excellent perfections and graces which are extant in the souls and bodies of vertuous Women ought not to be regarded those Bodies I say on which if all the Angels should have spent a thousand years in altering or changing of its form figure or composition nay the least part thereof they would be at last forced to confesse that they are not able to diminish or adde thereunto yet the blinde impiety of some hath led them to that height of presumption as to find fault with many parts of this curious Fabrick But such will at length finde that though the Divine Justice hath leaden feet it hath iron hands though it 's slow in comming yet it striketh those home who do not regard those wonderful works of God which ought to transport us with an ineffable admiration As for those well-disposed sculs who are indued with a naturall good disposition who wrong not themselves by misdeeming of others I wish unto them as to my self that they may build their everlasting Tabernacles on that hill of Sion whose Prince is verity whose Laws are charity and whose limits are eternity c. THE CONTENTS OF THE CHAPTERS Of the Wisdom and Learning of some Women Pag. 13 Of Constant and Couragious Women Pag. 48 Of Faire Women Pag. 72 Of the Love of Women Pag. 82 Of chaste Women and Virgins Pag. 115 Of Womens abilities to Govern Pag. 133 Of Pious and Religious Women Pag. 141 ELOGIUM HEROINUM OR The Praise of Worthy WOMEN PHydias a most famous Carver after hee had made Minerva's Shield he engraved his own Pourtraicture so lively and deeply in the same as that it could never be taken out without defacing of the whole work So GOD himself who is an ineffable Power and an infinite Virtue an Understanding which can only be comprehended by it selfe whose Throne is seated amidst the flaming fires a far more excellent Workman then Phydias after he had made the Universall World and adorned the Heavens with Legions of Seraphims Cherubims Thrones Principalities Powers Virtues Dominions Archangels and Angels with the beauty of the Sun the glory of the Moon and the splendor of the Stars which are of an incomprehensible brightnesse and of a wonderfull greatnesse having moreover ordained unto them severall miraculous motions and admirable effects on the four Elements the Fire the Aire the Water and the Earth the which being beautified w th Mountaines Plaines Rivers Woods Rocks Plants Flowers and all sorts of Beasts and in the bowels thereof inclosed Mines of Gold Silver Iron and of severall other Metals and Minerals with a number of admirable precious Stones and having stored the Seas with all kind of Fishes the Aire with an infinite number of Birds He then created Man of the dust of the earth and afterwards in the terrestrial Paradise he made a Woman not of Mans head lest she should presume to over-top him nor of his foot lest she should be vilisied by him but from a rib neare unto his heart that she might be ever dear and entire to him which shewes the alternate love that ought to be betwixt them And the Almighty by his inscrutable goodnesse imprinted in them both his own Image and similitude so lively that no power whatsoever is able to deface it This image and similitude of the Deity is the Soul and the Understanding the which he would never have infused into them unlesse he had first made their Bodies of a substance fit to receive that impression and worthy of so great an ornament as the Understanding is by means whereof we unfold all things and attain to the knowledge of the most difficult matters that the wit of man can produce It hath a jurisdiction every where and it keeps its eminencie as well in the highest powers as in the lesser and inferior parts of the Universe to wit in the Heavens Starres and Planets by their motion which it foresees and prevents in the Empires Monarchies and Kingdomes it commands Occonomie it establisheth the Lawes and makes them to be obeyed In the lowest and inferior Regions and amongst the common people it keeps so good discipline that all things remaine constantly firme in their perfection And it is seated as well in the woman as in the man for Nature hath given unto the one as well as the other a desire of knowledge with an upright stature that they might both lift up their eyes to the contemplation of Nature and bring their minds raised and as it were inflamed with a divine love to such beautiful and glorious things in which the majesty of the eternal Godhead so apparently shines forth And the Woman is capable of as high improvements as the Man is she hath the same prerogative of creation with man For as he is endowed with a free willing immortal soul so is she also and as Man was put into a state of dominion and happinesse so likewise was Woman The soul knows no difference of sex the Woman hath the same desires and appetites as Man she is as well an heir unto the grace of life as he is And finally whatsoever is estated upon Man the Woman will also challenge for that there is no preferring of one sexe before the other but all are one in Christ Jesus as the Scripture clearely declares Although the crazie and vain