granting and she as vnfortunately obtaining was the occasion that she with her pallace were both consumed in his fires and thunders It is related of Iuno further that when shee and her husband being reconciled and pleasantly discoursing held argument betwixt themselues Whether in the act of generation men or women tooke the greatest delight and that by ioint consent their controuersie was to be determined by Tyresias one that had beene of both sects Tyresias giuing vp his censure That women were by nature the most wanton her sport turned into spleene and her mirth into such madnesse that shee instantly bereaued him of his sight and strucke him blinde to recompence which losse Iupiter inspired him with the spirit of Diuination and Prophesie to which her continnued anger further added That howsoeuer hee truely prophesied yet his presages should neuer bee beleeued Alcmena too growing great of Hercules and readie to bee deliuered shee taking on her the shape of a beldame sat her downe before her owne altar with her knees crossed and her hands clutched by which charme shee stopped the passage of her child-birth which Gallantis espying and aprehending as it was indeed that to be the occasion why her ladie could not be deliuered she bethought her of a craft to preuent the others cunning for leauing Alcmena in the middest of her throwes shee assumes a counterfeit ioy and with a glad countenance approcheth the altar to thanke the gods for her Ladies safe deliuerie Which Iuno no sooner heard but vp shee riseth and casts her armes abroad her knees were no sooner vncrost and her fingers open but Alcmena was eased and Hercules found free passage into the world Gallantis at this laughing and Iuno chasing to be thus deluded she afflicted her with an vnheard off punishment by transhaping her into a Weesill whose nature is to kindle at the mouth that from the same jawes with which shee had lied to the gods about Alcmenaes childbearing she should euer after bring foorth her young No lesse was her hatred to all the posteritie of Cadmus for when Agaue had lost Penthaus and Antinoe Acteon and Semele had beene consumed by Ioues thunders and there remained onely two Athames and Ino shee possest them both with such madnesse that hee being on hunting transpierst his sonne Learchus mistaking him for the game he chased and Ino snacht vp young Melicertes and with him cast her selfe downe headlong into the Sea from the top of an high promontorie But at the intercession of Venus who was borne of the waues Neptune was pleased to ranke them in the number of the Sea-gods so that Melicertes is called Palemon and Ino Leucothoe I could further relate of manie other poeticall Fables as of Ixion who entertained and feasted by Iupiter attempted to strumpet Iuno and adulterat the bed of Iupiter which to preuent and shunne the violence of a rape she fashioned a Clowd into her owne similitude and semblance which Ixion mistaking for Iuno of that begot the Centaures As also the birth of her sonne Vulcane and her daughter Eccho he lame and shee so deformed that being ashamed to shew her selfe or appeare to the eyes of any she hath so conceald her selfe in thicke woods and hollow vaults and cauernes that neuer any part of her could euer yet be discouered more than her voice Yet to shew that in all these seeming fables golden meanings were intended I will briefely thus illustrate them Iuno was therefore called the daughter of Saturne because the world was created by God the great worke-master of Nature Then in his course was Time borne from thence Ether which is whatsoeuer is aboue the Element of Fire the Firmament or the Sky and next that the Elements The highest next Iupiter is Aër namely Iuno the moderatresse of the life of man by whom the treasures of raine and haile are disposed and gouerned of the Aire waxing hot are generated creatures trees and plants c. whose temperature hath an influence in the bodies and mindes of reasonable creatures therefore when from water Aer is next begot shee is sayd to be nourisht by Oceanus and Thetis when the force of the Element workes with the Aer in the procreation of creatures shee is then sayd to be the wife of Iupiter when shee is changed into fire then shee brings forth Vulcan when the benignitie of the aire hath cooperation with such things as are generated shee is then stiled the goddesse of marriage So likewise it is saied of Ixion that for attempting the bed of Iupiter he was from heauen cast downe into hell which some would bring within the compasse of historie But that hee is there tortured vpon a wheele incessantly turning round must needs include moralitie Most probable it is that Ixion disgrac't and banisht from the court of that king whose wife he had sought to adulterat was thereby made of all men the most wretched and miserable as one excruciated with perpetuall ambition and enuie for such as vnder the imaginarie Idea of vertue apprehend the realitie of vaine glorie they can attempt nothing good nothing sincere or lawdable but all their actions are criminall irregular and meerely absurd importing thus much That their estates can haue no continuance that by sinister and indirect courses seeke to clime to the heigth and crowne of glorie CYBELE SHe is the wife of Saturne and is called the mother of the gods Her Chariot is drawne with Lions To her Ida and Dindimus two mountains of Phrygia weare sacred whereupon Virgill saith Alma parens Idaea deûm cui Dindima sacer From that place she is called Dindimene by Martiall Non per mistica sacra Dindimenes Not by the mysticall oblations of Cibele In Phrygia the ministers of this goddesse called Galli kept certaine feast daies in her honour after the manner of Fencers or Gladiators contending amongst themselues euen to the shedding of much blood which when they saw to flow plentifully about their heads and faces they ranne to a certaine floud not farre thence sacred to the goddesse and in that washt both their wounds and weapons the like did the Romanes in Almo a riuer neere to Rome the eleauenth of the Calends of Aprill which Valerius Flaceus remembers Sic vbi Migdonios Planctus sacer abluit Almo Letaque iam Cybile Where Almo the Migdonian knockes laues off And Cybele now reioyceth Reate as Sylius saith a citie in Vmbria is sacred to her so is Berecinthus a mountaine in Phrygia of whom she takes the name of Berecinthâ—a Apuleius lib. 11. calls her Pesinuntica of Pesinuntium a citie amongst the Phrygians Ouid in his Metamorp amongst her priests reckons vp Alphitus and Virgill in his 11 booke Choreus Melissa was a woman priest of whom all that succeeded her were called Melissae Plutarch in Mar. nominats one Barthabaces Per ea tempora c. About those times came Barthabaces priest to the great mother of the gods saying she had spoken to him in her Temple
with the Seminarie and vitall powers of the Sunne makes them as new soules The Tetra that is the number of Foure supplying the bodie for she giues nothing after death who receiues towards generation The Sunne takes nothing from but receiues againe the mind which he giues the Moone both receiues and giues and composeth or makes and diuides when shee makes she is called Lucina when shee deuides Diana So of the three Parcae Atropos is placed about the Sunne as the beginning of this new birth Clotho is carried about the Sunne to collect and mingle Lachesis the last her office is vpon the Earth but these are riddles rather to trouble the braine than profit the vnderstanding Parcae the mother of these three sisters is said to bee the daughter of Necessitie doubtles the Ethick writers held these to bee most powerfull goddesses because all things borne or that had subsistance were thought to bee vnder their iurisdiction and power and therefore they were imagined by some to bee the daughters of Iupiter and Themis because as the Pithagorians taught Ioue gaue to euerie one a bodie and forme suitable to the merits or misdeeds of their former life or else because the diuine Wisedome allotted to euerie soule rewards or punishments as their good deedes or badde deserued the cause of which diuision the antient writers not truely vnderstanding appropriated all to Fate and the Parcae FVRIAE or the EVMEMIDES THose whom the Poets call Furiae Virgill tearmes the daughters of Night and Acheron Therefore Galtreus in his twelfth booke de Alexand. calls them by a fit Epithite Noctiginae Ego si dea sum qua nulla potentior inter Noctigenus si me vestram bene nost is alumnam If I a goddesse be of whom Amongst the night-borne none More potent is it 's well you knew Mee for your nurce alone By the same law Mantuan calls them Achecontiginae as borne of Acheron they are called by Lucan amongst the infernals Canes dogges Stigiasquae Canes in luce superna Destiluana In the vpper light I will forsake the Stigian dogges meaning the sisters Amongst mortalls they are called Furiae because they stirre vp and spur on rage and malice in the hearts of men They are called also Eumenides by an Antiphrasis in a contrarie sence for Eumenis signifieth Benevolens or well wishing therefore Ouid Eumenides tenuere faces de funere raptas Their temples and foreheads in steede of haire are sayd to crawle with snakes and serpents as witnesseth Catullus Statius Mantuanus in Appollon and others By Virgill they are called Dirae Vltricesque sedent in Limine