subtill and leaving the governement of the kingdome of Aegypt to the queene Isis carying along with him some of his aforesaid children he taketh a long and wearisome journy The cheefe place of commaund in all his armie hee appointed unto his eldest son Hercules of Lybia who upon his escutchion and armes bare depainted the shape of a crowned Lion rampant holding in his forefeet a mightie hatchet His two other brothers Anubis and Macedon caried defigured on their shields the one a Dog the other a Wolfe according to the signification of their names The armes of the Emperour Osyris was a royall scepter and under that the forme of an eye as who searcheth the monuments of antiquitie may there find it out by which is perceived how auncient an usage the giving of armes is and how to bee respected And in those times all good and just princes were called gods as Pan Apollo Iupiter and infinit others with their goddesses muses and nymphs This mightie powerfull and gallant armie thus gathered together the Emperour Osyris proceedeth in his entended voyage and therein compasseth round the whole universall earth his first resistance was upon his entering into Affrica where was opposed against him the Gyant Antheus but him he presently overthrew After that hee quietly passed into India and Aethyopia where hee did great good in instructing the poore ignorant people in the true knowledge of necessarie nutriment and victuals telling them the manner how to governe and command with policie justice and equitie Here also hee subdued many most ougly and fierce Gyants full of crueltie and bloud who generally with their greatnesse had tyrannized over all those countries of Asia He slew the tyrant Busiris of Phoenicia which used to sacrifice men and women unto the gods After this hee arrived in Phrygia and there also subjugated the Gyant Typhon in whose commaund and place he established one of his owne sonnes ruling there beeing the place where Troy afterward was erected From thence hee came by long passages into this part of the world being Europe through the streights of the sea called Hellespont since called the arm of S. George deviding Grecia from Turkie At this time ruled in Thracia which is that part of Greece where Constantinople is erected a most horrible tyrant and inhumane Gyant called Lycurgus who now denied passage through his countrey unto Osyris and at the first fiercely resisted his approches but in the end in gallant fight he slew him with his owne hands and remained victor and sole commaunder of that countrey which afterwards he resigned to one of his owne followers called Maron being a young and valiant prince From thence he passed into another province called Emathia in which also ruled many bloudie and cruell Gyants all which hee cleane extirpated destroyed and subdued setling the countrey in peaceable quietnesse and security over which he appointed to be commaunder one of his own sonnes before spoken of called Macedon who afterwards called that countrey after his owne name Macedonia and the people Macedonians of whom descended and issued the everfamous conquerour Alexander the great Out of this countrey the Emperour Osyris presently departed and came into the Isle of Crete now called Candia where he vanquished the Gyant Milinus a tyrannicall and soure governour yet hee appointed his sonne in whome good hopes appeared of good governement to be king of the said Island From these parts he returned again into Grecia and so to Scythia now called Tartaria where he found his eldest son the great Hercules of Lybia in prosperous estate who at this instant was extreamely enamoured of a ladie called Araxa by whom afterwards he begat a sonne called Tuscus which long after was king of Italie and of whome descended king Dardanus the first founder and builder of Troy From Tartaria the mightie Emperour Osyris surnamed Iupiter Iustus and his sonne Hercules are now departed and in short space arived in Hungarie and so came into Almaign or Germanie even unto the floud of Duno not farre from the famous river of Rhyne where finding the country something populous he made some stay and residence painefully instructing them in the sowing of corne and planting of vines and builded also in this place diverse villages and cities of whom hee beeing also surnamed Apis the mighty house of the Counts of Hasbourgh in Germanie tooke her name from which hath issued the noble and illustrious house of Austria since in great power and greatnesse exceedingly flourishing He also there gave the names unto the cheefest hils mountaines thereabouts whereof at this day some are called Appenini And from thence hee passed into Italie which presently shall be further showne and as that very ancient authour affirmeth Cathon whom wee call Cathon the auncient saying Aurea et as usque ad Apina deorum Italiae ultimum c. In these times there reigned in Germanie a prince called Gambrivius the vij king of the Germanes descended from the house of Tuyscon the Gyant the first king of that countrey and the sonne of Noe. With this prince the emperour Osyris made long residence and was roially feasted and entertained as being indeed near in kinred and consanguinitie who accordingly received him and his traine with great joy and gladnesse The countrey of Italie about this time was extreamly opprest with the tyrannie bloudie fashions of infinit numbers of Gyants that therabouts then lived called Titans insomuch as the people of the countrey not able longer to tollerate and endure those such slavish impositions and unsufferable tyrannies hearing of the fame and late arrivall of the Emperour Osyris into Germanie sent their messengers or embassadours unto him most humbly craving and desiring his favourable assistance and protection against those barbarous and uncivile oppressors and that he would make a journy thither to deliver them from the miserable servitude bondage that they then were forced to abide and live in The Emperor Osyris or Iupiter hearing and accepting of their distressed condition and case willingly condescended to leave Germanie and to undertake a voyage thither to redresse and suppresse their wrongs and the Gyants super-arrogant pride glory and haughtinesse which although they were of kinred and alliance unto him yet in respect of their uncivile and tyrannicall usances he instantly proceeded to the redressement thereof and in three severall battels utterly overthrew vanquisht and discomfited them and thereupon tooke upon him the governement of the principalitie of Italie which long before his father Cham and his grandfather Noe were also possessed of and hee commaunded and ruled over the Italians for the space of eleven yeares where for the most part hee remained in the citie of Viterbe called also Vetulonia and at the end of eleven yeares in great triumph joy and glorie instituted his nephew Lestrigon the Gyant the son of his son Neptune king commander ruler over all the countrey of Italie But for so much as in this booke mention is made
auctores asserunt constat enim apud Persas claruisse Magos apud Babilonios Assirios floruisse Caldeos apud Celtas Gallos Druidas qui Samothei dicuntur Magus the eldest sonne of the Patriarke and Saturne Samothes surnamed Dis began now to take upon him the rule and commaund of this his countrey so left unto him by rightfull succession from his father in the three hundred yeare after the floud after the nativitie of the Patriarke Abraham eight yeares and before the birth of Christ two thousand and seventeene yeares This Magus was a prince of great wisedome learning and judgement and also a great builder as the interpretation of his name delivereth us for this word Magus in the Scythian toung signifieth a builder or erecter and in the Persian language a Philosopher or a wise man And Berosus in his booke of Time thus sayth of him Nini LI. anno apud Celtas regnavit Samothis filius Magus à quo oppida plurima posita sunt in ea regione by which it may be gathered that hee was the first that ever in that country caused any villages cities townes or houses to bee built and erected for before that time men lived altogether in the fields under the umbrages of trees and covertures of some pleasant groves Iohannes Annius di Viterba in his Commentaries upon Berosus sayth That this word Magus signifieth in that tongue which first was used in that countrey of Gaule as much as a pallace house or mansion which opinion challengeth unto it selfe the stronger probabilitie for that with Ptolomie in his Cosmographie you shall find that most of the most auncient townes in that country ended with this word Magus as in Aquitaine Noviomagus in the province of Lyons Neomagus in Gallia Belgica Rhotomagus which is now the citie of Roan in Normandie there is also Berbetomagus Vindomagus and many others whose names doe end in this word Magus as also Nimegham in Guelderland was called likewise Noviomagus By all these instances it is made apparent that this Magus the sonne of Samothes Magus king of Fraunce the first that ever built townes in that country and caused them to be inhabited was the first that reduced gathered together the people of that countrey into villages townes and boroughs And further either of his life or the certaine time or continuance of his raigne and governement it hath not been by any allowed author or ancient writer capitulated After Magus succeeded one of his sons called Sarron Sarron king of Fraunce the first foūder of Vniversities the third king of Fraunce who excelled in the studie of letters and governed his people with great mildnes clemencie and uprightnesse and he was the first that erected universities or publicke schooles of learning and of him also came a sect of Philosophers called Sarronides as Diodorus Siculus in his sixt booke of Antiquities affirmeth thus saying Sunt apud Celtas Theologi ac Philosophi quos vocant Sarronidas qui precipue ab eis coluntur nam moris est apud illos nullum absque Philosopho sacrificium facere c. For in those daies Philosophers and men of learning were regarded with great reverence zeale and gracious respect and nothing there of any import was concluded or agreed upon without their privities consent or aduise therein Vnto the kingdome of Fraunce after Sarron came Drijus Sarrons eldest sonne unto whom Berosus ascribeth this title Apud Celtas Drijus peritiae plenus Hee began to raigne foure hundred and tenne yeares after the generall deluge which was about two hundred five fiftie yeares after the first foundation and inhabitation of the kingdome of Fraunce Hee was deepely seene in principles of Philosophie very skilfull in many other sciences And it is very credibly delivered by many very grave and learned writers that he built the cittie of Dreux in Normandie and that of his name came the sect of Philosophers which were called Druydes which were wondrous learned Divines Augurers Magicians and Sacrificers but such their oblations and sacrifices in these their dayes of blindnesse were performed with such inhumane and ungodly fashions with the effusion and shedding of human bloud in that lamentable and cruell manner as is too straunge to be reported which unnaturall and impious custome was abolished and cleane put downe by the first Romane Emperours Augustus and Divus Claudius as Suetonius Tranquilius Iulius Caesar and Plinie more directly have particularized the same After the death of this king Drijus his sonne called Bardus raigned in his place was the fift king of France This Bardus was the first deviser and inventor of rimes songs and Musicke of whome the Poets and Rhethoricians first tooke their sect which were called also Bardes Bardus king of Fraunce first invētor of Poetrie as Diodorus Siculus in his sixt booke more at large remembreth And these Poets and singers were held in that reverenced regard in those times among those people that if upon the instant encounter of the battels of the enemies on both parts these Poets had stept and put themselves in betweene both the armies they had for that present time recalled their furious intendments and beene mollified with the pleasant persuasive tongues of these eloquent Rhethoricians and sweet-singing Poets as Berosus in one place sayth to the same purpose Etiam apud agrestiores barbaros ira cedit sapientiae Mars reveretur musas The debt due unto Nature being fully satisfied by this king Bardus for no quillit or evacuation whatsoever may avoid it his eldest sonne called Longho was called upon to undertake that which his father had left hereditarie unto him of whome no extraordinarie memorable thing is left by fame unto the sonnes of time nor any authoritie of any great antiquarie possesseth us with his worthinesse vertues or perfections it is only supposed that before his death he built the citie of Langres which we call in Latin Civitas Lingonensis And hee had a sonne called Bardus the younger which was the seventh king of Fraunce and began to commaund some three hundred and one and fortie yeares after the foundation and enpeopling of this countrey of Fraunce And it is very probable That of these two kings Longho and Bardus the first originall and beginning of the people called Lombards took their being and name for they are entearmed in Latine Longobardi which nation although at the first they were extracted and descended out of Almaign now called Germanie yet they bare domination and rule for the space of two hundred yeares and more in Italie even untill the time of king Charlemaine who absolutely deprived them of all commaund power and authoritie in that countrey round about The eight king of Fraunce was Lucus the sonne of Bardus the younger of whom it is written as Ptolomy and others doe affirme the people called Luces or Lucenses since inhabiting about the cittie of Paris tooke their name and originall Of him also writers have beene very sparing to