wits of these times speake much to the disparagement of the whole Sexe imitating the Philosopher Anaxagoras who strove to maintaine that Snow was black but as all men of understanding who have eyes to see find it to be white so it clearly appears that he is an Impostor who endeavours to speak ill of Women since it is manifest that the Vertues the Disciplines the Muses the Devisers and Patrons of all Arts have been comprehended under the Feminine sexe by the names of Virgins and Women that not only the Ethnicks and Moral men but even Christians and Divines in all their books and writings which they leave to posterity still continue them under the same Gender That Sophia which signifies Wisdome is the mother of the three Theological Vertues Faith Hope Charity which are represented as Women That the Seven Liberal Arts are exprest in Womens shapes That the Nine Muses are the Daughters of Jupiter That the Five Senses are exprest under the names of the five Daughters of Apollo That Wisdome is called the Daughter of the Highest as appears in the Book of Wisdome And that the four parts of the World and almost all whatsoever is good is deciphered by the names and in the persons of Women All those who are inclined to vertue will find when they shall have perused this small Treatise which relates some Women who have been rarely accomplished that Women are capable of the highest improvements unto which Man may attaine For if some of the Sex as it appears by the following Heroical actions have been so it argues that the Sexe is capable and may still be so But ere I proceed any further I shal
eminencies it require Nay ought we not Turn pupils unto them obey shame though to our Their profound precepts disclaim Those vices which us daily sway Even those as 't were us captive hold By fettred passions manifold Awake therefore ye sons of men Rub up your drowsie souls 't is meet We should take heart of grace agen Rowse up your selves stand on your feet At least endeavor to regain Our honors by these females slain My Author doth to you recount The several faculties wherein These worthy Women us surmount As paterns for vs to begin Our nâ—w profession by the same By which they gain'd eternal fame Wherefore with him let us adore Those deities let 's follow close Their vertuous foot-steps implore To be accounted even as those Whopast their lives in great renown And now entomb'd enjoy a Crown Geo. Gerbier Esq The Printer's Apologie For not having inserted on the Frontispiece of this Book all the Verses which were sent unto him Courteous Reader WHen a sumptuous Scene is to be represented or when a solemn Tilting is to be performed and that an Amphytheater is prepared then from all parts such multitudes of People resort thereunto as that the main for which they came together is by them almost hidden Therefore that this Scene this Race and Amphytheater whereunto most men of this World if not all would willingly resort first with their Eyes then with their Hands finally with all their Senses striving and contesting which of them all should soonest be admitted might appeare and not be smothered up by the presse of so many whose Pens may pretend as much right as this Author to shew themselves And lest he should suffer that deserves so well in the setting forth of this glorious Scene I have omitted the inserting of several Verses and do publish by that Trumpet of Fame by that of Vertue by that of Constancie and by that of Honour which these Women do possess to stand by and to make use here onely of your eyes For Woman is the Mark and Woman is the Trophie And then will this Work appeare in its best lustre The Preface TO THE READER AS the Breast-plate of Judgment which the High-priest wore did beare these words Vrim Thummim which signifie Light and Perfection So on the Frontispiece of this Book there appeares so powerful a Charm as that all those cannot chuse but be void of wit and reason who have not the curiosity to view that which it contains for those things which it relates possesse all the requisite perfections to strike an admiration into the minds of sensible Creatures It is that powerful Charm which made Achilles to forsake a Battel It is that which Narcissus disdaining pined away for his own shadow It is that the losse whereof Alexander did lamentwith tears It is that by means whereof Socrates Plato Aristotle and all the rest of the Philosophers have attained unto such a famous reputation It is that without which all our humane life would have been but a manifest death It is that for which in former Ages men would rather lose their Seats their Authority their Office then falsly to suspect it or rashly to accuse it It is that the sight whereof struck Tyrasius King of Thebes blind It is that which did not only subdue Alexander who had subduâ—d all the Eastern Kingdoms and who was Lord of all the World but also Caesar and Hanibal and which constrained Euristes King of Athens to seek unto Hercules and Theseus to be aiding unto him to withstand its power It is that at the beholding whereof the Lybian Lions lose their strength