shooes could water tred And neuer hasard drowning The like fame Another that Othimius had to name Behinde him left Hadingus King of Danes Mounted vpon a good Steed by the raines Th' Inchanter tooke and crosse the main sea brought him Safe whilest in vaine the hot pursuer sought him Oddo the Danish Pyrat by the aid Of the like Sp'rits whole Nauies durst inuade And with his Magicke Charmes could when he please Raise mighty stormes and drowne thâ—m in the seas At length by one of greater practise found Aiming at others Wracke himselfe was drown'd Some Authors vnto this accursed Tribe Of watry Daemons Deluges ascribe And flux of waters Such we reade were knowne Whilest Damasus was Pope when ouerthrowne Were many cities in Sicilia And By Historiographers we vnderstand The like chanc'd in Pope Alexanders dayes In Italy afflicting diuers wayes Both losse of beasts and great depopulation In Charles the fifts time by an Inundation Happend in Holland Zeeland Friseland these Had their maritime shores drown'd by the seas In Poland neere Cracovia chanc'd the same And in one yeare if we may credit Fame In Europ besides Townes and Cities then Perisht aboue fiue hundred thousand men To these belong what we call Hydromantia Gastromantia Lacomantia Pagomantia Touching the Spirits of the Earth there bee Of diuers sorts each knowne in his degree As Genij the Domesticke gods and those They Lares call Spectars Alastores Larvae Noone-Diuels Syluanes Satyrs Fawnes And they frequâ—nt the Forrests Groues and Lawnes Others th' Italians F'oletti call Paredrij there are too yet these not all Now what these Genij are Philostratus Eunapius Athenaeus Maximus With all the other Platonicks profest Them to be Sp'rits of men before deceast Who had they liv'd a good life and vnstain'd By licence of th' Infernall Pow'rs obtain'd In their owne houses to inhabit still And their posteritie to guard from ill Such they call'd Lares But all those that lead Liues wicked and debosht they being dead Wandred about the earth as Ghosts exil'd Doing all mischiefe such they Larvae stil'd And of this kinde that Spirit we may guesse Remembred in the booke of Socrates Who in the shape oâ— Moses did appeare The space togetheâ— of one compleat yeare I' th Isle of Creet persuading with the Iewes There liuing That he such a meanes would vse That if they met at a fixt day with ease He would traject them dry-foot through the seas To which they trusting by appointment meet All who that time were resident in Creet And follow their false Captaine lesse and more Ev'n to the very margent of the shore Then turning tow'rds them in a short oration Bespeakes them thus O you the chosen nation Behold as great a wonder from my hand As your fore-fathers did from Moses Wand Then with his finger points vnto a place 'Twixt them and which a Creeke ran no great space And seeming shallow All of you now fling Your selues saith he and follow me your King Into this sea swim but to yonder strand And you shall then arriue vpon a land From whence I will conduct you ev'ry man Dry-foot into a second Canaan He plungeth first they follow with one minde In hope a second Palestine to finde But hauing past their depths the rough windes blew When this Seducer straight himselfe withdrew Leaues them to ruin most of them bee'ng drown'd Some few by fish-boats sav'd he no wherâ— found With these the Spectars in some points assent Bee'ng tow'rds Mankinde alike maleuolent Whose in-nate malice nothing can asswage Authors of death depopulation strage By Origen they are Alastares nam'd By Zoroaster bloudy and vntam'd Concerning which the learned mens opinion Is That Abaddon hath of them dominion What time Iustinian did the Empire sway Many of these did shew themselues by day To sundry men both of good braine and sence After which follow'd a great Pestilence For to all such those Spectars did appeare It was a certaine signe their death drew neare King Alexander of that name the third That reign'd in Scotland if Boethius word May be beleev'd by match himselfe ally'de With England tooke Ioanna to his Bride Sister to the third Henry She bee'ng dead And issuelesse he after married Marg'ret his daughter Did on her beget Prince Alexander David Margaret These dying in their nonage and she too With sorrow as most thinke the King doth woo Iolanta the faire daughter as some say Vnto the great Earle of Campania Being as 't seemes most ardently inclin'd