that my sonne be borne a liue certaine he shall be put to death for it is better that he die a childe then he should waxe a man and waxe rebell against me and enhaunce himself aboue me by his malice insurrection or otherwise In this will and resolution this sorrowful Saturne returned into his house continuing in this estate and sorrowfull sighs melancholious fantasies in such wise that Cibel durst not come into his presence nor could not get of him a ioyous sight wherefore he got him a surname of sorrow and was named Saturne the triste or sorrowfull And it was so that when he had bin in his house a certain space and saw the day approch that his wife should be deliuered of child for to execute his sorowful courage he called his wife and said Dame it is so apparant that shortly thou shalt be deliuered of the fruit of thy wombe if thou be deliuered of a sonne I commaund thée vpon pain of death that thou slea him and that thou send me his heart And when Cibell heard these wordes and this rigorous and vnnaturall violence and will anon she fell to the ground in a sowne for her legs failed her And in the reléeuing of the sowne shee knéeled before the féete of Saturne and said on this wise Sir hast thou no shame that wilt bee husband of a woman murdering her owne child I thée require of mercy and grace beséeching thée to haue regard that I am thy wife and haue the heart of a woman and not of a tyrant or a murtherer Dame answered Saturne require me no more of things touching this matter it is iudged by a foreséene and counterpeysed sentence that if thou haue a son he shall bee dead for I haue promised and sworne so to my brother Titan and aboue this I haue answere of the god Apollo that in thy wombe is a sonne that shall cast me out of this realme and therefore sée that at his birth he be dead as deare as thou louest thy life and also as I haue said send me his heart medled with wine that I may drinke it And how sir answered Cibell knowest thou not that I am a woman and by proper and singular inclination I haue a verie loue to small children and must giue them to eate and suck O wéenest thou that I haue an heart so hard as for to foile my hands with the blood of my son I pray and require thée to reuoke thy sentence and be pitious to thy wife and generation Thou art wise after the iudgement of thy people In this partie thou shewest thy selfe not good for by thy oath thou art not bounden nor holden to slea thy sonne séeing it is truth that all oathes made agaynst good maners ought not to be holden For to slea thy sonne it is a villaine case contrarie to honour reason pittie equitie and iustice It is sinne against nature agaynst vertue and against all good maners Then thy oath for to slea thy sonne is nought and thou oughtest anull it thou art king and that vpon paine of death forviddest thy people to make murther or homicide By this thou that art myrrour example to other oughtest to be content and appease thy selfe And me séemeth on that other side that thou interpretest and construest euill the sentence of god Apollo saying that I haue in my wombe a sonne that shall put thée out of thy kingdome For by this it ought to be vnderstand that the sonne that I beare shall ouerliue thée and put thée so out of thy kingdome that is to say into thy Sepulchre the day that thou shalt depart out of this worlde And if this may not appease thée if it so happen that I haue a sonne thou maist do him to be kept in a strong Tower and there to set such warde vpon him that he shall neuer bee of power to enhaunce himselfe against thée Saturn had then the heart passing great that for semblable compassion Vesca the mother Cibell and Ceres wept and gaue out great plentie of teares and in like wise all the assistants that were in the place wept out of measure aboundantly yet neuerthelesse it might not soft nor attemper the hard commaundement of king Saturne But in conclusion he sayd to Cibell that she should no more procure the respite of the life of his son but he should be dead and she also with him if she did not his commaundement With sorrowfull conclusion Cibell departed from thence all in a traunce halfe dead and casting abroade her armes and hands with great excesse of teares that ran like a riuer from her tender eyen entred into a Tower her mother that desolate Ladie following her She being in her chamber for frushed and all distempered with sorrow began to trauell anon was deliuered of a daughter and of a son The daughter was borne before the sonne and was sent by Ceres and borne to nourish into the Citie of Parthenie and was named Iuno and the son began to laugh at comming out of his mothers wombe and was named Iupiter When Cibell and Vesca sawe the childe laugh their teares began to grow double and they had not taken great regard and héed to the child what time Cibell all angrie and corrupt with wanhope with a sigh and féeble spirite said to her mother Ha my mother what pitious case shall this bée now giue me a sharpe cutting knife and I shall murther my sonne by vnnaturall errour against my will And after this villainous déed for my absolution of the great sinne I shall murther my selfe also And this is my full purpose for after so cruell a déede and worke notwithstanding any excusation I neuer will longer liue The mother of Cibell was then al bewept and greatly dismaid when she heard the aire of the tender mouth of her daughter redound in her eares of so hard a crueltie she being all afraid said to her my daughter what thinkst thou to do art thou enraged out of thy wit or foolish My mother answered Cibell yea verily I am verily as you say enraged out of my wit and foolish and yet more I am furious woode Make me no longer to languish Giue me the cursed mortall knife forged in an euill houre for of force I must obey the king Saturne your right welbeloued sonne my right redoubted husband that hath commandement ouer me and will shamefully put me to death if I accomplish not and fulfill his commaundement in the death of his sonne which he hath charged me to slea Anon as Vesca considered that her daughter sayd and in the errour that she was in she tooke the child that was in her armes and plucked it from her by force and alway the childe laughed When Cibell sawe her sonne in the armes of her mother as a woman enraged and out of her wit shée began to crie that she should slea the childe or giue it her againe or else she would arise out of her bed
they haunt the battaile and if it happen that I vanquishe thee make that all they of thy hoste depart hence and suffer vs to liue in peace Achilles chafed sore with these wordes and offered him to fight this battaile and gaue to Hector his gage which Hector tooke and receiued gladly c. When Agamemnon knewe of this offer and bargaine he went hastily vnto the Tent of Achilles with a great company of noble men which woulde in no wise accord nor agrée to this battaile saying that they would not submit them so many noble men vnder the strength of one man and the Troyans said in like maner saue only the king Priamus that would gladly agree for the great strength that he found in his son Hector Thus was the fight broken and Hector departed and went againe to Troy from the Gréekes When Troylus knew certainly that Briseyda should be sent to her father he made great sorrow for shee was his soueraigne ladie of loue and in semblable wise Briseyda loued earnestly Troylus and shee made also the greatest sorrow of the worlde for to leaue her soueraigne lord in loue There was neuer séen so much sorrow made betweene two louers at their departing Who that list to heare of al their loue let him reade the booke of Troylus that Chaucer made wherein hee shall finde the storie whole which were too long to write heere but finally Briseyda was led vnto the Greekes whom they receiued honourably Among them was Diomedes that anon was enflamed with the loue of Briseyda when he sawe her so faire and in riding by her side hee shewed to her all his minde and made to her many promises and especially desired her loue and then when she knew the minde of Dyomedes she excused her saying that she would not agree to him nor refuse him at that time for her heart was not disposed at that time to answere otherwise Of this answers Diomedes had great ioy forasmuch as hee was not refused vtterly and hée accompanied her vnto the tent of her father and did helpe her downe of her horse and tooke from her one of her gloues that shee held in her handes and she suffered him sweetly Calcas receiued her with great ioy and when they were in priuitie between them both Briseyda saide to her father these and semblable wordes Ha a my father how is thy wit failed that were woont to be so wise and the most honoured and beloued in the citie of Troy gouernedst all that was within and hadst so many riches and possessions and nowe hast béen traitour thou that oughtest to haue kept thy riches and defended thy countrey vnto the death but thou louest better to liue in pouertie and in exile among the mortal enemies of thy countrey O how shall this turne to thy great shame Certes thou shalt neuer get so much honour as thou hast gotten reproch and thou shalt not onely be blamed in thy life but thou shalt also be ill spoken of after thy death and be damned in hell And me seemeth yet it had béen better to haue dwelled out from the people vpon some I le of the Sea then to dwell heere in this dishonour and opproby weenest thou that the Greekes holde thee for true and faithfull that art openly false and vntrue to thy people Certes it was not only the God Apollo that thus abused thee but it was a company of deuils And as she thus spake to her father she wept gréeuously for the displeasure that she had c. Ha a my daughter said Calcas thinkest thou that it is a fit thing to despite the aunswere of the goddes and specially in that thing that toucheth my health I knowe certainly by their answers that this warre shall not dure long that the citie shal be destroied and the nobles also and the bourgeses and therefore it is the better for vs to be here safe then to be slaine with them and then finished they their talke The comming of Briseyda pleased much to all the Greekes and they came thither and feasted her and demaunded of her tidinges of Troy and of the king Priamus and of them that were within and shee said vnto them as much as she knewe courteously Then all the greatest that were there promised her to keepe her and hold her as déere as their daughter and then each man went into his owne Tent and there was none of them but gaue to her a iewell at the departing and it pleased her well to abide and dwell with the Greekes and she forgat anon the noble Citie of Troy and the loue of noble Troylus O howe soone is the purpose of a woman changed and turned certes more sooner then a man can say or think now late had Briseyda blamed her father of the vice of treason which she her self exercised in forgetting of her countrey and true friend Troilus CHAP. XVI ¶ How the Greekes and Troyans began the sixt battaile that dured by the space of thirtie daies in which were many kinges and princes dead of the one side and of the other and how Diomedes smote downe Troylus off his horse and sent it to Briseyda his loue that receiued it gladly c. AFter the three monethes of truce passed on the morrow betimes the Troyans prouided them to battaile And when Hector had ordered all his battailes he issued out first and tooke with him fifteene thousand fighting men and Troylus followed him with ten thousand knightes after him came Paris with thrée thousand fighting men of good archers and well horsed After came Deyphebus with three thousand fighters after him came Eneas and the other all in order so many that there were this day of the partie of the Troyans more then an hundred thousand good fighting men and hardie Of the partie of the Greekes came there first Menelaus with seuen thousand knightes and after him Diomedes with as many and then Achilles that lead also aleuen thousand the king Pampitus with a great multitude of knights and the other after like as they were appointed The king Philes aduaunced him the first Hector came against him so strongly that hee slewe him with his speare Thē there arose a great crie of his death among the Gréeks and the murther and slaughter began so great that it was an horrible sight to sée as wel of the one side as of the other King Pampitus slew many Troyans for to auenge the death of his vncle assailed Hector but Hector gaue him so sound a stroke that he slew him for to auenge his death the Greekes slew manie of the Troyans Achilles slewe many noble men among the which he slew the duke Byraon and Euforbe that was a great noble man Hector was this day sore hurt in the face and bled great plentie of bloud and wist not who had done it therefore the Troyans reculed vnto the walles And when Hector apparantly sawe vppon the walles the quéen Hecuba his mother and
hated him and beheld the Battel from far by very great routs When Hercules had then laboured so much that he found no man to fight with him he set down his Club and addressed him unto a great company of Aegyptians that stood there and assured them he would do nothing unto them and asked what people they were that had assailed him They answered him knéeling on their knees they were Man-slayers Hang-men and people of vicious and evil life that their King which he had first beaten down was the worst of them all and had purposed to put him to death as a stranger to make Sacrifice unto the Gods And they prayed him to Sacrifice their said King Hercules granting their petition accorded it unto the people and took this cursed Tyrant Busire and bore him upon his shoulders unto the Temple which the Aegyptians shewed him The false Tyrant cryed after help terribly but his cry availed him not The Aegyptians cryed unto Hercules sacrifice sacrifice him When Hercules came into the Temple he sacrificed him after he had shewed him his cursed and evil life And then when the fire was put unto the Sacrifice it began to rain and the great drought began to fail Whereof the Aegyptians were so joyful that none could expresse They did sing praises unto Hercules and brought him and Philotes unto the Palace and constituted Hercules King over them but he refused and ordained Iudges to govern them Then he returned unto Quéen Juno who had great sorrow and to King Creon who had great joy at the rehearsal of his good Fortune CHAP. III. ¶ How Hercules espoused Megara and how he was made knight in Thebes IN like wise as the young Vine by the labour and industry of the labourer groweth in height and his boughes spred abroade full of fruit so Hercules by vertue labouring vertuously grewe in verdure of well dooing and in fruite of noblenesse his workes his boughes his braunches then beganne to sproute abroad and to mount and spread from Realme to Realme The secrete conspiracies of Iuno and her cursed enuyes might not hurt nor minish the vertue of Hercules The more that shee thought to put downe and hurt him she more she was cause of his exaltation As hée was puissant and strong of bodie he was yet more strong of vertue for vertue was set in him as the precious stone is in golde and as the swéete smell as in the flower and as the ray of the Sunne beame is in the Sunne hée was beloued of Kings of Princes of Ladyes of Gentlewomen of Nobles and of base folke in especially Megara the daughter of King Creon loued him And verily shée was not deceyued for Hercules loued her also and was neuer hurt but he thought on her Yet they durst none of them speake to other of this matter they were ashamed to discouer that whereby they had hope to haue honour and worship They behelde each other and oft they bewayled and complained to themselues and desired the day that they might take each other in marriage And so much they wished after that day that at the last it came For on a morning tide as Hercules was gone vnto the wood for to take a wilde beast he remembred him of his Ladie and beganne to speake and say to himselfe softly Shall I be alway in paine Shall mine heart neuer be eased but alway languishing in loue I sée one and other in great ioy with their loues and ladies and I wote neuer how to come to