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
Apples want harde by And still amidde the watery flood for thirst is like to die ¶ Tantalus Iupiter his Sonne Tantalus by the Nimphe Plote kinge of Paphlagonia he had warres with Tros for the taking away of Ganimedes and being vouchsaued at the table of Goddes Ganimedes taken away hearinge theyr counsell and detectinge the same was therefore set in a riuer in Hell vp to the chinne ouer whose head to his vpper lip hanged fayre ripe Apples but when he catcheth at them as Homer sayth a winde comes and bloweth them away and if he stoupe to drinke the water of it selfe declyneth so that in greate plenty both of fruite and water he is ready to dye for hunger and thirste And he whose head is from his féete nine acres bredth away Who giues his bowels stil vnto the Vulture for hir pray Titius ¶ Titius the sonne of Iupiter and Helara he was counted the sonne of Terra the Earth because he was brought vp by his mother in a caue for feare of Iuno for rauishing Latoan was tyed in Hel to a Rocke where two Rauens come and féede vppon hys entrayles Homer .11 Odiss Virgil 6. lib. AEneid Here shal one of the Furies cut with cruel whips thy sides And shall constrayne thée to confesse the summe of thy misdedes The seconde shal thy toern limmes commit to serpents ire The third thy face bemoyst with teares shall cast into the fire Thy sinfull ghost a thousand wayes shall there be put to payne And AEacus to punish thée shall search his skilfull brayne ¶ Minos AEacus Iudices infernales and Rhadamanthus the sonnes of Iupiter Europa for theyr vpright and iust dealing on earth after their death were fayned by Poets to be Iudges in Hell The pinching paynes of auncient men he shall transferre to thée To those that long haue lyu'd in payne thou cause of ease shalt be Thou Sisiphe hast one He alludeth to the storyes afore of Sisiphus Tantalus Phlegias Titius to whom thy stone commit thou mayst New members shall turne rounde on wheles that run about so fast In vayne at fruit and water to this man shall séeke reliefe This man shal féede the gréedy birdes with euerlasting griefe No other death shal ende the paynes that this death bringes to thée Vnto the griefes that thou shalt haue no hower last shall be Of them I le tell a few Ida. as if the leaues of Ida wood A man would séeke to count or tell the drops of Aphrike flood ¶ Ida was a wood of Crete whereof the Troyans who had their original in Crete called a woode of Phrigia harde beside Troy Ida In it be Pine trées that neuer decay nor waxe rotten Theophrastus I cannot tell how many flowers Hybla on Hybla hill there be Nor yet what store of Saffron growes Crocus in lande of Cicily ¶ Hybla a citie of Cicilia so named of a kinge called Hyblo who betraying the same to the Megarenses brought to passe that they builded it agayn and called it Megara Strabo writeth that the Dorienses a people of Grece builded it that the olde name therof remayned styl for the goodnes of the Hony that was made there and thereof called Mel Hybleum Not farre from that towne there is an hill also called Hybla whervpon groweth much Time and many other flowers whereof the Bées féeding do make very good Hony ¶ Crocus a younge man loued Smilax wel Crocus Smilax he was turned into a flower of his owne name we call it Saffron and she into Ivy this flower for the swéet odour therof is much praysed of Homer wyth Lotus and Hiacynthus there groweth great store thereof vpon the hill Coriciū in Cicily Nor when the Winter waxeth cold wyth boysterous Northerne blast What store of Hayle on Athos falles Athos tyll it be white at last Athos is a marueylous high hil belonging both to Thracia and Macedonia it was made playne by Xerxes king of the Persians when he brought his army into Grece the space of a thousande fiue hundred pace of our measure a myle and a halfe on the toppe therof standeth a citie called Acron Acron Nor by my voyce all the mishaps most like to fall on thée Can counted be though thou would'st giue a thousand tongues to me So many and so great mishaps shall wretch to thée be sent As I my selfe I thinke may be constrayned to lament Those teares shold make me euermore a happy man to be That wéeping should more pleasant be than laughter vnto me Thou wert vnhappy at thy birth the Gods would haue it so No starre did séeme to fauour thée that might abate