better to vnderstaÌ„d this place of Aiax Telemons sonne Aiax Telemoni whose body was invuluerable bicause that when he was borne he was wrapped in the lyons skynne that hercules ware sauyng a lytle place that was left vnceuered and therein when he lost Achilles harnesse hée slew him selfe And as Lycurgus Dryas sonne that Thracyan kyngedomes held Who cut hys legs whyle he assayd the vyne trées to haue felde ¶ Lycurgus Iycurgus sonne of Dryas king of Thracia could not abyde Bacchus his mates but expelled him out of hys country constrayned him to lurke in the marshy places or fennes borderinge thereon at which tyme hee was receaued into Thetis bosome Wherefore Lycurgus was after kyld by Iupiter Other sayde that in despyte of Bacchus he wold haue cutte downe all the Vynes in Thracia but the god turned his axe againste hym selfe whereby he cut of bothe hys owne legges Which thing hys son reuenged for presently after he slew all the priests of Bacchus with out mercye Lyke Hercules and Dragons sonne that such may be thy fate Lyke Tyssamenes father to and Callyrhoes mate ¶ Hercules about to doe sacrysice vppon the hyll Oeta Hercules sent Licas to fetch his garmeÌ„t which he was wont to vse for that purpose Deianira hys wyfe sent it hym washed in the blood of the Centaure Nessus which was a rancke poyson bicause she suspected that Hercules was in loue with Iolle daughter of Euritus kinge of Oechalia For the Centaure had could hir that if hir husband loued any other woman that that wold withdraw his loue and bring it to hir againe But so soone as Hercules had it on he was so tormented the he was fayne to cast him self in to a fyre and so to ende his lyfe Athamas maryed Ino Athamas daughter of Cadmus and Hermone or Harmonia after he in his rage or madnes hadde slain his son Learchus kild him self Ouid. iiii Me. Orestes Orestes father of Tissamenes and sonne of Agamemnon and CliteÌ„nestra after he had kylled hys mother was mad which madnesse Ouyd wysheth to Ibys ¶ Callirhoe daughter of ryuer Achilous Callirhoe wyfe of Alcmeon sonne of Amphiaraus who went in to Acarnauia to be clensed bicause he had killed his mother He hadde children by two women by the daughter of Phegeus Alphâ—soboe Phepeus Alpheseboea and Callyrhoe aforesayd But after he hadde refused Alpheseboe and came to haue againe the Iuels that hee had geuen hir while she was his wyfe he was slayne by Phegeus his father in law Callyrhoe for reuengement hereof craued of Iupiter that hir children then infants myght be made men Which he graunted and they presently reuenged their Fathers death And that thy hap may gayne a wyfe no chaster then was she Of whome the olde Tydeus myght ryght sore ashamed be ¶ Adrastus Adrastus Deiphila had thrée daughters Deiphila maryed to Tideus shée was mother to Diomedes Argia Argia wife to Polinices Egiale that was maryed to Diomedes Aegiale This Diomedes went to the séege of Troy which the other Grekes in a battel happened to hurt Venus who defended the body of hir sonne Aeneas She therefore angry Aeneas caused his wyfe to make hir body common to the most parte of the youthe of hir cytie and besyde maryed hir selfe to Cylleborus Steneleus sonne Cilleborus son of Stenelus Palamedes by the perswasion of NaÌ„plius who was enimye to all the Greekes for the death of his worthy sonne Palamedes But when Diomedes came home and was kept from his cuntrey by the aduoulterer that had maryed hys wife he much wroth fought a battaile and ouercame him and chased hym so farre that if he had not fled into the church of Pallas he had slayne him Yet for all that moued with shame hée left his owne countrey and came into Italye to Davvnus and was curteously entertayned of him After that he sayled into Apulia from thence to the Ilandes called Diomede Insule where his companions were turned into byrds called Heroide aues In which place also is a white horse sacryficed vppon hys tombe to him Or she of Locris who dyd with hir husbands brother lye Who for to colour this hir facte dyd cause hir mayde to dye Hypermnestra of Locris Hypermnestra lay with the brother of hir husbande and being almoste taken yet escaped by the benefyt of the nyght and kylled hir mayde as thoughe she hadde done the facte by that meanes thynking to colour hir owne mysdeade The Gods do graunt to thée a wyfe of equall fayth also As had Talaus sonne in lawe and Tyndarus hys to Amphiaraus Amphyaraus Iriphile sonne of Apollo And Hipermnestra daughter of Thestius maryed Eriphile daughter of Thalaus though some say of Thelesther one of the seuen kings that beseged Thebes Who bicause that he for feare that he should perishe there detracte the warre and hyd him selfe none sauing his wyfe knew thereof The other prynces desyrous to haue him with them promised hir if she would tell where hir husband was that she shoulde haue the Iewels that sometime were Egiales wife of Polinices other say they were Iuels that appertained to Venus which she receaued and bewraied hir husbaÌ„d In the Theban warre he was swallowed vp with the earth But before he weÌ„t thether he gaue coÌ„maundemeÌ„t to his son Alemeon the wheÌ„ he was dead his wife Eriphile shold be sacrificed vpon his tomb Which