speake of more than that hee begat a son called Iupiter Celtes the ninth king of Fraunce and father to the faire and beautious gyantesse Galathea whom before wee so largely spoke of and remembred And it is by computation and due reckoning found that since the first Saturn and king of Fraunce called Samothes surnamed Dis unto the raign of Iupiter Celtes were about four hundred years And now having thus lineally drawne the succession of every king of this countrey since the first inhabitation thereof untill this Iupiter Celtes and so consequently unto his sonne in law Hercules of Lybia now the tenth king of Fraunce we will proceed with him now employed about his affaires in Italie and with his issue and posteritie as it is delivered by authours of great worth learning and authoritie It hath been before somewhat touched how Hercules passing through those mountainous places of the countrey of Savoy at length arrived in Italie where having a puissant armie hee presently fell to wars with the Gyants called Lestrigones most bloudie cruell and oppressive tyrants and the murderers or consenting aidants unto the death of his father Osyris surnamed Iupiter Iustus With these powerfull commaunders in that countrey he entertained many fights and found them very resolute prepared to endure the uttermost of his mightinesse and strength yet in the end after a ten yeares wars he victoriously triumphed over them and utterly razed out all their issue and posteritie whatsoever and the place wherein his last battell against these Gyants was fought in retaineth still his old name and is yet called The valley of the Gyants which is hard adjoyning unto the cittie called Tuscanella in Tuscania These civile intestine broiles being thus valiantly and successefully appeased Hercules remained a quiet and peaceable possessor of all the countrey of Italie wherein he raigned and continued for the space of twenty yeares much about the time that his father Osyris his grandfather Cham and his great grandfather Noe had there commaunded in which time hee bestowed many gracious and commodious good turnes upon the people of that countrey and built and erected many gallant and famous cities although the most part of them bee at this day by the all consuming tyrannie of Time ruinated spoiled and decayed He also at this time caused the Island of Sardinia to be peopled frequented and inhabited which untill that time lay wast depopulate and barbarous and in this place hee appointed a ruler called Iolaus to commaund as under him that countrey and those people so committed unto him Hee likewise caused through most part of Italie especially in the moorish wettest places thereof many ditches and trenches to bee cast up that thereby the palludious meres and standing lakes might find passages to emptie their flouds and that the fields and bastures by that meanes might be preserved drie and be made more fit for agriculture tillage and other necessarie encreases for the generall profit and good of all the whole countrey thereabouts and of him the river Arnus taketh name for Hercules was also surnamed Musarnus and he lived for the most part of the time that he spent in that countrey in a cittie called Fesula in Tuscania which citie even at this day though not in that glory as heretofore giveth the armes of Hercules Italie being thus freed from the servitude wherein it lived of those ungodly and uncivile Gyants and beeing now brought to a generall quietnesse ease and prosperous estate Hercules determined with himselfe to send for both of his eldest sonnes to establish the one in the principalitie of Italie the other in the kingdome of France and hee to take his journey once againe into Spaine to which countrey hee was much addicted there to live privately and to spend the rest of his yeares to come in peace pleasantnesse and in all content Whereupon hee dispatched messengers to his wife Galathea then remaining in Fraunce as hath been before spoken of to send him presently his sonne Galatheus being now of mans estate and very able to beare armes Other messengers were dispatched into Scythia now called Tartaria there to seek out his eldest sonne Tuscus then remaining with the queene Araxa queene of Scythia inhabiting those countries which lie upon the floud Tanais and by the moores and water-lakes called Meotides Vpon the commandement of king Hercules Galathea his wife presently sent unto him his son Galatheus into Italie accompanied with the greatest men of Fraunce who was very joyously welcommed unto his father with great feasts and signes of gladnesse for he was now growne up unto a gallant big proportion of bodie and comely feature and was also of a very gentle and gracious disposition mild in his demeanures and yet majesticall and of a spirit-promising aspect throughout all his countenance Not long after him arrived his elder brother Tuscus from Tartaria who also was of a mightie corpulencie and extraordinarie large stature whom indeed Hercules had begot in the very prime of his youth and vigorous lustinesse Vpon the meeting of these two a great court or assembly of great lords and princes was held in all pompe glorie and magnificence where in the presence of all the noble Lords and Barons of diverse countries and governments as of Aegypt Lybia now called Affrica Spaine Fraunce Italie and Tartaria with great solemnities rites and ceremonies Tuscus was created and established the sole king Saturne and commaunder of all the countrey of Italie and hee was there invested in the dignitie of Ceritus that is as much to say as Iupiter crowned or Patriarke of Tuscania the yonger brother Galatheus aged about six and thirtie yeares or thereabouts was preferred also at that time unto the rule and governement of the kingdome of Fraunce All which ceremonies were performed with great triumph state and royaltie and kept in the citie of Viterba in the yeare after the universall inundation of the world six hundred and five and twentie before the foundation of Troy ninescore and one yeares and before the incarnation of Christ a thousand six hundred fortie eight These things thus solemnely consummated and Hercules voluntarily dispossessing himselfe of these two such imperiall crowns After he had delivered some instructions principles of good government to these new erected kings Tuscus and Galatheus after a generall conge of them all he took his journey towards Spaine to the great discontent and greese of all the cheefe Barons and also of the Plebeians throughout all the countrey of Italie but beeing now arrived in Spaine he found his son Hâ—spalus which hee himselfe had before established in that kingdome to be dead who had reigned onely seventeene yeares and that after him succeeded his nephew Hispanus the seventeenth king of Spaine and the first of that name who called the country after his owne name Hispania which name it ever since hath retained for before that time it was called Hâ—beria This Hispanus raigned afterwards some two and thirtie yeares
they are among the rest of the fables which the Grecians used inserted for it is nothing likely that the use of yron beeing in those times found out he would have used any such inferiour meanes of defence for the safetie of his bodie This assertion also maketh cleane contrarie against him for Hercules of Lybia was borne before the destruction of Troy according to the computation of the Aegyptian yeares above tenne thousand yeares but Alceus not fully two thousand as Diodorus in his first booke of Time alleadgeth which manner of computation and reckoning of the Aegyptians if we wil reduce to the order and rule observed by the Chaldeans Scythians Hebrewes and Ianigenae which is by the circular circumference and revolution of the Sunne accounting it as we now reckon we shall find that he was borne presently after the king of Babylon called Ninus which is according to our latter observation some eight hundred yeares before the overthrow and ruine of Troy which maketh up the number proportion of ten thousand yeares held and observed among the Aegyptians by which we may perceive the great distance of time that was betweene these two famous personages Hercules Egiptius or Libicus the sonne of Osyris surnamed Iupiter Iustus and Hercules Graecus or Alceus or as some hold the son of Amphitrio and Alcmena or the son by adulterous meanes as some others doe thinke of one called Iupiter Graecus But having now thus farre digressed from the maine entendement wee will returne to the prosecuting thereof The continuance of the raigne of the above written Iubalda king of Spaine dured from the foure and thirtith yeare of the raigne of Semiramis the Babylonian Empresse untill the eighteenth yeare of Arius which is in the whole about the time of threescore and foure yeares as by the diligent carefull collections both of Eusebius and Berosus is clearely approoved And about this time the Patriarke Abraham beeing about the age of a hundred yeares is borne his son Isaack Isaack born as all hystories for the most part give record and mention In the governement of this king Iubalda no memorable act done in that countrey is left written by hystorians Vnto the kingdome of Spaine next after him succeeded Brygus which was in the eighteenth yeare of the late specified Arius the Babylonians sixt king which is from the first inhabitation of Spaine two hundred threescore and seven yeares and before the foundation of Troy four hundred and thirtie This word Brygus with the Arameans and Armenians is called Castellum And the Etruscians at this day with whome many words of the Aramen language remaine call a castle Bricola by changing the letter g into c. This king Brygus as Berosus other writers affirme founded and erected many townes and great castles in the kingdome of Spaine as Ptolomie also copiously hath delivered as in the countrey of Lusitania there are castles called at this day Laccobryga Mirobryga and others And in the province of Taracona a towne called Brygantum Volubryga and many others sounding and ending after the name of the king Brygus Plinie sayth in his fift booke of naturall hystorie Plinie that many old writers do affirme That a certain people called Brygi in Europe travelled into Asia and there builded a citie and called it Brygios which afterwards by chaunging the letter B into P was called Phrygios and that the Phrygians afterwards from these