tended There is an inconuenience which bringeth to man wonderful miseries and manifold calamities which is fond and doating Loue I speake not of that Loue which is commendable and lawfully allowed but of such doating loue as shall hereafter more manifestly be explaned Magna est profecto Latmorum poetarum cohors quae solebant dicere Omnia vincit amor Surely great is the number of Romane Poets which wer wont to say Loue vanquisheth and ouercommeth all things and truely I must néedes confesse great is the force and furie of loue but much to be quallified by the aforesaid gift notwithstanding Hesiodus is of this minde Omnium primum natus est chaos inde terra tartara amor First of all thinges the Heauens were made then the earth then hell and next after loue Parmenides quoque ante deos omnes natum amorem autumat Parmenides also doth affirme that loue was created before the Gods themselues Euripides omnium deorum supremum esse Amorem Loue saith Euripides is the highest of all the Gods Ouid being about to speake of Loue saith Regnat in dominos ius habet ille deos Loue doth raigne and hath a dominion and regiment in the verie Gods themselues All which sayings of the Poets are but to showe the piercing force and ancient antiquitie of Loue faining also that Iupiter being chiefe of al the Gods could not withstand the furie of Loue much lesse then could anie of the inferior Gods but oft did change his shape to haue his pleasure Nam Iouem ipsum modo in Cygnum modo in Taurum transformauit quandoque in aurum conslauit Neptunum equi Mercurium Hirci formam induere coegit Apollinem vt Admeti pasceret armenta compnlit For Ioue transformed himselfe sometime into a Swanne sometime into a Bull and againe sometime into a golden shower Neptune to a Horse Mercurie to the shape of a Goate Apollo that hée might féede the flockes of Admetus did also change his shape and forme If the Gods as the Poets affirme have béen thus enflamed with Loue after so vaine fond a sort then no doubt but mortall men are more entangled in her traps and snares and blindly without consideration doe fall to foolish fancie and doting desire But this no doubt is but foolish babble of the prating Poets rather encouraging fonde men to goe forwarde in their folly for that say they the Gods could not bridle their affections from the force of loue therefore much lesse men Well let this suffice what greater calamity hath hapned to man than such as hath beene procured by inordinate and vnsatiable loue Was not Paris sonne to Priamus king of Troy the very cause by his inordinat loue that brought to passe such cruell wars betwixt the Gréekes and Troyans wherein both his aged father and brethren were slaine his countrey spoyled and the citie of Troy mightely defaced with fire throwen flat to the ground with the slaughter of many thousands of his coūtreymē What was the first occasion of the great warre betwixt the Thebanes and Phoceans which could hardly be ended in ten yeares but y e fonde loue of a certain Phocean who tooke perforce a Theban woman out of the hands of a Theban What also was the cause that Philip king of Macedon so oft and sodainly returned from his warres leauing all as the prouerb saith at six seuen with out order to his reproach and wonderfull losse but only the importunate loue he bare to Cleopater Did not noble Achilles purchase great dishonor by doting loue For when he lay at the siege of Troy because Atridas had taken his swéet loue gréen sléeues from him he would no longer fight in his coūtreis cause which was the death of many a thousand Gréeke vntil his swéet heart Briseis was restored againe or els as some say because Hector had slaine his louing companion Patroclus in his own armour Wise Vlisses was in like sort intangled in the same snare for when Agamemnon and the other captains of Gréece called for him to goe to Troy to reuenge the villanie which the Troyans had offered enrolling his name as a chiefe Peere of the Greekes but Vlisses newly maried to Penelope was not willing to goe to Troy in his countreis cause but to play and daily with his late loue at home insomuch that when the king and captaines of the Greekes were fully prepared and ready to goe to Troy Vlisses fayned himselfe mad and out of his wits and because he would the better perswade them of his madnes hee coupled dogs together and ran with a plowe raging ouer the fieldes sowing salt making as though he were starke mad without either wit or sense but Palamides loathing to loose so fit a mate as Vlysses was tooke Thelemacus the sonne of Vlysses and layd him in the way as his father came running with his plow but Vlysses not so madde but lifted vp the plow and missed the child whereby Palamides perceiued that he dissembled the matter and cried out thy craft and subtiltie Vlysses is