accordingly done and she appeared before him all stayned and sprinkled with blood for she had not yet changed her habite at which hee grew at the first amased demaunding the cause of her repaire thither She desired her seruant might be likewise admitted who attended at the doore of his Tent for hee had that about him by which he should be better informed His entrance was graunted but being suspected by the guard because they perceiued him hide something folded vp in his garments they searcht him and found a head cut off but by reason of the palenesse of the face which was disfigured with the clottered and congealed bloud the countenance thereof could hardly be discerned The seruant was brought in with the head still dropping blood in his hand At which the king more wondering desired by her to be better certified concerning the Nouell to whom she boldly replyed Loe here ô Alexander the end of thy many troubles and feares the head of the great Captaine Spitamenes who though my husband yet because hee was thine enemie I haue caused his head to be cut off and here present it vnto thee At the horridenesse of these words the king with all that stood by were abashed euerie one glad of the thing done but in their hearts detesting the manner of the deed The Ladie still expecting an answer Alexander after some pawse thus replyed I must confesse Ladie the great courtesie and infinite benefit receiued from you in presenting me the head of an Out-Law a Traytor and one that was to mee a great obstacle and an hinderance in the smooth passage to my intended Victories but when I vnderstand it to be done by the hands of a woman nay a wife the strange horridenesse of the fact takes away all the thankes and reward due to the benefit I therefore command you instantly to depart the Campe and that with all speed possible for I would not haue the sauage and inhumane examples of the Barbarians contaminate and infect the mild and soft temper of the noble Grecians With which words she was instantly hurried from his presence As noble a president of Iustice in a Prince as it was an abhorred example of crueltie in a most vnnaturall wife Q. Curt. lib. 8. de Alexandri Histor. From a remorselesse wife I come now to as obdurate a step-mother Pelops hauing married Hyppodamia the daughter of Tantalus and Eurianassa had by her two sonnes Thiestes and Atreus and by the Nymph Danais a third sonne called Crisippus to which he seemed outwardly better affected than to the former on whom king Laius of Thebes casting an amorous eye at length stole him from his father But Pelops with his two sonnes by Hyppodamia made warre vpon Laius tooke him prisoner and recouered Crisippus and when hee truly vnderstood that loue was the cause of his rape hee was attoned with Laius and an inuiolable league of amitie combined betwixt them Whilest the Theban yet soiourned with Pelops Hyppodamia persuaded with Atreus and Thiestes to conspire against the life of Crisippus as one that aymed at the succession in the kingdome but not preuayling she meditated with her selfe how to despoyle him of life with her owne hands when hauing conueyed the sword of Laius out of his chamber when he was fast sleeping she came to the bed of Crisippus and transpierced him as he lay leauing the sword still in his bodie and left the place vndiscouered accusing the Theban for his death but the youth not fully dead recouered so much spirit as to discouer the murtheresse for which king Laius was acquitted and she from her husband receiued condigne punishment for her immanitie and murther Dosythaeus in Pelopedis Progne to reuenge the rape of her sister Philomela vpon her husband Tereus king of Thrace feasted him with the bodie of his owne sonne Itis of which you may read at large in Ouids Metamorphosis Some women haue beene so vnnaturall as to betray their fathers After Troy was vtterly subuerted and despoyled king Diomede one of the most valiant amongst the kings of Greece in the returne towards his countrey being by stormes and tempests violently cast vpon the coast of Thrace where Lycas the sonne of Mars then reigned and according to the bloodie custome of the countrey sacrificed all such strangers as landed vpon his Continent his daughter Callirhoe surprised with the loue of king Diomede not onely released him from durance but betrayed the life of Lycus her father into his hands notwithstanding hee most trecherously left her for which ingratitude and vrged with remorse of conscience for proouing so vnnaturall vnto him from whom she had her being by strangling her selfe shee despairingly expired Iuba lib. 3. Libicorum Paralleld with this is that which wee reade of Calphurnius Crassus an illustrious Roman and sent by M. Regulus against the Massilians to take in a most defensible Castle called Garaetium but by the crosse disaster of fortune being surprised in the siege thereof and reserued the next day to be sacrificed to Saturne being in despaire either of rescue or life Besalia daughter to the king who was then possest of the Port falling in loue with Calphurnius not onely deliuered vp vnto him the keyes of the Castle that hee might freely escape with life but betrayed vnto him the libertie and life of her father but after being most degenerately forsaken by him she desperately slew her selfe Hegesinax lib. 3. rerum Africarum I am wearie with setting downe these immanities in women and Polihimnia now inuites me to a new argument Of Women strangely preserued from death and such as haue vnwillingly beene the death of their Fathers NIceas Maleotes as Plutarch in his thirteenth Paralell testates reports That when Hercules for the loue of Iole the daughter of Cacus inuaded Oechalia and shee abhorring the embraces of him who had before slaine her father retyred herselfe for safetie into the strongest Cittadell in her countrey in which beeing straightly besieged by Hercules and the Fort readie to be surprised taken she hauing no way to escape and vnwilling to stand to the mercie of so louing an enemie mounted vp into the highest Turret of the Castle and from thence cast her selfe headlong downe towards the Earth but the wind gathering vnder her loose garments so extenuated the fall that she came to the ground without any hurt at all by which miraculous fortune shee inioyed a desperate life and Hercules a most desired mistresse Answerable vnto this is that which Theophilus Italicorum tertio relates The Romans in the Etrurian warre instituted Valerius Torquatus Generall of their forces hee hauing beheld Clusia the daughter of the Tuscan king grew innamoured of the Virgin◠and sent Embassadors to demaund her of her father but shee not willing to make any contract with her countries enemie and her father as loth to contradict his daughter the motion and offer of Torquatus was peremptorily denied at which inraged hee begyrt
the chances and changes incident to vs both in time and nature since death by the bountie of the gods is granted to man as a rest and cessation from all calamities and troubles For when Aurora had beg'd immortalitie for Tython he feeling the infirmities and defects of age became himself a suppliant to the gods That they would be to him so gracious as to giue him leaue to sleepe with his fathers accounting it much better and happier to dye once and be at rest than to bee continuallie afflicted with the troubles and difficulties of a wearie and despised life NOX or the Night AFter morning past the Sunne gone about and the day spent comes Night neither was she in meane honour amongst the antient Poets who taught her to be the first and long before all other nymphs or goddesses as possessing all places and all things hauing in her owne dispose and gouernment that deformed and vnshapen matter called Chaos ouer which she raigned Emperesse before the gods themselues had any existence or being notwithstanding some contend to make her the daughter of this Chaos as Hesiod and others Inde Chao est Erebus Nox tenebros a creati From Chaos Erebus and the Night tenebrous Were both created And because so borne she was called The most antient the reason is approoued For before the masse was opened the matter of which to make things distinguished and the world it selfe created there could nothing be which might be properlie called Night therefore Aratus in Astronomac stiles her Nox antiqua and Orpheus in one of his hymnes The mother of gods and men as both hauing their birth from her She is drawne in a charriot with starres waiting vpon her wheeles and vshering her as Theocritus left recorded Salueteque Noctis Sydera quae Canthis tacite praecurritis alta Hayle all you starres so bright Softlie forerunning the round wheeles of Night She is habited in sable garments for so all writers agree her head bound vp in a blacke vayle whom the starres attend behind her charriot as well as before for so Euripides in Ione testates Inuita nigris vestibus currum in silit Nox Astra sunt deum secuta protinus Night in blacke vesture mounts into her carre Behind the starres attend her but not farre Virgill giues her two horses to her charriot therefore Appollonius in this third book describing the Night comming saith Nox iniecit equis iuga The night vpon her horses cast her yoake But this maner of the nights progresse is later than