the point of one onely that I haue chosen aboue all other and for to atchieue my purpose I wot not how to beginne I dare not speake to her nor I haue not assayed if shée would condiscende Shall I speake to her I wote not wel If I speake to her and she refuse me I shall fall in despaire I shall die for sorrow of melancholie and displeasure I shall neuer dare come after in any noble assembly a foote Alas what paine all considered a time must come that I speake to her If all her friendes were of one accord for to giue her to me in marriage and she were not content and pleased all were lost The most ieopardie is to haue her good will and grace for without her grace I may nought do Then it is of necessitie that I séeke and require if I may haue her good wil since it is so for if I sléepe thus and speake not I shall neuer atchieue nor come to my purpose Hercules resolute in his purpose surprised and enflamed with great desire of loue came from the wood and abandoned the wilde beast and gaue it ouer for to come vnto Megara thinking how and by what words he might come and shew vnto her that which lay on his heart He went then so farre that he came vnto the garden of the pallace where he was with many ladies and gentle women He made to them reuerence vntill he espied the time that he might speake to Megara and he waxed so pensife that it is maruaile hee entermitted nothing to conferre with the Ladies but therewith he drewe him apart into the garden When the Ladies beheld him so pensife diuers of them came to him and talked with him to put him from his thoughts and pensifenesse but they could not and at last Megara came to him As soone as Hercules sawe her come to him he beganne to sigh and came against her And she said to him Hercules why are ye so pensiue put away from you such melancholie tel me of your newes I pray you Ladie aunswered Hercules I thanke you of your good visitation and since it pleaseth you to heare of my tydings and to knowe them I will say to you a part First I tell you that the cause that I am brought and put in the abisme or swallowe of pensiuenesse and sighes that is this day come vnto me is by beholding of you for as I went to the wood to hunt the remembrance of your right noble beautie continually being in mine imagination came into me and made me enter into a secret perplexitie that is to wit whether I should alway liue vnguerdoned and vnrewarded of loue and also if I durst say so to you I haue set my heart and loue wholy on you Madame this perplexitie was great but in the end I concluded to come vnto you for to know the conclusion of my fortune whether it be death or life Being in this deliberation thinking how I might spéed with you and staying in this point and doubtfulnesse your comming hath put me out of a right great thought and pensiuenesse for I wist not better howe to come to the poynt for to speake to you a part as I may now doo then for to apply the matter in time for I say to you for truth that since the tyme of my Olympiade I haue desyred you night and day and at that tyme I set my heart on your seruice resoluing to loue you for euer
his sisters he had great shame and by great ire assailed the king Menon coosin of Achilles and gaue him so many strokes with his sword vpon his helme that he slew him in the sight of Achilles that was like for to haue been madde and tooke a strong speare and ranne against Hector and brake his Speare vpon him but he could not remoue him and Hector gaue him with his sword so great a stroke that he made him to tumble vnder his horse and said to him Achilles Achilles thou contendest to approch to me know that thou approchest thy death And as Achilles would haue aunswered to Hector Troylus came betweene them with a great number of knightes and put them in the middest of them And there were slaine more then fiue hundred knightes of Greece and were put backe by force and Menelaus came to the reskewe with three thousand fighting men And of the partie of the Troyans came the king Ademon that iousted against Menelaus and smote him and hurt him in the face and he and Troylus tooke him and had lead him away if Diomedes had not come the sooner with a great companie of knights and fought with Troilus at his comming and smote him downe and tooke his horse and sent it to Briseida and did cause to say to her by his seruaunt that it was Troylus horse her loue and that he had conquered him by his prowesse and prayed her from thenceforth that she would hold him for her loue c. Briseyda had great ioy of these tidinges and said to the seruaunt that he should say vnto his Lord that she might not hate him that with so good heart loued her When Diomedes knew the answere he was right ioyous and thrusted in among his enemies â—ut the Troyans that were stronger then they made the Greeks to go backe recule vnto their tentes and had slaine them all if the king Agamemnon had not succoured them with right great strength Then beganne the battaile horrible and mortall and the Greekes recouered the field and chased and put the Troyans back vnto their diches Then came Polidamas to the reskew with a great number and multitude of knightes and did goodly exploites of warre and Diomedes addressed him to him but hee was beaten of Polidamas that tooke the horse of Diomedes and deliuered it to Troylus that fought on foote and he mounted anon thereupon Then came Achilles against Troylus whom Troylus receiued gladly and beate downe Achilles which remounted lightly and assailed Troylus with his sword and Troylus defended him right valiantly Then came on Hector and had at this time slaine more then a thousand knightes but the Greekes defended Achilles that were so sore oppressed that hardly they might defend him any more and he hadde been slaine or taken if the king Thelamon and the duke of Athens had not succoured him And they set him againe on his horse with great paine and then the night came on that parted them They fought thus thirtie daies continually to the great damage of both parties and there were slaine sixe of the bastard sonnes of the king Priamus and Hector was hurt in the face and therefore the king Priamus demaunded truce of the Greeks for sixe monthes and they agreed and accorded to him c. CHAP. XVII ¶ How the Greekes and the Troyans began the seuenth battaile that dured twelue daies and after beganne the eight battaile much damageous to the Troyans for Hector was slaine by Achilles and they were driuen backe into their Citie by force to their great damage DVring the six monethes of the truce aforesaide Hector sought to bee healed of his woundes and plaied in the noble hall of Ilyon that was as the historie saith the most royall hall and faire that was in the world Thus during the truce the king Priamus did bury his sixe bastard sonnes each in a sepulture by himselfe right honourably Among all other thinges Diomedes suffered great greefe for the loue of Briseyda and might not eat nor rest for thinking on her and required her many times of her loue and she answered him right wisely giuing him hope without certaintie of any point by the which Diomedes was enflamed on all parts with her loue When the sixe monethes were passed they beganne to fight by the space of twelue daies continually from the morning vnto the euening there were many slaine of the one side and of the other And then came a great mortalitie among the Greekes in the hoste by the great heate that then was and therefore the king Agamemnon required truce which was agreed and accorded to him c. When the truce was passed the night before Andromeda the wife of Hector that had two faire sonnes by him whereof the one had to name Laomedon and the other Astromates this Andromeda sawe that night a maruellous vision and her seemed if Hector went that day following to the battaile he should be slaine And she that had great feare and dread of her husband weeping saide to him praying him that he would not go to the battaile that day whereof Hector blamed his wife saying that she shoulde not beleeue nor giue faith to dreames and would not abide nor tarrie therefore When it was in the morning Andromeda went vnto the king Priamus and to the Queene and tolde to them the veritie of her vision and praied them with all her heart that they woulde doe so much at her request as to disswade Hector that hee should not in any wise that day go to the battaile c. It happened that day was faire and cléere and the Troyans armed them and Troylus issued first into the battaile after him Eneas after Paris Deiphebus Polidamas and the king Sarpedon the king Epistropus the king Croys and the king Philomenus and after all the princes that were come in the aide of the Troians each man in good order And the king Priamus sent to Hector that he should keepe him well that day from going to battaile Wherefore Hector was angry and said to his wife many wordes reprochfull as he that knew well that this coÌ„mandement came by her request yet notwithstanding the forbidding he armed him And when Andromeda sawe him armed shee tooke her little Children and fell downe at the feete of her husband and praied him humbly that hee woulde take off his armes but hee would not doe it And then she said to him at the least if yee will not haue mercie on me yet haue pitie on your litle children that I and they die not a bitter and greeuous death or that wee bée not lead into seruitude and bondage into strange countries At this instant came the queene Hecuba and the quéene Helene and the sisters of Hector and they humbled themselues and kneeled downe presently before his feet and praied and desired him with wéeping teares that hée woulde doe off his harneis and vnarme him and come with them into the hall but neuer would hee doe it for
she on a day called her deare sonne Saturne with Titan and other of the Countrey and there rehearsed and saide vnto them that her yong sonne Saturne should succéede and haue the heritages of her husband Titan hearing the will of his mother redoubled his sorrow it caused him to wéepe great plentie of teares and knéeled too fore his mother humbly and saide in in this wise Mother I am right infortunate when ye will that my right patrimonie be put from me and that naturally me ought to haue by right should be giuen from me and yet because that I am not so wel formed of members as my brother Saturne is which sorrow is to me passing noyous ye wil put from me my fortune and byrth which ye may not do by lawfull reason I am your first sonne ye haue nourished me with the substance of your blood as your childe borne in your bellie nine Moneths Also I am he that first dwelled and inhabited your feminine chambers none tofore me tooke there any seisin when I tooke that then ye gaue mée your due loue and sorted to me the succession of your heritages Then whence cometh this that ye nowe subuert and destroy that nature hath once ioyned giuen me euery mother is bounden to holde the conseruation of the right of her child Alas mother will ye make me bastard fro my right am I a bastard was not Vranus my father am not I he that ye were so glad for what time ye felt first that I was conceiued in the lawfull bed of my father your husband am I not be that ye bare and gaue mee sucke of your breastes and oftentimes kissed me that is to say in my tender dayes what tyme my members were soft and tender Ha mother acquit you ayeinst me as ye beholden and bounden by right and knowledge ye that I am Titan and for as much as I am lesse and not so well adressed as my brother Saturne so much yée ought the more desire my promotion and furthering When dame Vesca heard her sonne Titan speake so sadly and profoundly she had pittie on him yet the pitie was not of so high vertue that might surmount the great loue that was rooted betwéene her and Saturne and then she sayde to Titan her sonne Titan my sonne I denie not that thou tookest thy substance betwéene my sides and were brought into this world and know verily that I loue thée intirely and that I desire thy weale but it is so cleare and euident in euery mans sight that for the default loathlinesse and abhomination of thy members thou art not a man sufficient to defend thy fathers heritage with great labour and paine for if it happen that one man would make warre thou were not able to resist him what wouldest thou that I should do thy brother hath the loue of al the people for his beautie and his vertuous maners and euery man holdeth him in reuerence and thée in derision and scorne Be thou content thou shalt lacke nothing and if thou lacke speake to me and I shall remedie it but speake neuer no more to mee for the heritage for Saturne shall obtaine it by the fauour of his wisedome méekenesse and benignitie and also because the common sort iudgeth him and séeth that hee shall once bee the man whose life shall shine gloriously Titan was sort troubled of the words of his mother and he began to chaunge colour and waxe red hauing suspition to Saturne that hee had contriued this matter against him whereupon he drew him apart to him and saide Saturne the enuie that thou hast to raigne aboue me hath now ingendred in my heart thy mortall mischiefe whereof the hate shall endure vnto the mortall separation of thy life and of mine and of my children Thou knowest well that I am the eldest son of our father Vranus how art thou so hardy and presumptuous to inhaunce thy selfe aboue me by conspired imagination I will that thou knowe verily that like as thou hast conspired in my temporal domage semblably I shall conspire to thy eternal domage hurt And name me from henceforth thy mortall enemie When Saturne heard these burning and enflamed menasses of his brother Titan he excused himselfe and answered that he neuer thought in his life to come to the succession of their father nor neuer had imagined nor conspired it Then Vesca their mother Cibell and Ceres tooke the wordes fro Saturne and saide to Titan that his threatning to Saturne was for naught for he should raigne and be Lord and maister Titan full of felonie and more angrie then hée was too fore said plainly that he would not suffer it Saturne had a great part of the people that assisted him and gaue him fauour And Titan also had other on his side which began to murmure the one partie agaynst the other All the compapanie was sore troubled and began to thrust in and enployed them to cease the noyse and to accord Titan notwithstanding it was hard to doe for alway he would haue runne vpon Saturne if he had not béene hold and letted alway In the ende the wise men shewed Titan by great reason that he was the more féeble and that Saturne was more in the fauour of the people and that he would modere himselfe a little and sayde that he should agrée and graunt the raigne to Saturne by condition that if hee married he should be bound to put to death all his children males that should be begotten of his séede if he any had for the wele of both parties Vesca with her daughter and the auncient wise people accorded to Titan this condition and laboured so to Saturne that they brought them to the Temple of their god Mars that was in the citie of Oson whereof was Lord a mightie man called Milliseus and that afore the image of the god Mars Saturne swore that if him happed to marry and that hee had any children males hee would slea them all thus was Titan content that his brother shuld enioy the land of Crete the peace was made betwéen them both CHAP. II. ¶ How Saturne was crowned first King of Crete and how he found first diuers sciences wherefore the people held him in great honour as a God AFter the treatie made of the peace of Titan and Saturne Titan saw in himselfe that hee might not worshipfully abide and dwell being vnder his yonger brother had leuer go and search his aduentures in other places then to be thral to his yonger brother Hee tooke his wife his children and friendes and departed at all aduenture into diuers places where he found fortune so good and happy that by armes and strength he made himselfe king of many diuerse Realmes which hee departed vnto his chlldren and commised and ordained certaine espies to espie and waite if his brother Saturne married himselfe and if his wife brought foorth men children and whether hée put them to death During these saide things Saturne