coÌ„mandemeÌ„t immediatly after hys death Alcmeon fulfylled Cebalus son of Amiclas Cebalus kinge of Lacedemon had two sonnes Icarus who begat Penelope of Policasta daughter of Lygeus Tyndarus the maryed Leda daguhter of Thestius sister of Hypermnestra By whom he had Clytemnestra Helena Castor Pollux The poets fayne the Iupiter lay with Leda in lyknes of a swan she broght forth to him an egg wherin was Pollux Helena who werimmortal to Tindarus also she brought forth an other egge in which was Castor ClyteÌ„nestra which were mortall This ClyteÌ„nestra by meanes of Aegistus son to hir vnkle Thyestes hir adultrer the same night the hir husbaÌ„d AgameÌ„noÌ„ came home froÌ„ Troy killed him as he was bathing by geuing him a shyrt to put on without sléeues Who hauing his haÌ„ds as it wer fettered therein was flaine by Aegistus Of the reueng hereof rede in Orestes And lyke king néeces Neces who theyr vncles sonnes durst kyll Whose shoulders are tormented sore with water Caryage styll That syster thyne may burne as dyd Byblis and Canace And that but onely in doing yll she faythfull be to thée ¶ Myletus Miletus sonne of Apollo fled out of Crete into Asia where he builded a citie called after his owne name Miletum to him Ciane daughter of Meander bare a sonne called Caunus Caunus Canace and a daughter Byblis This Byblis loued hir brother with out respect eyther of hir honour kynred or honesty Which thinge when she had declared to hym by hir letter hée
detesting the facte left his countrey whome she folowed ouer many straunge lands and last of all she came into Caria wher by the fauour of the Nymphes hir tears were turned into a well of hir mame Ouid .ix. Metamor Sinas of Menalippe Sinas Menalipp◠c. begat Aeolous who was king of one part of Thessalia which after his name he called Aeolia Aeolus had a daughter named Arne by whome Neptune got two sonnes Boetus and Aeolus two twinnes Boetus succeded hys mother in hir kingdome But Aeolus came into certaine Ilands of the Thuscan sea which after he called of his own name Aeoliae insulae wherof at that time Liparus the sonne of Anson was kinge whose daughter he maryed was kinge after his father in lawe But after this by Cleopatra who was of the affinitie or stocke of the cruell people called Lestrigones he had seuen sonnes Astiochus Xuthus Androcleus Pherenon Locastes Agathirsus and Machareus And seuen daughters Iphe Eola Periboea Dia Astoicatia Hephestia and Canace all were for their vertues much honored sauing Canace Macareus Canace who lay with hir brother Machareus and had by him a childe whych as she commanded hir Nurse to cary forth vnhappely cryed out so that her father heard it and when he knew the matter he commaunded the childe to be cast naked to the dogges and sente his daughter a sword wherwith she slew hirselfe But his sonne Macareus fled to Delphos and was one of the Priestes of Apollos church there where he conspired wyth Orestes to kill Pirrhus the sonne of Achilles That thy child be to thée as to Thiestes Pelope Or Mirrha was vnto hir Sire or els Nictimene Pelope hadde foure sonnes Thiestes Atreus Pelope but it is inough in thys place to speake onely of Atreus and Thiestes Thiestes got of Europa his brother Atreus wife .ii. sonnes which Atreus kyld and dressed for meat and bad his brother to the banket who came and eat of his owne children But when he knowe therof he asked counsel of Thoracle how he might be reuenged who gaue aunswere that if he lay with his owne daughter Pelope he should ingender of hir a sonne which should sufficiently reuenge his wronge Which he did and gotte of hir Aegistus who kylled Atreus and in the siege of Troy vsed Clitemnestra wyfe of Agamemnon Atreus sonne after his returne kild him also Mirrha Myrha daughter of Cinara king of Cipres Cenchreis through the wrath of Venus because hir mother was preferred before hir loued hir father with wicked and incestuous loue and at length by meanes of hir Nurse on a solempne feast of Ceres whē hir mother was away lay with hir father For the nurse tolde him that a very bewtifull mayd was in loue with him but after he had accompanied with hir twise or thrise desirous to knowe what his newe louer was called for a candell perceauing that she was his daughter drew his sword ment to kil hir who fled nine moneths frō him he continually chased hir til at length in the sweet country of Saba she was turned into a trée of hir own name Of this shameful incest was borne the faire Adonis whom Venus loued no lesse Adonis than Mirrha did hir father and that by the benefite of Cupide Ouid .x. Meta. ¶ Nictimene daughter of Nicteus king of Aetheopia syster to Antiope Nictimene after she had cōmitted incest with hir father for shame would not come in places where men resorted but haunted the woodes and other places desolate and voyde of company till by the mercy of Pallas she was turned into an Owle and for that cause the Owle flyeth not but by night Ouid .iiii. Metamorph. And that thy daughter vnto thée as faithlesse found may be As thine was to thée Pterela or Nisus thine to thée ¶ Lisidice daughter of Pelope maryed to Mestor had by him one daughter named Hippothoe vppon whom Neptunus gotte