bewrayed and found out therefore leaue off thy counterfaite madnes and goe with vs to Troy Thus when Vlysses had disgraced himselfe by his doting follie to his shame and reproch was in the ende forced to goe to Troy with a flea in his eare Hercules that noble champion and Conquerour of the world when he had done many notable and worthie exploites whereof the world at this day beareth witnesse at the last to the vtter defacing of all his former actions he fell to doting in such fond sort that he laid his weapons at the foote of Iole his loue and became her spinning slaue refusing no toyle whereunto she commaunded him which thing notwithstanding his valiant déedes at this day remaineth a vile reproch and blot to his dead carkasse What was the cause that the most valiant Sampson lost his great force and strength but by the peeuish loue he bare to Dalila who had oftentimes attempted his destruction but could neuer bring her purpose to effect vntill such time that he thorough inordinate and doting loue must néedes reueale his secrets which was the chiefe cause of his vtter confusion for these causes did the Poets faine that women are to men an euill yet notwithstanding they owe them this fauour to say they are necessary euilles Homerus saith Vsque adeònihilimprobius velmuliere peius that nothing is more vile or bad than a woman and diuers other Poets Foemina nihil pestilentius esse confirmârunt mulierem omnem esse malam doo affirme that nothing is more pestilent or wicked than a womā and that euerie woman is bad and euill Upon which occasion of the Poets babling this merie iest sprang first Lacon cùm vxorem duxisset perpusillam dicebatè malis quod minimum esset eligendum Lacon when he had married a verie little and small wife did say out of many euilles the least is to be
had slaine with the fained loue of Polixena her daughter for causing doating Achilles to come to Pallas Temple after a subtle and treacherous sort where hee was traiterously slaine by Paris her sonne also In like case Neoptolemus otherwise called Pirrhus for his fierce and stearne visage the sonne of the most worthie Achilles after he had slaine aged Priamus King of the Troyans and murdred his sonne Polites at the Altar in the presence of Hecuba his tender mother and sacrificed his Daughter Polixena on the toomb of Achilles sharply reuenging his Fathers death wrought by Hecuba her daughter Thus when hee had both reuenged Menelaus wrongs and the traitrous murder of his Father Achilles was himselfe slaine by Orestes for certayne occasions about Hermione which happened in his absence Aiax a most renowmed Greeke being companion to Achilles alwaies accounted of the Grecians the next in force strength to noble Achilles therefore Aiax claimed the armor of his slain companion for that his strength farre surpassed al the Greeks and also in consideration of his good seruice done at that ùege notwithstanding Vlisses earnestly contended for the armour of slaine Achilles encountring Aiax with eloquence pleading also before the Greekes that he had conuayed the slaine bodie of Achilles to Thetis his mother on his backe which otherwise might haue lost the honour of his funeral Thus in the end Vlysses by his eloquent tongue obtained the armour for which cause Aiax fel mad chasing after wilde beasts threatning them by reason of his frantick moode to be the person of Vlisses and in this sort he died Vlisses also sonne to Laertes after hee had done many notable exploits at the same siege for that as the report goeth when he had conuated the sacred relique Palladium and fatall destinie of the towne away was himself driuen to sea by the displeasure of Pallas from whose temple he had conuaied the relique where he wandred the space of ten years losing in his perillous iourney the armor of Achilles for which he had so mightely contended leauing in that voyage his companion Achemenides in the dangerous den of the Ciclops where he lost other of his fellowes and mates by Poliphemus the cruell giant at the last hauing lost al both that which he brought from Greece and also that which he had gotten at the subuertion of Troy he chanced home againe where he remained for a time vnknown suffering many spitefull displeasures by the suters of Penelope his chast wife whom after he had vanquished by the helpe of Telemacus his sonne was finally in the same quarrell slaine himself by his bastard sonne Telogonus In like manner Palamedes was slaine at the siege of Troy by his countrimen which happened through the craft of Vlisses for when first the Gretians began to prouide for the Troyan war Vlisses being newly maried to fayre Penelope would willingly haue staid at home in Greece with his daintie loue insomuch that he fayned himselfe mad cupling dayes togeather fondly plowing frantickly in y t