Spaniards haue taken as it were this one graine away but thus much say they pointing to the rest in the vessell thus much and more haue they left behinde them Now the word Viracochie because it comes thus in my way Benzo himselfe in his third booke saith it signifies the froth or scumme of the Sea and that the Peruvians so call the Spaniards for deepe hatred and abomination of them saying also sometimes one to another in their language The wind beares downe houses and trees and the fire burnes them but these Viracochie they doe worse than wind and fire They waste all they eat all they turne the earth and all vpside downe they turne the course of Riuers they are neuer at quiet they neuer cease ranging vp and downe to seeke gold and siluer and all they finde is too little for them When they haue it what doe they They take their pleasure they warre one with another rob one another kill one another they are euer giuen to lying blaspheming and denying the same God whom they professe and these men haue cruelly slame without cause our fathers our children and kinsfolkes taken from vs contrary to all right our goods our libertie and countrie Hauing thus commended the Spaniards they cause the Sea for vomiting on the Earth so cruell and wicked a people and often haue vpbraided the Spaniards themselues with this notorious reproach that Gold was the Christians God O how shall this people in the latter day condemne that euer greedy couetousnesse for which Europe now adaies heareth so ill and is by the selfe-people thereof so wasted and vnpeopled But concerning the diuers gouernments of the West-Indies seeing they are set downe so well at large by Lopes Ouâ—ede Benzo and others it is too great a matter for me to handle in this discourse which is I feare me growne too long already therefore will I draw to an end The Poet at the 413. verse begins to shew some likely opinions how this new-found world was pleopled and first in generall that the people of countries inhabited exercising their ordinary traffick one with another might sometimes be cast by force of tempest vpon the West-Indian shore and so be constrained their ships being broken to remaine still there Others by plague war or famine were driuen to leaue their countries and seeke some quietter dwelling farre off and so haue lighted on these new Countries Or perhaps some great man of authority or cunning Pilot by ventring made a discouery thereof and led the ouer-creases of some people thither As the Poet sheweth more particularly in the verses following 44 Nay could not long agoe He guesseth in speciall and most likely that the inhabitants of the furthest Northeast shore of Asia to wit the men of Quinsay and other places there might haue emptied their ouer-peopled Cities by passing the Anien Straight a part of Sea no broader as he saith then the Phare of Gallipoli Gibraltare or Messine and so from the East Indies might they haue stored first the land of Tolguage which Theues in his map of the new world placeth betwixt the Realmes of Anián Tolm and Quiuir within 15 degrees of the North-pole then the rest as followeth 45 So from the Wastes of Tolm and Quiuir In all this huge Northren part of America few people there are especially toward the coast ouer against Quinsay and the other East countries There are therefore great Waste-lands as the later Card-men haue noted about the kingdomes or countries of Anian Tolguage Quiuir and Tolm about 12000 leagues compasse So then the Poet holds opinion that some of Sems posteritie hauing once passed from the farthest East-point of Asia ouer to the West-Indian Coast thrust their of-spring farther into the land The Countries here named by the Poet are to be found in the Sea-cards and Land-maps betwixt Now-Spaine and Estotilant as if he meant that the North-part of America was first inhabited concerning the properties and particular descriptions of these places reade the third volume of the Spanish Nauigations the second Booke of the generall historie of Lopez de Gomara chap. 37. c. the Historie of Florida Benzo the Reports of Johannes Verazzanus laques Cartier and other French Captaines concerning their discouering of the Land of Labour where the Sea is frozen Baccalos New France Canada Hochilega and other lands thereabouts Reade Thenet also and the later Card men For the French Calienza I haue translated Caliquas according as I finde it writted both in others and in Ortellus who also hath for Mechi Terlichi-mechi and therefore I translate it Terlichi 46 They sow'd at'nother side Xalisco now called Noua Gallicia is described by Gomara in the 21. chapter of his fift booke It is a land very fruitfull and rich in honey waxe and siluer and the people there are Idolaters and Men-eaters Nunnius Gusmannus who seized the country for the King of Spaine in the yeare 1530. hath written a discourse thereof and it is to be read in the third volume of the Spanish Nauigations The Prouince of Mechuacan from whence not far lyeth Cusule is about 40 leagues lower southward then Xalisco that also the said Gusmannus conquered after he had most cruelly and traiterously put to death the Prince and Peeres of the country as Gomara sheweth in his booke and chapter aboue quoted Mexico which some account all one with Themixtetan is the mother-Citie of that kingdome now called Hispania Nona wonderfull rich it is and strong and of high renoume built farre more curiously then Venice vpon a lake salt on the north-side because it is there of a Sea-like breadth and on the south-side fresh because of a Riuer that empties there into it Greater is the Citie thought to be then Seuille in Spaine the streets are passing well set and their channels in such manner cast as cannot be mended Diuers places there are to buy and sell-in the needfull and ordinarie wares but one there is greater then the rest with many walkes and galleries round about it where euery day may be seene aboue threescore thousand Chapmen There is the Iudgement Hall for common Pleas and were also many temples and shrines of Idols before the comming of Ferdinando Cortez who made thereof the first conquest for the king of Spaine exercising most horrible cruelties vpon all both young and old in the Citie as Barthelemi delas Casas a Monke and Bishop of Spaine reports in his historie of the Indies where he stayed a long time Looke the description of Mexico in the third volume of the Spanish Nauigations fol. 300. See also Benzo of Millaine his historie of the new world the second booke and 13. Chapter Now from these parts abouenamed after report of some wonders of many there seene and worthy a larger discourse by themselues the Poet drawes his Colonies downe further towards Peru by the Land-straight of Panama which parts the South-sea from the Ocean and thereabout is hardly 20. leagues in breadth The fiery mountaine
right nature of things in the right hand an Ewer because the speech of the wise dampeth and putteth out the flame of passions I might note hereof many examples but I leaue them for the diligent Reader to search meaning here to offer him but Annotations which I feare alreadie are growen too long The little chaines that come forth from the Images golden tongue and draw such a number of hearers by the eares and heart signifie the great power of a well framed speech the truth whereof appeareth chiefely in preaching the word in counsels of graue common-wealths-men and orations of good Magistrates and valiant Captaines In this manner did the ancient Frenchmen paint and set out their Hercules surnamed Ognius whereupon Alciat hath made a pretie Embleme it is the 180. expounded at large by Cl. Minos The summe of all is that Eloquence is to be preferred before force Our Poet aimeth at that description Further concerning the Bore the Tygre and the Beare lying tame at the feet of this Image it signifieth that a pleasant and learned speech appeaseth all angrie cruell and sauage men and cuen the maddest and most brutish people in the world it maketh the woods and hills to daunce and leape that is to say it moueth bendeth and instructeth very block-heads and such as are most hard of vnderstanding and this may be the meaning of those fained tales of Amphion Orpheus Arion and other like Lastly this Image is inuironed with a double ranke of pillers well and strongly grounded and vnder-pinned that beare vp in due proportion the nino languages following each by her owne chiefe authors and maintainers For euery pillar was wrought in fashion of a man and framed to the countenance of one of their best writers in a long gowne or stole And that is the meaning of the French à la Cariatide After the Carian right as Vitruuius writeth at large in the first Chapter of his first booke of Architecture This I note because the French Commenter lets it passe and it troubled my selfe to vnderstand it at the first 23. Among the blessed wits For chiefe props of the Hebrue tongue which he placeth in the fore-front of Eloquence as in euery regard it was meet whether we cofider the sweet grauitie the natural impliance the shortnes hautines liuelines of it or the sincerity holines light heauenly Maiestic he nameth first Moses because he is the most anciēt of those whose writings in this tongue are extant As for the book of the Prophesie of Henoch it was lost a long time agoe He describeth this holy Law-writer after an excellent manner as was requisite in a discourse of eloquence His face shineth like a blasing Star alluding to that in the Scripture that Moses comming downe frō the Mount where he had talked with God his face so shined that none was able to behold his countenance in so much as he was faine to weare a vaile ouer it the rest is very easie to be vnderstood especially of such as haue neuer so lightly turned ouer the history Now for the bookes of Moses they were written many hundred yeares before the Greekes were knowne who were not heard of in the world but a little before the reigne of Saul had but few workes in writing or none at all till after the time of Salomon as their owne Histories witnesse whosoeuer will take paines to turne them ouer Nay further all their knowledge came from the Aegyptians Phenicians and others who had leaned somewhat by conuersing with the Hebiues And to come againe to Moses he hath beene in maruellous account with insinite Heathen Writers If any haue lightly regarded or found fault with him it was either because they vnderstood him not at all or maliced him exceedingly which a man may easily finde in their writings The second Author of the Hebrue he counteth Dauid whose Psalmes he speaketh of much in few lines but little it