two sonnes Teleba and Taphus who after their owne names called the people Teleboe and Taphii Taphus had a sonne named Pterela kinge of Thebes Pterela of whom Ouid speaketh here He had on his heade a golden haire which so longe as he kept he had a promise by his grand father Neptunus he shold neuer be ouercome He had fiue sonnes Cromius the tyrant Ampulus Chersidamas Mestor and Eueres with one daughter Cituetho Electrio at that time kinge of Micene had by his wife Alexo fiue sonnes likewise Stratobates Gorgophonus Philomorus Steneleus Licimius with one daughter to Alcmena Pterela desirous to haue Electrio his kingdome Electrio preuided an army and made his sonnes captaynes therof Electrio did likewise the armies ioyned in whiche all Pterela hys Sonnes were flayne saue Eueres and all Electrios but Steneleus and Licimius But the Taphii preuayled and got a great praye of cattell and other goods Which thing when Electrio knewe he made proclamation that whosoeuer coulde reuenge that iniury should marry his daughter Alemena Amphitrio taketh the war in hand and in the firste voyage he made he fetched their praye agayne from Polixenus kinge of Elis with whom Pterelas menne had lefte them And in his retourne one of the kyne strayed from hir fellowes out of the waye after which Amphitrio went and thinking with a darte to haue hit hir smote the kinge Electrio and killed him Wherfore Steneleus who succeded his father pursued him vnto Creons kingedome where he was purged of the death of his father in lawe Which done he procéeded in hys former enterpryse and came against the Taphii with a good army againste whome Pterela made no lesse resistence But by meanes of Cituetho his daughter all hys laboure was loste for she sodaynly enamoured of Amphitrios bewty cutte of hir fathers fatal haire and brought it to Amphitrio crauing his loue but he hauing gotten that haire killed Pterela and cast of Cituetho and maried Alcmena Aristarchus vpon Hesiodus Some say that Pterela was slayne by Creon that his daughters name was Polidice and not taken with the loue of Amphitrio but of on Cephalus who was Amphitrios companion in the warre ¶ Nisus kinge of Megara Nisus Scilla had a daughter named Scilla who takē with the loue of Minos betrayed hir father vnto hym in this sorte Minos determyning to reuenge the death of his sonne Androgeus slayne by the Athenians in his way besieged Megara which is about a twenty myles from Athens thynking that if he mighte ouercome suche as woulde ayde them he shoulde the easelyer subdue them Nisus king of that city had a daughter named Scilla who wold oft goe vpon the walles to sport hirselfe because ther were certayne very pleasaunte stones For when Appollo the God of Musyke buylded the walles he layde hys Harpe vpon certayne stones of the same which by reason therof obtayned the sounde of a Harpe so that if any had smitten them with a counter or with any sticke they would haue sounded lyke
Pelias Medea is sayde before But after that dede she fled the cuntry and was caryed in the ayre in a chariot drawen with Dragons All hir iorney is described in the .vii. of Metamor But when she was weary of traueling she returned home againe where finding that Iason set more by Creusa daughter of Creon kinge of Corynth Creusa than by hir she dyssembled the matter a whyle but after she had made al things for hir purpose she sente a chaplet made of herbes inchaunted in such sorte that as sone as it came nygh any lighte it woulde take fier thereof and not be quenched again Creusa hauinge this on hir heade when candelles were lighted it toke fyer and burned hir wyth hir father the whole house and whatsoeuer els was in the same This done she slewe the two children Medo and Mermero that she had by Iason and fledde to Athens and was ther maryed to Egeus Theseus father As poysoned blood crept in the limmes of Hercules the great Hercules I wish that so a body vyle may all thy members eate ¶ Of this also is mencion made once or twise before That also thou mayst féele the like newe kinde of punishment As to reuenge his father did Licurgus sonne inuente ¶ Howe Butes reuenged hys father Licurgus on Bacchus Priestes Butes wyth cruell death is also sayde before He was the fourth from Pentheus for Pentheus begat Drias Drias Licurgus Licurgus Butes Or that to cleaue an Oke thou mayst as Nilo did assay And haue no power at all to plucke thy taken handes away Milo Crotoniates Milo crotoniatess for there were many of that name was a man of very great strength He killed a bull at one blowe with his fiste and eat him vp euery morsell when he had done He came through a wood where he espied a great trée halfe elefte and the wedges sticking fast therin He meaninge to rid the laborers by lykelyhode of payne would nedes take vpon him to cleaue it with his hands He pulled it so hard that the wedges fel out but for all that the trée came againe into his first state and had his handes so faste in the riftes that he could not get them out by means wherof he became a pray to the rauenous beastes that haunted that woode Or for thy giftes as Icarus like hurtes thou mayst receaue To whom with armed hands his death the drunken men did