After his death to leaue some heire behind In the mid Reuels the first ominous night Of their espousals when the roome shone bright With lighted tapers the King and the Queene leading The curious Measures Lords and Ladies treading The selfe same straines the King looks backe by chance And spies a strange intruder fill the dance Namely a meere Anatomy quite bare His naked limbes both without flesh and haire As we decipher Death who stalks about Keeping true measure till the dance was out The King with all the rest afrighted stand The Spectar vanisht and then strict command Was giv'n to breake vp reuels each 'gan feare This Omen and presage disaster neere If any aske What did of this succeed The King soone â—fter falling from his Steed Vnhappily dy'de After whose death ensuing Was to the land sedition wracke and ruin The Syluanes Fawnes and Satyrs are the same The Greekes Paredrij call the Latines name Familiar Spirits who though in outward shew They threat no harme but seeme all good to owe Poore ambusht mankinde though their crafty Mines And snares do not appeare by ev'dent signes Yet with malicious hate they are infected And all their deeds and counsels are directed To make a faire and flatt'ring preparation Vnto the bodies death and soules damnation And of these Spirits as Macrobius saith The mount Pernassus in aboundance hath Neere to mount Hecta And Olaus writes The like appeare most frequently by nights And verbally deliuer kinde commends To men from their deceast and shipwrackt friends Vsing their helpe one Iohn Teutonicus By Acromaticke Magicke sported thus This Iohn was knowne a bastard and yet had Great fame for learning who in Halberstad Had for his worth admittance to a place Where none but the Nobilitie had grace To be in Commons yet it seemes so great Was his repute with them he sate and eat But yet with small content the yong men proud Of their high noble births much disallow'd His company and tooke it in great scorne To sit with one though learn'd yet basely borne And whether they were serv'd with flesh or fish His bastardy was sauce still in his dish But skil'd in hidden Arts I will thought he Some sudden means deuice henceforth to free My selfe from all their scoffes and taunts Hee then Inuites vnto his chamber those yong men Who most seem'd to oppose him feasts
her sonne Itis begot by her husband Tereus The Daiedes or Danaes daughters of Danaus for cutting the throats of their husbands and kinsmen the sonnes of AEgiptus The Lemniades or women of Lemnos who in the same Island most cruelly slew their sonnes and fathers Harpalice the daughter of Climenus who killed the childe which her incestuous father begot on her owne body Tullia the daughter of Servius King of the Romans who caused her chariot to be drawne ouer the body of her dead father for the horridnesse of which fact the street in the citie Rome where this was done was called Vicus sceleratus Of those abhorred for Incestuous congresse the most remarkable were Iocasta who had issue by her sonne Oëdipus and Pelopaea by her father Thiestes Harpalice with her Sire Climenus c. Some are to this day made infamous for killing their husbands As Clitemnestra the daughter of Thestius for conspiring with Egistus in the murder of her Lord Agamemnon the son of Atreus Iliona the daughter of Priam for killing her husband Polymnestor K. of Thrace Semyramis Queen of Babylon for the death of Ninus King of Assyria Helena after the death of Paris Deiphebus the sonne of Priam. Agave her husband Lycothersis in Illyria and Deianeira for sending the poysonous Shirt to her Lord Hercules of Lybia c. Others for killing their wiues As the same Hercules his wife Megara the daughter of Creon King of Thebes Theseus Antiopa the Amazon and daughter of Mars Cephalus the son of Deionis or of Mercury Procris the daughter of Pandion by his vaine jelousie c. Fathers for killing their daughters As Agamemnon the great General of the Grecian Army in their famous expedition against Troy who sacrificed his daughter Iphigenia to the goddesse Diana Climenus the sonne of Oeneus slew his daughter Harpalice because she killed her child and serued it in vnto him at a banquet Hyacinthus his daughter Spariantides vpon an answer returned from the Athenians Erichthaeus the sonne of Pandion his daughter Colophonia vpon the like occasion Cercyon the sonne of Vulcan his daughter Alopes for committing incest with Neptune