a great Riuer runneth out of the Hyll Arnoba in Germany it is also called Danubius it runneth by many countreys When it cometh into Illyria it receyueth into it .lx. other Ryuers and falleth into the North seas in seuen partes and therefore is very colde While mountaines hye great trées shal bear in fields while grasse shal grow While Tibris shal through Tuscan land With any water flow ¶ Tibris a floud in Italie so called of Tiberius drowned therin called in times past Albula it runneth thorow Hethruria I wyl make warres with thée not death shall bryng my wrath to ende But wyll geue weapons to my ghostes against thy sprytes to sende And then also when into ayre Reade the syxt booke of Virgyl his aeneidos of the state of meÌ„s souls after deth my selfe shall turned be My lyuelesse shadow shall with hate pursue the gostes of thée Then also myndefull of thy déedes I wyll thy shadowes chase And I a bony forme wylbe with thée in euery place Whether I by yeares consumed long which I would not shall dye Or else shal be by force of hand resolued by and by Or whether tost amyd the Seas shall suffer wrack with gréefe And Fyshes strange vpon my corse shall séeke to fynde reléefe Or whether that the Rauens shall make of my fleshe theire foode Or gréedy Wolues shal haue their lyps embrewed with my blood Or whether some may wel vouchsafe me vnder ground to laye Or cast me ints flaming Fyre When lyfe is gone away What so I bée I mynde to come from Hell that vgly place And then with colde reuenging hands wyll scratch thée by the lace Thou waking shalt me sée with gostes my selfe I le secret kéepe Then wyll I séeme t' appeare too thée to wake thée from thy sleepe And last what so thou dost before thy face and eyes I le flée And wyll complaine so that no where in quiet thou shalt bée The cruell strokes wherewith I wyll thee smyte shal sownd againe And hellish brandes before thée styll shall smoke vnto thy payne Alyue thâ— furyes shall the vexe and after Death also So that thy lyfe shall shorter be then either payne or wo. To thée shal nether Death rytes hap nor frendly teares befall Thy body shal be cast abroade bewayled nought at all ¶ It was in olde tyme counted a great mishap to dye in a straunge Countrye where none of theyr kynne myght close the eyes of the dead or bewayle theyr corse As maye appeare in the fyrste Epistle of Ouid and also in many other places Thou shalt with cruell hang mans hand be drawne to all mens ioye The hooke hard fastned to thy bones vnto thy more annoye Also the fyre that all consumes from thée alone shall flye The iust earth shal not grauÌ„t thy corps a place wherein to lye The Rauens shall with crooked beak and talans draw a part Thy entrayles and the gréedy Dogs deuoure thy faithlesse heart And though thys praise do make thée prowde that Wolues insatiate Aboute thy caryan corps shall haue continuall debate In places too thow shalt be cast far from the féeldes of ioy There shalt thou be where th'urtful sort abydeth in annoy ¶ In Hell be thrée dyuerse places Three places in hel the fyrste conteyneth Infantes those that were put to Deathe by false accusation those that kylled them selues suche as dyed for loue valyant Warryours and other thys place is in the entraunce as it were of Hell as soone as a manne hath passed the Ryuer STYX When a man hathe passed thys place there be two wayes the one leadeth to the happy féeldes called Campi Elysii The other to the greate and terryble tower wherin the wycked men be tormented some of whose punishments Ouyd prosequuteth as foloweth If you lyst to read more at large hereof sée the sixth booke of Virgyl his Aeneidos and Homer in the leuenth of his Odisse There Sisiphus doth rowle the stone and Phlegias is there Phlegias Fast tyde vnto a turning Whéele that doth his members teare ¶ Sisiphus sonne of Eolus for troublyng those that inhabited Istuus Sisiphus was thruste into Hell where he is punished with rowling a stone to the top of a hyl which as sone as he hathe layed there tumbleth downe backe and he runneth after it to fetche it againe and this doth he continually ¶ Phlegias for despising the Goddes was tyed to a Whéele in Hell Sée the sixte of Virgyl his Aeneidos Some wyll vnderstand thys to be spoof Ixion Ixion who desyred to lye wyth Iuno or as Homer saith with Latona Which thing Iupiter perceuing turned a clowd into the lykenesse of hir with which Ixion accompaning engendred thereof the Giaunt lyke Centaures for which sin Iupiter thrust hym into Hell His punishment was as saith Virgyl in the sixte of Aenedos in this sorte ¶ Lapithe Lapithe Ixion and Perithous Ixion and Perithous are sette at a gorgeouse table furnished with all kynde of delicate meates but ouer their heades hanges a great stone redy to fall vppon them and before them sittes one of the furyes that wyll not permit them to eate any byt of the good meat so that they bée in double daunger as wel of the fall of the great stone as also of famyshment for lacke of foode There Belides on shoulders beare Belus styll waters gushing oute Who banysht Aegiptus daughters were a passing bloody route ¶ Danaus the sonne of Belus Danaus Aegiptus king of the vp per Egipt hadde fyftye daughters and Aegiptus his brother fyfty sonnes Belus Danaus Aegiptê° Aegiptus instantly desyred that his sons might mary his brothers daughters but Danaus by no meanes wolde consent to that bicause he hard of the Oracle that his sonne in law should kyll hym Vppon which occasion warre arose betwene the two brothers and Danaus constrayned by flyght to séeke saftye sayled into Grece where hauing expelled Gelamor or as some saye Stelenus hee raygned fyfty yeares Gelamor Stelenus Aegiptus not content that his Brother was thus departed gathered a great Army made his sonnes Captaynes thereof and gaue them charge that they shold neuer retourne except they either had kylled Danaus or maried his daughters The yong men had so good successe that Danaus of force was constrayned to yelde vnto them And in fine concluded the maryage Belides kild their husbands and straightly commaundinge eche one of his daughters the fyrst night to kyll theyr husbandes which thing sauing Hipermnestra they all accomplished Hipermnestra Linus She saued Linus of whoÌ„ after hir father was slayne She alone among fifty was found rather to haue preferred the rights of Matrimony and loue to hir husband than the cruell commaundement of hir vnreasonable Father But the rest of hir sisters for the accomplishing of this enterpryse are fayned of Poets to cary water in bottomles Tubbes vntil they haue filled a Tunne without a bottome also There Pelops father Tantalus doth