is in comparison of their excellencie whereof many ancient and late Writers haue spoken notable things I will not heape them vp here assuring my selfe that all true Christians will grant me that the Book of Dauids Psalmes is as Saint Basil saith the Store-house and treasurie of all good learning for all men to come at and will confesse with Saint Ierome and Saint Chrysostome that nothing better becommeth a man be he Peasant or Crafts-man great or small than to sing vnto the Lord the praises and thankesgiuing in these excellent songs contained the very liuely and true Anatomies of a beleeuing soule O how cursed and abominable before God and his Church are those wicked ones that haue forbidden Christians the vnderstanding and vse of them and banished them out of Christendome that haue suffered allowed maintained commanded and commended vnto the people these shamefull and wanton Poesies these books of vanitie error and leasings which with their Authors deserue the fire not the quiet and peaceable persons that call vpon Iesus Christ and belecue stedfastly the life euerlasting The soule that feareth God will not take this my digression ill nor thinke it needlesse As for the vngodly let them spit at it if they will I regard them not The third Author and ornament of the Hebrue is reckoned Salomon in his Prouerbs the Booke of the Preacher and the Song of Songs bookes more besprinckled with golden words and notable sentences than his Crowne was with pretious stones and pearles embossed Happie is the man that taketh delight to marke and daily thinke vpon so profitable and necessary instructions The fourth is the Prophet Esay the sonne of Amos right such a one as the Poet hath described These foure hee thought sufficient to name because they haue most Writings extant and are withall exceeding cloquent as might easily be proued by particulars if I were to write a Commentary or a whole discourse thereof 24. The Greeke Homer his Illias and Odyssea containing 48. bookes is the most ancient Greeke Author we haue his inuentions are wonderfull his vaine naturall his verses smooth and full of Art and the more they are considered the greater grace they haue There is also in them a hidden sense and the very well-spring of all humane knowledge as may appeare by that infinite peeces of his poesies are cited in the bookes of ancient and late Phylosophers Geographers Historiographers and Orators as Plutarch and others witnesse The next to Homer is Plato not in time but in worthinesse he is called the diuine Phylosopher because he is so maruellous pure so high and lofty in all his disconrses the true scholler of him that professing himselfe to know but one thing namely that he knew nothing declared that he knew all things that might be learned in the world as touching the world For concerning the knowledge of saluation Plato and his maister both were ignorant and sith all other knowledge is nothing in comparison of that the more are we bound to God that haue it he said most truely
road into Spaine the Greekes into France and the Frenchmen into Greece neither could the Pyrene mountaines hinder the Germans passage ouer wayes vnknowne and vntroad the light-headed people haue caried their wiues and children and ouer-aged parents some after long wandering vp and downe seated themselnes not according to their free choice but where they first might when they waxed weary of trauell some on other mens possessions sâ—ized by force of armes some as they sought vnknown places were drowned in the sea some there sat downe where they first began to want proâ—ision And all for sooke not their countries or sought other for the same causes Many after their cities were destroyed by warre sled from their enemies and so berest of their owne possessions were faine to presse vpon other mens many left their dwellings to auoide the disquiet of ciuill warres and many to emptie Cities of their ouerceasing multitude some by pestilence or the earth 's often gulsing or like vnsufferable faults of a bad soyle were cast forth and some were entâ—sed from home by report of a larger and more fruitfull ground some for one cause some for another c. 19. I doe not speake-of here The Poet hath Scoenites which I translate Arabes because they were a people of Arabia great robbers and harâ—â—ers of Aegypt and the coast of Affricke 〈◊〉 the shopheards Nomades are as I take them the Numidians and Moores or as some thinke a kinde of Scythiant The Hordies are the Tartarians who liue in the field in chariots and tents Now the Poet leauing the vncertaine course of these roguing Nations who haue had no more stay in them then swallowes and other wandring birds intendeth to speake of a more warlike people whereof he alledgeth some notable examples 20. Right such that Lombard was He setteth downe much matter in few ords concerning the Lombards There are diuerse opinions of their pedegree Melancthon and Peucer in the third and fourth booke of Carious Chron hold they dwelt in a Saxonie by the riuer Albis about where now are the Bishopricks of Meidburg and Halberstad and a part of the Marquesse of Brandburg and from thence vnder the conduct of Alboin entred Jtalie and in the time of the Emperour Iustin the second seated themselues betweene the Appenine hils and the Alpes where they began a kingdome They were called Lombards either because of their long Ianelines for thence it seeme are come the names of Halbards and Iauclines de barde or because they dwelt in a countrey flat and fruitfull as the Dutch word Bard may signifie Some otherutho rs count them farre-northerne people yet shew not their ancient aboad Ptolomee in the fourth table of Europe deriues them from the countrey of Swaube as also he noteth in the second booke and 11. chapter of his Geogr. with whom agreeth C. Tacitus in his Histories But Lazius in the 12. booke of his Migrations of the Northerne people Vignier in the first part of his Library page 905. and out Poet here followes the opinion of Paulus Diaconus they differ not much but onely about the time of their stay and place of their first aboad Melancthon and Peucer set them first in Saxonic Paulus Diaconus the Poet and others in Scandinauie or Schonland a great nearelsle of the Sound or Baltike Sea from whence they might come in by the bankes of Albis all or some of them and some by the coast of Mekelborg c. For Paulus Diaconus in his first booke second chapter saith of this people They encreased so fast in their fore-said Country that they were faine to part themselues in to three companies and cast lots which of them should goe seeke another seat This I say to shew the Poets cunning drift that in so few lines hath set downe matter enough for any man to write-on whole volumes of bookes Thus then to follow the Poet the first notable and fast aboad of the Lombards who came from the Goths and Vandals was Schonland whence a part of them dislodging vnder the conduct of Ibor and Agio setled in Scoring which is about the marches of Liuonia and Prussia and after they had there dwelt certaine yeeres were constrained by a dearth to seeke further so as they came to Mauringia and at length to Rugiland and the countries neere adioyning which Paulus Diaconus setteth downe by name There after the death of their leaders they chose Agilmond for their king He had reigned 33. yeeres when the Bulgares a neighbour people assailing them vnawares slue King Agilmond After him was chosen Lamisson for King who to reuenge the death of his predecessour made warre with the Bulgares got and held a dart of Pologne then waxing wearie of that countrey he led his people toward the Rhine to the coast of the Countrie Palatine as Tacitus notes in his second booke of Histories and Velleius Patere in the life of Tiberius About Heidelberg there is a towne called Lamberten which seemes to make somewhat for the Lombards aboad there so saith Lazius But many yeeres after they coasted backe againe and dwelt in Moranie where they warred against the Heruâ—es Sucues and Gepides Then went they vp into Hungarie vnder the safe-conduit of the Emperour Iustinian to whom they paid tribute as Procopius and Diaconus declare at large There had they cruell warre with the Gepides but at length agreed and ioyned with them and vnderstanding by the practise of Narses that Italie was a Countrey much sitting their nature their King Alboin made a road thereinto and got Lombardie before called Insubria there they rested and raigned two hundred yeers vntill Charles the groat vanquisht them as is before laid 21. Such was the Goth. Lazius in the tenth booke of his Migrations hath handled well and largely the Historie of Gothes gathered out of Procopius Iornandes Tacitus Claudianus Olaus Magnus Eutropius and many others I will shut vp all in short and by way of Paraphrase vpon the Poets verse The Goths and Almaine people had for their first assured seat the Isles of the Sound or Baltike Sea and Gothland yet retaines the name of them In Syllaes time they left these Isles and came to dwell in Almaine beside the riuer Vistula now called Wixel After they had warred there against the Frenchmen they bent toward Transsiluania Hangaria and Valachia where they remained vntill the time of Valentinian maintaining themselues by force of armes against the Greekes and Romans Then for many causes alledged by Lazius they went forward into Thrace and there dwelt and became tributaries vnto Valentinian and Valens Eutropius saith all went not thither but a good part of them kept their former place and the cause of their sundring was a civill disagreement about religion the one side retaining Heathenisme vnder Athalaricke their King the other vnder Fridigerne mingling with Christenisme the abhominable heresie of Arrius which taketh quite away the true religion of Christ The Arrians drew toward the West and wore after called
