the soft soles of thy nice-tender Feete I now will goe and to my selfe reherse Those songs which erst I in Calcidick verse On the Sicilian Shepheards Pipe did frame Much rather chusing mongst the beasts untame Henceforth to suffer in this lonely Cave And there my love in barke of Trees ingrave That as they growe my Love thou al 's ' mayst growe Eft then on Menalus I to and fro Will spend my time the dainty Nymphes among Or hunt to lay the boystrous Bore along No could shall let mee make my Ringwalkes round The thick Parthenian thickets with my hound Meethinks I soe how sometimes I dispase Mee 'mongst the Rocks and hollow Woods doo traces Sometime I joy to dravv in Parthian bovve Cydonian arrovves at the mountaine rovve As if these things mote cure my malady Or that that God mote e're relent thereby Or pitty learne the poore to give them ease Againe sometime nor th Hamadriades Nor songs delight nor ought that I can tell And yee delightfull Woods now fare you vvell Not all which vvee can doo may change his mynd No not allbee in bittrest could and vvynd I Hebrus shoulden drinke or clamber upp The hanging heapes or headlong mountaines topp Of candid snovve or chill Sithonian Rocks Ne should I tend the AEthiopian flocks Vnder the Crabstarr vvhen the dying Vine On th-Elmes provvd topps doth dvvindle avvay pine Love makes all yeeld and I to love must yeeld Pycrian Ladies now suffice it yee This song which once your Poet sung as hee Of small soft twiggs fate making Baskets feare To Gallus yee can make them seeme-n great Gallus whose love eekes in mee every hovvr Much as reviv'd vvith Phoebus blisfull povvr Greene Alders vvoont to sprout in prime of spring Novv let us rise 't is naught in shade to sing Shadovves of Iuniper unvvholesome been And shadovves hurt young fruites and herbage green Goe Kiddyes see novv Hesperus doth come Inough yee novv have fedd goe high you home Verbae non sensum transtuli GALLVS The GLOSSE OH Arethusa c. This was a Fountain in Sicily dedicate to the Muses heer hee invokes the Fountain as if the Muses by their presence had infused vertue and of ther power and influence thereunto to helpe the Poets Invention and to make him facetious and witty in the handling of his matter Arethusa was a River rising in Peloponesus and running a long course within the veines of the earth unseen as farr as Cicily by Virgil heere called Cicania where neere to that part of the City of Siracusa named Ortigia it breakes forth into a goodly broad water The Poet heere alludeth to the course that this River houlds quite underneath many other Rivers and by that meanes never mingles with the salt and brackish water by the ebbing or flowing of the Sea which is heere meant by Doris Of this River and of the cause of the course thereof under the ground the Poets have this fiction Arethusa was a young dainty Virgin Companion and fellow huntress with Dyana with this Nymph they say the River Alpheus fell in love and thinking to have forced a curtesie from her which hee could not gain by faire meanes Dyana pittying the danger and willing to save her turn'd her into a cleere fountain of her owne name then Arethusa to bee safe from farther violence of her rude suiter stole away closely from him under the grownd like a modest mayde shrinking down into the bed and hiding her head within the cloathes at the sight of a stranger and never appearing again till shee came at Siracusa which when Alpheus knew with much ado finding which way she was gone hee follow'd day and night after in quest of his sweete heart at last hee overtakes and injoyes her Such a River is that of Gadez in Spaine of which a King of Spaine once in a merry discourse between himselfe and some other Princes about the riches and rarities each one of their own Country boasted of that hee had a Bridge in his Country that fedd every yeere ten thousand Cattle upon it thereby meaning the River of Gadez which from the spring head runns seven miles under grownd and then breakes forth into a fair and pleasant River Neere to this River as may seeme is that little Iland called the lesser Gadiz where the land is so frank and fertile that the Cowes milk yeelds neither whay nor Cheese except they mingle therewith a great deale of water and so wonderfull rich and barning is the pasture that they must let their Cattle blood often or els in thirty dayes they so overgrow that they are stifled with fatt Such as Lycoris c. Augustus himselfe so deere to Gallus For who few verses c. To so great a man to so great a Friend or so great a Poet. Doris bitter Flood c. Doris is said to bee the daughter of Tethis and Oceanus and is heere taken for the Sea Sicanus Flood c. That is Sicely For unto all the woods c. That is the Eccho of the woods will