field but Palamedes loath to lose so fit a companion smelling also out the matter laide Telemacus the young Sonne of Vlisses in the furrow where his father came with the plough to proue his madnes Vlisses was not so mad but perceiued his sonne lifted his plough from the furrow to misse his child then cried Palamedes with a loud voyce saying Thy craft Vlisses is perceiued therefore lay aside thy plough and take in hand thy weapons so by the meanes of Palamedes the suttle craft of Vlisses was found out notwithstanding Palamedes scaped not unreuēged for as Dictis Cretensis whose person was there present and also whose works at this day remaine extant reporteth on this sort Igitur simulato quod thesaurum repertum in puteo cum eo partiri vellent remotis procul omnibus persuadent vt ipse potius descenderet Eumque nihil insidiose metuentem adminiculo funis vsum deponunt ac properè arreptis saxis quae circum erāt desuper orbuunt Vlisses with the help of Diomedes fayned that they had found secretly hidden in a well a certaine masse of money which they would willingly part with Palamedes if it shuld so please him perswading him to goe downe into the well which thing he vnaduisedly did by the help of a cord suspecting no euil at al but Vlisses and Diomedes flinging downe stones violently which lay there about ready for the purpose stoned Palamedes to death who mistrusted no such matter In this sort saieth Dictis Vlisses reuenged himself on Palamedes but other authors otherwise affirme saying that when Vlisses lay before Troy to work reuengment on him who was the cause of his being there he vsed this suttle policie he counterfeited letters from Priamus directed to Palamedes wherin he made mention of certaine money which he before had sent him giuing him hartie thanks for diuerse treasons which he before had condescended vnto also which money Vlisses had caused to bee hid in his tent by corrupting of his seruants now when these fayned letters were found Palamedes called in question about the matter Vlisses earnestly tooke part with him saying that he verily thought Palamedes had wrong and that these letters were fayned by the enemie which thing saith he may easilie be found for if you can finde any such money either about him or els where secretly hid by his meanes then no doubt he is gilty of this treason but if not as I am fully perswaded then ye must think that the man hath mightily béen iniured by some dispitfull foe then was search made in his tent where the same money was found closely digged in the groūd which y e counterfeit letters made mentiō of for which cause the whole hoast of the Gretians cried out for spéedie reuengement wherefore he forthwith was cōdemned by the péers of Grece to be stoned to death which iudgement presently was executed so died Palamedes who alwaies had been true to his countrimen Anticlus a noble peer of Greece in like sort at the same siege died in vntimely death for being in the huge horse which the Gretians had framed before Troy to be the fatall destruction of the Troyans with a number of other Gretian Lords secretlie hidden in his hollow paunch or woomb the rest of the Armie of Greece flying to Tenedos as if they would haue returned home to Greece againe Anticlus now remaining behinde in the holow horse which stood before Troy being accōpanied with these worthy Princes Thoas Vlysses Menelaus Neoptolemus Achilles brother with manie other noble states The Troians hearing that the Grecians had consecrated that horse to Pallas to appease her wrath now in the absence of the Greciās thronged and wonderfully clustred about the horse some of them wishing to burne it saying it was a false frame inuented of Vlysses to betray their Citie namely Lacon who cried out Breake downe or burne this hollow horse wherein
to braue it out to breed me further paine No that I will not sure digest though I my selfe be slaine And therwithall in feeble fist his speare he trembling held Whose quaking lims by age opprest could scant his weapon weld And at proud Pyrrhus he lets driue his hurtles speare God knowes Wherof strong Pyrrhus might haue born for need a thousand blowes Achilles bastard borne quoth he by this I know thou art That dares presume before my face to play so hard a part Thou wretch thou misbegotten wretch that thus hast shewd thy kind For well I know thou art the man that bearst so bad a mind With that quoth he Neoptolemus my fathers sonne the same That was the bastard and not I for Pyrrhus is my name And for because in time to come thou shalt not vse me so With these hard tearms a token I will geue thee how to know My brother and my selfe apart wherfore thou shalt enquire Ere long of slaine Achilles ghost to proue thy selfe a lier And therwithall the spitefull Greek from sacred place did draw My noblemate