and her people in the second booke here and that of France in the third both laid together betokning as it were some new bond of Loue shortly to come betwixt that Realme and this which we all pray the Lord to prosper To make way then yet more for this mutuall acquaintance by communication of Language thus much of that Noble Poet I thought meet to counterpage with French and English Not all both because the Kings happie match growing on so fast I had no time to finish and print so great a volume and for that I may say of this Author as of Homer know foure of his bookes and know them all for thus much onely may suffice I presume to helpe an Englishman vnderstand the whole French of Bartas or a Frenchman the whole English of Siluestor If you aske me why I keepe this kind of Hexameter verse I need say no more but that it is the same which the Author kept in the originall and he doubtlesse for the more graue made choice thereof with great reason according to the counsell of Horace who aduiseth all writers Descriptas seruare vices operumque colores his reason followes which with little alteration of the verse I may hereto fitly applie Indignantur enim communibus propè socco Dignis carminibus dici primordia Mundi And what is our English Pentameter but the same kind of verse which is vsed in our Comediâ—s Besides I had a desire to trie how French and English would go hand in hand for enter changeable helpe and teaching of the one by the other now both Nations are so well inclined to learne and conferre together For which purpose I found this worke very fit and readiest on such a sodain to present my Lord the King withall at the here celebration of his marriage And herefore onely if there were none other cause yet gentle Readers my hope is yee will hold me excused I was about to end but may not forget to let you vnderstand that this Bartassian verse not vnlike herein to the Latin Pantameter hath euer this propertie to part in the mids betwixt two wordes so much doe some French prints signifie with a stroke interposed as here in the first two pages you may see for example The neglect of this hath caused many a braue Stanza in the Fâ—irie Queene to end but harshly which might haue beene preuented at the first but now the fault may be sooner found then amended I doe but note it vnto you that you may the better obserue the true cadence of this our Authors verse and so craning your fauourable construction of these and all my like endeauours I rest willing to doe you what further seruice I am able VV. L. Iusqu'a la fin du Mond la lys Francoise Fleurisse iointe auec la Rose Angloise Fin d' Adam commencement de Noe. The end of Adam and beginning of Nöe PVis il commence ainsi ‑ La branlante cité Des peuples escaillez ‑ tout ce lambris vouté Ou du grand Foudroyeur ‑ la puissance eternelle Mit Phebus Phebé ‑ par tour en sentinelle Adam declaire ason fils en coÌ„bien de iours le monde a esté creé L'air des nues la lice ‑ le camp assiné Oùle colerâ— Autan ‑ le Nort mutiné Se donnent le battaille ‑ siers iettent par terre Maint bois qui moytoien ‑ veut esteindre leur guerre Des fragiles humains ‑ le diapré sciour Fut fait en six Solcils ‑ le septiesme iour Fut le sacré Sabat ‑ Ainsi la terre l'onde L'air l'azur dore ‑ des pauillons du Monde Subsisteront six iours ‑ mais longs touts diuers Des iours bornez du cours ‑ de l'oeil de l'Vniuers Combien d'aages il dureia L'vn coÌ„mence par moy ‑ L'autre a pour son Aurore Le pere inuente-nef ‑ qui les coutaux decore D'vn pampre cultiué ‑ L'autre ce grand Berger Qui suit le Tout-puissant ‑ en pays estranger Et dounant plus de foy ‑ à la saincte parole De Dieu Le premier aage du monde sous Adâ— Le second sous Noe. Le troifiesme sous Abraham Le quatriesme sous Dauid ses successâ—s qu' à la raison ‑ son fils vnique immole L'autre vn autra Pasteur ‑ dextrement courageux A qui la fonde-sert ‑ d'vn canon orageux Et qui change veinceur ‑ en septre sa houlette Grand Prophete grand Roy ‑ grand Chantre grand Poêts Celui la qui le suit ‑ prend-son commencement Par lannict de ce Roy qui void cruellement Massacrer ses enfans sur la riue grasse D' Euphrase transporter la Iudaique race Le cinquiesme sous la captiâ—iâ—e dâ— Zedechias Le â—â—xiesme sous Iesus Christ Le deâ—nier qui sera le repos du monde Et lautre a pour Soleil le Messie attendis Qui batu qui chassé qui moque qui pendu Qui mis dans le cercueil a de nostre iniustice Blen que iuste souffert l'execrable supplice Mais le dernier sera le vray iour da Repos L'air deuiendra muet de Neptune les flots Chommeront paresseux le ciel perdra sadance Le Soliel saclarâ—é la terre sa chenaâ—uâ—e Et nous estans plongez en eternels esbats Celebrerons au ciel le Sabat des Sabats Las que doy-te esperer de larace voisine Du seu qui doit vengeur cendroyer la machine Considerations d'Adam sur ce qui doit auenir à ses descendans iusques à la sin du premier moÌ„de exterminé par le deluge comme le rout est expose par Moses Des hommes qui n' auront que leur dosir pour loy Et qui n' orront parler nide Dieu nide moy Puis que pleins de sureur ceux qui prindrent naissance Dessus le sacré sueil Enos â—establiâ— le 〈…〉 Qui sentent bruire eâ—cor le diuin iudgement Et sont comme tesmoins de mon bannissement Semblent despiter Dieu Ame traistre mutine Hé 〈◊〉 est ce assâ—z d'auoir fuit triple l'Androgyne N' est câ— assez O Lamech d'auoir ton lict souillé Si tis n'auois encor ten çoutclas mouillé Dans le sang hisayeul sans que ni la defence De cil sou qui sleschit l'internale puissance Ni la marque qu' au front l'Assassin inhumain Portâ—il pâ—ur saufconduit ait retenu tamain 〈…〉 O saint Enos sus courage redresse L' est 〈…〉 la soy Enos â—establiâ— le 〈…〉 que l'humaine sagesse Foulois la sous les pieds inuoque l'Immortol Pourpre d'vâ—lâ—e le sang les coins de son autel D' vn enceas vaporeux son nez sacré parfume Et l'amorâ—i slambcau de Verité r ' allume Vâ—â—◠〈◊〉 â—â—sciple Henoe du monde
the iawes of Hell The skarr'd inhabitants of that same floating Cell Who now a peace-offering deuoutly sacrifise And from his Alter make perfumes to Heau'n arise Of purer kinded beasts and therewithall let flie Zele-winged heartie prayers and thus aloud they crie 15. Here yet the damned Crew Before he goe-on he shewes what certaine profane wretches doe obiect who make doubt of this history concerning the Deluge because they cannot conceiue how it is possible that the Arke being but 300. cubits long and 50. broad and 30. high should liue it is the Sea-mans phrase so many moneths in so great a storme of wind raine and violence of waters with so heauy a charge and containe so many creatures together with their competent food and fodder sithence the greatest Gallion vpon the Sea hath hardly stoage for the nourishment of a Horse an Elephant a Cammell a Bull and a Rhinoceros the space of ten moneths The Poet hath diuers answers to this obiection First that the mungrell beasts of what sort soeuer since engendred as Mules Leopards and other like that Nature daily brings forth were not in the Arke And this may be gathered out of the very text of Moses who speaks of the simple and true kindes not the mingled or mungrell sort as all Expositors agree The second is that the Arke because it contained so many cubits geometricall was able to receiue of all the true and simple kinds wylde tame creeping flying both male and female This is briefly said but we will speake thereof a word more Moses hath recorded in the 6. chap. of Gen. ver 14. c. that God hauing a purpose to destroy the world said vnto Noe Make thee an Arke of Gopher-wood which is thought to be a sort of Pine or Cedar Thou shalt make cabins in the Arke and shalt pitch it inside and out with pitch And thus thou shalt make it The length thereof shall be 300 cubits and the breadth 50 cubits and the height 30 cubits a window shalt thou make in the Arke and in a cubit shalt thou finish it abone and thou shalt set a doore in the side thereof And thou shalt make it with a low second and third roome or storie The timber then of the Arke being of such a fast and sad wood not easily rotting was like to hold out and I imagine it was a kinde of Cedar such as Plinie nameth in the 15. chap. of his 13. booke saying Hanc quoque materiam siccatam mari duritie incorrupta spissari nec vllo modo vehementiùs 1. That this kinde of timber dryed with the Sea more then any wayes else growes so sad and hard that it cannot rot But sithence the Commentors vpon this place differ much in the interpretation of this word Gopher which in all the Old Testament is not found but here I leaue the Reader that will be exact and curious to search it out himselfe As for the rest it is not to be doubted but that Noe endowed with a great measure of the holy Spirit and with exquisite wisdome did herein euen to the full conceiue and execute the commandement of God So as the Arke that is the close or couered ship was surely made and finished according to the proportion set downe by Moses and that of choice well seasoned and most durable materials 100 yeare a preparing as may be gathered by comparing the 7. chap. and 6. verse with the 6.10 and the 5.32 of Genesis And for as much as the whole businesse was managed by the expresse ordinance of God who gaue a secret instinct to the beasts both cleane and vncleane to enter after Noe by payres into the Arke I conclude there was roome distinct and sufficient both for them and their prouisions Apelles an auncient Heretike and the disciple of a most vngodly Master called Marcion hauing presumptuously controuled the bookes of Moses gaue occasion to some of the Fathers and chiefly Origen among other points to treat of the capacitie and largenesse of Noes Arke wherein he accounts each cubit Geometricall the Quadrate whereof is as much as six other cubits And this I. Buteo a learned Mathematician of Daulphine very cunningly declares in a treatise purposely written of the Arke of Noe where he proues to the full whatsoeuer may be questioned concerning that admirable peece of Architecture and all the cabins that it had for the creatures and their seuerall prouisions Io. Goropius discourseth likewise hereof and at large in the second booke of his Antiquities entitled Gigantomachia inserting also some part of Buteo But to speake plainly if we take the cubit in common signification for a foot and a halfe and confider the different syze of men of that age from ours together with the length bredth and height of the Arke and three stages whereof the lowest was for the prouision the next for the foure-footed and creeping creatures and the vppermost for the birds with Noe and his familie and ouer all these a couering wee shall finde roome enough to lodge and place all according to the number in generall set downe by Moses to wit male and female of euery sort vncleane and seauen of the cleane male and female The Poet here speaking of the Geometricall cubit means a cubit solid that is in length bredth and height taken together There are that make the cubit two foot long and make difference betwixt the cubit legale as they call it and the cubit of a man glancing at that which is said Deut. 3. of the bed of Og king of Basan Looke what Arias Montanus saith in his Tubal Cain and Noah where he discourses of the measures and Architectures mentioned in holy Scripture and of the Arke These bookes are in the Volume which he calleth Apparatus ioyned to the great Bibles in Hebrue Greeke and Latine and printed at Antwerpe That which hath led these Atheists and profane wretches into errour is that they consider not that Noe and the men of that Age by reason of their higher stature had longer cubits and hard it is to giue a iust proportion of theirs vnto ours When Moses wrote certaine it is that mens bodies were abated of their bignesse yet that which he wrote was easily vnderstood of the Israelites who receiued these things by tradition and knew them as perfectly as if they saw them with their eyes The last argument here vsed by the Poet adoring the wisdome of Almighty God who made all things in number weight and measure is a reason of all reasons and altogether vnreasonable are they that reason to the contrary then beside reason were it to propound reason to them that haue lost the true vse of reason and will conceiue nothing but that which their owne mad and extrauagant reason soundeth in their eares But againe to the Text. Pere port-trident Pricre de Noé à Dieu Roy des vents dompte-mer Voy nous d'vn oeil benin O Dieu vueille calmer Les bouillons de tonire conduire au