dirae Lactantius in his sixt booke de Vero Culâ—u writes after this manner There be three affections or passions which precipitate men into all violent and facinerous actions therefore Poets calls them Furies Ire which couets reuenge Couetousnesse which desires riches and Lust whose itching appetite is after all vnlawfull pleasure The first of these Furies is called Alecto discouered by Virgill where he tearmes her Luctifica as making strife and contention The second is Tesiphone or Tisiphone the daughter of Acheron whom Ouid thus deliniates Nec mora Tesiphone madefactam sanguine sumit Importuna facem fluidoque cruore madentem Induitur pallam tortoquae incingiter angue Egrediturquae domo luctus comitatur cuntem Et pauor terror trepidoque insaniae vultu Importunate Tesiphone without delay makes speed And snatcheth vp a smoking brand which burning seemes to bleed A garment on her backe she throwes All gore about her wast A gyrdle of a wreathed snake In curl'd knots she makes fast So foorth she goes sad Mourning she Attends her at the gate Vpon her steps grim Terror Feare And troubled Madnesse waite Claudian in his booke of the praises of Stilico calls the third daughter of Acheron and Night Megaera so likewise Mantuan de Calam temporum lib. 2. The sacreds that were made to these were by such as hauing escaped any dangerous desease or pestilent sickenesse had bin spared by the Fates and their sacrifices were onely done with a sad silence The priests were called Hesichidae of a Heroë called Hesicho to whom before the solemnitie a Ramme was still offered as Polemo witnesseth in that worke he writ to Eratosthenes It was held a prophanation saith he for any of the meaner sort of people to haue accesse to these ceremonies onely to these Hesichides whose familie was onely acceptable to these seuere goddesses and in all their oblations had the principall prime place and precedence Their chappell is neere to Cidonium by the Nine ports All such as sacrificed to them were in blacke vestures and they were alwaies celebrated in the night season as it is manifest by Apollonius Indutam obscuram per noctem vestibus atris By night their sable habits they put on To them was slaine and offered a cole-blacke ewe and great with young readie to yeane neither was there any wine vsed in their sacrifices which were called Nephalia Now because no man should haue hope to hide and conceale his owne guilt and wickednes to the three seuere judges of Hell were giuen these three ministers which some cal by the name of Erinnae which signifies the prickes and stings of Conscience the parents of which they were borne importing so much for there is no greater torture or deeper piercing than a mans owne sentence against himselfe And compendiously to shut vp all the antient writers would by these signifie vnto vs That to a good and just man only all things are safe that innocencie and integritie alone make men feareles and constant against all the mutabilities of fortune since the like torments of Mind troubles of Conscience still attend on all such as are impure and dishonest Thus hauing past ouer the goddesses Coelestial Marine and Infernal the goddesses Selectae Terrestrial and others least my discourse might grow too tedious by appearing dull and heauie and besides in regard that my purpose is aimed at many or most of that sexe of what estate and condition soeuer to make my worke more succinct and compendious and to spare you some reading and my selfe more labour I will deliuer you a multiplicitie of histories tales in few namely in a short Epitome giue you the arguments of all the Fables in Ouids Metamorphosis which for your better content I shall expresse to you in verse and with that conclude my first booke called Clio. An abstract of all the Fables in the fifteene bookes of Ouids Metamorphosis as they follow in the Poëm CHaos into foure elements deuided Each one into their seuerall place is guided And for their sundrie creatures Roomth prepare Th' inhabitants of th' Earth Sea Heauens and Aire Of earth and water man is first begot And the foure ages next succeede by lot Gold Siluer next third Brasse the fourth of yron In last of which the Giants seed inuiron The spatious earth and are become the head Of Nations of their spilt blood
thing sinisterlie happen vnto him through his owne temeritie and rashnes since with a prudent and well gouerned man their helpe and assistance is alwayes present The daughters of TRITON A Cesander calls Triton the sonne of Neptune Numenius in his booke de piscatoribus deriues him from Oceanus and Tethis Lycaphron in those verses wherein he tells of a cup presented vnto him by Medea calls him the sonne of Nereus The Poets ascribe to him the inuention of the trumpet and that it was first vsed in the Gigomantichia the great battaile betwixt the gods and the gyants for in the midst of the skirmish when the euent of the battaile grew doubtfull Triton blew so shrill a blast that the gyants thinking it had been the voyce of fome dreadfull and vnknowne monster that vndertooke the party of the gods turn'd their backes and fled by which accident they obtained a more suddaine and safe victorie Pausonias calls Tritia the daughter of Triton who was at first one of Mineruaes priests who being comprest by Mars brought foorth Menalippus but that he had more than her I haue not read Ino. She was the daughter of Cadmus and Harmonia who with her sonne Melicerta were entertained into the number of the Sea-gods he by the name of Palaemon she of Leucothea both these are said to haue predominance ouer saylers and power in nauigation That she cast her selfe headlong into the Sea I haue before related in the tractat of Iuno She was a stepmother and so prosecuted the children of Nephetes that she would haue sacrificed one of them to the gods for which as Polizelus saith her husband Athanas did prosecute her with such rage that flying to Gerania a mountaine amongst the Megarenses from a rocke called Maturides she cast her selfe with her son into the sea and of the same opinion is Pausonias some thinke it hapned at the same time that the Nereides were dancing there and that his bodie was transported by the waues to Sisiphus from Exhaenuntia where the Ithnian pastimes were first celebrated to his remembrance They of the cittie Megera affirme her bodie to be cast vpon their shore and by Cleso and Tauropolis the daughters of Cleson tooke vp and buryed She was afterwards called Matuta as Cicero in his Tuscal disputations saith Ino the daughter of Cadmus Is she not called by the Greekes Leucotoe and by vs Latines Matuta And that she is taken for the morning is manifest by Lucretius lib. 5. Pausan in his Messanaicis saith that she was first named Leucotoe in a small village not farre from the cittie Corone and that she had clemencie in the securing and preseruing of ships and pacifying the violent and troubled billowes of the Ocean Palaemon is also called Portunus or the Key-carrier as one that keepes a key of all the ports and hauens to exclude and keepe out all forreine enemies and the sonne of Matuta or the Morning in that time commonly the winds begin to breath and rise with the departing of night and because that from the land they rush vpon the waters they are therefore said to cast themselues head-long into the sea for the morning is the most certaine interpreter either of succeeding winds and tempests or of the countenance of a sereane sky and faire weather Strabo calls Glaucus the sonne of Anthedon a Boeotian but Theophrastus will haue him the issue of Polybus the sonne of Mercury and Euboea Promathidas Heraclaeota deriues him from Phorbus and the nymph Pampaea borne in Anthedon a famous cittie of Boetia Thelytus Methimnaeus in his Bacchik numbers brings his progenie from Nopaeus Epicus in one of his Hymnes from Euanthes the sonne of Neptune and Maedis He is said to haue rauisht Syma the daughter of Iclemis and Doris and to haue transported her into Asia and was after marryed to Hidua the daughter of Sydnus Scioneus one that vsed to diue and fetch things vp from the bottome But of his issue there is nothing left remembred It is commented of him that being a fisherman and hauing taken more fishes that he could carrie vpon his backe with ease and laying downe his burden to rest him by the shoare there grew an hearbe which the dead fishes no sooner touched or tasted but they instantlie recouered life and one by one leapt into the sea hee by tasting the same hearbe to prooue the vertue thereof was forced to leape after them and so was made a Sea-god Others are of opinion that wearied with the tediousnesse of his age he willing lie drowned himselfe The wiues and daughters of PROTEVS ZEtzes in his foure and fortith historie calls Proteus the sonne of Neptune and the nymph Phenica who trauelling from Aegypt into Phlegra there tooke to wife Torone by whom he had three sonnes Toronus Timilus and Telegonus all wicked and bloody minded men who for their crueltie perisht by the hands of Hercules Aeuripides speakes of one Psamethes a second wife by whom he had Theonoe and Theolymenus He had moreouer these daughters Cauera Rhetia and Idothaea This was she that when Menelaus doubted of his returne into his countrey hauing soiourned somewhat long in Aegypt counselled him to apparrell himselfe and his followers in the fresh skinnes of Porposes