by haire of head contrary to all law And through the bloud of his slaine sonne the aged man he drew And right before our sacred Gods my husband deare he slew With fatall blade before my face he piercde his tender side That right against the Gods themselues my louing husband dide The Gods no help at all would geue the Grecian to preuent Nor that the Troyan Prince should liue but they with one consent Did vow his death for former fault and for his sinnes offence No earthly wight for this his sinne could with their power dispence But die he must it was decreed and dreadfull death should end This bloudy war that after none in like case should offend My husband dead I did behold a grieuous sight to see His daughters all bewayld his hap which then did stand with me The cellers deep and hollow caues with wayling all did sound And from the hauty houses tops the Echo did rebound Ah heauy chaunce to see him slaine who was my chiefest ioy The Emperor of Asia great and stately King of Troy Who now lay slaine before my face but being then starke dead With louing zeale on Priam slaine my greedy eyes I fed What hath this princox boy quoth I my louing husband slaine Beside our Gods without reuenge what shall he still remaine Aliue to vaunt of this his deed or brag of such a fact Before the Greeks his cruell mates who ioyes at this his act Ye Gods ye sacred Gods I cride although your wrath be great Against vs Troyans now subdude whose ruine ye did threat For Paris sinne yet haue regard on Triam thus betrayd VVho now is dead by your decree wherfore his debt is payd But now quoth I graunt my request that this vile Greek may rue This cruell deed in time to come that euer he so slue The aged King for reuerence of gray and aged haires VVhose youth was come by yearly course to old and aged yeares Let not the slaughter of a King make proud his hauty hart Nor that he long may make his vaunt of this so hard a part But as your iustice now is seen in so reuenging wrong So Pyrrhus proud by your consent may rue this deed ere long VVhen Priam thus by Pyrrhus sword had breathed out his last And that the town was quite subdude by Grecians fighting fast The Greeks demaund Polixena because she first procurde Achilles death by fained loue through which he was allurde VVhom when they found this Pyrrhus craude to haue my louing child That so had causde his fathers death by working such a wilde But when she knew the earnest suite of fierce Achilles sonne For succour to me helples wretch with vaine hope fast did run VVith clasping armes about my neck on me she cride for ayd For Pyrrhus dead Achilles sonne had made her sore afrayd Help mother now at need quoth she still weeping on my brest A place too weak for greedy Greeks for there she might not rest Grim Pyrrhus with an eager look did teare her from my lap VVith churlish fist he gript the girle O hard and cruell hap That still mine eyes should witnes beare of this my wofull case And that both mate and children deare should die before my face By haire of head Polixena was drawne along the street VVhere diuers of her wofull frends in sorrowing sort did meete To waile with her for well they wist to dreadfull death she went Achilles death now to reuenge they knew proud Pyrrhus ment And as they thought it came to passe for Pyrrhus did deuise Vpon his fathers tombe as then my child to sacrifise Vnto the ghost of his slaine Sire his death to recompence And that Achilles ghost might know it was for her offence Polixena so halde along by such a cruell foe VVhat should become of this my child as then I did not know VVherfore to see I followed fast what would to her betide VVhere round about Achilles tombe a troup of Greeks I spide Which readie were to giue their aide if need should so require My daughters death with one consent each Gretian did desire And there before my face they bound both hand and foote full fast Of this my child that willing was of bitter death to tast But hauing spide me where I stood her hands and feete fast bound In token of her last farewell her head towards me she twound And fixt her eyes on me poore wretch with such a wofull looke With nodding head for want of limmes her last farewell she tooke Then Pyrrhus mad vntill reuenge did drawe his fatall blade And slewe my child vpon the tombe which he before had made In honour of his father dead and there with gorie blood Imbrewd the graue which cruell act did all the Gretians good These words he spake which well I heard quoth he take here thine end Thy soule vnto my fathers ghost for thine offence I send And for the fault of Paris slaine King Priam late did rewe His sonnes vile part for with this hand the aged man I slewe O fortune vile that sparde my life to see this wofull day My friends starke dead whom Grecians slewe in euery corner lay Not one was left to comfort me that could my woe redresse But mourning matrons whose hard hap increasde my heauinesse And last of al the angry Greekes to breede vs further care The traytours of our common wealth from sacke or spoile they spare Aeneas and Antenor he those that betrayde our towne In conquerde Troy had liberty as walkers vp and downe The spoile once had our stately towne with fire fierce did flame The gods decreed my life should last that I might see the same Then did I see our lofty towers consumde with fire to fall In burning houses children cride which number was not small A world of woe to call to minde the latter spoile of Troy When Greekes with fire