venter and is desirous to enrich his mother-tongue decketh it bolâ—ly wâ—th that which he borroweth of others setteth forgotten words on foot againe inuenteth new words colouring and fashioning them according Thirdly time altereth a speech as we see it doth all things else that we might be forced thereby daily more and more to see and confesse that nothing is sure and stedfast vnder heauen and to beat downe also the vanitie of â—ans conceit who commonly vaunteth himselfe and taketh pride in such things as haue nothing constant in them but their owne vnconstancy 19. A courage bold This commeth too neere the second reason to be counted a fourth The French Commentar must pardon me I thinke rather the Poet hauing spoken of Writers Merchandise and Time the right and onely meanes whereby new words and phrases are first brought into a language here he sheweth vs how they are accepted for as before he touched in a word that the Courts dislike of old words bred their disuse so here he telleth vs plainly that the authoritie of him that deuiseth or vseth new words is cause of their acceptance which is afterward confirmed by vse Qâ—empenes arbitrium est vis norma loquendi as Horace writeth But forasmuch as vse without Art draweth a language head-long into Barbarisme and so out of request and Art without authoritie of Empire shutteth it vp in a narrow compasse he saith that the Hebrew Latine and Greeke had all these maintaining meanes whereby they haue continued â—o long and spred so farre abroad So beginneth he cunningly to make his passage from words and phrases vnto entire languages the better to come at length to that excellent discourse that followeth in the next Section vpon all the principall tongues now spoken or knowne in the world As for the Hebrew besides the perfections aboue mentioned he saith in it God hath reuealed his will and that it is the originall of the diuine Law both of great force to make the tongue farâ—e knowne and continue long it had further the Art and knowledge of high Priests and Prophets the wisedome and state of Salomon and was a long time vsed and accustomed to be spoke in the famous commonwealth of the Iewes But these because they belong not vnto that tongue onely but as well to the other two the Poet here leâ—ueth our The Greeke he saith in her bookes containeth at large all the liberall Sciences a great cause and most proper to the Greeke the rest as common to the others are let passe The Latine more graue and forcible then the Greeke that was a more neat and wanton tongue was aduanced and continued in request by the Romans force of armes whose Empire was the greatest and most warlike of all the rest and therefore is this cause here onely mentioned as most proper to the Latine tongue and the rest omitted These three tongues doe at this day farre surpasse all others but vngodlinesse and contempt of the true Diuinitie is cause why the Hebrew is not esteemed as it deserueth the more is it regarded of them that know it As for the Greeke that which is now commonly spoken is very grosse The pure and good Greeke is contained within the bookes of Plato Aristotle Zenophon Demosthenes Iscerates Homer Euripides Sophocles Plutarch Basil Nastanzen Chrysostome and many others The Latine after some ignorant and vnlearned men had gready embased it was refined and set on foot againe within these fourescore yeeres at what time there flourished many great and learned personages in Europe as Melancthon Erasmus Picus Myrand and others but they come short of that grace and liuelihood that the ancient Latine writers haue Cicero Caesar Liuie Virgill Horace and a number of others well enough knowne of whom as also of the most excellent authors in other tongues the Poet here goes about to entreat Traçant les derniers vers Le Poëte s'excuse reprend halaine pour entrer plus alaigrement au suiuant discours où il descrit poctiquement represente les langues principales ceux qui ont este plus excellens en icelles Songe du Poete comme à demi-las Du labour attrayant de la saincte Pallas Ie frappe bien souuent du menton ma paictrine Mes deux yeux arrousez d'vne humeur Ambrosine Se ferment peu à peu Ie pers le mouuement La plume de ma main coule tout bellement Dessus le lict cheri de rechefie m'allonge En dans le flot Lethal tous mes enuuis iâ— plonge I'y noye tous mes soins si ce n'est le desir De donner à la France vn vaile plaisir Car le tan sacré-sainct de l'amour qui m'emflamme Ne peut mesme en dormant laisser dormir mon ame Le Songe aux-aisles-d'or sortivers le Leuant Par son huis de cristal qui s'ouure vn peu deuant Que la porte duiour fantastique me guide En vn valou le ioux la nuict fresche-humide Le Ciel calme les Nords les chauds les frimas La pluye l'air serain ne sentresuyuent pas Le May tousioursy regne nuict iour Zephyre De Roses courronné mignardement souspire Par les bruyans rameaux d'vn bois qui doux-flairant Va ce champ porte-fleurs en ouale murant Instement au milieu de la plaine esmaillee Description du logis de l'Image d'Eloquence Se sleue vne grand ' Roche en piedestal taillee Et dessus sacorniche vn Collosse a' airain Qui tient vn clair brandon en sa senestre main En l'autre vn vase d'eau De sa langue doré Naissent mille chenons qui par toute la prée Subtils semblent trainer vn monde d'auditeurs Parl'or cille attachez plus encor parles coeurs Ases pieds le Sanglier gist sans baue sansrage Le Tygrey dort charmé l'Ours s'y desauuage Le proche mont sautelle lenceinte du bois Danse comme on diroit an doux air de savoix Piliers autour de l'image d'eloquence fâ—r lesquels sont les principales langues du mó de auec ceux qui les ont enrichies L'hebraique a pour principaux apuis Moyse De piliers façonnez par vne main subtile A la cariatique vn double peristile De l'Eloquence ceint l'Image rauisseur Hauts piliers qui fondâ—z sur vn plinthe bien seur Portent de quatre en quatre vne langue de celles Quece siecle sçauant couche au rang des plus belles Or entre les esprit qui fauoris des cieux Estançonnent icy la langue des Hebreux Celuy de quile front flambe comme vn Comete Orne-ciel donne-peur qui porte vne baguete Seche fleurie ensemble tient entre ses doigts Leregistre sacré des dixplus sainctes Loix Est la guide d'Isac l'autheur qui premiere ose Vouër à ses neueux ses vers sa prose Escrits
betwixt the which runneth Euphrates Arphaxad passing Euphrates staied in Chaldea and for that Astronomy and other excellent arts there chiefly flourished the Poet surnameth him the Learned which appertaineth also vnto him in regard of the true doctrine maintained by his posteritie and after some corruption reformed in the house of Abraham whom the Lord remoued from Vr of the Chaldeans into Syria C ham tire vers le Midi Cham fut fait le Seigneur de la terre bornee Vers l'Autan par les flots de la noire Guinee De Sephal Botongas Gaguametre Benin Et du chaut Concritan trop fertil en venin Vers le Nort de la mer qui naissant pres d'Abile Depart lariche Europe l'Afrique sterile Vers la part ou Tytanle soir noye ses rez De l'onde de Cap-verd de Cap-blanc de Fez. Et vers celle ou Phebus le matin se resueille De l'Ocean d'Aden de la mer Vermeille Et qui plus est encore tout ce qui gist enclos Entre le mont Liban les Arabes slots Habitation des successcuts de Cham. Entre l'onde Erytree le Goulfe Persique Il l'adiouste grand Prince à son sceptre d'Afrique Canan l'vn de ces fils s'amaisonne à l'entour Du Iourdain doux-glissant ou se doit quel que iour Heberger Israel Pheud pouple la Lybie Mizraim fon Egypte Chus l'Ethiopie C ham Lord was of the Land that Southward is beset With blacke Guineas waues and those of Guagamet Of Benin Cefala Botongas Concritan That fruitfull is of drugs to poison beast or man It Northward fronts the sea from Abil pent betweene The barren Affrick shore and Europs fertil greene And on the Westerne coast where Phoebus drownes his light Thrusts-out the Cape of Fesse the green Cape and the white And hath on th' other side whence comes the Sun from sleepe Th'Arabick seas and all the ruddy-sanded deepe Nay all the land betwixt the Liban mountaine spred And Aden waues betwixt the Persick and the Red This mightie Southerne Prince commanding far and wide Vnto the Regiment and scept'r of Affrick tide For Canan one his sonne began to build and dwell By Iordan gentle streame whereas great Israel Was after to be lodg'd Phut peopled Lybia Misraijm Egypt had Chus Ethiopia 8. Cham. The share of Cham was Africke which the Poet boundeth out as followeth It hath on the Southside the Aeâ—hiopicke Ocean or the sea of Guinea the land of Negros the realmes of Caefala which commeth neere the South Tropicke and is right-ouer against Madagascar or as the Spanish call it the Isle of S Laurence Bolongas lower and hard by the Cape of good hope Guagamet about the lake of Zembre from whence the riuer Nile springeth as Daniell Cellarius noteth in his Map of Africke and Benin that Ises aboue th'Equator neere the great bay betwixt Meleget and Mauicongo As for Concritan it is a great wildernesse betweene Cefala and Bolongas which by reason of extreame heare brings forth great store of poisonous things Now the Northbound of Affricke is the Midland-sea and on the West it shooteth out three capes or promontories named in the text all toward the Atlanticke Ocean but the greene cape which is more southward and pointeth more toward the Sea called in respect of the Antatticke pole the North Sea though it lye very neere the Equator on the East of Affricke plaies the Arabian