several parts being the Spring Summer Autumn and Winter Macrobius as Macrobius in his Saturnals also remembreth saying Ianus apud nos in quatuor partes spectat ut demonstrateius simulachrum èphaleris advectū Afterwards the Phenicians pourtraied him foorth in the forme of a Dragon biting her taile to shew thereby the roundnesse and the beginning and ending of the yeare In honour of him also at this day the first moneth of the yeare is called after his owne name Ianuarius Servius as Servius in his Aeneidos affirmeth The ancients likewise have shaped him forth with two keyes in his hand to shew thereby that he was the invent or of gates and dores as also of the locking of them and making them fast to the end that the holy temples and sacred places should not bee polluted with the impious abuse of theeves and uncivile persons and to avoid adulteries and other such like sinnes then raigning and of his name since have all dores and gates been called Ianuae In many other sorts and formes have the auncients defigured the image of this Noe Ianus as Propertius and many others have written who in the fourth booke of his Elegies thus speaketh Quid mirare meas tot in uno corpore formas Accipe Vertumni signa paterna dei Tuscus ego Tuscis orior c. And undoubtedly there hath not beene read of any that lived so uprightly and justly as this Patriarke Noe neither that ever any had such honours reverence and godlike adoration done unto him both in his life time and after his death who also was among those people in those daies called God neither is it to bee wondered that in those elder times there were so many gods held worshipped among the auncients for so much as it is to bee understood That in those daies all those princes rulers and governors that had lived vertuously justly and godly and had commaunded their people with mildnesse equitie and uprightnesse were entearmed gods and that also without performing any idolatrous adoration or reverence unto them as Metasthenes an auncient author and hystorian of Persia affirmeth where hee thus saith Ante Nynum ducentis quadragintà novem annis regnatum fuit sub tribus dijs regibus quorum qui primus universo imperavit orbi fuit Ogyges qui prefuit inundationi terrarū c. Cathon also another very auncient writer thus speaketh Italia complura a dijs ducibus sortita fuit nomina à Iano Ianicula quem quidem Enotrium dictum existimant quia invenit uvum far And for these and such like reasons Moyses and other godly Patriarkes were called gods not that they were so in essence but onely in participation as in the seventh chapter of Exodus it is written Ego te dedi deum Pharaoni and in the the three and twenty chapter Dijs non detrahes principem populi tui ne maledicas Further also the Prophet David thus sayth Principes populorum congregati sunt cum deo Abraham quoniam dij fortes terrae vehementer elevati sunt These things are thus so amply and at large exposed to the end that the reader of this Treatise should not so much marvell or wonder when mention is made in this booke of gods and goddesses which in those daies were so much observed and reverenced Ovid. Ovid rehearsing the words of this Noe Ianus and shewing that in his death the golden age ceased thus sayth Tunc ego regnabam patiens cum terra deorum Esset humanis numina mixta locis Nondum iustitiam facinus mortale fugarat Vltima de superis illa reliquit humum Proque meta populum sive vt pudor ille regebat Nullus erat iustis reddere iura labor Nil mihi cum bello postes pacem que tuebar c. And as Noe was among these auncients thus honored and adored and temples and altars consecrated unto him so also was Titea his wife held in great reverence worship and holy esteeme who was called also Vesta Aretia Terra Regina sacrorum magna Cybeles Materque deorum atque Vestalium Princeps sive Abbatissa as Berosus and other writers affirme Having thus touched the death of this good Patriarke Noe it shall not bee now impertinent something to remember and speake of the wicked and abhominable life of his degenerate sonne Cham which although of it selfe it be worthlesse of any recapitulation or recitall yet to descend to the lineall genealogie of the Lybian Hercules the Great it cannot bee well omitted from which Hercules Dardanus the first founder and erecter of Troy descended and came It hath been alreadie specified how Noe deviding the universall earth unto his children and how Cham abounding in all vices and detestable courses notwithstanding was not deprived of his portion but had his right of inheritance justly allotted unto him which was the third part of the world and particularly Affrica to the hether part of Aegypt for which countries he was commaunded by his father to depart with his wife Noegla and five and thirtie rulers which is as much to say as the cheefes of familie of his bloud and house as also with all their children and issue which was accordingly performed and presently he established himselfe as king and Saturne of Aegypt where he erected and built a citie called Chem-Myn and among them also he himselfe was called Pan and Silvanus which people likewise so engendred and issued of that familie to honour and worship him the more and to shew their love unto him lived in all impious and ungracious manner perpetrating most odious and soule-damning villanies affirming publickly That men ought lawfully to have the companie of their owne mothers sisters and daughters in all lusts and concupiscence of the flesh and other many most inhumane and shamefull acts not to be recited And to shew that they gloried and bosted in the wickednesse of such their king and ruler they entearmed him by the name of Cham Esenuus which signifieth their infamous god Pan. And thus he ruled in Egipt long time even unto the six and fiftith yeare of the raigne of Iupiter Belus the second king of Babylon in the which yeare he began to travell and came into Italie which was then called Kytim to his brother Comerus Gallus the first king of that countrey after whose death C ham presently usurped and undertooke that mightie governement who in stead of vertuous instructions and godly laws in which all other princes round about him his kinsmen commaunding Germanie Spaine and France had instructed and taught their people cleane contrarie infected the youth of Italie with all manner of impieties incivilitie and corruptible vices persuading them beeing of themselves well addicted to usurie robberie murder poysonings and the studie of the Magicke art who by reason of his owne great skill therein was surnamed Zoroastes and was the first inventor and practiser of that vild and diabolicall learning of the use of which hee composed and
or neare thereabouts as most writers and Cronographers of Spaine doe agree And in this kings raigne about the nineteenth yeare thereof as is before written arrived Hercules in that countrey now very aged and of many yeares where hee continued three yeares with his nephew without any command or place in as great content ease and quiet as might bee for hee had now given over the desire of rule and principalitie and gloried in nothing so much as that he by his owne valour prowesse and labours had conquered such gallant countries to dispose of as hee himselfe thought good and to give to his children to enjoy as their rightful inheritances for indeed hee was the Monarch and prince almost of all the world and had attained unto such his height of glorie and fame not by oppressions tyrannie or unlawfulnesse but by the subduing of wicked and ungodly gyants the deposing of all usurpers and bloudie governours by the abolishing and rooting out of all divellish and inhumane customes then observed in those daies among the poore and faith-wanting vulgars in those times of error In these his times of privatenesse and retired living which he spent in Spain he builded and caused to bee erected many great townes citties and villages for which cause the people of that countrey still call him Hercules the builder Besides this also hee gave and addicted himselfe to the finding out of the natures of strange hearbs and to the studie of Astronomie and the Magicke art where in he wondrous deeply was seene and excellently well read but hee never applied the use thereof but unto the good and generall commoditie of the countrey Hee found out many remedies and enchauntments against the poyson of serpents and many other venomous beasts then abounding in that countrie in great plentie and by which the inhabitants before were greevously molested and exceedingly troubled Hee also performed there many other memorable things of great worth value and import as Higinus and many other very learned writers doe affirme Not long after his nephew Hispanus king of Spaine died without issue left none of his owne bloud to inherite the kingdome after him whereupon by the generall entreatie of all the whole land and by publicke consent the command and government of that countrey was imposed upon Hercules whome the people for his vertues faire demeanures and good government did indeed very highly affect and reverence and here having so fit an occasion to speake of the originall and antiquitie of this countrey of Spaine wee will for a while leave him undertaking the charge once again and the commaund and governement thereof and we will begin with the first king of Spaine and so by succession and lineall descent from one to another as far as Berosus Eusebius Solynus and Diodorus Siculus have proceeded therein and untill wee come to the raigne of this Hercules The very first inhabitation and peopling of this countrey of Spaine was by those people that came from the other side of the Caspian sea called Iberi Persae Phenices and Paeni as Plinie in the third booke of his naturall hystorie doth alleadge as also Marcus Varro and Cato in his originals doe affirme the same wholly condemning the Grecians of vaine glorie and ignorance to write that Hercules Pirenes Lusus and Pan were the first that ever inhabited in this countrey but of the colonies therefore of those people before mentioned it is very certain that Spaine took first her originall as also those other Islands round about is called Sicilia Corsica Sardinia and Baleares and the Island Corsica was so called of the people Corsi which the Grecians tearme Cyrnum or Cyrum but the Persians and Hebrewes Corsum and after these people the Gothes and Alani came and lived in Spaine long time and continued for the most part of them untill this very present wherein wee now live from whome and from the rest before mentioned it is delivered for certaine by many auncient grave and learned writers this countrey of Spain deriveth her first beginning and principall foundation S. Ierome Eusebius Iosephus and many other approved good authors doe all consent and agree That Tuball the fift sonne of Iaphet the son of Noe was the first that ever was called by the name of king in that country of Spain and that he was also the first that erected built townes and cities and prescribed bounds and limits in the same which as Berosus sayth was after the floud a hundred three and fortie yeares and in the twelfth yeare of the raigne of Nembroth the Babylonians Saturne and ruler which was before the foundation of Troy six hundred thirtie seven yeares and before the nativitie of Christ two thousand two hundred yeares The great citie which he called after his owne name Tuball is in Baetica as Pomponius Mela affirmeth as also Strabo averreth the same This kings cheefe studie and delight was in pasturage in flockes of sheepe and heards of cattell wherein in those times men reposed great contentment pleasure and felicitie such his studie the people called Arameans entearmed by the name of Tharaconem which is as much to say as Pastorum congreationem The meeting together or assembly of sheepeheards as S. Ierome and the Thalmudists of the Iewes interprets it and of the same the great citie of Tharacona is called as Saguntum first tooke her name of Sagus the builder and erecter thereof He began also first to set downe lawes precepts and directions unto his people and to possesse them with the opinion of good obedience unto their prince and persuaded them by fair and gentle meanes to the embracement of a civile and quiet life and conversation and this Berosus saith was performed and done in the fourth yeare of Ninus king of Babylon as before in some places hath been a little remembered and Strabo sayth That in the tenth yeare of the same Ninus king of Babylon and in the age of Tuball one hundred and fifteene yeares Noe surnamed Ianus comming out of Affrica and Phoenicia arrived in Spain brought thither with him two colonies called Nooelas and Nooeglas although Plinie in his third booke of naturall hystorie in the six and twentieth chapter thereof calleth them Nooegas and Nooelas and in this countrey were they planted and remained with great multiplication encrease and abundance This Tuball raigned in this his governement untill the nine and fortieth yeare of the raigne of Ninus and from the first inhabitation of Spain a hundred and five and fiftie yeares The Patriarke Abraham borne and in this kings governement was the Patriarke Abraham borne which was just by all nearest computation towards the end of his raigne and in the foure and fortieth yeare of the before specified Ninus king of Babylon Vnto Tuball succeeded his sonne called Iberus in the government and kingdome which he had left him to enjoy which was from the floud two hundred ninetie nine yeares from the first enpeopling of Spain a hundred fiftie