virrute propria ascenderunt non inferiorem laudem merentur quà m qui nobilitate maiorum superbise iactant Maior enim est gloria virtutibus proprijs niti quà m alienis intumescere They which are borne but of meane and base Parents and rise to high honour by their owne proper vertues deserue or merite no lesse praise when they which brag and boast of their right noble Progenitors Therefore far better is that baunt to sticke and cleaue fast to their own proper vertues than ouermuch to swell with the pride of another mās glorie But Iuuenalis reporteth of this mans father otherwise saying Plebeius ab officina gladiorum fuit He was free of the Cutlers and liued by that trade Which also was farre from the credite and calling of his sonne Demosthenes Fa. It is very true indeede such vaunting vanitie remayneth in many but it is very hard to finde such a one as is risen to great honour and dignitie in his Countrey being descended from meane and base parentage to vaunt and brag in causes of controuersie of his poore Progenitors much lesse ought he who is descended and sprong from the stocke of generositie being poore or in base estate ouer proudly to vaunt thereof for that either his fall was by the vicious vice of his predecessors wherof he ought rather to blush than brag Or els it proceedeth of his owne lasciuious or licencious vanitie whereof he ought greatly to be ashamed Well let this suffice that vertue maketh a Gentleman and the want thereof causeth the stock and graffe to wither and fall downe And whereas we haue alredy sufficiently touched the misdemeanors and bad behauiours of noble Peeres and high estates and what they gain by such disordered gouernment now againe we will shew and make manifest how much good gouernment is commended what praise it deserueth and what perpetuall memorie it registreth to the eye of immortall fame and also how farre clemencie courtesie humilitie and mercie in Princes and high estates auayleth and is of force where neither cruelty tyrannie or other rigorous dealing can preuaile First concerning modestie and the fruites thereof Demetrius the sonne of Philip king of Macedon being sent by his father to Rome to answere the greeuous cōplaint of the Grecians who made a great hainous complaint against him to the Romans for certain abuses which he had offered them in Greece when this Demetrius was in the Senate of Rome hearing his father greeuously complayned on would forthwith haue executed the office for which cause he came wherefore he stoode vp and began to answere to the accusations which they so vrgently obiected against his father But the Ambassadors of Greece so vehemently interrupted and interturbed his speach with vnpleasant babbling and rayling insomuch that the young Gentleman could not be heard by reason of their great importunacie for which cause the yong Demetrius being greatly abashed with blushing chéekes in most modest manner sate him down being greatly ashamed at their outragious railing pleaded his cause with silence because he would not be troublesome to the graue Senators he gaue the Ambassadors his aduersaries leaue to scolde and rayle their fill Which when the graue Bench of the Senators perceiued they also commaunded the antragious Grecians to silence and dismissed them the Senate suffering them to returne home to Grece without reformation of their wrongs pardoning the offence of the yong mans Father sending letters into Macedon to this effect Philip King of Macedon we the Senatours of Rome pardon thine offence remit the trespasses of thee done against the Cities of Grece not for thy sake Philip but for the modest behauiour of Demetrius thy Sonne shewed heere in the Senate of Rome before vs to the great wealth and good of thy Countrey and to his perpetuall remembrance What praise and commendation also did yong P. Cornelius Seipio otherwise called Scipio Africanus purchase by his singular clemencie notable curtesie and bountifull liberalitie for at such time as he had taken the Citie of newe Carthage in Spaine with a number of prisoners captiues and also great quantitie of riches and iewells there at