geue ¶ Icarus learning the vse of wine of Bacchus Icarus as he walked aboute the costes of Athens gaue the rude husbandmen some thereof to drynke But they not contente with a meane dranke thereof tyll they were drunke and thynkinge then that they had been poysoned Mera forth wyth slew Icarus and cast him into a ditch Mera his bitch a contynuall companyon of his in all hys iourneys Erigons ran home after hir mayster was slayne to Erigone hys daughter who séeing the bitch come and not hir father suspecting that which had happened in déede wente to knowe the the truth and the Bitch broughte hir to the place where hir slayne father laye Which thing when she saw not able to beare the gréefe that shee conceaued of the sight hanged hirselfe As Ouid in the next slafe folowing affirmeth And that the godly daughter did for gréefe of fathers death So let a tyed corde about thy throte stop vp thy breath Or els that closed in a house mayst famine bide as he For whom that kinde of punishment his mother did decrée ¶ Noble valure and hie prowes in war with the Lacedemonians was so estemed that the mothers wold reach their shields to their sonnes going out to battayl and straightly charged thē either to be conquerus or els to die therfore For it was counted a great shame and vilany to fly Wherefore Euristhenes Euristhenes after an ouerthrowe retourninge home was so hated among his people that his owne mother shutte him vp in a stronge chamber and with hunger pyned him to death that thereby at leaste she mighte wipe away the continuall shame from hir house Or that Dianas sacred church thou mayst as he annoy Who turned quite his iorney wronge as he returned from Troy He meaneth of Aiax Cilius Aiax Cileus who defloured Cassandra in Pallas churche and was therfore slayne with a thunderbolte as is declared before And that as Nanplius thou mayst for fayned fault be slayne And that it may thée helpe no whit that thou deseru'st no payne Of the worthy Palamedes gyltles death Palamedes by false Vlisses conueyance is mention made before Or else as Isis faythlesse priest slew Ethalus his guest Whereof dame Io myndefull yet hys seruice doth detest ¶ Io daughter of Inachus turned out of a cow into hir former shape in Egipt was there maryed to Osiris Io. Ethalus and made a goddesse called Isis One of hir priests receaued Ethalus promised him good harborow but in the nyght for all that hée kylled him Isis therewith greatly offended gaue certaine signes the she wolde reuenge his death vppon all the Egyptians Who to auoyde the plage approching banished all his family out of the countrey that had slayne Ethalus and decréed further by common authority that none of that stock shold euer after beare any office about the mynisteryes of Isis with which déede Isis was wel contented and pleased Or as Melanthus sonne by darke for murther hydden lay Whome erst his mother by the light of candell dyd bewray So wyshe I all thy body prest with weapons cast at thée So wish I that of craued ayde thou destitute mayst be ¶ Codrus sonne of Melanthius Codrus kylde hys father hid himselfe so that none knew where but his mother Who as sone as the Athenians sought for him to put him to death declared where he was That thou such night mayst passe as did the Troyan ful of feare Who promised to get the horse that did Achilles beare ¶ Dolon a Troyan Dolon for a certayn summe of money promised to fetch away Achilles horses Balion Zanthus But as he wente about to performe his promise he was taken by Vlisses and Diomedes of whom all the nighte had in examination of the Troyan affaires was slaine in the morning Or that thou mayst no better rest than Rhesus had obtayne Or els his company the day before that they were slayne ¶ Rhesus king of Thracia Rhesus sonne of Strimon had horses which if thei once tasted of the pasture of Troy it was destynied that Troy might not be taken But whē he came almost thether by night he was bewrayed by his white horses hymselfe and all his company was slayne by the Grekes and his fatall horses turned another way Or those which with Ramnetes bolde by quicke Hirtacus sonne And his companion alone to cruell death were done ¶ What slaughter of men with Ramnetes in Turnus tentes Ramnetes Nisus Hirtacus hys sonne and his fellow Eurialus made Virgill declareth and I haue tolde before Or that thy house inclos'd with fire as Clicias sonne maist haue So that thou mayst halfe burned beare thy members to thy graue ¶ To Alcibiades sonne of Clicias Alciades banyshed into Phrigia was Pharnabasus sente from Athens with publike authoritie to kill him whom finding in his chamber he compassed round with men sette fier on the house and burned him therein inclosed Or els I wish that weapons rude vppon thy head may fall As erst on Remus ouer bolde to clime th'unfinisht wall ¶ When Rome was building Remus Romulus the founder and namer thereof made an Edicte that no man vpon paine of death shold clyme the walls vntyl they were finished But Remus his brother not esteming that commaundement ascended Fabius celer was for his labor slayne by Fabius Celer a Soldier of Romulus army For he called all his souldiers Celeres And last I pray that thou mayst