they are among the rest of the fables which the Grecians used inserted for it is nothing likely that the use of yron beeing in those times found out he would have used any such inferiour meanes of defence for the safetie of his bodie This assertion also maketh cleane contrarie against him for Hercules of Lybia was borne before the destruction of Troy according to the computation of the Aegyptian yeares above tenne thousand yeares but Alceus not fully two thousand as Diodorus in his first booke of Time alleadgeth which manner of computation and reckoning of the Aegyptians if we wil reduce to the order and rule observed by the Chaldeans Scythians Hebrewes and Ianigenae which is by the circular circumference and revolution of the Sunne accounting it as we now reckon we shall find that he was borne presently after the king of Babylon called Ninus which is according to our latter observation some eight hundred yeares before the overthrow and ruine of Troy which maketh up the number proportion of ten thousand yeares held and observed among the Aegyptians by which we may perceive the great distance of time that was betweene these two famous personages Hercules Egiptius or Libicus the sonne of Osyris surnamed Iupiter Iustus and Hercules Graecus or Alceus or as some hold the son of Amphitrio and Alcmena or the son by adulterous meanes as some others doe thinke of one called Iupiter Graecus But having now thus farre digressed from the maine entendement wee will returne to the prosecuting thereof The continuance of the raigne of the above written Iubalda king of Spaine dured from the foure and thirtith yeare of the raigne of Semiramis the Babylonian Empresse untill the eighteenth yeare of Arius which is in the whole about the time of threescore and foure yeares as by the diligent carefull collections both of Eusebius and Berosus is clearely approoved And about this time the Patriarke Abraham beeing about the age of a hundred yeares is borne his son Isaack Isaack born as all hystories for the most part give record and mention In the governement of this king Iubalda no memorable act done in that countrey is left written by hystorians Vnto the kingdome of Spaine next after him succeeded Brygus which was in the eighteenth yeare of the late specified Arius the Babylonians sixt king which is from the first inhabitation of Spaine two hundred threescore and seven yeares and before the foundation of Troy four hundred and thirtie This word Brygus with the Arameans and Armenians is called Castellum And the Etruscians at this day with whome many words of the Aramen language remaine call a castle Bricola by changing the letter g into c. This king Brygus as Berosus other writers affirme founded and erected many townes and great castles in the kingdome of Spaine as Ptolomie also copiously hath delivered as in the countrey of Lusitania there are castles called at this day Laccobryga Mirobryga and others And in the province of Taracona a towne called Brygantum Volubryga and many others sounding and ending after the name of the king Brygus Plinie sayth in his fift booke of naturall hystorie Plinie that many old writers do affirme That a certain people called Brygi in Europe travelled into Asia and there builded a citie and called it Brygios which afterwards by chaunging the letter B into P was called Phrygios and that the Phrygians afterwards from these people tooke their first originall and being of whome issued that famous progenie of the Trojanes so gloriously renowmed throughout the world and this king Brygus reigned in all securitie and peace untill the first yeare of the reigne of Balaneus the eight king of Babylon which was about two and fiftie yeares or near therabouts The fift king of Spaine was Tagus as Berosus and Diodorus deliver and he began his rule and government before the nativitie of Christ a thousand eight hundred threescore and five yeares before the building of Troy threescore and eighteene yeares after the first peopling of Spaine three hundred and nine yeares And of this kings name that far-famed river Tagus taketh her name in which as Plinie and Solynus report were found many golden sands heaped together in many places of that river This king with many authours is called also Tagum Orma and Moyses by synoereicall composition tearmeth him Tagorma as Ptolomie and many other writers of great worth and credite more particularly have spoken of the same and this Tagus reigned in the kingdome of Spain about the time of thirtie yeares by all due computation and conferring of consent of times and as Berosus affirmeth the same In the first yeare of the reigne of Armatritis the ninth king of the Babylonians and Assyrians the rule and governement of the kingdome of Spaine fell and came unto Betus of whom afterwards a great part of that country tooke her name and was knowne by the name of Baetica The Etruscians by transposition and division of ae cal him Beatus which with the Latines signifies happie or blessed The Hebrewes derive this word Betus from Behin which as S. Ierome interprets it meaneth as much as locus vitae meae id est foelic tatis â—ptatae and from hence it is likely that in this countrey some supposed the Elesian fields to be and so also thereby many other such like suppositions arose which to decide would here bee tedious and too much digression from the matter entended This king Betus raigned seven and thirtie yeares as Berosus and other authors doe alleadge After him in the eight and thirtith yeare of Armatritis above mentioned Gerion surnamed Aser challenged unto him the rule and domination of the countrey of Spain wherein it is written he governed with great tyrannie and oppression of the inhabitants thereof intruding himselfe by violent and forcible means into the possession and governement of that kingdome This word Gerion signifies in the Hebrew tongue as much as advena in Latin which he manifested more plainely by comming from Mauritania into this kingdome of Spaine and ruling there like a straunger according to his owne will desire and mightinesse Berosus as also Diodorus Siculus doth affirme That he had another name also which in the Aramen Mauritanian language was Deabo in the Greeke Chryseo in Latine Aureo which first of all came of his great wealth and store of gold in which he most wonderously abounded in those daies and this Gerion reigned thus in this his usurped authoritie untill the eight and twentith yeare of the raigne of Belochus the tenth king and ruler of Babylonia which was about the time of three thirtie years or near therabouts Immediatly after him three brethren together tooke the rule and government of this countrey of Spaine into their hands which were called Deabi Lomnimi which word as S. Ierome expoundeth it signifieth the cheefes or rulers of armies and which wee call by the name of the three Gerions beeing indeed the sons of the
and agreement the more Tuscus freely bestowed and gave unto his brother Galatheus the great Island of Sicilia as then appertaining belonging unto the crowne and kingdome of Italie and which was then altogether desolate and disinhabited the race and generation of Cham Noes son the first commander therof being now extinct and perished Vnto this Island Galatheus made a journey carying with him great numbers and abundance of people and all things necessary for the in peopling and inhabiting thereof which people and nation he afterwards and from thence forth called after his owne name Galath-enes and erected and built also a very great citie there calling it by the name of Cenegalatha of which citie likewise Plinie in his fourth booke of Naturall hystorie doth there entreat and mention And it was held in those daies to be the greatest and cheefest honour that might bee to authorise and license any to build and erect any citie and to call it after his owne name for the denominating of which no man neither could give any leave or authoritie but those which were established in place and office of Coritus that is the Patriarke Iupiter or cheefe king and commander of that country as Tuscus then was being the sole king and ruler over all Italie and all those territories adjoyning thereunto And this grace and favour Galatheus tooke in great thankefulnesse and all kind acceptance endevouring by all means possible to be found gratefull for so high a favor received After all matters were well setled and orderly disposed in this new erected governement of Sicilia Galatheus returned backe againe into his countrey of Fraunce where with all signs and apparent tokens of a long wished welcome hee was joyfully received of his people in all the provinces round about where we must now leave him for a while to speak of his brother Tuscus and of his affaires and negotiations in his governement and charge This Tuscus as is before declared was the sole and absolute King Patriarke and Iupiter of all the dominions of Italie of whose name also a cheefe province of that kingdome then tooke her name and was called Tuscania and by the favourable good will of the tyrant Time who is wont to blot out all reliques and tokens of antiquitie it yet retaineth the same in which particular countrey hee for the most part made his continuall abode residence which before that time was called Etruria The diverse and severall names of Italie before that Ianicula and the people thereof Ianigenes which is as much to say as the issue of Ianus it was also called Oenotria Hesperia Apenina and many others according to the greatnesse or will of any such cheefe or famous king so commaunding and ruling over it Dionysius Halicarnasaeus writeth That the countrey Hetruria taken oftentimes for the whole and entire kingdome of Italie was also called Comera of Comerus Iaphets son and it had to name also Razenua It was also called Taurina and Saturnia Thuscia and Thussa and at this day Italia as hereafter shall be declared Berosus further sayth That at the first peopling and inhabiting thereof it was called Vmbria of the people Vmbri which heretofore we have somewhat touched as also Pelasgia of the people Pelasgi taken also sometimes for the inhabitants of a countrey in Greece Besides all these it was also knowne by the name of Tarrhenia as many authors of great and approved knowledge in matters of antiquitie have more amply delivered which opinion also should be more easily entertained if wee will but diligently marke the diverse and severall names given attributed unto other countries after the same fashion and manner for first concerning the people of Fraunce The old names of the people of Fraunce they were first of all called Samothei of Samothes their king then Celti then Galatij after that Belgae of their king and Patriarke Beligius after that Galli and since that Francigenae or Franci The names in like manner of the people of Germanie varied and differed very often and severally The names of the people of Germanie For the first name that ever that people received were Tuyscones of Tuyscon one of Noes sonnes the first that ever was king and ruler over that country After that they were called Gambrivij then Ingheones after that Isteones Suevi and Vandali then also Thetanes Theutontes Vindelici Vandalisci after that Alemanni and last of all of the Romanes as some hold they were generally entearmed Germani So that by these it is plainly shown how almost all countries and nations have at diverse times been diversly and differingly called by the occasion of which many writers that have not indeed seriously and laboriously lookt into fragments of old and authentike fathers for the derivations and first originals of cities and countries have beene infected with some disease or other of ignorance and errour by reason of which daungerous sickenesse first creeping though not perceived into the heads of men learned and of authoritie it hath prooved universally mortall to all those that have not invoked the aid of that good Physician Industrie throughout all the world wheresoever And so now againe wee will returne to the place from whence we last of all set forth which was from the matters and particulars which we handled of king Tuscus sole ruler and commaunder of all the countrey of Italy of whose actions or memorable atcheevements there is little read in any authors onely it is writ that hee first invented the order and dignitie of the Palladian knighthood and instituted large priviledges and allowances for the maintainance of that new found ceremonie And of any matter else which might challenge unto it selfe worth and extraordinarie commends done and performed by him few or no hystorians have written onely hee left after him his son Altheus inheritor rightfull successor to his government and kingdome Altheus then the son of Tuscus began to take upon him the rule and commaund of Italie presently after the death of his deceased father which was the fourth yeare after the death of his grandfather Hercules in Spaine who as you have heard left inheritour unto him Hesperus the brother of Atlas for the governement of that countrey which Hesperus had not there long reigned but hee was expulsed and driven out of his countrey by violent and oppressive meanes by his brother Atlas the gyant surnamed Italus so that now hee was enforced to forsake the countrey and to flie into Italie in one part of which hee afterward commaunded and called it after his own name Hesperia which name it long time afterwards retained After this Atlas Italus not contented sufficiently with the principalitie and dominion of Spaine as overambitiously thoughted came also into Italie and overswayed by his mightinesse and power al the country round about and created and established himselfe king ruler therof and called all the countrey generally after his owne name Italia by which it is at this day called