AEolus his daughter Canace for the like done with her brother Mallaraeus c. Of mothers that most cruelly and vnnaturally haue murthered their owne children we reade That Medea the daughter of Oâ—tes King of Colchos slew her two sonnes Machareus Pherelus begot by Iason Progne the daughter of Pandion killed her son It is which she had by Tereus Ino the daughter of Cadmus yong Melicertes begat by Athamas the sonne of AEolus Althaea the daughter of Thestius Meleager by Oeneus the sonne of Parthaâ—n Themisto the daughter of Hypseus Plinthius and Orchomenes her two sonnes by Athamas Tyros the daughter of Salmoneus two sonnes begot by Sisiphus the sonne of Eolus Agave the daughter of Cadmus Penthaus the sonne of Echion at the imposition of Liber Pater c. So likewise of Selfe-murtherers Egeus the sonne of Neptune and father of Theseus cast himselfe headlong into the sea from whose death it still retaines the name of Mare Egeum i. the Egean sea Euhemus the sonne of Hercules precipitated himselfe into the riuer Lycorma which is now called Chrysorroas Aiax the sonne of Telamon slew himselfe for the losse of Achilles his armor Lycurgus the sonne of Briantus being strooke with madnesse by Liber Pater laid violent hands vpon himselfe Agrius the son of Parthaon being expulsed from his kingdome by Diomedes King of AEtolia slew himselfe So Ceneus the sonne of Elatus Menicus the father of Iocasta or as some call him Menaetis precipitated himselfe from the walls of Athens Nisus the son of Mars hauing lost his purple locke cast himselfe vpon his sword and so died As likewise Climenus the sonne of Coeneus King of Arcadia after he had committed incest with his daughter Cyniras the sonne of Paphus King of Assyria after hee had committed the like with his owne naturall childe Hercules cast himselfe into the fire and so perished Adrastus with his sonne Hipponous did the like Pyramus the Babylonian slew himselfe for the loue of Thisbe And Oedipus the sonne of Laius destroyed his owne life for hauing incestuous Issue by his mother whose name was Iocasta c. Of Women that so dispairingly died these Hecuba the wife of Priam cast her selfe into the sea as Ino the daughter of Cadmus did the like with her sonne Melicertus Anticlia the mother of Vlysses and daughter of Antolychus strangled her selfe because she heard a false rumour of her sonnes death The like did Stoenobaea the daughter of Iobates and wife of King Praetus for the loue of Bellerephon Evadne the daughter of Philacus because her husband Capaneus was slaine at Thebes cast her selfe into the same funeral fire in which his body was burned AEthra the daughter of Pythaus for the death of her children Iliona for the death of her parents Themisto for her children Erigone for her father Phedra for the incestuous loue borne to her step-sonne Hyppolitus Phyllis for Demophoon Calypso daughter to Atlas for the loue of Vlysses Dido the daughter of Belus for AEneas c. Time would sooner faile me than Historie yet these I haue introduced to this purpose to shew That Atheisme and want of the true knowledge of God hath bin the cause of so many Murthers and Incests hath made so many Parracides and Fratricides and indeed hath beene the ground of all prodigious acts and inhumanities whatsoeuer Something is requisit to be spoken of Idolatry The word is deriued from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. Cultus and Colo The definition thereof is Cultus Deo debitus Creaturae exhibitus i. The worship that is due onely to God conferre vpon the Creature An Idol is when any Statue or Image in which either some Deitie or any other thing shall stand for a Power a Patron Protector or Sauiour is represented and worshipped Of which kind was the golden Calfe Basil saith vpon the third of Esay What thing can appeare more vain and ridiculous than for a man to professe himselfe to be the workeman of his God and Maker To shew how abhominable Idolatry was in the eyes of the Almighty I will only quote you one place out of many in the holy Text Take therefore good heed vnto your selues for you saw no Image in the day that the Lord spake to you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire that you corrupt not your selues nor make you a grauen Image or representation of any figure whether it be likenesse of male or female the likenesse of any beast that is on the earth or of any feathered fowle that flieth in the aire or of any thing that creepeth on the earth or of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth And lest thou lift vp thine eyes to heauen and when thou seest the Sunne the