and counterfeit themselues to sleepe amongst these Sea-cattle and that about the heat of the day at what time Proteus vsed to come out of the deepes vpon the dry land and there take a nappe with his Porposes then to catch fast hold on him sleeping notwithstanding all his changeable shapes and figures not to dismisse him till he had reduc't himselfe to his owne natural forme and then he would predict to him whatsoeuer was to come This counsell giuen by Idothaea Homer excellentlie expresseth in his fourth booke of his Odissaea It is said of him that he could change himselfe sometimes into water and againe to fire to wild beasts birds trees or serpents c. Neither did this mutabilitie of shape belong to him onelie for we reade the like of Thetis and Mestra or Metre the daughter of Ereficthon the Thessalian Periclimenus the sonne of Neleus and Polymela and brother of Nestor obtained the same gift of Neptune of him Euphorion and Hesiod speaks more at large Empusa is remembred by Aristophanes to haue the same facultie and dexteritie in changing her shape so likewise Epicharmus Empusa planta bos fit atque vipera Lapisque musca pulchra illa femina Quicquid cupit vel denique ille conferat Empusa is made a plant an oxe a viper A stone a flye and a faire woman too What she desires that she doth still resemble The Poets in these changing of shapes and turning themselues into so many sundry sorts of creatures importing nothing else but the wisedome of such persons who haue searcht into the hidden mysteries of Philosophy and acquired the natures and properties of water fire hearbes trees and plants beasts birds and serpents in which being perfect they may be and not
altogether vnproperlie said to change themselues into the similitudes of so many creatures The daughters of PHORCIS THis Phorcis whom the Latines call Phorcus was the sonne of Terra and Pontus the Earth and the Sea as Hesiod in his Theogonia makes him But Varro will haue him to be the issue of Neptune and the Nymph Thosea He had besides those daughters begot one Ceto the Phorcidae namelie the Gorgons and Thoosa who lay with Neptune and brought forth the Ciclops Poliphemus as Homer witnesseth He is cald also the father of the serpent that kept the Hesperides by Hesiod But I will forbeare the rest to speake something of his daughter Medusa Medusa She for her lust and immoderate appetite to inchastitie incurred the ire of the gods being so impudent as to suffer the imbraces of Neptune in the Temple of Minerua There were diuers of that name one the daughter of Priam another of Sthenelus and Nicippe Pausanias in Corinthiacis calls her the daughter of Phorbus others of a sea monster which I take to be Phorcus before mentioned Minerua for the prophanation of her Temple being grieuouslie incenst thought to punish her in those haires which a little before were so wondrous pleasing to Neptune and turned them into hissing and crawling snakes giuing her this power that whosoeuer gased vpon her face should be in the instant conuerted into stone Isacius is of opinion that that was not the cause of her calamitie but relates it another way That Medusa was of Pisidia and the fairest of all women who glorying in her feature but especiallie the beautie of her haire dared to contend with Pallas which arrogant impudencie the goddesse heinouslie taking her haire in which she so ambitiouslie gloried she changed into filthie and terrible snakes and then gaue her that killing look before mentioned but pittying at length so generall a mischiefe incident to mortall men by that meanes she sent Perseus the sonne of Iupiter and Danae or rather as some will haue it he was imployed by Polydectes king of the Seriphians to cut off her head who hauing before receiued a hooked skeyne called Harpe from Mercury and a shield from Pallas came to the fenne called Tritonides amongst whose inhabitants she exercised her mischiefe and first approaching Pephredo and Aenio two of the Phorcidae and of the Gorgonian sisterhood who were old and wrinckled croanes from their natiuitie they had betwixt them but one eye and one tooth which they did vse by turnes and when they went abroad or when they had no occasion to imploy them layde them vp in a casket for so Ascilus relates He borrowed of them that eye and tooth neither of which he would restore till they had brought him to the nymphes with winged shooes which taking from them and being armed with the Helmet of Pluto the sword of Mercury and the mirrour of Pallas he fled to Tartessus a cittie of Iberiae where the Gorgons then inhabited whose heads crawled with adders whose teeth were like the tuskes of a boare their hands of brasse and their wings of gold and there arriuing found them asleepe and spying her head in Mineruaes glasse in which he still looked it directed him so that at one blow he cut it off out of whose blood Pegasus sprung forth The other two sisters Sthumo and Aeuryale awaking and this seeing with the lowde hissing of these innumerable snakes made a noyse most dreadfull and horrible From whence Pallas first deuised the pipe with many heads The forme and shape of these Phorcidae Hesiod elegantlie describes Crisaor and Pegasus were begot of the blood dropping from Medusaes head as Apollonius Rhodius writes in his building of Alexandria The Gorgons were called Graee as Zetzes explicates in his twenty two historie Menander in his booke de Misterijs numbers Scilla amongst these Gorgons and that they inhabited the Doracian Islands scituate in the Aethiopick sea which some call Gorgades of whom they tooke the names of Gorgones Nimphodorus in his third booke of Histories and Theopompus in his seauenteenth affirme their guirdles to bee of wreathed vipers so likewise Polemo in his booke to Adaeus and Antigonus The occasion of these fictions are next to be inquired after By these Graee the daughters of Sea monsters is apprehended Knowledge and such Wisedome as is attained too by Experience They are said to haue but one eye which they vsed when they went abroad because Prudence is not so altogether necessarie to those that stay within and solely apply themselues to domesticke affaires as to such as looke into the world and search after difficulties Of this Wisedome or these Graee not impertinentlie called the sisters of the Gorgons is meant the pleasures and vaine blandishments of the world with the dangers that appertaine to the life of man from either of which no man without the counsell of Wisedome can acquit himselfe Therefore is Perseus said to ouercome the Gorgons not without the Helmet of Pluto the eye of the Graee the sword of Mercury and the mirror of Pallas all which who shall vse aright shall prooue himselfe to be Perseus the friend and sonne of Iupiter SCILLA and CHARIBDIS A Cusilaus and Appollonius both nominate Scilla to be the daugther of Phorcia and Hecate but Homer that her mothers name was Crataeis Chariclides calls her the issue of Phorbantes and Hecate Stesichorus of Lamia Tymeus tearmes her the daughter of the flood Cratus Pausanias in Atticis and Strabo in lib. 8. agree that this Scilla was the daughter of Nysus King of the Megarenses who surprised with the loue of King Mynos stole from her fathers head that purple locke in which consisted the safetie of his owne life and kingdome The Athenians hauing inuaded his dominion and ceised many of his townes and wasted the greatest part of his countrey by their fierce and bloody incursions they at length besieged him in the cittie Nysaea Some are of opinion that Nisus incensed with the foulenes of that treason caused her to be cast into the sea where she was turned into a sea-monster Pausanias auers that she was neither changed into a bird nor a monster of the sea nor betrayde her father nor was marryed to Nisus as he had before promist her but that hauing surprised Nisaea he caused her to be precipitated into the sea whose body tost too and fro by the waues of the Ocean till it was transported as farre as the Promontorie called Scylaea where her bodie lay so long vpon the continent vnburyed till it was deuoured by the sea-fowles this gaue place to that fable in Ouid Filia purpureum Nisi furata capillum Puppe cadens nauis facta refertur auis 'T is said the daughter hauing stolne her fathers purple Haire Falls from the hin-decke of the ship and thence sores through the Aire Zenodorus saith that she was hanged at the stearne of Minos his ship and so dragged through the waters till she dyed and that Scylla the