in the Forrest with Dame Diana where by Fortune and aduenture otherwhile hée recountred and mette the maide Calisto And when hée had once séene her that day hee was all ioyous And if he sawe her not hee had aboundaunce of many thoughts that ranne readily in his minde I may not all day tarrie on this matter Hee thought still howe he might come to the grace of this religious Calisto and all thoughts reduced and brought into one he concluded on a day in himselfe that hee would put him in the habite of a religious woman and would go into the Cloister of dame Diana faigning to be a woman and requiring to be receiued with the virgins This conclusion taken and ratified in Iupiter by many deliberations in diuerse dayes hée did make his womans cloathing by a secâ—ete workeman which promised him to kéepe his secreteâ— When his cloathing was made he assembled the Epiriens in â—â—euening and tooke his leaue of them for a certaine time saying that he would go alone for to doo certaine secrete things The Epiriens were all dismayed and desolate when they heard the intention of Iupiter and prayed to the gods that they would conduct and spéed him in his iourney requiring him instantly that he woulde returne shortly againe to them And he promised them that hee so would and then hee withdrewe him into his Chamber and tooke the keyes of the great gate and on the morrow betimes when he was arayed and dressed in the vesture and cloating of a mayd he departed from thence alone and entred into the woodde and so behaued himselfe that hée came to the habitation of the religious maydens Iupiter had yet no beard and was white and fayre coloured in the visage When he came vnto the religion he knocked at the gate and then came to him a passing fayre mayde named Athalanta that after was wife vnto the king Meleager of Achay And shée demaunded him what hee would Iupiter aunswered noble virgin Alas I am a poore woman of a noble house I haue auowed to the gods my virginitie I pray you that you will present mee vnto the Ladie of this place to the ende that I might serue the gods and be of the number of the other virgins And if it please the goddes I shall deserue it at your hands Athalanta moued with compassion to the maide accorded him his request and presented him to Dame Diana Iupiter spake all so swéetely and demurely and made so humble and feminine manners that he séemed properly to be a maide Diana be helde him well and long and said that she had neuer séene so faire a maide nor so great and then welcommed him and receyued him Then Iupiter thanked Dame Diana of her grace and Athalanta of her courtesie and had good hope in his enterprise when he sawe himselfe so soone receyued without knowing Then Iupiter began to learne to spinne and to worke in silke and to do the exercises of maydens And it became him as well as he had béene a mayd He was humble and of solitarie conuersation he laboured with his handes with his eyes and his heart with his handes hee made corporall workes with his eyes hee behelde oft tymes secretly the beautie of Calisto and with his heart imagining and plotting howe and by what meane hee might beguile and deceyue Calisto hee oft tymes conuersed and fellowshipt with her His heart was alway in right great paine otherwhile he was moued with great heauines and otherwhile in comfort hope to spéed well and wist not what to say nor do forasmuch as shame and dread were more in him than hardines What shal I say more he was loÌ„gin this pain more doubtful shamefast theÌ„ hardy But in the end he adueÌ„tured himself and finding on a day Calisto beside a well where she refreshed her as she that was weary that had runne long with dame Diana chasing then and hunting a wilde beast hee sate him downe by her and saide My sister Calisto I yéeld me to thee and to thy grace I am a man and no woman thy beautie hath ouercome my courage For to come to the point where we he now I haue clothed me like a woman and a maid Alas I require thée that thou receiue me vnto thy loue so shall we liue togither in the religion and we shall take our sports and pleasures A man hath nothing in this worlde but his life They that haue more pleasure then that they be iudged so much more fortunate and happie Thou hast withdrawen thée thither for displeasure and loosest thy flourishing youth Calisto I cannot inough complaine nor bewaile this dammage I may not prayse thée inough I haue bin so desirous to find thée in secret places that the force of my will hath made me do this and that I haue enterprised this aduenture hoping in fortune that she shall giue me grace suffer our youthes to be vsed togither secretly For we may commune togither the one with the other without knowing of any person not only in the chambers but also in the bushes of this wood O my sister take héed what I say and as I receiued and furthered of late thy request I pray thée receiue and allow the request without disdaine of him that thou maist sée is very louer of thée When Calisto had heard Iupiter and knew that he was a man she was afraide and rose vp wéening to haue fled but she might not for Iupiter held her fast by the clothing and made her to sit downe by him clipping her about the necke and kissed her by force so much that Calisto cried out and said O Iupiter what folly is this wéenest thou that I am so to bee ouercome of thy flattering wordes I had much leuer the earth woulde open and swallow mee vppe into his wombe My sister answered Iupiter there is no remedie that may let that my will bee accomplished yee shall do my will and pleasure be it by force or be it by loue with these words Calisto began to crie with al her might and Iupiter began to accomplish his pleasure of her There was neither man nor woman there abouts that heard it notwithstanding that the crie of Calisto was great So Iupiter did his will of his bodie and knew her fleshly and engendred on her a son After he comforted her and promised to helpe her in all thinges and to take her to his wife if she would returne to the world with him But his faire spéech nor his promises might not comfort her nor for nothing that he could do or say he could not come into the grace of Calisto And alway she sware great oathes that shee would complain vnto her mistresse Diana And made so much adoo that Iupiter departed from her all displeased for her displeasure And then he went by the woodes thinking what was him befall and also what he had to do CHAP. VIII ¶ How Calisto for asmuch as she was with childe the goddesse Diana
to armes and came to the fight and plyed them to defend theyr walles with great courage Then was drawne and shot many an arrow and many a stone cast and manie beaten and hurt as well within as without Gunnes Bombards he great artillarie was none in this time in the Realmes Alway they of the Citie had well the craft to cast vppon theyr enemyes burning Brandes and Oiles and waters boyling with ashes And for to doo thus Iupiter had induced and taught the Archadien people men and women that when they of Crete came moste strong to the assaulte and supposing to haue entred the citie they were charged with fire Oyles and scalding waters that of force constrayned them to go back with great losse of people and to sound the retrait Saturne then taking the most sorrow of the world for that he might not obtaine his will for that by the walles laye more then foure hundred of his men dead returned into his Tente after the assault passing sorrowfull and desolate and had so great griefe at his heart that he could neither eate nor drinke But this notwithstanding he thought right well on his hurte people and went to their Tentes and did cause to minister medicines vnto them that were hurte c. CHAP. XVI ¶ How Iupiter sent his embassadours to his father Saturne for peace And how Saturne would not heare nor intende to peace c. THe Arcadiens were passing ioyous when they sawe and tooke héede how they of Crete ceased with shame theyr assaulte and after the assault and retrait of both sides alwaye Saturne applyed to heale and giue medicines vnto his hurte men The Arcadiens then assembled a councell and by great deliberation they sent seuen of their honourable councellours in ambassadge vnto Saturne of whome the one spake and sayd Saturne thou knowest and oughtest to know that euerie King ought to labour to liue in peace For the most fayre thing of the world is peace Peace norisheth profit by peace are prospered menne and children townes and Cities are vnited and knit togither by charytye and made as one by amorous communication By peace Realmes profite in beautifying and building fayre houses in labouring and earing the earth and in length of life By peace mens bodyes be whole and quyet and it is that thing that causeth a man to demaund soueraygntie O Saturne it séemeth that thou reckest not of this good vertue for reygning in peace and tranquillitie there is no king nor Prince that dare shewe him against thée Thou hast not onely troubled thy Realme but thou art abuser of warre For to haue peace a man ought to order and dispose to the warre Thou doest all otherwise and regardest not that thy son Iupiter hath deliuered thée from the bondes of thine other enimies and hath sette thy Diademe in a suerty of peace which thou might not do without him seest thou not that by making him warre thou canst not haue peace and that thou destroyest and breakest this peace seest thou not that this is thy sonne by warring against whome thou art a Monster in nature The fathers naturally do loue their children and the rude and brute beastes kéepe and holde this condition of nature Thou séekest and wouldest destroy the bloud of thy sonne And from whence commeth this vnnaturall appetyte Might it not satisfie thy cruell purpose and olde errour to thinke on the goodnes and benefit that thou hast receyued lately by his restoring thée to reigne bée thine interior rancours permanent Shall thy fantasies neuer cease Wilt thou be in age more foolish and simple then a childe The more that men growe in age the more be they wise Thou hast lesse knowledge now then thou haddest in thy wildest youth And from whence commeth this defaulte Is this by the heauenly Influence If it be thus where is reason where is equitie where is the loue of the father to the sonne knowest thou not that had not Iupiter thy sonne bin thou haddest bin yet in great darkenes languishing I signifie to thée as the aduocate of Iupiter that he loueth thée as his owne father and further more I praye thée that thou wilt be in peace And if thou will him no good yet at least will him no harme nor encombraunce I should soone yéeld to your demaund aunswered Saturne if the experience of the life of Iupiter came not to my sight Sée I not howe hée inhaunceth himselfe the most hee can Sée I not howe the people by his fayre and fawning woordes owe him more fauour then me Sée I not that he flyeth from mee If he be not culpable wherefore flyeth he He will say to the people that hee is innocent Say ye that he hath nothing done agaynst me I wote not howe the Archadiens take it but if I may once set my hande on them there was neuer so great a destruction as shall come vnto Archadie And I haue not as nowe anie purpose to depart from this place till I haue vtterly razed this Citie that is rebell agaynst mee and my commaundements Sir aunswered the Archadiens since that fayre spéech may not refraine thy passing great yre nor restrayne thy warre beware keepe thée well from vs and vs from thée for the matter shall take his ende by warre God spéede the right and fortune we will not long drawe foorth time it is concluded that the Archadiens and Iupiter will issue to morrow out of the Citie and if they finde any that assayle them they will defende theyr lyues This speech ended Saturne turned his backe to the Archadiens shaking his heade and the Archadiens returned into theyr Citie and rehearsed and tolde from the beginning to the ending all that they had done and by theyr report it was confirmed that the day following they shoulde issue out of the Citie in such wise as they had purposed among them c. Iupiter had great displeasure in himselfe for that hee sawe that his father was so grieued and would not bee content yet notwithstanding hee doubted not so much but that he tooke courage to him and sayde hee was more holden to kéepe his life then to obey the euill will of his Father that hated him at his birth This night passed ouer anon after that the sun cleared lighted the ayre about the thirde houre of the day Archas Iupiter and the men of warre of the Citie went into the field in good order and they were not so soone issued out of the gates but they were séene of the Saturniens that waited for them by the commandement of Saturne And then began each against other so great a crie and noyse that it resounded vnto the mountaines and walles And then they began to assaile the Archadiens by shot and stones so eagerly that when Iupiter sawe there was no other remedie but to fight hee put him forth foremost in the front before and so beganne to say to them that sought him crying with an high voyce to here is Iupiter each man
profit of another This is against your prosperity and utility from which ye be shut here within How may you have love unto him which is cause of two evils The lesse evil is to be chosen since that you féel your self condemned here unto the end of the daies of your Father doubt you not but his end is oft desired for your sake and his death may not be effected without great charge of conscience Mée thinketh that better it were for you to find way to issue out of this place and to take to husband some noble and puissant man that would enterprize to carry you away secretly for his wife into his Countrey By this means you shall be delivered from the pain that you be in you may eschew the death of your Father and lesse evil you shall do in breaking his foolish commandment then to abide in the point where he hath put you I have said unto you I am your servant and if it please you to depart from this plaâ—e you shâ—ll find no man readier then I am for to save you I give my self unto your noble commandments to nourish your will to my power as he that beareth alway in remembrance of you in the most déepest place of my mind in sléeping I sée you and waking I think on you I have had no rest in my self nor never shall have but if it please you My fortune my destiny comes of you If you take mée unto your mercy and that I find grace with you I shall be the most happiest of all happy And if ye do otherwise it may be said that among all unhappie none shall go before mée But if such Fortune shall come to mée by your rigour I will take it in patience for the noblenesse that I sée in you alway I require you that my heart bee not deprived nor put from your heart forasmuch as it toucheth mée nearly All the tongues of men cannot expresse the quantity of the love that I have in you no more then they can pronounce by proper name all the Stars of Heaven By this love I am alway in thoughts labours in sighs anguishes and oftentimes in great fear At this hour I know not whether I live or not because mée thinketh I am here to receive absolution or a mortal sentence These things considered alas will not yee have him in your grace that for to deserve your love and mercy hath abandoned and adventured his life as yee may sée leaving his Royal estate the better to kéep his cause secret Vnto an heart well understanding few words suffice For conclusion I pray you to give your heart to him that hath given his heart unto you and that ye consider from henceforth for the ill conceit yée now be in after the common judgement With this Jupiter held his peace and lent his ears for to hear what should be the answer of Danae The right noble Damosel When she saw that he had given her space to speak shée was resolved and changed colour and said to him Sir King â—las know ye well what would be the Renown that would abide with mée if I 〈◊〉 beléeve your counsel What would the people say Madam answered Jupiter the worst that they may say shall be that men will name you disobedient unto the foolish commandment of your Father which as all men knoweth holdeth you fondly in this