou be thou shewest well by thy words that thou art right ill aduised and hote in thy wordes and I wish and desire that I may once finde thee in a place conuenient that I may rewarde thee for the wordes that thou hast spoken of me I see well that the king is fortunate and happie to haue such a counsailer as thou
his sisters he had great shame and by great ire assailed the king Menon coosin of Achilles and gaue him so many strokes with his sword vpon his helme that he slew him in the sight of Achilles that was like for to haue been madde and tooke a strong speare and ranne against Hector and brake his Speare vpon him but he could not remoue him and Hector gaue him with his sword so great a stroke that he made him to tumble vnder his horse and said to him Achilles Achilles thou contendest to approch to me know that thou approchest thy death And as Achilles would haue aunswered to Hector Troylus came betweene them with a great number of knightes and put them in the middest of them And there were slaine more then fiue hundred knightes of Greece and were put backe by force and Menelaus came to the reskewe with three thousand fighting men And of the partie of the Troyans came the king Ademon that iousted against Menelaus and smote him and hurt him in the face and he and Troylus tooke him and had lead him away if Diomedes had not come the sooner with a great companie of knights and fought with Troilus at his comming and smote him downe and tooke his horse and sent it to Briseida and did cause to say to her by his seruaunt that it was Troylus horse her loue and that he had conquered him by his prowesse and prayed her from thenceforth that she would hold him for her loue c. Briseyda had great ioy of these tidinges and said to the seruaunt that he should say vnto his Lord that she might not hate him that with so good heart loued her When Diomedes knew the answere he was right ioyous and thrusted in among his enemies â—ut the Troyans that were stronger then they made the Greeks to go backe recule vnto their tentes and had slaine them all if the king Agamemnon had not succoured them with right great strength Then beganne the battaile horrible and mortall and the Greekes recouered the field and chased and put the Troyans back vnto their diches Then came Polidamas to the reskew with a great number and multitude of knightes and did goodly exploites of warre and Diomedes addressed him to him but hee was beaten of Polidamas that tooke the horse of Diomedes and deliuered it to Troylus that fought on foote and he mounted anon thereupon Then came Achilles against Troylus whom Troylus receiued gladly and beate downe Achilles which remounted lightly and assailed Troylus with his sword and Troylus defended him right valiantly Then came on Hector and had at this time slaine more then a thousand knightes but the Greekes defended Achilles that were so sore oppressed that hardly they might defend him any more and he hadde been slaine or taken if the king Thelamon and the duke of Athens had not succoured him And they set him againe on his horse with great paine and then the night came on that parted them They fought thus thirtie daies continually to the great damage of both parties and there were slaine sixe of the bastard sonnes of the king Priamus and Hector was hurt in the face and therefore the king Priamus demaunded truce of the Greeks for sixe monthes and they agreed and accorded to him c. CHAP. XVII ¶ How the Greekes and the Troyans began the seuenth battaile that dured twelue daies and after beganne the eight battaile much damageous to the Troyans for Hector was slaine by Achilles and they were driuen backe into their Citie by force to their great damage DVring the six monethes of the truce aforesaide Hector sought to bee healed of his woundes and plaied in the noble hall of Ilyon that was as the historie saith the most royall hall and faire that was in the world Thus during the truce the king Priamus did bury his sixe bastard sonnes each in a sepulture by himselfe right honourably Among all other thinges Diomedes suffered great greefe for the loue of Briseyda and might not eat nor rest for thinking on her and required her many times of her loue and she answered him right wisely giuing him hope without certaintie of any point by the which Diomedes was enflamed on all parts with her loue When the sixe monethes were passed they beganne to fight by the space of twelue daies continually from the morning vnto the euening there were many slaine of the one side and of the other And then came a great mortalitie among the Greekes in the hoste by the great heate that then was and therefore the king Agamemnon required truce which was agreed and accorded to him c. When the truce was passed the night before Andromeda the wife of Hector that had two faire sonnes by him whereof the one had to name Laomedon and the other Astromates this Andromeda sawe that night a maruellous vision and her seemed if Hector went that day following to the battaile he should be slaine And she that had great feare and dread of her husband weeping saide to him praying him that he would not go to the battaile that day whereof Hector blamed his wife saying that she shoulde not beleeue nor giue faith to dreames and would not abide nor tarrie therefore When it was in the morning Andromeda went vnto the