vpon all those Tragedies which he aym'd to execute vpon mankind he instituted his Enthusiastae and his Pytheâ—â— Oracles which were in vse almost amongst all nations in so much that their superstitions and prophanations had crept in amongst the people of god so that Moyses made a law that all such as repayred to these iugling sorcerists should be stoned to death Amongst these are counted some of the Sibells though not all as hirelings of the diuell for the conseruation and confirmation of his kingdome for out of their bookes the Romans were drawne into many lunacies and frenzies as besides many other it is manifest in Zozimus who recites many of their verses full of tradition and superstitions meerelie vnlawfull though the two Sibells Erythraea and Cumana in heroicke poems prophesied of Christ and sung and declared his prayses which as some coniecture they did by the sight of the prophesies of Esaias and Dauid These oracles lasted to the comming of our Sauiour but then surceast through all the parts of the world There were also a kind of sorcerists which some call Leâ—â—res the word importing the spirits and ghosts of such as perÌ„isht before their times or abortiuelie for from such they fathered their predictions and prophesies Of this kind there were many in Germany as Wyerius relates who were of long continuance and such were called Albae mulieres or the white women which in their moderne tongue implies as much as the white Sybells and this sort of people was ominous to women with child and to infants sucking at their mothers breasts and in their cradles These though in times of old they were most frequent and common when the world attributed too much to the iugling illusions of the deuill yet since the Sauiour of the world and our onelie patron hath supplanted him by the more pure and feruent preaching of the Gospell these mockeries and fallacies by which he cheated the vnlettered multitude of their faith and god of his honour are meerelie adnichilated in so much there is scarce left to posteritie the least memorie of their wicked traditions Of such as these it seems S. Hierom took especiall notice when in an epistle writ to Paula vpon the death of Blesilla he thus speakes Quae causa est vt saepe Dimuli Trimuli vbera lactantes c. i. What is the reason that children of two and three yeares of age and such as sucke at the breast should be corrupted by deuils The Ethnicks custome was to giue names to such according to the diuersitie of their actions there were some called Hecataea as sent from Hecate others by the Italians Tolleâ—ae or Empedusae But this may appeare a digression from our Sybills therefore I thus proceede with them Petrus Crinitus in his twentieth booke De honesta disciplina speaking of the Sybells the Branchi and the Delphick prophetesses alleadges Gallius Firâ—â—anus Hieronimus and other antient writers extracting from their opinions which way and by what means these oracles were imagined to be possest with the spirit of diuination These of that order as Plato and Iamblicus haue learnedlie related either from the gods or spirits say they are inspired with that illumination by which they discerne the fundamentall causes of things and can presage and foresee such euents as shall succeede Iamblic in his booke to Porphirius saith thus The Sybell of Delphos two seuerall wayes conceiues the spirit by which shee prophesies either by a soft breath or else by fire proceeding from the mouth of a certain den or caue before the entrance of which she seates her selfe vpon a three-footed or foure-footed stoole of brasse in which place the diuine power either by whispering in her care or by some other infused blast inspired into her giues her the facilitie of vttering her predictions The Branchae sitting vpon an axeltree held in her hand a wand consecrated to some deitie or other and either washt her selfe in some sacred fountaine or receiued some influence from the vapour of fire and by this means were made repleate with diuine splendour These Branchae deriue themselues from Branchus the sonne of Apollo vpon whom his father bestowed the gift of diuination to which Statius assents so Strabo in these verses makes him a Priest of the Temple of Apollo Phebus from Branchus axeltree His Prophet did inspire Who with a thousand Ambages Hath set the world on fire Colephonius Zenophanes hath denyed that there can be any diuination at all but Democritus hath approoued it of the same argument Chrysippus hath wriâ— two bookes one of Oracles another of Dreames Diogines Babilonius publishe one De diuinatione Antipater two Possidonius fiue Panaetius the scholler of Antipater doubted whether there were any beleefe at all to be giuen to that art or no. Cicero is of opinion that it hath onelie power ouer such things as happen accidentallie or by chance Of diuination there be two sorts one of art as by the entrails of beasts or by casting of lots the other of nature as by dreames and visions in both the coniectures made by vaticinations aime at more than they can accomplish and intend further than they can proceede Further this art is by the Greekes called Mantices that is the knowledge of things to come the first inuenters thereof were the Aegyptians and Chaldaeans by their obseruations of the starres The nations of the Cilici the Pysidauri and the inhabitants of Pamphilia neere vnto these predicted by the singing and flights of birds The Magi among the Persians had many assemblies of purpose onely to augurate and to diuine but all such are condemned of ignorance and want of art who presage meerely by concitation and rapture without the helpe of reason and coniecture Sagire signifies to perceiue acutely or sharpely therefore they are called Sagaces that know much he that is sayd Sagire viz. to know before things come to passe is sayd Presagire that is to presage It is called Diuination when it extends to a higher degree of prediction But when by diuine instinct as in the Sibells the minde is as it were transported and extaside in rapture it is then called Furâ—r or furie Amongst the Ligurians a people of Thrace it was aâ—custome for their Priests before they would demaâ—nd any thing from the Oracle to glut and gorge themselues with superfluous excesse of wine The Clarij contrarie to these in their superstitions vsed to quaffe great quantitie of water The Diuination that was made by water was called Hydromantia That which was made by an Axe or Hatchet was stiled Axinomantia That which was made by a Skin in which water was moued too and fro from whence a soft and gentle voice of presage was heard to breath was called Leâ—â—â—omantia That which did consist of certaine points and markes fixed in the Earth Geomantia That which was gathered from Figures and imaginarie shapes shining in the fire Pyromantia The Diuination by smoke was called Capnomantia That which
depart the Temple when instantly was heard from the altar the sound of a voice thus speaking Oh thou most wicked of men what arrogant boldnesse hath so far possest thee that thou presumest to take hence my suppliants and such as I haue taken to my protection at which words Aristodicus returning made this free and bold answere Doest thou oh king succour and protect thy suppliants and commandest vs to betray the life of Pactias to the Persians Some haue cauelled with these Oracles that their verses haue bin harsh and not in smoothnesse of stile or elegancie of phrase to be compared with those of Hesiod or Homer to which may be answered We are sicke with the disease of the Eare and the Eye let vs not blame a Pythian Prophetesse because shee sings not so sweetly as Glauce the mynstrell nor appears in her heire perfumed with pretious vnguents and her selfe ietting in Tyrian purple when the Sybel vtters her diuinations with a troubled braine and a destracted countenance her words harsh and vnpleasant as not rellishing laughter delight or ornament for such things are least pleasing to vs in shew that are most beneficiall to vs in proofe Voluptatem enim non admittit quod integrum castum That admits no pleasure which of it selfe is perfect and chast Besides these were answeres to be leasurely writ not suddenly spoake studied with long meditation and not extemporall it is probable that they in sweetenesse and smoothnesse might equall if not exceede the facunditie of the former neither is it the sound the voice the language or the number or meeter of the god himselfe but of a woman and she too extaside in spirit and rauisht with a diuine furor These shall suffice for Sybilla Cumaea I will only conclude with her Prophesie Th' antient of daies shall then submit to time The maker yeild himselfe to new creation The deitie and Godhead most sublime Take shape of man to ransome euerie nation Die to make others liue and euerie crime Committed from the round worlds first foundation Take on himselfe as low as Hell descending To winne man Heauen vpon his grace depending SIBILLA SAMIA SHe is called Erophile or Hierophile taking the name of Samia from the Isle Samos where she was borne Simon Grinaeus in his annotations vpon Iustin thus saith That this continent is likewise called Samothracia because it buts so neere Thracia in that place was Pythagoras the Philosopher borne with one of the Sybells stiled Samia The Island is dedicated to Iuno because as they beleeue there Iuno was borne brought vp and espoused vnto Iupiter Heraclides in Politijs saith That it was first a sollitude or desert onelie inhabited by wild beasts amongst which were the Neides first seene in that wildernesse It was once called Parthenia after that Driuse there Ancaeus raigned of whom came the Prouerbe first Multa cadunt inter c. Many things fall between the cup and the lip In this Island haue bin seene white Swallowes as great in body as a Partridge In this place flourisht Aesop where he first publisht his Fables and Theagines Samius after the scholler of Euripides Plut. in Quaest. Graecis relates that when any sacrifice was offered to Mercurius Charidota which is as much as to say Munificent it was lawfull for any to steale and catch away each others garments because that hauing by the command of the Oracle left their owne countrey and were forced by shifting into Micale