lived Ianus then taking upon himselfe the kingdome of Italy which was now two hundred threescore and twelve yeares after the floud he began like a carefull governour to root out and seperate the infectious sheepe out of the whole flocke least with their impurities all should be corrupted and so hee chose out a certaine number of people which were tainted with the vices of their commaunder that last ruled and which people were called Aborigenes commanded them to depart out of the country over the river Tybre first called Ianiculum which thing they performed and demaunded for their queene and governesse Crana Noes daughter which hee also graunted them and he appointed a kingdome and government for them and they were as is alreadie said called Aborigines those which were left in Italie were called Ianigines after his owne name He had not long rained here but he caused to bee built on this side of the river Tybre towards Tuscania a marvellous great cittie on the top of a high mountaine which he then called Ianiculum after that Vaticanum and since the towne of S. Peter of Rome and it was seated on the same place which at this day S. Peters church standeth upon as also the Popes pallace called at this day in Italian Belvedere which is as much as The faire sight Round about those countries to the river Arnus which passeth through Florence to the bounds of Sardinia did Noe cause to bee inhabited and made populous in those daies wherein also he built and erected many most beautifull cities which he called Aryn Ianas id est ex Iano exaltatas and hee began then also to write and set downe lawes and institutions for the civile administration of justice and government of Commonweales which he first prescribed in the citie of Vetulonia called since Viterbe and instructed the people also in the sciences of Physicke Astronomie and Divinitie and in the ceremonious rites and customes belonging to holy sacrifices and of these also he made many and severall bookes It hath beene mentioned before how that upon Noes last departure out of Armenia hee constituted and established his nephew Sabatius Saga surnamed Saturne to rule as King and Patriarke over that countrey wherein he afterward raigned peaceably even untill the time of the raigne of Iupiter Belus the sonne of Nembroth the second king of Babilon who yeelding unto his disordinat desires and coveting to command as sole Monarch of the whole world was the first violater infringer of the ordinances appointed in those daies and by whose means the golden age afterward lost such her title and never since was called so for before such his over haughtie humors all things were peaceable common free This Iupiter endevored by all devises possible to overturne the greatnesse of Sabatius Saga surnamed Saturne and commanded also his sonne Ninus to undertake all meanes how to bring him and his family to death and destruction which thing they jointly effectuated so far as hardly escaped hee the snares and subtilties laid to entrap him Saturne therefore seeing himselfe in those daungers and casualties to be deprived of all dignitie and commaund for succour and refuge fled unto his grandfather Noe there hoping to bee protected safe guarded and defended which thing also Virgil thus remembreth Primus ab ethereo venit Saturnus Olimpo Virgil. Whereupon Poets feign that Saturne was banisht heaven by Iupiter arma Iovis fugiens regnis exul ademptis Noe according to the expectation of Saturn friendly entertained him gave him many gracious signes of his welcome wished arrivall and for to honour him the more and to shew the effects of his friendship and good will towards him created him the Commaunder King and Patriarke of the Aborigenes whom lately wee specified and there caused him also to build a citie which hee called after his owne name Saturnia hard by that of Ianus called Ianiculum in which very place at this day one part of Rome which lieth on the other side of the river Tybre standeth and is erected as Virgil also in his Eneidos mentioneth Virgil. where he bringeth in Aeneas speaking to Evander saying Haec duo preterea disiectis opida muris Reliquias veterum vides monumenta virorum Ianiculum huic fuerat illi Saturnia nomen Ianus then and Saturne thus raigning together Titea the great Noes wife began in those times first to set up the order of Nuns and ceremonies of Vestall virgins inventing then the setting up of lights and lampes in the churches and temples dedicated to the profession of virginitie and chastitie which custome was in those daies very reverently regarded and endured in great honor and reputation even unto the time of the Romanes Saturne likewise very painefully instructed the people in tillage and in the nature of soiles wherein he had great skill and knowledge as also in the ceremonies of religion and not long after having instituted his sonne Sabus to bee the successor to the kingdome of the Sabines and Aborigenes he died in the three hundred and fortie fourth yeare after the inundation of the world In the very same yeare also Noe Ianus finding perceiving his end to approch and that now his lustinesse and vigour of spirits began to shrinke and decrease created one of his sonnes called Cranus the King and Patriarke over the Ianigenes which are now called Tuscanes and the sixt yeare after departed this life and gave up to his maker his noble and heroicke spirit which was after he had raigned in Italie fourescore and two yeares and after the floud three hundred fortie six yeares before the foundation of Troy foure hundred and fourescore and before the incarnation of Christ one thousand nine hundred threescore and seven yeares and in the age of the same Noe nine hundred and fiftie The death of this good King and Patriarke possessed almost all the people in the world with great sorrow and lamentation and especially the Armenians and Italians who in most honorable manner celebrated his obsequies with such their then used rites and ceremonies and afterward dedicated and attributed unto him divine honours and godlike adoration building and consecrating temples and holy aultars unto him calling him by divers and severall names and titles as the Sun the Heaven the Seed of the world the Father of the gods the Soul of the world the God of peace the giver of justice and holinesse the expulser of things hurtfull also their children and successours called him Ianus Geminus Quadrisons Enoirius Ogyges Vertumnus Vadymon Protheus Multisors Diespiter and Iupiter and they invented all manner of honours and straunge worships to reverence and adore him they also shaped foorth his picture into diverse formes and fashions sometimes setting him foorth with two faces to signifie thereby his wisdome upon every matter and every occasion sometimes also with foure faces to denotate therby that he was the god of the yeare for that he had so devided it into four
subtill and leaving the governement of the kingdome of Aegypt to the queene Isis carying along with him some of his aforesaid children he taketh a long and wearisome journy The cheefe place of commaund in all his armie hee appointed unto his eldest son Hercules of Lybia who upon his escutchion and armes bare depainted the shape of a crowned Lion rampant holding in his forefeet a mightie hatchet His two other brothers Anubis and Macedon caried defigured on their shields the one a Dog the other a Wolfe according to the signification of their names The armes of the Emperour Osyris was a royall scepter and under that the forme of an eye as who searcheth the monuments of antiquitie may there find it out by which is perceived how auncient an usage the giving of armes is and how to bee respected And in those times all good and just princes were called gods as Pan Apollo Iupiter and infinit others with their goddesses muses and nymphs This mightie powerfull and gallant armie thus gathered together the Emperour Osyris proceedeth in his entended voyage and therein compasseth round the whole universall earth his first resistance was upon his entering into Affrica where was opposed against him the Gyant Antheus but him he presently overthrew After that hee quietly passed into India and Aethyopia where hee did great good in instructing the poore ignorant people in the true knowledge of necessarie nutriment and victuals telling them the manner how to governe and command with policie justice and equitie Here also hee subdued many most ougly and fierce Gyants full of crueltie and bloud who generally with their greatnesse had tyrannized over all those countries of Asia He slew the tyrant Busiris of Phoenicia which used to sacrifice men and women unto the gods After this hee arrived in Phrygia and there also subjugated the Gyant Typhon in whose commaund and place he established one of his owne sonnes ruling there beeing the place where Troy afterward was erected From thence hee came by long passages into this part of the world being Europe through the streights of the sea called Hellespont since called the arm of S. George deviding Grecia from Turkie At this time ruled in Thracia which is that part of Greece where Constantinople is erected a most horrible tyrant and inhumane Gyant called Lycurgus who now denied passage through his countrey unto Osyris and at the first fiercely resisted his approches but in the end in gallant fight he slew him with his owne hands and remained victor and sole commaunder of that countrey which afterwards he resigned to one of his owne followers called Maron being a young and valiant prince From thence he passed into another province called Emathia in which also ruled many bloudie and cruell Gyants all which hee cleane extirpated destroyed and subdued setling the countrey in peaceable quietnesse and security over which he appointed to be commaunder one of his own sonnes before spoken of called Macedon who afterwards called that countrey after his owne name Macedonia and the people Macedonians of whom descended and issued the everfamous conquerour Alexander the great Out of this countrey the Emperour Osyris presently departed and came into the Isle of Crete now called Candia where he vanquished the Gyant Milinus a tyrannicall and soure governour yet hee appointed his sonne in whome good hopes appeared of good governement to be king of the said Island From these parts he returned again into Grecia and so to Scythia now called Tartaria where he found his eldest son the great Hercules of Lybia in prosperous estate who at this instant was extreamely enamoured of a ladie called Araxa by whom afterwards he begat a sonne called Tuscus which long after was king of Italie and of whome descended king Dardanus the first founder and builder of Troy From Tartaria the mightie Emperour Osyris surnamed Iupiter Iustus and his sonne Hercules are now departed and in short space arived in Hungarie and so came into Almaign or Germanie even unto the floud of Duno not farre from the famous river of Rhyne where finding the country something populous he made some stay and residence painefully instructing them in the sowing of corne and planting of vines and builded also in this place diverse villages and cities of whom hee beeing also surnamed Apis the mighty house of the Counts of Hasbourgh in Germanie tooke her name from which hath issued the noble and illustrious house of Austria since in great power and greatnesse exceedingly flourishing He also there gave the names unto the cheefest