Prison And if yee will thus help your self and convey your self away men would but laugh for your youth would excuse your doing and yee should bee reported to have done this déed by great wisdome Ah Sir said Danae ye go about to deceive mée by your fair words I know the speeches of the Argiens and also know that I am bound to obey my Father Furthermore I am not so ignorant but that I would well have some noble-man to my Husband so as mine honour were saved and also I confesse that I am greatly beholden to him that hath sent so liberally and so largely of his treasures and Iewels and in likewise unto you if it be truth that ye bée him that ye say that ye are But when I have considered and understood and séen visibly that the Argiens would defame mée to perpetuity and that my Father would send mée where mine honour should strongly be abased and put underfoot by your proper declaration I will in no wise deal hardly with you neither shall you have any disturbance for my cause But I pray you to think on the other side of mine honour and that ye suffer mée alone with my company and friends Dame answered Jupiter be ye in doubt of mée that I am not Jupiter King of Creet If I be any other all the Gods confound mée and the Thunder fall on mée the swallow of the Sea receive mée and that I be given to be meat unto the most venemous beasts of the world O Madam put no suspition in my doing as I have said to you I am come to you not in Royal estate but in simple array for to order my matters more secretly then accord ye this request Take yee day of advise and grant to morrow I may speak once to you and counsel you well this night The noble Maid Danae had then her blood so moved that she durst not behold Jupiter for shame smote her in the eyes This notwithstanding her heart commanded her to try what man he was and whether he had the state of a Noble-man or a King At last she took day of advise and accorded to him that she would speak again to him on the morrow After this she commanded the Tables to be covered by the Damosels and said that shée would feast the messenger of the King Jupiter The Damosels hearing that answered they were all much bound to feast him and shewed to her the riches that they had all along in the Chamber whereof the walls shone and were bright The Damosels arrayed with the Iewels of Jupiter garnished the Tables with meat Danae and Jupiter were set the one against the other the seruice was great and rich and they had enough to eat yet Jupiter nor Danae gave little force of eating Jupiter eat lesse bodily then spiritually he was in trances in doubts and fears He had an answer by which he could not gather any thing to his profit save onely that he hoped that Danae would discover it unto the Damosels as the young maidens bee of custome to discover the one to the other and as when any requireth them of love that they should shew favour to him the more for his gifts In this estate was King Jupiter for his part The Damosels beheld him enough and said that he had not the behaviour of a yeoman or servant but of a man of very noble and great estate and above all other Danae to whom Jupiter had given cause to be pensive cast her eyes upon Jupiter upon his countenance his gesture and beauty and then it séemed that he had said truth
for as much as they intended vnto vices that hold of earthly things Of these daughters one was named Medusa the other Euriale and the third Senno Medusa that was the eldest of all the other succéeded in the Empire and in the Realme And the Poets say that 〈◊〉 had the head of a Serpent giuing by this to vnderstand that shee was wonderfully wife and subtill After the death of King Porcus this Medusa gouerned mightly her Realme and maintained pyâ—â—es and men of warre and in hir beginning she occupied and haunted the sea of Europe at pleasure and with right great triumph And landing on a day at the port of Athens shee sent vnto king Neptune to require him that he would grant vnto her that she might enter into his Citie for to worship in the temple of the goddesse Pallas which was newly made Neptune did great honour vnto the Messengers of Medusa and accorded vnto her that shee should enter into his Citie and into the Temple vpon condition that she should haue none with her saue her damosels Whan Medusa heard the aunswere of king Neptune she concluded that shée would go into the temple where of was a great talke And she was accompanied with many Damosels so richly arayed that it was a gallant sight for to sée She entred into the Temple and into the citie and there she turned into stones not onely the men that beheld her but also the women and among all other especially a Quéene that was named Ida. By this it is to be vnderstood that this Medusa was of so excellent beautie and was so passing rich that all they that beheld her gaue themselues ouer wholly to couet her beautie and her riches And therefore write the poets that they were turned into stones For they that dispose theÌ„selues and giue them to the delightes of this worlde be lykened and compared vnto harde stones whereof maye no good come Thus then Medusa entring into Athens conuerted and turned manye men into stones in so much that Neptunus heard these tydings and desiring to sée thys Quéene hée went into the Temple where shée was in contemplation And hée hadde not long behelde her when hée felte himselfe so desirous of her and of her loue that hée sayde to himselfe that shée shoulde be his wife and that shée shoulde neuer escape him This Medusa was long space in contemplation during which Neptune desired her beautie more and more and his heart gaue him that he should obtaine his purpose And anon after that his heart had thus chéered him he a little paused considering the excellencie of her griefe and thought trauersed and arose in his minde that constrayned him to say these wordes that follow Alas in what matter in what sorrowe and in what right great and enflaming payne be they that be burning in loue by long space of time that I alreadye beginne to finde mée in so manye sighes and paynes that I wot not howe I maye in time come vnto this Ladye for to require her to be my wife She is shining in all beautie and in right aboundaunt riches This is it that I lacke She beholdeth me otherwhiles in her prayers it maye happen so well that loue may turne her heart for to make aliance betwixt her and me And what is this men say that loue hurteth no man but if it be by his eyes If the eyes be not made for to sée I will saye that my desire shall hap well Where am I where I am put me out Where is my hart where is my desire I know not what I thinke my thought may be abused and my abuse may well be reuersed myne eyes peraduenture thinke they see that they sée not Mine eares imagine to heare and yet they be deafe I finde my selfe in a great perplexity and very ataynder and yet more in a superfluous errour more then any man may haue For when I sée this Ladye more excellent then all other in beautie and riches reason telleth me that she is not come hither for me and when I behold that shée is alone without men in my Cittie who shall againe saye my will I will require her to be my wife after that she hath doone her deuotion and if shée accord to my request my labour shall doo well And if she gainsay and withstand it then I must vse force and authoritye royall Thus when Neptune came to this conclusion Medusâ— arose from her contemplation and looked right fayre Neptune went to her and did her reuerence and after prayd her that she would go to his royall pallace for to refresh her Medusa thanked him of his curtesie and sayde that she might not well tarye there at that time When Neptune vnderstoode that she was to returne without staying longer in his house nor in his Cittie hée was sore displeased in his heart yet hée helde her in parle and drewe her a parte and sayde vnto her chaunging coloure Madame I am sorye that ye refuse to take harbor in my house I am king of this Cittie the goddes haue not giuen to mée so great happe that I haue yet any wife any Lady or damosel it is so now happened that the gods and fortune haue enspired you to come hither Certes it is so that your right high beautie hath prepared the eye of my heart and hath made me so desirous of you that I giue vnto you heart body and goods and all that a louer may giue vnto his loue and Ladie or any king may giue Wherefore I pray you that ye will go vnto my pallace to the end that I may haue communication more secretly there and tell you of the right great loue that I haue to you Anon as Medusa vnderstood the requests of the king shee began to frowne and not willing to bee otherwise intreated she answered to him Syr king if it were so that mine heart desired acquaintance and communication with one man more then with another in truth if I so found me disposed I would holde my selfe right happie finding my selfe in the grace of your eyes but the matter goeth with me far otherwise I loue men as much one as another I haue a purpose to abide and continue in my virginity Ye be a king you haue giuen to me safe conduct for to performe my pilgrimage I desire you that ye holde you content and that ye beare your selfe in such wise as if yee had neuer seene me Madame saide Neptune how shall I do that ye say when my heart is all giuen vnto you Sir answered Medusa it behoueth first to know and after that to loue I haue tolde you here that I haue a purpose to abide a virgine what may it profit you to say that ye haue giuen me your heart these be but lost words Dame saide Neptune the Diamond shineth not till it be polished ye were neuer peraduenture desired nor requested of loue before now wherefore ye haue no more loue to one man then to another Therefore
aduance himselfe by defaming another This knowing I will say the truth and if there bee any man that may worthily prooue this against me and ouercome me no blessing to my heart I will stand to the iudgement of all noble men that haue knowne my behauiour Alas ladie from whence is come this abusion for to charge me that I should haue willed to enforce you when or in what place was it doone or where be the witnesses of the crie that ye made at the affray where be the prooues that shall say that euer in my life I was with you alone It giueth me maruaile from what heart departed this dishonour that ye note in me and for what cause it is imagined against me for I will well that all the world know that I haue serued you truely and loyally and that I neuer thought dishonour vnto you nor vnto the king to whom I pray that he will take and make information vpon my liuing and to vnderstand in like wise yours And if it can be prooued and appeare that I haue trespassed that I may be punished but I pray also if I be founde innocent that I may haue spéedy absolution Syr said the Ladie that strongly was obstinate in her errour I make me partie against him If then I accuse him it is truth it ought not to demand witnesses of his follie In this case I am worth two witnesses for all the world knoweth that when an ill man will dishonour a woman he calleth no witnesses nor no prooues thereto but doth his damnable will the most secretly that in him is possible And so wéened Bellerophon to haue doone with mée wherefore I require sentence and iudgement of him With these wordes Pricus assembled his Councell and it was iudged that the ladie shoulde bee beléeued and that Bellerophon should bee culpable of death Then spake Pricus to Bellerophon and said Faire sonne thou knowest and hast found that I haue loued and nourished thée louingly thou vnderstandest the accusation of thy Ladie the case is so foule that it may not be purged by denying For if it were so the euill boyes and had fellowes would all day dishonour as many of our women as they could find In this case the Ladyes haue a prerogatiue for to be beléeued and néede not to bring forth witnesses And forasmuch as thy mistres hath vanquished thée and required iudgement of thy trespasse thou art condemned to die But forasmuch as before this time I haue had great loue vnto thée and that I knowe thée a valiant man of thy bodie I will mittigate and attemper this sentence in this wise that thou shalt go fight agaynst the Chymere of Sicill and if thou mayst ouercome and maister her I giue thée thy life and giue thée plaine absolution of all vpon condition that neuer after thou renue nor rehearse this trespasse Sir answered Bellerophon sith that fortune consents that I be attainted of any infelicitie and that the priuiledge of the Ladies take place and go aboue reason I had much leuer to be vanquished by wrong cause and euil then by iust and good cause and thanke you of the moderation of your iudgement and make vow here in your presence that in all haste I will go into Sicil to proue me against the Chimere and will sée if fortune will helpe me to get againe the life which she hath made me lose by your iudgement Then the noble knight departed and tooke leaue of the king of the ladies and damosels tooke also his armours and goods and made couenant and bargained with certaine marriners to bring him to Sicill When they were agréed he went to the sea with little companie and was euill at ease at his heart when hee sawe that Fortune was to him so contrarie yet hee comforted him selfe in his good quarrell and sayling on a daye on the Sea of Hellesponte his Marryners looked into the West and sawe come a right great floate of Shippes of warre which discomforted them so sorrowfully that it was wonder and they awooke Bellerophon that at that time slept and saide that they were but dead and cast away Bellerophon comforted his marriners the best wise hee could and told them that discomfort could not helpe them and as he was thus speaking a gallie of aduantage went out afore his fellowes and flying on the sea like vnto a bird adressed her vnto the ship wherein was Bellerophon and aborded it And who that will demaund what the name was of the gallie and what men were therin I wil say to them that this was Pegase and that Perseus was within it As soone as he might speake to the marriners that caried Bellerophon to Sicyll hee asked and demanded them what they were and into what region they would go When Bellerophon heard Perseus speake hee behelde his behauiour and countenance and iudged in himselfe that he was of a good house and said to him Certes sir I haue much great ioy for that I sée the ship and marriners be so well adressed and in so good readinesse as yours be for ye séeme well a knight of a noble house and therefore I tell you my case afterthat ye haue made your asking First then where ye enquired what we bee knowe ye that in Argos wee haue taken our birth And as to the second I answere you that we haue a purpose to go straight into Sicill to the which I am constrained by the rigour of a mortall iudgement cast vppon mee at the instance of a Ladye called Aurea that vniustly and vntruely hath complained vppon mee saying that I would haue enforced her This Ladye that I speake of is wife to king Prycus which newly and of late hath banished and exiled his Brother Acrisius out of his Realme and this King for to please and satisfie the accusations of his wife hath condemned mée to be put to death yet for the good and the acceptable seruice that I haue doone to him hée hath graunted me to liue if so it please the goddes that I may by possibilitie vanquish and ouercome a Chimere that is in Sicill vnto the which I go for to assay mee So I pray you that in our misfortune we be not let by you neither by none of your companie Valiant knight answered Perseus as it is true that the heart of a noble man taketh pitie and compassion in the distresse and passion of his equall the weighing of your case hath pearced mine heart with a charitable mercie and pitie by which yée may surely vnderstand not to haue by vs any hinderance during your infortunate life And for as much as the hearts of them that would be induced at calling to the déedes of Armes singularly delyte them in aduentures of great woorth and weight to get credite by I will accompanie you for two causes The first is to expose my selfe to the disputation and destruction of the Chimere if it happen that you ouercome her not which I suppose yée can not
