thus Homer sayth tyll he had kyld him who slewe his frende and twelue more of the valiauntest Troyans whych he 〈◊〉 and cast them into the fyre wherin the cerps of Patroclus was burned He raste in moreouer foure horses two doggs c. Reade more hereof in Homers Iliades Or those of whem we read by Sphynx a cruell death haue founde If they bis doubtfull curstions were not able to expounde ¶ Sphynx Sphynx daughter of Cerberus Echydua had the head face lyke a woman bedy of a dogge wyngs of a byrd human voyce and clawes of Lyon She came to Thebes and taried about a rock thereby and to the men that passed by the place wher she lay she propounded this Rydeil What is that that hath two leggs three leggs foure legges To those that coulde expounde the same she premised the maryage of Iocasta Queene of Thebes and the kingedome for rewarde To those that coulde not she assured death None could expoūd she same but Oedipus that sayd it was man Oedipus who in infanfancy went on handes and feete as if he had foure legs in rype years vpright on two legs in crooked age he tooke him self to a stafe as to a thyrd legge Wherfore he had the rewarde aforesayd This apper teyneth to the storye afore wrytten of Oedipus Diodorus Or as the men which in the church of Bystone Pallas dyed For which offence the Goddesse yet hir face doth also hyde ¶ Bystones a people of Thracya Bystones from whence the Image of Pallas was brought to Lacedemon the inhabytants whereof made a lawe that all strangers shold be sacryficed to the Goddes Many men of Lymnos were there according to the Edict though they fled into the Temple of Pallas to hir Image were slain With which crueltie the Goddesse moued tourned hir face away and so looketh styll Or as the men that lenge agoe the stately crybbe◠be bledde Of Thacian king vppon whose fleshe hys hungry horses fedde ¶ Diomedes king of Thracia Diomedes in Tyrida a Citie therof kept horses which in man of brasse tyed with Iron chaynes he fedde with meus fleshe Hercules cast hym into their Cribbe when he fetched those horses away by the commaundement of Euristeus and Euristeus sacrificed them to Iuno Their broode centinued vnto the time of Alexander the great Macedonian king if we beleue Diodorus Or as the men that lion felte of fierce Therodamas Or sacrifice of Taurica to the Goddes of Thoas ¶ Therodamas had stables of Lions in Scithia Therodamas of which country he was kinge which he fedde with mans fleshe to the intent they might be the more fierce if néede shold be for he greatly feared that his people woulde rebell againste hym whych if they attempted he accounted that a remedie to suppresse their enterprise Thoas borne in Lemnos Thoas sonne of Bacchus and father to Hipsiphile came into Taurica at what time the women of Lemnos as shal be sayde anone killed al the men of their country to performe his vowe which he made that he would be one of the priestes of Diana Taurice to whome Hecate Thebus daughter had erected a Church and ordeyned that all such as came thether by any aduenture should be sacrificed to hir She first innented the poison Aconitū very famous for hir crueltye whych was hir onely practise Or those that Scilla fierce did catch or els Caribdis grypt Among the fearefull trembling mates out of Vlisses shippe ¶ Glancus sonne of Anthedon a fisher Glancus Seilla Caribdis hauing caught certayne goodly fishes desiring to cary them very freshe into the Citie layde them vnder a gréene herbe while he rested himselfe and dryed hys Nettes but the fishes recouering theyr former strength by vertue of the herbe lepte all into the Sea agayne Which thing when he sawe supposing that ther was some great vertue in the herbe tasted therof wherby he became mad and lepte into the Sea also and was made a god of the same And as he walked about in these costes he espyed in Sicillia Scilla daughter of Phorcus and the nimph Cratheis a verye fayre mayde wyth whose loue he was muche esprised but she regarded him not Wherfore he wente to Circe an other Goddes of the sea a very good Enchauntres and desired hir ayde and counsell to obtayne hir loue but she entrapped with his loue sought al meanes to tourne his loue to Scilla whyche when she could not she came to the soūtayne wherin Scilla accustomed to bathe hirselfe and poysoned the same so that as sone as Scilla entred into it she was from the Nauell downward turned