true fréendes but haue ben much deceaued wherof you shall in the boke folowing sée many examples As of Thessalus and Eurialuss Cocalus and Minos Mirtilus Oenomaus and such like There is no poyson to the poyson of a Serpente no strength to the strength of Gunpouder no sting to the sting of the Aspe no malyce to the malyce of a woman nor no euill to the euill of a fayned fréende and a dissembling louer It is a great deale better no doubt to haue an open ennimie then a counterfeyte friende For of the one we may take héede but of the other it is not possible to beware A true frend then must nede be so much worth as nothing may be more For who is not well pleased to heare of Orestes and Pilades Theseus and Perithous Achilles and Patroclus Nisus and Eurialus Castor and Pollux Damon and Pithias Achates and Aeneas Alexander and Ephestio Celius and Petronius C. Lelius and Scipio Affricanus Darius and Megabisus and a great number of payres of freendes mo which I could rehearse but that it néedeth not All which ech for other refused no death nor torment Wherfore euen nowe also their renown is fresh they be extolled aboue the skyes neither shal ther be any so vngratefull posterity which shal forget their passing amitie Contrariwise if we consider the horrible effects of enmitie and hatred in Atreus and Thiestes Etheocles and Polinices wyth such other which for breuitie I leaue out I thinke there will be no man so rude which will not detest But what meane I to entreat of frendship of which so many excellent men haue written before in such sorte that I shall rather hereby bewray the barennesse of my sclender wit then doe any thing therto worthy prayse And the more for that Fauorinus in Aul. Gellius sayth it is better to disprayse earnestly then to prayse coldly I will therefore leaue to speake of this any more and wil come to the other cause which no man can wel perceaue but he that is maried For my part if you wil bear with mine vnexperienced iudgemente I am well pleased that Ouid toke it in very euill part to beare S. Lukes helmet seeing that many men euen nowe a dayes be scant well content to weare that lothsome liuerie Of this I am well assured that Propertius coulde be contente that his fréend should be partaker of al the goods he had and what soeuer els was in hys power but as touching his wife he could spare Iupiter no parte of hir He writeth thus Te socium lecti te corporis esse licebit Te dominum admitto rebus amice meis Lecto te solum lecto te deprecor vno Riualem possum non ego ferre Iouem But of these causes enough I wil therfore omitte to blot my paper wyth any more words concerning these matters and will tell you what Ouid was and why he called this worke Ibis and wrote it in so hard a stile He was a gentleman of a good house borne at Sulmo who rather to please hys father then for any loue he bare thervnto studyed the lawe But after his decease he returned to his olde study of Poetry againe wherin he profyted so much that excepte Virgill I dare call him péerelesse He was fiftie yeres in prosperitie good credyte with Augustus but was afterward banyshed into Pontus where he liued eyght yeres and then dyed was buried in Dorbite a Citie of Hellespont The cause of his banishment is vncertayn but most men thinke I am of that opinion also that it was for vsing too familiarly Iulia Augustus his daughter who of hir selfe too much enclined to lasciuiousnes was the more incensed therto by him vnto whoÌ„ he wrote many wanton Elegies vnder the name of Corinna as Sidonius plainly affirmeth Et te carmina per libidinosa notum Naso tener tonosque missum Quondam Cesareae minis puellae falso nomine subditum Corinnae In hys banyshmente he wrote dyuers bokes and among other this against an vntrue fréende and calleth it Ibis thereby to declare that there is no valure nor hansomnes in him nor any thinge worthy to be accepted For Ibis is a birde of Egipt the fylthiest that we reade of of it you may finde more in Plinie He is obscure and his verses of purpose vnperfit for that he imitateth Callimachus who in lyke style wrote against his owne scholer Appollonius Rhodius whych wrote the voyage of the Argonants and calleth him by the same name of Ibis also Thus much I thought good to note in the Preface because I wold not trouble so litle a boke with an other argument Take it curteous Reader and accepte it in good parte and thinke that it commeth from one who hath inough if he please thée Fare well Ouid his inuectiue against IBYS WHole fifty years be gone past since I a lyue haue béen Yet of my Muse ere now there hath no armed verse be séen Among so many thousand works yet extant to be had No bloody letter can be red that euer Naso made Nor yet no man set me a side my bookes haue caus'd to smart ¶ He meaneth hys bookes of the arte of loue for the which he was banisâ—ed Syth I my selfe am cast away by my inuented arte One man there is that wyll not let this is a greuous payne The tytle of my curteyse verse for euer to remaine What so he be as yet his name shall not by me be wrayde Who me constraynes to take in hand No weapens erst assayde He will not let me scent almost vnto the frosen Zone In banishment take restles ease and there to ly vnknowne That cruel man doth vexe my wounds that séeke for néedefull rest And sclanderous wordes doth vtter oft Where great resort is prest He suff'reth not my cuppled mate by lasting league of bedd To wayle hir wretched husbands corse not much vnlyke the dead And while some part of beaten barke I hard doe holde in hande He striues to haue the onely bowrde Whereon I swim to lande And he who should of ryght put out eche suddayne kyndled flame Too violent doth seeke to gette his pray amyd the same He labors that my wandring age due noryshment should lacke Oh how much worthyer to beare our myschefes on his backe The Gods doe graunt me better lucke of whome he 'is great'st to me That will not sée my trauell want Augustus the emperour who banyshed him opprest with pennury To him therefore deserued thankes as long as I shall lyue For his so kinde and curtyse heart I euermore wyll giue Let Pontus hereof record beare and he perhaps wyll make That I shall of some nearer ceast hereof a wytnesse take But vnto thée thou cruell man that treadest on me soe Wherein I may alas therefore I wyl be styll thy foe Yea moysture shall surcease to be contrary to the drye And with the Moone bryght Phebê° beams shall ioyned be on hye And one