people tooke their first originall and being of whome issued that famous progenie of the Trojanes so gloriously renowmed throughout the world and this king Brygus reigned in all securitie and peace untill the first yeare of the reigne of Balaneus the eight king of Babylon which was about two and fiftie yeares or near therabouts The fift king of Spaine was Tagus as Berosus and Diodorus deliver and he began his rule and government before the nativitie of Christ a thousand eight hundred threescore and five yeares before the building of Troy threescore and eighteene yeares after the first peopling of Spaine three hundred and nine yeares And of this kings name that far-famed river Tagus taketh her name in which as Plinie and Solynus report were found many golden sands heaped together in many places of that river This king with many authours is called also Tagum Orma and Moyses by synoereicall composition tearmeth him Tagorma as Ptolomie and many other writers of great worth and credite more particularly have spoken of the same and this Tagus reigned in the kingdome of Spain about the time of thirtie yeares by all due computation and conferring of consent of times and as Berosus affirmeth the same In the first yeare of the reigne of Armatritis the ninth king of the Babylonians and Assyrians the rule and governement of the kingdome of Spaine fell and came unto Betus of whom afterwards a great part of that country tooke her name and was knowne by the name of Baetica The Etruscians by transposition and division of ae cal him Beatus which with the Latines signifies happie or blessed The Hebrewes derive this word Betus from Behin which as S. Ierome interprets it meaneth as much as locus vitae meae id est foelic tatis â—ptatae and from hence it is likely that in this countrey some supposed the Elesian fields to be and so also thereby many other such like suppositions arose which to decide would here bee tedious and too much digression from the matter entended This king Betus raigned seven and thirtie yeares as Berosus and other authors doe alleadge After him in the eight and thirtith yeare of Armatritis above mentioned Gerion surnamed Aser challenged unto him the rule and domination of the countrey of Spain wherein it is written he governed with great tyrannie and oppression of the inhabitants thereof intruding himselfe by violent and forcible means into the possession and governement of that kingdome This word Gerion signifies in the Hebrew tongue as much as advena in Latin which he manifested more plainely by comming from Mauritania into this kingdome of Spaine and ruling there like a straunger according to his owne will desire and mightinesse Berosus as also Diodorus Siculus doth affirme That he had another name also which in the Aramen Mauritanian language was Deabo in the Greeke Chryseo in Latine Aureo which first of all came of his great wealth and store of gold in which he most wonderously abounded in those daies and this Gerion reigned thus in this his usurped authoritie untill the eight and twentith yeare of the raigne of Belochus the tenth king and ruler of Babylonia which was about the time of three thirtie years or near therabouts Immediatly after him three brethren together tooke the rule and government of this countrey of Spaine into their hands which were called Deabi Lomnimi which word as S. Ierome expoundeth it signifieth the cheefes or rulers of armies and which wee call by the name of the three Gerions beeing indeed the sons of the
and agreement the more Tuscus freely bestowed and gave unto his brother Galatheus the great Island of Sicilia as then appertaining belonging unto the crowne and kingdome of Italie and which was then altogether desolate and disinhabited the race and generation of Cham Noes son the first commander therof being now extinct and perished Vnto this Island Galatheus made a journey carying with him great numbers and abundance of people and all things necessary for the in peopling and inhabiting thereof which people and nation he afterwards and from thence forth called after his owne name Galath-enes and erected and built also a very great citie there calling it by the name of Cenegalatha of which citie likewise Plinie in his fourth booke of Naturall hystorie doth there entreat and mention And it was held in those daies to be the greatest and cheefest honour that might bee to authorise and license any to build and erect any citie and to call it after his owne name for the denominating of which no man neither could give any leave or authoritie but those which were established in place and office of Coritus that is the Patriarke Iupiter or cheefe king and commander of that country as Tuscus then was being the sole king and ruler over all Italie and all those territories adjoyning thereunto And this grace and favour Galatheus tooke in great thankefulnesse and all kind acceptance endevouring by all means possible to be found gratefull for so high a favor received After all matters were well setled and orderly disposed in this new erected governement of Sicilia Galatheus returned backe againe into his countrey of Fraunce where with all signs and apparent tokens of a long wished welcome hee was joyfully received of his people in all the provinces round about where we must now leave him for a while to speak of his brother Tuscus and of his affaires and negotiations in his governement and charge This Tuscus as is before declared was the sole and absolute King Patriarke and Iupiter of all the dominions of Italie of whose name also a cheefe province of that kingdome then tooke her name and was called Tuscania and by the favourable good will of the tyrant Time who is wont to blot out all reliques and tokens of antiquitie it yet retaineth the same in which particular countrey hee for the most part made his continuall abode residence which before that time was called Etruria The diverse and severall names of Italie before that Ianicula and the people thereof Ianigenes which is as much to say as the issue of Ianus it was also called Oenotria Hesperia Apenina and many others according to the greatnesse or will of any such cheefe or famous king so commaunding and ruling over it Dionysius Halicarnasaeus writeth That the countrey Hetruria taken oftentimes for the whole and entire kingdome of Italie was also called Comera of Comerus Iaphets son and it had to name also Razenua It was also called Taurina and Saturnia Thuscia and Thussa and at this day Italia as hereafter shall be declared Berosus further sayth That at the first peopling and inhabiting thereof it was called Vmbria of the people Vmbri which heretofore we have somewhat touched as also Pelasgia of the people Pelasgi taken also sometimes for the inhabitants of a countrey in Greece Besides all these it was also knowne by the name of Tarrhenia as many authors of great and approved knowledge in matters of antiquitie have more amply delivered which opinion also should be more easily entertained if wee will but diligently marke the diverse and severall names given attributed unto other countries after the same fashion and manner for first concerning the people of Fraunce The old names of the people of Fraunce they were first of all called Samothei of Samothes their king then Celti then Galatij after that Belgae of their king and Patriarke Beligius after that Galli and since that Francigenae or Franci The names in like manner of the people of Germanie varied and differed very often and severally The names of the people of Germanie For the first name that ever that people received were Tuyscones of Tuyscon one of Noes sonnes the first that ever was king and ruler over that country After that they were called Gambrivij then Ingheones after that Isteones Suevi and Vandali then also Thetanes Theutontes Vindelici Vandalisci after that Alemanni and last of all of the Romanes as some hold they were generally entearmed Germani So that by these it is plainly shown how almost all countries and nations have at diverse times been diversly and differingly called by the occasion of which many writers that have not indeed seriously and laboriously lookt into fragments of old and authentike fathers for the derivations and first originals of cities and countries have beene infected with some disease or other of ignorance and errour by reason of which daungerous sickenesse first creeping though not perceived into the heads of men learned and of authoritie it hath prooved universally mortall to all those that have not invoked the aid of that good Physician Industrie throughout all the world wheresoever And so now againe wee will returne to the place from whence we last of all set forth which was from the matters and particulars which we handled of king Tuscus sole ruler and commaunder of all the countrey of Italy of whose actions or memorable atcheevements there is little read in any authors onely it is writ that hee first invented the order and dignitie of the Palladian knighthood and instituted large priviledges and allowances for the maintainance of that new found ceremonie And of any matter else which might challenge unto it selfe worth and extraordinarie commends done and performed by him few or no hystorians have written onely hee left after him his son Altheus inheritor rightfull successor to his government and kingdome Altheus then the son of Tuscus began to take upon him the rule and commaund of Italie presently after the death of his deceased father which was the fourth yeare after the death of his grandfather Hercules in Spaine who as you have heard left inheritour unto him Hesperus the brother of Atlas for the governement of that countrey which Hesperus had not there long reigned but hee was expulsed and driven out of his countrey by violent and oppressive meanes by his brother Atlas the gyant surnamed Italus so that now hee was enforced to forsake the countrey and to flie into Italie in one part of which hee afterward commaunded and called it after his own name Hesperia which name it long time afterwards retained After this Atlas Italus not contented sufficiently with the principalitie and dominion of Spaine as overambitiously thoughted came also into Italie and overswayed by his mightinesse and power al the country round about and created and established himselfe king ruler therof and called all the countrey generally after his owne name Italia by which it is at this day called