in to the fourme of a Dogge that by suche meanes she mighte be lothed of hir louers She haunted the Sicilian seas and deuoured sixe of Vlisses mates and vsed much cruelty towardes him because he was beloued of Circe to reuenge hirself on the sayd Circe As at length in the .xii. boke of Homers Odisses may appeare She was turned into a Rocke that she myght not annoy Aeneas and his mates comming into Italy by the Sicillian Sea Ouid .xiiii. Metamorph. Caribdis is an other rock very nigh to the former Scilla not so bigge as it by the report of Homer in the .xii. boke of his Odisses Who was a very gluttonous woman which stole some of Hercules Oren away and was therfore by him cast into the Sicilian sea Or those whom Poliphemus sent into his paunch right wide Or those that of Lestrigones the cruell handes did bide ¶ Poliphemus deuoured sire of Vlisses companions as is sayde before Polyphemus Vlisses Acclus After Vlisses had lost the windes whych Acolus had giuen him by the vndiscreetenes of his felowes he came to Lamus a citie in Lestrigonia whereof Antiphates was king The inhabitants therof were Grants he sent thrée of his men to craue some curteous entertaynment but Antiphates eate one of them and the other two fled to the shippes and were so sore handled that Vlisses loste eleuen of hys ships and had much adoe to escape with his owne alone Homer .x. of Odissus Or those whom Carthage captain bold in ditches déepe did thrust And there he made the water white by casting in of dust Amilcar captayne of the Carthaginenses Amilcar in the time of truce toke the councelers of the people called Acerrani and drowned them in ditches and after cast stones vpon them Some thinke he meaneth of Anniball Amilcars onne Annibal which made a bridge of deade bodyes ouer the fludde Gella thereby to conuey ouer his army Or as the maydes and woers to of chast Penelope And he who woers weapons gaue his master for to slea ¶ In the .22 boke of Homers Odisses Vlisses Penelopes proci Vlisses kylled all the woers of Penelope his wife by the helpe of Telemachus his sonne and of such hir maydes as had behaued themselues not chastely amonge the sayd woers Melātius he kanged Melanthius who brought wepons
¶ 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
parte of the heauens shal sende East and West wyndes foorth And eke the moysting Sotherne wynde shall blow out of the North. And new agréement shal be made Etheocles and Polinices Oedipus his sons king of Thebes in brothers smooke againe Which earst in blasing slames of fyre olde rancor rent in twayne ¶ After the deathe of Oedipus Kinge of Thebes his two sonnes Etheocles Polinices dyd striue whether of them shold succede their father in the Kyngedome vntyll theire agréement was made of this condition that they shoulde rule by course one yeare the one the nexte yeare the other Etheocles raigned syrst But when his yeare was expired hee would not geue place to his brother Polinices therefore by the help of Adrastus his father in law king of the Argiues gathered an Army came to Thebes and fought with his brother in which infortunate battel bothe parties were almost slaine so that yet thereof remayneth a Prouerbe Adrastia nemesis And the two brothers fyghting hand to hande were slayne and being put in one Fyre to be burned the flame parted in twaine so that their malyce séemed not to be ended by Death The spring with Autume shal be one with Winter Sommers guyse And in one Countrey shall the Sun at once bothe set and ryse Ere I will concord haue with thée sithe thou did'st breake the band And set these weapons cleane a syde that I haue tane in hand Then that my grefe by any space may euer ended be Or tyme and hower may asswage my hatred toward thée This peace shal be betwyxt vs styll as long as lyfe shall last Betwyxt the Wolse and sely shepe that commonly hath past My fyrst battayles I mynde to wage Iambus is the rayliÌ„g verse deuised by Archylocus in style as I begone Although lyke wars in style not lyke are wonted to be done And as the pleased soldiars speare that dothe fearse Veles hyght Doth fyrst styck fast in sandy grounde as cunning taught him ryght So I with sharp and poynted dart yet wyll not shoute at thée Ne shal my speare forthwith confound thy hated head of mée ¶ Velites were a kynde of lyght harneshed Soldiars who vsed great speares for practise they wold tosse them