and the Basilisk his senses It is that which hath been admired by the great Philosophers by Solomon himself the wisest of all men who did acknowledge that it was more worth then precious pearls It is that the least part whereof ought to ravish us even with admiration And it is that which was made in Paradise which represents the lively Image of the Creator a Body framed by an admirable architecture a Soul endowed with understanding reason wit judgment will memory imagination and opinion a Soul which in an instant flies from one Pole to the other descends to the Center and ascends to the top of the world again In a word here you have it It is Woman the miracle of the world and the marvel of marvels which here is exposed unto your view accompanied with Presidents of Vertue and Statues of Honour and whatsoever else can be included in goodnesse which if you will deign to read it so as to understand it well and which is best of all to follow their examples then will your memories out-live Posterity As for the foregoing threefold Dedication of this Treatise though it may happily not much concern the Reader yet neverthelesse rather then that any should wonder at it I will give him a reason for it It is the first of all numbers and in natural Philosophy there are three principles three Theological vertues and three Graces But that which chiefly moved mee thereunto was the pleasing of my self thereby since that is the spring from whence every vertue begins to flow the Sea unto which they run and where all of them end their course It 's the onely thing which next unto the fear of God I chiefly aim at Rhetorick Logick Philosophy Musick all Arts and Sciences are referred unto this principle to wit that they might be profiable and pleasing unto us Doth not an Orator rejoyce when he seeth his Clyent delivered by his Plea Doth not the Logician laugh when as he perceives that his enemy is driven to a dilemma Doth not the Philosopher inwardly smile when hee hath sifted out the secrets of hidden causes Doth not the Musitians heart leap for joy when as he beholds that men are ravished with his melody And therefore since that all Vertues all Arts and all the actions of this life do tend next unto the fear of God unto our particular pleasure who can condemn me for having pleased my self But as for the Treatise it self I am taught by Sapho that no Note of Musick and by Crassus that no Vein of Rhetorick contenteth all mens ears who listen or apply their senses unto the sound of harmony therefore if distasteful Criticks shall mis-interpret the innocency of my harmlesse meaning I shall but reply as did Ben-Johnson Their praise or dispraise is to me alike Th' one doth not stroak me nor the other strike And. for those prating Sicophants those Zoylusses and Momusses of all ages those detractors and evill speakers who esteem it it far better to be wicked then vertuous and who by their virulent tongues abusing this most worthy Sexe have abused their own mothers and consequently themselves let them talk and prate at their pleasure they shall never be able although they had the same authority which Plato heretofore had in Greece or the eloquence of Cicero to perswade rational men that those
chanced to be absent that he would not begin to read and being by the Philosophers his disciples desired thereunto he answered I will not read because Laschenea the Understanding which ought to hear me is not here and for the absence of Axiothia he said that the Memory which ought to preserve him was not yet come The wisdome of these two women is the more to be admired since Plato would not read but in their presence for he did esteem the memory of these two Women alone more then the Philosophie of all the Philosophers besides Cornelia wife unto Scipio Africanus and mother to the Noble family of the Graechi was so excellent in knowledge that she was more famous and honored by the Sciences which she publikely read in Rome then by the conquests which her Children made in Africk She was generally praised by the most learned men for her honesty wisdome and for her reading Philosophie publikely in Rome From her as from a fountain the eloquence of her children flowed Therefore Quintilius thus saith of her We are much bound to the mother Cornelia for the eloquence of the Gracchi whose unparallel'd Learning in her exquisite Epistles she hath bequeathed to posterity Cicero the Father of Latine eloquence whose skill in joining Philosophie with the Art of Rhetorick was excellent doth more highly exalt this famous Cornelia whenas he saith in his Rhetorick That if the name of a Woman had not diminished Cornelia she did deserve to be the chiefest of all the Philosophers because hee never saw such grave Sentences proceed from any mortal creature as were contained in her writings A Statue was erected on her sepulcher on which these words were engraven Here lyeth the most learned Cornelia mother of the Gâ—acchi she was both happy and fortunate in her Disciples whom she instructed though unhappy in her Children Aspasia a Miletian Damsel excelled in all Philosophical