hils mountaines thereabouts whereof at this day some are called Appenini And from thence hee passed into Italie which presently shall be further showne and as that very ancient authour affirmeth Cathon whom wee call Cathon the auncient saying Aurea et as usque ad Apina deorum Italiae ultimum c. In these times there reigned in Germanie a prince called Gambrivius the vij king of the Germanes descended from the house of Tuyscon the Gyant the first king of that countrey and the sonne of Noe. With this prince the emperour Osyris made long residence and was roially feasted and entertained as being indeed near in kinred and consanguinitie who accordingly received him and his traine with great joy and gladnesse The countrey of Italie about this time was extreamly opprest with the tyrannie bloudie fashions of infinit numbers of Gyants that therabouts then lived called Titans insomuch as the people of the countrey not able longer to tollerate and endure those such slavish impositions and unsufferable tyrannies hearing of the fame and late arrivall of the Emperour Osyris into Germanie sent their messengers or embassadours unto him most humbly craving and desiring his favourable assistance and protection against those barbarous and uncivile oppressors and that he would make a journy thither to deliver them from the miserable servitude bondage that they then were forced to abide and live in The Emperor Osyris or Iupiter hearing and accepting of their distressed condition and case willingly condescended to leave Germanie and to undertake a voyage thither to redresse and suppresse their wrongs and the Gyants super-arrogant pride glory and haughtinesse which although they were of kinred and alliance unto him yet in respect of their uncivile and tyrannicall usances he instantly proceeded to the redressement thereof and in three severall battels utterly overthrew vanquisht and discomfited them and thereupon tooke upon him the governement of the principalitie of Italie which long before his father Cham and his grandfather Noe were also possessed of and hee commaunded and ruled over the Italians for the space of eleven yeares where for the most part hee remained in the citie of Viterbe called also Vetulonia and at the end of eleven yeares in great triumph joy and glorie instituted his nephew Lestrigon the Gyant the son of his son Neptune king commander ruler over all the countrey of Italie But for so much as in this booke mention is made
oftentimes of strange and horrible Gyants other rare and admirable things the reader may perhaps remain incredulous and scarse beleeve them to bee true accounting them wholly fabulous and by invention fashioned yet to alleadge some authoritie for the confirmation therof leaving out infinite other examples of infallible certainetie you only shall be referred to the holy scriptures and also unto Iosephus the Iewish writer who amply hath handled the apologie therof among the rest Nembroth Golias and others are apparent that they were Gyants and of unusuall stature strength proportion of bodie If the authoritie of Boccace may be accepted he thus writeth of himselfe In my time sayth hee there was found under the foot and hollow caverne of a mountaine not far from the citie of Deprana in the Isle of Sicilia the bodie of a marvellous huge and strange proportioned Gyant which seemed to hold in one of his hands a mightie long peece of wood like unto the bodie of a young tree or the mast of a ship which so soone as it was touched fell all into ashes and dust but it was all garnisht wrought about with lead which remained sound and firm it was found to weigh five hundred pound weight his bodie also being touched consumed and became all pouder and ashes except certaine of his bones and three of his teeth which were also peized and every tooth weighed fortie ounces For the height and full stature of his bodie it was conjectured by the people of that countrey to be two hundred cubits long And the same authour sayth That his teeth were afterwards hanged up in our ladies church of Deprana for a straunge monument and a thing of wonderfull admiration In many other places are the bones of gyants that lived in those daies kept and preserved for woonders and reliques of memorie but yet not of so uncouth and almost incredible hugenesse but leaving these matters to bee further ruminated by the scrupulous I will returne to our maine intendment proceeding till I have further explaned the obscuritie thereof These things above spoken of being atchieved by Osyris against those Gyants and molesters of civile conversation he departed out of Italie with all his royall armie singularly well prepared and in gallant equipage accompanied with gods heroes demie gods and martialists that is with all valiant courageous and wise princes rulers and captaines and it is not written whether in this his journey he passed through Gaule now called Fraunce or went that way by sea but hard by the continent hee coasted in which then ruled one Lucus king of that famous countrey but howsoever he journeied hee now is strived in Spaine where once againe hee renued mortall battels against the Tytans which were mightie Gyants and cousins to those he before discomfited in Italie these also hee now subdueth and quite raseth out all their generation leaving the governement of that countrey to the commaund of Gerion And from thence he againe sayled into Greece and arived in the province of Peloponnesus now called Morea and hee there setled himselfe and ruled in the citie of Arges for the space of five and thirtie yeares as it is written by Eusebius in his booke of Time After this he createth his sonne Egialus king of Achaia Eusebius and so returneth againe into Aegypt there to spend his latter daies with his wife and sister Isis surnamed Iuno who tooke such his comming home in full joyous acceptance and gladsome pleasingnesse By this time all the world had beene filled with the report of Osyris great fame and worthinesse unto whom were ascribed and given many titles names of triumph as Iupiter Iustus Dux Rex Consultor Cuius regnum perpetuum est habitatio in Olympo all which were cleane contrary to those wherewith his father Cham was entituled Being thus returned into his countrey of Aegypt hee caused in many and severall parts and corners thereof to bee erected certaine columnes and high pillars in which he commaunded to bee cut out and engraved for the preservation and memorie of his name and glory these following lines Diodorus Siculus as Diodorus Siculus repeateth them Mihi pater Saturnus deorum olim iunior sum vero Osyris rex qui vniversum peragravi orbem usque ad Indorum desertos fines ad eos quoque sum profectus qui arcto subjacent Istri fontes usque Oceanum sum Saturni filius antiquior germen ex pulchro generoso ortum cui genus non semen fuit nec fuit in orbe locus quem non adinerim docens ea quorum inventor fui After hee thus was quietly seated in his kingdome of Aegypt his brother Typhon the Aegyptian who in all villanie mallice followed the humors of his father Cham began now to repine and envie at the glorie and fortune of the Emperor Osyris in so much as he fell into a present conspiracie with many other mallicious Gyants for the death and destruction of him and of his greatnesse which hee most traiterously prosecuted so far as in the end by subtill and craftie practises he entrapped him who was by him and the rest of the Gyants cruelly murdered and torn in peeces whose bodie they divided and had hewne out into six and twentie peeces whereof every Gyant had a share and part as a reward and satisfaction for such their bloudie and victorious stratageme but afterwards these parts of his bodie were found out and gathered together againe by the meanes of his wife Isis and buried with their right honor and due solemnitie whom after his death the Aegyptians held worshipped as a god as also the children of Israel did the like in the desart Boccace sayth That hee was called also Serapis and that the auncient Poets tearmed him likewise Dionysius Liber Pater and Bacchus and that hee was the first that ever triumphed which was in the first voyage hee made into the Indies and that the invention of garlands and crownes was by him devised Our authour Berosus by his collections seemeth to alleadge That this Emperour Osyris was thus slaine in the prime and flower of his age having attained onely unto three hundred yeares for he was borne about the time of Ninus the third king of Babylon and died in the raign of Baleus the Babylonians eleventh king by which it is very apparent what woonderfull long time men in those ages did live His wife Isis survived him two hundred and fourescore yeares as hereafter shall bee mentioned who after that shee had with all fit ceremonies and rites performed the funerals of her murdered husband began nowe to thinke upon the actors thereof and to meditate upon revenge and direfull practises whereupon she convocateth all her children and nephewes and inciteth them to the embracement of this her attempt and action against the horrible murderers of her newly enterred husband To be short they condiscend to her motion and in the field encounter with Typhon and his associates and in
of with that mettall which those silver mines so produced and afterwards enriched their countrey therewith in most abundant and plentifull manner and by the reason of these fires those hils were afterwards entearmed and called Montes Pyrenaei for Pyr in Greeke signifies Feu in French and fire in English But to returne from whence we digressed This royall king Iupiter Celtes which before wee remembered had one onely daughter which hee prized and endeared as his cheefest good who exceeded all other ladies in the world in proportion and stature and in the graces of naturall beautie and for that she was of so extraordinarie and large talnesse shee was in those daies held among those people a Gyantesse This ladie whether proud of her own goodly features or chast in her cogitations could not by any meanes bee brought to affect any man whatsoever living neither would her father consent to any match or mariage that might be occasion to take her from his sight and the fruition of her so desired presence untill the comming of this so far-famoused and renowned Hercules of Lybia of whose great worthinesse and straunge performances they had largely heard they of themselves intertained a new thought and were easily induced upon the first sight of his personage which was majesticke and of wondrous grace to unite their house with one of so noble demerit and of so generall fame Hercules likewise became so far ensnared with the gallant beautie big proportion and equisit perfections of Galathea for so was the ladie called that he instantly discovered the motions of his affections and love towards her which were reciprocally embraced and kindly entertained so that there rested onely the consummation of the nuptials which were presently after performed with all maner of solemnization and rites of ceremonies observed in those dayes Not long after the mariage of the Giantesse Galathea unto Hercules her father Iupiter Celtes died who for his vertuous life and good governement was held in that reputation esteeme reverence among those people that ever since that day the third part of all that countrey of France is called after his own name Celtica After him succeeded his sonne in law Hercules and tooke upon him the commaund and governement of the countrey of Fraunce living peaceably and prosperously with his wife Galathea many yeares and taught also the people new courses how to live better customes and fashions of behavior controlling them for their rude and uncivile manners and wholly depressing a most inhumane and impious order they had of sacrificing poore strangers unto their gods this hee abolished and wholly extinguished enjoyning streight lawes punishments for the violaters and infringers of such his commaundement herein Not long after he built and erected a most gallant and mightie citie which hee caused to bee seated on a high mountaine of that countrey which now is called by the name of the Dutchie of Burgundie betweene Authun Langres which citie he called Alexia which interpreted signifies conjunctive or uniting to shew that there were two noble houses of straunge countries conjoined and made one This citie afterwards flourished in great glorie and puissance and especially in the times of Iulius Caesar before which hee himselfe with a most strong armie lay begirting the same with a most strict hard siege at which time the giving of the flowers de Luces in Fraunce tooke his originall as Iulius Caesar himselfe in his seventh booke of his Commentaries affirmeth But at this present that once gallant and glorious citie of Alexia is but a mean village and of small account in the countrey of Lauxois not far from Flauigny The great citie of Alexia thus in those daies