before the skyrmish if néede were euen then also vse them against the enimy And in this booke ne name nor déede of thée I mynde to sayne And what thou art a lyttle while I geue the leaue to fayne But if as now hereafter thou do styll Iambus good And fytte for me shall weapons geue sprent with Lycambus blood Lycambus promised to geue his daughter Niobole in mariage to the Poet Archilocus but afterward being bestly â—â—ued with hir beawry wold not performe his promise With which iniury Archilocus moued so sharply inuayed agaynst them bothe that for shame they hanged them selues Neither lyued he long after for by the friends of Lycambes hée hym selfe was also slayne But now as earst Calimachus dyd enmy Ibis cursse By that same meanes both thée thine I earnestly do cursse ¶ The latine word that I haue translated to cursse is deuouere whiche rather signifieth to vow In the olde tyme among the Inchanters there were two kyndes therof in greatest honor By the one whereof the gods defenders of any citie as euery citie had some were called out by the victorious enimy least hée should séeme to cary the Gods captiue The other whereby either cities countryes or men were vowed to the wrath of the Gods for others healthe As Decii father and sonne Codrus Athenian king Sceuola in the tents of Porsena a thousand other And as he dyd so I my verse wyll wrap in stories blynde Although my selfe am neuer wont to imitate this kynde His trade obscure I folowing gainste Ibys wyll inuay My customes olde and iudgement to the whyle wyll cast away And for bicause yet what thou arte to them that aske the same I tell it not thou also shalt tyll then haue Ibys name And as my verses shal be stufte with some obscurytie So let the course of all thy lyfe be fyll'd with myserye Of him that luckyest is to gesse the same be done to thée One day wherein thow tokest lyfe and fyrst of Ianuarye ¶ Among the olde Romaines ther wer two tymes wherin it was most diligeÌ„tly obserued that no vnlucky word shold be vttered The one priuat which was eche mans byrth daye to him selfe The other publyck which was the firste of Ianuary for all On either of these they badde an opinion that what soeuer was sayd good or bad it should come to passe The gods that rule both sea and land Here beginnethe Ouyd hys curses by inuocatioÌ„ of all the whole rable of the Gods The Poles are two North South and better kyngedomes guyde In equall power with Iupiter betwene the Poles so wyde ¶ The Gods of the sea are Neptunus Castor Pollux and a great sort else of whome bicause Textor in his Officine hath written at large I wyll omyt to speake The Gods of heauen in greatest honor who also drynk of the swéete wyne Nector are Iupiter Mars Liber Apollo Mercury Vulcan Aeolus c. The Goddesses Iuno Mynerua Diana Vesta Ceres Venus Vide Textorem in capite de Diis Tomo secundo Oh hitherto I pray you all be prest t' apply your mynde And graunt that these my hearty hestes Tellus the earth had a Godhed therefore shee was called vppon in making truces Homer Plinius So had Ether also the Ayre The Sun and Stars also not withoute sacrifyces appointed to them Nox the night was deified had hir ministers Fumanus Vmbre desired waight may fynde And thou thy selfe oh Tellus fayre thou Sea with all thy waues And Ayer highest of the rest graunt what my prayers craues And eke you Starres and Phebus to with beames compassed bright Thou Moone also who neuer do'st as ere shew forth thy light Thou Night who by thy darknes art of many honoured And eke you Dames who with thrée hands doe spinne the certain thred ¶ There be thrée Ladies of desteny daughters of Demogorgon and according to Tully of Herebus and Nox Clotho Lachesis Atropos who haue al mens lyues wounde as it were on a distaffe ready to be sponne Clotho caryeth the distaffe Lachesis draweth out the thréed and Atropos breaketh it of and then the lyfe of hym that is on their Spindels of necessitie must ende Thou Riuer to that thorow hell with fearefull noyse do'st run By whom who so doth make a vowe the same must néedes be done ¶ Victoria daughter of Acheron and Stix Styx a Floode in Hell which did Iupiter very good seruice in the warres that hee had againste the Gyants obtayned of Iupiter that all the Gods should sweare by hir mother and if any that had so sworne had falsifyed his othe VVhy the Gods doe sweare by Styx the Floode in Hell that he might not drinke of the swéete wyne
