patronage a friend nor crie quittance with a foe nor worthy to be emulated by other citizens only a meer drudge one of the common rascalitie ready to give way to thy better and waite upon him that can speake in thy behalfe living the life of a hare and great luck if ever thou light upon a better for say thou come to be as cunning as Phidias or Polycletus and worke many wonderous pieces thy Art will certainly bee commended by all men but not one that lookes on them if hee love himselfe will wish to be such an other as thou for bee what thou canst be thou shalt be but a mechanicall fellow one of a manuall Trade that hath no meanes to live but by his handy-labour But if thou wilt be ruled by me I will acquaint thee with all the famous Acts and memorable exploits of men of former time I will make thee know all that hath beene spoken or delivered by them so that thou shalt have a perfect insight into all things thy minde which is the lordly part within thee I will beautifie and garnish with many excellent ornaments as temperance justice pietie clemencie wisdome patience the love of good things and desire to attaine to matters of worth for these indeede are the ornature of the minde that shall never decay nothing whatsoever it be ancient or moderne shall escape thy knowledge and by my assistance thou shalt also foresee what is yet to come and to conclude I will in a short space make thee learned in all things divine and humane so thou that art now so poore and simple the son of a meane person that lately was like to bee put to a base and ignoble Art within a while shalt bee emulated and envied by all men reverenced commended and celebrated for thy good parts and respected by those that are of an high ranke both for nobilitie and riches then shalt thou be clad in such a garment as this is shewing mee the mantle shee wore herselfe which was very gorgeous to the eye and thought worthy of all honour and preheminence if it shall be thy fortune to travell into any forraine place thou shalt never arrive there as a person unknowne and obscure for I will set such markes and tokens upon thee that every one that seeth thee shall jogge the next stander by on the elbow e Pulchrum est digito monstrari dicier hic est Persius sat and point out his finger toward thee saying This is the man If any occasion of urgencie betide thy friends or the whole Citie they all shall cast their eyes upon thee when thou art to make a speech in any place the whole multitude shall stand gaping to heare thee admiring and wondring at thee blessing the powerfulnesse of thy deliverance and thy fathers happinesse to beget such a sonne And as it is said of some men that they shall continue immortall the same will I effect in thee for when thou shalt depart this life thou shalt perpetually converse with learned men and keepe company with the best hast thou not heard of f Plutarch in the life of Demosthenes Demosthenes what a poore mans sonne he was and what a fellow I brought him to be remembrest thou not Aeschines the sonne of a Taberer yet how did King Philip observe him for my sake yea g Socrates was the sonne of Sophroniscus a Carver and as some say exerces'd that Art himselfe the cloathed Graces in the tower of Athens were thought to have bin of his workmanship he also exercis'd painting and made the pictures of Aesculapius and his five daughters Plin. nat hist lib. 35. cap. 11. Socrates himselfe though he were bred up in this art of carving yet as soone as he made a better choice and gave that trade the bagge to be intertain'd as a fugitive by me you know how much he was magnified by all men and wilt thou forsake men of such excellent worth such glorious exploits such powerfull speeches such decent attire honour glory praise precedencie power authority commendation for good words admiration for wisedome and in leiw of all this cover thy skinne with a base garment cast a thread-bare cloak upon thy backe have thy hands full of carving tooles fit for thy trade thy face ever more bent downewards towards thy worke so continuing a sordide slavish and abject life never able to lift up thy head or to entertaine any manly or free thoughts but all thy care must bee to have thy worke handsome and proportionable respecting not a rush thine owne good but making thy selfe of lesse value then a stone Whilest she was yet speaking I could hold no longer for my life but rising up declared my selfe for her and abandoning that ugly drudge betooke me to learning with a glad heart especially when I bethought my selfe of the lash and the many stripes I received for my welcome the day before she that was forsaken tooke it haynously clapt her hands at me gnasht her teeth together against mee and in the end like a second h Niobe was the daughter of Tantalus and wife to Amphion King of Thebes who having borne unto her husband six sonnes and six daughters became thereupon so proud that shee preferr'd her selfe before Latona Whereat the Goddesse being mov'd with anger caused all her children to bee shot to death by her son and daughter Apollo and Diana and Niobe her selfe to be carried with a whirle winde neare unto Sipylus a Citie of Maeonia which was her native Country and there turn'd into a rocke of marble Vid. Ovids Metamorph the 6. booke Niobe i A fit metamorphosis for her profession was wholly congealed and turned into a stone you may thinke it strange but distrust not the truth