peopled inhabited and fortified by the great Hercules the king of Gaule after some orders and institutions appointed for the good governance and managing of all things whatsoever at home hee proceedeth in his entended voyage for Italie and for that expedition raised a mightie and powerfull armie with which after hee had taken his leave of his wife Galathea and of his young sonne Galatheus now aged about foure yeares or thereabouts he progresseth to the effectuating of his first entendment and presently enters into the territories of the Allobroges which countrey is now called Savoy and there with main force of many hands and laborious souldiours hee maketh his passage through those wondrous high rockie mountains in all ordinarie sence and opinion then inaccessible and not to be passed but as the extreame industrie and painfulnesse of worke bringeth all difficult things in the end to obedience and commaund of art so these undisgested heapes of stubborne stones and rockes were forced at the last to give way unto his armie so far that all their horses and baggage whatsoever found a very plaine and easie passage From thence he descended and came into Italy where he fully revenged himselfe of those inhumane and lawlesse Gyants which were the death of his owne father Iupiter Iustus and after all tumults quieted and the resistants subdued hee fell to prescribe lawes to the people and to instruct them very carefully in matters of civile association orderly living where we will for a while leave him and once againe betake our selves more particularly to entreat of the first originall inhabitation of France to begin with which it must of necessitie be drawn by the lineall succession and discent of father to son even unto that Iupiter Celtes and this Hercules of Lybia wee so lately remembred It hath beene in the beginning of this booke related how in the hundred yeare after the universall inundation and deluge of al things whatsoever which were contained in the wide embracement of the world the good father and Patriarke Noe made his first voyage and put foorth from Armenia with all those his children nephewes and kinsfolkes to discover unto them the situation of many other countries then unknowne and that hee first passed over the Ponticke sea and so to the arme of the sea Mediterraneum coasting along the continent about all those quarters of purpose to shew unto his children the devision of the world and Cosmographically to instruct them in the situation of each severall countrey as they stood and were inhabited before the floud and after that to proportionize unto his three first begotten sonnes every one his share and allowance for his rule commaund and domination as hath been before alreadie spoken of And in these his travels hee brought also along with him many sorts of beasts cattell hearbes and other such things that were availeable for the encrease and maintenance of humane life and with every one of his children or kinsfolke left a certaine allowance of such things there to multiply and engender In this his first perigrination he came into Gaule and so into Italie where after hee had spent some time hee returned backe into Armenia about the tenth yeare he had set forth from thence by which it may bee gathered that Gaule was
first inhabited and peopled in the hundred and eight yeare after the generall floud After this his returne into Armenia having there rested himselfe some one and twentie yeares hee began to invent the foundations of great citties and to establish kingdomes and siegnories throughout the world so that in the hundred and two and thirtieth year after the deluge he first erected and appointed the monarchie of the Babylonians of which the first king was called Nembroth Noes cousin and about the thirteenth yeare of the raigne of this Nembroth hee instituted and established for the king of the Gaules one other of his kinsmen called Samothes surnamed Dis the fourth sonne of Iaphet a man very wise and well governed Samothes therefore accordingly tooke his leave of the Patriarke Noe his grandmother Titea of his father Iaphet and of his mother Noegla and the rest of his kindred and set forward toward his kingdome and governement with all expedition possible carying along with him diverse sorts of cattell poultrey and other things necessarie for the maintaining and conservation of mankind which kind of things were all the riches treasures that men desired to possesse in those daies and thus with all his traine familie and followers hee taketh shipping in the sea called Marc major and in the end by the favorable assistance of prosperous winds he arrived within the confines of Gaule which was some seven thirtie yeares after his first being there with his grandfather Noe and about eightscore and foure yeares after the deluge by which it may bee understood That this Samothes the fourth sonne of Iaphet was little lesse than seven score yeares of age when he now last visited the countrey Samothes therfore now entred into his own kingdome with his wife children and followers and also his horses kine and other things necessarie began to settle himselfe therein and to give out edicts and breefe commaunds what he would have done and performed in this his countrey which was done in the yeare after the floud above written and about two thousand fourescore and thirteene yeares before the incarnation of our Lord Iesus Christ The countrey was very much peopled by this time and great encreases of all other things there were found upon his now comming for it was now seven and thirty yeares past since Noe left people there first to inhabit and multiplie which in such a time grew to great abundance of all things whatsoever His welcome and entertainement was wonderous gladly accepted of those people and men of the countrey who acknowledged him as their Lord their Patriarke their cheefe and their Saturne which names in those daies were given as titles only of honor excellence and dignitie as Zenophon in his Aequivocals also sayth Saturni dicuntur familiarium nobilium regum qui urbes condiderunt Primogeniti eorum vocantur Ioves Iunones vero Nepotes eorum Hercules fortissimi cetera It may now very well bee imagined that those people having so long time lived without a governour king or particular commaunder must of necessitie bee very rude uncivile obstinat and barbarous living onely according to the lawes of Nature and following their owne wils desires and concupiscence Yet notwithstanding Samothes by faire and gentle demeanures mild cariages so woon their hearts unto him that they became easily reclaimed and brought to be docible and obedient to what precepts or commaunds were imposed upon them and upon this hee devised lawes and ordinances for domesticke conversation which he caused to bee made plaine unto the people who at the first something wondered at so straunge alterations having so many yeares together lived without any cheefe or any lawes to curbe or bridle their naturall fantasies and disordinat affections And these lawes were made in the fourth yeare of the raigne of Ninus the third king of Babylon at what time also Tuyscon the Gyant his uncle king of Almaigne and Tuball king of Spaine did the like instructing their people very industriously in the rules of Philosophie Physicke and Astronomie which they themselves had learned of their grandfather Noe and their father Iaphet And if it bee here demaunded what kind of writings they then used Berosas doth answere that they were certaine Phoenician characters letters which also were used in Armenia which were very like unto those which Cadmus long time after brought from Phoenicia into Greece and therefore Iulius Caesar in his sixt booke of Commentaries sayth That the Gaules did use in those times Greeke letters for their manner of writing but undoubtedly those characters were found long time before they were ever knowne in Greece as Zenophon and many other authors confidently doe affirme Samothes surnamed Dis living thus in all tranquilitie and peaceable securitie among his people ceased not dayly to possesse their hearts with strong opinions of the worth and value of learning for it is written that hee was the wisest and most learned prince in the world in those times as Berosus also alloweth when he thus sayth Samothes qui Dis vocatur Celtas colonias fundavit nec erat quis etate illa isto sapientior ac propterea Samothes dictus est Among other his rules of Philosophie and learning one was beeing the cheefest hee taught the people That the soules of men were immortall which before they hardly beleeved as men dwelling in the shade of ignorance and invelloped with darke mists of errour After he had thus established lawes and ordinances for the good governement of his country and all his people enjoying peaceably the fruits of quietnesse after the end of seven and fortie yeares he rendered up unto Nature that debt which could not be any longer kept backe and detained and left his eldest sonne called Magus inherit or unto his kingdome and governement which was in the one and fiftieth yeare of the raigne of Nynus the third king of Babylon and when his father Samothes had commaunded that countrey sevenscore five yeares being at his death about three hundred yeares of age or much thereabout This Samothes was of that esteeme in those dayes and so generally reverenced and loved for his vertues through all that countrey that the Gaulois or Frenchmen even unto the time of Iulius Caesar boasted and gloried of nothing so much as that they were descended and issued from him so highly was he possest of the peoples hearts in the greatest opinion of truest love the which thing also Iulius Caesar in the sixt booke of his Commentaries more copiously remembreth In his time also the sects of Philosophie first tooke their beginning and originall in Europe and were called Samothees which were men studied and expert in all letters humane and divine contrarie to the opinion of many who write that Greece was the first mother and bringer forth of arts and sciences But Diogenes Laertius in the beginning of his booke entituled The lives of the Philosophers contradicteth those suppositions saying Philosophiam à Barbaris initia sumpsisse complures
auctores asserunt constat enim apud Persas claruisse Magos apud Babilonios Assirios floruisse Caldeos apud Celtas Gallos Druidas qui Samothei dicuntur Magus the eldest sonne of the Patriarke and Saturne Samothes surnamed Dis began now to take upon him the rule and commaund of this his countrey so left unto him by rightfull succession from his father in the three hundred yeare after the floud after the nativitie of the Patriarke Abraham eight yeares and before the birth of Christ two thousand and seventeene yeares This Magus was a prince of great wisedome learning and judgement and also a great builder as the interpretation of his name delivereth us for this word Magus in the Scythian toung signifieth a builder or erecter and in the Persian language a Philosopher or a wise man And Berosus in his booke of Time thus sayth of him Nini LI. anno apud Celtas regnavit Samothis filius Magus à quo oppida plurima posita sunt in ea regione by which it may be gathered that hee was the first that ever in that country caused any villages cities townes or houses to bee built and erected for before that time men lived altogether in the fields under the umbrages of trees and covertures of some pleasant groves Iohannes Annius di Viterba in his Commentaries upon Berosus sayth That this word Magus signifieth in that tongue which first was used in that countrey of Gaule as much as a pallace house or mansion which opinion challengeth unto it selfe the stronger probabilitie for that with Ptolomie in his Cosmographie you shall find that most of the most auncient townes in that country ended with this word Magus as in Aquitaine Noviomagus in the province of Lyons Neomagus in Gallia Belgica Rhotomagus which is now the citie of Roan in Normandie there is also Berbetomagus Vindomagus and many others whose names doe end in this word Magus as also Nimegham in Guelderland was called likewise Noviomagus By all these instances it is made apparent that this Magus the sonne of Samothes Magus king of Fraunce the first that ever built townes in that country and caused them to be inhabited was the first that reduced gathered together the people of that countrey into villages townes and boroughs And further either of his life or the certaine time or continuance of his raigne and governement it hath not been by any allowed author or ancient writer capitulated After Magus succeeded one of his sons called Sarron Sarron king of Fraunce the first foūder of Vniversities the third king of Fraunce who excelled in the studie of letters and governed his people with great mildnes clemencie and uprightnesse and he was the first that erected universities or publicke schooles of learning and of him also