the daughter of Atlas Italus king of Italie three children which are these Iasius Dardanus and Armonia Iasius being created Coritus and Patriarke of Italie his father being alive who also bestowed upon him the rule and kingdome of Fraunce as many hystoriographers affirm the next yeare after so that he became very mightie and powerfull in all those countries thereabouts And now we will proceed with the rest of the kings of Fraunce beginning where we last left of which was if it bee remembred at Galatheus the noble sonne of Hercules of Lybia and of his faire wife Galathea where it was then mentioned how this Galatheus at the hands of his loving brother Tuscus received the Island of Sicilia and accordingly caried with him people to inhabite and possesse the countrey which being performed he returned also back again into Fraunce as hath been likewise before somewhat touched after which time hee lived peaceably and quietly many yeares governing his people with great mildnesse and clemencie and yet mingled and accompanied with uprightnesse of justice and execution of his laws and edicts of whose deeds and performances more than are alreadie spoken of few or no writers have mentioned onely that of him and of his name the countrey generally was called Gaule and so continued and the people therof tearmed Gaulons which by corruption and overturning of many ages and times are now in some part of that countrey called Wallons and which before Galatheus were called Samothei or Celti And it is most likely by the conjecturall opinions of most writers that this king Galatheus remained and lived in those dayes for the most part in that part of Gaule which is now the province of Acquitaine which is so called of the abundance of waters and rivers wherein that countrey was wont to exceed and that this place was held to be the first and most auncient of all the other parts of Fraunce which indeed are onely two more for that the whole countrey of France is by most devided onely into three parts and they are called Gallia Acquinatica Celtica and Belgica which of themselves retaine and carie the very names of the first kings and rulers of them as before is something specified The cheefe citties and principall siegnories of Gallia Aquinatica The cheefe cities of Gallia Acquinatica are supposed and held to bee these as most auncient writers doe consent Narbon Thoulouse Caours Rodetz Lymoges Perigort Bourdeaulx Zainctes Augolesme Baione Clermont Bourges Tours Foix Lestore Allebreth Saint Pons Nantes Resnes Saint Malo and others The cheefest rivers and waters these Gironde Dordonne Garonne Loire Lalier Cher Charente many others now too long to recite After the death of the famous and most renowmed prince Galatheus his sonne Harbon tooke upon him the governement of the countrey and was established the twelfth king of Fraunce who presently erected and built a very gallant cittie for his seat and called it Harbonne after his owne name which is now called Narbonne as many authours doe affirme And of this king little or nothing is left written memorable or meriting a tedious commemoration or rehearsall onely hee left behind him a son called Lugdus which was now the thirteenth king of this countrey of Fraunce and who built the famous citie called Lugdunum called also Lyon which is now one of the cheefest and principallest cities of France and which hath long time flourished in great priviledges prerogatives and extraordinarie customes beeing a citie indeed tres-auncient and of long continuance and of her name all that province is called Lyonnoise which as some hold is contained within the bounds of Gallia Celtica and is the greatest and the cheefest part thereof The first foundation building of the cittie of Lyons in Fraunce And this citie of Lyons was first founded and erected by the same king Lugdus in the twelfth yeare of the raigne of Mancaleus the foureteenth king of Babylon which is as much to say as after the floud inundation of the whole world sixe hundred and fourescore yeares after the first inhabiting of Fraunce five hundred and sixteene yeares before the foundation of the cittie of Troy one hundred and fortie yeares and before the now famous citie of Paris was erected two hundred and twentie years before Rome was built five hundred threescore and eighteene yeares and before the incarnation and birth of our Saviour Christ a thousand sixe hundred seven and thirtie yeares or neare thereabouts And in the times of this king Lugdus arrived and came into Fraunce the queene Isis who was so famous and so renowmed throughout all the world After this Lugdus succeded his eldest sonne Belgius now the foureteenth king of that countrey whose name is yet even fresh in all mens memories for of his name that great and populous countrey called Gallia Belgica tooke her title and was so called of which as of the other we will now make some mention The cheefest rivers and waters thereof are these Lescault la Sambre le Lis le Rin Meuse and Moselle Saine Marne Somme le Daulx and others the cheefe woods and forrests these Mormault and Ardenne The highest hils and mountaines are the hill Saint Claude les Faucsilles and Vosegus The principall villages and greatest citties are these Cambray Vallenciennes Couloign Conflans Vtrecht Mayence Strasbourg Aix Constance Lyege Tournay Arras Amiens Beauvais Senlis Laon Noyon Soissons Meaulx Rouan Rains Metz Langres Besancon Salins Dole Losanne Geneve and Camberi The cheefe siegnories are these the Dukedomes of Iulliers Cleves Cheldes Brabant Lorraine Bar Lembourg and Luxembourg the counties Palatine Haynau Bourgoigne Ferretes Montbeliard Flaunders Artois Champaine Holland Zeland and Namur This king Belgius of whome all these gallant and most famous countries were thus called builded also the citie of Belges of which now only some ruines and reliques of memorie are left which are to be seene in the countrey of Haynau and which Iulius Caesar likewise in the sixteenth booke of his Commentaries doth mention remember where he calleth it Belgium This word Belgius as many old writers expound it signifieth in the Hebrew or Phenician language which toung the ancient Gauloys then used as much as An auncient god wrastling for in those times as I alreadie have spoken the people called their kings gods by which it may be gathered that this their king Belgius was a great wrastler unto which kind of exercise and unto the barriers the people inhabiting in Gallia Belgica did not long since wonderfully much addict themselves were very active and skilfull therein howsoever at this day those sports for the most part are now utterly left off and rejected S. Ierom sayth also That this word Belga signifieth in the Hebrew tongue An auncient commotion or an old strife and indeed heretofore those people of that country were much conversant in wars in troubles and dissentions and were held to bee the most valiant and strongest nation of this part of the world as Caesar also
citties of which some were those which were since called Piemont Savoy Proavnce Daulphine and others and which people of very late times if not at this day were called Allobroges and in this kings raigne was the farre-famed and mightie citie of Troy first built and erected To come unto the foundation of which wee must here in these affaires pause and take breath a while and returne unto Dardanus now on the sea tossed with uncertaine fortunes and tempest-beaten indeed with overblowing and cruell winds so that he remained in very great daunger and hazard to bee cast away and swallowed in the vast and mercilesse embracements of the all-wracking waters Enforced by these calamities hee was glad to put in at an Island of the Ciclades attending there the favourable smiles of Fortune and the abatement of those horrible and tempestuous stormes In the end hee put foorth againe and recovered the sea Archipelagus and went afterwards on shore in an Island in Greece called Samos or Samothrace according to that which the Poet Virgil in his eight booke of his Aeneidos sayth Arunculos ita ferre senec his ortus in agris Dardanus Ideas frigiae penetravit ad urbes Treiciamque Samum quae nunc Samothracia fertur This Island of Samos or Samothracia is directly opposite unto the countrey of Thrace in Greece where Constantinople is erected which heretofore abounded in all plenteous maner with Vines Olive trees Grapes and others such like fruit of most sorts and in this countrey also was the learned and famous Philosopher Pythagoras borne and one of the prophetesses called Sibeles Sameos but it is now the more to bee lamented in the tyrannous hands and possessions of the bloudie and barbarous Turke In this countrey Dardanus staied a good space before he laid the foundation of Troy hoping yet to bee recalled home againe into Italie but when hee perceived that all hopes were frustrate that were builded on such grounds hee putteth himselfe foorth to seeke out as yet his further fortunes which happened as hereafter shall breefely be unfolded It is to be understood that on the other side of the sea Helle sponte which is called also the streights leading unto Constantinople in the firme continent of a countrey called Asia Minor now called Natalia or Turkie and not far from the above written Island of Samos is a province called Lydia which heretofore was called also Meonia in the which countrey as also in those next and neare adjoyning thereunto called Phrygia raigned and governed at that time a prince called by the name of Athus the younger of the same bloud and parentage as was Dardanus for if it bee remembered we long since spake how Hercules of Lybia had a ladie to his wife called Omphale by whom hee begat a sonne called Athus the great of which Athus from discent to discent in foure generations came this Athus the younger king of Meonia and Phrygia and who had two sonnes also the one called by the name of Lydus the other Turâ—henus This king Athus having now upon the arrivall of Dardanus great abundance of people in his countrey by reason of fruitfull encreases and multiplications and having also but small store of victuals and food in his countrey to nourish and maintaine so populous a state for want of which great famines pestilences and other diseases arose in the countrey knew not almost how to dispose of his people or in what sort to remedie this mischeefe so that in the end hee was enforced by reason of that mortall famine to discharge many of his subjects out of the countrey to seeke out some new inhabitations and places of abode which thing also they wonderous willingly embraced as glad to be rid and quit of so penurious and starving a place Dardanus hearing and understanding of these proceedings and in what necessities they stood in by meanes of the overaboundance of inhabitants presently made his repaire to king Athus and there desired of him That since hee must needs send forth such people for the finding out of new places of habitations that he would bestow the charge conduct and leading of them upon him and that hee would joyne with them for the provisions and necessaries needfull and convenient for the setling of themselves in such their new places of abode residence and habitation This thing king Athus very willingly entertained especially for that Dardanus was of his owne kindred and consanguinitie This request and desire of Dardanus thus obtained hee knew no other meanes to requite so great a favour and to bee occasion to draw on further kindnesses but to offer unto Athus and utterly to resigne all his right title interrest and claime in the kingdome of Italie for one of his sonnes unto which of them the father pleased and was contented This profer of Dardanus beeing well considered of by king Athus was in the end thankefully accepted in lieu and exchaunge whereof was allowed unto Dardanus a certaine quantitie and peece of ground in Phrygia for him to build and erect a citie upon And betweene the two brethren Lydus and Turrhenus lots were indifferently cast which of them with a certaine number of people should set forward for Italie and which should stay at home for the deciding whereof it fell unto Lydus to remain behind and to be left inheritor unto that kingdome which afterwards of his name was called Lydia and that Turrhenus should bee presently dispatched away with his people to inhabite in Italie of whome afterwards also it was called by the name of Turrhena These covenants and agreements concluded upon Turrhenus setteth forward from Asia Minor now called Turkie in his journey for Italie and Dardanus with his people and associats began now to build in Phrygia and in short space fully finished and erected a citie which he called after his own name Dardania which was before the incarnation of Christ a thousand foure hundred fourescore and seven yeares before the building of Rome by Romulus foure hundred and seven and twentie yeares and before the citie of Paris was erected threescore and tenne yeares as Eusebius and most writers doe affirme On the other side Turrhenus is arrived in Italie and presently repaireth unto the queene Cibeles the widdow and late wife to Iasius Ianigena as before hath been declared as also unto her sonne Coribantus king of Tuscania unto which two hee brought and presented many costly and rich gifts from his father Athus king of Meonia who also received them in all gracious and kind acceptance as comming from their kinsman and of the race and bloud of Hercules of Lybia Turrhenus had not long remained here but that he was highly favoured of the king Coribantus who now desirous to see and understand of the estate of his kinsman Dardanus prepared presently to take in hand that so long and tedious journey and ordained and instituted at home for the governement of his countrey the order of the twelve Dukes whereof Turrhenus was one and so with