contemplations and so fluent a Rhetorician as that Socrates himselfe imitated her in his Facultas Politica Amalasuntha Queen of the Ostrogothes the daughter of Theodoricus King of those Ostrogothes in Italy was not only learned in the Greek and Latine tongues but spake all the barbarous languages that were used in the Eastern Empires exceeding well Eustochium a Romane Matron was excellently practised in the Greek and Latine Dialect as also in the Hebrew character she was in her time called the New prodigie of the world she with Reason overcame St. Hiero me and made him confesse he was overcome by her for that he could not answer the questions which she had propounded Amesia a modest Roman Lady being falsly accused of a great crime and ready to incurre the Pretorial sentence she with a manly yet modest courage stept up amongst the People and with a loud voice and a becoming gesture and facundious suavity she pleaded her own cause so eloquently so effectually and so strongly as that by the publique suffrage she was freed and acquited from all aspersions whatsoever and he who had accused her was himselfe most justly punished Hypparchia the sister of Magocles and wife to Crates Cynicus with one Sophisme did put Theodorus to silence Hortensia the daughter of Quintus Hortensius pleaded her selfe before the Triumvirate when a grievous Fine was imposed on the Romans and when none of the Orators or Lawyers durst so boldly and eloquently that she prevailed so far as that the greatest part of the Fine which was imposed on them was instantly remitted Sosipatra was a woman versed in many kindes of Disciplines and so excelent in all her studies that she was said to have been educated by the Gods themselves Corinna Thebana had such an excellent knowledge in Poesie that in several Contentions she bore away the garland from Pindarus the Prince of the Lyrick poets Sapho's Verses excelled Anacreon's though he was one of the most famous Poets in the world Telesilla was not onely wise chaste fair and couragious but she had attained to that perfection in poetry that she amongst all other women was held in admiration Cornificia sister to the great Poet Cornificius was very learned in the Greek and Latine tongues and so expert in making of Verses that she ex tempore did excel those which her Brother made at leasure though he was the greatest Poet of his time in Rome Phanarite Mother of Athenian Socrates was the first that disputed of Morality and who taught the mystical phylosophie of the Stars and Planets and how it may be made familiar and have correspondence with our humane and terrestrial actions Hyppatia a Woman of Alexandria did so excell in Learning as that she was frequented by many worthy Scholars whil'st she kept a publike School she wrote several Volumes she calculated her self an Ephemerides for many years she also writ a large volume of Astronomy L'Amia Aglius were not inferior in Musick to Arion or Orpheus Timarete the Daughter of Micaon Irene Anistarite Lala Cizizena Martia and many more have attained to as high a perfection in Painting as Apelles Zeucis and Apollidorus themselves ever did What men were ever known to surpass the Muses or the Sybils in Learning The IX Muses were these following Clio Vterpe Thalia Melpomene Terpsichore Erato Polyhimnia Vrania Calliope The XII Sybils were these Sybilla Persica called Samberta Sybilla Lybica Sybilla Delphica Sybilla Cumaea borne at Cimeria at Campania in Italy Sybilla Samia Sybilla Erithraea borne at Babylon Sybilla Cumana she wrote Nine books for three of which Tarquinius superbus gave 300 pieces of gold and caused them to be religiously kept in the Capitol at Rome Sybilla Hellespontiaca borne at Marmisea in the Territory of Troy Sybilla Albunea sirnamed Tiburtina because she was borne at Tiber 15 miles from Rome Sybilla Phrygia Sybilla Epyrotiea Sybilla Coliphonia Lampusia she came out of Greece from Coliphonia a City of Ionia The Books which these Sybils wrote contained manifest Prophesies of the Kingdome of CHRIST his Name his Birth and Death The changes of Kingdomes Foretold Inundations Earthquakes and Warres They also manifested that the whole World would be burnt and wished men to adore that God while they lived here who would punish them so severely hereafter for their contempt These Books were by the Arch-Traytor Silico burnt yet nevertheless some of their Prophesies are yet extant having been extracted out of other writings But as both the Ecclesiasticall and Secular Ancient and Modern Histories abound in examples of divers excellent and famous Ladies So likewise these latter times have not been barren in Learned women who were not a jot inferior to those of former Ages Constantia wife of Alexander Sforza was so laborious in the best Disciples that on the suddain and without any premeditation shee was able to discourse upon any argument either Theological or Philosophical and for her temporal vain in verse shee was much admired in which shee was so elegantly ingenious that shee attracted the ears of many judicious Schollers to bee her daily Auditors