into Thracinia Hyla caried with him Hyla the daughter of Thiodamas being entangled with hir bewty And that in proper denne of thine thy life may passe away As Cacus rude whom Oxes voyce included did bewray ¶ After Hercules had slayne Gerion and by the commaundement of Euristheus brought away his oxen be came into Italy then called Hesperia and put them to pasture aboute the hill Auentinus nowe one of the seuen famous hils in Rome in which hill Cacus Cacus Vulcane his sonne had a denne and practised spoyling of the trauelers which passed that way hearing of Hercules Oxen he came and toke dyuers of them and that they might not be found he pulled them into his denne by their tayls Hercules missing thē seketh al the cuntry for them but findeth them not he therefore determyned to departe thence without them But as he was goinge away he heard some of them loow With which he called back again sought so long that at length he found the caue before the mouth whereof Cacus hadde layde a stone so great that tenne couple of Oxen coulde not moue the same thinkyng by that meanes to be safe inough But Hercules layed his shoulders to the same and at lengthe wyth much payne remoued it awaye And after longe and terryble fight he kylled Cacus and so recouered agayne hys cattell This tale is written by Ouid in the firste boke of his Fasti in many wordes Or els as he who with his blood Th'enboicke seas made red Who brought a shirt in poyson dipte that Nessus erst hath bled ¶ Licas seruant of Hercules Licas brought him the poysoned garment whereof I spake before for whiche déede by Hercules he was cast into the Enboicke sea But because he was not gilty of the crime Tethis turned him into a rocke That headlong thou mayst come to hell from toppe of rocke right hie As he that Platos boke hath read of immortalitie ¶ Theombrotus readyng Platoes boke of the immortality of the soule Theombrotus was so moued with ioyes of the same that presently he caste hymselfe from the toppe of a Rocke thereby the sooner to attayne to them Or he that sawe the guylfull sayles of Theseus shyppes at last Or as the chylde who from the toppe of Troyan Towers was cast ¶ Egeus commaunded his sonne Theseus going into Crete to the Laberinth Aegeus as the custome was to féede Minotaurus that if by any good fortune he returned again safe that he shold in the stede of the blacke murning sayles wherwith his ships out ward were decked put on white But he returning safe by meanes of Ariadne as is sayde before and also in my booke of Theseus and Ariadne for ioy remēbred not his fathers commandement Theseus Ariadne When therfore the father saw his ships return with the black sailes thinking that his son had bene dead for he sat at the top of a tower styll waiting for the same hée cast him selfe hedlonge into the sea whereof hetherto the sea is called Mare Aegeum Astianax Astianax son of the noble Troian Hector was by Vlisses and the Grekes caste from the top of one of the hyghest towers in Troy for feare least if he lyued he should reuenge the deathe of his father and the destruction of his countrey vppon them Seneca Or she who aunt and nurse was bothe to Bacchus youthfull boye Or he to whome thinuented sawe was losse of lyuely Ioy. ¶ Ino sister of Semele mother to Bacchus Ino. by that meanes was his aunte and she also nursed hym She was wyfe of Athamas and flyinge the rage of hir husbande cast hir selfe from the toppe of a rocke into the sea as is sayd before Perdyx neuew vnto Dedalus Perdyx Dedalus was by his vnckle for spyte bicause he inuented the sawe and compasse caste from the toppe of a hye tower but by the mercy of Mynerua before he came to the grounde he was turned into a Partych called in latyn Perdyx And thys is the cause that a Partych neuer wyl either breede or syt in trée least she sholde againe breake hir neck with the fall Notwithstandinge Plinye in his seuenth booke saythe that Dedalus inuented the sawe But Ouyd in the eyght booke of Metamor is author of that I sayd before As Lidian mayde who from the rock hir selfe in sea dyd cast Out of whose mouth yll cursing words against a God haue past ¶ Ilice daughter of Ibicus a Lydian Ilice was beloued of Mars but by Dianas ayde she was safe from his violence But she not content therewith would rayle on him reuile him shamefully wher with he much moued kild hir father and she therwith becomming mad for gréefe cast hirselfe hedlōg into the sea frō the top of a rock And that a Lion with hir yong may meete thée in the fielde And cause thée so to lose thy lyfe as Paphages was kilde ¶ Paphages king of Ambracia Paphages hapning to méete a Lionesse great with yong in his garden was by hir toren in peces That a bore may thée teare as him who had by tree his holde And was the sonne of Licurgus or Idmon els the bolde ¶ Licurgus had a sonne that was called Brutes Idmon on a day hunting the wild Bore was oppressed so sore that he had no way to scape but by taking of a trée yet for al that ere he was vp the bore caught him and pulled him down again slew him ¶ Idmon one of the Argonants he came last for he knew being a soothsayer that he shold die therin in Bithinia was slayn by a Bore And that a Bore though slaine first thée with deadly wound may gall As him vpon whose face the head of cruell beast did fall Thoas a famous hunter in Andriegathia which is inhabited by the people Possidoniatae Thoas vowed the heades féete of all the beasts he could take to Diana But on a time getting a wonderfull great Bore he hanged vp to hir only the head on hir trée wherwith she offended as he slepte vnder the same trée made the same head fal vpon him and so he was slayne Or that thou mayst the hunter be that hunted hard by Troy Or Nauclus els whom with like death Pine apples did destroy Atis Nauclus slepig vnder a Pine trée were both slayne Atis. Nauclus with the fall of apples that fell from the same And if that at king Minos ports thy shippe arriued be I wish his people may théee take for one of Sicily Of the great debate betwene the men of Crete and Sicilia Sicilia in the story of the death of Minos siayne by Cocalus in the pursute of Dedalus I haue sayde before That with a falling house thou mayst as Alcidice be slaine To whom with Licoris hir mate one fortune did remayhe ¶ Alcidice daughter of Alebas a Larisseia Alcidice Licoris was with hir husband Licoris by the fall of their house slayne Or
a Harpe And ofte she looked from the walles and at length séeinge Minos wholy armed being taken with hys bewty and not knowing howe to compasse his loue determyned to cutte of the haire of hyr Fathers head wheruppon the destenies o◠hyr countrey did depende and profer it to Minos which she dyd and opened the gates vnto him But he detestynge hir vyle and vnnaturall facte when he had taken the Citie would not suffer hyr to enter into his shyppe Wherefore she was turned into a Larke and was continually pursued of hir Father who also was turned not lōg before into a hawke called by his owne name Nisus Ouid in the eyghte booke of hys Metamorphosis sayeth that he was tourned into an Osprey Or she who by hir cruell déede reprochfull made the place Where ouer hir fathers body slayne she draue hir cart apace ¶ Tullia Tullia daughter of Seruius Tullus séemed to beare but lyttle good wyll to hir father for when hée was slayne by hyr husbande Tarquinus Superbus she made such hast to enter into his possessions the she draue hir wagon ouer his body not yet buryed whereof the place was called Sceleratus It is hard by the syde of