tooke Hermes on her knee Danc't him sung to him and vpon him smil'd And vow'd she neuer saw so sweet a child To take him as her owne she then decreed And call'd for milke the pretty Babe to feed But when him to be Maia's Son she knew By Iupiter the Lad from her she threw And call'd him Bastard and began to frowne And in her rising cast the Pitcher downe Spilt was the Milke and wheresoe're it lyte The place appeares than all the rest more white The golden Ramme styl'd Prince of all the Signes Rising his Crest he tow'ards the East inclines In th' AEquinoctiall Circle with his head Reacheth Deltoton with his feet doth tread Vpon the Pistrix Thus his story was Phrixus and Helles bred from Athamas And Nebula were at domesticke strife With their proud Step-dame and pursu'd her life But thence cast out into the Woods they came Where wandring long their Mother brought a Ramme Who mounting on his backe she bids them fly They take the sea but soone the winde growes high And the waues troubled Helles is afraid Le ts go her hold and then downe slides the Maid The angry billowes her of life bereaue She forc't her name vnto that Sea to leaue But Phrixus to the Isle of Colchos steeres And when arriv'd before the King appeares Who for he had so past and scap'd the Brine There offered vp the Beast at Mars his Shrine But the rich Fleece whose euery haire was gold Which did amase King Octa to behold He left to him which with such care he kept That to a monstrous Dragon that ne're slept He gaue the charge thereof till Iafon landed Who the swift Argo at that time commanded But by Medea's aid as most auer He bore from Colchos both the Fleece and her Some thinke the Ramme therefore immortalis'd By reason that when Bacchus enterpris'd An expedition into Africa And was distrest for water by the way A Ram was seene out of the Sands to make Whom they pursu'd but could not ouertake Till he had brought them vnto Fountaines cleare Which hauing done he did no more appeare Bacchus who thought him as Diuinely sent Because his Army was nigh tyr'd and spent With heate and thirst and by that means preserv'd Who else in that wilde Desart had been starv'd To Iupiter call'd Ammon there erected A stately Temple and withall directed His Statue rear'd that for the Beasts more grace They on his forehead two Rams hornes should place For so we finde him figur'd Why the Bull Hath place aboue Some thinke because Ioves Trull Europa he from Sidon into Creet Transwafted whilest the waue ne're toucht her feet Some hold him rather for that Beast of note On whom Pasiphae did so madly dote Others for Iö in an Heifers shape By Iove transform'd Queene Iuno's rage to scape The reason is because the head 's sole seene The hinder parts as hid behinde a Skreene He lookes vpon the East and in his face The Hyades fiue Sisters haue their place They Nurses vnto Bacchus haue been thought Call'd the Dodonean Nymphs and thither brought By his great Power Nor are they seen in vain Who neuer rise but they portend some raine They were call'd Atlas Daughters and tooke name From their sole brother Hyas who to tame A Lion striuing was depriv'd of breath For whom the Sisters wept themselues to death The Pleiades they be in number seuen Deare Sisters and together shine in heauen Six only seen at once The reason why Six with the gods congrest but one did ly With Sisiphus a Mortall for which reason She hides her face as had she done some treason The Gemini who louingly embrace Take on the right hand of Auriga place Aboue Orion who his rise begins In the mid place betwixt the Bull and Twinnes Such as deepe knowledge in the Stars professe Castor and Pollux call them Others ghesse Them to be Zeâ—us and Amphion who Were most kinde Brothers To which some say no But that Triptolimus and Iasion claime Scite in that Orbe and in the Heauens the name But of the first th' opinion best doth please And that they are the two Tindarides Brothers to Hellen two the most entire That e're could yet boast of Coelestiall Fire They in their life the Seas from Pyrats freed And after death it was by Iove decreed To set them so that from their glorious Sphere They may behold what euer is done there To curle or calme the Ocean they haue power To cleare the Aire or