there to liue by rapine and theft that time being expired and at their returne by vanquishing their enemies being possest of their owne inheritance in remembrance of their former confinement they haue obserued that custome Of this Sybells particular actions much hath not beene commended to posteritie onely of her person that such a one there was and of her prophesie which was thought to be this The world shall to six thousand yeares aspire By water once but then destroyd by fire The first two thousand void the next the Law The last two vnder the Messias awe And as repose by Sabbaoth is exprest Sunne Moone and Starres all things shall then haue rest It is likely and may be coniectured that she came to the light of Elias prophesies for in the like manner he distributed the world diuining of the continuance of mankind and the change of times the first two thousand yeares he called Tempus inane which may be thus interpreted because the many regions of the earth were not fullie inhabited Babylon not yet built and diuers spatious prouinces vndiscouered or else because the polliticke estate of the Church was not yet visiblie established and separated from other nations For then were no Empires extant which after were apparant in the Monarchies Yet doubtlesse it is that the first age was the golden and most flourishing because the nature of man was then most potent and vigorous as may appeare by their longeuitie liuing so many hundred yeares moreouer it bred many wise old men full of the diuine light that spake of God of the Creation and were witnesse of the arts and sciences The second times was numbered from the Circumcision to Christs comming in the flesh and being borne of a Virgin which conteiues little lesse than two thousand yeares and that is vnder the Lawe The third Time if it reach not to the full number to equall the former it is for our sinnes which are many and great for which mankind shall be the sooner destroy'd and Christ for his elect sake will hasten his iudgement SYBILLA CVMANA SHe was likewise called Amalthaea Hyginus in his second booke speakes of Amalthaea that gaue sucke to Iupiter in his infancie his historie he deriues from Parmenesius and relates it thus There was a certaine King of Creete called Mellisaeus to whose daughters young Iupiter was sent to be nursed but they wanting milke brought vnto him a goat called by that name which gaue him sucke This goat was so fruitfull that she euer brought forth two kids and was then newlie eased of her burden when Iupiter was brought thither to be fostred In gratitude of which good done to him he after translated her and her kids amongst the stars which Cleostratus Tenedius first obserued Musaeus reports otherwise That Athemides and Amalthaea were two nurses to whom the charge of Iupiters infancie was committed both beautifull Nymphes Amalthaea hauing a goat whom she much loued and with whose milke she brought him vp Palephatus in his fabulous narrations speakes of the Horne of Amalthaea which Hercules still boare about him which was of that vertue that it still supplyed him with all necessaries whatsoeuer from which grew a Prouerbe That all such as were supplyed without complaining of want were said to haue the Horne of Amalthaea the history is thus Hercules trauelling through Boeotia to visit his nephew Iolaus soiourned by the way for a season amongst the Thespians where liued a woman of approued beautie and vertue called Amalthaea with
Vates Ancirrae and as most will haue it this was Cassandra the daughter of King Priamus and Hecuba their femall issue are thus numbred Creâ—sa Cassandra Ilione Laodice Lycaste Medesicastis Polixena Climene Aristomache Xenodice Deimone Metioche Pisis Cleodice and Medusa Amongst which she onelie attained to the spirit of Prophesie and predicted of the destruction of Troy but her Augurie was neuer credited Appollodorus as also Higinus giues this reason Appollo inflamed with her beautie promist if she would prostitute herselfe to his pleasure he would inspire her with the spirit of Diuination which he accordinglie performed but she failing in her promise to him he in reuenge of that iniurie caused that her Prophesies howsoeuer true should neuer haue credit which makes her in her diuination thus complaine The world to Troy I fitlie may compare Erected first by Neptune and the Sonne These two the aptest Heirogliphicks are For water and for fire The buildings donne Laoâ—edon their right the gods denyes For which by water Troy was first destroid So was the world for mans false periuries In the great Deluge where but eight inioyd The benefit of life Troy happy were If it by water could forewarned be So were the worldâ— but oh too much I feare In their like fatall ruin they agree Troy must be burnt to ashes woe the while My mother in her wombe conceiu'd a brand To giue it flame he that shall many a mile Trauell by water to bring fire to land Lust is the fuell Lust and other sinnes Are the combustible stuffe will bring to nought The worlds great fabricke since from them begins All desolation first to mankind brought The world like Troy must burne they both before Suffered by water so they must by fire We Prophesie these things what can we more But after our predictions none inquire Vnlesse in scorne This doth Cassandra greeue To speake all truth when none will truth beleeue The better to illustrate this Oracle know that Laomedon about to build the walls of Troy borrowed much coine of the Priests of Neptune and Phoebus to accomplish the worke vpon promise of due payment when the walls were finished But breaking his faith and denying restitution of those summes lent the gods inraged at his periurie Neptune brought vp his waues so high that he in a deluge vtterly destroied the citie whilst Apollo by the scorching of his beames made the vpper countries barren For the burning of Troy it happened after the ten yeares siege elaboratly described by Virgill in his Aeneidos when Aenaeas discourses the whole desolation of the citie to Dido in which he speakes of the prince Chorebus to bee much inamoured of Cassandra who rescued her when shee was dragd by the haire from Apollo's altar and was slaine in the attempt The death of Cassandra is thus reported by Hyginus in Fabulus When the spoiles and prisoners of Troy were diuided amongst the Princes of Greece Cassandra fell by lot to the archduke and generall Agamemnon with whom he safely arriued in Mycene of which place he was king and gouernour But Clitemnestra the daughter of Tindarus sister to Hellen and wife to Agamemnon being before their landing possest by Oeaces or as some call him Cethus the brother of Palamides that Cassandra was the prostitute of Agamemnon and had supplanted her from his loue which lie he had forged to be reuenged of the Generall for his brothers death before Troy Clitemnestra therefore surprised with iealosie complotted with Aegistus the sonne of Thiestas to murder them both the first night they lodged in the Pallace which was accordingly performed but Electra the daughter of Agamemnon stole thence her brother Orestes then but an infant who else had perished with his father and conueyed him to be safe kept to one Sihophius of Phocis who had before bin married to Astichaea the sister of Agamemnon he brought him vp to manhood till Orestes found fit oportunitie to reuenge himselfe on the two Regicides his mother and Aegistus SIBILLA EVROPAEA SHe is said to be Incertae patriae as no man knowing from what perticular region to deriue her and therefore is knowne by no perticular name nor by the antient Historiographers numbred amongst the ten only amongst the twelue she hath place as may appeare by this her Prophesie When the great King of all the world shall haue No place on Earth by which he can be knowne When he that comes all mortall men to saue Shall find his owne life by the world orethrowne When the most just iniustice shall depraue And the great judge be judged by his owne Death when to death a death by death hath giuen Then shall be op't the long shut gates of Heauen SIBILLA TIBVRLINA IT seemes she deriues her selfe from the riuer Tiber she is otherwise called Albunaea of the cittie Alba which was erected before Rome as also Italica and by some Alburnea It is reported that the Romans going about to deifie Augustus Caesar demaunded aduise of this Sybill who after three daies fast standing before the altar where the Emperour himselfe was then present after many hidden words miraculously spoke concerning Christ vpon the sudden Heauen opened and Caesar saw a beautifull Virgin standing before the Altar who held in her armes as louely an infant at this apparition Caesar afrighted fell on his face at which instant was heard a voice as from Heauen saying This is the altar of the Sonne of God In which place was after built a Temple dedicated to the Virgin Marie and called Ara Caeli i. The altar of Heauen This Policronicon affirmes and for the truth thereof citeth saint Augustine lib. 18. cap 24. There is little more remembered of her life sauing that in her bookes she prophesied of the comming of the Sauiour of the world much after this manner Seuen wonders of the world haue bin proclaimed But yet a greater than these are not named The Egyptians high Pyramides who seem'd To meet the starres a worke once much esteem'd The Tower of Pharos The miraculous wall That Babylon begyrt The fourth wee call Diana's Church in Ephesus Fame sings ' Thad fix and thirtie Pillers built by kings As many Next to these Mausolus Tombe Than which the Earth supporteth on her wombe No brauer structure Next to these there was The huge Colossus that was cast in Brasse Of height incredible whom you may espye Holding a lampe fiftie seauen cubits hye Bestriding an huge riuer The seuenth wonder Was of great Ioue that strikes with trisulck thunder His Statue caru'd in Yuorie and contriu'd By Phideas the best workeman then suruiu'd What at these trifles stands the world amaz'd And hath on them with admiration gaz'd Then wonder when the troubled world t' appease He shall descend who made them that made these Of these Wonders briefly to make her diuination the more plaine Of these Pyramides there were diuerse of which the greatest tooke vp eight acres of ground parted into