answer us Yee Mayden Nayades c. The Nymphes of the Meadowes Parnassus-topps c. A Mountayn of Greece having two topps under which the Muses dwelt Nor Pindus Hills c. A Mountayn in Thessaly The Aonian Aganippe c. A Fountayn in that Country of Greece which is called Aonia dedicate to the Muses and heereof they were sometime called Aganippides Menalus c. A high Mountayn in Arcadia What woods c. These were the places of Gallus his retrait amongst the Muses and to the study of sweete Poesie wherein if hee had still retir'd himselfe and not addicted him so eagerly to the gaining the acquaintance of the great ones and had not aspired to the great Imployments and Business of state which caus'd his ruin hee had still liv'd Sith nor Parnassus c. For by his study Gallus waded so farr that Greeke was as familiar as his own language therefore the knowledge of the Greeke Poets and the other Arts was no hindrance but that hee might still have persevered in his study so happily begun The Laurels c. The Shrubbs c. All sorts of people lament Gallus his death the Laurels that is the Poets and students in that kind of Learning The Shrubbs that is the Commons The Stones that is the most inferiour amongst the vulgar the most rude and ignorant sort had a sense of his loss The Flocks about him c. The Bucolicks which hee himselfe had made Ne ever they of mee c. That kind of verse that is Bucolicks is so handled by mee that it neede hould no shame to have fallen into my hands Ne needes it thee of them repent c. Thow howsoever thou art so excellent in Poetry and so admirable in this art that now thow maist even bee counted for divine yet needest not repent or shame to bee known to have addicted thy selfe and taken paines in this kind of Pastorall verse
then Hybla's pretious Tyme More then white Ivie smooth then Swans more fayre When once the Bulls from feede returned are Vnto their stalls if that thy heart be right To thine owne Corydon come bless him with thy sight Thyr. Let mee bee held more sowre then Sardian-grass Rougher then brush-wood abject more and base Then the Seas weedy wrack if not to mee Long as a yeere this one day seeme to bee My Bullocks having fedd no farther rome For shame if yee have any shame goe high you home Corid Yee mossy Fountaines and yee Hearbs which bee Softer then sleepe And oh thou Strawberry-Tree Who thy thinn shade doost over all extend From the Solstitium doon my beasts defend The soultry Summer gins his broyling heate And the Vine buds doon burghen broade and greate Thyr. Wee Chimnyes heere and Torches-dropping fat And Fires nose-high wee have and unto that Posts with continuall smoake as black as Iet Heere wee by Borras could no more doe set Then one woolfe feares whole flocks of sheepe no more Then tumbling Tides reaken the severall shore Corid The Iuniper and rough-ryn'd Chessnut stand And under every Tree each-where on Land The Apples ready lye and every thing Doth laugh for joy but if my deere darling Alexis from these Mountaines chance to stay Soone shall you see the Floods quite dride away Thyr. The Field doth wither and the dying Grass By th'ayres distemper doth to nothing pass The Vine envies the Hills her branched shade But all the woods full goodly been arayd At my faire Phillis comming and self Iove In pretious showres descendeth from above Corid Most is the Popler to Alcides leefe The Vine to Bacchus Venus myrtles-cheefe Affects and Phoebus Laurels most approves And Phillis Hazels which whiles Phillis loves Nor Myrtles can the Hazels paralell Nor Phaebus-Laurels ever them excell Thyr. The Ash is glory of all Timber-woods The Pine of Orchards Popler in the â—loods The Firr is beauty of the Hills so high But would my Licidas continually Come visit mee both Firr and Ash and Pine To thee my Leefe the Guarland must resigne Meli. These I remember and that after long Contention vaine Thyris was laid along And ever since that time is Corydon My noble Corydon and Paragon MELI BAEVS The GLOSSE AS I from could the tender c. Whilst I addicted my selfe to the milder studies of the Muses I lost the greatest part of my patrimony and for that cause I came to Rome Whileere a while since I Daphnis spide c. By Daphnis hee meaneth some one of the learned friends of Caesar who wished him to feare nothing notwithstanding the losse of his grounds and therefore invites him to bee secure and to lend his time quietly to the hearing and determining of a great controversie betweene two singers Yfeere together Heere 's thy Goat too c. Not onely all which thou hast lost but whatsoever thou houldst at this present and more too shall bee kept safe for thee If thou canst bee c. If thou canst bee spared from thy necessary businesse at home rest heere in this coole shade that is at Rome