in the time of Homer for in his dayes she was allowed neither charriot nor horses they onelie deciphered her with wings like Cupid or Victorie Some introduce her at the departure of the day to rise out of the sea as Virgill in his Aeneids Vertitur interea Coelum ruit Oceano Nox Inuoluens vmbramagna Terramque polumque The Heauen meane time is turn'd the Night Leapes from the sea in hast In darke and pitchy cloudes the Earth And Poles inuoluing fast Her whom Virgill brings from the sea Euripedes inuocates as comming from Erebus in these words Verenda Verenda Nox ex Erebo veni Oh reuerent reuerent Night ascend from Erebus Orpheus relates that she sends day to the regions below and againe chaseth her thence in her owne person bringing them darknesse Quae Lucem pellis sub terr as rarsus ipsa Tartara nigra petis Below the earth thou driuest Light And then againe thou bring'st them Night In all her sacrifices a cocke was still kild and offered as a creature much opposed against silence for so Theagines hath left recorded Night had many children Euripides in his Hercules Furens calls one of hir daughters Rabies her name importing outragious Madnesse a second daughter of hers was called Rixa which is Brawling and Scolding a third Inuidia or Enuy for so saith Hesiod in his workes and dayes but in his Theogonia he makes mention of others whom he calls her sonnes in these verses Nox peperit Fatumque malum parcamque nigrantem Et mortem somnum diuersaque somnis natos Hos perperit nulli deanox connicta marito Night euill Fate brought forth blacke Parca bred With Death and Sleepe and diuers Dreames beside Of all these Sonnes she was deliuered And yet the goddesse neuer husband tride Cicero in his third booke De natura Deorum hauing numbred all the children of Night deriues them also from their father Erebuâ— as may appeare in these words Quod si ita est c. If it be so saith hee those that are the Parents of heauen should likewise be reckoned in the number of the gods Aether and Dies i. Ayre and Day with their brothers and sisters by the antient Geneologists thus nominated Amor Dolus Metus Labor Invidentia Fatum Senectus Mors Tenebrae Miseria Querela Gratia Fraus Pertinatia Parcae Hesperides Somnia that is Loue Deceite Feare Labour Enuie Fate ould Age Death Darknesse Miserie Complaint Fauour Frawde the Parcae and the Hesperides All which are by some imagined to be the children of Nox and Erebus I will only speake a little of two of these as they now lie in my way and that verie briefly too and because it may perchance be late before I haue doone with them I will conclude with Night Death and Sleepe are brother and sister and both the children of Night Aristo calls Somnus a seuere exacter from mankind who as it were violently snatcheth away the halfe part of our age to bestow on Sleepe and therfore by Orpheus he is called the brother of Lâ—the which insinuates Forgetfulnesse which he most elegantlie expresseth in his hymne to Sleepe So miâ—e beatorum rex rex summe virorum Quem fugiunt curia c. Sleepe of the blest man King and King of men Whom cares still flie and rest imbraceth then Of mischiefes the sole solace and best friend To giue them due repose and comfort lend Who putting on the shape of Death doest giue Onely by that all creatures meanes to liue Sleepe thou hast but two sisters and these are Death and Obliuion both which shorten care Ouid in his Metamorphos for his so many benefits conferred vpon Mortalls placeth him in the catalogue of the gods The house of Sleepe the same Poet hath ingeniously described vpon whom hee conferres a thousand children or rather a number not to be numbered nominating onely three Morpheus Icelus and Phantasus for sleepe if it be moderately vsed is of all mortall things the sweetest best and most profitable to whom all creatures whatsoeuer are subiect therefore not improperly by Orpheus tearmed the king of men and gods Homer in his Illiades makes an elegant expression to show how wretched their conditions are aboue other men that are in high and eminent place and office and haue predominance ouer the greatest affaires which hee thus introduceth by making all both gods and men asleepe at once sauing Iupiter which Iuno seeing shee
but something grounded in yeares and because she spake boldly in the defence of her Faith first with barbarous crueltie they beat out her teeth then without the â—ittie they prepared a huge pile threatning to burne her instantly vnlesse shee would renounce her Christianitie but shee seeming to pause a little as if she meant better to consider of the matter when thy least suspected leapt suddenly into the fire and was there consumed to ashes Ammomarion a holy Virgin after the suffering of many torments vnder the same tyrant gaue vp her life an acceptable sacrifice for the Gospell Mercuria a vertuous Woman and one Dionisia a fruitfull and child-bearing Martyr after they were questioned about their faith and in all arguments boldly opposed the iudges were first rackt and tortured till they were past all sence of feeling that done they caused them to be executed Theodosia was a virgin of Tyrus about the age of eighteene years she comming to visite certaine prisoners at Cesaria who were called to the barre and because they stood stedfastly in the defence of the Gospell prepared themselues to heare the most welcome sentence of death pronounced against them which Theodosia seeing gently saluted them comforted them and persuaded them to continue in their constancie withall humbly desired them to remember her deuoutly in their prayers which she knew would be acceptable to him for whose loue they so freelie offered vp their liues The officers this hearing dragd her before the President who at first despising her youth began to talke with her as to a child but finding her answers modest and weightie began further to argue with her but seeing himselfe vnable to hold argument as being conuinced in all things hee grew into such a malitious rage that he first caused her to be scourged before his face euen till the flesh gaue way to discouer the bones but this not preuailing hee commanded her instantly to be dragged from thence and from an high place to be cast headlong into the sea I will conclude this discourse of Martyrs with one of our owne moderne stories Our english chronicles report that Maximus the Emperour hauing held long warre with one Conon Meridock a resolute and bold Brittaine hauing in many bloody conflicts sped diuersly sometimes the victory inclining to one side and then to another but in conclusion to the losse of both their hostilitie was by mediation at length attoned and a firme peace establisht betwixt them that done Maximus made warre vpon the Galls and inuading a Prouince then called America but since Little Brittaine he wonne it by the sword and after surrendered it to Conon to hold it for euer as of the Kings of great Brittaine This Conon Meridock was a Welch-man and from hence it may bee That all that nation assume to themselues the name of Brittons This eminent captaine being onely furnisht with souldiours for the present warres but wanting women to maintaine future issue to him was sent S. Vrsula with eleauen thousand virgins to bee espoused to Conon and his knights But being met at sea by the the Pagan pyrats because they would neither change their faith nor prostitute themselues to their barbarous and beastly lusts they were all by these inhuman wretches cut to peeces and cast ouer board and therefore in mine opinion not vnworthily reckoned amongst the Martyrs From these I will proceede to others Aristoclaea OF all the deaths that I haue read of this of Aristoclaea me thinkes exceedes example with which howsoeuer her body was tormented her soule could not be greeeued for neuer woman dyed such a louing death Plutarch in his Amatorious narrations hath thus deliuered it Aliartes is a cittie of Boetia in which was borne a virgin so beautified and adorned with all the gifts and perfections of nature as she seemed vnparaleld through Greece her name was Aristoclaea the sole daughter of Theophanes To her there were many sutors but three especially of the noblest families of the cittie Strato Orchomenius and Calisthenes Aliartius Of these Strato being the richest he seemed the most indeâ—red to her in affection for he had first seene her at Lebedaea bathing her selfe in the fountaine Hercyne from whence hauing a basket vpon her arme which she was to vse in the sacrifice to Iupiter he tooke a full view of her in her way to the Temple yet Calisthenes he fed himselfe with the greater hopes because he was of more proximitie and neerer to the virgin in allians betwixt these two Orchomenius stood as a man indifferent Her father Theophanes vpon their importunities doubtfull and not yet hauing determined on which to conferre his daughter as fearing Stratoes potencie who in wealth and nobilitie equalled if not anteceded the best in the cittie he therefore put it off to one Trophonius to be decided but Strato most confident in his owne opinion and strength tooke the power to her disposing from Trophonius and gaue it vp freely into her owne will The damsell in a confluence of all her kindred and friends gathered for that purpose and in the sight of her suitors was publikely demaunded