Gulfe and the great red Sea now called the Indicke Ocean and beyond these bounds the Poet saith Cham also possest Arabia which is distinguished into three parts the Happy the Desert and the Stony all enclosed by the Mount Libanus and the Red and Persian Gulfes 9. Canan He setteth downe briefly and in foure verses the seuerall abodes of Chams foure sonnes according as they are named in the tenth chapter of Genesis Chus the eldest brother had Aethiopia which some take for that vnder Aegypt others for the land of Chus which is a part of Arabia the Happy as may be gathered by many places of the old Testament well noted of M. Beroals in the sixt chapter of his fourth booke of Chronicles Mizraim peopled Aegypt that of the Hebrewes was commonly called Mitzraijm and long after Aegypt of the name of King Aegyptus who succeeded Belus in that kingdome and was brother to Danaus who came into Greece and was Author of that name generall to the Grecians which as Saint Augustine thinkes De Ciu. Dei the eighteenth booke and tenth chapter happened about the time of Iosua Phut the third sonne of Cham gaue name saith Iosephus to the Phutaeans after called Lybians of one of the sonnes of Mesren or Mizrain named Lybis He addeth also that in Mauritania there is 〈◊〉 certaine riuer and countrey called Phute Ezechiel 30.5 numbreth Phut among those that were in league with Chus and Lud which the Latine interpreter translateth Ethiopia Lydia and the Lydians so also did the 70. Interpreters This I say to mouâ— the Reader that is so delighted vnto a further and more diligent search I thinke Phut was seated neere Arabia and Aegypt although Arias Montanus and others place him in the coast of Affricke now called Barbary about Tunis Bugie Algeri and the Mountaines of Maroco Now of Canan or Chanaan the fourth sonne of Cham was called that Land of Promise which the twelue Tribes of Israel vnder the conduct of Iosua in due time entered and possessed The bounds thereof are plainly set downe in the booke of Exodus chap 23. verse 31. and elsewhere I neede not here discourse of them except I were to write a long Commentarie Iaphet tirevers le Septentrion l'Occident Iaphet s'estend depuis les eaux de l'Hellespont La Tane flot Euxin iusques au double mont Du fameux Gibaltar l'Ocean qui baigne De son flus reflus le ruiage d'Hespaigne Et depuis ceste mer ou les chars attelez Se promenent au lieu des Gallions ailez Iusqu'au flot Prouençal Tyrrhene Ligustique L'onde de la Morce de la docte Attique Contre le beau terroir de l'Asie mineur Second iardin d'Eden du monde l'honneur Et ce large pays qui gist depuis Amane Iusqu'au source du Rha du bord de la Tanes Habitation des enfans de laphet leurs descendans Des reins de so Gomer se disent descendus Tant de peuple guerriers par la Gaule espandus Et les Germains encor iadis dits Gomerites De tubal ceux d'Hespaigne de Magog les Scythes Mazaca de Mosoch de Madai les Medois Les Thraces de Thyras de Iauan les Gregeois Iaphet to the North and West Now Iaphet spred along from th'Ellesponticke waters Th'Euxine and Tanaies vnto the mount Gibraltars Renowned doubl ' ascent and that sun-setting Maine Which with his ebbe and flow playes on the shore of Spaine And from that higher sea vpon whose
Bullinger thereupon As for Mosoch Ioseph saith of him are come the Cappadocians and for proofe thereof alledgeth a certaine Towne of their Country called Mazaca It may be gathered out of the 120. Psalme that Mesech or Mosoch was a neighbour people to Syria and Arabia which place the Chalde Paraphrast expounding vseth words of this import O wretch that I am for I haue beene a stranger among the Asians and dwelt in the Arabian tents The Poet considereth what might haue beene in continuance of time and how farre the mans posterity might haue stretched Madai sure was Author of the name of Medes whose Empire was very great in the higher Asia they destroyed the Chaldean Monarchie as may be noted out of Ierem. 51.11 Dan. 5.18 The Thracians Ioseph saith and the Poet are descended of Thyras Melancthou thinkes that of him are come the Russians but the Scripture speaketh not of his posteritie Plinie makes mention of a Riuer Tyra in the Russian or European Sarmatia Melancthon Goropius and others call it Nester Goropius in his seuenth Booke puts the Getes Daces and Bastarnes among the Thracians as all of one stocke and speaking almost the selfe-same tongue which also as he saith comes very neare the Cimbricke and Brabantish Iauan the fourth sonne of Iaphet gaue names to the Ionians who after with their neighbours were called Greekes and therefore the Latine Interpreter translating the place of Ezech. 27.19 for the Hebrue Iauan hath put Graecia so haue the seuenty put 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is the name of Greece for the same word As also in the 13. verse of the same Chapter and in the 19. of the 66. of Esay they both haue translated the Hebrue Jeuanim 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Graeci The Country of Athens hath in old time beene called Ionie as Plutarch saith in the life of Theseus and Strabo in his ninth Booke recites out of Hecataeus that the Ionians came out of Asia into Greece Now the Greekes as they were great discoursers they haue deuised a thousand tales of their first beginning but I let them passe because my notes are already waxen ouer long Ioy si-ie voulois ie ferois vne liste Discrete modestie du Poëte qui ayme mieux se taire que traiter de choses obscures cachees sous le voile de l'Antiquité De tous nos deuanciers marchannt sur la piste D'vn supposé Berose d'antres qui menteurs Abusent du loisir bonté des lecteurs Hardi i'entreprendrois de toutes les prouinces Nommer de pere en sils les plus antiques Princes Chanter de l'Vniuers les diuers peuplemens Et des moindres citez fouiller les fondemens Mais quoy ie ne veux pas abandonner ma voile Au premier vent qui souffle sans la clair estoile Qui luit sur touâ— les cieux temeraire ramer Sur les flos inconus de si lontaine mer Toute pleine d'escueils de Scilles profondes Où ne roulle pas moins de naufrages que d'ondes N'ayant autres Patrons que certains escriuains Forgeurs denoms de Roys autheurs decontes vains Qui sont tout à leur poste conuoiteux de gloire Sur vn pied de Ciron bastissent vne histoire He will not enter into matter farre out of knowledge Here if I were dispos'd vpon the ground to treade Of that suppos'd Berose abusing all that reade As he and others doe well might I let you see Of all our Ancestors a fained pedegree I boldly might assay of all the worlds Prouinces From father vnto sonne to name the former Princes To sing of all the world each peoples diuers lot And of the meanest to wâ—â—es to lay the grunsill-plot But what I meane not I as eu'ry wind shall blow To leaue the former course and rashly assay to row The bright Load-starre vnseene vpon the waues vnknow'n Of such an Ocean sea so full of rockes bestrow'n And Scyllaes glutton gulfes where tumbleth equall store Of shipwracks on the sands and billowes to the shore Not hauing other guide then writers such as faine The names of ancient Kings and romants tell vs vaine Who make all for themselues and gaping after glory On footing of a flie can frame a perfect story 12 Now. The like is seene in many bookes of late times and ancient that treat of the Kingdomes Countries and people of the world for many labour more to come neare Noes Arke and to finde there the foundation of their Townes and names of their first Princes then about other more certaine and sure grounds And they had rather forge names and deuise matter of their owne head than leaue to packe huge volumes full of tales witnessing the strange vanity of mans braine The Poet condemnes this foolish ambition and by good â—â—ght all the matter when it is at the best being very doubtfull and vnprofitâ—ble for man was placed on the earth to thinke rather on the seruice of God than so to trouble his head with curious out-search of his ancestors names 13 Of that suppos'ed Berose Who so desires to know that the Berose late printed is false supposed and cleane contrary to the right Chaldean cited often by Ioseph in his Antiquities against Apion let him reade the fourth booke of Goropius his Origines Antuerpianae And so let him thinke also of Manetho Metasthenes Fabius Pictor Sempronius Myrsilus Lesbius and others packt as they are into one volume by some one that thought to doe great matters by abusing so the Readers and holding them in amuse by false deuises from further search of the truth I will not here set downe the words of Goropius who at large discouers the forgednesse of this new Berose and his followers let it suffice to haue pointed at the place The true Berose was one of the Priests of Bel and at the commandement of Antiochus the third who succeeded Seleucus wrote three bookes of the Chaldean Historie so saith Tatianus Ioseph and Clemens Alexandrinus Some fragments of his we reade in Ioseph against Apion and they make flat against that other Berose published in our time Pourquoy la recerche de l'Antiquité est obscure coÌ„bien sont mal apuyez ceux qui sondent sur les etymologies allusions des mots L'allusion des mots n'est vn seur fondement Poury sur-maçonner vn ferme bastiment Veu que les monts plus hauts les riuieres plus belles Et les plus grandes mers changent bien qu'eternelles De nom à chaque coup que la posterité De celuy quibastit les murs d'vne cité N'en est point heritiere qu'ici nullerace En fief perpetuel ne possede vne place Ains qu'a ferme à louage ou par forme de prest Elle possede vn champ vn mont vne forest Et comme quand l'orage esmeut la mer profonde Migrations diuerses habitations des peuples Le flot chasse