heere among us in tranquillity and peace of mind free from all strife and contentious jangling All the heards c. The tyde of all businesses to bee decided flowes hither The Prince himselfe and the chiefe Commanders of all his Army will bee heere yea Arius the Centurion who expelled thee from thy land will bee heere so that thou maist bring all thy matters to passe according to thy hearts desire Mincius A River rising out of Benacus a Lake in Gallia Cisalpina neere unto Brixia a Towne of the Venetians with his broad waters makes another Lake neere unto Mantua from whence sucking in many small streames by the way it empties it selfe into the River of Po anciently called Padus of which the Citty of Padua tooke first the name Lybethrian Nymphes So called of a Cave called Libethra wherein was a well called Libethros where the Muses did much frequent My ioy my deere delight c. As beeing pierced with infinite love from whence proceedes that divine fury which doth raise the mind above the common strength and scope of nature whereof Plato in his Ion beeing a dialogue of poeticall fury doth discourse As Codrus erst yee taught c. Hee adapteth him to the imitation of some noble and famous Poet. As hee to Phaebus c. Phaebus is the God of the Muses Or if wee cannot all c. If wee have not skill given to us from above for as the common saying is Poeta nascitur non fit a Poet is so borne and not made There must bee a certaine naturall quality and a kind of exâ—taordinary supernaturall witt to this faculty so that oftentimes there are many most excellent Poets who in all other learning are very meanely qualified Wherefore study and all the inâ—ustry of the world availe nothing heereunto unlesse an an bee fitted and naturally cut out as a man may say for the purpose The Pine was dedicate to the Mother of the Gods the Oke to Iupiter The Laurel to Phaebus To Venus the Myrtle The Popler to Hercules The Hazell to Phillis If hee praise him more c. Heere hee may seeme to allude to the generall received opinion that as there are some complexions and some men of such a coloured hayr whom antiquity hath branded for unlucky people to buy or sell with so it hath likewise been observed that there are Persons of so unlucky a Tongue that if they offer money for a Horse or any other Beast if they have it not at their owne price it either dayes soone after or never thrives more Of this kind Solinus writes that whole Families are noted in Africa People naturally so fatall and mischievous that even their very praysing and commendation of any man woman or any other creature is a kind of witchcraft to forespeak them to pine and dwindle away to nothing and therefore not without great reason were all men shye of such and very fearefull to receive a good word against their desire or desert from such mischievous mouthes With Berries bind c. Antiquity hath conceived that the Bay tree hath a naturall vertue and priviledge against blasting by Thunder and Lightning according to that of the Poet Missa triumphalem non tangunt fulmina Laurum and perhaps from thence they have imagined that the Berries of the Laurell worne about them is as a spell and powerfull charme against the blasting and injury of an evill tongue Fayre Delia c. Delos was the most famous Iland of all the Cyclades lying in the Aegean Sea Latona was heere brought to bed of Apollo and Dyana both at a birth and of this place Dyana ever since was called Delia so sacred was this Ilaâ—d in the opinion of all the world for the estimatioÌ„ of these two dieties that the Persians who threatned all Greece and even God and Men with their invincible Army
and Gentry and the seate of the Empire to be like their poore Shepheards Towne or rather Sheepe-cote that is He thought that the wit vnderstanding eloquence humanity civill behaviour and education of the people of Rome was like their homely stuffe and clownish manners at Mantua Fon a contraction from fondling Spencer Dempt for deemed or imagined Spencer Ycleeped named or called Chaucer Sibb an old Saxon word as much as of kinred or alliance from hence coms our word Gossip corruptly so written and spoken it being indeede God-sib that is a kinred in God all such as are Godfathers and Godmothers together at the christning of a child by the Popes Canons become Sib to each other and of a spirituall kindred so neere allyed that such Godsibs may not marry together without speciall dispensation from his Holinesse But what so great cause dandled thy desire c. A rusticall speech and a question well suiting the sillinesse of the Country for shepheards and home bred people are woont to stand at gaze and admire at any thing the cause wherof and the reason they know not My freedome c. A specious tittle and a very reasonable