for dreames can produce as unlikely matters as this But the other casting her eye upon me What recompence shall I make thee saith shee for passing thy censure with such discretion come hither and mount this chariot shewing me a chariot drawne with certaine horses winged and shaped like k Pegasus was a winged horse sprung from Medusas bloud when her head was strooken off by Perseus Pegasus that thou mayst see how many rare wonders thou shouldst have beene ignorant of if thou hadst not followed me When I was got up she drave away and supplyed the place of a Coachman and being raised to a full height I looked every way round about me beginning at the East and so to the West beholding Cities and Nations and people and like l Celeus King of the Elusines having entertained the Goddesse Ceres when she travail'd in the search of her lost daughter Proserpine shee in recompence of his liberall hospitalitie not only taught him the art of husbandrie but also nursed his young son Triptolemus with her owne milke and afterwards placing him in a chariot drawne with winged serpents sent him abroade into the world to teach men the use of corne and seed which as he rode
kill'd by his wife and hee that made him cuckold Merc. You may see him the next man to you Clotho Then bring those that tooke their death by course of Law I meane that were hang'd or prest to death and those elveen men that were kill'd by theeves where are they Mercurie Merc. The wounded men which you see are they but is it your pleasure that I should bring in the women also Clotho What else and they that perished by shipwrack for they all died together and in the same manner put them together also that died of an ague with them Agathocles the Physician but where is the Philosopher Cyniscus who was to die upon a surfeit of hard egges and raw fish at the m It was a custome among the Greekes to celebrate the supper of Hecate called also the Eleusine Feast every new moone in this manner The rich men set forth at night into the streets bread fish hard egges and lupines or fig-beane which was eaten and carried away by the poore and this Supper was thus prepared in every part of the town where three wayes met together because that Hecate is called triformis triple-shaped being feigned by the Poets to be Diana on earth the Moone in heaven and in hell Proserpina Feast of Hecate Cyniscus n In the person of this Cyniscus who was a Cynick hee here commends that sort of Philosophers for their strictnesse of life and resolution in death of whom it seemes hee was farre better opinion'd than of the rest Ready long since good Clotho and what have I offended I pray you that you should let mee continue alive so long you have suffered my spindle to runne on till the quill was almost quite spun up and I was many times minded to cut the thread in sunder and come to you but I know not how it was more than I could doe Clotho I did let thee alone because I would have thee left for an over-looker and a curer of mens defaults but now come and welcome Cyniscus Not I unlesse this fellow that is bound may bee embarkt before mee for I feare hee will overcome thee with faire words Clotho Let me see what is hee Mercurie o In the person of Megapenthes hee describes the miserable and wretched condition of Tyrants Megapenthes the sonne of Lacydes the Tyrant Clotho Come a-boord sirrha Megapenthes Not so good Ladie Clotho I beseech thee forbeare mee suffer mee to ascend againe a little while and then I will come to you of mine owne accord without any call Clotho What is it that makes thee so willing to be gone Megapenthes p It seemes to be spoken in imitation of Homers Protesilaus Iliad 2. v. 702. of which hereafter in the Surveyors a. Give mee leave first to make an end of building my house which I have left but halfe finished Clotho You doe but trifle the time away I say Megap. I will aske no long libertie of you give mee but one dayes respite sweete Clotho that I may give my wife intelligence of my money where I have great store of treasure hidden Clotho Content thy selfe it shall not be so Megap. And shall so much gold be lost Clotho Not lost I warrant you take you no care for that for your Cousin Megacles shall finger it all Megap. O disgracefull indignitie what mine enemie what a base-minded wretch was I that had not kill'd him before Clotho Hee is the man and hee shall continue alive after thee fortie yeares and upwards to enjoy thy Concubines thy apparell and all the gold thou hadst Megap. This is an intolerable abuse Clotho to bestow what was mine upon mine enemie Clotho I beseech you sir did not you come by Cydimaclus goods by murthering him and cut his childrens throats also before the breath was out of his body Megap. But now they were mine Clotho And it may suffice you have enjoy'd them so long Megap. A word with you Clotho in your eare I would faine speake with you so that no man else may bee within hearing friend off a litle I pray you If you will give me leave to runne away I promise to bestow upon you a thousand talents of wrought gold before this day bee at an end Clotho What a foole art thou to have any thought of gold or talents Megapenthes I will give thee two standing-cups more into the match if thou wilt which I got by killing Cleocritus either of them weighes an hundred talents of molten gold Clotho Away with him for hee lookes as if hee would never come on willingly Megap. I