of which of them she made choice who answered of Calisthenes Strato taking this in an irreconcilable disgrace and in the greatnesse of his spirit not able to disgest an iniurie as he tooke it of that nature dissembling his spleene and some two dayes after meeting with Theophanes and Calisthenes hee gaue them a friendly and an vnsuspected salutation desiring still a continuance of their antient loue and friendship that since what many couet one can but enioy he could content himselfe with his owne lot howsoeuer desiring that their amitie might remaine perfect and vnchanged these words came so seemingly from the heart that they with great ioy did not only entertain his loue and voluntarie reconcilement but in all curtesie gaue him a solemne inuitation to the wedding which he as complementally entertained and vpon these tearmes they parted Strato subornes a crew of such as he might best trust and addes them to the number of his seruants these hee ambushes in diuers places selected for his purpose but all to be ready at a watch-word Calisthenes bringing Aristoclaea towards the fountaine called Cissoâ—ssa there to performe the first Sacreds belonging to marriage according to the custome of her auncetors Strato with his faction ariseth and with his owne hands ceiseth vpon the virgin on the other side Calisthenes hee catcheth the fastest hold he can to keepe her Strato and his pull one way Calisthenes and his another thus both contending in the heat of their affection but not regarding her safetie whom they did affect she as it were set vpon the racke of loue pluckt almost to peeces betwixt them both expired Which seeing Calisthenes hee was suddenlie lost neither could any man euer after tell what became of him whether he punisht himselfe by some extraordinarie death or betooke himselfe to voluntarie exile Strato openly before his owne people
charge of my labouring quill In his third booke as hauing prepared and armed men against vnarmed women he proposeth to them the like precepts and instruction with all the defensible weapons needfull against the ambushes and inticements of men and thus begins Arma dedi Danais in Amazonas arma supâ—rsunt Quae tibi dem turbae Penthisilaea tuae The Greekes I haue giuen armes to who now stand Ready to incounter the Amasonian band Others within mine armorie remaine For thee Penthisilaea and thy traine Goe equally accoâ—tred to the warre And let such conquour as most fauoured are Of Carine Dione and the Boy that flyes Round'bout the world still hood-winckt of his eyes It were no iustice to arme men in steele 'Gainst naked women bare from head to heele Oh too much oddes there were in combat then And so to conquour a great shame for men And so much of the Amasons I now proceede to other Magnanimous and braue spirited virgins Of warlike Women and those of Masculine vertue I Know not better how to expresse the boldnes of women than by shewing you the feare of men nor can I more plainly illustrat the valor of one sex than by putting you in mind of the cowardise of the other It is well obserued of an Italian who writes himselfe of Lucca concerning the passion of Feare of which there are three sorts commendable the first is naturall feare by which we auoid the iniuries of men preuent the inconuenience of postelent sickenes with such like casualties and arme our selues against want dearth and necessitie The second is ciuile Feare wherein we feare to transgresse the law or incurre penaltie are timorous to doe ill because it is ill when we dare not depraue what 's good or derrogate from our own reputation The third is a more supernatural Feare in which by our loue towards God and our neighbour we feare to offend the higher Maiestie and next that feare the terror of eternall death and damnation by the first we preserue our bodies by the second our honours by the last our soules But those other abiects the feares I purpose heare to exemplifie onely such as proceed from Effeminacie and Cowardise It is read of Pysander of Greece that being aliue he feared least his soule had alreadie forsaken his bodie Likewise of one Artemon who was of that hare-hearted disposition that he mooued not abroad without Targets of brasse borne ouer him like cannopies least any thing should fall from aloft and beate out his braines or if he rid it was in a horse-litter seeled and crosse-bard with gads of steele and plates of yron for which hee was called Peripharetes Sabellicus writes that Cassander so feared Alexander that long time after his death comming to Delphos to behold the goodly statues there errected at the verie sight of his old maisters effigies hee fell into such a timerous feauer that his verie bones daunced in his skinne and longtime it was ere they could constantly settle themselues in their owne places This was that Cassander who had caused Olimpias the mother of Alexander to be so cruelly butchered It is related of St. Valleir duke of Valentinois in Fraunce that being condemned â—o death for not disclosing the treasons of the duke of Burbon iust at the instant when the executioner should haue strooke off his head the king sent him his gratious pardon but all in vaine the feare of the blow before it came had dispatched him of life Hereof hath growne a prouerbe to any man that hath a strong apprehension of feare they will say hee hath La fieure de saint Vallier i. the feauer of Saint Vallier Another thing is recorded of a fellow that was so affraid of the name of Hercules that he hid himselfe in caues and rockes though he knew not of any quarrell betwixt them at length stealing from the obscure cauerne where he had denned himselfe to see if the coast were cleere casting his eye by chance on the one side and espying Hercules who came that way by chance his life blood sinking into his heeles he shooke them a little and died in that feauer I could recite terrors and vaine feares which haue arise from nothing that haue terrified whole citties of Grecians armies of Romans and multitudes of other nations but these particulars shall suffice for my purpose is not too farre to effeminate men nor too much to embolden women since the most valiant man that is is timerous ynough and the modestest woman that is may bee made sufficiently bold But to the purpose in hand Debora a warlike woman was a Prophetesse and iudged Israell by whose counsell and courage they were not onely freed from the inroads and incursions of the neighbour nations but many times returned from the field with rich spoyles and glorious conquests of her you may reade more at large in the Iudges Ianus was an antient king of Italy hee entertained king Saturne when by his sonne Iupiter he was chased out of Creet Because he was a prouident and wise prince the Romans pictured him with two faces and receiued him into the number of their gods they attributed to him the beginning and end of things celberating to his honour the first moneth Ianuarie which tooke the denomination of Ianus from his name one face looked vpon the yeare to come the other looked backe on the yeare past in his right hand hee had a golden key which opened the Temple of Peace in his left a staffe which hee strooke vpon a stone from whence a spring of water seemed to issue out he is thus described by Albricus the Philosopher in his booke de Deorum Imaginibus This Ianus left behind him a beautifull faire daughter whose name was Helerna shee sucded her father in his kingdome which was scituate by the riuer Tiber and was a woman of Masculine spirit and vertue shee raigned ouer men without the counsell or assistance of men she subdued nations by her valour and conquered Princes by her beautie of whom may bee truely spoken as Propertius lib. 2. writes of the queene Penthisilaea Ausaferox ab equo quondam oppugnare sagittis c. Penthisilea from her steede When her high courage rose Durst with her shafts and warlike darts The Darnish fleete oppose No sooner was her beauer vp And golden caske laid by But whom by force she could not take She captiu'd with her eye Camilla and others THis Camilla was queene of the Volscians who euen in her cradle gaue manifest tokens of her future vertue and valour for in her infancie shee was neither swathed in soft cloathing nor wrapt in silken mantle not attended by a tender nurse nor fed with curious dainties or farre fetcht delicats but fostered by her father Metabus with the milke of hinds and wild goates her court was a forrest and her pallace a darke and obscure caue Hauing somewhat outgrowne her infancy she tooke no pleasure in rattles puppets