king Priamus and to the Queene and tolde to them the veritie of her vision and praied them with all her heart that they woulde doe so much at her request as to disswade Hector that hee should not in any wise that day go to the battaile c. It happened that day was faire and cléere and the Troyans armed them and Troylus issued first into the battaile after him Eneas after Paris Deiphebus Polidamas and the king Sarpedon the king Epistropus the king Croys and the king Philomenus and after all the princes that were come in the aide of the Troians each man in good order And the king Priamus sent to Hector that he should keepe him well that day from going to battaile Wherefore Hector was angry and said to his wife many wordes reprochfull as he that knew well that this coÌ„mandement came by her request yet notwithstanding the forbidding he armed him And when Andromeda sawe him armed shee tooke her little Children and fell downe at the feete of her husband and praied him humbly that hee woulde take off his armes but hee would not doe it And then she said to him at the least if yee will not haue mercie on me yet haue pitie on your litle children that I and they die not a bitter and greeuous death or that wee bée not lead into seruitude and bondage into strange countries At this instant came the queene Hecuba and the quéene Helene and the sisters of Hector and they humbled themselues and kneeled downe presently before his feet and praied and desired him with wéeping teares that hée woulde doe off his harneis and vnarme him and come with them into the hall but neuer would hee doe it for
armes where yet is seene the print of the handes of the giant shewe in what displeasure I haue been The cursed glutton giant bare mee vnto the depth of a déep valley where death approching by the stroke of your arrow that made him to fall down and he would neuer let me go vntill the last sigh of death Certes I haue suffered a great ieopardy but thankes bee to the goddes since I haue found you againe And know you verily that I am auenged of mine enemie whom I haue seene die miserably whereof I am all reioyced and glad againe CHAP. XVIII ¶ How Hercules fought against the serpent of the moore Lerna and slew him c. DEianira and Hercules kissed eache other by right great loue After Hercules went into the place where the giant lay dead forasmuch as hee found him depriued of his life he let him lie there to the beasts to the birdes and tooke his arrow that lay by him And this was the Arrow that Achilles was slaine with after in the temple of Phebus in Troy for the loue of Polixene Then Hercules and Deianira came againe to the riuer and Hercules set ouer his men and went frō that place into the citie of Lerna The king of this Citie did great honor to Hercules and receiued him as honourably as he could Among diuers talk Hercules demanded him of his tidings The king answered and said that he knew none other but that in a great pallace there dwelled abode a monster half man half serpent that destroied all his realme by common murder For he said that all the men women and children that this monster can finde he slaieth them with his taile that is inuenomed with his clawes armed he deuoureth and destroieth them with his téeth and there escapeth none And so it will come to passe that this countrey be desart for the labourers nor marchantes dare not go by the countrey with lesse companie then two hundred men and if they be lesse the monster assaileth them like as he hath done many other c. Hercules was passing glad and ioyous of these tidings and said to the king Sir I haue laboured yet hitherto for the common weale of manie realmes and yet haue I the will to perseuer and to doe the workes of vertue Know ye then since that I am here arriued I will doe somewhat for the weale of this countrey like as I haue done for many other And I haue intention for to put me in deuoire to morrowe on the way toward the monster and for to abide the aduenture to vanquishe him or to be vanquished of him This monster was called Hydre forasmuch as he dwelled in the waters When Deianira heard the enterprise of Hercules that he would go alone and abandon himselfe in so great perill shee began to weepe and make so great sorrowe that no man might apease her nor make her stint her wéeping Hercules comforted her the best wise he could Athlas Philotes comforted her in like maner and shewed to her the right high and glorious déedes of Hercules for to giue her hope in this aduenture All that might not helpe nor auaile she loued Hercules with all her heart with all her might and puissance She required him with her eies charged full of teares that he woulde abstaine him from so high an enterprise saying that it was no wisedome fo◠a man to expose himselfe to so euident terrible daungers and that the goddes had sent the monster into the country for to correct and chastise the people Notwithstanding that Hercules was very ardently in loue with her yet her teares that she wept nor her praiers nor her reasons can cause Hercules to breake his purpose for to enterprise this aduenture But on the morne earely he cloathed him and departed from Lerne and tooke his way toward the moore whereas was the monster This moore was long and thrée miles in compasse as the Chronicles of Spaine rehearse and all enuironed with fountaines that