beseech you be good to mee the Citie wall and the harbour for shipping which I was about to make are not yet finished if I had lived but five dayes longer I should have made an end of them both Clotho Content thy selfe the wall shall bee made up by an other Megap. Yet let me obtaine one request at your hands which is so reasonable that you cannot deny it Clotho What may that bee Megap. Let mee live but so long as to subdue the Pisidians and bring the Lydians under tribute and erect a sumptuous monument for my selfe whereupon I may engrave all the great and warlike exploits that have beene performed by mee in my life time Clotho I thanke you sir is this your one dayes respite why twenty yeares will not serve his turne for this Megap. I will give you pledges for my speedie returne or if you will I will pawne my favorite to answer for me man for man Clotho O villaine how often have I heard thee wish that hee might be thy surviver Megap. I have wished so indeed in my time but now I am better advised Clotho Thou shalt have him here with thee before it bee long for thy next successor will be sure to make a hand with him Megap. Yet good Destinie deny me not this one thing Clotho What is that Megap. I would faine know what shall betide after my death and in what manner things shall be carried Clotho Heare me then to thy further vexation Midas thy bond-slave shall marrie thy wife for hee hath kept her this many a day Megap. That villaine whom I by my wifes perswasion made a free-man Clotho Thy daughter shall be one of the next Tyrants concubines the images and statues which the Citie aforetime erected for thine honour are all overthrowne and derided by every one that lookes upon them Megap. Have I no friends then that were offended to see mee so abused Clotho What friend hast thou or for what just cause could any man be thy friend dost thou not know that every one that honoured thee and praised all that thou saidst or didst did it out of feare or hope as friends to thy Soverainty and observing the time onely Megap. It hath beene alwayes the use of parasites and flitterers to sweare by the names of Princes Yet would they run on heapes to the place where they heard I was to dine and
is either faire or more faire my thred-bare coate which I lately thought to be such a poore wearing is now as much respected as the Kings purple roabe for they are both un-apparant and drencht in the same degree of darknesse but Cyniscus where art thou Cyniscus I tell thee I am here Micyllus and if thou wilt let us goe together Micyllus With all my heart give mee thy hand and tell me good Cyniscus for thou hast beene initiated into the u The feasts of Ceres which were alwaies solemnized by night Eleusinian ceremonies do not they much resemble the manner of this place Cyniscus As right as may bee but see here is one comming towards us with a torch in her hand what a terrible grimme countenance shee hath is it not one of the Furies Micyllus It should seeme so by her shape Mercurie Here * One of the ◅ries whose speciall office it is to punish murther Tisiphone take these with thee in number a thousand and foure Tisiphone I can tell you Rhadamanthus hath tarried for you this good while Rhadamanthus Bring them neare Furie and doe thou Mercurie make a proclamation and call them by their names Cyniscus Good Rhadamanthus for thy deare fathers sake let mee be the first that shall be examined Rhadamanthus Why so Cyniscus I have occasion to accuse some of the companie of misdemeanours committed by them in their life time and my testimonie will not be taken untill it be first knowne what I am my selfe and in what manner I have led my life Rhadamanthus And who art thou Cyniscus Cyniscus good sir by profession a Philosopher Rhadamanthus Come neare then and be the first that shall undergoe our sentence call his accusers Mercurie If any man have any thing to say against Cyniscus let him come into the Court no man appeares but yet Cyniscus this is not enough strip your selfe that wee may see what markes you have upon you Cyniscus Doe you thinke I have beene burnt with a hot iron Rhadamanthus x Plato with whose opinions Lucian often cavills at the later end of his Gorgias hath a storie to this purpose which is imitated by Claudian in his 2 booke in Ruffia Quid demens manifesta negas en pectus inustae Deformant maculae Looke how many evills any of you have committed in his life time so many spots will appeare upon his soule Cyniscus Looke then for I am starke-naked see if you can finde any of those markes upon mee Rhadamant This man is cleare all over unlesse for three or foure spots that are very dimme and hard to be discerned but what is the reason of this I finde here prints and markes where thou hast beene burnt and yet I know not how they are smitten out and wiped away againe how comes this to passe Cyniscus or by what meanes art thou made so cleare Cyniscus The benefit of Philosophie I will tell you at the first I was evill for want of good breeding and by that meanes procured my selfe so many markes but as soone as I began to study Philosophie by little and little the spots were all worne off my soule Rhadamanthus You applyed an excellent and most present remedie depart therefore into the y Certaine Islands as some have thought about the straights of Gibraker as others upon the Northerne part of great Brittaine fained by the Poets to be the blessed habitation of