Cyprus Or that thou mayst be slayne as were the lusty youthes too bowlde Whose heads were sette on Pisa gates that all might them behoulde ¶ Oenomaus sonne of Mars and Aegina Oenomaus daughter of Asopus some cal his mother Harpina Hippodamia hee had but one daughter called Hippodamia This kinge on a tyme enquyringe of the Oracle what tyme hée shold dye receaued answer that he shold lyue vntyl he affyanced his daughter to any man For which cause he determyned to keape his daughter in perpetual virginitie But for all that hée proclaymed that who soeuer coulde ouer runne him with horses should haue his daughter and kingedome But he that was ouercommed should dye Thyrtene woers were slayne Pelops At lengthe came Pelops son of Tantalus to Pisa with whose bewty the maidē Hippodamia takē promysed to Myrtolus the son of Mercury and Phaetusa Mirtolus who draue hir Fathers chariot that if Pelops myght bee victor he should lye with hir the fyrst night Myrtolus glad of hir promise made hys maisters arultrée of wax which in the way with heat of the whéeles dyd melt and breake by meanes whereof Pelops wan the pryce and Oenomaus thinkinge that the ende of hys life was come kyld him selfe Myrtolus crauing of Hippodamia the performaunce of his promise was by Pelops cast into the sea that after hys name was called Mare Myrtolum The race that the woers ranne was from Pisa to the altar of Neptune in Istmus of Corynthe Before the course Oenomaus race Oenomaus sacryficed a Ram to Iupiter the woers charyot drawen with fewer horses went béefore whome Oenomaus hauing fynyshed his sacryfice folowed and if he ouertoke him he wold with a speare runne him thorough The heads of those that were slayne were wherby they sholde be afraid to take on them the like enterpryses To this story do belonge the two staues that folow Or he which iuster was who with his blood bedewd the ground Besprinkled erst with blood that came from wretched woers wounde Or as the carter that betrayd the Tyrant bloody wight Who gaue newe names vnto the sea that nowe Mirtonum hight Or those that sought in vayne to haue the mayden swifte as winde Till she by gathering Apples thrée was somewhat lefte behinde ¶ Atalanta daughter of Sceneus Atalanta asking the Oracle what successe she shold haue in mariage receaued answere that aliue she should lose hirselfe wherfore she halowed hirselfe to Diana and lyued in the solitary woodes But because hir bewty was surpassing least she should séeme to dispyse the good will of hir suters ordeyned that she wold be his wife that could out runne hir but he that attempted the course and was lefte behind should lose his lyfe Many were slayne and whyle they were putting to death Hyppomenes Hippomenes sonne of Megareus there present blamed much their rashnes in bying a wif so deare tyll at lēgth espying hir bewty after hir face was vncouered he was as much entangled in hir loue as the rest Wherefore determyning eyther desperately to dye or els ioyfully to winne vndertoke to runne with hir sauinge first made his humble prayers vnto Venus who gaue him three Golden Apples that grew in Damascus in Ciprus which he throwing aside came first to the race ende and thus by the benefite of Venus he gayned his loue But after through his greate ioye forgettinge to geue her thankes for hir curtesy moued her heauy displeasure towarde him so that on a time as he passed through a groue which Echion had dedicated to Sibela mother of the Gods he was by motion of Venus so sharpe sette that euen there he muste néedes haue to doe with his wife With which Sibela offended turned hym into a Lyon and hir into a Lyones and for that cause Lions be sacred vnto the mother of the Gods Or as the men that went into the combrouse house with payne Wherin the monster strange was kept whence non could come agayne ¶ Androgeus Androgeus sonne of Minos and Pasiphae surmounting al men in the games at Athens fel into familior aquaintance with the sonnes of Pallas Egeus fearing lest by the help of Minos the said sennes of Pallas shoulde dyspossesse hym of hys kingdome layde an embushment about Inoe in the land of Athens wher he slew Androgeus wyth them as he wente to sporte himself of Thebes In reuengement wherof Minds made war to them and cursed them with famine and mortalitie both which thinges hapned vnto them The Grekes destrous to be ryd of these plagues asked counsel of the Oracle what was best to be done who commaunded them to goe to Aeacus that he mighte doe sacryfice on their behalfe which they did by meanes whereof all the cities of Grece sauing Athens alone were deliuered The Athenians therfore againe constrayned to consult the Oracle were commanded to let Minos take what vengance he would for the death of his sonne He therfore charged them to send him euery yeare seuen men children and seuen maydes to be deuoured of the monster Minotaurus which thing they did vntill the time that Theseus by means of Ariadne slew him this mōster was included in the cōberouse Laberinthe which Dedalus made in Crete The first that deuised this kinde of building was Peresucus kinge of Egipte In it were so many dores and wayes that whosoeuer entered therinto could neuer come out again That which Dedal made in Crete wherof we spake before hadde scante the hundreth parte of the difficulties of that Peresucus deuised Or as the bodyes twelue were cast into the flaming fire Which was Achilles angry worke enrag'd almost forire ¶ After Hector had kylled Patroclus Achilles his fréend Patroclus Achilles made a vow that he wold neuer eate nor drinke
againe or els neuer returne again himselfe Cadmus after long séeking and smal finding for feare of his father durst not come in to his owne countrey but went to aske counsell of Apollo what was beste for him to doe of whom he was commanded to folow a yong oxe that neuer was yoked that had the signe of half a Moone on one of his sides and to builde a citie where he firste lay downe which he did and called the cuntry Boetia and his city Thebes But on a time sending his men for water and marueyling that they returned not agayne going to séeke them himselfe and finding them all slayne by a great Dragon that belonged to Mars so that there was no moe lefte aliue but himselfe alone he was greatly gréeued But for al that he set on the serpent and kylled hym to whom after came Pallas his good maistres and bad him sow the téeth of it in the grounde whereof arose sodainly armed men that sodainly flew one an other so that if Pallas had not cōmaunded Echion Ideus Cromius The inhabitants of Thebes Pelorus and Hiperenor to cease because Thebes should be inhabited they had all ben destroyed by mutuall woundes Or that thy lucke may be as yll as neuew to Pentheus Or as Medusas brother els I meane Archilochus ¶ Pentheus begat Odasus Pentheus Menetius Odasus Menetius Menetius Creon and Iocasta whych was maried