Licaons filthy feaste And séeke againe for to beguile great Iupiter thy guest ¶ Licaon Archadian king Licaon receiuing Iupiter into his Palace curteously vnder pretence of good chéere kyld one of the Ambassadors of Molossus and made meat of the same meaninge also that if Iupiter perceyued it not for there was a talke that he was a god to kil him in like sort But Iupiter much offended with his cruelty thynking that simple death was to small a punishment for this so great an offence turned him into a Wolfe Ouid i. Metamor And that some man may proue the gods by making meate of thée So that thou Tantalus his sonne or Terus his mayst be ¶ Tantalus bidding Iupiter and the other Gods to a banket kild his sonne Pelops Tantalus to see whether they knewe it or not All the Gods abstayned onely Ceres eate vp a whole shoulder which the Gods after the ende of the feast casting their heades together restored but not of flesh for in the place therof thei made him a sholder of Iuory Pelops eburneus wherof he was caled Eburneus Pelops ¶ Terus kinge of Thracia Terus sonne of Mars and Caucasea helpynge afflicted prynces about him amonge other he ayded Pandion kinge of Athens greatly ouercharged with his neighbours and in recompence of his trauel toke to wife Progne his daughter caryed hir into his kingdome After she had bene there aboute a fiue yeres she desired to sée hir sister Philomela greatly and requested of hir husband that he would go to Athens fetch hir Which he did and in the way home ward forced hir and lefte hir among his shepecotes that he might the oftner and safelyer resorte vnto her And to the intente she shoulde not bewray hym he plucked oute hir tongue but she not contente wyth hys dealyng wrote with hir blood the whole mynde of hir vsage sent it to hir sister Progne vnto whom Terens had tolde beefore that she was dead Which thinge moued hir greatly so that she fayned a sacryfice to Bacchus went to the place wher hir sister was and brought hir home to hir palace kyld hir sonne Itis made meat of him caused hir husbād to eat of it and after cast the head into his bosome Wherwith he half enraged tooke his sword in hand wold haue slayne them both but the mercy of the Gods prou ded a remedy for Terens was turned into a Lapwynge Progne into a Swalow Phelomela into a nyghtingale And Itis into a Phesant Ouide vi of Metamor And that one may so straw thy lyms about the sieldes ryght plaine As those were of the chyld which dyd his fathers course retayne ¶ Medea flying from hir father Oeta Medea Absirtus caryed hir brother Absyrtus with hir folowing Iason into Grece whom she helped in takinge the goulden Fléese from hir father for which Iasō was sent by his vncle Peleas Wherewith Oeta moued prepared a nauy and folowed the Argonants whereof Iason was Captaine and pursued thē so neare that Medea to stay his course kylled hir brother Absyrtus and strawed his members abrode that hys griefe myght the more increase she dyd styck his head vppon a pole Which Oeta espyed he bestowed so much tyme in gathering the pieces of his slayne son together that Iason and his mates had cōuenient time to escape Ouid in that third booke de Tristi declareth thys story at large That in Perillus brasen worke thou Bulls mayst imitate With bullyke sounde in euery poynt agréeing vnto that ¶ Perillus Perillus. thinking to please the cruel tyrant of Agrygentum Phaleres made a Bull of brasse wherin whosoeuer were cast a small fyre made vnder the same wold make a noyse lyke a bull bringing the same vnto him craued a reward for his paines As Ouid in the fourth of his Trist sayth Phaleris intendinge indéede to try that workmanshippe commanded hym forthwith to be tormented in the same And as the cruell Phalrise thy tongue cut out before Included in the Paphian worke ryght lyke a bull mayst rore ¶ Phaleris Phaleris after he had tormented many in Perillus Bull and exercysed much cruelty by the space of syxten yeares ouer the Agrygentines was taken by hys subiectes and hauing his tonge cut out was caste into the same The Poet calleth it Paphian worke bicause the brasse whereof it was made came from Paphos a citie in Cyprus from whence the best brasse accustomably came And whyle thou wouldst retourne from age and yeares more youthful see As was Admetus father in lawe thou mayst deceaued bée ¶ Medea hauinge