they iudged him to be but dead alowing his hardines that to them séemed was too great One and other spake of this matter Perseus armed him ioyously When he was armed he came to Andromeda and kiss her taking leaue of her and sayd fayre mayde praye ye vnto the goddes for your champion that for your loue submitteth himselfe vnto the perill of death to the ende that by your onely meane I maye come vnto the enioying of loue and that we togither maye be ioyned in maryage which I buye at the price of my life Noble Knight aunswered the mayde I am more beholding to you then to all my kinsmen and fréendes Knowe ye that if my prayers may obtayne of the goddes ye shall returne safe from this enterpryse Then Perseus wente before the stone and Andromeda knéeled with great humilitie with both her knées vpon the earth in calling on her gods to help her champion and there were many matrones vpon the banke of the Sea that for compassion put them in contemplation and by this example of them all the Siriens beganne to pray for the prosperitie of the Knight excepting onely the king Phineus which prayed for his death And that for this cause for as much as before the iudgement giuen on Andromeda hée had fianced and betrothed him to her So had he wished that the monster had deuoured Perseus to the ende that the mariage of him and of her might haue béene ended What shall I say more When Perseus had so put himselfe foorth by the stone he looked towarde the sea and helde in his hande a good and passing strong sworde and he had not long behelde the situation and taken leasure to sée the place when there sprang out of a swalow or depth of the sea a monster so great and so horrible and so dreadfull that it séemed that he had béene made for to destroy all the worlde hee was rough and went on foure féete like a beast and his forme was so disfigured that none wist whereto he might be likened When then the Syriens sawe him put his head out of the déepe there was none so well assured but he trembled for feare And many were so afrayed that they fled into their houses and reentred into their Citie This notwithstanding Perseus as soone as he sawe him rise vp he came to him as hardie and right well assured and smote him with the poynt of his sworde so full vpon the right eye that on that side he made him blinde whereof the monster felt so great paine that he came out of the Sea with open mouth and thought to haue swallowed Perseus And Perseus went backe a little and put his sworde betwéene his iawes into his throate so farre foorth that he could not draw it out againe and so of force it abode in his throate more then foure foote At the second stroke the monster made a maruaslous crie lifting vp his head and wéening to haue cast out the péece of the sworde which abode in his throate but it would not bée Alwaye the monster assayled Perseus and wéend to haue swalowed him into his throate and Perseus alwaye stroke at him with his sword and put him at defence and smote alway at his throte and about nigh his other eye and so well intended the worke that after he had giuen him many woundes he made him blynde on the left eye like as hée did on the right eye And then as the monster went héere and there and made many walkes without séeing or knowing where he went pursuing his enemy Perseus gaue him manye woundes searching his heart and at the last he founde it And finallye he bestirred him so that he pearsed the heart with which stroke he made him to fall downe dead CHAP. XXXVI ¶ How Phineus would haue had Andromeda and how Perseus answered him that she should be his wife PAssing ioyous and astonied were the Syryens when they sawe the good fortun of Perseus and sayd one to an other that such a knight ought to be praysed aboue al other men The king Amon tooke great pleasure to sée his dealing séeing the monster labouring in his death hée went downe to him embracing him and said Sir the gods gouerne thy fortune and since they haue receyued thée in their fauour and grace there is none that may anoy thée in a good houre were thou héere arriued demaunde what thou wilt and I will cause thée to haue it Syr aunswered Perseus I haue preserued from death the Damosel I desire none other thing but her O valiant Knight sayde Phineus that was there awaighting thou doost much gloryfye thy selfe for thou hast gotten in a halfe day more honor then an other knight shal get in an hundred yeare And greatly thou oughtest to be commended But beware that the beautie of this mayd deceiue thée not know thou that I haue betrothed her and by right she ought to be my wife Many dayes bee gon and expyred since that in the presence of our bishop we promised to take each other in mariage This misfortune is after come to her thou haste reléeued her and wouldst therefore haue her The beginning is fayre but the ende is foule And if it so happe that thou do me wrong I let thée know that I will not suffer it for in this coūtrey I am a King haue great puissance al the glory that thou hast gotten shal be héere quenched Wherefore I praye thée that thou forbeare in this case and that thou suffer me to take that is mine and take thou that that belongeth to thée During these wordes Perseus looked towardes the Sea and saw from farre his galyes comming the one after the other directing them towarde this porte Whereof he hadde right great ioy and sayde vnto Phyneus King I make no doubt that thy power is great in this countrey but knowe thou right well that I knowe no man liuing that shall cause me to leaue that belongeth to me When I came hither I found this mayde condemned vnto death At that time shée was all abandoned to the death I haue saued her and I saye to thée that shée is mine and thou oughtest to haue no regard to any promise that she hath made to thée or to any other And so I haue intention that she shal be my wife And if thou wilt Combate and fight for her assemble thy power and make thée ready in thy battaile Lo héere come my galies readye for to receiue thée and although I haue not people ynough yet I haue in my cofers the most parte of the treasors of Medusa for to send for men of armes in al places where I may get them When Phineus considered this answer and knew that hée was the Knight that hadde vanquished Medusa whereof the renoume was greate and ran through out the whole worlde hée coulde none otherwise aunswere to Perseus but that hee might do his pleasure All the kinsmen of Andromeda were angrie with Phineus for his
they of Thebes had alwaye so good fortune that in the ende they of Thellipolye yéelded them in all poyntes to the will of king Creon and thus when the king of Thebes had ouercome and subdued the citie he returned vnto his countrey with great ioy c. When Amphitrion sawe that their enimies were ouercome and that there was no more perill he had great desire to go sée his wife Alcumena and for to hast him the more sooner to bee with her he departed from the hoste with leaue of the king accompanyed with an Esquire onely When king Iupiter sawe Amphitrion so departe vpon his waye he began to thinke and aduise him of a great subtilty for to come to his intent And he departed from the hoste with Ganimedes onely and as soone as hée was in the fielde on the waye they two being togither Iupiter entred into conference with Ganimedes and sayd to him Ganimedes I haue great affiance in you and more then in any man that liueth wherefore I will tell you priuily a thing secrete which I shall accomplish as I hope And ye must holde and kéepe it secret Truth it is that I am amorous terribly of dame Alcumena By no meane in the world I maye yet forget her nor put her from my desire She knoweth not the payne that for her loue aboundeth in me for I neuer was so hardie to discouer to her my case nor neuer durst shewe it to her for as much as I knowe her wise chaste and vertuous This considered thinking on this thing I féele and finde me full of troubles and confesse my follye for I am in a manner in dispayre nowe inasmuch as I had supposed to haue founde the like answere of loue in Alcumena But the sodaine departing of Amphitrion yet giueth me in a maner an hope for at the time that I sawe him departe from the hoste for to go sée his wife accompanyed with his Esquire I imagined that in all haste I would go vnto Arciancie by a more néere and shorter waye For I know the passage long since and that I would transfigure my selfe into the forme of Amphitrion and you into the forme of his Esquire for to go vnto Alcumena and to make her vnderstande that I were Amphitrion Ganimedes vpon this intention and purpose I am come on the way to go thither with you we must néedes win vpon Amphitrion this waye a night and daye and therefore lette vs go now merylye Mée thinketh that loue shall helpe me and when Alcumena shall sée me transformed into the shape of Amphitriō and you as his Esquire shée shal not be so wise to perceiue mine enchauntment Ganimedes hearkened right diligently to the wil and purpose of Iupiter and promised that he wold imploy him in this affaire as much as in him was possible and so they rode with good will and great desire the readiest way and in riding and going Iupiter went about his enchauntments and sped him so that he arriued in an euening at the Castell of Arciancie When he was there arriued he transfigured himselfe and Ganimedes in such wise as he had before purposed and then at the same houre that Alcumena slept and that each man was a bed they came to the Castell and so knocked at the gate that they awooke the porter The porter came to the windowe and looked downe beneath and sawe Iupiter and Ganimedes by the moon light him thought and séemed that it was Amphitrion and his esquire wherfore he opened the gate and receyued him in such wise as he would haue done his Lord Amphitrion After he brought him vnto the doore of the chamber wher Alcumena slept and awooke her saying that her lord was come After he returned to kéepe the gate by commaundement of Iupiter and Alcumena opened her Chamber vnto Iupiter which entered in with great ioy and at the entrie into this chamber Iupiter and Alcumena tooke each other in armes and kissed Alcumena thinking that it had béen Amphrition and when they were so beclipt eache in others armes Alcumena demaunded him from whence he came Iupiter answered and sayde he came from Thellepolys and that after the giuing ouer of the towne yéelding of their enemies he departed from the host for the loue of her accompanied onely with his esquier to come hastily to her Then Alcumena was wel content at the wordes of Iupiter and asked him if hee would eate or drinke Iupiter answered that he would nothing but go to bed with her What shall I say more hee lay with her and had that he desired the King Iupiter had neuer so great ioy in himselfe And going to bedward he had Ganimedes that he should go to the Chamber doore and abide there without And so Ganimedes departed from the Chamber and Iupiter approched to Alcumena with great loue and so cōplaised her in loue as much as his power might extend In this wise and by this fashion came Iupiter vnto the secrets and ioy of loue so that to acquaynt himselfe with this lady him séemed expedient for to enchant all them that dwell in the place And then he slept with Alcumena and after he arose and came to Ganimedes which kept the watch at the doore and tolde him that for to do this matter secretly he must enchant all them of that place in such wise that they should not awake vntill the comming of Amphitrion And he willed that he should go to the gate to waite if Amphitrion came And if it happen he said that he came by the day light I shall deliuer to you a powder that ye shall cast in the ayre agaynst him and this powder hath such vertue that it shall kéepe Amphitrion from approching this place as long as the day endureth And then when it is night and he knocke at the gate ye shall come to me and wee will open the gate and bring him to his wife and after that we will returne from hence The King Iupiter with these wordes wrought in his science and made his charmes and sorceries in such wise that all they that were in the place might not awake without a remedie agaynst his inchantment When hee had so done hee transformed Ganimedes into the likenesse of a Porter and appoynted him to kéepe the gate After hee returned into the Chamber of Alcumena and shut fast the windowes that no light might come in And after he went to bed and lay with the Ladie and awooke her and there spent all the residue of the night and all the day following taking his pleasure with her so long that he begate on her a right fayre sonne conceyued vnder the raigne of the best constellation of heauen In the ende when king Iupiter had béene with her a night and a day about the houre when the Sunne goeth downe into the West and that him séemed that Amphitrion should come he made by his science Alcumena for to sléepe After he rose vp and made himselfe in the form of
the Castell where hée found foure knights that demaunded of him what he would haue Hercules answered that his will was for to speake to the king for certaine matters that touched him The foure knights not thinking but good brought Hercules within a great hall wherein were all the men of king Athlas assaying them with swords and axes forasmuch as they had heard say that they should go to warre and they were all armed When these knights had brought thither Hercules they gaue knowledge vnto the king that a strange giant asked after him and would not tell them the cause why Then Athlas went downe and found Hercules armed with his skinne of the lion and asked him what he was Then he answered and said hee was Hercules that hath conquered Philotes and the garden with the shéepe of thy daughters I am now come hither for to conquer thée with thy sciences Wherefore it behooueth thée that thou do to me obeysance and giue ouer to helpe the great Antheon mine enemie and that thou come to me And if thou wilt not do so arme thée hastily and defend thée with armes and that I demaund of thée and if thou wilt not consent thereto by loue I will make thée accord to it by force Athlas was excéedingly discouraged when he knew by the mouth of Hercules that it was he that had late conquered Philotes and had slaine the giant his fellow taken his shéepe and also newly had assayled by warre Antheon to whom he had promised to giue succours and also considered that he willed that he should yéeld him to him his heart then began in him to swell for anger and pride and in great rage he said to him O thou presumptuous Hercules how art thou so hardy to come alone before me thou that I may not loue Knowe thou that I haue had many a displeasure by thine outrage for Philotes was my right great friend and nowe thou art come to renue this displeasaunce and wilt that I should yéeld mée vnto thée that is not mine intention c. Athlas with these wordes went into a Chamber there fast by and commanded that euery man should arme him as they did Hercules had alway his eie vpon him to the end he should not escape him When he was armed he came against Hercules and chalenged him to the death After he gaue him a stroke with his sworde fiercely With the crie and with the stroke all they of the fortresse assayled Hercules Then Hercules put himselfe in defence and laide about mightily by the rigour of his club and with twelue strokes he slue twelue of his enemies After he hurt and wounded many other and spared long the blood of Athlas But in the end forasmuch as Athlas gaue great strokes to Hercules Hercules smote him vpon the helme without imploying of all his strength and gaue him a wound in the head that all astonied he bare him to the earth From that time forth they of the fortresse durst no more assaile Hercules nor they aduentured them not for to reskew nor to reléeue Athlas but fled thence out of the Castell and Hercules abode there alone with Athlas and the dead bodies So in the end when Hercules saw that they had giuen it ouer he tooke Athlas and made him to crie him mercie After he went into his studie and tooke all his bookes which he laded vpon a camel and after returned vnto Athlas and constrained him to follow him And when Hercules had done in the Castel all his pleasure he departed