or timbrells in which children for the most part delight neither did she inure her hands to sowing spinning or any such like womanish chares her cloathing was the skinnes of wild beasts her exercise hunting her practise shooting her armes the bow and quiuer her drinke the fountaine water and her foode venison To this absteinous life shee added the strict vow of chastitie At length warre being commenst betwixt Turnus and Aeneas she adhered to the Rutilian faxion and to those warres brought a regiment of braue and gallant horse which she in person commanded Her magnanimitie Virgill in the latter end of his seauenth booke thus sets downe Hos superaduenit volsca de gente Camilla Agmea agens equitum florentes are cateruas To their supply Camilla came The gallant Volscian Lasse Who brauely did command the horse With troupes that shin'd in brasse Of the like condition was Maria Puteolana so called of Puteolum a cittie of Campania she was of a warlike condition and an inuincible courage and flourisht in the age of Francis Petrarch she is described to bee most patient of labour and vntyred with trauell moderate in diet but altogether abstinent from wine sparing of words neuer boasting but alwayes daring The needle the wheele and the distaffe shee vtterly abiured horse armour the bow the speare and the target aboue all other delights shee embraced shee vsed to walke whole nights without the least sleepe and trauell whole dayes together without rest if necessitie at any time compelled her eyes to winke or her bodie to lie downe the earth was her bed and her shield her pillow she abandoned the societie of women her continuall conuersation was with captaines and commanders which though it carried a face of boldnesse and as some tearme it impudencie yet it is apparant to all men in what a soueraigne respect she held her chastitie and honour which shee maintained without the least blemish vnspotted vnto the end from ribauld talke or discourse that tended to immodestie she refrained all affected habit that sauoured of pride or might be imputed to lightnesse she detested she was onely adicted to chiualrie to be accounted valiant and vertuous that was her honourable ayme and such her memorable end Bona was a ladie of Lombardie and was sirnamed Longabarba and not impertinently ranked with these shee was a woman warrior and liued in the yeare of grace 1568 shee was the wife of Brunorius Parmensis a worthie and renowned souldier her virgin youth was continually exercised in hunting and the chase she attended her husband in all his hostile expeditions not as a partner of his pleasures but a companion in his dangers she kept not the cittie when he was in the campe nor lodged in tent when he lay in the field nor crept she more close to him in bed than shee stood fast by him in battaile after many great seruices performed and glorious victories atchiued he fell into the displeasure of Alexander king of Sicilie who cast him into prison but this noble Ladie Bona good both in name and conditions neuer left solliciting the Emperour and other Christian princes both by petitions and friends till she had purchased him a safe and honourable release The next Virago that comes in place is Atalanta Apollodorus Atheniensis lib. 3. de deorum origine thus compiles her historie Of Lycurgus and Cleophile or as some will haue it Eurinome were borne Ancaeus Epochus Amphidamus and Idaeus of Amphidamus Melamian a sonne and Antimalie a daughter whom Euristhaeus married of Iasus and Clymene the daughter of Mimia was Atalanta borne whose father desirous of masculine issue cast her out to a desperate fortune whom a she beare finding fed her with her milke till certaine huntsmen coursing that way and chancing vpon so sweete and beautifull an infant tooke her home and sawe her fairely and liberally educated She being growne to mature age notwithstanding she was solicited by many suitors tooke vpon her the strict vowe of Virginitie and arming her selfe after the manner of Diana solely deuoted her selfe to hunting and the chace and increasing in beautie as she did in yeares she was ambushed by two Centaures Rhaecus and Hyllaeus who insidiating her virgin chastitie shee with two shafts transpierst them and left them dead in the place The next heroick action which made her famous she came with all the noble youthes of Greece to the hunting of the Calidonian boare and was the first that drew blood of the beast in the presence of Meleâ—ger prince of Aetolia and all the other braue Heroes of whom Putanus lib. 3. de Stellis thus speakes Qualis in Aetolum campis Meleagria virgo Strauit aprum c As did the Meleagrian guirle Who in the Aetolian plaine Layd flat the foaming boare and was The formost of the traine That gaue him bold incounter and As ignorant of feare Noct her sharpe arrow and the string Pluct close vp to her eare The first that day in field that blood From the sterne monster drew Bearing the honour spoyle and palme From all that princely crew Of the loue of Meleager to her and of his death I either haue or shall find occasion to speake elsewhere Her next achiuement by which she purchased her selfe honour was her contention in the sports of Peleus It shall not bee amisse to tell you what these sports or pastimes were They were the twelue in number that were celebrated amongst the Greekes Acastus the sonne of Peleus instituted them in honour of his father Zethaes the sonne of Aquilo ouercame in that which was called Dolichodromus which signifies a race of twelue furlongs Calais his brother had the best in the Diantus which was a race of two furlongs Castor the sonne of Iupiter was victor in the Stadium which was a place of running or exercise as wel for men as horse the word signifies a furlong or a measure of ground there be of them three sorts one of Italie containing 615 feete which amounteth to 125 paces the second is called Olimpicum which exsists of 600 feete which is an hundred and twentie paces the third Pythicum conteining 1000 feete which comes to 200 paces About these Stadia Plinie and Diodorus differ in the discription of Sicily eight of these furlongs make an Italian mile conteining 1000 paces and euerie pace fiue feete Pollux carried away the prise called Cestus which signifies a marriage belt or gyrdle which the husband vsed to tye about the wast of his bride and vnloose the first night of their wedding Telamon the sonne of Aiax had the praise in Disco or casting the bullet or the stone Peleus in wrestling Meleager the sonne of Oereus in casting of the dart Cignus the sonne of Mars slew Pilus the sonne of Diodatus Bellerophon was the most eminent for riding the horse And Iolaus the sonne of Iphicles for mannaging the chariot Hercules ouercame in many things but Atalanta in al. Not long after this comming
out of the roome if they were then present the twelue Apostles The Iudges by this vnderstanding that his contempt onely proceeded from the excesse of wine dismist him vnpunished and vpon the Priest that had first inuited him and after accused him they layd this Penance That hee should taste no wine for foure whole dayes together Old Ennius notwithstanding these effects neuer buckled himselfe to the writing of any braue Heroicke Verse before his braine was moistened and his Muse kindled and awaked with the spirit of the Grape of whom Horace Ennius ipse pater nunquam nisi potus ad arma Profituit c. They need no further explanation the former words expresse them fully Tiberius was so addicted to immoderate cups that being in the campe the souldiers vsed to nick-name him and in stead of Clodius called him Caldus for Tiberius Biberius and for Nero Mero all of them reproouing his intemperate Vinositie Iuuenal in his Satyrs reports one Lanfella a woman for an incontinent wine-bibber Martial taxes another called Myrtale for her insatiate drinking but because her breath should not smell of the Grape shee vsed to temper her wine with the leaues of Lawrell His words be these Foetore multo Myrtale solet vino Sed fallat vt nos solia deâ—orat Lauri Myrtale drinkes much wine which to excuse Least that her breath thereof should stinke and smell To deceiue vs she in her cups doth vse To haue her wine with Lawrell temp'red well The like Epigram he hath Lib. 1. of another called Fescenina a great drinker of wine whom hee brands for her intemperance In so great a custome was this rioting in drinke growne that when the great and sumptuous Espousals of Hyppolita and Alphonsus were celebrated by king Ferdinand his father where euerie thing was carryed with extraordinarie magnificence and state as well the Martiall Exercises abroad as the Maskes Reuels and priuate sports within which extended not onely to condigne praise but admiration of all the spectators and all these Pastimes Feasts and Banquets kept to the end with great plentie and abundance yet without vaine excesse and superfluitie In the shutting vp of all these solemnities one amidst the multitude by Nation a German clamoured out aloud euen to the hearing of the King and all his Princely guests in these words Oh valeant ludi quibus nemo bibit i. Happie be those sports in which there is no excesse in drinking Pontanus And thus for the present I giue ouer Healthing Of Women beloued of diuerse Creatures EGesidemus vpon Plinie tells vs That the child Hermias was so beloued of a Dolphin that she would come to the Sea-shore and suffer him to get vpon her backe then swimme with him into the Sea and hauing sported with him sufficiently bring him safe to Land and then attend him the next day It happened that hauing long continued this loue betwixt them vpon a time being mounted on the Dolphins backe a suddaine tempest arose by the violence of which the Lad was beaten off and so perished in the Sea Which the Dolphin perceiuing and hauing lost him whom she so much loued she left the Water and casting her selfe vpon the drie Continent there gaue her selfe vp to a voluntarie death Of the loue of that kind of Fish to men and children there are diuerse