made Aeson Aeson Iason hys father yonge againe and Bacchus nurses also Peleas was intreated by the daughters of Peleas who was brother to Aeson and great enimie to to his neuew Iason that she wold make their father yong againe also She doubted much at the fyrst and made the matter very dainty notwithstandinge glad that so good occasion was profered to be reuenged of hir husbādes enimie at length with much adoe graūted in assurance their request And the better to perswade them that she coulde doe it she kylled an olde Ram and with hir medecines made him a lamb agayn Herewith they wer fully persuaded that she was able to doe this so that they promysed hir many gyftes if she wold make their father yonge again They agreed of hir rewarde and she bad them kyll him and caste his members cut in small péeces into a caldren of hote water whereto saue Alceste they all agreed dyd the same But when Medea hadde done that she came for shee wente to the toppe of a tower fayning that she had a sacryfice to doe and with hir dragons was caried in the aire and gaue Iason a token of his vncles death who to establysh his kingdome the better gaue hys daughter Euadne to Eueus sonne of Cephalus Amphimone to Andremon Leontheus brother and Alcesta to Admetus thus thus was Pelias Admetus father in law Ouid. vii Meta. And as the gentleman that thou in filthy pitte mayst fall Yet so that of thy déede there may remayne no name at all ¶ In the midst of the citie of Rome happened to be a great cleft in the earth Curtius and the soothsayers made answere that Stulio Manius a God craued a valiant man to be giuen him if he had not one that the city shold shortly be destroyed Curtius to deliuer the city from so great danger all armed vppon a goodly courser with his sword drawen in his hand with a ful galloppe rode into the same which immediatly closed vp and the place euer after was called Curtius Lake And God graunt that thou maist be slain as those of serpents growen Whose téeth in acceptable fieldes by Cadmus handes were sowen After Iupiter had stollen Europa Agenor Cadmus hir father Agenor king of Phenicia sent Cadmus to séeke his sister on this condicion that either he should bring hir
againe or els neuer returne again himselfe Cadmus after long séeking and smal finding for feare of his father durst not come in to his owne countrey but went to aske counsell of Apollo what was beste for him to doe of whom he was commanded to folow a yong oxe that neuer was yoked that had the signe of half a Moone on one of his sides and to builde a citie where he firste lay downe which he did and called the cuntry Boetia and his city Thebes But on a time sending his men for water and marueyling that they returned not agayne going to séeke them himselfe and finding them all slayne by a great Dragon that belonged to Mars so that there was no moe lefte aliue but himselfe alone he was greatly gréeued But for al that he set on the serpent and kylled hym to whom after came Pallas his good maistres and bad him sow the téeth of it in the grounde whereof arose sodainly armed men that sodainly flew one an other so that if Pallas had not cōmaunded Echion Ideus Cromius The inhabitants of Thebes Pelorus and Hiperenor to cease because Thebes should be inhabited they had all ben destroyed by mutuall woundes Or that thy lucke may be as yll as neuew to Pentheus Or as Medusas brother els I meane Archilochus ¶ Pentheus begat Odasus Pentheus Menetius Odasus Menetius Menetius Creon and Iocasta whych was maried to Laius of whom in Oedipus you may reade more before Creon begat Hemon and Menetius of whom in this place Ouid speaketh He killed him selfe for to deliuer his countrey from a pestilence that Mars sent for the killing of his Dragon by Cadmus Read Seneca his tragedy This stock of Oedipus his and Achilles with Tantalus were very infortunate Who was Medusas brother if Ouid meane one of the thrée systers called Gorgones for my parte I neuer read Archilochus excepte Archilochus had any sister of that name How he was slayne reade in Licambes in the beginning Or though wherwith though it were one did a birde remayne Which doth with casting water wash short hir body toward rayne ¶ Coronis daughter of Coroneus Coronis when Minerua had geuen Erichthonius shut in a basket to be kept to hir selfe Pandrasos Persa and Aglanros daughters of Cecrops with charge that they