accompanied with Athlas and with his bookes and brought him downe to the sea side to the place where Philotes abode him c. When Philotes saw Hercules come with Athlas and his bookes he had great ioy and tooke acquaintance with Athlas who was so sorrowfull that hée might not speake and then they entred into theyr Galley and went vnto the go unto the warre of the great King of Lybia which requested instantly to have his succour Wherefore if ye will serve him in his Armie and be his souldier go up and yee shall find him in his Castle studying the science of Astronomie The Servant of King Atlas with these words went on his way and Hercules went up unto the Mountain and came to the Gate of the Castle where he found four Knights that demanded of him what he would have Hercules answered his will was to speak to the King for certain matters that concerned him The four Kts. thinking nothing but good brought Hercules within a great Hall wherein were all the men of King Atlas assaying them with Swords and Axes forasmuch as they had heard say that they should go to Wars and they were all armed When these Knights had brought Hercules thither they gave knowledge unto the King that a strange Gyant asked after him and would not tell them the cause why Then Atlas went down and found Hercules armed in a Lyons skin and asked him what he was then he answered he was Hercules that hath conquered Phylotes and the Gaâ—den with the Shéep of thy Daughters I am now come hither for to conquer thée with thy sciences Wherefore it behoveth thée that thou do to mée obeysance and give over to help the great Antheon mine enemie And if thou wilt not do so Arm thée hastily and defend thée with Arms and that I command thée If thou wilt not consent thereto by love I will make the accord thereto by force Atlas was excéedingly discouraged when he knew by the mouth of Hercules that it was he that had conquered Philotes and had slain the Gyant his fellow taken his shéep and also newly had assailed by Warre Antheon to whom hee had promised to give succour and also considered that he willed he should yéeld himself to him his heart then began to swell for anger and pride and in great rage he said to him O thou presumptuous Hercules how art thou so hardy as to come alone before mée thou that I may not love know thou that I have had many a displeasure by thy outrage for Philotes was my great friend and now thou art come to renew this displeasure and that I yeild mée unto thée is not my intention Atlas with these words went into a Chamber fast by and commanded that every man should arme him as they did Hercules had alwaies his eye upon him to the end that he should not escape him When he was armed he came against Hercules and challenged him After he gave him a stroke with his Sword fiercely With the cry and with the stroke all they of the Fortresse assailed Hercules Then he put himself in defence and laid about mightily by the rigour of his Club and with twelve strokes he slew twelve of his enemies After he wounded many other and spared long the blood of Atlas But in the end forasmuch as Atlas gave great strokes to Hercules Hercules smote him upon the Helme without imploying all his strength and gave
fighting by the space of 4. houres and had receiued vpon his arms so many strokes that no man could number them This notwithstanding hee fledde not at all from Gerion but came to him ioyfully and fought against him with so great force that all they that saw it maruelled and after many strokes smitten of Gerion and Hercules Hercules smote him one stroke so great that he al to brused Gerion and beate out the braines of his head and smote the helme vppon his shoulders so that he fell down dead among the dead men in such wise mangled that he abode there dead CHAP. XXII ¶ How Hercules founded the Citie of Corogne vppon the tombe of Gerion SVch was the end of the vnhappy life of Gerion the tyrant he died in like wise as the two brethren did by the club of Hercules When the Hesperiens saw him brought to that passe as for to taste the bitter morsel of death all left their armes All they bewailed sorrowfully the death of Gerion and fell all in despaire So that one staied still to be slaine other fled by desartes by mountaines by the bankes of the Sea and turned all backe in discomfiture When Hercules had espied them so disraied he thanked the Goddes and began for to pursue his enemies The pursuite dured vnto the Euen The Greekes filled the fieldes the mountaines and the waies by the Sea with the bloud of them that fled When the night was come Hercules and the Greeks withdrew them into the Gallies and did eate and drinke such as they had and made ioyfull cheere The hurt men were remembred and comforted with the victory and spoile The wearie men forgat the labour that they had done They rested them after their trauaile passed the night ouer When it was day on the morrow Hercules issued out of his galley And beholding the porte him seemed that a citie should stand well there and said that he would make one there and concluded to begin it Hee sent vnto all places where he wist that any people were thereaboutes and gaue to each man in knowledge that hee was minded to make a citie there and that the first person that woulde come to put hand thereto shoulde haue the gouernment thereof This thing was knowne in all Galicia Manie came thither but a woman named Corogne was the first that came And therefore Hercules gaue vnto her the ruling therof and made to begin the citie and named it Corogne in remembraunce of the victory that hee had there Vpon the body of Gerion he founded a towre and by his art composed and made a lampe burning continually day and night without putting of any thing thereto Which burned afterward by the space of 300. yere Moreouer vpon the pinacle or top of the towre hee made an image of copper looking into the sea and gaue him in his hand a looking glasse hauing such vertue that if it happened that any men of warre were on the sea meaning to doe anie harme to the city sodainly their army and their comming should appeare in this said looking glasse and that dured vnto the time of Nabuchodonozor who being aduertised of the propertie of the glasse filled his gallies with white things greene bowes and leaues that it seemed a wood and in the looking glasse appeared none other thing but a wood Whereby the Corogniens not knowing of any other thing then their glasse shewed to them furnished not them with men of armes like as they had been accustomed to do when their enemies came And thus Nabuchodonozor tooke the citie in a morning and destroied the looking glasse and the lampe When this towre was made Hercules caused then to come thither all the maids of the countrey willed them to make a solemne feast in remēbrance of the death of Gerion After he departed vnto Megidda where were presented to him 100. oxen of the fairest CHAP. XXIII ¶ How Hercules assailed the king Cacus and had battaile against him and ouercame him and how Cacus began to tyrannise in Italy c. AFter this conquest as Hercules intended to people and inhabite this new country tidinges came to him that in the Citie of Cartagene a king giant raigned named Cacus which was passing euil ful of tyranny and had slaine by his cursed dealing the kings of Aragon and of Nauarre their wiues and their children and possessed their seignories and also held in subiection all the countrey of Italy Hercules receiued right ioyously these tidinges and said that by the pleasure of the Gods hee will assay if hee may take vengeance of the death of the kinges of Arragon and of Nauarre Then he disposed him vnto this work and hauing an appetite to correct the king Cacus as soone as his armie might be ready he went vnto the realme of Castile whereas was the king Cacus in the cittie of Cartagene that stood beside a mountaine named Monachaio And hee passed by many realmes that did him obeisance for his vertuous renowme but when hee came to approche to Cartagene the king Cacus came against him without obeysance and in armes for he had been aduertised of his comming And as hee entred into the frontiers hee sent vnto him one of his knights that said to him these words that follow Hercules thou open tyraunt that hast thine heart greater then thy body and that wouldest assaile the heauens for to conquer them if the Gods had giuen thee winges for to flie as the birdes haue If thou seeke peace and loue vnto the king Cacus thy equall in condition and fortune I salute thee in his name and if thou come otherwise to him as his enemy I defie thée in his name And in no wise be thou so hardy as to enter into his countrey And if thou enter know thou that thou shalt find in Cacus and in the Castiliens so hard an encounter that from thy euill aduenture shall no man of thy company bée quit c. Knight aunswered Hercules whatsoeuer you bee you shewe not that you haue the heart of a noble man For it is a shame to all men and especially to a noble man to missay or speake euill of another man Ye haue called me an open tyrant and also ye haue compared mee vnto the tyrant Cacus I answere you to this article that I am no tyrant but a destroier of tyrantes and therefore yee shall returne againe vnto Cacus and signifie to him that I haue intention for to shew what hate I haue vnto tyrantes and that within few daies he may prooue vpon me the hard encounter whereof I haue now receiued the menaces With this aunswere the Castilien departed from the presence of Hercules and returned vnto the king Cacus and tolde him worde for worde what Hercules had saide to him When Cacus had heard all this he was abashed notwithstanding that hee was a strong Giant and a puissant and that he had neuer found a man stronger then he was himselfe for the renowme of
then he had done before whereof the cries arose so high there that Hercules then sighting on another side heard the cry and then hee ran thither at all aduenture And anon as he spied Cacus hee went before him and brake the prease and smote downe so sore that Cacus knew Hercules but hee durst not abide him but fled againe with euill hap And then the Greeks made a cry and a ioyfull noyse so that all the Castiliens fledde some heere and some there to the great hurt and losse of Cacus For of all his people there was left no more but 50 which saued theÌ„selues vpon the mount of Monchayo which stoode thereby But that was with great effusion of bloud of them of Castile that thought to haue mounted vp with the other that it séemed that there had been a great spring of bloud that the caues in the valley were replenished with bloud howbeit Cacus for to flie wel saued him selfe and fiftie of his men vppon the mountaines as the chronicles of Spaine rehearse When he was aboue and in sure peace he returned and looked downe to the foot of the hill and he saw there so many Castiliens that without number were dead or in daunger for to die hee hadde great sorrowe then at his heart not for pitie but for despite and for the danger that he sawe ready whereby hee must passe Anon after he sawe from farre in the champaigne and each quarter and place there all couered with them of his part and of their bloud Also he saw them that fled taken and brought to the handes of the other These things considered the desolation of his dominion and the punishment of his tyranny was to him euident he thoght then that Hercules would soone conquere all the country For they obeied him for his tyranny and not for naturall loue This notwithstanding he dispaired not albeit that he saw all the puissance of his men destroied by the clubbe of Hercules and knewe that hee might no more reigne in that countrey for all were slaine in the battaile and then hee returned vnto his Science And thus as sorrowfull as he was he entered into a house that he had there But first appointed twelue of his men to keepe the passage of this mount which was so straite and narrowe that there might go vp but one man at once When then Hercules and his men had put to death all their enemies Hercules began to assaile the rocke and to mount and go vppon the degrees or staires but then sodainly they that kept the passe cast vppon him great stones in so great aboundance that of force hee was constrained to descend When Hercules sawe that hee must withdraw him he obeied fortune but notwithstanding he made there a vowe that hee would neuer depart from the foot of the rocke vnto the time that he had constrained Cacus to descend rome downe by famine or otherwise This vow made Hercules came vnto the foote of the hil where battell and slaughter had been and made the place to bee made cleane and purged of the dead bodies and of the bloud of them that there lay dead After hee did make his tent of dewes and leaues and his bed of freshe grasse and commaunded that each man shoulde lodge there At that time the night came and the day fayled the Greeks were weary for that they had all day laboured in armes and woulde faine haue rest and made good cheere with that they had And after that they had ordeined and set their watche aswel for to keepe the coast as for to keepe the rocke that Cacus should not come downe they layd them downe vpon the grasse in such wise as they were accustomed when they were in war and so slept and passed that night On the morrow Hercules parted the hoast in twaine and sent Hispan with one of them into Arragon and Nauarre and hee abode there with the other Hispan in the name of Hercules was ioyfully receiued of the Nauarroys and of the Arragonoys And they made to him all obeysance acknowledging Hercules to be their Lord and the most vertuous prince that was in the West When Hispan had all subdued as is said hee returned vnto Hercules Hercules lay yet still before Monchaio and there held Cacus in such subiection that he might not issue Cacus and his folke were then in great want of vittaile and they wist not what to eate nor to drinke They deferred as long as they might hoping that Hercules woulde bée weary to be there so long But in the end when their vittaile failed and they saw that they muâ—t néeds aduenture themselues to come downe Cacus by his science made certaine secret things to go downe into their stomackes and after put thereto the fire and taught all the other to do so and then sodainly as they felt the fire issue out of their mouthes and the fume and smoke in such aboundance that it seemed all on a light fire then by the counsaile of Cacus they aduentured themselues to descend downe in running and casting fire and fume so impetously that Hercules and the Greeks thought that it had been a tempest of lightning of the heauen and had burnt the mountaine so they made him place for it was a thing for to make men sore abashed and thus they escaped the daunger of Hercules at that time For during all that day the rocke was full of smoke and fume that Cacus had made and the smoke was so material that it séemed darknes When Cacus and his folk were thus escaped and passed the hoste of Hercules and of the Greekes Hercules was then the most wise clerk that was in the world and all his pastimes hee emploied in study hee tooke his bookes and began to muse howe and by what reason hée was descended from the rocke he read and turned many leaues but all thing well considered hee found not that this fume came of naturall thinges wherof he had great maruel Then he sent for Athlas that alway was lodged behinde the hoste for to be solitary When Athlas was come he shewed him the smoke and fume that yet dured Then he told of the lightning that was passed by the hoste and demaunded of him his opinion Athlas knew incontinent the fume and answered to Hercules Certes my sonne thou art more sharpe in science then I for mine age may not attaine to so high things as thy youth Howbeit forasmuch as I know the growing of this thing long time past I will tell thee that I shal say thou shalt find true as I suppose Thou shalt vnderstaÌ„d that this fume is a thing artificiall and made by the craft of Vulcan that was father of Cacus which was an excellent maister in this science and was the inuenter thereof he made certaine mountaines in Cicille to burne and shall alway continually burne vnto the end of the worlde Cacus which can the arte and craft of his father hath made this fume and