good men after death Ilands of the blessed and associate your selfe with the best but first you are to accuse the Tyrant you spake of then call for other Micyllus There is little to be said to mee also Rhadamanthus and a short examination will serve my turne for you see I am so naked already that you may take full view of mee Rhadamanthus Who art thou Micyllus Micyllus the cobler Rhadamanthus Honest Micyllus thou art cleare indeed and hast no tokens upon thee goe thy way with this Cyniscus now call the Tyrant Mercurie Megapenthes the sonne of Lacydes come into the Court whither dost thou turne thy selfe come forth I say Tyrant thou art called bring him in Tisiphone whether hee will or no now Cyniscus lay what you can to his charge he is here face to face Cyniscus I shall not need to speak much in the matter for you will quickly find what he is The instruments commonly used to set up Tyrannie and the meanes that maintaine it by the marks he hath upō him yet will I open the man unto you and in words make him known more apparantly what villanies were committed by this varlet when he was in the state of a private man I will not trouble you withall but when he woone to himselfe the love of slanderous desperate ruffians advanced by their gard made himself Tyrant over the city hee put to death above ten thousand persons without judgmēt confiscated all their goods What vices continually attend it by which meanes having attained to riches infinite be suffered himselfe to be free from no kinde of filthinesse but practised all crueltie and villanie against the poore Citizens Virgines hee deflowred yong men he unnaturally abused and lewdly insulted over all his Subjects his scornefulnes pride insolent carriage towards all that came neare him were so notorious that it is not possible you should take so much punishment of him as he deserves a man might as safely behold the Sun with open eyes as looke upon him who can expresse the strange kinde of torments he devised to satisfie his cruelty from which his nearest familiars could not be free and that this my accusation is not fained or frivolous you shall presently understand if you will call before you the men whom hee hath murthered but see they are all in place without any call and stand so thicke about him that they are ready to stifle him All these Rhadamanthus have been put to death by this murtherer some were laid hands on because they had faire women to their wives some because they grieved to have their children taken from them to be abused some because they were rich and some because they were discreet understanding men and could not brooke his proceedings Rhadamanthus What say you to this sir knave Megapenthes The murthers that are objected I acknowledge my selfe guilty of but for the rest the adulteries As before in the Necromantie he brings in mens shaddowes to accuse them after death so here he produces the Bedde and Lamp of the Tyrant as witnesses of his villanies according to the opinion of some Greeke Philosophers who held everything to have a soule the abusing of young men and the deflowring of maidens Cyniscus hath belyed mee in them all Cyniscus I will bring good witnesse Rhadamanthus to prove it Rhadamanthus What witnesse canst thou bring Cyniscus Call hither Mercurie his lampe and his bed they will testifie whē they come what they know by him Mercurie The bed and the lampe of Megapenthes come into the
Court you have done well to appeare Rhadamanthus Declare your knowledge against this Megapenthes and let the bed speake first The Bed What Cyniscus hath objected against him is nothing but truth for I am ashamed Lord Rhadamanthus to deliver what he hath done upon me Rhadamanthus Your testimony is good though you cannot indure to publish it now Lamp what say you The Lamp What was done by him in day time I have nothing to doe withall for I was not present but what he did or suffered in the time of night I abhorre to speak of many things I saw not fit to be uttered the villanies he cōmitted were so monstrous as exceeded all measure so that oftentimes I would not suck in any oyle willingly because I would have beene glad to be put out yet would he bring me nearer of purpose to see what he did seeking to pollute my light by all the meanes he could Rhadamanthus This is enough now sirrha put off your purple roabe that I may see how many spots you have good god he is all of the colour of clay mark't all over blacke and blew with spots from top to toe what punishment shall we have for him Vid Necromant L. shall he be cast into Pyriphlegeton or delivered up to Cerberus Cyniscus Neither but if it please you I will devise a fit and a new kinde of torture for him Rhadamanthus Tell mee what it is and I will bee most thankfull to thee Cyniscus Vid. c. I thinke it be a custome among you that the dead should drinke of the water of Lethe Rhadamanthus True Cyniscus There can be no greater torment to such wretched men as have bin happie than the remēbrance of their former felicitie joyned with the feeling of their present misery Let him be the onely man that shall bee deprived of that draught Rhadamanthus And why Cyniscus It will be torment enough for him to remember what a fellow hee hath beene how powerfull in his life time and to thinke upon his delights then Rhadamanthus You say well and this sentence shall passe upon him let him be carried to Tantalus and there bound that he may