pretext and such as might easily pierse the simple mind of a Shepheard it being even imprinted in the disposition of all creatures as well reasonable as others naturally to affect freedome which principle is found most true by daily experience in such birds and beasts as by mans art are reclaimed how loath thâ—y are to yeeld vnto bondage and being subdued if never so little left to themselves how soone they apprehend their first estate and freedome and how warily they preserve themselves from being enthralled againe Againe Virgil could not have devised to haue flattered more artificially than by confessing to have gained liberty by his meanes who was suspected to have aimed at the destruction and vsurpation of the generall liberty and immunities of Rome moreover in acknowledging Caesars favour for restoring him to his estate and liberty he yet mentions his libertie in the first place as the most excellent benefit worthy to be preferred before all other blessings whatsoever as the most excellent benefit worthy to bee preferred before all other blessings whatsoever as a Iewell of most incomparable value which caused another Poet to cry out as being rapt with admiration thereof O bona libertas pretio pretiosior omni Deere Liberty a gemm beyond all price After my beard grew white c. VIRGIL was but young when hee wrote his Bucolickes about thirty yeares old for hee was borne in that yeare when Pompey and Crassus were Consuls from which time to the Triumvirate were twenty foure yeares againe the Triumvirate lasted ten yeares Therefore this speech of Virgil is hyperbolicall and vsed by him with great affection intimating thereby that hee had lived so long without true liberty and preferment in meane estate and povertie that he seemed in his owne mind to have growne old in living all this while in this kinde of meane condition I fairely must confesse c. At Mantua I could neither enjoy libertie nor wealth howsoever I did there giue as much testimonie of my wit and learning no lesse worthy the acceptance than I did at Rome but vertue had there no respect nor learning any estimation amongst those Mantuan Blockheads who as their minds were not capable of arts and true knowledge so likewise they did as little regard them Sad Amaryllis c. By Amaryllis he meaneth Rome and he calls it sad though it were the Emperesse of the world in respect of the favour and esteeme which Virgill was in as being sad and all the whole Citty out of quiet if he did but stirr a little from thence so gracious was he to all sorts And all the gods invoke c. I did wonder much why Rome should invoke and intreate all the gods that is Caesar and all the Nobles to shew thee savour and to be good to thee and to suffer thy apples to hang safe on the tree vntouched of any that is to giue charge that none should meddle with any of the goods of Virgil. Fountaines and Shrubs c. Thou hadst such an interest in the mindes of all sorts the highest the middle sort and the meanest of the commons as that thou couldst not bee mist but all men did seeke thy loue and acquaintance Here first mine Eye c. This was cause enough if there were no other reason to have inticed me to goe to Rome for there I first saw that goodly young Prince Octavian for whose prosperitie I doe dedicate twelve dayes euery yeare to sacrificing and prayer He names him That young man by an excellence as being as in degree aboue all other so in all vertuous qualities and behaviour the non parcille of all the youth of his age he being very young at that time not exceeding five and twenty yeares He first vnask'd c. He namely Caesar Octavian without any second meanes of his Lords or any intreaty of my owne of his owne clemency and princely disposition did prevent me in my request and granted it vnto me before I could aske him Feede Ladd thine Oxen as woont c. Goe forward in thy studies which thou hast begun and vnder my Patronage and protection increase and finish them Vnder so mighty Patronage c. Vnder so great a Patron and defender the monuments of thy wit shall remaine for ever or else it may be simply vnderstood of his grounds being spoken in the praise of Caesars bounty and mercy to him Although each Pasture c. This is simply and without any figure to be taken as meaning that Virgils grounds were bounded in on the one side with mountaines on the other with marsh and fenn neverthelesse it should be sufficient for him and his stocke so that neither hee nor they should neede to seeke abroad for more to maintaine himselfe or them intimating further the great commodity which he receives by the strong fencing and mounding of his grounds whereby his Cattle shall be safe from the injurie of neighbours which those beasts which are apt to stray and rome abroad