sprung out of the high mountaines In the middest of this plaine was a great lake or pond wherin dwelled the Hydre on dry land When then Hercules was come to this place the Hydre that neuer slep◠with both eies and that had alway the necke stretched on high and the eares open had anon espied him and sodainly came against him running with great force Hercules abode when he espied the maruellous monster and had great pleasure to see him he was ten foote of heigth and had as a long a taile he was foule and couered with haire he had his body armed and in his right hand held a naked sword and in the left hand he bare a shield Hercules thus beholding him suffered him to come to him Then the monster spake to him and saide poore giant whether goest thou behold this sworde sharply on both sides cutting yet was there neuer man that heard me speake but he died by the point of this sword Forasmuch as I am the most wise creature that euer nature made and that I am accustomed to make a question to such men as I finde and then to destroy them if they cannot aunswere thereto And forasmuch as I find not in my realm any but people as beastes and without vnderstanding I haue therefore destroied their bloud and so will I doe thine if thou canst not assoil a sophisme that I shal make to thee O thou man serpentine said Hercules thine eloquence thy prudence thy cruell sworde foule and polluted with infinite homicides make me nothing abashed ne discourage me I seeke thée and am come hither for to destroy thee And I will assaile not onely one of thy sophismes but as many as thou canst thinke and will that thou well know that if by force of my wit I assaile thy sophismes and fallacious argumentes I will doe vnto thee like as thou wouldest doe to mee and if it happen that thy science may not ouercome mee yet will I that that thou defend thee with armes and that thou kéepe thy life as well as thou canst c. With these wordes the monster made vnto Hercules seuen sophismes one after another all fallacious and subtill then when Hercules had giuen solution to one the monster replied by seuen argumentes Yet Hercules that was full of philosophie and expert in all science aunswered so substantially to all his fallacious argumentes that hee sette hm at a non-plus And for this cause the poets faine that this Hydre had seuen heades as it appeareth in the first tragedy of Seneca and say that when Hercules hadde smitten off one of his heades that seuen other heades came againe in the same place In the end then for to pursue this matter when Hercules had so disputed against the serpent that hee yéelded him to Hercules in such wise as he wist not what to say Hercules said to him Serpent inhumaine wee haue fought long enough with the tongue Take thy sworde I may no longer
Tetides was lord and king a iust man and a courteous In this land arriued Anthenor with a few shippes and rested on the side of a greater Ile that was nigh vnto the port He saw the countrey faire and full of woodes and of land and of fountaines and there he builded a citie to him and to his people and fortified it with walles and good towres And when the Troians knew thereof many went thither and dwelled there with Anthenor and the citie grew apace and was full of people and Anthenor gouerned him so wisely in this land that he was well in the grace of the king Tetides and was the second after the king in his realme and named his citie Cortiremetralum Cassandra that was left at Troy had great sorrow for the great mischiefes that were fallen to her friends and ceased not to weepe and waile and when shee hadde demeaned long her sorrow the Greekes demaunded her of their estate in their returning home of which she saide to them that they should suffer many paines and great perils ere they wer come into their countrey and after she said to Agamemnon that they of his owne house shoulde slea him So it happened to him after and to all the other like as Cassandra had deuised to them and said Of the king Thelamon were left two sons of two quéenes the eldest was named Hermicides of the queen Glausta and the other of the queene Thymissa had to name Anchisatus these two children nourished the king Theuter til they were great to beare armes Among these thinges Agamemnon and Menelaus demaunded leaue for to returne into their landes and the most great of the hoste gaue thē leaue being sore vexed forasmuch as they had been taken as suspect of the death of Thelamon with Vlisses which was stollen away like a theefe wherefore he shewed well that he was culpable of the death Thus these two brethren put them to the fea for to returne home and in the entrie of the Winter when the sea is most daungerous anon after the other Greekes entered into the Sea as fooles and euill aduised for the doubtes of the Sea and had their shippes all charged and laden with the richesse whereof they hadde spoiled the riche citie and realme of Troy and for the great desire that they had for to be at home in their countrey they beganne to returne thus in the middes of the Winter and set apart all daungers and perilles which fell vnto them About the houre of noone came a great tempest and surprised them sodainly with great thunder and raine with winde and with great waues of the sea that casted their shippes heere and there in the sea and brake their mastes and all