should not loke into the same and they contrary to hir commaundement had loked there in and found a dragon Coronis bewrayed the same and told it abrode wherfore Minerua banished hir from hir company Who after walking by the sea side was espyed by Neptune who would haue rauyshed hir but she by no meanes would be perswaded to leaue hir virginitie Wherfore when she was at poynt to be forced she was by Minerna turned into a Crowe Ouid. ii Metamor That thou maist haue as many wounds as by report had he To whom when sacrifice is done no knife may present be ¶ Osiris Osiris whom the Egiptians do worshyp for a God was slayne by his brother Tiphon and cutte into péeces and for that cause in his sacryfice it is not lawfull to haue a knife Or that with fury rapt thou mayst thy priuie members launce As those whom mother Sibele makes to foote the Phrigian daunce All Cibeles priestes were gelded Cibeles Prestes coribantes Atis. moued with a diuine fury in their sacrifices daunced They were gelded because at the first she louing Atis very well being a bewtiful yonge man he not willing to do hir pleasure cut of his Demisaris He would faine haue ben gone into his country again from whence she had caryed him against his will but she meaning to stay him still with hir sente one of hir Lions to feare him wherewith in deede he abashed ran into the woode and euer after was one of hir priestes till he was turned into a Pine trée Hitherto doth belong the nexte stafe that particularly speaketh of Atis. That thou of man as Atis did ne man nor mayd mayst stand And that thou mayest learne to play on Timbrelles with thy hand Cibels priestes beside that they daunced they played also on instruments And that thou mayst be turnd into the beastes of mother great As she that lost and he that did the price with running gette How Cibel the mother of the Gods turned Hippomenes Atalanta into Lions you heard before Hippomenes and Atalanta And that Limone not alone such punishment may beare Let horses with their raging téeth thy flesh in péeces teare How Hippomenes vsed his daughter Limone taken in adultry I told you afore And as the king of Cassandrea which art as fierce as he God graunt that woūded in the ground thou buried mayst be Cassandrus that raygned in Cassandrea Cassādrus a part of Macedonia for his cruelty of his subiectes was ouercouered with ashes and so dyed Another of that name who succeded hym was also for his tiranny buried quicke Or els that slayne into the seas some may thée hedlong throw As were the noble Perseus and Telephus also Erectheus begat Cecrops Cecrops Metion Metion Canace a daughter Canace bare Abas Abas gotte Colchodon Colchodon Elpenor Acrisius Danae Perseus Elpenor Acrisius who begat Danae This Acrisius hearing of the oracle that his daughters sonne shoulde dispossesse him of his kingdome would graunt hir in mariage to none but included hir in a tower of brasse so the no man myght come to hir but Iupiter turned hymselfe into a shower of Golde and came in by the Loouer of the castell and got of hyr Perseus Whych thynge when Acrisius knew he toke him with his mother and put them into a tun and caste them into the Sea But they shortly after were brought by water to Polidectes kinge of the Isle Seriphon who married Danae brought vp Perseus well but after sente him to many dangers But I néede not in this place tell how he had of Mercury his slippers Pegasus and a helmet a crooked sworde of Adamant of Saturne and a shielde of Pallas nor how he ouercame the thre sisters daughters of Porcus Euriale Stheno Medusa which had all but one eye thei were called Gorgones The story is at large described in the fourth fifte bokes of Cuids Metamor The story of Telephus in the beginning is set forth at large Telephus And that by Phebus altars thou a sacrifice mayst be As was him selfe king Theodotus by cruell enimie ¶ Theodotus king of the Bactrians Theodotus was sacryficed by Arsace king of Persia to Apollo after he was ouercomed in battel And that Abdera may one yeare thée vow withouten fayle And that thus vow'd thou mayst be hyt with stones more thick then hayle ¶ The people of Abdera Abdera which is a citie of Thracia dyd vowe a man for the common wealth of all at the beginning of euery yeare and the man that was thus vowed was stoned to death That Ioue with his thrée edged boult may hyt thée in his yre As he dyd