remember what he did when he was alive CHARON OR THE SVRVEIOVRS Mercurie WHy laughest thou Charon and why hast thou left thy barge to put thy selfe into the light of the day that never yet hadst any thing to doe in these superiour parts Charon O Mercurie I had an intollerable desire to see the passages of mans life and how they bestowed themselves therein and what they are bereft of that they all make such pitifull moane when they come to us no man is able to crosse the streame without abundance of teares This put me on as did the a Protesilaus the sonne of Iphictus one of the Princes of Greece and the first man of thē that was slaine at their landing before Troy Il. 2. v. 702. he was but newly married to Laodamia the daughter of Acastus who hearing of his death besought the gods that she might enjoy him one onely day againe on earth which having obtain'd she her selfe expir'd in his embraces youthfull Thessalian to begge a play-day of Pluto for once that I might have leave to see what is done in the light and here my good fortune is to meete with you who I know will bee my guide and walke the round with me to shew me all things for nothing is unknowne to you Mercurie Faith Ferry-man I cannot a while goe with thee now I am upon a businesse to Jupiter that concernes mankinde and you know how passionate hee is in his humour and I feare if I should stay longer than my time b See the Tyrant he would leave me to you for good and all and put me into perpetuall darkenesse or serve me as sometime he did c Vulcan the god of fire was as some say the sonne of Jupiter but being none of the handsomest was kickt by his father out of heaven and having consum'd a whole day in his descent was at last taken up in Lemnus an Iland in the Aegaean Sea and ever after lame of the fall Hom. Il. 1. v. 590. Vulcan kicke me out of heaven by the head and shoulders and so lame me with the fall that all the gods may laugh at my limping when I fill him out wine Charon And wil you then let me goe up and downe like a vagabond upon earth that am your friend your Ferrymate and fellow conductor remember your selfe d Mercurie was the sonne of Iupiter and Maia honest sonne of Maia that I never wisht you to doe so much as cast water out of the boate or take an oare in hand as long as you were with mee though your bones bee bigge enough to worke all that you did there was to lie along upon the hatches sleep till you snort again or get some dead body or other to find you talk by the way when I an aged man am faine to play the sculler my self and labour at it both hands at once but good Mercurie for thy good fathers sake leave mee not so shew mee all that is done in this life that I may see somewhat before I goe downe againe for if you forsake me I shall be in no better case than a blinde man and as they stumble and fall in the darke so shall I be doated in the light and therefore doe thus much for me sweet e A name of Mercurie from Cyllena a moūtaine in Arcadia where he is said to be borne Virg. lib. 8. Aeneid Cyllenius and whilest I live I will bee your servant Mercurie This will cost me a swinging I am sure of it and the hier of my directions I know will not be paid me under a boxe on the earth notwithstanding I will doe it for thee for who can refuse a friend in a case of such necessitie but Ferry-man for you to have a perfect sight of all things is altogether impossible it would require many yeares tarriance to attaine it and then would Iupiter send hue and crie after me as if I were runne away from him and thou shouldst be sure to bee put out of office from having any thing to doe with the workes of death Plutoes Kingdome would be impoverished for want of dead people and Aeacus the rent-gatherer would bee quite out of heart if hee should receive no halfe-pence all that while but for the principall matters now in action I will doe what I can to procure you a sight of them Charon Please your selfe Mercurie you can best tell what you have to doe for I am a meere stranger upon earth and know nothing Mercurie The onely way is this Charon to get up to some high ground and from thence looke about us to see what is done if it were possible forthee to step up to heaven I should thinke my labour well bestowed for thence as out of a watch-towre thou mightest have a perfect sight of all things
dead the rest is all obscure cloudes mists and darknesse whereas in heaven all things are perspicuous and cleare there they have Ambrosia by the belly and Nectar their fill and therefore I cannot blame him if hee like that place the better for which hee goes from us he flies away as fast as if hee were to make an escape out of a gaole but when his turne is to come hither he is as slow and dull as if he came with no good will Clotho Be patient good Charon hee is now at hand as you may see and brings a great company with him or rather drives them before him with his rod as if they were some Heard of Goats but how hapneth it that one amongst them is bound an other comes laughing a third I see with a scrip about his neck and a staffe in his hand casting a sterne countenance upon them and hastning them forwards and see you not Mercurie himselfe how he sweats and how his feet are all covered with dust how hee pants and blowes scarcely able to take his breath What 's the matter with thee Mercurie what makes thee so earnest and what hath troubled thee so long Mercurie Nothing Clotho