liue and dye in these same partes Among the cruell Sarmates and cruell Getes dartes ¶ Sarmatae Sarmatae Getae are called of the Grekes Sauromatae they dwell in a countrey of the North very poore and disgarnished of al good prouision saue of trées They fetch their original from the Amazones They are so barbarous that they knowe not what peace meaneth They vse arrowes in battayle as also the Getae doe whom the Romanes call Daci they inhabyte a parte of Thracia Their cruelty Ouid in his bokes De ponto many times describeth These things in sodain mode thus pend to thée directed be That thou néede not complayne that I vnmindefull am of thée ¶ In déede he were much to blame that woulde thinke Ouid had forgotten Ibis if he haue read but this ouer They are but few I graunt but God can geue my prayers more And with his fauor my requestes can multiply with store Hereafter thou much more shalt reade wherin shal be thy name And in such verse as men are wont such cruell warres to frame FINIS Imprinted at London by Thomas Easte and Henry Middleton Anno Domini 1569.
Homer his Odisses Or Phyneus his two sonnes froÌ„ whom who gaue to them the same He toke their eyes or Thamyras or Demodoce of fame ¶ Orithus and Crambes for hurting Ide daughter of Dardanus Orithus Cramhes their stepmother by their father Phineus were made blind Se the story of Phineus ¶ Thamyras Thamiras sonne of Philamon and Argiope as he came from Euritus kinge of Aethulia a Citie of Peloponesus met with the Muses at Dorion for boastyng that he could play better then they had his eyes put out of them and his harpe taken from him his masters name was Linus Linus Demodocus Demodocus a harper he had of the Muses both good and harme he wanted his eies but was a singuler Musician he is much praised of Homer in the .viii. boke of his Odisses He sange at Alcinous table two songes one of the adultery of Mars and Venus the other of the bringinge of the woodden horse into Troy Some thinke that by him Homer meaneth hymselfe and not without cause Here must you note that of whatsoeuer good qualities were in ani of these men he wysheth nothinge to Ibis but their blindnesse Or that some may thy members cut as did Saturnus olde Who those parts wherby he was formd to cut away was bolde Saturnus sonne of Coelum and Terra Saturnus cut of his fathers members but the droppes that fell from that gâ—sh Terra receiued wherof were ingendred the furious Giaunts and the Nimphes that Hesiodus in his Theogonia calleth Meliae Of those members cast into the sea after thei had swame a while gathered a little fome was created Venus That Neptune in the swelling seas no better be to thée Then vnto him who saw his wife and brother birdes to be ¶ Ceyx Ceix Lucifers sonne maried Alcione Eolus his daughter who going to Delphos was drowned His wyfe sacryfyced dayly to Iuno for his safe returne Iuno hauing pytie of her for that she lost so much paine set Irys to Somnus wyth commaundement that he should tell hir of the death of hix husbande Somnus he sent Morpheus one of his thrée messeÌ„gers who in lykenesse of hir husbande appeared to hir by night and certyfyed hir of all his state In the morning she ryseth and goeth to the Sea syde fynding the body of hir dead husband would haue drowned hir selfe but she was in the fall turned into a Byrd of hir owne name ¶ Dedalion Dedalion brother to Ceyx hadde a very faire daughter loued of Apollo and Mercurie hir name was Chione she bare to Apollo Phalamon father of Thamiras of whome we spake before the excellent Musition To Mercurye the infamous théefe Antolicus for comparinge with Diana in bewty she was slayne with hir Arrowes for grefe whereof hir father was turned into a Hauke Or else vnto the skylfull man whome houlding in his hand The péeces of his broken barke dyd Ino helpe to land ¶ Cadmus builder of Thebes begat of Harmonia the daughter of Mars and Venus Agaue Autonoe Ino Semele and Polydorus Ino was maryed to Athanias Ino. Athanias who in his fury thinking that his wife and children had bene wylde beastes called for hys huÌ„ting nets to hunt theÌ„ She had by him two sonnes Clearchus and Melicerta the elder wherof hys father catching swinged about his head tyll he had bearen out his braynes againe the trées Ino taking hir other chyld in hir armes went to the Sea mynding to caste hir selfe hedlonge thereinto But in the mydst of their fall they were made he a god and she a goddes of the Sea Ino is called Lencothea or Matuta she helped Vlysses Vlisses when Neptunus his heuy friend hadde broken hys shyp and would haue drowned him also if he might All thys dyspleasure grewe for putting out the eye of Polyphemus hys dearely beloued sonne And that not one alone may know thys kynde of punishment God graunt thy meÌ„bers may with horse in péeces all be rent ¶ Metius Suffetius Metius Suffetius a traytor to Tullus Hostilius making warre against the Fidenates after the victory gotten was tyed to two chariots and pluete in peeces Liuius li. i. Neither before nor after was any punished after such sorte in Rome And that thy paynes may be as greate as of Amylcares hande He felt the which would haue redemde none of the Romayne bande ¶ Marcus Attilius