but went to field with 1500. foot and 3000. horse ouercâ—me the Gâ—tes and Triballes and wasted all Macedonie only through negligence as they retired loaden with spoile they were brought to their end Yet they that remained in Gaule sent forth other companies into Asia who passed on as far as Bossen and Dardanie where by reason of a quarrell that fell betweene them they sundred themselues One part of them cast into Thrace and raigned there a long time the other setled about where Sauus and Danubius meet not far from Belgrade These that remained in Dardanie when they heard tell of the fruitfull soile of the lesser Asia went on so far as Hellespont and there because they were three Companies they parted Natolia betweene them into three parts The Trocynes had the coast of Hellespont the Tolystoboges Eolide and Jonie which the Turkes call Quision The Tectosages the country further into the maine land All that part of Asia which lyeth on this side Taurus they made their tributary planting themselues all along the riuer Hâ—lys that parteth Paphlagonia from Syria That Prouince where the Gaules dwelt in Asia from their first arriuall to the height of the Romane Empire retained the name of Gaul-Greâ—ce together with that same language which Saint Ierome six or seuen hundred yeares after saith was like that he heard spoken in Gaule about the quarter of Treues Thus concerning the ancient Gaules no to cleare some few darke words of the Text. The worke of Romulus c. He meaneth Rome builded by Romulus the most warlike Citie of all the world and therefore Mars whom the Painims counted the God of Warre may be thought the founder of it Cold Strymon a riuer parting Macedonie from Thrace as Plinie saith and because Thrace is no very warme country he giueth Strymon the adioint of Cold. The Emathicke fields to wit Macedonie so called of King Emathion Plinie speakes thereof in his fourth booke and tenth chapter thus Macedonie a Comtrie containing an hundred and fiftie Nations sometime renowned for two Kings he meaneth Philip and Alexander and for the Empire of the whole world it was afore-time called Emathia which word the Poets as Virgil and Lucan doe sometime vse for Thessaly a Countrie neare Macedonie Lucan in his very first verse Bella per Emathios plusquam ciuilia Campos And Virgil in the end of his second Georgie Nee fuit indiguum superis his sanguine nostro Emathâ—am latos Aemi pinguescere campos The Pharsalian fields are in Thessaly as Fliny recordeth in his fourth booke and eight Chapter Dindyma A hill in Phrygia The Poet calleth it Dindyme chastré guelt Dindym because the Priests of Cybele called Curetes kept and sacrificed there and were Eunuches atrired like women The Poets meaning is that these Gaules harried also Phrygia and called the country where they dwelt in Asia Gaul-Greece after the name of that from whence they first came and so planted as it were another Gaule in the middest of Asia What became of their successours in the Romanes time because the Poet makes no mention thereof I passe it also 23 Of people most renowà d He sheweth in few words wherefore he thrusteth no further into discourse of the out-roads the people made in old time For though Carion Melancthon Pâ—ucer Lazius Rhenanus Goropius and others of our time haue that way farre ventured and some-while with very good successe yet it cannot be denied but that they leaue many doubts and doe not all-where cleare the matter See then how fitly the Poet addes that followeth Il dit en somme queles trois fils de Noé peuplerent le monde Il me suffira donc de suiure son oree Et pendant attentif de la bourche dorce Du sage fils d'Amram rechanter dans ces vers Que Sem laphet Cham peuplerent l'Vniuers Et que du grand Noé la Fuste vagabonde Pour la seconde fois flott a par tout le Monde Cela ne se fit point tout à coup mais par trait de temps Non que i'enuoye Sem de Babylone auant Tout d'vn vol es terroirs du plus lontain Leuant Du Tartare Chorat boire l'onde argentine Et peupler le Catay le Cambalu la Chine En Espaigne Iapheth le profane Cham Es pays alterez de Medre de Bigam Es champs de Cephala dessus le mont Zambrique Et le Cup d'Esperance angle dernier d'Afrique Car ainsi que l'Hymete Comparaisons bien propres pour monstrer comment les parties du moÌ„de furent peuplees par les ou le mont Hiblean Ne furent tous couuert aâ— Auetes en vn an Ains la moindre ruchee enuoyant chaque prime A leurs slancs à leurs pieds à leur flairant cime Deux ou trois peuplemens cher nourissons du ciel En sin tous leurs rochers se fondirent en miel descendans de Noé asauoir peu à peu comme d'an en an par multiplication de peuple Ou plustost tout ainsi que deux Ormes fecondes Qui croissent au milieu d'vn champ emmuré d'ondes An tour de leur estocs produisent des Ormeaux Ceux-cy d'autres encor tousiours les nouueaux Gaignent pied à pied l'Isle font mesme en ieunesse D'vn grand pré tondu-ras vne forest espesse Tout ainsi les maçons de la superbe Tour S'en vont esparpillez acaser à l'entour De Mesopotamie peu à peu leur race Frayant heureusement sleuue apres sleuue passe Saisit terre apres terre si le Tout-puissant Ne va de l'Vniuers les iours accourcissant Il ne se trouuera contree si sauuage Pourquoy la premiere monarchie se dresse en Assirie Que le tige d'Adam de ses branches wombrage C'est pourquoy les pays au Tygre aboutissans Pendant l'âge premier sont les plus fleurissans Qu'il se parle d'eux seuls qu'ils commencent la guerre Et qu'ils sont la Leçon aureste de la terre Babylone viuant sous la grandeur des Roys Tenoit l'empire en main auant que le Gregeois Logeast en ville close que des murs Dircees Vn luth doux eust meçon les pierres agences Le Latin eust des bourgs des maison les Gaulois Des hutes l'Alemant des tentes l'Anglois Les Hebrieux Chaldeans Egyptiens auoyent la Philosophie super naturelle auant que les Grees sâ—eussâ—t quelque chose Les fils d'Heber auoient commerce auce les Anges Detestoient les autels dressez aux Dieux estranges Conotssoient l'Inconu des yeux de la foy Comtemploient bien heureux leur inuisible Roy. Le Chaldee sçauoit des estoilles le nombre Auoit aulné le ciel comprenoit comme l'ombre De la terre eclipsoit l'Astre au front argenté Et la sienne esteignoit du Soleil la clarté
are both of them leuell without mounting or descending any hill and straight without stopping at any lake or poole In a word whosoeuer hath seene either of them will say it is a worke farre surpassing all the great buildings and paued causies of the Romanes or the walles of Babylon built by Queene Semyramis or those most wonderfull Pyramides of Aegypt Guaynacapa a certaine King of the Indians who liued about an hundred yeares agoe caused these waies to be repaired and enlarged but he was not the first beginner of them as some would make vs beleeue for he could not haue finished them in all his life-time and the stone-worke semes to be much more ancient There are built vpon them a daies iourney asunder many goodly Pallaces called Tambos wherein the Court and armies of the Princes wont to lodge But Gomara saith our Spanyards haue by their ciuill warres vtterly destroyed these causies and cut them asunder in many places that they might not come one to another yea the Indians themselues haue broke off and seuered their parts in time of warre Now let vs heare the Poets answer 41 What then alas belike His first answer is that the people of the West-Indies fell not out of the ayre as many little frogs doe in a warme shower framed by the vertue of the Sunne of the dust or vapours arising out of the earth nor that they grew not out of the ground like roots or plants nor by any strange or vaine inchantment as of the Serpents teeth sowne by Cadmus the Poets faine grew souldiers in compleat harnesse But these they are men well-featured stout and long-liuing chiefly in the North and South-parts of the Country where both men and women in stature strength and continuance farre excell the people of Europe Asia and Affricke The commodities they haue for health their meat drinke and dwelling their ceremonies ciuill gouernment and other properties duly noted by the Historians make very good proofe of the Poets saying 42 Indeed this mightie ground This new-found world is called America of the name of Americus Vespusius a certaine famous Pilot of Florence one of the first discouerers of the Countrey not much more than an hundred yeares agoe His second answer is that this part of the world could not be so soone inhabited as the other three because it is discoasted further from the plaine of Sennaar for in Asia the plaine it selfe was And Arabia being peopled Affrick was very neare at hand and Europe from the lesser Asia is parted but with a narrow Phare whereas America is farre beyong all these which way soeuer we coast He calleth Europe a learned Soyle tower-bearing louing-right for the number of learned men and cunning Artisans of Kingdomes and States well gouerned and Fortresses that are there That after Iupiter his deare-beloued hight lo wit Europa that was the daughter of Agenor King of Phaenicia For the prophane Poets faine their great god being in loue with her to haue taken the shape of a Bull and on his backe to haue carried her ouer Hellespont and therefore the place where he first landed her was called by her name From this fable seemes to be drawne the name of Besphore which is as much to say as Bull-ferry Perhaps this Iupiter was some notable Pirate or Tyrant there-about raigning who in a Ship called the Bull stole away some young Lady and fled for safetie into Europe These words which from cold Bosphors head Doth reach the pearly dow of Tithons saffron bed set downe the length of Asia that is from the Bosphere of Thrace vnto the East-Ocean The Castile armes and lore that is the Spanish Religion and forces which Christopher Columbus brought first into America and there planted in the name of the Spanish King 43 But there the buildings The third answer is that the stately buildings infinite treasures and diuers gouernments that are there will witnesse that the country hath beene long inhabited although hard it is to learne how I haue already spoke of the great Causeyes of Peru. Now the sumptuousnesse of Themixtetan the great Citie of the Kingdome of Mexico and the Kings Pallaces of Peru such they are described by the Spaniards make further proofe of the Poets saying As for the vncountable wealth of the Indies it plainly appeares that aboue ten thousand millions of gold haue beene brought thence into Europe beside heapes of Rubies Emerauds and Pearle much wracked in the sea and much brought for a yearely tribute into Spaine Whereunto I will adde what Franciscus Lopes de Gomara saith concerning the vnualuable riches of Guainacapa the name signifieth young and rich the father of Antibalippa last King of Peru whom the Spaniards put to death All the furniture of his house table and kitchin saith he in the 120. chapter of his fourth booke were of gold and siluer and the meanest of siluer somewhat embased with copper for the more strength He had in his Wardrop Giant-like Images of gold liuely featured as also all kinde of beasts fowles trees herbes and flowers that the Land there beareth and all kinde of fishes that either the Sea there or any fresh water of his Kingdome breedeth in the said mettals well and proportianably resembled not so much as cords paniers troughes billets and other such implements but were so to conclude there was nothing in his Kingdome whereof he had not the counfeit in gold or siluer It is also said that the Kings of Peru called Ingaes haue a garden in a certaine Isle neare Puna where they delight themselues when they list take the Sea that hath in gold and siluer all herbes slowers and trees and other things whatsoeuer meet for a pleasant garden such a sumptuous deuice as neuer was heard-of or seene elsewhere Besides all this that King last but one had gathered into Cusco huge masses of gold and siluer vnfined which the Indians hid so secretly as the Spaniards could neuer come by it there was also in and about Cusco great store of picture-tables and tombes all of sine siluer worth some thirtie some fiftie some threescore thousand Ducats a peece also dining-tables vessels and Images a great number all of fine gold The Spaniards at the taking of Antibalippa found as good as 252000. pounds of siluer and of gold 1300265. pezoes euery pezo valued at a Ducat and a halse Besides the great golden table of Antibalippa worth nigh 40000. Crownes Now for all this great spoile that the Spaniards got and hauock that they made as well in Peru as other the Prouinces there-about yet the Indians as Benzo reports who stayed there with the Spaniards fourteene yeares and wrote in three bookes worthy reading that whole story they sticke not to say they haue yet more remaining than all that the Spaniards euer had And to make their meaning plainer they will take out of a great vessel ful of wheat one grain betwixt their singers say See you this the Viracochie so they call the