to Laius of whom in Oedipus you may reade more before Creon begat Hemon and Menetius of whom in this place Ouid speaketh He killed him selfe for to deliuer his countrey from a pestilence that Mars sent for the killing of his Dragon by Cadmus Read Seneca his tragedy This stock of Oedipus his and Achilles with Tantalus were very infortunate Who was Medusas brother if Ouid meane one of the thrée systers called Gorgones for my parte I neuer read Archilochus excepte Archilochus had any sister of that name How he was slayne reade in Licambes in the beginning Or though wherwith though it were one did a birde remayne Which doth with casting water wash short hir body toward rayne ¶ Coronis daughter of Coroneus Coronis when Minerua had geuen Erichthonius shut in a basket to be kept to hir selfe Pandrasos Persa and Aglanros daughters of Cecrops with charge that they should not loke into the same and they contrary to hir commaundement had loked there in and found a dragon Coronis bewrayed the same and told it abrode wherfore Minerua banished hir from hir company Who after walking by the sea side was espyed by Neptune who would haue rauyshed hir but she by no meanes would be perswaded to leaue hir virginitie Wherfore when she was at poynt to be forced she was by Minerna turned into a Crowe Ouid. ii Metamor That thou maist haue as many wounds as by report had he To whom when sacrifice is done no knife may present be ¶ Osiris Osiris whom the Egiptians do worshyp for a God was slayne by his brother Tiphon and cutte into péeces and for that cause in his sacryfice it is not lawfull to haue a knife Or that with fury rapt thou mayst thy priuie members launce As those whom mother Sibele makes to foote the Phrigian daunce All Cibeles priestes were gelded Cibeles Prestes coribantes Atis. moued with a diuine fury in their sacrifices daunced They were gelded because at the first she louing Atis very well being a bewtiful yonge man he not willing to do hir pleasure cut of his Demisaris He would faine haue ben gone into his country again from whence she had caryed him against his will but she meaning to stay him still with hir sente one of hir Lions to feare him wherewith in deede he abashed ran into the woode and euer after was one of hir priestes till he was turned into a Pine trée Hitherto doth belong the nexte stafe that particularly speaketh of Atis. That thou of man as Atis did ne man nor mayd mayst stand And that thou mayest learne to play on Timbrelles with thy hand Cibels priestes beside that they daunced they played also on instruments And that thou mayst be turnd into the beastes of mother great As she that lost and he that did the price with running gette How Cibel the mother of the Gods turned Hippomenes Atalanta into Lions you heard before Hippomenes and Atalanta And that Limone not alone such punishment may beare Let horses with their raging téeth thy flesh in péeces teare How Hippomenes vsed his daughter Limone taken in adultry I told you afore And as the king of Cassandrea which art as fierce as he God graunt that woūded in the ground thou buried mayst be Cassandrus that raygned in Cassandrea Cassādrus a part of Macedonia for his cruelty of his subiectes was ouercouered with ashes and so dyed Another of that name who succeded hym was also for his tiranny buried quicke Or els that slayne into the seas some may thée hedlong throw As were the noble Perseus and Telephus also Erectheus begat Cecrops Cecrops Metion Metion Canace a daughter Canace bare Abas Abas gotte Colchodon Colchodon Elpenor Acrisius Danae Perseus Elpenor Acrisius who begat Danae This Acrisius hearing of the oracle that his daughters sonne shoulde dispossesse him of his kingdome would graunt hir in mariage to none but included hir in a tower of brasse so the no man myght come to hir but Iupiter turned hymselfe into a shower of Golde and came in by the Loouer of the castell and got of hyr Perseus Whych thynge when Acrisius knew he toke him with his mother and put them into a tun and caste them into the Sea But they shortly after were brought by water to Polidectes kinge of the Isle Seriphon who married Danae brought vp Perseus well but after sente him to many dangers But I néede not in this place tell how he had of Mercury his slippers Pegasus and a helmet a crooked sworde of Adamant of Saturne and a shielde of Pallas nor how he ouercame the thre sisters daughters of Porcus Euriale Stheno Medusa which had all but one eye thei were called Gorgones The story is at large described in the fourth fifte bokes of Cuids Metamor The story of Telephus in the beginning is set forth at large Telephus And that by Phebus altars thou a sacrifice mayst be As was him selfe king Theodotus by cruell enimie ¶ Theodotus king of the Bactrians Theodotus was sacryficed by Arsace king of Persia to Apollo after he was ouercomed in battel And that Abdera may one yeare thée vow withouten fayle And that thus vow'd thou mayst be hyt with stones more thick then hayle ¶ The people of Abdera Abdera which is a citie of Thracia dyd vowe a man for the common wealth of all at the beginning of euery yeare and the man that was thus vowed was stoned to death That Ioue with his thrée edged boult may hyt thée in his yre As he dyd
Pelias Medea is sayde before But after that dede she fled the cuntry and was caryed in the ayre in a chariot drawen with Dragons All hir iorney is described in the .vii. of Metamor But when she was weary of traueling she returned home againe where finding that Iason set more by Creusa daughter of Creon kinge of Corynth Creusa than by hir she dyssembled the matter a whyle but after she had made al things for hir purpose she sente a chaplet made of herbes inchaunted in such sorte that as sone as it came nygh any lighte it woulde take fier thereof and not be quenched again Creusa hauinge this on hir heade when candelles were lighted it toke fyer and burned hir wyth hir father the whole house and whatsoeuer els was in the same This done she slewe the two children Medo and Mermero that she had by Iason and fledde to Athens and was ther maryed to Egeus Theseus father As poysoned blood crept in the limmes of Hercules the great Hercules I wish that so a body vyle may all thy members eate ¶ Of this also is mencion made once or twise before That also thou mayst féele the like newe kinde of punishment As to reuenge his father did Licurgus sonne inuente ¶ Howe Butes reuenged hys father Licurgus on Bacchus Priestes Butes wyth cruell death is also sayde before He was the fourth from Pentheus for Pentheus begat Drias Drias Licurgus Licurgus Butes Or that to cleaue an Oke thou mayst as Nilo did assay And haue no power at all to plucke thy taken handes away Milo Crotoniates Milo crotoniatess for there were many of that name was a man of very great strength He killed a bull at one blowe with his fiste and eat him vp