that time also was taken among the rest a virgine of rare singular beautie who with diuers other were brought before Scipio after whom the people wonderfully thronged and thrusted delighting to sée her for the rarenesse of her beautie But the noble Scipio enquiring of her of what Countrey she was and of what kindred she was descended and perceiuing by her that shee was betroathed or made sure to a yong Prince of the Celtiberians whose name was Luceius Whereupon when he had committed the other Matrones and Maides to right worthie honest persons to the intent their chastitie might be both honestly and carefully preserued he presently sent for the said yong man and also for her parents At whose comming knowing that the yong Prince was sore enamored of her he thus said to him Sir I being a yong man haue sent for you that are also a yong man to come to me the cause is for that when this yong maide being fianced or ensured to you was brought to me by my souldiers I heard say that you entirely loued her as her beautie witnesseth you had good cause so to doe If I might lawfully enioy her pleasant loue were not otherwise occupied in my minde about the affaires of the Common wealth I could perchaunce beare her my loue and desire to enioy the same But now I will beare fauour to your loue that of right ought to haue her She hath been here with me as well and honourably kept and her virginitie as carefully preserued as though she had dwelled still with her owne parents To this intent I might make of her a present to you most acceptable and also for the preseruation of mine honour And for this my gift I require of you but onely this one reward that is that you from hencefoorth become a louing true and faithful friend to the Romanes and if you esteeme me to be a good and honourable man as my father and vncle before me were reputed to be then thinke that there are in the noble Citie of Rome many like vnto vs and trust me neuer if any people this day can be found on the earth that you will be more glad to haue the loue and friendship of or that you would be more sory to haue the displeasure of The young man after great thankes geuen to him prayed the Gods to reward him for all his goodnes where his power sufficed not Then were the parents of the mayd called foorth who had brought with them a great summe of golde for the raunsome of their childe But when they perceiued that the noble Scipio had geuen her fréely to her husband then they desired him to take and accept a parte thereof as of their gift for the better declaration of their good hearts towards him affirming that his receiuing therof should
the euerlasting fame and renowne of the Romans was sufficient to kéepe their minds from mourning their hearts from sorrowfull sobbing not their eyes from bitter teares such was their losses in that warre their Consulls slaine their Senators and chiefe rulers consumed and a mightie nuÌ„ber of their people vtterly perished Hannibal had slaine in fight 5. of their kingly Consuls to wit Flaminius L. Aemilius Paulus Posthumus Marcellus and old P. Scipio that was slaine in Spaine There was also slaine Cneius Scipio brother to this P. Scipio with Titus Gracchus Cneius Fuluius Centenius Penula with diuers other noble Romanes of great fame and authoritie HaÌ„nibal had also slain of the Romane souldiours 300000. in open fight and set field besides the slaughters which were committed in the winning of townes odd méetings skirmishes such other extraordinarie fights betwixt the Romanes and the Carthaginians which by common iudgement was néere comparable to the former number Thus was Italy stained with the bloud of her natiue Romanes and the cruell slaughters of the Carthaginians so that the Romans had no more cause to reioice in their mightie conquest than the Carthaginians had at their lost Empire In the last conflict betwéen Hannibal and Scipio the Carthaginians lost the field before the walls of Carthage with the slaughter of 50000. men the Romanes hauing the victorie lost in the same battaile 54000. worthy souldiers Therfore great was the mourning in Carthage for their vtter subuersion and as great or rather greater was the lamentation in Rome after their victorie for their déere friends chiefe states other mightie losses so that the Empire of the whole world could not withhold them from dolefull moane and pitifull wéepings hauing good cause on both parts to wish that the warres had neuer begun or that their proud mindes had digested the abuses of each other rather than on both sides so to bewaile their remedilesse losses Qui struit insidias alijs sibi damna dat ipse By what meanes ancient Troy was destroyed and why the whole Empire of Phrigia was lost with the lamentable murders aswell of the Troians as the Grecians being victors WHen Paris