Germans Gott the French Dieu I passe by the names Adon Adni Iaho Iesu as also what some haue inuented vpon the names of Cain Abel Seth Enos for they haue written herein very much to little purpose The Spirit of God would haue vs rest vpon the substance of things not vpon the number of letters vsed in their names For the fourth commendation of this number he saith it is the number of the Elements to wit the Earth the Water the Aire and the Fire whereof thus Ouid Metam 15. Quatuor â—ternus genitalia corpora Mundus-Continet c. And in his first booke more distinctly Ignea conuexi vis sine pondere coeli Emicuit summaqueâ—â—cum sibi legit in arce Proximus est Aer illi leuitate locoque Densior his Tellus elementaque grandia traxit Et pressa est grauitatesui Circumsluus huâ—â—â— Vltima possedâ—t solidâ—amque coereuit orbem For the fist he saith it represents the foure Seasons of the yeare the Spring Sommer Autumne and Winter For the sixt he compares it to the foure Cardinall Vertues Iustice Fortitude Temperance and Prudence For these seuenth to the Huanours of Mans bodie bloud Coller Phlegme and Melancholy For the eight to the principall Winds East West North and South Let me say moreouer that the Pythagoreans as Maâ—rebius reports had this number in so great esteeme that they were wâ—nâ— to sweare by it 12. Fâ—ue th'Ermaphrodite So called because it is composed of the Femall 〈◊〉 and Masculine Three which is the first Odde number That which followeth how this number multiphed alway shewes it selfe is easie Plutarch de Cessatione Oraculorum and vpon the Title of Et in the Temple at Delphos telleth great wonders of this number of Fiue 13 Th'Analogicke Six Saint Augustine in his fourth booke De Trinitate and in his fourth booke also De Genesi ad literam and Hugode S to Victore in his booke De Sacramentis both say the number of Six is a perfect number because it is composed of his owne proper parts For the Diuisors of Six besides the Vnitie which diuides all numbers by themselues as 1 is in Six six times and so of the rest are 6 3 and 2. Diuide then Six by Six the Quotus is 1 diuide it by 3 the Quotus is 2 diuide it by 2 the Quotus is 3 that is a Sixt part a Third and a Second which 1 2 and 3 being put together make-vp againe the whole Six which preoues it a perfect number Other numbers the most thus examined are found more or lesse than their parts As the Diuisers of 10. are 10.5 and 2. Ten is in ten once Fiue is in Ten twise two is in Ten fiue times so the Quotes of Ten thus diuided are 1.2 and 5. which added make but eight two lesse than the number deuided Wheras the Diuisers of 12. being 6.4.3 1. The Quote of 12 diuided by twelue is 1. by six 2. by foure 3. by three 4. by two 6. and these Quotes 1.2.3.4 and 6. make a Totall of 16. which is foure more than the number diuided Some say then that Six being the first perfect number and answerable to his owne parts therefore it pleased God to create the World in six daies to shew that all was perfect nothing more than need nothing lesse So by good right is this number tearmed Analogicke that is proportionate and answerable in all points to it selfe as hath beene shewed 14 The Criticke Seu'n First the Poet calles Seuen a Criticke number as much to say as Iudging of a matter For that on the seuenth day Physitions are wont to iudge of a disease to life or death though sometimes where a strange and resisting nature is they double the number and awaite the fourteenth day which is as saith Hippocrates in his Aphorismes the tearme of diseases that are simply acute or sharpe If the maladie passe this day it is commonly seene that it continues to the one and twentieth which is a third Seuenth Looke what Galen saith in his bookes De diebus Criticis and what Consorius in his booke De die Natali as also what the Physitians hold concerning euery Seuenth and Climactericall yeare as of the nine and fortieth composed of seuen times seuen and the sixty three of nine times seuen In the second place the Poet calles this number Male and Female because it is made of an Eauen and an Odde three and foure hereof see Scaliger in his 365. Exer. against Cardan In the third and last place he commends it for the number of the Planets and of the holy Rest-day because the Lord rested the seuenth day and hallowed it 15 Eight the double Square The smallest Latus of any Square-number is two which multiplied by it selfe makes foure and the same againe multiplied by the Latus two is eight which is the first Cube and double the first Square Some haue played the subtill Figure-slingers with the Greeke name of our Sauiour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and found it to make 888. to wit eight Vnities eight Tens and eight Hundreds applying also thereto certaine Prophesies of Silylla but I leaue this subtill deuice sithence the Poet giues me no occasion to handle it 16 And sacred Nine So stiled for the number of the Muses though otherwise in Musike this number makes a discord and the Astrologers call it a sinister number and ill-betokening In the Theogonie of â—â—â—lodus and in Virgil where he speakes of the nine turnings of the infernall Riuer Styx some are of opinion that it represents the disagreeing Complexions of Mans bodie See the Hieroglyphikes of Iohn Pierius in his 37. booke 17 Ten. Of this number Ouid in his booke De Fastis speakes very properly Semper adusque decom numero crescente venitur Principium spatijs sumitur inde nonis But to our Poet he saith it containe in it selfe the force and vertue of all numbers either simply or by multiplication as it is plaine in the Text. Againe he saith it is like the Line in Geometrie because it is the first that makes a length for all that goe before it are expressed by single Characters as 1.2.3.4.5.6.7.8.9 and so stand like prickes or points not flowing to a Line but Ten hauing alwaies one other Figure or Cypher ioyned vnto it thrusts-out into length and so makes as it were a Line in Arithmeticke beyond which Line there is no proceeding but by multiplying this Ten againe and so forth to the greatest number that can be giuen which may surmount the waues or sands of the sea Forcadel in his Arithmeticke and others besides those of old haue shewed the manner how But Archimedes wrote thereof long agoe and entituled his worke De numeo arenae And surely by the multiplication of Ten it may be done Let them examine or trie it that haue leisure or rather let vs all leaue this to him that made all things in number weight and measure who onely knowes the the number of the Starres
called the Mother because shee containes in her wombe as it were diuers other tables seruing for diuers eleuations of the Pole and the back-side whereon are drawne sundrie lines and circles the first of them next the edge shewes the degrees of Altitude whereof there is a double vse for applying them to the numbers in border that exceed not ninety they shew how many degrees the Sunne or other Starre is raised aboue our Horizon with many commodities thereon depending and applying them to the numbers below which goe-on from thirtie to thirtie they shew the degrees of the Zodiake where the Signes are written with their names and characters to know the true place of the Sunne euery day After these you shall finde set downe other circles wherein be the twelue Moneths of the yeare answerable to the Signes with daies vnto each apart or two by two numbred by Fiues or Tens not exceeding 31. which is the quantitie of the greatest Moneth This serues to know in what degree of the Zodiacke the Sunne is euery day Moreouer there are two Diameter-lines crossing each other in Rectangle at the Center of the Astrolabe one called the Noone-line drawne from the Ring by the Center downward and another from East to West which represents the generall Horizon at whose either end indifferently begin the degrees of Altitude aforesaid Six other small lines there are like Arches together with the Skale of heights the Winds and the Rule turning-about on the backside whereof we shall speake anon As for parts of the foreside called the Mother there is first a circle or border diuided into 360. degrees these stand for the Equinoxiall or Eauen night wherein are by iust measure set downe and distributed the 24 houres of the day containing each fifteene degrees and euery degree foure minutes so as euery houre hath threescore minutes The wombe as I said of this Mother is to beare sundry tables according to the Pole height of sundry places these tables haue each about their Centers drawne three concentrike circles whereof the least is the Tropike of Cancer called in the Sphere the Summer Tropike where the dry is at longest about the twelfth of lune the Mid-circle is the Equator passing close by the beginning of Aries and Libra in which two places the Sunne makes day and night equall throughout the whole world to wit about the eleuenth of March and the 13. of September So followes it then that the greatest circle of these three which is towards the edge of each table must be the Tropike of Capricorne where the day is at shortest about the twelfth of December Moreouer in these Tables there are