speake of he did so much that he came vnto his realme of Lycie into his pallace where he was receiued with great ioy of the inhabitantes and also of the neighbours And there he abode with the faire Yo le whom he loued aboue all temporall goodes CHAP. XXX ¶ How Deianira was full of sorrowe forasmuch as Hercules loued Yo le c. THeseus then after the return of Hercules seeing that he would abide there and that there was no mention that in all the world was any monster nor tyrant tooke leaue of his fellow Hercules of Yo le of Phylotes and of other went to Athens and to Thebes Likewise the Gréekes tooke leaue and euery man returned into his countrey and to his house recounting and telling in all the places where they went the great aduentures and the glorious workes of Hercules Then the renowme that runneth and flieth by realmes and Empires as swiftly as the wind so swiftly came vnto Iconie whereas Deianira soiourned and it was said to Deianira that Hercules was returned from Spaine with great glory and triumph and that hee was descended into Lycia Dame Deianira for this renowme was glad and all rauished with a great and singular pleasure and concluded that shee woulde go vnto him Yet she was abashed for that he hadde not signified to her his comming and that hee had not sent for her sore pensiue and doubting that she should be fallen out of the grace of Hercules She made ready hir cōpany and in right noble estate she departed from Iconie on a day for to go into Lycia In processe of time shee came nigh vnto Licia Then she tarried there for to attire and array her in the best and the most fairest wise shée could or might and called her squire named Lycas and commaunded him that hee shoulde go into Licia and signifie to Hercules her comming At the commaundement of Deianira Lycas went forthwith into the Citie and that happened right at the gate he encountered and mette a man of his acquaintance a squire of Hercules Lycas and the squire gréeted and saluted eche other After this Lycas asked of the squire and demaunded him where the king was and if he were in his pallace yea verily said the squire he is there I wote well and passeth the time with his Lady Yo le the most beautifull and out of measure most replendissant Lady that is in all the world as great as it is Eche man alloweth her and praiseth her a thousand times more thē Deianira Hercules hath her in so much grace that continually they be togither And whatsoeuer the Lady doth it is acceptable vnto Hercules and there is no man that can say or tel the great loue that they haue togither Lycas hearing these tidinges of the squire took leaue of him and made semblance to haue let fall or left behinde him some of his gemmes or iewels forasmuch as he was of opinion in himselfe that it was good that he hadde aduertised her for his estate Pensiue and simple he came to Deianira where as she was attyring her selfe pretiously and said to her Madame what doe ye here Wherefore answered Deianira Therefore saide Lycas Why is there any thing said Deianira what tidinges Lycas answered hard tidings I haue heard say and tell of Hercules thinges full of such hardnesse that certes it is right greeuous to mee to say vnto you Howbeit since that ye become thus farre and that ye must needes know and vnderstand them I tell and say to you certainly that your Lord Hercules is in his pallace right ioyfully and that hee hath with him a Ladie faire by excellencie whom he loueth and much delighteth in aboue all thinges for her beautie which is so high and great that eche man maruaileth and say she is the most soueraigne in beautie that euer was séen with mans eie Beholde and aduise you well what ye will doe ere ye go any further this day it is needfull to abide and take councel and aduise At the hearing of these tidinges Deianira was passing angry and was all bespread with a right great sorrow in all her veines She beganne to quake and tremble Her faire haire that was finely dressed on her head shee all to tare it with her hands in so furious maner that she disatyred her and smote her self with her fist to great a stroke vpon her brest that she fell downe backward in a sowne The ladies and the gentlewomen that accompanied her shriked and cried dolorously and were sore mooued at seeing her bloud At length Deianira came to her selfe againe all pale and wanne and thinking on the sorrow that engendred in her and also on the sorrow that was comming to her she spake and said with a feeble lowe voice Poore Deianira what shalt thou doe or whither shalt thou go thou that findest thy selfe forsaken and put backe from the loue of thy lord Hercules Alas alas is it possible that the new comming of a lady may take away my husband The heart late ioyned to Deianira shal it be disioyned by the finding of a woman of folly shall she make the separation I hope verily it may not be For Hercules is noble of heart and loueth vertue and if hée abandon and giue me ouer he shal do against vertue and noblenesse I haue affiance in him that hee will be true to me Madame said Lycas yee faile nothing to say that Hercules is noble and ful of vertue for he hath emploied all his time in vertuous thinges howbeit he is a man and hath taken in loue this new woman for her beauty affie not you so much in his vertue least your confidence beguile and deceiue you know well that fortune entertaineth not long princes and princesses on the top aboue of her wheele there is none yet so high but that hee maketh them sometime lie beneath among them that suffer trouble Behold and see well what ye haue to doe If yee go vnto Hercules and he receiue you not as he hath béen accustomed that shall be to you a cause of despaire Men say that he loueth soueraignty this new lady It is apparant then that hee shall set but a little store by your comming and if ye go the Lady will be euill contente she hath renowm and euery man is glad to doe her pleasure There shal be no man so hardie to welcome you for the loue of her Go not thither then the peril is too great I councell you for the better that ye returne into Iconie and that ye heare this thing patiently in attending and abiding vntill that the fire and the fume of this lady be quenched For whereas Hercules is al another maner of man then the most part of men be so shal he leaue the loue of this lady a little and a little c. Deianira considering that Lycas councelled her truly beléeued well this councel and right sore weeping she returned into Iconie When she was in the house at
Iconie then shee depriued her selfe of all worldly pleasure and held her solitarily without going to feasts or to playes Thus abiding in this solitude her gréeuous annoy grew more and more by so great vexations that she was constrained to make infinite bewaylinges and sighes The continuall comfort of her ladies might giue to her no solace The innumerable spéeches that they vsed vnto her eares for to make her passe the time might neuer take away Hercules out of her minde She passed and liued many daies this life hauing alway her eare open for to know if Hercules sent for her In the end whē she had wayted long and sawe that nothing came and that neither man nor woman was comming to bring her tidinges from the person of Hercules shee made a letter which she deliuered to Lycas for to beare vnto Hercules and charged him to deliuer it to no person but to the proper hand of him that shee sent it vnto Lycas tooke the letter and went vnto Licie and two mile frō the citie hee met Hercules in a crosse way Hercules came from Archadie where he had newly slaine a wilde bore so great that there was neuer none séen like to him When then Lycas saw Hercules hee made to him reuerence and presented his letter to him saluting him from Deianira Hercules waxed red and chaunged colour when he heard speake of Deianira He receiued the letter amiably and read it and found therein conteined as as here followeth Hercules my Lord the man of the world that I most desire I humbly beséech earnestly intreat you that you haue regard to your true seruant and vnworthy louer Deianira Alas Hercules alas Where is become the loue of the time past yee haue nowe soiourned manie daies in Licie ye haue let me haue no knowledge therof Certes that is to mée a right dolorous griefe to suffer and beare for I desire not to be deified nor to mount into the celestiall mansions with the sunne with the moone nor with the starres but without faining or breaking of a free heart I desire your solemne communication I may from henceforth no more faine It is said to me that you haue another wife besides mee Alas Hercules haue I made any fault against your worthines wherefore giue yee me ouer and abandone me Howe may ye do so men name you the man vertuous Yee abandon me and forsake me and that is against vertue Though now yee doe it I haue seene the time that yee were my husband in embracing vs togither and kissing you shewed then to me semblance of good liking of ioy Now let ye her alone that ye loued as a poore castaway Alas where be the witnesses of our mariage where be the eternal vowes othes that we made one to another Men bée deafe blinde but the Gods heare and see wherefore I pray you that ye consider that which ye ought to consider and that ye hold your good name more deerer than ye do the loue of your new acquainted gossip that maketh you to erre against vertue whereof ye haue so great a renowm I pray you hastily write to me your pleasure c. When Hercules hadde read from the beginning to the end the letter of Deianira as hee yet beheld and sawe it Yo le came vnto him with three hundred gentlewomen for to bee merrie and to make cheere with Hercules Hercules then closed the letter and returned into Licie holding Yo le by the hand howbeit when he was in his pallace he forgot not Deianira but found meanes for to go into his studie and there wrote a letter and when it was finished he tooke it to Lycas for to present it to Deianira Lycas tooke the letter and returned home againe to Deianira First he told her the tidinges and of the state of Yo le After he deliuered to her the letter conteining that he recommended him vnto her and that hée hadde none other wife but her and that hee praied her that shee woulde not giue her to thinke any euill but to liue in hope and in patience as a wise ladie and noble ought and is bound to doe for her honour and credite This letter little or nought comforted Deianira she was so vehemently attainted with ielousie Her sorrowe redoubled and grew In this redoubling she wrote yet another letter which she sent to Hercules and that conteined these wordes that follow Hercules alas and what auaileth me to be the wife of so noble a husband as ye be your noblenesse is to mee more hurtfull then profitable O fortune I was woont to reioyce for all day I heard none other things but commendations and praisinges of your prowesses and right glorious deedes and exploites wherwith the world was inlumined and shone Nowe must I be angry and take displeasure in your workes that be foule full of vices All Greece murmureth at you and the people say that ye were woont to be the vanquisher of all thinges no◠ye be vanquished by the foolish loue of Yo le Alas Hercules and how shal I be separated from you and hée holden the waiting drudge of the caitife Yo le She is your Caitife for ye haue slaine her father and haue taken her in the prise of Calidonie and yet now shee hath the place of your lawfull wife Alas haue I sayd well married for to be named the faire daughter of Iupiter king of the heauen and of the earth Now shall I no more be called so it is not alway happy to mount vnto the most high estate For from as much as I haue mounted in height and was your fellowe from so farre I feele my selfe fall into the more great perill O Hercules if for my beautie ye tooke me to your wife I may well curse that beautie for that is cause of the grieuous shame that is to me all euident for to prognosticate mine harme and ill to come And that is to come cannot your astronomers sée that I would I knew that I wote well your beautie and my beauty haue brought my heart into the strait prison of sorrow without end And I may not count them but for enemies since by them all sorrowes come vnto me The ladies haue ioy in the preheminence of their husbands but I haue ill fortune and mishappe I sée nothing but displeasure in my marriage O Hercules I thinke all day on you that ye go in great perils of armes and of fierce beasts and tempests of the sea and in the false perils of the world Mine heart trembleth and hath right great feare of that I ought to haue comfort and hope of wealth All that I remember in my minde and thinke on in the day I dreame on in the night and then me thinketh verily that I see the cutting sharpe swords enter in me and the heads of the speares and after mee thinketh that I sée issue out of the caues of the forrests and deserts lyons and wilde monsters that ease my
Hector approched when men should mourn fifteene daies in great sorrow and after shoulde hallow the great feast of the funerall as it was that time the guise and custome for kinges and Princes And then during the truce the Greekes went and came into the Citie safely and so did the Troyans vnto the Tentes of the Greekes Then Achilles had desire to go to Troy to see the Citie and the feast of the anniuersary of Hector whoÌ„ he had slaine and so he went all vnarmed vnto the temple of Apollo where as was the sepulture of Hector and he found there great plentie of men and women that were noble and wept made great sorow before the sepulture which Hector a man might see on all sides al whole in like maner as he was first by the vertue of that balme There was the queene Hecuba and Polixena her daughter that was passing faire with a great company of noble Ladies that had all their haire dispersed and hanging about their shoulders and made right maruellous sorrow And albeit that Polixena made so great sorrowe yet she lost nothing of her bewtie but seemed shewed her selfe so faire in all her members that nature formed neuer none more fairer c When Achilles had well aduised and seen Polixena he said in himselfe that hee had neuer seen so faire a woman nor better formed nor made with that she was one of the most noble women of the world Then was Achilles shot with the dart of loue that stroke him to the heart so maruellously that he could not cease to behold her and the more he beheld her the more he desired her He was so besotted on her that he thought on no other thing but abode in the temple vnto the euening as long as the queene was there and when she went out he conueied his eye vpon Polixena as farre as he might see her and this was the cause and the beginning of his mishappe In this sorrow Achilles returned vnto his tent and when he was laid to sleepe that night there came many things in his minde in his thought and he knew then the danger that Polixena had put him in and thought in himself that the most strong men of the world could not nor hadde not power to vanquish him but the only regard and sight of a fraile maide had vanquished and ouercome him and him séemed that there is no medicine in the world might heale him saue she Then he said my praier my strength nor my riches may nothing mooue her to haue pitie on me I wot neuer what diuell hath put mee in this daunger to loue her that hateth me so sore with mortall hate and by right good cause for I am come hither for to slea her kinne and cosins and now late haue slaine her noble brother Hector Certes I see no remedie since shee is the most noble and fairest of the world And then he turned him to the wall and fell in weeping and drowned himselfe in teares and of necessitie he must thinke how he might come to the loue of Polixene and so he couered and hid his courage as well as hée might CHAP. XX. ¶ How Achilles sent his secret messenger vnto Hecuba the queene of Troy for to request her daughter Polixena and of the answere and how for the loue of her the said Achilles assembled the hoste of the Greeks and counselled them to depart and haue peace with the Troyans THe night following as Achilles was laide on his bed and might not sleepe he thought that he would send betimes his