foure angles each equally distant eight hundred eightie foot and in heigth twentie fiue A second foure angles euerie one containing by euen spaces seuen hundred thirtie and seuen foot A third comprehended three hundred sixtie three foote betwixt euerie angle A fourth errected by Rhodope the strumpet the mistresse of Aesop by the money which she got by her trade Herodotus speakes of a Pyramis made by Cleopys king of Aegypt of stones fetcht from Arabia whose length was fiue furlongs the breadth ten paces He erected a second more magnificent which was not finisht in twentie yeares vpon which he spent so much treasure that hee was forc't to prostitute his daughter a most beautifull young virgin to supply his owne necessitie Pliny reports that in this structure he impolyed so many workemen that they eate him 1800 talents in onyons and garlicke 2. The tower of Pharos built by Ptolomaeus in that Isle which serued as a lanthorne to direct nauigators by sea in the night he spent vpon it 5300 Talents Sostrata was the Architectour as appeares by the inscription of his name vpon the Cittadell 3. The wals of Babylon were built by Semiramis they were as Hermodorus writes in thicknesse fiftie cubits in heighth two hundred within the compasse of which were an hundred Ports hauing brasen gates that all moou'd vpon hinges they were beautified with three hundred Turrets and Chariots might meete vpon the toppe of them and haue free passage without impediment 4. The Temple of Diana of which I haue spoken before was in length 425 foote in breadth 220 It was beautified with 127 Collumns 5. The tombe of Mausolus built by Artimesia queene of Caria was in height 25 Cubits it was compast with 36 collumns it contained from the South to the North 33 foote the whole compasse contained 1411 That part which lay towards the East was perfected by Scopas that which was towards the North was ended by Briax that towards the Meridian by Tymothaus that which butted vpon the West by Leocares 6. The Colossus of the Sun which bestrid the riuer Rhodes betwixt whose legges shippes without vailing their top sailes came into the harbour was of that vastnesse that a man with his spread armes could not compasse his thumbe euery finger being as bigge as a common statue After it had stood six and fiftie yeares it was emolisht by an earthquake The Souldan of Aegypt hauing inuaded Rhodes with the broken brasse thereof laded thence 900 cammells The chiefe workeman was Chares Lindius the scholler of Licippus 7. The image of Iupiter to which some equall the pallace of Cyrus king of the Meades built by Memnon the stones of which were simmented together with gold But I leaue further to speake of these and proceed to the next Sybill SIBILLA AEGYPTIA SHe was called Agrippa not numbered amongst the tenne but hath place amongst the twelue she prophesied vpon the number of Three and on this manner Sacred's the number Three as Sybells tell Betwixt three brothers the Heauen Sea and Hell Were cast by lot The Earth as all men write In their diuisions is called Tripartite Ioue three waies striking hath his Trisulc Thunder Neptun's allowd his Trident to keepe vnder The mutinous waues Three fatall sisters spinne Our thread of life Three Iudges punish sinne Euen monsters are described so Gerion weares Three heads Grim Cerberus as many beares Sphinx hath three shapes of Bird of Beast of Maid All three in wings in feete in face displaid Chimaera is Triformd the monstrous creature Scilla 's of dogges fish and a womans feature The Erynnaes Harpyes Gorgons three-fold all The Sybells Trifatidicae we call Diuining from the Tripos Orpheus Lyre Sings that 't was made of water earth and fire Three Charites three Fates three Syrens bee Number the Muses they are three times three She 's triple-Hecat's cald Diana stilde Triuia The ground of Musicke was compild But on three Chords at first and still exprest By voice by hand by breath In the Phisicks rest Three principles God World and Creature fram'd Creator Parent Issue these are nam'd In all production Into Three we cast Mans age two legges next three then foure at last Phisitians three things to obserue are sure First to preserue preuent and then to cure Three gouernements are famous in Romes state That of the Tribunes and Triumuirate Three sorts of people they distinguish can The Senat Souldior and the common Man In the taking height of starres w'obserue these Three First Distance then the Forme next Qualitie But which of vs obserues that sacred Tryne Three persons in one Godhead sole diuine That indiuiduall essence who dares scan Which is shall be and ere the world began Was in eternitie When of these Three One of that most inscrutable Trinitie The second person Wisedome shall intombe All maiestie within a Virgins wombe True Man true God still to that blest Trine linckt True light shall shine and false starres be extinct SIBILLA ERYTHRAEA SHe is the twelfth and last borne in Babylon of the Assirian nation and daughter to Berosus a famous Astrologian She writ in Greeke a booke called Vafillogra which some interpret Penalis scriptura which as Eugenius in his Res de Sicilia testates was transferred into Latin She prophesied of all the Greekes that came to the siege of Troy designed the places whence and how long they should continue there In those bookes she speakes of Homer and that he should write of those wars partially according to his affection and not truth In the same volume she prophesied of Christ after this manner The times by the great Oracle assignd When God himselfe in pittie of mankind Shall from the Heau'n descend and be incarnate Entring the world a lambe immaculate And as himselfe in wisedome thinkes it meete Walke in the earth on three and thirtie feet And with six fingers all his subiects then Though a king mightie shall be fishermen In number twelue with these warre shal be tride Against the diuell world and flesh their pride Humilitie shall quell and the sharpe sword With which they fight shal be the sacred Word Establisht vpon Peter which foundation Once layd shall be divulg'd to euerie nation The onely difficultie in this prophesie is Trentra tre piede which signifies thirtie three yeares and Mese dito six fingers intimating the time of six moneths And thus I take leaue of the Sybells Of the Virgins VESTALLS FEnestella in his booke intituled de Sacerdotijs Romanis proposeth Numa Pompilius to bee the first that deuised the forme of this Vestall adoration though the first institution thereof was held to be so antient that Aeneas transferred it from the Troians to the Albans as Virgill witnesseth in these words Vestamque potentem Aeternumque aditis adfert penetratibus ignem To this goddesse Vesta whom some call the Earth others the Mother of the gods Fire perpetuallie burning was consecrated and to this obseruation and coustome certaine virgins pickt out of the
betwixt equals Therefore Ouid. Lib. Epist. Heroid thus writes Quam male inequales veniunt ad aratra iuuenci Tam premitur magnâ— coniuge Nupta minor Non honor est sed onus c. Which though not verbum verbo yet the intent of the Author I giue you thus in English Vnsightly doe the vnmatcht Heifers draw Nor can the Plough goe euen then such the Law Of Wedlocke is to preuent Nuptiall strife There must be paritie 'twixt man and wife Then needes the one the other must oppresse The husband great in power the wife much lesse It is no honor but a burthen rather To ioyne and not be equall this we gather From th'vneuen yoake for so you cannot strike The furrow straight if match match with thy like From the conueniencie or rather necessitie of Marriage I will speake briefly of the times granted and allowed for the ceremonie or limitted and forbidden amongst other Nations as also of some proemes or preambles before the consummation It was religiously obserued among the Romans that no marriage was suffered to be celebrated in the month of May in which the Lemuria were kept solemne which were in remembrance of Remus to the pacification of his ghost or shaddow nor whilest the Feralia nor the Parentalia were solemnised The first was to appease the gods for dead soules as our All-soules-day the others were feasts made at burialls of their fathers brothers or ancestors neither any day that was held impure nor when the Ancylia were obserued nor vpon any feastiuall or holy-day nor in the month of Iune till after the Ides neither did the Romans in their espousalls neglect Auguries and