thy wo. Then Venus did not shine on thée Venus Iupiter Iuna Sol. Mercury nor Ioue so full of grace And neither Moone nor Sunne for thée had fauorable place Nor he whō Maia bright brought forth to Iupiter the great For thée in Skyes his starre did place in any prosp'rous seate The cruell starres of frowninge Mars Mars haue all the rule of thée And Saturne olde that nothing haue Saturne to promise luckely ¶ The Poet here proueth that at hys birth by celestiall influence he was vnhappy but bicause that the Astrologians doe in many wordes declare the properties of the Planets according to their ou-ses coniunctions aspects c. I wil talke thereof nothing at all sauynge of that which in this place of necessity must be touched There be vii Planets they be placed in order frō the lowest to the highest thus Luna Mercury Venns Sol Mars Iupiter Saturne wherof two Iupiter and Venus be always very good and Saturne and Mars alwayes very euil the other iii. Sol Mercury Luna indifferent that is if either by coniunction or aspect they beholde any good or badde Planet they encrease his power and property Thy birth day to that thou might'st sée nothing but heauines Was very blacke for to beholde couer'd with cloudines Which thing was counted a very vnlucky signe This day in in the Kalendar that men do Allia call Allia In which also was Ibis borne a common yll to all ¶ Lucius Aquinius a Soothsayer told the Senate or counsel of Rome that Quint. Sulpibius redy to fight with the Frenchmen did sacrifyce to the Gods at Allia a flood in Italy about .xv. myles from the city of Rome in which battayl the estate of the Romanes were broughte to so lowe an ebbe that it was thought they shoulde neuer haue recouered it agayne Thys battayl was fought the .xvi. day of Iuly and for that cause the Senate decréed that no supplications on that day should be made to the Gods Dies alliensis and called it Aliensis dies or Postriduanus on which day Ouid fayneth Ibis to be borne Whom as sone as his mother vyle out of hir wombe had cast Himselfe found in Ciniphia with stinking body plast ¶ Ther may be two reasons alleged why the Poet sayth that Ibis was
¶ Amastrix was a citie builded by Amastrix daughter of Oxiatres Amastrix and wife of Dionisius tirante of Heraclia in Lemnos Out of that citie hir husbande was banished by Methridates and fledde into a place called Achilles course wher forsaken of his people he was slaine by his enemy Or that about Thrasillus tombe as did Euridamas Fast tyed about Larissian whele thou there mayst thrée times passe ¶ Thrasillus king of Larissa Thrasillus in an vprore of the people was slayne by one Euridamas a Soothsayer but wythin a while after the same Euridamas was by Simo brother of Thrasillus slayne and drawē thrée times about the place wher Thrasillus as the maner was was burned Or els like Hector valiaunt Hector whose body vew'd the wall That he had long in safety kept which after sone die fall ¶ Hector sonne of Priamus and Hecuba the glory of the Troyans and terrour of the Grekes was slayne by Achilles and drawen at a horse tayle thrée times about the wals of Troy such cruelty shewed he to his enemies dead body vppon which aliue he durst skant loke for fear But as he cowardly kylde him so he as shamefully misused him a tokē no dont of a dogged nature not to be approued in any gentleman As daughter of Hippomenes new torments did abide And as th' adulterer was drawen ouer Athens land so wide So when thy hated life of all thy lothed limmes shal leaue God graunt that hungry horses may thy corps in péeces reaue ¶ Hippomenes kinge of Athens Hippomenes Limone had a daughter called Limone she was taken in adulterye and by the commaundement of hir father shut vp with a horse that had no meate giuen him to the intente that hunger pryckinge hym he should deuoure hir which came in déede to passe The adulterer was drawen about Athens at a horse tayle and pulled in péeces But he himselfe for this vnspekable cruelty shewed to his daughter not longe after was banyshed hys kingdome Ouid. That some man may thy body thrust on rockes much tost before As were the bodyes of the Grekes on Caphareus shore ¶ Amimone Amimone Satirus Neptunus Nanplius Vlisses Palamedes one of the daughters of Danaus was loued of one of the Gods called Satiri To hir on a time being on huntinge by the Sea syde came hir louer and was somewhat busy