remembrances as of Arion and others In Argis the child Olenus was affected by a Goose so likewise Lycidas the Philosopher who would neuer depart from him nor be driuen out of his companie but was his continuall associate in publique and priuate in the Bath in the Night the Day without any intermission Plin. Lib. 10. cap. 22. Glauce the Harper was beloued of a Ramme a youth of Sparta by a Daw. Nicander apud Caelium witnesseth That one Selandus the Butler to the king of Bithinia was beloued of a Cocke whom they called Centaurus A Cocke doted likewise on a young Lad whose name was Amphilochus by Nation an Olenian Why may wee not then as well giue credite that Semiramis was affected by a Horse and Pasiphae by a Bull when Plinie tells vs That in Leucadia a young Damosell was so beloued of a Peacocke that the enamored Bird neuer left her in life and accompanied her in death for seeing the Virgin dead shee neuer would receiue food from any hand but so pyned away and dyed also In the citie of Sestos a young Eagle taken in a neast was carefully brought vp by a Virgin The Bird beeing come to full growth would euerie day take her flight abroad and all such fowle as shee could catch bring home and lay them in the Lappe of her mistresse And this shee vsed dayly as it were to recompence her for her fostering and bringing vp At length this Virgin dying and her bodie beeing borne vnto the Funerall fire the Eagle still attended which was no sooner exposed vnto the flames but the Bird likewise cast her selfe with a voluntarie flight amidst the new-kindled pyle and to her mistresses Hearse gaue her selfe a most gratefull sacrifice Plinie lib. 10. cap. 5. Saxo Grammat in the tenth booke of his Danish Historie reports That certaine young maides of a Village in Swetheland playing and sporting together in the fields vpon a holy-day suddainely an huge hee-Beare rushed out of the forrest and snatched vp the fairest amongst them and hurryed her away to his Denne but gently and without any harme where hauing bestowed her long gazed on her face as if with a kind of admiration he grew so enamored of her on the suddaine that in the stead of a murtherer he became a louer imparting vnto her all the prey that he got abroad The sequele of this Historie which is almost past beleefe I am loth for many speciall reasons to prosecute any further here therefore though abruptly I breake it off Of Women excellent in the Art of Painting Weauing c. INnumerable are the men that haue been excellent in the qualitie of Painting the Catalogue of their Names without a Capitulation of their Workes would aske much Paper but greater paines to set downe Yet as of the rest I will giue you a small taste of their exquisite dexteritie in that Art I haue read That Apelles hauing made an excellent Piece in which he had deciphered a Horse to the life he thought it then a Present worthie Alexander and comming to present it to the king hee onely gaue it a neglected looke neither praysing it nor discommending it but found other discourse The Painter still holding it vp Bucephalus on whom the king was then mounted casting his eye vpon the Table fell a neighing thinking the liuely effigies had beene a liuing Beast Which Apelles obseruing could no longer containe himselfe but cryed out aloud O Alexander I now well perceiue thy Horse hath better iudgement in Painting than thy selfe Zeuxes being almost with him equally famous Apelles maligning that any Painter should be named whilest
inspired from aboue and to speake as from the mouthes of the gods some were Holy as Ennius some Diuine as Homer others Prophets as hauing the name of Vates conferred vpon them and amongst these may bee numbred the Sybills the Priests of Apollo and such as belonged to all the other Oracles Of the Poets there were many sorts and such as writ in diuerse kinds yet all these imitated at least if not equalled by women There were such as were called Physiologi that Poetised in Physicke as Palephatus Atheniensis Pronopides Xenophanes Coliphâ—nius and others there were Poetae Mathematici that writ of the Mathematickes as Ma. Manilius Thales Milesius Aratus Solensis c. Poetae Medici as Thaletas Cretenses Damocrates Seruilius Andromachus Cretensis c. Poetae Vates or Prophets as Moyses Dauid Hieremias Isaiah c. Poetae Theologi as Salomon Dante 's Alegerius Florentinus and amongst the Heathens Linus Chalcedensis Pyerius Thamyras Amphion Orpheus c. There are besides Ethici Impudici Historici Mechanici Epici Heroici Eliogeographaei Satyrici Epigrammatographi Comici Tragici Mimographi Histrionici Melopaei Lyrici Melâ—fi Iambici Himnographi and amongst these not any whom some ingenious women in one age or other hath not facetiously imitated I am loath to dwell too long in the Proeme I will now giue you their names with a particular of their workes who haue beene in many or most of these eminent Poetriae or Women Poets Of the Sybills the Muses Priests and Prophetesses included amongst those whom wee called Vates I haue alreadie spoken at large I now proceed to others Theano Locrensis was so called as borne in the citie of Locris she writ Hymnes and Lyrick Songs she was also a Musicall Poetesse such as were called Melicae There was a second of that name the wife of Pithagoras a Poetesse besides a third called Thuria or Metapontina daughter of the Poet Lycophron a Pythagorist and wife of Caristius or Brantinus Crotoniata Teste Suida Nicostrata was otherwise called Carmentis skilfull both in the Greeke and Latine Dialect of a quicke and nimble wit and conuersant in diuerse kinds of Learning Sulpitia liued in the time of the Emperour Domitianus her husbands name was Galenus or Gadenus with whom shee liued in most conioyned wedlocke for the space of fifteene yeeres Some fragments of her Poetrie I haue read inserted amongst the Workes of Ausonius Of her Martial in one of his Epigrams Lib. 10. thus writes Oh molles tibi quindecim Calene Quos cum Sulpitia tua ingales Indulsit Deus peregit annos c. O those soft fifteene yeeres so sweetly past Which thou Calenus with Sulpitia hast In iugall consocietie no doubt A time by the Gods fauoured and pickt out O euerie Night nay Houre mark'd by thy hand With some rich stone fetcht from the Indian strand What warres what combats haue betwixt you beene But to your Bed and Lampe not knowne or seene Of any Happie Bed and Tapers grace Made of sweet Oyles whose smoake perfumes the place Thrice fiue yeeres thou hast liu'd Calenus thus Reckoning by that account thine Age to vs So to compute thy yeeres is thy great'st pride No longer to haue liu'd than with thy Bride Were Atropos at thy entreats content To giue thee backe one day so sweetly spent Thou at a higher rate would'st prise that one Than foure times Nestors Age to liue alone This Epigram hath expressed the loue of Calenus to Sulpitia the husband to the wife but in 35. of the same booke her pious Loue chast Muse and Beautie the same Author hath most elegantly illustrated his words be these Omnes Sulpitiam legant puellae Vno quae cupiunt viro placere Omnes Sulpitiam legant mariti Vnae qui cupiunt placere nuptae c. All women reade Sulpitia such as can In their desires betake them to one man All husbands reade Sulpitia such whose life Can be contented with one single wife Shee neuer spake of mad Medeas sinne Nor why Thyestes Banquet was seru'd in It neuer with her pure thoughts could agree A Scilla or a Biblis there could bee Saâ—e chast and pious Loues she did not write Yet mixt with modest pleasures and delight Her Verses who shall reade and reade againe And sift them well shall find them without staine Such were the words diuine Egeria spake The wife of Numa when shee did betake Her selfe to sollitude Had Sapho beene Tutor'd by her her Poems read and seene More chast sh' had beene with greater Art endu'd Or had rude Phaon these together view'd And both their beauties well obseru'd and noted He that left her had on Sulpitia doted c. Seneca speakes of one Michaele a shee Centaure who in an Elegant Poem instructed the Thessalians in the Remedie of Loue whom Ouid in his Remedium Amoris is said to haue imitated Aristophanes as also Suidas speake of one Charixena the Author of many excellent Workes amongst others shee writ a Poeme called Crumata Caelius Lib. 8. cap. 1. speakes of Musaea an Epigrammatist in which kind shee was eminent besides shee composed sundrie Lyrickes Textor remembers vs of one Moeroe who besides her other Workes is most celebrated for a Hymne to Neptune Manto was the daughter of Tyresia the Prophetesse of her the famous cittie Mantua tooke name shee was not onely a Poetesse but famous for her Diuinations for by the entrailes of beasts shee could predict and fore-tell things to come Textor Cornificia was the sister of the Poet Cornificius and famous for many excellent Epigrams Luccia Mima as Plinie reports of her was a writer of Comedies in which practise shee continued no lesse than an hundred yeeres Amongst the Poets Cassandra the Prophetesse daughter to Priam and Hecuba is also numbred Archilas Hermonaicus as Camelion saith writes of a Poetesse called Megalostrate beloued of the Poet Alcman hee that first deuised the amatorious Verse in which was expressed all lasciuious intemperance which some attribute to Thamyris as their first inuentor shee Amatores vel ipsis colloquijs ad se trahere potuit i. Shee with her verie discourse could attract louers shee was tearmed Flana Megalostrate Athenae Lib. 13. cap. 16. Polla Argentaria was wife to the famous Poet Lucan and hath a merited place in this Catalogue of whom Martial thus speakes Haec est illa dies quae magni conscia partus Lucanum populis tibi Polla dedit This day of that great birth made conscious is Which gaue him to the world and made thee his Shee was reputed to be of that excellent learning that shee assisted her husband in the three first bookes entituled Pharsaliâ— Her Statius Lib. 2. Sylu. thus remembers Haec Castae titulum decusque Polla Shee likewise writ excellent Epigrams As much as Staâ—ius of her Plin. Secundus speakes of his wife Calphurnia Fulgos. Lib. 8. cap. 3. Aspasia Milesia the beloned of Pericles