Regulus Artilius Regulus in the firste Carthagynian warre generall of the Romayne armyes tooke Clypea a great eytie and .300 other walled townes The Carthagynians thinking their successe to be so yll for lacke of a good and experte captayne sent to Lacedemon for one from whence came Xanthius and ouercame him Hys army being so faynt for lacke of water and with continuall labor that of thyrty thousande not fower thousand would take theyr weapons fyght for theyr lyues in which battayle him selfe was taken prysoner and after sent to the senate of Rome to intreat for the redemyng of the prysoners wold by no meanes condyscend that one of them should be raunsomed Him selfe also returned to cruell punishment voluntarily for he had rather suffer any tormeÌ„ts then break his promise made to his enimie He was kylled Eubero but after what sort it is not wel known Some say that hée was constrayned to looke vpon the Sun with his eyes open so to dye And other sayth that he was constrained to watch Tuditaous so for lacke of sléepe to dye Other that he was put into a barrell full of nayles so dyed which is most lyke to be true Sillius bicause his chyldren hauing the Carthagynian prysoners delyuered to them put them to death after lyke sort And that no power that heauen holds may be to the more ayde Then Iupiter Herceus altar was to Pryam sore afrayde ¶ Priamus Troyan king Priamus past all hope of safety fled to the altar of Iupiter Hirceus which was in the mydst of his palace for succour where by the cruell hande of pytilesse Pyrrhus he was slayne Virgill Or as kyng Thessalus from toppe of Osla hyll was cast So thou mayst from some stony clyfte be headlong flong as fast ¶ Hemon by Chalciope Thessalus had alsonne called Thessalus he was kyng of Thessalia He receaued Eurialus one of Coricira a straunger and entertayned him courteously But he notwithstandinge thys gentlenes as on a time they walked vppon the Hyll Ossa in Thessalia was by the sayd Eurialus caste downe hedlong after this be kylled his sonne Neson and was him selfe kyng of Thessalia But in the ende when he could not be purged of this murder hee is reported to haue his head eaten styll with the furyes of hell Which thing Ouid in the next verse affyrmeth Or that thy lyms may féede the snakes as dyd Euryalus Eurialus Who dyd the regall scepter hold after kyng Thessalus That water hot powrde on thy head may be to thée the cause Of Shortnyng of thy
els that thou in running streame drowned as Euenus Mayst leaue thy name vnto some flood as did Tiberinus Euenus sonne of Mars Evenus Marpissa kinge of Etolia had a verye faire daughter named Marpissa who compelled such as wold mary his daughter to run a course with horse with him Such as he ouercame he nayled their heads to his gates thereby to feare other from like enterprise Idas Idas supposed the same of Aphareus But in déed Neptunus receyuinge of his father verye swift horses ouercame Euenus caryed away his daughter But Euenus folowed him to haue put him to death but his horses were so good that he might not ouertake him wherfore for spite he caste himselfe into the flood of Etolia called thē Licorba but afterwarde of him Euenus While Idas fled Apollo mette him and would néedes haue taken his wyfe from him but he would not suffer him by reason wherof they had come to blowes had not Iupiter sente Mercury to determyne their controuersy on this condicion that the woman should be set betwixte them both and chose whether she list But she toke Idas forsoke Apollo fearyng lest he when she shold be olde full of wrincles wold forsake hir set hir at nought ¶ Tiberinus was drowned and lefte his name to the riuer that runneth through Rome And that thy body worthy be on speare to haue a seate As was Eurialus and that thy heade may be mans meate ¶ Eurialus and Nisus two very faythfull freades Eurialus Nisus sent ambasadours to Eeneas frō Ascanius beseged by Turnus As they passed thorow the tents of the Rutili kylled Ramnetes and many moe Eurialus put on him Ramnetes armour and in the morning was spyed by the horsemen of Volscentes and slayne Nisus who had esowne caped the daunger and missed his frend returned agayne and séeing him among his ennemies fighting desired with hys owne life to redeme his but Volscentes for all that kild him Nisus then not minding to liue after the losse of so faythful a frend came in amonge his ennimies wher after he had slain Volscentes wel reuenged his death was slayne vpon his dead corps Virgil .ix. Aenei Their heads on the tops of two speares were set in the tents of the Rutili which séene of the Troyans moued them to greate mourning and sorow And as men say that Brotheus dy'd who death did much desire Thou mayest hedlong cast thy selfe into some flaming fier ¶ Brotheus sonne of Vulcane Minerua was for hys deformitie so despysed Brotheus that Iupiter would not make him immortal for which cause he ashamed of himselfe willingly lept into a fier Or that included in some caue such death thou mayst obtayne As had the man who did deuise a story to his payne Cherillus a Poet Cherillus wrote the acts of Alex ander the greate for his paynes it was agréed that for euery good verse he shold