euery morsell when he had done He came through a wood where he espied a great trée halfe elefte and the wedges sticking fast therin He meaninge to rid the laborers by lykelyhode of payne would nedes take vpon him to cleaue it with his hands He pulled it so hard that the wedges fel out but for all that the trée came againe into his first state and had his handes so faste in the riftes that he could not get them out by means wherof he became a pray to the rauenous beastes that haunted that woode Or for thy giftes as Icarus like hurtes thou mayst receaue To whom with armed hands his death the drunken men did geue ¶ Icarus learning the vse of wine of Bacchus Icarus as he walked aboute the costes of Athens gaue the rude husbandmen some thereof to drynke But they not contente with a meane dranke thereof tyll they were drunke and thynkinge then that they had been poysoned Mera forth wyth slew Icarus and cast him into a ditch Mera his bitch a contynuall companyon of his in all hys iourneys Erigons ran home after hir mayster was slayne to Erigone hys daughter who séeing the bitch come and not hir father suspecting that which had happened in déede wente to knowe the the truth and the Bitch broughte hir to the place where hir slayne father laye Which thing when she saw not able to beare the gréefe that shee conceaued of the sight hanged hirselfe As Ouid in the next slafe folowing affirmeth And that the godly daughter did for gréefe of fathers death So let a tyed corde about thy throte stop vp thy breath Or els that closed in a house mayst famine bide as he For whom that kinde of punishment his mother did decrée ¶ Noble valure and hie prowes in war with the Lacedemonians was so estemed that the mothers wold reach their shields to their sonnes going out to battayl and straightly charged thē either to be conquerus or els to die therfore For it was counted a great shame and vilany to fly Wherefore Euristhenes Euristhenes after an ouerthrowe retourninge home was so hated among his people that his owne mother shutte him vp in a stronge chamber and with hunger pyned him to death that thereby at leaste she mighte wipe away the continuall shame from hir house Or that Dianas sacred church thou mayst as he annoy Who turned quite his iorney wronge as he returned from Troy He meaneth of Aiax Cilius Aiax Cileus who defloured Cassandra in Pallas churche and was therfore slayne with a thunderbolte as is declared before And that as Nanplius thou mayst for fayned fault be slayne And that it may thée helpe no whit that thou deseru'st no payne Of the worthy Palamedes gyltles death Palamedes by false Vlisses conueyance is mention made before Or else as Isis faythlesse priest slew Ethalus his guest Whereof dame Io myndefull yet hys seruice doth detest ¶ Io daughter of Inachus turned out of a cow into hir former shape in Egipt was there maryed to Osiris Io. Ethalus and made a goddesse called Isis One of hir priests receaued Ethalus promised him good harborow but in the nyght for all that hée kylled him Isis therewith greatly offended gaue certaine signes the she wolde reuenge his death vppon all the Egyptians Who to auoyde the plage approching banished all his family out of the countrey that had slayne Ethalus and decréed further by common authority that none of that stock shold euer after beare any office about the mynisteryes of Isis with which déede Isis was wel contented and pleased Or as Melanthus sonne by darke for murther hydden lay Whome erst his mother by the light of candell dyd bewray So wyshe I all thy body prest with weapons cast at thée So wish I that of craued ayde thou destitute mayst be ¶ Codrus sonne of Melanthius Codrus kylde hys father hid himselfe so that none knew where but his mother Who as sone as the Athenians sought for him to put him to death declared where he was That thou such night mayst passe as did the Troyan ful of feare Who promised to get the horse that did Achilles beare ¶ Dolon a Troyan Dolon for a certayn summe of money promised to fetch away Achilles horses Balion Zanthus But as he wente about to performe his promise he was taken by Vlisses and Diomedes of whom all the nighte had in examination of the Troyan affaires was slaine in the morning Or that thou mayst no better rest than Rhesus had obtayne Or els his company the day before that they were slayne ¶ Rhesus king of Thracia Rhesus sonne of Strimon had horses which if thei once tasted of the pasture of Troy it was destynied that Troy might not be taken But whē he came almost thether by night he was bewrayed by his white horses hymselfe and all his company was slayne by the Grekes and his fatall horses turned another way Or those which with Ramnetes bolde by quicke Hirtacus sonne And his companion alone to cruell death were done ¶ What slaughter of men with Ramnetes in Turnus tentes Ramnetes Nisus Hirtacus hys sonne and his fellow Eurialus made Virgill declareth and I haue tolde before Or that thy house inclos'd with fire as Clicias sonne maist haue So that thou mayst halfe burned beare thy members to thy graue ¶ To Alcibiades sonne of Clicias Alciades banyshed into Phrigia was Pharnabasus sente from Athens with publike authoritie to kill him whom finding in his chamber he compassed round with men sette fier on the house and burned him therein inclosed Or els I wish that weapons rude vppon thy head may fall As erst on Remus ouer bolde to clime th'unfinisht wall ¶ When Rome was building Remus Romulus the founder and namer thereof made an Edicte that no man vpon paine of death shold clyme the walls vntyl they were finished But Remus his brother not esteming that commaundement ascended Fabius celer was for his labor slayne by Fabius Celer a Soldier of Romulus army For he called all his souldiers Celeres And last I pray that thou mayst liue and dye in these same partes Among the cruell Sarmates and cruell Getes dartes ¶ Sarmatae Sarmatae Getae are called of the Grekes Sauromatae they dwell in a countrey of the North very poore and disgarnished of al good prouision saue of trées They fetch their original from the Amazones They are so barbarous that they knowe not what peace meaneth They vse arrowes in battayle as also the Getae doe whom the Romanes call Daci they inhabyte a parte of Thracia Their cruelty Ouid in his bokes De ponto many times describeth These things in sodain mode thus pend to thée directed be That thou néede not complayne that I vnmindefull am of thée ¶ In déede he were much to blame that woulde thinke Ouid had forgotten Ibis if he haue read but this ouer They are but few I graunt but God can geue my prayers more And with his fauor my requestes can multiply with store Hereafter thou much more shalt reade wherin shal be thy name And in such verse as men are wont such cruell warres to frame FINIS Imprinted at London by Thomas Easte and Henry Middleton Anno Domini 1569.