messenger vnto the quéene Hecuba for to know if hee might finde with her that fauor that she would giue to him her daughter Polixena to wife and hee would doe so much for her that he would make the Greekes to raised thâ—ir sâ—â—ge and go againe into their countrey hastily and that peace should be made betweene them Thus as hee thought in the night he put in execution and so sent his true messenger vnto the queene for to require her daughter and said to her the promises that his Lord had commaunded him When the queene had vnderstood the wordes of the messenger she answered him discreetly notwithstanding that she hated Achilles more then any man of the worlde saying friend as much as in me is I am ready for to doe that thing that thy maister requireth of mée but so say vnto him that I may not doe this thing alone by myselfe but I will speake to my Lord and to Paris my sonne and thou shalt come to mee the third day againe and I will say to thée thine answere When the messenger heard the quéene so speake he returned vnto his Lord and saide to him all that he hadde found and thus began Achilles to haue hope to come to his intent The queene Hecuba went anon vnto the king Priamus her husband whereas Paris was and tolde to them all that Achilles had sent to her and then the king hanged downe his head and was so a long while without saying of any word and after said to his wife O how is it as mee thinketh a hard thing to receiue into friendship and amitie him that hath done to me so great offence that hath taken away the light of mine eies in slaying my deere sonne Hector and hath therein giuen hope to the Greekes to haue the victorie But yet for to eschew the more great peril to the end that mine other sonnes loose not their liues and that I may haue rest in mine olde daies I consent with you that he haue that he requireth alway foreseene that hee doe first that thing that he hath promised without any deception Paris agreed to this thing readily forasmuch as in the promises of Achilles was nothing spoken of Queene Hellene c. At the third day after Achilles sent againe his messenger vnto the queene and as soone as hee came before her she said to him I haue spoken to my husband and also to my sonne Paris of the request and also of the promise of thy Lord and they be content that this his re-request be agreed to him so as that he do first that thing that hee hath promised and so thou maiest say to him that hee may come to the chiefe and end of his desire if that he conduct wisely and secretly this thing asmuch as in him is The messenger tooke leaue of the queene and came anon to his maister and counted to him al that the quéene had said to him Then beganne Achilles greatly to thinke how he might performe this that he had promised to the king Priamus and that it was a greeuous thing to doe and that it was not all in his power But it is a proper vice vnto the foolish louers to promise things that are hard to bring about and difficile for to come to the effect of their loues And likewise glorified him Achilles that for his merites or for giuing his aide to the Greekes he
he made the Greekes to go backe into their Tentes and alighted on foote and entered into the tentes and slewe them on all sides and there was so great a crie that the sounde came to Achilles that rested him in his Tent and demaunded of one of his seruauntes that was there what it was and he said to him that the Troyans had vanquished the Greekes and slewe them within their Tents which were no more able to defend them and thinke ye to be sure here said he nay ye shall see anon more then forty thousand Troyans that shall slea you vnarmed for at this time they haue slaine the most part of your Mirmidones and they cease not to slea them and there shall not abide one aliue but if they be succoured At these wordes Achilles did quake for yre and set behinde him the loue of Polixene and did arme him hastily and mounted on his horse and ranne all out enraged as a Lion and smote in among the Troyans and spoiled thē slewe and hurt them in such wise that anon his sworde was knowne and the bloud ran in the field all about as he went When Troylus knewe that Achilles fought with his sword he addressed him to him and gaue him so great a stroke that he made him a great wound and a deepe that he must needes cease many daies of comming to battaile Troylus was hurt also by the hand of Achilles but nothing so sore and both fel down to the ground and the battaile dured vntill the night and on the morrowe they beganne again and endured vnto the Euen And thus they fought sixe daies continually Wherefore there were many slaine on either part The king Priamus had great sorrowe of this that Achilles against his promise was come into the battaile and thought that he had giuen him to vnderstand a thing that was not but rather that hee meant for to deceiue him then otherwise and reproched his wife to beleeue so lightly him and Polixene sorrowed then enough for she was contented then to haue had Achilles to her husband Achilles among other thinges did heale his woundes during sixe monethes of truce that they had gotten which woundes Troylus had giuen him and he purposed to auenge him and that Troylus should die shamefully by his hand After these things the nineteenth battel began with great slaughter and afore that Achilles entered into the battaile he assembled his Mirmidones and praied them that they would intend to none other thing but to inclose Troylus and to hold him without flying till hee came and that he would not be farre from them And they promised him that they so would And he thronged into the battell And of the other side came Troylus that beganne to slea and beate downe al them that he raught and did so much that about midday he put the Gréeks to flight then the Mirmidones that were two thousand fighting men and had not forgot the commaundement of their Lord thrusted in among the Troyans and recouered the field And as they held them together and sought no man but Troylus they found him that hee fought strongly and was inclosed on all partes but he slew and wounded many And as he was all alone among them and had no man to succour him they slew his horse and hurt him in many places and plucked off his head his helme and his coife of yron and he defended him in the best manner he could Then came on Achilles when he sawe Troylus all naked and ran vpon him in a rage and smote off his head and cast it vnder the féete of his horse and tooke the body and bound it to the taile of his horse and so drew it after him throughout the host Oh what villanie was it to drawe so the sonne of so noble a king that was so worthy and so hardy Certes if anie noblenesse had béen in Achilles he would not haue doone this villanie When Paris knew that Achilles had thus villainously slaine Troylus he had great sorrow and so had Eneas and Polidamas and laboured to recouer his body but they might not for the great multitude of Gréekes that resisted them On the other part the king Menon died of sorow for the death of Troylus and assailed Achilles and said vnto him in reproch Ha ha euil traitour what crueltie hath mooued thée to bind to the taile of thy horse the sonne of so noble a Prince as the king Priamus is and to drawe him as hee were the most villaine of the world Certes thou shalt abide it and ranne vpon him and smote him so hard with his speare in his breast that he gaue him a great wound and after gaue him so many strokes with his sworde that hée beat him downe to the ground and then was the body of Troylus recouered with great paine The folk of Achilles relieued their Lord and set him againe on his horse and as soone as his strength came to him againe he came againe into the prease and encountered the king Menon and assailed him stoughtly and the king Menon defended him valiantly and did hurt Achilles in many places but there came so much people on the one side and of the other that they were parted then came the night on that parted them and made them to cease and they fought thus the space of seuen daies At the seuenth day when Achilles was healed of his woundes desiring to auenge him of the king Menon he saide to his folke that if they might encounter him they should hold him in close like as they did Troilus Then began the battaile right aspre Achilles and Menon fought togither and by great rage beate downe eche other a foote Then the Mirmidones enclosed him and tooke him by force that had no man to succour him Then Achilles seeing the king Menon in this daunger he ran vpon him and slew him with great torment but Menon gaue him before many great woundes whereof he lay long after Among these thinges Menelaus and Menesteus with a great companie of kinges and princes and many fighting men thrusted into the throng and put many Troyans to flight the which entered into their Citie with doing great mischiefe forasmuch as the Gréeks chased them so nigh that they slew and hurt many of them CHAP. XXIII How Paris by the perswasion of Hecuba his mother slew Achilles in the temple of Apollo and the son of duke Nestor and how Paris and Aiax slew each other in battaile FOr the death of Troilus the king Priamus his wife and his children and all the inhabitantes of the Citie made great sorrow maruelously and they saide all that since they had lost Hector Deyphebus and Troylus they had from thenceforth no more hope of their life then of their death The king Priamus demaunded truce and it was agreed and accorded by the Greekes during the which they did burie honourably the body of Troylus and the body of king Menon The queene might not be appeased nor
brought vp to war and to fight They had nigh their countrey an isle where the men dwelled and they were accustomed three times a yeare to go thither in Aprill May and Iune vnto the men for to haue their companie and after they returned into Amazonne and they that had conceiued and were with childe if they bare sonnes they gaue them sucke a certaine time and after sent them to the fathers And And if it were a daughter they held it by them and did burne off the right pappe for to beare the better the speare and taught her the feates of armes Of this prouince then was the Lady and Queene a verie noble virgine and a strong fighter that had to name Penthesilea and she loued wel Hector for his good renowme When she knew that the Greekes hadde assailed Troy with so great strength shee went thither for to succour it with a thousand virgines for the loue of Hector And when she was come and knewe that he was dead shee made great sorrow and praied to the king Priamus that hee woulde let her issue out to the battaile against the Greekes and that she might shew to them how her maidens could beare their armes At the praier of Penthesilea on the morrowe betimes was the gate opened and there issued out the king Philemenus with al them of Paphlagone Eneas and Polidamas with all their people the queene Penthesilea with all her maidens The Greekes were anon readie and beganne the battaile hard and sharpe Menesteus addressed him to Penthesilea and shee likewise to him and anon shee smote Menesteus downe to the ground and took his horse and gaue him to one of her maidens Then came Diomedes against her and she receiued him gladly and smote him strongly that he was turned vpside-downe from his horse and she tooke from Dyomedes his shield trom his neck and deliuered it to one of her maidens When Thelamon saw that shée did such deedes of armes hee addressed him against her and she against him and Thelamon was borne down to the ground and had lead him into the citie but Dyomedes came to his reskewe with great defence and then she cried to her maidens that smote in among the Gréeks by such fiercenesse and yre that she and they turned thē to flight and they chased them sleaing and beating them vnto their tentes and had slaine them all if Dyomedes had not so greatly resisted thē who maintained the skirmish vnto the night that departed them and the queene Penthesilea returned into the citie with great glorie where the king Priamus receiued her with great ioy gaue her many faire Iewels and riche and him seemed well that he should auenge him of his sorrowes They fought thus many times after and so long that Menelaus returned from the king Nicomedes and brought into the hoste Neoptolemus the sonne of Achilles otherwise named Pirrhus This Pirrhus was receiued with great glory of al the barons of the hoste and aboue all other the Mirmidones were passing ioyous and held him for their Lord. Then was deliuered to Pirrhus all the conduct of the men of armes and they made him knight by the hand of the noble Thelamon the praied to the Gods to giue him strength and courage in guiding of his sword and that they would giue him victory and honour for to auenge the death of his father and two other Princes sette on the spurres of gold and the king Agamemnon gaue to him al the arms of Achilles his father and all his other pretious pearles and iewels and for this new knight feast of chiualrie the Greekes made many daies great gladnesse ioy c. After these thinges came the day of fighting and the battels were ready on the one side on the other Then began the battaile right hard Pirrhus that was armed with the proper armes of his father encountered Polidamas in his comming had slaine him with the great strokes of his sword that he gaue to him but the king Philomenus came and deliuered him and then Pirrhus smote from his horse Philomenus and had lead him away hadde not they of Paphlagone reskewed him with great trauell Among these things the queene Penthesilea entered into the battaile with her maidens smote in among the Mirmidones and slew many of thē There came then the king Thelamon that smote to the ground Penthesilea and she gaue him so great a stroke with her sword that she beate him downe to the earth in like sorte and then her maidens relieued her and set her again on horse and she smote in among the Mirmidones that held the king Philomenus in great danger and many she slew and hurt of thē When Pirrhus sawe that his men were so euill intreated he cried to them and saide that they ought to haue great shame that suffered them to bee vanquished by women and then he left the king Philomenus for to defend his men against the maide Then addressed the queene Penthesilea nigh to Pirrhus and reproched him for that his father had slaine Hector by treason and that all the world ought to run vpon him Pirrhus that had so great sorrowe at these wordes addressed him against her and anon shee beate him downe to the earth and forthwith hee rose againe and assailed Penthesilea with his sworde and she him by great strength and then was Pirrhus remounted by the aide of his Mirmidones Then came to the battaile Agamemnon Dyomedes Menelaus Menesteus the duke of Athens with al their people and so did all the other princes barons Among these thinges the king Philomenus was deliuered of the Mirmidones and he gaue great thankes vnto the queene Penthesilea and said that had not shee haue been he had been slaine Then came to the battell all the Troyans and so began the skirmish sharpe and mortall there encountered Pirrhus Glaucon the sonne of Anthenor and brother of Polidamas of another mother and gaue him so great a stroke that he slew him and fell downe dead to the earth Then addressed Penthesilea vnto Pirrhus and hee to her and beate downe each other to the earth but they remounted anon and began the fight togither againe Then came so much people of both partes that they were parted Polidamas for to auenge the death of his brother slewe that day manie Greekes and hurt them and did so much in armes hee and Penthesilea that they put the Greekes to flight Then came to the reskew Pirrhus Diomedes and Thelamon and made them that fled to abide and sustaine the combate and so they did vnto the night that each man went into his place they fought thus euery day a moneth long in which time were slaine more then ten thousand fighting men of both parties and Penthesilea lost many of her maidens and when they had rested a moneth they began the battell right sharpe At this assembly came one against another of Pirrhus and Penthesilea and brake their spears without falling but Pirrhus