incarnation of Christ two thousand three hundred and seventeene yeares Noe then seeing himselfe thus left the sole King Monarch Emperour Patriarke Lord and Maister of the whole universall land remained wonderously astonied at this so straunge and sence amazing accident and passing along the land he found on a plaine a faire pillar of marble whereon he carefully engraved and set downe the deluge and generall inundation of the world in the form of an hystoricall discourse this stone as it is reported is called at this day by the inhabitants thereabouts Myri-Adam which interpreted signifies the issue of Noe and it standeth in the countrey of Armenia beeing a great province in Asia the great which affronteth towards the East the Hyrcanian sea towards the South lies Mesopotamia towards the North Colchos and Albania and towards the West Cappadocia and through the midst of it runne the two famous rivers Tigris and Euphrates of all which countries hereafter in this hystorie more at large shall be spoken It is written That Noe begat of his wife Tytea after the floud thirtie children viZ. Tuyscon the Giant Prometheus Iupetus Macrus and the sixteen Titans which were all Giants also Cranus Granaus Oceanus and Tipheus and of daughters Araxa surnamed the Great Regina Pandora Crana and Thetis some authours doe alleadge more but for brevities sake wee will not further contend with others opinions Noe thus living in Armenia instructed these his children in the knowledge of sacred Theologie and in rites belonging to religion and holy sacrifices as also in the understanding of human maners and secresies of Nature of which hee himselfe had composed many bookes which afterward the priests and churchmen of Scythia and Armenia preserved and kept a great regard and reverence For this cause he was called among the Scythians Ogyges Saga which interpreted from the Scythian language signifies as much as Great Patriarke soveraigne Priest and mightie Sacrificer And this Berosus affirmeth saying Primum itaque dixerunt Ogygam Sagam Berosus id est Illustrem sacrorum Pontificem Noam he also taught and instructed them the knowledge of the course of the planets and devided the yeare into twelve months according to the course and circumference of the Moone he also by his studie of Astronomie and observance of the coelestiall motions could prognosticat of the alterations of weather in the yeare succeeding for which causes the Scythians and Armenians very highly honoured him thinking him to pertake of the divine nature and supernall knowledge and therefore called him Olybama Arsa which is as much as to say the Heaven and the Sunne and they afterward also built and named many great citties in his name and of his wife Titea so much were they honoured for their vertues and godly conversation He further taught those people the use of agriculture and tillage of the ground and also the finding out of the use of the grape and the manner to plant vines and other necessaries for their more easie living wherupon hee was entearmed also Ianus which in the Scythian tongue signifies the giver of wine But as he was the first that found out the use thereof so was hee the first that felt the power and vertue of it who not being able to endure the fume and mightie strength of the operation thereof in a great feast wherto he had envited many of his friends fell extreamely drunke and so overcome therewith as he lay sencelesly sleeping in unseemely manner amid these his guests and friends so envited such was the furie of that new-found drinke Among all the sonnes of Noe Cham was the least in his fathers favor who also by reason of his Magicke art wherin he had great knowledge was called Zoroast who wholly gave himselfe over unto all incivilitie and rude behaviors following the abhominations and vices of those horrible giants before the floud he as hating his owne father for that he saw himselfe least beloved of him as he saw him thus lying drunke using some charmes of enchantment tooke now the time of revenge and by his Magick so bewitched his father in those places of generation that hee disabled him ever after to have the use of women or to get more children for these and other such his detestable impieties hee incurred the wrath and displeasure of God in most greevous manner and was afterward banished from his father who afflicted him with no more punishment therein for such his unnaturall deed so committed Humane kind through the succession of time so much encreased and multiplied that they were now enforced to seeke out some new habitations and places of abode whereupon the good Patriarke Noe surnamed Ianus began to exhort the princes and cheefe of his familie to put themselves in search for other countries and places of residence and there to build and erect villages and citties for the societie of humane conversation and he thus allotted unto them their regions and quarters where to populat and inhabit To Sem surnamed Melchisedech he appointed Asia the great which in it selfe containes the halfe of the world and hee had with him in his companie xxv Rulers of his familie Hee afterwards built the cittie of Salem now called Ierusalem and hee lived even untill the time of Abraham Vnto Iaphet his brother was allotted Europe and he had with him foureteene rulers of his generation and unto these two Noe bequeathd his blessing most amply according as the scripture maketh mention As for Cham although he was out of grace with his father yet had hee his inheritage also allowed unto him which was the other third part of the world as hereafter shall be farther spoken of Frier Iohn Annius of Viterbe the expositor of our author Berosus doth recite that Philo the Iew another very ancient author doth write That in the hundred year after the deluge Noe to shew and instruct his children in Cosmographie went upon the mountaines which overlooke the Ponticke sea part of which is now called Mare Mediterraneum and there shewed unto his sonne Sem all the Asiaticke seas from the floud Tanais in Tartaria unto the river Nilus in Aegypt unto Cham he shewed all the rivers issuing from the seas of Affrica and from thence through Aegypt to the streights of Gybraltar and to Iaphet all the rivers and flouds of Europe passing from those streights through Spaine Fraunce and Italie and those countries round about into which countrey of Italie Noe also afterward arrived and left behind him certaine of his people in that part of the country where Rome was long after built which was eight hundred yeares after the floud from thence he passed unto the coasts of Greece and entred into the straights leading to Constantinople by the sea called Mare Major and so againe to the flouds of Tanais in Tartaria from whence he first set forth And it is to bee noted That as hee passed through all those countries he alwaies left people behind him to inhabit and encrease
writ many bookes and hee was called generally throughout the world Cam Esenuus id est Cam infamis impudicus propagator Some have thought That the Turke for those and such like causes is called in his letters patents le grand Cam de Tartaria It is written That Cham had one sister which was called Rhea maried to Hammon king of Lybia who also was enamoured of one other faire woman called Almanthea and had of her by adulterous meanes a son whose name afterwards was Dionysius which child was secretly broght up and nourished in a certaine citie of Arabia called Nysa notwithstanding the matter was not so closely cunningly handled but his wife Rhea had privie advertisements thereof Whereupon in despight and jealous discontent she forsooke her husband and went home to her brother Cham then abiding in the Island of Sicilia who presently maried and espoused her and as some writers hold his wife Noegla being alive but of this other he afterwards got many children as Cus the father of Nembroth the first king of Babylon Typhon the gyant and also many others Cham and his owne sister Rhea thus maried together they consulted and advised to be revenged of king Hammon of Lybia and to that effect raised a great armie of men and with the assistance and helpe of their brothers the sixteene gyants they set forwards from Sycilia and in the end arrived within the territories and confines of Lybia where they gave king Hammon battell and in the field overthrew and vanquisht him so that he was glad to flie into the Isle of Crete now called Candia not long after this Rhea had a sonne of her husband Cham called Osyris afterwards surnamed Iupiter Iustus who prooved a most noble and gallant prince far differing from the wicked humors and dispositions of his father After this about the three and fortieth yeare of the raigne of Nynus king of Babylon Dionysius the sonne of king Hammon and of the faire Almanthea now beeing come to age and of mans estate began now to think upon the wrong offered unto his father by Cham Rhea in usurping the commaund of Lybia and determined accordingly to bee revenged upon them which also hee afterwards performed and expulst them againe out of the countrey investing himselfe in the regaltie thereof Notwithstanding he used Osyris the yong sonne of Cham and Rhea with great clemencie and mercie and receaved him as his adopted child and in remembrance of his father called him also Hammon and Iupiter and brought him up very carefully in the studie of letters and other necessarie gifts over whom he appointed as schoolmaister and tutor a learned man called Olympus of whom afterwards Osyris took his name and was surnamed Olympicus After that Cham and his wife and sister Rhea were thus discomfited and overthrowne by Dionysius the new king of Lybia and now retired with such disgrace into the furthermost and obscurest corners of Aegypt Rhea was presently upon this delivered of a daughter called Iuno which was also called Isis the Great and this was in the first yeare of the raigne of Semyramis which was three hundred and two yeares after the floud and this Isis was accounted for the fairest as also the best disposed ladie of the world But her unfortunat wicked father Cham now remaining in Aegypt as hath beene alreadie specified was not contented with such his habitation there but seeking further as over ambitiously enclined arrived in the countrey of Bactria not far from Persia where he so wrought and prevailed with his diabolicall skill of Negromancie that he subjugated and brought under all those people thereabouts insomuch as hee there raigned in great puissance pride and mightinesse and yet not with this satisfied gathereth great troupes and armies of men and invadeth the Assyrians against whome marcheth their king called Nynus the young the sonne of the before mentioned Semyramis whose fortune was such as hee victoriously triumphed over his enemy Cham suppressing his glory rule and haughtinesse he himselfe being in that battell slaine and all the armie shamefully discomfited Many writers have affirmed That this Cham was a man of singular ingenuitie and sharpe capacitie and that hee first found out the seven liberall Sciences and had wrote many bookes of great worth among which his cheefest were of Negromancie of which most part of them were burned by the beforesaid Nynus Some also say That hee onely in the world came out of his mothers womb laughing and with a smiling countenance which is an uncouth thing and as most hold prognosticating no good Vnto this Cham Tiphon the Gyant his eldest sonne by Noegla was heire and also succeeded him in humors and malicious dispositions who was brought up in Aegypt there continued And now also it shall bee fit to revert our hystorie unto the two yongest children of Cham Zoroastes which excelled in all good parts and vertuous inclination as their father abounded in the contrary that was that Osyris before spoken of the adopted sonne of Dionysius king of Lybia and Isis his sister the fairest best accomplisht damosell in the world whom afterward he tooke to wife and maried with whome hee had also the kingdome and principalitie of Aegypt These two now newly espoused he being of threescore yeares of age and shee about fiftie and yet our author Berosus tearms them very youthfull began to applie themselves to the studie of the nature of hearbes and to the finding out of planting tilling and sowing of corne which afterwards they instructed their people in and shewed the use to their neighbors dwelling in Palestina of which ruled king and governour Sem surnamed Melchisedech who was the first that ever offered bread and wine unto God From thence Osyris passed into Aegypt and there also very painefully shewed them the manner of tilling and agriculture as likewise the Poet Tibullus speaketh of Tibullus saying Primus aratra manu solerti fecit Osyris Et tenerum ferro sollicitavit humum Afterward he travelled into many other countries alwaies learning them then living by acornes nuts and water in the knowledge of such his new invention and by these gentle and mild courses hee gained the love of all people and by that meanes almost possest himselfe of all the world with the regalities and principalities thereof the Empire of Babylon onely excepted whose conquests victories prevailements and powers we wil something more amplie hereafter remember following as wel our owne authour Berosus as also Diodorus Siculus the learned Catasthenes and many other authenticke authors herein in their bookes and writings of matters of elder times and subiects of antiquity Osyris therfore surnamed Iupiter Iustus having by his wife and sister Isis otherwise called Iuno and also of many other ladies which here shal bee needlesse to recite many children as Hercules the great Anubis Macedon Lidus Meon Neptune Oros and also many others hee assembleth a mightie armie of all sorts of people both puissant and