daughter Achimene vnto him Stenobea hearing hereof hanged hirselfe Bellerophon after thys hauing a minde to sée what was in heauen because he had Pegasus the winged horse that was Perseus his before ingendred of the bloode of Medusa kyld by the said Perseus he flew a great height from whence lokyng downe he was so afrayd that he fell downe and brake his necke but his Horse flewe into Heauen and was placed amonge the Starres this the Poets fayne Reade his true history in Strabo And mayst sée as Amintors sonne who trembling gropt his way With nothing els saue with his staffe without the light of day ¶ Phenix Phenix Amintors sonne his grandfather was called Ceraphus his greate grandfather Ormecius lay wyth his fathers Concubine and being therof accused by his stepmother he fledde to Peleus Achilles father whose companyon he was always after He was Achilles master and went with him to Troy but in the ende desirous to go into his country Phocis coulde not sée his people because he was blinde That some say he was made blynde by his sonnes seeing they allege no cause why séemeth not verye like to be true Nor mayst beholde no more then he whose daughter did him guide Whose wickednes his father and his mother both hath tryed ¶ He meaneth Oedipus Oedipus his petigree whose vnhappy stocke because it playeth a great part in thys Pageant it shall not be muche amysse if we fetche hys Petigrée somewhat farre we wyll therefore firste beginne with Iupiter who begotte Helene Hellene Belus Belus Abas Abas Agenor Agenor Europa Cilix Bassus Cadmus Cadmus Polidorus Polidorus Labdacus Labdacus Laius Laius Oedipus of Iocasta Lains desirous to know what children he shold haueen quired of the Oracle of Apollo by whō he was certified the he shold haue a sonne which shoulde put him to death He commaunded therefore that all his men chyldren should be slayne Oedipus was borne and hauing put thorough his feete two withies was hanged on a trée Polybia where he was found by Polybia a woman who brought him vp to mans state But beinge greeued that he knew not his parents determined to go to Delphos to enquire of them whether at that tyme went Laius also to knowe what was become of his sonne They met together in Phocis Laius slayne and stryuing for the way Laius was slayne by Oedipus After thys hee ouercame the monster Sphinx and attempted the kingdome of Thebes maryed the quéene by whome he had two sonnes and two daughters Etheocles Polinices Antigone and Ismena thus Diodo Seneca sayth that Phorbas a shepeherde found him hanging by the féete and gaue him to Merope king Polibus wife king of Corinth of whom because they wanted heirs he was brought vp as their own child but knowīg after by the Oracle that he should kyll his father supposinge them to be his true parents fled from them thinking by that meanes to auoyde his desteny and comming to Thebes kylled his owne father hunting in a forest and maryed his mother vnwittingly but when he knewe hereof which thing he did by the means of the plague that hapned to the Citie of Thebes he would haue slayne himselfe but his men would not suffer him then woulde he haue caste himselfe headlong from a rocke but his daughter Antigone who alway wayted vpon him wold not permit him so to doe When therfore by no meanes he could ende hys wretched life he scratched out his ewn eyes Sen. Diodorns siculus writeth hereof farre otherwise And that thou mayst be such as he who iudg'd the ioconde strife Who after in Apollos arte was famous during life ¶ Tyresias a Theban Tyresias sonne of Chyron and Othoriclo was elected a Iudge betwene Iupiter Iuno to determine whether the man or woman was more enclyned to lasciuiousnes or most prone to accomplish the lustes of the fleshe He gaue sentence of Iupiters syde and concluded that women were the wantoner Wherefore Iuno moued to anger put out hys eyes but Iupiter comforted hys calamitie and made him a Soothsayer He foreshewed the takinge of Thebes and when the Citie was ouerthrowen he was ledde captyue amonge the rest and drinkynge of the water of the fountayne Tilphusa in hys Iourney dyed Daphnae alias Sibilla His daughter Daphne after called Sibilla was wise in that arte and wrote many answeres It is called Apollos arte for that he is the God of those that foreshew things to come And that thou mayst be such as he who did commaunde a Doue To conduct safe the goodly shippe Phenix had thrée sonnes Cilix Phineus Phyneus and Doriclus Phyneus had two sonnes by Cleopatra Orithus and Crambes He put out theyr eyes for that they were accused of certaine mysdedes by theyr stepmother in reuengement whereof Iupiter made him blynde sent the Byrdes called Harpiae to molest him Harpiae But when he had receaued hostede ayded the Argonants They were driuen from hym by two young men Zethus and Calais the sonnes of Boreas the Northwynde and Orithia which could flye and were also of the felowship of the Argonants They were chased to the Ilandes then called Plote Strophades insulae after Strophades bicause the young men returned from the chase being admonished by Irys that they should chase Iupiters dogges no further For which benefyt Phyneus gaue councell to the Argonants that they shold folow the Doue that Pallas wold send thē lest they ronne on the rocks called Saxa cyanea otherwise Simplegades But that Phyneus gaue them the Doue béesyde Apollonius Rhodius none wryteth Or he who lackt his eyes with which he naughtly gould hath kende Whome to hir sonne a sacryfyce the Mother greu'd dyd sende Polymnestor Polymnestor king of Tracia maryed Ilione daughter of Priamus and Hecuba To him when the warres of the Grekes and Troians began Polidorus was sent Polidorus Pryams yongest sonne and with him a great summe of Goulde there to be kept tyll the ende of the warres whome while Troy remayned in good estate Polymnestor kept honorably But so soone as the fortune of Pryam and the Troyans decaied he killed his Clyent for to enioy hys money and cast him into the Sea whose body after the destruction of Troy was founde on the shore by Hecuba Hecuba who desembling the death of hir sonne sent for Polymnestor perswading him that she wold deliuer him an other great summe for the norishment of hir chyld He beleuyng hir came into hir chamber where of hir and hir maydens his eyes were pulled out Or as Th'etnean shepeherd was to whome was prophesied By Telemus Eurimous sonne what after should betyde ¶ Polyphemus was sonne of Neptune by Thoosa Poliphemus he kepte shepe about the hyll Etna in Cicilia after he had eaten sixe of Vlisses men returninge from Troy being dronken with wine had his eye put out by Vlisses The whole maner hereof is described at large in the ninth boke of