with hir wher with she not content shot an arrowe at him and wounded hym sore but for all that Satyrus was somewhat sawey with hir so that she had no power to defende hirselfe agaynst hym She therfore desyred Neptunus to helpe hir who came and chased Satirus away and for his curtesy she was content to let him haue to doe with hir who at that time begotte Nanplius father of Palamedes the worthy Greeke slayne of the Gréekes by the guylefull hate of crafty Vlisses who alwayes was his extreame ennemy the matter was handled thus ¶ At what time the Grekes prepared themselues to goe to Troy to fetche agayne Helena the wife of Menelaus king of Sparta stolen away by the adulterous Paris sonne of Priamus Vlisses detracting the warre either for the loue of his newe maryed wyfe Penelope or els for cowardly feare fained himself mad and got dogs and foxes and other beasts and yoked them together and went to plow in the sande and sowed corne therein The Grekes desiringe to haue hym wyth them and mistrusting the thynge sente Palamades to espye his guyse and to sée whether he coulde bringe hym or not Palamedes came to the place wher Vlisses was at plough and layd his sonne Telemachus in his way thinkinge that if he were mad he could not know his owne sonne and by that meanes to trye the trueth but if he were sober he woulde passe by without hurting the child which in déede he did for as sone as he sawe his chylde lye before him he draue on the one syde and suspended hys plough and so passed without harme to the chylde Which thinge when Palamedes sawe he toke him and by force brought hym to the reste who after in the warre dyd very good seruice But Vlisses toke the matter in very euill parte and thought in time to be reuenged on him and this was one cause of his griefe An other was that Vlisses was sente to prouyde corne and other thynges as were necessare for the campe and retourned with out accomplyshinge any thinge at all But Palamedes being sent to those same places spedde so well that he furnyshed the campe wyth all thynges necessary as well as was possible These causes moued Vlisses to greate hate and to deuyse all wayes possyble to destroy Palamedes who in wytte was not inferiour to any of the Grekes and in corage surmounted them all euen hym selfe Achylles whych thynge at length he dyd in thys sorte By the consente consent of Palamedes seruauntes whom he had before corrupted with mony He hid a potte of Golde in his tente and put certayne letters into his cosers that he himselfe had made This done he accused him of treason that he woulde haue betrayed the Grekes to Priamus and had therefore receyued a summe of money which he had hyd in the grounde in hys tent This Palamedes denyed the places were searched the Golde was founde Palamedes condempned was stoned to death His father Nanplius hearinge of this at the retourne of the Grekes from Troy made great lightes vpon the Promontorie Caphareus of Euboea The Grekes supposinge that there had béen a Hauen sayled thether and as many as came néere perished on the rockes wherof is great store there and as many as came to lande by his souldyours were slaine Euboea bordereth vppon Boetia in it be two Promontoryes that make it famous Cerestus Caphare Cerestus which reacheth towarde Athens and Caphareus whych reacheth Hellespont And that with Thunderboltes seas as Aiax ferce dyd dye God graunt that so the fyre may ayde the waters drowning thée ¶ Aiax Oileus Aiax Oileus for forcing Cassandra Priams daughter in the temple of Pallas in his retorne to Grece hae hys shyp broken on Caphareus Rocks and him selfe was stryken with a Thunderboult by Pallas and so wyth fyre and water destroyed And that also with furyes tost thy mynde may be as mad As his whose body ouer all one onely wound hath had ¶ Marsias sonne of Hiaguis Marsias the famous Musitian pleased the rurall goddes and Nympes of smalskyll with pype very well Wherewith he became so proude that he challenged Apollo The nyne Muses and Minerua were appointed Iudges of the controuersie they gaue sentence of Apollos syde But he thinking scorne to yelde and take Apollo for hys better was hanged on a trée and had his skin pulled from his back The Nympes and Satyres and the rest of that crue dyd so lament the losse of his musike that of their teares came the great Riuer of Phrigia called Marsias Ouid. vi Meta. But I think it