haue a crowne of gold and for euery yll one a stripe with a whip In al his work were but seuen allowed verses but the number of the ill was so great the he was slayne with his stripes Of him Alexander was wont to say that he had rather be in honor the deformed Thirsites then in Cherillus the valiant Achilles Some say that this Cherillus was famished for his paynes As to him who of Iambus verse the first deuiser was So vnto thée a froward tongue of hurt may be the cause Archilochus for his rayling boke that he made against Licambes Niobole Archilohus was banished from Lacedemon and his boke was condempned But some say that he was by Licambes fréends slayne as I in the beginning sayde Or as he who with simple verse on Athens sore did rayle Mayst hated render vp thy life when vittayles shall thée fayle Aristophanes inuaying against the praise of Athens Arifiophanes the the Oratours in their bokes had set forth was by publike authoritie pyned to death So were also Anaxandrides Menius Anaximines as Pausa sayth In. vi histo And as the Poet that against a strong man did inuay The same may be a cause to thée to take thy life away An other Aristophanes invaying against the strength of one Menechius a wrastler in that Tragedy of his owne name called Menechius Aristophanes was by publike consente banished Athens and after slayne And as Orestes had a wound Orefies by cruell serpents mouth So graunt the Gods that thou maist die by byte of serpents touth ¶ Orestes quit of the madnes that he had for the killing of his mother hauing surrendred the kingdome of Micene to hys sonne Tisamenes was slayne by a Serpent That thy first wedding day may be to thée the last of life Thus Eupolis hath dyed before and his new wedded wife ¶ Eupolis Eupolis Medilla sonne of Nicea and Glicerium some call hir Medilla his wife the fyrste night they lay together were foūd dead It is likely that eyther they were very heauy or els the bed very weake that it must fall vpon them the first night they lay theron And that a shafte stoke in thy heart may take thy life away As from the lusty Licophron as auncient storyes say ¶ Licophron an auncyent Poet Licophron wrote the sayings of Cassandra and comprysed in one short volume a briefe summe of all the tales that the Grekish Poets had inuented On a time as he contended about the principalitie of the olde Poets was by his aduersary slayn with an arrowe Some thinke there were two Licophrones that wrote either of them one of the aforesaide workes But I sée no reason why one might not do thē both Or rent with hands of thine thou mayst be strowed about the wood As he was cast at Thebes which was sprong of serpents blood ¶ Pentheus kinge of Thebes Pentheus sonne of Echion Agaue daughter of Cadmus and Harmonia who were tourned into serpents despising the sacrifice of Bacchus was therfore by him turned into a bore and hunted and kylled by hys mother Agane and his auntes Ino and Autonoe Ouid in the third of his Metamor Or that thou mayst with wilde bulles he halde about some hyll As was the wife of Licus king That nedes would haue hir will ¶ Antiope daughter of Nicteus and wife of Licus king of Thebes Antiope refused for suspitiō of adultry was forced by Iupiter and conceaued .ii. sonnes Zetus Amphion Hir husband Licus in hir roume toke an other wife named Dirce who perswaded hir husbande to put Antiope into prison But she preuented that mischiefe sled to Epopeus with whō she brought forth hir .ii. sonnes which she left with certain shéepeherds of that cuntry But Nicteus moued with the impudency of his daughter desired Licus to fetch hir againe whiche he did killed Epopeus and gaue hir to be kept to Dirce as if she had bene hys sisters childe But she not liking hir keping
were accustomed to be buryed in vauts he esppyed two serpeÌ„ts fyghting so long together that the one had kylled the other Then he that wos alyue dyd fetche an herbe put it into the mouth of him that was dead by vertue whereof he recouered life again Polyidus meaning to trye whether this wold doe any good to his maister fetcht a part thereof and put it into his mouth and hée therewith presently recouered lyfe also Higinus capite de polyido Or else that thou a guilty man mayst drink with heauy cheare That which the famous clark dyd drink to fore with out all feare ¶ Socrates accused by Polideutus Miletus Socrates Policrates Anytus that he corrupted the youth of Athens as wel with euel false religion as also with vndecent maners was therfore cast in prison and after condempned Where he hauing disputed of the immortalitie of the soule with mery chéere and smiling countenaunce drank poyson and dyed Plato That thou no better lucke mayst haue then Hemon had in loue As Machareus his sister did so thou thine to mayst proue ¶ Hemon Creons sonne Hemon loued Antigone daughter of Oedipus in suche sorte that when she was buryed quicke for breaking Creons wycked commaundement in buryinge hir brother Polinices for he had commanded the contrary vpon pain aforesayde he slewe hymselfe vppon her graue An other Hemon vsing his daughter Rodope for his wyfe Hemon Rodope was by the anger of the Goddes tourned into a hyll and she also Of Machareus