Homer his Odisses Or Phyneus his two sonnes froÌ„ whom who gaue to them the same He toke their eyes or Thamyras or Demodoce of fame ¶ Orithus and Crambes for hurting Ide daughter of Dardanus Orithus Cramhes their stepmother by their father Phineus were made blind Se the story of Phineus ¶ Thamyras Thamiras sonne of Philamon and Argiope as he came from Euritus kinge of Aethulia a Citie of Peloponesus met with the Muses at Dorion for boastyng that he could play better then they had his eyes put out of them and his harpe taken from him his masters name was Linus Linus Demodocus Demodocus a harper he had of the Muses both good and harme he wanted his eies but was a singuler Musician he is much praised of Homer in the .viii. boke of his Odisses He sange at Alcinous table two songes one of the adultery of Mars and Venus the other of the bringinge of the woodden horse into Troy Some thinke that by him Homer meaneth hymselfe and not without cause Here must you note that of whatsoeuer good qualities were in ani of these men he wysheth nothinge to Ibis but their blindnesse Or that some may thy members cut as did Saturnus olde Who those parts wherby he was formd to cut away was bolde Saturnus sonne of Coelum and Terra Saturnus cut of his fathers members but the droppes that fell from that gâ—sh Terra receiued wherof were ingendred the furious Giaunts and the Nimphes that Hesiodus in his Theogonia calleth Meliae Of those members cast into the sea after thei had swame a while gathered a little fome was created Venus That Neptune in the swelling seas no better be to thée Then vnto him who saw his wife and brother birdes to be ¶ Ceyx Ceix Lucifers sonne maried Alcione Eolus his daughter who going to Delphos was drowned His wyfe sacryfyced dayly to Iuno for his safe returne Iuno hauing pytie of her for that she lost so much paine set Irys to Somnus wyth commaundement that he should tell hir of the death of hix husbande Somnus he sent Morpheus one of his thrée messeÌ„gers who in lykenesse of hir husbande appeared to hir by night and certyfyed hir of all his state In the morning she ryseth and goeth to the Sea syde fynding the body of hir dead husband would haue drowned hir selfe but she was in the fall turned into a Byrd of hir owne name ¶ Dedalion Dedalion brother to Ceyx hadde a very faire daughter loued of Apollo and Mercurie hir name was Chione she bare to Apollo Phalamon father of Thamiras of whome we spake before the excellent Musition To Mercurye the infamous théefe Antolicus for comparinge with Diana in bewty she was slayne with hir Arrowes for grefe whereof hir father was turned into a Hauke Or else vnto the skylfull man whome houlding in his hand The péeces of his broken barke dyd Ino helpe to land ¶ Cadmus builder of Thebes begat of Harmonia the daughter of Mars and Venus Agaue Autonoe Ino Semele and Polydorus Ino was maryed to Athanias Ino. Athanias who in his fury thinking that his wife and children had bene wylde beastes called for hys huÌ„ting nets to hunt theÌ„ She had by him two sonnes Clearchus and Melicerta the elder wherof hys father catching swinged about his head tyll he had bearen out his braynes againe the trées Ino taking hir other chyld in hir armes went to the Sea mynding to caste hir selfe hedlonge thereinto But in the mydst of their fall they were made he a god and she a goddes of the Sea Ino is called Lencothea or Matuta she helped Vlysses Vlisses when Neptunus his heuy friend hadde broken hys shyp and would haue drowned him also if he might All thys dyspleasure grewe for putting out the eye of Polyphemus hys dearely beloued sonne And that not one alone may know thys kynde of punishment God graunt thy meÌ„bers may with horse in péeces all be rent ¶ Metius Suffetius Metius Suffetius a traytor to Tullus Hostilius making warre against the Fidenates after the victory gotten was tyed to two chariots and pluete in peeces Liuius li. i. Neither before nor after was any punished after such sorte in Rome And that thy paynes may be as greate as of Amylcares hande He felt the which would haue redemde none of the Romayne bande ¶ Marcus Attilius Regulus Artilius Regulus in the firste Carthagynian warre generall of the Romayne armyes tooke Clypea a great eytie and .300 other walled townes The Carthagynians thinking their successe to be so yll for lacke of a good and experte captayne sent to Lacedemon for one from whence came Xanthius and ouercame him Hys army being so faynt for lacke of water and with continuall labor that of thyrty thousande not fower thousand would take theyr weapons fyght for theyr lyues in which battayle him selfe was taken prysoner and after sent to the senate of Rome to intreat for the redemyng of the prysoners wold by no meanes condyscend that one of them should be raunsomed Him selfe also returned to cruell punishment voluntarily for he had rather suffer any tormeÌ„ts then break his promise made to his enimie He was kylled Eubero but after what sort it is not wel known Some say that hée was constrayned to looke vpon the Sun with his eyes open so to dye And other sayth that he was constrained to watch Tuditaous so for lacke of sléepe to dye Other that he was put into a barrell full of nayles so dyed which is most lyke to be true Sillius bicause his chyldren hauing the Carthagynian prysoners delyuered to them put them to death after lyke sort And that no power that heauen holds may be to the more ayde Then Iupiter Herceus altar was to Pryam sore afrayde ¶ Priamus Troyan king Priamus past all hope of safety fled to the altar of Iupiter Hirceus which was in the mydst of his palace for succour where by the cruell hande of pytilesse Pyrrhus he was slayne Virgill Or as kyng Thessalus from toppe of Osla hyll was cast So thou mayst from some stony clyfte be headlong flong as fast ¶ Hemon by Chalciope Thessalus had alsonne called Thessalus he was kyng of Thessalia He receaued Eurialus one of Coricira a straunger and entertayned him courteously But he notwithstandinge thys gentlenes as on a time they walked vppon the Hyll Ossa in Thessalia was by the sayd Eurialus caste downe hedlong after this be kylled his sonne Neson and was him selfe kyng of Thessalia But in the ende when he could not be purged of this murder hee is reported to haue his head eaten styll with the furyes of hell Which thing Ouid in the next verse affyrmeth Or that thy lyms may féede the snakes as dyd Euryalus Eurialus Who dyd the regall scepter hold after kyng Thessalus That water hot powrde on thy head may be to thée the cause Of Shortnyng of thy