first inhabited and peopled in the hundred and eight yeare after the generall floud After this his returne into Armenia having there rested himselfe some one and twentie yeares hee began to invent the foundations of great citties and to establish kingdomes and siegnories throughout the world so that in the hundred and two and thirtieth year after the deluge he first erected and appointed the monarchie of the Babylonians of which the first king was called Nembroth Noes cousin and about the thirteenth yeare of the raigne of this Nembroth hee instituted and established for the king of the Gaules one other of his kinsmen called Samothes surnamed Dis the fourth sonne of Iaphet a man very wise and well governed Samothes therefore accordingly tooke his leave of the Patriarke Noe his grandmother Titea of his father Iaphet and of his mother Noegla and the rest of his kindred and set forward toward his kingdome and governement with all expedition possible carying along with him diverse sorts of cattell poultrey and other things necessarie for the maintaining and conservation of mankind which kind of things were all the riches treasures that men desired to possesse in those daies and thus with all his traine familie and followers hee taketh shipping in the sea called Marc major and in the end by the favorable assistance of prosperous winds he arrived within the confines of Gaule which was some seven thirtie yeares after his first being there with his grandfather Noe and about eightscore and foure yeares after the deluge by which it may bee understood That this Samothes the fourth sonne of Iaphet was little lesse than seven score yeares of age when he now last visited the countrey Samothes therfore now entred into his own kingdome with his wife children and followers and also his horses kine and other things necessarie began to settle himselfe therein and to give out edicts and breefe commaunds what he would have done and performed in this his countrey which was done in the yeare after the floud above written and about two thousand fourescore and thirteene yeares before the incarnation of our Lord Iesus Christ The countrey was very much peopled by this time and great encreases of all other things there were found upon his now comming for it was now seven and thirty yeares past since Noe left people there first to inhabit and multiplie which in such a time grew to great abundance of all things whatsoever His welcome and entertainement was wonderous gladly accepted of those people and men of the countrey who acknowledged him as their Lord their Patriarke their cheefe and their Saturne which names in those daies were given as titles only of honor excellence and dignitie as Zenophon in his Aequivocals also sayth Saturni dicuntur familiarium nobilium regum qui urbes condiderunt Primogeniti eorum vocantur Ioves Iunones vero Nepotes eorum Hercules fortissimi cetera It may now very well bee imagined that those people having so long time lived without a governour king or particular commaunder must of necessitie bee very rude uncivile obstinat and barbarous living onely according to the lawes of Nature and following their owne wils desires and concupiscence Yet notwithstanding Samothes by faire and gentle demeanures mild cariages so woon their hearts unto him that they became easily reclaimed and brought to be docible and obedient to what precepts or commaunds were imposed upon them and upon this hee devised lawes and ordinances for domesticke conversation which he caused to bee made plaine unto the people who at the first something wondered at so straunge alterations having so many yeares together lived without any cheefe or any lawes to curbe or bridle their naturall fantasies and disordinat affections And these lawes were made in the fourth yeare of the raigne of Ninus the third king of Babylon at what time also Tuyscon the Gyant his uncle king of Almaigne and Tuball king of Spaine did the like instructing their people very industriously in the rules of Philosophie Physicke and Astronomie which they themselves had learned of their grandfather Noe and their father Iaphet And if it bee here demaunded what kind of writings they then used Berosas doth answere that they were certaine Phoenician characters letters which also were used in Armenia which were very like unto those which Cadmus long time after brought from Phoenicia into Greece and therefore Iulius Caesar in his sixt booke of Commentaries sayth That the Gaules did use in those times Greeke letters for their manner of writing but undoubtedly those characters were found long time before they were ever knowne in Greece as Zenophon and many other authors confidently doe affirme Samothes surnamed Dis living thus in all tranquilitie and peaceable securitie among his people ceased not dayly to possesse their hearts with strong opinions of the worth and value of learning for it is written that hee was the wisest and most learned prince in the world in those times as Berosus also alloweth when he thus sayth Samothes qui Dis vocatur Celtas colonias fundavit nec erat quis etate illa isto sapientior ac propterea Samothes dictus est Among other his rules of Philosophie and learning one was beeing the cheefest hee taught the people That the soules of men were immortall which before they hardly beleeved as men dwelling in the shade of ignorance and invelloped with darke mists of errour After he had thus established lawes and ordinances for the good governement of his country and all his people enjoying peaceably the fruits of quietnesse after the end of seven and fortie yeares he rendered up unto Nature that debt which could not be any longer kept backe and detained and left his eldest sonne called Magus inherit or unto his kingdome and governement which was in the one and fiftieth yeare of the raigne of Nynus the third king of Babylon and when his father Samothes had commaunded that countrey sevenscore five yeares being at his death about three hundred yeares of age or much thereabout This Samothes was of that esteeme in those dayes and so generally reverenced and loved for his vertues through all that countrey that the Gaulois or Frenchmen even unto the time of Iulius Caesar boasted and gloried of nothing so much as that they were descended and issued from him so highly was he possest of the peoples hearts in the greatest opinion of truest love the which thing also Iulius Caesar in the sixt booke of his Commentaries more copiously remembreth In his time also the sects of Philosophie first tooke their beginning and originall in Europe and were called Samothees which were men studied and expert in all letters humane and divine contrarie to the opinion of many who write that Greece was the first mother and bringer forth of arts and sciences But Diogenes Laertius in the beginning of his booke entituled The lives of the Philosophers contradicteth those suppositions saying Philosophiam à Barbaris initia sumpsisse complures
or neare thereabouts as most writers and Cronographers of Spaine doe agree And in this kings raigne about the nineteenth yeare thereof as is before written arrived Hercules in that countrey now very aged and of many yeares where hee continued three yeares with his nephew without any command or place in as great content ease and quiet as might bee for hee had now given over the desire of rule and principalitie and gloried in nothing so much as that he by his owne valour prowesse and labours had conquered such gallant countries to dispose of as hee himselfe thought good and to give to his children to enjoy as their rightful inheritances for indeed hee was the Monarch and prince almost of all the world and had attained unto such his height of glorie and fame not by oppressions tyrannie or unlawfulnesse but by the subduing of wicked and ungodly gyants the deposing of all usurpers and bloudie governours by the abolishing and rooting out of all divellish and inhumane customes then observed in those daies among the poore and faith-wanting vulgars in those times of error In these his times of privatenesse and retired living which he spent in Spain he builded and caused to bee erected many great townes citties and villages for which cause the people of that countrey still call him Hercules the builder Besides this also hee gave and addicted himselfe to the finding out of the natures of strange hearbs and to the studie of Astronomie and the Magicke art where in he wondrous deeply was seene and excellently well read but hee never applied the use thereof but unto the good and generall commoditie of the countrey Hee found out many remedies and enchauntments against the poyson of serpents and many other venomous beasts then abounding in that countrie in great plentie and by which the inhabitants before were greevously molested and exceedingly troubled Hee also performed there many other memorable things of great worth value and import as Higinus and many other very learned writers doe affirme Not long after his nephew Hispanus king of Spaine died without issue left none of his owne bloud to inherite the kingdome after him whereupon by the generall entreatie of all the whole land and by publicke consent the command and government of that countrey was imposed upon Hercules whome the people for his vertues faire demeanures and good government did indeed very highly affect and reverence and here having so fit an occasion to speake of the originall and antiquitie of this countrey of Spaine wee will for a while leave him undertaking the charge once again and the commaund and governement thereof and we will begin with the first king of Spaine and so by succession and lineall descent from one to another as far as Berosus Eusebius Solynus and Diodorus Siculus have proceeded therein and untill wee come to the raigne of this Hercules The very first inhabitation and peopling of this countrey of Spaine was by those people that came from the other side of the Caspian sea called Iberi Persae Phenices and Paeni as Plinie in the third booke of his naturall hystorie doth alleadge as also Marcus Varro and Cato in his originals doe affirme the same wholly condemning the Grecians of vaine glorie and ignorance to write that Hercules Pirenes Lusus and Pan were the first that ever inhabited in this countrey but of the colonies therefore of those people before mentioned it is very certain that Spaine took first her originall as also those other Islands round about is called Sicilia