in despight or disgrace of her first purposed to cast herselfe from Leucate a high promontorie in Epyre downe into the Sea which she after did yet before she would attempt it she first in an Epistle thought by all the allurements of a womans wit to call him backe againe into his countrey which Ouid in her behalfe most feelingly hath exprest And since it lies so fitly in my way for the opening of the Historie I thus giue it English Ecquid vt aspecta est c. I st possible as soone as thou shalt see My charracter thou knowst it comes from mee Or else not reading of the authors name Could'st thou haue knowne from whence this short worke came Perhapes thou maist demand Why in this vaine I court thee that professe the Lyricke straine My lou 's to be bewept and that 's the reason No Barbit number suits this tragicke season I burne as doth the corne-fields set on fire When the rough East winds still blow high and higher Now Phaon the Typhoean fields are thine But greater flames than Aetnaes are now mine No true disposed numbers flow from hence The emptie worke of a distracted sence The Pirhian gyrle nor the Methimnian lasse Now please me not the Lesbians who surpasse Vil's Amithon vile Cidno too the faire So Atthis that did once appeare most rare And hundreds more with whom my sinn's not small Wretch thou alone inioyest the loues of all Thou hast a face and youth too fit for play Oh tempting face that did'st mine eyes betray Take Phoebus Faith vpon thee and his bow And from Apollo who can Phaon know Take hornes and 'bout thy temples wreaths of vine What 's he can say but th' art the god of Wine Phoebus lou'd Daphne Bacchus Gnosis bright Yet neither she nor she could Lyrickes write The nine Muse-sisters of my verse dispose And what my numbers are the whole world knowes Nor can my countrey-man Alcaeus more Than I though he in age stand rank't before Nor though his name sound louder can he raise Or from his Lyre or Country greater praise If niggard Nature haue denide things fit Yet what I want in shape I haue in wit My statur's low but know my name is high And bruited through all regions farre and nigh I am not faire what therein doe I lacke Andromida pleas'd Perfeus yet she blacke The whitest Doues with mingled colours make And the blacke Turtle will the Greene-bird take If none can be thought worthie of thy loue But such as shall thy like in beautie proue Young man despaire thou art for euer free None such ere was none such shall euer bee When first thou readst my Verses thou didst say I onely pleas'd and I was faire that way That I became my phrase and none so well Then did I sing wee louers all must tell And I remember thou 't is still my pride At euery Note didst on my lippes diuide Nay euen those kisses pleas'd thee wondrous well But most of all when I beneath thee fell My wantonnesse contented thee ' boue measure My nimble motion and words apt for pleasure Then when in confus'd rapture we both lay Fulnesse of ioy depriu'd all vse of plaâ— Now the Sicilian girles are thy new spoyle I le be of them and leaue the Lesbian sayle You Nisean mothers and faire daughters bred In Sicilie let him be banished From forth your earth nor let the many Lyes The smoothnesse of his false tongue can deuise Beguile your simple truth what to you â—e Speaks now h' hath spoke a thousand times to me And goddesse Erecina thou that do'st The barbarous rude Sicania honor most Aduise thy Poetesse by thy wit diuine And giue me counsell since thou know'st I am thine Can Fortune in this bitter course still run Vowes she to end those Ills she hath begun Six yeeres are past since my abortiâ—e grâ—nes Mourn'd and my teares wet my dead parents bones My needie brother as a second crosse Dotes on a strumpet suff'ring shame with losse Turn'd Pyrate prooues the Seas with sayle and oare And badly seekes wealth lost as ill before Because my faithfull counsaile that course rated My guerdon is that I by him am hated And least my endlesse torments should find ease My yong irregular daughter addes to these The last and great'st cause why I thus miscarrie Thou art my Barke still sayles with winds contrariâ— Behold my erst well-ord'red Locks mis-plac'd And those that in times past my temples grac'd Neglected are as if they were not mineâ— No precious gemmes vpon my fingers shine My habit 's vile my haire no Crispin weares Nor smell my Locks of sweet Arabian teares Whom should I seeke to please since â—ee's absent That was sole author of mine ornament My soft heart is with easie shafts imprest There 's still new cause to lodge loue in my brest Either because the Sisters three had force When I was borne to spin my thread so course Or this my studies in the Arts constraine Since soft Thalia doth infuse my braine What wonder if a youth of the first chinne Surprise me yeres which man to man might winne I was afraid least faire Aurora thou For Cephalus would'st steale him and I now Am still in feare for surely this had past But that thy first loue holds thee still so fast If Phoebus that spyes all things thee had seene Phaon in lasting slumbers cast had beene Venus had rapt him into heauen by this But that she fear'd Mars would haue made him his Thou that no child and yet scarce man appeares Best age the pride and glorie of thy yeares Returne vâ—to my bosome since of thee I beg not loue but that thou lou'd would'st bee Lo as I write teares from mine eyes amaine Still drop behold how they my paper staine Thy parting had beene gentler in words few Had'st thou but sayd Sweet Lesbian lasse adue Thou took'st with thee no parting kisse no teares I little dream't I was so neere my feares Of thine saue wrong I nothing haue no more Thou let that mooue thee all my loue dost store I gaue thee no command nor had that day Vnlesse some such Do not forget me pray By Loue that neuer can forsake that brest By our nine sacred sisters I protestâ— He 's gone when some but who I know not sayd For a long space both words and teares were stayd Mine eyes had banish't teares and greefe my tongue Through cold my heart vnto my ribs was clung My greefe retyr'd I gaâ— to beat my brest To teare my haire nor blush to walke vndrest Like carefull mothers who with loude exclaimes Beare their dead children to their funerall flames Charaxus walkes by lang hing too and fro And from my extasie his pleasures grow And which more shame vnto my sorrow giues Askes why this woman weepes her daughter liues But Shame and Loue are two the people stare To see my garments torne and brests vnbare Thou
holy Songs to be hers witnesse Gyraldus Dialogo 5. Histor. Poet. She writ her Epitaph with her owne hand which was â—fter inscribed vpon her Tombe which I thus giue you in English something neere to Treuisaes as he translated it from Ranulphus AN EPITAPH Elpis my name me Sicilie first bred A husbands loue drew me from hence to Rome Where I long liu'd in ioy but now lye dead My soule submitting to th' Almighties doome And I beleeue this flesh againe shall rise And I behold my Sauiour with these eyes Eudoxia or Eudocia was the wife of the Emperour Theodoâ—ius Iunior Shee was excellently qualified and her chiefe delight was to be conuersant amongst the Muses for which shee was stiled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Shee was the daughter of Leontius of no higher degree than a Sophist of Athens shee was first called Athenais but after being married to the Emperour hee caused her to be baptised by Atticus the great Bishop of Constantinople and for Athenais gaue her the name of Eudocia which much pleased the Emperour her husband Some attribute a Centon vnto her of Christ the Sauiour of the world it was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which others would conferre vpon Proba Cyrus Panopolita shee aduanced vnto the Praetorship Gyrald ex 5. Dialog Philenis was a strumpet of Leucadia her Verses were as impurely wanton as her life was immodest and vnchast shee imitated Elephantis if wee may beleeue Suidas and they both Astianassa one of Hellens maids the wife to Menelaus Shee was the first that deuised 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Veneriall Trade and left certaine bookes behind her of Veneriall Copulation This you may reade in Gyraldus in 30. Dialog Histor. Poet. Bocho a penurious and needie woman of Delphos who composed Hymnes and pronounced Oracles shee is remembred by Gyraldus Dialog 20. Elephantis or Elephantina was a woman most