Presages if either there were earth-quake or a troubled firmament they held it fatall and therfore deferred it to a more quiet Earth or lesse turbulent Heauen A Crow they hold to predict a fortunate Omen and an inuiolate league of future faith and loyaltie betwixt the bride and bridegroome for such is the societie of Crowes that if one dye the other which is widowed neuer chuseth other mate the like is remembered of the beast called a Loz or Lynx aboue all other the quickest sighted as also of the Turtle Alex. ab Alex. lib. 2. cap. 5. No betrothed Virgin could marrie amongst them vpon any of their holy dayes or such as they called feastiuall but a widow had that libertie so it were done in priuat and without any solemne ceremonie the reason pretended was Because to a widow there could be no force offered as to a Virgin and therefore it was no violent but a meere holy-day labour Vpon this Verrius Flaccus tooke occasion apud Verronem in these words Fossas veteres festis diebus licet tergere Nouas facere non licet Old ditches on the feast-dayes they might skower But to digge new the law admits no power The Persians were onely permitted to contract matrimonie in or before the Sommer equinoctiall but not after The Dapsolites once a yeare make a solemne conuention of all the men and women that are disposed to marriage in one day in which after their great feast the women retyre themselues and lay them downe vpon their seuerall pallats the lightes being all put out the men according to their number are admitted in the darke where without any premeditate choyse but meere lot and chance euerie man chuseth her whom he first lightes on and diuirginates her and be shee faire or foule euer after holds her as his wife Stobae Sermon 42. Amongst the Carmanians no man is suffered to marrie before hee hath presented the head of an enemie to the king About the Lake Meotes there is a people called Laxamataeâ— amongst whom no Virgin contracts matrimony before she hath subdued an enemie There is a law amongst the Armenians that Virgins are first prostituted in an old Temple dedicated to the goddesse Anetes whose picture was of sollid gold which Antonius after sacriligiously as they held it tooke away according to the gaine of their compression it was lawfull for any man to chuse a wife where he pleased Amongst the Ciprians the Virgins before marriage dayly repayre to the Sea-shore and there companie with strangers till they haue got such a competent summe as may make vp their mariage dower The Phoenicians doe the like in the cittie of Syca but their prostitution is in the Temple of Venus but the surplusage that ariseth aboue the dower returnes towards the repayring of the Church The Carthagenians obserue the like custome The Lydian Virgins before they were suffered to lye with their husbands made themselues for a certâ—ine time common to any man till tyred with sacietie they came gentle and quiet to their beds and from that time forward vowed chastitie but if any one was found euer after to transgresse the bounds of temperance she was punished with all rigor and crueltie Aelian lib. 4. de Var. Hist. Lycurgus hauing prescribed a certaine age before which time it was not lawfull for young men and maides to haue carnall companie being demaunded the reason answered Because the issue that proceedes from those of ripe yeares and growne strength is likewise able and perfect but the hastie and vntimely generation is still subiect to weakenesse and infirmitie Plutarch in Laconic Of Contracts before marriage and of Dowries amongst whom they were allowed and by whom forbidden IT was a custome amongst the Grecians and Lacedemonians when a yong man and a Virgin were contracted to eate of bread together that had bin deuided by a sword Romulus the first erector of the citie Rome caused the couenant of marriage to bee performed betwixt them by a reciprocall receiuing of bread and water There was after his time no stipulation or nuptiall league fully confirmed without fire water placed at the threshold of the doore where they should enter both these they both were inioyned to touch with the water the new bride was after sprinckled as if by that ceremonie they were coupled ioyned in an inexpiable couenant and inseparable bond of affection these two being the cheefe elements of nature on which the life of man in our common food most essentially exist Amongst the Indians vnlesse both the husband and wife annointed their bodies all ouer with a gum or oyle distilling from certaine trees growing by the riuer Phaâ—is the matrimonie was not to be allowed The Persians and the Assirians onely ioyned their right hands in contract so likewise the antient Germanes accounting that the onely firme pledge of their loue and loyaltie Amongst the Galatians in their espousalls the bridegroome drunke to the bride in a cup of Greekish wine in other places of milke which shee pledged him by this ceremonie intending that their nuptialls were not onely firmely contracted by that mutuall loue equall societie coniugall loyaltie marriage concord but like food and dyet should alwayes bee common betwixt them Alex. ab Alex. lib. 2. cap. 5. Concerning nuptiall Dowries by some nations
told by Viacentius in Speculo lib. 3. cap. 109. and Fulgentius lib. 8. cap. 11. Wee reade in Gulielmus Archbishop of Tyrus whom Sprangerus the great Inquisitor cites to the same purpose An English souldier being in Cyprus was by a Witch transformed into an Asse and when all his mates went on ship-board hee following them as loath to loose their fellowship was by his owne friends and countrey men that gaue him lost beaten backe with clubs and staues They put to Sea without him and he hauing no other owner returned backe to the Witches house that had transhaped him who imployde him in all her drudgeries till at length hee came into the Church when the Bishop was at diuine seruice and fell on his knees before the Altar and began to vse such deuout gestures as could not bee imagined to proceede from a bruit beast this first bred admiration and then suspition The Witch was called before the Iudges examined and conuicted after condemned to the stake hauing before restored him to his former shape after three yeares transformation Answerable to this we reade of Ammonius the Philosopher of the Sect of the Peripate tickes who hath left recorded That an Asse came vsually into his schoole at the time of reading and with great attention listened to his Lecture Merchants haue deliuered that nothing is more frequent in Aegypt than such transhapes in so much that Bellonius in his obseruations printed at Lutesia sayth That hee himselfe in the subburbes of Caire a great citie in Aegypt saw a Commedian that desired conference with the Asse that he himself rode on who wondering what he then intended gaue him libertie of free discourse where they seemed to talke with great familiaritie as hauing bin before acquainted where the Asse by his actions signes seemed to apprehend whatsoeuer was spoken to him when the one protested with the hand vpon his brest the other would strike the ground with his foote and when the man had spoke as if hee had told some ieast the Asse would bray aloude as if hee had laughed heartily at the conceit appearing to him not onely to apprehend and vnderstand whatsoeuer was spoken but to make answere to such questions as were demanded him These things haue been so common that Saint Augustine himselfe as he will not affirme the transformation of Apuleius so he doth not denie it but leaues it as a thing possible to be done by Witch-craft De Ciuitate Dei lib. 18. cap. 18. Of the like opinion is Paulus Aegenita Theophrast Paracethus Pomponalius and Fâ—rnetius the excellentest Physitions of their age Fern. lib. de abditis rerum causis You may reade in the Historie of Saint Clement That Simon Magus transformed Faustinianus into his owne shape insomuch that he was not onely vnknowne to familiar friends but denied and abiured by his own wife children This Simon came likewise to Nero and told him if hee cut off his head hee would within three dayes appeare to him aliue which Nero hauing caused to bee done in a great confluence of people he came to him after according to his promise for which Nero caused a statue to be erected to his honour and inscribed vpon the same Simoni Mago deo i. To Simon Magus the god From which time Nero wholely applyde himselfe to that diuellish Art But Simon as the Historie relates had deceiued the eyes of the Emperour with the multitude and had caused a Goat to be beheaded in his shape The like Apuleius relates of himselfe who when he thought he had slaine three sundrie men with his owne hand found them after three Goats skinnes effacinated by the Witch Pamphila Among these Witches it shall not be amisse to insert a shee-diuell or two Franciscus Picus Mirandulanus in his booke de Praenotione tells of a Priest who was a Witch called Benedictus Berna of the age of fourescore yeares with whom he had conference hee confessed vnto him that for the space of fortie yeares and vpward he had carnall consocietie with a she-Spirit who called her selfe Hermione who continually attended on him but visible to no man saue himselfe He further confest that he had sucked the bloud of many infants with other most horrid and execrable commissions and in this Wierius and Bodin though