the Almucantaraths by that Arabian word is signified the circle of Pole height vpon our Hemisphere some perfect some imperfect The first of them stands for the slope Horison diuiding the world into two parts whereof the one we see the other is hid from vs. The Center of the least Almucantarath stands for the Zenith or Crowne point from whence to the Horison are ninety degrees euery way drawn-out by Twoes Threes Fiues or Tens according to the capacitie of the Instrument and distance of the lines which are so drawne for the Sunne or other Starre to be thereto applied as often as a man will take their eleuation aboue the Horizon Beside these here are also the Azimuths or crowne circles which doe cut euery Almucantarath by Fiues Tens or Fifteenes into 360 degrees quartered by ninetie and distinguished one quarter from another by the two principall Azimuths which are the Meridian and the Equinoctiall that passeth from the right East-point by our Zenith to the West Where we begin commonly to count the degrees of the Quarters Northward and Southward These are to make knowne in what part of the world the Sun or other Starre riseth and setteth After these doe follow the vnequall houres called the houres of the Planets together with the names and characters of then Planets the lines of twy light noone and mid-night the figures of the twelue houses the line of the Zodiake and consequently the directory or Index which turneth about the Instrument at either side by the brim Lastly there is the Hole of the Net or Cob-web which stands for the Pole of the world and by the pinne that goes thorow the same Hole are all the tables or plates of the Astrolabe ioyned and held fast together Concerning the vse of this Instrument in measuring all heights bulkes lengths breadths thicknesse and depths I. Stoster D. Iaquinot and I. Bassantin haue largely thereon discoursed in their bookes of the Astrolabe And what need I take further paines in Englishing more of this Subiect when the famous Geoffrey Chaucer 233. yeares agoe hath made all so plaine in the best English of his time Somewhat only must be said of that Alhidode as the Poet here calles the Rule it is an Arabian word in Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Latine Radius as in Virgil Descripsit radio totum qui gentibus orbem It is the turning Rule on the back-side of the Astrolabe whereon are fastned two square tablets with small sight-holes persed for the height-taking of Sunne or Starre and for measuring of quantities aforesaid or any other vse here specified by the Poet. 46 The pregnant Phaleg yeelds Hauing shewed the excellence of Astronomie he comes now to declare by what meanes the knowledge thereof was deriued vnto vs and saith as it is most likely that from the Hebrues it came to the Chaldeans from them to the Aegyptians from them to the Arabians and so to the Italians and Germans whose names haue beene gathered and set downe by H. Ranzouius in his Treatise of the excellence of Astronomie 47. O right Endymions This is in commendation of the learned Astronomers and their profession The Poets faine that the Moone was so in loue with Endymion that as he slept on a high hill-top shee came thither to kisse and embrace him It is thought he was some great Astronomer At least this fable was ment of Students in Astronomie whom our Author for that cause here termeth Right Endymions The great vse and further commendation of this Art you may reade in Virgil. Georg. 1. Aeneid 1. 3. and almost euery where in Ptolomey but especially in Peucer and such as haue lately written or prefaced vpon Astrologie C'est vous qui parcourez les celestes prouinces En moins d'vn tourne-main qui plus grans que nos Princes Possed z. tout le monde faites demi dieux Tourner entre vos mains les clairs Cercles des cieux Pour vous 4 Il lâ—â—sse l'Astionomie pour consiâ—erer la quatriesme Image qui est la Musique la quelle il descrit auec ses ornemeâ—â— Esprits diuins ma plus diserte-plume Feroit son miel plus doux couler dans ce volume Vous seriez mon subiet si la derniere Soeur Desia ne me trainoit à soy par sa douceur Car i'enten
so blest That they and theirs shall golden Scepter weild Whereto must bow and yeild The proudest plant afeild Ph. So here is worke for Muses all but two What hast thou more Mu. Enough for them to do Ph. Nay vse but Clio leaue Melpomene Mu. Why leaue her out a stately Muse is she Ph. But still so sad with looke cast-downe on earth I doubt hir presence will defeat the myrth Mu. No no I will not part her from the Queere But fit her humor and to mend the cheere Out-set all other wofull destinie My fattest lambe shall make a Tragedie And sing the Muse will of no greater bug Then warre betwixt a yong child and his dug Controuling some though not of high degree As cause thereof ye Ladies pardon me The melancholie Muse yet saith not I All that your Sex dishonour I defie But your faire bottles Melpomen doth thinke Dame nature fill'd for your faire bab's to drinke Ph. Milke would she giue else only to the poore Not vnto such as drye't and spill'c a floore Mu. And this 't is like shee 'll adde vnto the rest That Ladies child deserues a Ladies brest That brauer spirit suckt shall more embraue him And make him man-grown like a knight behaue him P. Whē others make their gētle blod far-wors◠By sucking young the basenesse of their nurse Mu For as their Heathen gods the Heathen sayn No mortall blood had running in their vain But Venus wounded once by Diomed Ambrosian liquor at her finger shed Right so in blood of men there is great odds And such among them as are stiled Gods The finest haue to breed their children food Blood was late milk and milk will soone be blood Ph. And some loue more as cause of better luck Then wombe that bore them paps that gaue them luck What parent would not such a reason moue Drawne from the gain or losse of childrens loue Mu. I once beheld where Lady of high degree As with her Lord and others set was she In mids of dinner had her child brought-in And gaue it suck scarce shewing any skin Through ynch-board hole of silk pinn'd vp againe When child was fed without more taking paine Ph. And is not this instinct through all dyssown That eur'y femall hatcheth-vp her owne Well make an end Mu. How can I be too long When Muses beare the burden of my song But here 's a Trumpet Fame selfe hath no better And Clio sounds it well and I 'le entreat her Hereafter sing on high what foe shall bow To th' issues of this happie match but now To surd it as young trompeters are wont And lest it sound too lowd set stop vpon 't Yet first bid welcome with a cheerefull clank The French Deluce to Brytaines Rosy bank Phi. Well fare thine heart for thinking on these things To please the children of so mighty Kings My selfe though poore wil thereto ioine my myte On solemne day so leaue thee for to night Mu. And I so thee time is our sheepe were penn'd The Sunne is soonken at the Landskop end Then Musidor made haste home and began Take order for the busines with his man Wife had he none the more was he distrest See lad quoth he the house and garth well drest To morrow morn for then or soone at least The sweetest Nymph on earth will be my guest Without plash thistles and presumptuous thorns That neare the way grow-vp among the corns For feare they rase her hands more white thē milke Or teare her mantles windy-wauing silke Withìn if Spiders heretofore haue durst With cunning webs where through the stronger burst And weaker flies are caught presume to quyp The sacred lawes of men with besome stryp Both web and weauer downe be-rush the floore The porch and th'entries and about the doore Set eau'n the trestles and the tables wax And strew the windowes house that mistres lacks O how quoth he and deeply sigh'd therat 'T is out of order wants I know not what Haue care my lad and be as 't were my sonne He lowted low and said it should be don Much hereto more was written when the Queene Her beautie shat'd your sea and land betweene But after landing long will be my booke Held vnder presse on part then please you looke Till come the rest but ô with gratious eye And pardon for applying Maiestie To Shepherds stile so may you see conspire Th'English and French as no third tongue comes nigher No not the Greeke vnt ' either though Sir Stephen Hath made the same with French to march full As doth our English and it shall yet more Now heart and hand ye Princes ioyne wherefore eauen I pray and will with Hymen all mine houres That for the good successe of you and yours While earth stands Cent'r and Heau'n in circle goes Together spring French Lillie and English Rose Your Maiesties faithfull subiect and seruant W. L'isle To the Readers COnyes whom Salomon reckons among the wise Little-ones vpon earth do make many skraplets and profers on the ground before they dig earnestly for their neast or litter and writing-schollers draw first in blotting paper many a dash roundell and minime before they frame the perfect letters that shall stand to their coppie so entending some worke that may if I be so happie remain some while after me many waies do I essay and try first my stile and pen that according also to the wise rule of Horace I may thereby iudge my selfe and discerne quid valeant humeri quid ferre recusent Nor do I trust my owne iudgement herein so likely to be partiall but commonly present my worke in writing before it bee printed vnto some Quintilius or other whose noble disposition will authoritie may and learning is able to find fault and aduise me Yet among the sundrie versets or prosets which besides this I haue or shall set-out if you find some that sauour of my younger time passe by them I pray you or affoord them the fauour that my Quintilius doth to let them passe because they were the way that led me to a grauer kind as also the grauest of humain Poetrie brought me at last to the diuine whereof I haue many Essayes now almost readie for the presse This translation of Salust du Bartas what present occasion draweth from me you may well perceiue yet thinke me not herein Acta agere to do that which was before done and very well by Iosua Siluester for it is in a diuers kind and many yeares ere he began this had I lying by me yea partly published in print as Anno 1596 Anno 1598 and dedicated to the late Noble Charles Earle of Nottingham But now the cause why in this I beginne so abruptly is for that I was loth to come neere the booke next aforegoing which our late Soueraigne Lord King Iames in his youth so incomparably made English yet had I a desire to fall vpon that braue commendation of our late Soueraigne Ladie Queene Elizabeth