to rent their sailes And when the night came which was long and darke the shippes left each other in sayling before the winde some in one place and some in another and many were burnt with lightening and thunder that fell vpon them and many were drowned and sunke into the Sea and they that were therein were dead and drowned and the great riches of Troy lost Oyleus Aiax that had xxxii shippes in this companie had all his ships burnt and perished and he himselfe by the force of his armes and legges all naked swimming came and arriued a land all swollen with the water that hee had drunken and lay a great while vpon the grauel more looking for death then life and anon after came other in likewise that were so saued with swimming which were discomforted in their mishap and vnhappinesse This mischiefe came to this Aiax forasmuch as he drew Cassandra out of the temple of Minerue And it happeneth oft time that many be punished for the sin and trespasse of one man c. CHAP. XXVIII ¶ How the king Naulus and Cetus his sonne did spoile on the sea manie shippes of the Greeks in their return for the death of his sonne Palamedes and of the death of the king Agamemnon and of the exile of Diomedes and of his calling backe by Egee his wife c. IN this time there was a king in Gréece named Naulus that was very riche and puissant and his realme stood vpon the side of the Sea of Greece toward the South In the which Sea were great rockes and high and many mountaines and hilles of sand which were right perillous The king was father of Palamedes that was slain before Troy and hadde yet a sonne named Cetus there was none in Gréece so rich nor so puissant a king Nowe were there some euill people there that coulde not be in ease without greeuing and annoying of other which made the said king Naulus to vnderstand and his son king Cetus that Palamedes was not slain in battaile so as the voice ranne but hee was slaine couertly by Vlisses and Diomedes Agamemnon and Menelaus had made and contriued a false letter wherein was contained that Palamedes would haue betraied the hoste of the Greekes whiles he was emperour of the hoste for a great quantitie of gold and they made this letter to bée put by the side of a knight that was slaine And then Vlisses treated in such wise with one of the secretaries of Palamedes for a great summe of money such as the Letters contained and this Secretarie by the induction of Vlisses put this summe of mony vnder the head of Palamedes whiles he slept And as soone as the secretarie had said to Vlisses that he had done then Vlisses slew this Secretary priuily and forthwith did so much that this letter came into the handes of the Greeks that read it and were all abashed when they saw in writing the treason and the summe contained in the same laide vnder his head They went then into his tent and found the trueth of this thing and woulde haue runne vppon Palamedes but he offered himselfe to defend it against whom soeuer woulde prooue it and so there was none that durst fight against him Then Vlisses did so much by his faire language that this thing was appeased and it seemed that it was best that Palamedes should abide in his dignitie After this thing thus appeased Vlisses and Diomedes on a day did Palamedes to vnderstand that they knew a pit wherein was much treasure and that they would that he hadde his part and that hee should go the night following When the night was come they went all three alone without more company and there offered Palamedes for to go down into the pit first and they said that they woulde followe and assoone as hee was within the other two cast stones vpon him so many that they slew him and after returned to their tentes priuily This thing said these men charged king Naulus and Cetus of the death of Palamedes and all was false Then the king and his sonne began earnestly to thinke how they might auenge them of the Greekes They knew well that the Greekes were vppon returne in the heart of the Winter and that they
must passe by his realme And then the king Naulus did crie in all his realme that men shoulde make great fires euery night vpon the mountains that stood by the sea side And this did he to the end that when the Greekes shoulde see the fire by night they shoulde come thither weening to finde good hauen and if they came they should find hard rocks and mountaines of sand And so they shoulde not escape without death It was thus done as Naulus had deuised there were nigh two hundreth ships of the Gréeks broken against the rocks and all they that were therein were drowned When the other shippes that followed them heard the noyse of the shippes that so were broken and the câ—â—e of them that were drowned they turned on the other boord and made to seawarde and saued themselues Of them that escaped were Agamemnon Menelaus Diomedes and some other that shall bee named hereafter Cetus that otherwise was called Pellus had great sorrow when hee knew that Agamemnon was escaped and then he thought long how he might auenge himself When hee was come home and was ariued in his owne land he wrote a letter to Clitemnestra the wife of Agamemnon and this letter conteined that for certaine Agamemnon her husbande had espoused one of the daughters of king Priamus and that he loued her greatly and brought her with him into his countrey for to make