wickedly wanton and of notorious intemperance Shee as Spinthria described the seuerall wayes and figures of Congresse and Copulation from whose bookes Lalage presents a gift to Priapus in Priapaeis Poematibus and Tiberius Caesar builded that chamber wherein were discouered the omnivarious shapes of beastly and preposterous Luxuries least any president of dishonest Brothelrie should be left vnremembred Proba Valeria Falconia a Roman Matron and wife to Adelphus Romanus the Proconsull a man of noble and religious carriage flourished in the reignes of Honorius and Theodosius the Iunior Emperours Shee composed a Diuine Worke of the Life and Miracles of Christ which shee entituled Cento Virgilianum shee dedicated it to the Empresse Eudocia wife of Theodosius Shee also paraphrased vpon the Verses of Homer and called the Worke Homeroukentra which some would conferre vpon Eudocia Her husband being dead shee is said to haue inscribed vpon his Tombe this or the like Epitaph To God to Prince Wife Kindred Friend the Poore Religious Loyall True Kind Stedfast Deere In Zeale Faith Loue Bloud Amitie and Store He that so liu'd and so deceas'd lyes heere Amongst these and not vnproperly are numbred the Sibylls but I haue spake of them in their place therefore I proceede to others and next of Telesilla Telesilla Poetria THis incomparable Ladie I know not where to equipage or in what ranke to place whether amongst the women illustrious for Vertue or amongst the Warlike women imitating the Amasonians for their noble Courage and Valour amongst the Chast the Faire or the Wise as beeing a most famous and learned Poetesse her Historie I will giue you in briefe Amongst the memorable and remarkable acts attempted and atchieued by women there is none more glorious or better deseruing a Cronicle of Perpetuitie than that performed by the Argiue women against king Cleomenes by the persuasion and incouragement of Telesilla the Poetesse shee was borne of a noble familie and in her youth being subiect to many infirmities of the bodie she asked counsell of the gods concerning her health answere was returned her from the Oracle That she should apply her selfe to the studie of the Muses and imploy all her industrie in verse and harmonie Not long it was ere recouering her health she grew to that perfection of Art especially in Poetrie that shee was onely held in admiration amongst all other women Cleomenes king of Sparta opposing the Argiues with all the rigor that hostilitie could make and hauing slaine of them an infinite number almost incredible to relate for so sayth Plutarch in reuenge of this losse a notable courage and an vnspeakable boldnesse inspyred the hearts of these Argiue women in so much that vnder the conduct of Telesilla whom they made their Generall they tooke armes to maintaine their fortresses guard and defend the walls and issue out vpon the enemy not without admiration and terror to the besiegers in so much that Cleomenes was repulsed with the losse of many of his souldiers Another king as Socrates sayth called Demaratus who besieged Pamphiliacum they sent thence with losse and infamous retreat The citie thus by their valour preserued all such women as fell in the conflict the inhabitants honourably interred in a place cald Via Argiua i. The Argiue way and to the suruiuers as a memorable gratitude to their vertues valours they granted a famous solemnitie cald the dedication of Mars This battaile was fought as some say in the seuenth day others in the new Moone of the month which is now cald the fourth but by the Argiues was of old called Hermaeus or Merâ—ulialis as that day they yerely celebrat the great Feast stiled Hybristica in which the women are habited like men and the men are attired in vestures of women And to make good the losse of so many men that perished in the late combustions the matrons did not as Herâ—dotus afirmes match with their slaues and seruants but they ioyned themselues in marriage to the best and noblest of the next adioyning citties vpon whom notwithstanding they cast such a contemptible neglect that they enacted a law which inioyned all married women still to put beards vpon their faces when they first went to bed to their husbands Perhilla was a young Roman ladie who liued in the time of Augustus Caesar it seemes of no great noble familie nor extraordinarie riches onely of an admirable wit and excellent facilitie in Poetrie she was scholler to Ouid who enterchanged with her and she with him many Elegies and Epigrams she flourishdd in the time of his banishment Her workes it seemes neuer came to light but that she was answerable to the character I haue giuen her I referre you to his seuenth Elegie in his third booke de Tristibus in which he giues her an approoued testimonie the title in Mandat Epistolam vt Perhillam Adeat which the better to expresse of what condition she was and that speaking of Poetesses it will not bee amisse a little to Poetise I thought thus to English Vade salutatum
his sight neuer againe to behold his face and after caused him to be arraigned and iudged And these are the Graces Honors and Aduancements Offices and Dignities to which the Deuill exalts his liege people Of these seuerall sorts of Iuglings with which the Deuill deludes his schollers besides such as I haue before spoken of amongst such as predicted of things to come I will nominate some few One thing which is vsed now amongst our cunning Women and Witches is so antient that it was before the age of Lucian or Theocritus it is called Coskinomanteia i. Cribri saltatio i. as wee call it The Syue and the Sheeres and that is not shamed to be publiquely vsed Bodinus himselfe sayth that hee saw in Lutetia a Boy in a Noblemans house and before many honest and iudiciall spectators by speaking of a few French wordsâ— make a Syue turne which way he pleased but the same words vttered by another could not make it to mooue at all Another superstition is with a Knife or a Key If any be suspected of Theft reade but such a Psalme and name the partie accused if the Knife at the speaking of his name mooue or stirre hee is then held guiltie and that practise is called Axinomanteia That which is done by a Ring put ouer a Cruse of Water is called Daktuliomanteia And this is a famous Sorcerie much in vse with the Witches of Italie Ioachimus Cameracensis had a speaking Ring in which was a Familiar or a Deuill that kind is called Vdromanteia as also Dactyliomanteia i. A Ring wherein Spirits are worne Coniectures made from Wells and Fountaines were called Idromanteia these Numa Pompilius was said to be the first inuentor of which Varro otherwise interpretes i. Of a Boy employed by the Magicians to looke vpon Images in the water one of which pronounced distinctly fiftie Verses of the warres of Mithridates before any such rumor was spread or purpose of the like businesse intended Aeromanteia is a superstitious prediction by the ayre but most certaine when the wind is South Another was made from Meale or Chaffe and was called Alphitomanteia or Aleuromanteia remembred by Iamblicus but to what purpose it was hee explaneth not as likewise of Lythomanteia which was practised by Stones Diuination by Lawrell was called Daphnomanteia The praescience which they gathered from the head of an Asse Kephaleomanteia Puromanteia and Kapnomanteia were coniectures from Fire Rabdomanteia was vsed by a Physician of Tholosa in speaking certaine mysticall words in a low and submisse voyce The like vnto that was Zulomanteia with loose chippes of Wood much practised in Illyria But of all these diuellish and detestable practises there is none saith Bodinus more Heathenish irreligious and dangerous than that so commonly in vse now adayes and by Witches continually practised to the iniurie and wrong of new married women it is commonly called Ligare ligulam or to tye knots vpon a point which as it is vsuall so it is not new For Herodot Lib. 2. reports That Amasis king of Aegypt was by the like Exorcisme bound and hindered from hauing any mutuall congresse with his wife Laodice till those ligatorie Spells were after vncharmed Paulus Aemilius in the life of Clotharius the second witnesseth That king Theodoricus was by the like ligaments effascinated by his Concubines from hauing lawfull consocietie with his wife Hermamberga Bodinus reports That he heard from the mouth of Roileus Embassadour generall amongst the Blesenses who affirmed That at the marriage of a young couple iust as they were to receiue the benediction from the Priest a Boy was seene by him tying one of these Magicke knots in the Temple whom thinking to haue deprehended the Boy fled and was not taken Bodinus further addes That in the yeere 1567. he then being Procurator in Patauia the gentlewoman in whose house he soiourned being it seemes a pregnant scholler in this Art related vnto him in the presence of one Iacobus Baunasius That there were fiftie seuerall wayes of tying this knot to hinder copulation either to bind the Husband or the Wife onely that one hating the others infirmitie might the freelyer pollute themselues with Adulteries Shee said moreouer the man was often so charmed the woman seldome and difficultly besides this knot might be tyed for a day for a yeere for the present time or for euer or whilest the