in many opinions they were Antagonists agree They relate a further historie confirmed by Cardanus de varietat lib. 15. cap. 80. of one Pinnetus who liued to the age of seuentie yeares and vpward and exercised the like congression with a Spirit in a feminine shape who called her selfe Florina and continued their familiaritie and acquaintance for the space of fortie yeares How true or false I know not but I haue heard the like not many yeares since by an English gentleman whose name I am loath to vse who had the like companie of a Spirit who called her selfe Cadua the circumstances I cannot discouer without offence though they be worthie both relation and obseruation Of Witches that haue confest themselues to haue raised tempests in a most serene Skie with other things of no lesse admiration IN the booke of Inquisitors lib. 4. de Malific it is recorded that anno Dom. 1488 in Constantiensis there were terrible tempests prodigious hailâ— and stormes the like not seene before and these within the compasse of foure miles but the aire or temperate heauens beyond that space seemed no way disturbed vpon which the villagers laid hands vpon all such suspected women as were thought to be of that Deuillish practise amongst which were two the one called Anna de Mindele the other Agnes who first obstinately denyed themselues to be so addicted but after being called before the magistrats and strictly examined apart they confest that the one vnknowne to the other went into the fields where either of them made a pit in the earth into which they poured a certaine quantitie of water somewhat before noone and by vttering certaine words not fit to be named and inuoking the name of the Deuill they were no sooner got home to their cottages but those miraculous stormes and tempests happened The same author specifies the confession of another Witch of the same place who seeing all her neighbours and acquaintance inuited to a solemne wedding where after dinner in a faire and â—â—mperate day all the guests disposed themselues into the fields to sport and dance according to the custome she caused her selfe to be transported into the aire by the Deuill in the open day and sight of certaine sheepheards to a certaine hill neere vnto the village where because she had no water readie she notwithstanding digged a pit and for necessitie because it is a ceremonie vsed in all these diabolicall practises she made water which stirring in the same pit and speaking some blasphemous words instantly the aire and skie which was then cleere and vnclouded was filled with stormes haile and tempest which poured with such vehemencie vpon
not doe any thing out of a Mammons treasure happie be her resurrection as her byrth was hopefull whose name at the Font was a future prediction to her blessednesse aboue Felicitie she is called on Earth Eternall Felicitie may she inioy in Heauen Peter de Loyre a Frenchman in his booke of Specters Sights and Apparitions hath verie well obserued that the Syrens and Muses may bee in some sort compared together for as there are three sorts of Nymphs namely of Ayre Water and Earth so there are of the Muses some that take their being from the continuall moouing and stirring of Waters a second made by the agitation of the Ayre engendring sounds a third from the Earth which is called Voice or distinguishable words spoken to the capacitie of the hearer So of the Syrens Parthenope presented with a womanish amiable and inchanting face importeth the Voice and proceedeth from the Earth as of the three the most materiall and weightie Ligia denoteth Harmonie arrising from the melodious sounds of the Ayre And Leucosia called Albadea or the white goddesse is the Hierogliphick of the ebbing and flowing of the Sea which begetteth the white froth or some of which Venus is said to be ingendred so that by these three the Nymphs the Muses and the Syrens are comprehended the art of Musicke existing of three things Harmonie Rythme and Number Harmonie proceeding from the Ayre Number from the Sea bounded within his compasse yet as wee see in Hexamiter and Pentamiter and other verse ebbing and flowing according to the growth and wane of the Moone To these is added the Voice which the Greekes call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the French Romans Dictier To Harmony are approprited Sounds to Number or Rythme Dances and to the Voice all kind of Verse But to come to my present purpose all these including one generall musicke and Calliope as she participates from euerie one so comprehending all I thinke it not impertinent as in a consort many Instruments make but one melodie so in this booke to recollect my selfe and giue you a tast of many or the most heads discoursed of in the former the better to put you in minde of the penaltie due to the Vicious and the guerdon and reward stored for the Vertuous and that in compendious Historie The Goddesses Nymphs Graces Muses Sybills Vestalls c. I omit as sufficiently spoken of and apply my selfe to things more familiar and necessarie to instruction I begin with the bad because my desire is to end with the best and of Incest first The sister of Leucippus I Insist not of the seueral sorts of Incest neither purpose I to stand vpon the multiplicitie of Historie let this one serue to remember you of the former Leucippus the sonne of Xanthius who deriued his genealogie from Bellerephon he was excellent both in strength and valour aboue all that liued in his dayes not in priuat contentions onely but in forreine combustions he demeaned himselfe with such discretion and courage that hauing subdued the Lycians and awed all the neighbour nations about him hauing no enemie to inuade nor opposite people to lift vp a rebellious hand against him hee retired himselfe into his countrey and laying aside his victorious armes which woon him same and honour abroad hee abandoned himselfe to ease and the priuat pleasures of his fathers house and now wanting other imploiment as idlenesse is the greatest corrupter of vertue he began to intertaine such vnusuall flames and vnaccustomed cogitations as before he had no time to feele or leasure to thinke on for now he cast his incestuous eye vpon his sister His passions much troubled him at the first and all possible meanes he vsed to shake them off but in vaine he liued in the same house with her they dieted at one table had libertie of vnsuspected conference and he hauing nothing else to do had only leasure to meditate on that which was fearefull to apprehend but horrible to enterprise To this purpose Ouid with great elegancie in remed Amor. lib. 1. speaking of Aegistus who in the absence of Agamemnon adulterated his queene Clitemnestra thus writes Queritur Aegistus quare sit factus adulter In promptu causa est desidiosus erat c. Doth any man demand the reason why Aegistus an adulterer was Lo I Can tell Because that he was idle when Others at Troy were fighting and their men Led stoutly on to which place were accited The Gretian Heroes with a force vnited He no imploiment had There was no war In Argos where he liued from Troy so far No strife in law to which being left behind He carefully might haue imploid his mind That which lay plaine before him the man proou'd And least he should do nothing therefore lou'd As Ouid of Aegistus so may I say of Leucippus whom rest and want of action in a stirring braine and bodie wrought this distemperature Ashamed he was to court his sister first because he knew her modest a second impediment was she was elsewhere disposed and contracted to a gentleman of a noble familie besides she was his sister to whom he wisht all good and then to corrupt her honor he could deuise for her no greater ill he considered that to persuade her to her owne vndoing would shew ill in a stranger but much worse in a brother In these distractions what should he doe or what course take the thing he apprehended was preposterous and the meanes to compasse it was most prodigious for he came to his mother told her his disease and besought her of remedie his words as they were vttered with feare so they were heard with trembling for they feauered her all ouer Being in to the knees hee cared not now to wade vp to the chinne and proceeded That if she would not be the meanes for him to compasse his sister notwithstanding all obstacles what soeuer he would by speedie and sudden death rid himselfe out of all his miseries desiring her speedie answer or with his naked poniard in his hand he was as readie for execution as she to deny her assistance I leaue to any mothers consideration but to imagine with what strange ambiguities his words perplexed her and what conuulsions it bred in her bosome euen to the verie stretching of hir heart strings but as she knew his courage to dare so she feared his resolution to act therefore more like a tender hearted mother than a vertuous minded matron rather desiring to haue wicked children than none at all she promised him hope and assured him helpe and after some persuasiue words of comfort left him indifferently satisfied What language the mother vsed to the daughter to inuite her to the pollution of her bodie and destruction of her soule is not in me to conceiue I only come to the point by the mothers mediation the brother is brought to the bed of his sister she is vitiated and his appetite glutted yet not so but that they