her Quéene and to put out Clitemnestra or to slay her and therefore Cetus aduertised her to the end that she might prouide for her selfe Clitemnestra anon beléeued these letters and thanked Cetus enough and thought that she would auenge her of her husband This Clitemnestra in the absence of her husband loued a man named Egistus by whom she had a daughter named Erigona she loued more her loue Egistus then euer shee did her husband though he was come of lowe bloud But it is the custom of a woman that doth amisse to take one to her of lesse value than her husband is Shée had treated with Egistus that the first night that Agamemnon shoulde lie with her he should runne vpon him and slea him This thing was done in like manner as shée had purposed and Agamemnon was slaine and laide in the earth and anone after Clytemnestra tooke to husband her loue Egistus king of Michmas Agamemnon thus slaine had a sonne of this Clytemnestra that was named Horestes a yong childe which Calcibus his cousine had in kéeping and tooke him from his mother to the end that she should not slea him and after sent him to the king of Créete Idumeus that was his vncle And he had great ioy of him and so had his wife Tharasis also that loued him as much as Clytemnestra her daughter that had no more children but her and she was a faire yong maide Thus as Cetus had written to Clytemnestra the wife of Agamemnon in like manner he wrote to the wife of Diomedes named Egée who was daughter of the king Polimites of Arsimens and sister of Assandrus that returned from Troy with Diomedes his brother in lawe So it happened in their returning that they went into the land of king Thelephus which was euil content and went against them with a great company of men of armes and assailed them and they defended them strongly And Assandrus slew many of the knightes of Thelephus wherof he had great sorrow and was angry and tooke a great speare addressed him against Assandrus with so great force that he smote him to the earth and slew him Diomedes to auenge the death of his brother in law slewe many knightes of Thelephus and recouered the bodie of Assandrus with great trouble and paine and bare it into his shippe Thus died Assandrus but it was not so reported to Egée his siâ—ter but it was tolde her that Diomedes her husband had slaine him to haue all the seignorie of Archimens whereof Assandrus had the one halfe against his sister Egée Of these tidings and of them that Cetus had written Egée was angry with Diomedes her husband wrought so with her people that they promised her they would no more receiue Diomedes for their lord Thus when Diomedes returned his wife ne his folk would receiue him but banished him out of the countrey of Archimens for euer Then happened he to arriue in Salamine where king Theuter brother of king Thelamon was This king heard say that Diomedes was culpable of the death of his brother with Vlysses wherevpon he commaunded that Diomedes shoulde be taken But Diomedes hearing thereof fledde thence King Demophon and king Athamas being arriued in their landes were banished by semblable manner Then arriued they in the land of Duke Nestor which receiued them with great ioy These two kings purposed to goe into their lands with men of armes and take vengeance on their people But Duke Nestor blamed them thereof and counselled them that they should first send to them to admonish them to receiue them for their Lords and promise to them great franchises and liberties Thus did they as Nestor had counselled them and it was not long after but that their people receiued them as aforesaid While Eneas abode in Troy to repaire his shippes he indured many assaults of his neighbours that would haue taken as a prey all the remnant of the Troyans And forasmuch as he might not abide there longer then his terme assigned vnto him by the Gréekes he assembled the Troyans and councelled them that they should send and séeke Diomedes to be their king and said vnto them he would come willingly forasmuch as he was driuen out of his countrey and he was both wise and valiant So they sent for to séeke Diomedes and found him who came foorthwith and found the Troyans besieged by their neighbour nations Eneas then prepared to the battel in which Diomedes bare himselfe so valiantly that he tooke away prisoners and hanged many as théeues In the fift battell he behaued himselfe so that he gat the vpper hand altogither of his ennemies and conquered them all so as there were none of his neighbours that durst assaile the Troyans During these things the nauie of Eneas was ready wherevpon he tooke shipping with Anchises his father and being at sea they resolued to go and seeke an habitation where the gods and fortune would assigne During their aduentures at sea many perils happened and rouing at randon this way and that way they sayled by Hellespont and thence passing arriued at Tuskane in Italie from whence sayling they came to Carthage and thence againe to Italie The storie whereof who lift to peruse let him reade Virgil. When Egea the wife of Diomedes knew that the Troyans had intertained Diomedes and that he had discomfited their ennemies shée doubted that Diomedes would also take vengeaunce on her Then she councelled with her people and by their aduise she sent for him to come vnto her who came with a good will and had