same was vnloosed That it might be tyed for one to loue the other and not be againe beloued or to make a mutuall and ardent loue betwixt them but when they came to congression to bite and scratch and teare one another with their teeth and nayles In Tholosia a man and his wife were so bewitched who after three yeeres being vncharmed had a faire and hopefull issue and which is more to be wondered at in that time there appeared vpon some part of their bodies so many tumors or swellings like small knobs of flesh as they should haue had children if that impediment had not happened Some there are that may be charmed before wedlocke and some after but those hardly There are others whom their effascinations can keepe from eiecting their Vrine others to make them that they cannot restraine it at all but of the first diuerse haue perished Shee likewise told him sundrie speeches belonging to these Witcheries the words whereof were neither Hebrew Greeke Latine French Spanish Italian nor indeed deriuing their Etimologie from any knowne Language whatsoeuer Erasmus in his explanation of the Adage Pasetis Semiobulus writes of some Witches that by their Incantations could commaund in any voyd roome Tables on the sudden to bee spread and furnished with meates and iunkets of all varieties to tast the palat and when the guests had sufficiently fed and satisfied euerie man his owne appetite with one word could likewise command all things away as if no such thing had beene others also that when they had bought any commoditie of any man their backes were no sooner turned but the money they layde out would instantly forsake the seller and returne into the purse of the buyer But to begin with the antient Poets by their testimonies it is manifest that the practise of Witches and Witch-craft hath beene so great that by their Charmes and Spells they haue had the power to transhape men into bruit beasts to alter the course of the Planets and Starres haue changed the Seasons making the naturall course of the yeare preposterous further that their exorcismes haue extended to Hearbes Flowers Fruits and Graine to infect men with Diseases and cattell with Murren to delude the Eyes and weaken the Sences bewitch the Limbes binde the Hands gyue the Feete and benumbe the other Members apoplex all the vitall Spirits and raise vp dead bodies from their Sepulchres nay more to call the Moone downe from her Sphere with other most strange things as miraculous to relate as difficult to beleeue of such in his first booke Tibullus speakes Hanc ego
losse which I must forciblly suffer The rest wondring at her sudden change from myrth to passion next at her alteration of looke and lastly at her mysticall language when her words were scarce ended but a messenger rushed hastily into the roome and told her that her eldest sonne with all the whole familie at home were found suddenly dead which she no sooner heard but ouercome with sorrow she fainted and beeing recouered and conducted to her owne house she tooke her bed and presently caused the onely two children she had liuing to be sent for the one a Monke the other a Nunne who presently came to visit her and know her pleasure to whom with a pensiue and destracted heart the teares running from her eyes she thus speake Alas my children behold me your mother and commiserat my wretched and distressed estate whose fate hath beene so maleuolent and disastrous that I haue hetherto beene a wicked professor of diabolicall Witchraft hauing beene a mistresse of that Art and a great persuader to those abhominations now all the refuge I haue to flie to is your religious zeale and pietie in this despaire for now is the time that the Deuils will exact their due Those that persuaded me to this mischiefe are readie to demand their Couenant Therefore by a mothers loue I charge you and by your filiall dutie I coniure you since the Sentence of may Soules perdition is irreuocable that you will vse your best endeuour and industrie for the preseruation of my Bodie This therefore I enioyne you in stead of a Winding-sheet sowe my Bodie in the skinne of a Hart or Bucks Leather then put me in a Coffin of Stone which couer with Lead and after bind it with Hoopes or Barres of Iron to which fasten three strong Chaynes If my Bodie thus coffin'd lye three dayes quiet burie me the fourth day though I feare the Earth for my manifold Blasphemies will scarce giue entertainment to my Bodie For the first two nights together let there be fiftie Psalmes sung for me and as many Masses for so many dayes which said shee gaue vp her last breath Shee dead the brother and sister were carefull to performe the mothers last Will and did all things accordingly The first two nights when the Quires of Church-men sung Psalmes about the Bodie the Deuils with much ease broke open the Church doores which were bolted barr'd lockt and propt and broke two of the Chaynes by which the Coffin was fastened but the third remained stedfast The third night about the time when the Cocke begins to crow the foundation of the Temple seemed to shake with the noyse of the Deuils who clamoured at the doore one of the rest taller in stature and more terrible in countenance than his fellowes knocked with more violence than those which attended him till hee had broken the doore to shiuers when stalking to the Coffin he called the woman by her name aloud and bad her arise and follow him to whom the dead bodie answered I cannot for these Chaynes To whom he answered Those shall be loosed to thy mischiefe when tearing them asunder as they had beene Linkes made of Rushes hee snatched vp the Coffin and carried it to the Church doore where stood readie a blacke Sumpter-horse loudly neighing whose hoofes were diuided like Eagles tallons vpon which he layde the bodie hurried it away with seeming ioy whilest all the Quirristers looked on and so vanished Her shrikes and eiulations were heard foure miles off Let this one suffice for many I come now to Temporall Punishments The Iudges called Areopagitae when they deprehended a Witch and were to deliuer her to death if shee were with child stayed the execution till shee were deliuered of her Infanâ— because they would not punish the innocent with the delinquent Aelian de var. Histor. Lib. 5. The Law to punish Witches amongst the Persians was to bring them to a place where their heads were beaten to pieces betwixt two Rockes So suffered Gyge the handmaid to Parisatides the mother of Cyrus Plutarch in Artaxerxes Charles the seuenth king of France or the Frenchmen caused Prince Egidius de Raxa Marshall of France to be first hanged then burnt because hee confessed himselfe to be a Witch and professor of Magicke and withall to haue beene the death of an hundred and twentie children and women great with child A Witch of Auerne was burnt aliue for killing young infants and salting their flesh and putting them into Pyes and baking them for publike sale Fulgos. Lib. 9. cap. 2. Iohaâ—nes Bodinus Lib. Mag. Demonomaniae 4. cap. 5. tells vs That there is a Law sacred in France That if any Magician or Witch or Soothsayer or Mathematician that shall goe beyond the true rules of Astrologie or expounder of Dreames shall frequent the Court be he neuer so great in fauour or potent in office he shall be immediately degraded from all his honours and put to the racke and torture And this Law is fitting saith he to be writ in golden characters vpon euery Court gate because there is no greater Pest extant either to Prince or people than this viperous brood therefore aboue our Christian Princes hee commends the Ethnick kings In the time of Marius an Inchantresse whose name was Martha who pretended to fore-tell to the Roman Senat the successe of the Cimbrian warre was banished Plutarch in Mario Claudius Caesar condemned a knight of Rome to death and forfeited all his goods to the people because he wore about him a Cocks egge as a Charme to dispence with Religionâ— and that all the causes which hee had in controuersie should in despight of the Iudges passe of his side Euen fellowes that were scarce of any name or opinion in the world that were but suspected of Negromancie were condemned to death vnder Tiberius Caesar. The Emperor Caracalla adiudged all such as but vsed inchanted hearbes to the curing of Agues and Feauers Spartian in Caracalla The Scripture saith Thou shalt not suffer a Witch to liue Bodinus contrarie to Wyerius who will scarce beleeue there be any such accounting all those Iudges as condemne them to the Stake or Gallowes no better than Executioners and Hangmen hee shewes diuerse probable Reasons why they ought not to liue The first is Because all Witches renounce God and their Religion now the Law of God saith Whosoeuer shall forsake the God of Heauen and adhere to any other shall be stoned to death which punishment the Hebrewes held to be the greatest could be inflicted R. Maymon Lib. 3. The second thing is That hauing renounced God and their Religion they curse blaspheme and prouoke the Almightie to anger The Law saith Whosoeuer shall blaspheme their sinne shall remaine with them and whosoeuer shall take his name in vaine or in contempt shall be punished with death The third thing is That they plight faith and make couenant with Deuil adore him and sacrifice vnto him as