such as are bullockes and Bees doe often fall into Ne shall vnwoonted feede c. Being backed with these so mighty Patrons though others lands be taken from them yet thine shall be safâ— neither having these so gracious pillâ—rs of learning to countenance thee shalt thou feare that the esteeme of thy wit and thy Mâ—se shall ever suffer losse Amongst these well knowne streames c. This is none of the least happinesse of a mans life for a man to live all his whole time in his owne Country and to spend his age where he began his youth and hath long continued according to that saying of Claudian Foelix qui Patrijs aevum transegit in arvis Amongst the Brytans c. Antiquitie called onely that the world which was the continent all along the maine Ocean but as for the Ilands
The Iron Age especially shall end And Age of Gould begin through all the Earth Lucina chast with thy best helpe befriend Now thine Apollo houlds the Diadem And Pollio thou being Consul shall come in This the words glorious ornament and gem And the grand Months shall their increase begin If any print or monument remaine Of our inherent sinnes thy wondrous grace From endlesse feare of punishment and paine Shall vs redeeme and all misdeedes deface A God-like life he shall receive and see The heavenly Hero'es the Gods among And hee of them ylike shall viewed bee Al 's ' shall hee by his Fathers vertue strong The world with peacefull governance maintaine But yet faire Child the Earth shall bring to thee Her first fruites without labour and hard paine Selfe-growne without all helpe of husbandry Wilde-climbing Ivie with her Berries black And Brank with cheerefull Hares-foote yea the Goates With fullâ—blowne udders even like to crak With creamy Milke shall come home to their Cotes Ne shall the Heards the ramping Lyon feare The Cradles-selves to thee sweete flowres shall yeeld Dye shall the Serpent and all hearbes which beare Inchanting venome wither in the field Th' Assyrian Rose in each high way shall grow And herewithall the prayses thou maist reede Of princely Woorthies and shalt learne to know Thy Fathers vertues and each doubty deede The Fields shall by degrees full goodly shew Their tender Eares all yellow as the gould The rugged Oake shall sweate with honny deaw And the wilde Thornes as full as they can hould With ruddie Grapes shall hang yet some small track Of ancient fraud and lewdnesse shall remaine Which shall tempt men at Sea to venture wrack And wall in Towns and plough the Champian-plaine Then second Typhis and new Argosye Of select Lords shall beare a princely traine And Garboyles and fresh warres abroade shall flye And great Achilles sent to Troy againe Now when firme age to mans state once thee brings Seamen in ships shall trucke no more for ware For every Land shall yeeld all manner things No Furrowes in the Land the Plough shall are Ne Vines shall pruning neede the Ploughman shall For ever quit his Oxen from the yoake Ne shall the snow-white wooll in severall Diâ—couloured waters more bee taught to soake But in the meadowes dainty diapred With purple flowres with red spotts sweetly staind And saffron Lands like scarlet couloured The Ramme shall change his fleece al deepe ingraynd The feeding Lambes with Ceruse naturally Shall cloathed beene Th'agreeing Parcae to their spindles said By fatall power of stable destiny Runne out at length and let such age bee made Decre Childe of God Ioves infinite increase Oh once begin the time now nigheth neere Great honours and much glory to possesse Come see the world decrepit now and seere E'ne nodding-ripe with it owne pondrous heape The Seas and Earth and highest heavens view How all things in them all doon even leape For joy of this same age now to ensue Oh mote I live but long enough to tell Thy woorthy acts not Lynus-selfe should mee Ne yet the Thracian Bard my songs excell Allbee Calliope Orpheus Mother bee And Syre to Lynus bright Apollo come Yea should selfe Pan Arcadia beeing Iudg Contend with mee yet by Arcadia's doome Selfe Pan to mee the conquest would not grudg Begin young Babe with cheerefull smile to knowe Thy Mother for her ten moneths tedious paine Infant begin whose Parents wept for woe For thee at bed nor boord Goddesse nor God did daign POLLIO The GLOSSE SIcelian Muses c. Heerein hee hath respâ—ct to Theocritus the Sicelian whom in this kinde of verse hee doth especially imitate and therefore hee termeth the Pastorall verse by the title of the Muses of Sicely Yet a little higher c. For all men delight not in this low straine of Pastoralls Of woods albee I sing c. Let none wonder that I sing of great matters in a homely kinde of verse For even the woods are oftentimes a fitt subject for a Consul that is worthy they are of a Roman Consuls gravity