Canace Eolus chyldren I haue written before And that which Hectors sonne did sée when all thinges were on flame From top of natiue tower god graunt that thou mayst sée the same How Vlisses caste Astianax Hectors son Astianan from the toppe of Troyan tower is also sayde before And that with proper blood as he thou mayst repay thy shame Whose grandfather was made his syre and sister to his dame ¶ Adonis sonne of Cineras by hys owne daughter Mirrha beloued of Venus Adonis in huntinge the Bore was by him slayne Ouid .x. Metamor And that such kinde of weapon may within thy bones remayne As wherwith Icarus sonne in law is sayde for to be slayne ¶ Vlisses that marryed Penelope Vlisses Icarus daughter knowinge that he shoulde be slayne by his son banyshed Telemachus into the country or fieldes called Cephalenia But Telogonus his other son that he had by Circe comming to séeke his father in Ithaca and not at the first admitmitted to speake to hym kylled the porter and diuers other of Vlisses seruants wherwith he himself came downe vnarmed and was by misaduenture slayne wyth a Darte that Telogonus caste But after knowinge what hée was he he forgaue him the offence notwithstanding he dyed of the blow And that with proper thumbe thy throte thou mayst so stop as did Agenor full of talke whose life by fall from horse was rid ¶ One Agenor a pratling felow Agenor not sparinge Iupiter in hys talke fell from hys horse and wyth his owne finger choked himselfe That thou as Anaxarchus was in mortar mayst be flayne And that thy bones may haue like souÌ„d as they were perfect grayne ¶ Anaxarchus the Philosopher betwene whom and Nicocreon tyraunt of Cyprus was a greate quarell supped on a tyme with the great Alexander Anaxarchus of whome being asked howe the chéere liked him answered that it myght not be amended that there wanted nothing but the head of Nicocreon Which iniury after Nicrocreon reuenged For when by mishap he arryued in Ciprus he was taken by the Tyraunt and beaten in a Mortar hys tongue fyrste pulled out that he myght not after hys accustomed manner rayle vpon him That Phebus with Lencotheas sire to Hell may thrust thée to Which thing vnto his daughter first he did attempt to doe ¶ Lencothea daughter of Orchamus Lecothea Orchamus was loued of Phebus and therefore burned of hir father wherewith Phebus offended wyth hys beames burned Orchamus to death also And that that monster may annoy thy frendes that erst was slayne by Corebus his prowes who rid the sory Grekes from payne ¶ How Corebus killed the monster that infested Peloponesus Corebus which Apollo sent for the death of his sonne Linus is sayde before And Ethras neuew for the wrath that stepdame did him beare God graunt that those thy scarred horse in péeces may thee teare ¶ Of this also is sayde before Hippolitê° But because Iupiter and Apollo fell out by hys meanes it shall not be much amysse to prosecute the story a litle farther After he was torne in péeces Diana hauing pitie on him because he was so chast desired Esculapius Apollos sonne to make him aliue againe Esculapiê° Ciclopes which he did But Iupiter not content that any mortall man had such skyll to make deade men alyue agayne with a thunderbolt kylled hym Wherwith Apollo angred killed all the Ciclopes that made hys thunderboltes Wherfore he was himself banished out of heauen nyne yeares and driuen to so narow a pinch that he was fain to kéepe Admetus shepe till he was againe restored to his olde place And as the host for too much wealth t is clyent did destroy So let thine hoste for thy smal goodes thée reaue of liuely ioy How Priams sonne Polidorus Polimnestor Polidorus was slaine by Polimnestor king of Thracia ech man knoweth and I haue tolde already And as so many brothers were with Damasiâ—hon stayne God graunt that so of all thy stocke there may not one remayne ¶ Amphion sonne of Iupiter Antiopa had by Niobe daughter of Tantalus and Taigetes seuen sonnes and seuen daughters With which number Niobe very proude when Manto daughter of Tiretias commaunded the Thebans to doe sacrifyce to Latona and hir children she said plainly that hirselfe was the better woman Wherfore Latona angry complayned to hir children so that they came froÌ„ heauen in cloudes Apollo killed al hir sonns whose names were Ismenus Sipilus Phedimus Tantalus Alphenor Dama sithon Ilioneus with his arrowes and Diana all hir daughters She hirself with sorow consumed was turned into a marble stone and hir husband kild himselfe as in the .ii. next staues Ouid reporteth And as the harper did his death vnto his children adde So let ther be to loth thy life a iust cause still be had ¶ Amphion was a cunning Musitian Niobe That thou as Pelops sister mayst be turnd into a stone Or Battus els to whom his tongue did geue him cause to mone ¶ Apollo banished out of heauen for killing the Ciclopes kepte Admetus cattell which was sonne of Pheres but while he wandred pyping about the wildernesse his cattell strayed into Pilis which Mercury turned out of the way and hid in a wood which Battus son of Neleus espyed Battus who kept a herd of mares therby to whoÌ„ Mercury gaue one of the fairest kyne to to kepe his counsell He toke the