came a sect of Philosophers called Sarronides as Diodorus Siculus in his sixt booke of Antiquities affirmeth thus saying Sunt apud Celtas Theologi ac Philosophi quos vocant Sarronidas qui precipue ab eis coluntur nam moris est apud illos nullum absque Philosopho sacrificium facere c. For in those daies Philosophers and men of learning were regarded with great reverence zeale and gracious respect and nothing there of any import was concluded or agreed upon without their privities consent or aduise therein Vnto the kingdome of Fraunce after Sarron came Drijus Sarrons eldest sonne unto whom Berosus ascribeth this title Apud Celtas Drijus peritiae plenus Hee began to raigne foure hundred and tenne yeares after the generall deluge which was about two hundred five fiftie yeares after the first foundation and inhabitation of the kingdome of Fraunce Hee was deepely seene in principles of Philosophie very skilfull in many other sciences And it is very credibly delivered by many very grave and learned writers that he built the cittie of Dreux in Normandie and that of his name came the sect of Philosophers which were called Druydes which were wondrous learned Divines Augurers Magicians and Sacrificers but such their oblations and sacrifices in these their dayes of blindnesse were performed with such inhumane and ungodly fashions with the effusion and shedding of human bloud in that lamentable and cruell manner as is too straunge to be reported which unnaturall and impious custome was abolished and cleane put downe by the first Romane Emperours Augustus and Divus Claudius as Suetonius Tranquilius Iulius Caesar and Plinie more directly have particularized the same After the death of this king Drijus his sonne called Bardus raigned in his place was the fift king of France This Bardus was the first deviser and inventor of rimes songs and Musicke of whome the Poets and Rhethoricians first tooke their sect which were called also Bardes Bardus king of Fraunce first invētor of Poetrie as Diodorus Siculus in his sixt booke more at large remembreth And these Poets and singers were held in that reverenced regard in those times among those people that if upon the instant encounter of the battels of the enemies on both parts these Poets had stept and put themselves in betweene both the armies they had for that present time recalled their furious intendments and beene mollified with the pleasant persuasive tongues of these eloquent Rhethoricians and sweet-singing Poets as Berosus in one place sayth to the same purpose Etiam apud agrestiores barbaros ira cedit sapientiae Mars reveretur musas The debt due unto Nature being fully satisfied by this king Bardus for no quillit or evacuation whatsoever may avoid it his eldest sonne called Longho was called upon to undertake that which his father had left hereditarie unto him of whome no extraordinarie memorable thing is left by fame unto the sonnes of time nor any authoritie of any great antiquarie possesseth us with his worthinesse vertues or perfections it is only supposed that before his death he built the citie of Langres which we call in Latin Civitas Lingonensis And hee had a sonne called Bardus the younger which was the seventh king of Fraunce and began to commaund some three hundred and one and fortie yeares after the foundation and enpeopling of this countrey of Fraunce And it is very probable That of these two kings Longho and Bardus the first originall and beginning of the people called Lombards took their being and name for they are entearmed in Latine Longobardi which nation although at the first they were extracted and descended out of Almaign now called Germanie yet they bare domination and rule for the space of two hundred yeares and more in Italie even untill the time of king Charlemaine who absolutely deprived them of all commaund power and authoritie in that countrey round about The eight king of Fraunce was Lucus the sonne of Bardus the younger of whom it is written as Ptolomy and others doe affirme the people called Luces or Lucenses since inhabiting about the cittie of Paris tooke their name and originall Of him also writers have beene very sparing to
six before the erection of Troy five hundred thirtie and one and before the birth of Christ two thousand and sixteene yeares Marcus Varro And of this Iberus as Marcus Varro alleadgeth the countrey was generally called Iberia as it was afterwards Celtiberia of certaine people called Celtes inhabiting long after in Fraunce as many authentike hystorians doe affirme and of this king also the river Iberus tooke her name Solynus and was so called This floud as Solynus Albertus Magnus and Diodorus Siculus averre beginneth his first Spring and taketh his head under the hils called Montes Pyrenaei which lately before we remembred and from thence runs winding and crooked like the shape of a serpent or snake through the promontorie of Feraria and so tumbleth downe amaine into the sea called Pelagus Beleare And this king Iberus raigned untill the three and thirtieth yeare of the rule of Semiramis which is about seven and thirtie yeares or much thereabouts as Eusebius accounteth it The third king of Spaine according to the opinion of most hystorians was Iubalda of whose name the hill called Iubalda was so called as Berosus affirmeth although in Ptolomie it is written Iubeda Ptolomie and by the successions of times corruptibly Gybaltar by which name at this time the countrey doth acknowledge it This Iubalda began to enter into his kingdome in the foure and thirtieth year of the raign of Semiramis from the worlds inundation three hundred thirtie six from the birth of the holy Patriarke Abraham foure and fortie from the first inhabitation of Spain two hundred wanting seven years before the building of Troy foure hundred fourescore and foure yeares and before the birth of our Saviour Christ one thousand nine hundred fourescore and one yeares And in this kings raigne the ever-famoused Hercules of Lybia was borne which was before the birth of the Grecian Hercules of whom so many grave authors have written and beene deceived almost seven hundred yeares of the difference of which because it hath bred such an incurable skar of error among very learned and old writers I think it shall not be much impertinent in this place something to particularize Of the number therefore of those men which were called by the name of Hercules Varro Varro and many other authors alleadge to bee at the least three and fortie severall names but the most famous renowmed were only two of which the first and most worthie was called Egiptius Thebanus or Hercules Licicus the second Alcaeus Graecus the son of Alcmena and Amphitrio as Diodorus Siculus Herodotus and many others affirme who report also That there was a temple in Phoenicia built and dedicated unto the first Hercules many years before the comming of this Hercules Graecus the son of Amphitrio and that also long after both these two with the ancient Grecians were held and worshipped in great reverence and adoration but the one of them being Hercules Egiptius say they was adored as a god the other but as a mightie and famous conquerour Cicero in his booke entituled de natura Deorum setteth downe this Hercules also as a god as Macrobius also and many others have opinionated the same Diodorus Siculus in his first booke confidently alleadgeth That this Hercules Graecus had not to name Hercules which signifies heartie but that his proper name was Alceus and also Heraclius which interpreted signifies Iunonis gloria which opinion likewise Herodotus consenteth with when in his second booke of hystories hee affirmeth that this word Hercules is not a Greeke word but of the Aegyptian language and that the Grecians afterwards stole it from the right owner thereof and unworthily attributed it unto this Alceus the sonne of Amphitrio which thing also Eusebius maintaineth and sayth That those famous and gallant exploits wherewith the world was so long possessed and caried such universall admirations among all men were misplaced and bestowed on a straunger that came not neare the true merit and worthinesse of him whom it truly concerned thereby cleane exempting excepting this Alceus Amphitrios sonne from all interrest or right unto any these so high and wonder-worthy performances as only particular and belonging unto this noble Hercules Egiptius or Libicus the sonne of Osyris called Iupiter Iustus as Diodorus Siculus Berosus Moyses also certainly doe report Vnto him also the people of Lybia consecrated many triumphes ceremonious observances and generall feasts as one for his valour and vertues honored and worshipped amongst them as a mighty and powerful god so were they blinded from the true sight and understanding of knowledge in those times of darknesse error and superstition And these people were first called Phutei or Phaetontei as Iosephus and Iheronimus in his tenth chapter upon the booke of Genesis affirmeth Vnto this Hercules of Lybia were adjoyned also all these names according to the Aegyptian tongue Her Hercol Arno Musarno and Ar of which hereafter occasion will present it selfe further to expound and more largely to speake of but it is most unfallibly certaine that this Hercules Egiptius or Libicus was long before the times of the so much renowmed Hercules of Greece who indeed according to the writings of very many grave and learned authors deserved not the least part of so many glorious praises and titles of honour as the flattering and selfe-pleasing conceits of the Grecians have so amply and prodigally ascribed unto him for he is by many authors set downe no other but a very pyrate on the sea a robber and bloudie oppressor where he could find out any bootie or advauntage to shew his power wil and mightinesse much unlike the proceedings that victorious and vertuous conqueror Hercules of Lybia to approve which to be no detraction but memorious notes of forepassed learned writers Manethon that famous Priest and Hystorian of Aegypt thus sayth Constat hunc Herculem Graecum dolo non bello Laumedontem nil eiusmodi suspicantem occidisse primum ex maximis piratis extitisse quanquam virum divino admirabilirobore preditum c. Whereby it is very apparent by this authoritie and many others of like worth and antiquitie that this Hercules the Grecian was but some famous robber or pyrate living for the most part among the Argonauts men excelling in warlicke discipline and armed with armours of yron and other like furnitures for the wars as Eusebius sayth Hercules Alceus affuit domito jam orbe legibus regibus formato instituto formidoloso ferro invento wheras contrariwise Hercules Egiptius lived in times of ignorance in respect of those knowledges when the use of armour or yron was unfound out the furie of warre not then felt and in times of new-rising tumults not as then ripened or growne to any head or maturitie His armour was the skins of wild beasts and such like accoustrements was he habited with which also is attributed unto Hercules Alceus as having a Lions skin and a great club in his hands but