as Suetonius writeth that the hills and woods were apportioned to Iulius Caesar in his Consulship for his Province The Period and last time c. Concerning the Sybils Ludovicus Vives hath spoken largely upon Austin The comming of our Lord was a thing of such weight and moment that it was necessary to have it foretold both to Iewes and Gentiles that thereby who were before his comming might expect him these in his time might receive him and those which came after him might beleeve him and therefore as there were Prophets among the Iewes so were there amongst the Gentiles Sybils that is to say such as were privy and conscious of heavenly counsaile Now Virgil did conjecture that the time of this Prophecy was neere to accomplishment because diverse of the Sybils verses were so composed as that the first or last letters of the verses did even point out the very time or the person as Cicero teacheth in his Divination in Eusebius there is a Sybils Prophecy of the last judgmeÌ„t of Christ set forth in the same manner which S. Austin citeth in his 18 book of the Citty of God Cuma is a Towne in Ionia the lesse where one of the Sybils did abide of which place shee was called Sybilla Cumaea The Virgin now returnes c. Peradventure the Sybils spake something about the blessed Virgin Mary which the Poet here applyes to Astraea the Mayden-Lady Iustice or perhaps shee meanes it of the wondrous Iustice of Christ and of the goulden age which also the Prophet Esay describes Chap. 9. And there shall bee in the last times c. And Saturnes reigne c. In his time men lived in great tranquillity and quiet with great equality amongst all sorts without pride wrath or envie such as the people of God who are to adapt themselves to his commandements ought to bee indeede Now a new Progenie c. The descent of the Sonne of God from heaven amongst us could not by a Christian man bee expressed more exactly or in more absolute termes Now thine Apollo c. Diana is termed Lucina of bringing those that are borne into the light Apollo is her Brother hee prayes Diana to bee propitious and favourable to the child in his birth namely in the Kingdome of her Brother Apollo Augustus was thought to bee Apollo's sonne and in a manner was also called by the name of Apollo And Pollio thou beeing Consul c. Pollio Asinius was fellow Consul with Cneius Domitius Calvinus in the Triumvitate in the yeare of the Citties building 714 and before our Saviour Christs birth 37. yeares Grand Moneths the Moneths of this Great yeare Thy wondrous grace c. Originall sinne shall bee blotted out by the vertue of Christ as in Baptisme is performed by a true faith in him hee hath with great reason called it the monument or print of sinne for originall sinne is
a print or Stigma derived to us from our first parents From endlesse feare c. For Faith in him who is God shall exclude all feare of punishment for sinne whether our owne by actuall commission or hereditary from our first parents And here most fitly the Poet calleth our feare endlesse because it never ceaseth to vexe and torment vs And in this sort and sense Saint Austin in his Citty of God interpreteth these verses The world with peacefull governance c. All things are given by the Father unto the Sonne a speech frequent in the booke of the Psalmes and other mysticall bookes and againe The Father hath subdued all things unto the Sonne But yet deere Childe c. Here is described the course of Christs Church that is his Kingdome here on earth For in the Gospell the Kingdome of God amongst other meanings signfies the Church In the infancy of the Church without ordinary meanes or labour but by the immediate worke of Gods Spirit there sprung up Presents yeelding most fragrant sweete smell and acceptable savour unto the nostrills of God namely so many Apostles Disciples and Martyrs in every place The Goates c. Peradventure by Goates may bee meant the Gentiles who should become in many places as afterward it appeared very fruitfull in good workes and repentance moreover it may bee hereby meant that the Disciples and Teachers of the Gospell did never goe forth to teach and preach but they returned with great advantage in winning of soules unto their Master Ne shall the Heards c. The Flocke of Christ shall not stand in feare of the Monarchs and Tyrants of the world notwithstanding all their rage and furie yea amongst the Princes of the earth there shall bee incredible Concord and Peace without venome of Pride or Envie The Cradles-selves c. Young children as it were new-weaned shall bee inspired by the Spirit of God to proclaime the prayses of God as the young children did when they went singing Hosanna and cast the branches of trees in the way before our Saviour Christ riding to Ierusalem And