sonne to Priamus King of Troy was returned from Lacedemon with faire Helena wife to Menelaus whom he had stolne from thence when her husband was gone to dispose the goods of olde Atreus his father lately being dead in Crete the angry Greeks not well contented therewith nor digesting such a proud abuse and shamefull rape at the Troyans hands hauing no reformation of their wrongs when as Palamedes Vlisses and Menelaus himselfe went to Troy to demaund Helena againe by the way of intreatie before they would proclaime warre assembled a mightie Armie determining sharply to reuenge themselues on such a vile and vntollerable act wherefore they with twelue hundred ships of warre being strongly furnished with men and munition sayled towards Troy with the aid and persons of thrée score and ten Kings and kingly Péeres which also in the behalfe of the wronged Greekes had made a vowe against the Troians Priamus in like manner after his son Paris had brought home his long desired loue fortefied his town made strong his wals and was aided with the power and persons of three and thirtie Kings beside manie valiant princes which were his own sons maintaining warre against the fierce Greekes the space of tenn yeares two months twelue dayes to the wonderfull slaughter and mightie murder of them both Notwithstanding after manie cruell fights and bloudie battailes Troy was taken beeing sacked spoyled beaten downe and ruinously defaced with fire by the Greeks who first wer mightely abused at the hands of the Phrigians In reuengement whereof they slewe aged Priamus Father to Paris and King of Troy with thousands of the Phrigian Nobilitie vsing al extremities and finally subuerting that royall Citie Thus when the angrie Gréekes had vtterly wasted destroyed Phrygia burned Troy slaine the valiaunt sonnes of King Priamus slaughtered in battaile of the Troians 656000. beside those that were slaine at the subuersion of the Citie which were a most wonderfull and inestimable number to the great lamentation of the whole world and fully had reuenged the vile villanie that Paris had offered after the most cruell maner then they whom fortune had left aliue returned into Grece with the empire of Asia and all the kingdomes which lately were vnder the subiection of Priamus Yet for all this y e Grecians had no great cause to triumph and reioice in their victorious conquest but rather to lament their mightie losses cruell slaughters and manifold spoyles which they sustained by the Troyan Warre for during the ten yeares siege they had slain of their people by the Troyans 860000. men besides all their chiefe Péeres which were slaine during the time of the siege or else after by occasion of the Troian warre The most valiant Hector sonne to Priamus King of Troy couragiously chased the Greekes in manie battails by the space of 6. yeres but then after Achilles by misfortune had slaine the noble Hector euery thing fel out vnhappely to the Troyans notwithstanding during his life his name was terrible to the Greekes for he had slaine 28. of their chiefe Kings and Princes with his owne hand namely Protesilaus the great King of Philaca with manie thousand more wheÌ„ first the Greekes landed on the Phrigian shore he also slewe Patroclus King of Pythia who had put himselfe in the armour of Achilles Lufor Boetes Archilogus Meron King of Crete with Epistrophus Lepedâ—mon Deipeynor proud Prothenor king of Boetia Dorius Polixenus Zantippus Serpedon with Phidippus the mightie King of ChalcedoÌ„ Polibetes Alpinor Philetes Letabonis Isideus and Leonteus the valiant King of Larissa Menon Humerus Maymentus Palemon Phillis Octaâ—en with Schedius the dreadfull King of Phocis all which beeing mightie Kings were manfully slaine in battaile by the worthy Hector beside manie other noble worthy Greekes of lesse account Agamemnon sonne of olde Atreus King of Mycene the chiefe ringleader of the Greekes against the Troyans was himselfe slaine by the occasion of the Troyan Warre For returning home from the Phrigian Conquest with Cassandra the daughter of unfortunate Priamus his owne wife Chtemnestra conspiring with Aegisteus with whom shee had liued in adultrie in the absence of Agamemnon her husband so that she caused her Lord to assay a garment on his bodie which had no issue for his head and whilest he was striuing therewith Aegisteus thrust him thorough and so stewe him thus was that noble Prince by occasion of his long absence most cruelly murdred at his returne which happened by the Troyan warre Also Achilles after hee had bathed his sworde in the bloud of the Troyans cruelly chasing the Phrigians in sundrie fights and also had slaine Hector and Troylus the valiant sonnes of Priam at the length was himselfe slaine by the subtle inuention of Hecuba mother to these noble youths whom hee