dampe it with a shower To tosse the Robbers ships on shelues and sands And steere the Merchants safe to forrein lands In Wracks they can preserue in stormes appease No stars haue more dominion on the Seas O're which th' are knowne to beare such watchfull eies That when one sets the other 's seene to rise The AEstiue Circle Cancer doth diuide Iust in the middle but a little wide From Hydra yet aboue his eyes reflect Directly on the Lions sterne aspect But why the Crab should be allow'd his Sphere It may be askt I 'le tell you what I heare When mighty Hercules did vndertake To combat Hydra neere the Lernian Lake As with his club he made the Monster reele This crept behinde and pincht him by the heele At which the Prince more angry for bee'ng stayd In his hot sight lookt backe to see what aid Hydra had got and when the Câ—ab he spy'd A Worme so base his fury was supply'd Then with a looke of anger mixt with scorne He stamp'd vpon 't vntill he saw it torne And shatter'd all to pieces with one spurne Halfe burying it in th' earth Then did he turne Againe vpon the Monster nor withdrew Till Hydra with her numerous heads he slew This seene by Iuno who the Crab had sent To vex the Heroë she incontinent The limbes disperst did suddenly combine And plac'd it one amongst the Twelue to shine Who beares vpon him Stars that shine but dull Call'd Asini yet make his number full The cause of their translation thus we read When all the gods assembled and made head Against the Gyants in that glorious war Where hills and rockes were tost and throwne from far It is remembred how amongst the rest To take the gods part Liber Pater prest Satyres and Sylvâ—nes Shepheards he from Pan And Neatheards tooke not sparing god nor man That neere to him were knowne to haue abode Not his owne Priests and they on Asses rode Now when the battell was to ioyne the cry On both sides 'gan to mount vp to the Sky At which the poore beasts much affrighted they Aboue the rest were loudly heard to bray The Gyants hearing it not knowing whence That noise should come began to hatch suspence How Iove had made of such strange Monsters choice Whose strengths perhaps might match that horrid voice Which made
in his old age erecting a city O King said he what businesse is this which thou vndertakest now that thou art in the twelfe houre of thy day meaning he was then in the last part of his age To whom Deiotarus knowing the extreme couetousnesse of Crassus smilingly answered But thou ô Emperour when as it appeareth thou art not in the morning of thy time for hee was then threescore yeares old why dost thou make such haste to warre against the Parthians in hope to bring thence a rich and profitable bootie Plato to one who studied nothing but Gaine said O impious man take not such care to augment thy substance but rather how to lessen thy desire of getting Democritus was wont to say That amongst rich men there were more Procurators than Lords for the Couetous man doth not possesse but is possessed by his Riches of which he may deseruedly be called not the seruant only but the slaue A plaine Fellow came to the Emperour Vespasian who was much taxed of Auarice and desired to giue him that freedome which belonged vnto a Roman but because hee came empty handed being denied he boldly said vnto him aloud The Fox ô Caesar changeth his haiâ—es but not his nature In that reprouing the rapacitie of his gripple disposition who denied that gratis which hee would willingly haue bestowed vpon him for money AElianus in his booke De Varia Historia reporteth of the Poet Simonides That when one came to entreat him to write an Enconomium and in the stead of a reward offred him nothing but thanks he made answer vnto him That he had two coffers at home the one of Thankes the other of Coine the last when he needed he still found furnished the other when hee wanted was alwayes empty He in his old age being taxed of Couetousnesse made answer I had rather dying leaue my substance and riches to those that liue than in my life time being in want beg it of others and be denied But aboue all others the Emperour Caligula is most branded with this vice who after inimitable profusenesse for his riots and brutish intemperance exceeded all bounds of humanitie when he had wasted an infinit treasure vpon Concubines and Catamites gaue himselfe wholly to auaritious rapine insomuch that hee caused many of the richest men in Rome to