herewithall the prayses c. In the succeeding ages by the doctrine of God once settled by Christs example and instruction of the Apostles Piety shall extend it selfe every where in all parts of the world not to the bringing in of smal gifts or mean matters but even to the gathering in of a large harvest of corne wine and honny The Iewes shall enter in to the society of the Church and multitudes of Gentiles The greene tender stalk of the Gentiles shall by degrees grow yellow and ripe and from the thornes of humane obstinacy shall bee gathered a sweete and pleasing Grape and from stubborne hard and willfull Ignorance shall spring the sweet honny and delicate taste of knowledge and understanding Yet some small track c. Christianity could not so bee imprinted in the mindes of men but still some dreggs of ould errours infidelity avarice envie cruelty wares ambition and arrogance would remaine unremooved and from hence would afterward arise desire to traffique by Sea to forraine nations for gaine from hence it grew that men not trusting one another and from mutuall hatred and grudges did devise the walling in of Townes and Citties From hence greedy mindes bethought themselves of ploughing and digging the Earth All which indeavours of men and all these things howsoever in themselves they bee not simply evill yet mans depraved affection in the inordinate desire and use of them is bad Then second Typhis and new Argosie The ould discommodities and mischiefes received at Sea by shipping shall againe returne and warres from whence such infinite calamity hath overwhelmed all mankind And here these things may seeme to bee spoken by a kinde of revolubilitie of all things proceeding from the order and influence of the starres and hath relation to the ould storie of the Sea-voyage which Pelias made to Colchos for the goulden Fleece which the Ramme bore that carried Phrixus through the Sea The Ship wherein Pelias made his voyage was called Argo and bare his name as here the Poet calls it and the Master of the ship was named Typhis In all which severall passages the Sybil prophecies of the troubles which should creepe up by way of allusion For by Navigation shee intimates that mens mindes should tempt them to venture to Sea to get wealth and riches By walling in of Townes shee intimates warres by Ploughing she foretells the feare of famine And the better to expresse her meaning shee reckens up some speciall particulars in stead of the generalls As by Typhis wee must understand any shipp-master by Argo any Navie of ships by Achilles any Generall or greâ—t Commander and by Troy any other Citty whatsoever that might by Enemies bee distressed Now when firme age c. The Sybil heere speakes either of the blessed estate in heaven or of the perfection of Christians in whose mindes is setled unspeakable quiet and tranquillâ—ty and the true goulden age For their desires shall not be conversant about worldly matters neither shall they vse the things of this life for pleasure or delight of their vaine lusts but meerely for necessities sake as we reade of Saint Paul that hee did weave Tents and our Forefathers in Aegypt did plough the ground and applyed themselves to husbandry Neither shall their affections bee upon these base earthly matters but their conversation shall bee in heaven content with any thing how meane and homely soever that may serve their present need whereby it shall come to passe that there shall bee plenty of all things in every place every ones minde beeing so temperately inclined as to affect nothing out of curiosity but onely for use and necessity The accordant Parcae c. It may perhaps seeme somewhat too curious to say that by these Parcae equall in number to the three persons of the Godhead which Christians beleeve agreeing in power and will of desteny the Sybil would understand the three Persons in Divinity Run out at length and let such Age bee made Either the Destenies said this answrable to what every man wished might bee or else they appointed it so to bee For Christs Kingdome is an everlasting Kingdome without end Moreoever Fate is nothing else but the absolute will and comâ—andement of God and his expresse word according to the Etymologie which Palingenius giveth thereof Fatum quasi Deus sic fatus or Deus ita fatur Deere Childe of God Ioves infinite increase c. Nothing can bee more plainly spoken of Christ then to say hee is the begotten of God and the increase of his Father For of what mortall man or created creature can it bee said that hee is the increase of Iove who can adde any increase to God But Christ beeing God the Sonne of God is the Glory of his Father inasmuch as hee is wisdome and power Come see the world c. It is now high time to bring remedie into the world