the daughter of Atlas Italus king of Italie three children which are these Iasius Dardanus and Armonia Iasius being created Coritus and Patriarke of Italie his father being alive who also bestowed upon him the rule and kingdome of Fraunce as many hystoriographers affirm the next yeare after so that he became very mightie and powerfull in all those countries thereabouts And now we will proceed with the rest of the kings of Fraunce beginning where we last left of which was if it bee remembred at Galatheus the noble sonne of Hercules of Lybia and of his faire wife Galathea where it was then mentioned how this Galatheus at the hands of his loving brother Tuscus received the Island of Sicilia and accordingly caried with him people to inhabite and possesse the countrey which being performed he returned also back again into Fraunce as hath been likewise before somewhat touched after which time hee lived peaceably and quietly many yeares governing his people with great mildnesse and clemencie and yet mingled and accompanied with uprightnesse of justice and execution of his laws and edicts of whose deeds and performances more than are alreadie spoken of few or no writers have mentioned onely that of him and of his name the countrey generally was called Gaule and so continued and the people therof tearmed Gaulons which by corruption and overturning of many ages and times are now in some part of that countrey called Wallons and which before Galatheus were called Samothei or Celti And it is most likely by the conjecturall opinions of most writers that this king Galatheus remained and lived in those dayes for the most part in that part of Gaule which is now the province of Acquitaine which is so called of the abundance of waters and rivers wherein that countrey was wont to exceed and that this place was held to be the first and most auncient of all the other parts of Fraunce which indeed are onely two more for that the whole countrey of France is by most devided onely into three parts and they are called Gallia Acquinatica Celtica and Belgica which of themselves retaine and carie the very names of the first kings and rulers of them as before is something specified The cheefe citties and principall siegnories of Gallia Aquinatica The cheefe cities of Gallia Acquinatica are supposed and held to bee these as most auncient writers doe consent Narbon Thoulouse Caours Rodetz Lymoges Perigort Bourdeaulx Zainctes Augolesme Baione Clermont Bourges Tours Foix Lestore Allebreth Saint Pons Nantes Resnes Saint Malo and others The cheefest rivers and waters these Gironde Dordonne Garonne Loire Lalier Cher Charente many others now too long to recite After the death of the famous and most renowmed prince Galatheus his sonne Harbon tooke upon him the governement of the countrey and was established the twelfth king of Fraunce who presently erected and built a very gallant cittie for his seat and called it Harbonne after his owne name which is now called Narbonne as many authours doe affirme And of this king little or nothing is left written memorable or meriting a tedious commemoration or rehearsall onely hee left behind him a son called Lugdus which was now the thirteenth king of this countrey of Fraunce and who built the famous citie called Lugdunum called also Lyon which is now one of the cheefest and principallest cities of France and which hath long time flourished in great priviledges prerogatives and extraordinarie customes beeing a citie indeed tres-auncient and of long continuance and of her name all that province is called Lyonnoise which as some hold is contained within the bounds of Gallia Celtica and is the greatest and the cheefest part thereof The first foundation building of the cittie of Lyons in Fraunce And this citie of Lyons was first founded and erected by the same king Lugdus in the twelfth yeare of the raigne of Mancaleus the foureteenth king of Babylon which is as much to say as after the floud inundation of the whole world sixe hundred and fourescore yeares after the first inhabiting of Fraunce five hundred and sixteene yeares before the foundation of the cittie of Troy one hundred and fortie yeares and before the now famous citie of Paris was erected two hundred and twentie years before Rome was built five hundred threescore and eighteene yeares and before the incarnation and birth of our Saviour Christ a thousand sixe hundred seven and thirtie yeares or neare thereabouts And in the times of this king Lugdus arrived and came into Fraunce the queene Isis who was so famous and so renowmed throughout all the world After this Lugdus succeded his eldest sonne Belgius now the foureteenth king of that countrey whose name is yet even fresh in all mens memories for of his name that great and populous countrey called Gallia Belgica tooke her title and was so called of which as of the other we will now make some mention The cheefest rivers and waters thereof are these Lescault la Sambre le Lis le Rin Meuse and Moselle Saine Marne Somme le Daulx and others the cheefe woods and forrests these Mormault and Ardenne The highest hils and mountaines are the hill Saint Claude les Faucsilles and Vosegus The principall villages and greatest citties are these Cambray Vallenciennes Couloign Conflans Vtrecht Mayence Strasbourg Aix Constance Lyege Tournay Arras Amiens Beauvais Senlis Laon Noyon Soissons Meaulx Rouan Rains Metz Langres Besancon Salins Dole Losanne Geneve and Camberi The cheefe siegnories are these the Dukedomes of Iulliers Cleves Cheldes Brabant Lorraine Bar Lembourg and Luxembourg the counties Palatine Haynau Bourgoigne Ferretes Montbeliard Flaunders Artois Champaine Holland Zeland and Namur This king Belgius of whome all these gallant and most famous countries were thus called builded also the citie of Belges of which now only some ruines and reliques of memorie are left which are to be seene in the countrey of Haynau and which Iulius Caesar likewise in the sixteenth booke of his Commentaries doth mention remember where he calleth it Belgium This word Belgius as many old writers expound it signifieth in the Hebrew or Phenician language which toung the ancient Gauloys then used as much as An auncient god wrastling for in those times as I alreadie have spoken the people called their kings gods by which it may be gathered that this their king Belgius was a great wrastler unto which kind of exercise and unto the barriers the people inhabiting in Gallia Belgica did not long since wonderfully much addict themselves were very active and skilfull therein howsoever at this day those sports for the most part are now utterly left off and rejected S. Ierom sayth also That this word Belga signifieth in the Hebrew tongue An auncient commotion or an old strife and indeed heretofore those people of that country were much conversant in wars in troubles and dissentions and were held to bee the most valiant and strongest nation of this part of the world as Caesar also
citties of which some were those which were since called Piemont Savoy Proavnce Daulphine and others and which people of very late times if not at this day were called Allobroges and in this kings raigne was the farre-famed and mightie citie of Troy first built and erected To come unto the foundation of which wee must here in these affaires pause and take breath a while and returne unto Dardanus now on the sea tossed with uncertaine fortunes and tempest-beaten indeed with overblowing and cruell winds so that he remained in very great daunger and hazard to bee cast away and swallowed in the vast and mercilesse embracements of the all-wracking waters Enforced by these calamities hee was glad to put in at an Island of the Ciclades attending there the favourable smiles of Fortune and the abatement of those horrible and tempestuous stormes In the end hee put foorth againe and recovered the sea Archipelagus and went afterwards on shore in an Island in Greece called Samos or Samothrace according to that which the Poet Virgil in his eight booke of his Aeneidos sayth Arunculos ita ferre senec his ortus in agris Dardanus Ideas frigiae penetravit ad urbes Treiciamque Samum quae nunc Samothracia fertur This Island of Samos or Samothracia is directly opposite unto the countrey of Thrace in Greece where Constantinople is erected which heretofore abounded in all plenteous maner with Vines Olive trees Grapes and others such like fruit of most sorts and in this countrey also was the learned and famous Philosopher Pythagoras borne and one of the prophetesses called Sibeles Sameos but it is now the more to bee lamented in the tyrannous hands and possessions of the bloudie and barbarous Turke In this countrey Dardanus staied a good space before he laid the foundation of Troy hoping yet to bee recalled home againe into Italie but when hee perceived that all hopes were frustrate that were builded on such grounds hee putteth himselfe foorth to seeke out as yet his further fortunes which happened as hereafter shall breefely be unfolded It is to be understood that on the other side of the sea Helle sponte which is called also the streights leading unto Constantinople in the firme continent of a countrey called Asia Minor now called Natalia or Turkie and not far from the above written Island of Samos is a province called Lydia which heretofore was called also Meonia in the which countrey as also in those next and neare adjoyning thereunto called Phrygia raigned and governed at that time a prince called by the name of Athus the younger of the same bloud and parentage as was Dardanus for if it bee remembered we long since spake how Hercules of Lybia had a ladie to his wife called Omphale by whom hee begat a sonne called Athus the great of which Athus from discent to discent in foure generations came this Athus the younger king of Meonia and Phrygia and who had two sonnes also the one called by the name of Lydus the other Turâ—henus This king Athus having now upon the arrivall of Dardanus great abundance of people in his countrey by reason of fruitfull encreases and multiplications and having also but small store of victuals and food in his countrey to nourish and maintaine so populous a state for want of which great famines pestilences and other diseases arose in the countrey knew not almost how to dispose of his people or in what sort to remedie this mischeefe so that in the end hee was enforced by reason of that mortall famine to discharge many of his subjects out of the countrey to seeke out some new inhabitations and places of abode which thing also they wonderous willingly embraced as glad to be rid and quit of so penurious and starving a place Dardanus hearing and understanding of these proceedings and in what necessities they stood in by meanes of the overaboundance of inhabitants presently made his repaire to king Athus and there desired of him That since hee must needs send forth such people for the finding out of new places of habitations that he would bestow the charge conduct and leading of them upon him and that hee would joyne with them for the provisions and necessaries needfull and convenient for the setling of themselves in such their new places of abode residence and habitation This thing king Athus very willingly entertained especially for that Dardanus was of his owne kindred and consanguinitie This request and desire of Dardanus thus obtained hee knew no other meanes to requite so great a favour and to bee occasion to draw on further kindnesses but to offer unto Athus and utterly to resigne all his right title interrest and claime in the kingdome of Italie for one of his sonnes unto which of them the father pleased and was contented This profer of Dardanus beeing well considered of by king Athus was in the end thankefully accepted in lieu and exchaunge whereof was allowed unto Dardanus a certaine quantitie and peece of ground in Phrygia for him to build and erect a citie upon And betweene the two brethren Lydus and Turrhenus lots were indifferently cast which of them with a certaine number of people should set forward for Italie and which should stay at home for the deciding whereof it fell unto Lydus to remain behind and to be left inheritor unto that kingdome which afterwards of his name was called Lydia and that Turrhenus should bee presently dispatched away with his people to inhabite in Italie of whome afterwards also it was called by the name of Turrhena These covenants and agreements concluded upon Turrhenus setteth forward from Asia Minor now called Turkie in his journey for Italie and Dardanus with his people and associats began now to build in Phrygia and in short space fully finished and erected a citie which he called after his own name Dardania which was before the incarnation of Christ a thousand foure hundred fourescore and seven yeares before the building of Rome by Romulus foure hundred and seven and twentie yeares and before the citie of Paris was erected threescore and tenne yeares as Eusebius and most writers doe affirme On the other side Turrhenus is arrived in Italie and presently repaireth unto the queene Cibeles the widdow and late wife to Iasius Ianigena as before hath been declared as also unto her sonne Coribantus king of Tuscania unto which two hee brought and presented many costly and rich gifts from his father Athus king of Meonia who also received them in all gracious and kind acceptance as comming from their kinsman and of the race and bloud of Hercules of Lybia Turrhenus had not long remained here but that he was highly favoured of the king Coribantus who now desirous to see and understand of the estate of his kinsman Dardanus prepared presently to take in hand that so long and tedious journey and ordained and instituted at home for the governement of his countrey the order of the twelve Dukes whereof Turrhenus was one and so with