but following this paultrie fellow that ranne away from mee so farre that I thought I should not have seene you to day Clotho Who may hee bee or what was his meaning in running away Mercurie You may soone know that because hee would rather live still than be amongst you hee is some King or Tyrant I know by the moane hee makes and the matter of his laments crying out that he is deprived of some incomparable and unspeakable felicitie Clotho Did the foole thinke by running away to attaine to life againe his thread being wholly spun up and quite cut asunder Mercurie Runne away sayest thou nay if this honest fellow here with the staffe had not holp mee to take and binde him Tyrants very unwilling to die I thinke he would have made an escape from us all for since the time that Atropos delivered him up into my hands he never ceased all the way we came to struggle and hang-an-arse and to pitch both his feete against the ground so fast that we had much adoe to get him forwards Somtimes againe hee would speake us faire intreate and beseech us to beare with him a while promising us great rewards if wee would doe so much for him but I would give no eare to his impossible petition and when we were come to the very mouth of the passage where I used to deliver to g Rhadamanthus Minos and Aeacus were all three Kings for their justice called the Sonnes of Jupiter and for their sincerity fained by the Poets to bee Iudges in Hell Aeacus the dead by account and hee to take the number of them according to a hill sent unto him from your Sister I know not how this poultrie fellow had privily given us the slip and I was one too short of my tale with that Aeacus casting an angrie countenance upon mee Mercurie said hee practise not to play the thiefe with all that comes to your hands you may sport your selfe enough in this kinde vvhen you are in heaven the number of the dead is certaine and you cannot deceive mee in that you see there are set downe in your Bill 1004. and you have brought one too short of the number unlesse you will say that Atropos did misreckon you I blushing at this speech of his suddenly called my selfe to minde what had happened upon the way and looking about me this fellow vvas not to be found then I knew vvell enough hee vvas fled and after him I followed as fast as I could the direct vvay that led towards the light and this good honest man followed after mee of his owne minde and vve ran together as if vvee should have runne for a vvager and at the last overtooke him just vvhen vvee vvere come to h A Promontory of Laconia from whence as the Poets fained there was a passage into Hell Taenarus so neare was hee got to make an escape Clotho Then Charon Mercurie may well be excused for any negligence committed in this service Charon But why do we still trifle out the time as if wee had not loitered enough already Clotho Come on then let them come aboard I will sit upon the ship ladder as I was used to doe and taking the scrowle in my hand examine every one that enters who and whence hee is and by what meanes he tooke his death And thou Mercurie receiving them at my hands place them in order accordingly but let yong infants take the first turne for they are not able to answer for themselves Mercurie Here Ferriman take them to thee in number three hundred with the fondlings Charon O brave here 's a quarrie indeed thou hast brought them rotten that were never yet ripe Mercurie Shall they come next Clotho that were past being mourned for Clotho * Because their death comes not unexpected and therefore not so much to be bewailed Old men thou meanest do so if thou wilt for what should I trouble my selfe to examine matters past before the time of i This Euclide was governour of Athens presently after the 30. Spartans that ruled over them were cast out in the time of whose tyrannie many outrages were on all sides committed insomuch that having now regain'd their former libertie to take away all remembrance of past injuries and to establish peace and quietnesse amongst themselves they by a generall consent enacted that whatsover had beene done in Athens before the time of Euclides government should stand utterly void and not so much as be questioned or spoken of and hence it seemes the Author takes the proverbe Euclide All yee that exceede the age of three score yeares make your appearance what 's the matter they are so deafe with age they cannot heare mee Nay then take them without more adoe and away with them Mercurie The next are foure hundred lacking two all mellow and full ripe gathered in good time Clothe Indeed these are well withered now Mercurie bring those that are hurt and wounded and tell mee first how you came by your deaths but it were better for mee to peruse my scroule and see what is set downe of them yesterday they dyed in fight in the countrie of Media foure score and foure and with them Gobares the sonne of k A King of the Bactrians Oxyartes Mercurie Heere they are ready Clotho Seven that kill'd themselves for love and l Hee brings these particulars not as things truly done but to shew the various meanes and causes of mens ends and that neither the name and reputation of a Philosopher can free a man from vice or passion nor the practice and skill of a Physician secure the professour from sicknesse or death Theagenes the Philosopher for his whore at Megara Mere. They are all at hand Clotho Where is hee that was