Corsica Sardinia and Baleares and the Island Corsica was so called of the people Corsi which the Grecians tearme Cyrnum or Cyrum but the Persians and Hebrewes Corsum and after these people the Gothes and Alani came and lived in Spaine long time and continued for the most part of them untill this very present wherein wee now live from whome and from the rest before mentioned it is delivered for certaine by many auncient grave and learned writers this countrey of Spain deriveth her first beginning and principall foundation S. Ierome Eusebius Iosephus and many other approved good authors doe all consent and agree That Tuball the fift sonne of Iaphet the son of Noe was the first that ever was called by the name of king in that country of Spain and that he was also the first that erected built townes and cities and prescribed bounds and limits in the same which as Berosus sayth was after the floud a hundred three and fortie yeares and in the twelfth yeare of the raigne of Nembroth the Babylonians Saturne and ruler which was before the foundation of Troy six hundred thirtie seven yeares and before the nativitie of Christ two thousand two hundred yeares The great citie which he called after his owne name Tuball is in Baetica as Pomponius Mela affirmeth as also Strabo averreth the same This kings cheefe studie and delight was in pasturage in flockes of sheepe and heards of cattell wherein in those times men reposed great contentment pleasure and felicitie such his studie the people called Arameans entearmed by the name of Tharaconem which is as much to say as Pastorum congreationem The meeting together or assembly of sheepeheards as S. Ierome and the Thalmudists of the Iewes interprets it and of the same the great citie of Tharacona is called as Saguntum first tooke her name of Sagus the builder and erecter thereof He began also first to set downe lawes precepts and directions unto his people and to possesse them with the opinion of good obedience unto their prince and persuaded them by fair and gentle meanes to the embracement of a civile and quiet life and conversation and this Berosus saith was performed and done in the fourth yeare of Ninus king of Babylon as before in some places hath been a little remembered and Strabo sayth That in the tenth yeare of the same Ninus king of Babylon and in the age of Tuball one hundred and fifteene yeares Noe surnamed Ianus comming out of Affrica and Phoenicia arrived in Spain brought thither with him two colonies called Nooelas and Nooeglas although Plinie in his third booke of naturall hystorie in the six and twentieth chapter thereof calleth them Nooegas and Nooelas and in this countrey were they planted and remained with great multiplication encrease and abundance This Tuball raigned in this his governement untill the nine and fortieth yeare of the raigne of Ninus and from the first inhabitation of Spain a hundred and five and fiftie yeares The Patriarke Abraham borne and in this kings governement was the Patriarke Abraham borne which was just by all nearest computation towards the end of his raigne and in the foure and fortieth yeare of the before specified Ninus king of Babylon Vnto Tuball succeeded his sonne called Iberus in the government and kingdome which he had left him to enjoy which was from the floud two hundred ninetie nine yeares from the first enpeopling of Spain a hundred fiftie
shee caused her selfe a mightie and stately columne to be erected wherein she caused also these words to bee insculped and inserted Ego sum Isis Egipti Regina à Mercurio erudita Que ego legibus statui nullus soluet ego sum Osyrides ego sum prima frugum inventrix ego sum Oriregis mater But to omit many other like authorities and approvements which might conduce to the clearer manifesting and unclouding of what was first proposed wee will now goe forward with this royall mariage of Iasius that we with more speed may attaine to the complete accomplishment and effectuating of my purposed entendment This great king and ruler Iasius Ianigena had of this his wife Cibeles a sonne called Corybantus so that now there wanted not any terrene or earth-born delight or felicitie which might make this happie-seeming potentate more fortunat mightie or contentfull but it is a common humor of fortune that amidst the thickest and most abundances of her graces and favours shee in some angrie or fantasticke imagination suddainely snatcheth away her so liberally bestowed gifts and leaveth the late possessors thereof involved and wrapt in a world of the miserablest unhappinesse and soule vexations that may be invented as by the fatall successe and end of this kings life most plainely appeareth For when as Dardanus his younger brother a man indeed of a proud heart great courage and inward ambition saw his brother Iasius thus to float as it were on the calme seas of joyous prosperitie and to tast of the sweet cup of Nectar which Fortune oftentimes administreth unto her favourites and thus to live famous in such abundant measure of grace and happinesse hee infinitely repined and malliciously stomacked such the greatnesse and height of his power and authoritie he beeing himselfe so suppressed and obscured by the spight of Fortune and living privately and without commaund as an inferiour or some base born person or slave These things oftentimes revolving and studying within himselfe he could not now any longer depresse or quench the overfurious heat of his aspiring spirit but in a disdainefull and scorning kind of fashion went unto his brother the king to demaund leave and licence That upon some occasions of discontent pretended he might depart out of the countrey to seeke out his better fortunes which request Iasius refused to condiscend unto and would by no meanes allow of his brothers purposes in that behalfe intended whereupon Dardanus taking it in great dislike and disparagement unto his greatnesse began secretly to enter into deadly hostilitie with him and to gather many factions and parties together on his side which by reason that he was exceedingly well beloved throughout most of those countries grew to a great number and multitude of men especially of those people then inhabiting on the other side of the river Tybre which we called since the Latines besides the countrey of Naples Povilla Calabria and others thereabouts all these conjoyned and consorted with the faction of Dardanus and with Iasius all those on this side of Tybre beeing them of Tuscania Fraunce and other particular provinces thereabouts At this very time as many writers doe deliver happened in the world many uncouth straunge and wonderfull portents as fearefull earthquakes lightening blazing comets and ougly visions as also throughout all Thessalie a generall overflow and deluge of waters in another part of Greece a strange combustion of houses and townes and miserable effects of fire throughout most part of that countrey In the same time also Pharao king of Aegypt following Moyses and the children of Israel through the red sea with all his armie perished and were overwhelmed with the churlish buffetings of the angrie and wrathfull billowes All which signes and extraordinarie accidents did manifestly pretoken prefigure the suddain approch of some great alteration of estates and troubles of mightie kingdomes The fire of discontent and enmitie betweene the two brothers beeing thus wholly set on flame and diverse attempts and meetings of wrath passed betweene them it happened that Dardanus received the worst and upon many encounters still was put unto his shifts especially by the fresh supplie and aid which Siceleus king of the isle of Sicilia the sixteenth king of Spain had then brought unto his brother Iasius so that continually being weakened more and more both in numbers of men and in the courages of them that staied he was enforced for his own securitie to give over those such publicke meanes of oppression and revenge and to betake his thoughts unto contriving and plotting of some more inward and therefore more daungerous stratagems So that in the end to avoid prolixitie and tedious circumstance he so wrought that he awaited a time when the king his brother then all suspectlesse of any intended mischeefe went privately to a fountaine or spring to wash himselfe which occasion and oportunitie so fairely presenting it selfe Dardanus most traiterously and vilely murdered him And upon that not daring to adventure his stay or to engage himselfe so far in those cases of perill he presently tooke shipping in the next haven and with all his jewels what else riches portable he could cary with him away with many of his freinds followers and servitors he secretly and closely set saile and departed The right noble and trespuissant king of Fraunce thus cruelly murdered by the bloudie hands of his owne naturall though in that unnaturall brother in the fiftith year of his raigne and mightie governement and in the fourscore and fourth yeare of his owne age all the people and inhabitants thereabouts began mightily to bewaile his untimely and miserable end which was before the foundation of Troy eight and twentie yeares or much thereabouts In generall deploration and laments of this kings death not only Italy and France but all parts of the world unto whome the shrill voiced trumpet of Fame had sounded forth this report conjoyned and bemoned together for that hee kept peace and amitie with all princes whatsoever in all unitie love and concord and carried himselfe so upright and so wise in the troublesome managing of affaires belonging unto two kingdomes that hee gained and woon unto him the hearts and affections of almost all people whatsoever After his death his sonne Coribantus succeeded in the governement of the kingdome of Italie but not of Fraunce so that the people thereof were a good while after without a cheefe or ruler but in the end they chose and elected one that was nearest unto the linage and line of Hercules as they might and his name was Allobrox now the sixteenth king therof The which king afterward for the most part kept and remained at the foot of the mountaines Apennini afronting upon Italie and there commaunded even unto the hils Pyrenei which divide the countrey of Spaine from France and from the Mediterranean sea unto the maine Ocean and unto the river of Rhyne and he there builded and erected many famous townes and