a great troupe and companie of followers friends he embarked for the cost of Phrygia to see the greatnesse of Dardanus and the beautie and excellencie of his new built citie Dardania After some tedious and troublesome travels in this voyage at the last hee arrived at his wished and desired place where with all manner of ceremonie he was joyfully entertained by Dardanus whose reciprocall and mutuall love grew in the end to bee such as hee resolved and there set downe his rest for ever to remaine and not to returne againe into Italie but sent word thether of his purposes and commaunding them to create and establish Turrhenus in his absence king and sole ruler over all that countrey In few yeares Dardanus began to grow unto great mightinesse riches and power who had also a neighbour prince of mightie puissance wealthie and fortunate whose name was Teâ—â—rus whereupon many writers call the Phrygians also Teucri and this Teucrus was the sonne of Scamander and Idea and had also himselfe a very beautifull and faire daughter which hee maried shortly after unto Dardanus and was called Batea of whome Dardanus begot a sonne called Eâ—icthonius who succeeded after him and was inheritour unto the kingdome of Phrygia This Ericthonius in processe of time arose up unto a wonderfull greatnesse and large possessions who as many writers do affirme was accounted to bee one of the richest kings in those daies in that part of the world who as it is also said had at the least three thousand horses of his owne continually feeding in his pastures And this Ericthonius had also a sonne whom he named Tros whome after his death hee left as successour and inheritour unto him and of whose name afterwards the Dardanians were called Trojans This Tros very much obliged and beautified the cittie also of Dardania 〈…〉 which long time after it retained 〈…〉 had three sonnes which were Ilus Assaracus 〈…〉 hee brought up in the knowledge 〈…〉 warlicke sciences unto which kind of studie as it is written hee himselfe also was much addicted and had many yeares together maintained hostile warres with the king of Crete called Iupiter the fourth of that name there in which warres his sonne Ganimedes was taken prisoner even by the hands of Iupiter himselfe who for that in his ensigne and colours he gave an Eagle being his armes it should seeme the Poets for that cause have devised and feigne 〈…〉 as hee was on hunting was snatcht up from the 〈◊〉 unto heaven by Iupiter 〈…〉 Eagle find that hee is now taken for one of the twelve signes of the Zodiake called Aquarius Some other authors also write that one Tantalus king of high Phrygia and of Paphlagonia a most miserable covetous and auaricious prince had laid certaine snaâ—es and privie meanes to entrap this Ganimedes and to take him prisoner as hee used to sport himselfe in hunting thinking by that devise to get a mightie raunsome of his father Tros for the redeeming and enfranchising of his imprisoned and captivated sonne and that this Tantalus sent him to one Iupiter of the Isle of Crete for to safegard him and to have halfe the raunsome which should bee paied for his redeliverie and freedome And for such like causes belike the Poets also doe invent and say that Tantalus is plagued and tormented in hell standing up to the chin in water and apples hanging downe unto his lips and yet can neither drinke nor tast the one or the other and it is also more credibly written that he died most miserably and in great extremitie His sonne Pelops also banished and exiled his owne naturall countrey fled into Greece and there maried a wonderfull rich wife and great ladie by which meanes hee got unto himselfe and obtained the commaund of a whole countrey which he called after his own name Peloponnesus which is now the countrey of Mauritania and subject unto the Empire of the Turke And of this Pelops issued and came the two famous captaines Agamemnon and Menelaus Tros thus having lost his sonne on this fashion studied upon revenge and in the meane times comforted himselfe with his two other sonnes Ilus and Assaracus And this Ilus called Troy after that Ilion who begat a sonne named Laomedon the father of the renowmed Priamus and of Assaracus issued and came Anchises Aeneas father And the before written Tros ruled commaunded there in great power and puissance for the space of threescore yeares or neare thereabouts Archilochus as Archilochus in his booke of Times alloadgeth Laomedon the sonne of king Ilus as is beforesaid after the death of his father tooke upon him the rule and government of Troy in the two hundred and two and twentieth yeare after the first foundation therof by Dardanus and hee had five sonnes and two daughters which were these Priamus Titonus Lampus Clytion and Letaon and of these Homer in his Iliads maketh further mention his daughters were Antigone and Hesione Homer The Greeke Poets who indeed for the most part are full of such like fables doe say that the two gods Neptune and Apollo for a certaine summe of money promised them by him went with him about the circuit of the citie and there erected wonderfull strong and most huge high wals round about the same the which wals afterwards finished accordingly and no money received nor to bee got Apollo in great rage and anger infected the citie with a deadly and generall pestilence and Neptune in token of his wrath and displeasure also sent a monster of the sea among them unto which they must every day give and throw a young child or els that they all should perish and bee devoured by the ravenous maw and hunger thereof and that in the end it happened upon the daughter of Laomedon called Hesione to be given unto this marine beast which say they was rescued and releeved by great fortune by Hercules of Greece which came that way and who afterwards slew that monster and in gratification therof the ladie Hesione the daughter of Laomedon was promised unto him not long after in marriage but yet not married unto him by reason of the unwillingnesse afterward howsoever it fell out of her father for the breach of which promise Hercules afterwards slew Laomedon in open battell and spoyled and ruinated such his glorious citie And for that Thelamon his consort had that day behaved himselfe very valiantly in fight hee bestowed the young ladie Hesione upon him as his concubine and slave who carried her away with him into the countrey of Solamina whereof he was then king and ruler But it is most certaine that for the most part all those Greeke writers have erred infinitely and have delivered many most unlikely hystories for this Hercules as hath been before spoken was a notable and a famous pyrate and hee slew Laomedon by trecherie and surprised Troy on a suddaine and unawares and also hee was a common ravisher of maidens as of Hesione Medea and others as
Manethon Iohannes Annius and Iacques de Bergame have written and very plainely approved the same Laomedon beeing slaine Titonus succeeded next after him but he being of another disposition resigned his interrest therein and betooke himselfe to travell into straunge countries even unto the Indies where according to Diodorus Siculus hee maried a ladie called Ida and as the Poets write Aurora of whome hee afterwards had a sonne called Memnon who long after came unto the succour of Priamus in his cheefest warres and was there slaine by the hands of Achilles In the absence therfore of his brother Tython Priamus took upon him the government and charge of that kingdome being the second son unto Laomedon their father who in short time came to bee one of the greatest and most famous princes of the world for it is written that he was wondrous wise discreet and valiant and matcht his children with persons of great sort worth and dignitie And for to make him at the first the stronger and that he might have time to reedifie his late spoyled and fire perished cittie hee entered into alliance and fast kindred with a very mightie and powerfull prince neare adjoyning upon his country who was called by the name of Cypseus or as some hold Dymas king and sole commaunder of Thrace which is a province in Greece on this side of the sea Hellespont whereof the cheefe cittie is at this day Constantinople and with this Cypseus or Dymas his daughter called Hecuba hee maried a ladie accomplisht with all exteriour graces and inward vertuous dispositions at which espousals of Priamus and Hecuba great ceremonies and signes of joyfulnesse were showne foorth and observed and of this ladie it is writ that he begot nineteen children male and female and of other women and concubines which he dayly kept and maintained in his pallace according to the fashions and usances in those daies hee had one and thiâ—tie more so that onely nineteene of his fiftie sonnes and daughters were legitimate and lawfully begotten the rest bastards and illegitimate That Priamus in all had so many children which indeed hee publickely maintained and shamed not to acknowledge Virgil also in the second booke of his Aeneidos thus sayth Quinquaginta illi thalami spes tanta nepotum And Homer likewise in the last booke of his Iliads most plainely seemeth to confirm the same Troy now thus most gallantly flourishing newly fortified repaired enlarged enriched enpeopled throughly provided and stored of all manner of things which might bee necessarie either for the use of fatall warres and open hostillities or for the conservation of peace domesticke tranquillitie began to assume unto her selfe a mighty and glorious selfe-conceit and strong opinion of her owne power height and magnificence assuring her selfe of all victorious prevailements over her enemies whatsoever and of a never failing prosperitie glorie and felicitie and yet it is not writ that Priamus himselfe was puft up with any more extraordinarie pride or insolencie than became the greatnesse of so puissant a prince It is writ also that in the times of this his greatest power he was forewarned by certaine Oracles and false gods which they used to worship in those daies that so long as hee did preserve and safegard three things belonging unto the cittie the towne should bee inexpugnable and never to bee lost as Servius and Boccace have written of the same the things were these The image of Pallas called Paladium preserved undefaced The sepulchre or tombe of Laomedon which was under the great gate Scea kept undespoiled whole and so long as the life of Troylus lasted and did endure Priamus therefore very carefull to keep these three things with all diligentnesse and heed lived in the greatest pompe delicacie and state that ever any prince in the world in those times did or could so that he seemed not onely to bee king of Phrygia but also cheefe dominator and emperour of all Asia now called Natalia or Turkie and hee was called also in those times The king of kings as Strabo in the thirteenth booke of his Geographie to the same purpose thus sayth Priamus magno ex parvo Rex Regum effectus And these his powers and authorities not onely extended and stretcht themselves abroad throughout the maine continent and firme lands of all those countries thereabout round but in the end shewed themselves also and possessed their maister of many famous and great Islands lying farre in within the bosome and embracement of the uncivile and rude behaviored sea as the Island of Tenedos and the Island of Metelyn were subject and vassalized unto the governement of his imperious principallitie paying him yearely tributes taxes and impositions and many others also of great same adjoyning neare thereabout so that the infinite greatnesse and large commaund of this thrice mightie emperour Priamus possessed all the princes and rulers of countries neare that way with astonied admiration and wonderous maze of his so suddaine and unexpected puissancie And thereupon sent and dispatched messengers from all quarters to crave his amitie friendship and to be in league with him as also to bee nearer allied unto him in some matches and marriages of their children on both sides by reason whereof Priamus matched his children with great houses and of great power and possessions First hee married one of his legitimate and lawfully begotten daughters called Creusa unto a prince of great meanes named Aeneas the sonne of old Anchises his daughter Astyoche hee matched with one Telephus a mightie king of Mysia and his sonne Hector joyned in matrimonie with Andromacha the faire daughter of Ection the powerfull and famous king of Thebes and Silicia and Polydamas one of the sonnes of Anthenor married with one of Priamus daughters beeing a bastard and begotten of one of his concubines beeing of an excellent and singular beautie called Lycasta So also manie others of his children were linked and joyned in marriages with men of great rule power and commaund in those dayes the posteritie of which and of their deedes and mightinesse hereafter in some other place and oportunitie occasion may bee presented further to speake of And for this time beeing indeed forced by an extraordinarie occasion I must thus on the suddaine abruptly breake of desiring and wishing very earnestly that if this small peece of paines of mine shall fortune ever to bee publickely impressed which leaving behind mee it will not bee in my power to prevent it may indifferently passe uncensured till the returne of his fortune beaten father may aunswere for the innocencie of the child and bee able a little better to protect him in his afflictions And thus it hath beene with great care and diligence laboured to find out the truest Hystorians for the deriving of Dardanus and consequently this king Priamus from the race and line of the first prince and Patriarke Noe with the particular successions of kings and emperours of Europe as hath beene warranted by the authorities and writings of very learned and authenticke authours Tempo è figliuola di verita FINIS