make their Wills appointing him their Executor and Heire Who if they hapned to liue longer than he thought fit and that money began to faile he caused them either to be poysoned or put to some other priuat death alledging for his excuse That it were vnnaturall for men to liue long after they haue disposed of their goods by their last Will and Testament So Commodus the Emperour would for money pardon the life of any man who had committed murther though with the greatest inhumanitie and bargain with them before they enterprised the act All criminall and capitall crimes were to be bought out and judgement and Sentences in Court bought and sould as in the open market The Hierogliphycke of Auarice Pierius Valerius maketh The left hand grasped and clutcht thereby intimating tenacitie and holding fast because that hand is the more slow and dull and lesse capable of agilitie and dexteritie than the other and therefore the more apt for retention You may reade an Emblem in Alciatus to this purpose Septitius populos inter ditissimus omnes Arva senex nullus quo magis ampla tenet c. Than old Septitius for large grounds and fields Well stockt no one more rich the countrey yeelds Yet at a furnisht table will not eat But starues his belly to make roots his meat This man whom Plenty makes so poore and bare Wretched in wealth to what may I compare To what more proper than an Asse since hee Answers to him in all conformitie Laden with choicest Cates that the earth breeds Whilest he himselfe on grasse and thistles feeds And againe to the like purpose Emblem 89. Heu miser in medijs sitiens stat Tantalus vndis In midst of water Tantalus is dry Starv'd whilest ripe apples from his reaching fly The name but chang'd 't is thou ô couetous Sot Who hast thy goods so as thou hast them not Ioach. Camerarius lib. Fabul 1. in taxing some who for money will not be ashamed to take other mens griefs and calamities vpon them recites this fable A rich man hauing two daughters the one dying he hired diuers of his neighbours and friends of the same sex to mourn and lament after her herse and such the Latines call Praeficae Whose miserable cries and ejulations the suruiuing sister hearing shee spake vnto her mother and said O what an infelicitie it is that strangers and such as are no way allyed vnto vs can so loudly mourne and lament when wee whom so neerely it concernes scarce breathe a sigh or let fall one teare To whom the mother replied Wonder not my daughter that these should so weepe and howle since it is not for any loue they beare vnto her but for the money which they haue receiued to do this funerall office To giue the histories past the more credit as also those which follow concerning Witches Magitions Circulators juglers c. if we shall but cast our eyes backe vpon our selues and seeke no further than the late times and in them but examine our owne Nation we shall vndoubtedly finde accidents as prodigious horrid and euery way wonderfull as in the other Concerning which whosoeuer shall desire to be more fully satisfied I refer them to a Discourse published in English Anno 1593. containing sundry remarkable pieces of Witchcraft practised by Iohn Samuel the father Alice Samuel the wife and mother and Agnes Samuel the daughter commonly called The Witches of Warboys in the County of Huntingdon vpon the fiue danghters of Mr. Robert Throgmorton Esquire of the same towne and County with diuers others in the same house to the number of twelue as also the lady Cromwel by them bewitched to death The names of the Spirits they dealt with Plucke Catch and White The manner of their effacinations strange theit Confessions vpon their examinations wondrous their conuiction legall their execution iust and memorable Much more to the like purpose I might in this place alledge that not long since happened which by reason of the parties executed the Iurie who found them guilty and the reuerend Iudges who gaue them sentence of condemnation I hold not so fit to be here inserted And therefore conclude with that Pannurgist Sathan the great red Dragon or roaring Lion to whom not vnproperly may be giuen these following characters Fontem nosco boni bonus ipse creatus Factus at inde malus fons vocor ipse mali Of Goodnesse I the Fountaine am Bee'ng good at first created But since made Euill I the Well Of Ill am nominated Sic velut in muros mures in pectora daemon Iuvenit occultas aut facit ipse vias