a great troupe and companie of followers friends he embarked for the cost of Phrygia to see the greatnesse of Dardanus and the beautie and excellencie of his new built citie Dardania After some tedious and troublesome travels in this voyage at the last hee arrived at his wished and desired place where with all manner of ceremonie he was joyfully entertained by Dardanus whose reciprocall and mutuall love grew in the end to bee such as hee resolved and there set downe his rest for ever to remaine and not to returne againe into Italie but sent word thether of his purposes and commaunding them to create and establish Turrhenus in his absence king and sole ruler over all that countrey In few yeares Dardanus began to grow unto great mightinesse riches and power who had also a neighbour prince of mightie puissance wealthie and fortunate whose name was Teâ—â—rus whereupon many writers call the Phrygians also Teucri and this Teucrus was the sonne of Scamander and Idea and had also himselfe a very beautifull and faire daughter which hee maried shortly after unto Dardanus and was called Batea of whome Dardanus begot a sonne called Eâ—icthonius who succeeded after him and was inheritour unto the kingdome of Phrygia This Ericthonius in processe of time arose up unto a wonderfull greatnesse and large possessions who as many writers do affirme was accounted to bee one of the richest kings in those daies in that part of the world who as it is also said had at the least three thousand horses of his owne continually feeding in his pastures And this Ericthonius had also a sonne whom he named Tros whome after his death hee left as successour and inheritour unto him and of whose name afterwards the Dardanians were called Trojans This Tros very much obliged and beautified the cittie also of Dardania 〈…〉 which long time after it retained 〈…〉 had three sonnes which were Ilus Assaracus 〈…〉 hee brought up in the knowledge 〈…〉 warlicke sciences unto which kind of studie as it is written hee himselfe also was much addicted and had many yeares together maintained hostile warres with the king of Crete called Iupiter the fourth of that name there in which warres his sonne Ganimedes was taken prisoner even by the hands of Iupiter himselfe who for that in his ensigne and colours he gave an Eagle being his armes it should seeme the Poets for that cause have devised and feigne 〈…〉 as hee was on hunting was snatcht up from the 〈◊〉 unto heaven by Iupiter 〈…〉 Eagle find that hee is now taken for one of the twelve signes of the Zodiake called Aquarius Some other authors also write that one Tantalus king of high Phrygia and of Paphlagonia a most miserable covetous and auaricious prince had laid certaine snaâ—es and privie meanes to entrap this Ganimedes and to take him prisoner as hee used to sport himselfe in hunting thinking by that devise to get a mightie raunsome of his father Tros for the redeeming and enfranchising of his imprisoned and captivated sonne and that this Tantalus sent him to one Iupiter of the Isle of Crete for to safegard him and to have halfe the raunsome which should bee paied for his redeliverie and freedome And for such like causes belike the Poets also doe invent and say that Tantalus is plagued and tormented in hell standing up to the chin in water and apples hanging downe unto his lips and yet can neither drinke nor tast the one or the other and it is also more credibly written that he died most miserably and in great extremitie His sonne Pelops also banished and exiled his owne naturall countrey fled into Greece and there maried a wonderfull rich wife and great ladie by which meanes hee got unto himselfe and obtained the commaund of a whole countrey which he called after his own name Peloponnesus which is now the countrey of Mauritania and subject unto the Empire of the Turke And of this Pelops issued and came the two famous captaines Agamemnon and Menelaus Tros thus having lost his sonne on this fashion studied upon revenge and in the meane times comforted himselfe with his two other sonnes Ilus and Assaracus And this Ilus called Troy after that Ilion who begat a sonne named Laomedon the father of the renowmed Priamus and of Assaracus issued and came Anchises Aeneas father And the before written Tros ruled commaunded there in great power and puissance for the space of threescore yeares or neare thereabouts Archilochus as Archilochus in his booke of Times alloadgeth Laomedon the sonne of king Ilus as is beforesaid after the death of his father tooke upon him the rule and government of Troy in the two hundred and two and twentieth yeare after the first foundation therof by Dardanus and hee had five sonnes and two daughters which were these Priamus Titonus Lampus Clytion and Letaon and of these Homer in his Iliads maketh further mention his daughters were Antigone and Hesione Homer The Greeke Poets who indeed for the most part are full of such like fables doe say that the two gods Neptune and Apollo for a certaine summe of money promised them by him went with him about the circuit of the citie and there erected wonderfull strong and most huge high wals round about the same the which wals afterwards finished accordingly and no money received nor to bee got Apollo in great rage and anger infected the citie with a deadly and generall pestilence and Neptune in token of his wrath and displeasure also sent a monster of the sea among them unto which they must every day give and throw a young child or els that they all should perish and bee devoured by the ravenous maw and hunger thereof and that in the end it happened upon the daughter of Laomedon called Hesione to be given unto this marine beast which say they was rescued and releeved by great fortune by Hercules of Greece which came that way and who afterwards slew that monster and in gratification therof the ladie Hesione the daughter of Laomedon was promised unto him not long after in marriage but yet not married unto him by reason of the unwillingnesse afterward howsoever it fell out of her father for the breach of which promise Hercules afterwards slew Laomedon in open battell and spoyled and ruinated such his glorious citie And for that Thelamon his consort had that day behaved himselfe very valiantly in fight hee bestowed the young ladie Hesione upon him as his concubine and slave who carried her away with him into the countrey of Solamina whereof he was then king and ruler But it is most certaine that for the most part all those Greeke writers have erred infinitely and have delivered many most unlikely hystories for this Hercules as hath been before spoken was a notable and a famous pyrate and hee slew Laomedon by trecherie and surprised Troy on a suddaine and unawares and also hee was a common ravisher of maidens as of Hesione Medea and others as
Manethon Iohannes Annius and Iacques de Bergame have written and very plainely approved the same Laomedon beeing slaine Titonus succeeded next after him but he being of another disposition resigned his interrest therein and betooke himselfe to travell into straunge countries even unto the Indies where according to Diodorus Siculus hee maried a ladie called Ida and as the Poets write Aurora of whome hee afterwards had a sonne called Memnon who long after came unto the succour of Priamus in his cheefest warres and was there slaine by the hands of Achilles In the absence therfore of his brother Tython Priamus took upon him the government and charge of that kingdome being the second son unto Laomedon their father who in short time came to bee one of the greatest and most famous princes of the world for it is written that he was wondrous wise discreet and valiant and matcht his children with persons of great sort worth and dignitie And for to make him at the first the stronger and that he might have time to reedifie his late spoyled and fire perished cittie hee entered into alliance and fast kindred with a very mightie and powerfull prince neare adjoyning upon his country who was called by the name of Cypseus or as some hold Dymas king and sole commaunder of Thrace which is a province in Greece on this side of the sea Hellespont whereof the cheefe cittie is at this day Constantinople and with this Cypseus or Dymas his daughter called Hecuba hee maried a ladie accomplisht with all exteriour graces and inward vertuous dispositions at which espousals of Priamus and Hecuba great ceremonies and signes of joyfulnesse were showne foorth and observed and of this ladie it is writ that he begot nineteen children male and female and of other women and concubines which he dayly kept and maintained in his pallace according to the fashions and usances in those daies hee had one and thiâ—tie more so that onely nineteene of his fiftie sonnes and daughters were legitimate and lawfully begotten the rest bastards and illegitimate That Priamus in all had so many children which indeed hee publickely maintained and shamed not to acknowledge Virgil also in the second booke of his Aeneidos thus sayth Quinquaginta illi thalami spes tanta nepotum And Homer likewise in the last booke of his Iliads most plainely seemeth to confirm the same Troy now thus most gallantly flourishing newly fortified repaired enlarged enriched enpeopled throughly provided and stored of all manner of things which might bee necessarie either for the use of fatall warres and open hostillities or for the conservation of peace domesticke tranquillitie began to assume unto her selfe a mighty and glorious selfe-conceit and strong opinion of her owne power height and magnificence assuring her selfe of all victorious prevailements over her enemies whatsoever and of a never failing prosperitie glorie and felicitie and yet it is not writ that Priamus himselfe was puft up with any more extraordinarie pride or insolencie than became the greatnesse of so puissant a prince It is writ also that in the times of this his greatest power he was forewarned by certaine Oracles and false gods which they used to worship in those daies that so long as hee did preserve and safegard three things belonging unto the cittie the towne should bee inexpugnable and never to bee lost as Servius and Boccace have written of the same the things were these The image of Pallas called Paladium preserved undefaced The sepulchre or tombe of Laomedon which was under the great gate Scea kept undespoiled whole and so long as the life of Troylus lasted and did endure Priamus therefore very carefull to keep these three things with all diligentnesse and heed lived in the greatest pompe delicacie and state that ever any prince in the world in those times did or could so that he seemed not onely to bee king of Phrygia but also cheefe dominator and emperour of all Asia now called Natalia or Turkie and hee was called also in those times The king of kings as Strabo in the thirteenth booke of his Geographie to the same purpose thus sayth Priamus magno ex parvo Rex Regum effectus And these his powers and authorities not onely extended and stretcht themselves abroad throughout the maine continent and firme lands of all those countries thereabout round but in the end shewed themselves also and possessed their maister of many famous and great Islands lying farre in within the bosome and embracement of the uncivile and rude behaviored sea as the Island of Tenedos and the Island of Metelyn were subject and vassalized unto the governement of his imperious principallitie paying him yearely tributes taxes and impositions and many others also of great same adjoyning neare thereabout so that the infinite greatnesse and large commaund of this thrice mightie emperour Priamus possessed all the princes and rulers of countries neare that way with astonied admiration and wonderous maze of his so suddaine and unexpected puissancie And thereupon sent and dispatched messengers from all quarters to crave his amitie friendship and to be in league with him as also to bee nearer allied unto him in some matches and marriages of their children on both sides by reason whereof Priamus matched his children with great houses and of great power and possessions First hee married one of his legitimate and lawfully begotten daughters called Creusa unto a prince of great meanes named Aeneas the sonne of old Anchises his daughter Astyoche hee matched with one Telephus a mightie king of Mysia and his sonne Hector joyned in matrimonie with Andromacha the faire daughter of Ection the powerfull and famous king of Thebes and Silicia and Polydamas one of the sonnes of Anthenor married with one of Priamus daughters beeing a bastard and begotten of one of his concubines beeing of an excellent and singular beautie called Lycasta So also manie others of his children were linked and joyned in marriages with men of great rule power and commaund in those dayes the posteritie of which and of their deedes and mightinesse hereafter in some other place and oportunitie occasion may bee presented further to speake of And for this time beeing indeed forced by an extraordinarie occasion I must thus on the suddaine abruptly breake of desiring and wishing very earnestly that if this small peece of paines of mine shall fortune ever to bee publickely impressed which leaving behind mee it will not bee in my power to prevent it may indifferently passe uncensured till the returne of his fortune beaten father may aunswere for the innocencie of the child and bee able a little better to protect him in his afflictions And thus it hath beene with great care and diligence laboured to find out the truest Hystorians for the deriving of Dardanus and consequently this king Priamus from the race and line of the first prince and Patriarke Noe with the particular successions of kings and emperours of Europe as hath beene warranted by the authorities and writings of very learned and authenticke authours Tempo è figliuola di verita FINIS